I Survived a Zombie Holocaust

What happens when your zombie film is over run by REAL zombies? This is the problem faced by a New Zealand director in the upcoming feature "I Survived a Zombie Holocaust", which is currently in production.

View the YouTube trailer...

Xmas Greetings To All My Visitors

I think Corey Taylor sums up my feelings about this time of year best...

Christopher Witherspoon's "Rage" - A Review.

Indie film maker Christopher Witherspoon recently got in touch about his film "Rage", which has been playing the festival circuits to much critical acclaim, and very kindly sent me a screener copy of his film to take a look at.

The film is set in Portland, Oregon, and revolves around a chap named Dennis (Rick Crawford), who’s just broken things off with his mistress, as he’s decided he doesn’t want to ruin his marriage, and besides she has a psycho boyfriend who’s just got out of jail.

Unfortunately, his routine trip into town is subsequently marred by an encounter with a less than friendly motorcyclist, who clearly has some sort of problem with him. As he proceeds to hold him up at subsequent sets of traffic lights, then starts following him round town.

With no idea who this person is, or why he's trying to intimidate him, he initially shrugs it off and just tries to go about his buisiness. But what started as a routine day, quickly turns into a deadly game of cat and mouse, as he finds this guy is actively stalking him round town, with each subsequent encounter becoming progressively more confrontational and violent.

For the most part, the story seems to be largely inspired by the old 1974 film "Duel" (which even gets a mention in the film), but also seemed to have a few nods to the old 80s slasher films at the end.

Overall I enjoyed this, director Christopher Witherspoon has worked in the film industry for many years, in various roles, and has obviously put his experience to good use in this. It's well shot, well filmed and the actors can actually act, which made a nice change from some of the indie films I've had to review in the past, and there is a neat twist in the end (which I won't spoil for you) that I certainly didn't see coming.

The only minor negative thing I would perhaps say is that I personally prefer films that are a bit faster paced, whereas this film takes the time to build things up slowly. But that's not really a criticism, rather just a statement about my own personal tastes. But in any case, you should certainly like the end confrontation, when everything finally comes to a head.

To summarise, "Rage" is an effective little thriller, that is reminiscent of the 70's and 80s thrillers it owes its inspiration to and given the chance, you should check this one out.

View the trailer on You Tube

For more information about this film, visit the official website at http://www.ragethemovie.net/ 

Day of the Dead Fan Bible eBook

One for all you fans of George Romero's classic "Living Dead" films, TriCoast Publishing is pleased to present a multimedia experience in horror with the "Day of The Dead Fan Bible" (Enhanced Edition). The TriBook Fan Bible is a must have for anyone who appreciates the sinister genius that is Romero.

TriBooks (enhanced video eBooks) allows Day of the Dead fans to read the original never before published screenplay deemed "too horrific to bring to life", including every gory detail oozing out of the screen.

Read George A. Romero's original script, watch clips from the film examined, exposed and explained by the director himself. Listen as Special Effects Pioneer Tom Savini reveals for the first time ever, the method behind the madness. Travel underground with Production Designer Cletus Anderson as he walks you through the cold, dark, legendary bunker they called home for the four month production of Day of the Dead.

The TriBook, or video enhanced eBook format, is a compelling blend of mixed media components designed to captivate your senses, making this an exciting new way to go behind the scenes. It includes the original screenplay, storyboard illustrations, clips from the movie, and interviews and commentary with the director, special effects artists, producers, and cast and crew.

Due to the disturbing and explicit nature of this content, Day of the Dead Fan Bible is not recommended for anyone other than true fans.

Available to download from iTunes.

Vote for your favourite ghost story from the "Woman in Black" You Tube competition.

Daniel Radcliffe, the star of upcoming ghost story chiller, THE WOMAN IN BLACK, invites YouTube users to vote for their favourite ghost story from the ten shortlisted final entries of THE WOMAN IN BLACK ghost story competition.

