Magnet Releasing has announced a slew of directors that will be contributing to the horror anthology sequel ABCs of Death 2, and it’s a fairly diverse lineup.  Like its predecessor, the pic will deliver 26 genre-oriented short films each relating to a different letter of the alphabet.  The producers are branching out of the horror genre for this new host of filmmakers, as Álex de la Iglesia (The Last Circus), Rodney Ascher (Room 237), and animation director Bill Plympton will be helming segments alongside Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper (Vanishing Waves), Sion Sono (Cold Fish), Vincenzo Natali (Splice), Marcus Dunstan (The Collection), and many more.

Additional filmmakers are expected to be announced over the next few months, as production will get underway for a planned 2014 release.  The follow-up is described as “a wilder, leaner, faster paced and even more entertaining anthology” than the first film, so hold on to your butts, folks.  Hit the jump to read the press release, which includes the full list of directors announced thus far.

Opening this weekend is The Collection.  The film is a sequel to 2009′s The Collector and centers on returning survivor Arkin (Josh Stewart), who is coerced into helping a team of mercenaries rescue a young woman, Elena (Emma Fitzpatrick), after she is captured by The Collector.  The first movie was a lean, ruthless horror-thriller; this time around the characters are thrust into a brutal action-horror with a broader scale, bigger guns, and buckets of blood.

At the L.A. Press day, I sat down with writer/director Marcus Dunstan and writer Patrick Melton.  We talked about how the sequel makes a complete 180 from its predecessor, why 35mm was their medium of choice, their approach to the action-horror sub-genre, bringing back Josh Stewart as Arkin, why they opted for practical effects, and more.  Check out a transcript of the full interview after the jump.

The first trailer and poster banner for the horror film The Collection have been released.  Written by Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton (Saw IV, V, VI, and 3D) and directed by Dunstan, the sequel to 2009′s The Collector centers on a woman who is abducted by a psychopathic killer and taken to a hotel that he has transformed into his own private maze.  Her wealthy father hires a group of mercenaries to retrieve her with the help of the only man to have ever escaped the killer’s lair.  The trailer looks like it could be pretty fun, but it’s quite similar to the set up of the Saw films.  The clip opens with a terrifying rave trap and there are murderous booby traps rigged throughout the killer’s house that look to do some serious damage.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer and check out the banner.  The film stars Emma Fitzpatrick (The Social Network), Josh Stewart (The Dark Knight Rises), and Christopher McDonald.  The Collection will have its world premiere this weekend at Fantastic Fest and is set for release on November 30th.

The feature film adaptation of God of War has been in development for a long time now, but the project got a boost this summer when screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan were hired to rewrite the project’s script.  The duo doesn’t have much experience in the action genre, having cut their teeth on horror fare like Saw IV, V, VI and Feas, but Guillermo del Toro recently brought them onto his massive scale monster movie Pacific Rim to do some script polishing.  That work likely helped them land the God of War gig, and they’ve now spoken up a bit about their approach to the popular property.

For those unfamiliar with the source material, the God of War game series centers on a Spartan warrior demigod named Kratos who takes on mythological beasts during his quest to free himself from the control of the gods.  Melton and Dunstan recently talked about their script for the film, revealing their grounded approach to the story, how they plan to introduce Kratos to audiences, beefing up the villain and more.  Hit the jump to see what they had to say.

Universal Pictures has brought on screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan to rewrite the video game adaptation God of War, per Heat Vision.  Melton and Dunstan are best known for writing four installments in the Saw series (IV, V, VI, and Saw 3D), and most recently had a hand in the script for the breast-enhanced Piranha 3DD.  For those unfamiliar with the source material, the God of War game series centers on a Spartan warrior demigod named Kratos who takes on mythological beasts during his quest to free himself from the control of the gods.

Their horror resume infers that we’ll be seeing a fairly faithful adaptation of the game (God of War isn’t lacking in darkness or violence), and the scribes also did some touch-up work on Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim.  We’ll have a better idea of how God of War will end up once a director is attached, but hiring Melton and Dunstan to handle the script is an intriguing start.  Charles Roven and Alex Gartner.  Hit the jump to watch a trailer for the most recent installment of the game.

Dimension Films landed a surprise hit (if opening 6th at the box office qualifies as a hit) with Piranha 3D and now, as we reported in August, they’re going in for a sequel.  The new film will be titled Piranha 3DD as a nod to the series’ love of large breasts.  The guys being brought on to create this cinematic masterpiece are the folks behind the 2005 horror film, Feast: director John Gulager and screenwriters Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan (who also wrote the last four Saw movies).  Deadline reports that Dimension is aiming to get Piranha 3DD into theaters by August 2011.  Personally, I’m not shocked that they’re trying to turn it around that fast.  I’m shocked that they’re writing a script.

No word if they’ll shoot in 3D or post-convert it like they did with Piranha 3D.  Either way, I hope we get another fun argument between James Cameron and producer Mark Canton.

Since the first installment’s surprise hit at the box office in 2004, there has been a new Saw film in theaters every Halloween. While the release of Saw 6 is still over a week away (opening in theaters on October 23^rd), producer Mark Burg and co-writer Marcus Dunstan are already well underway with Saw 7, which they will be debuting in 3-D.

During the film’s press day, held at Universal Studios, which is currently hosting the Saw maze as part of their Halloween Horror Nights festivities (running through October 31^st), Mark Burg revealed that they have the storyline figured out through Saw 8, but then the franchise’s future beyond that is undetermined. Read more after the jump:

Opening today in wide release is “The Collector“, a new ultra-violent film from Saw and Feast scribes Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan. I was able to sit down and talk to the duo for an in depth one-on-one about their new film, the current state of horror, and what warped their minds enough to create this film. Read on for the gory details:

During her press conference for “Jennifer’s Body,” director Karyn Kasuma commented that horror and comedy are special genres because they cause the audience to have a physical reaction; each viewer is interacting with the film on a very personal level. In this spirit, Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan (Feast 1-3, Saw 4-7) have crafted a film with the sole intention of violating its audience. My review is after the jump: