I wasn’t crazy about Grindhouse, but I’ll forever be grateful to all involved for giving guys like Michael Biehn and Jeff Fahey another chance to shine on the big screen and show that they’re still viable cinematic presences, despite their diminished careers and drawing power. It just doesn’t seem right that these peeps would be damned with the same lifetime direct-to-video sentences (with occasional parole for tiny roles in theatrical flicks) handed out to felons like Steven Seagal. But unfair as that may be, I ain’t afraid to cruise the Starz SuperPak cable lineup or dip into a rental store in order to follow the rest of their work. And I have a feeling that’s exactly where I’ll be catching Biehn’s latest project, which finds him paired with Tom Berenger (somehow finding time between installments of his seemingly eternal Sniper franchise) and a host of similarly career-impaired folks.

Stiletto finds the two Bs as Mafiosi, one of whom (Berenger) happens to be dating a strange assassin (Stana Katic, who Heroes fans may remember as the nigh omnipotent Wi-Fi Girl who barely showed up in a couple of episodes earlier this year). Joining them on this Mob crusade are fellow pure-blooded Italians Kelly Hu, Dominque Swain, William Forsythe, Tom Sizemore, and Diane Venora. Further plot details aren’t plentiful, but this is the sort of cast I could watch grabbing brunch at an IHOP in Florida for 2 hours and still be entertained. They’ve all had brief runs as theatrical-caliber actors, and they’re pretty much all well past that point. But if you figure Slow Burn could see a theatrical release with its video-grade cast (Jolene Blaylock, Taye Diggs, Ray Liotta, and Mekhi Phifer), why not this?

We’ll have to see as no distributor is lined up yet. When one does shell out the big bucks needed to land a movie like this, however, they should be purchasing a slick-looking little flick as this film’s being shot on Panavision Super 35 Digital, the same format used by tentpoles like Superman Returns and Apocalypto.