Word has come in on good authority that Sam Raimi is starting to cast the villains and supporting cast of Spider-Man 4, and it looks like Rachel McAdams has met with producers to take a hefty role, most likely Felicia “The Black Cat” Hardy. Sources also indicate, but don’t yet confirm, that Black Cat will be the second of two villains, the other likely being Lizard with Dylan Baker reprising the role of Dr. Conners. More on the update after the jump.

Ugh.  This is such a waste of time.  I don’t even want to dignify this unsubstantiated bullshit about The Lizard being the only villain in “Spider-Man 4″ with a response.  No one even knows if The Lizard will even be in Spidey 4 let alone its sole villain.  You know how I know this?  I know because the script is still being written.  I know because the filmmakers are still working out the story. I know because this worthless article also says that “We all pretty much knew it would be The Lizard and/or Carnage…” It wasn’t down to The Lizard and Carnage!  Carnage was always a highly unlikely choice seeing as Raimi has no love for Venom/alien symbiote and he wants to go with an old-school villain.  At best, you could report that The Lizard being the sole villain in “Spider-Man 4″ is an educated guess.   Hit the jump for why I’m sick of this shit.

It may have been a foregone conclusion, but Dylan Baker himself confirmed the good news that he would indeed be reprising his role as Peter Parker’s one-armed Professor/mentor, during a Q&A for Mike Dougherty’s “Trick-r-Treat” (which, by the way, everyone should see, because it’s awesome). While Dr. Connors has appeared in minor roles in the first two Spidey flicks, usually with fewer lines than Bruce Campbell, there has been constant chatter on the interwebs that this may be the film where we finally see Connors transform into the vicious Lizard. For a few more details on what was said at the Q&A, change out your web cartridge and hit the jump.

I’ve never played “World of Warcraft” but it’s a game whose reputation precedes it.  It is the standard bearer for all MMORPGs (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) and also the standard bearer for the stereotype of the anti-social gaming loser who forsakes human contact to live in a world of fantasy.  With over 11.5 million subscribers, the game is slightly popular and would probably rake in some big box office.  But the appeal of an open-world game like this is to craft your own character and tell your own story.  With that in mind, I say “good luck” to Oscar-nominated screenwriter Robert Rodat who now has the task of writing a single, non-playable plot line for director Sam Raimi’s adaptation of “World of Warcraft”.  Take a break from grinding up your avatar’s level and hit the jump for what Raimi and Rodat have in store for the horde(s) of devoted players.

Sam Raimi is a sadist. He has to be. Maybe he doesn’t have a whip collection at home, maybe he doesn’t have his own dungeon room, maybe he’s a pacifist in real life. When he gets behind the camera, he believes in torture. The exquisite pain of making both his main characters and his audience suffer. And that’s why Drag Me to Hell is a whole lot of fun. Because Sam Raimi is a master-class sadist, and he knows how to twist the screws in. My review after the jump.

Halloween brings out the ghosts, ghouls and reissues of Haloween favorites and “favorites.” Universal, one of the great studios for catalog Blu-ray releases has put out two cult-classics, and one film that might strain to be some day. My reviews of An America Werewolf in London, Army of Darkness and Van Helsing after the jump.

While MTV posts some of the dumbest hitwhoring stories on the internet like what you favorite “Twilight” star had for breakfast, they still manage to land interviews with some of the biggest directors in Hollywood. So when they sat down with Sam Raimi earlier today, they managed to get an update on the long in development “Spider-Man 4″. Even though MTV decided to break up the interview over the next week, they did manage to find out filming is set to begin the first week of March. More after the jump:

With his Roman soldier survival flick, “Centurion”, still yet to released, Scottish writer/director Neil Marshall, the man behind brilliant horror flicks “Dog Soldiers” and “The Descent”, and the less than brilliant mash up of every post apocalyptic future movie ever, “Doomsday”, has already set his sights on his next project. Marshall will next be tackling “Burst”, a 3D picture to be produced by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert’s Ghost House Pictures. That’s right, Sam Raimi and Neil Marshall working together. That’s pretty effing terrific if you ask me. Go ahead and hit the jump to read more and for a short synopsis of the flick.

Sam Raimi is producing a supernatural horror film about a Yeti terrorizing a remote town.  This picture represents a 100% increase in the number of Yeti films currently in production. I think we’re pretty much done.  I’ll give you more details after the jump but seriously:  Sam Raimi plus Yeti.  We’re already trying to buy a ticket (at least I am).

