Stephen King’s ‘The Dark Tower’ Coming Soon To TV

Universal announced today that it has acquired the rights to produce three films and an NBC series based on the seven novels, short stories and comic books from Stephen King’s The Dark Tower. Ron Howard will direct the first film and the first season of the TV show, which will be written by Akiva Goldsman (The Da Vinci Code).

“I’ve been waiting for the right team to bring the characters and stories in these books to film and TV viewers around the world,” said King, in a statement. “Ron, Akiva, Brian along with Universal and NBC have a deep interest and passion for the The Dark Tower series and I know that will translate into an intriguing series of films and TV shows that respect the origins and the characters in The Dark Tower that fans have come to love.”

More than 30 million copies of The Dark Tower have been sold in 40 countries. After the series of seven books was completed, a prequel of comic books based on one of the characters was also published.

“The worlds of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series are richly detailed, inter-locking and deeply connected,” said Goldsman in a statement.  “By telling this story across media platforms and over multiple hours—and with a view to telling it completely—we have our best chance of translating Roland’s quest to reach The Dark Tower onto screen.  We are proceeding with tremendous excitement, fidelity to the source material and, quite frankly, no small amount of awe at this opportunity.”

King is also a columnist for Entertainment Weekly.

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Were Unsolicited Texts About Stephen King Novel ‘Cell’ Against The Law?

Stephen King’s apocalyptic horror novel Cell is about a signal sent out to cell phones that turned all who heard it into homicidal monsters. Now a different sort of cell phone message has gotten King’s book publisher, Simon & Schuster, embroiled in a horror story that’s far more frightening that fiction—one involving the legal system.

An appellate court ruled Friday that Simon & Schuster might have violated federal law by allegedly sending unsolicited text messages promoting Cell, Online Media Daily reported.

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2 Video Clips From Zombie TV Series ‘Lifeless’

Here are two short clips from the upcoming zombie series ‘Lifeless’. Anytime there are zombies you can count me in. I’m keeping an eye on this one.

‘A global pandemic has decimated the population and left the cities deserted. When a handful of survivors find themselves stranded in the aftermath, with the dead returning to life, they must rely on each other to live in a world overrun by the walking dead.’

Lifeless is an episodic drama developed to be devoured by the world via television and the web.

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Emily Browning Talks About Her Role In ‘The Uninvited’

If you’ve seen “The Uninvited,” you know that it’s one of those intense, mind-tripping horror thrillers best viewed by those who know nothing about it. And you also know that when it came down to what could be revealed and hidden in each scene, stars Emily Browning and Arielle Kebbel needed to be very…um…precious.

“I knew there was some kind of twist coming, but I wasn’t sure how they were going to be able to carry it off in the American version,” Browning recently told us of her creepy remake of the South Korean film “A Tale of Two Sisters,” now on DVD. “It made it tricky, because it felt like we were filming two different movies. There was what the audience thought, and what was actually going on.”

We’ve all seen movies with great twists (“The Sixth Sense,” “Fight Club,” “The Others”) and movies with really bad ones (“Stay,” “Basic,” “The Number 23”), and Browning said that the difference between the two is often just a matter of execution. “You want the film’s twist to be believable enough that people can go back, watch the film again and go ‘Oh, I see what’s happening there.’ It’s tricky to try and do both of those things at the same time.”

It was also tricky to work on the day when the script called for Browning’s boyfriend in the film to descend into a physical malformation — requiring a stuntman practiced in the arts of contortionism.

“On that day, there was a contortionist; so all those shots you see of him coming towards me, I was freaked out,” laughed the actress, who has a special place in the hearts of “Twilight” fans as the Bella Swan that never was. “This guy could do this thing where he’d move his heart in his stomach [and you could see it]; it was terrifying.”

Luckily, in order to help create a great movie twist, Browning was willing to watch some painful twisting by her flexible co-star.

What did you think of the twist at the end of “The Uninvited”? And please folks: Keep your thoughts spoilers-free!

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George Romero To Publish Two Original Zombie Novels

According to our horror loving neighbors at Dread Central, George Romero is in the final stages of negotiations with New York publishers, Grand Central Publishing, to bring readers two novels that would take place within the filmmaker’s "Dead" universe.

Considering this deal is still in negotiations it’s probably a little premature to get too invested in the idea of original Romero novel, but I must say the notion is intriguing. The few zombie novels I have read have all been pretty great and maybe some of Romero’s recent ideas that haven’t translated so well on film would be better served in print.

Another thing I should mention is that it sounds unclear as to whether Romero is actually the author of these books or is just presenting them under his banner. We’ll have to get clarification on that. If all goes well, the first book will be released in the summer of 2010.

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Romero’s ‘Night Of The Living Dead’ Gets Re-Animated

George Romero’s ’68 classic Night of the Living Dead has opened itself up to various interpretations due to its "public domain" status – less a blessing, more of a curse as history has taught us (see: Night of the Living Dead 3-D ). The latest stab is Night of the Living Dead: Re-Animated .

