News

JoBlo.com recently launched a new weekly documentary series called 80s Horror Memories, where each year of the 1980s has five episodes dedicated to it. Looking back at 1980, we discussed Maniac, Dressed to Kill, Alligator, Friday the 13th, The Shining, Prom Night, and The Fog. The second five episodes were a journey through 1981, covering The Funhouse, The Burning, Friday the 13th Part 2, My Bloody Valentine, Halloween II, The Evil Dead, The Howling, and An American Werewolf in London, as well as the careers of horror hosts Elvira and Joe Bob Briggs. The next five were, of course, all about movies that came out in 1982: Conan the Barbarian, The Thing, Halloween III: Season of the Witch, and Poltergeist, with an examination of the short-lived 3-D boom along the way.

For 1983, we talked about a trio of Stephen King adaptations, Jaws 3-D, Sleepaway Camp, the rise of TV horror anthologies, and Psycho II.

Surviving high school is murder with the Vestry Video Collector’s Series’ upcoming release of Slaughter High, arriving for the first time on limited-edition Blu-ray™ uncut on October 31 from Lionsgate.

Surviving high school is murder with the Vestron Video Collector’s Series’ upcoming release of Slaughter High, arriving for the first time on limited-edition Blu-ray™ uncut on October 31 from Lionsgate. A high school prank gone wrong comes back to haunt the offenders during their five-year high school reunion. From the makers of Friday the 13th, Slaughter Highincludes all-new special features, including the “Going to Pieces” and “My Days at Doddsville” featurettes, an audio commentary with co-writers/directors George Dugdale and Peter Litten, and more! Restored and remastered, the limited-edition Vestron Video Collector’s Series Slaughter High Blu-ray will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.97.

Check out this video from Lionsgate about this important Blu-ray release:

There’s horror...

MoreHorror.com

Touted as Gremlins meets Hot Fuzz, Cute Little Buggers will be premiering on VOD Nov 7.

Tony Jopia’s highly anticipated comedy-horror hybrid sees locals of a peaceful English village, enjoying their annual summer festival, when they are suddenly attacked by mutated killer rabbits!

Somewhere in the depths of space, aliens are watching the earth and planning their attack. Unaware of the impending danger, the locals of a sleepy English village are preparing for their summer festival.

The aliens launch their offensive by mutating the local rabbit population, and when the furry demons are released, the body count starts to pile up as blood, guts, and fur flies in all directions as the humans fight off the alien threat.

Featuring genre icon Caroline Munro (Maniac, The Spy Who Loved Me) and from Tony Jopia, director of Crying Wolf , comes the wildest film of the fall, Cute Little Buggers – crashlanding Nov 7 from Uncork’d Entertainment.

It’s “Gremlins meets Hot Fuzz” in Cute Little Buggers, which is set to premiere on VOD in the Us on Nov 7th. Tony Jopia’s highly anticipated comedy-horror hybrid sees locals of a peaceful English village, enjoying their annual summer festival, when they are suddenly attacked by mutated killer rabbits!

Somewhere in the depths of space, aliens are watching the earth and planning their attack. Unaware of the impending danger, the locals of a sleepy English village are preparing for their summer festival. The aliens launch their offensive by mutating the local rabbit population, and when the furry demons are released, the body count starts to pile up as blood, guts, and fur flies in all directions as the humans fight off the alien threat.

Featuring genre icon Caroline Munro (Maniac, The Spy Who Loved Me) and from Tony Jopia, director of Crying Wolf, comes the wildest film of the fall,...

Surviving high school is murder with the Vestry Video Collector’s Series’ upcoming release of Slaughter High, arriving for the first time on limited-edition Blu-ray™ uncut on October 31 from Lionsgate.

Surviving high school is murder with the Vestron Video Collector’s Series’ upcoming release of Slaughter High, arriving for the first time on limited-edition Blu-ray™ uncut on October 31 from Lionsgate. A high school prank gone wrong comes back to haunt the offenders during their five-year high school reunion. From the makers of Friday the 13th, Slaughter Highincludes all-new special features, including the “Going to Pieces” and “My Days at Doddsville” featurettes, an audio commentary with co-writers/directors George Dugdale and Peter Litten, and more! Restored and remastered, the limited-edition Vestron Video Collector’s Series Slaughter High Blu-ray will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.97.

Check out this video from Lionsgate about this important Blu-ray release:

There’s horror...

Surviving high school is murder with the Vestry Video Collector’s Series’ upcoming release of Slaughter High, arriving for the first time on limited-edition Blu-ray™ uncut on October 31 from Lionsgate.

Surviving high school is murder with the Vestron Video Collector’s Series’ upcoming release of Slaughter High, arriving for the first time on limited-edition Blu-ray™ uncut on October 31 from Lionsgate. A high school prank gone wrong comes back to haunt the offenders during their five-year high school reunion. From the makers of Friday the 13th, Slaughter Highincludes all-new special features, including the “Going to Pieces” and “My Days at Doddsville” featurettes, an audio commentary with co-writers/directors George Dugdale and Peter Litten, and more! Restored and remastered, the limited-edition Vestron Video Collector’s Series Slaughter High Blu-ray will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.97.

