The newly restored version of the 1910 Frankenstein is available on the Library of Congress YouTube channel and in the National Screening Room, a recently launched digital collection of films. And, like most films on the NSR, it’s freely downloadable in both ProRes LT and MPEG-4 formats, complete with the Sosin score.
While Hollywood has suffered one of the worst summers in years, the horror genre is laughing all the way to the bank. Universal kicked the year off with massive successes, including Jordan Peele’s Get Out and M. Night Shyamalan’s Split, both topping $250 million worldwide. Even David F. Sandberg’s Annabelle: Creation could topple $300m. While we’re all celebrating these successes none are as important as Warner Bros./New Line Cinema’s IT, which has shattered September records by topping $100 million during its opening weekend.
That $117 million is just in the States, with early international reports just coming in adding $62m to the total. Early Sunday morning estimates have the worldwide gross at $179 million. A $500+ million worldwide total would be some accomplishment, at this stage that looks likely and something no one was saying before last Thursday!
IT could initiate a revival in bigger budget horror…
I just saw this update from the Bernie Wrightson facebook page and am truly saddened to share the news posted by Bernie’s wife Liz. Bernie is one of my all time favourite artists, I am lucky enough to own 2 signed prints of his, of Frankenstein (pictured above) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A true gentleman and towering talent of the comic book industry.
Dear Fans and Friends,
I apologize for our silence for the past few months. Last November Bernie began falling again, and having obvious problems with perception. He had to undergo yet another brain surgery to relieve bleeding, and then spend several weeks undergoing in-patient rehabilitation. Unfortunately, it appears that he has lasting damage: he has extremely limited function on his left side, and is unable to walk or reliably use his left hand, among other limitations.
W…e have had to come to the sad conclusion that he is now effectively retired: he will produce no new art, and he is unable to attend conventions. Should this situation change I will happily announce it here.
He can still sign his name (in fact he was signing Kickstarter prints in the hospital!), and is otherwise pretty healthy and has good cognition. We expect to continue releasing signed prints, and offering occasional pieces of art for sale from the collection that remains. We both thank all of you for your continuing support and good wishes!
Mark Neveldine was interviewed on Screencrush and talked about how he and sometime directing partner Brian Taylor, they co-directed Crank 1 and 2, Gamer and Ghost Rider, would like to remake The Warriors. I am not happy… Here is what Neveldine said:
The Warriors would be a remake that Brian and I would love to tackle, it’s just in rights hell at the moment. … We have never been interested in remakes, and probably still aren’t. But that’s the one that we’ve always felt would just be awesome. We just feel like we’re the perfect guys for that job; baseball bats, roller-skates, gangs, the heightened world. We know there’s been fear at some studios like “We make this movie today and gangs are gonna go wild!” And it’s like “Whatever.” You do it in Crank style, people are just gonna laugh and have fun. … We would set it, obviously, five minutes in the future, and we’d really love to build these flamboyant gangs and have fun with them, and have a heightened sense of action and bring all the things that we’ve learned and stolen from Rodriguez and Tarantino and other great directors and put it on the screen. [laughs]
No, no, no… let’s hope they never get the rights and just fuck off to make Crank 3 instead. Ease the nausea by enjoying the original trailer.
The skull of director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, best known for vampire classic Nosferatu (1922), has disappeared from his grave in Stahnsdorf, outside of Berlin, German media reports said citing authorities.
The skull was discovered to be missing on Monday and slight damage to the grave led authorities to believe that it had been stolen. The theft is thought to have taken place between July 4 and July 12, according to the reports. Police opened a probe and called on possible witnesses to come forward.
F. W. Murnau died in a car accident in Santa Barbara in 1931 at the age of 42. He was buried back in German, and over the years, his tomb has become a kind of tourist spot for Satanists. His Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans won a two Oscars at the first-ever Academy Awards in 1929.
We’re used to remakes of every horror film we loved so I shouldn’t be surprised by the news that they are remaking the classic 1983 horror movie The Entity, according to Heat Vision.
