Rob Zombie has been announced as the headlining act on this summer’s Rockstar Mayhem Festival, kicking off on July 10 in San Bernardino, California. Sharing the main stage with Zombie are Korn, Lamb of God, and Five Finger Death Punch. Second and third stages will host Hatebreed, Shadows Fall, Three Inches of Blood, Atreyu, In This Moment, Norma Jean, Chimaira, and Winds of Plague.

Zombie will be promoting Hellbilly Deluxe 2, the followup to his 1998 triple-platinum beast Hellbilly Deluxe. The long-awaited disc (the first under new label Roadrunner Records) will be in stores on Feb. 2. To learn more about it and to see a song list, click here.

The Mayhem Festival will also include performances from motocross outfit Metal Mulisha, comedian “Big Jay” Oakerson, and raunch-and-roll variety act Beacher’s Madhouse. For ticket and tour date info, visit Rockstar’s MayhemFest site.

Director Oren Peli and his producing partner Jason Blum continue to play nice with the Saw folks. First, there was news that the upcoming Peli/Blum-produced sequel to Paranormal Activity, the film they shot for $15,000 in 2006, would be directed by Kevin Greutert, director of Saw 6—the film Activity faced off against last Halloween in a highly-publicized battle of box office. Now, word has it that the duo will produce Saw co-creator James Wan’s next directorial effort The Further.

The Further revolves around a family that discovers that the body of their comatose son is hosting evil spirits.

Wan has directed the killer marionette frightener Dead Silence, the revenge-thriller Death Sentence, and, of course, Saw. He is also set to helm Castlevania, an adaptation of the Konami video game.

Director Terry Gilliam sure didn’t pull any punches when discussing his thoughts on James Cameron’s sci-fi epic Avatar with the A.V. Club.

The man behind such epic, often nightmarish, fantasies as Time Bandits, Brazil, and Twelve Monkeys told the entertainment news site that while he appreciated Cameron’s technical wizardry, the film itself had sucked donkey balls … or something like that.

Gilliam said:

Technically, it’s extraordinary work. And that’s where it sort of ends. We’ve seen the story before. We’ve seen so much of what’s been done there before, but I think he’s obviously moved the technology way ahead, to a point that who’s going to get the benefit from it is the real question. I think his system that he’s developed is obviously extraordinary, but you need these vast sums of money to create something like that.

The thing that always amazes me about Cameron is how he uses the camera. I’ve always been amazed by that, ever since I first saw his films. And he continues to do it. It’s a dynamic that’s quite extraordinary, but as far as the ideas and everything else, nothing surprised me.

What he’s done is so difficult. And that deserves praise for something. I don’t know if it’s necessary, is my problem. I occasionally would pull the glasses off and say, “Did the depth mean that much to me?” And it didn’t. But it’s very lush work.

It’s a good thing Cameron doesn’t have human feelings, otherwise such criticism would surely sting. Gilliam’s latest film is The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus which, ironically, also sucks donkey balls.

Leaked (and sadly low-quality) photos from the set of director Mitch Glazer’s Passion Play show a topless Megan Fox in a glass enclosure with some fat bastard (OK, I’m jealous).

Fox, who plays an angel held captive as a circus sideshow in the film, has been pretty vocal about not doing nude scenes, so it’s likely we won’t see any full-boobage when the flick comes out.

Take a peek at the topless on-the-set photos, along with some behind-the-scenes shots, in the following gallery:

[Show as slideshow]

Spanish director Rodrigo Cortes is premiering his highly buzzed-about thriller Buried at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The film, shot in Barcelona for $3 million, stars Ryan Reynolds as an American citizen who is abducted while working in Iraq and buried alive in a coffin with nothing more than a lighter, a knife, and a mobile phone, which he must use to make the following video:

Looks like Blair Witch meets the Taliban. I dig it.

Buried’s action takes place in a 3′-X-6′ coffin and features Reynolds as the only actor onscreen (hmm, so that’s why Mrs. Muertos wants to see this).

During an interview on Australian TV last year, Reynolds said:

It’s the only movie I’ve ever heard of with only one person in it. So it’s just me, I’m the only person in the whole movie so, I don’t know, we’ll see. It’s either going to be, you know, the greatest, most experimental cool movie ever made or god knows what.

The synopsis reads:

Paul Conroy (Ryan Reynolds) is a U.S. citizen working as a contract driver in Iraq. After a swift and sudden attack on his convoy, he awakens to find himself buried alive inside a coffin with nothing more than a lighter, a cell phone, and little memory of how he ended up there. Faced with limited oxygen and unlimited panic, Paul finds himself in a tension-filled race against time to escape this claustrophobic deathtrap before it’s too late.

