One of 2010′s most wicked independent horror films is getting an American remake, thanks to a pair of up-and-coming filmmakers. Director Jim Mickle and his screenwriter partner Nick Damici are now set to remake Jorge Michel Grau‘s We Are What We Are, the best little Mexican horror flick about a family of cannibals you’ve likely never seen. As our pal Peter S. Hall points out, with Mickle signed on for the remake, that means that a film from 2010′s Fantastic Fest is getting remade by a director who also had a film at that same FF. Synergy! Mickle and Damici’s Stake Land played at FF, as well as at Toronto as part of their Midnight Madness sidebar (where it won the People’s Choice Award). The film followed a set of survivors attempting to scrape by in a post-apocalyptic wasteland ruled by vampires. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of the film, Mickle and Damici infused their characters with believable and likable qualities, and then set them against an appropriately gritty and terrifying background. And Grau seems to agree, saying “I feel fortunate to have someone with the vision and talent Jim has to re-interpret my work. It is extraordinary to have a team of filmmakers so respectful of the spirit of a film and take such good care of its essence. I’m so proud to know We Are What We Are will be reworked under that kind of intelligent frame of mind. Very happy that Jim will construct a new [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

I’ve got a bit of an obsessive compulsive issue when it comes to DVDs and Blu-rays. I’m one of those suckers who will get caught every so often in a double-dip if I’m not paying attention. If I am being observant, I’m the guy who waits four extra months to get a disc with some special features attached. I really dug Transformers 3 and wanted to watch it again, but I’ll be damned if I was going to buy a disc with no extras on it! The issue that has my panties all aflame this week is all about special features and the lack thereof. Oh, most discs today come with some special features on them, but the “featurette” has become the bane of my existence. It used to just be what they called small extras on the disc, but now they’ve really emphasized the -ette, meaning mini, small, or useless.

The Devil Inside is the talk of the town for two reasons: number one, it made around $35 million in its opening weekend, which is big no matter what qualifier you tack on, but when that qualifier is a reported $1 million acquisition cost, it’s gigantic. Number two (heheh), it sucks. It sucks bad. That’s nothing new, really, as everything about The Devil Inside screams shitty movie. First of all, it’s from the team that brought you Stay Alive. Second, it’s found footage. Third, it’s an exorcism movie. I’m surprised that people went to see it, because you list those three qualities and I am about as far from interested as possible. But rather than just throw another voice on the “what the fuck” bonfire, I wanted to take a few minutes and examine what we can learn from this situation.

Back in August, Justin Lin vacated the director’s chair for the latest in Hollywood’s seemingly endless string of remakes – jumping off Highlander to spend more time making Vin Diesel and Paul Walker jump off moving trains on to moving cars (or similar) with his next entry into his wildly successful spin on The Fast and the Furious franchise. Summit Entertainment has now announced that Juan Carlos Fresnadillo will take on directorial duties for their Highlander reboot/magination/whatever, so let’s all pause to yell “there can only be one!” and move on with the news. Fresnadillo will direct from Melissa Rosenberg’s script, with the film poised to start filming in the spring of 2012. Summit’s official press release gives a quick plotline for the new film – “In HIGHLANDER, after centuries of dueling to survive against others like him, Connor MacLeod, an immortal Scottish swordsman must confront the last of his kind, a murderously brutal barbarian, who lusts for the Prize” – so, yes, rest easy, this is definitely a Highlander film.

