Got a news scoop? Send it now! NEWS HUB OCTOBER 2006 - ARCHIVED BACK TO CURRENT DREAD CENTRAL & PIT OF HORROR PRESENT THE TEXAS FEAR FEST! Taken from Johnny Butane's press release over at Dread Central... Dread Central has teamed up with PitofHorror.com to present of the first of what we hope will be many fright-filled horror conventions: Fear Fest 2007! Running March 23rd-25th, 2007, the three-day event will go down in Mesquite, Texas, at the Hampton Inn Suites, and already we have a pretty impressive lineup to show off including: Andrew Bryniarski (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre films) Tony Todd (Candyman) Michael Bailey Smith (Hills Have Eyes 1 & 2) James Duvall (Donnie Darko) Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, From Beyond) Tony Moran (Halloween) And a ton more! Check out the fest's OFFICIAL SITE to preorder your tickets and (for the meantime) the official MySpace page for the full lineup. Keep your eyes peeled as we will be announcing the special Guest of Honor very soon ... and you guys are going to love it! THE PIT'S VERDICT ON 'SAW III'! The want-see has been spectacularly high on this one, and with two trailblazing (and genre-reinvigorating) predecessors throwing down the serrated gauntlet, Saw III has hit cinemas on both sides of the pond with resounding cha-chings on box office cash registers. But what about the film itself? Does it warrant the hoopla, and does it match the horrific heights set by the first two movies of the franchise? Petch tackles those queries in his review of the film, which can also be accessed by clicking the poster graphic on the right. In the meantime, check your local listings and make sure you catch Saw III this weekend or soon after to make up your own mind. Hell, they've even got the Hostel, Teil Zwei....er, ahem, the Hostel, Part II teaser attached! LEATHERFACE'S MOM DROPS BY FOR A CHAT! Our intrepid correspondent Cody Hamman does it again, this time interviewing newcomer L.A. Calkins, the young actress who portrays Leatherface's unwed mom in New Line's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, which to date has grossed over $32 million at the box office. The gracious actress talks a bit about her aspirations and her unexpected new popularity among genre fans as the mother of such a horror icon. You can read the interview here. Also visit L.A. Calkins' official website for more goodies. COME TAKE A TRIP THROUGH PAN'S LABYRINTH! Celebrated genre director Guillermo del Toro has delivered what John Gray opines is one of his very best efforts to date. Pan's Labyrinth is a spellbinding tour into the fantastic, with mesmerizing visuals and captivating storytelling that make it a viable crossover between the sci-fi, fantasy and thriller subgenres. Read his review here or just click on the Randall Flagg-looking guy below: Pan's Labyrinth opens domestically December. In the meantime, be sure and visit the official website for more information. NOTHING LIKE A GOOD 'FRIDAY THE 13TH' MOVIE ON, WELL, FRIDAY THE 13TH! Friday Night Frights scores another successful screening with its Friday, October 13th presentation of (what else?) Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter. The Movie Tavern in Denton, TX was once again the location for this celebration of Voorhees-esque carnage, and the audience was also given a second treat--a bonus screening of indie filmmaker Jon Price's short film Dementia. Then came the witching hour and the projector unspooled the glorious 35mm print straight from 1984 of the feature presentation. Once again, Casey C. Corpier shot and edited the video presentation of the festivities, so enjoy. Kudos to Casey! FINAL 'SAW III' TRAILER AND POSTER ONLINE! We're as enthusiastic as you for the October 27 debut of Saw III in wide release. But that doesn't stop our friendly tormentor Lionsgate from tantalizing us with yet another trailer. And this time, there's a new poster design to go along with it. Kind of ratchets the whole mythos up a few notches, no? The final trailer for Saw III is presented in three sizes, all .wmv format. Enjoy! And thanks to Lindsey Stone for the information. SMALL MEDIUM LARGE 'SUSPIRIA' SET TO ROLL FOR FEMME FATALE SERIES! First it was Dee Wallace hosting Cujo back in September, and last week Nancy Allen hosted Dressed To Kill. The FEMME FATALE FILM SERIES continues this Friday, October 13th at The Carolina Theatre of Durham, NC with a very special 35mm screening of Suspriria hosted by Jessica Harper! This is an extremely rare personal appearance by Ms. Harper and she will introduce the film and do a Q & A session and autograph signings after the show. Tickets are just $15 each, and you can purchase them by calling the Carolina Theatre box office at (919) 560-3030 or visiting their web site at website. The series concludes on Friday, October 20th with a screening of John Carpenter's The Foghosted by Adrienne Barbeau. This is a unique opportunity to not only meet some terrific genre vets, but to really talk to them about their flms and their craft. Don't miss out! 