A trailer has gone online for the creature-feature Dark Was the Night, starring Kevin Durand (“The Strain”), Lukas Haas (Transcendence), and model-turned-actress and former “World Poker Tour” hostess Sabina Gadecki (pictured). Jack Heller (Enter Nowhere) directs from a 2009 Black List script by Tyler Hisel.

Dark Was the Night follows a group of desperate townsfolk as they attempt to survive an evil beast freed from the woods by a careless logging company. Durand and Haas play the town’s sheriff and deputy, respectively. The film will hold its world premiere Oct. 16 at this year’s Screamfest LA.

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Syfy has released a trailer for its new six-hour sci-fi mini-series “Ascension.” The show stars Tricia Helfer as the Chief Steward on board a space ship secretly launched in 1963 by the U.S. government to populate a new world. Fifty years later, they remain lost in space and faced with an unexpected murder.

The synopsis reads:

In 1963, the U.S. government launched a covert space mission sending hundreds of men, women and children on a century-long voyage aboard the starship Ascension to populate a new world.

Nearly 50 years into the journey, as they approach the point of no return, a mysterious murder of a young woman causes the ship’s population to question the true nature of their mission.

“Ascension” is created by executive producer and showrunner Philip Levens (”Smallville”). Co-stars include Brian Van Holt (“The Bridge”), Andrea Roth (“Rescue Me”), and Tiffany Lonsdale (G.I. Joe: Retaliation). The series premieres Nov. 24.

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Stage 6 has released a red band trailer for Home Sweet Hell, a murderous tale about a maniacal wife who would rather force her husband to kill his hot, blackmailing mistress than leave him. Unfortunately for him, that plan not only leads to more danger, but to the discovery that his wife is totally bonkers.

Directed by Anthony Burns (Skateland), Home Sweet Hell stars Patrick Wilson and Katherine Heigl as married couple the Champagnes and Jordana Brewster (pictured) as the home-wrecking hottie. The red band trailer doesn’t contain any nudity, but it does have an undie-clad Heigl hacking away at her victim.

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Stuart Gordon’s “Re-Animator: The Musical” springs back to life for a limited Halloween engagement set to run at the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood, CA Oct. 17 through Nov. 2, Fridays through Sundays at 8 p.m. Adapted from Gordon’s beloved 1985 film, the production follows the grisly havoc caused by med school students Herbert West and Dan Cain after they set out to reanimate human corpses.

The show earned six awards, including Musical of the Year and Best Original Music, at the LA Weekly Theater Awards in 2011. We at Clatto were besides ourselves when we caught the musical last year… twice. From the fun, mind-blowing performances to the outrageous violence and gore, and Mark Nutter’s maniacal score and gut-busting lyrics, “Re-Animator: The Musical” is an experience no horror fan should miss. Read our review.

From the press release:

Re-Animator: The Musical tells the story of Herbert West, a brilliant young medical student who has created a glowing green serum that can bring the dead back to life. What should be a medical breakthrough results in hideous monstrosities and ghastly consequences.

Graham Skipper, who won a Best New Performer Award at the New York Musical Theater Festival for his crowd-pleasing turn, returns as the demented young genius. And operatic Jesse Merlin is back as Dr. Carl Hill, who loses his head for Meg, the dean’s beautiful daughter, only to actually lose it at the hands of Herbert West.

“Re-Animator: The Musical” plays at the Steve Allen Theater located at 4773 Hollywood Blvd. in Los Angeles from Oct. 17 through Nov. 2, with special preview performances running Oct. 10 – Oct. 12. Tickets to all shows are now available and can be purchased here. Be warned… first couple of rows are splatter zones! Follow “Re-Animator: The Musical” on Twitter and Facebook.

See you there!

The 14th annual Screamfest horror film festival is set to rise once again in the city of angels. Running Oct. 14 – Oct. 23 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theater, the event will see the premiere of a variety of features and shorts from around the world. Tickets and movie schedule can be found on the Screamfest LA website.

World premieres include Laid to Rest director Robert Hall’s Fear Clinic, starring Robert Englund and Slipknot singer Corey Taylor, Dark Was the Night with Kevin Durand (“Strain”), Parlor with Robert LaSardo (Human Centipede 3), and Jen and Sylvia Soska’s eagerly anticipated slasher sequel See No Evil 2.

U.S. premieres will also be held for Julia, a revenge thriller starring Ashley C. Williams (Human Centipede) and Girlhouse, a Halloween-inspired slasher about a college coed turned webcam girl stalked by a fan whose hacked into her network and discovered her location.

