Goyer to direct Mignola/Golden vampire flick

New Regency has recently announced they have acquired the rights to Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden's illustrated novel Baltimore or The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire. 

David S. Goyer is set to direct after wrapping the Magneto project.  Goyer wrote and produced the Blade movie trilogy and TV series.  Mignola & Golden will write the screenplay.

Mike Mignola is a comic book artist and writer best known for his Hellboy series.  Christopher Golden is an author of horror & fantasy novels for adults and teens including the Shadow Saga, a lengthy list of Buffy spin-off novels and along with Mignola several Hellboy books.

Baltimore, Or, The Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire by Mike Mignola and Christopher Golden:
From celebrated comic artist Mike Mignola and award-winning novelist Christopher Golden comes a work of gothic storytelling like no other. Reminiscent of the illustrated tales of old, here is a lyrical, atmospheric novel of the paranormal—and a chilling allegory for the nature of war.

As the men await their old friend, they share their tales of terror and misadventure, and contemplate what part they will play in Baltimore's timeless battle. Before the night is through, they will learn what is required to banish the plague—and the creature who named Baltimore his nemesis—once and for all.

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New from HAMMER FILMS: Beyond the Rave (2008)

Hammer Films has been in a sort of hibernation since the 80's. Founded in 1934, Hammer made a name for themselves with a selection of horror films produced from the 1950's through the 1970's. Earlier this year, it was announced that Dutch producer John De Mol had bought the rights to Hammer Films, a catalog of over 300 films. He also announced plans to restart the company with fresh horror films. Guy East and Nigel Sinclair of Spitfire Pictures signed on to exculsively produce two or three genre flicks a year for the studio.

Beyond the Rave marks the first horror film Hammer has released in over 20 years. Filming is under way in London on this vampire flick set in England's underground rave scene. Intended for online release, Hammer hopes to spark the interest of a new & younger generation of would be fans before producing feature films.

Actor/model Jamie Dornan will play a soldier named Ed on his way to Iraq. The night before leaving, Ed and pal Necro go looking for Ed's missing girlfriend last seen partying with an odd ball named Melech. Ending up at a rave in the woods, Ed quickly discovers Melech and company are vampires with ulterior motives.

Featuring Sadie Frost (Bram Stoker's Dracula), Rick Warden, Lois Winstone (When Evil Calls), Nora-Jane Noone (The Descent), Sebastian Knapp (28 Days Later) and Les Simpson (Dog Soldiers). And for all the devoted Hammer Horror fans, Beyond the Rave also features a cameo from Ingrid Pitt whom starred in Hammer's The Vampire Lovers and Countess Dracula.

Directed by award winning short filmmaker Matthias Hoene. Produced by brothers Tom & Ben Grass, based on an original story by Tom. Ben recently described it as being "inspired by Tom and my own experiences of raves: the great highs, and the demons that can lurk in the dark before dawn. It's jam packed with great characters and encounters. The narrative hurtles along to a big, juicy conclusion, and all along it's peppered with great tunes and visceral action." Tristan Versluis, whom recently did Tim Burton's Sweeney Todd out this Christmas, will handle special effects.

Certainly not the most promising plotline for a Hammer resurgence. Although I'm more than curious to see what comes out of the studio in its new direction, I will admit to being just a touch nervous for them.

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Rue Morgue Festival of Fear 2007

Last weekend was the 4th annual Festival of Fear put on by Rue Morgue magazine.  The FOF is apart of Toronto's FanExpo, which is a bunch of conventions in one building including gaming, comic, anime and sci-fi cons.  That's 50,000 people in horror, anime and Storm Trooper costumes all in one building.  And it's fuuuuun.

Steve & I were of course there.  I spent two of the three days helping my groovy friends at VampireWear at their booth.  Steve worked Rue Morgue's booth.  And we both helped set up the Rue booth on the Thursday. 

The guestline up for the horror portion of the con included Italian horror master Dario Argento, his muse actress/singer/painter Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni, zombie king George A. Romero, A Clockwork Orange's Malcolm Mcdowell, 30 Days of Night's Steve Niles, the infamous Adrienne Barbeau, godfather of gore HG Lewis, sick girl Angela Bettis, monster artist Basil Gogos, Buffy's Charisma Carpenter, and many more.

