Having a tough time remembering the twists and turns that Alice (Milla Jovovich) has been through while traversing the Resident Evil film universe? Well, luckily for you, Screen Gems has released this refresher just in time for Resident Evil: Retribution!

Written and directed by Paul Anderson, Resident Evil: Retribution stars Milla Jovovich, Boris Kodjoe, Li Bingbing, Kevin Durand, Shawn Roberts, Michelle Rodriguez, Sienna Guillory, Johann Urb, and Colin Salmon. Look for Resident Evil: Retribution in theatres on September 14, 2012, from Screen Gems.

Synopsis
The Umbrella Corporation’s deadly T-virus continues to ravage the Earth, transforming the global population into legions of the flesh eating Undead. The human race’s last and only hope, Alice, awakens in the heart of Umbrella's most clandestine operations facility and unveils more of her mysterious past as she delves further into the complex. Without a safe haven, Alice continues to hunt those responsible for the outbreak; a chase that takes her from Tokyo to New York, Washington, D.C. and Moscow, culminating in a mind-blowing revelation that will force her to rethink everything that she once thought to be true. Aided by newfound allies and familiar friends, Alice must fight to survive long enough to escape a hostile world on the brink of oblivion. The countdown has begun.

When it comes to adding a bit more mayhem to an already maniacal situation, who better to turn to than Penn & Teller? That's exactly what Universal has done for its Orlando Halloween Horror Nights event, and we have your details right here!

From the Press Release
Ladies and gentlemen, consider yourselves warned – for the first time ever, the bad boys of magic, Penn & Teller, are bringing their eccentric and edgy illusionist entertainment to life in an all-new 3D haunted house – “Penn & Teller New(kd) Las Vegas” – at Universal Orlando Resort’s horror-inducing, award-winning Halloween Horror Nights event. Prepare to experience the lights and allure of Las Vegas… with a toxic twist.

For more than 35 years, Penn & Teller have redefined the magic genre, specializing in gory vaudeville-like tricks, exposing frauds and performing inconceivable stunts live in front of sold-out crowds. And now they’re partnering with the designers at Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights to infuse their brand of entertainment in a complete haunted house environment – something they have never done before.

Best known for their satirical humor, outrageous antics and mind-blowing magic, including their famous “The Magic Bullets” trick (where the duo catch bullets in their teeth), the pair has entertained guests at Las Vegas’ Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino for more than 10 years, making their act one of the longest running and most beloved shows in Las Vegas history.

This fall Penn & Teller invite Halloween Horror Nights guests to step into a dark, dilapidated and radioactive version of “Sin City,” as if one of their magic tricks has gone terribly awry and the city has been covered in nuclear ooze. Concepted by the duo themselves, the maze will feature the best of Vegas – showgirls, slot machines, little white wedding chapel, all-you-can-eat buffet, and more – all glowing with a toxic green hue.

“Universal Horror Nights can scare the living Elvis out of you, and me & Teller, well, we've been known to take things a bit too far. Now we're working together on showing you what it would be like to live in a post-nuclear explosion Sin City. C'mon by, but remember, you're not playing with children here,” said Penn Jillette, the larger, louder half of the duo.

“We’ve done more than just tap into the wildly creative minds of Penn & Teller, the most influential illusionists in the world. We’ve been working really closely with them. You are literally going to hear Penn directing you through this toxic wasteland before coming face-to-face with both Penn & Teller in this jarring 3D experience,” said Jim Timon, Senior Vice President of Entertainment at Universal Orlando Resort.

Penn & Teller have earned an impressive 13 Emmy Award nominations for their long-running Showtime series, “Penn & Teller: BS!” They have also written three New York Times best-sellers and had two successful Broadway show runs. They’ve both also recently appeared on numerous television shows, including “Celebrity Apprentice,” “Dancing With The Stars” and “Top Chef,” and were selected to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2013.

Universal Orlando’s Halloween Horror Nights has a more than 20-year history of creating an incredibly entertaining, horrifying Halloween experience that is consistently rated the nation’s best. The event features highly-themed, disturbingly real haunted houses based on everything from film to nightmares -- and streets filled with hundreds of specially-trained “scareactors.”

Keep your eyes on the official Halloween Horror Nights website for more info and ticket availability (they're already on sale for Orlando).

More stills have made their way online for BBC Two's upcoming docudrama The Girl, which chronicles director Alfred Hitchcock's obsessive relationship with his The Birds star Tippi Hedren, thanks to Collider; and we have 'em for you here! Dig it!

HBO will be premiering the flick Stateside on October 20th. The Wall to Wall Television production of The Girl is produced by Amanda Jenks and executive produced by Leanne Klein for Wall to Wall and Lucy Richer at the BBC.

According to BBC Two, Hedren has cooperated by giving interviews to writer Gwyneth Hughes, while Hitchcock biographer Donald Spoto is attached as a consultant. Becoming Jane’s Julian Jarrold is directing with Sienna Miller starring as Hedren and Toby Jones as Hitchcock. Imelda Staunton and Penelope Wilton are also in the cast.

Hitchcock was at the height of his fame and creativity when, in 1962, he chose an unknown fashion model to star in his most ambitious film — The Birds. But as he sculpted Hedren into the perfect Hitchcock blonde of his imagination, he became obsessed with the impossible dream of winning the real woman’s love. His failure arguably destroyed both of their careers. In a statement Hughes said: “It’s been the most enormous privilege to talk at length to Tippi Hedren, the last ‘Hitchcock blonde’ in the life of Britain’s most original and successful film director. At the time, in the early 1960s, the American star suffered in silence. But now, at the age of 81, her wisdom and insights have helped me to put her real life ordeal on to the screen.”

If you’re one of the lucky few at Fantasia tomorrow night, you’ll get to see the premiere of Boneboys, the newest slice and dice of survival horror from one of the producers of the original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

The rest of us, for now, will have to settle for this new teaser trailer.

Boneboys comes to us courtesy of Duane Graves and Justin Meeks, the writing/directing duo behind the underrated The Wild Man of the Navidad, and Kim Henkel, producer of Tobe Hooper’s classic The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

Synopsis:
BONEBOYS is a gut-wrenching, nonstop roller coaster ride through the hellish underbelly of inner city America. A birthday celebration at an upscale restaurant sets in motion events that bring Sissy; her brother, Mikey; and their friends, Kenny and Barbie, face-to-face with the macabre world of the Boneboys. Inspired by Jonathan Swift's tale A Modest Proposal, the Boneboys are international predators who deal in human flesh - dead or alive. Their hunting grounds are the cities of the world.

Boneboys stars Ali Faulkner (“Bianca” in The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn), Johnny Walter, Derek Lee Nixon, Tory Tompkins, Gregory Kelly, and Sonny Carl Davis.

If you’re in Montreal tomorrow night, August 4th, head over to the Concordia Hall Theater around 11:55 PM and see it for yourself. You can also keep up-to-speed on all things Boneboys at the official Boneboys website and the Boneboys Facebook page.

Need some zombies and gore to go with your afternoon? Who doesn't? IGN scored themselves the first look at the UK red band trailer for the upcoming zombedy from Matthias Hoene, Cockneys vs. Zombies, and it delivers on all counts.

The movie is written by James Moran (Severance) and details the story of a group of bank robbers who unlock a 350-year-old vault only to unleash an army of zombies.

Michelle Ryan (4.3.2.1.), Harry Treadaway (Control), Honor Blackman (Bridget Jones’ Diary) and Jack Doolan (Cemetery Junction) all star in Matthias Hoene’s feature Cockneys vs. Zombies.

Synopsis
Cockneys vs. Zombies is the story of Andy (Harry Treadaway) and Terry (Rasmus Hardiker): two hapless cockney brothers who try to save their grandad’s (Alan Ford) care home by robbing a bank. At the same time a virus sweeps across East London, turning all the inhabitants into flesh-eating zombies. Faced with hordes of undead zombies, the challenge is to rescue a home full of tough old folks, escape with the loot, and get out of London alive!

n. pl. cock·ney or Cock·ney [kokni]
1. (Social Science / Peoples) (often capital) a native of London, esp of the working class born in the East End, speaking a characteristic dialect of English. Traditionally defined as someone born within the sound of the bells of St. Mary-le-Bow church.

2. (Linguistics) the urban dialect of London or its East End for example "Dog and Bone = Phone".

E-C-W! E-C-W! E-C-W! Ah, the chant still rings in our ears from the great days of Extreme Championship Wresting. And one of the main players from the early days, Tommy Dreamer, has been added to the cast of Self Storage.

One of the hardest of the hardcore, the one and only Tommy Dreamer recently joined the cast of Woodhaven Production Co.'s Self Storage. Additionally, TNA's lovely Rosita (aka Thea Trinidad) is also on board. With Michael Berryman, Eric Roberts and Jonathan Silverman already involved in the project, this is shaping up to be a really fun sounding cast.

From the Press Release
Rhode Island filmmaker Chad A. Verdi attached professional wrestling legend Tommy Dreamer (World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW)), along with Thea Trinidad (aka Rosita from Total Nonstop Action Wrestling), to his film Self Storage that is currently being lensed in Rhode Island.

Dreamer and Trinidad join Oscar nominated actor Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight, The Expendables) and horror legend Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest) along with Jonathan Silverman (Weekend at Bernie's, Inkubus) in the cast.

