Most horror geeks know Brian Yuzna as a frequent Stuart Gordon collaborator who helped to bring us Re-Animator, From Beyond, and the underrated Dolls. Younger gene freaks would also know Mr. Y from his numerous Filmax productions, which include Dagon, Rottweiler, and (of course) Beyond Re-Animator. But now, according to Big V, Brian is about to deliver a trio of 3-D horror flicks. The first will be a giant monster movie called Amphibious, the second will be Brett Leonard's Necronauts, and the third will be Richard Stanley's Cold Blooded. Now, I call this news all sorts of interesting because A) Stanley doesn't direct many films, B) Leonard has never directed a good film, and C) they're all 3-D horror movies! With monsters!

Questions: Does Danny Boyle want to direct 28 Months Later? Maybe. Will next year's Friday the 13th Part 3 DVD come in 3-D? Sure looks like it. Want to see the trailer for Adam Mason's Blood River? Sure why not. How about the first fifteen minutes of the goooory Left for Dead? Absolutely. Did you dig Shrooms? Here's the director's new one. So is Baghead a horror movie or not? Find out via DVD.

And I'd like to throw in one more plug for Maurice Devereaux's End of the Line, which is only available through Canadian retailers who stock Anchor Bay products. It's a nifty little chiller about a religious apocalypse that strikes just as some poor folks are heading home on the subway. Plus the DVD is stocked with supplemental goodies like a commentary, deleted scenes, and some footage from the flick's screening at the Fantasia Film Festival.

So between My Bloody Valentine, Piranha, and Scar (remember that one?) all on the way and all in 3-D -- and with all these also on the way -- I ask you this: Is 3-D here to stay this time? The first 3-D boom was well before my time, but I actually lived through the era of Amityville 3-D, Jaws 3-D, and (dear lord) Treasure of the Four Crowns. So I'm cautious.

"If a film fell in the multiplex, and no one was there to see it..."

Limited release: such a simple phrase, and yet two words that all but indicate to a majority of moviegoers that whatever it is they want to see may or may not escape the confines of a NY/LA run before the film in question comes to them by way of Netflix mere months later.

Meanwhile, screens upon screens across the nation are filled by the likes of the same stars and the same stories, with the same special effects and the same happy endings, leaving the smaller films, the different films, the better films to slip through the distribution cracks, as it were.

Among their number falls The Promotion, a film which we've admittedly supported ad nauseum to the oh-so-ironic tune of $365,928 on a grand total of 81 screens. It opened just this past weekend in my market, Orlando, Fla., on a single screen, for a whopping four days, with a grand total of eight showings, before being shuffled off to make room for that other Jason Bateman co-starring comedy-drama hybrid.

It was the first day of July, and the last night for the film. Having enjoyed it twice before and driven by - I don't know - a sense of romantic futility, I turned out for that final showing. Lo and behold, I wasn't alone...

An epic tale of a famed warrior edged out the modern explorations of a Bavarian filmmaker. Sergei Bodrov's Mongol (Picturehouse) earned $21,400 per screen in its second week of release at five theaters, according to estimates compiled by Box Office Mojo. Does this prove that indie film lovers like their blockbuster-style movies, too? If nothing else, I think it shows that people like a wide variety of movies, no matter if they're heading to the arthouse or the multiplex.

Unlikely as it seems, Werner Herzog has made a G-rated film, suitable for the entire film. Encounters at the End of the World (ThinkFilm) moved Jeffrey M. Anderson to write: "Herzog's film is something closer to art; it has a direct line to its creator's soul. If you see a lot of documentaries and that tired, old PBS format with the talking heads, narrator and clips has started to wear thin, Herzog's open, honest film is as refreshing as an icy breeze." The film grossed $17,500 at one theater in Manhattan.

Opening at two theaters in Austin, rather than the tired old Manhattan and Hollywood, Baghead (Sony Pictures Classics) did very nicely, thank you, earning $4,450 per screen. Jette Kernion commented recently on the unusual release pattern. At Sundance, Eric D. Snider reviewed it ("a blast of fresh air"). James Rocchi interviewed filmmakers Jay and Mark Duplass. We even premiered the poster. All I'm saying is: Go Baghead!

