Rob Zombie to Remake The Blob

Just when I was hoping that Rob Zombie would step away from remakes/sequels, and return to direct an original project, we’ve learned that the rock musician turned filmmaker has signed on to write, direct, and produce a remake of the 1958 horror classic The Blob.

Variety reports that funding is in place to make an R-rated $30 million film, and Zombie will complete the script while he’s on tour with his new album this fall. Producers are confident that a distribution deal will be made before the production begins in Spring 2010.

The original film tells the story of people of a small town who refuse to listen to a group of teenagers who witnessed a mysterious creature from another planet land on earth. The ever-growing giant blob of jelly absorbs the humans it contacts and destroys the town.

My immediate reaction is that the story won’t work for audiences today unless you made it a period horror-comedy, something like Mars Attacks or Slither. But that is not in the plans. Zombie says he intends “to make it scary,” and touts the “freedom” he has been given “to take it in any crazy direction.” Zombie was a fan of the original, but has much different plans for the reinvention.  So don’t expect a “big red blobby thing” as Zombie says “That gigantic Jello-looking thing might have been scary to audiences in the 1950s, but people would laugh now.” The list of producers includes original Blob producer Jack H. Harris.

I’m a fan of Zombie’s first two films, but pretty much hated his Halloween remake. The sequel, which hits theaters this weekend, doesn’t look any better. I think I’d much rather see him develop an original film than make another remake/sequel.

• The Haunted World of El Superbeasto Teaser Trailer
• Does Michael Myers Speak For the First Time in Halloween 2? Rob Zombie Denied. Today Confirms?
• Halloween II Movie Trailer #2
• James Cameron Joins Heavy Metal
• H2 Retitled Halloween II? New Featurette on YouTube
• Rob Zombie Interview Part 2: H2 (Halloween 2), Tyrannosaurus Rex, El Superbeasto, and Dumb Teens

Them Crooked Vultures to support Arctic Monkeys tonight (August 26)

Them Crooked Vultures – the supergroup formed from members of Foo Fighters, Queens Of The Stone Age and Led Zeppelin – are believed to be making their UK live debut tonight (August 26).

Cool Stuff: Star Wars Invades San Francisco Desktop Backgrounds

Last year we posted a video which featured Ships and vehicles from Star Wars’ Galatic Empire composited  into San Francisco’s Fleet Week. And earlier this Summer you might remember we posted another video from Mike Horn which showed what would really happen if Darth Vader encountered Star Trek’s USS Enterprise (another video also set in San Francisco).

I was happy to discover that Horn has created a series of Star Wars inspired San Francisco photographs (perfect for your computer desktop background). I’m currently based in the Bay Area and who isn’t a fan of the wonderful picturesque views that almost every corner offers? And then you add the Galactic Empire into the mix…

You can download all of the photos on Horn’s Flickr account. If you’re logging in, you will have access to the super high resolution versions (3000×2000 pixels), which are perfect for your computer desktop background. I currently have the photo of the Star Destroyer flying over the Bay Bridge at dawn.

Cool Stuff is a daily feature of slashfilm.com. Know of any geekarific creations or cool products which should be featured on Cool Stuff? E-Mail us at orfilms@gmail.com.

• Will Disney Unveil Star Tours 2.0 at D23 Expo?
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• VOTD: Star Wars in 3 Minutes Animated in a Notebook
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• VOTD: R2-D2 Falls In Love With a Fire Hydrant

New Pearl Jam – "Supersonic"

Pearl Jam really hit the Target with their Cameron Crowe directed video for “The Fixer” the other day, and today we get studio sounds from that track’s b-side, “Supersonic.” (It also appears as track 8 on the Backspacer LP.) “Supersonic” pairs well with “The Fixer” — another quick shot of PJ trying to demonstrate they’re vital(ogy) despite their years via uptempo power chords, a quick riffed bridge giving McCready a shred showcase, and EdVed asking big, defiant questions and saying the word “shit.” Rock.

Continue reading New Pearl Jam – “Supersonic”…

How to Create the Indiana Jones Face Melt Effect

Filming your own movie that ends with the bad guy getting his face melted off? Doing a spoof of Indiana Jones? Find out below how to create your own face-melting scene!

Would You Watch a 'Wizard of Oz' Sequel?

By: Peter Hall

Warner Brothers wants to make a sequel to the 1939 Victor Fleming adaptation of Frank L. Baum’s The Wizard of Oz. On the surface that seems all well and good, but the original news source, an article from the UK’s Daily Express, shares a few surprising details that make this a contender for an award I just made up: Most Unexpected Film News I’ve Read in a While.

