In a small Czech village sits what is perhaps the most haunted church in Europe.  Well, it may not be haunted, but it is definitely full of ghosts. 

Unfortunately, seeing this in person may not be an option as it appears the location is being kept a secret.  However, this church isn’t the only haunted art installation around.  Check out this ghostly display in the Nevada desert.  

There are numerous underrated or forgotten horror classics from yesteryear. While many will rewatch great classics like Frankenstein and Dracula, few will attempt to look much further. One such “lost” movie is the horror classic, THE ISLAND OF LOST SOULS starring the inimitable, Charles Laughton as the cold, soulless Victor Frankenstein-like Dr. Moreau. As the star of this movie, Laughton is amazing but it’s the darkness that quietly impresses. A horror film noir, its shadows and blackness create a mood that is sinister in all aspects. The movie is perfect in black and white. Genre fans should occasionally “cleanse their palates” of modern horror and CGI to appreciate the older foundations of the genre.

In this movie adaptation of H.G. Wells 1896 book, THE ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU, Edward Parker (played by Richard Arlen), our hero, is floating on the sea after an unseen shipwreck. He is rescued by the ‘Covena’, a ship carrying a strange cargo of animals to a little known island with peculiar inhabitants. Going to the aid of a strange looking man being abused by the drunkard of a captain, he pays the price by unceremoniously being dumped onto the vessel owned by resident mad scientist, Dr. Moreau. The doctor initially agrees to send him back on his way to his fiance' the following morning. However, as Parker spends the evening with Moreau and friends, including meeting the exotic Lota, Moreau gets an idea that starts the plot rolling. 

Parker discovers that the misshapen natives of the island are actually animals made “human” by the hand of a soulless genius. He runs to anguished screams to find Moreau performing surgery, evidently without anesthesia, on what Parker first thinks is a man.The doctor explains his work, experimenting with animals to make them human. Moreau, for his part, has gotten a new idea. He has decided to try a new experiment and mate the unsuspecting Parker with his greatest creation, the beautiful Lota (played by Kathleen Burke ) who was “remade” from her natural existence as a panther. This attempt fails when during an intimate moment, Parker realizes that Lota is another of the evil doctors creations. For her part Lota has fallen in love with the human. Parkers fiance', searching for her lost betrothed, finds the island which then sets a new plan in motion. Moreau decides to have one of his creatures, Ouran, rape and potentially impregnate his new guest. When this fails and Parker decides to get off the island and seek help, Moreau sends Ouran to kill the captain. However, in an attempt to “train” his creations from their predatory instincts the doctor has created laws, one of which is “not to spill blood. . . . are we not men!”

These laws are ceremoniously repeated to his creations by their leader, the Sayer of the Law (played by horror icon Bela Lugosi). The array of beast men have all been created in an operating room edifice called The House of Pain and throughout the movie, intermittent screams of fear and pain are heard from the House. The Laws are created to make them more “human” and live in peace. The doctor’s breaking of the law becomes his undoing. The plot has assorted acts of subterfuge that start to fall like a house of cards leading to the movies climax.

It should be noted that Wells hated the movie. He thought it had too many aspects of horror, which for us horror fans is not a bad thing. The movie, like FRANKENSTEIN, played to the theme of man obsessed to become like God and break the bonds of creation. Laughton is incredible in this role. He is a scientific sociopath, free of conscience, empathy or sympathy. Charming and playful one minute and cruel and scheming the next.

The movie was considered very controversial. It was banned in many countries and edited to the extreme in other countries, as well as in several states. It made the British list of banned movies for being “against nature”. This was in reference to both the God theme and the concept of animal/human mating. The concept of human/animal experimentation was also a sore point and the Anti-Vivisection League protested the movie.

I love the look and feel of the movie. It is a feast for the eyes and incredible in creating a sinister mood of apprehension. Scenes of people and things running and their huge shadows chasing after them, the ripple of a pond and the reflection of those ripples glittering on the wall, the hulking Ouran looking up and leering at Parkers fiance', Ruth (Leila Hyams) as she prepares for bed, the scene dark and threatening with the lush jungle around them and the obvious seeming safety of her room, like peering from hell through a window into heaven for the lurking brute. Incredible visuals that take advantage of the use of light and darkness in its black and white. When looking at the creature colony, flames all around, it’s a hellish scene beautifully framed.

