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March 27, 2005
Really Scary Podcast: New & Improved! We just popped up a new podcast - be sure to check that out as we talk a bit about some cool technological marvels that we'll be unveiling here at Really Scary in the next month. We also sprung for a real microphone with a real pop filter - yea, we didn't know what that was either but someone that got damn sick and tired of hearing us pop our p's on the air, kindly clued us in.
Click here for the feed or if that page looks like html-soup and you want to learn more about downloading podcasts, click here.
Also, if you get a chance, please vote for us at Podcast Alley. You have to click on the tiny number by the word votes (tiny because we only have two votes so far *sob*) and then you can cast your vote. Help us move up the ranks so that we, with your help, can take over the podcast world! Evil laugh. Repeat evil laugh.
FREAK13 & Jason Voorhees Playing The Whisky Texas-based monster metal band FREAK13 and the orginal actor who played Jason Voorhees are set to play a couple of shows at the Whisky-A-Go-Go. They're currently rehearsing a special horror-themed set list for the pair of shows May 13 and 14 in Los Angeles.
"We're playing the Whisky-A-Go-Go Friday the 13th and are doing a bunch of the stuff from the Drive-In Massacre disc from the double Fear No Evil cd. And the coolest part is we have Ari Lehman who played the original Jason coming up to jam with us on our Friday-inspired song Crystal Lake," said FREAK13 bassist/vocalist Chester Moore.
Lehman who was only 13 when he played the young Jason Voorhees in 1980 is an accomplished keyboardist who will be adding a haunting flair to their already dark music.
"You can't get any cooler than jamming with Jason at the Whisky on Friday the 13th," Moore added.
The next night the band will be joined by Lehman again at Necrocomicon, also in Los Angeles, which this year will be the 25th anniversary celebration of the Friday the 13th franchise. The event will include appearances by numerous actors who have played Jason Voorhees as well as other fan favorites from the films including Betsy Palmer and Lar Park Lincoln.
Zombie Working on El Superbeasto Animated Flick MTV reports Rob Zombie is working on an animated movie called El Superbeasto. Based on characters he created for his Spookshow International comic book, the movie follows the hero, an "overweight, alcoholic Mexican wrestler" on his wacky adventures through a world Zombie described as "Austin Powers meets the Munsters."
Working with the animators behind The Simpsons and King of the Hill and a writer from SpongeBob SquarePants, Zombie is aiming for Superbeasto to be an R-rated animated movie for adults - and "degenerate" teens. He hopes to cast voices before summer and have the movie in theaters in 2006.
Craven Talks Cursed, Project Greenlight & Red Eye The New York Post talked with Wes Craven recently about Cursed, Project Greenlight and Red Eye. Here are a few excerpts:
Regarding creating a buzz with a horror flick:
"It's getting harder to do. The tone in the country is so much toward severe censorship and connecting blame to it that all the studios are running scared and asking for PG-13, which is a royal pain in the butt, frankly."
About Cursed:
"I'm very disappointed with "Cursed." The contract called for us to make an R-rated film. We did. It was a very difficult process. Then it was basically taken away from us and cut to PG-13 and ruined. It was two years of very difficult work and almost 100 days of shooting of various versions. Then at the very end, it was chopped up and the studio thought they could make more with a PG-13 movie, and trashed it. We were writing while we were shooting. It wasn't ready to film. We rewrote, recast and had two major reshoots. It went on and on and on.
"After a while, I regretted it was called "Cursed" because it was "Cursed." It was just chopped up, and it was awful. I thought it was completely disrespectful, and it hurt them (the studio) too, and it was like they shot themselves in the foot with a shotgun. Not a nice thing."
About his role as executive producer on Project Greenlight's horror movie Feast and whether it was a difficult movie to make:
Incredibly. The original script was 21 speaking roles, 14 monsters and special effects, and compared with Last House on the Left, which was like four people in the woods, it was very difficult. When we walked out of the room, someone said, "I think maybe we've all gotten our revenge on Bob Weinstein.
It went along pretty smoothly. I think it's a good job. It's the thing the core audience really loves, which is a take-it-to-the-limit blood-and-guts film with a funny style."
About other scripts that were in the running for Project Greenlight:
"I liked a script in the final running called "Wildcard," which I thought was much more sophisticated. It was one of the submissions, I bought the rights to it and I'm working with the author himself."
About Red Eye:
"It's a script from a young writer named Carl Ellsworth. DreamWorks bought the script. After two years of trying to make a script work, this was a nice thing. It was doable.
"We screened it two days ago, and everyone loved it. We had tears in our eyes. Cursed was so painful, and here was this film that delivered. The performances are great, and it moves along like a bat out of hell and just makes you laugh and cry and jump."
