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Adam Sandler is one of his generation's most iconic comedy actors. His early works, Billy Madison, Happy Gilmore, The Waterboy, The Wedding Singer, etc., are among the most well-known and acclaimed. While later movies have seen a more "mixed" critical reception, Sandler has no doubt made his mark. But what if there was a secret Easter egg in several of his movies? And what if that Easter egg was hidden in plain sight?

In several Sandman pictures, his female love interest has the initials "Vv." There's Veronica Vaughn, Virginia Venit, Vicki Vallencourt, and more. But not every onscreen partner has these initials, so what's the story with the ones that do? Have we stumbled down some new conspiracy theory rabbit hole? Is "Vv" a secret sign warning of what's to come? Or is it just Sandler being Sandler and making up funny names? In all likelihood, the latter is the case.

Ariana Grande is very in touch with her emotions and recently revealed there’s one Adam Sandler movie that makes her cry.

The Wicked star makes no excuses and says she cries at everything, but The Waterboy is a movie that gets her in her feelings.

“The Waterboy, with Adam Sandler, makes me cry. When they’re mean to Bobby Boucher, I cry. I don’t like it,” Grande told W magazine. “I love Bobby Boucher. He says, ‘Would you please still be my friend?’ and I lose it. But I cry at everything.”

Grande referred to the 1998 sports comedy The Waterboy, a film directed by Fran Coraci and co-written by Tim Herlihy and Sandler. The film starred Sandler as Bobby Boucher, a 31-year-old man with autism who works as a waterboy and is recruited to play football. Sandler’s co-stars included Kathy Bates, Fairuza Balk, Jerry Reed, and Henry Winkler.

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This January, Paramount+ is bringing you a ton of entertainment with the highly anticipated new film in the Star Trek universe alongside a great new series based on Sherlock by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Paramount+ this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 8 best films coming to Paramount+ in January 2025 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Arrival (January 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 94% Credit – Paramount Pictures

Arrival is a sci-fi drama film directed by Denis Villeneuve from a screenplay by Eric Heisserer. Based on the 1998 short story titled Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang, the 2016 film follows Louise Banks, a linguistic expert tasked with interpreting the language of aliens who have come to Earth in a giant spaceship.

Neve Campell and Skeet Ulrich are best known for co-starring in the horror classic Scream. They also starred in The Craft (1996). The witchy cult classic will soon be available to stream on Max.

The Craft will arrive on Max on January 1st. Released the same year as the original Scream, Campbell takes on another iconic role of Bonnie Harper in the teen supernatural film. And while not as large of a role, Ulrich would once again work with Campbell to play the jock Chris Hooker. Directed by Andrew Fleming and made with a $15 million budget, the film was a box office success on its release, opening at number at the North American box office and grossing $55.6 million total. While The Craft has been to an average critical reception with a 6.4/10 on IMDb, the film is beloved by fans for its dark themes and subversion of typical family-friendly Halloween movie tropes.

Producer Paul Maslansky, who came up with the premise for the first Police Academy movie and got help from three world-class directors to push the troubled cult classic Return to Oz past the finish line, has died. He was 91.

Maslansky died Monday of natural causes at a hospital in Los Robles, California, his partner of 16 years, Sally Emr, told The Hollywood Reporter.

The New Yorker made his producing debut in Italy on The Castle of the Living Dead (1964), starring Christopher Lee, and he filmed George Cukor’s penultimate feature, the Elizabeth Taylor-starring The Blue Bird (1976), and Fred Schepisi’s The Russia House (1990), starring Sean Connery and Michelle Pfeiffer, in the Soviet Union.

Maslansky, who collaborated often with Oscar winner Alan Ladd Jr., also produced Larry Peerce’s Love Child (1982), starring Amy Madigan in the true story of a woman who is impregnated by a guard in prison and has...

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This December, Prime Video is bringing you a lot of entertainment, from the much-anticipated sequel film to My Fault to an exciting anthology series based on different video games titled Secret Level. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Prime Video this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 7 best films that are coming to Prime Video in December 2024 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

After Hours (December 1) Rotten Tomatoes Score: 90% Credit – Warner Bros.

After Hours is a dark comedy film directed by Martin Scorsese from a screenplay by Joseph Minion. The 1985 film follows Paul Hackett, an office worker with a set routine, but when one night he breaks that routine to meet a strange woman, he finds himself in several...

From Agatha to Elphaba, it’s been a season of witches on film and television. But whatever charms witches conjure in the narratives that entertain us, the Mubi documentary “Witches” shows how ideas about too powerful, too magical women have variously defined and reinforced the contradictions of femininity; and yet also helped women make sense of themselves.

