Good news today for those of you looking forward to the new fright flick starring Dennis Quaid and Aimee Teegarden, Beneath the Darkness. The film has been acquired by Image Entertainment for a limited theatrical run beginning on January 6th, 2012. Yay first horror movie of the new year!
Along with Quaid and "Friday Night Lights" alum Teegarden, director Martin Guigui's Beneath the Darkness stars Tony Oller, Devon Werkheiser, and Stephen Lunsford.
Synopsis: After the mysterious death of his best friend, a 16-year-old boy struggles to expose the grim secrets surrounding a suspicious neighbor and his apparently haunted house.
Some interesting casting news is coming out of the IMDB (so take that for what it's worth) pertaining to the remake of William Lustig's classic slasher film Maniac. The cause of all of our killer's lunacy has been chosen ... and more!
According to the site America Olivo (pictured; Friday the 13th, Bitch Slap) will play the mother of Frank (Elijah Wood) in Franck Khalfoun's remake of the 1980's classic Maniac.
Other casting news includes Morgane Slemp (Hostel: Part III, R.I.P.D., Dracula 3D, Total Recall), Sal Landi (Poe), Dan Hunter, Freedom (Gangster Squad), Délé Ogundiran, Steffinnie Phrommany, and Joshua De La Garza co-starring alongside previously announced Nora Arnezeder and Genevieve Alexandra.
Directed by Franck Khalfoun and produced by Alexandre Aja and Gregory Lavasseur, Maniac casts Wood in the role of a serial killer who works at a shop that sells antique mannequins. He finds victims on the Internet and stalks them like prey, all the while suffering from hallucinations that throw him back into the past when he was abused by his own mother. In his twisted mind he gains a measure of revenge against his mother with each kill.
The upcoming remake is shooting now in Los Angeles.
The indie horror comedy Bloodsucka Jones has been kicking around for about two years now, but finally a trailer has come that has a really cool retro kinda vibe! Whattaya you waiting for? Open up and start sucking!
Justin Armao directs the flick, which stars Preston Gant, Jessica Dercks, Justin Armao, Maria Canapino, Travis Woods, Matt Kelly, Erin Holt, William Cutting, Andy Cauble, Duncan Tran, and Ray Chavez, Jr.
Synopsis This is the story of Dave King. He was just dumped by his girlfriend, but it is okay because he meets the girl of his dreams who turns out to be a vampire. Her vampire friends and family want Dave dead, but she loves him. So Dave enlists the help of Tony, a bumbling wannabe vampire hunter, and his favorite comic book hero, Bloodsucka Jones, to save the day. Wacky superbitchin' hijinks ensue.
The second trailer for the very unlikely adaptation of the popular game Battleship is here, and it's big, loud, and full of chaos. That's just how we like stuff. Check it out!
Peter Berg (Hancock) produces and directs Battleship, an epic action-adventure that unfolds across the seas, in the skies and over land as our planet fights for survival against a superior force.
Based on Hasbro's classic naval combat game, Battleship stars Taylor Kitsch as Lt. Alex Hopper, a Naval officer assigned to the USS John Paul Jones; Brooklyn Decker as Sam Shane, a physical therapist and Hopper's fiancee; Alexander Skarsgard as Hopper's older brother, Stone, Commanding Officer of the USS Sampson; Rihanna as Petty Officer Raikes, Hopper's crewmate and a weapons specialist on the USS John Paul Jones; and international superstar Liam Neeson as Hopper and Stone's superior (and Sam's father), Admiral Shane.
We caught up today with actress Sarah Butler (star of last year’s Steven R. Monroe-directed feature I Spit on Your Grave) to chat with her regarding the psychological thriller The Stranger Inside, which is currently filming on the isle of Mallorca, Spain, under the eye of writer and director Adam Neutzsky-Wulff. Read on for word from the shoot along with a bit of ocular candy.
“I'm having such a great time,” stated Butler, who appears in the role of ‘Sarah’ opposite co-stars Estella Warren (2001’s Planet of the Apes) and William Baldwin (Backdraft). “My character has been particularly challenging because she appears to be one thing one moment and the next another. She is complex and dynamic, and it's been the time of my life!”
Working six-day weeks and with the production set to move to Copenhagen, Denmark, and New York, New York, upon the completion of the Mallorca leg, Butler stated of the production, “Billy and Estella have both been great to work with. Estella has an enormous scene load, and luckily she also has a great work ethic. She's always there for her off-camera lines and never stops giving to the other actors. Billy’s also a wonderful example of a professional actor and someone who does everything in his power to make the film the best it possibly can be.”
