There has been a frenzy online over the dark romance/horror book series by H.D. Carlton called Cat and Mouse, and for good reason. The books are aged (suggested) 18+ and focus on the main character Adeline Reilly, who in the chapters through her perspective, is referred to as “The Manipulator.”

The books also focus on her stalker who remains unnamed throughout the majority of book one, other than the nickname “Z” and in the chapters that are through his perspective he is referenced to as “The Shadow.”

This year’s new horror film is said to be the scariest movie of the century, netting an 86% critic approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, though the withheld acclaim has not come without its dissenters.

“Longlegs” was directed by Osgood Perkins, son of Psycho actor Anthony Perkins – a fact alone that makes him something of horror movie royalty. Perkins takes the classic movie plot of an FBI agent pursuing a serial killer before he continues wreaking havoc, and expertly directs a fiercely skilled cast, wielding some of the most chilling and off-putting performances in recent memory.

Horror movies have an interesting habit of embodying contemporary societal fears, whether they are the vampire films of the ‘90s, alien invasion films of the ‘80s, or zombie flicks in the 2000s.

The 2020s is no exception either, as our current focal point of terror is far and away forced birth and a lack of reproductive freedoms. 

Having been around since 1975, Iron Maiden, possibly the most popular English Heavy Metal band in the world, has been on countless world tours since its inception and has enjoyed overwhelming popularity and success. 

Iron Maiden performed at the Tacoma Dome this past week, bringing in entire families, stretching across generations, and carrying on their commitment to bringing music and shows to the world. They continue on their “Future Past” tour across North America and Canada.

How much gore can a person handle in one sitting? Movie-goers were put to the test as “Terrifier 3” hit the theaters this fall.

People are preparing for the third movie in the Terrifier series. This movie included warning signs to the audience before walking in as well as vomit bags as some scenes got way too graphic and hard to watch. This may seem like an overreaction, but the resounding feedback for the film highlights just how shocked most audiences have been, even sparking censorship among some cultures.

Despite the fantastical nature of anime, there’s a noticeable lack of both POC (people of color), and/or people who belong to the LGBTQ+ community. Even with its popularity overseas, anime largely remains exclusive to anyone who doesn’t fit a certain mold. 

While anime has instances of darker-skinned characters, they’re fewer in number compared to their lighter counterparts and are almost always Japanese. While dark-skinned Japanese representation is great, it’s only one type of representation.

Bringing us into the spooky season this year was none other than Tim Burton, the King of family-spooky night, with the reprisal of Beetlejuice. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” hits theaters in time to kick off the haunting season, 36 years after the original premiered.

Winona Ryder, Catherine O’hara, and Michael Keaton all reprise their roles as Lydia Deetz, Delia Deetz, and the exorcist himself, Beetlejuice.

When most people hear the word “Battle Royale,” they automatically think of the popular video game genre. But have you ever heard of the origin of the inspiration of that wildly popular video game genre? 

“Battle Royale” started as a science fiction thriller novel written by Koushun Takami. It was completed in 1996 but wasn’t published till 1999. The novel consists of a class of junior high students taken to a deserted island where, as part of a ruthless authoritarian program, they are provided arms and forced to kill one another until only one survivor is left standing.

Although Japan has been open to the world for centuries, closing itself off from the world for nearly 215 years (a period known as Sakoku), has its long-lasting consequences, particularly in Japan’s entertainment industry. Said consequences have seeped into almost every aspect of Japanese culture in one way or another.

Unfortunately, like other countries in their “medieval” periods, Japan turned women into a commodity of sorts, something to be bought and sold. It isn’t easy to undo the centuries of cultural and mental damage such practices brought to the nation. Despite this, there are people out there demanding change.

Dragon Age is a strange game franchise. It’s wonderful, but it can be labeled ‘inconsistent’ as so many things have changed about it over the years.

The first in the series, “Dragon Age Origins” (DAO), was an edgy dark fantasy from 2009, complete with overt violence and horrifying social injustices that are handled kind of recklessly.

