STAR WARS: OBI-WAN KENOBI #1 hits your local comic book shop next week (May 4th), but Monkeys Fighting Robots has a five-page preview for our readers, thanks to Marvel Comics. The five-issue miniseries is written by Christopher Cantwell, with art by Ario Anindito, Carlos Lopez drops the color, you will read Joe Caramagna’s letter work, and Phil Noto brought the cover to life.
About STAR WARS: OBI-WAN KENOBI #1: Fast approaches the ultimate destiny of one of the Jedi’s most renowned masters! As he spends his final days in the remote deserts of Tatooine, Obi-Wan Kenobi takes time to reflect on — and record — key moments of a heroic life long-lived. Writing in old leather-bound journals from his hermit’s hut, Obi-Wan remembers his days as a young Jedi Initiate, his trials as a Padawan, the crucible of Jedi Knighthood, The Clone Wars, and some of the earliest challenges he faced as a true Master of the Force! In this tale, Obi-Wan considers a watershed Youngling adventure he narrowly survived on Coruscant when he was but eight years of age…This is just the beginning of his Jedi journey!
BEN REILLY: SPIDER-MAN #4 hits your local comic book store on May 4th, but thanks to Marvel Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive four-page preview for you.
About the issue: THE PAST KILLS! Ben Reilly has finally come face-to-face with the true villain behind his torment — and you’re not going to believe who it is! Watch as a failure from Ben and Peter’s past comes to haunt the life of SPIDER-MAN!
The issue is by writer J.M. DeMatteis and artist David Baldeón, with colors by Israel Silva, and letters by Joe Caramagna. The main cover is by Steve Skroce and Dave Stewart.
Check out the BEN REILLY: SPIDER-MAN #4 preview below:
Are you reading BEN REILLY: SPIDER-MAN? Sound off in the comments!
From writer Jeff Lemire and artist Andrea Sorrentino, the creative team behind Gideon Falls and Primordial, comes the pair’s next step in their spree of horror in The Bone Orchard Mythos – The Passageway. Featuring colors by Dave Stewart and lettering from Steve Wands, this graphic novel takes the intense, often cryptic style of horror Lemire and Sorrentino are known for to new mysterious heights. With a uniquely unsettling script and rule-breaking, constantly surprising visual work, this first step into a new world of terror is a must-read for horror comic fans.
“When a geologist is sent to a remote lighthouse to investigate strange phenomena, he finds a seemingly endless pit in the rocks. What lurks within—and how will he escape its pull?”
Writing & Plot
In true Jeff Lemire fashion, the script for The Passageway is just as cryptic as it is unsettling. The Sweet Tooth creator sends us on a trip with a lonesome geologist to an old, malfunctioning lighthouse. The reason he’s there: to study an immeasurably deep hole that has suddenly opened in the ground. If that’s not unnerving enough, the unusual people he’s joined by on this island, as well as the disturbing flashbacks of his own tragic past fill the book with an incessantly unnerving tone. Lemire gives us *just* enough to keep the reader hooked as we’re strung along a path of increasingly disturbing incidents on this desolate little island.
What works best about The Passageway are the moment to moments bits of horror and tension. Every conversation feels loaded and intense in a way that fills every page with a thick, unsettling atmosphere. I say “unsettling” a lot because that’s what this comic feels like. It’s more of a supernatural thriller than an outright horror book at most points. However, much like the progression and pacing of Gideon Falls, this graphic novel adds intensity through its discoveries and revelations, with dashes of genuine horror sprinkled in. Lemire teases a large, cryptic, almost Lovecraftian lore and world through the protagonist’s investigation. It’s almost a bit *too* vague for its own good, but it is all in service to where this new mythology is going. Depending on how much explanation you like your horror to have, your mileage may vary. In my opinion, this taut and intense story is my brand of mysterious, and I am looking forward to what Lemire has coming for us in the next installment.
