As usual, lots of interesting things going on out there. This weeks Linkapalooza is a giant 'potpouri' of links, as some of this is fan-boy stuff and some of this is industry stuff. Either way, enjoy...News recently broke about the script for Tarantino's long talked about WWII epic, "Inglorious Bastards" ...and I got so excited, I had to sit down. Here's a couple articles - Doubt Quentin Tarantino All You Want - But INGLORIOUS BASTARDS Will Carve Its Mark Into Your Skull When It Is Done! - on Aint in Cool News & We’ve Got Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Inglorious Bastards’ Script. I'm not going to lie, I'll be honest. I'm not a Tarantino fan... and I'll leave it at that. I've been in many a debate over it and I wouldn't shy away from another one, but that's for another day. Brad, on the other hand, is. So, this link is for him. I only ask one thing, check out that second article, what's with that handwritten title page? Is he a complete invalid? Not only does he write like a 2 year old, he spells "bastard" B A S T E R D. Anyhow, like him or hate him, "Inglorious Bassturds" is coming...
Michael Bay talks 'Transformers 2' and 'Friday the 13th' remake on EW.com: This is fairly fluff, but Entertainment Weekly talked with Michael Bay about 'Transformers 2' and 'Friday the 13th'. It's a fairly short interview and the bulk of it is actually about 'Friday the 13th'. If you're like me and don't want to see this remade and think that Michael Bay and Platinum Dunes are just money grubbing trolls for remaking it, you'll find it interesting to see how he tries to sell it. "We're fans ourselves!", "We try to be faithful", "You're just not going to believe the first 12 minutes!". If you're excited about the film and have nothing against Bay, the interview will reveal nothing, it's exactly what you thought it would be.
Now, on to some cool industry shit... PLAYSTATION Network's Video Delivery Service to Offer Movies and TV Shows for Purchase and Rental Through PLAYSTATION 3 and PSP - on iStockAnalyst.com: Here's the thing, if you're a regular reader, you'll probably remember the post about the Sony Bravia being able to connect to the internet and act as a segue, right? Well, Sony's making sure they own this space, they're pulling out all the stops. Basically, they want the PS3 to be the center-piece of the family room. They want it to be the portal where you watch movies, play video games, cruise the internet, everything... they're not alone, though. Microsoft is trying to do the same thing with XBox and then there's my underdog in the arean, Roku and Netflix, who are trying, as well. However, my underdog may REALLY be a crippled underdog, as they probably won't be capable of cruising the internet, let alone playing video games on. Whatever... either way, the way we watch movies and consume media is going to change, my friends!
Lionsgate, YouTube strike ad-share deal - on THR.com: Uh oh... what's going on out there? First... Sony, Microsoft and Roku are fighting to get a device in your living room that connects to the internet, now Lionsgate strikes a deal with Youtube? WTF? Don't take this lightly, by the way... studios used to be so arogant, they thought they could control how, when and where you saw films. Now, they're reeling. Not only that, they're trying everything to squeeze more money out of their catalogue of films. This is actually monumentary. Lionsgate is now working with a website that's known for showing pirated content. Basically, Lionsgate is getting its own Youtube channel, where they show their content, run ads and split revenue with Youtube.
TV Trends:Consumers Demand Control - on eMarketer.com: If you're willing to pay $695.00, you can actually buy the full 24 page report with all 58 charts, however if you click on the link there, you get 1 graph and a short blurb... which was enough for me. These guys do studies for the industry, then sell the studies and this time they did a study on TV Trends. Here's what they found... "Video-on-demand (VOD), digital video recorders (DVRs), the broadband Web, and 3G mobile phones are giving TV consumers new ways to access and watch TV (and they) estimate that by 2012 nearly 25% of all TV content watched each day will be time-shifted, on-demand, on the Web or on a mobile device." Better get that indie horror ready for VOD, DVR's, the web and 3G mobile phones...
" isn't really straight horror, so to speak, but it does have a lot of elements that horror fans will like, especially if you're a fan of the Bruce Campbell style of horror. It's a very indie film and the story behind how it got made is great... and odd at the same time, as it was picked up by National Lampoon, of all distributors. It was written by and stars Kevin Weatley, who also took co-director credit on the film. He was acting on a pilot when he came up with this idea... he then grabbed the finished script, a crew of friends (who all happened to be in the industry), a few decent actors (who agreed to parts for nothing), $15,000 and headed to Florida to shoot it... they then had to raise money to do post-production, which took them a while, two years to be exact. In any case, the film looks great and it's coming out on DVD today. It's touted as a "unique futuristic historical documentary" and it's based on the concept of "New America" in the year 2097, two decades after a nuclear apocalypse. Tex Kennedy, two robotic ex-secret service agents, and a mythical female cannibal journey to find the "Threshold of Hell" to gain access to a radio tower to unite the survivors of the apocalypse. Check out the trailer on our 
" comes from indie studio Lightning Rod Studies out of Milwaukee, WI, where they specilize in visual effects. It was written and directed by Drew Maxwell and was a finalist at Shockerfest in 2006, as well as an official jury selection at ICFLM. After running the festival circuit, it was eventually picked up by Warner Brothers, which is awesome. It's about a small, forgotten town that's under seige by hideous creatures summoned into our dimension by a group of occultists and a rag-tag team of hardened mercenaries who roll into town in a 'creature-killing arsenal-on-wheels' to take care of them. Try making that as an indie film! Wow.
