Horror Squad, Horror Movies, News, Trailers, and More

The wilds of Nova Scotia is the site for Evan Kelly's The Corridor, about a group of friends who discover a spectral corridor through the woods during a guys getaway weekend.

The film just wrapped production in Canning and Halifax, Nova Scotia where stars Stephen Chambers (Casino Jack, Empty Chamber), James Gilbert (The Tudors, Saw VI), David Patrick Flemming (The Haunting of Sorority Row, Summerhood), Matthew Amyotte (Outlander, G-Spot), Glen Matthews (Treevenge, Phone Whores), Mary-Colin Chisholm (The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Trailer Park Boys: Countdown to Liquor Day) and Nigel Bennett (The Border, Sea Wolf, Lexx [god I miss that show]) are all reaffirming their hetero life partner status while confronting their demons.

Producer Mike Masters has expressed that the Canadian location was a key element in the film: "We wanted to tap into a lot of the local talent and resources here in Nova Scotia. From most of the key cast and crew, to the shooting locations, it brings together the best of what Nova Scotia has to offer in terms of resources and experience on this project."

See, Nova Scotia is the home of deadly, phantom corridors AND lox. The Corridor is scheduled to be released in September 2010.

Back in October, we brought you word of another twist in the tangled and lengthy vampire legend, American Vampire. Written Scott Snyder, with art by Rafael Albuquerque, American Vampire is a new monthly comic. Oh, and they're getting some help from Stephen King. Since it's tough to find any water in that well, Snyder and King are going in a different direction and introducing new strain of vampire-a more brutish and violent type, without the trappings of Eastern European vampire lore, hence the title.

The first story arc will play out over 5 issues with 2 different tales. Snyder helms one, while King himself does his first bit of written (not adapted) work for a comic. After King eventually departs, they'll work their way through the first American vampire's various blood drinking shenanigans throughout various decades. I can only hope this means we'll get a nod to Hammer's Dracula AD 1972.

While Snyder's storyline is one set against the backdrop of the roaring 20's, it's King's that I'm looking forward to - a murderous cowboy by the name of Skinner Sweet. How can you not be intrigued by that?

But here's the best part - Jim Lee just released a preview of a variant cover he's worked up. King and Lee? And vampire cowboys? Yes, please. A thousand times, yes. Get a taste of it here. American Vampire is right around the corner. Grab one at your local comic shop on March 17th.

Let me be clear by saying that if you put shades of HP Lovecraft in anything, you have my complete attention. Horrors from beyond time and space? Let's see it. Stephen King dipping his toes into something so blatantly Lovecraftian? Hell yes. Cthulu plushies? Want one. All of this amounts to me being seriously peeved at myself for not discovering this until now. You see, I fell off of the Stephen King train a while back. I still like the guy's work and know that he's produced some of the best bits of fiction in history.

That said, since what I will refer to as 'the Dreamcatcher Incident' transpired, I haven't been his biggest fan. Still, the guy keeps on turning out work of varying qualities. I haven't paid too much attention to most of it, but back in 2008, he released a short story collection entitled Just After Sunset. Within was a previously unpublished work called N. It was adapted into an illustrated webseries even before the book's publication (a webseries I will be devouring moments after this article).

Now, Marvel is bringing the story into comics form in the shape of a 4 issue limited series written by Marc Guggenheim, one of the bigger writing names in the industry. What's more is that they're using artwork from Alex Maleev who, after his stretch on Daredevil, can really do no wrong.

It's an epistolary tale (again, Lovecraft) of a psychiatrist who falls into the same trap of madness and obsession as one of his patients. They discover an assortment of mysterious stones in the desolate Ackerman's field that may be a portal holding back a creature of unrefined evil.

Hollywood and horror lost another talent this morning. Former child star Corey Haim was found dead of an apparent accidental drug overdose at his Burbank apartment. He was 38 years old.

