THE STEPFATHER (2009, Sony, PG-13, $29) — Revisit the 1987 original starring Terry O’Quinn of “Lost” as a control-freak serial killer and you’ll discover a compact, unpretentious horror thriller capable of sending a cold chill down your spine. This remake, with “Nip/ Tuck’s” Dylan Walsh in the title role and “Gossip Girl’s” Penn Badgely as the suspicious stepson, isn’t a total botch, but it never really comes to life either. Neither scary nor satirical enough, it does move along in a tidy manner, disposing of 104 minutes of your time as efficiently as the title character does away with his victims. Extras: gag reel, featurettes and Walsh/Badgley commentaries.

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Big thanks to ChandlerDillon for the info: the comedy that Penn filmed last year, Easy A (which also stars Emma Stone, Lisa Kudrow and Cam Gigandet) will be released in theaters on September 17, 2010 (via Box Office Mojo).

Click here to be taken to Fresh Kill’s blog to see stills from Moth. They are definitely worth checking out

Over at the Fitzbomb blog, there is a new interview up with Moth director and friend of Penn’s; Hilton Carter. Thanks to ChandlerDillon and djalphaalpha for the link.

To read the full interview, click here. Two stills of Penn on set of Moth have also been added to the gallery:

Stills

Excerpts from the interview are below:

Fitz: So, who is your actress, and how did you choose her?

Hilton: Her name is Heaven Murphy. She’s Penn’s (as in Penn Badgley of Gossip Girl and the executive producer of MOTH) cousin and was my roomie in LA. This is her first film. She has the look of a young model/actress which is what we were going for.

F: Another element that really stood out for me was the use of color. Tell me about THAT!
H: Well the location (house/interior scenes) was specifically chosen for its warm feeling.
F: And the “fantastical” exterior shots were very cool…
Hilton chose to keep the trailer black and white as to “not give too much away.” I have to say that I was happily surprised to see the use of color (as well as dialogue) in the actual film.

Since things are quite here at the site. I’ve adding some videos of The Stepfather. Most of them include behind the scenes interviews..if anyone has trouble viewing any video. They will be added to the media within the next week.

Mom’s new squeeze isn’t who he seems in this thriller coming to Blu-ray in February.
Sony Pictures will be giving ‘The Stepfather’ starring Penn Badgley and Dylan Walsh the high-definition treatment on February 9.

Specs haven’t been revealed yet, but supplements will include: commentary with Director Nelson McCormick, Penn Badgley and Dylan Walsh; Open House: Making the Film; Visualizing the Stunts; Gag Reel; and movieIQ.
Suggested list price for the Blu-rays has been set at $38.96.
You can find the latest specs for ‘The Stepfather’ linked from our Blu-ray Release Schedule, where it’s indexed under February 9.

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As I mentioned a little while ago. PBW had the honour of interviewing Moth-director and Penn’s friend, Mr. Hilton Carter (be sure to check out his site – Fresh Kill). Below is the interview, a massive thank you to Hilton for being so awesome and answering all the questions in such detail! We hope you all enjoy the interview!

- How/When did the project come about?

Well the idea of Penn and I working on a project together has been on the table since 2004. About 8 months ago I approached him with a script that was much more involved than Moth, and during that time I was raising money to film it. Penn was excited about the project but given his schedule, he couldn’t fully involve himself like he wanted. As time passed and the funds needed to make the project seemed bleak, I began writing other shorts that I could produce with not much money. Moth happened to be one of these scripts.

It wasn’t until Penn’s mother and I met up to talk about future projects that the idea of shooting Moth became a reality. Penn read the script and agreed and a month later we were in production. I’m not sure how much influence Penn’s mother had on him to produce Moth, but I do know she was a huge reason why it came into fruition.

- When was the movie shot?

We shot Moth the first week of October 2009

- What is the runtime for the film?

The film has a runtime of 20 minutes.

- Will the film be released (on DVD) any time soon?

The film won’t be released on DVD anytime soon.