Check out this video from Lionsgate about this important Blu-ray release:

There’s horror...

If you were wondering what the next entry in Lionsgate's Vestron Video Collector's Series would be, then you can now fill in the correct answer on your test score sheets, because Slaughter High is joining the high-def collection this fall (and on a very fitting date, too).

Bloody Disgusting recently reported that the 1986 horror film Slaughter High will be released as the 12th Blu-ray of Lionsgate's Vestron Video Collector's Series. The Blu-ray will hit shelves on October 31st with several new bonus features. Below, you can read additional details and check out the cover art:

Press Release: Surviving high school is murder with the Vestry Video Collector’s Series’ upcoming release of Slaughter High, arriving for the first time on limited-edition Blu-ray™ uncut on October 31 from Lionsgate.

Street Date: 10/31/17

Blu-ray™ Srp: $39.97

Program Description

Surviving high school is murder with the Vestron Video Collector’s Series’ upcoming release of Slaughter High,...

George A. Romero rarely had it easy. From the beginning, he faced obstacles to getting his vision on screen and condemnation once he succeeded in doing so. It took him 20 years to make his way into the big leagues, yet faced frustrating interference once he did. Yet today, the work endures. He never abandoned his vision, even when it prevented him from having an easier time of the process, and his movies, once attacked as grotesque exploitation, are now properly celebrated as landmarks of cinematic horror.

Indeed, Romero not invented more than a new and enduring kind of zombie movie when he directed “Night of the Living Dead” 50 years ago; in many ways, he invented independent horror cinema as we know it. There had been lots of off-Hollywood fright films before “Night” hit screens in 1968, of course—even some showcasing graphic if cheaply executed gore, like the Herschell Gordon Lewis flicks.

With summer camp season in full swing, One Way Static Records has picked the perfect time to announce their vinyl and cassette soundtrack of 1981's The Burning:

Press Release: One Way Static Records is excited to bring you their latest release: Rick Wakeman’S iconic motion picture soundtrack for the 1981 slasher-classic The Burning. Available on both vinyl & cassette.

The Burning is loosely based on the NY urban legend of Cropsey, a tale that became popular at summer camps in the 1960s and '70s. In the film, a summer camp caretaker who was horribly disfigured from a prank gone wrong is released from the hospital with severe deformities and seeks revenge on those he holds responsible, starting with the kids at a nearby summer camp.

Made at the height of the low-budget slasher-film craze fueled by the success of Halloween and Friday the 13th in the early 1980s, the...

Stars: Ferdy Mayne, Leon Askin, Jeffrey Combs, Luca Bercovici, Nita Talbot, Leon Askin, Jennifer Starrett, Barbara Pilavin, Alan Stock | Written and Directed by Norman Thaddeus Vane

“There was Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, and Conrad Ragzoff! They were all stars who lived and died. But only one returned…”

Fandom takes on a whole new meaning when a group of film loving college students decide to pay the ultimate respects to their favourite horror icon, the recently deceased Conrad Radzoff (Ferdy Mayne). How do they do this? Hold a memorial? Have a Radzoff horror marathon? Nope, they decide to steal his freshly buried body and give hime the ultimate farewell house party back in their mansion! Like most cases however, this is one of those instances were one of your heroes is actually an arsehole (Cough-Tom Savini-Cough!). You see, Radzoff had an often fatal temper. Not even a...

McFarlane Toys announced a new addition to The Walking Dead figures on their roster. The Rick Grimes figurine will be available in February. Also: an excerpt from Bloodbound, a trailer, poster, and release details for Crying Wolf and Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival's call for submissions.

The Walking Dead Figure: From McFarlane Toys: "A former sheriff deputy, Rick Grimes leads the group of Atlanta survivors in their desperate search for a safe haven from the constant dangers that now lurk among them. As the group looks to rebuild their lives, Rick initially resists his destined leadership role. But as he discovers that there is more than just the undead to worry about, Rick makes the ultimate choice to do whatever it takes to keep his family and friends alive in this less than moral post-apocalyptic world.

McFarlane Toys’ Rick Grimes Vigilante Edition deluxe figure depicts this transformation from a peacekeeping deputy to judge,...

Welcome to another horror round-up! This time we have release details on the Ryan Reynolds-starring horror-comedy, The Voices, as well as a look at Death Waltz and Mondo's upcoming vinyl soundtrack releases of Maniac Cop 2 and Lucio Fulci's Zombie Flesh Eaters, aka Zombi 2.

The Voices: Starring Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arterton, Anna Kendrick, and Jacki Weaver, The Voices comes out on Blu-ray and DVD on April 7th from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.

Press Release - "Santa Monica, CA (February 23, 2015) -Ryan Reynolds (upcoming Mississippi Grind, The Proposal)plays a simple, likeable guy trying to do the right thing with the help of his talking pets - but accidentally winds up as a serial killer in the black comedy, The Voices, arriving on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital HD), DVD (plus Digital) and Digital HD April 7th from Lionsgate Home Entertainment. The film is currently available via On Demand. Directed...

