Last Updated on September 29, 2024

Jean-Claude Van Damme. The Muscles from Brussels. If you grew up in the early nineties, this handsome Belgian was everywhere. With his unique accent, good looks, and a butt he was all but too happy to show off at least once a film, he was the rare action star that was just as popular with the ladies as the dudes. Changing tastes in the mid-nineties meant that his career as a viable lead in theatrical films started to dry up, which wasn’t helped by some off-screen issues he had with drugs (a Hollywood tale as old as time). But, while his contemporary, Steven Seagal, became something of a parody of himself, Jcvd got clean and doubled down on his craft, emerging as a surprisingly potent actor in some Dtv movies that are way better than anyone gives them credit for.

While his days as an...

It’s been a minute since Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren blessed our screens in a Universal Soldier project. The last time they appeared together was in 2012’s Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, alongside Fortress of Solitude‘s favourite action star, Scott Adkins. But it’s been crickets since then. A Universal Soldier TV series reboot seems like a perfect way to get the gang back […]

Why A Universal Soldier TV Show Would Outshine Any Other Reboot Written by Sergio Pereira for Fortress of Solitude...

Being a movie star is both a blessing and a curse. The blessings are fairly obvious, but, like all things that are too good to be true, they bring with them the seeds for the curse that follows, which is that movie stardom can set actors up for that much greater a fall should they start to slip off their pedestal. Some instances of actors taking a hard fall are deserved when it's to do with their offscreen behavior, yet in instances where it's mostly to do with the projects they're involved with being subpar, it's hard not to feel sorry for them.

Take Burt Reynolds, for instance. By the end of the 1970s he was among the most well-known and highest-paid actors working, and as the 1980s rolled on he continued to work with other name stars and solid filmmakers like Dolly Parton, Don Siegel, Blake Edwards, his buddy Hal Needham,...

Most of the time, Ethan Hawke is an indicator of quality -- or, if not that, then an ambition to make something meaningful. He's always taken the craft of acting seriously (something that spurred a good-natured war of attrition between him and Robin Williams while filming "Dead Poets Society"), but he's not haughty about it. He played a vampiric hematologist for The Spierig Brothers in 2009's "Daybreakers" and even joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe with his role as an Ammit-worshipping weirdo who pours glass shards in his shoes for "Moon Knight." Also, let's not forget that time he decked himself out in garish accessories to play the incredibly-named Jolly the Pimp in Luc Besson's eye-popping space opera "Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets" (a reminder that bad people can make spectacular art).

Alas, 2013's "Getaway" is the rare occasion where it's hard to imagine Hawke having signed...

Fantasia is back this summer with its 28th edition! And, of course, its first wave is an impressive, eclectic mix of genre titles you won't want to miss. The first wave announcement is in its entirety below and you can learn more about attending the fest at: https://fantasiafestival.com/en

The Fantasia International Film Festival will celebrate its upcoming 28th edition with an electrifying program of screenings, workshops, and launch events running from July 18 through August 4, 2024, returning yet again at the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montreal’s Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée.

The festival’s full lineup will be announced on July 3, but in the meantime, Fantasia is excited to reveal a select first wave of premiere titles, along with a first look at its 2024 poster art.

The festival’s 2024 poster art, created by Montreal visual artist Donald Caron,...

The Fantasia International Film Festival will be celebrating its 28th edition with another densely packed slate of events and programming running from July 18 through August 4, 2024, returning yet again at the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montreal’s Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée.

The festival’s full lineup will be announced on July 3, but in the meantime, Fantasia 2024 has revealed a select first wave of premiere titles. With premieres for Chuck Russell’s Witchboard remake, the Mike Flanagan-presented found footage Shelby Oaks, the latest from La Llorona filmmaker Jayro Bustamante and more, Fantasia’s shaping up to have another can’t miss slate of films.

The first wave of select titles, from the press release:

Witchboard

From A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and the beloved1988 remake of The Blob to The Mask, Eraser, and The Scorpion King,...

The legendary Jean-Claude Van Damme is back in action in the upcoming thriller Darkness of Man, which is set to receive a digital release on May 21st. With that date just a couple months away, a trailer for the film has arrived online, and you can check it out in the embed above!