Horror Authors Playing Poker for Charity  In support of the forthcoming novel Play Dead by Michael A. Arnzen, Raw Dog Screaming Press is sponsoring a poker tournament at the 2005 World Horror Convention in New York City. The event will be held at the Park Central New York Hotel on Friday, April 8, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
This tournament will feature twenty authors competing under Texas Hold 'Em rules. Participants include F. Paul Wilson, Jack Ketchum, John Skipp, Tom Monteleone, Michael Arnzen, David Morrell, Christopher Golden, Carlton Mellick III, Monica O'Rourke, Michael Huyck, Adam Pepper, Bill Breedlove, Really Scary's own Valarie Thorpe, Simon Wood, Chris Treagues, Jeremy Robert Johnson and others. All proceeds will go to the charity of the winner's choice. Afterwards there will be a mass autograph signing where fans can meet all the authors involved. Later that night Raw Dog Screaming Press will also be hosting a release party free to the public.
The World Horror Convention will be held April 7-10, 2005, and features many events with celebrities from film, literature, and visual art. More information can be found at http://www.whc2005.org/. The Park Central Hotel is located at 870 Seventh Avenue @ 56th St., New York, NY 10019; contact them at 800-346-1359 or 212-247-8000.
Sneak Peek at Gaiman's Latest Novel The first three-quarters of the first chapter of Neil Gaiman's upcoming novel Anansi Boys is online. You can read it by clicking here.
Shyamalan Ditches Disney for Warner Bros. Variety reports that after four movies with the Mouse House, M. Night Shyamalan has moved to Warner Bros. Pictures for his next pic, Lady in the Water.
Story concerns a building super who finds a sea nymph in his apartment building's pool. Shyamalan wrote the script and will produce the film under his Blinding Edge Pictures banner with his longtime producer Sam Mercer. Production will begin in August on location in Philadelphia, for release in July 2006.
March 24, 2005
Rob Zombie Talks Devil's Rejects MTV visited Rob Zombie on the set of the Devil's Rejects where Zombie told the somewhat-misnomered music television station that the sequel makes the original look like a Road Runner cartoon.
"I hate to say 'sequel,' because it usually means retreading the same ground," said Zombie of The Devil's Rejects (out July 22), his horror-Western that Lion's Gate recently moved up from late August in light of "unbelievable" test-screening scores. "I kept the major characters that I loved and spun them in a new direction and revamped them. The first movie was more wacky and colorful and tongue-in-cheek; this one is more down and bleak and real."
Zombie again wrote and directed, but ceded the scoring duties this time to Tyler Bates (Dawn of the Dead) so he could concentrate on the 29-day shoot in the deserts around Los Angeles. Though the film had a lower budget than the original, Zombie said it looks like it cost 10 times more. "I shot a lot of it in the bright daylight in wide open spaces because a lot of times horror movies are dark and spooky, but I think it's freakier to bring the violence into the blatant wide open. Nothing looks creepier than a bad car accident on a bright, beautiful day."
The movie is populated by character actors you might recognize from classic horror films: P.J. Soles (Halloween), Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead) and Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes). And, instead of new songs like those in the original (such as Zombie's bizarro duet with Lionel Richie on the Commodores' "Brick House"), the "Rejects" soundtrack is full of period songs by the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers.
In addition to the official movie Web site, alert Internet browsers can find a whole unofficial ring of related sites for characters such as Foree's devious pimp, as well as an elaborate one for Banjo & Sullivan (banjoandsullivan.com), a country band that appears in the film and is now recording its debut album. "It's a weird Spinal Tap kind of thing," Zombie said of the group, fronted by actors Geoffrey Lewis (father of actress Juliette) and Lew Temple. "We made a movie with a fake band, and now they've made this great album coming out this summer, and they want to tour."
Salma Hayek Taking on Serial Killer Role Salma Hayek has landed the lead role in Lonely Hearts, where she'll portray the 1940s serial killer Martha Beck. This is loosely based on a true story, but despite many reports to the contrary, the New York Post says Salma will not follow in the steps of Charlize Theron, who packed on many pounds for her role as Aileen Wuornos in Monster.
Lonely Hearts producer Holly Wiersma says, "Salma would gain weight for a role, but it's not necessary at this point. Maybe not at all." She points out that hefty Martha was an American, and Salma is Latina, so why go down the weight road?
John Travolta and James Gandolfini play detectives hunting Martha. Jared Leto is wanted as Martha's lethal accomplice, but Nip/Tuck's Julian McMahon is reportedly ready to step in if Jared doesn't sign.
March 23, 2005
Updates to Really Scary Filmmaker Showcase Be sure to stop over at the Really Scary Filmmaker Showcase for the latest news and press releases from horror filmmakers. Click here.
Amityville Actress Suffered Frostbite Aussie actress Melissa George tells Conact Music that she's still thawing out after suffering frostbite while filming The Amityville Horror remake in Wisconsin this past winter.
She took on the part originally played by Margot Kidder in the 1979 flick and still considers herself lucky to have landed the coveted part...even though it almost cost her her fingers.
George says, "I was frozen for three weeks. It was below zero, I had to climb down a ladder, and my hands were stuck - I couldn't stretch my fingers.
