FANGORIA Magazine Newsblog

28 WEEKS LATER director to helm INTRUDERS

2010-02-22T08:05:00.001-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Fango got in a news tidbit about INTRUDERS, an upcoming filmby Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, the Spanish director who first won notice with the2001 thriller INTACTO and then helmed 2007’s superior sequel 28 WEEKS LATER.

Oursource tells us that INTRUDERS is a genre piece whose story revolves around an11-year-old girl, and will be written and directed by Fresnadillo. Productionis scheduled to begin in mid-May. No other details are forthcoming, but we’llkeep you posted. Fresnadillo is also attached to the film version of the hitvideo game BIOSHOCK for Universal, and a remake of X: THE MAN WITH X-RAY EYESfor MGM.

First photo from del Toro-produced JULIA’S EYES

2010-02-22T08:04:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

An early photo from JULIA’S EYES (LOS OJOS DE JULIA), thelatest chiller to have Guillermo del Toro on board as a producer, has appearedon-line with news that the movie has started selling to assorted internationalterritories. Check out the pic after the jump.

Screen Daily reports that the co-production between del Toro, Focus Features and Rodar yRodar has sold to Optimum Releasing in the UK, CinemaMondo in Scandinavia, KinoSwiat in Poland and Rosebud in Greece, with more deals expected to be signedthis week. Belén Rueda (pictured) from the del Toro-produced THE ORPHANAGEstars in JULIA’S EYES as a woman who, while dealing with the loss of her sight,investigates the mysterious death of her twin sister. Directed by GuillemMorales from a script he wrote with Oriol Paulo, the film also stars LluísHomar, Daniel Grao, Héctor Claramunt, Julia Gutiérrez Caba and Francesc Orella,with cinematography by ORPHANAGE’s Óscar Faura and FX by DDT.

DRAG ME TO HELL leads horror nominees for 36th Annual Saturn Awards

2010-02-19T07:15:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Filmshas announced the nominees for its 36th Annual Saturn Awards (though strangelyenough, as of this posting, they haven’t posted them at the org’s official website yet). Sam Raimi’s DRAG ME TO HELL turnedout to be the most honored fright feature, scoring five nominations includingBest Horror Film.

Raimi’s tale of a gypsy curse is also up for Best Actress(Alison Lohman), Best Supporting Actress (Lorna Raver), Best Music (ChristopherYoung) and Best Makeup (Gregory Nicotero and Howard Berger). Also in therunning for Best Horror Film are THE BOX (plus Best Supporting Actor for FrankLangella), FROZEN, THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT, THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON(??—plus Best Younger Actor for Taylor Lautner) and ZOMBIELAND (plus BestSupporting Actor for Woody Harrelson). Other fear films in the running are THEROAD for Best Actor (Viggo Mortensen) and Best Younger Actor (KodiSmit-McPhee), and THIRST for Best International Film. Sadly, not a singlehorror feature is up for either Best Director or Best Writing.

Inthe television category, the Best Syndicated/Cable Series nominees includeShowtime’s DEXTER (plus Best Actor for Michael C. Hall, Best Supporting Actressfor Julie Benz and Jennifer Carpenter and Best Guest Star for John Lithgow) andHBO’s TRUE BLOOD (plus Best Actor for Stephen Moyer, Best Actress for AnnaPaquin, Best Supporting Actor for Alexander Skarsgard and Best Guest Star forMichelle Forbes). In addition, Fox’s FRINGE is up for Best Actress (Anna Torv),Best Supporting Actor (John Noble) and Best Guest Star (Leonard Nimoy). ForBest DVD Release, Dark Sky/Magnet’s THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL, Anchor Bay’s LAIDTO REST, MPI’s PONTYPOOL and Magnolia’s SURVEILLANCE are all in the running,while MGM’s THE HANNIBAL LECTER ANTHOLOGY, Anchor Bay’s HELLRAISER BOXED SETand Sony’s THE WILLIAM CASTLE COLLECTION are among those vying for BestCollection. The Saturns will be awarded June 24 in Burbank, CA.

SOMETHING scary and funny coming from Universal

2010-02-19T06:48:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Variety reports that Universal has madea mid-six-figure deal to buy up a horror/comedy pitch called THE SOMETHING fromRodney Rothman, who will script. The writer, whose credits include producinggigs on FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL and the upcoming GET HIM TO THE GREEK, willalso serve that function on THE SOMETHING.

Plotdetails haven’t been revealed, but the setting is outer space and the tone issaid to be similar to that of ZOMBIELAND. In addition to his big-screencredits, Rothman was also the youngest head writer in the history of LATE NIGHTWITH DAVID LETTERMAN.

Filmmaker talks MACHETE MAIDENS and PATRICK remake

2010-02-18T14:04:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Fango caught up with Australian director Mark Hartley,creator of the amazing documentary NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD: THE WILD, UNTOLD STORYOF OZPLOITATION!, while he was in NYC grabbing interviews for his follow-up,MACHETE MAIDENS UNLEASHED. This project is in a similar vein, covering thehistory of genre filmmaking in the Philippines—though not so much homegrownproduct, he points out.

“It looks not so much at Filipino exploitation movies, butthe Americans who went over there to shoot films,” Hartley (pictured below) tellsFango, “so it’s kind of a fish-out-of-water story. It covers Roger Corman’sproductions, Cirio Santiago’s movies, the BLOOD ISLAND series and EddieRomero’s other pictures and Bobby Suarez, who literally just died two days ago.Bobby made CLEOPATRA WONG, THE ONE ARMED EXECUTIONER, BIONIC BOY II and thingslike that. They were films that tried to take on Hollywood and be mainstream,but were kind of beyond mainstream in trying to do it.”

MACHETE MAIDENS will showcase interviews with quite a numberof B-movie stalwarts, including several Fango faves. “We’ve spoken to lots andlots of cast and crew,” Hartley says. “We talked to Joe Viola, who went overthere with Jonathan Demme and made THE HOT BOX. We’re interviewing Eddie Romeroin the Philippines and a bunch of cast from the Corman and Santiago films whohave never really spoken about this stuff before, so it has been really, reallyinteresting. Sid Haig and Joe Dante, Allan Arkush and Jon Davison, who were allworking in the trailer and promotion department at New World when these filmswere getting made; Jane Schaffer, who produced Jack Hill’s films, and Hillhimself. It will be pretty definitive, and this is an era that has never beendocumented much, so it’s in the same vein as NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD—another untoldstory.”

Having completed his Los Angeles interviews and wrapping uphis New York stint, Hartley next heads to London, Manila and Singapore, aimingto have MACHETE MAIDENS ready in time to play the major festivals this summerand fall. Director of photography Karl von Moller and co-editors Sara Edwardsand Jamie Blanks (the latter doing the score this time) are returning from NOTQUITE HOLLYWOOD, and Hartley, who says the new docu will be in the same spirit,is still enormously gratified by the response to that movie. “I was absolutelyamazed by the goodwill toward NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD; the feedback from people andthe reviews were beyond my wildest dreams. The fact that it has inspired manypeople to go and seek out the films [it covered] is truly rewarding for me, andfor all the filmmakers who told their tales. Those movies have been dismissedfor so long, and suddenly the only places you can see them is at festivals!”

One Down Under chiller spotlighted in NOT QUITE HOLLYWOODwas Richard Franklin’s PATRICK, and Hartley reveals that he’s bringing a freshtake on that tale of telekinetic terror to the screen. “After we finished NOTQUITE HOLLYWOOD, I had discussed this with PATRICK’s producer, Tony Ginnane,and we decided we’d take a crack at reinventing it. So Justin King and I wrotea treatment and Justin’s working on the script at the moment, and hopefully, assoon as MACHETE MAIDENS is finished, we’ll get right into it.”

The original PATRICK, written by Everett De Roche, is theHitchcock-influenced story of the titular young man, who goes into a coma afterelectrocuting his mother and winds up in a hospital being tended to by Dr.Roget and nurse Kathy Jacquard, who discover that despite his inert physicalstate, he now possesses deadly psychic abilities. For the update, “We’re sortof giving it a creepier, Gothic flavor, very much in a similar style to THEORPHANAGE,” reveals Hartley, who will direct. “There’s much more of a backstoryfor Dr. Roget, and Patrick has dream sequences and flashbacks where he’s out ofthe bed. We don’t want to turn Patrick into Freddy Kreuger; we like to think ofit as a love story with a body count. The great thing about the original wasthe fact that here’s a guy with unlimited powers, but all he wants to do is usethem to manipulate the events in that nurse’s life to make her fall in lovewith him. So we’ve kept that central premise and really upped the ante.”

Other elements will be altered, however. “The first PATRICK,as much as it’s a really interesting film, is very much of its time. It’spredominantly set in one hospital room, and we’re trying to open it up. To behonest—and I’ve said this to Tony—it’s not that scary when you watch it now,and we’re all about giving it those jolts. Obviously, I’m a fan of PATRICK, andI want people who’ve seen the original to appreciate the remake, so we’recertainly putting nods to the first one throughout the film, but we’re notdoing a Gus Van Sant PSYCHO. I believe Jamie’s remake of LONG WEEKEND [releasedin the U.S. as NATURE’S GRAVE] suffers because they used the original script,and when people love these films and know them so well, there’s no way thatthey can embrace a film that’s so similar. We learned a lesson there, and we’lltry to tailor our PATRICK for modern audiences.”

Ginnane is currently seeking funding and working onpre-sales for PATRICK, and Hartley is hoping to start shooting before the endof this year on a budget around $4 million. Clearly, he’s got a lot on hisplate this year—and couldn’t be happier about it. “I’d been trying to get afeature going for a long time, and then NOT QUITE HOLLYWOOD, which I had workedon for 10 years, got out there,” he says. “I was just so amazed to get broughtin on MACHETE MAIDENS; I was a gun for hire on it at first, and I changed theconcept to suit the story I wanted to tell and the people I wanted to meet. Sothat has really taken over my workload, but if that comes out and I jump rightinto PATRICK, I’ll be very, very happy.” (Thanks to Arianne Ayers)

First set report on Aussie horror NEEDLE

2010-02-18T12:39:00.000-08:00

By Michael Helms

No notable horror films have lurched out of WesternAustralia since ZOMBIE BRIGADE circa 1988. NEEDLE, shot just before Christmas2009, is seeking to redress the situation, and goes about it with a deadlydevice from the 18th century. The third feature from John V. Soto, who wrotePREY (released Down Under to negligible returns last year) and co-directedCRUSH (now visible via video on demand and hitting U.S. DVD April 21) with JeffGerritsen, helmed NEEDLE from a script he wrote with Tony Egan.

On the set, situated within the confines of an old networkTV studio in a languid Perth suburb, the common NEEDLE description offered byall is “a psychological thriller with horror elements.” Soto even says as much,before explaining a little history of the movie (which we previously reportedon with exclusive photos here).

Collaborating with Egan when the latter was brought in togive the CRUSH screenplay a polish sparked the development of NEEDLE. (Egan, bythe way, is the writer of FLIES 3D, a project that STORM WARNING’s Jamie Blanksis attached to direct; Blanks supplied the score for NEEDLE, as he did forCRUSH). “Over the last three years, I’ve wanted to do a whodunit/murdermystery-type movie, a sort of Agatha Christie,” Soto tells Fango. “She waslight years ahead of most people. A lot of her work has been turned into films,and she was the master of ‘Who is the killer?’ I just love the puzzle element.

“We talked about that,” he continues, “and at the same timewanting to involve our favorite genre, horror, and include a supernaturalelement. We pitched ideas to each other continuously for months untilessentially arriving at the same concept, which was a machine with supernaturalpowers that kills people from afar. I can’t go into specifics, but let me justsay that I’d call CRUSH a gentle thriller, while in NEEDLE, the gloves are offand it’s full-on with very strong elements of horror.”

The director casually mentions that people do die painfullyin NEEDLE: “They basically come apart from the inside. We got MEG FX involvedto help us with the kills, but it took an enormous amount of work creating themachine’s mythology. We looked at Grand Guignol, and in those days, they didhave devices that could create illusions, all these weird and wonderful things.I read somewhere about a scientist who created something like that and thought,‘That’s not a bad idea.’ I could see how it could work. So we basically builtthe mythology based on some rumors, or things we’d read or heard and theresearch we’d done. And the machine, supposedly built in the late 1800s, hasplausibility. I can’t say what it does, but it has supernatural powers and isvery effective at its job.”

NEEDLE puts the device in the reluctant possession of ayoung guy (DAYBREAKERS’ Michael Dorman) whose father has died in a car accidenta couple of years earlier. Academic connections are called in, and soon discoverthe worst. “It’s got amazing supernatural powers—bad powers,” Soto explains.“It’s a machine for revenge. And there’s also a major backstory on that. Hisfriends get him to do a big feature story on it in the university newspaper. Hegoes back to his room, back to where he has hidden it away, and it’s gone. Onenight at a party, he had shown it to his friends, so all of them know about it,about seven of them. The next day, one of them is murdered. The police can’tsolve it, and the coroner is puzzled, as it seems the victim’s body somehowheated up on the inside. It’s quite graphic. There is no entry wound, but thereare exit wounds. It’s a real mystery. We’ve spent a lot of time mythologizingthis. When the concept is revealed, you’ll realize, ‘I should have thought ofthat.’ ”

Investigationsinto the pointy end of NEEDLE will continue in Fango’s pages…

SOMEONE’S KNOCKING, GOD OF VAMPIRES, VINDICATION and more indie DVD date/art news

2010-02-18T12:34:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

• Fango got the word from Breaking Glass Pictures that it has picked up Chad Ferrin’s newshocker SOMEONE’S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR for release under its Vicious Circlebanner. The company also grabbed Ferrin’s previous feature EASTER BUNNY, KILL!KILL!, as well as the German production SLASHER.

SOMEONE’S KNOCKING (see trailer below) stars CABIN FEVER 2’sNoah Segan (who discusses the movie in Fango #291, on sale now) as one of agroup of med students who mix drug-taking with an investigation into ’70s serialkillers John and Wilma Hopper, and are soon suffering extremely unpleasantfates. It’ll hit disc May 25, while EASTER BUNNY, in which a monstrousincarnation of the titular critter takes bloody revenge on behalf of a mentallydisabled boy, will follow on June 1. Frank W. Montag’s SLASHER, in which agroup of friends are terrorized and cut up during a forest vacation, hits May4. Final cover art and specs on all these titles are coming soon.

• Midnight Releasing has set a May 4 street date for GOD OF VAMPIRES,Rob Fitz’s ode to Asian genre fare, and passed on a first look at the cover.Dharma Lim stars as Frank Ng, a hitman assigned to take out a crime boss whoturns out to be a monstrous creature of the night. The movie will beaccompanied by an interview featurette, a gag reel and trailers, and retailsfor $24.98. Check out Fango #289 for Fitz’s Notes from the Underground articleon the making of GOD OF VAMPIRES.

• R² Films has set up a newlabel called Big Bite Entertainment, and gave Fango the scoop on the lineup andsome cover art. Bart Mastronardi’s surreal chiller VINDICATION streets April 13(see details here),while Immanuel Martin’s MIYUKI, about a Japanese exchange student with a verydark side (which we previously reported on here),arrives May 11. Also coming on the 11th are TERROR OVERLOAD, a horror anthologywith segments directed by Brant Johnson, Kevin Myhre and Jason Stephenson, andMatt A. Cade’s UNDERBELLY, in which a writer searching for his missing wiferuns afoul of a gang of psychopaths.

Further down the line is LONG PIGS, a docu-style chiller bywriter/directors Nathan Hynes and Chris Power in which they play themselves asfilmmakers following the grisly activities of a cannibalistic serial killer.This Canadian production has won awards at several festivals; check out thetrailer below. We’ll bring you further info on these titles as they becomeavailable, and you can read more about VINDICATION in Fango #292, on sale inMarch.

Morse and Burke will DRIVE ANGRY

2010-02-18T08:21:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Arrow in the Head got the first word that DavidMorse has joined the cast of Summit Entertainment’s 3-D action-chiller DRIVEANGRY. This comes hard on the heels of a Moviehole announcement that Billy Burke has also signed onto the film.

Directed and written by the MY BLOODY VALENTINE team ofPatrick Lussier and Todd Farmer respectively, DRIVE ANGRY is about a criminal(Nicolas Cage) who sets out on a road trip of revenge against the evil cult whohave murdered his daughter and plan to sacrifice his baby granddaughter. Alsostarring William Fichtner and busy genre actress Amber Heard (from ZOMBIELAND,THE STEPFATHER and the upcoming THE WARD, AND SOON THE DARKNESS and ALL THEBOYS LOVE MANDY LANE) the film is set to roll in Shreveport, LA next month,with release currently scheduled for February 11, 2011. Morse’s long career asa character actor has included genre turns in DISTURBIA, DOUBLE VISION, THEGOOD SON and TV’s THE LANGOLIERS as well as the non-horror Stephen King filmsTHE GREEN MILE and HEARTS IN ATLANTIS, while Burke, most visible recently asBella’s father Charlie Swan in Summit’s TWILIGHT films, has also been seen inUNTRACEABLE, AFTER IMAGE, KOMODO and the Wes Craven-presented TV movie DON’TLOOK DOWN.

Cast and director set for Gothic thriller THE MONK

2010-02-17T14:31:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Variety reports that Vincent Cassel,fresh off Darren Aronofsky’s supernatural drama BLACK SWAN, has been cast inthe title role of THE MONK for France’s Diaphana Films and Spain’s MorenaFilms. Based on Matthew Lewis’ 18th-century Gothic novel, the film will toplineCassel as Capucin Ambrosio, who is undone by temptation brought on by blackmagic and the devil himself.

DominikMoll, who first won notice with the 2000 psychological thriller WITH A FRIENDLIKE HARRY…, will direct the movie, which will co-star HARRY and PAN’SLABYRINTH’s Sergi Lopez, Geraldine Chaplin from THE ORPHANAGE and THE WOLFMANand Deborah Francois. Art director Antxon Gomez and composer Alberto Iglesiasare also part of the MONK team. The $15-million production starts its 12-weekshoot in mid-April; a previous 1990 screen version of THE MONK was written anddirected by Francisco Lara Polop and starred Paul McGann, BOOK OF BLOOD’sSophie Ward, Isla Blair and Aitana Sánchez-Gijón. Cassel’s previous genrecredits include SHEITAN (in which he was the devil), BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLFand THE CRIMSON RIVERS.

SHUTTER ISLAND (Film Review)

2010-02-17T14:02:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

The first thing that should be said here about SHUTTERISLAND is that it’s not the consistently scarifying horror film that some ofthe ads are making it out as—and nor is it trying to be one. While there areplenty of creepy events and imagery scattered throughout its running time,here’s a movie that truly warrants description as a “psychological thriller”—nosurprise coming from Martin Scorsese, a director who has always been just asinterested, if not moreso, in tortured souls as in tortured bodies.

When he last visited genre territory with 1991’s CAPE FEARremake, Scorsese changed the targets of Max Cady’s revenge from asqueaky-clean, all-American brood to the ultimate dysfunctional family, to thepoint where it eventually became difficult to feel for them. A moreconsistently sympathetic protagonist is SHUTTER ISLAND’s Teddy Daniels(Leonardo DiCaprio), a member of the U.S. Marshals who is first seen heavinginto a toilet on a boat en route to the titular locale, located in the watersoff Boston, in 1954, where he and new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) havebeen assigned to investigate the disappearance of an inmate at the AshecliffeHospital for the Criminally Insane.

Teddy regains his physical bearing when he reaches theisland, but his psyche isn’t as stable. He’s tormented by visions of his deadwife Dolores (Michelle Williams) and the victims he encountered when, as anArmy soldier, he helped liberate the Nazi death camp in Dachau. The latter experiencemeans that it’s dislike at first sight when Teddy meets the German Dr. Naehring(Max von Sydow), one of the key staff under Dr. Cawley (Ben Kingsley), whogives Teddy and Chuck a tour of Ashecliffe and explains the situation. Thevanished prisoner—er, patient was a mother who murdered her three children andappears to have vanished without a trace from her locked room within thehighest-security of the facility’s three wards. The attempt to track her downwill lead Teddy into a mystery that comes to encompass more ghosts from hispast, plus the possibility of bizarre medical experiments, secret conspiracies,Cold War paranoia and visits to dark, dripping passageways, the local cemeteryand its mausoleum, the imposing cliffs at the edge of Shutter Island and thelighthouse beyond them—and oh yes, a good deal of the action takes place duringa cataclysmic hurricane.

