Scream queen Danielle Harris is set to make her directorial debut with screenwriter Alyssa Lobit’s (The Things We Carry) new ’80’s inspired horror-comedy Among Friends. The film follows a group of friends gathered together for a dinner party that goes terribly wrong.

According to Dread Central, which broke the news, Harris and Lobit will star alongside Jennifer Blanc Biehn (The Victim), Brianne Davis (ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2), Dana Daurey (Lucky), Tanya Newbould (Skyline), Chris Backus (Elevator), AJ Bowen (Hatchet 2), Chris Meyer and Kamala Jones.

Harris, who got her start in horror at the age of 11 in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, has starred in Rob Zombie’s Halloween 1 & 2, supernatural thriller The Black Waters of Echo Pond, Adam Green’s Hatchet 2, indie-slasher Blood Night: the Legend of Molly Hatchet, and Urban Legend.

The prolific 34-year-old starlet will also be seen in ChromeSkull: Laid to Rest 2, Michael Biehn’s The Victim, Jim Mickle’s vampire-roadtrip Stake Land, Julian Richard’s serial-killer drama Shiver, and Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3-D, an animated update of the George Romero classic.

Danielle Harris is part of Clatto’s 20 Hottest Women Working in Horror/ Sci-fi Today.

Sci-fi queen Summer Glau (“Firefly”) stars as a live-action role player in director Joe Lynch’s (Wrong Turn 2) upcoming horror-comedy Knights of Badassdom. Photos of the 29-year-old stunner in costume—with costars Ryan Kwanten (“True Blood”) and Steve Zahn (Perfect Getaway)—have the web, courtesy of EW.

Knights of Badassdom centers on a group of role playing geeks who unwittingly conjure up a powerful succubus that sets her eyes on their newest member. The film also stars Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones”), Danny Pudi (”Community”), and Margarita Levieva (Adventureland) as the sexy demon.

Glau is part of Clatto’s Top 20 Hottest Women Working in Horror/Sci-fi Today.

Peep some pics:

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Looks like the upcoming sixth season of Showtime’s “Dexter” is going back to basics. According to executive producer Sara Colleton, “Dexter” will pick up a year after the events from season five and find our bloodthirsty hero over the loss of murdered wife Rita (Julie Benz) and vigilante girlfriend Lumen (Julia Stiles).

Colleton tells TV Guide:

We wanted to jump ahead a year and find that Dexter has gotten his groove back. He’s gotten over Rita and Lumen… There are things in life that Dexter’s dealing with and one of them is that Harrison is now 2 years old and he has to go to school.

There are things that he has to start thinking about with his son, and he’s become keenly aware of what it is that he doesn’t want to pass on to Harrison, namely his Dark Passenger. But Dexter has no idea what it is that he does want to pass on.

“Dexter” returns in the fall. New faces include Edward James Olmos (“Battlestar Galactica”), Colin Hanks (Lucky), MC-turned-Actor Mos Def, Mariana Klaveno (“True Blood”), Molly Parker (The Wicker Man), Josh Cooke (Quarantine 2: Terminal), Billy Brown (Cloverfield), Aimee Garcia (”Trauma”)  and Brea Grant (”Heroes”).

Universal Pictures has released the first official trailer for their prequel to John Carpenter’s 1982 sci-fi classic The Thing (both films share the same title). Mary Elizabeth Winstead stars as Kate Lloyd, a paleontologist assisting a team of Norwegian scientists who have found an alien ship in Antarctica.

The film is directed by Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. and costars Joel Edgerton (Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones), Eric Christian Olsen (“Community”), and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (“LOST”), Kim Bubbs (Flesh Offering) and Ulrich Thomsen (Season of the Witch).

Mary Elizabeth Winstead made Clatto’s list of The 20 Hottest Women Working in Horror/Sci-fi Today.

The Thing arrives in theaters on Oct. 14.

The Emmy’s may have snubbed her this morning, but Paz de la Huerta delivered some of the best nude acting on television I have ever seen as Lucy Danziger (Nucky’s mistress) on HBO’s Prohibition-set drama “Boardwalk Empire.”

Hopefully, the oversight won’t keep de la Huerta from remaining fully committed to her craft. Otherwise, she may turn her gorgeous backside on such kink-fueled projects as Lionsgate’s upcoming masterpiece Nurse 3-D.

The 26-year-old stunner will play Abby Russell in the film, a beautiful and dedicated nurse who seduces and punishes men she deems as being wicked. Pictured above is our first look at de la Huerta in character. Though I prefer my nudity plain, the starlet’s blood soaked body still manages to catch my interest.

Nurse 3-D is set to shoot on Sept. 6 in Toronto. Douglas Aarniokoski (The Day) is directing.

