Dimension's Dracula 2000, New Line's Final Destination, Sony Pictures Classics' The Gift, Artisan's Requiem for a Dream, Sony's Urban Legends: Final Cut and DreamWorks' What Lies Beneath netted nods for best horror film.

On the television side, Buffy the Vampire Slayer captured the most nominations, with seven mentions in a cross section of categories -- including actress, supporting actress and series. In the series category, Buffy will compete with its spinoff, the WB Network's Angel, in addition to Fox's Dark Angel the WB's Roswell, UPN's Star Trek: Voyager and Fox's Saturn stalwart The X-Files.

Earning honorary mentions, Spider-Man director Sam Raimi will be presented with the George Pal Memorial Award, while producer Brian Grazer (Grinch) and actor Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street) will receive Life Career Awards at the ceremony. The Service Award will go to film historian Bob Burns for his efforts to house and restore props from classic genre films.

Lions Gate's Shadow of the Vampire will receive a special achievement award for its behind-the-scenes take on director F.W. Murnau's classic Nosferatu.

Aronofsky & Pitt Teaming Up for SciFi Epic?
Variety reports filmmaker Darren Aronofsky is writing and will direct an untitled sci-fi epic for Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow, with Brad Pitt in serious negotiations to star.

The plot is being kept under tight wraps. Aronofsky and Pitt have met about the project, and sources said they are keen on working together.

The project will mark the second collaboration between the "Requiem for a Dream" director and Warners. Aronofsky and Frank Miller are writing "Batman: Year One," the fifth installment in Warners' franchise.

Clive Barker Sells Damnation Game Movie Rights
Variety reports Clive Barker has sold his best-selling novel The Damnation Game to Phoenix Pictures, in a mid-six-figure deal. Barker will also produce the film under his Seraphim Films banner.

He said "Damnation Game will not 'wink at you,' in the way that so many horror films today do, with a comedic or semi-comedic self-referential tone. Instead, Barker said, "we will do our damndest to scare people in the old fashioned way."

The novel follows the exploits of convicted felon Marty Strauss, an inveterate gambler and thief who gains early release from prison at the behest of a wealthy industrialist. In exchange, Strauss agrees to serve as his bodyguard -- a task that proves treacherous when he discovers that someone is coming to collect the soul of his employer to settle an old debt.

"There's so many books I've written where I just know, 'No way is this ever going to be a film,'" said Barker, adding, "But this one has the right size and feel. You don't have to cut out too much of the story, which in this case is a Faust story -- without the Devil."

Barker is currently writing The Abarat Quartet, a series of four fantasy-adventure books for which Disney paid a massive $4 million against $8 million, with plans to develop the tomes into a multimedia franchise. His 21st and latest book, the Hollywood gothic mystery Coldheart Canyon, will be published this November by HarperCollins.

Douglas Clegg Donating Paperback Royalties
Author Douglas Clegg's book Naomi has just hit store shelves in paperback and he is donating all of his paperback royalties to the National Down Syndrome Society (www.ndss.org). The hardcover of Naomi sold out from the publisher within 7 weeks of publication date, so you know this is a good one. This is the book he originally published as an online serial. Help us get the word out about this terrific book and cause.

For more information be sure to visit Clegg's site here.

Click here to order the paperback from amazon.com for only $5.39! They've even got a shipping special going on.

Guillermo del Toro Talks About The Devil's Backbone
Johnny over at Creature-Corner dropped us a line about a very cool translation of their site.

"One of our readers took the time to translate the letter from Guillermo del Toro about his filming of 'The Devil's Backbone' that appeared on Clubcultura.com a few days ago. Check it out...Thanks!

Send 'em some love and click here.

Next Possible 007 Helmer?
Not exactly Really Scary but cool nonetheless, DH reports Pierce Brosnan has been talking about potential candidates to helm the next 007 film, and one man in particular: "It would be great to have Ang Lee, I saw Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and I said to him. I'd love you to do James Bond. He said he'd love to do James Bond and I believe he was sincere." There's a catch, Lee always has final cut on his movies - something never given on a Bond movie before.

Release Dates Pushed Back
Dark Horizons reports Arac Attack and The Scorpion King have both been pushed back from Q4 2001 releases to Summer 2002.

Treehouse of Horror Hitting GameBoy
Be on the lookout for the latest release for GameBoy Color -- The Simpsons: Treehouse of Horror, loosely based on the popular Simpson Halloween episodes. It should retail for about $30.

Judd Signs On for Catwoman Flick
Variety reports Ashley Judd has agreed to play the felonious feline in Catwoman, a film being rapidly developed at Warner Bros. Judd signed on after a meeting last week with studio executives.

While The Matrix threatens to displace it, Batman has been Warner Bros.' most lucrative franchise, and Catwoman is the third recent attempt to add to the studio kitty. After the four globally lucrative Batman films, WB last fall put in motion two more Batfilms: a live action prequel to be directed by Darren Aronofsky (Requiem for a Dream) and a futuristic version based on the WB Network cartoon Batman Beyond.

