Still, that did not discourage my interest in the film, but rather enhanced it. Look for Night Watch, the first in a trilogy, Stateside on February 17th. Fox Searchlight will release Day Watch, the second film, later in the year, and expects work on the third, Dusk Watch, to begin shortly. This final film of the trilogy will be shot in English, not Russian (which rather scares me for some reason). These films are supposed to be fabulous, and I for one can't wait to see them.

Next up was Wes Craven, on hand to promote the remake of his original 1977 horror masterpiece, The Hills Have Eyes. Actors Aaron Stanford, Danny Byrd and Vinessa Shaw were with him to help field questions. Audience members wanted to know first and foremost why Craven had decided to remake the film. “I was in the desert for 40 days and 40 nights,” said Craven, jokingly, and said Alex Aja was directing the film and taking it up where the old one left off. Though Craven is only producing the film, he's getting the dailies and approving them. The film, he added, is being shot in Morocco.

Turning to the actors, each was asked if he or she had seen the original, and, if so, how did it affect preparation for his or her role. Shaw said she was scared watching the original, especially in a scene where a gun is put into someone's mouth. She said she “needed to see how one would go now,” an answer I didn't quite comprehend. Stanford said he did see the original and tried to talk the costumers to let him wear “shortie shorts”, but no go. Byrd has yet to see the original, saying he preferred to come to the role with no preconceived notions.

Another question on people's minds was when Feast would hit theatres. Craven said it was “off in Weinstein land” but should be opening around the same time as The Hills Have Eyes. He also said he's seen the final project and it's terrific, and should be shown for certain.

Shaw was asked about working with Stanley Kubrik on Eyes Wide Shut , her first truly adult role. “This was my first foray into what acting is about,” she said, “and he was such a perfectionist that you could let go and have the most fun.” She apparently shot the film while going to college, so she felt like she was in another realm.

Additionally, a dialogue arose concerning what everyone thought about remakes in general, an especially important topic considering the panel was also covering the remake of The Omen after this portion ended. Does the quality of the remake diminish the original? All agreed it depended from film to film. The Maltese Falcon we consider the masterpiece is actually the third incarnation of the film, for example. Bloggers and writers are praising this new Hills , opening their eyes wide to it. Meanwhile, all agreed that the Masters of Horrors series, in which Craven has a 5 minute film, is a terrific idea. It's 20 short films by 20 directors in Paris, called Je T'aime , each based on a section of Paris. Craven shot his in front of Oscar Wilde's grave.

Next came the world premiere of a clip from the film, which proved to be dark and foreboding. It definitely shows promise.

The final question concerned Cursed : “Can we get our money back?” someone wanted to know. This brought a lot of laughs from the audience but a lot of cringing on Craven's part. He claimed that, one he turned the film in, the studio did stuff to it, recut it and what-not, so that, if you want to see the Craven version, you should buy the DVD. Again, he blamed the Weinsteins for that fiasco.

Finally, Craven talked about “Magic Macabre,” an 1800 seat venue magic show. He wrote the story, brought in the production designer of the Superbowl and the designer of Sigfried and Roy, and will play it in Las Vegas. “It will make people cringe,” he claimed.

Next, the show turned its sights on Pathfinder , the newest film by Marcus Nispel. This was more a ‘making of' presentation, which I really enjoyed. The film opens in July, and is a look at a group of people highly misrepresented in the media: the Vikings. Nispel sets to dispel inaccurate myths about them, so he did lots of research about the Vikings, and found that 9 of 10 books in America showed only cartoons. Living in Germany, all Nispel could remember was that they raped and pillaged at will. But what he found out in his research is that the Vikings definitely made it to New York City, and one ship foud in Canada had a statue of Buddha in it. He wanted to show them with Native Americans. No hats, no Hagar the Horrible. Rather, he painted the scenes he wanted to shoot first, then shot them. He was convinced he was doing the right thing in hiring a relatively unknown actor, Karl Urban, to play the lead Viking, and is glad he did so. Urban knew how to horseback ride and do swordplay, you see. Meanwhile, Russell Means is the “Pathfinder” himself, a Native American actor and expert on them. Moon Bloodgood plays the female lead, and Clancy Brown is the villain. All the Vikings speak Icelandic in the film. An excruciating shoot, the actors and crew had to endure ice cold weather, and 80 people were hospitalized during shooting.

After the Pathfinder panel was over, we got into some serious demonizing, with the remake of The Omen taking precedence. Screenwriter Dan McDermott and director John Moore tried to win the crowd over to their new version with a sneak peek at the trailer, an interesting story. It started life as a screen test for the child to play Damien (Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick) and the kid was so potent that he stayed on, and the trailer was almost instantly done. It features a dog panting, with the camera roving around it, around the swing on which a boy swings. Creaking of the swing is heard, and the camera pans around until we see his face. And his eyes… which are evil incarnate, they are. They've found the perfect Damien, and the power of the trailer proves it.

Both McDermott and Moore found little reason to change much of the film's content, because there was no need to fix something that wasn't broken. They did cast younger parents, Liev Schrieber and Julia Stiles, to make it more contemporary. Also, you see the hand of Damien working quicker than you did in the original, as he helps his dad rise to political power. This was done because notions of good and evil have become more prevalent in politics, especially in the last 10 years. Moreover, Mia Farrow plays the nanny, a part that was fun to write for her, says McDermott. “I don't think Mia has ever killed anyone in a film, so she had fun subverting cinema history.”

The party scene screened was little different from the original Omen I love so much. Keeping it the same was an homage to the original, claims Moore. It ends with a close-up on those evil eyes of Damien's, in Schriber's arms. Chilling. Really chilling.

A lot of information in that one panel, and a lot to digest. I'm still picturing Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick's eyes.

Stay tuned to the IESB for further updates!