Cortes, a self-described Hitchcock fanatic, has garnered international acclaim for his stylish and outside-the-box filmmaking, winning awards for his 2001 short 15 Dias—which starred 100 actors in 200 locations—and 2007’s Concursante. Cortes’ next project is the paranormal thriller Red Lights.

Director Matt Reeves (Cloverfield)  is aware of the skepticism surrounding his remake of the 2008 Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In. In a recent interview with MTV, Reeves assured fans that the film, now entitled Let Me In, remains centered on the coming-of-age relationship between a young boy and his vampire girlfriend/guardian, but will translate the story to better suit American sensibilities.

Reeves said:

It’s very much an Americanization of the tale that John Ajvide Lindqvist tells. The film touched me. And I read the book, which he also wrote, and it moved me too. It reminded me so much of my own childhood in certain ways. It’s so much about that period of preadolescence, that feeling of being a child and of being bullied, the difficulties of growing up. It’s such a beautiful coming-of-age story, in addition to being such a terrific genre story.

One of the things I really wanted to do was find my own way into the story while still being very, very reverent to the beautiful film and to the wonderful story that they created. And so the story in many ways follows the same trajectory. I really wanted to put you, even more so, into the point of view of the boy and understand his childhood as vividly as it comes across in the book.

In a certain way, there has been a real bull’s-eye on the movie, because people had so much love for that [original] film. I share that love, and for me, what was important was to have reverence for the original while at the same time trying to find the way to make it our own.

That has been what this process is about, to really want to mine the foundations of that story. It’s about the details and the things that make it an American story and putting it in an American context and the things that I relate to from my childhood and the things that the actors bring.

Let Me In stars 13-year-old Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) and 12-year-old Chloe Moretz (Kick Ass) in the lead roles. The film arrives in theaters on Oct. 1.

Writer-director and founder of Imperiad Entertainment David W. Edwards premiered the following trailer at the  New York City Horror Film Festival, the largest horror convention in the States. The clip is full of creepy goodness. Check it out:

According to the film’s website, Edwards is currently seeking a cash-injection to complete production on the super-natural thriller. Let’s hope he steals his mom’s credit card and gets this baby done. I need to know what the fuck is feeding on the hot blond’s head!

The official synopsis reads:

In Nightscape, three high school seniors are drawn into a world of living nightmares. Exposed to a frightening creature of unknown origin, the teens unexpectedly gain paranormal powers. As these powers grow and change the trio suspect they’ve become hapless pawns in a larger war between ancient forces of good and evil.

The film is a smart supernatural thriller that combines compelling drama and surreal, Lovecraftian horror. It marks a return to the psychological terror of films like Videodrome and In the Mouth of Madness.

If you can’t beat them, join them.

In an ironic twist of fate that would make Jigsaw proud, Saw 6 director Kevin Greutert has been hired by Paramount Pictures to helm the sequel to Oren Peli’s surprise blockbuster hit Paranormal Activity. Produced by Peli and Jason Blum, Paranormal Activity 2 (title may change) will once again go mano-a-mano with the Saw franchise on Oct. 22.

(UPDATE: Greutert will not direct Paranormal Activity 2. Lionsgate is enforcing a clause in his contract to bring him back to direct Saw 7. Read the full story here)

Greutert writes on his blog MyTorturePorn:

Never, EVER, mention “Blair Witch 2:  Book of Shadows” in my presence, lest I cease all diplomatic relations with you forthwith.

The editor-turned director has reason to be nervous about his new project. Aside from having Saw 6, his feature film debut, stall at the box office with a mere $31 million last October, Greutert must now deal with skeptics who view the Activity sequel as nothing more than a money-grab.

Peli, who wrote and directed the original Activity film for $15, 000 at his home, believes Greutert and screenwriter Michael R. Perry will deliver the goods.

He tells the Hollywood Reporter:

These guys get it, and the fans won’t be disappointed.

If Saw 6 is any indication, I think Greutert’s involvement in the Paranormal Activity sequel can only make it better. Saw 6 was the best entry in the Saw series since Saw 3 and clearly showcased Greutert’s talents for creating whiteknuckle horror (See review here). It’s a shame the suits at Lionsgate rehired Saw 5 (the worse in the series) director David Hackl for this year’s Saw 7.

Peli, meanwhile, is currently at work on a docu-style alien-thriller entitled Area 51.

Indie-director Marc Webb is set to swing into the director’s chair for Sony Pictures’ recently announced Spiderman reboot. Webb’s work on the critically acclaimed (500) Days of Summer rom-com is said to have sealed the deal for the studio, which plans to take the Peter Parker character back to high school to face new foes such as girls, homework, and acne.

Zodiac writer Jamie Vanderbilt is said to have already turned in a script.

"Is Spiderman the bullet-proof guy?"

