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Drama

Alexandra Breckenridge vamps it up on “American Horror Story”

If you watched last night’s premiere of American Horror Story, you no doubt noticed Alexandra Breckenridge. She doesn’t have all that many scenes, but she makes maximum use of every second of her screen time, donning a French maid outfit that she looks poured into, while relentlessly, and maliciously, seducing Dylan McDermott’s character. But for all the dark and lascivious behavior her character displays, Breckenridge was sunny and friendly when I talked to her recently about her role in the much-anticipated series, the latest from producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. As one personality of the “Moira” character, she is […]

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Horror

“From Beyond” preview: “Priscilla’s Baby” episode

Getting in the mood for this upcoming Halloween season, here’s a clip from this Sunday’s (October 9) episode of From Beyond, a paranormal investigation series that airs Sundays at 10pm ET/PT on mun2, and which has become a record-setting breakout hit for the bilingual network. In “Priscilla’s Baby,” we meet Priscilla and Frank, who brought home their newborn baby girl several months ago. But that’s when things started going awry. The strange movements, sightings, and what they call “the wind of a spirit” in the dining room did not bother them, until they discovered unexplained scratches on their baby. The […]

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Family

“Super 8’s” Joel Courtney logs time on “R.L. Stine’s The Haunting Hour”

When your first showbiz experience is playing the lead in a summer blockbuster directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg, it might be easy to get a bit spoiled. But Joel Courtney, who turned out to be the perfect choice to lead Super 8‘s ensemble of young up-and-coming talent, says he’s adjusted just fine to other projects, thank you very much. He’s wrapped production on a new Tom Sawyer film, where he’ll play Mark Twain’s icon of boyhood, and is currently filming the fantasy adventure The Healer. In the meantime, you can catch the 15-year-old rising star in […]

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Documentary

TCM’s Stephen King doc traces horror master’s cinematic influences

By Stacey Harrison Follow @ChannelGuideSRH In its A Night at the Movies series, TCM set out to explore film genres in-depth. Having already tackled thrillers and epics, the series gets into the Halloween spirit with tonight’s entry, A Night at the Movies: The Horrors of Stephen King. Filmmaker Laurent Bouzereau, who has directed all the Night at the Movies documentaries, knew that there was no better source to talk about horror cinema than the man who has terrified audiences for decades with novels like Carrie, The Shining, The Dead Zone and dozens of others. In the one-hour special, which premieres […]

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Holiday

Halloween 2011 TV schedule

October is upon us, the time of year when darkness grows longer, a chill clutches the air, and many people look to their TVs for scary escapism. Throughout the month, leading up to Halloween, many  networks will offer a variety of scary shows, specials and movies — from hardcore horror to family-friendly frights, depending upon your mood. Here are some of the notable highlights. Programming and times are subject to change; check back throughout the month, as this post will continuously be updated and added to. While we focus here mainly on TV series and specials, with a few notable […]

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Drama

It’s not you, “True Blood,” it’s me … (OK, maybe it’s you)

By Stacey Harrison Follow @ChannelGuideSRH There comes a time for every show (except maybe The Wire … yeah, I’m one of those people) when you stop watching because you’re genuinely interested in seeing what happens next and it becomes a matter of simply seeing something through to the end. I’m pretty sure I’ve reached that point in Season 4 with True Blood. I watched entertained but disappointingly uninvolved this season as the episodes progressed, and wondered each week if it was me who had changed, or if the show had suddenly left me behind. It was still as sexy and […]

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Documentary

Preview: Syfy’s “Paranormal Witness”

By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP I screened the first episode of Syfy’s new docu-drama series Paranormal Witness (premiering tonight at 10pm ET/PT) yesterday afternoon, and while I felt some thrills and chills as I watched it, I didn’t think much about it afterward. This morning, however, I found myself awake at about 4:30 for some reason. As I lay in bed trying to get back to sleep, my mind suddenly went back to the screener I had watched, and the two (supposedly real-life) ghost stories contained within it. My brain is sometimes prone to do this after I watch a […]

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Horror

VOD Spotlight: “Red State”

When you think of great horror films, one name you don’t think of is Kevin Smith. The man who brought us Clerks and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back does have his more caustic side, as seen in 1999’s Dogma, but Smith’s latest effort, Red State, takes everything to menacing heights of horror. Taking aim at the thinking that motivates the notorious Westboro Baptist Church’s protests and that of its pastor, Fred Phelps, Red State is Smith’s own protest. Funded independently and distributed by Smith himself in a 15-date tour, featuring post-screening Q&As with the director, it represents a nervy […]

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Drama

Ryan Murphy talks about going from “Glee” to “American Horror Story”

Perhaps all of that relentless positivity and self-empowerment they showcase on Glee has left executive producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk with a surplus of nastiness they need to get out. If the artfully creepy previews are any indication, American Horror Story will certainly do the trick. Critical reaction has been mixed, but most agree that it is an over-the-top experience. Ostensibly a haunted house story, the series — which airs Wednesdays beginning Oct. 5 on FX — follows the Harmons, who relocate from Boston to Los Angeles in an effort to rebuild their lives after an infidelity and a […]

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Action

VOD Spotlight: “Priest”

Sometimes the demands of successive film roles can be their own kind of hell. Before playing the title role in Priest, actor Paul Bettany had put on “about 45” pounds to portray Charles Darwin in the film Creation, a bit of bulk he couldn’t afford when it came to doing most of his own stunts in Priest. With plenty of hand-to-hand combat, intricate wire-rig sequences and intense motorcycle scenes, Bettany had to slim back down to fighting physique and then some. He’s glad he went through it all, even if it was difficult and, at times, downright insane. “I was […]