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Friday, February 21, 2003
Wow, has this ever been a slow news week or what? Well, at least we end the week with some actual news.
We begin our weekly dose of comic book-to-movie news with confirmed reports that Alfred Molina has been cast as Doctor Octopus in the SPIDER-MAN sequel. Just to make sure that there isn’t a glut of comic book movies out there, Marvel honcho Avi Arad has made mention of possible spin-off movies based on Wolverine and Storm from X-MEN and Electra from DAREDEVIL. Rumor has it that Leonardo DiCaprio is being strongly considered for Tony Stark in IRON MAN. That would be a gross miscasting if there ever was! Ain’t It Cool News honcho Harry Knowles did a review of the HULK script and dropped hints about 24 star Keifer Sutherland being strongly considered for a comic book film, which many have speculated to be NICK FURY or THE PUNISHER. Either way, they’ll be better than the David Hasselhoff and Dolph Lundgen versions. Okay, that’s enough comic talk.
How about some unnecessary remakes news? Let’s start with something guaranteed to fail, NW Magazine reports that a remake of GENTLEMAN PREFER BLONDES with America’s forehead . . . I mean sweetheart Reese Witherspoon in the role made famous by Marilyn Monroe.
Want some more? If the threat of Islamic fundamentalism and possible nuclear conflict with North Korea weren’t threatening enough to the civilized world, Variety reports that director Blake Edwards will direct a remake of his 1979 hit 10 to be entitled 10 AGAIN. Too soon to now who will take the place of Dudley Moore and Bo Derek but just the fact that Blake Edwards is directing again should give us all pause.
Enough with the remakes already because its time for some video game to big screen news. Only really one to report though. Dimension Films have bought the rights to the video game BACKWATER in which the player is trying to escape from a bayou while being hunted down by a maniacal killer named Mr. Jangle. The interesting thing here is that the video game BACKWATER doesn’t even exist yet. So now not only is Hollywood buying the rights to video games that don’t yet exist, but they’re spending big bucks to buy the rights to a video game whose premise sounds like that of a simple slasher movie that anyone could have written. Sheesh!
Be afraid! Be very afraid! Why? Because, in case you didn’t know it, there’s a theatrical movie based on the uber popular reality game show American Idol starring the winner and first runner-up from the first season. This is old news to those of you who read Badmovies.net but what is new is that we finally know who the perpetrators of this unspeakable evil are. The director of film is the same man responsible for SHE’S ALL THAT (the film that began the scourge of Freddie Prinze Jr.) and BOYS AND GIRLS and the screenwriter is a woman who helped co-write SPICE WORLD. April 25th is the scheduled release date for this theatrical rush job currently entitled FROM JUSTIN TO KELLY: THE TALE OF TWO AMERICAN IDOLS. May God have mercy upon us all!
Remember those Shakespearean slasher novels I reported on late last year? Well, the first in the series of teen horror Shakespeare-sequels from author David Bergantino, collectively entitled BARD'S BLOOD arrived on bookstore shelves a week ago. This first installment, HAMLET II: OPHELIA'S REVENGE, features a modern descendant of Hamlet's who inherits Elsinore Castle, only to subsequently have to deal with a risen-from-the-grave Ophelia who wants him dead. Mr. Bergatino is a fan of the site so I’ll give him a cheap plug. You can order it directly from Amazon by clicking here.
Those of you chomping at the bit waiting for Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess to make their way to dvd won’t have to wait too much longer. While no release date is as of yet set, Anchor Bay has picked up the home video rights to both shows. Now if only someone would release a special edition boxset of the second season of Baywatch Nights complete with audio commentary by Hasselhoff himself.
Finally today, one last bit of movie news that should leave you all with a bad taste in your mouth. Zap2It was told by a Miramax source that they plan to continue the HALLOWEEN franchise with a 9th installment tentatively set for a summer 2004 release. Hey, if they make it up to ten will they make MICHAEL X and set it on board a futuristic spaceship on Halloween?
–Scott Foy
posted by Christopher 5:10 AM | Comments
Thursday, February 20, 2003
Halloween: H20 20 Years Later is airing on FX stations and, for fans of the series sequel, there are a few extras to enjoy, or so reports www.halloweenmovies.com. In the expanded TV cut there is an alternate Marion scene, an extended scene at the rest stop, and some other extensions. Whether it adds anything other than time to the proceedings is for you to decide. Airdates are February 22nd and the 23rd. The Halloween Returns to Haddonfield convention ( www.halloween25.com ) announced several more guest appearances. Making their first time ever convention appearances are Brad Loree (Myers in Resurrection), Jim Winburn (the stuntman who fell off the balcony in the first Halloween), George P. Wilbur (Myers in H4 and H6), Brian Andrews (who played Tommy Doyle in Halloween), and composer John Ottman. Special Guests (i.e. slumming celebs from other genre outings) currently scheduled to appear are Reggie (Phantasm) Bannister, R.A. Mihailoff (aka Leatherface in TCM3), Ed Neal (the Hitchhiker in the first TCM), Stacey Keach, and John Carpenter's Charles Cyphers stand-in PETER JASON. Carpenter himself has been contacted repeatedly but, to date, cannot confirm or deny an appearance at the convention.
