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Saturday, July 27, 2002
Good afternoon, Mr. & Mrs. Fanboy and all the geeks at sea…let’s go to press!
Coming soon? Well, we’re not sure, but we do know it does exist. What is it? Well, it’s BLACK MASK 2: CITY OF MASK, the sequel to the 1996 Jet Li sci-fi actioner that was an international hit. No Jet this time, but if he keeps making crappy movies for Joel Silver he may find himself back in Hong Kong in no time flat. The role of Black Mask is played this time by newcomer Andy On. The plot involves Black Mask having to stop an evil group plotting to detonate a bomb that will cause human and animal DNA to merge thus turning the world into one gigantic ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU. The cast also includes Traci Lords, Tyler “Sabertooth” Mane, and WWE wrestler Rob Van Dam. No word on when or if the movie will get released stateside, but its Asian release is scheduled for later this year so wrestling fans who want to see RVD spout claws and transform into a Wolverine knock-off will just have to wait.
However, we do have a set date for the release of the forthcoming Steven Seagal/Claudia Christian action thriller LOCKDOWN (originally titled HALF PAST DEAD) so set aside November 15th to see the new movie written and directed by the same fellow who wrote HARLEY DAVIDSON & THE MARLBORO MAN. This one sounds like a winner already.
Try to envision this: STARSKY & HUTCH: THE MOVIE starring Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson with Snoop Dogg as Huggybear. According to Dark Horizons, it may happen. I still say a big screen Barnaby Jones with Donald Sutherland or James Cromwell in the lead role would be box office gold.
Forrest Whitaker has confirmed to FOX News that the live action FAT ALBERT movie he was set to direct is dead. D-E-A-D! As in, it’s not going to happen. Will anyone mourn?
NBC has announced a biopic on Martha Stewart is in the works for next season. Oh, I hope it’s as good as their Jesse Ventura biopic. Wrestling’s real, right NBC?
CNN.com has a nice story on the latest Godzilla flick. You can see it just by clicking here.
Finally, SciFi.com is reporting that fans of the Adrian Paul show TRACKER have launched a petition to save the ailing series which is currently being shopped around to several cable channels in a desperate attempt to keep the show in production. So far they have collected about 2,200 signatures. I think I can safely say I speak for majority of the people reading this right now when I ask, there are actually 2,200 people who watch TRACKER?
More news, views, and skews to come.
–Scott Foy
posted by Christopher 12:45 PM | Comments
Friday, July 26, 2002
The Fangoria web site has been bubbling with news recently. Seems that Mimic 3 is planned to start filming in a few weeks over in Romania (former, or is still current, stomping grounds of Charles Band here and gone and back again Full Moon Pictures). Two more Hellraiser sequels are on the production block as well. No word about the possibility of another Children of the Corn feature from the studio, but since the own that franchise title as well I wouldn't be surprise if they trot one out if Signs is a reasonable hit.
The site also reports that the Brazilian horror icon Coffin Joe will be getting a deluxe boxed DVD set in his home land, the site promises info on how to get it imported stateside once it hits shelves in September.
Speaking of horror icons, Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses will go the independent route after MGM decided not to distribute the 70s era slasher homage. According to Zombie, MGM dumped his film after he made a off color comment in an interview, but the studio says they had only been talking about making a deal, nothing more. Nonetheless, Zombie told VH-1 that he has hired someone to make prints and posters and he'll be releasing it himself.
THE RATS are back, no not James Herbert's movie, but the Fox telemovie that was pulled from airing in the aftermath of the 9/11. The animal on the rampage flick will be hitting shelves on October 15th from Fox video. Coolness! Richard Franklin's cult shocker Patrick gets the DVD treatment courtesy of Elite on October 22nd and X-Files completetists will be please that the complete sixth season will be out there on November 5th. Pete Walker fans will be pleased to know that to of his gruesome thrillers, The Comeback and The Confessional, will be released by Image April 1, 2003 and Blue Underground releases Romero's The Crazies July 1, 2003.
