A24 dropped the U.S. trailer for High Life, a mind-shattering astral epic from the master Claire Denis in her English language debut, starring Juliette Binoche as a mad scientist specializing in bodily fluids, and Robert Pattinson, Mia Goth, and André 3000 (née Benjamin) as inmates condemned to life in an intergalactic space prison.
The horror film The 6th Friend, starring Jamie Bernadette, will open theatrically January 11, 2019 via The Asylum. Directed by and co-written by Letia Clouston, and starring Bernadette, Chantelle Albers, Dominique Swain, Jessica Morris, Tania Nolan and Monique Rosario, the slasher film with a supernatural twist tells of six college best friends that throw their own private graduation only to see it go terribly wrong when an uninvited guest arrives. Five years later, the girls gather once again and endure a night of far more horror and bloodshed.
Dark Sky Films released the trailer and poster for Mega Time Squad, the sci-fi/crime thriller/comedy about a low level thief stumbling upon an ancient time-travel device. The film which has received rave reviews will open in theaters and on VOD on February 15, 2019.
Following the film’s Toronto premier at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, the genre festival favorite punk rock slasher THE RANGER has been acquired by A71 Entertainment for a release in Canada on Bluray and DVD in early January 2019.
In the spirit of RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD and CLASS OF 1984, THE RANGER follows a group of young punks who are forced to flee the city to lay low, only to run into a park ranger who shares a mysterious past with one of their own. The film has been lauded for its standout performances from Chloë Levine (THE TRANSFIGURATION, THE OA) as the pink-haired punk with a secret, and Jeremy Holm (HOUSE OF CARDS, MR. ROBOT) as the maniacal ranger, ready to get his hands bloody in defense of the woods. Granit Lahu (THE SINNER), Jeremy Pope, Bubba Weiler (PUZZLE), Amanda Grace Benitez (SCHOOL OF ROCK), Jeté Laurence (PET SEMATARY) and horror icon Larry Fessenden (HABIT, WE ARE STILL HERE) round out the cast.
THE RANGER marks the directorial debut of Jenn Wexler, a past Shudder Labs master and producer of the SXSW Grand Jury Prize-winner, MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND. A co-production of Glass Eye Pix and Hood River Entertainment, THE RANGER was written by Wexler and Giaco Furino, and produced by Andrew van den Houten (BREAKING & EXITING, THE WOMAN), Larry Fessenden (MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND, THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL), Ashleigh Snead (THE BLOCK ISLAND SOUND), Heather Buckley and Wexler (LIKE ME, DARLING),
“We’re absolutely thrilled to have A71 distribute THE RANGER on home video in Canada,” says Wexler. “The film was born in Montreal’s Frontieres Co-Production Market so it means so much to us that horror fans in Canada will be able to add the film to their collections.”
The Ranger came out swinging at 2018 SXSW Film Festival, where it world-premiered in the Midnighters section. The film was selected as opening night feature of this year’s FrightFest UK and has been an official selection at festivals around the world, including Fantasia International Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival, Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, Sitges Film Festival and Toronto After Dark, among many others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ0BG3-fxzA
The acclaimed punk rock slasher THE RANGER which premiered at SXSW has been acquired by Shudder, the subscription video on demand service for thriller, suspense and horror.
A wild, neon-colored romp in the spirit of RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD and CLASS OF 1984, THE RANGER follows a group of young punks who are forced to flee the city to lay low, only to run into a park ranger who shares a mysterious past with one of their own. The film has been lauded for its standout performances from Chloë Levine (THE TRANSFIGURATION, THE OA) as the pink-haired punk with a secret, and Jeremy Holm (HOUSE OF CARDS, MR. ROBOT) as the maniacal ranger, ready to get his hands bloody in defense of the woods. Granit Lahu (THE SINNER), Jeremy Pope, Bubba Weiler (PUZZLE), Amanda Grace Benitez (SCHOOL OF ROCK), Jeté Laurence (PET SEMATARY) and horror icon Larry Fessenden (HABIT, WE ARE STILL HERE) round out the cast.
THE RANGER marks the directorial debut of Jenn Wexler, a past Shudder Labs master and producer of the SXSW Grand Jury Prize-winner, MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND. A co-production of Glass Eye Pix and Hood River Entertainment, THE RANGER was written by Wexler and Giaco Furino, and produced by Andrew van den Houten (BREAKING & EXITING, THE WOMAN), Larry Fessenden (MOST BEAUTIFUL ISLAND, THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL), Ashleigh Snead (THE BLOCK ISLAND SOUND), Heather Buckley and Wexler (LIKE ME, DARLING).
Remarked Craig Engler, General Manager of Shudder “Jenn Wexler’s feature debut is a smart, stylish and subversive take on the ‘80s slasher, and we’re delighted to bring it to Shudder members.”
The film, which concluded a limited theatrical run in New York and Los Angeles earlier this month, was a standout hit at the 2018 SXSW Film Festival, where it world-premiered in the Midnighters section. THE RANGER was selected as opening night film of this year’s FrightFest UK and has been an official selection at festivals around the world, including Fantasia International Film Festival, the Sydney Film Festival and the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, among many others. This month, THE RANGER screened at the Sitges Film Festival and will play Toronto After Dark, before concluding its festival circuit ahead of its eventual Shudder premiere in 2019.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJ0BG3-fxzA
The supernatural horror film Soul To Keep, co-directed by David Allensworth and Monière, will have its world premiere at Shriekfest on Saturday October 6th in Hollywood.
Soul To Keep tells the story of Beelzebub, a demon hell-bent on consuming and taking control of souls, who hunts down siblings and their lifelong friends at a rundown country house.
“Soul to Keep is a great possession horror film that uses a deaf character to uniquely tell the story,” says Shriekfest’s festival director Denise Gossett. “This is a film that horror fans are going to love and we are thrilled to be showing our first ever open captioned film!” she adds.
The introduction of a deaf lead character, Tara, played by deaf actress Sandra Mae Frank, allows the exploration of unique modalities in the narrative style, notably the use of sign language throughout the film. All the actors flawlessly learnt and incorporated the sign language into their performances to serve the purpose of the story. This inclusive aspect of the unrepresented Deaf Community makes the production accessible to hard-of-hearing audiences as well as creating a dialogue between the Deaf and Hearing populations.
“The Deaf element in this film came to me originally as something of a scare tactic, and it blossomed into an important statement about bringing communities together,” says director David Allensworth. “Our co-writer Eric Bram’s wife is partially deaf, as well as one of our producers, Matt Meyer, who has partial hearing loss.”
“I wanted to bring out the elements of a minority group – the deaf and hard at hearing – and showcase them as heroes. In addition, I wanted to tell a horror story with real proven metaphysical elements, not another horror-slasher film,” adds co-director Monière.
ERIN, a cute yet timid 22-year-old, and her confident twin brother JOSH inherit their grandpa’s creepy country house. Rusty broken barn. Swampy pond. No better way to christen the home than to throw a party with their school friends. Josh brought his sweetheart, TARA, and their closeness is apparent. Tara is deaf, and all the friends speak with her through sign language. Everyone, except for BRANDON, the self-centered boyfriend of GRACE, Erin’s childhood friend-turned-Dark-Wiccan.
It’s all fun and games until the lights go out. Josh searches the dark and damp basement to find the fuse box, only to discover a secret ritual room, complete with animal bones, blood, and meat arranged in a large triangle. Not to mention the nearby grimoire – a demonic spell book. The group is convinced now that the sibling’s grandpa truly went crazy.
Grace, being familiar with it all, reads over the grimoire to discover a spell to conjure the very powerful demon, BEELZEBUB – one of the seven Princes of Hell. Drunk and high, the group thinks it’s a fun idea to conduct a possession spell to see if it’ll work. And to their surprise… it does! Beelzebub has finally arrived and he will stop at nothing to consume their souls.
The bold horror feature, The Shed, from New York-based writer/director Frank Sabatella recently wrapped filming in upstate New York and today revealed three first-look images.
The Shed tells the story of Stan, an orphaned teenager stuck living with his abusive grandfather and tasked with routinely protecting his best friend from high school bullies. When Stan discovers a murderous creature has taken refuge inside the toolshed in his back yard, he tries to secretly battle the demon alone until his bullied friend discovers the creature and has a far more sinister plan in mind.
The Shed stars Timothy Bottoms (The Last Picture Show), Frank Whaley (Pulp Fiction), Siobhan Fallon (Men in Black), Jay Jay Warren (Amazon Prime’s Bosch), Cody Kostro (CBS’ Elementary), and newcomer Sofia Happonen. It is produced by Peter Block, godfather of Lionsgate’s blockbuster SAW franchise, and producer of House At The End Of The Street); Cory Neal, producer, who produced the ski-lift thriller Frozen with Block, as well as the Hatchet series; and Wing & A Prayer’s Josh Crook (The All Nighter).
Sabatella previously wrote and directed the 2011 Lionsgate release Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet, as well as a number of holiday-themed Halloween shorts via his New York-based production shingle, Sideshow Pictures. Said Sabatella upon the completion of filming, “I’m really excited about our dynamic cast of veteran actors and incredibly talented fresh faces that bring an interesting dimension of realism to the film. It is a unique horror piece with great scares and awesome moments that I think audiences will really respond to. I can’t wait to get it in front of them.” Added Block, “Frank (Sabatella) and I wanted to take a cool horror set-up and use it to comment on current anti-bullying discussions, as well as to use a horror creature as a metaphor for the extreme outcomes that occur when the bullied are pushed too far.”
Rounding out the film’s crew is Director of Photography Matthias Schubert (Ryuhei Kitamura’s Downrange), longtime Sideshow Pictures collaborator Jeremy Selenfriend handling the picture’s practical FX, and Mike Mendez as Co-Producer.
CMG handles international sales on The Shed, which will be featured at Santa Monica’s American Film Market, October 31 – November 7.
Due for release in 2019 from Wild Eye Releasing, CarousHELL is the latest horror offering from filmmaker Steve Rudzinski, director of Red Christmas, Captain Z & the Terror of Leviathan and Everyone Must Die!
Based on a script by Rudzinski and Aleen Isley, and starring Steve Rimpici, Sé Marie and Haley Madison, the horror/comedy tells of a sentient carousel unicorn that gets pushed too far by a brat. The unicorn breaks free of his spinning prison to go on a revenge-driven murder spree on his way to kill the kid.
Luz[/caption]
Tilman Singer’s audacious, psychotropic horror film LUZ, which made its North American bow at Fantasia Film Festival, and will have its US premiere at Fantastic Fest this week will be released in theaters across the US in first quarter 2019 by Screen Media.
LUZ begins as a young female cabdriver (Luana Velis, in the title role) drags herself into the brightly lit entrance of a run-down police station. A demonic entity follows her, determined to finally be close to the woman it loves. Shot entirely on 16mm, this first feature film from Singer pays homage to horror masters Cronenberg, Argento and Fulci, while infusing a fresh take on the genre all of his own.
LUZ is written and directed by Tilman Singer, produced by Dario Mendez Acosta and Singer and stars Luana Velis and Jan Bluthardt.
Filmmaker Tilman Singer concluded:”To see this kind of reaction to our film, visit festivals and now release it in North America is a little bit like shooting a movie itself; It’s hard to fully grasp. Producing LUZ I had no idea where it would go and I am excited for the life that it will have.”
Netflix premiered the trailer for the chilling horror/thriller Apostle, starring Dan Stevens and Michael Sheen, that will have its World Premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, TX. Apostle which is written and directed by Gareth Evans (THE RAID) will debut globally on Netflix on October 12.
