RLJ/Image Entertainment’s The Houses October Built is getting a limited theatrical run on October 10th, and right now we have a new trailer and one-sheet for you!

From the Press Release:
Image Entertainment, an RLJ Entertainment brand, has acquired the North American rights to the haunted house thriller THE HOUSES OCTOBER BUILT, produced by Steven Schneider (Insidious, Paranormal Activity) and Zack Andrews.

The film is directed by Bobby Roe and stars Brandy Schaefer, Zack Andrews, Bobby Roe, Mikey Roe, and Jeff Larson. The deal was announced by Image Entertainment’s SVP of Acquisitions, Mark Ward.

“THE HOUSES OCTOBER BUILT is an instant Halloween classic,” said Ward. “This is a film that audiences will seek out year after year – and will be just as terrified each time they watch it.”

THE HOUSES OCTOBER BUILT takes you where no other Halloween film has gone before. Beneath the fake blood and cheap masks of countless haunted house attractions across the country, there are whispers of truly terrifying alternatives. Looking to find an authentic, blood-curdling good fright for Halloween, five friends set off on a road trip in an RV to track down these underground Haunts. Just when their search seems to reach a dead end, strange and disturbing things start happening, and it becomes clear that the Haunt has come to them…

“We found out that over 35 million people go to Halloween Haunts each year,” said writer/director Bobby Roe, “but out of all the horror films out there, no one has touched on these places. It’s untapped. So we decided to tell a story centered around the holiday and set it in the world of Halloween Haunted Houses.”

The Houses October Built will premiere in October in ten markets, including New York and Los Angeles.

More soon.

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This weekend the seventh annual ScareFest Horror & Paranormal Convention is under way in Lexington, Kentucky, and Saw star Cary Elwes is among the guests. DC alum Jinx is on the scene as well and reported in with some news he gleaned from a discussion with the affable actor.

When we spoke with Elwes back in early 2011 as Saw 3D was hitting Blu-ray/DVD, he explained that his agreement with the filmmakers always was to re-appear in the final Saw movie, almost like a bookend to the series.

So when Jinx asked him if he’d be willing to play Doctor Gordon again if Saw returned in some form, as has been hinted at lately, his response was an enthusiastic ”Oh, absolutely,” but only if Saw took on another form.

”Like, say… a TV series,” he said, and then smiled.

It could mean anything of course, but Jinx said it did seem as though there was a distinct possibility this was likely to happen… or had at least been discussed.

With the original Saw heading back to theaters this Halloween, we’re sure the powers-that-be will be watching the box office results closely so stay tuned for updates as they come.

The post Cary Elwes Talks Returning to Saw; TV Series Possible? appeared first on Dread Central.

Wondering what sorts of wild and wooly Wesen Nick and the gang will be facing in the upcoming Season 4 of “Grimm”? Well, we can help fill in the blanks of four of them as NBC has unveiled artwork and details of the Schinderdiv, Heftigauroch, Golem, and previously revealed Gedächtnis Esser.

When “Grimm” returns on October 24th, things pick up right where they left off in the Season 3 finale with Nick (David Giuntoli) having lost his Grimm abilities. He’ll need some help for sure to fend off this dastardly quartet!

Thanks to Entertainment Weekly for the below info.

Gedächtnis Esser (top left): The part-man part-octopus Wesen has four tentacles that burrow into its victim’s head. It also steals your memories and leaves you with dementia. “A lot of what we do is try to explain real-world problems, like in this case identity theft,” says executive producer Jim Kouf. “Our best Wesen ideas come when we have an emotional core that explains something in life.”

Schinderdiv (top right): “How do you explain people who are only out for themselves and do anything to achieve a goal?” asks executive producer David Greenwalt. This demon beast has long bottom fangs and is meant to embody ruthlessness and selfishness.

Heftigauroch (bottom left): Kouf says the Heftigauroch is actually a bull-like Wesen that morphs into rage when provoked. In the show he’s a boxer who is very peaceful and doesn’t want to fight. Just don’t push him too far. “When a bull is brought into a ring, it doesn’t necessarily want a fight… [it] requires being hit with picadors to get mad — this Wesen requires the same treatment,” Kouf says.

Golem (bottom right): As most horror fans know, the Golem is a creature from Jewish folklore. Made of clay and 10 feet high, he protects the meek but is dangerous to try to control. According to Kouf, “The twist with our Golem is how it gets destroyed.”