In the old news is still news to me file, the website for techno-gothic horror scribe John Saul reports that Section 8 (the production company formed by Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney) has bought the rights to Saul's current bestseller, the 'haunted' apartment yarn Midnight Voices. Film adaptations of Saul's work, despite his popular sales, have been limited to one telemovie, Cry for the Strangers (which was directed by Peter Medak and starred Patrick Duffy and the late Brian Keith). The aforementioned Dimension pictures (which has gained notoriety for buying/producing films and then just letting them gather dust in a holding pen for a year or more) had bought the rights to Saul's haunted hotel novel The Right Hand of Evil, but time has run out on the option. Writers are now working on a script to sell to other production companies. Saul also tells the site that he is planning several TV projects (mini-series? weekly series?) as well.
In news I didn't need to hear, Elite Entertainment announced that the next 'Millenium Edition' deluxe disc will be of Meir Zarchi's notorious rape and revenge melodrama I Spit On Your Grave (a.k.a. Day of the Woman)! Somebody out is sure to appreciate that, but I don't know if I want to meet that person.
–Chad H "Chadzilla" Saxelid
posted by Christopher 10:52 AM | Comments
Thursday, July 25, 2002
Good evening, Mr. & Mrs. Fanboy and all the geeks at sea…let's go to press!
Jonathan Frakes is at the helm to direct a live-action adaptation of the British 'supermarionation' TV series THUNDERBIRDS. Harrison Ford has reportedly been tapped to play boss, Jeff Tracy. If that last part is true, I think Mr. Ford needs to seriously consider getting a new agent. A funny sidenote: A live-action Thunderbirds script was developed several years ago but the studio rejected it after dubbing it to be "too gay."
Universal has already staked out May 21, 2004 as the release date for VAN HELSING, which is the next megabudget monster mash from the maker of the recent MUMMY movies. This one, as the title should make obvious, is about Prof. Van Helsing, to be played by Hugh Jackman, and his battles with Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Wolf Man. If its anything like the MUMMY movies, then it should boast lots of really fake looking CGI and feature a script that's dumber than a bag of hammers! No word yet on which pro wrestler will be cast in this one.
Speaking of the future, GODZILLA 1985 is set for the DVD treatment from Anchor Bay, but you'll have to wait until June 24, 2003 to get it. June 24th also happens to be my birthday so you all know what to get me and don't forget to save your reciepts.
Don't forget to mark you calenders for August 6th again when THE SWARM also arrives on DVD. Yep, the 1978 Irwin Allen box office disaster film is actually getting the royal DVD treatment. THE SWARM told the overbloated tale of Africanized killer bees migrating North from South America to threaten the American way of life and only a cast of Hollywood all-stars can stop them. It would go onto become one of the biggest box office bombs of all time. In fact, THE SWARM may be more infamous for the fact that it's the only time the theater owners actually sued the studio for loss of revenue due to being contractually obligated to run the stinker for a specified number of weeks regardless of box office performance. Also, it truly is a testament to the immense talent of Michael Caine that a man who has starred in THE SWARM, JAWS: THE REVENGE, and ON DEADLY GROUND can remain one of the most respected actors in Hollywood.
Have you seen the new direct-to-video kickfest entitled THE CIRCUIT starring the human charisma vaccuum Olivier Grunier? Some of you must have because a sequel is in the works! The first one apparently cast the monosyllabic musclehead as a guy named Dirk Longstreet (Now that's a name!) who takes part in the ever-popular sport of underground human cockfighting. I suspect the sequel will not deviate from the formula.
"Am I not turtle-ly enough for the turtle club?" "Turtle, turtle!" These lines torment my soul! I cannot get them out of my head! Make it stop! Am I the only one who gets the compulsion to ram their head through the TV set whenever a trailer for Dana Carvey's MASTER OF DISGUISE comes on? Seriously, just who in the hell is this movie targeted at? Not since Ernest departed has such pain inducing idiotic agony polluted the silver screen. Please make the pain stop.
Speaking of crappy trailers, I think I've seen the trailer for SWIMFAN before every single movie I've been to in the last two months and I can't take it anymore! Even if the movie looked like it was worth a damn, what's the point because the trailer gives away the whole movie anyway?
Okay, as promised last time, I've managed to find some info on ATTACK OF THE GIANT GULL. Over the weekend while searching for a movie on IMDB, I came across this title by complete accident. ATTACK OF THE GIANT GULL is a currently in-production feature from a fellow named Jonathan M. Parisen who has been described as the Ed Wood of the 21st century. Okay. On his very short list of credits is something called THE ATOMIC SPACE BUG and CLASS OF NUKE'EM HIGH IV. ATTACK OF THE GIANT GULL is, as best I can guess, his take on the immortally bad THE GIANT CLAW only with a gargantuan sea gull. If you want an idea of what the production values will be like on this one, assuming it actually ever gets completed, just click this link and get a preview of the visual effects. CGI? More like GIF.