How news of remakes continues to shock me, I’ll never know. There’s been buzz about a Point Break remake for a while now, but Warner Bros. and Alcon Entertainment have finally decided to just get totally radical and announce their planned remake of the 1991 Kathryn Bigelow  film that remains a cinematic classic for surfers, stoners, Angelenos, adrenaline junkies, idiots, and Keanu Reeves fan everywhere (hey, back up, I count myself as one of those idiots). Alcon snatched up the rights for the film on the eve of its twentieth anniversary, with co-founders and co-CEO’s Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove set to produce the new project, along with Michael DeLuca, John Baldecchi, Chris Taylor, and Kurt Wimmer. As previously rumored, Wimmer penned the screenplay for the remake (hat tip to our pals over Twitch for reporting on this way back in June). The film is without a director as of yet, but it’s being “fast tracked” with a helmer search launching soon. The new Point Break will, in both completely inexplicable and totally expected news, not necessarily take place in the world of surfing, but “in the world of international extreme sports.” What, like street luge? Parkour? Say it’s parkour, please say it’s parkour. But the remake will still focus on “an undercover FBI agent infiltrating a criminal ring.” That’s all we’ve got for now. Wait, isn’t that The Fast and the Furious? Just tell me said FBI agent has a Johnny Utah-esque name, and all will be forgiven. Frankie New [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

The Debt is a painstakingly old-fashioned drama that’s far more interested in the nuances of human behavior than exploitation or pyrotechnics. At the same time, in telling the parallel stories of Mossad agents hunting a Nazi doctor in East Berlin circa 1966 and those same agents dealing with the consequences of that mission 30 years later, John Madden’s film evokes the existential themes that lie at the heart of Israel’s creation. To straddle both those worlds within the constraints of a tightly-wound thriller is a considerable accomplishment. And this eloquent remake of a 2007 Israeli picture with the same name harkens back to the old-fashioned aesthetics of genre movies that mean something, films that are unafraid of drawing out big ideas between familiar lines. The film stars Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkinson and Ciarán Hinds as the older version of agents Rachel Singer, Stephan Gold and David Peretz, who discover that the book has not been written on their mission of 30+ years ago with the finality they thought it had. Jessica Chastain, Martin Csokas and Sam Worthington play their younger selves, tracking the sadistic Doktor Bernhardt (Jesper Christensen) astride the Iron Curtain.

A few weeks back, the inevitable happened – Lionsgate announced that they were tangoing and jitterbugging and some other type of dancing that no one does anymore right back into the Dirty Dancing fold with a remake of the smash eighties hit. But before fans could throw themselves into corners or off charming little Catskills bridges, Lionsgate also announced that Kenny Ortega, the original choreographer, had signed on as director. When the remake was first chattered about, way back in 2009, Lionsgate announced that Julia Dahl (Uptown Girls) would be scripting it, but with no attachment of Dahl’s name to the Ortega announcement, a new writer seemed inevitable. And now we know who she is – Maria Maggenti. Who? Maggenti’s resume is, in one word, bizarre. But bizarre in the way that it’s hard to get a feel for what sort films Maggenti is best suited to pen – there’s just no broad, sweeping generalizations we can draw from it (what a pickle). Maggenti most recently wrote the screenplay for Monte Carlo – but with no less than three other people contributing to a film adaption of a novel written by another person altogether. That’s five cooks in the kitchen. Even if Maggenti had a more established career and trademark style, it would still be hard to pin down her exact contributions to the film and how that will translate to this new Dirty Dancing.

