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Archived News From 200 5:Friday the 13th/"Final Destination 3' Goodies From the Folks at New Line January 13, 2006 -- Tragically, there is no "Friday the 13th" movie hitting screens today. But New Line has unveiled some goodies from the February release of "Final Destination 3" worth checking out: They've created a video montage, "How to Survive Friday the 13th," which you can check out below.
Click here for the logo and one sheet and here for photos. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. New One From the 'Blair Witch' Director ... 'Hostel' Is Number One ... Check Out the 'Hard Candy' Trailer January 10, 2006 -- Eli Roth's "Hostel" enjoyed Number One status at the box office last weekend, with a sequel already in development, according to Variety. ... Variety also reports that Daniel Myrick, co-director of "The Blair Witch Project", is making another mockumentary horror film entitled "Raw Feed," which will be heading straight to video. ... Meanwhile, the trailer to David Slade's much-heralded indie horror effort "Hard Candy" -- about a 30-something man who falls for a sociopathic 14-year-old -- can be found right here. ... Steve Katz, writer of "Shadow of the Vampire", has penned another vampire film called "Wind Chill." Revolution Studios is producing the film which is starring Emily Blunt and Ashton Holmes (last seen in David Cronenberg's "A History Violence." ... Over at Upcoming Horror Movies, they posted the first set pics from the "Wicker Man" remake. Check 'em out right here. ... DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Hostel' TV Spots ... 'Blind Dead' Glitch December 20, 2005 -- The "Hostel" Web site has received a major, major upgrade. Click here for it. ... Meanwhile, two new TV spots have been posted by Lion's Gate for the much-ancipated Hostel. Here are some Windows Media Video files: "Choir" "What If" The first two installments of Showtime's "Masters of Horror" series -- John Carpenter's "Cigarette Burns" and Stuart Gordon's "Dreams in the Witch House" -- will be hitting store shelves on March 28 courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment. More titles will follow. Click here for the full list ... If you plunked down good money for the "Blind Dead" box set, there is a small glitch on one of the discs. a one-second audio dropout in "Tombs of the Blind Dead" has Blue Underground offering replacements. Write to:
BLIND DEAD Replacement DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. December 14, 2005 -- Fangoria has posted an exclusive "Hostel" TV spot, right here. Meanwhile, a new Italian poster for the film has been unveiled. Check out a giant JPEG of it right here. "Hostel" director Eli Roth had this to say to Fangoria about his future plans: After HOSTEL, which Roth reveals went through the MPAA with only “12 frames” cut out for an R rating, the filmmaker does intend to return to one project he’s had up his sleeve for some time. “I still really want to sit down and finish the script that I was doing with [DONNIE DARKO’s] Richard Kelly called THE BOX,” he says. ... Meanwhile, here is an enormous image of "Hostel" super hottie Barbara Nedeljakova. Her only other film role was as a 'debutante' in "Shanghai Knights." Check 'her out, and save her to your desktop. Click here for her. MTV.com has posted four new pics from "Texas Chainsaw: Origin. Click here for 'em. ... The official Web site of "Ginger Snaps II" director Brett Sullivan's horror film "Hush" is now up, and can be found right here. The film is about a haunting. The teaster poster and some new pics can be found at it. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. Barker Art Show ... 'Hostel' Clip ... 'Silent Hill' Teaser ... 'Night Watch' Release Date December 8, 2005 -- Los Angeles residents: Downtown Los Angeles’ Bert Green Fine Art (102 West 5th Street) will be opening an exhibition of Clive Barker art on Thursday, Dec. 8. Call 213-624-6212. ... Fox Search Light has announced that the Russian horror film "Night Watch" finally has a release date, and it is February 17, 2006. Meanwhile, that film's director, Timur Bekmambetov, has inked a deal to direct "Wanted," based on a comic book, for Universal. ... The offical Web site for "Hostel" has posted a one-minute clip from this much-anticipated horror film from "Cabin Fever" helmer Eli Roth. The film hits theaters Jan. 6. Click here for more. Two TV spots are also up there. ... The official Web site for the "Silent Hill" movie is now up. Click here for it. Meanwhile, the teaser is up here and here.... Gregg Hoffman, producer of the "Saw" films, passed away at the very young age of 42. Click here for the Orlando Sentinel story. ...
DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. Michelle-Gellar Returns for 'Grudge 2' ... A New Phallic 'Hostel' Poster December 5, 2005 -- Dread-Central reports that Sarah Michelle-Gellar will be returning for the sequel to the American "Grudge." The sequel will hit screens in the USA on Oct. 20, 2006. ... Bruce Campbell has confirmed rumors of a sequel to "Bubba Ho Tep," to be entitled "Bubba Nosferatu." It will be a prequel actually. ... Dimension has unveiled the official Web site for the American remake of the Asian horror film "Pulse." Click here for it. The American "Pulse" stars Kristen Bell, Steve Talley, Ian Somerhalder, Christina Milian, and Corryn Cummins. Look for it to hit screens March 3, 2006. ... Lions Gate Entertainment is releasing the long-in-development horror film "Fear of Clowns" direct to DVD on Feb. 28. ... Click here for a Zip file of the very phallic poster for "Hostel." We'll see if it gets past the MPAA. ... DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. Romero: 'Real' Buzz for a 'Land of the Dead' Sequel November 29, 2005 -- Here's what George Romero told Empire Online about a sequel to "Land of the Dead": "Now that Land of the Dead did so well in European markets and Japan, and the DVD is flying off shelves, there's talk of a sequel," Romero tells Empire Online. He continues, "It won't be in April but it might now be August or something. I hope to God we don't have to do the winter again, but there's a real buzz happening now about a sequel." Other Romero projects, including the Stephen King adaptations "From A Buick 8" and "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" are now apparently on a back burner while Romero readies the fifth "Living Dead" film, whose title is being rumored as "World of the Dead." Romero also spoke with MovieHole.net about the "Land," indicating it could be shot in Australia: "[Land star] Simon Baker says that’s where we should shoot it. ... But yeah, there’s some rumbling about doing a sequel. Most of my zombie movies have been ten years apart, at least, in this case it was twenty, I’ve never had to do one right behind the other. If that happens I think I will probably just continue the same story – follow the truck, in which case, those characters (including Baker) would be back." ... ComingSoon.net posted two TV spots for the Dec. 25 horror release "Wolf Creek." Click here for 'em. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. The Next From Lucky McKee and Cronenberg ... Tarantino's 'Grindhouse' Gets a Release Date November 28, 2005 -- Lucky McKee, who made the excellent "May", is set to direct the remake of the 1950s sci-fi classic "Fiend Witout a Face," a movie about radioactive flying brains. He will be directing it from a script by Ada Gierasch and Jace Anderson. ... The official German Web site for Eli Roth's "Hostel" is up with a very disturbing look at the German poster for the film. Click here for that country's "Hostel" Web site. ... David Cronenberg may have forsaken making horror movies again, but that isn't preventing him from directing strange stuff. His next movie, following the success of "A History of Violence," is a movie called "I Kill," based on the disturbing novel "Yo Mato" by Giorgio Faletti of the same name. The story: Calls to a radio station take place before murders are committed. The book has yet to be releaswed in English, apparently. ... Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's "double feature" horror movie "Grindhouse," for which each will direct a segment, now has an official release date. It will be coming out Sept. 22, 2006, according to the official Weinstein and Co. Web site. ... The second sequel to Dario Argento's "Suspiria" officially has a name. The follow up to "Inferno" (which was the first sequel to "Suspiria") is being called "The Third Mother." ...
DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Toolbox Murders' Scribes Writing 'Suspiria' Sequel November 22, 2005 -- The writers of Tobe Hooper's "Toolbox Murders" remake are penning the sequel to Dario Argento's "Suspiria." "At the recent Turin Film Festival, director Dario Argento and his brother/producer Claudio revealed to FANGORIA that busy genre screenwriters Adam Gierasch and Jace Anderson (pictured, of TOOLBOX MURDERS, CROCODILE and the upcoming MORTUARY, all for Tobe Hooper) will be writing the THIRD MOTHER script. Argento, who penned the classic first two parts of the trilogy—SUSPIRIA and INFERNO—with former girlfriend Daria Nicolodi, reportedly wants a better chance at reaching the U.S. marketplace ..." reports Fangoria. ... BlackFilm.com has posted the trailer for Dimension Films' "Pulse," remake of the Japanese flick of the same name. click here for it. ... "Saw II" has generated $80 million at the box office in less than a month. And who said R-rated horror was dead? DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Day of the Dead' Remake Poster ... Trailers for 'Bloodrayne,' 'Hostel'
Fangoria has confirmed from Robert Englund that New Line is working on two potential sequels to "Freddy vs. Jason" -- “New Line Cinema has commissioned two scripts: One is Freddy vs. Jason and Michael Myers, or Freddy vs. Michael Myers, I’m not quite sure how that works. The other one is a prequel; apparently it’s not that prequel script that’s been floating around for several years, it’s something new. They will select one of those two [projects].” Englund recently completed filming "Heartstopper" for director Bob Keen. ... Rogue Pictures is readying the latest Sarah Michelle Gellar horror film for a Sept. 6, 2006 release. The film changed its title from "Revolver" and is currently untitled (Guy Ritchie filmed a turkey called "Revolver this year), and is apparently a supernatural thriller, no doubt inspired by the success of "The Grudge". ... Apple.com has posted the new trailer to "Bloodrayne," which is based on the popular video game about a sexy, supernatural huntress named BloodRayne (Kristanna Loken), who is an unholy breed of human and vampire. Click here for it. ... Apple.com has also posted trailers for a number of other upcoming horror films, including "Wolf Creek", "Underworld: Evolution", and (the latest one) Lion's Gate Entertainment's "Hostel", directed by Eli Roth and presented by Quentin Tarantino. Here's the plot of "Hostel": "Three backpackers head to a Slovakian city that promises to meet their hedonistic expectations, with no idea of the hell that awaits them." click on the movie names to head straight to their pages on Apple.com. ... The teaser trailer for "Creepshow 3" will debut Nov. 20 at http://www.creepshow3.com/. This in from the Eerie Horror Film Fest: The 2006 Eerie Horror Film Festival has officially opened it's call for entries and is seeking independently produced feature length and short horror/sci-fi films and screenplays from around the world! The 2006 Eerie Horror Film Festival will be held October 4-8, in Erie, Pennsylvania at the Roadhouse Theater and will feature special celebrity guests, visiting filmmakers, and thousands of attendees! Awards will be presented to the best films and screenplays! We are pleased to present our first ever Student Film Competition for ages 5 - 17 as well as more stream-lined and easy to understand submission categories! Submission categories for the 2006 Eerie Horror Film Festival are Horror Feature; Horror Short; Experimental Horror Feature; Experimental Horror Short; Psychological Horror Feature; Psychological Horror Short; Sci-Fi Feature; Sci-Fi Short; Animated Horror Feature; Animated Horror Short; Horror Comedy Feature; Horror Comedy Short; Student Horror Feature; Student Horror Short; Foreign Horror Feature; Foreign Horror Short; Short Screenplay; Feature Length Screenplay. We will also accept horror related documentaries. To submit your film or screenplay into our competition this year, just go to our website: www.eeriehorrorfest.com and follow the directions you'll find there. At the moment we are only taking submissions via WithoutABox but we will have downloadable entry forms on line by week's end for those who prefer an alternative way of entering our competition this year. The Eerie Horror Film Festival takes place each year at the Road House Theater in beautiful downtown, Erie, PA. (USA). The Roadhouse is a beautiful, gothic, community theater that looks like it was tailor made for a horror fest! The theater has comfortable seating, a cafe, and room for merchandise for those of you interested in selling your product at our event. A motel is located directly across the street from our event, as are several fast food restaurants and the downtown district of Erie, which features more upscale eateries and taverns.
DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Land of the Dead' Direct-to-DVD Series ... 'Day of the Dead' Remake News November 6, 2005 -- "Final Destination" scribe and newly appointed screenwriter for the "Day of the Dead" remake being directed by Steve Miner, Jeffrey Reddick spoke to Fangoria about the latest re-do of a Romero zombie movie: “I’m sworn to secrecy on specifics, but this won’t just be a rehash of an old film. I’m a huge fan of George Romero and I wouldn’t insult his work by just copying his movie with a WB-friendly cast. But I can tell you this: There will be a military facility with soldiers, scientists and civilians, there will be a Bub and yes, there will be blood—lots of it. Like the original, this 'Day' will be rated R.” Actually, "Day" was UNRATED, but no matter. Another big-budget zombie film with an old Romero title never hurt anybdy. ... "High Tension" director Alex Aja, currently making a remake of "The Hills Have Eyes for producer Wes Craven, is now also set to direct another English-language horror film, according to Variety. He will be helming "The Waiting" for Rogue Pictures. The film is in the vein of "Don't Look Now" and stars Juliet Snowden and Stiles White. It involves the ghost of a dead child. ... More on Aja: The fan site "Eyes on the Hills" has run images from Aja's upcoming version of "Hills Have Eyes." Click here for 'em. ... CHUD spoke with John Harrison, who worked with George Romero as assistant director on "Land of the Dead" and many other films, about a series of direct-to-video sequels of LOTD. "I can’t talk about them too much because they’re in the nascent stages,” he told CHUD. “There are a couple of smaller projects, including one that could be really fun. I can’t talk too much about it, unfortunately, but what I can say is that it remains in the world he is known for and it would be a new DVD franchise.” So while Romero's "Day of the Dead" gets a remake, its sequel "Land of the Dead" is getting a direct-to-DVD franchise of its own. The more zombies the merrier. ... Craig T. Nelson has signed on board a "Poltergeist" sequel. Hillary Duff may be taking on the role of the "They're here" girl from the first films. That role used to be played by late child actress Heather O'Rourke. ... The Hollywood Reporter says that a third film in the "Resident Evil" franchise is set to film. "Constantin Film and Davis Films are reteaming to produce 'Resident Evil: Afterlife,' the third installment of the sci-fi/horror franchise based on the apocalyptic video game, it was announced Friday at the American Film Market. German-based Constantin and Samuel Hadida's Davis Films also partnered on the previous chapters. Screen Gems scooped up distribution rights for North America, Latin America, the U.K., Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, Portugal, South Africa, India and Pakistan. Summit Entertainment is repping the film at the market for the remaining international territories." DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. Jamie Lee Curtis Retires ... New 'Wolf Creek' Trailer ... 'Day of the Dead' Remake Gets a Director November 2, 2005 -- Jamie Lee Curtis says she's retiring from acting, so don't expect her in "Halloween 9." My own hope is that the producers would work with her new schedule as a Mom to do everything in their power to get her in the movie. ... The new Quicktime trailer for "Wolf Creek" can be found here. ... Some folks have managed to remake what they say is "Night of the Living Dead" in 3-D. Doesn't sound do-able to me. This film may be in the public domain, but that doesn't mean people can remake it at will. If that's true, why not just create a "Night of the Living Dead" TV series tomorrow? ... The foreword to "Camp Crystal Lake Memories" apparently includes an introduction to "Friday the 13th" director and series producter Sean Cunningham, in which he says: "'So it is with continued shock and amazement that I sit here twenty-five years later, in the middle of developing a sequel to 'Freddy vs. Jason' and a television series set in Crystal Lake." ... Bloody Disgusting has published the first official still from the "When a Stranger Calls" remake. Click here for 'em. I dunno. Looks kinda gay. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Halloween' Sequel or Remake? ... 'Wolf Creek' Pushed Back ... 'Last House' Remake Dropped October 20, 2005 -- Malek Akkad (son of Moustapha) talked to Dread Central about the possibility of a "Halloween" remake, recently mentioned in the New York Times, to be released by the Weinstein Brothers: “We have had talks with them about it and it is something we would consider, but we are focusing on getting Halloween 9 made right now. It is a touchy subject because Halloween is such a classic and it still holds up today. It’s a case of why fix what isn’t broken, but we never say never and it's something we are at least considering for the tenth installment but no decision has been made at this point." ... John Carpenter spoke to Fangoria about working on a sequel, and here's what he had to say: "No one has talked to me about writing or directing the next 'Halloween,'" the director tells. "And even if they did, I don't know if I would be inclined to write another one. A lot would depend on what they [Trancas International] are offering. To be perfectly honest, I don't really want to do a sequel to HALLOWEEN. I did it once. There's really nothing left to tell."
The Australian horror movie "Wolf Creek" was pushed back from a November 18th limited release to a January 6th wide one. Look for it in 2006. Meanwhile, Hollywood Gothique has published a lukewarm review of the movie. Click here for it.... The hit "Exorcism of Emily Rose" is heading to DVD Dec. 20. ... New Line has dropped plans to remake "Last House on the Left", although another film company could take up the project. ... Variety reports on a new horror flick from "American Beauty" hottie Thora Birch: "Thora Birch and Toby Stephens are starring in "Dark Corners," a horror movie written and directed by first-timer Ray Gower, which started shooting Oct. 11 in London...."
DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Wolf Creek' Screening at Screamfest LA ... 'Dead Ringers' TV Show October 11, 2005 -- This just in from Screamfest LA: We have just added two new SMOKING HOT special screenings (non-competitive) that you absolutely do not want to miss!
CURANDERO - Tuesday Oct. 18th 7:30PM
Be the first to see the new feature film debut from Director Eduardo Rodriguez....a Screamfest 2003 alumni ! CURANDERO was written and executive produced by Robert Rodriguez. You don't want to miss this amazing Spanish film. (Shown with subtitles)
Get your tickets here:
WOLF CREEK Tuesday, Oct. 18th 9:30pm
Be the first to see this gem that Dimension grabbed for $3,500,000 before its Sundance screening in 2005. It's intense!!! As reported in Variety, Jan. 3, 2005 issue:" In a move straight out of Miramax Films' old playbook, Dimension Films paid $3.5 million to buy Greg McLean's horror pic, "Wolf Creek," a month before its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival."
GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!
Show your Screamfest movie ticket at Cafe Tu Tu Tango and enjoy complimentary Tarantula Azul margaritas.
Rachel Belofsky, Founder / Festival Director
OCT. 14 - 23rd - Loews Universal Studios Cinemas @ Universal CityWalk Passes Now on Sale!! ... The official Web site of "Saw II" has been given a facelist. Check it out right here. When the flick opens on Oct. 28, look for the teaser trailer for "Final Destination 3," currently filming and due to hit screens Feb. 10. ... David Cronenberg's "Dead Ringers" is set to become an HBO series! Cronenberg will be executive producing. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. '2001 Maniacs' Trailer Live ... Film Premiering at ScreamfestLA October 8, 2005 -- The "2001 Maniacs" trailer is live now right here. Here is the press release on the upcoming premiere: "2001 MANIACS" TO MAKE U.S. BOW AT SCREAMFEST October 3rd, 2005- "2001 Maniacs", the long awaited remake of Herschell Gordon Lewis' cult horror classic "Two Thousand Maniacs!", is set to make its U.S. premiere at Los Angeles' Screamfest on Friday, October 21st at 9:30 p.m. at Loews Universal Studios Cinemas at Universal CityWalk. The highly controversial, gross-out horror comedy went through several false starts before finally being brought to life by co-writer and debut director Tim Sullivan (along with writing partner Chris Kobin), “Cabin Fever” helmer Eli Roth and the horror specialty shingle BloodWorks. Together, the filmmakers have made a bloody romp that Fangoria magazine praises as having "all the elements of a good time yet still raises a dialogue among viewers that not many have had the balls to address in horror, or filmmaking in general, since the ’70s." “SCREAMFEST is the perfect venue to premiere 2001 MANIACS”, expressed Sullivan. “It’s the ultimate Halloween party where fans and filmmakers can truly cross paths. I’m thrilled the public will be able to join our cast and crew for this special event.” "2001 Maniacs" stars Robert Englund (a.k.a Freddy Krueger) as the Mayor of Pleasant Valley, a small Southern town whose residents rise from the dead once a year seeking revenge for the atrocities they faced at the hands of Northern troops during the Civil War. Lin Shaye ("Detroit Rock City"), Giuseppe Andrews ("Cabin Fever") and swimsuit model Christa Campbell also star alongside country music star Travis Tritt and the ever eerie Peter Stormare ("Fargo"). Cast members, including Shaye and Campbell, will join Sullivan for a Q &A immediately following the screening, which horror icons Mick Garris, Don Coscarelli, John Landis and Tobe Hooper are expected to attend. The film is set for an early 2006 DVD release date through Lions Gate Home Entertainment. The film is also expected to have a limited theatrical release or midnight screenings throughout select cities at the end of the year. Tickets can be purchased at: www.screamfestla.com For more information contact Rachel Belofsky at Screamfest at 310-358-3273 or screamfestla@aol.com ... In other news, Mia Farrow of "Rosemary's Baby" fame is joining the cast of the "Omen" remake. ... The New York Times reports that the Weinstein Brothers appear to be planning to remake "Halloween". Ugh. Click here for the complete Times story. It's possible the Times got it wrong, that they just are doing sequels, but it is the Times for crying out loud. ... Dread Central, meanwhile, reports that Steve Miner is at work on a remake to "Day o fthe Dead," not to be confused with the sequel hitting DVD stores this month. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. ScreamFest LA Schedule Announced ... Individual Tickets on Sale October 1, 2005 -- Here's the latest news from ScreamFest LA: Individual tickets have gone on sale! Don't miss out on these great new independent horror films. The ten day festival running October 14 – October 23, 2005 will include sixteen independent feature films, twenty-seven shorts and special screenings. Screenings will be held at the Loews Universal Studios Cinemas located at Universal CityWalk in Los Angeles. ScreamFest will open on October 14th with one of its competitive screenings of CRUEL WORLD directed by Kelsey T. Howard. The cast includes Edward Furlong (DETROIT ROCK CITY, AMERICAN HISTORY X, TERMINATOR 2), Jamie Pressly (NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE, MY NAME IS EARL, JOE DIRT, RINGMASTER), Susan Ward (SHALLOW HAL, SUNSET BEACH, THE IN CROWD), Andrew Keegan (10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU, O, INDEPENDENCE DAY). Being voted off this reality television show will cost you your life. Feature films eligible for awards include Korea’s BUNSHINSABA, directed AHN Byeong-ki (PHONE). Along with other victims of hatred, Yu-jin puts a curse on the four girls tormenting them through a Ouija Board. Making its Los Angeles debut at ScreamFest 2005 is BOO directed by Anthony C. Ferrante and featuring DAYS OF LIVES’S Rachel Melvin and Dee Wallace Stone (E.T., THE HOWLING, CUJO). Some hospitals don’t have a 13th floor. Santa Mira Hospital shouldn’t have had a third. Five Girls, Five Floors Five Ghosts…. DEATH TUNNEL, directed by Phillip Adrian Booth, stars Steffany Huckaby, Annie Burgstede, and Kristin Novak. Other feature films include Philippines’s Yam Laranas directed SIGAW. This film is already getting a buzz and great reviews. Renee Tab at ICM grabbed Yam for representation. "I found myself jumping at certain scenes and I have seen many other horror movies where that never happens" said Roy Lee, executive producer The Ring & The Grudge. Thailand’s Tanit Jitnukul directed ART OF THE DEVIL tells the tale of a mysterious and bizarre murder of a millionaire's entire family grips the attention of the public. Evil Is In The Air in, REEKER, directed by David Payne. Germany’s HAPPY END directed by Daniel Stieglitz makes its North American premiere. This supernatural tale tells the story of a young writer who moves into an old suburban house because of his writing blockade but soon becomes haunted by the ghost of a little girl. COOKERS, directed by Dan Mintz, asks the “What is the shape of your soul?” SEVERED directed by Carl Bessai brings this fun zombie film to the screen and features Colin Lawrence – Arnold (also FANTASTIC FOUR, X2, HOUSE OF THE DEAD). An experimentation goes disastrously wrong, transforming a disparate group of loggers and environmental activists into the "infected" -- ravenous, zombie-like creatures who prey upon the few terrified survivors while they attempt to understand and control the disaster. THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI directed by David Lee Fisher is a reimagining of the original film and was shot entirely on green stage. Modern day actors have been composited, or overlaid, onto scanned images taken from an original, public domain 35mm print of the film. Every background in the film is a digital enhancement of the original expressionistic sets.
Special screenings include the 25th anniversary screening of the classic FRIDAY THE 13TH followed by a Q & A with Producer/Director Sean S. Cunningham. After the screening the Book Launch Party for CRYSTAL LAKE MEMORIES: THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF FRIDAY THE 13TH written by Peter Bracke will be held at Café Tu Tu Tango at CityWalk. Series guests from the FRIDAY THE 13TH series will be in attendance at the autograph party including Sean S. Cunningham, Joseph Zito, Erin Gray, Harry Manfredini, Adam Marcus, Heidi Kozak, Kimberly Beck, Vincent Guastaferro, Rob Hedden, John LeMay, Amy Steel and many others from the series. 2001 MANIACS directed by Tim Sullivan and produced by Christopher Tuffin, Brett Nemeroff, Eli Roth, Boaz Yakin, and Scott Spiegel makes its U.S. Premiere at this year’s Screamfest. The films stars Robert Englund (“Freddy Krueger” in NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET), Lin Shaye, and cameo appearance by country superstar Travis Tritt. The film is based on the original motion picture TWO THOUSAND MANIACS! By Herschell Gordon Lewis. THREE EXTREME’S an Asian cross-cultural trilogy of horror films from accomplished indie directors. Segments are directed by Fruit Chan (DUMPLINGS), Takashi Miike (BOX), Chan-wook Park (CUT). A special screening of the unrated director’s cut, GEORGE A. ROMERO’S LAND OF THE DEAD screens to promote the coinciding DVD release. Panels include “How Your Short Can Launch Your Career” highlighting such success stories as SAW, EL CICLO, SAM’S LAKE, THE SITTER and many more. “Using SAG Professional Actors In Your Low Budget Or No Budget Films” and “Distributors – What They Look For” are two other panels to help filmmakers create better films. Director Toby Wilkins brings us STARING AT THE SUN which screened in Sundance earlier this year. BRASIL directed by Javier Gutierrez was pre-selected for the 2004 Oscar Academy Awards in the Short Film/Live Action Category. Danica McKellar (best known for her role as “Winnie” in THE WONDER YEARS) makes her directorial debut with her short BROKEN. Two shorts hail from France this year, Guillaume Enard’s directed BRUMES and produced by Cyril Tysz, an UCLA alumni and PHOTOMATEURS directed by Pascal Tosi. From down under comes THE INTRUDER by Aussie director Janine Hewitt. Director Robert Sexton has produced hundreds of videos, commercials and worked with rockers such as Marilyn Manson. Robert brings his LEGION: WORD MADE FLESH a short movie reminiscent of “THE EXORCIST and ROSEMARY’S BABY” to this year’s festival. UK’S Harry Richards brings STILL LIFE a wonderfully shot period piece to the shorts line up. Marius Markevicius directed UNDISCLOSED, a young couple purchase a condo from a sinister realtor. Bryan Norton’s PENNY DREADFUL features FRIDAY THE 13TH infamous “Mrs. Voorhees”, Betsy Palmer. Student films from USC, Florida State University, Chapman University, Occidental College, NYU, and Ohio University compete for Best Student Film. Other films rounding out the Comedy Horror and Animated categories. The Awards Dinner will be held Sunday, October 23rd 6PM at Maggiano's. Sean S. Cunningham will receive a Career Achievement Award at this year's dinner. Yes Boys & Girls that infamous unlucky calendar day of Friday the 13th turns 25 years old this year (as most of you know, we are celebrating it with a special 25th Anniversary Screening and after party on Saturday, October 22nd @ 7:00 PM). Dinner tickets are $75. Book your tickets early, last year's dinner was sold out. ScreamFest is open to the general public and tickets are available by calling (310) 358-3273 or purchase opening night and festival passes by visiting their website at www.screamfestla.com. Tickets for individual films are $11.00, $200 for all of the screenings, while a ScreamFest pass is $300.00. Full Festival passes include all screenings, after parties, a complimentary Tarantula Azul Margaritas, seminars and the closing dinner awards ceremony. Screamfest is sponsored by Tarantula Azul, IFILM, Screenplay.com, IndieWire, SAGIndie, Inktip.com and Moviola. Dedicated to “Discovering The New Blood of Horror and Honoring The Masters” ScreamFest is in its fifth year. SEE YOU AT THE FESTIVAL!!!
Rachel Belofsky, Founder / Festival Director OCT. 14 - 23rd - Loews Universal Studios Cinemas @ Universal CityWalk Passes Now on Sale!! DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Wicker Man' Remake Pics ... 'ROTLD' Parts 4 and 5 Trailers ... 'Satan's Playground' News September 27, 2005 -- The trailers for "Return of the Living Dead Part 4" and "Part 5" can be found right here. Presumably cut versions of the movies debut on the Sci Fi Channel on October 15. ... A blogster has posted images from the "Wicker Man" remake starring Nicolas Cage. This one is set on an island in the United States, which as you can see from these photos looks like an old-west town. Click here for 'em. ... Joseph Wolf, an executive producer of "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Halloween", passed away Sept. 22, after a fall. He had just finished producing "Hellbent," dubbed the world's first gay slasher film, with his daughter Karen. The film had its premiere in Hollywood Sept. 14. The "Hellbent" movie site can be located here. ... The prequel to the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake starts filming in Octobr in Texas. R. Lee Emery is returning, along with Andrew Bryniarski reprising his role as Leatherface. Jonathan Liebesman is directing. Taylor Handley has been ast as a doomed traveler. ... Anchor Bay Entertainment has picked up the new movie from Dante Tomaselli: "Satan's Playground." No release date has been announced yet. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. Warhol's 'Frankenstein' in 3-D ... Tarantino on His New Horror Movie ... Screamfest LA Full Lineup ... New 'Saw II' Trailer September 21, 2005 -- The brand new trailer for "Saw II" is live now in a variety of Windows Media sizes. Here it is:
Small The Castro Theater in San Francisco is delivering an ultra-rare opportunity to catch "Andy Warhol"s Frankenstein" in 3-D on the big screen! It"s playing with the 3-D version of the vincent Price classic, "House of Wax," on October 8. Click here for more. ... Not to be confused with Screamfest LA, the Florida version of the Screamfest will be happening Oct. 14-16 at the Marriott Coral Springs Hotel and Convention Center. Guests will include Linda Blair, Crey Feldman, Dick Warlock, Sid Haig, Tom Savini, Linna Quigley, Betsy Palmer, Danielle Harris, H.G. Lewis and Alex Vincent (who was the kid in "Child"s Play"). Click here for that. ... Screamfest LA, meanwhile, will be taking place Oct. 14-23 at Lowes Universal Studios Cinemas. They just posted their full schedule today, and it includes the original "Friday the 13th," along with the unrated cut of "Land of the Dead," and "2001 Maniacs." There will also be a "Crystal Lake Memories" book launch party Oct. 22, 7 p.m.-midnight. Click here for more on that. ... Quentin Tarantino spoke with MTV.com about his upcoming anthology horror film with "'From Dusk Till Dawn' director Robert Rodriguez. Here's what he had to say: "'His movie is called 'Planet Terror,' and mine is called 'Death Proof,' ' Tarantino revealed. 'Mine is sort of a slasher film, but instead of a knife, it's a car. ... His, he's dealing with zombies and all that stuff. I think his might end up being more violent, but I'm not finished with my [script] yet, so you never know.' "'The former video-store clerk, clad in a white button-down shirt depicting a dragon attacking a tiger, said he and Rodriguez are particularly excited about shooting fake 'trailers' that will enhance the 'Grind House' experience. 'That's one of the things we're looking the most forward to, shooting the phony trailers that will play in between the movies. I'm working out my blaxploitation trailer, and possibly a kung-fu trailer, a sexploitation trailer, a spaghetti-western trailer. I just need to kind of work them out a little bit. I'm just getting them down there, but I think for sure I'm going to do the sexploitation trailer, which is called 'Cowgirls in Sweden.' ' "'Adding that the phony 'Sweden' trailer will probably star some of the women already cast in 'Death Proof,' Tarantino said they plan to shoot their irreverent trailer-within-a-movie-within-a-movie double feature at the beginning of next year." ... FilmFocus spoke with Neve Campbell about "Scream 4," and here's what she had to say: "We were really lucky with the Scream films to actually make a good trilogy, I think it's very challenging to find other films that have done that properly," she told FilmFocus, "but I think it was a good idea for me to stop there. They are going to go ahead and make a Scream 4, I guess they're casting it right now and it was offered to me; but to me, for Sidney, it just doesn't make sense. "Sidney Prescott should have gone insane in the second Scream," she joked, "It was hard for them to get me to do the third one; how far can you go with a character whose friends have either all tried to kill her or died? The only way I could be in Scream 4 is in an insane asylum in a straight-jacket." ... DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. Campbell Says 'No' to 'Scream 4' ... '30 Days of Night' Gets a Director September 11, 2005 -- Dimension Films has reportedly been in talks with Neve Campbell about "Scream 4." Not a good idea. Wes Craven certainly won't be involved, and neither it seems will Campbell. Moviehole reported on Sept. 11 that Campbell is passing on the proposal to resurrect the franchise. "Apparently the one-time rising queen of scream was in talks with the Weinstein co. to give her lungs another work-out for a third sequel? She may have had the talks, but she won't be returning, we can confirm today. Nope, Sidney's done with masked men. "Don't despair though. Just because Campbell won't be back doesn't doesn't mean that two of her hot-water bottle sharing co-stars won't be back, namely, the Arquettes. Gail and Dewey vs Ghostface......Let's get ready to rumble? "The sequel wheel cranks over again......and Mr and Mrs Arquette are holding the handle." ... "Return of the Living Dead" parts 4 and 5 are coming out on October 15 -- on the Sci Fi Channel. Like "Dog Soldiers," these two much-anticipated horror flicks are turning up cut on the Sci Fi Channel before an inevitable DVD release. ... DVDAnswers published new and very interesting cover art and menu shots for George Romero's "Land of the Dead" . Click here for 'em. ... DavisDVD has published cover art and screen full specs for the upcoming, much-delayed, U.S. release of "Cannibal Holocaust." Click here for it. ... Liev schrieber has said that the new "Omen" remake is using the same script as the original, updated slightly for 2005. ... David Slade has been hired to direct the much-anticipated movie based on the vampire comic book "30 Days of Night." The story is set in an Alaskan town that gets 30 days of night consecutively every year, and (as a result) is taken over by vampires. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Screamfest LA,' Argento in 'Sisters,' 24-Hour Chicago Horrorfest August 31, 2005 -- Dark Horizons is reporting that George Romero has backed out of directing an episode of "Masters of Horror. He cited time constraints. ... Asia Argento and David Cronenberg have agreed to appear in Douglas Buck's remake of Brian De Palma's "Sisters." The film was going to start shooting February in New Orleans, but don't expect it to happen in that location now. ... The official Web site for the upcoming Russian horror flick "Night Watch" is up and features some cool desktop images. Click here for 'em. ... Chicago residents will be able to enjoy 24 hours of unrelenting horror when the Music Box Theatre, at 3733 N. Southport Avemue, presents "Music Box Massacre," Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 15-16. Here's what's showing:
Saturday, October 15:
Sunday, October 16: Click here for $20 tickets. ... Tickets are also now on sale for "Scream Fest LA," taking place Oct. 14-23 at Loews Universal Studios Cinemas down in LA. click here for 'em. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Candyman' Helmer Returns to Horror ... 'Land of the Dead' DVD Cover August 24, 2005 -- Bernard Rose, who directed the exquisite "Candyman" and the 1988 classic "Paperhouse," is returning to horror! Variety writes in today's issue: "Bernard Rose is signing on for some 'Amusement.' Marking his first studio pic in nearly a decade, the 'Immortal Beloved' and 'Candyman' helmer has been tapped to direct the New Line horror pic...." The film was penned by new horror screenwriter Jake Wade Wall, who wrote the remakes of both "When a Stranger Calls" and "The Hitcher." The story of the new film centers around a traumatized woman questioned by police and a psychiatrist over her recollections of a clown. Sounds scary. ... "The Devil's Rejects," probably the best horror film of the year thus far, is due to hit DVD stores November 8 in rated and unrated form. ... George Romero told Aint-It-Cool-News that he still wants to do the zombie musical "Diamond Dead," which he was set to make before he got funding for "Land of the Dead." "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon" and "From a Buick 8" -- two Stephen King adaptations -- are also on his horizon. ... DVDAnswers.com has posted cover art work for "Land" as well. check it out right here. The unrated version runs four minutes longer than the rated one. ... The trailer for "Doom" is up and can be found here. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Cannibal Holocaust' Hitting Theaters ... 'Crystal Lake' Hitting Book Stores August 18, 2005 -- Peter Bracke's "The Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th" is hitting book store shelves on October 10, and can be pre-ordered at Amazon already. Click here to pre-order. ... "Cannibal Holocaust" is now going on a very limited theatrical run! click here to see if it's playing at a theater near you. ... "Jason X" director Jim Isaac's upcoming werewolf movie "Skinwalkers" will star Shawn Roberts, according to Variety. We last saw Roberts in "Land of the Dead". ... "May" director Lucky McKee's new movie "The Woods" will open in New York, LA, Chicago, Detroit, Houston, Dallas, San Diego, Phoenix, orlando and Denver on Sept. 16, from Screen Gems. It stars Agnes Bruckner, Patricia larkson and Bruce Campbell. ... "From a Whisper to a Scream" (aka, "The Offspring") is coming out on DVD from MGM this fall. It was truly Vincent Price's last horror film, although he didn't actually star. It's quite a good '80s fear flick, and one of the better anthology horrors in recent memory. Click here for a look at the cover. ... Latino Review has posted clips from the upcoming PG13 fear film "The cave." Click here for 'em. ... "Day of the Dead: Contagium" is heading to DVD courtesy of Anchor Bay on October 18. Early word is that this sequel to the third Romero zombie film "Day of the Dead" is pretty weak. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. Drive-In Terror Fest, 'Masters of Horror,' 'Wrong Turn 2,' 'Cannibal Holocaust' August 15, 2005 -- For those of you on the East coast, within driving distance of Atlanta, the ultimate authentic drive-in horror fest is taking place Sept. 3 and 4 (Labor day Weekend). The Starlight Drive-In in Atlanta is presenting "Dr. Phibes Rises Again," "Count Yorga Vampire," "Madhouse," "The Big Bird Cage," "Spider Baby," "Foxy Brown" and "Blood Bath." Sid Haig, Jack Hill and (possibly) Robert Quarry will be there, along with live bands, car shows and more. Click here for info. ... Showtime has unveiled the trailer to its Masters of Horror series, and it can be discovered right here. ... Fangoria reports that "Cannibal Holocaust" is finally heading to DVD in the U.S. October 24, courtesy of Grindhouse Releasing, after running into censorship problems at various printers. These problems could delay the release further. "Cannibal" is easily the best in that genre of film, and definitely served as inspiration for "The Blair Witch Project". ... Fox is developing a direct-to-video sequel to "Wrong Turn". ... 7'6" star Matthew McGrory, who was seen in "Devil's Rejects" and "House of 1000 Corpses," passed away at the young age of 32. ... MovieWeb has posted the first pic from "Creepshow 3." Check it out right here. ... The rock band Goblin, famous for scoring Argento classics like "Deep Red" , "Suspiria" , and the original "Dawn of the Dead" , now have their own Web site, although it doesn't have any news or updates, only a logo. Check it out here. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD.