"I thought, 'I'm the luckiest actress to be given this role. But I just need to be warm now...' My wrists are flaring up a little bit now."
Saw 2 Director Named Music video and commercial director Darren Lynn Bousman has signed on to take the helm of Saw 2, the sequel to last year's flick starring Danny Glover and Cary Elwes.
Bousman also wrote the screenplay for Saw 2 in conjunction with Leigh Whannel, the writer/co-star of the original Saw, and Saw director James Wan.
Principal photography is set to begin May 2 in Toronto for a Halloween release by Lions Gate Films. The original Saw grossed the studio $55 million domestically. [Source: THR]
March 22, 2005
Really Scary Review: Twisted Rhymes Review by Valarie Thorpe
TWISTED RHYMES
Bob Harper Productions, Inc. 1993-2004
10 Short Tales
Audio CD Time: 52:16
www.horrorsound.com
 If you've been reading our reviews for a while, you know we calls 'em as we sees 'em. It's important to us that you not only don't waste your money, but also don't waste your time. And we're prefacing with all of this because we want you to know that we realize the gravity of making a statement such as this: "Buy Twisted Rhymes." And we don't even get a cut fer chrissakes! But we mean it. We got more horror enjoyment out of the 52 minutes on this CD than we have from way too many, and who shall remain nameless until we review them, recent horror DVDs. Click the image for rest of the review.
Audio horror takes something special and Bob Harper has it whatever 'it' is. You have no visuals to build a quiet suspense with - and in audio 'quiet' doesn't work anyway. You have to find a way to build tension, create fear, and then pull the trigger on the whole thing using just sounds. Voices and sounds. Harper does this and more, creating fully realized plots in these vignettes.[Click the ## symbol below for the entire review]
Harper's got an unbelievable voice and it doesn't surprise at all that he works in broadcast and custom audio work for haunted attractions and theme parks around the country. What does surprise us is this guy isn't doing voicework in tinseltown. Who knows though? Maybe he is. On this work he manipulates his voice enough to convince us we wouldn't know it was him if he didn't want us to.
The entire track listing is below but we'll touch on one of our favorites. For obvious reasons you can't go into a lot of plot detail when describing work only minutes long but plot there is, and great twists and turns and a lot more you wouldn't expect in something four minutes long.
The CD kicks off with Royal Blood and we were immediately blown away. The conversational tone and almost hypnotic measure sucks you in and then you realize the deadly game that's being played out and blam! Harper kicks you in the sternum. But you'll like it, we promise.
Harper tells us that in college, he studied under and befriended the late Rod
Serling of Twilight Zone and Night Gallery fame. The influence is obvious.
He's also a contributing producer to Satellite XM Radio's "Sonic Theater" Channel, where his Twisted Rhymes air regularly coast to coast.
The production values are exceptional - lush depth to some pieces that sort of wrap you up and make you feel comfy until he's ready to pounce on your head. Then others are stark, leaving you feeling a bit out on your own - maybe you shouldn't be here In Laredo 1857, this might just not be a good idea...and then blam! He got you again.
1. Royal Blood: A king's deadly game. (4:50)
2. Cobwebs & Candlelight (5:46)
3. Patient Number 9 (3:57)
4. When The Full Moon Comes Rising (7:05)
5. Cap'n MacKnee (3:15)
6. VooDoo
7. Musical Murder Mystery (4:22)
8. In Laredo 1857 (4:18)
9. Cup a' Joe (4:34)
10. And Nothing More (9:32)
The CD is available to purchase at www.horrorsound.com.
March 20, 2005
Trailer for a Comic: 3 Days the Devil Danced Grafika Press has got a new comic coming out called 3 Days the Devil Danced and have put together a kickass marketing idea -- a trailer for a comicbook. Very nice. Check out the trailer here.
Here's more info:
It has been prophesized for thousands of years. The warnings have increased in frequency and urgency, yet they have gone mostly ignored by man. Whether we realize it or not, the end is now at hand.
Three Days The Devil Danced - Annunciation introduces the epic tale of the fall of man as Heaven's chosen prophet denies his calling and dooms the world to suffer the wrath of God.
Written by Ricardo Porven and beautifully Illustrated by Luis Diaz, "Annunciation" is the prelude to the full length graphic novel "Chastisement" which explores the actions and consequences of the apocalyptic prophecy and the ensuing battle between good and evil which takes place during three days of total darkness, during which Hell is emptied and the reign of Satan on earth has begun.
Look for "Three Days The Devil Danced - Annunciation" this spring.
New Film & Filmmaker Showcase Section We get a boatload of news and press releases from horror filmmakers each week and don't have the staff to get a news angle on all of them and get 'em out to you. So as a means to get you the same news they send us, we've set up a page where we can quickly post the releases. Generally, we'll post them verbatim so keep in mind if it says something like "this movie is cooler than monkeys on surfboards," you'll know that's a load of hyperbole that Really Scary does not necessarily believe to be true. Check it out here.
