Here’s a small selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week…
Luc Besson Found Guilty Of Plagiarising Escape From New York
In a landmark legal ruling, Luc Besson’s story for 2012 film Lockout starring Guy Pearce was found to have plagiarised a number of significant elements from John Carpenter’s Escape From New York resulting in The Fifth Element director being ordered to pay Carpenter and co-writer Nick Castle over half a million dollars.
The similarities were ruled to include a hero that “got into the prison by flying in a glider/space shuttle, had to confront inmates led by a chief with a strange right arm, found hugely important briefcases and meet a former sidekick who then dies” and “at the end (of both films the heroes) keep secret documents recovered during their mission.”
What this ruling will mean for the entire low budget film industry that regularly produce their own versions of successful films will mean remains to be seen, but it’s certainly a game changer.
Santa Slasher Good Tidings Gets Manchester World Premiere
Yes, it’s probably a little early to be talking Christmas, but seasonal stalk and slash movie Good Tidings will be receiving its world premiere at the Starburst International Film Festival held in Manchester, England between 26 and 28 August.
Good Tidings, from filmmaker Stuart W. Bedford and writer/producers Stu Jopia and Giovanni Gentile, tells the tale of a homeless war-veteran with a chequered past who must rely on a side of himself once thought buried when he and his companions are targeted on Christmas Day by three vicious psychopaths in Santa suits.
Classic Horror Films On The Big Screen
Remember the days of double bills at your local cinema? Well for seven weeks in August and September you can relive the sensation as UK Horror Scene and AMC cinema Manchester have announced seven classic horror double-bills over seven Saturdays.
Kicking off with John Carpenter’s The Thing and Prince of Darkness on 13 August the series consists of the following duos:
The Thing & Prince of Darkness.
Evil Dead & Army of Darkness (35mm).
An American Werewolf in London & Return of the Living Dead (35mm).
The Crow (35mm) & The Lost Boys.
Pan’s Labyrinth & Profondo Rosso.
A Nightmare on Elm Street & Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (35mm).
Zombieland & Attack The Block.
Season Six Of American Horror Story May Take Place On Roanoake
Roanoake Island in North Carolina is the home of one of America’s most compelling mysteries which involves the disappearance of an entire colony of people at the end of the sixteenth century.
Rumours abound that the upcoming sixth season of American Horror Story is going to be set on the island, bringing a truly American mystery to the series rather than the somewhat generic locales of the first fives seasons—Hotel, House, Asylum etc. If true, it could be the shot in the arm that the show needs after lacklustre reviews for the last couple of seasons.
Resident Evil 0 HD Remake Tops 1.1 Million Sales
Proving that you can’t keep a good corpse down, Capcom’s HD remake of Resident Evil 0 recently topped sales of 1.1 million proving that as well as huge anticipation for the latest all new instalment of the franchise coming in January 2017, there’s still a lot of love for the other classic games in the core trilogy.
For a fourteen year old game those kind of sales are pretty impressive, and the game itself, a prequel to the events of the original Resident Evil, isn’t too shabby either. Remind yourself how much you loved it back in the day by checking out the HD remake trailer below.
RICHARD COSGROVE