All the ingredients, in other words, are here for a wild,lurid Gothic ride, and Scorsese certainly doesn’t hold back. He unleashes thefull bag of filmmaker’s tricks to create a modern, full-color (complete withbrighter-than-natural blood), widescreen version of a vintage picture byadmitted influence Val Lewton, with sudden, sharp camera moves and small,apparently intentional jump cuts to keep the audience on edge. As usual,Scorsese has marshaled sterling production values from his regular team ofcraftspeople, with impeccable cinematography by Robert Richardson, productiondesign by Dante Ferretti and costumes by Sandy Powell, plus an eclectic andspooky assembly of music from the divergent likes of Gustav Mahler, GyörgyLigeti, Krzysztof Penderecki, John Cage and Brian Eno. Thelma Schoonmaker’sediting is, for the most part, razor-sharp from scene to scene—though the movieas a whole could stand to be tightened up somewhat.

That’s because the longer the story (scripted by LaetaKalogridis, adapting Dennis Lehane’s dense and twisty puzzle of a novel) goeson, the more it becomes clear where things are ultimately headed. As he plungesinto the third act, Scorsese seems determined to plumb every nook and cranny ofTeddy’s psyche at the expense of narrative economy, and at least one majorrevelation is both explained in dialogue and dramatized in flashback wheneither one or the other (probably the latter) would have sufficed. Nonetheless,DiCaprio holds the center throughout, his still-boyish looks adding to thevulnerability of a man struggling to submerge his insecurities beneath anauthority-figure exterior. Ruffalo, as the one guy he can trust on thisassignment, offers a fine sounding board and welcome levity, Kingsley and vonSydow evoke just the right amounts of empowerment and suspicion and Williamsallows Teddy’s deceased beloved to become fully alive in his eyes. Makingstrong impressions in smaller roles are the impeccably cast likes of EmilyMortimer, Patricia Clarkson, John Carroll Lynch, Ted Levine, Elias Koteas,actor/HOME MOVIE director Christopher Denham and Jackie Earle Haley, whose solebut lengthy pivotal scene opposite DiCaprio promises great things from hisFreddy Krueger.

SHUTTERISLAND effectively raises the hackles at moments like this, but Scorsese’sendgame isn’t to send the audience reeling from the theater in terror, but toleave them shaken from the personal tragedy at the story’s core. As such,Saturday-night thrillseekers may be a bit disappointed or nonplussed, whilethose who can get on the director’s wavelength will appreciate how he harksback to the virtues of a classic style of thriller-making. One thing’s forsure: His craft is so aggressive and unrelenting that nobody who sees SHUTTERISLAND is likely to be bored.

DVDetails for THE COLLECTOR

2010-02-17T12:21:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Fango got the scoop on the special features that have beencollected for the DVD and Blu-ray releases of THE COLLECTOR, coming April 6from Vivendi Entertainment. The directorial debut ofMarcus Dunstan, who scripted with his FEAST trilogy/SAW sequels writing partnerPatrick Melton, the film follows a small-time burglar (Josh Stewart) as heattempts to rip off a wealthy family’s mansion one night and runs into a fardeadlier home invader, who has set murderous traps for him and the house’sowners.

The discs will present the movie in widescreen; audio specshave not been confirmed, but the supplements will include:

• Filmmaker audio commentary

• Deleted scenes

• Alternate ending

• Soundtrack song preview

• Music video

Retailprice is $28.99 for the DVD, $34.99 for the Blu-ray.

Exclusive Interview: Hugo Weaving on THE WOLFMAN

2010-02-17T11:51:00.000-08:00

By Lee Gambin

Universal’s eagerlyanticipated update of THE WOLFMAN was unleashed in cinemas everywhere this pastFriday, and one of its stars, the MATRIX films’ Hugo Weaving, gave Fango someof his time to talk up the lycanthropic epic. We spoke to him while he was inthe midst of the Melbourne (Australia) Theatre Company’s production of theacclaimed play GOD OF CARNAGE.

FANGORIA: Are you a fan of the horror genre?

HUGO WEAVING: I like things that are well-written. If the scriptis good, then I’ll enjoy it. If the script is bad or loose or silly, then Ican’t get into it. However, I believe genre pictures such as horror filmsshould be allowed to have a sense of freedom in the writing. But sadly, those picturestend to be looked down upon or overlooked as serious pieces of art. TheWestern, the musical, action films, horror films, fantasy films—I mean, theyare the founding and starting point of great American cinema, yet even thoughthey’re commercially successful and often critically well-received, they arenever given the proper respect they deserve just because they entertain.There’s a weird resentment toward escapism in intellectual circles, whichhappens not only in film, but in theater too.

FANG: What can you tell us about your character in THEWOLFMAN, Scotland Yard’s Inspector Aberline?

WEAVING: Well, he’s a no-nonsense detective who comes intothe lives of the Talbots by investigating the strange murders that are somehowhappening around the family. He was not in the original film from the ’40s,although after watching that film with Lon Chaney, I kind of liken him to theClaude Rains character. I even tried to do a Rains-style voice in preshootrehearsals, but it didn’t work [laughs].

FANG: On that note, how did the original WOLF MANtroupe—Lon Chaney Jr., Rains, Evelyn Ankers, Maria Ouspenskaya and RalphBellamy—feed the performances of your fellow cast members?

WEAVING: Everyone seemed to bring their own interpretationof their character to this film. It’s a far grittier movie than the 1941 film,as you could imagine. The original is loaded with that glamour of the Universalhorror pictures of the golden age. In this film, everything is on show, andthat includes the blood, sweat, and tears, and that most definitely alters themood and style and totally feeds the performances of the actors. GeraldineChaplin, who is the legendary Charlie Chaplin’s daughter, was a hoot to workwith and brought so much of herself to the role created by that great characteractress Maria Ouspenskaya. But listening to her, it’s as if she had channeledMaria. There was something truly haunting about her performance. But I believeBenicio Del Toro [playing Lawrence Talbot] did the most studying of Lon ChaneyJr. There are points in the film where he looks remarkably like him.

FANG: He also kind of resembles Oliver Reed in theHammer classic CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF. Do you have a favorite werewolf movie?

WEAVING: I remember seeing AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDONwhen it first came out, and that was really good. A great combination of horrorand comedy.

FANG: What was it like working with legendary makeupartist Rick Baker? Were you in the chair for any prosthetic work?

WEAVING: Rick Baker was charming, and a soft-spoken gentlemanwho excelled at his craft. It is dumbfounding what that man could do withmaterials that have been with the industry forever. His work on the werewolfsequences was astounding. And yes, I did get to have some work done, but Iwon’t tell you too much. Let’s just say that this film has a healthy amount ofblood and guts, so the makeups go beyond fur and fangs.

FANG: How much would you say Lon Chaney’s Wolf Mandesign was a reference point for Baker?

WEAVING: He had images galore of those old Universalwerewolves, the one with the bad case of sideburns too…who was he again?

FANG: Henry Hull from THE WEREWOLF OF LONDON?

WEAVING: Yeah. Rick wanted to put his own mark on thedesign but still pay homage to the Lon Chaney Wolf Man. He came out looking amazing,truly amazing. Rick Baker is possibly one of the most modest yet talentedpeople I’ve met. He is his craft. It’s phenomenal. He is definitely the masterof werewolf makeup artistry, and it was cool to work with the man whooriginally did the FX for AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON. We shared a fewstories and I was kind of like a teenager again, asking him how he did what hedid on that film.

FANG: Was THE WOLFMAN a fun experience overall, and willyou return to the horror genre in the future?

WEAVING: It was agood experience; I just wish the studios and distributors and press andeverything that has nothing whatsoever to do with us actors had gotten theirshit together and brought this movie to the eager public sooner rather thanlater. Films lose momentum, and this one has been whetting the appetites ofmoviegoers, especially horror fans, for too long now. I also want to make notethat the fans of horror are possibly the most hardcore and fanatical andlovely. Ever since doing this film, I’ve had more conversations than ever. Soyep, for sure, I would love to do more horror films, just as long as they’rethe right projects.

Writer/actress talks THE GHOST OF SLAUGHTERFORD

2010-02-17T08:37:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

We reported the other day on an upcoming supernaturalfeature called THE GHOST OF SLAUGHTERFORD, but the news break omitted one veryimportant name: screenwriter Axelle Carolyn, who will also star in the movie. Aformer Fango scribe who has since appeared in a number of features and shortfilms (including DOOMSDAY and CENTURION for GHOST executive producer NeilMarshall, as well as THE DESCENT: PART 2), Carolyn dropped us a line to give usa bit of background about the project.

“THE GHOST OF SLAUGHTERFORD is a throwback to classic ghoststories and British horror,” she tells us. “It was inspired by movies like THEHAUNTING and THE INNOCENTS, with a touch of THE WICKER MAN and Hammer films. Itwas also born out of frustration, in a way: frustration as an actress with thelack of strong female roles to play, and as a writer, with the fact that movieshave, in the past few years, too often gone for gore and jump-scares instead ofatmosphere and emotion.”

Carolyn will play novelist Audrey Barker, who is grievingthe loss of her husband when she travels to the remote town of Slaughterford toseek inspiration for her latest book. When she moves into the abandoned RolphManor, she encounters the ghost of Victor Rolph, who committed suicide in theold place. Instead of threatening Audrey, however, Victor’s spirit becomes herally when it turns out that Slaughterford’s residents have satanic secrets.“We’re hoping to close the financing soon,” adds the writer/actress, who alsopenned the genre study IT LIVES AGAIN! HORROR FILMS IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM, “andshoot this spring in the UK.” Ian D. Fleming, who has numerous TV, feature andshort-film and 2nd-unit directing credits, will helm THE GHOST OFSLAUGHTERFORD, which is co-produced with London’s Intandem Films, which alsohas worldwide distribution rights.

AddsMarshall in a statement, “THE GHOST OF SLAUGHTERFORD reminds me of a kind offilm that Britain doesn’t make any more, a creeping menace full of greatcharacters, heart-stopping terror, intrigue, suspense and even romance. I wantto make this movie mainly because I want to see this movie.” We do too, andwe’ll keep you informed as SLAUGHTERFORD moves toward production.

Details on scary/sexy DEMONIC II/FOREST OF THE DAMNED II

2010-02-17T08:35:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Mark Evans, co-writer and co-producer of the new DEMONIC II(a.k.a. FOREST OF THE DAMNED II), got in touch to talk up the sequel, for whichan official website has opened. The movie is a follow-up to the 2005 featureknown as FOREST OF THE DAMNED overseas and retitled DEMONIC for its 2006 U.S.DVD release; the original’s director/co-writer, Johannes Roberts, is anassociate producer on the new film.

Ernest Riera makes his directorial debut on DEMONIC II afterserving as a producer on the first film as well as Roberts’ upcoming youth-gone-crazythriller F and other features; he also scripted and produced with Evans. “As inthe first film, we follow a group of people into the woods for a weekendbreak,” Evans tells us, “but this time it’s couples hoping to enjoy a naughtyweekend of swinging in a rented holiday home on a remote island. They soonrealize that the place isn’t quite right, and when the party gets into fullswing, things turn horribly wrong as they’re preyed upon by murderous fallenangels.”

The cast is headed by Francesca Fowler, Alex Humes, RachelFreeman, Sebastian Knapp, Lewis Clements, Sally Janman and Victoria Broom. Inaddition, Evans notes, “Marysia Kay and Eleanor James [also seen together innext week’s DVD release COLOUR FROM THE DARK] return to continue their roles asthe seductive, bloodthirsty monsters.” The official website, featuring a bunchof grisly pics as well as some non-work-safe topless-demon shots, can be foundhere.

There will be no shortage of grue in the movie, Evans promises:“It starts with a very nasty scene where a young women has to chose betweencutting off her trapped leg with a rusty ax or taking her chances with thepursuing angels. The tension and violence increase throughout the film,climaxing in a final fight between the main character and the main angel.That’s very intense—I’ve probably seen it over 100 times and it still makes meuncomfortable. There are also gouged eyes, exposed intestines, severed limbs,brutal stabbings and a basement full of bodies.”

Riera, who has previously helmed a number of short films,first hooked up with Roberts when he lensed a documentary about the making ofthe latter’s feature DARKHUNTERS. When Roberts was too busy scripting F totackle the DEMONIC sequel, Riera, who had just finished directing the 2nd uniton Roberts’ WHEN EVIL CALLS, was tapped to take it on. “Ernest hadn’t had muchexperience writing horror, and he approached me to co-write the script,” Evansrecalls. “At our first meeting, we realized we could work very well togetherand that the project was going to be a lot of fun. However, after our thirdsession, we found out that the financiers had decided to put the money into aFormula One car instead! At that stage, we were so involved in the movie thatwe decided to finish the script, and I would raise the money myself.” He alsoput together a creative team that includes cinematographers John Raggett andRainer Antesberger (both encoring from DEMONIC and other Roberts flicks;Antesberger edited the film as well), production designer Ryan Haysom, LukeMcNally and his makeup FX team, CGI creator Eren Ozkural and soundtrack/soundFX artists Bernie Riener and Robert Pawliczek.

Theend result, Evans says, “is even more violent than the original, with verytense scenes between strong characters and a horrible fight for survival. Ouraim was not to allow the audience to relax. The awkward sexual tension betweenthe couples and the terrible ways in which they die will really keep youwatching.” We’ll keep you posted on the film’s release status.

Werewolves are only HUMAN in SAUNA director’s latest

2010-02-17T07:46:00.001-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Screen Daily reports that Finnish director Antti-Jussi Annila will follow up hiswell-received chiller SAUNA with a werewolf movie called HUMAN. As the titlesuggests, this is a reverse-transformation tale—about a wolf that becomes aman.

“WithHUMAN I expect to do a totally different kind of werewolf film, so don’t expectanything familiar to this subgenre,” Annila tells the trade. The script isbeing co-written by Doug Taylor, whose credits include THEY WAIT and VincenzoNatali’s upcoming SPLICE. Dean English and Karen Powell of Canada’s PerfectCircle Productions are co-producing with Finland’s Blind Spot Pictures, whoseTero Kaukomaa comments, “It’s really exciting to get all this internationaltalent to work alongside AJ and our Finnish team. Their participation willdefinitely broaden the international appeal of the film.” A start date has yetto be announced.

Get viral with THE CRAZIES’ Operation Scarlet Omega

2010-02-17T07:45:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Dread Central has been reporting on all the viral activity going on surrounding the upcomingrelease of Overture Films and director Breck Eisner’s THE CRAZIES, and todayhad an update on Operation Scarlet Omega. That’s a government/military programdealing with security breaches at chemical facilities—like the one that causesall the madness in the movie’s setting of Ogden Marsh, Iowa.

There are all kinds of places you can explore THE CRAZIES’frightening scenario; Ogden Marsh has its own official website, while the activities of an activist trying to savethe town from toxic peril are chronicled here. The outfit responsible for the threat is the Dakon/Pendrill Chemical Corporation (log in as jbmartin with the passwordp@ssword for some unsettling details), and you can also read The Truth AboutTrixie, detailing the particular biohazard, here. Dread got ahold of an exclusive video detailing Trixie’s effects on one poorsoul, and you can see it below.

THE CRAZIES opens next Friday, Feburary 26, and its officialwebsite can be seen here. You can read ourexclusive two-part set visit in Fango #291, which may still be on sale in someplaces, and #292, just out this week.

Scarlet Omega -Trixie on Gurney
by dreadcentral

Clive Barker’s Dark Bazaar at Toy Fair 2010

2010-02-16T14:17:00.000-08:00

By David McKendry

At the current Toy Fair event in NYC, Fango dropped by theshowroom of JAKKS Pacific, where we got an up-close-and-personal look at thisHalloween’s sweetest costumes. From JAKKS subsidiary Disguise comes CliveBarker’s Dark Bazaar, a costume lineup based on the original artwork of theauthor/artist/filmmaker and horror legend. See some pics after the jump!

Not only was stunning original artwork by the man himself ondisplay, but to see it replicated with such close resemblance in costume formwas quite amazing. The line will include an assortment of both full costumesand masks starting at $49.99. Definitely look for them at your local Party Cityand other costume retailers this Halloween.

THE DESCENT: PART 2 DVDetails

2010-02-16T14:15:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Fango got ahold of the specs for the DVD of THE DESCENT:PART 2, coming from Lionsgate Home Entertainment April 27. The sequel to Neil Marshall’s subterranean scare film, directed by JonHarris from a script by James McCarthy, J. Blakeson and James Watkins, sendsthe first film’s heroine Sarah (returning star Shauna McDonald) back into themonster-infested caves with a rescue party in an attempt to save any of herfriends who may have survived the creatures’ attack.

The movie will be presented in 16x9 widescreen with DolbyDigital 5.1 sound, and is currently slated to be accompanied by the followingspecial features:

• Audio commentary by Harris and actresses MacDonald,Krysten Cummings and Anna Skellern

• Deleted scenes

• “The Making of THE DESCENT: PART 2: Deeper and Darker”featurette

• Storyboards

Retailprice is $28.98. See Fango #293, on sale in April, for an exclusive set-visitreport on THE DESCENT: PART 2.

Freddy, his new glove and more at Toy Fair 2010

2010-02-16T14:12:00.000-08:00

By Bekah McKendry

Fango spent another exciting day at Toy Fair 2010 (see ourfirst report here),checking out the licensed products and original terrors coming to frighten youthis year. Read on past the jump for the details and pics…

Over at Mezco’s booth, a couple of kickass 12-inchers andMez-its from FRIDAY THE 13TH, the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET remake, BEETLEJUICE,SAW and THE WOLFMAN topped the bill. Speaking of WOLFMAN, look for both 12-inchand 7-inch figures (already available in stores), along with a 9-inch stylizedversion of Benicio Del Toro’s canis lupus sapien. For you Living Dead Dollfans, Mezco debuted both their “In Wonderland” series based on ALICE INWONDERLAND book characters (including the Red Queen seen below) and Series 19:Children of the Night, a vampire-based line.

We also got a more in-depth gander at some of NECA’supcoming NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET products. In addition to some great actionfigures, they also revealed a replica Freddy glove we got to try on, instantlyfalling in love with the piece. It’s the best mockup of the dream stalker’ssignature weapon we’ve seen, with actual metal blades (dulled down, of course).It even bears the slight metal creaking sound from the movies. The glove can beworn, but for regular display it also comes with a replica hand to mount it on.

It was also exciting to finally see a toy from our favoriteof the NIGHTMARE sequels—THE DREAM WARRIORS. The Freddy puppet scene in thismovie has always been a highlight, and we were ecstatic today when NECAunveiled its soon-to-be-released old-school Freddy marionette. This puppet wasactually cast from the same molds as the one used for the film prop, and is anecessary piece for any ELM STREET fan. Hopefully, this puppet won’t rip outyour veins—but this gorgeous collectible will be worth the risk. Check outFango #293, on sale in March, for additional coverage.

They’re not the scariest creatures on the block, butcertainly some of the most creative and endearing: 4KIDS Entertainmentpremiered a line of monsters designed by Jim Henson Studios, the company knownfor amazing critter work in movies like LABYRINTH, THE DARK CRYSTAL and themore recently disturbing mind-trip MIRRORMASK. These new creations are also greatrepresentations of the creativity and purity involved in taking the scary andobscure and bringing it to life. Some of the monsters from this line made priorappearances as small toys sold in “blind assortment” boxes at Kid Robot storesand comic-book shops nationwide; this tester line has now been expanded toinclude monster plushes and other larger figures as well as apparel.

Stay tuned for more from Toy Fair 2010!

