© IFC
Interview with the Vampire director Neil Jordan returns to vampire territory with the similarly structured, female-driven Byzantium. Can lightning strike twice? Read about it in my review of Byzantium, which hits theaters in limited release on Friday, June 28 is is available on demand starting July 1.
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© Sony
It’s a busy week of new releases, with the vampire movie Byzantium and the Aussie horror comedy 100 Bloody Acres receiving limited theatrical runs, while The Call, Crawlspace and a bunch of SyFy and Japanese films head home video releases.
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Photo: Scott Barbour/Getty Images
He’s battled robots, aliens and Satan himself, but now Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing to take on the walking dead. However, it may not be quite what you’d expect. According to Variety, the veteran action star has signed on to star in and produce Maggie, a film that hardly sounds like the action-packed, exploding head-fest you’d think would come from the union of Arnie and zombies. Rather, it sounds more like a zombie drama, with Schwarzenegger playing “the father on a journey to help his daughter come to terms with her infection as she slowly becomes a zombie.”
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Under the Dome, the series based on 2009 novel by Stephen King about a town that finds itself trapped under a transparent dome, premieres on CBS tonight at 10:00 PM ET/PT. Get a rundown on the main characters and the 13 episodes that will run through the summer.
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© Paramount
Despite its massive rewrites, reshoots and ballooning budget, the zombie epic World War Z avoided the dreaded “bomb” label in just one weekend, outperforming expectations at the box office by a wide margin. Its estimated $66 million haul, good enough for second place behind Monsters University‘s $82 million, was as much as $20 million more than it was predicted to earn in its opening frame, putting it on par with such recent blockbusters as Thor, Captain America, 2012 and Brave. It may even be able to make back its budget in the US alone, if you believe it’s in the $200 million range and not the $400 million some have reported. Of the 77 movies that have earned $65 million or more in their opening weekend, only 12 have NOT hit the $200 million mark in the US. When you count foreign totals, World War Z may even catch up to that rumored $400 million figure, especially considering the last two Resident Evil zombie movies have each made in the $200 million range outside the US.
“This is my happy face. Wanna see my
angry face? You just did.”
© Paramount
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© IFC Midnight
Horror remakes don’t have a good reputation amongst genre fans, but 2013 could be the year to help turn that opinion around. First, Evil Dead earned rave reviews, and now there’s Maniac, an invigorating take on the notorious 1980 cult classic shows viewers everything from the killer’s viewpoint. Read about it in my review of Maniac.
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© Netflix
Good news: Netflix’s bold original series Hemlock Grove is returning for a second season. Eli Roth will return as executive producer and will be joined by TV veteran Charles “Chic” Eglee, who’s served as executive producer on The Walking Dead, Dexter, The Shield, NYPD Blue and more. Season 2 will consist of 10 episodes — fewer than Season 1’s 13 — and will premiere in 2014, likely in the spring.
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© Virgil Films