In its original script, Lota had at one time ripped a suitor apart so Moreau wanted her to meet Parker as he was new to the island and didn’t make her feel threatened.  Moreau also wanted to kill Parker and remove his face and put it on one of his creations to make accepting him easier for fiance' Ruth. These plot turns were not accepted as being too extreme back in the 30's but sound like an interesting plot concept in modern times with modern sensibilities. One would think that with the lesser quality of subsequent remakes, the writers would have taken advantage of these ideas and used them to make a different version.

The Panther woman was not in the Wells novel. I think she was a great character invention as towards the end of the movie, she does something that seems to make the point that she, even as a “thing”, had more humanity than the humans who experimented on her. As a side note, the Panther Woman actress was picked after a nationwide search for an unknown to portray the character. Women from all over the country in all lines of work, competed to be chosen for the part and Paramount used the publicity to trumpet the movie.

Cool trivia to note: if you watch carefully, during scenes where the beast men turn on Moreau, one sets another’s hair on fire with his torch and can be seen quickly patting it out. Also, the films dialogue is the origin of the phrase “the natives are restless tonight.”

I love this movie. Its one that I think stands up well particularly in the incredible, uncut restoration from Criterion. The visuals are incredibly moody, from shadows to fogs to beast men, they are great to look at. The dialogue is well written, and the acting can’t be beat. Laughton is an amazing treat to watch. The subsequent remakes are forgettable while this is not. Remembering that this is a 1932 film, one can easily see that much of modern horror currently pales in comparison. You can never go wrong with the classics. 

Liam Neeson is back playing the role of giant badass once again in the suspense thriller A Walk Among The Tombstones. This time around the film appears to be more in the deadly serious vein (see The Grey) and less of the fun ride (see Taken), which suits me just fine. Check out the trailer:

Based on Lawrence Block’s bestselling series of mystery novels, A Walk among the Tombstones stars Liam Neeson as Matt Scudder, an ex-NYPD cop who now works as an unlicensed private investigator operating just outside the law. When Scudder reluctantly agrees to help a heroin trafficker (Dan Stevens) hunt down the men who kidnapped and then brutally murdered his wife, the PI learns that this is not the first time these men have committed this sort of twisted crime…nor will it be the last. Blurring the lines between right and wrong, Scudder races to track the deviants through the backstreets of New York City before they kill again. Written and directed by Scott Frank (The Lookout), A Walk among the Tombstones is produced by Jersey Films’ Danny DeVito, Double Feature Films’ Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher, Exclusive Media’s Tobin Armbrust and Cross Creek Pictures’ Brian Oliver. Universal will distribute the film in North America.

Gary Dudek of Wallingford, Pa was arrested last week on charges of theft and receiving stolen property.  The charges themselves are unremarkable but it is what was stolen that makes this story interesting.  Dudek has been accused of stealing over $350,000 of human skin. 

Dudek worked as a "tissue-regeneration specialist" for Organogenesis, a Massachusetts firm that specializes in regenerative medicine.  Between November 2011 and July 2013 he ordered more than 200 skin grafts for Mercy Hospital which they never received.  This managed to go unnoticed due to the fact that he had been given an “open purchase order” which allowed him to requisition whatever was “needed”. Since the hospital was always stocked, the physical shortage wasn’t caught.  The hospital only became aware of the theft during a financial audit.

Making things even more bizarre, nobody knows exactly what was done with the stolen skin. Perhaps he is making a skin suit?

Unboxing videos are a thing I just don't get.  They hold no intrerest for me but it seems that I am in the minority because they have become quite popular as is reflected in this google trend chart for searches on the term "unboxing".

So it was my total disinterest in unboxing videos that almost caused me to ignore this video when it popped up in my news feed.  I am glad I didn't.