Launched on Halloween (31st October 2011) the competition challenged budding writers to submit their own original short story to the official YouTube channel for a chance to win a trip to attend the Worldwide Premiere of THE WOMAN IN BLACK on 24th January 2012.

In addition, the winning entry will be read out by Daniel Radcliffe and included in the bonus features of THE WOMAN IN BLACK DVD.

The competition was a resounding success with a 177 harrowing, haunting tales submitted that have now been whittled down to ten finalists. The stories shortlisted for the final ten were selected on the following judging criteria: creativity, originality and writing style.

Daniel Radcliffe announced the competition closing with a message for all those who took part in the ghost stories initiative. He was particularly impressed with the standard of entries for the competition, adding “I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has submitted their ghost stories over the last few weeks. The quality of the entries has been absolutely amazing.”

The destiny of the winning video will be decided by whichever generates the most votes across YouTube. Daniel encouraged users to vote for their favourite video, asking “This is where I hand it over to you. Take a look at the top ten videos in the voting section and vote for your favourite story.”

Votes for the best video commences from 21st December, with voting closing at 23:59 on January 5th, 2012. The winner will be announced on 6th of January, 2012.

A full set of terms and conditions are available on the YouTube channel

To vote for the top 10 finalists visit here:

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5FF1EC07C7866496&feature=plcp

Night School/Terror Eyes DVD

The old Video Nasty title "Terror Eyes" has finally been released on DVD, in the US at least, as part of the Warner Bros "Burn on Demand" Archive collection.

Released under its US title "Night School", the film is a fairly grisly slasher movie about a maniac dressed in biker leathers and a crash helmet hacking up the students at a Boston College, which stars Megan Ward (of The Thorn Birds fame in her screen debut) as one of the students and B-movie regular Leonard Mann (Cut and Run) as the investigating detective.

The movie is acually a DVDr release, which they burn to order whenever one is purchased, but don't let that put you off. This is still a legitimate release, which has been digitally remastered and early reviews suggest the picture quality is excellent.

The disc contains the original theatrical trailer as an extra.

Buy from Amazon.com

Hammer Classics - Out on DVD Jan 16

This January Studio Canal will be releasing on DVD for the first time ever the classic Hammer horror pictures "The Scarlet Blade" and "The Brigand of Kandahar".

Both films were directed by John Gilling from the famous Hammer Film Productions and star the legendary Oliver Reed!

THE SCARLET BLADE is a historical adventure set during the English Civil War. Oliver Reed is in devilish form as a Roundhead soldier who kidnaps the King on the orders of his tyrannical Colonel (Lionel Jeffries). It's down to a local group of loyal soldiers to rescue him, led by Royalist cavalier, known as The Scarlet Blade.

In THE BRIGAND OF KANDAHAR, Oliver Reed continues his villainous streak in another Hammer historical adventure. The setting is the Indian desert, where the British army faces scorching temperatures and savage warrior, Reed playing Eli Khan, leader of some local bandits that come to the aid of a disgraced British officer.

 

Both films will be out on January 16th

Buy the UK DVD of "Scarlet Blade" on Amazon.co.uk

Buy the UK DVD of "Brigand of Kandahar" at Amazon.co.uk

The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo - In UK cinemas Dec 26.

This English-language adaptation of the Swedish crime novel by Stieg Larsson follows a disgraced journalist, Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig), as he investigates the disappearance of a wearily patriarch's niece from 40 years ago. He is aided by the pierced, tattooed, punk computer hacker named Lisbeth Salander (Rooney Mara). As they work together in the investigation, Blomkvist and Salander uncover immense corruption beyond anything they have ever imagined

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first film in Columbia Pictures' three-picture adaptation of Stieg Larsson's literary blockbuster The Millennium Trilogy. Directed by David Fincher and starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, the film is based on the first novel in the trilogy, which altogether have sold 50 million copies in 46 countries and become a worldwide phenomenon.

The film hits UK cinemas boxing day.

Visit the official website at http://www.dragontattoo.com/site/



Let the (Death) Games Begin!!!!

