Cinematical

Speaking of hiding under rocks, where the hell has Daniel Myrick been for the last seven years? The guy co- writes and directs The Blair Witch Project, only the buzziest, most surprising box office hit in, like, ever, and then practically disappears! He did a couple of Blair Witch-related TV things, and directed a straight-to-video release called The Strand which one appears to have seen, but mostly kept a bizarrely low profile for someone you'd think studios would be dying to hire. Now, finally, he's back, and with another indie horror flick, shockingly enough.

The movie, entitled Solstice, was actually supposed to go into production last year, but the schedule was thrown off by Hurricane Katrina; the new start date is later this week. The story - co-written by Myrick - "revolves around a young woman who gathers with her friends at a lake house for the summer solstice after the suicide of her twin sister," and seems to have been lifted in its entirety from a Danish movie called Midsommer. (One wonders if that'll be copped to when Solstice comes out.) The film stars Elisabeth Harnois as, well, both girls, one assumes (Does anyone else smell Laura Palmer? I wonder if the body is wrapped in plastic.), as well as Shawn Ashmore (Iceman from X-Men) and Tyler Hoechlin (you secret watchers of 7th Heaven know him as Martin Brewer).

Edit: According to a comment from Mr. Bill Gates (thanks for stopping by, Bill), Lionsgate own the remake rights to Midsommer. So, they're not ripping anyone off, just not really talking about the whole "remake" thing in the press.