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“Studios are not your friends,” says Daniel Myrick, co-director of the original Blair Witch Project, on not being consulted about the upcoming sequel.

This year marks the 25th anniversary of The Blair Witch Project – arguably one of the most pivotal horror films of the 1990s. Making almost $250m in 1999 on its initial cinema run, the found-footage chiller sparked a franchise that is still going a quarter of a century later.

For the first film’s directors, Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick, the anniversary brings with it mixed feelings. They’ve barely been involved in the series they helped create all those years ago – and it’s a trend that continues into the upcoming sequel, produced by rights holders Lionsgate in partnership with Blumhouse Productions. We heard earlier this year that, when the next Blair Witch was announced, the makers of the first film – such as production designer Ben Rock – were left blindsided by the revelation.

The found footage horror classic The Blair Witch Project is returning to Blu-ray with a new release from UK company Second Sight, and it’s set to be a first-of-its-kind offering.

The 2-Disc Limited Edition set includes a new Second Sight Films restoration from the Hi8 videotapes and 16mm film elements, supervised and approved by the Producers and Directors, which presents The Blair Witch Project as it was meant to be seen for the very first time.

The Blair Witch Project production designer Ben Rock explains over on Twitter, “If you’re a fan of The Blair Witch Project, this edition is a first of its kind. The original sources have been re-digitized including a first-ever proper transfer of the 16mm. And there’s a new doc by Jed Shepherd interviewing all of us who made the film.”

“The version you’ve seen was transferred (hi-8 & 16mm) to BetaSP in 1997, edited in standard def,...

"The Blair Witch Project" wasn't the first found footage horror film, but it is largely responsible for the explosion in found footage horror films over the last 25 years. A big reason for that? The numbers. Directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, "Blair Witch" was shot over just eight days with an initial outlay of just $35,000. It was bought by Artisan Entertainment for $1 million, and the studio spent around $6-8 million marketing it (per The Hollywood Reporter). The movie went on to gross more than $248 million at the box office.

It's a studio executive's dream to land a project like that, and studios have been chasing the high of "The Blair Witch Project" ever since. There have been two "Blair Witch" movie sequels, with another "reimagining" recently announced by Blumhouse and Lionsgate. There have been books, comic books, and video games. It's a full-blown horror franchise that hasn't stopped making...

Remakes have been a part of Hollywood since time immemorial, and even though film enthusiasts are absolutely over it, it doesn’t seem like they are going to stop anytime soon. The fan-favorite The Blair Witch Project is next in line as Lionsgate and Blumhouse are all set to revive the franchise. The 1999 horror film still remains one of the most terrifying films that Hollywood has to offer, and if the remake wants to stand a chance against it, the creators are going to have to give it their all and then some.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Unfortunately, things are already not looking too good for the remake as it has been revealed that the original creators behind The Blair Witch Project are not linked to the remake in any shape or form. In fact, they were not even aware of the project before it was announced at CinemaCon 2024.

The...

The Blair Witch will soon descend from Maryland's Black Hills woods to terrify a whole new generation, and wouldn't you know, the guys responsible for the first movie aren't all that thrilled about not being involved. Horror movie remakes, reboots, and legacy sequels will continue to abound as Hollywood doubles down on the genre's popularity. At CinemaCon 2024, for instance, we got our first look at the upcoming "Speak No Evil" remake, which looks decent but raises the question that so often accompanies these American rehashes of international movies: "Why?"

That appears to be the same question those responsible for the original "Blair Witch Project" are asking following the announcement that a new "Blair Witch" movie is in the works from Lionsgate and Blumhouse. The seminal 1999 original popularized the found-footage genre and left an entire generation scarred by memories of believing its disturbing events were actually real. Since it debuted, we've had two lackluster sequels,...

“They haven’t talked to any of us,” says production designer of 1999’s The Blair Witch Project, referring to Blumhouse’s upcoming reboot.

On the 10th April, Blumhouse announced that it’s set to make a reboot of The Blair Witch Project, a franchise that began with the found footage original in 1999. Curiously, it sounds as though the people that made the first, sensationally popular film found out about the reboot at the same time the rest of us did.

Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, production designer Ben Rock said that neither he nor anyone else who worked on the 1999 horror had been contacted by Blumhouse.

“It’s bittersweet, honestly,” Rock said of the new film.

Nor is Rock the only person who sounded blindsided by the announcement. Taking to Instagram, Joshua Leonard – who starred in the original Blair Witch – wrote that he “didn’t know anything about” the reboot...

