ghost house Tagged Articles at Cinematical

One of the best things about last March's South By Southwest Film Festival was that I got to hang out with a bunch of Cinematipals like Kim, Erik, Pete, Jette, Snider and Gene ... and one of the best times we had together was during the world premiere midnight screening of Gregg Bishop's Dance of the Dead. It certainly helped that we were chilling at the Alamo Drafthouse, but the flick should play well in traditional cinemas as well.

Which brings me to the point: According to a recent press release, Dance of the Dead is now co-owned by the horror-lovin' Lionsgate and Sam Raimi's Ghost House outfit. I'll leave the specifics for the after-the-jump press release, but suffice to say that Dance of the Dead is sort of like George Romero meets John Hughes. (Read Peter's review here and mine right here.) Congrats to the Dance gang for snagging a pair of partners who actually specialize in high-quality indie-style horror stuff. (And while you freaks are waiting for Dance of the Dead to hit your town, feel free to rent Bishop's first flick. It's called The Other Side and (after watching it) you wouldn't believe how much it cost to make.

Oh, those crazy Ghost House guys. Just when we thought they'd never produce a good movie, they went the "big boy" route and delivered the icily fantastic 30 Days of Night. It was so damn good, it almost made us forget about previous DH offerings like Boogeyman, The Grudge 2, Rise: Blood Hunter and The Messengers. (OK, so their first flick, The Grudge (remake), wasn't too rotten, but damn if I can remember anything about it.)

So what will the Ghost Housers be doing with some of that 30don money? Churning out a bunch more video sequels, of course! Fangoria brings us the word on a whole bunch of upcoming stuff...

Boogeyman 3 -- Yeah, Boogeyman 2 hits DVD early next year. This one's Part 3. Brian Sieve (Boogeyman 2) is writing the script.

The Grudge 3 -- Toby Wilkins (Kidney Thieves) directs and Brad Keene (The Gravedancers) writes this "culture reversal" sequel.

The Messengers 2 -- Screenwriter Todd Farmer returns for this prequel -- that couldn't possibly be much lamer than the first entry. So that's good news.

Rise 2 -- Gary Jones (Crocodile 2: Death Swamp) directs and Ben Ketai (30 Days of Night: Blood Trails) writes this Liu-less sequel to the witless Lucy Liu vamp flick.

So basically someone at Ghost House decided to make a sequel to EVERY ONE of their films, regardless of quality or actual demand for a sequel. (Check out the Fango report for all the good news.) Here's hoping that the inevitable 30 Days sequel is done with some class ... and a budget.

The last time we had some news about The Messengers, Scott Weinberg let us in on word of delays and re-shoots, neither of which seemed to bode well for the US debut of the Pang Brothers. Well, it looks like Sony is ready to go ahead with the horror-thriller and released the usual trinity of movie marketing, a web site, a trailer, and now the poster.

JoBlo.com has a first look at the one-sheet for the film starring Dylan McDermott, Penelope Ann Miller, and Kristen Stewart. The story takes place on a sunflower farm, (sunflower farm? Um, ok...) where a family turns on one another as the result of some "supernatural" influences. Thai directors Danny and Oxide Pang (The Eye) are helming the script for the horror written by Mark Wheaton and Todd Farmer. Wheaton, who you might know as Smilin' Jack Ruby from CHUD and Ain't It Cool News, has made the leap from writing about the movies to getting a feature film with a major studio. The bad news though, is that both the trailer and the poster only look so-so. Plus, I think they should have really thought twice about that tagline.

If all of that hasn't managed to cool your jets then you won't be waiting long, The Messengers hits theaters February, 2007.

Because the world just cannot get enough of video game movies, Sam Raimi has decided to get into the act as well. Ghost House Pictures, the production house that Raimi co-owns with Rob Tapert, has acquired the movie rights to Siren, a horror game from Japanese "director" Keiichiro Toyama. Though things are still in the very early stages, Michael Gordon - who wrote 300 - is already on board to write the screenplay, and he's expected to get a lot of input from Toyama as he goes forward.

The film (which is sort of a remake - there's a Japanese version that either just opened or is due to open there soon) will reportedly "focus on an American med school student searching for her missing sister in Japan." Not surprisingly, seeing as how this is a horror movie, she heads off to an isolated town where she ends up "trapped with an unspeakable evil that can no longer be contained." Hey, gamers - what exactly is this "unspeakable evil"? Can you really not talk about it - sort of like Candyman? Or is it just so awful that Variety is protecting its sensitive readers?

As far as video game movies go, it sounds like Ghost House is doing this right: no Uwe Boll, first of all, and the game's creator is going to be involved in the screenplay. Plus, Raimi and Tapert have experience with the J-horror genre, having produced both the Grudge remake and its sequel. It's a good start, at least.