Director Elizabeth Sankey does this using the medium of film itself, telling her own story of a post-partum depression severe enough to require psychiatric treatment through speaking directly to camera, through talking-head interviews with friends and experts alike, and through an archive’s worth of relevant film clips. The more montages Sankey weaves together of girls, mothers, psychiatric patients, and, of course, witches, the easier it is for us to see how our media archetypes cast a spell that can settle deep into our bones.

The process of pulling footage and organizing the...

Quick Links 'Return to Oz' Is a Bizarrely Delightful Dark Fantasy 'Return to Oz' Becomes an '80 Cult Classic Hollywood Can't Get Enough of the Timeless Tale

As moviegoers all across the world celebrate the highly-buzzed about premiere of the dazzling musical Wicked, many are still riding high on the excitement surrounding the star-studded adaptation. For those who want to keep the fun and magic going, there is no shortage of previous Hollywood adaptations to binge-watch and enjoy in either preparation or as a follow-up to the show-stopping picture.

In 1985, one of cinema's more misunderstood reimaginings of the classic L. Frank Baum novels hit the big screen, with Fairuza Balk tackling the iconic role of Dorothy Gale in Return to Oz. The dark fantasy focuses on the young insomniac Dorothy as she once again returns to the Land of Oz to try and save both her...

The Corridor Crew comes together to praise a now-infamous 1985 Wizard of Oz movie for its combination of stop-motion and VFX work to bring one of its new creatures to life. L. Frank Baum's fantasy novel was first brought to the screen in 1910, but it's the pivotal 1939 The Wizard of Oz which is most celebrated to this day. The Wizard of Oz stars Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale, a young girl who is transported to the magical world and tasked alongside three fantastical friends and her dog, Toto, to vanquish the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) in order to return home.

Ever since its release, there have been multiple retellings and reimaginings of Oz across television and film. These include features made to continue the story, like 1972's Journey Back to Oz, to explorations of how the world became what it is, like 2013's Oz The Great and Powerful,...

Disney's Return to Oz has become an infamous production, but the story behind it is even wilder!

As noted, Disney had long held the rights to the Oz books but didn't do anything with them. As the property moved into the public domain, there were a few attempts at a sequel. That included 1979's Journey Back to Oz animated movie, which did have the clever casting of Judy Garland's daughter, Liza Minnelli, as Dorothy. But it suffered from a bad production to be a flop.

The property maintained its popularity as the TV airing of the 1939 movie became an annual mainstay that always garnered high ratings. By 1980, with Disney Productions in a serious downturn after some expensive flops, someone decided giving the Oz books another try was worth it.

And so the road to Return to Oz began but no one dreamed of the nightmare it would become.

Why...

Wicked transports audiences to the world of The Wizard of Oz, with Universal’s adaptation of the Broadway smash starring Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo hitting theaters Nov. 22. It’s certainly had a smoother road than 1985’s Return to Oz.

After winning a sound Oscar for Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, editor and sound designer Walter Murch was approached by Disney to discuss projects to direct. Murch expressed interest in an Oz story, and the studio was intrigued, as it owned the rights to author L. Frank Baum’s later novels The Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz, on which Return to Oz would be based.

A darker and non-musical follow-up to MGM’s 1939 classic, Return to Oz stars young Fairuza Balk as Dorothy, who is called back to the titular land that has been destroyed by the diabolical Nome King (Nicol Williamson) and Mombi (Jean Marsh). Here,...

Initially a magazine short story, then expanded to novel form in 1972, Barbara Robinson’s “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” has remained a holiday staple ever since. Its enjoyable central conceit of Roald Dahl-style comedic nastiness — the first sentence pegs principal figures as “absolutely the worst kids in the history of the world” — no doubt explains an enduring popularity among young readers, while there’s just enough inspirational uplift by the end to earn parental approval.

That equation gets reversed to a degree in this first big-screen version from Dallas Jenkins, whose Biblical-times series “The Chosen” set a high mark among faith-based entertainments for the small screen in recent years. His “Pageant” goes a little too sentimental and instructive too soon for those viewers whose attention spans are better suited to the antic earlier going. Nonetheless, this is a well-cast, well-crafted diversion for the whole family that’s already done...

“Agatha All Along” has finished its journey — at least, for the time being — and odds are, you might be feeling a witch-sized hole in your life. Well, worry not. You can still rewatch the series on Disney+, or you can check out the films that inspired the series — as recommended by the showrunner herself.

