Ah, the ways in which they go about promoting movies these days. Just got an email from these people who set up a new online game built to pimp out the DVD release of Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. The game itself isn't much of a game as it is a gimmick, but you do need to be over 18 to play (though this one is based on the honor system). Basically, you can upload an image of yourself into the character they provide and are sent on a first-person mission through what appears to be some sort of human meat locker. You then move your soldier through the room, while an Alien scurries across the wall.

Then it gets interesting.

Both an Alien and a Predator catch you, hang you up on the door and begin to slowly rip apart your limbs. Remember, the image you uploaded can now be seen, and, well, it's all sort of creepy. They give you the option to kick and punch while you're hanging there, but c'mon -- kicking and punching is not going to stop these beasts from dissecting you one limb at a time. It's quite the gory online promotional item, hence the need to be over 18 -- so be aware that there's blood, guts and your sad sack of a face all mixed together. Definitely worth a pop in ... feel free to use the face of an ex-boyfriend or girlfriend and have a ball.

The DVD for Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem hits shelves on April 15.

The Strause Brothers -- or Brothers Strause, as the directing duo insists on being called -- have created a weirdly meta film in Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem. I can't recommend it as a good movie on its own merits, stocked as it is with cardboard cutout characters and a barely coherent plot, but it's miles more interesting than the last Alien vs. Predator film and fans of the Alien and Predator film series may find it so strangely reference-heavy as to be entertaining on at least one level. This is a movie that starts out with the premise of 'Several Aliens and a Predator invade a small town' but ends up as a partial rehash of Aliens, complete with undisguised Ripley and Newt clones trying to escape an impending nuclear explosion via air transport and military guys getting picked off one at a time. It references entire shot sequences from Predator and a major plot device of Predator 2. It even references Yutani (!) in such a way that if you don't know what that is, you won't have a clue what's happening in the scene.

The first five minutes of the film that were released online before opening weekend turn out to be a poorly edited version of the film's first ten minutes -- that 'plot stuff' is trimmed down considerably -- and we get to see an Alien-infested Predator ship crash into the woodsy hills of Colorado while a father and son on a hunting trip look on in wonder (wouldn't you?) Pretty soon Dad's arm is being melted off by Alien acid blood and Junior has a face-hugger attached to his face, in a nice bit of non-family friendly killing. The main idea of the film will be to have one Predator arrive in Colorado to face off against several Aliens. It's a good choice, since the Predator is easily humanized, but once that decision has been made, why do the Strauses devote so much of the film to setting up bland human interactions? The title isn't Aliens vs. Predator vs. Humans, after all. If the film was truly brave, it would eschew a human perspective all-together, and simply deliver what the title promises.

After watching the first Alien vs. Predator, I made myself forget the whole terrible experience. So, it isn't surprising that I can't remember the surprise appearance of a little Alien/Predator hybrid popping out at the end. But I guess if I'm going to try and enjoy the sequel (it is pushing for a harder rating ... ), then I need to recap what happened in the original (spinoff anyway). For now, I'm at least back up to speed on the hybrid, thanks entirely to the good people over at RopesofSilicon.com, who share with us some images of the grown 'Alienator' (what would you call it?). The pics they've got are of a model (technical term: maquette), presumably used for the film*, which they got off the site of a company called 3D Custom Foam Inc.

Personally, I'm a bit disappointed with the design, if only because it doesn't have enough Predator features. Yeah, that's probably what happens in the biology, but I don't care. If that is the case then have the hybrid mouth and lose the prickly spikes all over its body. I don't even get that. It makes me think there's some new-style Megatron genes mixed in there or something. I much prefer this photoshop, which I found while doing an image search. Don't you? Anyway, it isn't as bad as the Alien/Ripley hybrid from Alien: Resurrection, and since I actually kinda like that movie, there's a good chance that I can still enjoy AVP2 despite what I think of the creature design. I've always been a fan of alien invasion horror films set in small town America, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't have to erase my memory after watching this one, too. Alien vs. Predator: AVP2 comes out this Christmas; maybe it will be what I've always wanted.

*Update: According to JoBlo, this design was not the one used for the film after all.

• Danny Barcelona (c.1930-2007) - Drummer for Louis Armstrong who appears in Jazz on a Summer's Day and When the Boys Meet the Girls. He died of complications from cancer April 1, in Monterey Park, California. (Starbulletin)
• Ariel Clark (1984-2007) - Son of director Bob Clark, who appears in his father's Baby Geniuses, My Summer Story (aka It Runs in the Family) and I'll Remember April. He died with his father in a car crash April 4. (LA Times)
• Bob Clark (1941-2007) - Director of A Christmas Story, Porky's and Baby Geniuses. See my full obit here.
• Luigi Comencini (1916-2007) - Italian filmmaker who directed Incompreso (Misunderstood), Don Camillo in Moscow and The Scopone Game. He died April 6. (AP)
• Angus Duncan (1936-2007) - Actor who appears in Marlowe, The Magic Sword and Going Ape! He died of cancer March 22. (LA Times)
• John Flynn (c.1931-2007) - Director of Out for Justice, Lock Up, Brainscan and Rolling Thunder. He died April 4. (Greencine)
• Char Fontane (1952-2007) - Actress who appears in The Punisher (1989) and who was daughter of singer Tony Fontane. She died April 1, in Marietta, Georgia. (Ventura County Star)
• Jay Koch (1926-2007) - Former NYPD sergeant who won a Ronald Reagan look-a-like contest in 1980. He impersonated the President in Back to the Future II, Hot Shots! Part Deux and Panther, in which he played Reagan as Governor of California. He died of heart failure March 19, in Port Hueneme, California. (LA Times)
• Calvin Lockhart (1932-2007) - Actor (pictured) who played the villains in Cotton Comes to Harlem and Uptown Saturday Night. He also appears in Myra Breckinridge, Predator 2, Coming to America, Wild at Heart and Let's Do it Again, in which he played 'Biggie Smalls'. He died from complications of a stroke March 29, in Nassau, Bahamas. (IMDb)
• Salem Ludwig (1915-2007) - Actor who appears in Endless Love, Heartburn, Unfaithful, The Object of My Affection and The Savages, which just premiered at Sundance. He died April 1. (Playbill)