Paul Soter is one of the members of the Broken Lizard comedy troupe, which you have seen in Super Troopers and Club Dread. Dark Circles is his second effort as director after the 2007 comedy Watching the Detectives. Of the film, Soter has said “Hopefully this will serve as some kind of cinematic equivalent of birth control.” The CEO of After Dark films, Courtney Solomon, said that this first entry in the After Dark Originals 2 series was “the perfect film to set the tone for our ‘newest brand of fear’.”

Dark Circles Synopsis

When new parents Alex and Penny retreat from the city and move into a place outside town, the stress and massive sleep-deprivation caused by their infant has both of them seeing things in the house that may or may not exist. Persistent sightings of a strange woman has each of them wondering if they are suffering from hallucinations, or if their new home holds a dark, supernatural presence. As their fragile grasp on reality spirals into delirium, Alex and Penny find themselves nearly helpless to deal with the horrific truth of what is really going in this house.

Dark Circles will get a theatrical release in 2012. The rest of the After Dark Originals 2 series has yet to be announced, but fans have been promised psycho killers, demons, aliens, and a killer leprechaun (whether that is Warwick Davis is unknown).

Watch this space for more info on After Dark Originals 2 as it comes in!

What

Spooky Empire May-Hem is a horror festival/convention taking place in Orlando, Florida. Featuring special guests, panels, music, tattoo artists, dealer rooms, pool parties, photo ops, Q&A sessions, and other surprises. Note: this will be the last Spooky Empire event at the Wyndham. Starting in October, 2012, all Spooky Empire events will take place at the Hilton Orlando.

When

May 25 – 27, 2012

Start Times: Friday 5:00pm, Saturday 11:00am, Sunday 11:00am
Exhibitor Room Hours: Friday 5pm-11pm, Saturday 11am-8pm, Sunday 11am-5pm
Celebrity Autograph Rooms: Friday 5pm-10pm, Saturday 11am-7pm, Sunday 11am-5pm

Where

Wyndham Orlando Resort
8001 International Dr
Orlando, FL 32819
(800) 421-8001
(407) 351-2420

The Wyndham has special room rates of $69/night when you mention the code word “Spooky Empire”. The phone number to reserve your room is 1-800-421-8001.

Wyndham Parking: The old Friday’s Front Row in I-Drive (across street from Wyndham), Off Sandlake Rd (east of Universal Blvd), Canada Ave (off Sand Lake Rd)

Who

Linda Hamilton (The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Children of the Corn)
Michael Rooker (The Walking Dead, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, Slither)
Joey Lauren Adams (Chasing Amy, Mallrats, Big Daddy)
Kristanna Loken (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Bloodrayne, Painkiller Jane)
Monica Keena (Freddy vs Jason, Left in Darkness, Long Distance, Night of the Demons)
Holly Marie Combs (Charmed)
Brian Krause (Charmed)
Madison Lintz (The Walking Dead)
Oliver Robins (Poltergeist)

More guests to be announced here.

Schedule

Thursday, May 24

Thursday night: pre-party with drink and food specials at Gatorville, by the pool at the Wyndham.

Friday, May 25

To be Announced

Saturday, May 26

Mad Monster Party: celebrities in attendance.
Other events To be Announced

Sunday, May 27

To be Announced

Other Events

Tattoo Festival. See more info here.

Tickets

Weekend Pass $50 (gets you in for all 3 days)
Friday Pass $30
Saturday Pass $35
Sunday Pass $30
VIP Package: $199

The VIP Package includes: a collectible VIP pass, limited edition t-shirt, full weekend admission, admission to all Q&As/seminars first, fast access to autograph lines, access to Saturday night VIP party with open bar, live DJs, prizes, and more.

Buy tickets here.

Official Site

Check out the official site and Facebook page.

