Scout Taylor-Compton Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Upon recently re-viewing Rob Zombie's 2007 take on the classic Halloween, I felt a little bit less harsh about it. Don't get me wrong: it's still mighty tedious and nowhere near scary, but at least I got the impression this time around that the rocker-turned-auteur was trying to fashion more of a character study around boogeyman Michael Myers -- who he was, why he was -- and while diluting the mystique of our killer effectively diluted the suspense, the film still delivered on the basest level of having someone get visibly, viscerally dispatched every so often. If all you had to ask of that film was a body count, Halloween slowly but surely delivered.

But while people do die in Zombie's Halloween II, that's just not enough to make up for all that pesky in-between.

Above: Is this our first good look at The Runaways?

Though neither girl was alive during the 1970s or 1980s (both were born in the '90s), that's not stopping Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning from losing themselves in the time period and doing some serious rocking out for their upcoming flick The Runaways, which is a biopic about the women who breezed in and out of the famous band -- including Joan Jett (Stewart), Cherie Currie (Fanning), Lita Ford (Scout Taylor-Compton) and Sandy West (Stella Maeve), among others.

Just Jared nabbed a few photos from the set that show both Stewart and Fanning clowning around all retro'd out, sporting some pretty spectacular gear. It must've been fun to be in charge of wardrobe for this film because these ladies totally lit it up with style. I'm not entirely sure which girls are featured in the image above; I know Stewart and Fanning are in the back, and I think that's Scout Taylor-Compton in the blue and Stella Maeve up front, though I'm not positive so feel free to correct me. Check out a larger version of the image above down below along with a couple others, and more over at Just Jared.



The Runaways is due in theaters next year.

There seems to be a bit of confusion when it comes to the upcoming rock-fest otherwise known as The Runaways.

Earlier in the month, word hit that newcomer Alessandra Torresani was going to play Lita Ford. But now, out of nowhere, Variety reports that Scout Taylor-Compton is going to play Lita -- with no mention of Torresani. The news is backed up by Scout's MySpace page, which says: "I have been recently filming my *ss off on my newest project, The Runaways!! So far, the process has been amazing. I am so lucky and honored to be able to portray the guitar icon Lita Ford!"

Is Torresani playing one of the bassists? (Micki Steele, Peggy Foster, or Jackie Fox?) Or, did MTV get it all wrong when they revealed their Ford casting announcement? On IMDb, Taylor-Compton is listed as a rumored Jackie Fox, so maybe there was as switcheroo. Whatever the case, I think it's safe to say that this news is the accurate casting, since it was backed up by the actress herself.

Most recently, Taylor-Compton has been busy as the new Laurie Strode in the Halloween reboot, but she does have a bit of rebelliousness in her past that should work nicely. In 2005, she ran away for two weeks due to family issues, dyed her hair black and lived in a park before ultimately being found by police and heading home.

Do you think she'll make a good Ford?

I'm a horror fan, but I'm not one of those demented geeks who sits in his cluttered basement wishing he could remake Frankenstein in order to explain the monster's tortured family life before he was resurrected by the good doctor. Thus I was more than a little perplexed when self-professed hardcore horror fan Rob Zombie so eagerly jumped into the director's chair to make his own version of John Carpenter's classic Halloween. What made him think he could improve on perfection?

I agree completely with Cinematical's Scott Weinberg, who recently Tweeted: "Corpses and Rejects are to horror what Epic and Date are to comedy." Of course, he was talking about Zombie's initial forays into the horror field, House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. If you haven't seen them, don't worry: they're simple, fanboy pastiches of earlier, better films that influenced Zombie. Rejects was a modest improvement over Corpses, but, by all accounts, his Halloween in 2007 was a total misfire that pleased no one but the studio bean counters.

I confess, I haven't seen it yet -- my most trusted horror guru (read his review) advised me to save my money -- and the new trailer for H2: Halloween 2 does not inspire much hope for the sequel to the remake. The trailer promises that "the secret" will be revealed. Like Halloween II, the original sequel directed by Rick Rosenthal, this one features a lot of hospital footage. You can watch it over at Yahoo! (or below) and glory, if you choose, in the prospect of more Sheri Moon Zombie. Tyler Mane returns as Michael Myers, along with Scout Taylor-Compton, Malcolm McDowell, and Danielle Harris. H2: Halloween 2 Electric Boogaloo hits theaters on August 28.