The Blair Witch Project production designer Ben Rock criticizes Lionsgate and Blumhouse for not including the original creators in the Blair Witch reboot, and hopes for careful handling. Rock emphasizes the importance of involving the original creators in the reboot to connect with audiences and avoid repeating past failures. Overall, Rock describes it as bittersweet, and he isn't the only one to speak out against the reboot.

The Blair Witch Project production designer Ben Rock calls out Lionsgate and Blumhouse for their lack of communication with the original movie's creative team as they develop a reboot of the influential found-footage horror movie. Released in 1999, the original movie is a harrowing account of an amateur documentary team's encounter with unfathomable, indescribable horror that aimed to leave audiences unsure if what they saw was true. The Blair Witch Project then spawned a franchise, with the most recent development being Lionsgate and Blumhouse's surprise reboot.

The team behind the original 1999 film The Blair Witch Project didn’t know about the plan for a new movie in the horror franchise until it was announced during Lionsgate’s CinemaCon presentation last week. But the filmmakers’ frustrations over their lack of involvement in the future of the series has been building for years.

“It’s bittersweet, honestly,” Ben Rock, production designer on the 1999 found-footage hit, tells The Hollywood Reporter about the planned reboot. He notes that no one from his film, including co-directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, was involved in any significant way in the 2000 sequel, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, or the 2016 follow-up. Rock hopes this will change for the current project that is in the works from Lionsgate and Blumhouse, but so far, no one from the 1999 movie had been contacted or given a chance to pitch, he says.

“I do think that what...

In professional wrestling, the concept of “Kayfabe” refers to an unspoken agreement between fans and performers to never acknowledge the fictional aspects of the sport. In the horror genre, we have something similar with the way Found Footage movies invite audiences to play along with the scares to enhance their viewing experience. And when it comes to Found Footage, no movie handled this blending of reality and fiction better than The Blair Witch Project, which was accompanied by an ingenious viral marketing campaign featuring websites, dossiers and even missing person posters.

Among this supplemental material was an infamous mockumentary known as Curse of the Blair Witch, which premiered on the Sci-Fi Channel and was instrumental in convincing audiences that the film’s footage was meant to be taken seriously. A year later, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 had its own lesser-known tie-ins with Ben Rock‘s The Burkittsville 7...

Few films have changed the landscape of horror like The Blair Witch Project. Purporting to be recovered footage from a doomed documentary, the story follows three filmmakers who venture into the Black Hills of Maryland to investigate the legend of the Blair Witch. They never return. This lean and mean film was cobbled together from hours of footage shot by the actors improvising fictionalized versions of themselves. Directors Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez made the bold choice to never show the titular monster, elevating the film from a creepy tale set in a haunted woods to one of the most terrifying, profitable, and ambitious horror films of all time. Though her face remains in the shadows, the Blair Witch has become a cultural phenomenon with a legacy that reaches far beyond the real life entities who may have inspired her creation.

Because Heather (Heather Donahue), Josh (Joshua Leonard) and Mike...

The horror (fictional) podcast is something I haven’t fully got into yet. But that is not due to lack of quality. The few I have listened too I have very much enjoyed – Video Palace from Ben Rock and Bob Derosa is the first that springs to mind – but I just haven’t listened to enough. I could start to right that wrong with The Timekeeper.

The Timekeeper follows 17 year-old Charlie and his friends who after discovering a co-worker has died, get sucked into a video game that may have caused the death.

There’s something about a horror audio drama when it’s made well. Listening on headphones, feeling fully immersed into the story. The sound production on The Timekeeper is great. You’ll hear things from one ear to another, you think you heard something quietly in the background, voices overlap one another. There’s some cool little sound tricks on display.

About a year after The Blair Witch Project took the box office by storm in 1999, Random House started publishing a series of tie-in novels in conjunction with Artisan Entertainment. The first film’s production designer and the director of two related features, Ben Rock, was also consulted about geography and lore. And to help reinforce the […]

The post ‘The Blair Witch Files’: Investigating the Growing Black Hills Mythology in Those First Three Novels appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

For the last two weeks, we here at Daily Dead have been doing our best to laud and commemorate the 40th anniversaries of all the great horror and science fiction films that were released throughout the year 1980. And as we get set to wrap up our extensive coverage today and tomorrow, we thought it might be fun to reach out to some fantastic voices in the realm of genre entertainment.

