Behind his sweet Hobbit facade, Elijah Wood may just be a nasty little gremlin. The affable 4-foot star (just a guess) of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and upcoming Hobbit films has officially signed on to star as sadistic serial killer Frank Zito in the Alexandre Aja-produced remake of the 1980 slasher Maniac.
Directed by Franck Khalfoun (P2), the redo finds antique mannequin salesman and deranged murderer Frank Zito (Wood) seeking women online to kill and scalp as revenge against his abusive mother whom he’s still haunted by in disturbing hallucinations.
The role is Wood’s second as a vicious serial killer. He played Kevin, an eerily quick-moving cannibalistic killer, in Robert Rodriguez’s Sin City (pictured above). BD, who first broke this story, also reports that French actress Nora Arnezeder (Safe House) will costar as journalist Anna D’Antoni, Frank’s love interest.
Gotta Love Them Old Romantic Comedies!
William Lustig’s original Maniac got feminist panties in a bunch when it was first released in 1980. Movie critics, including Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, were disturbed by the film’s violence against women and called for its boycott at theaters.
To see a trailer and/or pick up a copy of Blue Underground’s 30th Anniversary Edition of Maniac on DVD and Blu-ray, go here.
Radha Mitchell has said I do to playing Nicolas Cage’s wife in writer/director Scott Walker’s feature film debut Frozen Ground, the true story of Robert Hansen, an Anchorage-based serial killer who murdered 24 women over a 12 year span by hunting them down like game in the Alaskan wilderness.
Mitchell joins a cast that includes John Cusack as Hansen, Cage as the detective who brings him to justice, and Vanessa Hudgens as the teen prostitute who managed to escape from Hansen after being abducted, raped, and sexually assaulted with a hammer.
Mitchell, who made her genre debut in the 2000 Vin Diesel sci-fi actioner Pitch Black, and is best known for 2006’s Silent Hill, has starred in Richard Franklin’s Visitors, Greg Mclean’s Rogue, the Bruce Willis toplined Surrogates, and last year’s stellar remake of George Romero’s The Crazies.
The sexy Australian stunner will next be seen in 4th Kind director Olatunde Osunsanmi’s new found-footage thriller Evidence, Julie Delpy’s The Countess—an arthouse take on the Erzsebet Bathory story—and the eagerly anticipated sequel Silent Hill: Revelation.
Writer/director George Gallo (Middle Men) has assembled an impressive cast of actors for his new psych-thriller Columbus Circle. Selma Blair stars as Abagail Clayton, an agoraphobic young heiress tormented by the mysterious couple (Amy Smart, Jason Lee) living next door to her New York penthouse apartment.
The Lightning Entertainment film also stars Kevin Pollak as the building’s concierge, Beau Bridges as Dr. Raymond Fontaine (Abagail’s sole confidant) and Giovanni Ribisi as Frank Giardello the homicide detective investigating the death of an elderly neighbor.
Columbus Circle will hold its premiere at this week’s American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA. Posted above is the first image from the film, which doesn’t really hint at any turmoil between Blair and Smart’s characters, but does give hope for a weepy lesbian sex scene.
Australian model-turned-actress Nicky Whelan will cause quite a bit of turbulence in moviegoers’ pants next summer when she stars in Japanese director Takashi Shimizu’s (The Grudge) supernatural in-flight frightener 7500.
The CBS Films production—set to shoot later this month—follows a group of passengers terrorized by a supernatural force after the mysterious death of a passenger on Vista Pacific Flight 7500. Whelan will play a bitchy newlywed with control issues.
Joining the gorgeous 30-year-old sheila are fellow babes Amy Smart (Mirrors), Leslie Bibb (Midnight Meat Train), Scout Taylor-Compton (Halloween), and Ryan Kwanten (“True Blood”). 7500 is slated for release on Aug. 31, 2012.
Australian for "See My Movie"
Whelan has appeared in Rob Zombie’s Halloween II, starred in the ninth and final season of “Scrubs,” and played Jason Sudeikis’ spectacularly topless fuck-fantasy in the criminally underrated Farrelly brothers’ comedy Hall Pass.
Television starlet Elisabeth Rohm is set to join Yancy Butler (“Witchblade”) and Robert Englund (Nightmare On Elm Street) in the Syfy original feature Lake Placid: The Final Chapter. According to EW, the film is currently shooting in Bulgaria and will mark the end of the killer-croc franchise first introduced in 1999 by screenwriter David E. Kelly and director Steve Miner.
Directed by Don Michael Paul (Half Past Dead), the sequel finds Rohm battling giant crocs as Black Lake’s newest sheriff. Englund costars as poacher Jim Bickerman (a member of the film series’ sinister Bickerman clan), while Butler reprises her role as sassy croc-hunter Reba. Syfy will air Lake Placid: The Final Chapter in 2012.
