Posts Tagged ‘Thriller’
Posted by dominie in Films, News on September 12th, 2008
Oldboy director Chan-Wook Park returns!! If you haven’t seen Oldboy you will regret not running to your nearest video store now to rent the psycho mystery thriller. Oldboy comes alive in Park’s wholly original story about a man who is locked up in a cell for 15 years and then suddenly released only to find himself still trapped in a web of conspiracies.
This morning Variety received news that Universal Pictures and Focus Features sealed a deal Thursday to jump on board as co-producers to director Chan-Wook Park’s new vampire film Thirst. The film is currently in production under Korean major CJ Entertainment who’s been the film’s sole financier up until now. This collaboration marks the first time a Korean film has ever received US studio coin and a US distribution deal (through Focus) before its local release. Local sales in South Korea along with international sales rights will remain the responsibility of CJ Entertainment.
Thirst will star Song Kang-ho (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, The Host, The Good the Bad and the Weird) and Shin Ha-kyun (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance), with Kim Ok-bi (Dasepo Naughty Girls) as leading lady in a story about a well respected priest Sang-hyun, who falls in love with his childhood friend’s wife and who, after a failed medical experiment is turned into a vampire. The priest’s faith can only hold for so long as his humanity withers away in this unique thriller and horror impassioned by an illicit love story.
With Focus Features to distribute, Thirst will likely be guaranteed a theatrical release! Sources say we can expect Thirst sometime in mid 2009!
Posted by dominie in Films, News on September 11th, 2008
According to The Hollywood Reporter, while working on their third album, lead singer Shawn Christensen of the indie rock band Stellastarr penned a script Warner Bros. couldn’t resist. The studio is fast-tracking the rocker’s sci-fi thriller titled The Karma Coalition, dropping $750,000 against the $1.5 million budget.
Dan Lin of Warner-based Lin Pictures will simultaneously produce the project along with his current endeavors, Sherlock Homes and Terminator Salvation. Studio native Stephen Gilchrist who brought the project to Lin Pictures will co-produce the film.
Joe Russo is attached to direct with Jim Sturgess to star in the story about a game of cat and mouse that ensues when a corrupt detective tells a falsely accused (now) fugitive his dead wife of five years may still be alive. He embarks on a quest to uncover the truth, but he will have to pay for exposing the existence of an underground organization responsible for faking her death.
Christensen’s previous work includes co-writing Sidney Hall with partner Jason Dolan. Additionally Stellastarr is well known within the indie rock world and has toured with such bands as The Killers and Jane’s Addiction. It will be exciting to see how this movie plays out. Stay tuned for more to come!
Posted by dominie in Films, News on September 9th, 2008
The Hollywood Reporter announced today Harold Perrineau (The Matrix, 28 Weeks Later, Lost, OZ) is the latest member to join genre favorites Michael Madsen (Kill Bill) and Danny Trejo (Grindhouse, From Dusk ‘Till Dawn) on the big screen in Killing Jar, a new indie thriller written and directed by Mark Young (Tooth and Nail).
The script is about a stranger armed with a shotgun who takes seven patrons hostage at a remote roadside diner. As the body count rises, the survivors discover that one of the hostages might be more dangerous than their captor. Perrineau plays one of the hostages, a traveling salesman named John.
Additionally, Perrineau is executive producing the Morningstar Films project with the company’s own John Sachar producing. The company began lensing over the weekend in North Carolina.
In another thriller, currently with no name but once titled Tortured, Jesse Metcalfe (Insanitarium, Desperate Housewives) will topline according to Bloody-Disgusting. He joins Erika Christensen and Bill Moseley in the film, directed by Rob Lieberman (Fire in the Sky) about an upper-middle-class couple who becomes obsessive in getting revenge against a pedophile who kidnapped and murdered their only child.
Genre vet Rachel Miner (Tooth and Nail, Penny Dreadful) has been cast in Butterfly Effect: Revelation, one of After Dark Films’ 8 films to die for. The film is directed by Seth Grossman about a young man (Chris Carmack) who discovers he has inherited the powers of “The Butterfly Effect” and attempts to solve the mystery of his high school girlfriend’s death using his newfound ability, only to unwittingly unleash a vicious serial killer. Melissa Jones, Miss Horrorfest 2007 will also play a role. The film hits theaters January 2nd, 2009.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on September 8th, 2008
It looks like monsters are making their way up. Production for the upcoming vampire horror, Bat Out of Hell, is planned for lensing later this year and Bloody Disgusting was on hand that the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend for the details. Official Synopsis: As a red eye flight from Los Angeles to New York takes off, everything seems to be normal. That is until the co-pilot kills the pilot and a rouge group of coach passengers head into first class armed and ready to kill. Their claim - there are 9 passengers in the front of the plane who must die tonight. They are vampires, and our “heroes” will crash the plane if they have to in order to ensure what must be done is done. Not willing to die without fighting, the vampires unleash their fury in a battle of strength and wits six miles high, and all before the sun rises on an unknowing New York City.
