The Misadventures of The Horror Chick

Review: JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (2012

2012-02-09T18:41:00.000-08:00

Starring Dwayne Johnson, Josh Hutcherson, Michael Caine, Vanessa Hudgens, Luis Guzman

Directed by Brad Peyton

Let's just go ahead and get this over with right from the start:

No, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is not a horror movie at all and yes, the reason we're covering it is because of our unabashed love for Dwayne Johnson (and his "Pec Pop of Love"- but more on that later), Jules Verne and an adventure featuring crazy oversized lizards and insects in spectacular eye-popping 3D. If you're looking for something more on the sinister side, then perhaps this review is not for you.

That being said, let's get on with our review of Journey 2!

Directed by Brad Peyton and starring Johnson (who the millions- and millions- lovingly refer to as "The Rock" anytime he steps in the squared circle), former Nickelodeon star Josh Hutcherson and the always delightful Michael Caine, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is absolutely 100 percent intended for younger audiences but still manages to be pretty darn entertaining for the adults too, as long as you go in prepared for a family-friendly action adventure flick.

At the start of Journey 2, 17-year-old troubled adventurer Sean (Hutcherson) receives a distress signal in Morse code that he suspects is his lost grandfather (Caine) who is trying to reveal to his grandson the location of the mythical Mysterious Island, made famous by writer Jules Verne in his 1874 novel. Since Sean's the same kid from the original flick, you can bet he's ready to head off for some adventure much to the chagrin of Sean's mother (a wonderfully underused Kristin Davis) and his "guardian" Hank (Johnson), who has been struggling to connect with his stepson since he came he married into his family (as you may guess, this will be a theme that pops up throughout the flick).

Hank wants to bond with Sean and thinks the trip might just do the job; so with a haphazard plan in mind, Sean, Hank and tour guides Gabato (Luis Guzman) and Kailani (Vanessa Hudgens) are all soon thrust into an unimaginable world that’s as outlandish and spectacular as it is bewildering and dangerous.

Co-written by cousins Brian and Mark Gunn (who are also related to the uber-talented James Gunn), Journey 2- to its credit- is thankfully a family film which doesn't seem to pander to the idea that kids these days are dumb. But it also doesn't feel the need to fully explain its characters' motives and hasty decisions either and lays on the schmaltz factor pretty thick as well which is pretty much what you'd expect going into a movie made for audiences with limited attention span. Smartly though, Journey 2 goes against the grain and instead of going the tried and true 'narrative' route, the movie uses an abundance of spectacular effects (catered to the 3D technology the movie was created with), adrenaline-fueled (yet ultimately never life-threatening enough to freak the youngsters out) action scenes and a whole lot of Guzman going full-on hammy jokester mode to fill in the gaps of the story.

And while Peyton's Journey 2 essentially feels like the cinematic equivalent of ingesting two dozen Pixie sticks and then riding a roller coaster for 94 minutes, somehow it manages to strangely work, hiding the mundane script and desperately thin character development deep within the wonders of the Mysterious Island just long enough for audiences to forget the flaws and lose themselves along the way.

The performances in Journey 2 are all decent enough especially since the material really isn't there for any of the talented players to elevate their work in any way. Caine plays the grandfather role here on the silly and zany side and perhaps anywhere else it would make me cringe more to see the acclaimed actor don a motorcycle jacket for a lame joke but it's clear that Caine knew what he was signing up for with Journey 2 and just enjoys the silliness of the role with a twinkle in his eye.

As someone who relishes anything featuring Johnson in it, he does a pretty decent job with what is essentially Brendan Fraser's sloppy seconds (not sure why he didn't return but frankly, give me the "Brahma Bull" over "Encino Man" any day) and clearly has a lot of fun with his role as struggling stepdad Hank. He's charming as ever and of course the real reason anyone over 18 is showing up for Journey 2 is to see his "Pec Pop of Love" which is sublimely giggle-inducing.

And while I'm definitely biased in my opinion, the facts don't lie- no matter what movie or franchise it is, Johnson makes any project he's involved with infinitely more interesting whenever he's onscreen. He elevated the Fast Five franchise right when it was in jeopardy of going into retread territory; after a horrendous original movie that pissed off countless fans who grew up in the 80s, suddenly G.I. Joe 2 is one of the must-see movies of the 2012 summer and once again- Journey 2, the sequel no one asked for and most people didn't even know was coming until about a month ago, is far better than it has any right to be.

While millions of his fans have always known that Johnson has a rather unique star power (imagine Jason Statham doing a kids flick), it seems like finally Hollywood is catching on and using that thousand-watt grin and endless charisma for some good finally and while of course I always prefer to see Johnson in more serious fare, he managed to make Journey 2 entertaining for this overgrown kid at heart.

In terms of eye candy, Journey 2 looks amazing; the colors, the visual effects and the 3D are all stunning and I must admit, experiencing the adventure of Journey 2 in IMAX was pretty damn breathtaking. If you can't afford the hefty ticket price of 3D and IMAX, go with just 3D then; it's definitely worth the two extra bucks (there's one particular scene with sharks that felt like an homage to Jaws that left me chuckling) if you can swing.

So despite its numerous cringe-inducing moments and a slew of unbearably inane jokes (most coming from the usually stellar Guzman), Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is a definitely a fun time to be had for parents with young kids; thanks to a wealth of thrilling action sequences, children will no doubt remain highly entertained throughout and thankfully there's enough fun to be had during the adventure so that adults won't be bored out of their skulls either.

Hardened horror fans should know for themselves whether they're up for this kind of a movie or not.

Rating:

3 out of 5

Review: The Dead (Blu-Ray)

2012-02-09T02:54:00.000-08:00

Starring Rob Freeman, Prince David Osei

Directed by Howard J. Ford and Jon Ford

The zombie subgenre of horror is as relentless as the undead masses themselves; just when you think the zombie wave of entertainment is over, a whole new batch pops up stumbling right towards you. At the lead of this newest pack is THE DEAD by the directing duo of brothers Howard J. Ford and Jon Ford. There's no doubt that there have been countless zombie flicks to be released since George A. Romero's original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and while it's definitely hard these days to offer up anything original in the way of undead masses wanting to feed on the living.

Thankfully THE DEAD does manage to give fans a viewpoint of the zombie apocalypse they've never seen before by taking them to the continent of Africa as the Ford Brothers use the spectacular African landscapes to elevate the story above the evident budgetary restrictions they faced while shooting on the unforgiving terrain. And while the filmmakers do everything they can to give fans something new with THE DEAD, they never quite break free of the formula thereby limiting the film's potential for greatness.

THE DEAD brings together a white American engineer (Rob Freeman) and a native African soldier (Ghana-born star Prince David Osei), who's left his regiment in order to search for his son who has gone missing after his village is slaughtered by zombies. This sets up a road movie that covers the usual zombie-flick agenda that we've come to expect: bickering, survival heroics, team building gory kills, sacrifice and while as a horror fan you usually relish these things more, THE DEAD takes a more serious route here by including a very subtle geopolitical undertone of the undead as a metaphor for the starving and diseased Africans who continuously meet a gruesome fate by guilty parties that are both white and black.

Shot on 35mm film, the Ford Brothers make the most of the unusual zombie movie setting, creating generally thrilling action set pieces in THE DEAD without ever needing to rely on expensive effects and they also successfully manage to evoke a haunting and withered atmosphere throughout the film. The locations in Burkina Faso and Ghana are remarkable even when they're being ravaged by dead-eyed zombies and in terms of gore, the make-up effects in THE DEAD are gleefully gory right from the start which should no doubt please the zombiephiles out there.

The one downside to the Ford Brothers approach with THE DEAD is that it felt like the filmmakers felt a bit too trapped by many of the traditional conventions of the classic zombie film and never really tried to make their own indelible mark with their efforts (location aside). The movie also features some gimmicky editing and a lot of shots in- neither of which it needed.

It's clear that both actors- Freeman and Osei- gave their all to their performances but unfortunately it's only Osei who manages to be convincing in THE DEAD by underplaying his character's inner pain and outer bravura during his desperate search for his son. Freeman plays his role with a lot of panicky emotion which I think muddles the flick's point of view a bit.

If you've seen a few dozen or so zombie flicks in your day, you may find the continual string of "close calls" our protagonists experience begin to wear out their welcome and despite a bit of a lag in the third act, THE DEAD does some good work by including some inventive and entertaining moments that makes the movie more than something we've seen time and time again.

In terms of the Blu-ray presentation of THE DEAD, the picture and sound quality is stellar and just about as stunning as you'd imagine the wild terrain of Africa would be in high definition. The only exception to that is that there's an insane amount of grain in the airplane scene at the beginning of the flick that is incredibly distracting where all you can focus on are the black and green flecks of grain everywhere. For special features, we get an insightful audio commentary by the Ford Brothers (seriously, you can't even imagine what they went through making THE DEAD) that is definitely worth checking out. There's also a pretty stellar behind the scenes featurette as well as a deleted scene which were all nice additions to the home release of the film by Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Overall, THE DEAD hearkens back to a simpler time in zombie movies which ultimately is its saving grace; while we don't necessarily get offered up anything new in the film, the Ford Brothers have crafted a pretty remarkable flick on a very modest production budget and by taking viewers to Africa, the filmmaking duo have demonstrated that there are still unique zombie stories to tell, even after 43 years of the undead gracing the big screen. THE DEAD is not without its flaws but definitely rises above most of them and should no doubt keep those fans of the undead out there chomping at the bit over this remarkable slice of indie horror goodness.

Rating:

Movie- 3 out of 5

Special Features- 3.5 out of 5

FROM THE VAULT: Why DRACULA 2000 Doesn't Completely Bite

2012-02-06T20:31:00.000-08:00

Starring Gerard Butler, Christopher Plummer, Justine Waddell, Jonny Lee Miller, Omar Epps, Jennifer Esposito

Directed by Patrick Lussier

DRACULA 2000 is a movie that I definitely struggle with my love for it; there are a lot of great things at work in co-writer/director Patrick Lussier's inaugural theatrical film project but at the end of the day you have a horror movie trying too hard to be THE MATRIX and a frustratingly miscast lead actress that has zero chemistry with anyone in the flick, which considering the talent and charisma of her co-stars seems nearly impossible. There's so much squandered potential in the film that it just hurts my horror-loving heart to consider just what 'could've been' had the stars completely aligned on the Wes Craven produced project.

But overall though, when you look past the flaws, modern horror fans who enjoy their genre films with a bit of action on the side should be able to appreciate DRACULA 2000 as the moderately successful attempt to revitalize the vampire genre for modern audiences that may not necessarily scare but will definitely keep you entertained.

At the beginning of DRACULA 2000, we learn that Dracula (Gerard Butler) is real and not just a literary figure like we've been led to believe all these years. As it turns out, for the last 100 years or so antiquities dealer Abraham Van Helsing (Christopher Plummer) has kept the 'vampire of all vampires' locked away in a maximum security vault while trying to find new ways to kill the undying menace. But when high-tech thief Marcus (Omar Epps) and his gang breaks into Van Helsing's building and steals Dracula's coffin, thinking there's money inside, Van Helsing pursues the missing coffin with the help of Simon (Jonny Lee Miller), an employee at Van Helsing's company who has become somewhat of an adopted son to the old man.

DRACULA 2000 then transports us from London to New Orleans where Mardi Gras is in full swing and we are introduced to a troubled young woman named Mary (Justine Waddell) who is suffering from terrible nightmares. It's soon revealed that not only is Mary Van Helsing's estranged daughter (he's in his 100s, she's in her 20s so you do the math… but whatever) and that through some strange revelations Mary finds out that she has some of Dracula's blood coursing through her veins. It's this blood that has attracted Dracula to Mary, and besides invading her dreams the bloodsucker wants to possess her since she's the only one who will ever fully understand him, both being born with vampire blood in their veins.

Now it's up to Simon and Abraham to save Mary from the world's most popular bloodsucker before she's lost under Dracula's spell forever.

To its credit, DRACULA 2000 takes the centuries-old Bram Stoker Dracula mythos and gives it a fantastically clever modern spin on a story we've seen adapted for film countless times. The re-invented history of Van Helsing and Dracula is quite good here and some of the other homages/twists on why Dracula is immortal manage to be some highly effective material for horror fans.

Lussier's casting in DRACULA 2000 is a pretty incredible talent pool assembled for the modern vampire tale. Christopher Plummer makes for a very intriguing Van Helsing and plays the role with a quiet and noble restraint, balancing nicely against the more comedic roles featured in the film. Jonny Lee Miller, who has always been a favorite actor of mine since HACKERS (Crash Override Rules!), makes a good heir to Plummer's vampire hunter and provides a lot of great charm and wit, giving DRACULA 2000 a bit of a tension-lightener whenever the film starts to take itself too seriously.

Butler, well before he became Mr. "This is Sparta!" for Zack Snyder in the 2006 flick 300, turns in solid work in DRACULA 2000 and the rest of the cast all manage within their screentime well as well. We get a proverbial who's who of modern movies (and television as well) with appearances by Jennifer Esposito, Omar Epps, Danny Masterson, Sean Patrick Thomas, Nathan Fillion (!!), Jeri Ryan, Shane West and Lochlyn Munro- seriously, who wasn't in this movie?

However, it's our lead heroine that is truly DRACULA 2000's fatal flaw- Justine Waddell- who we must endure as the uninteresting lead suffers from too much moping, internal anguish and ill-fitting pants (seriously, pay close attention to her waist band throughout) to ever do much except annoy viewers. Of course, the character being thinly-developed is also at play so it's not entirely Waddell's fault but throughout most of the movie she has this blank stare which pretty much sums up my opinion on her performance in DRACULA 2000.

The other huge issue surrounding DRACULA 2000 is that the movie feels like Lussier was striving for more of an action flick than ever wanting to make a horror movie since his story and approach offers up very little in the scares department. There's clearly a MATRIX influence all of the film as well- from the long trench coats to the wire work stunts and even down to the 'sunglasses while kicking ass' look some of the characters- that actually cheapens the look of the film to me. There's a lot of great eye candy (meaning: aesthetics and hot chicks with cleavage aplenty) as well but overall, Lussier should have tried to find a way to balance his scares better with his action (a la BLADE).

At the end of the day, DRACULA 2000 isn't the worst vampire movie I've ever seen but it's certainly not on my top five vampire movies list either. Had an untested at the time Lussier taken more care with his story and cast a compelling lead for the film, perhaps DRACULA 2000 would have fared better. It's definitely worth noting that not only was this film profitable for Dimension but has also spawned two sequels (both also helmed by Lussier) since its release which proves that there are a lot of viewers out there who, like myself, can overlook the flaws in DRACULA 2000 and enjoy the film for what it is: a mindless, entertaining romp with a lot of great performances, homages and features a then up-and-coming Butler before he became all mega-sexified in 300.

Holliston's Adam Green and Joe Lynch to Appear at Chicago Fear Fest this April

2012-02-06T16:48:00.000-08:00

Back in December we told you about the first-ever Chicago Fear Fest taking place this upcoming April. A collaboration among Flashback Weekend, the Horror Society, Sinister Visions and Zombie Army Productions, the inaugural Fear Fest celebrates all things indie horror at the beautiful Muvico Theaters in Rosemont, Illinois from April 13th through 14th.

Recently Chicago Fear Fest announced two of its first celebrity guests for the upcoming festival- none other than Adam Green and Joe Lynch, who definitely know a thing or two about indie filmmaking. The duo, as well as producer Sarah Elbert, will be on hand all weekend to showcase their latest project, "Holliston," a new horror comedy series set to debut on FEARnet on Tuesday, April 3rd.

There are also plans in the works for a Hatchet related event that weekend so fans will no doubt want to stay tuned for more info on that when it's announced down the road.

For more information about the festival and for film submission, visit the official Chicago Fear Fest website, "like" Chicago Fear Fest on Facebook, and follow Chicago Fear Fest on Twitter.