Each week, Jac Schaeffer sat down with TheWrap to do a deep dive on every episode of “Agatha All Along” (and you can check those out here). Naturally, the Marvel show leaned in on the magic of everything. But it also embraced move-making magic, utilizing real sets, practical effects, forced persepctive and more.

So, in discussing the finale of the series, we had her round up a few recommendations for those who want to understand and experience the series a bit deeper. Here are 10 movies like “Agatha All Along” that Schaeffer would suggest you watch next.

Nancy Downs may have mishandled her magic in The Craft, but I might have done the same as her if I was in Nancy's position, and I can't help but root for her. An extremely underrated Halloween horror movie, The Craft follows Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney), a California high school student with strange powers even she doesn't understand. When she moves to a new school, Nancy befriends a trio of outcasts who all have a fascination with the occult and witchcraft. In Sarah, they see the solution to their problems and to becoming popular.

If you imagine Heathers and Halloween Town blended together, you might get The Craft. The delightful twist on the coming-of-age high school movie, The Craft excels because of its distinctly '90s flavor, serious insights into feminism and society's views on women, and some fantastic characters. Nancy Downs, played by Fairuza Balk, is a particularly fascinating character in the movie.

John Carpenter’s Halloween has influenced everything from other slasher flicks to even music videos. With her new visual “Undone,” indie-pop artist Young Summer rips images from the iconic 1978 film for a tension-splitting story that guarantees to creep under the skin.

Young Summer (real name Bobbie Allen) stars in the video as a woman unaware of her surroundings. While out walking her adorable pooch Scrappy, a stalker (Miloš Šarenac) wearing all black lurks from the corners of each frame.

Everything about the brand new “Undone” music video, on which she worked with frequent collaborator and cinematographer Seth Dunlap, feels very 1970s. From long lens shots to a vibrant but muted color grading, Allen (director/editor) masterfully laces suspense by using various classic film techniques and equipment – namely the telephoto Canon Fd 50-300mm T/4.9 zoom Lens.

“I knew using that long zoom for the spy shots would make the stalking...

The critically acclaimed and hotly debated classic American History X is slated to move to a new streaming home.

1998's American History X is officially making the move to Tubi beginning October 1. The film, which stars Edward Norton and Edward Furlong as brothers Derek and Danny Vinyard, garnered both stars several major award nominations, including Best Actor at the 71st Academy Awards, which was ultimately won by Roberto Benigni for his leading role in his self-written and directed film, Life is Beautiful.

Related HBO Boss Addresses True Detective: Night Country Characters Appearing in Season 5

HBO's Chairman and CEO of HBO and Max Content discusses the future of True Detective and whether Season 5 will include any returning stars.

Written by David McKenna and directed by Tony Kaye, American History X follows Norton's Derek as he reels from the death of his father by embracing overt hatred and Nazi ideologies, eventually...

Say what you will about the Marvel Cinematic Universe's foray into television on Disney+, but you can't deny that the company knows how to craft a credit sequence. AI-fueled "Secret Invasion" screw-up aside, Marvel shows on Disney+ have signed off with some of the most creative, enjoyable end credits in recent memory, many of them a mini-adventure in their own right.

"Agatha All Along" is no exception. The new series may not be big on mid-credit scenes, but it uses its end credits to tell us exactly what it's about. The first episode ends with the Donovan song "Season of the Witch," which would be too on the nose if it weren't such an excellent, effective tune. It also shows the names of the series' cast and crew over a sort of witchy mood board, one that features witches ranging from creepy to adorable. There's historical information on display, complete...

The '80s was a fantastic decade for horror movies. There was a huge range of horrors as filmmakers made their mark by creating distinctive movies that shocked the world. The '80s produced some of horror's most scary villains, with Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees taking on the mantle of '70s horror icons like Halloween's Michael Myers.

The '80s was a great time for slashers but also sci-fi horrors and psychological movies like The Shining. The expansion of the genre was great as new viewers were invited to experience a range of new horror movies. It's because of this that the '80s is fondly remembered as a stand-out decade for horror as new generations of genre fans explore the movies that defined the '80s.

Tenebre Is a Classic Serial Killer Giallo

IMDb

Rotten Tomatoes

7/10

81%

3:10

Related The Greatest Horror Movies Like A Quiet Place

After three A Quiet Place movies,...

Although Nancy (Fairuza Balk) The Craft's standout character, the film ultimately did her disservice. Nancy is fundamentally misunderstood by friends and family alike throughout the film, adding to the pathos of her character. The Craft demonised Nancy and gave her an unnecessarily cruel ending.