More info, DVD release and art for MEADOWOODS

2010-02-16T12:49:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

We first reported here abouta new independent horror feature called MEADOWOODS, which was being virallypromoted via a couple of disturbing on-line videos. Now we have more info aboutthe movie, as well as the scoop on its DVD release and a first look at thecover.

Directed by Scott Phillips (not the same one, as far as weknow, who helmed GIMME SKELTER among others) from a script by Anna Siri,MEADOWOODS is about a trio of college students who decide to murder a randomvictim. Travis (Connor Thorp), Stephanie (Michele Roe) and Ryan (MichaelDowney) are bored or otherwise dissatisfied with life and decide to capture theplanning and execution of their crime on video, with the movie playing out astheir taped footage. The disc streets May 11 from Monterey Media, and will carry a retail price of $26.95. You can join the “MEADOWOODS Army”on-line, interact with the characters and receive exclusive clips at theofficial website. The movie also has a Facebookpage here.

Original EVIL DEAD to finally hit Blu-ray

2010-02-16T07:26:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

First, a bit of a mea culpa: We discovered this news tidbitin an on-line article from Video Businessa little while back, and have spent the time since trying to dig up moredetails. None were forthcoming, and since then the mag and its on-lineincarnation have gone defunct, so the original posted item has been lost incyberspace. But trust us: it was announced that THE EVIL DEAD will be makingits hi-def disc debut later this year.

A source from Anchor Bay Entertainment, which has issued Sam Raimi’s classicgruefest in several DVD editions over the past decade, confirmed to the trade that the movieis on their Blu-ray slate for 2010. We haven’t been able to confirm which extraswill be ported over from those previous discs, whether new ones will be createdor if Raimi and co. are directly involved, but we’ll keep digging and bring youfurther info as we get it!

THE SKY HAS FALLEN onto DVD

2010-02-16T07:25:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Indie filmmaker Doug Roos passed on the news that his horrorfeature THE SKY HAS FALLEN is now available on DVD. The movie, which he wrote,produced and directed, won Best Horror Feature at the Indie Gathering and FreakShow Film Festivals and has played numerous other fests in the U.S. andinternationally.

Carey MacLaren and Laurel Kemper star as Lance and Rachel,two of the handful of survivors after the world’s populace is decimated by avirulent plague. Strange black-clad creatures begin to carry away the bodies ofthe dead for experimentation, and Lance and Rachel set out to stop them andsave humanity. “Even though it went over really well, the version that playedfestivals was actually an early cut,” Roos tells Fango. “We did some additionalfilming last summer with Carey MacLaren, and I did more editing as well. Ibelieve it’s important to take the time necessary to produce the best moviepossible. You’ve really got to put everything you’ve got into it, especiallywhen you don’t have a budget, no matter what kind of movie you’re working on.”

Part of that effort, where THE SKY HAS FALLEN was concerned,involved a return to horror-filmmaking basics. “A tagline I’m emphasizing forthe release is, ‘No shaky cam. No green screen. No CGI.’ A lot of people preferto see practical effects, and I’m one of them. Sometimes you might not be ableto do that, or it might be better to use digital effects to enhance what you’vedone on set, but with this movie, it’s all practical and in-camera. I thinkthat makes it easier for people to get into the movie and really believe whatthey’re seeing. I miss the models, suits and effects of ’80s films like ALIENS,John Carpenter’s THE THING and ROBOCOP. What I really wanted to do with THE SKYHAS FALLEN, though, was tell a story that's personal to me. Something I wasreally passionate about, and I’m going to do that with every single movie Imake.”

The DVD, which can be purchased for $17.95 here, presents the movie in a16x9-enhanced widescreen transfer with 5.1 Surround sound, with the followingspecial features:

• Step-by-step maskmaking video

• Preproduction featurette

• Principal photography featurette

• Special FX featurette

• Postproduction featurette

• Recording the score featurette

Youcan see THE SKY HAS FALLEN’s official website here and its Facebook page here.

CRAZIES scripter takes over VLAD for Brad

2010-02-15T21:22:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

According to The Hollywood Reporter, genre specialist Scott Kosar will rewrite thescreenplay for VLAD, a feature update of the Dracula legend for SummitEntertainment and Brad Pitt’s Plan B company. The script was originally pennedby actor Charlie Hunnam, who currently co-stars opposite Ron Perlman on FX’sSONS OF ANARCHY TV series.

Music-video veteran Anthony Mandler will direct themovie, an action-oriented project focusing on Vlad the Impaler as a youngprince. Pitt and Plan B partner Dede Gardner will produce the project, one oftwo currently in development to focus on the Count’s early years; the other isUniversal’s DRACULA: YEAR ZERO, with Alex Proyas set to direct Sam Worthingtonin the title role. Kosar’s previous credits include the script for BradAnderson’s Christian Bale-starrer THE MACHINIST, as well as a trio ofhigh-profile remakes: THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, THE AMITYVILLE HORROR andTHE CRAZIES, which Overture Films releases next Friday.

Koontz’s FRANKENSTEIN to hit the screen—again

2010-02-15T21:05:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Variety reports that Ralph Winter andTerry Botwick of 1019 Entertainment have picked up the screen rights to theseries of FRANKENSTEIN novels written by prolific horror author Dean Koontz.The duo are planning a feature-film franchise based on the books, producingalong with Whitney Thomas.

In Koontz’s updates of the Mary Shelley classic,Dr. Frankenstein—now calling himself Victor Helios—and his scientificallycreated humans, the most prominent of whom is known as Deucalion, live inpresent-day New Orleans and are tracked by a pair of detectives. The author’sscenario was already the basis of a 2004 TV movie directed by Marcus Nispel andstarring Thomas Kretschmann, Parker Posey, Adam Goldberg and Vincent Perez.Three books—PRODIGAL SON (written with Kevin J. Anderson), CITY OF NIGHT andDEAD AND ALIVE (both penned with Ed Gorman)—have been published since 2005,with LOST SOULS due out this June and two more to follow in 2011 and 2012,providing plenty of material for the movies. “These books have enough twistsand turns to keep the public coming back to the theaters for many years tocome,” the producers tell the trade; no talent has yet been attached.

Dark Sky grabs THE LAST LOVECRAFT for North America

2010-02-15T16:16:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Dark Sky Films announced todaythat it has picked up North American rights to THE LAST LOVECRAFT: RELIC OFCTHULHU, a comedic horror feature directed by Henry Saine from a script byDevin McGinn, who also produced (with Oliver Garrett and Ashleigh Nichols) andco-stars. The film has previously played at last October’s H.P. Lovecraft FilmFestival in Portland, OR as well as last month’s Slamdance Film Festival inPark City, UT.

Kyle Davis stars in the film as Jeff, a guy whose boringlife becomes a lot more interesting when an old man informs him that he’s thelast remaining descendant of the famed horror author. Jeff is given an ancienttalisman to protect, one that leads him, his friend Charlie (McGinn) and HPLexpert Paul (Barak Hardley) into confrontations with the evil Starspawn (EthanWilde), who wants to use the relic to unleash the ancient god Cthulhu on Earth.

“We are thrilled to be a part of this flat-out hilariouspicture that’s a perfect blend of sci-fi, buddy picture and road movie,” saidGreg Newman of Dark Sky parent company MPI Media Group. “The film’s imaginativeand unique style will appeal to wide audiences.” Edmund Lupinski, GreggLawrence, SUPERBAD’s Martin Starr, HATCHET’s Richard Riehle and CABIN FEVER 2:SPRING FEVER’s Alexi Wasser also appear in THE LAST LOVECRAFT, which boastscreature and makeup FX by Kris Kobzina and Kimberly Graczyk. The movie will hittheaters this fall and then DVD and VOD in October; see the trailer below and themovie’s official website here and Facebook pagehere.

Neil Marshall-produced GHOST gets backing

2010-02-15T15:48:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

According to The Hollywood Reporter, UK sales company Intandem Films will financeGHOST OF SLAUGHTERFORD, a supernatural pic to be executive-produced by THEDESCENT and DOG SOLDIERS’ Neil Marshall. Intandem is also representing the movie,set to start rolling in June, at the current European Film market in Berlin.

Ian D. Fleming, whose credits include British TVwork (most notably the hit series HOLLYOAKS) and helming the 2nd unit onMarshall’s upcoming actioner CENTURION, will direct GHOST, which is set in thetitular village, where a recently widowed author rents a big old house to workon her new novel. The Slaughterford townsfolk warn her that the place ishaunted, and although she does indeed meet the resident ghost, it’s the living peoplearound her who become the true threat. Casting has yet to be announced.

Vicious Circle has SYMPATHY for DVD release

2010-02-15T15:34:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired the independent horror film SYMPATHY for DVD release under itsgenre-centric Vicious Circle banner. Directed by Andrew Moorman from a scriptby Arik Martin (the two also produced), the movie won raves when it played festivalsincluding Screamfest a couple of years back.

Marina Shtelen (pictured) stars as Sara, a teenaged girl who’sbeen kidnapped by a criminal named Trip (Steven Pritchard) on the run from abank robbery. They hole up at a remote motel where Trip handcuffs Sara to thebed, but things get complicated—and bloody—when Dennis (Aaron Bouchard), anescaped convict, joins the party.

An April 27 debut is planned for SYMPATHY; we’llbring you cover art and details as soon as they’re available. In the meantime, youcan check out the movie’s official website here.

THE NEW DEAD invade bookstores across the U.S. tomorrow

2010-02-15T09:57:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Tomorrow, Tuesday, February 16, St. Martin’s Press willunleash the zombie anthology THE NEW DEAD under its St. Martin’s Griffinimprint, and the publisher has dispatched the contributing authors tobookstores all over the U.S. to help promote it. The writers were assembled forthe collection by editor Christopher Golden, each offering different takes onthe undead and their related themes.

The venues, authors and times for tomorrow’s events are asfollows:

• New York City: Jonathan Maberry, M.B. Homler and DavidWellington

Borders, 10 Columbus Circle, 7 p.m.

(212) 823-9775

• Los Angeles, CA: Aimee Bender and Max Brooks

Dark Delicacies, 4213 W. BurbankBoulevard,  Burbank, CA, 6:30-8:30 p.m.

(818) 556-6660

• Boston, MA area: Golden, Stephen R. Bissette, RickHautala, Holly Newstein and John Connolly

Barnes & Noble, 1 Worcester Road, Framingham, MA, 7 p.m.

(508) 628-5567

• Lexington, KY: Derek Nikitas

Morris Book Shop, 408Southland Drive, 7 p.m.

(859) 276-0494 

• Atlanta, GA area: James A. Moore

Blue Elephant Book Shop,  2091 N. Decatur Road,  Decatur, GA, 7:15 p.m.

(404) 728-8955 

• Baltimore, MD: Brian Keene

Barnes & Noble, 1819 Reisterstown Road, 7 p.m.

(410) 415-5758

• San Antonio, TX: David Liss

Barnes & Noble, 15900 La Cantera Parkway, 7 p.m.

(210) 558-2078

SPIRIT CAMP slashes DVD; actress talks

2010-02-15T09:33:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Kerry Beyer, writer/producer/director of thecheerleader-slasher opus SPIRIT CAMP, has made the film available for on-lineDVD purchase, and sent along the disc specs. And just ’cause we can’t getenough of sexy actress Julin, who co-stars in it (and previously discussed herroles in BOGGY CREEK and THE FINAL with us), we’ve got a few comments from her about the movie as well.

The disc presents the movie in 16x9-enhanced widescreen withDolby Digital 5.1 sound, and includes the following extras:

• Audio commentary by Beyer

• Production featurette

• Theatrical trailer

It’s available from the SPIRIT CAMP official website, and if you place your order by March 1, you can get it for the discount priceof $19.95 instead of the regular cost of $26.95. And for $29.95, you can get aspecial limited edition that comes with an autographed print and signed pair ofpanties!

SPIRIT CAMP is set at a cheerleader camp where a Goth chicknamed Nikki (Roxy Vandiver) is sent after spending time in a juvenilecorrectional facility, and where she immediately gets on the bad side of thesquad’s leader, Rachel (Julin). Soon all the girls confront a new enemy,however: a mysterious killer bent on bumping them all off. Brandon Smith, MeganMoser, Amy Morris and Jon Paul Burkhart also star.

The Houston, TX-based Julin, who got her screen start onTV’s TEXAS LIVE SHOW, tells Fango, “SPIRIT CAMP was my first audition, and Iwas recommended to the director by my acting teacher at the time. I was goingto try out for the head cheerleader, Missy, because I thought that was more ofa lead role, but then I went in and Kerry was like, ‘Why don’t you read forRachel?’, who was more of a crazy bitch. So I went in there totally psycho, andhe said, ‘Yes, you got it.’ And then it turned out that Rachel was an evenbigger part than Missy.”

Getting “stuck in the woods for a couple of weeks” with alargely female cast for the SPIRIT CAMP shoot was a kick for the up-and-comingactress. “We had all the food we wanted in our cabin, and we would just wakeup, have our breakfast and go exploring, because most of the shoot was atnight,” she recalls. “It was really cool, I loved it. We were a bunch ofperverts, so we always made sick jokes just to keep the energy up. Kerry wasgreat; he’s a photographer, so he knew how to light. He’s also an actor, so hecast the right people for the right roles and he could just say a couple ofwords to get us in the zone.”

Beyer also served as movie’s cinematographer,editor and score composer, “which is why it took three years for the movie tocome out!” Julin laughs. “It’s pretty awesome; he did a terrific job, though hesaid for his next one, he’s definitely going to have more of a team on board.”And the actress wants to be part of that team. “After SPIRIT CAMP was over,”she recalls, “I was like, ‘Man, I want to do this over and over.’ We were alllike, ‘Sob. When are we gonna do it again?’ ” You can visit SPIRIT CAMP’sFacebook page here.

Horrific news flashes from Toy Fair

2010-02-15T06:33:00.000-08:00

By Bekah McKendry

Toy Fair 2010 opened yesterday at New York City’s JacobJavits Center, and Fango is on the scene to bring you news and images of themore horrific items on display. Here are some early tidbits from the event:

• Steve Jackson Games (known for the MUNCHKIN game lines)has both a ZOMBIE DICE game and a CTHULHU DICE game coming out. We got to playa few rounds, and they tested our Vegas betting skills. Plus, we heard fromsome fellow players that they’re equally fun when liquor shots are involved!

• We got to check out a new line of toys called Vamplets.These are vampire babies that are absolutely adorable; they even come withtheir own baby bottles of blood! Check them out on-line at www.vamplets.com.They’re giving out free Vamplets to anyone who donates blood this week, sotomorrow we’re rolling up our sleeves and opening a vein to get our own cutevamp kids!

• Diamond Toys has a whole line of Universal Monster figureson the way. We’re not allowed to show pics of some of these till after March 1,so look for coverage in FANGORIA #293. Our favorites were the Mummy and someawesome variations on the Creature from the Black Lagoon. These will startbeing released to stores around Halloween this year.

• Diamond also has a line of TRUE BLOOD figures that they’llbe unveiling tomorrow afternoon. We’ll be there to get the scoop, but we’vealready learned that they’ll be presenting figures of Sookie, Eric and Bill.They’re also releasing limited-edition TRUE BLOOD neon signs, including one ofthe show title and another of the Merlotte’s logo. We’ve also heard a rumorthat a neon sign for Fangtasia is in the works as well.

• Triad Toys debuted a sweet-looking Dexter figure. Thiswill be releasing in second quarter 2010, and will retail for around $89-$99.Not only does this amazingly detailed doll have 38 points of articulation, butit also comes with Dexter’s bag of killer tools!

Look for further news later today…

Director talks his deadly DADDY’S GIRL

2010-02-15T06:31:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Chris .R. Notarile, writer/director of the slasher flickMETHODIC, gave us a few words and a new poster (seen after the jump) from hissecond feature film, DADDY’S GIRL. The movie, set to roll this spring orsummer, will star Zoe Sloane in the title role of Jessica Hailey and THEFLASH’s John Wesley Shipp as her father, Jack.

Jessica, in Notarile’s words, is “a psychotic andmanipulative teenage girl” who convinces her alcoholic and overprotective dadthat she has been assaulted by a boy (who actually spurned her advances) toencourage his violent payback. Jessica’s got a deadly streak herself, andNotarile tells us, “Anyone who enjoys a good Dario Argento movie with a lot ofsexual overtones will get a kick out of DADDY’S GIRL.” The cast will alsoinclude Kim Santiago (who worked on the script with the director) and MichaelGalante. Check out the teaser trailer below the poster and see the movie’sofficial website here.

Fritz Lang’s classic M coming to Criterion Blu-ray

2010-02-15T06:26:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Criterion has announced that it isgiving the landmark 1931 chiller M its Blu-ray debut May 11. TheGerman-language feature stars Peter Lorre as one of film history’s mostmemorable villains, a child murderer who terrorizes Berlin and is hunted byboth the authorities and members of the city’s underworld.

The disc will contain a restored hi-def digital transferwith uncompressed monaural sound, and will exclusively feature the long-lostEnglish-language version of the film. Also included will be all the extras fromthe previous DVD edition:

• Audio commentary by German film scholars Anton Kaes andEric Rentschler

• Documentary on the physical history of M

• “Conversation with Fritz Lang,” a 50-minute film byWilliam Friedkin

• Claude Chabrol’s M LE MAUDIT, a short film inspired by M,plus an interview with Chabrol

• Classroom audiotapes of editor Paul Falkenberg discussingM and its history

• Video interview with Harold Nebenzal, son of M producerSeymour Nebenzal

• Still gallery with behind-the-scenes photos and productionsketches by art director Emil Hasler

• Booklet featuring an essay by film critic StanleyKauffmann, a 1963 interview with Lang, the script for a missing scene andcontemporaneous newspaper articles

Retail price is $39.95.

MAD MOXXI’S UNDERDOME RIOT (Video Game DLC Review)

2010-02-14T13:47:00.000-08:00

By Benjamin Dolle

I fell in love almostimmediately with BORDERLANDS when I first played the Gearbox video game severalmonths back-it’s quite a unique-looking and fun experience. Sadly, it alsoseemed to come to an end far too soon. So it was with unbridled elation that Iread the news of fresh downloadable content for the game. ZOMBIE ISLAND OF DR.NED was a great romp through one of BORDERLANDS’ side stories, and the mostrecent add-on, MAD MOXXI’S UNDERDOME RIOT, ups the ante even further, with avariety of new challenges and play modes that will have you back on Pandora inno time.

The basic setup places youin one of Mad Moxxi’s arenas, each presenting a different challenge. Only onearena technically falls within the “underground” description, but they’re allfun, most involving fighting wave after wave of enemies while the rules varyfrom time to time. If you’ve played Horde Mode in GEARS OF WAR 2, you’ll havesome idea of what to expect. There is a set number of waves here, though, soyou can feel the accomplishment of actually finishing what you start.

Perhaps the best additionin the pack is the new bank that lets you store weapons and items, freeing upthose slots in your backpack without having to give up one of your belovedobjects. It’s the one element of this add-on pack that really should have beenincluded in the original game; far too often, I previously had to make thechoice of giving up a weapon that had been performing wonderfully to pick up ashiny new gun that may or may not have been an upgrade. No more worries on thatscore!

The biggest drawback hereis that there are no experience rewards for fighting you way through the arena.If you enter at level 20, you’re going to leave at level 20, albeit likelyricher, better armed and with a few extra skill points. There are advantages,certainly, but it seems like that much effort should at least come with thereward of advancing your character in more ways than loot.

Despite that, MAD MOXXI’S UNDERDOME RIOT is wellworth its $10 price tag. BORDERLANDS is one of the best games to have come outin the last year, and anything that makes it a little more fun and extends yourventure on Pandora should be considered a welcome purchase.

GOD OF WAR III: First Look

2010-02-14T13:20:00.000-08:00

By Doug Norris

The long-awaited fourth installment of the immensely popularand highly acclaimed GOD OF WAR franchise hits stores next month, but fans canget a sneak peek by purchasing either the GOD OF WAR COLLECTION for PlayStation3 or DISTRICT 9 on Blu-ray. Albeit brief, the demo is packed with enoughhack-’n’-slash bloodshed to leave both casual and die-hard fans salivating forthe game’s impending release.

