I’ve been following Jorge Michael Grau’s We Are What We Are ever since Todd Brown over at Twitch started raving about it after seeing a screening in Guadalajara. It’s Mexican film about a family of modern day cannibals, which is pretty much dead center in the Mike Bracken Cinema Wheelhouse.
Brown and the Twitch gang now have brought us the first trailer for the film, which you can check out below. I’m impressed, although I’ll admit that I was expecting something a little different. This doesn’t look like your typical cannibal flick — it looks very serious and almost somber. I’m still interested in checking it out, of course, maybe even moreso given my new understanding of what to expect. Read the plot synopsis then have a gander at the trailer. No idea when we might see this here in America (it is playing Cannes, though), but when the news breaks I’ll bring it to you right here.
A middle-aged man dies in the street, leaving his widow and three children destitute. The devastated family is confronted not only with his loss but with a terrible challenge – how to survive. For they are cannibals. They have always existed on a diet of human flesh consumed in bloody ritual ceremonies… and the victims have always been provided by the father. Now that he is gone, who will hunt? Who will lead them? How will they slake their horrific hunger? The task falls to the eldest son, Alfredo, a teenage misfit who seems far from ready to accept the challenge… But without human meat the family will die.
I really wish I was going to SXSW next week, because as usual, a ton of cool sounding movies are playing. Amer, A Serbian Film, and now Jimmy Tupper vs. The Goatman of Bowie.
That’s the cool new one sheet above (click it for the larger version). Sort of reminds me of an animated version of the poster for Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer. The first film in a planned trilogy, JTVTGoB (Christ, even the acronym is long…) was written, directed, and stars Andrew Bowser. If you’re in the Austin area, you can catch it several times during the SXSW film festival, starting on the 14th. Read on for the plot synopsis and then jump past the break for the trailer.
“Part modern horror documentary and part old school monster movie, JIMMY TUPPER VS. THE GOATMAN OF BOWIE is an innovative and quirky film that challenges the notion of found footage and what it means to be scared in the woods. Jimmy Tupper (Andrew Bowser) is a no one; he’s nothing. He spends his days working at a Starbucks in suburban Maryland and his nights drinking and playing Rock Band. His friends see him as the resident stoner and waste of space. One night they decide to pull a prank on poor Jimmy, and while he is passed-out drunk, they leave him in the middle of the woods of Bowie, Maryland.
The next day Jimmy is nowhere to be found. When he finally emerges from the woods, he is beaten and bloodied and making outlandish claims. He says he’s seen a monster, the famed “Goatman” of Bowie. His friends believe this to be the drunken ramblings of an overexcited nitwit, but Jimmy knows better. He heads to the woods determined to capture footage of the elusive creature and prove what he knows to be real.
Was Jimmy only dreaming? Did he really see a monster? Only time, and Jimmy’s video camera, will tell.”
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.
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.
IFC is rapidly becoming one of my favorite film distributors on the planet. Seems like not a week goes by without news of them scoring the distribution rights to some cool horror film and promising to give it a limited theatrical run and show it on their VOD service at the same time. That’s like the greatest thing ever for someone like me, who moved from a major metropolitan area to the sticks.
Anyway, Variety is reporting the company’s latest acquisition is The Killer Inside Me, the somewhat controversial Michael Winterbottom film that just played Sundance.
Based on a Jim Thompson novel, the film stars Casey Affleck, who plays a small town sheriff with a psychopathic streak. Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson, Simon Baker, Bill Pullman, Ned Beatty and Elias Koteas also star.
The film’s debut sparked some controversy over its depictions of violence toward women. I haven’t seen the film so I can’t comment definitively on whether or not this is a justified criticism, but the fact that The Killer Inside Me is a film about a murderous cop makes me feel like the violence is probably at least somewhat justified. Of course, I’m the asshole who sticks up for Fulci’s full-on misogyny in New York Ripper–so maybe I’m not the guy to ask about this issue…
IFC hasn’t penciled in an official release date for The Killer Inside Me, but it should be out sometime this summer.