Figure Review: Springwood Slasher Freddy Krueger  by Valarie Thorpe
We just got our grubby little hands on Sideshow Collectibles' The Springwood Slasher Freddy Krueger figure. We of course washed our grubby little hands before we touched this magnificent piece d'art.
We don't have to tell you about Sideshow Collectibles, we've raved this company for quite a while now. Years ago, they were making top-notch horror action figures when almost no one was making horror figures at all. The level of sophistication they put into their creations is topped only by the inventiveness they display in picking niche genre work to present. The Springwood Slasher is a perfect example of this. They've given us Nightmare fans phenomenal 'Freddy' figures already, complete with the burned, scarred face and legendary sneer. But now they give us the version of Freddy pre-supernatural form and it's a stunner.
Click the ## below for the entire review.
First up, the thing that everyone looks to first -- the face sculpt. It's dead-on Robert Englund. That's the other element of Sideshow's sculptors' work that sets them apart. It's one thing to get a monster's face to look like someone wearing a mask or heavy make-up, and Sideshow kicks ass at that as well. But it's an entire other to get a likeness of a human, an actor we know down to the last smile line (heheh, don't tell Mr. Englund we know him that well...he'll envision us staring at photos for hours and hours. And that simply isn't true, plus the police may take our photos away.)
Brian Dooley, who's quickly put together an impressive portfolio of work with Sideshow, pulls artist duties for this one. He also sculpted several of Sideshow's other Freddys, Jasons and the very cool Mrs. Voorhees.
This face sculpt is perfect -- you could take all the little clothes off the figure and still know exactly who it was without the trademark striped sweater and fedora. What? Did we take Freddy's clothes off? Are you nuts? Of course we didn't. This is Freddy afterall. We'd like to keep our eyeballs out of his mouth.
This is from the 12" fully articulated line of figures. The legs have a spin articulation at the ankle, full knee mobility and even a thigh-twist option for more positioning. The waist has a good spin and slight angling ability but doesn't fully let you bend to a good sitting position but what the hell would Freddy be doing sitting down anyway. A small bit above the waist is a chest articulation that lets you manipulate the upper body in a lot of different positions as well.
The arms are given just as much care with full socket maneuverability for the shoulder, elbow and wrist. There's an additional spin articulation spot in the forearm for further movement, which is of course extremely important when positioning the arm with the bladed finger-glove hand. Our figure came with two interchangeable hands, one a glove hand with articulated blades, as well as the hand with the one finger blade attachment. And the head articulation receives a lot of care as well. This is a full ball in socket with the ability to twist, tilt or canter Freddy's head in any whichaway you want. Very nice.
Freddy's dressed in cloth dark brown pants, even with little pockets for criminy's sake. The aforementioned striped sweater, a nice brown coat, looks like a pleather or vinyl contruct and a plastic fedora. If there's any part of the figure we'd complain about at all, it would be the plastic hat. Don't push it down on Freddy's head too hard and leave it for long. If you do, as we did, you may pull some of his forehead coloration off when you remove the hat. Just place the hat on without jamming it on there and you'll be fine. Another sweet touch is a little plastic scrapbook of Freddy's newsclippings, complete with a ribbon pageholder attached. You also get the figure stand with a Freddy vs. Jason plastic base.
The packaging is classic Sideshow -- a full-color box with front panel that opens to reveal the figure behind a clear plastic enclosure. You can view it just as well in the box as out but trust us, you want to take this out. Plus, with Sideshow packaging, you can get these out fairly simple and still keep all of the packaging intact. There's a handful of those wire ties you have to untwist (we believe the Devil invented those) but they keep it to a minimum.
This is one of our favorite figures in a while, you can pose Freddy as the Springwood Slasher into just about any position you remember from the movie. We love the ability to cock the head to the side in that way Freddy has long used, sort of like the way your dog looks at you. But of course your dog doesn't generally rip your guts open after he gives you that look. But he's probably thinking it.
Clive Barker Giclees & Prints Luna7 just dropped us a line to let us know of some giclees and prints of Clive Barker's work available for the first time and exclusively from them.
Hello gang...
Clive asked that I pop a note over to let you know about some new giclees we're producing for him from the Abarat books. You can check them out at:
http://www.luna7.com/cbarker/prints/cbarkerprints.html
Thank you so much.
These are beautiful works and anyone that wants to get us one for Really Scary's birthday (coming up in July), you shouldn't have...really *psst, not really, thank you, thank you!*
Butch Patrick Guest-Hosting Transylvania Tour The second annual summer edition of "DraculaTour: Vampire Vacation to Transylvania" will be guest-hosted by Butch Patrick, TV's Eddie Munster. Tours of Terror runs this trip that takes place from July 10-17, 2005.
Follow in the footsteps of Jonathan Harker's trail from Bram Stoker's novel Dracula as you travel to historic Romania. Travelers acend the Carpethian Mountains to Vlad Castle. Along the way, they visit medieval Sighisoara, birthplace of Dracula (Vlad), the Snagov Monastery (Tomb of Dracula), as well as the Transylvanian Castle of Bran, a fortress built in 1377 and preserved as a national monument. For complete details, check out www.dractour.com.
