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I was a 10-year-old girl when I first stumbled across a book about a vampire rock star, but from that moment on, I have always had a thing for the plasma-challenged. I've gone on to read everything from Penny Dreadfuls to Poppy Z. Brite, and to this day I will always watch a vampire movie, no matter how bad -- and there are no shortage of those. But there are some good ones, too, and one of my favorites is Kathryn Bigelow's Near Dark. I have plenty of reasons for respecting Bigelow's work (whose new -- and excellent -- film The Hurt Locker opens on June 26th), because let's face it -- there aren't very many female directors, especially female 'action' directors -- and thanks to her vampire-Western hybrid, I'm willing to give her a bit of slack for her lesser flicks. So to anyone out there who thinks girls can only do 'hearts and flowers' on the big screen, just watch the scene after the jump and tell me if you still feel the same way.

But back to vampires: ever since Dracula first stepped off the Demeter and into London society, vampires have usually been frock-coated aristocratic types, but not these guys. Bigelow's vamps are more Hell's Angels than love-starved dandies, and unlike a certain vampire who shall go unnamed, have no qualms about being the bad guy. I do like to think of myself as a connoisseur of all things 'vamp', and I have to say, this scene is a doozey. In less than 10 minutes this group manages to clean out an entire redneck bar, and it ain't pretty. But then again, that's why I love it. In the end I prefer my vampires to be a little more bloodthirsty and a little less sensitive, don't you?

After the jump: Near Dark fun facts and the Scene We (I) Love...

Crank: High Voltage comes out this weekend, which sends Jason Statham back into a frenzied pinball movie world that has his sweaty bald head running at top speed to keep himself alive ... again. So if you want to keep your levels pegged at 11 this weekend, you might want to consider one of these other movies that have pure Russian racehorse levels of adrenaline pumping through their veins. When we say adrenaline fueled, we don't just mean hyperkinetic, no-attention-span-editing and lots of boring action sequences. That might even qualify Hannah Montana: The Movie for this list.

No, we mean you're on the edge of your seat, neck and shoulders tense, and eyeballs propped open like Malco McDowell in A Clockwork Orange. Cinematical urges you to try this at your own risk, and does not recommend any artery-clogging snacks in the midst of your movie madness. You'll need those suckers wide open to keep the heartpump chugging away, and you can consider yourself exercised for the month of April if you make it through at least three of these movies by Sunday.

Crank

Before writer-directors Neveldine and Taylor concocted another way to brutalize Jason Statham onscreen, they originally did it in this underrated film from 2006. I went into Crank with zero knowledge of the movie, other than the fact that the guy from the Transporter movies, Snatch, and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels was in it. I'd hated the Transporter series, but loved the other two so I thought I'd give this a shot. 87 minutes later, I peeled my sweat-soaked back from the theater seat and staggered out to the car. This is non-stop, pure over the top action, and it's well worth seeing. Just take your meds before watching.

My imagination was caught by the title of the upcoming movie Monsters vs. Aliens. I've seen a lot of monster movies and films with aliens in them. I wondered how would some of these characters fare in battle against one another. How would the gentle aliens from Galaxy Quest be able to stand up to vampires? Could Superman defeat the monster from The Host? How would Ford Prefect deal with Noah Cross?

So I decided to stage a smackdown event featuring some of the best-known monsters and aliens in film in one-on-one combat. Instead of matching up characters with similar (or notably different) abilities, I paired them up the old-fashioned way: pulling names out of a hat. Two hats -- I filled one with the names of every alien creature I could think of from movies, and another with every conceivable monster. Here are the results. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Make-up, animatronics and effects legend Stan Winston passed away on Sunday at the too-young age of 62. In memoriam, Cinematical humbly presents this list of the man's most enduring achievements.

Some of my most treasured movie memories -- childhood and otherwise -- are courtesy of Stan Winston. What impressed me about this list as I was making it was that Winston specialized in realizing the imaginations of our greatest filmmakers -- directors like Burton, Spielberg, Cameron. Winston was a genius himself, of course, but he also facilitated genius, and that's just as important. Those guys owe him so much.

He had many accomplishments beyond the ones I've listed. That's what the comment thread is for.


1. Jurassic Park's Dinosaurs.

It's hard to describe the impression Jurassic Park made back in 1993. I was 9 years old, which was just old enough to be properly amazed. This was the new generation of popular cinema: perfect, lifelike wonders on the screen as if it were the most natural thing on the planet. Earlier technicians did a lot with simple puppetry, stop-motion and miniatures, but now all bets were off, and all barriers seemed lifted. Once you accepted the scientific goofiness of the film's premise, no further suspension of disbelief was necessary. Winston opened the gates to a whole new cinematic playground.

