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

Don't look now, but the Koreans are ready to hop on the "first-person shot on a camcorder" horror film gravy train with the release of Deserted House. Twitch brought us a look at the trailer (sans English subs, unfortunately) a few days ago. I'm torn on this one.

On the one hand, it's hard to judge a film by a trailer, particularly one where you can't understand a word of the dialogue. On the other, film is a visual medium and I can tell by looking at these images that this is basically Paranormal Activity fused with Ju-On: The Grudge. I've gone on record numerous times in the past decade complaining about how sick I am of Asian girl ghost films -- so the sight of an Asian girl contorting herself into a strange pretzel-like shape on a grainy camcorder image is enough to make me want to check out right then and there.

The film, which was directed by Lee Cheol-ha, has the following plot description (sorry for the mangled English in advance...):

n 42 years, 6 people have disappeared! 8 people have died! There have been 11 murders! Everyone is afraid of the deserted house with the ghosts. It is prohibited to enter if you are alive. But three deserted home society members and three filming team members enter the deserted house. They break the taboo of deserted homes and enter the world of spirits. But they disappear one day... And there is only a video they left behind...

I love that it's prohibited to enter -- if you're alive. If you're a corpse, enter at your leisure. No word on when this might turn up in America, or if it will at all, but we'll keep you posted. Hit the break for the trailer.

Hunger directed by Steven Hentges 2010

Not content to let the Horrorfest and Ghosthouse Underground people have all the fun (and make all the money...) by releasing horror movies that couldn't get distribution, Fangoria and Lightning Media have now joined the fray. The two companies have joined forces to bring horror-hounds an all new line-up of under-the-rader horror flicks under their brand new Fangoria Frightfest banner. The initial batch of releases includes eight new horror films that you've never seen prior to now.

First up on the docket is Steven Hentges' film Hunger. A selection at the Austin and Hollywood Film Festivals, this psychological horror flick evokes memories of Wan and Whannel's original Saw. Five strangers, including Lori Heuring and Linden Ashby, wake up to find themselves trapped inside a subterranean chamber with no idea who's put them there or why. As time passes, they come to realize that they're part of an "experiment" being run by their unseen assailant – one that involves seeing how long they can hold on to their humanity in the face of potential starvation. Will the five people work together to escape the diabolical trap or will hunger drive each one to fend for themselves while breaking one of mankind's most deeply entrenched taboos?

Jump past the break for the rest of What We're Watching.

One movie we've got our eye on here at Horror Squad is Gareth Edwards' Monsters. We've been following it not only because it looks cool and we love monster movies, but because Edwards shot the thing with a tiny crew and did all the editing and special effects work on his laptop. Monsters could very well be this year's Paranormal Activity -- a micro-budgeted DIY project that takes the movie world by storm.

The film focuses on a reporter charged with escorting a woman through the "infected zone" -- an area in Mexico that extends north to the American border. The zone has been quarantined because it was the site of a NASA probe's crash landing -- and said probe brought back alien lifeforms with it that have now infested the area. US and Mexican military forces are working to keep the extra terrestrials contained in this area, but it's not a spot where you'd want to take your summer vacation.

Even if it doesn't rake in the truckloads of cash PA did, I think you'll agree that this new trailer for the film (courtesy of IGN) looks pretty damn awesome. You don't get to see any of the titular creatures (which is a good thing...), but you can certainly tell that this isn't some cheap looking home movie project, either. I'm genuinely impressed with what Edwards accomplished with little money and a skeleton crew.

Don't just take my word for it, though. Skip past the jump and view the new trailer for yourself.

Comic-con may be over for another year, but we're still sorting through everything that was announced at the show and bringing you all the horror-related goodness we can find.

One thing that got lost in the shuffle was the announcement of two new Dead Space tie-ins during the "Building a Horror Entertainment Franchise: Dead Space 2" panel. Dead Space -- if you're not a gamer -- is a popular survival horror game set in outer space published by Electronic Arts. The first title sold well enough to spawn a sequel, and in a nice bit of cross promotion, also had its very own animated movie spinoff.

The sequel looks to continue that trend with another film -- Dead Space: Aftermath -- and a new graphic novel, Dead Space: Salvage. Both of these titles are designed to expand the game's universe away from the main storyline.

Aftermath "centers on the Aegis VII disaster and explores how the Government sends an unwitting crew of people to get exposed to Marker shards. The Government is secretly trying to produce a viable "Marker blueprint" carrier, no matter the costs." Salvage, meanwhile, follows a group of deep space miners who discover the wreckage of the USG Ishimura and re-awaken the Necromorphs onboard.

Starz will once again develop the Dead Space animated feature -- along with Film Roman -- and the feature will be available for purchase in January of next year. IDW will publish Salvage, which is slated for a December 2010 bow. The title everyone's really waiting for, Dead Space 2, lands on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC on January 28th.

Hands down, the coolest thing to come out of this year's Comic-con has to be the trailer for AMC's The Walking Dead. We're all excited about Frank Darabont's adaptation of Robert Kirkman's amazing comic book series about life after the zombie apocalypse, but this new clip takes that level of anticipation to a whole other level.

