Tuesday 24 August 2021

WIRED SHUT - Arriving on DVD & Digital

Jaw dropping slasher WIRED SHUT from director Alexander Sharp in his feature film debut will have you open-mouthed with fear when it arrives on DVD and Digital 30 August 2021 from 101 Films.

Famed author Reed Rodney (Blake Stadel – Riverdale, The Twilight Zone) seems to have it all. International acclaim for his writing, a sweeping secluded mansion and money beyond his wildest dreams, but life isn’t always what it seems on the surface. Behind the glossy exterior lies the shell of a man, an alcoholic haunted by his past transgressions that destroyed his family.

When a horrific car crash leaves him in bad way, he faces reconstructive surgery and his jaw is wired shut, leaving him unable to speak. Forced to recover at home alone, the isolation threatens to overwhelm him… then his estranged daughter Emmy (Natalie Sharp – The Flash, Supernatural), turns up. Is she there to reconnect after all these years or does she have an ulterior motive?

When a dangerous secret emerges and a menacing intruder shows up, Reed and Emmy must band together to try and survive the night…

Get totally wired with gore-filled splatter-fest WIRED SHUT .

Released on DVD and Digital 30 August 2021

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

 

New trailer released for the Japanese erotic horror BLIND BEAST - Out now from Arrow Video

Blind Beast is a grotesque portrait of the bizarre relationship between a blind sculptor and his captive muse, adapted from a short story from Japan’s foremost master of the macabre, Edogawa Rampo (Horrors of Malformed Men, The Black Lizard, Caterpillar). 
 
View the trailer below...


 
An artist’s model, Aki (Mako Midori), is abducted, and awakens in a dark warehouse studio whose walls are decorated with outsized women’s body parts – eyes, lips, legs and breasts – and dominated by two recumbent giant statues of male and female nudes. Her kidnapper introduces himself as Michio (Eiji Funakoshi), a blind sculptor whom she had witnessed previously at an exhibition in which she featured intently caressing a statue of her naked torso. Michio announces his intention of using her to sculpt the perfect female form. At first defiant, she eventually succumbs to his intense fixation on her body and finds herself drawn into his sightless world, in which touch is everything. 
 

Blind Beast is a masterpiece of erotic horror that explores the all-encompassing and overwhelming relationship between the artist and his art and the obsessive closed world that the artist inhabits, with maestro director Yasuzo Masumura (Giants and Toys, Irezumi) conjuring up a hallucinogenic dreamworld in which sensual and creative urges combine with a feverish intensity.
 
 
SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS

• High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original uncompressed Japanese mono audio
• Optional English subtitles
• Brand new audio commentary by Asian cinema scholar Earl Jackson
• Newly filmed introduction by Japanese cinema expert Tony Rayns
• Blind Beast: Masumura the Supersensualist, a brand new visual essay by Japanese literature and visual studies scholar Seth Jacobowitz
• Original Trailer
• Image Gallery
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Tony Stella

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Illustrated booklet featuring new writing by Virginie Sélavy.

Buy the UK BD from Amazon.co.uk

Buy the US BD from Amazon.com

 

 

 

Festive slasher ONE CHRISTMAS NIGHT IN A TOY STORE launches Indiegogo campaign

In what’s guaranteed to be a festive slay ride, the makers of cult slasher movies Once Upon a Time at Christmas and The Nights Before Christmas are returning with their most bloodthirsty and murderous instalment yet. Fan favourites Santa and Mrs Claus are back with a vengeance and ready to dispatch their victims in a variety of inventive ways in ONE CHRISTMAS NIGHT IN A TOY STORE.

Dystopian Films have just launched an Indiegogo campaign for the movie with a huge variety of pledge levels and rewards available for horror fans who want to get involved and bring Santa and Mrs Claus back together for their final, explosive instalment of this Christmas Horror trilogy.

The previous films saw the deeply in love but psychotic couple meet in an asylum for the criminally insane, which they promptly burned down whilst killing everyone. They then toyed with the police and FBI as they wreaked havoc across New York State over the 12 days of Christmas, working their way through their special naughty list and leaving a trail of dismembered victims in their wake. 

Now, the chase is over as the killers let authorities know exactly where they are on Christmas Eve: fortified inside an enormous toy store with dozens of festive shoppers held as hostages! As the FBI lock the building down and try to negotiate, Mr and Mrs Claus seem to have everything under control. But they haven’t counted on an off-duty cop being amongst the hostages and doing her best to thwart the crazed pair from fulfilling their real plan while saving as many lives as possible.

Christmas Eve sees the start of the holidays and Eddie Ford begrudgingly retiring from the FBI, having missed his opportunity to catch America's most wanted serial killers; Mr and Mrs Claus. His farewell speech is interrupted by breaking news; a hostage situation is developing in a children's toy store, with shoppers held by a man and a woman dressed as Santa and Mrs Claus. Luckily, inside the store is Eddie’s cop daughter Ruby, now the hostages only hope of seeing Christmas day alive.

Once Upon a Time at Christmas kept audiences terrified through its festival screenings and release while The Nights Before Christmas revealed how Santa and Mrs Claus met, with bigger and more extravagant kills. It ended its festival run closing the prestigious London Frightfest Festival in 2020. One Christmas Night in a Toy Store will round off the crazed lovebirds’ story with the biggest, bloodiest story possible, racking up more kills than ever before!

Producer Ken Bressers said: “We’re excited to launch this Indiegogo campaign to help bring One Christmas Night in a Toy Store to the screen. Santa and Mrs Claus have quickly become firm favourites with horror fans and this is a great way for people to get involved with the project and support real independent film.”

For more info and to donate, visit the film's Indiegogo page.

