Movies
News Bites: ‘Underworld 4’ Set Pics, ‘Space Invaders’ & ‘Mortal Kombat’s Finale!
Rumored for years now, Heat Vision is saying a Space Invaders movie is finally preparing to attack theaters. The classic 1980s arcade game from Taito and Midway, which is ranked as the top arcade game of all time by Guinness World Records, is heading to the big screen courtesy of producers Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Odd Lot Entertainment’s Gigi Pritzker. One of the first video games, “Space Invaders” is credited with taking the medium from a sideshow attraction to a mainstream obsession. The shooter game was technically released in 1978 but made its pop culture mark by the turn of the decade. It featured rows upon rows of aliens (or their ships) raining laser death upon a lone player who took cover behind slowly disintegrating blocks.
Set to premiere at the San Diego Comic-Con (Thursday from 2-3PM) is the final installment of Warners and Kevin Tancharoen’s “Mortal Kombat: Legacy” brings to life the complex and rich history of the gaming world of Mortal Kombat. “Shao Kahn and Shang Tsung are obsessed with reigning over various realms (parallel universes) and the winners of Mortal Kombat competitions are granted supreme control over these worlds. The Earthrealm (Earth) is an unconscious participant in this competition and only a few select humans understand the consequences of losing Mortal Kombat and what it will mean to Earth. In a universe with powerful evil sorcerers, cyborgs, Gods and movie stars, this Mortal Kombat digital media series drives a cohesive understanding of what this Universe is all about.” We’ve added a teaser image below featuring Cyrex and Sektor. Watch the first eight shorts here.
Website Kino Gallery has landed a dozen or so behind-the-scenes images from the set of Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein’s Underworld 4: New Dawn 3D, which features looks at stars Kate Beckinsale, Michael Ealy, India Eisley, Sandrine Holt and Robert Lawrenson. Screen Gems will pass the vampire torch to Selen’s daughter on January 20, 2012.
A contemporary reimagining of H.P. Lovecraft’s short story Herbert West: Reanimator is on the way, and Deadline has unveiled the first look at the new Herbert West and the pathologist drawn to his orbit.
Adam Simon (The Haunting in Connecticut, “Salem”) and Tim Metcalfe (The Haunting in Connecticut, Kalifornia) penned the script. The original screenplay and storyline come from Jade Sandberg Wallace.
Michael Grossman (“The Originals”, “Pretty Little Liars”) directs.
The new images introduce star Joseph Morgan (“Vampire Diaries“), who plays “brilliant surgeon and scientist Herbert West, who is obsessed with creating a serum to reanimate the dead.” Katie Cassidy (Speed Demon) stars opposite as the pathologist with a troubled past who joins his efforts.
Together, they prove that conquering death may be the ultimate sin against life itself.
The film’s official synopsis: “As a child, Herbert West watches his father Peter reanimate his dead mother Judith in a secret basement lab — only for Judith to mortally wound Peter and nearly kill Herbert before Peter shoots her. The trauma leaves its mark on Herbert, but so does one final image: his mother’s finger, twitching after death. Thirty years later, Herbert West is a brilliant, secretive surgeon still chasing his father’s obsession.
“Pathologist Kate Locke arrives in town and is drawn into his orbit — first through a spark at a hospital fundraiser, then through his secret lab, where he reveals a serum capable of reanimating severed tissue. Kate, hiding a dark past of her own, is thrilled rather than horrified, and moves into West’s mansion to work alongside him. Their early experiments on a cadaver succeed only briefly. West concludes that dead tissue is the problem — they need something fresher.”
Supporting cast includes Scott Aiello, Ira J Amyx, Randall Newsome, Emma Reinagal, James D. Bryce, Kathryn A Bentley, Jack Lancaster, Amy Holland Pennell, John Pierson, Mindy Shaw, Eric Dean White, Tristan Wilder Hallet, Adrienne Lamping, Aaron Crippen, and Drew Patterson.
Makeup artist Jeff Lewis (“Star Trek: Voyager,” “Star Trek: Enterprise”) and cousin Roger Lewis are heading the production via their newly established Woodlake Entertainment.
Lovecraft’s short story, first serialized in Home Brew magazine in 1922, is the first among his works to mention the fictional Miskatonic University. It was most famously adapted into a 1985 horror movie from Stuart Gordon, starring Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West.
Herbert West: Reanimator is set in Alton, Illinois, where production is now underway.
Herbert West: Reanimator. Photo credit: Matt Lief Anderson
You must be logged in to post a comment.