News

Filmmaker Chris Vander Kaay has partnered with We Are Your Neon, LLC, to bring found footage fans a new show unlike anything else: a recommendation series for all things found footage and fake documentary. Found Footage Finds is a docuseries presented in found footage style that explores the vast and varied history of found footage filmmaking, sharing hidden gems and forgotten titles, and getting behind-the-scenes stories of many of these films from interviews with the filmmakers themselves.

Filmmaker interviews include Lesley Manning (Ghostwatch), Corey Grant (Bigfoot: The Lost Coast Tapes), Michelle Iannantuono (Livescream), Dillon Brown (Tahoe Joe), Richard Rapphorst (Frankenstein’s Army), and many more. The series also features key insights from experts and superfans such as author Grady Hendrix (How to Sell a Haunted House), film scholar Preston Fassel, and Voices from the Mausoleum channel founder Angel Krause.

Found Footage Finds will have its exclusive season one premiere on Found TV,...

Frankenstein’s Army filmmaker Richard Raaphorst is looking to return to the director’s chair with Children of the Moor.

Variety reports that the darkly comic folk horror film will pitch at the upcoming Frontières Platform at the Marché du Film in Cannes.

Described by Raaphorst as “handmade folk horror meets a home renovation show,” the film follows a family seeking a fresh start in a remote countryside farmhouse. There, their teenage daughter uncovers the land’s grim history – the spirits of murdered children haunt the land – as her father slowly loses his grip on reality.

The feature is backed by Raaphorst’s creative collective The Mad Scientists in collaboration with 52 Films, a UK-based company headed by Children of the Moor screenwriter Adam Park.

Slated to shoot in Spring 2026, the team is seeking co-producers, a sales agent, and potentially a third European partner to support the financing strategy.

Raaphorst...

Acclaimed Dutch genre filmmaker Richard Raaphorst (“Frankenstein’s Army”) is returning to feature directing with “Children of the Moor,” a folk horror feature infused with a handmade aesthetic and darkly comic twist.

The project will pitch at the upcoming Frontières Platform at the Marché du Film in Cannes, presented by Canada’s Fantasia and the Marché, backed by Raaphorst’s creative collective The Mad Scientists, in collaboration with 52 Films, a U.K.-based company headed by “Children of the Moor” screenwriter Adam Park.

Currently in development and looking for a third international co-producer, “Children of the Moor” is slated to shoot in Spring 2026. Described by Raaphorst as “handmade folk horror meets a home renovation show,” the film follows a family seeking a fresh start in a remote countryside farmhouse. There, their teenage daughter uncovers the land’s grim history – the spirits of murdered children haunt the land – as her father...

Robert Ten Eyck’s “Skin Side Up,” Sebastian McKinnon’s “The Stolen Child” and Richard Raaphorst’s “Children of the Moor” look like three potential standouts at this year’s Frontières Platform in Cannes which bids fair to prove one of the festival’s highest-caliber project showcases.

Described as Drag Queen Horror and boasting a heart-in-the-mouth promo, “Skin Side Up” marks the directorial feature debut of Australian Ten Eyck who as Lazy Susan won RuPaul’s “Drag Race Down Under” Season 4.

Visually gorgeous, shot in lush British Columbia forests, as well as Iceland and France from last October to this July, “The Stolen Child” weighs in as the biggest title at this year’s Platform, a Tolkien-esque dark fantasy which is the only Platform title to have been picked up by a sale agent: Germany’s Picture Tree Intl.

“Children of the Moor” marks one of the latest projects from the Netherlands’ Richard Raaphorst,...

When movie fans think of creature features, their minds most likely jump right to the classics - Godzilla, Alien, King Kong, or The Fly. It's a shame because there are so many other incredible monster movies, and the general audience is missing out on discovering them.

Everyone has forgotten about these underrated creature features. The monsters in these movies are well-designed and impactful, not to mention ruthlessly vicious. Whether the viewer prefers something wonderfully campy or downright nightmare-inducing, these underappreciated monster movies are definitely worth a watch.

A Deep Sea Adventure Goes Horribly Wrong in Leviathan Creature: Mutated Sea Monster

Metascore: 51 IMDb: 5.8/10 Rotten Tomatoes: 23%

There's a lot that can go wrong when exploring underwater. The crew in Leviathan faces the ultimate terror when one of their members is infected by a mutating creature with strong tentacles. Not only does this monster wreak havoc on the people, but it also damages the ship's systems,...

