Got a news scoop? Send it now! NEWS HUB May 2004 - ARCHIVED BACK TO CURRENT BUBBA HO-TEP: Yet again, Pit of Horror has brought you ANOTHER DVD giveaway. Make sure you enter this contest - check it out! Andrew's portrayal of the character "Leatherface" in the recent Newline box office smash, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (2003), was so strong that he has been nominated for an MTV Movie award for "Best Villain". Make sure you get along to the NOMINEES page on MTV.com, navigate to the "Best Villain" and vote right away! Also voice your opinion on the MTV MOVIE AWARDS MESSAGEBOARD. It only takes a moment to sign up! ANDREW BRYNIARSKI: The man who played Leatherface in Newline Cinema's remake of, "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (2003) is now online! Read a short bio, learn more about his career so far, post on the messageboard, buy some great merch or talk to the man himself! VISIT TODAY. CLUB DREAD: This new comedy from director Jay Chandrasekhar will be available to own from the 25th May this year, and should set you back around $27.98. The Pit has 5 copies to giveaway in a contest - check it out! First images from Seed of Chucky: The Seed of Chucky trailer was launched with Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Punisher a few weeks back and we were still waiting for the freaking trailer to go online! Well someone over at The Trades forum has posted images from the showing of the trailer on E! and then the actual trailer was posted. Follow the link and then go change youre pants.. Chucky, Tiffany and their kid hit the big screen from Rogue Pictures October 24th. Thanks to Dark Horizons for the heads up. Go here to check it out Day of the Dead 2 wraps? Fangoria reports, "While rumors of a DAY OF THE DEAD remake continue to fly around, Fango has learned that a sequel to George Romero's 1985 film, titled DAY OF THE DEAD: CONTAGIUM, has quietly wrapped shooting in LA. Produced by Taurus Entertainment, which owns the rights to DAY and TWO EVIL EYES, the follow-up was directed by Taurus president and CEO Jim Dudelson and vice president of production Ana Clavell. Previously, Dudelson directed the modern Poe update MORELLA, the campus slasher HORROR 101 and something called MUSEUM OF THE DEAD; Clavell recently helmed the sequel HORROR 102." Hellboy 2: Sci Fi Wire reports, "Hellboy director Guillermo del Toro confirmed to fans on the movie Web site's official bulletin board that plans are in the works for a sequel and other projects based on the film. "Yes, we are talking about a second movie," del Toro wrote. "The [box-office] numbers make perfect sense, since we were a relatively 'inexpensive' movie at under $70 million, and we will make enough domestically." Del Toro added that he and Mike Mignola, creator of the Hellboy graphic novels on which the film is based, "are fleshing out ideas and storylines we've been discussing for some time now. Mike thinks there will be no Lobster (sob), but Roger is in for sure," referring to popular comic characters Lobster Johnson and Roger the Homunculus. Del Toro said that the sequel could contain plot elements from the Hellboy graphic novels Almost Colossus and Conqueror Worm. Del Toro added that there are plans for a Hellboy anime series, from Gonzo Anime, and that producers are seeking possible video-game publishers. "Mike Mignola and I will be involved in the plotting of [the game] to make sure that it flows with the mythology of the movie, anime, comic, etc.," he said." Cursed: Judy Greer, star of both M. Night Shyamalan's The Village and Wes Craven's Cursed spoke during a recent interview about the differences between the original shot Cursed and the re-shot version. Hailing almost the same problems as Warner Bros. Exorcist: The Beginning, KNB quit in the middle of the shoot, and production was put on hold while the ending was re-though out, now the film finally has an October 1st date set. The Talisman: According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Talisman, a fantasy film that Steven Spielberg has been developing for nearly 20 years, has lost its director, Vadim Perelman. He left the DreamWorks/Universal co-production by mutual consent after six months on the project. The project centers on 12-year-old Jack Sawyer, who goes on a quest in the living world and a parallel world known as the Territories to acquire a talisman that will save the life of his dying mother and the queen of the Territories. "Talisman" is based on the 1984 fantasy novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub, and spawned the sequel "Black House." Rottweiler: If you head on over to Las Horas Perdidas, you can check out a few cool pictures from Brian Yuzna's next film, Rottweiler. Javi writes in that the film is about a man who escapes from the Frontier Zone, a place in the