You hear that sound? The one echoing all across the internet this morning? That’s the less than joyful noise of a dead horse being thoroughly flogged.

Looks like horror filmmaker Wes Craven will be returning to direct the fourth installment of his popular (in the 90s) horror franchise, Scream. With Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette all returning to no doubt combat one more whacked out psycho, Scream 4 has a slated release date of April 12, 2011. That’s almost exactly 11 years since the last entry hit theaters.

Kevin Williamson, the brain trust behind the first three films, has apparently turned out a script Craven is happy with. Wes’ acceptance doesn’t exactly lift my spirits though.  After those Hills Have Eyes remakes I question Craven’s taste. The news that Williamson already has ideas in place for Scream5 and 6 isn’t exactly cheering either.

Although I’m not surprised by this decision, especially at a time when studios are looking for ‘sure things’ with a built in audience, Scream feels like a concept that has long since run its course. It singlehandedly resurrected the slasher film, and gave birth to the terrifyingly annoying post-modern teen horror flick. Still, in this current climate of Saws and Hostels, one can’t help but be a bit nostalgic for those less malicious, tongue-in-cheek thrillers.

Unless of course, Williamson is planning to make the new movies grittier to match the changing times. Here’s hoping they end up being big goofy throwbacks. It’s about the only way I can seem them working at all. At least, though, this isn’t another remake. That’s something right?

Am I the only one what would rather be getting news of a Joss Whedon helmed, SMG starring, Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie instead of this?

I, mean, if we are in the business of resurrecting by-gone late 90′s horror franchises, why not?

As much as critics and movie fans seem to hate on remakes and reboots, you have to admit that a lot can be done with a remake in talented hands. Examples of this extend back to John Carpenter’s work on The Thing to David Cronenberg’s The Fly. It’s possible. It can be done right.

Which is why the news of Mad Men writer/producer Marti Noxon being attached to write a remake of Fright Night is pretty superb news: Noxon is a talented lady who helped shape Buffy the Vampire Slayer into a successful series. His knowledge of the source material and the fact that Mad Men is widely considered to be one of the best pieces of entertainment on television makes me excited to see what he does with a remake.

Remember: the original Fright Night came out in 1985, starred Jack Skellington himself, Chris Sarandon, and involved a teenager who discovered his neighbors were vampires.

I’m positive that Noxon is highly capable of giving this comedy-horror film a successful script.

"You get the script, I'll try to get Whedon...maybe."

Well the people over at Vertigo Entertainment better know what they’re doing, because at this point I am pretty sure they’re receiving a ton of hate mail from Whedon-ites on this remake/reboot. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the feature film starring Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry, is the latest on the slab to be revived but with a couple of differences. The first of which is that geek god Joss Whedon, writer/creator of the feature version, is not attached to this film in any way shape or form. Second being that Kaz Kuzui & Fran Rubel Kuzui will both be taking full hold of the remake. Fran Kuzui and Kuzui Enterprises were those who helped start up the first Buffy movie reach its way from the script onto the big screen.

Claiming that this particular Buffy adventure will not have connection to the popular television series, Kuzui is already shopping around for ideas from all sorts of writers on an alternate-like timeline ala J.J. Abrams Star Trek. Whedon currently has not been approached to take part in this, but producers have not completely shut him out (meaning they wouldn’t mind his involvement but haven’t bothered trying to contact him). Currently the Buffy universe that Joss Whedon molded into his own in the late nineties as a television series with Sarah Michelle Gellar spawned into a spinoff series (Angel) and is now still active as a comic book series. Boy, I hope these guys know what they’re doing, because the Whedon/Buffy fan base from what this reporter has seen is already having a big backlash on the idea. More news to arrive in upcoming weeks as this idea becomes a reality here on Atomic Popcorn.

So I’m looking over the tech blogs I visit on a daily basis and I run into a story about Joss Whedon. Yeah, that Joss Whedon…the guy that gave Buffy the Vampire Slayer a life and let us join in on the fun times the crew of the Firefly were having. Now Joss has gone back and made a musical unlike any other musical ever created. Yes, you heard me correctly….JOSS WHEDON MADE A MUSICAL.  I know that a few of you are now muttering to yourself that I have no clue that Joss had done a musical prior to this as an episode of BTVS. You’d be wrong.  See, I just noted that I know what he did when I said you’d be saying I had no clue.  See, my mind does work in it’s own wonders at times.

This musical is called ”Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog” and is about a mad genius, Dr Horrible, that wants to join the Evil League of Evil as well as get to know the girl he sees at the local Laundromat during the week. His nemesis is Captain Hammer, the do-gooder of all do-goodiness. This three-part epic will be available online for FREE up to midnight, July 20th. You can get it on iTunes for a very good season pass of $3.99 and watch it from now to eternity on your Apple TV, iTunes, or iPod/iPhone.  A DVD will be out sometime this fall, look for the announcement from Comic-con sometime in the next week.

So who stars in this tour-deforce of a musical? I’ll tell ya so listen closely. Dr Horrible is played by Neil Patrick Harris (Doggie Houser), Captain Hammer is played by Nathan Fillion (Mal on Firefly), and the lady that Dr H is interested in, Penny, is played by Felicia Day (Vi on BTVS in 2003).

Click on over to www.DrHorrible.com and enjoy the musical fun that is “Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.”

Eddie Murphy does three types of films – voice over work as Donkey in Shrek, bad movies such as last years Norbit, and fun family movies such as Doctor Dolittle.  Murphy’s latest movie comes in the form of Meet Dave and it falls squarely into the “fun family movie” category.

Meet Dave. Dave is not human at all. It seems that Dave is really a spaceship crewed by star fleet personnel from the planet Nill. This crew, lead by their Captain (Eddie Murphy) was trained in Earth culture by studying information found on Google and Yahoo. They have a lot to learn.

When accidentally hitting Dave with her car, Gina Morrison (Elizabeth Banks) and son Josh (Austyn Myers) befriend Dave as he tries to assimilate into Earth’s culture and environment. Dave is on a mission of locating an orb that was sent from Nill to Earth and not heard from since.

Eddie Murphy plays two roles and is excellent in both forms. His first role is that of the ship’s captain and the second is as of the ship itself…Dave. His ability to make both the Captain and Dave two different characters yet be connected was simply amazing. Murphy proves that you can still do slapstick comedy without having to physically harm oneself.

Elizabeth Banks showed that she can do more then sit at a desk as she did in the Spider-Man movies (she was Betty Brant). New comer Austyn Meyers does a great job and had perfect screen chemistry with both Murphy and Banks. With a supporting cast consisting of Marc Blucas (Riley on Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Scott Caan (son of legend James Caan), and Mike O’Malley (Stuart on My name is Earl) there was plenty of real world interaction for Banks and Meyers to work with.

First time movie director Brian Robbins knows family features as he is one of the driving forces behind the hit TV show Smallville and has produced tons of family shows for Nickelodeon over the years. This is a very good family movie that manages to get in lots of laughs while not stooping to sophmoric fart jokes or silly parody gags along the way. The pacing was just perfect and the 90-minute run time makes it a good way to spend some quality time at the movies and not feel as if you had been there all day.

Meet Dave is rated PG for bawdy and suggestive humor, action and some language.  Trust me when I say your children will love this movie.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