When Electronic Arts forayed into the horror genre with Dead Space they took a leap of faith. Now the franchise spans all consoles as well as PC computers, an animated film, comic book series and soon to be film adaptation. Director D.J. Caruso (Eagle Eye, Disturbia) is set to turn this sci-fi horror thriller into a popcorn throwing movie going experience.

As someone who loves all things horror, Dead Space was a excellent game, however a movie based off of it sounds oddly reminiscent of Event Horizon. Gamesplotation appears to be coming full court press as more studios/investors are looking to capitalize and leverage current IPs into multi-faceted franchises. I only hope the adaptation will feel fresh with loads of occult references and possible stabs at Scientology…

[Variety]

Unless you’ve been living in a monastery high atop a secluded mountain there’s really no excuse not to have either seen or at the very least, heard of Noboru Iguchi’s blood soaked action film Machine Girl and/or the perversely twisted Tokyo Gore Police from Yoshihiro Nishimura. If you haven’t already seen or heard of these films then let me be the first to provide you with a little insight of what you can expect to see: copious amounts of gyser-esque, high-pressure blood spray, gratuitous violence, highly creative and suggestive weapons, a dash of twisted sexual innuendo (like only Japan can pull off) and of course large body counts that have the potential to rival the likes of Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger. If your interest has been peaked, please, read on.

For their next film, RoboGeisha, the duo will team up-Iguchi writing and directing and Nishimura handling the film’s special effects. As you can see from the debut trailer above the two haven’t lost any steam coming off of either project. Look for RoboGeisha to hit in early 2010.

[Twitch]

Explosions coming from every corner of the frame? Check. Torched cars barreling through the air? Check. Dozens of bullets blanketing the screen? Check. Could this perhaps be the latest action-packed film from Michael Bay?! No, surprisingly its not. Its Gamer from directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor. You know, Neveldine and Taylor. The gentlemen who brought us Crank and Crank: High Voltage.
Didn’t see them huh? Don’t sweat it, neither did I. That’s not to say they weren’t any good…I just never got around to seeing ‘em.

The duo’s latest film, Gamer, takes place in the not too distant future and follows Kabel (300’s Gerard Butler), one of many death-row inmates forced into participating in “Slayers”: an ultra-violent multi-player online game created by the reclusive twisted billionaire, Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall).

In Slayers inmates are controlled remotely through by high-paying participants using a pseudo-virtual mind control interface. To Kabel’s highly-skilled controller Simon, and the other paying customers, the inmates are nothing but disposable sacks of flesh that serve as a form of entertainment. Not only for them, but for the millions who tune in to watch Slayers online each week. However, to Kabel, Simon’s skill might be the key he needs to put a stop to Slayers and eliminate Castle.

Now if the core premise of inmates being forced to run a gauntlet of death and destruction in exchange for huge ratings sounds at all familiar to you, that’s because its been done before. You may recall a little film from 1987 called The Running Man which is based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.

Rather than sit around twiddling your thumbs while you wait for Lionsgate to release Gamer into theaters later this year on September 4th, perhaps you can ponder some of the following questions:

Pending Gamer warrants a sequel, I’ll bet dollars for donuts that they use a videogame-related term(s) in the film’s title. I can see the possibilities now: Slayers: Time Extended. Or Gamer: Powered-Up.

[FirstShowing.net]
[Gamer - official site]