Holy Cullens! Hold onto your seats, all you Twilight fanatics. This is the first official ensemble piece with final hair, makeup and costume (those other photos, we believe, were test shots, but this one gives our first official look at the characters inside the Twilight universe) Click on the image for a larger view -- you know you want to -- then let's take a moment to dissect the loveliness, shall we?

I know all you hardcore Twilighters know these characters, but for those who don't, we have, from left to right: Ashley Greene as Alice Cullen; Kellan Lutz as Emmett Cullen; Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan; Robert Pattinson as uber-hot vampire Edward Cullen; Nikki Reed as Rosalie Hale; and Jackson Rathbone as Jasper Hale.

We've been covering the various bits of Twilight news, set visit write-ups and behind-the-scenes goodies extensively here, but this is the first time that we've seen the cast in character like this. Aside from the fact that the image looks totally cool and perfectly captures that "Twilight-vibe," can I just say that any doubts anyone out there is still harboring about Robert Pattinson as Edward should be totally laid to rest by this picture?

I'm getting a feeling that I should get used to the idea of seeing a lot of vampire movies over the coming year. Variety reports that Bionic Woman writer/producer Laeta Kalogridis has been hired to do a major overhaul of the script for New Line's vampire action flick, Darksiders. The story centers on an FBI agent who teams with a group of vampires to stop an arms dealer in possession of some particularly nasty biochemical weapons. Now maybe I'm just picky about my bloodsuckers, but the idea sounds a little lame on paper, so I hope Kalogridis is planning some major changes. The original script was written by Tom S. Parker and Jim Jennewein and was purchased by New Line back in 2001. Parker and Jennewein's last writing credit was the disastrous Ri¢hie Ri¢h adaptation back in 1994.

Unfortunately, Kalogridis also has a spotty record when it comes to scripts, having written both Alexander and Pathfinder. But I guess it's still better than being responsible for Ri¢hie Ri¢h. Kalogridis will be continuing to work on NBC's Bionic Woman, and has already committed to working with James Cameron on the graphic novel adaptation Battle Angel, and The Dive for Fox. New Line is going to have to wait until the finished script is ready before they can begin looking for a director. In the past, both David Goyer and Jonathan Hensleigh were attached to Darksiders to direct. But considering Goyer already has a vampire flick of his very own, I doubt he'll be returning. Unless Kalogridis and New Line can work quickly, I wouldn't expect the film to go intro production before the dreaded Hollywood strike begins.

So I guess now vampire flicks are the new Western. No sooner did we get news on two new vamp flicks in development and now there is already another one to add to the pile. Shock Till You Drop is reporting that Mick Garris (creator of the Masters of Horror and Fear Itself series) will be at the helm for a remake of the obscure 1979 Australian vampire flick, Thirst. The story centers on two women who are decedents of the infamous Elizabeth Bathory and are caught up in a plot for a 'blood-harvesting' facility -- for the Buffy fans out there, just think back to the episode The Wish. Garris tells Shock, "Not many people know the film (Thirst). I love the take on it - the blood farm of acolytes, the sycophants who are willing to give blood to the regal, but setting it in something contemporary and American". Thirst was directed by Rob Hardy, who fans of the new Battle Star Galactica might recognize as director of a few episodes.

Thirst would be Garris' second attempt at directing a feature film; back in 2004 he had written and directed an adaptation of Stephen King's Riding the Bullet. Garris also told Shock that he still has designs on adapting another King title, Bag of Bones. Garris will also produce Tobe Hooper's adaptation of From a Buick 8 (another King story). Garris was keeping most of the details about Thirst to himself, telling Shock, "I'm not going to give anything away about it, but it's a really different take". Luckily, the original is not that well known, so most of us won't even know the difference. Well, those of us who don't have a thirst for blood, that is.

It was almost a year ago when Jette brought us a first look at some of the behind-the-scenes for the big-screen version of 30 Days of Night. Since then, there have been teaser posters, fancy websites, the promise of new short films, and the R rated trailer released in August ( who could forget, of course, the image of Josh Hartnett hacking at a child with an ax -- something like that tends to stay with you). Shock Til You Drop is now hosting three new posters for the vampire flick. Fans of the graphic novels have been pretty eager to see what Ghost House and director David Slade (Hard Candy) have planned for the story of a group of vampires descending on a small town in the wilds of Alaska for a 30-day feeding frenzy.

