Saturday, April 29, 2006

Friday the 13th remake may get killed

Bloody-Disgusting got some terrible, terrible news from the grapevine regarding New Line Cinema's latest entry in the Friday the 13th series, which was slated for an October release, with Platinum Dunes attached to produce.

During a conversation with an insider, they were was informed that the Friday the 13th quasi-remake might be dead in the water. “Sadly, it seems like things are at a standstill because of rights issues.” That’s as much as they know at the moment, so keep your eyes peeled at their site for (hopefully) an update soon.

Jonathan Liebesman was set to direct off a script by Mark Wheaton. The remake would have incorporated components of the films, though it is known that Jason would have worn the mask and will kill. The setting would have been that of the first movie, Crystal Lake.

Friday, April 28, 2006

Charles Band update: Tommy Chong joins Evil Bong!!!

Great news on EVIL BONG: we got Tommy Chong (of Cheech & Chong!) for a great part in our stoner horror comedy!!! We start shooting next Friday and I can't wait!!! Having Tommy Chong in our film is like having the weed seal of approval!!! There will be additional exciting "guest stars' TBA!!! - not to mention the super-amazing and ultra-hot Robin Sydney (Gingerdead Man, The Lost) plus the extremely sexy Kristyn Greene and the mega-talented Brian Lloyd from Doll Graveyard!

In other good news the Trancers Box Sets are here and will be available for the first time ever on the planet earth on Monday May 1st at high noon: just go to FullMoonDirect.com!!! Also a surprise Toy is about to arrive: KILLJOY. 12 inches, very articulate, great detailed costume and nasty as hell! KILLJOY should be available in about 2 weeks!

Have a great weekend!!!

CB

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Naked Beneath the Water to bow June 2 at Laemmle's Sunset 5

Velvet Hammer Films gory whodunit "Naked Beneath the Water", toplining actor-director Sean Cain and featuring MTVs "Singled Out" alumnus and B-movie staple Film Star Randal Malone ("Hollywood Mortuary", the upcoming "Psychon Invaders"), will enjoy its commercial world premiere Fri. June 2 here in an exclusive midnight screening at the Laemmle Theatres Sunset 5.

The 85-minute horror-mystery about a man searching for his missing brother who appears to have been murdered by publicity hungry serial killers represents Cains first feature film as a director, following his work as an editor on "Jeepers Creepers" writer-director Victor Salva's as-yet-unreleased" Kindred Spirits" and director Ken Osborne's upcoming Jimmy Williams-produced "Hollywood Confidential". Cain had previously appeared as an actor in Salva's "Rites of Passage" and "Powder".

http://nakedbeneaththewater.com/
The original Ultraman arrives from Nebura M-78 to R1 DVD!

In July, BCI will release all 39 episodes of the classic Japanese live-action television series Ultraman on DVD. Greg Glass, Senior Vice President of BCI, said "Ultraman represents one of the most popular 'tokusatsu' - special effects - superhero genre productions ever to come out of Japan. This series pre-dated the popular Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and we expect it to garner a tremendous fan base here in the United States".

Ultraman is the story of a series of "Ultra-heroes" that arrive on Earth to fight giant, evil monsters set on destroying the world. Each ultraman can grow to over 200 feet tall, and uses a variety of energy emission powers, as well as expert, hand-to-hand martial arts fighting styles.

This one streets on July 18th and will arrive as a three disc set containing twenty episode, with an MSRP of $39.98. You'll have the choice of watching the episodes in Japanese with English subs or in the old English dubbed tracks. The set will include some collectible Ultraman cards, interviews with the English dub team and more, all remastered and looking super spiffy!

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Mexican horrors via France

Someone just sent me those images, that you can click to see enlarged. I´ll let you know more when I find out what´s all about. Just in case, I already arranged a partnership with Amazon France, so you can get those as soon as they´re out. Keep watching this space.