Spider-Man will be back in IMAX theaters on May 5^th, 2011.  After staking out that critical “First Weekend of Summer” release date for “Spider-Man 4″ back in June, Columbia Pictures today announced that the movie also has its IMAX contracts for the very same date in order.

At this point it would be more surprising if IMAX and Columbia had decided to skip the whole IMAX thing for “Spider-Man 4″.  The franchise has been a huge property in the digitally-enhanced format and we’ve all seen how those IMAX sales can tip a movie over the top financially.  You can read some of what Sony Pictures had to say in today’s press release after the jump.

While “Spider-Man 4″ is still being put together, Sony is not wasting any more time scheduling Peter Parker’s future adventures on movie screens as they’ve hired James Vanderbilt (”The Losers”, “Zodiac”) to pen both “Spider-Man 5″ and “Spider-Man 6″! So what does that mean for the future of the franchise and director Sam Raimi’s involvement? It’s after the jump:

AICN and Variety are reporting Sam Raimi has signed on to direct Warner Bros. live-action film adaptation of the popular video game “World of Warcraft”. The plan is for Sam to develop the property while he completes “Spider-Man 4″, that way he can shoot the film soon after production wraps.

While some have wondered when we’d get the first great video game movie, I think we may have finally found the answer. You want more…it’s after the jump:

While I remain in disbelief that they’re even making a “Spider-Man 4″ (I know it’s actually happening; I just thought it would remain in development hell for longer, especially after the disappointment of the third film), it’s not slowing down with Variety reporting that writer/director Gary Ross is coming on board to re-write the script.  The script was first handled by James Vanderbilt (”Zodiac”) and then David Lindsay-Abaire (”Inkheart”).  The addition of Ross, who wrote “Dave”, “Pleasantville”, and “Seabiscuit”, signals that the new installment may be headed in a slightly saccharine direction.  That’s not the worst thing.  Spidey is a character that can go dark and brooding but he can also be light-hearted and fancy-free.  Personally, I’ve had a little too much dark and brooding and bringing Ross on board says “We know ‘The Dark Knight’ was successful but we’re going to do our own thing.”  Good for them.

“Spider-Man 4″ is currently slated to hit theatres on May 6, 2011.  Sam Raimi will return to direct and Tobey Maguire is returning as Peter Parker/Spider-Man.

“Drag Me to Hell” is a film that only Sam Raimi could make.  After spending almost a decade devoted to “Spider-Man”, Raimi has finally come home to his singular brand of horror/comedy that manages scares and laughs through B-movie schlock and gross-out visuals that will both shock and tickle the audience like only his films can.

Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) isn’t a bad person.  She’s got a nice psychology professor boyfriend (Justin Long), an inoffensive demeanor, and she’s desperately trying to put her past as an overweight farm girl behind her as she fights for an assistant manager position at the bank where she works as a loan officer.  And then some damn evil gypsy woman (Lorna Raver) has to come along and mess it all up.  By denying the old crone a third extension on her mortgage payments (in order to prove to her boss that she can make the “tough decisions” like an assistant manager), she is cursed with the “Lamia” which will torment her for three days before (wait for it), dragging her to hell.

Opening this Friday is director Sam Raimi’s “Drag Me To Hell”. As I’ve said many times, it’s an awesome movie and one that you should absolutely go and see - especially if you’re a fan of old school Sam Raimi. While you might have been nervous that the “Spider-Man” movies made him forget how to scare an audience, “Drag Me To Hell” shows he’s still got it. I can’t say enough how much I enjoyed this movie.

So to help promote the film, I recently got to interview Mr. Raimi and the interview is after the jump. During my time we discussed all the press you have to do when you release a movie, how he worked with the same crew from “Evil Dead II” on “Drag Me To Hell”, his directing process, and is he going to make another Ghost House picture. If you’re a fan, I promise you’ll like the interview.

Opening this Friday is director Sam Raimi’s “Drag Me To Hell”. As I’ve said a few times on the site, it’s an awesome movie and one that you should absolutely go and see - especially if you’re a fan of old school Sam Raimi. While you might have been nervous that the “Spider-Man” movies made him forget how to scare an audience, “Drag Me To Hell” shows he’s still got it. I can’t say enough how much I enjoyed this movie.

So to help promote the film, I recently got to interview the cast and Mr. Raimi himself. My plan is to post an interview everyday and up next is Justin Long.

In the film, Justin plays’s Alison Lohman’s boyfriend. What’s great about his character is that he’s not the typical boyfriend with tons of issues. Instead, Justin plays someone really in love and he’s willing to do anything to help when things start to go wrong.