If Charles Band were a pro wrestler, I’d like to think his entrance music would be Metallica’s “Master of Puppets”. Four new little beasties will be added to his repertoire when Unlucky Charms begins filming any moment now.

Five girls vie for a chance to model diva Deedee DeVille’s fashion line, but they’re soon competing for their lives against four mythical beings, led by the mischievous Farr Darrig. Deedee wants to steal the girls’ souls, but the beings have other plans…

Falling prey to these latest pint-sized predators from the Puppet Master maestro will be Charlie O'Connell (“Sliders”, 2-Headed Shark Attack), Jeryl Prescott Sales (“The Walking Dead”, The Skeleton Key), Anna Sophia Berglund (Playboy Playmate January 2011, “The Girls Next Door”), Seth Peterson (“Burn Notice”, “Providence”), Masuimi Max (xXx: State of the Union, The Devil's Muse), and Nikki Leigh (Playboy Playmate May 2012, Blood of 1000 Virgins).

Now that we’ve met the human characters, allow me to introduce you to the Unlucky Charms.

Farr Darrig: A strange dwarf with a bright red beard. His clothes and hat suggest those of a leprechaun, but not green....instead bright red.

Banshee: An old female hag with straw-like hair and milky-white eyes, dressed in rags, her mouth seeming much larger than it should.

Pookah: A hideous hobgoblin with long sharp claws and wicked needle teeth.

Bloody Bones: A one-eyed cyclops with a necklace of bones not quite stripped of bloody flesh.

Unlucky Charms begins shooting begins this week.

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Deadly Walkers is set to release in 2013 for PC and Mac. Players will take on hordes of the undead in this new FPS title that takes place in an apocalyptic London. Can you take on the terror and watch this horrifying first gameplay trailer?!

From the Press Release
Animantz and Dysotek are glad to announce Deadly Walkers, their new gaming title for Mac and PC. Deadly Walkers is a zombie FPS that carries the player in a new dimension of scare. It gives the feel and the breathless emotions of the old zombie movies, like Dawn of the Dead (1978). For the First time ever the player will fight against real zombies, hordes of undead creatures that slowly will surround him and that can be killed only shooting to their head.

Through the eyes of a special forces soldier, the game tells the story, of an apocalyptic plague spreading in the city of London. Nobody knows what is happening in the city, why people are dying, why they are becoming undead creatures. All is has happened so fast, the day after an important meeting of the Laboratory for Disease Control. London is now in quarantine and nobody can escape out from this terror.

The army has been destroyed by the plague, the player is one of the last soldiers fighting this war. The colonel has ordered to find the biological data of the plague and take the blood of the zombie number 0, the First infected civilian. With his blood the scientists of the Laboratory for Disease Control will be able to make a vaccine against the plague and aid million of people.

For more information on the game, check out the officialDeadly Walkers website.

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The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is set to release later this year for Xbox 360 and PC. Players will take on the role as the legendary monster hunter Van Helsing in a gothic-noir adventure. A new trailer shows off some of the details of the game's customization features.

From the Press Release
Independent developer NeocoreGames revealed today a spectacular new gameplay trailer and screenshots for The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, demonstrating the much anticipated Rage and Power-up System, whereby players have the ability to tailor skills on the spot. Whether it is killing foes instantly or freezing them in place, players have an enormous selection of abilities to take advantage of while they combat twisted creatures born in secret laboratories.

Enabling players to have up to three active skill modifiers, called Power-ups, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing delivers an abundant amount of pathways to follow within legendary monster hunter Van Helsing’s skilltree. By charging up the power-ups and utilizing Rage points collected from impressive feats, players are capable of taking down the most gruesome bosses and mythical beasts.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is a gothic-noir steampunk action-RPG that is set to release on Windows PC this spring and Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft later this year. Players experience fierce battles with familiar supernatural foes all within a dark storyline influenced by Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

For more information on the game, check out the officialThe Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing website.

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Gamers are already immersed in the world of "Defiance," and in just one week everyone else will be able to see what all the fuss is about when the TV element of the crossover project premieres on Syfy. Curious? Get a look at what's ahead in this new trailer for the series.

Synopsis:
WATCH THE SHOW, PLAY THE GAME, CHANGE THE WORLD!

From Syfy and Trion Worlds comes a revolution in entertainment: powerful scripted drama and a massive online world, united for the very first time. Set on a transformed Earth in the near future, events in the show will impact the game, and players will impact the show, creating an unprecedented immersive experience.

