News

Director Tim Ewalts captures the twisted competitiveness of brotherhood in his latest short Undergrowth (Kreupelhout), a tale of two brothers and their father who live amongst the trees of a foreboding forest. What’s so gripping about Undergrowth is how Ewalts depicts the scaling intensity of the power relations between the two brothers. He often showcases them interacting through slow, creeping frames that display the small gestures and behaviours that build towards their inevitable confrontation. If you’re looking for a tonal comparison, there are definitely similarities with the early work of Robert Eggers in how the atmospheric dread of the surroundings feels like it is gradually encompassing the characters. Dn is excited to present the online premiere of Undergrowth in company with a conversation with Ewalts where he talks through the challenge of balancing his loose, improvisational directorial style with the formal restrictions of shooting 16mm.

Where and how...

Vienna-based sales outlet Square Eyes has acquired Tim Leyendekker’s first feature “Feast” ahead of its world premiere in the Tiger Competition of the Rotterdam Film Festival. Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer.

Based on the Groningen HIV case, in which three men drugged other men and infected them with their own HIV-infected blood, “Feast” is described by Square Eyes as “a bold and provocative film that skilfully reflects the questions of life, death and morality that have emerged from one of the most disquieting stories in contemporary Dutch life.”

Unfolding over seven individual vignettes, each directed by Leyendekker but shot in collaboration seven different cinematographers, the film blends reportage and surrealism, disbelief and empathy to unpack the repercussions and reverberations of a singularly shocking series of events.

Leyendekker told Variety: “With ‘Feast,’ I hope I can get people to actively think about the many different sides to a news story.

Saint (Sint)

Stars: Huub Stapel, Egbert Jan Weeber, Caro Lenssen, Bert Luppes | Written and Directed by Dick Maas

Ah Christmas, a time for getting together with family and loved ones, sharing gifts, enjoying a good meal and getting slaughtered by an evil St. Nicholas… Wait, hold on. That last one doesn’t sound right. Getting slaughtered at Christmas and not in the good (drunk) sense of the word? That doesn’t happen right? But wait, I forgot, this is the movies – if there’s a holiday that can be exploited by a serial killing psycho it will be!

Valentines Day (My Bloody Valentine), New Years Day (New Year’s Evil), even birthdays (Bloody Birthday), filmmakers really know how to spoil the festivities. Christmas is no different, we’ve had films such as Black Christmas, Christmas Evil, and Silent Night, Deadly Night and its sequels, but all those films have seen...

The films of cult Dutch director Dick Maas are as notorious for their difficulty to see as for their often graphic depictions of murder and mayhem. Released today on DVD, his latest effort Saint (2010) - starring Huub Stapel, Bert Luppes and Egbert Jan Weeber - gives a new and murderous twist to the seasonal legend of St Nicholas. CineVue caught up with the director, and discovered that some of his personal views can be as controversial as his films.

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★★★★☆ If you have any experience of Dutch director Dick Maas' previous work, you will most likely have been eagerly anticipating his latest schlocker Saint (2010). If, however, this is the first time you have heard his name, his homage to 1980s slasher films - starring Huub Stapel, Bert Luppes and Egbert Jan Weeber - is as good an introduction as any to this individualistic filmmaker's take on the slice 'n' dice genre.

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Director/writer: Dick Maas.

Cast: Huub Stapel, Egbert Jan Weeber and Caro Lenssen.

Release Date: 31 October 2011.

Holiday gift giving can't come any sooner than in Sint, and no, Halloween is not the season being referred to. December 5th is a big day celebrated in parts of Europe in honour of the real Saint Nicholas, where he drops off gifts to children and everyone praises him for his generosity.

In the Netherlands, however, that has a different take. A meaner Saint will ravage the city on December 5th when there is a full moon. This monstrosity only appears about once every 32 years. In the past, this bishop is behaved very much like King John from Robin Hood, where he is out to rob from the poor. He made a decree where he would take a high amount of penance and taxes from the citizens.

On the very same night, the townspeople...

The Christmas-themed horror film Saint Nick, formerly Saint, is getting a DVD release on December 20, 2011 from Mpi.

St. Niklas, a bishop fallen out of grace, travels in the middle ages with his gang of robbers and thieves through the countryside, raping, plundering and killing. When villagers take the law into their own hands and murder the bloodthirsty bishop and his thugs by setting the ship on which they travel ablaze, Niklas vows revenge. Now every time there is a full moon on December 5th, the date that he died, something that on average takes place every 36 years, St. Niklas and his helpers will rise from the dead and take revenge in a horrible way.

Full of creative yuletide horror, Sint is a fun chiller that follows local teen Frank as he sets out on a bloody, high-energy battle to save Amsterdam from the wrathful “Sinterklaas” and his minions. It’s...

