After a lot of teasing as to who would step into the female lead role (and basically replace Willem Dafoe) in Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, director Troy Duffy has finally revealed that it will be Julie Benz from Dexter!

This is the first big major casting announcement, as Clifton Collins Jr. was just sorta always there and most of the rest of the cast are returning from the first movie.

One thing to keep in mind is that this is not some romantic female lead. Considering Dafoe’s character ultimately chose to believe that what the brothers were doing was necessary, a new authority figure (Benz) has decided that someone needs to stop what’s going on and that it would be her pleasure. This was explained in the radio interview Troy did a while back, so don’t quote me exactly, but it’s right along those lines.

Check out the announcement video below to see Miss Benz and then see her fire off a big f’n gun.’

The entire month of October is more or less devoted to doing something that is perceived as frightening, which it usually fails to do. As a child of the Internet age, there isn’t much I haven’t seen in terms of horrific, mind-numbingly evil fiction or “realistic fiction” (fake is fake is fake).

So instead of going down the a-typical list of things you should do as a horror geek, I decided to dig up real things that are way creepier than Halloween and the entire month of October combined. Actually, this stuff is so twisted, you should probably click the little “x” in the corner and call it a day. You don’t want to read this. (I’m F&#^$ serious, look away.)

But if you must, here are four real things that beat Halloween’s scare factor…

Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead
Directed by Louis Morneau
Starring Nick Zano, Nick Aycox, Laura Jordan
Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: October 7, 2008

When I saw the first Joy Ride way back in 2001, I was pleasantly surprised by how effective the thriller was. The story, about three teenagers on a roadtrip who unknowningly play a trick on a homicidal truck driver was intense and held its own during a time when all Hollywood would make were “teenagers hunted by crazed killers.” Now, seven years later, someone has decided to make the direct-to-dvd sequel to the movie, Joy Ride 2: Dead Ahead.

This time, the film follows 4 beautiful young adults on their trip to Las Vegas. When their car breaks down in the middle of the road, they are forced to take a car from what appears to be an abandoned house. What they don’t realize is is that the house belongs to crazed truck driver Rusty nail and Rusty does not like it when people take things that are his.

While not as entertaining as the first one, Joy Ride 2 hits all the right notes for a horror film.

On last night’s Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Sen. Barack Obama made a humorous guest appearance via satellite from Sunrise, Florida.

Watch the nearly 9-minute video here below [and then remember to vote FOR Obama on Tuesday, Nov. 4].

The highlight of the segment was the discussion of “The Bradley Effect,” a theory that white voters will say they will vote for an African American candidate, but then actually not do so on Election Day. Obama pointed out that he is still in the running for the Presidency, therefore, white voters may not have “gotten the memo” about the Bradley Effect. Since Obama is half white, Stewart was concerned that the Democratic candidate would have difficulty when voting on Tuesday because of this supposedly “Bradley Effect.” Obama jokingly responded that he was worried too!

By KefkaTaran

The Happening
Directed by M. Night Shyamalan
Starring Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo
Fox Home Entertainment
Release Date: October 7, 2008

The Happening is an unbelievably bad movie. When I say “unbelievably,” I mean it quite literally; as in I actually can’t believe how bad the movie was, especially in light of fairly positive reviews from some of my most respected sources when the film first hit theaters, such as Roger Ebert and, yes, Geeks of Doom. I can’t believe the depths of bad acting that generally solid actors like leads Mark Wahlberg and Zoey Deschanel can apparently sink to under M. Night Shyamalan‘s directing. And more than anything, I can’t believe major Hollywood studios are still bankrolling films by this continuously diminishing director.

Okay, maybe that’s a bit far. I should probably back off a little at this point and offer a confession: I haven’t seen a single M. Night Shyamalan movie in full since 1999’s The Sixth Sense (which I liked, but I was only in junior high when I saw it, so hell, who knows if I really liked it). Without trying to cast aspersions onto other reviewers, perhaps that’s part of the reason I was so astonished by how awful The Happening is. I haven’t become slowly more disillusioned with Shyamalan with each passing film, and I have yet to witness last summer’s apparently equally horrendous Lady in the Water. But whether it was a case of too-high expectations or something else entirely, the fact remains that The Happening left my mouth hanging open in a way that Shyamalan and crew likely didn’t intend.