We’re all pretty big fans of the horror genre here in The Flickcast. We’ve had many a heated debate about the popularity of Paranormal Activity and lack of popularity of Cloverfield. Basically, the new concept of “first-person horrors” has us intrigued, along with the rest of the country. In picking up on that trend, producer Eli Roth has released the first trailer for his newest film, The Last Exorcism.

The film follows in the trend of a Cloverfiled or Paranormal in the sense that it’s a documentary (mockumentary?) about uncovering some mysterious things that took place to a family in the Midwest. Things get even weirder when the documentarian comes to discover that the daughter of the family is actually possessed.

There are some neat horror devices that we can see in the trailer, some interesting first-person camera tricks, but it looks like it could be an entertaining film, to say the least. Between the poster and the first promotional image we got, the filmmaker seems to be smitten with the shot of actress Ashley Bell bent over backwards.

With this technique turning plenty of heads in Hollywood, it’s possible that we can see more and more genres adopting this style for use on a spec script (see something like District 9).

Check out the trailer after the jump (preferably with the lights on) and be sure to keep an eye out for The Last Exorcism when it hits theaters on August 27th.

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For those of you who watched last night’s 2 and a half hour Lost finale, you know that these things happened (spoiler free): We get some kind of finality for some of the characters, but we still have plenty of unanswered questions about the mysteries of the island.

It turns out that even though writer/creators Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse still got 2.5 hours (not to mention two hours of recap and a special farewell episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live), they still had more story to tell. In fact, they have roughly 20 minutes more. And no, as funny as they are, those Jimmy Kimmel alternate endings don’t count.

In an attempt to keep you invested even longer, Lindelof and Cuse are giving you the answers you’ve waited 6 years for. To get them, you only have to wait 3 more months.

Said to be attached to the upcoming DVD and Blu-Ray release of the complete series is an additional 20 or so minutes of content that didn’t make it into the series finale. This will allegedly give us answers to questions about the light in the tunnel, as well as finally give us the name of the Man in Black.

Be sure to keep your eyes out for marketing, as Lost: The Complete Collection comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray on August 25th.

In case you’ve been living under a rock or, perhaps, on an island somewhere, you are probably aware that ABC’s Lost finally came to a conclusion last night. The show’s series finale met with a whole range of feelings, opinions and emotions which is often the case when shows with a rabid and outspoken fan base come to an end.

Whatever your feeling about the ending, audiences everywhere most likely will have their own opinions and would offer their own alternative scenarios as to how the ending should have gone. The shows executive producers, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse, are no exception. Even though they finally settled on an ending for the show, they also had several alternative endings in mind prior to making their final decision.

Fortunately, through the miracles of modern technology and The Jimmy Kimmel Show, we are able to bring you those alternative ending right here. So, sit back, relax and experience what might have been after the jump.

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Last week, we brought you a great video from the online Lost Slapdown campaign from ABC in which The Muppets harass Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse about Lost. In these videos, the network takes a lighter look at the ending of the series as we count down to the finale this Sunday night.

Knowing that ABC is owned by Disney, that gives the chance for great crossovers from some old favorites such as The Muppets. Also, who wouldn’t love to see Lost co-creator Carlton Cuse chat it up with the Swedish Chef about the ending?

In the two videos after the jump, you’ll get just that, as well as a pretty funny video in which PePe the King Prawn, Bobo the Bear, and Carl all audition with Lindelof and Cuse to play the famed Smoke Monster. There are some classic Muppet moments, so any fan of either franchise will most certainly be entertained.

Check out the videos after the jump, and be sure to catch the 2 hour series finale of Lost this Sunday at 7 ET on ABC.

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We all know that art mimics life, and most video games mimic film, but does it become redundant when film mimics games mimicking film? Earlier this year, the highly anticipated cinematic PlayStation 3 game Heavy Rain was released, which follows several people in a rainy metropolitan area whose lives are affected by a serial killer.

