As technology gets smaller and cheaper, making films is getting easier and easier. But in a market lousy with low-budget indies, it’s not always easy to score well known actors. This wasn’t a problem for Mark Vadik.

The writer/director of Cyrus: Mind of a Serial Killer somehow managed to wrangle several seasoned actors for parts of various size, including Brian Krause (Charmed), Danielle Harris (multiple Halloween films), Doug Jones (Hellboy), and the irreplaceable Lance Henriksen. As you watch the film, the obvious question that comes to mind is, How?

Cyrus is a frame story in which TV journalist Maria Sanchez, looking for fodder for her tabloid news show, interviews a man who claims to know the identity of a local serial killer. He tells her and her cameraman the sad tale of Cyrus, a former soldier who, when his marriage and business fell apart, turned to murder and cannibalism.

Who doesn’t love a good viral marketing campaign? We sure do. That’s exactly what is going on with Jim Mickle’s upcoming vampire flick, Stake Land. That’s right: vampires and viral videos. Get ready to explode, internet.

The film stars modern horror queen Danielle Harris, and comes from a place where vampires rule the world and are a complete plague on humanity, and not just shiny, shirtless guys with big hair who date high school girls. Here’s the official synopsis.

America is a lost nation. When an epidemic of vampirism strikes, humans find themselves on the run from vicious, feral beasts. Cities are tombs and survivors cling together in rural pockets, fearful of nightfall. When his family is slaughtered, young Martin (Gossip Girl’s Connor Paolo) is taken under the wing of a grizzled, wayward hunter (In the Cut’s Nick Damici) whose new prey are the undead.

The film hits theaters on April 22nd, but you can get a taste of what you’re in store for with their viral video after the jump in which a young aspiring filmmaker attempts to shoot a home video with his father, until he notices a change in him, and not for the better.

Back in October, Hatchet 2 made history as being the first film to be released by a major movie theater chain (AMC) with no rating.  Horror aficionados hailed the decision as breakthrough, now a horror movie could be seen as the director originally intended.

Their praise was cut short when the chain abruptly pulled the movie from their theaters before its opening weekend was over. There was a storm of controversy; fans cried censorship, and AMC blamed poor ticket sales.

No one knows the real story, but one thing is clear-Adam Green and the production crew got completely screwed over.  Today, the movie finally comes out On Demand at several different outlets. I got to speak with director Adam Green  along with stars Danielle Harris and Kane Hodder about the film earlier this year.

Green is a well-respected horror director, previously know for Hatchet, a film that introduced a new horror icon named Victor Crowley.  He also directed the criminally underrated Frozen. Danielle Harris has been affectionately dubbed a scream queen for her appearances in Rob Zombies Halloween and Halloween 2, along with the television series Fear Clinic.  Kane Hodder is nothing short of a legend in the business, having done stunts for over 72 well-known films, and acting in many as well.

Director Adam Green brought his patented flair for gore to Fantastic Fest with Hatchet II, the sequel to the well received Hatchet (2006.) The movie will be released in theaters unrated, the second October release to buck the trend and opt for no rating (the other being I Spit on Your Grave 2010, which also showed at the festival.)

Hatchet II has the distinction of being the first film that theater chain AMC will release and support in unrated form, through their independent program.  Dark Sky films is the distributor, and this marks the largest unrated release in major theaters in 25 years.  That’s  a huge development for horror, and for that reason alone, if you are a horror fan, you should support this movie by buying a ticket.

Although I personally adore Adam Green, and fully support his career, I found the hype for Hatchet perplexing.  I watched the film twice, just to see if I missed something, but I never found the movie to be very good.  The story behind Victor Crowley (played by Kane Hodder in both films) is interesting, but the secondary characters are grating, to say the least.

Fortunately most of those tourist types have been eliminated from the sequel, and the story has been stripped down to a bare bones slasher flick.  You get exactly what you expect, no more, no less.  It’s a good October release, and should satisfy those looking for a an old-school throwback to the films they grew up with, but don’t expect any new ground to be broken here.

Hatchet II literally picks up precisely where Hatchet left off.  Scream queen Danielle Harris steps into the role of Marybeth this time around. If you recall, she was the sole survivor of Victor Crowley’s bloodbath in Hatchet, and she flees to the safety of an isolated house occupied by a swamp dweller. All is fine and good until he actually finds out who she is, then he promptly kicks her out of his house.

Marybeth seeks answers from New Orleans Voodoo shop owner/ghost tour operator Reverend Zombie, played by horror icon Tony Todd (Candyman.)  He’s sympathetic to her plight, and decides to accompany her into the swamp to retrieve the bodies of her father and brother. They assemble a ragtag group of people to track down Crowley.

By Shannon Hood and Jane Almirall

Shannon: It was all interviews, all day. First up was director Jim Mickle from Stake Land, along with actors Nick Damici and Connor Paolo.  What a great group of guys.  The trio were there to promote their post apocalyptic road/vampire movie.  Look for the interview and a review of Stake Land in the next week or so.

Our second interview of the day was with director Adam Green (Hatchet, Frozen, and Hatchet 2) along with Danielle Harris and Kane Hodder for Hatchet 2.  This was an exciting interview for me.  I’m a big Adam Green fan, and I’ve been watching Kane Hodder in horror movies since the late eighties.

Press day wrapped up with a chat with the Australian director Josh Reed, actress Qwen Boylan, and actor Wil Traval, who were discussing their IFC featured film Primal. All three interviews and film reviews will be published as soon as we can get them up.

Jane: The Housemaid 1960  Digitally remastered, this film is a slowly-paced, stylized tale of a prosperous family and their mentally unstable housemaid.  Characters manipulate, lie, plot and psychologically torture one another after the father conducts an impulsive affair with the maid, the consequences of which escalate out of control.

I must confess, the overly dramatic acting style made this feature a bit of a slog to get through, but a surprising twist at the end paid off in a big way.

Hatchet 2 (directed by Adam Green starring Kane Hodder and Danielle Harris.) This film plays like a cinematic love letter to the slasher films of the 80’s – the horror movies of my childhood that I grew up loving.  Many horror film icons turn up as characters as Marybeth and Victor Crowley square off for mutual retribution, resulting in the kind of revolting gore and over the top violence that fans of Hatchet have come to expect from Adam Green. Hatchet 2 features some inventive and disgusting kill scenes (FUN!) and in defiance of censorship will be released as an unrated feature.

Jack Chop (directed by Adam Green.) This short film was the bumper preceding Hatchet 2 – which nicely set the tone for the somber exercise in minimalist restraint that was the main feature.  I kid!  This 3 minute, mock-infomercial for a jack ‘o lantern carving kit was a gory, goofy bit of slapstick – in the vernacular of the director, it was wicked awesome.

Some early casting news has come out regarding the re-imagining of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Danielle Harris will be playing the part of Barbara in the reanimated (Yeah, that was a cheap joke, but I had to go for it) CGI film Night of the Living Dead: Origins.  News came right from Harris herself via her Twitter page, “All you’re good luck wishes worked! Guess who’s gonna be Barbara?!”.

Harris is certainly no stranger to the horror genre. She played prey to Michael Myers in Rob Zombie’s Halloween 2 and is set to appear in the vampire film Stake Land coming out next year. With those kinds of credentials, I’m sure she’s well prepared to face the walking dead, even if they are animated this time around.

Hearing that Harris has been cast certainly leaves me anxious to find out who the other roles will go to.  Night of the Living Dead: Origins is being directed by Zebediah de Soto and produced by Simon West (Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider).  No release date as of yet but we’ll keep you posted as more news develops.