After a several year hiatus, acclaimed indie Director Robert Masciantonio ("Cold Hearts") is returning to films. Of his new project entitled "The Storyteller", Robert says "Preproduction has officially begun. We're putting together a list of actors and locking things down. As of now it looks like a February start date for shooting. That may shift a little but it's my ideal timeline. We'll shoot here in Philadelphia. still don't want to say anything about the story. As I've said in other posts, though, there are no monsters in this one. The story's on a small scale than Cold Hearts. Not as many characters running around... and talking. It's an intimate little piece. There are a few creepy moments. And a few when you may scratch your head and say, "wait? so did that...""

From the makers of "Left For Dead" comes "Silent Knight" - the first ever dialogue free martial arts action movie. Starring Gordon Alexander ('The Purifiers'; 'Jackie Chan's Accidental Spy'), Glenn Salvage ('The Purifiers'), Shane Styen ('Cold Harvest') and Terry Turbo ('Hell To Pay') the film is based on a quest for revenge by 'Guy' a deaf mute, played by Andy Prior. The film has started shooting and has a sales agent attached. An amazing shoot out in a car park in central Brighton, apparently very reminisant of "Heat" took place the other day. The indie-financed film is aiming to be finished for the 2005 AFM.

Underway in Canada right now apparently is a new version of the Sherlock Holmes classic, "The Hound of the Baskervilles". A shorter film (in development as a pilot for a proposed series), the project has been a labour of love for some time, and is being produced in Kingston, Ontario by a wonderful group of TV people and Canadian actors. Regardless as to whether they can sell the project to a TV broadcaster (although they have guaranteed broadcast in Canada already), the film will apparently be available on DVD late this year.

If you haven't had enough zombies lately, "Dead Creek" should satisfy. Currently shooting in the Chicagoland area, the film is about a group of friends out to make a movie of their own before zombies attack. Shooting took place the other weekend at the Forest Home Cemetery in Forest Park and at Stuart R. Paddock Elementary School in Palatine.

An Aussie urban nightmare-style thriller called "Hood" is apparently in pre-production in Melbourne right now.  The majority ethnic cast is being selected personally by the writer/director through a series of exclusive one-on-one interviews and private readings.  More details soon.

Another Aussie thriller flick, but far more further along is "Lost Things". Set to hit theatres in NSW & ACT on November 11th and the rest of the country December 9th, "Lost Things" re-enters the world of Poe and Lovecraft where death isn’t the ultimate horror, as four teenagers go away on a secluded beach for a weekend of surf, sex and discovery only to find they are not the only ones there, and that their dreams are turning into nightmares. The screenplay is by Stephen Sewell ("The Boys"), directed by Martin Murphy and produced by Ian Iveson.

Thanks to 'The Man', ' Craig', 'Paul' & 'The Neat Freak'.