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Check Out These 2 New Clips From 'Dexter' 705

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How cool was this weekend's episode of Dexter? I'll tell ya, when Ray Speltzer walked in on Dexter while investigating his Winnebago I wasn't sure how that fight was going to end! But that unexpected twist turned the remainder of this episode into one of the most suspenseful ones of season 7 yet. And for those of you that can't wait for this upcoming Sunday's episode, we've got ya covered with two sneak peek clips of "Swim Deep". The first one, "Hello Handsome" features this season's guest star Ray Stevenson as the ruthless Ukranian mobster Isaak Sirko threatening Dexter. And the second clip, "That's My Story" gives us a glimpse at this season's other guest star Yvonne Strahovski, Hannah McKay who Dexter suddenly suspects might be involved in the spree killings. Check 'em out below and read Alyse's recap of Dexter episode 704 "Run". "Swim Deep" airs this Sunday October 28th on Showtime.



 

 


Exclusive: We Get 'Chained' to Director Jennifer Lynch

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Director Jennifer Lynch continues her tradition of warped filmmaking with Chained. A mother and son are abducted by a serial killer, Bob. Mom is raped and killed, and the child (nicknamed Rabbit) is chained up and raised into a young adult. It is a fascinating exploration of nature versus nurture, one Ms. Lynch was happy to explore with us.

Chained is based on someone else’s screenplay. How did it come to your attention?

It was sent to me by Lee Nelson and David Buelow, the two producers. I thought it was a really great, scary idea, about a serial killer who drove a taxi, picked up a fare, killed the mother, and kept the boy. But the rest of it  felt more like torture-porn to me. That’s not to criticize Damian O’Donnell’s original script. There are people out there who enjoy, and are very good at, making torture-porn. I’m just not one of them. So I was a little puzzled as to why they thought [the script] was for me. I went in and met with them and they asked what I would do with it. What fascinated me more were the characters within this. I’ve always been curious and fascinated by why people do what they do - good or bad. So I wanted to make a film about how the human monster is made. So I eliminated the B story about detectives following the serial killer, and I changed the way he killed, what it was about, and why. I focused on the characters. Damian had done this great job at creating this name for the boy [Rabbit.] When I re-wrote it and shot it, it was actually called Rabbit, which I much prefer as a title, but the distributors decided they didn’t know how to sell a film called Rabbit, so we went back to the original title Chained.

The casting for this film was pitch-perfect. Vincent D’Onofrio... I mean, he’s Vincent D’Onofrio. But how did you find the younger actors? [Evan Bird, who played young Rabbit, and Eamon Farren who played older Rabbit.]

I have been a fan of Vincent’s for so long, and fallen asleep many a night in my life to Law & Order: Criminal Intent [playing on the TV] and Full Metal Jacket is one of my favorite movies ever. When I first thought about who could play the role, and really scare the hell out of me, Vincent came to mind. He was so gracious about. I don’t think there is any doubt in anyone’s mind about how brave he was in this role. He set aside his own ego and vanity in order to devote himself to playing this character in such a human and beautiful way.

I actually found Evan less than two weeks before we started shooting, and I hired him over Skype. He was a recommendation by the casting people. He is on The Killing, and didn’t have much work on it, but what he did have he was amazing at. He sent in an audition tape that gave me chills.

Eamon was a recommendation from the Los Angeles casting office. He sent his audition tape in, and we talked on the phone. About three minutes in I said, “You’re a real fucking asshole. Let’s make a movie.” He just had it in him. The most amazing thing about both Evan and Eamon is that they are so bubbly and gregarious. And yet they were both able to play the hushed, introverted, delicate character. I wish they would do some TV interviews so people could see how magnificent each of their performances is - they are both so opposite of Rabbit. I asked a lot of them, and they gave 100%

And it shows. Especially with Eamon - there are so many layers there. It was startling.

Yay! I hope people tell him that. You know how sensitive actors can be. I’m not sure any of them realize how great they are.

Chained is both a coming-of-age story - in a very twisted way, and a story of nature vs. nurture. How did you balance those two aspects?

I think the coming-of-age I was conscious of in the rewrite. That sort of works on its own. That’s not to discredit what was in the original script, but to say that those things are kind of natural when you are playing a child of that age. As far as the nature vs. nurture, I am really hoping that a dialogue can be started because of this film, about the fact that we’ve got to stop hurting children - and we’ve got to stop acting surprise when we raise killers and abusers. I think there is something to be said about people being born with a greater or lesser propensity to be violent, but I think that even the most predisposed of us to be violent, can be wonderful, gentle people, if surrounded by nurturing families.

The example for me is that young Rabbit had these formative nine years with love. Bob the killer did not. So as devastating as things are, Rabbit is able to commit terrible acts, but all in the name of protecting himself and others. I really do think that we go around building monsters, then have the audacity to act surprised when they start behaving like monsters.

It could have been so easy to make Rabbit a killer and continue this cycle, but you didn’t.

Wouldn’t that have been boring?

It would have. I really liked the twist. I feel like I always see the twist coming (maybe I watch too many horror movies) but this one, I didn’t.