Dreamer is best known for his time spent with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). After nine years and leaving the WWE in 2010, Dreamer worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Among other accolades, he is a 14-time WWE Hardcore Champion and a two-time world champion, having won the ECW World Championship twice, and is the only man to have won this title in both the original company and in the WWE re-launch. The man famously known as the Innovator of Violence in the ring now brings the same ferocity to his onscreen roles.

Thea Trinidad, aka Rosita, is a female professional wrestler, currently competing for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. In TNA she is a former Tag Team Champion. Verdi stated, "We are very pleased to have signed both Dreamer and Trinidad; they bring a very special look and feel to the film". Filming began in mid-July on location in East Greenwich, RI, and is expected to wrap very soon.

For more on the film, check out Self Storage on Facebook.

Synopsis
Self Storage, written by Rhode Island actor/writer/producer Tom DeNucci (Inkubus, Loosies, Infected), tells the story of Jake, the night watchman working at a highly secured self-storage facility. His pals are home from college and looking to party. Jake (Tom DeNucci) invites them to his work for a fiesta of his own. Innocent mischief turns a naughty night of sex, drugs, and rock and roll into an evening of pure terror. Barbed wire fences are meant to keep people out. But these fences keep people in. Eric Roberts is set to play the role of Walter, a former black operative with an evil secret. Walter, along with his faithful brother at arms, Trevor (Michael Berryman), have some unfinished business with a seedy underworld grifter, Jonah (Jonathan Silverman). Black market business mixes with pleasure when Jake and his pals stumble upon this heinous covert operation.

Face it... your Blu-ray collection is incomplete without Halloween 4 and Halloween 5 in your line-up. Well, wait no longer. You can finish up the collection and meet some of the cast and crew at Dark Delicacies on August 11.

Be in Burbank, California, on August 11 at 7pm and you can get your early copies of the films and have them signed by actors and filmmakers involved in the projects. The current list of confirmed celebs is below. More guests are being added to the list so visit Halloweenmovies.com to keep up on the latest news on this event.

From the Press Release
HalloweenMovies.com, Trancas Films, and Anchor Bay Entertainment are teaming up with Dark Delicacies in Burbank for an event celebrating the release of Halloween 4 and Halloween 5 on Blu-ray! On the evening of August 11, beginning at 7pm, you will be able to pre-purchase these two releases and then have your cover signed by cast and crew. Bring your covers and receipt back to Dark Delicacies on Tuesday, August 21st, and you will be handed the discs and cases.

Confirmed Guests

Justin Beahm from HalloweenMovies.com, author of the upcoming Halloween: The Complete Authorized History, who appears on the new commentaries

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The Hunger Games arrives on home video on August 18th, and to help fuel the fervor even more, Lionsgate has released a new bonus clip in which star Jennifer Lawrence reflects on her decision to make the move from mostly independent films to the blockbuster.

From the Press Release
Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games juggernaut will arrive on home entertainment at 12:01 A.M. on Saturday, August 18th, as the first film in Lionsgate’s The Hunger Games franchise debuts on 2-disc DVD (plus digital copy), 2-disc Blu-ray (plus digital copy), VOD, and digital download with three hours of previously unavailable bonus materials in the biggest home entertainment launch in Lionsgate’s history.

The 2-disc Blu-ray and 2-disc DVD arrive loaded with over three hours of extensive bonus materials, including the comprehensive eight-part documentary “The World Is Watching: Making of The Hunger Games.” Other special features include a sit-down conversation with director Gary Ross as well as numerous featurettes that examine the global success of the books, the creation of the control room in the film, and the filmmakers’ motivation behind creating new scenes that were not in the book plus much more. The Blu-ray Disc set contains an additional exclusive feature, “Preparing for the Games: A Director’s Process,” which looks at the progression of taking three key scenes from the book to the screen.

“The motion picture event of the year is poised to become the home entertainment event of the year, and with a midnight launch and midnight retail events scheduled at stores around the country, we expect to replicate the same level of consumer excitement generated by the film’s theatrical debut,” said Ron Schwartz, Lionsgate Executive Vice President & General Manager, Home Entertainment. “This is far and away the biggest home entertainment launch in Lionsgate’s history, and true to a theatrical marketing campaign that incorporated an unprecedented reliance on digital and traditional media alike, our home entertainment launch will involve a similarly innovative and integrated digital and packaged media rollout that we will unveil in the weeks ahead.”

Directed by Academy Award® nominee Gary Ross (Seabiscuit), The Hunger Games, starring Academy Award® nominee Jennifer Lawrence (Winter’s Bone), features an ensemble cast that includes Golden Globe® winner Donald Sutherland (Citizen X), Academy Award® nominee Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones), Academy Award® nominee Woody Harrelson (The People vs. Larry Flynt), Lenny Kravitz (Precious), and Emmy® nominee Elizabeth Banks (TV’s “30 Rock”). The film also stars some of the industry’s brightest up-and-coming actors such as Josh Hutcherson (The Kids Are All Right) and Liam Hemsworth (The Expendables 2).

