I'm hungry for horror. The Strangers was OK, but The Happening was a major disappointment and nothing else is scheduled until August 1. That's when Ryuhei Kitamura's Midnight Meat Train, starring Bradley Cooper, Vinnie Jones and Leslie Bibb, is now set to open, delayed from May 16. But will you get to see it?

Shock Till You Drop reported last week that Lionsgate planned only a limited, 100-screen release in major cities, followed by a quick release on DVD, thus denying many horror fans the opportunity to see the film on the big screen. Someone suggested a viral campaign to get a wider release, which has now been endorsed by the man who wrote the story on which the movie is based: Clive Barker.

As quoted at The Official Clive Barker Resource, he says: "I am very excited about this possibility and I would passionately encourage everybody who cares about my work to use this chance to change the minds of the folks at Lionsgate. ... I really think, this late in the day, that grassroots support for our movie could significantly improve our chances of reaching a much bigger audience theatrically. The picture is worth the effort, I believe."

With three wide releases already scheduled on August 1 (The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The Rocker, Swing Vote), it's a tough sell, but I'd love to see it happen. A thread at the IMDb boards has contact information.

[ Via Bloody Good Horror ]

Adult-skewing horror thriller Midnight Meat Train has been bumped from its planned May 16 release date, according to Shock Til You Drop. Citing distributor Lionsgate as their source, Shock says no new release date has been offered. As of this writing, the official Lionsgate site does not even mention the film, and production company Lakeshore Entertainment still shows May 16 as the release date.

Midnight Meat Train promised to be one of the relatively few dark films in the summer marketplace, offering a menacing alternative to light-hearted blockbuster fare. The film is adapted from a Clive Barker tale that our own Scott Weinberg described as "one seriously nasty story." If you've seen the pulse-pounding trailer (which you can check out at Moviefone), you know that Bradley Cooper plays a photographer who catches a mysterious man (Vinnie Jones) doing hideous things to people on subway trains and then hiding the evidence in meat lockers.

The producers of the upcoming horror-thriller Born -- the team includes Clive Barker and Guillermo del Toro, among others -- have reached out to Bloody-disgusting.com to clear up rumors that the cast that was locked back in June had dropped out of the project and torpedoed its prospects for getting made. Well, the rumors were partially right -- Jennifer Connelly has flown the coop, presumably because of a scheduling conflict with her next big payday, The Day the Earth Stood Still, opposite Keanu Reeves. Her husband, Paul Bettany, is still on board with the project, though, so take heart. The producers also told BD the film is currently prepping for a February start date, although there was no mention of what actress has stepped in to take Connelly's place. Seems like they'd already have that taken care of, if the film is indeed ready to roll.

Born is being directed by Daniel Simpson, whose only prior credits are two short films, and the story revolves around a couple who settle down in an English town to raise their family only to find their "perfect life" shaken up when the husband's claymation art starts to come to life and terrorize them in some way. The film was written by Simpson, along with Barker and Paul Kaye, and was originally supposed to go back in August. Very little info on the delay had leaked out until now. Connelly is currently in pre-production for Earth, stepping into the role of Helen that was previously played by Patricia Neal in the 1951 original. Stay tuned for further developments.

Real life husband and wife Jennifer Connelly and Paul Bettany have signed on to star in the psychological thriller Born, which will be directed by Daniel Simpson and produced by Guillermo del Toro, Lawrence Gordon, Lloyd Levin and Clive Barker, in an exec producer role. I love it when a married couple decide to play opposite one another on the big screen, especially as lovers because it adds an extra layer of "real" to the whole thing. I just wish it wasn't Connelly; I've had a crush on her my entire life (probably the only reason I watched Career Opportunities more than ten times) and at one point was convinced she was waiting for me to get just a tad older before finally making her movie. Nevertheless, Bettany got there first. Damn him.

In the pic, both will play a married couple who are looking to settle down in a nice English town to raise a family. However, all hell breaks loose when Wallace and Gromit show up to wreak havoc. Okay, it's not exactly Wallace and Gromit, but Bettany's character is a claymation artist, and when his characters begin to act out a nightmare that actually comes to life, then that's when -- as they say -- the plot thickens. Simpson, who will make his directorial debut on Born after helming two shorts (one of which utilized claymation), wrote the script along with Barker and Paul Kaye. It will also mark the first project for the Los Angeles-based finance and production shingle ClearVision Media Production Group. Personally, I think it will be wild to watch live-action fused with creepy claymation -- I imagine not many feature films have explored that territory yet. Currently, there's no word on a production or release schedule; del Toro, Gordon and Levin are also hard at work on Hellboy II.