Fantastic! I hope I get to do a director’s cut because Jake Weber did such a masterful job in that final sequence and I had to cut a tremendous amount of it out for time. That was not my preference, but I was contractually bound to a certain time length. Jake was incredible and I really think people should see what he did and what he worked so hard to give to me onscreen. I didn’t want the twist to feel disappointing. I think some people do feel it is disappointing, that it is tacked on, and hopefully that will change if people see it in its entirety.

I could see how that could help. It did feel very abbreviated.

Yeah, it’s very obvious. And poor Jake was devastated. “Where did my scene go?” is never something you want to hear from an actor who has worked that hard for you. So I want to not only do him justice, but do the story justice. I don’t think he would have ever taken the role had he thought it would be this brief. I owe him a version where he is done justice.

Do you see the ending as a hopeful ending?

I do. I also see it as a very realistic ending. My last-minute choice of having the end credits roll with just [environmental] sounds sort of in support of this idea of what becomes of us after we have had this kind of experience. From where do we draw and what do we do? I think the first thing we do is go to the safest routines we have. Rabbit is going to have breakfast the way he knows breakfast to be. I think it is a happy ending because, if nothing else, Rabbit is alive. It has its tragic elements because he is alone in a way he doesn’t deserve to be. So it is a happy but realistic ending.

What are you working on next?

I am finishing casting and financing on a film called A False Embrace which stars Tim Roth and Vincent D’Onofrio. That is a detective and serial killer film, but again, it deals with the abuse of children, which seems to be a topic heavy on my mind these days. I am not on any soapbox about it, but I think that any opportunity I have to visually discuss what is happening, I’ll take it. It’s got a bunch of really dark things happening in daylight, and a bunch of dark things happening at night, so it is right up my alley.

That sounds about right. Have you ever made a film that wasn’t filled with darkness and weirdness?

[Laughs] I venture into things that are a lot unlike my life. My life is very sunshiney and giggle-filled. I think the challenge for me is in things that aren’t like my life, so that is where I go. After A False Embrace I have a film called The Monster Next Door, which is a horror comedy about vampires, werewolves, and zombies. It is an incredibly good script written by Jim Robbins, and I am really excited about being scary and funny and sexy all at once with that one.

Do you ever feel that, because your father is David Lynch, you are supposed to be a “certain type” of filmmaker?

I think that what is surprising is that everyone thinks I should feel that, but I never did. It never occurred to either he or I that that would be said, but we have both encountered it a lot. The funny thing is that I think it has made me hold even more tightly to my individuality. I think even if I was making rom-com musicals, they would make some sort of comparison. I think it is just the nature of the business to identify me as his daughter, and then make comparisons - or note lack of similarities. But I don’t really feel that pressure. It’s nice, but sometimes I wonder, should I? Should I be more nervous about this? But it just doesn’t come in to play.

No. I was just curious. When I first saw Boxing Helena, I had no idea who you were - I just knew it was a weird movie that I enjoyed immensely. 

With Boxing Helena, I had never picked up a film camera before. I was thrust into it, and I think the last thing I was thinking about was any sort of comparison or having to live up to something. I probably would have fainted right then and there and never gotten up again! I just kept doing the next thing, and tried to stay glued to the story I was telling. The gift of my childhood was that having two parents who were artists really helped carve into my soul: “Do what you love. Don’t do what you think people will love, don’t do what you think people want you to do. Do what you love.” And I am doing that. I feel like I grow more when I do things that challenge me and scare me. I hope I’m always brave enough to say, “I’m scared shitless, I’m not sure how I’m going to make this work, but I’m going to do it anyway.”

FEARnet Survives the Run For Your Lives 5K Zombie Infested Obstacle Course

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Mission Details: On Sat Oct 20th members of the FEARnet team descended upon the city of Temecula, CA in an effort to survive the impending zombie apocalypse. It was day 1 of Run for Your Lives; a zombie infested 5K obstacle course that no amount of preparation could have truly prepared us for. We ran and climbed through water, mud and barbed wire and suffered through electroshock (twice!) all while trying to avoid HUNDREDS of flesh starved zombies.



The Way it Works: Run for Your Lives race waves run every 30 minutes with about 500 runners per wave. Runners are equipped with a flag football belt and 3 flags. Your goal is to make it to the end of the course with at least one flag to be considered a 'survivor'. Lose all your flags and you are dead. Check out our stats below, whether we survived or died and some pics of us running for our lives.



Keep your eyes on FEARnet for video coverage of the event and be sure to check out Run for Your Lives to see if there's an event coming up near you, I think it's safe to say that we all highly recommend it.

Participants:



Jeffrey McCrann - DIED
Development
Number 3 - Brunch
'Being eaten by zombies doesn’t mean you can ever stop running.'


 

Kyle Van Vonderen - DIED
Video Production Consultant
Number 1 - Hors d'oeuvre
'Even though I didn't survive, it was an insanely fun experience I'll never forget. The mountainous terrain was challenging, the obstacles were as difficult and muddy as possible, but I'm proud to say Jeffy and I finished first, despite losing our lives.'



Megan Dorste - SURVIVED
Traffic Coordinator
Number 9 - After Dinner Drink
'The Run For Your Lives Zombie 5k was one of the most intense challenges I’ve experienced. That being said, those zombies didn’t stand a chance.'