The Hunger Games is the first in a trilogy of books published by Scholastic that has already become a literary phenomenon with over 36.5 million copies in circulation. Set in the future, one male and one female from each of the twelve districts of the nation are forced to participate in the annual competition called The Hunger Games, which is broadcast live throughout the country for the entertainment of the Capitol’s wealthy residents. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen (Lawrence) volunteers in her younger sister’s place to enter the games and is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy when she’s pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives. If she’s ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

Special Features

"Preparing for The Games: A Director's Process" (Blu-ray Exclusive)

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Transformers: Fall of Cybertron made a splash recently at Botcon in Dallas, and don't you know a video from the event has made its way online. So here ya go... a quick peek behind the curtain to get you all locked and loaded!

The successor to the highest-rated Transformers game of all time and in development by the acclaimed team at High Moon Studios, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron allows players to experience the darkest hours of the war between the AUTOBOTS and DECEPTICONS as they vie for control of their dying home world. Fans will fight through both sides of the Transformers’ most epic battles that culminate in their legendary exodus from Cybertron. With the stakes higher and scale bigger than ever, players will embark on an action-packed journey through massive, war-torn environments designed around each character’s unique abilities and alternate forms, including GRIMLOCK’s nearly indestructible T-Rex form and the legendary COMBATICONS combining into the colossal BRUTICUS. Taking the franchise’s competitive multiplayer to all-new heights, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron lets fans go head-to-head in blistering AUTOBOT vs. DECEPTICON matches after creating their own unique characters with the most in-depth, advanced customization ever before seen in a Transformers game.

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron will hit retail stores here in the U.S. on August 21st. You can visit the official Facebook page or head over to the Transformers: Fall of Cybertron website to learn more.

Capcom is pulling out all the stops for Resident Evil 6. In addition to the already announced 3 main campaigns, they recently revealed that the series’ mysterious badass, Ada Wong, will also have her own single-player only campaign!

Of course you'll have to beat the game with all the other characters to unlock it. They aren't making this easy!

In addition to that, Capcom also unveiled another form of multi-player they’re calling “Agent Hunt Mode”, which allows you to play as the enemies in another player’s single or co-op campaign. Sounds awesome? You bet it does! Check out all the details below!

From the press release:
Ada Wong will be a playable character with her own individual campaign in Resident Evil 6. A single player experience, Ada’s campaign features unique missions and will provide her perspective on the bioterrorist outbreaks that threaten to wipe out the world’s population. Ada Wong’s campaign becomes available once players have completed the campaigns for Leon, Chris and Jake.

For those who want to experience the action as a zombie, J’avo or other C-virus mutation then the all new online mode Agent Hunt delivers. As a ‘hunter’ players will be able to infiltrate other players’ sessions with the aim of eliminating the human characters. As a hunter, players will have access to the unique movements and attacks of each of the enemies, including those of the various J’avo transformations.

So how does Agent Hunt Mode work?

• Complete the main campaigns for either Leon, Chris or Jake to then unlock the Agent Hunt stages for each of those respective campaigns.


• When creating an RE6 gameplay session a player has the option to allow/not allow Agent Hunt.


• When a hunter searches for a session to join they will see whether or not other players from around the world want to allow hunters into their game.
• The hunter then picks another player’s session to join and jumps into that session.
  (Please note only certain stages will be available for Agent Hunt sessions.)
• The agent side can be either a single human player with an AI partner, or two human players in co-op mode. Up to two separate hunters can join an Agent Hunt session. When a hunter dies they respawn in the same session as a different random enemy from that area.
• If the hunter eliminates the agent then they will be taken to a ‘hunt successful’ results screen where they can join another session if they wish.
• If the agent is eliminated then their game session will end exactly as if they had been playing a standard game session with CPU enemies.
• If the hunter quits the session then the agent’s game continues as normal with all AI enemies.

Resident Evil 6 hits stores on October 2nd for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 with a PC release planned for a later date. You can visit the official the Resident Evil 6 website to learn more about the game.

Android users no longer have to live in jealously of their iOS owning counterparts’ ability to take on hordes of zombies while riding the bus, waiting in line at the DMV, sitting in class or anywhere they have a few spare minutes to get their hands dirty.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies, the extremely popular mobile game based on the Zombies mode from the console versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops, is now available on Android devices! Check out all the gory details below!