March 19, 2005
Trailer & Site for OldBoy Live Cannes Gran Prix award winner OldBoy is getting a lot of buzz and Tartan Films has set up the trailer and website here.
Synopsis: Oh Dae-su is an ordinary Seoul businessman with a wife and little daughter who, after a drunken night on the town, is locked up in a strange, private "prison" for 15 years. No one will tell him why he's there and who his jailer is, but he is kept in reasonably comfortable quarters and has a TV to keep him company. On the TV, though, he discovers that he has been framed for his wife's murder and realizes that, during one of the occasions in which he's knocked out by gas, someone has drawn blood from him and left it at the scene of the crime. The imprisonment lasts for 15 years until one day when Dae-su finds himself unexpectedly deposited on a grass-covered high-rise roof. He's determined to discover the mysterious enemy who had him locked up. While he's eating in a Japanese restaurant, his cell phone rings and a voice dares him to figure out why he was imprisoned.
Demon Freddy Figure Sneak Look Sideshow Toys has a first look posted of their premium figure version of Nightmare on Elm Street's Demon Freddy. It'll be ready for pre-order April 1. Until then, get a close-up look at the face sculpt here.
March 17, 2005
Joss Whedon Writing & Directing Wonder Woman Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon is preparing to bring to life another formidable female character in his latest movie endeavor. Whedon has signed to write and direct Wonder Woman, a live-action film adaptation of the DC Comics character, for Warner Bros. Pictures.
"Wonder Woman is the most iconic female heroine of our time, but in a way, no one has met her yet," Whedon said in a statement. "What I love most about icons is finding out what's behind them, exploring the price of their power."
He added: "There is a woman behind the legend who is very fascinating, very uncompromising and in her own way almost vulnerable. She's someone who doesn't belong in this world, and since everyone I know feels that way about themselves, the character clicked for me."
In other completely unrelated news of a former Buffy actor, Nicholas Brendon, who played Xander Harris, has been cast for the Fox pilot Kitchen Confidential, centering on a bad-boy chef at a top New York restaurant. Brendon will play another chef at the eatery. [Source: The Hollywood Reporter]
March 11, 2005
Chronicles of Riddick Follow-Up Planned Movie Hole reports The Chronicles of Riddick will indeed be spawning a follow-up. Vin Diesel tells MTV that he's currently working out a storyline for the film -- the third in the Pitch Black series -- based on the blueprints that were left in his lap when he first signed on for sequel one.
"Riddick? Well, you know that I've always had 'C2' planned," he says. "I'm silently -- and I shouldn't even say this -- I'm silently working on 'C2' with some of the outlines that were created when I first thought of doing the three films."
Half-Life 2 Takes Top Honors Half-Life 2 took top honors at the fifth annual Game Developers Choice Awards when it was named game of the year. The International Game Developers Assn. announced it and other recipients during the 2005 Game Developers Conference this week in San Francisco.
The Valve Software/Vivendi Universal Games first-person shooter also won in the character design, technology and writing categories.
The year's surprise hit, Katamari Damacy (Namco), was another multiple winner, selected best in the game design and innovation categories.
Sharing the innovation award was the bongo-controlled Donkey Konga (Namco/Nintendo) and the alternate-reality game I Love Bees (4orty2wo Entertainment/Microsoft Game Studios).
Other award winners were Halo 2 (Bungie Software/Microsoft Game Studios), recognized for audio achievement; World of Warcraft (Blizzard Entertainment), honored in the visual arts category; and Crytek (Far Cry), named best from a new studio.
Faris Signs On for Scary Movie 4 Anna Faris is coming back for Scary Movie 4. The actress signed a deal in the low- to mid-seven figures, a career high, to star in the fourth installment of the Dimension Films spoof series. Faris and her character, Cindy Campbell, have appeared in all three of the Scary movies.
David Zucker, who directed the third installment, is returning to the helmer's chair. Craig Mazin and Pat Proft, who wrote the third installment, are writing the script.
The Scary Movie franchise has been a massive moneymaker for Dimension, Miramax Films' genre label. Domestically, the first movie grossed $157 million, the second $71.3 million, and the third, released in 2003, hit $110 million.
According to sources, Dimension head Bob Weinstein is expected to take an active role in the production, even though he and his brother, Harvey Weinstein, are in the midst of discussions with the Walt Disney Co. on the terms of Miramax's separation from the studio. [Source: Reuters]
March 10, 2005
New Line & Coscarelli Bringing Back Phantasm New Line Cinema is in final negotiations with filmmaker Don Coscarelli to bring Phantasm back to the big screen. The first Phantasm, which Coscarelli wrote and directed, was released in 1979 and made a cult figure out of the Tall Man. It told the story of a young boy named Mike and his friends, who face off against the mysterious grave robber and his killer flying spheres. The film spawned three sequels, all of which were made by Coscarelli.
