Rumours have been floating around for awhile that the granddaddy of midnight madness cinematic freakshows, Rocky Horror Picture Show, is going to get a remake. Rumour has it that Susan Sarandon’s daughter, Eva Amurri, was approached to take on the role made infamous by her Mom. What does the original Janet have to say about the whole affair?

“Why would anyone want to do a remake of a cult classic? There was at one time a sequel discussed with me — and they may have even done it, I’m not sure — but none of us were really interested.”

Nothing speaks for the legacy of Rocky Horror sequel Shock Treatment so much as Susan Sarandon not only forgetting the movie’s title, but being unsure of its very existence.

As regular readers of this blog can imagine, I’m both anticipating and dreading the sequel to Hostel. The first one was my favourite horror movie of the past few years, and the last thing I want to see is some hastily assembled follow-up that doesn’t come close to matching the quality of the original.

Due to potential spoilers, I’m treading carefully when it comes to advance reviews, but I did find a few that revealed very little in the way of surprises. Please be warned that my tolerance for slight spoilers may be greater then your own. Twitch is especially interesting in revealing some of the influences they feel Roth shows in this outing, particularly concerning gialli.

“Whereas while he was toying with Hostel 2 and writing the sequel, Roth went to Rome where he met such great Italian directors as Sergio Martino, who made the amazing I Corpi presentano tracce di violenza carnale (Torso, 1973). Roth also saw other films like Avere vent’anni (To Be Twenty, 1978) by Fernando Di Leo—”Which was just so fucking sick; the ending of this movie I just couldn’t fucking believe it”—and L’ultimo treno della notte (Night Train Murders, 1975) by Aldo Lado. These were all early 70’s giallo films; not the operatic Argento-style giallo but the realistic-style giallo.”

What I’m finding most surprising about the reviews so far is how many people admit to enjoying the first film, when at the time I felt as if I were in a definite minority. It’s those reviews that I’m most interested in, largely because many of the negative reviews seemed to have missed the point to the extent that they had watched an entirely different film and I somehow doubt I can trust their judgement.

I made my peace with the deluge of horror remakes long ago. In fact, I can’t even recall if I’ve ever been really upset by the idea of a shitty reimagining even when my two favourite horror movies, Night of the Living Dead and The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, went through the wringer. Now the third film in my unholy trilogy of favourites is being remade, and while I’m still not upset, I am confused.

In a way, Black Christmas is a good choice for a remake. Black Christmas is the proto-slasher, directly influencing the sub-genre’s most famous outing, Halloween. Yet, because it was the first it is also completely unlike other slashers. It not only inspired them, but stands apart. Couple that with its relative obscurity and it would be entirely possible to scare new audiences with something familiar yet slightly different from what they would expect. As much as I hate making judgements based on a trailer, it’s evident that they’ve discarded many of the things that help make Black Christmas stand out and replaced them with lame slasher tropes.

What a waste.

Trailer found via Bloody Disgusting.

The aforementioned Carnival of Lost Souls over at Fox Atomic have continued on past Halloween with the sneak previews, inlcuding raw footage from The Hills Have Eyes and 28 Weeks Later. What’s left of my cynical, little heart yearns to rail against these films for numerous reasons, including the changeover from the creative teams of the first installments, the rushing of raw footage to promote the films during Halloween, and the possibility of a lack of intensity due to being lumped together under the teen-friendly Fox Atomic umbrella. However, few things can break down my defenses as much as seeing Robert Carlyle being chased by zombies.

With the casting of Takashi Miike in the first Hostel, and the announcement of a very special appearance by Edwige Feneche in the second, Eli Roth has shown that he likes to stack the deck with infamous cult movie icons. Now Bloody Disgusting has leaked the identity of yet another grindhouse favourite appearing in the sequel.

While enjoying the single best set visit I’ve ever been on, I learned that horror legend Ruggero Deodato has been cast in Eli Roth’s highly anticipated Hostel sequel in an amazing cameo role. Although I can’t spill details I can tell you that the Writer/Director of the infamous Cannibal Holocaust is in one of the best “holy sh-t” moments of the film.

