danielle harris Tagged Articles at Cinematical

I'm a horror fan, but I'm not one of those demented geeks who sits in his cluttered basement wishing he could remake Frankenstein in order to explain the monster's tortured family life before he was resurrected by the good doctor. Thus I was more than a little perplexed when self-professed hardcore horror fan Rob Zombie so eagerly jumped into the director's chair to make his own version of John Carpenter's classic Halloween. What made him think he could improve on perfection?

I agree completely with Cinematical's Scott Weinberg, who recently Tweeted: "Corpses and Rejects are to horror what Epic and Date are to comedy." Of course, he was talking about Zombie's initial forays into the horror field, House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil's Rejects. If you haven't seen them, don't worry: they're simple, fanboy pastiches of earlier, better films that influenced Zombie. Rejects was a modest improvement over Corpses, but, by all accounts, his Halloween in 2007 was a total misfire that pleased no one but the studio bean counters.

I confess, I haven't seen it yet -- my most trusted horror guru (read his review) advised me to save my money -- and the new trailer for H2: Halloween 2 does not inspire much hope for the sequel to the remake. The trailer promises that "the secret" will be revealed. Like Halloween II, the original sequel directed by Rick Rosenthal, this one features a lot of hospital footage. You can watch it over at Yahoo! (or below) and glory, if you choose, in the prospect of more Sheri Moon Zombie. Tyler Mane returns as Michael Myers, along with Scout Taylor-Compton, Malcolm McDowell, and Danielle Harris. H2: Halloween 2 Electric Boogaloo hits theaters on August 28.

Freaky Friday isn't the only movie where switching skin leads to a better understanding of a family member. In 1996, there was Wish Upon a Star, and it featured Katherine Heigl as Alexia, the older, popular, and way-too-purple-clad sister of Danielle Harris' nerdy Hayley. (Harris played the goth Tosh in Urban Legend.) Little sis wishes on a comet, hoping to get a little bit of Alexia's life and poof! They switch places!

Above you can check out the opening of the movie, where Heigl's character covers herself in pastels and gets ready for school. Obviously it's a school a lot more laid back than the one I went to, since she wears a barely-there mini shirt and stomach-baring tank top. It looks like she's trying out for a part in Clueless. If you can't get enough of a teen Heigl, head after the jump and see the sisters realize that they've switched bodies.

You might not have heard of Mr. Skin prior to 2007, but once Knocked Up hit screens, Mr. Skin became a household name. And who better to throw together a top 20 nude scenes of 2007 list then the dude whose job it is to spot, record and gain access to each and every piece of big-screen nudity. It may not be the most intellectual year-end list, but it's certainly one that grabs a lot of attention. So who made the list? Who came in at number one? And would Mr. Skin throw a bone to the film that catapulted the site to nekked super-stardom? I think maybe ...

Coming in at numero uno on the top nude scenes of 2007 list was -- drum roll please -- 43-year-old (and still hot) Marisa Tomei for baring all that and then some in Sidney Lumet's Before the Devil Knows You're Dead. Tomei wastes no time in shedding off the clothes, as the film's opening shot reveals her bent over on all fours doing the nasty with Philip Seymour Hoffman. She continues to remain nude for a good hour of the film until, finally (and regretfully) she puts her clothes back on. Surprisingly, Natalie Portman's infamous nude scene in the Wes Anderson short Hotel Chevalier came in at number three (proving you can weigh 70 pounds soaking wet and still look hot), while Keeley Hazell (Cashback), Christina Ricci (Black Snake Moan) and Sienna Miller (Factory Girl) rounded out the top five. Knocked Up finally crashes the list at number 10 (with nude shots of Stormy Daniels, Nautica Thorn and a Mr. Skin plug at the fifty-nine-minute mark). Special kudos from Cinematical go out to Heather Matarazzo (18 on the list) for sporting the birthday suit in Hostel: Part II (is this the same girl from Welcome to the Dollhouse?) and Danielle Harris (17 on the list) for her nude scene in Zombie's Halloween ... after playing little Jamie Lloyd in Halloween 4 and 5 almost 20 years ago. Oh, and even though it's TV, shouldn't the cast of Tell Me You Love Me get some sort of special nudity award for 2007? Like, most uncomfortable nudity ever! It's only right ...

Check out the full list after the jump, then let us know what your favorite nude scenes of 2007 are.

[via Slashfilm]

Now this is one rumor I didn't expect to end up as reality: 29-year-old actress Danielle Harris has signed on to play ill-fated babysitter Annie Brackett in Rob Zombie's Halloween reboot reimagining remake. What makes this news particularly interesting (but only if you're a serious horror nerd) is that Danielle Harris already has extensive experience battling with psycho killer Michael Myers: She played little Jamie Lloyd in both Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989). (To this day I still get both titles mixed up; can't imagine why.)

Played by Nancy Loomis in John Carpenter's original Halloween, Annie Brackett is the brunette one who ends up on the business end of a ... Oh, my bad. I almost went all spoiler-y on you. The very idea that there's a movie freak out there who hasn't seen Halloween is just too weird to imagine, but I guess it's possible.

In juicily related news, Bloody-Disgusting.com reports that in the casting paperwork, it was made pretty clear that this role would require a small amount of nakedness ... and I'm just sure that piece of information made it into the public domain by pure accident. Rob Zombie would never try to sell a movie by blatantly promising some bare breasts. (I'm kidding; of course he would.)

Still no word on who'll be playing the old Jamie Lee Curtis character, but Zombie seems to enjoy dropping new cast info on any day that ends in a Y.