Directed by James Cullen Bressack, who crafted the story with Jcvd and wrote the screenplay with Alethea Hnatko-Cho, Darkness of Man has the following synopsis: Russell Hatch (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is a washed-up, former Interpol operative who vowed to protect the son of an informant killed years earlier in a raid gone wrong. When merciless street gangs start an all-out turf war and the kid is caught in the middle, Hatch will stop at nothing to keep him safe and fight anyone who gets in his way.

Van Damme is joined in the cast by Emerson Min...

Jake Gyllenhaal is taking a long-awaited stab at action superstardom with his upcoming Prime Video remake of Road House hitting the streamer on March 21st (although it should really be going to theaters). Dev Patel also is making a promising attempt at the genre with his amazing looking Monkey Man hitting theaters in April. Not too long ago, we wrote a piece of JoBlo that asked who the next big action icons might be, and indeed, some fresh blood being worked into the genre is long overdue. Gyllenhaal and Patel both seem like great new additions to the canon, but who else could make it in the genre?

Here are a few stars we think have what it takes to be action heroes:

Zac Efron:

I would have thought you were nuts if you had told me a decade ago that Zac Efron would become an Arnold Schwarzenegger-style muscleman as he got older.

These days, most audiences are aware that the law of diminishing returns also applies to movie franchises. That’s why numbered sequels are usually frowned upon when it comes to new releases in established IPs, with producers preferring it when moviegoers forget exactly how many of these rehashed films they’ve seen before. And as a series goes on, it becomes increasingly more difficult for franchises to experiment with their source material, leading to stale experiences and disappointed fans.

Thankfully, there are a handful of exceptions to this rule, and I’d argue that the most surprising of all would be the Universal Soldier franchise. In all honesty, I don’t even think the original 1992 film is all that great, benefiting from the natural charisma of Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren while riding on the coat-tails of an intriguing premise (where deceased soldiers are revived as cybernetic zombies with...

John Hyams, director of the very cool 2020 thriller Alone, recently teamed up with Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson to bring us the pandemic slasher Sick, which is set in April of 2020. Right after the world shut down due to Covid-19. The film was released through the Peacock streaming service back in January – and now it has also received a DVD and digital release! Sick can be viewed on Amazon’s Prime Video at This Link, and copies of the DVD can be purchased Here.

Scripted by Katelyn Crabb (who was credited as Williamson’s assistant on Scream 2022) from a story by Williamson, Sick takes place when the country locks down due to the pandemic and college student Parker and her best friend decide to quarantine at the family lake house alone – or so they think.

The film stars Gideon Adlon (The Craft: Legacy), Dylan Sprayberry (Teen Wolf), Jane Adams (She Dies Tomorrow...

Kevin Williamson (Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer) returned to the slasher movie arena with Sick, which premiered exclusively on Peacock on January 13, 2023.

Eight months later, Sick has now been released onto Digital and DVD today.

You can watch the official trailer for Sick below, a Covid-era slasher that finds two friends being stalked by a masked maniac while they’re quarantining at a remote lake house.

John Hyams (Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, “Black Summer”) directed Sick from a story by Williamson, and it’s described as a “lean, mean, and wickedly timely slasher.”

In the film, “As the pandemic steadily brings the world to a halt, Parker and her best friend Miri decide to quarantine at the family lake house alone—or so they think.”

Joe Lipsett wrote in his review for Bd, “Sick feels like a welcome home party for Williamson: fans of Scream will...

Scott Adkins and Marko Zaror, who played, respectively, the heavies Killa and Chidi in John Wick 4, will reunite in the upcoming action film Diablo.

Chilean director Ernesto Díaz Espinoza, known for such action films as The Fist of the Condor and Redemer, is set to direct Diablo from a screenplay by Mat Sansom. Diablo is being set up as a co-production between Film Mode Entertainment and Wonder Street, with Film Mode handling foreign sales, and collaborating with Wonder for domestic. The filmmakers will hold a buyers presentation for the project in Cannes on May 15.

Adkins will play Kris Chaney, a recently released ex-convict embarking on a perilous mission. He kidnaps Elisa, the daughter of a powerful gangster, which puts him in danger. Zaror will portray El Corvo, a psychopathic killer seeking revenge against Vincent’s family.

Diablo is currently in pre-production and will shoot Chile, the home country of Zaror and Espinoza.

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI, and sign up for our weekly email newsletter by clicking here.REMEMBRANCERyuichi Sakamoto: Coda.Ryuichi Sakamoto died last week at the age of 71. He was the keyboardist for Yellow Magic Orchestra, who revolutionized techno in the early ’80s, and later became a pioneering composer for film—notably Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1987) and Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), in which he stars. It is impossible to sum up his impact in a bullet point, but we offer up a few finds: below, a clip from the 1985 film Tokyo Melody, in which Sakamoto shows us how to compose on the then-state-of-the-art Fairlight Cmi. Here, a 2018 New York Times piece about his quest to create the ideal background playlist for a beloved restaurant. “If I was an architect, I would be a bad one,...

This post contains spoilers for "John Wick: Chapter 4."

The label "direct-to-video" used to be a death knell for filmmakers and movie fans alike. In the early days of home video, the term typically referred to features that weren't good enough to get theatrical distribution, causing studios to subsequently dump them onto the shelves of Blockbusters and Hollywood Videos, where — via gaudy box art, ridiculous taglines and/or highlighting the name of a slumming movie star or a legit celebrity (who would likely only have a cameo role) — they would try to entice naïve renters to check it out.

It can be exceedingly difficult for a subgenre to change a poor reputation, but everything started to change once theatrical distribution was no longer the only game in Hollywood as video, cable, and streaming services became more ubiquitous. One of the people who has been dragging the name of direct-to-video B-movies out...

The “John Wick” franchise has a reputation for razzle-dazzle filmmaking and serving as demo reels for some of the world’s finest – or at least most promising – action movie stars. “John Wick: Chapter 4” is no exception, with Donnie Yen taking center stage alongside franchise star Keanu Reeves, as Hiroyuki Sanada and Marko Zaror lend prestige and support. Bringing the opposite of “prestige,” at least in terms of the role he plays in the Chad Stahelski-directed actioner, is Scott Adkins.

Adkins has made a name for himself as one of the preeminent filmmakers in the world of direct-to-consumer (DVD/VOD/streaming/etc.) action movies. The likes of Adkins, Michael Jai White, Tony Jaa, Jean Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren hold court in low-budget genre flicks helmed by directors like Isaac Florentine, Jesse V. Johnson, Christian Sesma, and the Kirby Brothers, that emphasize quality action sequences delivered with visual...

Sick marks Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer writer Kevin Williamson’s return to the slasher arena. Co-written by Williamson and Katelyn Crabb, Sick is directed by John Hyams (Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, “Black Summer”).

The Covid pandemic set thriller occurs during the early lockdown. It follows best friends Parker and Miri quarantined alone at an isolated family lake house. But they’re not alone for long.

The horror feature premiered earlier this week out of TIFF, where our own Joe Lipsett said in his review, “the never-ending attack, and the violence – often filmed in unflinching long takes – is mean and vicious.”

Bloody Disgusting spoke with leads Adlon and Million out of TIFF about working with Williamson and what it’s like shooting a visceral home invasion thriller.

Adlon distilled it down to a single name in horror when asked what it was about the script that enticed the actors.

Click here to read the full article.

“I have a mantra,” says director Peter Hyams. “It was something me and my camera operator, Steve Campanelli had: each morning before we went to shoot we’d put our arms around each other, like football players, and say four things: 1. Go bigger or go home. 2. If it can’t be fixed with a hammer, it can’t be fixed. 3. If it doesn’t fit, force it. 4. Let’s blow shit up.”

As mantras go, it’s hard to argue with the results. With a career that’s included prescient conspiracy thriller Capricorn One (1977), with Elliott Gould and James Brolin; sci-fi Western Outland (1981) with Sean Connery, the Gene Hackman/Anne Archer actioner Narrow Margin (1990) and Jean-Claude Van Damme’s time-traveling fight film Timecop (1994), Hyams, has secured his place in cult cinema history.

It’s also an approach to movie making that informed the career of Hyams’ son,...

Premiering as part of the Midnight Madness slate at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Sick brings Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer writer Kevin Williamson back into the slasher arena. John Hyams (Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, “Black Summer”) directed Sick from a story by Williamson, and it’s being described as a “lean, mean, and wickedly timely slasher.” How timely? Sick is set during the pandemic.