A couple of months ago, I heard some New Yorkers who are involved in the film industry talk about dealing with changing release strategies. At one point, one of them said in a horrified voice, "And remember There Will Be Blood? It opened in ... Austin!" We were all supposed to look shocked, I suppose, but instead a voice in my head shouted "Hah!" in triumph (not aloud). Austin landed the Paul Thomas Anderson movie during Fantastic Fest, before any other city, and it was a rare treat for us to be ahead of the game. Usually we are late in getting limited-release films, waiting enviously while the East and West Coasters have all the fun.

Now New Yorkers are in a dither again because Baghead, the latest film from Jay and Mark Duplass, is opening in limited release on June 13 in which city? Austin! New York and Los Angeles won't see the indie film until July. The reason Sony Pictures Classics is citing for this "reverse rollout" is that they want to build word-of-mouth more effectively, and build a following before Baghead reaches the largest media markets. The New York Times published a long article today about the ramifications of releases that start outside of their fair city, questioning whether this will become a trend or if Baghead is an "aberration." Over at Variety's blog The Circuit, Michael Jones reminds us that Austin isn't like the rest of Texas, and wonders if word-of-mouth can spread effectively from the city of slackers to places like Dallas and Houston.

Iron Man is hitting screens this weekend, leaving a trail of positive reviews in its wake. Check out James' and Scott's reviews, and if you need even more iron in your diet, head on over here. With that in mind, this week's Trailer Park is all about the heroes.

Batman: Gotham Knight
Returning as the voice of the caped crusader is Kevin Conroy, who lent his voice to The Bat in Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, and Justice League. This new version, however, doesn't look like any previous animated version of the character. Going straight to DVD shortly before The Dark Knight hits theaters, this feature offers six different visual interpretations of Batman from six celebrated anime artists. The approach is similar to The Animatrix, which gave an anime take on the universe of The Matrix films. The trailer looks amazing with striking interpretations of not just Batman, but also of the urban sprawl of Gotham City.

Hancock
I mentioned the teaser for this one in a previous Trailer Park, but now we've got a full length preview to ogle. Will Smith plays Hancock, a hero with super strength, the ability to fly and the power to piss off just about everybody (you don't get that from your average Kryptonian). His hard drinking ways have damaged his public persona seemingly beyond repair, but a PR agent played by Jason Bateman sets out to heal Hancock's relationship with the people. The humor is still there, but the new preview plays up the action, and I've got to say I'm dying to see this. While I'm not as down on Rob Zombie's Halloween remake as some, that film's detractors will probably get a kick out of the scene where Hancock tosses Daeg Faerch, the actor who played the young Michael Meyers, almost into orbit.

Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for the film Baghead (click on the image to enlarge), written and directed by two very good friends of this site, Jay and Mark Duplass. Baghead marks the brothers' second feature-length film and follow-up to the very funny (but very uncomfortable) 2005 flick The Puffy Chair. Starring Ross Partridge, Elise Muller, Steve Zissis and my personal fav Greta Gerwig, Baghead tells of four struggling actors who retreat to a cabin in the woods in an attempt to write a screenplay they can produce and star in themselves. Will they succeed or will their personal relationships crumble? Oh, and is there really a stranger with a bag over his head lurking in the shadows, tracking the group's every move?

Baghead premiered to all sorts of great buzz back at Sundance, where our own James Rocchi said it "has warmth and innovation, and the mischievous good sense to subtly make fun of the type of film that it is." As Mark Duplass told us when we interviewed the boys during Sundance, "Baghead is a movie about the funny, horrific, tragic, terrible life of being a desperate actor." Needless to say, we highly recommend it.

Baghead arrives in theaters on June 13, after making a stop at the Tribeca Film Festival later this month.

The last thing you want to see in your rear view mirror when it's past 2:00 in the morning and you're half a mile from where you're staying are flashing red lights. Yup, I got pulled over last night by a very polite police officer. After quizzing me about what I was doing on that lonely road and learning that I'd only had one beer five hours before (remember: don't drink and drive), he informed me that my license plate light was burned out. He returned my driver's license and proof of insurance along with the admonishment to get my broken light fixed. I sighed in relief and cautiously finished driving to my friend's place, about 20 miles north of where all the action is happening at South By Southwest.

