My inbox, Facebook, and Twitter page were semi-flooded with messages of support and condolence when this A L I E N remake gossip hit the wires, and that's because (as anyone in the universe can tell you), it's my #1 favorite film of all time. Mainly because it's just about the perfect horror film, but also because it's a movie that helped plant me on the road of movie freakdom, and for that I'm eternally grateful. Plus it has Sigourney Weaver in her underwear.

So if a film as undeniably flawless as A L I E N can be considered for a remake, it begs the question: What movie won't they remake? Keep in mind that Psycho, Halloween, The Manchurian Candidate, and King Kong have already earned remakes, which tells me that all bets are off. Not even Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, or The Wizard of Oz are safe. Therefore, clearly, remakes are a force of pure evil.

Then again, there IS the old Shakespeare argument, the one that says "Hey, the Bard's plays have been remade over and over for centuries, and surely you wouldn't call Casablanca superior to King Lear, would you?" To which I would respond, "Good point. And no, Casablanca is definitely not superior to King Lear. But A L I E N certainly is."

Oh, what might have been! Alison Lohman gives a terrific performance as the cursed loan officer Christine Brown in Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell, which opens tomorrow. If not for the vagaries of scheduling, though, Ellen Page would have played the lead role. Would Page have been any better? We'll never know, but she joins a long list that inspires thoughts of 'What if ...?'

Once upon a time, we might have seen Leslie Howard as the titular Frankenstein and Bela Lugosi as The Monster. Instead, Colin Clive played the good doctor, Boris Karloff got a jump-start on life, and the rest is horror history. Here are seven more recent examples of actors and actresses who were considered for key roles in great horror films ... and the ones who replaced them, listed in chronological order. [Disclaimer: Based on information provided on IMDb's "trivia" pages, so no guarantees on accuracy.] Better? Worse? You decide.

1. Melanie Griffith / Sissy Spacek (Carrie)

Even though she was in her mid-20s, Spacek looks so young and fragile as Carrie that it's difficult to imagine anyone else in the role. Griffith was 18 or 19 and already had made an impression in Night Moves, The Drowning Pool, and Smile when she auditioned to play the telekinetic high schooler. Conveying Carrie's complexities might have been beyond her still-developing skills at that point. The pic above, left, is from Joyride, released the following year.

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.

Woohoo, let's check one horror remake off the list for 2009! Yes, I was fortunate enough to experience the 3-D splatteriness of My Bloody Valentine at the jam-packed BNAT 10 last weekend -- and while I was equal parts skeptical and intrigued, I'm pleased to opine that this is one fun little gore-fest. Feel free to check out my review at FEARnet and / or Devin's over at CHUD for some specific thoughts. (Big fan of the original Valentine? Then check out this interview re: the new DVD!) Oh, and here's the newest teaser trailer:



Hmm, what else happened while I was down in Austin? Ah yes, Rob Zombie was officially locked in to directing Halloween 2, which excites me in the same way that would Uwe Boll directing a remake of The Thing. With all due respect to Robby Z. and his legions of fans ... I just hate his movies. Despite actively trying to enjoy each flick (more than once!), each one feels like a sweaty barbecue with the world's most disgusting inbreds. Not scary, just ugly and unpleasant. And since Halloween 2 holds a strange little place in my heart, I think I'll just forget about this project until it hits the screens this October.

Hey cool: Looks like that geek-friendly Outlander flick is finally touching down on January 23. Sounds good. Also in January? Sundance and Slamdance! My red-penciled genre flicks are as follows: Dead Snow, Grace, The Killing Room, and Moon (from Sundance), plus Conjurer, I Sell the Dead, Mum & Dad, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead, and Zombie Girl: The Movie (from Slamdance). Oh, and all the dramas and comedies and such...

True or False: There is such a thing as too many Bruce Campbell interviews. (Answer: False.) And Happy Horrodays! Here's a list of cinema's ten scariest Santas! Last and probably least: Anyone out there want to see Steven Seagal as a vampire slayer? This might cure you.

