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As the nights grow longer and the air turns crisp, it’s the perfect time to settle in with some of the best spooky films ever made. From eerie silent classics to modern horror hits, spooky cinema has evolved across decades, yet each era has its own spine-tingling gems. Whether you love atmospheric terror or heart-pounding scares, here’s a journey through the best films from the 1920s to today that will give you chills. Things to do: Subscribe to The Hollywood Insider’s YouTube Channel, by clicking here. Limited Time Offer – Free Subscription to The Hollywood Insider Click here to read more on The Hollywood Insider’s vision, values and mission statement here – Media has the responsibility to better our world – The Hollywood Insider fully focuses on substance and meaningful entertainment, against gossip and scandal, by combining entertainment, education, and philanthropy. 1920s - 1980s ‘The Haunting’ (1963) Cast: Julie Harris,...

A few months ago, I wrote an article listing ten movies that – despite being well known – were difficult to find (legally) on any streaming service or even on disc. Those titles ranged from Ron Howard’s Cocoon to movies like Dawn of the Dead (the original). In the comments, many of our readers chimed in with their two cents on films they’ve found difficult to find over the years, so here are a few more challenging-to-find flicks, some of which may surprise you.

Panic Room:

The fact that David Fincher’s Panic Room has never been issued on Blu-ray blows me away. It’s been announced a few times, but a physical release never seems to happen (although you can stream it in HD pretty easily). What gives? You’d think the fact that it has Fincher’s name on it, and stars Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, Forest Whitaker,...

Kurt Russell has been doing the press rounds for the Godzilla series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, and if there’s one thing that this press tour has made very clear, it’s the fact that people loves to talk to Russell about John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing (watch or buy it Here). The latest ones to bring up The Thing him were the folks at GQ, and this time Russell took the opportunity to reveal that he wasn’t a fan of the sombrero Carpenter had his character MacReady wear.

Russell told GQ (with thanks to Syfy Wire for the transcription of the video), “I went into wardrobe … and when I was in there, I noticed, sitting over on this chair by itself, was this enormous sombrero. And finally, at some point, I said to the wardrobe person, ‘What’s the deal with the sombrero?’ And they said, ‘Oh,...

For 41 years, people have been discussing and debating the ending of John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing (watch or buy it Here). People who worked on the movie can’t even seem to agree on what was happening in the final scene. Cinematographer Dean Cundey thought he had given away the answer, but then Carpenter came in and said Cundey had “no clue” what he was talking about. So the mystery remains. And for star Kurt Russell, it’s fun to hear that people are still talking about that ending.

Russell is currently doing the press rounds for the Godzilla series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, and the ending of The Thing came up during his interview on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. Russell said (with thanks to Screen Rant for the transcription), “We talked about that, the ending of that movie, John and I, for a long, long time. We...

Mondo has started accepting pre-orders for their incredible 1/6 scale figure based on the MacReady character from director John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing (watch or buy it Here) – and if you want to secure your own deluxe Timed Edition of this figure, which comes with exclusive dog and spider-head creatures, you should head over to MondoShop.com and make your pre-order right now! The pre-order for the Timed Edition only lasts for ten days, ending Friday the 10th at 11:59 Pm Ct. After that, it’s gone forever! Images of the figure can be seen at the bottom of this article.

Carpenter directed The Thing from a screenplay by Bill Lancaster, which was based on John W. Campbell Jr.’s 1938 novella Who Goes There? (You can find out more about the adaptation Here.) The film has the following synopsis: In remote Antarctica, a group of American research scientists are disturbed...

Legendary filmmaker John Carpenter is currently doing the press rounds to promote his TV series Suburban Screams, which is available to watch on the Peacock streaming service. (You can read our review of Suburban Screams Here). A lot of interviewers are taking this opportunity to ask Carpenter questions about his 1982 classic The Thing (watch or buy it Here) – and The Late Show host Stephen Colbert was no different. When Carpenter recently appeared on The Late Show, Colbert revealed that The Thing may be his favorite movie and that he considers the film to be his “happy place”. You can watch Carpenter and Colbert discuss The Thing for several minutes in the video embedded at the bottom of this article.

When asked about the famous ending of the movie and whether or not there’s an “absolute answer” to who is or isn’t “the thing” at the end of the film,...

The Thing (1982)A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.Rating: 8.2/10Stars: Kurt Russell (MacReady), Wilford Brimley (Dr. Blair), Keith David (Childs), Richard Masur (Clark)Halloween (1978)Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes from a...

Graphic: Images: IMDBThe Thing (1982)

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

Rating: 8.2/10

Stars: Kurt Russell (MacReady), Wilford Brimley (Dr. Blair), Keith David (Childs), Richard Masur (Clark)

Halloween (1978)

Fifteen years after murdering his sister on Halloween night 1963, Michael Myers escapes...