As Hollywood continues to suck the blood out of 1980′s and 1990′s cinema to appease their hungry gods and their demands for still more crimson liquid, news on yet another remake has come to life. And, whereas this morning’s news about a Romancing the Stone remake had me chomping and gnashing and damning people I’ve never met, I can’t say that I entirely hate this newest idea, particularly because it comes pre-packaged not with a pie in the sky list of possible lead actors, but with a genre-appropriate screenwriter. Talented, inventive writing! How about that! Sony has just signed Source Code scribe Ben Ripley to a development deal to write “a contemporary reimagining” of Joel Schumacher‘s Flatliners. The original film hit theaters in 1990 with one of the most awesomely nineties-era casts to ever gather in service for a sci-fi flick about kinda dead people. It starred Kiefer Sutherland, Julia Roberts and William Baldwin, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon as medical students who begin to experiment with near-death experiences to see just what’s on the other side. Of course, there are consequences to having your heart stopped repeatedly to get a glimpse at a realm that the living aren’t meant to see. Who knew? Not much else is known about the direction Ripley will take the film, but the writer has already proven himself adept at traversing both experiences and locations by way of the human mind and its perceptions, so Flatliners seems like a perfect fit. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe not all [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Some pieces of news are just bound to cause eye-rolling and heavy sighs. I’m not going to pretend as if I am some huge Romancing the Stone fan and that every single one of my sensibilities and emotions are offended by this news, but that’s not really necessary, is it? This is the sort of news that will, most likely, not be met with an outpouring of glee. But this is not a new brand of news. The Romancing the Stone remake has been kicking around for years now, but without much of a push behind it. For awhile, Robert Luketic was attached to the film, and with him came the inevitable, a casting wish list that included Katherine Heigl (who Luketic has directed in two separate horror shows, The Ugly Truth and Killers). Though Luketic is now off the project, and Emma Watts and Fox are reportedly looking for “someone newish” to direct the film, Heigl is apparently still on the top of their wish lists to play the Joan Wilder role (played in the original by Kathleen Turner). And, somewhat bizarrely considering how different the two men are in terms of both age and star power, Watts and Fox have added Gerard Butler and Taylor Kitschto their “early wish list” to play Jack Colton (originally played by Michael Douglas). As The Playlist wisely points out, “this [is] all tremendously early, and possibly none of these names will make it through,” but these sorts of supposed “wish lists” show the [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Late last night a lot of questions got raised about a new Evil Dead movie. There were reports that a new one was going into production, conflicting reports that Sam Raimi was just casting for his upcoming Oz: The Great and Powerful, and then confirmation from Bruce Campbell that a remake was ready to happen. This morning Bloody Disgusting was able to clear things up quite a bit by reporting that Raimi does indeed have a “quasi-remake” of The Evil Dead gearing up for production, but that he doesn’t intend on directing it himself. Instead the job is going to newcomer Fede Alvarez. Despite the fact that Bruce Campbell had the inside scoop on the project, there isn’t any word if he will have a role in the film or if they will be looking to cast all new actors. Given Campbell’s close relationship with Raimi, I don’t think that it’s a given that just because he knows about the project he will be in any significant way involved. That said, I think we can all agree that he better be. I would opine that a large reason Raimi’s first three films in this universe work is the screen presence of Campbell. Without him, you don’t have Ash, you just have some horror movie starring a dude.

A fourth entry in Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead series is one of those long talked about, never going to happen, projects like an Arrested Development movie, or another Ghostbusters sequel that I’ve grown kind of tired of hearing about. I’ve been hearing the rumors about this movie since I was a teenager: Ash goes to the future, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, it’s going to be in 3D, etc.  It’s gotten to the point that whenever the next set of rumors about a new Evil Dead crop up, I roll my eyes and move along. So it was not out of maliciousness, but out of rumor fatigue when I rolled my eyes at Dread Central’s claim that they had a “very reliable source” telling them that Saim Raimi’s frequent editor Bob Murawski was headed to Detroit to start work on a new Evil Dead film. They also had a quote that the new Evil Dead would be “a small indie thing like the first two.” Turns out I wasn’t the only one to be suspicious of these claims, because Bloody Disgusting did a little digging of their own and said they discovered that Raimi was actually casting his widely known next project Oz: The Great and Powerful in Detroit. That would make more sense, and would have ended my interest in the matter, if not for another little wrinkle. Ash himself, Bruce Campbell, recently opened a Twitter account and when asked point blank by one of his followers about the [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