For more info visit “Grimm” on NBC.com, check out some InstaGRIMMS on Instagram, “like” “Grimm” on Facebook, and follow “Grimm” on Twitter.

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Today’s new teaser for “American Horror Story: Freak Show,” officially number nine so far, has something big and something small and continues the disturbing vibe we’ve seen in the eight that preceded it. More please!

“American Horror Story: Freak Show” debuts October 8th at 10:00 PM on FX. It begins its tale in the quiet, sleepy hamlet of Jupiter, Florida. The year is 1952.

A troupe of curiosities has just arrived to town, coinciding with the strange emergence of a dark entity that savagely threatens the lives of townsfolk and freaks alike. This is the story of the performers and their desperate journey of survival amidst the dying world of the American carny experience.

Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Frances Conroy, Sarah Paulson, Emma Roberts, Gabourey Sidibe, Denis O’Hare, Jamie Brewer, and Evan Peters return from previous seasons. New cast members includes Michael Chiklis, Wes Bentley, John Carroll Lynch, Finn Wittrock, Matt Bomer, Patti LaBelle and the world’s smallest living woman, Jyoti Amge.

“American Horror Story: Freak Show” – Episode 4.01 – “Monsters Among Us” (airs 10/8/14)
One of the only surviving sideshows in the country struggles to stay in business during the dawning era of television. When police make a terrifying discovery at a local farmhouse, the eccentric purveyor of the freak show (Lange) sees an opportunity that will lead her troupe either to their salvation or ruin. Written by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk; directed by Ryan Murphy.

For more info visit the “AHS: Freak Show” Facebook page, check out “AHS: Freak Show” on Tumblr, and follow @AHSFreakShow_ on Twitter along with “American Horror Story” on FX.

The post Opposites Attract in Newest Teaser for American Horror Story: Freak Show appeared first on Dread Central.

Lionsgate has released the first clip from Ed Sanchez’s (The Blair Witch Project) new Bigfoot film, Exists, and we have it for you hot, hairy, and fresh! The flick will be arriving on various VOD platforms October 3rd, a few weeks before it hits limited theaters on October 24th.

In Bigfoot’s bold return to the big screen, five friends on a camping weekend in the remote woods of East Texas struggle to survive against a legendary predator that is stronger, smarter, and more terrifying than anything they would have ever believed exists.

The film stars Chris Osborn, Dora Madison Burge, Roger Edwards, Samuel Davis, Denise Williamson, and Brian Steele and is produced by Jane Fleming, Mark Ordesky, Robin Cowie, and J. Andrew Jenkins. Exists, written by Jamie Nash, is executive produced by George Waud, D. Todd Shepherd, Gregg Hale, and Reed Frerichs, and the Sasquatch creature was designed by Spectral Motion.

Synopsis
For five friends, it was a chance for a summer getaway— a weekend of camping in the Texas Big Thicket. But visions of a carefree vacation are shattered with an accident on a dark and desolate country road. In the wake of the accident, a bloodcurdling force of nature is unleashed—something not exactly human, but not completely animal— an urban legend come to terrifying life…and seeking murderous revenge.

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California’s 14th annnual Screamfest kicks off in just about a month, marking the world premieres of a handful of hotly anticipated films. On tap for you today are the second wave highlights so read on to learn a thing or two about some upcoming films that should be on your radar!

For tickets and to learn more, head over to the official Screamfest website.

From the Press Release:
Screamfest announces the second wave of films packed with chills and thrills to be shown at the 2014 festival. Screamfest kicks off its 14th annual event in Los Angeles on October 14 through October 23 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres (6801 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028).

Second Wave Screening Highlights at Screamfest 2014

· Cyprian’s War (Bulgaria) – Directed by Dobromir Baychev. An excommunicated Eastern Orthodox priest is the only one who can save a possessed young woman. World Premiere

· Dark Was the Night (US) – Directed by Jack Heller. Starring Kevin Durand (“The Strain”) and Lukas Haas (Inception). A long slumbering evil is awoken in the trees outside the remote town of Maiden Woods. Isolated and threatened, it sets its sights on the townspeople as Sheriff Paul Shields (Durand) attempts to overcome the demons of his past so that he may protect those he loves. World Premiere

