Creep director Christopher Smith will direct episodes of horror comedy series Video Nasty for BBC Three. Here are the first details:
British director Christopher Smith has made an eclectic range of films, from the tube tunnel terror of Creep to the mind bending time loop thriller Triangle, the historical horror of Black Death to the family fun of Get Santa (an opportune moment to point out that Get Santa is a hugely underappreciated British festive movie). He returned to horror with 2020’s The Banishing, and his next film, Spider Island, looks like it will have a similarly irreverent mix of horror and comedy to his 2006 hit Severance.
According to British Comedy Guide, Smith is also set to direct episodes of Video Nasty, a new horror comedy series for BBC Three.
The story is “set in 1985, with the home video revolution in full analogue swing, Video Nasty’s six 30-minute episodes...
British director Christopher Smith has made an eclectic range of films, from the tube tunnel terror of Creep to the mind bending time loop thriller Triangle, the historical horror of Black Death to the family fun of Get Santa (an opportune moment to point out that Get Santa is a hugely underappreciated British festive movie). He returned to horror with 2020’s The Banishing, and his next film, Spider Island, looks like it will have a similarly irreverent mix of horror and comedy to his 2006 hit Severance.
According to British Comedy Guide, Smith is also set to direct episodes of Video Nasty, a new horror comedy series for BBC Three.
The story is “set in 1985, with the home video revolution in full analogue swing, Video Nasty’s six 30-minute episodes...
- 3/22/2024
- by Jake Godfrey
- Film Stories
Nunsploitation appears to be alive and well in 2024 with this week’s arrival of Immaculate, a convent-set horror movie that borrows heavily from ’70s Italian horror, the peak era of the exploitation film. Nunsploitation, a subgenre of exploitation films that hit its prime in the late ’70s and early ’80s, often features nuns behaving badly. More importantly, nunsploitation films explore themes of sexual or religious repression, frequently unleashing scathing critiques of the Church through blasphemous imagery and nuns behaving badly.
This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to nunsploitation horror. These taboo-shattering horror movies have more on their mind than their low-budget exploitation origins suggest.
Here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Alucarda – Cultpix
Directed and co-written by Juan López Moctezuma, this English-language Mexican horror film stars Tina Romero as Alucarda, who was raised by nuns at a repressive Catholic convent.
This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to nunsploitation horror. These taboo-shattering horror movies have more on their mind than their low-budget exploitation origins suggest.
Here’s where you can stream them this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Alucarda – Cultpix
Directed and co-written by Juan López Moctezuma, this English-language Mexican horror film stars Tina Romero as Alucarda, who was raised by nuns at a repressive Catholic convent.
- 3/18/2024
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
Abel Ferrara has made a career out of staring unflinchingly into the abyss, interrogating man’s weakness and depravity and daring his audiences to look away. Faced with the catastrophic violence of the war in Ukraine, however, which he chronicles in the Berlin-premiering documentary “Turn in the Wound,” even the iconoclastic director finds himself at a loss — for words, and for easy answers.
“Why is the violence — that’s what it’s about,” Ferrara tells Variety. “Whether it’s there, whether it’s happening in Gaza and Israel — it’s happening all over the world. It has happened, it is happening, and it’s going to happen, and the question is, Why?”
Ferrara returns to Berlin four years after competing for the Golden Bear with “Siberia,” which starred Willem Dafoe in what Variety’s Guy Lodge described as a “beautiful, unhinged, sometimes hilarious trek into geographical and psychological wilderness.” The...
“Why is the violence — that’s what it’s about,” Ferrara tells Variety. “Whether it’s there, whether it’s happening in Gaza and Israel — it’s happening all over the world. It has happened, it is happening, and it’s going to happen, and the question is, Why?”
Ferrara returns to Berlin four years after competing for the Golden Bear with “Siberia,” which starred Willem Dafoe in what Variety’s Guy Lodge described as a “beautiful, unhinged, sometimes hilarious trek into geographical and psychological wilderness.” The...
- 2/21/2024
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
The last time our writer interviewed him, the drugged up director dozed off then asked for coke. Now sober, he reflects on #MeToo, Italian fascism and his fight for the final cut
The last time I met Abel Ferrara, he dozed off in the middle of our interview then woke up and asked me to score him some coke. It was 1996, and he was in the UK promoting his gangster drama The Funeral – which the actor Vincent Gallo alleged Ferrara had been too blitzed on crack to direct properly – and his vampire horror The Addiction. He was on a roll, his reputation fortified by King of New York, starring Christopher Walken as a flamboyant crime boss, and the gruelling Bad Lieutenant, with Harvey Keitel as a bent junkie cop. Ferrara was the scuzzball Scorsese: no matter how celebrated he became, he never shed the patina of grime from his...
The last time I met Abel Ferrara, he dozed off in the middle of our interview then woke up and asked me to score him some coke. It was 1996, and he was in the UK promoting his gangster drama The Funeral – which the actor Vincent Gallo alleged Ferrara had been too blitzed on crack to direct properly – and his vampire horror The Addiction. He was on a roll, his reputation fortified by King of New York, starring Christopher Walken as a flamboyant crime boss, and the gruelling Bad Lieutenant, with Harvey Keitel as a bent junkie cop. Ferrara was the scuzzball Scorsese: no matter how celebrated he became, he never shed the patina of grime from his...
- 1/22/2024
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Ken Kelsch, the hard-charging cinematographer and Vietnam War veteran who shot the down-and-dirty classic Bad Lieutenant and 11 other features for iconoclastic director Abel Ferrara, has died. He was 76.
Kelsch died Monday at Hackettstown Medical Center in New Jersey after a battle with Covid and pneumonia, his son, Chris Kelsch, told The Hollywood Reporter.
“If you knew him, you probably have a story about him,” Chris wrote on Facebook. “He really was a great man, loved by many. A war hero who filled every room with his presence. An artist who never stopped being himself. A caring father who would do anything for his kids and grandkids. Shared his experience, wisdom and love with all. Our family will deeply miss him and always love him, as I’m sure many of you will as well.”
Kelsch also was the director of photography on Big Night (1996), co-directed, co-written and starring Stanley Tucci,...
Kelsch died Monday at Hackettstown Medical Center in New Jersey after a battle with Covid and pneumonia, his son, Chris Kelsch, told The Hollywood Reporter.
“If you knew him, you probably have a story about him,” Chris wrote on Facebook. “He really was a great man, loved by many. A war hero who filled every room with his presence. An artist who never stopped being himself. A caring father who would do anything for his kids and grandkids. Shared his experience, wisdom and love with all. Our family will deeply miss him and always love him, as I’m sure many of you will as well.”
Kelsch also was the director of photography on Big Night (1996), co-directed, co-written and starring Stanley Tucci,...
- 12/13/2023
- by Mike Barnes
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
On paper, the action and horror genres seem like they'd be strange bedfellows. After all, the general aim of action films is to provide adrenaline-fueled thrills, while horror movies are intended to disturb, scare, and unnerve.
Yet in practice, the genres blend far better and far more often than may be expected. I can still remember schoolyard chums excitedly recounting the ways in which Bruce Willis' John McClane dispatched terrorists in "Die Hard 2" (such as when he shoves an icicle into a baddie's eye), kills that would be wholly appropriate in a "Friday the 13th" or "A Nightmare on Elm Street" film. Hollywood producers certainly saw the connections; Renny Harlin, who directed "Die Hard 2," won the gig after making horror films like "Prison" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master."
In 2023, the action and horror genres have long been considered an excellent peanut-butter-and-chocolate combo, with much cross-pollination happening within them.
