Mortuary Massacre is a new anthology style horror from writer and director Chris J. Miller, which has been selected to play at the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival on Friday 26th January. I got chance to ask Chris about how the anthology came together, undertaking multiple role to get the film finished and overcoming several obstacles to get the film finished.
What can we expect from Mortuary Massacre?
Hopefully a bloody good time! It’s an anthology in the vein of the Amicus films, Body Bags (1993) or Creepshow (1982). So, expect a lot of practical makeup effects, some T & A, cannibalism, facial skinning, and even a Nazi zombie shows up to say hello.
How did the ideas for Mortuary Massacre come together as an anthology?
Back in 2011, my writing partner Sean Stearley and I wanted to make a film about a zombie cowboy, but we could never get past the 30-page mark, so...
What can we expect from Mortuary Massacre?
Hopefully a bloody good time! It’s an anthology in the vein of the Amicus films, Body Bags (1993) or Creepshow (1982). So, expect a lot of practical makeup effects, some T & A, cannibalism, facial skinning, and even a Nazi zombie shows up to say hello.
How did the ideas for Mortuary Massacre come together as an anthology?
Back in 2011, my writing partner Sean Stearley and I wanted to make a film about a zombie cowboy, but we could never get past the 30-page mark, so...
- 12/18/2017
- by Philip Rogers
- Nerdly
Of all the legendary early horror films Carl Theodor Dreyer’s vampire nightmare was once the most difficult to appreciate — until Criterion’s restoration of a mostly intact, un-mutilated full cut. Dreyer creates his fantasy according to his own rules — this pallid, claustrophobic horror is closer to Ordet than it is Dracula or Nosferatu.
Vampyr
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 437
1932 / Color / 1:19 Movietone Ap. / 73 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 3, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Julian West (Baron Nicolas De Gunzberg), Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz, Jan Hieronimko, Henriette Gérard.
Cinematography: Rudolph Maté
Art Direction: Hermann Warm
Film Editor: Tonka Taldy
Original Music: Wolfgang Zeller
Written by Carl Theodor Dreyer, Christen Jul from In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu
Produced by Carl Theodor Dreyer, Julian West
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr is a tough row to hoe for horror fans, many of whom just...
Vampyr
Blu-ray
The Criterion Collection 437
1932 / Color / 1:19 Movietone Ap. / 73 min. / available through The Criterion Collection / Street Date October 3, 2017 / 39.95
Starring: Julian West (Baron Nicolas De Gunzberg), Maurice Schutz, Rena Mandel, Sybille Schmitz, Jan Hieronimko, Henriette Gérard.
Cinematography: Rudolph Maté
Art Direction: Hermann Warm
Film Editor: Tonka Taldy
Original Music: Wolfgang Zeller
Written by Carl Theodor Dreyer, Christen Jul from In a Glass Darkly by Sheridan Le Fanu
Produced by Carl Theodor Dreyer, Julian West
Directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer
Carl Theodor Dreyer’s Vampyr is a tough row to hoe for horror fans, many of whom just...
- 9/19/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
“Episodes” began as a journey: Two British television writers try to take their acclaimed series to America, and get caught in the web of Matt LeBlanc’s world. Sean (Stephen Mangan) and Beverly’s (Tamsin Greig) original show is flush with promise — literal promises from eager Hollywood studio executives — but “Episodes” chronicles their massive failure.
Entering Season 5, the couple has been put through the ringer. After five seasons, one awful sitcom, and a stolen bid at legitimacy, Sean and Beverly have experienced the industry at its most dysfunctional. And yet, they remain. They still care — desperately, foolishly, painfully — but they still care. They cling to the appearance of a normal life even as the flimsy walls of fake sets and fake people consistently come tumbling down.
Read More:‘Episodes’ Creators Preview the Final Season of Matt LeBlanc’s Showtime Comedy and Unveil Why It Had To End
Even those that...
Entering Season 5, the couple has been put through the ringer. After five seasons, one awful sitcom, and a stolen bid at legitimacy, Sean and Beverly have experienced the industry at its most dysfunctional. And yet, they remain. They still care — desperately, foolishly, painfully — but they still care. They cling to the appearance of a normal life even as the flimsy walls of fake sets and fake people consistently come tumbling down.
Read More:‘Episodes’ Creators Preview the Final Season of Matt LeBlanc’s Showtime Comedy and Unveil Why It Had To End
Even those that...
- 8/16/2017
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
Elmore Leonard doesn’t make adaptations easy. The many successful films and one great TV show produced from the renowned author’s work seem to indicate otherwise, but for every “Out of Sight” and “Justified,” there’s a “Killshot” and “Karen Sisco.”
Now, after a hailed novel and two feature films, “Get Shorty” becomes the latest Leonard crime story to get the series treatment, and it’s a lot closer in quality to its titular inspiration than its lesser sequel, “Be Cool.” But aside from being pretty darn good, this take goes its own way.
Anyone familiar with the 1990 book or 1995 film will certainly recognize the plot, but creator Davey Holmes’ new show isn’t doing an impression; not on any level. From the casting to the construction, this version of “Get Shorty” is its own beast. The hour-long drama may not be the next big breakout in the golden age of TV,...
Now, after a hailed novel and two feature films, “Get Shorty” becomes the latest Leonard crime story to get the series treatment, and it’s a lot closer in quality to its titular inspiration than its lesser sequel, “Be Cool.” But aside from being pretty darn good, this take goes its own way.
Anyone familiar with the 1990 book or 1995 film will certainly recognize the plot, but creator Davey Holmes’ new show isn’t doing an impression; not on any level. From the casting to the construction, this version of “Get Shorty” is its own beast. The hour-long drama may not be the next big breakout in the golden age of TV,...
- 8/13/2017
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
Long Strange Trip (Amazon Video)
I was stoked have scored a ticket for the limited-run (one week) theatrical screening of the new Grateful Dead documentary at IFC Cinema in the West Village. A four-hour love fest for Deadheads young and old, and more importantly for those music fans and the curious who just never got "it" and what it means to be a Deadhead. Expertly handled by director Amir Bar-Lev, there is so much to mine here that I can't imagine how much was left on the cutting room floor. (Props to executive producer Martin Scorsese, too.) Jerry's Frankenstein story frames the movie in a way that initially seems odd but by the end of the film makes perfect sense. After all, like the Monster, the band was "assembled" by the various parts (members, friends, fans, staff) that comprised it. Messy, joyous entropy in action; seemingly random, but actually spiritually...
I was stoked have scored a ticket for the limited-run (one week) theatrical screening of the new Grateful Dead documentary at IFC Cinema in the West Village. A four-hour love fest for Deadheads young and old, and more importantly for those music fans and the curious who just never got "it" and what it means to be a Deadhead. Expertly handled by director Amir Bar-Lev, there is so much to mine here that I can't imagine how much was left on the cutting room floor. (Props to executive producer Martin Scorsese, too.) Jerry's Frankenstein story frames the movie in a way that initially seems odd but by the end of the film makes perfect sense. After all, like the Monster, the band was "assembled" by the various parts (members, friends, fans, staff) that comprised it. Messy, joyous entropy in action; seemingly random, but actually spiritually...
- 6/1/2017
- by Dusty Wright
- www.culturecatch.com
Netflix has released the first look images for its upcoming psychological thriller series “Gypsy,” starring Naomi Watts. The 10-part series is helmed by “Fifty Shades Of Grey” director Sam Taylor-Johnson, as well as Victoria Mahoney (“Yelling to the Sky”) and Coky Giedroyc (“Harlots”).
Read More: 7 New Netflix Shows to Binge in May 2017, and The Best Episodes of Each
“Gypsy” follows Jean Halloway (Watts), a Manhattan-based therapist who develops intimate and illicit relationships with the people in her patients’ lives. The cast also includes Billy Crudup (“Spotlight”) as Jean’s husband Michael Halloway, Sophie Cookson (“Kingsman”) as Sydney, Lucy Boynton (“Murder on the Orient Express”) as Jean’s patient Allison, and Karl Glusman (“Nocturnal Animals”) and Jean’s patient Sam.
Read More: Laura Dern, Naomi Watts and Patricia Arquette Reveal What It’s Really Like Working With David Lynch — Watch
The series is written by newcomer Lisa Rubin, who also serves as executive producer alongside Watts,...
Read More: 7 New Netflix Shows to Binge in May 2017, and The Best Episodes of Each
“Gypsy” follows Jean Halloway (Watts), a Manhattan-based therapist who develops intimate and illicit relationships with the people in her patients’ lives. The cast also includes Billy Crudup (“Spotlight”) as Jean’s husband Michael Halloway, Sophie Cookson (“Kingsman”) as Sydney, Lucy Boynton (“Murder on the Orient Express”) as Jean’s patient Allison, and Karl Glusman (“Nocturnal Animals”) and Jean’s patient Sam.
Read More: Laura Dern, Naomi Watts and Patricia Arquette Reveal What It’s Really Like Working With David Lynch — Watch
The series is written by newcomer Lisa Rubin, who also serves as executive producer alongside Watts,...
- 5/3/2017
- by Yoselin Acevedo
- Indiewire
Many weird-world genre bending millennial epics have already dated badly, but not Richard Kelly’s sci-fi / horror / satirical mind-trip about a guy given a glimpse of time travel in another dimension. The wit hasn’t faded and the menace hasn’t cooled, and the cast seems hipper than ever: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary McDonnell, Patrick Swayze, Noah Wyle, Drew Barrymore, Katharine Ross. Two versions, two formats, no waiting.
Donnie Darko
Blu-ray + DVD
Arrow Video USA
2001 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 113, 133 min. / Street Date April 18, 2017 / ( 4-Disc Limited Edition) / Available from Arrow Video 49.95
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Holmes Osborne, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary McDonnell, Patrick Swayze, Jena Malone, Noah Wyle, Drew Barrymore, Katharine Ross.
Cinematography: Steven Poster
Production Design: Alexander Hammond
Film Editors: Sam Bauer, Eric Strand
Original Music: Michael Andrews
Produced by Adam Fields, Nancy Juvonen, Sean McKittrick
Written and Directed by Richard Kelly
When high school kids get into creative writing...
Donnie Darko
Blu-ray + DVD
Arrow Video USA
2001 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 113, 133 min. / Street Date April 18, 2017 / ( 4-Disc Limited Edition) / Available from Arrow Video 49.95
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Holmes Osborne, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary McDonnell, Patrick Swayze, Jena Malone, Noah Wyle, Drew Barrymore, Katharine Ross.
Cinematography: Steven Poster
Production Design: Alexander Hammond
Film Editors: Sam Bauer, Eric Strand
Original Music: Michael Andrews
Produced by Adam Fields, Nancy Juvonen, Sean McKittrick
Written and Directed by Richard Kelly
When high school kids get into creative writing...
- 4/25/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
To mark the 30th anniversary of Andy Warhol’s death, the designers over at Shutterstock have released an eye-catching array of re-imagined posters for the nine films nominated for Best Picture by the Academy, as part of their annual Oscar Pop! poster series.
Read More: David Lynch Turns ‘La La Land’ Into a Twisted Drama in Mashup Video — Watch
Using only images taken from Shutterstock, each poster is inspired by a different pop artist, and riffs on motifs from the films’ original posters. This colorful eye candy is sure to get you in the mood for Sunday night. Check out the posters, with commentary from the designers below:
“Moonlight” (Artist Inspiration: Peter Blake)
“The film is split into three chapters in Chiron’s life, so I incorporated Peter Blake’s use of grids, as well as simplified imagery, to represent the forces that shaped his life.” — Kate Crotty.