New images from The Reaping

The Horror Channel got two pics of Dark Castle´s next movie, The Reaping, that stars Hillary Swank as a former Christian missionary who loses her faith after her family is killed. She’s now an expert on debunking religious phenomena, but her investigation into a Louisiana town that seems to be suffering the Biblical plagues may make her question her faith yet again. The Reaping is set to hit theaters on August 11th.

Dark Sky Proudly Presents Anthony Hopkins in MAGIC!

Abracadabra, I sit on his knee. Presto, change-o, and now he's me! Hocus Pocus, we take her to bed. Magic is fun...we're dead. - Fats

April 25 marks the release of the never-before-on-DVD shocker MAGIC, directed by Sir Richard Attenborough and starring Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margret, Burgess Meredith and Ed Lauter. This disc is packed with great extras and is newly transferred from original negative materials. An interview with cinematographer Victor Kemper, interviews with Anthony Hopkins and Ann-Margret, Ann-Margret makeup test, original TV commercial that scared the bejeezus out of thousands of little kids across America, and much more!

We're also happy to offer exclusive discounts on some of our other fine titles so you can enjoy even more Dark Sky goodness in your home.

This special discount offer is only through the Dark Sky Films website and expires May 22nd, so pick one, two, three or more and set that DVD whirring with crazy flicks from the '60s through the '90s including:

The Invisible Man Season 1 - $19.99
Terror Beneath The Sea - $9.99
The Losers - $13.99
Scary True Stories - $12.99
Henry: 20th Anniversary Collectors Edition - $16.99
Dog Eat Dog - $9.99

www.darkskyfilms.com

Slaughter Disc - The Unrated Director's Cut: loaded with scenes too explicit for theaters!

Mike loves porn. Unfortunately he is blinded by his addiction to XXX entertainment as it slowly eats away at every aspect of his life. One day a mysterious DVD arrives in the mail and Mike quickly begins to realize there is a much darker side to the world of adult entertainment.

Bondage, Murder, Self-Mutilation, Cannibalism, Necrophilia - these are just the icing on the cake of this journey into Hell.

Running Time: Approximately 90 minutes.
Not Rated: Contains explicit sex, gore and graphic violence.
Bonus Materials: Behind the Scenes, Photo Gallery, Outtakes, The Curse of Slaughter Disc and a few extra special treats for those clever enough to find them.
Starring: Caroline Pierce, Robert Williams, Jewels Mackenzie, Travis Lee, Albin Kinsey.

http://www.slaughterdisc.com/

Kyonsi´s Asian Horror Tips


The Heirloom (Zhaibian)

Twenty years ago, an inexplicable mass suicide occurred in the millionaire Yang household, where the entire family hanged themselves at the exact same time. Only one member survived. To this day, the case remains unsolved. Now, a distant relative inherits the house and moves in with his new fiancée. Mysterious events begin to disturb their lives and force them to confront the evil within. The demented legacy of the Yang family comes full circle and the curse left behind is reborn.

Director Leste Chen is one of the hottest young directors in Taiwan. He previously directed music videos for Taiwan’s most popular rock band Mayday. His short films have been nominated for two consecutive years at the Taipei Film Awards.

Product Details:
Presented in anamorphic widescreen, Dolby Digital and DTS Surround Sound 5.1.
Run Time: 96 min min.
Special Features: “Making of” featurette; Interview with director and lead actors; Commentary with crew; Deleted scenes; Original theatrical trailer; Trailers of Tartan Video’s upcoming releases.
Media Standard: NTSC
Language Track(s): Mandarin
Subtitle Track(s): English, Spanish
DVD Region: 1
Closed Captioned: No



Thanks to Kyonsi Online!

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

And the ghouls go marching in!

In the mood for a bawdy, surreal art-musical...
with zombies? Well, who isn´t?

Indican Pictures is putting out this hilarious gem called Gory Gory Hallelujah, that tells the tale of four actors competing for the role of Jesus - a black revolutionary (Jeff Gilbert), a bisexual hippie (Tim Gouran), a Jew (Todd Licea), and a woman (Angie Louise).

