The Missing Reel is a compilation of all things horror and what mattered throughout the week. This week we take a look at a Eli Roth’s plans for a feature length Thanksgiving film, Hammer hits youtube, a new home for The Dark Tower and more.

Eli Roth’s ‘Thanksgiving’ Gets Scripted

While making some press rounds in anticipation for his upcoming Goretorium, Eli Roth revealed that there will finally be a feature length version of the faux trailer. One of the biggest highlights to the double feature event of Grindhouse was the fake trailers that played between films which were absolutely hilarious, Thanksgiving being by far the most ridiculous. It happened with Machete and now it looks like Thanksgiving will be getting the feature length treatment as well. This is what Roth had to say.

“It’s gonna happen. I’m working with the Clowns writers on it,” he says “[We] have a called scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. We finally cracked the story and figured out how to make it really, really scary, and a reason to do it. Before John starts shooting Clown he has a window.”

‘John Dies At The End’ Picked Up By Magnet

In some great news for the Don Coscarelli directed horror comedy it looks like Magnet Releasing which is the genre side of Magnolia Pictures has just acquired worldwide rights to John Dies at the End. Magnet plans on releasing the film through VOD in late December and follow it with a theatrical release in early 2013.

“The movie stars Paul Giamatti as an investigator trailing a street drug that promises an out-of-body experience. across dimensions. But when some who return are no longer human, and it becomes apparent that a secret invasion is underway, two college dropouts are thrust in heroic roles they are unprepared for.“

‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D’

To no one’s surprise the MPAA slapped an ‘R’ rating on the upcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D for “strong, grisly violence and language throughout.” Lionsgate sources say that they had quite a bit of a delay actually getting the film to an ‘R’ because the first few times it kept landing with an NC-17 rating. It’s funny how intensely gory they decided to make this film when the original barely had any blood in it at all. It was all mostly psychological. I guess seeing Leatherface in 3D is enough to warrant an ‘R’ rating!

You can expect to see The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D in theaters January 4th 2013. This will be the seventh time we’ll Leatherface hit the screen with his chainsaw and is a direct sequel to the Tobe Hooper classic from 1974.

Prometheus Blu-ray Art is Gorgeous

Not everyone was a fan of Ridley Scott’s return to the sci-fi genre with Prometheus but one thing that everyone could agree on was that the film looked absolutely gorgeous. It’s hands down one of the best looking films in quite some time. Continuing with the trend, the blu-ray art is stunning. Check it out.

Who Will Rescue A Falling Dark Tower

What a ride it has been for Ron Howard’s adaptation of Stephen King’s Gunslinging tale of The Dark Tower. Just when things seem to be going right something falls through. The ambitious journey is planned for a big screen adaptation along with a TV series tie in but Warner Bros. decided to pass on the idea making that now two big studios turning down the project. The first studio being Universal. Usually when those two won’t back a film it spells disaster because it makes it that much more difficult to get it picked up by someone else.

Just a day after the announcement of WB turning it down it looks like Media Rights Capital is now in serious talks to tackle the ambitious project. When it was originally announced Javier Bardem was rumored to be the guy everyone had their eyes on to play Roland Deschain but now it looks like he’s officially out. So who’s up next for the gunslinger? Right now rumors are that Russell Crowe was approached for the lead. It’s an interesting choice and one that I’m much happier with because I can actually picture him as Roland which is something I had a hard time doing with Bardem. As much as I would love to see this happen I honestly don’t think this will ever get off the ground because Stephen King’s world of The Dark Tower is just too big.

Hammer Now On Youtube

Hammer has officially launched their Youtube channel which is set to stream exclusive new content as well as restored classics online. Per Variety the new Youtube channel will include previews, commentary, and behind-the-scenes footage from upcoming productions. Not only do we get sneak peaks at some of their newest stuff but they will also be featuring their extensive library of classic films from the 1950’s through the 1970’s.

From Hammer CEO Simon Oakes, “We hope this new platform will allow us to continue to reach fans who have responded so well to films like Let Me In and The Woman in Black, while continuing to honor the great filmmaking history of our company.” 

I’d love to see more studios doing stuff like this. Check out the history of Hammer below:

Amazing Horror Hype Reel

If you ever find yourself needing to explain why our genre is the best, just show them this amazing video which was edited by Jonathan Keogh and hosted by kidziakandkeogh on youtube and features 163 different horror films in just 2 and a half minutes.

“So…there’s 163 different horror movies in this video,” explains kidziakandkeogh. “Repeat appearances I do not count separately. To clarify/confuse, all Nightmare on Elm Street clips count as 1, as do all Friday the 13th clips (totaling out to 2/163 films). However, I did count Freddy Vs. Jason as one tally, making it 3/163 films, but did not reward a +1 for the Nightmare On Elm Street remake. So if you think that’s bull sh*t and it should not count, then consider this 162 Horror Movies in 2 1/2 minutes. Also, you may count upwards of 190 different movies…if you do, that means you went through this frame by frame and need to go outside more. The other 28 films, I do not count because they consist of 2 or less frames. I am only counting the films that appear for 3 frames or more.”

The End

There you have it, some of the stuff that mattered in all things horror this week. As always, thanks for reading and if you happened to have missed the last edition of The Missing Reel be sure to check it out here: