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Steve Kostanski & Todd Masters Win 2022 Fangoria Magazine "Chainsaw" Awards

Director Steve Kostanski on the set of "Psycho Gorman." Photo courtesy/copyright of Steve Kostanski & MASTERSFX.

Horror genre director/writer/makeup FX artist Steve Kostanski and Emmy Award winning makeup FX artist Todd Masters, founder of MASTERSFX, proudly announce the win of two 2022 FANGORIA MAGAZINE “Chainsaw” Awards for their 2021 feature film project, Psycho Goreman (PG). The film won 2022 “Chainsaw” Awards in the categories “Best Creature FX” and “Best Limited Release Movie.” To see the full list of award winners, please visit: https://horrorobsessive.com/2022/05/15/2022-fangoria-chainsaw-awards/

In Psycho Goreman, Siblings Mimi and Luke unwittingly resurrect an ancient alien overlord who's been entombed beneath their backyard. The creature longs to destroy the universe, but thanks to their possession of a magical amulet, the kids force it to be their new best friend. As the monster reluctantly obeys their childish whims, his magical powers draw the attention of interstellar friends and fiends from across the cosmos. Soon, a rogues' gallery of galactic combatants converge on the strange realm of small-town suburbia and an absurdist battle of Saturday Morning Television-inspired action, outrageous comedy, and freaky comic-book violence ensues—one that will decide the fate of the entire galaxy!

Regarding the win of two “Chainsaw” Awards, Todd Masters said, “It was a great list of Creature FX nominees this year - each was top-notch work. And we’re truly honored to take away the win! I’m proud of Steve and our Toronto MFX team for the Best Creature FX Chainsaw Award. They really pulled out all-the-stops to make this film chock-full of monsters. And Steve himself, a superstar artist - and of course writer, producer, director - brings great energy to his movies, which is easily witnessed on-screen. He makes it fan-damn-tastic, despite what the production resources and challenges are. Everyone had as much fun making PG as we do watching it."

“The Chainsaws are more-or-less home-brewed and are one of the few awards shows that are fan-based. It’s FANGORIA’s readers and fans of these films that chose the winners. So this made our second Chainsaw Award for ‘Best Limited Release Movie,’ especially cool. The indies are typically made with more heart than budget. Steve and our team really worked hard for this win. And it’s a true honor to be part of all this,” Masters adds.

Adds Steve Kostanski, “The idea for Psycho Goreman came to me right after I finished directing Leprechaun Returns. Some friends of mine wanted to invest in a feature film, so I pitched them the idea about two kids who befriend an evil alien overlord who wreaks havoc on the world, while, at the same time, must obey their childish whims. The film is kind of an E.T. style family adventure entertainment story mashed-up with an action sci-fi horror film. To me, the movie plays like a ‘PG’-rated family film, and at other times it’s really brutal and violent.”

Director Steve Kostanski on the set of "Psycho Gorman." Photo courtesy/copyright of Steve Kostanski & MASTERSFX.

Psycho Goreman was released theatrically in theatres across the U.S. and Canada, as well as on VOD, on January 22, 2021. The film was later released on Blu-Ray March 16, 2021. Said movie reviewer Adam Graham of the Detroit News: Psycho Goreman is a hilarious gut-buster in every sense of the word.” The Canadian Special Blu-ray edition of Psycho Goreman completely sold out in a matter of days.

One of today’s most inspirational makeup FX artists, Steven Kostanski, who works in-house with the MASTERSFX Toronto studio, continues to push his talents even further, as a successful genre director. Kostanski wrote, directed, and created the monsters and makeup FX for Psycho Goreman - the film marked his fifth feature as a director. His earlier directorial projects have been Manborg, Father's Day, and The Void - both of which he co-directed - and  Leprechaun Returns for SYFY.

Kostanski first began working with MASTERSFX when a movie the company was working on - A Haunting in Connecticut - came to his hometown of Winnipeg, and MFX needed some local help.

The effects work on Psycho Goreman was extensive, with the MASTERSFX Toronto team having pulled out every trick in the book to marinate the modest budgeted film in monsters.

