Horror Highlights: TAROT, ‘LOVELY, DARK, AND DEEP’, LISA FRANKENSTEIN, SPLICE, CELLPHONE

Watch the Trailer for TAROT: “When a group of friends recklessly violates the sacred rule of Tarot readings – never use someone else’s deck – they unknowingly unleash an unspeakable evil trapped within the cursed cards. One by one, they come face to face with fate and end up in a race against death to escape the future foretold in their readings.”

Written for the Screen and Directed by:
Spenser Cohen & Anna Halberg

Produced by:
Leslie Morgenstein
Elysa Koplovitz Dutton
Scott Glassgold

Executive Producers:

Andrew Pfeffer
Scott Strauss
Anna Halberg
Spenser Cohen

Cast:
Harriet Slater
Adain Bradley
Avantika
and Jacob Batalon

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LOVELY, DARK, AND DEEP: “Written and directed by Teresa Sutherland (The Wind, Midnight Mass), LOVELY DARK AND DEEP is a psychological horror that centers on Lennon (Georgina Campbell, BAFTA winner for Murdered by My Boyfriend), who seizes the opportunity to assume the coveted role of a back-country ranger at a remote outpost. While adapting to her solitary existence in the wilderness, she becomes aware of a lurking, sinister presence. Driven by the need for answers, Lennon embarks on a journey through the ominous terrain, seeking to unveil the long-standing mystery that has haunted her since childhood.”

In cinemas and on VOD February 22nd from XYZ

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Lisa Frankenstein – Play the SLAY AND DECAY 8-Bit Game Now!: “To celebrate the upcoming release of LISA FRANKENSTEIN in theaters February 9, play the newest SLAY AND DECAY 8-bit game and collect body parts to build your perfect undead boyfriend. Don’t get caught by the police. Make it to the tanning bed… and get a high score.”

To play the game, visit: http://www.lisafrankensteingame.com/

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Vincenzo Natali’s Gene-Splicing Horror SPLICE Metamorphoses into Book Form on August 20th: “In 2010, Vincenzo Natali’s Splice made its mark on cinema by fusing David Cronenberg, Geek Culture, pseudo-science, and an alluring new monster into an intellectually stimulating creature feature. Twenty-four years later, Splice continues to garner legions of new fans through home video and streaming releases. Encyclopocalypse Publications maintains their commitment to preserving cinematic history through novelizations with their release of Splice on August 20^th, 2024.

Splice: The Novelization was penned by Claire Donner (the online branch director of the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies), based on the script by Vincenzo Natali, Antionette Terry Bryant, and Doug Taylor. Claire brings a breadth of knowledge on the genre: programming lectures on thematically-related subjects for Miskatonic, delivering papers on The Amityville Horror as well as The Entity, and contributing essays for the recent Severin releases of the Michele Soavi films The Church, The Sect, and Dellamorte Dellamore.

“Claire has injected renewed life into SPLICE with the kind of personal voice and veracity that Alan Dean Foster applied to his famous novelization of ALIEN.” Vincenzo Natali says. “Her exploration of the secret thoughts and desires of the characters accomplishes something that a film never can do, especially in the case Clive and Elsa’s hybrid creation, Dren, who expresses her otherness and vulnerability in way that is truly heart-wrenching. It’s a wonderful companion to the film, and is in many ways its own self-actualized and independent creation.”

Claire Donner, a huge fan of the film herself, had this to say: “Vincenzo and his co-writers, Antoinette Terry Bryant and Doug Taylor, went far beyond the usual themes of hubris and its consequences with their story about a patchwork family formed in a lab and torn apart by their private fears and desires.”

When adapting Splice, Claire wanted to make sure she honored the story by expanding on its themes and characters, “Splice is a strange and challenging film even among the many Frankenstein mutations that have accumulated over the last 200 years and change. The film inspires the same simultaneous attraction and repulsion as its mutant star, and translating it into prose required a great deal of care and understanding. Splice wisely leaves much of its characters’ inner conflicts to the imagination. I tried to speak for Elsa, Clive, and Dren in a way that honors the original vision, inviting you into their inner lives while maintaining the sense of mystery and ambiguity that can haunt even the closest relationships.”

Mark Alan Miller, President of Encyclopocalypse calls the novelization, “A match made in heaven’s laboratories.”

Sean Duregger, Managing Editor of Encyclopocalypse, is proud to bring this very personal project over the finish line. “I adore Splice,” he states. “It’s one of my favorite films. During a rewatch, I had the realization that there were so many elements of the story that could be expanded in novel form. Motivations and creative decisions that were ambiguous (and wrongly criticized in some of the reviews) that could be interesting to dive into. It’s clear that a woman should be the one to expand these themes and really dive into the source material. Claire went above and beyond any expectations I had going in. This adaptation is something very special!”

Special thanks are due to Amy Searles for introducing Claire Donner to the publishing team.

This is also Vincenzo’s second collaboration with Encyclopocalypse Publications, the first being his debut graphic novel TECH. A novelization of Cube is currently in the works and expected to be released this winter.

Paperback pre-orders in the USA are available directly through Encyclopocalypse at encyclopocalypse.com. There are two versions available: a standard Trade size and a pocket sized Mass Market version reflecting the publisher’s love of novelizations from the 80s and early 90s. Most International customers can pre-order via their favorite local or online booksellers.

The Trade Paperback cover artwork was produced by Stephen Imhoff, a respected Special Effects artist known for his work on Star Trek: Picard, Killers of the Flower Moon, Nope, and many other television and film productions.

The Mass Market Paperback cover artwork was created by poster illustrator Aleksey Rico.

eBook pre-orders are available via all major online booksellers, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

An audiobook version is in the works, narrated by Roberta Jackson.

On August 20^th 2024, Splice: The Novelization will be available wherever books are sold.

Since its inception, Encyclopocalypse Publications has become a coveted publishing destination for independent authors and genre notables alike. Alongside producing audiobook renditions of literary classics, the imprint continually expands its catalog with new, original works and movie novelizations by the best dark fiction writers in the business today.”

To purchase, visit:

The book can also be found at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and most other online booksellers.

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Watch the Trailer for CELLPHONE: “Wynne, who is grieving the death of her fiancé, starts seeing disturbing images on her cell phone about her future. If she doesn’t figure them out in time, she will die.”

A chilling new tech-horror film from from writer Rachel Sommer and director Luke Sommer, starring Malcolm McDowell and Whitney Rose Pynn.