From the Press Release:
Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies, the fan-favorite app based on the popular Zombies mode from Treyarch's and Activision's record-setting hit Call of Duty®: Black Ops, is now coming to Android. Adapted by Ideaworks Game Studio and distributed by Glu Mobile, Inc., in partnership with Activision, Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies delivers heart-pounding maps: Kino Der Toten, Ascension, and Call of the Dead: Director's Cut, as well as "Dead-Ops Arcade," a 50-level zombie gauntlet that provides the ultimate undead challenge for fans of Call of Duty's signature Zombie action. Gamers can play solo or join a team of four players via Wi-Fi as they mow down hordes of zombies using a variety of weapons and perks only available in the Call of Duty zombie experience.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies on Android is available exclusively for 30 days on Sony's Xperia smart phones as well as Sony's Xperia Play Optimized devices including the Xperia Play, with its dedicated gaming keypad, and the critically acclaimed Xperia S and Xperia Ion.

"We're thrilled to partner with Glu Mobile and Ideaworks to bring the Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies mobile experience to Android, and we couldn't be more excited to launch first on Sony's critically acclaimed line-up of Xperia devices," says Greg Canessa, Vice President of Mobile Development, Activision Publishing, Inc.

"We're delighted to bring the blockbuster Call of Duty franchise to Android smartphones and Xperia for the first time. And what better way to make this introduction than with the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies," said Tim Harrison, Head of Content Marketing and Strategy at Sony Mobile. "There's nothing else in this world or the underworld like Call of Duty. We can't wait to unleash Zombies to our fans."

Players can also opt to enhance their experience with the in-game CoD Point System, available in the single-player mode. With six tiers of in-app purchasing options to choose from, Zombies fans will be able to take the action to a new level by unlocking additional areas and securing better weapons in less time.

Already this week we've seen four new clips from H+ The Digital Series, and in anticipation of the August 8th launch of the series, today we have a preview of the premiere to share.

Synopsis:
A futuristic online series, where the human race is hardwired to the Internet, is coming this summer from producer Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men: First Class). Directed by Stewart Hendler (Sorority Row), co-written by John Cabrera and Cosimo de Tommaso, and starring an acclaimed international cast that includes Alexis Denisof (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), Amir Arison (“Law & Order: SVU”), and David Clayton Rogers (“Jane by Design”), “H+ The Digital Series” takes viewers on an episodic, apocalyptic journey into a future where technology has gone horrifically wrong.

“Our first venture into the digital space gives us the freedom to engage fans with new content that is immersive, interactive, and tailored to be enjoyed online,” said Bryan Singer. “‘H+ The Digital Series’ on YouTube provides us with a strong two-way dialogue with our fans, creating a deeper and ongoing connection.”

In “H+ The Digital Series” consumers are rapidly installing a chip called "HPlus" into their nervous systems that allows them to access the Internet 24 hours a day - by just thinking it. One day a virus is released – causing a third of the world’s population to die instantly. The series deals with the massive political and human changes that take place, the fight for survival, and the mystery to discover who is behind this atrocity.

Be sure to subscribe to the “H+ The Digital Series” channel on YouTube, and for more information visit "H+ The Digital Series" on Facebook.

With the Total Recall (review) remake in theatres now, we figured this would be as good a time as any to share some behind-the-scenes goodies with you cats. On tap right now are three videos that show you how movie magic is made... one boob at a time.

The Len Wiseman directed remake is in theatres NOW.

Synopsis
Welcome to Rekall, the company that can turn your dreams into real memories. For a factory worker named Douglas Quaid (Colin Farrell), even though he's got a beautiful wife (Kate Beckinsale) whom he loves, the mind-trip sounds like the perfect vacation from his frustrating life - real memories of life as a super-spy might be just what he needs. But when the procedure goes horribly wrong, Quaid becomes a hunted man. Finding himself on the run from the police – controlled by Chancellor Cohaagen (Bryan Cranston) – there is no one Quaid can trust, except possibly a rebel fighter (Jessica Biel) working for the head of the underground resistance (Bill Nighy). The line between fantasy and reality gets blurred and the fate of his world hangs in the balance as Quaid discovers his true identity, his true love, and his true fate.

Now that we've hit the month of August, it's perfect beach weather, and who doesn't enjoy reading a good book while catching a few rays? We've learned about two new novels coming out on August 14th from Random House that should fit the bill for DC readers and their kids.

SUCK IT UP AND DIE by Brian Meehl
Vegan vampire Morning McCobb is having a hard time adjusting to life as a “probie” firefighter. Add to that his “EB” (eternal beloved) just turned eighteen, and because of his vampirism he’s stuck as a sixteen-year-old. When an evil vampire returns with a thirst for blood, what will happen to Morning McCobb, one of the first vampires to come “out of the coffin” and ask the world to accept him as who he is? In his previous book Suck It Up, Meehl created a near future world, similar to "True Blood" for teens, where humans and vampires have a tenuous peace agreement. Morning McCobb is one of the first members of the International Vampire League to be “outed” and is the poster boy for social integration.

