FEARnet spotlights Sam Raimi
The video on demand horror network FEARnet is offering a five-film showcase of Sam Raimi horror selections, starting with the classic “Evil Dead 2.” Check back each day with FEARnet for a new release.
Want more Sam Raimi, including some “Spider-Man 4″ news?
Raimi hints in a FEARnet video that Morbius the vampire could be a possible villain for “Spider-Man 4″ in this video.
“The best villains, they have some positive qualities,” Raimi says.
In another video, Raimi discusses coming back to horror for “Drag Me to Hell.”
To see a preview clip for “Drag Me to Hell,” click here.
“Vampire Killers” stakes out World Wide Web
Doug Hutchison’s web series “Vampire Killers” features a group of sexy vampires and those who hunt them. An edited version of episode 2 is embedded above from YouTube. To see the complete series, visit www.vampirekillers.tv. See my interview with Doug Hutchison, who currently stars as Horace Goodspeed in “Lost” and recently played Looney Bin Jim in “Punisher War Zone,” in Friday’s The Oklahoman or online at NewsOK.com.
– Matt Price
NecroVisioN preview, site launch
Developer 1C has launched a site for the upcoming PC game “NecroVisioN” at www.necrovision-game.com. I played a preview of this game at last year’s 1C press preview event, and now seems a good time to share my impressions:
NecroVisioN is a World War I shooter that has horror and fantasy elements. As the game begins, the gamer takes on the role of an American soldier battling Germans.
Soon, though, the game takes a supernatural turn. A war between vampires and demons is spilling to the surface, and your character must fight to save humanity.
The game was visually impressive and action-packed in the preview I played. The design is suitably scary, and the effects were well-done. A nice twist in gameplay allows the gamer to play with a weapon in each hand, if the weapon can be wielded one-handed.
Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft, the game melds horror and military adventure. Look for more on NecroVisioN as the release nears.
See the full press release about the new site after the break.
– Matt Price
DVD review: The Substitute
This isn’t the 1996 Tom Berenger film, but instead a Danish import from 2007 directed by Ole Bornedal. “The Substitute” is part of the “Ghost House Underground” series of horror films selected for DVD release by Rob Tapert and Sam Raimi, the producer and director, respectively, of the “Evil Dead” films.
In “The Substitute,” an alien, puzzled by the concept of love, lands on Earth, mimics human form, and becomes a substitute teacher for a group of sixth-graders. She’s horrifically mean to them, and can read their minds. However, when the kids point this out to their parents, the kids are told they are being overly imaginative.
This is the kind of film that could have been made in the U.S. in the 1980s: A non-R rated horror film, like “The Goonies” or “The Monster Squad” that is aimed at the pre-teen audience.
Paprika Steen is suitably menacing as Ulla, the substitute. Jonas Wandschneider plays Carl, the student at the center of the film, already reeling from his mother’s death in a car accident prior to the substitute’s arrival.
“The Substitute” is clever, funny horror that’s almost entirely gore-free. There are some similarities to Robert Rodriguez’s “The Faculty,” but “The Substitute” is a better film.
Producer shares scary films
Producer Rob Tapert knows his scary movies.
He and director Sam Raimi got started together, making the “Evil Dead” films starring Bruce Campbell.
Tapert is currently working to line up films for the “Ghost House” line with Raimi. Eight branded horror movies are out now in the “Ghost House Underground” set: “Dance of the Dead,” “No Man’s Land: The Rise of the Reeker,” “The Substitute,” “Dark Floors,” “Trackman,” “Room 205,” “Last House in the Woods” and “Brotherhood of Blood.”
Tapert recently talked to The Oklahoman about the scariest movies he’d ever seen. On Halloween, if you’re looking for a last-minute rental to scare the pants off of you, here’s three recommended by a master.
The Exorcist (1973)
Two priests attempt to exorcise a demon from a 12-year-old girl. The film was directed by William Friedkin (“The French Connection”) based on the novel by William Peter Blatty.
“I saw ‘The Exorcist’ at the Woods Theater in Detroit, Michigan,” Tapert said. “I had read the book. It was the first time in my life I ever thought, this would make a great movie – and I was a kid, too. And it exceeded my expectations even then, as it was far scarier than the book.”
