A while back we heard some juicy little rumblings about the possibility of a new Re-Animator sequel called House of Re-Animator, which would be both a gore-strewn horror flick AND a tongue-in-cheek satire of today's political scene. But it seems like director Stuart Gordon, producer Brian Yuzna and actors like Jeffrey Combs and Barbara Crampton might have a new plan: Re-Animator Part 4 as an episode of Showtime's Masters of Horror series! It's so crazy it just might work!

Mr. Gordon is, of course, a modern master of horror, and he previously worked on the Showtime series when he presented his Dreams in the Witch-House and The Black Cat adaptations. (H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe, respectively.) Dread Central learned of the (potential) news while chatting with Ms. Crampton at the Texas Fearfest last weekend. (I was also in attendance at the event, and the DC guys aren't kidding when they say that Ms. Crampton is as lovely today as she ever was. In a room full of Jasons and Leatherfaces, Barbara Crampton was the only one who made me a little nervous.) Obviously this project is nowhere near a done deal, but it seems like a great way to kill a few birds with one stone. The fans get a new (if slightly smaller) entry in the Re-Animator series, and Masters of Horror gets a fresh episode that would guarantee a pretty strong viewership. Bring it on!

Back in June, Bloody-Disgusting.com brought word that there would soon be a direct-to-video sequel inspired by the remake of House on Haunted Hill, and so I shared the news here. Now comes word (from the same source) that not only has the flick wrapped production, but also that we've now got a big fat cast list to pick through. So let's see who's on board (I'm betting Rutger Hauer is somehow involved).

Lining of for a Return to House on Haunted Hill* will be horror veterans Cerina Vincent, Erik Palladino, Jeffrey Combs and a few other semi-familiar faces, most of whom will no doubt be devoured by evil spirits. Fans of the original House (and by original I mean remake) will remember that its strangely eclectic cast included the likes of Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen and ... Chris Kattan -- as the obnoxious one, if you can believe it.

The video sequel comes from first-time director Victor Garcia and equally first-time screenwriter William Massa; it also marks Dark Castle's first foray into the DTV market, but considering the outfit's body of work (13 Ghosts, Ghost Ship, Gothika, House of Wax), I'm guessing it's not all that steep of a leap. No word yet on when Return to House on Haunted Hill will be released, although I'm sure it'll be a "long wait" title at Netflix for at least a week.

( * The title is already a filthy lie; if none of these characters were even in the first movie, how could they be making a return to the haunted house?)

Alas, no Rutger Hauer.

Like any young movie geek who was madly in love with Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator, I was eagerly anticipating his follow-up, From Beyond, when it first debuted on VHS. And the result ... let's just say that I loved the gore, but I didn't "get" the plot. (Hey, I was 14.) And since the flick has yet to be released on DVD, I haven't been able to give it the second chance it obviously deserves. But get this: On June 10th, a network (I don't have) called Monsters HD will be presenting a fully-remastered and extra-splattery Director's Cut of From Beyond. Cool! That means a DVD can't be far behind!

This news has been percolating at the horror sites for quite some time, but hey, June 10th is next week, right? Go check your cable or satellite listings to see if you get Monsters HD. (Then be sure to record the flick and send me a copy!) In the meantime, here's a trailer for the Director's Cut presentation, and if your cubicle resides next to someone who can't stand goopy monsters with forehead tentacles, then it's probably not work-safe.

Based on the short story by H.P. Lovecraft, and starring the likes of Jeffrey Combs, Ken Foree, and Barbara Crampton, From Beyond was not the smash-success follow-up that Re-Animator could have yielded, but there's a large legion of gorehounds who dig it all the same.

Usually when we talk about the current wave of horror remakes, the conversation has to do with well-known titles like Dawn of the Dead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, or The Omen, but the guys over at Open Sky Entertainment decided to set their sights on a lesser-known piece of low-budget genre cheese. This explains why we'll soon be seeing a remake of Herschell Gordon Lewis' 1970 grindhouse semi-classic The Wizard of Gore. Well, maybe you won't be seeing it, but I know I will be.

Written by first-timer Zach Chassler and directed by Jeremy Kasten (All Souls Day, The Attic Expeditions), the new-fangled Wizard of Gore was barely on my radar screen before the Bloody Disgusting gang reminded me that the flick was almost finished ... and get this cast: Kip Pardue, Bijou Phillips, Crispin Glover, Brad Dourif, and Jeffrey Combs! Not too shabby!

The original flick had to do with a malevolent mind-controlling magician who could compel his subjects to do truly nasty things onstage ... and I'm guessing the remake will stick close to that concept. (Yes, Mr. Glover is playing the maniacal magician, and you just know that's gotta be worth the rental fee.) No release date has been announced just yet, but BD.com snagged a pretty slick poster off of IMDb, so go on and give it a look-see.

Incidentally, another H.G. Lewis remake just hit the DVD shelves recently; Tim Sullivan's 2001 Maniacs is, of course, a remake of the old-school splatter king's 2000 Maniacs -- only with one extra maniac.