Manchester by the Sea...
Read More: David Lynch Turns ‘La La Land’ Into a Twisted Drama in Mashup Video — Watch
Using only images taken from Shutterstock, each poster is inspired by a different pop artist, and riffs on motifs from the films’ original posters. This colorful eye candy is sure to get you in the mood for Sunday night. Check out the posters, with commentary from the designers below:
“Moonlight” (Artist Inspiration: Peter Blake)
“The film is split into three chapters in Chiron’s life, so I incorporated Peter Blake’s use of grids, as well as simplified imagery, to represent the forces that shaped his life.” — Kate Crotty.
Manchester by the Sea...
- 2/23/2017
- by Jude Dry
- Indiewire
The first trailer for Carrie Brownstein’s short film for the fashion brand Kenzo, “The Realest Real,” has just been released. Created in conjunction with the company’s fall-winter campaign, the project was written and directed by the “Portlandia” star and features an impressive cast.
The 30-second clip includes former Sonic Youth member Kim Gordon, “House of Cards” actor Mahershala Ali, “Girl Meets World” star Rowan Blanchard, Natasha Lyonne from “Orange Is the New Black” and “Spider-Man: Homecoming’s” Laura Harrier. According to Kenzo, the film represents a “humorous exploration of the fickle and instant world of the internet.”
Read More: Harmony Korine Directs Gucci Mane In New Supreme Ad — Watch
The campaign images were photographed by Mark Peckmezian and act as film posters for “The Realest Real.”
Read More: The Secret to Great TV Comedies Like ‘Portlandia,’ ‘Man Seeking Woman’ and ‘Baskets’
Kenzo has collaborated with well-known filmmakers in the past.
The 30-second clip includes former Sonic Youth member Kim Gordon, “House of Cards” actor Mahershala Ali, “Girl Meets World” star Rowan Blanchard, Natasha Lyonne from “Orange Is the New Black” and “Spider-Man: Homecoming’s” Laura Harrier. According to Kenzo, the film represents a “humorous exploration of the fickle and instant world of the internet.”
Read More: Harmony Korine Directs Gucci Mane In New Supreme Ad — Watch
The campaign images were photographed by Mark Peckmezian and act as film posters for “The Realest Real.”
Read More: The Secret to Great TV Comedies Like ‘Portlandia,’ ‘Man Seeking Woman’ and ‘Baskets’
Kenzo has collaborated with well-known filmmakers in the past.
- 7/13/2016
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.NEWSAnton Yelchin in Green RoomUnexpected and tragic news at the end of the weekend was that actor Anton Yelchin (Star Trek, Only Lovers Left Alive, Joe Dante's Burying the Ex, Green Room) was accidentally killed at his home.French New Wave director Éric Rohmer was intensely private, so details of his long, productive life have generally been slim. But now, as Richard Brody writes at the New Yorker, a 2014 biography by Antoine de Baecque and Noël Herpe has been translated into English, and makes for essential reading about one of cinema's greats.We won't get properly excited until, first, the cameras are rolling, and second, there's a hope of some kind of release date, but The Film Stage has gathered enough evidence to point towards what Terrence Malick's next film will be: Radegund,...
- 6/22/2016
- MUBI
This is the week for Mystery Science Theater 3000 fans. Volume 2 of MST3K will be re-released on DVD on May 24th and pre-order for this item is available now at Shout! Factory. Also in this round-up: No Place For the Living Kickstarter info and Conan the Slayer #1 release details.
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume Two DVD: Press Release: “It’s Mystery Science Theater 3000, America’s only television show that makes fun of really bad B-movies from the comfort of a spaceship floating above Earth. On May 24th, 2016, Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume Two is back in print and better than ever! In addition to the episodes Cave Dwellers, Pod People, Angels Revenge and the Shorts Collection Volume 1, Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume Two also includes the Mst Hour wraps for Cave Dwellers and Pod People. Fans can pre-order their copies now by visiting ShoutFactory.com...
Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume Two DVD: Press Release: “It’s Mystery Science Theater 3000, America’s only television show that makes fun of really bad B-movies from the comfort of a spaceship floating above Earth. On May 24th, 2016, Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume Two is back in print and better than ever! In addition to the episodes Cave Dwellers, Pod People, Angels Revenge and the Shorts Collection Volume 1, Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume Two also includes the Mst Hour wraps for Cave Dwellers and Pod People. Fans can pre-order their copies now by visiting ShoutFactory.com...
- 4/8/2016
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
'Darling' Dir. Mickey Keating on Being Inspired by Classic Horror to Form Highly Stylized Nightmares
Channeling some of the most legendary masters of tension and fright in cinema history, young auteur Mickey Keating takes an empty New York house and a lonely young woman and molds these two seemingly traditional tropes into a black-and-white nightmare. Plunging into the viewer’s sense with bone-shaking atmospheric sounds and cohesively deranged editing, “Darling” shatters any expectations and delivers an immersive experience of intimate horror. The film’s star, Lauren Ashley Carter is an absolute revelation. Each scream, gesture, and diabolically spoken line of dialogue compliments the elegantly designed frames inspired by 1960s genre gems. Unsettling from its opening frame to its unshakable horrifying conclusion, Keating’s minimalist creation is an alluring and elegantly diabolical vision. An exquisite genre work to be counted among the best horror films of the year.
"Darling" is now playing in NYC at the Village East Cinema and opens April 8 in Los Angeles at the Arena Cinema.
Carlos Aguilar: I made the big mistake of watching "Darling" at night. It was absolutely terrifying. It took me by surprise, because its very economical in its design, but its very powerful in the emotions that it provokes. Tell me a little bit about the inception of the project and the films that you use as references or influences that inspired its visual aesthetics.
Mickey Keating: I think first and foremost its an homage to 1960s psychological horror movies with fractured narratives told with untrustworthy protagonists. Films like "The Haunting," "The Innocents," "Repulsion," "Diabolique," "That Cold Day in the Park" by Robert Altman, which show a much more restrained, psychological decent into madness. That's what really inspired me to write this one. In terms of composition and framing and camerawork, I turned towards a lot of Haneke films and then also restrained Kubrick-ian and Hitchcock-ian type black-and-white horror movies. It was a great eclectic mix of all these insane, beautiful works of art.
Aguilar: While writing "Darling," were you certain from the start that you wanted it to be focused on a single character with a story that takes place in a single location and very economical in its mechanics?
Mickey Keating: Definitely. It was very important for me to have this movie be this way because my two previous films were really about characters that were playing off one another, really interacting, debating and fighting one another, so with this film I wanted to be much quieter. I wanted to focus on one single person predominately. From the very beginning it was this way. If we could have had no characters in the film we would have tried.
Aguilar: Can you talk about your stylistic decisions including choosing to make the film in black-and-white, the unique framing, and the evocative lighting? The film is definitely a departure from what we commonly see today in the horror genre.
Mickey Keating: I think what was really important for me with this movie was a certain level of restraint. Horror movies, especially indie horror movies, in the past 5 years, have been nothing but hand-held footage and not necessarily about anything beyond trying to capture this weird pathetic intensity and also jump scares. What I really wanted to try and do was push back and go in the complete opposite direction of that. From the get go it was supposed to be like this. The script's not very long and it was all about, "Ok, we’re going to try to make every shot a painting." We knew we were going to really fixate on how we could tell the story the best way possible with the composition, which is a much more traditional approach in terms of classical filmmaking techniques. It was very satisfying to strip that back and really get back on the same page as traditional audiences and not have to try to fool them with fake realism or anything like that.
Aguilar: Editing is a crucial part of what makes "Darling" successful. You chose to use intercuts that can be perceived as flashbacks to what brought the character to this point or as premonitions of what's yet to come.
Mickey Keating: Absolutely. While I was writing the movie, we were also watching a whole bunch of 1960s experimental films. Even the works of John Schlesinger, like "Midnight Cowboy," or especially that dream sequence in "The Exorcist."There was this really exciting notion back then that had this fluidity in editing. The editor is just as present as the cinematographer or anyone else on the film. That’s what we kind of wanted to do, create this almost liquid type of storytelling that’s very abrupt and in a weird way upsetting. I think the goal was to make the audience who endured the film really unsettled and uncomfortable and always on edge. I feel like an exciting, effective horror film for me is a horror film that I can never really see where anything is coming from. That’s what we really tried with this one.
Aguilar: What builds the unsettling atmosphere in "Darling" is the fantastic sound work that enhances the imagery on screen. This is clearly of crucial importance in horror films but sometimes it can be feel overused or on-the-nose. Not in this case. Tell me about the process of creating this other layer of emotion through sound.
Mickey Keating: Definitely. Because the film takes place mostly inside in the house, it was really important for me. Sound is a huge passion of mine, sound design is one of my favorite things in the world, and I think that it's often underutilized. Going back to that idea of pure naturalism, it just kind of exists in the space. What I wanted to do from the very beginning of shooting was give each room, each floor, each kind of location in the house its own sound and its own feeling, as if the house is its own being. Darling walks throughout its body. When she gets up to the door on the top floor, that’s like being in its brain and in the middle that’s like being in its lungs. Every single area is set up differently. It's really upsetting in a way because it makes you very disturbed. Where we looked to for that was the video game "Silent Hill." It has the greatest example of sound work in the entire world because the majority of the first game, especially, is walking around. There are very few monsters in that game, but you are so constantly horrified and on edge because you can never anticipate what’s gonna come next because that sound Is always moving, always liquid, and always changing. Very disturbing I feel.
Aguilar: "Darling" is also a period piece even though this is never specified or delved into. It's a very noticeable quality of the film that coincides with the films that inspire you, but is not a definite factor in how we perceive the story.
Mickey Keating: I think if we had decided to go full blown 1960’s black-and-white probably we would have been pushing it a little bit too far. I didn’t want tot make a movie that wouldn’t be able to get an audience on all, or at least some level. My favorite thing I’ve ever read about David Lynch is that his moves exist in a dream-time in a way. They’re very heavy handed 1950s but clearly there’s some from the 80s. All these references make all of his films very anachronistic, and that’s was my intention. While its definitely a 1960s type of horror film, we never explicitly say it. The fact that the world is all black-and-white and New York sounds very strange in the film, it almost seems like it exists on another plane, or at least that was my intention.
Aguilar: Tell me about your star, Lauren Ashley Carter, who is terrific and terrifying beyond belief. Her screams and her facial expressions are really hard to shake off once the film is over.
Mickey Keating: I knew Lauren because she was in my previous film, and in my previous film she's one of the victims. She screams, she’s terrified, and so for this movie I wanted to flip that on its head. I wanted to cast her again and see where else she, as an actor, could go. When I was talking to her I referenced a lot of movies like "The Seventh Continent" by Michael Haneke and we also talked about those old 1920s horror movies where you see those violent screams that burn in your mind. She totally took that and ran with it. It was very exciting to be able to bring her on board. She’s definitely fantastic. It was also very exciting to be able to bring Sean Young on board as well as Brian Morvant, from my previous film, who plays the antagonist in the film. I wanted to flip that again and have him play the victim in this one. It was really a total world of friends making movies with friends, which is very satisfying.