More news, views, and skews to come.
–Scott Foy
posted by Christopher 2:07 PM | Comments
Cinematographer Daniel Pearl (who filmed the first version of Invaders From Mars as well as Tobe Hooper's underrated remake) has been roped into filming the most unwanted remake since Psycho (or Dawn of the Dead if it was announced after that other unwanted remake). Scott Stoddard is making the Leatherface mask and KNB is creating the skinned corpses. Eric Bernt, who co-wrote the no-longer-on-Russell-Crowe-or-Denzel- Washington's-resume sci-thriller Virtuosity, is co-writing the thing with Scott Kosar.
Remember the Boogeyman DVD? The one with all the clips and commentary by Robert Englund and others? Well the sequel, Masters of Horror, has been upgraded to a cable special for Halloween and will feature interviews with the usual suspects (Argento, Hooper, Craven, Carpenter, et al). Perhaps the should call it Has Beens of Horror?
Dracula 2000 has spawned two DTV sequels. Both were scripted by Joel Soisson and directed by Patrick Lussier. The first, entitled Dracula: Ascension, revolves around Dracula getting partially resurrected in a bath tub filled with blood and the second, called Dracula: Legacy, has two characters from Ascension becoming vampire hunters. Vampires suck. There, I said it.
Two movies in development with the same title, someone will blink, but who? The first Descent is from Francis Ford Crap-oh-la and is described as an adventure with a ghostly twist. The screenwriter responsible for Black Rain (the Michael Douglas/Ridley Scott debacle) is expanding on Mr. Coppola's 'original' story idea. The OTHER Descent is based on the novel by Jeffrey Long and is being written by David S. Goyer and is another one of those newly discovered subterranean creature features. Neither sound very promising.
Stephen Dorff joins the cast of Cold Creek Manor (which is keeping its name and NOT changing to the rather generic sounding The Devil's Throat after all). Dimension wants Kristen Dunst to star in Wes Craven's remake of the Japanese thriller Pulse (evidently she owes them a movie).
The AMC Backstory of Halloween WILL debut on Monterfest 2002, along with a mini-marathon of the second through fifth movie. But NOT the subject movie? THAT makes a lot of sense!
-Chad H "Chadzilla" Saxelid
posted by Christopher 6:43 AM | Comments
Tuesday, July 23, 2002
Good evening, Mr. & Mrs. Fanboy and all the geeks at sea…let’s go to press!
God have mercy on us all! William Shatner and Charles Band have joined forces! WILLIAM SHATNER’S FULL MOON FRIGHT NIGHT debuts August 3rd on the Sci-Fi Channel and will air at 11 p.m. ET each Saturday Night. Essentially, it is going to be William Shatner doing the Joe Bob Briggs role and playing host to different Full Moon Pictures’ production each week. In addition to hosting the films, there will also be special guests and Shatner himself will help re-enact some of the films’ various death scenes. So far only 13 movies/episodes are slated to air. The movies scheduled are:
VAMPIRE JOURNALS
SIDESHOW
RAGDOLL
SHRUNKEN HEADS
WITCHOUSE II: BLOOD COVEN
KILLJOY
HORRORVISION
HEAD OF THE FAMILY
HIDEOUS!
CASTLE FREAK
OBLIVION
PUPPET MASTER VS DEMONIC TOYS
It seems the latter which I mentioned in a previous report is being made exclusively for the Sci-Fi Channel series and the plot concerns the possessor of the Demonic Toys meeting up with a girl who has bought the Puppet Master dolls off Ebay and from their much chaos ensues. One this is for certain, we can expect Shatner to ham it up only as Shatner can.
However, the Shatner/Band connection doesn’t end there. Band is one of the producers on the upcoming sci-fi thriller entitled GROOM LAKE, which was directed by and co-written by and stars Mr. Tamborine Man himself. The low budget sci-fi thriller deals with aliens and government conspiracies. No word on a release date yet. Did I also mention that one of the other co-stars of the film is none other than Dick Van Patten? William Shatner, Charles Band, and Dick Van Patten together at last! Truly these are the end times!
