News

Here are a few interesting and/or noteworthy projects that were recently added to IMDbPro's database of development titles:

American Darling – Jessica Chastin's star continues to rise in 2012. The actress, who recently signed on for Katheryn Bigelow's upcoming Osama Bin Laden thriller, is also reportedly set to team up with Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of the Russell Banks novel about a New England woman's life in Liberia from the mid-1970s to the early '90s.

Black Dog, Red Dog – James Franco stars in and produces this feature based on poet Stephen Dobyns' award-winning book of the same name.

Heck – MGM has tapped About a Boy's Chris Weitz has to rewrite an adaptation of Dale E. Basye's humorous modern-day spin on Dante’s Inferno, featuring two kids navigating their way through purgatory after a camping excursion goes terribly wrong.

Untitled Wim Wenders Architecture Documentary – German auteur Wim Wenders is following up his dance documentary, Pina, with another 3-D project, this time focusing on more stationary subjects – architecture.

Los Wildcats del Norte – Filmmaker Thom Eberhardt (Night of the Comet) teams up with writer Christine Vasquez (Naked Fear) to develop this drama about a group of young musicians who set out to play the bars of northern New Mexico.

What if you went on a holiday and you found an undead apocalypse waiting? Would this be the best vacation ever, or something more mundane? If you like to imagine the unthinkable, then you might like the latest release from Wild Wolf Publishing titled Holiday of the Dead.

This latest, and possibly biggest, zombie anthology contains thirty-eight "holiday themed zombie stories" (Wolf). Several notable authors are taking part in this collection, including: John Russo, Tony Burgess, Shaun Jeffrey, Rod Glenn, Iain McKinnon, Matt Hilton, David Dunwoody, Wayne Simmons, Bowie V Ibarra, Joe McKinney, Remy Porter, A P Fuchs, Thomas Emson and Eric S Brown. At over 500 pages, this novel could keep you engrossed in rotting Santas for some time to come. All the thrilling short stories included in this paperback are listed below.

The tagline:

"The zombie apocalypse can really put a downer on your holiday…"

An overview of themes and settings:

"Theme parks,...

*Full disclosure: a screener of this film was provided by Gravitas Ventures. Their website is (here).

Director: Jon Bonnell.

Writer: Alyssa Alexandria.

The Abducted is a serial killer thriller, which was completed in 2009. The film then had a long wait for a DVD release (March 9th, 2011), and a video-on-demand release (February, 2011). Brain Damage Films distributed this independent film and they, of course, are know for films like Bikini Party Massacre (2002) and Bachelor Party in the Bungalow of the Damned (2008). So right off the bat you know that you are in strange territory. And what makes The Abducted even stranger is the fact that writer Alyssa Alexandria disowned this film by using a common pen name when walking away from a film, Adam Smithee. Other evidence of poor workmanship comes from the dissociative identity of the film, with other titles like Match.Dead and bizarrely Naked Fear 2, gracing this film at different times.

New information has arrived for Jason Robert Stephen's Necrosis courtesy of the distributor Brink DVD. The film, which releases April 20th, will be offered in an unrated version. To horror enthusiasts, that means fewer cuts and less editing of the final product which creates a more complete version of the film. This also means that Stephen's and writer Robert Michael Ryan's original vision will be seen in this version. Already reviewed here (Necrosis Review), the film stars James Kyson Lee (Heroes), Tiffany (1980’s Pop Star), George Stults (7th Heaven), Penny Drake (Zombie Strippers), Danielle De Luca (Naked Fear), and horror legend Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes). Have a first look or revisit the trailer for Necrosis inside, until the film drops April 20th.

The synopsis for Necrosis here:

"Six friends arrive at a secluded cabin to enjoy a long weekend in the snow. Little do they know...

Director: Jason Robert Stephens.

Writer: Robert Michael Ryan, and Jason Robert Stephens.

Necrosis is a Brink DVD release that stars James Kyson Lee (Heroes), George Stults (7th Heaven), Tiffany, Penny Drake, and Danielle De Luca (Naked Fear). Already close to an April 20th, 2010 DVD and cable release Necrosis utilizes pacing effectively in this indie thriller. Action abounds in the film, which only mildly stumbles in the sound department.

The film attaches itself the the legend of the Donner party who were a group of 1800s travellers that were westward bound. Unfortunately, the Donner party became trapped in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and fed upon each other in a bloody orgy of cannibalism. Many of the characters in Necrosis do not fare much better as character Jerry becomes possessed by either the ghosts of the Donner party or by his paranoid schizophrenia. Either way few come out of this picture alive!

Brink DVD is announcing that they have picked up director Jason Stephen's Necrosis for distribution, which means a release date has also been announced. The film launches to various formats April 20th and the film stars James Kyson Lee (Heroes), Tiffany (1980’s Pop Star), George Stults (7th Heaven), Penny Drake (Zombie Strippers), Danielle De Luca (Naked Fear) and Robert Michael Ryan (How I Met Your Mother). This horror film, that takes place in an brutal snowstorm, will offer lots of extras including a behind the scenes featurette and a director's commentary. A review for Necrosis will be posted here in a couple weeks, but have a look at a trailer for the film and one of the more scary shots from the film, seen left.

A synopsis for Necrosis here:

"Necrosis follows six friends as they arrive at an isolated cabin to enjoy a long weekend in the snow. An epic snowstorm interrupts their vacation,...