Guillermo del Toro is bringing Disney’s Haunted Mansion attraction to the big screen. But, don’t expect the man behind Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy to produce just another family franchise. After announcing the project—which he will write and produce—at Comic-Con last week, del Toro revealed that his vision for The Haunted Mansion film is terrifying and completely different than Disney’s 2003 effort starring Eddie Murphy.

“We are not returning Eddie Murphy’s calls,” del Toro quipped to convention attendees.

del Toro further explains to MTV:

The movie I see in my head of ‘Haunted Mansion’ is not what I believe anyone is imagining it would be. It’s not just a regular world with a haunted mansion plopped in the middle.

I’m really thinking of a movie with a heightened reality, which is super designed, incredibly innovative, narratively and visually.

We are taking sort of the core mythology that you can tap into and saying that there are many mansions around the world and they’re all part of a sort of web. The spider sitting at the center of the web is what the fans of ‘The Haunted Mansion’ would know by the nickname the Hatbox Ghost.

It’s more or less where the bride is in the attic on the way out of the mansion, but it’s such a great character that there is literally a cult for the Hatbox Ghost amongst hardcore ‘Haunted Mansion’ fanatics, and I’m one of them.

When people think of ‘The Haunted Mansion,’ they think they know [what it’s about]. But I really want to push a lot of stuff that they have not seen ever.

Hmm. I’ll believe it when I see the R-rating.

Also on the horizon for del Toro is his and director Troy Nixey’s remake of the 1973 made-for-TV creature-feature Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, starring Katie Holmes, and Guy Pearce. The film arrives in theaters on Jan. 21.

Elisabeth Shue is set to join Jennifer Lawrence in director Mark Tonderai’s (Hush) new thriller House at the End of the Street. The film marks Shue’s quick return to horror after starring in Alexandre Aja’s fish-&-chicks frightener Piranha 3-D, in theaters Aug. 20.

House at the End of the Street revolves around a teen girl (Lawrence) who discovers that the house across from her new home was the scene of a double homicide. Things complicate further when she befriends the murdered family’s surviving son (Thieriot).

Shue will play mother to Lawrence’s character. Production on the film begins next month in Ottawa.

Shue’s horror creds include Paul Verhoeven’s Hollow Man, the Robert De Niro/ Dakota Fanning thriller Hide and Seek, and the indie-release First Born.

Lawrence, hot off her critically acclaimed performance in the award-winning indie-drama Winter’s Bone, has been cast as a young Mystique in director Mathew Vaughn’s X-Men origins reboot X-Men: First Class.

Hammer Films have released a red-band trailer for their upcoming remake of the 2008 Swedish vampire drama Let the Right One In. Directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield), the film has been renamed Let Me In and stars 14-year-old Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) as the story’s bullied loner and 13-year-old Chloe Moretz (Kick Ass) as his vampire girlfriend and guardian.

Take a look:

Let Me In costars Richard Jenkins (Cabin in the Woods), Cara Buono (“Stephen King’s Dead Zone”), Elias Koteas (The Killer Inside Me), Sasha Barrese (Hellraiser: Inferno), and Chris Browning (Cowboys & Aliens).

The Swedish film Let the Right One In is directed by Tomas Alfredson and based on the best selling novel Lat den Ratte Komma by author John Ajvide Lindqvist. The film is included in Clatto’s prestigious list of 15 Vampire Movies That Won’t Make You Gay.

Let Me In arrives in theaters on Oct. 1.

Sony Screen Gems has released the first official trailer for director Scott Stewart’s post-apocalyptic-vampire-frightener Priest. British actor Paul Bettany (Legion) headlines the film as a man of the cloth out to slay the bloodsuckers that have abducted his 18-year-old niece.

Say two Hail Marys and take a look:

The official synopsis reads:

Priest is set in a world ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires. Paul Bettany is Priest, a legendary warrior priest during the last Vampire War, who now lives in obscurity among the other human inhabitants in walled-in dystopian cities controlled by the Church.

But when his 18-year-old niece is abducted by a murderous pack of vampires in the desolate wastelands outside, Priest breaks his sacred vows and ventures out to find her and seek vengeance upon those responsible, especially their brutal leader (Karl Urban).

Priest is joined on his crusade by his niece’s boyfriend, Hicks (Cam Gigandet), a local outpost sheriff, and Priestess (Maggie Q), a member of his former legion of vampire-killers who has otherworldly fighting skills.