The much-anticipated horror-thriller Erbsünde: Veil of Sin is gearing up for its release, and the newly unveiled trailer promises a terrifying fusion of historical fiction and slasher horror. Directed by Ahmed Chaer, the film is set to bring a chilling new villain to the genre—a Nazi supersoldier from World War II, long forgotten and cryogenically preserved, who embarks on a deadly rampage when accidentally awakened.

Erbsünde follows a group of journalism students who, in search of a story in the remote woods, stumble upon an abandoned Nazi bunker. What they don’t know is that inside lies a terrifying relic from the past—a genetically engineered supersoldier, designed by the Nazis in the final days of the war to be an unstoppable war machine. When the students accidentally revive the soldier, their weekend in the woods quickly turns into a desperate fight for survival as the soldier resumes his mission of destruction.

BBC America’s Award-Winning UK zombie series “In the Flesh” shambled its way onto Screambox with the first season last week, and Season 2 is now streaming on Screambox!

Whet your appetite with the opening 4-minutes of “In the Flesh” Season 2 below.

“In the Flesh” follows zombie teenager Kieren Walker (Luke Newberry) and his reintegration back into both the local community and the heart of his family.

After his suicide four years ago, his friends and family thought they’d never see Kieren again. But shortly after his funeral, thousands rose from the dead; and after months of rehabilitation and medication, the zombies — now known as Pds (Partially Deceased Syndrome) sufferers — are gradually being returned to their homes.

When Kieran arrives, he is forced to confront his family, the community that rejected him and haunting flashbacks of what he did in his untreated state.

Watch “In the Flesh” Season 1 and Season 2 on Screambox now!

The upcoming DC Studios animated TV series "Creature Commandos", is based on DC Comics' monstrous team of military superhumans, originally set during World War II, including a human team leader, a werewolf, a vampire, Frankenstein's monster and a snake-headed ‘Gorgon’, streaming in 2024 on Max:

Original Team:

'Warren Griffith' – a simple, farm boy who suffered from clinical 'lycanthropy'. 'Project M' gave him the ability to change into a true werewolf, but the metamorphoses were erratic and uncontrollable due to a flaw in the serum that created him.

'J.A.K.E.'– The first 'G.I. Robot', destroyed itself along with a lost 'Atlantean' colony.

'J.A.K.E. 2' – The second 'G.I. Robot', became lost in space.

'Dr. Myrra Rhodes', aka 'Dr. Medusa', after inhaling strange fumes, grew living snakes for hair and superficially resembled Medusa, one of the 'Gorgons'.

'Lt. Matthew Shrieve – Matthew was their team leader.

August has been a significant month for Screambox, which celebrated the anniversary of Tobe Hooper’s original The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, took a look back at the classic 1985 movie Clue in Who Done It: The Clue Documentary, got creature feature crazy with the sci-fi horror Subject, and had a blast with the Ghostbusters-inspired sci-fi horror comedy The Ghastly Brothers.

In addition to the controversial The Woman hitting the streaming service last week, Screambox has now added four highly regarded horror films, all courtesy of MPI/Dark Sky Films.

The lineup includes…

Late Phases: A practical effects heavy werewolf movie from Adrián García Bogliano. When deadly beasts attack from the forest, it is up to a grizzled veteran to uncover what the residents of a secluded retirement community are hiding.

Bliss: From director Joe Begos, Bliss follows a brilliant painter (Dora Madison) who turns to anything she can to complete her masterpiece,...

From historically accurate costumes to expensive set designs, it takes a lot of money to shoot a believable period piece, with these films requiring an additional level of planning in order to feel true to life. That’s why it’s so rare to see non-blockbuster productions take on this challenge – especially when it comes to monster movies.

That being said, there are still some brave genre filmmakers that try and experiment with different story settings without the benefit of a super-hero movie budget, which often leads to incredibly unique horror films. That’s why we’ve decided to come up with a list recommending six of the best period-piece monster movies, as creature features shouldn’t have to be limited to any particular era.

For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining “period piece” as any movie that takes place in a time period previous to when it was filmed.

For the longest time, animation has been hindered by a misguided notion that animated movies are meant for kids. Sure, there have always been popular outliers like the infamous Fritz the Cat and 1981’s Heavy Metal, but it was only recently that animation began to be legitimized by the industry at large (even if that’s mostly due to a handful of auteurs like Guillermo del Toro publicly defending animation as a medium instead of a genre).