I took many photos that you can all view here: http://www.vampress.net/gallery/fof07  Lots of silly shots of me & friends from the parties.  Friday night there was a private industry party and we were treated to Goblin tunes including a goblin himself, Maurizio Guarini on the keyboard and the vocal talents of Coralina.  Nothing like hearing the music from some of Argento's films live & in person.  Saturday night was the official FOF party including a costume contest hosted by Oderus Urungus from GWAR. 

There were many celebrity panels and Q&A's, movie screenings, signings, and workshops.  Rue Morgue's founder Rodrigo Guidino showcased his two short films, one of which Steve was Production Manager on (The Demonology of Desire).  Lots of amazing companies vending and probably the only place ever you'd be able to buy both a severed penis in a jar and a two headed baby duck.  And I won't tell you which wasn't 'authentic'.

I had an amazing time and really recommend anyone interested in the horror con scene to make the trip to Toronto for next year's.  Rue Morgue never disappoints!  I love you guys!

To see all my crazy photos from the weekend, go here NOW:  http://www.vampress.net/gallery/fof07

You can also find photos from 05 & 06's horror cons here: www.vampress.net/gallery

Bite & Hisses,
Vampy Von Pire

[copy from vampress.net]

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Review: Bitternest by Alan Draven

In a world ravaged by the avian flu, Bitternest Louisiana is fairing a bit better.  Despite seeing less causalities to the H5N1 virus, their population is still dwindling leaving detectives Terry Graves and Miguel Vallejo stretched exhaustively thin.  At a particularly gory crime scene where stacks of bloodless bodies are found in an apartment, Graves is thrust into knowledge of a small population of vampires living under Bitternest for quite some time, and they want his help.

Teaming up with Cyrus and his vampire circle, Graves takes on the enormous task of helping them put a stop to a terrifying new breed of half vampires.  Blood-mongers are the result of the vampires having fed on flu victims.  These daywalking half breeds exist solely to feed and multiply.  They upset the delicate balance of existence for Cyrus & his counterparts, as well threaten to expose the small circle of ancient vampires to the world.  In exchange for a sample of Cyrus' blood that may prove helpful in eliminating the H5N1 virus, the vampires and detectives form an uneasy alliance to combat this greater threat.

Meanwhile, a local drug lord turned occultist has devised plans of his own to wage war with his enemies and take over the city using his own personal army of blood mongers.  Tezano Cortez bites off more than he can chew though, as his new flame Lamia blindsides him with her own unearthly army.  Dozens of eeriy redhooded little girls emerge around the city wrecking havoc.  Could Lamia really be the earthly embodiment of Lilith as she exists in myth & legend?

This is the ambitious first novel from Montreal native Alan Draven.  He laces an action packed crime drama with fast paced supernatural intrigue that will keep readers turning pages until the explosive end.  Draven scores extra points for his imaginative use of the Hebrew tradition of Lilith, even down to the three angels summoned by God to eradicate her from Eden.  As with any first novel, Bitternest does have its flaws.  With the sheer amount of twists and turns in the plot, character development seems to have taken a backseat.  This is marred further by awkward and at times unnecessary dialogue between characters.  As convoluted as the plot may seem, Draven's debut novel is a well written worthwhile read and a refreshing breather from the paranormal romances plaguing the genre.

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Red Scream Vampyres (2008)

From the folks that brought you Prison of the Psychotic Damned comes Red Scream Vampyres.  Described as a reimagining (I don't like that word) of the vampire mythos, it features a pair of thousand year old bloodsucking vixens living in an abandoned train terminal.  They seduce and drug victims for a night of passion and slaughter.  Forget the tidy bite marks, these girls rip their victims to shreds driven purely by bloodlust. 

Owner and founder of Red Scream Films describes the movie as exploring the lifestyle of these vampires, how they think and how they see humans.  Shot on HD and now in postproduction, the crew wrapped in June with hopes of having Vampyres out by the end of the year.  Special FX artist Tony Mandile, whom also directed Midnight Mass, lent his FX talents on Red Scream Vampyres.