The demo joins everyone’s favorite morally maladjusted,revenge-driven mythological warlord Kratos in his latest journey to spill asmuch blood and organs across ancient Greece as possible. As far as what’srevealed in the demo, not a lot has changed gamewise since the PS2 days; youstill have the same combat skills with your Blades of Chaos, laying waste tohordes of enemy peons by executing combos, utilizing the minigames or justsimply button-mashing your way to blood-spattered bliss.

What has changed since the Ghost of Sparta’s previous-gendays are the graphics and the gore, making this installment a must-purchasecome March. After laying waste to dozens of enemy pawns early in the demo,Kratos encounters one of the newly designed creatures, an armored centaur thatcan be defeated through the familiar minigame button sequence. The GOD OF WARtradition is to provide bloodlust-quenching death scenes, and the next-geninstallment doesn’t fail to deliver. Causing and watching the centaur’sdisembowelment in HD quality should remind owners why they bought a PS3 in thefirst place, if not send them to regularly meetings with a therapist. Later,the demo treats us to the decapitation of the latest god in Kratos’ path,Helios. Watching Kratos rip and then dangle Helios’ lifeless, hollow-eyed headfrom his wartorn body puts the PS3’s capabilities to good work, bestowingenough graphic realism to make players think they’re looking at crime-scenephotos from LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL MYTHOLOGICAL UNIT.

If the demo holds true to the final product, theexcessive release-date postponements will have been worth the wait for GOD OFWAR III. It’s everything you would expect from a next-gen release in an alreadysuccessful franchise: a prettier, louder and faster continuation of a journeywith an old friend, even if that old friend is a bloodthirsty war machine whowants nothing more than to watch Greece burn beneath him.

LEFT 4 DEAD 2 (Video Game Review)

2010-02-14T13:01:00.000-08:00

By Doug Norris

Team-based on-lineshooters took a tight grip on the gaming world nearly a decade ago, only tobecome the latest genre to be overrun faceless, interchangeable titles. Whethertitled COUNTER STRIKE, CALL OF DUTY or anything bearing Tom Clancy’s name, thegames began to emulate one another—they all showcased multiplayer squads madeup of varying shooter-types and a medic, pitted teams against one another andfeatured humans killing humans. Valve saw this monster (possibly from afatherly eye) and decided to kill it, raise it from the dead, infect it and letit loose through the city streets in the LEFT 4 DEAD franchise, pitting humansagainst hordes of zombies.

The first outing generatedmassive appeal, but not without heavy faults. Glaring clipping issues,repetitive gameplay and overall lack of variety caused much murmuring amongstthe fanbase. With the recently released sequel, Valve has addressed all ofthose issues and produced what could be one of the best releases of the year.

LEFT 4 DEAD 2 (Xbox 360,Windows Vista/XP) presents a new group of survivors trying to catch that lastrescue chopper away from a decaying, wartorn New Orleans. It’s a familiarscenario for fans, but this gang breathes new life into the instant camaraderieof four lonely, desperate souls working together to achieve an impossibleescape. The rolling dialogue alone provides far more depth and personality tothe new cast than in the previous installment. Try to ignore and not laugh at Ellis’random stories of pre-apocalypse good-ol’-boy mayhem he indulged in with hisgood buddy Keith. Their tales make you hope that there’s some DLC down the roadthat involves Ellis, Keith and some form of Rube Goldberg-inspired pranks totake out the horde, backed by hilarious redneck banter (if that happens, Valve,I want a line in the credits).

The Big Easy settingdeserves just as much of a casting credit as any of the four protagonists. Fromthe city streets to the factories to the swampy bayou, L4D2’s environmentspresent a rich tapestry of decay and ruin. The shattered homes and rottingtexture enhance the frustration and fear created by the horde’s onslaught.Traveling through the wreckage and piles upon piles of dead bodies really helpscreate the need to escape, though the fact that carnival games are accessiblemay make you want to stick around a certain level. What better way to relievestress when fending for your life than with a solid game of whack-a-mole?

As with the previousinstallment, though, L4D2’s true draw lies in its on-line play. Whether incooperative campaigns or team-based survivors-vs.-infected scenarios, theaction stays onerous and intense. A new form of gameplay, the “Scavenge” mode,offers a change in the level of teamwork required to get from point A to pointB. Also, the “realism” mode, in which players do not respawn and must berevived by another teammate, gives players a new challenge to work as acohesive unit.

By far the absolute bestand most enjoyable addition to L4D2 lies in the sequel’s melee weaponry. In thefirst installment, players could use the butts of their guns to knock backhorde members in the event of a crowd or lack of bullets. This time around, youcan choose from items such as a machete, chainsaw and even a cricket bat (nicenod to SHAUN OF THE DEAD). Never needing reloading, never breaking, theseobjects prove to be must-haves for journeys down the ghoul-infested roads.Aside from proving extremely helpful to fend off the attackers’ bum-rushes, themelee weapons paint the screen with the blood of the infected. Each swing ofthe machete or ninja sword leaves splattery streaks of blotchy redness on thescreen, so much so that in a crowd setting, one can find oneself temporarilyblinded by the backsplash. Just imagine what kind of mess the chainsaw canmake…

LEFT 4 DEAD 2 serves as a shining example of adeveloper progressing the future of a cash-cow franchise, while simultaneouslykeeping an active ear tuned to the fanbase, taking in suggestions and complaintsand churning out brilliant enhancements. While everyone else is spending theiron-line time slaying wizards or taking orders from a realistic general, take atrip down N’awlins way and see how you’d fare at the onset of a southern-friedapocalypse. Just make sure to keep a blunt object by your side, because likethe aftereffects of eating too many funnel cakes and crawfish, the hordeattacks fast with no remorse.

BAYONETTA (Video Game Review)

2010-02-14T12:40:00.000-08:00

By Doug Norris

In order for games in anoverdeveloped genre to stand out, they need to carry either some unique twiston gameplay or a gripping story coupled with flashy cinematic sequences.BAYONETTA (Sega, for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3) tries both, and after theopening sequence, all I could say was, “What the hell was that?” Little did Iknow how often I would repeat that phrase throughout the game.

BAYONETTA puts players inthe shoes of the title character, a witch who spends her days warding off asentence in hell by killing angels as they descend to Earth from heaven, allthe while trying to recover her lost memory—and all of that makes perfectsense. The storyline plays out as a family-vs.-family, gangland-style warbetween the different inhabitants of the afterlife, using Dante’s DIVINE COMEDYsettings for the backdrop: Paradiso, Purgatorio and Inferno, as well as themidpoint for all three, Earth. All four settings are aptly painted and styledto represent their namesakes, and beautifully draped over Europeanarchitecture.

The game itself plays as abeat-’em-up that hides under an action/adventure theme. Bayonetta mixesgunplay, martial arts and demon-summoning magic to vanquish her foes. The movesrange from impressive (wushukung-fu combos and 360-degree deadeye gunslinging) to ridiculous (pole-dancingwith enemy weapons, spanking minions, shedding clothing to summon giantdemons). Fans of the DEVIL MAY CRY series will enjoy the pace, as BAYONETTAborrows heavily from the those games’ combat stylings.

One drawback of BAYONETTAlies in its excessively long cinematic sequences. It seems to be the type ofgame that had a long script and story that couldn’t be entirely told during theactual course of the play itself, so the its divided between action andcinematics. The length of these sequences borders on unbearable, and mostplayers will find themselves frequently wanting less yap/more slap and choosingto Skip and get back to the action.

The overall ridiculousnessdoes not overshadow the fun gameplay and well-produced combat sequences andcharacterization, however. BAYONETTA pays a significant service to anime and manga fans by relying heavily on sexual overtones and unnecessarily addingsuggestive language, movement and all-out nudity. Throughout each fightsequence, our heroine repeatedly displays some bizarrely contrasting mix ofstrong, dominant femininity and sexual exploitation. For example, the characterherself is depicted as an impossibly built, statuesque woman sporting a dominatrixoutfit, Crystal Gale-length hair and librarian glasses. She can stomp with agiant boot or punch with a giant hand, and when she suffers any physicaldamage, she releases butterflies and flower petals instead of blood. Her majorattacks reveal that her clothing is made entirely of her own hair, and thosetresses are often used as a weapon, leaving her bare body exposed with the“camera” resting in an extremely convenient position. Fans of those genres(read: most guys) will appreciate and enjoy the blend of action and sexualovertones, while casual viewers (read: their wives, girlfriends, and in somecases mothers) may find the seemingly unnecessary lasciviousness andover-the-top violence offensive or discomforting.

Regardless of how potentially damaging BAYONETTAcould become for parental-activist or women’s-liberation groups, it providesplayers a smoothly polished product packed with hours of button-mashing-mayhemfun. Though it severely exploits the stereotypes of “anime heroine,” the title character herself offers a refreshing change fromthe buxom, giggly, panties-showing teenagers that wear furry animal ears anddemonstrate emotional ranges starting at sad (waaaah!) and ending with surprised (huhhhh?). If the creators decide to shed the excessive cinematics andyawn-inducing story for more scantily clad, bouncy butt-kicking action infollow-ups, this installment will serve as an excellent franchise-buildingfoundation—albeit one made primarily of hair, guns and boobs.

WOLFMAN scares up $30 million-plus in 1st weekend

2010-02-14T11:56:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Various sources arereporting that Universal’s THE WOLFMAN, the studio’s reimagining of the classicmonster character, will gross an estimated $30.6 million in its first weekendof release. Predictions are for the film to pull in about $35 million over thefour-day President’s Day weekend; final figures for the initial three days willbe released tomorrow.

Discounting THE TWILIGHTSAGA: NEW MOON (which most horror fans probably would), that gives the JoeJohnston-directed movie, starring Benicio Del Toro as cursed Lawrence Talbot,the biggest-ever opening frame for a lycanthropicture, outdoing the $26.8million pulled in by UNDERWORLD: EVOLUTION in January 2006. Overseas, THEWOLFMAN made an estimated $21 million on over 4,000 screens in 37 markets,including a #1 debut in Britain. A year ago this weekend, another genre remake,New Line’s FRIDAY THE 13TH, opened to a whopping $40.6 million but took a hugeplunge thereafter; no doubt Universal hopes WOLFMAN has better staying power.See our review of the movie here.

Lionsgate’s WITCH no longer in SEASON next month

2010-02-12T19:28:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Variety reports that withonly a month and a week to go, Lionsgate has pulled its supernatural thrillerSEASON OF THE WITCH from its March 19 release berth. No explanation was givenfor the change, though Universal shifted its violent sci-fi thriller REPO MENfrom April 2 to the 19th a week ago.

A new debut has not beenset for SEASON; a Lionsgate spokeswomen tells the trade simply, “We’re lookingfor the best release date.” Directed by Dominic Sena from a screenplay by BragiSchut, SEASON OF THE WITCH stars Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman as knights in the14th century tasked by the Catholic Church with transporting a girl (ClaireFoy) suspected of being a sorceress responsible for the Black Plague. The castalso includes Stephen Campbell Moore, Robert Sheehan, Ulrich Thomsen and genrevet Christopher Lee. Sena and Schut discuss the film in Fango #292, on salenext month.

Serial killer specialist to give you POWDER BURNS

2010-02-12T14:33:00.001-08:00

By Samuel Zimmerman

Writer/director Chuck Parello, who has previously helmedsuch reality-based fear features as HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER PART 2,ED GEIN and THE HILLSIDE STRANGLER, gave Fango the scoop on his next foray intomurderous true crime, POWDER BURNS. The movie is set to star Zelda Williams,daughter of Robin who also appears in the upcoming fright features DON’T LOOKUP and DETENTION.

“POWDER BURNS is inspired by a true case that occurred inthe Midwest back in the 1970s, and has always haunted me,” Parello tells us. “Abeautiful and headstrong teenaged girl’s father and older, married lover gotinto a violent confrontation, which caused her to become so unhinged that shewas suddenly convinced that her dad was going to kill both her and her lover.The girl then tried to hire some creepy hitmen to wipe out her father before hecould get her and her boyfriend, but that effort failed miserably, and thishighly manipulative girl ended up talking her boyfriend into murdering not onlyher father, but her mother and younger brother as well. It’s an intense storythat I’m in awe of. I think it’s going to shake up a lot of people—quite a featthese days, when audiences seem so incapable of being shocked.”

Williams (pictured) looks to be an up-and-coming horrorheroine but hasn’t had an abundance of exposure just yet, and Parello is hopongPOWDER BURNS gives her a chance to truly shine. “Zelda was the suggestion ofproducer Mike Muscal, who had just worked with her on DETENTION, which Ibelieve was David Carradine’s last film before his untimely death,” Parellosays. “Mike sent her the script and she loved it, so we met and talked aboutthe type of film I want to make. When I realized how fearlessly committed tothe project she was going to be, I stopped looking for anybody else. It turnsout that she likes dark themes in films as much as I do, so I’m sure this isgoing to be one special partnership. She’s a hell of an actress, and I believePOWDER BURNS is going to give her a platform to really show what she’s capableof.”

As on his previous efforts, Parello’s BURNS budget won’t beincredibly high, but he’s looking to make the most of what he has. “When youmake films as dark as POWDER BURNS, you go into it knowing that it’s not goingto be funded with trillions of dollars,” he explains. “That’s fine, though,because it makes creating something truly special, something that will standout from the pack, even more of a challenge. We have enough money to makePOWDER BURNS an awesome film, but it will be tight enough that everything willhave to be planned out in advance very, very specifically. Obviously, a movielike this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but every project I have been involvedwith involving serial murderers has more than made its money back, which is notsomething you can say about a lot of independently funded productions.”

So what is it that keeps Parello coming back to this bloodyreality-based well? “I’ve always loved movies about crime, like IN COLD BLOODand BADLANDS, so making films that are similar in scope is like a dream cometrue. I guess my professional indoctrination into serial killers came when Igot John McNaughton’s disturbing masterpiece HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLERreleased into theaters after it had been languishing on a shelf for a number ofyears, because it had been slapped with an X rating by the MPAA for ‘disturbingmoral content.’ That led to my getting the opportunity to direct the sequel toHENRY. It ended up being considered a pretty good follow-up, so I was thenoffered another serial-killer film, and then another one after that, etc.

“I have written scripts that are not about narcissisticsociopaths,” he adds, “but whenever I talk to producers or financiers aboutprojects we might do together, the topic of bloodthirsty psychos always seemsto rear its head—after all, there’s no denying their appeal in the commercialmarketplace. One day I’d like to make a movie not involving all this violence,but for now this is sure an interesting way to make a living.”

POWDERBURNS begins production this spring in Los Angeles; keep checking Fango forupdates as they come in.

Say hello to MS. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST

2010-02-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Independent filmmaker/distributor Ron Bonk sent along infoand some photos from his latest directorial effort, the intriguingly titled MS.CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, which is currently wrapping up postproduction. The movie isset in a rundown apartment building on the eve of its demolition, when a femalezealot and her cannibalistic followers arrive to terrorize the remainingresidents.

“The title is a combination of MS. 45 and CANNIBALHOLOCAUST,” Bonk explains to Fango. “It’s very much a female revenge flick,which is a very popular genre for low-budget distributors like my SRS Cinema[whose catalog is now being handled exclusively by Music Video Distributors],though there are definitely a number of cannibalistic moments in it. The ‘Ms.’of the movie at first appears to be ‘The Woman,’ the preacherlike character wholeads the flesheating cult, but then arguably becomes ‘The Girl,’ a young womanbent on vengeance against The Woman and her minions. There are somesupernatural elements to it too, which especially aid The Girl as she seeks herrevenge.”

Bonk goes on to explain that MS. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST reps hisattempt to make a more accessible movie for a wide genre audience. “My pastflicks like CLAY, STRAWBERRY ESTATES and THE VICIOUS SWEET weren’t reallystandard horror films, and reactions varied. With MS. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, Ijust wanted to make a movie that appealed to a broader horror fan base. I alsowanted to try my hand at action—most of my movies have been slow-burn typeswith maybe a few action moments. MS. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST has almost nonstopmayhem, and shooting that much was definitely a learning experience. We’d takea long time to block out martial-arts fights sequences, based mostly on my owntae kwon do training—this summer I’ll be testing for my third-degree blackbelt. Once we shot and edited them, we found they zipped by much too quickly.That’s why MS. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST will be my shortest movie, clocking inbetween 65-70 minutes, but at least it never lets you stop and take much of abreath! It’s also far gorier than anything else I’ve made.”

A much more expensive and equally sanguinary feature, Bonkreveals, provided indirect inspiration for this project. “MS. CANNIBALHOLOCAUST was initially titled ONE,” he explains. “After shooting CLAY, whichwas very dialogue-heavy, I had joked to producer Jonathan Straiton that my nextmovie would have little dialogue and tons of action. I said it would be like300 but on a low-budget level, and joked that I’d call it THREE. We laughedabout it, but I actually instantly had a plot idea for THREE—so what started asa joke soon became my newest labor of love. But after working out the basis fora story, I knew it was too large to do on an ultra-low-budget level—and Ineeded to shoot some of the ideas I had for THREE first, specifically theaction stuff, before trying to take on such an epic project. So I conceived oftwo other projects, calling them ONE and TWO, that I planned to write and shootfirst, both to get used to shooting heavy action, but also as potential showreelsto help raise the funds for THREE.”

Needless to say, a more commercial and attention-gettingmoniker was required for ONE, and Bonk figured MS. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST woulddefinitely catch horror fans’ eyes. But by the time he had finished thatscreenplay, the moniker no longer applied. “I gave it a new name to beannounced, and put it on the shelf,” he explains. “But I liked the title MS.CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, and didn’t want to let it go, so I quickly formulated a newplot that would fit it.” The story wound up going through numerous changes dueto casting and especially the central location, which changed repeatedly asBonk got closer to shooting. “Somehow it all came together, and the end resultis a movie that’s getting my best responses from horror fans who have managedto see it at private screenings I’ve held.”

For a further taste of MS. CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST, check out thetrailer below, and see the movie’s Facebook page here.

The Newborn Dead: Lovecraftian LANGLIENA

2010-02-12T14:29:00.000-08:00

By Marla Newborn

LANGLIENA, a short film written, directed and produced byItalian filmmaker Emiliano Ranzani, is subtitled “A Tale of the Macabre.” And aghastly, gruesome and chilling tale it is. As the film opens, we see a youngman telling a grisly but true story into a tape recorder, because otherwise noone would believe the horror he has witnessed. In its simplest sense, one ofLANGLIENA’S themes is how curiosity kills the cat. However, as the storyunfolds, one can see that there is much more to the story than a childlikemoral.

With a running time of only about seven minutes, what makesLANGLIENA so special is the way Ranzani manages to tie in so many Lovecraftianthemes. One of these posits that those who come across live, literalmanifestations of the incomprehensible are likely to go mad, and the theme offorbidden knowledge also echoes throughout the film. Ranzani explains hisvision: “LANGLIENA is the sum of many images and sensations that have beenroaming in my head for quite a while: blades rusted by dried blood, and thesticky smell of rotting corpses. I guess I’ve spent too many nights watching,THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, HELLRAISER and Lucio Fulci’s HOUSE BY THECEMETERY. LANGLIENA was basically another way for me to put those types ofimages on the screen.

“I’ve always been a die-hard fan of H.P. Lovecraft,” hecontinues, “ever since I encountered his work in the high-school library, whereI had to stay in order to skip religion classes. The story structure ofLANGLIENA is an obvious nod to the master's work: it’s a small-scale version of‘The Call of Cthulhu’ and ‘Dagon,’ in a way. While the concept goes all the wayback to the Arabian Nights and similar folklore, the ghoul itself, as I’vedepicted it, is a Lovecraftian one, the same breed of corpse-eating demondescribed in ‘Pickman’s Model’ and ‘The Dream-Quest of the Unknown Kadath.’

