THE VOID Premieres at BFI London Film Festival (also screening at Mayhem, Notts)

Signature Entertainment presents highly anticipated new horror The Void for its UK Premiere at the 60th BFI London Film Festival on 15 & 16 October (the film is also being screened at the Mayhem festival Notts on the same weekend)

From the warped imaginations of Steven Kostanski and Jeremy Gillespie, the VFX and design masters of Suicide Squad and Crimson Peak, comes a fresh slice of terror set to take the world by storm.

Encountering a blood-soaked man on a dark deserted road, a police officer rushes the victim to the local hospital. Soon the staff and patients are trapped by a terrifying, otherworldly threat and forced on a hellish voyage into the depths of the building to escape the nightmare.

Shocking, haunting and boasting mind-blowing practical special effects, The Void is a new must-see horror event, starring Ellen Wong (Scott Pilgrim vs the World), Kathleen Munroe (Alphas), Aaron Poole (Forsaken) and Kenneth Welsh (The Aviator). Written and directed by Jeremy Gillespie and Steven Kostanski.

Signature Entertainment presents The Void 
at 60th BFI London Film Festival, Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th October. (The Mayhem festival in Notts will also be screening this on the 16th)

The Void is set for general release in 2017

Visit The Void's Facebook Page

Buy tickets for the LFF screening HERE 

Buy tickets for the Mayhem screening HERE 

OBSERVANCE - UK DVD review

Director Joseph Sims-Dennett’s (Bad Behaviour) new Aussie horror “Observance” hits UK DVD this month courtesy of Soda pictures, who were kind enough to send me a review copy. 

A private Investigator, Parker (Lindsay Farris – Primal), takes what appears to be, a fairly easy surveillance job. All he has to do is sit in a disused flat and monitor what the woman in the flat across the street is getting up to.

At first, things seem fairly mundane, with nothing to do but sit and watch this girl mooch about her flat and report her daily goings on to his client. But then strange things start happening to him.

He becomes extremely ill, develops bad skin and begins suffering strange nightmarish hallucinations. Which get propgressively worse the longer he stays in the flat, keeping this woman under observation and, well, that’s about it really. 

I thought I was going to be watching a psychological horror along the lines of Rear Window, what I got instead was something that resembled a particularly boring episode of Big Brother, as pretty much the entire film is spent watching this person in a flat, watch some other person in another flat, who is doing nothing, with a load of weird surreal images thrown in, as the main protagonists health deteriorates.

The reason why he falls ill, or what’s with the images he’s seeing, or why he’s being paid to observe this girl is never explained and to be quite honest, I quickly became bored and started fast-forwarding. The ending was another point (which I won’t spoil), I didn’t get why he did what he did at the end, even if he was going apparently mad.

To summarise, I didn’t enjoy this, not sure what the point of the story was and overall was just plain boring.

The disc comes with a short making-of feature, which contains interviews with the cast and crew and a trailer.

The film is released to UK DVD from Oct 10 from Soda pictures for those who may still be morbidly curious about this despite my review.

Buy the UK DVD from Amazon.co.uk

 

Face your worst fears in DRACULA : ESCAPE THE CASTLE on Insight.TV

Face your fears in “Dracula : Escape the Castle”, an original, bloodcurdling TV show, exclusive to Insight.TV, which sees two duos trapped within an authentic Romanian castle, with only one night to escape ‘Dracula’. 

Hosted by renowned TV presenter, Brendan Moar, the series, based on the escape room trend, features brave contestants from around the world as they race against time to complete complicated psychological tasks to escape Dracula’s infamous castle in Transylvania, before the Lord of Darkness traps them forever. 

The contestants vary from couples and family members, to best friends and colleagues. The duos must face three stages of being locked in room, with the ultimate goal of escaping in the fastest time. The fastest couple to escape the first two rooms gain a 30 second time advantage in the final stage. This final is a frantic race to ignite a giant bat silhouette on the castle courtyard.

Dracula is a game of skill, courage and trust: skill to escape the rooms; courage to find clues; and trust in your fellow teammate. To survive, contestants will have to utilise their skills and face their worst fears. 

“Dracula : Escape the Castle” will run consecutively on TV every Sunday at 10pm for ten episodes. The first episode aired Sunday 02/10/16 and can now be viewed online HERE

Fore more info checkout http://www.insight.tv/ 

Also, checkout the following teaser for the show...

 

"The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance" - A Review

To my shame, I must confess that until last year I had never heard of the British Gothic Horror Author M R James, until I saw an adaptation of his story "Count Magnus" by British film makers Mansfield Dark Productions at the 2015 Mayhem Film Festival.

What stood out about this film, was it was told using Shadow Puppets, rather than actors, or even CGI characters, which I felt added to its eerie gloom. Well, Mansfield Dark have just produced a follow up film, based on another M R James tale “The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance”.

Once again employing shadow puppetry to tell the tale, this particular story concerns a lone individual writing to his relatives about the fate that befell an uncle of theirs and how a bizarre nightmare about a psychotic punch and judy show may shed some light on a very strange occurrence in the town regarding the death of a couple of carnival puppeteers and the discovery of their late uncle’s body.

Definitely one for fans of M R James work, this really is quite a chilling tale and I would defy anyone to say they weren’t unsettled by the nightmarish Mr Punch show. As with their adaptation of "Count Magnus", the shadow puppetry really adds to the dark, sinister nature of the plot. If you’ve never heard of M R James, both "The Story of a Disappearance and an Appearance" and "Count Magnus" are a good way of getting into his works, which are right up there with the likes of Edgar Allen Poe.

