Teaser for Eli Roth's Sundance Horror 'Knock Knock' with Keanu Reeves '

Fresh off last night's premier here at Sundance in the Park City at Midnight section, Eli Roth has released the teaser for his latest horror, Knock Knock. Starring Keanu Reeves, Colleen Camp, Lorenza Izzo, Ana de Armas, Aaron Burns, and Ignacia Allamand, the film centers on a successful family man who opens the door to chaos when he invites two wild girls into his home. The result is something that looks resembles Funny Games, only given Roth's twisted touch.

Check out the official synopsis followed by the teaser.

Evan Webber (Keanu Reeves) is living the dream. Just look at his beautiful, successful wife, his two wonderful kids, and his truly stunning house—which he designed himself. Of course he did. Things are going so well, Evan doesn't even mind spending Father's Day alone while the rest of his family heads out for a beach weekend. And then there’s a knock on the door.

The two young women (Lorenza Izzo and Ana de Armas) standing on Evan's doorstep are where Evan's dream takes a nightmarish turn. Given co-writer/director Eli Roth's well-deserved reputation for creating cinematic discomfort, it should come as no surprise what happens next: Things get weird, and then dark, and then much, much, much darker. But this is no splatter film, so Roth keeps the horror nice and psychological as Evan's life—and house—get ripped apart, piece by beautiful piece.

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Eli Roth Producing 'Cabin Fever' Remake; Steve Pink to Direct 'Cop Swap'

The film that launched Eli Roth's career,  Cabin Fever, is getting a remake and production is already underway. How did they get it up and running so fast? Easy, by using the exact same script from Roth's film. That's right, director Travis Zariwny is using Roth and Randy Pearlstein's screenplay word-for-word, which makes things pretty easy. Roth will exec-produce with Gage Golightly, Dustin Ingram, Samuel Davis, Matthew Daddario, and Nadine Crocker starring in the story of a group of friends ravaged by a flesh-eating virus while staying at a cabin in the woods.

Steve Pink will get out of the Hot Tub Time Machine to direct Cop Swap, an original comedy he'll write with Jeff Morris. The story is based on a real-life foreign exchange program and follows a misfit group of international cops on an internship with the LAPD who, led by a misfit American officer, stumble upon a major crime. Pink, who last directed About Last Night, may want to dial up Kevin Hart for this one. Call it a hunch. [Deadline]

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The Natives are Restless in Trailer for Eli Roth's 'The Green Inferno'

What happens when a group of idealistic activists finally decide to get their hands dirty and "make a difference"? Unfortunately they end up in the clutches of hungry natives in The Green Inferno,  the latest film from Eli Roth targeted at his bloodthirsty fans.

A cast of fresh-faced unknowns led by Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, Daryl Sabara and Kirby Bliss Blanton play students who crash land in the Amazon and are taken hostage by the very tribe they came to help. It isn't long before they find out no good deed goes unpunished, and if there's a director good at depicting cruel punishment on screen it's the guy behind the Hostel flicks. There's a bit more plot in this trailer, but really this one isn't too hard to figure out.

The Green Inferno opens September 5th.


The Green Inferno - Trailer / Bande-Annonce #1 [VO|HD1080p] by Team Lyricis

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First Trailer for Eli Roth's 'The Green Inferno'

If naive Americans ever learn that vacationing to tribal lands is a bad idea, the horror genre will probably die out. Fortunately that time is not yet here, and a group of eager travelers get more than they bargained for in Eli Roth's The Green Inferno, and the first trailer for the horror is here.

Roth's first directorial feature in seven years centers on a group of New York activists who journey to help a dying Amazonian tribe. Only they end up getting trapped there and taken hostage by the very natives they came to help. Well, maybe that'll learn 'em. This looks just like the sort of gory mess we'd expect from Roth, but reviews from its TIFF premiere were less than glowing.

The Green Inferno ignites on September 5th.

The Green Inferno - Trailer No. 1

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New Trailer for Ti West Horror 'The Sacrament', Produced by Eli Roth

Eli Roth knows a thing or two about movies following Americans who get in over their heads while on vacation abroad, and Ti West is no slouch in the horror realm either. So the combination of the two should bode well for The Sacrament, which West is directing with Roth lending a hand as producer. Last week a red band trailer for the film was released, and now a new all-ages version takes you into the heart of darkness.

