It’s the last DVD release week of November, and judging by the stellar releases out today it’s fair to say Christmas has come early. There are several titles, big and small, deserving of a purchase or at least a rent, and they’re pretty widespread genre-wise too. Some of the week’s offerings include Tucker & Dale vs Evil, Our Idiot Brother, Friends with Benefits, 30 Minutes or Less and more. As always, if you see something you like, click on the image to buy it. Another Earth The unfortunately named Rhoda (Brit Marling) is a bright high-school graduate with a limitless future, but on the night a new planet is discovered in the night sky above she celebrates a bit too hard and smashes her car into a family of three. A few years later, Rhoda is released from prison and makes an attempt at an apology to the man (William Mapother) she injured and whose wife and child she killed. Communication with the new planet has also revealed that it is a mirror image of our own as far as geography and population, but that different choices there may have given way to different events. Marling co-wrote this intriguing and often mesmerizing sc-fi/drama with director Mike Cahill, and while the logic and explanation behind the science fiction aspects are woefully lacking the drama, character work and “what if?” scenarios are excellent. As she does in the somewhat superior Sound of My Voice Marling brings an ethereal and fragile presence to [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]

This week, Fat Guy Kevin Carr dresses up in layers and layers of rain gear to brave the estrogen storm that comes with the showing of The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part I. After enduring that non-masterpiece, he dances down a few screening rooms to watch the new Happy Feet movie. Confounded by the gelatinous goop that masquerades as movies this weekend in American cinema, Kevin eventually curls up in a ball and softly weeps.

In the cinematic world, protagonists face a lot of challenges. It can be Sasquatch or Yeti, German thieves or vaguely ethnic terrorists, zombies, aliens, werewolves, or vampires, and that’s just the exotic list. Our heroes might face down against a redneck hillbilly, a couple of gangbangers, or some cracked out carjacker. Simply put – it’s hard out there for a pimp. To combat these varied dangers, a hero must go armed. The proper choice of weapon depends on the threat faced, availability, and the environment. I’m not sure anyone has ever fought a hillbilly without the aide of a bow or crossbow, stopped a robbery without a pistol, or put down a zombie apocalypse without the use of a shotgun. In the face of such great dangers, you’d think that the protagonist would make sure that he and his companions were always well equipped to face adversity. But you’d be wrong.

We continue our journey through a month of frightening, bloody and violent films. For more, check out our 31 Days of Horror homepage. Synopsis: Miriam and John Blaylock (Catherine Deneuve and David Bowie) share a passionate longtime love affair, traveling the world and indulging their mutual taste for classical music and the blood of the living. Although John’s love for Miriam might last forever, his youthful vigor will not. After centuries at Miriam’s side, he begins aging at an accelerated rate. Like Miriam’s many past paramours, John seems doomed to a fate worse than death. Under the guise of finding a cure, Miriam begins courting her next conquest – sleep researcher Dr. Sarah Roberts (Susan Sarandon).

We continue our journey through a month of frightening, bloody and violent films. For more, check out our 31 Days of Horror homepage. Synopsis: Based on the novel “Let the Right One In” by John Ajvide Lindqvist the film Let Me In is relocated from Sweden to Los Alamos, New Mexico. Owen (Kodi Smit-McPhee) is a friendless boy, a victim of bullies at school. Not a day goes by when he isn’t pushed, shoved, harassed and threatened. With no one to turn to, not a friend, or teacher, not even his parents who are consumed by a bitter divorce, Owen retreats into  violent fantasies of revenge. One night a man (Richard Jenkins) and his daughter Abby (Chloe Moretz) move into the apartment complex and Owen becomes curious about the girl who only comes out at night, sits in the cold with no shoes or coat, but seems untouched by the frigid New Mexico winter. She looks ragged, she smells bad, her hair is lank and her are eyes dull. But even so, Owen is drawn to her. The next time he sees her she’s been transformed, no longer sickly looking, she looks like a pretty little girl. Owen will learn she’s without a doubt different from any girl he’s ever met.