Related Story: "Defiance" Looks Like a Great Place in This New Trailer and Image Gallery

"Defiance" introduces players and viewers to a world where humans and aliens live together on a planet ravaged by decades of war and transformed by alien terra-forming machines. It centers on Jeb Nolan (Grant Bowler), the law-keeper in a bustling frontier boomtown that is one of the new world’s few oases of civility and inclusion. Nolan is a former Marine who fought in the alien conflict and suffered the loss of his wife and child in the war. The trauma transformed him into a lone wanderer in the wilds of this new and dangerous world.

The series stars Grant Bowler, Julie Benz, Stephanie Leonidas, Tony Curran, Jaime Murray, Fionnula Flanagan, Mia Kirshner, and Oscar nominee Graham Greene. "Defiance" is directed by Scott Stewart (Legion, Priest) and written/executive produced by Rockne O’Bannon ("Farscape"), Kevin Murphy ("Desperate Housewives," "Caprica"), and Michael Taylor ("Battlestar Galactica"). Kevin Murphy serves as showrunner. Defiance is produced by Universal Cable Productions.

Related Story: Watch the First 14 Minutes of Syfy's "Defiance"

"Defiance" premieres April 15th at 9/8c on Syfy. For more info visit the "Defiance" website, "like" "Defiance" on Facebook, and follow "Defiance" (@DefianceWorld) on Twitter.

Episode 1.01 - "Pilot" (airing 4/15/13)
The arrival of the mysterious Nolan (Grant Bowler) and his charge Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas) to the town of Defiance marks a threat to the fragile peace that exists between the residents in the premiere of this futuristic drama, which is set in the year 2046, more than 30 years following a war between humans and aliens that left Earth forever changed.

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Matrix Games has announced Distant Worlds: Shadows expansion for PC. Players will venture into a new timeline entitled Age of Shadows with expanded ground combat, tech tree and much more. Now lets travel into the dark corners of hyperspace and explore over 1,000+ star galaxies!

From the Press Release
Distant Worlds: Shadows is the highly anticipated third expansion to the critically acclaimed 4X space strategy game. Distant Worlds: Shadows adds incredible new gameplay to the Distant Worlds universe and includes an earlier era in the Distant Worlds timeline, called the Age of Shadows.

Start a new empire before the discovery of hyperspace travel and try to expand into the stars, or play as one of the legendary Pirate factions of the Age of Shadows, competing with new victory conditions to establish an alternate history where the pirates triumphed over the planetary civilizations. The pirate options alone include four completely new playstyles (ranging from Raiders to Smugglers) and new smuggling and mercenary missions. Also included are ship boarding actions and ship and base capture, new Ship Captain characters and pirate raids of planets and space stations.

New gameplay also includes expanded ground combat, with a full new ground combat tech tree, a ground combat resolution screen and multiple different troop types (infantry, armor, planetary defenses and special forces). Ground combat is now animated and resolved from the descent of the first assault pods from orbit to the final battles for planetary control, with new bonuses for combined arms and the effects of the different troop types as well as local space superiority all considered in the outcome.

The expanded tech tree also includes Gravitic Weapons and Tractor Beams as well as additional planetary facilities that allow you more customization on character recruitment. Distant Worlds: Shadows also includes an updated and improved graphical engine that allows for much better performance in the epic 1,000+ star galaxies that many Distant Worlds fans enjoy. The AI is also much improved, especially in terms of the economy and a new comprehensive difficulty setting should mean that even the most experienced Distant Worlds player will find a challenge in Distant Worlds: Shadows. As usual, modding support has been kept up to date with the new improvements.

With brand new gameplay as well as greatly expanded gameplay for all play styles, Distant Worlds: Shadows is an exciting and essential new addition to the vast, living galaxy of Distant Worlds!

For more information, check out the official Distant Worlds: Shadows website.

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Zomber Squad has opened its second closed beta server on , and fans are invited to join in on a week of fun and monster chaos! Gamers will be awarded with special items and bonuses which includes free Soma. Read on to learn more.

From the Press Release
Zomber Squad has opened its second closed beta server on Omprus, and you can be a part of it! The beta test will last for one week and we’ll be hosting some awesome events to enrich the experience.

During the closed beta, stay online for 1 hour or more and get rewarded with free Soma and Upgrade Stones, and evolve your Pet to unlock Order Forms and Reebs. At the end of the fifth day after launch, all members of the top 10 Corps will be rewarded with Mad Gainz Passes, and the top 10 Agents by level will be rewarded with tons of free Soma! That’s right - free Soma!

