Hellraiser Remake Not Retelling Clive Barker's Story

During the rounds at today's Drive Angry press junket, Patrick Lussier and Todd Farmer, the men in charge of the upcoming Hellraiser Remake, offered new details about plotline of the upcoming movie. Lussier outlined the difference between certain horror remakes, and stated that they will not be retelling Clive Barker's story.


"I think the biggest thing is, and we talked about this a lot recently, is that we have no intention of remaking Clive's movie. Clive's movie is obviously not like remaking My Bloody Valentine, or Happy Birthday to Me, or Terror Train or Prom Night - those are all very specific movies at a specific time with a specific purpose. As fun as they are, and that's not to take away from them, they were clearly business ventures. Hellraiser, obviously, was not. It was a personal story for Clive and Clive is a true artist. It didn't feel right to us to retell Clive's story. That's Clive's story. At the same time, there have been a variety of Hellraiser movies and movies that play within the world that he created. And none of them have really gone behind the curtain of what that world is. So that was basically what we offered up to Dimension Films as something unique and different that stays true to Clive's originality, but, at the same time, pays no disrespect to it."

With that in mind, the duo described what is more suited to describe the Hellraiser film as a "reboot" of sorts, rather than remake.

"We're keeping it within the world of the box. What the box is and what the box does."

"Clive's film is very personal. That's a difficult story for us to come in and re-tell."

"To go in and tell the story of Frank and the family wouldn't be right. What we went in to pitch with at Dimension was to come at it from a different angle, but go into the same world and see things you haven't been able to see in the other movies. There have been so many films, how can we make this one different?"

In addition, despite online reports, the film will not be PG-13. Said Lussier,

"We had the contracts changed to specifically say we were delivering an R-rated film. The treatment we turned in, it was like, if you're expecting a happy ending, stop reading now."

1974 Filming Locations " Texas Chainsaw Massacre"

1974 Texas Chainsaw Massacre Film Locations


The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre film is widely regarded as THE
seminal horror/cult film by which all others are measured. This low-budget
high-intensity film has spurred 6 other major motion pictures, with the latest
high budget film to be released in October of 2006 by New Line Cinema.

The 1974 original also spurred a worldwide urban legend about the story,
which has become a phenomenon. Many people to this day believe that
such a tragedy did occurr in Texas and that there really was a chainsaw-
weilding maniac who wears human flesh for a mask and clothing.

Although the storyline is very loosely based upon Ed Gein, a cannibalistic
killer from the 1950's from Plainfield, Wisconsin, Ed never owned a
chainsaw and only killed two women before he was captured and died in
a mental institution in Wisconsin.

Never the less, the fictitional character, Leatherface, cut his impression upon
millions of people in 1974 and a Texas legend was born. People continually
search for the real answers to their questions about the story and wonder
about the house and other locations that were used in the cult classic film.

We offer you the chance of a lifetime to personally visit the house and other
locations so that you can feel more of a part of the milestone in Texas film
history that is the Texas Chain Saw Massacre!

The house used in the original film has been
restored to its original beauty with a few
added features. But any Chainsaw fan will
easily recognize the house, inside and out.

Drop in and relive your fondest memories from the
movie. Like the dinner scene, the meathook
scene, or perhaps where the first teenager falls
victim to Leatherface and slams the metal door shut!

Visitors are able to visit the grounds, walk inside
the house and take pictures.

The gas station was always a real gas station to
people in central Texas and it has changed owners
over the course of time, as it does to this day.

Visitors are guaranteed a stop at the gas station
and can walk the grounds. Walking in and taking
pictures is an option if the building is open
for buisiness.

Of all of the locations to change or disappear over
the years, the cemetery remains virtually unchanged
since the opening of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre
film was shot at this location back in the summer of
1973.

Visitors are welcome to walk the grounds and take
pictures

Quick Hill is the tract of land the house used to
reside upon since its construction in the late
1890's until 1998. It also served as the primary
setting for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre film.
Fans remember Leatherface's infamous
"Chainsaw Dance" at the end of the film.

Today, a highway blazes through the hill near
where the house used to stand, and the La-
Frontera business developement will soon take
over the area.

