I'll just come right out and say it: I think werewolves are dumb. They could be interesting, and I'm sure they once were, but for me they're typically a let down, whether they be the lame werewolves in Wes Craven's Cursed or the badly generated werewolf transformation in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban or even the blood-splattering werewolves of a well-written horror film like Dog Soldiers. Maybe it's because the first werewolves I was familiar with growing up were Michael Jackson in the "Thriller" video and Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf, but whatever the reason, the fact remains that I don't think they're scary and I don't think they're cool.

So, you can imagine how disappointed I was to see JoBlo's new spy shots from the set of "X-Files: Done One" (aka X-Files 2), which feature what looks to be a werewolf mask. I guess there's a chance that thing in the photos could simply be a wolf -- not of the 'were' variety -- and that would be OK. But seeing as this is the paranormal world of X-Files, I'm betting on my first thought being correct.

For other fans of the show, these photos are probably pretty exciting. They're certainly a lot more interesting than that first pic we saw last month, and more intriguing than these simple photos and video of David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson from FlynetOnline or these more official shots from ComingSoon.net. Also, with all the secrecy surrounding the plot of the sequel, these photos allow us to speculate a great many things while we wait to hear about the actual plot synopsis. Perhaps one of those new cast members, say Xzibit or Billy Connolly or Amanda Peet turns into a werewolf. Wouldn't that be super neat? Yeah, well you already know I think it would be boring, but I'm trying to be excited for the rest of you.

You'll think I'm shamelessly name-dropping but it's a relevant (and amusing) story, so here goes: I once got to sit down with director Neil Marshall during a one-on-one interview at the Sundance Film Festival. (I agreed to the interview because I'd seen both of the guy's movies and was very enthusiastic about both. Ask Kim or James how often I do interviews. I can't stand 'em.) Anyway, more than eight months later I was in London to visit the 28 Weeks Later set, and one night a bunch of us horror nerds went out drinking. "My friend Neil is going to meet us here," said the lovely Axelle Caroyln of Fangoria Magazine. So imagine my surprise when "Neil" turned out to be not only Neil Marshall -- but also that the guy actually remembered dorky ol' me from that Sundance sit-down!

So yeah, the director of Dog Soldiers and The Descent is every bit the low-key, good-natured, horror-addicted movie freak you might suspect, and the whole bunch of us spent about three hours in a dingy pub discussing the guy's next movie. The script was called Doomsday, the conversation was off the record, and (needless to say) the night was a drunken hoot.

So now that Mr. Marshall's Doomsday is finished production in London, Scotland and South Africa, and marching firmly into the realm of internet marketing, I thought it was time to take a closer look at a project I know only from one lengthy and beer-filled conversation. (See? I told you that anecdote was relevant!) So far we know that Doomsday will be a gritty futuristic action thriller that stars Rhona Mitra, Malcolm McDowell, Bob Hoskins and the awesome Sean Pertwee. So far so good. The story deals with a Britain that's been walled up and infected for three full decades -- until someone has to re-enter the danger zone for a very important reason. (Yes, I'm still trying to remain relatively spoiler-free.)

Right up front I'll say that Neil Marshall's horror film The Descent is one hell of a scary piece of filmmaking. I've seen a few horror films in my time (ok, more than a few) but this one actually scared me at many points while I was watching it. In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say The Descent is one of the scariest, most well done, horror films I've seen in many years. Certainly, it's far superior to the majority of the Splat-packing Saw clones we've been graced with at the theaters of late.

Plus, keep in mind that The Descent was not Marshall's first film. He also directed the very impressive, but less scary, Dog Soldiers. So, The Descent was no fluke; this guy has got some talent. That said, what does my nominee for best horror director of the last few years do for an encore? Not another horror film, exactly -- although from the description it does seem to have some horror elements. Instead, according to Sci-Fi Wire, Marshall will follow up The Descent with a futuristic action thriller called Doomsday for Rogue Pictures and producers Steven Paul and Benedict Carver.