But what can fans of the genre expect from The Stranger Inside?
“As a psychological thriller, the film does contain elements of horror,” revealed Butler, “and without giving too much of this twisty plot away, there are definitely some scares that will have horror fans jumping in their seats. The most disconcerting thing about the script, though, is that you are never able to decide who the actual antagonist is until the very end.”
We’ll keep you updated. In the interim see our previous article here for more on the film, and check out our photo gallery below.
Though typically it's the Eighties slasher classic Silent Night, Bloody Night that gets all of the yuletide attention, back in the Seventies an obscure little film called Silent Night, Bloody Night was offering its own brand of holiday fear. Never heard of it? Don't remember it? Never fear! A remake of sorts is on its way to remind you of the ghosts of Christmas past.
UK production company North Bank Entertainment, currently in post production on Night of the Living Dead: Resurrection, is developing a new version of the cult horror classic Silent Night, Bloody Night. Principal photography on Silent Night, Bloody Night: The Homecoming is planned to take place in March and April of 2012 on location in South Wales.
Writer/producer Andrew Jones says, "SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT is one of the most underrated horror classics. It has found a cult audience on DVD in recent years, but it is a film that is often overlooked in terms of how much it influenced the slasher genre."
"SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT: THE HOMECOMING will be a modern updating of the original story, but we also want to re-capture the atmosphere of the slasher films from the 1970s and 80s. There will be a keen focus on practical FX, genuine suspense, and compelling storytelling. This could be one of the rare cases when a new version of a classic actually benefits the original film. We hope that by bringing SILENT NIGHT, BLOODY NIGHT: THE HOMECOMING to a modern audience, they will also seek out the 1974 film and appreciate its importance in horror cinema history."
Director and casting announcements will be made in January and February.
Synopsis The abandoned home of Wilfred Butler, a wealthy but troubled man who committed suicide in 1982, has been willed to his grandson, Jeffrey. The house has sat in disarray since Wilfred's death, standing in the way of developers who want to turn the property into residential homes. Just before Christmas 2012, some thirty years after Wilfred's death, Jeffrey and his lawyer appear in town to negotiate the sale of the property. But an axe-wielding maniac has set up residence in the house, and he doesn't take kindly to strangers.
Ready for another late afternoon goodie from Paramount's The Devil Inside? Well then, sit back, put on your nightlight, squeeze your security blanket, and take a look!
Bonnie Morgan, Fernanda Andrade, Simon Quarterman, Preston James Hillier, Evan Helmuth, Suzan Crowley, D.T. Carney, and Ionut Grama star. Look for the film in theatres on January 6th, 2012.
Synopsis In 1989, emergency responders received a 9-1-1 call from Maria Rossi (Suzan Crowley) confessing that she had brutally killed three people. 20 years later, her daughter Isabella (Fernanda Andrade) seeks to understand the truth about what happened that night. She travels to the Centrino Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Italy where her mother has been locked away to determine if her mother is mentally ill or demonically possessed. When she recruits two young exorcists (Simon Quarterman and Evan Helmuth) to cure her mom using unconventional methods combining both science and religion, they come face-to-face with pure evil in the form of four powerful demons possessing Maria. Many have been possessed by one; only one has been possessed by many.
Did you remember to check out the online-only prequel webisode for Chiller TV's Remains entitled Remains: Road to Reno that premiered today? If not, be sure to head over to Chillertv.com and do so. But first how about a quick Q&A with executive producer Steve Niles, who also wrote the graphic novel Remains is based on? In addition, we have two new promo videos to share!
Niles recently conducted a roundtable conference call in advance of Remains' December 16th premiere on Chiller TV, and the network was kind enough to share the transcript with us. Read on for a look inside the mind of this creative genius as he discusses his role in the production, what he looks for when someone approaches him about adapting his work, his preference between vampires and zombies, and lots more!
Reporter: Were you involved in this production beyond creating the source material?
Steve Niles:You know, they kept me very close to it. The best way to describe my role is I supervised a lot. They ran the script by me, and I did set visits and was in constant contact with the folks at Chiller and Synthetic, and they kept me involved at every stage of approving makeup and the script. But part of it is these guys really knew what they were doing, and I felt perfectly comfortable being on the coast while they were working on it. But they kept me involved quite a bit, and I really appreciate that.