Exclusive Video Interview: Co-writer/Director Ben Wheatley on Kill List, The ABC's of Death and More

2012-02-06T00:11:00.000-08:00

After a successful festival run which included a premiere during the 2011 SxSW Film Festival last March and stops at other prestigious fests like AFI and Toronto, co-writer and director Ben Wheatley's latest feature film Kill List finally arrived in limited theaters last week courtesy of IFC Films (the flick is also currently available on VOD if you can't see it on the big screen).

In honor of its theatrical release, Dread Central caught up with Wheatley last Friday for a quick chat on the mysteries of Kill List and heard more from the filmmaker about collaborating with his cast, the dualities of human nature, inventing an entire religion and more about the secrets of the controversial movie.

Wheatley also briefly chatted about his contribution for the upcoming horror anthology The ABC's of Death as well as why he's taking a brief break from the world of horror to work on a dark comedy next that's centered on the world of serial killers.

Check out our video interview with Wheatley below and make sure to check out Kill List now that IFC has released the movie via VOD and in selected theaters nationwide.

Review: KILL LIST

2012-02-05T18:14:00.000-08:00

Starring Neil Maskell, Michael Smiley, MyAnna Buring, Harry Simpson

Directed by Ben Wheatley

KILL LIST is definitely one of those divisive "love it or hate it" flicks which seems to be the specialty of co-writer/director Ben Wheatley. His previous efforts, the 2009 "kitchen sink" drama DOWN TERRACE, was another one of those "you have to see it to believe it" movies and with his latest, Wheatley proves that whether you like his work or not, he's playing by his own rules regardless and no matter what you think of his effort, there's no denying he's got an unforgettable storytelling style that will haunt you long after you finish his films.

In KILL LIST, we meet former soldier Jay (Neil Maskell) whose life is slowly spiraling out of control. Eight months after losing his job, he's suffering from depression and finding it hard to provide for his hot-headed wife Shel (MyAnna Buring) and young son Sam (Harry Simpson). No longer able to handle the pressure and the vicious fights with his wife, Jay reaches his breaking point and turns to friend Gal (Michael Smiley) for help and accepts his partner’s offer to join him as a hitman, earning great money while picking off various odd targets they're assigned by a mysterious client.

At first, Jay seems to enjoy his new line of work a bit too much but once he uncovers that there's a greater evil in play, that curiosity begins to consume him and soon both Jay and Gal find themselves mixed up into something so outrageously sinister that threatens to overtake them both. Saying anything further about what unfurls in KILL LIST would no doubt spoil a lot of what makes this such a wickedly weird little flick but suffice to say, if enjoy your indie horror with a heaping scoop of strange, you may enjoy what Wheatley and co-writer Amy Jump have cooked up here.

The performances are all strong in KILL LIST and Wheatley is undoubtedly a talented filmmaker but the biggest problems that keep his latest movie from being the knockout it should have been is that there's really no reasoning given to viewers as to why his story goes the way it goes and frankly, by the third act I was so confused by the sudden story switch-up Wheatley throws at us that I really didn't care much either. I'm all for crazy weird endings but you have to have a reason or a throughline to get audiences there and simply put, KILL LIST doesn't have either one.

KILL LIST makes it incredibly hard to discuss without giving too much away but I'll leave you with these final thoughts- if you're on the fence as to whether or not you should check out KILL LIST, I'd recommend strongly seeing it at least once because despite all its flaws, Wheatley's film is still some powerful and unforgettable stuff- although maybe not for all the reasons the filmmaker was hoping for when he originally conceived the story with co-writer Jump. It's a powerful yet challenging and uneven film that should be on the top of the list of flicks that indie horror aficionados need to check out this year, if only to experience the completely lunacy that is Wheatley's KILL LIST for yourself.

Rating:

3 out of 5

Review: CHRONICLE (2012)

2012-02-03T03:50:00.000-08:00

Starring Michael B. Jordan, Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael Kelly, Ashley Hinshaw

Directed by Josh Trank

As far as debut feature films go, director Josh Trank has set the bar incredibly high with his efforts on Chronicle which crash lands in theaters this weekend like a breath of fresh air that should hopefully silence many of the found footage naysayers out there who argue that there's nothing compelling about the technique as a storytelling device. In fact, Chronicle somehow manages to defy the odds while blending together two very basic and well-worn cinematic concepts (super hero and found footage flicks) with exhilarating and often jaw-dropping results.

In Chronicle, we meet social outcast Andrew Detmer (DeHaan) who is dealing with a whole mess of problems- he's regularly bullied at high school, his mother is dying and Andrew's abusive alcoholic father (Kelly) can't afford the medical bills so he takes his frustrations out on his son during violent outbursts. The only way Andrew can deal with the pain is by filming his whole life with a new camera, thereby detaching himself from the rest of the world while he hides behind the lens.

One night at a random house party, our sullen protagonist's life changes forever when he, his cousin Matt (Russell) and social butterfly and aspiring politician Steve (Jordan) discover a mysterious hole in the ground, and go inside for a closer look; and as you can imagine, that's when Chronicle really takes off.

From there on out, the movie uses the universal superhero template to tell Andrew's story; we see how the awkward shy kid that life usually takes a dump on comes to discover that he may possibly be the most powerful being in the world and through his new kinship with Matt and Steve, it looks like poor Andrew might just be able to find some happiness after all. We see the three friends explore their powers through a series of hilarious tests (dancing teddy bears in toy stores, moving parked cars at the mall, flying around in the clouds and dodging planes) but as the three young men's powers grow stronger, not everything goes to plan and like Harvey Dent said in The Dark Knight- "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

Soon enough, the trio of friends begin to struggle with just how far they should take their newfound powers and as a rift starts to build between them, Chronicle takes some dark turns in the third act, eventually building to a stunning and deadly showdown between good and evil. And while the set-up of Chronicle's final fight sequence may seem rather derivative if you've ever seen a superhero movie in your life, Trank smartly plays on that and throws viewers into some terrifying camera perspectives which heightens everything beyond anything you've ever experienced from a 'final showdown' between hero and supervillain ever before.

With Chronicle telling the story from Andrew’s camera’s perspective for the most part, it makes the found-footage aspect of the movie work and when you add special abilities into the mix, that allows for a lot more camera freedom that you don't often see in this subgenre (camera freedom). We also get a lot of the third act of Chronicle shown to us through various other formats including security camera footage, spectator's phones, news footage and aerial footage from police choppers which also makes the flick so unique- by opening up the footage like that, director Trank is distancing himself from the old 'mysterious last recordings' shenanigans that a lot of other movies tend to rely on. And intentional or not- it seems like Trank and screenwriter Max Landis are also making their commentary on technology's intrusion into society, which I felt was rather clever as well.

At a perfect running time of 83 minutes, Chronicle manages to work in a lot of plot without ever getting too muddled and is anchored by incredible performances all around. Generally, younger actors never seem to resonate with me these days but DeHaan, Russell and Jordan are all outstanding in the film and have a natural chemistry together. Kelly is downright scary as Andrew's bitter and angry drunk of a father and as a love interest for Matt, Hinshaw's performance as Casey left a surprisingly strong impression on me even if her screentime is limited in the flick.

For those of you out there who have given up on the found footage or superhero movies, seeing Chronicle should restore your faith in both subgenres as Trank and his debut film both defy the odds here by giving audiences an experience unlike anything in recent years. There will no doubt be countless genre movies released this year but there's no doubt in my mind that few will be as entertaining, charming, clever and thrilling as Chronicle; it's my favorite original film in theaters since last year's Attack the Block.

Chronicle is not to be missed.

Rating:

4.5 out of 5

Exclusive Interview: Producers Simon Oakes and Nigel Sinclair Talk Hammer Horror and More for The Woman in Black

2012-02-02T15:49:00.000-08:00

In honor of CBS Films upcoming release of The Woman in Black in theaters everywhere tomorrow, Dread Central recently had the opportunity to chat with two producers on the latest out of the Hammer Horror stable, Simon Oakes and Nigel Sinclair.

Both Oakes and Sinclair have been integral to the relaunch of Hammer Films in 2010; In 2007, Oakes (Vice-Chairman of Exclusive Media Group) and Marc Schipper (Exclusive Media COO) led the acquisition and recapitalization of Hammer in 2007 and Oakes now serves as President & CEO of Hammer. Sinclair, The Co-Chairman and CEO of Exclusive Media, came on board Hammer as a non-executive director in 2007 after his other production studio, Spitfire, locked in a first-look development and production pact with the newly revived British horror studio at the same time.

During our interview with Sinclair and Oakes, Dread chatted with the pair about Hammer's legacy of horror, their thoughts on The Woman in Black with Radcliffe as the film's lead and more about what the future holds for the iconic Hammer brand. Check out the highlights from our exclusive interview with the producing duo below and make sure to check out The Woman in Black when she arrives to terrorize audiences everywhere tomorrow!

Dread Central: Had you both been huge Hammer Horror fans before coming on board the company a few years back?

Nigel Sinclair: I'm probably one of the oldest Hammer fans because I can remember watching it at an incredibly young age on the BBC and my parents then banning me from the television because of it.

Simon Oakes: If you grew up in the UK when we did, Hammer Horror was part of your cultural education. My first Technicolor movie was from Hammer and The Quatermass Xperiment still remains one of my favorite movies to this day.

DC: So I'm guessing that was part of why you got involved with resurrecting Hammer then?

Oakes: Absolutely! But also, I think from our business point of view, Hammer Films has always been an extraordinary brand; somewhat similar to Disney (although a different scale completely). When you talk about a 'Disney movie,' you know what kind of movie that means and the same could be said for Hammer. People know Hammer Horror still to this day even though a Hammer movie hadn't been made in 35 years until Let Me In. We saw how unique that kind of staying power is so we knew we had to bring the brand back to life.

Sinclair: Since we are part of a larger production company, we were determined to bring some power back to this indie company and do it the right way. It's one thing to say that you're going to build a company, it's another thing to actually be able to bring a new vision in that pays tribute to the original Hammer production values and do it successfully. I think with The Woman in Black, we've finally gotten there 100 percent.

Oakes: When we first started talking about resurrecting Hammer Films a few years back, we all sat down and because we are fans, we talked for a long, long time about what Hammer would be now had it always continued making movies. So we've always known that the key to a great classic horror movie is having elevated stories that are very writer/director driven pieces and both Let Me In and The Woman in Black reflect that definitively.

DC: Can you talk a little bit about what fans can expect from The Woman in Black since we don't see a lot of horror movies like this make it into theaters anymore?

Sinclair: Well, I think there's a lot to enjoy here for fans of the novella, fans of Daniel's or even if you've never heard of the story before now. Susan's novella created this lush, 19th century world filled with these gothic tropes and seeing how Jane (writer Goldman) took even some of the more thinly-suggested scares of the novel and gave them room to breathe here is pretty fun to watch as a horror movie fan.

Oakes: A lot of wonderful things came together on this project and we're incredibly lucky that they did; having Daniel as our star for the movie was the cherry on top for sure. With this being his first part after Harry Potter, I think it was an incredibly smart move for him because it's still a familiar territory for him (a British story) but it also pushes him in a new direction. He's so incredibly talented and he does a great job as Arthur in the film.

DC: Do you feel some added pressure with the fact that there is a high expectation amongst horror fans when you have a Hammer-branded project?

Sinclair: We are in the long-distance run for this (Hammer Films) so no one good or bad piece of news will derail us along the way. I thought Let Me In was incredible but then The Resident didn't fare so well with fans, so we learn as we go. But we've got more planned for Hammer besides films which includes an upcoming book at Random House which we're all excited to see come out soon. We are working on a number of things right now too but those we can't really discuss just yet.

DC: Since Hammer has done incredible work with both original material as well as remakes, is there a Hammer remake you'd love to see happen down the road?

Oakes: If I could have one dream remake at Hammer it would have to be making a contemporary Quatermass Xperiment - or maybe a Countess Dracula. It's been a while since we've seen a great female vampire movie after all.

Check out our review of The Woman in Black here!

Joining star Daniel Radcliffe are Ciaran Hinds, Janet McTeer, Liz White, Alisa Khazanova, Tim McMullan, Roger Allam, Daniel Cerqueira, Shaun Dooley, Mary Stockley, Cathy Sara, David Burke, Victor McGuire, and Lucy May Barker. James Watkins (Eden Lake) is at the directorial helm with a screenplay by Jane Goldman.

The Woman in Black follows a young lawyer, Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe), who is ordered to travel to a remote corner of the UK and sort out a recently deceased client’s papers. As he works alone in an old and isolated house, Kipps begins to uncover its tragic secrets, and his unease grows when he discovers that the local village is held hostage by the ghost of a scorned woman set on vengeance.

Look for The Woman in Black in US theatres on February 3rd, 2012. The UK will be getting it on February 10th, 2012.

Review: The Woman in Black (2012)

2012-02-01T17:44:00.000-08:00

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Ciarán Hinds, Janet McTeer

Directed by James Watkins

After relaunching in 2010 with the promise of delivering classic-style horror films for modern genre-loving audiences, Hammer (which is the specialty genre label of its parent company, Exclusive Media) has once again hit a homerun with their latest output The Woman in Black which thankfully delivers a chilling tale of love, loss and terror all while keeping true to Susan Hill's brilliant source material which should no doubt please lovers of both the original story as well as the longtime Hammer fans out there.

For those who may be unfamiliar with Hill's original tale, in The Woman in Black we meet Arthur Kipps (Radcliffe), a troubled young solicitor who is sent from London to the small village of Crythin Gifford to settle the estate of the recently deceased Mrs. Drablow.

Kipps is struggling with grief, debt and the care of his four year old son following his wife's death in childbirth and it is clear both he and his work have been suffering since her passing. We find out that this assignment is Arthur's last chance with the firm and if he cannot get the job done, he's out in the cold with no way to support his young son.

When he arrives in Crythin Gifford, Kipps finds the locals peculiarly unwelcoming – almost as if they are trying to get rid of him. Undeterred, Kipps knows if he doesn't finish up Mrs. Drablow's affairs it will mean the end of his career- so he presses on, warnings be damned. Kipps finds a kinship while in the mysterious town with the kindhearted Mr. Daily (Hinds), a local landowner who is doesn't believe in the same superstition his neighbors do offers assistance to Kipps, inviting the traveling businessman into his home and offering him the use of his automobile when needed.

Once he begins working through the papers in Eel Marsh House, Kipps starts seeing a mysterious woman dressed all in black lurking around the graveyard and in the shadows of the creepy Eel Marsh house which eventually leads to Kipps' discovery of the dark secret that has terrorized the people of Crythin Gifford for many years now - it turns out that some years earlier, Mrs. Drablow's son died tragically in the marsh and due to the hazardous conditions, his young body was never recovered. Ever since that tragic day, the parents of Crythin Gifford have had to suffer through losing their children in often nightmarish fashion. Now desperate to finish his work before the arrival of his own son and his nanny, Kipps elects to spend the night at Eel Marsh so he can finish his work faster and then he and his son can avoid the vengeful wrath of The Woman in Black.

Fans of the book should already be able to guess from that synopsis that screenwriter Goldman (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class) has taken some liberties with Hill's original plot for this feature film adaptation of The Woman in Black which may aggrieve the purists out there but to her credit, it is clear from Goldman's work here that she and director James Watkins have decided to stay true to the essence of why fans have loved this story for so long and masterfully craft a well-oiled ghost story for modern audiences' sensibilities from the material. The changes work and allow the story to breathe a bit as well as make for some great dramatic material for the cast.

For a second time at bat, director Watkins has made incredible strides since his debut film Eden Lake which was a solid effort but nonetheless, a very ugly and disturbing portrait of violence and madness; Watkins' work on The Woman in Black couldn't feel any different than his previous efforts and shows that he can create this incredibly immersive and saturated palette of colors without the movie ever feeling like an over-stylized fantasy flick. Watkins takes great care in building tension and establishing atmosphere while allowing The Woman in Black to move at a contemporary pace without ever sacrificing character and mood along the way, which is no easy feat.