When all four are rejected, they hit the road on bad-ass motorcycles, bound for glory in New York City. But when a run-in with a gang of Elvises ends in murder, they find themselves stranded in a little town called Jackville - where folk don't take kindly to blasphemers.

Taken prisoner, the Jesuses fall prey to an evil conspiracy that can only lead to the Apocalypse. As the oppressed turn against each other and the undead rise, who will emerge as the true Jesus? Can zombies bring redemption, or just eat flesh?

Check it out at their Official Website!

TRANCERS released date now PETRIFIED in stone! Bong!

"So we finally have confirmation on the arrival of the TRANCERS 5 DVD BOX SET! MAY DAY!!! So at high noon on Monday May 1st the first shipment will be here and ready to go! We are also real happy with our new cybersource set up at FullMoonDirect.com and we’ve been able to ship out all orders within 48 hours!

On other fronts: EVIL BONG starts shooting next week and PETRIFIED is now set for national release in September! The 2006 FULL MOON HORROR ROAD SHOW is going to be a blast and I’m also looking forward to Monster Mania in NJ in a few short weeks! I’ll have 2-3 original Puppets/Dolls to auction off during my “performance” and I’m sure I’ll have some footage and crazy stories from EVIL BONG!!!

CB"

Monday, April 24, 2006

Hellraiser III gets a decent R1 release this time. BUT...

Paramount Home Entertainment will release a remastered and refurbished version of Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth on August 18th.

The 1992 sequel will be presented with an 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer, Dolby Digital Surround sound (the UK edition has a DTS option), and a WAY better video quality than the horrid panned & scanned, VHS-looking like monstrosity released by Front Row Video in 2001.

Now on to the bad news.

There will be no extras (UPDATE: now it will), and worse: it's still the 93-minute R-rated cut - so better hang on to the Laserdisc from Paramount (or the Anchor Bay UK DVD, if you handle PAL), uncut and featuring extra footage of a topless girl in The Boiler Room and two new scenes:

Immediately after Terri moves out from Joey, there is a scene inside the Boiler Room nightclub where a couple are seen buying some drugs from a drug dealer. Terri is in the Boiler Room, where she witnesses a couple in love, which makes her even more lonely. Next, she purchases some coffee, and looks up to see JP who says "Hey baby, glad you could make it."

This new scene ends here; next JP is seen telling Terri to "come on in" to his room. When Elliot tells Joey about his past, they are standing around a campfire. The Nightclub Massacre sequence was trimmed for the UK Theatrical version - but was released uncut when they released it on video as the Directors Cut. There is also new scene immediately before the footage from Hellbound (Elliot playing with box at start), in which Elliot is seen buying the box in an Indian bazaar.

Some rare bootleg versions are said to contain much more graphic violence during the gruesome slaughter at The Boiler Room. They include:

* A man cutting his face on a broken martini glass.
* A woman getting half of her face ripped off by a hook.
* A more graphic creation of the CD Cenobite
* A man getting his jaw ripped off by a hook.
* A reference to the Female Cenobite from the first two films with a woman getting her throat sliced in half and the flesh being pulled to the sides by wires.
* A long line of people hooked together, including a chain to the throat for one woman and through the chest for one man.


The uncut version also contains more insert cuts of dead soilders and gore in the trenches (when Joey makes her ghostly visit to WW1). And theres a new short scene before J.P discovers that the box is missing from the pillar of souls. The scene opens with the last employees of the "Boiler room" leaving and saying Goodbye to J.P. The scene is ap. 10 sec and ends with J.P comming out of his office.

Daemonia & Sergio Stivaletti at Profondo Rosso Store in Roma

Siete invitati il giorno Sabato 29 Aprile 2006 dalle ore 17 alle ore 19 al negozio PROFONDO ROSSO di Roma, in Via dei Gracchi 260, per un incontro con i DAEMONIA in occasione dell'uscita del DVD "DARIO ARGENTO TRIBUTE-LIVE IN LOS ANGELES".

