----- March 17, 2010 -----

** THE THING prequel: With shooting scheduled to begin soon on director Matthijs van Heijningen's prequel in British Columbia and Toronto, the film's producers took a moment to talk about what they found on the project. Marc Abraham and Eric Newman of Strike Entertainment spoke to the L.A. Times and had the following to say about the coming film: "I'd be the first to say no one should ever try to do JAWS again and I certainly wouldn't want to see anyone remake THE EXORCIST" Newman told the Times. "And we really felt the same way about THE THING. It's a great film. But once we realized there was a new story to tell, with the same characters and the same world, but from a very different point of view, we took it as a challenge. It's the story about the guys who are just ghosts in Carpenter's movie - they're already dead. But having Universal give us a chance to tell their story was irresistible." (thanks to DreadCentral.com)

** PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2: Paramount Pictures is close to announcing a director for PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2, slated to open on October 22. Akiva Goldsman is the one closest to sitting in the director's chair. Last month, the L.A. Times reported a number of directors were circling around the sequel to last year's horror hit. Greg McLean (WOLF CREEK), Brad Anderson, Goldsman and Brian De Palma were all names thrown in the pot. But Goldsman, is the frontrunner right now. While he wrote BATMAN FOREVER, BATMAN & ROBIN, I AM LEGEND, THE DA VINCI CODE and others PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 Goldsman has worn many hats. His writing career began with the John Grisham adaptation THE CLIENTwould be his feature debut if he is in fact attached. (thanks to ShockTillYouDrop.com)

** A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET remake: A viral game site is now online.

** TRUE BLOOD: Fans, mark your calendars. HBO's vampire drama will return for Season 3 on June 13, the pay cable network said Monday. There has been a lot of build-up and anticipation for the third season of the Alan Ball series, which is adding a lot of new blood: new cast members Denis O'Hare, Marshall Allman, Kevin Alejandro, Theo Alexander, Grant Bowler, Joe Manganiello, Lindsay Pulsipher, Brit Morgan and Cooper Huckabee, as well as J. Smith-Cameron and veteran Alfre Woodard. (thanks to Bloody-Disgusting.com)

** PRIEST: Here's the very first footage from the upcoming film.

----- March 16, 2010 -----

** THE HOWLING REBORN: Here's the very first plot details for Joe Nimziki's reboot of the werewolf franchise. "A teenager graduating from high school finally gets the girl he's been pining over for years, but unfortunately for him once he's landed the love of his life he discovers that he's cursed and will transform into a werewolf. Even worse, not only does he have his own internal conflict to contend with, he must also battle an entire pack of werewolves who are hellbent on killing both him and his new girlfriend." Shooting begins in Montreal, Canada this May. (thanks to Bloody-Disgusting.com)

** The director of GEISHA VERSUS NINJA teams with TOKYO GORE POLICE helmer for GOTHIC AND LOLITA PSYCHO! Filming now wrapped we've got a first look at the poster art for the picture. Gothic and Lolita ... the fashion reflects her dark and childish mentality. Yuki the heroine, saw her mother killed by cruel gangs. She vows revenge! Knock off the enemies with her transformable umbrella. So gorgeous and so savage. Who killed mother? What the hell are the gangs? What is the truth and purpose that father knows? Her coming terrible destiny is going with the dead bodies. (thanks to TwitchFilm.net)

** THE CRAZIES remake dropped to the tenth place at the box office with $3.7 million for a total of $33.4 million.

** LEGION: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment has announced DVD ($28.95) and Blu-ray ($34.95) releases of LEGION for May 11. DVD Active writes that the only extra material on the DVD release will be 3 featurettes ("Creating the Apocalypse - Behind the Physical Effects", "Humanity's Last Line of Defense - The Cast and Characters", "From Pixels to Picture - A Look at the Visual Effects"). The Blu-ray release will also include a Bringing Angels To Earth: Picture-in-Picture extra, and BD-Live features. (thanks to Bloody-Disgusting.com)

** SAW VII 3D: Co-writer Patrick Melton recently gave out a few details in an interview on the approach for the latest chapter in the franchise. "In this one we have bigger traps and more traps and more characters," explains Melton. "Especially characters from the past (films) – than we’ve had in probably any other SAW movie. It’s definitely the most expensive and ambitious SAW movie that we’ve done. Some of it is in response to last year’s SAW VI, which, while being the most critically acclaimed SAW film in a while, didn’t do particularly as well (at the box office) as everyone would have hoped, so we are going pretty far with this one in terms of the scale and intensity of the traps and the amount of twists, especially into the third act, which is just a plethora of twists and reveals." "If we end it with this one," he continues, "then the entire franchise and story will be wrapped up in a nice pretty package." (thanks to DreadCentral.com)

----- March 15, 2010 -----

** CLOVERFIELD sequel: Finally director Matt Reeves has offered an update on the sequel's status. In an interview with MTV at SXSW, Reeves said, "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." (thanks to DreadCentral.com)

** PREDATORS: The official web site is now online!

** THE COLLECTOR: A simple heist turns into a deadly game of cat-and-mouse in the “stylish and confident high-concept thriller” (Variety) THE COLLECTOR, arriving on Blu-ray Disc and DVD April 6 from Genius Products and Vivendi Entertainment. An underground edge-of-your-seat spine-chiller, garnering a $7.7 million box office, THE COLLECTOR follows the story of Arkin, a handyman and ex-con who aims to repay his debt to his ex-wife by robbing his new employer’s country home. Little does he know, a far worse enemy has already laid claim to the property – and Arkin finds himself a reluctant hero trapped by a masked “Collector” in a maze of lethal invention. Featuring gripping performances from Josh Stewart, Madeline Zima and Andrea Roth, THE COLLECTOR is the directorial debut of screenwriter Marcus Dunstan. With special features including an alternate ending, deleted scenes, commentary and more, THE COLLECTOR will be available on Blu-ray Disc and DVD for the suggested retail price of $24.99 and $24.95 respectively.

** You may think that James Whale's 1931 FRANKENSTEIN film starring Boris Karloff is your first look at the monster, while in fact Thomas Edison's 1910 short adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel is its first true incarnation. March 18 marks the 100th anniversary of the release of the long forgotten original made in 1910 by Thomas Edison's studio, and to celebrate publisher BearManor Media is releasing Frederick C. Wiebel, Jr.'s new book "Edison's Frankenstein," along with a restored DVD of the original short (from the one existing print!). (thanks to Bloody-Disgusting.com)

** HIGH PLAINS INVADERS: It’s a war of the worlds in the Wild West when HIGH PLAINS INVADERS lands on DVD April 6 from Vivendi Entertainment and RHI Entertainment. After a good-hearted outlaw turns himself in for a fatal accident, the guilt-ridden Sam Phoenix is ready to be hanged when an unexpected pardon arrives in the form of an alien-insect invasion. As the bloody killing spree begins, Sam and a small number of survivors are forced to take refuge in a nearby church. Realizing they are going to need a lot more than a prayer and a pistol to survive this nightmare, the small community enters a showdown where only one species will make it out alive. A Syfy Channel original movie, HIGH PLAINS INVADERS is the latest installment in the fan-favorite “Maneater Series” and features a stellar cast including James Marsters, Sebastian Knapp and Cindy Sampson. A ghastly, captivating terror, the HIGH PLAINS INVADERS DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $14.93.

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