Unfortunately, this means that plenty of edgier animated projects ended up slipping through the cracks over the years, with general audiences usually favoring family-oriented entertainment over experimental stories dealing with more mature themes. One such project is Shane Acker’s underrated 2009 thriller 9, a post-apocalyptic adventure that deserved more attention and pushed its PG-13 rating to the absolute limit.

Originally an Oscar-nominated short film that Acker developed while studying at UCLA, the first...

This episode of The Black Sheep was Written and Narrated by Andrew Hatfield, Edited by Joseph Wilson, Produced by Lance Vlcek and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

With all due respect to the vampire western Near Dark and the coolness of The Lost Boys, my favorite ’80s vampire flick is pretty easily Fright Night (watch it Here). It has a way about it that is just unmatched. It’s able to mix the ’80s setting, think Jerry in the club hypnotizing Amy, with both a modern and classic feel. Its almost the evolutionary step of what Hammer films would have turned into had they not folded. Its certainly beloved enough with it’s own documentary and a sequel, remake, and sequel to that remake. That’s what I wanted to talk about today. While Near Dark got no sequel, probably for the best, and The Lost Boys got multiple awful sequels,...

Emergence from pandemic lockdowns and the promise of in-person festivals has excitement brewing for the future of film, and the genre industry is no exception. The official selection of the 2022 Frontières Platform at the Marché du Film – Festival de Cannes is in, and it displays bullish trends for the future of genre.

“There’s a lot of horror, and it kind of goes back to practical effects, and I love that,” says Frontières executive director Annick Mahnert. “Practical effects are coming back, which is great.”

Highlighting this trend is potential standout “Gnomes!” from the Netherlands, a horror film about gnomes who murder curious humans and turn them into sausage while they’re still alive. The film boasts producer and art department master Richard Raaphorst (“Frankenstein’s Army”), who brought the gnomes to life.

Other possible standouts of practical effects are “Requiem for a Robot, “Street Trash” and “Serial Kitten,” which blends costumes and CGI.

We're not going to say these are the best horror flicks to watch, ever.

But we are gonna say there are a bunch of random streaming spooks with which to busy ourselves this pandemic-riddled All Hallow's Eve. We've checked many out for you here -- but are you like me, thinking there isn't really a such thing as a "scary" movie?

Anyhoodles, instead of sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves with nothing to do, we can sit around feeling sorry for ourselves and watch some creepy shit. Now, in no particular order:

Jessabelle (Hulu) - 2014

Just as they are about to start a new life together, Jesse (Sarah Snook) and her boyfriend get into a hardcore car accident, killing him, crippling her.

Moving in with her estranged father to recover back "home," Jesse encounters a lingering, dark spirit.

Is this entity the tormenting or the tormented? And what does it...

Two months ago, we reported that director Richard Raaphorst (of Frankenstein's Army fame) was trying to revive an earlier abandoned project called Worst Case Scenario, by crowdfunding a graphic novel version of the story. Well, the good news is: that book has been successfully funded as it broke its target within 15 days. On top of that, Richard and his companions have added tons of fun extras you can buy into, from postcards (shown here) to stickers to T-shirts to rather magnificent statues... But browsing through their stretch targets, a couple of fun things stand out. Extra pages, for starters, but the last one is laugh-out-loud funny: Richard promises that if someone manages to get the counter up to six million Euro, he'll create the...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

When we first came across Dutch genre aficianado Nick Jongerius it was as the producer of local horror pictures Dood Eind and Frankenstein's Army. But in more recent days, Jongerius has crossed the aisle away from production and in to writing and directing his own material. His debut feature The Windmill Massacre - released in the Us as The Windmill - was a full on, classically styled slasher film that Jongerius launched first with a proof of concept short film before moving on to the full feature. Well, Jongerius is back and following that same pattern again, having just shared with us a short film proof of concept for his new project. But while the approach...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Peeking behind the scenes of filmmaking is fun, but can also be heartbreaking at times. Checking cinemas to see what's playing is one thing, knowing what films were planned but (just) didn't manage to get made is another. One of the best examples of these never-made-films was the Nazi zombie flick Worst Case Scenario more than ten years ago, a project which became a bit of a sensation in pre-production when two extremely well made proof-of-concept videos were put on the Internet (you can find those here and here). Alas, that project ended up scrapped, but the director of those videos was Richard Raaphorst, and he went on to make Frankenstein's Army. Recently, he's been involved in projects like The Profundis, and has been setting...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

"They're always there. They're like ghosts," says George A. Romero. The Godfather of the Living Dead isn't referring to one of the ravenous monsters from his movies, but rather movies themselves... the ones he never got to make. Films that never made it out of Development Hell are the focus of Untold Horror, a new project from Dave Alexander and Mark Pollesel that features filmmakers—including George A. Romero, John Landis, and more—discussing their films and passionate ideas that never came to fruition.