Halloween (1978)
Michael Myers escapes from an institution and goes on a Halloween killing spree. This film was the debut of Jamie Lee Curtis. Donald Pleasence plays a psychiatrist on the trail of the killer in this film by co-writer and director John Carpenter.
“I saw ‘Halloween’ in a packed house and in an empty house,” Tapert said. “When I saw it in a packed house, that was an experience I had never imagined before. That was a visceral experience.”
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)
Tobe Hooper’s tale of five friends terrorized by a killer with a chainsaw became the highest grossing independent film of all time. It was based, very loosely, on the crimes of serial killer Ed Gein.
“The first Texas Chainsaw, I saw it at midnight in college, and that was horrifying, that was really scary at the time.”
– Matthew Price
Assistant Features Editor
From Friday’s The Oklahoman
Q&A: Toby Wilkins
Here’s a few more questions with Toby Wilkins, director of “Splinter,” beyond what we could fit in the newspaper.
Matt Price: Has the reaction to Splinter been what you were expecting?
Toby Wilkins: We screened it twice now, for an audience. At Screamfest was the first time I had seen it with an audience, and I was blown away by the reaction. It was a really great mix. Screamfest being a horror festival has this hardcore horror audience who are there to watch and love horror movies. And then the other half of the audience were people I’d invited, people from the industry and friends of mine who don’t necessarily watch horror movies all the time.
And it was a great blend of audience to see it for the first time with, horror fans cheering at all the right gory moments and the stuff that they love, and the less experienced horror audience screaming at all the right moments and laughing at all the right jokes. It was a really great experience, I can’t imagine a better audience to have seen it for the first time with.
MP: What can Oklahoma City fans who attend your screening expect?
TW: I’d guess there’d be an introduction and a Q&A afterwards. I would imagine or hope some of the local crew and cast will be able to attend. But basically they’re in for a roller coaster ride of a horror movie!
MP: And you’re also distributing “Splinter” in kind of a new way.
TW: The way theatrical distribution is going, with a third more independent films launching each year, something like 600 movies per year, the number of theaters you can actually get a movie into is becoming greatly reduced. And there’s a huge audience for horror movies and especially independent horror movies, people are really excited to see them. So it’s a great, cutting-edge type of distribution that Magnet have been able to secure for “Splinter.” You can actually see the movie right now, before it releases in theaters on Halloween, if you don’t live in one of the four cities, New York, Los Angeles, Austin or Oklahoma City, where the movie is being released, you can watch it through your cable’s on-demand service, for basically the price of a movie ticket.
I think independent film in general needs to find a more efficient way of reaching an audience. Because even if you do what in independent film is considered a very wide release of 100 screens, that still cuts out a huge section of an audience who may be responsive to a film. With the internet as a distribution method, things like iTunes rentals and downloads, and video on demand, which is obviously becoming very popular, there are great opportunities to release movies to a much wider audience.
Splinter: If you go
What: “Splinter” screening
Where: Oklahoma City Museum of Art’s Noble Theater, 415 Couch Drive
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday with director Toby Wilkins; additional screenings at 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Price: Tickets are $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and students and $5 for museum members
Information: 278-8237 or www.okcmoa.com/film
“Splinter” gets Oklahoma City premiere
There’s a mysterious creature roaming through the woods of Oklahoma – but that’s actually good news for the state.
A combination of elements conducive to the script and incentives from the Oklahoma Film Commission drew director Toby Wilkins to Oklahoma to shoot “Splinter.” The horror film gets an Oklahoma City premiere Thursday at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
The state is “one of the few places you can still find isolated, rural pockets of civilization, like gas stations in the middle of forests, which is a key element of the script,” Wilkins said in a phone interview. “And I don’t want to spoil the movie, but for various reasons having very warm summer nights played a part in how the script worked.”
The key roles in “Splinter” are filled by Shea Whigham (“Wristcutters: A Love Story”), Jill Wagner and Paulo Constanzo. Whigham was the first aboard, Wilkins said, as escaped convict Dennis Farrell.
“With the 15 or more movies that he’s done, (he brought) an enormous amount of weight to the casting process.”
