HS Movie Club: Altered

Hidden alien treasure or straight-to-video standards?

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Haxan Films

Timothy Olyphant Interview

Horror Squad talks to 'The Crazies' Star

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Overture Films

The Terror Tuesday Report

Weekly horror from the Alamo Drafthouse

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John Gholson

Interview: Christopher Smith

We talk Triangle, Black Death, and More

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First Look Pictures

Don't Fall Asleep! Here's 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' Teaser!

09.28.09 By: Elisabeth Rappe

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Fittingly, Platinum Dunes' remake of A Nightmare On Elm Street popped online via MySpace Trailer Park during the witching hour, and just in time for Halloween. While it's only a teaser, it manages to pack Freddy Krueger's origin story into a few horrifying frames. You actually feel bad for the (alleged?) child molester, something that's due entirely to Jackie Earle Haley. I'm beginning to think he can make you feel sympathetic for just about anyone.

This teaser also offers us the first look at Freddy's new make-up. This has been a rather well-kept secret in these spoiler-happy days, and even at ComicCon they were being quite tight-lipped about what he was going to look like, except that it would be "more extreme" than before. You don't get a very good look at Freddy in this teaser, but I've screen-capped the close-up and ran it through Photoshop. If you don't like it, don't criticize the filmmakers too much, as I've de-shadowed and sharpened quite a bit. (I've included an unedited photo in the gallery below for those more curious.) That said, I'm not sure I'm a fan of it because it looks a little too CGI. (I'm not sure if it is. I'm speaking entirely from ignorance. Our William Goss will soon tell us, he was there!) But it's one look and it's still early in post-production, so I'm not going to judge too harshly. Otherwise, the film looks like a fairly standard and bigger budgeted remake, and more promising than most purely because of Mr. Haley. I think he's going to knock this one out of the park, and scare the sleep out of us.

The trailer is below the jump, and the new Nightmare hits theaters on the very unscary date of April 30, 2010.

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Brad Anderson Returns to Horror on 'Seventh Street'

08.27.09 By: Elisabeth Rappe

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If anyone needs a second chance alongside the Bar None sock puppet dog, it's Hayden Christensen. Maybe he's a good actor, maybe he's middling, maybe he's bad (I forgot to see Jumper, and Virgin Territory still hovers in the middle of my Netflix queue), but he deserves a shot to prove himself one way or another. A good horror movie is as good a shot as any. According to The Hollywood Reporter, that's just what he's got, and will be starring in Brad Anderson's Vanishing on Seventh Street. Thandie Newton and John Leguizamo are in negotiations to join in the spookiness.

Penned by Anderson and Anthony Jaswinsky, Seventh Street takes place in the ghostly shell of a once-thriving city. Living residents inexplicably vanish once they come in contact with its new shadowy residents. Five individuals fight to stay alive, dodge these eerie threats, and grapple with the meaning of existence. Christensen will play a reporter, Newton a desperate nurse, and Leguizamo a subway operator; the other two characters have yet to be cast or named. Filming will kick off mid-October in Detroit. (Cue the stories of socio-economic parellels.)

I haven't gotten to see much of Anderson's work (I'm anxiously waiting for Scott Weinberg to assign The Horror Virgin a viewing of Session 9), but he certainly can deliver the moody, shivery atmosphere. There's a dash of A Long Day's Journey Into Night in the the Seventh Street story description, and I'm fascinated with anything that might dabble into ideas of Purgatory. Blood, guts, and slashers are certainly scary, but staring into the abyss of life, death, and existence? That's the stuff of true horror.


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Get Some 'Legion' Backstory!

08.25.09 By: Elisabeth Rappe

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When the red-band trailer for Legion appeared online, the responses ranged from "What the hell?" to "How can angels go bad?" to "I don't like the look of that at all." All the footage is very dark, demonic, and confusing and we have to wait until January 2010 to figure out why all hell (or heaven) seems to be breaking loose.

But guess what! You don't have to wait that long if you're insanely curious about it. IDW Publishing announced that Scott Stewart and Tom Waltz have penned a four issue miniseries that will serve as a prequel to Stewart's upcoming holy war. Legion: Prophets will introduce you to the Theologians, the Guardian, the Codebreaker and the Voice, five very different and unlikely individuals who become humanity's only hope in surviving the Apocalypse. (Here we thought it all rested on the well-built shoulders of the ex-angelic Paul Bettany.) "There were a lot of cool and scary characters and situations that I wasn't able to include in the main narrative of the movie, so I'm very excited to be able to expand the Legion universe beyond the film and explore those other stories through the comic book series," says Stewart.

