I noticed that Lloyd Kaufman's Poultrygeist (subtitled Night of the Chicken Dead) has finally emerged in theaters (currently playing on 1 screen). Kaufman is the president of Troma, a production company and distributor that has survived as an indie for over 30 years, mainly due to salesmanship. By any count, they have been responsible for at least 150 movies, and Kaufman himself has over 200 on his resume. Anyone who has ever frequented a video store has probably come across titles like Blondes Have More Guns (1995), Cannibal! The Musical (1996), Chopper Chicks in Zombietown (1991), Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger Part IV (2000) (and, indeed, the entire Toxic Avenger series), Class of Nuke 'Em High (1986), Femme Fontaine: Killer Babe for the C.I.A. (1994), Killer Condom (1996), A Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell (1991), Rabid Grannies (1988), Sgt. Kabukiman N.Y.P.D. (1991), Surf Nazis Must Die! (1987) and Tromeo and Juliet (1996). They have also distributed such nuggets as Brian De Palma's The Wedding Party (1969), Samuel Fuller's Shark! (1969) and Dario Argento's The Stendhal Syndrome (1996).

Old-school schlock-slinger William Castle was known for a whole lot of things ... but, for the most part, quality filmmaking was not one of 'em. He was, however, one helluva showman, constantly coming up with new in-theater gimmicks to keep his Saturday afternoon chiller flicks well-populated by thrill-seeking kids. One of Castle's best-known flicks is 1959's The Tingler, which was about a creature that lives within the human spinal cord, and starts, like, vibrating when its host gets extra scared. And to help sell the flick, Castle had these little doo-hickeys installed into the theater seats ... and they'd vibrate every time a scary part showed up! Neat-o!

So now that every horror movie from the past 33 years has officially been remade, it looks like the folks at Sony have tapped Feast writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan to pen a remake of The Tingler. That's all the info we have so far, but the Feast boys seem to be pretty busy these days: Apparently they're also working on a draft of Saw 4 and have something called The Midnight Man on the way.

This is far from the first time a William Castle flick has been remade: 1959's House on Haunted Hill was remade in1999 and 1960's 13 Ghosts was remade two years later. Combine the best components of all four of those movies into one package, and you might have a really good horror flick.

Paul Davids' documentary The Sci-Fi Boys is the kind of mediocre effort that makes its way onto DVDs as supplement material, although finding an appropriate special edition to include it with would be tough, as its focus isn't limited to any specific film or filmmaker. Davids, an admitted "sci-fi boy" filmmaker, spotlights other directors like Peter Jackson, Stephen Sommers, John Landis, Roger Corman and William Malone, all who grew up as fan boys before acquiring their own followers. Of course, with all the attention Davids gives to himself (the photo above shows him on the left as a young model maker), he could include the film as an extra on one of his own films, except that it wouldn't quite fit with his '97 debut Timothy Leary's Dead.

Film bloggers are spending a lot of time this week pondering the recent efforts by the MPAA and big theater chains to urge people back into movie theaters, and suggesting more practical solutions.

• Mike at Techdirt claims the trouble is that most theaters aren't offering a good social experience anymore (I feel like we're cattle at certain large chains), but they fail to see this as the problem. He also notes that they're missing the point entirely about the competition of movies on DVD.
• John Rogers at Kung Fu Monkey proposes the best way to improve the theatergoing experience and draw crowds back to movie theaters: hire bouncers disguised as ushers. He has a point: the Alamo theaters in Austin rarely get obnoxious, because the theater chain devised a discreet way for patrons to complain about noise. (Or as their house ad says, "Don't talk or Ann Richards will take your ass out.") [via GreenCine Daily]
• Scott Kirsner at CinemaTech explains the difficulties that theaters will face as the length of time from theatrical to DVD release decreases, and suggests a number of clever ways in which theaters might choose (or have already chosen, in some cases) to attract audiences.
• Unrelated: A couple of entertaining themes are traveling around the world of film bloggers this week. Edward Copeland has been asking bloggers to post lists of their choices for the top ten worst Best Picture Oscar winners. Also this week, girish put out a call for bloggers to write about Abel Ferrera, which has produced some fascinating essays. I regret not having time to tell my story about seeing Ms. 45 in London in 1989.
  
• Finally, also unrelated: Peter Nelhaus posted a great entry this week about William Castle horror films that I had to mention, I enjoyed it so much. The photos from Mr. Sardonicus are especially creepy.