Blumhouse Productions and Radius-TWC aren't looking to release the indie horror-thriller Creep (review) from the Duplass Brothers as a stand-alone film. In fact, the powers-that-be are totally thinking franchise! Read on for the latest details.

According to Collider, who spoke with Mark Duplass, a trilogy is indeed on its way.

"I’m gonna be shooting the second Creep film at the end of the year, and the cast will be revealed soon," Duplass said. "I’m really excited about it because there’s a good chance that all three of them will release next year. We’re gonna try to line them all up. For me it’s, if you can spend a dollar marketing one movie, why don’t you let that dollar work for all three of them and that way you can spend a lot more and get the movie out there?”

The microbudget two-hander stars Patrick Brice as a videographer who answers an online ad to film a stranger (Mark Duplass) in a remote mountain town for a personal project that turns sinister.

Brice co-wrote the pic with Duplass and makes his directorial debut with Creep, which will be released later this year.

Plant monsters. We know them. We love them. We have to have them. Behold your first look at the latest green menace on the block who's looking to strangle your ass for screwing with mother nature... It Grows!

Described as "ALIEN meets THE THING meets LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS meets DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS," directors Ryan Cauchi and Nick Stathopoulos' short film stars Stathopoulos along with Catriona Sparks.

Synopsis
Zac (Stathopoulos) has a problem. He suffers from ‘cyberchondria’ – he contracts every disease he ever reads about online. His long-suffering girlfriend Jan (Sparks) has had enough. But that’s not his only problem. Something is growing in his garden… and it’s growing fast! Is it just a cute little plant, or could it be the harbinger of something more sinister?

Can Zac and his trusty canine companion, Rip, nip it in the bud before it’s too late, or will they be pushing up daisies before it’s through?

You may recall Dread Central has teamed with Nightmare Magazine to present brand new fiction each month, and our selection from Nightmare’s August issue is “Dear Owner of This 1972 Ford Crew Cab Pickup” by Desirina Boskovich.

We hope you enjoy it; please be sure let us know what you think in the comments section below. If there's a specific type of story you're interested in, let us know that as well, and we'll do our best to include it in future months.

"DEAR OWNER OF THIS 1972 FORD CREW CAB PICKUP"

by Desirina Boskovich

It’s me again. Remember me?

In the beginning I left a note stuck to your windshield. You are parked outside my bedroom window, it said. Please stop revving your truck at 3 a.m., or find somewhere else to park. I am trying to sleep. You made no response; I left another note. I am so exhausted, it said. Please. My mother is in the hospital. I have insomnia and once you wake me up I cannot fall back asleep for hours. The racket is awful. Sometimes I am so tired I can hardly think.

But the racket went on.

Have you ever been too tired to fall asleep? Weary to the core, but you can’t drift off, no matter how you try. Instead I lay awake at night, rigid and tense. I was imagining the inevitable roar of your detestable truck. The rev of the engine rattling my windows, the rumble and cough as you repeatedly flooded the engine with gas. Sometimes it took a few tries. Eventually it would catch, splutter to life, bellow away into the night, leaving me heart pounding and enraged. When I slept I dreamt of bitter arguments and runaway trains, and the ding-ding-ding at the railroad crossing as the black and white striped bar came slashing down.

When I wrote the third note, I wanted to be sure it was received. I couldn’t sleep anyway, so I stayed awake, staring out the flimsy, single-paned window, staring into the night, uninterrupted as yet by your truck’s filthy rattle and belch. My elbows were propped on the disintegrating wood of the sash as I gazed between the curtains. Your truck was parked on the side of the street, just across my narrow strip of yard. Your truck: a cloudy swirling black, as if it had been sprayed haphazardly with leftover house paint. My street has no streetlights. In the darkness of the cul-de-sac, the truck could hardly be seen.

I waited and watched ‘til you came. That was the first time I saw you: a dumpy slob with a beer gut, your hair long and untended, your beard untrimmed. You were too young for all of this, too young to have given up, but you had, anyway. You fancied yourself tough. You had even affected a trucker’s cap; I imagined the truck was some kind of affectation, too. You came from the bar on the corner, striding heavily, one part tired, one part drunk, two parts longing for home. (Tired, in a way, maybe: you have no idea what the word really means.) I saw you grab the note, scan it with barely a moment’s grace, crumple it up, and toss it onto the floor of the cab as you climbed inside.

This particular note had said something like: I am begging you. I own this house. I can’t move. My mother is still in the hospital. I just need one good night’s sleep. Have you ever felt so tired you couldn’t go on? It’s a long, long street.

I lay awake until dawn, thinking of the way you’d crushed my plea and tossed it at your feet. At seven a.m. I got up and drove to the hospital to visit my mother before work. That afternoon I fell asleep in class, during a lecture. It doesn’t sound so bad, until I tell you it was a lecture I myself was delivering. I lost myself in the space between two sentences. I woke to a baffled classroom calling my name.

A few students gathered around me after class, solicitous and concerned. “Are you okay? Lately you haven’t seemed yourself.”

“I’m fine,” I said. “It’s just . . . my mother’s been in the hospital for six weeks. And I haven’t been able to sleep. There’s this truck that keeps parking outside my window . . .” I began to cry.