As the film's main protagonist Kipps, Radcliffe is finally stepping out in his first post - Harry Potter role here and even though I'm not much of a Potter fan myself, he completely sheds that persona in The Woman in Black and demonstrates he's ready to transition his career towards taking on more adult roles. Although in reality Radcliffe may be a bit on the young side to be playing a bereaved husband and father, the 22-year-old proves with his performance that he has the chops to handle the raw emotion that's central to his character, appearing desolate and haunted before he even sets one foot inside the doomed Eel Marsh House.

After all, it's Kipps' battle with his own personal demons that drives the story in The Woman in Black, with the synergy between the supernatural occurrences at the house and Kipps' fragmented psyche providing essential dramatic ground to do battle back and forth while viewers look on. It's riveting and haunting material, the likes of which you don't see too often in theaters these days (sadly).

My only minor complaint about The Woman in Black was that the villagers of Crythin Gifford were often thinly written characters; what I love about movies like Hot Fuzz or Hammer's 2011 flick Wake Wood is that in these kinds of settings, you always meet a handful of colorful characters and other than Mr. Daily and his grieving wife played by Golden Globe nominated actress McTeer, none of the other residents really struck a chord with me and I would have loved to have gotten more back story from them.

But overall, it's Watkins' complete understanding of what makes The Woman in Black such a popular story for some thirty years now and his complete respect for Hill's original work that allows this latest adaptation to succeed. And despite many people's reservations about releasing a turn-of-the-century horror tale for modern audiences, Watkins and his leading man Radcliffe have both succeeded in making a truly haunting classic ghost story that is also an effective modern horror film, without ever needing to rely on CGI or intrusive music cues.

And while many hardened genre audiences may not enjoy the subtlety and slow-burn approach of the film, classic horror fans who have been clamoring for more from the esteemed Hammer House of Horror will no doubt find The Woman in Black to be a scream once it arrives in theaters this Friday.

Rating:

4 out of 5

Set Visit Interview: Special Effects Maestro Paul Jones Talks Zombies, Lickers and More for Resident Evil: Retribution

2012-02-01T17:19:00.000-08:00

For Special Make-up Effects Designer and Supervisor Paul Jones, Resident Evil movies have become his life. He's been working on the series since 2004's Apocalypse in which he designed the flick's 'big baddie'- Nemesis.

For the latest installment, writer/director Paul Anderson has been keeping Jones busy more on the zombie front than anything and during our recent set visit in Toronto, Dread Central caught up with man behind the monsters to see what he's got planned for fans this time around, more on his yearning for more creatures in the Resident Evil franchise and how the zombie design has evolved along with the undead in the series.

Check out the highlights from Jones' interview below and make sure to keep it tuned here for more on Resident Evil: Retribution closer to the film's September 14th release date.

Q: So has this film been more non-stop action for you?

A: For me, definitely. Someone just came up to me and was like, 'you're doing so many less zombies than the last one. No, actually, we've done more, except we're doing them in clumps of 20 at a time instead of (scenes where we need) 127 at a time. We've been doing a lot more of the same thing, really.

Q: The zombies are a bit more evolved this time, how has that informed your make-up design?

A: Well, it's always fun working with Paul because he has very specific ideas, so that makes my job easier but also harder at the same because I know exactly what I'm building, but I have to build it exactly how he wants it. That's always fun. But this has been a different kind of deal because the last movie was very stylized and this one is going for more realism. The zombies on motorcycles, the action dictates what they'll look like because you've zombies doing stuff you normally wouldn't see a zombie do.

I'm not even calling them zombies anymore, I'm calling them "infected." When you say zombie, you're talking about someone who has been brought back from the dead. With these Russian zombies, it's not the case. They've been infected, so they've mutated. They've been affected by the T-virus- it's the Las Plagas virus actually- which is why they're different. So, again, everything is enhanced with them, we still aesthetically made them look dead but they're actions are almost super-human.

Q: So, it's a scaled-back look?

A: No, we took it further. I'm a huge fan of Romero's Day of the Dead. I think those make-ups look realistic but also extremely stylized so I really wanted to do my own version of that. And we raised the aesthetic of it a little bit because they're firing rocket launchers and jumping over trucks, so the way they're going to be seen in this, the make-up has to be done accordingly and their eyes are glowing red as well.

Q: What are some of the creatures we can expect to see?

A: Thankfully, the Lickers are all CGI on this but I had to build some practical stand-ins. There's (a picture of) a hand floating around the Internet and we built those and some other pieces to help the CG guys out. One of the biggest builds I've had besides the zombies have been the cocoons which are a new invention of Paul's that fit along the game. It helped the story elements. We trapped the little girl in the film and Milla has to rescue her and so we had to create these cocoons which are like egg pods – we're not really sure why they're there, but they help move the story along and from an aesthetic point of view it was really fun. They had to look egg-ish and like a Licker because they come from the Licker, but they're their own entity really.

Q: Can you talk about the cyber-scanning you're doing?

A: Yeah, obviously when we have a crowd of zombies, we can't do them all. What they do is huddle a crowd of zombies and then shoot them against a green screen. You also have certain elements like a zombie falling off of a building or crushed by a tank, for instance, but I'm not saying that happen in this movie. But when you cyber-scan someone as a zombie, it creates this 3D element which the CG guys can then animate. We bring a person in, put them in make-up, costume, everything and they stand there and are captured in three dimensions and now, instead of creating a zombie from scratch, you have that element there and you can animate it.

You can also duplicate them as well and give them all separate actions so if you have a crowd scene with hundreds of zombies, it's much easier to do this and duplicate them. You can customize each one in fact. A good percentage of our days has been doing the make-up and taking them off to the CG guys so they can get a reference.

Q: We interview Michelle Rodriguez while she was wearing a cyber-scanning suit. What did you have to do on her?

A: We actually did a make-up for Michelle on this one. I don't want to give it away.

Q: Zombie make-up?

A: Not quite, not quite. But something to make her look cool.

Q: When she injects the Las Plagas parasite into her bloodstream?

A: Not quite. I'm not saying anything. But I did get to work with her, which was cool especially for two of my make-up guys because they're huge fans. They were like, 'why is she here, she died in the first film?' But this is kind of a cool story, bringing back some old faces. It was great to see Oded (Fehr) again too, it's been a nice reunion.

Q: Are you doing anything here that is tantamount to the Nemesis in part 2? Any 'guy in suit' action?

A: Unfortunately, no. I've been giving Paul a lot of shit about it because I did the Axe Man and the dogs on the last one; there was a lot of variation. This has been a simple show but a harder show in terms of constant flow from us. There are three different types of zombies: the newly created human undead, the Russians – Las Plagas, plus we have a scene in Tokyo, and we have a different look for those guys, too. So, we've been jumping back and forth. I told Paul that with the next film he has to write a big creature for me. He's been happy with the cocoons in this one, but next time, he owes me a creature suit.

Written and directed by Paul Anderson, Re5ident Evil: Retribution stars Milla Jovovich, Boris Kodjoe, Li Bingbing, Kevin Durand, Shawn Roberts, Michelle Rodriguez, Sienna Guillory, Johann Urb, and Colin Salmon. Look for Re5ident Evil: Retribution in theatres on September 14, 2012 from Screen Gems.

Set Visit Interview: Franchise Newcomer Li BingBing Talks Ada Wong in Resident Evil: Retribution

2012-02-01T09:23:00.000-08:00

When it came time for Paul W.S. Anderson to cast fan favorite character Ada Wong, he went with Li BingBing, a huge star in Chinese cinema but generally an unknown face to American audiences--that is, until Resident Evil: Retribution hits theaters everywhere this September as there's no doubt that BingBing will leave a lasting impression with her performance (and red dress) in the upcoming sequel.

During our recent set visit to Toronto, Dread Central chatted with BingBing with the assistance of an interpreter since the actress is still getting a grasp on her rapidly improving English language speaking skills (with only a few weeks under her belt, it was rather remarkable). During our interview BingBing discussed coming on board Resident Evil: Retribution to play such a widely revered character in the video game series as well as her thoughts on how the stunt work here compares to what she's experienced while working in China and whether or not fans will see Ada and Leon hook up during Retribution.

Q: How much of the character Ada Wong did you know before Paul hired you for the film?

Li BingBing: I didn't know Ada Wong very well.

Q: Did you know there was a big fan base?

BingBing: Yes. I know 'Resident Evil' is a very famous game and that a lot of game fans follow 'Resident Evil'. I know Ada Wong is a very famous character in the game so there's a lot of fans of Ada Wong in China. So when I got this news from Paul, that they invited me to play Ada Wong, everyone has been so excited for me to play Ada.

Q: What did it feel like putting on that red dress for the first time?

BingBing: (Laughs) You know what, the red dress looks like I should be walking on the red carpet, but the thing is that when I wear the gun holster, it looks totally different. It's like cool and sexy and mysterious.

Q: Like in the games, is there kind of a love connection between Ada and Leon in this movie?

BingBing: Uh, in this movie I think Paul still loved to keep the relationship, the emotion between Leon and me, very subtle between us.

Q: Do you like doing action movies?

BingBing: You know what, actually for me, I really love to do action movies. In this movie we have a part when I meet Milla in a control room for the first time, and I did a flip in the air with wires. It's fantastic. I was so excited with that. And when I shot a gun for the first time, the crew gave me gun training right before we started to shoot the movie, it was so exciting and totally different.

Q: How did you get the role? Did you audition? Can you talk about how you got the part?

BingBing: I am not really sure how I got this role, but I did audition. After a very few days, they gave me the reply and they said, 'We loved you. We want to invite you to be Ada Wong.' So I was surprised by how fast I got my reply. So exciting!

Q: Can you talk about some of the zombies or the monsters that you have to fight in the film?

BingBing: I don't have to fight with the monsters this time. I only need to fight with Jill and Michelle.

Q: What was it like working with some of these cast members, just interacting with them and being in this English language movie?

BingBing: In this movie I worked with Milla in all of my scenes so we're very close. She's treated me very, very nice and when we shoot outside in the cold, every time she'd make sure wardrobe gave me a warm jacket to put on first, and then she got hers. Really kind.

You know what? At the beginning I felt too shy to open my mouth to speak in English, and I just thought, 'If I don't open my mouth, I won't make any mistakes with anyone.' So I just kept silent and just used my eyes to...(Laughter). But you know, over time we have all been getting closer and everyone's kidding or playing together so as we get to know each other more and more, then I dare to open my mouth to speak more English. Nobody has laughed at my English; they've all said, 'Oh, your English is amazing!' I know everyone is just encouraging me, but everyone treat me like I was in a very cozy family.

Q: Do you find your English has improved throughout the shoot then?

BingBing: Of course, absolutely.

Q: We've heard that there's going to be another movie after this one, another 'Resident Evil' movie. Has anyone spoken to you about that and given you any indication whether you'll be back for the next movie?

BingBing: Paul said on the next Resident Evil he will ask Milla to speak Chinese. (Laughter) It's joke because, you know, when I was on set, sometime I was stuck, and he just encouraged me and gave me more confidence But you mean do I know if I'll be back for Resident Evil 6?

Q: Yeah.

BingBing: Nobody knows that! Ask Paul. (Laughter)

Q: When you started acting back home in China, was it always your ambition to come to America to make films?

BingBing: Sometimes we don't have to think about what we're going to do next. I think a lot of things are given by fate. But there's a philosophy that I live by: If God gives you a big cake, he first has to torture you a little bit.

Q: Have you found the American fight scenes to be more difficult or easier than in China?

BingBing: Mmm...it's different. There's a lot of techy things that are happening here that don't exist over there...for example, how they cut the shots. How they divide up...how the shots are taken, from what angle, etc...but in China they stress more of an ability to fight, rather than cutting and making it look like they can fight.

Written and directed by Paul Anderson, Re5ident Evil: Retribution stars Milla Jovovich, Boris Kodjoe, Li Bingbing, Kevin Durand, Shawn Roberts, Michelle Rodriguez, Sienna Guillory, Johann Urb, and Colin Salmon. Look for Re5ident Evil: Retribution in theatres on September 14, 2012 from Screen Gems.

Review: Nailbiter (2012)

2012-01-31T13:03:00.000-08:00

Starring Erin McGrane, Meg Saricks, Sally Spurgeon, Emily Boresow, Joicie Appell

Directed by Patrick Rea

As a former Midwesterner, I know that tornadoes are serious business, which made writer/director Patrick Rea's latest endeavor, Nailbiter, all the more effective of a high-tension indie thriller for this writer. Whereas most movies centered around a devastating tornado like to revel in the high drama of that, here Rea takes us someplace else far more subtle and creepier, giving viewers a whole lot more to fear than the high velocity clouds circling about.

Nailbiter follows the struggling Maguire family, including a recovering alcoholic mother and her three daughters, who get caught in the middle of a tornado emergency while traveling to pick up Mr. Maguire from the airport as he's been stationed overseas to fight for some time now. When the weather gets to be too much to handle, Janet (McGrane) and her girls take shelter in the storm cellar of a seemingly abandoned old farm house but quickly find that not only are they not alone, they have been trapped alongside something far more dangerous than a tornado.

As an independent feature, Nailbiter manages to come up with an intriguing premise reminiscent of something you'd see on an early episode of "The X-Files," and Rea should be commended for what he manages to achieve with his latest work on a restricted budget. As someone who has always enjoyed Rea's work as a short film storyteller, I feel Nailbiter demonstrates that the indie filmmaker has the chops to continue working in feature-length projects.

The only real downside to Nailbiter is the acting, which admittedly is something that tends to happen more often than not in indie films, but my complaints are minimal overall. As the film's lead McGrane took a little too long to settle into her performance as a recovering alcoholic mother who's been left behind to raise three daughters while her husband fights a dangerous war thousands of miles away. Around the second act McGrane loosens up a bit, and after that her work is serviceable. However, while there was also mention of her character having some conflicting feelings about her husband's return, which I thought was an interesting twist, that never seems to go anywhere unfortunately.

As the eldest Maguire girl, Jennifer, Saricks turns in really strong work in Nailbiter, and I would definitely love to see her show up in more features down the road. The other two Maguire girls are also very likable and do well in the film, but it's Appell's performance as the creepy old Mrs. Shurman that steals the show.

Nailbiter is another home run for Rea and his SenoReality indie stable of horror with the filmmaker proving once again his ability to craft a unique and captivating story that demonstrates ambition and his progression as a storyteller. While not a perfect flick, there's a lot to appreciate about Nailbiter. It would definitely be a great film to check out during a festival run (which I encourage Rea to start focusing on now that the movie is finished). It's ingenious, creepy and a delightful modern take on an old-school sense of storytelling. Indie fans will no doubt want to check out Nailbiter for themselves when the film begins screening.

Rating:

3 out of 5

Set Visit Interview: Johann Urb Dishes on New Character Leon Kennedy in Resident Evil: Retribution

2012-01-30T22:20:00.000-08:00

In Paul W. S. Anderson's upcoming sequel Resident Evil: Retribution, we already know the director is bringing in quite a few familiar faces including the return of Michelle Rodriguez, Oded Fehr, Boris Kodjoe, Sienna Guillory and franchise star Milla Jovovich to name a few.

However, when it's your fifth time at bat, Anderson knows you have to get creative and bring in some fresh blood as well and for Retribution, longtime fans will finally get introduced to Leon Kennedy which is being played by Johann Urb.

During Dread Central's recent set visit to Toronto for Screen Gems' upcoming sequel, we chatted with Urb about his character Leon, how he fits into Alice's world and living up to fan expectations. Check out some of the highlights from our set visit interview with Urb below and make sure to check back tomorrow for our final interview with the other Resident Evil franchise newcomer, Li BingBing.

Q: How does your character get involved in Alice's story line at this point? Where did he come from?

A: As far as I can tell, I've just been fending for myself, taking care of business, and banding with some people. Then, apparently what's happened is Alice is in a bit of trouble. Wesker needs somebody who, what's the word... is smart enough and strong enough to go in and save Alice. Leon is the first thought that comes to mind, obviously.

Q: Is Ada a part of your crew then? Ada and Leon have a history.

A: In the game, yeah, definitely. You know, the way that I imagine it, is that we sort of had this romance that never really happened. It's kind of like Mulder and Scully in X-Files. You're waiting for it to happen, but it never does. Maybe in the next one, I'm hoping.