Aguilar: Her character is sort of a blend between a victim and a villain. She has this sort of duality about her throughout the film, which that doesn’t let us know what she really is until late in the film.
Mickey Keating: Absolutely. That even goes back to southern gothic literature or even a movie like "Taxi Driver." When Travis is doing the pushups and we see he has all these scars all up his back, we know he clearly has a very disturbed past, and yet somehow he's still the protagonist. Travis Bickle was always a big point of reference for that as well.
Aguilar: What would you say were some of the most difficult hurdles you had to overcome to make an independent horror film at this scale and with the particularities that "Darling" showcases? How difficult was it to get people on board with the project you envisioned?
Mickey Keating: There are plenty. Its never easy. I think that at all scales of movies there's always stuff that’s very difficult, stressful and horrible to deal with and that never really changes. If you have enough money to solve anybody's problem, then clearly theres somebody who will charge that rate. It's never quite easy. I think the main challenge on a film like this was first and foremost that I wanted to make a black-and-white movie. A lot of people, when I even mentioned it before I even shot it, would say, "Oh don’t do black-and-white because you can't sell it." Clearly that’s not the case, so it's interesting. I feel like if I had brought this to any other production company besides Glass Eye Pix it wouldn't have happened. Nobody wants to be the guy saying, "Alright, lets make a black-and-white period horror movie," but everyone wants to come on board after the fact, which is very very frustrating to me in a lot of ways. I think that’s one of the challenges, being able to step back and say, "No, we're going to find a way to make this. We're going to figure out something. No matter what anyone says we're going to make this movie this way." Another challenge that really kind of comes to mind was, shooting in New York City in November was not easy. It was raining and it was cold. I’m from Florida originally and I live in California, so it was just a nightmare. But I think what’s fortunate about these movies is that we make them for a price so we make the movies that we are excited to make. Hopefully the right people that are drawn to them are drawn to them and everybody is happy at the end of the day. Overall it was a great experience.
Aguilar: The constraints that come with independent filmmaking, whether these are financial or logistical, often force artists to elevate their creativity to new heights in order to find solutions. Of course having more money makes things easier. Creative freedom that comes with a reasonable budget would be ideal.
Mickey Keating: Absolutely, there is a difference between committee filmmaking and having an individual voice. For all these movies that we are referencing and celebrating that used to be a no-brainer. You got a lot of money and you could make something that was very personal. Now, the way that the landscape of filmmaking has changed, every cent that you get that’s more than $1 million comes with a great big asterisk. It was great to be able to do something that was very personal. I had a great support system through Glass Eye Pix, they were totally like, “Yeah, do your thing.” It was great.
Aguilar: How have audiences reacted to the film? There is, of course, a niche audiences that will probaly enjoy the elegant madness of the film. Has that been the case?
Mickey Keating: In general in terms of the movies that I make, people are either very rabidly passionate about them or rabidly hateful towards them [Laughs]. The people who have been supportive of “Darling” have been very vocally supportive. I feel like what’s so fun about a movie like this is that in the first 30 seconds of it you are going to decide whether it’s a movie for you or not. In a way that’s very exciting because people who have stayed on the roller-coaster and gone all the way through are very adamant about how they feel and the emotions that it invoked. To me it just comes down to the fact that you are creating a conversation with your audience. The more you can talk about it, it’s a sign of an effective film and there have been a lot of conversations about this one so far, which is very exciting.
Aguilar: This is a film that takes a seemingly peaceful locations and a passive character and turns those preconceived notions on their head.
Mickey Keating: Definitely, We kind of approached the movie almost like a drug trip using the chapters. I’m not use drugs guy, but I think you can see that at the beginning there is this excitement and the further you get along down the rabbit hole or down the drug trip it becomes more jarring and fractured, and then by the last chapter it’s almost something like a hangover. It was very exciting to try to tell that story that way.
Aguilar: Seems like this is a busy year for you. What is the next frightening trip you are taking us on?
Mickey Keating: I have another movie coming out soon called "Carnage Park" that we premiered at Sudnance and SXSW this year. It'll be out in the summer. I also just wrapped another film called "Psychopaths," which is an ensemble serial killers movie. It's basically a whole bunch of stories about a whole bunch of serial killers over the course of one night in Los Angeles. This film's sensibilities are a bit closer to "Darling's" because "Carnage Park" is definitely a Sam Peckinpah-esque, Neo-Western, survival type movie. "Psychopaths" is much more of a psychedelic fever dream, which we are very excited to start showing people.
"Darling" is now playing in NYC at the Village East Cinema and opens April 8 in Los Angeles at the Arena Cinema.
Carlos Aguilar: I made the big mistake of watching "Darling" at night. It was absolutely terrifying. It took me by surprise, because its very economical in its design, but its very powerful in the emotions that it provokes. Tell me a little bit about the inception of the project and the films that you use as references or influences that inspired its visual aesthetics.
Mickey Keating: I think first and foremost its an homage to 1960s psychological horror movies with fractured narratives told with untrustworthy protagonists. Films like "The Haunting," "The Innocents," "Repulsion," "Diabolique," "That Cold Day in the Park" by Robert Altman, which show a much more restrained, psychological decent into madness. That's what really inspired me to write this one. In terms of composition and framing and camerawork, I turned towards a lot of Haneke films and then also restrained Kubrick-ian and Hitchcock-ian type black-and-white horror movies. It was a great eclectic mix of all these insane, beautiful works of art.
Aguilar: While writing "Darling," were you certain from the start that you wanted it to be focused on a single character with a story that takes place in a single location and very economical in its mechanics?
Mickey Keating: Definitely. It was very important for me to have this movie be this way because my two previous films were really about characters that were playing off one another, really interacting, debating and fighting one another, so with this film I wanted to be much quieter. I wanted to focus on one single person predominately. From the very beginning it was this way. If we could have had no characters in the film we would have tried.
Aguilar: Can you talk about your stylistic decisions including choosing to make the film in black-and-white, the unique framing, and the evocative lighting? The film is definitely a departure from what we commonly see today in the horror genre.
Mickey Keating: I think what was really important for me with this movie was a certain level of restraint. Horror movies, especially indie horror movies, in the past 5 years, have been nothing but hand-held footage and not necessarily about anything beyond trying to capture this weird pathetic intensity and also jump scares. What I really wanted to try and do was push back and go in the complete opposite direction of that. From the get go it was supposed to be like this. The script's not very long and it was all about, "Ok, we’re going to try to make every shot a painting." We knew we were going to really fixate on how we could tell the story the best way possible with the composition, which is a much more traditional approach in terms of classical filmmaking techniques. It was very satisfying to strip that back and really get back on the same page as traditional audiences and not have to try to fool them with fake realism or anything like that.
Aguilar: Editing is a crucial part of what makes "Darling" successful. You chose to use intercuts that can be perceived as flashbacks to what brought the character to this point or as premonitions of what's yet to come.
Mickey Keating: Absolutely. While I was writing the movie, we were also watching a whole bunch of 1960s experimental films. Even the works of John Schlesinger, like "Midnight Cowboy," or especially that dream sequence in "The Exorcist."There was this really exciting notion back then that had this fluidity in editing. The editor is just as present as the cinematographer or anyone else on the film. That’s what we kind of wanted to do, create this almost liquid type of storytelling that’s very abrupt and in a weird way upsetting. I think the goal was to make the audience who endured the film really unsettled and uncomfortable and always on edge. I feel like an exciting, effective horror film for me is a horror film that I can never really see where anything is coming from. That’s what we really tried with this one.
Aguilar: What builds the unsettling atmosphere in "Darling" is the fantastic sound work that enhances the imagery on screen. This is clearly of crucial importance in horror films but sometimes it can be feel overused or on-the-nose. Not in this case. Tell me about the process of creating this other layer of emotion through sound.
Mickey Keating: Definitely. Because the film takes place mostly inside in the house, it was really important for me. Sound is a huge passion of mine, sound design is one of my favorite things in the world, and I think that it's often underutilized. Going back to that idea of pure naturalism, it just kind of exists in the space. What I wanted to do from the very beginning of shooting was give each room, each floor, each kind of location in the house its own sound and its own feeling, as if the house is its own being. Darling walks throughout its body. When she gets up to the door on the top floor, that’s like being in its brain and in the middle that’s like being in its lungs. Every single area is set up differently. It's really upsetting in a way because it makes you very disturbed. Where we looked to for that was the video game "Silent Hill." It has the greatest example of sound work in the entire world because the majority of the first game, especially, is walking around. There are very few monsters in that game, but you are so constantly horrified and on edge because you can never anticipate what’s gonna come next because that sound Is always moving, always liquid, and always changing. Very disturbing I feel.
Aguilar: "Darling" is also a period piece even though this is never specified or delved into. It's a very noticeable quality of the film that coincides with the films that inspire you, but is not a definite factor in how we perceive the story.
Mickey Keating: I think if we had decided to go full blown 1960’s black-and-white probably we would have been pushing it a little bit too far. I didn’t want tot make a movie that wouldn’t be able to get an audience on all, or at least some level. My favorite thing I’ve ever read about David Lynch is that his moves exist in a dream-time in a way. They’re very heavy handed 1950s but clearly there’s some from the 80s. All these references make all of his films very anachronistic, and that’s was my intention. While its definitely a 1960s type of horror film, we never explicitly say it. The fact that the world is all black-and-white and New York sounds very strange in the film, it almost seems like it exists on another plane, or at least that was my intention.
Aguilar: Tell me about your star, Lauren Ashley Carter, who is terrific and terrifying beyond belief. Her screams and her facial expressions are really hard to shake off once the film is over.
Mickey Keating: I knew Lauren because she was in my previous film, and in my previous film she's one of the victims. She screams, she’s terrified, and so for this movie I wanted to flip that on its head. I wanted to cast her again and see where else she, as an actor, could go. When I was talking to her I referenced a lot of movies like "The Seventh Continent" by Michael Haneke and we also talked about those old 1920s horror movies where you see those violent screams that burn in your mind. She totally took that and ran with it. It was very exciting to be able to bring her on board. She’s definitely fantastic. It was also very exciting to be able to bring Sean Young on board as well as Brian Morvant, from my previous film, who plays the antagonist in the film. I wanted to flip that again and have him play the victim in this one. It was really a total world of friends making movies with friends, which is very satisfying.
Aguilar: Her character is sort of a blend between a victim and a villain. She has this sort of duality about her throughout the film, which that doesn’t let us know what she really is until late in the film.
Mickey Keating: Absolutely. That even goes back to southern gothic literature or even a movie like "Taxi Driver." When Travis is doing the pushups and we see he has all these scars all up his back, we know he clearly has a very disturbed past, and yet somehow he's still the protagonist. Travis Bickle was always a big point of reference for that as well.
Aguilar: What would you say were some of the most difficult hurdles you had to overcome to make an independent horror film at this scale and with the particularities that "Darling" showcases? How difficult was it to get people on board with the project you envisioned?