That Friday I was called into the department chair’s office. They were letting me take off the rest of the semester. A colleague would take over my class load. Do you know what this means for an adjunct, someone like me? It means I’m done. They don’t have to say it. If you live on the edge—constantly treading water, one bad day away from drowning—then you already know.

I came into the bar that Friday. You should remember me now; you should remember me like this: a middle-aged woman, dark hair trimmed short like a boy’s, deep grooves around her mouth, dark circles under her eyes, no longer beautiful. Dressed in boots and jeans and an oversized flannel shirt. I saw you behind the bar; it was your shift, of course, I knew because your truck was parked where it always was, the cul-de-sac at the end of the block, the cul-de-sac that was once serene. I sat at the bar and ordered a beer.

“I was fired today,” I told you, but you didn’t care, just mumbled “Sorry to hear that,” and turned away to watch the game on the little flat screen mounted high in the corner, tucking your filthy shirt into your sagging waistband. It was a biker’s bar on Tuesdays, a sports bar on Sundays, a cheap filthy college bar on Thursdays through Saturdays. I’d lived in my house for three years, and this was the first time I’d been inside.

So I watched you, even though you had no interest in me; I saw you sneak that shot of whiskey, I saw you pour yourself that beer. I nursed my own, thinking about my mother and what I would do now about bills, what I would do for work. “You should really find somewhere else to park,” I told you. “Or to work.” But you didn’t look away from the television and I don’t think you heard. Why didn’t I beg you to recognize me then, to look me in the eye and see my need, to agree to that one simple thing? I guess I still wanted to give you the chance to do the right thing. I took my leave. I didn’t tip.

I bought earplugs and I bought a fan and I covered my head with pillows until I nearly smothered myself in my fitful sleep. It didn’t work. I could still feel the reverberation through the walls. I moved my bed into the living room, but I could still hear you there.

My house was a dumpy bungalow with flimsy walls and a cracked foundation, a few harsh winters from falling down, in the student rental slum of a depressed Midwestern college town. I’d come here for my mother. I’d come here to teach. This was my life. I couldn’t bear it. I couldn’t sleep.

Do you remember me yet? Do you remember me now?

No. You never actually noticed me, not once. It would have been so easy, to find a spot a bit further from the bar, to park on another street. It would have been so simple, but you couldn’t be bothered. You were careless. Selfish. Rude. You’re just like everybody else.

I began following you, of course. What else was I supposed to do?

I waited in my car, sitting in the dark with the engine turned off, silently shivering, until I saw you stagger from the bar. It was closer to three that night. You really shouldn’t have been driving; you’d had a few yourself. I followed you, anyway, out of the city limits, through the winding rocky hills, over the dark still lake. I watched as you pulled into a driveway choked with weeds, crunched across the gravel, stood among the shambles of the porch, fumbled with your keys.

I stopped leaving notes. You forgot I existed. But that doesn’t mean I went away.

Remember the Christmas packages stolen off your doorstep? Your aunt’s homemade sausages, your grandma’s fruitcake? You blamed your neighbors. But it was me.

The broken windows? Me. The garbage cans emptied across the front yard? Not a raccoon, but me. The missing rent check, taken from the mailbox before the postman arrived? Me. The customer who ordered six rounds of your finest scotch, then skipped out on the bill? Also me, hoping for something to send me into sweet oblivion, finally a deep and dreamless sleep. That night, at least, I didn’t wake.

I learned incontrovertibly of your brutishness when I found your dog tied in your backyard beside a mildew-covered pillow and an empty silver bowl; she’d paced the length of the chain so long she’d worn a bare spot into the ground. I untied her and took her home. I let her sleep with me.

Whenever she heard the crude roar of your engine, she lifted her head and growled a warning.

• • • •

There was one incident I wanted to tell you about specifically. That’s why I’m writing now, after all this time. But don’t worry; this note will be the last.

It happened three days before my mother died. I’d spent seven hours in the hospital that day. I’d spent a countless number of sleepless nights, thanks to my despair, thanks to you. It was evening. I was heading home.

How long was I asleep there, behind the wheel? It was a microsecond, no more. I was asleep with eyes open, stranded in the wasteland between waking and dreams. I was conscious and unconscious, simultaneously.

I saw, but didn’t see, the red light.

I coasted on through.

You can’t imagine the pain; you’ve never felt such a thing. That first spurt of blood. The splintering of bone. I woke to the crash and thud of two cars crumpling like tin cans. The other driver was okay, just scratched and bruised, scared to death, new car destroyed. He was okay, just angry—can you blame him, I suppose? I would have said something like, “I’m so sorry, my mother is in the hospital and I haven’t slept in weeks, I didn’t mean to do it,” but I knew he wouldn’t care. I know by now that no one gives a single goddamn about anything that’s happening to anyone else. Besides, I couldn’t talk for the pain; my left leg was almost completely crushed. I couldn’t talk. I could only scream. It’s a blur, anyway, just the thud and the crash and the crying and pain. I was in surgery for two days. On the third day they wheeled me to the floor where my mother was dying and through the haze of painkillers—hers, mine, ours—we said a sort of goodbye. It wasn’t enough. Nothing ever is.

I gave your dog away to one of my former students. I knew she would give her the home she deserved.

If there’s one thing I know about you, it’s this: that you can’t imagine what it feels like to feel like this.

• • • •

It’s been two months now since the accident, and I walk with a limp. Each step is painful, which is a step up from when each step was agony. Each step reminds me of the worst moments of my life.