It’s no surprise that the WB would want to send Dakota Fanning over the rainbow, but it is kind of shocking to learn they’ve no intention of a remake. The fifteen year old Fanning would play a grand daughter of Dorothy who, for an unknown reason, ends up in the land of the Tin Man. But before that gives you visions of Robin Williams heading back to Neverland in Hook, take a gander at this quote from one of the film’s producers: “You’ve still got Dorothy trapped in an odd place, but she’s much closer to the Ripley character from Alien [Sigourney Weaver] than a helpless singing girl.”

Read the rest over at SciFi Squad

Is it time for a Wizard of Oz sequel, or is this one property that shouldn’t be touched?

Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, RumorMonger, Remakes and Sequels

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Apple releases Snow Leopard

Apple has released Snow Leopard, an update to its Mac operating system, two months ahead of Microsoft’s next major update to Windows

Apple has let the Snow Leopard out of its cage a little early.

The next version of its operating system, OS X 10.6 aka Snow Leopard, was supposed to be out in September, but Apple announced today that it will go on sale on Friday.

The update offers several refinements rather than a host of new features.

Apple has released a major update to its QuickTime multimedia software, which will make it easier for even novices to edit video. It also has built-in support to upload your videos to YouTube. The new QuickTime will also do screencasts, recordings of what is happening on your screen with narration. It is often used by companies to create tutorials or demos of their software or websites.

For an additional fee, Apple’s mail and calendar applications will also support Microsoft’s Exchange e-mail and communications server software, helping Apple’s operating system compete better in the workplace.

In the past few years, the computer chip industry has been in the process of two major transitions, one from 32-bit chips to 64-bit and from single cores to multiple cores. Both are reflected in Snow Leopard.

The update to the operating system boasts better 64-bit support. The main advantage of 64-bit computing is the ability to address more memory. Apple’s Mac Pro workstations can hold 32GB of RAM, but 32-bit applications can only take advantage of 4GB of that memory. Apple’s own applications, including the Safari web browser and iCal, have all been rewritten as 64-bit, helping them run faster. Indeed, Apple says its TimeMachine backup software will work 80% faster.

The other major trend of the past few years has been the move to multi-core chips. Apple laptops all have dual-core chips, and Apple’s Mac Pro workstations can accommodate up to two four-core chips. Applications need to be rewritten to take full advantage of all of these cores, but Apple’s new operating system has a new technology that they are calling Grand Central Dispatch. The company says will make it easier for developers to write applications to take full advantage of multiple cores.

Modern computers also have very powerful graphics processors. Normally, these processors are only responsible for decoding video and rendering graphics, but they can also be used to supplement the general processing power of the computer. Apple has also included support for OpenCL, a technology that makes it easier to tap this extra computing power.

The operating system also trims 7GB from the installation. Some of the space savings is down to end of support for the older PowerPC chips that Apple used in its computers from 1994 until it began to transition to Intel chips in 2006.

Microsoft will also be releasing a major update to its operating system. Windows 7 is set for release on 22 October.

Terry Gilliam Wants to Work For Pixar – Plus An Exclusive Video Interview With The Man Himself

After the break, a video interview in which Terry Gilliam and I discuss The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote and his real plans for adapting Philip K. Dick. But first…

Who doesn’t love Pixar? Okay, apart from Armond White? Not many folk, no? And it seems like Terry Gilliam is as enamored with the powerhouse animation studio as the rest of us. Speaking at a BFI special event career retrospective last Friday night, Gilliam came around to discussing the state of modern animation. After praising Pixar for their films, noting how they are clearly a studio run by “creative people” and not suits, and commenting on how much of the bold political cinema he’s seen recently has been in animated family films, Gilliam also let on that he wants to work for the studio. He revealed that he met Andrew Stanton at the premiere of Wall-E and quite sincerely told him to “hold the door open” for him.

Gilliam went so far as to claim he’d “sweep the floors” at Pixar just to be in such a creative, supportive environment, but also seemed quite serious when he talked about it being somewhere he could move to and make movies once financing in the live-action realm became too difficult. Are you listening, Mr. Lasseter?

After the on-stage event, I got to sit down and speak to Gilliam and also record our chat for you. The first part of our discussion was about fans and reception of the Parnassus trailer, and you’ll soon be able to see that video over at the “official unofficial” Parnassus fan support site. Here, though, is the more “newsy” part of out discussion.

This video has been slightly edited because we touched on some things that can’t really be public… yet. Give it time.

If you have the time, please give some genuine help to the marketing of Parnassus by click-voting where in the world you are over at the support site.

• Will Sony Pictures Classics Release The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus On Christmas Day?
• Gilliamwatch: Johnny Depp Definitely Not Joining The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, New Philip K. Dick Adaptation And More
• Gilliam Announces That He’s Canned Zero Theorem, Offers Depp First Dibs On Quixote… But Depp Doesn’t Seem To Be Biting
• Behind the Scenes Footage From The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
• Early Buzz and New Clip: The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
• Page 3

* a comedy parody of the anti-drug dog commercial I did for…

* a comedy parody of the anti-drug dog commercial I did for College Humor.com