(out of 4)

Get ready for the biggest face-off since the 1972 Fischer-Spassky World Championship Match

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD

Another year, another edition of Paramount’s long running series of Friday the 13th movies, or as we should just call them – Jason movies. (The guys from New Line would eventually figure that out when they picked up the franchise). Friday the 13th, Part VII: The New Blood (aka Friday the 13th Part 7) delivers the same kind of stuff that the previous Jason movies delivered, only it does so on an order of diminishing returns. It has zero scares, its gore is non-existent, its one-dimensional characters are even more forgettable this time around, and it asks the audience to accept outrageous premises, even for a Friday the 13th film. On the plus side: with Kane Hodder now playing the character, Jason Voorhees never looked better, and that’s most likely because of director John Carl Buechler’s experience as a special effects man. But as we saw with Troll, he’s better at special effects than directing.

It takes some backbone to defeat this guy.

This is the point in the series where things go really supernatural. After a brief recap of the Jason Voorhees curse (nicely done by Walt Gorney, a guy you might remember as Ralph!), we come across the Shepard family, where little girl Tina gets mad at daddy’s drinking and accidentally buries him beneath the docks at Crystal Lake using her budding powers of telekinesis. (Tommy Jarvis had just buried Jason there with a rock and chain but nobody seems to know about it?) Ten years later, a teen-aged Tina (Lar Park-Lincoln) returns to her family’s cabin with her mother (Susan Blu) and psychologist Dr. Crews (Terry Kiser) in tow. The doc says that Tina needs to get over the guilt surrounding her father’s death, but his secret agenda is to use Tina as a lab rat so he can film her moving matchbooks around with her mind and who knows what else. I guess he’ll be able to get a good book deal out of it. So our Carrie-avatar meets next door hunk Nick (Kevin Spirtas) who is hanging around with the typical group of idiot teens, including little blonde rich girl Melissa (Susan Jennifer Sullivan), who just wants to exploit everybody around her like all good rich folk do. There’s also a geek guy (Jeff Bennett), a geek girl (Diana Barrows), and a bunch of other meatbags who either had screentimes of about 5 minutes each or just weren’t interesting enough to make much of an impression on me.

It's my party and you'll die if I want you to.

Then Carrie-avatar goes off and tries to resurrect her dead daddy from the lake, but instead wakes up Jason, snapping his chains so he can surface and resume his work, which as everyone knows by now includes decapitations, head crushings, and death by weed whacker. Tina starts having visions of Jason’s victims, which serve to make her more emotionally agitated, at one point causing a TV to fly across the room and in another instance causing a minor earthquake. It’s your typical teen angst and father issues manifested in telekinetic activity, but now poor Tina has to deal with a hulking monster in a hockey mask, and her stupid doctor. Most of the film, though, is your standard stalk’n'slash, but everything about it seems underwhelming. It doesn’t help that there is almost no gore, thanks to the heavy-handed MPAA, who must have decided to be even bigger jerks than usual that day. Other than the occasional curseword, bare ass, and flash of breasts, Friday the 13th Part 7 could probably get away with being shown on network TV without cuts. The movie also seems to have given up on trying to deliver anything close to suspense or terror, having Jason dispose of his victims as quickly as possible. Even the one kill that seems to be popular with fans – it involves a sleeping bag – elicits barely more than a shrug from me. Then there is Jason’s absurd ability to transport himself instantaneously at will; he walks very slowly while his victims run away at high speed, and yet he still manages to catch up with them. (This “ability” is most glaringly obvious in The New Blood, the worst offense occurring when Jason magically appears in the water only a few seconds after killing somebody on shore).

Hmm, he must be from the Crystal Lake prison worker program.

