SPOILER ALERT: This story contains mild spoilers for “Woman of the Hour,” now streaming on Netflix. “Woman of the Hour” screenwriter Ian McDonald faced a unique challenge with his sophomore feature: Tell a true crime story that felt “necessary and useful.” Luckily, the stranger-than-fiction story of Rodney Alcala, who won “The Dating Game” during a 1978 […]

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Smile 2,” now in theaters. Parker Finn, the writer and director of 2022’s horror hit “Smile” and the just-released “Smile 2,” has taken one of the most recognizable horror ideas in recent years and blown it up even bigger for the sequel. In this chapter, troubled pop star Skye […]

Keri Russell, the star of “The Diplomat,” is on her fourth glass of wine; and Debora Cahn, the show’s creator, is on her third. There are cold french fries strewn across the table, empty glasses everywhere, and there’s ice — so much ice. It’s only a few weeks before the second season of “The Diplomat” […]

Sean Combs, long known by rap aliases like Diddy and Puffy, is facing an avalanche of lawsuits and legal trouble. Below is an overview of the accusations that have been leveled against him, as well as the answers to frequently asked questions about his cases. Why is Combs in jail? Combs is currently incarcerated at […]

Scream TV, the free new horror channel launching on Oct. 13, just announced a spooky programming run for its launch. Per a press release, “Halloween is finally on the horizon and Scream TV’s Oct. 13 launch is just around the corner. The brand new, free-to-air and free-to-stream (or scream!) TV channel dedicated to horror will […]

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains minor spoilers for “Terrifier 3,” opening in theaters Friday. Writer-director Damien Leone, the mastermind of the “Terrifier” series, is such an upbeat guy that, in another life, it’s easy to imagine him as a life coach, a trainer, a teacher. Conversation with him is peppered with lessons and inspiration that came […]

If cinema is like dreaming with our eyes open, then horror movies could rightly be viewed as waking nightmares: an opportunity to confront our unconscious fears directly — most often as entertainment, but sometimes with the express purpose of terrifying ourselves. On-screen frights take every form imaginable, from iconic boogeymen like Frankenstein and Freddy Krueger […]

Melania Trump has released her memoir, the creatively-titled “Melania,” and while it largely reads like a list of accomplishments with very little reflection, coupled with echoes of her husband’s never-ending grievances against targets ranging from the media to trans athletes, there are some occasional flashes of insight. Read five of the key passages below. Donald […]

Jon Stewart used his opening segment on Monday night’s episode of “The Daily Show” to break down Elon Musk’s appearance at a Trump rally on Sunday in Butler, Pa. While the appearance was widely mocked online for Musk’s enthusiasm — he literally jumped around the stage — the content of his speech was focused on […]

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “The Menendez Brothers,” now streaming on Netflix. Weeks after the smash hit Netflix series “Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story” debuted, the streamer has released a new feature-length documentary on the brothers, crime and trial that shocked the world. “The Menendez Brothers,” directed by Alejandro Hartmann, recounts the […]

In the first Lonely Island song on “SNL” since 2018, the beloved trio of Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer debuted “Sushi Glory Hole,” a humorous take on a fictional app where you can find sushi in a hole in a bathroom around New York. “SNL” alumna Maya Rudolph, who has been portraying presidential […]

On “Weekend Update,” hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost took jabs at some of Hollywood’s heaviest hitters, like Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis and rapper Diddy. Che took aim at rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, who has been accused of sex trafficking and sexual assault. “It was reported that the U.S. added 245,000 new jobs. Unfortunately, they […]

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “It’s What’s Inside,” now streaming on Netflix. Writer and director Greg Jardin’s debut feature, “It’s What’s Inside,” is a body-swapping mystery. Yet Jardin had his own out-of-body experience the day the movie started an intense bidding war at Sundance in January. “It’s still surreal now,” he says. “We made […]

Kate Siegel is happy to get very real about extraterrestrial life very quickly. When asked if she believes in aliens, she offers a specific and chilling response. “I’m a huge sci-fi reader…Ray Bradbury is one of my favorite authors of all time,” she says. “In the world right now there’s a lot of discourse about […]

Horror writer and director Steven Kostanski, who helmed indie hits like 2016’s “The Void” and 2020’s “Psycho Goreman,” knows his interests don’t always align with what’s trendy for genre fans. “For years, I’ve been trying to push my fellow filmmaker friends into trying to make some kind of little creature movie,” he says. “It would […]

What is power? Is it the speed with which an A-lister returns your calls, the ease in nabbing a reservation at the hottest Manhattan restaurant or how many times you appear on Page Six? Maybe it’s something ineffable, but more impactful: the ability to define and shape culture. That’s what you see in the movers […]

“Spoiler alert: I die,” Rachel Zegler says. You’ll have to forgive the 23-year-old actress for giving away the ending to her next project. But to be fair, it’s been 400 years since a certain Englishman wrote the play in which she’s making her Broadway debut. On Oct. 24, following a month of previews, Zegler will […]

Welcome to Horror Explorer, a curated column showcasing the month’s best movies, series, books and everything else spooky worth checking out. I’m William Earl, the editor of Variety.com and the publication’s resident horror enthusiast. Please drop me a line at wearl@variety.com if there’s something I should check out for next month’s missive.

“Terrifier 2” was one of the decade’s wildest slashers, and as fans wait eagerly for “Terrifier 3” to hit theaters, the novelization of the second chapter is ready to gross out horror fans. The novel is written by Tim Waggoner, and Variety is sharing an exclusive excerpt from, arguably, the film’s most brutal scene: Art […]