Remember that remake of Park Chan-Wook’s Oldboy that nobody wanted whether it was a remake of the movie, or an adaptation of the original source material, or whatever? It was supposed to be dead, but Rob Hunter knew that the evil would come back in another form. Despite the fact that nobody in the world thinks a Hollywood production of any version of Oldboy whatsoever is a good idea, it is a dream that won’t die. Sure, it will no longer have Will Smith and Steven Spielberg bringing it to life, but it may have found a new director to champion its cause. Twitch is reporting that Spike Lee has entered negotiations to direct the long gestating project, with Mark Protosevich of Thor and I Am Legend set to write the screenplay. I think the idea of Spike Lee tackling the gore splattered revenge roots of this property is a heck of a lot less scary than Spielberg and Smith trying it on, but does Lee’s name make this a project that anybody is now looking forward to happening? I’m no Spike Lee fan, so I probably have no room to speak on the matter. I hate this idea. But there are a lot of fans of Lee’s work out there. Do any of you overlap into being fans of Oldboy as well? Will there be a group of fans willing to stand up and champion this project against the wave of negative reaction it’s gotten so far? Choose a [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

News came last week that the troubled MGM remake of the classic, chest poundingly patriotic Red Dawn was getting a political face lift with the invading force being digitally swapped from Chinese to North Korean. But what’s the big deal, as Jack Giroux always drunkenly says: all Asians are the same. Kidding. He’s generally sober. But really, MGM is indeed going through about a million dollars worth of post production changes to get rid off as many China references as they can and replace them with North Korean ones. Why? Well China has the second largest economy in the world these days (second to the good ol’ US of A) and a lot of American companies do a lot of work in China. China also is notorious for throwing fits when anyone mentions things like death buses, oppression of freedom and religion, guacamole, spies, and basically anything that points a spotlight on how big a dick their government can be. So, obviously, big companies don’t want to piss off China and risk losing that sweet, sweet source of income. With MGM’s decision to make the change, plenty of outlets and writers like Vince over at FilmDrunk have taken aim at MGM and more or less called them pussies for bowing down to as of now imaginary Chinese anger over the film. But you know what? I support the switch to North Korea, and here’s why.

Recently I spent an entire weekend watching Charles Bronson films in an effort to document his very best kills. I, and at various times a rotating cadre of my friends, watched 20 movies over three days during what was dubbed Bronsothon. Needless to say, I waded through some really awful movies that weekend, but there were more than a few pleasant surprises. Among them were Mr. Majestyk, Death Wish 2, and The Mechanic. The Mechanic blew my mind because as much as it was a familiar Bronson shoot-em-up, it was also a fairly cerebral character study. It also had an ending I did not at all expect; I loved it. When I heard the upcoming Jason Statham film was a remake, I had to see it.

While fans of the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie starring Kristy Swanson may be ready to rejoice, fans of the Sarah Michelle Gellar television series are slamming fists and shedding tears at the news that Buffy is on her way back to the big screen with one caveat – Joss Whedon will not be involved. Personally I think there are two kinds of Buffy fans: those of us who saw the movie in theaters back in 1992, liked it and then never watched the TV series and those whose fandom is almost entirely related to their enjoyment of the television show. I count myself among the former, having never seen an episode of the television show – a trait I plan on having the rest of my life. Is it a good idea to bring Buffy back sans the man responsible for her popularity? Yes and no.

Welcome back to Junkfood Cinema; try it with bacon! This is the weekly internet column that proves to within an inch of certainty that any idiot can be a writer. I take all the lessons I failed to learn in film school, warp them with demented abandon, and splatter the resulting abomination all over cyberspace. Who doesn’t like bad movies? If you are currently raising your hand, you should know that I cannot see you through the screen and you just look ridiculous. Everybody has one or two guilty pleasure films to which they subject their brains in full awareness of the film’s shortcomings. Personally I have a library of bad movies I love and I will examine one every Friday; giving the celebrated, if dubious, highlights as well as the technically existent flaws. In an effort to make this experience twice as unhealthy for you, I will also pair the film with a snack food item linked to the shenanigans in the film. Last week saw the fall of a titan. For lovers of over-the-top, schlocky, or otherwise cheesy cinema, few names are spoken with more reverence than that of Dino De Laurentis. The guy is a legendary producer who had a Corman-like prolificacy. There is something incongruently grandiose about his productions that belie their actual budget or ultimate quality. In the short span of time that JFC has been in existence, two of his films have already been showcased: Danger: Diabolik and Flash Gordon. In honor of the [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