So, for today’s Class of 1980 celebration, we will be featuring the likes of Kelli Maroney, Bill Moseley, Adrian Roe, Ben Rock, Axelle Carolyn, Drew McWeeny, April Wolfe, Graham Skipper, and Brian Collins all discussing a variety of notable horror and sci-fi movies from 1980, including Dressed to Kill, The Changeling, The Visitor, The Apple, Friday the 13th, The Boogeyman, Mad Max, Battle Beyond the Stars, and The Fog.

And be sure to head back tomorrow for part two of our final Class of 1980 celebration,...

There’s an old adage that says you should never meet your heroes — but whoever came up with that didn’t know Stuart Gordon.

The director known for such cult classics as “Re-Animator,” “From Beyond” and “Dolls” died Tuesday night in Van Nuys, Calif., from multiple organ failure at age 72. He is survived by his brother, David George Gordon, his wife, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon; daughters Suzanna, Jillian and Margaret Gordon; four grandchildren and a countless number of fans and protégés who adored the worlds and characters he brought to life.

It’s a very strange thing to find yourself friends with a man you grew up idolizing. Usually I don’t recommend it; it’s asking for disappointment. I have no idea what prompted me to first rent that VHS copy of “Re-Animator” with friends in high school; it probably had something to do with the bright green color on the box,...

Horror, comedy, and mortality come together once again in the second season of the web series 20 Seconds to Live, which recently launched its second season after a successful crowdfunding campaign.

Below, you can watch the two new episodes of 20 Seconds to Live, and keep an eye out for a new episode every Friday in October on the show's YouTube channel. To learn more about the web series, visit its official website.

"The award-winning horror/comedy web-series co-created by director Ben Rock (Alien Raiders) and writer Bob DeRosa (Killers) is known for its killer hook: every episode features a new set of characters and when a 20-second timer counts down to zero, someone dies! Figuring out who gets it and how is much of the fun.

The first season played nearly twenty web and film festivals around the world and won multiple awards including Best Web Series at the Nashville International Film Festival,...

Ben Rock and Bob DeRosa are proud to announce the upcoming Second Season of: 20 Seconds To Live The web-series for people who hate happy endings The award-winning horror/comedy web-series co-created by director Ben Rock and writer Bob DeRosa (Killers) is known for its killer hook: every episode features a …

The post 20 Seconds To Live – New horror/comedy from Ben Rock (The Blair Witch Project) appeared first on Hnn | Horrornews.net.

It's your chance to escape the evil dead before they swallow your soul in the first officially licensed escape room in Seattle, Wa, granted by Studiocanal S.A.S. through Creative Licensing, based on Sam Raimi's classic horror/comedy Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn.

When players enter that all-too-familiar cabin in the woods from the Evil Dead franchise, they will have until dawn to find the Kandarian dagger and destroy the book of the dead before the evil dead swallows their souls. Fans of the classic film can expect deadites, chainsaws, a freakish deer head, a chained-up cellar door, and a groovy cameo from Ash Williams (as portrayed by TV actor Donal Thoms-Capello).

You and your fellow paranormal investigators have been sent on a mission to the Knowby Cabin, which has materialized within the walls of the Archaeological Society. With Ash Williams guiding you, you will have to find a...

Hourglass Escapes, known for its impressive escape rooms in Seattle, has announced that they're working with a team of talented industry professionals to design an official Evil Dead 2 escape room. As expected, the plan is to lock participants in the infamous cabin for 60 minutes, where your group must figure out how to destroy the Necronomicon. With the tease of the chained cellar door, deadite surprises, and a chainsaw, it sounds like I need to start planning my trip to Seattle this summer...

It's your chance to escape the evil dead before they swallow your soul in the first officially licensed escape room, granted by Studiocanal S.A.S., based on Sam Raimi’s classic horror/comedy Evil Dead 2: Dead By Dawn™.

Hourglass Escapes, LLC creates challenging and fun escape rooms known for superior production values and immersive storylines. Their games (including Rise of the Mad Pharaoh and The Ghostly Galleon...

I've got a great comedy short for you to watch today called Future Boyfriend. It centers on a young woman who goes on a date only to learn that the man she is with is from the future. He reveals that he used an app to go back in time to date her. As the story plays out he reveals his strange backstory and things keep getting increasingly awkward for the young woman. 

The film was directed Ben Rock and it was posted by Dust. It's an adorable well-told story that has a little geek flair that I think you'll all enjoy and appreciate. I hope you enjoy it!

