I’m a sucker for horror movies with scarecrows in them. I think this is partially because I grew up in an area where they were a pretty common sight and because Dark Night of the Scarecrow scared the bejeesus out of me as child. Whatever the reason, I’ve always loved them–and been deeply saddened by the fact that most movies that utilize the scarecrow as a force of evil are downright awful.
Things may be turning around for our straw-stuffed friends if the trailer for Joseph Bat’s new fright flick Scarecrow is any indication (thanks to Dread Central for the heads up). The film’s set to head to the American Film Market tradeshow next week, but the official website is already showing off a fantastic (six minutes long!) clip of the film and highlighting all the background details. What are those details? Keep reading.
Plot details are being kept deliberately under wraps, but here’s what we know so far:
If a scarecrow falls off its cross on All Hallow’s Eve and touches the ground, it can be possessed by a spirit. Embodied in the scarecrow’s primitive human shape, the resurrected spirit can then proceed to settle scores left unresolved before death.
Sounds good to me. Head by the official site for a look at the clip (which also features the music from Hellraiser) and more goodies about this film. Hopefully we’ll learn even more about this one once AFM kicks into high gear.
If you were to ask me to choose one film that I thought would never get the remake treatment, Meir Zarchi’s I Spit On Your Grave would have probably been my answer–and as news broken over at Bloody-Disgusting now points out, I’d have been wrong.
One of the more infamous exploitation films of the 1970s, I Spit On Your Grave starred Camille Keaton as a young girl from the city who comes to the country to write and winds up being savagely raped by a group of rednecks. She then sets out for bloody retribution. It’s an odd film–it features a lengthy and unpleasant rape scene, then shifts gears into this bizarre Death Wish type of revenge thriller. It’s one of the more vilified films in exploitation history, although I find it to be well worth seeing for fans of the genre.
According to BD’s source, shooting on the remake starts Monday. Steven R. Monroe will be directing and Andrew Howard (best known for his work in The Devil’s Chair) will be one of the stars. No word on who the unlucky lady reprising Keaton’s role is or any sort of details on the planned direction of the remake (will it be shot-for-shot? will it be an updating?), but I’ll keep you in the loop as more details emerge.
G4’s Attack of the Show caught up with Robert Englund recently, and below you can find the nearly 14 minute clip that comprises the fruit of their labor. If you’re a fan of Englund (and if you’re not, you’ve clearly come to the wrong blog…) you’ll want to check this out. He covers a wide range of topics–everything from his new biography, his career in Hollywood, how he feels about horror and his fans, his thoughts on the Nightmare on Elm Street remake, and more.
Don’t listen to me prattle on about it, click the player below and enjoy.
I think we’ve all wondered if Hollywood is creatively bankrupt these days–it’s hard not to when every week sees the announcement of a remake or re-imagining of some movie that already exists. Apparently, the creative malaise has spread to advertising departments as well, because we’re seeing a lot of cover art/posters that are essentially rip offs of other cover art/posters (who can forget the absolutely awful Near Dark DVD cover that was basically Twilight with Bill Paxton and Lance Henriksen from a few months back?).
The latest example of the phrase “borrowing liberally” is the poster the upcoming monster flick The Blackout. As I’ve shown above, it bears more than a bit of a resemblance to the poster for Feast. This sort of thing’s been going on for a long time, and it’s really not that big a deal, but it is funny to sit back and look how similar one flick’s art will be to another. The only difference here is that they’ve flipped the monster and victim. Did they think no one would notice?
Despite this, I think director Robert David Sanders’ film sounds pretty interesting. Here’s the plot synopsis:
When an apartment building’s lights go out mysteriously, all of the tenants put aside their problems and band together to get to the bottom of the city-wide blackout. Deep in the basement of the high-rise, a hideous breed of monster hatches and begins to wreak havoc. Everyone must find a way to kill the blood-thirsty creatures and survive the darkness before it destroys the world.
You can learn more about the project (and check out the trailer) by visiting the official site.
The After Dark: Horrorfest people have officially confirmed that Kevin Hamedani’s ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction (not to be confused with the comic that shares the same name) has been picked up and will be the fifth film featured in January’s Horrorfest film festival.
In a departure for the 8 Films to Die for series, ZMD is the first horror comedy to appear in the now annual celebration of the genre.
The film joins Dread, The Graves, Hidden, and Lake Mungo as the announced titles for this year’s show. Expect three more additions before the weeklong event hits theaters nationwide on January 29th.
Here’s a plot synopsis and trailer just so you know what to expect.
Port Gamble, Washington is being overrun with brain eaters, and the people seem powerless to stave them off. A rag tag band of rebels led by Frida (Janette Armand), an Iranian college student suspected of being an Iraqi terrorist, and Tom (Doug Fahl), a gay business man who has returned to town with his partner to come out to his mother, tries to turn the tide and push the invading hoards of undead back.