As a Catholic school survivor, I curled up into the fetal position and clenched my ass cheeks tightly when I first heard Sony Screen Gems was developing a horror film entitled Priest. Some topics are just too personal. But, now that I see it’s just another vampire movie, I can go back to living my normal life again. Hmm. I wonder if the the local altar boys want to come over to see porn and take E. I should call them.

Priest costars Maggie Q (“Nikita”), Karl Urban (And Soon the Darkness), Brad Dourif (Chain Letter), Christopher Plummer (Cold Creek Manor), Mädchen Amick (“Twin Peaks”), Cam Gigandet (The Roommate), Alan Dale (“LOST”) and Stephen Moyer (“True Blood”).

Say your prayers on May 13, 2011.

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Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures have released the first official trailer for writer/director Zack Snyder’s (Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole)  eagerly anticipated fantasy-actioner Sucker Punch. The film is headline by Emily Browning, Vanessa Hudgens, Abbie Cornish, Jaime Chung, Carla Gugino, and Jena Malone.

Peep it:

Ah, movies. They’re magic really. Cinematic voodoo capable of bedazzling our minds with a mix of story, stunts, and special effects. But, some of the biggest and most impressive F/X have nothing to do with blowing up cities or creating giant man-eating monsters.

Hollywood’s most inspired wizardry occurs on the makeup chair. That’s where they can take something that looks like this:

… and work on it for eight hours until it becomes something more penis-friendly like this:

Pretty amazing, huh?

I don’t know about you, but it’s far more important for my penis to believe a film’s heroine is totally bang-able than whether or not the werewolves in Twilight look real (they don’t). Suddenly, I feel bad about forwarding through the makeup/wardrobe awards segment during the Oscars.

To see the magic of makeup at work, check this out:

The Sucker Punch synopsis reads:

Sucker Punch is an epic action fantasy that takes us into the vivid imagination of a young girl whose dream world provides the ultimate escape from her darker reality. Unrestrained by the boundaries of time and place, she is free to go where her mind takes her, but her incredible adventures blur the lines between what’s real and what is imaginary…with potentially tragic consequences.

The film is based on an original screenplay by Zach Snyder and Steve Shibuya. It’s vagina-less costars include Scott Glenn, Jon Hamm, Michael Jai White, and Oscar Isaac.

Sucker Punch arrives in 2-D and 3-D on March 25, 2011.

A red-band trailer for Ghost House Pictures’ upcoming vampire frightener 30 Days of Night: Dark Days was premiered at Comic-Con earlier this week. The film is a direct-to-home-video sequel to David Slade’s 30 Days of Night and stars “LOST” players Kiele Sanchez and Harold Perrineau, “Vampire Diaries” alum Mia Kirshner, and Diora Baird (Night of the Demons).

Take a look:

30 Days of Night: Dark Days is directed by Ben Ketai and based on the acclaimed horror-comic created by Steve Niles and Ben Templesmith. Sanchez replaces original 30 Days of Night star Melissa George as the series lead Stella Oleson.

The official synopsis reads:

It’s been a year since the Alaskan town of Barrow’s population was decimated by vampires during its annual month long sunset. Riddled with grief over the death of her husband, bound by nightmares and void of all emotions beyond hate and sorrow, Stella has spent the past months traveling the world, trying to convince others that vampires exist.

Met with skepticism and laughter, Stella is ready to throw in the towel when a group of lost souls (Coiro, Baird and Perrineau) offers an incredible opportunity: the chance to exact revenge upon Lilith (Kirshner), the vampire queen responsible for the assault on her sleepy Alaskan town.

With nothing remaining to live for, and nothing left to fear, Stella joins their mission and ventures into the uncharted underbelly of Los Angeles where she pushes herself to the most extreme limits to stop the evil from striking again.

30 Days of Night: Dark Days costars Katie Keating (The Exorcism of Emily Rose), Monique Ganderton (Cabin in the Woods), Rhys Coiro (The Unborn), Ben Cotton (“Harper’s Island”), James Pizzinato (“Fringe”), Troy Ruptash, and Stacey Roy.

The film arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on Oct. 5.

Slade’s original 30 Days of Night is on Clatto’s list of 15 Vampire Movies That Won’t Make You Gay.

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There’s been a lot of excitement brewing over Marvel Studios’ superhero mash-up film The Avengers since Iron Man first came out in 2008 and featured Nick Fury hitting up Tony Stark to join his elite team of costumed crime fighters after the credit roll.

