Saw series sets Guinness record for success, also longest mustache

From the BBC: Serial killer franchise Saw has been named the most successful horror movie series by Guinness World Records. Producer Mark Burg told Reuters news agency he was "in shock" at beating other long-running movie franchises, such as Friday the 13th and Halloween.

The six Saw films, in which victims try to escape elaborate traps set by the "jigsaw killer", have made a total of $733m (£472m) at the box office. Saw made its debut in 2004, and a new film has been released for Halloween every year since.

The seventh and final instalment, which will be shown in 3D, is due out on 29 October. "We are done; this is it. We don't want to be that boxer who fought one too many fights," Burg said. "In every Saw movie, we left questions open and in this movie we answer every question the audience has ever had."

Although other horror films have spawned more sequels - there are 12 films based on Friday the 13th and nine for Nightmare On Elm Street - Saw has proved the biggest box office draw.

The Guinness prize will be handed over to the films' producers by Guinness editor Craig Glendayat the Comic-Con conference in San Diego.

[BBC's sidebar]

Horror films at the box office:
Halloween (10 films, 1978-2009) - $367m
A Nightmare On Elm Street (nine films, 1984-2009) - $447m
Friday the 13th (12 films, 1980-2009) - $465m
Scream (three films, 1996-2000) - $507m
Saw (six films, 2004-2009) - $733m

Saw 3D teaser trailer

Joss Whedon Officially Directing The Avengers

From ew, Joss Whedon announced today that he’s officially directing The Avengers, while on stage with J.J. Abrams at San Diego’s Comic-Con. He joked that Marvel didn’t have enough money for a real press release, so he took it up himself to confirm previous reports that he was in talks to direct the film. When pressed for further details, he said that it was way too early to reveal anything.

The news isn’t exactly surprising, but still it’s good to have final confirmation on the matter. As a Whedon fan, I’m excited to see what he can do with the material. Whedon mentioned that he was a huge fan of early Avenger’s comics while growing up, and he seemed understandably excited and humbled at having the opportunity to direct the film.

Comic Con - Johnny Depp teases fourth Pirates movie

From ew, In a surprise prerecorded video following Disney’s Tron: Legacy panel at Comic-Con, Johnny Depp appeared on-screen in his Captain Jack Sparrow costume to tease the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Depp promised that Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will feature “zombies, cutthroats, mermaids, and the vicious and vivacious Penélope Cruz.” The film is due May 2011, and if the reception from the crowd at Comic-Con to Depp’s brief appearance is any indication, enthusiasm for the franchise remains strong.

New Tron Legacy trailer looks very Tron-y!

New Photo: Thor and His Hammer

Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment present the epic adventure, “Thor,” which spans the Marvel Universe from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth), a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth by his father Odin (Anthony Hopkins) and is forced to live among humans. A beautiful, young scientist, Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), has a profound effect on Thor, as she ultimately becomes his first love. It’s while here on Earth that Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth.

Haiku Hump Day Salutes: Gas (but not the kind you put in your car)

"Love is the fart of every heart;
It pains a man when 'tis kept close,
and others doth offend when 'tis let loose."

- Sir John Suckling,
"Loving and Beloved" (1640)

I almost postponed HHD again this week as JPX is on vacation, Whirlygirl is back east, Handsome Stan indicated that he doesn't have the time, and I'm officially out of ideas. Since I couldn't conceive of an acceptable topic, I opted for an unacceptable topic.



fart (färt)
intransitive verb
to pass, or emit, gas from the intestines through the anus

The butt expels gas and it makes a squeaky sound. It smells. Many people find it humorous. But why? That my friends, is what I ask you to ponder today, Haiku Hump Day, July 21, 2010. What is the most memorable/disgraceful/hilarious/unacceptable fart that you've come across or initiated in your lifetime?


"A turd can fossilize into a coprolite permanent enough to reveal its creator's dietary habits to distant future generations, but a fart, no matter how uproarious, slips immediately into history, never to be smelled or heard from again. No mud or amber has ever trapped it. I've heard rumors that there are corked vials containing gas from such personages as Abraham Lincoln and Marilyn Monroe, but no such relic whose origin could be authenticated has ever turned up."

- Jim Dawson
"Who Cut the Cheese?" (1999)



He or she who amuses me most shall obtain the right to state "Yeah, that's right, I won Haiku Hump Day: The Farting Edition".

(Also - check out Catfreeek's awesome post below - don't let it pass like the wind.)

What Catfreeek's Been Up To

It's time I explained myself, for some reason I have been procrastinating this update on the indie film I'm doing effects for. The film still has only a working title of “One Small Favor” but we're open for suggestions. It's slow going since no one is getting paid, therefore we are at the mercy of everyone's real work schedules. At this stage of the game we are about 50% done with filming. What this means for me is that most of the dialog scenes have been shot and the real bloody stuff is on the horizon. I can't wait! When I first started on this project the tasks put before me were so simplistic and the days so long I was beginning to wonder what I had gotten myself into.