How do you make a fortune from the bloodlust of millions? One sadistically savvy businessman (Samuel L. Jackson) has created an empire with his brutal, fight-to-the-death gladiator website. His newest warrior is David Lord (Kellan Lutz), a kidnapped fireman, now imprisoned and forced to fight for his life.

To buy his freedom, Lord agrees to do a series of lethal bouts. But as the body count escalates, and with his most challenging battle remaining, Lord unleashes a torrent of bloody carnage and reveals a secret that threatens to tear down the entire enterprise. Also featuring Daniel Dae Kim (TV’s “Lost”) and Nina Dobrev (TV’s “Vampire Diaries”).

ARENA marks the directorial debut of visual effects supervisor Jonah Loop (Collateral, Transporter 2). It was written by Tony Giglio (Chaos, Death Race 2 & 3) based on a screenplay by Michael Hultquist & Robert Martinez (Victim) and produced by Mark Williams (Flawless, Malice in Wonderland), Brad Krevoy (Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin) and Mike Callaghan (Hardwired, Ticking Clock).

The film is released to UK DVD and Blu-ray January 9th.

Buy the UK DVD at Amazon.co.uk

Buy the UK Blu-ray at Amazon.co.uk

Tyrannosaur coming to UK DVD in the new year.

Tyrannosaur is the debut feature film from award winning actor turned director Paddy Considine (Dead Mans Shoes).

The film revolves around Joseph, (Peter Mullan - Trainspotting, Session 9) a man plagued by violence and a rage that is driving him to self-destruction, who is spiraling into turmoil.

A chance of redemption appears in the form of Hannah (Olivia Colman - Hot Fuzz, TV's Peep Show), a Christian charity shop worker. Their relationship develops to reveal that Hannah is hiding a secret of her own, a secret that wil have devastating consequences for both of them.

The film is released to UK DVD on February 6th Feb and is available to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk

DRACULA VS. ROBIN HOOD VS. JEKYLL & HYDE - ISSUE 2

Publisher Mohawk Media has today released the second issue of its new title, Dracula vs. Robin Hood vs. Jekyll & Hyde.

Not content with the title's legendary headliners, the publisher is promising several surprise guest stars.

British writer Chris Bunting says: "The second issue features not one, but two tyrants from the pages of history. Each will play a major role in the future of this series.

"Plus, a long forgotten character from the Robin Hood legend will make an overdue comeback.

"This flows directly into the ethos of this comic book: to give readers a thrilling ride through a clash of cultural titans. Expect twists and turns – including unexpected guest stars throughout the series."

Released via the publisher's paperless Eco Comics range, editor Stuart Buckley explains: "This digital comic book isn't some rough and ready webcomic.

It is, for all intents and purposes, a top quality print comic book in everything but its physical format. In fact, it knocks spots off most print comic books.

"The mission statement of Mohawk Media is to produce stories that are more concerned with being entertaining than edgy. We believe that writer Chris Bunting and artist JL Czerniawski are future stars, and they're showing exactly why with this series."

Dracula vs. Robin Hood vs. Jekyll & Hyde #2 is a twenty-page issue, and is available to order now in various digital formats via the Eco Comics store http://www.mohawkmedia.co.uk/ecocomics  for $1.95 (approximately £1.20).

Sherlock Holmes and the Flying Zombie Death Monkeys!!!!!!

If you’re looking for a bit of light reading over the festive period, then here's the very book for you. "Sherlock Holmes and the Flying Zombie Death Monkeys"!!!!

Oh yes, written as a “B-movie” in a book, with a title that would surely make Arthur Conan Doyle turn in his grave, this is actually a collection of 4 stories from author Chris Wood, featuring the legendary detective, his impertinent assistant Dr Watson and a hoard of undead flying simians, which feature predominantly in the first story and turn up to wreak havoc in the subsequent 3.