In this video from NonRandomNonSense we see what Morgan Freeman's unboxing video of the package from John Doe at the of Se7ven would've looked like.

Epic Rap Battle of History is back, this time pitting Edgar Allan Poe against Stephen King.  Watch the legendary American author and poet go verse for verse against the modern master of suspense and horror to determine who is the better writer.

Marvel Studios has named the director for their upcoming Dr. Strange film and he has strong ties to the horror genre.

Scott Derrickson will be at the helm of the upcoming film, which does not have an official release date but will likely be one of the unnamed films Marvel plans for July 8, 2016 or May 5, 2017.  Derrickson is best known for The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Day The Earth Stood Still and Sinister. He also has Deliver Us From Evil hitting theaters July 2^nd.

For those unfamiliar with the character of Dr. Strange, he is a former neurosurgeon who serves as the Sorcerer Supreme — the primary protector of Earth against magical and mystical threats. 

It has been rumored in the past the the film would see Strange taking on Dormammu whose list of abilities include body possession, resurrection of the dead, and creating demon lords. So if this turns out to be the case, we should be looking at the darkest Marvel movie to date and it explains the choice of a director familiar with horror.

The Walking Dead: Season One from Telltale games is, by all accounts, phenomenal.  It is that story that is being used to expand the franchise into another realm of gaming, pinball.  However, it won’t be a machine tucked in between the air hockey table and skee ball.  This will be a digital pinball game from Zen Studios.

The Walking Dead Pinball table features choice-driven gameplay across each of Season One's five episodes, along with original story dialogue from the award-winning cast. Scenarios include choosing who to save and who to leave behind in a walker attack, solving problems and keeping up morale within the group, searching for food and supplies, acquiring important tools, and navigating through the herd amidst an oncoming walker breach.

The Walking Dead Pinball table will be available for download later this summer on Zen Studios pinball platforms across console, PC, and mobile stores 

We recently told you about the new traveling interactive attraction, The Purge: Breakout.  At the time, we only had the brief synopsis and the schedule.  Now we have a full trailer along with some more information from the co-creators of the immersive experience.

If you were to check Abigail Breslin’s IMDB page, you would see that the young actress has spent a good bit of time in genre films.  She has Zombieland, The Call, Haunter, and the upcoming Maggie all on her resume.  You will also find a movie named Final Girl which filmed in 2012 and has been in post-production since March of 2013. It actually received an odd trailer that month, where director Tyler Shields showed the entire film in 1 minute.  That was the last we had seen of it.

That was until today. We now have a new, more traditional, trailer for this long gestating project and I have to say it has piqued my interest quite a bit.  

Philly has the Rocky statue, Detroit is getting a Robocop statue, and Oklahoma may be getting a satanic statue.  All three of these pale in comparison to the proposal that was recently put forward in Austin, TX.

During Monday’s meeting of the Austin Music Commission (part of the city council), a proposal for a statue of Glenn Danzig was on the agenda.  But not just a simple statue of Danzig, a statue with the misfits co-founder riding a dragon.  James Moody who submitted the idea to the committee said that it began “in jest” but if they were “willing to do it in gold” and to give it ruby eyes, he would submit it as a serious plan.

So would do you think about one day possibly turning down a street in Austin and seeing something like this staring back at you?

Stay weird Austin!

(source KEYE-TV)

While the future of Ghostbusters may not be clear, nothing can take away from the greatness that is the first film.  I vividly remember seeing the movie in the theater and being really freaked out by Sigourney Weaver levitating over the bed and I loved it.

That entire summer, the logo was everywhere.  I mean you couldn’t go past an airbrush or iron on t-shirt vendor along the boardwalk without seeing something Ghostbusters related.

Now, airbrush t-shirts may not be coming back this summer but the film will be.  To celebrate the 30^th anniversary, Sony will be re-releasing Ghostbusters on 700 screens this August 29th. 

Following that, on September 16^tha new collector’s edition Blu-ray set of the 1^st and 2^nd movie will go sale.  Both films are new 4k transfers, so they will look better than you have likely ever seen them.  And of course there will be special features:

GHOSTBUSTERS Blu-ray Special Features:

- NEW! Who You Gonna Call: A Ghostbusters Retrospective - Roundtable Discussion with Director Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd (Part 1)
- NEW! Poster Art Gallery – Gallery 1988 artwork
- NEW! “Ghostbusters” Music Video – Ray Parker, Jr.
- Legacy Content:​
-- ​​Slimer Mode – Picture in Picture and Trivia Track
-- Commentary w/ Ivan Reitman, Harold Ramis & Joe Medjuck
-- 10 Deleted Scenes
-- 1984 Featurette
-- Cast and Crew Featurette
-- SFX Team Featurette
-- Multi-Angles​
-- Ecto-1: Resurrecting the Classic Car
-- Ghostbusters Garage: Ecto-1 Gallery Storyboard Comparisons

 GHOSTBUSTERS II Blu-ray Special Features:

- NEW! Time Is But A Window: Ghostbusters II and Beyond - Roundtable Discussion with Director Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd (Part 2)
- NEW! Deleted Scenes
- NEW! “On Our Own” Music Video – Bobby Brown
 

For more 30^th anniversary information or to pre-order the Blu-ray set head over to Ghostbusters.com

Scream Factory, the horror arm of Shout! Factrory that regularly puts out fantastic re-releases designed to separate you from your money, is debuting their Summer of Fear “Drive-In” Theater Experience tonight.  Here are the details:

• For three Fridays in June, viewers will be treated to a special live online screening of select films at www.summeroffear.com  and Scream Factory’s official YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/ScreamFactoryTV).
• Viewers will be able to interact with Scream Factory and fans during the broadcast. On the www.summeroffear.com site, the audience can socialize using #summeroffear on Twitter.  On YouTube, they can post their comment on the player page.
• The viewing experience recreates the retro drive-in theater feel (i.e. coming attractions, vintage refreshment ads and so forth) and the webcast will include never-before-seen EXCLUSIVE interstitials from talent associated with the films covering a variety of topics pertaining to the film.

Here is the complete schedule

• Friday, June 6^th (7PM PST): Assault on Precinct 13 presented by Director John Carpenter
• Friday, June 13^th (7PM PST): Night of the Demons presented by Director Kevin Tenney and actress Amelia Kinkade
• Friday June 20^th (7PM PST): Witchboard presented by Director Kevin Tenney.

The road to the big screen for Stephen King’s The Stand has been winding.  Back in the beginning of 2011 it was announced that Warner Bros. would be adapting the novel.  Since then, there have been several people attached to direct the project; David Yates (Harry Potter films), Ben Affleck, and Scott Cooper (Out of the Furnace). All have left for different reasons. Yates thought it would work best as a mini-series, Affleck for Batman, and Cooper over “creative differences”. 

Now the adaptation is in the hands of Josh Boone (The Fault In Our Stars) and he plans tackling it all in one film.  Here is what he had to tell Vulture:

We’re gonna do one three-hour, R-rated version with an amazing A-list cast across the board. Every single one of those characters will be somebody you recognize and somebody you relate to. And it’s gonna be awesome. I’m really excited. It’s the most exciting thing I’ve ever got to do in my entire life. If 12-year-old me had ever known that one day I’d be doing this, to even just go back and look at that kid, I’d be like, Keep doing what you’re doing! It’s just crazy. I’ve met so many actors over the years, and like, when I met Stephen King, I hugged him with tears in my eyes. He meant that much to me when I was young. I still say everything I learned about writing I learned from Stephen King. I don’t read screenplays. I don’t read screenplay how-to books. It’s always just, establish the character. Establish the character.

Here is what King himself had to say about the current state of the project

When I worked with Mick Garris on the miniseries, it was really sort of a rewarding experience because we had a chance to [focus on] the characters and I think I wrote the entire miniseries just so I could hear Gary Sinise say, ‘Country don’t mean dumb’ … Now I’ve been involved with Josh Boone who did The Fault in Our Stars and he’s working on the screenplay. He’s young and he’s ambitious and he’s totally behind the book and he seems to be doing a great job and seems to have a lot of support behind him from Warner Bros. So I have my fingers crossed, but that’s all that you need to do right? You just cross your fingers and hope.