Wilkins hadn’t been familiar with Wagner’s genre background in “Blade: The Series,” but he said once he learned of it, it was a nice bonus. She and Constanzo play a couple who take to the woods for an amorous anniversary.
Wagner provided “a strong, powerful female lead who is a take-charge and confident character at the beginning of the movie, but still has access to the vulnerability that’s needed for the scares in a horror movie to work,” he said.
And Costanzo, best-known for his role on the “Friends” spin-off “Joey,” was interested in attacking something in another genre.
“The nervous energy that Paulo brings to the character of Seth is really what I was looking for from the beginning,” Wilkins said.
Wilkins said he was pleased with the talent of the local crew, which included many Oklahomans. And it’s not only Wilkins who is pleased with the finished work. The film won six awards this month at the eighth annual Screamfest horror movie festival in Hollywood.
“It’s a record-breaking sweep,” Wilkins said. “I’m so blown away that the crew involved in putting the movie together and creating it and making it what it is are getting the recognition they deserve.”
From Wednesday’s The Oklahoman
By Matthew Price
“Splinter” infects viewers with horror
In Toby Wilkins’ “Splinter,” a couple who just wants to spend their anniversary camping come upon an unexplained terror from the woods. Jill Wagner (“Blade: The Series”) plays Polly, a capable woman taking her somewhat nerdy boyfriend Seth (Paulo Constanzo, “Joey”) out for an sexy outdoor rendezvous on their anniversary. But after a tent mishap, the two decide to head for a motel. Along the way, they stop to pick up a woman (Rachel Kerbs). But it turns out she and her just-released-from-prison boyfriend (played by Shea Wigham, “Tigerland”) want to hijack their SUV, with them still in it.
After the truck hits a raccoon – infected by a strange plague – the foursome are stuck in a rural Oklahoma gas station. And that’s where the “splinter” plague intends to pick them off.
While plot-wise, it’s not that different from many a horror movie, this movie shines in the acting and execution. This movie is absolutely trying to scare you – and despite some gory scenes, it’s not doing it with only gore. There’s psychological suspense and creeping dread. While monster fans might be disappointed that, for much of the film, there are only glimpses and quick looks at the monster, it’s an effective way of sharing with the audience the uncertainty and fear of the characters.
- Matthew Price
From Wednesday’s The Oklahoman
Wizard World Texas to host Fear Fest
Press release:
Congers, NY (September 26, 2008) – Wizard World Texas just got even bigger with the announcement today that the pop culture extravaganza will host the hottest horror show in Texas, Texas Fear Fest, as part of the festivities November 7-9 at the Arlington Convention Center.
On top of the impressive list of comic book talent already attending at this year’s Wizard World Texas convention, Corey Feldman (“The Lost Boys,” “Friday the 13th 4” & “5”), Danny Trejo (“From Dusk Till Dawn,” “Rob Zombie’s Halloween”) and cast members from “Friday the 13th: A New Beginning,” “Monster Squad” and “Halloween 4” will be on hand to meet and greet their fans. In addition to the guests, there will be special events, including screenings of “Friday the 13th: A New Beginning” and “Monster Squad” and Fear Jam, a concert featuring Michale Graves, formerly of The Misfits, FirstJason, and The Horrifics with special guest Eerie Von of Danzig and Samhain.
“Wizard is thrilled to be able to play host to such a popular event and work with Texas FearFest partners John Gray and Sean Clark,” said Wizard Senior VP/Operations Joe Yanarella. “This amazing opportunity allows us to bring in more guests and more excitement and grow our show larger than ever before.”
“This really is a merger of powerhouses,” said Fear Fest’s John Gray. “What a fantastic opportunity for the fans of Fear Fest and Wizard! It also lets me combine my two great loves—horror and comics, so I am personally ecstatic!”
“Being able to join forces with an established and well respected company like Wizard World is truly a blessing for us,” added Sean Clark.
For complete information on guests, events and tickets, visit txfearfest.com. Texas FearFest is sponsored by pitofhorror.com, dreadcentral.com and conventionallstars.com.
Wizard World, the largest family-friendly comics and pop culture convention in the United States, returns to Texas November 7-9 at the Arlington Convention Center.