James Wan, best known for directing Saw, Dead Silence, The Conjuring, Insidious and now Fast 7 will produce the remake with brothers Chad and Carey Hayes (House of Wax and The Reaping) on board to write the script. Roy Lee (The Ring, Godzilla, The Grudge, Poltergeist) will produce Entity with Wan.
The Entity told the true story of Carla Moran, a single mom who was abused physically and sexually by a supernatural demon. Barbara Hershey played Moran while Ron Silver played a doctor who believes the woman is actually abusing herself and experiencing delusions brought about by a troubled past. Also figuring into the proceedings was a young son, a boyfriend, and two parapsychologists.
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer director John McNaughton’sThe Harvest, which stars Michael Shannon, Samantha Morton, Peter Fonda, Natasha Calis, and Charlie Tahan is set for a mid-April release:
“In his first film in nearly 15 years, the director of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer harks back to the depravity that made his 1986 debut a horror milestone. But less based in reality, The Harvest is closer to a fairy tale from Grimm’s darkest corners. Maryann (an impressive Natasha Calis) moves in with her grandparents after she’s orphaned. Desperately lonely, the preteen sets out to befriend a neighboring deathly ill, bed-ridden boy (Charlie Tahan), despite the outright disapproval of his mother (Samantha Morton). Maryann’s persistence pays off, however, and during a series of secret visits she gradually uncovers some seriously sinister goings-on in the house… Morton as the boy’s overprotective surgeon mom is the stuff of great screen villainy—at once utterly monstrous and tragically desperate—so much so that she makes even frequent heavy Michael Shannon, as the more subdued dad, pale in comparison.”
Variety reports that not only has Ruairi Robinson‘s proposed sci-fi film The Leviathan attracted Neill Blomkamp and Simon Kinberg as Producers, but now Fox has bought the The Leviathan movie pitch and the script for the film, written by Jim Uhls (Fight Club).
Here’s the blurb and proof of concept teaser: By the early 22nd century mankind had colonized many worlds. Faster than light travel was made possible by harvesting exotic matter from the eggs of the largest species mankind has ever seen. Those that take part in the hunt are mostly involuntary labor.
Wes Craven, the iconic horror director behind Last House On the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare On Elm Street and Scream, is partnering with 30 Days of Night co-creator Steve Niles, to adapt Niles’ upcoming comic The Disciples, drawn by Christopher Mitten, a sci-fi horror story set in space. Reported by The Hollywood Reporter HERE
Universal Cable Productions, which produced shows such as “Being Human” and “Defiance”, is in the process of picking up the rights to the title, which is due to hit stands in May from Black Mask Studios.
Craven, who is not writing or directing, will exec produce along with Sara Bottfeld of Industry Entertainment.
Here’s a description of the debut comic:
Dagmar, Rick, and Jules, intrepid private eyes/bounty hunters, have been hired by a high ranking Senator to retrieve his teenage daughter who’s run off to join a mysterious religious cult.
This is no ordinary cult though. In the near future of “The Disciples,” the ultra-wealthy have become true Masters Of The Universe by colonizing moons throughout the solar system. Billionaire industrialist McCauley Richmond is one such colonist: he’s built a new society on Ganymede, a moon of Jupiter, where his flock of cultists can have the religious freedom to worship him.
But when the team reaches Ganymede in their Starship Venture, they discover something has gone horribly wrong…
This ghost story in space reunites comics’ king of the macabre Steve Niles with his longtime collaborator Christopher Mitten, whose stylish mix of grit and flow matches Steve’s sharp characterizations and taste for screams.
So this is a concern… Let the Right One In is in development process for an adapted television series. After a bidding war that involved Showtime and A&E, the latter network has won the rights to develop a Let the Right One In TV series. The A&E series will join the network’s stable of other shows that also jump off from films: Bates Motel, based on Psycho, and The Returned, which is a remake of a French series that was, in turn, a remake of a French film. There aren’t many details on the Let the Right One In series, but we’ve got them below.