We continue our journey through a month of frightening, bloody and violent films. For more, check out our 31 Days of Horror homepage. Synopsis: Charlie Brewster (William Ragsdale) is just a normal nerdy high school kid whose inconceivably less-nerdy girlfriend Amy (Amanda Bearse) wants to have sex with him. However, Charlie is more interested in what’s happening next door, where he believes a vampire has recently moved in. After a mysterious murder of a local prostitute sparks Charlie’s suspicions, he seeks the advice of local horror fan Evil Ed (Stephen Geoffreys) on how to protect himself. But when it becomes clear that Jerry (Chris Sarandon), the vampire next door, is wise to Charlie’s ways, he begs local TV show host and vampire hunting legend Peter Vincent (Roddy McDowall) to put the bloodsucker back in the grave.

And The Joker is his stylist. CelebBuzz (via Cinema Blend) has a handful of shots that prove that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have begun shooting Dark Shadows, but the design work going on here is absolutely atrocious. Fortunately, there are more where the one above came from. Of course, we don’t know if this is the costume and make-up work for Barnabas Collins or just Depp arriving to work, but if it’s the former, applause is in order. It’s nice to see that they’re keeping this thing as cartoonish as possible. Dark Shadows was never meant to be taken seriously.

Quick. Name the one supernatural movie trend that you’re most tired of. Excellent, now see if you can give it one more, distinctly different chance. The trailer for indie film Daylight Fades looks to take a tortured approach to the vampire story by making it the last resort. In the film, two people meet, fall in love, and then get ripped apart by an accident that leaves one on death’s door in the hospital. There’s a solution, but like most desperate things, the price might be far too high to pay. Check it out for yourself:

Screenwriter Marti Noxon has had career infested with the supernatural. After great success with the Buffy the Vampire Slayer television show, she worked on Mad Men with the ethereally handsome Jon Hamm and then jumped to the screen with I Am Number Four. Her latest is Fright Night, and, okay, if you check out her resume, it features a lot of TV shows that have absolutely zero werewolves or ghosts or anything, but that doesn’t mean she’s not a massive fan of things that go bump in the screen light. My extended interview with Noxon will be a part of next week’s Reject Radio, but here’s a healthy part of the conversation to whet your appetite – including some talk about the screenwriting process, how she first got the idea for the script’s direction, and how Las Vegas is like a Spielberg suburb turned wasteland.

It’s September of last year and I’m standing in a hallway at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Albuquerque, New Mexico, cursing at the door to my room. It’s one of those ubiquitous card key locks, and I’m in no mood for a third trek down the long hall, down the glass elevator, and back to the front desk to admit once again that I’m apparently an idiot who can’t open a door. It’s a brilliant start to my Fright Night press visit that I’m only a part of due to a scheduling conflict elsewhere on the FSR team, and when combined with my already cynical view of the whole set visit concept it hardly bodes well for the next few days. I just don’t see the appeal of it all for anyone aside from the studio and the writer. The studio gets some relatively cheap marketing, the writer gets a free trip, free hotel, and a chance to hobnob with the talent, and the readers get… what? Interview quotes that will be repeated on a dozen different web sites? A puff piece about how awesome the final movie is going to be? Clearly, I’m the wrong person for this particular assignment.

Like most giant stars, Johnny Depp is attached to far more projects than he could ever appear in, so any news of upcoming development is near meaningless. With that in mind, here are three more pieces of meat that Depp is adding to his plate. Slashfilm is reporting that he’ll be continuing his engrossing and high grossing relationship with Disney by developing an adaptation of the 1970s made-for-TV movie The Night Stalker which features a journalist who starts to believe that serial killings in and around Las Vegas are actually the work of a vampire (which sounds curiously like the new Fright Night). Along with The Mouse, Depp is also trying to bring the story of Paul Revere’s midnight ride to life. Here’s hoping he doesn’t do all his research for it on Wikipedia. If that weren’t enough, Depp wants to start moving on In the Hand of Dante with Julian Schnabel as the director. According to The Playlist, the project isn’t exactly official, but Depp owns the rights, and Schnabel claims, “We’re gonna work on writing it, developing it.” The story, adapted from the book by Nick Tosches splits its time between Dante finding inspiration to write his “Divine Comedy” in the 14th century and a fictionalized Nick Tosches sinking into the underworld in 2001.