Collider has shared the very first clip from the Williamson-penned Sick today, and it’s a tense little scene that we can’t help but compare to Scream. The ring of a doorbell begins a home invasion from a masked killer, who has already found his way inside the house…

Watch Collider’s exclusive clip below and expect more soon.

In Sick, “As the pandemic steadily brings the world to a halt, Parker and her best friend...

Click here to read the full article.

The Oldenburg Film Festival, Germany’s leading indie film fest, will honor father and son genre filmmakers Peter and John Hymas, with a joint retrospective.

Father Peter Hymas is best known for his cult films of the 1970s and 80s, including the conspiracy drama Capricorn One (1977), about a plot to fake a space mission to Mars, the sci-fi Western Outland (1981) starring Sean Connery, and 2010: The Year We Made Contact (1984), a sequel to Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. In 1994, Hymas scored a late-career hit with Timecop, a time-traveling action movie starring Jean-Claude Van Damme.

The Mussels from Brussels would play a major role in the career of son John Hymas, who revived Van Damme’s other sci-fi action franchise, Universal Soldier, with two sequels: Universal Soldier: Regeneration (2009) and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (2012). Alongside numerous TV directing credits, for such series as NYPD Blue,...

Magnet Releasing has hit the road with Alone, the English-language remake of director Mattias Olsson‘s Gone (2011) that’s now in limited theaters and on VOD platforms. In the film directed by John Hyams (Netflix’s “Black Summer”, Universal Soldier: Regeneration, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning), a woman, traveling alone, is kidnapped and forced to fight for her survival. “Set in the […]...

"I know fear when I see it! It's all in the eyes!" Magnolia Pictures has released an official trailer for an indie survival thriller titled Alone, the latest film from filmmaker John Hyams. A recently widowed traveler fleeing the city in the Pacific Northwest is kidnapped by a cold blooded killer, only to escape into the wilderness where she is forced to battle against the elements as her pursuer closes in on her... Will she be able to make it out alive? Jules Willcox stars as Jessica, with Marc Menchaca, Anthony Heald, and Jonathan Rosenthal. This looks chilling but it also looks like every other kidnapping thriller. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for John Hyams' Alone, direct from Magolia's YouTube: Set in the Pacific Northwest wilderness, the film follows recently widowed Jessica who, fleeing the city in a desperate attempt to cope, is ...

Magnet Releasing has just hit the road with the trailer for Alone, the English-language remake of director Mattias Olsson‘s Gone (2011) that’s headed our way on September 18th. Directed by John Hyams (Netflix’s “Black Summer”, Universal Soldier: Regeneration, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning), the trailer looks like a solid thriller, albeit a bit cookie-cutter. In the film, a woman, […]...

The English-language remake of director Mattias Olsson‘s Gone (2011), Magnet Releasing’s Alone is headed our way on September 18, and Collider shares the official poster art today. According to the site, the film’s trailer will be released tomorrow. Alone is directed by John Hyams (Netflix’s “Black Summer”, Universal Soldier: Regeneration, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning), and you’ll find […]...

We imagine it’s never thrilling to be recognized for your past work. Yet when you have action movie talents like Scott Adkins and Louis Mandylor on hand, it makes absolute sense a certain type of fan will crop up—and likely need a likely beat down in some circumstances! That’s at least one humorous takeaway from a new exclusive clip of Payback: Debt Collectors 2, an action-thriller starring Scott Adkins and Louis Mandylor.

In the film, Adkins and Mandylor star as a pair of debt collecting heavies who are muscle for a particular type of bad men—all while avoiding another group entirely that wants them dead. And in the scene we have below, the men known as French and Sue are starting their morning by getting hassled for the fact Mandylor used to star in a direct-to-video martial arts movie named Ninja. While Sue never technically starred in such a movie,...

Festival winner stars Jules Willcox of Bloodline.

Xyz Films has acquired worldwide sales rights to Alone, the English-language adaptation of Swedish thriller and Guldbagge nominee Gone.

John Hyams (Netflix’s Black Summer), currently collaborating with Nicolas Winding Refn on HBO’s upcoming Maniac Cop, directed from a screenplay by Gone (2011) director Mattias Olsson.

Jules Willcox (Netflix’s Bloodline) stars in Alone as Jessica, a grief-stricken widow who flees the city in an attempt to cope with the loss of her husband.