The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Teen Wolf showrunner Jeff Davis and actor-writer Brandon Boyce (Teen Wolf actor; Apt Pupil and Wicker Park screenwriter) are adapting the pilot and series from the Swedish novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist that Lindqvist adapted for the 2008 film by director Tomas Alfredson.
Spoilers for Let the Right One In follow. The 2008 film left out some characters, plot points and character history, only alluding to some of the history of the seemingly young vampire Eli as she befriends an isolated boy named Oskar. In fact, one point the original film only engages in ambiguous fashion is that Eli wasn’t born female, but rather is a boy who was castrated by the nobleman who also turned the child into a vampire. With more room to go into character backstories, the TV series may well retain the novel’s original approach.
The US remake of the film, Let Me In, further changed some things in the story as it moved the setting to New Mexico. We don’t know how this TV version might go — the THR piece references Vermont, which suggests that the show will go with the snowy setting of the original novel and film, while keeping it in the US.
The US remake, which was one of the better remakes around, would be more suited to an adaptation than the original. There’s no casting info or potential air date for the Let the Right One In TV series at this point.
Great news for fans of Australian horror. Enzo Tedeschi, producer of Australian indie horror The Tunnel, has established Deadhouse Films as a new Australian production and distribution company for genre films with the aim to overcome Oz audiences’ reluctance to see genre movies in theatres.
Deadhouse says that it is “focused on boutique online global day and date distribution of genre movies and shows.” It will launch with Distracted Media’s science-fiction series, Airlock, at an unspecified date in the first half of the year. It expects to provide “unique and tailored guidance on production and release strategies to ensure the success of each project.”
“With an aim to provide independent film makers with a production and distribution avenue, Deadhouse Films’ scope will be to connect the many great Australian genre films out there with a dedicated and established audience,” said Tedeschi in a statement.
Australia has a long history of producing cult horror and genre films, including Mad Max, Saw, Wolf Creek, The Loved Ones and Razorback, but the country’s theatrical audiences have largely turned their back on the segment. Last year’s The Babadook, which got a launch at Sundance, was hailed by critics and genre fans, but grossed only US$200,000 (A$256,000) on local release. In contrast The Babadook earned $1.09 million in France and $2.03 million in the U.K.
High releasing costs, steep ticket prices and competition from English-language Hollywood are among the issues facing Australian genre films in their home market.
“The kind of film that we made, it’s kind of an art house film and a psychological thriller slash horror. These don’t traditionally do that well in Australia,” “Badadook” producer Kristina Ceyton told The Guardian recently
Eli Roth’s cannibal horror The Green Inferno was slated for release last September/October, it was pulled from distribution due to financial issues. Since then, it’s been in release limbo, or maybe even Hell for that matter.
In an interview with IGN, Roth got candid about the pic that sends Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, Daryl Sabara and Kirby Bliss Blanton into the Amazon jungle to protect a dying tribe, but are taken hostage by the very natives they saved.
“No there’s not [any updates], but I will say this: All I hear on Twitter and Facebook – no matter what I Tweet now, people say ‘Yeah shut up, where’s Green Inferno?’ Trust me when I say there are no less than four lawyers from different companies on conference calls and email chains every single day trying to work this out,” Roth revealed. “I was hoping to have it resolved today or by Monday so we could do something to hopefully have it out this summer. That’s what everyone’s working towards. To have it out August or September. But I was 90 days out from a release, there was a trailer and posters in theatres, and it got pulled. So please don’t hold me to anything, but trust me when I say everybody is all over it working it out.”
The good news, adds Roth, is that it’s close to being resolved. “We’re at the one-yard line, but I’ve also been there before so I don’t want to say anything, but I just thank everyone for their patience and understanding. And it really helps when people Tweet ‘Please release it, please release it’ – it keeps the fire burning, but everyone is working to resolve it.”