Art Direction
Just like in Gideon Falls, Andrea Sorrentino brings the horror to life with his brand of highly detailed pencils and insane page composition. The characters in The Passageway appear just as weary as the island itself. The old fisherman and the lighthouse keeper convincingly look like real people you’d happen across in tired old fishing towns. Our younger protagonist though, the geologist, appears more weary than he should be. The events of his childhood weigh on his mind and Sorrentino explores that – both through his own expressions and various nightmares/flashbacks. The cold, rocky environment of the island further increases the sense of isolation that is prevalent in this graphic novel. Sorrentino presents the setting like an almost organic entity within itself. The lighthouse and the island are foreboding objects hiding a potentially ancient and indescribable element of horror. The hole in the ground is an impossibly dark and instantly chilling sight, and Sorrentino presents it like a maw of a sinkhole. He focuses our attention on it with a multitude of techniques. His most obvious approach, and potentially what he’s best known for, is how he frames and blocks panels. Here, he centers pages around the sinkhole and then throws the panel breakdown in an almost guided spiral around it. There’s a maze-like quality to his direction that adds layers of intrigue to this opening in the island. If you’ve read Gideon Falls than this approach won’t surprise you – but it will still entertain the hell out of you. There are still also some genuine turn of the page s#!t yourself scares that I’m sure Sorrentino was chuckling at while he drew them, knowing what they would do.
Coloring on The Passageway is completed by industry veteran Dave Stewart, also responsible for colors in the pages of Gideon Falls and Black Hammer. His work here is, as expected, tonally perfect and rich. His mottled, almost painted style of coloring creates a murky, thick atmosphere that will have you almost tasting the salt in the air. Stewart works perfectly in tandem with Sorrentino’s pencils to create this claustrophobic feel throughout the OGN. The lettering from Steve Wands, who recently worked on Lemire’s Mazebook, is clean yet fluid. The font shifts and changes based on tone, and sudden shocks and effects come out naturally and surprisingly. Overall, this is an outstanding graphic novel in terms of its visual storytelling.
Verdict
The Passageway is a tense and mysterious graphic novel on its own and a stellar start to The Bone Orchard Mythos. Jeff Lemire’s writing here may be a bit vague for some, but the book’s taut pacing and teases of lore make for an enticing and suspenseful read. The visuals from Andrea Sorrentino and Dave Stewart are atmospherically rich and nail both the comic’s unsettling tone and the genuine scares it contains. Be sure to grab this OGN when it hits shelves on June 15th!
SPECTRO hits your local comic book store May 18th, but thanks to AfterShock Comics, Monkeys Fighting Robots has an exclusive four-page preview for you.
About the issue: A Quartet of Quintessential Horror Tales from the Multi-Talented Juan Doe – Presented in a Single Prestige-Format One Shock!
SPECTRO explores the unnerving spectrum of fear through four terrifying stories rooted in a cosmic game of twisted karma and phantasmagoric terror:
1. What is at stake when sentient technology manipulates a man with projections of his desired self?
2. What are the consequences of excommunicating a member of the “nine” planets?
3. What is discovered when an explorer travels to Mars to ascend the tallest mountain in the solar system?
4. What happens when a scientist aboard the International Space Station is confronted with the most horrifying aspects of humankind?
In what realm of fear do these stories exist? SPECTRO.
The anthology is by writer, artist, and letterer Juan Doe. Both the main cover and the incentive variant are by Doe as well.
A horror anthology from deep within the recesses of the mind of one of comics’ most prolific talents!
Check out our SPECTRO preview below:
Are you picking up SPECTRO when it drops next month? Sound off in the comments!
HEAVY METAL #316 is out now celebrating the publication’s 45th anniversary, and Monkeys Fighting Robots is lucky enough to show off an exclusive preview of the issue’s Taarna story.
The story is called “Taarna: The Witness” and it’s by writer Helen Mullane and artist Montos (full name Osvaldo Pestana Montpeller). There is also a Taarna variant cover to the issue by Simon Bisley; the main cover is by Kim Jung Gi.
