LarryCohen Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Time for yet another remake of a movie you only vaguely remember -- if at all. It's one of the biggest successes of the mega-prolific Larry Cohen's career, but It's Alive DID come out in 1974, and that's, like, ancient to horror fans of a certain age. Yes, it's the movie about a homicidal infant, and sure, it already spawned two sequels of its own (It Lives Again in 1978 and Island of the Alive in 1987... so I guess this makes it high time for the remake route.

The new version stars Bijou Philips and is helmed by Josef Rusnak, he of The Thirteenth Floor and the recent Art of War 2. According to the IMDb, Larry Cohen is still on board as a screenwriter, but he may have had no involvement besides saying OK and collecting a check. The release date (video, no doubt) on this Millennium Films title is still uncertain, but Bloody-D has a rather lengthy promo clip that ... doesn't look half-bad! Check it out here and share your thoughts, gorehounds, especially if you know (and enjoy) the original version.

P.S. You can get the whole "Alive" trilogy on DVD for about 14 bucks.

Remember that Elisha Cuthbert flick that was causing all sorts of uproar because of his MPAA-rejected billboards that (somehow) got plastered all over California anyway? Well, it sure looks like Lionsgate is feeling no ill effects from the marketing gimmick ratings board's disapproval, because Captivity is still locked in for a May 18 release date. (That'd place it opposite Shrek the Third, although I highly doubt they're going for the same audience.) ComingSoon.net's new horror site has the first look at the just-released Captivity trailer, and while it doesn't give up much in the plot department, it is overloaded with screechy sound effects and a lot of Cuthbert cleavage. Plus you just gotta love how Lionsgate managed to incorporate the "billboard controversy" in the Captivity marketing campaign.

Although the "abduct & torture" motif might feel like it comes from a rough and grungy young upstart, the flick actually comes from a pair of seasoned pros: The director is Roland Joffe, who once directed The Killing Fields, The Mission and ... The Scarlet Letter. (Yikes.) The screenwriter is Larry Cohen, old-school genre pro who also penned Cellular, Phone Booth and a whole bunch of solid genre flicks from the 1970s and '80s. The plot synopsis sounds a whole lot like the original Saw, only this one's a whole lot different: One of the abductees is a female. (And what a female she is!)

From the director of Maniac, Vigilante and Relentless; from the writer of The Stuff, Q: The Winged Serpent and It's Alive 3: Island of the Alive; starring the likes of Robert Z'Dar, Richard Roundtree, Tom Atkins and (yes) Bruce Campbell; predecessor of Maniac Cop 2 and Maniac Cop 3: Badge of Silence...

You've waited, you've wondered, you've prayed to the gods of schlock -- and those prayers have been answered. Brace yourselves: The original Maniac Cop is (finally!) coming to DVD. (OK true, Image Entertainment released it on DVD about seven years ago, but if you can find a copy of that disc for less than sixty bucks, you should buy it.)

Or better yet, don't! Because Synapse Films is planning a full-bore goodies-laden DVD release that puts the mania back into your local police force. For those unfamiliar with the unquestionable magic of Maniac Cop, I'll offer a brief plot synopsis: It's about a cop who kills people ... because he's a maniac, and he's not to be confused with Psycho Cop or Psycho Cop 2.

According to The Fang, Synapse hasn't announced a release date yet, but they're promising an all-new anamorphic transfer, an audio commentary between director Bill Lustig, writer/producer Larry Cohen and mega-star Bruce Campbell, plus a healthy dose of featurettes, deleted scenes, and maniacal cop minutae.

(And if that's not fun enough, Synapse also has DVDs of Basket Case 2, Black Roses and Christmas Evil on the way!)

A lot of people have taken to calling the Masters of Horror series a Showtime production, but the truth is that the experiment was born over at Anchor Bay. Series creator Mick Garris had the idea to snag a bunch of the finest horror-makers under the sun, have each one direct an hour-long mini-movie, and then let the Gorehounds devour the goods through the magic of DVD. But then Showtime got involved, and they aired 12 of the 13 episodes between last December and March of this year. (The 13th episode, Takashi Miike's Imprint, was deemed too harsh by the Showtime folks, which means you won't be able to see it till the DVD hits shelves.)

Unfortunately, Anchor Bay has taken a fairly money-hungry approach to releasing Masters on DVD: Two episodes hit stores yesterday, available individually or as part of a 2-pack. But with a list price of $16.98 apiece (which means a retail cost of about 11 bucks each), it seems that the horror faithful are expected to dole out about $150 if they want the entire season. (By comparison, my 13-episode collection of the brilliant Firefly set me back only about 40 bucks!) But hey, nobody's saying you have to buy 'em all, right? We horror geeks aren't ravenous completists and ferocious collectors ... are we? (To be fair, if the first 2 DVDs are any indication, each release promises to come stocked with loads of extra goodies, so at least we're getting some value for our money.)

Anyway, to commemorate the DVD debut of the series (well, the first two episodes) I thought it might be helpful to give our readers a Masters Guide -- despite the fact that I've seen precisely ONE episode of the show so far! Click below for a list of all the actors, the Masters, the release dates, all 13 plot synopses, and a variety of trivial hoo-hah intended mainly for the hardcore horror freaks.