Quantcast
Channel: Dread Central
Viewing all 24793 articles
Browse latest View live

Set Visit Report: Chatting with the Leading Ladies of Carrie - Star Chloe Moretz and Director Kimberly Peirce

0
0

Set Visit Report: Chatting with the Leading Ladies of Carrie - Star Chloe Moretz and Director Kimberly PeirceLast August Dread Central had the opportunity to head up to Toronto, Canada, to visit the set of Screen Gems' upcoming remake of Carrie, and here's Part 1 of our Set Report.

Carrie is a project that first piqued our interest because of the studio's intriguing choice of director for the project: Kimberly Peirce. Peirce is a storyteller not necessarily known for her horror prowess, but she is a filmmaker who has the ability to masterfully tackle challenging and often thought-provoking material alongside some of her more seasoned peers. Her feature film debut was the Oscar-nominated drama Boys Don't Cry, which made people quickly forget that Hilary Swank was alsoThe Next Karate Kid, and her stunning follow-up, the 2008 war-themed drama Stop-Loss, proved that then up-and-coming actor Channing Tatum was more than some kid who could dance.

As she's clearly someone who knows how to bring out the best in rising talent, Screen Gems is banking on Peirce to pull a three-peat with Carrie and the film's star, Chloe Moretz, who's already proven in projects like Kick-Ass and Let Me In that she's an actress with talent that far exceeds her years.

We arrived on the set of Carrie on a very momentous day for production- it was Prom Night and Carrie was about to get doused in pig's blood. Before the big scene began, we had an opportunity to chat with both Peirce and Moretz about their experiences collaborating on this latest adaptation of Stephen King's iconic tale of a telekinetic young woman tormented by her unrelenting peers and overly religious mother (this time around being played by Oscar winner Julianne Moore).

During our interviews Peirce discussed her thoughts on what sets her adaptation of King's novel apart from De Palma's 1976 film, her approach to the violence and tone of the film, what she did to prepare young Moretz to step into the character of Carrie White, and much more. Moretz talked about her experiences working with Peirce, how she prepared for the titular role, and her thoughts on being considered something of a modern-day "scream queen."

Check out the highlights from our set visit interviews below, and look for more with the rest of the cast of Carrie tomorrow!

Carrie

Peirce on choosing Moretz for the iconic role of Carrie White:Well, it's fascinating. When I met her, I said to her, "You're very young." Which was very good for the role because it's very age appropriate, right? It's about a high school girl and she was young. And I said, "What's interesting it you've done mostly younger roles, but this a role where you actually have to be a young adult. You have to be a young woman." And I said to her, "You actually have to go through something that you probably haven't gone through yet in your young life." She hadn't been to prom, she hadn't done certain things. And I said, "So we need to set off a teenage rebellion in your life." And I actually said, "You need to move out of your house." And she was like, "Okay, Kim. I'll do it." She couldn't do it.

But I think that was always the nature of what we said. I said, "Oh, I have somebody who's on the upper side of childhood who has to move into young womanhood." And so that was kind of the exercises I did with her, what I did with Hilary (Swank) on Boys (Don't Cry) and what I did with Channing (Tatum) on Stop-Loss. It was really, "We're going to grow you into this role so you can revolt, rebel, and go against the adult figures in your life."

So what's been amazing, and again, with all humility I say this, I'm really proud of her. I think that you're going to see that she's really transformed in this movie. She has really gone from a fantastic older child actress, moving into adulthood into… I think what this taps into is young womanhood. I mean young personhood; it could be boy or girl, but this just so happens to be the story of a young girl. And it's wonderful, their times. Especially once Julianne got here. I think all the stuff was really good, but I think what happened with her and Julianne, because it was so intimate, and I think we shot it for two or three weeks in the White house, I think we lost track of time. But there really is a relationship between mother and daughter. I think that she was growing her up. I'm proud of all of it, but really that.

Moretz on being 'broken down' for the role of Carrie:It was interesting because I live a very privileged life, obviously. I’m an accomplished young actor, I have a very solid normal family, tons of siblings, and a mother that loves me. Aunts, uncles, I have everyone around me to tell me they love me, and Carrie doesn’t really have anyone. Margaret loves her daughter but almost loves her too much and restrains her from what she wants to do; whereas, my mom loves me more than anything, but she allows me to make my own choices in life. So it was definitely an interesting thing to break that down and strip away who I am, this young girl who is kind of like a go-getter and really competitive and everything to Carrie, who is this wounded animal.

Peirce on the violence of Carrie:The movie is R rated, definitely. The thing that makes me happiest is, like I said, I like violence because I like looking at it; I like looking at and understanding emotional and physical violence and how they work with one another. We've already shot some of the house destruction, quite a lot of it. Which is basically, if you've read the book, Carrie causes stones to come down. And these stones, they're coming down and they're threatening…Carrie's mother is already dead but they're threatening Carrie and Sue. It's a beautiful moment for me because Sue comes in, and this is the girl who has always refused getting involved, has refused saying, "I'm sorry", has refused helping. That's been her problem. At the very end she finally says, "You know what, I'm going to go in and I'm going to do the right thing." So she goes into the house, and she finds that Carrie has killed her mother.

And there's a beautiful line where Carrie says, "I've always been hurt my whole life." And there's a moment where the stones are coming down, Carrie has this supernatural power, she could kill Sue, but because Sue makes this apology, Carrie saves her. The violence that then comes down is very much like, I think every great monster movie does this, like Frankenstein even the Terminator does this, monsters must die at the end, no matter how beautiful and perfect they are. And in the end, Carrie allows herself to be killed as a sacrifice for Sue. So there's an example where it's emotional and it's physical.

Moretz discussing her experiences visiting homeless shelters in preparation for her performance:It was beautiful. I’ve never done that before for a role, and I learned so much. Because, like I said, I come from such a privileged life, and to go meet these people who have never known any semblance of love and money and life; what we go through every day, being able to go out to Whole Foods if you want to and buy an all-organic meal, they have never lived that. And I talked to these women who have been sexually abused and physically abused and verbally abused, and they’re so strong. Even though they’ve had so much done to them, they’re so strong, and you look into their eyes and you learn so much just from talking to them.

Carrie doesn’t speak much in this movie at all, she has virtually no lines, so it’s all looking at her and trying to figure out what everyone else is doing to her from what she’s conveying to you through her eyes and her mannerisms, and through her smile or her tears, and that’s how these women were. I laughed with them and I cried with them and I spent like a week with all of them, and I learned more than I’ve ever learned—even as Chloe. I realize how privileged I am to be in the business that I am and to be loved.

Peirce on trying to create a surprising vision of a well-known story like Carrie:That's a great question. I think it's always a challenge when you're telling a story that people know but hopefully good storytelling-- well, there are two things. One is that you definitely have to have surprises and changes so that keep them interested, that you take them down roads they didn't expect and give them suspense and surprise. But hopefully if you do really good storytelling, there's still something there for the people who maybe have seen these moments before. There's a reason we go back to stories that we love so even if there is a familiarity, if you do it in a different way, and hopefully if you do it well enough, you actually feel the satisfaction of that anticipation being given back to you.

Peirce on her approach to the story of Carrie:When I heard about the project I was at first- not suspicious really, more like not sure. I'm actually friends with (Brian) De Palma; we've hung out a ton. Years ago we were quite close. Not that we aren't now, but he's living in Europe. When the idea first came up I thought, "I love Brian. I love Brian's movie. I don't know why I would do that."