Happy Tuesday the 13th! This week’s home entertainment releases are an eclectic bunch but we’ve got a lot of fun titles to look forward to including two sci-fi classics- At the Earth’s Core and Supernova- as well several recent indie titles including Honeymoon and Jessabelle.

Spotlight Titles:

At the Earth’s Core (Kino Lorber, Blu-ray)

They’re in it Deep now! Murderous monsters, scantily clad prehistoric playmates and telepathic pterodactyls inhabit the center of our world in this colorful fantasy-adventure about a manned “drill-craft” boring its way to the center of the Earth! Starring sci-fi superstars Doug McClure (The Land That Time Forgot), Peter Cushing (Nothing But the Night) and Caroline Munro (Maniac), this subterranean chiller is the most endearingly whimsical entertainment on – or under – the planet’s surface! There’s more than lava at the Earth’s core. There’s also Pellucidar: an underground empire...

The cult actress Caroline Munro tells all about her work in Vampyres in this interview, a new approach to José Ramón Larraz’s eurohorror classic directed by Víctor Matellano. The interview, that can be watched here. (It is in English with Spanish subtitles.)

The popular actress from Maniac by Lusting and Hammer productions such as Captain Kronos: Vampyre Hunter and Dracula Ad 1972, is part of this new Vampyres vision.

In … Continue reading →

Horrornews.net...

Award-winning F/X artists, monster-related artwork displayed and sold, killer celebrity guests. These things and more will all be found at the 2014 Son of Monsterpalooza at the Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in Burbank, CA, running September 12-14.

Boasting guests like Angus Scrimm, Reggie Bannister, Gunnar Hansen, Ed Neal and Terri McMinn as well as seminars, vendors, a costume contest and walk-through monster museum, Son of Monsterpalooza 2014 promises to be just as impressive as its predecessors.

Tickets are available here. Be sure to check out the full current guest list below, and then visit the official Monsterpalooza website and "like" Monsterpalooza on Facebook for more information.

From the Press Release

Award-winning FX artists, monster-related artwork displayed and sold, special presentations, a walk-through monster museum, and so much more will be available at Son of Monsterpalooza 2014 in the Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in Burbank, September 12-14.

Special guests from horror...

Hammer and Horror Film Day!

Saturday November the 9th ( 10am – 5pm )

Central Hall Westminster.

Storey’s Gate, Westminster, London SW1H 9Nh

UK’s longest running film fair and convention.

Now in it’s 40th year!

The Convention presents dealers from all over the UK, Europe, Us ,

Canada and South America.

Specialising in rare original film memorabilia and collectables.

Taking place six times a year these are truly unique events for anyone with an interest in films!

With actors and director’s signings, illustrated talks, retrospectives and film screenings taking place through out the day.

Items covering the history of cinema can be found. From the silents to the present.

From rare items of the 1920’s to new releases and the latest heart throb.

Among the many different field of cinema covered at the show is – Classic Hollywood, horror films, sci-fi, the best of British and European cinema as we as cult tv!

Soundtrack fatigue hit me a few years ago.  The classic scores I listened to were growing far too familiar and the new stuff that was accompanying contemporary films was a bit of a bore (with a few exceptions, of course).  So, I took a break from listening to scores when I worked, or cleaned the house, or when I was entertaining guests - more or less the time when I do listen to soundtracks.

Then something happened.  For my birthday one year, I was given a copy of Mondo's record for Jay Chattaway's Maniac soundtrack.  Mondo made a big deal of it, pressing the score on clear vinyl dyed in blood red. The only problem: I didn't have a record player.  Maniac became a cool collectible.  Something to place on a shelf and for people to talk about because the sleeve art by Ken Taylor captured the eye (a...

The movie-making business is a fickle one, with projects oftentimes appearing one day, then completely disappearing the next. There are so many factors that go into making a movie that it's quite frankly a miracle so many movies actually do end up getting made. But what about the ones that are planned and announced, but never actually materialize? There are a whole lot of them, and today we take a look at a handful of horror movie sequels that found themselves stuck in the dreaded Development Hell.   Before the Mask: The Return of Leslie Vernon     One of the most frustrating stories in recent years within the horror genre is the story of the sequel to 2006's utterly brilliant cult classic Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon... a follow-up that, for whatever reason, just can't seem to get off the ground. Described as a "spreemake," meaning a sequel, prequel...

Oh, directors and their wacky threats to quit filmmaking. We rarely believe them. Case in point: Kevin Smith. The loud and proud filmmaker announced that he finished a new script for a horror film he's calling "Tusk." The movie is currently in pre-production. "Tusk" started out as a joke on Smith's Smodcast series, but fans rallied to see the director bring it to life. Smith was inspired by a classified ad from a man searching for a lodger. The ad read:

"To take on the position as my lodger you must be prepared to wear the walrus suit for approximately two hours each day (in practice, this is not two hours every day — I merely state it here so you are able to have a clear idea of the workload). Whilst in the walrus costume you must be a walrus — there must be no speaking in a human voice, and...

