Mark's Horror & Suspense Blog

A fresh crop of new additions to the trailer park...

• The Haunting of Molly Hartley (pictured): A teenager realizes that her soul has been sold to the Devil. Sort of like Reaper without the laughs.
• Outlander: Jim Caviezel stars as a futuristic humanoid who crash lands on Earth during the Middle Ages and must battle the alien monster that escaped from his ship. Sort of like Lilo & Stitch with decapitations.
• Prey: A supernatural curse -- a Bloomin' Onion? -- strikes visitors to the Australian Outback.
• Quench: A young man reunites with his childhood friend, only to discover that he's joined a strange cult...the Claymates!
• Seed: Uwe Boll. That's the punchline.

Several intriguing new DVD release dates:

September 23:

• Mother of Tears: Dario Argento's final film in the "Three Mothers" trilogy gets released as part of the Dimension Extreme line.

October 7:

• The Happening: M. Night Shyamalan's latest didn't get good reviews, but it did solid business at the box office, earning around $65 million.
• Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer: This little indie showed at Slamdance 2008 and kept building buzz through a limited theatrical release.

October 21:

• Trailer Park of Terror: Another Slamdance '08 entry, this one about six troubled teens on their way back from camp who get stranded in an undead trailer park when their bus breaks down.

October 28:

• Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead: This Troma epic is so big that even the "making of" documentary, Poultry in Motion: Truth is Stranger Than Chicken, is receiving a limited theatrical run -- this weekend at DragonCon and September 5 in New York City at the Pioneer Theater (in a double feature with Poultrygeist).
• Red: This acclaimed thriller and Sundance '08 entry has some of the gritty neo-Western sensibility that made No Country for Old Men so popular.
• Shiver (Eskalofrio): In this Spanish outing, a lonely boy discovers that the woods near his new home contain a monster.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Woody Harrelson has signed on to star in an upcoming zombie-comedy movie entitled Zombieland. The plot is pretty vague so far: two people struggle to survive in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies. Sounds hilarious! The writers and director attached have little to their name upon which to judge their credentials for this sort of film, but with Harrelson on board, it should be pretty decent. (Granted, that's what I thought about Kiefer Sutherland's involvement in Mirrors.)

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

This week's DVD releases are a seedy bunch, packed with sex, violence and, oddly enough, cannibalism. If sleazy exploitation is your cup of tea, then this is the week for you.

Well, November is fast approaching, and only three movies (The Broken, Slaughter -- formerly called Faithless -- and Perkins' 14) out of eight have yet to be announced for the upcoming 2008 After Dark Horrorfest. Well, word has it now that the 2008 Horrorfest will actually arrive in 2009 -- January to be exact. No doubt this has something to do with the fact that After Dark is actually producing a few of the films, rather than just purchasing them, plus the fact that the 2007 fest tanked so badly in theaters that After Dark is (hopefully) devoting more time to ensure product quality. (Hint: more like Mulberry Street, less like Unearthed.)

Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com

I came across an interesting site last week: Deadbooks.com. It calls itself a "hyper-serialization," and I can't think of a better term for it. Basically, it's the Internet version of a book on tape, involving not only a vocal reading of books (in this case, the Deadbooks series by Hasso Wuerslin), but also sound effects, music, interactive elements and visuals that are like a living scrapbook -- not quite moving video, not quite static photos, but a hybrid that helps to overcome any glaring budgetary constraints in the production.

Wuerslin has dedicated eight years of his life to animating 150 chapters, utilizing over 100 actors and 40 musical groups from around the world. The first 38 chapters (10 hours' worth) are available online now. The story itself seems to be a horror-sci fi hybrid about a man on a mining ship that discovers a lifeless Earth. As the man explores, he's possessed by a ghost trying to get him to see the last days of its life. Judging from the demo chapters online, I can't tell if the writing is particularly great, but the end product is strangely hypnotic and a bit creepy. It's certainly something unique and innovative, and the hard work put into it is evident. Check it out at www.Deadbooks.com.

The Nicole Kidman flop The Invasion -- the third and worst of the remakes of Invasion of the Body Snatchers -- debuts on cable this week, so at least you won't feel like you wasted money on a rental. Catch it on HBO on Saturday, August 30, at 8 PM ET/PT.

Cthulhu opens today in Los Angeles, and director Dan Gildark was kind enough to answer a few questions on the film, on H.P. Lovecraft and on the independent filmmaking process. Find out what he had to say.

I'm no H.P. Lovecraft expert, by Cthulhu strikes me as a good representation of his work: dark, introspective, surreal and oddly fish-centric. It's also one of the more impressive low-budget, independent horror films in recent memory. Read my review here.

Over at Blooody-Disgusting.com, they have an official, large-as-life photo of the new Jason from the upcoming Friday the 13th remake...and there's no jumpsuit! That'll take some getting used to. He actually looks like a cross between Jason and Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre. And is that a ponytail I see? I hope not. Otherwise, looks fine I guess. I just hope we won't be seeing Freddy Krueger in a cardigan.

Source: Bloody-Disgusting.com