Based on the graphic novel by Steve Niles, Night stars Josh Hartnett as the local sheriff and Melissa George as his wife -- it's up to both to save their town before the vampires wipe it clean. Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma) also stars as "the harbinger of the vampires. Well really a scout who was sent into the town because he can be out during the day. He is tentatively known as a "bug-eater", not a vampire but something akin to a ghoul. They find him snooping around town and trespassing so they arrest him" -- at least according to the message boards at IMDB, and since I haven't read the original graphic novels, I'm just going to have to take their word for it. 30 Days of Night is set for release on October 19.

[via Solace in Cinema]

I'm a big fan of author Bret Easton Ellis' work. Since many of his novels rely on the inner workings of characters' minds, they can be difficult to adapt to the big screen. The film version of Less Than Zero made cocaine addiction look like Pretty in Pink. I know I'm in the minority, but I detested Mary Harron's American Psycho. The only adaptation I feel got Ellis exactly right was Roger Avary's excellent take on The Rules of Attraction. Now three more films are going to try and re-create Ellis' world. Darren Star is working on The Frog King with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. There is no director yet, but a movie version of Lunar Park has been announced. And director Gregor Jordan (Ned Kelly) has put together a cast for the film translation of Ellis' 1995 novel The Informers.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, and Superman himself Brandon Routh are in "various stages of negotiation" to star in the ensemble film. The Informers is set in Los Angeles in 1983 and it tracks seven stories. The major characters are: a movie executive (played by Thornton), his wife (Basinger), his mistress, a rock star, a kidnapper, and a vampire (Routh, apparently looking to darken up his image). Rounding out the cast are Ashley Olsen as a "sexually promiscuous girl" (doesn't it seem like those twins are getting a ton of work these days?), Jon Foster (Stay Alive), Austin Nichols (John Monad on the baffling John From Cincinnati), and Lou Taylor Pucci (star of the very good Thumbsucker and the not very good Chumscrubber -- yes, they're different movies). Sounds like it could be a great flick! Now, whatever happened to Roger Avary's planned Glamorama movie? I would love to see that come to light. Did Zoolander steal its thunder?

By the looks of the new site for the vampire flick 30 Days of Night, this movie is going to be one nicely designed bloodbath. Sony just launched the fancy flash site for the film version of Steven Niles' graphic novel about a group of vampires descending on a small Alaskan town for a non-stop feeding frenzy.

Night is directed by David Slade (Hard Candy) and the script was written by Stuart Beattie (3:10 To Yuma). Josh Hartnett stars as a local sheriff trying to keep a group of locals alive, and Ben Foster (who gave us a behind the scenes look at the film, last February) is an ancient vampire that is none-too-pleased with the attention-drawing antics of his kind. The site looks like it was designed in the spirit of the original graphic novel, plus, along with the teaser clips and downloads, there is the promise of a nifty-looking shooter game.

There has already been talk of shorts set in the Night universe produced by Sam Raimi's Ghosthouse, more comic books, and don't forget the possibility of multiple sequels (Ryan got the chance to speak with Niles about the film, as well as female lead Melissa George). So, combined with the solid teaser trailer Scott told us about last month, it's looking like this graphic novel has the potential to spawn a whole new horror franchise. The film is also expected to get a little extra buzz with the cast, along with Slade and Raimi, answering questions about the film for a ComicCon panel this weekend -- stay tuned for that report. 30 Days of Night hits theaters October 19th.

She isn't too well known in America, but Star Wars fans may recognize Claudia Karvan as the actress who played Padmé's elder sister Sola in Revenge of the Sith. Now the Australian actress, who is a popular television star in her native country, has landed herself another Hollywood role sure to make her more familiar to audiences in the States. She has been cast as the female lead in the futuristic vampire movie Daybreakers, in which she'll co-star with Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and fellow Aussie (slash New Zealander) Sam Neill. The casting of an up-and-coming Australian star makes perfect sense since the movie will be shot Down Under by Australian filmmakers the Spierig twins (Undead), who also wrote the screenplay.

