Above: You Don't Mess with the Zohan, The Happening, Sleeping Beauty

You Don't Mess with the Zohan
Adam Sandler wandering into topical territory, actually making sense, and stll making the funny? I was surprised too! Don't worry, he still packs in plenty of juvenile gags about the outlandish size of his package and drags in every ancient ethnic stereotype possible, but as an Israeli intelligence operative who wants to become a hairdresser, he pulls off the neat trick of creating a completely silly character in a wish-fulfillment scenario that, well, nearly everyone wants to see. Rent it. Available rated (theatrical cut) on a single-disc DVD and unrated in single-disc and double-disc DVD editions. The Blu-ray includes both the rated and unrated versions.

The Happening
Maybe the inclusion of "over 1 hour of intense bonus footage not shown in theaters!" -- extended versions of "Lion Attack" and Survivalist Porch" among them -- will convert me. Maybe I'll watch M. Night Shyamalan's first R-rated horror flick again some day to see if it still makes me roll my eyes and laugh out loud at scenes that were evidently intended to make me shiver in my seat. Maybe one day pigs will fly. Skip it. Available on DVD and Blu-ray with deleted scenes and "making of" features.

Sleeping Beauty
Scott Weinberg has already written about the awesomeness of the new edition of Disney's animated treasure on Blu-ray. This is a classic no-brainer, a movie that both young and old can dip back into time and again. Buy it. Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

After the jump: Indies on DVD, Blu-ray, and Collector's Corner. Join us, won't you?

Since I am a single gal, the very thought of having my own kids is enough to send me into a terror spiral. But, the little darlings on this list aren't your every day kids; nope, these are the kids that nightmares are made of (Like Richard said, "children are almost essential to a real horror film"). But this list just isn't about children in horror movies; it's about when the children are the source of the horror. Now I'm not saying all kids are evil, but if you take this list as an example of just how bad children can get, you will never look at those trick-or-treaters on your doorstep the same way again.

1. The Bad Seed (1956)

If you are going to talk evil children, then you have to give props to one of the baddest in the bunch: Patty McCormack as little Rhoda Penmark. Directed by Hollywood vet Mervyn LeRoy (who was more famous for his sophisticated comedies than suspense thrillers), the film was based on William March's novel of the same name and focused on a little pig-tailed demon who gets away with murder (despite a tacked-on ending that gives Deus ex Machinas a bad name). Rhoda terrorizes her nice suburban mom and tortures the staff while draped in a pinafore and knee-socks. It might not be the scariest flick in the bunch, but you can't deny that she was a nasty piece of work.

2. The Omen (1976)

Sure Rhoda Penmark might have been one of the first, but when most people think of evil kids in horror flicks they're usually thinking of Damien Thorn. Besides, you can't get much worse than being the Anti-Christ. Richard Donner directed the story of an upwardly mobile couple who bring home their bouncing baby boy, and the last thing they were expecting was to have to avert an apocalypse. Throw in some serious overacting on the part of Gregory Peck and the unforgettable scene at Damien's birthday party (if you haven't seen The Omen, I won't ruin it for you), and you get a preschooler that no one in their right mind would want to mess with.

I used to think Julia Stiles was the next big thing. That was back when she seemed to star in every Shakespeare update around (10 Things I Hate About You; Almereyda's Hamlet; O). Then she somehow became better remembered as "Nicky", the deer-in-headlights character from The Bourne Identity and its sequels. Sure her part increased through the series, but all I can think of is that line, "I can send Nicky to do that, for Chrissakes." Now, I associate her with any role that's so easy even she could do it. Which certainly seems to apply with a movie in which she's just been cast, Cry of the Owl. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Stiles is replacing Sara Polley in the thriller, which makes me wonder if maybe the part is too simple for the now-very-respected Polley. "They can send 'Nicky' to do that, for Chrissakes," the actress must have thought.