· Fear Clinic (US) – Directed by Robert Green Hall. Starring Robert Englund, Fiona Dourif, Corey Taylor of Slipknot, and Thomas Dekker. Five desperate patients return to the “Fear Clinic” when their trauma-induced phobias that were caused by the same tragic shooting massacre inexplicably strike them again. Desperate for answers, Sara (Dourif) seeks out Dr. Andover to treat them again with his Fear Chamber — a radical form of exposure therapy that manifests and controls their worst fears in the form of scary hallucinations. But what they encounter is something much more terrifying than their worst fears combined. World Premiere

· Girlhouse (US) – Directed by Trevor Matthews & Jon Knautz. A Halloween-style slasher for the digital age, Girlhouse follows a beautiful young college student who, needing money for tuition, moves into a house that streams content to an X-rated website. After a deranged fan hacks in to determine the house’s location, she finds herself in a terrifying fight for her life. US Premiere

· Preservation (US) –Directed by Christopher Denham. Wit, a brainy anesthesiologist, heads out on a hunting trip in a forest preserve with her husband, Mike, a hedge fund manager, and his brother, Sean, a former Marine. But when the brothers are stalked and captured by three local hunters, Wit must unleash her own animal instincts or else end up a trophy. Los Angeles Premiere

· White Settlers (UK) – Directed by Simeon Halligan. Suspense thriller White Settlers pitches the modern urbanite dream of starting a simple life in the country against the possibility of a very different and terrifying reality. Set in the borders of Scotland, White Settlers takes place over the course of one incredibly tense night and stars Pollyanna McIntosh, internationally renowned for her performance in Sundance horror hit The Woman, festival favourite Love Eternal, and Irvine Welsh’s Filth. It’s Ed and Sarah’s first night at their new home, an isolated farmhouse. This should be a new beginning away from their stressful London lives. And at first it is; come sunset they fall in love all over again as they wander in the beautiful Scottish landscape. But as darkness falls, Sarah suspects they’re not alone, Ed goes to investigate, and quickly the evening becomes a nightmare. It suddenly dawns on them; they do not belong here. And they’re certainly not welcome… US Premiere

The post Screamfest 2014: Second Wave of World Premieres Announced appeared first on Dread Central.

A new clip from Dracula Untold finds a castle under attack. Much like the latest shenanigans going on right now in The Simpsons: Tapped Out, but that’s another story entirely!

The film stars Luke Evans as the titular bloodsucker alongside Sarah Gadon, Samantha Barks, Thor Kristjansson, Art Parkinson, Zach McGowan, and Dominic Cooper.

Universal’s dramatic horror movie tells the origin story of the most famous of vampires. Michael De Luca is producing the project, and commercials helmer Gary Shore is making his directorial debut on the picture.

Look for it in theaters October 17, 2014.

Synopsis
Luke Evans is starring as the most famous of vampires in an origin story that sees a Transylvanian prince risk eternal damnation in order to save his wife and son from a Turkish horde. Barks plays a figure in Eastern European folk tales known as a baba yaga, a beautiful young woman who turns into a savage witch. Kristjansson is Bright Eyes, an Eastern European taken as a slave as a young boy and now a vicious assassin in the Ottoman Army. Parkinson portrays Dracula’s son, named Ingeras.

The post Latest Dracula Untold Clip Attacks appeared first on Dread Central.

Now that filming has begun, the cast of D.J. Caruso’s The Disappointments Room is filling up fast, and today we’ve learned that a new face has moved in. Read on for the latest!

Per Deadline, “House of Cards” star Gerald McRaney (pictured) is the latest to join Kate Beckinsale for Relativity’s haunted house horror-show, which was penned by Wentworth Miller (Stoker) and re-written by Caruso.

The psychological thriller began filming this month and also stars Lucas Till, Mel Raido, Ella Jones, and Duncan Joiner.

Inspired by a true event, The Disappointments Room tells the story of one family’s terror-filled encounter within their own home. Looking for a fresh start, Dana (Beckinsale) and David, together with their 5-year-old son, Jeremy, move into their dream house, a beautiful old rural home. Hidden within the attic is a secret room.

When frightening and unexplainable events lead Dana to discover the long lost key to this room, she accidentally unlocks a host of unimaginable horrors that reveal the house’s past is terrifyingly tied with her own.

More as it comes.

The post Gerald McRaney Joins Kate Beckinsale in The Disappointments Room appeared first on Dread Central.

A pair of new clips for Kevin Smith’s Tusk (review) have touched down online, and we have ‘em both for you as per usual! Look for more on this one as we get it.