Q: It sounds to me that there might be a potential Leon movie spin-off.

A: I don't know about just a movie. A franchise? (Laughter) A TV series, movies, toys, you name it. I'm down. You know, this character is just so much fun to play, and these guys are really, really great. It's a great group of people, and I'm having a blast, for sure.

Q: Did you consult the game before you started filming? Did you go out and play the games?

A: No, but I did watch quite a few things on YouTube, people have put together these clips and things. I watched some of those YouTube clips and it was super cool. I had no idea, when I read for this part. I kind of figured, you know, this is movie number five and they're bringing in a new character but I actually didn't know what to expect at all.

Q: Is there anything you gained from watching those clips from the video games?

A: Yeah, a little bit. You know- mannerisms, seeing how he reacts and how he talks. He doesn't have a high-pitched voice and I feel like he talks how I naturally talk, which is kind of slower. It matches, so it wasn't a big, huge thing for me to switch into but, I could be totally wrong.

Q: Do you have much hand-to-hand combat in this? Do you get to use that beast of a knife you have there?

A: I'm actually a little upset about this, because I had a really cool knife fight scene, that they have unfortunately removed, because we are so behind schedule, I think, that they had to take it out. It was bad-ass. I don't know if you guys can talk to anybody, to put it back in, but...

Q: Who was it with?

A: The guy I was fighting was this 300-something-pound giant zombie- pure muscle. It was a great fight. As of right now, I'm not using it (the knife). We're talking about possibly using it in the end sequence, if the other one is truly, truly out, and if not, I don't know. There is some hand-to-hand combat though, yes. Very little, but yes. I wish there was more because I immensely enjoy it.

Q: What other action sequences are you involved with?

A: Besides this end sequence coming up here? There are a lot. One of the big ones is when we're in Red Square in Moscow. We have these zombies coming at us, and these aren't just regular ones. They're firing weapons and bazookas. There's a ton of them. At one point, we run out of bullets, and I have to take some of them out, hand-to-hand, which is fun. Then there's a big action sequence in the car, when we're in the Rolls Royce and firing out the window. We have the zombies on motorbikes chasing us, then we have the big Lickers. I love that name. They have Uber-Lickers- Super-Uber-Lickers- and they're all coming at us. There's a lot of fun action stuff.

Q: Can you talk a bit about the 3D and working with Paul and the 3D cameras?

A: This is my first 3D experience. I talked to Paul about it a little bit, just to find out the difference and stuff. It looks really great. It's funny because I wear glasses, normally, so when I look at the screen, it's all blurry and you're supposed to put on the 3D glasses. I didn't realize that at first, and I thought it was just all blurry because I wasn't wearing glasses. He's like, 'Oh no, it's 3D!' I feel like it adds so much, especially in action stuff. I feel like you're really much more in it and involved. It's cool, way cool.

Q: How much screen time do you get with Kevin Durand? My video game knowledge may be off, but I don't think Barry and Leon get together or fight together in the games at all.

A: I don't know about the games, but here, we're basically partners in crime, or on this mission. It's basically a best friend type of deal, we're super close. What a great guy, man. He's awesome. We had so much fun working together. Also, working with Kevin and Boris, it's the first time I feel there are actually people towering over me. I'm the little guy now. It was great.

Written and directed by Paul Anderson, Re5ident Evil: Retribution stars Milla Jovovich, Boris Kodjoe, Li Bingbing, Kevin Durand, Shawn Roberts, Michelle Rodriguez, Sienna Guillory, Johann Urb, and Colin Salmon. Look for Re5ident Evil: Retribution in theatres on September 14, 2012 from Screen Gems.

Set Visit Interview: Boris Kodjoe Discusses the Return of Luther West for Resident Evil: Retribution and More

2012-01-28T17:21:00.000-08:00

At the end of writer/director/producer Paul W.S. Anderson's 2010 sequel Resident Evil: Afterlife, many fans were surprised to see Boris Kodjoe's character Luther West survive after testifying about "star power, bitches!" to a couple of evolved zombies chasing him out of the prison sewers.

During Dread Central's recent set visit in Toronto for Screen Gems' upcoming Resident Evil: Retribution, we sat down with the ever-charismatic Kodjoe to talk more about the return of Luther in the latest installment, his thoughts on working with Anderson and the gang once again and his case for giving Luther his own 3D spin-off movie as well.

Kodjoe also briefly chatted about another 3D project that will be arriving in theaters later this year, Nurse 3D, which you can read about here.

Check out all the highlights from Kodjoe's interview below, and make sure to check back soon for more from two newcomers to the Resident Evil franchise- Johann Urb, who is coming on to play fan favorite Leon Kennedy, as well as Li BingBing, who will be portraying another fan favorite, Ada Wong.

Q: When did you first find out that you were going to be back in the fifth one?

A: I guess two years ago when I read the script and found out that I didn’t die. That was pretty clear then.

Q: This movie seems to be playing with a lot of duality. There are characters that aren’t who they say they are, there are characters who come back from the grave -

A: - clones.

Q: Yeah clones. Now your character disappeared for a little bit of time at the end of the last one, so are you who you say you are in this one?

A: I have no idea. I really don’t know. Paul’s imagination is amazing- he’s like a kid in a candy store. Every script is like a new adventure and it shows on the screen so as an actor being invited on his playground, so to speak, is an honor. This is really one of the franchises, one of the movies that is most fun to shoot. Not only is the cast amazing and fun to work with, Paul’s energy sort of transcends and it translates down to everyone on set so it’s not really work. It’s playing. It’s a lot of fun.

Actually this movie is going to be much more action oriented than the last one. There’s a lot of great fight sequences that we’ve shot so far. The next 8 or 9 days we’re just going to be fighting. We got Nick Powell onboard who is probably the best stunt coordinator on the planet. He’s done everything from The Last Samurai to Gladiator to Braveheart and he’s incredible; having him and Paul together is like a lethal combination- I’m so sore I can hardly move.

Q: Can you talk about who’s being chased in the big chase scene everyone's been mentioning?

A: We’re being chased. Me and Milla and Johann and Kevin. We’re all in the car together. We spent like 5 days in the car together.

Q: Is it the Rolls-Royce thing?

A: Exactly. And that is just unbelievable; they’re all coming after us, this whole army of undead. You know they’re motorized now and lethal with like these creatures. It’s amazing. And Paul, you know, he literally shot the movie. He animated it and finished it. So every frame of the movie has already been produced so we can actually watch what we’re doing before we’re doing; it’s incredible. You could really release that as an animated movie and it looks fantastic.

Q: As the grosses go up and you’re bringing new audience members in for each film, what about this film do you think will be the most attractive to someone who hasn’t seen any of the prior films?

A: They’ve done an amazing job prepping the audience. Even in cases where they haven’t seen the first 16 movies (laughs). So it’s sort of a standalone movie as well. So I think the action aspect is going to be a huge selling point. He’s just been doing stuff that he hasn’t done before. It’s going to be incredible and Paul is a master of using 3D technology to elevate content rather than replace it. A lot of filmmakers who are not as used to using 3D, 3D becomes (their) sort of story point and I think that’s missing the point. If you use 3D to elevate a story and to give the movie a certain look that will make it better that’s how you’re supposed to use 3D; Paul is a master of that.

Q: A lot of the characters have a good version and a bad version. A dual thing. Do you have a bad version?

A: In terms of mutants or cloning, my character hasn’t been subjected to that yet but I wouldn’t be surprised if in the next movie I don’t grow some horns and start eating people or something. Who knows! I don’t know. We’ll see. (laughs)

Q: Have you talked to Paul about the sixth one? Does this seem intrinsically connected with that film?

A: Yeah, it is. It’s also connected just from an economic standpoint because Sony is very excited about this franchise. So there were actually talks about shooting both of them at the same time, back to back which they abandoned at the last minute.

Q: So the script for the next one actually exists?

A: I don’t think he’s written it, but I think it’s very prominent in his head. He’s told me about it, so I think he already knows in broad strokes what the 6th one is going to look like.

Q: Why do you think the Resident Evil movies have done so well whereas other video game adaptations from Hollywood have failed?

A: Good question. I don’t think there’s a formula; I think it’s just a roll of the dice. But I also think that Paul is a great storyteller and I think sometimes other people rely too much on the video game as a content that will stand alone. There are certain elements that have to fit for it to come alive because people want to root for somebody; people want to be invested in somebody and I think Milla is the perfect hero to carry this franchise. She brings everything to the table. She brings hardcore 'kickassness', Clint Eastwood-ness to the character.

Q: Meaning what?

A: Meaning (imitates deep Eastwood voice) 'she talks like this' which is cool. She’s the anchor and she pulls it all together. Also this post-apocalyptic thing that people always sort of romanticize in a way also has a lot to do with it and I think now that we’ve sort of got into a nice rhythm, starting with number four, where the awareness has changed from just sort of provincial video game fans to the actual general public are interested too.

Q: Which is weird because it’s usually diminishing returns by the time people get to five.

A: Yeah, I think the video game audience was huge in the beginning, but now it’s caught on to general audiences so I think it’s still going to grow. And then there’s going to be a movie that’s called Luther West 3D. (Laughs)

Written and directed by Paul Anderson, Re5ident Evil: Retribution stars Milla Jovovich, Boris Kodjoe, Li Bingbing, Kevin Durand, Shawn Roberts, Michelle Rodriguez, Sienna Guillory, Johann Urb, and Colin Salmon. Look for Re5ident Evil: Retribution in theatres on September 14, 2012 from Screen Gems.

Review: The River (Television)

2012-01-28T17:01:00.000-08:00

Starring Joe Anderson, Leslie Hope, Bruce Greenwood, Eloise Mumford, Paul Blackthorne, Thomas Kretschmann, Daniel Zacapa, Paulina Gaitan

Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra

From the mastermind behind juggernaut franchise Paranormal Activity and one of Hollywood's legendary filmmakers of all time comes ABC's latest foray into genre television - "The River" - which was created by Oren Peli and Michael R. Perry, who may be best known as the writer for Paranormal Activity 2 as well as a gaggle of genre shows including "Stephen King's Dead Zone," "Millennium" and "American Gothic."

"The River" is being executive produced by Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks Television and there's no doubt that ABC is looking to fill their "Lost" void with the found footage series which begins on February 7th. Thankfully, they've got a great team at the helm with some stellar material to draw from so fans should be definitely pleased with "The River" once they get the opportunity to check out the series for themselves.

In the ABC drama, we meet animal activist and wildlife adventurer Dr. Emmet Cole (Greenwood) through a series of flashbacks, who became a beloved pop icon through his exploits on his television series that followed him and his family on his many adventures to exotic locations all over the globe. But something goes horribly wrong for Dr. Cole and his crew as one mysterious day they just seem to vanish into thin air.

Six months pass and with all hope of finding Dr. Cole now faded away, the television host's strong-willed wife Tess (Hope) uncovers a sign that could potentially lead her to her missing husband. Tess, desperate to find Emmet, reaches out to their son Lincoln (Anderson) for help; she wants him to come with her to the Amazon for a rescue expedition but there's one catch- it's being filmed for a brand new series which is the brainchild of sleazeball producer Clark (Blackthorne) and if he doesn't come and agree to be on camera, then there's no funding for the expedition and no chance of Tess ever finding her husband again.

Reluctantly, Lincoln agrees to go along and soon the entire hodge-podge group of travelers assemble, including Captain Kurt (Kretschmann) who's in charge of security, Lena (Mumford) who is also in search of her own missing father as well as boat captain and faithful employee to Dr. Cole, Emilio (Zacapa) and his teenage daughter Jahel (Gaitan) who happens to know a thing or two about boat engines and the supernatural forces lurking around them in the Amazon. The group takes off to locate Dr. Cole but what they encounter is something far more mysterious than they could have ever imagined; soon, they're all put to the test to try and survive the evil supernatural forces at hand while trying to uncover the whereabouts of Dr. Cole.

With found footage being all the rage these days and what seems like a very straightforward plot, on paper "The River" might seem like a one-trick pony kind of television series but thankfully, creators Peli and Perry cleverly avoid the major pratfalls of both the found footage subgenre of horror as well as the high-concept, 'other worldly'-type television drama and deliver a fantastic new show to the airwaves. With Jaume Collet-Serra at the directing helm, what you get from the first two episodes of "The River" is a pretty fantastic mini-horror movie that goes to some surprisingly dark places for network television and manages to deliver quite a few surprises along the way as well.

The cast of "The River" won me over by episode two; everyone seemed a bit shaky in the pilot episode but by the second round, the cast all settled into their respective roles rather nicely. At the forefront of the drama are Hope and Anderson who have great chemistry together as a mother struggling to reconcile with her reluctant son. Blackthorne is perfectly cast as the underhanded producer Clark, reminiscent of a young Billy Zane, and Mumford's Lena is a great strong female counterpart to the wounded ego of Anderson's conflicted character, too.

At first, the idea of a found footage dramatic series might seem like it shouldn't work when you take into consideration the limitation of footage that can be reasonably 'found' week in and week out without testing the patience of the viewer; however, "The River" smartly incorporates a multitude of material to explore through the cameras used on Dr. Cole's recovered boat, the handheld cameras of Clark's shooting crew as well as footage from Dr. Cole's longtime running television series and the tapes the missing adventurer left behind.

Each medium gives viewers little tidbits revealing more and more about these characters while also skillfully building the mystery surrounding Dr. Cole's disappearance, with some of the best moments being the private tapes of the Cole Family twenty years prior that show a lot of tender moments among Emmet, Tess and a young Lincoln.

If I have anything negative to say about the series, it is that the pilot episode of "The River" was a bit hokey at times (the use of "there is magic out there" as a repeated theme got to be a little too cutesy for my tastes) and most of the cast didn't quite gel into their respective roles, but that's usually par for the course when it comes to inaugural television shows - generally, it takes an episode or two before everything feels 'settled' and thankfully, "The River" settles in rather quickly at the start of episode two and everything about it feels a little more confident than its predecessor.

While there are many who are already comparing "The River" to a certain other ABC show that happened to take place in the middle of a jungle, this latest series really has nothing about it that feel like "Lost" at all- the story feels fresh, the found footage approach works great and "The River" successfully throws in some great moments of tension and creepiness that will definitely crawl under your skin.

Horror fans will definitely want to take a ride on "The River" once it debuts on February 7th.

Rating:

4 out of 5

Set Visit Interview: Producers Jeremy Bolt, Don Carmody and Robert Colter Discuss Resident Evil: Retribution

2012-01-27T15:08:00.000-08:00

Next up in our Resident Evil: Retribution set visit report interview series is our chat with the producing trio of Jeremy Bolt, Don Carmody and Robert Colter, who sat down with Dread as well as a group of other journalists to talk about the latest Resident Evil sequel, which has Paul W.S. Anderson taking the directorial reins for a third time.

During our interview with the producing trio, Bolt, Carmody and Colter discussed the challenges of keeping things fresh when you're making the fourth sequel in a popular series like Resident Evil, the lowdown on a few new types of zombies that will no doubt be running amok and interfering with Alice's (Milla Jovovich) plans to bring down the Umbrella Corporation as well as more on the return on some familiar faces from previous RE entries and incorporating new fan favorites.

Check out our interview highlights below, and make sure to check back here soon for more from Dread Central's recent set visit for Screen Gems' upcoming sequel Resident Evil: Retribution.

Q: If I'm not mistaken, the last film ends with a boat, with a lot of planes coming at them. It's a big climax. With this film, do you guys take a little bit of time, or does it just jump right into the action?

Jeremy Bolt: Well, there's action. There is action.

Don Carmody: Yeah, nonstop.

Jeremy Bolt: This film had a lot of twisting, turning moments. It's playing, respectfully, with the audience. We want to make people think a little bit, although you'll enjoy it if you haven't seen a previous film. If you have seen the previous films, you'll enjoy it even more. It has that video game spirit, where you have to engage it a little bit.

Q: You're bringing a lot of characters back from past movies, so will people who haven't seen those movies still get it?