", which comes from Andrew and Lucas Campbell, who were also responsible for "Splatter Rampage Wrestling", "Demon Summer" and "The Red Skulls", all of which they both wrote, directed, edited and even acted in and did the music for. At first, I thought this was some sort of rerelease because the cover art looks very old school, but it's not. It's new... and it looks great. It's 70's, grindhouse, exploitation on a low, low budget and I can't wait to see it. It's about a bunch of women who are dealt hard lives and then strike back with horrifying vengeance.
", but I feel I should have. It was released by Screen Gems, it was written and directed by Jeff Buhler, who's the writer of "Midnight Meat Train" and it's got Peter Stormare in it, who I love... not literally, but he's a great actor. It's about a guy, played by Jesse Metcalfe, who's faking insanity in order to save his sister who has been involuntarily institutionalized. It's at the institution where they find the strange doctor, played by Stormare, has been testing an experimental compound on the patients that turns them into flesh eating psychopaths.
" comes from director David R. Ellis, who's last effort got a bit of buzz... you may remember it. It was a little film called "Snakes on a Plane"? He was also responsible for "Cellular", "Final Destination 2" and the upcoming "Final Destination 4". He actually came up through the business as a stunt man, which is pretty cool. He was doing stunts in "Beastmaster", "V", and even "Scarface". Anyhow, "Asylum" is about a college student who finds out that her dorm was once a notrious asylum, then strong horror violence and terror, disturbing images, language and brief nudity follow.
" is actually an anthology of films from five filmmakers: Joe Dante (GREMLINS, THE HOWLING) Ken Russell (ALTERED STATES, TOMMY THE DEVILS) Sean Cunningham (FRIDAY THE 13th) Monte Hellman (TWO-LANE BLACKTOP COCKFIGHTER) and John Gaeta (Oscar winner for Visual F/X on THE MATRIX Trilogy. I believe it's got a loose plot where seven strangers are forced to tell their most terrifying stories to get out alive, then each story is a basically a short film and there's wrap around segments to tie it together. It screened at Midnight Madness in Toronto and has done a bit of the festival circuit.
" comes from Dimension Extreme and it was written and directed by Luis Camara, who also did "Endgame" and "Ex Voto". It's about an extravagant party on the top floor of an abandoned skyscraper where five different guests receive text messages inviting them to join an exclusive VIP party being held on the 27th floor... when they get there, they realize they're trapped and the only way out are the twisted clues left by a murderous pychopath. Sounds familiar...
" is the remake of the Thai film of the same name, which stars Josh Jackson and Rachael Taylor. The original is a great, creepy film and this one doesn't do it justice... as usual. It's about a newly married couple that discovers disturbing, ghostly images in photographs they develop after a tragic accident. They fear that the manifestations may be connected, so they investigate and learn that some mysteries are better left unsolved... The film wasn't screened for critics and was generally poorly rated.
Once again, here's an exclusive Dead Harvey interview... this time around, we talk with J. Michael Lewis and Jerod Brennen of Tempered Zealot Productions, who just ran the festival circuit with their short film, "ATW: Bloodline". If you're thinking of making a short film for the festivals, this interview is a must read for you. In fact, they had so much great insight to offer, that we're going to offer up the entire interview as a pdf. You can find it 
" was directed by Carter Smith, who actually won an award at Sundance a few years back for his short film, "Bugcrush", and was based on a novel of the same name by Scott Smith, who also wrote the screenplay. Carter Smith has a strange route to directing, as he started out in fashion photography, then did a series of documentary-style portraits of teen life in the Midwest before directing commercials for some of his clients... he then got into making short films. "The Ruins" has a decent B-level cast, including Jonathan Tucker (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2003), Shawn Ashmore (X-Men), Jena Malone (Into the Wild) and Laura Ramsey (She's the Man). It's the typical, dumb American tourists mess with something they're not supposed to mess with story, but it really is pretty good. In fact, I'd go as far as to say it's one of the most underrated horrors of the year. Disappointingly, it opened at #5 and just grossed under $20Million domestically... Really, it is pretty good and hopefully it gets a decent run on DVD because it's worth a watch.
" has very similar themes and ideas to the recently released and kick-ass low-budget zombie feature, "Zombies Anonymous", however "American Zombie" is put together a little differently, it's a mockumentary. I've always liked the concept behind making a mockumentary, as it allows you to cut corners in the process and it justifies a low-budget. This comes from Grace Lee, who was profiled in Filmmaker magazine as one of the 25 faces to watch in independent film in 2002. She won various awards for her short film, "Barrier Device" and got a lot of respect for her film "The Grace Lee Project". Now, she delves into the horror arena, albeit softly, as this is really a comedy mockumentary... sort of. "American Zombie" documents the daily lives of a small community of the living dead who make their home in Los Angeles.
