Tag: Horror

Posted on in Film News

‘Van Helsing’: New Movie Coming From ‘Overlord’ Director Julius Avery and ‘Black Widow’ Screenwriter Eric Pearson – James Wan Producing

At one time, Universal Pictures tried to develop a new film focusing on the famous monster hunter Van Helsing with director Guillermo del Toro and Tom Cruise starring. The character best known as the nemesis of Count Dracula in multiple installments from Hammer Films played by Star Wars actor Peter Cushing. More recently played by Anthony Hopkins in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula from 1992 and Hugh Jackman in the less scary Van Helsing adventure film from 2004.

Back in 2015, Universal then attempted to developed another reboot from screenwriters Jon Spaihts (Dune, Prometheus) and Eric Heisserer (Bloodshot, Arrival, Lights Out). This took place when the studio was assembling their Universal Monsters franchise called Dark Universe, which crumbled after the misstep of The Mummy reboot starring Tom Cruise flopped at the box office.

Deadline has an update on the project that will see James Wan’s production company Atomic Monster getting involved along with Overlord director Julius Avery now attached for the horror reboot. They also mention that a new script was penned by Eric Pearson (Black Widow, Thor: Ragnarok, Godzilla vs Kong, Agent Carter) that will now get rewrites from Avery.

Julius had once been attached to direct a reboot of Flash Gordon for 20th Century before the the merger with Disney led to the project’s demise.

Fellow Australian director Leigh Whannell (Upgrade) was tapped to reboot The Invisible Man with help from Blumhouse Productions and is now working on a new Wolfman movie that will star Ryan Gosling (Blade Runner 2049, Drive). There is a Dracula movie in the works from director Karyn Kusama (Jennifer’s Body, Destroyer) with other more comedic projects in various stages of development.

They had also been trying to reboot both Bride of Frankenstein and Creature From The Black Lagoon.

It’ll be interesting to see if Universal will want to make an R-rated film given the graphic nature of vampires to begin with and making PG-13 movies with vampires tend to be toothless concerning the horror angle being hindered without the use of blood/gore. I’m slightly curious if Avery’s film will be connected to Karyn’s Dracula film.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Resident Evil’: Reboot Horror Film Adds ‘Shazam!’ and ‘Crawl’ Cinematographer Maxime Alexandre

The Ronin has been able to confirm that cinematographer Maxime Alexandre to the production team of the Resident Evil feature film reboot, as filming has been taking place in the Toronto area with the Canadian leg of the shoot expected to finish this month.

Maxime’s credits include The Nun, Shazam!, Crawl, The Hills Have Eyes, High Tension, Silent Hill: Revelations, and the Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Johannes Roberts will be directing and it’s been confirmed that it will be an origin story taking place at Raccoon City in 1998.

Previously announced cast members include Kaya Scodelario (Crawl) as Claire Redfield alongside Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ready Player One) as Jill Valentine, Robbie Amell (Upload) as Chris Redfield, Tom Hopper (The Umbrella Academy) as Albert Wesker, Avan Jogia (Zombieland: Double Tap) as Leon S. Kennedy, Neal McDonough (Yellowstone, Band of Brothers, Captain America: The First Avenger) as William Birkin, Donal Logue, Chad Rook and Lily Gao.

A release date for Resident Evil has yet to be announced.

Posted on in Film News

Alex Garland’s Next Feature Will Be A Low-Budget Horror Movie Set In The UK – Might Begin Shooting Spring/Summer 2021

Writer/director Alex Garland is moving back into feature films as he tells Empire Magazine he abandoned a new series he was developing to focus on a low-budget horror film he plans to begin shooting in spring or summer of next year. Although, we don’t really get any preliminary details or teases concerning the project’s plot.

GARLAND: “I wrote a low-budget horror movie, set in the UK… I don’t know if it’s unrealistic or not. Always at this particular moment, a film always feels unrealistic, but then somehow it works out.”

You might remember that Garland wrote the screenplay for Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later which spawned a sequel titled 28 Weeks Later. Body horror was a huge part of Annihilation and there are plenty of horror/thriller elements in pretty much everything he’s done including his recent series DEVS.