The game’s main attraction is its rich storyline and deep (and sometimes boring) cutscenes that move it along. It looks like a few studio heads have decided to swap the computer-generated characters with real actors, as former New Line execs Bob Shaye and Michael Lynn, now of Unique Pictures, have recently picked up the rights to adapt the game into a full-length feature. From Deadline Hollywood:

Using their own money, Shaye and Lynne posted top bid in an auction held by CAA on behalf of game developers Quantic Dream.

Heavy Rain has sold 1 million units since its release in February.  Players hunt the “Origami Killer,” a serial murderer who drowns his victims four days after they are abducted, leaving only a small origami figure and an orchid on the corpse. The game becomes a procedural in which four characters try to solve the crime after another potential victim is kidnapped.

Unique has a first look deal with Warner Bros, but Shaye liked it enough to use his own money and not wait for approval to buy it. A deal should be sealed shortly.

Those who have played the game realize that this isn’t all that necessary, seeing as how the game plays out like a complete movie on it’s own. But with its one-dimensional voice work and the possibility of a cool Saw-like franchise, it only makes sense that a studio would be willing to scoop it up.

Now that the countdown clock is ticking for the last episode of Lost to air (and everyone to be torn on the ending), even the most secretive of Lost fans are coming out of the woodwork to show their appreciation of the show in their own special ways. While Jimmy Kimmel is no secret fan, he’s certainly the most innovative.

Recapping this past week’s episode, Jimmy explained how Jacob and his mysteriously unnamed brother were stuck playing a simple game with white and black stones (signifying good vs. evil).

He then unveiled a brand new game, from the makers of Lost, which gives people stuck on an island for 2000 years a bit more to do. Check out the hilarious mock-commercial after the jump, and be sure to keep up as Lost counts down every Tuesday at 9PM on ABC.

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While most of the civilized world will be heading to the theaters to see Favreau and Downey, Jr. knock out another killer super hero flick with Iron Man 2, there is a good portion of the fan community that can’t wait to get the first glimpse at J.J. Abrams’ newest secret project, tentatively titled Super 8.

The first we even heard about the trailer was earlier this week, as Abrams announced that it will be attached to the front of Iron Man 2 prints, and that he expects more people to be talking about the trailer than the film itself after the walk out of the theater.

He rumored that it could be a prequel to 2008′s Cloverfield, which he produced, but after viewing this trailer, we now know that this film is the project that he and Steven Spielberg have been collaborating on.

We won’t spoil any of the content in the trailer for you, in case you’re waiting it out for the theater. Otherwise, check out the handicam version of the trailer after the jump, and we’ll be sure to keep you informed on Abrams and the upcoming Super 8.

(Thanks to reader Caley for the heads up on this)

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This is a recap for Happy Town, episode 2, “I Came to Haplin for the Water,” and it will have spoilers in order to discuss plot points. If you did not see the pilot for Happy Town last week, you can watch it on the official ABC website.

Now that I have seen the first two episodes of Happy Town, here are a few of my initial thoughts on the series. I enjoyed the second half of both episodes quite a bit more than the first. I have found it difficult to initially get into the show, but by the end of each episode I have been completely engrossed.

I enjoy quirky, but I do not enjoy goofy, and some of the characters are quickly veering into annoying territory (I’m looking at you, Stiviletto brothers.) I feel like some of these characters are coming across as being badly acted, and it seems to take down the quality of the show a notch. There are still plenty of talented actors on the show, and that might be why some of the weaker ones stand out.

I do think the show suffers in the writing department. I didn’t notice it so much the first episode, when I was trying to keep all the characters and plot-lines straight, but in the second episode I noticed sloppy dialogue and meandering scenes that easily could have been tightened up.

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With ABC’s highly complicated, occasionally contrived but always entertaining series LOST only a few episodes away form its series finale, it appears the show’s producers have more to say as the end grows near then they thought. So, to facilitate that, they have asked ABC to extend the series finale’s running time by an additional thirty minutes. The network has agreed, which brings the show to two and a half hours.