What do you think, can The Stand be properly told in such a short amount of time?

Deadline is reporting that Adam Green (Hatchet, Frozen) has his next project lined up and it sounds a little demonic.  Green will be directing Exorcism on Crooked Lake for Revolver Pictures (Haunt, Beneath).

The film is said to follow “a middle-aged priest, a younger priest and a female medical student who head to a remote house to exorcise a young pregnant woman only to find themselves under siege from a satanic cult looking to claim the child.”

This will mark the first feature since Spiral that Adam will have not scripted himself.  Exorcism on Crooked Lake was penned by the Dowdle brothers (The Poughkeepsie Tapes, Quarantine) along with frequent collaborator Stacy Chobsky.

Filming will begin this fall on Crooked Lake. Adam’s most recent directing effort, Digging Up The Marrow, is expected to release sometime later this year.

WWE Studios has just released the first full trailer for their upcoming reboot of the Leprechaun franchise, Leprechaun Origins.  The seventh film in the series will not be getting a theatrical release, but will instead be heading to VOD on August 26th and DVD September 30th.

Here is the trailer via Entertainment Weekly (you will have to go to the EW site if you are on a mobile device, their embed will not work)

WWE Superstar Dylan “Hornswoggle” Postl stars in Leprechaun: Origins, a brand new take on the horror franchise Leprechaun, reinventing the cult favorite and terrifying a new generation. The film will be available on Digital HD, Video On Demand and Pay-Per-View on August 26, and on Blu-ray (plus Digital HD) and DVD (plus Digital) on September 30. Also starring Stephanie Bennett (Grave Encounters 2), Andrew Dunbar (Alien Trespass), Melissa Roxburgh (Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days) and Brendan Fletcher (Freddy vs Jason), Leprechaun: Origins was written by Harris Wilkinson and directed by Zach Lipovsky.

Backpacking through the lush Irish countryside, two unsuspecting young couples discover a town’s chilling secret. Ben (Dunbar), Sophie (Bennet), David (Fletcher) and Jeni (Roxburgh) quickly discover the idyllic land is not what it appears to be when the town’s residents offer the hikers an old cabin at the edge of the woods. Soon, the friends will find that one of Ireland’s most famous legends is a terrifying reality.

The Blu-ray and DVD include two behind-the-scenes featurettes and will be available for the suggested retail price of $24.99 and $19.98 respectively.

Oh internet, i just can't quit you.

On Tuesday new images were released for the upcoming Paddington Bear movie. These images were promptly seized and turned into somthing much more sinister.  #CreepyPaddington was born. Below are a few select images, but head over to the tumblr page to see them all or to join in on the fun.

Creepy Paddington

Back in 1982, while Tim Burton was working for Disney Film Annimation, he was given the oppotunity to direct a live action Hansel and Gretel short film for the then brand new Disney Channel.  That short aired once on Halloween 1983 and has been vitually unseen since. Until now.

Someone has discovered a recording of the short and it can now be viewed  in it's entirty (for how long remains to be seen).

The story features an all-Japanese cast as the eponymous characters: a poor toymaker, his son and daughter (Hansel and Gretel), and his wicked new wife. The evil, greedy stepmother, who overtly despises her stepchildren, leads them out into the woods, which is a labyrinth from which the children are unable to find their way out on their own. Here, she abandons them. They do manage to find their way back home, only to be led by their stepmother back into the woods a few days later. She distracts them with one of their father's toys and runs off. The children, no longer trusting of their stepmother, left a trail of rocks. The toy duck they were dragging had, unbeknownst to them, been eating the rock trail they left along the way. Once again they find themselves deserted in the woods, with no direction home. So the children have no choice but to sleep in the woods, and in the morning, the toy transforms into a robot and leads them to a giant house made of gingerbread and candy. A hook-nosed witch who lives there lures them inside with the promise of sweets. The Witch brings out an enormous cake which turns out to be only a decoration. The furniture and even the walls of the house are the real candy, which the children happily and greedily enjoy. Then when Hansel and Gretel lie in the two beds the witch prepared for them, they are immediately kidnapped by the beds, which have come to life. Hansel is forced to eat a creepy gingerbread man who insists that he eat him. Before the Witch can shove Hansel into her oven (as she has been planning on eating the children all along), a kung fu style battle ensues between her and the children. The Witch is defeated and the children escape the house, which completely melts. The toy reappears and leads them back home to their happy father. It also begins to spout gold coins, providing them with the wealth they have needed.