SCARLETT DEDD by Cathy Brett (ages 8-12)
Meet Scarlett Dedd. Scarlett is absolutely mortified (in more ways than one) to discover that she's accidentally killed herself trying to get out a school trip. Even worse, she's taken her entire family with her! Left in limbo, bored to death, and fearing her friendless state is terminal, an ominous idea pops into Scarlett's head. Can Scarlett really execute her grim plan? Or will it turn out to be a fatal and very messy mistake?

As the official theatrical release date of October 5th creeps ever closer, the brand new UK-exclusive quad poster for Scott Derrickson’s spookily promising Sinister has been unveiled. Peek through your fingers if you must... it’s okay, we don’t judge.

From a script by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill, the film stars Ethan Hawke, Vincent D’Onofrio, Juliet Rylance, Fred Dalton Thompson, and James Ransone.

Synopsis:
Don't buy a house where the previous family was hanged, drowned, incinerated, or otherwise murdered unless you have the strongest of constitutions. True crime writer Ellison Oswald (Hawke) has made a career out of exposing police mistakes, and now he’s investigating a shocking small-town death first-hand by moving into the house where it actually took place. But strange occurrences start happening, and Ellison becomes convinced the figure he sees lurking in some old home movies he discovers is the ancient occult "eater of children" demon. The scares are not just intense but unyielding in this compelling horror yarn from The Exorcism of Emily Rose director Scott Derrickson. Impressive in its restraint during quieter moments, and powerfully disturbing at its nastiest, Sinister is a very creepy, darkly entertaining terror tale. And Ethan Hawke shines as the agonized writer whose deteriorating state of his mind shatters everything he holds dear.

Sinister’s UK premiere will take place on August 26th as part of the 2012 Film4 FrightFest, but you can also keep up-to-date with UK release developments on the Sinister UK Facebook page and, of course, right here as we have it.

One of this year’s surprisingly well-received sleepers, Nicholas McCarthy’s unsettling The Pact (review), is ready to spook up UK homes on DVD and Blu-ray come October 1st, courtesy of Entertainment One.

Synopsis:
Following the death of her mother, Annie receives a phone call from her former drug addict sister, Nicole, imploring her to come back to visit their family home and to attend their mother’s funeral. Still tortured by memories of a troubled childhood, Annie is reluctant to revisit the past but eventually agrees to Nicole’ request. However, on arrival at the house she finds no trace of her sister, and when Nicole fails to turn up at the funeral, Annie assumes she has relapsed into drug use as a way of dealing with her loss. Not wishing to spend the night alone in her mother’s house, Annie invites her cousin, Liz, and Nicole’s estranged young daughter to stay over.

But it’s not long before Annie begins to sense another, unseen presence in their midst. Household objects are inexplicably moved around, strange noises are heard during the night and a broken picture frame reveals a photo of a sinister figure. Then all hell breaks loose. Annie finds herself physically threatened by a malign supernatural force residing within the house and, following a particularly terrifying assault, discovers that Liz, too, has disappeared. With her life now seriously at risk and time running out, Annie is forced to confront her worst fears and solve the mystery surrounding her family’s history before it is too late.

San Diego has a lot more to root for than the Padres and the Chargers. It's also got its own horror movie mega-franchise in Paranormal Activity. Since it's Dread Central's hometown, too, we're taking steps to make sure we get a Want It screening!

Paramount is making the chance to see Paranormal Activity 4 first in your city easier than ever. We just missed scoring a screening of last year's Paranormal Activity 3 by a few votes, and that cannot stand again for this year. Show your hometown pride by bringing a littler terror to town in October!

Here are the details regarding Paramount's Want It campaign...

Fans of "PARANORMAL ACTIVITY" are being empowered to bring the movie to their city first. Paramount Pictures, a division of Viacom, Inc., will debut the fourth installment in the popular horror franchise exclusively in 25 cities around the world by encouraging fans to vote to see it first with a new “Want It” application on Facebook.

Facebook’s 955 million global fans can vote for an advance screening in their city by clicking on the “Want It” button on the film’s fan page.

“Want It” is a dynamic application utilizing Facebook’s open graph technology that gives fans the opportunity to vote to bring the franchise to their city and leverage their social networks to ensure they are one of the top 25 winning locations. The application recognizes a fan’s geo-location according to their Facebook profile and automatically registers a vote to bring the film to their city first. Votes will be shared on a fan’s page and automatically posted to the Facebook newsfeed to rally their peers to bring the film to their city first, too.

The application feeds individual votes into a dynamic leader board that shows the ranking of every city in real time. Audiences can track the top cities as well as the ranking of their own city and push out reminders encouraging friends to vote. “Want It” brings an unprecedented level of interactivity for fans in determining screenings of the movie.

Paranormal Activity 4 will open nationwide on October 19th, and per usual, most details for the film are being kept under wraps. Paranormal Activity 3 directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman have returned to helm for Paramount Pictures based on a script by Zack Estrin (a writer/executive producer on ABC's "The River").