Our medical bills are hopeless, by the way.

When I was in the hospital I made friends with a nurse. She felt sorry for me, everything I’d been through. She knew the accident wasn’t really my fault.

I asked her one day what kind of drug might make a person feel like they were dreaming even when they were awake. “Like night terrors,” I told her. “Aware, but unable to do anything but watch.”

“Sux,” she said, that twang in her voice. “Suxamethonium chloride’s its real name. We use it in the emergency room, with anesthesia. Makes the patient relax for a minute, so we can get in there, do what we need to do. Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Used to get like that sometimes, when I was a kid. Nightmares. You know.”

Anyway, that was a while ago. I moved into my mother’s house in the country and began the process of sorting through her things. I put my dumpy bungalow up for sale; I wouldn’t need a place by the college anymore. I went to physical therapy. And I got online and searched and searched until I found someone who would send me a single syringe of suxamethonium chloride, no questions asked.

I haven’t seen you for a while, but I know you’ll still be working at the bar—you have no ambitions, I believe—and I have a feeling you’ll still be parking on the street outside my dark and empty house.

I know you never lock the doors. You know if anyone tries to steal your shitty old 1972 Ford Crew Cab Pickup, you’ll hear the screeching, spluttering, choking whine of the motor from all the way up the block.

I know I can curl up on the floor of the cab behind your seat, dressed from head to toe in dark clothes, with a black stocking cap pulled low over my face (holes cut for eyes), and you’ll never see me, you’ll never notice me in the dark and your work-weary haze.

It hurts my leg now, to huddle in the fetal position like this, but I try not to whimper too much.

I know the way you take back home; I’ve driven it myself. I know the steep and winding curve the highway makes, just before the lake.

I will rise up in the darkness, the syringe dripping in my hand, and stab you swiftly in the neck, letting all the fluid rush into your veins. In thirty seconds you’ll be numb, paralyzed. Thirty seconds, no more.

You will watch wide-eyed as I lean over your shoulder, grab the steering wheel, and send us flying off the highway, through the guardrail, into the frigid waters of the lake. Into oblivion, sleep. At long last, sleep.

You will know what it feels like to watch your whole life spin out of control right in front of you, to see it all slipping away and be unable to move. You will know what it feels like to be too tired to find your footing, too weak to get a grip.

You will finally know what it feels like to feel like this.

I’ve taped this letter to your windshield, like I did with all the rest. I know you’ll crumple it up, toss it by your feet, never give it a second glimpse.

I know you haven’t read this.

I suppose you never will.

[end]

Nightmare Magazine is edited by bestselling anthology editor John Joseph Adams (Wastelands, The Living Dead). This story first appeared in the Nightmare’s August 2014 issue, which also features original fiction by Ben Peek (“Upon the Body”) along with reprints by Tia V. Travis (“The Kiss”) and Simon Strantzas (“Out of Touch”). We also have the latest installment of our column on horror, “The H Word,” plus author spotlights with our authors, a showcase on our cover artist, and a feature interview with Daniel Knauf, creator of the TV show "Carnivale." You can wait for the rest of this month's contents to be serialized online, or you can buy the whole issue right now in convenient eBook format for just $2.99. It's a great issue so be sure to check it out. And while you're at it, tell a friend about Nightmare!

Director Matthew A. Brown dropped us a line to let us know that his new horror flick, Julia, has opened up its official Facebook page, and you can use it to keep track of when Julia can be seen at upcoming screenings, festivals, theatrical premieres, etc.

Stay in touch with Julia on Facebook here!

Brown writes and directs. Ashley C. Williams (pictured above; The Human Centipede: First Sequence), Tahyna Tozzi, Jack Noseworthy, and Joel De La Fuente star.

The film has been picked up by Archstone Distribution and will be next playing at Film4 FrightFest in London. Check out the trailer below.

Synopsis
A neo-noir revenge thriller centering on Julia Shames, who, after suffering a brutal trauma, falls prey to an unorthodox form of therapy to restore herself.

Back in June Syfy unleashed Snakehead Swamp, a new Original Movie with a cast that included "Huggy Bear" from "Starsky and Hutch." Now you can experience its glory on DVD. Read on for details.

From the Press Release
They’re back! Terror returns when genetically modified snakehead fish ferociously wreak havoc after being unleashed in the desolate swamps of Louisiana in the action-packed suspense thriller SNAKEHEAD SWAMP.

The film will be available on DVD and Digital HD October 7, 2014, from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. The follow-up to Syfy’s camp classic Snakehead Terror stars Ayla Kell (TV’s “Make It or Break It”) and Dave Davis (TV’s “True Detective”) with Terri Garber (TV’s “As the World Turns,” “Dynasty”) and Antonio Fargas (TV’s “Everybody Hates Chris,” “Starsky & Hutch”).

SNAKEHEAD SWAMP is directed by Don E. Fauntleroy from a screenplay by Greg Mitchell. Ken Badish and Daniel Lewis served as both producers and executive producers with Eric M. Davies as line producer. SNAKEHEAD SWAMP originally aired June 28, 2014, on Syfy. The film has a run time of approximately 86 minutes and is not rated.

