saw

I don't care much for Feast and I'm not a fan of the Saw series but writer Patrick Melton and co-writer/director Marcus Dunstan's The Collector is definitely my cup of team and Melton recently spoke with Dread Central about the possibility of a sequel to the home invasion horror flick. He also chatted with Dread about Saw II, 3D technology, the Oscar's awkward nod to horror films and more.

The duo is penning the script for the latest installment in the Saw series (lucky number 7) and director Kevin Greutert is halfway through principal photography after a studio debacle where Lionsgate went head-to-head with Paramount and exercised an option in Greutert's contract to force him off Paranormal Activity 2 and back to the Saw series. Adding insult to injury, this happened literally a few weeks before filming. What kind of film can you expect when the helmer has been unwillingly plopped into a chair just days away from shooting? Melton is keeping the faith:

" ... If anyone can do it, it's Kevin. He's been involved in every single Saw movie, and he directed the last one so he knows the limitations of the crew and the limitations of the resources, and so he's been able to adapt pretty quickly, and it's looking good. Because we are playing with the idea that this may be the last Saw movie and we are trying to wrap things up, it's made it a ton more ambitious."

One British theme park wants to shower you in gold (or maybe just £500) if you make a small donation. They're taking the piss -- literally. Thorpe Park in Surrey wants to find the most pungent-smelling urine for their new horror maze, SAW Alive, based on the the Saw franchise.

The park's entertainment manager, Laura Sinclair, is the lucky girl who will be selecting the winning stench. "We want SAW Alive to be as authentic and terrifying as possible to make visitors feel as if they are living in a real-life horror film," she told newspapers. "To do this we need to really push the boundaries of what our guests experience from a sensory point of view." The new attraction will feature six traps within the maze depicting the most violent and gory scenes from the Saw film series.

The contest takes place on Friday and the winning cup o' pee will be granted almost $800. In other news, conspiracy theorists report that British theme parks will be asking for hair samples next.

It's no surprise that writer Patrick Melton and co-writer/director Marcus Dunstan's script for The Collector was once considered for a Saw prequel film. The Feast and Saw collaborators created a raw and brutal assault on the senses with their story about a double home invasion and a masked serial killer who sets a web of traps to collect his victims.

Given its roots, it would be easy to chalk this film up to being just another torture porn fiasco, but The Collector manages to be a movie about torture without actually crossing into 'porn' territory. The film did struggle to find its place as it danced back and forth between realism and splatter film excess, but there are several elements that make the film closer to old school exploitation than pure torture porn. I'm not talking about "exploitation" in the way it has become a catch-all phrase used by lots of people who wouldn't know an exploitation movie if it sat on their face. I'm talking about something gritty, violent, low-budget and unforgiving. This is after all the same film, shot on 16 mm even, in which the director burned his own hand in order to capture the most realistic effect for a take.

The past two weeks created a fever-pitch buzz over who was at fault in the Conan O'Brien/Jay Leno Tonight Show hosting duties feud and how it would all turn out. Well, now that it's over (for the most part, Team Coco still doesn't have a job officially lined up), the collective conscience that is Hollywood must have realized that their was a new void in entertainment rivalries and decided to conjure a new one up. The unfortunate winners/victims? Saw VII (Lionsgate) and Paranormal Activity 2 (Paramount).

Just a few days ago Paramount announced that it would not only be going after the Halloween marketplace with an October 22nd release date, but that it would be hiring Saw VI director Kevin Greutert to direct the (unnecessary) sequel. Lionsgate didn't take too kindly to news that the studio who beat them at the box office last Halloween was posing themselves to do it again this year - and with their latest director, no less - so they decided to exercise an option in Greutert's contract that basically said "It's up to us whether you make your next movie at Lionsgate or not". In case the existence of this post wasn't clue enough, Lionsgate decided to reel him back home.

So the one-time director of Paranormal Activity 2 has just replaced the one-time director of Saw VII (part V's David Hackl) due to the whims of the studio. All of this arrives with principal photography just two weeks away on Saw VII, which really makes Lionsgate look like bad guys in this feud. I'm glad the guy who made the worst Saw film is now off the project (Lionsgate contractually must find him another gig, however), but shuffling/stealing directors a matter of days before production begins on the first 3D Saw film certainly makes it look like there is zero quality control being exercised over there.