Mickey Keating: There are plenty. Its never easy. I think that at all scales of movies there's always stuff that’s very difficult, stressful and horrible to deal with and that never really changes. If you have enough money to solve anybody's problem, then clearly theres somebody who will charge that rate. It's never quite easy. I think the main challenge on a film like this was first and foremost that I wanted to make a black-and-white movie. A lot of people, when I even mentioned it before I even shot it, would say, "Oh don’t do black-and-white because you can't sell it." Clearly that’s not the case, so it's interesting. I feel like if I had brought this to any other production company besides Glass Eye Pix it wouldn't have happened. Nobody wants to be the guy saying, "Alright, lets make a black-and-white period horror movie," but everyone wants to come on board after the fact, which is very very frustrating to me in a lot of ways. I think that’s one of the challenges, being able to step back and say, "No, we're going to find a way to make this. We're going to figure out something. No matter what anyone says we're going to make this movie this way." Another challenge that really kind of comes to mind was, shooting in New York City in November was not easy. It was raining and it was cold. I’m from Florida originally and I live in California, so it was just a nightmare. But I think what’s fortunate about these movies is that we make them for a price so we make the movies that we are excited to make. Hopefully the right people that are drawn to them are drawn to them and everybody is happy at the end of the day. Overall it was a great experience.
Aguilar: The constraints that come with independent filmmaking, whether these are financial or logistical, often force artists to elevate their creativity to new heights in order to find solutions. Of course having more money makes things easier. Creative freedom that comes with a reasonable budget would be ideal.
Mickey Keating: Absolutely, there is a difference between committee filmmaking and having an individual voice. For all these movies that we are referencing and celebrating that used to be a no-brainer. You got a lot of money and you could make something that was very personal. Now, the way that the landscape of filmmaking has changed, every cent that you get that’s more than $1 million comes with a great big asterisk. It was great to be able to do something that was very personal. I had a great support system through Glass Eye Pix, they were totally like, “Yeah, do your thing.” It was great.
Aguilar: How have audiences reacted to the film? There is, of course, a niche audiences that will probaly enjoy the elegant madness of the film. Has that been the case?
Mickey Keating: In general in terms of the movies that I make, people are either very rabidly passionate about them or rabidly hateful towards them [Laughs]. The people who have been supportive of “Darling” have been very vocally supportive. I feel like what’s so fun about a movie like this is that in the first 30 seconds of it you are going to decide whether it’s a movie for you or not. In a way that’s very exciting because people who have stayed on the roller-coaster and gone all the way through are very adamant about how they feel and the emotions that it invoked. To me it just comes down to the fact that you are creating a conversation with your audience. The more you can talk about it, it’s a sign of an effective film and there have been a lot of conversations about this one so far, which is very exciting.
Aguilar: This is a film that takes a seemingly peaceful locations and a passive character and turns those preconceived notions on their head.
Mickey Keating: Definitely, We kind of approached the movie almost like a drug trip using the chapters. I’m not use drugs guy, but I think you can see that at the beginning there is this excitement and the further you get along down the rabbit hole or down the drug trip it becomes more jarring and fractured, and then by the last chapter it’s almost something like a hangover. It was very exciting to try to tell that story that way.
Aguilar: Seems like this is a busy year for you. What is the next frightening trip you are taking us on?
Mickey Keating: I have another movie coming out soon called "Carnage Park" that we premiered at Sudnance and SXSW this year. It'll be out in the summer. I also just wrapped another film called "Psychopaths," which is an ensemble serial killers movie. It's basically a whole bunch of stories about a whole bunch of serial killers over the course of one night in Los Angeles. This film's sensibilities are a bit closer to "Darling's" because "Carnage Park" is definitely a Sam Peckinpah-esque, Neo-Western, survival type movie. "Psychopaths" is much more of a psychedelic fever dream, which we are very excited to start showing people.
- 4/2/2016
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
There are few adjectives that have seemingly lost their weight more when discussing a motion picture than when one describes a film as like a “nightmare.” Oft contributed to not only directors like David Lynch but the go-to descriptor for much of the horror genre (particularly as the genre evolves into what has been known as “arthouse horror”), the word has both lost its power and seemingly lost any definitive meaning. However, when a film like Mickey Keating’s Darling comes along, there’s nothing that makes more sense than to describe the film as akin to having a waking nightmare.
Darling tells the story of a young woman (Lauren Ashley Carter) who begins to house sit for a wealthy woman, played by the incomparable Sean Young. It’s a shockingly simple premise for what is an aesthetically daring piece of work, one that owes as much to a film...
Darling tells the story of a young woman (Lauren Ashley Carter) who begins to house sit for a wealthy woman, played by the incomparable Sean Young. It’s a shockingly simple premise for what is an aesthetically daring piece of work, one that owes as much to a film...
- 4/1/2016
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
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Some brilliant scores accompany movies that don't always deserve them. Here are 25 examples...
Can a film soundtrack rescue a movie that is otherwise a lost cause? One thing’s for sure: throughout the history of cinema, music has often been the redeeming feature of many an underwhelming movie. Here are 25 amazing film scores composed for films that, frankly, didn’t deserve them.
25) Meet Joe Black (Thomas Newman, 1998)
This somnambulistic three hour romantic drama should really feature an extra screen credit for star Brad Pitt’s fetishised blonde locks. Rising way above the torpid melodrama of the plot is one of Thomas Newman’s most hauntingly melodic and attractive scores, one that leaves his characteristic quirkiness at the door to paint a portrait of death that is both melancholy and hopeful. The spectacular 10-minute finale That Next Place remains one of Newman’s towering musical achievements.
24) Timeline (Brian Tyler,...
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Some brilliant scores accompany movies that don't always deserve them. Here are 25 examples...
Can a film soundtrack rescue a movie that is otherwise a lost cause? One thing’s for sure: throughout the history of cinema, music has often been the redeeming feature of many an underwhelming movie. Here are 25 amazing film scores composed for films that, frankly, didn’t deserve them.
25) Meet Joe Black (Thomas Newman, 1998)
This somnambulistic three hour romantic drama should really feature an extra screen credit for star Brad Pitt’s fetishised blonde locks. Rising way above the torpid melodrama of the plot is one of Thomas Newman’s most hauntingly melodic and attractive scores, one that leaves his characteristic quirkiness at the door to paint a portrait of death that is both melancholy and hopeful. The spectacular 10-minute finale That Next Place remains one of Newman’s towering musical achievements.
24) Timeline (Brian Tyler,...
- 3/29/2016
- Den of Geek
Rushes collects news, articles, images, videos and more for a weekly roundup of essential items from the world of film.News Jan Němec, the Czech director of Diamonds of the Night (1964), has died. Keyframe has an overview of his work. Above: the Czech poster for Němec's 1966 film, A Report on the Party and the Guests, via Adrian Curry's blog Movie Poster of the Day.Speculation around the 2016 Cannes Film Festival selection is raging, but Variety is pretty sure it will include several new American films, including new movies directed by Sean Penn, Woody Allen and Jeff Nichols.The Criterion Collection has announced its next lineup of releases, which includes Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Olivier Assayas's Clouds of Sils Maria, and Michelangelo Antonionio's Le amiche.New issues of Cinema Scope and Senses of Cinema are out. Yes,...
- 3/23/2016
- by Notebook
- MUBI
Diving into the hundreds of new theatrical releases, including large chunks of grueling, gluttonous marathons through world cinema’s greatest offerings from a variety of film festivals, and coming to a reasonable list of selections demonstrating what one deems to be ‘the best,’ remains an utterly self-involved, sometimes fruitless tradition. Who, after all, can rightly determine what is indeed ‘best’ in an art form where one person’s trash is another’s treasure? Personally, I prefer to compile a list of ‘favorite’ things, items which remain meaningless unless you put stock in its author’s general tastes.
Amidst the incessant jabbering of awards season exaggeration, it’s difficult not to be swayed by the most topical, most shiny and brand new theatrical releases courting awards voters (which is why I felt it necessary to see Inarritu’s new film twice). Nearly half of my selections appeared on my mid-year list of favored theatrical releases,...
Amidst the incessant jabbering of awards season exaggeration, it’s difficult not to be swayed by the most topical, most shiny and brand new theatrical releases courting awards voters (which is why I felt it necessary to see Inarritu’s new film twice). Nearly half of my selections appeared on my mid-year list of favored theatrical releases,...
- 12/14/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
In today's roundup: A book-length roundtable on Buster Keaton, remembering Sight & Sound editor Penelope Houston, Jonathan Rosenbaum's 90s top ten, the "101 Funniest Screenplays" (#1: Woody Allen's Annie Hall), the art of David Lynch, Michael Haneke's Code Unknown, Fellipe Barbosa’s Casa Grande, new books on William Cameron Menzies, Mad Men and Richard Pryor, interviews with Mathieu Amalric, John Sayles, Rick Alverson, Sean Baker, Catherine Hardwicke, Gaspar Noé and Paul Bettany, Judd Apatow and Lena Dunham in conversation, plus news of forthcoming films by Richard Linklater, Xavier Dolan, Ben Wheatley and more. » - David Hudson...
- 11/13/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
In today's roundup: A book-length roundtable on Buster Keaton, remembering Sight & Sound editor Penelope Houston, Jonathan Rosenbaum's 90s top ten, the "101 Funniest Screenplays" (#1: Woody Allen's Annie Hall), the art of David Lynch, Michael Haneke's Code Unknown, Fellipe Barbosa’s Casa Grande, new books on William Cameron Menzies, Mad Men and Richard Pryor, interviews with Mathieu Amalric, John Sayles, Rick Alverson, Sean Baker, Catherine Hardwicke, Gaspar Noé and Paul Bettany, Judd Apatow and Lena Dunham in conversation, plus news of forthcoming films by Richard Linklater, Xavier Dolan, Ben Wheatley and more. » - David Hudson...
- 11/13/2015
- Keyframe
It shouldn’t be a surprise to any of our readers that we here at PopOptiq love horror movies. All month long we’ve been counting down the 200 greatest horror films ever made alongside our 31 Days of Horror marathon. And every year just before Halloween, our staff bands together to decide what our favourite horror films of the past year are. It’s never an easy feat since we don’t always agree but as with every list, nobody will. That said, here are the 17 best horror films of 2015 according to our writers.
Note: We didn’t bother to list them in any order but we recommend them all!
****
A Christmas Horror Story
A Christmas Horror Story offers five interwoven tales of terror set on Christmas Eve, as executed by three Canadian filmmakers, Grant Harvey, Bret Sullivan and veteran genre producer Steven Hoban making his feature directorial debut. Much like Trick ‘r Treat,...
Note: We didn’t bother to list them in any order but we recommend them all!
****
A Christmas Horror Story
A Christmas Horror Story offers five interwoven tales of terror set on Christmas Eve, as executed by three Canadian filmmakers, Grant Harvey, Bret Sullivan and veteran genre producer Steven Hoban making his feature directorial debut. Much like Trick ‘r Treat,...
- 10/30/2015
- by Ricky Fernandes
- SoundOnSight
Special Mention: The Last Wave
Directed by Peter Weir
Written by Tony Morphett and Peter Weir
Australia, 1977
Genre: Psychological Thriller
The tagline reads, “The Occult Forces. The Ritual Murder. The Sinister Storms. The Prophetic Dreams. The Last Wave.”
Peter Weir follows up on his critically acclaimed masterpiece Picnic at Hanging Rock with this visually striking and totally engrossing surrealist psychological thriller. Much like Picnic, The Last Wave is built around a mystery that may have a supernatural explanation. And like many Peter Weir movies, The Last Wave explores the conflict between two radically different cultures- in this case, that of Aboriginal Australians and the white Europeans.