What the creators have to say about the story:
“For me, working at Heavy Metal has been an old dream come true. And the fact of breaking inside their pages with their mythical Taarna has been a source of double satisfaction. Joseph has been super respectful and has given me big wings to fly creatively in this story. Helen’s script was a shot of love at first sight. When I read it, I visualized it in all its cosmic aesthetics and I wanted to add a little Lovecraftian taste to it.” – Montos
“Like Montos said, for me, writing for Heavy Metal is a dream come true, and for a character as iconic as Taarna no less! Since I first saw her flying on her steed Avis in the Heavy Metal movie, she has been a part of my inner pantheon of legendary female heroes. I wanted to write a story that was cosmic in scale, go as full out Heavy Metal as possible, and I couldn’t think of a better artist to share this journey with than Montos. His incredible art takes us all the way there, a true visual feast. It was a pleasure working with Joe, a keenly creative editor who helped me bind the threads and themes together and didn’t hesitate to let us get weird.” – Mullane
Montos will also be the artist on ENTROPY, Heavy Metal’s event series that kicks off this July, written by Christopher Priest.
Check out our TAARNA: THE WITNESS preview below:
Taarna variant cover by Simon Bisley.Main cover by Kim Jung Gi.Credits page showcasing all the stories in this anniversary issue.
About HEAVY METAL #316:
The third of four INTERCONNECTED covers by the master illustrator KIM JUNG GI, an otherworldly TAARNA cover by the legendary SIMON BISLEY, and a blank sketch cover!
Heavy Metal’s flagship character TAARNA returns in an otherworldly story by writer Helen Mullane and artist Osvaldo Pestana!
The debut of the episodic technothriller WIREMONKEYS by creator/writer/artist Dan Schaeffer!
A new battle rages in Heavy Metal’s zombie saga COLD DEAD WAR by David Erwin and artist Vassilis Gogtzilas!
YA horror serial THE AXE continues by Fall Out Boy’s lead guitarist Joe Trohman and writer/actor Brian Posehn with Deadpool artist Scott Koblish!
Cyberpunk serial ENGAGERS by Beyond Kuiper author Matthew Medney, Bruce Edwards, and artist John Roi Mercado continues!
The strange history of DEATH DEFIED by Joe Harris and Federico Pietrobon continues to unfold!
Heavy Metal’s female space explorer returns in the newest chapter of THE ADVENTURES OF ADRIENNE JAMES by Bruce Edwards, Matthew Medney (Dark Wing) and artist Santa Fung
George C. Romero’s THE RISE begins its second half of the origin of the NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD with art by Diego Yapur!
Finally, an interview with Simon Bisley showing the process of creating his TAARNA cover for the magazine’s milestone issue!
It’s a massive celebration of 45 years publishing groundbreaking stories of science fiction, fantasy, and horror from The World’s Greatest Illustrated Magazine!
What’s your favorite Taarna story? Sound off in the comments!
From writer Christian Ward (Machine Gun Wizards, artist on Invisible Kingdom) and artist Patric Reynolds (Hellboy & The B.P.R.D., Joe Golem) comes a ridiculously stylish blood & fangs comic made for the internet-capitalism age with Blood Stained Teeth #1. With colors by Heather Moore and lettering from Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou, this opening issue comes off as a bit scattered in terms of story, but makes up for it in pure flare. With a slightly dizzying but immediately entertaining script and dazzling art, this vampire comic will stick out in your mind and on the shelf for years to come.
“Atticus Sloane—misanthrope, criminal, asshole, and vampire—lives in a world where blood isn’t the only thing vamps crave. And for the right price, he’ll make you a vampire too. After all, immortality isn’t cheap.”
Writing & Plot
This all-nighter high roller party & fever dream of a script from Christian Ward really kicks off this vampire story with a bang in Blood Stained Teeth #1. Immediately we’re set upon by a sardonic, satirical narrative influenced by both a multitude of vampire tales and modern society. Ward pokes fun not just at internet culture, but a bit at how vampires are so loved by our generation despite them being monstrosities of old. Some of the satire points about influencers may be low hanging fruit, but the tone of the comic keeps it from coming off as annoying. Sloane endears himself as a lovable scummy bastard from the word “go.” His dismissive view of humanity, possession of a toadie cab driver (Hellblazer, anyone?), and sense of style all paint him as a guy you shouldn’t like but can’t help yourself. Ward setting him apart from the rest of the bloodsuckers by making him an honest SOB instead of a slimy one-percenter like the rest is one of this book’s great narrative decisions. This is the 2nd comic I’ve read this week where the ultra-rich were presented as vampiric A-Holes, and it’s a trope I’m all for. The bits of world building and lore Ward has laid down so far are intriguing, and I look forward to seeing how the rest of this world comes together. I won’t spoil anything, but there’s a particular inclusion of a real person in this comic that is hilariously brilliant, and will easily go down as one of the best uses of such a trick in a comic.