 

Darkly fun NIGHT DRIVE - On Digital 11 October

Buckle up for a wild ride in NIGHT DRIVE, you don’t know where it will take you. This slick, full throttle sci-fi thriller premieres at FrightFest this August and screens at GrimmFest ahead of its UK digital release on 11 October from 101 Films.

Los Angeles cab driver Russell (AJ Bowen -You're Next, Synchronicity), is having a tough time; his life has taken a few wrong turns, things haven’t gone to plan and he’s not in a good place. But a chance pick-up of an unfathomable passenger could be about to change everything.

When Charlotte (Sophie Dalah - Unbroken, Dead Night) gets in his car, what starts out as a normal fare quickly takes a dark turn and spins Russell’s world on its head. And then things get even weirder and deadlier, and there’s shocks and splatters galore.

Who’s really in the driver’s seat and who will make it through the night drive?

Get ready for a surge of excitement in this edge of seat thriller with a twist in its tailgate.

NIGHT DRIVE is released to UK Digital outlets 11 October.

 

STUDIOCANAL to release new 4K Restoration of THE HOWLING, October...

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Joe Dante’s horror classic THE HOWLING, STUDIOCANAL is thrilled to announce a brand new 4K restoration of the 1981 contemporary tale of timeless horror. Available on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-Ray, DVD and Steelbook editions from the 25th October 2021. Starring Dee Wallace (E.T), Patrick MacNee (TVs THE AVENGERS) and Dennis Duggan (PARENTHOOD).

With THE HOWLING, director Joe Dante (GREMLINS, INNERSPACE) and screenwriter John Sayles (LONE STAR, PASSION FISH) created a unique horror shocker loosely based on part one of author Gary Brandner's trilogy of novels.  The film took the genre of werewolf horror to a whole new level, with its dark atmosphere, pointed irony and elaborately modelled special effects and make-up by Rob Bottin (ROBOCOP, TOTAL RECALL).  The film received a Saturn Award for Best Horror Film in 1980.

SYNOPSIS:
Karen West narrowly escapes death at a rendez-vous she has deliberately accepted with a murderer whose name is Eddie. He is shot by the police. After this, the young woman begins to have nightmares and goes to a therapy centre with her husband Roy. But instead of getting better, she gets worse and her relationship with her husband deteriorates. When Roy is attacked by an unidentified animal, his personality and behaviour begin to change...

ABOUT THE RELEASE
The 4K UHD Limited SteelBook Edition and the 4K UHD Collector’s Edition are released with exclusive new artworks, offering bonus material including a new featurette about Joe Dante’s extensive career in Hollywood and the documentary “Welcome to Werewolfland” including interviews and commentaries with cast and crew.

Special Features include:
-NEW Featurette: Inside the Career of Joe Dante
-Documentary: Welcome to Werewolflan
-Deleted Scenes
-Outtakes

ABOUT THE RESTORATION
THE HOWLING was restored in 2021 by STUDIOCANAL with the VDM lab, under the supervision of Joe Dante.

This restoration project was conducted from start to finish in 4K with a 16-bit color depth bringing all the details from the original negative to life.

The 4K 16-bit scan was made from the original 35mm negative. The image from the 1.20 negative was then cropped to 1.85 in order to respect the original format of the film projection.

The film was calibrated in the P3-D65-ST2084 color space, with a 1000 nits screen. The calibration was based on the reference of 35mm positive copies of the period as well as, for the video part, on the basis of existing reference masters.

The restoration took a few hundred hours of meticulously filtering in order to correct the defects related to the age of the film and to the wear of time.

STUDIOCANAL is proud to present THE HOWLING in DCP 4K, and a DOLBY VISION UHD HDR & SDR video master, through a brand-new Prestige 4K edition.

THE HOWLING is available on 4K UHD Collctors Edition, Steelbook, Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital 25 October 2021

Pre-order the 4K UHD COLLECTOR’S EDITION (3x discs, Poster, Booklet & art cards) from Amazon.co.uk

Pre-order the BLU-RAY EDITION (1x Blu-ray disc)
from Amazon.co.uk   

Pre-order the DVD EDITION – 1 DVD disc from Amazon.co.uk  



YOU'VE GOT RED ON YOU - New book on the making of Shaun of the Dead

In the 2004 horror-comedy Shaun of the Dead a group of Londoners battled zombies in a London pub. The result was a box office hit that, almost two decades on, claims an ever-expanding fan base. How did a low-budget British movie become a beloved global pop culture phenomenon? 
 
Entertainment Weekly’s senior writer Clark Collis’s authoritative new book "YOU’VE GOT RED ON YOU: HOW SHAUN OF THE DEAD WAS BROUGHT TO LIFE" reveals the previously untold story behind the making of the film. 
 
Having interviewed a host of people across cast and crew involved in the making the film, Clark Collis details how a group of friends overcame seemingly insurmountable odds to make a movie that would take bites out of both the UK and the US box office before ascending to the status of bona fide comedy classic. 
 
“Shaun of the Dead is one of my favourite films and I thought I knew everything there was to know about it,” says author Collis. “I couldn’t have been more wrong. You’ve Got Red on You is full of never-before-heard tales of behind-the-scenes struggles, battles, and near-disasters. But it’s also the story of how a bunch of mates made their dream movie about people fighting zombies in a London pub and discovered that dream was embraced by audiences all around the world. I hope people have as much of a blast reading it as I did writing it.” 
 
The book features in-depth interviews with director Edgar Wright and producer Nira Park, who continue a productive and prolific partnership in 2021 with The Sparks Brothers documentary and the upcoming Last Night In Soho. There are also interviews with cast members Simon Pegg (soon to be seen reprising his role as Benji Dunn in Mission: Impossible 7), Nick Frost, Kate Ashfield, Bill Nighy, Lucy Davis, and Coldplay’s lead singer Chris Martin. Alongside a treasure trove of storyboards and rare behind-the-scenes photos, the book features commentary from famous fans, including filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and Eli Roth, Walking Dead executive producer Greg Nicotero, and World War Z author Max Brooks. 
 