03.31.01

Matrix Bad Guy Cast
AOL News reports (via Dark Horizons) that Harry Lennix (Titus) has been picked to play 'Lock,' the nemesis of Morpheus in the upcoming two Matrix sequels

Joseph Fiennes Starring in Farenheit 451?
A DH source reports that Joseph Fiennes is being tipped to star in the latest film adaptation of the Ray Bradbury sci-fi classic Farenheit 451. Mel Gibson has been unsuccessfully trying to get the project off the ground for years, but this version is actually more of a remake of the Francois Truffaut-directed film which starred Oskar Werner, Julie Christie and Cyril Cusack.

Director Frank Darabont (The Green Mile) has taken charge of the project and is targeting Fiennes for the role while Charlize Theron is tipped to play "the beautiful rebel."

More Jason X Photos
French Premiere magazine has several new photos from the upcoming Jazon X. Click here to give a look.

They also have a good many more photos from The Mummy Returns. Click here for those.

Possible Change of MSNBC Stephen King Feature
A Stephen King News tipster dropped a line and said they think the MSNBC Headliners and Legends featuring King will actually air on April 4 now instead of the 2. Everyone should check local listings for time and date. MSNBC site is not up to date yet.

03.30.01

Joe Lansdale Short Story Freebie
Hellnotes reports Joe R. Lansdale's short fishing story, "Old Charlie," is currently online for his website visitors to enjoy. Check it out here http://www.joerlansdale.com.

Stephen King on Headliners and Legends
Stephen King News reports a crew from MSNBC was in Bangor, taping footage for an episode of the Headliners and Legends series dealing with Stephen King. Now comes word that the episode will tentatively air next Tuesday, April 2. Be sure to check local listings for exact date and time.

03.29.01

New Lathe Production Begins
A&E has greenlit production on The Lathe of Heaven, an original TV movie starring James Caan, Lukas Haas and Lisa Bonet. Based on the sci-fi novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, Lathe will mark the director's TV debut of director Philip Haas. The book was adapted once before for a 1980 TV movie that ran on PBS.

Fox Gets Animated Buffy
Variety reports Fox has landed Buffy The Vampire Slayer -- at least the animated version.

While the primetime fate of the live-action Buffy remains up in the air, Fox Kids Network said Wednesday it is developing Buffy The Vampire Slayer: The Animated Series with Buffy creator Joss Whedon.

The Buffy cartoon could be on the air as early as February 2002, said Maureen Smith, president of Fox Family Channel and Fox Kids. While it will be based on the live-action drama, the Saturday-morning cartoon will focus more on high school storylines, she added.

03.28.01

Haunted Sub Movie
According to eSplatter, David Twohy over at Dimension Films is at work on a horror film entitled Below, about a U.S. submarine during World War II that's haunted.

Tomaselli Readies Follow Up to Desecration
eSplatter reports Dante Tomaselli, the director who made the indie horror film Desecration, is finishing up his follow-up, a film simply titled Horror. He says the trailer should be ready by May.

Michael Myers Cast
Veteran stuntman Brad Loree has been cast in the Michael Myers role for Halloween 8, due out in theaters this October. In more than a dozen films over the past eight years, Loree did the stunts for Reindeer Games and Mission to Mars. He's also done a ton of stunts for genre TV such as Dark Angel, Outer Limits and The X-Files.

Mario Bava DVD Release Specs
DVDManiacs reports some new information on some upcoming Anchor Bay DVD releases.

Lamberto Bava's Blade in the Dark will also have a new anamorphic transfer (1.85.1) with Dolby Digital Surround soundtrack, trailer, talent bios, liner notes by Tim Lucas and a new featurette entitled Behind the Blade.

Lamberto Bava's Macabre will have a new anamorphic (1.85.1) transfer with featurette, talent bios & trailer.

Hell Comes to Frogtown will have a new anamorphic transfer with Dolby Digital Stereo soundtrack, a commentary by the director, trailer, and liner notes.

Jennifer Lopez Thriller Trailer
Here's the trailer for the upcoming Jennifer Lopez thriller, Angel Eyes.

This Ain't Your Daddy's Caddy
Guerilla Film reports recent findings out of the San Francisco Bay Area suggest that Cadillac is supplying most of the vehicles for the new Matrix 2 production. Morpheus, Neo and Trinity will be driving a new concept roadster by Cadillac called the Evoq, seen here. It will be produced in 2004 which should time nicely with the release dates of the two movies.

New Writers on Buffy Comic
Zen reports crime novelists Tom Fassbender & Jim Pascoe take over as the new writers on Dark Horse Comics' Buffy the Vampire Slayer comic book series with issue #31 this week. Their run begins with a four-part story set after the fourth season of the show, which has Buffy's boyfriend nearly meeting his maker, and Giles getting a new girlfriend.

And next week, Amber Benson (Buffy's Tara) teams up with fan-favorite Buffy novelist Christopher Golden on a Willow and Tara one-shot they co-wrote about the special relationship between the two characters. Willow and Tara is illustrated by Terry Moore (Strangers in Paradise).

T3 Potential Director in Negotiations
Daily Variety reports (via Zen) Jonathan Mostow (U-571) is in negotiations to direct Terminator 3. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Edward Furlong are both expected to return for the film, which has the two facing off against an unstoppable female robot.

Click here for the Really Scary Archives