Screamfest on Wednesday, Oct. 19 will host a special two episode screening of “Wolf Creek,” POP TV’s new six part limited series based on Greg McLean’s gruesome 2005 slasher. A Q&A with Wolf Creek star John Jarratt, a.k.a. killer Mick Taylor, will immediately follow the screening.

But… get there early for a pre-screening party featuring costume and props display, specialty drinks, photo-ops, trivia games, and popcorn! Tickets are free. Reception begins at 8:30 p.m. with screening at 9:35 p.m. To request tickets and more detailed information, visit the Screamfest website.

“Wolf Creek” is POP TV’s small-screen adaptation of Greg McLean’s film series and finds outback killer Mick Taylor hunted down by an American teen out to avenge the senseless slaughter of her family. Read Clatto’s review here.

Screamfest runs Oct. 18 – Oct. 27 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theater in Los Angeles.

Screamfest kicks off its 16th annual horror film festival tomorrow with the L.A. premiere of Trash Fire, a darkly humored thriller from director Richard Bates Jr. (Excision). Adrian Grenier (“Entourage”) and Angela Trimbur (The Final Girls) play a young couple making amends with his past before starting a new life.

Trash Fire also features an impressive supporting cast that includes Ray Santiago (“Ash vs. Evil Dead”), Matthew Gray Gubler (“Criminal Minds”), Alexa Hamilton (Poseidon Adventure), Molly McCook (“The Ranch”), and AnnaLynne McCord (“90210”).

The Trash Fire screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Richard Bates Jr. and cast. Screamfest runs Oct. 18 – Oct. 27 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theater in Los Angeles. Tickets for the festival are now available and can be purchased here.

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A trailer has gone online for The Monster, a new creature feature from Strangers director Bryan Bertino. “Bored to Death’s”  Zoe Kazan plays a young single mom trying to protect her 10-year-old daughter from the ravenous and mysterious beasts hunting them down in a black forest.

While it’s not the eagerly awaited Strangers sequel horror fans have been waiting for, The Monster looks pretty intense and has garnered early positive buzz. Set to release Nov. 11, The Monster co-stars Scott Speedman (The Strangers), Aaron Douglas (“The Killing”), and Ella Ballentine as Kazan’s daughter.

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Proving what every 12-year-old boy with a Wonder Woman comic and a box tissues already knew, Wonder Woman comic book writer Greg Rucka outed the Amazonian princess as longtime lesbian in an interview with Comicosity.

Rucka’s reasoning in a clam shell is that Wonder Woman has been living for many years on the all-female inhabited island of Themyscira and would only have hot lesbian action as a means for sexual and emotional fulfillment.

We agree with this rational and think it’s fair considering the number of male gay superheroes crammed into every Avengers, X-Men, and Justice League movie (those dudes are gay right?).

We only hoped Warner Bros. would follow suit and make Gal Gadot’s Wonder Women a hot lesbian in their upcoming movie. We prayed they would include numerous lesbian hookups and, maybe, even a few hot all-girl wrestling matches! Hell, why even have her leave the island?

Sadly, Gadot has commented on the matter and things don’t look good.

Gadot told Variety:

It’s not something we’ve explored. It never came to the table, but when you talk theoretically about all the women on Themyscira and how many years she was there, then what he said makes sense. In this movie she does not experience any bisexual relationships. But it’s not about that. She’s a woman who loves people for who they are. She can be bisexual. She loves people for their hearts.

Poop.

Jocelin Donahue (The House of the Devil) stars in Dead Awake, a new sleep paralysis thriller from noted fright writer Jeffrey Reddick (Final Destination 1-5). The film finds Donahue tormented by a supernatural entity that feeds on fear and attacks in one’s sleep.

Sounds like Donahue has got quite a fight ahead of her. Fortunately for us, our sleep paralysis ended after cutting out those late night Taco Bell burritos.