When geek-messiah Joss Whedon (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer”) was rumored to have signed on to direct the project, mouth-breathers everywhere high-fived their moms and eagerly awaited for the news to be confirmed and for the cast to be set.

Well, the wait is over.

Marvel announced at their Comic-Con panel last night that Whedon will indeed be behind the camera and that actor Mark Ruffalo would be replacing Edward Norton as Bruce Banner the Hulk in the film. And, that wasn’t all.

Samuel Jackson (Nick Fury) then took the stage and introduced all of the avengers: Robert Downey Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye), Clark Gregg (SHIELD Agent Phil Coulson), and Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow).

Personally, I find this to be a pretty sorry group of superheroes. I mean Downey’s Iron Man is cool and, while I have no idea what the Black Widow’s deal is, Johansson in latex is a good thing. I’m even down with Ruffalo as the Hulk. But, what the fuck is a Hawkeye and a Nick Fury? Phil Coulson?

I must have been out getting laid when those comics came out. And, by laid I mean playing with my Star Wars action figures.

Ryan Reynolds, Blake Lively, Peter Sarsgaard, and Blake Lively’s breasts made their way to Comic-Con this afternoon for Warner Bros. Green Lantern panel. Attendees were shown footage of the film, which is still being shot, and blah, blah, blah, green ring, blah, blah, green Zorro mask.

What stood out most about the panel was Lively’s bunched up cleavage, which clearly explains the producers decision to convert the film into fake 3-D.

Lively plays Carol Ferris, the Aerospace business woman who falls for pilot-turned-intergalatic-cop  Hal Jordan/Green Lantern (Reynolds) and goes on to become super-villain Star Sapphire. Lively’s breasts reportedly beat out Jennifer Garner, Keri Russell, Diane Kruger, and Eva Green for the role.

Green Lantern arrives in theaters on June 17, 2011.

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The Starz Network hosted a Comic-Con panel on Friday for its hit series “Spartacus: Blood and Sand.” Taking the stage were series stars Andy Whitfield, Lucy Lawless, John Hannah, Viva Bianca, and executive producer Stephen S. DeKnight.

DeKnight revealed plot points for season 2 of “Blood and Sand” (a slave revolution) and discussed the show’s spinoff series “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena.” But, what will interest stalkers fans of slave girl Laura Surrich is that the home editions of the series will feature an extended cut of her orgy scene in episode six “Delicate Things.”

DeKnight said:

The great thing about Starz is that they’ve always said, ‘We want you to tell the story you want to tell, and we’ll tell you when you’ve crossed the line.’ And the only time in season one when they told us we’d crossed the line was in episode six, when we had the orgy scene. Some of the footage was a little bit too much, but when you buy the DVD, we put it back in.

“Spartacus: Blood and Sand” debuted on Starz to over a million viewers in January, making it the network’s first major hit. The series features hyper-stylized violence, gratuitous sex, and nudity from all its major players including Lawless, Bianca, Erin Cummings, and Whitfield.

“Spartacus: Gods of the Arena” will begin shooting next month in New Zealand and premiere on Starz in January. The second season of “Spartacus: Blood and Sand” goes into production later this year.

(UPDATE: LESLEY ANN BRANDT, MARISA RAMIREZ, & JESSICA GRACE SMITH ARE YOUR NAKED SLAVE GIRLS IN SPARTACUS: GODS OF THE ARENA)

(UPDATE: CHECK OUT LAURA SURRICH’S NEW MOVIE)

In the meantime, check out Whitfield, Lawless and Bianca at Comic-Con:

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After a nerve-racking and emotionally-jarring fourth season, Showtime’s serial-killer drama “Dexter” is set to return this fall with new characters and dire developments for protagonist Dexter Morgan (Michael C. Hall). A trailer for the show’s upcoming new season was premiered this week at Comic-Con during a “Dexter” panel.

Take a look:

New faces joining the show’s fifth season include Julia Stiles (The Omen), Peter Weller (RoboCop), April Lee Hernandez (“ER”), Maria Doyle Kennedy (“The Tudors”), Johnny Lee Miller (Mindhunters), and Shawn Hatosy (Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans).

“Dexter” is up for multiple awards at this year’s Emmys.

Dexter Morgan is listed as one of Clatto’s 12 Heroes in Horror/Sci-fi That Won’t Make You Feel Like an Asshole.