Maniac, a horror movie starring Elijah Wood as a serial killer, won.t be released commercially in cinemas or on DVD in New Zealand after being given a festivals-only classification.

The Australasian distributor Monster Pictures is disappointed by the Kiwi Office of Film and Literature Classification ruling but is confident the film will be cleared for cinema and DVD release in Australia.

.We don.t anticipate any problems here,. said Monster.s Neil Foley, who is about to submit the film to the Australian Classification Board.

Last year the board granted the film an exemption enabling it to screen to audiences aged 18+ at the Melbourne International Film Festival, Monster Fest and the Cockatoo Island Film Festival.

Maniac is the first film to get a festival-only classification in New Zealand since The Bridge, Eric Steel's documentary which showed people jumping to their deaths from San Francisco.s Golden Gate Bridge,...

Another incredible one-sheet has arrived for the stellar upcoming remake of the 1981 Bill Lustig classic Maniac, and just like each and every one that has come before it, it's pretty friggin' badass! Check it out!

Look for Maniac to open in select theaters, on iTunes, and on VOD platforms June 21st.

Synopsis:

Just when the streets seemed safe, a serial killer with a fetish for scalps is back and on the hunt. Frank (Elijah Wood) is the withdrawn owner of a mannequin store, but his life changes when young artist Anna (Nora Arnezeder) appears asking for his help with her new exhibition. As their friendship develops and Frank's obsession escalates, it becomes clear that she has unleashed a long-repressed compulsion to stalk and kill. A 21st century Jack the Ripper set in present day L.A., Franck Khalfoun's Maniac, produced by Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes, Haute Tension...

You can find Elijah Wood in theaters this weekend playing a compulsive killer of young women in Franck Khalfoun's remake of "Maniac," offering a physically dissimilar and more angsty take on the crazed character originally dreamed up by Joe Spinell. But on the small screen he's playing a very different style of disturbed as Ryan Newman, the depressive protagonist of FX comedy "Wilfred," the third season of which kicks off on Thursday, June 20 at 10pm. The show began in 2011 with Ryan rising from a night spent unsuccessfully trying to kill himself to find his neighbor, Jenna (Fiona Gubelmann) at the door in search of a last-minute sitter for her dog Wilfred (Jason Gann), who for reasons still unexplained appears to Ryan as a pot-smoking man in a bedraggled canine suit. Over two seasons, Wilfred's served as a companion to Ryan and a doler out of sometimes questionable advice...

Slasher films are essentially Blade Runner Voight-Kampff tests, only instead of deploying imagery of overturned turtles and calfskin wallets, they probe your empathy by ramming knives up girls' chins and into their brains, severing load-bearing tendons, and—in quieter moments—simply terrorizing women by chasing them through empty train stations. The genre is adolescent as hell, reckless and pre-empathetic, picking on girls just to see what their reactions might be. Maniac, a reimagining of the 1980 film starring Joe Spinell (who has a writing credit here), is shot in first-person from the killer's point of view (except when it occasionally isn't, whatever). This version, directed by Franck Khalfoun, casts Elijah Wood as Frank, a survivor of various forms of ch...

Of course Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur, the dirtbag auteurs that turned Joe Dante's gleeful "Jaws" send up "Piranha" into "Piranha 3D," a hilarious, excessively violent screed about American over-indulgence, would spearhead a remake of 1980's "Maniac," a notoriously misogynistic Bill Lustig horror movie whose poster, featuring a man holding the bloody scalp of a young woman, still elicits cries of outrage. Most filmmakers would be too scared to approach the material; it practically glows it's so toxic. But when thinking about these two, who also turned Wes Craven's backwoods horror romp "The Hills Have Eyes" into an angry, gore-soaked metaphor for Bush-era American intervention and culpability, well, why the fuck wouldn't they, really? The original "Maniac," released during a fertile period for American serial killers and set in New York City (this was three years after the Son of Sam murders), concerned Frank Zito (played by the film's co-screenwriter,...

A pretty extensive making-of video for Franck Khalfoun's masterful reboot of Maniac (review) has arrived to further stoke your flames of interest in this amazing flick. Check it out right here, and continue counting the days to its release.

Look for Maniac to open in select theaters, on iTunes, and on VOD platforms June 21st.

Synopsis:

Just when the streets seemed safe, a serial killer with a fetish for scalps is back and on the hunt. Frank (Elijah Wood) is the withdrawn owner of a mannequin store, but his life changes when young artist Anna (Nora Arnezeder) appears asking for his help with her new exhibition. As their friendship develops and Frank's obsession escalates, it becomes clear that she has unleashed a long-repressed compulsion to stalk and kill. A 21st century Jack the Ripper set in present day L.A., Franck Khalfoun's Maniac, produced by Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes,...