Halloween DVD Roundup: 'Bird with the Crystal Plumage' Uncut DVD ... 'Dominion' to Hit Disc Too
DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Omen' Remake Casting ... 'Wicker Man' Remake News ... 'The Mist' August 10, 2005 -- Liev Schrieber and Julia Stiles are in talks to reprise the roles played by Gregory Peck and Lee Remick in Fox's remake of 1976 horror classic "The Omen", according to Variety. A child actor named Josh Hutcherson has been cast as Damien, according to Aint It Cool News. The film should start filming for a June 6, 2006 release. ... Meanwhile, the Hollywood Reporter had this to say on the status of the "Wicker Man" remake, starring Nicolas Cage: "Leelee Sobieski and Ellen Burstyn are joining Nicolas Cage in Neil LaBute's indie "The Wicker Man," produced by Millenium Films, Equity Pictures and Emmett/Furla Films. A remake of a 1973 British horror film, "Wicker Man" centers on a police officer (Cage) who is investigating the disappearance of a girl in a small cultlike community. Sobieski plays a barmaid who is Cage's confidant. Burstyn plays the head of the cult. The film is shooting in Vancouver." ... Norman Bates of "Psycho" fame was voted fourth greatest movie character of all time, behind Vito Corleone in "The Godfather," Fred C. Dobbs in "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and Scarlett O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind." This according to a poll by Premiere Magazine. ... Frank Darabont will begin working on filming Stephen King's excellent novella "The Mist" in December, according to a report at RobertMcCammon.com. McCammon is a writer, whose work "Mine" is being filmed by Darabont, but the project is being moved back to make room for "Mist." ... DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Creepshow 3' Web Site ... 'Devil's Rejects' Blog ... 'Land of the Dead' on DVD ... 'Texas' Prequel and 'Final Destination 3' Release Dates August 8, 2005 -- The official Web site for "Creepshow 3" is up and can be found right here. George Romero has nothing to do with this sequel. ... The Digital Bits says we can expect Romero's "Land of the Dead" to strike DVD October 25! ... If you haven't seen "Devil's Rejects" yet, it's a classic. Look for a review here soon. Meanwhile, a "blog" of the character Charlie (played by "Dawn of the Dead" star Ken Foree, can be found right here. ... Dario Argento's "Do You Like Hichcock" is being released on DVD in the U.S. sometime in '06, according to Anchor Bay. ... New Line anounced release dates for its two flagpole horror films of 2006: October 6th, 2006 for "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning," from director Jonathan Liebesman, and starring R. Lee Ermey. February 24 will see the release of "Final Destination 3" from director James Wong and writing partner Glen Morgan, who crafted the original. ... The site for David Cronenberg's "A History of Violence" can be found right here. ... DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Blind Dead' Covers ... Kidman in 'Body Snatchers' July 31, 2005 -- "Creepshow 3" has completed principal photography, according to Bloody-Disgusting. The flick will be an anthology horror film like the first two. An official Web site for the movie is up here. ... All the covers to the upcoming "Blind Dead" DVDs from Blue Underground -- hitting stores Sept. 27 -- have been unveiled. Check 'two of 'em out: Tombs of the Blind Dead/Return of the Blind Dead ... In October, Universal is releasing the first season of "Kolchak: The Night Stalker" to DVD. This series was kind of the original "X-Files" of the 1970s -- starring Darren McGavin as newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak, investigating strange supernatural occurrences --- in Chicago and enjoys a massive cult following. ... Nicole Kidman is going to be the lead in the remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," being directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel. So says Production Weekly. The movie is going to be shot in Baltimore, so expect it to recapture some of the smalltown paranoia of the '50s original. ... DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. The Horror Movie Box Office Slump, 'Hellraiser' Star as Bond and 'Fog' July 27, 2005 -- Some claim that the bad box office of horror is just a myth but check out this story about the sinking numbers of the genre. The horror backlash is a reality. Not good. The last horror drought we had was in the early 1990s and it was not pretty. We were seriously grateful when movies like "Jason Goes to Hell" played nearly empty theaters. It's been about a decade now where horror films have enjoyed a massive comeback. ... Here is the Web site of a rather cool looking Bigfoot movie called "Abominable." It definitely has a cool trailer. ... Henry Cavill, who stars in the next Hellraiser flick -- "Hellraiser: Hellworld" -- due out sept. 5 from Dimension, is apparently on the short list to be the next James Bond. Cavill is one of four actors up for the role. He's just 22. ... A better version of "The Fog" remake trailer can be discovered right here. ...
DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Trauma' Cover ... Lotsa 'Devil's Rejects' Comic-Con Clips
Rob Zombie's "The Devil's Rejects" opens today, and here is a mess of footage of the cast and director at ComiCon, in Windows Media files: Rob Zombie and William Forsythe
Enjoy! ...
DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Omen 666' a Remake ... 'Fog' Trailer and SE 'Fog' DVD July 21, 2005 -- Variety is reporting that the June 6, 2006 film "Omen 666" is not a sequel, but in fact a remake. Given all the hoopla over religion these days, and the awesoem success of "Passion of the Christ," it certainly makes sense that someone would wanna do a remake. But do we really need a remake? No. The originals is perfect. Here's what "Variety has to say: "John Moore has become bedeviled by 'The Omen 666.' "Moore, who directed 'Behind Enemy Lines' and 'Flight of the Phoenix' for 20th Century Fox, has been set by the studio to helm a remake of the 1976 horror classic about the arrival of the Antichrist in the home of an unsuspecting family. "Dan McDermott is writing a script that contemporizes the tale. Project is on a fast track, as the studio has set a tentative Oct. 3 start date, with 20th prexy Hutch Parker and Peter Kang overseeing. "Richard Donner directed the original, which starred Gregory Peck as an ambassador whose dark secret --allowing a baby to be substituted for the one his wife (Lee Remick) lost in childbirth -- comes back to haunt him when the hellish prodigal son begins to hit his evil stride." ... Sony has lined up an impressive array of never-before-released-on-DVD titles for Halloween. "Torture Garden," "The Little girl Who Lives own the Lane" and a new remastered version (apparently) of "The Fog." ... While we're on the subject of "The Fog," a low-quality trailer of the remake is now up at http://www.tomwelling.org/. ... A hidden clip from the upcoming "Devil's Rejects" can be found right here. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Blind Dead' Box, 'Skeleton Key', 'Saw 2' Goodies
Meanwhile, Anchor Bay Enterainment has revealed cover art for Dario Argento's "The Card Player," hitting stores August 23. Here it is. ... The "assets" (i.e., all the PR goodies) for "The Skeleton Key" are now up courtesy of Universal. check 'em all out:
Official Website Official Trailers – Windows Media Theatrical Quicktime Theatrical (Click on the link, save the zip to your desktop and open at your convenience) Downloads
Buddy Icons Zip Enjoy! ... The teaser trailer for "Saw 2" -- which is quickly becoming one of the most eagerly antcipated fear films of hte year, what with a pretty lackluster year so far -- is now up. Check it out here.
Small DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. Campbell Back in a Horror Film ... 'Last House' Remake July 19,2005 -- We're experiencing some technical difficulties here at Esplatter which is affecting our ability to update the site on a regular basis. Please bear with us as we get through this difficult patch. Here, now, is some news. ... Bruce campbell will play himself in an upcoming horror film, which seems mighty reminiscent of "Fright Night". Campbell told Kotaku.com: "And then in the Fall I'm going to start a new film for Dark Horse comics, a cool company set in Portland, they're making movies now. It's an untitled Bruce Campbell movie where I play myself. It's about a small town that is having problems with a monster and nothing's working so somebody suggests let's get the Evil Dead guy. Unfortunately, in reality I don't own a gun, I've never used a chainsaw and more die then before I got there." ... New Line is planing a remake to Wes Craven's "Last House on the Left", which seems like a really bad idea, considering no one could remake this politically incorrect movie in 2005 or '06. Really dumb. Mark Haslett is writing the new script. ... A scooper at Latino Review revealed this about the upcoming prequel to the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake. "I just shot a short film with someone connected to this next movie in some capacity. I've got a few names that might be involved in the "Texas Chainsaw" prequel movie for Jonathan Liebesman. R. Lee Ermey, Cassandra McGrath, Lauren Ambrose, Justin Bartha. At least, that's some of the names that are being 'looked at'. Offers and auditions go out/begin shortly. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning has a role like Jessica's (Biel) in the first. "Constance" is described as being between 18-22, Caucasian, Sexy and smart, she is a girl coming into her own. On her way to Mexico to celebrate with her sister, she notices all and fears it as well. Beautiful, yet innocent, she will come full circle in a fight for her life. Lead. It's the 'star making' role. 'Sparky' I work for a publishing company."... A web site for the much-anticipated "Tales From the Crypt" Season 1 DVD can be found right here. ... Another "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" remake is being worked on at Warner Bros. German filmmaker Oliver Hirschbiegel is directing. He made the psychological chiller "Das Experiment." ...
DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'High Tension' PSP Giveaway, Plus 'Halloween 9' News July 5,2005 -- Esplatter is participating in a portable Playsttaion giveaway with Lion's Gate to promote the excellent "High Tension," still in some theaters. An excellent movie, I must say. Anyway, we've got three PSPs to give away. For hardcore eighties horror fans it should be easy. The first three readers to get this question right, win a PSP. The trivia question: "High Tension" has a twist ending. So does the early 1980s sleaze-fest upon which some of "High Tension" seems to take some of its inspiration. In "Nightmare," what is the twist ending of the film? Who is the killer? It's the last line of the movie and it's one of the lamest twist endings of all time. But if you know it, you have certainly earned a PSP (assuming you are one of the first three to respond). Click here to fire off your email answer. American respondents only please. Include your mailing address on the off chance that you win. ...
According to Bloody-Disgusting, the official title of the next "Halloween" film is "Halloween: Retribution" and it's on hold while Dimension Films makes its break from Disney. An interview with screenwriter Jake Wade Hall revealed some nuggets of information about the film, including info that confirms a previous "asylum" concept for the movie: "Moustapha Akkad, who had been one of the executive producers on the original “Halloween”, approached me and he asked me about writing the next film in the franchise. But we both agreed it was time to get back to the early “Halloween” films in terms of style and story so I started to think. And I realized that in the original movie, you go from seeing Michael Myers as this 10-year old who has just butchered his sister to a 25-year old escapee from a mental institution. I wondered what happened to him in those “missing years”, hence my working title. Dimension has picked it up but with all the changes going on with them, I’m not sure when it will get rolling. But the “Halloween” franchise WILL continue!" ... The fourth and fifth entries in the "Return of the Living Dead" series will hit screens on October 7, courtesy of Freestyle releasing, a company formed in 204 by Susan Jackson, who was an executive producer of "Cabin Fever." DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Land of the Dead' Tanks at the B.O. ... More '70s Films Slated for Remake June 28, 2005 -- The remake of "When a Stranger Calls" has been given an official release date of Feb. 3, 2006 by Sony Screen Gems. Simon West is directing. ... Mark Gordon is producing a remake of the Nicolas Roeg classic "Don't Look Now". Andrea Berloff is writng the new screenplay. Now word on why they're remaking this, given it was never a teen horror film, but I guess i will make a good PG-13 type supernatural thriller. ... "Land of the Dead" scored a low $10.5 million at the box office during its opening weekend. Ohter (really lesser) horror films, such as "Boogeyman," scored in the $40 million range. What's the problem? Part of it, in my view, is the chick factor. Chicks go see films like "The Grudge" and boost their box office. Then again, part of it may also be the release date. This came out during hte crowded summer season. The "Dawn of the Dead" remake came out while kids were attending high school and did pretty well. My own feeling is that if kids are in school, they will chatter about horror films and see them in droves. But Hollywood doesn't seem to get this and continues to release films in the summer, and sometimes during the holidays which can be even worses. I guess we can't expect a sequel to "Land" now. ... After a long wait, Warner Bros. is finally releasing "Dracula AD 1972" with Christopher Lee to DVD on October 4. ... The official web site for the remake of "The Fog" is open, and be accessed right here. The film is being directed by Rupert Wainwright from a script by Cooper Layne. John Carpenter is producing. ... The first image from Dario Argento's entry in the Masters of Horror series for Showtime is up at Dread central, right here. ... Meanwhile, Argento fans in Sweden are going to be able to see argento'ss new movie before any of the rest of us. Swedish Television will be showing do you like hitchcock? on Friday 1st July on channel svtv2 at 22:30. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Land of the Dead' Tribute Clips, 'Cannibal Holocuast 2' and 'The Ocean' Web Site June 14, 2005 -- Here is a George A. Romero "tribute clip" promoting "Land of the Dead," and featuring the likes of Romero, John Landis, Guillermo Del Toro, Eli Roth, Clive Barker and Dennis Hopper.
Clip 1 WMV Fangoria reports that Ruggero Deodato is at work on a sequel to "Cannibal Holocaust", although at least one film with the monicker "Cannibal Holocaust 2" has been released. Oh well, that didn't stop two films from being called "Zombie 3," did it? "I want to do it—I have written two stories," says the director. "One is a very metropolitan story, like CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST but set in Rome. The other is closer to the original, and set in the jungle. I hope that it will be possible to shoot it, but I don’t know. Just now in Italy, it is not easy to find financing." ... The teaser Web site for Dante Tomaselli's next movie "The Ocean" can be found here.
DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Pulse' Hitting Screens in August ... 'Candyman' to Battle Chucky? June 9, 2005 -- Magnolia Pictures has picked up rights to the Asian horror masterpiece "Pulse," with plans to release the film to theaters in August. For a giant image of the poster, click here. Meanwhile, the U.S. remake is in development, with a guy named Jim Sonzero directing, and 2006 the year it will come out. ... At the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors, Tony Todd spoke of a fourth film in the fledgling "Candyman" franchise. “There are rumors about another CANDYMAN,” Todd tells Fango. “It’s a ‘vs.’ film. I don’t know if it’s going to be Chucky or who!” Todd laughs and continues, “If it’s Chucky, I’m gonna…” Thanks to Fango for the info. ... Here's what Sci Fi Wire reports on the upcoming "Slither," from the screenwriter of the "Dawn of the Dead" remake: "Universal has set a Jan. 6, 2006, release date for its upcoming SF thriller film Slither, starring Nathan Fillion (Serenity) and marking the feature-film directorial debut of writer James Gunn (last year's Dawn of the Dead remake). The film had originally been eyed for a Halloween 2005 release. Slither also stars Michael Rooker, Elizabeth Banks and Gregg Henry in a story about an alien parasite that infects a resident of a small town in South Carolina, then threatens to spread to the rest of the population. It recently wrapped production in Vancouver, B.C." Pretty awesome cover art for "Hellraiser: Hellworld," a cyber-thriller direct-to-video entry in the franchise, can be discovered right here. ... Meanwhile, the just-released DVD of "Hellraiser: Deader" can be purchased right here. ... The official site for the "Masters of Horror" TV series on Showtime is up, and can be found here. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. Argento Working on an Anthology Film; 'Magic' Finally Heads to DVD June 7, 2005 -- It was revealed at Cannes that Dario Argento is working on a "Trilogy of Terror"-type film with Tobe Hooper and Monte Hellman. "Due to start shooting in September, the terror trilogy has been scripted by Dennis Bartok, programme director of the American Cinematheque and one of those people endlessly thanked on such 'Making Of' DVD extras for EVIL DEAD, THE FOG, THE HOWLING and TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. Hooper was represented at Cannes by a promo reel for MORTUARY and posters for his next outing ZOMBIES. Monte Hellman is the bombshell in the package. Although famous for the cult movies RIDE THE WHIRLWIND, THE SHOOTING and TWO-LANE BLACKTOP, his only real horror credit apart from THE TERROR is SILENT NIGHT DEADLY NIGHT 3: BETTER WATCH OUT." So reports a scooper for DarkDreams.org. ... It's been a long time coming. But Sky Films revealed to Bloody-Disgusting at the Fango Weekend of Horrors that the Anthony Hopkins chiller "Magic," which served as inspiration for the Chucky films, is heading to DVD in 2006. ... B-D also claims that Jennifer Love Hewitt is heading back to do another "I Know What You Did Last Summer" movie. ... Don't forget to check out "High Tension," which hits screens this weekend, truly one of the most kick-ass films of the year. Click here to check out the official Web site. ...
DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Land of the Dead' Assets from Universal May 26, 2005 -- Here is the official lineup of "Land of the Dead" "assets" from Universal. Basically, it's every official promotional item for the film published by Universal on the Web. Since this is maybe the most antcipated horror film of the past quarter century, I thought it was a good idea just to post the entire set: Official Website – http://www.landofthedeadmovie.net/ Online fanteam – The Zombie Army - http://zombiearmy.deadmovies.com/zombiearmy/ Join to compete in challenges, start a militia and earn “bones” to redeem for prizes! Official Trailers – Windows Media Theatrical
http://www.universalpictures.com/asx/landofthedead/
http://www.universalpictures.com/asx/landofthedead/
http://www.universalpictures.com/asx/landofthedead/ Quicktime Theatrical http://www.landofthedeadmovie.net/media/land_of_the_dead_dms_trlr1_128k.mov http://www.landofthedeadmovie.net/media/land_of_the_dead_dms_trlr1_300k.mov Assets Zip http://www.specialopsmedia.com/LOTD/1.zip DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Chainsaw' Prequel, 'Hellraiser' Trailer, and 'Countess Dracula 2005' May 25, 2005 -- Jonathan Liebesman, the creative force behind the PG-13 offering "Darkness Falls" is set to direct the prequel to the "Texas Chainsaw" remake, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The film, which explores Leatherface's origins, was written by Sheldon Turner, with rewrites by David Schow (The Crow). Michael Bay is one of the producers. ... The obscure 1990s anthology horror film "Campfire Tales" is heading to DVD August 30, courtesy of New Line. This is a forgotten movie, but it's better than some of the direct-to-video dreck heading to store shelves these days. The trailer to the new "Hellraiser" film is up right here. ... Sylvester Stallone is directing "Poe," a film he wrote about the life of the legendary writer. Robert Downey Jr. may star ... "Eternal," the Candian film based on the legendary Countess Bathory story (popularized by such films as the classic Hammer horror flick "Countess Dracula") is hitting screens in the U.S. Sept. 16. The film was written and directed by Wilhelm Liebenberg and Federico Sanchez. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. Update on Cronenberg's New Genre Pic May 14, 2005 -- We reported on David Cronenberg's plan for a new movie a while back, but now the buzz is hitting Cannes. Cronenberg is indeed going to make "Painkiller," according to the May 14 Hollywood Reporter. "David Cronenberg, who is in Cannes with his In Competition film 'A History of Violence,' will next direct 'Painkillers,' a futuristic thriller that reteams him with producer Robert Lantos, who is repped at the festival by Atom Egoyan's 'Where the Truth Lies.' The producer and director on Friday confirmed the project, which has been in development for several years. Based on Cronenberg's first original screenplay in eight years, 'Painkillers' is budgeted at $35 million and is being readied for release in late 2006. Andras Hamori ('Fateless') will produce with Lantos." ... Meanwhile, also at Cannes, Brian De Palma's next horror-esque film, "Black Dahlia" (not really a fear film since it's based on a real-life murder, but oh well) is being picked up by Universal. The film stars Hilary Swank. ... The New Zealand vampire film "Perfect Creature" is being picked up by 20th Century Fox. ... The makers of "Napoleon Dynamite" are going to create a film about Bigfoot entitled "The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang," a comedy about several groups who converge as they search for the legendary creature. ... Here is ComingSoon.net's set visit to the "Fog" remake that's currently filming. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. Some Minor News on 'Halloween 9,' Plus the Latest on John Carpenter March 13, 2005 -- Nick Phillips of Miramax had this to say to Moviehole about the potential of a "Halloween 9": "As for Halloween 9, that's been quite a journey so far. We have a few different storylines we're considering, all of which respect the classic mythology while trying to bring something new to the franchise. It's been a real honor to work with the one and only Moustapha Akkad and his son, Malek. I mean, how many times have I seen his name in huge orange letters on screen!! Those guys are the keepers of the flame and I would hate to mess that up. I go on a lot of horror websites everyday, mostly as a fan, and I seem to read a new rumor every week about H9, none of which are accurate. Unless you hear it from Malek or myself, it's just not true." He then adds that we can expect to hear some real news "soon." Click here for more. ... While we're on the subject of "Halloween," the Hollywood Reporter says that John Carpenter is returning to the director's chair for "The 13th Apostle," a film about a Pittsburgh detective who learns that an Internet-based serial killers club is knocking off people. Paul Margolis wrote the script. The two previously worked together on the "John Carpenter Presents" series, in which Carpenter helped out up-and-coming filmmakers. ... The teaser trailer for "Cry Wolf" can be found here. ... A sequel to "Cabin Fever" is now off due to legal disputes. It seems no resolution to the disputes is likely anytime soon, and as time passes it makes less and less sense to make a "Part 2," as people will forget about the first one. Oh well. ... "2001 Maniacs," remake of H.G. Lewis' "2000 Maniacs", is heading to DVD courtesy of Lion's Gate. So says Fangoria. Fango also published some pics to "Urban Legends 3: Bloody Mary," right here. ...
DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Dominion,' 'Faces of Death', 'Final Destination 3' and 'Land' in Quicktime
AngryFilms' Don Murphy told Aint-It-Cool-News that a "remake" to the popular and taboo mockumentary "Faces of Death" -- the supposedly real videos compiled into a bestselling VHS tape in the 1980s -- is being put together for theatrical release: "Yes, we're in the process of putting together a commercial horror film based on the videotapes FACES OF DEATH. Our model will be what they did with the new Chainsaw, only with an original plot, since the tapes didn't really have any. A young, sexy group of kids have to figure out why all these strange deaths are happening in their small town, and they link them back to the original tapes. We'll redo some of the sequences from the original - electrocutions, autopsies, on air suicide, alligators tearing folks apart - scary stuff. The longterm goal is also to create new franchise using the host of the original series who has never stopped killing. He's like the anti-Freddy, not chasing you and cracking wise - he clinically stares into your eyes and studies you as you beg for help and die. Like if Devin from Chud was on fire and begging to be pissed on he'd just take notes! Several of the major horror distributors have been tracking this with us and this week and next we'll cut a deal with the goal to be to do this independently and get it into theatres by Halloween 06. The main thing we're gonna concentrate on is making it live up to the title - you'll want to turn away, but you won't be able to!" ...
Spike TV is turning the "Blade" film franchise into a TV series with David Goyer at the helm. No word on whether Wesley Snipes is going to be involved. He's currently suing New Line over the failure of the third film in the franchise. ... John Landis and Dario Argento have begun shooting their hour-long segments for the Showtime series "Masters of Horror." Meanwhile, Argento's new film "Do You Like Hitchcock?" is set to show at Frightfest in London this August. ... Apple.com now has a hot, very high-quality version of the "Land of the Dead" trailer up on their Quicktime site. Check it out right here. ... Sci Fi Wire is reporting that a sequel to "Aliens vs. Predator" is in the works. 20th Century Fox Film Corporation co-chairman Tom Rothman spread the word. "We will do another one of those for sure. It was a big success... In the new Alien vs. Predator they will finally actually really come to our world." Rothman went on to say that this new film could bridge the gap between all the movies and the two horror film franchises... "It's likely that we will bridge the gap, and the beginning of that will be setting it in our contemporary universe... They were always terrorists, yes, but only metaphorically." Click here for the trailer to Park Chan-Wook's "Sympathie for Lady Vengeance." Chan-Wook also helmed "Old Boy," "Sympathie for Mr. Vengeance," "Cut" and "Joint Security Area." ...
DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. Remake-palooza: 'Dead Things', 'Black Christmas' and 'The Birds' April 26, 2005 -- Variety reports that the legendary Bob Clark, director of the original "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things", is producing the remake of "Children." He plans to write and direct it, in fact. PLUS, he is behind a planned remake of "Black Christmas," a classic slasher that frankly does not need to be redone. "MONTREAL -- Los Angeles-based director-producer Bob Clark and Toronto producer Victor Solnicki have pacted to produce a slate of films with budgets ranging from $10 million to $40 million. "The slate will include a remake of 'Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things,' the 1973 Canuck zombie horror pic that was Clark's debut as a writer-director. "He has penned the new script and will helm the $12 million-budgeted pic. It will be a Canada-U.K. co-production with London-based Hamish Gibson co-producing. Pic will shoot in September in British Columbia. "The Solnicki/Clark slate also includes 'From Here to Infirmity,' a comedy penned by Jeff Schechter and set to shoot in 2006. Budget will be $25 million. "The non-exclusive pact allows Solnicki and Clark to develop projects separately. Clark will direct the comedy 'There Goes the Neighborhood' this summer, a pic not part of the pact, through his shingle Film Classic Prods. "Meanwhile, 2929 Prods. will re-make 'Black Christmas,' the 1974 Canuck horror thriller that was directed by Clark and produced by Solnicki's company. James Wong and Glen Morgan ('Final Destination') will produce with Morgan writing and directing. Solnicki is also a producer. "Clark directed 'Porky's,' still the top-grossing Canuck pic of all time. Solnicki's credits as a producer include early Cronenberg pics 'The Brood,' 'Scanners' and 'Videodrome,' and 'Such A Long Journey' from 1998." ... The makers of the "Texas Chainsaw" remake and the "Amityville" remake are now gonna do "The Birds." That's right. Hitchcock's other classic horror film is being remade. So says The Hollywood Reporter. ... "Blair Witch" co-creator Edward Sanchez's new flick "Altered" (formerly known as "Probed") is being distributed by Universal's Rogue Pictures. ... Subversive Cinema has revamped its Web site with three new (old) features due to hit stores this year: "The candy Snatchers", "The Freakmaker", and "The Gardener." Check out the new site here, and enjoy the trailers for "Snatchers" and "Freakmaker."
DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. Bava's Next, 'Tension' Trailer, 'Cursed' Cover April 21, 2005 -- After a long hiatus, Lamberto Bava -- direct of the Dario Argento-produced "Demons" films -- is coming back with a new project! Entitled, "The Torturer," here's the synopsis, as reported by Fangoria.com: "A dark and gloomy theater set for strange castings. An awful and neglected villa. A stage writer who pushes young actresses to put themselves at risk in morbid auditions thick with physical pain and pleasure. Around the writer stir his ancient and sick mother, his agent/stepfather, the aspiring actors and a young actress with whom he falls in love. Who is the torturer who tears to pieces the bodies of the actresses?" Sounds like a vintage Lamberto film, doesn't it? ... David Cronenberg's "A History of Violence" is screening at this year's Cannes Film Festival, along with a special screening of less than an hour of George Romero's "Land of the Dead." Expect a trailer for the movie out on April 29. ... Wes Craven's "Cursed" -- one of the big disappointments of the year -- is getting the unrated treatment on DVD. Click here for DVD Answers' look at the unrated cover art. ... Apple.com posted a Quicktime trailer for "High Tension," which is hitting American theaters in a slightly truncated, R-rated cut. It's the second trailer for the film. Click here for it. ... Check out the official "High Tension" Web site right here. Michael Bay, the '70s and '80s horror remake king, is hiring Jessica Biel to star in a remake of "The Hitcher." She will actually be the C. Thomas Howell character in this one -- the protagonist on the run. So says Variety.
DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. Schrader's 'Dominion' and Hooper's 'Zombies' April 14, 2005 -- Variety reports that Paul Schrader's version of "Exorcist: The Beginning" is being released the very same day as "Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith" -- May 20! The film also has a new title: "Dominion -- A Prequel to the Exorcist"! The film will be released in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, San Diego, Sacramento, Houston and Dallas. Click here for a link to the Variety story. ... Dread-Central reports that Tobe Hooper's next film (after his remake of "The Toolbox Murders") will be "Zombies"! That's right, a zombie movie from the director of the original "Texas Chainsaw." Should be fun. But given some of Tobe's recent efforts -- "Crocodile," etc. -- one could be a little suspicious at the same time. The very cool poster for the yet-to-be-shot film has also been revealed. Click here for it. ... The Hollywood Reporter says Simon West is set to direct a remake of the 1979 horror hit "When a Stranger Calls." West might be best remembered as the director of "Con Air" and the first Lara Croft movie. ... The trailer for the hot-looking Russian horror film "Night Watch" is up. This looks like a HUGE budget horror-actioner in the spirit of "Blade" and "Underworld." Click here for it. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Land of the Dead' Is Just 2 1/2 Months Away! April 12, 2005 -- Expect to see Romero's "Land of the Dead" soon! Universal moved up the release date from Oct. 21 to June 24! The news comes from Universal's own official Web site. ... Meanwhile, Variety reports that "Machinist" director Brad Anderson is set to helm the remake of George Romero's "The Crazies." "Paramount has tapped Brad Anderson to direct "The Crazies," its remake of George Romero's horror-thriller set up at Paramount-based Penn Station. "Anderson will be reteamed with writer Scott Kosar following their collaboration on Paramount Classics' "The Machinist." Kosar's credits include New Line's remake of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and MGM/Dimension's remake of "The Amityville Horror," opening Friday. ""The Crazies" will update the storyline of the original, in which inhabitants of a small Pennsylvania town are beset by death and insanity after a plane crash lets loose a secret biological weapon into the water supply. Original was released in 1972. "Penn Station principals Michael Aguilar and Dean Georgaris are producing and Romero, who directed and co-wrote the original pic with Paul McCollough, is exec producing. Par exec VP Ally Shearmur and veep Andrew Haas are overseeing for the studio." DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. Bruce Campbell, Washington Post, 'Undead' April 10, 2005 -- The Washington Post of all newspapers has published a long essay on the durability of the horror film. Click here to check it out. ... IGN has premiered the trailer to "Undead"! Check it out right here. ... Bruce Campbell has told attendees at a Q&A session promoting his new book, "HOw to Make Love the Bruce Campbell Way" that a sequel to "Bubba Ho Tep," entitled "Bubba Nosferatu," is in the works, and should certainly get funding. ... Doug Bradley's official Web site has a link to the "Hellraiser: Deader" trailer, which can be found right here. ... Variety ran a piece on a Masters of Horror pre-production bash, which featured the likes of John Landis and George Romero. Click here for the Variety piece. ... Landis is directing a piece called "Deer Woman" for the series. He told an audience at the Fearless Tales Fest in San Francisco that the segment was co-written by his son and features a monster that is all woman in the top half of her body, all deer on the bottom half. Sort of a deer mermaid. ... Francis Lawrence, director of "Constantine," looks set to direct "I Am Legend" -- which was adapted previously as "The Last Man on Earth" starring Vincent Price and then "The Omega Man" starring Charlton Heston. The vampires-take-over-the-world story, which literally is about the last man on earth, once was set to star Arnold Schwarzenegger, but that was a long long time ago. Will Smith may now be taking the lead role. ... MovieBox has a new TV spot for "House of Wax" which features some footage not in the trailer. Click here for it. ... DVD File reports that Wes Craven's "Cursed" will hit DVD June 21 in an unrated director's cut. It isn't clear just how much better that will make the deeply flawed film. ...
DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD. 'Zodiac Killer' Premieres at Fearless Tales Fest March 31, 2005 -- Ulli Lommel made an appearance at the Fearless Tales film fest in San Francisco on Tuesday, where he screened his films "Zodiac Killer" and "Zombie Nation" for the first time. The original "Boogeyman" director brought David Hess along. Hess had small roles in both films. Unfortunately, "Zombie Nation" was quite bad. "Plan 9"-level badness. Really terrible make-up effects and in incomprehensible plot. But "Zodiac Killer" was pretty good. The film maintained some good tension. Easily the best of the 'true serial killer' movies to be released in recent years. Unfortunately it was shot on digital film. Anyway, Lommel announced his next two films are also serial killer-related efforts: "The Green River Killer" and "The BTK Killer," both based on true-life murderers. Hess is working on his own project, a documentary on drumming in the Caribbean, and on a psychological thriller called "Nutcracker," which he is starring in. DISCUSS THIS NEWS ON THE ESPLATTER MESSAGE BOARD.
Archived News From 2003-2004: July 15, 2004 -- The Steve Norrington "FvJ Part 2" rumor reported yesterday has been debunked. July 14, 2004 -- Project Greenlight, the screenwriting competition in which winners are given $1 million to make their own movie, finally picked a horror screenplay as the winning entry this year. So it was announced yesterday. Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunston's script "Feast" will be made into a movie, and a TV series will be shot of the making of the movie. Click here to read the script. ... Meanwhile, MovieHole reports that Steve Norrigton (the guy who directed "Blade") may be directing "Freddy vs. Jason 2," which could be released as early as next summer. July 12, 2004 -- FilmJerk reports that after moving from Oct. 22 to Nov. 10, "Seed of Chucky" is now headed for an undetermined 2005 release date.
July 7, 2004 -- Following what is clearly a really, really bad decision, Focus Features is moving the release date of "Seed of Chucky" from Oct. 22, until after Halloween: November 10. So says Fangoria. June 29, 2004 -- The trailer for "Blade: Trinity" is now online! Click here for it. June 24, 2004 -- Sam Raimi told IESB.net that he'd be interested in making an "Evil Dead 4" or an "Ash vs. Freddy vs. Jason," but it would have to be after he completes "Spiderman 3." "I'd like to make another Evil Dead movie. Right now I don't have any plans to, but it would be a lot of fun," he said. On the AvFvJ idea: "That sounds interesting. I'd love to read a script if one exists." ... Anchor Bay's official Web site for their 4-disc "Dawn of the Dead: Ultimate Edition" can be found right here. June 21, 2004 -- Fox is readying a sequel to "28 Days Later," according to Variety, but the original director isn't returning. "While the studio would confirm only that a sequel is in the works, sources said the tentative title is '28 Weeks Later' and that the studio is circling Rowan Joffe to write the script. ... [Danny] Boyle is not expected to direct the sequel, though he and screenwriter Alex Garland likely will take producing roles alongside the first pic's producer, Andrew Macdonald." June 19, 2004 -- Here is the official teaser poster for "Blade: Trinity," due in theaters December 10:
June 16, 2004 -- Yet another trailer for "Alien vs. Predator" has turned up at Apple's Quicktime site. Here it is -- and with no rock guitars this time. ... Robert Englund is going to host a reality series for CBS based on the "Nightmare on Elm Street Films." The title of the show is "A Nightmare on Elm Street: Real Nightmares." The premise: Englund asks people for their real nightmares. Then a special effects team reenacts the nightmare. Thanks to Variety. June 14, 2004 -- There's more evidence that George Romero's "Dead Reckoning" is on a much faster track, thanks to the official Diamond Dead Web site. "Diamond Dead" is a Rocky Horror Picture-esque film Romero was set to make but now it may be pushed back thanks to "Reckoning." Here's what the site has to say: "There was a flurry of activity during the past week. We have our financing together, and have one of the leads. At the same time, George’s other project, “Dead Reckoning” has also possibly come together, and we have been discussing on a daily basis, which should go first. One could start in October, the other, next spring. This is quite complicated, as it has some bearing on our financing, and we hope to sort it out during the next week. I am very happy for George. Will keep you posted."
June 13, 2004 -- Here is the first
ever clip from "Blade 3: Trinity"! Click
here!
June 11, 2004 -- The latest trailer for "Alien vs. Predator,"
complete with heavy metal music, is up in Quicktime right
here. June 10, 2004 -- The trailer for "Exorcist: The Beginning" is online and can be discovered right here. ... Sam Raimi's Ghost House Pictures plans to release the new horror film "Boogeyman" (no relation to the '80s slasher film of the same name) on Feb. 4, 2005. Meanwhile, another new fear flick -- "Dark Water" -- is hitting theaters Oct. 15, two weeks before Ghost House also releases "The Grudge." June 9, 2004 -- Glen Morgan and James Wong, who wrote, produced and directed the original "Final Destination," have been signed by New Line to make the third installment in the franchise. No word on whether it will be "Final Destination 3-D" as some have previously reported. ... The very well-received horror film "Saw" has a trailer up. Click here for it. ... Tobe Hooper's "Toolbox Murders" remake and Dario Argento's "The Card Player" will both show at the American Cinematheque's Festival of Fantasy Horror and Science Fiction in August. Click here for more. June 8, 2004 -- The very cool "Exorcist: The Beginning" flash Web site has gone live and can be discovered here. June 7, 2004 -- Taurus Entertainment, which just completed "Day of the Dead: Contagium," is now set to make "Creepshow 3." Thanks to its affiliation with Richard P. Rubinstein, Taurus has sequel rights to a number of George Romero-related films. Presumably, this anthology sequel won't adapt Stephen King stories, but ya never know.
SCREAMFEST is the largest film festival in Los Angeles that celebrates independent filmmakers and writers within the horror, science fiction and fantasy genres. Judged on all aspects of filmmaking by a panel of judges comprised of industry professionals, filmmakers compete in several categories including, Best Feature, Directing, Cinematography, Editing, Special Effects, Musical Score and additional special categories for Best Animation, Best Short, and Best Documentary, and Best Student Film. Writers competing for Best Screenplay will receive a $1,000 cash prize, software from Movie Magic and a first look production deal with Stan Winston Productions together with Candy Heart Productions. A film director from this year's and previous year's Screamfest talent base will be selected to direct the winning screenplay. Jeff Katz of New Line Cinema, Multiple Academy Award-winning Special Effects master Stan Winston and Michael Grady of Dimension Films are set to judge the film competition. The 2004 screenplay judges are Michael Grady of Dimension Films, Director/Producer Sean S. Cunningham (Friday The 13th, Freddy VS. Jason), David Kopple - motion picture literary agent at the Gersh Agency and Director/Producer, Multiple Academy Award-winning special effects master Stan Winston. The deadline for entry in this year's festival is July 15, 2004 and late deadline is August 15, 2004. SCREAMFEST accepts all films completed after January 1, 2001. Screamfest is sponsored by Tarantula Azul, Monster Energy Drink, Hollywood Creative Directory, and Screenplay.com,
Founded in 2001 by producer Rachel Belofsky, SCREAMFEST is an annual internationally recognized and participated in genre festival showcasing independent filmmakers and screenwriters from around the globe. SCREAMFEST will be held in Los Angeles from October 15th to October 24th, 2004 at Loews Universal Studios Cinemas at Universal CityWalk.
SCREAMFEST discovering the new blood of horror and honoring the masters. For more information and to download a submission form visit the official website at www.screamfestla.com or call 310-358-3273. Send submissions to Screamfest Horror Film Festival 8840 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, CA 90211
For further information please contact Rachel Belofsky at (310) 358-3273.
"Hey, you know what? I'm just not sure... We'll have to see if the math works.
That's the first hurdle." Asked to comment on rumors that people
at New Line were "determined" to make the film happen, Campbell
said, "I think that's optimistic."
On rumors of a big-budget fourth "Evil Dead" film in development at
New Line, presumably to be directed by Sam Raimi, Campbell had this
to say:
"You know what? I think it's guys just getting all geeked up.
I think there are various things that are being talked about,
but it's just not something that I think has gone that far.
You know, I think there are various topics that people ARE
talking about, but I think to the extent that they think these
are solidified are overstating it."
Click here
for the full interview. ...
May 21, 2004 -- Here's the Hollywood Reporter on the upcoming "Return of the Living Dead" sequels:
"CANNES -- Anatoly Fradis' Los Angeles-based Aurora Entertainment Corp. is set to start back-to-back shooting from June 7 in Romania on the fourth and fifth sequels to the Return of the Living Dead series of films, with Ellory Elkayem attached to direct and Peter Coyote headlining.
"Both films have been fully financed by a $35 million equity fund that Fradis ('Eight Legged Freaks') set up last year. The fund is based in America but backed by a group of private Eastern European and Russian investors. They set the scene for plans to make six or seven films a year in the $6 million-$10 million budget range through the fund, Fradis said.
"Titled 'Return of the Living Dead 4: Necropolis' and 'Return of the Living Dead 5: Rave From the Grave,' the films were written by William Butler and Aaron Strongoni and feature a relatively unknown cast drawn from TV. Special effects will be done by Optic Nerve Studios."
May 14, 2004 -- Bruce Campbell confirmed with SciFi.com that New
Line is looking into a "Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash" movie, but the legal
challenges of bringing three franchises like that together might turn
out to be too daunting a task. Click
here for more. ... May 11, 2004 -- There are now reports that the success of the "Dawn of the Dead" remake has led 20th Century Fox to greenlight Romero's "Dead Reckoning" project, official sequel to "Day of the Dead." Apparently Romero's "Diamond Dead" project (which may cast Marilyn Manson as Jesus) will be put on the back burner while "Dead Reckoning" is put on a fast trac. "Reckoning" will be the second sequel to "Day of the Dead" we will see. "Day of the Dead: Contagium" has already been completed by another production company. ... May 10, 2004 -- The official Diamond Dead site reports that Marilyn Manson may be cast as Jesus in the upcoming George Romero movie. May 6, 2004 -- What we thought was a "Day of the Dead" remake is more of a sequel and it's trailer can be discovered right here. This is a real quick direct-to-video cash-in on the success of "Dawn of the Dead," apparently executive-produced by Richard P. Rubinstein. The poster has the same "Day of the Dead" logo we were familiar with from the original. Pretty interesting. They're now making sequels to trilogy entries in the Romero-created franchise, without letting Romero making his own vision of the fourth film, "Dead Reckoning." May 1, 2004 -- Fangoria is now reporting that the Richard P. Rubinstein-produced remake of George Romero's "Day of the Dead" is such a cheap production that is already ... finished! The cheapie remake has apparently already been made, directed by some guy who also made a direct-to-video clunker called "Horror 101." Expect the remake to head straight to video. Universal is still planning a "Dawn of the Dead 2." April 30, 2004 -- The troubled production of Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson's "Cursed" is finally coming to an end, and the film has an October 1 release date. So says actress Judy Greer in a SciFi.com interview here. Greer also claims the movie has less horror now, and is a more heartfelt drama than it used to be. Hmmm. April 29, 2004 -- Possibly the longest-in-gestation movie ever produced, "A Manson Family" took 15 years to make. It's now set for a theatrical release in the UK courtesy of Anchor Bay, and a DVD release in the United States. Anchor Bay, as we all know, has been the world's leading distributor of classic horror DVDs since the late '90s, and has now evolved into a full-fledged theatrical distributor in the UK! They're also releasing Tobe Hooper's "Toolbox Murders" remake over in the UK, along with the Aussie zombie film "Undead." Meanwhile, MPI (remember that video company -- the people responsible for "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer"?) is going to be releasing "Manson" stateside. "Manson" was directed by Jim VanBebber, the man responsible for the ultra-controversial short film (also based on a true story) "My Sweet Satan." "Manson" is a more explicit dramatization of the Manson murders in Southern California. April 28, 2004 -- The official "Exorcist: The Beginning" web site is live! It only has a logo up at the moment. The movie hits screens August 20. ... The same month, "Alien vs. Predator" is getting released, and a new featurette on the making of the movie can be found here. ... P.J. Soles of "Halloween" fame has joined the cast of Rob Zombie's "The Devil's Rejects," sequel to "House of 1000 Corpses." Other cast members include Sid Haig, Karen Black, Ken Foree and Kane Hodder. ... Still no sign of the "Seed of Chucky" teaser trailer which was supposed to have been out by now. April 24, 2004 -- Kris Kristofferson may star in a horror-western for Guillermo Del Toro! ... "Ginger Snaps Back," third in the Canadian "Ginger Snaps" werewolf movie franchise, will be hitting DVD store shelves on Sept. 7, far earlier than the original November release date. ... Here's an interview with Dante Tomaselli, who is finishing up work on "Satan's Playground" with Ellen Sandweiss and Felissa Rose. Click here for it. April 21, 2004 -- Andrew Douglas has been selected to direct the "Amityville Horror" remake for Dimension and MGM. ... After the awesome success of the "Dawn of the Dead" remake, Richard P. Rubinstein plans to exercise his rights to make a "Day of the Dead" remake. Unfortunately, the "Day" redux is going to be a low-budget film, apparently cranked out by Rubinstein without the financing muscle of Universal. Now it looks like all three of Romero's "Dead" films will have remakes. Maybe they can come out with a DVD box set? .... More than 30 years after it was made, HG Lewis' "Blood Feast" has been banned in Germany. ... Dario Argento's new movie, "The Card Player," is being released on big screens in Greece April 23. Look for a DVD release in the U.S. from Anchor Bay sometime this year as well. ... April 15, 2004 -- There's a bootleg copy of Paul Schraeder's version of "Exorcist: The Beginning" floating around Hollywood. That was the version that was scrapped by Morgan Creek, the production company that's making the film for Warner Bros. They fired Schraeder and hired Renny Harlin (of "Nightmare on Elm Street 4" fame) to direct a brand new version with a mostly all-new cast. That second version is the one due to hit theaters later this year. Now Warner Bros. says it plans to release both versions of the film to DVD. ... April 9, 2004 -- The teaser trailer for "Seed of Chucky" is expected to strike in theaters and probably online on April 16. The flick is currently filming in Romania, so don't expect any scenes from the movie in the teaser, which will likely just feature Chucky saying a few funny lines. April 6, 2004 -- In an interview at Sideshow, Robert Englund mentioned the possibility of another Freddy film, and said he hoped the next one would be a prequel, featuring him as Freddy pre-makeup. "There are rumors of Freddy and Jason versus Ash of the Evil Dead series. There are also rumors out of New line that there have been meetings with the owners of the Michael Myers franchise. Freddy Versus John Carpenter? Freddy Versus Bruce Campbell? With the success of Freddy Versus Jason I think it is a safe bet that there will be some new Freddy project. Personally, I would like to see a prequel and play Freddy out of make-up, before he was burned." Click here for the interview. ... PlanetAVP is reporting that "Alien vs. Predator" is going to be PG-13. Ugh. ... April 5, 2004 -- Platinum Dunes, the production company behind the "Texas Chainsaw" remake, is being tapped by Dimension to make the "Amityville" for that company, along with a "Texas Chainsaw" prequel for New Line. Dunes is run by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form. April 3, 2004 -- Director David Ellis ("Final Destination 2") confirmed to About.com that there is going to be a "Final Destination 3-D." March 22, 2004 -- Ridley Scott recently spoke of his interest in the development of a fifth "Alien" film. Read what he had to say here. ... At the box office, the "Dawn of the Dead" remake is on roughly the same trajectory that "Freddy vs. Jason" and the "Texas Chainsaw" remake were on during their openings. Click here for Box Office Mojo's analysis. March 20, 2004 -- A Paul Schraeder fan has put up a petition for Schraeder's version of "Exorcist: The Beginning" to see some kind of release. I, at least, think it should appear on the DVD. Click here for the petition. ... The cast of "Seed of Chucky" now features Brad Dourif, Hannah Spearritt, Jennifer Tilly, Billy Boyd (of "Lord of the Rings" fame), Redman and John Waters. Spearritt just starred in the "Agent Cody Banks" sequel, and will be playing Tilly's assistant in the movie. As you may or may not already know, Tilly plays herself, and the film promises to be similar to "Wes Craven's New Nightmare," merging film fantasy and reality. Boyd is playing the title character (voice only, obviously). March 9, 2004 -- Fangoria reports today that Tony Todd is working on a fourth "Candyman" film -- with Clive Barker! Barker is executive producing the fourth film, which will be a big budget entry in the franchise and ignore events in the disappointing third installment. Barker is also looking into making a "Hellraiser"-meets-"Candyman" film. Click here for more. ... John Carpenter told the Australian edition of Empire that he wouldn't rule out making a "Halloween" sequel. Asked if he would ever make another entry in the franchise, he said: "Well, my motto is : never say never. I have some ideas up my sleeve that would fucking blow you away. Watch this space." He also discussed his ideas for a sequel to "The Thing," which he added will never be made. Click here for more. ... The Alien vs. Predator trailer is up in glorious Quicktime right here. ... Universal is quite bullish on the prospects of its "Dawn of the Dead" remake, and is debuting the first 10 minutes of the film uncut on its USA Network on March 15, between 10-10:30 p.m. Click here to read a news story about the event. For a slew of new "Dawn of the Dead" remake images, click here. March 5, 2004 -- Renny Harlin told a crowd at AFM that he'll be getting the director's credit for "Exorcist: The Beginning" -- not Paul Schraeder -- and there's already talk of making a sequel to it, so obviously the producers are happy. The prequel is set for an August 20 release date. Meanwhile, one week earlier, we'll be seeing "Blade: Trinity" and "Alien vs. Predator" duke it out at the box office. March 2, 2004 -- Now Robert Englund's own wife has apparently debunked the report on Dark Horizons that Ash is going to be added to "Freddy vs. Jason 2," making it "Ash vs. Fredddy vs. Jason," and that a treatment had been written by Jeff Katz. But the sequel is definitely on, without Ash.