When Jessica is kidnapped by a mysterious man and locked in a cabin in the Pacific Northwest, she escapes into the wilderness.

Fresh off his role as King Nereus in Aquaman and his return as the iconic boxing villain Ivan Drago in Creed II, action hero Dolph Lundgren is set to direct and star, alongside Scott Adkins (Boyka: Undisputed), in upcoming action film Castle Falls.

Vmi Worldwide will launch the project – which marks the fourth film starring Lundgren and Adkins after The Expendables 2, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning and Legendary – at the European Film Market in Berlin.

The film, set to go into production mid-March in Alabama, sees Adkins play Mike, a struggling fighter forced to take on a foreman job ...

Fresh off his role as King Nereus in Aquaman and his return as the iconic boxing villain Ivan Drago in Creed II, action hero Dolph Lundgren is set to direct and star, alongside Scott Adkins (Boyka: Undisputed), in upcoming action film Castle Falls.

Vmi Worldwide will launch the project – which marks the fourth film starring Lundgren and Adkins after The Expendables 2, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning and Legendary – at the European Film Market in Berlin.

The film, set to go into production mid-March in Alabama, sees Adkins play Mike, a struggling fighter forced to take on a foreman job ...

“Black Summer” has been renewed for Season 2 at Netflix, the streaming service announced on Wednesday.

The series, which stars Jaime King, is a prequel to Syfy’s now-ended “Z Nation,” which premiered in April with its eight-episode first season.

“Black Summer” followers survivors of a cataclysmic event who contend with zombies — and each other — to reach a military evacuation site. King stars as Rose, a mother, torn from her daughter, who embarks upon a harrowing journey, stopping at nothing to find her. Thrust alongside a small group of American refugees, she must brave a hostile new world and make brutal decisions during the most deadly summer of a zombie apocalypse.

Also Read: Watch Zombie Apocalypse Unfold in First Trailer for Netflix's 'Z Nation' Prequel 'Black Summer' (Video)

The second season of the zombie drama will begin production in Alberta, Canada in 2020 and also consist of eight episodes.

Director Nicolas Winding Refn is set to develop a series adaptation of the cult film franchise Maniac Cop. The series is set to be produced by HBO and Refn will serve as showrunner and will direct the entire series with John Hyams.

Set in Los Angeles, “Maniac Cop is said to be told through a kaleidoscope of characters, from cop to common criminal. A killer in uniform has uncaged mayhem upon the streets. Paranoia leads to social disorder as a city wrestles with the mystery of the exterminator in blue. Is he mere mortal, or a supernatural force?”

It sounds like the kind of project that will fit with Refn’s style. In a statement he talked about what they are looking to explore:

“I’ve always been a devoted admirer of John Hyams. We’ve been talking about a re-imagining of the ‘Maniac Cop’ films for a number of years,...

Nicolas Winding Refn is set to take on a series adaptation of the cult film franchise “Maniac Cop,” Variety has learned.

The series will be the first production of Refn’s byNWR Originals, a part of his cultural site byNWR.com, and is created in partnership with HBO and Canal Plus. HBO will air the series in North America while Canal Plus will carry it in France.

Refn will serve as showrunner and will direct the entire series with John Hyams.

Set in Los Angeles, “Maniac Cop” is said to be told through a kaleidoscope of characters, from cop to common criminal. A killer in uniform has uncaged mayhem upon the streets. Paranoia leads to social disorder as a city wrestles with the mystery of the exterminator in blue. Is he mere mortal, or a supernatural force?

“I’ve always been a devoted admirer of John Hyams,” said Refn. “We...

Hey everyone! The 15th annual Fantastic Fest kicks off this week, and this year, it’ll be myself, Heather Wixson, as well as Emily von Seele and Adrian Torres, who will be bringing you all kinds of coverage out of Austin for the duration of the festival. To celebrate Fantastic Fest’s momentous birthday this year, we have picked a few of our favorite films that have debuted over the years, and will be celebrating them as we lead up to the kickoff of Fantastic Fest on Thursday. If you missed out on our first set of films from yesterday, you can catch up with them Here.

Enjoy!

The American Scream (Emily von Seele): Michael Paul Stephenson's Halloween-themed documentary The American Scream was an audience favorite when it premiered at Fantastic Fest in 2012. The film centers on three families in a small Massachusetts town as they create elaborate...