Remember the MPAA’s much ballyhooed new rating for adult themed/non-porn films back in 1990? NC-17 stood for ‘No children under 17″ and was meant for films too aggressively naughty or thematically mature for kids and teens to even glimpse. One of the earliest films to receive the rating was Belgium’s caustic and satiric faux-documentary, Man Bites Dog (1992). It features a camera crew following a serial killer day to day as he does what he does best… kill, rape, and disembowel innocent people. It’s a brilliant film that manages to subvert both documentaries and serial killer films in one bloody swathe. Vampires is not rated NC-17, but then again pretty much nothing is these days. (A Serbian Film most likely won’t play in a theater with that rating, and Blue Valentine successfully appealed down to an R.) But it bears a few other similarities with with the film starting with its country of origin, Belgium. It’s also done in the style of a documentary, but the serial killer is traded in for a family of vampires who introduce the filmmakers to their modern-day bloodsucking ways. It doesn’t have the same bite as that earlier film, but it’s violent, darkly comic, and damn good.

Jim Jarmusch is a polarizing figure among the film-going public. His films are all a little off the beaten path, a little bit inaccessible to general audiences, and usually some people end up loving them and some people end up hating them. I think what everybody can agree upon though, is that there are always several interesting things going on with every project that he takes. That’s why new reports that he is planning to helm a vampire movie have left me scratching my head a little. He’s making a vampire movie? Right in the middle of a time where every hack director who can find funding is making a vampire movie? That just doesn’t seem like Jarmusch’s bag. But still, despite all of that, I certainly can’t argue with the cast he’s compiling. This new vampire project is still untitled, but it’s set to star Tilda Swinton, Michael Fassbender, and Mia Wasikowska as the children of the night. Those are some good vampires. Also, the extremely British John Hurt has been cast in an undisclosed feature role. I don’t know about you, but if I was going to be casting a distinguished gentleman like John Hurt in my new vampire film you better believe it would probably be as some grizzled old vampire hunter. In addition to the casting news, Jarmusch let a little bit slip about the setting by calling the film a, “crypto-vampire love story, set against the romantic desolation of Detroit and Tangiers.” Say what you [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]

Stake Land hit select theaters this Friday, and now two character images make their way to your eyeballs. The latest from Mulberry Street director Jim Mickle, the movie tells the story of a country collapsed, a vampire plague hosted by the abandoned towns, and a frantic escape to the safe refuge of Canada. That makes total sense. Check out the hobo chic and vampire aesthetic of the images for yourself:

We reported back in November about Chan-wook Park setting up his first English-language gig with Fox Searchlight, but at the time, the synopsis for Stoker merely alluded to foul play by the hands of a young girl’s uncle who comes to town when her father dies. According to the usually questionable Daily Mail (via Screen Rant), the uncle is definitely a vampire. What’s more, the rag claims that Oscar winner Colin Firth is set to star as the bloodsucker alongside Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska. All of those names are various replacements for Carey Mulligan, Jodie Foster and Johnny Depp (that guy is everywhere) who were all name-dropped last Fall. Park handled vampires with his trademarked insanity in Thirst, so seeing him return to that is bittersweet. The most fascinating prospect is seeing him handle someone else’s material (sense the script for Stoker was written by Wentworth Miller). Park has written for others, but he’s never directed a screenplay that wasn’t his own. That could be a challenge, especially in the face of the curse of brilliant directors making the jump to American cinema. At the very least, it will be interesting to see the auteur try on someone else’s writing for size. Firth in the mean time will be seen in the forthcoming Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, and at some point we’ll get to see Park’s iPhone movie in all its glory.