Then I had some really exciting meetings with the studio. Then I picked up the book - my fiancé and I actually go to the Middle East every winter because she's from Turkey - and so I had the book and I actually read it cover to cover three times. And I had read it when I was younger, but to read it being older it's like, "Wow!" That thing is a page turner. It's pure pop. It's totally fun and exciting so I think the first thing was, just in rereading the book, it just completely grabbed me and it was exciting. So then I was like, "Oh, now I understand why they thought of me for this" because at first it wasn't so clear.

Carrie

Not to say that you tread the same territory, but these are issues that I've written about, I've filmed before. I love relationship stories. I don't want to call this a tragedy and say it's depressing, but it definitely has that kind of structure. I love the rise and fall. I love a small town. I love an ensemble cast and I go crazy for that. I love violence. I love humor. I love emotional violence and physical violence. So as I was reading it, and the pages were turning and I fell so deeply in love with Carrie again that it was like regardless of whether there had been another movie, even if it was a movie I loved and respected, this is a story I would make a movie of. I think that's the first point.

The second point is that I don't really like to think of it as a remake, even if it is. I like to say, "Okay, what's our movie going to be?" With all due respect to De Palma, 'cause he's brilliant, I love him, what I did see was an opportunity to do something different. Not better, not worse, just different. I feel like in some ways the book has a more expanded canvas so a lot of the characters are more fleshed out in the middle, and a lot of that movie, it rises and it falls. So for me the remake is really just a make. It's, "Let's make a good movie."

Moretz on working with Peirce for Carrie:I’ve learned so much from her because not only is Kim a phenomenal director, she really knows an actor. Sometimes we don’t even have to speak, she’ll be like, “Just do that, and that, yeah,” and we just don’t have to speak to each other and we know what to do; it’s like a symbiotic relationship. I learned a lot from her because she has a lot of personal experiences that she shared with me, and we really bonded over that. This is my real first Lead 1 in a big studio film and taking everything on, and the relationship between a Lead 1 and their director is so special because in a way, I am part of Kim, you know? I’m kind of living her life in a way, it’s like living vicariously through each other and she’s wonderful. She’s definitely up there with Tim Burton and Martin Scorsese and all the people I’ve worked with before.

Peirce on relating real-life bullying to Carrie's overall themes:I think I, as a person alive in our world who has made a movie about bullying with Boys Don't Cry and a movie about the war, that's just a thing that in my life I'm very aware of. I'm not unaware of it. But at the same time, and the movie certainly reflects the reality of that, the thing that drew me to the story… if it was only a bullying story, I don't think there would have been enough to make this kind of movie about. I think what ends up happening is that there's an authenticity and reality to the times it's happening in; that actually, De Palma was kind of ahead of his time. I think that the movie is coming out when this stuff is real, but I think the story itself is still a fantasy story, it's a superhero story, it's a supernatural story, it's a thriller and it has horror elements.

Peirce on working with Julianne Moore:Having read the book three times coming in, it was, "What does it mean to create Margaret right not only in general but also, what is it to create her in the modern world?" So that meant that we had to make an authenticity to the religion, because there are…you know, religion is a really prime force in our country right now. So it's very interesting to pick Julianne after doing what she did, the research that she had done. She's just such an honest and well trained and worked out actress that she really made sure to do her research and make it real.

So we wanted to make sure the Margaret had that religious grounding, but that Margaret had made her own religion. That's what was so fun. It was like there was religion, and then there was Margaret going off with her husband. We made it completely by the book. That was one thing, whenever in doubt about character, we went back and it was like, "Okay, so she met this guy, they kind of had their own religion, it got really complicated, she had this child, she thought that child was a cancer, she birthed the child alone." These scenes are great in the book. Then she just went off on her own. So it was, "How do we keep her religious, but not completely nutsy so you can't relate to her?" So it was about completely about making her an authentic character at each point.

Moretz on her burgeoning career as a "Scream Queen":What I do is I read scripts and I just take them in, and if I connect to a script and I feel the need to—like with Carrie, I went in for a meeting with MGM. They were like, “Oh we have a couple of projects we’d like you to think about,” and I was like, “Oh cool,” they said, “One’s Carrie,” and I was like, “Oh God, what does that entail? What type of remake is it going to be? Is it going to be like a real beautiful movie or something slasher-y and tentpole-y?”

They sent over the script, and when I read the script, I just inhaled it. When you read a script within three hours, you know that it’s a movie that you have to do. Immediately I read the character of Carrie and I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing this role. I couldn’t imagine going, “Yeah, here’s the script, you go take the role.” I felt the need to go and fight for this role to the death, and that’s exactly what I did.

I literally went in a week later with Kim, and they were like, “You know, Chloe, you’re pretty young for the role; you don’t really have the biggest chance of getting it,” and I was like, “Don’t worry, I will” (laughs). I went in with Kim and I had really just beaten it out with Trevor, my brother who’s also my acting coach, and we really went through it all and we had it mined out to the core. I went in with Kim and I was like, “We’ll be done in like an hour”; it was a five-hour session of Kim and I just working on 10 pages of work together for five full hours. We did everything; I had like carpet burns on my arms when I left, I was completely exhausted from tears and emotions. It was so wonderful, though, because I had the best time.

As an actor you always want to be challenged and you always want to have someone tell you that you can’t do something, because I always want to be like, “I can do it and I’ll show you I can, and I’ll do it better than anyone can” (laughs). I just had so much drive and Kim really pushed me to my limits and really made me go there, and no one’s done that to me yet. I’ve never had a character that I’ve been allowed to go crazy for, and I got to. That even wasn’t enough; I went in the next day for another three hours, and then finally a week later she called.

Look for Kim Peirce's Carrie in theatres on October 18th. For more information visit WhatHappenedToCarrie.com! If you're SUPER brave, you can even give the White residence a call at 207-404-2604.

Related Story: Official Carrie News Archive

Synopsis:
A reimagining of the classic horror tale about Carrie White (Chloë Grace Moretz), a shy girl outcast by her peers and sheltered by her deeply religious mother (Julianne Moore), who unleashes telekinetic terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom.

The quiet suburb of Chamberlain, Maine, is home to the deeply religious and conservative Margaret White (Moore) and her daughter, Carrie (Moretz). Carrie is a sweet but meek outcast whom Margaret has sheltered from society. Gym teacher Miss Desjardin (Judy Greer) tries in vain to protect Carrie from local mean girls led by the popular and haughty Chris Hargenson (Portia Doubleday, Youth in Revolt), but only Chris’ best friend, Sue Snell (Gabriella Wilde, The Three Musketeers), regrets their actions. In an effort to make amends, Sue asks her boyfriend, high school heartthrob Tommy Ross (newcomer Ansel Elgort), to take Carrie to prom. Pushed to the limit by her peers at the dance, Carrie unleashes telekinetic havoc. Brian De Palma’s 1976 film version of CARRIE earned Oscar nominations for stars Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie.

MGM and Screen Gems’ CARRIE is directed by Kim Peirce and produced by Kevin Misher (Public Enemies). J. Miles Dale (The Vow) serves as executive producer, and Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Big Love) wrote the script from King’s original story. CARRIE’s creative team includes Director of Photography Steve Yedlin (Looper), Production Designer Carol Spier (Eastern Promises), Costume Designer Luis Sequeira (The Thing), and Editor Lee Percy (Boys Don’t Cry).

Carrie

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
They're all gonna laugh at you in the comments section below!

The Asylum Wants Mega-Shark to Kill You

0
0

The Asylum Wants Mega-Shark to Kill YouAfter years of people wanting to kill them, the little studio that could (rip off anyone and anything) is turning the tables on its fans and is now looking for a chance to kill them. Interested in biting the big one? Read on for details.