- How long have you and Penn known eachother? Were you friends prior to working on this together?

Penn and I have known each other since 2002 when I came out to LA to visit my best friend, Evan (co-founder of Cartera Pictures/ Fresh Kill), who is Penn’s cousin, and who had just moved out to LA months previous. Penn was starring on the show Do Over at the time. Shortly after that visit, I moved out to LA for graduate school. Evan’s mother( Penn’s aunt) was renting out a room in her apartment and I lived there while in school. Penn lived four doors down in the same complex, so we shared many meals and discussions on filmmaking over the dinner table.

- This is your first time working on a project with Penn. Do you think you’ll work on any future projects together again?

This was my first time working with Penn but it definitely won’t be my last. Penn, Evan and I are already talking about
what’s next. I wouldn’t be surprised if its a rap album;)

Big thank you to Ian from Under Sound Music for sending this into us.

As we previously told you, our good friend and some time collaborator, Hilton Carter has a new film called Moth coming out. The film is put out under he and Evan Guidera’s Cartera umbrella and is produced by Penn Badgely. This is the trailer of what looks like is going to be an amazing short film about Sophie, a beautiful drug abusing young actress, who flies into Los Angeles from New York, for a job. While staying at the home of some family friends, who just happen to be out of town, Sophie finds her boredom and unhappiness to be the least of her problems.

See you at the premier on Dec 4th at Maryland Institute College of Art.

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Below is a transcript of a very short interview with Penn, Amber Heard and Dylan Walshe, it was done during The Stepfather’s press tour.

DYLAN WALSH STARS AS THE MAN WITH A DARK PAST OUT TO HEAD AN UNSUSPECTING HOUSHOLD …
AND SAYS THE TWISTS THAT FOLLOW WILL KEEP FOLKS GUESSING!

Dylan says: “It’s like a roller coaster ride a little bit where you’re forced into something you’re dreading but in this case it’s the anticipation and the suspense that’s really working.”

Sela says: “it’s a fabulous suspense thriller like hitchcockian psychological.”

Amber says: “because it’s character driven you want to see how the relationships turn out (Penn: you dont just want to see them die).”

FOR SOME OF THE CAST, IT WASN’T THAT EASY TO RUN AND SCREAM FROM AN ON-SCREEN KILLER!

Penn says: “making that stuff real is a lot of work (Amber: difficult, but fun) Because you get to scream.
Amber says: and you have the best time doing it too .. luckily with horror and thriller and these genre-films its hard to take yourself seriously when you’re buddying around one minute with your killer.”

AND THE FILM ALSO GOT THE CAST THINKING ABOUT THEIR OWN TRUST ISSUES …

Sela says: “I would hope i’d clue in a little sooner than my character Susan did (Dylan laughs) but I would be if I met Dylan Walsh in a grocery store and he asked me I just moved here, can you help me find the peanut butter I’d be so charmed.”

Dylan says: “I think there’s certain things where none of us anymore are totally trusting just because you’re bombarded with so many things just from TV you know we know that there’s some craziness out there.”

Penn says: “I’m actually very trusting like 3 years in a row I’ve had a surprise birthday party.”

As I mentioned on Twitter. PBW has obtained exclusive info about Moth!

First off, here’s some info for you all:

- Penn is a cousin of Evan Guidera one of the creative people behind the movie.
- Penn put some funding behind the film because he believes in Hilton Carter’s creative vision.
- The film’s first premier will be in Baltimore, where Hilton and Evan are from and where Penn was born. (at MICA, Hilton’s former college)
- The film missed the 2010 Sundance deadline but will be sent to all other major film festivals for 2010 and will be sent for 2011 Sundance consideration.

In even more exciting news. PBW has scored an exclusive interview with the film’s director: Mr. Hilton Carter. If you guys want to send in questions about the movie – then please don’t hesitate to leave a comment or send us an email (just make sure your questions are in before next Wednesday). We’ll do our best to have it answered.