But in the wake of Jackson’s untimely death, his legacy lives on. Just made available for those Monster Kids with a little disposable income is the exact replica of the famous jacket worn by Jackson in the video. Not only is the jacket made to the exact specifications of the original, it is an authorized replica signed by all four remaining members of The Jackson 5. There are only 500 of these babies and they’re almost certain to gain in value over time. For that Monster Kid that has everything, this is a little piece of monster history sure to make you the coolest one on your block. Check out all the details here.

So, in the spirit of the holidays, I’m here to help you out and provide a service to relatives, longtime companions, and any other colleagues, best pals, or associates eager to please their beast fiends. If you don’t already own at least one of the following 10 fright-acular films, you may feel free to forward this post to all those concerned.

I’m going to endeavor to avoid some of most obvious of gift items. We all know that the Alien Quadrilogy has been re-issued in grand style on Blu-ray; what self-respecting fan of gut-wrenching fright hasn’t got the high-def release of The Exorcist high on his or her wish list?

We won’t get into any long or involved critiques here. Just a quick run-down of the 10 titles I believe you’ll find more than worthy additions to your shriek cinema shelf. Here are your Shocking Stuffers for 2010:

Antichrist

Lars von Trier is one of our boldest and most uncompromising filmmakers, and this latest excursion only adds to his reputation for fearlessness. Would it be blasphemous to place this excruciatingly intense picture about an intellectually gifted couple grieving the tragic loss of their young child into brightly-colored gift wrapping? Not if the recipient is a connoisseur of unremittingly dark and daring psychodrama. Be forewarned, however, and know your audience. This movie isn’t for everyone. It was for me (check here for a more detailed appraisal), and that’s why I place it on the list.

The Complete Metropolis

Perhaps the most thrilling cinematic discovery of the decade, huge (and previously thought forever lost) chunks of the narrative for Fritz Lang’s timeless, silent sci-fi masterwork have been restored to the film, rewarding fans old and new with an even more sweeping saga that taught us “the mediator between the head and hands must be the heart.” Breathlessly anticipating a remake? That’s what I thought—me neither. This re-release of a revered picture, with so many new visual wonders and the fantastic backstory of its discovery, is far better than any re-imagining.

The Human Centipede

I gave you fair warning about Antichrist while recommending it all the same. The same goes, well, triple for Tom Six’s already infamous exercise in body horror. In my earlier review of the film, I asserted its power rivaled Pasolini’s Salo. I will go a step further and predict it will have an even more visible longevity. The picture is positively diabolical, taking the most nerve-shattering of high concepts and stirring it into a boiling cauldron of wicked humor and grueling imagery.

House

I’m interested down the road in discussing this Criterion Collection discovery at greater length. For now, just know that for most viewers who say they’ve “seen it all”…if they haven’t seen this Japanese cult classic of goofy humor and baroque chills, they’re mistaken. Director Nobuhiko Obayashi may actually be better known, if you can believe it, for a series of hilariously strange cologne commercials he did with Charles Bronson in the 1970s. The release of this immensely strange haunted house movie should serve to enlarge his cult reputation considerably in the U.S. More later, but do your discerning self a favor and make sure you see this movie.

Little Shop of Horrors

Still—still—the best horror musical ever. Fun no matter how many times you’ve seen it.

The Magician

I added this silent-era treat to my own library recently, and took pains to encourage those only familiar with star Paul Wegener’s legendary turn as The Golem to seek out this early gem of the “mad scientist” genre. See it to experience the old-fashioned style you’ve come to know and love from much better-known fare. See it because it has a terrific new musical score that’ll please you big-time as a knowledgeable fan of classic fright film music. See it to let the studios know you support the release of this unique back catalog product. But really, just see it because it’ll give you the “they don’t make ‘em like that anymore” thrill.

Santa Claus

Santa Claus and Merlin team up to battle the Devil. This Mexican-made oddity from 1959 must be seen to be believed. And then, it must be passed on to friends who will thank you for exposing them to its giddy strangeness. You’re welcome, in advance.

Thriller: The Complete Series

You need it because you love KARLOFF. You need it because it’s one of the most eagerly awaited releases for horror fans in ages. You need it because it’s classy, literate, stylish, and spooky good fun. Yes, yes, we all love The Twilight Zone, but as sure as I’m writing these words for this column, your acquisition of this beloved anthology series is bound to be…a thriller!