From the Press Release
The Asylum is excited to announce its latest fan contest: One devoted fan of the MEGA SHARK franchise will win a walk-on role, including a death scene, in MEGA SHARK VS. MECHA SHARK. Entrants must prove that they are the most devoted MEGA SHARK fan by presenting photographic or video evidence of their fandom, plus a brief description of themselves and why they deserve to win. One winner will receive a two-day trip to Los Angeles, including air fare and lodging, and a walk-on role in the film.

What qualifies as “proof” of ultimate fan devotion? Anything. The Asylum will evaluate photos and videos sent in by our fans of body art, painting, sculpture, music, and every other kind of fan tribute imaginable. The contest will be judged by employees of The Asylum based on creativity, intensity, and displayed level of enthusiasm for MEGA SHARK. That’s it. It’s open-ended, it’s subjective, and it’s entirely dependent on what our fans end up turning in as evidence of their deep and abiding passion for MEGA SHARK and The Asylum. Anything is possible; anything, even pre-existing fan art and the like, will qualify, as long as it is demonstrably the original work of the entrant.

Submissions must be sent here by 5pm PST on July 30. Participants must be available August 1 through August 15. For contest rules and details, click here.

The MEGA SHARK series began with MEGA SHARK VS. GIANT OCTOPUS (2009), starring Deborah Gibson, Lorenzo Lamas, and Vic Chao. It was released on DVD and VOD and quickly became a cult hit. The 2010 follow-up, MEGA SHARK VS. CROCOSAURUS, starred Jaleel White and Gary Stretch. Love of MEGA SHARK runs deep: In the past, fans of the MEGA SHARK franchise have shown us everything from entire galleries of original fan art to full-back tattoos of Mega Shark and his cephalopod foe.

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Bite off more than you can chew in the comments section below.

Radio 66.6 - Weekly Music News: July 16th, 2013

0
0

Radio 66.6 - Weekly Music News: July 16th, 2013We're back with another installment of Radio 66.6! This week features the latest news, music, videos and tour dates from the likes of Avenged Sevenfold, Philip H. Anselmo, Pearl Jam, A Life Once Lost, Asking Alexandria, Five Finger Death Punch, Devildriver, Morbid Angel and more.

Don't touch that dial!

NEWS
A Life Once Lost have broken up.

Nuclear Blast Records has signed Carnifex. The band will enter the studio this month to begin recording their label debut, due out in early-2014.

MUSIC
Listen to a new Avenged Sevenfold song titled "Hail to the King"here. it's the title track from their new album, which is due out August 27th on Warner Bros. Records.

Stream Philip H. Anselmo and the Illegals' debut album, Walk Through Exits Only, here. It's out this week on Housecore Records.

Listen to a new Pearl Jam song titled "Mind Your Manners"here. It's the first single from their tenth album, Lightning Bolt, which comes out October 15th.

Check out a preview for Asking Alexandria's From Death To Destinyhere. It features clips from each of the album's tracks, which is due out August 6th via Sumerian Records.

Stream Misery Signals' new album, Absent Light, here. It's the band's first new album in 5 years, and it comes out July 23rd.

Stream Defeater's new album, Letters Home, here. It's out this week on Bridge Nine Records, and it's one of the best hardcore albums of the year.

VIDEOS
Watch Devildriver's lyric video for "Ruthless"here. Winter Kills comes out August 27th via Napalm Records.

Watch Terror's music video for "I'm Only Stronger"here. Live By the Code is out now on Victory Records.

Watch Philip H. Anselmo's music video for "Bedridden"here. The ex-Pantera frontman's solo album, Walk Through Exits Only, is out this week on Housecore Records.

TOURS
Avenged Sevenfold will headline the "Hail to the King" tour with Deftones and Ghost. Venues haven't been revealed yet, but you can see the routing here.

Five Finger Death Punch, Escape the Fate, Miss May I and Gemini Syndrome will be touring the U.S. and Canada in the fall. Dates can be found here.

Morbid Angel will celebrate the 20th anniversary of their classic album, Covenant, by playing it in its entirety on tour. Dates are here.

Be sure to check back every Tuesday for the latest music news!

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Wrap things up in the comments section below!

Guest Blog: Spencer Parsons on Saturday Morning Mystery; Exclusive New Stills!

0
0

Guest Blog: Spencer Parsons on Saturday Morning Mystery; Exclusive New Stills!Along with some exclusive and really bloody new stills, we have a special guest blog on tap for you guys from director Spencer Parsons about his new film, Saturday Morning Mystery; old cartoons; and much, much more! Dig it!


Truth be known, I’m more of a Buford Files guy than a Scooby-Doo guy, probably because that one ripped off Smokey and the Bandit, and every episode took place in a swamp, with way more opportunity for moss monsters. But man alive, ‘70s TV barfed up a ton of these Scooby wanna bes about ghost-chasers-with-dogs. And all of them got repeated endlessly through the ‘80s in syndication, even the ones that didn’t last a whole season. Shows like Clue Club, Butch Cassidy and Goober and the Ghost Chasers, plus less dog-centric mystery team cartoons like Fangface, Speed Buggy, or The New Shmoo. There were more, and I could go on, because I watched them all.

But we all must put away childish things, right? So when Jason Wehling (producer/co-writer) and Jonny Mars (producer/”Floyd”) first pitched me the idea of a horror comedy about a team of van-driving ghost chasers and their dog, I thought it was a terrible idea. Of course at that point in the evening, I hadn’t had nearly enough to drink.

Saturday Morning Mystery
"Paul Gordon: The Buford Files' Deputy Goofer McGee never looked like this. (Paul Gordon, photo credit Spencer Parsons)."

I told them I wanted more horror, less comedy. I told them I didn’t want to do a parody of a Saturday morning cartoon. I wanted to do The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Repeatedly. But at some point they reminded me that Texas Chainsaw was about five kids in a van who investigate a spooky plot of problem real estate, and by then I seriously had my beer goggles on, so this made a lot of sense. A few drinks later, a shooting schedule of ten days sounded like an exciting challenge, and “life imitates Hannah Barbera” struck me as a deeply philosophical theme. The realization of what it would mean to start shooting in only three weeks came with the hangover, and by then it was too late. We were in it, and the rest of production would have to be our walk of shame.

The reason it came together that quickly was so we could grab the opportunity to shoot in our “haunted mansion” during its brief window of availability. Executive producer Clark Lyda had just bought the mansion, and he and his partner, producer Jesse Lyda, thought it would be a good place to shoot a horror movie in its state of disrepair. Location came first, so what we had was a real, old-fashioned Roger Corman situation, like when he pulled together The Little Shop of Horrors (1960) in just a few days to take advantage of leftover sets before they were torn down. For us, renovation on the house would begin in 5 weeks, so we would have to be finished with principle shooting by then.

But none of us even knew about any scripts that took place in creepy, old mansions just lying around ready to shoot. Of course the old saw is “write what you know,” but with only 3 weeks to write for a team of middle-class, American white boys, “what you know” distills pretty simply to “thousands of hours of cable TV.”