In addition to reflecting on films that never came to be, Untold Horror is also helping to resurrect these passion projects, beginning with George A. Romero's The Little World of Humongo Bongo, a children's book that will be released later this year. To learn more about Untold Horror, we have the official press release with full details, as well as the series' trailer:

Press Release: (March 1, 2017 - Toronto,...

(I've played with Richard Raaphorst's tentacles... wait, let me rephrase that.) Eleven years ago, Richard Raaphorst became a bit of an overnight Internet sensation due to two proof-of-concept promos for a Nazi-zombie film called Worst Case Scenario. Both videos looked excellent and showed creative flair, awesome design and a true atmosphere of dread. We were all a bit heartbroken when that project faltered and finally was abandoned. Richard Raaphorst went on to design another project though, and ended up directing the fun Frankenstein's Army. So what's next? Well, last summer Richard Raaphorst and his partner Sarina Reilingh were spotted at Fantasia, pitching their project The Profundis, which looks like the crazy offspring of a mating between The Thing and Das Boot. As usual for them,...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

With his horror film The Windmill now in release director Nick Jongerius is turning his attention to his next project, a scifi thriller titled The Abductee. While plot details are being kept under wraps for now Jongerius pitches it as somewhere in the vein of Scanners meets Invasion Of The Body Snatchers with its roots in an actual notorious abduction case. The Windmill and Frankenstein's Army writer Chris Mitchell is handling the script with an eye to shoot in autumn 2017. And to tide you over until then we've got the first piece of concept art for you below! Remember you can click to enlarge!...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

In his new film, The Windmill, Nick Jongerius transforms one of Holland's picturesque tourist attractions into a hub of blood-soaked horror. With XLrator Media releasing The Windmill on VOD and iTunes this Tuesday, followed by a theatrical release on October 28th, we caught up with Jongerius for our latest Q&A feature.

Thanks for taking the time to answer some questions for us, Nick. When did you first come up with the idea for The Windmill?

Nick Jongerius: My pleasure. Thanks for your interest in the film. I first started thinking about the idea for this film after Frankenstein's Army. Our investors at that time were really interested in Holland, especially Amsterdam—the dikes, windmills, clogs, etc. This triggered me. I thought, "What if we use these famous touristic symbols of Holland and drench them in blood? Sort of turning it upside down. From there we shot a proof of concept,...

Best known for his work as producer on the excellent Frankenstein's Army (review) and Dead End, Nick Jongerius is trying his hand at another aspect of filmmaking: directing.

It was announced earlier today that Jongerius' debut feature, a horror movie titled The Windmill, has been picked up for North American release by XLrator Media which will release the project on their Macabre label.

The Windmill stars Noah Taylor ("Game of Thrones," "Peaky Blinders"), Charlotte Beaumont, Patrick Baladi, Tanroh Ishida and Ben Batt as tourists who find themselves stranded in the Dutch countryside when their tour bus break down. It is a [Continued ...]...

As the Frontières Co-Production Market, Brussels Edition, wraps up tonight in Brussels the first co-production deal has been announced. Chris W. Mitchell, writer of Frankenstein's Army and the upcoming horror flick The Windmill Massacre, had a new project at the market and he has found some like-minded folks who want to make it with him. Currently budgeted at €2.5 million, Amsterdam Gothic tells the story of Australian art historian Robin Taylor who comes to Amsterdam to participate in the restauration of the paintings of an obscure 17th century Dutch master, Floris de Witte. However, she soon discovers that she is in terrible danger because the malevolent De Witte has achieved what so many artists strive for: he lives on in his work. Written and to...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Nick Jongerius' debut horror film The Windmill Massacre is currently is post and looking to debut this Spring. Screen Daily is reporting that Kaleidoscope Film Distribution has come on board to handle sales at the upcoming European Film Market during Berlinale. You can be sure there will be some footage rolled out during the market to whet the appetites of buyers that week.We first caught wind (ha!) of this film back in 2013 when Jongerius, at that time a producer on Richard Raaphorst's cinéma vérité horror flick Frankenstein's Army, dropped a nifty proof of concept on us. Jongerius continued to work with another Fa producer, Daniel Koefoed, on his own flick from then on. The Windmill Massacre stars Charlotte Beaumont and Twitch fave Noah Taylor. Tanroh...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Young Mexican horror filmmaker Lex Ortega has made a name for himself within the festival circuit, with several gory short films such as T is for Tamales and Mother's Blessing. He's also a recognized sound designer, and has worked for several international productions, like Frankenstein's Army and Late Phases. When I asked Cineteca Nacional's José Luis Ortega about Lex and the current genre cinema scene in Mexico (back in December 2013), he said, "I think he's, if not the only one, at least the top of the iceberg of a bunch of people who are recording their gore, brutal, gothic or very atmospheric movies. Lex is the only one who dares to sell his products and show them at festivals. He has a really good craft...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

