In case you’ve yet to notice Paramount Home Entertainment has been putting out new Deluxe Editions of the Friday the 13th movies. First they released parts I, II, and III (Read: DVD Reviews: ‘Friday The 13th’ 1-3 Deluxe Editions), and now we have IV, V, and VI!

As I’ve said before: when it comes to Friday the 13th, it’s almost impossible to review them as single movies. Again, the franchise as a whole and the character Jason Voorhees is more of its own life force than a bunch of movies. You either hate Friday the 13th, or you love every cheesy, gory second of it.

With this set of three flicks, we move out of the realms of the less-liked Friday the 13th movies, and into some of the most-popular ones, where Jason transforms from a horrifying and seemingly unstoppable killer, to an undead and definitely unstoppable killer!

Let it begin…again…after it had ended! [...]

Fawlty Towers, the 1970′s British comedy starring John Cleese, is celebrating its 30th anniversary with the release of Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection Remastered on DVD. Here at Geeks of Doom we have three (3) copies of this 3-disc DVD set to give away to some lucky readers!

Three (3) winners will each receive:
– One (1) Fawlty Towers: The Complete Collection Remastered DVD

What do you have to do to get a chance to win? Glad you asked ’cause it’s really easy. Just make sure you’re a subscriber to our email digest, and then go ahead and fill out the handy dandy form below. Done.

Good luck! [...]

I’m celebrating Halloween in Philadelphia this year, so it’s come to my attention that the Autumn Society has a Dia de los Muertos art show at Proximity Gallery here in town today.

One of the selections for the show is from artist Tom Whalen, who has contributed a Darth Vader sugar skull — a Day of the Dead pop culture mash-up that if I had the money I’d run out and get tattooed on me right now.

Check out the Darth Vadar Sugar Skull image here at right (click for larger view) and check out Whalen’s blog at Strong Stuff.

To see more entries from the show, visit The Autumn Society‘s page where the artists all blog about their contributions. (The Society is a collective of artists from the Philadelphia area, but it’s branching out worldwide.)

The Society is also doing a Trick-Art-Treat art show at Brave New Worlds in Philly today 5pm – 8pm [...]

Iconic actor Christopher Lee is now Sir Christopher Lee.

In a ceremony held on October 30 at Buckingham Palace, the legendary actor was knighted by Prince Charles of England on behalf of his mother, the Queen of England.

Lee’s knighthood was announced in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in June 2009.

The 87-year-old British actor began his film career in 1948, but in 1958 he really made his mark on pop culture playing Count Dracula in Dracula. Lee has played many memorable roles over the years, like Lord Summerisle in the original Wicker Man, but he’s best known by today’s audiences as Count Dooku from the Star Wars prequels and the wizard Saruman from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Lee will star next in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland as The Jabberwock [...]

This is Halloween, this Halloween!

Yes, the holiday of witches, goblins, and ghouls has arrived, and there’s a lot of great deals out there to take advantage of on this glorious day. Check out today’s offerings, including some low-priced movie rentals!

As I was compiling this list, the first “Lightning Deal” at Amazon went up, so I’m adding it quickly to the top of this post so you can see it before it runs out at 9am PST (or while supplies last before that): Zombie Bundle: Day of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Evil Dead II on Blu-ray.

Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Slimer Edition

First up, the Gold Box deal of the day over at Amazon is Ghostbusters: The Video Game – Slimer Edition for Xbox 360 for only $44.98 (that’s 36% off the list price of $69.99). This deal is for today only while supplies last [...]

On The Today Show this morning, New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza outside of NBC Studios was transformed into a Star Wars spectacular for the show’s annual “Halloween on the Plaza” holiday broadcast.

The cast of the morning show donned costumes from the Star Wars saga with Kathie Lee Gifford as C-3PO, Natalie Morales as Queen Padme Amidala, Hoda Kotb as Yoda, Ann Curry as Darth Vader, Meredith Vieira as Princess Leia, Matt Lauer as Luke Skywalker, and Al Roker as Han Solo. Star Wars creator George Lucas and his people at Lucasfilm provided real props from the films, including an X-Wing fighter and the Emperor’s chair.