“Heroes” fans will recognize Rohm as CIA agent Lauren Gilmore from season four of the now defunct NBC series. The 38-year-old German-born stunner also starred as LAPD detective Kate Lockley on the popular Joss Whedon series “Angel.” Up next for Rohm is Antonio Negret’s road trip frightener Transit with Diora Baird (Night of the Demons) and Jim Caviezel (“Person of Interest”)
In the confined-space thriller 247°F, a group of friends end up getting trapped inside a sauna, unable to stop its rising temperature. While this premise may seem a bit silly, its genius soon becomes evident when stars Scout Taylor-Compton (Halloween) and Christine Ulloa (“Charmed”) strip down to their tiny bikinis and spend the duration of the film sweating and screaming.
Well played, unknown filmmakers Bega Jguburia and Levan Bakhia. Well played.
247°F was shot in Georgia and is being shopped at this week’s American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA. The film’s vagina-less costars (yawn) include Travis Van Winkle (Friday the 13), Michael Copon (The Scorpion King: Rise of a Warrior), and Tyler Mane (X-Men).
Summit Entertainment has revealed the first promo image for its upcoming tween zombie romancer Warm Bodies. The shot features Teresa Palmer (I Am Numer Four) as human protagonist Julie embracing Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class) as her undead boyfriend R.
You can tell Hoult is a zombie because the T-shirt underneath his American Rag hoodie is torn at the collar. I know … not exactly “The Walking Dead.” But, imagine the despair you’d feel living in a zombie apocalypse where the dead have returned to cut themselves and swoon over high school girls who listen to Paramore.
Based on Isaac Marion’s debut novel, Warm Bodies centers on the unlikely love affair between a zombie and the girlfriend of one of his victims. The film, written and directed by Jonathan Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane), costars John Malkovich (Jonah Hex), Dave Franco (“Scrubs”), Rob Corddry (Hot Tub Time Machine), Lizzy Caplan (Cloverfield) and model-turned-actress Analeigh Tipton (“Hung”).
If I banged my penis against my keyboard repeatedly, Strippers vs. Werewolves is the movie it would write. Currently being shopped at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA, the U.K. production follows a pack of vengeful lycans as they hunt down the lapdancers responsible for killing one of their kin.
Directed and produced by genius Jonathan Glendening (13 HRS), the outrageous frightener stars horror icon Robert Englund and a bevy of half-naked babes including Barbara Nedeljekova (Hostel), Sarah Douglas (Return of the Living Dead 3), Ali Bastian (“Hollyoaks”), Charlie Bond (pictured above) and top-heavy British model Lucy Pinder in her feature film debut.
Radha Mitchell and Stephen Moyer are toplining director Olatunde Osunsanmi’s (The 4th Kind) Evidence, a found-footage frightener that follows two police detectives (Mitchell, Moyer) as they attempt to put together a portrait of a mass murderer by utilizing his victims’ camcorders, flip cams, and smart-phones.
Set in desert outside of Los Angeles, Evidence is written by newcomer John Swetnam and costars Torrey Devitto (“Pretty Little Liars”), Harry Lennix (“Dollhouse”), Dale Dickey (Super 8), Caitlin Stasey (Tomorrow, When the War Began) and Nolan Gerard Funk (Deadgirl).
Mitchell, who starred in last year’s remake of George Romero’s The Crazies, is best known for her portrayal of doomed milf Rose Da Silva in TriStar’s big-screen adaptation of Konami’ s popular horror game Silent Hill. She will next be seen in its sequel Silent Hill: Revelation and in the Erzsebet Bathory bio-pic The Countess.
I can't believe I'm on Clatto!
Moyer, who is coming off season four of HBO’s vampire soap “True Blood,” recently wrapped on director Darren Lynn Bousman’s The Barrens, an ode to the Jersey Devil legend. His additional fright creds include the apocalyptic actioner Priest, the supernatural thriller The Caller and the home invasion flicks Restraintand Open House.
Evidence is being shopped this week at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, CA.
Halloween may be over, but try telling that to horror legend William Castle. The man won’t even acknowledge the fact that he’s been dead for over 30 years. As those who knew him best will say, Castle does what Castle likes … and what Castle likes most is terrifying the pants off people.
That’s why the infamous producer of Rosemary’s Baby has released “House on Haunted Hill: A William Castle Annotated Screamplay,” a 248-page book featuring the working script from his 1959 classic horror show House on Haunted Hill, complete with his very own hand-written notes and original formatting. An introduction from renowned producer/director Joe Dante (The Howling, Gremlins) is also included.
“House on Haunted Hill: A William Castle Annotated Screamplay” is now available at Amazon and selected retailers (visit the William Castle website for more info). But, those living in Los Angeles can pick up a copy autographed by Castle’s daughter Terry at Larry Edmunds Bookshop on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7:30pm.
Those attending the event will be treated to trailers, clips and secret surprises … who knows, maybe, even a William Castle ghost sighting.
Castle returned from the dead last May during the 33rd anniversary of his death and has since published the young-adult novel “From the Grave: The Prayer” and set up Twitter and Facebook accounts to stay in touch with fans.
