Red Velvet Screening at LosCon36 - 11/27 (8:30 PM)
The Marriott Los Angeles Airport
5855 West Century Boulevard,
Los Angeles, California 90045 USA

Whenever a woman criticizes a man’s lust, aggression, shallowness or any other lesser angel of his personality, the quick-witted fellow can point to the millions of women addicted to the base, insipid, bad-boy-worshiping, misogynist syrup so many female viewers of all ages knelt to this past weekend, when The Twilight Saga: New Moon raked in $147 million at the box office, setting several records.

Continued at BSPCN.

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Look out! The robots are coming to take your job away
For as long as anyone can remember, the Tokyo International Robot Exhibition has been a showcase for Japan at its wackiest: stern industrial machines lurked backstage as waltzing, noodle-making or ping-pong playing humanoids stole the limelight.

In recessionary 2009, however, with Japanese industry writhing in pain, the national robot obsession has turned deadly serious. For the first time, the show explains exactly how the machines are going to take over.

Continued at TimesOnline.

Writing on his official website, Wendy Dio said the former Rainbow and Black Sabbath singer was in the early stages of the illness.

In a letter accepting the invitation to help promote the 2010 Festival, Lamberson noted that "I'd like to thank BIFF's organizers for inviting me to share in this experience, and all of the volunteers who work so hard to make this event a success. It's my pleasure to welcome filmmakers and attendees to the Fifth Annual Beloit International Film Festival, and a true honor to have been selected as this year's honorary Chair.

"Film festivals offer a unique opportunity for people of all stripes to celebrate the universal medium of film, and to see many works of varying lengths, genres and tones from around the world in a friendly, communal environment. This may be your only chance to see many of these films and to engage the artists who created them."

The internationally known filmmaker attended BIFF in 2008 where he conceived of the sequel and engaged other filmmakers in the project. He was struck by the "outpouring of support from the Beloit community and the appreciation it fostered among the visiting filmmakers. It was, quite honestly, the best festival I have attended."

The original Slime City premiered in 1988 and has played as a midnight movie in New York City for decades. It has been released on VHS and DVD four times in the U.S. and licensed around the world. Whereas Slime City was strictly a low budget, "grindhouse" styled tale about demonic possession in an apartment building, Lamberson had loftier ambitions for its sequel.

"Slime City Massacre is a celebration of 1970s science fiction films, gooey 1980s horror films, and 1990s action films, held together by a sense of the world that could only exist in this decade. My goal was to make a fun film with a serious subtext and a lot of surprises."

Lamberson will be on hand at the launch party and at all the major events to welcome film lovers. Joining him will be members of the cast and production team. Some of those anticipated to be on hand are newcomer Jennifer Bihl and horror author Kealan Patrick Burke, as well as cult actors Debbie Rochon (who has starred in over 170 feature films), Lee Perkins, and scream queen Brooke Lewis. The film also reunites Robert Sabin and Mary Bogle, stars of the original film, and features appearances by Roy Frumkes, who wrote and produced the cult classic Street Trash and Troma Entertainment founder Lloyd Kaufman

Beloit's Robert Tomaro, who composed the score for the original Slime City and appears in the sequel, will be on hand to discuss his experiences.

"Greg Lamberson has a huge international following," commented BIFF Executive Director Rod Beaudoin. "As honorary chair, he follows in some major international footsteps of previous honorary chairs including filmmaker and jewelry designer Robert Lee Morris and producer and director Steve McEveety. We know Greg will attract audiences and add excitement to the Festival."

Prior to Slime City Massacre, Lamberson wrote and directed three cult horror films: Slime City, Undying Love, and Naked Fear; all three of them were re-released on DVD in 2009 as Greg Lamberson's Slime City Grindhouse Collection. Lamberson is also the author of two award-winning novels, Johnny Gruesome and Personal Demons, and one instructional filmmaking book: CHEAP SCARES! Low Budget Horror Filmmakers Share Their Secrets. His website is SlimeGuy.com.

Continued at SlashFilm.