Ah, the ways in which they go about promoting movies these days. Just got an email from these people who set up a new online game built to pimp out the DVD release of Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. The game itself isn't much of a game as it is a gimmick, but you do need to be over 18 to play (though this one is based on the honor system). Basically, you can upload an image of yourself into the character they provide and are sent on a first-person mission through what appears to be some sort of human meat locker. You then move your soldier through the room, while an Alien scurries across the wall.

Then it gets interesting.

Both an Alien and a Predator catch you, hang you up on the door and begin to slowly rip apart your limbs. Remember, the image you uploaded can now be seen, and, well, it's all sort of creepy. They give you the option to kick and punch while you're hanging there, but c'mon -- kicking and punching is not going to stop these beasts from dissecting you one limb at a time. It's quite the gory online promotional item, hence the need to be over 18 -- so be aware that there's blood, guts and your sad sack of a face all mixed together. Definitely worth a pop in ... feel free to use the face of an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend and have a ball.

The DVD for Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem hits shelves on April 15.

'Tis the season to get away from your family, bundle up with a gallon of moonshine (preferably one with "XXX" written on the label), and watch endless hours of movies! What follows is not a comprehensive or "Best Of" list. These are simply seven DVD box sets that any film buff would be thrilled to find in his or her stocking this Christmas. Most of them were released in the past few months, and a couple have been out a while but just got amazingly cheap. Have a few gifts left to buy? Consider picking one of these up. You don't even have to get off your fat ass, if you click on the titles you'll be taken to the links on Amazon. I've included items to suit every budget, and they've been arranged in order of price. Naturally, the more expensive the set you purchase, the more you love the person you're buying it for. That's just the way it works.

The Alien Quadrilogy ($33.99)

Pretty much the gold standard for DVD box sets. This collection's price recently took an incredible drop. It was worth every penny of the $80 bucks I paid for mine years ago, so you can better believe it's worth $34. The set gives you several versions of each film in the beloved Alien series -- Alien (one of the best suspense movies ever made), Aliens (one of the best action movies ever made), Alien 3 (David Fincher's misunderstood take is a stronger movie with each viewing), and Alien: Resurrection (Nobody's perfect). An unprecedented amount of extra goodies that includes the amazing Director's Cut of Aliens, extremely cool fold-out packaging, and the absence of Alien Vs. Predator make this set a must-own. I've owned it for four years, and still haven't seen everything in there. Plus, don't you just love the word "Quadrilogy?"

The first few lines of dialogue in Alien vs. Predator: Requiem include "take your time" and "slow down," which is pretty ironic considering how impatient the movie comes off in its initial five minutes. Thanks to Yahoo! you can now watch those five minutes and see for yourself. You'll agree that at least in the opening, the sequel is not trying to waste any time. Right away we see an Alien pop out of a Predator's chest, which leads to a quick Alien-Predator battle, which immediately results in the Predator's ship crashing down onto Earth. At this point we meet father and son hunters, the former of which utters those first words.

Oh, and that's when it gets awesome: the hunter shoots one of the baby Aliens, which bleeds acid on his arm, which then falls off. Then another baby Alien jumps onto his face and another baby Alien jumps onto the kid's face. Satisfied yet? Well, you still have the beacon, which is picked up on the Predator home planet, where the last few minutes' events are given an instant replay, which is viewed by another Predator, who abruptly gets into another spaceship and heads to the rescue. And then ... we see the title sequence.

Yeah, in case the red-band trailer hadn't been enough, I have to reiterate that I've never been so excited about a movie I've had such a low expectation for in my entire life. Will Alien vs. Predator: Requiem suck? It's possible, but if it continues with such disregard for pauses, it's going to at least be a quick and painless shot of entertainment.