This is a "collaborative artistic re-envisioning" of the film featuring international artists and animators who are invited to select their favorite scenes and recreate them through the animated medium of their choice (CG, stop-motion, etc.).

For an example, check out the trailer below. The organizers of this endeavor are still seeking contributions and have extended their deadline to April 24th. For more details, visit NOTLDR.com .

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Exclusive First Look: Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash 2

This just in from slashfilm…DC Comics has provided us with an exclusive first look at the new Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash comic book series from WildStorm. Click on the image above to enlarge to really high resolution. More details on the comic follow after the jump.

FREDDY VS. JASON VS. ASH: THE NIGHTMARE WARRIORS #1
Written by Jeff Katz and James Kuhoric
Art by Jason Craig
Covers by Arthur Suydam

Beneath the bloody waters of Crystal Lake, an immortal evil wakes and begins anew the cycle of grueling violence. Six months after the events of FREDDY VS. JASON VS. ASH, a power-hungry government bureaucrat unleashes the denizens of the Necronomicon ­ including the banished spirit of the Springwood Slasher, Freddy Krueger. But Ash Williams has checked his monster-hunting past at the door. A Chosen One no more, he thinks that a life of domestic bliss and retail tending is his true calling ­ until the ghosts of the past show up to punch his clock again.
The original creative team behind WildStorm and Dynamite Entertainment¹s FREDDY VS. JASON VS. ASH proudly presents the bloody sequel to the sold-out smash horror crossover event! Featuring a triptych cover by Arthur Suydam (Marvel Zombies) to match the triptych cover from the original miniseries. Co-published with Dynamite Entertainment.

On sale June 24 – 1 of 6 – 32 pg, FC, $3.99 US – MATURE READERS

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‘Dead Snow’ Finds U.S. Distribution

Tommy Wirkola’s Norwegian zombie comedy Dead Snow has been acquired by IFC Films for U.S. distribution. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival recently as part of the midnight program this month and has received generally favorable reviews. You’ll find a full synopsis and clips here . We’ll keep you posted when IFC reveals its release plans.

For eight medical students, Easter vacation begins innocently enough. They pack their cars full of ski equipment and enough beer to fuel their escape from everyday life to the snowy, isolated hills outside of Øksfjord, Norway. Once there, they receive a late-night visit from a shady hiker, who tells them a story about Nazi occupation of the area during World War II. After doing their fair share of raping and pillaging, the dreaded battalion faced a brutal and vengeful uprising by the citizens of the town. The soldiers who managed to survive the onslaught, including their dreaded leader Colonel Herzog, were driven into the hills by the angry mob, where they supposedly froze to death, never to be seen again. But if the horror genre has taught us anything, it’s that the raucous behavior and promiscuity of the younger generation always have a way of bringing evil spirits back to life.Director Tommy Wirkola pulls no punches in the carnage department—heads roll, blood flows, and entrails ooze as the young vacationers attempt to make it through the night. Wirkola adeptly utilizes the snow’s eerie and ominous backdrop to its fullest extent while orchestrating this wickedly gory, yet somehow delightful, tale of Nazi zombie terror. Read more

Monsters HD Channel Shutting Down

When the Dish Network dropped all channels owned by VOOM last year, Monsters HD took a hard hit as did its fans. Nearly a year later, the beloved horror channel is being buried six feet under. This message appeared on the channel’s official site . "TV’s first and longest-running hi-def horror and creature feature channel will cease operations and mad experiments this month. Thanks for all the screams and support over the years. Fear not – monsters never die…they always come back!"

Our condolences to those who use to work at Monsters HD. It’s still a shame the horror community does not have a wide-reaching channel to tune in to…

Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com

‘Zombieland’ Update – Casting Call For Zombies In Georgia

Shock Till You Drop has a report on the current status of Woody Harrelson’s zombie-comedy…

WCTV, a CBS affiliate in Georgia, is reporting the Woody Harrelson horror zom-com Zombieland was asking area residents to audition to be the walking dead. Ruben Fleischer is directing the film for Columbia Pictures.

One ShockTillYouDrop.com reader, and aspiring zombie actor, writes in:

“According to the letter/flyer that was handed out to everyone, the movie is going to feature the fast paced zombies that were made famous by 28 Days Later and the Dawn of the Dead remake. They wanted us to move like velociraptors with the crazed look of a rabid dog. It also stated that they are planning on filming in Valdosta from February 9th through the 26th.

Someone behind me in line was saying that they were planning on filming at the local theme park, Wild Adventures.

Upon leaving, I saw the numbers on the casting call paperwork of the people toward the end of the line and there was just over 300 people that showed up by 6:15pm.”

The film is the second high profile horror film moving production into the state next month. Rob Zombie begins lensing Halloween 2 at the end of February in Atlanta.

Zombieland, also starring Jesse Eisenberg, opens October 9th.

Source: ShockTillYouDrop.com

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