London, 1905. Prodigal son Thomas Richardson (Dan Stevens) has returned home, only to learn that his sister is being held for ransom by a religious cult. Determined to get her back at any cost, Thomas travels to the idyllic island where the cult lives under the leadership of the charismatic Prophet Malcolm (Michael Sheen). As Thomas infiltrates the island’s community, he learns that the corruption of mainland society that they claim to reject has infested the cult’s ranks nonetheless – and uncovers a secret far more evil than he could have imagined. Written and directed by Gareth Evans (THE RAID), Apostle is a harrowing occult fable where the only thing more horrifying than madness is the sinister reality behind it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1JdWOqc9Q8
Emma Tammi’s narrative feature film The Wind which made its World Premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival to an enthusiastic Midnight Madness crowd has been acquired by IFC Midnight for release in the US. The Wind will next screen this weekend at Fantastic Fest.
With The Wind, director Emma Tammi and writer Teresa Sutherland have embarked on a nightmarish yet empathetic exploration of domestic solitude, skillfully conjuring — in bone-chilling visual and sonic strokes — an indescribable spectre that seems to emanate from the abyss of the night itself. Hailed by critics as a femme-centric western and supernatural horror, the film stars Caitlin Gerard, Julia Goldani Telles, Ashley Zukerman, Dylan McTee, and Miles Anderson. The Wind not only features an array of talented female creatives at the helm and in front of the camera, it also showcases the work from production designers Hillary and Courtney Andujar, set decorator Elsbeth Mumm along with film editor Alexandra Amick.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DPKc8j0ekM
“Emma Tammi’s impressive debut into narrative filmmaking starring a break out performance from Caitlin Gerard packs the kind of fierce ingenuity we are continually searching for when we distribute films. We’re thrilled to bring such an intelligently crafted and distinct vision in the horror genre to audiences around the country,” said Jonathan Sehring and Lisa Schwartz, co-presidents of IFC Films/Sundance Selects.
“IFC’s history of cultivating large audiences for smart, genre-bending films makes them the ideal partner to bring this beautiful, thought-provoking, and ultimately horrifying film to market. It is an important time to champion storytelling that takes risks, and IFC emboldens those narratives that challenge and move us, while entertaining. We are very excited to be part of the family and look forward to working with their talented team to bring The Wind to the U.S. audience,” said in a statement from director Emma Tammi with producers Christopher Alender and David Viste.
Based on true unsolved outbreaks of wildlife mutations, fall fright-fest Strange Nature marks the directorial debut of fx maestro James Ojala (Hellboy II: The Golden Army, Thor, Tron: Legacy) and stars Lisa Sheridan, Stephen Tobolowsky, wrestling superstar John Hennigan, Tiffany Shepis, and Carlos Alazraqui. The film follows Kim (Lisa Sheridan) and son Brody who find themselves in the middle of a horrendous phenomenon where deadly offspring mutations spread from animals to humans, after moving in with her estranged hermit father in the backwoods of a small town
Strange Nature leaps into theaters from Sep 22 (Los Angeles with other cities to follow).
A children’s hiking group in rural Minnesota discover several live, mutated frogs along a pond.
In the same area, a single mother, Kim, and her 11-year-old son, Brody, have just moved in with her estranged father, Chuck. It’s not long before they too start witnessing strange occurrences including a disemboweled deer and the family dog’s deformed puppies.
As the fear rises the rumors begin to fly. Some blame the intimidating disfigured hermit father and daughter who live on a surrounding lake. Environmental science points to the water sources. Possibly causes are pesticides, parasites or both. As the chaos spreads it becomes clear that Chuck’s cabin is a hotspot ground zero for these mutations.
Trent, a grade school science teacher investigating the cases begins to fall for Kim while trying to protect her and Brody from whatever is coming next. Suddenly, a couple of teenagers go missing. Their mutilated bodies are found only a mile away. The attacks are so brutal it doesn’t seem humanly possible.
Then another. Could it be a man or a beast?
Finally, the unthinkable: the first human baby is born with similar horrid birth defects as the animals. Ultrasounds show an increasing number of abnormal fetuses with similar defects on the way. Upon delivery, the mothers start getting sick. Extremely sick.
Fearful for her unborn child and family, Kim searches for answers and a safe escape…
if there is anywhere safe.
Strange Nature builds to an uncompromising climax of the terrors affecting a nice, quiet town and possibly future generations everywhere.