Director: Franck Khalfoun. Review: Adam Wing. Back in 1980 Maniac was accused of taking both the slasher film and the use of gory effects to unnecessary levels of distaste. I’m pretty sure special effects maestro Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead) is proud of that accolade. In case you’re unfamiliar with the story, Frank Zitto (Joe Spinell) – abused by his mother as a child – takes out his frustration on innocent women by scalping them and using their hair as wigs for his collection of mannequins. Everybody’s got a hobby, right? Utilising a Carpenter-esque score, Lustig (Maniac Cop) and Savini created a suspenseful, effects ridden cult classic. Maniac was a twisted affair, supported by a memorable lead performance that still resonates today. Talking of twists, even by today’s standards, it’s the twist in the tale that sets Maniac apart from its contemporise. Perverse, contorted and drowning in a sea of gruesome imagery,...

Well now. This is odd. According to a recent blog in Japan, Franck Khalfoun's masterful reboot of Maniac (review) has itself been butchered to cater to the country's teenaged audience. Read on for details.

Curse.jp reports, "Eirin (akin to America's MPAA) and Comstock Group, Japanese distributor of Maniac, censored several gore scenes to make it 15+ rating – so that high school students could see it. It would be like making an R-rated or Nc-17-rated film in the Us a PG-13 film. Some scenes were blurred out, some were darkened. I can’t provide you the evidence of these details because it’s still playing in theatres – and to give you proof, I would have to record it at the theatre. Which is illegal. But please believe me when I say it is true."

Um... God bless the U.S.A.?

Look for Maniac to open in select theaters,...

We cannot wait to hear the reaction of you cats when you finally get to see Franck Khalfoun's masterful reboot of Maniac (review). Sit tight! We're just a few weeks away, but for now we have several new images to tide you over. Check 'em out!

Look for Maniac to open in select theaters, on iTunes, and on VOD platforms June 21st.

Synopsis:

Just when the streets seemed safe, a serial killer with a fetish for scalps is back and on the hunt. Frank (Elijah Wood) is the withdrawn owner of a mannequin store, but his life changes when young artist Anna (Nora Arnezeder) appears asking for his help with her new exhibition. As their friendship develops and Frank's obsession escalates, it becomes clear that she has unleashed a long-repressed compulsion to stalk and kill. A 21st century Jack the Ripper set in present day L.A., Franck Khalfoun's Maniac,...

It seems we've been talking about Franck Khalfoun's reboot of Maniac (review here) for a really long time, but in just a few more days everyone will be able to see what the fuss is about. While we wait, here's a new poster for the flick.

Look for Maniac to open in select theaters, on iTunes, and on VOD platforms June 21st.

Synopsis:

Just when the streets seemed safe, a serial killer with a fetish for scalps is back and on the hunt. Frank (Elijah Wood) is the withdrawn owner of a mannequin store, but his life changes when young artist Anna (Nora Arnezeder) appears asking for his help with her new exhibition. As their friendship develops and Frank's obsession escalates, it becomes clear that she has unleashed a long-repressed compulsion to stalk and kill. A 21st century Jack the Ripper set in present day L.A., Franck Khalfoun's Maniac,...

IFC Midnight has revealed a new poster design for the forthcoming Maniac , set to hit theaters June 21. Check it out below! Directed by Franck Khalfoun and based on William Lustig's 1980 original, Maniac stars Elijah Wood and Nora Arnezeder. Just when the streets seemed safe, a serial killer with a fetish for scalps is back and on the hunt. Frank (Wood) is the withdrawn owner of a mannequin store, but his life changes when young artist Anna (Arnezeder) appears asking for his help with her new exhibition. As their friendship develops and Frank's obsession escalates, it becomes clear that she has unleashed a long-repressed compulsion to stalk and kill. A 21st century Jack the Ripper set in present day L.A., Maniac is produced by Alexandre Aja ( The Hills Have Eyes , Haute...

At the time you read this, you probably would have or are about to see Elijah Wood as deranged serial killer Frank Zito in the remake of William Lustig's 1980 cult slasher Maniac, Alexandre Aja's latest service to horror and his third outing as producer. Why didn't he direct, you ask? It seems that Aja has been expanding his horizons to pastures anew with dark supernatural love fable Horns, an adaptation of Joe Hill's acclaimed novel. With surprising casting in Daniel Radcliffe as Ignatius “Ig” Perrish - the vengeful, horn-headed lead and accompanied by fresh up and coming BAFTA winning British talent Juno Temple as his ill fated love interest, this is looking to be Alexandre Aja's most intriguing work yet. We managed to sit down with Alexandre amidst a very hectic schedule for a brief chat to get the skinny on his strange new project. FEARnet: For...

Another sliver of poster art for the remake of the 1981 Bill Lustig classic Maniac has come our way, and though it's nothing new, it's always good to see everything. Especially when the movie is as good as this one truly is. Check it out!

Franck Khalfoun directs the script by Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur, which stars Elijah Wood. Nora Arnezeder (Safe House) co-stars in Maniac (review here).

Look for the film to open in select theaters, on iTunes, and on VOD platforms June 21st.