Synopsis
A horrifying hybrid of genetic science and nature has taken over the Louisiana bayou, leaving terror in its wake! In the heat of the summer, what began as a day of boating and bikinis changes drastically when a school of genetically enhanced snakehead fish finds its way into Black Briar Swamp. As their thirst for blood grows, the creatures evolve by the minute, even learning to walk on land! No one is safe in this hair-raising thriller.

Last year in Oklahoma a famous father-and-son team of storm chasers were heard screaming, “We’re going to die! We’re going to die!” on a Highway Patrol radio moments before they were indeed killed by one of the savage twisters they’d devoted their lives to following.

Storm chasers are single-minded in their pursuit of danger, willing to risk all for the thrill of the hunt, and in the new movie Into the Storm, Matt Walsh plays just such a character. He’s Pete, a TV reality star who endangers his crew when one of the biggest storms of all time hits the rural town of Silverton.

While the subject matter is serious, behind the scenes Walsh was dealing with a comedy of errors he couldn’t help but laugh at. In the film his fortress on wheels is Titus, a storm-proof tank that can roll its way through anything. In real life the tank’s windows leaked constantly, the windows shattered every time someone slammed the lid, and basically, “It never worked!” Walsh lamented. “It was like Bruce the shark from Jaws. Someone even stuck a sticker of a shark on the back, and you can see it in the movie. It was a running joke.”

On Pete’s crew are cameramen Jacob (Jeremy Sumpter, Frailty) and Daryl (Arlen Escarpeta, Final Destination 5) and meteorologist Allison (Sarah Wayne Callies, “The Walking Dead”).

Jacob gets thrown around quite a bit, which actually made Sumpter feel right at home – he did tons of wirework as Peter Pan in the 2003 film of the same name. Daryl fares a bit better, but it was still a lot of buffeting about and getting drenched for him and co-star Callies. The two were paired up for interviews, and here’s what they had to say about working with director Steven Quale (who also directed Final Destination 5).

Sarah Wayne Callies: Steve worked really hard to make sure we had as many practical effects that he could to spare us the indignity of acting against a fake tornado. You don’t wanna be like “Wooo!” all over the place, you know. He made it real. I certainty read scripts differently now. I figure out how many pages am I wet for because there are only a certain number of tornadoes, but then you realize as soon as you’re wet, you are wet for the rest of the movie. So you come to work and they put your clothes on and then they literally put you in front of a fire hose.

Arlen Escarpeta: Just wet you down.

SWC: You start to realize why many actors only do one weather movie in their career. Steve and I have talked about working on a film that would be called “Warm and Dry by a Fireplace.” That is my next professional ambition.

Dread Central: I would like to know from each of you, since you have both done horror in the past, how does a disaster film mimic horror in terms of suspense and timing? And is it the same sort of acting experience?

AE: That’s a great question. That’s so funny - I have never thought of it from that aspect, but now that you bring it up, it’s very similar. In a sense there is a monster... there is a thing that is out there that is trying to get us, and you have this group of people that are struggling to stay together and stay alive. And in the midst of that you have the internal issues and arguments. It’s very similar. I think the only difference might be there is no boogie man around the corner. You know who our boogie man is, and it’s real. And it’s a lot more relatable in terms of something that can happen anywhere. Just maybe a couple days ago we had that crazy thunderstorm here in L.A., you know over in Venice Beach. Lots of people were struck by lightning.

SC: I think there is definitely the sense that when the threat comes from a weather movie like this, you can’t beat it. You know, you can kill a zombie; you can defeat Freddie Krueger. I think in a lot of horror movies there is an antagonist that theoretically with the proper tools you can overcome... you can’t stop a tornado, you can’t fight it, you can’t beat it, so there is a sort of inexorable quality. What I think certainly unifies them is that you know the audience only cares about the danger that the protagonists are in if they care who those protagonists are. And they are only as afraid as we are. So if we invest this tornado with something real, if we build these characters into people with lives, it makes sense that then an audience will care, but all the special effects in the world aren’t going to do you any good unless they are anchored with characters that matter to people. And actors who are willing to get really wet.

The wettest of the wet are local high school kids played by Alycia Debnam Carey and Max Deacon – as Kaitlyn and Donnie, they take shelter in an old abandoned building, only to find themselves in the water-filled death trap. Much of the time they are submerged up to their chins.

Carey didn’t mind it too much, and she was actually pretty thrilled to star in a storm-centric fright flick. She used to watch all the shows about extreme weather on TV. “Tsunamis, volcanoes, tornadoes. That was my jam as a kid!” Both she and costar Deacon “loved the movie Twister.”

Nathan Kress, who plays Donnie’s bratty brother, Trey, does a lot of running from the intense weather. It wasn’t easy, though he did try to get in shape before cameras rolled. “My cardio was awful. I tried running for like a week. Then I gave it up. So when I’m breathless in the movie, it’s for real.”

All three of the younger stars said they watched YouTube videos of actual storm chasers, and just regular people caught in storms, to learn all they could to make their characters as realistic as possible. Deacon said, “Until you see these, you have no idea how many times real people say ‘oh my god’ and ‘oh shit’, like, 50 times in two minutes.” Into the Storm is PG-13 and so, “We couldn’t do that.”

Speaking of dialogue, there is one line in the film that got some real chuckles. It’s something about the storm being “like the zombie apocalypse.” When asked about it, Callies doesn’t chuckle. She says, “Not my idea, nor the idea of the actor who had to say that. And that’s all I’m going to say about it.”

