1. Horror novelist and Monsterfest columnist Scott Sigler sings the praises of the unsung monster of the deep: The Crocodile.

2. Grady Hendrix contends that neither zombies, strippers, nor zombie strippers help bring Jenna Jameson's Zombie Strippers to life. On the plus side, the porn star's dilapidated breasts have never looked so real.

3. Monsterfest columnist Stacie Ponder outlines the rules of slasher flicks -- the first rule is you do not talk about slasher flicks -- while she selects the appropriate film for every month of the year.

4. Who loves horror? CNN's Video Editor Lee Hughey, who says Hellraiser's Pinhead doesn't have jack on Lou Dobbs.

5. Monsterfest unveils its Horror Power Ranking List, a highly scientific formula that this week contends The Ruins continues to pack the most Total Entertainment Value (TEV).

Continue reading "Best of Monsterfest - Week of Apr. 14" »

• Remember The Incredible Shrinking Man? It's being remade by director Brett Ratner and will star Eddie Murphy. This time out, it'll be a comedy with Murphy as a Las Vegas magician under a spell.

• The Larry Fessenden-produced The House of the Devil, in which a babysitter is trapped in a big, scary house, has finished its principal photography. There's no release date yet.

• Monster Zoo, a graphic novel optioned by Sam Raimi, is an homage to Spielberg's Amblin films like Gremlins, Goonies and Jurasssic Park. Writer Doug TenNapel says kids can enjoy the horror too.

Continue reading "Horror Surfer: Eddie Murphy's Shrinking Man; Sam Raimi Options Monster Zoo" »

She was a scream queen before the phrase was even coined. Hazel Court, who starred in such Hammer films as The Raven with Peter Lorre, Vincent Price and Boris Karloff, died of a heart attack near Lake Tahoe yesterday. Court paired with Price a second time to scream yet again in another Poe adaptation, The Masque of the Red Death. It may have been her finest horror performance due to its striking visuals, Satanic plot, a strange dwarf and Court's fine performance.

The flame-haired British actress first came to the United States to star in the lauded Alfred Hitchcock Presents TV series and soon became a sought after character actress beyond the horror genre. Perhaps Hazel Court's greatest so-bad-it's-good movie is Devil Girl from Mars in which she plays a dominatrix-like female alien with a robot slave/sidekick. Court passed just before her autobiography, Hazel Court Horror Queen, was to be released in early June. The actress, who also starred in The Twilight Zone TV series, had a second career as an internationally known sculptor and artist when she stopped working in film.

But she'll always be remembered for those Hammer films. You can see her work as a bemused and frightened nurse, albeit screamless, in the macabre Dr. Blood's Coffin, via a YouTube clip.

• Max Thierot is going to replace Henry Lee Hopper in Wes Craven's 25/8, a film "about seven teens haunted by a killer who supposedly died when they were born." The Hollywood Reporter says Dennis Hopper's son has mono. Yawn.

• The X-Files sequel now has a title: The X-Files: I Want to Believe. I want to believe it will be a watchable movie.

• Danielle Panabaker (TV's Shark, Empire Falls) snagged the lead role in the Friday the 13th remake. She'll play an "adventurous, athletic girlfriend" in the film that just got an 'R' rating. Maybe she's athletic enough to escape Jason's deathly grip.

• There will be monsters? Milla Jovovich's new movie, The 4th Kind, sees the model-turned-actress playing a Dana Scully-ish role as she investigates mysterious disappearances in a small Alaskan town.

• Fox Atomic is picking up The Surrogate, a novel about a woman who carries a couple's baby. But the surrogate's insane and the lovebirds "face psychological and supernatural forces they never knew existed."

• The posters for The Black Waters of Echo's Pond are both scary and cleverly aged.

When local genre scenes move onto the Internet, anything can happen. In the case of I Can Smell Your Brains, everyone wins. The site has rounded up an almost supernatural amount of interviews, articles, and yes, pin-up girls, in the last year -- especially remarkable, considering that it's their first year. The screenings, parties, and general mayhem ICSYB sponsors are geared to enliven Phoenix and its satellite cities, a fast-growing area with a burgeoning appetite for cult film.

