Whenever a new horror cycle spins 'round, there'll be a newspaper reporter ready to ask Stephen King what he thinks of the "new" sub-genre. Plus if the mega-popular novelist has a new movie adaptation (like 1408) just ready to hit the market, well, that's what they called serendipity. But Marc Olsen of the L.A. Times is to be commended for asking the man just a few simple questions and leaving things simple.

For example, did you know that Mr. King has no real problem with "torture porn"? True. And he also seems to be a really big fan of Eli Roth's Hostel Part II: "There's something going on in "Hostel II" that isn't torture porn, there's really something going on there that's interesting on an artistic basis. Sure it makes you uncomfortable, but good art should make you uncomfortable." But when asked about "crossing the line," King makes a strange statement about a film he doesn't seem to have seen yet: "I'm very uneasy about this film coming out with Elisha Cuthbert, Captivity." The novelist doesn't elaborate much on why he has a problem with this specific movie but adds "It makes me feel creepy just to think about it. It's almost like exploiting murder for the sake of murder."

For more on how that specifically differs from what's on display in Hostel 2 (and I would agree it does), you can check the full interview. But there is one more little tidbit that's worth mentioning. It's been well-documented that Stephen King is not a huge fan of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, so when Olsen asks about what makes a "bad" Stephen King movie, here's what the author had to say: "I don't like movies that are cold. I don't like movies that approach it like an exercise. A movie, for instance, where say Jack Nicholson and his wife are trapped in a hotel and you don't feel any love between them, you don't feel any caring, it just becomes sort of an exercise. And that bothers me."

Someday I'd love to interview Mr. King and run down all of the movies, one at a time. I'd get a kick out of hearing his thoughts on The Mangler, Pet Sematary 2 ... or his own Maximum Overdrive.

Well friends, if you ever needed more evidence that Hollywood has completely run out of ideas, look no further than this week's new movies. Yep ... there's an Ocean's three-quel, a Hostel sequel and another freakin' penguin movie.

Just in case you've missed all the hype that these stars and the studio have been spewing forth ... George Clooney, Brad Pitt, the other 11 and a new one hit the screen this weekend in Ocean's Thirteen.

In this installment, Danny Ocean and his group of con men head back to Vegas try to pull off their most ambitious and riskiest heist yet. This time it's to take down a casino owner, played by Al Pacino, who snookered their mentor and friend played by Elliot Gould.

The Reel Deal: If you enjoy the caper movies and it just makes you feel good to keep padding these guys wallets...then party down with Oceans 13. It's a harmless enough movie ... not great, not horrible, but me? ... I like these guys individually but together they just seem like one big Smuggy McSmartypants, and this movie feels like Ocean's 113. For what it's worth, I took Hippie Assistant Matt (HAM) to see the movie, and he loved it. But I'm pretty sure he was baked, so there you go. He's in; I'm out.

The website for Hostel II is now up and running, and in keeping with the atmosphere established in the original film, it's downright disturbing and sure to offend somebody (which, of course, is the point). The slick-looking Flash driven site opens with the sounds of a female voice begging for mercy, and with an apparently nude women hanging upside down with veins in her neck pulsing noticeably, and a strand of animated mucus dangling from her nose. Whether or not you check this out at work is up to you, but I suggest at least turning the sound off so your cubemates aren't wondering what manner of depravities you're scoping out on the net.

Once the page is loaded the trailer, which hit the web a while ago, begins to play automatically. Mousing over the passport in the upper right corner launches the site's menu, and brings up a random passport picture of one of the characters. A plot synopsis is available, plus cast and crew bios. The download section offers several desktop wallpaper designs, including the raw meat closeup taken from one of the teaser posters and the aforementioned upside down victim among others, and there are a handful of instant message icons. The gallery section features a baker's dozen photos from the movie and the menu item called "bid," whatever that may mean, is marked "coming soon." The design is pretty sharp, but here's a hint: once you've selected an item from the menu and it has loaded, you'll need to move the mouse away from the menu so the passport will retract and you can read the content.