Even the film’s screenwriter, John Swetnam, won’t take credit for the obvious wink to “The Walking Dead.” “I don’t know where that came from,” he admitted. However, he did jokingly take credit for my favorite sequence in the film (a fleet of unpiloted planes flying haphazardly in the sky), “Yes, I totally wrote that! No, no I didn’t.”

Swetnam has tackled a variety of genres, but mainly dance and disaster. “After Step Up: All In, and this one, I’m the dance/tornado guy in this town. It’s getting me a lot of work!” he laughed. When asked his thoughts on the Sharknado phenomenon, Swetnam said, “Real tornadoes don’t need sharks.” However, he jokingly said, “I’d be into doing Tarantu-lanche.”

If the writer himself isn’t funny enough, there are two characters in Into the Storm who serve purely as comic relief. Those guys are wannabe YouTube stars Reevis and Donk, played by “Last Comic Standing” champ Jon Reep and Kyle Davis (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”). When asked if they did their own stunts, Reep quipped, “Actually, we did each other’s stunts.” Both comics said pretty much all of their dialogue was improvised – “Otherwise we would not have had many lines.” When asked how they would describe their characters, Davis said, “We are the Philip Seymour Hoffman of Twister.”

One rather interesting tidbit revealed on the press day was the fact that all of the actors who were holding cameras – from Flips to Go-Pros to semi-professional rigs – are also DPs, as much of their footage was actually incorporated into the final cut of the film. I was curious about how this worked out in the editing room – it’s got to be mind-boggling with all those different sources and multiple takes and angles on the same action.

Director Quale said, “As a filmmaker who is used to working on projects where you have total control over every aspect, it was actually a sort of challenge. But I really enjoyed it because now suddenly I have every actor having a camera that is recording, that could potentially be a shot in the movie. And so we had to train the actors how to operate the cameras and the camera crew was learning what the actors were doing. And we had to have the continuity, so you have the shot where an actor has a camera, then we would reshoot that sequence with a professional camera operator in the same angle to get all the subtleties we needed because when you add the digital effects in the background, you need a high resolution, high quality camera to do that.”

DC: Do you feel a disaster movie can in a way mirror the timing and suspense that you need for horror to be scary?

Steven Quale: In a way. There is the same level of dread. But in these giant natural disaster movies, there's more of this sort of beast that is coming at you as opposed to a boogie man, which is more like a horror movie, which gives you a lot of surprise moments that make you jump.

DC: Yeah, I did notice no cats jumping out from nowhere in this one!

SQ: Right! This is more a giant unrelenting force that is coming that you have to deal with. But then it becomes a moral question… not even a moral question, but a character question. What do you do? Do you turn and run away, do you help the person next to you? The tension comes with whether the tornado is going to hit you and or if it’s going to miss you. Because a tornado is very random in the wind pattern. See, you can have a fierce tornado coming right at you, then at the last minute it can veer off. Or not. So I think the tension there is similar but a little different as horror films go.

DC: We all know the golden age of disaster films was the 1970’s, but we have moved on technologically from there. Still, there’s just ‘something’ about those oldies. Did you look at any films for inspiration?

SQ: Well, it’s interesting because when I make a movie, I tend to try and avoid looking at any other films because I want the script and the material to give me inspiration and to figure what I want to do out of it. I am aware of it but I am not like, 'We have to top Twister!' or 'We have to do this.; I remember being a kid seeing The Towering Inferno in a matinee and thinking it’s nighttime [like in the film] and the doors open in the movie theater and it was bright daytime. That taught me a lesson as a really little kid how the magic of cinema is because as a kid I was convinced it was nighttime and we were on these roofs and there were these fires and then it was a complete illusion: The doors open and it is daytime. It was an eye-opener and great inspiration for me to get into movies and creating that illusion. So I think that all the old movies were great, but I try to get inspiration for the source material and the research I do for each of the projects I am working on.

DC: When you have a movie like this, or any movie where you have characters in distress, are there particular challenges in setting it within the contemporary age in which everyone is connected? And now with weather technology like the early warning systems and all that.

SQ: Absolutely. I mean it’s getting harder and harder to do movies where people are lost or you can’t find one another cause the technology easily allows... you have instant communication, instant GPS, and so the one good thing is the research that we did. We found that in severe weather situations, the winds blow down cell towers and other things so it does disrupt the communication more so if you had the old fashioned land line. So there is some legitimacy to that. Or the phones get overloaded cause everyone is calling. But it is a very difficult challenge nowadays to make movies like that and make it believable so that people aren’t saying, “Give me a break, you know how can that happen.” So what we did was have partial cell communication and then it doesn’t work. Or having batteries go dead. There are ways you can get around it, but it is a challenge these days, definitely.

Into the Storm opens in theaters nationwide on Friday, August 8, 2014.

The film stars Richard Armitage (The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug), Sarah Wayne Callies (TV’s “The Walking Dead”), Matt Walsh (Ted), Alycia Debnam-Carey (Where the Devil Hides), Arlen Escarpeta (Final Destination 5), Nathan Kress (TV’s “iCarly”), Jon Reep (Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay), and Jeremy Sumpter (Soul Surfer, TV’s “Friday Night Lights”).