February 26, 2004 -- Paramount is remaking 1971's "Let's Scare Jessica to Death." So says the Script Sales Web site, which identifies Paramount-connected producers as purchasing a "Let's Scare Jessica to Death" screenplay with a storyline that closely follows that of the original, which was also released by Paramount. Meanwhile, Paramount is also readying a "Friday the 13th" box set special edition set on DVD, according to a variety of sources. Tom Savini and many other veterans of the series have been assembled for commentaries. It will be a 9-DVD set, featuring the first eight films, and a ninth disc devoted to special features. Many expect a September release date. Paramount released the first eight F13 movies. The last three ("Jason Goes to Hell," "Jason X" and "Freddy vs. Jason") were put out by New Line and won't be part of the box set. February 23, 2004 -- Renny Harlin has completely reshot the "Exorcist" prequel. Not one frame of Paul Schrader's original film will appear in the finished product, reports Variety. The new film features more Exorcist-style spinning heads and puke. The new scenes cost $26 million to film, according to a New York Times story on the disaster. February 19, 2004 -- Scott Kosar, writer of "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake, is being tapped to write "Amityville, the remake being worked on by both MGM and Dimension Films. Meanwhile, the official sequel to the "Texas" remake will be a prequel, but there's no word on whether Kosar will write that too. ... Here's a link to the trailer of the Feb. 27 Fox comedy/slasher film "Club Dread," starring and directed by Jay Chandrasekhar (aka Broken Lizard). The ad includes a snippet of the Halloween theme to erase all subtlety. February 9, 2004 -- "Hellraiser: Deader" and "Dracula 3: Legacy" have officially been slated for a direct-to-video August 31 release date from Dimension Films. February 5, 2004 -- The first image from Dante Tomaselli's "Devil's Playground" is online. It's a shot of actress Irma St. Paule looking mighty spooky. Click here to check it out. Click here to check out one of Tomaselli freezing on location. He's in the middle. The movie is currently filming in super-cold Whitesbog, NJ. The film is bringing together '80s horror icons Felissa Rose ("Sleepaway Camp") and Ellen Sandweiss ("Evil Dead"). January 30, 2004 -- Free screenings of Dario Argento's "The Card Player" will be held in February in Santa Monica, California. Reports DarkDreams.org, "There will be free screenings of IL CARTAIO Thursday, February 26th at 11.00 and Monday March 1st at 15.00. The shows are to be held in Santa Monica as a part of the American Film Market's Premiere Screenings - they did the same with NONHOSONNO. Registration is free ..." Click here to fill out an online form for free tickets. ... Variety reports that Wes Craven's "Cursed" is now set for an Oct. 1 release date, along with "The Woods," the second film from "May" director Lucky McKee. ... Fangoria reports that John Waters will have a cameo in the other upcoming October horror film "Seed of Chucky," playing a doomed papparazzo. January 22, 2003 -- "Ginger Snaps II: Unleashed" is set to hit American video stores on April 13. So reports Creature-Corner and Bloody-Disgusting.com. ... That same month, the sequel to another classic werewolf film, "Dog Soldiers," goes before cameras (possibly in Canada) with Andy Armstrong acting as director. The new movie starts out right where the last one ended. ... Bruno Mattei, of "Rats" and "Night of the Zombies" fame, has directed a cannibal movie for the new millennium. "Cannibal World" is about a news anchor who convinces her crew to go with her for the ultimate scoop: a story about cannibals. Take a wild guess what happens.
December 20, 2003 -- The trailer for "Ginger Snaps 2" is live now! Click here to get it. If this film is even half as good as the original, it will be one of the best horror films of next year. December 18, 2003 -- All the scenes featuring "Scream" star Skeet Ulrich have been cut from Wes Craven's upcoming "Cursed," a film that is almost being completely reshot. ... The poster to "The Ring 2" can be found right here. The film will be in theaters next November. The first one, of course, was a big hit. Ehren Kruger wrote this one too, and Naomi Watts has returned to star. But this time out, the franchise has hired a first-time director, Noam Murro, to direct. ... MovieHole is reporting that Monica Keena, lead damsel-in-distress in "Freddy vs. Jason," is in talks to reprise her role for the sequel, whatever form it takes. ... Both MGM and Dimension are working together to make an "Amityville Horror" remake to hit theaters next year. Previously, the two studios had competing projects, both set to hit theaters in fall of '04. ... The official site for the remake of "The Toolbox Murders" can be found here. The new film is being directed by original "Texas Chainsaw" creator Tobe Hooper.
November 23, 2003 -- SuperHeroHype attended a conference called "Wizard World" in Dallas, where Guillermo del Toro discussed his summer Dark Horse comic book adaptation film "Hellboy," and the possibilities of doing a sequel. Click here for it. November 17, 2003 -- The "Hollywood Reporter" reports that Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson's "Cursed" begins shooting again this week, after a hiatus that lasted several months. They've apparently rewritten the ending and plan to add tons of new FX shots. Portia de Rosssi (from "Arrested Development") has joined the cast, apparently only appearing in the beginning of the film, a la Drew Barrymore in "Scream" perhaps? Meanwhile, a script review of the original version of the screenplay is up at FilmJerk, right here. ... In summer of 2004, two "Amityville Horror" remakes should hit theaters. Both MGM and Dimension Films (also the studio behind "Cursed") have announced September 3 and August 20 release dates for competing remakes.
November 3, 2003 -- Executive producer Moustapha Akkad attended the 25th anniversary Halloween celebration in Pasadena this weekend, and announced there would be no "Helloween" film, and that the "Thorn" storyline that played a part in Halloween 5-6 also won't be in the next film. Jamie Lee Curtis and Danielle Harris may cameo in Part 9. October 29, 2003 -- Gary J. Tunicliffe's official Web site posted photos from "Hellraiser: Hellworld," next installment in the long-running franchise, right here. The gallery also features a shot or two from the upcoming sequel to "Dracula 2: Ascension." Check 'em out by scrolling through the gallery. ... ZombieKeeper.com just posted a new interview with George A. Romero, confirming an "impasse" over the fourth Living Dead film. Click here for it. October 31, 2003 -- Bob Clark tells Fangoria that all three of his horror films -- "Deathdream," "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things" and the ultra-classic "Black Christmas" are being remade, with his involvement likely for "Children." Eli Roth of "Cabin Fever" fame is tackling "Deathdream." October 29, 2003 -- Gary J. Tunicliffe's official Web site posted photos from "Hellraiser: Hellworld," next installment in the long-running franchise, right here. The gallery also features a shot or two from the upcoming sequel to "Dracula 2: Ascension." Check 'em out by scrolling through the gallery.
October 20, 2003 -- The remake of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" had the second-highest October opening ever, behind "Red Dragon." It grossed $29 million. Following the awesome success of "FvJ" at the box office, it's becoming clear that horror is definitely back, big time, as a genre. Ten years ago the genre itself seemed to be on life support. ... In news that perhaps isn't unrelated, Dark Horizons reports today that "Helloween," a team-up of the "Halloween" and "Hellraiser" franchises, both owned by Dimension Films, is back in the works, with Clive Barker possibly writing. The idea was voted on by fans at the official Halloween site. Fans voted "no," saying a merger of the franchises didn't make sense. But heck. What else can they do with the Halloween franchise that hasn't been done a trillion times before? October 11, 2003 -- Sam Raimi reportedly told an audience at ScreamFest in LA that he would "love to do" a fourth Evil Dead film. He's apparently contracted to direct "Spider Man 3" after he does Part 2, so if it happens it will be a while. Meanwhile, an Ash vs. Freddy vs. Jason still looks like a possibility (sans Raimi).
October 5, 2003 -- Doug Bradley told a fan at Collectormania in the UK that a "Halloween"/"Hellraiser" match-up is "100% in the works," according to Celluloid Shockers. The idea for the merger of the two franchises got a thumbs down from fans during a poll taken at the official Halloween site. October 2, 2003 -- After a screening of the "Texas Chainsaw" remake, New Line's Jeff Allard told fans that a new solo Jason film was in the works -- to be set in Camp Crystal Lake. And as a sequel to "Freddy vs. Jason," Freddy would probably be teamed up to fight yet another horror movie icon. The solo Jason flick should be out in a couple years. Thanks to Bloody Disgusting. Click here for more. October 1, 2003 -- FilmJerk.com reports that a new lead character is being added to the troubled "Cursed" production from Wes Craven and Dimenion Films, and that Dimension put the film on hiatus because they hated the ending and the special effects. ... New Line has reportedly acquired remake rights to Craven's "The Hills Have Eyes", and plans to start shooing it soon. No director yet. ... In other remake news, look for a teaser trailer to the now R-rated remake of "Dawn of the Dead" before the remake of "Texas Chainsaw" hitting theaters on Oct. 17. ... Paramount is shooting for a September 2004 street date for its "Friday the 13th" DVD box set, which will include fully uncut versions of some of the films. ... "Freddy vs. Jason" should be hitting DVD store shelves January 13.
September 24, 2003 -- New Line and ComingSoon.net are giving away passes to screenings of the new "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in Texas this Ocober. Click here for more. September 20, 2003 -- Bruce Campbell told a Seattle daily that New Line is definitely interested in making an Ash vs. Freddy vs. Jason movie. "Some executives at New Line are getting (excited) for that idea — which makes a lot of sense. But Ash has not been contacted to see what his franchise rate is. Funny thing is, it's actually a really cool idea, as long as there could be a satisfying end to that particular movie. There'd be no point for Ash to participate unless he could kick some major franchise ass." Click here for the full story. September 19, 2003 -- A Portland radio show called Gustav and Daria reportedly interviewed Bruce Campbell during a promotion for "Bubba Ho Tep." The same show had interviewed Robert Englund weeks earlier, and heard from him that negotiations were on for an Ash vs. Freddy and Jason film. Campbell was asked about it. Campbell reportedly said "negotiations were underway." This is all according to AICN. ... Rumors of a "Halloween" remake being worked on at Dimension have been debunked by the studio. The next film in that franchise will be a sequel. ... Stan Winston won't be serving effects and make-up duties on "Alien vs. Predator," even though he designed the original Predator and did make up for "Aliens." Instead, the duties will go to Amalgamated Dynamics.
September 16, 2003 -- Eli Roth, the director of "Cabin Fever," told Aint-It-Cool-News that a fifth Chucky film is now on the fast track. He heard the news directly from Don Mancini, who has penned all the films: "I got a very nice phone call from Don Mancini, who said he loved Cabin Fever and said our strong opening helped him get the new Chucky film off the ground. He said between Ronny Yu, Victor Salva, and now Cabin Fever, the financiers have kicked into high gear and he's now in prep. I think it's called 'Seed of Chucky.' So even people who saw "Cabin Fever" and fucking hated it should know that their dollars ultimately went to a good cause." September 15, 2003 -- Creature Corner is reporting that Dimension Films is trying to get John Carpenter to remake "Halloween." Ugh. ... The official press release announcing Paul Schraeder's departure from the Exoricst prequel film can be found here. Thanks to CaptainHowdy.com ... LA residents might want to check out the LA Screamfest this Oct. 10-19, where Wes Craven and Sam Raimi will be making appearances. Click here for more.
September 5, 2003 -- The screenwriter for "Exorcist: The Beginning" granted an interview blasting Paul Schrader for his job directing the movie. It sounds like this film may be a disaster of "Exorcist 2"-sized proportions. Click here for more. August 28, 2003 -- "Jeepers Creepers" director Victor Salva may be helming another remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers." Cinescape reports that Salva is being tapped by Warner Bros. to helm what would be third remake of the paranoid 1950s sci-fi thriller. The last remake was produced by Stuart Gordon. ... Moviehole reports that a fourth "Sleepaway Camp" movie is in the works, with Evan Farmer set to star. August 26, 2003 -- Paul Schraeder is apparently off the "Exorcist" prequel film after showing the finished film to producers. According to Page Six: "[Morgan Creek] was just so excited with having a marquee name, they didn't bother with the details."... "The whole movie is done," another source said. "When Paul went to turn it in, Morgan Creek refused to give him his post-production money because they hated it. Paul had given them what was in the script - a creepy psychological thriller, with no gore. Morgan Creek wanted gore. They think that will sell. There were huge fights between Paul, who is more artistic, and the company, and earlier this week Paul was fired. They are planning on hiring a new director to reshoot some scenes." August 14, 2003 -- The first eight minutes of "Jeepers Creepers 2" can be experienced right here!
August 6, 2003 -- The producers of "Halloween 9" have set up a contest: The lucky winner gets a role in the movie! Click here for more. August 1, 2003 -- The new trailer for "Cabin Fever" can be seen right here. July 29, 2003 -- If there was ever any doubt left that the "Dawn of the Dead" remake should be filed under "irrelevant," FilmJerk reported yesterday that the upcoming zombie film is going to be rated PG-13. Obviously, this film is undeserving of anyone's further attention. Click here for the story. July 28, 2003 -- Wes Craven's proposed horror film "Pulse," remake of a Japanese fear flick "Kairo" by Kurosawa, has been yanked by Dimension Films, according to Rue Morgue. "I could see that movie in my head, it was really going to be scary and fun. It’s extremely frustrating to not be able to do it." Meanwhile rumors are mounting that Craven is having problems with "Cursed," a film shooting for Dimension from a script by Kevin Williamson. July 21, 2003 -- Dante Tomaselli is now officially off the "Inferno" project he was originally going to do, but now he's got something infinitely more interesting lined up. He'll be directing the sequel to his cousin's landmark horror film "Alice Sweet Alice." That's right. Dante Tomaselli will be directing "Alice Sweet Alice 2," follow up to Alfred Sole's 1976 horror classic. Tomaselli writes: "You can expect it at some point... Alice, Sweet Alice 2...Alfred is transferring the rights to Alice, Sweet Alice over to me...He wants me to direct a sequel. I told him he should direct it. But he wants me to. As you know, I am completely obsessed with that film and grew up watching it almost daily. Alice, Sweet Alice made its premiere in Paterson, New Jersey when I was 7 years-old. Just recently, Alfred gave me this great news. I'm thrilled. I guess it sort of makes sense because the original film is about evil passed on from generation to generation. And both of our films are about evil cloaked in religion. I know Alice, Sweet Alice 2 will have a giallo-like feel with some brutal, bizarre murders. I'll even get to incorporate the spine-tingling Stephen Lawrence music from the original." July 18, 2003 -- An article has appeared in the London Herald on "May Day," the follow up to "The Wicker Man" from director Robin Hardy. The film stars Christopher Lee and Sean Astin. "May Day is in the same genre as the Wicker Man, and the plan is to start shooting in Scotland early next year," Hardy said. "It is not a sequel or a prequel, but there are similarities - it is a very scary film and the pagan revival is part of the plot. Click here to check the article out. ... The Quicktime trailer to the new "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake can be viewed right here. July 13, 2003 -- Yahoo Movies scored two new pics for the "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake now due for a mid-October release. Click here for 'em. July 7, 2003 -- James Cameron continues to talk about the possibility of an "Alien 5" -- and it may feature a Cameron regular in addition to Sigourney Weaver: "We're looking at doing another one. Something similar to what we did with Aliens. A bunch of great characters, and of course Sigourney. I've even discussed the possibility of putting him [Arnold Schwarzenegger] into the Alien movie." Thanks to Dark Horizons. June 30, 2003 -- MTV.com just posted an article on the "Freddy v. Jason" soundtrack, which looks like it's been custom made for today's high school set, and is composed entirely of songs by loud rock bands like Slipknot. The album will be available in three different covers: One with Jason, one with Freddy and one with both.
