RoguePictures Tagged Articles at Cinematical

We may not get a superheroine movie any time soon, but after a lot of talk and deal making, Cassandra Hack may finally get her chance to shine and swing away. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hack / Slash has lost the services of Todd Lincoln, and hired the much buzzed about Fredrik Bond.

Tim Seeley and Stefano Caselli's Hack / Slash is a delight whether you're a horror fiend, a comic book lover, or simply a fan of badass heroines. (Or scantily clad ones. Hey, they have to lure in the boys somehow when it dares to star a woman, right? Yes, I'm being sarcastic.) The ongoing series stars Cassandra "Cassie" Hack, a fearless girl who is every Final Girl combined into one kick-ass, baseball bat swinging chick. Her origin story is the stuff that usually spawns a serial killer, as her mother was tired of seeing her little Cassie bullied, and went on a lunchroom killing spree. (Shades of Crystal Lake!) After surviving that, a missing father, and numerous foster homes, Cassie decides to educate herself in the ways of combat, and take on the unpleasant task of hunting and killing all manner of slashers, monsters, and demons.

Read the rest over at The Horror Squad!

Other than the fact that the heroine looks an awful lot like Megan Fox, I can't say I know all that much about the horror comic Hack/Slash, but it looks like that is about to change. In an interview with Newsarama, Slash screenwriter Justin Marks (Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li) decided to share a few details about Todd Lincoln's upcoming feature film version of Tim Seeley's series.

First up is that the film "won't be an origin story, per se, but the origin will be covered." -- which probably means get ready for some rapid fire flashbacks. Marks also went on to say, "we wanted to do something very different, because this is the first chance to see a slasher movie where there is more than one slasher! Because it follows a hunter, you're going with her and her accomplice as they go from one to another, and building out the mythology of how this world works with its undead slashers."

Hack/Slash is the story of Cassie; a girl traumatized at a young age, who becomes a hunter of 'Slashers' (better known as Revenants). Along with her partner Vlad, the two are responsible for keeping the world safe from the undead menace. News of a feature film version first hit back in 2006, and other than a few rumblings that Fox was on the short-list for the lead, there hasn't been much to report. Luckily for fans of the gory comic, Marks is committed to making an R-rated film, and told Newsarama, "It was written with that mentality in mind, yes".

Well, maybe if Fox does sign on as Cassie, an R rating could guarantee that fan boys finally get that glimpse of skin they've been promised. Hack/Slash is expected to arrive in theaters in 2009.

[Thanks: Coming Soon]

Much like the characters in the best-selling game, Castlevania is the movie that will not die. So far the film has undergone personnel changes and became one of the many causalities of the writers strike; but you can't keep a so-so idea down, and it looks like the project is up and running again. Talk of the film has surfaced again now that a script review for Paul W.S. Anderson's screenplay has appeared over at CC2K -- But I should warn you, it's not looking good.

Early previews on Kotaku, described the script as the story of an, "adult Trevor Belmont who, with his fellow "battle-hardened" brother Christopher, is ordered by his king-through man of god Lucius-to dispatch you-know-who." But, according to CC2K's tipster, the latest incarnation of the story is more of a rip-off of Bram Stoker's Dracula with very few similarities to the Belmonts that fans know and love.

Originally, Anderson was going to direct as well as handle the script, but as we all know, he later dropped the project to work on Death Race. Enter Sylvain White (Stomp the Yard) to take over directing duties, and who is still committed to the project despite the lack of a solid start date.

Having never played the games, I can't say I'm all that worried about the changes Anderson has potentially made to the Castlevania 'canon'. But I know that fans probably feel a little differently; so get it all off your chest, believe me, you'll feel better.

[Thanks: Ain't It Cool News]

I had almost completely forgotten about Liv Tyler's horror flick The Strangers, until the new trailer popped up on the net (there's a larger version on the official site). Last August, an R-rated trailer was released, but by then, the initial release date had been scrapped with only the vague promise that the film would be in theaters some time in '08. The movie is now scheduled to hit theaters this May, so it will be almost one full year late to the party.

