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.
Sony Screen Gems has released a second trailer for producer Len Wiseman’s Underworld: Awakening, the fourth installment in the popular vampires-vs-werewolves franchise that sees the return of original star Kate Beckinsale as death-dealer Selene.
This time out we get a glimpse at Selene’s weepy pain-in-the-ass daughter, played by India Eisley (“The Secret Life of the American Teenager”), discover that humans have declared war on both vampires and lycans, and are reminded why we still watch this series at the 1:56 mark.
Underworld: Awakening is directed by Swedish filmmakers Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein (Shelter) from a script by John Hlavin (”The Shield”). It arrives in theaters on Jan. 20, 2012.
“Chuck” recurring Mekenna Melvin (pictured center) stars in writer/director Joe Robert Cole’s feature film debut Amber Lake, a murder mystery co-written by Melvin and costars Polly Cole (Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights) and Natalie Smyka (Across the Hall).
Peep it:
The synopsis reads:
Three half-sisters, after being invited to their father’s lake house to meet him and each other for the first time, are each questioned by a local sheriff to explain the events that took place leading up to the discovery of their father floating dead in the lake.
Using a Rashomon effect, each sister gives a slightly different account of the events, with each version pointing a finger at a different sister, while the sheriff must sort through the details to find out what really happened. What he discovers in the end is not what he expected.
If, like me, you thought Rashomon was a Jewish holiday, it’s not. The Rashomon effect refers to how different people remember shared occurrences with a varying degree of details. The term’s origin goes back to renowned Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 crime film Rashomon.
Melvin is best known for her work on the NBC’s comedic spy series “Chuck,” now on its fifth and last season. She plays Alexandra McHugh, daughter to super-spy Alex Coburn/John Casey (Adam Baldwin) and love interest to Chuck’s (Zachary Levi) BFF Morgan Grimes (Joshua Gomez).
British actress Lucy Griffiths’ starring role on The CW’s now abandoned teen-zombie apocalypse series “The Awakening” may be DOA, but the 25-year-old starlet is set to breathe new life into the fifth season of HBO’s hit vampire soap “True Blood.”
According to TVLine, Griffiths will play Eric Northman’s (Alexander Skarsgard) sister Nora, a centuries old vampire turned by Godric (Allan Hyde) and now working as a double agent within the Vampire Authority. She’s described as an intelligent and intimidating force with a penchant for lying.
Griffiths is best known for her portrayal of doomed Lady Marion of Leaford on the BBC program “Robin Hood.” Earlier this year, she and “Royal Pains” star Meredith Hagner were cast to play sisters on The CW’s “The Awakening,” a coming-of-age drama set against a zombie apocalypse backdrop that wasn’t picked up to series.
American World Pictures has released a trailer for director Mark Atkins’ upcoming Jaws-meets-Tremors creature feature Sand Sharks … and I, for one, am hooked. Written by producer Cameron Larson, the story finds prehistoric tiger sharks attacking spring breakers from beneath the sand.
The film stars Brooke Hogan as shark scientist Dr. Sandy Powers, Vanessa Lee Evigan (Briana Evigan’s sister) as Deputy Sheriff Brenda Young, “7th Heaven” hottie Julie Berman as a bikini-clad party reveler and gorgeous genre queen Gina Holden and Corin Nemec as Sandman Festival promoters.
Leslie Bibb, star of the upcoming ABC midseason replacement series “Good Christian Belles,” is ready for take-off in Japanese director Takashi Shimizu’s (The Grudge) in-flight frightener 7500. The 37-year-old stunner joins Amy Smart and Ryan Kwanten in the CBS Films production, set to shoot later this month.
The film follows a group of passengers terrorized by a supernatural force after the mysterious death of a passenger on Vista Pacific Flight 7500. Bibb will play a flight attendant with a secret, while Smart and Kwanten portray a married couple traveling with friends to Japan.
Bibb’s genre creds include Heathers scribe Daniel Waters’ horror-comedy Sex and Death 101, the superb Clive Barker-produced Midnight Meat Train, Michael Dougherty’s beloved Halloween anthology Trick r’ Treat, and Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 1 & 2.
Norwegian actress Ingrid Bolsø Berdal is part of the ensemble cast featured in writer/producer Oren Peli’s (Paranormal Activity) new untitled radioactive ghost town thriller. Joining Berdal are Jonathan Sadowski (Friday the 13th), Jesse McCartney (“Greek”), Nathan Phillips (Wolf Creek), Dimitry Diatchenko (Burning Palms), Olivia Taylor Dudley (Chillerama) and Devin Kelly (“Chicago Code”).
According to Deadline, the film’s plot follows a group of friends stranded in a town long believed to be abandoned after a nuclear disaster (sounds like Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes meets shaky-cam to me). The project is the first to be fully financed by FilmNation and is currently being shot in Eastern Europe with F/X guru-turned-director Brad Parker (Let Me In) at the helm.
Berdal is best known for kicking ass while looking good in the 2006 Norwegian survival frightener Cold Prey. She will next be seen as a deadly witch in Dead Snow director Tommy Wirkola’s Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, a flash forward of the classic fairy tale that finds the siblings hunting down supernatural forces for profit.
So … the wife and I found ourselves down at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles this weekend to partake in their annual Spider Pavilion event. The show, which presents a variety of exotic spiders brought in from around the world, runs from now until Nov. 6.
The deadly species are kept encased in a viewing area, while the harmless—but still very creepy—arachnids are housed in a walk-thru landscaped area, where they spin their webs freely, feed on bugs, and occasionally drop down to scare the curds and whey out of visitors.
Over the Halloween weekend, the Spider Pavilion was held at night. Aided by small complimentary flashlights and buckets of alcohol (consumed prior to the event), Mrs. Muertos and I braved the experience and even took a few photos for your viewing pleasure.
An intriguingly spooky trailer for the Ti West-directed supernatural thrillerThe Innkeepers has hit the web. Shark Night’sSara Paxton stars in the film as one of the last clerks working at the haunted Yankee Pedlar Inn before its scheduled demolition.
Peep it:
The official synopsis reads:
After over one hundred years of service, The Yankee Pedlar Inn is shutting its doors for good. The last remaining employees -Claire and Luke – are determined to uncover proof of what many believe to be one of New England’s most haunted hotels.
As the Inn’s final days draw near, odd guests check in as the pair of minimum wage “ghost hunters” begin to experience strange and alarming events that may ultimately cause them to be mere footnotes in the hotel’s long unexplained history.
The Inn Keepers costars Pat Healy (Rescue Dawn), George Riddle (“The Onion News Network”), and Kelly McGillis (Top Gun). It was shot in Connecticut at the actual Yankee Pedlar Inn, a hotel long believed to be truly haunted. The film arrives on VOD Dec. 30 and will play theaters on Feb. 3.
Paxton, who got her start in a string of family-friendly features, broke out of her good girl image with her starring role in 2009’s brutally violent—and so-much-better-than-the-original—remake of Wes Craven’s The Last House on the Left.
Paxton has since starred in this summer’s fish-&-chicks frightener Shark Night 3-D and will be seen in Indie Entertainment and Sundial Pictures’ truth-or-dare thriller Liars All, producer Jack Heller’s (Homecoming) cabin-in-the-woods set chiller Enter Nowhere, and upstart banner New Artists Alliance’s dead child ghost story Static.