Kane Hodder plays our favorite masked madman this time around (he would go on to play him in Jason Takes Manhattan, Jason Goes to Hell, and Jason X), and I must say that “look” of the character is great here. He’s this big hulking monster, with lots of rotting flesh and exposed spine, and his facial makeup (after the inevitable unmasking) is well done – it even has a similar appearance to the look in The Final Chapter, except after a decade of erosion by lakewater, of course. The final battle between Tina and Jason is rousing enough and fun to watch – it’s sort of a precursor to Freddy vs Jason (trivia: the creators originally wanted this film to be Freddy vs Jason but Paramount and New Line couldn’t get it together). There’s also some pleasure in seeing mean bitch Melissa get an axe in the head and selfish bastard Dr. Crews take the receiving end of a hedge trimmer. But certain things hinted at only make me imagine what could have been. For example, both Tina and Nick have troubled backgrounds – what would a movie with troubled teens who band together to defeat Jason look like? Could there have been more of a connection made between Jason and Tina’s father?

And now Bernie Lomax is ready for the weekend...

Friday the 13th Part 7 delivers one of the dumbest endings in horror movie history. I hate to spoil it, but I have to talk about it: Tina’s dad is resurrected from the lake to fight Jason. Now, ladies and gentlemen, we’ve had six films worth of incompetent Crystal Lake/Forest Green cops. I can accept this, I can accept that an undead zombie/monster is walking around the woods killing indiscriminately for years but people still camp there, I can even (grudgingly) go with the idea that the killer has access to a molecular transporter and instant delivery of garden tools like tree trimmers. But I have a really hard time accepting that a killer of scores of people, chained at the bottom of a lake, wouldn’t be recovered and taken away to a crematorium with haste, or that a loving father killed in an accident on a dock wouldn’t be recovered and given a proper burial by his wife and daughter who witnessed the accident. No, nobody ever thinks of removing bodies from a crime scene, or simply just draining the fucking lake and putting a gigantic fence around the woods forever. Really, why would they, right? It’s just extra paperwork to deal with. But then the alternate explanation – that Tina “manifested” her dead father into physical form – is even more ludicrous. This movie is maddening.

- Bill Gordon

I held my breath for 10 years! I win the case of beer!

Can I borrow this?

The special features on the Deluxe Edition include:

• Commentary by director John Carl Buechler and actors Lar Park Lincoln and Kane Hodder
• The Making of Friday the 13th Part VII – The New Blood
• Mind Over Matter: The Truth about Telekinesis
• Deleted scenes, including all the gore that was cut for the R rating
• Makeover by Maddy: “Need a Little Touch-Up Work, My Ass”

And, of course, the Friday girls (nsfw links):

Heidi Kozak

Elizabeth Kaitan

We’ve got a block of upcoming horror films for the new year. Check out some of the trailers and info:

The Devil Inside
Director: William Brent Bell
Release Date: Now playing

In Italy, a woman becomes involved in a series of unauthorized exorcisms during her mission to discover what happened to her mother, who allegedly murdered three people during her own exorcism. Reviews were not kind but the film is currently kicking box office butt.

The Divide
Director: Xavier Gens
Release Date: Jan 13, 2012 (limited)

Apocalyptic thriller involving survivors of a nuclear attack (including Laren German and Michael Biehn) who take refuge in a building but soon turn on each other. Directed by Frenchman Xavier Gens, who gave us the brutal Frontier(s).

Underworld: Awakening
Directors: Måns Mårlind, Björn Stein
Release Date: Jan 20, 2012

Like the inexplicably enduring Resident Evil franchise, the Underworld series of films keeps going. Kate Beckinsale is back, and this time she gets to kill lots of humans who have started a war against vampires and lycans. More leather, more bullets, more Beckinsale.

The Wicker Tree
Director: Robin Hardy
Release Date: Jan 27, 2012 (limited)

That’s right, Robin Hardy, who directed the original cult classic The Wicker Man (no, not the Nick Cage remake), returns with this sequel. Christopher Lee comes back for a cameo, too.

The Woman in Black
Director: James Watkins
Release Date: Feb 3, 2012

Daniel Radcliffe finally moves away from Harry Potter and into this supernatural thriller involving a ghost terrorizing a remote village.

Click Here For More Upcoming Horror in 2012

(out of 4)

The local strawberry jam is really tasty.

