“Dexter” player Jennifer Carpenter has been cast opposite Amanda Seyfried in Summit Entertainment’s new serial killer drama Gone. The film marks Carpenter’s return to big screen horror since her star turns in 2008’s Quarantine and 2005’s The Exorcism of Emily Rose.

Written by Allison Burnett (Untraceable), Gone is Brazilian director Heitor Dhalia’s (Adrift) American film debut and stars Seyfried as a woman who discovers that her sister has been kidnapped by the same man who attempted to murder her two years prior.

Gone is set to shoot in April. Costars include Wes Bentley (Rites of Passage) and Emily Wickersham (I Am Number Four).

Got some news that will give you the hippie hippie shakes! Looks like sex and nudity will be a big part of Junction Films’ soon-to-start-shooting bio-pic Manson Girls. So reveals director Sussana Lo in her interview with stars Taryn Manning (8 Mile) and Monica Keena (Night of the Demons), posted on StayThirtsy.com.

In the interview, Manning and Keena, who play Charles Manson cult followers Sandra Good and Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme, respectively, assure the director that the sex and nudity to be shot in Manson Girls is not gratuitous and will—in all actuality—cure cancer, save whales, and feed a Haitian family of five for three weeks (what? I’m reading between the lines).

Says Manning:

I personally don’t have any issues with sex and nudity in art if its done in a manner which respects the female anatomy and sheds the most beautiful light on the species of the lady. I think the nudity required in Manson Girls is needed to tell an accurate story of how these people lived everyday lives, full of love and open hearts and minds.

Beautiful light has been respectfully shed on Manning’s anatomy many times before, most notably in 2003’s American Civil War drama Cold Mountain and 2005’s pimptastic Hustle & Flow. Keena, however, has managed to pay her rent without dropping trou. Thankfully, it appears that she has chosen Lo’s film to make her nude debut.

Says Keena:

Sex is a necessary part of this story. As is the nudity aspect of it. And no, I don’t think they will be shot in a gratuitous fashion. I’ve never done a sex scene or nudity in a film before, and I’ve always said I never would unless the movie was absolutely brilliant and the story really called for it and was necessary to move the piece along and was not shot in a gratuitous way. So there is your proof.

I don’t know about you folks, but I think Keena is a 100% correct. I always have trouble following a film’s story when there isn’t any nudity to help it move along (usually because I’m thinking ‘where the titties at’ shortly after the opening creds roll).

Monica Keena

Manson Girls follows the lives of eight violent female Charles Manson cult followers. The film costars Heather Matarazzo (Hostel 2), Tania Raymonde (“LOST”), Brit Morgan (“True Blood”), Gillian Zinser (“90210”), Jennifer Landon (“As the World Turns”), Estella Warren (Planet of the Apes), Stella Maeve (“My Super Psycho Sweet 16: Part 2″), Laura Harring (One Missed Call), and Bill Moseley as Charlie Manson.

Manson Girls is slated to start production next month in Los Angeles.

Syfy has announced that former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Rachel Hunter will put her bikini wearing skills to the test in their new Roger Corman-produced creature-feature Piranhaconda. The 41-year-old stunner will play Thalia, a character the filmmakers tease as a departure from the “good girl” roles Hunter has played in the past.

Piranhaconda revolves around a mutant piranha/anaconda monster out to devour a beachside community. The silly thriller is directed by Jim Wynorski—the man behind Traci Lords 1988 classic sci-fi vehicle Not of This Earth—and costars Michael Madsen (The Bleeding), Diana Terranova (8213 Gacy House), Terri Ivens (“All My Children”), and former Miss USA Shandi Finnessey.

Piranhaconda is set to roll camera this month on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

Warner Bros. held the premiere for director Catherine Hardwicke’s Red Riding Hood last night at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, CA. Unfortunately, I could not attend as I was not invited and have yet to get over my fear of black security guards.

Hardwicke was joined at the shindig by star Amanda Seyfried, who—despite showing off some nice gams—disappointed with her decision to wear a magenta origami pleated silk cap-sleeve Lanvin dress (snap!). Also in attendance were costars Gary Oldman, Shiloh Fernandez, Virgina Madsen, and Max Irons.

Other celebs spotted at the event included the very sexy Rebecca De Mornay, who is soon to make a much-welcomed comeback in Darren Lynn Bousman’s Mother’s Day, Twilight’s Nikki Reed, A Nightmare On Elm Street’s Thomas Dekker, and Sucker Punch starlet Emily Browning.

Enjoy the pics:

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The CW has named Meredith Hagner (pictured above) and Lucy Griffiths as the stars of their new coming-of-age, teen zombie apocalypse series “The Awakening.” Griffiths and Hagner will play sisters who realize that their not-so fresh feelings may have something to do with the walking dead around them.

Hagner currently stars on F/X’s soon-to-be KOed boxing drama “Lights Out,” but is best know for her recurring role as cyberchondriac Libby on the USA network’s “Royal Pains” and her two-year stint as Liberty Ciccone on the CBS soap “As the World Turns.”

Griffiths is coming off the BBC’s “Robin Hood” program in which she played Lady Marion of Leaford.

TV veteran David Von Ancken (“The Vampire Diaries”) will direct the pilot episode of “The Awakening” from a script by Bill Laurin and Glenn Davis. Shooting is already underway in Toronto.