Plague House Turns the Haunted House Story Inside Out

Armando InquigHaunted houses aren’t exactly new territory, but Plague House isn’t interested in playing by the usual rules. The horror comic from writer Michael W. Conrad and artist Dave Chisholm takes a familiar setup and slowly mutates it into something far more unsettling.

The story centers on the aftermath of a brutal family murder in a quiet California suburb. Thirteen years later, a small group of ghost hunters moves into the abandoned home, hoping to document evidence of something supernatural. What they uncover isn’t just a haunting, but a far darker presence that feels tied to violence itself — something infectious, pervasive, and disturbingly human.

Rather than leaning on jump scares or predictable beats, Plague House builds tension through misdirection. Just when it feels like you understand what kind of story you’re reading, it shifts. The scope widens. The rules change. The horror becomes less about ghosts and more about what lingers after trauma, obsession, and belief collide.

Chisholm’s art plays a huge role here, moving between stark unease and moments of unsettling beauty, while Conrad’s writing keeps pulling the ground out from under the reader. Together, the series feels deliberately disorienting — the kind of horror that sticks around after you’ve put it down.

The newly released trade paperback collects issues #1 to 4, bringing the full story together in one volume. Plague House goes on sale January 20, 2026, from Oni Press.

Share

Madison Beer Announces ‘The Locket Tour’ With Arena Dates Worldwide

madison-beerMadison Beer is hitting the road in a big way this year. The singer has announced The Locket Tour, a run of shows across North America, Europe, and the UK that will bring her upcoming album locket to the stage for the first time.

The tour includes her first-ever headline dates at Madison Square Garden in New York, the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, and London’s O2 Arena, signaling a major step up in scale. Stops along the way include cities like Paris, Berlin, and Toronto, with the tour wrapping July 13 in New York.

Locket, out this Friday, is Beer’s latest studio album and her most hands-on project yet, with the singer co-writing and co-producing the record. Recent singles like “yes baby” and “bittersweet” have already gained traction, with “yes baby” topping Billboard’s Dance Airplay chart and “bittersweet” marking her first appearance on the Hot 100.

Beer is also set to debut a new song, “bad enough,” on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, adding to what’s shaping up to be a busy launch week.

Support on the tour will rotate by region, with thủy joining the North American dates, Isabel LaRosa on the Europe and UK leg, and Lulu Simon appearing throughout.

General ticket sales begin January 21, with presales opening earlier this week.

Share

Sundance ’26: BURN Brings Hyper-Color and Chaos to the NEXT Section

burnOne of the films at Sundance this year that feels like it’s daring people to either love it or walk out is BURN, the new feature from Makoto Nagahisa, who previously made We Are Little Zombies. It’s premiering in the festival’s NEXT section, which feels like exactly where it belongs.

The movie centers on Ju-Ju (played by Nana Mori), a runaway teen who ends up in Tokyo’s Kabukicho district, falling in with a loose group of kids living on the edge. At first, it feels like she’s finally found somewhere to land. That doesn’t last. What starts as freedom slowly turns into something tighter, darker, and harder to escape.

Visually, BURN is doing a lot, neon colors, hyper-stylized shots, constant motion. It’s bright, almost playful on the surface, even when the story underneath is clearly heading somewhere painful. That contrast is the point. The movie looks fun right up until it very much isn’t, and it doesn’t really warn you when the switch happens.

Nagahisa has always been good at capturing youth culture in a way that feels chaotic instead of nostalgic, and BURN seems to push that even further. It’s not trying to explain its characters or soften their choices. It just drops you into their world and lets things unravel.

Director Bong Joon Ho has already weighed in on the film, calling it intense and even frightening, which tracks. This feels like one of those Sundance titles people will be arguing about afterward, not whether it’s good or bad, but whether they were ready for it at all.

BURN premieres January 25, with additional screenings throughout the festival.

Share

‘One Battle After Another’ and ‘Hamnet’ Come Out on Top at the 2026 Golden Globes

goldenglobes2026The Golden Globes did what they usually do best this year: set the tone for the rest of awards season while reminding everyone which films are actually building momentum.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another walked into the night as a frontrunner and walked out looking even stronger, picking up Best Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy) along with wins for directing, screenplay, and Teyana Taylor’s supporting performance. The film’s mix of political satire and emotional stakes clearly connected with voters, and Anderson used his moment to spotlight the kind of filmmaker-driven studio support that made the film possible.