Donahue is a familiar face to horror fans, starring in a string of notable features including Insidious: Chapter 2, anthology Holidays, wild west thriller The Burrowers, slasher Summer Camp, and Ti West’s The House of the Devil.

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Puerto Rican stunner Adria Arjona is joining Steven S. DeKnight’s sequel to Guillermo del Toro’s 2013 mecha-inspired robot vs. sea monsters epic Pacific Rim. Slated for release Feb. 23, 2018, Pacific Rim: Maelstrom follows a new group of Kaiju-fighting Jaeger pilots, led by the son of fallen hero Stacker Pentecost (Idris Elba).

Arojana co-stars alongside Jing Tian (Kong: Skull Island), Scott Eastwood (Suicide Squad), tween pop singer Cailee Spaeny, and topliner  John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens), who plays Pentecost’s son. No word on her character’s role in the film, which begins production next month in Australia.

Arojana first caught buzz playing sexy girlfriend to Taylor Kitsch’s troubled cop on HBO’s rightfully maligned season two of “True Detective.” She’ll next play Dorthy on NBC’s Wizard of OZ TV adaptation, “Emerald City,” but horror fans can skip that noise and catch her in The Belko Experiment, a new frightener from director Greg McLean (Wolf Creek) and writer James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy).

Disney has released the third and final trailer for standalone Star Wars feature Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The prequel is directed by Gareth Edwards (Godzilla) and tells the story of the Rebellion team tasked with stealing the plans to the Empire’s Death Star battle station.

The new trailer shows off the film’s stunning scope and provides heart-stopping plot points and looks at what is everything you want a Star Wars movie to be. Just try not to lose your breath at the sight of Darth Vader coming onto screen in full command, cloaked in light and menace!

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Every year, 30,000 people go missing in the Australian outback. 3,000 are never found. This legend has been etched into the minds of horror fans since writer/director Greg McLean unleashed his epic slasher Wolf Creek in 2005, snuffing out moviegoers’ image of the Crocodile Dundee bushman with the introduction of sadistic serial killer and rapist Mick Taylor.

Played with a pitch-perfect balance of disarming charm and unhinged depravity by the great John Jarratt, Mick Taylor is an ultimate apex predator cruelly toying with victims before striking out viciously.

He prowls the outback in search of stranded motorists and lost backpackers, offering help and tall tales to gain trust, not because he needs it to kill, but because he genuinely enjoys the interaction – the break from solitude – and the shock in their faces when he eviscerates them with his knife or explodes their heads with his rifle.

Wolf Creek and its 2013 sequel are violent, disturbing films chockful of gore and perverse humor – fun grindhouse filth elevated by Jarratt’s fearless and twisted performance and McLean’s deft storytelling. If anyone was ever crazy enough to bring it to the small screen, those two ingredients would be mandatory for a winning recipe.

POP, a joint venture between entertainment giants CBS and Lionsgate, on Friday, Oct. 14 will exclusively premiere a “Wolf Creek” six-part television event series. Written by Peter Gawler and Felicity Packard, the show is directed by Tony Tilse and executive produced by McLean, who also helms the final episode, titled “Wolf Creek.” Jarratt once again reprises the iconic role of Mick Taylor.

The story begins with an American family vacationing in Northern Australia. The parents are police officers attempting to rehabilitate Eve, their drug addicted teen daughter, played by Lucy Fry (Vampire Academy). The trip isn’t going well for the family as father and daughter continue to lock horns. Things get worse when their young son is attacked by an enormous saltie and rescued by none other than Mick, who is immediately welcomed to their campsite in show of gratitude.

Mick’s brutish demeanor and rough edges are menacing, but his heroic actions have earned him a couple of beers and totally dropped dad’s guard. He slaughters them all except Eve, whom he’s got unsavory inklings for. Against all odds, she escapes and lives to tell her ordeal to homicide detective Sullivan Hill, played by Dustin Clare (“Spartacus”).