Visit the official site for more info and an uninspiring trailer.  Join me in amusement as the main page of the site suggests Red Scream Vampyres ranks among the vamp classics including Nosferatu, Dracula, The Hunger and....Underworld??  Yeah.

http://redscreamvampyres.com

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Indian vampires take on US soldiers in Virulents

New Regency has optioned Virgin Comic's Virulent for a movie adaptation. Directing the project is John Moore, known best for 2001's Behind Enemy Lines and the recent remake of The Omen. Writing the adaptation is John Cox, who wrote the screenplay for the forthcoming Sgt. Rock movie.

Virgin's Virulents takes a new spin on the vampire legend by incorporating Indian mythology. It's post 9/11. US soldiers searching for a lost patrol in Afghanistan cross paths with Indian commandos searching for terrorist activity. What both groups find are a nest of vicious bloodsucking vampire like creatures called the Raktaveej, or blood demons. In Indian legend, the Raktaveej were able to multiply by a single drop of shed blood. It took the Goddess Kali to stop them once and for all. See a promo video for the comic here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ws8nQjGSU4o

Producing Virulent will be Virgin Comic's own Gotham Chopra and Sharad Devarajan, along with Seth Jaret and Moore. Fox will handle distribution.

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Shopping, reading & watching vampires.

I'm tired and I think I got too much sun today (insert hissing and turning to dust here).  Mama Vamp, the coolest mumsy you've ever met, and I hung out today.  She's been on vacation this past week with no place to go, so I dragged her shopping downtown with me.  Here we are:

I need to stop wearing that jean jacket, I think it's in all of my photos lately.  I loved it so much that I bought two of them.  That's the way I roll.

Tried on a lot of Lip Service clothes and have amassed a lengthy list of items to order.  Nancy, why do you have to be on vacation right now!  I need Lippy, now!  Anywho, we bought way too many vampire books.   Mostly young adult and kiddy vamp books.  I like to spoil my cousins.  And of course I got doubles of them all for my own collection.  Again, that's the way I roll.  I need meetings.  Anyone know if Vampire Bookaholics Anonymous exists?

My cousins are currently away camping, so mumsy's been looking after their cats.  She took me over tonight to leave the goodies on their beds.  Steve and I also picked them up some DVDs earlier this week.  We got the boy a copy of Monster Squad and the girl a copy of The Craft.  When I was her age, 13, I wore my VHS copy of The Craft. Admittedly, I was a pretty lame 13 year old.  She's much cooler, but will hopefully still dig it.

She is going to absolutely freak when she finds a copy of Stephenie Meyer's third novel, Eclipse sitting on her bed.  She's positively nuts about the series and I managed to get copies a few weeks before the release date of August 7th.  She's to wait for her birthday at the end of August to get it, but I figured she'd like to brag to her friends that she's getting it before it hits book shelves.  I'm digging into it tonight (yes, it's YA but it's damn good!).  Her family comes home tomorrow and she'll probably have it finished before me.  It's her version of Harry Potter, way cooler and with vampires.  :P

Steve came home last Sunday from filming Dwellers.  He nearly collapsed in my arms from exhaustion.  I put him in the tub immediately.  There may have been a river at the location, but there were no showers for 10 freaking days.  That makes for one unclean boyfriend.  He soaked for a good hour plus while telling me all about it.  And then promptly passed out on my bedroom floor.  They've been reviewing the footage and are going to start editing.  They still have a lot of work ahead of them, including reshooting a few scenes.

We attempted to watch Perfect Creature the other day. I say attempted because we each drank a glass of homemade wine he'd been given as a gift, and it knocked us on our asses.  I haven't been that drunk in years.  One glass!  It was really kind of scary and when we woke up to credits rolling, I stumbled to bed at a pathetically early 11pm.  The next morning was rough too.  What the HELL was in that wine!

Perfect Creature is getting rewatched, sans wine, tomorrow night.  From what we did see, it seems to have serious potential.  Set in an alternate New Zealand in the 1960's when vampires are known and revered.  In fact, they're the church.  It certainly gives a new meaning to drinking the blood of Christ.  An influenza epidemic is killing the human population and so is a rogue vampire.  Up to this point, the vampires take pride in having never taken a human life.  More on it later!