Sarah Shannon - DIED
Director of Programming
Number 6 - Finger Food
'Too many zombies and only 3 life flags were not good odds. I never expected to be electrocuted while crawling through obstacles but it happened and it was fun.'



Luke LaBeau - SURVIVED
Marketing Coordinator/Social Media/Publicity
Number 0 - Late Night Snack
'Though I survived (barely), Run for Your Lives was much tougher than I expected. This experience provided me with a core foundation of skill sets necessary to survive the inevitable zombie apocalypse. Diving through mud, crawling under barbed wire, and avoiding hordes of the undead…just another day at FEARnet!'



Lawrence P. Raffel - DIED
Editor-In-Chief
Number 4 - Fourth Meal
'I never stood a chance.'


 

Ryan Turek - SURVIVED
Managing Editor, ShockTillYouDrop.com
Number 2 - Entree
'The Run for Your Lives Zombie 5K was a grueling, fun experience - not only did I learn a little something special about myself that day, but I discovered that, if faced with the zombie apocalypse, I have what it takes to survive.'


 

Ben Koppin - DIED
Video Production Consultant AKA Camera Guy
Number 7 - Dessert
'It's tough running a 5K. It's harder to run one with zombies. It's hellish to run one with zombies and a 15lb camera! :)'







 

TV Review: 'Mockingbird Lane' + New Episodic Photos

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I grew up watching The Munsters. It used to play in syndication on a local channel on the weekends, when most other stations played golf or travel shows. It was paired with The Three Stooges, so for a six-year-old, it was as good as cartoons. Many people argue that you are either a Munsters person or an Addams Family person. I love both, but it wasn’t until much later in life that I was introduced to The Addams Family, so my heart lives on Mockingbird Lane.

When I first heard that The Munsters was being rebooted for television, I groaned. While TV reboots tend to do better than film remakes, when NBC announced it would be a “darker, scarier” Munsters, I just lost all hope in the project.

Then I watched it.

And I loved it. 

Bryan Fuller’s take on the 1960s family of monsters is both modern and dark, but with plenty of nods to its predecessor. After Eddie Munster attacks his cub scout troop, the Munsters have to move, and they pick the “Hobo Murder” house at 1313 Mockingbird Lane. Grandpa, the patriarch of the family (played with wry wit that made me laugh out loud by Eddie Izzard) wants to go back to eating humans. His son-in-law, Herman (Jerry O’Connell) “loves too hard,” which makes his heart - his last remaining original part - have a tendency to pop its staples, requiring Grandpa to repair him frequently (luckily he added an actual zipper into Herman’s chest to make the process easier.) Lily (Portia de Rossi) is a loving mother who worries over her son, Eddie, who does not yet know that he is a werewolf. Rounding out the cast are the abysmally normal - but always cheery - Cousin Marilyn (Charity Wakefield) and Spot, Eddie’s pet dragon.

Fuller’s influence is immediately recognizable. Having much the same feeling as his cult favorite Pushing Daisies, Mockingbird Lane exists in a world that is at once realistic and wholly surreal, with a sumptuous visual style that can only be described as Fuller-esque.  Characters are both caricatures and people. The Munster clan can all pass for perfectly human - I didn’t miss Herman’s neck bolts at all (though they do show up - you can’t miss them.) But even still, there are plenty of nods to the original The Munsters. For example, Eddie still carries his books in that leather strap (in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference.) When Marilyn is house hunting, the realtor takes her to 1312 Mockingbird Lane, which is the same facade on the Universal Studios backlot which was used in the original The Munsters. Marilyn just happens to choose the crumbling estate across the street. It is enough like The Munsters in spirit to be recognizable, but some of the sillier aspects (such as the Munster family wearing the same clothing day in and day out) have been updated.

Above all, Mockingbird Lane is about the family dynamic - it just so happens that they are a family of “monsters.” They are unashamed of who they are, and this pilot episode focuses on Lily and Herman trying to figure out the right way to tell Eddie that it wasn’t a baby bear that attacked his friends in the woods - it was him. They do not lock Eddie up every month; nor does Lily try to prevent her father from eating the neighbors - she just doesn’t want him to do it during family dinner.

It is really a pity that NBC is only planning to air Mockingbird Lane as a one-off event. I loved it, a lot more than I thought I would. Sadly, this isn’t the first time NBC mismanaged a promising property (I’m still shocked that they have done so well with Grimm) but who knows - maybe if enough people watch, and enough people add to the internet chatter, NBC will give Mockingbird Lane another go. 

Mockingbird Lane airs Friday October 26th at 8pm on NBC.

 

Countdown: 8 Days 'Til Our 'Trick 'R Treat' Marathon

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We've only got 8 days left until Halloween, and that means that we're only 8 days away from our annual "Trick 'R Treat" marathon! That's right. Once October 31st rolls around, we'll be playing Michael Dougherty’s "Trick 'R Treat" non-stop from 6 a.m. to 6 a.m. ET/3 a.m. to 3 a.m. PT. “Trick ‘r Treat,” the acclaimed horror anthology film starring Anna Paquin (“True Blood”) and Leslie Bibb (“The Midnight Meat Train”), presents four interlocking stories centered around people celebrating—or shunning—the infamous holiday, and the bloody consequences they face for their actions. For the third consecutive year, the fan-favorite 24-hour “Trick ‘r Treat” marathon returns, giving FEARnet fans both old and new, thrills and chills that will last throughout the day.