The rumors were correct this time around, as it looks like Rob Zombie was convinced to return and direct a sequel to his Halloween reboot. Unlike the last Halloween, H2, not to be confused with Halloween H20, will arrive in theaters in October -- which, um, makes a lot more sense than August (even though the first flick took home a good buck at the box office in late summer).

Variety tells us the sequel will pick up right where the last one left off, and follow another Michael Myers killing spree through the eyes of his sister (Scout Taylor-Compton will most likely return). According to Zombie, this sequel will in no way resemble the original sequel (except for the part where Michael Myers kills a bunch of people). Zombie, who originally wanted nothing to do with a sequel, was talked back into things after taking some time off from the monster: "I was so burned out. (But) I took a long break, made a record and I got excited again." What's exciting is we'll have two horror sequels squaring off against one another this October: Saw VI and Halloween 2. Not a lot of time to shoot, edit and polish the flick, but something tells me time won't change what the final product looks like.

What do you think? Give Zombie a second chance here, or will this puppy bomb?

Hey, so happy Halloween and all that! Today is seriously one of my favorite days of the year -- and not because of candy or shaving cream or anything like that, but because when else do you get to see a vampire holding a briefcase and a witch on her blackberry while walking down Park Avenue in New York City? Never! Only on Halloween. It's the one day a year when we're allowed to be absurd, to get down with our freaky selves, to use our imagination and, most importantly, have fun. These are the good days, so enjoy it while it lasts.

That being said, we've spent all month posting some of our favorite Halloween-related Cinematical Sevens and themed posts, while also giving you a ton of new stuff for 2008. And so with all that out of the way, I guess it's time to just get right down to it and find out which film scares you the most. When you cozy up to your comfy couch late tonight, which scary movie will you throw in the DVD player? It could be a gory horror flick, a creepy psychological thriller ... a romantic comedy starring Kate Hudson? My favorite scary movie (and nothing has replaced it yet) has always been the original Halloween. Sure, it's a pretty basic hide-and-seek horror flick, but what always set Halloween apart from the rest was that damn musical score. I still get goose bumps whenever it comes on.

What about you? Your favorite scary movie of all time, like, ever! Sound off below ...

In researching this list, I made two realizations: most horror films don't bother with supporting casts; the supporters are often ghosts and monsters and supernatural forces (the other humans tend not to listen). And also, there are more great performances by women in horror films. Consider just the list of women who were nominated for -- or won -- Oscars for horror films: Patty McCormack, Janet Leigh, Ruth Gordon, Linda Blair, Ellen Burstyn, Sissy Spacek, Piper Laurie, Sigourney Weaver, Kathy Bates, Jodie Foster, Juliette Lewis, Toni Collette, etc. Perhaps women are more intuitively in touch with the supernatural. Either way, I think I came up with a pretty good list:

1. Maria Ouspenskaya in The Wolf Man (1941)
Her name's a mouthful, but once you learn to say it, you'll never forget it. She was born in 1876, which put her at about 65 when The Wolf Man was made. She was a theater actor, before the movies were invented, she became an acting teacher and she received two Oscar nominations prior to this role. She plays Maleva (what a great name!), the old gypsy woman, and mother to Bela (Bela Lugosi), who possesses the knowledge of all things werewolf. With eyes like obsidian, her line readings are quiet, mysterious, intelligent, and though she's practically half the size of star Lon Chaney Jr., she towers over him.

2. Christina Ricci in Addams Family Values (1993)
Every once in a while the movie gods smile down and create something wonderful, like the moment that young Ricci walked into the "Addams Family" auditions, hoping for the role of Wednesday. The resulting movie, released in 1991, wasn't very good, but the sequel was much improved and Ricci was so good in both that she clearly announced the beginning of a fascinating career full of brave, unusual choices. With her round, pale face, huge eyes and tiny mouth shaped like a talon, she was scary and funny and just a little bit odd, and when she grew older, she took on a dangerous kind of sexiness. She could be the direct genre descendant of Elsa Lanchester or Barbara Steele.