“I’ve always loved the idea of a monster being scary anddisturbing due to its mere existence, rather than being a direct threat tosomeone’s life. These creatures are like a hideous, fat and hairy spiderstaring at you with its eight eyes inside a dark cellar. Unfortunately, youcan’t make a feature film about them—at least not a straight horror movie;something along the line of NEKROMANTIK might work. But that’s typical ofLovecraft’s work: Most of the things he wrote about are conceptual anddifficult to film.”

Ranzani has been working to put his own conceptions ofhorror on the screen for some time now. “I started cranking out sloppy shortmovies around 2003, learning from my mistakes,” he recalls. “Sometimes I don’tfeel like I’m a true filmmaker right now. I’m just trying. I never saw it assomething glamorous, and I don’t think my choice has been conscious.Unfortunately for those who care about me, I’ve always been a fanatic, andmovies, despite the current state of cinema, happen to be the tool I fell inlove with.”

Having crafted such a haunting expression with LANGLIENA, Ihad to know what drew Ranzani toward horror. “Like many others,” he replies,“I’ve always felt and still feel a strange and strong attraction to the genre.I guess no one can really explain why we get drawn into horror, but that’s partof the charm.” See the trailer for LANGLIENA below.

See KILLER KLOWNS with the Chiodos in LA

2010-02-12T14:23:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

The Mondo Celluloid team arerelaunching their “Mondo Mondays” screening series in Los Angeles next month,and they’re doing it in a big way. Kicking off the new lineup is a 35mm showingof the Chiodo Brothers’ cult favorite KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE, with abunch of the filmmakers and cast in attendance.

The movie will unspool on Monday, March 1 at 10 p.m. (doors open at 9) at LA’s Downtown Independent (251 S. Main Street). In attendance will be Stephen, Charles and Edward Chiodo, who directed, wrote and produced the movie and oversaw kreation of the klowns, along with star Grant Cramer, composer John Massari and editor Christopher Roth. There will also be a DJ set, beer and wine served and surprises; tickets are $10 and can be purchased here. More cult classics with special guests will be coming on future Mondays, so keep an eye on the Mondo Celluloid site linked above for updates.

Lionsgate COTTONs to THE LAST EXORCISM

2010-02-11T17:06:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Variety reports that Lionsgate haspicked up U.S. distribution rights to THE LAST EXORCISM, the Eli Roth-produceddeviltry drama previously titled COTTON. While a release date has yet to beset, the acquisition deal includes a $16-million prints and advertisingcommitment.

Directed by Daniel Stamm from a script by Huck Botko andAndrew Gurland, the movie is a vérité-style chiller focusing on the Rev. CottonMarcus (Patrick Fabian), who has long staged phony exorcisms and agrees to leta documentary crew shoot his final ritual—involving a girl who proves to betruly possessed by the devil. The deal returns Roth to the company thatreleased his debut feature CABIN FEVER, and Lionsgate’s Jason Constantine tellsthe trade, “It’s always great to work with our friend Eli, who has played a keyrole in establishing Lionsgate in the vanguard of the horror genre. THE LASTEXORCISM feels as close to a real exorcism as anyone would ever want toget—audiences are going to find this movie scary as, well, hell.” Last week, aswe reported here, the movie was set to premiere at Austin, TX’s South by Southwest Film Festival,but the ’gate may decide to debut it later once it settles on a nationwideopening day.

The producers also include Eric Newman, MarcAbraham and Tom Bliss, and the Strike Entertainment production was financed byStudioCanal, the French outfit that’s also teaming with Roth to back THE OTHERWOMAN, a psychological chiller that will be directed by Botko and Gurland fromtheir screenplay. This one’s about a dumped mistress who gets revenge on herex-boyfriend via a movie, and Roth says it will explore “the worst nightmaresof those who have had extramarital affairs and the sickest fantasies of thosewho have been scorned.”

Original GAMERA to make U.S. DVDebut

2010-02-11T16:36:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Shout! Factory has announcedthat it will give 1965’s GAMERA, THE GIANT MONSTER (a.k.a. DAIKAIJU GAMERA),the first in the series of Japanese films starring the giant turtle a.k.a.Gammera, its first U.S. DVD release. The movie will be presented in itsoriginal uncut version, in anamorphic widescreen from a new hi-def master withEnglish subtitles.

Set to street May 18, the disc will also include a photogallery, trailers and other extras, plus a 12-page booklet with an essay bydirector Noriaki Yuasa, who helmed Gamera’s subsequent cinematic adventures inthe 1960s and ’70s as well. (Shusuke Kaneko memorably revived the kaiju in atrio of standout features in the late 1990s.)

In the movie, released Stateside in 1966 in aheavily edited and appended version titled GAMMERA THE INVINCIBLE, the huge,shelled, fire-breathing creature emerges from the Arctic ice after a Sovietbomber is shot down there, causing an atomic explosion. Gamera heads to Tokyoand goes on a rampage of destruction, with only its unexpected bond with ayoung boy offering a potential key to stopping it. Shout!’s DVD will retail for$19.93; cover art is coming soon.

Exclusive new photo from MOTHER’S DAY

2010-02-11T13:34:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Fango got ahold of a new pic of actress Jaime King fromMOTHER’S DAY, the remake of the 1980 cult shocker directed by Darren LynnBousman of the SAW sequels and REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA. You can see the MYBLOODY VALENTINE actress, looking rather upset in the role of Beth Sohapi,after the jump.

Scripted by Scott Milam, the new MOTHER’S DAY stars King andFrank Grillo as Beth and Daniel Sohapi, a married couple recently moved into anew house once inhabited by the disreputable Koffin brood. When the latterfamily, led by Mother (Rebecca De Mornay), is forced to go on the run after abank robbery gone wrong, they head back to their former home just as the Sohapisare throwing a party, and proceed to terrorize the new homeowners and theirguests. Also appearing as the Koffin clan are Patrick Flueger (Ike), WarrenKole (Addley), Matt O’Leary (Johnny) and TRUE BLOOD’s Deborah Ann Woll (Lydia),and the cast additionally includes SORORITY ROW’s Briana Evigan, FROZEN’s ShawnAshmore (who talked to us about the movie here),SAW IV’s Lyriq Bent and REPO!’s Alexa Vega. Look for more on MOTHER’S DAY hereand in Fango’s pages (beginning in issue #292, on sale next month) as itapproaches its planned Mother’s Day 2010 release, and see the movie’s officalwebsite here.

First look at Ben from NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: ORIGINS

2010-02-11T13:32:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Dread Central scored the first look at the likeness of Ben from NIGHT OF THE LIVINGDEAD: ORIGINS, the upcoming 3-D animated feature based on the classic George A.Romero films. Check out the image after the jump.

Directed by Zebediah de Soto, who also scripted, the zombieopus features the voice talents of Tony Todd as Ben and Bill Moseley as Johnny(both reprising their roles from the 1990 NOTLD remake), Danielle Harris asBarbara, Joe Pilato (Rhodes in Romero’s DAY OF THE DEAD) as Harry Cooper, AlonaTal as Helen Cooper and Erin Braswell as Judy. The freedom of animation isallowing de Soto to make this “the first zombie movie played on a epic scale,”he tells Dread. “This is the EMPIRE OF THE SUN of zombie films… I lived throughthe LA riots and saw the city on fire; I remember seeing people running, peoplegetting pulled out of cars. And with 9/11, these images have been ingrained onpeople of my generation. I just thought that is the way it would really be, alot of chaos.” Look for more on NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD: ORIGINS in the nearfuture.

MAY’s Lucky McKee and Angela Bettis reteam on OFFSPRING: THE WOMAN

2010-02-11T11:44:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Fango just got in some details about OFFSPRING: THE WOMAN,the Modernciné company’s follow-up to its OFFSPRING feature from last year. Themovie will be directed by Lucky McKee, with his MAY and MASTERS OF HORROR: SICKGIRL star Angela Bettis in one of the lead roles. Peace Arch Entertainment hasalready acquired all distribution rights outside North America.

THE WOMAN was scripted by Jack Ketchum, who pennedOFFSPRING and its source novel, and McKee, based on an upcoming book the duoalso penned (marking Ketchum’s first literary collaboration). The story centerson the title character, the last member left alive of the savage cannibal clanthat terrorized a Maine town (to be played by returning actress PollyannaMcIntosh). As she roams the woods, she is stalked by a local hunter and familyman named Christopher Cleek, who believes he can capture and “civilize” her.Bettis will play Christopher’s wife Belle; Andrew van den Houten is producing,with Robert Tonino serving as executive producer .

In a statement, McKee, the original director on the Ketchumadaptation RED, says, “OFFSPRING: THE WOMAN is an exploration of the verydefinition of horror. It is designed to incite feelings of fear, shock,nervousness, dismay, anxiety and disgust. It is designed to make you questionwhat it is to be civilized, what it is to be feral and all the shades of grayin between. On a surface level, the film will make you jump, it will make yousquirm and, for the more sensitive, it might even induce nausea. It will makeyou question my intentions in making it, as well as your own desire to watchit.

“The photography will become increasingly aggressive, grittyand bold, coupled with an escalating, visceral cutting style, all of which willcall to mind Sam Peckinpah’s STRAW DOGS and Tobe Hooper’s THE TEXAS CHAINSAWMASSACRE. But it won’t be just blood and guts that will make you feel this way.More than anything, it will be the situation. It will be the actions of thecharacters, their twisted ideals, their tortured souls and the frighteningbelievability of it all. You want a horror movis? OFFSPRING: THE WOMAN will behorror by definition. To sum it up in an unsophisticated way: I’m going toscare the hell out of you.”

OFFSPRING:THE WOMAN is set to begin shooting in late June on Michigan locations; staytuned for further updates.

Exclusive pics, quotes from inside the COMPOUND

2010-02-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

By Michael Helms

On the outskirts of Auckland, New Zealand’s most populouscity, there’s a compound formed by several old buildings that tyro filmmakerDale Stewart has used as the centerpiece of COMPOUND, a new low-budget shockerrevolving around the misfortunes of seven travelers. Stewart, who is currentlyknee-deep in postproduction and provided the exclusive photos seen after thejump, tells Fango, “COMPOUND is a horror film, but doesn’t start out like one.

“I think of it as a road movie gone wrong,” he continues.“It’s a little bit of a thriller to begin with, and that’s designed todisorientate you. It then turns into a nightmare, and once the story gets intothe blood and guts, it’s definitely a horror film.”

COMPOUND was lensed last year at Kingseat Hospital,Papakura, now more commonly known as Spookers Haunted Attraction Scream Park, aplace unique to New Zealand (its website likes to point out that Australiadoesn’t even have anything even remotely comparable). The main building usedfor filming formerly housed the nurses who tended to patients in the adjacentmental hospital. Like many such places, it’s said to be a hotbed of paranormalactivity, specifically haunted by a nurse who committed suicide within itswalls. While he was a film student visiting Spookers—which wasn’t that longago—Stewart realized that this was the place to make his feature debut, and vowedto return to shoot there.

He also soon found that the place was even scarier when itwas closed, recalling that while scouting the location in early January 2009 invery hot weather, one of the corridors was unnaturally cold. “A crew memberasked where the air conditioning was,” Stewart says. “That’s when it wasexplained that this was actually the space where the nurse had died, and therewas no air conditioning. There’s also another corridor shut off from the publicthat remains in darkness because they cannot replace the light bulb.Apparently, it always blows a fuse when a new one is installed, and this isdespite being rewired several times.” Stewart adds that after shooting COMPOUNDthere, and despite all the explanations they were given for the location’shaunted aspects, he now believes all the stories are true.

In COMPOUND, Spookers actually plays itself, as the groupwho have lost their way are convinced by the staff to come in and take a lookaround. They find themselves locked in a room, eventually emerging to discoverthat behind the scenes, people actually live at Spookers, including a doctor, adentist, a butcher—and an alien creature. “Basically, they play on everyone’snormal fears,” notes Stewart, who asserts that “I wanted to make a smart horrorfilm. I didn’t want just one bad guy chasing seven attractive girls around withlots of nudity. I just wanted to tell a good story where horror was only oneelement.”

Despite a lack of budget for special FX, however, Stewartpromises that the mayhem is plentiful and effective. “There’s quite a fewbodies. We’ve got a zombie eating someone alive. We’ve got a person who’s heldin the house for quite some time and tortured. Two of the main seven are forcedto watch as a third dies by having their legs cut off. These two are next inline, and try to get out before their own legs are severed.” It’s no surprisewhen Stewart describes himself as a huge horror fan, specifically of the ’70sand ’80s brand, and says, “I didn’t want to make a film that was the flavor ofthe month, but something that might stand the test of time.” He recommends itto other genre enthusiasts for “being a smart horror film that avoids clichésdespite the familiar scenario.”

As of now, Stewart is herding COMPOUND toward a Marchcompletion date. Check out the movie’s trailer below.

DVDetails for Lionsgate’s LIFE BLOOD

2010-02-11T11:22:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Lionsgate Home Entertainment will release writer/director Ron Carlson’s LIFE BLOOD to DVD April 27, and wehave the disc details after the jump. The movie was originally filmed asPEARBLOSSOM, and is also known as MURDER WORLD.

Sophie Monk from THE HILLS RUN RED and Anya Lahiri star inthe film as Brooke and Rhea, a lesbian couple who encounter a supernaturalbeing while driving down the Pearblossom Highway on New Year’s Eve 1968. Thepair are sent to sleep for 40 years, after which they awaken as vampiriccreatures—and soon are at odds with each other. The cast also includes theHALLOWEEN films’ Scout Taylor-Compton, Justin Shilton, Patrick Renna, DannyWoodburn, Angela Lindvall, Electra Avellan and genre veteran Charles Napier.The movie will be presented in anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1sound, accompanied by audio commentary by Carlson and Monk and deleted/extendedscenes. Retail price is $26.98; check out the trailer (bearing the originalPEARBLOSSOM title) below.

Kane Hodder to drive you to death in OLD 37

2010-02-10T15:27:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Fango got some details and background on an upcoming horrorfeature called OLD 37 from Paul Travers, who wrote the script and is producingthe project with Carrie Alton, Dayna Ghiraldi and Melissa Smolensky. Fango faveKane Hodder is attached to co-star in the movie, which will roll later thisyear.

“It’s about two brothers who intercept 911 calls in abeat-up old ambulance, and wreak havoc on this town of crazy-drivingteenagers,” Travers tells us; needless to say, Hodder will play one of thosemurderous siblings. The writer/producer reveals that he hooked the actor upwith the project at a Fango convention. “Kane was just hanging out with abuddy,” he recalls, “and I went up to tell him I was a big fan. He was a reallycool, nice guy, and I pitched him the movie, telling him, ‘I’d love to have youas one of the brothers.’ He was like, ‘I’ve never heard of a movie withambulance-driving killers,’ and he was really into it. I sent him the script,and he loved it and said, ‘Let’s make this movie.’

“We also have Sarah Hyland, who’s in the ABC sitcom MODERN FAMILY, attached asthe lead girl,” Travers continues, “and Ernie Barbarash, who co-producedAMERICAN PSYCHO and produced the CUBE sequels, will be directing it.” Barbarashadditionally helmed CUBE ZERO as well as STIR OF ECHOES: THE HOMECOMING andTHEY WAIT; also part of the cast is young actor Max Ehrich. The executiveproducer is Steven Beer, whose credits include ZOMBIE HONEYMOON.

“It’s straight slasher horror, with a lot of good deaths andmayhem,” Travers says, adding that the project had its genesis when “I had anightmare of these two creeps trying to pick me up in an ambulance and put mein this woodchipper they had in the back of it. I was like, ‘I’ve gotta writethis,’ so I jotted down five pages, and then I read up on screenwriting andwrote the rest.”

OLD 37 will be his first produced screenplay, andhe’s already got a follow-up script in the works. “It’s called FRESH GROUND,”he reveals, “about this coffeehouse in Martha’s Vineyard where the coffee istainted with human flesh from Papua New Guinea. It’s a zombie movie withhumor—it’s kind of a zomedy.” We’ll keep you posted on OLD 37’s progress; formore info on the movie, check out its official website here and its Facebook page here.

COLD STORAGE coming to DVD

2010-02-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Lionsgate Home Entertainment has announced that it will release the chiller COLD STORAGE to DVD May 4. Thefilm played numerous festivals over the last couple of years, includingScotland’s Dead By Dawn, where it won the Audience Award, the Macabro HorrorFilm and Video Festival, the Seattle True Independent Film Festival, theBendFilm Festival and others.

Nick Searcy, seen as villainous deviants in TIMBER FALLS andNEIGHBORHOOD WATCH a.k.a. DEADLY END, plays another one here, a loner namedClive who lives in a backwoods cabin. When a young woman is mortally injured ina car accident nearby, he takes her in and becomes infatuated with her, andthings only get nastier when her boyfriend and sister show up. The cast alsoincludes SCREAM 3’s Matt Keeslar, Joelle Carter, Sean Bridgers and Casey Leet;Tony Elwood directed from a script he wrote with Mark Kimray. The movie will beaccompanied on disc by multiple making-of featurettes and a blooper reel; coverart is coming soon, and the retail price is $26.98. Check out the trailerbelow.

Actress talks BOGGY CREEK not-a-remake

2010-02-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Continuing Fango’s conversation with Texas-based actressJulin (click here to see the first part, with exclusive modeling pics), she also talked about her experiences on BOGGY CREEK—a movie that, despite its title, “is more of afictional story” than the 1972 horror-docudrama THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK,Julin tells us. “It’s kind of a remake, but they don’t want to call it one.”

Directed by Brian T. Jaynes, the movie stars Texas Battle,Melissa Carnell, Stephanie Honore, Damon Lipari and Shavon Kirksey as youngpeople who become stranded in the titular locale and are terrorized by a savageSasquatch. “It was shot in the middle of nowhere, in these awesome swamps inUncertain, Texas—that’s really a town,” Julin says. “I play the first girl whowas abducted way back when, and the main action starts a year after that. Ikind of contribute to the whole story when it all comes together. I don’t wantto give away too much, but there was one scene where I was covered head to toein mud. I won’t say what happens, but that’s me when you see it.

“I had to get right in the swamp, and at first I was like,‘Are you kidding me?’ ” she continues. “There were alligators, snakes and youcouldn’t see under the water. But there was a guy there with a huge machete,just hanging out, so I thought, ‘Cool, I guess I feel safe.’ ”

Concerns about the local wildlife aside, Julin didn’t haveany problems going up the CREEK. “Brian was great,” she recalls. “He shot itwith terrific camera movements and was super-nice, especially when I wascovered in the mud. That was a hard scene, and I was like, ‘Can I get a closedset on this?’ You’ll see why when you see the movie. And the Bigfoot lookedvery cool.” She also got to hang with a co-star from a couple of her otherupcoming fright films. “My friend Denise Williamson and I got to go up theretogether; we both did voiceover work on SWEATSHOP and she was in SPIRIT CAMP inthe very beginning, playing a random girl making out with her boyfriend in thewoods. We all partied at the Uncertain Tavern after we were done.”

While she was unfamiliar with the ’72 BOGGY CREEKand the real-life monster reports that inspired it, Julin was soon schooled inthe region’s monster lore. “Once I told people I was doing this movie, theywere like, ‘Oh my God, that’s awesome. I remember that!’ And where we wereshooting, there was a Bigfoot Crossing. I said, ‘Is there really a Bigfoot outhere?’ and they were like, ‘There have been sightings before.’ But once you doso many scary movies, you’re kind of like, ‘Eh, I’m not scared of anything!’ ” BOGGYCREEK’s official website (just a homepage right now) can be found here.

Have a scary Valentine’s Weekend at NYC’s Blood Manor

2010-02-10T08:17:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

The people behind New York City’s haunted attraction BloodManor (542 West 27th Street) usually terrorize guests around Halloween, butthey’ve been so successful with that holiday, they’ve decided to spread the fearfor another. This Friday-Saturday, February 12-13, they’re presenting a specialBloody Valentine’s Weekend, focusing on the dark and bloody side of love andmarriage.