Reporter: You mentioned you had done some site visits during the production. Any particular visit or any particular day or scene being shot really stick out for you?
Niles:I've noticed when you're on a Hollywood set it’s like, “Boy, they spend about nine hours shooting about 15 seconds.” It can get really tedious. But these guys moved in like a strike team. They came in and had this hotel. They had the scenes set up in the various rooms they were going to go to, and we watched them go room to room. And it wasn’t Ed Wood reckless. They knew what they wanted. They had everything set up and spread out so they didn’t have to break everything down and re-set up. They went scene to scene to scene. It was incredible.
Reporter: What were some of the biggest production challenges in bringing the Remains comic book in front of the camera and then on to the small screen?
Niles:Well, the biggest thing is in a comic book you have no budget. I can do anything I want. If I want 10,000 bikers coming out of the horizon, I can do that. The artist will be mad at me, but it’s not a budget issue. So the first thing we had to do was go through the comic, and there were a few set pieces that would have just been impossible. There is a biker scene in there that would have cost too much money because it literally is hundreds and hundreds of bikers approaching through the desert not realizing that they’re about to hit an entire system of wires, and they all get sliced like deli sandwiches as they ride into the city. The budget to shoot that was just way over the top so we had to come up with other ways to do it. I’m really happy with Synthetic Cinema because the budget was a TV movie budget, and I am absolutely shocked at how much of the comic that they actually got on film.
Reporter: As an author what do you look for when you’re approached by someone who wants to turn a graphic novel of yours into a movie or a series?
Niles:Honestly, enthusiasm for the material means more to me than a big option. A good example is what happened with 30 Days of Night. When we were selling 30 Days, it turned into a bidding war, and we had to choose between three studios. They all had a lot of money, but I went with the one that had Sam Raimi attached to it because I know Sam knows horror, and that was very similar with the guys from Remains. Andrew (Gernhard, producer) reached out to me from Synthetic Cinema, and he was very upfront about it. He was like, “We’re a small company and we’ve just done these things, but we really love this material,” and he understood Remains, too, which was really important to me. They wanted to capture the spirit of it, and that’s shockingly rare. So their enthusiasm is what really got my attention.
Reporter: How does it feel to have the first original movie on Chiller?
Niles:This is really exciting for me because I really like TV movies. I grew up with TV movies. Dan Curtis is a hero of mine; he wrote the "Night Stalker" shows and "Dark Shadows." He was behind so many of these great things, and he used to do all these great TV movies. And also Richard Matheson used to write tons of ABC Movies of the Week during the 70s, and they’re really wonderful. Pretty much exactly this kind of stuff. They were Richard Matheson short stories turned into movies for TV so I just have this really special affection. And I’m really excited and I’m excited about the movie, too, because I think it really came out fun.
Reporter: For those who haven’t read the Remains graphic novels, what separates your zombies from anything else that we’ve seen?
Niles: That’s a big thing I wanted to talk about because "The Walking Dead" is so popular, and that’s sort of the current version of what people think zombies are. I sat down to write Remains when "The Walking Dead" was just starting to get strong as a comic and Land of the Dead was out. There was just sort of a zombie surge building. And when I sat down to do Remains, I wanted to do something different, and I wanted to do something that was a little bit bigger than the--do they run or do they shamble? And for that it seemed like I had to come up with something that could put the audience and the characters on edge because, now especially, everybody knows how to deal with zombies. You board up in the house and you wait it out. You shoot them as they come to you. But in Remains that doesn’t necessarily work because of the event that creates these zombies. There’s actually two different kinds, and one of them was slightly more advanced, and they’re eating the others and they’re evolving. So in Remains you can never sit back in your boarded up house and be comfortable because the zombies will sooner or later figure out how to either climb in or pull the boards off. I had a lot of fun with that.
Reporter: Most zombie movies are usually completely post-apocalyptic insofar as we don’t know how it happened. Why did you devise such a specific way to get the ball rolling?
Niles:I hate to give a really simple answer, but in the comic I did it because it was funny. I really wanted to go for the absurdity of the situation. Here we are finally figuring out that we’re going to disarm and it’s Peace Day, and something goes wrong and Peace Day winds up being the end of days. I was going for something a little different because most zombie movies don’t explain it so I wanted to try to explain it. And I needed to because I knew that I was going to try to do this thing with different varying degrees of zombies. There are different ones, depending on who was closer to the event. So that kind of came out of just trying to do something different.