Cry of the Owl is based on a novel by Patricia Highsmith (author of The Talented Mr. Ripley, which starred Bourne co-star Matt Damon) and was previously adapted by Claude Chabrol. This version will be helmed by Jamie Thraves, who directed my favorite Radiohead video, "Just", as well as videos for Blur ("Charmless Man") and Coldplay ("Scientist"; "God Put a Smile Upon Your Face"). The movie co-stars Paddy Considine (The Bourne Ultimatum) as a new guy in town who Stiles' character falls for. Problem is, he's also stalking her. Scott Speedman (who was probably looking forward to working again with Polley, his My Life Without Me co-star) plays her ex, who plots revenge for being dumped. The movie begins shooting in Toronto next week.

To be fair to Stiles, I have to admit that coming from Highsmith, Cry of the Owl may not be just another stalker thriller. Also, she has been delivering fine performances in little-seen movies like A Little Trip to Heaven and Edmond -- never mind that she also starred in The Omen remake. She's also just made her directorial debut with the short Raving and she's set to star in an adaptation of The Bell Jar. Perhaps one of these days I'll have something new, and more favorable, to associate her with.

With the release of the latest Harry Potter flick finally upon us, the end of the series is in sight and Warner Bros. is going to be short one fantasy franchise. The most likely candidate to replace the Potter magic is the upcoming family film, The Golden Compass. But there are also still plenty of projects on the way for fantasy fans that like their stories with a little more menace. Variety reports that John Moore, who directed the somewhat "flaccid" Omen remake back in 2006, optioned the feature rights to the fantasy novel The Book of Lost Things. Lost Things was written by Irish novelist John Connolly, and the story focuses on a young boy who is dealing with the loss of his mother and hides himself away in an attic with a book of legends. He becomes drawn into a fantasy world that eventually starts to creep in on reality.

When read the synopsis for the book, I couldn't help but notice that it sounded a little familiar; namely, The Neverending Story, but after looking at a few reviews, I realized that this one might not be for the kiddies at all. Lost Things has been described as a "dark fantasy" due to the heavy subject matter of a child dealing with the loss of a parent, and Connelly has made a name for himself writing a series of crime thrillers, so he has plenty of experience when it comes to subject matter that is a little more grim. The timing for the project probably couldn't be better, though, since fantasy fans have gotten a taste for the more adult approach in films like Pan's Labyrinth. There is no word of a studio yet, but with Potter and the gang nearing the end of their box-office stay, it shouldn't take long before a deal is struck.

Well, this is weird. For the bulk of my 30+ years on this planet, there's been no such thing as a "televised horror awards" presentation, and now, not 15 minutes removed from geeking out over the newly-announced Fangoria Chainsaw Awards nominations -- I come across the Spike TV Scream Awards nominations! Cool!

Now, with all due respect to Spike TV and their cool new concept, I gotta say the Fango Chainsaw noms are just a little bit cooler. But hey, there's no law that says the horror freaks can't hang their hat on TWO new awards presentations. Frankly I think we could use a few more enthusiastic celebrations of juicy genre filmmaking.

Anyway, the Screams seem to run a lot like the Chainsaws do: Check out all the categories and nominees (after the jump) and then head on over to SpikeTV.com and cast your own votes! This is particularly amusing for the horror nuts -- because we're nothing if not passionately opinionated on which horror flicks rock and which ones suck the proverbial egg. Spike TV broadcasts their Scream Awards on the evening of October 10th.

20th Century Fox has succeeded with their plan to capitalize on the 6-6-06 release date. Their remake of The Omen took in a reported $12.6 million, which is pretty good for a movie that was produced only to take advantage of a date. The movie joins this summer's trend of bad reviews = good box office and its one-day take puts it at the top for earnings on any Tuesday, beating out Meet the Fockers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King and Spider-Man 2. ComingSoon.net is also noting that The Omen now has the best Tuesday opening day total ever, previously held by Ali. I would like to point out, however, that since movies are never released on that particular day of the week unless it is Christmas (in the case of Ali) or another special date (in this case), that the achievement is not particularly remarkable.