Legion: Prophets hits comic store shelves in November, just in time for the holidays and to make you look a little askance at the angels glittering on every holiday decoration. If you're still into the movie after reading the paper prequel, Legion comes to the big screen on January 22, 2010.

[via io9]


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'28 Weeks' Helmer to Tackle 'Bioshock'?

08.24.09 By: Elisabeth Rappe

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Earlier this summer, the brakes were put on Universal's adaptation of Bioshock due to its enormous budget, and a need for tax incentives were said to be pushing the film overseas. The budgetary crisis put Gore Verbinski into a bit of a pickle, and he was unsure he would continue with the film if it moved to London. Now it looks like Verbinski is officially off the project, and Universal has hired Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (28 Weeks Later) to go under the sea instead.

Variety reports that Fresnadillo is still in talks, and that it all becomes official if Bioshock's maker, Take-Two Interactive, agrees to the decision as they must approve the choice of director. But the decision indicates they are shaving that budget, and they are determined to make the film overseas. Universal is also determined that this won't turn into another Halo incident. (Although I think we all agree that any disappointment that caused District 9 was very much worth it, right?)

It has to be a huge disappointment for Verbinski, who dropped Pirates 4 to tackle Bioshock, and really seemed to love the project. (Perhaps Verbinski will find himself in a similar Cinderalla situation as Neill Blomkamp!) Of course, the big question remains as to whether all of this talk is even worth it, since we know what game adaptations are generally like. A lot of hopes are being pinned on Bioshock, and let's hope a few of them are fulfilled.

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Check Out Some 'Abattoir' Art

08.06.09 By: Elisabeth Rappe

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Before I headed off to ComicCon, I brought you the news of Darren Lynn Bousman's latest splatterfest Abattoir. I'm pretty intrigued by this one because if there's one genre of horror that I'm very enthusiastic about, it's haunted house movies. Obviously, I'm also very excited by anything that crosses over into the world of comic books and lately, a lot of interesting relationships are being forged at Radical Publishing, with Abattoir being just one of several options they've made recently. Now, it's too early to get too excited because many of these comic books could end up as just a lot of milquetoast marketing, and do neither film nor the comic industry any good. But in the meantime -- say, look at that art! One thing Radical excells at is beautiful art, and while you really can't judge a book by its cover, you can use it to spin the possibilities. I promised I'd bring you the cover art from Abattoir and here it is. Creepy, ain't it?

Admittedly, I've pulled a bit of online magic because while I did actually pick up a poster version in San Diego, hopes of photographing or scanning while there were dashed. It ended up being so crumpled in my luggage that I thought I should just find a nice, high-res version for you. Thanks to Bloody Disgusting for providing it, and the full version is below. Abattoir will hit shelves and theaters in 2010.


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The Doctor Will See You Now -- 'Fear Clinic' Trailer Online

08.05.09 By: Elisabeth Rappe

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No matter how harmless Robert Englund looks in a suit, if he showed up at my door with a tattooed fellow and offered to cure me of my worst fears, I'd politely tell him "Thanks, but no thanks." Because my number one fear is, bizarrely enough, being trapped underwater in an aquarium. I'm not afraid of water, I'm not even afraid of sharks, but I'm terrified of being stuck in enclosed water where I couldn't break to the surface. Think about The Poseidon Adventure or the swimming sequence in Alien: Resurrection and you have some idea of what I'm talking about. So yeah, I wouldn't submit myself to a fear clinic (something tells me lampreys would be added into my "cure" just for laughs), and I can't think of a good reason why these idiots would. But finding out will be half the fun of Fear Clinic, an original online series from FearNet.

Directed by Rob Hall and starring Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, and Danielle Harris, Fear Clinic will premiere in October on FEARnet.com and FEARnet's video-on-demand channels. You'll also be able to find it on Fancast, Hulu, You Tube, Crackle, and Break. There's no excuses to miss it, because it'll be free and accessible anywhere you look, so make sure you take some time out to watch. Original online content is really becoming the wave of the edgy entertainment future, and if the trailer below is any indication, Fear Clinic might just show everyone what its capable of. Check out the trailer below, courtesy of IGN, and if it leaves you hungry for more, you can also watch the complete ComicCon panel. Once you're done, ponder just what you would see in that tank ...


