Holy Cullens! Hold onto your seats, all you Twilight fanatics. This is the first official ensemble piece with final hair, makeup and costume (those other photos, we believe, were test shots, but this one gives our first official look at the characters inside the Twilight universe) Click on the image for a larger view -- you know you want to -- then let's take a moment to dissect the loveliness, shall we?

I know all you hardcore Twilighters know these characters, but for those who don't, we have, from left to right: Ashley Greene as Alice Cullen; Kellan Lutz as Emmett Cullen; Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan; Robert Pattinson as uber-hot vampire Edward Cullen; Nikki Reed as Rosalie Hale; and Jackson Rathbone as Jasper Hale.

We've been covering the various bits of Twilight news, set visit write-ups and behind-the-scenes goodies extensively here, but this is the first time that we've seen the cast in character like this. Aside from the fact that the image looks totally cool and perfectly captures that "Twilight-vibe," can I just say that any doubts anyone out there is still harboring about Robert Pattinson as Edward should be totally laid to rest by this picture?

I'm getting a feeling that I should get used to the idea of seeing a lot of vampire movies over the coming year. Variety reports that Bionic Woman writer/producer Laeta Kalogridis has been hired to do a major overhaul of the script for New Line's vampire action flick, Darksiders. The story centers on an FBI agent who teams with a group of vampires to stop an arms dealer in possession of some particularly nasty biochemical weapons. Now maybe I'm just picky about my bloodsuckers, but the idea sounds a little lame on paper, so I hope Kalogridis is planning some major changes. The original script was written by Tom S. Parker and Jim Jennewein and was purchased by New Line back in 2001. Parker and Jennewein's last writing credit was the disastrous Ri¢hie Ri¢h adaptation back in 1994.

Unfortunately, Kalogridis also has a spotty record when it comes to scripts, having written both Alexander and Pathfinder. But I guess it's still better than being responsible for Ri¢hie Ri¢h. Kalogridis will be continuing to work on NBC's Bionic Woman, and has already committed to working with James Cameron on the graphic novel adaptation Battle Angel, and The Dive for Fox. New Line is going to have to wait until the finished script is ready before they can begin looking for a director. In the past, both David Goyer and Jonathan Hensleigh were attached to Darksiders to direct. But considering Goyer already has a vampire flick of his very own, I doubt he'll be returning. Unless Kalogridis and New Line can work quickly, I wouldn't expect the film to go intro production before the dreaded Hollywood strike begins.

So I guess now vampire flicks are the new Western. No sooner did we get news on two new vamp flicks in development and now there is already another one to add to the pile. Shock Till You Drop is reporting that Mick Garris (creator of the Masters of Horror and Fear Itself series) will be at the helm for a remake of the obscure 1979 Australian vampire flick, Thirst. The story centers on two women who are decedents of the infamous Elizabeth Bathory and are caught up in a plot for a 'blood-harvesting' facility -- for the Buffy fans out there, just think back to the episode The Wish. Garris tells Shock, "Not many people know the film (Thirst). I love the take on it - the blood farm of acolytes, the sycophants who are willing to give blood to the regal, but setting it in something contemporary and American". Thirst was directed by Rob Hardy, who fans of the new Battle Star Galactica might recognize as director of a few episodes.

Thirst would be Garris' second attempt at directing a feature film; back in 2004 he had written and directed an adaptation of Stephen King's Riding the Bullet. Garris also told Shock that he still has designs on adapting another King title, Bag of Bones. Garris will also produce Tobe Hooper's adaptation of From a Buick 8 (another King story). Garris was keeping most of the details about Thirst to himself, telling Shock, "I'm not going to give anything away about it, but it's a really different take". Luckily, the original is not that well known, so most of us won't even know the difference. Well, those of us who don't have a thirst for blood, that is.