The Strangers centers on a young couple who are inexplicably targeted by masked psycho-killers for a night of terror. It looks like it's going to be your usual fight to the death as the couple try to make it out alive. The Strangers was written and directed by Bryan Bertino, a first time writer and director. Joining Tyler is Scott Speedman (Underworld) as Liv's better half, and Gemma Ward as one of the masked maniacs.

After watching the trailer, I think that it still manages to deliver some chills, and it doesn't give away too much. It's funny if you think about the fact that no sooner did the film manage to avoid comparisons to last year's Vacancy, audiences will probably be comparing it to Funny Games. It does look awfully similar. I guess we'll find out if The Strangers was worth the wait when the film finally hits theaters on May 30th.

[via Ace Showbiz]

So it looks like it's not just the big productions that are now DOA thanks to the writer's strike; it's hitting some of the 'the little guys' too. Variety reports the next two features that have been put on hold are the big-screen adaptations of Castlevania and the period action flick, Ironbow: The Legend of William Tell.

First up was Castlevania, which had been struggling to make it to production. This might not be the worst thing in the world when you consider the script problems the film was having in the first place; it was probably in serious need of some tweaking. Sylvain White (Stomp the Yard) had been signed to direct and the film was due to start shooting in South Africa this April. Rogue Pictures had hoped that Castlevania would have been the start of a new franchise for the studio. Rather than waste the $40 million budget, Rogue decided to focus on some of their other projects that were slotted for 2008 that were ready for production. Instead, Rogue is going to work on the remakes of Near Dark and The Last House on The Left.

Hopefully Spyglass, who was behind the action adventure story Ironbow: The Legend of William Tell, also has another project ready to occupy these long lazy strike days. Ironbow was written by Count of Monte Cristo scribe, Jay Wolpert. Director Kevin Reynolds (Tristan and Isolde) had just been signed and the film was ready to begin casting. But, the need for some re-writes to the story of the 15th-century Swiss crossbow legend William Tell who returns home to lead his people to independence (and maybe some fruit target practice) has put the film on hold for now. Well, at least these two films are in good company as 'victims' of the strike, along with Angels and Demons, Shantaram and Pinkville. So if the strike doesn't end soon, I have a feeling we are going to be seeing a lot more of these kinds of announcements in the near future.

OK, so this wouldn't be the first time that fans of Megan Fox were duped into thinking the Transformers babe had landed her next high-profile role. I mean, we all saw how that Half to Death deal turned out. Creature Corner is reporting that sources are confirming Fox was "incredibly interested" in the lead for the big-screen version of the graphic novel Hack/Slash. The comic was originally published back in 2004 for Devil's Due Productions and centered on a 'slasher' hunter named Cassie on a mission to rid the world of evil with her trusty partner Vlad. The casting rumor has been around for a while now, but it seems talk of Fox's involvement with the film just won't die (and even though I have never read the comic, just from the few stills I've seen so far, I have to say that Fox is a dead ringer for the lead). Since news of Fox's involvement has hit the official MySpace page for the comic, I wouldn't be surprised if we get some kind of answer from the production in the near future.

Hack/Slash was picked up by Rogue Pictures back in December. Here we are almost one year later, and there hasn't been a peep out of the production until now. When word of the project first emerged, director Todd Lincoln told Movieweb the film was going to have "a sprinkling of humor to balance the scares, but this will be a lean, vicious, blood-soaked, Hard-R fright fest. The goal is to create the ultimate slasher film." Fox has already proven that she can hold her own with giant f**king robots, and the promise of her in some of those outfits is probably enough to pack theaters night after night -- at least with adolescent boys. Until we hear something official, though, you guys will just have to rely on your imagination.

Since most people expect don't expect much from video game flicks, it can't come as much as a surprise that the big screen version of Castlevania has already been sent back to the drawing board. Back in 2005, Paul W.S. Anderson had signed on to write and direct, and up until January 2007 he was still committed to the project; promising a spring start date for production. But the lure of Anderson's next project, Death Race, must have been strong, since he dropped Castlevania to work on it full time.