First day of shooting (Tony bailed on me after this long day, he stays home playing video games now)

Second day of shooting. Waiting...waiting...waiting... (see what I mean...looooong day)

Since then the work has began to build and I have been able to put my abilities to good use. I'm thrilled with the challenges put before me, things like continuity and progressive bruising that I never had to contend with doing haunted house make up. I find myself experimenting at home often. I think I scared our neighbor by chopping off fingers on the picnic table in the yard. I didn't want to mess up the kitchen. He disappeared into his house when I started cheering that I had gotten the blood to splurt the right way and held up a severed finger while doing a victory dance.

One of my experiments

I make a pretty creepy looking finger, huh

Being a no budget film, my title of special effects person has since morphed into FX/Make-up/Costume person. I even had to monitor the camera once while the director dove into his one cameo scene.

I had to make the guys up as 80's glam rockers for this fun sequence.

This has been a great experience so far and I'm going to be incredibly sad when it's over. Still, I can't wait to see the end result of our efforts. I couldn't ask for a better bunch of people to be working with, so much fun and truly nice people.

This Saturday we are filming in Providence all day. I will keep you all posted on progress. I was hoping for a pre-Horrorthon completion but it's not looking good right now. Perhaps we'll shoot for Horrorthon 2011. For now just check out some of my stuff and rest assured that no kitties were harmed in the process.

I remember you -- You're the lady whom if I ever met her in person, I'd wet myself in fear.

So, here's the progression. A friend tells me to check out Listverse.com -- I'd never been before. I do a search for the word "scariest" and find this list of scary Philipinno monster legends. Then I get to thinking about the Wendigo. Immediately that reminds me of Pet Sematary, and I wind up doing a Wiki search for that. I read the article, and then my eyes fall to the dreaded name.

Zelda.

Pet Sematary came out when I was in the 5th grade. I saw it in theater. I've seen it dozens of times since and I can get through all of it just fine, except for the parts that involve Raaaaaaachellll's sister Zelda. She's only onscreen for about one minute of the entire film, but in my entire life, I don't think I've ever found anything that put me in such a state of thick, miserable fright and revulsion as that one minute.

Against a tiny voice in my head whimpering, "please, don't do this to yourself," I Googled "Pet Sematary Zelda." To my momentary relief, there aren't any video links on the top page. There was, however a link entitled, "the scariest woman in the world and how i almost got over her." It was a good post - something I might have written, almost word for word. And there's a funny bit about his sister in there too.

"Momwife is walking up the stairs of their house [or was it the old neighbor-guy's house? p.s. the neighbor was played by the same guy who played Herman Munster. true story] and starts to hear someone calling her name: “Raaaachhheeellllll!”

She walks into a bedroom and her sister ZELDA is crouched down in the corner. She comes rushing up to momwife [aka right up to the camera] and begins yelling about how momwife will “NEVER GET OUT OF BED AGAIN!!!” after she threatens to “twist your back like mine”"

As I read, I could picture clearly Rachel advancing towards me from across a fisheye room, and I literally shrank back from my computer screen -- and bear in mind, I'm just *reading* about it. I'm not even watching it by this point.

I still haven't watched it. I'm going to right now. Join me, why don't you?



[shudder]

Now why on earth did I just do that to myself?

OK, Bedtime!

HHD Results: In order to form a more perfect union...

So sorry for the 11th hour post, and this us severely truncated due to my horrible, horrible work schedule.

Everyone was, of course, brilliant, and I can't get into all my favorites - and there were many. I thought Julie was going to take it with her outstanding output, but in the end, JSP's vaunted attempt to trash almost half of the states won the day, notably this cherry on top of the apple-pie-and-hot-dog sundae:

Plain, lame, shit stain Maine
Might as well be Canada
Have a potato

U-S-A!!! J-S-P!!!

Good luck with the topic - I may or may not be in attendance. But thanks to all for another super-awesome week, and congratulations, JSP!

Paramount Unveils Comic Con Posters For Thor And Captain America

From cinemablend, San Diego Comic Con doesn't get started until tomorrow, but Paramount has already kicked things off with a bang by revealing one of the most anticipated things about the entire Con: the first look at Chris Evans as Captain America. Well, sort of. The studio has released two "exclusive Comic Con posters" at Yahoo! Movies, one for Thor and one for Cap. The posters look more like concept art than actual posters, and likely don't represent specific scenes for the film, but coupled with the Thor images released earlier this week, represent the studio's first official looks at the next two Avengers.

Take a look at the posters below (and above), and stay tuned as we arrive in San Diego tomorrow and seek out our own copies, which we assume will be handed out on the exhibition hall. Presumably much more detailed looks at Thor and Cap will also be coming on Saturday at the Marvel, and we'll be bringing it all back to you as soon as we see it.