This isn't the best quality -- it was recorded from someone's phone cam -- but you can definitely see everything that con attendees got a chance to check out. The new footage looks like it all comes from the first episode, and definitely sets the tone for the series. I'll be honest, this thing looks better than a lot of big budget zombie movies we've seen over the past few years. It's over four minutes long and my only complaint is that it shows a little more than I'd like to see. On the other hand, it definitely has me jonesing to see the show like a junkie seeking a going through the second day of withdrawals.

Don't just take my word for it, though. Skip past the jump and check out the trailer for yourself. If you don't like this, it might be a sign you're ready to start spending time at RomanticComedySquad.com or something.

I'm starting to get a little tired of the endless onslaught of zombie films, but that doesn't mean I still can't get excited when I see a movie featuring the walking dead. Case in point? Howard J. and Jonathan Ford's The Dead. This is one of those movies that makes me set aside my weariness with the undead and think maybe there's some life left in the subgenre still.

Billed as "the first zombie road film made in Africa", the Fords have crafted a genuinely cool looking film that instantly evokes memories of Capcom's Resident Evil 5. The story revolves around an American mercenary who survives a plane crash in Africa and then must fight his way through hordes of zombies as he searches for his son.

The film was shot entirely on location in Africa, which turned out to be more of a problem than the directors anticipated. To show just how difficult an African shoot is, they've released a cool video diary (thanks to Dread Central for sharing) with lots of behind the scenes footage from the making of The Dead. You can catch it after the jump -- and if you like it, keep your eyes peeled for a second installment coming soon.

The Dead will make its North American debut on September 24th at Fantastic Fest.

I've never been to London, but should I ever get around to visiting England I'm going to be sure to schedule a trip to The London Dungeon. Not only does the place look cool, but their newest advertising campaign has won me over despite the fact that they had to pull the digitized ad from from the city's subway system.

The new advertisement features Queen Mary (nicknamed Bloody Mary for burning 300 religious dissenters at the stake, and focus of a new show at The London Dungeon), looking all prim and dour, but then she morphs into a savage looking zombie right before your eyes. It's really no different than a million YouTube videos we've all seen, but I imagine the effect of it out in the "real world," where you're not expecting it, is pretty profound.

In fact, that's the impetus behind the banning of the ad. Never a bad thing when you're too effective, I guess. The Telegraph reports "the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled that the poster ad should not be used again as it had 'terrified' children and breached fear and distress guidelines." They're probably right, and you definitely don't want little kids freaking out in the subway -- where they could get really hurt -- but I still dig the ad.

Check it out for yourself after the jump.

[via io9]

Comic-con is barely underway and we already have our first piece of big news.

Author Max Brooks has confirmed that Brad Pitt is now officially set to star in the big screen adaptation of the mega-popular novel World War Z according to MTV's Movies Blog. Pitt, who's production company won a bidding war to acquire the rights to the book several years ago, has long been rumored to be the leading man in the movie version. Paramount will distribute the film, which Brooks says should be in theaters by summer of 2012.

The novel focuses on firsthand survivor accounts of a worldwide zombie outbreak. The original script was written by sci-fi scribe J. Michael Straczynski and was then rewritten by Matthew Michael Carnahan. According to Brooks, a new version of the script has been turned in and director Marc Forster should be ready to start moving forward now that he has his leading man.

Getting Pitt to star in your film seems like it would be more than enough good news for one day, but Brooks has also learned that Paramount has optioned two of his other books: The Zombie Survival Guide and Recorded Attacks. The Survival Guide offers practical advice on how to survive a zombie attack, while Recorded Attacks is a graphic novel that recounts some of the major battles in the human-zombie war. Vamps may be making a comeback, but it looks like the zombie still rules the horror movie universe at this point.

AMC's all-out media blitzkrieg for The Walking Dead continues today with another goodie to tide you over until the show's October premiere (can October get here sooner, please?). Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few months, you probably realize the show is based on a popular comic book by Robert Kirkman. AMC has now crafted a motion comic the get new fans familiar with how the zombie apocalypse goes down -- and man, is it cool.

Tony Moore's artwork is given the full animation treatment by the guys at Juice Films and the characters are voiced by Phil LaMarr. The 8 minute clip brings life to the first volume of Kirkman's comic -- Days Gone Bye. In keeping with the visual look of the source material, the animation is done strictly in black-and-white.

Generally speaking, these motion comics usually look a little cheap to me -- but that's not the case here. This is a really well done piece of work. The end promises that it's "to be continued" so hopefully we'll be seeing more between now and the October debut of the series.

It's Comic-con time, which means the next few days will be filled with...movie news? For whatever reason, Comic-con -- which once focused primarily on comic books -- has now become a geek mecca where comics have basically been shoved into a corner to make way for lots of movie announcements and panels.

Occasionally, as if just to keep with the comic theme, you'll get some movie news about a comic. That's what we have today, a first look at the trailer (courtesy of MTV's Movie Blog) for the adaptation of Eric Powell's The Goon. Produced by David Fincher and featuring the vocal talents of Paul Giamatti and Clancy Brown, this one looks to be shaping up nicely. I really dig the CG animation style.

Giamatti will voice Franky while Brown is Goon and one would assume the plot will somehow revolve around the duo battling it out with The Zombie Priest while dealing with Skunk Apes and their insane love of pie. Yes, we're certainly not in Kansas anymore.

Hit the jump to check out the teaser and keep it here for more The Goon news as Comic-con gets under way.