This article contains discussions of suicide, sexual violence, and eating disorders.

The supernatural teen thriller The Craft endures as a feminist favorite, largely thanks to its iconic cast especially Fairuza Balk as Nancy. While the other girls wish for beauty and boyfriends, Nancy uses her powers to smash the patriarchy... literally. Yet in the end, the wayward witch with the brutal backstory is the one who gets the short end of the stake. Why does The Craft burn its best character so badly? And how does the films fandom keep growing despite this betrayal?

1996s The Craft took #1 at the box office in its opening weekend,...

This August, Paramount+ is bringing you a lot of entertainment with the highly anticipated streaming release of the biographical film Bob Marley: One Love and a very weird but humorous and heartfelt film Sasquatch Sunset, which follows the daily lives of a Sasquatch family. However, for the purposes of this article, we are only including the films that are coming to Paramount+ this month and have a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score. So, check out the 10 best films that are coming to Paramount+ in August 2024 with a 90% or higher Rotten Tomatoes score.

Airplane! (August 1)

Airplane! is a disaster absurdist comedy film written and directed by Jim Abrahams, David, and Jerry Zucker. Based on the 1957 drama film Zero Hour! by Arthur Hailey, Hall Bartlett, and John Champion, the 1980 film follows Ted Striker, a former pilot with a fear of flying as he finds himself in the impossible situation of landing a...

Dark fantasy is a popular fantasy subgenre that includes horror elements. Weaving horror through fantasy can create unsettling, disturbing, and terrifying imagery and themes in a creative and otherworldly manner. There is a fine line between what makes something dark fantasy and what is just a typical example of the fantasy genre. For instance, if every fantasy story with a giant spider was immediately labeled as dark fantasy, most high fantasy works would immediately fall into the subgenre.

Some of the most unnerving stories and visuals come from dark fantasy. This underrated subgenre is responsible for some of the most memorable monster movies ever made. It also helps terrifying animated films thrive as well. Movies like Coraline (2009), Corpse Bride (2005), and even The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) feel right at home here. Some of the best and scariest films fall into the dark fantasy subgenre.

The Craft Is Like If Mean Girls...

A new episode of The Black Sheep video series has arrived online this morning, and with this one we’re looking back at one of the most fascinating “doomed productions” ever, the 1996 version of The Island of Dr. Moreau. (Watch the movie Here.) To find out why we think this one deserves more love than it gets, check out the video embedded above!

Based on an 1896 novel by H.G. Wells, the film was originally going to be directed by Richard Stanley, who was becoming a popular name in the horror genre at the time. Unfortunately, the production was a mess from the moment the cast and crew arrived on set. Stanley was fired, cast members quit, co-stars Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer exhibited strange behavior while dealing with tragedy and heartbreak. John Frankenheimer was brought on to replace Stanley at the helm, but he couldn’t save the sinking ship…...

The Craft theory claims Sarah was the only true witch in the coven. Bonnie and Rochelle had no powers, so they relied on Sarah, who transferred them her magic. Nancy could have drawn power from Manon or been a dark witch, but The Craft: Legacy debunks one of these options.

The Craft followed a covens struggles once their spells had negative repercussions on them, but a theory suggests only one of the covens members was a true witch, and it wasnt Nancy (Fairuza Balk). The 1990s were a great decade for horror with the resurgence of the slasher genre and teen-led movies, among them The Craft. Directed by Andrew Fleming, The Craft was a box office success but didnt do so well with critics, who praised the performances of the main cast and Flemings direction but criticized its writing and too many horror clichs. Still, The Craft has since gained a cult following.

Stars: Fairuza Balk, Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie, Matt Clark, Michael Sundin, Tim Rose, Mak Wilson, Stephen Norrington, Justin Case, John Alexander, Deep Roy, Emma Ridley | Written by Walter Murch, Gill Dennis, L. Frank Baum | Directed by Walter Murch

According to Roger Ebert, Walter Murch is “the most respected film editor and sound designer in the modern cinema.” Across a career spanning over 50-years, including multiple Academy Award wins from nine nominations, he has only two directorial credits to his name. The second is a fourth-season episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which was preceded over 25 years before by the only feature he directed; Return to Oz.

After her adventures in the Land of Oz, Dorothy Gale (Fairuza Balk) remains obsessed with the locale that she previously visited. Out of a fear that their niece is experiencing delusions, Dorothy’s aunt and uncle take her away to a sanitorium.