Absolutely nobody suffers from road rage like Rusty Nail. In 2001's thriller Joy Ride, the growly-voiced trucker taught a trio of travelers a deadly lesson for pulling a prank on him. The direct-to-DVD sequel, Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead found Rusty targeting some youngsters who were stranded and stupidly "borrowed" a car from him. Now, the bloodiest instalment, Joy Ride 3: Roadkill, hits DVD today.

The movie follows a bunch of streetcar racers – Jordan <Jesse Hutch>, Jewel <Kirsten Prout>, Mickey <Ben Hollingsworth>, Alisa <Leela Savasta>, Austin <Gianpaolo Venuta> and Bobby <Jake Manley> - on the way to a rally. A little too cocky for their own good, they commit the ultimate driving sin against Rusty <Ken Kirzinger> and pay the price for their recklessness. 

"They speed past him and Rusty takes exception to it," states Hollingsworth during a break on production. "He pulls out in front of them. They are hotshot kids in a new race car and they show him up and speed past him. They don't know that they are messing with the wrong truck driver. Rusty is all about an eye-for-an-eye justice and we certainly get some of that in the film."

Sitting in the driver's seat for Roadkill is Declan O'Brien, who recently helmed the last three Wrong Turn films. Fox approached the writer/director about carrying on Rusty's reign of terror and O'Brien's wheels immediately began spinning on how to ramp up the Joyride franchise.

"This was my concept for Joyride 3," offers O'Brien in a separate conversation. "The viewers love the character of Rusty Nail, so this had to be his continuing story. What I also wanted to do was capture the road movie sense of it. I actually really enjoy this franchise and rally racing, so I figured we had to have a reason for our folks to meet Rusty Nail. In the first one, it was Paul Walker picking up his girlfriend for a road trip. In the second one, it was a road trip for a bachelor party in Las Vegas. Mine was, 'Let's make it a bit sexier and have a race car on the way to a rally race.'

"Rusty is actually more present and on the screen more," continues O'Brien. "He has a lot more to say in this film. It's not so much backstory, but the psychology of Rusty and his sense of right and wrong. He's yelling at Jordan to stand up and take responsibility for your actions and consequences. You really get into Rusty's head a little bit more, as opposed to an origin story."

Rusty's truck and demented games of cat and mouse with his victims clearly separate him from other horror psychopaths. He relishes psychologically tormenting people over the CB radio and in person before delivering the final death blow.

 "He's psychologically torturing them before he's physically torturing them," agrees O'Brien. "He shows up at moments you don't expect him to. The truck is like a shark in the night. All of a sudden, it's there. As a matter of fact, we've had some issues with the truck. I've had a big explosion. I busted the radiator and we had to quickly have it fixed. I've started to call Rusty's truck 'Bruce the Shark.' I think that's what the crew used to call the <troublesome mechanical> shark in Jaws."

"A lot of great horror that comes out of Joy Ride 3 is from the slow burn," adds Hollingsworth. "There's some use of video cameras where we think someone is somewhere, but really Rusty has pre-recorded video to make us think someone is there. But he sets out rules that are very basic and unfortunately, we just don't follow those rules. That's where he gets his justification, which helps the audience root for him a little bit. He's not just a ruthless killer with no morals…although he is. I feel like if you were by the book with him, you'd be fine."