On the drama side, Hamnet took Best Motion Picture, with Jessie Buckley also winning for her performance. Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel continues to quietly build awards-season credibility, leaning into intimacy and grief rather than spectacle.

The TV categories followed a similar pattern, rewarding shows that already felt unavoidable this year. Netflix’s Adolescence had the biggest night overall, while The Pitt and The Studio took top series honors, with Noah Wyle and Seth Rogen winning acting prizes. The wins reinforced how much streaming dramas and sharp industry satire continue to dominate the conversation.

Elsewhere, Sinners, KPop Demon Hunters, and The Secret Agent all picked up multiple awards, underscoring how wide the Globes’ tastes have become, from genre films to international titles to animated hits.

Hosted by Nikki Glaser, the ceremony aired January 11 from the Beverly Hilton on CBS and Paramount+. With the Globes now behind us, the field is narrowing, and the next stretch of the awards season is officially underway.

Share

Bruno Mars Announces ‘The Romantic Tour’

bruno-marsAfter years of residencies and global one-offs, Bruno Mars is finally heading back out on a full tour.

Mars has announced The Romantic Tour, his first global headline run in nearly a decade and his first-ever stadium tour. The 2026 outing supports his upcoming fourth solo album, The Romantic, arriving February 27.

The tour launches April 10 in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium and will hit major cities across North America and Europe, including Houston, Chicago, Toronto, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan, Miami, and Los Angeles. Several stops include multiple nights, with venues like Wembley Stadium, MetLife Stadium, and SoFi Stadium signaling just how big this run is expected to be.

Anderson .Paak will join every date as DJ Pee .Wee, with Victoria Monét, RAYE, and Leon Thomas appearing on select shows.

The announcement follows a stretch where Mars hasn’t toured traditionally but has stayed dominant, from his Las Vegas residency to record-breaking stadium runs overseas, including a historic 14-show run across Brazil in 2024.

Tickets go on sale January 15, with an artist presale beginning January 14 via BrunoMars.com.

Share

CES 2026: CTHINGS.CO Takes on the Edge AI Scaling Problem

CTHINGSCO ; Armando InquigAt CES 2026, where edge AI and connected systems are everywhere, one recurring issue keeps coming up: scaling those systems without them turning into a mess. That’s the problem CTHINGS.CO is focusing on this year with its Orchestra platform.

Based in Warsaw, CTHINGS.CO works in the space where edge computing, AI, and IoT collide, factories, fleets, smart infrastructure, and other environments where devices don’t always have stable connections or centralized oversight. Orchestra is designed to act as a single control layer, pulling together device management, updates, security, and monitoring across distributed edge systems.

Instead of treating networking, operating systems, and security as separate problems, the platform tries to unify them. The idea is to reduce the operational friction that shows up once pilot projects turn into thousands of deployed devices spread across real-world conditions.

At CES, CTHINGS.CO is showing how Orchestra handles common edge challenges like inconsistent connectivity, remote updates without downtime, and enforcing security across large device fleets. The system also includes an AI-assisted layer aimed at surfacing issues faster and helping teams manage edge environments without constant manual intervention.

The company is exhibiting at the Polish Pavilion in the Venetian Expo, positioning Orchestra less as a flashy demo and more as infrastructure for systems that need to stay online, secure, and manageable over time.

Share

2026 Sundance Film Festival Unveils Beyond Film Talks and Events

Sundance-exploring-art-and-innovationSundance isn’t just about the films, it’s also where a lot of the conversations around them happen.

The Sundance Institute has announced the Beyond Film lineup for the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, featuring talks and events with Olivia Wilde, Richard Linklater, Ava DuVernay, Billie Jean King, Salman Rushdie, John Turturro, Nicole Holofcener, Elijah Wood, Ta-Nehisi Coates, James Wan, and more.

The Beyond Film program runs January 23–30, alongside the Festival, which takes place January 22–February 1, 2026, in Park City and Salt Lake City, with select events available online.