Marshall will also be writing the script for Doomsday, which tells a story set three decades after a biological catastrophe that leads citizens of a city to close themselves off from the rest of the world by building a large wall around their city. Then, when the biological agent that caused the catastrophe resurfaces in another country, an elite group is sent to that country to find a cure. In addition to Marshall's involvement with Doomsday, it was also announced that the stunning Rhona Mitra, recently of the TV series Nip/Tuck and the upcoming films Skinwalkers and The Number 23 with Jim Carrey, will be joining the cast of Doomsday. Mitra will play the leader of the elite team sent into the plague-ridden wasteland in search of the cure.

As a huge fan of Marshall, his films and the super-hot Rhona Mitra, I'm especially interested in seeing this. To me, it sounds like Marshall is combining the best elements of The Descent and Dog Soldiers to make this new film. If he's successful (and I have every confidence he will be) Doomsday could definitely turn out to be a worthy successor to The Descent. No word on other casting but production is scheduled to begin in early 2007.

If there's one thing the media really loves to do, it's lump a bunch of barely-connected people into an ill-fitting group -- and then give that group a clever name. Whether it's The Rat Pack, The Brat Pack or The Splat Pack, I just get irked whenever a new "pack" makes it into the cultural lexicon. Oh, you're not familiar with that last one? Yeah, it's a moniker that's been given to a bunch of "new" horror filmmakers, one that seems to imply that these guys get together every weekend to smoke weed and watch Halloween 2 together.

According to a recent article in Time Magazine, one that seems to approach horror flicks the same way a prissy schoolmarm would approach some inappropriate comic books, the members of "The Splat Pack" are Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel), Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers, The Descent), Alex Aja (High Tension, The Hills Have Eyes), Rob Zombie (House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil's Rejects), and James Wan, Leigh Whannell and Darren Lynn Bousman of the Saw trilogy. (Apparently Wolf Creek director Greg McLean was part of the original pack, although he goes unmentioned in the Time article, probably because he hasn't made much money yet.)

But what do these guys have in common, really, other than the fact that they all make horror flicks? I see Americans, Brits, Aussies and a Frenchman in the mix, and while some of the guys are fresh-faced and 20-something, guys like Roth have been toiling away in backstage anonymity for years. Plus, c'mon, Rob Zombie is 42 years old, so how exactly does he tie in with these kids? And why is it that Neil Marshall never seems to be quoted in these articles? Is he just included because his horror movies are ... GOOD? Apparently the Splat Pack label was created by Alan Jones of Total Film, and I'm sure the guy's an absolute expert on horror flicks -- but labels create limits, exclusions and oversights. And, ultimately, articles like this one, I suppose. (Either way, I bet Jones bangs out a book called The Splat Pack by the end of 2008.)

The UK's Christopher Smith (Creep, Severance) is young and horror-heavy, so why isn't he a member of The Pack? Shouldn't (Dawn of the Dead screenwriter, Slither director) James Gunn be one of the den mothers? Lucky McKee has made only two feature films (May and The Woods), but they're both downright excellent pieces of horror. Why's he not a member? Uwe Boll's done a bunch of horror flicks that could be accurately described as " laden with torture," so why not throw him an invitation? You want a guy who loves the word splat? Try Jake West, the guy who directed Evil Aliens. Plus I read another article a while back in which Jonathan Liebesman (Darkness Falls, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) was considered a member of The SP! Now, if that guy can be considered some sort of "future of horror," I'll eat my hat.

The common themes among the Splat Packers are ... what? They all like horror movies, they don't shy away from intense chills, harsh themes or copious gore, and they're all carbon-based life forms, I guess. But really: Does anyone out there think the work of Eli Roth is even remotely similar to that of Neil Marshall? Does a Rob Zombie flick remind you of what was seen in, say, High Tension? I mean, if you're going to define a term, then define it. And as a big fan of just about all these movies, I just gotta scratch my head when I hear these guys lumped together in one basket.