Zomber Squad is a unique MMO for players looking for a bit of a challenge. You’re given the task of controlling up to 3 characters simultaneously in intense battles with the undead. Manage your very own safe district and recruit and train a team of diverse heroes. In addition, PVP is a very large part of Zomber Squad. In the newest update, you can not only enjoy intense PVP combat, but also get rewards for participating! Join Zomber Squad now to get yours!

For more information on the game and/or to signup, check out the officialZomber Squad website.

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Word has just come to us that Divergent, based on Veronica Roth's young adult trilogy of the same name, has officially started production. Read on for the initial details, etc. No really... read on. You really should. Don't make me tell you again.

Synopsis
Summit Entertainment, a LIONSGATE® (NYSE: LGF) company, announced today that principal photography has commenced in Chicago on the highly anticipated feature filmadaptation of DIVERGENT, starring Golden Globe nominated Shailene Woodley, Theo James, and Academy Award® winner Kate Winslet. The studio also announced that Ray Stevenson and Mekhi Phifer will join a stellar young cast including Maggie Q, Jai Courtney, Miles Teller, Zoë Kravitz, Ansel Elgort, Ben Lloyd-Hughes, Ben Lamb, Christian Madsen, and Amy Newbold. The futuristic action adventure, based on author Veronica Roth's New York Times best seller, will be directed by Neil Burger from a script by Vanessa Taylor. The original draft of the script was written by Evan Daugherty. Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher are producing the project via their RedWagon Entertainment banner along with Pouya Shahbazian. Red Wagon's Rachel Shane is executive producing, alongside John J. Kelly. Summit will release the film theatrically in North America in THE HUNGER GAMES slot on Friday, March 21, 2014.

DIVERGENT is a thrilling adventure set in a future world where people are divided into distinct factions based on their personalities, Tris Prior (Woodley) is warned she is Divergent and will never fit into any one group. When she discovers a conspiracy to destroy all Divergents, she must find out what makes being Divergent so dangerous before it's too late.

The extremely popular young adult novel Divergent was written by first time author Veronica Roth and has topped the New York Times Best Sellers list ever since being published in May of 2011 by Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins Publishers. The book was written by Roth while she was earning her undergraduatedegree at Northwestern University. She followed her first novel with the book Insurgent, which has also made its way to the #1 position on specific New York Times Best Sellers lists. To date, book sales are now over 3 million copies for both novels combined, and both titles are HarperCollins most successful e-books ever in regards to sales. The studio acquired the film rights to the novel in early 2011 several months before the book Divergent was published.

DIVERGENT marks another strategic foray for Summit into producing material for young adults, building on Summit and corporate parent Lionsgate's leadership in the young-adult genre. Summit's TWILIGHT SAGA franchise has grossed more than $3.3 billion at the worldwide box office, and the first film of Lionsgate's THE HUNGER GAMES franchise is the 13th highest-grossing North American release of all time.

Erik Feig, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group's President of Production, and Gillian Bohrer, Lionsgate's SVP of Production, are overseeing the project for the studio.

To stay connected with all updates related to the film, follow Divergent on Twitter and "like" Divergent on Facebook.

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Two more actors have signed on for active duty in the upcoming Hidden the Woods, and we've got the skinny for you on the whos and whats right here. Why? Because we're almost like real journalists and can do stuff like that!

Next to join the cast is Chris Browning (pictured; "Sons of Anarchy," The Book of Eli) and Ricco Ross (Aliens). Award-winning actor Michael Biehn (who worked with Ross in Aliens), under his Blanc/Biehn Productions shingle, has begun pre-production and casting for the company’s latest project, the remake of the controversial film Hidden in the Woods (En Las Afueras De La Ciudad).

William Forsythe (The Rock, “Boardwalk Empire”) will play Uncle Costello, and also part of the cast is MMA fighter Krxysztof Soszynski, who recently worked with Michael Biehn on the MMA film Tapped. Biehn will also star in the film.

“I have never seen such a violent film that didn’t feel gratuitous and exploitive,” commented Biehn. “Patricio Valledares did an incredible job to combat that with his original film, and we’re excited to announce that he is on board to direct the English remake.”