Anchor Bay is busy - new to the DVD roster this week, I see, is the following: Sam Peckinpah's flawed final feature, The Osterman Weekend is yet another movie getting the dual disc set treatment. Restored from original vault material, the movie will feature audio commentaries as well as cast and crew interviews and the other usual suspect bonuses. Also on their planning board is a restored edition of the maligned New World release Dead Heat, which featured Treat Williams and Joe Piscopo as living dead cops. AB is working with director Mark Goldblatt to restore all the gore that was allegedly trimmed from the theatrical prints. Other bonuses are planned, but not confirmed. If those two releases don't get your heart racing, maybe the upcoming boxed set of Michael Mann's two season cop show Crime Story will. Happy shopping.
Blue Underground is releasing the Lucio Fulci directed crime thriller Contraband on March 11th.
Danny (HorrorVision) Draven is back! His latest offering is Dark Walker, produced by his Darkwave Films banner. The film is set in the real life haunted house amusement park outside of Fresno, California ( www.hobbsgrove.com ) and concerns a group of teenagers whose Halloween jobs are cut short by a supernatural beastie seeking revenge. Check out the trailer here, www.dannydraven.com/films/index.html. The editing is a tad energetic, but it looks like an entertaining time waster.
La-La Land Records, having wasted time (IMHO) with the soundtrack to They, have now announce an upgraded/remastered and complete release of Richard Band's score for From Beyond. Release is planned for late March.
Tempe Video has a roster of Special Editions planned for titles like Bloodletting (July 8), Ozone (August 12), Polymorph (October 24), and The Sandman (January 2004).
February 27th will see BAM Rose Cinemas in Brooklyn, New York launch a retrospective of Mario Bava movies, starting with Black Sunday and continuing with Five Dolls for an August Moon, Planet of the Vampires, Four Times that Night, Twitch of the Death Nerve, and Baron Blood. Enjoy.
–Chad H. "Chadzilla" Saxelid
posted by Christopher 6:09 PM | Comments
Wednesday, February 19, 2003
DRAGON WARS or D-WAR for short (seems even Korean cinema is copying the annoying Hollywood marketing technique of coming up with allegedly hip title abbreviations) is the newest film by South Korean genre director Hyung Rae Shim. Mr. Shim is also sometimes credited as simply Ray Shim because Western Audiences prefer their names to be as simplistic as their movie titles I guess. The movie Shim is probably most well known for to Western audiences is YONGGARY, the 1999/2001 remake of the late 60s Korean kaiju movie YONGARY, MONSTER FROM THE DEEP. Tri-Star bought the rights to YONGGARY and released it straight-to-video last year under the new title of REPTILIAN (Even though the monster is still called Yonggary in the movie!) because they apparently think YONGGARY was too foreign sounding I guess. The movie has since been put in frequent rotation on the Sci-Fi Channel when they’re not running KOMODO for the 100,000th time.
YONGGARY was Shim’s attempt to create a South Korean movie aimed at the tastes of international audiences with hopes of capitalizing on the success of Tri-Star’s GODZILLA (And we all know how that turned out!). To do this, the monster effects were done completely with CGI in place of the traditional man in a monster suit and by casting American actors. Unfortunately, the CGI was absolutely atrocious and the English-speaking actors were so bad that the film would have been better off being dubbed. It was an extremely ambitious production that got an A for effort but an F for execution.
YONGGARY was highly anticipated by many in daikaiju fandom but when it turned out to be such a grotesque misfire the news of Kim’s next project was met more or less with apathy. Well, it was until the last 72 hours when word began to spread about the DRAGON WARS teaser trailer. One can safely say that the effects in DRAGON WARS are light years ahead. Only problem with the trailer is that it doesn’t give any indication as to exactly what in the hell is the plot of the movie. Well, I’m going to tell you from what I’ve been able to gather.
DRAGON WARS focuses on Imoogi, a legendary giant snake from actual Korean folklore. Part of the movie takes place about 500 years ago in Korea involving a race of dragon-worshipping aliens called Atroxes that are apparently seeking out the legendary Imoogi and terrorizing the peasants in the process. I’m going to take a wild guess and say they fail. This sets up the stuff set in modern day Los Angeles. There’s something to do with an artifact of some kind in an old Korean curiosities shop (a la GREMLINS) and a woman with some supernatural connection to Imoogi who is being sought after by the returning aliens who seek to resurrect the giant serpent. As best I could understand from the fractured English I was reading, the aliens wish to sacrifice her thus transforming Imoogi into an invincible dragon with the power to help them conquer the world. From the looks of the trailer, Imoogi is actually some sort of guardian monster (a la Gamera) who seeks to protect mankind but can be manipulated for evil.
Personally, I can’t wait to see this one despite how bad YONGGARY turned out. Hopefully this time the English-speaking actors they hired can actually act. The fact that we didn’t see any of them in the teaser does leave me with some trepidation. The quality of the effects alone guarantees this will be a vastly superior film to YONGGARY. You can see for yourself at www.dragonwarsmovie.com if you haven’t already. Hopefully they will add more stuff to the site soon, and hopefully the trailers will work as some people haven’t been able to get them to work while others have had no problem whatsoever.
Apparently DRAGON WARS is getting a special release in Seoul on February 28th with its general release scheduled most likely for later this summer. I wouldn’t be surprised if this movie gets shopped around at the Cannes Film Festival this summer so hopefully it will make its way to North America and the rest of the world sometime later this year. We can only hope.
–Scott Foy
posted by Christopher 6:43 AM | Comments
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