" is a Russian horror that's part documentary, part feature and all brutal violence. It comes from writer/director Andrey Iskanov, who's the guy behind "Visions of Suffering", which received some acclaim a few years back. It's about the true history of Japanese Unit 731, shown from the perspective of a young Japanese nurse who witnessed many horrors, and a young Japanese officer who is torn between his sincere convictions that he is serving the greater purpose, and the deep sympathy he feels for an imprisoned Russian girl. His life is a living hell as he's compelled to carry out atrocious experiments on the other prisoners, using them as guinea pigs in this shocking tale of mankinds's barbarity... and they're NOT lying when they say 'atrocioius experiments'. It's being called "one of the most violent, brutal and harrowing movies ever made", just check out the trailer on our Youtube page, pretty brutal.
" comes from Jim Wynorski, who's a bit of a legend on the B-Movie scene. He got his break with Roger Corman and has directed over 50 feature films... the first few films made it to the theaters, but his later works have been all, pretty much, straight to DVD releases. To give credit where credit's due, he's the guy behind such classics as "Chopping Mall", "976-EVIL 2: The Astral Factor", "Ghoulies 4", "The Witches of Breastwick" and "Komodo vs. Cobra". Okay, so he's not a legend, legend... but I think he's a legend and that's all that counts. "Bone Eater" is about an ancient Native American legend that rises up and begins terrorizing the local townspeople.
" comes from Adam Matalon, who, hilariously, splits time between working on shows like "Sesame Street" and "Whoopi", to directing low-budget indies like "Death on Demand". It's about a wealthy college student who arranges a web broadcast contest originating from a local haunted house, who's last owner was a deranged killer.
" is a low-budget horror being released by Lionsgate that was 'inspired by true events'. It's from low-budget German filmmaker Ulli Lommel, who's biggest claim to fame is directing "The Boogeyman" in 1980, which went on to be one of the biggest indie-horror hits of all time. He now seems to make about 4 movies a year. In 2008 alone, he made this film, plus "Absolute Evil", "Son of Sam" and "Baseline Killer". "Dungeon Girl" is about an older man who kidnaps a young girl and keeps her captive for 6 years.
" is another low-budget horror, this one from Sean Tretta, who wrote, shot, directed and produced the film. This is his second go at directing a low-budget feature, the first being "The Great American Snuff Film". He's already got another film in the can, coming out in 2008 called "Death Factory: Bloodletting", but I haven't seen it out yet. "Death of a Ghost Hunter" is about a renowned ghost hunter who, along with a cameraman, a reporter, and a spirtual advocate, embarks on a three night journey into terror.
", from very good looking director Yelena Lanskaya... I hope she's Russian, she kinda looks like one. The name fits. So, to me, this comes from hottie Russian director Yelena Lanskaya. Anyhow, she's won a whole bunch of awards and this is the eighth installment in the "Maneater Series", a series that I've heard nothing of before this. It's about a guy who turns into a wolf hybrid after being blinded in an explosion and then seeks shelter with a mysterious museum curator, who happens to be a half-breed herself.
", stars C. Thomas Howell and was written and directed by David Greenlaw Sapp and it's a low-budget, PG-13 horror about an angry blind girl who inherits a haunted house... er, sorry, a haunted manor. It's also got Ezra Buzzington in it, the creepy tall guy from the new "Hills Have Eyes".
" was trying to be a TV show... it's sort of a fake reality show, but designed like a series. I'm not really sure, but it looks really interesting. It's "the start of a new R-Rated reality show, bringing together a group of sexy young contestants and an unlikely crew to pirates island. The cameras roll and steamy footage racks up, but the creation of this hot new series soon becomes a bloody nightmare." It has the most random 'celebrity cast' ever, including KK Holiday, Naked Cowboy, Gina Lynn and Kamal Ahmed, among others... I may have to look further into this one. Expect lots of nudity and random gore.
" comes from Michelle Fridley, who wrote, produced and directed it... I wish I could give it more coverage, as it looks like a pretty good low-budget horror. It's about five friends who go to shoot a documentary about a haunted building, but end up being tricked into searching for a cursed buried treasure that the leader of the group wants. When one unfortunate soul opens a door to a darker dimension, a demon is released and begins to kill them one by one.
" comes from Paul Traynor and it's another flick that I wish I could dedicate more time to... it takes place on Halloween weekend over a hastily organized canoe trip in the deep, dark forest, where the guys stumble upon four beautiful women. It's a throwback to 70's horror, with lots of sex, an 'indelible villain' and a plot that 'builds slowly and inexorably toward an unforgettable conclusion'. Check out the trailer on our Youtube page, it does look pretty cool...