Synopsis:

A 21st century Jack the Ripper set in the present day, Maniac is a reboot of the cult film considered by many to be the most suspenseful slasher movie ever made. Frank (Elijah Wood, in a tour de force performance) is the withdrawn owner of a mannequin store, but his life changes when young artist Anna appears asking for his help with her new exhibition.

Elijah Wood surveys his latest female victim in the bloody poster for Maniac, director Franck Khalfoun's horror remake debuting on VOD and in select theaters June 21. Based on William Lustig's 1980 classic of the same name, this thriller centers on Frank (Elijah Wood), a mannequin store owner whose unrelenting thirst for killing emerges once again. Check out a bedroom that is in serious need of some cleaning in this gruesome one-sheet.

Maniac comes to theaters June 21st, 2013 and stars Elijah Wood, Hank Azaria, Nora Arnezeder, Sal Landi, Délé Ogundiran, Dan Hunter. The film is directed by Franck Khalfoun.

Check out the latest poster and new images for Franck Khalfoun's Maniac, starring Elijah Wood, Nora Arnezeder, Liane Balaban, Dan Hunter, Joshua De La Garza, America Olivo, Ron Reznik, Genevieve Alexandra, Megan Duffy and Steffinnie Phrommany. The film iscripted by Alexandre Aja and Gregory Levasseur, based on the 1980 movie of the same title by William Lustig. I haven't seen the original, but this looks most-intriguing. Check out the poster and photos below the plot. Just when the streets seemed safe, a serial killer with a fetish for scalps is back and on the hunt. Frank is the withdrawn owner of a mannequin store, but his life changes when young artist Anna appears asking for his help with her new exhibition. As their friendship develops and Frank’s obsession escalates, it becomes clear that she has unleashed a long-repressed compulsion to stalk and kill. A 21st century Jack the Ripper...

Everything is bigger in Texas, and that includes their horror conventions! As if Texas Frightmare Weekend wasn't grand enough already, they've added more events to their schedule and some new names to the guest list. Read on!

The 2013 extravaganza proudly welcomes Gary Jones' Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan and star Dan Haggerty (Grizzly Adams, himself!), who joins the ever-growing list of top horror celebrities descending upon The Hyatt Regency Dfw next month! The event looks to be an awesome time with some of your favorite horror guests in attendance and screenings of the films you've been itching to see. Check out the official Texas Frightmare Weekend website for all the information and to purchase tickets.

From the Press Release

Texas Frightmare Weekend is back with a vengeance on May 3 through 5, offering up celebrity guests, nearly 100 incredible vendors, and more new films than ever! On Friday, May 3rd,...

Feature James Clayton 19 Apr 2013 - 06:08

What if time were running backwards, and the remake of The Evil Dead actually came first? We'll let James explain this one...

Evil Dead is, according to one of its advertising posters, "The most terrifying film you will ever experience". That may be true, but perhaps not because it has brutal psychological and physical horror in a cabin in the dark woods and various other types of harrowing trauma. What might make it the most terrifying film experience is the actual experience of watching a remake of The Evil Dead - not the content we're swallowing, but the concept itself.

The poster also features the words, "A new vision from the producers of the original classic" and there are a couple of key points in that sentence if you break it down. The credibility of the 'new vision' claim can be contested, but I...

Tom Savini is a make up effects legend and an original badass. He is responsible for making the demise of hundreds of fornicating teenagers look realistic as well as bringing all sorts of disfigured monsters to life. Tom Savini was in love with horror before it was en vogue to work in genre film. He has pulled off some of the most realistic looking and insanely difficult practical effects ever. In addition to being responsible for some of the most epic impalements, exploding heads, decapitations, and stab wounds, Savini also acts and runs a make up effects school for aspiring FX artists. As a “thank you” to one of the most respected men working in fright films today, we are paying tribute by highlighting ten of our favorite special effects created by the renowned make up artist himself.

Friday the 13th: Decapitation of Mrs. Voorhees

This scene stands out in my mind,...

Our irregular series on smaller film festivals looks at a Polish celebration of independent cinema kicking off this Friday

Festival name: Off Plus Camera – International Festival of Independent Cinema

Location: Krakow, Poland

Website: www.offpluscamera.com

Dates: annually,12-21 April 2013

About: This increasingly dynamic festival of independent cinema is geared towards young and debut directors. Taking place in the picturesque southern Polish city of Krakow, the festival is staged in former palaces – such as the Pod Baranami cinema and Kino Ars just off the main square – and, to a lesser extent, at all seven of the city's other art-house cinemas. This year's festival will also offer rooftop screenings, "for those who like extreme sports", according to the artistic director. By attracting more sponsors and by vastly improving organisation and publicity, Off Plus Camera has developed rapidly under the auspices of festival director, Szymon Miszczak; artistic director, Ania Trzebiatowska (who formerly...

We return with the latest edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting the recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes Cowboys Vs Vampires release information, Compound Fracture screening dates, and an interview with Inhuman Resources co-writer Anthony O’Connor:

Cowboys Vs Vampires DVD Release Details: “The story of a western movie actor (Johnny Dust) still trying to make it big in a western film studio and theme park, when a ‘new management team’ takes over the park and turns the film studio into a fright-fest for the month of Halloween. Haunted by the image of his dead western movie hero, who appears to him on the little screen, Johnny unravels the real intent of management and its opening night ‘spectacular’, which takes place in the depths of the park’s cave.

