News/Reactions

I've been a Stephen King fan since the days of my early childhood. If you loved horror and came of age in the late 1970s/early 1980s, then you were likely the same. It started before I could even read his books -- I have a mother who devoured each new King novel as soon as it hit the library and I was always fascinated by the lurid covers and titles.

By the time I was in sixth grade, I was reading King on my own -- and while I think a lot of his recent work pales in comparison to the early years (I think everything after It has been part of the downward slide -- there are some good books in there, but nothing quite like the classics), I still get excited for each new novel or collection the author releases.

I've read almost everything King's ever written (there are a few really rare odds and ends I've missed over the years), but The Crate was not one of them. This long lost King novella should be familiar to anyone who saw Creepshow because it was adapted for the film. However, outside of a 1979 appearance in the adult magazine Gallery, the original story has never been in publication.

That changes when Cemetery Dance's Shivers VI collection hits retailers sometime in the near future. The lastest installment in the popular anthology will come in a limited and lettered edition as well as a trade paperback version for the non-collector who simply enjoys a good spooky tale. Featuring tales by Brian Keene, Peter Straub, Brian Hodge and other horror luminaries, this would have been a good purchase. Getting a rarely seen King story makes it a must have.

Pre-order your copy at the Cemetery Dance site. They're going fast.

The neo-giallo film Amer will be heading to American theaters in the fall, now that Olive Films has picked up US rights (I'm desperate to see it, since I missed the festival screenings ... ). The film just screened at London's Film4 FrightFest this past week (UK theaters will be getting it soon as well), and now directors Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani announced that they will be forging ahead with another feature, which has a perfect giallo-esque title -- The Strange Colour of Your Body's Tears.

Alan Jones (FrightFest director) revealed the news on his Twitter page:

"Just learned AMER to get a UK theatrical release after fabulous success at FrightFest." He continued: "Delighted, and can't wait for their next giallo...THE STRANGE COLOUR OF YOUR BODY'S TEARS. That's the title of Helene Cattet and Bruno Forzani's new movie and I cannot wait." [sic]

Judging from a recent interview on Fangoria with the directors, it sounds like Cattet and Forzani will be holding back slightly on the subgenre's themes of sexuality, and will be finding inspiration from gialli's hard-nosed detectives. "We are working at the moment on a giallo set in Brussels," Forzani told Fango. "We want to use the art nouveau style, so it would be a bit in a point of view reminiscent of Amer, but this time we'll try to explore the detective aspect of gialli." Yes please!

Since Amer's festival success, the directing team have had many offers coming their way, including an adaptation of Charles Burns' mutant tale, Black Hole (a must read!). I'd love to see them explore other avenues like this, but I'm really excited to hear that there are people who are passionate enough about the Italian subgenre to continue its tradition in a modern style. You'll definitely be hearing more about this one from me as we learn more info.

[via Fangoria]

Admittedly, it's been ages since I've watched an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, but that has nothing to do with my love of Joel, Mike and their robot pals Gypsy, Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot. If you're like me and have missed out on this cult TV series, then you're in luck because our good friends at Shout! Factory had the noggin to create a limited edition 4-DVD box set with Best Brains, Inc. -- set to release on November 9th.

If you're unfamiliar with the series, then let me explain: a guy and a bunch of robots are stuck on a space station at the hands of an evil scientist and forced to watch bad movies all day. The show features the gang making snarky comments about the films -- which mainly consist of low budget, b-horror and sci fi. It's pretty amusing and even though you may really dig some of the films they're watching, let's be honest -- these aren't "good" movies so a sense of humor is integral for viewing.

Hit the jump to find out what this special DVD set includes ...

If I told you that Tim Burton, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Neil Gaiman, Damon Lindelof, Eli Roth, Quentin Tarantino, and Joss Whedon were just a few of the genre names behind picking the nominees for this year's Spike TV Scream Awards, would you get excited? Well you should be, because you get to have a say in who will be the big winners at this year's shindig in categories that include "Best Horror Movie" and "The Ultimate Scream".