Jeremy Bolt: Yeah, that's why it's called Resident Evil: Retribution, and not Resident Evil 5.

Q: How does that work then? How do you feel that you're starting fresh, that anyone could come into the world, at this point?

Jeremy Bolt: There will be a voice-over from Alice, who will set the world up. New characters are properly introduced. You don't need to play the game to know Leon Kennedy and Jill Valentine are coming back. Unlike the previous films, we actually have a sequence which is very much in the real world, which is going to be an interesting part of this version of Resident Evil.

Q: Would that be Oded (Fehr)'s sequence?

Jeremy Bolt: He is in a part of that. This is actually quite difficult to talk about, I'm just realizing (laughter).

Don Carmody: I think everything is explained well enough that, even if you haven't seen the first few Resident Evils, you'll understand what's going on without too much confusion.

Q: I think each movie has really defined itself on Alice's mission. She's always discovering something new in herself, which lends itself to the new adventure. How would you describe that arc for her, and how that mirrors the movie, and what you're going for in this installment to differentiate itself from the rest?

Jeremy Bolt: I think you feel she's getting very close to the answer, if you like, of the whole Resident Evil franchise. We are within sight of the end- or of something we think might be the end.

Q: There's been a lot of talk about a potential sixth movie being the end of the Resident Evil series; is ending the series something you've given some thought to at all yet?

Robert Colter: Everything has to come to an end. The question is if it's by your choosing, or if the audience chooses it for you (laughter).

Q: When Paul did Afterlife, he had mentioned something at Comic-Con about a new trilogy. The third one had wrapped up, and he had envisioned a new trilogy. Beyond six- could you guys see doing a Resident Evil from different perspectives and different angles?

Jeremy Bolt: Yeah. I could see a prequel to (Resident Evil) 1, definitely. And, possibly, spinning out another character, yeah. The really exciting thing for us as producers, and Paul as a director, it's so expensive to release a movie these days, that it gives everyone confidence, so you can get creative under the umbrella of the franchise. This is something studios are doing all the time. If, as Robert said, the box office deserves it, we'll keep exploring it.

Q: But, going back, how does this one really differentiate itself from the others?

Jeremy Bolt: It's more science-fiction-y. This is more tricks-y, turn-y, plays respectfully with the audience.

Don Carmody: But, at the same time, it has probably the biggest action.

Q: There's a big car chase scene as well. Can you talk about shooting that?

Jeremy Bolt: Yes. It was a lot of night work.

Don Carmody: A lot of very cold night work. A lot of machine guns, very loud machine guns.

Q: I was trying to figure out how Russian zombies can drive motorcycles.

Jeremy Bolt: They've mutated. The last parasite has enabled them to have certain motor functions and mental abilities- the undead have evolved.

Robert Colter: We've moved it from Africa to the streets of Moscow, too.

Q: Can you elaborate about the good and bad aspects of Oded's character Carlos and Michelle (Rodriguez)'s character Rain? I believe those are the only two characters who have that duality.

Jeremy Bolt: The idea is no one is who you think they are. The only thing you are certain of is that the Umbrella Corporation is all-powerful, is always one step ahead, and Alice is the only one that's really getting close. We wanted to create an atmosphere where the audience goes, 'Is that person really Carlos? Is that person really Rain?' There's good Carlos and bad Carlos, and it's very much taken from the world of gaming, where everything can change. We are definitely, as I think Paul has done with the previous movies, taking narrative structure out of the video game world.

Robert Colter: We felt the last movie was really quite linear, pure action-survival so we felt that we definitely had to try something here narratively, from a structural point of view, that would make it more of a mind-bender for the audience. With Alice, you go through the movie and you kind of question everything. As it becomes this ongoing battle for survival of humanity, you might even find humanity in the least likely places, even in your enemies. To a certain degree, they may have things you need for survival. There might be alliances in the story that Alice wouldn't have trusted, but, for her survival, she might have to make a bargain and see how it goes.

Jeremy Bolt: She is definitely fighting to hold on to her humanity. She has a relationship with a young child in the film, and there's definitely an echo of a mother-daughter, a little bit of a Ripley-daughter connection. Even though, when you see the film, you might go, 'Why is she doing this?'

Q: How much is the market guiding the direction of this franchise, i.e. the box office?

Jeremy Bolt: Well, we're in 3D again. The thing we try in every version of the film is to use different environments, and that has worked for us. We've been in the desert in 3, the city in 2, so again here, we're using different environments. Paul believes you've got to give the viewers the promise of something different. I think a number of franchises make the mistake of just making it feel the same.

This will feel totally different.

Robert Colter: There is definitely feedback coming from the international distributors. The movie performed so strong internationally, you say, 'Is there a way to make it a global phenomenon, rather than set it in just one location?' We were in Raccoon City, we were in Vegas, and we were in Los Angeles. Is there a way we can make it a global event?

Q: You obviously have an open-door relationship with Capcom. What was their reaction when you came to them and said, 'We need two of the big characters, Leon and Barry, because the fans have been clamoring for them.'?

Jeremy Bolt: And Ada Wong. We have a great relationship so it's very much, 'Who are you going to cast? Do they look like the character?' They were very, very pleased with all of our choices, particularly Li Bingbing, who plays Ada Wong. They visited us on set last week, and they were really blown away by her.

Q: Are they any closer to doing a Capcom game that's closer to the series?

Robert Colter: I think we're stealing from each other, in a good way. They are two different worlds. They are so good at what they're doing, and we try to do our thing. I think we want to keep it that way.

Q: Is there a new breed or reiteration of a previously distinct creature that you guys are particularly excited about?

Jeremy Bolt: Yes. Something has gotten bigger and better finally. We're doing it properly.

Q: Can you talk about working with Paul and Neal (Moritz?) over these past 10 years and how you've grown together?

Jeremy Bolt: Don and I have worked together for five years, and Robert and I have worked for 10 years on the films. We've all been a part of this, but I would say Milla, she's always had a fierce core. If there's anybody who could take on an alien, it's probably her. That core has evolved, so now there's a strength and a toughness about her, but there's also a strong sense of her being a leader. I think you could definitely see her leading everyone against Umbrella, and literally saving humanity. Paul has evolved from being... he's always obviously loved the world that we're in, and he's always loved the technical aspects.

But I think it's interesting because, as Milla has evolved, he's very much become a part of that. They have fallen in love and gotten married so there's a total synergy between filmmaker and the iconic leading lady. I think that's really part of why the franchise has worked. From our point of view, Milla is essentially a third partner. From my point of view, that's interesting because I was partners with Paul for 20 years, and she's now essentially a partner in this as well.

Don Carmody: Nobody knows Alice better than Alice. She probably knows that character better than Paul.

Robert Colter: Going back to the first one, you really feel it was meant to be. We didn't really cast her. She cast us. She was basically lobbying to do the character, and we almost had no other choice to take her. Now you look back, and she's become a really integral part not only in front of the camera, but behind the camera. She's doing a really good job.

Q: Are there characters that have not yet been announced that might be making an appearance, that are still under the radar?

(Long pause, no answer)

Q: Will we see that character that was in Resident Evil 1 that was supposed to be her "husband" or boyfriend from that movie?

Jeremy Bolt: No. James Purefoy? No, you won't see him. But there are definitely elements from Resident 1 that come into this. Paul has another movie in his mind which will be the completion of this cycle, and we're moving towards that. That will definitely connect, in some way, to the first film.

Q: What zombies are you really excited about in this film?

Jeremy Bolt: Well, the Russian motorbike undeads are phenomenal. They're in their Communist uniforms, on their motorbikes, great makeup from Paul Jones, they're just terrific. Obviously, it's more enjoyable for us, having done it for so long now, that the undead are getting a bit more intelligent. After a while you feel sorry for them.

Q: Can you talk about this new venture with Paul- this found-footage project?

Jeremy Bolt: Not really. It's still very early.

Written and directed by Paul Anderson, Re5ident Evil: Retribution stars Milla Jovovich, Boris Kodjoe, Li Bingbing, Kevin Durand, Shawn Roberts, Michelle Rodriguez, Sienna Guillory, Johann Urb, and Colin Salmon. Look for Re5ident Evil: Retribution in theatres on September 14, 2012 from Screen Gems.

Exclusive Interview: Actor Dallas Roberts on Once in a Lifetime Chances, Male Bonding and More for The Grey

2012-01-27T14:27:00.000-08:00

Now playing in theaters is Joe Carnahan's wildly thrilling The Grey which follows a small group of oil drillers forced to survive in the Alaskan wilderness after suffering a horrific plane crash. One by one nature – as well as a clever pack of wolves – begins to leave its mark on the group as they continue to face insurmountable odds stacking up against them.

Starring alongside Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo, Joe Anderson, Dermot Mulroney, Nonso Anozie, Ben Bray and James Badge Dale in The Grey is actor Dallas Roberts (currently playing a recurring character on CBS's "The Good Wife"), who turns in an incredibly understated and elegant performance as Henrick, the quietest member of the roughneck crew.

Dread Central recently had the opportunity to chat with Roberts about his experiences while making The Grey, the challenges of making a silent character connect with audiences and some information on another genre-related project he has in the works- Shadow People.

The New York-based actor didn't know if he had nailed a part in Carnahan's harrowing survivalist tale for quite some time after auditioning; he discussed with us his initial thoughts on working with the director and the script as well.

"I’d been a huge fan of Narc, but I hadn’t seen Smokin' Aces or The A-Team before I came onto The Grey," expressed Roberts. "I didn’t meet Joe until after I auditioned since I put myself on tape from New York City and sent it off into the dark void that tapes go into; that was my audition. A couple of weeks had passed, and I hadn't heard anything but didn't really think about it until Joe called me and said, 'Let's do this- we’re going up the mountain, and you’ve got to come do this with me. It's not going to be easy so I hope you're ready.'"

"I was really taken with Joe's enthusiasm for telling this story and the promise of an intense but once in a lifetime experience on a mountain north of Vancouver. The thing Joe loves to do the most in the entire world is making movies, and that's a fun environment to work with. I loved his passion, his script, and I knew I was up for anything the minute we hung up the phone that first time," added Roberts.

The actor, who turned in notable performances in recent films like 3:10 to Yuma and Walk the Line as well as AMC's short-lived "Rubicon," talked about the challenges of bringing a "strong, silent type" character to life and responds to Carnahan's remarks regarding not needing a bunch of "pretty boys" for his testosterone-fueled film The Grey.

Roberts said, "Henrick was interesting to me because he's not a guy I've ever played before. He says very little throughout the movie, and in this pack of 'wild dogs', he's the silent one so I knew going into this that my biggest challenge was making a character resonate while not saying much at all. But that's what spoke to me most about coming on to play Henrick- I wanted that challenge. Joe did let us improvise a bit, too, which I think helped make our characters feel really natural. We all bonded rather quickly on this set, and I think that shows throughout the movie a bit."

"My only reservation about Joe saying he didn't need 'pretty boys' for The Grey is that I'm hurt he doesn't think I'm a 'pretty boy'!" laughed Roberts. "As an actor, you dream about these roles that will take you on these great adventures, like flying planes or riding horses or going on an expedition, so I think I was just mostly excited by what we were going to have to face while making The Grey. Sure, it was blistering cold, and we were taking bets to see who'd drop off the production because of how intense it was, but at the end of the six weeks, we all made it through, and I had one hell of an experience shooting this little movie."

Roberts went on to talk about his four-legged co-stars in The Grey, saying "I never got too close to the real wolves- in fact, the handlers kept encouraging us to not look directly into their eyes so as to not stir them up so THAT was a bit intense. But I can say that the animatronic wolves that we used were remarkable creatures; the paws, the LED lights - everything about them really - made it really intense when we'd shoot these scenes and you'd see them coming up behind you. That was fantastic to work with."

With The Grey in theaters everywhere this weekend, we asked Roberts about another genre-related flick on the horizon for him: Shadow People with writer/director Matthew Arnold.

"Shadow People is about these three creatures based on a Pan-Asian myth who kill you in your sleep by taking your breath away," explained Roberts. "I play a radio talk show host named Charlie who specializes in the paranormal, and I discover that some people can break the spell of the Shadow People and some people cannot. It's got a nice creepy feel to it, and I think it'll really get under your skin if you're a horror fan. I think it should be coming out later this year."

Look for The Grey in theaters now.

Set Visit Interview: Oded Fehr Discusses Bringing Back Carlos Olivera for Resident Evil: Retribution and More

2012-01-26T15:20:00.000-08:00

The last time fans saw Oded Fehr's character Carlos Olivera in 2007's Resident Evil: Extinction, the dude valiantly blew himself up right before he was about to be a zombie meal after being surrounded by a horde of the undead. So how exactly is the actor in Paul W.S. Anderson's upcoming Resident Evil: Retribution again?

Well, while on the set of the fourth Resident Evil sequel, Dread Central had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Fehr about his return to the franchise after five years, how fans can expect a lot of Carlos in this flick since there are at least two of them running around, working with Anderson as a director this time and more about his experiences while shooting the epic 3D horror action flick.

Check out the highlights of our interview with Fehr below, and make sure to check back soon for more interviews from the set of Resident Evil: Retribution!

Q: What were your first thoughts about coming on board Retribution?

A: Well, at first I was pissed because I didn't realize I wouldn't be a part of it. I called Milla and was giving her such a hard time, saying, "Now I hear you’re shooting 5 without me? What the heck’s going on?" And she was so cute. She was like, "Blah, dah, bah, bah, blah." You know? She didn’t want to say anything because she knew already that they were bringing me back in. So we met up with Paul that night and we had dinner. That's when he was like, "Yeah. We’re bringing you back in." So I came back from the dead for this.

Q: How? How are you brought back from the dead? Obviously you’re not the only one. We’re seeing characters from the first film being brought in as well.

A: (laughs) Yeah!

Q: So if I posed it as, ‘Are you going to get to continue your relationship with Milla (Jovovich)’s character, as they were alluding to in Part 3, or are you on the side of evil?

A: Well, the interesting thing is that in a way I do and in a way I don’t. See, because I kind of come back twice on this one. I think you had a hundred Millas on the last one. So obviously, you can have more Carloses and more Ones and more Rains. The interesting thing is, I come back as two different guys in this one. There’s a dynamic to the relationship with Milla’s character, and then there’s the other side. He’s working for Umbrella again. So the answer is both.

Q: So that allows you to have some fun with the character.

A: Yeah. It’s great. I get to play two different characters. It’s fun. Two opposing sides.

Q: Do you fight yourself in the film?

A: Do I fight myself in the film? No. I’m not THAT lucky.

Q: And you’re getting to work with Paul as a director this time, too. Because the last two that you were in...

A: Yeah, but you know, for number three he was there the entire time. I think there was a time where the director was out sick for three or four days so I actually ended up working with him then. And he was so closely involved that it felt like you were working with him anyway. He’s a great guy. He’s a lot of fun. Really nice. It’s a great atmosphere on set. He’s got a good eye and knows what he wants. It’s fun.

Q: How’s the 3D process on this movie for you?

A: It’s complicated. The funny thing about it is, I always look at the steady-cam guys. When the steady-cam was still young, in the early days of steady-cam, I was in the beginning of my career. And I remember these guys carrying these big cameras—film cameras. They were not yet made for the steady-cam. They were big and heavy, and they were lugging these things around. And then, cameras became smaller and more compact. And then, boom! We moved into digital. Digital came in, and it was all big, and wires, and everything. And now, digital went so compact—it’s amazing! All of a sudden, steady-cams…they have an easier life again. And bam! Now we’re 3D, and they’ve got two cameras set up, with two sets of lenses, and two everything. And it’s heavier than it’s ever been. Literally, it’s like we went back to the 1920s.

Q: Can you talk a little bit more about working with Paul? How he approaches the material and talks to you about characters? And how serious he is about this story that (comes from a) videogame series?