Reporter: What are you more partial to - vampires or zombies?
Niles:That’s a tough one. I have to go with vampires, and let me qualify that...my kind of vampires. Mean, nasty vampires that don’t want to seduce you; they want to take your blood. I’ve been writing them for a long time, I’ve developed an affection for them, and as a writer there’s slightly more you can do with that particular monster. Zombie stories are great for telling stories about humans, oddly enough, while vampires are great for telling stories about vampires because they are technically still human and have brains and lives and emotions and things like that that you can play with. So I’d have to go with vampires.
Reporter: Why do you think zombies have become so popular? What do you think it is about them right now?
Niles:I think horror always reflects our general fears and anxieties in society. And right now, without getting too serious, right now we’re actually afraid of other people. We’re afraid of disease, we’re afraid of being invaded by people who look kind of like us. The way we express those fears is through this mindless zombie hoard that wants to eat us. Our friends and neighbors who want to kill us and eat us. I think zombies are a very, very basic way for us to confront those fears too. Because the reality of it is the real world stuff is so horrifying and zombies are a great way for us to sort of work through those fears. I always feel like horror is a relief and we use it to illustrate what we’re afraid of...and then shoot it in the head.
Remains is written by John Doolan and directed by Colin Theys. It stars Grant Bowler ("True Blood"), Lance Reddick ("Lost"), Tawny Cypress ("Heroes"), and Miko Hughes (Pet Sematary).
It was back in August of 2009 when Universal acquired the rights to adapt Steve Niles' Criminal Macabre, which features drug-infused anti-hero detective Cal McDonald, into a feature film; and yes, things have been moving rather slowly, but we finally have an update!
While doing press for the upcoming Remains made-for-TV film that airs on Chiller this December 16th, Niles had the following to say about Cal's progress at the studio:
Right now Cal is being developed at Universal Studios for a feature movie. And after being through multiple studios, we finally have...Universal really gets it. And they’re letting us do it as an R because for years people wanted me to do it as a PG-13 movie, and I was like, “Have you read the comic?” Like there’s really not a lot of PG-13 stuff to Cal.
I [recently] had breakfast with [producer] Mike Richardson from Dark Horse, and we discussed it, and we will hopefully have some really good news in, I’d say, the next six months or so, but I’m continuing with the comics. As a matter of fact, I [just] turned in the latest installment of Criminal Macabre, and so we’re keeping the comics going, we’re going to bring the novels, we’re going to reprint those, and keep all that going.
But yes, something will happen with Cal McDonald, and if it doesn’t pan out as a horror movie...I think it would be a wonderful series, especially just because there’s, I don’t know, I hate to say this, but there’s 20 years of material. I’ve been writing him for 20 years now so we could have many seasons if we got it on TV.
Artist Michael Kaluta (Starstruck, The Shadow) and writer Steve Niles (30 Days of Night, Remains) are creating a graphic novel of epic proportions for Legendary Comics that will be a tie-in with Legendary Pictures' big screen adaptation of the classic tale Paradise Lost helmed by Alex Proyas, and today we have an update on what Niles and Kaluta are up to.
During a recent roundtable with Niles to promote his Remains made-for-TV movie on Chiller, the prolific author had this to say about the upcoming Paradise Lost comic:
I’m writing a script that I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to go into protective custody when the artist reads it because if you’ve ever read Paradise Lost, once the war starts everything is in the millions. So for the first time in my life I’m writing a comic book and I’m literally going like, "I am so sorry, but a million angels come swirling down."
But I’m really having a lot of fun with it. I’m working from Alex Proyas’ script, so not the poem. If I was working from the poem, I would not sound nearly as chipper. But Alex Proyas wrote this incredible script, and that’s what I’m adapting. And he really figured out a way to strip it down to the basic story where you’re dealing with basically the story of Lucifer and his relationship to the Archangels and how the whole division started, and I’m really having fun. And then Michael Kaluta is doing the art so if he doesn’t kill me, it’s going to be a beautiful book.
If you find the prospect of burning eternally in an inferno while being tortured incessantly by demons until every ounce of your humanity is stripped away like vultures picking your eyeballs from your cold dead sockets humorous, man, do we have a project to tell you about!