Halloween is an oddity, because not even horror fanatics were clamoring for this franchise to be re-launched, yet here it is. We now have what amounts to a launching pad for another decade of mediocrity from the slasher genre's perennial bronze medalist. The Shape hasn't been endowed with any new qualities in this film that might potentially help him vault over Jason Vorhees and Freddy Krueger -- he's still going to be low man on the totem pole. Occupying that humbling position over the years hasn't necessarily meant that the Halloween series suffered any more discontinuity or shameless retcons than the competition, but there's always been a sense of dogged sameness and an aura of low expectations to each new episode of the saga, starting immediately after Carpenter's original film and going all the way through to the most recent film, which, if memory serves, had Myers chasing after Busta Rhymes in some reality show. That's why it's so perplexing that Zombie's remake recreates the same Michael we've always known -- it's almost as if he wants history to repeat itself.

In fact, all that really separates this Halloween from the 1978 version is the origin story -- it's been expanded by some 30 minutes, so that we now see young Michael (Daeg Faerch) being tortured by school bullies and living hand-to-mouth in a white-trash hellhole with a stripper mom (Sheri Moon Zombie) and a scuzzy stepfather, played by William Forsythe. Those elements combine in Michael's mind to produce a perfect storm of craziness, and he begins to talk less and less, while becoming more violent. Before you know it, he's being carted off to Smith's Grove to become the plaything of the child psychiatrist Dr. Loomis, played repeatedly by Donald Pleasance in the original series and now portrayed by Malcolm McDowell, who recently revealed that he's already signed for three films, if this one goes. What comes next anyone can guess -- Michael breaks out of his confinement and starts killing people, all in the service of some ill-defined mission to find his baby sister, who he hasn't seen since he was a little boy but has a connection to.

I recently alerted you to a little horror film brewing up with the super-scary name, Pearblossom -- a flick about a woman tapped by the creator of the universe to "devour evil, and thereby gain eternal life." Grindhouse babysitter twin Electra Avellan was added to the cast, joining Scout Taylor-Compton (the next Laurie Strode in Rob Zombie's Halloween). Now Dread Central has a handful of other castmates (who have either signed or are in talks) and a bit more about the plot for writer/director Ron Carlson's first horror feature.

As with almost any horror movie, you have to increase the sex appeal with beautiful women. The females in question for Pearblossom, who are totally doomed if Carlson is following convention, are Sophie Monk, who had a role in Click and is July's Stuff cover girl, and Angela Lindvall, the model/actress who played Flicka in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. To even this estrogen the following guys are also on the list -- Charles Napier, who is usually in the military or man-of-the-law type in a slew of films, Danny Woodburn (Employee of the Month) and Patrick Renna, who was just in the horror-thriller Dark Ride.

So, these actors are all coming together for the devouring evil thing, but Carlson's latest description says nothing about the evil-eating: "The film is about a lesbian couple that departs a New Years Eve party in 1968 and meets the creator of the universe while driving the Pearblossom Hwy. It is there where they are put to rest for 40 years and wake New Years Day, 2009. It is about their first 24 hours of survival as these reborn creatures." I assume that in their reborn state, one of them chomps on the bad guys, and I'd imagine that Taylor-Compton and Avellan will be the lovers. This movie could be quite interesting or a huge mess, but I've got to give Carlson props for an interesting premise.

Variety had a slew of tiny players bits the other day, so here's the rundown:

• One of the in-law nieces of Robert Rodriguez has been cast in an upcoming horror movie called Pearblossom. The niece in question is one of those babysitter twins from Grindhouse -- Electra Avellan. According to Bloody-Disgusting, the Ron Carlson-helmed flick is about: "a beautiful young woman who's been selected by the creator of the universe to lead a life of greater purpose. She is instructed to devour evil, and thereby gain eternal life." Hmm, interesting -- acerbic, toenail painting babysitting to chewer of bad things? Or, is her fellow cast member, Scout Taylor-Compton the evil eater? You might remember the latter as the Dean's little sister on Gilmore Girls, who made news a few years ago when she ran away from home for a brief period.
  