We’re forty-one years down the line from the release of John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing (watch or buy it Here), and fans are still wondering what exactly was going on with the last two characters in the final scene of the film. Of course, Carpenter knows – and he says that he’s the only one who knows. While cinematographer Dean Cundey has previously said that he specifically lit the scene to indicate which of the two characters had or hadn’t been assimilated by “the thing”, Carpenter refuted his claim during an interview with ComicBook.com, saying that Cundey “has no clue” what was going on in that moment.

Cundey presented what fans refer to as the “eye gleam theory”. He said that the characters were lit in a specific way throughout the movie so that the ones who were still human would have a gleam of light in their eyes.

SAG-AFTRA national president Fran Drescher stopped off at multiple picket lines in New York on Thursday to rally the members of the guild as their strike continues.

“I just want to say I am so grateful for your enthusiasm and your commitment to this strike,” Drescher told the pickets outside HBO’s New York offices. “It means everything. It’s so important that we stay united. It is essential that we hold firm and stand tall because this is a seminal negotiation. We cannot go back to the way things were. Too much has changed. They have to wake up and smell the coffee!”

SAG-AFTRA has been on strike since July 14 after the guild and the AMPTP, which represents the major Hollywood studios and streamers, failed to come to terms on a new contract. Drescher was joined on the picket line by SAG-AFTRA’s New York Local president Ezra Knight...

SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher joined the picket lines in New York on Thursday, armed with a new slogan that suggested the actors will not back down.

“We’re in it to win it. And our new hashtag is, ‘Yield to Our Deal,’” Drescher said.

Speaking in front of the Netflix offices near Union Square, and flanked by former SAG presidents Melissa Gilbert and Richard Masur, Drescher urged the gathered union members to keep up their morale as the strike goes on, while touching on key issues such as residuals and the use of artificial intelligence.

“We have to keep up our resolve. We are not going to back down. We are not going to be stepped on anymore for CEO greed and Wall Street greed at our expense when they can’t do it without us,” Drescher said.

“We are the foundation of the wheel. Nobody can own our likeness,...

When Dylan Guerra, a WGA strike captain who worked on the final season of “The Other Two,” read that the the AMPTP was willing to drag the strike out until October, his initial response was a single question: “What the f–k?”

That degree of shock and outrage has been a common response across both coasts as members of WGA and SAG-AFTRA reacted to a controversial story from Deadline. The report, published last week, quoted an anonymous studio executive who told the publication “the endgame is to allow things to drag on until union members start losing their apartments and losing their houses,” with another insider calling the strategy “a cruel but necessary evil.”

Publicly, the story has been refuted by the AMPTP, which released a statement saying, “These unnamed people named in the Deadline story are not speaking on behalf of our companies who are committed to reaching a...

Among the many sticking points at the heart of SAG-AFTRA and the WGA’s battles for new contracts is the role of artificial intelligence, as it continues to develop. For Marvel star Clark Gregg, keeping that role limited feels a bit like “we’re fighting to keep the soul in the art form” of acting.

Speaking to TheWrap on Day 1 of SAG joining the WGA on strike, Gregg said that, for him, “AI is the scariest” issue, simply because there’s no way to know exactly what it’s going to become or how it will be utilized.

“To have fundamental things like your likeness — when you do a, let’s just say a genre movie, maybe in a superhero universe, there are intense scans done of you all over,” Gregg explained, near the picket lines at Amazon Studios in Los Angeles. “And you know, at some point, they’re...

Legendary director John Carpenter first worked with the great character actor Keith David on his 1982 film The Thing (watch or buy it Here), which has gone on to earn a reputation as being one of the best horror movies ever made. Six years later, they collaborated again on the cult classic sci-fi thriller They Live (watch it Here)… and then, apparently, they went thirty-five years without seeing each other in person. Recently, they finally crossed paths again – and David marked the occasion by sharing a picture of their reunion on social media. You can check it out at the bottom of this article.

David didn’t provide any information on what brought them back together. Carpenter did recently reveal that he has directed a TV series called Suburban Screams, which filmed in Prague while he directed it from the comfort of his own home. It didn’t require much movement,...

Those awesome collectible-makers at Neca have announced that they’re releasing a new action figure inspired by a sequence in John Carpenter‘s 1982 sci-fi horror classic The Thing (watch or buy it Here), which is widely considered to be one of the greatest horror movies ever made. The new The Thing collectible from Neca is a 7″ action figure based on the hideous Dog Creature! This figure is expected to start shipping out in September, and you can take a look at images of its various looks at the bottom of this article.

Carpenter directed The Thing from a screenplay by Bill Lancaster, which was based on John W. Campbell Jr.’s 1938 novella Who Goes There?, which has previously been brought to the screen as the 1951 film The Thing from Another World. Carpenter’s film has the following synopsis: In remote Antarctica, a group of American research scientists are disturbed at...

