the rob zombie hype machine

Horror Headlines: Friday March 27th, 2009

Eric Heisserer has been brought on to rewrite the script for the "Thing" prequel that's currently in production. If his name sounds familiar, it's because he was also hired recently to rewrite the script for the "A Nightmare on Elm St." remake. Guess this guy's carving himself out quite a little niche for himself. No specific word was given as to what was wrong with the first draft.

Weird Al Yankovic has a cameo in Rob Zombie's "H2". I would usually make a snarky joke here, but my mother taught me if you don't have anything nice to say, you shouldn't say anything at all. They call that growth, people.

Mark Millar of "Wanted" (the comic book) fame, has a project in the works called "American Jesus", about a modern day Jesus taking on Satan. Sounds pretty sweet to me. Rest assured that I'll have Pete (our very own comic book guy) do some more investigating.

Trailer for the Finnish horror film "Skeleton Crew". See, I told you yesterday that the next wave of horror was to be Scandinavian flavored. Maybe next time you'll believe me.

Horror Headlines: Monday, March 16th, 2009

The first image of Alice in Tim Burton's "Alice" [in Wonderland]. You have to scroll down the forums there to see it, as well as the rest of the article it came from which contains some concept art from the "dinner scene".

"Last House on the Left" director Dennis Iliadis has his next film lined up, called "Cure". It's written by the guy who wrote "Max Payne" (yikes), and is about "a young man who sends his wife for an experimental treatment to save her from a terminal illness. Although she returns completely cured, she is suddenly infected with something more terrifying." After "Last House", I'm very excited to see what Iliadis can do with some original material, so count me in.

French director Laurent Briet is close to landing the gig directing "The Strangers 2", which will take place in a trailer park. The sequel is to be based on a script by Brian Bertino, writer/director of the original.

Margot Kidder has joined the cast of "H2" or "Halloween 2"... or, what was for a few minutes last night on Zombie's blog called "Halloween: The Devil Walks Among Us". That info was taken down pretty quickly, but it should mean we'll be getting an official title pretty soon. As for Kidder? Ah whatever. It just puts him one step closer to fitting every out of work actor from the 70's and 80's into this film. Shouldn't be distracting AT ALL.

Horror Headlines: Friday March 13th, 2009

Oh Snap! New Line Cinema has announced that it's releasing "Final Destination: Death Trip 3D" against Rob Zombie's "H2". That date would be August 28th, 2009. For those unfamiliar with this, "H2" has been "served", it is now their opportunity to "serve back". If they do, then it's officially "on". In which case we settle all of this with a dance-off. Oooohhh, how exciting!

Valerie Cruz (Dexter), has been cast on the next season of HBO's "True Blood". We used to cover it when the site, but stopped when fan interest seemed to wain. What do you guys think, is anyone out there interested in having us pick up coverage again? Informal poll in the comments!

Trailer for "Orphan", starring Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga, about "a husband and wife who recently lost their baby [who] adopt a 9-year-old girl who is not nearly as innocent as she claims to be". Seems to be lots of evil kid movies lately. Wonder if there's something to that.

The "Night of the Demons" remake has a release date, October 9th 2009. Suspiciously absent from this announcement, whether or not it's going wide theatrically. I refuse to believe a film starring Edward Furlong, Tiffany Shepis and Linnea Quigley is playing across the country in 2009. Not that I wouldn't love to see it happen, but let's be realistic here people.

Speaking of wide releases, the remake of Stephen King's "IT" is going to be an "all out theatrical" adaptation set "in present day". I do enjoy the original miniseries, although I think we can all agree that the finale needs a much needed special FX upgrade, so I'm interested to see how this reboot turns out.