When you shelled out nine bucks this weekend to see if Jigsaw would do anything new in Saw V (answer: nope), you were also contributing to a milestone. With the Friday-Sunday $30 million haul, the Saw series is now the highest grossing horror franchise in history, with a cumulative domestic gross of $316 million. Just think of all the microcassette tapes and countdown timers that kind of money could buy!

Of course, the other heavy hitters in this field -- Halloween, Friday the 13th, and A Nightmare on Elm Street -- were mostly released in the 1980s, when movie tickets were a lot cheaper. It's no surprise that a franchise launched in the 2000s would be more lucrative. Still, Saw has made its loot in just five films, compared to Elm Street's eight (including Freddy vs. Jason), Halloween's nine (including last year's remake), and Friday the 13th's eleven (including Freddy vs. Jason again).

A curious fact: Prior to this weekend, the race was surprisingly close. Box Office Mojo has the Friday the 13th series at $315 million, Elm Street at $307 million, and Halloween at $275 million. (Lionsgate's press release touting the Saw achievement has the Halloween series at $307 million, but I don't know where they're getting that from.)

But Jigsaw shouldn't rest on his laurels just yet. The Friday the 13th reboot due in February is liable to put Jason Voorhees in the lead again, although that will be short-lived if the seemingly inevitable Saw VI does indeed appear next October. If the Friday remake is successful, though, it could lead to more sequels and more competition. Personally, I'd rather have a mute, hockey-masked punisher as the all-time box office champ over a cancer-brained faux-intellectual who can't shut up. But that's just me! You can vote however you want. In the meantime, congrats to Saw for out-grossing Freddy, Michael, and Jason, and congrats to me for not making a pun on the word "grossing."

Pictured Above: The winners of Cinematical's Third Annual Costume Contest in the adult category
Pictured Below: The winners of Cinematical's Second Annual Costume Contest

We host a lot of contests throughout the year, but it is now my pleasure to announce the official launching of my absolute favorite: Cinematical's Fourth Annual Halloween Costume Contest is on! Now you have more than one use for that awesome movie-related Halloween costume, right? Once again, we have all sorts of nifty prize packages for the best adult costume and best youth costume, and unlike previous years, this time we're giving away more than just DVDs. Hellz yes, I'm talking some sweet movie gear too!

So, again, that's two prize packages this year: One for adults over 18 and one for kids under 18. Like in previous contests (check out last year's winners), your costumes MUST be movie-related. We're taking submissions starting now and all the way up until November 6th. Once our spook-tacular judges here at Cinematical narrow the field down to 10 finalists in each category, we'll then let you vote (via poll) for the winner. And speaking of winners, here's what you'll receive:

Grand Prize Package: Adult Winner

Saw 1-4 DVDs (keep in mind Saw V hits theaters this Friday, October 24)
Saw t-shirt,
Jigsaw doll and Saw poster
Unrated The Strangers DVD and scary masks
Rest Stop 2 Blu-Ray DVD
Otis Blu-Ray DVD
Zombie Strippers magic 8 balls
Jack Brooks Monster Slayer DVD
1 Uninvited poster
1 Strangers poster
1 signed Let the Right One In poster

Grand Prize Package: Youth Winner (entrants under the age of 18)

1 Hand-Painted Nightmare Before Christmas Collector's Bust.
Beetlejuice 20th Anniversary Blu-Ray DVD
Peanuts It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown DVD and t-shirt
R.L. Stine's Mostly Ghostly DVD

To Enter: Fill out the attached release (doc format or txt format) and email digital photos (along with aforementioned release) in .JPG, .PNG, .GIF, or .PSP format to the following email address: contests AT cinematical DOT com, with the subject line "HALLOWEEN COSTUME CONTEST." Please tell us who you are dressed as, in case we can't figure it out. Oh, and good luck!

For more complete details, please click on rules links below ....

READ THE OFFICIAL RULES FOR THIS CONTEST