One of the only cool things about the first AVP: Alien vs. Predator was that Lance Henriksen co-starred. Of course, he didn't play "Bishop", his beloved android character from Aliens (or even Bishop II), but it was still a nice touch to have him in there. That is why it's disappointing to hear that none of the past Alien or Predator actors will be appearing in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. In an interview with the MTV Movies Blog, AVP2 co-directors Colin and Greg Strause revealed that they attempted to cast some surprise guests, but were unfortunately unable to do so. The brothers wouldn't name names, but said that one person sought after was too expensive -- even for a cameo? -- and another "shockingly" blew them off. Funny, because aside from Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Bill Paxton and Ian Holm, I can't imagine many of the Alien series players being too high profile that they couldn't do a fun little throwback appearance. Maybe the Strause Brothers were aiming too high, but surely they could have even made attempts for Charles S. Dutton, Ron Perlman, Veronica Cartwright, Tom Skerritt or even Paul Reiser, not to mention tons of others. And what about Carl Weathers, for the Predator way around? After seeing his recurring role in Arrested Development, I believe he would have been up for such an idea.

The Strause Brothers also discussed with MTV the title, although they didn't even mention the lame "Requiem" part. They only said that Fox is currently not into numbering their sequels and that the pluralization of "Alien" is directly referencing James Cameron's Aliens. Other highlights from the interview (as pointed out by Movieweb) include an acknowledgment that the studio -- not just the Strauses -- thought the first AVP was a disappointment for fans and that the R rating is a response to that (Colin: "I mean, we chest-burst a little kid!"), a discussion of the Alien/Predator hybrid (aka "The Predalien") and a hint that the duo want to do another sequel set in space. MTV Movies Blog has also been sharing some exclusive fight-scene photos from the upcoming sequel (out this Christmas) that are pretty neat.

For those of us hoping that AVP2 is better than AVP1, our prayers seem to have been answered. IGN has the new red band trailer for the spin-off sequel, and it looks pretty damn good. It begins with an appropriate tagline: "In space, no one can hear you scream. On Earth, it won't matter." Then, it's pretty much everything we'd hoped the first Alien vs. Predator movie would be. Well, to be honest, I had wanted a human free, dialogue free movie featuring only the Aliens and the Predators, but this is definitely my second choice.

It isn't even just that the sequel is Rated R, unlike its PG-13 predecessor, and that this uncensored trailer gives us more gore and violence than the anything in the first movie. It's that the Strause Brothers (sibling effects-wizards-turned-directors Colin and Greg) and screenwriter Shane Salerno seem to have the right story for us fans of the original franchises. From the Alien series we have a government/military that doesn't care about civilian life (this is also popular in other horror films of late). From the Predator series we have the thick brush of a forest (almost jungle-like) for more thermal-vision stuff -- which just wasn't as interesting in the cold, arctic setting of the last effort.

Of course, the R-rated stuff is pretty sick, too. As is the seemingly Spielbergian touches: the flashlights in the woods searching for an alien, but it isn't E.T.; a very Jurassic Park-esque scene with Alien young substituted for Velociraptors. Hey, I know it won't possibly be as good as any Spielberg movie nor will it likely be as excellent as the real installments in either franchise. But it still looks awesome. I just hope the trailer hasn't spoiled the best killings -- that Predator knife thrown at the blonde, the double head-shots, the eyes poked out -- or the ending with that final shot with the F-bomb and the Alien kill, which looks climactic. Anyway, one thing is clear: Fox is really going with that Requiem subtitle, and I now realize that I made a mistake with my last AVP2 post; the official title is Aliens vs. Predator -- Requiem (not Alien vs. Predator -- Requiem), as if it really matters.

During Comic-Con, when I wasn't running from place to place or freezing my butt off in Hall H, I also managed to sit in the lobby of the Marriott Hotel next to the San Diego Convention Center and have a pretty lengthy conversation with Battlestar Galactica Co-Executive Producer Mark Verheiden. During our 45 minutes or so together, we talked about a lot of things not movie-related. However, we also managed to get around to discussing quite a bit of Battlestar Galactica related stuff - including a Battlestar movie -- as well as his other projects: an adaptation of the DC Comic Teen Titans for the big screen and his recent collaboration with actor/director Bruce Cambell.

Verheiden has been writing comic books, television shows and movies for almost twenty years. But when he first moved to Los Angeles from his native Portland, he didn't know anyone in the business or have any idea how he might "break in" and start writing for a living. His first paying screenplay , which he remembers fondly, was for a low-budget action film called Terror Squad starring Chuck Connors, who is best know for his role as The Rifleman on TV.

"A couple friends moved down with me and got jobs in town," said Verheiden. "One worked in sound and I begged him to let me come in and pitch the producer some movie ideas and he ended up making one. Then, he bought another and that was pretty much it. Later, I could point to those films when Hollywood people ask me if I've had anything produced and say "yes."