For the past few months, I had heard stories about an unholy experiment taking place at the Steve Allen Theater in Los Angeles. From the sounds of it, horror legend Stuart Gordon, director of indie-frighteners From Beyond, The Pit and the Pendulum, Dolls, and Fortress, had discovered a formula that would revive Re-Animator, his renowned 1985 feature film debut, as an onstage musical.

I was certain the tales were untrue. To tinker with one of horror’s most beloved works would be madness. For starters, who could possibly match Jeffrey Combs’ performance as Herbert West in the original? What would happen to the gore? How would the film’s outrageous “head” scene play out on the stage? There was only one way to find out.

The Steve Allen Theater is an intimate venue with a small stage. Mrs. Muertos and I took our seats just behind the “splatter zone,” a designated area for those who prefer a more interactive experience (ponchos are available upon request, but I’m told the blood doesn’t stain). Gordon, who directs the musical, soon took to the stage and graciously welcomed everyone to the show.

Re-Animator, for those unfamiliar with Gordon’s film and the H.P. Lovecraft story it’s based on (“Herbert West: Re-Animator”), follows the grisly havoc caused by med school students Herbert West and Dan Cain after they set out to test West’s reanimating serum on human corpses. Things go from frying pan to fire when West’s nemesis Dr. Hill, a shameless plagiarist and pervert, attempts to steal his work.

Graham Skipper owns the role of Herbert West, shifting  effortlessly between the character’s bratty narcissism and psychotic rage. That those emotions are expressed through song makes West appear all the more mad, especially during the numbers “I Give Life” and “Basement,” the latter sung by West as he responds to Cain’s ad for a roommate.

Chris L. McKenna as the affable Dan Cain and Rachel Avery (whom some may recognize from her appearances on HBO’s “Big Love”) as Dan’s sexy, but wholesome, fiance Megan Halsey project a playful chemistry that shines during a hilarious bedroom duet in which they can’t seem to agree on wedding plans (She’s thinking grand; he’s favoring City Hall).

Of course, wedding bliss is not in the couple’s future. Megan is betrayed by Dan when he takes interest in West’s work despite her protests. She is later sexually accosted by a headless Dr. Hill, played with perverse glee by international opera singer Jesse Merlin. The girl’s luck only worsens from there.

Reunited with original Re-Animator writers Dennis Paoli and William J. Norris, and FX artists John Buechler and Anthony Doublin, and aided by Mark Nutter’s brilliant maniacal score and gut-busting lyrics, Gordon has not only delivered a love letter—or, perhaps, singing telegram—to Re-Animator fans, but has also created what could very well be the next Rocky Horror Show (I am selfishly hoping it stays in LA).

“Re-Animator: The Musical” plays it final shows this weekend at the Steve Allen Theater located at 4773 Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles. Tickets can be purchased by calling 1-800-595-4TIX (595-4849) or online here.

“Scrubs” star John C. McGinley is the latest to join the eclectic cast of director Rob Cohen’s (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor) I, Alex Cross, an adaptation of the James Patterson novel and a reboot of the Alex Cross franchise which starred Morgan Freeman in Paramount Pictures’ Kiss the Girls and Along Came a Spider.

McGinley will play police chief Richard Brookwell, a verbose and short-tempered man who is constantly annoyed by man-child and daydreamer J.D. at Sacred Heart Hospital. Costars includes Matthew Fox (“LOST”), Jean Reno (The Professional), Ed Burns (One Missed Call), and Tyler Perry as Alex Cross-dresser.

The funnyman’s genre creds include David Fincher’s Seven, James Mangold’s awesome psych-thriller Identity, the Ice T vehicle Surviving the Game, Highlander II, and Hear No Evil with Marlee Matlin (Does that chick ever do non-deaf roles? Talk about comfort zone. Jeez).

I, Alex Cross goes into production this month in Cleveland.

All the good will Anne Hathaway’s nude breasts have built over the years with male moviegoers is now hanging on a thread thanks to Warner Bros.’ promo shot of the 28-year-old star in her not-so-sexy Dark Knight Rises Catwoman getup (pictured above).

Not one to let the bat studio ruin her rep, Hathaway quickly responded to the negative feedback by assuring fan boys that there is a lot more to the suit than was revealed in the pic.

She tells MTV:

I was not going to admit it: I asked someone to send me a few reactions [to the photo]. What I am happy to say is, if you didn’t like the photo, you only see about a 10th of what that suit can do. And if you did like the photo, you have excellent taste.

Hey, if the catsuit can be unzipped and taken off, then that’s all I need to see it do (Yeah! Looks for a high-five).

The Dark Knight is the final chapter in Christopher Nolan’s Batman triology. The film stars Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Michael Caine, Marion Cotillard, Juno Temple, Nestor Carbonell and Christian Bale as the Caped Crusader.

It arrives in theaters on July 20, 2012.

Perhaps it’s to salvage damage done by director Lars von Trier’s gaffe at this year’s Cannes Film Festival or, maybe, it’s the loss of her sweet Spiderman gig, but Kirsten Dunst really wants people to see her new end-of-the-world psych-drama Melancholia.

The 29-year-old actress went totally nude for the project and is making sure everyone knows. She speaks candidly about why her body is better than your(s) girlfriend’s in the September issue of  Elle magazine U.K.

She boasts:

I didn’t work out beforehand, it was all very natural. I don’t have any real body issues. I never really overeat, I shed weight in the summer, put it on in the winter and yes, I do have big boobs. People don’t realize because I cover up a lot, but they are there. Big boobs.

