And the cast for Dark Places continues to expand in some really good directions as Warm Bodies and Jack the Giant Slayer star Nicholas Hoult is looking to keep walking on the genre side!

Deadline is reporting that Nicholas Hoult (pictured) has joined the cast of Dark Places with Charlize Theron. The actor would play a character named Lyle in the adaptation of the Gillian Flynn mystery novel about a woman forced to re-face the massacre of her family over two decades before. An awkward young man, Lyle is the treasurer of the Kill Club, the group investigating the case of the killing of the family of Libby Day (Theron). Chloe Moretz is in talks to join the Exclusive Media and Denver and Delilah Productions produced film too.

Gilles Paquet-Brenner is writing and directing the adaptation of the 2009 book.

Flynn's novel Dark Places was published in 2009 and was listed on the New York Times Best Seller List for more than 25 weeks. The book was also shortlisted for the Crime Writers’ Association Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award and won the Dark Scribe Magazine Black Quill Award for Dark Genre Novel of the Year. Gilles Paquet-Brenner is writing and directing the adaptation.

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The first casting news has arrived for the new version of the 1976 cult classic The Town that Dreaded Sundown, as one young star has traded in her time with Hank Moody to deal with a beast of another kind.

Deadline reports that "Californication" and Zero Hour actress Addison Timlin (pictured) is set to star in MGM's horror remake, which puts a modern meta twist on the original. The flick takes place in Texarkana, site of the 1946 “Moonlight Murders” that inspired the original film.

Timlin plays Jami, a girl who survives a copycat massacre at the film’s annual tribute screening and sets out to solve the mystery of who’s recreating the unsolved Sackhead murders, using clues from her own past.

"American Horror Story" director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon will direct the remake of the Charles B. Pierce horror classic with Ryan Murphy and Jason Blum producing.

The original movie was based on five unsolved murders attributed to the Phantom Killer during three months in 1946 in and around the city of Texarkana on the border between Texas and Arkansas. Pierce shot large parts of the movie in and around Texarkana with extras recruited from local residents.

Look for more on this one as it comes.

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Here at Dread Central we are very fan-centric. You guys are the reason we're allowed to exist so we try to spotlight your work as much as we can. Every now and again we come across something a fan has done that is nothing short of stellar. This is one of those times.

Below you'll find two one-sheets illustrated by artist Gwen Vibancos, and if there's any justice in this world, someone will hire this cat to do the official one-sheet. Check out the goods below. Something tells us there are going to be a lot of people out there with new wallpaper on their computers.

Gareth Edwards is directing the film from a screenplay by Max Borenstein, Frank Darabont, and Dave Callaham. Legendary’s Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni are producing with Mary Parent and Brian Rogers. Alex Garcia and Patricia Whitcher are serving as executive producers alongside Yoshimitsu Banno and Kenji Okuhira.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Richard T. Jones, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, David Strathairn, Juliette Binoche, Akira Takarada, Victor Rasuk, and Ken Watanabe star.

A presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, Godzilla will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, except in Japan, where it will be distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. Legendary Pictures is a division of Legendary Entertainment.

Slated to open on May 16, 2014, the film is expected to be presented in 3D.

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Cry havoc! We have the first trailer from this weekend's Syfy offering Battledogs locked, loaded, and ready to set forth a stream of deadly pee all over this floating fire hydrant we call Earth. Check it out.

Battledogs, directed by Alexander Yellen and written by Shane Van Dyke, stars Dennis Haysbert, Craig Sheffer, Wes Studi, Kate Vernon, Ernie Hudson, Bill Duke, and Ariana Richards, who can also been seen in theatres this weekend thanks to the release of Jurassic Park 3D. Good week for her, huh?

Look for the premiere of Battledogs on Saturday, April 6, at 9PM (ET/PT).

Synopsis
When a werewolf virus threatens to decimate New York City -- and the world -- a rogue general uses the disease to create an army of super soldiers.

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We were lucky to see the first three episodes of "Bates Motel" before they aired, but now we're in the same boat as everyone else, having to wait until Monday for a new installment. Here's a look at the upcoming Episode 1.04, "Trust Me."

A&E Network's “Bates Motel” from executive producers Carlton Cuse (“Lost”) and Kerry Ehrin (“Friday Night Lights”) is a contemporary prequel to the genre-defining film Psycho and gives viewers an intimate portrayal of how Norman Bates’ psyche unravels through his teenage years. Fans will have access to the dark, twisted backstory of Norman Bates and how deeply intricate his relationship with his mother, Norma, truly is.

The series stars Academy Award nominee Vera Farmiga (Up in the Air, The Departed), Freddie Highmore (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Finding Neverland), Max Thieriot (Disconnect), Olivia Cooke (Blackout), and Nicola Peltz (The Last Airbender). Season One also co-stars Nestor Carbonell (“Lost,” The Dark Knight Rises) and Mike Vogel (“Pan Am”). “Bates Motel” is produced by Universal Television for A&E Network. Cuse and Ehrin serve as executive producers for Carlton Cuse Productions.

"Bates Motel" Episode 1.04 - "Trust Me" (airs 4/8/13)
Norma's suspicions about people in town are raised, but other distractions continue to surface.

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It's been awhile since last we saw anything pertaining to Marcus Nispel's latest film, Backmask, but that has changed thanks to its star, Brittany Curran, who tweeted out the following image with the caption, “This is what I look like right after I kill a few people.”

Gage Golightly, Brittany Curran, Stephen Lang, Kelly Blatz,, Brett Dier, Nick Nicotera, Nick Nordella, and Michael Ormsby star. Kirsten Elms penned the script that follows a group of teenagers who accidentally release an evil spirit that starts to possess them one by one.