Guests will first enter the Chapel of Death and witness an“unholy matrimony celebration.” Other rooms include an Insane Asylum where theinmates include a couple who have been driven a little crazy by married life, aGarden of Evil where Adam and Eve’s relationship has gone bad, chamberscontaining sexy and scary temptresses, a Vortex Tunnel of Love and more. BloodManor’s very special version of Cupid will be lurking about, there’ll be aBeauty Shop of Horrors and much more.

Blood Manor will be open for the Bloody Valentine’sWeekend both nights from 7:30 p.m.-1 a.m. Tickets can be purchased for $25 fromthe attraction’s official website or $30 at the door;for $40-45, you can get a special RIP Package that includes express entranceand a surprise gift. Check out the Manor’s site for further details.

Producer talks Night Light Films’ trio of chillers

2010-02-10T07:23:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Fango spoke recently with Rick Walker, one of the partnersin the genre film company Night Light Films, about his first three horrorfeatures (plus a sci-fi thriller) hitting DVD this spring. THE FEAR CHAMBER,MARKED, PASSED THE DOOR OF DARKNESS and BATTLE PLANET will be released through Echo Bridge Entertainment.

FEAR CHAMBER, directed by Kevin Carraway from a script hewrote with Lawrence Sara, stars Rhett Giles, BIG BAD WOLF’s Richard Tyson andJASON GOES TO HELL’s Steven Williams in the story of a detective tracking aserial killer who murders young women to steal their organs. MARKED, fromwriter/director Dustin Voigt, has a young woman and her team of paranormalinvestigators seeking the truth about her father’s mysterious murder. PASSEDTHE DOOR OF DARKNESS, helmed by Traxler Mervis and written by him and MarkColson, is another serial-slayer tale, centering on a villain called “TheShadow of God.” And Greg Aronowitz’s BATTLE PLANET features Uwe Boll regularZack Ward and HALLOWEEN II’s Brea Grant in an adventure set on the distantworld of Terra 219. All four discs will street April 27, presenting the moviesin widescreen, with special features, if any, yet to be announced.

Walker tells Fango that the choice to have each movie be awriter/director project was a guiding principle when he and Night Lightpartners John Duerler and Loddie Naymola first got started. “I am a firmbeliever in that combo at this level,” he says, “since it makes themaccountable for what they write. A lot of people can write expensively, but Ibelieve it truly takes talent to be creative on a low-budget project.

“I have known [Mervis and Voigt] for years and haveworked very closely with them in the past,” he continues. “They are bothtremendously talented, and you will see them working on the big screen in notime. Our other two filmmakers were introduced to us by mutual friends. Ibelieve a strong working relationship only strengthens these movies; since we’llbe doing 18-hour days, we might as well enjoy the time we’re spending together.At this level, it’s very important to have a positive outlook and a goodpersonality. It is tremendously hard to make these, so a strong work ethic is amust. I have a very simple philosophy on producing;: I am merely a facilitator.My job is to make sure the directors can do theirs, be creative and paint theirpicture.” You can see Night Light’s official website here.

HYPOTHERMIA starts chilling with Michael Rooker

2010-02-10T06:52:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Dark Sky Films and Glass Eye Pix have announced that their latest productionHYPOTHERMIA has begun shooting, with HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER’sMichael Rooker in the lead. The movie is written and directed by James FelixMcKenney, whose previous films include AUTOMATONS and the upcoming SATAN HATESYOU.

Set in Maine, the movie is about a couple whose annualice-fishing trip at Lake Noyade is upset by the fact that no fish are biting.They, along with a father and son also staying by the lake, discover that astrange creature is responsible for the fish’s disappearance and is now hungryfor humans. The cast also includes THE GIRL NEXT DOOR’s Blanche Baker, GregFinley, Don Wood, Ben Forster and Amy Chang; stunt and movement performer AsaLiebmann plays the monster inside a suit created by DIARY OF THE DEAD’s ChrisBridges, while Brian Spears, who also worked on the recent Glass Eyeproductions BITTER FEAST and STAKE LAND, contributes the gore.

HYPOTHERMIA is produced by Glass Eye’s Larry Fessenden,Peter Phok and Brent Kunkle and Dark Sky’s Derek Curl, in association withOffhollywood Pictures. It’s one of the first screen projects to be shot in 4Kwith the RED ONE hi-def camera outfitted with the new Mysterium-X sensor. “Itis very gratifying to have the support of such a cool company as Dark Sky,” Fessenden says, “so we can keep makingthese auteur-driven genre films we call Scareflix. Having Michael Rookerheadline the cast in a role like this is especially exciting because it is a differentside of Rooker we’ll be exploring. I know the fans will be gratified to spendsome real screen time with him in this rugged and sympathetic role.” Look formore coverage of HYPOTHERMIA in the near future.

THE WOLFMAN (Film Review)

2010-02-09T10:10:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Even a film that is pure in heart, apparently, can becomesomething tortured and misshapen once it finally sees the light of a projector.The long-awaited remake of THE WOLFMAN has finally emerged as a disappointingmuddle, making it very easy to believe the widespread reports of postproductiontinkering, re-edits and reshoots. What began as a passion project for starBenicio Del Toro has wound up as a movie that’s technically proficient but iscrucially lacking both soul and bite.

Absent any distinctive stylistic panache, genuine emotionaldrama or much in the way of scares beyond a few easy, reflexive jolts, what’sleft is a story arc that has become very familiar since the original 1941 WOLFMAN first laid its ground rules. Del Toro plays Lawrence Talbot, an actor longestranged from his British family, who is performing in London in 1891 when heis called back to his ancestral estate at Blackmoor. His brother has beenmissing for several weeks, to the great concern of the vanished man’s fiancée,Gwen (Emily Blunt), and not quite so much on the part of eccentric patriarchSir John Talbot (Anthony Hopkins). Lawrence arrives at Blackmoor just after hisbrother’s body is found mangled in a ditch—which only adds to the psychologicalscars left from having witnessed his mother’s suicide as a child and spendingsome subsequent time in an asylum. Meanwhile, the superstitious villagersbelieve the devil is responsible for the string of recent murders, and that aband of gypsies camped nearby might also be involved.

There’s a lot going on in the first act of Andrew KevinWalker and David Self’s script, but even given that, the pace of the movie’sopening half hour seems unduly hurried, cut together like a long introductorymontage without giving any scene room to breathe. The film seems unduly anxiousto get to its raison d’etre: the attackby a loping, hairy beast that leaves Lawrence alive but suffering from itscurse. Once the full moon rises again, he turns into a slavering creature viaCGI that’s not as distracting as one might expect but not as visceral as onemight hope, ending up in Rick Baker makeup that’s finely crafted yet perhapstoo traditionally conceived for the revelation of Lawrence’s werewolf guise tobe very shocking.

That wouldn’t matter so much if there was a real sense ofthe man beneath the monster, or palpable human drama in between the gore-strewnlycanthropic rampages. Instead, the characters remain sketchy throughout, andthere’s little engagement in Lawrence’s relationships with either John (as whomHopkins sports an on-again, off-again Scottish accent) or Gwen; all threeleads, clearly dedicated to the seriousness of the project, come off as solemnto a fault. Hugo Weaving brings a little more juice to Inspector Aberline, whoarrives from Scotland Yard to bring the hairy murderer to justice, but the mostattention-getting performance—for the wrong reasons—is given by Antony Sher asthe weirdo-accented head of an asylum where Lawrence is brought for torturoustreatment, in over-the-top sequences that play like Mel Brooks took JoeJohnston’s place in the director’s chair.

For the rest, Johnston is overly dependent on sudden barkingdogs, soundtrack wham!s and nightmarescenes to goose the audience before Lawrence gets beastly, and once he does,THE WOLFMAN doesn’t convincingly deal with the issue of the month’s periodbetween his full moon-affected transformations. Everyone around the Talbotsseems aware of the existence of werewolves and what to do about them, yet theymake only the must cursory efforts to deal with the problem. These and otherlogical loopholes may well be the result of footage hitting the cutting roomfloor, where one can only also assume there’s more of Geraldine Chaplin as theold gypsy woman Maleva, a crucial character in the ’41 picture whose role isreduced to superfluousness here.

Onthe surface, THE WOLFMAN is handsomely produced, with Shelly Johnson’scinematography, the production design by SLEEPY HOLLOW Oscar-winner RickHeinrichs and Milena Canonero’s costumes all contributing to the heavy periodatmosphere and Danny Elfman drenching it in a robust score. The movie is greatto look at and listen to, which makes it a shame that it makes you feel solittle. What it needed—beyond a trust in the audience’s patience—was thebaroque passion that Francis Ford Coppola brought to BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA,or—dare I say it—the nutty energy with which Kenneth Branagh infused MARYSHELLEY’S FRANKENSTEIN. Instead, THE WOLFMAN comes off like a compromisebetween reverence to its landmark predecessor and capitulation to modernattention spans.

Have a bite of SUSHI GIRL

2010-02-09T10:07:00.000-08:00

By Samuel Zimmerman

Writer/producer Destin Pfaff sent Fango the scoop on a nicelittle sashimi roll of exploitation called SUSHI GIRL. The film, which Pfaffco-wrote with its director Kern Saxton, begins production this March at UniversalStudios, and tells the tale of a robbery crew reassembling to celebrate one oftheir own’s release from prison—and reminisce about a job gone wrong—whileeating a buffet of sushi off the nude body of a beautiful young woman. However,things quickly spiral out of control and, as Pfaff describes it, “torture,madness and violence ensue.”

Saxton further explains to Fango that the genesis of thestory lay in everyone’s favorite inspiration: “Alcohol. Actually, we wereseeing our friend’s band, After, at a local dive and discussing the challengeswe were having with getting a few larger-scale projects off theground—including the feature-length version of DEADER LIVING THROUGH CHEMISTRY[a Saxton short featured on the DVD of George A. Romero’s DIARY OF THE DEAD].And it hit us: We should make a throwback heist film that we can fully containourselves without having to depend on others. We ended up being lucky enough toinvolve our producer friend Suren Seron, as well as a few others who totallygot what we wanted to do, and it grew into a larger project—in a good way. It’slike RESERVOIR DOGS meets HOSTEL.”

No doubt the titular girl will be a feast for the eyes, soit’s no surprise when Pfaff reveals that they’re casting the character from thevery popular Suicide Girls website. “I did an interview with Sean [of SuicideGirls] last year about MILLIONAIRE MATCHMAKER [which Pfaff co-hosts] for theirwebsite, and we really hit it off,” Pfaff recalls. “He’s a great guy, andthey’re doing some really innovative things with the girls and their site rightnow. We’ve been talking about doing something together, and I’m hoping this isjust the first of many projects with them. On top of that, their girls are notonly stunning, but incredibly talented. We’re looking forward to choosing afresh face and featuring her in a unique and surprising role—one that forcesher to shed her Suicide skin and lose herself in the character.”

Pfaff goes on to assure that while SUSHI GIRL’s budget maybe low, this is no small affair. “We called in some favors and are lucky enoughto be able to shoot at Universal Studios and have an Emmy-Award-winning DP[Rick Darge], a veteran casting director, a fantastic composer[Friedrich Myers] and a producing team who are able to work our budget to feel20 times larger than it is.” Special makeup will be created by Tom Devlin and1313 FX, and stylistically, the movie’s influences are spread across the board,but mostly rooted in good old ’70s fare. “We took our love of horror and vintageexploitation films and married it with a modern thriller twist,” Saxton says.“We’re shooting on the RED [hi-def] camera, and going for a vintage look: THESHINING meets FRENCH CONNECTION.”

Pfaffinterjects, “It’s got Hitchcokian elements too. This is a total blend of movies we love—ROPE, DETROIT 9000,STRAY CAT ROCK: SEX HUNTER, CANDY TANGERINE MAN and AUDITION. With a dash ofold-school film noir for good measure!” Look for more on SUSHI GIRL here as itheads into production and beyond, and check out its official website here.

Experience “The Art of Exploitation” in LA, BAD BIOLOGY DVD party in NJ

2010-02-09T10:04:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Cultra Video and Temple of Schlock are hosting a night thatLos Angeles-area horror and exploitation fans will want to catch this Friday,February 12. This week’s installment of the “Art of Exploitation” series willshowcase a trio of cult films from the ’70s, including a pair by notoriousB-meister Andy Milligan—one of which is his highest-budgeted feature, thevampire thriller THE BODY BENEATH.

The show, which takes place at LA’s Silent Movie Theatre(611 North Fairfax Avenue) as part of the Cinefamily program, begins at 8 p.m.with Milligan’s 1973 feature FLESHPOT ON 42ND STREET, which plunges theaudience deep into the excesses of early-’70s Times Square. Porn veterans HarryReems and Laura Cannon star; the 35mm print being shown is three minutes longerthan the version currently out from Something Weird Video.

Following at 9:45 p.m. is THE BODY BENEATH, originallyreleased in 1970 and also on 35mm. While many of the director’s genre flickswere set in Victorian England but shot on Long Island, this tale of a Catholicpriest who’s also a bloodsucker was actually lensed in the UK. The triplefeature is rounded out with a non-Milligan mystery feature, a “sexy ’70sslasher flick” that is currently unavailable on disc. Tickets for the wholeshow are just $10; for info on this and other “Art of Exploitation”presentations, check out the Cinefamily site here and the Temple of Schlock blog here.

Across the country in Secaucus, New Jersey, the RareFlixstore (210 Meadowlands Parkway) is hosting a signing party for Media Blasters’ DVD release (under the Shriek Show banner) ofFrank Henenlotter’s twisted new feature BAD BIOLOGY this Saturday, Feb. 13 from1-3 p.m. Henenlotter, who also gave us the BASKET CASE trilogy, BRAIN DAMAGEand FRANKENHOOKER, will be on hand along with “The Girls of BAD BIOLOGY”:Beverly Bonner (a veteran of the first BASKET), Tina Krause from WITCHOUSE 3,BLOODLETTING and many more, IN SEARCH OF LOVECRAFT’s Rachael Robbins, VickyWiese and others. Check out a video promo below, and for directions to thestore, click here.

New cast members move into DREAM HOUSE, FLATMATE and APPARITION

2010-02-08T20:42:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Variety has reported on new casting for a trio of upcoming genrefeatures. The highest-profile name and project: Rachel Weisz has been added tothe cast of Universal and Morgan Creek’s psychothriller DREAM HOUSE, joiningDaniel Craig and Naomi Watts.

Weisz (pictured below),previously seen in the first two MUMMY films and CONSTANTINE, plays the wife ofa publisher (Craig) who moves her and their two daughters into a new house in aNew England town, and soon learns that another mother and her two childen werepreviously slaughtered there. Jim Sheridan is directing the movie, which justbegan shooting in Toronto, from a screenplay by David Loucka.

Over in Spain, Luis Tosarhas been set to topline FLATMATE, the new chiller by the [REC] films’ JaumeBalagueró, who begins lensing the Filmax production in May from a screenplay byAlberto Marini (his co-scripter on the 6 FILMS TO KEEP YOU AWAKE entry TO LET).Tosar, currently nominated for Best Actor in Spain’s Goya Awards for the prisondrama CELL 211, will play the concierge of a Barcelona apartment building wherehe spies on the tenants and begins turning one particular young woman’s lifeinto a nightmare. “In FLATMATE, I wanted to go back to investigate the moresophisticated mechanics of the thriller and suspense genre. A script fell intomy hands which allowed me to explore these elements to the maximum,” Balaguerótells the trade.

Finally, Tom Felton, who plays nasty Draco Malfoyin the HARRY POTTER films, has been added to the cast of Dark Castle’sAPPARITION. He plays a paranormal expert in the film, which focuses on acollege couple (Sebastian Stan and the TWILIGHT films’ Ashley Greene) hauntedby an evil spirit released by an on-campus experiment. The movie beganproduction last week in Berlin under writer/director Todd Lincoln, and moves toLA next month.

SORORITY ROW DVD & Blu-ray details

2010-02-08T12:13:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Summit Entertainment just sentalong the specs for its DVD and Blu-ray releases of SORORITY ROW. The remake ofthe cult ’80s slasher THE HOUSE ON SORORITY ROW arrives on both formatsFebruary 23.

Directed by Stewart Hendler from a script by Josh Stolbergand Peter Goldfinger, the movie stars Briana Evigan, Leah Pipes, Rumer Willis,Jamie Chung, Margo Harshman and Audrina Partridge as Theta Pi sisters whoseprank goes fatally wrong. They try to cover up the death, but months later, amysterious, vengeful killer begins bumping them off one by one. The widescreentransfer with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound will be accompanied by:

• Picture-in-picture video commentary with the director andcast (Blu-ray only)

• Deleted scenes

• “Sorority Secrets: Stories from the Set” featurette

• “Killer 101” featurette

• “Kill Switch” featurette

• Outtakes

Retail price is $26.99 for the DVD, $34.99 for the Blu-ray.

PARASOMNIA, DON’T LOOK UP and more get DVD dates

2010-02-08T07:25:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Fango got the scoop from DVD distributor E1 Entertainment about its slate of horror releases coming in 2010.The most notable titles are PARASOMNIA, the latest feature from HOUSE ONHAUNTED HILL and MASTERS OF HORROR: FAIR HAIRED CHILD’s William Malone, andDON’T LOOK UP, helmed by Chinese filmmaker Fruit Chan and starring Eli Roth.

PARASOMNIA, which hits disc July 13, stars Cherilyn Wilsonas a young woman afflicted with the titular syndrome—she sleeps almostconstantly, waking only for brief moments—and Patrick Kilpatrick as a serialkiller with hypnotic powers who invades her dreams. DON’T LOOK UP, a remake ofthe 1996 Hong Kong chiller by the RINGU team of director Hideo Nakata andscripter Hiroshi Takahashi, is about a film crew, led by a director withpsychic abilities, plagued by evil spirits when they go to shoot a movie in anabandoned film studio; Henry Thomas, Kevin Corrigan, Daniela Sea, LothaireBluteau and Zelda Williams co-star. It streets September 21; there’s no wordyet if there’ll be any theatrical play before that.

Alsoon the E1 schedule are David DeCoteau’s EDGAR ALLAN POE’S HOUSE OF USHER on May4 and BROTHERHOOD VI: INITIATION June 15; Barak Epstein and Blair Rowan’svampire comedy BLOOD ON THE HIGHWAY, with appearances by Tom Towles and BUFFYTHE VAMPIRE SLAYER’s Nicholas Brendon, arriving June 29; SQUEAL, Tony Swansea’sbackwoods survival shocker with a porcine twist, pigging out on August 10; andMichael Emanuel’s creature feature MANEATER, starring Dean Cain, out October26. Some of these dates may be tentative; we’ll bring you further details onall these titles as it comes in.

Dee Snider’s Big STRANGELAND: DISCIPLE Update

2010-02-08T06:49:00.000-08:00

By Samuel Zimmerman

The long-in-developmentsequel to STRANGELAND, the 1998 fright film penned by rocker and FANGORIA RADIOhost Dee Snider, who also starred as the evil Captain Howdy, is finally headedbefore the cameras. Encouraged by tax breaks for film production in the stateof Ohio, STRANGELAND: DISCIPLE, whose story Snider began writing shortly afterthe original was released, has been picking up speed and will lens soon inCleveland and Youngstown, OH. Snider spoke exclusively to Fango and let us inon a wealth of new info about what to expect from the follow-up.

First, there’s the issueof the title change from STRANGELAND 2. “I tried to create a script that if youdidn’t see STRANGELAND, you wouldn’t feel lost,” he explains. “You know, it’s alittle presumptuous to think that everybody has seen STRANGELAND, and we hopeto go considerably wider with this picture. I used MAD MAX as sort of aprototype, in the sense that the first MAD MAX came out, and then THE ROADWARRIOR came out and went to a much broader audience [in America], a lot ofwhom hadn’t seen the original but could still watch ROAD WARRIOR and play alongat home, so to speak. But DISCIPLE is definitely a continuation of the originalstory, without a doubt.”