Shortly after “working” with porn star Sasha Grey on his 2009 hooker-drama The Girlfriend Experience, Academy Award winning director Steven Soderbergh announced plans to produce a viral outbreak movie. Coincidence? Only Soderbergh’s doc could knows for sure.

Whatever the inspiration, Contagion looks absolutely terrifying:

Wait. Gwyneth Paltrow dies a sick and agonizing death? I don’t get it. Is this suppose to be a scary drama or the feel-good movie of the year?

Contagion follows the outbreak of a deadly airborne virus and the global aftermath that ensues. The all-star cast includes Paltrow, Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Bryan Cranston, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Laurence Fishburne, Jennifer Ehle, and John Hawkes.

The film breaks out in theaters on Sept. 9.

Groovy news from Ghost House Pictures: Evil Dead producers Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and Bruce Campbell are moving forward with a remake of their beloved 1981 classic. Attached to direct is Fede Alverez, an aspiring Uruguayan filmmaker who caught Raimi’s attention with an ambitious four-minute-plus sci-fi short entitled Panic Attack.

Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody (Juno, Jennifer’s Body) is also on-board to punch up Alverez and writing partner Rodo Sayagues’ new script. She tweets:

Fede Alvarez wrote a brilliant script. My job is easy. Have no fear. (Wait, do have fear.)

The Evil Dead is near-and-dear to Clatto’s shriveled black heart. While I was rooting for a third sequel that would bring Campbell back as an aged Ash, I do find hope in Cody’s involvement with the project. Say what you will about Jennifer’s Body, but her dialogue was tight—as is her script for Jason Reitman’s upcoming comedy Young Adult.

Ghost House Pictures is fast tracking the Evil Dead remake with plans to reboot the franchise.

Moonstone Entertainment has released a trailer for it’s upcoming werewolf frightener The Howling: Reborn, a reboot of Joe Dante’s 1981 cult classic The Howling. The film stars Nickelodeon and ABC Family player Lindsey Shaw (“Pretty Little Liars”), the much hotter Ivana Milicevic (pictured above), and Landon Liboiron (“Terra Nova”) as the lycan.

The Howling: Reborn is written and directed by Joe Nimziki. Anchor Bay Films is handling distribution. Peep the rebirth:

British actress Tehmina Sunny plays an attractive TV news reporter trapped with a group of volatile New Yorkers in director Stig Svendsen’s Elevator. While sharing a confined space with folks from NY is truly a horrific premise, things are actually made worse when it’s revealed that one of the nine on-board is carrying a bomb.

Sunny has guest starred on a number of TV shows including NBC’s “Heroes” and Showtime’s “Californication.” She also portrayed an underground gang member in the dystopian sci-fi drama Children of Men.

Elevator costars Anita Briem (Journey to the Center of the Earth), John Getz (Zodiac), Shirley Knight (“Desperate Housewives”), Devin Ratray (Surrogates), Michael Mercurio (Summer of Sam) and Joey Slotnick (Hollow Man).

Peep it:

“True Blood” player Ryan Kwanten joins the growing league of masked bumbling movie crime fighters in Aussie actor Leon Ford’s directorial debut Griff the Invisible. Like Kick Ass, Defender, and Super before it, Griff tells the tale of a social misfit turned superhero.

The Screen Australia/Green Park Pictures film costars Maeve Dermody (Black Water), Patrick Brammall (“Canal Road”), Toby Schmitz (“The Pacific”), and Heather Mitchell (Rogue).

Peep it:

The film’s synopsis reads:

By day Griff (Kwanten) is an everyday office worker, in an everyday town. He lives a secluded life, bullied by co-workers (Schmitz) – his protective brother his only friend. By night Griff assumes his other identity, roaming the dark streets protecting the innocent and the vulnerable from the dangers that lurk in the shadows – he is the hero, GRIFF THE INVISIBLE.

Increasingly concerned by Griff’s eccentric behaviour, his brother (Brammall) attempts to draw him back into the ‘real world’. In doing so he introduces Griff to Melody (Dermody) an equally eccentric and charming girl.

Fascinated by Griff’s idiosyncrasies, which are equal only to her own, Melody begins to fall for Griff. As Griff is forced to face up to realities of a mundane world, it is up to Melody to rescue GRIFF THE INVISIBLE for the sake of herself, Griff and their love for each other.

Kwanten, best known for playing Sookie Stackhouse’s brother Jason on the HBO vampire soap “True Blood,” will next join Summer Glau on the big screen in director Joe Lynch’s horror-comedy Knights of Badassdom.

Griff the Invisible opens in selected theaters on Aug. 19.