If you grew up in the 1980s, then odds are you saw a veritable truckload of Haim's work. The actor--along with frequent co-star and friend Corey Feldman--became an instant celebrity and a teen heartthrob. Haim was everywhere for a few years--in theatrical features and direct-to-video movies alike--but as time passed and his well-documented addictions grew, we came to know more about the actor's offscreen problems than what he was working on next. There was perhaps nothing more painful than seeing just how far he'd fallen in the reality series The Two Coreys.

Let's not dwell on that--let's instead remember Corey for the good things he brought us. Haim didn't do a lot of horror films, but the ones he did appear in were memorable. He turned up in the cinematic adaptation of Stephen King's story Silver Bullet and in Dean Koontz's killer monster flick Watchers.

However, Haim will always be best known as Sam, the teenaged vampire killer in Joel Schumacher's classic The Lost Boys. That role encapsulated everything we loved about Corey Haim--his sense of humor, his charm, and yes, even his acting ability. Corey may not have come to the end we'd all have hoped, but his legacy lives on in the work he leaves behind.

Rest in peace, Corey.

Do you know the Hamburger Bed Girl? Sure you do. She's an internet sensation. I prefer to refer to her by her new monniker, though, the Millenium Falcon Bed Girl. That's infinitely cooler. Over the last few months, Kayla and I have been locking horns in our crudely executed videos, debating the merits of various horror flicks both classic and . . . less classic. Sure, posting this is a bit self-serving. Why? 'Cause that's me. I'm the one on the left in the video, the less cute one. Yes, I may be a bit intoxicated. Yes, I'm certainly obnoxious, but mock away, internet mongrels. That's what it's there for.

DISCLAIMER!

Before you show up at my door with your torches and your pitchforks, ready to skewer and burn me for my heresy, let me be clear. I love Night of the Creeps. I love it. Fred Dekker's flick is one of the best horror films of the 80's. But, had Kayla and I sat around mutually singing it's praises for 5 minutes, it wouldn't have been much of a debate. Besides, what's more entertaining than horror nerds arguing, right? Right??

After the jump is the video. Check it out.

The other day Horror Squad's own Mike Bracken brought us an updated trailer, courtesy of Twitch, for the brutal-lookin' flick A Serbian Film. If you haven't watched the trailer yet, I highly suggest you do so. It's incredibly brutal, and incredibly not safe for work, what with all the blood, nudity, and rough sex involved. But what do you expect in a movie about a porn star whose return to porn has an added bonus of murder and mayhem?

A Serbian Film will be making an appearance at SXSW this month, but for those who unable to make it you'll have another chance only a few months later. Horror Squad just got word that Srdjan Spasojevic's debut flick will be screened with two other Serbian films as part of Fantasia Film Festival's 2010's "Subversive Serbia" block of programming this July in Montreal.

Shining a spotlight on "the blistering new wave of confrontational and edgy Serbian cinema," this series will also include the films The Life and Death of a Porno Gang, directed by Mladen Djordjevic, and Tears for Sale, which was co-written by Aleksandar Radivojevic, who also wrote A Serbian Film. Fantasia co-director Mitch David had this to say about the films:

"The voices emerging from the new wave of independent Serbian cinema are some of the rawest and most daring of any we've ever encountered" said Fantasia co-director Mitch Davis. "This is smart, confrontational filmmaking with astounding elements of shock, armed with the intelligence and the urgency to back it up. In particular, A Serbian Film and Porno Gang are, to my mind, the Clockwork Oranges of our generation. They push boundaries in ways that cinema rarely has the courage to do, and they're two of the most transgressive films I've ever seen. We can't wait to see them come to life in front of an audience here."

I like Jaume Blaguero and Paco Plaza's [REC] so much that I wish I disliked Quarantine, the beat-for-beat American remake, more, but I just can't bring myself to it. Sure, it's unoriginal, but because it hems so close to the magnificent [REC] it ends up being actually pretty decent despite the remake stigma. But what of Quarantine 2, you ask? How will it fit into the [REC]-verse?