Sound to complicated? Too lazy to click a few buttons? Well then send a text! You know you always have your phone near you! And here's some extra incentive to do so...

Those who text “WantIt” to 21534 will receive an exclusive cut of the trailer, including additional footage, and will be the first to get other newly released content from the film. What the hell are you waiting for?

Follow Paranormal Activity on Twitter (@TweetYourScream) for more upcoming announcements, and as always keep an eye on the official Paranormal Activity Facebook page!

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We crossed paths with another new short film earlier today, and if you can relate to disastrous first dates, you won't want to miss Blair Richardson's First Date - Lord knows they can be a real bitch!

Richardson, a 21-year-old from Jacksonville, Florida, only makes horror films. She wrote, produced, and directed the short earlier this year and is already putting together her next project. First Date was shot in just two days, and the entire cast and crew were all local Floridians. It stars Ashton Nicole and Jason Roy Jones. The DP was Peter AD Stahl with special effects by Jeremy Tidwell and Devin McDonagh.

While First Date makes the film fest rounds, Richardson's working on Kitty, Kitty, which will employ all practical effects and the creation of a monster suit - check out some preliminary sketches for the creature below, and look for more soon!

Synopsis:
After a night of partying a couple arrives home to find their cat is missing. Searching every corner of the house to no avail, the boyfriend takes a flashlight and proceeds to aimlessly search outside. Waiting in the kitchen, the girl fears for her cat's safety, but perhaps she should fear for her own.

Nobody likes me. Everybody hates me. Guess I’ll go eat worms. Or you could just go watch the bizarro 1977 horror comedy The Worm Eaters. Rarely will you hear a song as cheery as this about a subject as disgusting as worm eating.

Produced by Astro-Zombies helmer Ted V. Mikels, The Worm Eaters falls into a very special class of bad cinema. Actually, it’s pretty much in a category of badness all its own. A total gross-out comedy, yet a PG-rated one that appeared to be aimed at juvenile audiences. About people eating worms and then becoming worms themselves.

When a club-footed German hermit (Herb Robins, also the writer-director) with the power to psychically communicate with worms gets run off of his worm farm by the town’s mayor, he does what any crazed worm whisperer would do. No, not send the worm to kill his enemies Ben style. He plants a special breed of his worms in everyone’s food and watches as they transform into mutant worms that look like actors writhing around in flesh-colored sleeping bags.

Kicking off the film is David L. Newman’s “You’ll End Up Eating Worms”, the happiest, cheeriest PBS children’s programming song you’ll ever hear about eating worms, set to an opening credits sequence that would leave you to believe The Worm Eaters was a book being spotlighted on “Reading Rainbow”.

The Internet doesn't need another "Jaws The Revenge is a terrible movie!" column, does it? Attacking the third sequel to Steven Spielberg's timeless masterpiece is like shooting bluefish in a barrel: unchallenging and pointless.

By now everyone knows about the roaring shark, the incoherent ending (if you've seen the video/dvd edition) and the ludicrous premise. The novelization, on the other hand, tried it's damndest to make the story work. And it almost succeeded.

Author Hank Searls was no stranger to the world of Jaws, having already penned a successful novelization for Jaws 2, which played out as a sequel to both the Peter Benchley book and the Spielberg film (incorporating Mrs. Brody's affair with Matt Hooper into the story of the novelization, for example, even though that was only found in Benchley's book). The powers-that-be decided to skip over any kind of literary tie-in to Jaws 3 in a move that caused my younger self to scour flea markets endlessly right up until the advent of the Internet (when I was finally able to confirm no such adaptation existed), and so Jaws The Revenge ignores all traces of the Sea World misadventure.

Producer/director Joseph Sargent seemed to like the idea of ignoring all sequels as the only thing referenced throughout the cinematic 'Revenge' is the first movie. In his book, Searls demonstrates considerably more respect for the mythos by harkening back to the events of the first two stories quite often. Right off, the book circumvents one of the movie's biggest blunders by excising all of Ellen Brody's flashbacks to events she was never privy to. Instead Searls uses passages from his Jaws 2 to establish Mrs. Brody's connection to her children: Ellen recalls punishing Sean as a boy in a moment that explores the mother's feelings of loss with far more breadth than the movie does.

The book is filled with nice little character asides like this. Later on, Mike reflects on how he'd gotten Martin to acquiesce and allow him scuba lessons, despite the Chief's long-standing fear of the water. It helps enrich these character's lives and make them much more palpable. Searls makes the Brodys feel like any family, with plenty of memories both fond and miserable, and it grants more soul to a story that needs it.

