For those of you out there that are tired of waiting for a US release of Attack the Block (yes I know it played on about two screens), from director Joe Cornish, there's some good news. It gets its UK DVD and Blu-ray release on September 19th from Optimum Releasing. You can pre-order the DVD on Amazon.co.uk for just over $16 (add shipping of course). The Double Play Edition, pictured above, which includes DVD and Blu-ray will set you back $27 plus shipping.
Special Features:
Disc 1:
JUNIOR COMMENTARY - Joe Cornish with John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Franz Drameh, Simon Howard and Leeon Jones
SENIOR COMMENTARY - Joe Cornish with Jodie Whittaker, Luke Treadaway and Nick Frost
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER COMMENTARY - Joe Cornish with Edgar Wright
Disc 2:
Featurettes: Behind The Block, Creature Feature, Meet The Gang, Joe’s Massage, It’s A Rap, Unfilmed Action
Hitting UK theaters just in time for Halloween, on October 28th, Demons Never Die (formerly known as Suicide Kids) looks to be an interesting flick. Directed by Arjun Rose it is about a suicide pact between a group of London teens. Above is the rather cool UK quad and below is the UK trailer. No word as yet on a release date for the States. Also I am guessing the synopsis below will change slightly to take into account the name change.
When a young girl, Amber, takes her own life, her friend Archie Eden and seven other London teenagers decide to follow her lead and create a suicide pact, but as the group begins to die one by one, Archie realises they have become the target of a masked killer. The Suicide Kids…
The fine folk at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival have just announced the first 8 films that are to screen during its run between Oct 20-27. Out of the eight I can honestly say that seven I am eager as hell to see. It's a good solid mix of movies from all over the globe, and I really wish I was heading up there this year. Next year for sure damn it!
For more information and tickets etc check out the Official Siteand check out below for the movies that have been announced and their official festival trailers.
It would be remiss of me not to make some sort of mention that My Sucky Teen Romance is directed by the very same director, who at the age of 12, made her feature movie debut with the undead flick Pathogen back in 2006. By the same token it is also unfair to draw too much attention to this. By all accounts the documentary Zombie Girl: The Movie already did this, and I recommend checking it out if you get the chance, following as it does the making of said movie Pathogen.
Emily Hagins’ third feature length movie, following 2009’s The Retelling, is a refreshing and almost familiar feeling genre movie that leans far more towards comedy than it does towards horror, even though the majority of the cast have an aversion to sunlight. At its heart it has all the trappings of a horror movie with its primarily teenage cast, vampires, blood and the occasional flying intestine. What it doesn’t focus on though is the scares, this is instead replaced by laughs and a knowing nod and a wink in the script. The question is does it work? Short answer is yes, and the long answer is yes for the most part.
My Sucky Teenage Romance opens in the 1950’s and manages to throw an unexpected curve ball at us straight from the get-go. It sets the scenes that yes there are vampires and vampires are what we are going to get. Fast-forward 60 years or so, and some psychedelic opening credits and we join Kate and Allison as they make plans to visit Space-con, it’s out of this world I tell you, which is THE convention to go to.
Also planning on attending is Paul, a comic book fan whose costume proves to be prophetic. Add to this an Edward-a-like vampire, Harry Knowles (he gets about doesn’t he?) and other assorted vampiric action and you get yourself a very cool little flick.
The first thing about this movie that surprised me was the look of the movie. I had been lead to believe that I would be watching a low-budget movie, and I was, but believe me when I say that this looks far more professional and accomplished than many movies I have seen with far bigger budgets and bigger names attached. Hell, even the effects in this flick put to shame far more expensive movies.
Budget is, and I have mentioned this before, purely irrelevant though when it comes to enjoyment of a movie and, more importantly, whether the damned thing works or not. What does matter is whether the story is one we want to follow and whether it is well written or not. Well, the story does have many familiar elements, we get winks and nods to other movies right from the start, but it is in the writing itself where My Sucky Teenage Romance lifts itself up above the snarling pack. The script is witty, sharp and above all else funny. After all it is supposed to be a comedy. I did mention that didn’t I?
The primarily young cast handles the material well, and although their inexperience does show on occasion, it is quite apparent that they all seem to be having fun with the material. The stand-out for me was probably Tony Vespe as Mark, who seemed to nail geek perfectly, but the entire cast all do enough to help bring the story to life, or undead as the case may be.
Where the movie stalled slightly for me was in the pacing. Now, this is only a short movie that runs to around 70 odd minutes, yet I found that around two thirds of the way through it seemed to run out of steam slightly, before picking up again for the climax. Now this may be down to the fact that it does come sprinting out of the gate, so to speak, and just ended up needing to take a break for air. Regardless, it’s a minor fault and didn’t take away from my enjoyment.
Director Emily Hagins certainly has an eye for movie-making and I hope she continues with her chosen career path as I can only see good things to come from her in the future. My Sucky Teenage Romance is a raw but totally engaging movie that came across to me as an early Kevin Smith-esque movie for the anti-Twilight generation. Vampires don’t always sparkle, sometimes they suck. And you know I mean that in a good way.
