CON: Lionsgate
It’s the first night of the CON, and I pile into room 6 at the San Diego Convention Center for an evening of action, horror, and… opera? You read that right: opera. Lionsgate, the modern day friend of the horror / action genre, is showcasing a couple of their upcoming flicks—maybe you’ve heard of them before? PUNISHER: WAR ZONE, SAW V, and REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA! So sit back, relax, and get ready for a violent good time!
PUNISHER: WAR ZONE
First up is PUNISHER: WAR ZONE, the third re-imagining of the infamous Marvel anti-hero, this time starring Ray Stevenson, hottie Julie Benz, Dominique West, and Wayne Knight (Newman!!!), produced by mega producer Gale Anne Hurd, and directed by Lexi Alexander. Hurd, Stevenson, and Benz were all in attendance to the panel, which kicked started with a brand spankin’ new trailer from the flick, featuring more of West’s Jigsaw character, but similar to what we’ve seen before—you can check out the new trailer below.
The trailer was a hit to the hardcore Punisher crowd, who were all happy to see that this Frank Castle is closer to the Marvel Max series, and not the traditional Punisher (like we’ve seen two times before). Personally, I like the more traditional look to Punisher… but I like the badassness of the Max series. Should be interesting to see how it pans out, but judging from the fan reaction in 6B… it’s gonna be a hit. Here are some highlights from the panel:
Producer Gale Anne Hurd
Hottie Julie Benz
The latest Punisher, Ray Stevenson
After the good ol’ Q&A panel, they showed us an exclusive Comic-Con clip, featuring a bunch of action clips of the Punisher killing peeps and blowing everyone away. You can now see the clip yourself below:
After that clip was shown, the crowd went nuts! Could this be THE Punisher movie we’ve been waiting for? I personally liked Dolph Lundgren’s version, but was not a fan of the Thomas Jane version—will Stevenson be able to accurately fill the shoes? If you were to ask these Punisher fans, I think the answer wouldn’t just be ‘yes,’ but ‘F*CK YES!!!’ That’s the kind of a reaction both Lionsgate and producer Hurd was looking for. Violent, gritty, bloody… yes folks, PUNISHER: WAR ZONE could be the film the previous two could never be.
SAW V
After the PUNISHER: WAR ZONE filed out, the peeps from SAW V entered the stage and, again, the crowd goes wild. I’m a bit perplexed, as the series seems to have outrun its welcome, but was quickly reminded that it’s still the highest grossing horror franchise of all time, so no shit people were going nuts. Director David Hackl, writers Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan, and stars Tobin Bell, Julie Benz, Costas Mandylor, and Scott Patterson were all in attendance, which they kicked off the world premiere of the teaser trailer to SAW V—which you can now check out below.
Nice, right? Looks just like the previous three… and considering how big the franchise has gotten, I suppose that’s a good thing—well, it’s certainly not a bad thing. Here are some highlights from the panel:
A hottie and Tobin Bell
Benz again and Costas Mandylor
Writers Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan, and star Scott Patterson
After the Q&A, which really didn’t reveal anything, they were cool enough to show us the very first glimpse of one of the traps our man Jigsaw (or at least his little puppet friend) has sprung on another one of society’s trashy figures. The clip went a little something like this:
A guy covered in tattoos wakes up chained to a cement block in a disgustingly dark and gritty basement of a room, his neck locked some sort of contraption. He’s screaming at no one in particular, as the room is empty, screaming to let him go. A TV goes on in the corner of the room, and our buddy the Jigsaw puppet is there. Jigsaw’s voice comes up, giving this guy a choice: get chopped in half, or crush your hands. He has sixty seconds to make his choice. Chopped in half? Yes… by a swinging pendulum with a axe-like blade! Yup, it’s your typical PIT AND THE PENDULUM scenario, and boy is it a doozy! After screaming once the pendulum starts swinging, he decides to stick his hands in the contraption that will crush his hands but save his life. He tries it once, but can’t do it. He tries again, and the crushing of his hands ensues. If you don’t like bad things happening to hands (like bone crunching sounds and smashing of fingers), then this trap will make you squirm. But the pendulum doesn’t stop swinging! He takes his crushed hands out, screams some more, then…. BAM! The SAW V logo explodes on screen.
Talk about a finale! I don’t know if this trap was better than any of the previous traps, but it was pretty brutal. It could probably have been more brutal if something was happening to the guy’s eyes. But hands… hands were pretty good. Needless to say, SAW V hits theaters everywhere this Halloween for the 4th year in a row.
REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA
It’s late, I’ve been sitting in the same room for over an hour, I’ve sat through two different panels, and I’m staring to see things. Lucky for me, the final Lionsgate panel is up, this one featuring a Comic-Con first—the presence of “hot” girl Paris Hilton. No, not for her latest home-video sex tape, but for her role in Darren Lynn Bousman’s upcoming horror opera REPO! THE GENETIC OPERA!
After they show us the film’s trailer (which you can check out HERE), and then the panel piles in: director Bousman, stars Hilton, Alexa Vega, Bill Moseley, and Ogre, and REPO! creators Darren Smith and Terrance Zdunich . Quite the line up, and certainly quite the buzz from the crowd with a) Paris Hilton and all the dumb comments coming out of her mouth, and b) the fact that this is a dark, gothic, horror-musical of the likes we’ve never seen before. There’s an audience for this flick… and honestly, I don’t think I’m a part of that audience. I want to like it, I like the content, I like the ‘look,’ but let’s get serious: I don’t like musicals… especially rock-opera horror-musicals!
Paris Hilton's first Comic-Con appearance
They show us a few clips (we’ll get to those later), and answer all sorts of questions from the audience. Here’s a taste of went down.
Director Darren Lynn Bousman
The great Bill Moseley
Interlaced throughout the panel were tastes and teases of musical numbers in the form of clips--three clips, to be exact. Here's a taste of what they showed us of the mad musical rock opera:
CLIP 1: Moseley, Ogre, and Hilton in a number today, as they play siblings looking to take over their fathers business once he dies (the business of repossessing organs). The musical number dropped the F bomb a lot, one part of the dance included stabbing a chick and having her bleed to death on the floor, and even a brain was used as a prop.
CLIP 2: Titled "Seventeen," Alexa Vega singing to her dad (Anthony Head) that now that she's 17, she's grown up and wants to be free. Dancing teddy bears and other weird shite is thrown around throughout the clip, ending with Head slapping the shite out of Vega. Perfect way to end the song.
CLIP 3: Terrance Zdunich singing to Vega in the slums of the city about a heroin-like drug, about being addicted to the rush of getting cut, and other seedy things. Hilton comes singing in, gets her fix of the drug, and turns into a thrusting sex-kitten. Girl on girl action, naked chicks here and there, and Hilton getting herself off ensues.
After the REPO! panel I wanted to like what I saw, because the crowd was interested, and the cast and crew were all very enthusiastic about it. I can already tell this movie isn't going to be for everybody, and that it'll have a certain audience... and I'm DEFINITELY not the audience for this flick. The visuals were dark and striking, but the music... it just ain't my bag, yo!
Two hours previewing projects of extreme violence and I was ready for a drink. Lionsgate seems to be delivering what's made them the most money over the years, and is even taking a HUGE chance with REPO! And at the end of the day, all I can really say is: I got to see Paris Hilton at Comic-Con -- an all-time first! My wife's now jealous of me, and I can die a happy man.
Source: | JoBlo |
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