It would be fair (sad, but fair) to have completely given up on ever actually seeing Trick ‘r Treat with your own eyes. The film, directed and written by Michael Dougherty, was originally completed back in 2007, and then, just shy of its scheduled October ’07 release date, Warner Bros. Pictures pulled the plug, beginning what would become a long standing tradition of ruthlessly cornholing the poor little film for lord knows what reason.
Finally, after many years of treating Fred Dekker’s Night of the Creeps like the red-headed step child of zombie films, Sony Pictures has begun work on a director’s cut of the 80s cult-classic to be released on DVD, and possibly even Blu-ray, this October (right in time for both my birthday and Halloween)! I’d wager a guess that most people have no idea that this film even exists, and I can’t say that I blame them, as it has previously only been kept alive in the hearts and minds of steadfast genre geeks, except for the handful who happen to own a shoddy bootleg, or one of the increasingly more rare VHS or Laserdisc versions (if you don’t know what a Laserdisc is, ask your grandparents).
According to a little teaser image (the very same one you see right there) that was included in the latest Criterion newsletter, the acclaimed distributor will be adding Guillermo del Toro’s Cronos to its ranks this fall! Cronos is one of del Toro’s earliest works (marking the beginning of his love affair with Ron Perlman), but it remains a very imaginative, very worthy inclusion to his resumé that also happens to be one of the most interesting takes on the vampire mythos ever put on film.
I am no stranger to professing my love for Let The Right On In, the Swedish vampire movie that captured the #1 spot on my favorite films of 2008 list. My catch-all word for it is sublime, because every damn thing about it was just that. What is not sublime is Magnolia Pictures completely botching the U.S release for reasons I won’t even attempt to understand. As fate would have it, I had yet to plunk down for my own personal copy of the movie on Blu-Ray, and I couldn’t be happier about that now that it’s been reported by Icons of Fright (thanks, guys) that the subtitles on the U.S release are completely fubar.
Alan Moore’s Watchmen flirted with the animated form not long ago with the digital release of the somewhat poorly realized “motion comic”, which actually happened to be an interesting idea that was tragically marred by the fact they had one dude handle the entirety of the voice-work (and that includes his husky interpretation of all the female characters). I know their heart was in the right place, but if you seriously know so few women that you can’t find even one to do a tiny bit of voice acting for you, then working on a motion comic version of anything should be the least of your concerns.
Thai director Prachya Pinkaew threw down the gauntlet with 2003′s Ong-bak, a bone-crunching martial arts feast that served as an excellent showcase for the awe-inspiring Tony Jaa. Unfortunately, the formidable duo was only able to get one more film under their belts (2005′s highly entertaining The Protector) before having a well-publicized falling out, leaving Prachya to search for a new star to herald, while Jaa alternated between directing Ong-bak 2 and going bonkers off in the jungle somewhere.
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