The Weekend Box Office and The Week In Horror on DVD

The box office was, once again, dominated by Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland". It's held the top spot for three weeks in a row and has now become Burton's highest grossing film of all time, although "Batman" probably had an actual higher attendance. "Alice" has now grossed over $550Million Worldwide and doesn't really show many signs of slowing down... although, "How To Train Your Dragon" will beat it out of top spot next weekend, without question. For me, the bad news is how poorly "Repo Men" did. I wasn't really excited about it or anything, but as a so-called "near-future" thriller, it was the closest thing to a genre film that came out... and it really didn't do well at all. The film was a complete rip-off of "Repo! The Genetic Opera", but no one seemed to notice that at all. Mainly because no one seemed to notice "Repo! The Genetic Opera", either. However, it goes to show how finicky audiences can be about these so-called near-future sci-fi thriller-type films. If you're thinking of a sci-fi film, you better go action adventure, with monsters, or something. "Repo Men" came in fourth, behind "Alice", "Diary of a Wimpy kid" and "The Bounty Hunter", respectively. For me, the next big film to come out will be the re-imagining of "The Nightmare on Elm Street", which comes out at the end of April... still a ways away, but I've become quite excited about it, to be honest. As for the week in horror on DVD, it's a bit better... sort of. As usual, you can go to our Youtube Page, where you can see all the trailers and you can click on the titles to be taken to their page on Amazon.

There's really only three films coming out this week, unless you consider the first film to actually be eight films. That first one is "After Dark Horrorfest Vol. 4", an eight DVD collection of all the After Dark Horrorfest films, which includes "Dread", "The Final", "The Graves", "The Hidden", "Kill Theory", "Lake Mungo", "The Reeds" and "Zombies of Mass Destruction". We spoke with the Director of Horrorfest, Sarah Finder, before they all hit the theater and she discussed all of them, so instead of rehashing, just click HERE and you can read that interview.

"Banshee!!!" comes from director Colin Theys and it actually came out a couple years ago, but they've given it some new cover art and are rereleasing it. Maybe they fixed it up a bit, I don't know. Reviews aren't that great and when I saw it a couple years ago, it felt like it could've used a bit more time in post production. Banshee's are creatures from Irish mythology and the banshee in this film has the ability to make its prey hallucinate through sound waves... a group of college friends on a Spring Break camping trip get stalked and slashed up by one these not-so-little suckers.

"Carny" stars Lou Diamond Phillips and it came out in 2009 and premiered on the 'don't call me Sci-Fi', SyFy channel. Lou's a small town Sheriff that hunts a mysterious bat-like creature that escapes from a carnival.

Internet Web Tubes: Cheerbleeders, Elm Street and more...

What's going on out there on Al Gore's internet? As usual, quite a bit.

A little while back, we interviewed Peter Podgursky, the guy behind the USC thesis film, "Cheerbleeders". What sucks about reviewing and talking about short films is the fact that they can be hard to get your hands on. Nothing like getting a bunch of people interested in a film that they're probably not going to be able to see. Well, this is the internet age, my friends, and, if I may quote Homer Simpson, "The internet? Is that thing still around?" Well, yes it is. And right now, and for another week or so, you can check out "Cheerbleeders" on New Blood, for FREE by clicking here. Also, I have to like the fact that they linked back to our interview with Podgursky, which you can also find if you click here. It's a great short horror film and it's a great interview. If you're in film school, thinking about film school or went to film school... or you just like good, short horror. Check it all out, good stuff...

Here's a link to an article that was on THR.com and, really, it's just for interests sake... You see, they've cast the major parts for the reinvisioning of "Nightmare on Elm Street" and you're getting "Twilight" actor Kellan Lutz, "Terminator" the TV show's John Connor - Thomas Dekker and Rooney Mara, who are all joining Kyle Gallner, who will be playing the role that Johnny Depp played back in 1984. So, am I the only one who thinks that all these actors are just a bit too good looking to be in this? I thought the same thing with the "Friday the 13th" remake, to be honest. Maybe I just consider myself overwhelmingly average looking, but I always figured that the idea was that the people in these films, the kids of elm street or the kids who visit Camp Crystal Lake, could be anyone - meaning, they could be you. Now, though, it's like they're from The WB. I think having model-like actors just adds to the disconnect between the viewer and the film, but... that could just be me. I usually root for the killer, anyhow.

Here's a wicked article on MediaPost.com called "How Can Independent Video Producers Compete In The Super-Premium Era? ". Now, I know that most people still see the big screen as the Holy Grail of filmmaking, with the small screen (TV) coming in second... however, that should change. I've said it a million times, but if you look at your film as just content and you're just trying to reach eyeballs, the internet is your buddy right now and, one day, it'll be your BFF. Not only that, as we progress, your content will be monetized a lot easier online... (read: you'll make more money with online content) That's not to mention, you'll have complete creative freedom and won't have to worry about being too over-the-top or anything. Anyhow, not only is the article interesting, the few comments at the bottom are interesting, too. The article is talking more from an advertising perspective, like... if you're making a web-based series and are looking to compete with the networks for ad dollars. Good read, though. You should know about this stuff.