“I don’t think there was anything else like Psycho Goreman out there recently,” Kostanski said. “It speaks to the video store kid who used to rent R-rated sci-fi and horror movies back during the ‘80s and ‘90s - movies that really were too intense for kids but that had to be seen anyway – like Terminator 2. Psycho Goreman is a tribute to the films of yesteryear that might traumatize a kid, but yet were still impossible not to watch.”

Zane Knisely, Head of MFX’s Toronto Studio, who also served as Associate Producer on Psycho Goreman, adds, “We were bursting out our bay door with creatures during the making of this film. It was a creatively exhausting movie, but somehow we pulled it off! The monsters are fun and a key part of the movie. Psycho Goreman tapped into a broad demographic, with a mindset ranging from a childlike to an adult experience. It transported me back to monster movies I loved when I was a kid. That’s how I felt when I watched it. The film is almost nostalgic - I feel it’s one of the best ‘kid’ movies ever made.”

ABOUT THE FANGORIA “CHAINSAW” AWARDS: The Fangoria “Chainsaw” Awards began in 1992. The annual ceremony recognizes outstanding achievements in horror film and television. The 2022 “Chainsaw” Awards event was hosted by David Dastmalchian (Dune, The Suicide Squad) and was live streamed live on Shudder, Sunday, May 15, 2022.

Since its launch 30 years ago, the “Chainsaw” Awards have been awarded to many notable honorees, including Wes Craven, George A. Romero, Lupita Nyong'o, Anthony Hopkins, and Elisabeth Moss.

This year, many big names from the horror world were also featured as presenters, including Dee Wallace, Joe Dante, Rachel True, Radio Silence, and many more. Nominees who were up for the prestigious 2022 horror awards included Candyman, Last Night in Soho, Titane, Chucky and Midnight Mass.

ABOUT MASTERSFX: Founded in 1987 by three-time Emmy Award winner Todd Masters, MASTERSFX (MFX) is a multi-award-winning character and makeup FX company. MASTERSFX's creative teams produce a distinctive blend of practical and digital makeup FX, prosthetics and animatronics, through a process called “dMFX,” for hundreds of hit feature films, TV shows, and commercials, since 1987..

Included among the TV projects to which MASTERSFX has contributed its work are Handmaid’s Tale, The Magicians, The Good Doctor, The Umbrella Academy, The Expanse, Coroner, The Boys, The Flash, This is Us, What We Do in the Shadows, True Blood, Six Feet Under, Tales from the Crypt, Fringe, and many others.

Among the company's film credits areChild’s Play, Sonic the Hedgehog, the 2019 version of Rabid, The Day the Earth Stood Still, The Haunting in Connecticut, Star Trek: First Contact, The Horse Whisperer, Slither, Snakes on a Plane, Look Who's Talking, and many more.

Makeup and special FX artist Todd Masters is the winner of the 2021 Daytime Emmy^® Award for “Outstanding Special Effects Costumes, Makeup” for his work on the Universal Studios/1440 produced TV movieAliens Stole My Body, the second entry in the young-adult, fantasy/sci-fi book series Aliens Ate My Homework by Bruce Coville. Masters is also the winner of a 2016 Daytime Emmy^® and Leo Awards for “Outstanding Makeup” for the Netflix series, Monsterville. He is the winner of an Emmy Award in 2003 for the 2001/2002 Season of Six Feet Underin the category "Best Special Effects Makeup." And, in 2006, Masters won a "Saturn Award" for "Best Makeup FX" for his work on the film Slither.

For All Mankind - Season Three Coming In June (Apple TV+)

Apple TV+ has released the trailer for the highly anticipated third season of For All Mankind. The trailer sees the alternate-reality series jump ahead nearly ten years, moving into the early ‘90s with a high-octane race to a new planetary frontier: MARS. The critically-acclaimed series, from Emmy Award-winner Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi, will make its global debut on Friday, June 10, 2022 on Apple TV+. The ten-episode third season will premiere with the first episode, followed by one new episode weekly every Friday through August 12, 2022. 