I guess as every Halloween brings a new Saw sequel, each one will also merit a new parody video. Last year gave us the amusing Saw School Musical (since HSM3 opened opposite Saw V), and this year, Saw VI brings with it an early glimpse at one of Jigsaw's less effective traps. The Vault of Horror is responsible for bringing this one to our attention, and, well... you can see for yourself below, lest I go and describe the joke away. Suffice to say we could have used this clip as a "fate worse than death."

People who know nothing about horror films still like to take a cheap-shot when they can. They see a film with a 5 or a 6 in the title, and they get all clever: "Wow, part 6 already? Why? Who makes this stuff? Does anyone care anymore?" and all that jazz. Now, before I start ranting proper, I'm not saying that you're WRONG if you don't like the Saw films. I'm just sick of the knee-jerk reactions from people who'd happily mock a "Saw 6," but then run right home to catch the 11th season premiere of "CSI: New Jersey." Matter of fact, that's where I'll start:

It's a Serial!

The massively popular, horror-centric, and entirely silly True Blood is discussed like it's the reinvention of the vampire. (It's not. But it's good.) So far there have been 24 60-minute episodes of True Blood, which equals 1,440 minutes. By comparison the first five Saw films equal about 475 minutes. My point is this: Why should we hear cries of "enough!" on one and "ooooh, more please!" on another? Do the horror geeks not deserve their own equivalent of an "unending" soap opera? Is it fair that people bemoan a Saw 6 yet sit down for General Hospital ... every day for 15 years??

Am I the only who thinks 3-D horror films are a waste of time and money?

While some films may lend themselves to the technology (such as Burst, which is about exploding humans), the effect is usually lost on me. In the end, it almost seems like a distraction to prevent the audience from realizing your story is formulaic and conventional. The effect is lost once the film hits DVD, and although Blu Ray technology can emulate 3-D quite well, the overall impact is diminished considerably.

Given the recent spate of horror films being filmed in 3-D, it comes as no surprise that the Saw franchise will venture into the third dimension with 2010's Saw VII. Shock reports that the seventh installment in the seemingly never-ending franchise will feature a longer production time and be more expensive ... due to the conversion to 3-D.

I do truly love having a seasonal horror franchise, even if I'm not the biggest fan of the last few Saw films. Now that we're getting closer to October, AKA the horror genre's month long birthday party, all the marketing materials have begun emerging from their hatcheries, and there is once again little doubt that the loudest baddie of the month will be Lionsgate and Twisted Picture's torture-cherishing Saw VI (opening October 23rd).

Things are cryptic on the plot front, as per usual, but recently a new poster and the first TV spot have found release onto the Internets. I have no idea what's going on in the poster, except that it retains the tradition of forming the series' current roman numerals out of (presumably) deadly trap. Once again Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan have returned for writing duties, but Saw VI will be making a brand new director out of the series' long-time editor Kevin Greutert. According to the cast list, series regulars Shawnee Smith, Costas Mandylor, and, of course, Tobin Bell will be returning, but beyond that trap-setting trio this latest adventure into bondage and torture has a relatively unknown cast.

So click on to see a larger version of the poster to the right as well as the aforementioned TV spot, courtesy of Dread Central. Oh, and if you happen to live in Orlando, you might be interested on clicking over here for a behind-the-scenes look at how you can step into the haunted house world of Saw at Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights.

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...

If I told you this one was Seven meets Cube by way of a Nine Inch Nails video (with a sprinkling of The Silence of the Lambs thrown in for flavor), you'd probably dismiss the movie as something less than unique or original, let alone brain-crackingly cool. In which case you might overlook Saw, which is easily one of the most deliciously gruesome and addictively entertaining horror movies I've seen in years. Yes, I said years.

Two complete strangers awaken in a disgusting bathroom in the middle of god-knows-where. They're both chained by the ankles and escape seems quite impossible; but a handful of disturbing clues are left behind (not the least of which is a dead man with his brains blown out), and the pair quickly find themselves unraveling a collection of mysteries that are probably better left unmolested. This is the opening scene of Saw, the brilliant new horror flick from first-time filmmakers James Wan (director) and Leigh Whannell (screenwriter), and one that will fascinate anyone with even a passing interest in the horror genre. To divulge much more of the deliciously twisted storylines would be a grave disservice to those who wish to be so wholly blown away by the nasty twists that Saw provides...

...but suffice to say that the flick's about one serial killer, two desperate cops, three or four skin-wrenchingly slick sequences of terrorizing torture, and five or six well-earned scares that will have even the most jaded gorehound squirming happily in their seats.