When the calendar page turns to October, we Rejects have only one thought: horror. To celebrate this grandest and darkest of months, we’ll cover one excellent horror film a day for the entirety of the month. That’s 31 Days of Horror and 31 Films perfect for viewing on a dark, chilly, October night. If you, like us, love horror and Halloween, give us a Hell Yeah and keep coming every day this month for a new dose of adrenaline. Synopsis: Local Tom Harringer returns to his hometown after a long absence following an accidental mine collapse he caused, that set of a chain of events that lead to his father brutally murdering 22 people. Now, on the anniversary of the massacre, a man dressed as a miner is terrorizing the town, Tom, and everyone he holds dear. Killer Scene: The Miner does his best to ruin a lot of people’s days and does a good job of it. There are a few moments where his kills are cheer worthy – though some might also cheer at the fully nude 3D sex scene. My bid for the best moment comes shortly after that (and a pair of kills) when the diminutive motel keeper comes to investigate some strange noises and ends up catching a pick-axe to the chin which drives her into a ceiling light which then electrocutes her as well.

When the calendar page turns to October, we Rejects have only one thought: horror. To celebrate this grandest and darkest of months, we’ll cover one excellent horror film a day for the entirety of the month. That’s 31 Days of Horror and 31 Films perfect for viewing on a dark, chilly, October night. If you, like us, love horror and Halloween, give us a Hell Yeah and keep coming every day this month for a new dose of adrenaline. Synopsis: When young Whitney Miller goes missing with a group of friends, thanks to the violent tendencies of homicidal hillbilly Jason Voorhees, her brother Clay goes searching for her in the woods surrounding the abandoned Camp Crystal Lake. With some newfound cannon fodder, his luck doesn’t hold out long as the machete wielding, hockey faced killer gets his slash on in this Platinum Dunes reboot. Killer Scene: With thirteen or fourteen people brutally dispatched, there are plenty of scenes of note. In fact, with lots of boobies exposed, there are even more I could note. My favorite scene combines both boobies and blood – the feisty Amanda shows off her breasts and then retreats to her tent with her boytoy. When he goes in search of a noise (big mistake), she gets stuffed in a sleeping bag and hung over a roaring campfire. Boo and Yah.

When the calendar page turns to October, we Rejects have only one thought: horror. To celebrate this grandest and darkest of months, we’ll cover one excellent horror film a day for the entirety of the month. That’s 31 Days of Horror and 31 Films perfect for viewing on a dark, chilly, October night. If you, like us, love horror and Halloween, give us a Hell Yeah and keep coming every day this month for a new dose of adrenaline. Synopsis: A small town is turned upside down when a military spawned virus is accidentally released into their water supply, turning them into raging, blood thirsty crazies with little regard for human life. With no way of stopping the assault, Sheriff Dutton attempts to lead a small group of survivors out of town. Killer Scene: Things get pretty intense inside of a car wash and people you’ve picked to survive drop like flies throughout the story, though the best scene for my money is the ending scene. Sheriff Dutton and his wife have finally made it to the military rendezvous point and discover just how the government planned on dealing with any survivors. While deciding what to do, the group is attacked by three crazed bikers leading to an epic battle in a trucking garage.

A young girl decides that a weekend at a secluded cabin is just the thing she needs to finish her book. On her way there, she crosses paths with a smattering of yokels on whom she leaves a less-than-positive impression. They show up later, rape her for what seems like an hour, and leave her to die. Despite their bumbling efforts, shockingly, she survives. What follows is a parade of violence designed to offer this wronged woman bloody satisfaction I Spit on Your Grave is an absolutely disgusting film. It is impossible to review a film like this without having your objectivity called into question. The makers of this film would like you to believe that I found their film disgusting because of its content; insinuating that their rape-rape-revenge film incites a commendable level of emotional response. Sorry guys, my sensibilities are none too delicate. The fact is that what makes the I Spit on Your Grave remake so vile is not its content, but its intent.