Oh, well. I guess I am gonna just have to settle for beer, home improvement projects and sexy teens getting chainsawed into tiny bits. Y’all have a good one.

Next week will see the release of “28 Days Later” on video. Yep. I can say that this is one of my favorite films from this year (after “Finding Nemo” … how about that for diversity). Zombies, blood and death, Cillian Murphy’s penis … this film has it all. The extras on the disc look like they will be pretty sweet.

Next week we also will finally get the Indiana Jones films on dvd as well. I feel really conflicted about whether to drop to $50-ish for the set or not. I’ll have to hand it to the marketing folks for being smart enough to figure out that most folks will want “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and not the far inferior sequels. So, we’re gonna be forced in getting them all to get the one we really, really want. “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” is so, so bad. I really want to know who told Kate Capshaw that she could act. “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” is a fine film but just a little too slick. All the extra “making of footage” will be available only on a fourth disc that comes with the box. Argh. Damn those crafty bastards for making this a love/hate movie purchase. Hmmmm. I think I will just have to Wishlist this one and see if some rich, sugar daddy wants to treat me right.

Whoo! Only two more weeks till pure terror (hopefully). I usually don’t get excited about remakes because they usually suck so much ass. Take the remake of “Psycho” that Gus Van Sant did. It was pointless and just plain awful. But the new version of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” looks like it might have taken just enough of a different path to make a newer, equally good version of the story. Here’s to hoping. If it sucks, it won’t be the first time that a trailer is better than the actual film.

“It’s all about not getting blunt, keeping sharp, keeping pragmatic in the editing process,” said Scott. “You’ve got seventeen minutes where everything’s flying and the dynamics are terrific: everyone’s dead and Sigourney’s on her own. The seventeen minutes seemed to have great dynamics, and I went to the lab and I tried that scene in and out and in and out. And I thought, ‘Well, it doesn’t suck. It intrudes.’ And having looked at it recently within the last year, I thought, ‘Oh, it actually works pretty well.’ So… back it goes.”
It does appear that Ridley Scott is indeed going to fuck up his masterpiece. Oh, well … time to start hunting from an older dvd release before the “Director’s Cut” becomes the only version available.
[via Keith]

The official site of the remake of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” has gotten a face-lift. In an interesting marketing twist, the filmakers are saying that the film is a fictional take on actual events. Hmmmm … it’s sorta true since the first film is very loosely based on maniac Ed Gein. But somehow I don’t think they will repliacate the coolness of the marketing campaign for “The Blair Witch Project.” So, groove on over and check out all the chainsaw and meathook induced carnage … especially the kick-ass trailer.

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (I really need to get a new nickname for this guy) and I went to see “Freddy vs Jason” on Friday night. What a fun movie. It’s not a great film by any stretch of the imagination but a nice little romp none-the-less. Not scary at all, but the bodies pile up at a rapid pace. Mmmmmm, blood. The reall treat was getting to see the trailer of the remake of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” on the big screen. That movie looks really promising … but, then again, so did “Jeepers Creepers.” We’ll all find out on October 17th.

Also rented “Final Destination 2” over the holiday and really, really dug this movie. It’s basically a showcase for elaborate and really grusome death scenes. Man, is it fun! How could you not like a movie that puts a mother and her teenage son in peril. Yes! I am sure that this movie is gonna become a cult item for fans of the “splatter” genre.

Oh, shit. A remake of “Dawn of the Dead” is underway and planned for delivery by Universal early next year. I think I am going to be sick now.

So, the roomie, his woman and I watched “Rob Zombie’s House of 1000 Corpses” again last night on dvd. Yeah. I really like this movie. It has been one of those love it or hate it films in the horror community (not unlike “The Blair Witch Project”). Sure, the plot gets convoluted. Sure, Mr. Zombie’s direction is a little heavy handed at times … mainly with all the grainy, camcorder cut-in’s. What makes the movie work for me is that you can tell there is a love of the genre smeared all over each bloody frame. The movie is not at all like something that would come from the Dark Castle cookie cutter. All in all, it’s a great film to kick back with a beer, watch and revel in the shear bloodletting and mayhem. Whoo for Doctor Satan! The dvd also come with an audio commentary from Rob Zombie which is insightful about the “making of” and has hints about just what a bastard step-child the production was for Universal. I wish that he had talked in-depth about the struggle to actually get the movie into theaters, but maybe there are some lingering legalities that keeps him from bad-mouthing Universal and MGM. Yeah. Go and check ‘er out.

Yeah, I am a sucker … I might just have to see “Freddy vs. Jason” this weekend. It looks stupid and excessive, so it could be a lot of fun (just like “Jason X” was). In other news, New Line Cinemas has finally launched the site for the remake of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” There you can download the trailer and images from the movie. More thoughts on this later …

So, there seems to be a lot of buzz about the new tacked on alternate ending to “28 Days Later.” The complaint that I heard most about the film was about the so-called “happy” ending … and, you know what, it didn’t really bug me that much. The ending was “happy” but not so much so that it killed the horror of what comes before. To me, it didn’t feel like a cheat (you know, like the ending of “Return of the Jedi” or “Fight Club”). So, I am dead curious to see the new “down beat” ending of the film which has been tagged on after the credits as a “what if this happened” ending. Will a pitch-black resolution to the story make the film more powerful? Or is it some clever marketing ploy to get audiences back into the theater seats on more time? I may have to lay down my money again and find out this coming weekend.~