Synopsis
During a sex, drugs, and rock-fueled party, six small-town teenagers find an old vintage record and decide to play it backwards in order to listen for any subliminal/satanic messages. Lo and behold, a seemingly malevolent spirit quickly infiltrates the group, wreaking havoc as it moves from one body to another. Eventually, however, it's revealed that the spirit in question is actually trying to convey a message....and that the real source of horror isn't particularly paranormal, but rather something (or someone) much closer to home.

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Though dogs and cats usually get all the love from humans, we'd be remiss if we didn't acknowledge the fact that spectral demons need companionship, too. Especially in Salem, where they've had a bit of a rough time over the centuries.

Rob Zombie's Lords of Salem opens nationwide on April 19th including New York; Los Angeles; Boston; San Francisco; Chicago; Philadelphia; Washington, DC; Miami; Dallas; Houston; Detroit; and more. Check out a new clip below!

From the singular mind of horror maestro Rob Zombie comes a chilling plunge into a nightmare world where evil runs in the blood. The Lords of Salem tells the tale of Heidi (Sheri Moon Zombie), a radio station DJ living in Salem, Massachusetts, who receives a strange wooden box containing a record, a “gift from the Lords.” Heidi listens, and the bizarre sounds within the grooves immediately trigger flashbacks of the town’s violent past. Is Heidi going mad, or are the “Lords of Salem” returning for revenge on modern-day Salem?

The Lords of Salem stars Barbara Crampton as Virginia Cable, a camera operator for a local kid's show at Salem Public Access TV called "Lobster Joe's Fishy Fun Show"; Brandon Cruz as Ted Delta, a local Salem drug counselor; Michael Shamus Wiles as Jarrett Perkins, owner of Salem's Engine House Pizza; Michael Berryman as Virgil Magnus, 50% of a well-known witch hunting duo called "The Brothers"; Sid Haig as Dean Magnus, the other half of "The Brothers"; Christopher Knight as Keith Williams, aka Lobster Joe, the host of "Lobster Joe's Fishy Fun Show", a staple of local Salem television; Patricia Quinn as Megan, the town's palm reader; Judy Geeson as Lacy Doyle, owner and landlady of Heidi Hawthorne's apartment; Ken Foree as Herman Jackson, one third of The Big H Radio Team; Richard Lynch as the film's protagonist, Reverend John Hawthorne; Lisa Marie, who plays Priscilla Reed, a woman who gives her all to support "the cause of the coven"; Billy Drago as Judge Samuel Mather, a key player in the history of the Lords; Dee Wallace as Sonny, a self-help guru; Bruce Davison as Francis Matthias, author of the book Satan's Last Stand - The Truth About The Salem Witch Trials; Maria Conchita Alonso as Francis' wife, Alice Matthias; Torsten Voges as Count Gorgann, lead singer of the Norwegian death metal band Leviathan the Fleeing Serpent; Jeff Daniel Phillips as Herman "Whitey" Salvador, one third of The Big H Team; Meg Foster as Margaret Morgan, the leader of a secret coven of witches in Salem; Ernest Thomas, as Chip "Freakshow" McDonald, the station manager at Salem's #1 rock station; and Sheri Moon Zombie as Heidi, the final third of The Big H Team.

Related Story: Lords of Salem News Archive

The flick is rated R for "disturbing violent and sexual content, graphic nudity, language and some drug use."

Synopsis
Heidi, a blonde rock chick, DJs at a local radio station and, together with the two Hermans (Whitey and Munster), forms part of the "Big H Radio Team". A mysterious wooden box containing a vinyl record arrives for Heidi, "a gift from the Lords". She assumes it's a rock band on a mission to spread their word. As Heidi and Whitey play the Lords' record, it starts to play backwards, and Heidi experiences a flashback to a past trauma.

Later Whitey plays the Lords' record, dubbing them the Lords of Salem, and to his surprise, the record plays normally and is a massive hit with listeners.

The arrival of another wooden box from the Lords presents the Big H Team with free tickets, posters and records to host a gig in Salem. Soon Heidi and her cohorts find that the gig is far from the rock spectacle they're expecting: The original Lords of Salem are returning, and they're out for BLOOD.

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With "The Walking Dead" Season 3 officially in the books, creator Robert Kirkman recently sat down with IGN to discuss the season that was, but the really juicy stuff is what the man had to say about what's next for our survivors.

Check out some meaty excerpts from the interview below.

On Season Three's body count and major deaths:

"It’s really hard for the audience to judge whether or not a character death was worth it, just because I think the main deciding factor of whether or not to kill a character is what comes out of that death. What story elements, what changes to our overall storytelling, what differences in characters, and things like that come out of having that character not be around and having those characters lose that other character."

"In the case of Milton, Andrea, Merle, Lori, and everybody that we lost this season, it’s all about moving these characters forward and where we go from here. Oftentimes the audience doesn’t really know where we’re going from here so it’s kind of hard to see that death was necessary or at least valuable. But we know what we’re doing!"

On whether or not The Governor will play a major role in Season 4:

"Yeah, he’s still very much in the mix. That’s certainly not the last that we’ll see of him. When we see him again and where we see him again, that’s the big question. It’s not going to be like it was in Season 3; it’s not going to be Rick and the Governor on a collision course with a conflict between them. He’ll be used in very different ways next season."

Related Story: Another Look Inside "The Walking Dead" Season 3 Finale and a Tease of What's Ahead in Season 4

On what's next for Rick:

"Rick has had a success. The people at the prison have survived this conflict with the Governor, he brought people from Woodbury into the prison, and he’s kind of had this big win. He’s had this moment where he’s brought people together and he’s doing good things. But he’s had this tremendous loss in that Carl has lost this piece of his humanity. This has been Rick’s main mission throughout the show, to protect his family. We’ve seen two very big failures on that front this season."

"Moving into next season, we’re going to see a very different Rick, but one of his main goals is to manage this situation with Carl and see if he can bring him back from this darkness that’s crept into him. Whether or not he’s able to do that, we’ll have to see. This is a big change in the character of Carl, but it’s something that’s going to be weighing heavily on Rick next season."

