See Archived Reviews for more film and book reviews.
Dead Channel
Compiled By Zuul - April 2008
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Twilight - The Twilight series of books by Stephanie Meyer about the Cullen family of vampires are to be made into a movie – the author herself provides an informative blog at her website (www.stepheniemeyer.com) providing updates on progress. Filming in Oregon is due to finish around now (April’08), with no big names in the cast, but this should appeal to fans of the books.
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The Eye - I’m sure many of your are bored senseless by the constant stream of J-Horror which seems to only vary by the type of object doing the haunting (video tape, shoes, hair, mobile phone etc. etc.), but these US remake of a Japanese horror looks interesting.
A blind violinist (Jessica Alba) is given an eye (corneal) transplant which begins to reveal images of violence and murder through the hazy shapes and colours of her slowly healing site – she has to track down the donor to solve the secret. Ok, it could be rubbish, but have a look at the trailer and judge for yourself.
(www.theeyethefilm.com). The Eye is released in the UK at the end of April.
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Steadfast Vampire - David Goyer, producer of the Blade movies and series is returning to the vampire theme with a film of the graphic novel "Baltimore, or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire" by Mike Mignola. Steadfast is the story of the awakening of supreme evil on earth, with a vampire bat bitten WWI hero creating a team to battle the Red King himself.
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Hellboy II - Mignola is of course the creator of Hellboy, the sequel to which is due out this summer and looks fantastic – like a cross between the first movie and the amazing Pan’s Labyrinth. The Golden Army (as it is suffixed) tells of a rebellion by the mythical world against humanity, and it’s Hellboy & Co. who have to stop them.
The guy with the white face in the pic is Luke Goss – yes, of 80s pop band Bros. This could easily be the most visually stunning film of the summer.
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Daybreakers - Willem Defoe and Ethan Hawke as duelling vampires? Sounds good. This is 2017 and almost the entire human race are now victims of the vampire plague (really? Now where did that original idea come from? I Am Who?) – the race is on to find a cure before the final few humans are “farmed”. The production shots emerging make this look a lot like a cross between Blade and Ultra Violet (the series not the rubbish movie!). Very sci-fi and hi-tech. Look for this sometime Summer 2008.
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Zen And The Art Of Slaying Vampires - Nope, I’m not making this up – what a title eh? Based on the novel by Stephen Elliot-Altman. This tells the Manhatten based story of a man bitten and attempting to control his new found craving for blood through, yes, Zen meditation. The Ministry (enemys of the Undead) take him under their wing (so to speak). As the book synopsis neatly puts it, this is a battle to master himself and “the way of the wooden stake”. This is apparently not a comedy. This is directed by Russel Mulcahy – yes, he of Highlander fame and little else of worth since then.
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Near Dark - This classic slow burning (ahem) cowboy vamp tale (always near the top in LVG surveys) is now 20 years old, and apparently that’s long enough for a remake now to be in the offing. Net chat shows little support for this one, and I tend to agree – why do they insist on remaking the good movies badly? Pick a rubbish horror flick and at least you give yourself a chance of bettering it. Hands up those who preferred the new Hitcher or Wicker Man or The Omen movies to the originals? What next a remake of Evil Dead?
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Dracula Year Zero - …and still they keep coming – This issues Dead Channel could be filled with nothing but vamp movies there are so many coming out. This one tells the story of good old vlad himself and is from Alex Proyas – not a prolific director, but he does have “Dark City” and “The Crow” on his CV, so I imaging most readers of this mag are willing to give this a go without knowing anything more.
The film is set when Vlad was in his prime – and a hero to Romanians for stopping the Turks – and tells of the events leading to him selling his soul to the devil in return for…ah, well let not spoil things eh?
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Perfect Creature - Lookout for this on DVD – it’s been around for a while now, but it’s worth a mention – it’s the first Steampunk Vampire movie I’ve come across – with all of the visual opportunities from both of these genres this could have been amazing – as it is it’s a bit flat – let down by the writing in the main I think. Still a treat for those who like either type of film.
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Being Human - There’s a Vampire, a Werewolf and a Ghost sharing a flat…sound like the start of a joke, but is in fact the pilot for a sitcom which should be airing on BBC3 around March 2008, or available on the BBC iPlayer after that.
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