It is about a white lawyer, David Burton (Richard Chamberlain), whose seemingly normal life is rattled after he takes on a pro bono legal aid case to defend a group of Aborigines from a murder charge in Sydney. The mystery within the mystery surrounding...
Directed by Peter Weir
Written by Tony Morphett and Peter Weir
Australia, 1977
Genre: Psychological Thriller
The tagline reads, “The Occult Forces. The Ritual Murder. The Sinister Storms. The Prophetic Dreams. The Last Wave.”
Peter Weir follows up on his critically acclaimed masterpiece Picnic at Hanging Rock with this visually striking and totally engrossing surrealist psychological thriller. Much like Picnic, The Last Wave is built around a mystery that may have a supernatural explanation. And like many Peter Weir movies, The Last Wave explores the conflict between two radically different cultures- in this case, that of Aboriginal Australians and the white Europeans.
It is about a white lawyer, David Burton (Richard Chamberlain), whose seemingly normal life is rattled after he takes on a pro bono legal aid case to defend a group of Aborigines from a murder charge in Sydney. The mystery within the mystery surrounding...
- 10/27/2015
- by Ricky Fernandes
- SoundOnSight
Summer may be over, but with this year marking the 35th anniversary of Friday the 13th, it's never too late to visit the lake. Ahead of the event's November 4th start date, the folks behind the Denver Film Festival have announced the first wave of programming, including a special November 13th 35mm screening of Sean S. Cunningham's monumental slasher film.
Press Release: October 9, 2015 (Denver, Colo.) - The Denver Film Festival (Dff), produced by Denver Film Society (Dfs), announced its first wave of programming. Recognized as the Rocky Mountain Region's premier film event, the festival will feature a focus on Polish Cinema, sidebars for CinemaQ, CineLatino, Late Night and Women+Film, as well as robust Shorts Packages and Music Spotlight programming.
"In keeping with our long and rich tradition of presenting the best in Eastern European cinema, we at the Denver Film Festival are proud to announce that this year's...
Press Release: October 9, 2015 (Denver, Colo.) - The Denver Film Festival (Dff), produced by Denver Film Society (Dfs), announced its first wave of programming. Recognized as the Rocky Mountain Region's premier film event, the festival will feature a focus on Polish Cinema, sidebars for CinemaQ, CineLatino, Late Night and Women+Film, as well as robust Shorts Packages and Music Spotlight programming.
"In keeping with our long and rich tradition of presenting the best in Eastern European cinema, we at the Denver Film Festival are proud to announce that this year's...
- 10/14/2015
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Saturday night was a perfect summer evening for free Americana music at Lincoln's Center Damrosch Park as part of the Annual Roots of American Music, Americanafest NYC. The evening featured two of the genres rising stars. The headliners played two sets with the first half of the set featuring mostly original tunes by former Nickel Creek members Sean and Sara Watkin's new band The Watkins Family Hour. They and their extraordinary band entertained a robust crowd of New Yorkers and tourists alike. One of my favorite songs of the evening was their beatiful take on the Grateful Dead's "Brokedown Palace." And co-vocalist Fionna Apple's original song "A Mistake" was quite moving. Yes, she's one of the members of this band.
The second part of the set was a full-on tribute to Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited performed in its entirety by the band -- guitarist/vocalist Sean Watkins, fiddle/vocalist Sara Watkins,...
The second part of the set was a full-on tribute to Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited performed in its entirety by the band -- guitarist/vocalist Sean Watkins, fiddle/vocalist Sara Watkins,...
- 8/9/2015
- by Dusty Wright
- www.culturecatch.com
James WhiteFour films by Truffaut, one each by Kubrick, Kazan, Mackendrick, Donen, Lumet, Aldrich, Spielberg, Henry King, John Huston, Hawks, Hitchcock, Tourneur, William A. Wellman, John Ford, Brooks Mel (two films) and Richard (one), Michael Mann, and two by David Lynch. Classic Arabic movies, Pakistani movies, Romances & Musicals, Indonesian and Vietnamese films, films in Tagalog, Sinhala, Bengali, Mandarin and Cantonese, and six contemplative long take studies ranging in length from ten minutes to an hour. No, this is not the line-up for the Locarno Film Festival; it is but a taste of what was offered on demand on the video screen on my flight from New York to the small Swiss town's nearest large international airport, in Milan. Seeing as I was en route to a festival with several 35mm retrospectives, a competition section of adventurous fare anticipated and unknown, and scads of other program strands I've yet to fully understand,...
- 8/7/2015
- by Daniel Kasman
- MUBI
10 Things You Might Not Know About Pixar's 'Inside Out' A Thing of Wonder Arthouse Audit: 'The Overnight' Leads Mixed Batch of Quality Openers David Lynch Recalls His Career-Long Collaboration with Designer Patricia Norris 'Deutschland 83,' 'The Americans,' and the End of an Era in TV Drama Ewan McGregor on Jesus, 'Star Wars,' 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'Trainspotting 2' Emmy Voters: Our 2015 Nominations Wish List 'Felt' Is a Creepy Study of Female Victimhood and One of the Year's Most Disturbing Films Marvel Helps Sony Find a New Spider-Man, Director Remembering Oscar-Winning Composer James Horner Screen Talk: From Rose McGowan to Debating 'True Detective' 'Tab Hunter' Director Jeffrey Schwarz Takes Frameline Film Fest Award Top 10 Takeaways: Why 'Jurassic World' and 'Inside Out' Are Massive 'What Happened, Miss Simone?' Conjures the Demons Inside Soul's High Priestess When Sean Baker Shot 'Tangerine' on an iPhone, He Invented...
- 6/27/2015
- by TOH!
- Thompson on Hollywood
Anti-Nazi satire from Stations of the Cross director Dietrich Bruggemann and a new documentary from Mark Cousins among titles.Scroll down for competition line-ups
The 50th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 3-11) has unveiled the competition titles in its Official Selection, East of the West, Forum of Independents and Documentary sections.
The main competition will comprise seven world premieres and six international premieres, including the new film from Stations of the Cross director Dietrich Brüggemann, Heil, a satirical comedy centred on neo-Nazis.
Polish documentary director Marcin Koszałkaʼs will present his feature debut, The Red Spider, a psychological thriller inspired by true events from the 1950s that delves into the mechanisms that give rise to a mass murderer.
Danish documentary maker Daniel Dencik will present his first feature, Gold Coast, about a young anti-colonial idealist who sets out for Danish Guinea to set up a coffee plantation - but not everything goes to plan. The music is...
The 50th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 3-11) has unveiled the competition titles in its Official Selection, East of the West, Forum of Independents and Documentary sections.
The main competition will comprise seven world premieres and six international premieres, including the new film from Stations of the Cross director Dietrich Brüggemann, Heil, a satirical comedy centred on neo-Nazis.
Polish documentary director Marcin Koszałkaʼs will present his feature debut, The Red Spider, a psychological thriller inspired by true events from the 1950s that delves into the mechanisms that give rise to a mass murderer.
Danish documentary maker Daniel Dencik will present his first feature, Gold Coast, about a young anti-colonial idealist who sets out for Danish Guinea to set up a coffee plantation - but not everything goes to plan. The music is...
- 6/2/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
This weekend, at East Coast Comicon, I got the chance to chat with writer Brandon Montclare (Fearsome Four) and artist Amy Reeder (Madame Xanadu) about their work, especially on their creator owned title Rocket Girl, which is published by Image Comics as well as sci-fi, action scenes, and much more. Rocket Girl is about a teen cop from the future named DaYoung Johansson, who travels back to 1980s New York to prevent an evil corporation from inventing technology to basically take over the world.
Sound on Sight: So why should readers pick up the second arc of Rocket Girl?
Amy Reeder: If you loved the first one, it’s so worth it to keep reading. We had originally planned to make our story five issues, but we were talking and realized that wasn’t enough time to tell this story. You have to develop the characters first so people can...
Sound on Sight: So why should readers pick up the second arc of Rocket Girl?
Amy Reeder: If you loved the first one, it’s so worth it to keep reading. We had originally planned to make our story five issues, but we were talking and realized that wasn’t enough time to tell this story. You have to develop the characters first so people can...
- 4/12/2015
- by Logan Dalton
- SoundOnSight
The Strain, Season 1, Episode 1, “Night Zero”
Written by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Airs Sundays at 10pm Est on FX
We live in a burgeoning era of horror television. American Horror Story will begin its fourth season in the fall, and The Walking Dead will start its fifth. Penny Dreadful just finished an excellent debut season, and Netflix’s Hemlock Grove just put up its second season. True Blood, Supernatural, Bates Motel, Sleepy Hollow, Grimm. And of course, the most horrifying show currently on television, Hannibal. Horror is all over our TV screens, but if there’s one person who deserves their shot at it (presuming David Lynch isn’t interested), it’s Guillermo del Toro.
With films like Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone and Cronos (not to mention his many forays into horror producing), del Toro has established himself as a skilled horror auteur.
Written by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan
Directed by Guillermo del Toro
Airs Sundays at 10pm Est on FX
We live in a burgeoning era of horror television. American Horror Story will begin its fourth season in the fall, and The Walking Dead will start its fifth. Penny Dreadful just finished an excellent debut season, and Netflix’s Hemlock Grove just put up its second season. True Blood, Supernatural, Bates Motel, Sleepy Hollow, Grimm. And of course, the most horrifying show currently on television, Hannibal. Horror is all over our TV screens, but if there’s one person who deserves their shot at it (presuming David Lynch isn’t interested), it’s Guillermo del Toro.
With films like Pan’s Labyrinth, The Devil’s Backbone and Cronos (not to mention his many forays into horror producing), del Toro has established himself as a skilled horror auteur.
- 7/14/2014
- by Jake Pitre
- SoundOnSight
This week's Crowdfunding Friday is devoted to Christopher Seufert's documentary about the American writer and illustrator, Edward Gorey...
Feature
No one in the 20th century illustrated the macabre like Edward Gorey. Although populated by strange monsters and the looming spectre of death, his work was laced with humour, mischief and warmth.
Primarily self-taught, Gorey's career as a professional artist began in 1953, when he was employed as an illustrator by the New York publisher Doubleday. There, he created the book jackets and internal illustrations for a range of works, including Ts Eliot and the children's books of John Bellairs. One cover for a collection of Poe tales featured a great black raven, its body silhouetted against a striking blue background.
His art for a 1960 Doubleday edition of The War Of The Worlds is a true thing of wonder: Gorey imagines Hg Wells' Martian war machines against a livid purple sky,...
Feature
No one in the 20th century illustrated the macabre like Edward Gorey. Although populated by strange monsters and the looming spectre of death, his work was laced with humour, mischief and warmth.
Primarily self-taught, Gorey's career as a professional artist began in 1953, when he was employed as an illustrator by the New York publisher Doubleday. There, he created the book jackets and internal illustrations for a range of works, including Ts Eliot and the children's books of John Bellairs. One cover for a collection of Poe tales featured a great black raven, its body silhouetted against a striking blue background.
His art for a 1960 Doubleday edition of The War Of The Worlds is a true thing of wonder: Gorey imagines Hg Wells' Martian war machines against a livid purple sky,...
