The Horror Geek – News, Rants and Reviews From The Horror Geek!

There’s not much left to say about After Dark’s 4th annual Horrorfest–it starts later this month, features another 8 Films to Die For, and here’s yet another trailer.

Bloody-Disgusting scored the exclusive to this one, which is for the Norwegian film Hidden. I’m phoning this one in completely, in case you were wondering. Here’s the synopsis and trailer. The film will be in theaters on January 29th.

Kai Koss, upon the death of his cruel mother, unwillingly returns to the small town he ran away from 19 years ago. He is left in charge of the family home and the dark secrets that come with it. Kai soon finds himself tangled up in a series of murderous events that are beyond anyone’s control and his troubles begin to overwhelm him. He has spent the past two decades trying to forget a tortured past only to find that there are some things you just can’t run from.

The weirdest news in recent memory comes courtesy of a Bloody-Disgusting exclusive from last night. Apparently, according to one of their sources, MTV is in negotiations to acquire the rights to turn George Romero’s zombie classic Dawn of the Dead into a television series. This news comes several months after an announcement that cult comic series The Walking Dead would be bringing the zombie apocalypse to the small screen on AMC.

Details are very scarce at this point, with BD reporting that Zack Snyder (director of the 2004 remake) will not be involved and that early talks indicate that the series will utilize both traditional Romero-esque shambling zombies alongside the newer, more modern, faster variety. Since no one’s been hired to actually write the show, this could all change.

I’m personally conflicted by this story. I thought Snyder’s Dawn turned out far better than I expected, but I’m not sold on MTV doing something like Romero’s vision justice. I’m all for more zombies on TV, but if the walking dead are going to be on MTV, then I’d really rather see them on Jersey Shore. You think that broad getting punched in the face was something–wait til you see a horde of walking corpses chew her face off. Hell, I’d go pay-per-view for that.

This, and Halloween’s original MTV slasher film (My Super Psycho Sweet 16) seem to indicate what I’d heard through the grapevine late last year. MTV is looking to do more original programming and they’re interested in horror. It remains to be seen if this project will ever get off the ground (I remember reporting about the Re-Animator television series back in like 2008–haven’t heard a peep on that one since, which proves talk in Hollywood is cheap), but if it does, here’s to hoping MTV does it right. Yeah, I know, we’re all fucked if we’re relying on that…

The American branch of England’s BBC has made an interesting announcement for horror fans: They’ll be debuting their new series, Demons, on BBC America starting on January 2nd at 10PM. That should help get you over all of the holiday cheer, I’d think.

Bloody-Disgusting shared the following synopsis for the program:

“The battle against the dark underworld of half-lives, monsters and in-humans lie deep beneath the streets of modern-day London in the U.S. premiere of Demons. This contemporary spin on the character of Van Helsing features Luke Rutherford (Christian Cooke) as an average teenager, but with the arrival of his dead father’s best friend Rupert Galvin (Philip Glenister, Life on Mars, Ashes to Ashes), Luke’s life is about to be flipped upside down. Galvin is a straight-talking, headstrong American who has come to tell Luke his secret destiny – he’s the real-life great-great grandson of Abraham Van Helsing, the vampire hunter in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Luke’s destined to inherit the family mantle as a warrior in the coldest of cold wars against the supernatural entities behind every myth and legend from vampires to werewolves and all things that go bump in the night.“

Sounds like a lot of other horror shows from the past few years (reminds me of Supernatural in some ways), but I figure it’s worth a look.

The internet’s all atwitter with a new rumor involving musician turned filmmaker Rob Zombie. If you can read headlines, you no doubt already know what that rumor is. I may have tipped my hand a bit on that one…

According to The Pulse of Radio’s story (which everyone picked up from the Roadrunner Records Blabbermouth Blog), Zombie is said to be in negotiations to direct an episode of an unnamed TV series that focuses on forensic crime scene investigation. The show is never named (probably because they’re still “in negotiations”), but everyone and their brother is assuming it’s one of the CSIs. That makes sense, given that they’ve allowed other high profile directors like Tarantino to come aboard and do episodes in the past.

Honestly, I’m secretly hoping everyone’s wrong on the whole CSI thing. In a perfect world, we’d get a Zombie-helmed episode of TruTV’s Forensic Files. Their staged re-enactments could only benefit from Zombie’s cinematography and use of music.

All kidding aside, this is still just a rumor at this point–details could change or the whole thing might fall through. That being said, this could be the first step on Zombie’s quest to move away from the horror genre–a move that still strikes me as puzzling at best.

Whether or not Werewolves will become horror’s “next big thing” remains to be seen, but it’s not for a lack of effort on Hollywood’s part. Between The Wolfman, Michael Dougherty’s in development series Bitches, Howling and Teen Wolf updates, and that whole Twilight fiasco, I can’t recall a time when the werewolf has ever been more in the spotlight. Fox and Dreamworks now apparently want in on the lycanthropic action, as they’ve announced a new werewolf television series, Howl.