• Back in February Erik told us about Matthew McConaughey's upcoming well-cast flick, Surfer Dude. Now there is a younger beefcake to add to the cast -- Nathan Phillips. You might remember the actor from his stint in Wolf Creek, or as the kid in need of protection in Snakes on a Plane. I imagine he'll either be some sort of younger surfing cohort, or maybe Matthew's son? There is still not much being said about the movie, but you can find pictures of the older dude here, and IMDb says its a: " A wave twisting tale of a soul searching surfer experiencing an existential crisis." Rad.
• Finally, there's the struggling Natasha Lyonne. Years ago, she was the alterna-version of the typical Hollywood girl -- cute and snarky, and with both mainstream (American Pie) and indie cred (But I'm a Cheerleader). Then, who knows what happened, but she spiraled into something that could rival La Lohan -- there's the intoxicated driving, threats to molest a dog that led to her becoming a fugitive and the life-threatening period in the hospital. It seems that she has sorted the past out, and is now adding another role to her rising list of movies-to-come. This time, it's a role in the indie film -- The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle -- which comes from award-winning short film guy David Russo. It's a Start-to-Finish project out of Seattle that's a comedy about Dory, a white-collar guy who loses his job and has to become a night janitor for a market research firm. There, he "discovers [that] the janitors are being experimented on surreptitiously, with unexpected results." Welcome back, Natasha!
  

I'll admit that I remain skeptical when it comes to Rob Zombie's re-imagined Halloween flick. The original just happens to be my favorite horror film of all time, and just the idea of someone going near a film I absolutely adore literally scares the crap out of me. Then again, part of me feels Zombie is finally telling the Halloween story we've been waiting for -- one that not only offers up a slew of blood-soaked mayhem, but also provides more of the man behind the mask. MTV recently spent time on the set of Halloween, where they brought back some footage and some spoilers that may or may not leave a bad taste in your mouth.

Originally, Zombie planned to re-imagine that classic Halloween theme song; in fact, the new version was one of the first Halloween-related tidbits to hit the net. However, that's all changed -- now, Zombie says he's cut it out: "The actual way it sounds now doesn't really work with what we're doing." Apart from the missing theme song, Michael Myers will not drive in the film -- an aspect of the previous films that always bothered Zombie: "They would always play that off like someone must have given him lessons, but you know no one gave him lessons! He's in a maximum-security prison! So, no, he doesn't drive." MTV also tells us that the film begins long before the original's opening scene, and Laurie Strode (who, according to Scout Taylor-Compton, is "conservative, but has a little but of attitude now) doesn't even make an appearance until the final third.

The article also reveals more about the characters, as well as the history behind Myers' mask. And, last but not least, Zombie insists he will make no sequels, that "Everything I've wanted to do I've done with this movie." Though I'm a bit peeved over the missing theme song, I feel better about the film after reading this. What about you?

Some new Halloween tidbits today: the first photos of Scout Taylor-Compton as Laurie Strode and Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Loomis have been splashed by Bloody-disgusting.com. For his part, McDowell looks almost exactly as he does for every role, and certainly doesn't seem to have found it necessary to do the chrome-dome Donald Pleasance thing. Taylor-Compton is seen in a group photo along with fellow cast-members Danielle Harris and Kristina Klebe and is sporting some blockish, nerdy glasses. Her two friends each have on Haddonfield High varsity jackets, which is a nice touch.

The folks at BD, who must monitor Rob Zombie's MySpace page night and day, also report that Zombie is peppering his remake with some unusual cameos, including Mickey Dolenz of The Monkees as a gun shop owner. Calico Cooper, the daughter of vintage rock star Alice Cooper, has also supposedly finagled herself into a small role in the film -- she says so on her official website. BD also recently posted a couple of new photos from Zombie's Grindhouse fake trailer, which involves werewolf nazis. Zombie's Halloween is filming now and is currently scheduled to hit theaters August 31.

The folks over at Bloody-disgusting.com have scored an interesting exclusive -- the first photo of Rob Zombie's new Michael Myers in full costume. For my money, he looks almost exactly the same as the old Michael Myers, although in this shot he looks a little worse for wear. He might have been shooting a scene to take place near the end of the film, rather than the beginning, when his mask would presumably be a bit less dirty and roughed-up. Myers is, of course, played by Tyler Mane, who was Sabretooth in the first X-Men film. Even though Myers looks pretty much exactly the same, Zombie has gone on record as saying that his Halloween is not a shot-for-shot remake but "a bit of a prequel and a remake combined," which sounds, frankly, just confusing to me. Shouldn't horror franchises start caring a little bit more about consistency, or am I just kidding myself?

In other Halloween news, the cast continues to grow -- Zombie announced recently the addition of actor Richard Fancy to the cast. Fancy, who will play a character called Dean Carpenter, is one of those actors who you recognize as soon as you see his face, even though it would be hard to pinpoint from memory a handful of big films he's been in. The major cast is already complete, with 18-year old actress Scout Taylor-Compton taking on the iconic role of Laurie Strode, originally made famous by Jamie Lee Curtis.