What better way to get into the Halloween spirit than with these FEARnet exclusive Trick 'r Treat videos created by writer/director Michael Dougherty. Today's countdown video is "Halfway To Halloween," the Easter themed short starring our favorite Halloween ambassador Sam. Check it out below!

 

FEARnet Movie Review: 'Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines'

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Before we begin with the review of Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines, let's begin, as usual, with a quick history lesson:

 
2003 -- Wrong Turn, a horror film about some unfortunate young people who run afoul of some vile backwoods hillbilly cannibals while traveling through the West Virginia woodlands, does pretty decent business for a "no-name" horror flick (it grossed about $28 million in North America) but went on to become a big renter at the video stores as well as a heavy-rotation cable TV favorite. The movie has a strong cast, some solid tension, a few nasty shocks, and a bunch of great practical effects from the late Stan Winston and his cohorts.
 
2007 -- Wrong Turn 2: Dead End premieres on DVD, and while it lacks the appreciable "seriousness" of its predecessor, this "DTV" follow-up turned out to be a lot more amusing than any horror fan could reasonably expect. In this one the backwoods hillbilly cannibals descend upon a group of dummies who are producing a "reality" TV show out in the forests of West Virginia -- which really is a nice place. Don't trust horror flicks when it comes to vacation destinations.
 
2009 -- Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead hits the video shelves, and it sure looked like this would be the last whimper of this particular franchise. In this chapter the backwoods hillbilly cannibals who make West Virginia look bad butt heads with a bunch of recently-escaped prisoners. If the first two Wrong Turns were slightly better than they looked, then Part 3 is every bit the budget-slashed, shot in Bulgaria, keep the franchise afloat sequel that most franchises try to avoid.
 
2011 -- Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings is, as the title cleverly suggests, a prequel that explains (get this) why the backwoods hillbilly cannibals are impervious to pain. Hoo boy. Sarcasm aside, WT4 is actually a marked improvement over Part 3, in that it's still really cheap but it has a bit more energy, and (as is often the case) a prequel allows a horror fan to build a "mythology" of sorts for the three lunatic cannibals who simply love to kill people in West Virginia. (This one was actually shot in Manitoba.)
 
2012 -- Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines, and let's give Fox Home Entertainment a little credit for at least sticking to the chapter numerals. The Underworld and Resident Evil sequels are clearly too good for numbers (numbers are so nerdy), so it's nice to see a "5" in there just to keep things organized.
 
Long story short: writer/director Declan O'Brien is back for his third consecutive Wrong Turn sequel, and if you're a big fan of the broad and goofy, yet plainly nasty, gore-splatterings that ran rampant through Left for Dead and Bloody Beginnings, then you won't have much trouble enjoying bits and pieces of his Bloodlines entry. It's not a particularly good horror flick, even on the sliding scale we'd need to evaluate "Part 5s," but it does deliver on its very meager promises: three backwoods hillbilly cannibals kill a LOT of people. Not on a reality show or in an insane asylum, but ... at a small town "Mountain Man" festival that "celebrates," you guessed it, the legend of the backwoods hillbilly cannibals.
 
As eventual victims we get five young idiots and some small-town folks like a reporter, a sheriff, and a drunkard, who must hole up in the police station when the three villains decide to break a distant relative out of jail. So, for those keeping score, in this Part 5 we have a Rio Bravo / Assault on Precinct 13 framework (one that never really takes off, sorry to say), a slasher flick, and a very dark comedy at the same time. Let's be frank: the Wrong Turn sequels are little more than garish, leering, Grand Guignol set-pieces that need little more than a flimsy narrative on which to rest its decapitated heads and oozing entrails.
 
Judged on that standard, there's some pretty fun stuff to be found in Wrong Turn 5 (I especially enjoyed the thresher sequence), but as is often the case with films that are created as "kills" first and "plot" second (or third), the viewer has to suffer through a bunch of tiresome nonsense to find the rewards. It's not that this particular batch of dumb youths is any better or worse than what you ALWAYS see in horror sequels, but that the screenplay has little to offer besides the slightly "meta" Mountain Man festival stuff, and it's a plot device that doesn't work all that well. For example, whenever somebody sees the trio of cannibal freaks, they yell "hey, nice costume!" or "I'm so tired of you crazy Mountain Man festival people!" In other words, nobody is scared of the three monsters.
 
Meanwhile, back in the "police station under siege" segment of the movie, very little happens, aside from the killing of some of the film's running time, but we frequently jump back to a random murder or one of three amusingly pointless sex scenes -- all of which is just a bunch of wheel-spinning meant to keep us awake until the crazy carnage moments pop up. And, to be totally fair, Wrong Turn 5 has three or four set-pieces that are almost ridiculously nasty and gory. Notice I didn't say "scary." Given that the three allegedly horrific villains do little besides mumble, grunt, cackle, and giggle, they're more like annoying children than imposing figures of menace. Horror fans may like to know that Doug Bradley (yes, Pinhead himself) appears in the flick, but he's given little to do besides rant and rave from inside a prison cell, so the novelty wears off pretty quickly.
 
