Clocking Back In

It's been available on VHS – and now DVD – in the US for some time now, but at last Stanley Kubrick’s controversial 1970s classic A Clockwork Orange will be re-released uncut in cinemas in his native country. It'll surface in the spring after the film was granted a new 18 certificate by the British Board of Film Classification. In 1973 it was rated with the then adults-only certificate, X.

The BBFC said, “Despite the notoriety, the board does not consider that concerns expressed at the time of the film’s original release about its possible influence on young people are a serious issue now.” A Clockwork Orange was withdrawn in the UK by Kubrick himself. Warner Bros approached the director’s family after his death in 1999 about re-issuing the film. They reportedly regard the re-release as ‘a fitting memorial’ to Kubrick.

Waking Nightmare

Blade writer David Goyer has reportedly been brought in to perform a final script polish on the long-gestating Freddy Vs Jason movie. Preproduction is currently set to start in February. There are also rumours of two endings to the film – one in which Freddy lives and the other in which Jason is triumphant. Rather than for some test-screening process, both alternate endings will go out on release prints and audiences won’t know which version they’re about to see.

The project beat a proposed new Friday the 13th film. New Line Cinema acquired the rights to the Friday franchise with the choice of either continuing the series or pitting its ceaseless hockey-masked killer Jason against Freddy in the next film.

Gaiman & Gilliam Look to Future

Neil Gaiman has confirmed that genre great Terry Gilliam is in line to direct a film of his novel Good Omens, which Gaiman wrote with Terry Pratchett. Gilliam will co-write the script with his new regular writing partner Tony Grisoni, who adapted Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas with the film-maker.

Gaiman and Pratchett have chosen not to be involved beyond giving Gilliam their blessing. After a previous failed deal to film this apocalyptic comedy, Gaiman told the Sci-Fi Channel’s website, “We decided this time around we would give the book to people who seemed to understand it. I think Terry Gilliam is the perfect director for Good Omens in every way.”

More News from Neverwhere in Starburst #258