YOU’VE GOT RED ON YOU: HOW SHAUN OF THE DEAD WAS BROUGHT TO LIFE is published in UK and US on 19th October.
 
Pre-order the UK Hardcover from Amazon.co.uk 
 
Pre-order the US Hardcover from Amazon.com
 
 
 
 

Tuesday 17 August 2021

New Docu-series BEHIND THE MONSTERS - Streaming 26 Oct on Shudder.

Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streamer for horror, thriller and the supernatural, announced today the new original docu-series Behind the Monsters, which takes a deep dive on cinematic horror icons.  Each of the series’ six episodes will focus on a single horror character, including Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Candyman, Chucky and Pinhead, and feature interviews with horror experts and the writers, directors and actors from the original films that made each character the stuff of genre legends.

 

Written and directed by Gabrielle Binkley and Anthony Uro and produced by Stage 3 Productions, Behind the Monsters debuts on Shudder on Tuesday 26 October with episodes rolling out weekly.

Behind the Monsters will focus on the following horror icons over six episodes:

CANDYMAN, featuring interviews with the original Candyman (1992) Director Bernard Rose and stars Tony Todd and Virginia Madsen; Candyman (2021) Director Nia DaCosta; and Horror Noire’s Tananarive Due, among others. 

CHUCKY, with interviews with Child’s Play (1988) Creator/Writer Don Mancini, Director Tom Holland and star Catherine Hicks, along with the voice of Chucky, Brad Dourif, among others. 

JASON Voorhees, including interviews with Kane Hodder, actor/stuntman from Friday the 13th Parts VII & VIII, Jason Goes to Hell and Jason X, and Tom Savini, special effects creator on Friday the 13th Parts I & IV, among others.

MICHAEL MYERS, featuring interviews with actor Nick Castle from Halloween and the new Halloween films from Blumhouse, as well as Halloween (2018) stunt actor James Jude Courtney, among others. 

FREDDY KRUEGER, including interviews with A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994) stars Heather Langenkamp and Lin Shaye, as well as Special Effects Designer Jim Doyle, among others.

PINHEAD, including an interview with Hellraiser actor Doug Bradley and others. 

Other experts from the within genre set to appear throughout the series include Drac & Swan Boulet (The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula), Horror Noire documentary writer and producer Ashlee Blackwell, The Last Podcast on the Left hosts Ben Kissel and Henry Zebrowski, Blumhouse producer Ryan Turek and filmmakers Jeffrey Reddick (Final Destination), April Wolfe (Black Christmas, 2019), David Bruckner (Hellraiser reboot), and filmmaker and drag artist Peaches Christ.  

Behind the Monsters is executive produced by Phil Nobile Jr., Kelly Ryan and Mark Shostrom. 

For a 7-day, risk-free trial, visit www.shudder.com.
 

Horror Channel (UK) reveals slate of TV premieres for September

Tom Paton’s sci-fi action thriller G-LOC is amongst three films receiving their UK TV premieres on Horror Channel this September. G-LOC, which deals with the increasingly topical issue of space migration, stars Stephen Moyer, Casper Van Dien, Tala Gouveia and John Rhys-Davies.
 

Another UK-produced movie receiving it’s UK TV premieres is disturbing haunted house thriller, THE HAUNTED, starring Sophie Stevens (The Black Prince), Kirstie Steele (Waterloo Road, Glasgow Girls) and Nick Bayly (Goodnight Sweetheart, Emmerdale). The third is THE LAST HOUSE. which stars I Spit On Your Grave’s Camille Keaton, who is back and out for revenge again – this time against a trio of home invaders.

There are also two Channel premieres – Adam Robitel’s THE TAKING, a smart and clever found footage film that uses the tropes of the subgenre to examine mental illness, and Brian O’Malley’s inventive and trippy LET US PREY, which stars Liam Cunningham and Pollyanna McIntosh,

Full film details in transmission order:

Saturday 4 September @ 21:00 – THE HAUNTED (2018) *UK TV Premiere


Employed as a night-nurse for the ailing Mr Cunningham, young carer, Emma, arrives at a rambling, isolated house in the English countryside for her first shift, expecting an uneventful evening ahead. But once inside the house, and left alone with her silent, new patient, Emma is forced to confront the dark secrets which lie buried…secrets that drive her towards an appalling revelation.

Saturday 11 September @ 21:00 – THE LAST HOUSE (2019) *UK TV Premiere


When a small-town widow is grieving in isolation, she receives a deadly ultimatum from the privileged sons of a local land developer to sell her beloved property. With 24 hours to decide and her pleas to the town's corrupt sheriff falling on deaf ears, she realises she must take matters into her own hands.

Friday 17 September @ 21:00 – G-LOC (2020) *UK TV Premiere

In the struggle to leave a dying Earth and relocate to the newer solar system, Bran Marshall finds himself at odds on an enemy ship with no one but his trusty AI. He soon finds that the fight for a better world may not be on the planet he’s headed to but on the small unwitting supply ship.

Sunday 18 September @ 21:00 – THE TAKING (2014) *Channel Premiere


Mia, Gavin, and Luis arrange to create a documentary about Deborah, an elderly woman suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Deborah is reluctant to be filmed, but agrees to the project after her daughter Sarah reminds her that they need the money to keep the house from being repossessed. Mia starts to record the daily lives of Deborah and her daughter Sarah, but as the days progress, strange things happen, and it becomes apparent something has taken control of Deborah.