In season three, the Red Planet becomes the new frontier in the Space Race not only for the U.S. and the Soviet Union, but also an unexpected new entrant with a lot to prove and even more at stake. Our characters find themselves going head-to-head as their ambitions for Mars come into conflict and their loyalties are tested, creating a pressure cooker that builds to a climactic conclusion.

The ensemble cast returning for season three includes Joel Kinnaman, Shantel VanSanten, Jodi Balfour, Sonya Walger, Krys Marshall, Cynthy Wu, Casey Johnson, Coral Peña and Wrenn Schmidt, along with new series regular Edi Gathegi who will play Dev Ayesa, a charismatic visionary with his sights set on the stars.

For All Mankind is created by Emmy Award-winner Ronald D. Moore, and Emmy Award nominees Ben Nedivi & Matt Wolpert.  Nedivi & Wolpert serve as showrunners, and executive produce alongside Moore and Maril Davis of Tall Ship Productions, as well as David Weddle, Bradley Thompson and Nichole Beattie. For All Mankind is produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show's first two seasons are now available to stream on Apple TV+.

The Boys - Official Season Three Trailer & Key Art (Prime Video)

Today, Prime Video gave fans a look at the highly anticipated third season of The Boys, with the release of the head-poppingly diabolical official trailer and key art. The Emmy-nominated drama will return with three gripping new episodes on June 3, followed by one additional episode each subsequent Friday, and ending with a wicked season finale on Friday, July 8 . The eight-episode season will stream exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide. Check out the trailer below (NOTE - strong language and intense violence). 

The Boys is a fun and irreverent take on what happens when superheroes—who are as popular as celebrities, as influential as politicians, and as revered as gods—abuse their superpowers rather than use them for good. Intent on stopping the corrupt superheroes, The Boys, a group of vigilantes, continue their heroic quest to expose the truth about The Seven and Vought—the multibillion-dollar conglomerate that manages the superheroes and covers up their dirty secrets. It’s the seemingly powerless against the super-powerful.

Season Three of The Boys stars Karl Urban, Jack Quaid, Antony Starr, Erin Moriarty, Dominique McElligott, Jessie T. Usher, Laz Alonso, Chace Crawford, Tomer Capone, Karen Fukuhara, Nathan Mitchell, Colby Minifie, Claudia Doumit, and Jensen Ackles.

The Boys is based on The New York Times best-selling comic by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson, who also serve as executive producers, and developed by executive producer and showrunner Eric Kripke. Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver, Neal H. Moritz, Pavun Shetty, Phil Sgriccia, Craig Rosenberg, Ken F. Levin, Jason Netter, Paul Grellong, David Reed, Meredith Glynn, and Michaela Starr also serve as executive producers. The Boys is produced by Amazon Studios and Sony Pictures Television Studios, with Kripke Enterprises, Original Film, and Point Grey Pictures.

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Moonhaven- New Teaser Trailer & New Premiere Date (AMC+)

AMC+ has released a new teaser trailer for the upcoming suspense thriller, Moonhaven from creator/showrunner Peter Ocko (Lodge 49, Black Sails, Elementary). The series is set in a utopian colony on the moon that may hold the keys to preserving life on Earth, which has become increasingly perilous, and features an acclaimed ensemble cast including Emma McDonald (Queens of Mystery), Dominic Monaghan (Lost) Amara Karan (Doctor Who), Ayelet Zurer (Losing Alice), Joe Manganiello (True Blood), Kadeem Hardison (Black Monday), and Yazzmin Newell (The Last Tree). The first two episodes of the series will debut Tuesday, July 7 exclusively on AMC+ (the premiere had been previously set for June 30) with additional episodes dropping Thursdays, weekly. Check out the new teaser trailer below!

Moonhaven centers on Bella Sway (McDonald), a lunar cargo pilot and smuggler 100 years in the future who finds herself accused of a crime and marooned on Moonhaven, a utopian community set on a 500 square mile Garden of Eden built on the Moon to find solutions to the problems that will soon end civilization on Mother Earth. A skeptic in Paradise, Bella is sucked into a conspiracy to gain control of the artificial intelligence responsible for Moonhaven's miracles and teams with a local detective to stop the forces that want to destroy Earth's last hope before they are destroyed themselves.