Visiting this location is by request only. You can
drive by or park near the hill and take pictures.
Trespassing is strictly prohibited.

Real Truth Behind Blair Witch Project

The 1999 film The Blair Witch Project was produced in documentary style, but how much of the story was actually true?



Since its introduction in 1999, people have wondered how much of the Blair Witch Project was based on a true story. Was there ever a Blair Witch? Was the footage of the students actually found in the woods after the three novice documentary-makers turned up missing?

The Blair Witch Project: Background and Storyline

In The Blair Witch Project, three students trek into the Maryland woods to investigate the legend of the Blair Witch. They never return. The film consists of footage from their video equipment, which was found abandoned in the woods a year later.

Before they set off, the three had explored local legends in the town of Burkittsville, which was formerly named Blair. Townsfolk appear reluctant to talk, but stories slowly emerge about a hermit, Rustin Parr, who kidnapped and murdered seven children in a house in the woods. Parr turned himself in and confessed to the crimes, but told the police that the spirit of a witch executed in the 18th century caused him to commit the murders.



The shaky webcam documents the story of the three students getting lost in the woods. Heather, Michael and Josh begin to hear spooky sounds at night and discover strange objects left outside their tent which leads them to believe something supernatural is out there. The trio grow more and more terrified as they become even more lost, cold, and hungry. One member of their group, Josh, suddenly disappears. The remaining two hear screams but cannot find him. A bundle is discovered outside the tent which contains human teeth. The two follow anguished cries to an abandoned house in the woods. The footage abruptly stops after what appears to be an encounter with the Blair Witch within the basement of the house. The camera then fades to black.

The Blair Witch Legend—Intentional Confusion

So, how much of the Blair Witch is true? Not much, except the town of Burkittsville. There is no Blair Witch legend and there never was a Blair Witch Project. The entire story was fabricated. The hoax was well-planned from the beginning, and part of an extraordinary marketing ploy which included the intentional filming of a phony documentary complete with a website devoted to the legend's backstory and the making of a faux documentary which was presented as true.

The film, directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez, was one of the first to be marketed on the Internet. The website, which contained false newspaper reports and pages from Heather's fake diary, was a real first of its kind. It is no wonder that when the website appeared, many people took it for a true story. After the film came out, the little town was encroached upon by curiosity-seekers and souvenir hunters.


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The Blair Witch Phenomenon

Inspiration for the Blair Witch Film and Similar Legends

Though there may be some tales of witches and hauntings around Burkittsville, none are matched to the fictional Blair Witch or the Blair Witch Project. The filmmakers drew from many sources to create the Blair Witch legend, including the Salem Witch Trials, the play The Crucible, and inspiration was also drawn from the Bell Witch, a prominent legend of a haunting in Tennessee.

The 1999 independent film The Blair Witch Project was a huge box-office success, whose gross sales far exceeded its very low budget. A 2000 sequel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 did not share the success of the first film.

The "shaky webcam" and faux documentary effect spawned a whole host of films directed in this style, such as Cloverfield and Paranormal Activity.

The Craze Behind "American Horror Story"

Believe it or not, the title of FX's new series, "American Horror Story," is actually an understatement.

Grotesque, terrifying, brutal, and kinky, "American Horror Story" makes "The Shining" look like "The Waltons."

"It's really amazing to me that this is on television and not on film," says horror expert Marina Levina, an assistant professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Memphis. "I've been really surprised at how far they've been able to take things. In the first episode, they killed children, which is shocking."

The plot revolves around the Harmons, a fractured couple (Dylan McDermott and Connie Britton) who move with their teenage daughter (Taissa Farmiga) to Los Angeles for a fresh start.

Turns out they got a good price on that rambling Victorian for a reason: It's the featured stop on a popular "Murder Tour" in the City of Angels.

The real estate agent didn't see fit to tell the Harmons that everyone who has ever lived there met a violent end. They had to find that out from the spooky Blanche DuBois-type who lives next door (Jessica Lange).

With the housing market in the dumps, the Harmons can't unload their chamber of horrors.

Soon they're besieged by the emotionally disturbed, the developmentally disabled, the physically disfigured, and other creatures who defy explanation.