Tusk, written and directed by Smith, stars Justin Long, Haley Joel Osment, Genesis Rodriguez, and Michael Parks. Long plays a journalist who finds the story of a lifetime in Mr. Howe (Parks), a worldwide adventurer with amazing tales and a curious penchant for walruses.

Producers are Sam Englebardt, William D. Johnson, and David Greathouse for Demarest and Shannon McIntosh for Smith’s SModcast Pictures banner. Jennifer Schwalbach and XYZ’s Nate Bolotin are executive producers.

Look for the flick in theatres on September 19, 2014.

For more info visit the official Tusk website, “like” Tusk on Facebook, check out Tusk on Instagram, and follow @Tusk_TheMovie on Twitter using the hashtag #WalrusYes.

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On tap right now we have a new image and one-sheet for the latest horror comedy heading our way, What We Do in the Shadows. Dig it!

The mockumentary has been acquired for US distribution by The Orchard and Unison Films, who are partnering up on the release of the film, the former handling U.S. digital, DVD, and broadcast distribution while the latter is in charge of the U.S. theatrical release.

Funny or Die also has an ownership stake in the film, which was produced by Unison Films and Defender Films.

The movie hails from “Flight of the Conchords” co-creator Jemaine Clement and frequent collaborator Taika Waititi; it follows a group of centuries-old bloodsuckers trying to navigate today’s world.

Clement, Waititi, Jonathon Brugh, Cori Gonzalez-Macuer, and Stu Rutherford star.

Synopsis
Consider the living quarters of vampires, and stodgy old castles in Transylvania may come to mind. But these aren’t your typical bloodsuckers. Viago (379 years old), Deacon (183 years old), Vladislav (862 years old), and Peter (8,000 years old) have chosen to share a flat in Wellington, New Zealand. Unfortunately for them, it’s hard to make new friends due to their constant thirst for blood. Without any mortal chums left to invite them in to all of the hip establishments around town, they’ve lost touch with the current social scene. Can these creatures of the night put aside their differences as roommates and adapt to modern society?

The post Eye Candy Showcases What We Do in the Shadows appeared first on Dread Central.

If you live in the UK and love horror (or are a regular reader of DC), you’re probably well aware of SCREAM Magazine; and to celebrate this week’s release of Issue #26, we have five copies to give away. Best of all? You can live anywhere in the world and still win!

To enter for your chance to win, send us an email to contests@dreadcentral.com, including your FULL NAME AND MAILING ADDRESS, and we’ll take care of the rest. This contest will end at 12:01 PT, Thursday, September 25, 2014.

ISSUE #26 CONTENTS INCLUDE:

• THE WALKING DEAD: Scott Wilson Talks Hershel Greene!
  
• PIRANHA SHARKS: John Wells Speaks Out!
  
• THE LAST SHOWING: Director Phil Hawkins Interviewed!
  
• THE ART OF FRIGHT: The Films of Vincent Price…
  
• SADIST FILTH : From VHS to VRA: A History of the ‘Video Nasty’ Hysteria in Great Britain
• ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE: Stuart Brennan Gets Ready for Plan Z…
  
• THE TALKING DEAD: A Chat with The Walking Dead Actors Daniel Thomas May and Eric Mendenhall…
• HORSEHEAD: Director Romain Basset Speaks Out!
• ARMY OF DARKNESS: Remembering the Bruce Campbell Classic…
• ZOMBIE ROM-COM: Jeff Baena and Aubrey Plaza Talk Life After Beth…

You can get a sneak peek of the cover art featuring Scott Wilson as Hershel Greene of “The Walking Dead” below along with three exclusive teaser page layouts of some of the articles found in the latest issue.

SCREAM, Britain’s premiere horror magazine, is published bi-monthly. It’s your best source for horror cinema, DVD/Blu-rays, on-set exclusives, celebrity interviews, books, games, film festival reports, comics, graphic novels, photography, fashion, reviews, previews, and so much more…

Click here for subscription info and/or to purchase individual copies of SCREAM in beautiful full bloody colour glossy print. For more info visit the official SCREAM website.

The post Win a Copy of Issue #26 of the UK’s SCREAM Magazine appeared first on Dread Central.

Starring Jamie Chung, Leslie Bibb, Johnathon Schaech, Amy Smart, Scout-Taylor Compton, Jerry Ferrara

Directed by Takashi Shimizu

When the mystery of still missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 became a media sensation earlier this year, I joked on Twitter that you’d think the producers of the much-delayed 7500 would finally rush it out into theaters to capitalize on the premise of an ill-fated Asian airliner. Someone must have agreed because the film has finally been released in several Asia countries. If anyone is looking for a cheap Thai import DVD, I have a copy that I have absolutely no use for anymore.

