If I were to approach you during a New Years Eve party and say "Hey, I bet there'll be a New Years Eve NEXT year, too!" -- you'd probably walk away very quickly, or ask me where the bar is. That's pretty much how I feel about this next piece of mini-news:

Saw 4: Next October.

Boasting a track record of consistency not seen since the halcyon days of the Police Academy series, the Saw flicks keep on arriving with remarkable tenacity. Whether or not this is a good thing is entirely up to you, of course -- but I don't see anyone holding a gun to the heads of the squeamish and forcing them to enjoy Jigsaw's evil schemes.

Most recent word is that Jiggy himself, Tobin Bell, has been signed "for five sequels," and also that the Sawmakers are presently scouring Southern California for a few new scribes. (Hey, you try coming up with six horrifically cinematic torture devices every dang year!) Apparently the fate of Saw 4 lies within the box office returns of next weekend's Saw 3 -- but considering that the first two films cost about $6 million combined and have grossed over $245 million around the globe, well, it doesn't take a brain scientist to figure out the math.

In related news, the Saw movies are not for children. Just sayin'.

Since it's being directed by an unapologetically geeky horror fanboy, we seem to get lots of mini-reports from the set of what's now being called Hostel: Part 2. Once we accumulate three or four interesting tidbits, we figure it's a good time for another H2 blog-dropping. So, here we go...

Most recent news? Roger Bart has joined the cast. Best known as (far and away) the funniest person in The Producers, Mr. Bart has also been cast in Ridley Scott's American Gangster, plus I'm told he's been on that Desperate Housewives show. No word on who Roger will be playing in H2, but I'm guessing he ends up as either a torturer or a torturee.

Also, (and I apologize for not remembering which site first broke the news), it seems that Jay Hernandez's sequel-return is impeding. Whether it's a featured role or a gore-soaked cameo remains to be seen, but it'll be nice to see what the survivor is up to.

Lastly, Eli Roth has placed a set photo from H2 on his MySpace page. It's a shot of Roth and Italian actress/producer Edwige Fenech, so there's that. Roth also indicates that he's about 2/3rds of the way through the shoot, which means the flick should have no problem meeting its January release date. If it sounds like I'm a little pumped for Hostel 2, that's only because I liked the first one. So there. Plus this new one has Heather Matarazzo, Bijou Phillips and Lauren German in it. 'Nuff said.

Back in September, the rumors were confirmed that Angelina Jolie had officially signed on to star as Dagny Taggart in the adaptation of Ayn Rand's paperweight of a masterpiece, Atlas Shrugged. There had been hopes that the pic would mark a re-teaming of Brangelina, as gossip predicted that Brad Pitt would be in tow. Well, as it turned out, Angelina was flying solo (bad pun, I know).

Well, the next stage of production on the film has begun, as Variety announced that writer-director Randall Wallace has agreed to pen the screenplay for Lionsgate. The film has taken the scenic route to production, with different stars including Clint Eastwood and Faye Dunaway attached at some point along the way. But now, Jolie's manager is one of the producing partners along with Howard and Karen Baldwin (Ray) -- so I guess that means it has a better chance of becoming a reality? Wallace is best known as the writer of Braveheart and director of We Were Soldiers (we won't hold the Mel Gibson connection against him), and apparently will start work on the Atlas Shrugged script immediately. Wallace is known for tackling epic themes in his scripts, so this seems like a good choice for him. Jolie and Wallace will be working together again in the upcoming The Mercenary, which is a period piece set in Russia during the American Revolution.

Odds and ends from Monday:

• I'm not sure how many times we've talked about the film Jumper here on Cinematical, but trust me -- if they jump, we write about it. Rachel Bilson is now set to jump in and replace Teresa Palmer in one of the film's starring roles opposite Hayden Christensen. This marks the second swap-a-roo for Jumper, as earlier this year Christensen (who's more well-known) took over the lead from Tom Sturridge. In the pic (which may or may not turn into a trilogy), Samuel L. Jackson plays an NSA agent placed in charge of tracking a boy with the ability to teleport places. Sweet! Looks like Jackson finally managed to teleport himself into a good role.
• Wayyy back in August of 2005, we told you about Dirty Tricks -- a pic based on the play by John Jeter. The real-life story revolves around the wife of Richard Nixon's attorney general and how she defended her husband following the Watergate scandal. Oh yes, Capote had his turn and now the flavor of the year is Dicky Nixon. Well, director Ryan Murphy (Nip/Tuck, anyone? Running with Scissors?) recently spilled some casting tidbits, noting that Brad Pitt, Sharon Stone and Jim Broadbent will now star alongside Meryl Streep, Annette Bening, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jill Clayburgh. Beat that cast Ron Howard! Murphy hopes to begin shooting next fall with plans to release the film at some point during the fall of 2008.
• [In my best Sly Stallone impersonation]: "Um, yo -- like why you wanna go and sue me? What I ever do to you, huh?" That's right, Rambo is set to face off against his toughest (and dare I say, largest) opponent yet -- those dangerous Weinstein boys. In a suit filed Friday, The Weinstein's contend that they've owned distribution rights to a Rambo sequel since 2004 and, supposedly, producers Nu Image had recently offered distribution to Lionsgate instead. This one looks hot and heavy folks, and we'll be sure to let you know what happens at the next rose ceremony.

Note: This review originally ran during the Toronto International Film Festival. It is being rerun now in conjunction with the film's opening this weekend. - ed

A child being sexually molested by a trusted adult is bad enough; when the molester is the Catholic priest from the parish the child has grown up with, the horror is magnified that much more. Not only is there all the usual shattering of trust and innocence that is the inevitable fallout of a child victimized by a predator, but the child's spiritual faith is shattered as well. In her powerful documentary Deliver Us From Evil, Amy Berg delves headfirst into the murky waters of pedophilia in the Catholic priesthood and the Church's culpability in covering it up, as told through the stories of three of the hundreds of victims of Catholic priest Oliver O'Grady, known to the families who trusted him as "Father Ollie."

What makes Berg's film both amazing and incredibly wrenching is that she was able to interview Father O'Grady extensively for the film. Almost as if he's using the camera as his own private confessional booth, O'Grady talks candidly about his problem -- being sexually attracted to children -- and how he used the position of spiritual trust granted him by the Church's authority to molest and rape the children of his parishes. You can't help but be chilled watching O'Grady -- an innocuous-looking older man now, with white hair and twinkling eyes, smile as he talks about getting sexually aroused by young children in their underwear, and smirk as he discusses being forgiven his sins by confessing them to another priest, as if his victims were chalkboards he could scribble all over and then erase.

Movie marketing is out of control these days with folks constantly searching for ways to up the ante and get their advertisements in front of as many eyes as possible. Not for nothing, but I'm just waiting for the day where someone gets seriously injured or even killed promoting a film. While it would definitely be a traumatic event for all involved, I'm sure some evil studio exec would love the publicity.

When it comes to Saw III, Lionsgate is looking to go above and beyond with their latest poster campaign. Instead of simply placing actor Tobin Bell (who plays the serial killer Jigsaw) in a red cloak, they've decided to go ahead and use Bell's own blood to enhance the color. I'm not joking, a vial of blood was drawn from Bell, then mixed with red ink and printed on a poster. (I take it Bell wasn't down for having one of his body parts ripped off instead -- they've saving that for the Saw IV marketing campaign.)

On the bight side, as they've done with previous Saw installments, Lionsgate will hold a blood drive in conjunction with the film's release on October 27. And, if you're interested in one of the posters, 1,000 from the first print will be sold for $20, save for the original which will be auctioned off with all proceeds going to the Red Cross. Seeing as the Saw franchise is known for causing controversy with their bizarre advertisements, the word is still out on who will have a beef with this latest edition. I take it vampires will be first in line with a complaint.

Deliver Us From Evil, director Amy Berg's scathing indictment of Father Oliver O'Grady, a pedophiliac priest who was transferred around northern California for over 20 years while he preyed on young children in his parishes, has created quite a furor in Los Angles and revived interest in the actions of Cardinal Roger Mahony, who directly supervised O'Grady for five of the years he was actively molesting young children. In the film, O'Grady, who now lives in Ireland after being deported from the United States upon completion of a prison sentence for the molestation of two young boys, says that he was able to abuse children for so long in part because of the actions of Cardinal Mahony, who now heads the Los Angeles Archdiocese -- the largest in the country.