We'll be back next year for Wrong Turn 6. In the meantime, Part 5 has little in the ways of production value, logic, or subtlety -- but still, it's mega-gory, slightly funny, and the body count is pretty dang high.

The Official Trailer for 'The Evil Dead' Is Upon Us!

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You’ve seen NYCC Panel footage and an image or two for The Evil Dead, but here’s the official red-band trailer for the Fede Alvarez’s reboot.

Producer Bruce Campbell promises the film will tell a completely new story, with a new female lead played by Jane Levy who was very vocal about the tortures she endured while filming, but still deliver all the gore fans are clamouring for.

“I just want people to see it because it’s absolutely going to freak their shit,” Bruce Campbell said.

Get ready to have your shit freaked.

 

So what do you think? Does it compare to the original? Do you miss Henrietta?

 

Chilling! 'South of Sanity' Is First Horror Movie Filmed in Antarctica

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When British documentary filmmaker Kirk Watson wasn’t leading scientists from the British Antarctic Survey across glaciers and on climbs, he was writing and directing a horror movie.

Cast entirely of scientists and engineers working with Watson and shot during a Southern winter, South of Sanity focuses on 14 people who disappear while at working at an Antarctic research base. A rescue team finds footage and the story unfolds from there.

The story is reminiscent of The Thing, but South of Sanity's budget was far more shoestring than Carpenter's 1982 classic. Watson used a kid’s face painting set for makeup and a concoction of food colouring, white flour and syrup for blood.

"So our actors suffered a bit in the cold as we had people sitting outside for ages, or playing dead people lying in the snow. It became a bit tricky with the 'dead people' as they shivered, so they were carefully edited to get rid of the movement," Watson told BBC. "We had several actors with mild hypothermia during the filming. The good thing was they had lived there for a year, so were pretty used to it."

Watch the trailer here. South of Sanity is available on Amazon, Flixscene and Perfect View Productions Halloween 2012.

via BBC News


Kids Run Screaming as Theater Accidentally Screens 'Paranormal Activity 4' Instead of 'Madagascar 3'

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A group of kiddies in Nottingham, England, who were eagerly awaiting the return of Marty the Zebra, got Toby the demon instead when a theater mistakenly played Paranormal Activity 4 instead of Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted.

“Everybody just scrambled for the exits, all you could hear were children crying and screaming. Everyone was very upset,” a moviegoer told Yahoo! Movies UK.

“It was only about two minutes worth of the film but it was enough to scar them for life,” another parent said.

While the mistake was quickly rectified, the film wasn’t turned off before—and this is a SPOILER—a bloodied corpse was thrown at the camera.

It’s safe to say most of the children in the theater won’t sleep well for a very long time.

Despite the fact that Paranormal 4 is unpopular with the UK youth audience, it took the number one spot at the foreign box office with an opening of $26.2 million. The Hollywood Reporter writes, “Opening No. 1 in nine territories, Paranormal Activity 4 scored best in the U.K. (although it ranked No. 2 ), which is typical market showing for the small-budget horror franchise.”

via Yahoo Movies UK and THR

'Rear Window' Heads to Broadway

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Producer Charlie Lyons and director Jay Russell have nabbed the theatrical rights to Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story, "It Had to Be Murder." Contemporary audiences will likely be more familiar with the title Rear Window - this short was the basis for Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 classic, which starred James Stewart and Grace Kelly.

Lyons and Russell are teamed with actor Tim Guinee (Iron Man, John Carpenter's Vampires) to bring the noir tale to the stage. This is the first time stage rights have been granted for the short, after two years of negotiations.

Interestingly, Lyons's current show is the cheerleader musical Bring It On.

 

Source: Deadline

Game Review: 'Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit'

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Hell, appropriately enough, is full of paparazzi.  The predatory photographers are just as busy in the afterlife as they are in the mortal plane, and one of them has managed to capture an intimate moment between Prince Ash, the lepus lord of Hell, and his favorite rubber duckie.  There’s only one solution to this humiliation: kill everyone who’s seen the compromising photos.

This is how Hell Yeah!  Wrath of the Dead Rabbit presents itself, with a lurid palette of garish color and its tongue planted firmly in cheek.  This is far from a traditional horror title, but it’s a gore-spattered romp that falls somewhere between a rapid-fire anime and a highway overpass’ worth of graffiti in its aesthetic.  The game already establishes itself as being less than serious when you, as the titular dead rabbit Prince Ash, leap about the fire and brimstone of Hell hunting down those who have seen the picture.  It becomes even more ridiculous when the game goes ever-so-slightly vehicular when you mount yourself inside of a spinning circular saw blade, using it like a murderous monocycle to reduce lesser foes to quivering piles of giblets and smash your way through rock walls.  While it’s an amusing change from the usual platforming tropes, the samey levels and floaty physics make it less enjoyable than it should be, especially when the difficulty level ramps itself up to brutal heights fairly quickly, exacerbated by the less-than-stellar controls.

Once you defeat each of the 100 enemies, who act like a miniboss of sorts complete with button-mashing minigame to end their lives, their fate is even worse than they could have imagined.  You exile them to The Island, a mini-strategy game that has you exploiting your deceased detractors in order to grab additional items and upgrades to help you on your main journey of revenge.  It adds a minimal wrinkle to the gameplay but, sadly, doesn’t add much overall.