“Boys, my advice to you if you’re making a horror picture is to keep the blood running down the screen.” – Andy Grainger, Owner of Butterfield Theaters

Sam Raimi took Mr. Grainer’s advice to heart – his feature film debut The Evil Dead really does show a scene where blood literally runs down the camera lens. In another sequence (that may have inspired a scene in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter), a battered Bruce Campbell stumbles around the cellar in front of a movie screen while blood pours down in front of the projector. It’s a wonderful image, and it’s backed by an old upbeat jazz record playing on an abandoned phonograph, encompassing everything awesome about The Evil Dead – unrestrained mayhem with more than a touch of the absurd. It’s gore as slapstick – no surprise that Raimi credits a large amount of people at the end as “fake shemps,” in reference to Shemp Howard of The Three Stooges. The level of Raimi’s love for the stooges wouldn’t really be understood until Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness, but here you can see its beginnings.

A remake of sorts of Raimi’s 1978 Super 8 short Within the Woods, The Evil Dead is what they call the ultimate spam-in-a-cabin flick. Two couples from Michigan – Ash (Bruce Campbell) and Linda (Betsy Baker), Scott (Richard DeManincor) and Shelly (Theresa Tilly), along with Ash’s sister Cheryl (Ellen Sandweiss), spend the weekend in the woods at a rundown cabin, and discover in the basement something called the Naturan Demanto, also known as the Sumerian Book of the Dead (referred to in later movies as Necronomicon Ex-Mortis), a manuscript bound in human flesh and written in blood. A tape recorder is found nearby, and of course they’re going to play it. Once the audio transcription of the book’s passages is spoken, the “deadites” rise to life, coming out of the woods to possess the living. The only way to defeat those who have been possessed by these demons, unfortunately, is through decapitation and other kinds of bodily dismemberment.

Alright, jeez, I'll get you a sandwich...

When I was a kid, I remember my mom reading the plot off the back of the old VHS at the store and refusing to let me rent it. I think she made the right choice; when I first viewed The Evil Dead, I was truly scared and disturbed by what I had seen. Most people go around quoting Campbell’s Ash character from the later films (“Groovy”) and remember them as being more like goofy comedies, but the first film in the trilogy is intense and mostly no-nonsense (and Ash is hardly pro-active – in fact, a coward most of the time). Some comedy is there, but it’s not overt (I do have to chuckle at Ash’s tendency to be pinned to the floor by falling bookshelves). The rest of the movie is a gorefest, with chopped off limbs, spewing all sorts of fluids; a girl is raped by trees in the woods; another’s head is lopped off, then her headless body spews fountains of gore onto her unfortunate boyfriend while at the same time it’s trying to hump him. Over the top? Certainly, but that’s partly what makes The Evil Dead so special – a feeling that all bets are off and anything goes. Raimi wants to raise the bar when it comes to shocking the audience; in a way, he lets us know by a sly reference to Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Wes Craven’s Hills Have Eyes (Craven would later return the favor by having Nancy watch Evil Dead on television in A Nightmare on Elm Street). There’s something meta, also, in the way Cheryl exclaims “I know the car won’t start. It’s not gonna let us leave!” right before the famous 1973 Delta 88 roars to life.

When Raimi isn’t grossing us out, he’s impressing on another level with his inventive direction, giving us glorious camera movements, crazy angles, creative use of sound effects, and tight editing assisted by a then-unknown Joel Coen. After watching it numerous times, the movie’s ability to surprise and horrify wanes, but I’m still left with complete awe at how this low-budget, drive-in 16mm classic was put together so professionally and with such creativity by guys barely out of their teens. It really is a kind of miracle, and a testament to the joys of film-making itself. When viewed with the knowledge of how it was made, by whom, and the arduous process involved in bringing it to screens, The Evil Dead ceases to be just a “movie” and becomes an “experience,” almost a religious one. Its influence on horror cinema is endless.

This is why Ash was moved to Housewares.

