April, 2009
Below are links to articles posted in April, 2009
Fox Exec Says Ridley Scott May Make ‘Alien’ Prequel
Straight from the Red Carpet premiere of “Wolverine,” Fox Co-chairman Tom Rothman broke the news that Ridley Scott is thinking of making a prequel to his original “Alien”.
From IESB:
Rothman said of the possible Aliens film, “There’s been some talk. Ridley Scott, Ridley is right now working on Robin Hood, but I think he’s toying with the idea and that would be great for us. I mean, it’s always been a matter of, really, if you can get the originator to do it that would be the greatest thing, so I’ve got my fingers crossed, all of them.”. . .
Unjustly Forgotten Horror Movie of the Day: 1971’s ‘Blood on Satan’s Claw’
To call this film “forgotten” may not be accurate, because anyone that has seen it surely remembers it. What sucks is that the film is basically unavailable in the USA.
Another Tigon release that for some reason never got a DVD release in the United States, “The Blood on Satan’s Claw” has been released in some pretty weak versions in Europe — non-anamorphic versions that absolutely will not play on U.S. players. It’s a crime, because “The Blood on Satan’s Claw” is one of the scariest British horror films ever made. Why oh why it has buried in the U.S.
Trailer for Rob Zombie’s ‘H2′ Now Live — in High Res
Yahoo! Movies just posted the trailer for Rob Zombie’s sequel to his remake. Check it out here.
This film isn’t really a remake of “Halloween II”, although it does apparently share a bit of the hospital setting. Despite how controversial Zombie’s “Halloween” movies have been, this is easily the most hotly anticipated horror movie for the rest of the year.
Look for it in theaters August 28.. . .
Unjustly Forgotten Horror Movie of the Day: 1969’s ‘Witchmaker’
With horror remakes the name of the game in the horror world these days, and original films becoming scarcer and scarcer at the box office, it seemed like a good time for ESplatter to look back in time at some of this memorable — but sadly unjustly forgotten — splatter movies that remain unavailable in the U.S. after all these days. Today’s title: “Witchmaker”.
One movie that really, truly does deserve a resurrection but is quite unlikely to ever receive one is 1969’s LQ Jones-produced “Legend of Witch Hollow” or as it is better known, “Witchmaker”. This was something of a staple on Creature Features in San Francisco in the 1970s. It was pretty intense for TV — but not explicit enough to be banned from the tube.
Remake News for April 24: ‘Crazies,’ ‘Stepfather,’ ‘Piranha’
“The Crazies” redo gets its release date shifted, while “Piranha 3D” gets a cameo and “The Stepfather” gets a poster. It’s remake news for Friday.
“The Crazies” redo from Overture Films has shifted its release date from Sept. 25, 2009 to February 26, 2010. … Richard Dreyfuss is slated to have a cameo in Alex Aja’s remake “Piranha 3D.” Not too sure of the logic of the cameo, but Dreyfuss did star in “Jaws.” …
‘Black Devil Doll 2′ to Be Set in Space!
eSplatter had the pleasure of catching a screening of “Black Devil Doll” over the weekend. Great movie! Look for our review soon and for the film to hit DVD in the U.S. in July. Meanwhile, we learned some info on the forthcoming “Black Devil Doll 2.”
The sequel, if it happens (everything is dependent on the success of “Black Devil Doll 1″), will be set in space, according to producer Shawn Lewis.
Sounds like an excellent concept for a horror comedy featuring this absolutely hilarious new horror character. Again, we will get our review of “Black Devil Doll” up in a couple days — but this film is an absolutely hilarious, politically incorrect gore fest in the spirit of the best Troma movies.
The film also had a premiere at the New Beverly that apparently went over very well.
More Horrible Remake News — Universal Plans ‘Videodrome’ Redo
It doesn’t get much more awful than this. A film that absolutely does not need a remake in any way shape or form is now set for one, with Universal Pictures readying a remake of David Cronenberg’s classic “Videodrome,” from a script by Ehren Kruger, who penned “Scream 3″ and “The Ring” remake.
From this morning’s Variety:
Universal Pictures will remake the 1983 David Cronenberg-directed thriller “Videodrome,” with Ehren Kruger set to write the script and produce with partner Daniel Bobker.
The producers tracked down the rights to Canadian distribution vet Rene Malo, who will be exec producer. Universal distributed the original and had first refusal on a remake, and the studio snapped up the opportunity.
The original “Videodrome” starred James Woods as the head of Civic TV Channel 83, who makes his station relevant by programming “Videodrome,” a series that depicts torture and murder that transfixes viewers.
The new picture will modernize the concept, infuse it with the possibilities of nano-technology and blow it up into a large-scale sci-fi action thriller.