Jiminy Crickets! I wonder if there will be any budding horror fans who watch Hostel 2 and use it as a guide to track down some of horror’s more notably sleazy practitioners, and if so, whether they’ll lean on the side of the angels (Edwige Feneche…sigh…) or in the pits with the devils (Ruggero Deodato).

Yahoo has the first available teaser trailer for Hostel 2, the sequel to my favourite movie of the year. The kicker is that the teaser is in German. Lion’s Gate marketing executive Tim Palen explains.

“German is more guttural and harsh. I think a lot of people will be taken aback, but with the success of the first ‘Hostel,’ there will be no confusion as to whether the movie is in English. For the discerning horror fan, it will separate ‘Hostel II’ from the typical kids-stranded-in-the-middle-of-nowhere horror film.”

I think Palen may have overestimated the intelligence of the general movie-going audience. After watching the first film in the theatres I heard more than a few people commenting that Hostel was a harsher ride than the director’s previous efforts, like Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill. Oh, well. Place this firmly in the category of a stunt designed solely for me and the handful of similarly like-minded people out there.

Obviously Not Work Safe! Also Contains Spoilers!

I just know someone out there is going to jack off to this. Today’s clip mixes every on-screen death from the Friday the 13th movies into one big jamboree, with a handy body count in the lower right-hand corner. I never realized just how many people get something sharp stuck through them from below in those movies.

I was looking for the scene with the most ugly example of nakedness in cinema history, but I’m pretty sure it was #105 and they just snipped the ugly nakedness out.

Cabin Fever was a film that I wanted to like but ended up disappointed with after watching it in the theatre. Since then I’ve tried it again on DVD, and I was able to ignore those things that turned me off the first time and enjoy the ride. In the span of two days I gobbled down every special feature on the disc, including the four commentary tracks. Now they may be making a return trip to the Cabin, but with or without Roth?

Movie Hole confides that Cabin Fever 2 is supposed to start filming in January, with Robert Harris reprising his role as Old Man Caldwell. However, they neglect to mention that last year Roth decided to bow out due to creative differences, leaving the proposed sequel up to others to write and direct.

I have a very full plate with HOSTEL and numerous other projects so I’m not involved with CABIN FEVER 2. My concept for the sequel was a SONG OF THE SOUTH-style half-animated film where Deputy Winston sings songs (ones I was forced to learn in Hebrew school) to imaginary creatures in his head, and has sex with the burned, rotted corpses of everyone who died in the original, but they didn’t go for it. Go figure. However, my CABIN FEVER co-writer Randy Pearlstein had a KICK ASS idea for the sequel, and I believe they are going to shoot that draft, so I want nothing more than for it to be a great film. I told them all it should be better than the first one, and with Randy’s script, if they get the right director that’s a real possibility. But I was never considering directing the sequel unless it was an animated musical about a corpse-raping deputy, and even I recognize that’s probably not the most accessible idea.

Fuck, I would love to see that movie.

Quote courtesy of Creature Corner. Link courtesy of I Spit On Your Movie and FilmStalker.

“If it’s your cup of tea, drink it!”

Most mainstream actors who dip their toe in the horror genre seem to accept the job as a necessary evil, to be filmed quickly and forgotten even more quickly. Not so Phyllis Kirk, perhaps the most reluctant scream queen to ever grace the silver screen. A contract player with Warner Brothers, the outspoken Ms. Kirk was dragged kicking and screaming into the 1953 3-D production of House of Wax where she exceled as the damsel in distress. She never appeared in another horror film again, though she did make an appearance in The Twilight Zone. Ms. Kirk passed away Friday of an aneurysm.

The Astounding B-Monster has what is probably my new favourite interview, where Phyllis Kirk looks back on her fight to stay out of House of Wax, her acceptance of its virtues (if not the fame that came with it), Vincent Price, excessive discussion about her bosom (or lack thereof) and the use of the phrase “Tough titty”. Man, they just don’t make them like that anymore.