Image Source: Getty / Frazer Harrison, Araya Doheny, Monica Schipper

Pennywise is breaking his 27-year curse and returning to Derry sooner than expected. Joining him are Taylour Paige, Jovan Adepo, Chris Chalk, and James Remar, who have all been added to the cast, Variety reported on April 5. Like many other details about the show, their specific roles are being kept under wraps.

HBO Max announced that an "It" prequel series titled "Welcome to Derry" was in the works on March 29, 2022, and officially gave it the green light on Feb. 23. The series, inspired by Stephen King's horror classic, will explore life in Derry leading up to Pennywise's tirade on the Losers Club before the razor-toothed killer clown's misdeeds led Georgie to his unfortunate fate in that rainy sewer drain.

However, there's a big caveat. On March 28, in an interview with Jake's Takes, Bill Skarsgård, who received critical acclaim for his role as Pennywise,...

John Carpenter's 1982 remake of "The Thing" is, like many of Carpenter's movies, possessed of a nihilistic streak. The titular Thing is a living mass of alien tissues, existing without form, able to invade a host, consume it, and replicate it down to its very brain functions. It can look and sound like anyone. The Thing doesn't appear to be intelligent and lives only to consume and perpetuate itself. Carpenter's film is set at a remote Antarctic outpost populated by bored, surly, mostly bearded men, tired of their isolated job and only barely staving off mind-crushing boredom. When the Thing infiltrates their ranks, paranoia immediately takes over, and the characters all begin suspecting one another. Only the stalwart pilot MacReady (Kurt Russell) holds it together enough to seek out the creature in a logical fashion.

By the end of the film, most of the outpost will be burned down, and...

John Carpenter's 1982 classic "The Thing" is considered one of the greatest horror movies ever. Filled with incredible special effects and a stellar ensemble cast, the loose adaptation of the novella "Who Goes There?" wasn't always the meticulously-paced treasure we celebrate today. In fact, at one point its director considered the work-in-progress to be a snooze in between the monster scenes.

The story is set at an Arctic research post and so a fair portion of the shoot happened on the Universal backlot in Los Angeles, on a couple of refrigerated sets that included the Norwegian station and the room with the ice block that once contained the deadly organism. With "The Thing from Another World" as a guide, Carpenter and the filmmaking team strived to make the sets appear as cold as possible with heavy air conditioning keeping the temperature around 40 degrees.

Richard Masur, who plays the dog handler Clark,...

Much has been made of "The Thing," John Carpenter's 1982 box office bomb-turned-genre darling. Whether it's Bill Lancaster's adapted script of John W. Campbell Jr.'s 1938 novella "Who Goes There?," Rob Bottin's gnarly special effects (with an assist from dog-Thing creature designer Stan Winston), or Carpenter's meticulous direction that's light on the jump scares and heavy on the dread, the result is now considered one of the great gargoyles in the horror movie pantheon. Though the story is about an alien organism infiltrating an Arctic research post, and though there are plenty of tentacles about, the narrative is largely character-driven as paranoia and mistrust grow among the isolated cadre of men, led by Kurt Russell's pilot, R.J. MacReady.

A 2016 LA Weekly interview with the cast and crew yields insights from the film's production. Therein, Carpenter called the shoot "intimidating," as he had to wrangle multiple accomplished actors — some of whom,...

This Wednesday brings the official start of winter in the Northern Hemisphere, and The Manson Brothers Show, which is hosted by the writers/stars of the horror comedy The Manson Brothers Midnight Zombie Massacre – Chris Margetis (Stone Manson) and Mike Carey (Skull Manson) – is here to mark the occasion with director John Carpenter’s 1982 classic The Thing (watch or buy it Here), which happens to be set during the first week of winter. To find out what the Manson Brothers have to say about The Thing, check out the video embedded above!

And yes, we know that since The Thing takes place in Antarctica that the “first week of winter” it depicts is actually happening in June, but just let us have our fun.

Carpenter directed The Thing from a screenplay by Bill Lancaster, which was based on John W. Campbell Jr.’s 1938 novella Who Goes There? (You can find...

We’re premiering a new series on the JoBlo Horror Originals YouTube channel today! This one is called Wtf Happened to This Adaptation? – and the show is getting started with a look back at one of the greatest horror movies ever made, director John Carpenter‘s 1982 classic The Thing (watch or buy it Here). The first episode of Wtf Happened to This Adaptation? is digging into The Thing to see how the film differs from the source material, John W. Campbell Jr.’s 1938 novella Who Goes There?, and the previous adaptation of the material, the 1951 film The Thing from Another World. Find out all about this adaptation by watching the video embedded above!