'FRIDAY NIGHT FRIGHTS' JUST KEEPS KICKING ALL KINDS OF ASS! This past Friday, October 6, the Movie Tavern in Denton, TX, witnessed its highest attendance yet for a Friday Night Frights engagement, with our late-night showing of Freddy's Dead. The video is right here. Enjoy! Many thanks to Casey C. Corpier for his video expertise, plus Lezlie Deane for her energetic and generous appearance, and we hope as many Dallas-based fans attend next weekend's festivities so that Friday Night Frights will continue to deliver the goods. It's gonna be Friday The 13th: The Final Chapter, in full 35mm glory at the witching hour on Friday the 13th of October.... JOHN GRAY QUOTED IN NEW 'TEXAS CHAINSAW' TV SPOT! "Intense" and "gripping" are two words that come to mind about The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning--because the new television spot for the film has those pull-quotes from our own John Gray included! Thanks to our friends at Bloody Disgusting for putting the spot online. Hopefully it will end up as a supplement on the eventual DVD release of the film. In the meantime, watch for it in wide rotation broadcast, or just catch the streaming clip here. And go see the movie, which opens tomorrow! 'EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL' DIRECTOR CHATS WITH THE PIT! Pit contributor Cody Hamman scores another great interview for the Pit, this time with Christopher Bond, director of the new Off-Broadway sensation Evil Dead: The Musical. Based (naturally) on Sam Raimi's 1983 horror classic, this song-and-dance adaptation features book and lyrics by George Reinblatt, music by Frank Cipolla, Bond, Melissa Morris and Reinblatt and music supervision by Cipolla, while Tony Award winner Hinton Battle co-directs with Bond. Sounds like it's a load of fun, so if you live in New York or can make it out there, make sure you catch this must-see stage show! Many thanks to Cody for his work on the interview. LET'S 'RETURN' TO THE BASICS OF HORROR! The Return is a spirited supernatural thriller starring Sarah Michelle Gellar (The Grudge) as Joanna Mills, a tough young Midwesterner determined to learn the truth behind the increasingly terrifying supernatural visions that have been haunting her. Joanna has made a successful career for herself, as sales representative for a trucking company. But her private life has been difficult; estranged from her father (Sam Shepard), stalked by an obsessed ex-boyfriend (Adam Scott), and with few friends, Joanna fears that she is losing control. She sees and feels the brutal murder of a young woman she’s never met, at the hands of a heartless killer – a man who appears to be making Joanna his next target. Determined to fight back, Joanna is guided by her nightmares to the murdered woman’s hometown. Once there, she will discover that some secrets can’t be buried; some spirits never die; and that the murder she is trying to solve may be her own. Directed by Asif Kapadia and written by Adam Sussman, The Return will hit screens November 10th. FREE SNEAK SCREENING OF 'THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE: THE BEGINNING' IN DALLAS! Time is short, and we're not dicking around here. John's got the hook-up for free tickets to see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning on Thursday, October 5th at 7:30 pm. It's at the Cinemark 17 in Dallas, Webb Chapel @ LBJ. Phone 1-800-FANDANGO (1140). If you think you can make it, email us here to receive a pass for you plus one guest (two people total) before they're all spoken for. Arrive early to assure your seat. And as always, "Enjoy a flick on the Pit!" CODY INTERCEPTS THE 'HORROR CONVENTION MASSACRE' AUTEUR! With the feisty indie horror flick The Horror Convention Massacre about to barnstorm the reliable circuits, our own underappreciated Pit contributor Cody Hamann has managed to catch up with writer/director Joe Ostrica. The whole idea, Ostrica explains, came from his own experiences attending genre-related conventions and realizing the storytelling potential within these "tale-within-a-tale" ventures. If you're in, feel free to read Cody's interview with Mr. Ostrica right here. Or just click the damn graphic at your left, if you're so inclined. Either way, you'll be glad you did, 'cause it's a damned good interview. Cody, you rock! HE'S READY TO BURY THE 'HATCHET'....IN SOMEBODY'S BRAIN! Just a quick note to announce that John Gray's review of Hatchet is up and can be read by clicking the graphic to your right. For those whose memories need refreshing, Hatchet is writer/director Adam Green's old-school slasher set in the creepy swamps of the outlying New Orleans area, where a group of tourists run afoul of a local legend and are terrorized by the menacing Victor Crowley, a backwoods madman with a real axe to grind! Kane Hodder, who so memorably played Jason Voorhees in four consecutive Friday The 13th outings, creates a truly memorable villain as the demented Crowley. The film is also graced by appearances by such genre favorites as Robert Englund ("Freddy Krueger") and Tony Todd ("Candyman"). Check it out at first opportunity! ORIGINAL 'FRIDAY' AND 'NIGHTMARE' ON THE BIG SCREEN! Always wished you'd had a chance to catch the original Friday The 13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street on the big screen in glorious 35mm print but were resigned to a life of unfulfillment? Well, you can shitcan all that loser-talk, because our good friends at Fangoria are working with FUSE to bring both of those classics to the big screen in New York city for one night only. Hosted by Fangoria editor Tony Timpone, the October 5th screening will be at the IFC Center, 323 Sixth Avenue at W. 3rd Street and will begin at 8:00 pm. Admission is free and on a first-come first-serve basis. The event is specifically intended to promote the Chainsaw Awards, for which you can vote online by clicking the above graphic. The results will be broadcast Sunday, October 22nd at 10:00 pm EST and hosted by Jamie Kennedy. Now get to votin', good people! Got a news scoop? Send it now!