Doctor Strange and Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning actor Scott Adkins was up for the role of Batman at one point before Ben Affleck was ultimately cast in the role for Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

He would have certainly been an interesting choice and all these years later an audition tape has surfaced giving us a glimpse at what he would have been like in the role of Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman.

The video comes from the YouTube channel Fortress of Solitude. It’s pretty interesting to see how much the actor looks like a younger version of Ben Affleck. In the audition video, Adkins is reading a scene from The Dark Knight Rises.

Watch the video and let us know if you think Adkins would have worked as Batman.

Via: ScreenRant...

It was announced several years ago that William Lustig’s Maniac Cop was getting remade, with Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) producing, Ed Brubaker (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) writing and John Hyams (Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning) directing. We last heard about the project earlier this year, when Hyams noted it was still happening. In a new chat with The Movie Crypt (via […]...

Exclusive: Netflix has given an eight-episode straight-to-series order to Black Summer, a zombie drama starring Hart of Dixie alumna Jaime King. It hails from Z Nation co-creator/executive producer Karl Schaefer and the Syfy zombie apocalypse drama’s co-executive producer John Hyams.

Created by Schaefer and Hyams who will serve as co-showrunners, Black Summer stars King as a mother, torn from her daughter, who embarks upon a harrowing journey, stopping at nothing to find her. Thrust alongside a small group of American refugees, she must brave a hostile new world and make brutal decisions during the most deadly summer of a zombie apocalypse.

Schaefer, co-created with Craig Engler and executive produces comedy-drama Z Nation, which is headed into its fifth season on Syfy. His previous series credits include Eureka, Ghost Whisperer and The Dead Zone.

Hyams’ feature credits include Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, All Square and the upcoming Maniac Cop...

For those holding out hope for that Maniac Cop remake, you’re in luck. According to director John Hyams, it’s still happening – you just need to be patient.

That’s the latest update on the pic, which comes to us from Birth.Movies.Death., who spoke to the filmmaker and asked him where things were at with the long-gestating project. And we do mean long-gestating. After all, talk of a remake first sprung up back in 2015, when the Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning helmer signed on to direct with Nicolas Winding Refn attached to produce.

Late last year, however, it seemed that things might not go ahead anymore, as writer Larry Cohen – who penned the original – told Birth.Movies.Death the following:

As far as I know, that’s not happening anymore, and if it is, they might be trying to keep it a secret, as they’d owe...

It was announced several years ago that William Lustig’s Maniac Cop was on the remake chopping block, with Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive) producing, Ed Brubaker (Captain America: The Winter Soldier) writing and John Hyams (Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning) directing. The most recent update on the project, however, didn’t seem good; the original’s writer, Larry Cohen, noted “it’s […]...

Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn has been talking about producing a remake of William Lustig's 1988 cult classic film Maniac Cop since at least 2012, and after a long stretch of development, it appears things are finally on track and moving forward once again.

Variety reports that the film has been given an official greenlight and will shoot this summer in Los Angeles. John Hyams (Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning) will direct, and the script comes from Refn and comic writer Ed Brubaker. Refn will serve as a creative producer alongside Lustig, the director of the original. One of the film's other producers said this new iteration "will not be a pure horror film but rather a contemporary and realistic action thriller."

Set in the present, Maniac Cop follows a determined L.A. police officer who sets out to reveal the truth about the brutal murders of innocent people by one of her fellow cops.

2017 has barely kicked off and already action fans are being assured 2018 won’t pull any punches. Or at least, that’s what we’re hoping to get once Black Water is released: a high-octane, kick-ass thriller centered around the latest on screen pairing of Dolph Lundgren and the Muscles from Brussels. Last seen together in The Expendables 2 and the rather stylishly choreographed Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning (both in 2012), the newest collaboration between Lundgren and Van Damme, scripted by Chad Law, starts shooting later this month. In Black Water: A CIA operative (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is imprisoned in a secret black site on board a nuclear submarine. With the help of a new ally (Lundgren) he must make his escape and clear his name before...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

After seeing Scott Adkins in Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning (basically what would happen in David Lynch decided to make an action movie) I thought he was poised to make it into the big leagues. Not only was he a badass who could obviously fight, but he also showed an acting prowess above what we expect from our action stars (I'd say he was even good). Admittedly he's been steadily starring in... Read More...

