sequels

Cloverfield 2 is starting to remind a lot of Evil Dead 4--it's a movie that comes up in every interview with principles of the first film (Matt Reeves and JJ Abrams) and the answers are always tantalizingly vague, but just intriguing enough to keep everyone talking about it.

MTV caught up with Reeves at SXSW this weekend, and naturally the topic of a sequel to the duo's hugely successful monster movie came up. True to form, Reeves' responses were cryptic but guaranteed to get the fans buzzing about a follow-up yet again.

Reeves tells MTV, "I can tell you nothing, [but] there are these spikes in activity. There are things that we keep talking about and things spike up. It very well may happen."

Yeah, there's your big Cloverfield 2 update. Spikes in activity and "it very well may happen." Not exactly Earth-shattering stuff.

Reeves then goes on to talk about his schedule and Abrams' schedule, and when you read it, it's easy to get the impression that we won't be seeing Cloverfield 2 anytime soon.

What do you think? Still interested in a Cloverfield sequel, or has so much time passed that you just don't care anymore?

I found Rob Zombie's take on Halloween to be insufferable. Lacking everything that made the original appealing and containing Zombie's requisite amount of excessive vulgarity, it ranks as one of the worst remakes I have ever seen. To date I have yet to see the sequel, but if it's anything like the first, I have very little hope for it. Then it was announced that the next installment in beating a horse to death would be in the third dimension.

These plans have not changed, as Bloody Disgusting reports that the Weinstein Company is going to take Halloween 3, which was initially slated for a 2011 release date, in a new direction and are currently "open for pitches." Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer, who worked on My Bloody Valentine 3D together, were originally slated to bring Michael Myers into the third dimension, but as B-D notes, whether or not they're still attached to the project is anyone's guess.

While I'm sure the film will eventually get made, we can only hope they decide to eschew the third dimension in favor of, you know, a good story and competent acting. 3-D works in only a limited number of scenarios, and a slasher film is NOT one of them. I don't care how many eyeballs or pick axes get thrown at the screen, it ultimately serves as nothing more than a distraction.

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.