"We wanted to do something different, give some monster and exploitation junkies another spot where we point out the entertaining bits in the flicks we love. Like a magazine, except we can add stuff daily," says co-creator Danny Marianino (aka Danny Northside). "Our interview section is so diverse: From a raging Iron Sheik and Honky Tonk Man video interview to our latest with Gidget Gein of Marilyn Manson (written by porn star Hollie Stevens), we cover it all."

Continue reading "Site of the Week - I Can Smell Your Brains Has Gore Girls and More" »

• The Chicago Tribune tells you what makes a good Scream Queen. She must really feel the dire jeopardy before her and possess a "great decibel range."

• It looks like Demi Moore's next film may be rife with puppet terror. Burnraku will feature four-foot Japanese puppets in a movie that stars Josh Hartnett on a revenge quest.

• Lars Von Trier's Antichrist will be a thriller that turns into a horror film. The conceit? All hell breaks loose when a couple heads to a cabin retreat to mourn their dead child.

• There's yet another new Hulk poster for your perusal (pictured). You wouldn't want mess with that ripped, green back.

Continue reading "Horror Surfer - Demi Moore's Bunraku, Zombie Tattoos and What Makes a Good Scream Queen" »

What was once hyperbole is now true. Some people can be scared to death. Ten-year-old Jennifer Lloyd suffers from Polyglandular Addison's Disease which leaves her body unable to produce adrenaline. Discover Magazine explains why this is a problem: "Without adrenaline (also called epinephrine), the hormone that readies the body for "fight or flight" by increasing the flow of oxygen and glucose to the brain and muscles, Lloyd can go into shock and suffer organ failure from something as minor as a scare from a TV program."

She's currently able to watch things like Harry Potter films with supervision and by sometimes leaving the room. Imagine a lifetime lived by averting your eyes? Perhaps, she'll be able to handle Twilight when it comes out in December. The film's publicist, Peter Silbermann, told ClackamasReview that it will be rated no higher than PG-13, as it has no profanity or gore.

Continue reading "Monsterfest's Worst Nightmare: Polyglandular Addison's Disease" »

• Jenna Jameson assures Fearnet fans there will be hard core gore in Zombie Strippers. It's a "beautiful roller coaster of blood and guts."

• Get your creepy costume, grab your autograph book and head over to the Night of the Living Dead Reunion. Fangoria's next Weekend of Horror (Fango LA) is less than two weeks away.

• A update on The Undertakers from Dread Central: Actor J. LaRose just signed on to play zombie fighter Talon Black in the comic book style film.

• Who's creating the FX for Friday the 13th? ShockTillYouDrop says the man behind the scenes will be Scott Stoddard.

• Shia LaBeouf is taking drugs and horror fans are stoked. Bloody-Disgusting explains why: The rising star signed on to star in Dark Fields, the new thriller (based on the book by Alan Glynn) about what happens when a young man pops the ultimate smart pill.

• College students' Humans vs. Zombies Nerf-gun battles have drawn fire from people who are still coping with the Virginia Tech massacre and other school shootings. What do you think: Harmless fun, or insensitive painful reminder?

• Artist Martijn Hendriks' Give Us Today Our Daily Terror is a complete copy of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds-- without the birds! What next, a version of To Catch a Thief in which the jewels turn out to have all just accidentally slipped between the couch cushions?

• Brittany Snow (perhaps unwittingly?) snubbed Bloody-Disgusting at the red carpet premiere of Prom Night. "From the trailer, I wouldn't be surprised if she didn't even realize she was in a horror film," Bloody Good Horror helpfully points out.

• Oscar winner (and horror fan) Adrien Brody has signed on to replace Ray Liotta in Dario Argento's new giallo film, um, Giallo.

• The Tribeca Film Festival will devote an entire evening to the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's Thriller. John Landis will present the film, and there will be dancing, face-painting and zombie antics.

Continue reading "Horror Surfer: Adrien Brody Joins Giallo; Hitchcock's Birds... Sans Birds " »