south of Spain where the European Union has put a wall to stop the inmigration from Africa. But that man is pursued by an assasin dog with metalic jaws - it's one creepy looking fellow. Cheerleader Camp finally hits DVD: Retro Slashers has some exclusive news from Anchor Bay about their forthcoming Cheerleader Camp: Special Edition DVD. First off, it's a brand-new 16x9 Widescreen Transfer (1.77 :1) taken from original negative materials. This transfer has the seal of approval from writer/producer/director John Quinn. It is presented with the Original Mono audio. Extras Include: -Audio commentary with Writer/Producer/Director John -Quinn and Producer Jeff Prettyman -Theatrical Trailers -Still Galleries -Alternate Title Sequence Release Date is August 3rd, 2004 and retail SRP will be $14.98. WATCHERS: The old wall is a border: England and Scotland, South and North, light and darkness. It is 1745, and the long awaited night has come. The Bloodking calls his army to battle... Scottish author William Meikle's extraordinary fantasy/horror novel is available to buy online (Amazon.com). You can read more about this great novel at the Pit by clicking here. What are you waiting for? Godsend: 5 alternate endings? Nick Hamm tells Sci Fi Wire, "We shot five endings," Hamm said in an interview. In the film, Kinnear (Auto Focus) plays Paul Duncan, a husband who gets a second chance at fatherhood through cloning, after his son is accidentally killed. De Niro plays the doctor who makes him the dubious offer, and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos plays Jessie Duncan, Duncan's wife. Describing the numerous endings that were shot, Hamm offered several spoilers. "There are permutations of Greg dying, Greg living, the kid killing everybody, the doctor dying in two different ways, and Greg dying in two different ways." Hamm defended the process of shooting multiple endings. "There's no point in hiding it," he said. "It doesn't make the movie worse or better because you shot a bunch of different endings over a period of time as you were cutting it. We never really shot a good ending while I was shooting the picture; I knew there was something wrong, and we needed to find one." Hamm added that the multiple scenarios were necessary to keep an unpredictable edge to the film's suspenseful storyline. "It's very hard to end a horror film in that sense, unless you want to go with a bloodbath, which I didn't want to do," he said. "Unless the whole movie is designed to go into one ending, endings are artificial most of the time, so it's a genuinely proper process to say, 'OK, how can we end it in some sort of a sophisticated way and with some sort of energy?'" Hamm added that all of the endings would be included on the film's subsequent DVD release. "You're going to have all of those on the DVD, and it's sort of better that way, because it's an organic process, so show it," he said. Godsend, which is being released by Lion's Gate Films, opens nationwide April 30. The Punisher Opening Within Expectations Source: In an article from Variety talking about this weekend's box office, the trade discussed the performance of The Punisher, which made $14 million for second place. Rothenberg asserted that "The Punisher" -- developed by Marvel and Valhalla for Artisan prior to Lions Gate's purchase of Artisan -- had performed in line with internal expectations. And Arad said he was "very pleased" with the results, citing its moderate budget in the low $30 millions and its use of one of the lesser-known of Marvel's stable of 4,700 characters. "It's a terrific opening for a reasonably priced movie with one of our non-superhero characters," Arad said. "We feel this is a business model that's worth pursuing." Ginger Snaps Back & more release dates: Lions Gate Home Video has shifted around the dates for a number of its fright titles. The eagerly awaited GINGER SNAPS BACK moved up to September 7 from its original November berth, while LOVE OBJECT is also closer than before, now scheduled for July 15 instead of August. MONSTER MAN, meanwhile, got pushed from September to October 12. Finally, the company has moved the release of Takashi Shimizu’s original JU-ON movies from October to December 14, though theatrical play for those isn’t out of the question. As usual, all these dates are tentative and subject to further change. MILLENNIUM hits DVD: DVD Answers reports that Fox Home Video will give the Lance Henriksen-starring supernatural series MILLENNIUM its long-awaited DVD debut with a boxed set of season one on July 20. The six-disc package will include full-screen transfers of each episode, plus commentaries on the pilot (by creator/executive producer Chris Carter), "Gehenna" (by director David Nutter) and "The Judg", a making-of featurette and another on the main title design, TV spots and