Return to Oz, Disney’s 1985 dark take on Dorothy Gale (played by a then-9-year-old Fairuza Balk), shares its creative DNA with Star Wars. Not only that, George Lucas saved writer-director Walter Murch’s job after Disney fired Murch from the Oz shoot.

Lucas and Murch were old friends and collaborators, having met in the film department of the University of Southern California in the mid-1960s.

“My first memory of him was a shadowy figure behind me in the photograph developing room,” says Murch about Lucas on The Hollywood Reporter’s podcast It Happened in Hollywood. “I was trying unsuccessfully to develop one of the photographs that I had taken for an exercise, and there was this voice behind me that said, ‘You’re doing it wrong.’ And I turned around and I said, ‘Who is this guy?’ Of course, it turns out he was right. I was doing it wrong.

Scream Factory has announced a fresh new wave of upcoming releases today, with the new collection being led by a Collector’s Edition Blu-ray for the 2009 fan favorite Orphan.

Bring Esther home when Orphan hits Blu-ray May 14. Esther (Isabelle Fuhrman) is taken in by the loving Kate (Vera Farmiga) & John (Peter Sarsgaard) in the twisty thriller.

Scream Factory also announced infamous 1996 film The Island of Dr. Moreau for Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release, with the release date set for May 21, 2024.

“On a remote island in the South Pacific, Dr. Moreau uses the key of science to unlock the gates of Hell.” Val Kilmer, David Thewlis, Fairuza Balk & Marlon Brando star.

The Osgood Perkins-directed Gretel & Hansel (2020) is coming to 4K Ultra HD on May 21 as well. In the arthouse take on the classic tale, “A young girl leads her little brother into a dark wood in a desperate search for food and work,...

"Return To Oz" disappointed fans as a follow-up to "The Wizard of Oz" due to its lackluster homage and dark tone. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects but failed to attract a following and flopped at the box office. "Wicked" has the advantage of being a musical and is set to become a blockbuster hit, featuring a superstar cast and a built-in following from the successful Broadway musical.

The unofficial sequel to The Wizard of Oz that developed out of Hollywood 39 years ago was a mistake that the highly anticipated Wicked movie will likely rectify. Various film endeavors emerged to expand or adapt the canon that originated from L. Frank Baum's 1900 children's fantasy book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, including the quintessential 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer musical fantasy, The Wizard of Oz. With child star Judy Garland in the lead and a whimsical story complemented by delightful musical numbers,...

Warning: spoilers for various horror movies.

Some horror movies reveal their villain early on, either discreetly or explicitly, setting the stage for the characters' quest for survival. The villains in movies like I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Craft were set up from the beginning, with their true intentions gradually revealed throughout the story. In films like The Exorcist and A Nightmare on Elm Street, the presence of the villain is established in the opening minutes, making their impact on the story immediate and chilling.

The point of many horror movies is to keep the audience guessing who’s the real evil force messing with the characters, but some movies actually reveal their villain right away in different ways and with different results. In order to keep the suspense going from beginning to end, some horror movies don’t have a clear villain, as is the case for Final Destination,...

American Beauty (1999)A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter’s best friend.Rating: 8.3/10Stars: Kevin Spacey (Lester Burnham), Annette Bening (Carolyn Burnham), Thora Birch (Jane Burnham), Wes Bentley (Ricky Fitts)20th Century Women (2017)The story of a teenage boy, his mother, and...

Graphic: Images: IMDBAmerican Beauty (1999)

A sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter’s best friend.

Rating: 8.3/10

Stars: Kevin Spacey (Lester Burnham), Annette Bening (Carolyn Burnham), Thora Birch (Jane Burnham), Wes Bentley (Ricky Fitts)

20th Century Women (2017)

The story of a teenage boy, his mother,...

The great irony of Halloween is that in subjecting ourselves to scares of the kitschy seasonal-grocery-aisle variety, we somehow inoculate ourselves, for a moment, the Irl horrors that so consistently plague us each day online in the news each day. But horror movies and other October-end entertainments aren’t necessarily always simply a distraction. Just as often they’re an honest expression of universal human anxieties, dressed up in a foul-smelling rubber mask from the ad-hoc aisles of your local Spirit Halloween retail outlet.

Why we love it: October is the ideal and most obvious time to revisit Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though each Halloween episode of the series is wonderful in its own way (shout-out to sexy-ghost Willow), it’s “Fear, Itself” that I still watch every year. The Scooby Gang finds themselves trapped inside a fraternity house of horrors, as fear demon “Gachnar” exploits their deepest anxieties I...

