Star Wars creator George Lucas recently got his Jedi robes in a bunch while talking to the New York Times about the possibility of producing more Star Wars films. Wounded by the negative criticism from both press and fans over the disappointing prequels and his ongoing tinkering with the original trilogy, Lucas huffed-and-puffed like a Sith lord on a respirator.

He tells the NY Times:

Why would I make any more when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?

On the Internet, all those same guys that are complaining I made a change are completely changing the movie. I’m saying: ‘Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it.’

Lucas, I can feel your anger. It makes you stronger. Join me and together we will re-release all six Star Wars films in 3-D conversion, with blantant disregard to Han Solo-shot-first purists and even more CGI changes ::cough::cough:: … sorry, I always cough when impersonating the Emperor’s voice.

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 3-D opens Feb. 10.

Paramount Pictures has set an Oct. 19 release date for the fourth installment of its scary-lucrative Halloween horror franchise Paranormal Activity. The film opens against crime-drama Gangster Squad and rom-com The Wedding before facing-off against branded frighteners Halloween 3-D and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3-D.

Paranormal Activity 3 directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman will return to helm the project. The duo, which first caught fire with their 2010 social media suspense thriller Catfish, shot the third entry for a reported $5 million, and watched as it went on to gross over $200 million worldwide, making it the most profitable film in the franchise.

Bloody-Disgusting first broke the news of Joost and Schulman’s return. No word yet on whether Katie Featherston will reprise her role as demon-possessed Katie in the new sequel but, despite part three’s origins reveal, it’s hard to imagine the story going pre-eighties, considering its reliance on the the whole caught-on-video hook.

If you thought acclaimed director Darren Aronofsky was on drugs when he made Black Swan, The Fountain and Requiem for a Dream, rest assured it probably wasn’t meth. The guy hates that stuff. He hates it so much that he stepped away from his upcoming bible-based epic Noah to shoot four anti-meth PSA videos.

The 30-second PSA’s are for The Meth Project Foundation, an organization dedicated to the prevention of meth use through outreach programs and marketing. I thought to post all four of Aronofsky’s videos, but they were kinda killing my high … so you only get the one with the camel-toe and crank-bugs.

Peep it:

Halloween may be over, but try telling that to horror legend William Castle. The man won’t even acknowledge the fact that he’s been dead for over 30 years. As those who knew him best will say, Castle does what Castle likes … and what Castle likes most is terrifying the pants off people.

That’s why the infamous producer of Rosemary’s Baby has released “House on Haunted Hill: A William Castle Annotated Screamplay,” a 248-page book featuring the working script from his 1959 classic horror show House on Haunted Hill, complete with his very own hand-written notes and original formatting. An introduction from renowned producer/director Joe Dante (The Howling, Gremlins) is also included.

“House on Haunted Hill: A William Castle Annotated Screamplay” is now available at Amazon and selected retailers (visit the William Castle website for more info). But, those living in Los Angeles can pick up a copy autographed by Castle’s daughter Terry at Larry Edmunds Bookshop on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7:30pm.

Those attending the event will be treated to trailers, clips and secret surprises … who knows, maybe, even a William Castle ghost sighting.

Castle returned from the dead last May during the 33rd anniversary of his death and has since published the young-adult novel “From the Grave: The Prayer” and set up Twitter and Facebook accounts to stay in touch with fans.

MGM’s money woes (the studio is up for sale) continues to delay production on Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit. As a result, director/writer Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy) has now officially departed from the project.

del Toro tells theonering.net:

In light of ongoing delays in the setting of a start date for filming The Hobbit, I am faced with the hardest decision of my life. After nearly two years of living, breathing and designing a world as rich as Tolkien’s Middle Earth, I must, with great regret, take leave from helming these wonderful pictures.

I remain grateful to Peter, Fran and Philippa Boyens, New Line and Warner Brothers and to all my crew in New Zealand. I’ve been privileged to work in one of the greatest countries on earth with some of the best people ever in our craft and my life will be forever changed.

The blessings have been plenty, but the mounting pressures of conflicting schedules have overwhelmed the time slot originally allocated for the project. Both as a co-writer and as a director, I wish the production nothing but the very best of luck and I will be first in line to see the finished product. I remain an ally to it and its makers, present and future, and fully support a smooth transition to a new director.

The Hobbit, which will be released as two separate films, was scheduled to begin production in the summer with part one tentatively slated for a December 2012 release.

Ridley Scott once said he would never shoot a sequel. Fortunately for fans of the renowned director’s 1979 sci-fi classic Alien, he never said a thing about prequels.

Scott, fresh off his Robin Hood reboot, assured MTV that the Alien prequel he is directing for Twentieth Century Fox is a go, noting that he has a story and lead character set in place.

He says:

We know what the story is. We’re now actually trying to improve the three acts and make the characters better, build it up to something [we can shoot]. It’s a work in progress, but we’re actually making the film. There’s no question about it, we’re going to make the film.

It’s set in 2085, about 30 years before Sigourney [Weaver's character Ellen Ripley]. It’s fundamentally about going out to find out ‘Who the hell was that Space Jockey? The guy who was sitting in the chair in the alien vehicle — there was a giant fellow sitting in a seat on what looked to be either a piece of technology or an astronomer’s chair and our man [Tom Skerritt as Captain Dallas] climbs up and says “There’s been an explosion in his chest from the inside out — what was that?” I’m basically explaining who that Space Jockey — we call him the Space Jockey — I’m explaining who the space jockeys were.