Updated June 24, 2003 -- Here's some major sequel news -- or maybe not. MovieHole reports that New Line wants to buy the rights to the Chucky franchise from Universal. If "Freddy v. Jason" is a hit at the box office, expect another Chucky film real soon. But Creature Corner says "Child's Play" writer Don Mancini says there's no movement for a "Chucky 5." However, at a FangoCon a couple years ago, Mancini mentioned that New Line had talked to him about writing a "Freddy vs. Chucky" or "Jason vs. Chucky" screenplay. Maybe this has something to do with that? If "FvJ" is a knockout success, the most logical sequel would have one of the titans battling Chucky. ... Meanwhile, Dimension is readying "Halloween 9" for a summer 2004 release. "You asked for it and here it is... some OFFICIAL news on 'Halloween 9'!" screams the official Halloween web site, HalloweenMovies.com. "Moustapha Akkad reported today that a storyline has been chosen and the screenplay is being written right now. With discussions taking place with actors and the film set for a summer 2004 release, shooting isn't too far off." June 16, 2003 -- Here is the poster for "Cabin Fever," as unveiled by Aint It Cool News. Watch for this much-anticipated horror film on Sept. 12. Click here for the trailer. June 16, 2003 -- The Associated Press reports today that William Marshall, who starred as "Blacula," died. He was 78. June 9, 2003 -- The best horror film of the year so far -- "May" -- may be playing at a theater near you this summer. It's on a limited theatrical run, and here's where it's heading:
06/13/2003 Copley Place Boston MA June 8, 2003 --- The new trailer for "Battle Royale 2" can be seen right here in Windows Media. Watch for the DVD to come out in Britain in 2004, from Tartan, who will also be releasing "The Eye 2," among other Japanese horror films. June 2, 2003 Variety reports today that David Goyer, screenwriter of "Blade" and "Blade 2," is being tapped by New Line to direct the third installment in the series. The film should start shooting this summer, and it will mark Goyer's second film as director. His first was the movie "ZigZag." ... Check out the flyer to the upcoming Anchor Bay "Day of the Dead" 2-disc set, right here. Thanks to HorrorDVDs.com May 30, 2003 -- MovieHole reports that the Halloween 9 rumors reported below (May 24) are false. The film should be coming out by Summer 2004, however. ... The big news out of this year's Fangoria Weekend of Horrors was an announcement from Wes Craven that he will NOT be part of a Nightmare on Elm Street prequel. ... George Romero may be producing an anthology horror film to be directed by Rob Zombie. ... An R-rated trailer for "Wrong Turn" has been posted at Apple's Quicktime site. Don't download it if you're not 17 (yeah, right). Click here to check it out, kiddies. ... MovieHole.net posted news on Alien 5 and 6. Apparently "Alien 5" will take place on Earth, with the planet under attack from the "Navigators" (the race first seen as the dead navigator aboard the derelict ship in the original). Their attack method: planting Alien eggs on our planet. Nasty. Sigourney Weaver should return. The sixth film takes place on the planet of the Navigators. Click here for more. ... Meanwhile, the re-release of the original "Alien" set to hit theaters is going to feature cut footage -- presumably the stuff that appears in extras on the DVD. The footage will be re-cut into the feature. Unfortunately, it was originally cut out by director Ridley Scott because it slowed the pace of the film. Oh well. Anything for a buck. "Aliens" may also be re-released to theaters in the Spring. May 24, 2003 -- Bloody Disgusting reports today that the ninth Halloween film may star Sally Field, and explore the origins of Michael Myers -- why he wants to kill, etc. Click here for more. May 23, 2003 -- Download the trailer to "Cabin Fever" -- an "Evil Dead"-style horror film with tremendous buzz -- in Quicktime right here. ... "Exorcist: The Beginning" has been moved from a July to a February release date. ... If you want to catch the much-anticipated horror film "May" on the big screen, it's having limited showings around the country. Here's a partial list: 05/30/2003 The Magnolia Dallas Dallas TX ; 06/06/2003 River East 21 Chicago IL ; 06/06/2003 Cinema Village New York NY; 06/06/2003 Centerpoint 11 Theatre Tempe AZ; 06/06/2003 Century 16 Theatre - Laguna Elk Grove CA; 06/06/2003 Meridian Seattle WA; 06/13/2003 Copley Place Boston MA; 06/13/2003 Inner Circle Washington DC; 06/20/2003 Beverly Center Los Angeles CA; 06/20/2003 Lloyd Mall 8 Portland OR. Look for a review soon.
May 14, 2003 -- Here are two new photos from the upcoming werewolves-vs-vampires action film "Underworld." Click here and here for 'em both. May 12, 2003 -- FilmJerk reports that Tobe Hooper is going to direct a remake of "The Toolbox Murders." ... Meanwhile, the original "Alien" is getting re-released. Expect to see it on movie screens again this coming Halloween. ... The official "Freddy vs. Jason" trailer is now up at the official Web site. Click here for the site. ... Click here for a New York Times piece on the film. Registration required. May 9, 2003 -- Ving Rhames and Sarah Polley are in final negotiations to star in the "Dawn of the Dead" remake. They will play a cop and nurse respectively, according to Hollywood Reporter. Rhames is best known for appearing in "Pulp Fiction" and the "Mission Impossible" movies. ... The trailer to "Freddy v. Jason" is in fact shipping with prints of "Matrix Reloaded," many sources are reporting, so expect to see it real soon.
May 4, 2003 -- Speaking of remakes, John Carpenter's "The Thing" is being "re-invisioned" for a Sci Fi Channel remake, according to this report from SciFi.com. May 2, 2003 -- The teaser trailer for the vampires-versus-werewolves action-er "Underworld" is now up in glorious Quicktime, right here. ... George Romero's next is not going to be "Dead Reckoning," unfortunately. It's a vampire film entitled "The Ill," according to Variety. "'The Ill' is about a college slacker who falls in love with a mysterious East European exchange student, is due to shoot in late summer. Financing comes from a mix of private equity, pre-sales and public coin." May 1, 2003 -- New Line is apparently telling theater chains that the teaser trailer for "Freddy vs. Jason" will be made available May 15, when "Matrix: Reloaded" opens, along with an FvJ poster. Thanks to Bloody Disgusting for breaking this. ... Creature Corner has published links to the trailer of "Cabin Fever," a much-anticipated "Evil Dead"-style horror film. Click here.
Tom Savini is apparently set for an acting role in the "Dawn of the Dead" remake filming in Canada. “They called me a few times about an acting role ..." he told Fangoria. "I’m not doing any effects; they’ll be handled by David Anderson ... These days, I’m pretty much sticking with the acting roles and sharing my effects knowledge with the actors at my school [in Pittsburgh]. ... The fans shouldn’t be too upset. ... The [James Gunn] script is not a close remake of George’s film. The whole movie isn’t even set at the mall. It’s very different." ... Meanwhile, John Russo, who produced the awful "Night of the Living Dead: 30th Anniversary Edition" and the nearly as bad "Children of the Living Dead" (which also starred Savini) is going to make "Escape From the Living Dead." "I will write and direct, with Russ Streiner on as line producer. I want Debbie Rochon to star; she’s the Sigourney Weaver of zombie films," Russo told Fango. Russo is co-producing the film with Sam Sherman, who was behind "Dracula vs. Frankenstein." Russo claims some huge star power is interested in the movie: "As crazy as this sounds, our sales agent says we’ve already gotten interest from Jeff Goldblum, who’s from Pittsburgh, Patrick Swayze, Dennis Hopper and even Jim Carrey about being in the movie!" It's a loose sequel to "Night of the Living Dead." Meanwhile, Romero's "Dead Reckoning" project (the fourth official film in the Living Dead franchise) is looking for funding. A deal for 20th Century Fox to distribute the film may have fallen through.
April 11, 2003 -- The "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake from New Line has been bumped from its October 2003 release date to early 2004. Sounds like the film has problems. ... More on Cameron and a fifth Alien film: James Cameron has told the Associated Press that he and Ridley Scott are talking about doing an Alien film together, where Cameron would write and produce and Scott would direct. April 10, 2003 -- James Cameron spoke to the Edmonton Sun about the possibility of doing a fifth "Alien" film and here's what appeared in the story:
"[Cameron] also has high hopes of eventually returning to the Alien franchise as long as
he can get the go-ahead to make a truly scary (and likely R-rated) film.
Click here for the full story.
April 7, 2003 -- Aint It Cool News has posted a slew of new reviews for "Beyond Re-Animator"! Click here to check 'em out. They're full of spoilers -- and seem overwhelmingly positive. The film has enjoyed a couple of screenings, and should be hitting DVD in September. ... James Cameron in an interview has stated he's considering making another film in the "Alien" franchise. ... Moviehole interviewed Karen Black about this coming Friday's "House of 1000 Corpses" from Rob Zombie. Click here for that. ... DarkDreams.org confirmed last month that Claudio Simonetti of Goblin fame will be doing music for Dario Argento's next film "The Card Player." ... The Edmonton film fest Exofest is looking for entries in its third annual horror movie extravaganza. Entries will be accepted until May 15. Click here. March 27, 2003 -- Fangoria reports that Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later" is set for release in the U.S. June 13, courtesy of 20th Century Fox's Fox Searchlight.
March 24, 2003 -- Aint-It-Cool-News has posted a better image of the "Ginger Snaps 2" werewolf. Click here to check it out. ... The latest issue of Cinescape Magazine features spoilers from Robert Englund on "Freddy v. Jason." Don't read any further if you don't want to know. Here's what the magazine says: "Jason rips Freddy apart and he even tears off Freddy's arm, but it grows back. According to Englund, the new film's Freddy has a look fans have never seen before. 'You're going to see Freddy's whole body explode open in this film and you're going to see all kinds of sick stuff come out, stuff from Freddy's past ... There's not as much fun and games in this film. Freddy's a real sick dog this time, even by Freddy standards.'" March 18, 2003 -- Moviehole reports that Skeet Ulrich of "Scream" fame has joined the cast of "Cursed." ... Tony Todd told MovieHole that the next "Candyman" could have the character battling another horror icon, a la "Freddy v. Jason." March 14, 2003 -- Fangoria is reporting that Tobe Hooper will direct "Return of the Living Dead" Parts 4 and 5 back to back this summer. ... Christina Ricci is set to star in Wes Craven's "Cursed," the werewolf film being penned by Kevin Williamson. Variety reports that other members of the cast include Scott Foley, Omar Epps, Kristina Anapau, Scott Baio, James Brolin, Illeana Douglas, Jesse Eisenberg, Robert Forster, Judy Greer, Milo Ventimiglia and Corey Feldman. ... Meanwhile, the first-ever photo for the werewolf sequel to "Ginger Snaps" has cropped up Creature-Corner. Click here to check it out.
March 7, 2003 -- Who is Zack Snyder, the director of "Dawn of the Dead," the remake? He's a commercials wizard, according to CNN, which ran a story on the remake that you can read here. Sadly, the film will be focused on a young "hip" cast. It will be distributed by Universal. March 6, 2003 -- Dario Argento's next is going to be called "The Card Player," and is about a Roman policewoman, played by Stephanie Rocca, who must play an Internet card game with a killer. If she loses, she has to watch him murder someone live on the Net. Sounds interesting. ... Meanwhile, fellow Italian filmmaker Michele Soavi ("Cemetery Man") is at work on a "dark thriller," called "Goodbye My Love, Goodbye." All this spaghetti horror news reported today at Fangoria.com ... There was a frenzy of fan excitement after Jennifer Tilly told TV Guide she was interested in making a sequel to "Bride of Chucky" -- or as she put it "Bride of Chucky 2." But Don Mancini, the writer of the series, confirmed with Creature-Corner what he's been saying for the past two years: that a fifth film in the Chucky franchise isn't on. ... Meanwhile, Variety is reporting that a guy named Zack Snyder has been hired to direct the remake of "Dawn of the Dead." No info on who he is or what he's done before. March 5, 2003 -- "Beyond Re-Animator" is going to debut on the Sci-Fi Channel in June, before hitting DVD in September. The film will, of course, be heavily cut for its television premiere. March 3, 2003 -- Neil Marshall, the writer and director of "Dog Soldiers," says sequel plans are off -- at least from the original makers of the movie. It seems rights for a potential franchise were sold away in order to get the first movie made. Marshall, meanwhile, is at work on a number of other film projects. So don't expect to see a "Dog Soldiers 2" from Marshall anytime soon -- or maybe ever. Click here to read MovieHole's interview with the director.
February 26, 2003 -- The rumors of a "movie-within-a-movie" ninth Halloween film have been shot down by various folks. No word on whether the project has really been greenlit or not. ... Smilin' Jack Ruby visited the set of the upcoming "Exorcist" prequel. Click here to check out his report. ... Alien Online reports that novelizations of both "Freddy v. Jason" and the upcoming "Texas Chainsaw" remake are going to hit store shelves about the same time that the movies hit screens. ... Februray 25, 2003 -- Stephen King movies have been remade into miniseries two times now: "Carrie" and "The Shining." Now, a miniseries is being remade into a miniseries. Rob Lowe is set to star in a TNT miniseries remake of the CBS miniseries "Salem's Lot," based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, of course. Lowe will play the same character played by David Soul in the original. In other King news, meanwhile, Variety reports that Mick Garris is going to write and direct King's e-book "Bullet," about a suicidal college student who meets a mysterious stranger while hitchhiking across the country. ... Creature-Corner has learned that MGM has posted a "Jeepers Creepers 2" page right here. This is undeniably one of the most eagerly anticipated horror films of the year.
February 12, 2003 -- Lion's Gate announced that "Beyond Re-Animator" is hitting DVD Sept. 23. ... "Freddy v. Jason" has a new release date,, after being bumped from June 13. You can expect to see the titans clash on August 15, 2003. Meanwhile, New Line has put up an official publicity page for the film (which mentions the new date). Access the page here.
January 15, 2003 -- A ton of new clips from the Jan. 24 horror flick "Darkness Falls" have cropped up online. Yahoo! is hosting the first 10 minutes of the movie today (Jan. 15) beginning at 4:48 EST (after "darkness falls"). Click here to check it out. Meanwhile, new TV spots for the movie are available for quick download. Click here for one, and here for another. Both are Windows Media files. For more on Darkness Falls -- and to see what the wicked Tooth Fairy looks like in the film, click here. ...
Archived News From 2002: Rumors that MTV had a New Year's special where they hyped Bianka Kaljick as one of the world's hottest stars, and that this star of "Halloween: Resurrection" said her next film would be the ninth movie in the franchise -- HAVE PROVEN TO BE FALSE. Kaljick said as much on her official site. . Creature Corner has informed the world that TWO trailers for "Beyond Re-Animator" are up and online. Check 'em out here. ... Download the trailer for "House of the Dead" here. ... New photos and a new poster for "House of 1,000 Corpses" are up at the official site. ... It's hard not to think of Rammstein when you hear the German language track of the "Anatomy 2" trailer just posted to the Web here. ...
Lion's Gate are perhaps taking their cue from the Resident Evil poster contest earlier this year, and letting fans vote on three potential posters for the upcoming "House of 1,000 Corpses" movie promotion. The poster that wins the vote from fans becomes the official poster. Click here to vote. On October 31, 2003, we'll get to see "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake, for better or for worse. Someone has already posted online pics from the set of the currently filming movie here. Nothing to earth-shattering to behold, but the movie does seem to have kind of a "Blair Witch" look. ... A Vancouver newspaper recently ran an in-depth article on "Freddy v. Jason" and a JPG of the story has been posted here. Meanwhile, New Line has gone on the record to say they have no plans to make any more "Friday the 13th" or "Nightmare on Elm Street" films other than the "FvJ" project. ...
The Frank Oz-directed remake of "The Stepford Wives" just added Joan Cusack to its cast. The movie, starring Nicole Kidman, is set to start shooting in June. "The project, a remake of the 1975 thriller, is about a woman (Kidman) who moves into a neighborhood where a group of husbands have transformed their wives into robots designed to cater to them. Cusack will play Bobbie Markowitz, a hostile, sarcastic, cranky woman who is out of shape and enjoys drinking but ends up being transformed into a robot," reports the Nov. 25 Hollywood Reporter. The film is being written by Paul Rudnick, who also wrote "Addams Family Values." Our question is: Why remake the original? ...
It's proving to be a productive month for New York filmmaker Dante Tomaselli, whose "Desecration" made waves when it was released two years ago. His last movie, "Horror," is going to be distributed on DVD by Elite in 2003, after finishing its run in the film festival circuit.
Entertainment Weekly reports that Rick Baker ("An American Werewolf in London") is doing the effects for the upcoming Wes Craven werewolf film "Cursed," penned by "Scream" scribe Kevin Williamson. The film starts shooting in January and should be out in theaters by August, according to Dimension Films, the company that's releasing it. ... Italy's Antonio Margherti, director of the sublime "Castle of Blood" (he directed it under the name Anthony Dawson), died of a heart attack at the age of 72. Margherti also directed "Invasion of the Flesh Hunters," was second-unit director for "Blood for Dracula" and "Flesh for Frankenstein," and had a minor mainstream hit with "Yor: Hunter From the Future." .... Lance Henriksen is reportedly joining the cast of "Aliens vs. Predator." ... The "Ladies of Evil Dead" (the female cast of the horror film, who now make frequent appearances at horror conferences) told an audience at the Chiller Theatre Conference in New Jersey that they and Bruce Campbell are in talks for "Evil Dead 4," according to Dark Horizons. No word on how they could be in such a movie since all their characters were killed in the first film. ...
Speaking of "Ginger Snaps": The sequel that Canadian classic will apparently follow the adventures of the surviving sister from Part 1. So said the producers to the Canadian "Space Channel," Canada's answer to the Sci Fi Channel. ... A new film entitled "Hunting for Herschell" will be screening at the "Fangoria Weekend of Horrors" in New York. Lewis is in the cast. Click here for the official Web site. Peter Jackson has told Fangoria magazine he's interested in making a low-budget zombie film after the last "Lord of the Rings" film is finished. ... Check out the official site for the Spanish horror film "The Darkness," which will open in the U.S. next year, by clicking here. It's coming from Fantastic Factory, and the official site boasts a trailer. ... If you live in the Pittsburgh area, be sure to check out Tom Savini's TerrorMania Haunted House, which is open to the public on Sept. 26-Nov. 2. Click here for details. ... Production Weekly is reporting that filming of "Hellraiser VII - Deader" begins October 21 in Romania, directed by Rick Bota. "Douglas Bradley is expected to reprise his role as Pinhead." The film is written by Neal Marshall Stevens ("Thirteen Ghosts") and Tim Day and follows a reporter for a London newspaper who somehow gets involved in the Cenobites' business. ... Larry Cohen told Fangoria he's considering doing a remake of his 1970s classic "It's Alive." ... David Cronenberg's "Spider" won for Best Canadian film at the Toronto Film Festival, first time the director has ever won that award. ... Ain't It Cool News posted a story about Roger Avary ("Pulp Fiction") and his supposed involvement in the remake of "Dawn of the Dead." He is NOT involved. Meanwhile, producers plan to make the movie similar to "The Mummy," if you can believe that. Click here for more. ...