Saturday 25 September @ 22:45 – LET US PREY (2014) *Channel Premiere


Rachel, a rookie cop, is about to begin her first nightshift in a neglected police station in a Scottish, backwater town. The kind of place where the tide has gone out and stranded a motley bunch of the aimless, the forgotten and the bitter-and-twisted who From his basement dungeon a charismatic loner begins to take over the minds of his fellow inmates and those of the police officers. He influences them to bend to his evil will and their latent inner demons explode in a blood-soaked night of mayhem.

Website: http://www.horrorchannel.co.uk/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/horrorchannel
Twitter: https://twitter.com/horror_channel

Stage production DRACULA: THE UNTOLD STORY - touring the UK

From 'imitating the dog' and Leeds Playhouse, the creators of last year’s critically acclaimed unique shot-for-shot stage recreation of George A. Romero’s classic 1968 zombie movie – Night of The Living Dead – Remix comes a radical new adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic gothic horror novel. DRACULA: THE UNTOLD STORY will bring audiences this enduring tale from the perspective of Mina Harker, the novel’s heroine.

Written and directed by imitating the dog’s co-artistic directors Andrew Quick and Pete Brooks, DRACULA: THE UNTOLD STORY will open at Leeds Playhouse from 25 Sept – 9 Oct ahead of a UK tour.

New Year’s Eve, 1965, London, England. Just before midnight, as revellers celebrate the beginning of another year, a young woman enters Marylebone Police Station and confesses to a brutal murder.

She claims to be Mina Harker, the last living survivor of the intrepid group that brought about Count Dracula’s destruction some 70 years before. But Mina Harker has not been seen since 1901. And if she were alive, she would be ninety years old.

Unfolding on stage as a live graphic novel and using the latest digital technologies imitating the dog are known for, DRACULA: THE UNTOLD STORY is a chilling new version of the classic gothic vampire tale that you thought you knew so well.

Andrew Quick, Co-Director and Artistic Director of imitating the dog said:
“It’s extremely exciting to be working on this new adaptation of Dracula. We are doing something quite different with the story, coming at it afresh. We have great respect for Bram Stoker’s original storyline, and we do revisit it a lot in our production. But I think this version is relevant to our times and we cannot wait to be in front of audiences again. It’s been too long.”

The production’s creative team will feature design by Laura Hopkins (Black Watch and Peter Pan, National Theatre of Scotland, The Divide, Edinburgh International Festival and The Old Vic), projection and video design by Simon Wainwright (Night of The Living Dead™ – Remix, imitating the dog and The Kid Stays in the Picture, Royal Court), lighting by Andrew Crofts (Night of The Living Dead™ – Remix,  imitating the dog and Trash Cuisine, Belarus Free Theatre and The Young Vic) and original music composed by James Hamilton. The production’s casting will be announced in the coming weeks.

imitating the dog have been making ground-breaking work for theatres and other spaces for 23 years. Their work, which fuses live performance with digital technology, has been seen by hundreds of thousands of people in venues, outdoor festivals, and events across the world. Past productions have included Hotel Methuselah, A Farewell to Arms, Heart of Darkness, Night of The Living Dead  – Remix and most recently Dr Blood’s Old Travelling Show. Last year the company produced Airlock, a live action graphic novel as part of the BBC, The Space and Arts Council England’s Culture in Quarantine programme. 

DRACULA: THE UNTOLD STORY will premiere at Leeds Playhouse from 25 September till 9 Oct. It will then tour to Liverpool Playhouse, Dukes Lancaster, Watford Palace Theatre, Mercury Theatre Colchester and finally The Lowry, Salford Quays.

You can view a promo trailer of the production on YouTube.

For further information on the tour visit http://www.imitatingthedog.co.uk

MONSTER HUNTER - Available on Disc and Digital, September.

Starring Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil franchise, The Fifth Element), written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson (Resident Evil franchise) and based on the global video game series phenomenon by Capcom, MONSTER HUNTER is available to Download & Keep from September 6th, and to Rent on Digital, on 4K UltraHD, Blu-ray and DVD from  September 20th from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
 
Behind our world, there is another: a world of dangerous and powerful monsters that rule their domain with deadly ferocity. When an unexpected sandstorm transports Captain Artemis (Milla Jovovich) and her unit to a new world, the soldiers are shocked to discover that this hostile environment is home to enormous and terrifying monsters.  

In their desperate battle for survival, the unit encounters the mysterious Hunter, whose unique skills allow him to stay one step ahead of the powerful creatures. As Artemis and Hunter slowly build trust, she discovers that he is part of a team led by the Admiral (Ron Perlman - Hellboy). Facing a danger so great it could threaten to destroy their world, the brave warriors combine their unique abilities to band together for the ultimate showdown.
 
Also starring Tony Jaa (Fast & Furious 7,xXx: Return of Xander Cage), Tip “T.I.” Harris (Ant-Man), Meagan Good (The Intruder), Diego Boneta (Terminator: Dark Fate), Josh Helman (Mad Max: Fury Road) and Jin Au-Yeung (2 Fast, 2 Furious), MONSTER HUNTER takes the characters into a new world, an unknown environment home to enormous and terrifying monsters. 

4K UltraHD, Blu-ray and DVD Bonus Materials Include:  
 
-  The Monster Hunters: Cast and Characters
- Monstrous Arsenal: Weaponry in the Film
- For the Players: From Game to Screen
- Deleted Scenes  

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

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

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


Folk-Horror LAMB - In UK Cinemas from 10th Dec

MUBI, the theatrical distributor and global curated film streaming service is pleased to announce that Valdimar Jóhannsson’s striking debut feature film LAMB will be released in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on 10 December 2021.