Tim George Jul 14, 2016

They might not be at the level of John Carpenter or Wes Craven yet, but meet the directors who are keeping the B-movie flag flying...

B-Movies. Exploitation flicks. Genre cinema. Someone has to make them, and here is a list compiling the best of the today’s crop of filmmakers who are unabashed in their love of genres, and have honed their talents producing enjoyable and sometimes great B-Movies. While all the movies they make may not be great, do not dismiss them. The seeds of great things are contained in their filmographies, and it would come as no surprise if one or two of these guys are able to attain the same heights as luminaries like Hill, Carpenter, Craven and Corman.

Jaume Collet-Serra

One of the most consistent directors of mid level Hollywood genre fare, Collet-Serra has quietly turned into a solid genre filmmaker without too...

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Nicholas Winding Refn and William Lustig are to produce the remake of Maniac Cop...

The planned remake of Maniac Cop is now pressing ahead, it's being reported.

The project is the result of a multi-studio deal that will see Hollywood’s Vendian Entertainment and France-based Wild Brunch team up with Space Rocket Nation (the company of director Nicolas Winding Refn). While this multi-year alliance of firms will facilitate first-look deals to produce commercials for up and coming talent, feature films are on the menu, the first of which will be this Maniac Cop remake which has been gestating for the past few years.

The film will update the 1988-1993 Maniac Cop horror trilogy directed by William Lustig featuring the signature lantern-jawed visage of the late Robert Z’Dar as the titular killer constabulary Matt Cordell, who escaped from prison to wantonly murder innocent people in uniform. The...

With each new month comes the same old lesson about catching all your favorite movies before they leave Netflix. If you haven’t watched The Naked Gun yet, you should do that is what I’m saying. But what do you get in return? A lot actually! We get the original series Fuller House and Judd Apatow’s Love. They’re also adding the final season of Mad Men, the first season of Better Call Saul, and one of the most popular teen movies of all time, Cruel Intentions.

On the Amazon Prime front, check out below to see what you’ll be able to stream for free and what’s going to have a cost. Let’s watch!

All Title Dates are Subject to Change

Netflix U.S. Release Dates Only

Available 2/1/16

A Picture of You (2014)

Armageddon (1998)

Better Call Saul: Season 1

Charlie’s Angels (2000)

Collateral Damage (2002)

Cruel Intentions (1999)

A Faster Horse...

Among the many films leaving Netflix in February 2016 are Oscar Best Picture winners "The Hurt Locker," "Rain Man," and "Terms of Endearment." It's also your last chance to see Cuba Gooding Jr. starring as surgeon-turned-presidential candidate Ben Carson in 2009's "Gifted Hands."

Also disappearing (alas!), Seasons 1-8 of "Doctor Who and seasons 1-18 of "Classic Doctor Who."

Here's the complete list of what's being yanked from Netflix in February. You can also check out all the movies and TV shows new on Netflix in February 2016 over yonder.

Leaving Feb. 1, 2016

"Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet Frankenstein" (1999)

"Asylum" (2005)

"Bad Santa" (2003)

"Benny and Joon" (1993)

"Big Fish" (2003)

"Blue Crush" (2002)

"Classic Doctor Who: Collections 1-18"

"Crocodile Dundee 2" (1988)

"The Dancer Upstairs" (2003)

"Daylight" (1996)

"Doctor Who," Seasons 1-8

"The Firm" (1993)

"Fletch" (1985)

"Gifted Hands" (2009)

"Gothika" (2003)

"The Hurt Locker" (2008)

"The Naked Gun" (1988)

"Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult" (1994)

"Rain Man" (1988)

"Ray" (2004)

"Secrets and Lies," Season 1

"Sorority Row" (2009)

"The Terminator" (1984)

"Terms of Endearment" (1983)

Leaving Feb.

If you've never heard of Scott Adkins before, that's a shame, because the man definitely knows how to kick some ass. Although much of his filmography consists of direct-to-video fare, it'd be a mistake to write them off as films like Undisputed III: Redemption, Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning, and Ninja 2: Shadow Of A Tear offer some of the best most hard hitting... Read More...

