Sam Raimi's Deal with 'The Devil'

Work from A-list Hollywood talent continues to pop up online. A few months after Will Ferrell made a big splash with his comedy website FunnyOrDie.com, Spider-Man director Sam Raimi is doing his best to make the Internet a scarier place by creating two new original shows for FEARNet, a horror film website/VOD provider. Raimi, who directed the cult horror classic The Evil Dead and its sequels and produced The Grudge movies, is producing through his Ghost House Pictures shingle. The first, called Devil's Trade, is up today (Raimi didn't direct it; a guy named Toby Wilkins did). Trade is a serial about three teenagers who are cursed after buying an cross made from haunted wood. I watched the first installment, called "The Purchase," this morning (it ran 4 minutes and 51 seconds). It was pretty promising if you're into horror. I'll probably go back when they post the second episode next week. Trade certainly has a cinematic style to it--maybe the Internet as an idea incubator for feature films will actually work this time around. FEARNet is a joint venture between cable television provider Comcast, Sony Pictures TV, and Lionsgate. Ghost House's next movie, 30 Days of Night, will be released by Sony this fall.

Raimi producing Internet horror shows [AP]