It was almost a year ago when Jette brought us a first look at some of the behind-the-scenes for the big-screen version of 30 Days of Night. Since then, there have been teaser posters, fancy websites, the promise of new short films, and the R rated trailer released in August ( who could forget, of course, the image of Josh Hartnett hacking at a child with an ax -- something like that tends to stay with you). Shock Til You Drop is now hosting three new posters for the vampire flick. Fans of the graphic novels have been pretty eager to see what Ghost House and director David Slade (Hard Candy) have planned for the story of a group of vampires descending on a small town in the wilds of Alaska for a 30-day feeding frenzy.

Based on the graphic novel by Steve Niles, Night stars Josh Hartnett as the local sheriff and Melissa George as his wife -- it's up to both to save their town before the vampires wipe it clean. Ben Foster (3:10 to Yuma) also stars as "the harbinger of the vampires. Well really a scout who was sent into the town because he can be out during the day. He is tentatively known as a "bug-eater", not a vampire but something akin to a ghoul. They find him snooping around town and trespassing so they arrest him" -- at least according to the message boards at IMDB, and since I haven't read the original graphic novels, I'm just going to have to take their word for it. 30 Days of Night is set for release on October 19.

[via Solace in Cinema]

I'm a big fan of author Bret Easton Ellis' work. Since many of his novels rely on the inner workings of characters' minds, they can be difficult to adapt to the big screen. The film version of Less Than Zero made cocaine addiction look like Pretty in Pink. I know I'm in the minority, but I detested Mary Harron's American Psycho. The only adaptation I feel got Ellis exactly right was Roger Avary's excellent take on The Rules of Attraction. Now three more films are going to try and re-create Ellis' world. Darren Star is working on The Frog King with Joseph Gordon-Levitt. There is no director yet, but a movie version of Lunar Park has been announced. And director Gregor Jordan (Ned Kelly) has put together a cast for the film translation of Ellis' 1995 novel The Informers.

The Hollywood Reporter writes that Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, and Superman himself Brandon Routh are in "various stages of negotiation" to star in the ensemble film. The Informers is set in Los Angeles in 1983 and it tracks seven stories. The major characters are: a movie executive (played by Thornton), his wife (Basinger), his mistress, a rock star, a kidnapper, and a vampire (Routh, apparently looking to darken up his image). Rounding out the cast are Ashley Olsen as a "sexually promiscuous girl" (doesn't it seem like those twins are getting a ton of work these days?), Jon Foster (Stay Alive), Austin Nichols (John Monad on the baffling John From Cincinnati), and Lou Taylor Pucci (star of the very good Thumbsucker and the not very good Chumscrubber -- yes, they're different movies). Sounds like it could be a great flick! Now, whatever happened to Roger Avary's planned Glamorama movie? I would love to see that come to light. Did Zoolander steal its thunder?

By the looks of the new site for the vampire flick 30 Days of Night, this movie is going to be one nicely designed bloodbath. Sony just launched the fancy flash site for the film version of Steven Niles' graphic novel about a group of vampires descending on a small Alaskan town for a non-stop feeding frenzy.

Night is directed by David Slade (Hard Candy) and the script was written by Stuart Beattie (3:10 To Yuma). Josh Hartnett stars as a local sheriff trying to keep a group of locals alive, and Ben Foster (who gave us a behind the scenes look at the film, last February) is an ancient vampire that is none-too-pleased with the attention-drawing antics of his kind. The site looks like it was designed in the spirit of the original graphic novel, plus, along with the teaser clips and downloads, there is the promise of a nifty-looking shooter game.

There has already been talk of shorts set in the Night universe produced by Sam Raimi's Ghosthouse, more comic books, and don't forget the possibility of multiple sequels (Ryan got the chance to speak with Niles about the film, as well as female lead Melissa George). So, combined with the solid teaser trailer Scott told us about last month, it's looking like this graphic novel has the potential to spawn a whole new horror franchise. The film is also expected to get a little extra buzz with the cast, along with Slade and Raimi, answering questions about the film for a ComicCon panel this weekend -- stay tuned for that report. 30 Days of Night hits theaters October 19th.