In 1994, George Romero made a short film called Jacaranda Joe at my alma mater, the technical film school at Valencia Community College. Romero was participating in a program that the school was calling the Endowed Chair, where they brought… Continue Reading →

The post Remembering George A. Romero by Ben Rock appeared first on Dread Central.

Project Name: 20 Seconds To Live

Asking For: $10,000 through Indiegogo

Amount Raised Thus Far (At Time Of Post): $8,960

Days Remaining In Campaign (At Time Of Post): 2

Description: Author Mark Laidlaw recent went viral when he proposed that any novel could be improved by making "and then the murders began" its second line. To see an applied example of philosophy, check out 20 Seconds To Die. Ben Rock and Bob DeRosa's short-form horror series counts down to on-screen deaths, and despite the strict nature of that format, the result is far from predictable.

Episodes of 20 Seconds To Die, which rarely last more than a few minutes, set up standard horror movie situations before starting a 20-second timer. As that clock counts down, tension builds, and by the time it reaches zero, one of the characters on the screen bites the dust. In the first episode of the previously-produced first season,...

Horror, comedy, and mortality came together with great effect in the first season of 20 Seconds to Live, Ben Rock's innovative web series, and now an Indiegogo campaign has been launched for the second season, and you can also watch a new episode. In today's Horror Highlights, we also have the latest episode of the Splathouse podcast and a trailer and poster for the new thriller The Answer.

20 Seconds to Live Season 2 Indiegogo Campaign: "20 Seconds To Live” is the award-winning horror/comedy web series for people who hate happy endings! We made and released our 8-episode first season, and last year played over a dozen international film and web festivals. Now we'd love to make a second season but we need your help!"

You can watch a new episode of 20 Seconds to Live below, and to learn more about supporting a second season of 20 Seconds to Live, visit:

https://www.

September 5, 2016, 5:20 Pm Berlin time – I met Benjamin Rock on Instagram. While at first sight, this cyber encounter may not seem out of the ordinary, the significance it holds for me is colossal. Ben was the production… Continue Reading →

The post The Blair Witch Project Then, Now, and in the Future: A Talk with Ben Rock appeared first on Dread Central.

Funny or Die released a prank video inspired by Alice Lowe's very funny Prevenge, and we have it for Daily Dead readers to watch. Also in today's Horror Highlights: a new clip from The Black Room and details on the extension of the play Sirens of Titan at Sacred Fools Theater in Los Angeles.

Check Out Funny or Die's Prevenge Prank Video: "A pitch black, wryly British horror comedy from the mind of Alice Lowe (“Sightseers,” “Hot Fuzz,” “Paddington”) that’s as funny as it is vicious, Prevenge follows Ruth, a pregnant woman on a killing spree. It's her misanthropic unborn baby dictating Ruth's actions, holding society responsible for the absence of a father. The child speaks to Ruth from the womb, coaching her to lure and ultimately kill her unsuspecting victims. Struggling with her conscience, loneliness, and a strange strain of prepartum madness, Ruth must ultimately choose between...

Over the weekend, history was made in the live theatre world of Los Angeles, as Ben Rock and the legendary Stuart Gordon revived the stage play version of Kurt Vonnegut Jr.’s novel The Sirens of Titan for the Sacred Fools Theater. Gordon, who first tackled the darkly comedic sci-fi tale 40 years ago for Chicago’s Organic Theater, once again handled the screenplay adaptation for this new take on the classic story of a man who must lose everything to understand what life truly is all about. The result is a wildly entertaining exploration of what it means to be human, as well as a deeply moving experience that I enjoyed immensely.

After the premiere performance this past Friday, Daily Dead had the opportunity to chat with both Rock and Gordon (who are reteaming once again after a successful collaboration on Taste, a cannibal-themed dramatic production that also played at...

Filmmaker Stuart Gordon is well-known for adapting the works of H.P. Lovecraft, but four decades ago, he also helped bring Kurt Vonnegut Jr.'s The Sirens of Titan to life on the stage, and La's Sacred Fools Theater Company will celebrate the adaptation's 40th anniversary by performing a new version of the play, updated by Gordon himself, to conclude their 20th season.

Press Release: In 1977, acclaimed writer/director Stuart Gordon adapted Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.’s classic novel for Chicago’s Organic Theater with the approval and input of the author himself. Now Sacred Fools will close its 20th season with the recently rediscovered adaptation, newly updated by Gordon and more timely than ever.