Vampire Circus

It’s time for a confession. I love Hammer Films…and I’ve never seen it. I know of its reputation, but it somehow escaped me. So I make this suggestion solely on the assumption that if one Hammer fan has missed it, there may well be others. Deliver this Blu-ray release to the monster kid of your choosing and they will no doubt sink their teeth in right away.

The Unholy Three

Last seen from MGM on Laserdisc, the talkie remake of this quirky Lon Chaney melodrama is available as part of the Warner Archive series. I own that great old laserdisc, which was placed on a double-bill with the excellent jungle thriller West of Zanzibar, but, like the previous recommendation, I’ve not seen the original silent version. Chaney completists will want to add this exciting release to their libraries, as well as another terrific Chaney outing (and the first-ever film to feature the famous Leo the Lion), He Who Gets Slapped. I’m indeed curious how effectively one can dramatize the story of a ventriloquist in a silent picture.

We are, however, talking about the team of Chaney and director Tod Browning (Dracula, Freaks). “What, me worry?” I can’t wait to enjoy it.

Here’s hoping your holidays are filled with good cheer and only the coziest of chills!

George D. Allen produces the MovieFrightFare programs hosted here on FM, as well as writing articles for and producing the regular video podcasts for the Movies Unlimited blog MovieFanFare. Pop by the Famous Monsters of Filmland Forum and add your own picks for the best Shocking Stuffers!

Seems that GK Films (which has a pretty impressive line-up coming out) is actively trying to secure rights to make a film based on Micheal Jackson’s song Thriller. Reaf Effects Entertainment has been shopping it around for the past couple of weeks. Attached already are Kenny Ortega (This Is It and all three High School Musicals) as director and Jeremy Garelick (The Breakup) is writing it.

The plot is being not being talked about right now, but there are hints that it will involve Vincent Price and his hometown.

And this also all depends on the Jackson estate.

This is a weird one. I personally would have loved to see John Landis return to make it, basing it on the movie the characters are watching in the video. As it is, it looks like it will most likely be a musical with a very mild horror aspect.

The film is the latest in the Criterion catalogue to be upgraded to Blu-ray, and if their past work is any indication, purchasers should be pleased with the restored high-definition digital transfer, with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack. As an added incentive for collectors, the new edition will include an exclusive “long-lost English-language version of M.”

M is currently ranked at #57 on the IMDb “Top 250″ and is widely cited as one of the most chilling films ever released — praised in particular for its unique fusion between the expressionism of Lang’s native Germany, and the popular film noir plotting made popular in America.

The remainder of the extensive extras may sound familiar to owners of the standard-definition version, and are as follows:

- Audio commentary by German film scholars Anton Kaes, author of the BFI Film Classics volume on M, and Eric Rentschler, author of The Ministry of Illusion: Nazi Cinema and Its Afterlife

- Documentary on the physical history of M, from production to distribution to digital restoration

- Conversation with Fritz Lang, a 50-minute film by William Friedkin

- Claude Chabrol’s M le Maudit, a short film inspired by M, plus an interview with Chabrol by Pierre-Henri Gibert about Lang’s filmmaking techniques

- Classroom audiotapes of editor Paul Falkenberg discussing M and its history, set to clips from the film

- Video interview with Harold Nebenzal, the son of M producer Seymour Nebenzal

- Stills gallery, with behind-the-scenes photos, and production sketches by art director Emil Hasler

- Plus: A booklet featuring an essay by film critic Stanley Kauffmann, a 1963 interview with Lang, the script for a missing scene, and contemporaneous newspaper articles

The two-disc set is listed with a SRP of $39.99. All details can be found on the Criterion home page.

Hot Toys has announced their second 1/6th scaled Michael Jackson collectible figure and it is nothing short of a Thriller! Yes, no matter how you feel about Michael Jackson, at one time, before he completely flipped his lid and rocketed into la-la land, he was a truly amazing performer. And in keeping with the zombie mood the world seems to be in lately this figure has arrived at the right time.

Again, this fits in the category of a really cool figure I probably wont buy, but I just had to post it for the coolness of it and also to make you kids laugh a little-it is pretty damn funny. I can’t stop thinking about all the possible stop-motion music videos you could do with Vincent Price performing the voice over, man-o-man, it’s limitless.

Check out the specs and when you’re finished head over to Cool Toy Review and view all the photos posted.

Michael Jackson Thriller collectible features:
-Hot Toys’ slim version TrueType body, over 32 points of articulation, stands approximately 30 cm high
-2 interchangeable heads – MJ head and Zombie head
-2 sets of costumes ( original red jacket and pants & the zombie suit)
-2 sets of white socks with black shoes
-Five (5) sets of interchangeable hands and one (1) additional posing right hand
-12 inches figure stand with the classic Thriller title and Michael Jackson nameplate

Release date: Q3, 2009

Artist info:
- Head Sculpt by Kang In Ae
- Head Art Directed by Yulli
- Head Paint by JC. Hong

MAN HUNT

Fritz Langs Vintage World War II Thriller Arrives On DVD For The First Time Ever May 19 From Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Loaded With Exclusive Bonus Features Including A Restoration Comparison,
Still Gallery, Interactive Pressbook And More

CENTURY CITY, Calif. Hand-picked from the vault and meticulously restored and remastered Fritz Langs (Metropolis, M) classic 1941 Nazi war film, MAN HUNT, arrives on DVD for the very first time May 19 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.   Set in Nazi Germany, MAN HUNT stars Oscar nominee Walter Pidgeon (How Green Was My Valley, Forbidden Planet) as Captain Thorndike, an English big-game hunter who conceives the fantastic notion of stalking Adolph Hitler for sport.  With The Führer in his sight, Thorndike hesitates and debates with himself whether or not to pull the trigger, ultimately being apprehended by the Gestapo during this brief moment of reflection.  Thorndike is interrogated and tortured by Nazi officer Major Quive-Smith (George Sanders; All About Eve, Hangover Square).  Left for dead, his body thrown over a cliff, Thorndike survives and makes his way back to the safety of England.  But Quive-Smith pursues Thorndike back to London, where he goes into hiding with a young prostitute (Joan Benett; The Woman in the Window, Scarlet Street) who has the Nazi spies close in on him.  Best known for his groundbreaking silent films and contributions to the Film Noir genre and dubbed The Master of Darkness by the British Film Institute, MAN HUNT is Langs first anti-Nazi feature.   Loaded with commentary by author Patrick McGilligan, Rogue Male: The Making of Man Hunt and more, the MAN HUNT DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $14.98 U.S. / $16.98 Canada.  Prebook is April 22.

Synopsis:

Based on Geoffrey Household’s best-selling 1939 novel, “Rogue Male,” a British game hunter takes aim at the biggest prize of all, Adolf Hitler.  Captured and tortured, the hunter becomes the hunted as Nazi spies pursue him back to England in a desperate fight to the death.

DVD features:

The MAN HUNT DVD will be presented in full screen format with Mono sound and English and Spanish subtitles.

Special Features:

Commentary by Author Patrick McGilligan
Rogue Male: The Making of Man Hunt
Restoration Comparison
Man Hunt Trailer
Interactive Pressbook
Still Gallery

Written and directed by Susan Montford, based on Edward Bryant’s short story, one would also have expected that being a female, her attention to character and story coherence would be stronger than the competition.

In every way, the thriller, available on DVD April 28 from Anchor Bay, disappoints.

Basinger plays Della, a suburban housewife who appears incapable of keeping her home organized, her finances current, or her cell phone charged. On Christmas Eve, just as her abusive husband comes home from work, Della realizes she needs wrapping paper. There’s nowhere else to get the paper than the mall, which of course was mobbed and by then, her things began to go wrong.  She couldn’t find a close-by parking, her cell phone ran out of juice, her credit card gets declined and so on. Along the way, she spots a car taking up two spots and in a show of life, leaves a note on the windshield.

When she returns to the car, the driver of the badly parked car and his pals corner her.  She finds her voice and her strength, getting physical and shoves the men around until a Security officer arrives.  He tries to chase off the random collection of ethnic types until one actually shoots and kills him. With Della a witness, the chase begins to find and kill her before she could identify them as the killers.

Her car crashes, of course, and then it becomes a footrace with Della armed with a wrench.  Of course, one by one, she somehow manages to dispatch the gang until it’s just her and leader, played by Lukas Haas. The final third of the film is just them and winds up in every predictable way.