This time around Coscarelli would act as producer, in which the Tall Man travels from town to town turning the dead into his own army and using his deadly spheres against anyone who opposes him. Mike, who is developing psychic powers, and his brother try to stop him. The movie is being developed as a relaunch and as a possible trilogy about Mike's coming of age. [Source: The Hollywood Reporter]
March 09, 2005
Chainsaw Writer Joining Streep & Aniston in Prison Writer turned director Sheldon Turner, (wrote the Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel) is set to helm Wanted, a women in prison flick with A-list heavy hitters heading to jail.
When you think of women in prison, you might think Bad Girls or Prisoner Cell Block H. You probably don't think Friends stars and multiple-Oscar winners. That's about to change as Meryl Streep and Jennifer Aniston have signed on for this one.
Based on the book by Kim Wozencraft (who wrote the novel that became Rush, the 1991 Jason Patric film), the story follows a cop, Diane Wellman (Aniston), who is framed for narcotics trafficking, after she challenges some corrupt colleagues who send an innocent man to prison. Sent to prison herself, her cellmate Gail Rubin (Streep) is a former political protester who has renounced the violence that led to her imprisonment. Together, the pair plot to escape. [Source: Empire Online]
Star Wars Poster Revealed Empire magazine has a look at the official poster for Star Wars Revenge of the Sith. Check it out here.
Cabin Fever Helmer & Chainsaw Producer Join Hostel Variety reports (via ComingSoon.net) that Texas Chainsaw Massacre producer Mike Fleiss is teaming with helmer Eli Roth (Cabin Fever) on the horror film Hostel at Screen Gems. Jay Hernandez (Friday Night Lights) is in final talks to topline with shooting starting this month.
The film's plot is being kept under tight wraps, but Hernandez will star as a traveler abroad.
Fleiss is currently producing The Poseidon Adventure for director Wolfgang Petersen at Warner Bros. and is at work on a prequel to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre at New Line.
Halloween Producer Debra Hill Dead at 54 The AP reports Debra Hill, who co-wrote the horror classic Halloween and was one of Hollywood's pioneering woman producers, died Monday, according to a family friend. She was 54.
The friend, Barbara Ligeti, said more information would be made available later.
Hill's big break came in horror films when she and director John Carpenter co-wrote the genre's modern classic, Halloween. The 1979 film, also directed by Carpenter and produced by Hill, starred a 20-year-old Jamie Lee Curtis as the baby sitter terrorized by a murderous psychopath. Made on a modest $300,000 budget, it grossed $60 million worldwide, a record for an independent movie at the time.
Hill, Carpenter and Curtis returned for Halloween II, and Hill and Carpenter were involved in the writing of several later sequels, including Halloween: Resurrection, Halloween 5 and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.
"Back when I started in 1974, there were very few women in the industry, and everybody called me 'Honey,'" she recalled in 2003. "I was assumed to be the makeup and hair person, or the script person. I was never assumed to be the writer or producer. I took a look around and realized there weren't many women, so I had to carve a niche for myself."
Carpenter praised her as "a real pioneer in this business."
"Unlike many producers, she came from the crew ranks. I think they're the most under-appreciated people, and they work the hardest," he said. "She had experienced the ins and the outs and had a thorough understanding of what it took to make a picture."
The two also collaborated on 1980's "The Fog" and 1981's "Escape From New York."
When she was honored by Women in Film in 2003, Hill said, "I hope some day there won't be a need for Women in Film. That it will be People in Film. That it will be equal pay, equal rights and equal job opportunities for everybody."
Born in Haddonfield, N.J., Hill grew up in Philadelphia.
Tarantino Directing New Jason Flick? According to the Hollywood Reporter, Quentin Tarantino is considering writing and directing a new installment in the long-running Friday the 13th horror film series. Tarantino is in early talks with New Line Cinema, where he is scheduled to meet with executives this week. The original Friday, released in 1980, spawned a series of sequels, including 2003's Freddy vs. Jason.
New Line tried to make a sequel to Freddy vs. Jason involving the Evil Dead character Ash, but reportedly couldn't reach a deal with "Dead" rights holder Sam Raimi.
According to those familiar with the discussions, Tarantino is intrigued with the idea of playing with one of the movie's classic horror villains. If the project does develop, it could be the first film Tarantino directs outside Miramax Films.
March 05, 2005
Cruise & Spielberg Talk War of the Worlds Check out a few interview clips of Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg talking about their upcoming War of the Worlds and why they chose to make this flick. Click here for the official site for War of the Worlds.
March 04, 2005
Excerpt Available from King's Colorado Kid Remember the new Stephen King book we told you about the other day, The Colorado Kid? Well Hard Case Crime, the publishers, have graciously posted a pretty good-sized sample from King's book coming out in October. Click here to give it a read!
Twisted Pic & Lions Gate Shooting Catacombs In a release yesterday, Twisted Pictures (Saw) and Lions Gate Films announced that Catacombs will be the first picture in their new nine-picture financing and distribution deal together.