Ci saranno anche Luigi Cozzi e Sergio Stivaletti, regista del videoclip "Profondo Rosso" contenuto nel box del DVD. Non mancate!

Oh, you only speak english? No problem, I´ll translate for you:

On Saturday, October 29th 2006, you are invited from 17h to 19h at the Profondo Rosso Shop of Rome, in Via dei Gracchi 260, for a meeting with DAEMONIA for the release of the DVD "DARIO ARGENTO TRIBUTE-LIVE IN LOS ANGELES".

Director Luigi Cozzi (a.k.a. Lewis Coates) and SFX maestro Sergio Stivaletti, who also directed the videoclip "Profondo Rosso" contained on the DVD, will also be there as well.

Don't dare to miss it!

http://www.profondorossostore.com/news.htm

Lethal Force on DVD... almost...

C'mon guys, do we REALLY need Hollywood? Do we? If so, what for? To churn out yearly, multimillionaire can-you-top-this blockbusters filled with enough CGI to keep Steve Jobs employed for at least 10 more years? (Yeah, right, so you think they use Windows to render Star Wars movies...). With the budget from Armageddon, we could fly Ben Affleck into space for real and leave him there, just like Laika (as an animal lover, I'm still pissed at what they did to the poor bitch; somebody has to pay!). THAT would be cool. But noooo! Today's idea of "cool" is show a dude frozen in mid-air while the camera runs rings around him. Whoa. O the drama! O the pathos!

Oh, cut that crap. Ben-Hur's chariot race was achieved with horse manure and Moses in a loincloth, and still tops anything the Watchoo Bros. can throw at us.

I won't miss Hollywood, that bloated neon vampire who sucked dry the talents of John Woo, Tsui Hark and Ringo Lam. I have indie filmmakers to keep me company and give me some IDEAS for a change. Or just plain fun, as is the case of Alvin Ecarma's Lethal Force.

Here's the plot: When his son is kidnapped by crippled crimelord Mal Locke (Andrew Hewitt, looking like Peter Fonda on a Trigun cosplay), the not-so-good guy Jack (Frank Prather) is forced to sell out his best friend and homo lover Savitch (Cash Flagg, Jr., a Bruce Li with baby fat).

You see, Savitch is a bad mothershafter. He's indestructible. He's faster than a speeding building. He has powers beyond that of the mere mortal man, including a cool way to reload pistols. And as the perfect prick he is, he made a lot of enemies along the way - including mystery woman Rita, played by Pam Grier's lookalike Patricia Williams.

Aided by an army of faceless goons (literally!) and a fez-wearing lesbian, Mal finally captures Savitch and proceeds to torture him with power tools. But Savitch, as we already established, is a badass mofo who can only be killed by the pure of heart (or something like that, judging by the ending). He breaks free, kicks some more ass in true Lone Wolf and Cub style, and then goes after his traitor friend Jack. Uh-oh. During the final confrontation, only one will survive - and it's not who you think.

Familiar ground here, right? Right. But Ecarma knows that. There's hardly a second without any mention to some cult thingie, from Faster Pussycat Kill! Kill! to Wonder Woman. Heck, there's even a line lifted from Attack of the 50 Foot Woman! But, and here's the catch: the homages don't get in the way of the storytelling. They ARE the storytelling. The entire movie is a send-up to the good ole days of Drive-In fun, and a hell of a joy ride it is! While Kevin Williamson would call attention to the homages and stop the narrative dead on the tracks, Ecarma just goes on with the in-jokes and leaves to the viewer the task of spotting all the references. Alas, Ecarma ran the extra mile by promoting his flick with a 70's-styled poster and a line of action figures! I kid you not. Check the official site at http://divergentthinking.net/, read the production diaries and be prepared to laugh your hemorrhoids off.