According to Deadline, Nick Swardson ("Reno 911", Grandma's Boy) and TJ Miller (Cloverfield, Get Him to the Greek ) have been cast in ShadowMachine’s R-rated stop-motion animated Hell & Back, a comedy about two best friends who must rescue their pal when he is accidentally dragged to hell.
The film is set to begin shooting in January with Tommy Gianas ("Tenacious D") and Ross Shuman directing; ShadowMachine principals Alexander Bulkley and Corey Campodonico are producing.
"Don't do the crime if you can't do the time ... yeah! Don't do it!" Oh, how we miss the funky television show theme songs of yesteryear! In any event, a new thriller is coming your way, and we have the news for ya cold off the slab!
Nasser Entertainment and Caliber Media Co. are partnering to bring the thriller Bodies at Rest to life. Penned by David Lesser, "the story centers on three thugs who break into a morgue to cover up a crime and the medical examiner and assistant who must figure out a way to stay alive as well as protect the evidence."
Lesser's worked extensively in TV, writing on "Sabrina, the Teenage Witch" as well as "Who's the Boss?".
Joseph and Jack Nasser of Nasser Entertainment, along with Caliber's Dallas Sonnier and Jack Heller, will produce and finance the feature. Mike Goldberg, Josh Adler, and Lesser will co-executive produce.
While we have absolutely no plot details pertaining to the new flick cooking at Warner Brothers that's known for now as Rise, we can't help but pay attention given the parties involved. Read on for the skinny.
According to Deadline Warner Bros. has bought an action/sci-fi pitch created by David Karlak titled Rise, marking the scribe’s first studio sale.
Roy Lee (The Ring) and Underground will team to produce the project, the details of which are under wraps. Lawrence Grey is also a producer, and John Middleton is executive producing. Saw franchise writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan teamed with Karlak to write the pitch.
Tuesday got you down? Still suffering the beginning of the week blues? Then how about we bug out a bit and let you dig on the first trailer for Metamorphosis? There, all better now, see?
From the Press Release Isotropic Films is proud to announce the release of METAMORPHOSIS in early 2012. In a dramatic retelling of Franz Kafka’s literary classic “The Metamorphosis,” Greg Serling wakes up to an inexplicable illness that transforms him into a grotesque, human-sized cockroach. Will his parents accept a monster in their suburban home or will they exterminate their own son?
Nick Searcy (Justified, Moneyball), Patricia Bethune (Mad Men, True Blood) and Matt Angel (CSI: NY, CSI: Miami, The Haunting Hour) star in the upcoming drama/thriller. Metamorphosis is helmed by award winning filmmaker David Yohe.
Since no one apparently was able to locate a viable Sasquatch during the first season of Animal Planet's "Finding Bigfoot", the series is returning in the new year (on January 1st to be exact) for another crack at tracking down the beast.
From the Press Release: For centuries eyewitness accounts and colorful stories have fueled rumors that large, furry, human-like animals have roamed the forests in North America and other continents. These legendary creatures have come to be known as Bigfoot or Sasquatch. The folklore around Bigfoot has many doubters and many true believers, and passionate groups like the Bigfoot Field Research Organization (BFRO) have formed to investigate stories, analyze evidence, and strengthen their hypotheses of these elusive beings.
Over the course of 10 hour-long episodes, Animal Planet’s "FINDING BIGFOOT" returns for a brand-new season on Sunday, January 1, 2012, at 10 PM (ET/PT) for further expeditions to investigate reports of the mysterious Bigfoot. From small towns in the South to remote areas of the mountain West and dense forest of the Northeast and into Canada, four passionate, driven researchers and adventurers embark on one single-minded mission – to find this beast.
BFRO members Matt Moneymaker and James “Bobo” Fay, professional educator Cliff Barackman, and skeptical biologist Ranae Holland engage in the ultimate quest in search of proof that Bigfoot really does exist – and that he or she is alive and abundant in North America. By examining photos and videos of the creature, speaking to local witnesses, using new technology, and luring the mysterious beast with the team’s squatch calls, the group uncovers startling proof of the legendary and highly intelligent enigma that has eluded capture for centuries and fascinated man for just as long.
During the series premiere, called “Baby Bigfoot,” the quartet of investigators head to the Catskills in New York near Poughkeepsie to provide in-depth analysis of 15-year-old video footage from 1997 that indicates a juvenile or baby Sasquatch could have been in the area at the time.