- 5/15/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Well, now, this is a pleasant surprise. Even had I known that UK actress Montserrat Lombard - a great favorite in these parts for her comedy work as well as dramas such as Ashes To Ashes - I would never has expected something like White to be the outcome. And sometimes it's a good thing, indeed, to be surprised. Lombard has teamed up with fellow UK actor Sean Harris (Prometheus, Southcliffe, soon to be in MacBeth) to create the short, which they describe as a fairly tale for adults informed by films such as Badlands, Paris, Texas and early David Lynch. The duo are just under a third of the way to their sixteen thousand pound goal with just a few days left and if...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 5/9/2014
- Screen Anarchy
The Paris Photo L.A. art fair made an inaugural splash last year, from the unique setting on the Paramount Studios “New York Street” backlot to the panel discussions that included Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner in conversation with photographer Gregory Crewdson. The fair, satellite to the famed Paris Photo fair that takes places in the French capital every November, was a major success, drawing 13,500 viewers, including such names as Morgan Freeman, David Lynch, Paramount CEO Brad Grey, CAA’s Richard Lovett, Drew Barrymore and Sean Penn. On April 25 through 27, they’ll do it all again, with more
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- 4/24/2014
- by Maxwell Williams
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
We’re back with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes details on the Lethal Ladies of Horror Film Festival, House of Monsters concept art, a Chainsaw Sally: The Animated Series casting update, multiple trailers, reviews, and much more:
Lethal Ladies of Horror Film Festival Details: “You can’t keep a lethal lady down. Flicks for Fans and Arrow in the Head, the team behind last year’s Evil Dead Fest, are proud to present the resurrection of the all new Lethal Ladies of Horror Film Festival Saturday, March 29th, 2014 at the famed art deco-themed 1940’s built Crest Theatre in Westwood, CA. This will be an amazing event for all film fans and those with an appreciation for strong roles by women in horror. As always Flicks for Fans will have much for fans who attend the fest including great concession specials,...
Lethal Ladies of Horror Film Festival Details: “You can’t keep a lethal lady down. Flicks for Fans and Arrow in the Head, the team behind last year’s Evil Dead Fest, are proud to present the resurrection of the all new Lethal Ladies of Horror Film Festival Saturday, March 29th, 2014 at the famed art deco-themed 1940’s built Crest Theatre in Westwood, CA. This will be an amazing event for all film fans and those with an appreciation for strong roles by women in horror. As always Flicks for Fans will have much for fans who attend the fest including great concession specials,...
- 3/16/2014
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
(Brian De Palma, 15, Arrow, 1974)
In 1974, after a decade making low-budget, semi-underground movies, Brian De Palma thought he was about to enter the big time when 20th Century Fox paid $2m for this wild satire on indulgent rock musicians and the corrupt industry that exploited them. Basically it's a transposition of The Phantom of the Opera to the modern pop world, where an evil impresario, Swan (the diminutive, baby-faced composer Paul Williams,, who also wrote the songs), steals a pretentious rock cantata from Winslow Leach, its naive author, and frames him on drugs charge.
After he's been disfigured by a record-pressing machine, Winslow returns to seek revenge by haunting Swan's theatre, the Paradise. The piece also draws on Goethe's Faust, Wilde's Dorian Gray and Edgar Allan Poe, and refers to movies ranging from Psycho (the shower scene is reprised using a plunger) and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari.
But De Palma...
In 1974, after a decade making low-budget, semi-underground movies, Brian De Palma thought he was about to enter the big time when 20th Century Fox paid $2m for this wild satire on indulgent rock musicians and the corrupt industry that exploited them. Basically it's a transposition of The Phantom of the Opera to the modern pop world, where an evil impresario, Swan (the diminutive, baby-faced composer Paul Williams,, who also wrote the songs), steals a pretentious rock cantata from Winslow Leach, its naive author, and frames him on drugs charge.
After he's been disfigured by a record-pressing machine, Winslow returns to seek revenge by haunting Swan's theatre, the Paradise. The piece also draws on Goethe's Faust, Wilde's Dorian Gray and Edgar Allan Poe, and refers to movies ranging from Psycho (the shower scene is reprised using a plunger) and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari.
But De Palma...
- 3/9/2014
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Moving away from home to the big city can be a life altering experience, and in his debut feature film, writer/director Jay Alvarez looks to be capturing and twisting that feeling into the surreal with "I Play With The Phrase Each Other," slated to premiere in competition at the Slamdance Film Festival. Starring Will Hand, Megan Kopp, Alexander Fraser and Alvarez himself, the film follows the neurotic Jake who moves to the city, with plans to meet up with his poet friend Sean. But when he arrives, Sean is missing Jake is left to fend for himself in a bleak landscape, which in this clip seems like the meeting point between Jim Jarmusch and David Lynch. And that's not all as Alvarez shot his film on the iPhone, with the narrative constructed entirely out of cell phone calls. It looks like a fascinating experiment. "I Play With The Phrase Each Other" screens on Saturday,...
- 1/13/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
Another year has come to an end, which means it's time for the Dread Central staff to weigh in with their picks of the best and worst of 2013's horror offerings. We're giving you a full dozen lists this time, and per usual they come in a variety of formats, each reflecting the unique styles of our writers.
We've also compiled them to come up with the year's overall winners and losers. We averaged out the top and bottom five vote getters on everyone's lists, and here are the results:
Best: Maniac
Runners-up: The Conjuring, Evil Dead
Worst: Texas Chainsaw 3D
Runners-up: The Purge, The Last Exorcism Part II
Check out the Dread Central staff's Best of and Worst of lists for 2013 by following the links below!
[Andrew Kasch]
[Anthony Arrigo]
[Brad McHargue]
[Buz "Danger" Wallick]
[Debi "The Woman in Black" Moore]
[The Foywonder]
[Gareth "Pestilence" Jones]
[Jinx]
[MattFini]
[Scott "Doctor Gash" Hallam]
[Staci Layne Wilson]
[Uncle Creepy]
Andrew Kasch's Picks
Stoker: Chan-wook Park delivered some next-level filmmaking and his best film since Oldboy with his U.
We've also compiled them to come up with the year's overall winners and losers. We averaged out the top and bottom five vote getters on everyone's lists, and here are the results:
Best: Maniac
Runners-up: The Conjuring, Evil Dead
Worst: Texas Chainsaw 3D
Runners-up: The Purge, The Last Exorcism Part II
Check out the Dread Central staff's Best of and Worst of lists for 2013 by following the links below!
[Andrew Kasch]
[Anthony Arrigo]
[Brad McHargue]
[Buz "Danger" Wallick]
[Debi "The Woman in Black" Moore]
[The Foywonder]
[Gareth "Pestilence" Jones]
[Jinx]
[MattFini]
[Scott "Doctor Gash" Hallam]
[Staci Layne Wilson]
[Uncle Creepy]
Andrew Kasch's Picks
Stoker: Chan-wook Park delivered some next-level filmmaking and his best film since Oldboy with his U.
- 1/3/2014
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
Angelina Jolie takes on Sleeping Beauty while Terry Gilliam tackles Berlioz as the stars come out to confound our expectations in the coming year
Film
Angelina Jolie in Maleficent
Hollywood's most formidable leading lady is back after a relatively quiet spell, in a role playing on her scariness and seniority. This reinvented fairytale is a twist on The Sleeping Beauty, and Jolie is not playing the insipid dormant heroine with her crybaby attitude to finger-pricking but the evilly magnificent Maleficent, the sorceress who casts a spell on the demure young Princess Aurora. How did she get that way? Everything will depend on the script – but Jolie is always a great turn. Peter Bradshaw 30 May.
Natalie Portman in Jane Got a Gun
Natalie Portman is a Hollywood A-lister who first came to prominence in George Lucas's Star Wars prequel trilogy. She was compellingly vulnerable in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan,...
Film
Angelina Jolie in Maleficent
Hollywood's most formidable leading lady is back after a relatively quiet spell, in a role playing on her scariness and seniority. This reinvented fairytale is a twist on The Sleeping Beauty, and Jolie is not playing the insipid dormant heroine with her crybaby attitude to finger-pricking but the evilly magnificent Maleficent, the sorceress who casts a spell on the demure young Princess Aurora. How did she get that way? Everything will depend on the script – but Jolie is always a great turn. Peter Bradshaw 30 May.
Natalie Portman in Jane Got a Gun
Natalie Portman is a Hollywood A-lister who first came to prominence in George Lucas's Star Wars prequel trilogy. She was compellingly vulnerable in Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan,...
- 1/1/2014
- by Peter Bradshaw, Tim Jonze, Sean O'Hagan, Mark Lawson, Andrew Dickson, Lyn Gardner, Jonathan Jones, Adrian Searle, Tom Service, Andrew Clements
- The Guardian - Film News
Tiff’s Midnight Madness program turned 25 this year, and for two and half decades, the hardworking programers have gathered some of the strangest, most terrifying, wild, intriguing and downright entertaining films from around the world. From dark comedies to Japanese gore-fests and indie horror gems, the Midnight Madness program hasn’t lost its edge as one the leading showcases of genre cinema. In its 25-year history, Midnight Madness has introduced adventurous late-night moviegoers to such cult faves as Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. But what separates Midnight Madness from, say, Montreal’s three and half week long genre festival Fantasia, is that Tiff selects only ten films to make the cut. In other words, these programmers don’t mess around. Last week I decided that I would post reviews of my personal favourite films that screened in past years. And just like the Tiff programmers,...
- 9/18/2013
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
London – David Lynch, Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes and Sean Penn are among the signatories on an open letter to Turkish prime minister Tayyip Erdogan's government and its handling of recent unrest in Turkey. The letter to Erdrogan, taken out as an advertisement in The Times of London, owned and published by Rupert Murdoch's News U.K., said the signatories "vigorously condemn the heavy-handed clamp down of your police forces on the peaceful protesters." Story: Turkish Government Cracks Down on Social Media in Response to Weeks of Popular Unrest In June last year, unrest hit Turkey after
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- 7/25/2013
- by Stuart Kemp
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The full Fantasia 2013 lineup has now been revealed, and we have here the third and final wave of titles to share. Prepare to drool!
From the Press Release:
The Fantasia International Film Festival is proud to announce the rest of our 120-feature lineup that comprises our 2013 event, along with a string of additional details that mark our 17th edition as a standout. Fantasia will engulf the city of Montreal from July 18-August 6, 2013. Be sure to visit the Fantasia Film Festival website for detailed essays on every title announced here, as well as all films previously disclosed over the last weeks.
Before we get started on titles... Meet Our 2013 Juries
Main Competition For The Cheval Noir Award For Best Film
Jury President: Laura Kern (Critic, Curator, managing editor, Film Comment)
Jean-Pierre Bergeron (Actor, Director, Screenwriter)
Samuel Jamier (Co-Director of the New York Asian Film Festival, Programmer at Japan Society)
Jarod Neece (Senior Programmer and Operations Manager,...
From the Press Release:
The Fantasia International Film Festival is proud to announce the rest of our 120-feature lineup that comprises our 2013 event, along with a string of additional details that mark our 17th edition as a standout. Fantasia will engulf the city of Montreal from July 18-August 6, 2013. Be sure to visit the Fantasia Film Festival website for detailed essays on every title announced here, as well as all films previously disclosed over the last weeks.
Before we get started on titles... Meet Our 2013 Juries
Main Competition For The Cheval Noir Award For Best Film
Jury President: Laura Kern (Critic, Curator, managing editor, Film Comment)
Jean-Pierre Bergeron (Actor, Director, Screenwriter)
Samuel Jamier (Co-Director of the New York Asian Film Festival, Programmer at Japan Society)
Jarod Neece (Senior Programmer and Operations Manager,...