We also found out that Friend of Doom Lou Platania, a member of the 501st Legion, was one of the Stormtroopers on the elaborate Today Show set and that he was the trooper next to the X-Wing in the first video embedded here below. (Go Lou!)

Check out more video from the show here below, including a behind-the-scenes look at the planning and prepping for this special Star Wars-themed episode [...]

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra will be released on DVD and Blu-ray this Tuesday, November 3, so on behalf of Paramount Home Entertainment, we here at Geeks of Doom have one (1) prize pack to give away to one lucky reader!

One (1) winner will receive:
– One (1) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Two-disc Special Edition DVD
– One (1) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Movie Poster
– One (1) Night Raven Jet with Air Viper (Toy)
– One (1) M.A.R.S. Troopers (Action Figures)

What do you have to do to get a chance to win? Glad you asked ’cause it’s really easy. Just make sure you’re a subscriber to our email digest, and then go ahead and fill out the handy dandy form below. Done.

Good luck! [...]

Just this week, we were treated to a brief glimpse of some of the vehicles that series writer and director George Miller was having constructed for his long-awaited fourth chapter in the Mad Max franchise, which is being called Fury Road. During that interview, Miller stated that they were in the process of casting but had no idea who would be chosen yet. Whether that was the truth or not is unknown, but it did not take long to find out that two actors have indeed been chosen. It’s being reported that Academy Award winner Charlize Theron and up-and-comer Tom Hardy have been cast in the lead roles.

Hardy will be filling the large shoes once occupied by Mel Gibson as the vengeful post-apocalyptic hero, Max. Theron will be taking the female lead in which details are not yet known. The movie is said to be a sequel, taking place a short time after the events of Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. This means that the hopes for a Gibson cameo as the original Max is unlikely, but a cameo as someone else could still be put together for amusement purposes. [...]

It’s being reported that last year’s Academy Awards host, Hugh Jackman, has decided that he doesn’t want to host for a second year in a row. Jackman currently has a Broadway show going on and obviously has other projects making him quite the busy man. He ensured that he might be willing to return sometime in the future, but as for consecutive appearances, he was not interested.

Every year, fans of the Oscar ceremony anxiously wonder who will host the show that year. The decision on who will host sets the entire table and hints at whether you get really excited, or really skeptical of the show and how entertaining it could be.

Last year, Jackman was brought in to host the ceremony. It was one of many new moves that the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science have taken to try and refresh the awards and bring new fans in to fortify their dwindling ratings numbers. Traditionally, the Oscars were hosted by comedic entertainers and actors who weren’t usually nominated and could really own the stage — most popular of them being either Johnny Carson or Billy Crystal. [...]

Oh how I love the Fall — the changing of the leaves, jacket weather, Halloween, my birthday (!). And on my birthday wish list is typically a slew of books by my favorite authors and publishers released from early September through November. Anne Rice’s The Vampire Armand, Clive Barker’s Abarat, Max Brooks’s World War Z all came out during this season, and nearly every Fall Neil Gaiman (Coraline, The Graveyard Book) offers up something new.

For 2009, here are some of this Fall’s coolest literary offerings of vampires, zombies, monsters, mysteries, and more. Note, I’ve kept the list to just novels (meaning, no graphic novels), and remember, these are just items that I’m interested in. If you have more suggestions, we’d love to know ‘em!

Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter
By A E Moorat
Hodder | Eos
October 15, 2009 (UK) | January 5, 2010 (U.S.)

A few weeks ago, I received a publicist’s email asking me if I’d like a copy of Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter for review. I didn’t read any further before I hit Reply with an “Absolutely” as my response. Serious, Queen Victoria as a demon hunter, that’s really all I needed to know. When the book arrived, I figured I’d leaf through it and take a few seconds to familiarize myself with it; next thing I knew I was a third of the way through the book. Yes, it was that good.