Joe Dante (Gremlins, Piranha, The Howling) is helming this horror penned by Masters of Horror duo Drew McWeeny and Scott Swan. The project is co-produced Warren Zide, producer of the American Pie and Final Destination franchises, who partnered up with Parallel Media in a $70 million production financing deal. Under the agreement, Parallel Zide will cover eight films, at least two of which per year will be genre movies in the $4-$15 million range.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on September 6th, 2008
According to The Hollywood Reporter, we may be seeing the fourth and fifth installments of Sony’s Columbia Picture’s top-grossing Spider-Man franchise sooner than we imagined. Tobey Maguire and director Sam Raimi are close to locking in a deal so that production on the next two installments may start. Laura Ziskin and Avi Arad will produce the screenplay penned by Jamie Vanderbilt (Zodiac).
The studio is considering filming both installments back-to-back beginning in fall 2009. This approach will help contain costs explains the producers who’s modeling their plan similar to that of New Line’s filming of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which filmed simultaneously for 274 days. The Spider-Man franchise has grossed $2.5 billion worldwide for Sony, its most successful movie franchise to date. Ziskin revealed the studio is aiming for a May 2011 release for Spider-Man 4.
Additionally, Columbia has smothered any speculations regarding who will play Peter Parker’s character. “The studio never considered any other actor. Tobey was our only choice and the only person we’ve discussed the role with,” said Sony spokesman Steve Elzer. No word yet on whether Kirsten Dunst will reprise her role as Mary Jane Watson yet though.
In related news, Sony will be developing Venom, a spinoff feature of Spider-Man. Jacob Estes was first recruited to draft the script and recently Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, the scribes of Zombieland was brought in. Topher Grace played the villian in Spider-Man 3 but casting is still to be determined at this point.
Posted by dominie in Films, News on September 5th, 2008
From writer and director Jack Messitt, Midnight Movie takes place in a run-down suburban theater where young teens get together for what they expect is a screening of a 1970’s horror The Dark Beneath. The director and star of Beneath was rumored to have been killed in a psych ward massacre years earlier. The kids jeer and marginalize the black and white film, but they are in for a thrilling surprise when the killer emerges from the screen to kill the viewers one at a time.
The film stars Daniel Bonjour, Michael Swan, Arthur Roberts, Dinora Walcott, Rebekah Brandes, Ashley Black, Michael Schwartz, Kathryn Aagesen, and Greg Ciruinick. Look for Midnight Movie in theaters January 6, 2009.
Scripted by Tony Burgess, and directed by Bruce McDonald, Pontypool is based on his 1998 novel Pontypool Changes Everything about an epidemic that is spread through the English Language. Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houie, Georgina Reilly, Hrant Alianak, and Rick Roberts star.
Official synopsis: Shock jock Grant Mazzy has, once again, been kicked-off the Big City airwaves and now the only job he can get is the early morning show at CLSY Radio in Pontypool Ontario, which broadcasts from the basement of the small town’s only church. What begins as another boring day of school bus cancellations, due to yet another massive snow storm, quickly turns deadly when reports start piling in of people developing strange speech patterns and evoking horrendous acts of violence start piling in. Bu there’s nothing coming in on the news wires. Is this really happening? Before long, Grant and the small staff at CLSY find themselves trapped in the radio station as they discover that this insane behaviour taking over the town is actually a deadly virus being spread through the English language itself. Do they stay on the air in the hopes of being rescued or, are they in fact providing the virus with its ultimate leap over the airwaves and into the world?
Posted by dominie in Films, News on September 5th, 2008
Douglas Preston, author of the bestseller The Monster of Florence, told Variety today that Tom Cruise and United Artists have acquired rights for the big screen adaptation of his serial-killer thriller of the same name. The script will be penned by Chris McQuarrie (Valkyrie) and produced by Tom Cruise who will then decide whether to star in the film as well once he reads the script.
