Movie & TV News: Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, Cliffhanger. Fright Night, TV DVD News, Iron Sky, Youngblood, Footloose, Comic Previews

Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Slash Film reports here that the mockumentary/horror film is on the verge of being sequelized. That's according to writer David J. Stieve and director Scott Glosserman. Here some of what Stieve had to say about the film (Warning, SPOILERS ABOUT THE ORIGINAL FILM lie within): "Scotty [Glosserman] and I are getting into specifics, and as you can imagine things have changed. Just as Scotty and I, even Nathan [Baesel - who played Leslie Vernon] perhaps, have changed in our professional lives. One thing we can certainly touch on is the idea that the parallels to real life continue. Leslie's journey as a 'craftsman' has had to be adjusted to the reality of what happened to his fledgling mythology after the events of the Harvest Moon Killings. So, too, have our expectations as filmmakers in the wake of how things unfolded after the release of the film in real life. I can tell you that there IS a way we're blending the documentary and cinematic lenses again. And there is also a manner in which Taylor (Angela Goethals) and Leslie are forced to cooperate with one another, although not necessarily on the best of terms. There's definitely a perverse love story that must be honored, but then again they did try pretty hard to kill each other. Not exactly a 'kiss and make up' situation. There's a sort of bigger, badder influence that's threatening everything Leslie's worked to accomplish, and Taylor may have her own agenda for 'helping’ him. Or does she? Scott and I are painfully aware of the sequel trap, of treading the same ground again with nothing more than a bigger budget. That's not what’s going to happen. Things didn't go the way Leslie wanted them to, particularly in the reaction of the residents of Glen Echo. I can't give any more details than that, but suffice to say, we find Leslie a little perplexed that he 'did everything right, everything went exactly according to plan!' and yet the aftermath of his rampage is a right-turn derailment of what he was expecting. So he, being Leslie, regroups and plays the hand he’s been dealt. How Taylor and the boys get involved is part of the unfolding of his efforts in that regard. I'm VERY pleased that we've found what we feel is a progressive, organic,and rational way to make that happen. Again, the real world parallel is that our efforts as filmmakers also needed to be re-calibrated and adjusted to the reality of the industry. I feel we've found that signature blending of the two worlds at the story level. Albeit this time, the industry is going to take a few harder shots… [Leslie will be] channeling Freddy [Krueger] a bit more this time, finding some frightening ways to express his sense of humor. When you think about it, Michael Myers, Jason, Freddy Krueger all had to pay their dues. It's not an instantaneous process, even in their world! So each of us, individually and collectively, have come to realize how much more work we need to do. We all accept it and are up to the task. We've learned our lessons, taken our lumps, andwe're going to craft a better story for Leslie as a result. Leslie is redoubling his efforts to become the greatest slasher killer ever. He knows it's gonna be a longer race than he thought, and he’s gearing up to win it. Woe to the ones who doubt him or get in his way!"

Cliffhanger
Empire Online says here that filming will begin in 2010 and release sometime in 2011. Word is that the story is going to be different than the 1993 original. Producer Neil Moritz said: "Just as they rebooted Star Trek, we’re going to reboot Cliffhanger." Yeah, that's comparable.

Fright Night
After throwing the idea around for a couple of years, The Hollywood Reporter is telling us here that Dreamworks is putting together a remake of the 1985 film. No director, cast, writers or release date has been announced as yet.

TV DVD News
TVShowsOnDVD.com has posted info about "Stargate: Atlantis" (Fan's Choice) here, "Stargate SG-1" (Beginings: Children of the Gods, the Final Cut) here, " Tom and Jerry" (Greatest Chases) here, "The New Scooby-Doo Movies" (Double Feature) here, "G.I. Joe" (Season 1.1) here, "Land of the Lost" (Complete Series) here.

Iron Sky
JoBlo.com is telling here about the Finnish film that will open sometime in 2010. If you are familiar with "Star Trek: In the Pirkinning," well this is from the same folks. It is a collaboration and a great deal about the community involved is here. Here's a synopsis: "Towards the end of World War II the staff of SS officer Hans Kammler made a significant breakthrough in anti-gravity. From a secret base built in the Antarctic, the first Nazi spaceships were launched in late '45 to found the military base Schwarze Sonne (Black Sun) on the dark side of the Moon. This base was to build a powerful invasion fleet and return to take over the Earth once the time was right. Now it’s 2018, the Nazi invasion is on its way and the world is goose-stepping towards its doom." They have an official site here, Screen Rant rants on about them here, and you can even find a lot about them at You Tube is you'll go here. There are a ton of pictures at Film School Rejects. I'm interested, you?

Youngblood
MTV News says here that the Brett Ratner directed 2012 project has picked up J.P. Lavin and Chad Damiani to write the adaptation of the Rob Liefield comic. I remember giving some notice to Rob's home printed comic in a magazine I was writing for way back in the day. You've come a long way young sir.

Footloose
Coming Soon.net reports here that despite losing Zac Efron for the lead, and not having a finished script, Paramount has set a June 18, 2010 release date and is putting together an entire slate of new music for the soundtrack. Kenny Ortega is set to direct. The original film came out in 1984.

Special thanks to Movie Goods.com for so many of the dynamite movie posters we use from time to time. You cannot find a better place to run down those new or classic posters.

Comic Previews
Comics Continuum has posted preview pages of
X-Men Forever Alpha #1,