In addition to these new additions, Biehn, Forsythe, and Soszynski, the cast includes Jeannine Kaspar (Iron Man, “House of Lies,” “Nip/Tuck”), Andy Mackenzie (Sushi Girl, "True Blood"), Electra Avelan (Grindhouse, Machete Kills) Mark Burnham (Quentin Dupieux's Wrong and Wrong Cops), Jennifer Blanc (The Victim, Wrong Cops), and Richard Gunn (“Granite Flats,” “Dark Angel”) along with Caitlin Keats (Broken English, Kill Bill Volume 2, Treachery), Matthew Alan (Red Tails, "Sons of Anarchy"), J. Michael Trautmann (Here Comes the Boom, "Shameless"), Evie Louise Thompson (The Call, Heebie Jeebies), Nick Bateman (from Jason Eiseners' Hobo With a Shotgun), Cody Hackman (Tapped), and Luke Massy (Thor). Shooting is set to begin in early June in Texas. Patricio Valledares will direct. Jennifer Blanc-Biehn will produce along with Loris Courci, Evelyn Belmar, Time Lock Films, and Valle Studio Films.

“We feel this story needs to be told,” commented producer Jennifer Blanc-Biehn. “It’s based on a true criminal case. Three out of every four women are abused throughout the world so we hope to be able to not only tell a story but also donate some of the proceeds to a few women’s charities to stop the violence.”

Synopsis
Hidden in the Woods tells the story of two sisters who have been raised in isolation, subjected to the torment of their abusive, drug dealing father. When they finally decide to report him to the police, he kills the two officers and is put in jail. But things go from bad to worse when the girls must answer to their Uncle Costello, a psychotic drug kingpin, who shows up looking for his missing merchandise which is hidden in the woods.

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Talk about fast! Check out this latest TV spot for Eli Roth's upcoming show for Netflix, "Hemlock Grove." which comes and goes faster than a minute man at The Bunny Ranch. Yeah.... it's that damned fast. Dig it!

From executive producer Eli Roth and developed by Brian McGreevy (who wrote the novel on which it's based) and Lee Shipman, "Hemlock Grove" stars Famke Janssen, Dougray Scott, Bill Skarsgård, Landon Liboiron, Penelope Mitchell, and Freya Tingley.

Synopsis:
"Hemlock Grove" is a riveting one-hour murder mystery that revolves around the residents of a former Pennsylvania steel town. When 17-year-old Brooke Bluebell is brutally murdered, any of Hemlock’s peculiar inhabitants – or killer creatures – could be suspects. Through the investigation the town’s seamier side is exposed, revealing nothing is what it seems. Beautiful, terrifying, and graphic, "Hemlock Grove" is unlike anything else in its genre.

All 13 episodes of Season 1 will be available exclusively on Netflix beginning April 19, 2013. For more info be sure to "like" "Hemlock Grove" on Facebook, and follow "Hemlock Grove" on Twitter.

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The first one-sheet for Elysium, the new film from District 9 director Neill Blomkamp has arrived, and it gives off a very Matrixy type vibe. Still, we're pretty sure that given the talent involved it's gonna kick ass!

Directed by Neill Blomkamp, Elysium stars Sharlto Copley, Jodie Foster, Matt Damon, Wagner Moura, William Fichtner, Alice Braga, and Diego Luna. Look for it in theaters August 9, 2013.

Synopsis
In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) will stop at nothing to preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium – but that doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in by any means they can. Max (Matt Damon) agrees to take on a life-threatening mission, one that could bring equality to these polarized worlds.

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Another Pacific Rim viral is here, and all we can say about it is we're glad it doesn't have something to do with cleaning up monster shit. Three or four days of that was more than enough! Check it out.

Look for Pacific Rim, directed by Guillermo del Toro, in theatres July 12th of 2013. Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Charlie Day, Ron Perlman, Rinko Kikuchi, Max Martini, Rob Kazinsky, Clifton Collins, Jr., and Diego Klattenhoff star.

Synopsis
From acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro comes Warner Bros. Pictures’ and Legendary Pictures’ epic sci-fi action adventure Pacific Rim.

Related News: Visit our Pacific Rim archive

When legions of monstrous creatures, known as Kaiju, started rising from the sea, a war began that would take millions of lives and consume humanity’s resources for years on end. To combat the giant Kaiju, a special type of weapon was devised: massive robots, called Jaegers, which are controlled simultaneously by two pilots whose minds are locked in a neural bridge. But even the Jaegers are proving nearly defenseless in the face of the relentless Kaiju. On the verge of defeat, the forces defending mankind have no choice but to turn to two unlikely heroes--a washed up former pilot (Charlie Hunnam) and an untested trainee (Rinko Kikuchi)--who are teamed to drive a legendary but seemingly obsolete Jaeger from the past. Together, they stand as mankind’s last hope against the mounting apocalypse.