Director Ben Rock ("Baal," "Occupation”) brings to the stage this visually dazzling and darkly humorous sci-fi epic about what happens when the richest man in the world loses everything, sets out on an unbelievable journey through space and time,...

Back in the late 1970’s, the Kurt Vonnegut, Jr., sci-fi novel The Sirens of Titan was adapted into a stage play that was directed by Stuart Gordon (Re-animator, From Beyond, Dagon). Premiering in October of 1977, it was supposedly a… Continue Reading →

The post Stuart Gordon and Ben Rock Reviving 40-Year-Old Play The Sirens of Titan appeared first on Dread Central.

At a special premiere screening during this year’s Comic-Con in San Diego, director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett’s The Woods was revealed to actually be Blair Witch, a sequel to one of the most influential genre films in modern cinema, The Blair Witch Project. The new sequel does an incredible job of embracing what fans love about the original film while also taking the legend of the Blair Witch in some really intriguing and clever new directions.

Recently, I had the opportunity to speak in-depth with Barrett about what went into creating the secretive Blair Witch sequel. Check out part 2 of our interview with Barrett below, and if you missed part 1, you can catch up Here. For those of you who may be concerned, there are no Blair Witch spoilers in this interview, so you don’t have to worry about any surprises getting ruined ahead of...

This year’s festival will include an inaugural virtual reality strand and a co-production forum focused on UK-Ibero-American relations.Scroll down for line-up

The 24th Raindance Film Festival has revealed its line-up, with 90 feature films set to be screened in London September 21 – October 2.

This year’s jury will be comprised of Stephen Fry (V For Vendetta), Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous), Imelda Staunton (Vera Drake), Jodie Whittaker (Broadchurch), Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies), Jack Davenport (Pirates Of The Caribbean), Nicholas Pinnock (Top Boy) and American artist David Datuna.

They will preside over awards for a competition line-up that features the international premiere of Stephen Elliott’s After Adderall, a semi-autobiographical story about the production of the film adaptation of Elliott’s memoirs. Receiving its European premiere will be Japanese director Yoshiyuki Kishi’s A Double Life, about a young woman who is assigned to follow a stranger.

Among the seven UK premieres playing in competition are Indian drama [link=tt...

Filmmaker Ben Rock (Alien Raiders, The Blair Witch Project) recently released a brand new webseries entitled 20 Seconds to Live which, as you may have guessed from the title, will feature someone meeting their untimely demise but in some truly unique ways. The first episode is already available here and the next installment of 20 Seconds to Live arrives this Friday.

Daily Dead chatted briefly with Rock about the series, teaming up with Adam Green and ArieScope for their release, and what fans can expect from future episodes.

Let’s start at the beginning—how did the series come about?

Ben Rock: Bob DeRosa is an outrageously accomplished writer for film and television, and he and I also do a lot of fun small theater projects together, mostly at Sacred Fools (where you came to see Baal five years ago and Taste last year). And when we put up one of...

Today ArieScope Pictures is launching its second original online series, 20 Seconds to Live, directed/co-created by Ben Rock (Alien Raiders), written/co-created by Bob DeRosa (Killers), and produced by Cat Pasciak (Atari: Game Over). We had a chance to chat with… Continue Reading →

The post Exclusive: Ben Rock Talks 20 Second to Live; See the First Episode Now! appeared first on Dread Central.

May releases from Diamond Select Toys include Ghostbusters, Predator, and a zombified Jay and Silent Bob. Also in our latest round-up: 20 Seconds to Live, a Captain America vs. Iron Man infographic, and new Dark Star: H.R. Giger's World stills.

Diamond Select Toys: Press Release -- "The new Previews catalog is in comic shops now, and inside is a litany of new products coming your way from Diamond Select Toys! Due out this fall, the new offerings include items from the Batman Classic TV Series, Batman The Animated Series, Gotham, Ghostbusters, Jay and Silent Bob, Marvel Select, Predator, Pulp Fiction, Star Trek, Universal Monsters and more! It’s the best of all worlds! Read on for more info, and pre-order today through your local comic shop, your favorite online retailer, or diamondselecttoys.com! Find your nearest comic shop at comicshoplocator.com!

Ghostbusters Movie Select Action Figures Series 1 Asst.:

A Diamond Select Toys release!

Life is full of great mysteries. Who was the 3rd gunman on the grassy knoll? Is the shroud of Turin really the burial wrap of Jesus Christ? Why did Warner Brothers give Ben Rock's kick-ass alien flick the shitty title of Alien Raiders? We may never know.

