I feel a little bit like Professor Farnsworth from Futurama when I say this, but “Good news, everyone!” Chasing Ghosts: Beyond the Arcade is coming to Showtime next month. Producer Michael Verrechia emailed me after I wrote the Chasing Ghosts vs. The King of Kong piece to tell me that it had generated a lot of responses. While I can’t claim that I made this deal happen, it’s great to know that people who have been hearing about this movie for almost two years will finally be able to see it. Set your DVRs to “retro” and be sure to watch this and let us know what you think.
Though Universal says they’re still assessing the damage of Sunday’s fire, which destroyed a tape and film print vault/shipping and receiving center, there’s speculation that some of the prints lost may be irreplaceable. “So-called EK prints, struck from the original negatives when the negatives were new and thus irreplaceable, would be among the most valuable prints on Earth.”
Director Craig Gillespie is trying to cast his Lars and the Real Girl star Ryan gosling in The Dallas Buyers Club. Gosling would play a real-life AIDS patient circa 1986 who, “frustrated with the lack of available medical options and unwilling to accept a death sentence, found a lifeline using alternative drugs and created a lucrative smuggling business that made those drugs available.”
The United States of Tara––a TV pilot starring Toni Collette, produced by Steven Spielberg and written by Diablo Cody––has been picked up by Showtime. Cody is expected to write about half of the 12-episode season.
When I was a kid, there were plenty of movies I saw for the first time on HBO. But in the 21st century, I don’t know anyone who watches cable movie channels for their airing of non-first-run feature films. Well, that’s not completely correct; I know a lot of people who really love Turner Classic Movies (myself included), but that’s different. So, what’s the point of Viacom’s new unnamed pay TV channel, which has been all over the news today?
At a time when it seems premium networks like HBO and Showtime are only worth the additional costs because they feature really great original series and movies, those motion pictures that have already played in theaters and have already been available on DVD and other similar ancillaries just don’t seem too appealing. Even HBO’s worth is questionable these days, now that shows like The Sopranos and The Wire are over.
Remember Masters of Horror? The name-brand horror directors anthology series on Showtime that gave birth to Valerie on the Stairs, as well as Joe Dante’s inimitable Homecoming, in which zombie veterans rise from their graves to storm the voting booths? Although Showtime has declined to pick it up for a third season, Masters executive producer Mick Garris and his team have signed a new deal to produce a similar show for NBC. This definitely means the show will attract more eyeballs, and it probably means the producers will have higher budgets, both of which will make luring talent easier. So this is good news for horror fans, right?
Wrong. Film Junk’s Sean writes: “The problem is that a network environment will be extremely limiting for a horror series — blood and gore will have to be borderline non-existent. I suppose there would always be the option for unrated DVD releases afterwards, but I find it hard to believe that the content wouldn’t suffer because of it.”
He may have a point. Take a look at the Homecoming trailer above. It’s a total sanitization of the movie, and I still can’t imagine ever seeing that shot of the guy on the table with the missing legs network TV. For more on Dante’s Homecoming, you must read Grady Hendrix’s Slate piece from December 2005, here.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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Though Universal says they’re still assessing the damage of Sunday’s fire, which destroyed a tape and film print vault/shipping and receiving center, there’s speculation that some of the prints lost may be irreplaceable. “So-called EK prints, struck from the original negatives when the negatives were new and thus irreplaceable, would be among the most valuable prints on Earth.”
