Hello again, yes... we will be on the move again, but hopefully now for a stable home.
We have finally been pushed into upgrading to a semi-dedicated server, which i am diligently (ie. between drinking sessions) fixing up. This will give us full control over a box that we can only mess up ourselves. Some of you might have come across sql errors and other nasty bits which unfortunately aren't actually caused by this site, but other poorly managed sites running on the same box. So we will have to move.
The other benefit is that we've wangled some dedicated ips meaning we can have SSL for the frontpage and the forums. It will be a self-signed certificate so there'll be a prompt to accept a certificate, but this will encrypt traffic too and from the site.... http will still be there too!
The other bonus for european and US users is that the servers latency will be a lot lower as it is no longer hosted in Asia.
If you would like to help test out the config, let me know and i'll send you some hosts files entry. The server is already up and running but we are trying to get it working first before doing another migration.
I'll publish hosts file entries and an announcement closer to the time of planned migration.
There will be a couple of hours "downtime" whilst we lock the forums and migrate across the data to another country, but it should all be relatively painless
Another reporting on this George A. Romero rehash...
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THE CRAZIES remake: FEAR ITSELF: THE SACRIFICE director Breck Eisner recently talked about his next film, a remake of George A. Romero’s THE CRAZIES. Production will begin soon on the latter for Paramount Pictures. “Ray Wright did a great job on the latest script draft for THE CRAZIES,” said Eisner, who helmed the actioner SAHARA for the studio. Romero will have little or nothing to do with the redux of his 1973 film, about a biological plague driving people psycho in a small town and the government’s even deadlier quarantine efforts. Wright previously co-scripted the PULSE update and wrote Paramount’s long-delayed CASE 39 (currently set to open April 10, 2009). (thanks to Fangoria.com)
Lets call another remake for what it is another cashin on a big name movie...
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I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE remake: CineTel Films has acquired rights for a threatical remake 1978 female revenge classic I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE says Variety. In the Meir Zarchi-directed original, a woman is abducted, brutally attacked and raped and then left for dead. She survives, hunts her attackers and dispatches them in graphic ways - causing the film to be widely criticized and often banned for its explicit depiction of sex and violence. These days however with the likes of the SAW and HOSTEL franchises, the original no longer seem as outrageous and so pitches are being taken to find a way to "ratchet up the shock factor". The remake rights were owned by Meir Zarchi, who directed, produced and wrote the original. Though the majority of CineTel's releases are straight-to-DVD titles, the company will make "Spit" for a theatrical release. (thanks to DarkHorizons.com)
A little tidbit on the enjoyable if a little dramary dexter series 3 for you...
Another short season is a good move imo!
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DEXTER Season 3: Showtime's serie has added Jimmy Smits to the popular series and will include him in 10 out of 12 third season episodes. According to the trade, "Smits will portray Miguel Prado, an ambitious assistant district attorney who comes from one of Miami's most politically powerful and beloved families. Dexter (Michael C. Hall) will join forces with Prado, who has risen in the ranks because of his aggressive stance against crime, in the pursuit of a murderer who affects both of their lives directly." (thanks to DreadCentral.com)
DAWN OF THE DEAD sequel: The other day the Hollywood Reported confirmed that producer Richard Rubinstein is planning a direct sequel to George A. Romero's classic film, which ends with the survivors hopping in a helicopter and taking off to who knows where. Now it looks like Ken Foree is in talks to return in the sequel to the film, which he starred in back in 1978. No word on whether or not he'll be playing a new character or continuing on the story of "Peter", who escaped alongside Gaylen Ross (Franny). (thanks to Bloody-Disgusting.com)
I think it doesn't paint a pretty picture on the state of hollywood studios when Stuart Gordon gets phone calls out of the blue talking of a re-animator remake.
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RE-ANIMATOR remake: In an interview, director Stuart Gordon said that currently there are no plans to remake, thank god! But, "Every now and then there will be a call asking about it," he said. To which we reply: Just say no. "Well, that's not my call, it's Brian's." "Brian" meaning producer Brian Yuzna who picked up the directorial reins with BRIDE OF RE-ANIMATOR and BEYOND RE-ANIMATOR. For some time he was developing a third sequel entitled HOUSE OF RE-ANIMATOR with Gordon in which the series' good doctor West would be called to the White House to revive the leader of our country who bears a slight resemblance to President Bush. "I wish I had good news on that," Gordon begins somberly. "But I don't think it's going to happen. It's funny because I've been having second thoughts lately. I keep reading about Oliver Stone doing this movie about Bush and I kept thinking, it's old news if you start doing movies about the Bush Administration. By the time [HOUSE OF RE-ANIMATOR] would come out there would be a new President and it's like, who cares anymore?" (thanks to ShockTillYouDrop.com)
The very, well shit "director" Paul W. S. Anderson's rehash of Death Race 2000 is now scheduled for August 22.