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Extremely sad news has hit the internet regarding one of the finest actors to ever play the horror mega-icon Jason Voorhees. It's with a heavy heart that we have to say goodbye to Friday the 13th Part 3's Richard Brooker.

The news started spreading like wildfire across Facebook moments ago, and we have confirmed with Brooker's management that it is indeed true. Richard was born in 1954 and was taken from us at an all too young age.

Aside from being the very first actor to ever officially don the infamous hockey mask as Jason, Brooker also appeared in James Sbardellati's sword and sandal flick Deathstalker and many horror documentaries such as Never Sleep Again, His Name Was Jason, and the upcoming Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th.

Richard was also a staple on the convention scene and, as anyone who has met him can easily attest, one hell of a nice guy. He will be severely missed by fans and his many friends the world over.

Thanks for the memories, sir. Godspeed.

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BBC America is expanding its "Supernatural Saturday" lineup in 2014, and we have all the early details for its upcoming seven-part "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell" miniseries, based on the novel by Susanna Clarke.

From the Press Release:
BBC AMERICA is co-producing a new drama series, "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell." Based on the bestselling novel by Susanna Clarke and adapted by Peter Harness ("Wallander," Is Anybody There?), "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell" (7 x 60) is set during the Napoleonic Wars in an England where magic once existed and is about to return. The series will premiere in 2014 as part of BBC AMERICA’s Supernatural Saturday programming block.

The series is produced by Cuba Pictures (Boy A, Broken) for the BBC and co-produced by BBC AMERICA, in association with Feel Film, Bell Media’s Space, Far Moor, and Screen Yorkshire. It is distributed by Endemol Worldwide Distribution.

Toby Haynes ("Doctor Who," "Sherlock," "Wallander") directs, Nick Hirschkorn (Feel Films; Five Children and It) will produce with Greg Dummett, on behalf of Quebec’s Cite Amerique. Executive producers are: Nick Marston, Tally Garner, and Dixie Linder for Cuba Pictures, Endemol Worldwide Distribution, and Thomson-Glover and Patrick Irwin for Far Moor. Matthew Read is the executive producer for the BBC.

Nick Marston, CEO of Cuba Pictures, says: “The production has now developed into a seven-part series, and we are delighted that Peter Harness is well on the way to completing all seven hours. He has just delivered episode five, and with Toby Haynes on board to direct, we are in an excellent position to begin pre-production later this month with production due to start filming in late summer.”

Richard De Croce, SVP Programming, BBC AMERICA, says: “'Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell' is one of our next big series for our Supernatural Saturday block, as Susanna Clarke’s stories transcend borders and are perfect for our US audience. It’s another high-end drama for BBC AMERICA, and we’re proud to be working with Cuba Pictures and BBC One.”

"Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell" is going into early pre-production this month, and filming will take place in the UK including Yorkshire as one of several key filming locations and Canada beginning late summer 2013.

Check out the novel's synopsis below, and look for more soon!

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell Book Synopsis:
At the dawn of the nineteenth century, two very different magicians emerge to change England's history. In the year 1806, with the Napoleonic Wars raging on land and sea, most people believe magic to be long dead in England--until the reclusive Mr Norrell reveals his powers and becomes a celebrity overnight. Soon another practicing magician comes forth: the young, handsome, and daring Jonathan Strange. He becomes Norrell's student, and they join forces in the war against France. But Strange is increasingly drawn to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic, straining his partnership with Norrell and putting at risk everything else he holds dear.

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We first told you about the new horror-themed YouTube channel BlackBoxTV way back in January of 2012, and since then it's been steadily picking up steam. On tap for you cats to dig on right now are three clips that are nothing short of a must watch!

In the vein of "Scare Tactics" but much more fun and inventive are three prank videos showcasing an audition gone wrong, a delivery that gets REALLY screwed up, and what can only be described as a cab ride to hell. Check out the goodies below and let us know what you think, and kudos to these cats for having the kind of nuts it takes to pull stuff like this off.

For more information visit BlackBoxTelevision.com.

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Well, that certainly didn't take long! With the first season of "Bates Motel" premiering as the most-watched scripted drama in A&E history in key demographics, it's no surprise the network has picked up the show for another season.

