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I wonder if Simon Oakes -- Hammer Films' CEO -- feels any pressure about creating a modern brand for the newly revamped movie studio? Hammer fans can be a rabid bunch and rightfully so -- the studio dates back to 1934 and has delivered some of the most iconic films in horror movie history. There is a lot at stake with Hammers' latest efforts, including The Resident starring Hilary Swank, a remake of The Woman in Black, Let Me In which will be hitting theaters this October and David Keating's The Wake Wood. Now the studio is upping the ante by taking on three huge tasks -- the reimaginings of three Hammer favorites: Captain Kronos, Quatermass and Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde.

The boys at Bloody-Disgusting recently spoke to Oakes who revealed that the studio doesn't plan on remaking anything. Oakes explains further:

"You know, one of the first questions I was asked when we bought the company was, 'Are you gonna remake all of those old Hammer films?' And I said, 'Well, why would you do that?' Because in a sense they almost were of their time. They sort of almost became old-fashioned as they came up to the end of that period of time when they were making those pictures. Because at the same time that Dracula A.D. was being made, The Omen was being made. And think about that difference in terms of style [between the old Hammer films]...and the "urban myth" movies." [find out what else Oakes has to say after the jump!]

Platinum Dunes apparently hasn't met a horror flick that it wouldn't remake. Having already tackled genre heavyweights like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street, the company is now poised to move in a slightly different direction--taking on a re-imagining of Fred Dekker's cult classic The Monster Squad.

Deadline Hollywood is reporting that the production company will produce the re-telling for Paramount. The 1987 original focused on Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, The Mummy, The Wolfman, and Gillman and their quest to find an amulet that will grant them the power to rule the world. Standing in their way? The kids who make up The Monster Squad.

No word yet on who will direct or star (though original Monster Squad producer Rob Cohen is keen to direct, it seems), but rest assured you'll be reading about those details here at Horror Squad when they're announced.

Jump past the break for a look at the film's DVD release trailer. Now let's all just cross our fingers and hope that no one decides to remake Dekker's other cult favorite, Night of the Creeps.

If you've stopped peeing your pants with excitement over Roger Corman's upcoming Sharktopus -- set to premiere on Syfy later this year, then take a gander at some of the other nighttime creature features Syfy has in store. Their Original Movies lineup stars the likes of Hill Harper (CSI NY), Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight), Sean Bean (Lord of the Rings), Lauren Holly (NCIS), Colin Ferguson (Eureka), Isabella Rossellini (Blue Velvet), Jewel Staite (Stargate Atlantis), Alan Cumming (Tin Man), Felicia Day (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Ryan Carnes (Desperate Housewives), Lance Henriksen (Aliens) and Barry Williams (The Brady Bunch).

In other Syfy news, two gigundo features (4 hours long) on tap are Riverworld, which aired on the original Sci-Fi Channel in 2003 as a pilot episode based on the saga by Philip José Farmer -- but nothing further came to light. In Riverworld, an American war zone reporter and his fiancé are killed by a suicide bomber but awaken separated in a mysterious world where they seem to have been reborn along the banks of a seemingly endless river. A samurai warrior and an American novelist (Sam "Mark Twain" Clemens) join forces with Matt to locate his lost love. The show premieres Sunday, April 18, from 7-11PM (ET/PT).

The Phantom and his alter ego, Chris Walker, have been re-imagined for Syfy, based on the original comic and set in the present day. This hero relies on his wits, physical strength and skill with weapons instead of superhuman powers. Isabella Rossellini guest stars as the villainous Lithia, the head of an experimental mind control program. The four hour show premieres in June.

Hit the jump for all the creature feature details and visit Syfy's website for more info.

Until all the hullabaloo about A Serbian Film (check out Luke's review) hit earlier this week, there were only two films that I had on my "must see in 2010 list". The First, Takeshi Kitano's return to Yakuza cinema Outrage, isn't even a horror film. The second would be Tom Six's messed up The Human Centipede. We brought you news that IFC had acquired the US distribution rights for the film not too long ago and now comes the official release date.