Back in September, 2013, things were unequivocally not fine. FEARnet journeyed an hour outside of Winnipeg, Canada, where Roadkill was filming at a vacant sandpit. It was midnight, chilly and Rusty's warped brand of punishment was currently in full effect.

"I've killed a lot of people, and I've killed a lot of people in a lot of interesting ways," explains O'Brien. "The hardest part of writing a horror script is finding a new way to kill somebody that hasn't been done a million times before. Fanatically, I wanted all the deaths to be automotive-related. Each death is unique."

"One thing I like about Rusty is he doesn't have a signature weapon, except the truck," states Hollingsworth. "That's how he kills all of us. Essentially, it has something to do with the truck, whether we're strapped to the top of it or crunched to the bottom or hand to the fan belt."      

Smack in the middle of the pit, race team mechanic Mickey lies on his side under the back end bumper of Rusty's massive rig. His head has tightly been squeezed between the vehicle and a heavy-duty hydraulic jack. Mickey's desperate pleas of "Please let me go" fall on deaf ears. A sadistic Rusty still proceeds to press down on the jack. The mounting pressure begins to crush Mickey's cranium. Red fluid oozes from his eye sockets and ears. He screams and struggles to no avail.

At this point, a Mickey dummy replaces Hollingsworth. When filming resumes, Rusty quips, "You shouldn't have jacked me up with the cops. You got ahead of yourself. That makes me mad," before slamming his foot down on the jack. Mickey's head caves in and blood splatters everywhere. O'Brien yells, "Cut!" There's a second of reflection before the crew cheers the take.     

"I was trying to imagine what this would be like to shoot it," says Hollingsworth afterwards. "This is a lot cooler than I constructed in my head. This is a big sand pit with 40-foot sand walls encompassing it. There's a full moon. The sand is cold. My neck is contorted and it's up and pried between this jack. Yeah, it's painful, but it's something I like because you're not working with a green screen in a studio."

Behind the video village tent, the kills have all been storyboarded out according to difficulty level. Mickey's elaborate and gruesome demise rated a four out of five. So, the question remains what kind of carnage could possibly earn top marks?

"Difficulty level five is Jewel's death," reveals O'Brien with a smile. "She is strapped to the top of that truck there. She's like a human antenna. She's above the trailer of the truck and she sees a low bridge coming at her. They are going fast, they hit the bridge and there's half of Jewel left. There's timing, prosthetics and hitting the bridge at the right speed. That was a hard one."

For now, Jewel is alive and kicking. Played by Prout, the Elektra actress has also starred in horror projects My Super Psycho Sweet 16: Parts 2 and 3, as well as the upcoming Stalked and Captured.  Waiting to be called for a scene, an enthusiastic Prout plunks down to discuss the genre.

"In this one, we have kills that are so disgusting," she reports, "I have a hard time watching them on the monitor. That's usually my guage. We did one sequence in a horror film that I was in, where we cut open a stomach and had the guts fall out. The other night, we had something going on with a face and a fan. When you watch something that looks real and it's revolting, it gets to that level where you feel uncomfortable."

Anyone who caught Prout in Elektra, or either chapter of Sweet 16 for that matter, knows she has some serious lung power. That's a good thing because a frightened Jewel screams and screams and screams some more in this film.

"I was talking to Ben about this earlier, about a scream coming from your gut versus your throat," explains Prout. "A scream needs to be just enough high-pitched to be scary, and just low-pitched enough to still be taken seriously. It's basically like a balance. I let it come straight from the heart and you cannot think about what people hear. You just have to let it go. Zero restraint makes a good scream."

In previous Joy Rides, a few of Rusty's intended victims have managed to outsmart him…or at least avoid execution. O'Brien won't spoil whether anyone survives in Roadkill, but it does sound like Rusty gets away with murder.

"I've definitely left it open-ended for Rusty's story," concludes O'Brien. "I have a few ideas. Hopefully, if things turn out as they have in the past with Wrong Turn 3, 4 and 5, you'll be seeing us again."

