My friends over at Twitch have scored the final trailer for Bruno Forzani and Helene Cattet’s modern take the classic giallo thrillers of the 1970s, Amer, and it’s everything you’d expect from a trailer for a film paying homage to Italian suspense films.
The most striking thing about the clip is how retro it looks. Generally speaking, when filmmakers try to make their films look like they were made in an earlier era, it never works. Technology and fashion and all of these other little elements conspire to ruin the period vibe. That doesn’t appear to be the case with Amer–everything we’ve seen so far makes it feel as though this was a film that could have been shot at Cinecitta back in 1975.
Anyway, enough blathering from me–check out the clip below and bask in the stylish giallo goodness (and music from Stelvio Cipriani’s La Polizia Sta a Guardare soundtrack). Amer will be making it’s American debut at the SXSW Film Festival, which runs in Austin, Texas, from March 12th through the 20th.
Good news for lovers of the late and sorely missed Godfather of Gore, Lucio Fulci. My Horror Squad colleague Scott Weinberg spotted a listing for a Blu-ray version of City of the Living Dead over at DVD Active.
Blue Underground is the company responsible for this new version of the intestine-spewing, drill bit-to-the-head Italian splatter epic. The film–also commonly known as The Gates of Hell–will be available on regular DVD, but the new Blu-ray is the version you’re going to want to grab. Extras for the Blu-ray disc include three brand new goodies: “Acting Among the Living Dead – Interview with Star Catriona MacColl”, “Entering the Gates of Hell – Interview with Star Giovanni Lombardo Radice”, “Memories of the Maestro”. I’d be all over that for those three things alone–if I owned a Blu-ray player.
The discs are scheduled to be in stores on May 25th. Check out the new cover art above.
And lots more. Sorry for not getting a new Death Scenes We Love up this week–it’s done (and it’s a good one…), but it won’t be live until later today or tomorrow.
I like this new trend of giving classic horror franchises their own documentaries. I thought His Name Was Jason was fun and informative, and I suspect that we’ll get the same thing from the forthcoming Nightmare on Elm Street restrospective, Never Sleep Again. Both of those franchises are certainly worthy of the documentary treatment.
Now we can officially add Hellraiser to the list. Pinhead and his merry gang of demonic S&M disciples are about to get their very own documentary when Dark Knight Pictures releases an as yet untitled look back at the franchise.
You can jump here to read the official Dark Knight overview of the project. It’s being scripted by Shock Till You Drop’s Ryan Rotten.
While I certainly love the first two Hellraiser films (I always cite Hellbound as an example of a sequel that’s better than the original film), I can’t help but wonder if this is a good idea. Hellraiser 3 is hard to watch, Hellraiser: Bloodlines derails completely after the first segment, and the direct-to-video fodder that came after that is better off forgotten. Crafting a loving retrospective on the first two films alone seems like a cop-out, but making one that has segments on movies like Hellraiser: Hellworld doesn’t sound particularly exciting either.
Maybe this will turn out well. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.
One of my favorite under-the-radar films of last year was Glenn McQuaid’s I Sell the Dead. The film turned up on IFC’s VOD service, but most people missed it. I reported news earlier that it was slated to come to DVD at the end of March. Now, Dread Central has scored a look at the cover art and supplemental materials for the disc. Looks like it’s shaping up to be a nice release.
That’s the cover art above. Extras on the disc include:
Commentary with stars Dominic Monaghan and Larry Fessenden
Commentary with director Glenn McQuaid
The Making of I Sell the Dead featurette
The Visual Effects of I Sell the Dead featurette
Trailer
Check out my review if you’re on the fence about this one. I Sell the Dead hits retail on March 30th.
UK fright fans got a chance to check out The Descent Part 2 in theaters last December. Unfortunately, American audiences will have to make do with a DVD release as opposed to catching it on the big screen.
DVD Active is reporting that Lionsgate will bring Jon Harris’ sequel to Neil Marshall’s cult chiller to American home video audiences on April 27th. I’m ambivalent about this–to be honest, there are films that I don’t really need to see in a theater, and The Descent Part 2 falls squarely in that category. I’m perfectly content to watch it from my couch.
Here’s the synopsis:
Dazed, bloodied and speechless with trauma, Sarah Carter emerges alone from the Appalachian cave system where the events of THE DESCENT took place. Local sheriff Redmond Vaines forces her back underground to help the rescue team which is desperately searching for her five missing girlfriends. As the team moves deeper into the caves, Sarah’s flashes of fractured memory intensify and she begins to realizes the full horror of the would-be rescue mission. Only Sarah knows the terror which lurks in the shadows of the caves. But they are about to encounter a new tribe of crawlers, inbred, deformed and even more viciously feral than those Sarah faced before.