With the arrival of Ken Wiederhorn's Shock Waves on Blu-ray, distributor Blue Underground is bringing the '70s horror film back to the big screen to celebrate its 40th anniversary. It is doing so with a brand-new Dcp and you'll find a complete breakdown of theater listings below.

Starring Peter Cushing, Brooke Adams and Luke Halpin, the film is pre-dates films like Dead Snow and Frankenstein's Army, offering horror fans Nazi zombie terror.

The post Blue Underground Brings Shock Waves Back to Theaters! appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Hi everyone (and we do mean everyone, as this contest is worldwide). In the past, we've several times heralded Dutch director Richard Raaphorst's drawing skills. Especially the designs he made for the abandoned Worst Case Scenario project and the not-abandoned Frankenstein's Army film are, rightfully, the stuff of legends. Recently, for fun, he tried his hand at creating old-fashioned anatomical sketches for some of his creatures, and the results were spectacular. He further developed one sketch of the Mosquito monster from Frankenstein's Army, and with the help of artist Jurriaan Verdoold, he reworked that one into an art-deco poster. Now, both the sketch-version and the art-deco poster will be released in a limited print, and all of the art-deco posters will be signed by Richard....

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

It is not exactly a secret that Dutch director Richard Raaphorst can draw a mean piece of art when necessary. A few years ago, he basically got the production of Frankenstein's Army rolling on the power of just one of his sketches. Indeed, he even makes quick portraits of actors during auditions, re-imagining them in full costume on the spot. So when Richard told me he was doing detailed anatomical drawings of some of the monsters in Frankenstein's Army, I was very much interested. And Damn they looked good! So this is what Richard did: he further developed a very detailed sketch of fan-favorite monster Mosquito, took it to fellow artist Jurriaan Verdoold, and together they created the awesome poster you see below. And it's...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Found footage films get a bad rap - and worse reviews. But the genre combines the vitality of punk rock with the reach of a video viral, and it has earned, if not respectability, then at least a respectful reappraisal. Some found footage (hereafter Ff) films are, admittedly, unwatchable (see The Devil Inside or, better, don't). But others, such as recent West Country-set religious chiller The Borderlands, or Bobcat Goldthwait's creepy Bigfoot hunt Willow Creek (out on May 2), are closer to unmissable.

Beyond an ominous title card, Ff films require little backstory, and the genre has only a brief history of its own. An uncompromising, hand-over-the-camera-lens look at totalitarianism in Vietnam-era America, Peter Watkins' 1971 mock-doc Punishment Park is considered Ff's chief forebear. Ruggiero Deodato's still-troubling Cannibal Holocaust (1979), however, is the most striking early archetype. Following a gonzo film crew into tribal Amazonia, it puts video-nasty atrocities through a film-school filter,...

Watch out Amsterdam, there's something evil in your future.Dutch production house Pellicola - part of the production team on Frankenstein's Army - are deep in development on a new television series titled Cursed, a project they describe as a mix of The Twilight Zone and Paranormal Activity. An anthology series with each episode telling a different story, Cursed revolves around revolves around regular people coming into contact with paranormal phenomena and winding up cursed.As part of the development process producer-director Nick Jongerius has already shot a pair of short films titled Selfie and RedRoom designed to establish the look and feel of the series and they have released trailers for each of those shorts along with an overall trailer for the series itself. Check the...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

As our own Andrew Mack reported, México Bárbaro is an upcoming Mexican horror anthology featuring cinematic adaptations of traditional legends from this country. It was conceived by Lex Ortega (sound designer for Frankenstein's Army) and will be offering segments by such directors as Somos Lo Que Hay's Jorge Michel Grau, Alucardos, Retrato de un Vampiro's Ulises Guzmán, and The Incident's Isaac Ezban. The anthology instantly became one of the most anticipated and promising Mexican films of the year. I had the fortune and honor to interview for Twitch six of the eight directors involved: Ortega, Guzmán, Ezban, Rue Morgue's Aaron Soto, M is for Matador's Gigi Saúl Guerrero and Babtized's Laurette Flores. In the gallery below you can read each interview and learn more about...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