Takashi Shimizu’s 7500 has been delayed for over two years now. Exactly why CBS Films has sat on it for so long is anyone’s guess. Having now seen the film, I think I can make a pretty safe guess. Anyone anticipating The Grudge on a plane had better be prepared to be majorly disappointed. Expect to be majorly disappointed regardless of what you went in expecting.

For a motion picture initially intended for wide release, the special effects are about on par with those found in your average Asylum production. The guy who directed the original Japanese version of The Grudge fails to pull off even a single effective scare. A run time this scant typically indicates major chunks of the film were edited out; I cannot fathom any missing moments that could have made this terminally bland production more compelling. Horror without scares, a mystery that isn’t mysterious, and copious amounts of mundane melodrama make 7500 feel much longer than its 75-minute running time.

Craig Rosenberg (The Quiet Ones) weaves a tale that would be better suited to the length of a “Twilight Zone” episode… a “Twilight Zone” episode from the more recent incarnations of the series and not a particularly good one, either. Rosenberg seemed to have “Twilight Zone” on his mind so much there’s even a scene where the in-flight entertainment is the classic episode with William Shatner contending with a monster on the wing of the plane.

The completely derivative reveal at the end left me feeling cheated, not just because of how predictably lame this twist was but because it made me realize how pointless the majority of the flat scare attempts involving apparitions, pale dead hands reaching out from white smoke, and creepy Asian dolls that look like the offspring of Marilyn Manson and Lady Gaga were. The only way the twist could have been any lamer would have been to reveal the whole thing having been a dream.

Leslie Bibb and Jamie Chung are stewardesses. Bibb is having a fling with pilot Johnathon Schaech. Chung has been engaged for 18 months to some guy and stares at her ring a lot, contemplating whether he really is the love of her life. Amy Smart is half of a couple experiencing second thoughts about calling it quits following a family tragedy. Newlywed Jerry Ferrara takes an interest in tattooed Goth chick/convenient Japanese mythology expert/philosopher of life and death Scout-Taylor Compton, much to chagrin of his deeply neurotic and annoying wife.

A few other characters abound, of them the most important being the man that dies an unexplained blood-spewing death mid-flight. Strange occurrences, flat jump scares, and disappointingly creep-less stabs at J-horror quickly follow his demise. Some truly nasty turbulence is really the most harrowing thing they’ll experience.

These stock characters meander about the plane, often in search of any reason to be doing so, while waxing philosophical about life and openly stating their every inner thought. Flight 7500 proves to be a plane full of ninnies, and after a while blankets moves on their own or ghostly hands pop out of digital fog to give them more of a reason to scream than you.

When you make a movie that is 90% setup and 10% payoff, you had better make sure to knock it out of the park with the payoff and not fall back on a twist that’s been done to death in countless other movies and television shows both better and worse. But being unoriginal in the end is one thing; being uninteresting from start to finish is worse.

My attention span became so strained during 7500 that I began to think back to The Horror at 37,000 Feet, a notoriously bad 1970s TV movie that’s so hilariously awful it has become something of a camp classic in the ensuing years. A druid entity terrorized a 747 crossing the Atlantic, and the only person who could stop it was a wildly overacting William Shatner. This movie desperately needed some of that Shatner magic.

The post 7500 (2014) appeared first on Dread Central.

A pair of images are here for Jessabelle, the new film from Saw VI and Saw 3D director Kevin Greutert. Check ‘em out!

Originally set for release in January of this year, the paranormal flick was recently pushed back to August and just today has been pushed back again. It’s now set to hit both theaters and VOD outlets on November 7th so mark your calendars!

Jessabelle stars Sarah Snook, Mark Webber, David Andrews, Joelle Carter, Ana de la Reguera, Larisa Oleynik, Chris Ellis, Fran Bennett, and Amber Stevens.

The film is being brought to us by the folks behind Paranormal Activity, Insidious, Sinister, and Dark Skies – Jason Blum, Paul Young, and Peter Principato, who are producing for Blumhouse Productions and Principato-Young Entertainment.

For more info visit Jessabelle on Facebook, and follow Jessabelle on Twitter.