The 2008 horror thriller “The Strangers” was for many years considered a cult classic, with eerie dialogue and morbidly fascinating character design keeping the film relevant throughout the years. As with anything, its continued popularity spurred several more movies.

“The Strangers”, loosely based on a few true stories of home invasions, follows a young couple as they are terrorized by a group of three masked strangers during a stay at an isolated cabin.

Starring Liv Tyler (“Lord of the Rings”, “Empire Records”) and Scott Speedman (“Underworld”) as a couple on the brink of a potential break-up, the movie is distinctive in that a fractured relationship must be put aside in order to survive together.

Centerstage Theatre closes its 2023-2024 season with “Ten Acrobats in an Amazing Leap of Faith”, a poignant family drama which follows the chaos that unfolds in an immigrant, Muslim-Egyptian family where the children of the family, all young adults in their own right, start to diverge and wrestle with the family values they’d been raised with.

The whole cast is stellar – bringing charisma, passion, and earnestness to their roles. The show itself is captivating and thought provoking, tackling powerful and heavy subject matter, mostly regarding religion, and the way those beliefs can become heavily intertwined with family dynamics, and an attempt to detangle the two and understand each other.

If you’ve played video games or at least have friends who do so, chances are you’ve heard about “Fallout”, the games series originally created by Interplay Productions/Entertainment, Black Isle Studios, and later by Bethesda. Set in a retro futuristic post-apocalyptic America after a devastating nuclear holocaust, “Fallout” is an RPG with a unique style known as dieselpunk.

Despite their games’ success, Interplay struggled financially for years, and eventually “Fallout” was sold to its current owners, Bethesda. Fast forward to today, and Bethesda has released multiple successful Fallout titles, which has led to the creation of Amazon’s Fallout series. ***Be warned, there are massive spoilers ahead.***

The game “Wuthering Waves” was released this month. According to the creators it’s a “story-rich open-world action RPG.” You start as the amnesiac character Rover, and you explore the world ahead of you.

The game had more than 30 million pre-registrations and the reveal stream has over 400k views. The game server opened around one and a half hours earlier than scheduled, leading many to be unprepared for the grand opening. Within the first ten minutes of the servers opening, over 100k accounts had been created already as signified by the user ID number.

“I Saw the TV Glow” is a captivating, heart wrenching film that perfectly encapsulates the lonely feeling of growing up queer in suburbia, and the confusion that comes when one doesn’t have the words to express it.

The film follows Owen, through middle school and high school all the way into adulthood, and his elusive friendship with a girl named Maddy.

They first meet when Owen is in seventh grade and Maddy is in ninth, and he strikes up a conversation with her about the book she’s reading: an episode guide to the fictional show, “The Pink Opaque”.

Have you ever wanted to play a game that lets you unleash torrents of magical destruction? Or do you simply wish to have conversations with dogs and skeletons alike? If that calls to you, consider playing “Baldur’s Gate 3”. “Baldur’s Gate 3” is a computer role-playing game (or CRPG for short), that allows you to adventure in the land known as the Forgotten Realms.

To those who may be unfamiliar with the genre, CRPGs are RPGs made originally for PCs and home computers. They’re designed a certain way with emphasis on intricate storylines and a simple yet effective gameplay style.

Netflix’s limited series “Baby Reindeer”, written by and starring Richard Gadd is a version of his own real-life experience with a crazed serial stalker. While stalking is the core element of the show, the deeper and more poignant theme is the human need to be known and the consequences of the perceptions of strangers.

Gadd portrays a fictionalized version of himself, Donny Dunn, opposite Jessica Gunning as his stalker ‘Martha’. The series is based on Gadd’s one-man stage play of the same name and with both presentations narrated by Gadd himself.

“Challengers” is director Luca Guadagnino’s latest film, which follows the turbulent relationships between its three main characters through the lens of their tennis careers. Unlike most love triangle romances, where one character is being chased by two others, this story gives each pairing equal attention, and showcases the ways the three get so deeply intertwined with each other over the years.