The only gripe I have with the writing here is how the plot is a bit too scattered for its own good. The scenes that we drift to from years past are well-crafted and engaging, but the where’s and why’s of them still come off as needlessly obfuscated. This could easily be the nature of this comic though. Regardless of this concern, the ideas and tone of this first issue have me very excited to see what Ward has planned next.
Art Direction
I knew this book was going to look good, but I was unprepared to be smacked in the face upon opening up Blood Stained Teeth #1. Patric Reynolds’ visual direction in this comic is stupidly impressive. His character animations are all super-stylish while also presenting realistic animations and details. The arrogant yet worn swagger of Atticus Sloane, the hapless contentment of his cabbie, and the sickening confidence of the “pure” vampires does all the storytelling for us in only a few panels. Reynolds’ facial drawings are absolutely stellar, with a lifelike detail rarely seen in the medium. Every panel is lit up with the intricacies of this comic’s world, with each page being packed with background details that draw the reader in even further. Reynolds captures what feels like every small microcosm of life that goes on around Atticus and other relevant characters, so it’s fortunate that his composition is so smooth yet creative to contain everything. Every page tends to utilize multiple panels that often crash into each other, which mimics the frantic style of the story bring told here. Reynolds uses that to accelerate the comic’s pace but still make events easy to follow. His works here really is staggeringly cool.
What ultimately makes this comic so striking is the coloring from Heather Moore. Her bright neon palette jumps at the reader as soon as you open the book. There’s an almost pop-art style effect at play here, with Moore’s hyperactive colors filling in Reynolds’s realistic penciling. However, Moore’s work is much more dynamic and creative then that impression might have you believe, and it truly is one of those works that has to be seen to understand. Finally, the lettering from Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou is tonally perfect and matches the reading experience to a T. There are sporadic details like sudden underlines and creative adjustments to the font that accentuate narrative and dialogue voice. I expect nothing less than greatness from Otsmane-Elhaou, and yet I’m still blown away. Visually, this entire comic is an absolute marvel.
Verdict
Blood Stained Teeth #1 is a fun and stupendously stylish first chapter in this new vampire series. Christian Ward’s script can feel a bit scattered at times, but his memorable characterizations and biting (haha) narrative make this an effortlessly enjoyable experience. The visuals from Patric Reynolds and Heather Moore are just stupidly impressive, with a style and swagger that has to be dove into to fully appreciate. Be sure to grab this fantastic first issue when it hits shelves on April 27th!
DC Comics’ The Swamp Thing has always been a verbose comic series. It tells its story in poetic verses and extended metaphors. That’s what sets this series apart. But at times, that’s also its greatest weakness. The Swamp Thing #12has some really mesmerizing moments, but these moments get lost in a sea of exposition and long-windedness.
Writing
Writer Ram V knows how to craft a good monologue. His villains and heroes alike have a tendency to wax eloquent about their intentions and ideals. The Swamp Thing #12 opens with one such monologue. The Pale Wanderer (now sporting a brand new look and name to match) describes to his followers why his new form holds so much significance. His speech might go a little long, but it serves its villainous purpose of being a rallying cry for V’s many baddies. Unfortunately, the text-heaviness doesn’t end there. There are at least four more scenes, filled with caption boxes and word balloons, that leave very little up to the imagination for what may be driving our characters.