Carpenter directed The Thing from a screenplay by Bill Lancaster. The film has the following synopsis:

In remote Antarctica, a group of American research scientists are disturbed at their base camp by a helicopter shooting at a sled dog.

When John Carpenter’s The Thing hit theaters back in June 1982, the only thing scarier than the film were the reviews. Vincent Canby of The New York Times called it “instant junk” while Cinefantastique featured The Thing on one front cover alongside the question, “Is this the most hated movie of all time?”

Yet, if anything, the past 40 years has seen The Thing become one of the most beloved sci-fi horror movies of all time, influencing everything from Stranger Things to Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight. To paraphrase Die Hard 2, it was simply a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, with Carpenter’s sci-fi led gorefest arriving alongside Blade Runner on June 25 of its year, just a few weeks after the family friendly alien fun of E.T.

Thankfully, The Thing, also like Blade Runner, went on to enjoy a second life through...

Alex Cox attacks the Reagan years with a political tale sung in the key of the Italo Spaghetti Western: expect plenty of slow motion shots of stylish pistolero mercenaries fighting for the historical ‘filibuster’ William Walker. Look him up, he’s the patron saint of every neocon and would-be soldier of fortune. Everybody on this show goes the whole 9 yards in commitment, with Ed Harris in the lead — they filmed in Nicaragua. It may be director Cox’s finest film, packed with vivid images and surreal anachronisms — and a terrific music score by Joe Strummer.

Walker

Blu-ray

The Criterion Collection 423

1987 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 94 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date April 12, 2022 / 39.95

Starring: Ed Harris, Richard Masur, Rene Auberjonois, Xander Berkeley, Peter Boyle, Marlee Matlin, Alfonso Arau, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Gerrit Graham, William O’Leary, Blanca Guerra, Miguel Sandoval.

Cinematography: David Bridges

Production Designer: Bruno Rubeo

Art Directors: Cecilia Montiel, Jorge Sainz

Film Editors: Alex Cox,...

It was apparent that Robbie was going to come to a bad end.

At least it was a memorable one on Magnum P.I. Season 4 Episode 7.

It's too bad that Rick's Porsche had to go with him.

It's hard to fault Rick for being faithful to his friends/family. He has to be more selective about who those people are. As T.C. pointed out, first Icepick and now Robbie.

Sure, Robbie was there for Rick when they were younger. He took the fall for a crime they did together, and then Rick escaped into the military.

That should have earned Robbie a few nights on Rick's couch when he visited Hawaii, and all he eat could eat and drink at La Mariana.

It doesn't buy Robbie cover from an overly zealous FBI agent and a couple of bloodthirsty Albanians. He should have hopped a freighter a whole lot sooner and disappeared overseas.

Before there was the popular two-part horror film franchise “It,” a 1990 mini-series featuring Tim Curry as the child-eating clown Pennywise scared the bejesus out of a generation of television watchers.

“Pennywise: The Story of It,” offers up a behind-the-scenes look at the making of that earlier adaptation of Stephen King’s novel, which has achieve cult classic status over subsequent decades. The documentary will receive its world premiere on Oct. 15 at The Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia.

The film, which is co-directed by John Campopiano (“Unearthed & Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary”; “Snapper: The Man-Eating Turtle Movie That Never Got Made”) and Christopher Griffiths, was several years in the making and includes interviews with many of the key players. That includes “It” cast and crew members Tim Curry, Seth Green, Richard Thomas, Tim Reid, Richard Masur, Emily Perkins, Tommy Lee Wallace, Larry D. Cohen, Bart Mixon, Victoria Burrows,...

To mark the release of The Thing on 20th September, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on 4K Ultra HD.

Over the years, star Kurt Russell (The Hateful Eight) and master of horror John Carpenter have teamed up on a multitude of films from Big Trouble in Little China (1986) and Escape from New York (1981). Starring alongside Russell’s MacReady is Wilford Brimley (Cocoon), Keith David (The Princess and the Frog), Richard Masur (Risky Business), T.K. Carter (Runaway Train), David Clennon, Richard Dysart (Back to the Future Part III), Charles Hallahan (Dante’s Peak), Peter Maloney (Requiem for a Dream), Donald Moffat (Clear and Present Danger) and Joel Polis (The Rookie).

A research team based out in the snowy wilds of Antarctica find themselves besieged by a terrifying, shape-shifting creature which has found its way into their base. When it becomes clear that the creature can take the form of any organism it so chooses,...