From the Press Release:
A&E Network has picked up a second season of the acclaimed drama series “Bates Motel.” starring Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore from executive producers Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin, it was announced by Bob DeBitetto, President and General Manager of A&E Network and BIO Channel.

The premiere of “Bates Motel” garnered 4.5 million total viewers and 2.5 million adults 25-54 and 18-49, based on Live+7 viewership, making it the most-watched original drama debut in the key demos in the network’s history.

Related Story: Image Gallery and Another Preview of "Bates Motel" Episode 1.04 - "Trust Me"

“'Bates Motel' has garnered critical acclaim and a loyal audience in its first few weeks,” said DeBitetto. “With superb writing and exceptional acting, led by the critically acclaimed performances of Vera Farmiga and Freddie Highmore, we’re incredibly excited to see where Carlton and Kerry take Norma and Norman Bates next.”

Season Two of “Bates Motel” will begin pre-production later this year on ten new episodes slated to premiere in 2014.

“Bates Motel” also stars Max Thieriot (Disconnect), Olivia Cooke (Blackout), Nicola Peltz (The Last Airbender), and Nestor Carbonell (“Lost,” The Dark Knight Rises).

In “Bates Motel,” following the tragic death of her husband, Norma Bates buys a motel on the outskirts of the idyllic coastal town of White Pine Bay, seeking a fresh start. As Norma and Norman get ensconced in their new home, they discover this town isn't quite what it seems, and the locals aren’t so quick to let them in on their secrets. But the Bates are done being pushed around and will do whatever it takes to survive – and to protect their own secrets.

“Bates Motel” is produced by Universal Television for A&E Network. Carlton Cuse and Kerry Ehrin serve as executive producers for Carlton Cuse Productions and Kerry Ehrin Productions, respectively.

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Having just watched A Haunted House, I can tell you this... it's tolerable. While that's far from a ringing endorsement, at least it was better than the last few Scary Movie entries. With round 2 on its way hopefully Marlon Wayans can add some spice to his original recipe.

The original A Haunted House took in around $40 million worldwide and will be debuting on home video on August 23rd. That being said, Variety is reporting that Open Road Films has acquired U.S. distribution rights to spoof sequel A Haunted House 2, starring Marlon Wayans, who is also co-writing the script.

Production of the sequel will take place this summer, and Open Road will release it nationwide next winter. Look for more on this one as it comes.

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Simply put... the flick Grabbers (review here) absolutely rules, and its Stateside release has been a long time coming. Look for it July 19th on the IFC Midnight banner in select theaters and on cable VOD, iTunes, Amazon, Xbox Zune, PlayStation, SundanceNow.com and other digital VOD outlets.

Helmed by Jon Wright and penned by Kevin Lehane, the creature feature stars Richard Coyle (Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), Ruth Bradley (Flyboys), and Russell Tovey ("Being Human" UK).

Synopsis:
Ciarán O’Shea, the handsome though washed up policeman of sleepy Erin Island, has a daily routine consisting mainly of hanging out at the pub with the local drunks and various other charmingly eccentric characters. But his day is about to go horribly wrong.

Teamed up with the unwanted help of Lisa – an uptight workaholic policewoman from the Irish mainland – they suddenly find themselves dealing with dead whales, decapitated fishermen and weird alien creatures or “grabbers”. Like a giant squid with tentacles, fanged jaws and a three-foot barbed tongue, they’re making mincemeat of the locals.

Faced with another imminent attack, O’Shea and Lisa figure out that the only person to survive the last onslaught only did so because he was so drunk his blood was literally toxic to the monsters. So there is only one thing for it: They have to get the entire village as drunk as possible in order to survive the night ... a task that the villagers apply themselves to with gusto.

But one person must remain sober so for the first time in years O’Shea has to face up to things without a drink. When things don’t go to plan, an extremely drunk Lisa and a very sober O’Shea have to reconcile their differences and somehow save the day.

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Around these parts we are big fans of the Japanese Ring films. Hell, even the American version of The Ring was pretty good. Sure, the Japanese TV show sucked and the American The Ring 2 left LOTS to be desired, so we're hoping Sadako 3D can right some wrongs.

From the Press Release
The most iconic figure in Asian horror returns for the latest installment in the frightening RING franchise with SADAKO 3D, debuting on Blu-ray™, DVD and Digital June 4th from Well Go USA Entertainment. Director Tsutomu Hanabusa (High School Review) brings back the long haired girl in the white nightgown and her reign of terror has extended from television screens to all forms of technology: PC screens, mobile phones, jumbotrons and more. The cast includes Satomi Ishihara (Moonlight Mask), Kôji Seto (Runway Beat), Tsutomu Takahashi (Aragure) and Shôta Sometani (The Intermission). Akane Aikawa (Ishihara) works as a teacher in a high school where students are mysteriously committing suicide after viewing a video hosted on the internet. She discovers that a deranged artist is trying to bring Sadako back to life!

