There is almost always something going on in the world of horror movies. That said, most news isn’t worthy of solo articles………either do to lack of information or not being all that important. Still, many like to know about some of the smaller dealings in genre and in the spirit of keeping masochistic horror fans (a truly redundant statement, honestly) happy, here’s what has been going on lately…
Director Jim Mickle (Mulberry Street, Stake Land) is going to be one busy dude this year. First up for him is an English-language remake of Jorge Michel Grau’s We Are What We Are. Shooting is set to begin in June and Mickle promises something tonally similar to Winter’s Bone.….but with cannibals! After he finishes up work on that, he will move straight into production this fall on an adaptation of Joe R. Lansdale’s Cold In July.
Seth Grahame-Smith is another busy fella. His new novel, Unholy Night, hits store shelves tomorrow. Seth is currently in the middle of writing a monster movie script for Tim Burton entitled Night of the Living, which will likely be the next stop-motion project that Burton does in the near future. After he completes work on that, he will move on to penning the film adaptation of Unholy Night for producer David Heyman. No director is attached yet. Third up to bat for Burton’s new golden boy is the script for Beetlejuice 2, which Grahame-Smith won’t begin scribbling until the latter part of this year. Michael Keaton has already been contacted about the project and has met with Seth, so expect Mr. Mom to be giving his input on the screenplay.
Malcolm McDowell just took the oath of office in Silent Night, the impending remake of Silent Night, Deadly Night. He’ll be playing the sheriff charged with taking down the murderous Santa-garbed killer. Steven C. Miller (Automaton Transfusion, The Aggression Scale) directs the film, which is targeted for release this holiday season. Personal thoughts? I’m okay with it. The original is a piece of crap, so why not? Besides, I’m sure we can all con Josh into Franchise Me-ing this series up right before its release!
The Weinstein Company is suing Kevin Williamson over their Scream IV agreement, as well as the rights to an original script of his. First off, are they really THAT hard up for money? Second, why bother fighting for his script when you are just going to have Ehren Kruger take a dookie on it anyway? File this under “Bob & Harvey are grasping at straws because their three pals (Quentin, Robert, and Kevin) won’t answer their phone calls.”
Despite it still awaiting some sort of non-festival release, Bustillo & Maury’s Livid has already spread itself for Hollywood. SND Films and Quadrant Pictures have assigned David Birke (Gacy, Dahmer, Freeway Killer) to pen the screenplay for an English-language remake. What me up when I actually have a chance to watch the original first.
Christopher Landon, word-wielder on Paranormal Activity 2&3, will write and direct a Latino-themed supernatural horror flick for Paranmount. Said film will star an all-Latino cast and will revolve around Catholic-tinged paranormal myths. The currently untitled project should hit theaters in early 2013. Oren Peli and Jason Blum are on board to produce.
Frank Spotnitz still thinks a third X-Files movie could get made in the near future and promises to continue harassing Fox about it. Perhaps if he irritates them enough, they might just give him the money to make him shut up. That seems to be the only strategy he has left these days, outside of fan petitions. As much as I’d like to see a quality capper to the franchise, I think we need to realize that the last film is all we’re ever going to get. That means you too, Frank.
UK’s Arrow Video is releasing remastered special editions of Demons and Demons 2 on DVD & Blu-ray at the end of this month. In addition to the usual special features, they will carry a Demons 3 two-part comic. Naturally, you have to buy both films to get the entire tale. These unfortunately will NOT be region-free releases, so keep that in mind if you buy ’em.
John Boyega is in talks to star in Billy O’Brien’s Creeping Zero, a 3D sci-fi/horror project. Boyega was excellent in Attack the Block and O’Brien’s first feature, Isolation, is damn great……….so color me excited about this one if it goes through. And if not? Well, at least O’Brien has finally managed to get another film off the ground and won’t be slumming it over at SyFy again. As for Boyega, it’s nice to see that he is diving straight back into film now that Da Brick (his HBO project with Spike Lee) won’t make it past the pilot stage.