Synopsis
From the mastermind producer of Paranormal Activity and Insidious comes the ghostly tale of Jessabelle. Returning to her childhood home in Louisiana to recuperate from a horrific car accident, Jessabelle (Sarah Snook of Sleeping Beauty) comes face to face with a long-tormented spirit that has been seeking her return — and has no intention of letting her escape.

The post Jessabelle Images Call for Help appeared first on Dread Central.

Starring A.J. Cook, Simon Quarterman, Vik Sahay, Brian J. O’Connor

Directed by William Brent Bell

Distributed by Universal

Matthew Peterman and William Brent Bell. They will forever be reviled in the film community for their film The Devil Inside. So reviled in fact that I’m pretty shocked that a major studio gave them another shot to make a movie. Of course they played it safe and sent it straight to DVD. Welcome to the world of Wer.

Long story short, A.J. Cooke plays Kate Moore. She and her legal team are representing the monstrously huge Talan Gwynek (O’Connor), a man who’s been arrested for the heinous murder of a father and son who were torn apart and eaten at the scene of the crime. Moore is convinced that Gwynek couldn’t have pulled off said murders because he suffers from a rare disease that makes him overly hairy and causes him pain when he moves.

Is Talan responsible, or is there some giant animal out there who has a bad habit of feasting on helpless prey? We already know this is a werewolf movie going in so the only mystery to be had here is whether or not Talan is indeed responsible for the killings.

Wer is home to some really memorable gore effects provided by Rob Hall and his company, Almost Human, and it’s filmed in a really interesting way that’s thankfully not found footage. You see the action from several different cameras, including one that is of the more traditional cinematic variety. Bell does a good enough job ramping up the tension and hooking the audience in to the events transpiring before us.

Then it happens… the third act, in which we watch everything magically fall apart. In comparison to the first two thirds of the movie, the finale comes off in the most sloppy and amateurish of ways. The storyline takes a turn for the worse complete with really bad ADR’d dialogue (the crappiest since Lin Shaye provided the voice for her younger self in Insidious: Chapter 2) and yes, a convoluted ending. At least the gore keeps flowing.

This is a damned shame, too, because up until the third act Wer was giving us a compelling new twist on the werewolf subgenre. It almost feels as if they ran out of money and had to rush through to completion. Yep, chalk another one up to the mediocrity fiesta that is 2014.

Wisely, there’s not a single extra to be found here either. Not even a trailer.

Wer isn’t horrible, and it has its merits. It’s just infuriating to see them all flushed down the toilet by the time the end credits run. Watch at your own risk.

The post Wer (DVD) appeared first on Dread Central.

There’s a good chance you’re by now sick of reading Ghostbusters-related news stories that promise sequels that may never actually come to fruition, but we here at Dread Central are nevertheless committed to reporting on every little nugget of info that comes our way. And on tap for you today are some pretty interesting ones as Dan Aykroyd talks his dream plans for the franchise!

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 62-year-old co-creator and star of Ghostbusters revealed that he’s looking way further ahead than just a third installment or a reboot, hoping to build an entirely new empire out of the iconic brand.

“It’s beyond just another sequel, a prequel, another TV show. I’m thinking what does the whole brand mean to Sony?” he told the site, going on to compare Ghostbusters to properties like Star Wars and the Marvel universe. In his mind he sees the franchise being expanded upon like those properties have been, creating a whole new universe for Slimer, Stay Puft and the gang.

Aykroyd went on to say that the entire Ghostbusters team — “the executives, the creatives, Ivan [Reitman, the director] and myself” — is on the same page, all of them looking to the next ten years. He added that the focus must be “not just another movie or another TV show, but what’s the totality of it? The whole mythology from the beginning of their lives, the end of their lives. Ghostbusters at nine years old, Ghostbusters in high school.”

“The whole vehicle of Ghostbusters has to be rebuilt,” he continued. “That’s the ambitious thinking that’s going on now. Taking on the model of Marvel where we take all of the elements that are in this movie and we put them out there as different ideas.”

As for the female-led Ghostbusters film that’s been recently discussed, Aykroyd said he’s open to the idea of doing it as the third or fourth installment.

Whether or not any of this actually happens, of course, is entirely up in the air. But here’s hoping the gang returns before we all become worm food!

The post Dan Aykroyd Looking to Reboot Ghostbusters Franchise in a Big Way appeared first on Dread Central.

There’s just something about this latest “American Horror Story: Freak Show” artwork that makes me a bit queasy. See for yourself. This is one image you’re bound to have a hard time shaking.