Yet in practice, the genres blend far better and far more often than may be expected. I can still remember schoolyard chums excitedly recounting the ways in which Bruce Willis' John McClane dispatched terrorists in "Die Hard 2" (such as when he shoves an icicle into a baddie's eye), kills that would be wholly appropriate in a "Friday the 13th" or "A Nightmare on Elm Street" film. Hollywood producers certainly saw the connections; Renny Harlin, who directed "Die Hard 2," won the gig after making horror films like "Prison" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master."
In 2023, the action and horror genres have long been considered an excellent peanut-butter-and-chocolate combo, with much cross-pollination happening within them.
- 9/2/2023
- by Bill Bria
- Slash Film
A full Free Movie of the Day is posted on the JoBlo Movies YouTube channel every day of the week – but on Fridays things get a little freakier and a little more fun. Get your weekend started the right way by indulging in Friday Fright Nights! Every Friday, we’ll be taking a look at another genre movie you can watch in its entirety, free of charge, either on the YouTube channel linked above or in the video embed here.
This week’s Friday Fright Night feature is a slasher movie, but it’s not your average slasher. The masked maniac in this one isn’t targeting victims in a remote location or in a small and sleepy Midwestern town. This killer gets up to their bloody business on city streets and in apartment buildings – which makes the movie so unique, they even had to mention the setting in the title.
This week’s Friday Fright Night feature is a slasher movie, but it’s not your average slasher. The masked maniac in this one isn’t targeting victims in a remote location or in a small and sleepy Midwestern town. This killer gets up to their bloody business on city streets and in apartment buildings – which makes the movie so unique, they even had to mention the setting in the title.
- 9/9/2022
- by Cody Hamman
- JoBlo.com
Exclusive: BayView Entertainment today announced its acquisition of Vipco, a famed UK genre production and distribution company that launched in the 1970s, with a specialty in cult and obscure horror films, which it will be bringing stateside.
Vipco cuts its teeth in Britain’s video nasty era with titles like The Driller Killer, Zombie Flesh Eaters and The Slayer, more recently garnering success with such films as Devil in the Woods and Zombie Lover. The UK distributor is currently run by Terrence Elliott and Peter Goddard, who will remain as part of the company, with BayView Entertainment and Vipco working together to acquire and distribute horror titles across North America and the UK.
“Famed for its cult and horror genre releases, Vipco delivered numerous films to the shores of the UK and has always caught my attention and admiration,” said BayView’s VP of Acquisitions, Peter Castro. “Older horror fans...
Vipco cuts its teeth in Britain’s video nasty era with titles like The Driller Killer, Zombie Flesh Eaters and The Slayer, more recently garnering success with such films as Devil in the Woods and Zombie Lover. The UK distributor is currently run by Terrence Elliott and Peter Goddard, who will remain as part of the company, with BayView Entertainment and Vipco working together to acquire and distribute horror titles across North America and the UK.
“Famed for its cult and horror genre releases, Vipco delivered numerous films to the shores of the UK and has always caught my attention and admiration,” said BayView’s VP of Acquisitions, Peter Castro. “Older horror fans...
- 8/19/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Censor (Prano Bailey-Bond)
It is hard to think of a recent horror film––or a film of any genre, really––in which the main character is tasked with a job as original and ingenious as Enid Baines, the protagonist of Prano Bailey-Bond’s riveting Censor. She is, yes, the titular censor. It is 1980s England, the time of “video nasties” that drew parental consternation and tabloid outrage. These were the low-budget, ultra-violent VHS cassettes that earned their own category in the collective consciousness. Not all were UK productions––I Spit On Your Grave and Abel Ferrara’s Driller Killer made the list. In Censor, however, the nasties are homegrown, in more ways than one. – Chris S. (full review)
Where to Stream: Hulu...
Censor (Prano Bailey-Bond)
It is hard to think of a recent horror film––or a film of any genre, really––in which the main character is tasked with a job as original and ingenious as Enid Baines, the protagonist of Prano Bailey-Bond’s riveting Censor. She is, yes, the titular censor. It is 1980s England, the time of “video nasties” that drew parental consternation and tabloid outrage. These were the low-budget, ultra-violent VHS cassettes that earned their own category in the collective consciousness. Not all were UK productions––I Spit On Your Grave and Abel Ferrara’s Driller Killer made the list. In Censor, however, the nasties are homegrown, in more ways than one. – Chris S. (full review)
Where to Stream: Hulu...
- 10/15/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Abel Ferrara has made a career as one of the industry’s leading provocateurs.
While his latest film, “Zeros and Ones,” may not shock quite like “Driller Killer” or “Ms .45,” it still stands out for being very deliberately set during the pandemic.
“Zeros and Ones” stars Ethan Hawke as an American soldier stationed in Rome, caught in the midst of an apocalyptic siege, wandering empty streets that feel eerily familiar. In between the action, sex and drug deals, Hawke’s JJ sanitizes his hands, changes masks, and seems far from amused when two other characters reassure him, “Don’t worry, we’re negative.”
Variety sat down with the maverick director ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival to discuss taking a Willem Dafoe break in working with Hawke, and his “need” to make a film during the pandemic.
Ethan introduced the film as “Abel...
While his latest film, “Zeros and Ones,” may not shock quite like “Driller Killer” or “Ms .45,” it still stands out for being very deliberately set during the pandemic.
“Zeros and Ones” stars Ethan Hawke as an American soldier stationed in Rome, caught in the midst of an apocalyptic siege, wandering empty streets that feel eerily familiar. In between the action, sex and drug deals, Hawke’s JJ sanitizes his hands, changes masks, and seems far from amused when two other characters reassure him, “Don’t worry, we’re negative.”
Variety sat down with the maverick director ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival to discuss taking a Willem Dafoe break in working with Hawke, and his “need” to make a film during the pandemic.
Ethan introduced the film as “Abel...
- 8/12/2021
- by Will Thorne
- Variety Film + TV
Stars: Niamh Algar, Nicholas Burns, Vincent Franklin, Sophia La Porta, Adrian Schiller, Michael Smiley | Written by Prano Bailey-Bond, Anthony Fletcher | Directed by Prano Bailey-Bond
Debut director Prano Bailey-Bond adapts her acclaimed short film Nasty into this feature length British horror set at the height of the panic over “video nasties”. Stylish and richly atmospheric, Censor represents a strong calling card for Bailey-Bond, who also co-wrote the script with Anthony Fletcher.
Rising star Niamh Algar plays Enid, a censor working at the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) in 1985, whose days are spent watching gory horror films and arguing with her colleagues over what needs to be cut out. When she watches a film called Don’t Go Into the Church, Enid becomes increasingly unsettled, because certain scenes trigger memories of her own repressed trauma, when her younger sister Nina suddenly disappeared while they were playing in a forest as children.
Debut director Prano Bailey-Bond adapts her acclaimed short film Nasty into this feature length British horror set at the height of the panic over “video nasties”. Stylish and richly atmospheric, Censor represents a strong calling card for Bailey-Bond, who also co-wrote the script with Anthony Fletcher.
Rising star Niamh Algar plays Enid, a censor working at the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) in 1985, whose days are spent watching gory horror films and arguing with her colleagues over what needs to be cut out. When she watches a film called Don’t Go Into the Church, Enid becomes increasingly unsettled, because certain scenes trigger memories of her own repressed trauma, when her younger sister Nina suddenly disappeared while they were playing in a forest as children.
- 8/3/2021
- by Matthew Turner
- Nerdly
Stars: Asia Argento, Franco Nero, Jonathan Caouette, Nick Daly, Ninetto Davoli, Giulia Di Quilio, Monica Guerritore, Rade Serbedzija | Written by Michele Civetta, Joseph Schuman | Directed by Michele Civetta
Sometimes I feel a little sorry for low budget horror film makers today. Dial it back 30 years, you could make an incompetent piece of cinema, but put in enough hokey bloodletting, regardless of how laughably unrealistic those sausage string guts were, and you might well have a money-spinning film on your hands. Even objectively poor films like Driller Killer managed to (very deliberately) whip up enough conservative anger to ensure that a poorly made, dull film became widely seen, and naturally far more successful as a result.
