Hellraiser V Wraps Shooting
Horror Online reports the fifth installment in the Hellraiser series is ready to go. Dimension Films will bring us Hellraiser V: Inferno. Corona's Coming Attractions reports that Scott Derrickson has taken the reins, and both co-scripted and directed the film. According to Horror Online, the movie is now in post-production, with principle photography having recently wrapped.

Corona reports that Doug Bradley does reprise his Pinhead role, although briefly to the actor's dismay, as there will reportedly be a bunch of new Cenobites in this film. [Does anyone else remember the atrocity that was the "CD-throwing Cenobite?"]

The film is set for a late 2000 release.

Jodie Foster Officially Turns Down Hannibal
Reuters reports actress Jodie Foster has chosen not to repeat her Oscar-winning role as FBI agent Clarice Starling in a sequel to the 1991 thriller Silence of the Lambs, her spokeswoman said Tuesday, dealing a setback to the Hannibal project.

Foster's decision comes about seven months after producer Dino De Laurentiis plunked down more than $9 million for film rights to Thomas Harris' follow-up novel about a cannibalistic serial killer, the most ever paid for a movie adaptation.

Anthony Hopkins has not yet formally committed to bringing his spine-chilling portrayal of the bloodthirsty Hannibal ``The Cannibal'' back to the big screen. The actor once said he would never play the role again because it was too violent but was recently said to be interested and waiting to see the final script.

In a magazine interview last month, Foster expressed reservations about doing Hannibal because she found the sequel ``too grisly.''

But Foster ultimately was swayed to forgo Hannibal because actress Claire Danes decided to take a year off from Yale University, making her available to star in Foster's own project, Flora Plum, said Foster's publicist, Jennifer Allen.

Both ``Hannibal'' and ``Flora Plum,'' a film Foster is producing and directing about a 1930s circus performer, are set to begin shooting in the spring of next year, Allen said.

``It was all about the timing of Claire Danes' availability and the timing of the project,'' she said.

Fox Picks Up Animated Joe Psycho Cartoonshow
Fox Kids has gone psycho for Joe Psycho & MooFrog Cartoonshow, an animated project the network is developing as a series. [Check out their excellent website at www.joepsycho.com and you'll understand why we've listed this on Really Scary, these guys are twisted and we love 'em!]

Fox recently signed a development deal with Straytjakit Prods., which produces "Joe Psycho" on the Internet (www.joepsycho.com). The project began as a comic book and then migrated to the Internet, where it developed a cult following.

"Joe Psycho," set in the fictional town of Spleen, Ore., revolves around the antics of the title character, a round-headed freak who works with his level-headed best friend MooFrog at a local TV station. A source close to the deal describes the show as "something that Bart Simpson would like to watch."

Straytjakit Prods., formed in 1998 by Troy Couch, Jason Raines and Michael Montaine, is developing more creative properties for television, film, Internet and videogames.

George Harrison Stabbed
In unfortunately truly horrific news, an intruder armed with a knife stabbed former Beatle George Harrison in the chest in a pre-dawn attack at his home near London Thursday, a police spokesman said.

Variety reports the spokesman said Harrison, 56, was in stable condition in hospital after fighting off the intruder at his closely guarded home in Henley-on-Thames, west of London. His wife, Olivia, was also wounded in the attack.

``Mr. Harrison was admitted to hospital at 5 a.m. this morning. He is now stable. He had a single stab wound to the chest. His wife was with him. She suffered minor head injuries and was not admitted,'' a spokesman for nearby Royal Berkshire Hospital told a news conference.

Harrison, who police initially said had been stabbed four times, was in considerable pain but did not need surgery.

Police spokesman Guy Bailey said the 33-year-old attacker had been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder at the 100-room mansion where the couple have lived for 20 years.

Bailey said a member of the Harrisons' staff reported the attack at 3:30 a.m. It was not clear if the assailant was an obsessed fan, like the man who shot dead ex-Beatle John Lennon in New York in 1980, or a robber, he said. But the attacker was from Liverpool, birthplace of all the pop group's members.