Rest in peace, Ms. Kirk.

The latest poster for this year’s installment of the Saw series has been retouched with a deeper shade of crimson. Actor Tobin Bell has donated a vial of his blood to be included in the first printing of the poster.

“We decided to do a poster and he’s wearing a red cloak. I was talking to the printer and asked what we could do to get the deepest blood red. I asked if it would be possible to use actual blood. There was silence. He said, ‘We could try, but are you serious?’ I said I was dead serious,” Lionsgate marketing honcho Tim Palen said.

If you’re looking to pick one of these posters up, good luck. It appears that the batch of unsigned posters has already been snatched up and all that remains are the autographed ones, which are going for approximately $500 as of this writing.

I’m a little shocked that this news is getting as much play as it is, or that the posters were snapped up so quickly. While I’m glad this brings both funds and attention to the Red Cross and their blood drives, isn’t this all just a little lame? Is Tobin Bell that much of a presence to merit this kind of exposure? I mean, he’s no KISS. Maybe I should pour a few drops into the podcast and see what happens.

What do you think? Is it a fresh idea or would Bell have been better off donating his blood to the Red Cross himself? Let us know in the comments below.

As I’m sure everyone is sick of hearing, Hostel was my favourite horror movie of the past few years. Even though I’m looking forward to the sequel, it’s with some trepedition. Now it appears that producer Quentin Tarantino is stacking the deck, making it near-impossible for me to dislike this film. Ladies and gentlemen, DVD Trash has the scoop on the lovely Edwige Fenech’s return to the silver screen.

Quoted as saying that he “knows all about my films” she was only to happy to agree to the role. This will be a return to the big screen for her after many years as a producer.

Swoon!

What’s with all the false rumours making the rounds? First there was the incorrect report stating that George Clooney was set to star in Pet Semetary, and now it’s been confirmed that John Carpenter has not been in talks with Paramount to helm a third “Escape” film. Now you know why I stick with posts on ‘zines and zombie protests as opposed to the Hollywood rumour mill. It makes me kind of glad that I was on vacation and unable to jump on the bandwagon.

I admit, I’m a little disappointed. Plissken is one of my favourite cinematic characters and, despite the likelihood that this wouldn’t fare any better than Escape From L.A., I would love to see Russell squeeze into that stanky leather outfit one last time.

Oh, well. One good thing to have come out of the “Escape” rumour is that Bloody Disgusting has confirmed that Carpenter will be scoring Robert Rodriguez’ portion of Grind House, unless of course that turns out to be false as well.

There are so many pressing horror announcements coming out these days that I can hardly find the time to sort through them.  And when I do, the ones that I should centre on the most tend to be remakes, something which makes my soul grow colder with each passing day.  Fuck ‘em.  Today I’m going to talk about Canadian alien invasion movie Decoys instead.

I became aware of the first Decoys movie because it was filming in the city I currently reside in, Ottawa.  It had all the promise of a tawdry live-action piece of tentacle porn, but proved to be an unfunny, scattershot horror-comedy with a nasty and out-of-place mean streak.  After it died at the box office, the producers’ claims that there was going to be a sequel seemed unlikely.  Guess again, as Decoys 2 is currently in production further to the West in Edmonton.  Hopefully they’ve got all the kinks worked out this time around.

At the MTV Movie Awards, Roth let slip a slew of information on the follow-up to Hostel.

I’m writing ‘Hostel 2′ for girls — it’s going to be three girls this time.  They’re studying in Italy for the summer, and they get lured, and they go back to … well, we’re going to go back to a lot of familiar places.

It’s all part of the organization; they’ve got the whole thing set up all over the place, and they have different scouts.  We’re going to learn a lot more about how it all works. In ‘Hostel 2,’ you’re really going to see the ins and outs of the whole organization and how they get people and kill them. 

Hostel was probably my favourite theatrical horror film of the past five years, so I’m damn excited by the possibility of a sequel, particularly since Eli Roth is taking the helm again.