by Britt Hayes
SXSW is hectic, to say the least, so I won’t get around to full reviews right off the bat. Instead, I’ll be throwing you some short initial thoughts, and posting the reviews when I get the chance. Look for reviews sometime this week or next week, and until then, enjoy my Shorthand thoughts:

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil: Fantastic horror comedy from Canadian writer/director Eli Craig. The film has a great cast, including Alan Tudyk – who you may know as Pirate Steve from Dodgeball – as Tucker, Tyler …

by Britt Hayes
Anchor Bay has acquired Cine Tel Film’s remake of I Spit on Your Grave (aka Day of the Woman). You’d think with Anchor Bay’s acquisition we’d only get a DTV release, but that’s not so. Anchor Bay plans on releasing the film in the US, UK, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada. The film will get a theatrical release sometime this fall, with a DVD/Blu release in early 2011 (I’m thinking they’re going for the October/January model).
The original 1978 film was written and directed by Meir Zarchi, and followed …

It’s Alive (2008)
Studio: Millenium Films/First Look Pictures
Directed by: Josef Rusnak
Cast: Bijou Phillips, James Murray, Raphael Coleman, Owen Teale, Ty Glaser
Review by: Britt Hayes
Those familiar with the 1974 Larry Cohen classic killer baby film It’s Alive will undoubtedly be familiar with this story, and some may even be excited: Larry Cohen is credited as a co-writer of this 2008 remake of his own film. Instead of comparing and contrasting the two films, which would be tiresome and useless, I’ll just say this: the 1974 version of It’s Alive works for many …

Daybreakers (2010)
Studio: Lionsgate
Release Date: January 8, 2010
Directed by: The Spierig Brothers
Starring: Ethan Hawke, Sam Neill, Willem Dafoe, Isabel Lucas
Review by: Britt Hayes
It’s the year 2019, and in the not-too-distant future vampirism has overtaken society like a disease. There are less than 5% of humans left alive, and it is now the sole objective of our military to hunt them down and bring them to Bromley Marks, a large corporation whose main income comes from keeping humans alive and farming them for blood to sell through their profitable blood bank. Working …

by Britt Hayes
CHUD just premiered the final one sheet for Martin Scorsese’s upcoming psychological horror flick Shutter Island. It doesn’t look too much different from the teaser poster revealed before, but the final product is stunning.
Like Mr. Devin Faraci over at CHUD, I too saw Shutter Island a couple of weeks ago at Butt Numb A Thon 11. And I have to agree with Faraci: the film grows on you more and more. While I’m not yet sure if this is my favorite Scorsese film ever (time will tell), I …

Frozen (2010)
Studio: A Bigger Boat/ArieScope Pictures
Release Date: January 24, 2010 (Sundance Film Festival)
Directed by: Adam Green
Starring: Emma Bell, Kevin Zegers, Shawn Ashmore
Reviewed by: Britt Hayes
Adam Green is known best to many horror fans for his directorial work on Hatchet, a bloody slasher film starring Kane Hodder as the titular killer. His latest effort, Frozen, isn’t premiering until next year’s Sundance in January, but at last weekend’s Ain’t it Cool/Alamo Drafthouse-sponsored Butt-Numb-A-Thon 11, Adam Green stopped by to give us the world premiere of his new film.
Frozen is a much, much …

Thirst (2009)
Directed by: Park Chan-wook
Cast: Song Kang-ho, Kim Ok-bin, Kim Hae-sook, and Shin Ka-hyun
Studio: Focus
DVD Release Date: November 17, 2009
Review by: Britt Hayes
I’m not a huge fan of vampire movies, books, anything; but over the last two years, you might think I was with how much I loved Let the Right One In. It seems these days if you say you enjoyed a vampire film, everyone thinks you’re some sort of vampire fan girl/boy. In conversations with friends, I often hear them say “I don’t like vampire stuff, but I …

The Box (2009)
Directed by: Richard Kelly
Starring: Cameron Diaz, James Marsden, Frank Langella
Review by: Britt Hayes
On December 16, 1976, NASA scientist Arthur Lewis, and his school teacher wife, Norma, are delivered a mysterious box by the enigmatic Arlington Steward. Later that day, Mr. Steward comes to call on the home and explains to Norma that in the box is a “button unit”, one which, if pressed, will kill someone Norma and her husband do not know. If they press the button, they will receive $1 million. Mr. Steward couldn’t have better …

Eulogy for a Vampire (2009)
Directed by: Patrick McGuinn
Written by: Andre Salas
Cast: Ryan G. Metzger, Sal Bardo, Wilson Hand, Darin Guerrasio, Damacio Ruiz, David McWeeney, Angelo Tursi, Craig Philip Lumsden
Review by: Britt Hayes
In a secluded monastery, a young student named Anthony falls in love with another young student named Florian. When Florian rebuffs Anthony’s advances, Anthony kills him out of lust and envy. 25 years later, and Anthony is now a priest at the monastery, presiding over young students with Father Lars. Strange things are happening around the monastery: dead animal …

by Britt Hayes
Rob Zombie recently took to his Twitter to share with the public, in 140 characters or less, what he’s up to:
“Just finished doing the director’s commentary for the DVD of Halloween 2. Love the new cut. This is the real film.”
He also previously mentioned that this version is “very different” from the theatrical cut. God, I hope so. It’s no secret that I was very disappointed with H2. After being one of very few people who enjoyed Zombie’s Halloween as a whole, even though I thought it …