Check out the latest updates in today’s horror news:

• V/H/S 2 – The horror anthology sequel from directors Simon Barrett, Adam Wingard, Edúardo Sanchez, Gregg Hale, Timo Tjahjanto, Gareth Evans and Jason Eisener will be released on VOD on June 6th and in theaters July 12th.
• All the Boys Love Mandy Lane – Warm Bodies director Jonathan Levine’s 2006 feature directorial debut starring Amber Heard and Anson Mount will now be released later this summer.

Hit the jump for two new images from V/H/S 2 and the trailer, press release and poster for All the Boys Love Mandy Lane.

In order to keep the zombie genre from rotting, it needs fresh life.  28 Days Later did away with the “z-word” and turned zombification into a virus.   Last year, ParaNorman took a compassionate view of the undead by seeing that they were just misunderstood albeit terrifying.  Warm Bodies moves in the direction of the latter to the point where it’s straining to even be a zombie movie.  Instead, Warm Bodies is more of a romance that embraces its reinvention of Romeo & Juliet, but with so much sweetness and charm, it’s hard to begrudge the lack of brain-eating or flesh-rotting.

From writer/director Jonathan Levine (50/50) comes Warm Bodies, the zombie romantic comedy starring Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: First Class) and Teresa Palmer (I Am Number Four).  Today, five new clips and five new posters from the film have become available, including an interactive infographic on zombie anatomy with bits of footage embedded within it.  While Warm Bodies is not my preferred take on zombies, it does seem to offer something different to the genre along with a lot of humor and heart.  Also starring John Malkovich, Dave Franco, Analeigh Tipton and Rob Corddry, Warm Bodies opens February 1st.  Hit the jump to watch the new clips and check out the new posters.

The first TV spot for Jonathan Levin’s ZomRomCom Warm Bodies has debuted.  It’s a quick look at principal cast members Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer, as well as some flashes of a supporting character played by John Malkovich.  Buzz has been positive so far, but you can decide for yourself when the picture opens on February 1st.

We also have a new TV spot for Sam Raimi’s Oz the Great and Powerful which clues audiences in to who’s on whose side by pointing out the good, bad wise and powerful characters.  There’s not a lot here in terms of new footage, but the opening release date of March 8th is still two months away.  Oz the Great and Powerful stars James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams.  Hit the jump to see the new TV spots.

Summit Entertainment has released three clips and 13 minutes of B-roll for Jonathan Levine‘s rom-zom-com, Warm Bodies.  The film centers on R (Nicholas Hoult), a zombie who falls in love with Julie (Teresa Palmer) after eating her boyfriend’s brains.  I haven’t watched the clips or the footage since I want to go in having seen as little of the movie as possible.  Warm Bodies is one of my most-anticipated movies of the next three months, and I want to be surprised.  However, if you still need to be sold on the flick, then you might want to see the new material.

Hit the jump to check out the clips and the B-roll.  The film also stars Rob Corddry and John Malkovich.  Warm Bodies opens February 1st.  Click on the corresponding links to read about my visit to the set and my interviews with Levine, Hoult, Palmer, Corddry, and producer Bruna Papandrea.

Welcome to 2013, folks. If you’re reading this it means that you survived the Mayan Apocalypse, the first Dick Clark-less New Year’s Rockin’ Eve celebration in like four decades, likely some sort of mandatory holiday time with your extended family, and incessant political jabber about some sort of “fiscal cliff”, all in a matter of about two weeks. Congratulations on a job well done. In spite of all these accomplishments, though, odds are you still haven’t spent any part of 2013 hanging out with Arnold Schwarzenegger and his tank. So, to this point, our Dave Trumbore still wins 2013.

All tank envy aside, let’s keep our heads up and focus on the first Top 5 installment of the new year. This week’s recap includes Brendan’s editorial plea for giving 48fps the old college try, Justice League rumors, Matt’s Warm Bodies set visit and ensuing zombie transformation, news of Jay-Z being brought on to score Baz Luhrmann‘s The Great Gatsby, and the results of our first ever readers poll that asked for your top movies of 2012. Brief recaps and links to all of the above are dying for your attention after the jump.

Being undead isn’t so bad.  Your clothes are filthy, you could probably do with a little more sun, and the quality of conversation is somewhat diminished, but I didn’t mind being a zombie for a day.  I was given this opportunity when Summit Entertainment decided to fly me up to Montreal to the set of Warm Bodies, the new film from director Jonathan Levine (50/50).  The film follows R (Nicholas Hoult), a zombie who falls in love with the non-zombie Julie (Teresa Palmer) after eating her boyfriend’s brains.

I’ve been on a few set visits, but for Warm Bodies, Summit invited me and my fellow movie journalists to be zombie extras.  In addition to interviewing Levine, Hoult, Palmer, co-star Rob Corddry, and producer Bruna Papandrea, we got to go through the zombification process without the nasty biting-and-dying part.  Hit the jump to read about my visit to the set of Warm Bodies.

In October 2011, I was lucky enough to visit the set of Jonathan Levine‘s Warm Bodies.  The film follows R (Nicholas Hoult), a zombie who falls in love with the non-zombie Julie (Teresa Palmer) after eating her boyfriend’s brains.  Judging by the trailers, it looks like Levine has crafted a sweet, funny rom-zom-com.