Origin Releasing LLC is proud to announce the United States street date for Cowboys Vs Vampires,...

People in horror movies do the darndest things, don't they? We've all had a "Don't go in there, you idiot!" moment or twelve while watching fright flicks. Horror sure does bring out the stupids.

This counter-intuitive behavior makes it seem like these folks are handing over their lives on a silver platter, so in honor of this weekend's "Evil Dead" let's celebrate the good, the bad and the dumber-than-a-bag-of-hammers of the genre. Appropriately enough, our first entry comes from that franchise.

15. Ash, 'Army of Darkness' (1992)

Body Donor: Bruce Campbell

Iq Fail: Even in the semi-serious first "Evil Dead" Campbell's Ash was a few french fries short of a Happy Meal, but by this third entry he had devolved into hubris incarnate. His buffoonery lands him in the Middle Ages, where he's forced to do battle with skeletons raised after he misspoke three lousy words he was supposed...

The Stanley Film Festival, which will host its debut fest at the iconic and legendary Stanley Hotel in Colorado from May 2-5, has announced its official feature film line-up, with the Eli Roth-starring earthquake thriller Aftershock taking center stage as the fest’s closing night film.

Roth will be on hand to accept the Inaugural Visionary Award and take part in a Q&A after the film.

“Since his debut on the film festival scene with Cabin Fever in 2002, Eli Roth has become a leading force in the horror genre. Whether acting, producing, directing or writing – his many talents are what made titles like Hostel and Inglourious Basterds shine,” says Festival Director Jenny Bloom. “His body of work will set the Stanley Film Festival Visionary Award precedent high for years to come.”

The Stanley Film Festival is curated by Programming Director Landon Zakheim and programmer Michael Lerman, who selected films from 13 different countries,...

Elijah Wood stars in Franck Khalfoun's 80s slasher remake, which uses first-person perspective throughout

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween, Friday The 13th, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Piranha, The Hills Have Eyes, I Spit On Your Grave: that's a list of some of the classic horror movies of the 1970s and 1980s. But it's also a list of some of the worst horror movies of the noughties and 2010s, when you consider their remakes.

They say that no one sets out to produce a bad movie, but watch any low-energy, scare-free, missed-opportunity of a horror remake and you'll doubt the wisdom in that notion. Time and time again fans have been burned by remakes that fail to live up to even the most modest of expectations. The question this begs is: why? Franck Khalfoun, a director who has beaten the odds with his surprisingly excellent remake of sleazy 1980 slasher movie Maniac,...

Frank Khalfoun’s Maniac is a rare breed: a remake that’s arguably better than the original. That’s not to undermine William Lustig’s version which had to battle being swept under the carpet by the BBFC, rather that Khalfoun’s re-imagining – passed uncut, for the record – benefits somewhat from the timing in which it’s released, a bold shooting style that puts the audience into an uncomfortable position and a terrifying performance from Elijah Wood, who takes over from Joe Spinell as the lead.

Frank (Wood) is a lonely, isolated man who spends his days working in his mother’s abandoned mannequin restoration shop. At night, his serial killer tendencies come to fruition as he roams the streets of downtown Los Angeles, picking on innocent women to murder and slicing off their scalps as a form of keepsake. When he crosses paths with beautiful French art student Anna (Nora Arnedezer), however,...

It’s release date time with three new releases to add to the 2013 slate and one for 2014. IFC Films is getting its summer lineup in order and Columbia is setting a date for fall 2014.First up, IFC Films has given Franck Khalfoun's “Maniac” a limited theatrical bow and VOD debut set for June 21st. A remake of the 1980 William Lustig–directed original, this version follows Frank (Elijah Wood) as a mannequin store owner who stalks and kills women in a desolate L.A. (rather than the original New York) with the shots mostly from Frank’s Pov. “Peeping Tom” meets “Mannequin” for the dystopian set, we feel like voyeurs just writing about it. As Drew Taylor wrote in our review, “It'll get your blood pumping, before it starts spilling down your forehead.”Next up is Neil Jordan’s “Byzantium”; IFC will release the vampire thriller on June 28th. A...

We’ve been covering Franck Khalfoun’s remake of William Lustig’s cult hit Maniac for quite a while now. Read the FEARnet review here and an interview with Maniac star Megan Duffy.

IFC Midnight just announced the film will be available in theaters and VOD on June 21st, 2013. Good news for those of us who weren’t able to see it on the festival circuit. Until then, we'll just have to watch the red band trailer below.

Maniac Red Band Trailer [HD]: Elijah Wood, America Olivo and Nora Arnezeder: Entv

via Horror Society...