I'm off to bed to read. 

Bites & Hisses!

PS: Halloween items are slowly emerging in stores.  Steve & I picked up a totally awesome Dracula nutcracker yesterday.  It will keep the one I got for my birthday company.

(Copy from LJ)

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Prequel: Dracula Year Zero

A movie prequel to Bram Stoker's novel was announced a year ago from Universal Studios, the company that brought us the most memorable film adaptation starring Bela Lugosi.  This month they have announced that Alex Proyas has become attached to the prequel; Dracula Year Zero.

Alex Proyas directed the 1994 gloomy cult hit, The Crow, starring Brandon Lee in his final & ultimately fatal role.  Four years later, he wrote and directed the cyberpunk meets film noir, Dark City.  Featuring pretty boy Keifer Sutherland in a particularily creep & unpretty role, alongside the equally creepy Richard O'Brien of Rocky Horror fame. 

Both excellent dark moody films.  Dark City is especially imaginative but lacked a successful (or any?) marketing campaign.  And with the Matrix in theaters soon after, Keanu Reeves would become the face of cyberpunk, much to our chagrin.  Or at least anyone with taste.  :P

Oh right, Dracula Year Zero!  So with Alex Proyas at the helm, whom also directed Will Smith's I, Robot which opened to $52 million, it's possible we might see a decent production with a decent budget and decent distrobution.  Universal will no doubt want to do their most popular monster proud.

Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless have writen the screenplay, neither of whom I'm familiar with.  Possible newcomers?  But Dracula Year Zero does not deal with the Count as we think we know him.  It's intended to serve almost as a historical biopic of the real Dracula, Vlad Tepes.  Don't expect a particulary gory or ruthless film, Proyas has stated he became interested in the project because of its sympathetic approach to portraying the Romanian ruler.

My curiosity has certainly been piqued, but I'd like to point out that this has been done before.  In 2000, Rudolf Martin portrayed Vlad in a made for TV movie released on the USA Network which was successful in little else but keeping vampires out of the equation.

That's currently my only concern.  An improved film portraying Vlad is wonderful, but will they manage to keep the man and the fictional vampire seperate.  Given that this is being dubbed the prequel to the novel influenced by the man, they're off to a bad start, historically speaking.  There is no intentional connection between Stoker's fictional novel and the 15th century prince.

Expect Dracula Year Zero for 2008.  Universal will surely want to beat the film adaptation of The Historian to theaters and possibly to contend with Juraj Jakubisko's biopic, Bathory.  Bathory tells the story of Hungarian Countess Erzsébet Báthory, arguably the world's first serial killer and undoubtedly history's second favourite real life 'vampire'.

(copy from vampress.net)

8:35 PM - 1 Comments - 0 Kudos - Add Comment

$3.75 Million deal for Jordan Ainsley Vampire Trilogy

Ballantine books, a division of Random House Publishing Group, has recently signed a $3.75 million dollar deal for the North American rights to a post apocalyptic vampire trilogy. Writing as Jordan Ainsley, Justin Cronin is the author of The Summer Guest and Mary and O'Neil, which won the Pen/Hemingway Award in 2001. The deal was made based on a 400 page manuscript. CAA is representing the book and hoping for a film option.

The trilogy will be set in 2016 when a government experiment goes terribly wrong, turning death row prison inmates into infectious vampires. Meanwhile, a young girl begins to discover she has powers beyond the norm that may be related to the crisis.

While deals for vampire books are probably a dime a dozen, this one proves significant in just how much it sold for based on only a partial manuscript.  Pfft, and people tried to tell me vampires were out & zombies were in.  To them I say, bite me!

(copy from vampress.net)

8:35 PM - 4 Comments - 3 Kudos - Add Comment

Fiction & YA Additions

Fiction:
Out for Blood by John Peyton Cooke
Weep Not For The Vampire by William A. Veselik

Young Adult:
Good Ghouls Do by Julie Kenner
The Good Ghouls' Guide to Getting Even by Julie Kenner
Masquerade by Melissa de la Cruz
Tantalize by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Young Vampire: Lamia Of Akkad by Birde Williams

11:07 AM - 2 Comments - 2 Kudos - Add Comment