LAMB tells the story of a couple, María (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason) who live with their herd of sheep on a beautiful but remote farm in Iceland. When they discover a mysterious newborn on their farmland, they decide to keep it and raise it as their own. 

The couple are overwhelmed with joy at the unexpected prospect of this new family, and blissfully unaware that chaos and revenge now awaits them... Blending folk horror with contemporary Scandi noir, LAMB is truly like nothing you have ever seen before.

LAMB will be released by A24 in North America, becoming the latest in a line of critically acclaimed horror films championed by the label.

The film was co-written by Jóhannsson and Academy Award-nominated writer Sjón, frequent collaborator of Björk and co-writer of Robert Eggers upcoming film, The Northman. LAMB stars Noomi Rapace (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Prometheus) and Hilmir Snaer Gudnason (Woman at War, A White, White Day).

LAMB will be released by MUBI in cinemas in the UK and Ireland on 10th December 2021.
 

10 Questions with Director of THE LAST RITE, Leroy Kincaide

Ahead of the World premiere screening of his debut feature film THE LAST RITE at FrightFest this month, writer / director Leroy Kincaide talks about his new movie, the enlightenment of being an undertaker, his personal experiences with sleep paralysis and the ‘badassery’ of 80s horror movies.
 

Q) Leroy, you began your working life as an Undertaker. How did that come about?

I was introduced to the undertaking industry through my uncle who was also an undertaker at the time. I was only 17 when I took the job, They had a vacancy and I needed the work, so I guess I sort of just fell into the role as I had no real education when I left school. I worked there for just over a year and probably did upwards of 400-500 funerals in that time. I found it a very enlightening and uplifting experience as it taught me the value and perspective of life at a very early age. 

I have certainly witnessed a lot of stomach-churning things that a lot of people would not like to see, for me I have found a certain type of solace in my experience that keeps me grounded and serves massively in my filmmaking process.  The oddity about being an undertaker at 17 was that I was witnessing certain realities/horrors first-hand, and the shocking tolls life can take on the human body, all before the legal age of being able to buy an 18 rated movie ticket…Go figure that one out

Q) Then, even more amazingly, you became one of the UK’s top professional wrestlers for over 10 years, juggling this with a career as an actor. What made you give up the ring and concentrate on the stage?

In my days as a Pro-Wrestler, I was very fortunate to meet some of the world’s top wrestlers and even as a career highlight, I had a singles match on WWE Smackdown.  Wrestling was one of my biggest passions back in the day and a part of me still misses lacing up my boots and stepping out into the ring to put on a show.

I really loved the sport and the energy that I got from being a wrestler but unfortunately, I fell out of love with the business. I made a promise to myself early on that when the ride stopped being fun I would walk away. For a few years just before I quit, if I’m honest I felt rather cursed, as I was too good to quit but I had really fallen out of love with it and was very uncertain about the future that I wanted.

The crazy thing about my decision, was at the time of me leaving the business everything was lined up. I was doing regular shows, I was on main events for some of those shows but I just wasn’t happy…Happy in myself and the direction I was going as a Wrestler. So eventually I had to listen to my heart and bow out gracefully on top.

 
Q) Did your career as an Undertaker influence your love of genre films?

Undertaking has had a very real-life impact on the way I view gore and horror itself, but ultimately the seed of my darkness and noir perspective comes many years before I was working in the undertaking industry.

Q) You have a particular passion for horror films from the 80’s & 90’s. Why?

Some of the films that I heavily draw inspiration and passion from are for the most part from the 80’s, films like The Thing, Poltergeist, The Entity, Amityville II: The Possession and Aliens. Of course, there are many other films that I could list, but these are the ones I remember first watching as a child and I guess they have stuck with me ever since.

The 80’s and parts of the 90’s for me was a time where characters were allowed to be characters, and it was also a time when stories were exactly that. You put your tape into the VCR, possibly rewind it before hitting play and you would sit through 1hr 45min to 2hrs of ‘badassery’ - a term for story that has now become known as a slow burn movie. 


Q) THE LAST RITE is your directorial feature debut. How was it born?

The Last Rite stems from a few places, some of my biggest draws on the story was my own personal life experiences with sleep paralysis and also the paranormal happenings. Not only were my personal experiences relevant, but I am very heavily influenced by real life cases of the paranormal also.

Many hours of research and digging have led me down a path, and one that I firmly believe that as much as we live in this world, there are forces that we do not understand and sometimes when we look into the void of darkness, the darkness looks back at us.

With such a heavy life experience on things, it just absolutely made sense to direct an inspired by “true events story” in an area that I not only love but also have some experience with… And thus, The Last Rite was born.

Q) The film will have its World premiere at FrightFest. What does that feel like?

Bloody awesome! I cannot express my gratitude enough to the team at FrightFest for having us and showing my film to such a dynamite audience. It feels rather surreal to know that my film is going to be playing in such an amazing festival, not only because it’s my debut feature but more so because of the prestige that FrightFest has behind its name. I am more than a little excited.

Q) You have gone on record as saying you’ve had real life paranormal experiences. Can you tell us a bit more and how they informed the making of the film?

Having had first-hand experience with sleep paralysis and being a former paranormal investigator, there were things that I just naturally understand about the paranormal subgenre. I understand that by the sheer nature of the unknown itself, it can be a rather scary but also daunting thought to get your head around. For me, it just felt like the absolute best fit for my debut feature film. 

I believe that facts are always much stranger than fiction, so making sure that I served the truth as much as I could, all through the eyes of the experience itself, was very important to me.   


Q) You brilliantly set up a dark sense of uncertainly throughout the film. How did you achieve this? And what films played an influential role?