Today, blood is not nearly enough. Some of the films I see today with a 15 certificate would have faced heavy censure back in the Mary Whitehouse days of video nasties. A time when films would...
Sometimes I feel a little sorry for low budget horror film makers today. Dial it back 30 years, you could make an incompetent piece of cinema, but put in enough hokey bloodletting, regardless of how laughably unrealistic those sausage string guts were, and you might well have a money-spinning film on your hands. Even objectively poor films like Driller Killer managed to (very deliberately) whip up enough conservative anger to ensure that a poorly made, dull film became widely seen, and naturally far more successful as a result.
Today, blood is not nearly enough. Some of the films I see today with a 15 certificate would have faced heavy censure back in the Mary Whitehouse days of video nasties. A time when films would...
- 7/9/2021
- by Chris Thomas
- Nerdly
Rushes: Abel Ferrara's Cinema Village Festival, "The Lighthouse" Manga, Romina Paula & Lázaro Gabino
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Kinuyo Tanaka. Courtesy of Nikkatsu / Carlotta. The Cannes Film Festival has announced the titles of its Cannes Classics section, which includes restored films by Kinuyo Tanaka, Bill Duke, Peter Wollen, and Oscar Micheaux. Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mélanie Laurent, Mati Diop, Jessica Hausner, Mylene Farmer, Tahar Rahim, Song Kang-ho and Kleber Mendonça Filho will join director Spike Lee on the Cannes 2021 Competition jury.The Toronto International Film Festival is starting to announce its lineup for this year's edition, from an Alanis Morissette documentary and Kenneth Branagh's Belfast to Edgar Wright's Last Night in Soho and Denis Villeneuve's Dune.In a special episode of New Beverly's Pure Cinema Podcast, Quentin Tarantino has announced he will work with Sony on a new, boutique Blu-Ray label "Tarantino Archives," taking inspiration from Twilight Time and reissuing films from their catalogue.
- 6/30/2021
- MUBI
There’s a nice quote in Abel Ferrara’s 2014 film Pasolini: “The meaning of this parable is precisely the relationship of an author to the form he creates.” It’s an idea I’ve been quite taken with in the years since, and unsurprisingly Ferrara has only expanded upon it in his most recent two feature films, Tommaso and Siberia. I’ve been lucky enough to ask Mr. Ferrara about this, and while the films themselves offer a clarity that only art can provide, there are still things—not loose ends, but rather tangents and streams—one can gain a little perspective on through the nature of correspondence itself. Mr. Ferrara—a congenial, gentle, and kindly man—gives us a little insight on this relationship between art and the artist, how it’s informed what he’s doing now as opposed to what he used to do, and where he’s going next.
- 6/28/2021
- by Neil Bahadur
- The Film Stage
Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
Alice (Josephine Mackerras)
It makes no sense. The night before saw Alice Ferrand’s (Emilie Piponnier) husband François (Martin Swabey) going out of his way to passionately make-out with her in front of their friends at a dinner party and now he won’t answer her calls. Despite his running out of the house earlier than usual without any explanation, however, there’s nothing to make her think something is wrong until a trip to the drugstore exposes a freeze on their finances. One credit card won’t work. Then another. The Atm won’t accept her sign-in and François still isn’t picking up his phone. Alice has no other option but to set a meeting with the bank and figure...
Alice (Josephine Mackerras)
It makes no sense. The night before saw Alice Ferrand’s (Emilie Piponnier) husband François (Martin Swabey) going out of his way to passionately make-out with her in front of their friends at a dinner party and now he won’t answer her calls. Despite his running out of the house earlier than usual without any explanation, however, there’s nothing to make her think something is wrong until a trip to the drugstore exposes a freeze on their finances. One credit card won’t work. Then another. The Atm won’t accept her sign-in and François still isn’t picking up his phone. Alice has no other option but to set a meeting with the bank and figure...
- 6/18/2021
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
They were called “video nasties” — those 1980s slasher flicks and splatter films filled with sexual violence, graphic depictions of murder and gallons of Caro syrup that, for a brief moment, were considered the root of all evil in Thatcher-era Britain. For years, some of the genre’s most extreme examples, whether homegrown or imported, were considered cinema non grata by U.K. censors. When videotapes hit the market, however, a number of horror movies considered too dangerous for the general public found their way into folks’ VCRs, and suddenly, you...
- 6/11/2021
- by David Fear
- Rollingstone.com
Stars: Isabella Gomez, Lindsay Lavanchy, Froy Gutierrez, James Berardo, Gattlin Griffith, Adin Kolansky, Shireen Lai, Patrick R. Walker, Maxwell Hamilton, Bart Johnson, Jon Huertas, Kent Faulcon, Yancy Butler, Lochlyn Munro | Written by John Berardo, Lindsay Lavanchy, Brian Frager | Directed by John Berardo
During a university’s pledge week, the carefree partying turns deadly serious when a star athlete is found impaled in his dorm. The murder ignites a spree of sinister social-media messages, sweeping the students and police into a race against time to uncover the truth behind the school’s dark secrets and the horrifying meaning of a recurring symbol: a single exclamation mark…
From that generic slasher movie-like DVD cover audiences will probably be expecting your typical paint-by-numbers slasher movie. You know the type: masked killer hunts teens and offs them in grisly ways. In this case the teens are college students and yes, the killer does follow...
During a university’s pledge week, the carefree partying turns deadly serious when a star athlete is found impaled in his dorm. The murder ignites a spree of sinister social-media messages, sweeping the students and police into a race against time to uncover the truth behind the school’s dark secrets and the horrifying meaning of a recurring symbol: a single exclamation mark…
From that generic slasher movie-like DVD cover audiences will probably be expecting your typical paint-by-numbers slasher movie. You know the type: masked killer hunts teens and offs them in grisly ways. In this case the teens are college students and yes, the killer does follow...
- 5/21/2021
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
A horror stand-out at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Prano Bailey-Bond’s debut feature Censor follows a film censor Enid (Niamh Algar), who discovers an eerie horror video that speaks directly to her sister’s mysterious disappearance and unravels a haunting puzzle. Now set for a release next month, specifically on June 11 (in theaters) and June 18 (digitally), the first trailer and poster have arrived.
Christopher Schobert said in his review, “It is hard to think of a recent horror film––or a film of any genre, really––in which the main character is tasked with a job as original and ingenious as Enid Baines, the protagonist of Prano Bailey-Bond’s riveting Censor. She is, yes, the titular censor. It is 1980s England, the time of “video nasties” that drew parental consternation and tabloid outrage. These were the low-budget, ultra-violent VHS cassettes that earned their own category in the collective consciousness.
Christopher Schobert said in his review, “It is hard to think of a recent horror film––or a film of any genre, really––in which the main character is tasked with a job as original and ingenious as Enid Baines, the protagonist of Prano Bailey-Bond’s riveting Censor. She is, yes, the titular censor. It is 1980s England, the time of “video nasties” that drew parental consternation and tabloid outrage. These were the low-budget, ultra-violent VHS cassettes that earned their own category in the collective consciousness.
- 5/18/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Illustration by Jeff CashvanMovie-lovers!Welcome back to The Deuce Notebook, a collaboration between Mubi Notebook and The Deuce Film Series, our monthly event at Nitehawk Williamsburg that excavates the facts and fantasies of cinema's most infamous block in the world: 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. For each screening, my co-hosts and I pick a flick that we think embodies the era of all-night moviegoing down the “Flamboyant Floodway,” and present the theater at which it premiered.Back in October 2013, for our second screening at Nitehawk, we presented Abel Ferrara’s second feature—so, we thought for our second Mubi column we would feature the film a second time. You dig?Every screening concludes with our 'famous' raffle, the grand prize of which is always an original poster by the 'Maestro’ Jeff Cashvan. Enter for your chance to win Jeff’s one-sheet above by shooting us an email and saying ciao: thedeucefilmseries@gmail.
