When I spoke with After Dark Films' Courtney Solomon not long ago, he told me it wasn't fair to label Captivity as a "torture porn" because, quite simply, there's no porn in the movie. While that may be the case, it certainly doesn't mean there can't be porn at the film's premiere party. Solomon recently told The New York Times that he's planning one of the craziest, most politically incorrect premiere party's in history; one that will take place at the West Hollywood club Privilege and feature, among other things, "the three 'most outlandish' SuicideGirls available from the punk porn service." I'm not exactly sure what that means, but apparently the craziest of the SuicideGirls once set a restaurant in Portland, Ore. on fire. According to Solomon, a few lucky fans will get to escort these SuicideGirls to the party under two conditions: "People take the date at their own risk, and everybody on the Internet gets to watch." Yay for us ... I guess.

Okay, so we have the porn, but what about the torture? Fear not my friends, Solomon also promised "individuals in torture gear" who will wonder through the club grabbing people. Classy! Not only that, but some nice friendly cage fighting (featuring a dude named Kimbo Slice) is also on the agenda. Regarding aspects of the extravagant event, which Solomon admits are "probably not legal," he says it's his "personal little tribute" to all the women's groups who are opposing the film. Another interesting note in the article is the fact that Captivity will screen only once prior to its release -- not for critics, mind you, but for women's groups in New York. Following the screening, Solomon wants to "engage in a town-hall-style debate with detractors." A few women's groups, like the National Organization for Women, have already declined the invitation. Apparently, they're not interested in giving the film more free publicity.

We're not exactly sure how you fans can attend said party; the NYT states that most of the folks in attendance will be fans "who can cycle through the club free in groups of 50, along with an expected army of Web-based video bloggers." I envision it to be some sort of warped Torture Porn Haunted House -- and if Cinematical receives an invite, you bet we'll be sending one of our craziest West Coast correspondents to the event. Stay tuned ...

Word is coming in that Dan Epstein, known to most of you through his interviews at SuicideGirls.com, has died suddenly, just shy of his 32nd birthday. Strangely, the news hasn't yet been posted at SuicideGirls, but on ComingSoon.net, by Epstein's colleague Ed Douglas. No cause of death has been given -- we're only told that he died "very suddenly and tragically last night." Epstein was a regular on the Manhattan junket circuit and was known for doing long, one-on-one interviews with sometimes unlikely candidates. A good example would be his recent, in-depth interview with Thora Birch, which veered away from the topic of her latest straight-to-DVD film and into her career path at large. There was also a more recent interview with Joe Dante, which bounced around from topics ranging from a possible Gremlins 3 to Dante's thoughts on the diminishing power of directors in today's Hollywood.

Epstein's primary virtue as an interviewer was one that we should all try to emulate -- he seemed to come to the table with an encyclopedic knowledge of whoever he was talking to at that moment, and could follow them on any road they wanted to go down. As a result, his stuff always made for good reading. He leaves behind a wife, Andrea, and by all accounts, a lot of friends in the business.