- 7/9/2013
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
The Fantasia Film Festival is taking place from July 18th to August 6th in Montreal and will feature over 100 films from around the world. We gave you a look at the initial lineup last month and now have an additional list of Fantasia 2013 films that will be screening, including Curse of Chucky, You’re Next, and Frankenstein’s Army:
Horror Is Child’S Play – Don Mancini’S Curse Of Chucky (World Premiere)
A rarity among genre franchises, the Child’S Play series (begun in 1988) has retained the sure-handed guidance of original screenwriter/creator Don Mancini throughout killer doll Chucky’s decades’-long reign of horror. Mancini, who will be hosting our “scar-studded” world premiere, graduated to the director’s chair with 2004’s Seed Of Chucky, after having co-written or written every entry in the series. His longevity with the project is, of course, matched by the fiendish voiceover work by...
Horror Is Child’S Play – Don Mancini’S Curse Of Chucky (World Premiere)
A rarity among genre franchises, the Child’S Play series (begun in 1988) has retained the sure-handed guidance of original screenwriter/creator Don Mancini throughout killer doll Chucky’s decades’-long reign of horror. Mancini, who will be hosting our “scar-studded” world premiere, graduated to the director’s chair with 2004’s Seed Of Chucky, after having co-written or written every entry in the series. His longevity with the project is, of course, matched by the fiendish voiceover work by...
- 7/9/2013
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Feature Louisa Mellor 9 Jul 2013 - 07:00
Can we divine any clues from The Returned's symbolic, atmospheric opening credits? Louisa takes a look...
Spoiler warning: do not read if you’re not up-to-date with The Returned episode five. Additionally, could anyone who's seen the remaining episodes please keep it zipped for the rest of us, ta.
American Horror Story does it. Banshee does it. Game of Thrones sort of does it. Stowing clues to what’s to come in the opening credits of a TV show is the hip new TV trend, and nobody’s hipper than the French.
The Returned’s opening credits, like the rest of it, are atmospheric, beautiful, and very deliberately staged. A man stands in a crucifix pose, a child in the middle of the road, a girl is reflected in a steamed-up mirror… Each image holds symbolic meaning for the story to follow, but do they hold something else?...
Can we divine any clues from The Returned's symbolic, atmospheric opening credits? Louisa takes a look...
Spoiler warning: do not read if you’re not up-to-date with The Returned episode five. Additionally, could anyone who's seen the remaining episodes please keep it zipped for the rest of us, ta.
American Horror Story does it. Banshee does it. Game of Thrones sort of does it. Stowing clues to what’s to come in the opening credits of a TV show is the hip new TV trend, and nobody’s hipper than the French.
The Returned’s opening credits, like the rest of it, are atmospheric, beautiful, and very deliberately staged. A man stands in a crucifix pose, a child in the middle of the road, a girl is reflected in a steamed-up mirror… Each image holds symbolic meaning for the story to follow, but do they hold something else?...
- 7/8/2013
- by louisamellor
- Den of Geek
Whatever you do, don't think of Sienna Miller as the Factory Girl anymore. The actress steps out this weekend in "Just Like a Woman," Rachid Bouchareb's cross-cultural ode to female friendship. Miller plays Marilyn, a woman who's had enough of her no-good husband and teams up with Golshifteh Farahani's Mona, a North African immigrant running from her own dark secret. The two embark on a "Thelma and Louise"-style roadtrip to escape the law and their troubles, with a pivotal audition for a belly dancing troupe at the end of the journey.
Ahead of the film's July 5 release, Miller spoke with NextMovie on the phone to talk about belly dancing, her (somewhat) revised opinions on the city of Pittsburgh and her sordid (fake) affair with actor Sean Bean.
I saw the movie the other day and thought it was really different. What first drew you to it?
I got approached by Rachid Bouchareb,...
Ahead of the film's July 5 release, Miller spoke with NextMovie on the phone to talk about belly dancing, her (somewhat) revised opinions on the city of Pittsburgh and her sordid (fake) affair with actor Sean Bean.
I saw the movie the other day and thought it was really different. What first drew you to it?
I got approached by Rachid Bouchareb,...
- 7/3/2013
- by Kase Wickman
- NextMovie
Aimlessly Devoted To You: Reeder Culls More Stars and Less Sense for Sophomore Film
More proof that horror as a genre has been hedged out of midnight movie programming in favor of meandering strangeness is The Rambler, the sophomore feature of Calvin Lee Reeder. Rather than expanding on the mindf*ck bizarro-world shtick that characterized his polarizing 2011 debut, The Oregonian, Reeder seems more eager than ever to agitate, confound, and blow through our conditioned notions of film narrative. Fans of his first film can rejoice, but the rest of us should be praying for the return of David Lynch. Films by directors such as Reeder, who is obviously influenced by the likes of the grand master himself, only highlight how genius someone like Lynch is at making the grisly and bizarre as compelling as it is incomprehensible.
A man known as the Rambler (Dermot Mulroney) is recently released from prison,...
More proof that horror as a genre has been hedged out of midnight movie programming in favor of meandering strangeness is The Rambler, the sophomore feature of Calvin Lee Reeder. Rather than expanding on the mindf*ck bizarro-world shtick that characterized his polarizing 2011 debut, The Oregonian, Reeder seems more eager than ever to agitate, confound, and blow through our conditioned notions of film narrative. Fans of his first film can rejoice, but the rest of us should be praying for the return of David Lynch. Films by directors such as Reeder, who is obviously influenced by the likes of the grand master himself, only highlight how genius someone like Lynch is at making the grisly and bizarre as compelling as it is incomprehensible.
A man known as the Rambler (Dermot Mulroney) is recently released from prison,...
- 6/7/2013
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Robert De Niro and Morgan Freeman never worked with Mel Brooks, and the Oscar winners came to a ceremony in his honor to let him know they resent it.
Brooks received the American Film Institute’s 41st Life Achievement Award Thursday, and Freeman and De Niro were among a galaxy of stars who paid tribute to the man behind Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and The Producers.
Martin Short opened the program with a song-and-dance routine set to a medley of melodies from Brooks’ films.
“The word genius is used a lot in Hollywood, so I might as well call Mel one,...
Brooks received the American Film Institute’s 41st Life Achievement Award Thursday, and Freeman and De Niro were among a galaxy of stars who paid tribute to the man behind Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and The Producers.
Martin Short opened the program with a song-and-dance routine set to a medley of melodies from Brooks’ films.
“The word genius is used a lot in Hollywood, so I might as well call Mel one,...
- 6/7/2013
- by Associated Press
- EW - Inside Movies
Los Angeles — Robert De Niro and Morgan Freeman never worked with Mel Brooks, and the Oscar winners came to a ceremony in his honor to let him know they resent it.
Brooks received the American Film Institute's 41st Life Achievement Award Thursday, and Freeman and De Niro were among a galaxy of stars who paid tribute to the man behind "Blazing Saddles," `'Young Frankenstein" and "The Producers."
Martin Short opened the program with a song-and-dance routine set to a medley of melodies from Brooks' films.
"The word genius is used a lot in Hollywood, so I might as well call Mel one," Short said.
Billy Crystal, Amy Poehler, Sarah Silverman, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Cloris Leachman, David Lynch, Larry David and Carl Reiner also honored the 86-year-old filmmaker at a private dinner at the Dolby Theatre that had the energy of a good-natured roast.
"We are going to miss you so much,...
Brooks received the American Film Institute's 41st Life Achievement Award Thursday, and Freeman and De Niro were among a galaxy of stars who paid tribute to the man behind "Blazing Saddles," `'Young Frankenstein" and "The Producers."
Martin Short opened the program with a song-and-dance routine set to a medley of melodies from Brooks' films.
"The word genius is used a lot in Hollywood, so I might as well call Mel one," Short said.
Billy Crystal, Amy Poehler, Sarah Silverman, Conan O'Brien, Jimmy Kimmel, Cloris Leachman, David Lynch, Larry David and Carl Reiner also honored the 86-year-old filmmaker at a private dinner at the Dolby Theatre that had the energy of a good-natured roast.
"We are going to miss you so much,...
- 6/7/2013
- by AP
- Huffington Post
A British take on the vampire romp naturally features a centuries-old prostitute in a rundown seaside town – with some 80s surrealism thrown in
The English seaside town is the end of the line – and the end of the world. That has been the prevailing mood in recent British movies like Paweł Pawlikowski's Last Resort, Thomas Clay's The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael, and indeed Rowan Joffé's underrated new version of Brighton Rock, which, like this film, features Sam Riley.
And it is by a typically bleak British beach that Neil Jordan has created this florid, preposterous but watchable soap opera of the undead; it's a dark fantasy that contains a trace of his slight weakness for whimsy, but in some ways it's his most effective film for some time, adapted for the screen by Moira Buffini from her stage play A Vampire Story. The seaside town is unnamed, but...
The English seaside town is the end of the line – and the end of the world. That has been the prevailing mood in recent British movies like Paweł Pawlikowski's Last Resort, Thomas Clay's The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael, and indeed Rowan Joffé's underrated new version of Brighton Rock, which, like this film, features Sam Riley.
And it is by a typically bleak British beach that Neil Jordan has created this florid, preposterous but watchable soap opera of the undead; it's a dark fantasy that contains a trace of his slight weakness for whimsy, but in some ways it's his most effective film for some time, adapted for the screen by Moira Buffini from her stage play A Vampire Story. The seaside town is unnamed, but...
- 5/31/2013
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
“I’m trying to make movies in my life … that last longer than opening weekend. That’s it, that’s my whole goal. I don’t have to make money; I do films for scale and then, you know, I go do coffee commercials overseas, and I make a lot of money so I get to live in a nice house. … And I don’t give a sh-t. And people will go, ‘Oh that’s a sellout.’ And you know what? F–k you.” — George Clooney, 2012
Clooney wasn’t at his most eloquent as he justified starring in Italian coffee...
Clooney wasn’t at his most eloquent as he justified starring in Italian coffee...
- 2/19/2013
- by Jeff Labrecque
- EW.com - PopWatch
25: The Dark Knight Rises
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan
2012, USA
The Dark Knight Rises feels as if it was made up of two equal halves, with the most critical moment of the film breaking the movie in half, almost literally. While the second half may have been a let down, the first half is incredibly ambitious to say the least. The opening sequence, a gravity-defying skyjacking, is a tour de force – wildly choreographed, vivid, visceral, and chock full of suspense. That aerial extraction alone is worth the price of admission. Production-wise, effects-wise, Nolan’s movie (with sequences shot with Imax cameras) is staggering. There was an opportunity here for Nolan to stretch the boundaries of what is possible in the genre, alas, the final act becomes a little too conventional – complete with a doomsday device and a ticking-clock countdown. But for every quibble,...
Directed by Christopher Nolan
Screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan
2012, USA
The Dark Knight Rises feels as if it was made up of two equal halves, with the most critical moment of the film breaking the movie in half, almost literally. While the second half may have been a let down, the first half is incredibly ambitious to say the least. The opening sequence, a gravity-defying skyjacking, is a tour de force – wildly choreographed, vivid, visceral, and chock full of suspense. That aerial extraction alone is worth the price of admission. Production-wise, effects-wise, Nolan’s movie (with sequences shot with Imax cameras) is staggering. There was an opportunity here for Nolan to stretch the boundaries of what is possible in the genre, alas, the final act becomes a little too conventional – complete with a doomsday device and a ticking-clock countdown. But for every quibble,...