New this year is Sundance Institute’s Story Forum: Exploring Art and Innovation, a one-day event on January 26 focused on how storytelling is evolving across creative and technological spaces.

The free public program includes filmmaker conversations, artist talks, and live events like Cinema Café and The Big Conversation, with participants ranging from filmmakers and writers to cultural figures across disciplines.

The 2026 Festival will also spotlight Robert Redford’s legacy through the Park City Legacy program, featuring archival screenings, alumni talks, and community events celebrating Sundance’s history.

Most Beyond Film events are free to attend, with full schedules and access details available at festival.sundance.org.

Share

Producers Guild of America Announces 2026 Awards Nominees

PGA-2026-NomsWe’re officially in that part of awards season where the shortlists matter, and the Producers Guild of America’s nominations offer an early read on which films are actually building momentum.

The PGA has announced the film and television nominees for the 37th Annual Producers Guild Awards, set to take place February 28, 2026, at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Los Angeles. The theatrical motion picture lineup includes Bugonia, F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, Sentimental Value, Sinners, Train Dreams, and Weapons.

Warner Bros. leads studio representation with three nominated films, followed by Focus Features and Netflix with two apiece, and single entries from Apple and NEON. Notably absent from the list are major franchise sequels like Avatar: Fire and Ash and Wicked: For Good. Aside from Bugonia, a remake, the field leans heavily toward original stories and literary adaptations, continuing a broader awards-season preference for non-franchise titles.

Historically, the PGA’s top prize, the Darryl F. Zanuck Award, has been one of the most reliable Oscar bellwethers, aligning with the Academy Award for Best Picture in 17 of the past 22 years.
Continue reading

Share

.lumen Wins CES 2026 Accessibility Award for AI Glasses Designed for the Blind

lumen-wins-CES-2026-innovation-awardsCES 2026 included a wide range of accessibility-focused technology, and .lumen was among the companies recognized for its work in that area.

The European deep-tech startup received the CTA Foundation Pitch Competition for Accessibility award, which comes with a $10,000 prize. The award was given for .lumen’s AI-powered glasses designed to help blind users move independently without relying on guide dogs, smartphones, or constant internet access.

The wearable uses computer vision and on-device AI to interpret surrounding space in real time. Instead of audio prompts, it guides users through a haptic feedback system, allowing for hands-free navigation in unfamiliar environments.

Founder and CEO Cornel Amariei noted that the project grew out of personal experience and long-term exposure to accessibility challenges. He also pointed to the gap between the number of visually impaired people worldwide and the limited availability of guide dogs.

In addition to the CTA Foundation award, .lumen was named a CES 2026 Innovation Award Honoree. The company also received recognition last year through a U.S. Army pitch competition.

Share

Bitter Rice, Giuseppe De Santis’ Neo-Realist Classic, Returns in a New 4K Restoration

bitter-riceGiuseppe De Santis’ Bitter Rice (1949), one of the most provocative and influential films of Italian neorealism, will screen at Film Forum from January 30 through February 5 in a newly restored 4K edition.

Set during planting season in Northern Italy’s Po Valley, Bitter Rice follows a group of rice-field workers known as the mondine, focusing on an earthy laborer played by Silvana Mangano who becomes entangled with a small-time criminal, portrayed by Vittorio Gassman, and his glamorous accomplice, played by Doris Dowling. The film blends social realism with melodrama, pairing its portrait of grueling manual labor with sex, crime, and moral tension.

Filmed on location with real mondine visible in the background, Bitter Rice stands out even within neorealism for its raw physicality and pulp energy. The film was an early international success for producer Dino De Laurentiis, premiered at the 1949 Cannes Film Festival, and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Story the following year.

De Santis, who came up as a critic and screenwriter before directing, was deeply shaped by anti-Fascist film culture in Italy and by his collaborations with figures like Luchino Visconti and Roberto Rossellini. Bitter Rice reflects that background, merging political consciousness with a visceral, almost sensational style that helped broaden the reach of neorealism beyond strictly austere realism.

The new 4K restoration offers a rare chance to see Bitter Rice with renewed visual clarity, restoring the texture and immediacy of a film that helped redefine postwar European cinema, and remains strikingly modern in its mix of social critique and genre filmmaking.

Share
Page 2 of 373
1 2 3 373