She isn't too well known in America, but Star Wars fans may recognize Claudia Karvan as the actress who played Padmé's elder sister Sola in Revenge of the Sith. Now the Australian actress, who is a popular television star in her native country, has landed herself another Hollywood role sure to make her more familiar to audiences in the States. She has been cast as the female lead in the futuristic vampire movie Daybreakers, in which she'll co-star with Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe and fellow Aussie (slash New Zealander) Sam Neill. The casting of an up-and-coming Australian star makes perfect sense since the movie will be shot Down Under by Australian filmmakers the Spierig twins (Undead), who also wrote the screenplay.

According to Moviehole, Karvan will be playing a human love interest for Hawke's vampire character. The movie is set in 2017 when the world is mostly populated by vampires, a race that may become extinct once the blood-supplying humans are also extinct. Hawke is some sort of good guy vampire who is researching a way for his people to survive with a blood substitute. Dafoe plays his rival. Still no word on who or what Neill will be playing. If Karvan's part is correct, I think we can assume that once Hawke falls for her, he begins to think twice about feeding on humans. Of course, he could just turn her into a vampire and then live happily for eternity with her, but narratively that idea lacks conflict. Daybreakers begins filming soon and is set to release next year, which will be long after we've already seen I Am Legend, 30 Days of Night and Bloodrayne II. Hopefully we'll still be interested in vampires by that point.

Of all the movies I've covered for Killer B's on DVD, this is the first one that had me muttering "oh boy, oh boy, oh boy" when it arrived in the mail. Blood Flood is a double-sided triple feature of grindhouse era horror flicks from Retromedia and Image Entertainment. The disk is hosted by Morella, a buxom Elvira wannabe who makes the Mistress of Dark's humor seem downright highbrow. While I think the idea of creating a modern horror host in the tradition of Vampira, Ghoulardi and Commander USA has some merit, Morella's shtick is painfully unfunny, and her segments are best skipped over. The films are a mixed bag with 1968's House of Evil being one of the last and least interesting films of Boris Karloff's career, and Andy Milligan's Guru the Mad Monk from 1970 providing a modest but notable amount of entertainment. 1974's Grave of the Vampire (which was also released under the title Seed of Terror) is what got me so excited, it being a personal favorite that until now was only available in a washed-out, fuzzy fullscreen presentation from Alpha Video.

It's a sad fact that there are just way more crappy vampire movies out there than good ones, but the source material for 30 Days of Night is a little above the quality of Dracula 2000, so we are already off to a good start. Cinema Blend has the first look at the teaser poster for the new vampire flick, from Sam Raimi's company. The film is based on the graphic novels of the same name by Steve Niles, and the story centers on a small Alaskan town that is overrun with vampires who have descended on the town to take advantage of the lack of sunlight -- a huge selling point that ensures 30 days of uninterrupted feeding. Leading the pack of humans trying to survive is Josh Hartnett as the local sheriff and Danny Huston (who provided a bit of a sneak-peek last February) as Marlow a.k.a. the bad guy. Melissa George also stars, and Ryan had a chance to discuss the film with her during an interview last fall -- you can read that here.

The film is directed by David Slade and Raimi's Ghost House Pictures is producing in partnership with Columbia Pictures. As for Raimi, he's not at a loss for work despite the big question mark still hanging over the Spiderman franchise. He has already picked up an as-yet-untitled fantasy project from the writers of Freddy vs. Jason, and he is also considering a prequel to 30 Days for his Ghost House web site. 30 Days of Night is set for release on October 19th, just in time for Halloween.

Not being a fan of the Oceans franchise, it looks like I'm going to have to wait for the Internet premiere of the I Am Legend trailer, but according to a report on Collider.com, the world at large will get its first look at the Will Smith horror/action flick when Ocean's 13, the third installment in the series, makes its U.S. premiere on June 8. I Am Legend, of course, features Smith as the apparent lone survivor of a plague that has decimated the world and turned many of its victims into vampires.