This leads into one aspect of the movie that Searls does retain, and it's a detriment. That's the notion that Martin Brody was killed by his fear of sharks - a completely absurd idea. Throughout Searls' Jaws The Revenge, Ellen makes continued reference to the second shark being the one that killed Marty. That it paralyzed his heart with so much fear, he eventually succumbed to it. That he 'died' during that second confrontation, and that his death was merely prolonged over the course of the next five or six years. It's a completely foolish plot device that cheapens the best character in Jaws while undermining everything he did throughout two stories.

The Jaws franchise contains more than a few commonalities with the Halloween series. Jaws The Revenge might've been the first sequel in a continuity-driven saga to outright ignore the two movies prior, while Halloween H20 would follow suit some eleven years later - wiping three movies off the slate. But it also beat Halloween to the punch by imbuing its antagonist with a convoluted (and overtly supernatural) motivation that should never have been offered. We're all aware of the druid cult that surrounded Michael Myers in 1996's Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, but did you know that the shark in Jaws The Revenge is the direct result of a devious voodoo witch doctor with an axe to grind against Mike Brody?

It should be fairly obvious that there was more meat on Jaws 4 than what we got in the completed film. The catalyst for the shark's Bahamas vacation is Papa Jacques, a supernatural witch doctor utilized by many superstitious island natives. Mike Brody believes Jacques to be nothing more than a con man, and he doesn't mince words when telling him off. They have a second altercation, this time of a more violent nature, and Jacques sets the shark on not only Mike, but on his young daughter Thea as well. At the climax of the story, Jacques appears to have somehow taken possession of the shark, as his body dies as soon as the great white is impaled on the bow of the Neptune's Folly.

So, yes, it's silly, silly stuff. But Searls tackles those outré elements with just enough authenticity to make it work on the page. Had this not been wedged into the Jaws mythos, it would've been a completely acceptable nautical horror story. But it's so alien to what's come before that the supernatural bent never settles amicably into this story, or the existing Jaws canon.

Searls opens up the story and setting much more than that, delving into the sociological background of the island community. Racial tensions are high throughout: the natives aren't necessarily thrilled with Mike taking government grant money from "locals", Jake (the Mario van Peebles character) and wife Louisa feel differently about Papa Jacques than Mike does, with Louisa playing a major role throughout the story with respect to the voodoo curse. There's also an expanded role for Carla Brody and her sculpture, an oddly shapeless structure that suddenly takes the form of a great white in the eyes of those directly impacted by the creature (while others see it far more innocuously). It's an excellent metaphor for facing down one's personal demons, and it laces the narrative with far more depth than what we got in the movie.

There's also Hoagie Newcombe (played by Michael Caine in the movie) - a mysterious charter pilot with a secret or two. The movie never bothers to address them, whereas Searls quickly paints Hoagie into the crosshairs of a Latino assassin, opening up a subplot about a Miami Vice-esque drug lord obsessed with murdering him. Just as Benchley touched upon Mafia money in his original novel, and Searls expanded that involvement for his own Jaws 2 , these gangsters have a large role in the plot - devising ways to eliminate the pilot/drug-runner and eventually endangering the Brody clan as well. It's revealed that Hoagie is working with the DEA to bring down the drug baron who allowed his sixteen year old daughter to overdose on cocaine several years earlier. The climax of the book pits Hoagie, Mike and Jake in a close-quarters struggle against the villain as they race - via plane - to reach Ellen in time.

The remaining events of the climax are largely the same with the exception of the drug lord falling from the plane and being eaten by the shark, giving the rest of the gang time to climb aboard the ketch. Jake tumbles into the mouth of the great white and stays dead (as opposed to random video/DVD versions where he inexplicably survives), strobes still provoke the beast and the animal seemingly floats above the waves (because of the supernatural implications, this time) although, unlike the movie, the shark doesn't roar!

As it sounds, the great white takes a backseat for much of the proceedings. It's probably why Universal saw fit to excise most of this stuff from the film (whether or not it was done prior to shooting remains a mystery) as the elements never gel into a cohesive whole. Whereas Jaws The Revenge featured one sorry excuse for a cinematic shark, Searls makes it a menacing villain. Sections written from the shark's point of view are effective and eerie: painting our resident great white as an instinctual killing machine, chronicling its magnificent abilities to create a memorable antagonist (its also revealed to be the son of the shark killed in Jaws 2 - more revenge!). We might never have been afraid of the shark in the film, but such is not the case here. Searls treats his villain with the cold earnestness it deserves and musters some genuine suspense in doing so.

So it's a goofy story well told. Searls is an excellent writer and Jaws The Revenge is a fast moving and vivid read. It was never a good idea to ascribe supernatural abilities to the great white, but this is a superior iteration of the story. Far more enjoyable than what Joseph Sargent gave us during the summer of 1987. It's well-worth tracking down if you're a Jaws fanatic looking to reflect on what might've been.