Sullivan is kind and sympathetic, but can only add her file to the growing pile of cold cases on his desk, promising to catch the culprit and advising her to fly home to the States. Struck by agonizing guilt and hopelessness, Eve goes against Sullivan’s instructions and decides to hunt Mick down herself, relying on the investigative skills she picked up from her parents, a dingo pup she befriended on the road, and the case files she stolen from Sullivan to get the job done.

Eve travels from region to region (each episode is named after an outback town leading to Wolf Creek) looking for Mick, encountering a variety of colorful characters and doing her best to stay ahead of would-be rapists, a family of criminal bikers she’s swindled, and Sullivan, who has developed feelings for her that are only strengthened by his wife’s infidelity – a side effect of his workaholic-induced neglect.

Fruitless in her hunt, Eve takes a gig at what appears to be a popular breastaurant and waits with hope that Mick will patronize the establishment. He does. She calls on Sullivan for help while in Rome, but things don’t go according to plan. In fact, things go pretty fucking bad, leaving Eve to face off against Mick by herself, armed only with her wits, a makeshift javelin, and knowledge of his origins, why he kills.

“Wolf Creek” the show kicks off with three tremendous white-knuckle episodes (“Billabong,” “Kutyukutyu,” and “Salt Lake”), revisiting Mick in all his brutal splendor while establishing Eve as a formidable foil, setting up a fist-pumping showdown for Wolf Creek fans to savor.

Unfortunately, the second half of the series slows to an unexpected crawl, veering off into dull subplots inhabited by secondary characters no one will care about. Momentum is lost. Mick is put on the back burner, popping up briefly in episodes four and five, but offering no real scares and none of his signature quips – a practically dialogue free appearance. When the showdown comes, it lacks the intensity and fright of the Wolf Creek films.

Jarratt owns every scene he gets, his performance gives Pop’s “Wolf Creek” its danger. While it loses steam at the end, “Wolf Creek” remains a fun ride thanks to Jarratt’s Mick Taylor and does enrich the villain’s lore. Lucy Fry and Dustin Clare also do an exceptional job with their characters, giving us heroes we can root for and actually don’t want to see at the end of Mick’s blade . When the plot sticks to these three, “Wolf Creek” is enthralling and frightening drama.

‘Wolf Creek” premieres Friday, Oct. 14 at 10P/ 9C.

The Queen Mary is once again overrun by seafaring savages and gruesome ghouls as its annual Dark Harbor event opens to landlubbers brave enough to go aboard one of Halloween’s most unique and fun haunts. Running now through Oct. 31, Dark Harbor unleashes more than 200 monsters and six nerve-racking mazes.

Clatto made it to the docks this year and we were immediately greeted by heckling hellions and fiendish freaks eager to make us jump like lily-livered polliwogs. We stumbled upon houngans and mambos as they swallowed and spat fire in a voodoo ceremony only a chicken head toss away from the Voodoo House tasting room, a spooky bar to conjure spirits and strength through tasty libations.

It was at the Voodoo House that guests could claim a flight of tequila if they survived a game of cat-and-mouse with the undead and infected. We’ll explain: an LED badge given upon entry to be placed by one’s heart measures health as zombi slaves give chase throughout the grounds, preventing folks from completing a rites of passage ritual that involves touching six lights each located at a maze entry point.

If health is depleted (flashing green turns flashing red on LED badge) by failure to evade the zombi slaves or infected (losers who got caught) while on the quest, one is doomed to an evening of damning sobriety – that is unless paying heart-stopping prices for stingy pours is a viable option. Clatto, of course, will not be denied inebriation and won the challenge, claiming our flight of tequila from living dead girl barkeeps.

With a belly full of liquid courage, we boarded the Queen Mary to see for ourselves what drove passenger Samuel the Savage mad and into a murderous rage in what is called the B340 maze. Tight and winding, claustrophobic and dreadfully dark, B340 brought on the gore and created an anxiety that grew subtly – and that’s not lip service, make sure to look back while moving through the turns and be genuinely creeped out.