- 4/20/2021
- MUBI
With nearly every feature film at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival reviewed, it’s time to wrap up the first major cinema event of the year. We already got the official jury and audience winners here, and now it’s time to highlight our favorites.
One will find our picks (in alphabetical order) to keep on your radar, followed by the rest of our reviews. Check out everything below and stay tuned to our site, and specifically Twitter, for acquisition and release date news on the below films in the coming months.
Ailey (Jamila Wignot)
Has any choreographer mattered more to American dance than Alvin Ailey? The documentary Ailey, directed by Jamila Wignot, makes a good case that there has not. Comprised of amazing archival footage, peer interviews, and choreographer Rennie Harris prepping a modern-day performance in honor of the artist, Wignot paints a full picture of a complicated man. Born...
One will find our picks (in alphabetical order) to keep on your radar, followed by the rest of our reviews. Check out everything below and stay tuned to our site, and specifically Twitter, for acquisition and release date news on the below films in the coming months.
Ailey (Jamila Wignot)
Has any choreographer mattered more to American dance than Alvin Ailey? The documentary Ailey, directed by Jamila Wignot, makes a good case that there has not. Comprised of amazing archival footage, peer interviews, and choreographer Rennie Harris prepping a modern-day performance in honor of the artist, Wignot paints a full picture of a complicated man. Born...
- 2/8/2021
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
It is hard to think of a recent horror film––or a film of any genre, really––in which the main character is tasked with a job as original and ingenious as Enid Baines, the protagonist of Prano Bailey-Bond’s riveting Censor. She is, yes, the titular censor. It is 1980s England, the time of “video nasties” that drew parental consternation and tabloid outrage. These were the low-budget, ultra-violent VHS cassettes that earned their own category in the collective consciousness. Not all were UK productions––I Spit On Your Grave and Abel Ferrara’s Driller Killer made the list. In Censor, however, the nasties are homegrown, in more ways than one.
Given the climate, the job of a censor is a tricky one. As Censor begins, a quiet, by-the-book young woman, Enid (Niamh Algar), watches a rather typical, fuzzy-screened entry with a colleague. This one features a girl on the...
Given the climate, the job of a censor is a tricky one. As Censor begins, a quiet, by-the-book young woman, Enid (Niamh Algar), watches a rather typical, fuzzy-screened entry with a colleague. This one features a girl on the...
- 2/3/2021
- by Christopher Schobert
- The Film Stage
In his latest interview/podcast, host and screenwriter Stuart Wright speaks to prolific UK horror filmmaker Jason Impey about his documentary Vipco: The Untold Story and picks for 5 Great Vipco releases.
Vipco was the British distributor, who brought a wide and wild range of genre/horror films – video nasties as the tabloids tagged them – during the 1980s and 1990s. Founded and run by Michael Lee. Jason Impey’s documentary brings Micheal, Mike to his friends, to fore to tell the story from his point of view with help from a plethora of cult film experts and academics who lend the work of Vipco a 21st century importance the gutter press of the 1980s would be shocked to discover they helped create.
Vipco: The Untold Story is out now via Vimeo and Amazon Prime
Jason’s picks inculde:
Driller Killer (1979) Dir Abel Ferrera Zombie Flesher Eaters (1979) Dir Lucio Fulci Cannibal Holocaust...
Vipco was the British distributor, who brought a wide and wild range of genre/horror films – video nasties as the tabloids tagged them – during the 1980s and 1990s. Founded and run by Michael Lee. Jason Impey’s documentary brings Micheal, Mike to his friends, to fore to tell the story from his point of view with help from a plethora of cult film experts and academics who lend the work of Vipco a 21st century importance the gutter press of the 1980s would be shocked to discover they helped create.
Vipco: The Untold Story is out now via Vimeo and Amazon Prime
Jason’s picks inculde:
Driller Killer (1979) Dir Abel Ferrera Zombie Flesher Eaters (1979) Dir Lucio Fulci Cannibal Holocaust...
- 12/22/2020
- by Stuart Wright
- Nerdly
Greetings, everyone! We’re nearly at the finish line of another week, and the last few days of Daily Dead’s 2020 Holiday Gift Guide are upon us. For today’s installment, we’re hosting our third annual Enamel Pin Extravaganza, where we celebrate all the kitschy and killer pin designs out there, and all the phan-tastic companies behind them.
Enamel pins not only make for a great way to show off your horror fandom, but they are also stocking stuffers for the horror fan in your life. Check out this amazing collection of pins below and be sure to head back here tomorrow for our final Hgg entry.
Happy Shopping!
Pixel Elixir:
Krampus Enamel Pin
Dimensions of Fear – Crystal Lake Enamel Pin (Retro Nes)
Vintage Halloween Hobo Jack
Slay-Puft Marshmallow Man
Super Santa Claus
Trick or Treat Enamel Pin w/Magnetic Mask
Mondo:
Jaws 2-Pin Set
The Shining:...
Enamel pins not only make for a great way to show off your horror fandom, but they are also stocking stuffers for the horror fan in your life. Check out this amazing collection of pins below and be sure to head back here tomorrow for our final Hgg entry.
Happy Shopping!
Pixel Elixir:
Krampus Enamel Pin
Dimensions of Fear – Crystal Lake Enamel Pin (Retro Nes)
Vintage Halloween Hobo Jack
Slay-Puft Marshmallow Man
Super Santa Claus
Trick or Treat Enamel Pin w/Magnetic Mask
Mondo:
Jaws 2-Pin Set
The Shining:...
- 12/10/2020
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
If you put a big red button in front of someone and tell them not to push the button, all that person is going to want to do is push the damn thing.
So then to the strange case of Megan is Missing, a low budget exploitation movie shot in 2006, given a limited release in 2011 which is now suddenly trending due to some high profile TikTok users talking about how utterly horrible it is and apparently warning others off with hyperbolic statements such as:
@bella.clare
please watch this film at your own risk. It is something i will never watch again . i am forever traumatized.
@lilnutmegg
If you are thinking of watching Megan is Missing, please don’t. I love horror/thriller/murder mysteries and I can watch them very easily, but this one I will never ever forget. I couldn’t even finish it.
Not to miss a trick,...
So then to the strange case of Megan is Missing, a low budget exploitation movie shot in 2006, given a limited release in 2011 which is now suddenly trending due to some high profile TikTok users talking about how utterly horrible it is and apparently warning others off with hyperbolic statements such as:
@bella.clare
please watch this film at your own risk. It is something i will never watch again . i am forever traumatized.
@lilnutmegg
If you are thinking of watching Megan is Missing, please don’t. I love horror/thriller/murder mysteries and I can watch them very easily, but this one I will never ever forget. I couldn’t even finish it.
Not to miss a trick,...
- 11/17/2020
- by Rosie Fletcher
- Den of Geek
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.
’70s Horror
A horror lineup perfectly timed for Halloween, The Criterion Channel is spotlighting ’70s classics and underseen gems, including Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer, Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, early films by David Cronenberg, Wes Craven, and Brian De Palma, Bill Gunn’s Ganja & Hess, and more. It’s an epic collection of essentials and the ideal way to kick off an unprecedented Halloween that should be spent in isolation. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Downhill (Nat Faxon and Jim Rash)
Even though Faxon and Rash pay their respects to the original—sometimes mimicking specific scenes and capturing the claustrophobic...
’70s Horror
A horror lineup perfectly timed for Halloween, The Criterion Channel is spotlighting ’70s classics and underseen gems, including Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer, Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, early films by David Cronenberg, Wes Craven, and Brian De Palma, Bill Gunn’s Ganja & Hess, and more. It’s an epic collection of essentials and the ideal way to kick off an unprecedented Halloween that should be spent in isolation. – Jordan R.
Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel
Downhill (Nat Faxon and Jim Rash)
Even though Faxon and Rash pay their respects to the original—sometimes mimicking specific scenes and capturing the claustrophobic...
- 10/9/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
It’s a great time to be a horror fan. Not only are Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video and Shudder awash with all kinds of horror movies old and new, but the Criterion Channel is getting in on the gruesome action with a month’s worth of horror titles from the 1970s.
The subscription service is the digital offshoot of the Criterion Collection, which for more than 35 years has been providing definitive archival home video versions of classic and contemporary films from around the world. Criterion launched its streaming service last year as a way to offer a curated cross-section of its library of films online.
Horror has always had a respectful home at Criterion, with the company publishing definitive editions of a number of the genre’s landmark films. The October rollout of horror movies for the Halloween season is similar to what other companies are doing, but the focus is the difference here.
The subscription service is the digital offshoot of the Criterion Collection, which for more than 35 years has been providing definitive archival home video versions of classic and contemporary films from around the world. Criterion launched its streaming service last year as a way to offer a curated cross-section of its library of films online.
Horror has always had a respectful home at Criterion, with the company publishing definitive editions of a number of the genre’s landmark films. The October rollout of horror movies for the Halloween season is similar to what other companies are doing, but the focus is the difference here.
- 10/1/2020
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSDisney has announced that Barry Jenkins will helm the live-action The Lion King sequel, which reportedly includes "Mufasa's origin story."Speaking of sequels, Chinese authorities have approved the production of a project written by Wong Kar-wai, curiously titled Chungking Express 2020. The synopsis states that at least a portion of the film will take place in 2036, where "young Xiao Qian and May are unwilling to be held back by genetic partnerings, and insist on finding their own ‘destiny’.”Festival season persists: The Cannes Film Festival will be hosting a three-day "Special Cannes" event in October that will feature the screening of four Official Selections, in-competition short films, and the Cinéfondation’s school films. This year's San Sebastian Film Festival concluded with the sweep of Georgian filmmaker Dea Kulumbegashvili’s debut feature Beginning, which received four of seven jury prizes.
- 9/30/2020
- MUBI
The Criterion Channel’s stellar offerings are continuing next month with a selection of new releases, retrospective, series, and more. Leading the pack is, of course, a horror lineup perfectly timed for Halloween, featuring ’70s classics and underseen gems, including Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer (pictured above), Tobe Hopper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, early films by David Cronenberg, Wes Craven, and Brian De Palma, Bill Gunn’s Ganja & Hess, and more.
Also of note is a New Korean Cinema retrospective, featuring a new introduction by critic Grady Hendrix and a conversation between directors Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook, whose Barking Dogs Never Bite, The Host, Mother, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Lady Vengeance are part of the lineup, as well as Lee Myung-se’s Nowhere to Hide, and more titles to be announced. Bong’s short Influenza will also arrive, paired with Michael Haneke’s Caché.
Also of note is a New Korean Cinema retrospective, featuring a new introduction by critic Grady Hendrix and a conversation between directors Bong Joon Ho and Park Chan-wook, whose Barking Dogs Never Bite, The Host, Mother, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, and Lady Vengeance are part of the lineup, as well as Lee Myung-se’s Nowhere to Hide, and more titles to be announced. Bong’s short Influenza will also arrive, paired with Michael Haneke’s Caché.
- 9/29/2020
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
In today's edition of Horror Highlights, we have details on the Arrow streaming platform, the trailer for Expulsion, and a Q&a with Jacob Bloomfield-Misrach to discuss his work on 12 Hour Shift:
Arrow Launches New Streaming Platform in North America in Time for Halloween: "London, UK - Arrow Video is excited to announce the bow of their new subscription-based Arrow platform, available in the US and Canada beginning October 1. Building on the success of the Arrow Video Channel and expanding its availability across multiple devices and countries, Arrow boasts a selection of cult classics, hidden gems and iconic horror films, all curated by the Arrow Video team.
Arrow begins streaming with headliners The Deeper You Dig, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Crumbs, The Hatred, Cold Light of Day, Videoman and The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast. Also immediately available are perennial Halloween hits Hellraiser 1 & 2, Elvira, Ringu, tthe complete Gamera series,...
Arrow Launches New Streaming Platform in North America in Time for Halloween: "London, UK - Arrow Video is excited to announce the bow of their new subscription-based Arrow platform, available in the US and Canada beginning October 1. Building on the success of the Arrow Video Channel and expanding its availability across multiple devices and countries, Arrow boasts a selection of cult classics, hidden gems and iconic horror films, all curated by the Arrow Video team.
Arrow begins streaming with headliners The Deeper You Dig, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Crumbs, The Hatred, Cold Light of Day, Videoman and The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast. Also immediately available are perennial Halloween hits Hellraiser 1 & 2, Elvira, Ringu, tthe complete Gamera series,...
- 9/29/2020
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
The 1973 Bruce Lee classic was a genuine education for a white suburban boy growing up in the north of England. Nothing was the same again
It was the summer of 1984 and while most of my friends were engaged in the bitter culture war that was Duran Duran v Culture Club, I was obsessed with a dead movie star called Bruce Lee. Our video store in Bramhall, Cheshire, was a classic early 80s den of rental iniquity, crammed with unclassified horror and martial arts flicks, and I wanted to see all of these morbid and violent treats before someone came along and banned them. My parents weren’t quite irresponsible enough to let me rent Last House on the Left or Driller Killer, but they had an open-door policy on kung fu, so one afternoon I went home with Enter the Dragon and nothing was the same again.
Everything about Bruce...
It was the summer of 1984 and while most of my friends were engaged in the bitter culture war that was Duran Duran v Culture Club, I was obsessed with a dead movie star called Bruce Lee. Our video store in Bramhall, Cheshire, was a classic early 80s den of rental iniquity, crammed with unclassified horror and martial arts flicks, and I wanted to see all of these morbid and violent treats before someone came along and banned them. My parents weren’t quite irresponsible enough to let me rent Last House on the Left or Driller Killer, but they had an open-door policy on kung fu, so one afternoon I went home with Enter the Dragon and nothing was the same again.
Everything about Bruce...
- 6/29/2020
- by Keith Stuart
- The Guardian - Film News
Stars: Dora Madison, Tru Collins, Rhys Wakefield, Jeremy Gardner, Graham Skipper, Chris McKenna, Rachel Avery, George Wendt, Abraham Benrubi, Mark Beltzman | Written and Directed by Joe Begos
f ever there was a filmmaker I felt made films especially for me it’s Joe Begos. Almost Human, The Minds Eye and now Bliss. Three films that take on different cinematic horror tropes: alien invasion, telekinesis and vampirism repectively but also three films that harken back to the 80s, in both style and substance. In this reviewers opinion the 80s is an era where ideas where allowed to run rampant, mainly in part due to the explosion if the direct-to-vhs market and a burgeoning, if not rabid, fan base for horror movies on tape who would watch literally Anything they could get their eager hands on.
Begos’ latest, Bliss, tells the story of a brilliant painter facing the worst creative block of...
f ever there was a filmmaker I felt made films especially for me it’s Joe Begos. Almost Human, The Minds Eye and now Bliss. Three films that take on different cinematic horror tropes: alien invasion, telekinesis and vampirism repectively but also three films that harken back to the 80s, in both style and substance. In this reviewers opinion the 80s is an era where ideas where allowed to run rampant, mainly in part due to the explosion if the direct-to-vhs market and a burgeoning, if not rabid, fan base for horror movies on tape who would watch literally Anything they could get their eager hands on.
Begos’ latest, Bliss, tells the story of a brilliant painter facing the worst creative block of...
