Horror movies opening around Halloween time are as traditional as blue jays in the spring, but few are set during Halloween anymore.

This should give Trick 'r Treat, the directorial debut of X2 and Superman Returns screenwriter Michael Dougherty, an advantage over the competition: Saw V and the [REC] remake Quarantine.  But parent studio Warner Bros. doesn't seem to care either way, because numerous sites (like CHUD) are reporting the film (already postponed from last year's release schedule) is being auctioned off to a new distributor, with negotiations still taking place.

All this certainly implies that Trick 'r Treat isn't worth releasing, but having seen the film last December at Harry Knowles' annual Butt-Numbathon, I can tell you this isn't the case.  While it's not the most original movie ever, Trick 'r' Treat, an anthology set on Halloween night in a small Ohio town, is full of great Halloween atmosphere and a Creepshow-style sense of fun. It wants the audience to have a good time being scared and its dark sense of humor separates it from a lot of other horror films in the market these days. 

Continue reading "Trick 'r Treat May Not Haunt Halloween This Year" »

It's still too early to be able to tell much about Repo! The Genetic Opera except that the folks behind it clearly had a blast making it. This is especially clear from the film's new website, which strives to pack in as many sights and sounds as possible (adjust your volume before you click) from the cult-classic in the making.

I get pretty tired of visiting film sites that exist just to prop up the same tired trailer everyone's already seen, so it's exciting to explore something that some actual work went into. You'll find message boards,  artwork and background info on both the film and theatrical versions of Repo! on the site. Their music page is still under construction, but you'll get quite an earful just by navigating the site (did I mention that you should turn your volume down?). The Repo! publicity team had better watch out -- their campaign has been so effective that people are actually starting to have high hopes for their humble film -- might as well call it "The Little Organ-Harvesting Musical That Could."

Shock Till You Drop offers an interview with actress Jena Malone on the eve of The Ruins release. Malone, who starred back in the day in Donnie Darko, has much to say. If you're in a hurry, here are the highlights:

• She likes films that make her skin crawl like those by David Lynch and David Cronenberg.

• Yet she says the film is a combination of Rosemary's Baby and The Lord of the Flies in that it's psychological horror.

• The shoot in Australia was tough because it dealt with different kinds of deprivation, including "hyperventilation and overexhaustion and heat depravation and starvation."

• She likes singing and touring, but it's a part of her life she doesn't completely understand yet.

Could the lead role in the Suspiria remake be the film that revives Lindsay Lohan's career? Or will it make a fool out of Lohan? Check out what Fangoria has to say on the what may be either the savviest or dumbest casting move of the decade.

Will she play young ballet wannabee Suzy Banyon? Or will she be more suited as one of the witches? Lohan's career has been on a steep slide since she took days off from the set on Georgia Rules after partying all night. But now that she's been in rehab and is 'well' again, you have to ask the question: Will Suspiria help her career or hurt it? 

When Variety announced today that Paramount would option New Yorker writer David Grann's Lost City of Z, it was clear it has the full commitment of Brad Pitt. Pitt will not only produce the movie, he'll likely star in it. The book, based on Grann's article, will be a literary adventure about "Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett, who was attempting to find the so-called City of Z when he and his party disappeared in 1925." It's been a great mystery nearly 100 years: How and under what circumstances did Fawcett disappear? Was he murdered? Or did something unknown and unexplainable occur?

One thing Variety didn't mention is that the movie will likely have a distinct horror element. If you read the original story in the New Yorker, you'll recall that Fawcett had a voracious, even dark, interest in mysticism. There's some speculation in the article that Fawcett indeed found Z, and as the theory goes, walked through that door and never returned. 

Word is slowly slipping out about Rob Zombie's next project. Thankfully, it won't be another Halloween sequel. (While his directorial effort regarding Michael Myers added the signature Zombie personality, it still was another sequel.)