A: I think these movies…they’re not the highest on deep drama and backstories and all the rest of it. They’re a popcorn fun ride, where, if they can stick some romance in it, and suggestions, and things like that, it’s a lot of fun. It’s just a fun movie, and I think that’s his approach about it. He’s extremely open to any kind of suggestions you might have or anything like that. And he really concentrates on keeping the fun in it. Having the different characters. Having Rain, who Michelle (Rodriguez) plays, and in this one, she plays Bad Rain and Good Rain, which is really funny. She’s like this tough girl, weapons specialist killer thing. And then, on the other hand, she’s this tree-hugger, Prius-driving, sweet girl. You know what I mean? So he brings all that fun in there. And I think that’s his approach while filming as well. He loves keeping the fun and the spark in it. He surrounds himself with people he loves working with. Most of the people that are here are people he worked with on previous movies. So it’s a really great, nice set to be on.

Q: So does everyone have two versions of themselves in this?

A: No, I think Michelle’s character and myself are the only ones that—I want to make sure that I’m saying it correctly—yeah, we’re the only ones that have the two characters. Sienna (Guillory)’s character has that spider thing stuck to her chest, which kind of controls her thoughts, as you saw in the last movie with Ali Larter’s character. So she is a good person caught in a bad person’s body kind of thing.

Q: Where do we first meet you in the film? Where do we get introduced?

A: We get introduced to Carlos’ "Todd" in a very simple suburbanized home. And he’s just the husband. Just a dad and a husband and a regular ol’ nice guy.

Q: So are we getting prequel elements to this story? Is this kind of a prequel sequel? Or is this an Umbrella Corporation Home?

A: Well…Uh…yes. And no. (laughs)

Q: Is this film building to sort of a climax for the franchise? Or do you see it continuing on past this?

A: I don’t know. I think so. I mean, I think the idea is to do—there’s one more movie that I know Paul definitely has in mind. He has this idea of this huge crescendo, this beautiful thing. But you know, when we did the third one, I thought THAT would be a huge crescendo beautiful thing. It just seems that people love watching the movies. Especially number four—it was more successful than the one before it so it’s like, "Well, if people like it, we’ll just keep bringing it back!" It’s interesting working with Colin (Salmon) because Colin keeps saying how they shot this little independent movie in Germany and nobody imagined that it would be so successful.

And it is. I think it’s one of the most successful franchises, right? People love it and it’s a lot of fun. It’s great. What’s interesting is that I just saw the movies to refresh myself with the series, and it’s like you’re watching Milla grow from a young kid in the first movie into this gorgeous woman in number four. It’s kind of cool.

Q: How does this film top the other entries that you’ve been in? Does it allow you to do anything new, action-wise? Is there anything that you’re really excited to see?

A: I think the fact that I get to play the two different characters is the main thing. The movie is like anything else: once you’ve got a big enough ensemble, it spreads out. So there’s not as much…I’m not nearly as involved on this one as I was on number two or number three, really; so I’m kind of more a part of the gang.

Q: Do you get to do any crazy wirework or fight sequences, or is it all guns blazing for you?

A: This time it was mainly more guns blazing. There’s a lot of concentration on the women fighting each other so us guys- we get to be just tough guys shooting. But I got hung on the wires here and there; it’s fun.

Q: In Extinction you guys were up against, kind of, new ‘super-zombie’ things in the desert. There were new creatures. Do you guys go up against anything new in this one in terms of a creature or creature effects?

A: Yes. Now, that’s a complicated question for me. I’m on the bad guy's side so we are the ones who are unleashing them, more than having to fight with them. I don't have them in front of me so I only get descriptions of what they look like. I just know there's something coming out of the face and claws, maybe a kind of a super-licker-something; but really, I have no idea. I'm not much of a gamer so I don't know how to explain them.

Q: You mentioned that you play two different versions of your character and also that Paul is thinking for one more film. Do either of your versions survive? And has Paul said, "If we make a sixth, you’d be around."

A: I can’t say things like that! Do either of my things survive? (laughs)

Q: The Resident Evil movies are known for killing off characters- something you are familiar with.

A: That’s a very good possibility. But I shouldn’t tell you- should I? I shouldn’t tell you what happens!

Q: Even if both of them die, you could come back. Has Paul said to you, "If we make a final one, you’d be around."

A: Of course, but I don’t think anybody knows one hundred percent. He has an idea of what he wants to do. All I can tell you is that I love Paul and we have a great time. He found a way to bring me back on this one; maybe he will on the sixth one. I don’t know. I hope there will be a sixth one. I have no idea. We’ll see.

Written and directed by Paul Anderson, Re5ident Evil: Retribution stars Milla Jovovich, Boris Kodjoe, Li Bingbing, Kevin Durand, Shawn Roberts, Michelle Rodriguez, Sienna Guillory, Johann Urb, and Colin Salmon. Look for Re5ident Evil: Retribution in theatres on September 14, 2012 from Screen Gems.

Exclusive Interview: Actor Joe Anderson on The Grey, ABC's The River and More

2012-01-26T15:08:00.000-08:00

In Joe Carnahan's survivalist thriller The Grey, Joe Anderson plays loudmouth oil rigger Todd Flannery, who always manages to rub his co-workers the wrong way with his less-than-appropriate comments. However, once their plane goes down, Flannery and the rest of the survivors - played by Liam Neeson, Frank Grillo, Dermot Mulroney, Dallas Roberts, Nonso Anozie, Ben Bray and James Badge Dale - are forced to work together to endure both the harsh wintry terrain where they landed as well as a pack of deadly wolves whose feeding grounds the group unknowingly stumble upon.

Dread Central recently caught up with Anderson to talk about his experiences working with such a brilliant ensemble of actors on The Grey, his thoughts on his character Flannery and how nothing can ever prepare you mentally for the kind of shoot they endured alongside filmmaker Carnahan.

Anderson also briefly chatted about his next project on the horizon, ABC's upcoming found footage horror series "The River", which was created by Oren Peli and Steven Spielberg.

Anderson, a classically trained actor, discussed how he first learned of Carnahan's work as a director and what his first impressions were of the script for The Grey.

"The first time I learned of Joe Carnahan was while I was in drama school," explained Anderson. "They showed us his movie Narc, which is this incredibly brutal cop story that was so dark and haunting. But there was this one shot that always stuck with me, and it was Jason Patric standing in the shower, holding his child, and that's not the kind of sensitive moment you see very often in that style of storytelling. Who would have thought a handful of years later I'd be working with him and on something just as brilliant as Narc was when it was released?"

"The Grey has that kind of sensibility to it that Narc did ten years ago. When I first read the script, I realized that this story could be done a dozen different ways, but only one way would be honest to the story being told and thankfully that was also the route Joe took. There's certainly a 'hero' aspect to the story, but that's not the only thing going on; there's also the brutality of the conditions, the lives of these men and their will to overcome insurmountable odds," added Anderson.

Of course, the up-and-coming actor knew it was going to be bitter cold when he set off to shoot The Grey last January; however, Anderson discussed how nothing would ever be able to prepare him for what it would really be like once he arrived in British Columbia. "I was blindly gung-ho about going to make this movie in the middle of nowhere; sure, I knew it was going to be cold, but I figured it couldn't really be THAT bad since we're shooting a movie there. Little did I know- basically making The Grey was akin to an Arctic expedition, and I don't know if you can ever really prepare yourself mentally for something like that. There's cold, and there's what we endured while making The Grey."

Anderson went on to talk more about his character Todd Flannery and how it was integral to the success of Carnahan's story that everyone add their own touches to each of their respective characters.

Anderson said, "Flannery is a young and ignorant guy; that ignorance breeds fear within him. He's got a lot of mouth and is always saying the wrong thing, but he's not necessarily a bad guy for it. Ultimately, he's scared and that's his reaction to the situation he's thrown into. I would say there's a little bit of Joe inside Flannery, but I think I had to do that so he'd feel natural in the film. There's a naturalness to The Grey so playing him any other way would never have worked. He needed to be himself but in a way that you still want him to survive by the end, too, so I never would have made him this over-the-top type of character."

"We had such an amazing cast all around, really," added Anderson. " Liam is fantastic as always, and both Dallas (Roberts) and Dermot (Mulroney) really blew me away on set; they're these rough and tough kind of characters, but when their characters begin talking about their families and lives, you just get lost in the softness that is lingering below the surface, and I think what they did in The Grey was brilliant. It was such a fantastic experience getting to work with all of these guys and Joe on this."

With The Grey coming out this weekend, we asked Anderson about another big project on the horizon for him: ABC's "The River", in which Anderson stars alongside Leslie Hope, Bruce Greenwood, Eloise Mumford and Paul Blackthorne. Anderson explained the irony of working on these two vastly different projects back-to-back. "We were joking on the set of The Grey that our next projects had to be in Hawaii so we could enjoy a warm climate for a change- then, a few months later I get offered "The River", which was filming in Puerto Rico and eventually Hawaii, so I thought that was pretty funny how everything worked out."

"But working on "The River" was pretty extraordinary, so unlike anything I've ever filmed before. When working in movies, you get used to shooting in front of one camera, maybe two, and that's that. With this show there are cameras everywhere, and we're pretty much knocking down the fourth wall, which is a bit of a challenge to adapt to as an actor. It's sort of like acting in the round, but after a few days I got used to it. "

"I think fans will really enjoy it, and I've been surprised by how scary the show is - and I worked on it - but with so many cameras you just never know what's going to make it when you're shooting. I've only seen up to Episode Four so far, but I'm really proud of our work on it," added Anderson.

Open Road Films will release the highly anticipated, action-packed survival thriller The Grey in theaters nationwide on January 27th, 2012.

Set Visit Interview: Paul W.S. Anderson Talks Resident Evil: Retribution, the Future of the Franchise and More

2012-01-24T20:18:00.000-08:00

During Dread Central's recent set visit in Toronto for Screen Gems' upcoming sequel, Resident Evil: Retribution, we had the opportunity to sit down and chat with the mastermind behind it all- writer/director/producer Paul W.S. Anderson, who is once again back at the helm for the latest sequel in the hugely popular and fan-driven Resident Evil series.

Between takes on the wintry CineSpace soundstage that was dressed to resemble the frozen tundra of Russia, Anderson discussed with us his ten-year dedication to the Resident Evil films, how closely Retribution mirrors the RE video game storylines, future plans for the franchise and so much more.

Check out the highlights of our interview with Anderson during our recent set visit, and make sure to check back soon for more from the set of Resident Evil: Retribution. For Anderson's update on the Death Race franchise that we previously reported on, you can check that out here!

Q: You’ve always been an integral part of the Resident Evil franchise, having written all of the episodes. But now you are directing back-to-back episodes as opposed to handing them off to another director. So what is keeping you excited?

A: That hasn’t changed. I’ve always been really excited about it and it was always a painful decision not to direct the two episodes that I didn’t direct. If I had been given my druthers, I would have done Apocalypse and Extinction. At the time, it was kind of conflicts with other studios, movies, and other commitments. It is not like this is…movies are not an art form where you get to kind of sit in your art gallery and paint, you know? You don’t do that. You’re spending a lot of somebody else’s money. Like I said, given my druthers, I would have directed every single one of them. So I am just happy to have been able to do the last one and this one.

Q: Can you talk about how your work with 3D has changed after doing both The Three Musketeers and the last film in 3D?

A: I think we have just become more adventurous with each movie. I mean, taking the cameras out on location a lot more. Obviously, not here because we are not going to go out onto the pack ice. It has got nothing to do with 3D. We are trying to become more adventurous with it I think. You know, more location work, more camera movement, and more aggressive camera movement. I think the camera work on this is pretty aggressive for 3D. I think people’s tolerance for what they can watch in 3D is obviously becoming stronger. So we probably have more kind of muscular camera moves in this one.

Q: The ending of the fourth film was a climatic ending. We have heard that this one starts with a flashback. What was your motivation for sort of not jumping right into the action?

A: This one starts basically with the pay off from the last one. So we are start on the deck of the Arcadia. So it is kind of like a direct continuation of that.

Q: So are the flashbacks a little bit further?

A: I can’t…(laughs). I can’t tell you about the flashbacks.

Q: Can you talk about the decision of bringing in Barry, Ada, and Leon?

A: That was kind of fan-driven. All of the fans were pretty vocal about how these were the characters that they really wanted to see. We really tried to cast actors who kind of brought those characters to life as close to the video game as possible. You have no idea how difficult it is to find someone with Leon Kennedy’s hair. It is just not the easiest thing in the world. He has to be manly and has to have these long bangs. Geez, could they have made it more difficult for us? But I’m very happy with the actors that we have.

Q: How do you know the characters that the fans want?

A: Basically from being on the internet and going to…I do a lot of press and I go to a lot of…I have a very close and open dialogue with Capcom, who have their own Resident Evil forums as well. So it is kind of through a lot of communication.

Q: Are you finding it more difficult to draw some inspiration from the game besides the characters? Because you are bringing in Las Plagas zombies in this one…

A: Not really. There is such a wealth of stuff in the games. So for Las Plagas we are going back to Resident Evil 4 and there are elements of Resident Evil 5 in this. We have a big car chase that I am very excited about because in Resident Evil 5 there was this awesome kind of hummer, motorbike, heavy machine gun battle with rocket launchers. I am like, “This is so great.” So we have kind of taken inspiration from that. I think there is so much cool stuff in the games and I think it will be a long time before we ran out.

Q: We have heard from some of the cast that when you were writing this one you were thinking of a 5th and 6th film and that there was almost talk of you guys filming them back to back.

A: We definitely…there was an earlier discussion about that, but then we just decided to focus on this movie. But if it is that we make another one, I do know where it would go. It would obviously be great to kind of make two full trilogies and then just bring everything to an end.

Q: That is the thing. Your significant other was mentioning that she can only play the character for so long. In your mind is the 6th film the finale?

A: Definitely. Unless, of course, no one goes to see this one. Then this one would be the finale, just maybe not a very satisfying one. (laughs)

Q: Do you see yourself continuing beyond with your involvement and with Milla’s involvement by maybe producing?

A: I have always said that we really take the movies one movie at a time because we put so much effort into them. While I have an idea of where I would like the franchise to go, it really is a movie by movie thing for us. I think quite often filmmakers kind of think so much about what the franchise will be and sometimes can neglect to put their efforts into the movie that they are actually making. So, for us, it is 150% of effort into this one entity right now.

Q: How do you feel that the style of action is different? What is your directorial approach and what are some of the choices you are making to make this one stand out apart from the rest?

A: Like I said, the camera work for 3D is very aggressive. The action is just different for a Resident Evil movie anyway; it’s not different from the games. Like I said, we have taken a lot of inspiration from action sequences in the games. But to do car chases in 3D with cars, motorbikes, and kind of lots of…because the Las Plagas undead can obviously use weaponry. That is a whole new aspect that hasn’t been in the movie franchise before. So that has been pretty exciting.

Q: I want to ask about the visual tone of the movie and not the action or the violence. What is the overall look and the color scheme? Is there a certain palette that you are going for that is unique?

A: It is kind of like it is an epic undead movie. It really is a globe crossing thing. We have physically shot in Washington D.C., Red Square, and Shibuya in Tokyo. We’re obviously recreating snow and ice sequences, but we have actually gone out in the snow and ice as well. So it really has a globe crossing feel to it and each one of these different places we have tried to kind of invest with a different feel. So I am excited about the snow and ice obviously because as you can probably see with Ada laying in the red dress against the crisp white snow and the black umbrella – it is very, very graphic novel-y. So that is very stark.

But then the Red Square sequence is completely different. It’s all at night and very gritty. So the idea was to kind of make the movie like a kind of nightmare where you tumble from one bad dream to another but can’t quite wake up. So each part of the dream feels very different but also very unpleasant. We have really tried to…it is almost like the visual look of three or four different films packed into one movie, deliberately so because each scenario you go from is radically different from the next, both in the way we shot it and also in the way we lit it. So it has been drive Glen, our DP, crazy. Normally you get a DP and you set one look for a movie, and every two weeks it is completely different.

Q: With all of the different looks, globetrotting, and the non-linear narrative is there a unifying theme that you are leaning on specifically to kind of bring that all together?