At the time of writing this My Sucky Teenage Romance had just played London’s Frightfest with no set DVD/Blu-ray release date as yet.
With Stevan Mena's Bereavement hitting DVD and Blu-ray today (go and buy it!) I thought I would post a short piece about its predecessor Malevolence. Considering it was released by Anchor Bay, back in 2005, finding a decent trailer was surprisingly difficult. They are out there but the quality of the videos were not great. Anyway, Starz have finally gotten their collective fingers out of their asses and posted up the full 3 1/2 intro to this cracking movie. Even though Bereavement is the prequel to Malevolence I really recommend watching the movies in the order they were released, believe me they work better that way. Then we can all wait patiently for the third movie in the saga to get made, and yes it is happening.
It's ten years after the kidnapping of Martin Bristol. Taken from a backyard swing at his home at the age of six, he is forced to witness unspeakable crimes of a deranged madman. For years, Martin's whereabouts have remained a mystery...until now.
Created as the middle section of a three-part trilogy, 'Malevolence' is the tragic story of a group of bank robbers on the run from the law. They hide out in an abandoned house on the outskirts of town, unaware it is next door to the home of a family of serial killers. One of their hostages escapes and runs for help, but all hell breaks loose when she runs to the "wrong" house.
Well Go USA have scored again on the Asian Cinema front. This time they have got their mitts on Takashi Shimuzu's Shock Labyrinth 3D and Tormented (Rabitto Hora 3D). Shimuzu is probably most famous for The Grudge movies, and I have to say that I am excited about these acquisitions.
WELL GO ACQUIRES NORTH AMERICAN RIGHTS TO TAKASHI SHIMUZU’S TORMENTED AND THE SHOCK LABYRINTH
TORMENTED WILL PREMIERE IN VENICE FOLLOWED BY A COMPETITION SLOT IN SITGES
PLANO, TEXAS. (August 29, 2011) -- Well Go USA has preemptively acquired all North American distribution rights including theatrical, DVD, Digital, VOD and Television to the upcoming 3D horror thriller TORMENTED from Hong Kong/Netherlands-based Fortissimo Films. They have simultaneously also acquired all rights to the 2010 horror classic THE SHOCK LABYRINTH. Both films were directed by edgy auteur Takashi Shimizu, best known for the original 2002 Japanese hit The Grudge (Juon) and the 2003 sequel The Grudge 2 (Juon 2) as well asthe US remakes of both films. The original film and the English language remakes grossed over $270 million worldwide.
TORMENTED will premiere at the upcoming Venice Film Festival in Official Selection Midnight. It has just been announced that it also has been selected for Official Competition at the Sitges Film Festival, the world’s foremost fantasy and horror film festival to be held in October this year.
The deal was brokered between Doris Pfardrescher, President, Well Go USA Entertainment and Winnie Lau, EVP, Sales & Acquisitions, Fortissimo Films.
“We are looking to push the envelope and bring unique filmed entertainment from all corners of the world to the North American market,” said Doris Pfardrescher. “We are excited to have secured rights to these films directed by the very talented, visionary director Takashi Shimizu that will no doubt resonate with the huge and passionate genre fan base.”
Fortissimo’s Lau added, “ In the last few years Well Go has established a very strong reputation in North America for its exciting selection of films combining great marketing with great distribution. We are thrilled that Fortissimo’s first two 3D titles will be in their excellent hands and we are looking forward to strong results across all media.”
TORMENTED 3D
TORMENTED centers on a young boy whose family seems to be unraveling around him. His sister is grappling with the reality of life or death, while his storybook illustrating father walks a line with insanity. The situation intensifies when the boy manifests a dangerous friendship with a stuffed toy rabbit that comes to life. Is he crazy or are they all delusional? Shimizu ventures once more into the terrifying corners of the mind where the lines between fact and fiction are blurred. This film marks his first collaboration with award winning director of photographyChristopher Doyle who has previously worked with many other noted Asian directors including Wong Kar Wai.
THE SHOCK LABYRINTH 3D
THE SHOCK LABYRINTH (2010) marked Japan’s first foray into the world of live-action 3-D feature films. The story follows a group of teenagers dealing with the disappearance of one of them, Yuki, at an amusement park’s ghost house. On a rainy day 10 years later, Yuki inexplicably returns. However, no sooner is she united with her former friends than she collapses, and the group rushes Yuki to a nearby hospital. But after checking in, they discover that things are not quite as they seem at the medical center. As the night wears on, the group sinks deeper and deeper into the events from a decade ago that led to Yuki’s disappearance.
Continuing on from my previous post hereabout the upcoming movie Martha Marcy May Marlene, I now have a new clip to share with you as well as a new website for the film which has two more trailers linked in.
MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE stars Elizabeth Olsen as Martha, a damaged woman haunted by painful memories and increasing paranoia, who struggles to reassimilate with her family after fleeing a cult.
