Movies
News Bites: ‘Gone’ Release, More Details & Casting for ‘American Horror’, ‘Dont Be Afraid of’ These Posters
Summit Entertainment has picked February 24, 2012 as the release date of Heitor Dhalia’s thriller Gone, which stars Amanda Seyfried as “a young woman named Jill who returns home from her night shift to find her sister’s bed empty. She’s convinced the serial killer who kidnapped her two years before has come back to finish the job. But the police do not believe Jill, who knows time is running out. With no one to turn to, she sets off to find her sister and face her abductor once and for all.”
On the TV front, Evan Peters and Taissa Farmiga (both pictured here) are joining Connie Britton and Dylan McDermott in Ryan Murphy’s FX pilot “American Horror Story,” says THR. “The thriller centers on husband and wife Ben (“The Practice” ‘s McDermott) and Vivien Harmon (“Friday Night Lights” ‘ Britton) who move their family from Boston to a haunted San Francisco home in an attempt to rebuild their family after a miscarriage and affair.”
With even more details leaking, Farmiga will play Violet Harmon, the couple’s smart gothic daughter who befriends Tate Langdon (Peters), a handsome and charismatic teen described as a cult leader with movie star looks who isn’t what he seems. Living next door to the Harmons are Constance (Jessica Lange) and her daughter with down syndrome, who knows more about the house than everyone realizes. Denis O’Hare (“True Blood”) also co-stars as Larry the Burn Guy, a former resident of the creepy house.
Lastly, two new pieces of sales art (one from Bloody Disgusting, the other from Fangoria) have leaked for Troy Nixey’s Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, which arrives in theaters August 26 from FilmDistrict (Insidious). The pic follows “Sally (Bailee Madison), a young girl who moves to Rhode Island to live with her father (Guy Pearce) and his new girlfriend (Katie Holmes) in the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. Having stumbled upon the mansion’s hidden basement, Sally starts hearing voices calling out from the bolted ash pit, imploring her to open it. Sally obliges and unwittingly unleashes something so terrible, so unthinkable, that everyone’s life – hers most of all – is placed in immediate and grave danger.”
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
6 Other Experimental Slashers to Watch Before ‘In a Violent Nature’
Party City Releasing Life-Size ‘Terrifier 2’ Art the Clown & Little Pale Girl Animatronics!
‘It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This’ Review – Found Footage Movie Won ‘Best Feature’ at Salem Horror Fest
“Crystal Lake” – A24 Has NOT Pulled the Plug on Their ‘Friday the 13th’ TV Series [Exclusive]
‘The Substance’ – First Look at ‘Revenge’ Director’s Body Horror Movie