Budgeted at a modest $7 million, Melancholia follows a group of people as they freak the fuck out upon discovering that the earth is on a collision course with another planet. The film costars Keifer Sutherland (Mirrors), Charlotte Gainsbourg (Antichrist), Udo Kier (Halloween), Charlotte Rampling (Never Let Me Go), Alexander Skarsgaard (“True Blood”), and Stellan Skarsgaard (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).

Melancholia arrives in theaters on Nov. 4.

British actress Hannah Murray is set to star in season two of HBO’s Emmy-nominated fantasy series “Game of Thrones.” The 22-year-old up-and-comer will play Gilly, wife/daughter to Craster (Robert Pugh), an old pervy ally to the Night’s Watch.

Murray is coming off director Hideo Nakata’s (The Ring 2, Dark Water) cyberspace thriller Chatroom (costarring Fright Night’s Imogen Poots), but is best known for her role as anorexic teen Cassie Ainsworth on the U.K.’s popular adolescent soap “Skins.”

“Game of Thrones” season two is now shooting.

Laura Ramsey is set to join Amy Smart (Mirrors) in director George Bessudo’s (Lake Dead) upcoming supernatural thriller Glimmer. No word on what role the 28-year-old stunner will play but, even if she was portraying a tree, this movie’s strokevalue watchability factor just went up.

Ramsey’s horror creds include Renny Harlin’s The Covenant, Jim Gillespie’s New Orleans-based frightener Venom, and the 2005 horror-comedy Cruel World (starring Jaime Presley). She is probably best known, however, for her gruesomely tragic turn in 2008’s The Ruins.

The only other name attached to star in Glimmer so far is Canadian actor and Resident Evil: Afterlife heavy Shawn Roberts. Here’s hoping Bessudo remembers to give Lake Dead starlet Kelsey Wedeen a call as he fills out his cast.

We’ll keep ya posted on additional casting and release info as it comes.

There’s a good chance that the new ABC series “Revenge” doesn’t fall into what we normally cover on Clatto, but it does deal with malicious payback—a theme we relate to because we really fucking hate everybody (Except you. You guys are special, and not in a short bus way).

“Everwood” and “Brothers & Sisters” actress Emily VanCamp stars in the series as a young woman out to bring down the wealthy Hamptons set that destroyed her father. Costar Madeleine Stowe, the sexy old-school star of such genre favs as Unlawful Entry, Blink, and 12 Monkeys, spoke about the show’s appeal at the TCA (Television Critics Association).

She later elaborated to Deadline:

We all know that we’re heading toward very interesting times. I don’t know where our country is going to be. But I think the idea of being able to observe these over privileged people who have everything at their fingertips and at their beck and call given a comeuppance might be sort of a vicarious thrill for the audience.

I think everyone’s feeling their lives starting to slip. So to be able to turn on the tube for one hour and see this sort of escapist fantasy that has a really dark heart I think could be satisfying…There’s almost an Upstairs Downstairs quality to what we’re doing on this show.

Stowe plays primary antagonist on the show.

“Revenge” will premiere on ABC on Sept. 21. The show will air Wednesday nights at 10.

British fashion model Liberty Ross will play Snow White’s mother in Universal Pictures’ Snow White and the Huntsman. She joins a cast that includes Kristen Stewart as the fairest of them all, Chris Hemsworth as the Huntsman, Charlize Theron as the Queen, Sam Claflin as the Prince, and Noah Huntley as Snow White’s father.

Snow White and the Huntsman is a dark re-imagining of the classic fairy tale that will find Snow White picking up sword and shield to take back whats hers. The film is directed by Rupert Sanders and described by producer Joe Roth as being a “tough, rough male and female action movie.” No official word yet on whether it will suck as many donkey balls as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

Ross is a successful fashion model who has appeared on numerous glamor magazine covers and at one point served as the face of Burberry (2002 spring ad campaign) and Dior Addict Parfum (2004). I, personally, know her from her 2003 Jimmy Choo campaign (What? I don’t wear the shoes. I just use them to … never mind; it’s none of your business).

A red-band trailer for Fox Home Entertainment’s gruesome slasher Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings has hit the web. The prequel stars Terra Vnesa (“Degrassi: The Next Generation’s”), Jennifer Pudavick (Wishmaster 4), Tenika Davis (Jumping the Broom) and 2009’s Miss CHIN International Bikini pageant winner Kaitlyn Wong (pictured above).

The footage kicks off with some kinky and very nude sex action, including a girl-on-girl romp between Davis and the insanely hot Wong, but soon morphs into a collage of carnage teasing some of the flick’s most brutal and sick kills, suggesting the film could be an emotional roller coaster for your penis. Don’t say I didn’t warn y’all.

Wrong Turn 4: Bloody Beginnings arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on Oct. 25.

Peep it:

Photo via Model Mayhem.

Posted above is the first official image released by Warner Bros. of actress Anne Hathaway as Catwoman in director Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises. From the looks of it, Nolan has taken the traditionally sexy character and given her eye cancer or something … you know, for realism.

The shot, which has Hathaway mounted on the Bat-pod while sporting your Nana’s solar shields, doesn’t show the 28-year-old starlet’s body off, but you can get an idea of what she’ll look like in the catsuit from the shots of her stunt-double (pictured below).

Just don’t tell your penis it isn’t her. You know how sad it got when it found out that Diora Baird used prosthetic boobies for her topless scene in Night of the Demons.

The Dark Knight Rises on July 20, 2012.

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