The first tale “The Flying Zombie Death Monkey’s”, is the main story of the book, and sees the famous crime fighting duo, armed with an unfeasibly large amount of ammunition for a Victorian story, risking life and limb trying to prevent the titular creations of the man with the sinister bonce from taking over London after they decimate parliament.

The Second tale, “A Scandal in Burnley” has Holmes and Watson trying to find the whereabouts of a certain incriminating photo that threatens to embarrass a certain Bavarian nobleman (the motto of the story being, if you are going to have an affair, never photograph yourself with your mistress mooning a scurrilous rebuke to a football team).

The third story “The Pain of the Piano Forted Parts” sees them trying to find who the real culprit was that “knackered” the career of  a man who could play the piano using his genitalia and lastly “The Mystery of the Speckled Wang” has the bungling crime fighters embroiled in a tale of murder most foul on a country estate, which is made all the more difficult by attacks by the flying creatures from the first story.

Hugely tongue-in-cheek and filled with humour that would not be out of place in an Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall production, I really had a blast reading this. You can tell straight away from the story’s title what your in for, so if you like daft, tongue in cheek, slapstick humour then this is definitely for you.

This is actually author Chris Wood’s second “Holmes” novel, which is a follow up to “Sherlock Holmes and the Underpants of Death”. I can’t wait to check that one out either!

Buy the book from Amazon.co.uk

Dead Heads on UK DVD

After a hugely successful UK premiere at this years FRIGHTFEST, the Pierce Brothers winning combo of gory horror action, smart humour and heartfelt emotion "DEAD HEADS" hits UK video shelves this January.

The film follows zombie slackers Mike (Michael McKiddy) and Brent (Ross Kidder), who awaken as zombies in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and decide to go on a road trip, travelling cross country to find the formers old girlfriend and love of his life. But will those nasty bounty-hunting agents with a secret agenda catch them before they do?

  

As a zombieland Abbott and Costello, actors Michael McKiddy and Ross Kiddes chemistry and timing are superb. And you'll just love Markus Taylor as the lumbering Cheese.

Directed by brothers Brett and Drew T. Pierce, son of THE EVIL DEAD special effects photographer Bart Pierce, the film wears its influences gloriously on its blood splattered sleeve and sees a return to 1980s style comedy adventure movies in this Road Trip of the Living Dead that's hilarious fun and surprisingly sweet.

Dead Heads comes to UK DVD & BLU-RAY 2 JANUARY 2012 with a whole host of extras.

Buy the DVD from Amazon.co.uk

Buy the Blu-ray from Amazon.co.uk

Visit the official website at http://www.deadheadsthemovie.com/

Rogue River - flowing onto UK DVD

Wanting to scatter her father’s ashes at a significant place, Mara (Page) drives to a remote part of the beautiful Rogue River in Southern Oregon. When Mara’s car is towed away by over-zealous police she accepts the offer of a ride into town by a kindly passerby. First they must stop by his place though in order Jon (TEXAS CHAINSAW 2 and DEVIL’S REJECTS horror legend Bill Moseley) can tell his wife Lucinda what he’s up to.

So begins Mara’s nightmare descent into utter horror and disgust. For Jon and Lucinda aren’t what they seem and as they hold Mara hostage inside their house the shock twists and creepy turns begin. Your nerves will be stripped as bare as Jon and Lucinda dare when their clothes and wigs are removed, making Mara wish she had parked her car somewhere else.

If you’ve seen MISERY, you’ve seen nothing!

ROGUE RIVER comes to DVD & Blu-ray 16 January 2012 courtesy of G2 Pictures and After Dark Originals.

Buy the DVD at Amazon.co.uk

Buy the Blu-ray at Amazon.co.uk

Soundtrack of "The Dead" to be released.

By popular demand, the producers of the much admired zombie survival flick THE DEAD are releasing the film’s soundtrack, which features a haunting original score from film composer Imran Ahmad, with vocals from top Eritrean singer Saba Tewelde and kora from Gambian virtuoso Jally Kebba Susso.

