Zombies vs. Vampires: Celebs of the supernatural speak

BY AARON SAGERS

The undead vs. the walking dead: We spoke to celebrities who have built a career around the supernatural about this undying debate ...

John Carpenter, photo by
Thomas Peter Schulz

JOHN CARPENTER

Director, Halloween, Vampires, Big Trouble in Little China

"They're both great. Vampires go way back to when I was a little kid. And back even more to my parent's generation - and back even before them. The zombies are a little more recent. One of my favorite directors and close friends is George Romero and I think he transformed the horror genre with Night of the Living Dead. And it's everywhere today. Everywhere. That movie has influenced everything here, all movies that are made. It's unbelievable – and ripped off and ripped off, again and again and again."

John Carpenter's 'Halloween' Returns to Theaters This October

Michael Myers is coming home again and he'll be making a worldwide visit in theaters all October. Thanks to a partnership between SpectiCast, Compass International Pictures and Trancas International Films, John Carpenter's 1978 classic, Halloween, is being re-released onto over 500 screens at select theaters.

Malek Akkad, producer and son of Halloween's producer, Moustapha Al Akkad stated, “We are delighted to work with SpectiCast to bring this restored and re-mastered version of Halloween to movie screens. We are excited for fans across the globe to experience this film like never before.”

You can click here for a complete list of theaters and showtimes and then check out the trailer below to get you in the mood. The select run starts October 1 and goes through October 31.

-Larissa Mrykalo

'They Live' Naked Makes Consumers Obey in New Way

In "They Live," Nada is there to chew bubble gum and kick ass, and he's all out of bubble gum. But ass? Well, there's actually none of that on display in the "They Live" parody photo shoot at WoodRocket.com, the comedy and adult entertainment website. But there is blue alien flesh.

In the 1988 horror classic from director John Carpenter, Nada (played by Roddy Piper), learns Earth has been invaded by aliens bent on keeping humans in line. How they achieve that goal is through subliminal messages of consumption, obedience and assimilation. But once Piper's ass-kicking hero gets a pair of '80s-tastic sunglasses that allows him to see the alien creatures for what they are -- blue-skinned, veiny and bug-eyed -- well, he starts to get rowdy.

But WoodRocket.com's sense of humor might be spot on to suggest in "They Live naked" that nothing sells better than sex, and the aliens choose to show off a little ET skin to make us "Obey." The photo gallery features models Vuko & Lily Bergman, and was photographed by Chad Duerksen.

It is weird, funny, not safe for work and kinda creepy. We think horror icon Carpenter would approve. All that's missing is some synth music.

-Aaron Sagers

The Killer Guide To 'Halloween'

BY ANDREW PETERS

Thirty five years ago, a low-budget horror film directed by then-relatively unknown director John Carpenter would become a staple in the horror genre and spawn countless clones for years to come.

Its legacy is known worldwide and its killer is iconic. That blank mask with choppy dark hair, shadowing the eyes of the killer behind him that world would come to know (and love) as Michael Myers. Being that it is the Halloween season and the franchise just so happens to be celebrating its 35th Anniversary, we thought we would take a look back at each film and some of the highlights...

Capetown Film Festival breakdown: Mark Hamill, John Carpenter, 'Falling Skies,' 'The Goonies'

Hamill courtesy Syfy

Entertainment Weekly’s first Capetown Film Festival (4/30-5/6) provided some geektacular moments last week.

Namely, a Falling Skies Q&A with key cast members Noah Wyle (Tom), Moon Bloodgood (Anne), Maxim Knight (Matt), and Drew Roy (Hal) along with showrunner, Remi Aubuchon. Also, a screening of Return of the Jedi was followed by a surprise Q&A with Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill. There was even Q&A with John Carpenter, where he talked about The Thing, and one with The Goonies. Read on for more...

John Carpenter's original 'Halloween' receives theatrical re-release

In the Autumn of 1978, a pioneering film changed the horror genre by introducing us to a hulking shape known as Michael Myers, and scream queen Jamie Lee Curtis. John Carpenter's low-budget gem Halloween shocked audiences yet stayed subtle by using minimal blood and left the viewer to use their own imagination. Little did those involved know that the movie they were making would become a classic - even classic enough for a re-release 34 years later.

According to the official press release:

"Screenvision, a national leader in cinema advertising sales, services and content distribution, has teamed up with Compass International Pictures and Trancas International Films to bring John Carpenter’s immortal 1978 classic, Halloween, back to the big screen. This nationwide release, beginning Oct. 25 with select showings through October 31 will be the widest distribution the film has seen since originally shocking audiences in 1978. This cinema scare classic will be presented in a striking, new HD transfer and 5.1 audio."

Viewers will also be treated to a short documentary called You Can't Kill the Bogeyman: 35 Years of Halloween which discusses how the film impacted not only the horror genre but also our culture. Malak Akkad, son of Halloween's late producer, Moustapha Akkad was quoted as saying, "We are thrilled to bring John Carpenter's original Halloween back to the screen after almost 35 years ... We are excited for fans from coast to coast to finally get the ultimate theatrical experience."

The complete list of participating theaters will be released soon. Will you be checking it out? We'd love to hear your thoughts!

-Larissa Mrykalo

Rob Zombie: Heavy metal musician, film buff ... and superbeast?

Rob Zombie is not the devil. At Revolver magazine’s April Golden Gods Awards in Los Angeles, his stage presence was that of a long-haired, bushy-bearded heavy metal headbanger in an inverted pentagram goat’s head tee, but the man speaking now is a calm, soft-spoken optimist and vegetarian.  Although he’s a musician who has added director, illustrator and comic book creator to his resume over the years, he’s more likely to be rejected by the devil than to become a Superbeast. Still, Rob Zombie is a hell of an entertainer.

It’s an exercise of multimedia calisthenics to speak with Zombie about work. Aside from his Halloween franchise reboot and its sequel, or the animated “adult/monster/sex comedy” The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, Zombie is involved in no less than five projects he can talk about. When he picks up the phone in late March, he’s prepping for his “Gruesome Twosome” tour with another theatrical hard rocker Alice Cooper that ran for almost two weeks at the end of April, after which he’ll tour with the Mayhem Festival until August. His February album, Hellbilly Deluxe 2 – the sequel to his 1998 solo album – is still a hot topic, as is the March episode of CSI: Miami he directed and a new comic book, Whatever Happened to Baron Von Shock.