I’m a big fan of historical fiction, so even if various types of demon folk weren’t involved, I think I’d have enjoyed the story of a young Victoria coming of age as the Queen of England and falling in love with Prince Albert nevertheless. But add in the Queen’s inherent ability to battle demons, along with demons, zombies, reanimators, and two-headed creatures, and damn if that’s not good stuff. It’s an historical fiction/horror mash-up sprinkled with humor in all the right places. One of my favorite characters is a manservant who becomes zombie lunch only to return to life … to continue being a manservant! Seriously, I love this guy, and you will too [...]

The trades are reporting that Sir Anthony Hopkins is currently in negotiations to appear in Kenneth Branagh‘s adaptation of Marvel’s Thor. Hopkins would be playing the Norse god Odin, father of Thor, who exiles his son into the disabled body of a mortal doctor in order to teach him some useful virtues and humility in life. This news comes as a bit of a surprise as it was announced back in early June that Brian Blessed would be playing Odin.

The movie will tell the story of the cocky and spoiled hero whose lack of discipline re-ignites an ancient war, forcing Odin to banish him to the above-mentioned mortality without memory of his status as a god. While inhabiting this human body, he discovers his true identity and how to switch back and forth from the handicapped Dr. Donald Blake to the warrior Thor, God of Thunder. As with most comic book based movies, this is expected to be something of an origins story to set the character up for those who are not familiar with it. This is also necessary due to the fact that Thor will be part of the epic joining of superheroes in The Avengers, which will feature Iron Man, Hulk, and Captain America. [...]

The documentary Overnight is a film that follows Troy Duffy, a former bartender who became an overnight Hollywood sensation when his script The Boondock Saints caught everyone’s eyes and delivered him a deal with Harvey Weinstein and Miramax Films, and a $15 Million budget to make his movie. Film makers Tony Montana and Mark Brian [...]

All the haters can say what they will about the Twilight franchise, but there’s one positive aspect about the whole phenomenon that can’t be denied — it’s prompted teenage girls to read more.

Young girls (and their moms) are not only picking up the Twilight books, but also literary classics like Wuthering Heights, and the series has sparked interest in the horror/fantasy genre in general, serving as a gateway to more books like Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire series (from which HBO’s True Blood is based) and more.

Twilight‘s also become helpful in the test prep department with Defining Twilight, a vocabulary workbook to help students prepare for tests like the SAT, ACT, GED, and SSAT.

Now, just released this week is the New Moon-inspired follow-up Defining New Moon, with over 700 vocabulary words and synonyms found on the SAT, ACT, GED, and SSAT tests [...]

Another very cool part of this week’s Scream Awards on Spike TV was a deleted scene from J.J. Abrams‘ new vision of Star Trek that will appear on the movie’s DVD special features.

The scene brings the well-known Trek species known as Klingons into the mix. In the movie, the Klingons were not used and the villainous race were the Romulans and Captain Nero (Eric Bana). The deleted scene shows Nero restrained on a table while a helmed Klingon questions him and threatens to extract the information that he wants by means of a nasty little bug called a Centurion Slug that doesn’t enjoy dark, restricted areas, and will force its way out if need be. (And now we know where Nero got the idea of using said Slug for his interrogations.) Nero then finds the opportune moment and fights off his captors in an attempt to escape.

Click over to check out the deleted scene from Star Trek, which will be released on DVD, Blu-ray, and digital download on November 17, 2009 [...]

Someone named Dr. Monster has an awesome artist remix of Scooby Doo in which Velma, the nerdy girl of the group, is the only remaining survivor of the the Mystery Team after zombies, vampires, and other evil creatures have taken over the planet. Click the image to see it in-full.

She isn’t completely alone, as a solid, Dolberman version of Scooby has shed his goofy skin and is ready and willing to protect with highly-aggressive nature. Velma has also grown up in her new role, making sure to always be equipped with a shotgun, machete, and wooden stakes while wearing a cross ’round her neck. She also re-named the van The Misery Machine and pimped it out with flammables, an artillery of weaponry, a giant wooden stake, ultra-powered lights, and a nice little memorial for Fred, Daphne, and Shaggy.

The image definitely gives off a sort of Y: The Last Man vibe but with a woman and monster invasion instead. OK, maybe I Am Legend would work much better in comparison, but that movie sucked, so Y it is! [...]