And what happens when guys like Ryan Schifrin (Abominable), Adam Green (Hatchet), J.T. Petty (S&Man) Scott Glosserman (Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon), Jon Levine (All the Boys Love Mandy Lane) and Adam Mason (Broken) start to make their way up the ranks? Will we have the arrival of Splat Pack 2: The New Generation? Back in the late '70s/early '80s, did we need a goofy little heading to remember names like Carpenter, Hooper, Craven, Dante, Landis and Cunningham?

Ultimately, I have no real point. I'd just seen the phrase "Splat Pack" one too many times and felt the need to vent. Opposing viewpoints are welcome, as long as they agree with my own opinions.

I was poking around the corners of some horror sites this morning over my morning coffee (not because I dig horror first thing in the morning, but I was checking out a site submitted for Film Blog Group Hug, and suddenly found myself ass-deep in blood and gore), and ended up over at Final Girl's site, which recently hosted a Film Club discussion on The Descent, which I really liked (WARNING: major spoilers are in that post, so if you haven't see the film, you might hold off on clicking until you do).

Then I saw something in the comments that made me go, "Oh, no!" so loudly that it scared my kids: A rumor of a sequel to The Descent. Oh, I know, this is old news to you horror buffs out there -- Scott even mentioned it a while back at the bottom of a Descent round-up -- but it wasn't to me, and it was rather upsetting to read about before the caffeine had even properly filtered into my bloodstream. So off I went to try to further confirm the scurrilous rumor, and I found mention of Neil Marshall talking about that very thing at Comic-Con on both Bloody Disgusting and Dread Central. Curses.

There's already a sequel to Marshall's 2002 Dog Soldiers underway, but hopefully the rumor of a sequel to The Descent will die quietly. How could they (damn those "they", they're always up to no good) possibly make a sequel to The Descent? Feel free to discuss at will in the comments, but if your comment includes spoilers, kindly include a warning. IMDb, I should note, has Marshall next working on a post-apocalyptic number cheerily titled Doomsday.

Let me be right up front about this: I don't really like horror films. Not because I don't think horror is a perfectly valid and deserving genre, either. No, my reason is much simpler than that: I hate being scared. It's true, I am quite possibly the world's biggest wuss when it comes to scary movies. Scary books, I can handle, but put it up on a big screen in the dark, and it freaks me out. When I saw Alien way back in 1979, I had nightmares for years. So it was with some trepidation that I approached the screening of The Descent, Neil Marshall's follow-up to his 2002 werewolf hit Dog Soldiers.

All I knew about The Descent going in was that it involved caves and cave-dwelling, flesh-eating creatures. Now, given that I am claustrophobic, and given that I also am opposed to cave-dwelling beasties dining on my flesh, this didn't seem a great combination for me. Nonetheless, I soldiered on. And, I have to say, I'm glad I did, because although The Descent scared the pants off me, I also enjoyed it immensely.

I was lucky enough to have a sit-down interview with professional horror wizard Neil Marshall during last January's Sundance, and although we spoke mainly about The Descent, 28 Days Later, Alien, and our favorite '80s slasher flicks, I did remember to ask him about the sequel to his Dog Soldiers. He said that a follow-up or two would happen eventually, that he's not involved in any creative capacity, and that he wishes the new filmmakers well.

So now comes word from Canada's coolest horror site that the long-delayed Dog Soldiers: Fresh Meat just might be getting revved up for production. Stepping in as director will be Rob Green, whom horror-heads might remember from his rather cool WWII chiller The Bunker. Apparently the sequel, which will finally go into production this fall, will cover the further lycanthropic misadventures of Private Cooper, although we're not yet certain if Kevin McKidd will be reprising the role.

Back to Marhsall for a second: He also mentioned to me that his Descent follow-up would be a Road Warrior-style action-adventure de la post-apocalypsia. That flick will be called Doomsday, and, of course, I'm geeked to see how it turns out.