The main character [in the prequel] will be a woman, yeah. We’re thinking it could go down that route, yeah.

Perhaps, most exciting is Scott’s plans to collaborate with original Alien creature designer H.R. Giger on creating new creatures.

Yeah, he’s [Giger] still around. Once I get more serious and get going, and the big wheels start turning, we’ll certainly talk. And maybe we’ll come up with something completely different. The alien in a sense, as a shape, is worn out.

According to Scott, the Alien prequel will most likely be out in 2011 or 2012.

Director Michael Bay appeared on Starz’ “In the House” program last night to talk about the new Transformers movie, shooting in 3-D, and keeping Hollywood’s ass out of the unemployment line. Read on for the skinny:

On Transformers 3, Bay said:

You can’t just rehash the old. We’re adding a lot of new elements. We’re adding new characters. We’re adding a lot of twists.

Could one of those twists be 3-D? Paramount Pictures has reportedly been pushing Bay to shoot the film in 3-D despite the director’s dismissal of the technique as “time consuming” and a “fad.” But, judging from what Bay told Starz, it looks like the studio may get its way:

It’s a process we’re testing with some ‘Transformers’ scenes. How successful it is with my movie in terms of a lot of real stuff coming out of the frame, real dirt, real complicated little particles coming towards the lens, because hopefully that process will work. I’ve seen some tests that look great on other movies. I just want to see how it looks on my footage.

Bay was also asked about passing on a smaller project he was scheduled to work on before Transformers 3.

Bay explained:

I’ve become friends with these guys that run Paramount and they told me, ‘We’re going to get fired if we don’t have a 2011 franchise,’ so I’m like you can’t let these guys down. The economy’s been so rough, it’s kind of important. When you say yes to movie like this you automatically give 3000 people jobs. 1000 for the toys. 2000 for the filmmaking. I’m going to put [the small film] on hold and do it right after.

Transformers 3 begins production in May. Plans to shoot major action sequences in Chicago and Moscow were announced yesterday on Bay’s website.

Chemistry is what makes this franchise work.

Shia Labeouf, model-turned-actor Tyrese Gibson, and—most importantly—Megan Fox are all confirmed to return. Transformers 3 is slated to be in theaters on July 1, 2011.

Writer/director/carb-lover Kevin Smith is soliciting money from fans to fund his next box office failure. The man who once managed to give us one of the greatest comedies of all time—Clerks—by maxing out his own credit cards is currently setting up a website to accept donations for his pet horror project Red State.

Smith tells Cinssu:

We’re kind of creating this website. We’re seeing if it works to set up and collect donations. It becomes a weird tax nightmare, though…It sounded like such an easy thing online…but now there’s lots of checks and balances to make sure we can do it, but if that’s the case, I would be into it, and I’ll match it. Whatever you raise on line, like fuck it, you put it up, I’ll put it up.

We’re gonna make it. It’s gonna happen. By hook or by crook, with my pennies or the pennies of the audience. God bless them. Motherfuckers want to see the movie so badly that they’re willing to pay for it with their own money? Absolutely, put their name in the credits and that movie will be a reality.

OK, Smith, tell ya what. The way I see it, you owe me $40 for Zack & Miri, Jersey Girl, Dogma, and Mallrats. Keep it. Consider it my donation to Red State, you cheap rich bastard.

Hollywood may be rekindling their love affair with director Kathryn Bigelow now that her war-drama The Hurt Locker is a bona fide Best Picture contender at this year’s Oscars, but horror fans have always held a special place in their black little hearts for Bigelow ever since her 1987 hillbilly-bloodsucker classic Near Dark hit theaters.

Asswipe director James Cameron also had mad love for Bigelow back in the eighties (she’s his ex-wife) and cast her as the sexy leader of an all-girl bounty hunter gang in a god awful music video for shitty ’80s outfit Martini Ranch’s “Reach.”  The video reunited Bigelow with her Near Dark actors Bill Paxton, Adrian Pasdar, and Lance Henrikson. And, yes, that is Judge Reinhold in the bar.

Take a look:

Bigelow’s Near Dark is part of Clatto’s 15 Vampire Movies That Won’t Make You Gay.

Director Michael Winterbottom’s film adaptation of the Jim Thompson’s 1952 novel The Killer Inside Me caused plenty of panties to bunch up at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The serial-killer drama triggered disgust and anger among many female viewers, leading to public outcries (one woman yelled “How dare you” at Winterbottom during the premiere’s Q&A) and walkouts, including one by star Jessica Alba (her reps claim she had a flight to catch).

The film’s controversial scenes include rough sex and raw, prolonged violence against its female leads, namely Kate Hudson and Jessica Alba, the latter of which gets spanked with a belt and later punched in the face repeatedly. Casey Affleck plays perverted, homicidal maniac-with-a-badge Lou Ford. To see the offending scenes for yourself, click here.

In an interview with Anne Thompson, Winterbottom states:

The violence is shocking in the book and it’s shocking in the film. It’s not a police procedural. The story is being told by someone who’s crazy. The story is the way he tells it and sees it, not the way it happened. The film has no sense of pleasure in the violence.

The audience didn’t understand that when they watch this shocking violence, Casey is not the hero where the audience gets off on it. It should be shocking and brutal.

No word yet on whether The Killer Inside Me has scored a distribution deal.