Bloody Disgusting is reporting that Rogue Pictures has hired Ian Jeffers to completely re-work the script and Sylvain White to helm the flick. White was the director behind the straight-to-video horror I'll Always Know What You Did Last Summer, and the teen dance flick Stomp The Yard. Jeffers is relative newcomer, and Death Sentence was his screen writing debut.

For those not familiar with the best-selling Konami game series, Castlevania focused on The Belmonts, a family sworn to protect the human race from Dracula. The game has evolved over the years, but the producer for the film, Jeremy Bolt, told IGN back in June that the film has "a fair amount of references. We always try to give the fans something that respects their love of the game but also give them something completely new. So we've added a whole new spin to Castlevania". According to Bloody Disgusting, the addition of Jeffers means that Anderson's original script for the project has probably been scrapped -- which might come as a relief to die-hard fans out there. Castlevania is set for release in late 2008.

By the time I got on the internet in 1995, there was already a bunch of fan sites. I remember the first movie I ever downloaded that year. A My So-Called Life fan had posted the brief Buffalo Tom-serenaded clip of holding Angela's hand. It was maybe a few inches wide, grainy as all hell, and took about an hour to download. As things have sped up, you can now get a whole episode in half that time, a bunch of hi-res pictures, sound clips and more -- and studios aren't happy. It's just like mix tapes. No one batted an eyelash about them, but now that you can get a mix CD or mp3 collection, uproar ensues.

It seems Rogue Pictures has their answer to fan sites -- they are doing their own. A "fan site" for Balls of Fury has now been published. It is in its beginning stages now, as it only offers a trailer and mailing list. However, the website claims that behind-the-scenes photos, filmmaker blogs, cast and crew chats and more are supposed to follow. So really, it's no different than making a website for the film, but they're choosing to call it a "fan site." Are they trying to re-imagine the meaning as "an official site for fans"? Whatever the case may be, the site does host the trailer that Scott Weinberg shared with us a month ago. No matter what the studio plans to do, it's hard to tarnish the Dracula-esque Christopher Walken as Feng.

It is hard to deny that horror master Wes Craven is one of the true kingpins of his craft. The Hills Have Eyes, Scream, and Nightmare on Elm Street are all Craven-directed high achievers within the horror/thriller genre. In a logical and increasingly common move, Craven has recently formed his own company, Midnight Pictures, with the specific goal of creating horror films on small-ish (under $15 million) budgets. Midnight Pictures will be primarily run by Marianne Maddalena, a producer who has worked with Craven numerous times throughout his career. The company will operate under the Rogue Pictures banner, and in the meantime Craven has also inked a separate deal with Rogue pictures for a new, as-yet-unnamed horror flick of his own creation.

Craven said it is "appalling" to him that the last original he wrote and directed was over ten years ago, and he is very excited to get back on the proverbial horse. Craven described his new flick as "rooted in the supernatural with a 16-year-old character, but it is more Sixth Sense than a slasher film. The film will not be released under his new Midnight banner, but projects for the new company are already underway.

Delicious odds and ends:

• Hot Fuzz, a movie you might have noticed I'm looking forward to with something approaching rabid eagerness, has been picked up for US distribution by Rogue Pictures. Though there's still no freaking release date set, this deal is a good sign: Edgar Wright's first effort, Shaun of the Dead, was also handled by Rogue, and was by far their biggest success.

• Columbia Pictures, which rather abruptly yanked their heavily-hyped All the King's Men from an Oscar-friendly December release date last year, have quietly slipped the film back onto its schedule in a low-profile, September slot. What's it facing off against now, you ask? Oh, you know. Jackass 2. That sort of high quality stuff. JoBlo goes further, and points out that very few of the films released during September last year were of the award-worthy quality that Columbia is insisting their film is. Yeah, Columbia -- you guys moved it because it wasn't done. Sure you did.

• As it moves towards its shoot date (this May), The Nanny Diaries just keeps adding names. The latest one to join the crew is Alicia Keys, who will play the best friend of Scarlett Johanson's hot, working class nanny. Hey, people who read the book -- is Keys another nanny, or is she one of Scarlett's friends from back home, before she started hanging out on Park Avenue, with the rich toddlers?