A: It’s hard for me to explain what that is without giving away the plot twists and the movie, but yes. I think it really has some cool twists in it. They are kind of inspired by the video game, but I think it should be a very surprising narrative. I’m excited to put the whole thing together. And I’m super excited to be working with returning actors from the franchise as well. That has been one of the really fun things – to bring back Michelle (Rodriguez), Colin (Salmon) and Oded (Fehr) back. Not just to work with them as people because they are nice people, but to also have those familiar faces in the franchise I think is really exciting.

Q: We asked (Producer) Jeremy (Bolt) earlier and he said that tomandandy is coming back to do the score for you. What do you have in mind sound wise for the score? Will it be something similar to Afterlife?

A: It will be a kind of progression on it. I want to kind of mesh their more electronic stuff with an orchestra this time. So it has a kind of more epic…it still has that cool tomandandy feel, but it has a more epic scope to it.

Q: The score for Event Horizon was very aggressive. The score was just pounding and pounding; I really liked it.

A: Hopefully what we can do is…there we combined Michael Kamen, who is very kind of orchestral and orbital. That was…I think with tomandandy we can get the same kind of feel, but with them. They are very experienced composers now but what they obviously love is electronic. The track they composed for the opening of the last movie is one of my favorite bits of movie music in any of my movies.

Q: Have you figured out the Umbrella Corporation and where ultimately everything is or in each movie are you sort of like, “We don’t have to worry about it yet.”?

A: You know, they are just this web of evil and they are ever growing with their fantastic graphic design (laughter) and their lack of attention to detail. It is like they build these incredible facilities and these death dealing machines, but they never manage to use them in the correct way. They always build too many vents and access shafts. (laughter)

Q: That is true, but you know what I am saying. You mentioned that the 6th film you could see as the series finale. Have you always thought, “Well, the actual final headquarters is in Barcelona”- for example?

A: I have a very definite idea of where their final layer will be, but I can’t tell you. But it will look beautiful. (laughter) Yet it will be easy to get into somewhere. (laughter)

Q: Are we going to see what happens to Chris and Claire in this one? Obviously, Wentworth (Miller) and Ali (Larter) are not back, or are they?

A: (laughs) No, Wentworth and Ali are not back but their characters are still in the franchise.

Q: When did you first come up with the idea of having these good and bad versions of people?

A: It was really thinking about it and we had talked about it for years about bringing Michelle back because I just loved working with her so much. She was such a cool part of the first movie and the more I thought about Michelle, the more I thought about how she really as an actor has been unable to explore other aspects of her career because she is always cast as the same character, and I am guilty of that of course. At the start of her career, I casted her as the bad girl with a machine gun.

But now since then, it has been 10 years of her playing the bad girl with a machine gun a lot of the time. I wanted to kind of give her an opportunity to play something different and she was very excited about that. So that where the idea of characters that are both good and bad came from. It was to give her an opportunity to kind of spread her wings a little bit because I do think that she is an underrated actress. No one rocks a heavy machine gun like Michelle Rodriguez. We have bits of footage and it is just incredible. She is firing this huge big ass machine gun and bullets are coming out in slow motion and she never blinks and never hesitates. The only time she gets flustered is if she doesn’t reload the magazine properly or fast enough. She is like a real pro. She is ready to go to war and she does it really, really well. But some of the most fun things in this movie has been watching her trying to walk around in a pair of high heel shows because that is the real challenge for her. That has been the kind of fun stuff.

Q: We saw her take a shot of something during the scene you're filming. She was explaining that it sort of made her stronger or more impervious to bullets or something like that. Is that the case? I’m not sure.

A: She injects herself with a Las Plagas parasite. It is kind of taken from the game. There is a moment in the game where one of the characters injects themselves and we built exactly the same injection device. We are framing the shots in exactly the same way. So there will be a kind of unpleasant little parasitic creature in that vile that you will see squirted into her veins. It is a theme in all of the games with characters injecting themselves and they develop their super powers, but they pay the price for it.

Q: How do you work with a fight choreographer in order to bring your vision to life?

A: I am working with Nick Powell again, who I worked with on The Three Musketeers. I really like Nick because as a fight choreographer and second-unit director he is the full package. He directs the second-unit, but he also helps choreograph the fights. He did The Bourne Identity, which I thought at the time really revolutionized the kind of look of action movies. So he has done that, but at the other end of the spectrum he also did all of the sword work on Gladiator. He is also phenomenal at car chases as well. He did all of the car chases in the first Bourne movie. He directed all of that. So he was a good all around talent to bring in. Basically he and I sat down and I showed him the inspiration from the video games. We discuss where we can kind of take that inspiration and build upon it; we also watch a lot of movies together.

Q: What kind of movies did you watch for this one?

A: We watched a lot of Thai movies this time around because of the movies he has done. He did The Last Samurai as well. He has worked with a lot of Japanese stuntmen and he has worked with a lot of Hong Kong stuntmen. But we felt the area that hadn’t been mined by western cinema much was that whole kind of high impact Thai style of fighting. So we just watched a lot of action sequences from a lot of Thai movies. There were moves and just a general feel that we thought we could infuse the movie with. You know, that kind of bone crunch where you really feel the impact. We tried to bring that into the movie, which is also good for 3D because obviously 3D makes it harder to sell those kinds of fake phony punches because you see the distance between the fist and the face. So that kind of Thai style of fighting where you actually make contact is a lot stronger.

Q: We see the submarine coming out through the ice in the scene we were just watching. How much time do you guys spend in the sub in the movie?

A: You see the subs a lot in the movie, but there is not really much inside of the submarine. It is just because I wanted to get the characters there. It is more of getting from point A to point B.

Q: It has been over 12 years since you first got involved with the Resident Evil franchise. Can you draw a line from that point back then to today both in terms of the relationship with the franchise, working with Milla, your own career, and this whole journey that you have been on?

A: It has been a fabulous journey. I am very excited about what we have managed to do with the franchise. I always refer to the first Resident Evil movie as “the little movie that could” because at the time it was kind of unfashionable to do video game movies. There had been several that hadn’t work. Mortal Kombat, the one I had made, was one of the few movies that had actually done well. But then the sequel to that didn’t do well at all. It was also an R rated movie at the time when American studios didn’t really want R rated movies. It was right after Columbine and all of the studios had said, “We are not doing R rated movies anymore.” They were really backing off from it.

So when we put the movie together it was pretty much financed all out of North America. There was no studio deal attached to it. Sony only became involved in it during principal photography. I remember that the deal we had on it was that if the movie didn’t do incredibly well at its first American test, and these are incredibly stressful things for a filmmaker anywhere where you go and first put your movie in front of the public, but if we didn’t score certain amounts they could have put the movie straight to DVD. It really felt like the movie that nobody wanted. I vividly remember reading a review of it. I think it was The Hollywood Reporter or Variety. I can’t remember which, but it was one of the two trade papers that said, “This movie basically has no audience. It was made for no one and no one wants to go see it. IT has no audience.”

And then the movie did have an audience. It scored huge and really played to an audience. The movie did really well and the franchise built from that point because we all stuck behind it I think. Milla stayed in the franchise and I stayed attached to it because I had been involved in franchises where I hadn’t stayed attached and I felt like the franchise went off in the wrong direction. So I am really proud that this tiny little movie that was made in Berlin, made all with foreign movie, made by a European crew, and starring a woman from Russia kind of had built into a big success. The fact that each movie has successfully done better I am very proud of.

Written and directed by Paul Anderson, Re5ident Evil: Retribution stars Milla Jovovich, Boris Kodjoe, Li Bingbing, Kevin Durand, Shawn Roberts, Michelle Rodriguez, Sienna Guillory, Johann Urb, and Colin Salmon. Look for Re5ident Evil: Retribution in theatres on September 14, 2012 from Screen Gems.

Review: The Woman (Blu-Ray/DVD)

2012-01-24T18:07:00.000-08:00

Starring Pollyanna McIntosh, Sean Bridgers, Angela Bettis, Lauren Ashley Carter, Zach Rand

Directed by Lucky McKee

Distributed by Bloody Disgusting Selects

Social satire or straight-up horror movie? Misogynistic or an attack on misogyny itself? These are just a few of the questions that The Woman has raised with audiences and critics since its debut during the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and throughout its subsequent festival run that followed. And whether viewers see the film as a powerful portrait of misogyny, a thinking man’s social satire or simply a brutal little horror flick there's one thing for sure, Lucky McKee's The Woman has definitely proven to be an unflinching and memorable experience regardless of your final thoughts on the movie.

In The Woman, Pollyanna McIntosh plays the titular woman who is the last surviving member of a cannibal tribe who lives like a feral animal in the woods. While bathing in a stream, she is spotted by country lawyer Chris Cleek (Sean Bridgers) who captures her and takes her home, eventually chaining her up in his cellar. Much to the surprise of his wife (Angela Bettis) and his children, Chris announces to his family that he intends to civilize the woman (after losing a finger no less) and he sets about a campaign of increasing sadism and cruelty, shedding light on the evil side of his own nature.

From there, The Woman takes viewers on a frequently shocking and emotionally charged journey, twisting and turning but always leading unavoidably to its unforgettable climax. From the outset, The Woman is one of those films in which everything indicates things won’t end well for those involved and that's putting it mildly. Shocking and jarring doesn't quite seem to do the film's third act any justice- it's better seen and experienced for yourself if you feel like you're up for the task.

In terms of performances, everyone in The Woman delivers strong material, especially Bridgers who takes a role ripened with patriarchal hypocrisy and just digs right in delivering a mesmerizing performance. It's hard to tell at times whether or not the actor is playing it 'straight' or not with his performance as Chris Cleek but I think that's what's brilliant about Bridgers work here; the ambiguity to it all elevates everything in THE WOMAN to an entirely different level.

And while I no doubt enjoyed The Woman, I did just have a few minor issues with the flick. The soundtrack for the film doesn't even feel like it fits the movie it's being played over. And while I have no issues with indie rock itself, the movie almost doesn't work because of the 'teen angst-eqsue' soundtrack (thankfully McKee's work here is strong enough to endure terrible music). Something else that almost turned me off with The Woman was the story's overall message; there's no doubt that The Woman is engaging and well directed but the material is also very manipulative and morally black and white; the thinly veiled points it makes about gender relations, familial dysfunction, spousal abuse and contemporary morality are all hammered home with unwavering intensity.

This was an issue I had with another Ketchum film adaptation The Girl Next Door which leads me to believe this is more about the source material than the director but regardless of my issues- Ketchum certainly knows how to write challenging stories and McKee is the right guy to bring those stories to life (The Woman being far superior to The Girl Next Door by far).

In terms of Blu-ray and DVD packages, The Woman marks Bloody Disgusting Selects' first foray into high definition and it's a very welcome one. The image is razor sharp revealing an incredible amount of clarity even during the film's many shots that are dimly lit. Also on the stellar side of the fence is the disc's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix. Stellar that is if you can stand the music. Still, every grunt, growl, and scream sound awesome.

In terms of special features things kick off with a twenty-five minute making-of the shows off where the controversy behind this flick began and brings us right up to speed. From there we get about five minutes of deleted scenes, a music video and the six-minute animated short film, Mi Burro, which played with the flick at last year's Sundance.

While it's obvious button pushing is evident, The Woman remains a highly effective piece of cinema; its depiction of domestic abuse is unwavering with McKee's abrupt execution and even though there's quite a few gore-ified moments in the flick, The Woman works best when the psychological horror of Ketchum's story that sets in and holds you in its grip for the entire third act of the film.

The Woman is far more than the sum of its shocking subject matter and a few groan-inducing gore moments (sensitive viewers be ready to squirm)– it's an unflinching and ballsy film which serves as a great reminder that there's still powerful storytelling alive in the horror genre. Kudos to McKee for taking some risks and following through with one of the most intriguing and challenging films of the year.

Special Features

The Making-of The Woman featurette

Deleted scenes

Short Film: Mi Burro

Music Track “Distracted” by Sean Spillane

Ratings:

Movie- 4 out of 5

Special Features- 3 out of 5

Exclusive Interview: Actor Frank Grillo Discusses The Grey, Complicated Bad Guys, Eating Wolf and More

2012-01-24T16:35:00.000-08:00

Actor Frank Grillo is relishing these past few years of his career. Not only did he recently star opposite Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton and Nick Nolte in the critically acclaimed flick Warrior, but he's already earning rave reviews for his star-turning performance opposite Liam Neeson in Joe Carnahan's The Grey, which hits theaters this Friday, January 27th.

Dread Central recently caught up with Grillo on the phone and heard more about how the actor came on board The Grey, his insights into his complicated character, what it was like to eat wolf meat alongside his cast mates and what's up next for him in 2012.

Grillo, whom some of you may recognize from his previous genre efforts including iMurders, Minority Report, My Soul to Take or Mother's Day, discussed how he came on board The Grey for a role that the actor saw as both an incredible challenge and an opportunity. "It was a gift to get to play a character like Diaz, who feels so rooted in reality; that usually doesn't happen a lot these days. I usually get offered roles that are a complete 180 from me so it was great to play a fictional character and incorporate elements of myself into him. I've been friends with Joe and I've wanted to work with him for a long time now because I really love his style of filmmaking. Thankfully, after Joe saw a cut of Warrior and saw what I did in that film, he asked if I wanted to come on board The Grey to play Diaz."

"I live in New York right now and I'm not an LA-type actor so I'm always up for a challenge like The Grey, especially since Joe wanted to get all of us out in the middle of nowhere to make it," added Grillo. "Most directors would have shot on a soundstage and faked everything in post, but it was important to Joe to do this right, and I was completely on board for anything this shoot was going to throw at us over the six weeks we shot. One thing I will say is that it certainly wasn't hard to 'act' cold since most days it was around 36 degrees below zero. In fact, the hardest challenge for me really was being able to dive into this character and serve him justice- the cold didn't really bother me because I knew in six weeks we'd be wrapped and I'd get warm eventually."

In The Grey Grillo portrays sociopathic ex-con John Diaz, who is forced to deal with his own inner demons in order to survive the unimaginable when the plane carrying him and a group of his fellow roughnecks goes down in the middle of nowhere in the Arctic. His character acts as the abrasive foil to Neeson's level-headed character Ottway throughout the film, and while Grillo was happy to be on board the flick in any capacity, he discussed his initial concerns over playing a one-dimensional character that is only around to act as a hearty meal for some bloodthirsty wolves.

Grillo explained, "When I first started reading the script for The Grey, my first thought about Diaz was 'Here we go again- another tough guy jerk-off character that's only there to make Liam look better and to get eaten by wolves.' I mean, to be honest, I'm a working actor so I would have been good with Diaz being just that kind of character, but thankfully, as I kept reading through the script, Joe makes him into so much more and gives him a real arc and I just fell in love with the role. It was so great to be given a real arc for a change- usually these guys are the ones you want to see die, but by the third act you're rooting for Diaz to make it through this ordeal, too, and that's something special."

John's definitely the kind of guy who has spent a lot of time in prison so I thought, in order to really get into this guy's mind, I need to spend a night in jail; so I did. I stayed at Riker's and it was a pretty intense experience. While I was in there, I talked with quite a few of the inmates and saw how a lot of them managed to just slip through the cracks. Some of them were even really funny and charismatic guys and that made me realize they were far more than just inmates; they weren't one-dimensional so I worked a lot on making sure Diaz wasn't one-dimensional either. I think the most telling thing I could say about Diaz is that he's the kind of guy that believes in God but knows that God doesn't have any belief in him at all," added Grillo.

Even though Grillo was able to prepare himself for the bitter cold shooting conditions on The Grey, the one thing he didn't prepare for was having to consume actual wolf meat while filming Carnahan's harrowing tale of survival.

"All of us that were on set are huge animal advocates so handling the 'wolf' aspect of the story while respecting them was definitely a concern for everyone on The Grey," said Grillo. "and since our characters have to eat wolf meat at one point in the movie, Joe thought that we should all experience it in real-life so we actually drove about an hour away from set to eat wolf meat. I guess the wolf we ate had gotten too close to a camp and was threatening the residents so he had to be taken out- I don't think we would have agreed had the wolf been killed for sport. But the one thing I can tell everyone is never eat wolf meat because it is just awful. So gamey and gristly - just a godawful taste - but the experience did bring us all together so that was good, I suppose."