Let's dip back into the THR.com well and read another article from them, this one called "Adults Steering Clear of Movies". The long and short is, 'pricey, star-driven thrillers and dramas' are stinking it up at the box office... they use "State of Play" as an example in the article. On the flip side, in these recessionary times, youth oriented films are kicking ass. It's easy math, when you think about it. Adults are worried about jobs, money, mortgages, bills, etc... and, not only are they cutting back, when they're looking for entertainment, it's probably going to be escapist-type stuff: horror, action, sci-fi, etc. Now, kids don't give an F about the recession. They're worried about who's going to buy them beer on the weekend or what brand their MP3 players is. On top of that, they don't care to see 'pricey, star-driven thrillers and dramas', anyhow. They've always been into the escapist stuff. So, if you're a budding screenwriter looking for something to write about right now, think about beefing up the young adult aspects and toning down on the serious stuff.

Lastly, remember those random clips that wound up in my inbox? You know, the ones that are really for the upcoming Donnie Darko film, "S. Darko"? Well, here's the third installment. I gotta say, these were all very well done and this last one really ties it all together. I'm not just saying that because they were done by our buddies at Fewdio, either. Anyhow, here's a link to the first one and here's a link to the second one. Last one is embedded below.

Strange Things Are Afoot On The interwebs

We all know who Platinum Dunes is, right? The production company that was formed in 2001 by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form? I'll be honest, when they first came out and made it brutally clear that they'd be basically cherry picking some of the most influential horror films from my past and 're-envisioning' them, I was none too happy. Although I prayed for each film to fail and that Platinum Dunes would close up shop, they didn't. Not only that, I hate to admit that my hatred's softening over time. Don't get me wrong, a bit of me died with each announcement. First, with "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" in 2003, then "The Amityville Horror", a suspect sequel to "TCM", then "The Hitcher", "The Unborn" and "Friday the 13th". Now, they're slated to remake "Near Dark", they're doing a "Friday the 13th Part 2", "The Birds" and, worst of all, coming out in 2010, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" - which was one of the most influential movies in my life, with one of the most influential characters. By the way, the reason this all came up is because they've picked who's going to play Freddy and, obviously, it isn't Robert Englund. It's none other than Jackie Earle Haley... if that doesn't ring any bells, he played Rorschach in "Watchmen". Here's an article on him getting the role. Anyhow, back to my rant... I'm assuming that you and I are probably on similar pages... like, the movies that influenced you and made you the filmmaker/writer/producer that you are, were made 15 to 25 years ago. You've probably thought, "this new stuff is just not as good as the old stuff" and when a remake comes out, you almost always say, "the original was better". Well, I got to thinking... these remakes aren't really for us. They're for the next generation of horror fans and horror filmmakers/writers/producers. I'll leave out the whole monetary aspect, as that obviously plays a major part, but... consider this: I remember listening to Motley Crue's version of "Helter Skelter", having no idea that it was a remake... then being informed by my father that it was a Beatles song from 20 years earlier and that the original was better. Now, put that experience in the context of me and Platinum Dunes and I'm the old man saying that the original "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" is better. So, I think, in the future, the correct response to someone getting excited about a Platinum Dunes remake should be... "Hmmm... interesting that they're remaking that. You did know that it's a remake, right? I sure hope it's a good movie... You should check out the original when you get a chance and let me know what you think." Then, appreciate the fact that Platinum Dunes is playing a part in keeping horror alive and shaping the horror filmmakers of the next generation. Or is that way too soft?

Here's a link to an interesting article that I read on TheWrap.com called "Coming Soon to Your Flat Screen: Layoff TV". So, what was that movie... or was it just a story? You know... it's in the middle of the Great Depression and the news is all upbeat and fake and it pisses this one filmmaker off. So, he sacrifices everything to make a film with an honest take, with honest characters and after years of sweat, blood and tears, he creates his opus and, when he screens it, everyone hates it. They tell him, "Man, life is depressing enough, we'd rather see some fake, upbeat shit". I'd research that a bit better, but you get the point. There's actually two trains of thought on this. One is, people like escapism during rough times. They want fantastic movies that take them to different worlds and have happy endings. They want to forget about the daily grind and all the depressing things that come with it. The other train of thought is, people don't want to see that shit because they can't identify with the characters. Bad times call for down-to-earth characters with problems and issues. To be honest, this is the type of shit that you need to be thinking about when you're writing - think about your audience (reoccurring theme here, people). Anyhow, this article seems to think that people want escapism on the big screen, while they want realistic, down-to-earth stuff on the small screen. Check it out and think about it when you're writing...

Lastly, I received a very strange link to a video on Youtube, I embedded it below. Check it out...