The movie itself is about tennis. Tennis is what connects Tashi Duncan, Art Donaldson, and Patrick Zweig. Art and Patrick had been best friends since boarding school, but once they meet Tashi at the start of their college tennis careers, a wrench is thrown in their friendship – they both like her, and she likes both of them, and they’re both sort of into each other, but none of them quite know how to make any of it work.

Based off of the Harry Potter franchise there have been many games that have been modeled after the books and movies, with all the original characters in place. But never before has there been quite a unique game made after this franchise that creates a whole new story like “Hogwarts Legacy”.

What’s more, not only does this game have its own story line and main quests, but depending on the house you choose this main story quest is a little bit different for each house.

Another feature that makes this gaming experience more unique is that the world map is huge and full of secrets – secret caves, tombs, and the one forbidden forest. With a hidden magical creature known as the classic unicorn. However, lots of other story mode games have huge maps. But what other game lets you travel by flying on a broomstick?

The action thriller “John Wick” premiered in 2014 and starred Keanu Reeves as a retired hitman who is pulled back into the seedy underworld of hitmen and organized crime after the murder of his puppy. “John Wick” both revolutionized and did irreversible damage to the action genre.

The film’s stylistic fight sequences and constant jump cuts drew recognition from audiences and critics alike, spawning three movies, a tv mini series and a growing list of copycat films.

Keanu Reeves, known best for his cult classic roles in “The Matrix” trilogy and the stoner comedy “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” plays the titular character of John Wick. Reeves has long been a semi-controversial actor in terms of his acting abilities, but the role of Wick has since endeared him to even the most critical of movie goers.

AI art introduced itself to the general public through novelty TikTok filters, but has since been used in major theatrical releases both promotionally and narratively. In a creative era already permeated by reboots and remakes, this dependence on AI art allows film executives to continue their mistreatment of creatives, in the form of writers and authors.

A24’s newest release “Civil War” was a top-five highest grossing film for the studio and continues its run in the theaters. A political thriller starring Kirsten Dunst, “Civil War” centers around the dubious ethics of war photography and journalism.

The 2023 drama biopic “Blackberry” is centered around the meteoric rise and fall of the world’s first smartphone, the Blackberry. Focusing especially on the character dynamics between co-founders Mike Lazardis and Doug Fregin with the involvement of corporate centric Jim Balsillie.

Glenn Howerton, revered for his role as the loveably psychotic Dennis Reynolds in “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” portrays Jim Balsillie. Balsillie, whose drive for professional success leads him to interact with his colleagues in an abrasive, nearly pathetic manner, is a role that plays perfectly into Howerton’s strengths.

Based on the polarizing New Yorker short story of the same name, “Cat Person” is a 2023 thriller starring Emilia Jones and Nicholas Braun, currently streaming on Hulu. Both the original short story, written by Harvard graduate Kristen Roupenian, and the feature film have generated a fair share of conflict online.

The short story, and the movie by association, have been the center of a slew of online conversations. Ranging from criticisms of the unspoken representation of privilege, the supposed demonization of a vulnerable man, and the nuances of a bad experience in the bedroom.

“Lighting and thunder require time; the light of the stars requires time; deeds, though done, still require time to be seen and heard. This deed is still more distant from them than most distant stars—and yet they have done it themselves.”

This is a quote from the philosopher Friedrich Nietzshe that is included in the director’s notes for the show “Rope” which is currently playing at Renton Civic Theatre. The show is a thriller by Alfred Hitchcock and Patrick Hamilton, which follows two young men over the course of an evening as they attempt to get away with the “perfect murder”.

Music has always been a strong platform for people to express their emotions and their beliefs about a particular situation or simply about whatever’s on their mind. A lot of thought is put into how a song is made, and as a result, everyone has a different interpretation of its message.

For example, Creep by Radiohead, to some listeners, is about a young man who has low self-esteem and has fallen in love with someone whom he considers way out of his league. For others however, the song is about said young man struggling against his own self-loathing and depression as he feels outshined by a peer.

“First Date, The Musical” opened at Centerstage Theatre recently, and it’s a rollercoaster of a romantic comedy.

Somewhat reminiscent of the 1995 film “Before Sunrise,” the entire show takes place over the course of a single evening, following the two lead characters, Casey and Aaron, as their relationship evolves over the course of a single blind date.

