So what do you think of the new red band trailer for ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER? While it brings a certain intensity and gore, ramping up the violence level to 11, I still can’t say I’m very impressed. The title alone is atrocious, and another in a long line of ridiculous mashups such as PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES (also being developed for the big screen), but I’m not going to be one of those assholes who judge the merit of a film by the title alone. The two trailers released for the film so far, however, even with the fantastic amount of violence within the most recent of the two, just isn’t doing it for me. Other than the ridiculous premise of Abraham Lincoln spending his early days as a kung fu master vampire hunter (albeit a successful one), the CGI looks incredibly distracting and cartoonish. I understand the necessity of CGI when it comes to certain things but I will never, EVER abide computer generated blood.

Produced by Tim Burton, Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, and written by Seth Grahame-Smith based on his novel of the same name, ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER hits theaters June 22.

SYNOPSIS:

“Grahame-Smith’s revision of the secret life of our greatest president, and the untold history that shaped our nation. As a young boy, Abraham Lincoln witnesses the shocking death of his mother, leading him on a path to an ongoing war – and ultimately to the presidency – he chronicles in a hidden diary. The journal reveals the incredible story of a clandestine warrior who never stopped fighting for the country he led and the people he loved.”

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In the latest behind-the-scenes featurette for PROMETHEUS (yeah, yeah, I know, another one), Ridley Scott discusses his vision for the film, stating that he’s thrilled to be directing another sci-fi feature and he can’t wait to “scare the shit out of you.” In addition to scenes of Scott shooting behind the scenes, we’re privy to a few new scenes from the movie due out in just a few weeks. Check out the featurette above.

The film opens June 8, 2012 in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters, the anticipated film stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Sean Harris, Guy Pearce, Kate Dickie, Rafe Spall, Logan Marshall-Green, Benedict Wong, Emun Elliott, Ben Foster, and Patrick Wilson.

SYNOPSIS:

Ridley Scott, director of ‘Alien’ and ‘Blade Runner,’ returns to the genre he helped define. With PROMETHEUS, he creates a groundbreaking mythology, in which a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

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As regular Backwoods Horror readers know, I’m a huge, HUGE fan of bigfoot flicks, or as I call ‘em squatchploitation movies. I’m talking about films such as THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE, and 1980′s NIGHT OF THE DEMON amongst others. So I was excited to hear that the found footage bigfoot film THE LOST COAST TAPES has found North American rights distribution through XLrator Media with plans for a fall release.

From Variety:

THE LOST COAST TAPES is directed by Corey Grant, and stars Drew Rausch, Rich McDonald, Ashley Wood, Noah Weisberg and Frank Ashmore. It was written by Brian Kelsey and Bryan O’Cain and produced by Corey Grant’s New Breed Entertainment, Chevez Frazier and Chris Beal.

SYNOPSIS:

In the film, a disgraced investigative TV reporter is on a mission to debunk a famed Bigfoot hunter who claims to possess the body of a dead Sasquatch — and when the reporter and his crew arrive in Northern California, they are thrilled that the hunter’s zealous belief in his hoax is going to make for a wildly entertaining episode of campy paranormal TV. However, when the hunter’s partner is mysteriously attacked, the team is left alone and reality begins to set in.

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Although many Backwoods Horror readers may remember Michelle Trachtenberg best as portraying Buffy’s little sister Dawn on BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, and perhaps the only reason to have seen the train wreck also known as the BLACK CHRISTMAS remake (as the character Melissa). Given her youthful looks, she’s often been cast in younger roles, but recently has been taking on more mature characters in upcoming films such as the currently in production triller THE SCRIBBLER. Perhaps in an effort to break away from the image filmmakers currently have in mind when casting her, the youthful, innocent type, she recently gave an interview with the South African version of the popular men’s magazine FHM including a sultry photo spread that definitely makes the statement that she’s all grown up. Check out more like the image above and a behind the scenes video after the break.

(more…)

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Last week a partial teaser for the MANIAC remake trailer hit the web. Whether released purposefully or not to raise interest, certain horror sites received cease and desist notifications after posting it. Not us, so we left it up. Not long after all the lawyering, however, an official complete NSFW trailer was released that begins in much the same way as the original leaked teaser but then things really get interesting with more insanity, violence, blood, and nudity which, needless to say, has us here at Backwoods Horror finding ourselves incredibly excited for the film.

That’s right, boils ‘n ghouls, we’re excited about a REMAKE! Elijah Wood simply oozes maniacal rage and insanity and this trailer doesn’t hold back on the goods. There are few remakes that can even hold a candle to the original, but if this trailer is any indication of what’s in store for Franck Khalfoun’s take on William Lustig’s masterpiece, this film may join the ranks of such remakes as THE THING and THE FLY.