News collated from The Hollywood Reporter offers the first real details about The Walking Dead spinoff series:
Cliff Curtis (Gang related) stars as Sean Cabrera, a teacher who shares a son with his ex-wife. Sons of Anarchy‘s Kim Dickens is set to co-star as Nancy, a guidance counselor who works at the school with Sean and is seeing him romantically. Frank Dillane (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) co-stars as Nancy’s son Nick, who has battled a drug problem. And Alycia Debnam Carey (Into the Woods) is set as Nancy’s ambitious daughter Ashley, who is the polar opposite of Nick and has dreams of leaving L.A. for Berkeley when the apocalypse strikes.
The Walking Dead companion — first announced in September 2013 — could give AMC a zombie drama in every quarter, given the six-episode freshman season’s summer bow. The flagship, which resumes production in the summer, airs the first half of its season in October and the second half in February. The offshoot series comes as The Walking Deadevolved to megahit status. The zombie drama, overseen by showrunner Scott M. Gimple, ranks as TV’s No. 1 drama series among the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic.
“We take incredibly seriously the notion of building a satisfying companion series to the No. 1 show on television. From the beginning of The Walking Dead on AMC, we’ve been asked questions about what was going on in other parts of the zombie apocalypse, and what it looked like as the world really did ‘turn.’ Through this new series, we’re going to find out,” AMC president Charlie Collier said in making the announcement Monday. “Robert Kirkman, Dave Erickson and their writing team, along with an incomparable set of producers, cast and crew have created something remarkable and clearly distinct. We respectfully follow the request of Monty Python as we bring out (the latest of) our Dead.”
“We feel empowered by this two-season commitment, a serious show of faith from our network partner AMC,” Kirkman said. “I personally take it as a sign that they believe, like we do, that we’ve accomplished our goal of developing something original that can pay tribute to the original show and expand the world I created while at the same time having something new to say with this story. I’m very grateful that we now have the opportunity to tell this amazing story and show the fans that we really haven’t scratched the surface yet when it comes to The WalkingDead.”
AMC Global — the cabler’s international network, has acquired the international televisions rights to the series, which it will air within 24 hours of the U.S. premiere — something Fox International Channels does with the flagship series.
Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures confirmed last night that Bruce Willis will co-star with New York stage veteran Elizabeth Marvel (Other Desert Cities, House Of Cards) in a new stage version of Misery as the successful romance-novel author rescued and held captive by his “Number One Fan.” William Goldman’s play is an adaptation of the classic Stephen King novel and the 1990 film that the Princess Bride screenwriter co-wrote with King, starring James Caan, Oscar winner Kathy Bates and directed by Rob Reiner.
Will Frears (Omnium Gatherum) will direct the play, which was tried out in the fall of 2012 at the Bucks County Playhouse. Dates are not set and no theatre has been booked for the “strictly limited engagement,” which is being co-produced by the Warner Bros. arm with Castle Rock Entertainment and Raymond Wu.
The casting of Willis is certain to add excitement to the Broadway fall season as well as certify the trend of star-driven shows with brief, ultra-high-priced runs.
Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, the writers behind some of the installments of the hit Saw movies, have been tapped to pen the latest entry of the Halloween horror franchise for Dimension Films.
Malek Akkad, who has been associated with the franchise since the mid-1990s and producing the movies since the 2007 reboot, is producing with Matt Stein. He is the son of Moustapha Akkad, the man who executive produced the original batch of movies.
Rob Zombie directed the reboot and its 2009 follow-up, but no director is attached to the new installment, which has been in development for several years now. Patrick Lussier (My Bloody Valentine) and Todd Famer were at one point working on a Halloween 3D, but since they departed years ago, it’s been quieter than a night in Haddonfield, Illinois.
In fact, it’s been so long since the last movie, it is unclear what to call the latest project that will tell the bloody tales of Michael Myers, the seemingly unstoppable killer who stalks the Halloween holiday.
Sources say it’s not a remake, not a reboot, and not a reimagining. One source said the project is a “recalibration.”