Casey is played by Jessie Sellek, who has been in a variety of other productions at Centerstage, most recently, Fairy Sweetheart in “Sleeping Beauty”. 

The 2024 release, “Immaculate” centers around devout nun Cecilia, portrayed by Sydney Sweeney and her immaculate conception during her time at an Italian convent. Sweeney served as a main producer, script editor, and lead actress in one of the best performances of her career.

Sweeney’s career took off during her time on HBO’s mega-hit “Euphoria” as Cassie Howard, a role that allowed her to consistently show off her skills as a on-cue crier. She continued her partnership with HBO with a role on season one of the streaming exclusive “The White Lotus”.

After finding a mysterious red envelope and being compelled by a group of old women into marrying their dead grandson, police detective Wu Ming-Han has to solve a drug case while simultaneously coming to terms with the ghost husband to whom he is now wedded. Maybe the hardest thing to believe about this movie is that it gradually gets weirder from there.

Wu (played by Greg Han Hsu) starts off the film as an arrogant and homophobic cop, chiefly concerned with his own career’s trajectory, and as he is faced with the unbelievable task of marrying a dead man, lest he continue to receive bad luck.

The comedy trio of Please Don’t Destroy are responsible for most of the viral content coming out of Saturday Night Live’s current seasons. Composed of Ben Marshall, John Higgins and Martin Herlihy all of whom met as students at New York University.

Gaining traction on social media platform TikTok, the group consistently went viral with their surrealist comedy sketches. Particularly during the COVID-19 quarantine period of 2020, the group frequently collaborated on each of their three individual accounts.

The latest iteration of “Mean Girls”, released in January of this year, is a movie adaptation of the 2018 musical, which is an adaptation of the 2004 movie, which is based on the book Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. It’s a simple story, but sometimes, the best ones are.

It follows Cady Heron, who moves from Africa and starts attending public high school for the first time in her life at age 16, throwing her headfirst into a world of cliques and romance and friendships and drama that she’s never dealt with before. Just like any teenager, she doesn’t deal with all of it well, and really, none of the young characters in the story are perfect to each other, either.

“X-Men ‘97” is more than another superhero property; it is a revitalization of the famous 1992 X-Men cartoon that – despite its low production value – enraptured 90’s kids back before the Marvel Comic Universe (MCU) took over the comic landscape. “X-Men ‘97” is everything that a nostalgia property should be.

Though only four episodes have been released so far, the new iteration has created waves online, widely consisting of praise for the series’s animation, faithfulness to the comics, and impressively crafted dialogue.

Popularized in the late 1990s with the release of “The Blair Witch Project”, the found footage technique in horror movies has flourished in the 21st century. With social media and live-streaming media rapidly developing, found footage movies continue to stay relevant and evolve alongside the technology of the time.

While not the first use of the found footage technique, “The Blair Witch Project” is often heralded as the creator of the genre. Premiering in 1999 and claiming to be the discovered footage of three missing college students, “The Blair Witch Project” thrived on the use of a fledgling internet.

The seas and the stars have been sources of human curiosity for millenia, driving humans to develop technology and explore the world. Rocket engineering brought Sputnik 1 to space in the 1950s and sailing revolutionized exploration as far back as 4000 BC.

But the technological development of all technological developments was the combination of fire and tools 3.3 million years ago that gave us the gift of modern day cooking. I underestimated the universality of food and cooking last week but that’s okay because it will be the theme of this week’s One-Shot Manga Roulette!

The seaweed is in-fact not always greener in somebody else’s lake. The last thing you remember was going out for a quick swim, next thing you know you’re waking up in a watery grave. Returning from the trenches, the seas brighten with colors as you leave behind the abyss you wonder how long you’ve been gone for (or how it is you’re even alive).

After bursting through the water you find yourself in Gensokyo, a land of fantasy, illusion, and of that which is forgotten…

Over 30 years after his gruesome serial murders, controversial media portrayals of Jeffrey Dahmer continue to intrigue and disturb viewers.

