A few months back I knocked the After Dark Horrorfest guys for not booking Frontiere(s) as part of their second annual sorta-festival. I quickly received a very cordial response from an AD representative who told me basically precisely this: "I'm emailing in regards to your article about "Frontiere(s)" and Horrorfest. Basically, I just wanted to let you know we absolutely are not going to cut this film up in any way. We have not accepted any rating for it so far and at this point we do not know if it's going to be released NC-17 or unrated. We haven't decided. But I promise you it will get released theatrically and in its originally intended form."

He also explained how an unrated / NC-17 film could not play as part of Horrorfest, given the existing contracts between the event and its venues. OK, fair enough. But the horror geeks are getting royally gore-teased by the Weinsteins on Inside, so when can we get a peek at this freaky Frontiere(s) flick already?

May 9, according to ShocktyDrop.com, is when Lionsgate will be releasing Xavier Gens' whacked-out horror stew in theaters. It will no doubt be a contractually-mandated very limited release pattern, but here's some strange-yet-good news: It seems that the DVD will arrive only four days later. Gee, now there's some incentive to get out to the theaters, eh?

OK, so it's a pretty slow news day, but I think one of the cool things we movie bloggers do is shine a light on titles that might have been underrated, overlooked and plain old dismissed. Bruce Evans' Mr. Brooks didn't blow many doors down at the multiplexes ($33 million worldwide gross) -- nor did it wow the critics all that much (56% positive at Rotten Tomatoes) -- but I dug it. Maybe it's just the novelty of seeing Kevin Costner, Dane Cook and William Hurt in the same movie ... or maybe it was the collective presence of Demi Moore, Reiko Aylesworth, Danielle Panabaker and (rowr!) Marg Helgenberger that kept me enraptured.

All I know is that (aside from one really nagging complaint) I really liked the movie. In it, Costner plays a seemingly normal upper-class family man -- but inside his brain lives a psychotic who looks a lot like William Hurt. And together they do very terrible things. You'll rent it, you'll like it. Thank me later. Demi Moore plays a millionaire police detective. You'll have a ball.

According to DVDActive.com, Mr. Brooks will hit DVD on October 23 courtesy of MGM Home Video, and the disc will come packing a few solid goodies: Evans and longtime collaborator Raynold Gideon will provide an audio commentary (together the duo penned the beautiful Starman, the lovable Stand By Me ... and ... Cutthroat Island), several deleted scenes (with optional commentary), three featurettes and the theatrical trailer. (And hopefully an alternate ending that doesn't ... never mind. Forget I said anything.) Lastly, what's up with that lame-ass DVD cover? I thought the theatrical poster was pretty damn cool.

The coolest horror flick of the year that nobody went to see has claimed itself a DVD release date. After giving the critically-embraced Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon a cursory (and very limited) theatrical release, Anchor Bay will bring the slick slasher deconstruction home to DVD on June 26th. According to Bloody-disgusting.com, the platter will come complete with audio commentaries, a couple of featurettes, several deleted and extended scenes, two of the very cool trailers, thoughts from writer/director Scott Glosserman and a perfectly lovely anamorphic widescreen transfer.

For the record, Anchor Bay released Behind the Mask in 72 theaters on March 16th. (It opened opposite Dead Silence and Premonition, hardly heavy-hitters but most certainly "genre" flicks.) Over the course of its 3-week theatrical run, the movie grossed less than $70,000. I mention that rather ugly number not to draw attention to the film's fiscal failure, but to indicate how damn hard it must be to "sell" a movie like this one. It's got no stars, it's definitely an "indie" and it's tailor-made for a very specific niche audience. But this is what makes DVD so great: I predict that millions of horror fans will have a ball "discovering" Leslie Vernon on their own ... and if this movie doesn't become a cult mini-classic within five years time, then I vow to retire from the horror game forever. (Disclaimer: In actuality I promise no such thing.)

Anyway, you can see for yourself if the horror community has over-hyped Behind the Mask when the flick goes digital in June. As far as Anchor Bay's theatrical releases are concerned, they also have a full-bore September 7 release planned for Adam Green's Hatchet -- a flick that better get more than 72 screens and 70k before we hear news of a DVD release!

Back in June we learned that the third Project Greenlight flick, the horrorific Feast, would be making its theatrical debut on September 22nd. Well, that's still true, but if you want to enjoy the mayhem in a rowdy movie house, you better make some free time for opening weekend. Seems the thing will only be playing late-night on the 22nd and 23rd, apparently just to act as promotion for Feast's October 17th DVD release. (So if you miss the screenings, you won't be depressed for very long.)

Oh, and if you'll be in Las Vegas on September 12th, you can see the flick at its world premiere. It'll be held at the Palms Casino, which is owned by some of the guys who helped bankroll Feast in the first place. Hmm, what else? Well my friend Erik really liked the movie (and he's not even a big horror nut!), plus Fangoria is now offering a peek at the movie's all-new one-sheet. (It has a monster on it!)

Still no word on when Project Greenlight 4 will get underway. (That was a joke.)

New Line has something pretty darn fancy in store for Final Destination 3 fans (I'll refrain from my customary snide remark about just how many of those people there are, because the movie was surprisingly well-reviewed, and people actually went to see it) when the DVD comes out this summer. Not content to just offer commentary and a making-of documentary (both which will be part of the two disc package), New Line has created a choose-you-own-adventure-style version of of the film, offering choices that extend well beyond picking one of two different endings. According to Variety, additional scenes were written and shot -- to the tune of around $1 million in additional cost -- and viewers will have "seven choices at 10-minute intervals," each of which consists of two options. (Not to worry, purists: you can still watch the movie in its theatrical form, if you prefer.)

New Line is really raising the Special Edition bar with this (costly, attention-grabbing) gimmick -- I bet a lot of studio heads are hoping that the disc fails to sell, just to save themselves the headache of trying to put together similarly slick features for their own releases.

You may not have heard, but a new Harry Potter movie was unleashed on DVD this week. Actually lots of them were: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire bowed in four different editions, all of which were bought by lots and lots (and lots) of eager beaver Potter fans. Taken together, sales of the single disc, double disc SE, four disc gift packs, and rental editions amounted to a total of five million units sold. IN ONE DAY. I think I need to sit down.

What's even more mind-boggling about this number is that it's not a single-day record - in fact, it's not even close. (Back in 2003, eight million copies of Finding Nemo were sold on its first day in release.) The five million is, however, a record for the Potter series. Oddly, in its two years of release, the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban disc has sold just over twice that number - total. Hmm. Well, I guess if every fan is leaving their local retailer with all three public editions of Goblet of Fire, that goes a long way towards bumping up the sales totals.

More coolness for you New York City residents - in conjunction with the DVD release of Tim Burton's Corpse Bride, Tribeca Cinemas Gallery will host a free public display of original puppets, sets and artwork from the film, along with an inside look at the stop-motion animation used to create the Oscar-nominated film. The DVD release will kick off with a celebratory screening of the film at 6:45PM February 10, followed by the official opening of the exhibit at 8PM. Director Tim Burton will be in attendance with other behind-the-scenes VIPs from the film (sorry, kids, no Johnny Depp). Following the opening night festivities, the exhibit will be open to the public February 11-20, from 12-8PM daily (except for February 12).

The DVD will include heaps of nifty features, including interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and production drawings of the film's Two Worlds; a peek inside Tim Burton's head to learn what inspired him to bring Corpse Bride to life; a tour of the puppet workshop; and other assorted underworldly goodies.