Whatever it is, Melton and Dunstan should be suited to the task. The pair wrote four of the seven Saw movies (numbers IV to VII), Piranha 3DD as well as an adaptation of The Outer Limits, which is in development at MGM. They also worked on God of War for Universal and most recently wrote Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, which they sold as a pitch to CBS Films.
After a few years arguments and bidding wars, Snake Plissken is back! Fox has emerged victorious and closed a deal to remake the 1981 John Carpenter cult classic Escape From New York. Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman’s The Picture Company will produce.
The original was released by Avco Embassy, and the rights were own by Studiocanal. Carpenter will be an executive producer and will exert creative influence over the project. Fox’s Mike Ireland brought it in and will steer. The hope is to reinvent the property with an eye toward launching a new franchise.
In the original, Kurt Russell played Plissken, an eyepatch-sporting tough guy who is conscripted to rescue the president of the United States after Air Force One — en route to a summit that could head off WWIII — goes missing after it crashes in New York, which has been relegated to a maximum security prison. Plissken, a former special forces operative convicted of trying to rob the Federal Reserve, is given 22 hours to liberate the president and a tape he carries which holds the key to peace. If he fails, he’s wired to explode.
The cynical original, hatched by Carpenter after the Watergate scandal, was set in a futuristic Gotham circa 1997. There have been remake overtures before, but not with Carpenter involved. There were a spate of rumours earlier this fall that the film was about to be cast with the likes of Sons Of Anarchy star Charlie Hunnam, however it would appear that those rumours amounted to wishful thinking by fans, because there was no rights deal made until now, and there is still no script. They are starting from scratch. That said, the notion of Hunnam playing the Snake, or Chris Hemsworth who was another one rumored, would fit the bill. All of that is fantasy league stuff and the reality comes down the road when they hire a scribe and a filmmaker and the studio gets a script it likes. Who is worth considering for Plissken?
In news that is only mildly interesting to me because I recently rewatched the original The Omen film, it was announced that Merlin star Bradley James has landed the title role in Damien, Lifetime’s straight-to-series drama follow-up to 20th Century Fox’s classic horror film The Omen. In his TV directing debut, Shekhar Kapur (Elizabeth) will helm and executive produce the first episode.
Produced by Fox TV Studios, the six-episode Damien follows the adult life of Damien Thorn (James), the mysterious child from the 1976 film who has grown up, seemingly unaware of the satanic forces around him. Haunted by his past, Damien must now come to terms with his true destiny — that he is the Antichrist, the most feared man throughout the ages.
Damien, slated to premiere in 2015, is written and executive produced by Glen Mazzara via his 44 Strong Productions. Ross Fineman, who developed the project alongside Mazzara, executive produces through his Fineman Entertainment. Pancho Mansfield also serves as executive producer.
Great news for Australian film, IFC Midnight has acquired U.S. rights to Australian zombie horror Wymwood. Filmed as a DIY project over a period of four years, the film was directed by Kiah Roache-Turner with a screenplay from Roache-Turner and his brother Tristan Roache-Turner.
The story involves a mechanic who struggles to rescue his kidnapped sister on the eve of a zombie apocalypse. Jay Gallagher, Bianca Bradey and Leon Burchill star.
Wyrmwood premiered at Fantastic Fest and continued a festival career in Toronto After Dark and at the Busan festival in South Korea. The film was produced by Tristan Roache-Turner and executive produced by Jamie Hilton and Josh Pomeranz.
In the kind of move not generally seen, ‘serious’ director Lee Daniels is taking a turn toward the horror genre. The helmer who last directed Lee Daniels’ The Butler, The Paperboy and Precious will direct the fact-based film currently titled Demon House. The film is based on Latoya Ammons and her family, whose life rights made this film possible. They claim to have been victims of a demonic possession that has spanned over two years and counting. Ammons and her family have received international media attention for their accounts, which have been witnessed and documented by the Department of Child Services, the Gary (IN) Police Department and hospital staff.