Cronenberg is not involved.. . .
Unjustly Forgotten Horror Movie of the Day: ‘Children of the Corn II — The Final Sacrifice’
It’s a bit strange that with a “Children of the Corn” remake appearing on TV and the original “Children of the Corn” being remastered and released on Blu-Ray, no one has talked about releasing the greatest “Children of the Corn” movie of them all — Part II, released in 1992.
It’s probably because a lot of people don’t know about this movie. You simply haven’t been able to see it legally since its VHS release back in the 1990s. Granted, a lot of the horror produced during the Clinton years was pretty uselesss. But this title was an exception.
Sure, a lot of people say it sucks — and by today’s standards maybe it does. But it isn’t useless.
Chainsaw Maid
THEY are coming for your FLESH and BLOOD! Now the last hope of the family rests on a sexy faithful MAID! The most brutal clay-animation you’ve ever seen!
Win a copy of “The Uninvited”
From the producers of THE RING and DISTURBIA comes the nail-biting suspense thriller, THE UNINVITED. Own it on DVD and Blu-ray April 28th, featuring a CHILLING ALTERNATE ENDING not shown in theaters, deleted scenes and more. Rated PG-13. From Paramount Home Entertainment.
And now you can get your own copy for free here. Easy. Simply put: The first 10 US or Canada citizens who create a new account on bloodee and post ONE horror-related review/story/art will receive a free copy of The Uninvited DVD by mail. There are 10 to give away. This is our way to say thanks for your patronage and to reopen registration with something to sweeten the hiatus.
This contest flight dates are April 24-May 3rd, or until all are gone. Winners will be posted here. Unfortunately, this contest is only open to Canadian and US winners (you might be unable to play the DVD from your location).
About the movie: The uninvited is a PG13 horror movie that looks like it can actually deliver some jumps. For one, it is a remake of one of the best Korean scary flicks: A Tale of Two Sisters (Janghwa, Hongryeon), written and directed by Kim Jee-woon. And that is enough to make me hope for the best. Directed by Charles and Thomas Gard, The Uninvited stars Emily Browning, Elizabeth Banks, Arielle Kebbel and David Strathairn. For more info on the movie, art, and so forth, head to the official Uninvited site at uninvitedthemovie.com.
So…
Register and submit, and you will get one of these. When you are done, send us an email at admin [at] bloodee.com, with a link to your post and your contact details, including name, address and so forth. DVDs will be shipped on May 3rd or around that date. We dont share your information with any parties and will delete all emails when the contest is done.
Unjustly Forgotten Horror Movie of the Day: ‘The Haunted House of Horror’
With the horror genre in an obvious slump — and so many other horror Web sites oohing and aaahing over the latest casting announcements from upcoming horror remakes — it seemed like a good time for ESplatter to look back in time at some of the memorable — but sadly unjustly forgotten — splatter movies that remain unavailable in the U.S. after all these years.
1969’s “Haunted House of Horror” (review here) was produced by Tigon — who put together a number of other forgotten out-of-print horror films, including “The Beast in the Cellar” and “Blood on Satan’s Claw”.
In this 1969 release, Frankie Avalon suffers one of the most gruesome deaths captured in a late 1960s movie — yes, a knife to the balls. A bad movie all around, “Horror House” (aka “The Haunted House of Horror”) gets chilling during its last half hour and actually delivers some very memorable scares. It makes sense that the film is a bit schizophrenic: director Michael Armstrong had the movie taken away from him, with overly toned down scenes filmed by another director. Armstrong definitely has talent, as he went on to helm “Mark of the Devil” the next year.
The plot is pretty basic: Teenagers gathered in an old mansion are being murdered one by one.
British Readers: Meet Dario Argento in London May 1!
Cine-Excess III has confirmed that Italy?s iconic horror legend Dario Argento and his long-time composer Claudio Simonetti (of rock-supergroup Goblin fame) have just been confirmed as this year?s Guests of Honour at Cine-Excess III, the third international conference on cult film traditions, being held April 30-May 2 at Curzon Soho Cinema and Odeon Covent Garden, London.
Argento and Simonetti will receive Cine-Excess Lifetime Achievement Awards for their work on the groundbreaking supernatural thriller “Suspiria” (1977) at a special ceremony/on-stage panel discussion at the Odeon Covent Garden on Friday 1st May at 4pm.
“Suspiria” will then be re-released in a Platinum Edition DVD version on the new Nouveaux Pictures-Cine-Excess label in July 2009. Click here for more on the fest.
. . .
Horror Remakepalooza for April 23
The new Nancy is announced for “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2010″ — plus new images from Rob Zombie’s “H2″ and confirmation of where the trailer will debut tomorrow. … Here’s the latest from the world of horror movie remakes.