The Craft explores the reality of witchcraft and the power of rituals, spells, and incantations, with an emphasis on accuracy and respect for Wiccan subject matter. The girls form a coven and perform a ritual to harness their combined powers, but their individual spells have negative consequences that lead to dangerous and unexpected outcomes. The film features various spells, including a revenge spell that causes someone's hair to fall out, a love spell that leads to obsession and attempted sexual abuse, and a beauty spell that heals scars but transforms a character's personality.

The Craft has become a cult classic from the teen horror genre, and most of the witchcraft, spells, and rituals seen throughout the movie are rooted in reality. In 1996, director Andrew Fleming brought The Craft, which introduced the audience to four outcast teenage girls with magical abilities: Nancy (Fairuza Balk), Sarah (Robin Tunney), Bonnie (Neve Campbell), and...

The Craft, a 1996 cult classic, was filmed all over Los Angeles County to create its iconic scenes. Filming at a real airport was challenging due to crowd control, transportation, and chaotic environments. Locations such as Verdugo Hills High School, Chateau Bradbury Estates, El Adobe Market, Leo Carrillo State Beach, and Harbor Place Tower were used to bring the fictional Los Angeles setting to life.

The 1996 instant cult classic The Craft follows four outcasts as they navigate new-found witchy powers and adolescence in Los Angeles, but where was it actually filmed? When Sarah, Nancy, Bonnie, and Rochelle—played by Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, and Rachel True respectively— come together after discovering they possess supernatural powers. Released by Columbia Pictures, The Craft was shot all over Los Angeles County to create its iconic scenes.

Finding locations proved difficult for the production due to the unique needs of the movie, prompting...

The 1996 American film The Craft has an excellent cast which has gone on to feature in a multitude of movies and TV shows since its release. The Craft follows four outcast teen girls with supernatural abilities who come together to form a coven and take revenge on the people who have wronged them. The film did surprisingly well at the box office, grossing over $50 million against its $15 million budget, and it has since become a cult classic. Though it did not win any major awards, the film received mostly positive reviews from critics and was a hit with audiences.

Part of the reason for The Craft's continued interest is its outstanding cast. The film's four stars, Robin Tunney, Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell, and Rachel True, carry the load, but the rest of the film's actors put in solid performances as well. The Craft is also one of the scariest...

Clockwise from top left: The Craft (Columbia Pictures), Malignant (Warner Bros. Pictures), Enys Men (British Film Institute), How To Blow Up A Pipeline (Neon)Photo: The A.V. Club

It’s the last full month of summer and Hulu is here to help you escape the heat with some refreshing new titles and genre favorites.

Something that has been largely forgotten in the Walt Disney Pictures library is 1985's Return to Oz. If you are a millennial and you grew up in the 80s, you should know about this movie, despite the fact that it bombed hard at the box office. The story works as a spiritual sequel to the original The Wizard of Oz (1939). Making her film debut, Fairuza Balk, just 10 years old during filming, stars as the curious Kansas girl Dorothy, who is sent to a sanatorium to help her get rid of her dreams of Oz that have haunted her ever since she returned from the land. When Dorothy escapes from the sanatorium, she falls into a stream and floats to the magical land of...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

This article contains spoilers

Long before horror got truly meta, the ’80s were dishing up a constant supply of movies to feed the demand of an audience who just couldn’t get enough, and the VHS boom provided video stores with a way to make some serious money out of the exploding genre, pulling in punters with over-the-top cover art that promised incredible scenes of monsters, gore, and killers galore.

These days, we groan when a character goes to check out a mysterious noise from down in the basement or in the woods, but this kinda standard stuff was often the bread and butter of the genre back then. Still, it’s not always a loud music sting or a brutal slashing that’s the most effective at getting under your skin, and the ’80s really understood that. It was a decade where the right kind of terrifying scene could...

2000's Almost Famous was a critically acclaimed and beloved classic on release. It remains on many "Great Films" lists, an iconic picture in many ways for its visuals and narrative twists, and one of the most well-liked '70s rock 'n' roll throwbacks. But what few reviews of the movie talk about is the film's noticeable streak of feminism. While told from a male perspective and set in the highly macho rock 'n' roll environment, Almost Famous is nonetheless a film about a feminist point of view being championed and vindicated through both the female characters and the male ones.

Almost Famous follows William Miller (Patrick Fugit), a teen rock fan who ends up joining the fictional rock band Stillwater on tour to write an article for Rolling Stone about them. He comes from a controlling but well-meaning mother, Elaine (Frances McDormand), who fears for his safety in the world of rock,...