From all four corners of Mexico and beyond its borders, eight Mexican filmmakers are putting together the horror anthology, México Bárbaro. The project was created by filmmaker and sound designer Lex Ortega. He has worked sound design on films like Here Comes the Devil and Frankenstein's Army. He is also heading up another anthology production Beware Bodycount. 8 Mexican directors unite to bring you tales of the most brutally shocking Mexican traditions and legends to life.México Bárbaro shows the world stories that form a part of our culture, and even some that have haunted us and made us have nightmares since childhood, those ones which took away our innocence. The boogeyman, trolls, ghosts, creatures, Aztec sacrifices, and of course our most beloved tradition, Day of the Dead, immerse in...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Click here to read our french "Frankenstein's Army" movie review, directed by Richard Raaphorst with Karel Roden, Joshua Sasse, Robert Gwilym starring.Using shocking vintage newsreel footage as his jumping-off point, Raaphorst has hit on a unique and bold premise. Toward the end of World War II, Russian soldiers pushing into eastern Germany stumble across a secret Nazi lab, one that has unearthed and begun experimenting with the journal of one Dr. Victor Frankenstein. The scientists have used the legendary's Frankenstein's work to assemble an army of supersoldiers stitched together from the body parts of their fallen comrades – a desperate Hitler's last ghastly ploy to escape defeat...

We are super stoked about this next project from Dark Sky Films. Why, you ask? Because the label has a true eye for talent, and if anyone is gonna be able to pull off a kick-ass ghost story, it's them! Read on for your first word regarding We Are Still Here.

From the Press Release

Filming is officially under way in Western New York on We Are Still Here, a 70's-set ghost story produced by preeminent independent genre specialists Mpi/Dark Sky Films and Snowfort Pictures. The announcement was made today by Mpi/Dark Sky's Evp Greg Newman and Snowfort's founder and producer Travis Stevens.

The cast of We Are Still Here includes genre icon Barbara Crampton (Re-Animator, You're Next), Andrew Sensenig (The Last Exorcism Part II), Lisa Marie (Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes), and actor-filmmaker Larry Fessenden (Wendigo, Stake Land). The film marks the directorial debut of Ted Geoghegan,...

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.

The holiday shopping season is officially upon us, and that means it's time to take a look back at the last year of Blu-ray releases to help you decide which packages will have the horror fans on your list grinning from ear-to-ear!

With the Xbox One, the PlayStation 4, the PlayStation 3, and really cheap standalone players all Blu-ray ready, there's never been a better time to make that jump into high definition. If you've been holding out, throw caution to the wind, kids! Blu is where it's at! If you already own the DVD of your favorite flick, is there a need to replace it with a Blu-ray? I'm here to answer all of your questions in the annual...

Before we get into my picks, let's take a second to explain how I rated them. They're broken down into three categories:

Can't Miss -- Must Haves: These are the cream of the crop!

More from the American Film Market...  Recently, we've seen a bunch of horror anthologies hitting the market, and the constant response I hear is, "Where are the female directors contributing to these films?"  Well, it looks like Mpi Media is answer that question with Xx.

After the jump, check out the sales art which tells us it comes from "the producers of Frankenstein's Army and The Raid.  I'm very interested to see the talent that comes together for this one!

Read more...

Look out Holland, things are about to get bloody.After serving as a producer on Richard Raaphorst's Frankenstein's Army, writer-director Nick Jongerius set out to create his own exercise in horror with The Windmill Massacre. Envisioned as an eventual English language feature Jongerius has started off instead with a Dutch language short film as a proof of concept to demonstrate that this sort of thing can be done in the Netherlands at all. And now it's up to you to judge whether he's correct because the short is finished in both a 12 minute version - which is being held back for festivals and industry use at the moment - and a 4 minute version, which you'll find below. Here's how Jongerius describes his creation:The Windmill...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

The sheer lunacy of Frankenstein's Army (review) has had us squealing with delight since its release, and now we have your chance to score the movie on Blu-ray along with some of the most bitchin' action figures ever!

