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Scary movies, Batman’s ‘Brave’ new world and the Flash, all in Everyday Hero headlines

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Today’s handpicked headlines from the fanboy universe...

Left-over Halloween treat: It was posted last week but I just came across a nifty photo gallery put together by Mandi Bierly, who got William Friedkin, the director ‘The Exorcist,’ to make a list of the movies that scare him. The unlucky 13 that he came up with has the usual suspects (‘Alien,’ Psycho’ and ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ all righteously scary if unsurprising) as well as some dark fare that casual movie fans won’t recognize. Here, for instance, is Freidkin’s appraisal of Kaneto Shindō’sOnibaba,’ the 1964 Japanese horror film with the title that translates to ‘Demon Woman’: ‘’It’s a masterpiece of horror and suspense. It’s about an old woman, who has only her daughter-in-law to care for her in a remote village. She starts to see her daughter-in-law sneak out every night, and she follows her to see where she’s gone — off to have sex with a man out in the weeds. This incredibly frightening, mythological Japanese demon appears every time the daughter-in-law goes out, and the pursuit by the demon through those weeds is terrifying. It’s a cautionary tale about going off and sinning and not worrying about paying the price. It can send shivers up your spine like a cold hand on the back of your neck, and there’s little if any blood.’

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Batman’s ‘Brave’ new world: I watched an advance copy of the new animated Batman team-up series, ‘The Brave and the Bold,’ with my 7-year-old son, Ben, and we both adored it. ‘Dad, you should write about this show,’ he told me. Well, son, here you go. The tone is brighter and more bouyant than most recent incarnations of the Caped Crusader (it’s got clean lines and a real old-school, Dick Sprang vibe to it, in fact) but there’s nothing condescending in its tone. I want to know more about the creative teams, so I read with interest an interview that Steve Fritz has with one of the show’s directors, Ben Jones, who said the real fun of the show is putting the hero with a changing cast of costars: ‘It’s like being at a really big buffet and trying to choose between a hundred different foods. There are a lot of things that would be really awesome to do. The problem isn’t coming up with ideas. The problem is which to actually pick, especially as we only have 26 episodes. How it was done was everyone has their favorite characters ... there are a group of guest stars that appear more frequently, like Blue Beetle, Red Tornado, Green Arrow, Aquaman and, at least I’m thinking, Plastic Man.’ [Newsarama]

Taking a run at ‘Flash’ rumors: The very talented Grant Morrison is talking about ‘The Flash’ with somebody in Hollywood but just don’t ask him about it. Jennfier Vineland did and the writer of ‘The Invisibles,’ citing nondisclosure agreements, did some fancy footwork that the scarlet speedster would be proud of: “The thing with Hollywood stuff,” Morrison started to explain, “is that I’ve signed all these NDAs, so I can’t talk about it. I don’t want to get myself in trouble for saying the wrong things. There’s a lot of projects I’m not ready to talk about. I can’t. It’s just not allowed...[a Flash movie] yeah, that’s the kind of thing I can’t talk about. Yes, I have talked to them. I’m deeply involved in those discussions. I know what’s going down with all of that, and it’s actually really exciting. But beyond that, I can’t say anything. I wish I could tell you. I’m sure announcements will probably be made at some point, but I can’t say anything.” Does that mean director David Dobkin might use a Morrison idea or script? He can’t say. Does it mean he pitched it and they turned it down? Again, he can’t say.’ [Splash Page blog, MTV] NOTE: I had a link to this Splash Page post, but now it’s been taken down by MTV.

-- Geoff Boucher

‘The Exorcist’ image courtesy of Warner Bros. ‘The Brave & the Bold’ image courtesy of Warner Bros. Animation. The Flash image, art by Alex Ross, courtesy of DC Comics.

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