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DEATH RACE: Universal Pictures announced a new date for Paul W.S. Anderson's DEATH RACEe, which stars Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson, Joan Allen, John Fallon, Ian McShane, Natalie Martinez, Max Ryan, Jason Clarke and Fred Koehler. The remake of DEATH RACE 2000 will now arrive in theaters August 22, 2008, a month earlier than original slated.
Looks like Romero is just waiting for the call... I get the feeling it won't be like waiting for two decades like last time...
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DIARY OF THE DEAD 2: Here's what director George A. Romero had to say about it in a recent interview; ”There’s been a helluva lot of talk about it, and there’s even been money raised, but I have not yet gotten the call that says we’re shooting in, say, July”. “I’ve written the first draft of the script, [producer Peter [Grunwald]’s coming up here next week and we’re going to sand it down and refine it, so we’ll be ready. Then it’s just a matter of someone saying 'yeah, do it'.”
He also revealed a bit about what we can expect from DIARY OF THE DEAD 2 if and when it happens. ”Actually a thing that I love, and it might be more fan pleasing, but it’s not subjective camera,” he revealed. ”I’m using a couple of the big characters but not the ones you would expect. I’m starting with the girl that took off…” So at least we know it won’t be another “found footage” movie. (thanks to DreadCentral.com)
DON'T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT: U.S. Fright directors Alan Rowe Kelly (THE BLOOD SHED) and Anthony G. Sumner (W.O.R.M.) have begun preproduction on a retelling of the 1973 drive-in shocker DON’T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT! “The opportunity arose and surprisingly no on had yet attempted a re-adaptation. Anthony and I thought it appropriate to remake this low-budget gem as it was intended, by keeping it a low budget feature. Of course, the new treatment warranted many updates to make it current and believable in today’s age, but we didn’t want to loose the main focus of the storyline. New characters have been added and excellent twists will be incorporated to give new shocks to the film without loosing the original’s flavor. In this version, the Basement will become a very prominent part of the story. This film is a favorite among many horror fans who dig trashy genre cinema and we want our version to remain as true to the film’s spirit as possible. Of course the word ‘remake’ stirs many a groan by fans. But we love this film so much that we can’t help but be true to its roots in Grindhouse schlock cinema. We’ll simply do our best to make the creepiest film possible!” A website will be coming soon this summer
Looks like they will be running a cheap 3d process on the original dawn to squeesh a few more dollars from the dvd sales.
Interestingly, it appears the producer is also planning a new attempt at creating a big screen adaptation of the seemingly unfilmable Dune saga. David Lynch's much troubled effort is regarded as somewhat as a mixed bag, mostly viewed as one of the weakest Lynch films and to many a trainwreck. Scifi more recently attempted, more successfully and more faithfully, a miniseries adapatation of both Dune and Children of Dune:
http://scifi.dead-donkey.com/viewtopic.php?t=3267 http://scifi.dead-donkey.com/viewtopic.php?t=3616
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DAWN OF THE DEAD: Producer Richard Rubinstein announced the upcoming revival of George A. Romero’s DAWN OF THE DEAD. Rubinstein, the man responsible for producing many of Romero’s films as well as the 2004 DAWN remake, is planning to rerelease the 1979 zombie epic in true 3-D! In-Three, Inc. of Agoura Hill, CA will be responsible for the “dimensionalization” process.
“When Mike Messina [another producer on the DAWN redux] and I began to investigate using In-Three’s technique, I was very skeptical,” Rubinstein told Fangoria. “I couldn’t see how it could be used without re-editing George’s film, which I was not going to do. I was also concerned that converting a 29-year-old movie would not be competitive qualitatively with the new 3-D live-action features being shot today. I was wrong in both cases. George’s DAWN OF THE DEAD can be reformatted into 3-D without any editing, and the image looks spectacular! As it stands now, it will take about a year to complete the conversion of the whole film.” Indeed, In-Three’s work has been hailed by George Lucas, James Cameron and Peter Jackson, among others.
Rubinstein also has plans to create a direct sequel to the original DAWN (!) and will be producing a new screen adaptation of Frank Herbert’s DUNE, to be directed by Peter (THE KINGDOM) Berg. (thanks to Fangoria.com)
Joe Dante is returning with a new horror flick, Bat Out of Hell... lets hope he can achieve some of his former glory :cheers:
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Centers on a red-eye flight from L.A. to New York during which hijackers confront the monstrous cargo.
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Its now official, Joe Dante (GREMLINS) will direct the indie horror project BAT OUT OF HELL for Parallel Zide and VooDoo Productions says Variety. AICN contributors Drew McWeeny and Scott Swan penned the script which centers on a red-eye flight from L.A. to New York during which hijackers confront the monstrous cargo. Shooting is expected to begin later this year. (thanks to DarkHorizons.com)
“It’s probably the most controversial thing I’ve ever heard,” the FX artist tells Fango, “a comedic horror movie called PRINCE OF PIECES with the killer as Jesus Christ, who goes around killing everyone in Biblical fashion: crown of thorns, pillars of salt, crawling leprosy, that sort of thing."