On the tone of Season 4:

"I’ll say that there are a lot of familiar elements that are remaining. Michonne is still around, Rick and his group are still in the prison, the Governor’s still out there… so there are a lot of things that are carrying over from Season 3 to Season 4, but I can’t stress how different things are going to be."

"There are going to be some radical changes to those elements that are going to bring in a lot of new storytelling. While [Season 4] does seem somewhat familiar, it’s going to be vastly different from Season 3."

To stay up-to-the-minute on all things walker related, follow @WalkingDead_AMC on Twitter and visit "The Walking Dead" on Facebook. For more be sure to hit up the official "The Walking Dead" page on AMC.com.

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Universal dropped off one hell of a care package into our e-mails for those of you excited to see their upcoming May chiller, The Purge. On tap right now are the first official stills, poster, and a truly devilish little trailer which features a look at a not so perfect America.

Directed by James DeMonaco (writer of Assault on Precinct 13 and The Negotiator), The Purge is produced by Jason Blum of Blumhouse (Paranormal Activity, Insidious, Sinister) and Platinum Dunes partners Michael Bay, Brad Fuller, and Andrew Form (The Amityville Horror, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) as well as Sébastien Kurt Lemercier (Assault on Precinct 13).

Look for it in theatres on May 31st.

Synopsis
In an America wracked by crime, the government has sanctioned an annual 12-hour period in which any and all criminal activity—including murder—is legal. The police can’t be called. Hospitals suspend help. It is one night when the citizenry regulates itself without thought of punishment. On this night plagued by violence and an epidemic of crime, one family wrestles with the decision of who they will become when a stranger comes knocking.

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Evil Dead. The remake we've all heard so much about. We've seen the impressive trailers, we've read the glowing reviews. We're all waiting with bated breath for the April 5 release of Evil Dead. In celebration of the film, we've got a new list for you to chew on.

Sure, chainsaws and axes are scary implements of murder, but there are plenty of items of death, doom and destruction that can be found right in the home. Just look around your kitchen and you'll see plenty of things that can separate a man from his breath in a big hurry. Read on for our Top Five Heinous Household Horrors!

Microwave Oven-Gremlins
Joe Dante's holiday-themed romp was memorable for so many reasons: the cute and cuddly Mogwai, Gizmo; the sinister and scaly Stripe, who was as devious as he was ugly; and the humor and F/X that are laced throughout this horror-comedy film. However, one of the most memorable scenes in the movie was (no, not the flasher gremlin or the movie theater sing-along…although both were great) in the kitchen of the Peltzer home. Everyone who's ever seen Gremlins remembers Mrs. Peltzer spritzing one of the green meanies in the face with an aerosol spray can and then trapping it in the microwave oven and firing that baby up. And quick as a flash, bam! Gremlin flambé! Gremlin guts all over the inside of the microwave. I wonder if ol' Rand Peltzer had an invention to clean that up.

Garbage Disposal-Rolling Thunder
Okay, we went deep into the archives for this one. For those who don't remember Rolling Thunder, it was a 70's exploitation film starring William Devane and Tommy Lee Jones. The duo returned from Vietnam after spending seven years as POWs in Hanoi. And how do the locals welcome the Major (Devane) back? By breaking into his home and threatening to kill his family if he doesn’t turn over some silver coins the local bank gave him as a thank you for his service. When the Major refuses to comply, the local toughs rough him up and jam his hand into the garbage disposal. Devane spends the rest of this revenge flick with a metal hook for a hand (insert your own butt-wiping joke here).

Lawn Mower-Dead Alive
When unknown director Peter Jackson burst on the scene with his first two films, Bad Taste and Meet the Feebles, there were probably very few people (aside from possibly members of his immediate family) who ever dreamed he would go on to become the uber-director we know today. But even his most staunch supporters had to hide their eyes and cringe at the beautiful gore-fest that was Dead Alive (aka Braindead to get it right for you New Zealanders). And no moment in this unending bloodbath was more extreme than the climax when our hero, Lionel, tears through the mass of infected flesh-eaters by firing up a lawn mower, picking that machine up and mashing it into the faces of the monsters. Needless to say it made one helluva mess.

Soda Can-Maximum Overdrive
What could be more common and harmless than a simple soda can? Well, in the classic 1986 horror flick Maximum Overdrive, an adaptation of the Stephen King short story "Trucks," soda cans become lethal projectiles as a soda machine went haywire, along with all the rest of the machines in the world. The machines go on murderous rampages. The result of the soda machine attack is a baseball umpire that takes a can right in the junk, then another one in the bean that opens up a fatal head wound that all fans of 80's horror films certainly remember.

Tack Hammer-The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2
Chop-Top. Just the name puts a smile on the faces of horror fans. He is one of the most beloved characters in the genre, and the man who brought the demented vision to life, Bill Moseley, continues to be a favorite among fans, and in the 20+ years since he played the role, he has become a horror icon. But it was certainly that initial shocking introduction we get with Chop-Top that got the ball rolling. After the infamous "E-X-I-T" scene, we soon see Chop-Top pounding away on the skull of radio station employee L.G. with a tack hammer while repeatedly screaming his unforgettable line, "Incoming mail! Incoming mail!" Classic. By the way, the video below is of Chop-Top's initial meeting with Stretch (Caroline Williams) as the "Incoming Mail" scene was unavailable. However, upon researching this segment, we stumbled upon a YouTube video entitled "Buckethead, Bill and The Duck." It's worth checking out.

There you have the Top Five Heinous Household Horrors. And certainly when Evil Dead hits theaters this Friday, April 5, there will be some new extremely intense and downright chilling horror to deal with. Groovy!

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With Conor McMahon’s killer clown horror comedy Stitches having bowed this week on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD via MPI/Dark Sky Films, we hit the premiere of the flick the other night at Cinespace on Hollywood Blvd. and brought back some ocular candy and interviews from the carpet. Read on!