SYNOPSIS:

Directed by Franck Khalfoun (P2), and written by Alexandre Aja (THE HILLS HAVE EYES remake, HAUTE TENSION) with his producing/writing partner Grégory Levasseur. MANIAC stars Elijah Wood (THE LORD OF THE RINGS) and Nora Arnezeder (SAFE HOUSE). In the film, Wood plays the role of a serial killer who works at a shop that sells antique mannequins. Finding victims on the Internet, he stalks them like prey, all while suffering from hallucinations that throw him back into the past, when he was abused by his own mother. In his twisted mind, he gains a measure of revenge against his mother with each kill.

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Need that special something for the zombie fan in your life who has everything? Well, you’re in luck as the clever boils ‘n ghouls over at Neatorama have created a line of zombie-themed gadgets under their LINE OF THE DEAD banner. Included are such handy undead implements as a zombie hand bottle opener, zombie finger letter openers (also handy for stabbing shambling zombies in the brain if necessary), undead Christmas ornaments and more. Head on over to the Neatorama Zombie Shop for more necro-necessities.

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AMERICAN HORROR STORY series creator Ryan Murphy, interviewing with New York Magazine’s THE VULTURE, spoke at length about some of what we can expect from the upcoming Season 2 (as well as blathering on ad nauseum about Glee, of which I couldn’t give two shits). Thankfully, the boils ‘n ghouls over at Dread Central separated the wheat from the chaff, cutting out the Glee nonsense to get to the good stuff (below).

“It’s set in an institution for the criminally insane that Jessica Lange’s character runs, which is a really, really, really fun thing to do because you can write all these people locked up in it,” Murphy says of the plot. “And I guess if the first season was about infidelity, the second season is about sanity. What makes someone sane or insane? Sometimes the people you think are insane are actually the most sane of all. It’s fun to write about people who society throws away.”

He continues by revealing the time period and how that translates to “real” horror: “I haven’t said this publicly, but the new season is set in the Sixties, and Chloe Sevigny, for example, plays a character who was put in an asylum because she was a woman who likes sex so her husband sends her away. At the time you were able to put people away for that. Another character is institutionalized for being a lesbian. To me there’s nothing more scary than somebody coming to you and saying they’re going to take you away and put you in a mad house and you have no legal rights and there you shall stay till the end of your days. That is a real horror. Everybody has felt people thinking, ‘You’re fucking crazy.’ Even somebody saying that to you is scary.”

Murphy continues, “I actually had the idea first. I knew the first season was about a very contemporary haunted house, and I knew the second season was gonna be — if we were lucky enough to be picked up — about an insane asylum done in a very different way. I pitched it in the very beginning, and FX said, ‘Good. We hope the first season works ‘cause we love the second season.’ I even know what the third season would be. There are very, very many different kinds of haunted houses in our culture. And there are a lot of different social topics that you can weave through that sort of prism.”

Keep it tuned right here to Backwoods Horror, faithful readers, for more information concerning AMERICAN HORROR STORY’s Second Season starring Jessica Lange, Zachary Quinto, Evan Peters, Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe, Adam Levine, Lizzie Brochere, Chloe Sevigny and James Cromwell.

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With the 5th season of True Blood returning in just a few more weeks, HBO has released another promo titled “Everything Is At Stake.” Check out the promo above and don’t forget to tune in for all the gory vampy goodness Sunday June 10th.

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As we near ever closer to the release date of Ridley Scott’s PROMETHEUS, a virtual deluge of marketing media has been hitting television and the web. In that fashion, here are 2 new television spots going by the titles “Invitation” and “Explain.” Opening on June 8 in 3D, 2D and IMAX 3D theaters, the anticipated film stars Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Sean Harris, Guy Pearce, Kate Dickie, Rafe Spall, Logan Marshall-Green, Benedict Wong, Emun Elliott, Ben Foster, and Patrick Wilson.

In PROMETHEUS, a team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a thrilling journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.”

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Warner Bros. has released a new trailer and poster for their upcoming supernatural horror movie THE APPARITION. Directed and written by Todd Lincoln, the PG-13 film, vaguely reminiscent of Asian Horror films such as PULSE, is set for a release date of August 31st and stars Ashley Greene, Sebastian Stan, Luke Pasqualino, Julianna Guill, and Tom Felton. While I’m not normally a fan of PG-13 horror as it generally tends to be watered down in order to bring in a larger (younger) audience, the trailer does convey a particular sense of terror and dread.

SYNOPSIS:

When frightening events start to occur in their home, young couple Kelly (Ashley Greene) and Ben (Sebastian Stan) discover they are being haunted by a presence that was accidentally conjured during a university parapsychology experiment. The horrifying apparition feeds on their fear and torments them no matter where they try to run. Their last hope is an expert in the supernatural, Patrick (Tom Felton), but even with his help they may already be too late to save themselves from this terrifyingly malevolent force…

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