Personally, I'm looking forward to a look at this one. Richard Matheson's novel of the same name is considered by many (myself included) to be one of the greatest horror novels of all time, and its one of those classics I re-read every few years. This apocalyptic vision of the future served as the unofficial inspiration for George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, and has been officially adapted twice, once in 1964 as The Last Man on Earth which starred Vincent Price, and once as The Omega Man with Charlton Heston playing the lead. Both films are worth seeking out on DVD, and the former is my favorite of the two, but shop carefully as there are several faded and scratched public domain versions of The Last Man on Earth out there. I'm just hoping this new film version will retain the solemn atmosphere of the novel and we don't see Smith's standard action hero persona. I Am Legend will hit U.S. theaters on December 14.

Without going into too many embarrassing details about my misspent youth in eyeliner, let's just say I am pretty familiar with the 'Gothic lifestyle.' As a result, I've spent way too much time watching vampire movies, and now it looks like there's another one to watch. Fangoria is reporting that sources have confirmed that a film based on the life of Elizabeth "Blood Countess" Báthory is finally set for production. The story of the 15th century Hungarian countess who supposedly bathed in the blood of virgins to stay eternally young has been the source of plenty of vampire stories but there has never been much attention paid to the slightly less glamorous -- but no less gruesome historical story. Bathory was believed to have tortured and murdered over 600 young girls over the course of her life and was never brought to trial for any of her crimes.

It was almost two years ago when rumblings first surfaced about a Bathory film to be directed by Julie Delpy, who will also star, but there hasn't much solid detail about the project until now. According to Fangoria, the cast now falling into place would also include Ethan Hawke (I'll avoid the obvious Before Sunrise vampire joke), and Vincent Gallo. Supposedly, the film is set to start shooting this summer in Eastern Europe. If this project moves beyond gossip and into the production stage, it won't be the first Bathory film to hit screens this year. Juraj Jakubisko will be directing a "feminist" telling of the story. If Delpy's project continues inching forward at the same pace its been moving over the last two years, Jakubisko's film might be the only one we get.

Americans who are familiar with Mexican horror films of the '50s, '60s and '70s probably know the genre best from the movies imported to the U.S. by K. Gordon Murray. Flicks like The Brainiac, Wrestling Women Vs. the Aztec Mummy and the many films featuring masked wrestler Santo were often crudely dubbed before playing U.S. theaters or going directly to television. CasaNegra Films is giving audiences a chance to see several Mexican scare classics in their native Spanish with English subtitles for the first time. I recently viewed their release of The Black Pit of Dr. M, and it plays like a lost Universal horror flick. The Vampire Collection, releasing on Halloween day, contains the 1957 film El Vampiro (The Vampire) and its sequel 1958's El Ataúd del Vampiro (The Vampire's Coffin) on a two-disk set.

Just in time for Halloween -- in fact, on October 31st -- Blue Underground is releasing a DVD double feature that no self-respecting fan of the lesbian vampire genre should pass up. Both of these films have been on DVD before, but never conveniently together like this, and The Blood Spattered Bride has been out of print for awhile.

Harry Kumel's Daughters of Darkness is a skillful melding of arthouse and exploitation cinema. Stefan (John Karlen from Dark Shadows and Cagney and Lacey) and Valerie (Danielle Ouimet), a young newlywed couple arrive at a magnificent seaside resort. As it is the off-season, the only other guests are the Countess Elizabeth Bathory (Delphine Seyrig) and her companion Ilona (Andrea Rau). Elizabeth has a dark hold on the young Ilona and refuses to let her leave. Stefan and Valerie's relationship has its own layer of dysfunction, and the shadow of Stefan's disapproving mother hangs like a pall over their union. Countess Bathory is fascinated by the young couple and she is intent on possessing them just as she possesses Ilona. The vampirism is subtle here; there are no fangs, and no one turns into a bat. The character of the Countess is based on the real life Elizabeth Bathory who is said to have murdered several young women and bathed in their blood in order to maintain her own youth.

Oddly the box cover doesn't even play up the fact that The Blood Spattered Bride is part of the package. While not quite the masterpiece that its co-feature is, Bride, is also a respectable entry in the lesbian vampire sweepstakes. This Spanish production is one of countless films based on the novella Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (as was Crypt of the Vampire), though this is a particularly loose adaptation. The Blood Spattered Bride is the tale of a young couple at odds with one another's sexuality. Susan (Maribel Martin from 1973's A Bell From Hell) befriends and is seduced by a man-hating woman named Mircalla. Goriness and cool Euro-horror atmosphere ensue.

