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The Divine Tragedies 2nd Trailer Released

March 17, 2015 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Los Angeles, California: Producers and brothers Jon and James Kondelik have revealed more from their “serial killer fever dream” The Divine Tragedies. The second trailer for the film shows more of the film’s story and more of the plot’s central conflict. Two psychotic brothers have plans to pull off the perfect murder. But, Detective Homer Gaul (Ken Foree) has other plans for the brothers as seen in this exclusive clip.

The Divine Tragedies has already played before audiences, to rave reviews. Matt Boiselle, of DreadCentral.com, has said of the film’s energy: “Ferocious…one of the better films in sometime.” As well, the film fan site Ain’t It Cool News also has something to say of the film’s writing: “one of the most original and entertaining films I’ve seen in ages.” Some of the inherent quality within The Divine Tragedies can be seen in the second trailer, found here.

Shot by director Jose Prendes (The Haunting of Whaley House), the second trailer also reveals more of the film’s surreal shooting style. Full of dark and bloody imagery, the second trailer invites horror fans into a disturbing ride to murder and madness.

Ancient Shadows (Book Review)

March 14, 2015 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Joanne Pence, award-winning, USA Today best-selling author, will have her latest book Ancient Shadows released on March 18, 2015. Her reputation aside, Pence has a very disciplined manner of writing, which is quite rare. Her tone is clear and concise while she creatively blends in descriptions that are very important for the imagination of the reader.

For those familiar with Pence’s previous novel, Ancient Echoes, will note that Ancient Shadows has the same protagonist, however it is a standalone novel in its own right.

One by one, a horror film director, a judge, and a newspaper publisher meet brutal deaths. A link exists between them, and the deaths have only begun…

The story follows a middle-aged, ex-archeologist called Michael Rempart and his rather secluded life in Florence. After a dying priest pays him a visit and gives him what Michael later finds to be a philosopher’s stone, his peaceful existence gets severely disrupted. While he attempts to come to terms with his fate, several other strange things start to occur. The stone, which holds tremendous power, is the only way to end the strange onslaughts.

Following the instructions from the priest, Michael makes his way to The Old Silk Road where the stone has to be replaced in order stop the work of ancient demons. Given his connection with a long line of alchemists, Michael is caught unprepared to face a danger he never anticipated. Ultimately he has to fight a history that doesn’t just involve his own demons, but also those sent from pure evil.

Ancient Shadows is a very creative mixture between suspense, horror and a little drama. The research, logic and authority the book was written with never leaves the reader in any doubt. For those who aren’t history fanatics it‘s going to be challenging to make a distinction between fact and fiction. From the first page through to the last, Pence shows a confidence in her ability and her story.

Readers who like more suspense and action rather than blood and gore will love Ancient Shadows. Pence has a very clean style and in some cases it might be too clean for hardcore horror fans. Everything is prim and proper regarding vocabulary and precision. Even though her “surprise plot” deliveries are perfectly done, the overall feel leans more towards Danielle Steele as opposed to Stephen King.

Some readers might find the tone a little cold and disconnected, but this is just a matter of personal taste and doesn’t really speak to the writer. This is usually a natural result when such technical gift is involved. From a personal point of view, it’s nice that Pence didn’t hesitate to get into the story too quickly. Despite the fact that the book is somewhat mid-paced the story unfolds rather quickly. There is no point where the author seemed rushed due to the need to finish the book, and once again it shows the great control she has.

Anybody who can appreciate a more traditional approach to writing rather than an artistic style should find Ancient Shadows very entertaining. It’s pure quality from start to finish. The hero might be a little too clean-cut and the story lightly touches Hollywood melodrama, but that is what makes the book so inviting for an array of readers. On the horror scale it falls a little short, but it’s definitely worth reading.

Reviewed by Damnetha Jules
Damnetha is a staff writer, horror book and movie critic.

Joanne Pence is an award-winning and USA Today best-selling author of mysteries, historical fiction, romance, fantasy, and most recently, horror. Born and raised in San Francisco, she has been a journalist, analyst for the Federal government, taught school in Japan, and now makes her home in the foothills north of Boise, Idaho, with her husband, two dogs, four cats, and a peacock who showed up one day and refuses to leave. www.joannepence.com

Also by Joanne Pence:
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Horror TV Shows 2015

March 14, 2015 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Here is a list and overview of the Horror shows on TV in 2015

American Horror Story: Season 5 – Hotel

American Horror Story’s fifth season is set to air on FX in October 2015. The upcoming season will follow AHS: Season 4 – Freakshow and is set to contain 13 episodes. It’s been announced on February 25, 2015, that this season will be entitled, “American Horror Story: Hotel”, and one confirmed cast member so far will be Lady Gaga, but her role has not yet been disclosed.