Finding the “perfect” copy of The Evil Dead is a tough proposition, recently made much easier by the relase of the Blu-ray by Anchor Bay. This is by far the best choice if you are just looking for the movie itself. The high definition transfers of both the original full frame (1.33:1) and widescreen (1.85:1) are the best this movie has ever looked. The next best choice, if you do not own a Blu-ray player, is to get the Elite Entertainment DVD, which still has a very impressive transfer. If it’s extras you are looking for, you can’t go wrong with the Anchor Bay Ultimate Edition, which is a three disc set. The first disc has the full frame, the second has the widescreen, and the final disc is a real gem – there are many entertaining and informative featurettes involving all the cast members. If you like Tom Sullivan’s effects work, you might want to pick up the Book of the Dead edition which comes in a package made up to look like the Necronomicon, complete with drawings on the inside.

Most editions share certain commentary tracks and special features. There are two main commentary tracks – one from Sam Raimi and executive producer Robert Tapert, the other from Bruce Campbell. Both commentaries are informative, but Campbell’s is extemely entertaining and the best by far. (The Elite and Anchor Bay Ultimate DVDs contain both these tracks). The new Blu Ray does not have these commentaries; instead, it has a brand new commentary track featuring all three guys together, and it’s pretty good, but it’s very technical and mostly covers their film-making process/experience without referencing anything that might be going on in the film proper. Again, if you’re a huge fan of the movie, stick with the Anchor Bay Blu Ray, the Elite DVD, or the 3-disc Ultimate Edition. Finally, I should warn you that the widescreen versions of the film are a bit inferior, since they required cutting off the top and bottom of the image, matting it, and zooming. The result is that information is lost and you are placed too close to the action. (The Evil Dead is shot in 16mm full frame, which is the best way to watch it).

- Bill Gordon

More detailed info on the different versions.

Damn you, Raimi, and these painful contact lenses!

Supplement: Ladies of the Evil Dead and Bruce Campbell (Ultimate Edition)

Paramount Pictures has announced that it is developing Paranormal Activity 4, since Paranormal Activity 3 has grossed over $103 million domestically to date (almost $203 million worldwide).

The first three Paranormal Activity films together have grossed $581 million worldwide. The first film, from Oren Peli, only cost about $15,000 to make. It grossed $193 million worldwide. (In comparison, the $60K budgeted Blair Witch Project grossed $248.6 million worldwide).

There is no information yet on storyline or cast for Paranormal Activity 4. However, we figure it will premiere during the Halloween season like last time. Watch this space for updates.

Source: Variety

On Friday, January 13, 2012, the Vista Theater in Los Angeles, California will be showing a Friday the 13th Double Screening to celebrate the release of a new 6 CD soundtrack box set, which will feature the complete scores from the first 6 movies in the Friday the 13th series. The limited edition soundtrack set is an official release of composer Harry Manfredini’s scores for the movies up to Jason Lives.

The double feature will include the first movie Friday the 13th and the 6th movie Jason Lives. After the first film is shown, a Q&A panel will commence, featuring Harry Manfredini, Friday the 13th‘s Adrienne King (“Alice”), and the following cast from Jason Lives: Thom Matthews (“Tommy Jarvis”), David Kagen (“Sheriff Garris”), Darcy DeMoss (“Nikki”), Vinnie Guastaferro (“Deputy Rick Cologne”), and Nancy McLoughlin (“Lizabeth”). Ryan Turek from ShockTillYouDrop will host.

The screening starts at 9:3pm at the Vista Theater (4473 Sunset Drive, Los Angeles). $15 tickets can be bought here.

For $70 cash, you can purchase the box set at the event. You can also order it online at La La Land Records. The set also features a 40 page booklet. There will only be 1300 units sold of this special limited edition.

The next day, on January 14th, Harry Manfredini will be available at Dark Delicacies (3512 W. Magnolia Boulevard, Burbank CA) for signings (2pm).

Source: Creature Features