more. Retail price will be $59.98. Frankenstein & Ring 2 castings: Variety reports that Adam (THE HEBREW HAMMER) Goldberg will join his old DAZED AND CONFUSED co-star Parker Posey in the USA Network FRANKENSTEIN pilot, set to roll in May in Toronto with Marcus Nispel directing from a Dean Koontz script. Goldberg will play Posey’s detective partner, with the two investigating the bad doctor’s naughty experiments in modern Seattle, assisted by his creature. Meanwhile, the trade reports that young actress Emily (EVERWOOD) VanCamp will play a leading role in Hideo Nakata’s THE RING 2 for DreamWorks. Sissy Spacek was cast earlier this week for what is now reportedly a small part in the sequel, also shooting next month. Amityville gets a director: Dark Horizons reports that Andrew Douglas (Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus?) looks set to direct MGM and Dimension Films Amityville remake. They are looking for June start date and now has January 14th set for the release. Casting is now underway. Riddick goes 'animated': From renowned animator Peter Chung ("The Animatrix") comes The Chronicles of Riddlck: Dark Fury, an all-new vision of the Riddlck universe. When Riddlck is captured by bounty hunters, he must battle soldiers of fortune and vicious creatures in the lethal slaughter cells of a massive starship. Riddlck's night vision and ruthless combat skills are all that stand between him and a fate literally worse than death in this animated sci-fi DVD release that bridges the stories of "Pitch Black" and "The Chronicles of Riddlck". Today Dark Horizons released a first and exclusive look at some artwork from the release due out in stores June 15th. Night of the Living Dead DVD in COLOR: Over at Off Color Films, they write, "A true cult classic -- and one of the scariest movies of all time. The dead are walking, and hunger for human flesh. A group of panicked survivors are barricaded in a deserted farmhouse while the army of flesh eating zombies hovers outside their door. Now experience the bone-chilling terror in color for the first time on DVD. This over-the-top disc includes a restored original black and white version, and a color version that will thrill the horror film fan and horrify the film purist. We?ve added a 5.1 surround sound mix, and bonus features including a hilarious audio commentary by Mike Nelson of Mystery Science Theater 3000. In addition to having you rolling on the floor with laughter, Mike will teach you how to concoct and drink numerous Zombies. Watch for the 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead in COLOR this Halloween. Thanks to B-D. New Army of Darkness figures: Head over to Bloody Disgusting to take a look at these kick ass new line. http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/index.php?Show=1722&Template=newsfull GODSEND: In theaters on April 30th, check out the official website for this interesting horror piece starring Robert DeNiro (it has to be good!): Godsend Buzzalong Army of Darkness comic on the way: If you head on over to Newsarama, you can take a look at brand new images from the forthcoming Army of Darkness comic book, which hits stores in July for $2.99 an issue. J. Scott Campbell, Marc Silvestri, and Ben Templesmith will each be making a cover for the release, while the fourth cover will feature some sort of photo. Just follow the link to see a six page preview of this comic entitled Ashes 2 Ashes! Day of the Dead remake on the way: According to Bloody Disgusting, they received an email reporting that producer Richard Rubinstein is working hard to get a remake of Day of the Dead going because of how well Dawn did in the theaters. Well now I've read on both Creature Corner and Aint it Cool News the same thing - so maybe it's true after all! Go here for the rest of the story http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/index.php?Show=1714&Template=newsfull DVD releases: DVD File reports that on September 7th comes six scary releases sure to keep you up at night: Ghost Story, The Sentinel, Ssssss, Tobe Hooper's The Funhouse, 1979's The Legacy, and a Monster Bash Four-Pack, featuring Alvin and the Chipmunks meet Frankenstein, Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman, Monster Mash and Archie & the Riverdale Vampires. DEAD BY DAWN: Scotland's Premiere Horror Film Festival in association with Filmhouse. Dead by Dawn provides Horror fans in the UK an unrivalled opportunity to enjoy the very best the genre has to offer! The festival accepts both features and shorts, and you are welcome to submit films to them for consideration throughout the year. Check out the site now! MONSTER LEGACY COLLECTION: For the first time ever, the original Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Wolf Man films are coming to DVD in the extraordinary Monster Legacy