The awards will be taped Saturday, October 16th at the Greek Theater in L.A. and will be airing on Spike TV on Tuesday, October 19th (9:00 - 11:00 PM ET/PT). The Advisory Board of Hollywood and Genre Leaders (who include the fancy pants names I mentioned above, and more) have spoken, and now it's up to you to help claim victory for the winners. Since we're a horror website and all that, here are the nominees for "Best Horror Movie": The Crazies, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Paranormal Activity, Shutter Island, Thirst, and Zombieland. There are genre names and titles sprinkled throughout, side by side with Sci-Fi and Fantasy nominees.

Voting is now open, so head on over to Spike's website and let 'em know what you think. I hate to say it but none of the "Best Horror Movie" titles truly blew me away, even though I enjoyed several of them. Tell me which way you're leaning in the comments section.

I never saw the adaptation of Jack Ketchum's Offspring (our own Scott Weinberg had a few things to say about it here ... ), but I'm pretty much sold on checking out the sequel since indie favorite Lucky McKee will be directing. His film May remains one of my favorite horror films, and Roman (a film McKee stars in and wrote; May actress Angela Bettis directed) doesn't get talked about nearly enough for my liking. Now McKee brings us Offspring: The Woman, and Dread Central featured the movie's title character (pictured above).

The Woman stars McKee familiar Angela Bettis, Pollyanna McIntosh who returns from the first film, and Sean Bridgers. The aforementioned Woman is the last surviving member of a feral clan that has roamed the Northeast Coast (and I'm not talking about Snooki ... ). When her family is killed by the police, she finds herself alone, wounded, and vulnerable. A local hunter, successful country lawyer, and an unstable man named Christopher Cleek all have morbid plans in store. Cleek, in particular, plans to capture and "break" The Woman, but will soon find out he's gotten himself and his family in a big messasomthin'.

McKee's work is strange, quiet, beautiful, and disturbing. Bettis is a wonderful and refreshing performer. I'll be keeping an eye out for this one definitely. Agree or disagree in the comments below. Visit the film's official website to keep up to date, and check back with us here for more as we get it.

Back in April, I brought you news about a new project starring Donnie Darko actor, James Duval. Ramzi Abed's official movie teaser for the "darkly romantic horror ensemble mystery" Noirland is now available. If you've been waiting to see Duval deliver another disturbing performance then this should quench your thirst.

Duval plays a catatonic serial killer who is put under deep hypnosis in order to free his last victim, and help him come to terms with the sadistic sexual acts he is responsible for. Meanwhile, an amnesiac detective searching for a serial killer, finds out he is the prime suspect. Mysteries unfold. The cast for the film is pretty interesting: Rena Riffel (Showgirls, Dark Reel), Twink Caplan (Clueless, In Search of a Midnight Kiss), Jesse Hlubik (May, Violent Blue), Elissa Dowling (Dread), Ford Austin (Dahmer Vs. Gacy), Wendy McColm (Suzie Heartless), Eric Fleming (In A Spiral State), Lenora Claire (The Devil's Muse), Clint Catalyst (Portland), Victor Fischbarg (The Mod F*ck Explosion, Scumrock), Hollie Stevens (Enter The Peepshow), Lloyd Kaufman (The Toxic Avenger), Adam Meir (In A Spiral State), Lorielle New (The Pit and the Pendulum, Postal), and Silvia Suvadova (Violent Blue, Kolya) among others.

You can check out the trailer after the jump, which reminds me of a cross between David Lynch and Tarsem Singh's The Cell. Let me know if you find the surreal, dark imagery in the trailer as curious as I do. And be sure to check out some of Abed's other work, including Telephone World.

M. Night Shyamalan has had a rough summer. His latest project, a big budget live-action adaptation of The Last Airbender was savaged by critics and public backlash against his work in general reached a fevered (and mean-spirited) pitch. Things have gotten so bad that the first horror film on his The Night Chronicles shingle is now simply known asDevil and doesn't mention the Sixth Sense filmmaker at all for fear that he's box office poison.

