ShaunEvans Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Dread (UK/US): I'm going to act like I don't know how Clive Barker's original short story played out, as I didn't know when going into the film, but that still leaves this adaptation a bit too long-winded for its own good. Stephen (Jackson Rathbone) and Quaid (Shaun Evans) team up for a college project on what people fear most, and sure enough, this little social experiment of theirs goes too far. It's an interesting premise, eventually carried out to a foreseeable but intense climax, shot moodily throughout by first-time director Anthony DiBlasi, but the redundant dorm-worthy moralizing delivered by our fairly obvious villain and a tacked-on ain't-that-wicked twist only make it more apparent that Dread was a story perhaps better deserving of, say, a "Masters of Horror" episode rather than a feature-length treatment.

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So maybe Midnight Meat Train didn't get the reception that Clive Barker had hoped for, but that hasn't stopped the master of horror from rolling right along with his other projects. A new trailer for Book of Blood (the first in Barker's six part series) has just hit the net. Unfortunately, the trailer has since disappeared from most sites, so if you are curious, I'd advise you to act fast. But the good news is that Dreadcentral.com now has a promo reel for Barker's other adaption from his Books of Blood series, titled, Dread.

So first up is the trailer for Blood, and I have to tell you, it is looking pretty good (not to mention gory) for the horror tale. Blood was the frame story for Barker's original series, and the film will center on "on a paranormal expert who, while investigating a gruesome slaying, finds a house that is at the intersection of "highways" transporting souls to the afterlife." Although, I should warn you that the trailer is a little 'spoilery', so tread carefully. Blood was co-written and directed by John Harrison (Diary of The Dead) and stars Jonas Armstrong as a psychic, and Sophie Ward (who hardcore movie geeks might recognize as the great love of Young Sherlock Holmes) as the paranormal expert.

Next up is Dread, the story of three graduate students who devise an experiment about fear that gets a little out of hand to say the least. The promo reel gives you a few more glimpses of what director Anthony Diblasi (who is also producing the Hellraiser update) has planned (you can also take a look at some official stills here) as well as clips from the film and interviews with Barker, and stars Shaun Evans and Jackson Rathbone (Twilight). Dread is still in production, but Book of Blood is expected to arrive in theaters in 2008 -- although I probably wouldn't hold your breath.

So take a look and sound off below on whether Barker will have better luck with the big screen this time around...

Movies about ex-convicts and their difficulty assimilating back into society generally begin with the prison release, during which the protagonist typically looks downright miserable. At first thought, I recall the opening of Vincent Gallo's Buffalo '66, which ironically exaggerates the hopelessness of post-incarceration by adding a lack of a public restroom to the list of things the former jailbird is without. But at the beginning of John Crowley's new film, Boy A, the titular young man being turned back into the world is high-browed and smiling from ear to ear. And this change from the expected norm really drew me into the film immediately.

Perhaps the difference is that for most films about ex-cons, the hero doesn't have a very good chance at starting over. For "Boy A," however, there's a literal reinvention taking place. In the first scene, the young man (Andrew Garfield) sits with his caseworker, Terry (Peter Mullan), and discusses the details of his release, which include his receiving a new home, a new job and, most importantly, a new identity -- he chooses the name "Jack." Also, rather symbolically, Terry hands Jack a gift, a pair of sneakers that unintentionally represents the young man's ability to comfortably run away from his former life.