Saturday Morning Mystery
"Josephine and Ashley in the elevator: Will these meddling kids (Ashley Spillers and Josephine Decker) make it out alive? (photo credit Jason Wehling)"

So we’d mash up all the crazy, disreputable stuff we used to stay up all night watching on cable—flicks by New World, Full Moon, and Empire Pictures, half-remembered music videos mixed up with our first glimpses of Dario Argento movies, plus a healthy dose of Skinemax action in the immortal style of Zalman King. We’d strive to push violence and gore and trippy-ness and sex and nudity to the fever dream limits we always wanted but could rarely find in a single movie or music vide or even cartoon. As for plot, we thought it would be funny and actually a little scary to ask what would happen to a team of meddling kids who’d seen Scooby and Goober and Buford and the rest not merely as kids’ TV shows, but as a viable business model. What if they had the skills to debunk fake hauntings and monsters, but none of what it would take to survive the real thing? And actually, this was something we could sympathize with pretty deeply, given our own ill-advised, childhood-fantasy-based careers in independent filmmaking.

But the Saturday morning cartoon template also helped with characters. To bring off all the scares and violence, we needed to concentrate on story structure and set pieces, while characterization could be made up on the fly. So the actors had these cartoon archetypes to lean on and riff off of, because dialogue and behavior you can improvise…axe murders not so much.

And what kind of axe murders do you shoot in ten days on a cash budget of less than $20,000? (No, there’s not a zero missing.) All those “wasted” hours of cable viewing and VHS rewinding and freeze-framing were about to pay off in another way, because while there are plenty of terrible effects in the cheapo horror films of yore, anyone who has spent enough time watching knows there are some great ones, too. And any serious fan knows a thing or two about how they were done. The great masters like Tom Savini and Rick Baker and Dick Smith always used stage magic tricks that have been around since before cinema, while leaning on remarkably simple photographic and editing tricks to do the rest.

Luckily for us, Meredith Johns and her team at Hawgfly Productions are masters, and brought not only their mad practical effects skills from films like Teeth (2007) and Grindhouse (2007), but they also brought guts. Specifically, guts left over from Machete (2010). So I was able to insist on realizing my childhood dream of cutting one of our characters in half.

Saturday Morning Mystery
"Josephine Decker (in half): Josephine Decker and leftover intestines from Machete getting ready for their closeup in Saturday Morning Mystery (photo credit Spencer Parsons)"

This was actually how it worked with our whole crew. Because the shoot itself was so short, we were able to martial great talent in every department. All joking and boasting aside, on this kind of tight schedule, we were actually able to pull together a seasoned, albeit adventurous, crew to invest their labor for a piece of the movie rather than payment upfront. Sort of a communist enterprise with the potential of a modest capitalist payoff. And it was basically my job to be a worthy (and speedy) director of what everyone else was bringing to it.

So we shot it in a whirlwind of doing everything they tell you not to do. Night shoots. Children and dogs. And it all worked pretty well, except the flashlights and lanterns we were lighting most of the movie with kept breaking and draining batteries and eating up precious time. Free advice: don’t use flashlights for key or fill or anything if you can avoid it (but if you can’t they look pretty great).

In the end, we all emerged from Clark and Jesse’s mansion into the sunrise sleep deprived, a little psychotic and covered in stage blood. There was a Buddhist private school next door, with elementary-aged kids arriving as we passed around wrap beers and even the non-smokers lit up what felt and tasted like post-coital cigarettes. I’m sure we must have looked like the Manson Family returning to Spahn Ranch from a night of Helter Skelter, but we were completely oblivious. So while I regaled a couple of disbelieving actors with f-bomb-littered plot synopses from Hanna Barbera’s Scooby Doo ripoff-cum-Jaws (1975) cash-in, Jabberjaw, one of the schoolteachers from next door approached and joined our conversation. She smiled and confirmed that yes, Jabberjaw was a real show with a wisecracking, rock-n-roll drumming Great White that she remembered fondly, but requested for the sake of the arriving children that we please stop smoking.


The film is directed by Spencer Parsons and written by Jory Balsimo, Aaron Leggett, and Jason Wehling. You can find it on VOD beginning July 17th and in theatres on August 9, 2013.

Josephine Decker, Paul Gordon, Jonny Mars, Ashley Spillers, and Adam Tate star.

Synopsis:
Four professional ghost hunters, who travel in a vintage van accompanied by their canine companion (sound familiar?), get far more than they bargained for when they investigate an abandoned schoolhouse with a mysterious past.

Saturday Morning Mystery

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Massacre mysteries every morning in the comments section below.

San Diego Comic-Con 2013: Check Out 30 Minute Musicals' Production of Jurassic Park in 4D

0
0

San Diego Comic-Con 2013: Check Out 30 Minute Musicals' Production of Jurassic Park in 4DIt seems like you've got every type of entertainment imaginable at Comic-Con in San Diego this week, but musicals? Yep, musicals, too! 30 Minute Musicals will be presenting Jurassic Park in 4D!

Directed by Brooke Seguin and featuring Tom Lenk from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and Sandeep Parikh of The Guild, this live-action performance presented by Secondline Productions will be held on July 18 at 6 p.m. in the Horton Grand Theatre (444 Fourth Avenue, San Diego, CA). Interested? Tickets are $20 in advance, and you can purchase them here. It's $25 at the door so save yourself the fin and order early.

From the Press Release
Dinosaurs come to life in 30 Minute Musicals' version of the classic film Jurassic Park. This time in 4D! That's right- 1D better than Spielberg. So don't miss this one-night-only event at the Horton Grand Theatre.

Dinosaurs and man, two species separated by 65 million years of evolution... How can we possibly have the slightest idea what to expect? We do know you can expect original songs, dinosaurs that sing and dance, and more laughs than you can handle!

After six original musical theatre adaptations of cult-classic and blockbuster films (Showgirls, Jurassic Park, Top Gun, Teen Witch, Home Alone, and Ghostbusters) and a Best Musical nomination at the 2012 Hollywood Fringe Festival, 30 Minute Musicals is back and bigger than ever at Comic-Con 2013!

The Jurassic Park production stars Tom Lenk, Sandeep Parikh, Tara Perry, Brooke Seguin, Tommy Hobson, Michael Bernardi, Tom Detrinis, Tania Possick, Greg Lynch, Leslie Marrero, Jim Hanna, and Lindsay Wray. For more info visit the official 30 Minute Musicals website, "like"Secondline Productions on Facebook, and follow Secondline Productions on Twitter (@SecondlineLa).

Jurassic Park The Musical in 4D

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Eat it up in the comments section below!

San Diego Comic-Con 2013: Alan Robert Takes on the Angel of Death in The Shunned One

0
0

San Diego Comic-Con 2013: Alan Robert Takes on the Angel of Death in The Shunned OneFans of the metal band Life of Agony will recognize the name Alan Robert as he is the group's bassist/songwriter. But more recently he's become pretty successful in the world of comics, and he's now prepping his newest title, The Shunned One.

The Shunned One will be released in 2014 by IDW Publishing. With titles like Killogy, Crawl to Me, and Wire Hangers already under his belt, Robert promises this to be his darkest title yet! If you're in San Diego this weekend, visit IDW Publishing at Booth #2643 for some cool events, special guests, and prizes.

For more visit the official IDW Publishing website, "like"IDW Publishing on Facebook and follow IDW Publishing on Twitter (@IDWPublishing).

From the Press Release
Life of Agony bassist/songwriter Alan Robert teams up with award-winning publisher IDW Publishing once again to release another creator-owned horror comic miniseries, The Shunned One, in 2014. Robert’s upcoming tale of winged woe focuses on an Angel of Death who goes rogue after being ordered to take several innocent lives. This guilt-ridden death angel begins to carry out his own judgment on humans, based on their actions instead of whether their names appear on the preordained Death List. The Angel’s unsanctioned murders instantly alter the balance within the universe and trigger a string of unforeseen disasters that spiral out of control. Banished from Heaven by his Creator and hunted by a pack of vengeful death angels, The Shunned One must hide among the humans to survive while trying to reverse the damage he’s done.