As the Writer, Director and Director of Photography the key was to execute what I believe was the right fitting for The Last Rite’s world, and that was to give the night its very own characteristic that represented the horror in the story. So much so, the night always feels like there can be something lurking in the sickly tone of moonlight. It was a subtle add but for this story it worked brilliantly.

For very intense and physically demanding scenes I always set the tone with atmospheric dark music from film scores like, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinister. This really allowed the ambience to take a hold, especially at 03:00am on a Friday night with candles fully ablaze about to raise some demonic hell. 

Q) You founded Nocturnal Pictures in 2014 and have written & directed three short films and a number of music videos. What is the overriding ambition for the company and for you?

In years to come I envision Nocturnal Pictures as being a pioneering production and distribution company for other passionate filmmakers. It would be amazing to not only make films but also give others a chance at telling their story under the Nocturnal brand. This is definitely some years off but I 100% want to build a platform that will be a leading company in the Horror and Action genres of film.

Q) You’ve been short-listed for this year’s Screen Genre Rising Star Award. How do you feel about that?

It feels absolutely bloody awesome to have been short-listed for the Genre Rising Star Award, especially to be one of very few selected among other talented individuals.  I want to build worlds and stories that exist with horror themes and dark conventions riddled through its backbone. So now that I’m in the running for such a prestigious award, it only feels right to focus on what could happen next. Regardless of the outcome I want to offer up a fresh voice to the genre…

Q) You have another film, FACILITY 7, in development. What can you tell us about it?

Currently I have two features that I am working on, Facility 7 and Hollow Ones, both horror films of course!

The script for Facility 7 is ready to go and the film is somewhat of a combination of 28 Days Later meets Aliens. Again, very dark, atmospheric but certainly takes no prisoners when it comes to the horror gauntlet. Oddly, this script was finished before I even started writing The Last Rite, but for it being such a big scale movie, I wanted to have another film as my first feature to get my style of filmmaking further ingrained in my psyche.  

Hollow Ones, is currently in the 2nd draft stage and is naturally excessively dark, I’m calling it “MY ANGRY MOVIE”. This story is a home invasion horror that’s a bit like Strangers meets I Spit On Your Grave.

THE LAST RITE will screen at Arrow Video FrightFest on Saturday Aug 28 at The Cineworld Leicester Square. 

Tickets: www.frightfest.co.uk


 

 

Monday 16 August 2021

New comedy-horror WHEN THE SCREAMING STARTS - Premiering at FrightFest, Aug

Riotous Films in association with FOUR plus10 Films and Little Narwhal Films are delighted to annouce that their new comedy-horror mockumentary, WHEN THE SCREAMING STARTS, will have its World Premiere at FrightFest this August. 

A wannabe serial killer, a warped filmmaker, and a murderous cult on a blood-soaked rampage. WHEN THE SCREAMING STARTS is a darkly comic tale of how far we will go in order to achieve our ambitions

When Norman Graysmith is invited into the home of an aspiring serial killer, Aidan Mendle, he believes he has found the subject for the documentary that will transform his failing career. Initially the production goes well with Aidan freely opening up about his desire to kill, but when his early attempt at committing murder falls apart, things begin to unravel.

Aidan desperately tries to maintain his position as the next Charles Manson by starting a murder cult, interviewing prospective members for what he affectionately calls his “family”. The potential candidates provide a rich tapestry of misfits, from the lost and confused to the (most likely) psychopathic. Events begin to spiral out of control and Norman watches his dreams crumbling around him. 

Described as "If Louis Theroux met the Manson Family", the film will debut alongside this year's most prestigious and hotly anticipated horrors and thrillers at Leicester Square’s Cineworld on 28th August. The film will have two additional screenings, one later that night and another on Sunday 29th.

Tickets for the FrightFest screening can be bought from the following links...
World Premiere - Sat 28th - 8.50pm - TICKETS HERE
Sat 28th - 9.15pm -
TICKETS HERE
Sun 29th - 1.15pm -
TICKETS HERE


 

BELZEBUTH and TERRIFIED - Coming to Disc and Digital, Sept.

Pray for mercy, evil has risen in Emilio Portes’ BELZEBUTH, a chilling Shudder Original gore-fest that descends to the depths of hell. The film is set for its UK Blu-ray debut from Acorn Media International on 13 September 2021 and will also be available on DVD and digital.

Horror legend, Saw’s Tobin Bell (Mississippi Burning) stars alongside Narcos: Mexico star Joaquín Cosio (Quantum of Solace) and Tate Ellington (Sinister 2) in this darkly disturbing, gruesome Mexican/English film that will strike the fear of God into you.

After the loss of his own child, Special Agent Emmanuel Ritter (Cosio) is called in to lead an investigation into a spate of deeply disturbing deaths involving young children. 
 
Things take an ominous turn when a former Vatican priest (Bell) is enlisted to help. When he uncovers a link to an ancient demon – the most evil one of all – the descent into twisted terror begins.

Belzebuth is a dark, terrifying new work of demonic possession. 

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

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


You’ll be TERRIFIED as writer/ director Demián Rugna’s (The Last Gateway, You Don’t Know Who You’re Talking To) nightmare inducing horror makes its UK Blu-ray, DVD and digital debut from Acorn Media International in conjunction with Shudder on 13 September 2021.

Voices in the kitchen, furniture shaking at night, corpses moving seemingly of their own accord… in a quiet suburban street in Buenos Aires, strange occurrences convince the residents that they’re being haunted. 
 
Following levitating bodies and murderous threats from an unseen entity, neighbours Clara, Walter and Alicia get together to tackle the problem. But as things get more and more sinister, they start to see how truly dangerous the presence really is.

When a paranormal investigator is brought in, they hope he’ll get to the root of their neighbourhood nightmare… but dark spirits don’t like being disturbed and things take a dark and deadly turn.