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Sam Worthington Travels to the Future Again With Sci-Fi Thriller 'Crime'
Looks like someone's gunning to be the next big sci-fi/fantasy icon, judging from a recent report by Mania. After having blasted his way through last summer's TERMINATOR: SALVATION and James Cameron's upcoming AVATAR,' not to mention slicing off heads in next year's CLASH OF THE TITANS remake, 33-year-old Aussie actor Sam Worthington has signed on to co-star in the movie version of Rick Remender's upcoming three-part Radical Comics miniseries THE LAST DAYS OF AMERICAN CRIME...

Continued at Moviefone.

Continued at NYDailyNews.

ALSO

Homemade horror
Produced for $15,000. Filmed in the director’s own home. Championed by the people. PARANORMAL ACTIVITY has become the the most profitable film ever at the world box-office. The movie’s quietly-scary director Oren Peli tells DONALD CLARKE how public screaming at a public screening convinced DreamWorks to give it a major release.

Continued at IrishTimes.

WITHIN is the feature debut of African-American female director Hanelle M. Culpepper, a rarity in the horror world. It was shot in and around the Los Angeles area in a mere 20 days – an extremely fast shoot considering the leads were 9 years old. “They say never work with children and animals, yet I find myself constantly drawn to projects starring kids” says Culpepper who also directed the award-winning short “Six and the City,” a spoof of “Sex and the City” with six-year-olds .

“The amount of hours you have on set with kids is very limited, so every day we found ourselves pushing to make our day. It makes you more inventive which is always good for a director. But Mia and Sammi (Sammi Hanratty who plays Michelle) were both so wonderful to work with and delivered stellar work. It’s why I keep working with kids!”

To prepare for the film, Culpepper conducted extensive research including talking with a psychic who warned her of bad spirits being around the set. “We all know the Poltergeist curse, so it did freak me out a bit,” says Culpepper. Indeed the shoot was not without its issues – an actress broke her arm, the authorities withdrew a permit at the last minute, not to mention the usual challenges any low-budget shoot encounters. However, overall it was a fun set with pranks constantly being played by the actors and crew. The young leads were the ringleaders.

WITHIN has been well-received by festival audiences in both in Los Angeles and Strasbourg, France. At the Big Bear Horror Film Festival, it won Outstanding Feature Film. Both Mia Ford and Sammi Hanratty were nominated for Best Actress by the Strasbourg International Film Festival.

WITHIN will screen at the 36th Annual Loscon on Friday, November 27th at 6pm. The convention is being held at the LAX Marriott. Hanelle Culpepper, Mia Ford and Sammi Hanratty will be in attendance for a panel. The trailer for WITHIN can be seen at www.within-themovie.com. For tickets, contact Hillview 798 Productions LLC at hillview798@gmail.com.

Events include a Kick-off Gala at BLVD (Spring & Bowery) on the 18th at 8 p.m. This year's Lifetime Achievement Award goes to William Lustig, whose 1980 grindhouse classic Maniac will be presented in all its glory. The feature films offered this year in the 8th annual NYCHFF are:

Continued at Seattle PI.

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Horror-drama wins big in Cinema One
MANILA, Philippines — The role of a religious fanatic who is also suspected of being an aswang in the horror-drama flick “Wanted: Border” won for Rosanna Roces the Best Actress trophy in the 2009 Cinema One Originals Digital Film Festival awards ceremony on Sunday night at the Dolphy Theater of the ABS-CBN compound in Quezon City.

Continued at Inquirer.net.

PLUS

'Halloween II' Arrives on DVD January 12, 2010
You can bring home Rob Zombie's latest horror film in DVD and Blu-ray early next year. "Halloween II" will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on January 12, 2010 from The Weinstein Company. The standard DVD will be priced at $28.96 SRP and the Blu-ray will cost $38.96 SRP. The film did moderately successful at the box-office, but nowhere near as good as the first. Could this be because both movies totally sucked? Actually, the second was all that bad and considerably better than the first, but still, Rob Zombie needs to realize fast that filmmaking just isn't in his genes. Read on to see what features will be included on the DVD.

Continued at ReelEmpire.

ALSO

After Dark Horrorfest 2010: seven out of eight films selected
For three years now the After Dark Horrorfest has been bringing together some of the best independent horror that would otherwise go largely unnoticed. The next Horrorfest kicks off January 29th, 2010 across the country, and so far they’ve selected seven out of the eight films they’ll feature. Read on to find a quick synopsis of each film, as many trailers as we could pull together, and a gallery of stills.

Continued at Examiner.