"This will definitely be my darkest series to date," says Robert. "The tragedies in Newtown and Aurora really hit home for me. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain those families are going through. I suppose The Shunned One is my subconscious reaction to events like that—just trying to cope with all this death and my worst fears in my own way."

"I’m happy to once again put my life in Alan Robert’s hands in the form of his latest series for IDW," said Chris Ryall, IDW’s Chief Creative Office/Editor-in-Chief. "As he’s proven with his numerous series for us already, he’s an expert at telling dark, fantastical tales; and The Shunned One, featuring the Angel of Death himself, is only the latest reason we’re happy to keep walking into dark territory with him."

The Shunned Ones

The Shunned Ones

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Shun others in the comments section below!

Halloween Horror Nights Bringing the Evil Dead to Both Florida and California

0
0

Halloween Horror Nights Bringing The Evil Dead to Both Florida and CaliforniaFor this writer the first email from Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights heralds the fright season, and we’ve received it. Here's news on the immersive, live-action hell HHN intends to bring with its Evil Dead mazes.

From the Press Release
This fall Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights will conjure unrelenting evil in elaborately themed haunted mazes based on this year’s box office hit Evil Dead. Universal is joining forces with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to deliver an authentic experience that will immerse horror fans in the blockbuster remake of the cult classic.

Producers Rob Tapert, Sam Raimi, and Bruce Campbell – creators of the original Evil Dead film – reunited to present this year’s terrifying new vision of the classic horror film. The film follows five 20-something friends who turn a remote cabin in the woods into a blood-soaked chamber of horrors after awakening an ancient demon. Directed by Fede Alvarez, Evil Dead opened No. 1 at the U.S. Box Office and is in the Top 10 for all-time horror remakes. The movie is available July 16 on Blu-ray and DVD with UltraViolet from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment – and now horror fans will get to live it at Halloween Horror Nights.

In haunted mazes so terrifying they could only be found at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights, guests will be transported into the film and face off against a demonic evil that will stop at nothing to consume them. It begins when a mysterious passage from an ancient book is read, releasing an unearthly force of darkness. A pack of violently possessed victims, including the film’s starring character “Mia,” wreaks brutal carnage throughout the mazes – and guests must make their best attempt to escape.

“I’m thrilled with how popular Evil Dead has become with horror fans, and it’s exciting that it’s coming to life at Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights,” said Fede Alvarez, director of this year’s Evil Dead film. “Just like the film, this haunted maze is going to be over-the-top, in-your-face, and completely outrageous – and I can’t wait to see it.”

“The Evil Dead series is iconic, and this latest film has set the scare factor to 11,” said Michael Aiello from Universal Orlando’s Entertainment team. “These haunted mazes will be just as intense and unapologetically terrifying, and I can’t wait for my fellow horror fans to venture inside and live the unyielding horror they’ve seen in the film.”

“Watching Evil Dead’s unrelenting horror unfold in movie theatres was undoubtedly an unnerving experience, but with Halloween Horror Nights we're taking it one step further,” said John Murdy, Creative Director for Universal Studios Hollywood. “Fans of Evil Dead will feel like they've left the safety of the theatre and stepped through the screen into a living horror movie where the film’s demonic characters are coming for them. Our incredibly immersive and highly disturbing maze experience will come to life with the same attention to detail and production value of the film and will be the ultimate thrill for horror movie fans.”

Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights has a more than 20-year history of creating an incredibly entertaining, horrifying Halloween experience that is consistently rated the nation’s best. The event features highly-themed, disturbingly-real haunted houses that are based on everything from hit films to worst nightmares -- and streets filled with hundreds of specially-trained “scareactors.”

More info on “Halloween Horror Nights” is available at Halloween Horror Nights.com. Updates from Creative Director John Murdy can be found on Twitter, as he reveals a running chronicle of exclusive information.

Evil Dead at Halloween Horror Nights

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Be evil in the comments section below!

San Diego Comic-Con 2013: New Adaptation on its Way Looking to Turn a Prophet

0
0

San Diego Comic-Con 2013: New Adaptation on its Way Looking to Turn a ProphetAll things Comic-Con are regrettably in the air, and while we loathe this time of year as it's exhausting, we are happy to see cool news come out of it. Next out the gate? Another comic adaptation from the makers of The Twilight Saga.

According to The Wrap, Outlier has acquired feature film rights to the comic series Prophet, an apocalyptic crime thriller from author Daniel Corey, whose acclaimed Moriarty was published by Image Comics. Outlier is a Los Angeles-based production company founded by Twilight producer Mark Morgan and E. Thompson (Rites of Spring).

Comic Synopsis:
Prophet follows a killer-for-hire afflicted with supernatural visions who realizes his destiny is to use his special skills to wage war against demons and drug lords. Set in present-day Mexico, Prophet must learn to accept his fate: that he is the latest in a long line of visionary warriors.

More as it comes.

Prophet

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Become a prophet in the comments section below!

Two New Animalistic Riddick Images

0
0

Two New Animalistic Riddick ImagesThe official Twitter account for the upcoming Riddick movie has released two new bits of concept art from the flick. Check 'em out. They're actually pretty damned cool. Look for more on this project throughout Comic-Con.

Riddick stars Vin Diesel and is based on a script by David Twohy, who wrote both Chronicles of Riddick and Pitch Black, where he first created the character of Riddick.

Joining Diesel are a returning Karl Urban (Star Trek) as Vaako; Jordi Molla as Santana, the arrogant captain of the mercenary ship; Matt Nable (Killer Elite) as Boss Johns, a man looking for answers; Katee Sackhoff (TV's "Battlestar Galactica") as the Nordic mercenary Dahl; and Bokeem Woodbine (Total Recall) as bounty hunter Moss. Rounding out the cast are Dave Bautista (The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption), Conrad Pla (Immortals), Raoul Trujillo (Apocalypto), Nolan Funk (Aliens in America), and two-time Grammy Award-nominated singer Keri Hilson.

Riddick

Riddick

Synopsis:
Riddick, the latest chapter of the groundbreaking saga that began with 2000’s hit sci-fi film Pitch Black and 2004’s The Chronicles of Riddick reunites writer/director David Twohy (A Perfect Getaway, The Fugitive) and star Vin Diesel (the Fast and Furious franchise, xXx). Diesel reprises his role as the antihero Riddick, a dangerous, escaped convict wanted by every bounty hunter in the known galaxy.

The infamous Riddick has been left for dead on a sun-scorched planet that appears to be lifeless. Soon, however, he finds himself fighting for survival against alien predators more lethal than any human he’s encountered. The only way off is for Riddick to activate an emergency beacon and alert mercenaries who rapidly descend to the planet in search of their bounty.

The first ship to arrive carries a new breed of merc, more lethal and violent, while the second is captained by a man whose pursuit of Riddick is more personal. With time running out and a storm on the horizon that no one could survive, his hunters won’t leave the planet without Riddick’s head as their trophy.

Riddick

Riddick

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Find Riddick in the comments section below.

San Diego Comic-Con 2013: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - New Burning Hot Poster Gallery

0
0

San Diego Comic-Con 2013: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire - New Burning Hot Poster GalleryJust in time for Comic-Con, a series of new character posters in promotion of The Hunger Games: Catching Fire have come our way, and we have all 11 right here waiting for you. Check out this latest bounty!

Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Lenny Kravitz, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland, Willow Shields, Toby Jones, Paula Malcomson, and Woody Harrelson return in their roles from the first film. New to the Games are Jeffrey Wright, Sam Claflin, Alan Ritchson, Stephanie Leigh Schlund, Patrick St. Esprit, Jena Malone, Lynn Cohen, Bruno Gunn, Meta Golding, E. Roger Mitchell, Maria Howell, Amanda Plummer, Philip Seymour Hoffman, James Logan, Ivette Li-Sanchez, Justin Hix, Megan Hayes, John Casino, Elena Sanchez, Daniel Bernhardt, Marian Green, Jackson Spidell, and Tiffany Waxler.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire is directed by Francis Lawrence and produced by Nina Jacobson’s Color Force in tandem with producer Jon Kilik. The film's release date is November 22, 2013.

Synopsis:
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire begins as Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) has returned home safe after winning the 74th Annual Hunger Games along with fellow tribute Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson). Winning means that they must turn around and leave their family and close friends, embarking on a “Victor’s Tour” of the districts. Along the way Katniss senses that a rebellion is simmering, but the Capitol is still very much in control as President Snow (Donald Sutherland) prepares the 75th Annual Hunger Games (The Quarter Quell) – a competition that could change Panem forever.

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Catch fire in the comments section below.

New Machete Kills One-sheet Plays it Close to the Chest

0
0

Another new one-sheet has checked in for Machete Kills, and it features Demian Bichir as Mendez - an odd looking dude with something weird attached to his chest. Open Road Films will open the flick in theatres on October 4, 2013.

Machete Kills is directed by Robert Rodriguez (Machete, Sin City, Spy Kids franchise) from a screenplay by Kyle Ward based on a story by Marcel Rodriguez and Robert Rodriguez. The film stars Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Sofia Vergara, Amber Heard, Carlos Estevez/Charlie Sheen, Lady Gaga, Antonio Banderas, Jessica Alba, Demián Bichir, Alexa Vega, Vanessa Hudgens, Cuba Gooding, Jr., William Sadler, Marko Zaror, and Mel Gibson.

Synopsis:
In Machete Kills, Danny Trejo returns as ex-Federale agent Machete, who is recruited by the President of the United States for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man - he must take down a madman revolutionary and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war and anarchy across the planet.

Machete Kills

Machete Kills

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Hatch plans in the comments section below!

Elm Street Writer Pecks at Universal's Bird Box

0
0

Elm Street Writer Pecks at Universal's Bird BoxMama director Andy Muschietti has a new project lined up at Universal called Bird Box, and now he was a writer in tow to help him bring it to the big screen! Read on for details.

According to The Wrap, Universal Pictures is turning to Eric Heisserer, who penned the studio's remake of The Thing as well as the Nightmare on Elm Street redux, to write Bird Box, an adaptation of Josh Malerman's manuscript.

Details are scant at the moment, but we can tell you that the story centers on “a blindfolded threesome comprised of a woman and two children who make their way down a river in a seemingly post-apocalyptic setting.

Stay tuned for more on this one as it comes.

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Be peckish in the comments section below!

Toby Jones Heads to Wayward Pines

0
0

Toby Jones Heads to Wayward PinesMore casting news has come in for M. Night Shyamalan's small screen endeavor, "Wayward Pines," as Toby Jones has signed on to play Dr. Jenkins, a charismatic and mysterious psychiatrist.

Jones' character treats a Secret Service agent (Matt Dillon) who arrives in a small Idaho town looking for two missing agents. Dr. Jenkins believes brain damage suffered in a car wreck is the source of the visiting agent’s paranoia. Then again, very little in the town of Wayward Pines is as it seems.

Carla Gugino and Melissa Leo co-star.

Based on the best-selling novel Pines by Blake Crouch, "Wayward Pines" is an intense, mind-bending thriller evocative of the classic cult hit "Twin Peaks.""Wayward Pines" is set to debut in 2014.

Synopsis
Ethan Burke (Dillon) is a Secret Service agent who arrives in the bucolic town of Wayward Pines, Idaho, on a mission to find two missing federal agents. But instead of answers, Ethan's investigation only turns up more questions. Each step closer to the truth takes Ethan further from the life he knew, from the husband and father he was, until he must face the terrifying reality that he may never get out of Wayward Pines alive.

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Do the twist in the comments section below!

San Diego Comic-Con 2013: Download the Godzilla Encounter App to Earn Concept Art and More!

0
0

San Diego Comic-Con 2013: Download the Godzilla Encounter App to Earn Concept Art and More!Never doubt the ingenuity of an overzealous fan. In promotion of The Godzilla Encounter attraction at the San Diego Comic-Con, smart phone users can download the official Godzilla Encounter App, which is available now. Read on for details.

The App is used to scan certain things in and around the Godzilla related areas of the show, and doing so will reveal concept art and lord knows what else. Today an excited fan "tore into" the App itself and came up with the first bit of concept art. Yeah, they didn't earn it, but in any event, click on the image below to see a much larger version of the goodies.

Look for much more about Godzilla throughout the week. Also available now is a variant of the recently released artwork. Dig on that below as well.

San Diego Comic-Con 2013: Download the Godzilla Encounter App and Earn Concept Art and More!

Tickets for The Godzilla Encounter are AVAILABLE NOW with details on how you can secure them! The secret passcode for the tickets is SERIZAWA, the name spelled out in the viral images from the past couple of days!

The Godzilla San Diego Comic-Con panel happens on Saturday, July 20th. Click here for the details.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Richard T. Jones, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, David Strathairn, Patrick Sabongui, Yuki Morita, Brian Markinson, Juliette Binoche, Akira Takarada, Victor Rasuk, C.J. Adams, and Ken Watanabe star.

Gareth Edwards is directing the film from a screenplay by Max Borenstein, Frank Darabont, and Dave Callaham. Legendary’s Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni are producing with Mary Parent and Brian Rogers. Alex Garcia and Patricia Whitcher are serving as executive producers alongside Yoshimitsu Banno and Kenji Okuhira.

Check out the Godzilla Encounter website to keep track of Big G's path of destruction!

Godzilla

Godzilla

Godzilla

Godzilla

A presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, Godzilla will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, except in Japan, where it will be distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. Legendary Pictures is a division of Legendary Entertainment.

Slated to open on May 16, 2014, the film is expected to be presented in 3D.

Godzilla

Godzilla

Godzilla

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Stomp around in the comments section below!

San Diego Comic-Con 2013: First Images from the Godzilla Encounter Hit the Web!

0
0

San Diego Comic-Con 2013: First Images from the Godzilla Encounter Hit the Web!The first images from one of Comic-Con's sure to be premier attractions, The Godzilla Encounter, have hit this crazy thing we call the Internet, and we have a look at the goods right here for you.

From what we've seen thus far, this looks like a shrine to all things Godzilla, and that's just fine by us. Included are collectibles, VHS tapes and DVDs, and even what appear to be a couple of the suits used in the later Godzilla flicks. We have a few choice images in the gallery below. For the whole enchilada check out Collider as they've posted a whopping 75 images.

Keep your eyes locked to Dread Central for our own gallery soon as we plan on getting as up close and personal as possible.

Look for much more about Godzilla throughout the week.

Godzilla

Godzilla

Godzilla

Tickets for The Godzilla Encounter are AVAILABLE NOW with details on how you can secure them! The secret passcode for the tickets is SERIZAWA, the name spelled out in the viral images from the past couple of days!

The Godzilla San Diego Comic-Con panel happens on Saturday, July 20th. Click here for the details.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Richard T. Jones, Elizabeth Olsen, Bryan Cranston, David Strathairn, Patrick Sabongui, Yuki Morita, Brian Markinson, Juliette Binoche, Akira Takarada, Victor Rasuk, C.J. Adams, and Ken Watanabe star.