An AMC Studios production, Moonhaven is executive produced by Ocko and Deb Spera, who is a non-writing executive producer.  

The Orville: New Horizons - New Trailer & Key Art Released (Hulu)

Seth MacFarlane’s epic space adventure series The Orville returns exclusively as a Hulu original series on June 2nd. Set 400 years in the future, The Orville: New Horizons finds the crew of the U.S.S. Orville continuing their mission of exploration, as they navigate both the mysteries of the universe and the complexities of their own interpersonal relationships. Check out the new key art (above) and trailer (below).

Returning cast includes Seth MacFarlane, Adrianne Palicki, Penny Johnson Jerald, Scott Grimes, Peter Macon,  Jessica Szohr, J Lee, Mark Jackson, Anne Winters, and Chad L. Coleman The Orville: New Horizons is produced by 20th Television and Fuzzy Door. The series was created and written by Seth MacFarlane. MacFarlane, Brannon Braga, David A. Goodman, Jon Cassar, Jason Clark and Howard Griffith serve as executive producers.

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Devon Sawa Returns To Chucky For Season Two (USA Network/SYFY)

Devon Sawa makes a surprise return as a new character for season two of Chucky, the USA Network/SYFY series from showrunner Don Mancini. In previous incarnations of the Chucky franchise, Mancini has occasionally brought actors back to portray new characters. Season two is currently in production and will launch on both networks this fall. Chucky is produced by UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group, and executive produced by Don Mancini, Nick Antosca, Alex Hedlund, David Kirschner and Jeff Renfroe.

Westworld - Season Four Coming In June (HBO/HBO Max)

The Emmy® winning drama series Westworld returns for its eight-episode fourth season Sunday, June 26th @ 9:00 p.m. EST/PST on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max.  Check out the official teaser below!

Returning cast includes Evan Rachel Wood, Emmy® winner Thandiwe Newton, Ed Harris, Jeffrey Wright, Tessa Thompson, Luke Hemsworth, Aaron Paul and Angela Sarafyan. Oscar winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story) joins the cast as a recurring guest star this season.

Westworld was created for television by Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy, who are executive producers with Alison Schapker, Denise Thé, J.J. Abrams, Athena Wickham, Richard J. Lewis, and Ben Stephenson. Production companies: Kilter Films and Bad Robot Productions in association with Warner Bros. Television; based on the film written by Michael Crichton.

Shudder Acquires Rebekah McKendry's Glorious Starring Ryan Kwaten and J.K. Simmons

Shudder, AMC Network’s premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, has acquired rights to Rebekah McKendry’s Glorious starring Ryan Kwanten (True Blood, Kindred) and Oscar-winner J.K. Simmons (Whiplash, Being the Ricardos). The film, an official selection of the Fantasia International Film Festival, will be available exclusively on Shudder in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, August 18.

Said Craig Engler, general manager of Shudder, “With Glorious, Rebekah brings Lovecraftian horror to a place it’s never been seen before: a rest stop men’s room. She and her all-star cast have created an inventive and original cosmic horror that manages to be both darkly hilarious and profoundly personal.”

“For years, I had been searching for a project that would let me show my preferred artistic style - that would let me be absurdist, sardonic, transgressive, and weird. And Glorious gets really f’n weird.” added director Rebekah McKendry. “As a diehard horror fan, I’m thrilled Glorious has found a home at Shudder, and I know Shudder fans will find something unique, wild, and thought-provoking lurking inside our rural rest stop bathroom.”

In Glorious, Kwanten plays a young man who is spiraling out of control after a bad breakup. His situation worsens after he finds himself locked inside a rest stop bathroom with a mysterious figure (Simmons) speaking to him from an adjacent stall. As he tries to escape, he realizes he is an unwilling player in a situation bigger and more terrible than he could have imagined.

This film is written by Todd Rigney, Joshua Hull and David Ian McKendry. AMP International’s Bob Portal and Inderpal Singh serve as producers along with Joe Wicker and Morgan Peter Brown from Fallback Plan Productions, Jason Scott Goldberg and Christian Armogida.

