Midnight Pals: The First Omen

Arkasha Stevenson: submitted for the approval of the midnight society, i call this the tale of the first omen Stevenson: things about to get real catholic here William Peter Blatty: yes.. ha ha YES!! Stevenson: and even more italian Lovecraft: Lovecraft: oh uh i don't like that

Stevenson: it's about a moribund religious institution forcing a woman to carry a baby against her will set against the political violence of the years of lead Alex Garland: why you hafta get all political Garland: why can't people just make nice films anymore

Stevenson: see the thing about my film is Stevenson: it engages with the moment Garland: oh but i prefer a film that doesn't engage with the moment Garland: hey has anyone here seen adam sandler's you don't mess with the zohan? what a tour de force!! [chef's kiss]

Stevenson: so this american woman goes to rome to become a nun Stevenson: but what she doesn't realize Stevenson: is how incredibly italian everything will be Stevenson: and also its the 70s, which is statistically speaking, the MOST italian time period

Stevenson: like things are SO italian Lovecraft: [sweats] they can't be THAT italian, right? i mean, it's just Lovecraft: just a little bit italian right?? Lovecraft: right???  Stevenson: it's smoking nuns level italian Lovecraft: [sweating intensifies]

Stevenson: but even better, so catholic William Peter Blatty: yes, yes, i like it! Stevenson: there's gonna be this one irish priest- Blatty: that's me Blatty: that guy is me Stevenson: and his accent is SO thick Blatty: that's my OC now

Stevenson: you know what the omen really needed, though? Stevenson: hot hot devil sex Barker: that is true Barker: the omen DID have a severe lack of devil sex Barker: i noticed that when i watched it, kind of a glaring oversight actually

Stevenson: well, don't worry Stevenson: we rectify that in this version Stevenson: we're gonna flash the devil's dick Blatty: whoa you can't flash the devil's dick! Barker: yeah, that's right, you really need to linger Barker: we all want a good look at that

Barker: like, how are we supposed to see anything when you flash it so fast? Frank Belknap Long: oh it's nothing special, it's just a bad dragon model 57a Willowtongue ® the Ent, 2017 Alt-Porn award winner Barker:

Stevenson: now we are retconning a few things about the omen Stevenson: for example, this time damien has a mom Stevenson: instead of being birthed by a dog Barker: oh but that was dean's favorite part Dean Koontz: i wish my mom was a dog :( Barker: kid just really loves dogs

CIVIL WAR (2024) Cailee Spaeny and Wagner Moura as Joel and Jessie

CIVIL WAR (2024) dir. Alex Garland

ANNIHILATION dir. Alex Garland, 2018

Cailee Spaeny, Wagner Moura, Alex Garland and Kirsten Dunst behind-the-scenes on Civil War (2024) dir. Alex Garland

Annihilation (2018) Directed by Alex Garland

“The effect of this cannot be understood without being there. The beauty of it cannot be understood, either, and when you see beauty in desolation it changes something inside you. Desolation tries to colonize you.”

— 📚Annihilation, Jeff VanderMeer // 🎞 Annihilation, Alex Garland (2018)

Trying to read more fiction and the Autism and Queerness and Transcendent nature of these books truly has me in a chokehold. Like there’s something so liberating in The Weird, the eco and the body horror, the undefinable, The transcendent nature of area x ugh

Annihilation - Alex Garland 2018 The Last of Us - Craig Mazin 2023

I feel like so many critics are angry about the Civil War movie 'not taking a stand' but I think that misses the point. This was not gonna be a movie about "this side good, that side bad". On the ground, war is hardly political. The 'looters' being strung up ("knew him in high school, he barely talked to me, now he does"), the two soldiers pinned down by a sniper with christmas background music, Jesse Plemons' character picking them off one by one, the Global Relief Fund camp, etc. This wasn't necessarily about (American) politics, why the civil war broke out, or how the various alliances came about. This was about war on the ground, on the streets, the role of journalists in showing that, are they complicit or not, how much must you sacrifice for the money shot, is there a 'right' meaning we can draw from their images?

To me it was actually a very effective and thought-provoking anti-war movie. (Also the cast and cinematography were both phenomenal.)

Back covers illustrated by Eric Nyquist for the eco-fiction and sci-fi trilogy The Southern Reach (2014) by Jeff VanderMeer, whose award-winning first volume (Annihilation) was adapted for film as Annihilation (2018) by Alex Garland, starring Natalie Portman.

Excerpts from From Sketch to Screen: Production Designer Mark Digby Discusses "Ex Machina" (Mubi)

THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT IN MEDIA —  EX MACHINA (2014, dir. Alex Garland)

KIRSTEN DUNST as a war photographer in the first trailer for CIVIL WAR (2024, dir. Alex Garland)

EX MACHINA 2015, dir. Alex Garland

I hate Alex Garland so much it's unreal

Ex Machina, 2015 — dir. Alex Garland