Gareth Edwards is directing the film from a screenplay by Max Borenstein, Frank Darabont, and Dave Callaham. Legendary’s Thomas Tull and Jon Jashni are producing with Mary Parent and Brian Rogers. Alex Garcia and Patricia Whitcher are serving as executive producers alongside Yoshimitsu Banno and Kenji Okuhira.

Check out the Godzilla Encounter website to keep track of Big G's path of destruction!

Godzilla

Godzilla

Godzilla

Godzilla

A presentation of Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures, Godzilla will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company, except in Japan, where it will be distributed by Toho Co., Ltd. Legendary Pictures is a division of Legendary Entertainment.

Slated to open on May 16, 2014, the film is expected to be presented in 3D.

Godzilla

Godzilla

Godzilla

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Stomp around in the comments section below!

See Don Swayze and Luke Barnett in First Clip from Iniquitous

0
0

See Don Swayze and Luke Barnett in First Clip from IniquitousFresh for San Diego Comic-Con, we've got the first clip from the short film Iniquitous, featuring Don Swayze and Luke Barnett. Yep, Don Swayze… you know who's younger brother stars in Iniquitous, a truly twisted tale.

Swayze's co-star, Luke Barnett, will be at Comic-Con from Thursday through Sunday, July 18-21, promoting both The Scribbler and his newest film, Static, which was just released in the UK on July 15.

Iniquitous was written and directed by John Thaddeus and produced by Ravenous Films.

Synopsis
John Duncan (Swayze), a one-time faithful preacher and practicing exorcist, falls from grace after a horrible car crash takes the lives of his wife and two daughters. John falls deep into the dark abyss of drugs, alcohol, and failed attempts at suicide. Eventually a messenger comes to John and convinces him he must exorcise one more soul in order to be released from his pain. John agrees, not knowing the soul he must save is his own. Once healed, John is set on a new path in which he is a vital link to helping the remnants of man, left behind after the apocalypse, rebuild our world.

Iniquitous

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Fall into the abyss of the comments section below!

Inception Media Group Unleashing 5 Souls onto DVD

0
0

Inception Media Group Unleashing 5 Souls onto DVDNo, this is not a prequel to the recently released 6 Souls, but if you wanna make believe it is, we wouldn't be entirely against that, if only for fun. Seriously, what we have here is another prime example of why you should never make a pact with the Devil.

From the Press Release
A man discovers the eternal consequences of making a pact with the Devil in 5 Souls, coming to DVD August 6th from Inception Media Group.

When Noah mysteriously falls into a coma following a routine doctor’s visit, he awakens in a hospital to find a strange man waiting at the foot of his bed. The eerie visitor presents him with a Faustian deal: kill five people to reconcile his life’s misdeeds and live, or decline the offer and die.

As Noah proceeds with his grim assignment and begins to collect the fifth and final soul, he learns that his pact may have eternally horrifying consequences… But how far is he willing to go to save his own life?

5 Souls is presented in widescreen with an aspect ratio of 16 x 9 (1.85:1) and 5.1 digital surround sound. 

5 Souls?

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Get dead in the comments section below.

Jim Cliffe Talks with Dread Central About His Award-Winning Donovan's Echo

0
0

Jim Cliffe Talks with Dread Central About His Award-Winning Donovan's EchoJim Cliffe, director and co-writer of Donovan's Echo, was given quite a thrilling assignment for his first feature film. He was tasked with bringing his supernatural tale to life and given Danny Glover and Bruce Greenwood to work with. Not bad.

With Donovan's Echo making a successful festival run and now available on DVD, Blu-ray and VOD, Cliffe sat down with Dread Central to discuss his experiences with the film.

Dread Central: Why the supernatural genre for your first feature?

Jim Cliffe: It’s a genre that I love. Growing up, I was into comic books, superheroes, Star Wars, Steven Spielberg films, and I’ve just always been fascinated by the unknown and extraordinary. While I like a wide range of cinema, I’ve always enjoyed movies that offer something out of the unordinary, particularly if it’s set within a reality that feels very authentic with grounded characters and everyday problems. I think the more genuine your characters are within a supernatural setting, the easier it is for the audience to get on board with the phenomenon. Also, supernatural elements allow you to imagine unusual possibilities, occasionally representing hope, which is sort of a theme within Donovan’s Echo.

DC: Danny Glover and Bruce Greenwood are big genre names; how did you entice them to do your film?

JC: This is my first feature, so I didn’t have high expectations on casting. But we had a casting agent in LA put some names together for ‘Donovan’. Danny was one of them, and he just had an essence about him that seemed incredibly ideal, although it felt impossible because we were such a small movie. We put it out, thinking it was a long shot, and he got back relatively quickly and said he wanted to do it, which was unbelievable. Danny enjoyed the script, and said that he connected with the character of ‘Donovan’ as he also has a background in mathematics and struggles with dyslexia. Pretty soon, Bruce came up as a possible ‘Finnley’. He also seemed like someone who would be a great fit. Bruce responded to the material, and wanted to work with Danny. Bruce is also from Vancouver, where we’d be shooting. With these two guys attached, the movie took a tremendous leap forward. It was now a real movie. As first-time filmmaker, it’s just so rare to get talent like that attached. I was very honored that they were willing to take a chance.

DC: The film has a very moody, dark almost "Twin Peaks" look about it...was that intentional? Would the story have worked if it was set in a sun-drenched, lively city like LA?

JC: You’re very correct in that analogy. There’s a distinctive overall feel within the palette that suggested moodiness, loneliness, which is really a result of shooting in the Canadian west coast in November. It really worked for "The X-Files" as well, before they took the series to sun-drenched LA.

DC: How did you gain your distribution deal for the film?

JC: We shot in Canada and were able to secure funding through Telefilm, which is a government program that helps finance Canadian productions. In order to qualify, you need to have Canadian distribution attached. We had challenges there because of the climate of film at the time. There was no one willing to get behind a film shot under $10M, let alone a first-time filmmaker. We finally lucked out with Union Pictures in Toronto. We also obtained additional funding through other film avenues, as well as independent financing through a former co-worker and friend, Lance Priebe. Lance created Club Penguin, which is a virtual world for kids that Disney purchased. Lance had followed my successes and fully believed in my ability. He and his wife Kim came on as executive producers and really helped make the film happen.

After the release of the film in Canada, we eventually secured distribution in other countries, including the US, where it is distributed by Naidomi.

DC: What changes did the script undergo before the film went before the cameras?

JC: A month or two before production, the distributor insisted on a major change to the story, which was pretty tough as it was an idea that was really the spark of inspiration for the story. The original script included bookends that revealed why Donovan was going through this experience. Essentially, Donovan realizes that all of his déjà vu experiences were a result of him living the same life over and over again, a concept known as eternal recurrence. He is continually thrown back into this cycle until he figures out what he needs to do, which involves Maggie. Between the two of them, there’s a greater good for the rest of the world. The original script ended with Donovan dying, realizing what had been happening. With his dying breath he tells himself to remember next time. We showed Donovan’s rebirth, which we had been given a glimpse at during his near-death experience after his heart-attack earlier in the film. We then had a quick montage of different choices he made throughout his life, leading to an alternate timeline in the present. Everything we’d seen during the movie suddenly makes sense. But the distributor, as supportive as they were, felt that audiences wouldn’t get it. We had no choice but to remove the “new life” bookends, and come up with an alternate ending, or else we wouldn’t move forward.