You know how I’ve been going on about remakes and comic book movies? I forgot to add one more to the list – movies based on video games. Well, looks like one more is heading to the big screen. Universal has purchased the rights to the game SPY HUNTER which they plan to develop as a vehicle (no pun intended) for The Rock. Seeing how this game being made live action would essentially be THE FAST & THE FURIOUS meets the upcoming xXx, why not just go ahead and cast Vin Diesel?
So just what in the blue hell is ATTACK OF THE GIANT GULL? I’m not quite sure myself, but I’ll have more details in my next news update. Box office estimates that EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS only drew around $9,300,000 in five days in its first five days. Wow, that is really, really bad! The box office bombing of the film probably comes as shock to many Hollywood insiders as the film had been moved up from its original August release date after early test screenings gave the film a good buzz. Well, anybody who was hoping for a mainstream Hollywood resurgence of old fashioned sci-fi monster movies can kiss that hope goodbye now. Perhaps this is conclusive proof that David Arquette is the kiss of death? Or perhaps audiences who saw the trailer touting "FROM THE PRODUCERS OF INDEPENDENCE DAY AND GODZILLA" took that as a stern warning to stay away?
And for the ultimate in cinematic hell, Britney Spears’ theatrical debut, CROSSROADS, hits shelves today!
More news, views, and skews to come.
–Scott Foy
posted by Christopher 3:14 PM | Comments
Monday, July 22, 2002
The lensing thriller The Tooth Fairy (which features FX work by Stan Winston) has a new, more ominous and less cheesy DTV franchise spawning sounding tile, it is now called Fear the Dark. Mike Figgis's Cold Creek Manor (the cast of which Sharon Stone just joined - she plays Dennis Quaid's wife) is now called The Devil's Throat and the Sci-fi Channel production Devil's Pass which switched to Terminal Velocity as been changed yet again, it is now Terminal Invasion!
David Szulkin (author of Last House on the Left: The Making of the Cult Classic) and Jim (Deadbeat at Dawn) VanBebber are fessing up to writing the script for The Toolbox Murders remake, a slight change in plans for the duo, who had originally pitched a sequel to the original cult shocker to producer Tony DiDio.
John Carl Buechler has completed Watchers Reborn (the fourth in the Watchers series) in just 16 days! Wow. The sequel stars Mark Hamill (who co-produced), Stephen Macht, and Lisa Wilcox (the Dream Master from Nightmare on Elm Streets 4 and 5). It also features a "wonderful performance by Einstein, the dog." Next on Buechler's plate is directing the movie Painful Employment (insert joke here), which is set to start shooting this August in Chicago. After that Buechler hopes to have enough financing to get his script Mindwash filmed. Buechler (who has worked recently on the effects for Addams Family Reunion and Richie Rich: A Magical Christmas) is also busy supplying effects for something called National Lampoon's Men in White! A parody of a parody? Argh!
There appears to be a partial script for Trancers 6 (the subheader title Life After Deth). Evidently it's really old news, but its new to me. You can see it at geocities Area51/Lair/2307. I have heard other news that the latest sequel has Jack Deth going back in time and residing in (trancing?) the body of his great-great-granddaughter or something. You know its cheap when Full Moon won't even spring for Tim Thomerson! Is the struggling studio that strapped for cash?
(Editor's Note: This script has been deemed a fake, and the actual Trancers 6 is the one with the Deth descendant. There was a review on the web but I can't seem to loate it now. However, there is an interview with T6 director Jay Woelfel here. Last I saw, the film was slated for a July 23rd release (tomorrow!), but I'll be darned if I can find it listed anywhere.)
For you soundtrack geeks out there (Hi!) Intrada Records has release Henry Mancini's wonderful score for Silver Streak on disc. Danny Lux's score for Halloween: Resurrection is available from Varese, who also offer the soundtracks to Reign of Fire and Eight Legged Freaks.
Jason X will hit video (along with Jason Goes to Hell) on October 8 with all the bells and whistles that are to be expected of New Line's Platinum Series DVD line. There will be commentaries, documentaries, trailers, and lions, tigers, and bear, OH MY!