William Hodgman, top deputy of the target crimes division in Los Angeles, said in the report in the New York Times that the doc "will fuel ongoing consideration as to whether Cardinal Mahony and others engaged in criminal activity." Michael Hennigan, an attorney for the archdiocese, fired back that "If Mr. Hodgman is suggesting in any way that the cardinal is the subject of a criminal investigation, he is being irresponsible and in our judgment is committing prosecutorial misconduct."

In a move that should absolutely thrill those (few) people who simply can't wait for the direct-to-video horror titles to hit the Blockbuster shelves, Lionsgate, Freestyle and After Dark Films have conspired to birth the After Dark Horrorfest, which is not a film festival at all, but a series of eight (or nine?) horror flicks that will hit about 500 U.S. movie theaters on November 17th. (Got all that?)

Well, the official site hasn't been all that forthcoming about the event, but those astute goregeeks at Bloody-Disgusting.com were able to break out the slate for the rest of us. Should you happen to reside somewhere near the specially-selected cities, these are the movies you'll be able to see:

1. The Abandoned -- It played Toronto. I missed it. Heard good things.
2. Dark Ride -- Slasher stalks an amusement park.
3. The Gravedancers -- Over and over I'm hearing good chit-chat on this one.
4. Infection -- The horror sites are assuming it's this Infection (which I liked), but maybe it's actually this Infection. We shall see.
5. Penny Dreadful -- A girl with autophobia has Mimi Rogers for a shrink. Cool title though.
   
6. Reincarnation -- Another piece of LG-owned J-horror.
7. Sisters -- Chloe Sevigny and Stephen Rea in a tale of conjoined-twin terror.
8. Unrest -- Young docs deal with haunted corpse. Saw it at Fantastic Fest: A little slow, but not bad.
9. Wicked Little Thing -- Also known as The Children, it's about ghost children.

All in all, a clever little attempt to get a few extra bucks from some flicks that are heading direct-to-video anyway. If The Gravedancers plays anywhere close by, it'll get my nine bucks. The rest ... I can probably wait for the DVDs.

As Posterwire.com points out, it's a promotional stunt worthy of exploitation film pioneer William Castle. The producers of the Saw films have organized blood drives to promote the release of each installment of the franchise. Posters promoting the Saw 3 blood drive, however, required some retooling at the request of the American Red Cross. The posters originally showed creepy goth nurses whose uniforms displayed the well known Red Cross symbol. While the symbol may be commonly thought to be in the public domain, it is in fact a registered trademark and has been removed from the posters (here's a before and after). Interestingly, this is not the first time the Saw franchise has needed to rethink it's posters, as the MPAA took issue with the original design for the Saw II poster, resulting in a less graphic print being used.

While some might consider this a tongue-in-cheek form of self-promotion, it's hard to argue with the results. For the 2004 1st Annual Saw Halloween Blood Drive, 4,200 pints of blood were collected, and the 2005 2nd Annual Saw II Blood Drive upped the ante to 10,000 liters of blood. Needless to say, hopes are running high for the 3rd Annual Saw 3 Blood Drive to exceed both its predecessors. For more information on this year's blood drive, click on over to Saw 3's official site.

Browsing CNN at 5:00 am yesterday -- it was TV morning -- I saw the story that the MPAA has decided to 'red-band' the trailer for the upcoming doc Deliver Us From Evil. The trailer -- cut by Lionsgate from Amy Berg's excellent documentary -- has, essentially, been rated 'R,' and can't play anywhere except in front of an R or NC-17 movie. Of course, as the CNN story explains many theater chains won't play 'red-band' trailers at all, meaning that the most traditional mode of publicizing a movie -- in the Coming Attractions -- isn't available to Lionsgate or Deliver Us From Evil in many cases. This decision is prompting Lionsgate to release the film unrated -- again, affecting where the film can be shown and advertised. (I wish Kirby Dick's This Film Is Not Yet Rated had done a better job of explaining that, in fact -- the mall leases and newspaper policies that strangle unrated films in their crib with red tape.) I've seen Deliver Us From Evil, and while it's about rough stuff -- a serial child abuser who was essentially protected by the Catholic Church for 20 years -- it's real stuff; this all happened, and nothing in director Amy Berg's treatment of the story is salacious or sensational or cheap. But the MPAA (whose anonymous ratings board includes representatives of clergy) is choosing to significantly impact the marketing of Deliver Us From Evil with their decision. As has been asked before: Who are these people again? And what, exactly, are they protecting us from? (Addenda: For the trailer, click here.)

