Cinematical

If you simply adore movies like House on Haunted Hill, Thirteen Ghosts, Ghost Ship, Gothika, House of Wax and The Reaping, then you'll be thrilled to know that Joel Silver's Dark Castle Entertainment has just signed a fresh deal with Warner Bros. home video department. (And also you might be insane.) Yes, home video. Apparently spurred on by the "navigational cinema" gimmick that turns perfectly disposable horror sequels into "choose your own adventure" experiences, WB and Dark Castle have decided to sit down and churn out some more direct-to-video material. Some sequels, some prequels and some "original" content. Heh.

The first production out of the gate will be the the aforementioned Return to House on Haunted Hill, which stars Jeffrey Combs and Cerina Vincent, and will allow you to pick through over 90 different story-line possibilities. Sounds like something that'd be really cool to sift through for an hour or two -- before living a dust-covered life on my DVD shelf. Upcoming Dark Castle / WB releases include Widow Whisps, Odds, Cheerleaders in Trouble, RocknRolla and Whiteout. Mr. Silver also aims to branch out just a little bit and produce a few action flicks under the Dark Castle banner. Which makes perfect sense, seeing as it was created as a horror shingle.

In related news, Sam Raimi's Ghost House outlet is presently working on Boogeyman 2 and I'm just sure Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes gang is cooking up another three remakes that nobody asked for.