A sad start to 2011. The great British actor Pete Postlethwaite has died. The Independent online has more information:

“Mr Postlethwaite, who was made an OBE in the 2004 New Year’s Honours List, was described by Hollywood director Steven Spielberg as ’the best actor in the world’. They worked together on The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Amistad. In response to the praise, Mr Postlethwaite joked: ’I'm sure what Spielberg actually said was, ”the thing about Pete is that he thinks he’s the best actor in the world.’”

Two sad deaths hit the news these past few days.

Leslie Neilson died 28 November. The Guardian online has an obit of the actor. Perhaps best remember for his spoof movies, he also starred in Forbidden Planet.

Irvin Kershner, director of Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Robocop 2 died on 27 November. Read more on Empire online.

The UK distribution rights to Eel Girl director Paul Campion’s debut horror feature film The Devil’s Rock have been sold to Metrodome at the American Film Market, and will be distributed in New Zealand by Vendetta Films. Written by Paul Campion, Paul Finch and Brett Ihaka, The Devil’s Rock is set in the British Channel Islands during WW2, and follows a pair of special forces commandos who uncover a Nazi plot to summon a demon. The film was shot in Wellington, New Zealand, and features special makeup effects by four times Oscar winning Weta Workshop.

Further details here.

Dino De Laurentiis, whose career lasted 70 years and produced a number of genre films including Barbarella, The Dead Zone and Flash Gordon, has died, aged 91. Source: Total Film.

News from Deadline: “Mandate Pictures has won the auction for The Day of the Triffids. The film will be produced by Ghost House, the partnership between Mandate, Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert. The deal is seven-figures and I’ve heard it’s the most that Mandate has paid for a project package. Raimi wants to direct it; the original was one of his favorite films as a boy.” Read the website for further details.

The British film director Roy Ward Baker has passed away at the age of 93. Probably best known for his 1958 film A Night To Remember, which recreated the sinking of Titanic, he also directed many fine horror movies for Hammer and Amicus. His Hammer output included Scars of Dracula, The Vampire Lovers, The Anniversary, the slightly bonkers Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde, the even more bonkers Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires and the brilliant Quatermass and the Pit.

For further information please visit Tales from the Computerbank.

Haven is based on the novella The Colorado Kid from renowned author Stephen King. The series follows FBI agent Audrey Parker, whose natural curiosity lands her in the epicentre of activity in Haven, which turns out to be a long time refuge for people that are affected by a range of supernatural afflictions. Thursdays at 10pm, starts tonight.

Source: SyFy UK

Grimm Up North Film Festival is back for a second year – and the organisers promise it will be bigger, bloodier and more brutal than ever. Sounds much like late night Saturday at FantasyCon!

From October 28 to 31 the darkness descends on Manchester. Last year’s inaugural festival saw 25 feature films, including 15 premieres – featuring Q&As and seminars with directors, cast and crew, and movies from Japan, Finland, Germany, Romania, Canada and Australia.

This year films will include Reel Zombies, Evil In the Time of Heroes (starring Billy Zane), Slice and Alien Vs Ninja. There will be further announcements regarding premieres, classics, opening night galas and special guests.

GRIMMFEST: 28–31 October 2010. The Dancehouse, 10 Oxford Rd, Manchester, M1 5QA. Website: www.grimmfest.com.

A spaceship crashes, leaving just a few survivors to hunt a dangerous quarry – whose world their race has destroyed – across a desert. Though it’s hard to understand what they are saying through their helmet intercoms, it soon becomes clear that this is essentially the Star Trek episode Arena (or the Fredric Brown story it adapted) drawn out over ninety minutes, with a chunk of Enemy Mine padding things out. My impression was that, like Rodriguez making Mariachi, the film-makers did their sums, figured out the bare minimum they needed to make a movie, and managed to do it – for which they have my great admiration. But having worked out that they could make it, I wonder if they asked themselves whether they should, whether this film was really worth the effort. A low budget film needs to offer something you can’t get elsewhere: a good idea, a good script, a strong story, a great performance – something! – and this film doesn’t have that.

It’s all very flat, with none of the flair that marked Rodriguez as a director to watch, even when working without money, and aside from some decent alien make-up, a couple of nice spaceship shots, and a good performance by Damion Poitier as the lead alien, there’s not much to commend it. The mid-way twist might surprise viewers new to science fiction. The music tries hard, but is hopelessly overblown for lengthy scenes of desert wandering. The casting of Clark Bartram as lead human is perhaps the biggest mistake. Best known for his role in Batman: Dead End, the excellent fan film that was Collara’s calling card, he seems out of his depth as the lead in a feature. There’s little sense of what the character has been through, or the gravity of what he’s planning to do, and if his beard harks back to Dallas, MacReady and the other hirsute heroes of science fiction past, the comparison does him no favours.

Hunter Prey, Sandy Collora (dir.), Kaleidoscope, DVD, 1hr28.