Twilight Zone Tagged Articles at Cinematical

If you held out faint hope that Hugh Jackman wouldn't be helping Shawn Levy box robots, and would abandon it for a feature film adaptation of A Steady Rain, kiss it goodbye now. Variety reports that DreamWorks' Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider have green-lit Real Steel, making it the studio's first big financial project since it split with Paramount, and had to find its own money.

Spielberg was attached to the project as executive producer when it was first announced, and it seems that it's been a real passion project for him. DreamWorks bought the project back in 2005, and it was one of the films they held onto after splitting from Paramount. "When we took it with us, we really highlighted it as something we would put the pedal to metal on," said DreamWorks co-president of production Mark Sourian. "It's a project that Steven always wanted to do. It just came together rapidly after we left Paramount." The film will be made for the relatively low budget of $80 million, and will begin production next June.

With a low budget to avoid Transformers excess, perhaps the magic of Spielberg and Richard Matheson can overcome the kiddie tendencies of Shawn Levy, and turn it into something special. A lot of commenters mentioned that Matheson's story was adapted into an episode of the Twilight Zone called Steel. Happily, it's online and I've embedded it below the jump. It really is a good episode, and while Levy keeps stressing that his Real Steel is grounded in its "father-son relationship," I hope it can retain a bit of Matheson's grit. I could be happy with a robot version of Million Dollar Baby.

You might have caught the news last year in one of our quick write-ups -- Warner Brothers and Leonardo DiCaprio's production company had grabbed Twilight Zone to stretch into a feature-length movie. It's taken a year, but they've finally got a writer on-board. Variety reports that Rand Ravich, the pen behind The Astronaut's Wife and NBC's Life, will write a script for the adaptation. This won't be an episodic tale, like Twilight Zone: The Movie was all those years ago. How it will turn out, however, is anyone's guess.

The show certainly covered enough themes that this could make for a wonderful film if it's done well. Fantasy, horror, science fiction... It's got all the tropes that put the bodies in the seats. Trying to steer clear of the '80s film, however, I would imagine that this would be a fresh story, and not simply the remake of episodes. So, it'll all come down to how well it's done, and whether it can live up to Rod Serling's genius.

The fan in me, who always chose the Twilight Zone marathon over Rockin Eve New Years' plans, is sitting on the fence. The possibility is there, but the reality is still so far away. Could anything compare to "The Lonely," "The Eye of the Beholder," "The Obsolete Man," or any of the other excellent episodes, not to mention the first movie?

Here's a round-up of today's news:

• Warner Bros. and Leonardo DiCaprio's production company are looking to bring us a feature-length Twilight Zone. This one, however, won't be episodic. Instead, they hope to stretch one out into a feature. THR
• Pretty, Baby, Machine is going to hit the big screen by Landscape Entertainment and bring Al Capone down. THR
• The MPAA goes viral. Variety
• Richard Dreyfuss is narrating a new doc called America Betrayed, which will be "a scathing look at the way out government contributes to and profits from disasters both here and abroad." Variety
• Harold and Kumar are coming back... again! John Cho and Kal Penn will reprise their roles; story is being kept under wraps. Variety
• Rupert Grint is bloody in Cherry Bomb. Just Jared
• New German doc -- Hitler on Trial. AP/Yahoo
• Trailer for The Brothers Bloom. Coming Soon
• More Repo! footage. MTV

Last weekend brought the tragic news that the Aston Martin featured in the upcoming 007 movie Quantun of Solace was wrecked beyond repair. It turns out that's not the only danger on the set of the film, currently shooting in Italy: On Wednesday, a James Bond stuntman crashed while performing a chase scene in the area, and is currently in critical condition. suffering minor injuries It's probably better that this stuff is happening now, considering how many people were ready to pounce on the last film in order to prevent Daniel Craig from taking the reins from Pierce Brosnan. Now that the franchise appears to have a newfound groove, Quantum has a lot of positive buzz. So why does it seem like the set is suddenly cursed?

Accidents of varying degrees are commonplace on large scale film shoots, but the sense of peril can impact the final result in different ways. In the Twilight Zone movie, the helicopter accident during the John Landis-directed sequence killed three actors, causing Hollywood to avoid similar stunts for many years to come. The stuntman who suffered burns on 60% of his body on the Mission: Impossible III set, however, couldn't affect that movie, even when he decided to sue Tom Cruise. In the case of Quantum of Solace, subversively, the accidents might be a positive indicator of the sheer intensity that director Marc Forster hopes to bring to the film.

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.