I don't really remember much about the original Hellraiser other than a slightly confusing plot (but to be fair I was only 12 at the time, so some of the sadomasochistic subtext might have been a bit over my head), a puzzle box, and some highly disturbing scenes involving fish hooks. Last November Variety had reported that Barker had signed to write and produce the remake, but this is the first news we have heard out of the project since the original announcement. Now, Shock Till You Drop has reported that Seraphim Film's Joe Daley confirmed that novelist Clive Barker just turned in a forty-page treatment for the film.

Based on Barker's novella The Hellbound Heart, the original film was released in 1987 and was written and directed by Barker himself. The story followed a man trapped in a dimension of infinite pleasure and torture who persuades his girlfriend to bring him a steady supply of victims to help him escape. Barker had promised that his update will not deviate too much from the original film but, Barker also said that "There are some areas of the first movie where I think we can be a lot more intense and a lot more scary,". Barker has been busy working on his Books of Blood adaptation Meat Train, with the possibility of more from the series in the near future. So, hopes for a completed Hellraiser script might be a little premature. Especially since at this point, we don't know for sure if there even is a treatment.

Just around the time I'd finished devouring every Stephen King paperback known to man, a friend of mine asked me if I'd read "Clive Barker's Books of Blood" yet. I said "no." (This was over 20 years ago, so don't get all crazy on me, horror freaks.) My next trip to the local book store sent me home whistling a happy tune with all three editions of the Books of Blood tucked beneath my arm. (I've since graduated to this omnibus edition.) And to say I loved these slick, sick, twisted little terror stories would be an understatement on par with "Halloween is a good movie."

(For the record, in the U.S. the "Books" are known as Books of Blood Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3, The Inhuman Condition, In the Flesh and Cabal. So now you know how to track 'em down. Previous films based on some of these short stories include Rawhead Rex (from a Volume 3 tale), Candyman, which is based on a story from Vol. 5 called "The Forbidden," and Nightbreed, which came from the title tale in Vol. 6. The classic Hellraiser sprang not from the Books of Blood series, but from a standalone novel called The Hellbound Heart. The upcoming Midnight Meat Train is based on a story from Volume 1 -- and it's one seriously nasty story, believe me. Lastly, my very favorite "BoB" story is one called "In the Hills, the Cities," and if you've ever read it, then you know why you could never make a movie out of it. Darnit.)

Anyway, all that geek blather poured out so I could share some news from ShockTillYouDrop.com (a fine new horror site with a really goofy name), and that news is this: Looks like the company behind Meat Train is planning to unleash a whole bunch of Books of Blood adaptations over the next few years. The next two on the docket look to be "The Book of Blood" and "Pig Blood Blues," both of which can be found in Volume 1 -- and yes there are some stories in that book that don't have the word "blood" in the title. But like Mr. Barker says: "Everyone's a book of blood; whenever we're opened we're red."

We were psyched when Clive Barker announced that his production company was mounting a big-screen version of the author's Midnight Meat Train story -- and then we were bummed when director Patrick Tatopoulos had to leave the project for undisclosed reasons. But then we were psyched again when hardcore filmmaker Ryuhei Kitamura was signed as the new director -- and now we have a leading man!

Set to star in Midnight Train is "familiar face" actor Bradley Cooper, a guy probably best known for his TV work (Alias, Kitchen Confidential, Jack & Bobby), but he also played the hilariously nasty bully in Wedding Crashers. He also appeared in My Little Eye and Wet Hot American Summer, a pair of underrated flicks if ever there were one. (Er, two.) And out of respect for the young actor, we'll neglect to mention that he was also in Failure to Launch, because that flick stunk on ice. On the other hand Cooper hails from Philadelphia, which means he's gotta be cool.

Midnight Train is set to begin shooting very soon, and if you'd like a brief plot synopsis, I can't really help you out. The short story is pretty brief and exceedingly simple ... but it's one I think you should read for yourself. And the rest of the book is pretty damn good too. (And yes, they removed the "meat" from the movie title. Somehow I doubt they'll excise it from the actual story.)

