“Vampire Diaries” recurring Michaela McManus may have gotten away from the supernatural creatures of Mystic Falls, but she’s not out of the woods yet. The pretty Rhode Island-born starlet will face-off against a killer grizzly bear in director David Hackl’s (Saw 5) Red Machine.
The film centers on two estranged brothers and their girlfriends as they attempt to escape from the bloodthirsty grizzly stalking them throughout the Alaskan wilderness. Production begins this month in Vancouver.
Red Machine stars James Marsden (Straw Dogs) and Thomas Jane (Punisher) as the estranged brothers, Piper Perabo (“Covert Affairs”) as Jane’s deaf girlfriend, and Billy Bob Thornton (Armageddon) as an expert bear hunter. Rounding out the cast are Scott Glenn (Sucker Punch), Adam Beach (Cowboys & Aliens) and Kelly Curran (Drifter: Henry Lee Lucas).
No word on what role McManus plays in the film (Marsden’s girlfriend?) but, should she get mauled early on, she can always be seen on the small-screen as part of NBC’s trippy parallel-lives drama “Awake,” premiering in March.
It’s been awhile since Sharon Stone parted her legs to seduce a man on the big screen, but the Basic Instinct star is still smoking. At least, that’s what W2 Media is banking on with their new stalker thriller Attachment.
Directed by Tony Kaye (American History X), the story finds Stone as a married woman tormented by the emotionally unstable college student she shared a one night fling with. Producers will shop the film at next week’s European Film Market in Berlin, Deadline reports.
Stone, whose genre creds include Total Recall, Sphere, Cold Creek Manor, and Diabolique, will soon be seen as Aphrodite in Marc Turtletaub’s (Little Miss Sunshine) big-screen adaptation of British author Marie Phillips’ novel “Gods Behaving Badly.”
Unlikable rom-com actress Katherine Heigl will produce and star in the kinda dirty-sounding Face Blind. The film marks Heigl’s return to big-screen horror since 2001’s Valentine, in which she costarred with Wild Thing’s babe Denise Richards and “Bones” star David Boreanaz.
Heigl will play a psychologist stricken with prosopagnosia (face blindness), a neurological disorder caused by a lesion in the temporal lobe (that’s the part of the brain that allows us to remember people’s faces, duh.).
According to Deadline, which broke the story, Heigl’s character is stalked by a man who once terrorized one of her patients. Her condition, however, doesn’t allow her to identify the creep, and just ends up making her look crazy.
If Face Blind sounds familiar that’s because it’s pretty much a spot-on rehash of last year’s home-video original Faces in the Crowd, starring Milla Jovovich.
Guys, grab your little buddy. It’s time to take a three hour minute tour to the Island of Megan Fox. The gorgeous 25-year-old stars in an ad for Brazilian language school CCAA in which two male plane crash survivors wash up on an isle of Megan Fox clones.
Decked out in crochet bikini tops, loincloth skirts and fur shawls, the sexy clones welcome the men to their paradise, but are soon put off by their inability to speak English. Deemed worthless, the guys are then banished to the scary island of former heavy-weight champ and convicted rapist Mike Tyson.
Although it’s not about a Sunset Strip hair-metal band, Accent Films Metal Tornado is every bit as ridiculous and every bit as awesome. Starring Canadian starlet Nicole de Boer, Lou Diamond Phillips and Briana Evigan’s dad, the film revolves around a magnetic twister destroying everything in its path.
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Boer has starred in a string of notable genre projects, including the very funny 2008 rock-n-roll vampire comedy Suck, Vincenzo Natali’s 1997 sci-fi masterpiece Cube, Paramount’s syndicated series “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and USA’s “Stephen King’s Dead Zone.”
Metal Tornado is forecast to hit DVD on May 22, following its VOD premiere on May 8.
Professional dancer-turned-actress Rachele Brooke Smith is ready to tango with the devil. The Arizona-born stunner has joined writer/director Justin Price’s The Cloth, a horror-actioner starring Danny Trejo and Eric Roberts as priests fighting demonic possession …
… with shotguns and cool sci-fi gadgetry.
The very bendy Smith, whose dance skills have been featured in such fam-friendly productions as Bring It On: Fight to the Finish, Iron Man 2(as an Ironette) and “Glee (the Britney Spears episode),” plays Julia, a possessed young woman who somehow still looks super hot.
Piper Perabo (Carriers, “Covert Affairs”) is the first female lead cast in director David Hackl’s (Saw 5) upcoming killer grizzly thriller Red Machine. The pretty Texas-born stunner will star opposite Billy Bob Thorton (Sling Blade), James Marsden (Straw Dogs) and Thomas Jane (Punisher).
Written by Rick Cleveland (“Six Feet Under”) and J.R. Reher, Red Machine follows two estranged brothers (Marsden, Jane) and their girlfriends as they attempt to escape from the bloodthirsty grizzly stalking them throughout the Alaskan wilderness.
According to Deadline, Perabo will play a deaf photographer engaged to Jane’s character, whom she met while working the Iraq War. Production on the film begins this month in Vancouver.
The passengers on board Grudge director Takashi Shimizu’s new in-flight frightener 7500 have had enough of mother-fucking ghosts on their mother-fucking plane. Unfortunately for them, Samual Jackson is no where to be found.
Australian writer/director Tom Conyers makes his feature film debut with The Caretaker, an intelligent you-watch-my-back-and-I-won’t-stake-yours vampire thriller starring Aussie stage actress Anna Kate Burgess (“Time Warp: A Rocky Horror Tribute Show”).
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The film’s synopsis reads:
As a wave of vampirism sweeps the world, Annie and Guy, who have taken a road trip in a last-ditch attempt to save their relationship, find themselves part of a discordant group holed up in a decrepit country mansion.
In an uneasy pact, the group agrees to protect vampire Ford Grainger during daylight hours. In return, he guarantees their safety from marauding vampires at night.
Manipulation, deceit and betrayal within the group threaten the fragile agreement, leading to a terrifying and heart-rending showdown.
The Caretaker costars newcomer Clint Dowdell, Colin MacPherson (Parallels) and Lee Mason (Parallels). No word on a release date yet, but there is a website to stay informed and peep some cool BTS stuff.
Well Go USA Entertainment has set a March 20 home-video release date for director Simeon Halligan’s long-delayed creature-feature Splintered. “Hollyoaks” alumna Holly Weston toplines the film, which won six awards at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best F/X and Best Makeup.
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The film’s synopsis reads:
Troubled teen Sophie (Weston) drags her friends deep into a forest in search of a local legend – a wild beast, half animal and half man, that uses its cunning ability and brutal strength to kill for pleasure. But when the beast leads Sophie and her friend, John, to an abandoned orphanage, the hunters become the hunted.
Splintered costars Stephen Martin Walters (Hannibal Rising), Jonathan Readwin (Dread), Sacha Dhawan (“Outsourced”), Sadie Pickering (“Popatron”), Sol Heras (“Rock Rivals”) and Colin Tierney (Cracker).
In addition to its wins at the Screamfest Horror Film Festival, Splintered also received nominations last year from the Saturn Awards (Best Horror Film) and Spike TV’s Scream Awards (Most Memorable Mutilation).