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'Night Mary' Will Invade Your Dreams

07.30.09 By: Elisabeth Rappe

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As I say over and over again, anything comic book oriented is big business right now, but it seems as though horror comics are edging out the superheroes, spies, and sci-fi offerings. At ComicCon this year, IDW and Radical Comics had two of the biggest booths on the floor, and most of their big announcements were splatter oriented. I'm not sure if Night Mary was one of them, but you can certainly chalk it up as yet another option win for IDW.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Animal Logic has picked up the rights to Night Mary, a horror series by Rick Remender and Kieron Dwyer. The story centers on Mary Specter, a lucid dreamer recruited by her psychologist father to enter the dreams of disturbed individuals. Ostensibly, she's trying to help them, but privately doubts that she's doing much good. Her doubts and stress take a back seat once she enters the dreams of a serial killer, which brings dreams and reality together in horrible and dangerous ways.

The concept isn't particularly original, but its received rave reviews due to its writing, and especially due to its star, the young and troubled Mary. Between its heroine and the spectacular art (and if the cover to the right doesn't give you the shivers, nothing will), I think Animal Logic could have a pretty good time adapting this one. They've been the digital company behind all of the most visually arresting movies of the past ten years (300, Moulin Rouge, and The Matrix are just three of them), and could really turn this into something to give us all nightmares. I mean, can you picture that cover in motion? Yikes ...

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Darren Lynn Bousman Cleaning Up The 'Abattoir'

07.22.09 By: Elisabeth Rappe

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Abattoir may simply be French for "slaughterhouse," but I've always thought it was a far, far more sinister word. Possibly it's because whenever someone wants to describe a true bloody chamber of horrors, they always call it an abattoir instead of "slaughterhouse," "torture room," or "that basement where all the bodies were!"

So the mere title of Darren Lynn Bousman's latest trip to the dark side has me good, scared, and intrigued. Variety reports that the plot centers on a real estate agent assigned the awful task of cleaning up the remnants of a massacre that took place in a for-sale mansion. As if the job wasn't gross enough, he's visited by a creepy old man who leads him into "a web of shadows, murders, and massacres." Something tells me that real estate agent isn't getting that big commission he banked on.

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The Horror Virgin Takes a Vacation

07.17.09 By: Elisabeth Rappe

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Ah, my dear readers. We've only just begun my exploration of horror, but already we must take a hiatus! This week, my brutal taskmaster Scott Weinberg is at FanTasia 2009 torturing William Goss (read Goss' first report here) for grins, which means he's unable to assign me assignment #5.

After that, I'm off to a place of true horror ... San Diego ComicCon. I'll be there Wednesday through Sunday, which means I won't have a chance to watch and review #5 before I leave. But don't think I'm going to forget all about our bouncing baby Horror Squad while I'm doing my pilgrimage through the halls of Geek Mecca. I plan on hitting up as many horror panels as my nerd schedule will allow, and bringing you all kinds of intriguing bits of promotion from the convention floor.

Who knows? Maybe I'll catch a horror flick or two while I'm out there. The Collector and Trick'R Treat are both playing the con, and I haven't even perused the nighttime programming selections yet. Perhaps Horror Virgin #5 will take place in a darkened convention room, where there is only the cold chill of an overactive air conditioning unit, and the soft sound of drunk geeks snoring.

If you're going, keep an eye out for a short redhead, bent double under a huge laptop bag or backpack, and stumbling blindly around the convention floor. If she has dark circles under her eyes, startlingly pale skin, and looks an awful lot like a member of the walking dead ... it's probably me. Buy me a Starbucks, would you?

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'Machete' Gets a Hacking Good Cast!

07.17.09 By: Elisabeth Rappe

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While you'll have to file this firmly under "rumor" and "dreams," you can do an air punch at the very thought of just who Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis lined up for Machete. Bloody Disgusting reports that joining Danny Trejo in the Grindhouse spin-off are the following: Michelle Rodriguez, Jonah Hill, and (wait for it) Robert DeNiro.

Pause for a moment and repeat that: Robert DeNiro will share the screen with Danny Trejo in Machete. While it's still unconfirmed, BD notes that the source is none other than the one who sent them news of the Alien and Predator reboots, and those turned out to be true. So you can keep hope alive that you'll see DeNiro rocking the grindhouse world.

Machete will (obviously) revolve around the main character who is an ex-Federale who is gifted with a blade. He hides out as a day laborer, and works for an organization headed by a state senator. After he's double crossed by the corrupt Senator McLaughlin (DeNiro), he takes his vicious revenge. That's all we know for now, except that promises a dash of social commentary among all the hacking, slicing, and topless girl fondling -- and maybe, just maybe, Danny Trejo putting a bladed smackdown on Robert freaking DeNiro.

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