Ash vs. Evil Dead

Ash vs. Evil Dead is a show set in the aftermath of the Evil Dead Franchise, which included Army of Darkness. This series takes place 30 years subsequent to the events that took place in the Evil Dead series and features, Ash (Bruce Campell), as a solitary man living a peaceful existence, but still unable to sort out the events of what began in the cabin featured in Evil Dead. His past is about to be relived so not only does he have to deal with those events, but he has to face the events to come! The series will air on Starz. A release date has not yet been disclosed, but it has been stated that it will likely be in the latter part of 2015.

Bates Motel: Season 3

Bates Motel serves as prequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 film, Psycho, and illustrates the lives of Norman Bates and his mother, Norma Bates, during Norman’s youth. However, the show is set in the fictional town, White Pine Bay, Oregon, and not Fairvale, California, where Norman lives in the film, Psycho. The series begins after the untimely death of Norman’s father when Norma decides to purchase and operate a motel in White Pine Bay. The family relocates to the large house on the grounds of the hotel. The show will premier its third season on March 9, 2015 on A&E.

Bitten

Bitten, a Canadian TV series based on the Women of the Otherworld book series, airs on Syfy. The plot focuses on Elena Michaels, a lady werewolf torn between her human life and her life as werewolf in New York State. On May 22, 2014, Bitten was renewed for a second season that is set to contain 10 episodes.

Grimm

Grimm debuted in the United States on NBC on October 28, 2011. The show is set in a dark fantasy world with elements of a police drama and features many characters inspired by Grimms’ Fairy Tales. The show is set in modern Portland, Oregon and is centered around Nick Burkhardt, a homicide detective who sees a young lady turn into an ugly old hag one day. He subsequently finds out that he is one of the last Grimms, a long line of hunters whose purpose is to maintain a whole hots of dangerous supernatural creatures called Wesen.

Hannibal

Hannibal is a series based on characters featured in the novel, “Red Dragon”, written by Thomas Harris and centers around a relationship between FBI special investigator, Will Graham, and Dr. Hannibal Lecter, a forensic psychiatrist, who will become Graham’s most conniving adversary, but at first, works with him to solve crimes. Graham is tortured by his empathic ability to identify with serial killers and can see crimes committed by them through their own eyes. Filming for Season 3 commenced on October 20, 2014 and the series is set to air in the summer of 2015.

Haven

Haven is loosely based on Stephen King’s novel, “The Colorado Kid”. Haven focuses on odd and unusual occurrences in the fictional town of Haven, Maine. The main characters on the show, Audrey Parker, Narthan Wurnos, and Duke Crocker, battle to assist citizens of the town who experience supernatural afflictions and to guard the town from the effects of said afflictions. On January 28, 2014, the show was renewed for a 26 episode fifth season, which will be split into two segments. One aired in 2014 and the second half in set to air in 2015.

iZombie

A loose adaptation of the comic book series, iZombie is a new CW show that will premiere on March 17, 2015. Liv Moore is the main character in the series, who is a conscientious medical resident with her whole life figured out until one evening she goes to a party and never anticipated that she would leave that party as a girl who is part zombie since the party was filled with hungry zombies who infected her. She secures employment at a coroner’s office, because not only is she a medical resident, but she needs brains to eat so she can continue to live. A surprising side effect of eating brains for her is that she can experience the memories of the deceased, which aids her to solve homicides.

Penny Dreadful

Penny Dreadful premiered the Showtime on May 11, 2014. The title refers to the “penny dreadfuls”, a brand of inexpensive 19th-century British fiction publications flavored with vivid, shocking material. The series features numerous notable characters featured in popular 19th-century Irish and British fiction such as Dorian Gray, Mina Harker, Abraham Van Helsing, and Victor Frankenstein and his monster. The show has been renewed for 2015 and is set to air for ten episodes beginning on May 3, 2015.

Supernatural

Supernatural features the Winchester Brothers, Sam and Winchester, who are hunters of demons, ghosts, monsters, and other supernatural creatures in a contemporary human world. The series is presently showing a tenth season. In January 2015, the CW renewed the show for an eleventh season.