Odds and ends from Thursday:

• I'm not exactly sure how a sassy girl can turn a guy's life upside down, but that's apparently what will happen to Jesse Bradford, as he's just signed on to star opposite Elisha Cuthbert in My Sassy Girl. Directed by Yann Samuell, pic is a remake of a South Korean romantic comedy about some small-town guy and the "reckless, brazen" (yet somehow "sassy") girl that disrupts his entire life.
• Though at one point considered a wild rumor, Angelina Jolie is now officially set to star in Atlas Shrugged, based on the 1,100-page book by Ayn Rand. Jolie will take on the powerful Dagney Taggart, a role she's been interested in for quite awhile having been a fan of Rand's for years. No word yet on whether Brad Pitt will join her, though I suspect Lionsgate (who's producing) will do what they can to land them both.
• I can't see how a script called Little Lover Boy has anything to do with aliens, but according to Variety it most certainly does. Universal has acquired the spec comedy from writer Rick Overton, with Mary Parent, Scott Stuber and Mosaic Media's Jimmy Miller set to produce. Story is said to follow a "small-time crook who gets abducted by aliens, swipes their spaceship and teams with an alien pilot for a Robin Hood-inspired intergalactic road trip." Sounds fun enough, though I have one question: How do these aliens not have The Club?

All is well in the peaceful town of Willard, where life seems permanently stuck in the 1950s. The sun is always shining, the flowers are always blooming -- and zombies handle most of the more mundane tasks, thus freeing up the good citizens of Willard to enjoy their lives. You see, several years back, space dust fell on the earth, causing the dead to rise and become flesh-eating legions of the undead. There were the terrible Zombie Wars, when mankind fought not to be cannibalized by the rotting corpses of friends and family, and then came ZomCon. ZomCon invented a security collar that, when attached around a zombie's neck and activated, it turns a vicious, flesh-devouring monster into a productive member of the community. Thanks to ZomCon, zombies deliver mail, take care of the trash, and do countless other menial tasks, and the living citizens of the community are safe -- so long as the collars work.

The U.S. vs. John Lennon, a documentary by filmmakers David Leaf and John Scheinfeld, shines a light on John Lennon's life during the period from 1966-1976, when the famous singer was transitioning from artist to activist. The film features interviews and archival footage of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and explores how the U.S. government attempted to silence Lennon for speaking out against the Vietnam War. James Rocchi sat down with Scheinfeld during the Toronto International Film Festival to talk about his film. You can download the video here (56.3 MB, 8:35 minutes) or go watch it over on Netscape.

The proposed remake of the classic thriller 3:10 to Yuma has bounced from certainty to limbo, and recently, the odds of it actually being made were looking rather shaky. Back in February, James Mangold (Walk the Line) announced he would direct (and improve, in his opinion) the remake for Sony/Columbia. However, Sony dumped the production in June even though Russell Crowe was attached.

Now Lionsgate has picked up the remake for distribution, although at nearly $80 million, the budget is a little higher than Lionsgate's usual fare (the Saw series). However, It's a risk the studio is willing to take. The new cast includes not only Crowe in the role that the late Glenn Ford originally made famous, but Christian Bale (in the Van Heflin role) and an actor whom Serenity/Firefly fans might recognize, Alan Tudyk. No word yet on how much Mangold has "improved" the script from the 1957 film, which is based on an Elmore Leonard story. Shooting is expected to start in October.

Since I've spent the last week surrounded by lots of classy festival-type* movies, I think it's about time for a little bit of new Saw 3 news. Head on over to Yahoo! Movies if you'd like to check out the all-new teaser trailer for the horror flick, and when you're done with that you can visit the official site and finagle around with a game called The Legend of Jigsaw.

Scheduled to wreak multiplex mayhem on October 27, Saw 3 stars a bunch of regulars (Bell, Smith, Meyer) as well as some new meat (Soomekh, Macfadyen, Roberts). According to the IMDb, Saw 3 has a running time of 135 minutes, which just goes to show what can happen when you allow for user-submitted data.

Lastly, if you've always wondered what Jigsaw would look like as a Jedi, click right here.

*Hah, who am I kidding? 60% of my Toronto intake was horror flicks ... and it was awesome.