According to the report, when the LOST finale airs on Sunday, May 23rd, the episode will run from 9 to 11:30 PM, which will push back the news and have the “Jimmy Kimmel Live: Aloha to Lost” post-finale special airing at 12:05 a.m. Executive producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof just completed post-production on the finale — titled “The End” — on Monday night.

As is the custom these days, at the end both sent out identical Tweets: “We’re done. Amen.” In addition, Lindelof recently commented that the crew build all-new sets for the finale and promised the ending would prompt more questions.

ABC is pulling out all the stops to celebrate the ending of one of its most popular shows. In addition the the “super-sized” finale, the network is airing an “enhanced” version of the show’s original two-hour pilot on May 22. Then on Sunday the 23rd, there’s a two-hour retrospective titled “Lost: The Final Journey,” followed by the finale, then the local news and Kimmel post-show. That’s a lot of LOST.

Still, it’s nice to see the network taking the time and giving a show like LOST the opportunity to end its run gracefully. Sure, when the end does finally come, people may have more questions then answers. After all, this is LOST. But really, even if we do, isn’t that part of the fun?

We haven’t given you much info on ABC’s upcoming mystery show Happy Town so far. However, ABC must really have confidence in the show because they’ve put the first fourteen minutes of it online over at Hulu. Of course, we’ve got the video for you here as well so no need to click the link.

In this clip we don’t really learn much of what the show is about, only that it features an attractive and quirky cast of mostly familiar faces. Among the citizens of this town are Sam Neill, Amy Acker, Steven Weber, Lauren German and Lost alumni M.C. Gainey.

We do learn one or two other things including the fact that people are missing from the town and a presence called “The Magic Man,” who is probably not a good guy, needs to be dealt with. The first bit of the show held my interest to I suppose I’ll tune in for the entire thing when it premieres, if only to satisfy my curiosity about what happens in the rest of the premiere episode — and because I love Amy Acker. After that, we’ll see.

Happy Town premieres on ABC at 10/9C on April 28. Until then, check out the video after the jump.

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Tonight marks a pretty big night for fans of the USA Network series Psych as it finishes off another successful season. Ending the fourth season will be quite a big episode, as 80′s star Ally Sheedy reprises her role as the serial killer Mr. Yang in “Mr. Yin Presents.” The episode will also stand as a send up to many classic Alfred Hitchcock films in a half-spoof half-homage episode.

We were lucky enough to talk to star James Roday and Sheedy about the episode, and they were able to give us some insight on what we can look forward to seeing. Be sure to catch the season 4 finale on USA at 10 PM EST.

Clearly in this episode there is a lot of Hitchcock references.  James I was wondering if there is anyone else you drew inspiration from – influences from when you were directing this episode?

Roday: You know, I really do try to stay as faithful to Hitchcock as I could both aesthetically and in pacing and I just shamelessly ripped off four or five shots straight out of his films, quite frankly.  It was an homage episode and I’m a Hitchcock fan, and Andy Berman who wrote the episode with me, is a Hitchcock fan.  As much as we could get away with doing Hitchcock in a Psych episode that’s definitely what we set out to do. 

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Martin Scorsese’s latest potboiler bears the unmistakable markings of a classic film noir. Cigarette smoke  hangs heavy in the air  and tendrils about the characters, almost taking on a life of its own. Dream sequences become engulfed in flames and smoke. The camera lingers on one character taking a drag off of a cigarette and inhaling the smoke directly into his nostrils.

The smoke  is so pervasive that I kept thinking there has to be a reason for it, beyond atmosphere.  My conclusion is that the smoke is an allegorical symbol for “smoke and mirrors”, quite apropo because on Shutter Island, nothing is as it appears.

Leonardo DiCaprio (with a thick Boston accent) plays Teddy Daniels, a U.S. Marshal who has been summoned to the mysterious Shutter Island, a foreboding chunk of land surrounded by rocky precipices. This makes the island ideal for housing dangerous and severely disturbed psychiatric patients. The movie takes place in 1954, when psychiatric patients were routinely given lobotomies, and other “treatments” were inflicted that are considered unethical and inhumane today.

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