Featuring an impressive cast that includes Joe Swanberg, AJ Bowen, Upstream Color stand-out Amy Seimetz, Kentucker Audley, and Gene Jones, the film follows two VICE reporters in Central America documenting a friend's search for his missing sister. They wind up Eden Parish, an isolated religious community led by a charismatic, mysterious figure known as "the Father". As you can imagine, things don't go too well after that.

The Sacrament hits VOD on May 1st, with a theatrical run on June 6th. Check out the green and red band trailers below.


The Sacrament - Red Band Trailer by Dread Central

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Eli Roth to Direct and Co-Write Horror 'Knock Knock'

It's been a long wait for horror fans wanting more of Eli Roth's direction, but that wait is about to be over. It's been six years between Hostel 2 and this year's The Green Inferno, and it looks like Roth isn't going to let that much time elapse between his next project.

Roth will re-team with his Aftershock duo  Nicolas Lopez and Guillermo Amoedo to co-write and direct Knock Knock, a horror that sounds a little bit like Funny Games, but with a female spin. The story "follows two young girls who show up unexpectedly at the home of a married man where they seduce him and wreak havoc on his perfect life."

Filming on Knock Knock begins in April and The Green Inferno lands on September 5th. [TheWrap]

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1st photo from Eli Roth's 'The Green Inferno'

It's been a lot of years since Eli Roth graced us with one of his bloody, messy horror films. Not since 2007's Hostel 2, to be exact, even though he's been keeping busy as a writer and producer. But let's be honest, we want to see what kind of nasty things have been cooking up in Roth's head for the last six years, and based on the first image from his next film, it looks like it involves a human feeding frenzy.

STYD have a photo from The Green Inferno, which Roth is directing based on a script co-written with Guillermo Amoedo (Aftershock). The Italian horror it's based on was also known as Cannibal Holocaust, so you probably have a good idea what's going. The story follows a student and some do-gooders who crashland in the Peruvian jungle and come across a cannibalistic tribe. Judging by the image, it's either dinner time or spring break gone wrong.

I'm expecting lots of gore and guts, and hopefully Roth won't disappoint. Starring  Lorenza Izzo, Ariel Levy, Aaron Burns, Daryl Sabara, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Magda Apanowicz and Sky Ferreria, we can probably expect to see The Green Inferno later this year.

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First trailer for Chilean horror 'Aftershock' with Eli Roth and Selena Gomez

Eli Roth will be directing his first film since 2007 with The Green Inferno, but it's not like he's been sitting around twiddling his thumbs. He's been keeping pretty busy as an actor(Inglourious Basterds, Piranha), a producer(The Last Exorcism), and a writer(The Man with the Iron Fists). Before we see his next directorial effort on the big screen, he'll turn up in the Chilean horror film, Aftershock.

In what looks like some crappy straight-to-DVD junk, Aftershock is set during the 2010 earthquake that rocked Chile, only in this fictional version of the story the chaos also sets free a bunch of insane asylum freaks who go on a murderous rampage. Roth co-wrote the script along with director Nicolas Lopez and Guillermo Amoedo.  As an actor, Roth is a pretty decent director, and he's downright aggravating in the newly released trailer, apparently playing a cocky American douche named Gringo (ho ho ho). Selena Gomez turns up briefly for some unknown reason, probably because she wanted to be in Final Destination and this was the closest she could get.

Whatever the case, Aftershock is not a film I'll be seeking out when it arrives next year....

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New clip from Eli Roth's natural disaster flick 'Aftershock'

Why doesn't anybody just go to Disney World or something for vacation anymore? Surely people are smart enough to realize that an international trip can only end with you being kidnapped and sold into sex slavery, chased by gigantic monsters, or in the case of Aftershock caught in a violent earthquake. Aftershock stars and was co-written by horror maestro Eli Roth(Hostel) and Selena Gomez, and follows a group of partygoers in Chile forced to fight for their lives when a massive earthquake hits.

Nicolas Lopez directs and co-wrote the script with Roth, so don't expect this to be just some triumph of the human spirit ala The Impossible with Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor. No, the devastation and death takes on a Final Destination tone as evidenced by this first brief clip from the film.  Dimension Films just picked up the rights in a major deal coming out of Toronto, so we'll definitely be seeing this in theaters before too long....

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Sure Shots: Michael Keaton; Ti West; Daniel Craig

* I always thought Michael Keaton's directorial debut, The Merry Gentleman, was a film that was sorely overlooked even after its festival success. Keaton proved himself to be a real actor's director, not surprisingly, so it's been a shame that it's taken this long for him to take another stab at it. He'll next direct Buttercup, a dramedy about a woman who is forced to take responsibility for her father after repeated drunk driving violations. In so doing she learns to accept him and trust the other men in her life. Sounds like a friggin' riot. The script was written by Alice O'Neil, and the film has had a ton of talent previously attached to it. Jennifer Aniston and Alan Arkin were set to star at one point, along with Sarah Polley and Niki Caro circling the director's gig. We'll see if Keaton's the guy to finally bring Buttercup to light, and maybe he can even be convinced to star? [Variety]

* Ti West has had a busy year already, having already directed the excellent horror The Innkeepers, and having provided a segment for V/H/S, which is doing great On Demand right now. He's not finished, though, as a press release confirms he'll direct The Sacrament, which you've probably guessed is yet another horror. Eli Roth is producing, which is funny because West directed Cabin Fever 2, a sequel to Roth's breakthrough feature. Plot details on The Sacrament are being hidden for now, but the title would indicate there's something religious and freaky going on. Filming begins later this month in Georgia.

* Daniel Craig has reportedly upped his contract to remain as James Bond for two more movies after Skyfall. To me this indicates the studio's confidence in the film's and Craig's success, despite the lukewarm reaction to Quantum of Solace. If he does indeed stick around, that would be five movies for Craig, one more than Pierce Brosnan. It also means he'd be the iconic super spy for the celebratory 25th film in the James Bond franchise. [MI6]

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Eli Roth in talks to direct 'Harker', with Russell Crowe as Dracula

It's been awhile since Eli Roth directed a feature film, with 2007's Hostel 2 being the last one. He's kept busy, though, turning up in Inglourious Basterds and having his hands in numerous other films, such as RZA's The Man with the Iron Fists and The Last Exorcism. But he may be about to step behind the camera for a film that would bring him back to his favored horror genre, and already has a big name to headline.

Deadline reports that Roth is in talks to direct Harker, Warner Brothers' reimagining of Bram Stoker's Dracula. When last we heard about it, Jaume Collet-Serra(Orphan) was set to direct it, coming off losing the live-action Akira gig. Russell Crowe has been attached to the film for awhile, but it was expected he would play Jonathan Harker, the Scotland Yard detective who tracks down the vampire lord. Instead, it looks like like Crowe will play Dracula himself, which should be friggin' awesome! Lee Shipman and Brian McGreevey wrote the script on spec, transplanting the Dracula story to England.

The plan is to turn this into a franchise following the Harker character, with Crowe only signed on for the first film. So it's possible that Harker will be taking on other supernatural mysteries if the film proves to be a hit.  If Roth signs and everything falls into place, the hope is to begin production early next year.

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Eli Roth to direct horror thriller, 'The Green Inferno'

Best known for directing horrors like Hostel and Cabin Fever, we haven't actually seen Eli Roth helm much of anything in a long time. That is unless you count Nation's Pride, the Nazi propaganda film shown during Inglourious Basterds. Roth has been content to build up his acting and producing career, co-starring in the aforementioned Quentin Tarantino film and making a hilarious guest turn in Piranha 3D. Now he's set to jump back behind the camera for another horror, titled The Green Inferno.

Details on the film are unknown at this point, but you can expect it'll combine his fondness for gore and unique sense of humor. Roth will also produce and co-write the script with Guillermo Amoedo(Aftershock). Production will begin in the fall, with filming to take place in Peru and Chile.

Roth has been developing The Man with the Iron Fists, the Rza's directorial debut.  Roth co-wrote that script and will produce the martial arts epic, which has Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu, Dave Batista, Rick Yune(Die Another Day), Pam Grier, Cung Le(Fighting), and MC Jin(seriously) starring.

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The Rza's 'The Man with the Iron Fist' currently shooting in China

According to Twitch, The Rza is currently in China shooting his martial arts vanity project, The Man with the Iron Fist. Eli Roth(Hostel) is along for the trip as co-producer/co-writer/advisor/scary dude. The Rza is starring, his first real leading role, as a blacksmith who forges weapons for a small town in feudal China. They eventually get attacked and are forced to defend themselves. I'm sure there's a ancient, sacred text involved somewhere. There's always a sacred text in these old martial arts flicks.

Last I had heard, there was a rumor that Russell Crowe was coming on board as well, but that's still yet to be confirmed. Crowe and Rza recently worked together in American Gangster, and I guess they shared a love of old kung fu flicks and UTFO or something.

Rza somehow managed to secure $20M of funding from Universal to produce the film, which I think is roughly $20M more than anything the Rza's ever directed before.  I've seen enough clips of Rza's Wu-Tang vs. the Golden Phoenix to know that he can certainly present the feel for those old movies exactly right, but he's clearly very green as a filmmaker. So it's a good thing that Roth is on hand to assist. Regardless of Crowe's involvement, I'm very excited to see how this one turns out. It's the Rza. It's kung fu. It's crazy high-wire fights. How could I not love it already?

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Tops at the Box Office

1. The Last Exorcism- $21.3M
The Eli Roth produced horror got off to a strong start, beating out the last film in The Exorcist series, 2004's Exorcist: The Beginning by nearly $3M. It's also a better opening than both of Eli Roth's Hostel films, nearly tripling the opening of Hostel 2.
2.  Takers- $21M
Takers stole a hefty  $21M in it's opening weekend, which is about par for most heist flicks. Although, when compared to the very closely related Armored from a few months ago, it more than triple it's $6M opening. The interesting tidbit is that the audience for this was 52% female, meaning that chicks were lining up to get all googly eyed over the virtually all-male cast.
3. The Expendables- $9.5M/$82M
The heavyweight champ fell two slots, slipping 44% from last week. It should hit $100M in no time.
4. Eat Pray Love- $7M/$60.7M
5. The Other Guys- $6.6M/$99.3M
6. Vampires Suck- $5.3M/$27.9M
This is what it should've made last week. I'm still upset with you, America.
7. Inception- $5.11M/$271M
8. Nanny McPhee Returns- $4.74M/$17M
The original Nanny McPhee may took in over $120M worldwide, but only $47M of that was domestic. The sequel isn't going to come close to even matching that.
9. The Switch- $4.66M/$16.5M
Really something of a shame. Can we send some of that Vampires Suck money this way?
10. Piranha 3D- $4.31M/$18.3M

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The New Wave: 8/27/10

So we're all cool with Chris Brown again, right? It's ok that I actually kinda dug him in this all-testosterone, all flash and style heist flick? I'm sure his presence won't score them too many viewers of the female variety, but then again people still buy R. Kelly records so maybe I'll be proven wrong. Takers isn't a groundbreaking film, in fact it has a lot in common with Armored, another masculine heist film from a few months ago. Not the least of which is the presence of Matt Dillon, who seems to have taken the haggard, beaten down guy routine to a new level. You can check out my review of Takers here.

You won't find a more intense experience this year than Animal Kingdom, an Australian crime flick that's small in appearance but equally as epic as The Godfather. David Michaud's film has been greatly received, taking a coveted Jury Prize at Sundance. For good reason, as it features one of the scariest portrayals of the year by Jacki Weaver, as a manipulative mommie dearest who will do anything to keep her boys free from the law. My review of Animal Kingdom can be found here.

What's old is new again, thanks to Paranormal Activity's revival of the "found footage" horror film. Daniel Stamm, working alongside horror master Eli Roth as producer, looks to use the technique in film that's part Blair Witch, part The Exorcist. For the most part it works, mostly thanks to the dyanmic performance of Patrick Fabian as a former evangelist experiencing a crisis of faith. My review of The Last Exorcism can be found here.

Director Jean-Francois Richet's last foray on these shores was the completely average action remake, Assault on Precinct 13. Now he's back in the much anticipated, globally acclaimed film chronicling the rise of gangster Jacques Mesrine(Vincent Cassel). This is merely the first part of the two-act film, the second of which will be released here in just a couple of weeks. I'm hoping that Landmark E Street will be holding a double feature.

The Lebanon War has been the highlight of a number of amazing films over the last few years, most recently 2008's Waltz with Bashir. Lebanon, directed by Samuel Maoz, has been the subject of a ton of controversy surrounding it's depiction of the military, based mostly on Maoz's own wartime experiences. The outcry didn't stop it from winning numerous awards, including the prestigious Golden Lion at the Venice International Film Festival.

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Punch Drunk DVDs: 2/16/10

Law Abiding Citizen
F. Gary Gray's surprisingly well made thriller features Gerard Butler as a revenge seeking father, exacting brutal justice after his wife and daughter are murdered during a home invasion. Jamie Foxx plays the slick, career minded attorney who becomes the target of Butler's rage. A fun, cat 'n mouse game between two actors that are clearly having a good time. Just don't take it too seriously.








Coco Before Chanel
Audrey Tautou(Amelie, The Da Vinci Code) stars in this biopic of the famous fashion mogul, Gabrielle Chanel. The film chronicles her humble beginnings starting as a seamstress, who worked her way up through the fashion ladder to become a global icon.









Black Dynamite
Right to the top of my netflix queue goes this riff on the blaxploitation genre of films from the 1970's. Michael Jai White stars as the ass kickin' ex-CIA operative who seeks to get revenge on the drug dealers who killed his brother. Don't expect a spoof on the level of I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. Black Dynamite plays it straight, even with cameos by Arsenio Hall, John Salley, and Tommy Davidson.








Good Hair
My contention is that every African-American male on the planet needs to watch Chris Rock's hilarious, insightful documentary. Why? So we can truly see where we stand in relation to a black woman and her hair. We are a distant 2nd, my friends. Actually, we're at least 3rd. Her hair, then her hair dresser...and then maybe us.









Revanche
Gotz Spiellman's tragic drama tells the tale of forbidden love, vengeance, and the dark corners of the human soul. It's the story of a love between an ex-con, now working as a guard in a whorehouse, who falls head over heels for one of it's prostitutes. If their relationship is ever discovered, it would mean death at the hands of their boss, and so the two stoop to desperate measures in order to be free to live their own lives.








Hunger
Before Michael Fassbender exploded onto American big screens in Inglorious Basterds, he had already made international waves and earned awards for his performance here. Hunger features him as Bobby Sands, IRA leader and prisoner at Belfast's Maze Prison in 1981. He and his brothers begin a brutal, agonizing hunger strike to protest their lack of political prisoner status according to the British government. A stirring, star making performance that simply cannot be missed.







Cabin Fever 2: Spring Fever
It's never a good sign when the director petitions to have his name removed from the credits, but that's what Ti West tried to do. I'm a big fan of the original Cabin Fever, for whatever reason, and am intrigued that they are continuing with the story with the same lead character(Rider Strong is back!?), but I have the worst feeling this one is going to be a mess.

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The List for 8/21/09!

It's 20 minutes til Inglourious Basterds starts. It's about 5 minutes to the movie theatre from my crib. I'm starting a blog about what movies I'm gonna see this week. Even as I type these words I can't decide whether to throw whatever clothes are hanging off the back of my chair and run out the door or sit here, finish typing, and fall asleep to the soothing sounds of Jordan Palmer throwing a lame duck pass to some fifth-string wideout who'll probably be buttering my popcorn next week. These are the tough daily decisions I have to struggle through. Pity me.

It's actually a really quiet week for movies since nothing wants to compete with Tarantino. It's not like the guy's a box office juggernaut, but whatever. They're doing me a favor. I got some catchin' up to do.



Tarantino describes Inglourious Basterds as a "spaghetti Western with WWII iconography". I don't care. I love spaghetti Westerns as much as the next guy and I'm a sucker for a good war flick, but this shit just looks like fun. I might suffer a few nightmares over Eli Roth's demonic smirk as he bashes Nazi heads in with a baseball bat, but that's what I've got my Spider-Man nightlight for.

Random thought: I have a sickening feeling that the Patriots are gonna match or exceed what they did in 2007. And Lawrence Maroney looks slower than molasses in winter.



If you need proof of just how slim the pickings are this week, you need look no further than the above graphic. Captain Abu Raed is a Jordanian film about a janitor who finds an abandoned pilot's outfit, and then proceeds to fool people into thinking that's his profession. Don't get me wrong, the trailer for this looks good and i genuinely want to see it. But on a typical week it'd be somewhere near the bottom of my list. It's the first film to be produced in Jordan in nearly 50 years, and kicked a ton of ass at Sundance, so maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised. If you're interested, the Captain's flight plan only runs through Landmark E Street in the DC/Metro area.

What Else is Out There?



I caught Cold Souls on Monday, but I've got a Meetup on Sunday to see it with the gang. Think of it as a poor man's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. If you could sell your soul to relieve your stress, would you do it? In the world of Cold Souls, selling your soul is the new hip thing to do. You can even buy someone else's soul. I know if could buy somebody else's soul it'd be a pretty God damn easy pick to make: Arn Anderson.

Random thought: Big Brother After Dark should do us all a favor and cancel itself once the house dwindles down to less than 6 players. Right now they are watching someone sleep. It's boring as hell. Back to football.

Holdovers from last week include the Rose Byrne starring romantic comedy, Adam. And there's a possibility I'll be seeing The Time Traveler's Wife with the Meetup crew on Saturday. But I'm worried about cramming so much girlie schmaltz in at one time. I might need to water it down with a side order of G.I. Joe to cleanse the palette.

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