With The Grey coming out this week, recent rave reviews for his work as Frank Campana in Warrior, which was released this past September, and four features slated to come out this year, we asked Grillo his thoughts on all his recent cinematic success.

"You know, having Warrior and The Grey both come out within a few months of each other has been a great 'one-two punch' for my career since I was blessed to get to create two amazing characters in two very wonderful films. I've been at this for a while know so I still keep pinching myself over all this- it's pretty amazing," expressed Grillo.

Open Road Films will release the highly anticipated, action-packed survival thriller The Grey in theaters nationwide on January 27th, 2012.

Exclusive Interview: Director James Watkins Talks Old-School Horror in The Woman in Black

2012-01-24T00:50:00.000-08:00

British writer/director James Watkins first made his mark on the horror genre with his shocking thriller Eden Lake in 2008 and since then, he's gone on to write the 2010 sequel The Descent 2. Now, Watkins has returned to the genre he loves to helm the feature film adaptation of Susan Hill's classic tale The Woman in Black for CBS Films and iconic production house Hammer Films.

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, in his first post-Harry Potter role, The Woman in Black follows Radcliffe as a young lawyer named Arthur Kipps who is ordered to travel to the Eel Marsh House to sort out a recently deceased client’s papers. As he works alone in the old and quite possibly haunted house, Kipps begins to uncover its tragic secrets and soon discovers why the small village he's traveled to is being held hostage by the ghost of a scorned woman set on vengeance- The Woman in Black.

Dread Central recently had the opportunity to speak with Watkins for an extended interview where the director talked about the differences between his latest work and his previous directorial effort Eden Lake, working with Radcliffe and his thoughts on psychological scares versus gore.

Although Watkins himself is a successful screenwriter, the script for The Woman in Black was penned Jane Goldman whose credits include X-Men: First Class, Kick-Ass and The Debt. Watkins discussed how he and Goldman collaborated together once he came aboard the project.

"When I first was considering directing The Woman in Black, they sent me Jane's initial script which I very much enjoyed and knew I had to direct it," said Watkins. "So when I officially came on board, Jane did the writing but we open a dialogue and kept developing the script; that collaboration continued right though the shooting and editing processes really."

"So while I did have some influence on parts of the story, Jane was very much the screenwriter throughout the entire evolution of this story. She was always around on set and on the phone, ready for whatever needed to happen. She’s an incredibly smart woman and it was fantastic to be able to work with her on this movie," added Watkins.

For his first foray into directing, Watkins offered up fans a gritty and intensely shocking thriller in Eden Lake. However, with The Woman in Black, the director discussed how he wanted to change things up a bit and give fans an experience this time around that hearkens back to the classic 'chillers' that originally put Hammer Films on the map decades ago.

Watkins explained, "Trying to scare audiences now in a more classic style storytelling fashion was a huge mountain to climb for this movie. I think that was part of the appeal for me to direct The Woman in Black- the challenge, so to speak. Eden Lake is a relentless film- I haven’t even let my mom watch it in fact so I wanted to challenge myself to make a truly scary film without relying on gore and violence to get those scares. The Woman in Black is a straight-up ghost story and I always say that what you can imagine is always infinitely scarier than anything you ever see; that's something I hope to prey on that a bit here."

"I really wanted this to feel as different as it possibly could from Eden Lake or really, anything in the horror genre right now," added Watkins. "I felt like if we kept the palette muted, almost mimicking that black & white look, it would be more immersive for viewers. This isn't a modern story, it's a classic story and I thought it needed to look that way. Sometimes we do incorporate deep reds into our color palette which was my way of paying homage to Argento and his brilliant work as a horror filmmaker."

When it came time to cast the role of Kipps, Watkins went with a very familiar face in Daniel Radcliffe. The director discussed working with the Harry Potter star on The Woman in Black and how he suspects many of Radcliffe's fans will be blown away by the actor's ability to shed that persona in his latest starring role.

"I'm not much of a Harry Potter fan myself so I just thought Dan was a really interesting fit for this story, especially after having met him," said Watkins. "The key thing here is that Dan is not Harry Potter and we both were very aware that he'd be bringing that 'baggage' on board; the reality is that it's really not necessarily terrible 'baggage' to have. But at the end of the day, Dan is a fantastic actor that wants to challenge himself and go in new directions and show people he's moved on from the world of Harry Potter."

"Daniel really understood the material from our very first meeting- we both saw the character of Arthur the same way which was great. We didn’t want the focus here to only be on the scares, and we agreed that both the movie and Arthur needed to have heart and an emotional journey to them. That’s one thing I really responded to in Jane’s script; The Woman in Black is a properly elevated genre film in that sense. I think it really delivers in terms of scares; its ambitions are a tiny bit bigger than that and Dan understood all of that from the very beginning. Maybe it’s just me, but I hate putting people in boxes and so many people have put Dan in this Harry Potter box. He’s a victim of his own success in that way and it’s hard for people to see him as something else."

"The nice thing about the response we’ve had to the film is that people can’t believe it’s Daniel Radcliffe they're watching on the screen. He looks very different and the whole atmosphere and weight of his performance is very different. He takes it into a very different register and I think it’s definitely been a successful challenge for him as an actor," added Watkins.

Watkins knew going into The Woman in Black that his biggest challenge as a filmmaker would be to make a period-piece horror movie that could still manage to prey on the sensibilities of audiences who are primed for more fast-paced and gritty genre fare these days. "The way I understand horror fans is that they just want to get scared and have fun while watching a movie. I know a lot of fans are used to modern horror so that was a bit of a concern for me- would they respond to this story? The way I see it though is that if you buy a ticket for a scary movie, you expect it to be scary and the feedback we’ve gotten back so far on The Woman in Black is that the film is incredibly scary."

"I think it’s easy to make people jump and while we have a lot of those moments here, I also focused a lot on delivering a slow building, unsettling tension that gets under your skin without needing gore or violence. That approach felt true to the story and the film wouldn't have worked had we gone in any other direction. Being a huge horror fan myself, I think audiences will find our approach in The Woman in Black both intelligent and terrifying; I cannot wait until it comes out," added Watkins.

Look for The Woman in Black in US theatres on February 3rd, 2012. The UK will be getting it on February 10th, 2012.

Set Visit Interview: Sienna Guillory Talks Jill Valentine's Return in Resident Evil: Retribution

2012-01-24T00:32:00.000-08:00

Resident Evil fans were no doubt surprised and elated to see actress Sienna Guillory pop up during the credits of 2010's Resident Evil: Afterlife as a very blonde and very evil version of her character Jill Valentine after a six year absence from the franchise.

During our recent set visit for Screen Gems' upcoming Resident Evil: Retribution, we had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Guillory between takes for a scene that featured the actress giving orders to "Bad Rain" (Michelle Rodriguez) while holding franchise newcomer Li BingBing's character Ada Wong hostage in anticipation of Alice's (Milla Jovovich) arrival for the inevitable showdown between the two in a blustery Russian landscape of ice and snow.

During her interview, Guillory chatted about getting a meatier role this time around than on Afterlife, her epic showdown with Alice, keeping her cool around her "man-tourage" and so much more. Check out the highlights below and make sure to check back here later for more interviews from Dread Central's set visit for Resident Evil: Retribution!

Q: Well, obviously you've got more shooting days on this one- your part in the last one was so quietly kept. How many days were you on set for the last one?

A: Oh, nearly a whole afternoon (laughs). It was fun though- it was one of those where you ride in on set and all your friends are there, you've got a great outfit and everything is brilliantly lit and it's day one of filming. Everyone's got these great new toys and then you finish filming 30 minutes later (laughs). You're like 'where's the rest of the movie?' and they're like 'oh, you're not in it.' Oh yeah, this is the end.

Q: Could you talk more about what we've been watching over and over again in the scene that you're doing?

A: Oh, I don’t know what you've been watching. We all live in an Umbrella Submarine and we've got a great gang living there. There's me, Michelle Rodriguez who is brilliant, Li BingBing who is very pretty- like scarily pretty. You could touch noses and she's flawless. She's quite terrifyingly beautiful.

Q: You look very serious, staring very icily forward, then staring to the side-

A: That's the physical aspect of my work (laughs).

Q: Can you talk about that?

A: Staring icily, ahead and then- staring to the side. And then running and falling flat on my face. But this is probably the moment I've been the most excited about and most terrified about since I heard we were going to do this and I knew I was going to be involved. I just had twins this year, in February and I would say there is no greater motivator than knowing you're going to be squaring off against Milla Jovovich in a cat-suit months after giving birth to twins. So this is us, squaring off opposite each other which is quite daunting because she's quite amazing and I've got to be as good, if not better.

Q: I know the fights are more complex for this one, like how much more physicality do you get to do?

A: So much more. This fight sequence is over 200 moves which is like longer than a fight sequence in The Bourne Identity was. It's immense. It was brilliant and I've been working on it every day since we got here and I'm very happily whittling away too. It's a very beautiful fight and it's all sorts of- well, they're trying to incorporate things that have never been done before with weapons that haven't been done already and using aerial moves- it is quite poetic actually.

The opening move is one of Jill Valentine's melee moves where she throws herself up in the air and spins around, then lands and kicks guns around, then flips and goes into a beautiful fight that evolves into just a brutal, nasty fist fight which is kind of great.

Q: That's like a three act fight all on its own.

A: I mean, it's been massively chopped and squished so that we can get everything else in which I think makes sense. I was really looking forward to it being massive and epic but I'm hoping it's still going to be really good.

Q: Tell us where Jill has been since Apocalypse because she's seemed to have undergone a transformation of sorts.

A: Well, in the game she's been captured by Wesker and he's put the boob-ament (the spider) on which controls her. There's actually, for someone who's completely inept at these things- well, I'm not very good at video games. So you can watch all the movie moments of Jill's on YouTube and you can really see her, feel her and get a sense of who she is and what her story is. And there are these moments where they finally de-scarab her and she says 'you know, I was aware of everything I was doing but I couldn't do anything to stop it.' So this kind of an indication that she's in this inner turmoil, which I think is kind of great and I'm glad we've got places here where we can play with that.

But here we are in part five where Jill is under Umbrella control and she's the baddie.

Q: Bigger than Wesker or just below?

A: I think he's a tiny bit taller than me. (laughs)

Q: We heard that the characters in the film have good versions and bad versions- do you have two versions in the film?

A: I'm just hoping I have one version that ends up being quite good so (laughs)- not too bad, hopefully. No, this is definitely bad Jill.

Q: At the end of Afterlife, you give a pretty direct order in terms of killing everyone on the boat. Does that happen? Because if it did, then there wouldn't be a movie.

A: I think you just answered your own question there.

Q: Well, I'm just curious.

A: Well, you know- plans go awry and movies happen. If things happened the way you'd expect, then there wouldn't be movies and such. Things become difficult, we have to overcome things and try a bit harder sometimes (laughs). It was only up until two days ago that I was supposed to have guns throughout this fight and when we're doing the wire work, everyone was like 'be careful catching the guns' and I was like 'well, if I had a gun, wouldn't I just shoot…' (trails off).

So now we don't have guns. But there was this really cool moment where Li BingBing who plays Ada Wong and she's of course done loads of movies with martial arts and she's really physical and amazing. She has this scene where she whips out a gun and pretty much mows everyone down. And on take one, she's just there- she doesn't blink, she doesn't move and then bam, bam, bam, bam, bam! Gun's down here by her waist and I was like 'now we all have to step up our games because she is good.' Then when she finished, she goes 'was that okay? I've never shot a gun before.' (laughs) It was amazing.

When you work with the guns and stuff- when you squeeze the trigger- I sort of think of it as an emotional thing that you're doing to someone. I imagine it as an emotional kick so I tend to breathe out anyway which stops you from blinking and makes you look less uncool.

But I have a 'man-tourage,' my brilliant storm troopers that come with me everywhere, that are the Umbrella troopers and sometimes when they bring out their guns I have to try really hard not to flinch and try and be cool which is what it's all about (laughs).

Q: Paul has said that he came up with the idea for the fifth and the sixth film- have you talked to him or has he mentioned to you the possibility of being in the final installment, the sixth one assuming he gets to make it?

A: I'm hoping so. I'm incredibly proud to be a part of this- I really feel like Milla is making history here. Is there any other franchise where there's a female action heroine who has managed to make five installments of a story where she (trails off)…That's massive. That’s history. And it's really cool to be part of that. So I'm hoping that it goes on; I think it's a good trend to have women being equally violent and terrifying as men.

Written and directed by Paul Anderson, Re5ident Evil: Retribution stars Milla Jovovich, Boris Kodjoe, Li Bingbing, Kevin Durand, Shawn Roberts, Michelle Rodriguez, Sienna Guillory, Johann Urb, and Colin Salmon. Look for Re5ident Evil: Retribution in theatres on September 14, 2012 from Screen Gems.

Exclusive Interview and New Clip: The Woman Speaks! Dread Central Chats with Actress Pollyanna McIntosh

2012-01-23T16:25:00.000-08:00

After first bringing the titular character to life in Andrew van den Houten's 2009 flick Offspring, Scottish actress Pollyanna McIntosh is back in co-writer/director Lucky McKee's hugely controversial sequel The Woman, which features the actress returning to square off against a demented family who capture her animalistic character in an effort to domesticate her.

As you can imagine, this does not go well, and soon The Woman must rise up against her captors and find freedom once again outside of their twisted little world.

Dread Central recently spoke with McIntosh, who discussed the controversy surrounding McKee's sequel as well as her initial concerns with some of the physical demands of the script and the director's clever treatment of the shocking material within the film's story.

We asked McIntosh her thoughts on returning to the role of The Woman in a sequel catered specifically for her brilliant performance three years prior now. "It's pretty wild, actually! It's hard to turn down a movie written specifically for you, that's for certain. Back when I did Offspring, I read Jack Ketchum's novel and was floored by his insight into the character and the detail about her thought process and her doctrine for living; he created such an amazing character, and to see where he and Lucky were able to take her in this movie was a remarkable gift to be given as an actress".

"Lucky has a great way of managing darkly comedic elements in horror films, and his work on The Woman really took his skills to an entirely new level," added McIntosh. "To me, it's his way of relieving the audience of the heightened tension he continuously builds throughout his story or even letting them in on 'the gag' so they get pulled deeper into his story. The Woman is the kind of character and story that is so ultimately ridiculous when you think about it that, if handled by the wrong storyteller, could be complete crap. Thankfully, Lucky knew exactly what he was doing."

Despite her enthusiasm for The Woman, McIntosh did admit she experienced some reservations of her own at first about McKee and Ketchum's disturbing portrait of the ideal 'American Family.'

The actress explained her initial apprehension, "You know, I did have some major concerns about the role the first time I read the script, but mainly that was over the fact that 90 percent of the movie involves me being tied up. In fact, every time you see me shackled up in The Woman, I'm really locked up, which can be a bit terrifying if you aren't mentally prepared for it. But the first time I chatted with Lucky about everything, we just connected so well that I soon got over those concerns, and I always had two guys next to me ready with the keys so if I needed to get out of the cuffs quickly, I could."

"I also know a lot of people had issues with the rape scene in particular, which is completely understandable- I didn't want to do a rape scene just for the sake of shocking viewers either. Rape is a terrible thing, and I think the way Lucky handled it, without being exploitative, was brilliant. In fact, I've had a lot of women come up to me during our festival run and share with me their own personal stories of abuse and how they appreciated the way we treated it in The Woman, which I think speaks volumes far more than those complaining about our 'shocking' movie that goes too far."

"I think there are a lot of people out there who believe that just because you make a movie that explores really dark and disturbing issues like we do in The Woman, that you are that kind of person or it's an extension of the director's personality, which is just ludicrous. Lucky celebrates women with his movies; he doesn't exploit them, and anyone who missed that while watching this film really didn't understand the story at all," added McIntosh.