The film is available to stream online, along with Count Magnus at Amazon.co.uk

It’s also available through the Mansfield Dark Website

 

The Living Corpse sequel announced as Kickstarter page launches!

The creative team behind The Living Corpse comics have announced a Kickstarter crowd funding campaign to fund the latest installment of the story!

Sequel to the widely-loved Living Corpse, The Living Corpse: Relics is a 160+ page original graphic novel that contains a brand new Living Corpse story as well as a ton of behind the scenes material. Think scripts, character designs and a ton of great pin-ups from a bunch of kick ass artists!

But there's one catch, creators Ken Haeser, Buz Hasson and Blair Smith need your help to bring their idea to life!

The team has put together a Kickstarter crowd funding campaign to fund the completion of the book and get it on shelves!

For the month of October, fans will be able to contribute to the making of The Living Corpse: Relics, and score a bunch of great rewards along the way. From your very own copy of the upcoming book, to an entire Living Corpse package, fans can receive a stack of great Living Corpse merch from anywhere across the globe.

For more info on how to get involved, and for a free sneak peak at the new book, visit the Kickstarter page

Nostalgia Reigns Supreme in Electric Zombie's Halloween 2016 Line

Nostalgia reigns supreme in pop culture today, but no brand harnesses it quite like Electric Zombie. The apparel company has released its Halloween 2016 line, which is sure to conjure up fond memories of trips through the video store horror section.

The Halloween 2016 line kicks off nine T-shirts featuring characters from Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Lost Boys, Predator, and Ghostbusters, to name a few. There's also a vintage-inspired orange tee with a menagerie of monsters that's perfect for Halloween.

Other clothing includes a matching pair of pajama pants and "Creep Feet" socks featuring a spooky all-over skeleton print. They make for an easy Halloween costume, fashionable sleepwear, or everyday outfit. 

Supplement your Halloween decor with new artwork. First up are posters for A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master and The Lost Boys. Two of the shirt designs based on The Real Ghostbusters are also available as posters: one features a monstrous canister of Ecto-Plazm, while the other shows parodies the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II poster with the Ghostbusters and some of horror's most iconic villains.

For many Halloween aficionados, the first Monster Cereals sighting marks the beginning of the season. Electric Zombie and Horror Decor have teamed up to capture the familiar look and smell with the Franken Burried marshmallow-scented candle, complete with a custom label.

"Overall, this was a super spooky release!" enthuses Electric Zombie owner Kyle Crawford. "I got to time travel and renovate some old designs, and there's a butt-load of new stuff. I just went over the top and fit what I could fit and make work without going overboard. It was a great challenge to take and conquer."

Electric Zombie's Halloween 2016 collection is on sale now at TheElectricZombie.com. Most products ship immediately, though select items are pre-orders and will ship in October. See the product pages for details.

LOST SOUL : THE DOOMED JOURNEY OF RICHARD STANLEY'S ISLAND OF DR MOREAU - UK BD review

Nucleus films journey back to the troublesome island of Dr Moreau this month to bring us the highly anticipated documentary LOST SOUL : THE DOOMED JOURNEY OF RICHARD STANLEY'S "ISLAND OF DR MOREAU", on UK BD.

I’m sure cult movie fans will probably be aware of the many troubles this 1995 production had. How original director Richard Stanley was unceremoniously sacked shortly after filming had started. The squabbles on the set between lead actors Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer. The friction between the cast and crew with new director John Frankenheimer and the myriad of other problems that lead to this being a critically panned, box-office failure, which effectively ended Richard Stanley’s short lived film career.

Well now, for the first time, thanks to director David Gregory (co-founder of Severin films and director of numerous horror documentaries), we get to go behind the scenes and find out what really went wrong. In an in depth interview with the man himself, Richard Stanley, who now lives in rural France, having become something of a recluse.

Starting off with a look at Richard Stanley’s early films, Hardware and Dust Devil the documentary goes into how he managed to get the job of writing and directing, what was supposed to be his dream movie and detailing where it all went horribly wrong and even how his attempts at invoking witchcraft to try and save it, ultimately failed…(yes you read that right). 

It also looks at the subsequent aftermath his replacement John Frankenheimer had to deal with (in particular, the legendary spats with Brando and Kilmer). With executive producer Robert Shay, then head of New Line Pictures, along with many cast and crew members, such as Fairuza Balk (The Craft), Marco Hofschneider and Rob Morrow all contributing. It also answers the long standing rumour as to whether or not Richard Stanley really did sneak back onto set disguised as one of the creatures.

Featuring tons of behind the scenes photos and clips and scenes from the movie itself, “Lost Soul…” is an extremely fascinating insight into the film and indeed, Stanley himself, and is certainly one that cult film enthusiasts will enjoy.

The review copy I was sent only contained the documentary. However, the full retail version also comes with the following special features…

• Outtakes - Interviews with Richard Stanley, Marco Hofschneider, Graham Humphreys and others
• Graham Humphreys concept Gallery, with Commentary by Richard Stanley
• Archive Moreau Interview with John Frankenheimer
• Barbara Steele Recalls Moreau - Audio Interview
• The Beast of Morbido - Featurette
• The Hunt for the Compound - Featurette
• Bear Man Diary - Featurette
• Trailer

The documentary is available to order now from Amazon.co.uk