There are no guarantees in cinema, but one thing you can typically count on is Scott Adkins delivering the ass-kicking goods. He’s a legit action star capable of creating truly impressive fight scenes when given the chance, and while he’s been around for almost two decades now some of his best work has been in the last few years. Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning and Ninja: Shadow of a Tear are two of the best action films of 2012 and 2013, respectively, and his skills are the main reason why. Don’t be surprised if you haven’t seen either film as they’re both essentially straight to DVD titles, but you might recognize Adkins from his appearances in bigger fare like The Expendables 2, Zero Dark Thirty, and the upcoming Doctor Strange. The problem? With the exception of a brief stint in The Bourne Ultimatum the films most people have seen him in are ones where...

Meet some of the best directors working today, who haven't gone down the blockbuster movie route...

Ever find it a bit lame when the same big name directors get kicked around for every high profile project? Christopher Nolan, Jj Abrams, maybe the Russo Brothers? With so much focus on blockbuster films these days, getting a major franchise job seems like the main acknowledgement of success for a filmmaker. And yes, both the financial and creative rewards can be great. But there are plenty of other directors out there, doing their own thing, from art house auteurs to Dtv action specialists.

Here are 25 examples.

Lee Hardcastle

Even if you don’t know his name, you’ve probably seen Lee Hardcastle’s ultraviolent claymations shared on social media. He first started getting noticed for his two-minute remake of The Thing, starring the famous stop motion penguin Pingu. Far from just a cheap one-joke mash-up,...

Three years ago, Nicolas Winding Refn announced his plans to produce a remake of the cult classic Maniac Cop. Since 2012, scrappy updates on the project haven’t instilled much confidence in the film’s eventual production, but it finally looks as if efforts are aligning to get this remake off the ground, as John Hyams is now attached to direct. Twitch scored the update from Refn himself at Fantastic Fest with Hyams confirming the news on Twitter.

If the name doesn’t ring a bell, then some of his notable works might. Two of Hyams’ most high profile titles are sequels Universal Soldier: Regeneration and Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning. Both efforts scored highly amongst fans of the action franchise, which bears well for his take on Maniac Cop.

The 1988 original was directed by William Lustig, who began developing this contemporary take several years ago. Early word suggested that it might be a prequel,...

John Hyams ("Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning") is on board to direct the remake of the classic cult film "Maniac Cop".

Ed Brubaker is penning the script for the project which, though originally tipped to be a prequel, is now looking to be a straight up reboot.

The story follows a murderous ex-cop who returns from the dead, chased by his former co-workers. Robert Z'Dar, Bruce Campbell, Tom Atkins and Richard Roundtree starred in the original.

"Drive" helmer Nicolas Winding Refn is slated to produce the new version.

Source: The Playlist...

“Right now, we’re just going through writers and getting the script ready, and we hope to go make it in the future. [William Lustig]’s a very underrated director. His films are very influential still, and it’s a great privilege to be able to work with him. We’re taking it one step and a time, but very soon we will find a director and they will make it his or her movie,” Nicolas Winding Refn said over two years ago about the brewing remake of "Maniac Cop" that he was producing, but not not much has been heard about it in that time. However, it looks like the redo of the cult classic has some new life. Twitch reports that John Hyams is on board to direct the project, with the filmmaker himself confirming the news on Twitter. Hyams is probably best known for directing "Universal Soldier: Regeneration" and "Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning,...

Exclusive: Blue Box International closes key territories on Scott Adkins action-thriller.

Blue Box International has closed key territories here on the Scott Adkins action-thriller Close Range, which wrapped production last week.

Bleiberg Entertainment licensed the Us to XLrator Media and Canada to Vvs. Blue Box has closed deals with Latin America (California Filmes), Eastern Europe and Africa (Daro), France (Ab Groupe), Benelux (Dutch Filmworks), Spain (Second Gen Pictures) Turkey (Moviebox), China (Hgc), India (Sgn Mediaworks) and the Middle East (Eagle Films).

Adkins, whose credits include The Expendables 2, Universal Soldier: Day Of Reckoning, Zero Dark Thirty and the upcoming Criminal, reunites with Isaac Florentine, who previously directed him in the Ninja and Undisputed franchises.

Chad Law and Shane Dax Taylor wrote the screenplay for Close Range. Ehud Bleiberg serves as producer while Adkins and Nicholas Donnermeyer are executive producers.

Blue Box International also represents at Efm The Curse Of Sleeping Beauty, the dark fairy...