The film will be a “reconstruction of eight grisly double homicides believed to have been committed single-handedly between 1968 and 1985 in and around the Italian Renaissance gem… [and] will have Florence and the Chianti as protagonists: two of the locations most beloved by Americans.”
“It’s the biggest movie deal in my life,” Preston was quoted saying in a front page story of the Italo daily. His novel The Relic was also adapted into a movie in 1997 and his Monster of Florence case was the inspiration behind Thomas Harris’ sequel Hannibal.
Posted by dominie in Films on September 3rd, 2008
A One Sheet for The Gates of Hell surfaced on Bloody Disgusting today. The film is an indie horror thriller written, directed, and executive produced by Kelly Dolen that looks like it may have potential.
Starring television actors Michael Piccifilli, Samantha Noble, Christian Clark, Amy Beckwith, and Bradley Tomlinson, the film is about “five filmmakers [who] unknowingly stumble across the heinous truth of the foreboding Von Diebitsch Manor [and] find themselves caught in a relentless struggle to survive against a brutal antagonist.
A teaser is also available over at B-D.
Posted by dominie in Events, Films, News on September 3rd, 2008
According to author Ted Dekker’s official website, Robby Henson’s House the movie will appear in limited theaters beginning November 14th. Lionsgate Entertainment and Roadside Attractions acquired the title from 20th Century Fox, retaining full control over its release. Early test screenings have proved positive and the movie makers are currently cutting a deal with Christian music company, Tooth and Nail Records. Rumors are the movie is to feature largely Christian rock and possibly even Christian metal songs.
From X-Men producer Ralph Winter and authors Ted Dekker and Frank Peretti, House takes place in rural Alabama, where a group of seven people, two couples along with the house’s three owners, find themselves locked inside a home by a homicidical maniac named The Tin Man. The Tin Man claims to have killed God and needs to punish the prisoners for their sins. He threatens to kill everyone inside the house unless they produce one dead body amongst themselves by dawn.
House will be released in 450 theaters in 49 cities across the country. A list of participating cities is below and theater announcements to come as we hear more. You can also check out the trailer at Fangoria. (more…)
Posted by dominie in Events, Films, News on September 2nd, 2008
Last week we announced that MGM confirmed the greenlight on the remake of Tobe Hooper and Steven Spielberg’s Poltergiest. The new film, written by Juliet Snowden and Stiles White, will be helmed by Vadim Perelman who “delved into similar dynamics in his debut, 2003’s House of Sand and Fog and last year’s The Life Before Her Eyes,” reveals The Hollywood Reporter.
Variety announced that Steven Shell’s Mum & Dad, a British contemporary horror made under Film London’s Microwave scheme, has just been picked up by Revolver Entertainment for UK, Ireland, and US distribution. The synopsis: “Mum and Dad, and their ‘adopted’ children, Birdie & Elbie, work at the airport. The family live off whatever they scavenge from cargo holds, offices and hotels - including a steady stream of transient workers who populate the airport’s soulless hub. When Lena, a young Polish office cleaner, is befriended by Birdie, she gets drawn into a nightmarish world of torture, murder and perversity. Imprisoned in a suburban House of Horrors and designated a ‘Mummy’s Girl’, Lena’s only options appear to be to become part of the family - and join them in their insanity - or die.”
The new poster for His Name Was Jason, a documentary film by Dan Ferrands (Crystal Lake Memories) celebrating the legacy of Friday the 13th has just been revealed. More pictures and details can be found on their MySpace page. Again, the documentary will premiere on Starz! in February 2009 and Anchor Bay will release the DVD soon thereafter.
Exclusive from Bloody-Disgusting, J.T. Petty’s The Burrowers trailer is now available here. The western horror thriller tells the tale of a band of brave men who embark on a crusade to find the killers responsible for a local family massacre—only to discover an evil that lurks below is waiting to feed on them. Doug Hutchison, Clancy Brown, William Mapother, and Sean Patrick Thomas star in the film. The film will premiere during Midnight Madness at the Toronto International Film Festival this September.
Oldboy director Chan-Wook Park returns!! If you haven’t seen Oldboy you will regret not running to your nearest video store now to rent the psycho mystery thriller. Oldboy comes alive in Park’s wholly original story about a man who is locked up in a cell for 15 years and then suddenly released only to find himself still trapped in a web of conspiracies.