There is, for example, a figure sheathed head to toe in a shiny black bondage suit. We're pretty sure he/ it has impregnated Mrs. Harmon. Don't even get us started on the hideous monstrosity in the basement.

Even the most benign-seeming characters carry wickedly toxic luggage. And in this vile villa, it's impossible to tell the living from the dead, the haunted from the haunting.

The series carries a "mature audiences only" rating, and each episode carries an additional warning for two or more of the following: indecent language, explicit sexual activity and graphic violence.

Faced with this sick spectacle, viewers have two options: shield their eyes and reach for the remote, or fasten their seatbelts. Increasingly they are harnessing down for the ride.

Last week's episode, the first of a two-part Halloween extravaganza (the conclusion is Wednesday night), saw viewership jump 15 percent to 3 million.

Precisely what is it that they're experiencing in this series produced by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk?

"It's all the horror of being in a relationship and being in a family and being in a marriage," says "AHS" star McDermott. "It's a metaphor."

Hmm, interesting theory. Anyone else?

"It's the haunted-house genre taken to an extreme," ventures Levina. "Everything is coming at them from inside the house. It's terror internalized.

"We've seen these type of stories in films since 9/ 11. We're living with terror that you simply can't solve, in an America where things are going terribly wrong."

If you have the stomach for it, "American Horror Story" works pretty well as pure entertainment. (On Monday, FX gave "AHS" an early renewal for next season.)

"It's a very well-done, even innovative way to tell a scary story on TV," says Ken Tucker, editor at large at Entertainment Weekly and former TV critic at The Philadelphia Inquirer, via e-mail. "On the other hand, it's one of the creepiest, most depressing shows to come along since "The Real Housewives of New Jersey."

"Jessica Lange has the tone down best, and when Jessica Lange is your barometer of emoting, you know the show might go over the top at any moment."

Over-the-top is the specialty of the house for producer Murphy. His TV creations have veered from the catty and funny high school soap "Popular" to the emphatically outrageous adult plastic surgery drama "Nip/ Tuck" to the high school show choir sensation "Glee" to the gnarly, envelope-tearing "American Horror Story."

Not an easy guy to pigeonhole.

"Ryan gets bored easily," says Dylan Walsh, who starred in "Nip/ Tuck." "Before he's done, he will have created some of the most unforgettable series in TV history. And they'll all be different."

Calling "American Horror Story" "different" - that's definitely an understatement.
by david hiltbrand

3D Horror Movies

SAW, Dawn of the Dead, Reanimator and more are getting not just redone... but in 3-D.So without to much hoopla here is my list of Upcoming 3D Horror Movies.

SAW 3-D: When you run out of ideas you used to go into space with your characters. Twisted Pictures is considering doing SAW VI in 3-D instead. I am a big fan of the SAW franchise but I really do not see how 3-D is going to work. The producers haven't decided if they will do Saw VI in 3D or do a seventh movie. But, I should stress, the producers are just mulling over the idea of a 3D movie, nothing has been made official.

Re-Animator 3-D: Producer Ray Haboush and Producer Brian Yuzna (who also produced the original as well the two sequels and directed them as well) will be developing a 3-D version of Re-Animator. Its too early to see if Combs will return or if they'll find another West. Unlike a SAW movie in 3-D Re-Animator might actually work because of the nature of the movie.

PuppetMaster 3-D: Charles Band is working on bringing Puppet Master into 3-D and this one doesnt surprise me at all. Charles Band is well known for following trends and capitalizing them and his films definitely would be campy and fun in 3-D. The problem I see for PuppetMaster is getting the money to do it in 3-D. It cant be cheap to do a low budget 3-D movie.

The Eye 3-D: The Pang Brothers are going to be directing a new film titled The Childs Eye in 3D which is basically The Eye 3. The only other information we have on the project is that it will star Elanne Kwong and Rainie Young. Asian Horror in 3-D... betcha all that violence coming off the screen in 3-D will be very disturbing.

Piranha 3-D: Piranha is a classic movie about little killer fish that make lunch of people. Over the top gore master Alexander Aja is slated to write/direct/produce this remake which he says is more of a retelling and will be done in 3-D. This may work since the idea of small fish swarming off the screen snapping at my face creeps me out.