I’m pretty passionate about my ideas, and I’ll try to be as strong as I can about what I’m willing to let go of, but in this case it was either find a solution, or don’t get the movie made. At the very least, we never had options pushed on us, and they allowed Melodie (Krieger, Cliffe's partner and co-writer) and me to come up with the solution ourselves. After a couple weeks of depression over losing what I felt was the gem of the story, a new angle started to emerge. And truthfully, the bookends were really just 5% of the story – albeit a meaningful 5%. What we came up with seems to have worked, and through audiences I’ve met at some of our screenings, many people were touched, some even with tears. So, I’m glad it worked in the end. I’ve come to appreciate it, but it was definitely a hard loss.

DC: If you had to pick two or three films to compare Donovan's Echo to, what would they be?

JC: A Beautiful Mind comes to mind, as Donovan is a mathematician and his sanity comes into question with what he thinks is happening. Unbreakable is perhaps on a similar note. Our story takes its time to unfold, Donovan is trying to figure out what’s happening to him, not unlike Bruce Willis’ character. Plus, that movie had a supernatural theme with a dramatic core as we have. Lastly, Hearts in Atlantis is a fair comparison as it’s the story of an older man with a unique gift (psychic) and his relationship with a child. Like HOA, Donovan’s Echo has a lot of heart to it. We’ve unfortunately been marketed as mainly a thriller, which is pretty misleading. Our story deals with loss, regret, and redemption. It’s also occasionally funny.

DC: Is this a closed story, or is there an idea for a sequel there?

JC: It’s pretty closed. With earlier drafts where Donovan was experiencing eternal recurrence, I thought it might be interesting if we could somehow have a short film depicting a moment of déjà vu within one of his other lives, as part of a marketing campaign. That would have been fun. A little ambitious, but a fun idea regardless.

DC: What's the next film you're doing? Do you hope to work with some of the same cast?

Melodie and I have a couple of new scripts we’re working on. We just finished one that is similar in tone as DE, but with an extra-terrestrial theme. We’re drawing inspiration from the events of Roswell, but a different UFO crash in a small community, shrouded in conspiracy. It’s essentially a father and son story, where the son is trying to get the truth about his dying father’s claims of an event on the family ranch in the 1950’s. We have a bit of Project Blue Book stuff in there as well, and some fun time-bending twists and turns. We were fortunate enough to have such a talented cast with DE, it’d be a pleasure to work with any of them again.

DC: How is it working with your real-life partner when writing scripts? Many arguments or differences of opinion?

JC: We make a very great team. We occasionally have conflicting opinions, but we debate our differences by each explaining why we think something is or isn’t working. Whoever has the most compelling case wins. We have a lot of mutual respect, so we don’t take things personally or get into hateful arguments when we disagree. It’s not in the best interest for our story or our relationship. The way we write is that we’ll spend the bulk of our time just working out the story within a 3-act structure, figuring out our characters and the beats we want to hit. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle that continually shifts and changes. Once we have a pretty solid foundation, we begin to write. I’ll take pages 1-5, and Melodie 6-10, and then we’ll trade off and go over each other’s work. Once you start writing, you start discovering new things, and the story begins to change. You find little moments to work into a scene that lead to something else. It’s a fun journey, but it’s exhausting. You have to be committed.

Donovan's Echo is now available on Blu-Ray, DVD and VOD. For more visit the official Donovan's Echo website, "like"Donovan's Echo on Facebook and follow Donovan's Echo on Twitter (@donovansecho).

Synopsis
Donovan Matheson is a brilliant mathematician who, as a young man, helped to develop the atomic bomb. Obsessed with making a positive contribution to the world, Donovan neglects his family, which results in the accidental death of his wife and daughter.

30 years later, Donovan returns to his family’s home and as the anniversary of the tragic event approaches, he discovers an unsettling similarity between random events of the present and events that occurred in the past.

Convinced that history is repeating itself, Donovan risks everything to break the cycle and save an unsuspecting family from the same tragic fate.

Danny Glover Hears Donovan's Echo

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Hear echos in the comments section below!

San Diego Comic-Con 2013: Exclusive Stranded Making-Of Clip

0
0

San Diego Comic-Con 2013: Exclusive Stranded Making-Of ClipPlaying as part of the San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, July 18th, at 7:00 pm is the sci-fi horror thriller Stranded and on tap right now is an exclusive look at the film's many effects. Dig it!

In the film Christian Slater plays Colonel Gerard Brauchman, and the story centers on a series of terrifying events that take place aboard the Ark moon base. Amy Matysio (Just Friends, Chained), Michael Therriault (Prairie Giant: The Tommy Douglas Story, Total Recall), and Brendan Fehr ("Bones", "CSI: Miami") co-star.

The film is produced by Mark Montague, Kevin Dewalt, and Isabelle Bastion and is a co-production from Minds Eye Entertainment and Moving Pictures Media.

Synopsis
When the isolated U.S. military moon base is bombarded by a rogue meteor storm, Colonel Gerard Brauchman (Christian Slater) and his small crew are cut off from Earth with their life support failing. Before long the crew discovers the meteors harbored alien spores…and they’re replicating. Now a vicious, shape-shifting predatory life form is loose inside the crippled facility, picking off victims one by one. Locked in a desperate fight for survival, Brauchman and the terrified remaining astronauts have one final mission: keep the creature from escaping the moon and finding a new food supply on Earth.

Stranded

VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
Got news? Click hereto submit it!
Get stranded in the comments section below!

Blue Underground Reveals Artwork and More for New Snuff Special Edition

0
0

Blue Underground Reveals Artwork and More for New Snuff Special Edition DVDBlue Underground just sent over the specs and artwork for their upcoming release of the hilariously controversial flick Snuff and we've got the skinny! Guess what? There are actually extras this time!

Look for the Blu-ray and DVD in stores on October 22nd. For those of you who don't know, Snuff was originally called Slaughter - a lousy film from husband/wife filmmaker team Michael and Roberta Findlay. When Slaughter's producers deemed it unreleasable, they shelved it while searching for a way to recoup costs. Finally, producer Allan Shackleton decided to cut the film's ending off and replace it with a "real" sequence of an actress being brutally murdered behind the scenes. Hence, Snuff.

Synopsis
Deep in South America, a Manson-like cult leader named Satan cavorts with his bevy of beautiful biker-chick followers while compelling them to kill in his name. When sexy American actress Terry London arrives with producer Max Marsh to shoot a new movie there, the creepy cult targets her and her friends with plans of murder, mayhem and the grisly sacrifice of her unborn baby. Is the final bloody massacre only a movie? Or is it the shocking footage of an actual murder committed before the camera?

Originally lensed as THE SLAUGHTER by notorious filmmakers Michael and Roberta Findlay (SHRIEK OF THE MUTILATED, TAKE ME NAKED), the movie sat on the shelf for five years until enterprising producer/distributor Allan Shackleton devised a controversial new ending and released it as SNUFF. Freshly transferred in High Definition from one of the only remaining prints, now the fascinating true story behind this infamous piece of trash cinema can finally be told… by those who survived!

Special Features

  • Shooting Snuff – Interview with Filmmaker Carter Stevens
  • Up To Snuff – Interview with Filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn
  • The Myth Of Snuff – Interview with Retired FBI Agent Bill Kelly
  • U.S. Trailer
  • German Trailer
  • Poster & Still Gallery
  • Controversy Gallery
  • SNUFF: The Seventies And Beyond by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
  • Nicolas Winding Refn Intro

    Snuff DVD

    Snuff Blu-ray

    VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON!
    Got news? Click hereto submit it!
    Snuff someone out in the comments section below!
  • Viewing all 24793 articles
    Browse latest View live




    Latest Images