At the risk of sounding -- I don't know -- cynical, I have to say I'm a little surprised to read this article in The Hollywood Reporter. Apparently, horror master Clive Barker is partnering with Walden Media, who are primarily known for kid-friendly fare like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and the upcoming Charlotte's Web, to develop an original thriller for kids centered around Edgar Allen Poe. Although, I guess I shouldn't really be surprised considering Barker has actually done some other projects for kids before, such as the books The Thief of Always and his recent fantasy series The Books of Abarat -- both of which are also currently being developed as films.

Still, most of my experiences with Barker come from watching his films, not from reading his books. Perhaps I'm in the minority but I don't exactly consider Candyman, Nightbreed or Hellraiser suitable for kids -- although I'm sure Pinhead would make an excellent babysitter. Well, I guess everyone deserves a chance to change and try different things, so I can't really fault Barker for wanting to stretch with this new project. That said, what's his reason for wanting to tell this kind of story? "I think we might have a chance with this project to bring the character of Poe alive for a new audience and weave his shadowy existence into the dark enchantments of his stories so that for our protagonist, and for our audience, it will be difficult to be sure where one finishes and the other takes flight," Barker said.

And what about my concerns regarding the blood, violence and other explicit scenes that are usually a large part of the Clive Barker "experience"? "This project is an opportunity for us to reimagine a genre that is generally associated with an older audience," Alex Schwartz, exec vp of production at Walden media said. "By focusing on mood and atmosphere rather than blood and guts, Clive Barker brings a smart, literate take on the horror genre that will expose young audiences to its great literary underpinnings." Ok, I'll buy that.

The as-yet untitled film will revolve around a group of teenagers who attempt to uncover what happened during the last weeks of Edgar Allen Poe's life. Unfortunately, their investigation inadvertently triggers a curse that unlocks Poe's nightmares from which the teenagers must escape. Barker will also produce the film through his Seraphim Films' with Anthony DiBlasi and Joseph Daley exec producing. No word yet on casting or a potential start date. What do you guys think? Can Barker make the transition from horror to kid's films, or should he stick to what he does best?

The only reason I'm reporting on news this relatively small is because, well, The Midnight Meat Train is one of my very favorite Clive Barker stories -- and I've been salivating over the prospect of a movie version since it was announced earlier this year. So here's the latest:

A little while back we learned that Patrick Tatopoulous was all set to make his directorial debut on Midnight Train, but after he left the project, the pre-production just sort of stalled for a little while. But now, according to Bloody-Disgusting.com, the producers have found a new helmsman, and his name is ... Ryuhei Kitamura. Yes, the action expert who directed Versus, Alive, Azumi and Sky High.

Apparently the BD.com boys heard this info while attending the AFM festivities, so let's see if we get any corroborations any time soon. Fingers crossed, because this story and that director would make for one fascinating mix. A blood-soaked one, too.

For those who might be less than fluent in author Clive Barker's cinematic output, I can tell you that he directed Hellraiser, Nightbreed and Lord of Illusions. He also produced the very fine Candyman and has his name plastered on a whole slew of Hellraiser sequels. His most recent project was the direct-to-video release The Plague, which was half-solid and half-tiresome.

For a good long while there it looked like horror master Clive Barker was going to escape unscathed from the Remake Renaissance that's been plaguing the planet for the past several years ... but nope. Looks like the celebrated author / artist / filmmaker has been bitten by the re-do bug; he'll be penning the screenplay for a Hellraiser remake for good ol' Bob Weinstein.

Over at his official website, Mr. Barker seems quite pleased with the fact that he'll be writing and producing (but not directing) this new-fangled vision of Pinhead's wrath -- but someone should have reminded Clive that the Weinsteins don't always treat their genre flicks with the greatest respect. (Just ask the guys who (finally) got their Feast released ... on the one-weekend midnight-only circuit.)

Ah well, I suppose it could have been worse. Somene might have gone ahead and remade Hellraiser completely without Barker's involvement ... and that would have been a fiasco. (Rent a few of the sequels and you'll see what I mean.) Meanwhile, that movie version of Midnight Meat Train is still stuck in limbo somewhere, which sucks because it's one of CB's most wonderfully splattery stories.

But really, wouldn't Rawhead Rex be better suited for the remake treatment? Hellraiser is already good movie!