Cinefantastique Online

You are browsing the archives of 2007 August.

It was with a certain trepidation that I attended an advance screening of Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN in Hollywood last night (”advance” being a relative term – the film opened in the theatre at midnight). The charm of John Carpenter’s original 1978 film mostly eludes me, and there is little about Zombie’s career that would have [...]

Garth Franklin at Dark Horizons gives the run-down on the work-print version of Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN, which somehow found its way onto the Internet. After noting that something similar happened to Eli Roth’s HOSTEL 2, Franklin writes:
This leak is more interesting in that it’s the film’s ‘work print,’ the version shown to test audiences back [...]

“Each illustration is a little story. If you watch them, in a few minutes, they tell you a tale. In three hours of looking you could see eighteen or twenty stories acted out right on my body, you could hear voices and think thoughts. It’s all here, just waiting for you to look.” – from [...]

Interesting item from Reuters:
HANOI (Reuters Life!) – Vietnamese authorities have warned film makers against producing ghost and horror movies “with incomprehensible plots and extreme horror”, a newspaper reported on Wednesday.
[...]  
A recommendation from the National Department of Cinematography suggested movie makers and importers reject “horror movies that instil fear and panic”. It said horror films with [...]

Rob Zombie, whose HALLOWEEN remake opens this Friday, has signed a deal to write and direct two pictures for Dimension films.
“We are excited about his fresh take on ‘Halloween’ and are thrilled to be expanding our relationship with him on future projects,” Dimension topper Bob Weinstein said.
Dimension and distribution partner MGM are hoping that HALLOWEEN will [...]

There may be a dearth of new sci-fi, fantasy, and horror films released on home video this week, but television productions – both new and old – have rushed in to fill the vacuum. You will also find lots of “classic” horror film titles repackaged onto DVD – you probably don’t need me to tell you [...]

Variety reports that DreamWorks and Paramount have re-thought their distribution strategy for SWEENEY TODD, the film version of the hit musical. The original plan was to roll the film out slowly starting with a platform release on December 21 in order to qualify for the Academy Awards, the widen the release on January 11. The [...]

Walt Disney Pictures is reviving its long-dormant WITCH MOUNTAIN franchise, which spawned two films back in the 1970s: ESCAPE TO WITCH MOUNTAIN (1975) and RETURN FROM WITHC MOUNTAIN (1978). The new film will re-team Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and director andy Fickman, who recently collaborated on the family comedy THE GAME PLAN. The new script, by [...]

In an article celebrating the 75th anniversary of Toho Studios – the company that gave us Godzilla - there is a brief reference to possibly reviving the radioactive reptile:
 Meanwhile, many foreign fans hope that Toho will revive its Godzilla franchise, which went on hiatus with “Godzilla: Final Wars,” the 2004 pic that supposedly killed off the [...]

Actor Keanu Reeves (whose sci-fi credits include BILL AND TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE and the MATRIX trilogy) has committed to star in a remake of the 1951 science-fiction classic THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Scott derrickson (THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE) will direct from a script by David Scarpa; Erwin Stoff will produce.
The original film, [...]

Dennis Harvey has reviewed the new version of HALLOWEEN. Not surprisingly, he thinks it fails to live up to the original:
The best that can be said about Rob Zombie’s “Halloween” remake is that he makes it his own, though the considerable alterations only flatter John Carpenter’s 1978 slasher-pic template. In contrast to that spare, suggestive [...]

The Huffington Post extracts this tidbit from an interview that former X-FILES star David Duchovny gave while promoting his current television series CALIFORNICATION:
David sat down with Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush, and he revealed that not only is there a script for the “X-Files” sequel – he’s actually read it!
“I have,” said David, when Billy asked [...]

Where would we be without all the gore-hound websites shrieking louder than Marion Crane taking a shower at the Bates Motel every time they think a few less drops of precious blood may be shed in order to secure a PG-13 rating? Well, we would be without confused editorializing like this:
Apparently, Tim Burton went blood-simple [...]