SOURCE: EMPIRE MAGAZINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Scream 5’ Officially Wraps and First Look At Returning Cast

Scream co-creator and screenwriter Kevin Williamson has posted on his Twitter account that they’ve completed filming on Scream 5 including an image of himself with franchise stars Neve Campbell and Courtney Cox.

Scream 5 is going to be a soft-reboot as we’ll see the return of main characters that will usher-in a new generation for the franchise, hopefully, that they’ll be making it a tradition to make a film every couple of years.

New additions to the cast include Jack Quaid, Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Dylan Minnette, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Kyle Gallner, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Marley Shelton, and Mikey Madison. 

Ready or Not’s Matthew Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett are directing from a script penned by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick.

Filming had been taking place in North Carolina and notoriously had multiple positive COVID-19 tests on set without pausing production.

The next installment is set to be released on January 14th, 2022.

SOURCE: KEVIN WILLIAMSON

Posted on in Film News

Jason Blum Optimistic About Marvel Studios Tackling Horror With ‘Blade’ Reboot – “Never Bet Against Marvel”

Another nifty quote from horror guru Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions during his interview with Inverse is his take on Marvel Studios finally tackling horror with their Blade reboot and the Doctor Strange sequel (originally announced as a scary film back at SDCC 2019), asking if Jason believes Marvel can make scary movies.

BLUM: “I’m of two minds. I would never bet against Marvel. They have a relatively good track record — that’s a joke, they have one of the best track records ever, right? I also think it’s a challenge to do horror at big budgets, but if anyone can do it, it’s Marvel.”

Inverse seems to be unaware that the scary/horror side of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness might be getting trimmed potentially due to the Multiverse aspect (likely making this more like an event film), something that was likely part of the reason director Scott Derrickson exited and was replaced with Spider-Man’s Sam Raimi.

However, it’s worth mentioning that Blade would most likely skew more in horror realm since the lead character is a vampire hunter and vampire hybrid himself. I think we’re all still curious how the action and violence will influence the film’s rating, given the original three movies are R-rated and given how the MPAA feels about blood/gore having tame vampires in your Blade film would certainly rub fans the wrong way.

When acquiring 21st Century Fox, former Disney CEO Bob Iger said they were open to the idea of keeping Deadpool R-rated which was seemingly echoed by studio heads Alan Horn and Kevin Feige. Blade is certainly a character that could be an experiment being produced by Marvel Studios then possibly released by 20th Century Studios under a Marvel Max or Marvel Knights banner, as not to confuse parents with the Disney side of the MCU.

It’s worth mentioning that Kevin Feige previously produced Blade Trinity (New Line Cinema) and Punisher: War Zone (Lionsgate) for Marvel, both R-rated films but the latter used the Marvel Knights banner.

There are certainly characters that should be set aside for their own mature films.

Marvel is reportedly now seeking black screenwriters to tackle Blade’s script which should tell you how in the development process they are at the moment. The project was first announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 with two-time Oscar winner Mahershala Ali (Moonlight, Alita: Battle Angel) playing Eric Brooks in the reboot. Ali revealed recently he met with the studio years ago after the release of the Netflix series Luke Cage to see if he could nab the Blade role.

BLADE – A half-mortal, half-immortal is out to avenge his mother’s death and rid the world of vampires. The modern-day technologically advanced vampires he is going after are in search of his special blood type needed to summon an evil god who plays a key role in their plan to execute the human race.

SOURCE: INVERSE

Posted on in Film News

Jeff Nichols To Write and Direct ‘A Quiet Place 3’ For A Release In 2022

Deadline reports that filmmaker Jeff Nichols (Mud, Midnight Special) has been hired by Paramount Pictures to write and direct a third film in the A Quiet Place franchise, which had it’s first two installments directed by John Krasinski.

They aren’t saying if the project is a direct sequel featuring the Abbott family or simply set in the world of the other two films.

Jeff had been developing a remake of Alien Nation for 20th Century Fox before the merger with Disney. The original was a sci-fi take on the Lethal Weapon and Beverly Hills Cop model of the buddy cop genre.

A Quiet Place II was delayed by Paramount Pictures to April 23rd, 2021 due to COVID-19.