This new project is Tyrannosaurus Rex, slated to go into production in August 2009. Once again, Rob Zombie's wife, Sheri Moon Zombie, will appear in the film, which will be distributed by Dimension. T-Rex just may be an homage to those larger than life prehistoric dinosaur monster movies a la The Land That Time Forgot.

Then again, Bloody Disgusting has a different take. The site says the movie may be about a wrestler named T-Rex who's on the run from a motorcycle gang from hell. This theory is based on the fact that Zombie co-created a comic book with Steve Niles called The Nail, the plot of which includes said wrestler and the phantom bikers. Oh, the mystery. Zombie and Dimension know how to milk things, don't they?

First, Sony put up a mess of videos on YouTube to promote their upcoming horror film, Quarantine. Today, they put up a blog, The Last Palm Tree, to further infect you with the horror spirit.

The actual idea for the vlog is pretty cool, in a Blair Witch kind of way, although most of the videos have been run-of-the-mill: "Can you tell me where to find a good restaurant" is the subject of one. Another video, "Case 1017," features amateur camera work, but on the street, you'll see something suspicious: Government types wearing Hazmat suits and searching a building. Then -- a shot rings out.

Continue reading "The Last Palm Tree Blog: Quarantine's Viral Marketing" »

Today, Shock Till You Drop is reporting some disturbing news. Clive Barker's Midnight Meat Train, which was supposed to hit theaters in May, has been dropped. More upsetting is that Lionsgate hasn't yet offered up another release date, leading to speculation that the movie may go straight to DVD. The worst case scenario? It may never see the light of day (although that's probably unlikely).

According to Shock, neither Lionsgate nor director Ryuhei Kitamura wanted to release the flick against upcoming franchises like The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. That may have signaled certain death for a movie that's well, full of death. The elegantly edited trailer reveals a complex story with some fine scares. But it's not so gruesome that it would prove to be too violent for mass consumption. Plus, Lionsgate never shies away from blood and guts: Just look at the recent Borderland DVD for proof. Here's hoping that Lionsgate will still find a home for Midnight Meat Train in its theatrical schedule. It looks like a perfect film for Halloween.

Empire magazine has some juicy tidbits about the Benicio Del Toro Wolfman movie that's coming up from Universal. In an interview with producer Scott Stuber, some fascinating things were revealed. Sure, Empire is all fanboy about the movie, but that didn't prevent them from finding out that there's complexity plot-wise that wasn't present the original movie. And that the Wolfman's family has some "very dramatic issues....heavy stuff that happened during their childhoods." The article also reveals Del Toro is a huge Wolfman fan, so much so that he has memorabilia throughout his house. And there'll be no CG in the picture.

But the real reason for the interview is to stem the tide of negative press. That came primarily from Ain't It Cool News when director Mark Romanek was replaced with Joe Johnston. Says Stuber, "The great thing about Joe is that he's such a diverse filmmaker. Whether you look at his family films or something like October Sky, which I thought was a great film. Then Jurassic Park III, he did a great job."

Johnston may not have done a ton of horror movie directing, but for the brilliance of October Sky alone, he should be welcomed with open arms by fans.

Fangoria just uploaded the back of the one-sheet for Creature of Darkness (formerly called the far-less-horrific Hunter's Moon). If you squint really hard to read the text, you'll find that the movie actually has an imaginative plot: A boy's nightmares become reality when he embarks upon a road trip. He meets the Catcher, "a skilled and brutal collector of human species for alien science." The Catcher looks like something between E.T. and an anorexic bird of prey. The upshot? It looks like the nature of the ugly character may be strong enough to spawn a sequel or two.

Getting the indie film to this stage has been a trial: The primary financier of the film, a $111 million Powerball lottery winner named Andrew 'Jack' Whittaker, became embroiled in a number of lawsuits and a divorce. According to the filmmmakers (via Fangoria), that divorce stopped the film, which began shooting in 2005. Whittaker was able to provide the rest of the funding for post-production, and the film is now " steamrolling toward the finish line."