OH NO! IT'S SAW VI!

I've seen every installment of the SAW series, and I'd say the hardest part about watching these movies is trying to convince yourself that what you're seeing is actually new. After awhile, these movies tend to all blur together and seem interchangeable. Between the flashbacks to scenes from previous movies, to newly filmed flashbacks to scenes we hadn't seen before (mainly revolving around John Kramer (Tobin Bell) the "real" Jigsaw back when he was alive), and then the same torture devices we've seen in other SAW movies popping up again (how many times can they use that contraption that is like a bear trap for people's heads?), it can get confusing without a score card.

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What are we to conclude from the box office for U.S. horror films the last few months? In short order, THE FINAL DESTINATION creamed ROB ZOMBIE'S HALLOWEEN 2, the much hyped JENNIFER'S BODY bombed, ZOMBIELAND debuted in the #1 position, and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY - in limited release - annihilated THE STEPFATHER remake.

First of all, let's award the dunce cap to the rocket scientists at Weinstein Co. that released ZOMBIE'S H2 in late August rather than, duh, October, the month of the holiday for which it is named. Yes, ROB ZOMBIE'S HALLOWEEN did well this same time two years ago, but there was anticipation for that film. Despite its strong box office take, general audiences and horror fans ... (more…)

David Cronenberg will reportedly helm the latest remake of THE FLY. Cronenberg's 1986 version of the 1958 original may have been the best received horror remake ever, so why visit that well again? Supposedly, the possibilities of what CGI can do intrigued him enough to revisit material many fans already consider classic. Cronenberg will develop, write and direct this version for 20th Century Fox. (more…)

Neve Campbell has signed on to join Courtney Cox and David Arquette in SCREAM 4, to be scripted by series creator Kevin WIlliamson?

Was there ever any doubt that the lady needs a paycheck?

Wes Craven is in talks to direct.

Is there any doubt that Wes will do the deed?

I'm not a fan of SCREAM, though I understand this is a generational thing. I lived through and loved the slasher films of the 1970s and 1980s, so I found SCREAM pretty anemic and not half as clever as people younger than me did. I admit to being reasonably entertained by SCREAM 2 - especially the scene with the characters running around campus snatching cell phones from people - but I think SCREAM 3 was one of the worst sequels ... (more…)

I saw the LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS stage production in its original, off Broadway theatre - the Orpheum - three times, and loved it; listened to the soundtrack incessantly in college; and found the Frank Oz directed movie over blown, over produced, and watered down. The dark ending - taken from the original Roger Corman movie, preserved in the stage musical, and filmed for the movie at a reported cost of $5 million, was not surprisingly deemed uncommercial by movie execs and jettisoned in favor of an audience friendly version that guaranteed the flick would be a hit. I often wondered, how the hell could that deleted ending have cost FIVE MILLION BUCKS? Seemed like exaggeration to me. When ... (more…)

Busy actor Lee Perkins sent along an update on his various projects of note to genre fans:

"THE RED MACHINE will premiere at the 2009 Mill Valley Film Festival (the official announcement was on Tues., Sept. 15th).

Monogram Releasing has sent LIVE EVIL out on a limited theatrical release on 300 screens starting yesterday, Friday, Sept. 18th.

Anchor Bay will release EDGES OF DARKNESS on DVD on Tues., Sept. 22nd.

So last Tues. I battled with the Japanese -- Fri. with Vampires -- and next Tues. against the Antichrist -- That's a busy week!" (more…)

Some time ago, Roy Frumkes (THE DEFINITIVE DOCUMENT OF THE DEAD) announced he was writing a screenplay for STREET TRASH 3, on which he would reunite with director James Muro, who helmed the original, and several trashy cast members. Since making the original, Muro became one of Hollywood's top steadicam operators, working on several James Cameron flicks, and more recently moved on to become a top director of photography, earning an Academy Award nomination for his work on CRASH. But Muro is still willing to have some fun with TRASH!

STREET TRASH 3 (so much time has passed that Frumkes passed on using the number 2 for his preferred title), while continuing the frenetic action, intercutting, ... (more…)

No, this is not a review. I haven't seen JENNIFER'S BODY, written by Diablo Cody and starring Megan Fox, nor do I intend to. I'm not a horny teenage boy, so there's no reason for me to see the man-eating Fox's high school-set horror comedy, even if the reviews were good... which they aren't.

Cody may have made some good references to the great Herschell Gordon Lewis in JUNO, but she should leave the horror to the professionals and stick to her trendy high school rom coms, so say the reviews.

Too bad, I was looking forward to a feminist (if you consider the former pole dancer a feminist) horror flick, but this one seems Dead On Arrival, a much less interesting take on TEETH, which I loved. ... (more…)

From the Huffington Post:

Megan Fox Branded 'Dumb-As-A-Rock' And 'Classless' By 'Transformers' Crew, Michael Bay Responds


Megan Fox was the target of an open letter from unnamed 'Transformers' crew members slamming her as thankless, classless, graceless, dumb, trailer trash, and ungracious after she likened director Michael Bay to Hitler in an interview. Legitimizing the letter's authorship and sidestepping some of the allegations it made, Bay even weighed in (Bay's response is down below the long open letter).

The fracas started when Fox recently told an interviewer of Bay:

He's like Napoleon and he wants to create this insane, infamous mad-man reputation. He wants to be like Hitler on his ... (more…)

A poorly written synopsis for RAMBO V: THE SAVAGE HUNT is making the rounds of the Internet (or at least Aint It Cool News):

"JOHN RAMBO could track anyone - or anything - on earth. Now the MILITARY desperately needs him for a mission that his ultrasensitive instincts tell him he should refuse. A BEAST is loose somewhere north of the ARCTIC CIRCLE. It has already decimated a secret research facility and annihilated a SQUAD of elite MILITARY GUARDS. And the raging CREATURE is heading south towards civilization, ready to wreak bloody devastation.

"It's a job that Rambo and his 22 year old hunting partner BEAU BRADY, can't turn down, but they and a team of highly skilled SPECIAL FORCES ... (more…)