Starring Shannyn Sossamon (A Knight's Tale) and Alecia Moore aka Pink, the film is co-written and co-directed by David Elliot and Tomm Coker and will begin principal photography in Bucharest, Romania March 7.
Catacombs is the story of a young woman on her first visit out of the country. While in Paris, she is taken to an underground party in the Catacombs, a labyrinth of over 200 miles of 14th Century limestone tunnels under the Left Bank of the city, lined with the remains of 7 million people. When she is separated from her friends and becomes convinced that someone or something is chasing her, her vacation becomes a terrifying nightmare.
"The stories we are attracted to tend to deal with universal fears -- being trapped, being lost, claustrophobia, etc.," said Twisted's Mark Burg, Oren Koules, and Gregg Hoffman. "Coker and Elliot's Catacombs script deals with them all, and is set in a location that is truly one of the most terrifying on earth. They have a tremendous vision for the film, and we look forward to supporting this new and exciting filmmaking team."
Townsend Cast as New Kolchak THR reports (via Sci Fi Wire) Stuart Townsend (Queen of the Damned) will star as ABC's new Kolchak in the pilot for Night Stalker, an update of the '70s supernatural TV series. Gabrielle Union will also star playing Kolchak's colleague at the paper who partners with him in his pursuit of supernatural phenomena. Guess you gotta have a sidekick nowadays.
Nick Cage Confirmed in Wicker Man Remake The Guardian Unlimited reports the on-again-off-again career of The Wicker Man remake took a positive turn this week with news that Nicolas Cage and director Neil LaBute will indeed revisit the 1973 cult horror classic.
Rumors of the project have been circling Hollywood for several years, and today Variety reports Cage has finally committed to reprising the role originally played by Edward Woodward.
The 1973 version, written by Anthony Shaffer and directed by Robin Hardy, sees Woodward's character stumble upon a mysterious pagan island community while investigating the whereabouts of a missing girl.
LaBute, known for Nurse Betty and caustic psychodramas Your Friends & Neighbours and In The Company of Men, has written the screenplay and transferred the action from Scotland to a matriarchal society descended from the Pilgrims in America.
Both Hardy and Christopher Lee, who played Lord Summerisle, have previously expressed doubts over a new version of the pagan horror, questioning efforts to update the classic. "Remakes can be successful, such as the Thomas Crown Affair remake," said Hardy in 2002. "But the Wicker Man is timeless in the first place, so how do you update it?"
March 02, 2005
New Really Scary Podcast Posted Don't miss the latest news in the Really Scary Podcast. A shiny new cast has been posted. Check out the evil iPod over on the left to find out more! Click the iPod for the cast xml file. Or click the link below it for more information about receiving podcasts directly to your iPod or other MP3 player.
Marsters Back as Spike? Moviehole reports the WB better hurry up and sign James Marsters for an Angel telemovie soon, otherwise the aging process of the mortal actor will rule him out.
TV Guide caught up with Marsters and asked him if he's interested. "As long as I could do it within, say, the next four or five years; past that, I'm too old. Spike's a vampire, man, and I've got high standards - you have to believe that the guy has not aged since we met him. There's a little poetic license, but I don't want to get into a situation where the script says, 'Well, he was drinking pig blood and he aged,' you know? [Whatever Joss Whedon wrote] would be funnier than that - it would be delightful - but it would be taking away the coolest thing about a vampire, which is that he's iconic...he does not change".
Remake Director Talks The Fog Empire talked with Fog remake director Rupert Wainwright, currently shooting the flick in Vancouver, who wanted to reassure fans of the original that there are no worries.
"We're all fans of the original movie, but it's 25 years old and there are plenty of reasons to remake it," said Wainwright. John Carpenter and original producer/co-screenwriter Debra Hill have not only given the blessing to the Sony/Revolution Studios project, but are serving as producers.
"A little went a long way back then," Wainwright adds, referring to the original's inexpensive but effective special effects, "but nowadays the technology has got to the point where you can really do a lot with the fog itself."
Many fans' concerns (Really Scary's included) revolve around the cast, which includes such TV staples as Smallville's Tom Welling and Maggie Grace from Lost, while the 1980 film featured Adrienne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Atkins, Hal Holbrook and Janet Leigh. Yet Wainwright insists The Fog will not be your typical teen slasher, nor is it likely to follow the MTV-style editing of his earlier horror film, Stigmata. "The bar has been raised so high recently, not just in the recent run of studio remakes, but in movies like 28 Days Later," he says. "We're being really hard on ourselves, so the end product will provide exactly what the audience wants, not just in terms of shocks and scares and special effects, but in terms of good writing and good performances."
The latter, he feels, is key to the effectiveness of a horror film. "If you don't have nuanced, believable characters you can actually care about, why would you give a shit what happens to them?"
Our thoughts exactly Rupert.