Get Terrified, evil is here.

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

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

 

 

Eco-horror GAIA - set for UK theatrical release September

Altitude announce that the intense and extraordinary horror GAIA is being released in cinemas from September 24th and on altitude.film and other digital platforms from September 27th.

A timely and terrifying eco-horror that will appeal to fans of horror mindbenders Midsommar, The Ruins, Annihilation, and In The Earth, GAIA is a chilling and remarkable assured feature film debut from South African director Jaco Bouwer.

With buckets of atmosphere, superbly unsettling effects - and a magnificent central performance from Monique Rockman (Number 37) as a forest ranger who encounters some serious weirdness in the forest - including a fanatical recluse (brilliantly played by Carel Nel) whose off the grid lifestyle isn’t what it appears to be.

Recalling genre hits The Survivalist and The Descent, GAIA is strikingly shot, eerie and inventive, a truly disorientating nightmare that will get under your skin and stay with you for days.

GAIA will receive its UK Premiere at this year’s prestigious 22nd FrightFest, in August in London before its wider release in September.

Watch the Trailer on YouTube.

Available to view on Altitude Film and other Digital outlets.


 

FEAR OF RAIN - Available Digitally, September.

FEAR OF RAIN is a twisty, unsettling and terrifying horror thriller starring Katherine Heigl (Knocked Up, Firefly Lane), Madison Iseman (Jumanji franchise, Annabelle Comes Home) and Harry Connick Jr. (PS. I Love You), that will keep you guessing whether there is real horror hiding next door. 

17-year old Rain Burroughs is a mostly-typical teenage girl…with an anything-but-typical disease:  early onset schizophrenia.  After Rain returns home from being hospitalized, she meets strangely beautiful and hauntingly awkward Caleb.  He seems too good to be true – and he very well may be. 

While struggling to make sense of this first brush with young love, she must suppress the self-destructive and manipulative forces consuming her mind.  More frightening than the man who haunts her dreams is the real-life neighbour who, Rain is convinced, has kidnapped a little girl and are holding her captive in their attic. 

Written and directed by Castille Landon who is set to direct the 2 new instalments from the “After” multi-million franchise: After We Fell and After Ever Happy.

Signature Entertainment presents Fear of Rain on Amazon Prime Video 3rd September.

View the trailer on YouTube.

View or Download from Amazon.co.uk

Monday 9 August 2021

Mayhem Film Festival announces THE DEEP HOUSE and ALIEN ON STAGE and confirms plans for 2021 edition

With the 17th edition already fast approaching, Mayhem Film Festival is proud to announce the first two titles for the2021 programme, and reveal our updated plans for this year’s edition in light of ongoing restrictions. 


Following last year’s scaled-down Skeleton Edition of the festival, Mayhem is set to return to Broadway Cinema from 14-17 October, and are currently working towards hosting a full-flesh, four-day edition for 2021.

First up for this year’s festival is underwater ghost story THE DEEP HOUSE. Reminiscent of that legendary moment from Dario Argento’s Inferno, the directors of the extreme cinema, envelope-pushing Inside plunge us into the depths of a submerged haunted house to create a literally immersive horror experience.


Mayhem’s second film confirmed for this year’s edition is documentary Alien On Stage, following a group of DIY, Dorset-based bus drivers as they remake Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic ALIEN ON STAGE - all on a shoestring budget - and triumphantly take it to the West End stage. This behind-the-scenes documentary catalogues the journey from early rehearsals to opening night and will leave you grinning from ear to ear and cheering the underdogs on to victory.

 
Mayhem’s always-popular perennial - the Short Film Showcase - will return for 2021 too.

Seating for this year’s festival will be allocated to allow for social distancing, and so specific seats will need to be selected when purchasing festival passes. An initial limited release of full festival passes will go on sale week commencing Monday 16 August, with more passes made available at a later date. We’ll remain responsive to the ever-evolving pandemic situation and will make any required adjustments to our plans as necessary, and keep all passholders updated.

Guidance will be continually reviewed in the run-up to this year’s festival, and all screenings and events will be delivered in line with advised Government Covid-19 measures in place at the time.  

Mayhem Film Festival takes place on Thursday 14 - Sunday 17 October 2021 at Broadway, Nottingham.

For more information, please visit www.mayhemfilmfestival.com

Also checkout their Facebook and Twitter pages.

 



Thursday 5 August 2021

Shudder acquires occult horror HELLBENDER

Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, has acquired the occult horror feature HELLBENDER ahead of its world premiere at Fantasia International Film Festival. Shudder will release the film, which is written and directed by Toby Poser, John Adams and Zelda Adams, in North America, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand in early 2022.


The acquisition deal was negotiated by Emily Gotto and Samuel Zimmerman on behalf of Shudder and Hugues Barbier, Justin Timms, and Joe Yanick of Yellow Veil Pictures on behalf of the filmmakers.

In HELLBENDER, 16-year-old Izzy (Zelda Adams) suffers from a rare illness that has kept her isolated on a mountaintop with her mother (Toby Poser) her whole life.  As Izzy begins to question her sickness, she pushes back against her confinement and secretly befriends Amber (Lulu Adams), another girl living on the mountain, but her newfound happiness is derailed after she eats a live worm as part of a juvenile game and finds an insatiable and violent hunger awakened within her. To understand the hunger, Izzy must learn the dark secrets of her family's past and the ancient power in her bloodline.

HELLBENDER is the sixth feature from Wonder Wheel Productions, the family-run production company founded by Poser and Adams and their children, Zelda and Lulu. The family also produced the music for the feature with tracks from their experimental punk band H6LLB6ND6R. In 2019 the Adams family first screened at Fantasia with their award-winning The Deeper You Dig.