The gang over at Bloodydisgusting.com just got a heads up -- I swear, there is no 'head' pun being dumped on you here -- about a new poster for Hostel: Part II that will be unveiled at New York ComicCon this weekend. The poster will apparently show star Bijou Phillips nude and beheaded, and no, BD doesn't have a sneak preview, so don't even ask. They are also reporting back details of the photo shoot for the poster, which took place at the El Royale apartment complex in Hollywood. "The neighbors got an eyeful," is how their spies put it.

To answer your next question, yes, Cinematical will be out in full force for NYComicCon this weekend. Tomorrow we will be bringing you coverage of a panel with horror maestro Stephen King, a panel with Eli Roth, as well as a special feature on a private breakfast event that is being thrown by the folks behind The Hills Have Eyes 2. The man himself, Wes Craven, has sent in his RSVP and is apparently bringing unseen footage with him. There will be a ton of other stuff we'll be reporting on, once we actually get ourselves down to the Javits center and see what's going down. NYComicCon isn't as big as its big brother, but our sources say there will be a few surprises in store. Stay tuned.

Those gore-soaked knuckleheads over at Bloody-Disgusting.com have had themselves one helluva busy day! First up is some wacky Uwe Boll news: Not only is the German goofball hoping to do a BloodRayne 3 some time soon, but it also looks like Christian Slater has signed on for Alone in the Dark 2. Ha! Take this news with a grain of salt, because Uwe is known for doling out press releases and gossipy tidbits at the drop of a hat -- but he's always good for a laugh, that Bollman.

Next up we got the brand-new trailer for Scott Glosserman's rather excellent Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, which Anchor Bay will be releasing theatrically in February. The trailer blurbs about nine different critics, but left out the guy who wrote the planet's very first BTM review: Me! :-( Ah well, the movie still rocks. Horror fans should be prepared to fall madly in love with this clever little indie.

THEN we get the very first teaser trailer for Fox Atomic's The Hills Have Eyes 2 over at IGN Movies, which is suitably short, slick and spooky. (This sequel hits on March 9.)

Closing out the horror hijinks is an all-new international poster (also courtesy of IGN) for Eli Roth's Hostel 2 -- which really has to be seen to be believed. Let's just say it's ... meaty. (Hostel 2 now has a release date of June 8, by the way.)

Keep up the great work, o bloody & disgusting ones!

If there's one thing Lionsgate is known for, it's gotta be the outfit's expertise in the field of marketing, promoting and selling its horror flicks. Whether it's that freaky-weird poster for The Descent or the blood-based one-sheet and plasma drives for Saw 3, it's pretty obvious that Tim Palen's marketing team works overtime while coming up with their new gimmicks. Oh, and here's a new one:

The brand-new trailer for Hostel 2, which will premiere tonight on MTV before landing a home in front of all the Saw 3 prints, will be entirely in German. Yes, a Prague-shot film that stars mostly Americans will have its trailer debut in the German language -- for no other reason than that German is "more guttural and harsh," says Palen. Weird.

Eli Roth's Hostel 2 hits theaters next January, and I'll be sure to post a trailer link in this spot (trailer link) after its MTV debut has passed and the trailer gets comfy in Quicktime. But what's your take on this rather strange little move? I mean, LG had trouble selling the French-speaking High Tension to the American masses, so why go the foreign language route when you don't have to?

Ah well, it's not like Hostel 2 is being sold on its dialogue, right?

Since it's being directed by an unapologetically geeky horror fanboy, we seem to get lots of mini-reports from the set of what's now being called Hostel: Part 2. Once we accumulate three or four interesting tidbits, we figure it's a good time for another H2 blog-dropping. So, here we go...

Most recent news? Roger Bart has joined the cast. Best known as (far and away) the funniest person in The Producers, Mr. Bart has also been cast in Ridley Scott's American Gangster, plus I'm told he's been on that Desperate Housewives show. No word on who Roger will be playing in H2, but I'm guessing he ends up as either a torturer or a torturee.

Also, (and I apologize for not remembering which site first broke the news), it seems that Jay Hernandez's sequel-return is impeding. Whether it's a featured role or a gore-soaked cameo remains to be seen, but it'll be nice to see what the survivor is up to.