The DVD comes with sparse extras including a lengthy making of documentary with everyone going on about how wonderful the collaborative process was and what a strong story they had to tell. Basinger in particular helped shape Della but in the final product, you have no clue how she went from dysfunctional housewife to I-am-woman-hear-me-roar in just a few hours.  Her character arc, the spine of the film, makes no sense.

The rest of the film is also shot on the dark side so following the action isn’t easy. The performances are fine, good even, but the story is riddled with plot and logic holes so it’s tough to take.

Classified under thriller, Section 8 “will have elements designed to allow viewers to use various functions of the social networking service while watching the segs. Viewers will also be able to vote on the ending of the series.”

Paramount has announced they plan to shoot in Los Angeles this June in time for a premiere in the fall. Twelve episodes have been confirmed to date, each running six to nine minutes long.

After the segments bow on MySpace, the project will be shopped to digital and TV buyers. Paramount and Gaumont also plan to redistribute the webisodes as a theatrical feature followed by a DVD release.

Section 8 is shaping to be very attractive force. Keep it her for updates!

Anchor Bay has certainly rescued its share of worthy films and not-quite-good ones, releasing them to the niche audience.  Walled In, coming March 17, certainly fits the bill.

The movie is based on French author Serge Brussolo’s bestseller Les Emmeures and marks the American debut of director Gilles Paquet-Brenner, who apparently is well liked over in Europe. From what we have to work with, it appears he has a nice visual sense but was not entirely sure of himself shooting this in the latter weeks of 2007 in Saskatchewan, Canada.

The basic plot has demolition expert Mischa Barton go check out her first solo demolition, the work of a famed architect.  The striking octagon-shaped building certainly looks interesting and you immediately get the sense that its creator was some sort of visionary.  Turns out, he was a visionary and a crank.

Years earlier, people died in the building, including a little girl and Malestrazza, the architect. The caretaker, Debra Kara Unger, and her adolescent son, Cameron Bright, know secrets but refuse to share them with Barton, who has her own secret: an intense fear of the dark.  Over the course of several days, she begins to discover some of the structure’s secrets and becomes the object of Bright’s obsession until she gets trapped and certain truths come to light.

This has all the makings of an excellent psychological thriller and falls short given every opportunity.  First of all, the building is neat to look at, but Karim Hussain’s cinematography does nothing with the eerie lighting opportunities.

Barton is an uneven actress but holds this production together with a strong performance so we feel something for her as she becomes enmeshed in the building’s weirdness.  This is a nicely textured performance which is well matched by the icy control displayed by Ungar.  Much of the film explores the relationship between Barton and Bright, who is far too young for her, but sexually attracted and she unconsciously encourages this.

As a result, when Barton finds herself entirely at Bright’s mercy, the film takes an odd turn, which could well have been the core but is dashed off fairly quickly after feints, parries, and red herrings.  This could well be the fault of the three writers plus the director.

The film ultimately disappoints but it is not an outright failure.  There’s plenty to like so it’s worth checking out.  The disc comes complete with trailers for other Anchor Bay product plus a 14 minute making of documentary.

Room 205 has hired The Grudge scribe, Stephen Susco, to pen the screenplay about a haunted dorm room. Sam Raimi, who will produce under Ghost House Pictures banner, describes the story as “a neat screenplay that will become a lovely, bright Midwestern university and tell about how kids become adjusted to their new surroundings. In the midst of that, the supernatural will rear its terrifying head.”

In the original 2007 Denmark story, the premise of the story goes something like this:

“Wanting to start a fresh, Katrine moves from the province into a dormitory in Copenhagen and enrolls at the University. But when she crosses conniving Sanne by getting together with Sanne’s ex, all hell breaks loose. Sanne and her friends try to bully Katrine out of the dormitory. They frighten her with an old myth surrounding the ghost of a former resident. Yet the myth very soon becomes a reality. By accident, Katrine sets the ghost free, who then starts a terrifyingly gruesome attack on the dormitory’s residents. Only Katrine knows the fate of the remaining residents if she doesn’t stop the actions of the ghost. However, no one believes Katrine’s story and they accuse her of the series of mysterious murders. She seeks help in the former resident Rolf. While the residents continue to die around them, Katrine and Rolf embark on a desperate struggle to stop the ghost before it kills those that are left…”

Shooting for Room 205 begins in Michigan this summer!