A reboot ? Already??

Don’t ask Alyson Hannigan her thoughts on a planned reboot of Buffy The Vampire Slayer for the big screen, with no ties to the TV series or Buffycreator Joss Wheldon.

When speaking to Cinema Blend, the actress dismissed the notion, saying that without Wheldon’s involvement, “it’s only the title“.  Making it clear she wouldn’t be interested in having any involvement with the project without Wheldon.

Why a reboot so soon, when the series only folded in 2003?  All roads lead back to Twilight mania.  It makes sense to try to cash in when the vampire genre is on fire from a business point of view,  if not from one born out of artistic integrity. 

Ironically, without Buffy, there probably wouldn’t be Twilight or even True Blood for that matter.  It could be argued that they’re essentially the watered down and sexed up versions of  the same show, with variations in character development and plot.

As for the planned reboot,  it’s currently in development, meaning were still a ways away from actually seeing Buffy back on the big screen, assuming we ever do.

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For the die-hard True Blood fans that are out there that want to give the overly obsessive Twilighters a run for their money (at $69.99 US a pop), comes the True Blood Busts from DC Direct.

The busts, which will be made to order and there-fore a limited edition that will still end up in basements, attics, and garage sales gain in value over time, will go on sale next summer, just in time to coincide with season 3 of the HBO series.

You can buy Sookie, Eric, or Bill, plus a Merlotte’s sign (the bar where Sookie works in the books and the show) for an additional $89.99. 

No word if the actors that portray the characters on the show are getting a cut, since their likenesses are being used for these busts.  Why do I get the feeling that the “Eric” is going to be the biggest seller of the three?

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That sound you thought you just heard was Twilighters all over just screaming in unison from the excitment of it all, while People’s accountants try to figure out just how many copies of this issue will be sold.  My guess?  All of them.  $Ka-Ching! 

Should be curious how Pattinson, who reminds me more and more of a young Hugh Grant (but better looking) takes all this.  Haters to the left.

UPDATE – People via Twitter is claiming this is not the real cover, but they didn’t say the SMA is not Pattinson either.

UPDATED 11/18 – Pattinson not SMA.  See newer post to see who got it. I admit it, I’ve been had.  Oh well, it happens.

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Shocker!  A post about a vampire movie that isn’t about The Twilight Saga. Word’s out today that production has begun in Albuquerque, New Mexico, for Let Me In, a remake based on the Swedish vampire film Latden Ratte Komma In (Let the Right One In).  Based on the best selling novel of the same name, the story revolves around an alienated young boy that befriends a mysterious girl who turns out to be a vampire.

Hammer Films acquired the rights to the original film which was shown to high acclaim at the Tribeca Film Festival last year.  Simon Oakes, President and CEO of Hammer Films released a statement in which he said ,  ”The brilliance of that story deserves to be seen by audiences on a wide scale and we are excited that the pieces are in place to make that a reality.”

The Americanized version will transplant the story from Sweden to New Mexico, and stars Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) as Owen (the boy), and Chloe Moretz (500 Days of Summer) as the vampire, Abby.  Rounding out the cast are Elias Koteas (Inglorious Basterds), Cara Bruno (The Sopranos), Sasha Barrese (The Hangover) and Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under).  The film is being directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield) and is scheduled for a late 2010 release.

It’s interesting to note that the original was only made last year, often, foreign films need to create a bit of word of mouth and “buzz” before someone decides to “Americanize” them for domestic audiences.  Maybe the producers decided to cash in while the current craze for all things vampire was still in full swing and before backlash by purists of the original film could gain momentum.

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A sequel 112 years in the making, picking up about a quarter of a century after the original, Dracula the Un-dead is written by the original author’s great-grand nephew Dacre Stoker and screen-writer and Dracula historian Ian Holt. 

Holt had approached Stoker with the idea of a screenplay in 2003, but was convinced that writing a novel was the way to approach a sequel.  After spending two years researching the book, including finding 125 pages of the original author’s handwritten notes, the pair were ready to start their task.

The new story has many of the original surviving gang appearing in it, such as Mina and Jonathan Harker, their son Quincy (who was introduced towards the end of the original story) and Dr Abraham Van Helsing. The sequel also updates some of the more graphic aspects of story-telling to 21st century standards, while incerting historical figures into the plot with bloody good results, such as Jack The Ripper and Elizabeth Bathory (the 16th century Hungarian countess charged with killing hundreds of women to bath in their blood). 

Given that the original story was published in Victorian England, many scenes could only then be hinted at or alluded to. “You’ve got to keep in mind the perspective.  The degree of sex and violence he (Bram Stoker) had, in this very stuffy and conservative Victorian society, was cutting edge at the time. Even the exposure of a woman’s flesh, the piercing of the flesh, was a metaphor for the sex act.” Stoker told CNN recently. 

“We had to keep up with what other people are doing, otherwise, our story would be toast.” said Stoker, no doubt in partial reference to Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles and Charlene Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse Novels, (the basis for the HBO series True Blood), as well as the change in writing style.  The original Dracula was told in a series of flashbacks via letters, journals and diary entries.

The pair are already starting work on a second sequel, and Holt is working on turning their first collaboration into that screenplay he originally wanted to write.  Buffy Summers was right when she told Dracula “You always come back”.

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Embracing my not-so inner geek and fanboy (yet again) on this post, and have been looking for an excuse to post a picture of Taylor Lautner.  Spike TV threw their annual “Scream Awards” last night at the Geek Greek Theatre in LA, which celebrates the best in Sci-Fi, Horror, Fantasy and Comic based entertainment.  Awards shaped like stakes in a variety of categories were handed out to winners that fans had the opportunity to vote for online.  Naturally, some of the choices weren’t all that surprising, like Lautner, the 17 year old “Breakout Performance – Male”, from last year’s Twilight (and the upcoming New Moon), which went on to win another three awards in the “Fantasy” categories. The night’s other big winner was the Alan Ball vampire series True Blood, which got awards for Best TV Show, Best Horror Actor Male (Stephen Moyer), Best Horror Actor Female (Anna Paquin) and Best Villain (Alexander Skarsgard). 

Johnny Depp presented Keith Richards with the “Rock Immortal Award” to a standing ovation, and Quentin Tarantino paid tribute to Night of the Living Dead creator George A. Romero with the “Scream Mastermind Lifetime Achievement Award”.  Morgan Freeman presented the “Ultimate Scream Award” to Star Trek, which was accepted by William Shatner. “JJ, I’ll handle this, “ he told the director who won for helming the Star Trek reboot and was seated in the audience. “This movie was BIG.  Imagine how much big it could have been with me in it? I’ll be waiting for your call”.

The awards show will be edited to a 2 hour special to be shown on Oct 27th.

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