Related Story: Visit our Into the Storm news archive

Synopsis:
In the span of a single day, the town of Silverton is ravaged by an unprecedented onslaught of tornadoes. The entire town is at the mercy of the erratic and deadly cyclones, even as storm trackers predict the worst is yet to come. Most people seek shelter, while others run towards the vortex, testing how far a storm chaser will go for that once-in-a-lifetime shot.

Told through the eyes and lenses of professional storm chasers, thrill-seeking amateurs, and courageous townspeople, Into the Storm throws you directly into the eye of the storm to experience Mother Nature at her most extreme.

Yahoo! scored a new trailer for Left Behind, featuring Nicolas Cage and his hair, and all we want is for this movie to get here pronto if only for shits and giggles! Behold this new sliver of scenery chewing absurdity!

The forthcoming $15 million reboot stars Nicolas Cage, Ashley Tisdale, Chad Michael Murray, Nicky Whelan, Lea Thompson, and Jordin Sparks. According to producer Paul LaLonde, the flick aims to be more mainstream in its sensibilities by weaving End Times “Rapture porn” with traditional disaster movie tropes.

Left Behind hits theaters on October 3rd.

Synopsis:
An airborne 747 is heading to London when, without any warning, passengers mysteriously disappear from their seats. Terror and chaos spread not only through the plane but also worldwide as unusual events continue to unfold. For those who have been left behind, the apocalypse has just begun.

Alrighty, kids! Lace up them boots; it's time to hit the ground running for the very first clip from The Maze Runner, which comes to us today courtesy of Yahoo! Movies. Check it out, and look for much more on this one soon!

Look for The Maze Runner, starring Dylan O’Brien, Jacob Latimore, Will Poulter, Kaya Scodelario, Aml Ameen, Blake Cooper, and Thomas Brodie-Sangster, on October 24, 2014.

Noah Oppenheim and James Dashner (author of the novel) wrote the script. Wes Ball directs.

Synopsis
Based on the young-adult novel by James Dashner, The Maze Runner centers around teen Thomas (O’Brien), who awakens in a rusty elevator with no memory of who he is. What he does come to find out is that he’s been delivered to the middle of an intricate maze, along with a slew of other boys, who have been trying to find their way out of the ever-changing labyrinth — all the while establishing a functioning society within the enclosure they've come to call 'The Glade.'

The found footage flick As Above, So Below, directed by John Erick Dowdle (Quarantine, Devil), will be in theatres on August 29th; and right now we have two new clips for you to sink into. Dig 'em!

Dowdle wrote the script with his brother, Drew, and the film stars Ben Feldman, Perdita Weeks, and Edwin Hodge.

Synopsis
Miles of twisting catacombs lie beneath the streets of Paris, the eternal home to countless souls.

When a team of explorers venture into the uncharted maze of bones, they uncover the dark secret that lies within this city of the dead. A journey into madness and terror, As Above, So Below reaches deep into the human psyche to reveal the personal demons that come back to haunt us all.

It's been just about a year since we last reported on Letia Clouston's The 6th Friend, which immediately piqued our interest thanks to its all-female cast. Today comes word that filming has wrapped, bringing the paranormal slasher ever closer into our lives. Read on!

From the Press Release
Featuring an all-female principal cast, “The 6th Friend” starring Dominique Swain (Lolita), Jamie Bernadette (Milf), Chantelle Albers (Moo Moo and the Three Witches), and Jessica Morris (One Life to Live), has wrapped principal photography and moved into post-production.

The film synopsis reads, “Six college best friends throw their own private graduation party when the stoner of the group orders in something special from her drug dealer, who sticks around and joins their party uninvited. Before the night is over, a horrible vengeance will be wreaked upon him. Five years later, the girls gather once again and endure a night of far more horror and bloodshed that is inflicted upon them this time”.

David Villada plays the sexy, gritty drug dealer “Tyler”. David is not new to this type of character having had experience playing a drug dealer before in the popular crime thriller “6 Ways to Sundown” and also in the drama “Armo”. We will also see a special appearance by Tina Cole of “My Three Sons” in the film.

Dominique Swain comments regarding her experience working in the film, “Working on ‘The 6th Friend’ was delightful! Rarely do I come away from a set with several really close friends— not a diva or big boob bimbo in the bunch— and our exuberantly inspiring director, Letia Clouston is magic!”

The film anticipates a tentative release date of early 2015.

Stay tuned for more soon, and in the interim stay up-to-date with The 6th Friend on Facebook, and follow The 6th Friend on Twitter (@the6thfriend).

For several months now we've been referring to the next film in the Terminator franchise as Terminator: Genesis, and though the title hasn't quite been changed, the spelling of it has. Get ready to scratch your head...

The official @Terminator account tweeted out an image of the film's title treatment today, which reveals that it's officially being spelled Terminator: Genisys. Arnold Schwarzenegger confirmed the spelling change on his Instagram account, also revealing that the shoot has officially wrapped.

"Hasta la vista, baby," he wrote. "I want to thank the cast and crew of Terminator: Genisys for a fantastic shoot. It was challenging, it was fun, and it was rewarding. From our director to the producers, from the camera team to catering, from visual effects to hair and makeup - we couldn't have done it without you. I can't wait to see our finished project and I know we'll remind the fans why they fell in love with the Terminator. On July 1, 2015, I'll be back."

Check out the official logo below, which shows off the film's strange new title.