The experience began with unusual occurrences in her home over two years ago, including swarms of flies around her porch in the winter and unexplainable creaking sounds in her basement. The events progressed to possessive incidents including her oldest daughter unconsciously levitating above her bed, medical staff witnessing her middle son gliding backward on the floor, wall and ceiling. According to Relativity, the DCS case manager witnessed her youngest son growling with his teeth showing and eyes rolled back, locking his hands around his older brother’s throat with no recollection of the incident. Initial psychological exams and exorcism attempts failed to provide explanation or solution for the bizarre events.
The Eli Roth and Jason Blum horror series, South of Hell has added a few more fan favorites to the guest director roster: Ti West (House Of The Devil, The Sacrament), Rachel Talalay (Doctor Who, Tank Girl), Jennifer Lynch (The Walking Dead, Teen Wolf) and Jeremiah Chechik (Helix, Reigh) have been tapped to direct individual episodes of WE tv’s original scripted thriller South Of Hell.
Set in South Carolina, South Of Hell focuses on Maria Abascal (Mena Suvari), a stunning demon-hunter-for-hire whose power stems from within. Like those she hunts, Maria is divided within herself, struggling with her own demon, Abigail, who resides inside of her, feeding on the evil Maria exorcises from others. Zachary Booth and Bill Irwin also star. The show has an eight-episode straight-to-series order for a 2015 premiere. South Of Hell is produced by Sonar Entertainment and Blumhouse Television
The Evil Dead movie franchise has officially crossed over to television with a 10-episode straight-to-series order from Starz for a 2015 premiere. Titled Ash Vs. Evil Dead, the followup to the classic film franchise reteams the original filmmakers, director Sam Raimi, longtime producing partner Rob Tapert and star Bruce Campbell
who will serve as executive producers. Campbell will be reprising his role as Ash, the stock boy, aging lothario and chainsaw-handed monster hunter who has spent the last 30 years avoiding responsibility, maturity and the terrors of the Evil Dead. When a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind, Ash is finally forced to face his demons –personal and literal. Destiny, it turns out, has no plans to release the unlikely hero from its “Evil” grip.
Raimi will direct the first episode of Ash Vs. Evil Dead, which he co-wrote with his brother Ivan Raimi (Darkman) and Tom Spezialy (Chuck). “Evil Dead has always been a blast,” Raimi said. “Bruce, Rob, and I are thrilled to have the opportunity to tell the next chapter in Ash’s lame, but heroic saga. With his chainsaw arm and his ‘boomstick,’ Ash is back to kick some monster butt. And brother, this time there’s a truckload of it.”
Ash Vs. Evil Dead also reunites Sam Raimi and Tapert with Starz where they executive produced the pay cable network’s first scripted hit, drama Spartacus. Ivan Raimi will co-executive produce the series, and Aaron Lam (Spartacus) will serve as producer.
Fans have been buzzing about an Evil Dead series since Sam Raimi announced at Comic-Con — where he and Campbell are hugely popular — that he was working on it. “I’m really excited to bring this series to the Evil Dead fans worldwide – it’s going to be everything they have been clamoring for: serious deadite ass-kicking and plenty of outrageous humor,” said Campbell.
The original Evil Dead film followed Ash and his friends who travel to a cabin in the woods, where they unknowingly release demons intent on possessing the living. It was a hit, spawning a franchise that included two sequels directed by Raimi, produced by Talpert and starring Campbell, as well as video games and comic books. There was also a recent feature reboot produced by Raimi and Talpert and directed by Fede Alvarez.
Clive Barkerhas finished the second draft of the film that will reboot and expand upon the story seen in the original Hellraiser. (And which was created in Barker’s novella The Hellhound Heart.) A few details are below, thanks to the author.