- 12/23/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
It’s no big secret I love horror films, but 2012 hasn’t been a great year. In my top ten, three films carry over from 2011, two won’t be released until 2013, two are animated and another isn’t much of a horror film. With that said, 2012 gave us Berberian Sound Studio and Cabin In The Woods, and for that, I am forever grateful. Here is a list of the 21 horror films from 2012 I liked best.
****
#1: Berberian Sound Studio
Directed by Peter Strickland
Written by Peter Strickland
UK, 2012
Berberian Sound Studio reminds us of the power of sound over the visual image, and can surely join the ranks of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation and Brian DePalma’s Blow Out as an absorbing appreciation of sound design. But both thematically and visually, Berberian is more of a descendant of the school of David Lynch and Roman Polanski. As things get increasingly,...
****
#1: Berberian Sound Studio
Directed by Peter Strickland
Written by Peter Strickland
UK, 2012
Berberian Sound Studio reminds us of the power of sound over the visual image, and can surely join the ranks of Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation and Brian DePalma’s Blow Out as an absorbing appreciation of sound design. But both thematically and visually, Berberian is more of a descendant of the school of David Lynch and Roman Polanski. As things get increasingly,...
- 12/9/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
The American Film Market (Afm®) and AFI Fest presented by Audi join forces and introduce a new AFI Fest screening program at this year’s market. Three AFI Fest films seeking international sales representation will be screened today, starting at 9:00 am. The program was jointly announced by Jonathan Wolf, Afm Managing Director and Jacqueline Lyanga, Director, AFI Fest.
The three festival titles that have been selected by AFI Fest to screen at Afm are: Here And There (AquÍ Y AllÁ) from writer/director Antonio Méndez Esparza (9:00 a.m. screening); Nairobi Half Life from director David Tosh Gitonga (11:30 a.m. screening); and Starlet from co-writer/director Sean Baker (2:30 p.m. screening).
“This was a natural progression in our long partnership with AFI Fest and provides these filmmakers an invaluable opportunity to screen for the world’s top sales agents,” said Wolf.
"The new screening program at the Afm has so much potential. It is going to give our AFI Fest filmmakers a chance to bring their films to the market to find representation; it's going to get their films directly in front of sales agents and buyers, and we hope that it will ultimately help these films get distributed internationally,” said Lyanga.
Afm and AFI Fest provide the only concurrent festival-market event in North America, connecting both art and commerce. The alliance affords films that are represented and/or screening at the market and festival unmatched marketing exposure. The partnership also provides AFI Fest filmmakers who visit Afm access to key decision makers from more than 400 of the world’s leading production and distribution companies.
A total of 27 films screening at AFI Fest will also be represented at this year’s Afm.
11 AFI Fest films will screen at Afm, including ABCs Of Death (Magnolia Pictures); Antiviral (IFC Films/TF1 International); Come Out And Play (Cananá Films); Ginger And Rosa (The Match Factory); John Dies At The End (Magnolia Pictures); Kon-tiki (Media Plan PR/HanWay Films); Quartet(HanWay Films); Simon Killer (IFC Films/ Fortissimo Films); and Zaytoun (Pathé International).
16 additional festival selections will be represented at Afm including: A Royal Affair (Magnolia Pictures); Berberian Sound Studio (IFC Films/The Match Factory); Beyond The Hills (IFC Films); Caesar Must Die (Adopt Films, LLC/Rai Trade); Eat Sleep Die (The Yellow Affair); Here Comes The Devil (Mpi Media Group); Holy Motors (Indomina); In Another Country (Kino Lorber); In The Fog (Strand Releasing/The Match Factory); Kid (Media Luna New Films); Pieta (Finecut); Tabu (Adopt Films, LLC); The Hunt (Magnolia Pictures); The Impossible (Summit Entertainment); The Most Fun I’Ve Ever Had With My Pants On (Continental Media); and War Witch (Tribeca Enterprises/Films Distribution).
About the Afm
The business of independent motion picture production and distribution reaches its peak every year at the American Film Market, Oct. 31 – Nov. 7, 2012. The global film industry converges in Santa Monica for eight days of deal-making on films in every stage of development and production, as well as screenings, conferences, networking and parties.
With 8,000 industry leaders from more than 70 countries, 700 screenings and the industry’s largest Conference Series, Afm is the pivotal destination for independent filmmakers, directors, distributors, financiers, industry executives, producers, talent, writers, the international media and all those who provide services to the worldwide motion picture industry.
The Afm is produced by the Independent Film & Television Alliance®, the global trade association of the independent motion picture and television industry and the voice and advocate for the Independents worldwide. Visit www.AmericanFilmMarket.com and www.Ifta-online.org for more information.
About AFI Fest presented by Audi
The American Film Institute’s annual celebration of artistic excellence, AFI Fest presented by Audi brings the audience and the entertainment community together to explore the year in global cinema through the new works of film masters, moving image icons and breakthrough talents, and it is the only film festival of its stature that is free to the public. AFI Fest mixes nightly red carpet galas of Hollywood films with new auteur works from around the world, ensuring that an extraordinary array of foreign filmmaker voices is heard. Launching awards season each year, AFI Fest offers a crucial avenue of exposure to the entertainment community, while providing audiences with the very best of global cinema, right in the center of the movie-making capital of the world.
Celebrating its 26th year as a program of the American Film Institute, the festival has paid tribute to numerous influential filmmakers and artists over the years, including Pedro Almodóvar and David Lynch as Guest Artistic Directors, and has screened scores of films that have produced Oscar® nominations and wins including, most recently, The Artist and A Separation.
AFI Fest 2012 presented by Audi will take place November 1 through 8 in the heart of Hollywood. AFI Fest is the only Fiapf-accredited film festival in the United States, and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes AFI Fest as a qualifying festival for the Short Films category for the annual Academy Awards®.
Additional information about AFI Fest is available at AFI.com/Afifest. Connect with AFI Fest at facebook.com/Afifest,twitter.com/Afifest and youtube.com/Afifest.
The three festival titles that have been selected by AFI Fest to screen at Afm are: Here And There (AquÍ Y AllÁ) from writer/director Antonio Méndez Esparza (9:00 a.m. screening); Nairobi Half Life from director David Tosh Gitonga (11:30 a.m. screening); and Starlet from co-writer/director Sean Baker (2:30 p.m. screening).
“This was a natural progression in our long partnership with AFI Fest and provides these filmmakers an invaluable opportunity to screen for the world’s top sales agents,” said Wolf.
"The new screening program at the Afm has so much potential. It is going to give our AFI Fest filmmakers a chance to bring their films to the market to find representation; it's going to get their films directly in front of sales agents and buyers, and we hope that it will ultimately help these films get distributed internationally,” said Lyanga.
Afm and AFI Fest provide the only concurrent festival-market event in North America, connecting both art and commerce. The alliance affords films that are represented and/or screening at the market and festival unmatched marketing exposure. The partnership also provides AFI Fest filmmakers who visit Afm access to key decision makers from more than 400 of the world’s leading production and distribution companies.
A total of 27 films screening at AFI Fest will also be represented at this year’s Afm.
11 AFI Fest films will screen at Afm, including ABCs Of Death (Magnolia Pictures); Antiviral (IFC Films/TF1 International); Come Out And Play (Cananá Films); Ginger And Rosa (The Match Factory); John Dies At The End (Magnolia Pictures); Kon-tiki (Media Plan PR/HanWay Films); Quartet(HanWay Films); Simon Killer (IFC Films/ Fortissimo Films); and Zaytoun (Pathé International).
16 additional festival selections will be represented at Afm including: A Royal Affair (Magnolia Pictures); Berberian Sound Studio (IFC Films/The Match Factory); Beyond The Hills (IFC Films); Caesar Must Die (Adopt Films, LLC/Rai Trade); Eat Sleep Die (The Yellow Affair); Here Comes The Devil (Mpi Media Group); Holy Motors (Indomina); In Another Country (Kino Lorber); In The Fog (Strand Releasing/The Match Factory); Kid (Media Luna New Films); Pieta (Finecut); Tabu (Adopt Films, LLC); The Hunt (Magnolia Pictures); The Impossible (Summit Entertainment); The Most Fun I’Ve Ever Had With My Pants On (Continental Media); and War Witch (Tribeca Enterprises/Films Distribution).
About the Afm
The business of independent motion picture production and distribution reaches its peak every year at the American Film Market, Oct. 31 – Nov. 7, 2012. The global film industry converges in Santa Monica for eight days of deal-making on films in every stage of development and production, as well as screenings, conferences, networking and parties.
With 8,000 industry leaders from more than 70 countries, 700 screenings and the industry’s largest Conference Series, Afm is the pivotal destination for independent filmmakers, directors, distributors, financiers, industry executives, producers, talent, writers, the international media and all those who provide services to the worldwide motion picture industry.
The Afm is produced by the Independent Film & Television Alliance®, the global trade association of the independent motion picture and television industry and the voice and advocate for the Independents worldwide. Visit www.AmericanFilmMarket.com and www.Ifta-online.org for more information.
About AFI Fest presented by Audi
The American Film Institute’s annual celebration of artistic excellence, AFI Fest presented by Audi brings the audience and the entertainment community together to explore the year in global cinema through the new works of film masters, moving image icons and breakthrough talents, and it is the only film festival of its stature that is free to the public. AFI Fest mixes nightly red carpet galas of Hollywood films with new auteur works from around the world, ensuring that an extraordinary array of foreign filmmaker voices is heard. Launching awards season each year, AFI Fest offers a crucial avenue of exposure to the entertainment community, while providing audiences with the very best of global cinema, right in the center of the movie-making capital of the world.
Celebrating its 26th year as a program of the American Film Institute, the festival has paid tribute to numerous influential filmmakers and artists over the years, including Pedro Almodóvar and David Lynch as Guest Artistic Directors, and has screened scores of films that have produced Oscar® nominations and wins including, most recently, The Artist and A Separation.
AFI Fest 2012 presented by Audi will take place November 1 through 8 in the heart of Hollywood. AFI Fest is the only Fiapf-accredited film festival in the United States, and The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes AFI Fest as a qualifying festival for the Short Films category for the annual Academy Awards®.
Additional information about AFI Fest is available at AFI.com/Afifest. Connect with AFI Fest at facebook.com/Afifest,twitter.com/Afifest and youtube.com/Afifest.
- 11/6/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
The definition of a slasher film varies depending on who you ask, but in general, it contains several specific traits that feed into the genre’s formula. Author Vera Dika rather strictly defines the sub-genre in her book Games of Terror by only including films made between 1978 and 1984. In other words, she saw it as a movement. When someone describes Brick, they don’t define it as a noir, but instead neo-noir . In other words, it’s a modern motion picture that prominently utilizes elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in those from the 1940s and 1950s. So does one consider Scream a slasher film or a neo-slasher, or simply put, a modern slasher?
Some consider Thirteen Women to be the earliest slasher – released all the way back in 1932. Personally I think that is rubbish. Thirteen Women is more like Desperate Housewives on sedatives.
Some consider Thirteen Women to be the earliest slasher – released all the way back in 1932. Personally I think that is rubbish. Thirteen Women is more like Desperate Housewives on sedatives.
- 10/29/2012
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
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