Texas Frightmare takes place at Dallas’ Hyatt Regency Dfw Friday-Sunday, May 3-5, boasting a guest lineup including Alien’s Tom Skeritt and Veronica Cartwright, Danny Trejo, Virginia Madsen, the cast of AMC’s The Walking Dead, Michael Berryman, Jeffrey Combs, Stuart Gordon, Heather Langenkamp, Tyler Mane, Bill Moseley, Steve Niles, Tom Savini, Dee Wallace and many others. The IFC triple feature, free for weekend and Saturday passholders, kicks off at 8 p.m. with the Texas premiere of Maniac (pictured above), Franck Khalfoun’s remake of the William Lustig classic, starring Elijah Wood as the scalping psychopath. It’s followed at 10 p.m. by Sightseers, the latest from Kill List’s Ben Wheatley, starring Steve Oram and Alice Lowe (who also scripted) as a dysfunctional couple whose vacation through the British countryside comes to have a body count. Wrapping up at midnight is the Texas premiere of Byzantium, Neil Jordan’s...

Texas Frightmare takes place at Dallas’ Hyatt Regency Dfw Friday-Sunday, May 3-5, boasting a guest lineup including Alien’s Tom Skeritt and Veronica Cartwright, Danny Trejo, Virginia Madsen, the cast of AMC’s The Walking Dead, Michael Berryman, Jeffrey Combs, Stuart Gordon, Heather Langenkamp, Tyler Mane, Bill Moseley, Steve Niles, Tom Savini, Dee Wallace and many others. The IFC triple feature, free for weekend and Saturday passholders, kicks off at 8 p.m. with the Texas premiere of Maniac (pictured above), Franck Khalfoun’s remake of the William Lustig classic, starring Elijah Wood as the scalping psychopath. It’s followed at 10 p.m. by Sightseers, the latest from Kill List’s Ben Wheatley, starring Steve Oram and Alice Lowe (who also scripted) as a dysfunctional couple whose vacation through the British countryside comes to have a body count. Wrapping up at midnight is the Texas premiere of Byzantium, Neil Jordan’s...

Texas Frightmare takes place at Dallas’ Hyatt Regency Dfw Friday-Sunday, May 3-5, boasting a guest lineup including Alien’s Tom Skeritt and Veronica Cartwright, Danny Trejo, Virginia Madsen, the cast of AMC’s The Walking Dead, Michael Berryman, Jeffrey Combs, Stuart Gordon, Heather Langenkamp, Tyler Mane, Bill Moseley, Steve Niles, Tom Savini, Dee Wallace and many others. The IFC triple feature, free for weekend and Saturday passholders, kicks off at 8 p.m. with the Texas premiere of Maniac (pictured above), Franck Khalfoun’s remake of the William Lustig classic, starring Elijah Wood as the scalping psychopath. It’s followed at 10 p.m. by Sightseers, the latest from Kill List’s Ben Wheatley, starring Steve Oram and Alice Lowe (who also scripted) as a dysfunctional couple whose vacation through the British countryside comes to have a body count. Wrapping up at midnight is the Texas premiere of Byzantium, Neil Jordan’s...

Texas Frightmare takes place at Dallas’ Hyatt Regency Dfw Friday-Sunday, May 3-5, boasting a guest lineup including Alien’s Tom Skeritt and Veronica Cartwright, Danny Trejo, Virginia Madsen, the cast of AMC’s The Walking Dead, Michael Berryman, Jeffrey Combs, Stuart Gordon, Heather Langenkamp, Tyler Mane, Bill Moseley, Steve Niles, Tom Savini, Dee Wallace and many others. The IFC triple feature, free for weekend and Saturday passholders, kicks off at 8 p.m. with the Texas premiere of Maniac (pictured above), Franck Khalfoun’s remake of the William Lustig classic, starring Elijah Wood as the scalping psychopath. It’s followed at 10 p.m. by Sightseers, the latest from Kill List’s Ben Wheatley, starring Steve Oram and Alice Lowe (who also scripted) as a dysfunctional couple whose vacation through the British countryside comes to have a body count. Wrapping up at midnight is the Texas premiere of Byzantium, Neil Jordan’s...

Texas Frightmare takes place at Dallas’ Hyatt Regency Dfw Friday-Sunday, May 3-5, boasting a guest lineup including Alien’s Tom Skeritt and Veronica Cartwright, Danny Trejo, Virginia Madsen, the cast of AMC’s The Walking Dead, Michael Berryman, Jeffrey Combs, Stuart Gordon, Heather Langenkamp, Tyler Mane, Bill Moseley, Steve Niles, Tom Savini, Dee Wallace and many others. The IFC triple feature, free for weekend and Saturday passholders, kicks off at 8 p.m. with the Texas premiere of Maniac (pictured above), Franck Khalfoun’s remake of the William Lustig classic, starring Elijah Wood as the scalping psychopath. It’s followed at 10 p.m. by Sightseers, the latest from Kill List’s Ben Wheatley, starring Steve Oram and Alice Lowe (who also scripted) as a dysfunctional couple whose vacation through the British countryside comes to have a body count. Wrapping up at midnight is the Texas premiere of Byzantium, Neil Jordan’s...