In addition to getting zombified on the set, I got the chance to speak with Levine during a break in filming.  During our conversation, we talked about influential zombie films, creating their own rules, working with his largest budget to date, what he learned from 50/50, balancing the horror and romantic elements, and much more.  Hit the jump to check out the interview.  Warm Bodies opens February 1st.

For those hankering for some genre fare in the heart of awards season, Summit Entertainment has released the first four minutes of director Jonathan Levine’s (50/50) zombie love story Warm Bodies online.  The film stars Nicholas Hoult as a zombie named “R” who starts to act more human than zombie when he falls in love with Julie (Teresa Palmer).  This clip opens with a charming and funny voiceover from Hoult as we see R stumbling around an airport alongside countless other zombies, wondering what everyone used to be before they became undead.  Everything we’ve seen thus far promises an original take on what’s become a cliché-driven genre, and this clip highlights a few promisingly interesting visual cues from Levine.

Hit the jump to watch the first four minutes of the film.  The pic also stars John Malkovich, Rob Corddry, Dave Franco, and Analeigh Tipton.  Warm Bodies opens on February 1, 2013.

Summit Entertainment has released five new posters for director Jonathan Levine’s zombie love story Warm Bodies.  The film stars Nicholas Hoult as a zombie named “R” who starts to act more human than zombie when he falls in love with Julie (Teresa Palmer).  Both of the film’s two trailers have been really promising, and these posters play into the tongue-in-cheek tone that Levine seems to have adopted for the film.  Though zombie movies/tv shows/books are a dime a dozen these days, Summit looks to have something special with Warm Bodies.

Hit the jump to check out the posters.  The film also stars Rob Corddry, John Malkovich, Dave Franco, and Analeigh Tipton.  Warm Bodies opens on February 1, 2013.

We recently saw a new trailer for Summit Entertainment’s upcoming zombie love story Warm Bodies, and now a couple of new images from the film have been released.  Directed by Jonathan Levine (50/50), the film stars Nicholas Hoult as a zombie named “R” who starts to act more human than zombie when he falls in love with Julie (Teresa Palmer).  I’m really digging the balance of humor and romance that was displayed in the film’s two trailers, and these new images highlight some of the more amusing sight gags from the pic.  Levine showed a great deal of talent with 50/50, and Warm Bodies looks to be a lot of fun.  Here’s hoping the full film delivers the goods.

Hit the jump to check out the new images and to rewatch the latest trailer.  The film also stars Rob Corddry, John Malkovich, Dave Franco, and Analeigh Tipton.  Warm Bodies opens on February 1, 2013.

A new trailer for director Jonathan Levine’s (50/50) zombie love story Warm Bodies has been released.  The film stars Nicholas Hoult as a zombie named “R” who starts to act more human than zombie when he falls in love with Julie (Teresa Palmer).  The film’s excellent first trailer played up the quirky love story angle, and this new trailer is a bit more action-oriented.  Levine looks to have struck a nice balance between the film’s light-hearted “indie” sensibilities and the more visually arresting zombie apocalypse premise, and we see bits of promising new footage with this 60-second trailer.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Rob Corddry, John Malkovich, Dave Franco, and Analeigh Tipton.  Warm Bodies opens on February 1st, 2013.

The first trailer for the zombie love story Warm Bodies has been released.  Directed by Jonathan Levine (50/50), the film stars Nicholas Hoult as “R” a zombie who falls in love with Julie (Teresa Palmer) and starts to act more human than zombie.  This trailer is incredibly charming, promising some really fun performances from the whole cast.  I’m also encouraged by how fresh this looks, which is saying something given the saturation of the undead across every media platform nowadays.  Levine’s 50/50 was a fantastic mix of humor and heart, and it looks like he might have successfully struck a similar tone with a cast full of zombies.

Hit the jump to watch the trailer.  The film also stars Rob Corddry, John Malkovich, Dave Franco, and Analeigh Tipton.  Warm Bodies opens on February 1st, 2013.

Check out the offerings from our latest poster round-up:

• The U.K. poster for Ang Lee’s Life of Pi, starring Suraj Sharma, Rafe Spall, Gerard Depardieu, Irrfan Khan and Adil Hussain. Life of Pi opens in 3D November 21st.
• A huge banner poster for Cloud Atlas, from directors Lana and Andy Wachowski and Tom Tyker.  Starring Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugo Weaving, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent and more, Cloud Atlas opens October 26th.
• A teaser posters for Warm Bodies, a zombie romance (zomance? zom-rom?) starring Nicholas Hoult and Teresa Palmer, which opens February 1st, 2013.

Hit the jump for the posters and synopses. 

When we spoke with This Means War director/producer McG last month, he mentioned Dead Spy Running, a spy project he developed with Stephen Gaghan (Syriana).  McG hoped Gaghan could direct, but suggested there could be a scheduling issue.  If Gaghan can’t find the time, Twitch hears McG found a promising replacement in Jonathan Levine, now in negotiations to direct.  Levine’s resume—50/50, The Wackness, All the Boys Love Mandy Lane—does not necessarily prepare him for a spy thriller.  But Levine crafted one of the finest films of 2011 in 50/50, and his next project is the high-concept zombie genre piece Warm Bodies.  Now is a great time to get into business with an up-and-coming director who has demonstrated his competency with a variety of material.

McG described Dead Spy Running as a spy story for this generation, “the Social Network age.”  Hit the jump for his full pitch.