Easily the best movie-related news I've heard all month, confirmation came today that James Wan will return to the director's chair for the sequel to his smash hit The Conjuring. You may all return to your daily business. Thank you for your co-operation. Good night.

When horror works, it's a commentary on our times, not a random selection of torture porn scenes. Sure, there can be gore and shorts shitting moments, but the best genre flicks have something to say about the world we live in at the time they're made. So how does a horror movie about social media reflect our modern society? Does The Den have something to say? Stick with me.

The more I see of Marcus Dunstan's sequel The Collection the keener I am to watch it. As we've said here before, The Collector was OK at best, but this flick looks to up the ante. That's fine with us! The sequel picks up soon after The Collector ends. Arkin (Josh Stewart) escapes with his life from the vicious grips of The Collector during an entrapment party where the villain adds beautiful Elena (Emma Fitzpatrick, pictured above) to his collection. Instead of recovering from the trauma, Arkin is suddenly abducted from the hospital by mercenaries hired by Elena's wealthy father. Arkin is blackmailed to team up with the mercenaries and track down The Collector's booby trapped warehouse and save Elena. No real dialogue in the clip below, but I dig the flicker effect with the lights and the way The Collector slides his way into the scene. Very John Carpenter. We'll know how the rest of the movie stacks up when The Collection opens Nov. 30.

Basement contributor Matt Bellamy has taken it upon himself to watch and review at least one horror movie a day for the month of October . . . because he's awesome that way! Tonight, Bellamy gets his gore on with a little something from Eli Roth. The movie that may very well have pioneered the lovely sub-genre that is "torture porn", what a wonderful distinction! Many deride this film as senseless, disgusting, and altogether pointless -- I honestly don't agree with any of that. Okay, maybe it is a little disgusting in parts but that's where its charms lie! Wait, charms? In Hostel? Matt, I knew you were a little "off" but I think you're a tad off the mark here! Not at all, writer-director Eli Roth wrote this film with an extremely twisted and jet black sense of humour in mind and I think that aspect comes across both horrifically and beautifully. There is sick humour in ...

Mere minutes ago we hit you with the trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Now we're unleashing something that's more our thang on you Basement Dwellers. Marcus Dunstan's The Collector was OK fun. A wee bit unbelievable, but still offered boobies and a grisly death or two. His follow up, The Collection, looks like it's going to be a bat-shit crazy good time! The sequel picks up soon after The Collector ends. Arkin (Josh Stewart) escapes with his life from the vicious grips of The Collector during an entrapment party where the villain adds beautiful Elena (Emma Fitzpatrick) to his collection. Instead of recovering from the trauma, Arkin is suddenly abducted from the hospital by mercenaries hired by Elena's wealthy father. Arkin is blackmailed to team up with the mercenaries and track down The Collector's booby trapped warehouse and save Elena. I'm gonna come out and say it: the first 30 seconds or so of this preview sold me. And the res...

Shawn and I put the Australian torture porn flick The Loved Ones on the chopping block back in Season Two and loved the shit out of it. Loved! It! Now the rest of you will have the chance to catch this little-seen gem. Paramount Home Media Distribution will release Sean Byrne's twisted little tale of high-school love gone horribly wrong on DVD and VOD on Sept. 11. The DVD includes the unrated version of the film plus interviews with the film's stars and makeup supervisor. This is a must see and, I admit, a must own. Don't believe me? Read on for our thoughts on the film! Jason: Wow, what an experience. I've never gone from hating a movie to loving it before. But I did here. Believe it! The first 40 minutes or so are disjointed and weird. Then the film has a brilliant turning point and it all comes together in the best possible way. Robin McLeavy is a revelation as Lola, one of the creepiest movie villains of all time. Her family makes the one from The Texas ...

Found footage and torture porn are two horror sub-genres that have pretty much run their course, so it comes as a bit of surprise to find one film that caters to both. Such is the case with Chris Stokes's upcoming flick The Helpers. Seven friends on a road trip to Las Vegas break down near a rest-stop motel, where they encounter a seemingly helpful group of people. Convinced to stay overnight, the friends wake up in their rooms to a gruesome and bloody terror.  Kinda yawn really. We'll known for sure when The Helpers opens Sept. 25. Until then, we've got the trailer below, which features a song that will likely get stuck in your head and drive you mental. Be forewarned!     And lest I forget, The Helpers stars Kristen Quintrall, Denyce Lawton, Christopher Jones, JoJo Wright, and Rachel Sterling.

The Loved Ones Jason: Wow, what an experience. I've never gone from hating a movie to loving it before. But I did here. Believe it! The first 40 minutes or so are disjointed and weird. Then the film has a brilliant turning point and it all comes together in the best possible way. Robin McLeavy is a revelation as Lola, one of the creepiest movie villains of all time. Her family makes the one from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre seem oddly tame. This is a disturbing and crazy film that is also a lot of fun. I have to give it a Good. Shawn: This is kind of Hostel meets All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, but way better than both. It starts off kinda slow, but man . . . I really dug this movie. The characters were nicely built, and there is some twisted shit that was also pure coolness. The film is loaded with some great gore, great intensity, sex and pure insanity. And zombies! Kinda. A Good for me on this. Alien Vs. Ninja Jason: Predator meets Enter the Ninja by way of Mighty Morphin...

I know, the fact someone made a movie about ninjas fighting aliens delights us too. I just had to get that out of the way first. Torture porn is a horror subgenre that was born with the first Saw movie and then bludgeoned to death like so many of the movies' victims during the years that followed. The premise is simple: find people to torture then do horrible, terrible things to them for the next 80 minutes. See Hostel, Captivity and a slew of other cheap knockoffs if you need a visual reference. But the Australian effort The Loved Ones is supposed to be a bit different, and it's been getting rave reviews from almost everyone who's watched it, so Shawn and I decided to give a whirl. The Loved Ones is our first film on the chopping block tonight. Then it's time for ninjas and aliens. What more can we say about it other than it features ninjas fighting aliens. What more could we ask for really? Does the conflict make for fun popcorn viewing? Stick with us! And sti...

A straight-for-the-shocks horror flick that works on a visceral level but doesn't cut much deeper. How the titular character manages to set up a house full of deadly traps is never explained, but the premise does make for an intense and gruesome 90 minutes. The film is well made and acted and the villain appropriately creepy. Too bad the filmmakers don't understand that gory does not equal scary. Worth seeing once, and earns a Bad rating from The Basement because of it.