Eight Legged Freaks opened weakly with 6.7 or so million (9.3 or so since it's July 17th Wednesday start date), next weekends receipts will show if the giant monster comedy has any real legs (I hope it does, the movie is a hoot). The real news is Halloween: Resurrection's solid take of 5.4 million on its second weekend, bringing the total to date gross to a little over 20 million or so. The movie's box office drop off (a little more than half of its opening 12.3 take) shows the slasher series still has legs and this one will no doubt turn a sizable profit by the time it hits video rental shelves. I expect pre-production on part nine to be annouced by this fall.
Porn queens, Richard Grieco, and The Hills Have Eyes-style cannibals face off in Samhain. The Canadian based thriller is still in production and the female leads (Ginger Lynn Allen, Jenna Jameson, and Taylor Hayes) recently posed for the Femme Fatale Magazine cover story.
Mira Sorvino as Jill Valentine? Well Natasha Henstridge (who kicked ass quite nicely in John Carpenter's Ghosts of Mars) was too busy to take up the offered part in Resident Evil 2: Nemesis (which is still set for an October 31, 2003 release date, despite the first Resident Evil not knocking too many viewers dead). "Survivors from the first film meet survivors from the game" says Paul Anderson, who is hard at work on the script which converges the storyline from his prequel film with events from the game Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. In edition to Jill's appearance, Carlos Oliviera and the Nemesis itself will appear in the movie, which will follow the same setting/time frame of the game.
Ghost Ship (which bad movie fans are already making Death Ship remake jokes about) has a website, www.ghostshipmovie.com, where you can see photos and a trailer is promised. The teaser poster I saw simply states HALLOWEEN, but the site currently lists October 25th as the actual release date.
–Chad H. "Chadzilla" Saxelid
posted by Christopher 6:48 PM | Comments
Sunday, July 21, 2002
Good evening, Mr. & Mrs. Fanboy and all the geeks at sea…let’s go to press!
Ain’t It Cool News has reported that Barbera Streisand’s hairdresser turned movie mogul Jon Peters, who last tormented audiences with THE WILD, WILD WEST, has secured the rights to remake THE BLOB , this time to be done in the same vein as GHOSTBUSTERS and MEN IN BLACK , whatever that means. Perhaps he’s forgotten that the movie was already remade about 15 years ago? Yes, folks, Hollywood is now remaking remakes! Keep in mind that Mr. Peters is also the same producer who kept insisting that Kevin Smith include a giant spider in the Superman script he was writing because as Mr. Peters put it, “The spider is the king of the insects.” No word yet on whether he wants to remake this movie because he thinks the single-celled amoeba-like BLOB is the king of the fungi. Also, no word on whether this BLOB remake will feature a giant spider. One can only assume that seeing EIGHT LEGGED FREAKS must have been an orgasmic experience for this man.
Speaking of remakes of remakes, Disney is moving forward with yet another remake of THE SHAGGY DOG even though they already remade it for TV back in 1995. So how long until THE CAT FROM OUTER SPACE gets the big budget remake treatment? You just know they’d use an all CGI cat.
Buffy The Vampire Slayer ’s Nicholas “Xander” Brendan is currently in discussion to play THE GREEN LANTERN in a theatrical feature. The way things are going, 1 out of every 3 movies released by 2005 will either be a remake, a sequel to a remake, a comic book movie, or a sequel to a comic book movie. And yet still no movement on the ABOMINABLE front!
A November 2002 release date has been announced for the upcoming Starsky & Hutch game for the PS2. They’ve made a Starsky & Hutch video game? What’s next - a Barnaby Jones video game? I wouldn’t mind a Tomb Raider style game with Buddy Ebsen kicking ass. Still, if this Starsky & Hutch video game has a mode where you can play as Huggybear then I’ll definitely check it out.
 BAD MOVIE ALERT!!! BAD MOVIE ALERT!!!
September 24, 2002 is the set video release date for FANGS. What’s FANGS you ask? Well, from what I’ve been able to find out, it’s basically the same premise as BATS except its even cheaper and crappier. Hard to imagine, huh? Well, it does star Corbin Bernsen. Even better, the writer of the film is a man whose writing credits includes scripting for such classic TV shows as Three’s Company, The Facts Of Life, Silver Spoons, Mama’s Family (UGH!) and Family Matters. The film has already been released in Scandinavia to universal scorn. I don’t know about you, but I cannot wait for this one to hit the video store shelves.
More news, views, and skews to come.
–Scott Foy
posted by Christopher 7:59 PM | Comments
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