Warmoth's out again today. He hates me, you see. Really though, he busts his rear for this column and he gets a break whenever he wants it. The Twitter-Wood was relatively quiet today, but not so quiet that I've got nothing for you. Aubrey O'Day made some noise with a fairly scandalous TwitPic, the one that earned today's Twitter Pic of the Day honors. There were some strong runner-up contenders however from Danny Masterson and Fred Durst.

On the text tweet front, Amber Benson talks about her painful future as a roller derby girl, Rainn Wilson makes a startling observation, Michael McKean comes up with a brilliant movie idea and Ice-T addresses a very personal rumor. Plus, Gil Birmingham from the totally unpopular "Twilight" series brings an update from the set of "Eclipse." I'm @geminibros and this is your Twitter-Wood for October 2, 2009. Have a kickass weekend, y'all. Read more...

I've got plenty of irrational fears in my life, but one in particular that I think is perfectly rational is my fear of performance capture animation. For all of the technical wizardry on display, the characters in "The Polar Express" and "Beowulf" leave me feeling cold and unsettled.

I've been feeling much the same way about what I've seen of Disney's "A Christmas Carol," but today my fear may have turned a corner. The below trailer is all sorts of badass, even though all of the characters' eyes shine with an unholy light. I... think I'm going to see this one, nightmares or no.

-- You know what's pretty crazy? This trailer for "The Crazies," the upcoming remake of George A. Romero's classic horror film. The movie, directed by Breck Eisner ("Sahara"), focuses on a Midwestern town that's gone bizonkers due to a mysterious toxin in the water supply. Timothy Olyphant and Radha Mitchell play the lead roles. (Apple)

-- John Woo is set to bring his Chinese action epic "Red Cliff" stateside on November 20, 2009, and there's a brand new trailer to prove it. I'm still wondering how he'll fit his trademark hero-with-two-pistols into the period piece, but I'm keeping an open mind. (Apple)

-- Remember that horrifying Discovery Channel special about Earth's future millions of years down the line, where humanity is gone and scary hybrid creatures have taken over? It's time to live through that nightmare again, as "The Future is Wild" is coming to the big screen courtesy of "Shrek" producer John Williams. (The Hollywood Reporter) Read more...

Last night, MTV's Kurt Loder sat down with "The Lord of the Rings" composer Howard Shore and Pippin the Hobbit actor Billy Boyd at The Paley Center for Media. Kurt was there to moderate a panel called Shore on the Score: The Music of "The Lord of the Rings," which featured Shore, Boyd and The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films author Doug Adams.

The event kicked off a week long "Lord of the Rings" celebration which will culminate with live performances of the "Fellowship of the Ring" score at Radio City Music Hall on October 9 and 10. Read more...

Zombies. They're kind of a big deal these days. The release of "Zombieland" this week is only the latest example. The past few years have seen a surge in popularity for the mindless flesh-eaters, with films ("Shaun of the Dead") comics ("The Walking Dead," soon to be a TV show) and video games ("Left 4 Dead").

Books too: in 2006, Max Brooks published "World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War," one of the most unique and original takes on the shambling movie monster popularized in the 1960s by George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead." The author added his voice to a number of others -- Romero included -- for a discussion of zombies in the present-day cultural zeitgeist on the Starz Inside documentary "Zombiemania," which airs on October 13 at 10pm. Brooks, who was kind enough to take some time out yesterday for a chat, believe there's a very specific reason for the current zombie trend. Read more...

FROM MTV.COM: "Zombieland" may be the first undead road-trip movie. The picture is light and unassuming, but it has a jaunty spirit; it's funny beyond the call of genre and — the cool part, of course — wonderfully disgusting.

The premise has a nice, low-budget simplicity. A nationwide zombie plague has turned the country into a wasteland of stumbling gut-munchers (although they can move pretty fast when they want to). Only a few uninfected outriders remain, following 10 simple rules to stay alive. One of these is "Beware of bathrooms" (zombies like to crawl up on you under toilet-stall doors). Another — which should be retroactively posted in every monster movie ever made — is: "Check the backseat!"

Continue reading 'Zombieland': Road Kill, By Kurt Loder

Do you have a zombie plan? Do you have a multi-phase strategy in place for when the zombie apocalypse inevitably takes place? Are you adequately prepared for the day when humanity is left to fend for its very soul in the face of a world overrun by the ravenous undead?

Of course I have a zombie plan. Living in Harlem and mere blocks from the Metro North train tracks, I plan to forage for ammunition and food for some weeks after the initial infection, and then follow the train lines north along the Hudson River. I will eventually make my way to Nova Scotia, an island with quality farmland where zombie infection can easily be contained. My zombie dispatching weapons of choice will be a modified aluminum baseball bat and a sawed-off shotgun. I am, if nothing else, a traditionalist.

“Zombieland” got me going back over my strategy, checking it for flaws. The plan’s sound, but it never hurts to brush up on the basics. Practice makes perfect, after all. If you too feel the need a refresher course on surviving zombie hoards before this Friday, here are some lessons to keep in mind. Read more...

I maintain that the greatest news of the week is Danny Trejo starring in "Predators," but I think I've just found a close personal second -- Sam Raimi, director of this year's phenomenal "Drag Me to Hell," is sticking with horror.

Variety reports that Raimi, the puppetmaster behind the "Evil Dead" films and their "Army of Darkness" sequel, will spin a new horror banner out of his pre-existing Ghost House label: none other than Spooky Pictures, which aims to create new thriller franchises for family-friendly audiences. Their first feature will be "The Substitute," a remake of a Danish thriller with Scott Derrickson ("The Exorcism of Emily Rose") set to direct. Read more...

Last week, it looked like Sauron had joined forces with the best of James Bond's rogue's gallery to kill off the denizens of the Shire and 007 himself. Or, in less ridiculous terms, MGM was in big trouble, facing the possible loss of both the Bond franchise and "The Hobbit" due to seemingly insurmountable financial woes.

But nothing is insurmountable, my friends, particularly where hobbits are concerned. The Hollywood Reporter brings word that MGM has been rescued by key lenders, securing enough cash to continue development on "The Hobbit," which is being produced by Peter Jackson and directed by Guillermo Del Toro as a two-part feature. Read more...

One of the movies that I expect will perform well this weekend -- off of some solid buzz and a great cast, primarily -- is "Zombieland." They may not have penetrated the zeitgeist to the same degree as vampires and werewolves (thanks "Twilight"!), but the shambling, brain-eating dead are most definitely "in."

There aren't any "Zombieland" props up on eBay yet, but I've found something similarly relevant and just as cool for today's eBay Prop-Watch. It's an item from the inventive Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg zombie horror-comedy, "Shaun of the Dead." Hit the jump to see for yourself. Read more...