Webb says:

This is a dream come true and I couldn’t be more aware of the challenge, responsibility, or opportunity. Sam Raimi’s virtuoso rendering of  Spider-Man is a humbling precedent to follow and build upon.  The first three films are beloved for good reason.  But I think the Spider-Man mythology transcends not only generations but directors as well.  I am signing on not to ‘take over’ from Sam.  That would be impossible.  Not to mention arrogant.  I’m here because there’s an opportunity for ideas, stories, and histories that will add a new dimension, canvas, and creative voice to Spider-Man.

Sony will now begin its search for an actor to play the Spiderman (Tobey Maguire, along with director Sam Raimi, were shown the door last week). The film is budgeted at an estimated $80 million—a significantly lower number than Raimi’s projections for Spiderman 4—and will be based on the” Ultimate Spiderman” comics by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley.

Spiderman is slated to hit theaters in 2012.

Sony’s press release reads:

CULVER CITY, Calif., January , 2010 – Marc Webb, the director of the Golden Globe nominated Best Picture (500) Days of Summer will direct the next chapter in the Spider-Man franchise, set to hit theaters summer 2012, it was jointly announced today by Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios.

Written by James Vanderbilt, Webb will work closely with producers Avi Arad and Laura Ziskin in developing the project, which will begin production later this year.

Commenting on the announcement, Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, and Matt Tolmach, president of Columbia Pictures, said, “At its core, Spider-Man is a small, intimate human story about an everyday teenager that takes place in an epic super-human world. The key for us as we sought a new director was to identify filmmakers who could give sharp focus to Peter Parker’s life. We wanted someone who could capture the awe of being in Peter’s shoes so the audience could experience his sense of discovery while giving real heart to the emotion, anxiety, and recklessness of that age and coupling all of that with the adrenaline of Spider-Man’s adventure. We believe Marc Webb is the perfect choice to bring us on that journey.”

Arad and Ziskin added jointly, “Over the years, the Spider-Man comics have been told with bold and creative new writers and artists who have re-calibrated the way audiences see Peter Parker. Marc Webb will do for the new direction of the films what so many visionary storytellers have done with the comic books. He is an incredibly talented filmmaker and we look forward to working closely with him on this new adventure.”

Webb said, “This is a dream come true and I couldn’t be more aware of the challenge, responsibility, or opportunity. Sam Raimi’s virtuoso rendering of  Spider-Man is a humbling precedent to follow and build upon.  The first three films are beloved for good reason.  But I think the Spider-Man mythology transcends not only generations but directors as well.  I am signing on not to ‘take over’ from Sam.  That would be impossible.  Not to mention arrogant.  I’m here because there’s an opportunity for ideas, stories, and histories that will add a new dimension, canvas, and creative voice to Spider-Man.”

Stan Lee, co-creator of Spider-Man, added, “I’m excited that Sony has chosen a director with a real penchant and understanding for the character.  This is a brave, bold direction for the franchise, and I can’t wait to see what Marc comes up with next.”

Added Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige, “The idea of re-imagining the on-screen story for one of the world’s most iconic superheros is sure to deliver an exciting new dimension to Spider-Man fans everywhere.  There are volumes of comics and material available to inspire fresh and compelling takes on Peter Parker and his journey as Spidey and we look forward to seeing this come alive onscreen.”

MARC WEBB has won acclaim with his film debut (500) Days of Summer. He has several MTV VMAs™ including 2009’s Best Director award for Green Day’s “21 Guns,” 2006 Best Rock Video for AFI’s “Miss Murder,” and Best Group Video for The All-American Rejects’ “Move Along.” The Music Video Production Association honored him in 2006 as the Director of the Year for his work with Weezer, AAR, and My Chemical Romance.

In addition to two Golden Globe nominations including Best Picture (musical or comedy), his first feature film, (500) Days of Summer, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel, has been nominated for three Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature.  Webb was also awarded the Spotlight Award, which honors outstanding directorial debuts, by the National Board of Review.

Originally slated for release in April, Piranha 3-D has now been pushed back to August by The Weinstein Company to reportedly avoid splitting their audience demographic with Lionsgate quirky superhero flick Kick-Ass. However, ongoing speculation suggests that there may be a problem with the 3-D rendering, and that the film will most likely be released in 2-D (that’s especially sad news for fans of Kelly Brooke’s boobs).

I believe in the latter reason for the delay. Kick-Ass looks funny and will surely appeal to the socially awkward who weep themselves to sleep every night, but it doesn’t stand a chance against babes and blood … in 3-D! I mean, just check out the following trailer:

Piranha 3-D stars Elisabeth Shue, Ving Rhames, Jerry O’Connell, Eli Roth, Kelly Brooke, Christopher Lloyd and Richard Dreyfuss.

To see a Piranha 3-D gallery, click here.