Here's a lesson from Joy Ride 3: Roadkill. Don't mess with Rusty Nail. It never ends well. The trucker with a sadistic streak is up to his old tricks again when he targets a group of streetcar racers on their way to a rally. In the most graphic of the Joy Ride series, Rusty cranks up the pain and bloodshed as he teaches these young guns the importance of road etiquette.

During a break from filming one of Rusty's kills, actor Ken Kirzinger spoke to FEARnet about putting his own stamp on Rusty Nail, the character's motivations and possibly returning to Camp Crystal Lake. 

You played Jason Voorhees in Freddy vs. Jason, and he has a certain demeanor. How did you approach Rusty Nail?

I watched the other two Joyrides. When I read the script, I felt like Rusty had more character in this one. I wanted to play that up. I wanted to give Rusty a little bit more depth as a character. You'll see he has more personality now. I was thinking about this. He's kind of a cross between Freddy and Jason. There's the big, hulking Jason aspect and the quippy like Freddy. It's like you blended them into Rusty.

One of Rusty's distinctive traits is his voice. Did you have to practice that a bit?

I did. I was never going to be identical to the original actor. I needed to make it my own and do a voice I could sustain. One of my biggest fears was not being consistent with the voice. I worked on it before I came on board  and I think I have my own Rusty voice down.

How does Rusty stand out from other horror icons? What makes him so menacing and frightening?

He blends in. He's a trucker on the road. He could be in any truck. He could be anywhere, anytime, in any part of the world. I developed a bit of a backstory for Rusty. He comes up with such ingenious ways of killing people. Maybe he dropped out of society and became a trucker because he knew that was the best way to blend in. It's a low-stress life. Maybe he was stressed out in his previous life and when people cross him, that stress builds.

Why did Rusty target this particular group of kids? There's always some warped morality issue.

It is a skewed sense of justice that Rusty has. He perceives a slight and he doesn't turn to the law or other people. He deals with it himself. That's where it comes from. He feels he is above the law, that he is smarter than the law and that he is unstoppable. He has this confidence that all these killers have. "Nobody can stop me." This time, they cut him off on the highway.

There's plenty of creative bloodshed in this movie. What death sticks out for you?

We have a scene where a girl is strapped to the top of the truck. She ends up sort of being cut in half by hitting a bridge. There's a lot of build-up to that. I think that is terrifying, to be immobilized, to see it coming from a long way away, and just have to deal with it until the very bitter end. It's a nice, gory death.

Your stunt double was just called to stand in for you, but you were once one yourself. How much of your own stunts are you doing?

I did stunt work for 27 years. I've had a lot of injuries, so that was the first half of my life. The second half of my life, I want to do other things. I'm trying to make my body last, so I'm really taking care of it. I don't mind having a stunt double. There are stunts I would like to do, though.

What are your feelings on a Joyride 4?

I've really enjoyed working with director Declan O'Brien. He's the hardest working director I've ever worked with, and that's in 30 years. He brings a tremendous wealth of filmmaking experience. If he was involved, I would not hesitate one bit to come back for a sequel.

We have to turn back to the Friday the 13^th franchise. They've announced another movie and a TV series. Would you like to become involved and reprise that role?

In the series? I don't know. It would be interesting to see what they were going to do with it. Certainly, they would have to go much more into the life of Jason. I wrote a treatment, a homage, to the fans that I would love to see get made into a comic book and maybe into a movie. I call it "Freddy vs. Jason vs. Stan." Stan is the ultimate Freddy and Jason fan and wants to become like them. It's about the journey he takes in becoming an immortal killer himself.

Hopefully New Line and Paramount are paying attention.

I've put the word out there. I ran into a Horror Hound artist at the last convention I was at. I mentioned it to him. I'm sure I'll be meeting up with Horror Hound at some point. I'd love to see it as a comic book, much like Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash. Tying in an established character is so hard with all the licensing agreements. To bring in a new character like this and do it for the fans would be amazing. Stan has to research their lives. He has to go back to Crystal Lake. He has to go back to Elm Street. We discover new things about the characters. Besides the great kills, that's what the fans want.