According to Moviehole, Karvan will be playing a human love interest for Hawke's vampire character. The movie is set in 2017 when the world is mostly populated by vampires, a race that may become extinct once the blood-supplying humans are also extinct. Hawke is some sort of good guy vampire who is researching a way for his people to survive with a blood substitute. Dafoe plays his rival. Still no word on who or what Neill will be playing. If Karvan's part is correct, I think we can assume that once Hawke falls for her, he begins to think twice about feeding on humans. Of course, he could just turn her into a vampire and then live happily for eternity with her, but narratively that idea lacks conflict. Daybreakers begins filming soon and is set to release next year, which will be long after we've already seen I Am Legend, 30 Days of Night and Bloodrayne II. Hopefully we'll still be interested in vampires by that point.

Of all the movies I've covered for Killer B's on DVD, this is the first one that had me muttering "oh boy, oh boy, oh boy" when it arrived in the mail. Blood Flood is a double-sided triple feature of grindhouse era horror flicks from Retromedia and Image Entertainment. The disk is hosted by Morella, a buxom Elvira wannabe who makes the Mistress of Dark's humor seem downright highbrow. While I think the idea of creating a modern horror host in the tradition of Vampira, Ghoulardi and Commander USA has some merit, Morella's shtick is painfully unfunny, and her segments are best skipped over. The films are a mixed bag with 1968's House of Evil being one of the last and least interesting films of Boris Karloff's career, and Andy Milligan's Guru the Mad Monk from 1970 providing a modest but notable amount of entertainment. 1974's Grave of the Vampire (which was also released under the title Seed of Terror) is what got me so excited, it being a personal favorite that until now was only available in a washed-out, fuzzy fullscreen presentation from Alpha Video.

It's a sad fact that there are just way more crappy vampire movies out there than good ones, but the source material for 30 Days of Night is a little above the quality of Dracula 2000, so we are already off to a good start. Cinema Blend has the first look at the teaser poster for the new vampire flick, from Sam Raimi's company. The film is based on the graphic novels of the same name by Steve Niles, and the story centers on a small Alaskan town that is overrun with vampires who have descended on the town to take advantage of the lack of sunlight -- a huge selling point that ensures 30 days of uninterrupted feeding. Leading the pack of humans trying to survive is Josh Hartnett as the local sheriff and Danny Huston (who provided a bit of a sneak-peek last February) as Marlow a.k.a. the bad guy. Melissa George also stars, and Ryan had a chance to discuss the film with her during an interview last fall -- you can read that here.

The film is directed by David Slade and Raimi's Ghost House Pictures is producing in partnership with Columbia Pictures. As for Raimi, he's not at a loss for work despite the big question mark still hanging over the Spiderman franchise. He has already picked up an as-yet-untitled fantasy project from the writers of Freddy vs. Jason, and he is also considering a prequel to 30 Days for his Ghost House web site. 30 Days of Night is set for release on October 19th, just in time for Halloween.

Not being a fan of the Oceans franchise, it looks like I'm going to have to wait for the Internet premiere of the I Am Legend trailer, but according to a report on Collider.com, the world at large will get its first look at the Will Smith horror/action flick when Ocean's 13, the third installment in the series, makes its U.S. premiere on June 8. I Am Legend, of course, features Smith as the apparent lone survivor of a plague that has decimated the world and turned many of its victims into vampires.

Personally, I'm looking forward to a look at this one. Richard Matheson's novel of the same name is considered by many (myself included) to be one of the greatest horror novels of all time, and its one of those classics I re-read every few years. This apocalyptic vision of the future served as the unofficial inspiration for George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, and has been officially adapted twice, once in 1964 as The Last Man on Earth which starred Vincent Price, and once as The Omega Man with Charlton Heston playing the lead. Both films are worth seeking out on DVD, and the former is my favorite of the two, but shop carefully as there are several faded and scratched public domain versions of The Last Man on Earth out there. I'm just hoping this new film version will retain the solemn atmosphere of the novel and we don't see Smith's standard action hero persona. I Am Legend will hit U.S. theaters on December 14.