"Nothing's turned out the way that I planned it." 1091 Pictures has released a trailer for an indie road trip comedy titled Hudson, marking the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Sean Daniel Cunningham. This won the Audience Award at the 2019 Phoenix Film Festival, and picked up a few other awards at festivals that year. It's finally arriving on VOD for all to enjoy this year. On a journey to scatter his mother's ashes, a reclusive, timid man encounters unexpected friendships and a chance to start living his life - a dysfunctional adventure of self discovery, and mini-golf, and broken Volvos. "Hudson is a feel good, funny road trip movie with big laughs and an even bigger heart." Starring Richard Masur (who played Clark in The Thing!), with Gregory Lay, David Neal Levin, and Mary Catherine Greenawalt. This looks like a worthy discovery. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) for Sean Daniel Cunningham's Hudson,...

Exclusive: Tom Hanks has endorsed Fran Drescher for president of SAG-AFTRA. He’s also backing her running mate, Anthony Rapp, and “their entire team” of candidates running on the ruling parties’ Unite for Strength and Usan slates.

“The future of SAG-AFTRA is streaming,” Hanks is quoted as saying on the front of a Usan voter guide sent to the union’s members. “Members deserve stronger contracts, more residuals, better protections and ending unfair exclusivity. I’m supporting Usan Leadership, Fran, Anthony and their entire team. Your vote matters.”

Dresher, who is seeking to succeed Gabrielle Carteris as president of the 160,000-member union, is running against Matthew Modine. He and his running mate, Joely Fisher, head up the opposition party’s MembershipFirst slate.

Other A-list endorsers featured on the voter guide include Alec Baldwin, Debra Messing, J.K. Simmons, Rosario Dawson and Tichina Arnold.

“In this new world where streaming is transforming our work and our compensation,...

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More than 30 years after he first donned that infamous Batman suit, Michael Keaton is stepping back into familiar territory. On Monday, Keaton’s agency confirmed that he will appear as Batman in the forthcoming movie “The Flash,” which began filming in the U.K. this week. The film won’t be hitting theaters until 2022, which gives you plenty of time to catch up Keaton’s “Batman” movies and a bunch of other films in his catalog such as “Beetlejuice,” “Birdman,” “Multiplicity,” and “The Founder.”

The 69-year-old actor played Batman in the 1989 blockbuster directed by Tim Burton, and its 1992 sequel, “Batman Returns.” Pretty much all of the “Batman” movies are currently streaming on HBO Max.

Emmy-winning broadcaster Joe Krebs has been named this year’s recipient of SAG-AFTRA’s President’s Award, which honors meritorious service to the union’s members and to the American labor movement.

Krebs served as the president of AFTRA’s Washington-Baltimore Local from 1997 to 2009 and was instrumental in the merger of SAG and AFTRA, co-authoring the new union’s constitution and dues structure. The two unions merged nine years ago this week. Now retired, he spent 32 years at Wrc-tv, the NBC affiliate in Washington, D.C. – including 18 years as the anchor of its morning news program.

“Joe Krebs’s impressive career of more than 40 years in the broadcast industry would stand on its own, but it’s his generous soul and a relentless passion for justice that have truly distinguished him,” said SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris. “His professional accomplishments tell only part of the story; he has selflessly volunteered...

John McGuire, SAG-AFTRA’s longest-serving executive, is retiring after 52 years of service. At today’s national board meeting, he was presented with the union’s President’s Award for his decades of distinguished service.

“John’s contributions to SAG-AFTRA are simply immeasurable,” said SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris. “Over the years, he has served as an endless source of knowledge, wisdom, patience and vision. I can say without reservation that generations of members are better off because of John’s service.”

“There are no words to express the respect and depth of appreciation we feel for John McGuire,” said SAG-AFTRA national executive director David White. “After more than 50 years of exceptional stewardship and service to our members, employees, the industry and the labor movement, we can scarcely imagine SAG-AFTRA without him. John is an esteemed member of our executive team, and has been a wise counselor and generous mentor to so...

"I whipped up a kick ass divorce mix playlist for ya." Gravitas Ventures has debuted an official trailer for Before/During/After, an indie drama written by and starring Finnerty Steeves. The film earned good festival buzz taking home Dances With Films' "Industry Choice Award", Greenpoint Film Festival's "Best of the Fest" award, San Diego's "Best Ensemble Cast" honor, Naples' "Programmers Choice Award", and an exclusive drive-in showing at the RiverRun Film Festival. This sharp-witted dramedy studies a middle-aged NYC theatre actress suddenly forced to figure out the kind of person she wants to portray in real life when her marriage comes to an end after she catches her husband cheating. In addition to Steeves, this also stars Jeremy Davidson, John Pankow, Kristine Sutherland, Richard Masur, Michael Emerson, and Deborah Rush. This looks rather amusing and witty, a cathartic film all about figuring out what to do now. Here's the trailer (+ poster...

Amid the avalanche of disheartening developments this year, few were as dispiriting in Hollywood as the Aug. 12 announcement by the SAG-AFTRA Health Plan that it was eliminating coverage for 11,750 of 32,000 participants, including 8,200 senior performers.