There are some additional features to the game that try to elevate it up above the final product, which is an amusing diversion at best, and a mildly frustrating experience at worst.  For the substantial $15.00 price tag, it certainly doesn’t want to make you say “hell yeah” to Hell Yeah!   But Why Not?  Wrath of the Dead Rabbit doesn’t have much of a ring to it.

Countdown: 7 Days 'Til Our 'Trick 'R Treat' Marathon

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We've only got 7 days left until Halloween, and that means that we're only 7 days away from our annual "Trick 'R Treat" marathon! That's right. Once October 31st rolls around, we'll be playing Michael Dougherty’s "Trick 'R Treat" non-stop from 6 a.m. to 6 a.m. ET/3 a.m. to 3 a.m. PT. “Trick ‘r Treat,” the acclaimed horror anthology film starring Anna Paquin (“True Blood”) and Leslie Bibb (“The Midnight Meat Train”), presents four interlocking stories centered around people celebrating—or shunning—the infamous holiday, and the bloody consequences they face for their actions. For the third consecutive year, the fan-favorite 24-hour “Trick ‘r Treat” marathon returns, giving FEARnet fans both old and new, thrills and chills that will last throughout the day.

What better way to get into the Halloween spirit than with these FEARnet exclusive Trick 'r Treat videos created by writer/director Michael Dougherty. Today's countdown video is "Father's Day," which brings new meaning to the term family man for this lonely father. Check it out below!

 

FEARnet Movie Review: 'Maniac' (2012)

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William Lustig's 1980 horror flick Maniac has enjoyed a long and healthy shelf life as a cult favorite among horror geeks, be they curious youths or nostalgic old coots, so it should come as no surprise to learn that, yep, someone went and remade the damn thing. The original was a grungy, sweaty, and virtually plotless excursion into the mind of a madman who savages women and takes their scalps home to his harem of mannequins. While the film is very effective at delivering the garish visual display it is plainly going for, it's simply not that good of a horror flick on a visceral or psychological level. As a framework on which to hang some truly amazing special effects from a young Tom Savini, Maniac deserves a place of honorable mention, but beyond that it's little more than a nasty little grindhouse relic.
 
So yes: obviously there's a remake, but here's the good news: not only is Franck Khalfoun's new Maniac an improvement over the original movie, and the best film he's directed so far (apologies to the fans of P2 and Wrong Turn at Tahoe, if there are any), but it employs a very basic -- and very disturbing -- device to bring the viewer into the mind of a raving lunatic. Basically, we see everything the maniac sees, and I do mean everything. Whether or not you want to take such a trip is your call, obviously, but those who appreciate horror films that deliver the "surface goods" while delving into some deeper, darker, and morally murky waters may find a good deal to appreciate here.
 
Like the original Maniac, the remake is an exceedingly plot-deficient affair: Frank is a man who restores antique mannequins (weird, I know) and Anna is a lovely artist who needs some mannequins for her swanky new exhibit. The two strike up an odd friendship, but Anna is obviously unaware that her new pal is actually a ravenous lunatic who stalks and scalps young women whenever possible. We all know where this is headed, of course, but it's what's offered along the way that makes or breaks a familiar premise, and for the most part Maniac does a fine job of balancing some legitimately smart ideas with its requisite moments of pain, suffering, and horror.
 
Shot almost entirely from the first-person perspective of the titular character (lead actor Elijah Wood's face is seen only through various reflections, dream sequences, and photographs, although he has no problem convincing a viewer that this is one fractured young man), this rather audacious rendition of a rather controversial horror film gives the viewer some roughage to process: why would we want to see a brutal piece of horror fiction told from the perspective of the murderer? Doesn't this potentially off-putting approach ask us to enjoy the killer's most vile exploits? In the case of certain horror films, perhaps, but in the case of the new Maniac, the gimmick offers a rather novel new wrinkle to the horrific display: the normal side of the viewer wants the maniac's victims to escape, but the more adventurous side may want to somehow relate to the story's anti-protagonist. As I said, it's a nasty little journey, but kudos to Khalfoun, Wood, and their producers (they also made High Tension and The Hills Have Eyes) for acknowledging that a killer is also a human being ... to one degree or another.
 
Packed with sly little in-jokes for the horror fans and powered by a simply fantastic musical score by "Rob," the new version of Maniac is a hard-ass horror film that also has some disconcertingly beautiful components. It's a grimly in-depth character study of a man who nobody should get to know, and (if looked at from a certain angle) it sort of plays like a sly but insightful satire on romantic comedies. I won't elaborate on that theory, but I swear I saw it in there. Needless to say, a horror film this visually, tonally, and psychologically confrontational is not for all tastes, but I'd call it a strange little experiment that somehow yielded some very compelling results.

The Burning of Rome Go Psycho in New Music Video [NSFW]

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Just in time for Halloween, San Diego-based quartet The Burning of Rome have unveiled a slickly sick new video for “Norman Bates,” a track from their debut album With Us... and not only to they pay loving homage to Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 masterpiece Psycho, but they also manage to throw in a plot twist that just might have brought a twisted grin to the master's perpetually sour face.
 