There is no lack of new movies to stream in February on the various major streamers, as blockbusters, dramas and underrated gems from 2022 all land on a combination of Netflix, Disney+, Paramount+, HBO Max, Peacock, Prime Video and Hulu in February. Not only that, but newly added library titles include Oscar winners, ’90s favorites and movies guaranteed to bring a smile to you face. Quite literally whatever mood you’re in, we’ve got a curated pick just for you.

Below, we’ve assembled a list of some of the best new movies to stream in February 2023. So thumb through, make a selection, and bookmark this page to come back throughout the month on your movie nights!

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” Marvel Studios

Disney+ — Feb. 1

The sequel to 2018’s zeitgeist-capturing “Black Panther” was always going to be difficult to pull off. After all, the tragic passing of Chadwick Boseman in...

After years toiling in obscurity, two beloved icons, Brendan Fraser and Ke Huy Quan, launched major comebacks this year with The Whale and Everything Everywhere All At Once. In light of their recent Oscar nominations, we thought it would be fun to brainstorm a list of other stars we think are overdue for a comeback.

Tia Carrere Photo courtesy of Emilie Black

While technically, she’s been around without a break in her career, her parts over the last decade and more have been mostly voice work and guest appearances on television shows and in lower budget movies. Her work is always stellar and her presence online during the pandemic was a breath of fresh air. Her Aloha Friday live posts were something that kept many in a positive mood. Anyone who has met her will most likely say the same thing, she’s a joy to meet and absolutely fantastic.

Writer/director Cameron Crowe's semi-autobiographical 2000 film "Almost Famous" captures the magical allure of the music industry, complete with the diehard artists and fans who dedicate their lives to it. Kate Hudson stars in the movie as Penny Lane, a young blonde woman who bewitches the up-and-coming band Stillwater, along with the wide-eyed, impressionable young reporter covering their journey (Patrick Fugit's William Miller), while the band is on tour in 1973. In the film, she explains that she isn't a groupie. Lane clarifies, "Groupies sleep with rock stars because they want to be near someone famous. We are here because of the music, we inspire the music. We are band-aides." 

The traditionally judgmental perspective of what a groupie entails is explored through Lane's passion for the music, freedom of living on the road, and learning to love without commitment despite still facing heartbreak. She's a complicated character with complicated beliefs,...

The Craft was a formative experience for many spooky young people of the 1990s, and its appeal has endured in the 16 years since its initial release, even spawning a sequel in The Craft: Legacy. The central antagonist of the film, Nancy, is often portrayed as the villain of the film. Played expertly by Fairuza Balk in a career defining performance, Nancy is the poster girl for 90s badness. She is the mean girl bully, the bad girl to protagonist Sarah's (Robin Tunney) good. This perspective allows us to root for Sarah and revile Nancy, giving an easily digestible narrative. But what if we looked at Nancy differently? Instead of a villain, what if she was a victim, of both toxic teen culture and wider socioeconomic systems designed to keep her in her place?...

A cult classic and horror favorite, The Craft remains a legendary work of witchy cinema to this day. Who could forget the hypnotic powers of Nancy Downs (Fairuza Balk), the natural gifts of Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney), or the hundreds of dead sharks washed up on the shore after their summoning ritual? However, there is a missed opportunity in the case of Rochelle (played by Rachel True), the quiet third of the girl’s coven. Rochelle’s character arc has the potential to run deeper than The Craft initially portrays. Despite the fact she ultimately becomes enmeshed in the storylines of Sarah and Nancy, Rochelle's potential as a major character exists strongly throughout the film. By way of her racial identity, narrative conflicts, and connection to witchcraft, Rochelle could have easily been a strong and representative character on The Craft. And, even a worthy rival of Sarah and Nancy.

(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)

The Movie: "Return to Oz" (1985)

Where You Can Stream It: Disney+

The Pitch: Dorothy Gale (Fairuza Balk) is back home in bucolic Kansas with her loving family, having survived the terrible tornado that took her "somewhere over the rainbow" ... and yet, all is far from well. Concerned by her insistence the Land of Oz and its citizens truly exist, Dorothy's relatives decide to take her to a mental institution to receive treatment for her apparent delusions.

After fleeing from the hospital one night with the aid of a mysterious girl, Dorothy awakens the next morning to find herself in Oz once more. In her absence, however, the realm has been taken over and laid to ruin by the despotic Nome...