Earlier in the day, I managed to dodge the rest of the Cinematical crew -- honestly, I think they were playing ding dong ditch with me -- and arrived in plenty of time for my first screening at the beautiful Paramount Theatre. Super High Me is very funny, if somewhat muddled, take on Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me; comedian Doug Benson decides that he will get high from smoking marijuana every day and documents it on camera. Benson led a very entertaining post-screening Q&A.

From there I walked about ten minutes to the Alamo Ritz, where a much smaller crowd sat through music doc The Upsetter, based on the life and music of Lee "Scratch" Perry. I'll have more to say about that one as soon as I get my review written up. After that I retrieved my car and drove a few miles south to the Alamo Lamar multiplex in time to see a "secret" screening of Baghead, which was described by Eric D. Snider as "a blast of fresh air" -- I totally agree. Filmmakers Mark and Jay Duplass were present along with members of the cast and crew for another entertaining, relaxed Q&A session. That put me in a good mood, which came in handy for my meeting with Friendly Mister Policeman.

You've already read the 378,000 posts we filed before, during and after this year's Sundance Film Festival, but now I'm back to let you know what we left on the cutting room floor! What was going on when the Cinematical team wasn't watching movies or writing about them? Where were we, who were we with and why did someone bring a farm animal with them? Fear not, I'm kidding -- no farm animals were brought to Sundance (and if they were, whoever brought them kept the things hidden pretty well). So here's some of what was left out of our coverage:

-- While watching a Slamdance screener at one in the morning, Erik got pissed off, woke up James and asked him why films set in New York City never feature characters who have New York accents, with the exception of racist cops, gangsters or angry taxi drivers. James agreed. Erik then went off on Boston, and how every film set in Boston needs to feature the Bahston accent -- but, for some reason, the New York accent always gets dissed. James and Erik agreed to write Spider-Man Begins, featuring Peter Parker with a thick New York accent (he grew up in Queens, after all).

-- At four in the morning at some point over the weekend, James woke up Erik to tell him he was snoring. Erik spazzed out because he thought he was being mugged by a giant. From then on out -- and because of his freakishly large shadow -- James referred to himself as the Cloverfield monster whenever he had a few drinks in him. In fact, while outside on a balcony with Michael Pitt, James actually referred to himself as the Cloverfield monster. Everyone laughed.

After being suffocated by so many well-made but unoriginal independent films at Sundance, Baghead is like a blast of fresh air. It has warmth and innovation, and the mischievous good sense to subtly make fun of the type of film that it is.

And what type of film is it? It's essentially part of the "mumblecore" sub-movement, featuring hand-held cameras, semi-improvised dialogue, and directionless hipster characters in their twenties. It's the work of brothers Jay and Mark Duplass, whose Puffy Chair beguiled film festival audiences a few years ago and is well worth seeking out on DVD if you haven't seen it.

The Duplasses stay behind the camera this time but give us four of their kindred spirits as characters. Matt (Ross Partridge) and Catherine (Elise Muller) are long-time on-and-off romantic partners; Chad (Steve Zissis) and Michelle (Greta Gerwig) have been dating a few months, though Michelle thinks of Chad as more of a brother or pal. In fact, she has a thing for Matt.

The crowds at Sundance may be thinning out, but the deals are continuing. In their second acquisition of the week, Sony Pictures Classics nabbed North American rights to Baghead, the new comedy from the filmmaking team of Mark and Jay Duplass. Variety says that the negotiations were not concluded until very early Friday morning; the purchase price is said to be somewhere in the mid to six figures.

Growing up in New Orleans, the Duplass Brothers made many "films" in their hometown before moving to Austin and attending college there. They worked as film editors before resuming their filmmaking career. Several award winning shorts led to their first and quite wonderful feature, The Puffy Chair, which premiered at Sundance in 2005. Mark Duplass played a key role in that role, and has also acted in other films, such as Joe Swanberg's sprightly Hannah Takes the Stairs.

Baghead brings together four ambitious and horny actors as they spend a weekend in the woods, hashing out ideas for a film script, teasing out mutual attractions, and dealing with a bare-chested man with a bag over his head (see accompanying picture). It's a "terrific, genre-bending" accomplishment, declared SXSW Producer Matt Dentler at his indieWIRE blog.

Earlier in the week, Sony Classics picked up rights to the drama Frozen River, so this looks a good complementary addition to their release slate. Perhaps it will play a few more festivals to build more word of mouth in advance of a theatrical release.