Variety reports that the show will be a collaborative effort between the two companies. it’s being described as “an epic family saga about warring families of werewolves in a small Alaskan town.”

“Alaska is a place where people disappear and now you know why,” writer Joshua Miller said.

The script reflects the changes that are going on in the country, and “metamorphosis and constant change is the basis of werewolf mythology,” he added. “Howl” is about “the psychology of living with change.”

Sounds interesting…but this is Fox we’re talking about. There’s no way they’re letting anything that potentially deep on to the airwaves.

It should also be noted that the above photo has nothing to do with the show.

If you can’t get enough of Showtime’s hit series Dexter, you’ll be pleased to know that the channel’s official website has posted some behind-the-scenes interview clips with actors from the show. Being that I’m such a great guy, I’ve posted them all here (one below, two after the break) so that you don’t have to waste any extra time clicking to get to them. No need to thank me–I’d do anything for you guys.

The three new clips feature interviews with James Remar, Lauren Velez, and David Zayas. All are definitely worth a look if you’re a fan of the show, so enjoy.

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IFC is really serious about this whole horror thing, apparently, because every time I turn around they’ve added more new movies to their VOD schedule. The two latest aren’t quite as exciting as some of the earlier releases (which isn’t a comment on their quality, but more an observation on their “buzz factor), but Coffin Rock and Paintball still look interesting.

Fangoria broke posted the news earlier this week and gave the following plot breakdowns for each film.

Coffin Rock, written and directed by Rupert Glasson, is about a young married woman (Lisa Chappell) who drunkenly sleeps with a stranger; when she becomes pregnant, the one-night stand begins a psychopathic campaign to prove the baby is his.

Paintball, directed by Daniel Benmayor from a Mario Schoendorff script, a group of contestants (led by Brendan Mackey and Jennifer Matter) in the titular contest deep in the woods discover that some unexpected players have joined the game—using real weapons.

Paintball makes its On Demand debut on January 29th. Coffin Rock will be available February 3rd, and don’t forget that the French cops vs. gangsters and zombies flick The Horde will also viewable in February as well.

Check out the trailer for Coffin Rock below, and then hit the “read the rest of this entry” link to have a gander at Paintball.

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Variety brings us news today about that mini-series adaptation of Stephen King’s newest novel, Under the Dome, that I mentioned last week. Steven Spielberg’s Dreamworks TV has optioned the novel and hopes to release it on cable.

Spielberg won’t be directing, but he will be Executive Producing alongside King and Stacey Snider. The company has started to meet with potential writers for the project.

I’ll bring you more on this one as details slowly come into focus. In the meantime, if you’re like me you haven’t even cracked open this novel yet. Here’s what it’s about.

Under the Dome revolves around the drama that unfolds after an invisible force field suddenly descends on a small vacation town in Maine. As the locals fight for their survival, the town descends into warring factions led by enigmatic characters.

This isn’t the first time Spielberg and King have attempted to collaborate on a project. Spielberg has had an option on King’s The Talisman for over twenty years, but has never managed to bring the book to the silver or small screen. Let’s hope things go more smoothly with this adaptation.

It’s been a busy week for Stephen King news. His latest tome, Under the Dome, is now out (it’s massive–I probably won’t get around to reading it until next month), but there’s more good news for fans of horror’s most recognizable name. Read on for the details.

First up, King has revealed that Under the Dome is getting adapted for television. The book will be turned into a miniseries for HBO (which is a great choice, because it means nothing will have to be cut to appease the FCC). No word on when this will go into production or who’s involved, but I’ll keep you posted.

King also says that he’s finished the screenplay for the big-screen adaptation of his novel Cell. This was the project Eli Roth was attached to write and direct at one point, but then left.

And finally, perhaps the biggest news of all was this tidbit posted on King Super-Site Lilja’s Library:

“Stephen has given me permission to pass along that he has an idea for a new Dark Tower book, the working title of which will be THE WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE. He has not yet started this book and anticipates that it will be a minimum of eight months before he is able to begin writing it.”

“It will center around supporting characters and revolve around some important events between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla.”

Check out the clip below to hear more from the man himself.

Yesterday I posted a story about Mick Garris’ upcoming horror talk show, Mick Garris’ Post Mortem. Variety was reporting that the show was going to be a webseries wherein Garris would spend roughly five minutes with a guest from the genre. Turns out, that’s not exactly the case.

The report now is that the episodes will actually be 30 minutes long–with five minute webisodes serving as a complement to the main show. Thanks to Dread Central for clarifying. I’m now way more excited about the prospects of this series. It could be like Life After Film School–only with filmmakers and actors we actually care about. FEARnet will beginning airing the show this December.