EW spoke to Barker on the occasion of the release of the Nightbreed director’s cut blu-ray, which finally presents Barker’s 1990 film in a cut that resembles his original intentions. Talking about that movie is also a good excuse to bring up Hellraiser, the “very loose remake” of which continues to develop:
I think the phrase is ‘reboot,’ although I’ve never really understood what that meant. I wanted to make sure we sounded some fresh notes. The movie actually begins on Devil’s Island. I wanted to fold into the Hellraiser narrative something about the guy—the Frenchman Lemarchand—who made the mysterious box, which raises Pinhead. I figured, ‘Well, what would have happened to him?’ He might well have been taken to Devil’s Island [a penal colony] and I thought that would be a pretty cool place to start the movie. We’re waiting for Bob to come back to us and see when we’re going to actually make the movie.
In Barker’s original novella, Lemarchand was one of a few people who had devised a method of communicating with the extra-dimensional Cenobites. (That group includes Pinhead, who became the film series’ poster child.) Lemarchand has been portrayed on film before, inHellraiser IV: Bloodline, the last film in the series to get a theatrical release. (There are five more direct to video sequels. The last one, Hellraiser: Revelations, was made in a matter of weeks so that the Weinsteins would retain rights to the franchise.)
We’ve got some really cool things coming down the pike. They’re movies which I’m able to watch over as a producer rather than as a director, [but] each time another thing gets added to the rest of the things that we’re doing, I get more tantalized by the idea of actually doing it as a director myself. So, I don’t think I’ll wait too long until I sign on for something myself.
Anthology Horror is doing well at the moment, the V/H/S and ABC’s of Death both doing solid business, now we have Tales of Halloween which will consist of ten segments from eleven directors. Tales of Halloween will bring together directors like Neil Marshall (The Descent) and Darren Bousman (Saws II-IV) in celebration of that most macabre of holidays.
In addition to Marshall and Bousman, there’s Joe Begos (Almost Human), Axelle Carolyn (Soulmate), Adam Gierasch (Night of the Demons), Andrew Kasch (Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy) and John Skipp (Stay at Home Dad), Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider!), Dave Parker (The Hills Run Red), Ryan Schifrin (Abominable), and Paul Solet (Grace).
All of the interconnected segments will take place during Halloween night in one quiet American town. Well, one typically-quiet American town. On this particular evening it’s being terrorized by all manner of horrifying creatures, from ghouls and aliens to good-old-fashioned murderers.
Carolyn was the one to come up with the project, and will serve as producer alongside Mendez. Many of the filmmakers come from the same Los Angeles scene and are such good friends they even have a cute name for themselves, The October Society.
“It’s so great to be working with such a unique and talented group of directors,” said Marshall. “Many of The October Society have been friends for years, so when Axelle had the idea of combining our talents for an anthology based on our mutual love of Halloween and all things scary, it was a no-brainer.”
Pre-production on Tales of Halloween is already underway, and shooting is expected to begin in November. There’s no release date for this one yet, but it seems a safe bet that we can expect it out in time for the holiday next year… cool poster.
Twin Peaks fans’ quarter-century wait is over. One of the top cult series of all time is coming back with a new limited series on Showtime from its original creators, David Lynch and Mark Frost. The nine-episode series will go into production in 2015 for a premiere in 2016 to mark the 25th anniversary of when the series finished its run on ABC. In a fact that will delight Twin Peaks devotees, Lynch and Frost will write and produce all nine episodes, with Lynch set to direct every episode.
The new Twin Peaks will be set in the present day, more than two decades after the events in the first two seasons. It will continue the lore and story of the original series, with Lynch and Frost committed to providing long-awaited answers and, hopefully, a satisfying conclusion to the series. It is unclear which actors from the original series will be featured in the followup. Kyle MacLachlan will be back, reprising his role as FBI Agent Dale Cooper who was at the center of the show. The ABC series also featured some of Lynch’s favorite character actors, and it is likely that at least some of them will return. Leading to the 2016 debut of the Twin Peaks limited series, Showtime will re-air the first two seasons of the series, owned by parent CBS Corp.
“What more can I say – Twin Peaks with David Lynch and Mark Frost on Showtime in 2016!” said Showtime Networks president David Nevins. “To quote Agent Cooper, ‘I have no idea where this will lead us, but I have a definite feeling it will be a place both wonderful and strange.’” Added Lynch and Frost, “The mysterious and special world of Twin Peaks is pulling us back. We’re very excited. May the forest be with you.”
