PaulW.s.Anderson

Just as sci-fi fans are already often claiming 2007's Sunshine as a personal fave, flaws be damned, many of us horror types have fallen back on 1997's Event Horizon as a guilty pleasure at the very least, if not something a bit more solid. Mind you, we're talking about what is arguably Paul W.S. Anderson's best directorial effort to date, so 'good for what it is' is about as apt a descriptor as I can think of.

At any rate, the eponymous ship has returned from its lengthy departure to parts unknown, and our rescue crew -- including Laurence Fishburne and Sam Neill, as the engineer who created the ship's black-hole-opening device -- soon discovers that remnants of its detour to a hellish alternate dimension remained on board.

You might not know who actor Boris Kodjoe is, but that's not stopping the Starship Troopers 3: Maruader star (here's looking at you, Dix Hauser) from spilling all kinds of beans about Afterlife, the fourth entry in the Resident Evil franchise. First he Twittered about being cast in the film, and now he's pre-empted the film's PR department once again and unveiled even more production tidbits in an interview with Black Film.

For starters, he confirms that Paul W. S. Anderson will be returning as the director, his first time back in the command chair since the first Resident Evil. Secondly, he's mentioned that Ali Larter will be reprising her role from the third RE film as the undead-hating Claire. Third, "Prison Break" star Wentworth Miller will be joining the franchise. And if letting the cast out of the bag isn't good enough for you, Kodjoe goes on to give away a good chunk of the Resident Evil: Afterlife plot as well:

By Jessica Barnes

The dead have risen from the grave! If you're a Castlevania fan who thought you weren't going to be subjected to a big screen version of your beloved game; think again. In the midst of the news frenzy coming out of SDCC, Bloody Disgusting got the chance to speak with Saw co-creator James Wan, and he confirmed that he has just signed to direct the video game adaptation for producer Paul W.S. Anderson. Wan tells BD, "I'm very fresh on this project, so its early stages and I'm still trying to work things out, but the producers love my vision for it"

The Castlevania video game franchise mainly centered on a war between the vampire hunting family known as the Belmonts and the big bad blood-sucker himself, Dracula. The game is one of Konami's biggest titles, and was considered one of the best action-platform games around. But as we were soon to find out, it wasn't going to be an easy transition from the console to the big screen.

If you haven't been keeping track, (and who could blame you) here's a brief history on the troubled flick: the announcement of a feature film Castlevania first came about in 2007, but over the next two years little ground had been made. For starters, there were personnel changes and then there was the double-whammy known as rewrites. The last anyone had even heard from the project was that Sylvain White (Stomp The Yard) had reportedly been hired to direct. But then the writer's strike hit and the project ran into a brick wall -- but that was then, and this is now.

After the jump; find out what Wan has planned for the Belmonts...

The Resident Evil well springs eternal. With three movies already under its biosuit (not counting the animated film Degeneration) and more games than I can shake a controller at, I think it's safe to say that RE is the most prolific zombie franchise ever created. It's influence is felt far greater in the video game world than Hollywood, but that has yet to stop Screen Gems from pumping out the undead actioners.

Which brings us the fourth in the film series (the aforementioned Degeneration was a standalone project more in line with the games than the films), titled Resident Evil: Afterlife. Shock Till You Drop picked up on a production report outlining the film's future, which will begin an eight week shoot starting this September with an expected release date of September 17, 2010. Though there is no director attached to the film yet, it's been confirmed that the always appreciated Milla Jovovich will be reprising her role of the fanboy loved Alice, destroyer of all things sans pulse. Also returning will be fanboy bait Paul W.S. Anderson, though as of this moment his duties will be strictly confined to the word processor side of things.

For those ready to jump ship after reading Anderson's name, I say give the Internet whipping boy a break. Yes, AVP squandered decades of banked potential, but he did kick off the Resident Evil franchise with not just its strongest entry, but also the strongest film he's ever been involved with. I also think the man deserves some credit for the success of the first RE, which I'd wager is directly correlated to the resurgence of Hollywood's faith in zombies. That's gotta count for something, right?