1. Swedish director Mikael Håfström – whose last film was the Stephen King adaptation 1408 (2007) – is set to direct Last Rite, based on the true story of an American priest who studied at an exorcism school in Italy. The script is by Michael Petroni, who was recently hired to re-write The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. – Variety
2. Paul Bettany, having played an albino assassin monk in The Da Vinci Code (2006) and the archangel Michael in the upcoming Legion, will now star in the horror western Priest as “a warrior priest . . . who turns against the church to track down a murderous band of vampires who have kidnapped his niece.” Based on a TokyoPop comic book, Priest will be directed by Scott Stewart, who also directed Legion. – Hollywood Reporter
3. The English subtitles on the American DVD version of the Swedish vampire flick Let the Right One In (above) are very, very wrong. – Icons of Fright, Jeffrey Wells
4. Several Native American actors have been cast as members of the Wolf Pack, a group of werewolves who protect humans from vampires, in New Moon, the first sequel to last year’s mega-hit Twilight. Meanwhile, British actor Jamie Campbell-Bower has been cast as one of the Italian vampires. – Variety (x2), Hollywood Reporter
5. Summit Entertainment, the company behind the Twilight franchise, is also developing the vampire-themed Elevator Men. Screenwriter Marc Haimes describes his film as “a reaction to all of these stories now – TV shows and movies – that play this kind of romantic, fantastical, sexy aspect of getting involved with monsters. This is the dark, sinister version of what really happens when you decide you’re going to get close to really bad things.” – Hollywood Reporter
6. Watchmen co-writer David Hayter plans to direct a werewolf movie called Slaughter’s Road through his newly-formed Dark Hero Studios. – Variety
7. Sam Fell, co-director of the animated films The Tale of Despereaux (2008) and Flushed Away (2006), is attached to direct Demonkeeper, a live-action film about “a Seattle teen who inherits responsibility for a house filled with demons.” Naturally, some kids break into the house and set the worst of the demons loose. – Variety
8. Harold Ramis, who co-wrote and co-starred in the first two Ghostbusters movies (1984-1989), says the much-rumoured third movie will probably revolve around a new generation of slimefighters, but the original cast will still be on board as “sage mentors” to the new guys. – MTV News
9. Adam Marcus – best known, if that’s the word, for directing the not-so-correctly-titled Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday (1993) – has been hired to direct the remake of Val Lewton‘s classic I Walked with a Zombie (1943). Somehow I doubt it will have the subtlety or thematic potency of the original. – Variety