Hey, what do you know, another After Dark Horrorfest trailer! This one’s for Nick Cohen’s The Reeds–which looks intriguing even though I have no idea what exactly is going on in it. That’s usually not a good sign, but I’m being a “glass is half full” kinda guy today.
Here’s the plot breakdown:
In The Reeds, a weekend boating trip through the Norfolk Broads becomes a deadly ordeal for six 20-something year old friends who lose their bearings in the vast reedy tidewaters. Chances of escape and hopes for survival diminish as inexplicable forces terrorize the lost and terrified group.
This year’s Horrorfest begins on January 29th and will run for one week only in select theaters. A DVD box set of the titles has already been announced for March. Check out the official site for more info.
There’s not much left to say about After Dark’s 4th annual Horrorfest–it starts later this month, features another 8 Films to Die For, and here’s yet another trailer.
Bloody-Disgusting scored the exclusive to this one, which is for the Norwegian film Hidden. I’m phoning this one in completely, in case you were wondering. Here’s the synopsis and trailer. The film will be in theaters on January 29th.
Kai Koss, upon the death of his cruel mother, unwillingly returns to the small town he ran away from 19 years ago. He is left in charge of the family home and the dark secrets that come with it. Kai soon finds himself tangled up in a series of murderous events that are beyond anyone’s control and his troubles begin to overwhelm him. He has spent the past two decades trying to forget a tortured past only to find that there are some things you just can’t run from.
Another day, another After Dark Horrorfest trailer. As the 4th annual installment of the “8 Films to Die For” series prepares to kick off (it starts on January 29th), we’ve been getting a peek at lots of new trailers for the featured films. This morning, Dread Central scored an exclusive new clip for The Final.
Here’s the brief plot breakdown:
The scenic Workley Ranch in Rocky Branch, TX, becomes the setting for retribution and revenge. In the midst of a wild costume party, five previously powerless and picked upon students are giving a “Final Exam” with just one question: “What did you do to deserve this?”
Directed by Joey Stewart, The Final joins Dread, Lake Mungo, Zombies of Mass Destruction, Kill Theory, Hidden, The Graves, and The Reeds as part of the event, which runs for one week. You can learn more about all of the films featured in this year’s festival by visiting the official website.
With After Dark’s latest Horrorfest right around the corner (January 29th), it’s about time we hear what the final film featured in the “8 Films to Die For” is this year. In case the title of this post didn’t give it away, it’s Chris Moore’s Kill Theory. That’s the official poster art above.
The film sounds like your traditional slasher flick, but with a slight variation. College kids head out to the woods and run into your standard issue psychopath. Rather than having said psycho knock off the kids one by one, Kill Theory instead forces the victims to take part in an unpleasant game where they’re forced to kill each other in hopes of surviving. It’s kinda like Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale crossed with Friday the 13th.
I try to keep my expectations in check when it comes to films, but I have to say that this year’s Horrorfest is really caught my interest. The Graves, Dread, Final Exam, and Kill Theory all sound like potential winners–which is a step up from previous years. Whether they all turn out to be good remains to be seen, but I’m actually looking forward to seeing the festival’s selections this year.
Expect reviews on this and the other entries sometime in February.
As Sundance gets closer and closer (and I come to grips with the realization that I will once again not be attending this year…) we’re learning more about Adam Green’s Frozen–and each new tidbit of information that comes to light has me excited about the director’s follow-up to his silly yet entertaining slasher film Hatchet.
Frozen’s official website made its debut over the holiday break (not long after the first trailer, which I highly recommend checking out if you haven’t already–I’m re-posting it below so you don’t even have to click a link or scroll very far. See how lucky you guys are to have me? I do it all for you…
The new site is pretty sparse at the moment, but that should change over the course of the coming weeks. Click here to have a look and poke around at what’s there.
If you haven’t heard about the film, it’s a story about three friends who go skiing and get stuck in a lift chair high above the ground when the place closes for several days (and doesn’t realize they’re still on said lift chair) and their struggle to survive in the freezing cold. Basically, it’s like Open Water for the skiing crowd.
As mentioned, it’s playing Sundance next month, then Anchor Bay will release it into a select group of theaters in early February.