Every day, come rain or shine or internet tubes breaking, Film School Rejects showcases a trailer from the past. Haunting. Mysterious. Sensual. Strange. Perverse. Riveting. These are all words that might describe the 1983 vampire movie featuring David Bowie and the “open sensuality” of Susan Sarandon. Fortunately, the trailer is only slightly ridiculous and refuses to say what the movie’s about. The best kind! Plus, zero of the vampires do any sparkling. Think you know what it is? Check the trailer out for yourself:

Do you even need to read the rest of this post to get more excited? As we all know, Dario Argento is prepping Dracula 3D to shoot this Spring, and according to Twitch (via Italian media), Rutger Hauer will be moving on from playing a Hobo wielding a two-barreled firearm to Van Helsing – the iconic vampire killer. Hopefully a two-barreled crossbow will be involved. This is just one more step in Hauer’s Rourke-like return to prominence. Although he didn’t land hard with an Oscar nomination, he’s in his Sin City phase (which oddly enough didn’t come when he was in Sin City). He’s got five total films set to come out this year, a few more indies on the docket, and if he can land a high profile dramatic gig, we could see him acting crazy on an awards dais as early as 2012. Hope spring eternal. The idea of Hauer as Van Helsing is inspired. He’s grizzled yet refined in that way only European actors can manage. He also does wonderful, unspeakable things in Hobo With a Shotgun, so the violence he could perpetrate against those damned bloodsuckers might almost make up for Dracula III: The Legacy. Where, of course, he was on the other end of the stake.

Consider originality celebrated for the day. Michael Stephenson, director of Best Worst Movie, has got his next project underway, and it’s a dark comedy called Destroy that features a vampire hunter set loose in a world where he’s taking down innocent elderly men. Well, not completely innocent. Old men have seen some things, ya know? Luckily, our human-staking hero has an assistant to help him out. Fans of the Alamo Drafthouse will be interested to know that the script was written by lead programmer Zack Carlson alongside Bryan Connolly, but the concept is enough to get me excited. It’s comedic and horrible and new, and it sounds like Don Quixote transplanted onto the world of Universal monsters. Plus, it comes at the perfect time to act as an antidote to the vampire outbreak we’ve seen in theaters. Check out the concept art by Johnny Sampson here:

Another one of those teen monsters in a doomed relationship movies is in the works and has found a director. This one has the very utilitarian title Monster Love. It is written by comic book writer Greg Pak (of “World War Hulk” fame), and is the story of a young werewolf boy and a young vampire girl who fall into a doomed romance. Or as a hilariously on the nose press release puts it, “It’s Romeo and Juliet with fangs.” Well, I guess that makes sense. You can’t really describe it as being “Twilight with fangs” or even “Buffy and Angel with fangs”. But this one looks to have more to offer than just forbidden love. It seems like it will have a bit more action than the other monster melodramas. The same release goes on to say, “ … when some mangled bodies are discovered in the woods, Pete and Maggie must fight for their lives while grappling with the awful consequences of loving a monster.” Mysterious murders, fighting for your life, script written by a comic book guy; this might not be as bad as it sounds at first. Especially when you factor in that the director they got to put it together is living legend Joe Dante. Yes, that Joe Dante. The guy who did Piranha and The Howling. The genius behind Gremlins and The ‘burbs. Heck, he even did a few episodes of Eerie, Indiana. I would go as far as to call him the undisputed [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]

Before Seth Grahame-Smith’s groundbreaking biography “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” became all of the rage, the world was tragically clueless about the undead-destroying exploits of our 16th president. American school children are taught about the Emancipation Proclamation, they memorize lines from the Gettysburg Address; but they tragically never understand why. Just like elementary classrooms are reticent to include Chomsky in their standard curriculums, they have also shown to be reluctant to reveal to grade-schoolers the unfortunate reality that vampires are real, and that their blood sucking atrocities had a profound effect on the development and presidency of one of our greatest leaders. Fortunately, Hollywood is not as chained to the whims of conservative fundamentalist groups as our nation’s textbook makers are. So, Russian director Timur Bekmambetov has been tapped to direct a big screen adaptation of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. You may know Bekmambetov as the director of the Night Watch and Day Watch vampire franchise already, and if you don’t then clearly you haven’t been paying enough attention to vampires. It’s a wonder you still have all of your blood. Long have they searched for the perfect actor to portray Lincoln in this epic tale; one that spans the president’s life from ages 20 to 55. Many have tested, and many have failed. In the end, all of their efforts have come down to one man: some guy. That guy is actor Benjamin Walker. You may recognize him from such films as Flags of Our Fathers and Kinsey, but chances [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]