Teen Wolf

Teen Wolf is an MTV series loosely based on the 1985 film, Teen Wolf. Scott, the main character on the show, is bitten and infected by a werewolf and must deal with his new life as a werewolf and how it affects him and those around him. The fifth season of Teen Wolf was renewed for a fifth season, which is set to contain 20 episodes and is anticipated to premiere in June 2015.

The Originals

This spin-off series of The Vampire Diaries centers around the Mikaelson siblings, Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah. The initial show depicts the siblings coming back to New Orleans for the first time since 1919. As the original builders of the city, the three were forced to run from the city due to their vindictive father. When they were gone, Klaus’s protege, Marcel, took over the city. Klaus makes a decision that he has to take back the city from Marcel that once belonged to him and his siblings. However, there is a war rising between the vampires, werewolves, and the witches in the town that he must consider.

The Returned

Based on a French TV series, Les Revnants, which was broadcasted globally. The Returned is set to premier on March 9, 2015, in America. The series depicts the lives of citizens in a small town who are experiencing the apparent resurrection of the deceased from their deaths. Season 1 of the Returned will run for ten episodes.

The Vampire Diaries

The Vampire Diaries is based on a series of books of the same name and premiered on The CW, September 10, 2009. The setting of the show is Mystic Falls, Virginia, a fictional town filled with supernatural beings. Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev), a town resident falls deeply in love with a vampire, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley), and as a result, gains knowledge of this hidden supernatural world taking place all around her. The CW renewed the series for a seventh season on January 11, 2015.

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is based on the comic book, “The Walking Dead”. The series stars Andrew Lincoln (Sheriff Deputy, Rick Grimes), who comes out of a coma only to discover he is living in a post-apocalyptic world that has been taken over by zombies who feast of the flesh of living humans. He seeks his family and encounters multiple other survivors while he is looking for them. The show premiered globally in early November, 2010 on Fox International Channels. On October 7, 2014, AMC renewed the popular show for a sixth season.

Lady Gaga Checking into “Hotel” on American Horror Story

March 1, 2015 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

For all the American Horror Story fans out there, Season 5 will proceed this fall as expected and will be entitled, “Hotel”, but the most anticipated feature of the upcoming season is the presence of Lady Gaga among the cast. This will be Lady Gaga’s first major television role as an actress though she has starred in cameos such as in Men in Black 3, Machete Kills, The Sopranos, and Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For.

Further, she has previously done work alongside Ryan Murphy, who is one of the creators of the popular horror TV show surrounding the use of her songs on Glee in 2010 and appeared on some unscripted TV shows, including, So You Think You Can Dance, American Idol, and the XFactor.

You can check out Lady Gaga’s tweet on Twitter regarding American Horror Story’s Season 5, “Hotel” on her Twitter profile, where she shares a teaser trailer for the next season of AHS in October, 2015! Gaga is the first confirmed member of the popular FX show’s next season as the rest of the details have remained a secret.

We can only speculate about the appearance of top stars on the show, especially Jessica Lange, Lily Rabe, Evan Peters, and Sarah Paulson. I guess their involvement in the show remains to be seen. I know I can’t wait for the next incarnation of American Horror Story this fall and will patiently wait for the details to unfold.

We can also only speculate about the subject matter taking place in the hotel featured in the show’s next season and perhaps even how the parallels between the seasons may be further linked in the manner we’ve seen with Dr. Arden, who was a psychiatrist in AHS: Season 2, “Asylum” and in “Freakshow” as Elsa’s tormentor as well as in the case of Pepper, who was an inmate in AHS: Season 2, “Asylum”, as one of the freak’s in AHS: Season 4, “Freakshow”. Since we’ve seen at least two links between Season 2 and 4, maybe we can expect more links to be revealed in the next season.

Rapid Fire Comedy Clown

February 25, 2015 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

A classic clown face only visible to the victim forms the center of the picture. From the back of his head comes a glimmering light, most likely indicating the effects associated with dying. The chambers of the guns are still glowing after releasing a rain of bullets, an obviously pleasant experience for the hooded killer.

This pencil based drawing has a deliberate adolescent appearance. The fictional/cartoon style brings out the childish obsession of playing with real guns without the fear of consequence, but at the same time there is sophistication within the lines. The shadows are presented as rough and impulsive, although a deeper look reveals the strategic spacing between the lines, their singular direction and the sections where they are placed took some planning.

The basic approach and the lack of detail in the picture reveals the basic needs of the character, which is to intimidate and kill. There is just enough substance to proclaim his sick smile and insane eyes, but not enough to positively identify him in a police lineup.