This review will compare the factual fidelity and ethical problems found between two biopics, “My Friend Dahmer”and “Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story”, versus the documentary series “Conversations with a Killer: The Jeffrey Dahmer Tapes”.

Vivian Maier, unfortunately, remains relatively unknown to those outside the photography community, yet her impact on the art world is profound.

Vivian Maier’s journey through life was marked by a quiet resilience. As a nanny by trade, her true vocation lay in capturing the essence of humanity, one frame at a time – in recording the essence of everyday life through her lens.

In the mid-20th century, she wandered the streets, observing and documenting moments that would otherwise go unnoticed, her footsteps echoing through the streets she traversed with her camera in hand.

“Lisa Frankenstein” is the joint product of writer Diablo Cody and director Zelda Williams. The title references both the classic Frankenstein story as well as Lisa Frank’s signature colorful art style.

The movie is centered around Kathryn Newton’s character of Lisa Swallows as she navigates high school in 1989 alongside her preppy step sister Taffy. When a creature emerges from the graveyard Lisa frequents, she takes on the task of hiding and ultimately working to piece his body back together.

On Friday the 13th of October 1972, a Uruguayan charter flight crashed in the Andes mountains, carrying the Old Christians rugby team and their companions. Seventy-one days later, two of the survivors walked out of the mountain range into a small farming village.

This incredible true story spawned a novel, “Alive” by Piers Paul Read which compiled each survivor’s account of their life on the mountain into a comprehensive story. From this novel came the movie of the same name and nearly thirty years later “Society of the Snow” took another turn telling the story of both the survivors and the dead.

Amidst a fighting game renaissance, an iron fist strikes: “Tekken 8”. Released mere months before the series’ 30th anniversary, “Tekken 8” further advances the story from 2014’s “Tekken 7”, while offering a ton more content in comparison. After 10 years from its previous entry though, how well does it hold up?

“Tekken 8” was first teased at EVO 2022 in August. It starts by recalling the first game’s ending, where main character Kazuya Mishima throws his father Heihachi off a cliff in an act of revenge. Kazuya smiles at the camera when it suddenly cuts to a new render with two words: “Get ready.”

Skyrocketing supergroup boygenius is made up of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus. While the three members each have their own following and solo albums, magic happens when they unite. 

The first project they worked on together was their EP which contained eight songs, written specifically for a tour for another artist. It was on this tour that they all met and immediately hit it off. With Lucy and Julien meeting first, it was platonic love at first sight; then later with the introduction of Phoebe, who was already making a huge name for herself.

“Poor Things” (2023) from Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos is based upon the book of the same name and borrows the gothic morbidity and feminist undertones of Mary Shelley’s iconic Frankenstein story. 

“Poor Things” is a major Oscar contender with nominations including Best Picture, Best Actress for Emma Stone, and a Supporting Actor nomination for Mark Ruffalo. “Poor Things” holds eleven nominations, second only to “Oppenheimer” which has received thirteen nods and will be competing against “Poor Things” for Best Picture.

Welcome to this week’s One-Shot Roulette! Last week’s edition was on our love for our pets, (and although “Ieva” was featured, my favorite was “The Smell of Happiness,” it was certainly something every panel…). When it comes to writing, one genre in particular is universally difficult to create: hard fantasy. And it will be the theme for this week’s column!

The week is more straightforward compared to last week with an emotional stress level of: 3/10 – although it’s long, with a grand total of 199 pages, making it comparable to a single volume of manga.

The emotional stress level is more of an indicator of how emotionally exhausting I consider the stories to be. Stories are given a number (0, 1, 2) and are then totaled for the week.

The 2024 horror movie “Night Swim” (from Blumhouse Pictures) premiered with less than savory reviews in a month known for underwhelming releases in the horror genre. Directed by Bryce McGuire and featuring a relatively unknown cast, the movie revolves around a family haunted by their backyard pool.

The premise and title of the film were widely criticized leading up to the release and it appears that the full movie has done little to dispel these negative feelings from audiences. An uninspired name leaves the audience with no questions going into the movie and a similar lack of curiosity throughout the film.