IFC has decided that The Human Centipede will make its theatrical debut on April 28th (thanks to Shock Till You Drop for clarifying the date), two days before Platinum Dunes' remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. All the buzz over the potential showdown between the two films is pointless, because The Human Centipede is going to open on a very limited number of screens and then slowly expand as time passes. A Nightmare on Elm Street, on the other hand, will open wide on the 30th.

As proof that there is truth in advertising, The Human Centipede is exactly what it sounds like. A crazed doctor (Dieter Laser) captures unsuspecting victims, removes their knees, sews them together mouth-to-anus, and forms the title creation. Interestingly enough, this is only part one of a planned trilogy.

Jump past the break to check out the trailer.

If After Dark left you hungry for more post their Horrorfest 8 Films To Die For series, then get ready for the thrice produced After Dark Originals (ADO) -- eight films which are expected to be released in September, in cooperation with Lionsgate and NBC Universal's Syfy. All the films have been handled by After Dark from concept, to script and through final editing (shot in the US or Bulgaria) -- with seven of the eight films are currently in post-production and the eighth slated to start production this month.

The ADO series spans the genre and your mission if you choose to accept it is to check out the first installment which includes Husk, Fertile Ground, Scream of the Banshee, Prowl, The Task, Re-Kill, Seconds Apart and 51. You'll recognize a few names in the bunch: Brett Simmons, whose short film Husk enjoyed the Sundance spotlight a few years ago, Seven C. Miller of Automaton Transfusion notoriety and After Dark friend Adam Gierasch (Autopsy). "The writers and directors in our After Dark Originals line are outstanding. We are excited to showcase their work and to give a home to all this fresh young talent that we will continue to develop over time", says After Dark Films owner and CEO, Courtney Solomon.

So far, I'm looking forward to seeing Miller's Scream of the Banshee -- mainly because Lance Henriksen is in it and I'm a little obsesso for his movies. Anything else catch your eye in this new lineup? Given their reputations (Lionsgate for dumping films to meet contract obligations, SyFy for making some films of dubious quality), does this new partnership fill you with hope or dread for After Dark's future?

This is an awesome item that I am thrilled to bring you guys. We all know that no DVD cover will ever be able to match the beauty and genius of VHS cover art. If you haven't given Portable Grindhouse: The Lost Art of the VHS Box, Vol.1 a good thumb-through, you have to do it post-bloody-haste! Someone who needs no lecture on the superiority of VHS cover art is North Carolina horror blogger Phelpster from The Manchester Morgue.

What this warrior of lost formats has done is to retrofit DVD boxes with classic posters, logos, and one-sheets to make it look like vintage VHS. As the writer of Terror Tapes here at Horror Squad, this guy's stuff makes me want to cry. It's not only the DVDs for cult horror that get the retro treatment, but films that are so recent that they are still in theaters. I've included his cover for The Crazies remake because the thought that any theatrical horror film could be brought to us by my beloved Media Blasters is almost too exquisite. Please, please, please check out The Manchester Morgue and these multimedia masterpieces. And a big thanks to @zombiefreak for bringing this to my Twitter-tention.

There is a film currently generating a lot of buzz at SXSW that I just had to blurb about. The title of the movie seems a playful jest on the cinematic ambiguity of a certain region of the world but the subject of the film is apparently as playful as a round of mini-golf at Auschwitz. The film is definitively titled A Serbian Film. To be clear, I have not yet seen this film. But the reaction from the horror community here at the festival has been equal parts vocal disbelief and telling speechlessness. From what I've gleaned of the topic of the film, certain questions are forming.

What is a Serbian film? This country, as noted for its horror cinema as I am noted for my career as a professional street fighter. Go ahead, name three Serbian horror films that you've seen? Need concrete evidence? Check out this link to IMDB showing the search results of Serbia and horror. Why does this matter to anyone ever? Because from what I'm hearing about Serbian Film, the film itself may be an angry reaction to the assumption that hardcore horror is a game in which only America and/or France participate.

