Movies
Grudge Director Enjoys 3-D Amusement Park ‘Shock Labyrinth’
Asmik Ace Entertainment has unveiled details of Japan’s first live-action digital 3D feature, The Shock Labyrinth, which The Grudge director Takashi Shimizu started shooting earlier this week, reports Screen Daily. Beyond the break you’ll find all of the details on this new horror-thriller that finally breaks Shimizu from the curse.
Yuya Yagira, who won best actor at Cannes 2004 for Nobody Knows, heads the cast of hot young Japanese actors which also includes Misako Renbutsu (The Inugamis), Ryo Katsuji (Hana), Ai Maeda (Battle Royale), Erina Mizuno and Suzuki Matsuo.
Based on an original screenplay by Daisuke Hosaka, the horror-thriller follows a group of teenagers dealing with the sudden return of a friend who went missing a decade ago. When the friend falls ill, they take her to a hospital but end up trapped in a labyrinthine haunted house.
The film’s central setting is inspired by the Labyrinth of Horrors attraction at Fuji-Q High Land amusement park, near the base of Mount Fuji. The attraction set the Guinness world record for the largest haunted house in the world. Much of the film is being shot on location during the park’s off hours.
The Shock Labyrinth is produced by Satoru Ogura of production house Ogura Jimusyho and Asmik Ace’s Masayuki Tanishima and Dai Miyazaki.
Shimizu previously directed J-horror titles Ju-on and Juon 2 and their US remakes The Grudge and The Grudge 2.
“I am extremely thrilled to be working with the horror giant Shimizu on his first 3D project. This project is inspired by amusement park attractions, like Pirates Of The Caribbean and HauntedMansion, but it is not only that. We are literally shooting the film inside the actual horror house and it will be delivered earlier than James Cameron’s Avatar,” said Tanishima.
Asmik Ace will distribute the film in Japan this October and is also handling international sales.
Movies
“Crystal Lake”: Kevin Williamson and Bryan Fuller Planned an “Hour Long Chase Episode”
We learned earlier this week that “Hannibal” creator Bryan Fuller is no longer the showrunner of A24 and Peacock’s Friday the 13th TV series “Crystal Lake,” with A24 choosing to “go a different way with the material.” What does that mean? It means A24 is still planning on bringing a Friday the 13th series to life, but the overall vision will likely change.
Kevin Williamson (Scream, Sick) had been on board to write an episode of the “Crystal Lake” series, and Williamson took to Twitter today to tease some of those original plans.
Williamson writes, “Bummin’ hard, so sorry I won’t be a part of what would have been an epic Bryan Fuller show. Your pilot was so beautifully realized. A gorgeous portrait of a mother unraveling in her grief. Not to mention bloody horrific!”
He adds, “I was so looking forward to our hour long chase episode!“
Kevin Williamson is of course known for writing incredible slasher movie chase sequences, including the ones seen in the original Scream and Scream 2, as well as I Know What You Did Last Summer and last year’s Sick. It’s hard not to imagine how cool an hour-long Friday the 13th chase episode could be in Williamson’s hands, but alas, it’s not happening anymore.
The silver lining? Williamson is directing the next installment in the Scream franchise.
The director of Cube, Splice and several episodes of “Hannibal,” Vincenzo Natali also took to Twitter this weekend to give us a taste of the “Crystal Lake” series we’ll never see.
Natali tweets, “I have read the first two episodes. Bryan Fuller’s Crystal Lake was well on its way to becoming another Hannibal-level reinvention that was simultaneously beautiful, sad, poetic, funny and horrifying. I mourn its passing.”
A24 and Peacock are now searching for a new showrunner for the series. Stay tuned.
Peacock had given the project a straight-to-series order in 2022, with “Crystal Lake” being described as an “expanded prequel” to the original Friday the 13th franchise featuring both Jason Voorhees and his mother, Pamela Voorhees. Original Friday the 13th final girl Adrienne King had even signed on for a recurring role in the planned A24 television series.
Bummin’ hard, so sorry I won’t be a part of what would have been an epic Bryan Fuller show. Your pilot was so beautifully realized. A gorgeous portait of a mother unraveling in her grief. Not to mention bloody horrific! I was so looking forward to our hour long chase episode!
— Kevin Williamson (@kevwilliamson) May 11, 2024
I have read the first two episodes. @BryanFuller’s Crystal Lake was well on its way to becoming another Hannibal-level reinvention that was simultaneously beautiful, sad, poetic, funny and horrifying. I mourn its passing. https://t.co/ob0kF4MQHM
— Vincenzo Natali (@Vincenzo_Natali) May 11, 2024