LaurenGerman Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Now I understand why Thomas Jane didn't sign on for the Punisher sequel (no longer a sequel thanks to him). He's making history by making his feature directorial debut with a 3-D film titled The Dark Country. We already learned a month ago that the actor would be directing the film, for Sony's new Stage 6 label, but now Variety tells us the "noir thriller" will indeed be shot simultaneously in 3-D high definition and in 2-D high definition. The Dark Country isn't the first movie to be shot this way (though I'm unaware of the actual first), but the news nonetheless seems appropriate considering all the hype about this week's 3-D release of Beowulf. Since The Dark Country is currently shooting in New Mexico, it is likely to be released sometime next year, when it will still need to open on both 3-D and 2-D screens.

The movie, about a honeymoon turned nightmare, was written by Tab Murphy (Disney's Tarzan and Brother Bear) and it stars Jane, Ron Perlman (Hellboy), Chris Browning (3:10 to Yuma) and Lauren German (Hostel: Part II). The script had been reported as being adapted from a yet-to-be-published graphic novel by Steve Niles (30 Days of Night), but as far as I can figure out, that information isn't true. Apparently there will be a graphic novel version, but it will be done by David Allcock, who also did the film's storyboards. For more information on the making of The Dark Country, you can turn to the production diary, which includes a whole ton of photos, some of which are rendered in 3-D.

Although it opened pretty wide, on over 2,300 screens, Hostel: Part II failed to connect with audiences on its opening weekend, pulling in only $8.7 million for a sixth place finish, behind the box-office leader Ocean's 13, the second place finisher, Knocked Up, and three other films. There's no danger of the film not making its budget back, which was pretty small, but it seems that unless the film has some serious legs, it won't be considered a worthy follow-up to its predecessor when the final numbers are tallied. (The first Hostel raked in $47 million at the domestic box office, despite a budget of only $5 million.) If that proves to be the case, this will be the second film in two months -- the first being Grindhouse -- to be smacked down by a national audience in spite of seeming like a home run.

Whether or not Hostel: Part II underperforms, it probably won't affect Eli Roth's immediate plans -- he apparently has no interest in returning to the well for a third Hostel. Instead, he's going to be mounting an adaptation of Stephen King's Cell and putting out a movie made up entirely of trailers, called Trailer Trash. At a Q&A last week, he told the crowd he was even including Howard Stern in the trailer movie -- they're going to make a trailer for his never-made project, Fartman. Roth also said he didn't yet know which project he'd shoot first -- Trailer Trash or Cell. We'll be posting a full report on the talk soon.

The premise of Hostel: Part II is that life isn't cheap -- it's worth at least as much as a luxury vacation or a new sailboat. Early on, the film introduces us to two American men, both late 30s to early 40s with the look of wealthy dot.com entrepreneurs, and reveals that they are both clients of the sinister network we learned about in the first Hostel. That is to say, along with other successful sociopaths, they take part in secret online auctions where the prize is a captured holidaymaker that they can torture to death at a private facility in Slovakia. Once the credit card clears -- I wonder what it says on the billing statement? -- the client is invited to come to the facility and experience the thrill of unleashing their inner sadist on an innocent. Much like a brothel might try to sell you sex toys while you're there, the Hostel facility is fully stocked with a large array of torture instruments to choose from. You can imagine Aaron Eckhart's character from In the Company of Men loving this place.

The victims this time around are Beth (Lauren German), Whitney (Bijou Phillips) and Lorna (harlequin-faced actress Heather Matarazzo) all of them riding around on a Eurail pass for one reason or another. Although director Eli Roth is mature enough not to clog up the early portions of the film with pointless 'boo' moments, he does give us enough reaction shots from creepy-looking Europeans on the train and around the town square to make it seem like all of Slovakia is in on the scheme to capture these American babes and pack them off to the slaughterhouse. By the time they are finally betrayed by the one person who was nice to them -- a Slovak beauty played by Vera Jordanova -- it's hardly a surprise. Still, the early scenes of Hostel: Part II are sufficiently atmospheric and tense, and there's never a question that you're in the hands of a capable director. Even the slobbering gore-hounds in the first row should be entertained enough during the lengthy set-up to not be checking their watches.

There's a reason we keep writing so many stories about horror flicks in general and Eli Roth in particular: They're among our most visited pages! So obviously a whole lot of you have some serious interest in seeing what Hostel: Part ii is going to look like -- and now there's a full-bore theatrical trailer to sink your bloody teeth into! Continuing with the "German is creepy" vibe that was doled out in the teaser trailer, the new clip explains just a little more about the plot of the sequel. Apparently we're not just going to visit with three ill-fated American girls; we're also going to get a peek behind the curtain to meet and greet the killers clients who line up to commit murder.

The trailer is available only at the rather unwieldy MTV website, but I was able to track it down and watch the thing just fine. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to see what Madman Roth has cooked up this time. The flick doesn't open until June 8, but we don't usually get a lot of hardcore horror movies during the summer, so it should make for quite the gore-soaked treat. The sequel stars Heather Matarazzo, Lauren German and Bijou Phillips (as the chicks in danger), as well as Richard Burgi as one of the "normal Joes" who decide to temporarily take up manslaughter for a vacation trip. Icky. Expect lots of stern finger-wagging from the horror-haters once this sequel starts getting a little closer.

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.