Through it all, it seems as though Shyamalan has kept a sense of humor -- not an easy thing to do when the world has turned you into a punchline. While some of his earlier reactions have merely provided ammo for his detractors, his decision to appear in a new viral video spoofing Devil may be the kind of thing necessary to win the public back over to his cause.

The clip, entitled Escalation, is up over at MTV. Shyamalan joins Josh Horowitz and Penthouse Pet Ryan Keeley in a reimagined version of the the Dowdle brothers' upcoming film. Instead of having a group of people trapped in an elevator with Satan himself, the new interpretation moves the action to an escalator. It's surprisingly funny.

Shyamalan, who generally comes across as a person who takes himself very seriously, shows a new side to his personality -- poking fun at himself and his reputation in the process. It's good to see that he's not letting the world get him down and maybe this new attitude will convince people that he's a down to earth guy and help him refocus on his career.

Or maybe none of that will happen. Either way, the clip is still worth checking out even if you're not a Shyamalan fan. Click here and have a peek at it for yourself.

Did Piranha 3D not quite quench your thirst for three dimensional aquatic carnage? Do you want to see more gilled creatures of the deep transforming people into tasty snacks for your viewing delight? Don't worry, director David Ellis has got you covered with Shark Night 3D.

We can assume from the title that the plot involves the time after sunset, a shark or two and you putting on 3D shades, but what else do you need to know? Heat Vision has the story:

"...the story revolves around seven men and women who spend a weekend at a lake house in Louisiana's Gulf area. When their vacation quickly becomes a nightmare of hellish shark attacks, unheard of in freshwater lakes, they soon discover that the sharks are part of a sick, greedy plan on the part of several locals."

The cast of potential shark bait includes Sinqua Walls, Chris Carmack, Alyssa Diaz and Joel David Moore, but Variety also notes the casting of Sara Paxton, Dustin Milligan and Katharine McPhee.

Great news for Italian horror fans -- Dario Argento's gorgeous film Inferno is coming to Blu-ray this fall! The second part of Argento's "Three Mothers Trilogy", Inferno is a beautiful enigma. It's one of those films you can see multiple times and still discover new things. Much like the witches of Argento's story, it doesn't reveal all its secrets easily. And thanks to Germany's Koch and Cinema Obscura, fans will be able to enjoy the film's intricacies once more in high def glory.

Twitch revealed that Koch and Cinema Obscura are promising a new edition of the film that promises to be the definitive one -- with unique, original features built around a new, HD transfer. The best part is that the transfer and color correction are being handled by Inferno's cinematographer, Romano Albani -- whose work was also featured on Argento's Phenomena.

After the jump, check out the list of great features that come with the disc. I, for one, am anxious to get my hands on it.

One of the biggest decisions that horror fans make all year is deciding what to wear for Halloween. When we were younger, plastic masks and apron costumes were all the rage, but these days the horror elite goes all out to create the perfect getup for their favorite holiday. If you're looking for something inspired by the Hellraiser himself, then look no further than this new line of Halloween costumes designed by dark genius Clive Barker.

Barker has teamed up with Halloween costume maker Disguise™ (a division of JAKKS Pacific, Inc.) to launch "The Dark Bazaar" collection. This new line of costumes transforms Barker's unique creations into wearable art -- and includes accessories to round out your getup. All the costumes are based on never before seen characters -- and if you've read Barker you know what kind of sick and beautiful things lurk in his mind ... The new costumes are set to be revealed at Halloween retailers this year.

Personally, as much as I love Barker's vision in pretty much all that he does -- I have to say that I'm not really digging these costumes. They seem perfect for the Halloween goer that wants to pull something off the shelf, but I've never really been that type anyway. I could see using his artwork to inspire a great costume that I created myself. Do you agree with me, or would these designs work for your Halloween needs? Hit the jump to check out more images from his new costume collection.