No word yet on what extras might be included with the disc, but I’ll keep you posted as we get closer to April 27th.
Psych 9, a new British horror film from Andrew Shortell and starring Cary Elwes and Michael Biehn, has sort of flown under the radar–but that’s about to change with today’s unveiling of the official trailer. After watching this clip, I’m definitely more interested in checking out the full feature.
Our friends in England will get their chance to see what Shortell and company have come up with on April 9th, when the film hits theaters. Plans are currently in the works for a limited theatrical release here in the States as well, but the official release dates haven’t been hammered out yet.
If you’re interested in learning more about the film, my Horror Squad colleague Alison Nastasi recently posted a lengthy interview with Shortell over at her Screamstress blog. I highly recommend checking it out.
As always, here’s the plot breakdown:
A young woman with a troubled past takes a job at a recently closed hospital to collate the hard copy patient records. Working alone in the building after dark, she experiences a series of unsettling events that lead her to believe the hospital may be connected to a number of recent murders in the area. To uncover the truth, she has to solve the mystery of her own disturbing past.
Everyone keeps talking about how Twilight has made vampires popular again and a vampire movie renaissance is happening all around us, but I’ll be honest–I don’t see it. It should be pretty obvious to anyone who covers the genre or follows it closely that horror is still all about zombies. I remember lamenting years ago that I’d die happy if zombie films made a comeback–and there are now days where I regret making that wish. I get up and post news every day (well, almost every day–the past few weeks have been rough since my college courses are killing me this semester…) and there’s always something about a new zombie flick. The walking dead are everywhere.
Unfortunately, most of these films are of the “me too!” variety, or even worse, low budget crap that’s barely watchable. However, occasionally I stumble upon something that actually looks promising. Such is the case with this trailer for Chilean zombie film Blind Death.
The guys over at B-D brought this clip to my attention, and I’m sharing it with you, my zombie loving brothers and sisters. I don’t think the film, directed by Cristian Toledo and Lucian Rojas looks to be groundbreakingly original, but military guys blasting the holy hell out of zombies is something I can always get behind. The story is the usual “strange virus turns people into monsters and the military goes in later to find out what happened” deal, but it looks well shot and features lots of shooting.
No word on when we might get a look at the full version of Blind Death, but in the meantime you can check out this trailer–which even features English subtitles–to get you in the mood.
I’m morbidly curious about Nic Cage’s Season of the Witch. I like the idea of a medieval supernatural film with knights and monsters, but at the same time, it’s a Nic Cage movie. Even worse, it’s a Nic Cage movie directed by Dominic Sena, who I like to think of as “the poor man’s Michael Bay” (yeah, think about that one for a second…how’re you feeling about this movie now?). On the positive side, it does feature Ron Perlman–and I think we all love him.
If you’re still undecided about whether this flick will be worth catching in a theater or waiting for DVD, I doubt there’s anything on the new fully launched official website that’s going to change your mind. That being said, you can still swing by and have a gander at the trailer, peruse still galleries, and explore some other material related to the movie. The site’s pretty cool looking–I’ll give them that.
Season of the Witch is due out on March 19th. Here’s an official plot description from back in October…
As the Black Plague rages across 14th century Europe, one brave knight Lavey, is tasked with transporting a girl suspected of being the witch who caused the pandemic to trial. Believing she is wrongly accused, Lavey and a group of wary followers fight through a mystical and treacherous landscape to a hallowed place where her innocence can be proved and Europe’s curse can be lifted. Unbeknownst to Lavey, even darker forces await them…
I don’t like doing posts where I just paste a huge press release, but when it comes to festival announcements, that’s pretty much the best I can do. So, my apologies in advance.
The line-up for this year’s SXSW (South by Southwest) film festival was announced yesterday, and it marks yet another year that I’m pissed I’m not going to be in Austin to attend (I really need to get my shit together, apparently). This year’s show is running from March 12th through the 20th, and features 119 titles in all, 55 of which are making their world premieres. As usual, our beloved genre is well represented in the selections (contained in the Midnighters section of the festival programming).
Some of the highlights include a screening of the gorgeous looking neo-giallo Amer (which is enough to justify making the trip to Austin for me), recent Sundance participant Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, and the Eli Roth-produced exorcism flick, Cotton. All three of those films should be well worth checking out.
Jump past the break for the official press release, complete with plot descriptions and cast and crew info.
