Lord of Illusions
Blu-ray (Collector’s Edition)
Director: Clive Barker
Screenwriter: Clive Barker
Cast: Scott Bakula, Kevin J. O’Connor, Famke Janssen, J. Trevor Edmond, Daniel von Bargen, Joseph Latimore
Scream Factory
Rated R | 109 / 121 Minutes
Release Date: December 16, 2014

Written and directed by best-selling author Clive Barker (Nightbreed, Hellraiser), 1995’s Lord of Illusions is a supernatural thriller that stars Scott Bakula, Famke Janssen, Kevin J. O’Connor, and Daniel von Bargen.

After investigating an insurance fraud case in Los Angeles, hard-boiled detective Harry D’Amour (Bakula, Quantum Leap) is approached by Dorothea (Janssen, X-Men), a beautiful woman who believes that her husband is in danger. Dorothea is married to Philip Swann (O’Connor), a stage performer whose astonishing illusions have wowed audiences worldwide.

Like Hugh Jackman’s Robert Angier in The Prestige, Swann has found fame by disguising real magic as stage illusions. Swann’s manipulation of the dark arts has made him enemies of a religious cult who wish to sacrifice the magician and resurrect their leader, a sorcerer known as “The Puritan” (von Bargen).

Reminder: there’s another Taken movie on the way! The first trailer for the trilogy-maker, which is choosing to go with the quite silly official title of Tak3n (no, seriously), has been released online by 20th Century Fox.

The movie, which once again stars Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, and Famke Janssen, takes the Fugitive route with Bryan Mills being framed for murder.

You can watch the first trailer and read a synopsis below.

The Wolverine
Director: James Mangold
Screenwriter: Christopher McQuarrie, Mark Bomback, Scott Frank
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Hiroyuki Sanada, Tao Okamoto, Rila Fukushima, Will Yun Lee, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Famke Janssen
Twentieth Century Fox
Rated PG-13 | 126 Minutes
Release Date: July 26, 2013

Based on the 1982 comic book series Wolverine by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller, James Mangold‘s The Wolverine picks up years after X-Men: The Last Stand with Logan (Hugh Jackman) traveling to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Stripped of his immortality and vulnerable for the first time, Logan is pushed to his physical and emotional limits as he battles the yakuza, ninjas, samurai, and his own inner demons.

Mangold’s film begins with a bearded, long-haired Logan living in the Alaskan wilderness. He’s tracked by Yukio (Rila Fukushima) and summoned to Japan, where her dying employer, Yashida (Hal Yamanouchi), wishes to say good-bye to an old friend.

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters
Directed by Tommy Wirkola
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton, Famke Janssen, Peter Stormare
Paramount Pictures
Rated R | 88 Minutes
Release Date: January 25, 2013

Norwegian filmmaker Tommy Wirkola first gained the attention of Hollywood with his 2007 film, Kill Buljo, a parody of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill.

Since then, Wirkola has released a pair of low-budget horror comedies with 2009’s Dead Snow, a film about Nazi Zombies in the mountains of Norway, and 2010’s Kurt Josef Wagle And The Legend of the Fjord Witch, a send-up of first-person found-footage movies that combines elements of The Blair Witch Project, Paranormal Activity, and [●REC].

Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters is Wirkola’s first big-budget American film, an R-rated fantasy comedy produced by Adam McKay and Will Ferrell. The film picks up with Hansel (Jeremy Renner, The Avengers) and Gretel (Gemma Arterton, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) years after that traumatic incident involving a witch, some bread crumbs, and a gingerbread house.

These past few years we’ve been seeing an interesting twist on childhood fairytales. Red Riding Hood and Snow White and the Huntsman are perhaps the most interesting of the latest Hollywood trend, but neither match the overall silliness and absurdity that is Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters.

The first trailer had poor CGI, Gatling guns in medieval times, and cheesy lines. This new red-band trailer seems to be focused on the humor and the plot of the film – if you can really call it a plot.

Check out the latest NSFW trailer and the poster for the film below.