The film will world premiere virtually August 14 as part of the 25th Fantasia International Film Festival, which kicks off August 5 as a hybrid event, with in-person screenings in Montreal, Quebec and the virtual slate geo-locked to Canada. The film is part of the festival’s esteemed Cheval Noir competition. 

AMC Networks’ Shudder is a premium streaming video service, super-serving members with the best selection in genre entertainment, covering horror, thrillers and the supernatural. Shudder’s expanding library of film, TV series, and originals is available on most streaming devices in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Germany, Australia and New Zealand. For a 7-day, risk-free trial, visit ​www.shudder.com


 


FrightFest & Fab Press launch THE FRIGHTFEST GUIDE TO GRINDHOUSE MOVIES

FrightFest and FAB Press once again join forces to launch THE FRIGHTFEST GUIDE TO GRINDHOUSE MOVIES, which goes exclusively on sale during Arrow Video FrightFest 2021, Aug 26 – Aug 30, The author, Alan Jones, will be present during the festival to sign copies.

Just when you thought it was safe to stop repeating “It’s only a movie… only a movie… only a movie!” it’s time to take a stroll down the dark and deviant back alleys of the Exploitation film industry. Your host, acclaimed film critic and broadcaster Alan Jones, returns with another mind-boggling trawl through the glittering gutters of cinema to uncover yet more obscure Grindhouse gold.

For this astounding sequel to his acclaimed FrightFest Guide to Exploitation Movies, Jones has chosen the most underrated, alluring or flat-out disastrous sick flicks from the eye-opening epoch that created an obsessed generation of slavering besotted fans. From red light district fleapits to neon-drenched 42nd Street dives and late night Drive-Ins, Jones forensically catalogued everything for posterity, pre-determining cult status even though he didn’t realise it at the time.

With a foreword by Jane Giles, the award-winning author of Scala Cinema 1978-1993, along with a highly personal, informative introduction by Jones, you can now take a walk on the wild side of chronic B-movie adoration, guided by the one person who knows the astonishing, once maligned, now lauded genre better than anyone else.   

Jones reflected: “For sixteen years, from 1965 to 1981, I kept a yearly film diary of every Horror, Science Fiction, Sexploitation and Fantasy title I saw, where I saw it, in which cinema, on what date and exactly what I thought. It just so happened that this period coincided with the richest and grubbiest era in the Golden Age of Exploitation, with cheap thrills, seminal gore, full frontal nudity and taboo subject matters displayed across beyond belief marquees”.

Following the success of the previous four editions: The FrightFest Guide to Exploitation Movies, Monster Movies, Ghost Movies and Werewolf Movies, this is the latest in a series of wide appeal books for both the curious spectator and the cult connoisseur.

The exclusive launch of the book is at Arrow Video FrightFest 2021, with official signings taking placat Cineworld, Leicester Square on Friday 27 and Saturday 28 August. The FrightFest exclusive hardcover will be on sale for just £20 and people not attending in person won’t miss out as they have the option to pre-order the book from www.fabpress.com. Pre-ordered books will ship the first week of September.

 

 

NO MAN OF GOD - Premiering at FrightFest, ahead of it's Disc and Digital release.

Delve into the dark and twisted mind of one of America’s most notorious serial killers – Ted Bundy – in NO MAN OF GOD,  a darkly disturbing new feature that’s set for its UK Premiere at FrightFest 2021, followed by its Digital release on 13 September and on DVD and Special Edition Blu-ray on 25 October 2021.

The film follows a rarely seen moment in criminal history, after Bundy was sentenced to death and waited to meet his maker, the FBI sent in one of their top analysts to interrogate the murderer to try and find out the full extent of his crimes, his motives and to find answers for his heinous crimes to help the victims’ families.

Directed by Amber Sealey (How to Cheat) and penned by C. Robert Cargill (Doctor Strange) based on actual interview transcripts, the critically acclaimed film features outstanding performances from a stellar cast that sees Elijah Wood (Lord of the Rings trilogy, Maniac) as FBI analyst Bill Hagmaier, the man tasked by FBI boss (Robert Patrick - Terminator 2, Honest Thief) to get inside the mind of the infamous killer, Ted Bundy played in an unnervingly convincing turn by Luke Kirby (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Halloween: Resurrection).

Bundy’s reign of terror – that saw him kidnap, rape and murder many young women and girls, across numerous states and many years – ended with multiple death sentences, with the full extent of his crimes still to be realised. Bill Hagmaier was tasked with understanding how truly dangerous Bundy was and to give solace to victims’ families. Taken from real-life transcripts and revolving around a singular interrogation room, the mind of Bundy is explored in a lesser known period of his life on death row, from 1984 to the day of his execution in 1989.

With time running out before the serial killer is given the chair, will Hagmaier be able to get closure for the families searching for answers?

See the real face of evil in NO MAN OF GOD, a truly terrifying real-crime horror. 

View the trailer on YouTube.

For more infor on this and other films at FrightFest, visit the Official Website.

 

 

 

Canadian Horror HALL - Coming to Digital Sept

Lightbulb Film Distribution are delighted to announce the forthcoming release of the new claustrophobic horror feature, HALL.


Following its world premiere at FrightFest last year, the film later played at Blood In The Snow film festival.
 
Set within the confines of a dark hotel corridor, HALL stars Carolina Bartczak (X-Men: Apocalypse), Julian Richings (X-Men : Last Stand, TV's Supernatural), Vlasta Vrana (Red 2) and Bailey Thain (Pet Sematary).
 
When a debilitating sickness spreads across a long hotel hallway, a few scattered victims fight for survival, and try to escape from the dark narrow stretch of isolated carnage. 

View the trailer below...


 

HALL will be released on UK digital download and On Demand from 13th September.