The plan and its trustees blamed the Covid-19 pandemic for creating $140 million in losses this year and projected that the reserves would be gone by 2024. Led by Ed Asner, 10 plaintiffs sued the plan and its trustees on Dec. 1 in a class action, alleging breach of fiduciary duty, as well as accusing its caretakers of engaging in a prohibited transaction and failing to disclose information material to plan participants.

As of Thursday, the SAG-AFTRA health plan had not responded to the suit other than saying it was reviewing the action.

As usual, the complicated dispute reflects the longstanding divide between the two major factions among the 160,000 members of SAG-AFTRA, which have rarely gotten along, even...

The SAG-AFTRA Health Plan and its trustees have been sued in federal court by Ed Asner and nine other senior participants over the upcoming cuts in benefits and eligibility for the plan.

Asner, a six-time Emmy winner, is the lead plaintiff in the class action complaint, which was filed on Tuesday in Los Angeles. The suit alleges two counts of breach of fiduciary duty, one count of engaging in a prohibited transaction and one count of failing to disclose information material to plan participants.

The suit said the 91-year-old Asner, a former SAG president and current member of the SAG-AFTRA national board, will lose his coverage, even though he had more than $25,950 in yearly covered earnings with residuals and sessional earnings because he will not reach the new qualifying threshold by sessional earnings that goes into effect in 2021.

A rep for the plan said, “We have just received a copy...

The fight over health care for retired members of SAG-AFTRA continues to broil, with tension and confusion mounting over drastic changes underway to cut costs amid the pandemic.

The Actors Fund and the Motion Picture & Television Fund have stepped in to offer aid to those who need help finding a substitute for their guild health care coverage. But many retirees might not even know these programs exist, while others accuse actors guild leadership of misleading members about all the available options, in favor of the Medicare marketplace the guild has partnered with through this process.

The two long-running nonprofit organizations have provided aid to entertainment workers, offering programs that include weekly seminars, individual counseling and, in some cases, direct enrollment into health care plans. For California residents, both organizations are offering these services through the Entertainment Health Insurance Solutions program, while workers in other states can find assistance through the...

The coming-of-age film Paper Spiders will open a virtual version of the Dances With Films Festival, the producers announced today.

Dwf:la’s 2020 lineup has more than 200 titles, including narrative features, documentaries, pilots, web series, music videos, short films, and films by young people. The entire festival, running Thursday August 27 through Sunday September 6, will be in real time, allowing interactive experiences, including a virtual red carpet, lounges with trivia nights and signature cocktails, panel discussions, and Q&a sessions.

Ticket prices will be lowered this year, owing to the virtual setup. Pre-sale tickets start at $11 through August 26 and then will go to $15. Tickets will be available on the website, http://dwfla.com

Paper Spiders stars Lili Taylor, Stefania Lavie Owen, Peyton List and Max Casella. The film is directed by Inon Shampanier and written by Shampanier and Natalie Shampanier. The story is a bittersweet coming of age mother/daughter tale that...

In 1977 Burt Reynolds was on top of the Hollywood world, a bankable star whose popularity knew no bounds. In between his payday Smokey and the Bandit vehicles, he tried working with directors Peter Bogdanovich, Robert Aldrich, Stanley Donen … and with this film, the highly entertaining, somewhat unpredictable Michael Ritchie. The adaptation of Dan Jenkins’ NFL football book takes a left turn into social satire (or honest reportage), and centers on a romantic triangle with Jill Clayburgh and Kris Kristofferson. You might not remember all of its non- PC rough edges … which were already Sop for comedies of the ’70s.

Semi-Tough

Blu-ray

Kl Studio Classics

1977 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 108 min. / Street Date January 21, 2020 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Burt Reynolds, Kris Kristofferson, Jill Clayburgh, Robert Preston, Brian Dennehy, Bert Convy, Roger E. Mosley, Lotte Lenya, Richard Masur, Carl Weathers, Mary Jo Catlett, Ron Silver.

Cinematography: Charles Rosher Jr.

Film Editor: Richard A.

Gabrielle Carteris is seeking re-election as president of SAG-aftra, a post she’s held since 2016. She’ll be running at the top the union’s majority party, Unite for Strength.

Matthew Modine, running at the top of the union’s opposition party, Membership First, was the first to announce that he will challenge her for the presidency. Ballots will be mailed to members on July 29 and tabulated August 28.

“While our employers are consolidating and attempting to squeeze our earnings,” Carteris said, “we have proven that a united front is our best weapon in fighting for fair wages, safety on sets and protection of all our members — especially those who are most vulnerable. As SAG-AFTRA President, I’ve seen firsthand the power of our members. With fierce determination we won the Interactive strike, revolutionized the Commercials contract, and transformed High Budget Streaming residuals. We’ve set the stage for...