Synopsis:

In the dying days of World War II, a battalion of Russian soldiers find themselves lost in enemy territory in eastern Germany. One soldier (Alexander Mercury, The Golden Compass) has been ordered to make a propaganda film as the squadron makes its way across the wintry landscape, and what follows is a thrilling mix of found-footage shocks and classic horror. Stumbling upon a village decimated by an unseen terror, the Russians are lured into the secret lab of deranged scientist Viktor (Hellboy's Karel Roden). Viktor has unearthed the journals of the legendary Dr. Victor Frankenstein and has used them to assemble an army of supersoldiers stitched together from the body parts...

Halloween season is upon us, and so is the South African HorrorFest. In its 9th year, the all-encompassing Fest has established itself as the ultimate Halloween event in Africa and has plenty lurking in its coffin for 2013!

This year's Fest kicks off 30 October and runs through 8 November. With movies, literature, short films, special guests, a live soundtrack performance, Halloween dress-up, market day, free sneak previews, prizes, and giveaways plus loads more, the South African HorrorFest is not to be missed!

A wide range of movies will make up the feature film slots of the event (from 1-8 Nov at The Labia Theatre, Cape Town and 31 Oct at Sk Cavendish) - from classics and rarities to amazing indies and underground strangeness you won't see in any other local cinema, most making their Sa big screen premiere. Here is the line-up, including a free sneak preview on Halloween night of Insidious Chapter 2.

Get the full schedule,...

In a month's time the Morbido International Horror and Fantasy Film Festival will descend upon the colonial town of Pátzcuaro, Mexico, for its sixth edition. The first wave of titles have been announced and as always there will be an excellent selection of international titles and a lot of Latin American talent on display. And we will be at the festival again this year bringing you updates throughout that weekend. Familiar international titles will include Eugenio Mira's Grand Piano, starring Elijah Wood. Richard Raaphorst's Frankenstein's Army will give festival director Pablo Guisa Koestinger a reason to dust off that uniform he wore for last year's screening of Iron Sky. Swiss vampire flick Chimères looks to take a bite out of the audience. And another familiar international...

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It was back in May that Twitch first wrote about The Windmill Massacre, an upcoming English language slasher film from Holland to be directed by Frankenstein's Army producer Nick Jongerius. Well, in the time since Jongerius has shot a proof of concept for the film which is now in post production and he has passed along a gallery of six very impressive images from the shoot.The Windmill Massacre is an English-spoken modern day slasher situated in the Netherlands, a horror film similar to films such as: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hatchet and Halloween. The Windmill Massacre will combine all the richness and traditions that the Netherlands has to offer, but then drenches them in blood. The film will reveal a new face of terror, a...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Filmmaker Richard Raaphorst discusses his feature film debut Frankenstein's Army, currently available on Blu-ray and DVD

Before making his feature directorial debut with Frankenstein's Army, Richard Raaphorst started out as a title designer and a conceptual artist on films such as Beyond Re-Animator and Black Book. After directing a handful of shorts, the filmmaker brings his unique visual style to Frankenstein's Army, which follows a group of Russian soldiers who discover Viktor (Karel Roden) and his terrifying undead army at the tail end of World War II. I recently had the chance to speak with the director over the phone about this compelling genre mashup, currently available on Blu-ray and DVD. Here's what he had to say.

Can you talk about when you first had the idea for this story, and how long it took you to come up with the script?

Richard Raaphorst: I always had a big fascination with horror,...

Update: Jessica Brown Findlay ("Downton Abbey") and James McAvoy (X-Men: First Class) will star alongside Daniel Radcliffe in Max Landis' Frankenstein. McAvoy will play Dr. Frankenstein and Brown Findlay's role wasn't clarified. 

Source: Variety

March 1, 2013 - Daniel Radcliffe will go from playing upright wizard to creepy assistant. The Harry Potter star is in final talks to play Igor, Dr. Frankenstein's hunchback assistant in 20th Century Fox's Frankenstein.

One can only assume Radcliffe will take inspiration from Dobby in how to say "Master" in the most disconcerting manner.

Source: Variety

Sept. 6, 2012 - A year after announcing Real Steel director Shawn Levy would be directing Max Landis' (Chronicle) take on Frankenstein, 20th Century Fox and Davis Entertainment are now announcing Paul McGuigan (Push, Lucky Number Slevin) will helm instead. Fox's vision of the project, which is said to focus on themes of friendship and redemption, was a low-budget picture...

Frankenstein's Army hit DVD and Blu-ray this week via Dark Sky Films/Mpi and to commemorate the occasion, we were given a chance to e-mail a few questions to director Richard Raaphorst, which was sort of a cool opportunity as we've been writing about the man for quite a while.  Hell, I think I've been writing for him as long as my Dread Central days when he was keeping us updated on his project Worst Case Scenario.  With the teasers that accompanied that potential film, Raaphorst caught our eye with his bizarre creatures and unique vision.