Synopsis:
Sadako waits, a vicious spirit, hungry for blood and souls. What began as a haunted videotape, passed from hand to cursed hand all those years ago in THE RING, has only gotten easier to find. Sadako waits. And it’s not just on tape anymore. At a local high school, there is a rumor about an online video of someone committing suicide. If it were only a prank, or the work of a deranged artist in town, the students wouldn’t be killing themselves after watching it, would they? The police would have a theory about the quickly-growing body count. And what about the woman in white with long hair? Sadako is always hungry. And she’s no longer alone.

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This piece contains some spoilers. When referring to Sam Raimi’s film, I will use “The Evil Dead,” while the remake will dispense of the definite article.

The notion of remaking Sam Raimi’s seminal 1981 splatterfest The Evil Dead was met with derision by many fans as soon as it was announced; the subsequent news that Ash would not be in the film certainly didn’t help assuage their fears. To die-hard fans, The Evil Dead IS Ash, his absence rendering any attempt to reboot the franchise a pointless endeavor. As the film went into production with an untested short film director at the helm, opinions were tempered as news and footage slowly revealed the film to be something to get excited about. It was dark, it was violent, and perhaps most importantly, Bruce Campbell gave the film his blessing, ensuring us that Fede Alvarez had crafted a suitable follow-up to The Evil Dead, yet with a number of crucial changes to distinguish itself from being a mere copy. The final product, however, is a different beast entirely.

Alvarez created a pastiche that, although visually impressive, fails to be fully reconciled with the changes he made to the story. One such change is the set-up, which sees the addition of a subplot surrounding a forced detox, rather than a simple vacation, to get the quintet into the cabin. Addicted to drugs, Mia meets her brother David, his girlfriend Natalie, and friends Olivia and Eric at the cabin in a final attempt to break her habit cold turkey. In the throes of withdrawal, Mia begins to see and hear things, and, convinced she’s losing her mind, makes an attempt to escape before crashing the car into a lake. Meanwhile, the group discovers the Naturon Demonto and, as the resident academic, Eric feels compelled to examine it, unwittingly unleashing the demonic force spoken of in the book. It becomes drawn to Mia, tracking her down and possessing her in cringe-worthy fashion, kicking off a deluge of blood and violence that puts the original film to shame.

Perhaps the most striking difference between the two films is tone. While The Evil Dead is a horror movie through and through, Raimi’s love of The Three Stooges peeks modestly through the fountains of blood to provide subtly comedic elements that are not brought front and center until The Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn. The remake contains some humorous lines (Diablo Cody’s contributions can be pointed out with ease), but rarely is there an attempt to approach everything with the sort of levity brought about by the original’s low budget, its somewhat comical effects, and Bruce Campbell’s natural comedic sensibilities. As such, some of the more objectively weaker parts of the original film can be forgiven, and in some cases seen as an advantage, due to the context in which it was made.

Read our Evil Dead review here!

Related News: Everything About the Evil Dead Remake

Evil Dead is not afforded this luxury. With a $17 million budget at his disposal, Alvarez opted for a grittier and darker aesthetic, amplifying the violence and gore and invoking gravitas over the playfulness seen throughout the original, however subdued it may have been. Raimi and Co. give off the vibe of simply having fun, whereas Alvarez, burdened by the weight of updating an important franchise, dispenses with frivolity in an attempt to craft a serious and dark film. Unfortunately, this amounts to less an update than it is an homage to practical effects, which in turn comes at the expense of story, characters, and dialogue.

Preceded by an unnecessary pre-credits scene to help establish the mythology of the book and the house, the first act comes off as rushed and disjointed, hitting the necessary beats - arriving at the cabin, finding the book, the initial possession - at breakneck speed before getting to what can ostensibly be considered the real reason people are seeing the film: pure, unbridled carnage. This causes the detox subplot to lack any real merit; by the time Mia is possessed, it’s all but completely abandoned in favor of gallons of fake blood. The subplot is essential to the characters’ growth, yet by ignoring it for most of the film Alvarez is diminishing Mia’s struggle and her relationship with David to nothing more than a lazily written pretext to get them into the cabin.