The second disk carries as its sole bonus feature the U.S. trailer for the double feature of The Blood Spattered Bride and I Dismember Mama. The Daughters of Darkness disk, however, has a whole lot of coolness going on:

• Audio Commentary #1 with Co-Writer/Director Harry Kümel
• Audio Commentary #2 with Star John Karlen and Journalist David Del Valle
  
• Locations of Darkness – Interviews with Co-Writer/Director Harry Kümel and Co-Writer/Co-Producer Pierre Drouot
  
• Playing the Victim - Interview with Star Danielle Ouimet
  
• Daughter of Darkness - Interview with Star Andrea Rau
  
• Theatrical Trailer
  
• Radio Spots
  
• Poster & Still Gallery
  

Like many fans of the original film, news that Michael Bay's production company Platinum Dunes was planning to remake the 1987 contemporary western/vampire film Near Dark caused my intestines to explode made me wince. An Armageddon-esque sensibility just doesn't seem to jive with this little indie horror flick. The original film was directed by Kathryn Bigelo and starred Adrian Pasdar (currently playing a Congressional candidate who can fly on NBC's Heroes) as a young man who is bitten by and falls in with a dysfunctional vampire "family" roaming America's heartland. The vampires were played by three recent alumni of James Cameron's Aliens: Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton and Jenette Goldstein, as well as Jenny Wright and young Joshua Miller who was particularly memorable in River's Edge.

According to Sci Fi Wire, though, one person who is excited about the remake (which has been discussed previously on Cinematical) is Lance Henriksen. The veteran actor of many a horror flick and TV shows was quite tickled at the notion. "Oh, man, I hadn't heard that," Henriksen said in an interview. "It's one of my favorites, Near Dark. If they were smart, what they would do is get a hold of Bill Paxton, Jenette Goldstein and me, and do something that starts as a prequel to Near Dark. They need to have a conversation with us, because, man, Billy Paxton and I have been talking about this, about what we would do, if we did a prequel. And really great stuff came up. So it would be very wise of them to connect us."

I'm not clear on how this would work since these supposedly immortal vampires are now twenty years older than they were when the first film was shot, and Henriksen is talking prequel. Still, Bay's company could do a lot worse than get some input from the actors who originated these characters, right?

One thing missing from contemporary horror films is the presence of bona fide horror stars. Modern audiences may know him as Saruman from the Lord of the Rings films, Count Dooku from the Star Wars prequels, or even the father of Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka, but Christopher Lee was once one of the most recognizable faces of European horror. Probably best known for starring in the Hammer Dracula series, Lee is the last of a line of actors that included the likes of Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and Peter Cushing.

Arriving on DVD this September 12 is the tantalizingly obscure Christopher Lee film Crypt of the Vampire (1963). An Italian-Spanish co-production from what is commonly referred to as the golden age of Italian horror. Lee plays Count Ludwig Karnstein, whose family lives under a curse. One of Karnstein's ancestors was burned as a witch and, according to legend, the witch will reincarnate as one of her own descendants. The Count races to find his ancestor's burial place as a series of vampire murders break out in the family castle. Could Karnstein's own daughter be responsible?

Pic is based on the Novella Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (published in 1872), which was also the source for The Vampire Lovers (1970), Roger Vadim's Blood and Roses (1960), The Blood Spattered Bride (1972) and countless others, all with widely varying degrees of faithfulness. After Bram Stoker's Dracula, Carmilla is probably the second most filmed work of vampire fiction. The Image Entertainment disk has no extras, but seeing this little known black and white oddity in widescreen format should be worth the suggested retail price of $14.95. Despite the fact that Lee's first name has been misspelled on the cover (proof read, people!), Image has done nice work in the past bringing classic European horrors to a modern audience (the films of The Mario Bava Collection come to mind), and so I have high hopes for this disk.