Gracing the Stitches event were an assortment of hired creepy clowns, sword swallowers and stilt-walkers amidst bags of popcorn, cotton candy and an open bar along with Stitches co-writer and director Conor McMahon, Stitches actor Tommy Knight ("Doctor Who"), and V/H/S and V/H/S 2 segment writer Simon Barrett, who was on hand to moderate the Q&A session post-screening.

Also in attendance were actress Danielle Harris (who dished on Hatchet III), Sushi Girl writer Destin Pfaff with actress Rachel Federoff, V/H/S segment director Adam Wingard, actresses Bai Ling (The Crow), Frida Ferrell (Behind Your Eyes) and Jessica Cameron (Silent Night), filmmaker John Michael Elfers (Finale) and actor Rick Mora (The Dead and the Damned).

Regarding how Barrett became attached to moderate the event, he stated, “It was really just from being a fan of the film,” which revolves around a children’s cruel party prank that results in the death of the hired entertainment and the subsequent resurrection of the same (a vengeful clown portrayed by actor Ross Noble) years later.

“I saw it at Cannes, and we laughed during the entire film,” recalled Barrett of his introduction to Stitches, “which I guess you really aren’t supposed to necessarily do at a Cannes market screening, but we had a really great time, and I was really vocal about the experience on Twitter. Basically they contacted me and asked if I’d like to help out, and since it’s such a weird, cool film, I said ‘yes’. I didn’t know anyone involved in it. I was just a big fan!”

Chatting with Barrett concerning a potential third entry in the "found footage" V/H/S franchise, which he co-scripted, he stated given his and V/H/S director Adam Wingard’s other filmic commitments, “I think we will be involved in V/H/S 3, but I don’t think we’ll be able to write and direct stuff the way that we did on the first two films. I think we will be stepping back to work with Brad (Miska) on an executive producer level on the third.”

“Adam and I have a film called The Guest in the works that’s shooting shortly,” Barrett explained, “and we have a [feature] project at Warner Bros. called Death by Running, which is a spy thriller that McG is producing, and we have another scary project in the works, so we are super booked for the year, but we will definitely try to be as involved in the V/H/S franchise as we can.”

Chatting on the carpet with horror vet and fan favorite Danielle Harris, she told us, with a wink in her eye, of her experience shooting Hatchet III (which releases this coming June 14th via Dark Sky Films), “It was the most physically grueling experience I’ve ever had shooting a film!” (A statement not to be taken lightly, given the significant demands required of her in such films as Halloween 3, Halloween 4 and Rob Zombie’s Halloween redux).

Harris also chatted briefly regarding her attachment to Xavier Gens' action/horror feature The Farm (the project is currently on hold) and also communicated her continued interest in directing, following her 2012-helmed horror feature Among Friends.

Stated enthusiasticStitches director McMahon (who previously helmed the 2009 horror feature The Disturbed and 2004’s Dead Meat), “We really had fun on set. There was a lot of blood on set, and a lot of laughs, and I tried to write the kills to be in keeping with the funny, ironic slashers of the 80’s.”

Read our Stitches review here!

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Killer Is Dead is set to release this summer from SUDA51 and Grasshopper Manufacture. Fans will enter a new world that embraces biomechanical augmentations as the norm amongst an already doomed planet.

Now is your chance to watch a new trailer that showcases some of the game's environments and enemies with plenty of action-packed chaos!

From the Press Release
XSEED Games, an independent-minded publisher, is pleased to announce the release of an all-new English voiceover trailer for KILLER IS DEAD, the upcoming action title from renowned game creator Goichi Suda (aka SUDA51) and his GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE studio. Developed jointly by KADOKAWA GAMES and GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE, KILLER IS DEAD is an artistically-striking action game that is set in a contemporary world where biomechanical augmentations are increasingly common.

The motivations of the game’s protagonist, Mondo Zappa, as well as his employer, a mysterious information trafficker known as Bryan, are explored in this all-new trailer, which opens with a toast to the executioners. The Earth is revealed to be in peril, and Mondo hints at the enigmatic ‘darkness’ which he is in constant struggle to control in his life as an executioner - a power he must utilize, yet at the same time not allow to consume him. Several areas of the game and new in-game enemies are also revealed for the first time in the trailer.

Developed jointly by KADOKAWA GAMES and GRASSHOPPER MANUFACTURE, KILLER IS DEAD will be released in North America by XSEED Games in summer 2013. Deep Silver, the games label of Koch Media, will bring the title to the countries of Europe and Oceania. XSEED Games will reveal more information for KILLER IS DEAD in the coming months.

For more information on the game, check out the Killer Is Dead website.

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A new one-sheet has hit the internet that's supposedly for the upcoming Brad Anderson flick, Eliza Graves, but something about it is kind of screaming fan-made to us. Either way have a look.

Jim Sturgess (Heartless, Across the Universe) will star opposite Kate Beckinsale in the new psychological thriller from Nu Image/Millennium.

The film is loosely based on one of Edgar Allan Poe’s early works, an 1845 short story titled "The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether."

Sturgess will star as a Harvard Medical School grad who takes a job a mental institution where the inmates have taken over and are posing as doctors. He becomes obsessed with the title character (Beckinsale), one of the patients.

Producing are Bruce Davey, Mel Gibson, Mark Amin, Cami Winikoff, and Oren Peli. David Higgins, Christa Campbell, and Lati Grobman are executive producing. Joe Gangemi wrote the script.

A June 21 production start date in Bulgaria is penciled in.

Check out the image below courtesy of Movie Hole and thanks to DC reader Jessica Lea Svenson for the heads-up. We'll update you later on whether or not this is legit.

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The countdown has officially begun! This Friday Evil Dead will be invading theatres and giving you the chance to see what all of the raving has been about. Yes, it's won over critics, ourselves included, but will it deliver for you? Check out a quick Q&A with Sam Raimi to see if it sways you one way or the other.