I was introduced to Shinya Tsukamoto's cyberpunk classic Tetsuo: The Iron Man by way of its ridiculously awesome soundtrack masterminded by Chu Ishikawa, who hails from the band Zeitlich Vergelter -- often known as Japan's Einstürzende Neubauten. Ishikawa used hand-made metal instruments, samples and other grotesquely gorgeous sounds to create one hell of a soundtrack. The film was shot on 16mm black-and-white and tells the story of a clash between two men who transform into a man/machine hybrid and whose lives become overrun by increasingly nightmarish visions and bizarre, metal-filled sexual fantasies. Think Giger and Cronenberg times twenty. As someone who was raised on industrial/noise music and horror, watching Tetsuo for the first time reigns as one of my most memorable movie going experiences ever.

Tsukamoto followed Iron Man up with Tetsuo II: Body Hammer which was done in color and was released what feels like eons ago in 1992. Finally Tetsuo: The Bullet Man has arrived and is going make its North American premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Early reviews were lukewarm and honestly this is one of those times where I really don't care -- I'm that obsesso about these films. This will be Tsukamoto's English language movie debut and has an American man at its center point. Antony is living and working in Tokyo and married to a Japanese woman. When their son is killed in a car accident rage takes over and Antony starts to transform. Cue orgasm.

There are several genre goodies at Tribeca this year, so check out their official website for details and scheduling. Watch the Japanese trailer and International teaser after the jump.

People don't usually equate Sasha Grey with the Jonas brothers but her latest film Hallows, directed by Richard O'Sullivan, has her playing a bible thumper type who takes a purity pledge refusing to have sex before marriage.

According to O'Sullivan, Grey was offered a part closer to home but she opted for virgin over whore. And opposite day continues for Hallows as producers have also signed Christina Cupo, an actress who has strong ties to the growing Christian film community but will be starring in the horror flick as a heavily pierced and tattooed goth girl with a penchant for rough sex.

In the film, "little Johnny Warlow was a nice, normal boy ... until he saw his father cut off his mother's face with a butcher knife one Halloween night. Now, after two decades in a mental institution, he's out to prove that he's all better now, even if he has to kill every man, woman, and child within a ten-mile radius to do so."

O'Sullivan gave us a sneak peek at his vision for the film:

"Hallows basically takes the standard kids-in-the-woods-running-from-a-killer genre and flips it on its ear. The deaths aren't random. They're not cookie cutter. Each character dies in a fashion relating to the way they live their life. I'm less interested in gore-for-the-sake-of-gore (although there is gore in this film and plenty of it) than the psychology behind the characters and how they react to what happens. That's why we're happy to be working with Sasha. She's more interested in the psychology behind the action than just the action itself. That's what she conveys in her work in the adult genre and that's what we're going for in this film."

Grey's other horror venture, Smash Cut, inspired by splatter fiend Herschell Gordon Lewis, will be released on March 30. Purchase it here.

There appears to be a logical progression in the popularity of popular monsters in cinema. Zombies dominated the first two-thirds of of the decade, while vampires, both conventional and otherwise, have become the topic du jour for the past couple of years. The release of The Wolfman might signify a return to werewolves, though one would not be foolish if they placed their bets on vampires.

Deadline New York has reported that Summit,who is behind the popular franchise that shall not be named, has jumped on a pitch by the Brood remake and Priest writer Cory Goodman for somewhere in the range of a crap ton of money (read: six figures). Tossing around phrases like "franchise potential," the film follows the eponymous hunter of witches, one of the remaining members of a rare breed whose job is to keep the population of witches and warlocks in check. Much to the chagrin of, well, everyone, they're on the verge of experiencing a repopulation boom, and it's up the last witch hunter to prevent this from happening.

Sounds intriguing, right? Combined with Dead Snow director Tommy Wirkola's two, count 'em two upcoming witch-centered films (Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters and Kurt Josef Wagle And The Legend of the Fjord Witch), witches are poised to take over the cinema, at least until filmmakers stop overlooking the poor Mummy. Look at him, sittin' in the corner, drying his tears with his own wrappings. It's just not right.

The film will be helmed by Timur Bekmambetov, the Russian-Kazakh mastermind behind the Russian-language vampire flicks Night Watch and Day Watch, and executive produced by Adam Goldworm.

Special thanks to Dread Central for the heads up.