“American Horror Story: Freak Show” debuts October 8th at 10:00 PM on FX. It begins its tale in the quiet, sleepy hamlet of Jupiter, Florida. The year is 1952.

A troupe of curiosities has just arrived to town, coinciding with the strange emergence of a dark entity that savagely threatens the lives of townsfolk and freaks alike. This is the story of the performers and their desperate journey of survival amidst the dying world of the American carny experience.

Jessica Lange, Kathy Bates, Angela Bassett, Frances Conroy, Sarah Paulson, Emma Roberts, Gabourey Sidibe, Denis O’Hare, Jamie Brewer, and Evan Peters return from previous seasons. New cast members includes Michael Chiklis, Wes Bentley, John Carroll Lynch, Finn Wittrock, Matt Bomer, Patti LaBelle and the world’s smallest living woman, Jyoti Amge.

“American Horror Story: Freak Show” – Episode 4.01 – “Monsters Among Us” (airs 10/8/14)
One of the only surviving sideshows in the country struggles to stay in business during the dawning era of television. When police make a terrifying discovery at a local farmhouse, the eccentric purveyor of the freak show (Lange) sees an opportunity that will lead her troupe either to their salvation or ruin. Written by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk; directed by Ryan Murphy.

For more info visit the “AHS: Freak Show” Facebook page, check out “AHS: Freak Show” on Tumblr, and follow @AHSFreakShow_ on Twitter along with “American Horror Story” on FX.

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Horror films don’t get much more infamously controversial than the Japanese Guinea Pig series, comprised of seven movies that depict graphic scenes of brutality. So crude and realistic are the films that they rose to infamy when Charlie Sheen mistook one of them for an actual snuff film and turned it over to the FBI.

As a result the filmmakers had to prove, in court, that the special effects on display in the films are fake, which just goes to show how brutally realistic the makeup effects work is.

Nearly 20 years after the final film was released, the Guinea Pig series is getting somewhat of a reboot here in the States, and we’ve just gotten our hands on a grisly promotional trailer that’s sure to turn your stomach.

Running just over two minutes long, the trailer shows three men in masks dissecting and butchering two human bodies, separating limbs, pulling out guts, and removing skin. Like the Japanese films, the acts of violence are made to look incredibly real so be sure to not be eating anything while watching!

Titled American Guinea Pig: Bouquet of Guts and Gore, the new film is being made by Unearthed Films, the same company who released the original franchise on home video. Head over to the Unearthed website to learn more, and check out the grisly trailer below.

Stephen Biro directs with effects by Marcus Koch. The film stars James VanBebber, Rogan Russell Marshall, Scott Gabbey, Eight The Chosen One, Caitlyn Dailey, and Ashley Lynn Caputo.

The post Bouquet of Guts and Gore Ushers in American Guinea Pig Series appeared first on Dread Central.

Starring Jack Plotnick, Sarah Lieving, Ted Jonas, Camden Toy, Eve Maruo

Directed by Peter Paul Basler

Stumbling upon The Vortex: Gate to Armageddon on VOD, I was amazed that something that looked tailor-made for Syfy had somehow completely flown under my radar. Despite boasting production values and digital effects more along the lines of those seen in the films the network used to premiere back when they were still called the Sci-Fi Channel, it’s been so long since I’ve seen a film with giant scorpions, the creature feature fan in me decided to give this one a look-see.

One thing I did not expect from the preview I watched was that this low budget flick about soldiers battling giant bugs mutated by a portal to another dimension would turn out to be an intentional comedy. Such an apocalyptic, serious-sounding title for a movie that could have just as easily been called Gilligan’s Stargate.

A government-funded mad scientist (thanks, Obama!) has discovered a wormhole to another dimension within a cave in the Middle East. Islamo-fascist soldiers prove to be the least of an American platoon’s worries when a giant scorpion emerges from the cave, killing them all. A Special OPS team is then given the assignment of finding out what exactly happened and why. This leads to them battling giant scorpions, giant spiders, giant wasps, a stampeding swarm of smaller mutant spiders, Islamic insurgents, and a Bruce Dern look-a-like madman with megalomaniacal metaphysical machinations on his mind.

That’s the great thing about absolute otherworldly power. You may not fully understand it or how to control it, but that’s not going to stop you from wanting to use it to make yourself a god amongst men.

