Koji Wakamatsu (Go Go Second Time Virgin), Japan’s most controversial filmmaker, brilliantly reconstructs the most troubling episode in the bloody history of Japanese student-radical extremism through the true story of the United Red Army faction, which had its roots in the 60’s when Japanese students protested America using Japan as a staging base for its …
Mandrill Directed by Ernesto Díaz Espinoza Chilean director Ernesto Diaz Espinoza and his action star collaborator, Marko Zaror, are three films deep now, with a fourth (in 3D!) on the way. Clearly they’ve found a formula that works for them, but I’m not as convinced. There’s plenty of buzz around these guys, and they’re hyping …
Love Exposure is often gratuitous, low-brow, and even tasteless–you will never again see as many shots of young girl’s panties in one place–but is also sneakily poignant. Directed by Shion Sono Sion Sono’s new film covers a lot of territory. It’s a romance, a revenge tale, a heartbreaking tragedy, a truly zany comedy, a blood-splattered …
On October 27, Troma Team Video will unleash upon US audiences Shameless, Tasteless: Trash Cinema from the Soviet Underground – a collection of sleaze gems by infamous Ukrainian filmmaker Yakov Levi. With casts composed of real-life criminals, prostitutes, and narcotic addicts, this depraved anthology chronicles the misled adventures of degenerate hookers, possessed sadomasochists, and homicidal …
Zombieland (2009) Directed by Ruben Fleischer It’s been a couple of years since critics started calling the zombie trend dead and yet new films featuring our favourite brain gobbling monsters continue to fill theaters and draw crowds. Subgenres like the zom-rom-com have breathed a little life into things, but the question remains whether there are …
As a huge fan of Natural Born Killers and White Men Can’t Jump, I used to look forward to every Woody Harrelson movie. For awhile we were spoiled with excellent performances but in the past decade, I’ve been thoroughly disappointed with almost every role WH has signed up for. Well, believe it or not, you …
The new trailer for director Samuel Bayer and producer Michael Bay’s remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street left me thinking these guys think I’m an idiot. And while I have yet to see the movie, I hold out hope that they won’t turn another classic into a joke, steering the youth of today away …
Legenday film maker Roman Polanski was arrested in Switzerland on an international warrant as he arrived in Zurich for a film festival featuring a retrospective of his work. Festival organizers had planned to present Polanski with a lifetime achievement award, but now he is being detained with the possibility of extradition to the United States. …
Sam Raimi has signed on to produce supernatural horror film Refuge, based on a pitch from up-and-coming British director Corin Hardy. Refuge is about a remote town that is terrorized by a mythological Yeti beast, the Bigfoot-like creature said to be native to the mountains of the Himalayas. Hardy will be directing from a script …
David Cronenberg is in talks to develop a reboot of the 1986 classic The Fly, writing and potentially directing the remake. The project would represent a chance for Cronenberg to return to a film that helped establish his career, with the technology needed to tackle the effects which wasn’t possible in the 80’s. Strangely Cronenberg …
In 1987 Toddy Haynes unleashed his masterpiece Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, a true-life short docudrama which has all of its main characters played by Barbie and Ken dolls. Twenty Three years later and Ken and Barbie will star in another film, only this time in a feature. After months of negotiations, Universal has acquired …
According to Variety, Diablo Cody, The Oscar winning screenwriter of “Juno” and current Megan Fox horror satire Jennifer’s Body is set to write and produce an adaptation of the Sweet Valley High book series for Universal. Originally, the books centered solely on the lives of identical twins Elizabeth and Jessica who have dissimilar personalities. As …
Like vampires, zombies are gaining currency in Hollywood. According to The Hollywood Reporter, DreamWorks is in negotiations with writer-producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Star Trek reboot, Transformers) to adapt a live action feature of James Farr’s XOMBIE, the sci-fi/horror adventure that began life as an online flash-animated series and has now expanded into a …
Surrogates 2009, USA Directed by Jonathan Mostow Written by Michael Ferris, John D. Brancato, Robert Venditti (graphic novel), Brett Weldele (graphic novel) Starring Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Rosamund Pike, Ving Rhames The idea of creating an imaginary persona as a replacement for reality is nothing new, at least for those of us who try to …
Danny Trejo, known for his muscle bound tattooed body and chiselled bad looks, finally gets some real documentation to answer some of the questions audiences have been asking themselves for years. His countless appearances (something over 100 by now) in films and his reputation for tough guy characters, has earned him the well-deserved respect as …
Mere weeks after Warner Bros. and Mattel went their separate ways over the He-Man film project, Columbia has entered the picture and is in negotiations with the toy franchise. Warner Bros. had dropped the project because of numerous problems such as multiple script rewrites, a new writer brought in at the last minute, and the …
With his film Black Swan due out in 2010, writer/director Darren Aronofsky is non-stop action, adding another project to his list this week: the story of Britain’s biggest heist (approximately $85 million) and UFC fighter “Lightning” Lee Murray who was arrested in 2006 for allegedly masterminding the crime. Screenwriter Kerry Williamson, who adapted Denis Hamill’s …
Whenever Hollywood chooses to do a remake of a movie – let alone a horror movie – one can hear the collective groan of film buffs everywhere. Murdered were such horror films as Shutter, Halloween, The Amityville Horror, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the list goes on. Now on the chopping block is the 2008 masterpiece …
Reently, Hollywood was all abuzz when “Johnny Depp appeared at Disney’s D23 Expo in Anaheim and confirmed he would be reprising his role as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the first film of a new Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.” However, the involvement of Depp is now allegedly in question; …
If you missed our interview last month with John Cregan of Severin Films, than you might not have yet heard the exciting news. Richard Stanley’s classic sci-fi horror, Hardware, (one of my favorite sci-fi films of all time) is finally getting a long overdue DVD release form the boys over at Severin Films. For the …
The Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia announces its complete program. There are still a few surprises to be confirmed, like the closing gala, but they have already put together the final list of films that will be screened at SITGES 09. Below you’ll find the titles of each film and their sections as …
Toronto, ON – Anchor Bay Entertainment will release The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, the first full-length animated feature from Director/Writer Rob Zombie (The Devil’s Rejects and 2009’s Halloween), on DVD and Blu-ray™ on September 22, 2009. A longtime pet project of Zombie (he based it on his comic book), The Haunted World of El …
Collecting some of the finest moments of Smith’s freewheeling conversations with his friend and producer Scott Mosier (as heard on their top-rated podcast, known as SModcast), this brand new book exposes more of the inner workings of Smith’s wonderfully weird mind. Discover the genesis of Stalin’s Monkey Soldier army, the horrifying tale of Kevin vs. …