Dawn of the Dead 3-D: No we are not talking about Zach Snyders remake. We are talking about the Romero classic. Producer Richard Rubinstein is redoing the film in 3-D with the help of In-Three Inc of Aguoura Hill California. They plan the release the film in 'true 3-d'. Little side note they are also working on a direct sequel to Romero's Dawn of the Dead.



The Gate 3-D: This one we have little on other then we are told its happening. The synopsis of the first one is as follows; Two teenagers come across a special rock with a beautiful crystalline center in their backyard. The rock enthralls them and they dig up the family's lawn in a search for more of the precious stones.The removal of an old tree in Glen's backyard reveals a large and mysterious hole, a gateway to somewhere dangerous. It's a hidden underground chamber that holds the secret of centuries and the vengeance of eternity. Left alone for three days, brother and sister must contend with the creatures that rise up from "The Gate".

Final Destination 3-D: This one is actually coming pretty quick. The 4th film in the film franchise is being done in 3-D and once again I think this is a great film for 3-D. The script is done by FD2 co-writer Eric Bress. The film will also open up against Rob Zombies Halloween sequel ( to his remake ).

Horror Films Loosely Based On True Stories

Creep

Horror films based on, loosely based, or inspired by true stories. Some of these I think suck, I know, but I'm still just listing them because they're somehow based on a true story. The one's I haven't seen are the newer ones that haven't yet been released, or were just released recently.

creepfreak's Rating

1
The Amityville Horror1979, R

2
The Amityville Horror2005, R)

3
Amityville II: The Possession1982, R)
A truly chilling creep fest of a movie. This one sends chills down my spine. Way more frightening then the original Amityville! Watch this one alone in the dark.

Highly Recommended!

4
Dahmer2002, R)

5
The Secret Life: Jeffrey Dahmer1993, Unrated)

6
An American Haunting2006, PG-13)

7
Baat sin faan dim ji yan yuk cha siu baau (The Untold Story) (Human Pork Chop)1993, Unrated)

8
Cannibal2008, R)

9
Rohtenburg (Grimm Love)2007, Unrated)

10
Death Tunnel2005, R)

11
The Girl Next Door2007, R)

Paranormal Activity 3 Brings Goose Bumps!

The most startling shot in "Paranormal Activity 3" is something even the film's determined unbelievers would concede to be damnably effective.

Suburban San Diego three-story home, 1988, in the middle of the VHS tape era. A homemade surveillance camera attached to an oscillating floor fan scans left, then right, and we see a mother (Lauren Bittner) of two girls (Chloe Csengery and Jessica Tyler Brown) walk out of the kitchen.



She is alone. The kitchen seems to be its usual self, each appliance and bowl and fork and spoon in its place.

A few seconds later she re-enters the same kitchen just as the video camera pivots to reveal that everything has disappeared. And then ...

Modest, low-fi horror continues to find a friend in the cheapo but very shrewd "Paranormal Activity" franchise, which consists now of three films designed for single-use, one-time consumption. But you know what? They work. Like its predecessors, the new "found footage" lark builds tension and dread slowly and sticks it to you just when you need something to happen.

Like the whining dolts in "The Blair Witch Project," the key character with the camera, a wedding videographer played by Christopher Nicholas Smith, finds reasons to film all his own worst experiences with the supernatural and the paranormal and the oogly-boogly. It's a ridiculous conceit getting slightly more ridiculous by the film. But I have been entertainingly spooked by the results each time. And since these films played a significant role in killing off (for now) their aesthetic opposite, the vicious-spirited and dreary "Saw" franchise, it's hard not to feel warmly toward the little ghost stories that could.

In this prequel, we get to know "Toby," the unseen demonic frenemy of preteen daughter Kristi (Brown). The cross-cutting between three surveillance camera set-ups in "Paranormal Activity 3" – one near the kitchen, one in the girls' bedroom upstairs, one in the adults' bedroom – is more aggressive than the rhythms in the first two. The directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman made the recent mystery-documentary "Catfish," and their weaselly fake-naturalism proves a fine fit for this project.

By MICHAEL PHILLIPS / Chicago Tribune