Whatever happened to the (one of) the guys behind “Killer Tomatoes”?
Have you ever wondered what happened to the creative team behind the cult classic “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes”?
After four movies and a cartoon series, did you wonder if the guys were still working to pay off the infamous helicopter crash in the first film? (For those who may have never seen the film, the helicopter really did crash and burn during filming, effectively doubling the budget of the low budget movie). And how do they feel about the new attempt to revive the series of films later this year?
The Associated Press caught up with one of the creative minds behind the series, Constantine Dillon. Dillon is currently employed by the National Parks Service as superintendent of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.
“On one hand you take pleasure in knowing it’s enduring, but you have to let go so that it will be enduring,” he said of the film series.
As for his role in the potential future of the franchise, Dillon said, “”I will have a role, but it’s too preliminary to discuss right now. I have been part of the process going forward, but it’s not ready to be talked about just yet.”
The film will follow the continuity of the previous four films in the series including classic original, “Return of the Killer Tomatoes,” “Killer Tomatoes Strike Back,” and “Killer Tomatoes Eat France.”
“Ruins” doesn’t tone done the gore
If you’ve read Scott Smith’s “The Ruins,” you already know the horror and gore factor in the novel quotient is extremely high. And if you’re wondering if that might have been toned down for the big-screen with the movie adaptation hits theaters later this week, the answer from the cast is, “no.”
Speaking with SciFi Wire, star Shawn Ashmore said, “I know for me the stuff that really sets me off [is] the gore factor. There are several scenes. The amputation, the cutting, the self-mutilation is really gory.”
“I think on a more tension- [and] sort of creep-factor [level], … whenever anybody gets on that winch to go down into the dig site, to me that is where a lot of the tension is built,” said Ashmore, who plays a slacker named Eric. “You don’t know exactly what is going to happen, but you know nothing good is going to come out of there [the hole].”
“The Ruins” follows four college friends on spring break in Mexico who go hiking into the jungle to look for a lost friend. The friends plus a couple of local guides find a village of natives who try to warn them against exploring a nearby hill. When the group goes up the hill, the natives block their exit, trapping them on the hill with something. As the hours go by, the group is forced to make some horrifying decisions to ensure their own survival.
“I think what really differentiates the film [as] scary is, the worst things that happen are done by your best friend or your girlfriend, you know what I mean?” said star Jonathan Tucker. “It’s not something out there doing these awful things to people, you know, that’s so frightening. What’s frightening is Jeff, who is cutting his girlfriend’s best friend, and it’s out of necessity. It’s not like it’s anybody’s choice. It’s not torture porn.”
“The Ruins” opens in theaters this Friday.
What’s ahead for “Smallville”
A couple of weeks ago, we reported the CW had given “Smallville” an early pick-up for its eighth season. Since the renewal notice, two of the series’ stars, Michael Rosenbaum and Kristen Kruek have announced they will not be back full-time with the series next year and will serve in a guest-star or recurring status for the upcoming eighth season. This, along with news that a major character will shuffle of this mortal coil in the next new episode on April 17, has led many fans to wonder just what’s ahead and what we can expect for the eighth season of the hit series.
Executive producer Brian Peterson gave hints to SCI FI Wire this week about where the show is headed.
“The things I think I can hint at are the Lois and Clark of it all,” he said, referring to the 1990s Superman-themed series that ran on ABC. “It’s really going to be a season about Lois [Erica Durance] and Clark [Tom Welling].”
Clark will face “his own personal D-Day” and that the series will introduce a new sidekick for Lex. Peterson added that “if people think Lex has issues now, wait until you meet his new sidekick.”
For now, the series is building toward its season finale when it returns with five new episodes on April 17th. The last new episode, “Veritas” was initially intended as a potential season finale if the writers’ strike couldn’t be resolved in time. When the strike was resolved with time left to produce new episodes for the current seven season, some elements from the original extended finale were restructured into an arc for the final episodes of the season. Peterson says the rest of the season will focus on Lex’s fall to the dark side.
“The rest of this season is, for the most part, about Lex finding what he’s always been looking for,” Peterson said. “‘Veritas’ [the last original episode to air] launched the next five episodes, which are all about Lex finding what he’s been searching for.”
It all builds to the season finale in May that Thompson says. And the season finale will set-up things for next year’s storylines.
“There’s so much still to play,” Peterson said. “People keep asking us all the time, ‘When are you bringing in this character?’ ‘When are you doing this?’ ‘When are you doing that?’ And we’re like, ‘We’ll get there.’ There’re a lot of characters to service. So next year we have some real fun and clear ideas about what we’re doing.”
“Smallville” airs on Thursday evenings at 8 p.m. EST on the CW.
Sony to offer movies on your cell phone
Sony Pictures Studios is set to become the first Hollywood studio to offer full-length feature films by cellphone reports The Associated Press.
Sony Corp. announced they will begin offering a range of popular titles on special AT&T products beginning in early May. The movies will be those that have had a theatrical, home video and television run and will include popular titles like “GhostBusters,” “Bugsy” and “The Karate Kid” in the initial offering.
The AP reports that titles will be streamed to phones and looped instead of being available on demand. The new service will be available to those on the AT&T network with LG Vu and Samsung Access phones.
Sony has not announced a pricing structure for the films.
