Horrors!

News today that the Jim Carrey/Ewan McGregor true-story gay prisoners flick I Love You Phillip Morris has been shelved indefinitely, got me thinking about other films I was sort of looking forward to seeing this year which may or may not reach theaters.

Every year, plenty of movies are made which never see the inside of a cineplex. Some are released direct to DVD; some are released in limited venues; some are released months or years after they were originally scheduled and some are never seen, ever. Why? Who knows. The reasons are as varied as you can imagine: legal squabbles; artistic disputes; studio politics, etc., etc. Sometimes it's just because the finished product is so bad, the studio would rather take the loss on production costs than spend the money promoting a film they know is going to bomb. Occasionally, these movies get a late January or February release, though that trend seems to be waning (to the relief of movie fans desperate for something decent to see in the late winter).

Here a few movies I was at least sort of interested in seeing, but may never get the chance to:

Season of the Witch

Nicolas Cage, Ron Perlman and Christopher Lee star in this horror movie about a group of knights who are assigned to take a suspected witch to a remote abbey where she'll be exorcised or executed, depending on whether or not she is actually responsible for starting the Black Plague. The trailer lists a release date of March 19th, 2010, but I'm still waiting.

Crush

Christopher Egan (late of NBC's alt-history show "Kings") stars in this thriller about a young man being stalked by a girl who may or may not have supernatural powers. Both the trailer and IMDb list Crush as being released in 2009, though the trailer on YouTube is dated 2010. Who knows if we'll ever see it.

The Final

This tale of high school outcasts taking revenge on those who torment them was briefly released as part the 2010 AfterDark HorrorFest. Mark Donato of ABC Family's "Degrassi: The Next Generation" stars.



Primal

This Australian horror movie concerns a group of beautiful young campers (are there any other kind?) who encounter the spirit of a bloodthirsty ancient demon (is there any other kind?) while vacationing in the Outback.

So what movies have you been looking forward to seeing which may or may not reach a screen near you?

Tomorrow I am holding auditions for the remaining roles in the JTMF production of Del Shores' Sordid Lives, and later will be seeing the TCNJ production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a musical with which I am not at all familiar. But, I know several members of the cast (one of whom played Sabina in my production of The Skin of Our Teeth), so I am looking forward to it. Hopefully, I'll be home in time to post on The Zombie Zone.

I hope you have as interesting a weekend planned.

More, anon.
Prospero