Collection. On behalf of Universal Pictures, Special Ops Media is offering The Pit copies of the DVD for giveaway (click here), in support of the release of this fine DVD box set on April 27th. Kill Bill 'Punishes' the box office: According to the Box Office Mojo www.boxofficemojo.com, Quentin Tarantino's fourth film Kill Bill Vol. 2, pulled in $25,565,000 in its opening weekend, making a killing over Lions Gate's comic book adaptation of The Punisher, which pulled in an even $14 million. Volume 2 pulled in $3 million more than Volume 1 back in October. Dawn of the Dead literally died at the box office as of last week and only made another $750, 000 for a total of $56,975,000 after five weeks. Not too shabby considering the total budget of 46 million. Jason Lives UNCUT footage found: Camp Crystal Lake writes www.campcrystallake.com, "Yes true believers, it's happened. Uncut footage from 1986's Jason Lives has finally resurfaced, and should be included on the upcoming box-set from Paramount. According to director Tom McLoughlin, the tape is in pretty poor shape, and by all accounts it probably will not make it into the film itself, but rather as a supplemental feature. Who cares!? It's stuff we've never seen that was cut by the MPAA, and after all these years we'll finally lay eyes on it. Also, Alice Cooper's "The Man Behind the Mask" video has been located, and if the rights are cleared it will also be included as a special feature. McLoughlin has already recorded an interview (complete with Jason's coffin from the film as a set decoration!) and is lobbying hard for a commentary track. Stay tuned for more details as they become available." House of 1,000 Corpses 2: The Devils Rejects: Bloody-Disgusting http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/ reports straight from the Zombie's mouth, per his assistant... "Well, here is the first official casting news for The Devil's Rejects. Yes, the rumors are true Ken (Dawn of the Dead) Foree has signed on the play Charlie Altamont aka Captain Spaulding's pimp brother. If that ain't enough for you horror fiends Michael (The Hills Have Eyes) Berryman has signed to play Clevon, Charlie's dim witted sidekick." Sissy Spacek joins The Ring 2: According to The Hollywood Reporter http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/, Sissy Spacek has joined Naomi Watts and Simon Baker in the cast of DreamWorks’ THE RING 2. This is Spacek's first major genre role since her Oscar-nominated starring turn in CARRIE 28 years ago, though just what part she'll play in the sequel hasn't been reported, as the script and storyline are being kept tightly under wraps. RING 2 rolls in mid-May under original RINGU director Hideo Nakata. Chase NOT returning for Ring 2: Over at Bloody-Disgusting http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/ there scooper JPM sent in some of the script for the sequel, which has been confirmed as real, let us know the status of Daveigh Chase, and why she's not expected to return: "There's a simple reason why Miss Chase is NOT returning to play the role of Samara: screen time. The character of Samara only appears three times in the entire screenplay (now that all the flashback scenes have been cut). We do not get to see her face at all; just her mop of hair obscuring it. She has no lines whatsoever as well. This is why Miss Chase chose not to return; more than likely the production team can use any other girl of similar height and build to stand in for those three scenes. Incidentally, this is the reason the previous director Noam Murro left the project; he wanted to include all the flashback scenes, he was in love with making a horror movie 'Godfather 2' style." Germany bans Blood Feast: Hot off the news about the burgeoning underground gore scene in Germany (go here for that story), Variety reports that the original splatter film, Herschell Gordon Lewis' BLOOD FEAST, has been found guilty of promoting violence by a German court, which has ordered its seizure—even though the movie was released there on video 18 months ago. The move was made based on a section of the country's law that allows authorities to act on a single complaint, with the filmmaker and/or distributor concerned left to prove their innocence after the fact. Thanks to www.fangoria.com for the heads up. Marcus Nispel's next: Variety www.variety.com reports that the ever-busier Marcus (TEXAS CHAINSAW) Nispel is developing the sci-fi/horror film SUBTERRANEAN at Disney-based Beacon Pictures, based on a pitch by screenwriter John (ROMEO MUST DIE) Jarrell. Nispel will direct and co-produce the movie, which is described as similar to ALIENS and centers on the discovery of an underground realm beneath New York City. Inevitably, Nispel and Beacon will also collaborate on a video game based on the story. Got a news scoop? Send it now!