Many of the characters begin to sound alike, too. The Pale Wanderer, Levi Kamei, Tefe Holland, and a brand new character that’s introduced in the final pages of this issue, all think and speak in theatrical ways. You begin to become aware, as a reader, that one person is writing all of these words. The really frustrating thing, though, is that there really are some great moments in the writing. First of all, the ideas V is presenting are all interesting. This plot is taking incredible twists and turns. And V is articulate and moving in the soliloquys and monologues of some pages. But these pages are weighed down by the rest of the issue, which is chock full of exposition. This is not the first time this series has struggled to keep its subtext intact. However, in the past, it hasn’t stopped V from bouncing back with subtlety and nuance in the next installment.
Art
Part of what makes the writing of this issue disappointing comes from the fact that Mike Perkins’ art is already so effective. Perkins does mountains of storytelling, choosing all the right details to hone in on. Several moments in The Swamp Thing #12, we see panels that ought to be accompanied by nothing but silence. The body language, scenery, and placement of characters has done enough to tell us everything we need to know about what’s going on. The moments that shine the most in this issue are the times when it feels like V is really putting his trust in Perkins, pulling back on his script to make room for the paradoxically stunning and horrifying images in each panel.
And in this issue in particular, we get more than Perkins’ usual subtle visual language. We still have scenes with nuanced expressions between our characters. But Perkins also also lets loose. In one scene, featuring the 90’s Wildstorm character Jack Hawksmoor, we get a flashy fight sequence that’s brilliantly reminiscent of that period in comics. Elsewhere, Perkins leans fully into the poetic imagery of this series. He turns flower petals into panels and backdrops into rich tapestries. Every inch of this issue is beautifully detailed and precisely rendered.
Coloring
Mike Spicer gives each major character a color that pervades every scene they’re in. The Pale Wanderer’s (now the Pale Pilgrim) panels are drenched in an eerie purple. Later, when we see Jack Hawksmoor roaming the streets of Detroit, he can tell something is up. The whole scene is painted in the same purple color. Hawksmoor can feel the Pale Pilgrim’s influence at work. Swamp Thing’s scenes are all colored in shades of green. But Spicer also adds in layers of red and orange to each panel. We see the war that’s going on inside Levi Kamei. He’s caught between two worlds — the Red and the Green — and he’s unsure which side of him matters most. Spicer captures this internal struggle in a dazzling way.
Lettering
There are lots of great moments in Aditya Bidikar’s lettering. Right off the bat, when we see the Pale Pilgrim’s monologue, it’s against a backdrop of gears and cogs. The Pilgrim’s words are shown in dripping, black word balloons. Bidikar traces these word balloons around each cog. It immediately makes you think of Pilgrim greasing the wheels of his newfound revolution. Elsewhere, Jack Hawksmoor tries to talk with a dying robot. The robot’s dialogue shows up in square word balloons. Around the tail of each word balloon, Bidikar places small white rectangles. These look like false starts and other attempts at communication that don’t fully form. These details and more make Bidikar’s work a joy to pick apart.
Verdict
The Swamp Thing #12‘s script is a little crowded and heavy-handed. V doesn’t leave much information for the reader to piece together in this chapter. But the ideas presented in this issue, and the accompanying visuals, are as stunning as ever. Perkins, Spicer, and Bidikar create a beautifully detailed world that it’s hard not to get lost in. Pick up The Swamp Thing #12, out from DC Comics now, at a comic shop near you!
Carnage has never been very good at persuading people. All the character’s early appearances had him constantly spouting his lawless philosophy with phrases like “LAWS ARE AN ILLUSION!” or “I AM ULTIMATE FREEDOM!” Often with the unspoken assumption that he’d convince… well, at least someone. Instead, people mostly just greeted him with terror and scorn. But that was Cletus, and this is Carnage. The new Carnage. The symbiote on its own. And in Carnage #2, out today from Marvel Comics, the team of writer Ram V, artist Francesco Manna, colorist Diijo Lima, and letterer VC’s Joe Sabino present a symbiote who’s a bit more well-spoken. With a captive audience, to boot. Let’s hope they don’t listen too closely to what Carnage has to say.