Howard Ford, the film’s producer and co-director, commented: “We were absolutely blown away by Imran’s unique and moving score for ‘The Dead’.  We simply had to release it because of the sheer number of people asking where they could get their hands on the soundtrack. Also with the US DVD/Blue Ray release coming up on 14th February the demand is likely to grow, so I hope people are as moved and haunted by this incredible score as we continue to be”.

Imran, who worked closely with Howard and Jon Ford added: “The music intends to reflect the beauty of the natural world turning into a twisted and distorted reality.  I hope the listener is able to share the journey across rural Africa that is portrayed in the film.”

The soundtrack is available to download from iTunes and Amazon from 12th December.

More info can be found here http://www.imranmusic.co.uk/ 

Abduction to hit UK video shelves in the new year!

For as long as he can remember, Nathan Harper (Taylor Lautner) has had the uneasy feeling that he's living someone else's life. When he discovers an image of himself as a young boy on a missing persons website, all of Nathan's darkest fears come true - his life has been a carefully fabricated lie which hides something more dangerous than he could have ever imagined. Before his ‘parents’ can explain they are murdered and Nathan finds himself on the run.

Propelled on a lethal, no-holds barred mission to learn the truth, every second counts as Nathan and his friend Karen (Lily Collins - "Preist"), aided by an undercover agent (Sigourney Weaver - the "Alien" Saga) race to evade an army of assassins and federal operatives. But as his opponents close in, Nathan realizes that the only way to survive is to stop running and take matters into his own hands.

Abduction will be available to download, and to rent and buy on DVD and Blu-ray from 13^th February 2012

Buy the DVD on Amazon.co.uk

Buy the Blu-ray on Amazon.co.uk

The Thing to re-invade cinemas this weekend!!!!

Released to UK cinemas this weekend. Antarctica: an extraordinary continent of awesome beauty. It is also home to an isolated outpost where a discovery full of scientific possibility becomes a mission of survival when an alien is unearthed by a crew of international scientists.

The shape-shifting creature, accidentally unleashed at this marooned colony, has the ability to turn itself into a perfect replica of any living being. It can look just like you or me, but inside, it remains inhuman. In the thriller The Thing, paranoia spreads like an epidemic among a group of researchers as they're infected, one by one, by a mystery from another planet.

Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up. When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must jon the crew's pilot, Carter (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time.

The Thing serves as a prelude to John Carpenter's classic 1982 film of the same name. Directed by Matthijs van Heijningen, the thriller is produced by Strike Entertainment's Marc Abraham and Eric Newman (Dawn of the Dead).

The Thing is released to UK cinemas from 2nd Dec.

Visit the Offical Website

How to deal with a zombie apocalypse during Xmas

There now follows a public service announcement on how to deal with a zombie invasion during the Xmas season (remember, ammo makes a great stocking filler).

Robert Englund's INKUBUS comes to UK DVD.

If you're in the mood for some post Xmas horror in the new year, then murder, gore and mayhem will ensue when two giants of the horror genre, Robert Englund (Nightmare on Elm Street) and William Forsythe (Devil's Rejects) team up for the first time in supernatural horror thriller, INKUBUS, which will be released by Trinity X on DVD in the UK in February.

Directed  by feature film debutant Glenn Ciano, INKUBUS tells the gruesome story of the demon Inkubus (played by Englund) who is hell-bent on destroying the one man who almost captured him thirteen years ago, Detective Gil Diamante (William Forsythe).

Shot in just 15 days, Ciano has gone on record as saying he wanted the film to be a “nuts and guts” throw-back to the 80s genre film.

Englund, who is known for working with new-blood directors such as Adam Green, Tim Sullivan and Scott Glosserman explains why he took the role:  “I deliberately now look first at scripts from newcomers and Glenn Ciano’s INKUBUS was such an intriguing project. People like him have shone a new light on the genre and provided it with a new and viable business model”.

The film is released to UK DVD Monday Feb 6, 2012.

Pre-order the UK DVD from Amazon.co.uk