It's a show-too-much trailer, which is missing some of the original's goodness, but I have to admit: My interest was piqued by the Death Race trailer that Erik shared last week. There were three things that got me: Joan Allen, Ian McShane, and "Welcome to the Jungle." Mixed together, they're enough to get me into the theater on a rainy day, hoping that it's an '80s rock fest of driving action. But now there's an official, tasty fourth reason. MTV has confirmed that David Carradine has a cameo.

Paul W.S. Anderson said that he didn't want the film "to become a cheesy cameo-fest," but one main player is coming back to the fold. Or, at least, I hope so. "There's obviously been, 'Oh, where's the David Carradine cameo?' It's there, and I think it's a nice thing for fans." Bring on Frankenstein!

However, I'm sure it can't be as cool as his Kwai Chang Caine-like cameo in Lizzie Maguire. Penned by the lovely sister/brother writing pair of Nina and Jeremy Bargiel, Carradine gets back into kung-fu fighting to help the wee Maguire become Jet Li's sidekick. (Go here to see the cameo, which starts at about 4:30.) Okay, I kid, but I still love that cameo.

The world needs more mainstream David Carradine (that's not a cameo in Epic Movie.)

Just about anyone who follows horror has bemoaned the sorry state of the genre these days. Nearly everything is a remake, either of some 1970s or 1980s classic or of some recent Asian hit. The rare films that aren't remakes are simply lazy copies of whatever worked a year earlier, the current "torture porn" subgenre, for example. And hardly anything screens for the press, which means that even the studios now understand how low things have sunk.

The new film The Ruins likewise isn't screening for the press, but it is based -- of all things -- on an actual book! With pages! It's by Scott B. Smith, who many years ago wrote both the book and screenplay for the excellent A Simple Plan. The new movie inspired me to look up other literary-based horror movies (whether inspired by novels or short stories). Sadly, aside from Stephen King and the upcoming Midnight Meat Train (based on Clive Barker's short story), I couldn't find much good recent work, but there is plenty to choose from ...

While speaking to MTV, Guillermo del Toro shed a bit more light on his rumored Frankenstein project, as well as talked more about possibly directing the two Hobbit films and the final Harry Potter flick, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Unfortunately, I can't see the man taking on all of those films -- especially since both The Hobbit and Harry Potter have strict deadlines to meet. First up, MTV asked whether del Toro was still interested in re-visiting Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Good news is that del Toro very much wants to put his Frankenstein take up on the big screen, however because of the writer's strike he hasn't managed to write much. He claims to have written some notes prior to the strike, but decided to stop all writing once the strike happened in order to support the writers. As of now, he says, all he can do is draw: "The only way to do the Shelley novel is to actually do a four-hour miniseries," he said. But I think there permutations in which you can tell the myth in a different way." del Toro also joked that he will cast Robert De Niro in the role of Frankenstein, and that the director himself will "appear shirtless for most of the length of the film."

Regarding The Hobbit, del Toro said he's heard rumblings but nothing has come about. Says del Toro, "I keep an open mind, but nothing is official." Regarding Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, del Toro said he's still very interested in directing the seventh film if he were approached. He says, "Now that the novels have grown darker, I'm definitely interested ... After the third film, they've evolved really into a very nice universe to play in." He also admits to have read the seventh book (which he received from his "daughter") and claims to have been "very moved by the ending." So, if it were up to you, which of these three would you like to see Guillermo del Toro direct: Frankenstein, The Hobbit or Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows? Sign off below ...

Happy Halloween from Cinematical! As a special treat, we've put together this gallery of some of the great movie monsters, from Lon Chaney Sr. as the Phantom in the 1925 silent film The Phantom of the Opera, to Lon Chaney Jr. as The Wolfman. We have an array of Dracula's, from Nosferatu (1922 and 1979 versions) to Dracula (Bela Lugosi, Christoper Lee, Frank Langella, and Gary Oldman -- who do you like best?). We have a slew of evil children and evil adults in the mix as well. Tell us who your favorite movie monsters are, and who we missed including in our gallery.

If you missed catching any of our Spooktacular Halloween Coverage, you can catch up with it all right here! And don't forget to let out your own inner monster by entering our fabulous Halloween Costume Contest.

We could really use a new adaptation of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. It could be a faithful film, which would have certain relevance in a time when genetic research and other culturally debated scientific progresses, medical or not, continue to mark us as a God-aspirant species. Or it could be an updated or altered adaptation, to make the relevance more obvious. I think James Whale's films about the doctor and the monster are terrific, and we already have the greatest variation -- Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein -- but I'd personally like to see a new take on the original novel. Well, according to JoBlo, the guy who would most like to take the reigns on that idea is Guillermo Del Toro. During a visit to the set of Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, JoBlo's Jason Adams quoted Del Toro as saying he "would kill to make" a faithful "Miltonian tragedy" version.

Apparently when Kenneth Branagh tried to do this 13 years ago with his Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, there was an unshot version of the script by Frank Darabont. Del Toro claims that draft was, according to Adams, "pretty much perfect." I admit I never bothered with Branagh's film. I'd rather watch "Johnny 5" play the monster than Robert DeNiro (or at least watch the robot read the book, as he does in Short Circuit 2). So, I can't directly say what didn't work about the adaptation. All I know is that it seems to have been pretty much disregarded by everyone. That said, I'm also not the biggest Del Toro enthusiast in the world. I'm not going to exclaim that he needs to make this and that he would deliver the best Frankenstein ever. I would, however, love to see him make the attempt.

"Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted." - Groucho Marx

That famous line is one of Groucho's best, but it is always attributed as being un-sourced. Did he actually say it? Was he in fact mis-quoted? Where did the line come from? I guess it doesn't matter. But if you're planning to dress up as Groucho for Halloween this year, you'll be wanting to memorize some of his lines, because doing an impersonation is necessary for certain costumes, such as that one. Last year I dressed up as Harpo instead of Groucho, because I'm terrible at remembering exact lines, always mis-quoting people and characters; for Harpo all I needed was to close my mouth and honk my horn.

Anyway, there's a new list over at The List Universe laying out the 15 most mis-quoted or mis-remembered lines in cinema, and I thought it would come in handy to any of you dressing up as movie characters this October 31. Going as Dracula? Don't say, "I want to suck your blood." Or as Tarzan? Don't incorrectly utter the words, "Me Tarzan, you Jane." Other famously mis-quoted lines come from Casablanca, Star Wars, Star Trek, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Frankenstein, Apollo 13, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer, She Done Him Wrong, Blonde Crazy and White Heat (poor, mis-quoted Cagney!). Sure, a few of them are just barely off the mark, and I think the list is being a bit picky with the Forrest Gump quote, but nonetheless these are lines we think were spoken, yet they never were -- except the Sherlock Holmes one, it seems.

Of course, most of the films come from a time before we could re-watch movies over and over again on VHS or DVD. However, a few were released in the modern, repeat-viewable era. Either way, it is strange how all of these mis-quotes became so commonly attributed and how they exist so prominently within the popular consciousness -- enough that parodies tend to mis-parody the mis-quotes, such as one of my favorite lines from UHF, "Badgers? Badgers? We don't need no stinkin' badgers." I guess maybe it wouldn't be as funny if the movie had correctly imitated The Treasure of the Sierra Madre by instead using the longer, " "Badgers? We ain't got no badgers. We don't need no badgers. I don't have to show you any stinkin' badgers!"

When the guy who directed The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream decides he wants to share his five favorite horror films with the world, two things are certain: 1. Horror fans should probably sit up, take notice and jot the titles down (if they haven't seen 'em yet), and 2. The news will be carried in (of all places) The Wall Street Journal.

Yes, Wes Craven was asked to list his favorite fistful of fright flicks, and here's what one of the modern masters of macabre had to offer: the original Frankenstein (Craven's going out on a limb already -- although I do give the man credit for not going with the more popular choice of Bride of Frankenstein), Mervyn LeRoy's The Bad Seed (does that include the final scene, Wes?), The Exorcist (another potentially controversial pick), the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre (darn good pick -- albeit another fairly obvious one) and Ridley Scott's Alien -- which, as anyone who reads Film Critic Hunk Magazine can tell you, is my very favorite film of all time, horror or otherwise. God I love that film....

And that's pretty much it! Tune in next month when John Carpenter tells us he loves Tod Browning's Dracula, Stephen King expresses some affection for Freaks, and Eli Roth breaks the news that the original Halloween "rocks!!"

One of my very favorite topics of film-related conversation would have to be that of the infamous "horror remake." Could be a J-horror re-imaganing, a revisit with truly classic material, or a quick-buck PG-13 junkpile that shames the name of its predecessor. (Heck, I posted a similar article last March, and I even went as far as to bang out a master list of horror remakes at my very own website!) Well, apparently the movie geeks over at Premiere.com are also big time horror nerds as well, because they've just posted their list of the 15 Best Horror Remakes.

OK, having just perused their 15 choices, I gotta say: I know it's got to be hard coming up with 15 really good horror remakes, but jeeeeez. Just lower it to a Top 10 and get The Fog, The Amityville Horror and 13 Ghosts OUTTA there. And ... am I on crack or did the Premiere squad neglect to mention Cronenberg's The Fly AND Carpenter's The Thing??? I mean, good job on throwing some love towards The Blob, Dark Water and the 1978 version of Body Snatchers, but come on! You guys omitted the two best horror remakes ever made!!!

(I'll include their full list after the jump, just to incite some discussion, but definitely check out the Premiere article before you dive in, you crazy gorehounds, you.)

After years in the "talking" stages, Frank Darabont is finally about to step up and direct a big-screen version of Stephen King's novella The Mist, which is a pretty kick-ass story, if you ask me. Our own Matt Bradshaw reported on the deal a few weeks back, but I just recently came across a rather excellent video interview with Mr. Darabont over at IGN Movies. And I thought it was worthy of sharing. That's how much I care.

During the chat, Franky D (who also adapted King's Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile for the silver screen, in addition to a 1983 short based on The Woman in the Room) discusses why he's keen to do lean 'n' mean monster movies, the inspirations he earned from Danny Boyle, and the various differences between doing "genre" and straight-ish dramatic pieces.

For those who question Frank Darabont's genre skills, let's not forget that he wrote the only really good Freddy sequel (Dream Warriors), an extra-nasty remake sequel (The Fly 2), and a goo-monster remake that's seriously underrated (The Blob). He also wrote Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein re-do, which is a horror in multiple senses of the word.

And I don't think it's been "officially" announced yet, but generally-accepted buzz indicates that Thomas Jane will be tapped to play the lead in The Mist. Cool.