It’s hard to find a good horror movie these days. The majority of ideas have been done to death. It’s rare that an original and good idea comes along that manages to scare and entertain us at the same time. With the Daniel Stamm directed and Eli Roth produced The Last Exorcism, we’re still waiting for that good idea to come along.

Read the full story

E-mail Joshua Blackburn and be sure to follow him on Twitter. You can also interact with him on our Facebook page!

For those that want to break into the industry, start PA’ing. Bobby Glickert did just very that on Michael Bay‘s first Transformers film. Now, after recently being an assistant to director Justin Lin on Fast & Furious, he will have his shot at directing his first feature, Deadline reports. Read the full story

E-mail Jordan Raup here. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook for the latest TFS updates!

Just yesterday we posted the first official photo of Chloe Moretz (Kick-Ass) in Matt Reeves‘ (Cloverfield) remake of Let the Right One In. Today, First Showing has pointed us out to yet another production still, this time featuring both Moretz and co-star Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road). The backdrop of this photo looks strikingly similar to that of the 2008 Swedish original.

Having seen Moretz and McPhee in both Kick-Ass and The Road, I don’t believe I could think of two more capable young actors to reprise these roles. It goes without saying that McPhee had to hit more dramatic notes in his film, but I don’t think it is a longshot to say that Moretz possesses that ability as well.

I personally have not seen Cloverfield, but the LA Times has posted a worthwhile interview with director Matt Reeves. He seems to be trying to convince people that he will stay faithful to the calm, subdued direction of the original, at least in comparison to Cloverfield, which was handheld:

I think because of ‘Cloverfield,’ people have an assumption, which is, ‘Oh, crazy handicam, he’s going to jazz it up. And I think that’s probably what a lot of people were afraid of when they thought of the most cynical version. And that’s the last thing we tried to do.

The young stars of the film have me interested in this remake, at least more than most these days, and if Reeves can deliver on his understandable intentions, then Let Me In could be a breath of fresh air come October 1st.

Do you think this remake has serious potential?

Like the mysterious Cloverfield trailer before Transformers, we will be seeing a glimpse at another secret J.J. Abrams project before Iron Man 2. HitFix has the scoop that the project is titled Super 8. It is produced by Abrams, but the teaser before Iron Man 2 will be directed by him. Read the full story

Rumors are swirling about one of the most talked about films at Sundance, a on the fly social media documentary following the real life story of two filmmakers and how one of their brothers becomes entranced in an online romance called ‘Catfish‘. The buzz this documentary has received from Sundance has probably been the best of any film to come out of this year’s festival, with many audience members consensus that this might have the most mainstream potential of most of the Sundance flock. Yesterday it was reported by First Showing, that the film was being screened at a Paramount lot where that attendees should “have seen and enjoyed” films like Cloverfield, Paranormal Activity, Slumdog Millionaire or An Inconvenient Truth. Seems like Paramount could be potentially positioning this film to be their next big indie hit. To add fire to these allegations, additional mumblings about Paramount heavyweights J.J Abrams and Jason Blum are also said to be pushing for the film to be released through their studio. However at 1am, Deadline reported that Brett Ratner has made an offer for ‘Catfish‘ with no need for test screenings. The race for the film is heating up and I’m sure filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost are enjoying their options.

Do you want to see “Catfish“?

If it wasn’t for my undying love for Cloverfield I probably wouldn’t be posting this. I know not everyone enjoyed the film but it is interesting to take a look at lead character designer Neville Page’s early sketches of the film. Page has quite the resume. He was the lead creature and character design on J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, and he was the lead creature and character designer on James Cameron’s Avatar. Maybe these sketches will give us a look at what the creatures in Avatar might be? Check it out after the jump.

Check out the sketches >>

Here is an absolute must-see trailer. The trailer is for super secret sci-fi film District 9 directed by Neil Blomkamp and produced by Peter Jackson. Check it out after the jump in HD:

Check out the trailer >>

Here is the sixth episode of The Film Stage Podcast in which we review Joe Wright’s The Soloist and Earth, Sin Nombre, and Crank: High Voltage. Recorded by Jordan Raup, Dan Mecca you can stream it below or download the mp3:

Download the mp3 (right-click and save as): The Film Stage Podcast Episode 6 – The Soloist,  Earth, Sin Nombre, and Crank: High Voltage

You can now subscribe through iTunes! Just click the image below and each episode will download for you automatically as it comes out:

Check out the contents of this podcast >>

In a recent MTV interview with Eli Roth (Hostel, Cabin Fever) has revelaed he’s planning to shoot  an $80 million action epic this fall and then, three weeks later, shoot a feature length version of Thanksgiving for $5 million. He described the project a little bit:

It’s going to be something that is really fun with lots of mass destruction. I wanted to do something along the lines of Transformers or Cloverfield that was a little more science fiction-based, and with lots of chaos and mass destruction.

Read the rest of this interview >>

Oh no. Or maybe not. As reported by the guys over at Get The Big Picture, the incredible Swedish vampire film Let the Right One In, directed by Tomas Alfredson, will be remade in the states by Overture Films, and Matt Reeves,  J.J. Abrams collaborator and director of the very good Cloverfield, is set to direct.

Bloody Disgusting reports that they have, however, unfortunately changed the film’s title to Let Me In. Shooting is set to begin in May.

Read the rest of this entry >>