- 2/6/2020
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
"You know what's wrong. You don't give it up. You can't... forever." In her Tribeca review, Daily Dead Managing Editor Heather Wixson called Joe Begos' Bliss a "gruesome and nightmarishly gritty descent into madness," and ahead of its southeast Us premiere at Popcorn Frights Film Festival in Fort Lauderdale, Dark Sky Films has unveiled the official trailer for Begos' latest film.
Dark Sky Films will release Bliss in theaters and on digital platforms on September 27th, and you can get an idea of what to expect in the official trailer and synopsis:
"Known for her dark and macabre artwork, painter Dezzy Donahue (Dora Madison) is in a professional rut. Unable to finish her newest commissioned work, Dezzy looks to reignite her creative juices by letting loose-as in, taking every drug in sight and tearing through raucous house parties and heavy metal bars. After a few nights spent with her...
Dark Sky Films will release Bliss in theaters and on digital platforms on September 27th, and you can get an idea of what to expect in the official trailer and synopsis:
"Known for her dark and macabre artwork, painter Dezzy Donahue (Dora Madison) is in a professional rut. Unable to finish her newest commissioned work, Dezzy looks to reignite her creative juices by letting loose-as in, taking every drug in sight and tearing through raucous house parties and heavy metal bars. After a few nights spent with her...
- 8/7/2019
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
With his previous films, Almost Human (2013) and The Mind’s Eye (2015), filmmaker Joe Begos tapped into a nostalgia for 80s genre cinema that touched me like no other and now he’s back with Bliss – a film that reportedly ups the ante of his previous work, with searing visuals, kinetic energy, an endearing nastiness, and a ferociously all-in lead performance from actress Dora Madison. And this time Begos takes us back to the grimy days of New York City grindhouse cinema, when films like Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer and Bill Lustig’s Maniac were the norm!
Known for her dark and macabre artwork, painter Dezzy Donahue (Dora Madison) is in a professional rut. Unable to finish her newest commissioned work, Dezzy looks to reignite her creative juices by letting loose-as in, taking every drug in sight and tearing through raucous house parties and heavy metal bars. After a...
Known for her dark and macabre artwork, painter Dezzy Donahue (Dora Madison) is in a professional rut. Unable to finish her newest commissioned work, Dezzy looks to reignite her creative juices by letting loose-as in, taking every drug in sight and tearing through raucous house parties and heavy metal bars. After a...
- 4/23/2019
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Abel Ferrara's King of New York (1990) and 4:44 Last Day on Earth (2011) are playing April – May, 2019 on Mubi in the United States.In Bad Lieutenant—arguably Abel Ferrara’s most notorious film—Harvey Keitel refers to Jesus Christ as a “rat fuck.” This may be the most glaring instance of something that is blatantly littered across Ferrara’s forty-plus year career: a cockeyed and knowingly sacrilegious approach to his Catholic faith. A nun is brutally raped in Bad Lieutenant (1992) and Keitel is the man sent to find her assailants. Yet he himself is not free of sin—in his own way, he is deeply morally compromised. In one of the film’s most affecting scenes, he lies prostate at the altar of a church, throwing himself on the mercy of a God he feels has abandoned him. He’s far from an outlier among Ferrara’s protagonists, but he...
- 3/11/2019
- MUBI
Stars: Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Donald Pleasence, Isaac Hayes, Adrienne Barbeau, Ernest Borgnine, Tom Atkins | Written by John Carpenter, Nick Castle | Directed by John Carpenter
In the early 1980s, New York was grindhouse heaven: a hell of neon iniquity, with every alleyway harbouring some new nameless vice. Horror had a field day: the likes of Basket Case, The Driller Killer and Maniac captured the poverty and menace of those famous streets. With Halloween and The Fog under his belt, you’d think John Carpenter would have taken a similar horror route. But he chose a different direction. More akin to Walter Hill’s The Warriors, 1981’s Escape from New York is a bold and ambitious sci-fi action movie.
Kurt Russell plays Snake Plissken, an ex-military drifter who is about to be sent to Manhattan Island. It’s the future; the year is 1997, and NYC has been turned into a...
In the early 1980s, New York was grindhouse heaven: a hell of neon iniquity, with every alleyway harbouring some new nameless vice. Horror had a field day: the likes of Basket Case, The Driller Killer and Maniac captured the poverty and menace of those famous streets. With Halloween and The Fog under his belt, you’d think John Carpenter would have taken a similar horror route. But he chose a different direction. More akin to Walter Hill’s The Warriors, 1981’s Escape from New York is a bold and ambitious sci-fi action movie.
Kurt Russell plays Snake Plissken, an ex-military drifter who is about to be sent to Manhattan Island. It’s the future; the year is 1997, and NYC has been turned into a...
- 11/23/2018
- by Rupert Harvey
- Nerdly
If there is one subgenre of horror that truly gets under my skin in a way most other arenas of the genre cannot, it’s when we get terror-filled stories that are based around the idea of someone invading the sanctity of our homes. The realism that comes from home invasion genre movies has always been so wholly effective for me as a viewer, because where we live is the one place where we don’t ever want or expect to feel unsafe, and I think these films tap into a universal fear that we all share one way or another.
So, if you’re looking to rattle some nerves this Halloween, here are 10 great movies available on various streaming platforms that should leave you checking all your closets for unwanted guests and keeping the lights on afterwards.
The Strangers: Prey at Night (Theatrical & Unrated Versions; Streaming on Amazon Prime...
So, if you’re looking to rattle some nerves this Halloween, here are 10 great movies available on various streaming platforms that should leave you checking all your closets for unwanted guests and keeping the lights on afterwards.
The Strangers: Prey at Night (Theatrical & Unrated Versions; Streaming on Amazon Prime...
- 10/23/2018
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
For this final week of home media releases, June is closing things out on a strong note, as we have plenty of horror and sci-fi offerings to get excited about. For those who may have missed it during its theatrical run earlier this year, Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead’s The Endless arrives on both formats (and is absolutely worth your time).
Arrow Video is keeping busy with a pair of Special Edition releases–The Addiction and Vigil–and Vinegar Syndrome is serving up a double dose of cult filmmaking with their multi-format presentations for Grave Robbers and their Blood Theatre/The Visitants double feature. Scream Factory has put together a stellar Blu for The Curse of the Cat People, and for those in the mood for more feline-themed horror, Cat Sick Blues arrives on DVD this Tuesday. And for those of you Puppet Master fans out there, you’re...
Arrow Video is keeping busy with a pair of Special Edition releases–The Addiction and Vigil–and Vinegar Syndrome is serving up a double dose of cult filmmaking with their multi-format presentations for Grave Robbers and their Blood Theatre/The Visitants double feature. Scream Factory has put together a stellar Blu for The Curse of the Cat People, and for those in the mood for more feline-themed horror, Cat Sick Blues arrives on DVD this Tuesday. And for those of you Puppet Master fans out there, you’re...
- 6/25/2018
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Abel Ferrara’s The Addiction (1995) will be available on Blu-ray June 26th From Arrow Video
The mid-nineties were a fertile period for the vampire movie. Big-name stars such as Tom Cruise and Eddie Murphy flocked to genre, as did high-caliber filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, veterans Wes Craven and John Landis, independents Michael Almereyda and Jeffrey Arsenault, and up-and-comers Quentin Tarantino and Guillermo del Toro. Amid the fangs and crucifixes, Abel Ferrara reunited with his King of New York star Christopher Walken for The Addiction, a distinctly personal take on creatures of the night.
Philosophy student Kathleen is dragged into an alleyway on her way home from class by Casanova and bitten on the neck. She quickly falls ill but realises this isn t any ordinary disease when she develops an aversion to daylight and a thirst for human blood…
Having made a big-budget foray into science fiction two years earlier with Body Snatchers,...