Raimi Talks Evil Dead Remake & Evil Dead IV Empire magazine spoke to Sam Raimi recently about the Evil Dead remake, and rumors that OldBoy director Park Chan-wook was being wooed into the director's chair.
"Actually, we did approach him, but I don't think it was right for him," said Raimi. "I don't want to put words into his mouth, but he was either too busy or not interested. But that didn't bear fruit and we're now trying to find the next person who would bring something strikingly original to it with their vision and talent."
Given that the movie's already been remade, essentially, by Raimi himself as Evil Dead II, news of Raimi's desire to do a remake may come as a surprise. But the director feels there's still room for improvement on the original.
"I don't look at it as anything sacred. I'm glad that it has fans and I appreciate them. They sure are a diehard bunch and I don't want to anger them or displease them," he told Empire. "But I never felt that in remaking a film, you take anything away from the original. But I felt the film could be better, and certainly the narrative and the characterisation and the dialogue could be better in the first Evil Dead.
"Yes, a lot of its power lied in its crudeness," he continued, "but it could still be more than that. And it's kinda exciting for me to see what it would become in the hands of a really fine director and not just a kid learning how to direct a picture."
Empire went on to say Bruce Campbell won't be involved in the remake. But that Raimi would like to shoot an Evil Dead IV, which would see Campbell back as Ash and Raimi back calling the shots.
"One day I'd like to do that. It's not certain that it would ever happen, but that is a dream of mine," said Raimi.
Felicity Star Joining Cannibal Fetish Flick Honestly, writing that headline made us giggle and made us happy. Keri Russell (Felicity) is set to star Butterfly, a Grimm Love Story, an independent feature based on the Internet cannibal movement, which involves hundreds of Web sites for cannibal fetishists.
The feature is being produced by Marco Weber (Igby Goes Down) through his Atlantic Streamline banner. The psychological horror-thriller was written by newcomer TS Faull and will be directed by Martin Weisz, who is best known for directing music videos for Korn and Sean Combs. [Source: THR]
Peter Jackson's Company Suing New Line Peter Jackson's production company Wingnut Films Ltd. has sued New Line Cinema for allegedly withholding profits, including home video revenue, from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the first film in the trilogy.
The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles seeks unspecified damages, restitution and an order barring New Line from striking any more deals without seeking the most competitive and beneficial terms from unaffiliated third parties. The suit against New Line and its subsidiary Katja Motion Pictures Corp. concerns only the trilogy's first film, 2001's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, which the suit notes has grossed $314.8 million at the U.S. boxoffice and more than $556 million internationally, not counting merchandising and video revenue. The suit makes no mention of the other two films in the trilogy. One of the principal claims of the suit is that New Line engaged in various forms of self-dealing. [Source: The Hollywood Reporter]
Batman Begins Getting Imaxed Toronto-based Imax Corp. said Tuesday that Batman Begins will be released in its giant-screen theaters and traditional 35mm theaters on a day-and-date basis this summer.
Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins marks the eighth digitally remastered Warners movie to unspool in Imax theaters. The studio's The Matrix Reloaded marked the first-ever day-and-date release of a Hollywood event movie by Imax in April 2003. [Source: THR]
Cursed Preview Screenings Rated 'R'? Bloody Disgusting reports there were several screenings of the Wes Craven flick Cursed in LA throughout January and early February. Reportedly they screened the R-rated cut during all of these screenings, even though they knew they'd be releasing the PG-13 version.
Stephen King New TV Antho & New Novel  Reuters reports TNT is developing Stephen King's short-story anthology Nightmares & Dreamscapes as a miniseries. Not much in the way of details yet but we'll keep you posted as we hear more.
In other King news, he has a new novel coming out in October, which will begin the second season of the Hard Case Crime line of noir thrillers, a series that is bringing back classics of the pulp paperback genre as well as publishing new pulp fiction.
King's novel, The Colorado Kid, is the story of two newspaper reporters and their investigation of the death of a man on an island off Maine. It will be issued only in paperback, as are all of Hard Case Crime's novels, complete with a stylized cover reminiscent of the noir novels of old seen here. Amazon has the book up for pre-order.
As reported earlier, the extended, illustrated version of King's Salem's Lot is also available for pre-order. This will feature approximately 50 pages of content King removed from the original tale.
"Do you know what's Really Scary? You want to forget something. Totally wipe it off your mind. But you never can. It can't go away, you see. And... and it follows you around like a ghost."
--Eun-ju, A Tale of Two Sisters
'Well, we need to nip this thing in the
bud. I mean, otherwise, things are going to get Really Scary.'
--Cordelia Chase, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
'From here on, it gets Really Scary.'
--Geoffrey Rush, House on Haunted Hill
'Wanna see something Really Scary?'
--Dan Aykroyd, Twilight Zone The Movie
Thanks for visiting Really Scary. If you have any news or scoops, e-mail us at support@reallyscary.com. To submit items for review, please e-mail us and we'll pass along the editorial address...we really like movies, toys, music, um comics, and books, did we mention video games...actually, we really like everything.
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