I love Lethal Force. I really do. I watched it originally three times in a month on the oh-so-hated VHS format, and even cared enough to REWIND the tape! And not just because this little gem, shot on film with a budget of $50,000 dollars, manages to blend every pop culture riff in unexpected ways. Nope. Ecarma gives us the most important thing since Daguerre moved his first picture: Likeable characters. This ain't no There's Something About Mary, where we root for Ben Stiller to lose his gregory pecker before he has the chance to boink Cameron Diaz. No. We care. In Lethal Force, we root for Jack to save his son. We want Savitch alive and kicking ass in the sequel, instead of being replaced by Antonio Banderas or Don "The Dragon" Wilson. We want to see Jack and Savitch patch up their differences with a big wet french kiss. Sure, the acting is not top notch as in, say, Hall of Mirrors (I´ll tell you about this one later), but it's convincing - at least in a cartoony way. That's not a bad thing. Remember how Bugs and Daffy had more screen charisma than Bill Murray in Space Jam? Whoops, there it is.

At little more than 70 minutes, Lethal Force moves pretty fast. It drags just a little during the nightclub sequence (c'mon... those gals are cute, but they sure can't dance!), and even that is redeemed by the gorgeous legs of Jen Dunkelberger (pictured), a.k.a. Jennifer Reitz, as the G-String Kickboxer (actually she's billed "New Girl Suzy", but I like "G-String Kickboxer" better).

The low-budget fight scenes are pretty good as well, with almost perfect editing and those goofy sound effects we know and love from hong-kong-fu flicks. The fights were coreographed by multi-talented Eric Thornett, who also plays über-baddie "Psycho Bowtie" and directed a cool indie film called 23 HOURS. And, as any decent action film should, LF delivers gore galore, with plenty of decapitations, crucifications, trepanations, castrations and exploding heads, not to mention the blood-squirting eyeball gag from the trailer (BTW, looks like Sean Connery's cameo was left on the cutting room floor; watch the trailer and you'll know what I'm talking about!).

P.S.: Oh, and by the way, LETHAL FORCE is THIS close to be released by Unearthed Films after Ecarma´s long line of bad deals with other distributors that shall remain unnamed. So, YES, this is not a DVD review - yet.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Last chance to see ABOMINABLE in theaters!!

FOR ONE WEEK ONLY! After that, you´ll only be able to see this modern classic on DVD - and, c´mon, it´s not the same thing as watching it on a big screen, with a totally scared audience! If you really want to check the experience (and Tiffany Shepis), this is the place to go.

Oh, and you can order your tickets by clicking on Sasquatch´s nostrils - or using this link here!

Laemmle's SUNSET 5
8000 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, 90046
323-848-3500
Turkish KILINK movies now available thru HKFlix.

Originally released by Onar Films in Greece, now those two classics starring the spooky Killing (Satanik if you're french, Sadistik if you're american) are available thru HKFlix's online store. While the american version doesn´t hit stores in June (check the Official Website here), you can check the character by clicking the covers below.

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Saturday, April 22, 2006

Classic Japanese horrors resurface... from Greece!

Nine japanese horror classics from producer Mitsugu Okura, made between 1957 and 1960, come to us by way of NTSC all-region DVDs imported from - of all places - Greece, thru a small distributor named New Star Ltd. Many of them feature anamorphic widescreen transfers, and are the perfect treat for fans of classic Asian horror.

Mitsugu Okura was the Takashige Ichise of his generation. A former carnival barker, Okura, it can best be said, specialized in making films that he thought would make him money. Less concerned with notions of art and quality - though not totally immune to their inclusion as long as the film came in on or under budget - Okura's films ranged from cheap-o exploitation flicks to two of director´s Nobuo Nakagawa's best works.

Nakagawa (1905-1984) was known for being a maestro of the horror film as well as a filmmaker who displayed a unique creativity in various genres. He began his career in the silent film period and after World War II, became one of the most important program picture directors at Shintoho, where he created such masterpieces as “Ghost Story of Yotsuya” (59) and “Jigoku” (60). With his last film, “The Living Koheiji” (82), Nakagawa made 97 films in total.

With unconventional technics, striking visuals, and entertaining stories, NakagawaA’s films will give audiences the opportunity to discover some fascinating cinematic art influencing contemporary Japanese horror genre.