 
“Norman Bates,” which includes a mix by legendary bizarro rockers The Butthole Surfers, is a definite standout track from an album that's already scoring high marks with critics and listeners, reinforcing the band's rising-star status (they recently scored the Best Alternative Act title at the San Diego Music Awards). Citing Mike Patton, Danny Elfman, Pink Floyd and Phil Spector among their musical influences, the band also offers a wink and a nod to horror themes on the record, with tracks like “Audrey II” and “Why Can't I Stop Killing My Friends?”
 
 
Speaking of killing, let's get down to business and watch Norman Bates do what he does best... or does he?
 
 
Drop by the band's trippy official site for more info, as well as the equally awesome video for “Ballad of an Onion Sprout,” another Butthole Surfers remix from the new album.

10 Halloween Candies to Scare Trick-or-Treaters

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All your neighbors will be giving out M&Ms and Snickers Bars this Halloween. Stand out from the crowd with these creepy, gross, and disturbing candies.

Eyeballs gouged out with forks - it’s actually a lollipop that comes in apple, strawberry, grape, and blueberry flavors.

Gummy body parts - I picked these up to hand out, along with the typical fun sized bars. Gummy brains, eyeballs, ears, teeth, toes, noses - I’m not going to eat them, but I hope the kids will like them.

Chocolate body parts - More body parts, these are peanut butter-filled and chocolate-coated. Still look pretty gross.

Gummy flesh fries - Probably healthier than the McDonald’s variety. 

Gummy mummies - Hurry up and eat them before their curse befalls you.

Toxic waste candy - It’s hazardously sour, apparently, using a special double-action sour process. It makes my lips pucker just thinking about it.

Gummy maggots - Why are gross candies always gummy? I suppose maggots are gummy...?

Boo-boo licks - Bandaids gross me out when they are fresh from their sterile packaging; these gummy versions - with a gooey “blood” center - make me want to vomit just looking at them.

Rat traps - surprisingly realistic rat gummies.

Roadkill - For those who like their rodents squished, with tire tracks.

 


TV Recap: 'American Horror Story: Asylum' Episode 202 - 'Tricks and Treats'

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American Horror Story: Asylum Episode 202
“Tricks and Treats”
Written By: James Wong
Directed By: Bradley Buecker
Original Airdate: 24 October 2012

In This Episode...

Sister Jude encourages Dr. Arden to give Lana electroshock therapy after she confiscates scribbled notes from her room. Arden is surprised for Sister Jude’s sudden change of heart on the issue, and encourages her to hold the tongs as they zap Lana’s brain. Even after the ECT, Lana keeps up her notes whenever she can. She and Grace are locked into “therapeutic” steam baths. Grace cuts both of them out, and Lana decides to trust Grace by telling her that she wants the two of them to escape through the tunnels that Lana first came in. Grace will not leave without Kit, but Lana still believes that Kit is a killer and refuses to help him escape.

We learn about Dr. Arden’s particular kinks tonight. He hires a hooker, who is surprised to find that he wants to have a romantic dinner and cultured conversation about classical music rather than head straight into the bedroom. She offers to dance for him, and he is infuriated by the vulgar shimmying. He commands her to sit and talks about the “killer of women” as he carves the roast. After dinner, he sends the hooker into the other room to wipe off all her makeup and put on a nun’s habit. He is clearly using her as a surrogate for Sister Eunice. While changing, the escort peeks in a small box on the dresser and discovers a small fetish pamphlet, some photos of women bound and gagged, and finally, photos of dismembered bodies. Arden bursts in, mad that she is taking so long, and is furious to find her snooping. He demands she lay on the bed, lift her skirt very slowly, and climbs on top. She bites his shoulder, knees him in the balls, and runs.

Dr. Oliver Thredson visits the asylum. A court-appointed psychiatrist, Thredson is there to determine if Kit is fit to stand trial. After meeting with him, he tells Sister Jude that he has not made a judgement on Kit yet, but that may be a way for Thredson to stay on a little longer. He accuses Sister Jude of horrible abuses, and maintains “progressive” beliefs, like homosexuality cannot be cured with ECT, but with “behavioral therapy.” Thredson interrupts Sister Jude while she is meeting with the Potters, who believe their son to be a chronic masturbator and possessed by the devil (it is not clear which they feel to be worse.) The last straw was when they found Jed in the barn, covered in blood after eviscerating a cow and speaking in tongues. Thredson wants to try drugs; Sister Jude believes an exorcism is in order. Monsignor Howard insists that Thredson attend the exorcism. 

During the exorcism, Sister Jude is made to wait outside with the parents (you know, being a woman and all.) It seems pretty clear that Jed is possessed. He convulses, he speaks in tongues, and he is able to throw items across the room without laying a finger on it. One of these things is a wheelchair-bound priest who ends up on his deathbed. While the old priest is being cared for, Monsignor Howard sends Sister Jude in. The demonic Jed knows all Sister Jude’s dirty secrets: that she wears fiery red knickers beneath her habit; that before she took her vows she was “the town pump” with at least “56 cocks in you;” and that she was involved in a drunken hit and run accident that left a young girl, walking home alone, dead. Sister Jude loses it and attacks Jed. Monsignor Howard pulls her off. Jed goes into cardiac arrest; Thredson attempts CPR. Jed sits up, gasps, then drops back to the bed, dead. A crucifix falls from the wall, and Sister Eunice faints.

