News (old posts, page 808)

Viking age burial site full of ancient objects found in Denmark, say experts

‘Spectacular’ discovery at site of about 30 graves includes pearls, coins, ceramics and a box containing gold thread

A 10th-century burial site believed to have belonged to a Viking noble family has been discovered in northern Denmark, packed with a “spectacular” trove of ancient objects, a museum has said.

The discovery came almost by chance when pearls, coins, ceramics and a box containing a gold thread were unearthed during construction work near Lisbjerg, a village located 4 miles (7km) north of Aarhus, Denmark’s second-largest city.

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I Heart Willie review – public-domain slasher turns Mickey Mouse into slicer-and-dicer

A buff, bloodthirsty mouse-man terrorises Mexican teens in the latest horror schlock made from newly expired copyright

It seems “public domain horror movies” are now a proper thing: a cinematic subgenre of gory, uber-schlocky fearmongering that revolves around a well-known intellectual property, usually from the realm of children’s entertainment, whose copyright has expired. That means the makers are free to turn a beloved character into a murderous man-beast psychopath, with the Winnie-the-Pooh derived Blood and Honey franchise a prime example.

Meanwhile, the moment black-and-white cartoon Steamboat Willie, the 1928 debut of Mickey Mouse, entered the public domain, almost half a dozen Mickey-themed slasher pics were born, like spores released from a fruiting body. In a very low-bar environment, I Heart Willie is perhaps a tick better than previous public domain horrors, or maybe we have reached the film critic’s equivalent of Stockholm syndrome, with our defences worn down by shoddy production values, originality deficits and lame performances.

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