Terminator: Genisys will hit theaters on July 1, 2015.

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Douglas Smith, Matt Smith ("Doctor Who"), Jason Clarke, Emilia Clarke, Jai Courtney, J.K. Simmons, Dayo Okeniyi, and Byung Hun Lee star.

Skydance and Annapurna co-financed along with Paramount with David Ellison producing for Skydance and Megan Ellison producing for Annapurna. Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier penned the script, and Alan Taylor directed.

The latest sasquatchploitation flick from Bobcat Goldthwait, Willow Creek (review) is on its way to Blu-ray and DVD and right now we have all the details you need to get ready without even having to plan out your camping trip!

From the Press Release
A young couple find themselves face to face with a terrifying evil when they venture into the heart of Bigfoot country in WILLOW CREEK, director Bobcat Goldthwait's unique spin on the horror genre. It creeps onto Blu-ray and DVD from Dark Sky Films and MPI Media Group on September 9, 2014, with SRPs, respectively, of $29.98 and $24.98.

Looking to make a splash with his research videos into the existence of Bigfoot, Jim (Bryce Johnson, Pretty Little Liars) and his skeptical girlfriend Kelly (Alexie Gilmore, Labor Day, God Bless America) take a camping trip to the mountains surrounding Willow Creek, California, a small town where famous footage of the legendary Sasquatch was filmed decades earlier. Jim believes Bigfoot exists and is intent on finding the very spot where the huge, hairy, man-like creature supposedly strode.

But before long, Jim and Kelly are lost in the woods and discover that someone - or something - is stalking them. With each passing night bringing unknowable danger, the two must use all of their cunning to try to make it out of the forest alive.

Special features on the BD and DVD include: Commentary with Writer/Director Bobcat Goldthwait and Stars Alexie Gilmore and Bryce Johnson, Deleted Scenes, Bryce Johnson's "The Making of Willow Creek" and more.

Writer-director Bobcat Goldthwait takes a radical departure from his recent string of black comedies (God Bless America, World's Greatest Dad) to create a film that shows there are still surprises and shocks to be had in the found-footage genre pioneered by The Blair Witch Project. In her review in The New York Times, Jeannette Catsoulis pointed out Goldthwait "engineers a static, almost wordless 19-minute shot inside a tent that generates more tension than many horror directors achieve with a swarm of Foley artists and a healthier budget. This canny exploitation of the power of silence is unnerving." Tom Huddleston of Time Out London called the film "a whole lot of jarring, juddering fun." Brian Orndorf of Blu-ray.com said, "It's smaller in scope and horror ambition, which automatically makes it more enjoyable than most of its brethren, creating a mix of local color and camping disaster that's basic but frightfully effective.""WILLOW CREEK does everything a little bit better than others of its kind," praised Scott Tobias of The Dissolve.

And Yahoo! Movies scores a hat trick of horror content as they've just released the new trailer for Adam Wingard's next film, The Guest. Check it out and look for more on this flick soon!

You’re Next, V/H/S, V/H/S/2, and A Horrible Way to Die's Adam Wingard directs from a script by Simon Barrett while Keith Calder and Jessica Wu produce for Snoot Entertainment.

The Guest stars Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe, Brendan Meyer, Sheila Kelley, Leland Orser, and Lance Reddick.

Synopsis
A young soldier arrives on the doorstep of the Peterson family, claiming to be a good friend of their beloved son who died in action. The Petersons welcome David into their home and into their lives, but when people start mysteriously dying in town, mayhem ensues as their teenage daughter, Anna, starts wondering if David is responsible.

It's been a few years since we've heard anything about The Meat Puppet, for which one of the most eclectic casts we'd ever seen was assembled, but now the film has landed worldwide distribution and gotten itself some new artwork.

From the Press Release:
Valenti Vision Films and Silver Phoenix Entertainment, in association with Keith Collins Media Inc., are thrilled to announce the award-winning The Meat Puppet has been picked up for worldwide distribution by TomCat Films.

The Meat Puppet is looking to take a bite out of its competition around the globe now that TomCat Films is on board as its distributor. TomCat Films is primarily known for its genre and mockbuster titles (Aliens vs. Avatars, Thunderstorm: The Return of Thor, Agent Beetle) and is headed by sales and distribution veteran Ted Chalmers.

The Meat Puppet has won five awards so far, including Best Horror Film, Best Actor (Keith Collins), and Best New Jersey Feature. The film was produced entirely in New Jersey and features some of the final footage taken at Union Beach and Jakeabobs Restaurant and Bar, which were both devastated by Hurricane Sandy.

As for that cast we mentioned, along with stars Keith Collins and Daniela Rivera, The Meat Puppet features Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (Guns N' Roses), Skeery Jones (DJ at Z-100), Chris Wilkes ("SNL"), Gregg Valentino (TLC’s "The Man Whose Arms Exploded"), Billy Sample (former NY Yankee), Geri Reischl ("The Brady Bunch Variety Hour"), Emilio Masella ("Jersey Shore"), Billy Garcia and Gervase Peterson ("Survivor"), John Fields (DJ Unique), Gary Garver (formerly of "The Howard Stern Show"), Brandon Ruckdashel (Co-ed Confidential), Darren Server (Atlas Shrugged), Erik Chopin (Winner of "The Biggest Loser"), Matthew Schultz (singer/songwriter), Jamie Kovac (Fury from "American Gladiators"), and April Hunter (WCW & TNA wresting).