Here´s the titles, and they´re all available thru HKFlix.

- Kaidan Kasane Ga Fuchi (1957)
(AKA: The Depths; The Ghost Of Kasane)
- Borei Kaibyo Yashiki (1958)
(AKA: Black Cat Mansion; The Mansion Of The Ghost Cat)
- Kaidan Tsibusa Enoki (1958)
(AKA: Ghost Of Chibusa Enoki; Ghost Of Tsibusa Enoki)
- Kaidan Kagami Gafuchi (1959)
(AKA: Ghost Story: Depth Of Kagami; Ghost Of Kagami-Ga-Fuchi)
- Onna Kyuketsuki (1959)
(AKA: Vampire Man; The Lady Vampire; The Woman Vampire)
- Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan (1959)
(AKA: The Ghost Story Of Yotsuya; The Ghost Of Yotsuya)
- Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan 2 (1959)
(AKA: Ghost Story Of Yotsuya 2; Yotsuya Ghost Story In Tokaido)
- Jigoku (1960)
(AKA: Story Of The Great Eight-Tombed Hell; The Sinners Of Hell)
- Kaibyo Otama Ga Ike (1960)
(AKA: The Ghost Cat Of Otama Ga Ike)
Toho´s The War in Space will be on DVD next week.

Toho's sci-fi classic The War in Space (Wakusei Daisenso, 1977), directed by Godzilla alumni Jun Fukuda, will be released on region 1 DVD April 25, 2006 by Discotek Media, the same company that brought us the delightful live-action version of Lupin The Third.

By the late 70's Toho had seen the handwriting on the wall, after Godzilla's first retirement. This was seemingly their last big SFX film until they got into the mid-80's when times improved. Star Wars was playing big in the US in 1977 and it had yet to reach Japanese shores until Xmas time.

Toho had recently had the ball dropped on them with Nessie, which was to be a $5M Hammer/Toho production, that fell to pieces when investors pulled out - Toho had already spent money making a monster they were so sure it was going forward. So, two rival studios, Toei and Toho, decided to do their own space opera stories ahead of that. Toei's was Message From Space and Toho made The War In Space with a much hyped campaign, claiming it was the most expensive film they'd made in years.

The plot essentially is: aliens annex Venus and use it as a base to attack earth in globe shaped ships. So it is up to the space battleship Goten and it's crew to go to Venus and defeat the aliens. Because of budget, much of the destruction on earth is footage from The Last War and Battle In Outer Space, inserted over footage of the flying, firing globes.

The aging, hardened commander of the Goten takes his ship, daughter and crew to Venus. Here is where Toho's FX dept shines with an excellent miniature surface of Venus, complete with cloud chamber effects work. The Goten itself is a re-worked version of The Atragon (it was said that in fact the very model of that was pulled out of storage and re-tooled to save money) . The aliens have ornate ships and wear wild costumes - as always in a Japanese film. The ships look more fantastical than functional like huge seagoing ships, boats with oars. There is even a Chewbacca-lookalike but he has a pair of horns, I assume to make him look "evil" unlike his US counterpart. At one point the commander's daughter is kidnapped and taken prisoner by the aliens - and put in the charge of the evil Chewbacca.

All the costumes are a rather outlandish and brilliant affair. You never know what someone will appear wearing! They remove the daughter's yellow space uniform and force her, handcuffed, to wear a rather racey leather bondage outfit and it is up to the hero to rescue her. As with many of Jun Fukuda's Godzilla films, he really brightens up the color palette on everything. The spacesuits however are particularly nicely done and have a realistic 2001 feel to them.

Studio: Discotek Media
DVD Release Date: April 25, 2006
Run Time: 90 minutes
DVD Features:
Available Subtitles: English
Available Audio Tracks: Japanese (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono), Japanese (Dolby Digital 5.1), English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono)
Theatrical Trailer
Photo Gallery of rare B/W stills
Interview with special effects director Teruyoshi Nakano
Detailed booklet containing the history of film, poster art, and vehicle diagrams

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