Whatever you've heard about the notorious filming of the 1996 science fiction film, The Island of Dr. Moreau, it's probably true. Well, maybe not everything, but the fateful tales from the shoot of H.G. Wells's classic novel still echo around the darker corners of the movie-making industry. The project appeared to have enormous promise. The headliner was Val Kilmer, fresh off the successes of Tombstone (1993) and Batman Forever two years later. It also had the legendary Marlon Brando set to fill the titular role of the hybridizing mad scientist. There were even quixotic visions of a reprisal of his haunting performance as Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now decades earlier. Throw in some up-and-coming talent like David Thewlis and Fairuza Balk to round out the cast, and it looked like you had, at the very least, a good summer movie in the offing, right? Not exactly. The project never had a chance,...

Josh Olson shares his top 10 movies from his favorite movie year, 1992, with Joe Dante.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)

Star Wars (1977)

Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)

After Dark, My Sweet (1990)

The Last Of The Mohicans (1992)

Thief (1981) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

Manhunter (1986) – Josh Olson’s trailer commentary

The Last Of The Mohicans (1936)

The Player (1992) – Allan Arkush’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Popeye (1980)

Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976) – Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Quintet (1979)

​HealtH (1980)

Come Back To the Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982)

Secret Honor (1984)

The Graduate (1967) – Neil Labute’s trailer commentary, Glenn Erickson’s Criterion Blu-ray review

Touch Of Evil (1958) – Howard Rodman’s trailer commentary, Randy Fuller’s wine pairings, Glenn Erickson’s Blu-ray review

Dead Alive a.k.a. Braindead (1992) – Mike Mendez’s trailer commentary

Meet The Feebles (1989) – Mike Mendez’s...

Hello, dear readers! This week’s batch of horror and sci-fi home media releases has a lot of fun offerings, both new and old. If you’re looking to catch up on some recent genre entertainment, there are plenty of options headed to both Blu-ray and DVD this Tuesday, including Wyrmwood: Apocalypse, Death Valley, Kicking Blood, and Slasher: Flesh and Bone. Scream Factory is also giving both The Craft and Escape From New York the 4K treatment this week, and if you’re looking for some cult titles, both Girls Nite Out and Without Warning are headed to Blu-ray on May 17th as well.

The Craft: Collector’s Edition 4K

Sarah has always been different. So as the newcomer at St. Benedict's Academy, she immediately falls in with high school outsiders. But there's something different about her new friends, and it's not just that they won't settle for being a group of powerless misfits.

Exclusive: Paramount Pictures is in early development on an untitled H.G. Wells project from Wes Ball’s OddBall Entertainment, under its Paramount Players label.

While specific information on the Wells novel at its center hasn’t been disclosed, we hear that it will be a very loose adaptation stemming from the “mythology” that surrounds one of the writer’s most iconic titles. The film’s logline is being kept under wraps. A director has not yet been attached.

Rising screenwriter Laura Gillis is writing the screenplay, based off of a previous incarnation by T.S. Nowlin. OddBall Entertainment’s Ball, Joe Hartwick Jr. and Hank Wyler will produce, under their first-look deal with the studio, alongside Nowlin.

Wells is the iconic English sci-fi writer known for novels including The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man and The War of the Worlds,...

Exclusive: Ash Avildsen’s Sumerian Records & Films, which is looking to increase its film and TV footprint, has acquired independent comic book publisher and gaming company Behemoth Entertainment.

In their first year, Behemoth sold more than 500,000 books and is currently eighth in total market share among English-language comic book publishers in revenue generated. Their title You Promised Me Darkness #1 is the best-selling black and white debut issue since 2013’s Batman: Black and White #1.

On the movie side, the company published the comic for acclaimed Iranian vampire romance film A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival. It also published the comic series for Netflix’s French-Japanese animated sci-fi title Mfkz, and in partnership with Ubisoft, Behemoth published the series Watch Dogs: Legion based on the video game.

Behemoth has comic distribution through both Lunar and Diamond, as well as Simon & Schuster for books. The...

The ruthless vigilante girl gang at the center of “Asking for It” is introduced to the audience mainly through still photos. Each member has their name splashed across the screen, followed by a quick cut of candy-coated, provocative images — Regina (Alexandra Shipp) licks the sharp blade of a knife, Beatrice (Vanessa Hudgens) models before a glittery background, Sal (Radha Mitchell) leans on a car wearing aviators and a menacing glare. These snapshots seem to imply that they’ve been in the game for a while, their fierce poses standing in for any semblance of character building. Their pasts are less important than their present mission — to reap violent revenge against the men who have sexually assaulted them and their fellow gang members.

Now, the women, who work, play and fight the patriarchy together on a compound in rural Oklahoma, have decided to zero in and destroy the alt-right men’s rights leader Mark Vanderhill,...