The mid-nineties were a fertile period for the vampire movie. Big-name stars such as Tom Cruise and Eddie Murphy flocked to genre, as did high-caliber filmmakers like Francis Ford Coppola, veterans Wes Craven and John Landis, independents Michael Almereyda and Jeffrey Arsenault, and up-and-comers Quentin Tarantino and Guillermo del Toro. Amid the fangs and crucifixes, Abel Ferrara reunited with his King of New York star Christopher Walken for The Addiction, a distinctly personal take on creatures of the night.
Philosophy student Kathleen is dragged into an alleyway on her way home from class by Casanova and bitten on the neck. She quickly falls ill but realises this isn t any ordinary disease when she develops an aversion to daylight and a thirst for human blood…
Having made a big-budget foray into science fiction two years earlier with Body Snatchers,...
- 6/13/2018
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
What’s the sign of a good horror sequel? Is it adherence to the things that made the original work? Is it branching off in a new direction while still paying respect? Or is it having a rockabilly-quoting Greaser (big G) with a drill attached to the end of his guitar killing every pastel wearing teen in his wake? The answer is possibly all three, but today we’ll focus on the last one with Slumber Party Massacre II (1987), Deborah Brock’s ridiculously fun (and delightfully odd) follow up to Amy Holden Jones’ cult classic.
Released by Roger Corman’s then imprint Concorde Pictures in March followed by a video release in September, Spm II is essentially an updated Beach Blanket Bingo movie dipped in A Nightmare on Elm Street and rolled around in sprinkles of Saved by the Bell. You know same old, same old.
Remember little Courtney from the original film?...
Released by Roger Corman’s then imprint Concorde Pictures in March followed by a video release in September, Spm II is essentially an updated Beach Blanket Bingo movie dipped in A Nightmare on Elm Street and rolled around in sprinkles of Saved by the Bell. You know same old, same old.
Remember little Courtney from the original film?...
- 2/24/2018
- by Scott Drebit
- DailyDead
With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.
78/52 (Alexandre Philippe)
There’s been documentaries that analyze entire cinematic movements, directors, actors, writers, specific films, and more aspects of filmmaking, but it’s rare to see a feature film devoted to a single scene. With 78/52, if the clunky title addition didn’t tell you already, it explores the infamous shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho with exacting precision and depth. Featuring interviews with Jamie Lee Curtis, Guillermo del Toro,...
78/52 (Alexandre Philippe)
There’s been documentaries that analyze entire cinematic movements, directors, actors, writers, specific films, and more aspects of filmmaking, but it’s rare to see a feature film devoted to a single scene. With 78/52, if the clunky title addition didn’t tell you already, it explores the infamous shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho with exacting precision and depth. Featuring interviews with Jamie Lee Curtis, Guillermo del Toro,...
- 10/13/2017
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Close-Up is a column that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Abel Ferrara's King of New York (1990) is playing June 16 - July 16, 2017 on Mubi in the United Kingdom.“In striving to sin, to blaspheme, Ferrara’s heroes assert with Lucifer their moral autonomy, their sovereignty, their heroic identity, their glory, pitifully”—Tag Gallagher We’re introduced to Frank White (Christopher Walken) with one of director Abel Ferrara’s iconic roving pans, creeping left–right from the darkness of the prison wall to the harsh white of Frank’s cell. Frank is placed small in the frame, positioned slightly off-centre towards the bottom corner, his back to the camera as he prays silently. The prison bars dominate the composition, abstracted into silhouettes by Ferrara’s chiaroscuro lighting. A police baton enters the frame and knocks twice on the cell door, jarring Frank out of his concentration. The door is then...
- 6/16/2017
- MUBI
The controversial director of Bad Lieutenant and The King of New York hits the road for a music tour, but the result is more touching than you might expect
A dancer on stilts stalks the stage; a skittish camera prowls the club like a junkie hoping to score; the guitars howl like tortured souls. And cadaverous and cackling, lit in entirely in red, Abel Ferrara presides over the mayhem like some kind of gleeful demon. It’s an opening shot which could have been lifted from any number of his fiction films, but in this case, Ferrara turns his camera on real life.
The director of Bad Lieutenant, The King of New York and Driller Killer, among others, Ferrara plays a dual role in this shambling blues jam of a documentary. He is both the director and the subject of this account of the preparations for a series of concerts...
A dancer on stilts stalks the stage; a skittish camera prowls the club like a junkie hoping to score; the guitars howl like tortured souls. And cadaverous and cackling, lit in entirely in red, Abel Ferrara presides over the mayhem like some kind of gleeful demon. It’s an opening shot which could have been lifted from any number of his fiction films, but in this case, Ferrara turns his camera on real life.
The director of Bad Lieutenant, The King of New York and Driller Killer, among others, Ferrara plays a dual role in this shambling blues jam of a documentary. He is both the director and the subject of this account of the preparations for a series of concerts...
- 5/20/2017
- by Wendy Ide
- The Guardian - Film News
“You might ask why we are doing this commentary track.”Cathy’s Curse (1976)
Commentators: Simon Barrett (filmmaker), Brian Collins (critic/author)
1. This original cut features opening text that Collins (who also creates credits for TV/film) apparently recreated, and they’ve finally given Barrett the opportunity to read all nineteen words. They’re not present in the longer director’s cut. “I’ve never seen the longer cut,” says Barrett “and I won’t because I’m patriotic.”
2. The onscreen text was added by the distributors to explain the footage they cut for its release.
3. Barrett (and Collins?) recorded a “fan” commentary for the films years ago.
4. Barrett wonders about the Venn Diagram including people who are fans of the film and happen to know who both he and Collins are. “It’s like two specks that you can’t tell if they’re the same or not.”
5. “You know and I know that I’ve had...
Commentators: Simon Barrett (filmmaker), Brian Collins (critic/author)
1. This original cut features opening text that Collins (who also creates credits for TV/film) apparently recreated, and they’ve finally given Barrett the opportunity to read all nineteen words. They’re not present in the longer director’s cut. “I’ve never seen the longer cut,” says Barrett “and I won’t because I’m patriotic.”
2. The onscreen text was added by the distributors to explain the footage they cut for its release.
3. Barrett (and Collins?) recorded a “fan” commentary for the films years ago.
4. Barrett wonders about the Venn Diagram including people who are fans of the film and happen to know who both he and Collins are. “It’s like two specks that you can’t tell if they’re the same or not.”
5. “You know and I know that I’ve had...
- 4/5/2017
- by Rob Hunter
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Nearly three years after releasing the original Slumber Party Massacre as a special edition Blu-ray, Scream Factory has finally put a double feature disc of its two sequels: 1987’s Slumber Party Massacre II and 1990’s Slumber Party Massacre III. It’s something of a good news/bad news situation.
The good news is that Slumber Party Massacre II is really crazy and really fun. The bad news is that part 3 is not. Picking up the subversive campiness of where Amy Holden Jones’ original left off, Slumber Party Massacre II writer/director Deborah Brock dials up the weirdness and adds an abstract, hallucinatory bent to the first sequel. It’s bigger and stranger, more colorful and experimental; I’m reminded of the leap from Prom Night to Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, except that the original Slumber Party Massacre is a better movie than Prom Night.
Crystal Bernard (TV’s Wings) plays Courtney,...
The good news is that Slumber Party Massacre II is really crazy and really fun. The bad news is that part 3 is not. Picking up the subversive campiness of where Amy Holden Jones’ original left off, Slumber Party Massacre II writer/director Deborah Brock dials up the weirdness and adds an abstract, hallucinatory bent to the first sequel. It’s bigger and stranger, more colorful and experimental; I’m reminded of the leap from Prom Night to Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night II, except that the original Slumber Party Massacre is a better movie than Prom Night.
Crystal Bernard (TV’s Wings) plays Courtney,...