Shock 'til You Drops' source tells us Sony's Screen Gems has just hired Ghost Ship writer John Pogue to both write and direct the Quarantine sequel. However, it looks like Q2 is not going to be a remake of [REC] 2. The first films may have been almost identical, but it looks like horror fans are in for a breath of fresh air on both ends as the two projects have nothing to do with one another. [REC] 2 takes place immediately after the events of the first film and is, for the most part, still confined to the same virus-infected apartment building, only it ups the sequel ante considerably with some characters and twists and turns that are best left unsaid.

Quarantine 2, on the other hand, is going to break free from its title action with a jump from the apartment building to an airport setting. I actually think that's a pretty cool idea (especially since it's not a remake) as I can imagine the larger area to be quarantined could make for some really great set pieces. There's only one problem, though. Shock also reports that Q2 is being shaped as a straight-to-video film. That obviously doesn't mean it'll be an inherently small, but grand production design isn't exactly what STV films are known for. Either way, put me down for 'mildly interested.'

I've always been a staunch, non-ironic supporter of the Syfy channel, but I'm well aware that I'm in the minority on that. Well, now all you Syfy-mockers should get down on your knees and give thanks to the Sharktopus and Dinoshark gods for Syfy's newest gift, Red, a re-imagining of Little Red Riding Hood starring the adorable Felicia Day. Don't be alarmed, that strange sound you hear is thousands of geeks simultaneously sighing at the thought of Day idly wandering a dark forest in a, well, little red riding hood.

How does Felicia Day casting news get any better, you ask? SCI FI Wire explains, "In the action-packed Red, Red (Day) brings her fiancé home, where he meets the family and learns about their business - hunting werewolves. He's skeptical until bitten by a werewolf. When her family insists he must be killed, Red tries saving him. Red also stars Kavan Smith (Stargate Atlantis) and Stephen McHattie (Watchmen). Red is produced by Angela Mancuso and Vesuvius Productions in association with Chesler Perlmutter Productions."

Felicia Day...hunting werewolves...with the star of Pontypool? You are far to kind to the legion of fans who love to hate you, Syfy.

Last night, as I inexplicably suffered through yet another Academy Awards, there was one moment when a glimmering ray of light promised to shine through the dreary landscape of ego-stroking and award purchasing. The moment the words "tribute to horror" were uttered by the voice-over, my heart raced. Could it be that the Academy was actually going to tip its hat from way up on its high horse, to the genre it has so long overlooked? I was anxious to see the clip reel and rejoice with a pair of my horrorphile buddies in the room as our favorite titles garnered representation. But any and all dignity the Oscars had deigned to bestow upon our beloved genre was abruptly decimated when the presenters entered the stage.

Thailand's film scene appears to be booming. Seems like I'm reading about some new and exciting project from the country at least once a week--which doesn't put it quite on par with Japan, Hong Kong, or South Korea, but is still impressive when you stop to consider where they were just a few short years ago.

The country's filmmakers seem to have developed a genuine love for horror cinema, which pleases me to no end. I've seen quite a few clips from Thai horror flicks over the past year or so, and while the films look typical of modern Asian horror cinema (meaning lots of ghost stories), they've all been intriguing enough to pique my interest. The latest title to blip onto my radar is Die a Violent Death (AKA Still), an anthology horror film that takes a cue from Law & Order by "ripping its stories straight from the headlines."

Twitch snagged an English subtitled trailer for the film, which showcases the four tales of terror from the movie. The stories involve a haunted hotel room, a prison suicide, a nightclub fire, and a corpse stashed inside an apartment building's water tank (gross). None of the stories sound blazingly original, but the trailer looks good--aside from the poorly done English subtitles--and I imagine fans of Asian ghost stories that feature at least a little blood and gore will find the film worth checking out.

No word yet on an American release, but I'll keep you posted. Jump past the break to view the trailer.