Former SAG president Richard Masur will be this year’s recipient of SAG-AFTRA’s President’s Award, which “celebrates a member who has given meritorious service to the union and its membership.” The award will be presented Saturday at the union’s national board meeting.

“It is an honor and privilege for me to recognize Richard’s many contributions with this award,” said SAG-aftra president Gabrielle Carteris. “For decades, he has worked to enrich the lives of performers; from volunteering on committees, serving on local and national boards, to ultimately two terms as the president of the Screen Actors Guild. Richard embodies the true meaning of leadership and service.”

In 1989, at a friend’s suggestion, Masur ran and was elected to a SAG board seat, and was elected SAG president in 1995, serving two terms until 1999. Seven years later, he returned to the national board and played a key role...

SAG-AFTRA has selected Richard Masur as the recipient of its President’s Award.

The honor will be presented on Oct. 20 during the SAG-aftra National Board plenary. Introduced at last year’s SAG-aftra convention, the President’s Award celebrates a member who has given meritorious service to the union and its membership.

Masur served as SAG president for two terms between 1995 and 1999. He has an extensive acting resume of more than 60 credits that includes an Emmy nomination for “The Burning Bed,” an Oscar nod for writing and directing the short subject “Love Struck,” and a memorable role as a Yale University recruiter in Tom Cruise’s “Risky Business.”

“It is an honor and privilege for me to recognize Richard’s many contributions with this award,” said SAG-aftra President Gabrielle Carteris. “For decades, he has worked to enrich the lives of performers; from volunteering on committees, serving on local and national boards,...

After releasing The Thing Collector's Edition Blu-ray back in 2016, Scream Factory is heading back to the arctic on November 6th with a new Steelbook Blu-ray of John Carpenter's classic horror film, which will include a recent 4K transfer, new artwork by Nathanael Marsh, and plenty of previously released bonus features for fans to enjoy:

From Scream Factory: "Ever since we started releasing Steelbook® packaging of some of our prior John Carpenter titles, we been asked many times if we could also do this for his signature classic film The Thing. Today we’re happy to announce that we are doing just that and even upgrading our previous in the process! Read on for more details:

• Official street date is November 6th for U.S. and Canada territories (Region A).

• This is a 3-Disc Blu-ray set. Disc 1 will include a more recent 2017 4K High-Definition scan of the film that was...

In its fifth season, “Younger” is taking the #MeToo movement head-on and taking a new approach to a character it introduced much earlier on in the show’s run because of the current climate.

In the season premiere episode, aptly titled “#LizaToo,” a famed science fiction author and top client at the publishing house Empirical Press within the show, was outed as a sexual harasser right on the eve of his next book’s announcement.

“He had previously been there and really inappropriate with Liza’s character, and we were just talking about Harvey Weinstein and the hashtag ‘me too’ [in the writers’ room],” executive producer Dottie Zicklin said at the Atx Television Festival Sunday. “It was already part of our world — that we kind of laughed at for the first couple times he was on the show and we thought we had to do a little penance and deal with it the way...

Stars: Lance Henriksen, Veronica Cartwright, Cristina Raines, Joe Lambie, Anthony James, Richard Masur, Lee Ving, Moon Unit Zappa, Emilio Estevez | Written by Christopher Crowe, Jeffrey Bloom | Directed by Joseph Sargent

While it may be hard to believe that less than a decade ago Nightmares was one of The most sought after, most-requested titles for re-release, after watching this 80s anthology it’s easy to see why. Very much part of the 70s and early 80s portmenteau film vogue, which gave us the likes of Trilogy of Terror, Creepshow and its sequel, The Twilght Zone and Cats Eye, Nightmares features four stories that riff on pre-existing themes:

Terror in Topanga is a take on the “killer is in the house” trope; whilst The Bishop of Battle plays on the perils of obsession and the early-80s belief that video games were “evil”. The Benediction is a quasi-religious version of Richard Matheson...

“Younger” is finally beginning to show its age and is better off for it. In the series’ fifth season, the careful world constructed on one major lie is shaken, which forces the story to mature in new ways. Frankly, it’s about damn time.

For the previous four seasons, TV Land viewers watched as 40-something divorcee Liza (Sutton Foster) stuck it to our ageist society by posing as a Millennial in order to get hired at the esteemed publishing house Empirical. This premise proved entertaining for the first few seasons, but as the show wore on, it began to feel ridiculous. As fit, luminous, and well-preserved as the Tony winner looks, Foster’s ability to pass as a 26-year-old was beginning to stretch viewers’ suspension of disbelief. Over time, the only way it made sense for Liza to maintain her secret was with the help of friends who were in on the deception.