A QUIET PLACE II – The Abbott family must now face the terrors of the outside world as they fight for survival in silence. Forced to venture into the unknown, they realize that the creatures that hunt by sound are not the only threats that lurk beyond the sand path.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Neon Distributing Ben Wheatley Horror Flick ‘In The Earth’ – Secretly Shot During The Pandemic

Neon, best known for the domestic release of Oscar-winner Parasite will be distributing a new horror film titled In The Earth directed by Ben Wheatley (Free Fire, Rebecca, A Field In England) secretly during the pandemic according to Deadline via the American Film Market.

As the world searches for a cure to a disastrous virus, a scientist and park scout venture deep in the forest for a routine equipment run. Through the night, their journey becomes a terrifying voyage through the heart of darkness, the forest coming to life around them.

In The Earth is said to be aiming for release sometime next year and I’ll be keeping my fingers-crossed that this pandemic project will a bit more tasteful than the Michael Bay-produced Songbird (feels super exploitative from the trailer).

It’s cast consists of Joel Fry, Ellora Torchia, Hayley Squires, and Reece Shearsmith.

The director is no stranger to horror tackling films such as Kill List and Sightseers, the latter skewing more in the realm of satire.

Ben Wheatley is attached to direct Tomb Raider 2 and The Meg sequel for Warner Bros. but when those will shoot is a little unclear.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

New ‘Resident Evil’ Movie Adds ‘Blade’ Actor Donal Logue

Deadline reports that Blade and Gotham actor Donal Logue has joined the cast of the Resident Evil reboot currently filming in the Toronto area.

Chad Rook and Lily Gao also are also new additions.

Previously announced cast members include Kaya Scodelario (Crawl) as Claire Redfield alongside Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ready Player One) as Jill Valentine, Robbie Amell (Upload) as Chris Redfield, Tom Hopper (The Umbrella Academy) as Albert Wesker, Avan Jogia (Zombieland: Double Tap) as Leon S. Kennedy, and Neal McDonough (Yellowstone, Band of Brothers, Captain America: The First Avenger) as William Birkin.

Johannes Roberts will be directing and it’s been confirmed that it will be an origin story taking place at Raccoon City in 1998.

The film is a hard-reboot of the Resident Evil film franchise that originally focused on the original character Alice, created by director Paul W.S. Anderson for his string of feature films that barely resembled the Capcom video games.

There is a live-action Netflix series in the works as well.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Jordan Peele To Produce A Remake of Wes Craven’s Horror Film ‘The People Under The Stairs’ For Universal

With reboots of both The Twilight Zone and Candyman already under his belt, Collider reports that Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) will be producing a feature film remake of 1991 horror film The People Under The Stairs for Universal Pictures.

However, Jordan Peele is only expected to produce with Win Rosenfled.

Peele will produce the remake alongside Win Rosenfeld via their Monkeypaw Productions banner, and though Peele is not expected to direct the film himself, it remains unclear whether he and/or Rosenfeld will have a hand in writing the script, as they did in co-writing Candyman alongside director Nia DaCosta.

The original was directed by horror legend Wes Craven, who created Nightmare On Elm Street and Scream franchises.

THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS – When young Fool (Brandon Adams) breaks into the home of his family’s greedy and uncaring landlords, he discovers a disturbing scenario where incestuous adult siblings have mutilated a number of boys and kept them imprisoned under stairs in their large, creepy house. As Fool attempts to flee before the psychopaths can catch him, he meets their daughter, Alice (A.J. Langer), who has been spared any extreme discipline by her deranged parents. Can Fool and Alice escape before it’s too late?

SOURCE: COLLIDER

Posted on in Film News

Oscar-Winner John Ridley To Write and Direct 1960’s Poltergeist Film For Blumhouse

Today, it was announced via Variety that Blumhouse and Oscar-winning screenwriter John Ridley are teaming up for new horror film. Ridley is best known for his series American Crime and winning the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for his work on 12 Years A Slave.

The film is based on the article Project Poltergeist written by Saleah Blancaflor, John will be doing double duty as both writer and director.

The story, based on true events, is set in the 1960s and follows unexplained events surrounding the first alleged haunting in a public housing project that terrified a young boy in New Jersey.

RIDLEY: “This is an incredible true-life narrative of a young man dealing with horrors — both paranormal and racially systemic — in a community that is scarred by hate, yet ultimately brought together by hope. I really appreciate Blumhouse’s commitment to telling stories that seek to entertain audiences even as it challenges them.”

SOURCE: VARIETY