Most likely, if you’vekept up with any of the recently posted news, you’ve read this synopsis ofDISCIPLE: “One year after Carleton Hendricks’, a.k.a. Captain Howdy’s, sadisticrampage, much more than the physical scars the schizophrenic, sexual sadistgave his victims are left behind. Their lives destroyed by emotional tormentand the media frenzy surrounding the crimes, Detective Mike Gage, his daughterGenevieve and vigilante Jackson Roth each have their crosses to bear. But whenthe badly burned and mentally broken Carleton Hendricks is taken from astate-run mental hospital and off his medication by billionaire media mogulMorgan LaForce, leader of the body modification/fetish haven called ‘TheTorture Garden,’ the door swings wide open for each of Captain Howdy’s victimsto find closure…and retribution.”

As Snider tells Fango,while that synopsis and much of the script were written years ago, it’s prettyaccurate except for “one glaring thing,” he laughs. “It says, ‘One year later.’Somebody on-line mentioned, ‘One year later—what, are you gonna have old[Internet] technology?’ But the emphasis is not so much on that. Back when Iwrote the first STRANGELAND, the technology was brand new, but now it’s sort ofan accepted part of the fabric of society; there’s no real revelation in it.

“We’re in the process ofgoing out to directors,” Snider continues, “and when we bring one on board, Iknow whoever it is will have thoughts and input as to how the script should bechanged or modified. At that point, we’ll figure out how many years will be anacceptable time to have passed, and how that affects the storyline. I don’tthink that will greatly affect the script.”

In 1998, STRANGELAND had apioneering attitude about it—not only regarding the increasing popularity ofthe Internet and its ability to make human connection (for better or, in thiscase, for worse) much easier, but also in its emphasis on the kind of torturethat horror fans would see a good deal of in the early 21st century. “It wasthe first movie to ever have the phrase ‘and scenes of torture’ with its MPAArating,” Snider says. “The R was given with the stipulation that that be in thedescription. No film had ever had that, and I was very proud. I was trying toreinvent the wheel, or do something different. To me, that was a significantdesignation.

“One of the things thatDISCIPLE focuses on still continues in reality-based form, something that couldhappen,” he continues. “It focuses more on society and the cult of personality.These villains become sensationalized in the press and almost become antiheroesand have followings. The media also glamorizes and blows these things up.Again, it makes them something like heroes to certain people, because they’reso oppressed—‘Oh, the poor sick man.’ The movie looks a lot at that, which is abig theme today. Then, it goes much further into the world of body modificationand tribal ritual. Since I did the first one, people have become much moreaware of what’s going on in the subculture, but I believe there’s even moredepravity to explore.”

Snider is in the midst ofassembling a team to go exploring with him, and it sounds quite promising. Asfar as a director goes, he’s tight-lipped, revealing only that the short listhas been narrowed down to 10, each of whom he’d be equally excited about ifthey were to helm. “We’re focusing on young, talented filmmakers, and there aresome great ones out there. The difference between the last time I looked for adirector and this time is that I’m really invested in the horror community onthe next level, through Fango Radio and through making STRANGELAND and becominga fixture or a semi-fixture in the horror community, so my awareness of thetalent pool and what’s out there is much greater. We have to lock in a directorin the next 30 days; we’re going out to representatives right now and makingoffers.”

Thankfully, the TwistedSister frontman doesn’t shy away from naming names when it comes to the rest ofthe production. “As soon as we [sign a director], we start rolling in earnest.It’s looking like Robert Kurtzman is going to be doing the special effects;that’s not signed, sealed, delivered, but we’ve had significant conversations,he’s around that area, he wants to do the project, we want him to do theproject. So now it’s just about putting together the deal.”

With Kurtzman just abouton board, it can only be assumed that Snider and his director will be keepingthings practical and tangible when it comes to the FX. “Absolutely,” he says.“A number of things dictate that. I also want to add that I’m hoping to puttogether a situation where Kurtzman will bring Michael Burnett, who did theeffects last time, in on his team, specifically for some of the Captain Howdystuff. Sitting in a G-string in a chair for 12 hours at a shot, I’m much morecomfortable with Michael than with a lot of people; you really get to knowsomebody when you’re lying on a table for 12 hours in a G-string. Burnett isworking at Universal Studios now, so his ability to just pick up and leave andgo do a film for several months is not as great.

“We’re working withroughly a $5-million budget,” Snider adds. “The first movie was made for $1.1million. It’s definitely more to work with, but still, it’s a limited budget,computer effects just aren’t a reality in independent filmmaking and in thiskind of movie, I just don’t believe it’s needed. There’s a lot of bodymodification, a lot of rituals and some intense stuff, and I think they’re evenmore effective with practical rather than digital.”

Obviously, Snider will bereprising his role as Captain Howdy, but he reveals he’d like to see a lot ofthe supporting cast carry over from the original as well. “Robert Englund isattached, period,” he reveals. “He is all set to reprise his role as JacksonRoth. He was significant in the last one, but he comes back in a much morepowerful way. This is definitely a movie about revenge, and you don’t have tobe a rocket scientist to get that Jackson Roth is none too happy about havingbeen made Captain Howdy’s bitch in the first movie.

“I would love to bringback some of the other people from the first one,” he continues, “but mind you,some of them have gone on to become quite big stars. Amy Smart is a much biggername now, as is Linda Cardellini. I’m actually going to reach out to Linda;coming off ER as a single mom and, before that, the SCOOBY-DOO movies, she maybe ready for something darker. Linda’s very cool, even though she’s out of myprice range these days, but you never know. I hope to reach out to Kevin Gage,who played Mike Gage, the father and detective, in the original. He’s a muchgreater actor than he was allowed to be by that movie’s director, and I’ve seenHEAT and all these other films he’s done since. He’s very talented, he’s agreat guy to work with, and having some connection back to the original is acool thing to do.”

In the realm of new faces,Snider plans to cast a good friend who should be quite familiar to Fangofiends—and he also has info on how you can score a bit role. “I’ve got a rolefor [FANGO RADIO’s] Debbie Rochon in the movie. It’s a speaking role in anopening sequence. It’s a pretty cool part, she’s a good friend and a talentedactress and I told her I’d love to bring her onto the movie. Beyond that, we’regoing to go wide with the casting. What we are doing is a national call; nowthat we’re rolling, we’re going to go through screentest.biz. Specifically,there’s a big club scene, with a lot of body modification elements and somereally cool things we’ll need extras for, and we’re definitely going to becasting those off of screentest.biz. It’s a publicity thing, absolutely, but asan independent film, you’ve got to do everything you possibly can, so the opencasting call is definitely a way of getting more attention for the picture.”

With the decade-plus roadto a STRANGELAND sequel about to reach its end, Snider is excited thanks to theoriginal film’s fans and the idea of making a worthy and better successor. “I’mvery pleased by the on-line chatter and enthusiasm for it within the horrorcommunity,” he says. “There are people out there who shit-talk the originalSTRANGELAND, and the things they say about it are all absolutely true. I say,‘Was it shocking?’ Yes. Did it seem rushed at times? Yes. Was it all it couldbe? No. I had a little over a million dollars to work with, and we actuallywent to litigation with the director because we didn’t want him to be paid; hewas pulled from the post work and the edit was taken out of his hands. I hopeto correct all the wrongs with the new one.

“Just recognize thatindependent filmmaking is not the easiest thing in the world,” he notes. “Youcan solve any problem if you throw money at it. If you can’t do that, you haveto do the best you can, and sometimes the best isn’t good enough. I often sayon FANGO RADIO that I think they should put the price tags of movies at thebeginning, so people would say, ‘Oh, this was made for a million bucks, let’ssee what they did… Oh, this was made for $80 million, it sucks!’ That’ssomething that people should be aware of sometimes. People can look atSTRANGELAND and look at SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and go, ‘Oh, SILENCE is waybetter.’ Yeah, of course it is. It’s one of the greatest movies of all time,and they had Oscar-winning actors and a major director and millions of dollarsto make it. I’m not saying I’m comparing myself, but the point is, you’ve gotto put things in perspective when you’re judging movies, based on what theresources are.”

Lookfor more news and updates on STRANGELAND: DISCIPLE as production gets underway.

Cover and contents for FANGORIA #291

2010-02-05T12:38:00.000-08:00

By FANGORIA Staff

Fango #291 is ready to hit the stands this month, and pastthe jump you’ll find the first look at the cover, as well as the full contents.It’s got everything from werewolves old and new (a Makeup FX Lab and cast pieceon THE WOLFMAN and a remembrance of the late Paul Naschy) to independent chills(Adam Green discussing his new FROZEN) to literary horror (a chat with hotauthor Jonathan Maberry)!

Go below the cover to see the complete lineup of articles!

GUTS

FAST TRAIN TO “CRAZIES” TOWN There’s more insanity in storeas we continue our exclusive location coverage.

“FROZEN” STIFFS Adam (“Hatchet”) Green relocates from theLouisiana swamps to a wintry mountainside for his new bone-chiller.

METHODS TO MADNESS Up-and-coming actor Noah Segan adoptsmultiple mental states in a string of new fright films, starting with “CabinFever 2.”

“DEMONS” DO-OVER The cast names are bigger in the “Night ofthe Demons” remake, and its makers hope the frights—and laughs—are too.

MABERRY SCARE YOU? Writing of zombies, wolfmen and more,Jonathan Maberry is making quite the literary splash.

STALKING THE “SLITHIS” It lurked in the waterways of LA butterrorized drive-ins nationwide in the late 1970s.

THE “WOLFMAN” PACK Benicio Del Toro et al. talk up theirroles in the megabudget monster movie.

MAKEUP FX LAB: “THE WOLFMAN” For the first time, astep-by-step look at how Rick Baker makes a monster!

STRONG “SANGRE” Paul Naschy has passed on, but he still hasone crazy film yet to assault his U.S. fans. Plus: the Spanish star remembered.

GRAVY

ELEGY American Fear Market 2009: Part II

MONSTER INVASION Who’s hungrier—the “Survival of the Dead”ghouls or the 3-D “Piranha”?; get ready for the new Freddy; the 2010 ChainsawAwards ballot!

DR. CYCLOPS’ DUNGEON OF DISCS “Kingdom of the Spiders”crawls to the top; “House of the Devil” worth a long visit; “Bad Biology”bonuses have great chemistry

HORRORCADE Thanks for the “Memories” from new “Silent Hill”;another trip into the “Borderlands”

NIGHTMARE LIBRARY Huston’s latest will leave you “Sleepless”;Straub makes the “Dark Matter”

CLASSIFIEDAD VAULT

Exclusive first photos from Aussie horror NEEDLE

2010-02-05T12:30:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Fango got ahold of a few exclusive pics (seen past the jump)from NEEDLE, an Australian chiller being handled by Lightning Entertainment.The movie stars Michael Dorman (also seen in the recently released DAYBREAKERSand TRIANGLE) as a college student who inherits an 18th-century device withsupernatural properties that begins causing the deaths of his friends.

NEEDLE was written (with Anthony Egan) and directed by JohnV. Soto, who also scripted the new Down Under fright feature PREY. The castalso includes Trilby Glover, Tanyna Tozzi, Jessica Marais, Travis Fimmel, JohnJarratt from WOLF CREEK and ROGUE and the original V’s Jane Badler. JamieBlanks, director of STORM WARNING and NATURE’S GRAVE (a.k.a. LONG WEEKEND), isproviding the music, and the FX were created by Make-Up Effects Group (MEG).Look for Fango’s on-set coverage of NEEDLE in the near future. An officialwebsite (just a homepage for the moment) has been set up here, and NEEDLE’s Facebook page can be found here.

UK horrors TONY and SALVAGE coming to U.S. DVD

2010-02-05T12:26:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Revolver Entertainment has setan April 6 DVD release date for Gerard Johnson’s British serial-killer filmTONY, and passed on the content details for the disc. The movie, which recentlypremiered at the Slamdance Film Festival and has already won critical raves, isa case study of an alienated Londoner (Peter Ferdinando) whose mental downwardspiral leads him to murder.

Revolver’s disc will present the movie in anamorphicwidescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound. Extras include:

• Audio commentary by writer/director Johnson, starFerdinando and producer Dan McCulloch

• Johnson’s original TONY short film

• Johnson’s short crime drama MUG

Retail price is $19.98; you can see TONY’s official websitehere. Revolver also gave Fango the scoop that itwill release another UK fright film, Lawrence Gough’s SALVAGE, to Statesidedisc July 6, and gave us an exclusive look at the preliminary cover art (seebelow). Scripted by Colin O’Donnell, the movie is set in a cul-de-sac neighborhoodthat is plunged into horrific chaos on Christmas Eve when a mysteriouscontainer washes ashore on a nearby beach, and the military soon places thearea under lockdown. Specs are to be announced, and retail price for this onewill also be $19.98. Look for a set-visit report on SALVAGE in a future issueof Fango.

What’s buried in MEADOWOODS?

2010-02-05T12:22:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Dread Central reported today on a mysterious new project called MEADOWOODS, for whichinformation has been slowly leaking out on-line. It started with a YouTubevideo of a girl being buried alive, and Dread got an exclusive look at an earlytrailer; checking out the YouTube poster’s page also leads to a clip called“Naked Ginger Runs Through Forest.” You can see all three videos below.

Anofficial website has been opened here forMEADOWOODS, and as of now consists only of that burying-alive footage. Clearlythis is just the start of a BLAIR WITCH/PARANORMAL ACTIVITY-style viralcampaign, so stay tuned for updates.

Meadowoods -Trailer
by dreadcentral

BABYSITTER WANTED and more horror DVD news

2010-02-04T10:32:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

• Fango has learned that Jonas Barnes and MichaelManasseri’s BABYSITTER WANTED will be released on DVD by its production entityBig Screen Entertainment Group. Sarah Thompson (pictured after the jump) starsas a college student who takes a job looking after a young boy at a remotefarmhouse one night, and becomes subjected to frightening phone calls andworse.

Matt Dallas, Bruce Thomas, Kristen Dalton and genre faveBill Moseley co-star in the film; retail price for the disc will be $19.95, andfull details and cover art are coming soon. Check out the movie’s officialwebsite here.

• Immanuel Martin, writer/director of the independent horrorfeature MIYUKI, sent along word that the movie has been acquired for worldwidedistribution by R-Squared Films. The titlecharacter is a Japanese exchange student (Yuri Nanami) who comes to live withan American family, and brings some seriously damaged psychological baggagewith her. The movie has “a tentative release date of May 2010” for DVD, Martinreports, adding, “R-Squared will be promoting the film for retail as well asTV/cable/satellite/IP broadcast/VOD/PPV opportunities in the U.S.” We’ll bringyou specifics as we find ’em out. MIYUKI’s trailer can be seen below, and itsofficial website can be found here.

• Image Entertainment hasa pair of fright features set for DVD release this spring. Coming April 13 isTHE DAISY CHAIN, an Irish/British co-production directed by Aisling Walsh froma Lauren Mackenzie screenplay. MINORITY REPORT’s Samantha Morton and StevenMackintosh from the UNDERWORLD sequels star as a couple who move to a ruraltown to recover from their baby daughter’s death. They meet an orphanedautistic girl and decide to take her into their home, and a series of scaryevents ensues that the village’s residents insist are connected to littleDaisy. The movie will be presented in 1.78:1 widescreen with Dolby Digital 5.1audio, accompanied by the trailer.

Out May 25 is FINALE from writer/director John MichaelElfers. This giallo-styled chillerfocuses on a woman whose son has apparently committed suicide, but who believesthat his death was actually the result of dark forces and sets out to uncoverthe truth. A winner of several independent-film-festival awards, FINALE starsCarolyn Von Hauck, Suthi Picotte, Brad Barnes, Elizabeth Holmes and StevenNieport, with makeup FX by Chris Payne. This one will also have a 1.78:1transfer with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound; no special features have been specifiedas of now. See FINALE’s official website here; retail price on these two titles is $27.98 each.

• Well Go USA is issuing anupdated version of Sean Tretta’s THE GREAT AMERICAN SNUFF FILM, titled,naturally, THE GREATEST AMERICAN SNUFF FILM and set for release April 13. Thisis a new director’s cut of the movie, which dramatizes the kidnapping, tortureand on-camera murder of two young women by a couple of perverted maniacs, withnewly shot and previously unseen footage. Also included are the followingextras:

• Audio commentary by writer/director Tretta

• “Making SNUFF Films” featurette

• Extra “SNUFF”

-Fake Snuff #1

-Fake Snuff #2

-Fake Snuff #3

• “Flesh” music video

• Trailer

WellGo also has the Japanese film NEGATIVE HAPPY CHAINSAW EDGE coming March 30.Directed by Takuki Kitamura and scripted by Hirotoshi Kobayashi from TatsuhikoTakimoto’s manga, it’s a genre-blender combining horror, romance andcomedy as a young slacker becomes enamored of a mysterious young girl—who mustbattle a violent, heavily armed giant by night on a regular basis. The discincludes a behind-the-scenes segment and the trailer; retail price for bothWell Go titles is $19.98 each.

SXSW fest sets Fantastic and other horror titles

2010-02-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

Austin, TX’s South by Southwest Film Festival has announced its lineup of features for the 2010 event,running March 12-20. Among them is a slate of Midnighters features including several rounded upby the folks behind the city’s Fantastic Fest, aneclectic group of international movies that counts three in the horror genre.

Among the Fantastic slate is the international festivalpremiere of HIGANJIMA, a Japanese/Korean co-production directed by Kim Tae-kyunfrom a script by Tetsuya Oishi. The title refers to an island where a teenagergoes with some friends in search of his missing brother, and discovers a legionof evil vampires. See the trailer (no subtitles) below and look for more Fangocoverage of HIGANJIMA in the near future.

World-premiering via the Fantastic program are Britishwriter/director Gareth Edwards’ MONSTERS, about a journalist and a touristtraveling through an area of Mexico infested with alien beings to reach safetyin the U.S., and Ireland’s OUTCAST, helmed by Colm McCarthy from a script hewrote with Tom McCarthy, in which a couple with magical abilities are pursuedby a relentless hunter. A “Super Secret” world premiere to be announced is alsopart of this group.

Elsewhere on the Midnighters schedule are the U.S. premiereof Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani’s Belgian giallo homage AMER; a screening of the early Ivan Reitmanhorror/comedy CANNIBAL GIRLS; the world premiere of COTTON, directed by DanielStamm, scripted by Andrew Gurland and Huck Botko and produced by Eli Roth,about a documentary crew filming a reverend’s final exorcism; ENTER THE VOID,the surreal new feature by Gaspar Noé about a dead man’s spirit in anincreasingly nightmarish city; the world premiere of Andrew Bowser’s cryptozoologicalsaga JIMMY TUPPER VS. THE GOATMAN OF BOWIE; Sean Byrne’s THE LOVED ONES, inwhich a girl and her father kidnap a boy she likes and subject him to a brutal“prom”; and the buzz-building TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL, directed by Eli Craigfrom a script by him and Morgan Jurgenson, about a pair of hillbillies mistakenfor backwoods killers by a group of vacationing college friends.

Meanwhile,SXSW’s Emerging Visions series will showcase the North American premiere of REDWHITE & BLUE, the violent psychodrama by THE LIVING AND THE DEAD’s SimonRumley about three young people whose lives collide with disturbing results;see the beginning of our RED coverage in Fango #291, on sale this month. And inthe TX-centric Lone Star States series, Chad Feehan’s WAKE will have its worldpremiere; Josh Stewart and Jamie-Lynn Sigler star as a couple who encounterstrange folks and events at a desert motel. For more info on all of SXSW’smovies, events, tickets, etc., check out the website linked above.

DVD/Blu-ray updates: Corman films and SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD!

2010-02-03T07:48:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

We first broke the news here about the updated schedule for the many Roger Corman DVDs and Blu-rays comingfrom Shout! Factory this year, and now we’ve got anupdate courtesy of disc supplement producer Michael R. Felsher. He’s currentlyputting together extras for a few of those titles, and gave Fango the firstword on what to expect from them.