WRITING
Ram V ended Carnage‘s first issue with the question of the titular character’s new motives. This installment opens with Carnage opining to a prolific serial killer “The Artist” on the relationship between a killer and their victim, on a desire to transform and be transformed in turn. All while they stand amid a reality-warping reaction Carnage created by mixing himself with Hydro-man. But Detective Jonathan Shayde has followed the killers and jumps into the reaction to follow them. Unfortunately, his body is immediately torn apart. Fascinated by the detective’s near-suicidal drive for justice, Carnage elects to put him back together. However, the process has a few side effects in store for the poor detective. In the aftermath, Carnage hopes to push his serial-killer companion into becoming someone worthy of the detective’s obsession.
After the first issue of the series, I’d assumed that Kenneth “The Artist” Neely wouldn’t stick around for long. His initial appearance felt more like a statement of intent, moving away from the classic serial killer archetype the old Carnage was associated with. But it looks like the guy is stuck as Carnage’s travel buddy. The dynamic that’s being set up is one where Carnage pushes both detective and killer to further extremes in their hunt for one another. One of the most famous Carnage comics had Cletus literally force his thoughts into someone else’s mind, so it makes sense to position the Carnage symbiote as a gleeful enabler. A character who hopes to inspire as much violence as he inflicts.
ART
Francesco Manna maintains the vibe of a crime serial by drawing the characters in many dingy, depressing environments. We’re talking drywall ceiling tiles and flowery, blood-stained wallpaper, rundown motels, and industrial buildings. His figures are grounded and weighty (damn, can the guy draw hands), and his paneling is often slow and deliberate. But the way he draws Carnage is around as cartoony as the character’s even been. Carnage is still a guy who skitters around on his long, spindly fingers and sports a glowing void for a mouth. It works exceptionally well for a symbiote who doesn’t have to worry about being wrapped around a human anymore. He’s a bizarre little chaos monster, walking about in the world of men.
Diijo Lima’s coloring relies on a lot of lurid reds and blues to reflect the characters’ emotions. The dingy industrial buildings are rendered in deep purple-grey, with an almost neon-blue night sky, and Detective Shayde’s breakdown is given a really neat off-register effect that nearly makes the art tremble. The combination with Manna’s gritty environments gives the comic an off-kilter, slightly sick vibe.
VC’s Joe Sabino breaks out some fun, shaky lettering when it comes to Shayde’s pained screams or the sound of Carnage removing Hydro-man’s core. They’re drawn in bright bubble letters with shaky, raw outlines. Carnage is the kind of comic with a lot of yelling throughout its run. So Sabino might as well have fun with it.
VERDICT
Carnage isn’t a series anyone will come out of looking like a good person. Not the killer, not the detective, and definitely not the blood monster. A monster who has more or less promised that everyone involved in this story will be transformed. Chances are, by the end, they’ll be looking a whole lot like him. So in short, the series continues to be a darkly compelling ride. Definitely pick up this issue if you have the chance. It’s out today at a comic retailer near you.
The pandemic years were a psychological crucible for most of us. Night’s End is a horror film by director Jennifer Reeder (Knives and Skin) that relates isolation and anxiety through colors and cinematography from Christopher Rejano (Knives and Skin).
Ken played by Geno Walker of Chicago Fire suffered through alcoholism before succumbing to a nervous breakdown. Ken’s since relocated to an old building in an unknown city. Ken’s so isolated, he’s the only tenant in his building. Any quality time with friends or loved ones involve his ex Kelsey (Kate Arrington) and old friend Terry (Felonious Monk) via video calls. Ken’s isolation includes a disturbing diet of tomato soup, coffee, and Pepto-Bismol. He also has no desire to change any of this viewing his lackluster YouTube career as his salvation. However, Ken’s strange normal starts to change with the rise of a spirit that seeks to torment him.
PopAxiom spoke with Chris about photography, colors, and getting the right look for Night’s End.
Trajectory
Christopher was around 13 when he gained an interest in photography. “My dad bought my first camera, and I taught myself how to use it. I had a friend who also got a camera around the same time, so we learned together. He pursued photography in college. I concentrated a photography, design, and fiction writing.”