Read our Evil Dead review here!

Q: Let's talk about why you wanted to do a remake of <>Evil Dead. What interested you in that idea?

SR: When my partners, Robert Tapert, Bruce Campbell and myself made the original Evil Dead film, it was back in 1979, ‘80 and ‘81. And we could only afford to shoot it in sixteen millimeter. The sound was mono. We couldn't afford stereo, let alone 5.1 surround sound. And it was released in very few theaters, probably sixty prints were made. It only showed in certain markets on the big screen because it was an unrated picture. So very few people saw it on the big screen. And those that did saw a compromised picture with compromised sound. And we really felt it was a good ghost story and deserved to be told once on the big screen with high quality visuals and great acoustic treatment. So we decided to remake it because it is, after all, just a ghost story. It's like a campfire ghost story that is best if somebody retells it every generation. And, in this case, that storyteller is Fede Alvarez. He's a great filmmaker, and I really loved the short film that he made. When I started to work with him on a different film which we never made, I saw what a great, talented individual he was and what a precise storyteller he was. And I thought, this is the guy I want to tell my ghost story for the new generation, with pristine sound and picture, on the big screen - seen for the first time, like it was meant to be.

Q: How important are the fans? You've got a lot of people who are fanatic fans. It's become a cult classic. So how important is it to make the fans happy with this movie?

SR: It's really important. The original Evil Dead almost never caught on. It was only through a group of individuals who found it on video and then began to tell their friends about it and insist that they see it that the picture survived. And it allowed us to make a sequel, and then a part three called Army of Darkness. And, in fact, this remake, some thirty years later. So the fans are everything in the case of Evil Dead. They're the reason the picture survived, the reason we can remake it, and that's the crowd we want to please. And I think this picture will give them what they seek in bloody spades.

Q: Are there any surprises in store for these fans?

SR: There’s a lot of surprises because the picture isn't a literal remake of the original. It's inspired by, it's based upon, but it's got a whole new storyline. The situation's similar: Five kids go up to the cabin, they find the ancient Necronomicon, and one by one they're possessed. How they're possessed, who they are, what their interactions are - are all new. So it's going to be constantly surprising to the audience. And I think it's going to deliver great shots and scares.

Q: Bruce Campbell had an interesting comment about how one of the key differences is that the central character was male in all the films he was in and is now female. And he had a great comment about female horror and thriller heroines being, you know, really the norm and not men. Do you remember any of those conversations with him? I actually felt that was a little unusual, that usually the victim is female. And in the case of the original Evil Dead, it wasn't. And now you're going back to a female again.

SR: Well, in the case of the original Evil Dead, Bruce was my best friend back in high school and college, and I simply wanted him to star in the movie. So even though the norm was and still is to star females in horror pictures, I really wanted to work with the actor that I most trusted and knew would be great at it. In Fede’s new version of Evil Dead, he decided to have the female character be the lead. And he has both male and female possessed.

Related News: Everything About the Evil Dead Remake

Q: How closely did you work with Fede on this? I know that you're a champion of the director and that you tend to want to give them their lead. Did you just say, Fede go make a movie, or how closely did you work with him?

SR: Well, I worked very closely with him but gave him room to create everything he needed. For instance, I asked Fede and Rodo [Sayagues, co-writer] to give us a pitch of the treatment that they wanted to tell, and then I told them that I was planning to get another writer to write the screenplay. But their draft was so good, we decided to let them write the first draft screenplay. Rob, Bruce and myself gave them notes, and they took those notes and incorporated them into a second draft. I think the same is true with the cut of the picture. I always maintained final cut, but Bruce, Rob and I really gave notes but never overrode Fede artistically because we so respected his vision. And I think there has to be only one director on a picture. And it was him, always him.

Q: Any reason why New Zealand? Why did you select it for the shoot?

SR: My partner, Robert Tapert, lives in New Zealand now. And, he's got an excellent production crew that he has worked with on “Xena Warrior Princess,” and “Hercules”. Many of those people went on to Rob's newest show, “Spartacus.” So he's got a trusted crew that he works with.. And he knows the locations and it just seemed to be the most logical thing to do, since he was the on-set producer.

Q: I find it interesting, in his interview, Fede said that he wanted to do as much practical effects work as possible. But one of his businesses, besides being a director, is that he owns a visual effects house. Can you comment on the effects of the movie?

SR: Fede really did as much as possible with physical effects. I think he knows, because he owns that visual effects company, that it's a very valuable tool and when to apply that tool. And I think he felt that in this movie, Evil Dead, to make it gut wrenchingly real, he had to stay away as much as possible from CGI and really show the audience it was happening on screen. I think that was why he chose the route he did.

Q: And if I'm a fan that perhaps has never seen an Evil Dead, if there's such a thing, what do you tell me to get me to go to this movie?

SR: It's the ultimate experience in grueling terror. And I dare ya.

Evil Dead has been rated R for “strong bloody violence and gore, some sexual content and language. Look for it in US theatres on April 5th, 2013.

A core cast of young, fresh talent includes Jane Levy ("Suburgatory") as Mia; Shiloh Fernandez (Deadgirl, Red Riding Hood) as David; Lou Taylor Pucci (Carriers) as Eric; Jessica Lucas (Cloverfield) as Olivia; and Elizabeth Blackmore (Legend of the Seeker) as Natalie.

Synopsis
In the much anticipated remake of the 1981 cult-hit horror film, five twenty-something friends become holed up in a remote cabin. When they discover a Book of the Dead, they unwittingly summon up dormant demons living in the nearby woods, which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left intact to fight for survival.

Click these links to visit the Evil Dead on Facebook and follow the Evil Dead on Twitter.

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Believe it or not, Godzilla isn't the only creature invading Canada as the first report from the set of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is here, and we snapped it up for you to dig on to keep your morning cooking!

The flick stars Andy Serkis, Keri Russell, Kodi-Smit McPhee, Judy Greer, William Clarke, and Gary Oldman. Fox’s upcoming sequel is set 15 years after the events of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. The plot is for the most part under wraps, but we do know two aspects of it... One focus is on the group of human scientists who are struggling to survive alone in San Francisco. Another aspect of the story is the struggle of intelligent ape Caesar, played by Serkis, to maintain dominance over his kingdom.

Matt Reeves, stepping into the shoes originally worn by Rupert Wyatt, is directing the sequel to Fox’s 2011 hit. Amanda Silver and Rick Jaffa, who penned the first installment, wrote the initial draft for Dawn. Scott Burns had written a draft for Wyatt, but when Reeves came on board, the studio and producers wanted something tailored specifically for him and hired Mark Bomback to do a rewrite. It should also be noted that Bomback did some uncredited script doctoring on Rise. Peter Chernin is back as producer.

Fox has set a May 23, 2014, release date.

Look for more as it comes.

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In the tradition of the chop-sockey grindhouse films of yesteryear comes a man more skilled than the one with the iron fists. Sharper than Machete. A whirlwind dynamo of kick-tastic violence who channels the spirit of the Dragon himself.

So yeah, we haven't posted anything like this since our WTF Friday Video of the Week series, but damn it, we cannot help but grin from ear-to-ear as the Kung-Fu Grandpa raises up to whip the devil and his legion's ass. Seriously... don't mess with this cat, but definitely get him some sort of band-aid and an ice pack or two.... thousand maybe.

Check this shit out, and get ready for it to go viral on a grand scale.

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Just a few weeks ago, Mitchell Altieri's (one half of The Butcher Brothers) Holy Ghost People (review) celebrated its world premiere at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival.

Starring Emma Greenwell, Joe Egender, Brendan McCarthy, Cameron Richardson and Don Harvey, Holy Ghost People follows a young girl named Charlotte (Greenwell) who enlists the help of an ex-Marine (McCarthy) in locating her missing sister, who last contacted her while living on a religious compound tucked away in the Appalachian Mountains.

Holy Ghost People was co-written by Altieri, Phil Flores (the other half of The Butcher Brothers), Egender and Kevin Artigue. Dread Central recently chatted with both Altieri and Flores about their latest collaboration and their experiences working with their cast in the mountains of Tennessee. The duo also discussed their next feature project, Raised by Wolves, which is currently being wrapped up in post-production.

Dread Central: How much research did you guys do before writing Holy Ghost People? I enjoyed your approach to balancing out all these characters; often times we see the religious 'crazies' being vilified, but I felt like your depiction was very humanized.

Mitchell Altieri: Thank you for saying that; it was very important to me from the beginning that we didn't demonize the Pentecostal religion or anything like that because that wasn't the intent of the story. It's a fictional story. Brother Billy was really the cause of all this, and the followers were victims as well; they're just lost souls too.

What ended up being fascinating to me, though, was exploring the extremist personalities and what people are willing to do for their faith. It's kind of amazing just how far people are willing to go and not even think twice. And that goes for both sides of things too- for Charlotte and Wayne, they're both so broken that it's easy to see how they could quickly fall into this world the way that they do.

Phil Flores: And for the research that went into the story, all the writers had different aspects they'd handle; Kevin Artigue really dug in there deep when it came to the research though. Kevin and Joe (Egender) had found this book called Salvation on Sand Mountain about this phenomenon, and there's of course the documentary called Holy Ghost People as well. So we used a lot of those resources and the fact that we all come from a religious background so we all have our own experiences that we poured into this story. None of it was as extreme as what you see in the film of course- no whipping, no snakehandling.

Dread Central: Emma, who played Charlotte, was really great in the film, and I thought that her flaws made her an interesting protagonist for this world. Can you talk about building that dynamic within the character and more about Emma's involvement on Holy Ghost People?

Mitchell Altieri: Emma was just great; if you've never seen it, she has a great role on "Shameless" which is a blast. And what we always had wanted for the role of Charlotte from the very start was someone like Emma- a scrappy, fighter chick who had a great emotional weight to her. I think this could have been a very different movie if we had gone with a male lead- I really do think that.

And for the most part- when she came in to read, Emma just nailed it; she came into the audition and just killed it in ways I couldn't even have believed. She's British and the way she could just shed the accent and slip into the character of Charlotte was incredible. Watching her take on this role and really throw everything she had at it physically and emotionally was something really special; the minute she walked into the room like a total badass, with this Sissy Spacek out of Badlands type of energy, we knew we had our Charlotte.

Dread Central: You evoked a lot of palpable intensity throughout Holy Ghost People- how hard was it keeping up that kind of intensity in a project like this where you have things dialed up, especially in the church scenes which were often emotional and violent?

Mitchell Altieri: It was hard, and you're absolutely right; the way we chose to shoot everything with our DP Amanda Treyz was specific to the emotion of the scene; Amanda's just amazing though. I call her my "cinematic wife." So the idea from the very start was that I wanted you to feel like you were there, like you were in the middle of all this, so we went for the handheld approach where everything is shot at eye-level, almost like it was documentary-style. Amanda even spent a lot of time with a rig on her shoulder walking alongside all of the cast at key moments so that you'd really feel like you were walking right there too and living in this world; that was so important to the feel of the movie.

Dread Central: Where did you find the compound that you guys shot at? It's hard to believe places like that - almost like they're untouched by time - still exist in North America.

Mitchell Altieri: Tennessee; that's where we found our location- Tennessee. There were like four or five states we were looking into shooting in... Virginia, Kentucky, a few other places, and then Tennessee was where we landed at.

Phil Flores: It was between Crossville and Cookeville; we shot at an old girls camp that had been around for something like 120 years. There was this really great couple who had been running it for a long time, and we did everything there - we shot there, we ate there, we slept there - we became the camp. We even had some of the locals come in and become extras in the church scenes, and I think that's also part of why you really feel like you become immersed in this world; everything just feels authentic to that part of the world, which only adds to the story we're telling.

