CON: Universal

Happy birthday Jason Statham. You get to celebrate by going to Comic Con! Joining Handsome Rob on stage were Tyrese Gibson, Ian McShane, Joan Allen, Natalie Martinez, and director, Paul W.S. Anderson. As a special surprise, Anderson then introduced the original producer of DEATH RACE 3000, Roger Corman. Anderson’s film is more of a prequel to the original which was about a brutal cross-country car race of the future where pedestrians are run down for points. The new film doesn’t have points for killing innocent people. The optimistic Anderson says it’s something they’re looking forward to introducing in the sequel. The clip we get to see features Jensen (Statham) and Case (Martinez) driving in a reinforced Mustang. The man that killed Jensen’s wife is behind them so he slams on his breaks and whips around to face him. Both cars run over a weapon button (which allow the cars to fire) and proceed to destroy each other. Jensen then runs over a defense button and enables his smoke screen. Bad dude hits a half-wall and flips his car. Jensen walks over and talks some shit before breaking his neck and then stares down a camera. Joan Allen looks scared. The best bit of the scene is reserved for Tyrese though. When his co-pilot mistakenly tells him he’s able to fire weapons, Tyrese kicks the guy out of the car and directly into a steel grid. This is possibly the longest paragraph I’ve ever written for the site.

• The entire Hall H crowd sang Happy Birthday to Statham.

• Anderson says there’s no CGI used in the film. Expect some old school action.

• Corman wasn’t behind the new film at first. After seeing some of the concepts being used and a little footage, he admitted to the crowd that this movie is “bigger and better.”

• McShane was the highlight of the panel. When asked about the film he simply says “Joan Allen say fuck. What more do you want?”.

• McShane then interrupted Natalie as she tried answering a question regarding what it was like to drive around in such cars to say “That’s rubbish. We never even get to sit in the cars. It’s all stunt men.”

• Jason has no idea I’m in that picture with him below.

Sam Raimi comes out and introduces the film’s trailer right away. This thing is not impressive. I feel like Raimi’s return to horror just took a slide into the shitter. Stephanie (Alison Lohman) wrongs an old gypsy woman and has a curse put on her. Various spooky sounds and talk of killing a cat find there way into the mix. Raimi then introduces Lohman, who looks completely pissed off and doesn’t even raise her head on the way to her chair, Justin Long, and Dileep Rao, a dude that looks more confused than me on my wedding night.

I can’t shake the feeling the trailer left with me so as Sam introduces another clip I sigh like the bitch I am. Little did I know the amount ass this clip would kick. It starts with Stephanie walking to her car in a parking garage. Something spooks her so she’s suddenly in a hurry. She gets in the car and is scared shitless by a hanky that is floating outside the window. As she follows it around the car she comes face to face with the crazy old woman sitting in her back seat. All hell breaks loose as crazy women grabs her from behind and Stephanie knocks the car into reverse and steps on the gas. Steph gets a hold of a staple gun and starts hammering them into her face, one of them sealing her eye shut. The car crashes into another car and the crazy woman’s teeth fly out of her mouth She grabs Stephanie’s face and starts gumming her entire lower jam. This is wonderfully gross. The clip ends after Steph kicks the old bag out of the car and she pops back up with a cinder block.

The next clip is much shorter but just as memorable. Stephanie sleeps as a fly buzzes in and out of her nostrils and then her mouth. She wakes up coughing uncontrollably and turn to find crazy woman in the bed with her. F*cking crazy woman mounts Steph and pukes a gigantic pile of wet worms into her face. End clip.

• Raimi decided he wanted to go back to horror after seeing how much fun the directors were having doing the films on his Ghost House production company. He wanted a more intimate crew and family like atmosphere, things the SPIDER-MAN movies never gave him.

• Bruce Campbell was supposed to be in the film but couldn’t get away from filming on the television show, ‘Burn Notice’. Raimi’s car, however, makes it’s scheduled cameo.

• Raimi says EVIL DEAD 4 is “in the wheelhouse.” His brother Ivan is in town and the two are going to get together to throw around script ideas.

• They’re aiming for a PG-13 rating.

• Justin Long really owns a Mac. Stop asking him about it.

• The film apparently has a pretty gruesome cat death in it. Thanks for the spoiler warning Sam.