Screamfest LA is a star-studded event where it’s easy to spot actors and directors chatting the horror genre up with each other and the public. An opening night party kicks off the event, and it ends with the Skully Awards. The entire experience is a blast and not to be missed. See you there!

It’s game on for SAW fans! The James Wan-directed horror classic returns to the big screen this Halloween for one week in honor of its 10 year anniversary. Starring Tobin Bell in the iconic role of John Kramer, AKA Jigsaw, and Shawnee Smith as his apprentice Amanda Young, the film spawned six sequels, earning more than $800 million worldwide.

In 2010, the SAW franchise was named the Most Successful Horror Movie Series by Guinness World Records. Talk of a reboot has been ongoing since the series drew to a close four years ago with the release of SAW VII. The SAW re-release could be a testing of the waters, designed to measure public interest.

Clatto, for one, would give its left foot to see a Jigsaw comeback, but Bell and Smith need to be a part of it. SAW hits theaters this Halloween on Oct. 31. See ya there!

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Brain Damage Films will release its revenge anthology Dead Girls Oct. 2 on VOD and Nov. 4 on DVD. Written and directed by Del Harvey and Neal Fischer, the movie tells three stories of “abused and forsaken girls who return from the dead to take their revenge.”

The synopsis reads:

Three stories of horror connected through the pages of dead girls’ diaries. In one a ghostly apparition seeks revenge upon the man who betrayed her love and is responsible for her death.

In another a mystical object helps a young woman reach out from beyond the grave to exact her revenge against the stuck-up sisters of a college sorority. And in the third a young woman who has lost her way and her faith finds the answer to her prayers in the last place she would have expected.

Dead Girls is described by the filmmakers as being in the vein of Creepshow, Tales from the Crypt, and The Twilight Zone. The cast features a cast of upcoming starlets, including model/actress Jax Turyna (pictured), who is the female equivalent of Fabio having appeared on the cover of numerous romance novels.

If you thought you were too fat to rape and kill, you’ll find hope in Lifetime’s new original movie Big Driver, starring Maria Bello as a novelist out to kill the fattie who left her for dead in a drainage pipe after raping her. The film is an adaptation of the Stephen King short story found in his anthology “Full Dark, No Stars.”

Big Driver is directed by Mikael Salomon (Hard Rain) from a teleplay by Richard Christian Matheson (Three O’Clock High). Co-stars include Ann Dowd (“The Leftovers”), Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck), Jennifer Kydd (“Falcon Beach”), rocker Joan Jett, and Will Harris as the story’s heavy (ba-da-bing!).

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“Game of Thrones” star Natalie Dormer will topline Screen Gems’ new zombie thriller Patient Zero. Directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky (Deadfall), the film finds Dormer playing a viral outbreak survivor gifted with the ability to communicate with the undead.

When the outbreak becomes a global pandemic, turning victims into rabies riddled monsters, Dormer is the only one who can save the day with her powers.

Dormer currently plays widowed queen Margaery Tyrell on HBO’s “Game of Thrones.” She also portrayed doomed queen Anne Boleyn on Showtime’s “The Tudors,” and criminal mastermind Jamie Moriarty on the CBS Sherlock Holmes series “Elementary.” She’ll next be seen in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay.

Character descriptions for AMC’s “Walking Dead” spinoff series have gone online, and not since the death of Rick Grimes’ adulterous wife Lori have fans been more excited. Word on the web is the show could serve as a prequel series, shedding light on the events that led to full blown zombie apocalypse.

Most of the show’s characters make up two families, one of which is Latino. Both families are broken, with the parental units single so an apocalyptic “Brady Bunch” scenario could be in the cards. What??? We’re romantics at Clatto.

The character descriptions (via TVLine):

Sean Cabrera – A Latino male in his early 40s, Sean is a good man trying to do right by everyone in his life.

Cody Cabrera – Sean’s whip-smart and rebellious teenage son.  Known as the angriest kid in town.

Nancy Tompkins – A thirtysomething single mom to two kids, Nancy looks like the girl next door, but there’s an edge to her.

Nick Tompkins – Nancy’s screwed up teenage son.  He’s too old to stay at home, too scared to flee.

Ashley Tompkins – Nancy’s mostly level-headed teenage daughter.  Her ambition is in direct proportion to her older brother’s failures.  She loves her mom but it’s time to get out of Dodge.

Andrea Chapman – A somewhat wilted flower child, fortysomething Andrea has retreated to the outskirts of the city to recover after a horrible marriage.

AMC announced the spinoff last year and ordered a pilot episode this month, to be penned by “Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman and Dave Erickson, who will serve as showrunner for the new series. If greenlit, the show is expected to debut in 2015.

“The Walking Dead” season five premieres Oct. 12.