Lynch and Frost fueled speculation about a possible Twin Peaks revival with identical cryptic tweets posted at 11:30 AM Friday: “Dear Twitter Friends: That gum you like is going to come back in style! #damngoodcoffee“.
“Damn good coffee” was a phrase frequently used by MacLachlan‘s Agent Cooper on the show, expressed typically while eating cherry pie in the town’s cafe. The tweet’s 11:30 AM time stamp matched the time Cooper first entered the town of Twin Peaks to investigate the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer. Lynch and Frost picked the same 11:30 AM time today to tweet another clue, “Tween Peaks on Showtime.” The two tweeted an announcement video making it official:
Groundbreaking, genre-bending, stylish, moody and a little weird, Twin Peaksbecame a phenomenon when it premiered in April 1990, with the two-hour opener drawing mind-boggling 34.6 million viewers. The series followed the inhabitants of a quaint northwestern town who were stunned after Palmer is shockingly murdered. The town’s sheriff welcomed the help of FBI Agent Cooper, who came to town to investigate the case. As Cooper conducted his search for Laura’s killer, the town’s secrets were gradually exposed. Here are the series’ opening credits, set to the haunting theme by Angelo Badalamenti.
After a very strong first season, viewership for Twin Peaks tapered off in Season 2 when the Laura Palmer murder was resolved midway through the season. Despite the series’ cancellation after 30 episodes, it was never forgotten, with its cult following only growing as years went by. Lynch’s 1992 movie Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, which he directed from a script he co-wrote with Robert Engels, served as a prequel to the series. It left most questions from the show unanswered, so fans continued to wish for another season. But for Lynch, Twin Peaks seemed a closed chapter. Asked in a 2001 Empire interview whether he would ever go back to the show, he said, “No. Uh-uh. It`s as dead as a doornail.” Thankfully for the fans, he changed his mind.
While Hollywood has suffered one of the worst summers in years, the horror genre is laughing all the way to the bank. Universal kicked the year off with massive successes, including Jordan Peele’s Get Out and M. Night Shyamalan’s Split, both topping $250 million worldwide. Even David F. Sandberg’s Annabelle: Creation could topple $300m. While we’re all celebrating these successes none are as important as Warner Bros./New Line Cinema’s IT, which has shattered September records by topping $100 million during its opening weekend.
I just saw this update from the Bernie Wrightson 
The skull of director Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, best known for vampire classic Nosferatu (1922), has disappeared from his grave in Stahnsdorf, outside of Berlin, German 
We’re used to remakes of every horror film we loved so I shouldn’t be surprised by the news that they are remaking the classic 1983 horror movie The Entity, according to 
Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer director 
So this is a concern… Let the Right One In is in development process for an adapted television series. After a bidding war that involved Showtime and A&E, the latter network has won the rights to develop a Let the Right One In TV series. The A&E series will join the network’s stable of other shows that also jump off from films: Bates Motel, based on Psycho, and The Returned, which is a remake of a French series that was, in turn, a remake of a French film. There aren’t many details on the Let the Right One In series, but we’ve got them below.
Eli Roth’s cannibal horror The Green Inferno was slated for release last September/October, it was pulled from distribution due to financial issues. Since then, it’s been in release limbo, or maybe even Hell for that matter.
News collated from The Hollywood Reporter offers the first real details about The Walking Dead spinoff series:
Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures confirmed last night that Bruce Willis will co-star with New York stage veteran Elizabeth Marvel (Other Desert Cities, House Of Cards) in a new stage version of Misery as the successful romance-novel author rescued and held captive by his “Number One Fan.” William Goldman’s play is an adaptation of the classic 
Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan, the writers behind some of the installments of the hit Saw movies, have been tapped to pen the latest entry of the Halloween horror franchise for Dimension Films.
socialpsychol 