Given how crystals from this vortex have begun supersizing local wildlife (i.e., spiders, scorpions, wasps), you would think when humans come into contact with these crystals, it would transform them into giant Attack on Titan colossuses, right? Wrong. Human contact with the crystals turns men into giant snakes. Giant fire-breathing snakes. Giant fire-breathing snakes that can talk. Damned if I know why or if even the filmmakers have any reason why either. Maybe they just wanted to pay loving tribute to Dragon Wars?

Often times when one compares a motion picture’s computer effects to that of a video game, he’s actually comparing it to Xbox or PlayStation graphics. In this case they’re more along the lines of a Wii game. This will prove instantly off-putting to many viewers. I felt the digital effects had a hokey charm to them made somewhat acceptable once the film established itself as a straight-up comedy. If we were meant to take this all seriously, then the special effects alone would have killed the movie dead. There’s a kill involving a giant wasp with two soldiers in its pincers that wouldn’t have been nearly as entertaining if it boasted top-notch f/x work. And you’ll be amazed at the size of the flame that shoots out of a mere aerosol can.

Before setting out on their mission, the military forcibly recruits a specialist in the field of pseudo-science mumbo jumbo. Enter Dr. Marx, a snarky goofball science geek who just happens to be a former pupil of the mad scientist seeking to harness the power of interdimensional insect-mutating energy for his nefarious world-conquering means. But more importantly, Marx also happens to be the ex-husband of mission leader Commander Deckert.

Talk about a case of opposites attract. She’s a beautiful statuesque soldier with a humorless personality, and he’s a brilliant but bumbling smartass only slightly less dorky than Eddie Deezan. The sex must have been amazing. Or not, since they are divorced. Deckert is now engaged to easily excitable squad leader Lt. Raiger, a most fitting name given his personality, though he’s not really a violent rage-a-holic; more like how some guys get bent out of shape watching their favorite sports team blow a big play. Don’t really understand her attraction to him either. Talk about a Bermuda love triangle.

Raiger continuously makes a big deal about how Marx is always firing off smartass zingers. Not sure why this irks him so since his entire squad consists of almost nothing but smart aleck quipsters. Even when they’re engaged in hand-to-hand combat against terrorists or fighting for their lives against behemoth bugs, you can count on the brave men and women of Comic Relief Team 6 to spout off one-liners in the heat of battle.

There wasn’t a single line I found to be particularly laughable, but given how many similar films of this genre I’ve slogged through where cookie-cutter characters endlessly spout off tiresome protocol, jargon, and mundane/inane dialogue, I’m okay with characters one-dimensional as they may be actually saying things that were meant to be funny on purpose.

Though the film is, to be polite, 100% piffle, I still have to give everyone involved credit for at least trying. If you’re a fan of cheesy b-movies movies, you might also want to give the The Vortex a try.

The post Vortex, The: Gate to Armageddon (2014) appeared first on Dread Central.

Playing as part of this year’s Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, is The Stranger, a new film produced by Eli Roth and Nicolás López (Aftershock). Directed by Guillermo Amoedo, the flick star Luis Gnecco, Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, and Aaron Burns.

Check out the first look below courtesy of Latino Review.

Synopsis
Guillermo Amoedo shows a deft ability to turn a bloodthirsty monster movie on its head into a slow-burn, character-driven film. THE STRANGER takes its time, building the tension through occasional flashbacks and having the audience sympathize with Peter, who grew up not knowing his father. Peter, like the audience, is kept largely in the dark about his father’s motives or even what he is… because he’s certainly not human. What is apparent is the chaos his dad’s return has on the small town, especially a member of the police force and his violence-prone son.

THE STRANGER is ultimately about family, the legacy we pass on to our children and the lengths we go to protect and ensure their survival, no matter how dark and deadly they might become.

The post Trailer and Poster for Eli Roth-Produced The Stranger appeared first on Dread Central.

Were you as bummed as I was that you only got to see Godzilla in Legendary’s Godzilla for just over 11 minutes?!? Well now, thanks to Sideshow Collectibles, you could take the big guy home in grand fashion!

Below you’ll get a look at their 24″ Godzilla Maquette, which is nothing short of stunning. The figure stands ominously upon a highly detailed base featuring destroyed rubble.The only thing? The price tag is as always high, but you get what you pay for, ya know!

This bad boy will run you $799.99, but thankfully you can pay in installments. Go ahead. Drool. It’s okay. We’re right there with ya.

The post Sideshow’s Godzilla Maquette a Thing of Beauty appeared first on Dread Central.