First off, Rooney Mara, of “Urban Legends: Bloody Mary” fame (wow, that was a bad movie), will take over Heather Langenkamp’s role as Nancy in the “Nightmare on Elm Street” remake from Platinum Dunes, striking theaters a year from now, April 16, 2010.
Directed by Samuel Bayer, the film stars Jackie Earle Haley as a “serious” Freddy Krueger who doesn’t make wisecracks.
Meanwhile, here are the latest pics I know of for “H2: Halloween 2″ striking theaters this August:
And it has been confirmed that the trailer for Rob Zombie’s sequel will hit Yahoo! Movies on Friday (that would be tomorrow).. . .
Bulwark 53 Part 2
What zombie game is more fun than Bulwark 53? Well, thats not a fair question, as there are many, but lets applaude the makers of Bulwark for making a sequel that is much more challenging than Bulwark 1. In this one, you will actually need a walktrough. Click on the walkthrough link in the game to access it and to access a map of the city. While much better than the first Bulwark, this one also has a tendency to become very slow. Again, the speed cheat is IOP.
Roman Polanski’s ‘Repulsion’ to Hit Blu-Ray
His major horror film before “Rosemary’s Baby,” Roman Polanski’s somewhat rare “Repulsion” is now hitting Blu-Ray courtesy of Criterion in July!
The HD room broke the news about the release, which is hitting stores July 28. Here are specs:
Repulsion
* New, restored high-definition digital transfer
* Audio commentary featuring director Roman Polanski and actress Catherine Deneuve
* A British Horror Film (2003), a documentary on the making of Repulsion, featuring interviews with Polanski, producer Gene Gutowski, and cinematographer Gil Taylor
* A 1964 television documentary filmed on the set of Repulsion, featuring rare footage of Polanski and Deneuve at work
* Theatrical trailer
* PLUS: A booklet featuring an essay by film scholar and curator Bill Horrigan
Click here for our original review of this classic film.. . . .
Remembering Unjustly Forgotten Horror Movies
When I started eSplatter back in 1999, many of the horror films that are now ubiquitous were out-of-print gems available only on EBay. “Deep Red,” “Return of the Living Dead”, “The Burning” and even “The Evil Dead” were out of print with no re-release date in sight.
A lot has changed. But even with just about every decent horror movie that fans are aware of now out on DVD, there are still a bunch of unreleased gems that have yet to make their way to DVD — and have absolutely, positively no release date in sight. In fact, you can’t even find many excellent, unreleased horror titles on Ebay anymore. But they are worth tracking down at conventions.
So here’s a new feature to celebrate the forgotten horrors that are likely to remain unavailable and unmentioned in most of the horror Web-o-sphere.
New Trailer Seals the Deal: ‘Trick R Treat’ Hits Video in October
Well, it’s good and bad news. The bad news is that the much buzzed about “Trick R Treat” won’t be hitting theaters. The good news is it will finally be released.
This new trailer indicates it is striking DVD and Blu-Ray in October.
. . .
Trailer for ‘Wrong Turn 3 – Left for Dead’
“Wrong Turn 2″ was one of the best direct-to-video sequels ever made. We’ll see how “Wrong Turn 3″ fares. From the looks of the trailer, it isn’t pulling any punches.
Declan O’Brien’s sequel hits DVD stores this year. A group of people find themselves trapped in the backwoods of West Virginia, fighting for their lives against a group of vicious and horribly disfigured inbred cannibals.. .
‘H2′ Hits Entertainment Tonight
Here’s a clear video of the “H2″ segment that aired on Entertainment Tonight over the weekend featuring footage from the teaser trailer.
Starring Tyler Mane, Scout Taylor Compton and Malcolm Dowell, the continuing adventures of Michael Myers as seen through the eyes of Rob Zombie will hit theaters August 28.
. . . . .
A Quick Review of the New ‘Hellraiser’ Blu-Ray
We received an advanced copy of Anchor Bay’s new “Hellraiser” Blu-Ray hitting stores next Tuesday. Although the film has obviously been reviewed ad nauseum by sites across the Webosphere — it is a must-see classic, we all know this — what about the Blu-Ray? Does it measure up to past Anchor Bay horror releases?
Anchor Bay, it should be known, is cranking out the very best horror Blu-Ray releases. How so? Well, they are putting out some old cult classics — some as far back as 1978 (”Halloween”) — and they look awesome in the new format. Many old horror releases frankly don’t look any better on Blu-Ray than they do on DVD. Such is the case with most of the stuff that Blue Underground is cranking out.
Save to del.icio.us