“Even though this area of the Hudson River Valley is fairly populated and not terribly far from the urban New York City, there is still a lot of forest here,” explains Moneymaker, “and a lot of vegetation to support something like a Sasquatch.”
“It is definitely a primate,” adds Bobo. “I think we’re looking at a juvenile Sasquatch, which is quite amazing because [seeing] a baby is incredibly rare.”
Splitting up into teams of two and using infrared technology, the intrepid sleuths embark on a night mission that eerily is similar to The Blair Witch Project, poking around abandoned cabins and remote orchards to capture a sighting of Bigfoot. They also talk to many locals and conduct deep detailed re-creations of sightings, all culminating with an evening adventure where they employ a baboon (borrowed from the local zoo) to assist with their investigation. But what do they find?
Throughout the new season of "FINDING BIGFOOT", the team scours North America to follow up on compelling evidence, new and old, including visiting such popular outdoor destinations as Moose Lake in Minnesota; the Catskills Mountains in New York; Salt Fork State Park in Ohio; and Dunes State Park and Morgan Monroe State Park in Indiana. They also head to rural regions of Rhode Island, New Mexico, Kentucky, Virginia, and Alberta, Canada.
“What I like most about the series is we all have our differing opinions, and I love that we get to go in the field, recreate to scale, and determine if what we saw was real,” explains Holland.
Ranking among the network’s top three series and delivering 1.2M P2+ viewers, the initial season of "FINDING BIGFOOT" this past summer found a sizable audience among viewers, whether they believe in or question the existence of Sasquatch.
"FINDING BIGFOOT" is a produced for Animal Planet by Ping Pong Productions. Brad Kuhlman and Casey Brumels are the executive producers for Ping Pong, and Keith Hoffman is the executive producer for Animal Planet.
Opening in Los Angeles and New York theaters on February 3rd after arriving on VOD on January 4th is Ben Wheatley's stellar film Kill List, and we have the official and quite unnerving trailer for you right here. Check it out!
Synopsis: The acclaimed second feature of Down Terrace director Ben Wheatley, this British hitman thriller garnered excellent reviews during the SXSW Film Festival (see Dread Central's Kill List review here). The story follows ex-soldier turned contract killer Jay, eight months after a disastrous job in Kiev left him physically and mentally scarred. Pressured by his partner, Gal, he takes on a new assignment. As they descend into the dark and disturbing world of the contract, Jay begins to unravel once again – his fear and paranoia sending him deep into the heart of darkness.
Or maybe we should say jackals of war? In any event Vin Diesel has released some more snazzy concept art for the upcoming flick The Chronicles of Riddick: Dead Man Stalking, and as always our watchful eyes have picked it up.
Look for more soon!
Synopsis Betrayed by his own kind and left for dead on a desolate planet, Riddick (Diesel) fights for survival against alien predators and becomes more powerful and dangerous than ever before. Soon bounty hunters from throughout the galaxy descend on Riddick only to find themselves pawns in his greater scheme for revenge. With his enemies right where he wants them, Riddick unleashes a vicious attack of vengeance before returning to his home planet of Furya to save it from destruction.
We've recently been informed by DC reader Richard Greene about a very interesting short film that played at the New York Film Festival. The word on Ari Aster's Strange Thing About the Johnsons is that it's unique and disturbing. Unique and disturbing, you say? ... That's right up our alley!
Featuring absolutely outstanding performances from the three lead characters, Brandon Greenhouse as Isaiah, Billy Mayo as Sidney and Angela Bullock as Joan, Strange Thing About the Johnsons will draw you in with the opening scene and lock your attention as the subject matter of the film unfolds. I can pretty much guarantee you've never seen anything of this ilk before.
Scroll down and check out Strange Thing About the Johnsons right here. We heard it polarized audiences at the NYFF, a real love it or hate it film. The subject matter may make you uncomfortable (isn't that what horror is all about), but you can't deny the powerful performances of the actors. Nice job!
Let's face it: The Internet can already be a pretty frightening place (if you don't believe us, Google any word, and you have a 99% chance of pulling up some dude jackin' off). The good news? It's about to get a whole lot scarier!
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Screen Gems has picked up rights to a creepy student-made short entitled Viral with the plan of spinning it into a feature.
The pickup is a coup for Tim Shechmeister, a recent UCLA film school grad who directed the short and co-wrote it with his brother, Matt, as part of a thesis project. The Shechmeisters will co-write the feature, and Tim would direct the big-screen version.
