Horror & Suspense

Once upon a time -- say, 2008 -- there was going to be a remake of Tobe Hooper's classic ghost story Poltergeist; it even had a release date set: November 24, 2010. Fast-forward to 2013, however, and we still haven't seen the film come to fruition. But it seems we're closer than ever, with a director on board -- Gil Kenan (Monster House, City of Ember) -- and filming reportedly set to begin in September...but the question now is, is it remake or a sequel?

Bloody Disgusting purports to have details on the plot, which features new characters but a scenario very similar to the original film: Read More...

If you're like me, you think reading is something done by students and lost drivers, but you might be surprised to find that some of your favorite horror movies are actually based on books. Find out what you've been missing in my list of Horror Movies You Didn't Realize Were Based on Books.

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Last Kind Words is a fairly nondescript ghost story revolving around a teenage love story that plays a bit like a blue collar Twilight with ghosts instead of vampires...and minus $80 million in budget. Read about it in my review of Last Kind Words.

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This week's new home video releases are headed by Beautiful Creatures, The ABCs of Death, Dark Circles, Last Kind Words, Season 2 of Teen Wolf and Season 5 of True Blood, plus a host of re-releases.

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Well, it looks like the Zombieland series is no more. Amazon has declined to pick up the pilot, although it's unclear if the decision is based strictly on viewer feedback or if other factors came into play. Writer-producer Rhett Reese for one thinks it's all about the viewer response, stating to fans (or non-fans) on Twitter that "You guys successfully hated it out of existence." While Reese is partly to blame for a so-so final product, he does have a point, given the overwhelming and unjustified negative response from fans of the film before the pilot was even released. For some reason, the fact that the characters from the film were being played by different actors really rubbed some people the wrong way, although the practice has been done dozens upon dozens of times with other movies that were turned into TV shows -- some, like M*A*S*H, Alice, The Odd Couple, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Dead Zone and Fame, quite successfully. Although I thought the Zombieland pilot was just OK, I would've liked to see the series get a chance to find its way...but it appears to be a dead show walking.

For the record, of the 13 pilots tested, Amazon has thus far picked up Alpha House and Betas.

Source: Deadline

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Horror anthology fans rejoice: The ABCs of Death will follow in the footsteps of fellow indie anthology V/H/S by giving birth to a sequel. ABCs of Death 2 is busy gathering a new batch of 26 directors (each to be assigned a different letter of the alphabet), which already includes notable names like Marcus Dunstan (The Collector, The Collection), Vincenzo Natali (Splice, Cube), Larry Fessenden (The Last Winter, Wendigo), Álex de la Iglesia (The Last Circus, The Oxford Murders, The Baby's Room), Rodney Ascher (Room 237), France's Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo (Inside), Japan's Sion Sono (Cold Fish), Israel's Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado (Rabies), Canada's Jen and Sylvia Soska (American Mary, Dead Hooker in a Trunk), Great Britain's Julian Gilbey (A Lonely Place to Die) and animator Bill Plympton. Also on board are lesser-known filmmakers like E.L. Katz, Jerome Sable, Robert Morgan, the Philippines' Erik Matti, Lithuania's Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper, Nigeria's Lancelot Imasuen and Brazil's Dennison Ramalho. As with the first movie, there will be a contest to decide the final director. Magnet Releasing plans to unleash ABCs of Death 2 sometime in 2014.

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Hot off the presses, we've got fresh looks at two upcoming sequels: Riddick and V/H/S 2. The new Riddick poster (right) and trailer emphasize the fact that the film is a welcome return to Pitch Black territory: a dark, more horror-skewed tone, with Riddick as a prisoner who must team with his captors to fight off vicious alien creatures on a hostile planet. It hits theaters nationwide on September 6.  Read More...

Another year, another found footage horror movie. We're not even halfway through 2013, but the first of the trendy, POV style of film is already on 2014's schedule for the very start of the year --January 1, to be exact. Previously titled Unwanted, it's now known as Devil's Due, but otherwise there's no indication of what the movie's about. While 20th Century Fox is keeping the plot under wraps, we do know who's going to be behind the camera: the directing collective known as Radio Silence (pictured), who have experience in the found footage format, having helmed the wraparound story for the found footage anthology V/H/S. In front of the camera, meanwhile, there are no big names, the most notable being Zach Gifford (Friday Night Lights, The Last Winter) and Allison Miller (Blood: The Last Vampire, Terra Nova).

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If nothing else, Black Rock shows moviegoers that you don't have to go to the Deep South to be tormented in the woods by deranged locals. Read about it in my review of Black Rock.

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As far as TV horror goes, what's old is new again these days, with the Bates Motel, Hannibal and (briefly) Mockingbird Lane revisiting classic genre icons (Norman Bates, Hannibal Lecter and the Munsters, respectively) on the small screen. But the trend is far from over. The upcoming 2013-14 season features reincarnations of two more major horror tales -- Bram Stoker's Dracula and Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" -- and now, thanks to early trailers, we have our first look at what to expect.  Read More...