We'll have to see if today's business, or the rest of the film's run, is also good for The Omen. I'm guessing that the novelty of yesterday's opening has already worn off, but that doesn't mean we won't see further attempts by studios to do similar schemes with release dates. I wonder if the makers of Fantastic Four and V for Vendetta are kicking themselves now.

Update:  Box Office Mojo has the full gross as $12,633,666. Notice those last three numbers.  Eerie.

Friends have asked me why Hollywood would remake The Omen, a film remembered fleetingly, if at all, for a few images of terror, Gregory Peck, and the pulsing, moody Carmina Burana-like score, an Oscar-winner for composer Jerry Goldsmith. Their concern is a slightly embarrassed mix of indignation and curiosity: Their attitude is that if movies they remember fondly don't need to be remade, what justifies a return to The Omen, which wasn't very good the first time?

But remakes often happen to correct significant errors with original films, namely that they didn't make money for the right people. Why should Dr. Seuss's estate alone profit from How the Grinch Stole Christmas? Can't Ron Howard get some of that sweet Who-ville coin? And so, we get remakes -- even remakes of films as marginal as The Omen.

But then again, if pop culture is often a indicator of how people are actually feeling -- if there's a link between the stories on the front page of the New York Times and the books at the top of the Best-seller lists in the Book Review section -- then we can see that supernatural claptrap with one foot in the Dark Ages and the other somewhere around the End Times has been selling pretty good recently: The Da Vinci Code, the Left Behind book series. So at the beginning of John Moore's version of The Omen, footage from 9/11, Katrina and the Indonesian tsunami provokes plenty of long, serious looks from The Vatican's top men, who've met to decipher symbols from the Book of Revelation with a series of PowerPoint slides...

The remake of The Omen comes out next week (on 6-6-06, of course), and there's a chance that it will come to your theater with a curse attached to it. John Moore, who directed the new version, spoke to Sci-Fi Wire about mysterious problems he encountered during the making of the film. These problems include ruined footage, difficulty with equipment and, here's the kicker, a computer that kept having a system "error 666" (wouldn't you know, the software is supposed to have no such error?), and Moore thinks that these problems were the result of the same misfortune that affected the first film.

Richard Donner's original was reportedly plagued by a curse, which brought about lightning, mad dogs, a bombing, a car accident, a plane crash and a beheading. I guess the curse got weaker after 30 years. Or maybe the curse couldn't be bothered with a movie that probably won't be as good? Who knows? My guess is that Fox just isn't creative enough to successfully sell the curse angle for marketing purposes and so they gave up on the idea (after messing up the production on purpose, perhaps).

John Moore, director of the upcoming horror remake of the 70's classic The Omen, recently discussed the difficulties facing his production crew and the possiblity of a sequel. Moore says that the release date of the film- June 6, 2006 (or 6-6-06) is the gimmick to end all gimmicks- but creates a bit of a problem, as it slams the " traditional 40 weeks' work in about 12." Moore agrees, however, that the marketing gimmick is simply too good to pass up, even if "the shaft is, I mean, we're scoring in six weeks. And we haven't written a note of music." Moore calls the June date ridiculous, but indicates that he is up to the challenge.

As to the possibility of sequels, Moore says that no one has approached him about directing any further installments, and he'd be loathe to see the project in the hands of someone else. He said that the climate of oday would allow for a lot of creativity in sequels, but he doesn't expect it to happen. Directly, Moore said ""I don't know. I hope, God, I hope they don't. I hope they don't. We've had our fun, you know what I mean? We should respect [that]."

Is it just me, or does there seem to be a profound level of hypocrisy in that statement? I mean...the dude is remaking a classic horror flick, and then suggests that he would be offended by somebody else screwing around with HIS work? Something just doesn't jibe about that concept.

[via sci fi wire]