First and foremost is GALAXY OF TERROR, Bruce D. Clark’s1981 space shocker that’s notorious for featuring a rape by giant maggot, andfor being an early credit of AVATAR’s James Cameron (who served as art directorand, according to some, directed portions of the film as well). It has neverbeen on U.S. DVD before, and Felsher tells us, “The new transfer is a beauty,and will thrill folks who have seen the old Embassy VHS version over theyears.”

Shout!’s disc is set to arrive July 20, and Felsher has beenracking up a host of on-camera interviews for it. “We’re reaching out topractically everyone who worked on this film in one form or another,” he says.“It’s amazing how many well-known genre directors, special effects creators andactors worked on this thing. There are so many great stories about GALAXY’sproduction, and so far we’ve received nothing but positive feedback from folkswilling to sit down and discuss the movie—and yes, that even includes somerather big names associated with themovie who went on to considerable success afterward.”

There will be plenty of visual material supplementing theirdiscussions as well. “I’m compiling as many lobby cards, posters, stills andbehind-the-scenes photos as possible,” the producer continues. “This movie is atruly unique entry in the ’80s sci-fi canon, and we’re doing everything we canto fill this DVD to the brim.”

At the same time, Felsher is also busy with new DVDs ofanother pair of Corman-produced favorites, Paul Bartel’s original 1975 flickDEATH RACE 2000 and Jimmy T. Murakami’s 1980 hit BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS. “Ican’t be too specific, but we’re definitely adding new special features to theupcoming reissues of these titles,” he says. “On DEATH RACE in particular, wehave a lot of behind-the-scenes stories that haven’t been told yet.”

DEATH RACE drives in June 22 on both DVD and Blu-ray, whileBATTLE lands September 7 on DVD. Coming a little sooner is another DVD Felshercontributed to, Lionsgate’s reissue of thesupernaturally tinged 1986 car-chase flick THE WRAITH, which streets March 2.“We have a commentary by writer/director Mike Marvin, as well as a newon-camera interview with him,” Felsher reports. “[Co-star] Clint Howard gave usa wonderful on-camera chat for his featurette as well, and fans will reallylove that. He’s a great guy to talk with! The final featurette has interviewswith the film’s stunt and transportation coordinators, who discuss the infamousTurbo Interceptor vehicle and the dangerous stunts. Turns out the car used inthe movie is housed just a few miles from my apartment in Detroit. I knewliving here would work out!”

Andas if all that weren’t enough, Felsher is also getting started on the extrasfor George A. Romero’s SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD, for which a disc street date hasyet to be determined. “As with DIARY OF THE DEAD, I was on set from day onetill the final take,” he reveals, “and I hope to include a ton of exclusiveinterviews and footage on the upcoming DVD and Blu-ray. If everything goes toplan, it will be very different in many ways from some of the docus I’vepreviously done. But work is just now beginning, so we shall see what is tocome!” Stay tuned for further updates on all these titles, and click here to check out the official website of Felsher’sRed Shirt Pictures.

FROZEN and SPIDER BABY screenings w/guests in LA

2010-02-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

Los Angeles-area fans can catch a new chiller and a horrorcult classic and hear from the people responsible this month. First, directorAdam Green will be on hand for showings of his ski-lift-to-terror film FROZENwhen it begins its commercial run this weekend.

Fresh from its well-received screenings at the Sundance FilmFestival, FROZEN is about the perils faced by a trio of young friends when theybecome stranded on a lift chair halfway up a mountain. This Friday, February 5,Green and stars Shawn Ashmore, Kevin Zegers and Emma Bell will make appearancesand take part in Q&A sessions after the 7:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. shows atthe Mann’s Chinese 6 in Hollywood. The next night, Saturday, Feb. 6, Green willbe on hand following the 7:30 screening at Mann’s Criterion 6 on the 3rd StreetPromenade in Santa Monica. You can find out more about FROZEN at its official website and read about it in Fango #291, on salethis month.

Thenon Thursday, Feb. 18 at 7 p.m., filmmaker Jeremy (THE WIZARD OF GORE) Kastenand DVDocumentary director Elijah Drenner present Jack Hill’s director’s cut ofhis bizarre 1964 flick SPIDER BABY at the Los Angeles Athletic Club (431 West7t Street in LA) as part of Tinseltown Tarnish, a film series “featuring someof our favorite cult films that capture vintage Los Angeles locations.” Hillwill be present for a Q&A with Kasten and Drenner after the movie, whichstars Lon Chaney Jr., Sid Haig, Jill Banner, Carol Ohmart and Beverly Washburn.The screening is free, but you must RSVP via a link at the SPIDER BABY Online website. Space is limited to 200 people, soRSVP as soon as possible.

The Changing States of PANDORUM

2010-02-03T07:40:00.000-08:00

By Samuel Zimmerman

Last year’s PANDORUM wasan underseen exploration into sci-fi horror, offering psychological terror,excellent production design, mutated creatures and some intriguing ideas aboutthe future of humanity. Now, with the film currently available on DVD andBlu-ray from Anchor Bay Entertainment, screenwriter Travis Milloy spoke to Fango about the film’s genesis andcreation, and we got ahold of some exclusive creature photos to go with hiscomments. Beware if you haven’t seen the film, as spoilers will follow.

In our previous article onPANDORUM in Fango #286, Milloy discussed how the final feature was essentiallya marriage between two very similar ideas that he and director Christian Alvartshared. Expanding upon this, he tells Fango, “We think a lot alike, so it was agreat experience working together. We never really disagreed on anything; itwas always, ‘What about this?’ ‘Yeah, that's a great idea!’ Christian is a veryfocused on exactly what kind of story he wants to tell, which makes it mucheasier. Being wishy-washy and unsure of where to go is a nightmare in workingon a script together. I just followed his lead and tried to make the bestpossible version of his vision.

“The moment he came onboard, I considered PANDORUM his movie, so I never gave much resistance to whathe wanted to do. Plus, I thought his ideas and sensibilities about the materialwere brilliant, which made it easy. The biggest thing Christian brought to thescript was a whole new level of hope for the future. My original draft was muchdarker, and more of a haunted-house scenario. In that story, the spacecraft wascalled the Pandorum and was aprisoner ship, taking thousands of the world’s worst criminals to a remotefacility on another planet, removing them from an overpopulated Earth. The‘hunters’ loose on board were evolved from generations of the world’s worstcriminals and even the characters [eventually played by] Antje Traue, Cung Leand Eddie Rouse were all prisoners who had recently woken up.”

In the eventual movie,Nadia (Traue), Manh (Le) and Leland (Rouse) are crewmembers on the ship, whichis transporting non-criminal Earthlings to the distant world in a mission tosave the human race. The film opens with astronauts Payton (Dennis Quaid) andBower (Ben Foster) waking up on board the craft with no memory of what they’redoing there, and encountering the others as they attempt to solve thatmystery—all while dodging attacks by the rapacious “hunters.”

As Milloy initiallyconceived it, “Basically, Bower couldn't trust anyone because he was the onlynon-convict character loose in the ship,” the writer reveals. “It had more ofan ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK feel. Christian brought in the idea to make it asettlers’ ship, a hope for the future, for humanity to continue life on anotherplanet. That was huge. It changed the whole purpose and meaning behindeverything. Because the ship was no longer a prisoner transport, the name Pandorum didn’t fit, so I used the name to describe thecabin-fever illness [suffered by the characters] instead. I do remember no oneliking that title and wanting to find a different one, and I was surprised itstuck.”

Milloy and Alvart’simaginations were so kindred, they even thought of the same finale beforementioning the concept to each other. “Originally, it was only Bower and Nadiawho reach the surface [of the sea on that other world, where the ship isrevealed to have been submerged], and the producers were looking for a moreuplifting ending. I figured it would be a crazy idea, but I brought up thenotion of having all the pods ejected in the end, so that lots of people wouldmake it. I figured it would be shot down, too expensive to reshoot orconsidered silly, but Christian had already had the exact same idea—and we hadnever discussed it. It was a great alteration.”

Anyone who has seenPANDORUM has likely wondered about the impending new civilization that Bower,Nadia and the other survivors face on their new home. While Milloy hasn’tspecifically addressed any ideas, he notes, “There’s definitely a whole newworld of stories that could come out of that movie, both prequels and sequels.Because the ship is so vast, there are so many passengers, 900 years and awhole new planet to explore, there are thousands of stories to tell—if we weregiven the chance.”

PANDORUM is Milloy’s thirdproduced script (he directed the first, the urban actioner THUGS, and thesecond, JUST LIKE MONA, was helmed by actor Joe Pantoliano), and his enthusiasmfor how PANDORUM was realized on screen hasn’t waned. “It was a very surrealexperience watching it the first time,” he says. “It’s a dream come true tohave something I wrote brought to the screen on that level, and I still have ahard time believing it all really happened. It’s a pretty complex story, so ifit had fallen into the wrong directing hands, it could have been a disaster.But the moment Ben Foster woke up in the pod and flipped out, I knew it wasgoing to exceed everything I had pictured. I’m so proud of the movie, andChristian, the cast and crew did amazing jobs. The movie has a strange effecton me: I love it more and more every time I see it. I can’t stop watching it,but of course, I’m a little biased.

“One thing I’d like to addis that PANDORUM was the first script ever wrote where I literally didn’t knowwhat was going to happen next. It’s a risky way to write, because you can gettwo-thirds of the way into it and be stuck. Normally I have an outline and atleast know how it begins and ends, but with PANDORUM I had no idea where itwould go. I wanted to write the movie as if I was watching it, not knowingwhere it was leading. I started with one man waking from hypersleep in a darkship, alone and confused. I used the memory-loss element so that I could putmyself in Bower’s place and not know anything about space travel, where he’sgoing or why. I wanted to start in a very small space and then explore theworld, not knowing what was around each corner. As I wrote, the story grewlarger and larger and more unexpected for me.

“When Bower reaches thebridge and looks out the windows at the end, I literally had no idea what wasoutside,” Milloy continues. “The mystery of where the ship would be located hadbuilt up all along the journey and I had no clue what I’d see when I lookedthrough the glass. I remember stopping, taking the dog for a walk in the middleof the night and looking up at the stars and then down at a rain puddle, acomplete contrast. That’s when the underwater concept hit me. It was the lastthing I would expect, that they’d already crashed and had been underwater thewhole time. I ran home, dragging the dog behind me, and wrote the ending. Itwas a weird night. I figured anyone who would read it would think I was crazy.I never thought it would be made on a studio level. I always figured it was toodark and twisted for anyone to have interest. I almost didn’t mention it to mymanager, but I’m glad I showed it to him.”

WithPANDORUM now available for home consumption, Milloy has moved on to futureprojects. “I’ve definitely been busy since the movie was released,” he says.“I’m writing a bank-heist thriller for Constantin [which co-produced PANDORUMwith Impact Pictures] and I have several new scripts that will be hitting theselling block this year.” Whether these will be out-and-out genre pieces,Milloy doesn’t say, but it seems he’s leaning away from the science-fictionworld. “I’ve never really considered myself a genre-specific writer; in fact, Ihadn’t written a sci-fi script until I did PANDORUM. The world of space traveljust seemed to fit the story I was trying to tell. I’m fascinated with tales ofpeople who have their morality challenged, whether it’s in space, in the jungleor at the office, so I write stories in all areas.”

Director’s update on MALEVOLENCE sequel BEREAVEMENT

2010-02-02T11:05:00.000-08:00

By Michael Gingold

If, like us, you’re a fan of writer/director Stevan Mena’ssuperior slasher film MALEVOLENCE, you may have been wondering what’s up withBEREAVEMENT, the second in Mena’s intended MALEVOLENCE trilogy. Fango spoke toMena recently to get the lowdown on his progress with the sequel, which lenseda couple of years back and stars genre vets Michael Biehn and John Savage.

“The film is in final postproduction,” he tells us, “sowe’re just working on the final touches of the sound mix.” The long process ofcompleting BEREAVEMENT, he explains, has had to do with storytelling cocerns,not technical issues. “There’s a tremendous amount of plot that I’m trying toget into a two-hour movie, so certain things couldn’t make it in, and it was along process for me to decide what should and shouldn’t be in the finalpicture. The initial cut was about three hours long, so it has been a laboriousprocess to kind of kill my babies and figure out what the final film’s gonnabe. It has taken me a while to really get my head wrapped around that, and nowI’ve finally done it.”

Part of whipping BEREAVEMENT—which explores the backgroundof the first MALEVOLENCE’s murderous Martin Bristol and also features AlexandraDaddario (soon to be seen in THE LIGHTNING THIEF), Spencer and Peyton List,Jennifer Blanc, Brett Rickaby and BASKET CASE 2’s Kathryn Meisle—into shape hasinvolved a bit of reshooting and easing back on the red stuff. “The originalcut was extraordinarily bloody,” Mena notes, “and we just felt there was no waywe were going to get it to any kind of a wide audience with that amount in it.So we toned it down a bit—not to the detriment of gore fans; it’s still a veryviolent movie, it’s just a little more watchable now. There were also certainstory elements that I felt needed a bit more attention, and I had theopportunity to go out and make it better, which I did.”

While both MALEVOLENCE and Mena’s satirical follow-upfeature BRUTAL MASSACRE went out through Anchor Bay, Mena reveals that he hasyet to sign a distribution deal for BEREAVEMENT, planning to send it out on thefestival circuit once it’s completed. And as the lack of a MALEVOLENCE 2 tagindicates, the writer/director intends for the movie to be viewed for itsindividual merits, not as a typical sequel. “We wanted this film to be its ownentity,” he says. “It’s actually better, in a weird way, if you haven’t seenthe first one, because since it’s a prequel, there are certain things whichwill be obvious if you’ve seen the original. And if you haven’t, it certainlystands on its own. I’d say that you should see this, and then watchMALEVOLENCE.”

Asfor a third film in the trilogy, Mena reveals that a script is already done andready to shoot, but “there are no current plans to make that, unless of courseBEREAVEMENT is accepted as well as MALEVOLENCE was. If it is, we’ll certainlygo out and do it. I don’t know if I’ll be coming back to direct it. I’ve donemy time in that slaughterhouse, and BEREAVEMENT is a very, very different filmfrom the first one. The only way to describe it is like an epic horror story.It’s more in the vein of THE SHINING, whereas the original was kind of likeHALLOWEEN or FRIDAY THE 13TH. BEREAVEMENT is more of a character study thanMALEVOLENCE was.”

FREE passes to TERRIBLY HAPPY in NYC

2010-02-02T09:25:00.000-08:00

By FANGORIA Staff

FANGORIA, in association with distributor OscilloscopePictures, is offering readers the chance to win a free pass for two to the New YorkCity run of the dark Danish thriller TERRIBLY HAPPY, opening this Friday,February 5 at the Angelika Film Center (18 WestHouston Street). Directed by Henrik Ruben Genz, the movie follows a city copwho is reassigned to a small town, where he becomes embroiled in local violenceand murder.

To enter to win one of the five passes (good for the film’srun of engagement at the Angelika), send an e-mail tofangoscreening@starloggroup.com, listing “TERRIBLY HAPPY Pass” in the subjectline and including your name and full address. Winners will be randomlyselected and contacted, and the passes mailed out later this week. For moreinfo on TERRIBLY HAPPY (including playdates in other cities), see its page atthe Oscilloscope website here.

The RED RIVER Begins to Flow

2010-02-02T07:53:00.000-08:00

By CHRIS HABERMAN

In the small,Mayberry-esque town of Greensburg, Kentucky, stomach-turning things are goingon in the enormous crawlspace of one decaying house. A demented marijuanafarmer in his 50s named Roland is about to smash a young girl’s head in with asledgehammer. Bloody brains will surely burst from the skull upon impact, whichis probably why Roland is so giddy—he can’t seem to stop croaking long, raspylaughs (extremely unpleasant to the ears due to his laryngectomy). Also in thissubterranean pit are two nude women trapped in chicken-wire cages, a hacked-uptorso hanging from the ceiling by its feet and a mentally and physically warpedcharacter referred to on the set as “Hamburger Head” (seen in the first of theexclusive photos after the jump).

This is the set ofwriter/director Jacob Ennis’ RED RIVER, a down-’n’-dirty backwoods tale ofperverse gruesomeness. Anyone who has seen Ennis’ nasty previous flick STASHwill know what’s in store for them with RED RIVER, but this movie seems evenbloodier and uglier than STASH, which focused on another mad marijuana farmerwho loved to rape and kill his victims (not necessarily in that order). ButSTASH didn’t have the maggots and mashed heads that RED RIVER will display. Andit most certainly didn’t have “toe slaw” and “boobie bean soup” scenes.Nope—RED RIVER (which, like STASH, will be released on DVD by Bloody Earth Films) is a project unto itself, and it’sshaping up to be a doozy.

Ennis shares with Fangohow the film came to be lensed under this ancient home, which is 200 years oldand soon to be renovated into a bed and breakfast. “We found this location whenI was working on my documentary HAUNTED KENTUCKY: SPIRITS OF THE BLUEGRASS. Iwas down here and they gave me a tour of the cellar, and I was like, ‘Man, thisis perfect.’ We didn’t have to do a lot to it, other than building the cages.It would’ve cost a lot of money in Hollywood to construct all this stuff.”

The location info is nice,but the gnarly-looking Hamburger Head is all this writer can focus on. Ennisdivulges some of the deformed lunatic’s backstory: “He was a camper or a hikerwho got lost in the woods and couldn’t find his way out, so he had to starteating his own flesh to survive. He developed a taste for human meat, andRoland found him [almost] dead in the gorge, took him and made him like his sonthat he never had. He feeds him leftover body parts that he doesn’t use in hisfertilizer.”

Though Roland is definitelythe film’s main baddie, Jason Crowe’s portrayal of the nearly inhuman HamburgerHead nicely recalls Jonathan Fuller’s vicious yet pathos-laden Giorgio inCASTLE FREAK. Regarding the character’s severe facial abnormalities, Fangolearns that while imprisoned by Roland, a disagreement between the two ended inRoland smashing the hiker’s face with a sledgehammer—on that day, HamburgerHead was born. Now horribly disfigured and stark raving mad, he’s more like ajunkyard dog in Roland’s weird underground world. Chained to a structure thatresembles a small shed or large doghouse, Hamburger Head spends his dayswaiting for Roland to bring him fresh meat—of any kind—to feast upon.

Roland is played by DavidHaney, a mild-mannered gent in his early 50s who has only been acting for sevenyears. “I enjoy this, because it’s such an escape from reality, but it’s stilla lot of fun.” Strange words to apply to playing a cat who tortures the livingdaylights out of the rest of the cast, but actually quite rational—the vibe onthe dirty, dusty, muggy set is very much lighthearted and jovial. The actorgoes on to explain that Roland’s relationship with Hamburger Head is hardlythat of a typical “father” and “son.” “It can be sinister at times,” Haneysays. “A lot of times, he taunts Hamburger Head. He likes to taunt him…keep himin the basement. But naturally, he has to keep him away from main societybecause they would put him away. I do call him ‘son’ in a couple of scenes, soI guess there is a relationship there…”

RED RIVER reunites Crowewith his DEAD MOON RISING co-star Tucky Williams, who has aDrew-Barrymore-in-SCREAM-esque cameo in the beginning of the movie. On the set,Williams and co-star Christian Brooker are decked out in forest-rangeruniforms, checking out Roland’s lair. After finding jars filled with all sortsof human bric-a-brac, they decide to hastily split, only to comenose-to-twisted-nose with Hamburger Head.

FX artists Sven Granlundand Roni Jonah have been working on what Granlund refers to as a “Lloyd Kaufmanmelon head” for the brain-bashing sequence described above. As the camerarolls, the head is put in place and the sledgehammer is swung. Upon bloodyimpact, everyone waits to hear Ennis call “Cut.” Applause rings through theroom after the director deems the take a success, but the carnage isn’t over.After an examination of the satisfying mess of bloody chunks on the dirt floor,the impromptu decision is made for Roland to stomp on the mashed noggin a fewtimes. Now that’s productionvalue.

Keepchecking this site for updates on RED RIVER, due out later this year, and go tothe movie’s MySpace page for more info.