The film was directed and edited by Joe Valenti, written by Joseph and Billy Pepitone, produced by Blaze Kelly Coyle, Collins, and Valenti, and executive produced by Coyle and Valenti.

Synopsis:
Andrew "Drew" Shelton appears to have it all... Looks. Money. Women. But behind that charming smile lies an unimaginable evil. An abusive childhood has turned him into an impulsive, delusional sociopath who has developed an insatiable appetite for beautiful women’s flesh. As the bodies pile up and a gung-ho detective starts stalking him, Drew descends deeper into madness. His obsession with one woman may be the only chance to stop him from serving up his next victim. Or will she fall prey and become the next main course?

For more info visit the official The Meat Puppet website and like The Meat Puppet on Facebook.

On Blu-ray and DVD right now via the Scream Factory is 1982's The Beast Within. The film was Tom Holland's first produced feature screenplay, and according to Fango, some of what he wrote couldn’t be filmed for the 1982 release.

“I am now preparing a remake,” he tells them. “Cicadas were a large part of the script I wrote; their 17-year transformation foreshadowed what was happening to Michael. You couldn’t work with insects then, couldn’t capture what I wrote, but CGI now does make that possible.”

He points out, however, that he would not want Michael’s climactic shapeshift into a monster to be done digitally. “Michael’s transformation should still be old-school, done in-camera. The lure of a remake is to finally be able to do what I originally wrote.”

Original Synopsis
A teenager is experiencing growing pains of a most shocking kind in this exciting, tense and all-too-real story of a human-into-monster transformation. 18-year-old Michael MacCleary (Paul Clemens) – the progeny of an unholy union between his mother and a swamp beast – is on the verge of becoming a man. And as the inherited evil in his blood gnaws at his soul, Michael must return to the swamp to uncover the terrifying identity of his father – before his nasty natural tendencies force him to feed on the locals!.

We gave you a heads up on it earlier this week, and now the first ever Full Moon Auction is live! Featuring 12 items up for bid, including Andre Toulon's trunk used in Puppet Master X: Axis Rising, this is a rare opportunity to get some great swag!

In addition to Toulon's trunk, the auctions include a screen-used puppet, original artwork and replica puppets. The auctions are only open until Thursday, August 7, at 12:00 noon PT so move fast! Visit FullMoonAuctions.com.

Full Moon Entertainment is constantly coming up with new and unique ways to entertain you. Keep up on all the news at FullMoonDirect.com and FullMoonStreaming.com.

Levan Akin directs the latest tale of witchy women in Sara Bergmark Elfgren's Circle (Cirkeln), and right now we have your first look at the teaser trailer, which will definitely conjure up memories of The Craft for you. Check it out!

Gustav Lindh, Irma von Platen, Josefin Asplund, and Miranda Frydman star.

Synopsis
One night under a blood red moon, six teenage girls are drawn to an abandoned park by a mysterious force. Upon arrival they discover that they've been summoned to fulfill an ancient prophecy that could very well save the world. Together they must learn to work in tandem, despite their differences, in order to tame the magical powers that have come to life within them. The Circle depicts a parallel world in which dreams, annoying parents, bullying, revenge, and love collide with the dangerous forces of mysticism.

More casting news has come in for the feature film adaptation of The 5th Wave, a young adult sci-fi novel penned by Rick Yancy. The Wrap is reporting that Liev Schreiber (Scream) is in final negotiations to play the villain opposite Chloe Moretz in Sony’s sci-fi extravaganza.

Susannah Grant is writing the screenplay, and J. Blakeson (The Disappearance of Alice Creed) is attached to direct. Nick Robinson is set to star as Ben Parish, aka Zombie, along with Alex Roe as Evan Walker. Schreiber is nearing a deal to play the villain, Vosch, a high-ranking military official.

Moretz stars as Cassie Sullivan, who survives four waves of deadly attacks against the Earth’s population. On the run to save her younger brother, she meets a mysterious young man (Roe) who may become her final hope.

Fox has locked in a July 24, 2015, release date for the remake of the classic flick Poltergeist so make note, throw away your television, and begin seeking portly short women to come and make your house "clean". Or just read on for more details, you lazy bastard.

Rosemarie DeWitt, Sam Rockwell, Jared Harris, Kyle Catlett, Saxon Sharbino, Nicholas Braun, and Jane Adams star in a revisionist take on the classic horror film. David Lindsay-Abaire, Juliet Snowden, and Stiles White worked on the screenplay. Gil Keenan directs the 3D redux.

Synopsis
A family struggling to make ends meet relocates to an outdated suburban home and is confronted by an angry spirit who kidnaps their youngest daughter and challenges them to band together to rescue her from the clutches of evil.

Playing as part of this year's Toronto International Film Festival is the upcoming giallo-comedy The Editor. Read on for your first look at this humorously spooky cut-up!

Adam Brooks and Matthew Kennedy direct the flick, which is said to be a loving tribute to/parody of the gory giallo thrillers of Mario Bava and Dario Argento.

Giallo legend Udo Kier stars alongside Brooks and Tristan Risk.

Synopsis
A one-time (and now one-handed) master film editor toiling in the cinematic sweatshops of 1970s Italy becomes the prime suspect in a series of brutal murders.