Dread Central: One of the reasons I think it's so easy to become immersed watching Holy Ghost People is because of Joe's character in the film; Billy's infectious and charming but also kind of creepy too. How much did you work with Joe to develop that performance, or was that all inherent on his part?

Mitchell Altieri: Joe's been with us on a few things now from The Violent Kind to The Hamiltons, and he's always so great. He's just a monster of a talent and we knew what he could do with a role like Brother Billy. After we worked on The Thompsons, I was looking for my next thing, and I knew whatever it was, I wanted to do it with Joe.

And all that you see onscreen is all Joe, and he really found a way to make this guy likeable so that you could believe that 60 people or so would choose to follow him up that mountain and away from society. He really had to bring it; he could not let his foot off the gas at any time, or the movie would not have worked.

Dread Central: Were you guys ever concerned that some people may get turned off by the subject matter, especially people who are involved in the religious community?

Mitchell Altieri: I think we always knew from the very beginning that Holy Ghost People would be a movie that would polarize viewers, but ultimately, that's what we wanted because we don't set out to tell stories that are safe or easily accessible. We want to push buttons sometimes and challenge the way that you think, and those who get too hung up on more of the religious aspects of the story are missing the bigger picture- this movie is about faith as a whole, not just about one specific religious group. We never set out to pick on one group in particular or anything; it's just about what people will do in order to keep their faith strong, the lengths they'll go to find proof of something that may or may not be real. And that goes for the other characters too, not just the people at the One Accord church. They're all looking for proof of something that may or may not be there.

I think that, for us, we just hope the message of the film gets across whether you were brought up religiously, not religious at all or even somewhere in between.

Dread Central: So are you guys spending the next few months supporting Holy Ghost People then, or do you have some other things coming up too?

Phil Flores: No, we have a new movie we just are wrapping up in post right now called Raised by Wolves, which should be out soon. It's pretty badass; it's about Native American skateboarders that hear about this old abandoned pool a few hours out from them on a reservation where a massacre happened back in the 70's. When they get there and start hanging out, they begin to relive the gruesome details of the massacre where you can't really tell who's being possessed and who's killing who, which should be a pretty fun ride.

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Last week at Del Frisco’s Steak House in New York, admittedly a much more intimate setting than usual, Dread Central had the opportunity to sit and dine with the latest and possibly greatest incarnation of iconic psychopath Hannibal Lecter to date, now in the form of Danish actor Mads Mikkelson (Casino Royale).

In between bites of juicy, sautéed sirloin, Mikkelson regaled us with tales of head cheese and pig intestine, so be warned if you’re snacking on something while reading.

DC: How long did it take you to perfect your style of eating on the show?

MM: To be honest, it comes from the character. But after a while, I take notice that my own way... if I forget myself in character, I tend to go like this a lot (wraps both fists around his knife and fork). But then I look in the mirror and see the three-piece suit, and that brings me back into character. But the food is a story all on its own.

DC: Do you feel like you’re more cultured now because of the role?

MM: I hope so! Because I’m not that cultured to begin with. Yeah, we pick up things down the line, but it’s the drama that’s still the focus for all of us. But we do pick up little things.

DC: How did you get in the mindset? As a character you have to almost believe that you’re eating human, no?

MM: Well, not necessarily. I do think that when you play something that is horrific or just not understandable for us, you’ll have to put something else out there that you imagine. So, when I eat something that is apparently a foot or a liver, well, I just treat it like something I love. So I often tend to find myself placing other things in my imagination instead of the real thing. I guess if you’re playing Hitler... and I guess I can compare Hannibal to that because he’s up there, right?... you have to imagine how anyone can hate so much and you will find the hate and then you replace it. That’s been my way of working always.

DC: You seem to look at people on the show with so much interest and respect. What people are “pigs,” and what people, to Hannibal, are actually just people he’s interested in as humans?

MM: Well, it can be small things that trigger him, I guess. But, yes, people who are rude definitely have a big chance of ending up on his table. He doesn’t like rudeness. Anything that’s banal he can either just avoid, or they also have a good chance ending up on his dinner table. But anything that’s beautiful or refined or strange in a fascinating way, he finds interesting. So he’s divided the world up into banal and not banal, and people who are rude are standing a very bad chance.

DC: This is a hugely iconic character for a lot of people. Are you hesitant about coming into this role, and if so, what convinced you to do it?

MM: I was extremely reluctant doing it. I read it. I liked it. But, as you say, these are huge shoes to step into. What convinced me was Bryan [Fuller]. He was pitching the story to me for ten minutes, but then after two hours he was still hacking away. And also the fact this is taking place before the films and he’s not captured so we will have a chance to show something else. This is a man who needs to make friends; he cannot play all his cards. Anthony Hopkins could do that. I cannot do that. So he’s an actor. He’s quite emotional, but he can control his emotions as opposed to Will. If I want to be sad, I will be sad, but it won’t surprise me. The emotions will never surprise me. So that is taking place before for that reason. I think we have a chance to shoot something slightly different. Of course, he’s still Hannibal. As you can see, he’s still elaborate, a three-piece suit man. So that’s all there; it’s just a different setting.

DC: So, going from disemboweling in Valhalla Rising to "Hannibal"; was the gore ever a problem for you?

MM: Are we all finished eating? There were a couple elaborate days on [Valhalla Rising], and we had one day where I cut up somebody and pull out his intestines and make them hang out for the birds, right? That was a very sunny day, and that was actual pig intestines.

DC: Really? How many takes was that?

MM: Oh, it was quite a few... and the poor man that was there, of course, couldn’t get away from it. But I’ve always been pretty good with things like that. It’s like a really cold shower that you just tell yourself will be over in a second.

DC: Has there ever been a moment on set that you’ve really just had a particularly difficult time with something?