Lastly, Eli Roth has placed a set photo from H2 on his MySpace page. It's a shot of Roth and Italian actress/producer Edwige Fenech, so there's that. Roth also indicates that he's about 2/3rds of the way through the shoot, which means the flick should have no problem meeting its January release date. If it sounds like I'm a little pumped for Hostel 2, that's only because I liked the first one. So there. Plus this new one has Heather Matarazzo, Bijou Phillips and Lauren German in it. 'Nuff said.

Fresh off the news that Hostel 2 might hit multiplexes just a little bit late, now word comes that Eli Roth may have snagged himself a trio of fine female leads -- two of whom will most likely end up on the receiving end of items sharp, rusty and/or blood-spattered. The first Hostel misadventure featured three men (Jay Hernandez, Derek Richardson, Eythor Gudjonsson) who run afoul of Slovakia's most unfriendly tourist trap, and it looks like Hostel 2 will be flipping the gender script by having Lauren German (Texas Chainsaw's doomed hitchhikerette), Bijou Phillips (a victim of Venom) and Heather Matarazzo (who played Martha Meeks in Scream 3) run shrieking from a variety of sick bastards who don't mind paying large sums of money if it means they can torture someone without getting arrested for it.

Previous word from Mr. Roth was that original Hostel escapee Jay Hernandez would be reprising his role in the sequel, but I'm beginning to get the impression that Hernandez will "star" in Hostel 2 the same way that Adrienne King "starred" in Friday the 13th Part 2. Production on Hostel 2 gets underway real soon, after which Eli will focus on his adaptation of Stephen King's Cell, a movie that definitely has a shot at being better than the book -- which starts out awesomely and really runs out of steam in Act III.

NO, that is not the actual title of Eli Roth's Hostel sequel, so don't go blaming any wacky internet rumors on me. I simply used that title to illustrate the gender-reversal being explored in the hostile follow-up. In other words, where Hostel dealt with three guys and their misadventures within a Slovakian torture chamber, Hostel 2 will deal with three girls and their misadventures within an Italian torture chamber.

Seems the various hostels work as McDonald's-style franchises, all interconnected and doling out death by the quarter pound. In this MTV article, Roth dished out some sequel dirt, and here's what we know:

• It'll be three gals instead of three guys, and they'll be in Italy instead of Slovakia.
• Jay Hernandez's character IS scheduled to be a factor in one way or ... another.
• Halloween 2-style, Hostel 2 will pick up immediately where its predecessor left off. (Like, on the train.)
  
• The "inner workings" of the International Slice & Dice Hostel chain WILL be explored, which sounds like fun.
  

So that's what Roth has so far; the screenplay's not quite completed yet, but Hostel 2 production is scheduled to begin in August, with a dismembered eye toward a January release date.

So now that everyone's had a full day or two to get their Hostel DVD, we can focus on what's really of paramount interest to all involved parties: Hostel 2. Click through just about any DVD or movie site and you'll probably find a recent interview with effusive young horror guru Eli Roth, and it seems he's just raring to go on his quick-turnaround follow-up.

He hasn't actually sat down and penned the sequel's script yet, but that hardly seems to be a hurdle: "I have all these different scenes and all these different deaths and different tortures and I’ve just got to sit down and put them all together now." (Some say "ick." I say  "cool!") After Hostel 2, Roth will move on to direct an adaptation of Stephen King's Cell for Dimension, a project he recently shared a few thoughts on ... the final one being, "So the eyeball’s hanging out and flesh from people’s faces [is] ripped off and they’ll just still keep running and trying to kill people." (Again, "cool!")

The director's mega-busy-ness has thrown a wrench into his planned remake of The Bad Seed: "I mean, I went into Warner Bros. and I said, ‘I want to kill more kids than Schindler’s List.’ And they were like, ‘Okay, all right.’" (Dude even likes kiddie horror!)

And to those who simply can't get enough of this fan-favorite nutcase, be sure to double-check your Hostel DVD. Roth shows up on four (!) separate commentary tracks!