You couldn’t move for vampire movies last year, will 2010 be any different? No!
We have already had Daybreakers and it was pretty good. An interesting twist on vampire movies set in a world where most of the population are now vampires. Written and directed by the Speierig brothers who were responsible for the Australian zombie horror comedy Undead. The great cast includes Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and Sam Neill. It looks prime for a sequel, if they do hopefully the surviving characters will return and be played by the same actors.
30 Days of Night: Dark Days is obviously a follow-up to 30 Days of Night (2007), it retains the main character from the first movie Stella Olemaun, however Melissa George has been replaced by Kiele Sanchez who you may remember as Gina, Timothy Olyphant’s girlfriend in A Perfect Getaway. She also appeared in Lost, although mainly a background character one really good episode centred on her character Nikki and her boyfriend Paulo. Anyway back to the movie; the story relocates to Los Angeles that as far as I am aware doesn’t suffer from 30 Days of Night in the winter. It is directed by Ben Ketai whose previous film was 30 Days of Night: Dust to Dust an online sequel to the original film. I suspect this one is more likely to crop up on DVD than in a cinema anytime soon.
Original 30 Days of Night director David Slade is busy working with glittery vampires on The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. Moving away from the autumn/winter release of the first two movies this one is coming out in the summer with the blockbusters, and why not they have taken shit loads of money. Lets hope it has a bit more bite (bad pun completely intentional) than Chris Weitz lame New Moon. All the main cast are set to return except Rachelle Lefevre whose character Victoria will be played by Bryce Dallas Howard.
Following the success (please note use of sarcasm and irony) of Lost Boys: The Tribe (2008) a third film is on its way. Lost Boys: The Thirst. Corey Feldman returns as Edgar Frog as does Jamison Newlander as his brother Alan Frog. Newlander was in the second movie too, his character not only had to suffer with now being a vampire, but he also had his scenes deleted. Again this will be direct to DVD trash.
Anyone who knows me knows my thoughts on Hollywood remakes of great European and Asian films. That’s why I really don’t want to see what a mess they make of my movie of the year from last year Let the Right One in. Just to prove how original they are they have changed the name to Let Me In (the name the book the original film was based on went under in America). One of the great things about the original movie was the great performances by the two young actors. In the remake the most interesting casting could be of Abby (renamed from Eli in the original) who will be played by Chloe Moretz who you may recognise as Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s young sister in (500) Days of Summer.
Priest is a vampire/western due for release in the summer. Based on a Korean comic book by Hyung Min-woo, I understand the movie is only loosely based on source material. Paul Bettany plays the priest of the title who along with young sheriff (Cam Gigandet in what could be a rare none villainous role) and Maggie Q as a priestess track down a group of vampires who have kidnapped his niece. I know a few fans (especially female ones) are upset that the casting of Gerard Butler fell through but the presence of Maggie Q promises a certain amount of ass-kicking action (she was the best thing about Die Hard 4). Also look out for a rare big screen outing for Mädchen Amick (Shelly Johnson in Twin Peaks). Directed by Scott Stewart, just his second feature, his first Legion also stars Paul Bettany and has just opened in America to mixed reviews and will be released in the UK in a march. This is one of those movies that couple be brilliant or terrible depending on the execution.
Stake Land is directed by Jim Mickle who has real low budget B movie credentials following Mulberry Street (2006). Little has been published about this film but internet rumour suggest it will be a brutal, bloody and violent movie. A couple of notes on the cast, top billing goes to Danielle Harris who appeared in the Rob Zombie Halloween remakes. It also feature Kelly Top Gun McGillis.
The Bleeding also has real B-movie credentials in the shape of Vinnie Jones, Michael Madsen and Armand Assante. It is also the feature début for Katherine von Drachenberg, who I hear you say, Katherine is better known as celebrity tattoo artist extraordinaire Kat Von D. The story features a family of vampires who live in a nightclub in a former chemical weapons factory, when they say family I somehow think they will have more in common with the Manson family than the Cullen’s.
As well as all these there are also numerous TV programs, internet movies and minimal budget B movies.
Other nominations:
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