For many, however, that’s irrelevant. It may lack quality acting, rich characters, and a compelling story, but so long as it pushes boundaries and hits a few nerves, it doesn’t matter. As such, many may choose to view the remake in much the same fashion: the gore the merrier, and to Hell with everything else. But is this a fair assessment to make? Should acting and dialogue and story be forgiven if it’s bloody enough? No, of course not, especially since falling back on this tired and frankly insulting argument dismisses the depth found in Raimi’s original script, specifically in his characters.

While Raimi’s story possesses an innately uninspired quality, he makes up for it by clearly defining his characters and their various roles, giving them a purpose extending beyond mere demon fodder. Ash is the shy and reluctant hero, madly in love with his bubbly girlfriend Linda; Scotty is the asshole who has absolutely no qualms with chopping up his girlfriend Shelly with an axe; and Ash’s sister Cheryl is the impetus through which Ash naturally progresses from reserved lover to heroic fighter. 

These traits helped inform their actions and growth, bolstered by believable performances that added depth to a film that might have otherwise been devoid of it. Hoping to distance his film from the original while still paying homage to its characters, Alvarez took these various roles and traits, mixed them up, and assigned them to his own in an effort to serve his subplot, the speedy dismissal of which results in hollow and wooden characters that barely extend beyond clichés. They’re not characters, they’re punching bags.

Furthermore, this conflation of attributes doesn’t allow for an obvious hero. Cheryl is a catalyst for Ash, allowing him to evolve from a weakling to a lead worth celebrating, whereas Mia’s transition from victim to pseudo-hero does the exact opposite, killing any momentum the film might have by establishing David as the new Ash. Instead, Alvarez is too preoccupied with exceeding the original film’s sadistic tendencies to realize that without a clearly defined hero, all he has is a hodgepodge of gruesome death scenes tenuously strung together. By the time the third act arrives, we’re no longer rooting for David, we’re rooting for blood, and that’s not enough to sustain this film.

For the gorehounds, however, all of this might not even matter. Thanks to a higher budget and modern special effects techniques, Alvarez pushes the boundaries set by Raimi even further by re-creating the film for a world that has become all but completely desensitized to what The Evil Dead initially represented. It’s exceedingly visceral, with blood spraying from every orifice in gleeful fashion as the actors are put through much of the same Hell that befell their 1981 counterparts; if the point of the film was to drown you in blood, then it succeeded admirably. If anything, it’s a clarion call for those who seek to bring horror back to its dark and dirty roots when karo syrup was a horror filmmaker’s best friend.

For others, it’s a major bone of contention, and enough to miss the proverbial “forest for the trees.” Despite setting a new standard for what can be done without resorting entirely to CGI, Alvarez’s vision of “the ultimate experience in grueling terror” is little more than uninspired fan service, ultimately failing to fully distinguish itself as either a remake or a reboot. Instead, it’s an amalgamation of both, directionless and oftentimes boring, relying on admittedly impressive violence and gore to distract the viewer from its poorly conceived and executed subplot and underdeveloped characters. Evil Dead simply doesn’t work.

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For you filmmakers out there, this call for entries by the Producer Guild of America may be for you. So, if you have a feature-length screenplay gathering dust, or are working on a horror online series or a paranormal reality TV show, the 2013 PGA Showcase is now accepting submissions.

But hurry, the final deadline is coming up soon on April 12th. So, dust off your screenplay and pitch packages and go apply!

Eligible producers can register at Withoutabox and submit their screenplay synopsis, bio and application.

The 2013 PGA Showcase’s sponsor partners are 20th Century Fox for the Feature Film category, Ryan Seacrest Productions for the Reality TV category and Make Studios for the Online Content category.

Finalists in each category will receive free admission to the 2013 Produced By Conference (June 8-9, 2013) at Fox Studios in Los Angeles, where they will pitch for a development deal and network with top Hollywood producers, financiers, and film commissions for a chance to bring their projects to fruition.  

They are offering the following prizes for winners of each category:

FEATURE FILM:
- Fox Development deal
- $10,000 cash + additional prizes for winner
- $1200 each for 5 finalists

REALITY TV:
- Ryan Seacrest Productions development deal
- $2500 cash + additional prizes for winner
- $500 each for 2 finalists

ONLINE CONTENT:
- Maker Studios development deal
- $2500 cash + additional prizes for winner
- $500 each for 2 finalists

You can get more information about this call for entry on the PGA Showcase Facebook Page or on their website.