If you missed Megan Fox’s flick Jennifer’s Body in theaters (and judging by the box office results, most of you did…), you’ll get another chance to ogle the Transformer starlet this holiday season. Video ETA is reporting that Fox (the studio) will release Fox’s (the actress) film on Blu-ray and DVD on December 29th. There’s been no official confirmation of this date yet, but the short turnaround time from theater to your home entertainment center wouldn’t be all that shocking.
No word on extras yet, but when all of this is officially announced/confirmed, I’ll pass it along.
With the release of Left 4 Dead 2 just around the corner (it streets on November 17th for the PC and Xbox 360) expect to start hearing more about the game. Gamestop teamed up with Valve to create this new teaser commercial for the cooperative zombie-slaying game, which highlights not only a bit of what players can expect in the follow up to the wildly popular original, but to also convince players to pre-order their copy through Gamestop so they can procure the in-game American Baseball Bat weapon. Ah marketing…is there anything you won’t do?
I guess this means I need to get my red-ringed Xbox 360 fixed posthaste…
After seeing the trailer a month or so ago, I can say I’m genuinely optimistic about Breck Eisener’s re-imagining of George Romero’s The Crazies. I don’t generally get excited about remakes of movies that were perfectly fine in the first place, but I think (and again, it’s hard to reach any kind of conclusion from a mere trailer…) that Eisner’s heart is in the right place.
MTV was lucky enough to score an exclusive photo from the film (and I recommend swinging by the site–they’ve also got video footage from their set visit earlier this year up), this one featuring star Radha Mitchell tied down to some sort of gurney–which would probably be how most of my dates ended if I happened to date. I’m a real catch.
Anyway, the film’s coming out on February 26th. Here’s the official synopsis:
A husband and wife in a small Midwestern town find themselves battling for survival as their friends and family descend into madness in The Crazies. A mysterious toxin in the water supply turns everyone exposed to it into mindless killers and the authorities leave the uninfected to their certain doom in this terrifying reinvention of the George Romero horror classic. Directed by Breck Eisner (Sahara), The Crazies is written by Ray Wright (Pulse, Case 39) and Scott Kosar (The Amityville Horror, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre). The American Dream goes horribly wrong when the residents of this picture-perfect town begin to succumb to an uncontrollable urge for violence and the horrific bloodshed escalates into anarchy. In an attempt to contain the epidemic, the military uses deadly force to close off access into or out of town, abandoning the few healthy citizens to the growing mayhem as depraved killers lurk in the shadows. Sheriff David Dutton (Timothy Olyphant); his pregnant wife, Judy (Radha Mitchell); Becca (Danielle Panabaker), an assistant at the medical center; and Russell (Joe Anderson), Dutton’s deputy and right-hand man, find themselves trapped in a once idyllic town they can no longer recognize. Unable to trust former neighbors and friends, deserted by the authorities and terrified of contracting the illness themselves, they are forced to band together in a nightmarish struggle for survival.
It must be something in the water, because the past week has seen a veritable avalanche of new web-based horror series. I’ve covered a few (Fear Clinic, Showtime’s Dexter: Early Cuts, and Semi-Dead), but there have been at least three others that I haven’t managed to write anything about yet (including a new series from House of the Devil’s Ti West). Web series tend to be hit or miss in the quality department, but that seems to be changing with the emergence of these new entries to the genre.
The first episode of Chris Wiltz’s zombie comedy Semi-Dead went live yesterday. If you like the undead and humor, you’ll want to check this out. The story revolves around two friends living together in the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse. Chris lives as though nothing’s happened, while Joe finds his status as ex-military makes him especially suited to surviving in a world overrun by zombies. The debut episode lets us get to know the characters (think The Odd Couple with zombies) and their quirks. Where the show goes from here is a mystery, but this first installment is good enough to get me back for more.
Check it out below or at Blip.tv. You can learn more about the project by heading to the official website.
One of the most intriguing titles from last year’s AFM show was Mortis Rex, a period horror/action flick set to be directed by Hellboy co-writer Peter Briggs. The story centered on “a disgraced Roman soldier sent to investigate a spate of brutal murders”. You can’t really tell much about the story from that, but several sites scored early concept art for the film and it was impressive looking.
Mummy producer Jim Jaks has now been brought on to the project, and he shared the following with Screen Daily:
“Mortis Rex’s uniquely original, blood chilling telling of the legend of the Lost Legion with a monster movie twist has the makings of a truly exciting and commercial movie that is sure to spark excitement from global audiences.â€
The film is set to start filming this spring (with location shoots in places like Italy, England, and Eastern Europe). I’ll keep you posted on this one as more details start to emerge.