The "Exorcist" prequel now has an official title. It's "Exorcist: The Beginning." ... Foreign zombie films are a-comin'. A British zombie film entitled "28 Days Later," from "Trainspotting" director Danny Boyle, now has an official Web site. You can check out the film's trailer here. .... Meanwhile, a group of Australian filmmakers have just finished a zombie film entitled "Undead" and are looking for a distributor. With the excellence of "Dog Soldiers" still fresh in many of our memories, could "Undead" prove to be the foreign horror gem of 2003? Check out the official Web site for more. You can also witness a pleasantly gory scene from the movie here. "Undead" sounds like it might be the first quality zombie film to hit screens in a long, long, long time. ... The Hollywood Reporter on Sept. 10 announced that Jason Ritter of "Swimfan" is taking over the role previously held by Brad Renfro in "Freddy v. Jason." Shooting on the film began Sept. 9, with Ronny Yu ("Bride of Chucky") directing. ... Dark Horizons is reporting that Ralph Moeller of "Gladiator" is slated to take the role of Leatherface in next Halloween's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" remake. There were rumors that Dolph Lungren was up for the part. Thank God. .... USA Today ran a piece on the "Exorcist" prequel being lensed by Paul Schrader. The film has a budget of $40 million and will likely be released July 18 of 2003. USA Today confirms that Liam Neeson is no longer involved in the project. His role (that of the original priest played by Max Von Sydow in the first film) is now in the hands of Stellan Skarsgard, who like Sydow is also a Swede. Schrader (who also directed "Cat People") starts shooting the film November 4. Click here for the full USA Today article. ... The official Web site for Warner Bros.' "Ghost Ship" is up and can be found here. It's basically just a flash animation guided tour of the haunted ship ... Brad Renfro has left the cast of "Freddy v. Jason." ... The sixth "Leprechaun" movie is reportedly going to be called "Leprechaun: Back in Da Hood" and should be out in 2003. Sounds like it's a direct sequel to the last Lep film, the actually-decent "Leprechaun in the Hood." Find out more at the Warwick Davis fanpage Lepconnie. ... The trailers for "Dreamcatcher," "Ghost Ship" and "The Ring" are up at Apple's official Quicktime site. You can access them all by clicking here. ... Amanda Plummer and Lance Henriksen may have lead roles in "Mimic 3," so it'll likely be a much more big-budget (and better) sequel than the second one. The title is actually going to be "Mimic Sentinel." So says Fangoria. ... Spanish star Santiago Segura (of the exquisite "Day of the Beast") has a role in "Beyond Reanimator," currently filming with star Jeffrey Combs and director Brian Yuzna in Spain. As reported earlier, the film is set in a prison. ... John Carpenter and Debra Hill are reportedly looking around for cash to fund a remake of "The Fog." ... Universal, meanwhile, is interested in making a sequel to "The Thing" with Kurt Russell. However, Carpenter might not get involved in that project. ... Cinescape is reporting that Lion's Gate may now be interested in Rob Zombie's "House of 1,000 Corpses." The film was at MGM, after it was at Universal. Both companies were too terrified to release it, supposedly. ... Destiny's Child singer Kelly Rowland has a part in "Freddy vs. Jason." So says MTV. The teen cable channel also quotes Rober Englund saying that the film will take us into "Jason's nightmares." Click here to read the MTV article for yourself. ... And click here for the line-up of this year's FrightFest in England late this month. You Brits are lucky! Cronenberg's "Spider" will be playing there. ... A trailer for a new indie horror film "Fungicide" has cropped online. Click here to check it out. ...
Tom Savini was at the Weekend of Horrors as well, talked a little bit
about his upcoming (but not yet fully funded) zombie film "Death
Island." He also dissed the new Vin Diesel actioner "XXX." Nobody
there seemed to remember who the co-star of the movie was: Asia Argento, daughter of the legendary horror director Dario Argento (whom
Savini worked with on "Trauma,"
which also starred Asia). Anyway, Asia finally made the cover
of Rolling Stone this week. She's now no longer just a "scream queen"
but a legitimate mainstream sex symbol. Maybe she'll start dating Ben Affleck.
... Speaking of Fangoria: The magazine is reporting that it looks like Kane
Hodder is OUT of "Freddy vs. Jason." Hodder, by the way,
didn't make it to the Weekend of Horrors to answer questions about it.
But there are now rumors that he is attached to FvJ again, and that's
why he couldn't make it to Fango. Click
here for
Fango's initial story .... Jeffrey Combs also told Fangoria that "Beyond Re-Animator" is a go, and it's going to be filmed in Spain as part of the new Fantastic Factory film company that Brian Yuzna has set up there. The company previously produced "Dagon" and "Faust." He said that he wasn't always certain he was going to be involved in the project, saying "it was kind of frustrating for me." Click here for more. ... Victor Salva, meanwhile, who's directing the first sequel to "Jeepers Creepers," told the magazine that he already has ideas for a third film in the franchise. ... Brad Renfro, best known for playing the title role in Bryan Singer's "Apt Pupil," has joined the cast of "Freddy vs. Jason," Variety reported Monday. He's playing a character that comes between Freddy and Jason as the two titans of terror battle it out. The film will begin shooting in Vancouver on Sept. 9, with Ronny ("Bride of Chucky") Yu directing. Robert Englund is confirmed to play Freddy, with no confirmation yet on who's playing Jason. David Miller, the make-up maestro integral in creating the sick and twisted faces of these two icons, also won't be involved, according to Countingdown.com. ... Box Office Mojo has run a comparison on how the Freddy vs. Jason film franchises have done over the years. Who's top dog? The "Friday the 13th" series or "Nightmare on Elm Street" series? Click here to find out. BOM also compares the two franchises to results from the Halloween series. ... Official release date for New Line's remake of "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is Halloween, 2003. ... Blue Underground, the new DVD company run by Bill Lustig of "Maniac" fame, plans to release George Romero's "The Crazies" and "Two Evil Eyes" on DVD in 2003. ... A very big heads up to some of you Canaidan readers out there. Rue Morgue Magazine is sponsoring a big-screen screening of the uncut version of "Dog Soldiers," Aug. 21 in Vancouver! Click here for further details. ...
Very, very big news for all true horror fans: It looks like the Coffin Joe catalog is finally coming to DVD! Coffin Joe, for those of you who don't know, is the controversial Brazlian filmmaker who made some fantastic horror films in the 1960s and '70s, one of the best of which may be "The Strange World of Coffin Joe." Now a Brazilian DVD company is unleashing his films on DVD in a region-free format (so they can be played anyway. Here's the press release we received from Cinemagia: "The Brazilian company CINEMAGIA/WTF will release, in September 13, a box set with six Coffin Joe DVDs, in full-fledge Special Editions. The titles are: "At Midnight I'll Take Your Soul"; "This Night I Will Possess Your Corpse"; "Awakening of the Beast"; "The Strange World of Coffin Joe"; "The End of Man"; and "Hallucinations of a Deranged Mind." The DVDs will be All-Region NTSC, subtitles in English, Spanish and French. All titles will be uncut and include: Interviews with screenwriter R.F. Luchetti on all DVDs and interviews with artists, musicians (Sepultura included) and actors involved with the films. Also expect commentary tracks by Coffin Joe himself! Documentaries, trailers, rare pictures, comic books... Discs feature new covers by young Brazilian illustrators and artists... Also expect to see a new scene from "Midnight I'll Take..." made in 2002 in digital." ... In bad news, "House of 1,000 Corpses" has been dropped by MGM. This, according to BlabberMouth.net, an official site of Roadrunner Records: "Details are sketchy at the moment, but informed sources have indicated that Zombie plans on releasing the film himself in September. No further information is available at this time." Zombie says the release was derailed by a "joke" he made. Click here to read a VH1 interview with the artist, in which he says a jest he made about MGM to a reporter enraged executives at the company so much that they pulled the plug on the movie. ... It was originally believed (by Aint It Cool News, Dark Horizons and other sites) that the director of the next "Exorcist" movie was going to be a fellow by the name of David Rocksavage, whose last (and only) movie was "Other Voices, Other Rooms," a drama based on an early work by Truman Capote. Not so, DH reported yesterday. Rocksavage is NOT directing the film. The title of the movie is also apparently NOT "Exorcist 4:1." ...
The official site for Guillermo Del Toro's "Hellboy" is up. Click here to access it. ...
In other major horror news, Entertainment Weekly has interviewed Ronny Yu about
his next project, "Freddy vs. Jason," and unveiled some of
the plot: "The film will open with Freddy trapped in hell, sending Jason to Elm Street to
resume his chopping spree, but Jason is not that easy to deal with." ...
Ellen Sandweiss is best remembered by horror fans as the first victim in Sam Raimi's immortal classic "Evil Dead." She's the one who was raped by a forest in the film's most disturbing scene, and later became a deranged demon herself. She was also in "Within the Woods," the Raimi-directed 1978 short that pre-dated "Evil Dead" and co-starred a young Bruce Campbell. She's now set to star in Dante Tomaselli's next feature, "Satan's Playground," alongside Felissa Rose of "Sleepaway Camp" fame. In fact, the two actresses will be portraying sisters. ... Cinesape just published portions of
an interview with Sean Cunningham about "Freddy vs. Jason."
Click here
for it. Meanwhile, Tecnodrome has published excerpts from audition materials from the
much-anticipated film, which begins shooting Sept. 9 in Canada.
"Forget Godzilla vs. King Kong - this is the horror clash of them all! ... Freddy and Jason are going head on and
'dead' on,
and what's gonna happen when a group of teenagers are thrown into the mix...What
the hell do you think is gonna happen?" Ronny ("Bride of Chucky") Yu is directing.
According to entertainment columnists Marilyn Beck and Stacy Smith the
plot is obvious: "The
story apparently has to do with a handful of hapless teen-agers who have
the grave misfortune of getting caught up in the middle of the battle
between the fiends." ...
Finally! Someone has launched an online petition to stop the "Dawn of the Dead" remake, currently being penned by "Scooby Doo" writer James Gunn.
Tragically, the remake appears to be on a fast track, but at least the
petition will express fans' anger and disgust and also tell producers of
their commitment not to see the film. There was, of course, a remake to "Night of the Living Dead," but this was with the blessing and active involvement of George Romero, who wrote the script for the remake. That legitimized it. The "Dawn" remake doesn't have anything to do with Romero. Stop the movie by clicking here.
…
The poster for Feat-dot-com, the upcoming film from "House on Haunted Hill" director William Malone (and starring Jeffrey Combs) is up at Creature-Corner. Access it here.
... FilmSpies.com has linked to pics of Cenobites from the upcoming "Hellraiser: Hellseeker." Access them by clicking here. ... Dante Tomaselli's movie "Horror" is in the can, and should be released sometime in 2003. The "Desecration" director is now at work on his third film, which will star Felissa Rose (of "Sleepaway Camp" fame). The film's entitled "Satan's Playground." Tomaselli says he has written parts for Karen Black and Linda Blair, and is hoping they'll be involved in the project. ... The trailer for David Cronenberg's new movie "Spider" can be downloaded here. You can also visit the official site for the movie here. ... Hong Kong actor Kenneth Tsang has apparently announced that he's got a role in the upcoming "Freddy vs. Jason" being directed by Ronny Yu. ... Creature-Corner already broke the news that Ronny Yu, director of the excellent "Bride of Chucky," was the man tapped by New Line to direct "Freddy vs. Jason." An excellent choice, given that Yu was able to turn in one of the best entries in the "Child's Play" franchise, while cranking up the comedy for the series. Obviously, the disappointing box office of "Jason X" isn't putting the brakes on this much-anticipated battle of the horror titans. ... Rick Baker is going to do make-up effects for Guillermo Del Toro's film version of "Hell Boy." The movie, which will star Ron Perlman, is going to almost be shot entirely in Europe and will be 95 percent faithful to the comic. This, according to Mr. Del Toro, who made an appearnace at an LA comics convention over the weekend. ... The fifth sequel to "Hellraiser," entitled "Hellseeker," is complete and, according to the IMDB, is set for an October 7 video premiere. After the horrible direct-to-video release that was "Hellraiser: Inferno," it's difficult to gauge whether many people will care. But Ashley Laurence, from Part 1, is part of the cast. Doug Bradley, who barely had a cameo in "Inferno," has a bigger role. The film was directed by Rick Bota, the director of photography on "House on Haunted Hill." According to a report on Cenobite.com, new footage from the film was shown at the last Fangoria Weekend of Horrors in New York. "The new 'Hellraiser' footage showed two new Cenobites: One was called 'The Surgeon' and he resembled 'Chatterer' except that his face was more skeletal. The second Cenobite was a large female with what appeared to be leather straps tightly wrapped around her head. There was also some candid footage of Doug Bradley getting into make-up and a scene with Pinhead confronting Kirsty in a room full of dangling chains. Pretty cool stuff." The plot apparently has Kirsty (Laurence) dying and going to hell, while much of the film's action reportedly takes place in a police station. ... There's more and more news on competing "Wicker Man"-related projects. Variety reported today that Nicolas Cage plans to make his own remake of "The Wicker Man." to be directed by Neil LaBute, best known for the non-horror project "Nurse Betty." Read the complete Variety article here.
Meanwhile,
there's a huge article on the
follow-up to "The Wicker Man"
in
the March 11
edition of The Scotsman, Scotland's major newspaper. This film is
bringing back Christopher Lee, plus Sean Astin from that other Lee movie
"The Lord of the Rings." Country singer LeeAnn Rimes is also
set to star. Filming is set to start in September, 30 years after
filming commenced on the original film. Don't believe reports that this
movie is a sequel. "The Riding of the Laddie is not strictly a
sequel to The Wicker Man - the characters are different - but it will
have the same director, producer and star, and a similar plot about
sinister goings-on," writes Brian Pendreigh in the Scotsman. Click here
for the full news story. ...
Uli Lommel is working on a sequel/remake to his
"Boogeyman." ... Robert Englund
is starring with Dennis Hopper in "The Dark," a haunted house film. ... Two back-to-back sequels to "Ginger Snaps"
are being produced in Canada. ... A "Resident Evil 2" is in the
works, even though the first film hasn't even been released yet. ...
Another zombie-video-game-related film project, "House of the
Dead," is going into production in Canada in May. ... The International
Horror Guild Awards (horror's answer to the Academy) has announced
2001's Best Picture nominees. They are: "The
Others," "Ginger Snaps,"
"Jeepers Creepers,"
"Brotherhood of the Wolf," "From
Hell" and "The Devil's
Backbone." ... A double dose of good news for Asia and Dario Argento
fans, who probably already know it (we're reporting it about 2 weeks
late here), but, here it is... Asia Argento is once again going to star
in a film by her father. She's
set to play a policewoman in the new movie, which will presumably be
part of a giallo trilogy her Dad recently started with the decent
slasher film "Sleepless." ...
NBC
reportedly plans to remake Brian De Palma's "Carrie" as a TV
movie. It would serve as a pilot for a potential series, with Carrie
alive at the end. (Jan. 2002)
... Will
Smith has confirmed he's interested in starring in "I Am
Legend," the vampires-take- the-world horror/action film,
previously made as "The Omega Man" and "Last Man on
Earth." ... (Dec. 2001)
... Heather
Langenkamp and Wes Craven are reportedly in talks for making a "Nightmare
on Elm Street" prequel. (AICN, Nov. 2001) ... Rumors
continue to shift and shape over the "Black Christmas" sequel,
with reports now saying the project isn't such a sure thing
and may not be out by next year. (Nov. 2001)
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November 18, 2005 --
Here is the apparent poster for steve Miner's
"Day of the Dead" remake.
Click 
August 12, 2005 --
An uncut version of 
July 21, 2005 --
DarkDreams.org has posted cover art for the upcoming
July 20, 2005 --
Blue Underground has revealed cover art to their "Blind Dead" box set
and here's what it looks like. The package will include
DarkHorizons.com has published some pics from "Final Destination 3," which it
turns out will now not be released in 3-D. Click
July
9, 2004 --
Here is the very first photo from "Seed of Chucky,"
courtesy of the Brazilian site Judao. Click
May 30, 2004 -- Aint It Cool News interviewed Bruce Campbell, who is promoting
the Bubba-Ho-Tep DVD. On rumors of a "Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash" film, Campbell
said this:
February 29, 2004 -- Dark Horizons is reporting that not only is New
Line seriously considering adding the chracter of Ash from the "
December
2, 2003 --
Here is the official poster to the sequel to "
September
8, 2003 -- 
August 8,
2003 --
June 28, 2003 -- New banners from "Freddy v. Jason" have cropped
up, including a new poster. (Click
May
22, 2003 -- This is slightly old, but oh well... Producer David Allen told a
Creature Corner source at the Saturn Awards that a "
May 8, 2003 --
Director Neil LaBute let slip some details on the upcoming remake to "
Some outstanding "Freddy v. Jason" photos, straight from
Robert Englund's own Web site, are now up around the Internet. Access them
Written by Joe Harris and based on the short film he made, "
Meanwhile,
Tomaselli says he's close to
solidifying financing for "Satan's Playground," which will bring
together '80s horror icons Felissa Rose ("
The new trailer for "House of 1,000 Corpses" is screening with "Rules of
Attraction" in theaters. The movie comes out March 2003, courtesy of
Lion's Gate. You can also witness the trailer
In
other FvJ news, Jason has been cast -- and it isn't going to be
Kane Hodder. Ken Kirzinger, a stuntman from "The X Files," 13 Ghosts"
and "
William
Lustig, best-known to genre fans for directing "
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