“A teacher suggested I write screenplays. So I went to Chicago to study film. Screenwriting was my interest initially.” But once Chris got into film production classes, things changed. “I gravitated toward photography and became a cinematographer on many projects. I liked to be able to let the camera tell the story rather than a screenplay.”
Chris focused on cinematography and then worked as an intern at an equipment rental house. “I did a movie with László Kovács, which was my exposure to Hollywood productions. I also worked as a gaffer for many years while shooting things as a DP on the side.”
“Now I’ve stepped away from gaffing,” he says. “It’s been a traditional arc. But, it’s also been a fruitful journey along the way. I’ve learned so much.”
About Night’s End
Chris and Night’s End director Jennifer Reeder are longtime collaborators. “I worked with Jennifer Reeder on two features before this; Signature Moves and Knives and Skin. We’ve done seven, eight, maybe ten short films and been working together since about 2012.”
“Jennifer came to me in the summer of 2020, in the middle of the pandemic,” he says about the evolution of Night’s End. “In December of that year, we shot some tests, and by summer of 2021, we shot the film. Even though vaccines were available by then, we kept the crew small.”
Jennifer had a relationship with Shudder, who backed the production, “Everything fell into place, and we shot into July of 2021.”
Chris received the script for Night’s End but didn’t read it because soon after, “we did a table read. The writer Brett Neveu and Jennifer set up a read in Chicago with many actors, some from the Chicago Fire and PD. So that was my initial exposure to the film.”
“It’s a challenge, he says about the vast majority of the film taking place indoors. “The team scouted a couple of places. I was able to get in and look at the house a couple of weeks before shooting. So, there was a good lead time. Production design had things to do too. We filmed everything in the same location. In the story, everything’s communicated via webcam. So, behind them, it could be any number of things that we used to differentiate the characters.”
Chris reveals that behind the scenes, “We shot on primarily Arri Alexa Mini with Hawk Anamorphic C-Series lenses. We used my RED Komodo as the b-camera slash webcam look.”
Contrast
Night’s End has a very distinct look. “Jennifer has a unique style and vision for things. We did Knives and Skin and shot on some vintage anamorphic lenses. We introduced a lot more color into her films. We continued that in Night’s End. It’s something thematic in her film career. Color is so important to her, and I love color and contrast.”
“For this film,” he adds to the talk about the opposition of colors. “I mixed a magenta with a light green or amber. Again, something that creates more of a contrast; it’s a fun way to create that contrast for me.”
One of Jennifer’s first notes “was that she wanted the film to be dark. That was a challenge because we have an African-American lead, and if you play it too dark, you could lose his skin tone. So, we played with color to separate him.”
Represent
Night’s End‘s inception in script form came together during the pandemic, and that influence saturates the story. “It’s about a man who’s agoraphobic. He’s trapped in his house because he won’t leave. So he communicates with loved ones through a webcam. But he discovers that a spirit might inhabit his house.”
“We wanted to create a sense of isolation for Ken,” the film’s tormented protagonist. “So a lot of the framing is locked off, anamorphic frame. It’s static, or if it’s moving, it’s slight. We see him going mad alone in this space.”
Those feelings are common for people living through the pandemic. “It’s not an accident. As the film was being written, we were all in lock-down. I think it’s rooted in the idea that we can’t see our friends or families. It wasn’t uncommon to feel that isolation. At the premiere, many people said to me, ‘this is my pandemic experience.’ This never-ending day; same rooms, same coffee, same everything. So many people could relate.”
“It was a lot of repetition for many people, and I think we represented that very well,” he declares.
Wrapping Up
Chris draws influence from all sorts of creative places. “Cinematography-wise, I love Robby Müller and Harris Savides. I love bold 80s photographers like Andres Serrano. I love 90s American independent films like Gus Van Zant and Spike Lee. I love the revival of horror films recently and how they’ve stepped up.”
Night’s End is available on Shudder. So, what’s coming next from Chris? “I’m slated to shoot a feature called Homesick with director Jim Mendiola this summer. It’s a supernatural thriller. Also, a film called Nowhere with Rachel Leigh Cook and director Natasha Levy-Gunn.
Is Night’s End on your watch list?