While the recently released Stephen King adaptation The Dark Tower was met with critical and box office disappointment, the future looks very bright for the upcoming It, which is directed by Andy Muschietti and written by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga and Gary Dauberman. Early previews have generated some extremely positive reactions and as such, even before it’s actually reached general audiences, attention has already turned to the prospect of It 2.

The television miniseries of the classic Stephen King story consisted of two parts – reflecting the way in which the format of the source novel sees 12 year-olds battle demonic clown Pennywise, before heading back for a rematch thirty years later. This being the case, Muschietti’s cinematic version of the story has always been expected to take the form of a movie and a sequel. In cinema, however, sequels are entirely dependent upon the success of the initial instalment, which suggests two things – firstly,...

“Younger” gets attention for its look into the New York social circles and its attention-grabbing fashions, and that’s as it should be. After all, this is a series by Darren Star, who also brought us the delights of “Sex and the City.”

Sutton Foster stars as Liza Miller, a 40-year-old woman who’s just emerged from a failed marriage and must re-enter the work force. The only problem is that no one will even glance at her resume since she became a full-time mother nearly two decades ago. But after she’s mistaken for a 26-year-old at a bar, she decides to pass for much younger and lands a job at publishing firm Empirical Press.

Read More: Summer TV Preview: 20 New and Returning Comedies Worth Watching

This job provides some of the best under-the-radar laughs throughout the series. Not only do the episode titles provide some plum opportunities for...

by Chris Feil

Most of the awards talk over Transparent’s three seasons has orbited around Jeffrey Tambor’s genius work at its center. This past season was its best acted among the entire ensemble, with emotionally raw complexity from Jay Duplass and Amy Landecker that also deserves Emmy’s attention. But the most rewarding powerhouse performance this time was Judith Light as fraught matriarch Shelly. Many months ago, she became my favorite performance of the TV year and remained so ever since.

The third season brought Shelly closer to the forefront, detailing further the abuse she suffered as a child and her quickly developing romance with the increasingly suspect Buzzy (Richard Masur). When Buzzy’s manipulations come to light and her family continually shrugs off her abrasive attempts at connection, we see not only her mounting disappointments but a growing ability to stand on her own two feet. It...

A killer book (Dog Soldiers) must hide behind a Credence Clearwater tune. Karel Reisz’s killer movie about the moral residue of Vietnam scores as both drama and action, as disillusioned counterculture smugglers versus corrupt narcotics cops. Just don’t expect it to really have much to say about the Vietnam experience. But hey, the cast is tops — Nick Nolte, Richard Masur, Anthony Zerbe — and the marvelous Tuesday Weld is even better as a pill-soaked involuntary initiate into the pre- War On Drugs smuggling scene.

Who’ll Stop the Rain

Blu-ray

Twilight Time

1978 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 126 min. / Street Date May 16, 2017 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store 29.95

Starring: Nick Nolte, Tuesday Weld, Michael Moriarty, Anthony Zerbe, Richard Masur, Ray Sharkey, Gail Strickland, Charles Haid, David Opatoshu, Joaquín Martínez, James Cranna, Timothy Blake.

Cinematography: Richard H. Kiline

Supervising Film Editor: John Bloom

Original Music: Laurence Rosenthal

Written by Judith Rascoe, Robert Stone...

I was a teenager when ABC’s The Disney Sunday Movie aired Mr. Boogedy (1986), a haunted house tale, and I had no interest in seeing it. I was beyond such childish ventures; my horror was blood and guts and sex and probably more blood. But teenaged Scott didn’t bother to think that every horror fan starts somewhere, and at every age too – and some gateway horror is geared towards nudging the kid to the edge of the pool instead of throwing him in. If you’re looking for some fun horror water wings, Mr. Boogedy will do the trick.

Originally airing on April 20th, Mr. Boogedy did well enough against CBS’ 60 Minutes and NBC’s Punky Brewster/Silver Spoons lineups to garner a sequel the following year, Bride of Boogedy. As the ‘80s progressed, The Disney Sunday Movie didn’t quite have the same cache due to the rise of VCRs and video stores.

Gun control vs. gun ownership stories are hard to pull off on television.

Stories involving this hot-button issue usually end up horribly slanted, with one side being depicted as completely evil or ridiculous.

Chicago Justice Season 1 Episode 9 wasn't entirely bias-free, but it provided a fresh angle and an interesting story that made it far more powerful than most stories about gun issues.

Making the left-wing professor so rabidly anti-gun that he harassed a student who didn't share his political views was a risky move. Americans are so polarized politically that many fans of the generally liberal Dick Wolf might have been turned off.

It worked, though, because it brought up questions that aren't often addressed on television.

Mr. Malone: She did have a run-in with another group of students. There was disciplinary action, but the charges were dropped.

Antonio: What was it about?

Mr. Malone: She was part of a group on campus.