The roughly 11-minute short is set in the world of cyberbullying and eventually includes supernatural elements. In fact, the story could be described as being reminiscent of The Grudge or The Ring, but primed for the current generation that uses smart phones and Facebook as extensions of themselves.
The Grudge reference is apt because that movie’s writer, Stephen Susco, discovered the short at a screenwriting event this past summer. Tim Shechmeister, who is also a fan of Japanese horror (AKA J-Horror), gave Susco his business card with a link to the short, which the scribe checked out and loved.
“I see a lot of student films and like to see what’s going on,” says Susco. “I rarely see something as polished as this one.”
Susco brought it to Grudge producer Roy Lee, who, along with Lawrence Grey, took it to Screen Gems. The trio will now produce.
“It strikes at the modern social media anxiety that really hits a hot nerve in this country,” says Susco. “How young people communicate is changing, and technology is altering the tenor of that communication—in many cases for the worse. And this is an opportunity to do something scary and really potent at the same time.”
A couple of weeks ago we reported that the always good Chris Meloni was in talks to join the hit HBO vampire series "True Blood", and lo and behold the official word has finally come. Hopefully his addition will be something more than just another character with another plotline to have to keep up with.
According to TV Guide, Meloni has joined the cast of "True Blood" for Season 5, which is expected to return in summer 2012.
Meloni is slated to portray "an ancient, powerful vampire who holds the fate of Bill [Stephen Moyer] and Eric [Alexander Skarsgard] in his hands and is the mastermind of the mainstream movement," executive producer Alan Ball told TVLine.com, who first reported the news.
The HBO series had been courting the "Law & Order: SVU" star for a major role since at least November. Meloni, 50, starred as Detective Elliot Stabler on "SVU" for 12 seasons before making his exit last spring. Since then he's been noticeably absent from the screen, though he'll be starring as a general in the feature Man of Steel, due out in 2013.
Some interesting casting news is coming out of the IMDB (so take that for what it's worth) pertaining to the remake of William Lustig's classic slasher film Maniac. The cause of all of our killer's lunacy has been chosen ... and more!
Did you remember to check out the online-only prequel webisode for Chiller TV's Remains entitled Remains: Road to Reno that premiered today? If not, be sure to head over to Chillertv.com and do so. But first how about a quick Q&A with executive producer Steve Niles, who also wrote the graphic novel Remains is based on? In addition, we have two new promo videos to share!
It was back in August of 2009 when Universal acquired the rights to adapt Steve Niles' Criminal Macabre, which features drug-infused anti-hero detective Cal McDonald, into a feature film; and yes, things have been moving rather slowly, but we finally have an update!
Artist Michael Kaluta (Starstruck, The Shadow) and writer Steve Niles (30 Days of Night, Remains) are creating a graphic novel of epic proportions for Legendary Comics that will be a tie-in with Legendary Pictures' big screen adaptation of the classic tale Paradise Lost helmed by Alex Proyas, and today we have an update on what Niles and Kaluta are up to.
If you find the prospect of burning eternally in an inferno while being tortured incessantly by demons until every ounce of your humanity is stripped away like vultures picking your eyeballs from your cold dead sockets humorous, man, do we have a project to tell you about!
"Don't do the crime if you can't do the time ... yeah! Don't do it!" Oh, how we miss the funky television show theme songs of yesteryear! In any event, a new thriller is coming your way, and we have the news for ya cold off the slab!
While we have absolutely no plot details pertaining to the new flick cooking at Warner Brothers that's known for now as Rise, we can't help but pay attention given the parties involved. Read on for the skinny.
Tuesday got you down? Still suffering the beginning of the week blues? Then how about we bug out a bit and let you dig on the first trailer for Metamorphosis? There, all better now, see?
Since no one apparently was able to locate a viable Sasquatch during the first season of Animal Planet's "Finding Bigfoot", the series is returning in the new year (on January 1st to be exact) for another crack at tracking down the beast.
Let's face it: The Internet can already be a pretty frightening place (if you don't believe us, Google any word, and you have a 99% chance of pulling up some dude jackin' off). The good news? It's about to get a whole lot scarier!
A couple of weeks ago we reported that the always good Chris Meloni was in talks to join the hit HBO vampire series "True Blood", and lo and behold the official word has finally come. Hopefully his addition will be something more than just another character with another plotline to have to keep up with.