Thanks to Christopher Rejano and Projection PR
for making this interview possible.
Doctor Who: Flux is the latest season of the BBC’s popular sci-fi series. Due to the pandemic, the series had to reduce its number of episodes to six and used this to tell one continuous story.
The universe is in danger. A giant cloud called The Flux travels around the galaxy and destroys any planets in its path. Unfortunately, one of these planets is Earth, and the Doctor must figure out who created the Flux and why they want to destroy the universe. She works with old and new allies and faces old and new enemies across time and space.
Since Chris Chibnall has become the showrunner of Doctor Who, the show has had a massive drop in quality. The show no longer felt fun like it used to, nor had the emotion and character development that fans loved about the Davies and Moffatt eras. Instead, Chibnall made the show boring because of his bland characters, overly expository dialogue, and overreliance on heavy-handed political commentary. Chibnall also annoyed fans because he seemed to misunderstand the series he’s working on. So, the only way to go was up.
Flux did see a lot of improvements, and Chibnall seemed to have listened to some of the criticisms. There was much less expository dialogue or just having characters standing and talking, and the political commentary was toned down. As a result, the show felt fun again. The first episode of the season was a confusing mess. Still, it had energy and urgency because the Doctor and Yaz had to escape from a seemingly impossible situation and had a fun, campy tone. Chibnall knew how to excite audiences with a cliffhanger at the end of each episode.
The fourth episode, “The Village of the Angels,” was easily the best episode of the Chibnall era, let alone in the season. It was the best Weeping Angels episode since the Series 5 two-parter “Time of the Angels”/”Flesh and Stone.” “The Village of the Angels” was a classic rural English countryside horror with a Doctor Who twist. In the episode, The Weeping Angels attack a village in 1967. It was a simple concept that made for a great horror episode. It showed Chibnall at his best because he had the ordinary collide with the extraordinary, like his hit crime show Broadchurch. And like Broadchurch, “The Village of the Angels” was set in Dorset.
The other great episode of the series is “War of the Sontarans.” In this episode, The Doctor discovered the Sontarans had traveled back in time to rewrite Earth’s history, causing the British to be at war with aliens during the Crimean War. It was a fun episode that showed an alternative history story. It’s hard to go wrong with 19th-century soldiers fighting laser-wielding aliens. Mary Seacole was a major character in the episode, and the episode managed to educate people on who she was while also being a satisfying sci-fi story. It didn’t feel like an episode like “Rosa,” where the Doctor and companions took a backseat to a history lesson.
Even though Flux had two excellent episodes, it didn’t work as a complete package. There were duff episodes and plotlines that went nowhere. The character’s role known as The Great Serpent (Craig Parkinson) was an example of this. The Great Serpent was a figure who could get into positions of power throughout the centuries, had psychic abilities, and killed off anyone who discovered his secret. But The Great Serpent’s motivations were vague.
All the new villains’ motivations were vague. Swarm (Sam Spruell) and Azure (Rochenda Sandall) were meant to be big bad guys of the series. There were ancient beings who could manipulate time and dissolve people with a touch and wanted to be able to control all of time. Yet they came across as nothing more than Saturday Morning Cartoon villains who were evil for the sake of being evil, or to put it another way; they were one-off Doctor Who monsters who got a much more important role than they deserved. They were underwhelming villains who got an equally underwhelming end in the final episode of the series.
As the series progressed, Chibnall became more interested in the Doctor’s mysterious past. There were questions about who The Division was and why The Doctor was a member, and her connections to characters like Swarm and Karvanista (Craige Els). The first issue was Chibnall was doubling down on the controversial Timeless Child reveal of Series 12, which retconned the Doctor’s origins story. Even if audience members accept The Timeless Child storyline, Flux left many questions unanswered. Unfortunately, it seems like Chibnall was leaving them open just so he could address them in Whittaker’s final specials.
Doctor Who: Flux was an improvement over Chibnall’s previous seasons, and “Village of the Angels” will be seen as a classic episode, and the series had more of a sense of fun. However, the series did succumb to some terrible writing from Chibnall, especially during the final two episodes.