Glorious is an AMP/Fallback Plan production, in association with Mississippi-based Eyevox Entertainment, with Rick Moore from Eyevox serving as executive producer, alongside James Norrie and Nina Kolokouri at AMP.  Kwanten, Barbara Crampton, Mark Cartier, Gaba Gavi and Kevin Kale also serve as executive producers, with Jessica Taylor as an associate producer.

The deal was negotiated by AMP International’s James Norrie and Nina Kolokouri on behalf of the filmmakers, and Emily Gotto, VP, Global Acquisitions & Co-Productions on behalf of Shudder.

House of The Dragon Coming In August (HBO/HBO Max)

The ten-episode HBO Original drama series House of the Dragon debuts Sunday, August 21st on HBO and will be available to stream on HBO Max. Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, the series, set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, it tells the story of House Targaryen. Check out the trailer below!

House of the Dragon stars. Paddy Considine, Matt Smith, Olivia Cooke, Emma D’Arcy, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Fabien Frankel, Sonoya Mizuno, and Rhys Ifans. Additional cast includes Milly Alcock, Bethany Antonia, Phoebe Campbell, Emily Carey, Harry Collett, Ryan Corr, Tom Glynn-Carney, Jefferson Hall, David Horovitch, Wil Johnson, John Macmillan, Graham McTavish, Ewan Mitchell, Theo Nate, Matthew Needham, Bill Paterson, Phia Saban, Gavin Spokes and Savannah Steyn.

Series co-Creator/Executive Producer, George R.R. Martin; Co-Creator/Co-Showrunner/Executive Producer/Writer, Ryan Condal; Co-Showrunner/Executive Producer/Director, Miguel Sapochnik; Executive Producer/Writer, Sara Hess; Executive Producers, Jocelyn Diaz, Vince Gerardis, Ron Schmidt; Directors Clare Kilner, Geeta V. Patel; Director/Co-Executive Producer, Greg Yaitanes. Based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood. 

Becoming Elizabeth Premieres In June (STARZ)

STARZ has announced the premiere  on Sunday, June 12th of Becoming Elizabeth. Long before she ascended the throne, young Elizabeth Tudor, played by Alicia von Rittberg (Fury, Charité, Genius), was an orphaned teenager who became embroiled in the political and sexual politics of the English court. The death of King Henry VIII sees his nine-year-old son Edward, played by Oliver Zetterström (The Midnight Gang, The Romanoffs), take the throne and sets into motion a dangerous scramble for power when Elizabeth, Edward and their sister Mary, played by Romola Garai (The Hour, The Miniaturist) find themselves pawns in a game between the great families of England and the powers of Europe who vie for control of the country. Check out the trailer below!

Additional key players in the relentless quest for power include King Henry’s widow, Catherine Parr, played by Jessica Raine (The Informer, Patrick Melrose), Thomas Seymour, played by Tom Cullen (Weekend, Black Mirror), the new King’s uncle, who quickly marries the widowed Catherine but soon takes an interest in the teenage Elizabeth and Duke of Somerset, played by John Heffernan (The Pursuit of Love, The Crown), who loses no time in claiming the position of Lord Protector for himself when the old King dies.

The upcoming drama series also stars Jamie Blackley (Greed, The Last Kingdom), Alexandra Gilbreath (Tulip Fever, RSC’s Provoked Wife), Jamie Parker (1917, Harry Potter and The Cursed Child), Leo Bill (Rare Beasts, In Fabric), Oliver Zetterström (The Midnight Gang, The Romanoffs), Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones, The Last of Us), Ekow Quartey (This Way Up, A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Shakespeare’s Globe), Alex Macqueen (Sally4Ever, Peaky Blinders) and Olivier Huband (I Hate Suzie, A Discovery of Witches)

Becoming Elizabeth is created and written by award-winning playwright and television screenwriter Anya Reiss (Spur of the Moment, The Acid Test) who also serves as executive producer with The Forge’s George Ormond (National Treasure, Great Expectations) and George Faber (Shameless, STARZ’s The White Queen) with Lisa Osborne (Little Dorrit, Man in an Orange Shirt) producing.