In any event YouTuber OsorioTron also recognized the greatness of the poorly titled Alien Raiders (review) and lovingly gave the film the Lego treatment! You can dig on that below.

If you haven't seen this movie, don't let the meaningless title sway you. Get it! Live it! Love it!

Synopsis

It's the end of yet another night at Hastings Supermarket, an idyllic family grocery store in Buck Lake, Arizona. But the normal monotony of rounding up shopping carts and settling out the cash drawers is broken at 11:07 pm, just before closing, when a group of masked and armed-to-the-teeth militants invades the store,...

Early April will see the start of Taste, a new play that should interest horror fans, as it was directed by Stuart Gordon. For those in the Hollywood area, we have details on when you can see Taste, including details on special showings that include a Stuart Gordon Q&A:

“You’re invited to the most disturbing dinner party of the year. Based on a shocking true story, two men meet online and make a unique arrangement: one will kill, cook, and eat the other. Taste imagines their first and only meeting, told in real time, in a working kitchen.

In 2011, acclaimed horror director Stuart Gordon brought his feature-film cult classic Re–Animator to the stage with the inspired songs of composer Mark Nutter and created a singing, dancing Re-Animator The Musical. The hilarious, blood drenched show ran for six months at the Steve Allen Theater before triumphant runs at...

Stuart Gordon has brought us many classic movies throughout his career, and recently his stage productions of Nevermore and Re-Animator: The Musical have lit up the stage wherever they've played. Now we have some new details about his latest stage play, Taste, and more!

From the Press Release

You’re invited to the most disturbing dinner party of the year. Based on a shocking true story, two men meet online and make a unique arrangement: One will kill, cook, and eat the other. Taste imagines their first and only meeting, told in real time, in a working kitchen.

In 2011, acclaimed horror director Stuart Gordon brought his feature-film cult classic Re–Animator to the stage with the inspired songs of composer Mark Nutter and created a singing, dancing Re-Animator: The Musical. The hilarious, blood-drenched show ran for six months at the Steve Allen Theater before triumphant runs at the...

With Halloween in the air, we thought it would be fun to reach out to the horror genre's biggest and brightest stars - both legends in the industry and up-and-coming superstars - to ask them two quick questions: What's your biggest fear, and what's your favorite scary movie? Read on for the results!

Some of the results will make you laugh. Some will make you shiver... and some, well some are just too funny for words. Sit back and get ready to hear from the likes of Anne Rice, John Carpenter, Robert Englund, the "Ghost Adventures" crew, cast members from "The Walking Dead," George A. Romero, and many - Many - more. Who knows? You may even find some new movies you should check out or at least revisit.

Let the scares begin!

A

Jace Anderson

Writer - The Toolbox Murders (2004), Schism, Night of the Demons (2009), Mother of Tears

1) I...

The supermarket is one of the centers of the community. It's a place where neighbors go to buy their groceries while catching up with each other. They exchange stories, laughs and gossip in a friendly, comfortable atmosphere. That's a nice picture, but unfortunately it's not always the case in reality.

In fact, as we get further and further from the "Leave it to Beaver" era, the supermarkets we visit are usually "superstores" and almost never owned by a member of the community anymore. But maybe there is something to be said for a place where you can go to buy a pound of baloney, a prom dress and get an oil change all in one stop…and we wonder why "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" is the hottest show on television. Save us from the superstore.

This leads us to Bait 3D (review here). This all-new horror film hits DVD...

Post-holiday blues got you down? Suffering from the Sunday night back-to-work shakes? Why not settle in for the night and allow your goodly host Buz "Danger" Wallick to treat you to another helping of his Same Shit, Different Show. It'll make everything better. Promise!

This week's episode features an interview with the writer/director of one of my favorite direct-to-video horror flicks of the past five years, the unfortunately titled Alien Raiders. Ben Rock joins Buz for some fast and furious industry chatter that leaves virtually no stone unturned when it comes to genre filmmaking.

Head on over to Buz's Same Shit, Different Show website (that's .biz, fyi) and dig it. This is a good one, as they've all been thus far. And if you haven't heard them all yet, do give 'em a listen.

Same Shit Different Show Trailer from Buz Wallick on Vimeo.

Visit The Evilshop @ Amazon!

Got news?...