- 3/15/2017
- by Patrick Bromley
- DailyDead
Scream Factory invites horror fans to ominous overnights with their new double feature Blu-ray release of Slumber Party Massacre II and Slumber Party Massacre III, and we've been provided with three Blu-ray copies to give away to lucky Daily Dead readers.
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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of the Slumber Party Massacre II / Slumber Party Massacre III double feature.
How to Enter: For a chance to win, email contest@dailydead.com with the subject “Slumber Party Massacre Double Feature Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.
Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on January 23rd. This contest is only open to those who are eighteen years of age or older that live in the United States. Only one entry per household will be accepted.
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Slumber Party Massacre II and Slumber Party Massacre III Double Feature Blu-ray: "Get ready for a killer,...
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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of the Slumber Party Massacre II / Slumber Party Massacre III double feature.
How to Enter: For a chance to win, email contest@dailydead.com with the subject “Slumber Party Massacre Double Feature Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.
Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on January 23rd. This contest is only open to those who are eighteen years of age or older that live in the United States. Only one entry per household will be accepted.
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Slumber Party Massacre II and Slumber Party Massacre III Double Feature Blu-ray: "Get ready for a killer,...
- 1/17/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Horror and sci-fi home entertainment titles are really picking up this week, as we have almost 20 different Blu-rays and DVDs coming home this Tuesday. Universal is keeping themselves busy with several notable releases including Death Race 2050, Ouija: Origin of Evil, 12 Monkeys: Season Two, and a Ouija double feature.
Scream Factory is dusting off two cult classics, Slumber Party Massacre II and III for a special Blu-ray featuring the slasher sequels, and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is getting you guys pumped for the upcoming release of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter with several new Blu-ray releases for the franchise's first four films.
Other notable releases for January 17th include Revenge of the Blood Beast, 24 Hours to Die, Wolf House, Mountain Devil, and Space Clown.
Ouija: Origin of Evil (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Blu / DVD / Digital HD & DVD)
It was never just a game. Inviting audiences again into the lore of the spirit board,...
Scream Factory is dusting off two cult classics, Slumber Party Massacre II and III for a special Blu-ray featuring the slasher sequels, and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is getting you guys pumped for the upcoming release of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter with several new Blu-ray releases for the franchise's first four films.
Other notable releases for January 17th include Revenge of the Blood Beast, 24 Hours to Die, Wolf House, Mountain Devil, and Space Clown.
Ouija: Origin of Evil (Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Blu / DVD / Digital HD & DVD)
It was never just a game. Inviting audiences again into the lore of the spirit board,...
- 1/17/2017
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Heat up a bowl of popcorn, fluff up some pillows, and grab a comfy seat for clips and trailers from Scream Factory's double feature Blu-ray of the Slumber Party sequels, drilling into shelves on January 17th.
Slumber Party Massacre II and Slumber Party Massacre III Double Feature Blu-ray: "Get ready for a killer, driller double thriller!
Slumber Party Massacre II
The only sane survivor of Slumber Party Massacre, Courtney (Crystal Bernard) dreams of the drill murderer returning. She can't shake the horrible feeling that she and her friends will be viciously tormented and brutally butchered. Again and again the nightmare returns. Dazed, Courtney loses control. And her nightmare crosses into reality. No one believes her, until it's too late. The driller killer returns, reincarnated as an evil rocker. He methodically stalks them; then violently gores them to death...one by one.
Slumber Party Massacre III
Seven California co-eds are dresses to kill.
Slumber Party Massacre II and Slumber Party Massacre III Double Feature Blu-ray: "Get ready for a killer, driller double thriller!
Slumber Party Massacre II
The only sane survivor of Slumber Party Massacre, Courtney (Crystal Bernard) dreams of the drill murderer returning. She can't shake the horrible feeling that she and her friends will be viciously tormented and brutally butchered. Again and again the nightmare returns. Dazed, Courtney loses control. And her nightmare crosses into reality. No one believes her, until it's too late. The driller killer returns, reincarnated as an evil rocker. He methodically stalks them; then violently gores them to death...one by one.
Slumber Party Massacre III
Seven California co-eds are dresses to kill.
- 1/17/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Offering new premieres and exclusives every month, Shudder has a unique library of hard-to-find international and independent films, something for both casual and hardcore fans of horror. With that in mind, here’s the rundown of the new arrivals and UK exclusives and premieres for January…
Exclusive: Sadako Vs Kayako (Dir. Koji Shiraishi)
UK streaming Premiere. Exclusively on Shudder from 26th Jan
The mega ghouls of Japanese-horror face off in this Tiff Midnight Madness closing film monster mash-up of Ju-On (The Grudge) and Ringu (The Ring). After reviving the evil spirits of Sadako and Kayako, two university students and a high school girl quickly realize the only way to outsmart these vengeful spirits hell-bent on haunting is to pit them head-to-head.
New to Shudder this month:
The Driller Killer - After a successful Us release in 1979, Driller Killer ignited the UK “video nasty” controversies of the 1980s, resulting in 15-year...
Exclusive: Sadako Vs Kayako (Dir. Koji Shiraishi)
UK streaming Premiere. Exclusively on Shudder from 26th Jan
The mega ghouls of Japanese-horror face off in this Tiff Midnight Madness closing film monster mash-up of Ju-On (The Grudge) and Ringu (The Ring). After reviving the evil spirits of Sadako and Kayako, two university students and a high school girl quickly realize the only way to outsmart these vengeful spirits hell-bent on haunting is to pit them head-to-head.
New to Shudder this month:
The Driller Killer - After a successful Us release in 1979, Driller Killer ignited the UK “video nasty” controversies of the 1980s, resulting in 15-year...
- 1/5/2017
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
It’s icky, drippy and grindingly gross — and will make your forehead itch — but Abel Ferrara’s Bowery-set dime store horror opus has withstood the test of time. It’s a decent enough psychodrama, if one can set aside all the psychological-philosophical booshwah that’s leaked into horror criticism. Oops, Savant’s guilty of that too.
The Driller Killer
Blu-ray + DVD
Arrow Video
1979 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 101, 96 min. / Street Date December 13, 2017 / 39.95
Starring Abel Ferrara, Carolyn Marz, Baybi Day, Harry Schultz, Alan Wynroth
Cinematography Ken Kelsch, Jimmy Spears
Film Editor Jimmy Laine, Orlando Gallini
Original Music Joe Delia
Written by N.G. St. John
Produced by Rochelle Weisberg
Directed by Abel Ferrara
As some may have noticed, I’ve mellowed on the output of low-budget and independent horror efforts from the 1970s. While I was in film school bending my own tastes toward high production values and artistic merit, some crazy young filmmakers,...
The Driller Killer
Blu-ray + DVD
Arrow Video
1979 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 101, 96 min. / Street Date December 13, 2017 / 39.95
Starring Abel Ferrara, Carolyn Marz, Baybi Day, Harry Schultz, Alan Wynroth
Cinematography Ken Kelsch, Jimmy Spears
Film Editor Jimmy Laine, Orlando Gallini
Original Music Joe Delia
Written by N.G. St. John
Produced by Rochelle Weisberg
Directed by Abel Ferrara
As some may have noticed, I’ve mellowed on the output of low-budget and independent horror efforts from the 1970s. While I was in film school bending my own tastes toward high production values and artistic merit, some crazy young filmmakers,...
- 1/3/2017
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
Highly indebted to Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader’s 1976’s Taxi Driver, a classic portrait of urban sleaze and anti-social behavior, (perhaps more than anyone might care to admit), Abel Ferrara’s long unavailable theatrical debut The Driller Killer blazes back to life with a brand new 4K restoration courtesy of Arrow Video, following in the footsteps of the recent resurrection of his equally obscure 1981 release Ms.
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- 12/27/2016
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
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