MM: I’ve always been really good at eating anything. Actually, when I was a youngster, I was a very small kid as a teenager, and to impress the girls every Friday, I was eating this famous yogurt... and my friends could put anything into it. And you can only imagine what that was. The girls were there; they were impressed, but not in the way I wanted them to. So I skipped that, and later on I just learned to sit and nod; that would work better. But I’m good at eating whatever it takes. When it has been annoying is when they swap something out with pasta instead of intestines so then you get these cold pastas but you’re expecting something else. But there is a good reason for that because you might do the take twenty times.

DC: Obviously, the relationship between Hannibal and Will is crucial. What is it about Will and how you feel towards him in these early days?

MM: Lecter is a man of opportunity; he sees opportunities. Every day is a new day, and every day is a chance for something beautiful to happen. When he sees Will, he empathizes with him to a degree. I have empathy, but I use it as a tool; Will has empathy, but he doesn’t know what to do with it. Lecter sees an opportunity to open this man’s eyes and see his full potential. That is what Hannibal’s hoping for. And he also sees the opportunity for a friend, which is probably something he hasn’t had too many of. So that develops, and even though Hannibal is the puppeteer, he wants to see what happens.

DC: It seems like he likes to really get at him and torture him a bit. What is it about Will that he’s so obsessed with?

MM: Hannibal is very difficult to describe because he’s not the classic psychopath. He’s not doing it for the reasons that other serial killers do: it’s not the childhood, it’s not the mother who was a junkie. That’s way too banal for him. It’s something else. He thinks the threshold between life and death is extremely beautiful. That’s where something happens. I think the closest thing we can compare him with is Satan, the fallen angel who sees beauty when the rest of us see evil. It’s the same when he’s poking at Will and playing with Will; he can’t help it. But it’s because he can do it. He sees an opportunity and he can’t help himself. He’s a genius who wants to see if he can get away with it.

DC: You mentioned the creator of the show, Bryan Fuller, earlier. How much humor is in the show? Obviously, with "Dead Like Me" and "Pushing Daisies," there’s a good deal of humor in there. Are their still some moments of levity?

MM: Yes, yes. In the midst of all this grotesque business, something sometimes becomes funny without us knowing it. There are definitely lines in there that are supposed to be...

DC: A release for us...

MM: Right. It’s not as fully packed with it because there are so many scenes that are heavy. I mean, poor Will is having the crisis of his life. So there are scenes that are definitely loaded with that, but there is also the other side of the coin.

DC: With Thomas Harris elaborating on some of his backstory involving Lithuania and the Nazis, will that be a part of the show?

MM: We do deal with the fact that he’s from Lithuania, hence the exotic accent. So we get away with that. He studied in Paris and then probably went to England, but that doesn’t make him a Brit. But yes, so far, he is from Lithuania, but we are not dealing with the backstory from the Second World War. Also, maybe it was a little too banal. As I said before, he’s Satan. There is no reasoning. We didn’t want that to play a part.

DC: Well, if the series does continue for multiple seasons, are you worried you might have to start explaining more backstory and that might reveal too much about the character and you won’t have so much of that sense of mystery?

MM: It’s always a risk, right? You can get away with that in a film or one season, but if you do continue, people would like to see some answers, right? So we’ll have to face that if that is the case, but if you ask me, I prefer that we don’t get too many explanations. I love watching films where I don’t know where people come from and this is why they do something. But we might have to deal with it.

"Hannibal" premieres this Thursday, April 4, at 10pm on NBC.

Starring Hugh Dancy as Will Graham and Mads Mikkelsen as Hannibal Lecter, "Hannibal" from Bryan Fuller ("Pushing Daisies," "Heroes") will breathe new life into a deadly classic. Laurence Fishburne and Caroline Dhavernas co-star along with Molly Shannon, Ellen Muth, Anna Chlumsky, Lance Henriksen, Gillian Anderson, Chelan Simons, Ellen Greene, Gina Torres, and Raul Esparza.

For more info visit "Hannibal" on NBC.com, "like" "Hannibal" on Facebook, and follow "Hannibal" on Twitter.

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You better believe we're looking to bring you every ounce of Godzilla coverage that we can. Our mission... let nothing slip by. That being said, we have several new videos in and around the set of the new flick, which is shooting now in Canada.

Gareth Edwards is directing the film from a screenplay by Max Borenstein, Frank Darabont, and Dave Callaham. Legendary’s Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni are producing with Mary Parent and Brian Rogers. Alex Garcia and Patricia Whitcher are serving as executive producers alongside Yoshimitsu Banno and Kenji Okuhira.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Richard T. Jones, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, David Strathairn, Juliette Binoche, Akira Takarada, Victor Rasuk, and Ken Watanabe star.

A presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, Godzilla will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, except in Japan, where it will be distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. Legendary Pictures is a division of Legendary Entertainment.

Slated to open on May 16, 2014, the film is expected to be presented in 3D.

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Back in 1969 George A. Romero and company put the Pittsburgh film community on the map with his seminal classic Night of the Living Dead. Now, decades later, another group of young filmmakers is looking to carry on the tradition of low-budget terror with Monongahela.

The film is directed by Cayce Mell and stars Alex Russo, Scott Sullivan, Jake Mulliken, and Erin Ryan. We have a couple of teasers and the first bit of artwork below. Look for more on this one soon.

Synopsis
Monongahela follows Kate Walsh (Alexandra Russo, Dying to Meet You) after she misses her flight, loses her job, and meets two men in the airport bar: Mick (Scott Sullivan, Brothers at Last) and Ben Munroe (Jake Mulliken, “Breaking Bad”). Mick and Ben reveal to Kate that they are cryptozoologists, researchers who spend their time chasing down Bigfoot and camping out on the shores of Loch Ness. When Kate asks them what they are doing in Pittsburgh, they inform her that they have come to investigate sightings of a mysterious creature lurking in the Monongahela River.

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