The ship’s Soulmate maze told the story of Graceful Gale, a doomed debutante who vanished from the ship in 1939 under mysterious circumstances. She haunts the Queen Mary in search of her true love. Her loss and yearning makes her a sympathetic soul, the severed heads and mutilated corpses dangling from the rafters… not so much.  The only thing more tragic than lost love is innocence lost, which brought us to the oceanliner’s newly enhanced Lullaby maze, a final resting place for child drowning victim Scary Mary.

Lullaby is a fun maze with creepy visuals and a troupe of outstanding and committed actors playing Scary Mary. At every turn, Scary Mary pops up, lurking in shadows, halls, and even catwalks so cramp it’s unsettling – all set to a backdrop of ripped doll parts and teddy bear guts.

What makes Dark Harbor unique and gives it an edge above all other Halloween haunts is really the Queen Mary ship. It’s frightening to navigate through its narrow corridors, engine rooms, and hulls while in pitch black darkness. It’s an experience not easily forgotten and one that keeps people coming back for more.

On the docks, there’s a new force to be reckoned with: The Iron Master, a cursed 1930’s shipbuilder and original iron forger for the R.M.S. Queen Mary and its most fierce protector. Half monster, half machine, he’s emerged from the seas of madness to rid the harbor of those who threaten his beloved vessel. His maze is the Intrepid and, while it has a cool backstory, other than some leather-clad big dudes giving one the fish-eye, there’s very little to see here.

Deadrise, on the other hand, is an intricate maze so well crafted and long (and wet) it’s easy to get sucked into its story and believe it is a sunken World War II escort ship haunted by drowned mariners and their fearsome Captain. Circus, though always fun in it’s ability to disorient guests through its mirrored maze, felt like a missed opportunity this year in the wake of the creepy clown phenomenon.

Upgrade attractions Hex Paintball Gallery and Sideshow are sinister cash grabs to be avoided – though the ballyhoo out front the sideshow is hilarious. We purchased a John Holmes sized corn dog from one of the many enjoyable vendors and enjoyed the actor’s impressive improvisational skills as we prepped to call it a night.

Don’t miss the boat this Halloween…. Get Dark Harbor tickets and complete event details here.

The movie lineup for the 16th annual Screamfest Horror Film Festival has been revealed and tickets are now available here. Running Oct. 18 – Oct. 27 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theater in Los Angeles, the event will see the premiere of a variety of features and shorts from around the world.

Opening night kicks off with the L.A. premiere of Excision director Richard Bates Jr.’s new thriller Trash Fire, starring stunner AnnaLynne McCord (“90210”), Adrian Grenier (“Entourage”), and Ray Santiago (“Ash vs. Evil Dead).

Additional L.A. premieres include Fear INC., starring Abigail Breslin (“Scream Queens”) and Caitlin Stasey (All Cheerleaders Die), Alaskan-set thriller Don’t Kill It, starring Dolph Lundgren as a long-toothed demon hunter, fem-powered survival frightener Quarries, and the star-studded Master Cleanse, starring Angelica Houston, Oliver Platt, and Johnny Galecki (“Big Bang Theory”).

Screamfest will also feature the U.S. premieres of the Finnish true-crime inspired slasher Lake Bodom and Norwegian World War II ghost story The House.

Fox’s ‘The Exorcist” and Pop’s “Wolf Creek,” two of TV’s most enthralling movie adaptations, will host episode screenings, complete with pre-parties and Q&A’s featuring cast members, including Wolf Creek’s iconic killer Mick Taylor himself, John Jarrat.

Screamfest is the biggest and longest-running horror film festival in the U.S. The show is a star-studded event where it’s easy to see actors and directors talking horror with each other and the public. For complete movie lineup info and to purchase tickets, visit the Screamfest website.