My introduction to writer/director Ben Rock came when I interviewed him for his 2009 highly-underrated flick Alien Raiders, which took themes from Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Thing and combined them with a little bit of “24” for good measure (hard not to when the film’s star is Carlos Bernard). Last year I had the opportunity to experience Rock’s work in the realm of live theatre with his twisted play Ba’al and quickly realized he’s someone who has an interesting perspective when it comes to genre-related projects.

I recently caught up with Rock, who's been busy working on content for a recent big-name video game release, to find out what his top five independent horror films are. Check out his favorites below!

1. Midnight Son

Scott Leberecht's debut feature about a young man turning into something he doesn't want to understand brings me back to...

The second annual Reaper Awards descended onto the historic Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood on Tuesday, October 12th, in high fashion as the hotel was packed to celebrate the best horror titles released over the last year on DVD and Blu-Ray.

The Reaper Awards were hosted by Dread Central’s own fearless leader, Steve “Uncle Creepy” Barton, and the awards themselves (The Grimmys) are given out as part of a collaborative effort between Dread and Home Media Magazine to put the spotlight on genre titles which mainstream award shows generally overlook.

On hand for the Reaper Awards was a proverbial “Who’s Who” in the horror genre, including director Darren Lynn Bousman (Mother’s Day), actor Bill Moseley (The Devil’s Rejects), iconic director Tom Holland (the original Fright Night), director Adam Green (Hatchet II), actress Rileah Vanderbilt (Hatchet II), director Neil Marshall (Centurion), actress Axelle Carolyn (Centurion), director Declan O...

Did you miss us? We have returned after a lengthy hiatus brought on by scheduling conflicts and a technical meltdown that erased the last Dinner For Fiends, and what a loaded program we have for you! Finally, the first Dff of 2010, and being that we're nearly three months into the new year, that means there is a lot of ground to cover and still find time for the usual off-topic nonsense.

Andrew and Buz couldn't make it so this edition should prove quite popular in Mexico. Instead you can smell what Ben Rock is cooking; the Alien Raiders filmmaker joins us for this edition. The always salty Uncle Creepy, Matt "Can we get this over with because 'Lost' is on in an hour?" Fini, and yours truly, the Foywonder, round out the roundtable of fiends.

Expect spoiler-filled discussions of Daybreakers, The Wolf Man, Legion, The Crazies, and especially Shutter Island.

Last weekend Dread Central decided to get a bit of culture and headed over to Sacred Fools Theater to check out film/TV/viral director Ben Rock's (Alien Raiders) intense new project, Baal.

Based on the 1918 story by Bertolt Brecht, Baal is the trippy little story about a destructive and alcoholic poet named Baal (played by Gregory Sims) who destroys anything and anyone in his path. Baal has no issue with seducing friends' wives and girlfriends, deflowering young teenage girls, and drinking himself into a stupor on a regular basis. The world is for Baal's taking, no matter what the cost.

While not necessarily horror, the ramifications of Baal's downward spiral into excess are quite horrific as he manages to leave a body count in his wake. The reinterpretation of Brecht's story by Peter Mellencamp is bold, startling, and devastating. When the play finishes, you can...

There are very few places darker and more terrifying than the recesses of the human mind and the buried wickedness that resides there. Sometimes these feelings and notions seep out into the real world despite our best efforts to keep a handle on them, and that, dear friends, is the essence of psychological horror. Get ready to meet Baal, a new play from Ben Rock.

Rock will be bringing this creepy tale of a very disturbed man to the stage from January 15th to February 20th, 2010 in Los Angeles, California. Check out the trailer for the play and click on the image below for more details, watch a couple of more teaser videos, and of course to buy tickets.

Synopsis

"Take a hallucinatory slide on the downward spiral of drunken, dissolute poet Baal. At once genius and madman, Baal will seductively lift you up and decadently drag you down into his journey of excessive,...

Simon Baker, 'The Mentalist'The character Patrick Jane is all about layers. A former professional psychic until an unthinkable tragedy caused him to denounce the magical lies he had built his life on, he now works with the police helping to solve murders—mainly in the hope they'll catch the serial killer who destroyed him. On the surface, he's a playful Puck who delights in teasing and astonishing all who meet him and who does not care a thing about the rules other people live by. Just underneath is a carny-trained con man racked with guilt over the years he spent duping his marks. But below that is what makes this character truly a masterpiece: a vast, bottomless lake of pain and grief, the unending agony of a man who discovered his wife and child tortured to death. And swimming in this lake is a raw and primal desire for revenge.