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...
“I’ve had the script for about a year and a half now,” he notes. “They had it set with a nice, huge budget, and then it switched production companies, got shut down, got started up again, got shut down. But Sam is currently in talks with a few financiers, discussing the project with an ever higher budget than first conceived. This could wind up being a huge film if everything plays out right! Jello Biafra of Dead Kennedys fame is set to play a major role; he has been involved since the beginning and is very passionate about the project, due to his love of offbeat movies.”
Selenfriend foresees an early-2009 start for PRINCE OF PIECES, which will lens in Buffalo, New York. “We have some amazing locations up there; we actually had a nice big church that they were going to be shooting in,” he reveals. “Maybe they didn’t read the script before they signed off on it!”
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Some very good news for those in hope of a decent Video Game translation as one of the hottest titles of last year (see my review of the game here if you've never played it) is getting a huge budget hollywood adaptation in the making.
The overwhelmingly vivid and unique imagery is enough to get anyone's hopes up, even if the shockingly poor decisions of previous video game adapations (generally revolving around the lack of vision and general aspirations of all those involved) make any feature based on a game rather dubious.
Bloody-Disgusting reports...
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Universal and Gore Verbinski are going into "Bioshock." Studio has signed a deal to turn last year's hit videogame, which won numerous awards and sold more than 2 million units worldwide, into a film.
The "Pirates of the Caribbean" helmer is attached to direct and produce. "Aviator" scribe John Logan is in talks to pen the screenplay.
"Bioshock" publisher Take-Two Interactive is getting a multimillion-dollar advance against gross points on the pic. It's believed to be the biggest videogame-to-movie deal since 2005, when U and Fox signed onto the since aborted "Halo" pic, for which Microsoft got $5 million against 10%.
Take-Two executive chairman Strauss Zelnick said the "state of the art" deal is structured so that "Bioshock" won't end up in turnaround like "Halo," which is back with Microsoft.
"The reason I structured it the way I did is to make sure it gets made," he emphasized.
"Bioshock" takes place in an underwater city based on the free market principles of Ayn Rand, but things have gone disastrously wrong. Players control a pilot who crash-lands at a secret entrance to the city, called Rapture, and is drawn into a power struggle during which he discovers that his will is not as free as he'd thought.
"I think the whole utopia-gone-wrong story that's cleverly unveiled to players is just brimming with cinematic potential," said Verbinski. "Of all the games I've played, this is one that I felt has a really strong narrative."
Take-Two has been approached by a number of producers and studios since the game came out in August but waited until it had swept most of the end-of-year industry awards and racked up impressive holiday sales before working with CAA to package the project. Universal got a first look and made a preemptive bid.
Some info here on the upcoming Donnie Darko sequel, which is a sequel to the rather well received scifi/mystery with some returning cast.
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UK-based sales company Velvet Octopus will be launching sales in Cannes for S. Darko, billed as the sequel to the 2001 cult hit Donnie Darko. Fox has already taken North American rights.
Daviegh Chase reprises her role as Donnie's younger sister. The cast for S. Darko also includes Ed Westwick (Son Of Rambow, Gossip Girl), Briana Evigan (Step Up 2) and Justin Chatwin (Dragon Ball).
Ash Shah's Silver Nitrate and Newmarket Capital are producing. Los Angeles-based Chris Fisher, who previously made Nightstalker and Rampage: The Hillside Strangler Murders, will direct. The budget is pegged around $10m.
The story picks up seven years after the first film (and Donnie's death) when little sister Samantha Darko and her best friend Corey are now 18 and on a roadtrip to Los Angeles when they are plagued by bizarre visions.
he other day B-D reporter BC chatted with legendary director George A. Romero about his forthcoming DVD release of Diary of the Dead, which streets on May 20 (more details here). During the interview something interesting came up where Romero teased the possibility of 'Bub' (from DAY OF THE DEAD) returning in his next zombie picture. Read on for the skinny.
Romero talked with B-D about the possibility of characters from DAWN OF THE DEAD or DAY OF THE DEAD ever appearing in the upcoming films. "I had to go to great lengths for Savini to appear in LAND [OF THE DEAD] in his old costume from DAWN [OF THE DEAD]. The problem is those films are owned and controlled by other people," he explains. "They're no longer mine, and it's very expensive. I can't do like Steve King did with CASTLE ROCK. However, if i could get the permission.... there's a character in my new script which could be become Bub, in other words, he would be alive now. But they'd probably want a lot of money for that. I'm bad with that business stuff (laughs)."
Will we see the return of the infamous Bub? Let us all cross our fingers. Until then check out DIARY OF THE DEAD on DVD May 20 from Dimension Extreme and Genius Products.
Lycos cocking around with the domain
