Babylon Fields - Zombies on TV

From Fango:

Zombies are moaning and shuffling their way onto the airwaves, and no, it’s not in another season of MASTERS OF HORROR. Nor is it the long-rumored HBO adaptation of Robert Kirkman’s THE WALKING DEAD (which this writer is chomping at the bit for). Rather, the undead are the focus of a new hour-long 20th Century Fox Television and CBS “dramedy” entitled BABYLON FIELDS. Michael (L.I.E.) Cuesta is taking the reins, following his damn impressive work on Showtime’s DEXTER; Gerald Cuesta and Michael Atkinson are on writing duties.

The premise has the dead returning to life literally and figuratively as they ingratiate themselves back into society and relationships; inevitable drama and, um, comedy ensues. But let us ask you: Does this at all sound familiar? It should. The quiet French film LES REVENANTS (a.k.a. THEY CAME BACK)—which we last told you about here—made three years ago and released on U.S. DVD in 2005, posed the same bittersweet predicament: What if those deceased family and friends you once knew re-entered your life? The film was up for remake grabs, but after a little digging, Fango learned that the task was fruitless and the powers that be decided the scenario was best left for episodic television.

BABYLON FIELDS is moving toward a 2007-2008 season debut; more updates as they arrive.

I really liked Les Revenants a lot (review here), so I'll be looking forward to this.

Undead or Alive Premieres in Texas

From Fango:

The three fright films produced last year by Odd Lot Entertainment under its DarkLot Films banner are slowly creeping their way toward terrorizing the public. Following the announcement here that Dimension has picked up Robert Kurtzman’s BURIED ALIVE, now comes word that writer/director Glasgow Phillips’ comedic horror/Western UNDEAD OR ALIVE: A ZOMBEDY will have its world premiere at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, TX. The fest runs March 9-18 and the movie will screen at midnight on Saturday, March 10, with Phillips and star Chris Kattan in attendance. Kattan plays a lovesick cowboy who teams up with an Army deserter (James Denton) to rob a corrupt sheriff (Matt Besser); the two wind up fleeing not only the vengeful lawman but a plague of zombies as well, with Geronimo’s niece (FEAST’s Navi Rawat) their only potential hope for survival. Check out UNDEAD OR ALIVE’s website here for more on the DarkLot pics and look for on-set coverage of all three in Fango’s pages later this year.

I Sell the Dead Casting

From Bloody-Disgusting:

Elaine writes in with another small scoop from an interview she did with Cabin Fever 2 star Larry Fessenden, "One more thing Fessenden told me: '[Glenn McQuaid's] I Sell the Dead has Dominick (Lost, Lord of the Rings) Monoghan and Ron (Hellboy) Perlman attached - [the] film is set in Dickensian England (although they are shooting in Brooklyn), everyone will have a British accent and it's a version of the Burke and Hare tale (famous Victorian grave robbers).' " Watch for more details on both films as they come in!

Black Sheep Website Launches

From Bloody-Disgusting:

The official International website was fully launched this evening for WeinsteinCo.'s Black Sheep, which hits theaters in New Zealand March 29 and US cinemas on June 22. Other than the trailer from before, there is a downloadable poster/desktop, photo gallery, two Weta concept art (click on the dish at the reviews section) and "casting the sheep" video. In the film an experiment in genetic engineering turns harmless sheep into blood-thirsty killers that terrorize a rural town in New Zealand. Thanks to Twitch Film for the heads up!

Babylon 5 Creator Adapts World War Z

From Cinema Blend:

The new millennium has been jam packed with great new space science fiction programming on television. Brilliant, serious science fiction shows like ‘Farscape’and ‘Battlestar Galactica’ have left their mark. But in the 90s it was slim pikings. ‘Star Trek’ was on life support and the science fiction landscape was basically dead. Except that is, for J. Michael Straczynski’s brilliant series ‘Babylon 5’.

Since the show ended its five season run, there have been several attempts by JMS to resurrect it. None of them have gone anywhere except to some new direct-to-DVD features coming out soon, and he’s moved on to other projects. Wherever JMS goes, it’s worth following. One of his newest gigs is working on an adaptation of the Max Brooks book “World War Z”.

Read it all.

Bobcat Goldthwait Talks Dead Alive

From Filmakers on Film:

When Goldthwait has finished attacking the Christmas tree, he likes to settle down in front of a jolly festive treat. This is not, as you may have guessed, Miracle on 34th Street or It's a Wonderful Life, but Braindead, an early zombie flick by Peter Jackson. "I got the DVD as a Christmas gift seven or eight years ago. I was quite snarky about it. I said, 'You think this is a good present? Well, I'm gonna put it on right now.' I was trying to bum out the family, but now we watch it every year. It's a way to cleanse the palate after all the Frosty the Snowman stuff. And it has a lot of traditional Christmas colours in it: red and green."

Especially red. Braindead has been called one of the bloodiest horror comedies ever made. It's set in the late 1950s in suburban New Zealand, where the nerdy main character struggles to escape from under the thumb of his ghastly mother. Then she turns into a man-eating zombie. "I'm all for cannibalism," says Goldthwait, a vegetarian. "I like animals way more than people."

Read the whole thing...