Frankenstein's Army is set in the waning days of World War II where a team of Russian soldiers finds itself on a mysterious mission to the lab of one Dr. Victor Frankenstein. They unearth a terrifying Nazi plan to resurrect fallen soldiers as an army of unstoppable freaks and are soon trapped in a...

This week: One of the biggest blockbusters of the summer, J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek Into Darkness," beams itself home on DVD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D and various retail exclusives packaged with collectibles and exclusive extras.

Also new this week is the twisted horror film "Frankenstein's Army," the Blu-ray debut of "The Talented Mr. Ripley" starring Matt Damon and the definitive "Friday the 13th": The Complete Collection on Blu-ray with all 12 films featuring movie maniac Jason Voorhees.

'Star Trek Into Darkness'

Box Office: $229 million

Rotten Tomatoes: 87% Fresh

Storyline: When a ruthless genetically engineered mastermind named Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) declares war on the Federation, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto) and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise (including Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, John Cho and Anton Yelchin) embark on a manhunt that takes them into dangerous Klingon territory. The ultimate sacrifice must be made...

Sneak Peek new images from the September 2013, Blu-ray/DVD release of director Richard Raaphorst's horror action feature "Frankenstein’s Army", inspired by DC Comics' "The Creature Commandos":

"...in the closing days of Ww II, a battalion of Russian soldiers find themselves lost in enemy territory in eastern Germany. One soldier has been ordered to make a propaganda film as the squadron makes its way across the wintry landscape, and what follows is a thrilling mix of found-footage shocks and classic horror.

"Stumbling upon a village decimated by an unseen terror, the Russians are lured into the secret lab of deranged scientist 'Viktor', who has unearthed the journals of 'Dr. Victor Frankenstein' and has used them to assemble an army of 'supersoldiers'..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Frankenstein's Army"...

Mary Shelley's 1818 novel, Frankenstein, will be reborn this September. Richard Raaphorst has developed this novel and its characters, under the title Frankenstein's Army. Dark Sky Films will release this title and a few of the film's release details have been announced. Frankenstein's Army will release September 10th, 2013 on DVD and Blu-ray. The film will host several extra features including: cast and crew interviews, five spotlights on the creatures from the film and an extensive behind-the-scenes featurette. All of these goodies will be available for this restricted release. For those unfamiliar, Frankenstein's Army is set during World War II. A group of Russian soldiers find themselves lost behind enemy lines, in the dying days of the war. Tasked with completing a propaganda film, this Russian squadron films much of their experience through handheld cameras. And, what they have shot is truly horrifying. Bizarre Nazi experiments are being developed by a crazed scientist,...

It's time to get up close and personal with one of the many monstrosities of Frankenstein's Army (review here). On tap right now is an exclusive look at the fiend known as Razor Teeth. Dig it!

Dark Sky Films opens Richard Raaphorst’s Frankenstein's Army in select cities and on VOD Today, July 26th. It was written by Miguel Tejada-Flores (Revenge of the Nerds, Screamers) and stars Karl Roden.

Related Story: Get an Exclusive and Gruesome Look at Frankenstein's Army

Synopsis:

In the waning days of World War II, a battalion of Russian soldiers find themselves lost in enemy territory. Stumbling upon a village decimated by an unseen terror, they discover that a mad scientist (Hellboy's Karel Roden) conducts experiments to fuse flesh and steel, creating an unstoppable army of undead soldiers. Leaderless and faced with dissention amongst their dwindling ranks, they must find the courage to face down an...

I'm psyched for Frankenstein's Army. Richard Raaphorst's new film, set in the final days of WWII, supposes that the Nazis were building supersoldiers based off the research of Victor Frankenstein. To celebrate the film, which comes out in theaters and VOD today - we are happy to give you an exclusive look at one of the monsters of Frankenstein's Army, the Wall Zombots. Check out how it went from sketch to realization.

The Wall Zombots were two of the doctor’s earliest creations. Before finalizing his grisly concepts for the Führer, Frankenstein was focused on the seemingly simple idea of bringing the dead back to life under some basic form of control. The results were this duo of angry ghouls, with their violent aggression - even toward their creator - quite unstoppable.

Official synopsis: "In the waning days of World War II, a battalion of Russian soldiers find themselves lost in enemy territory.