The exorcism has caused a power failure and all the doors to swing open. Lana sees this as her chance to escape. She can’t do it without Grace, but Grace refuses to leave Kit. Lana won’t help Kit, so Grace decides they can make it on their own. Terrified, Lana screams for the guards and rats the two of them out. Grace and Kit are brought to Sister Jude for punishment; Lana’s reward for tattling is that she gets to watch them get caned. Kit takes the heat for Grace, and thus accepts her lashes, which seems to make Lana rethink Kit as a “killer of women.”

Also: The demon that possessed Jed has now clearly taken residence in Sister Eunice. Wendy is hysterical over Lana being locked up, and is determined to free her. Before she can, Bloody Face attacks. 

Dig It or Bury It?

I am enjoying this season much more than the first season. It’s like in season one, the producers felt that with any episode they could be canceled, so they jammed as much as possible into each episode. Season two feels more “restrained” in the sense that not every single scene unfolds at breakneck speed. I really enjoyed the portrayal of the exorcism in tonight’s episode - probably the most brutal exorcism since The Exorcist

I still have no idea what the point of the “modern” scenes are. Tonight, said modern scenes were limited to one, at the top of the show, with less than one full minute of actual screen time. 

Patient History

Shelly is frustrated that it is okay for men to enjoy sex, but if women do, they are whores. She discovered masturbation at age five, at which point her mother made her wear mittens to bed to keep her from playing with herself. She ran away from home (age undetermined) and hooked up with musicians, eventually marrying a bass player. Her husband slept around and expected Shelly to be the perfect Norman Rockwell wife. Instead, she decided to have some fun. Her husband found her in bed with two Naval officers. He beat her senseless and had her committed. 

Prophecies?

A huge storm is coming, forcing the inmates into the basement. Arden believes that Sister Eunice is corrupt. Dr. Thredson floats the idea that maybe Kit isn’t Bloody Face, and the real killer is still out there - an idea that doesn’t go over well with Sister Jude.

'Toxic Avenger' Japanese Cut Headed to U.S.

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You can never have too much Toxi.

Troma Entertainment is releasing the Japanese cut of the Toxic Avenger for pre-order November 13.

This Toxi is longer than the U.S. director's cut and includes an additional four minutes of footage starring our fearless mutated friend. It also includes trailers from the Toxic Avenger franchise, production stills, an intro by Lloyd Kaufman and “Tromatic extras,” which can only mean more glorious schlock.

The DVD will be available for purchase December 12. I smell stocking stuffer!
 

 

Before The Remake, See The Original 'Maniac' Here

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If you're a horror fan, then you're either in one of two camps. You've either seen Bill Lustig's 1980 seminal "slasher" cult classic Maniac, or you haven't. And if you have, no doubt it's because of the legendary reputation the film has garnered over the years, whether it be from Joe Spinell's amazing performance as Frank Zito, the title character or perhaps you read or saw some of the incredibly gruesome & realistic work that FX guru Tom Savini has created specifically for the film.

If you haven't seen it yet, either it's just one of those many notorious films you've heard about that for whatever reason slipped through the cracks, or perhaps now you're curious about it after having heard about the new remake of Maniac produced by Alexandre Aja (High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes), directed by Franck Khalfoun (P2) and starring the unlikely, but welcome Elijah Wood in the lead role. While the remake (which FEARnet's own Scott Weinberg just reviewed) is currently making the festival rounds before it's official Spring release, now we're giving you faithful followers the chance to see the original... for free!
 

For a very limited time, we've currently streaming the original Maniac as one of this week's "web movies", so if you've never seen it, here's your chance. No excuses. If you have seen it and just want to revisit it before you check out the new version, then we've got you covered too. And even cooler? How 'bout we share with you an exclusive video interview with director Bill Lustig who reflects on the controversy, lasting impact and place in horror history of his debut feature film Maniac. Check it out!
 

 

Go Behind-the-Scenes on 'Mockingbird Lane': See Grandpa Munster’s Dungeon

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Mockingbird Lane, Bryan Fuller’s vision of ‘60s monster sitcom The Munsters, premieres Friday October 26 on NBC as a Halloween special.

If you are at all a fan of Fuller’s other projects, you won’t be disappointed by what you see in this reboot. According to Fuller and director Bryan Singer, the special combines the classic essence of The Munsters, with a new, more horrifying twist which shows the family actually doing monstrous things.

This clip goes behind-the-scenes on the amazing set from the show, including Grandpa Munsters dungeon where he appears to be re-animating poor Herman.

Mockingbird Lane stars Jerry O'Connell as Herman, Eddie Izzard as Grandpa Dracula, Portia de Rossi as Dracula’s daughter Lily and Charity Wakefield as the strangely normal Marilyn.

Opening Seconds of 'American Horror Story' Symbolic of What’s to Come

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American Horror Story: Asylum might be the most well-thought-out and atmospheric show on television.

In this cool look at the making of American Horror Story’s opening sequence, prologue creator Kyle Cooper said he likes to shoot symbols of what’s going to happen in the show.

From the asylum images, to the editing of the music, he aimed to make a title sequence that would scare the crap out of fans, and maybe give them a hint of the horrors that await. Check it out.

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