'An Education'"An Education" is a wonderfully bittersweet coming-of-age story featuring a top-notch ensemble. Set in 1961 London, the film recounts what happens when Jenny (Carey Mulligan), a bright but bored high school student, falls in love with David (Peter Sarsgaard), an urbane older man who introduces her to chamber music, art auctions, late-night concerts, and sex. He is also a bit of a con man.Mulligan doesn't hit a false note, conveying the emotional life of a highly intelligent yet profoundly innocent 17-year-old girl. In Jenny's eyes, David is the romantic outsider, more so as he slyly seduces Jenny's reluctant parents—especially Jack, her irascible, buffoonish dad (Alfred Molina). Conceived in broad comic strokes, Jack borders on caricature, yet Molina makes him plausible and, in the end, sympathetic. Jack is misguided but he loves his daughter. Sarsgaard is fine as a warm and loving guy who can't help being a bastard as well.

Jeff Bridges, 'Crazy Heart'When Robert Duvall told writer-director Scott Cooper that he loved Cooper's script for the music-focused drama "Crazy Heart" and wanted to produce it, Cooper said, "I need two things to make this film, and if I don't get them, I shouldn't make it. One is [composer] T Bone Burnett, and the other is Jeff Bridges." Cooper was absolutely right. Then Bridges turned the role down, finally agreeing to participate only when Burnett did. Of course, Burnett's contribution was essential, but Bridges gives us entrée into the story.His Bad Blake—a once-great country star reduced to playing bowling alleys and bars across the Southwest and opening for his former protégé, Tommy Sweet (Colin Farrell)—is wholly real, as the actor perfectly etches the musician's weariness with life and tenuous hold on dignity. Though we know Bad is in a bed of his own making, we acutely feel his embarrassment when,...

Phobia Friday: Arachnephobia or Arachnophobia- Fear of spiders. We caught up with Alien Raiders Director Ben Rock at the Reaper Awards and talked about his new genre project, Mile 15. FEARnet: Can you talk about any genre projects you're working on? Ben Rock: Right now, I'm working on a script with a writer called Mile 15. It's called Mile 15 and it's a father with a 10 month old baby on a bypath being chased by a serial killer in a car. It's all action, very little dialogue. Very stripped down… In real life, what's your greatest fear? My greatest fear would probably be spiders. I'm not into the spiders. When I was in...

On August 20th Hollywood's historic Egyptian Theatre hosted a 10th anniversary screening of The Blair Witch Project followed by a Q&A with several members of the film's cast and crew. Of course Dread Central was there, camera in-hand, to record the auspicious occasion.

Taking part in the evening's festivities were co-writer and co-director Dan Myrick, cast members Joshua Leonard and Heather Donahue, production designer Ben Rock, and producers Robin Cowie and Michael Monello. On its surface the film told the story of three student filmmakers who in October of 1994 disappeared in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, while shooting a documentary...A year later their footage was found. But it was so much more than that. It was lightning in a bottle that, through a viral marketing campaign that will probably never be duplicated, set the standard for the cinéma-vérité experience.

Check out the video below, and keep it here for updates on what Dan,...

On this day exactly ten years ago, a movie dropped that would forever change the face of independent film. Love it or hate it, The Blair Witch Project stands proudly as a sterling example that anyone with the right equipment, a boatload of passion, and a bitchin' idea can make a great film outside of Hollywood.

What a ride this flick had, huh? Sadly, it seems en vogue now to hate the movie, but back in the day most fans (myself included) just couldn't get enough of the story, the books, the film, and the brilliant mythology that had been put into place.

For all those involved -- from directors Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick to talented collaborators like Ben Rock and Neal Fredericks and everyone in-between -- we here at Dread Central would like to take a moment to say thanks not only for the scares but for giving...

You know that with another Huge remake in theatres it wasn't gonna be long before we waxed on about its pros and cons. This time out Creepy, The Foywonder, Andrew Kasch, and special guest Ben Rock hashed out the good, the bad, and the over-cooked.

Last House on the Left left everyone a bit divided, but the rage came damned near full circle when the conversation took a turn to Rob Zombie's latest shenanigans on Halloween 2. But nothing, and I mean nothing, could prepare us for one of Foy's most hilarious rants ever concerning a certain channel that has changed its name.

By the way, I should point out that we did things a bit differently this time out. Don't know if you'll notice or not, but hopefully you will dig. Let us know whatcha think!

Oh, yeah; be sure to Vote For Us On Podcast Alley if you value your existence!