Dick Maas’ yuletide slasher Sint (review here) stirred up quite a bit of controversy when it was released in its home country, the Netherlands. Just looking at the DVD artwork with the new Americanized title I fully expect to hear about some angry American parents after they mistakenly pick this one up for their kiddies.

IFC Films gave Sint a very limited theatrical and VOD release in the Us recently. The DVD being distributed by Mpi will arrive on DVD shelves just a few days prior to Christmas on December 20th under the new title Saint Nick.

As you can see from the American DVD artwork, it doesn’t fully spell it out for viewers that this is a violent slasher movie about a psychopathic bishop who returns from the netherworld every December 5th when there’s a full moon to hack and slash and send his black-faced minions, the Black Petes,...

While Rare Exports stole the majority of the Yuletide terrors attention (and rightly so), we're also big fans of the Santa slasher flick Sint (Saint), if only for the Black Peters. Man, that sounded weird. In any event three new clips are waiting for you! Dig 'em!

Be sure to catch Saint in select theaters, via cable VOD and on SundanceNOW!

Also dig on the official Sint website for additional info and then "like" Sint on Facebook.

Synopsis:

St. Niklas, a bishop fallen out of grace, travels in the middle ages with his gang of robbers and thieves through the countryside, raping, plundering and killing. When villagers take the law into their own hands and murder the bloodthirsty bishop and his thugs by setting the ship on which they travel ablaze, Niklas vows revenge. Now every time there is a full moon on December 5th, the date that he died,...

Santa Claus imagined as a slasher icon. Not someone dressed up as Santa Claus, but Saint Nicholas himself, wielding an ornate but sharp staff with which to lop off many a head. That's the premise of Dutch director Dick Maas' mythical horror flick, Saint (Sint). Saint Nicholas is a disgraced bishop who travels through the countryside in the middle ages with his band of thugs, murdering, pillaging and generally being a horrific threat to man, woman and child. When the villagers fight back and set fire to his ship, he vows revenge. Every 5th December full moon he'll return to reap his vengeance. Having killed the family of policeman Goert (Bert Luppes) in 1968 when he was just a child, the Saint's next coming is...

Saint IFC Midnight announced today that the company has acquired U.S. distribution rights from sales and production outfit Xyz Films for director Dick Maas’ evil Santa film Saint. The deal includes a theatrical component and was made prior to the movie’s North American premiere in the Cinemania section at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Maas wrote the screenplay for the picture and produced with Tom de Mol. Starring Huub Stapel, Egbert-Jan Weeber, Caro Lenssen, Bert Luppes and Escha Tanihatu.

An original and delightfully gruesome slasher film, Saint re-imagines jolly old Saint Nick as a murderous bishop fulfilling a grisly prophecy under the December full moon. Packed with creative yuletide horror, Saint is a fun chiller that follows local teen Frank (Weeber) as he sets out on a bloody, high-energy battle to save Amsterdam from the wrathful “Sinterklaas” and his minions.

Jonathan Sehring, President of Sundance Selects/IFC Films, said:...

Sint, a brutally humorous Christmas slasher is playing at Tribeca Film Festival this weekend and IFC has announced that they have bought the film to be part of their IFC Midnight brand, which includes a theatrical push and VOD.

IFC Midnight announced today that the company has acquired U.S. distribution rights from sales and production outfit Xyz Films for director Dick Maas’ evil Santa film Saint. The deal includes a theatrical component and was made prior to the movie’s North American premiere in the Cinemania section at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Maas wrote the screenplay for the picture and produced with Tom de Mol. Starring Huub Stapel, Egbert-Jan Weeber, Caro Lenssen, Bert Luppes and Escha Tanihatu, the Dutch film will premiere tonight at 9:00pm at the AMC Loews Village 7.

An original and delightfully gruesome slasher film, Saint re-imagines jolly old Saint Nick as a murderous bishop fulfilling...

Slasher movies are awesome. And while I find that the vast majority of new ones leave a lot to be desired when compared to their superior 80s counterparts, I'm always glad to see someone take a, ahem, stab at creating something new.

From the Press Release

IFC Midnight announced today that the company has acquired U.S. distribution rights from sales and production outfit Xyz Films for director Dick Maas’ evil Santa film Saint. The deal includes a theatrical component and was made prior to the movie’s North American premiere in the Cinemania section at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Maas wrote the screenplay for the picture and produced with Tom de Mol. Starring Huub Stapel, Egbert-Jan Weeber, Caro Lenssen, Bert Luppes and Escha Tanihatu, the Dutch film will premiere tonight at 9:00pm at the AMC Loews Village 7.

An original and delightfully gruesome slasher film, Saint re-imagines jolly old...

New York, NY (April 21, 2011) – IFC Midnight announced today that the company has acquired U.S. distribution rights from sales and production outfit Xyz Films for director Dick Maas. evil Santa film Saint. The deal includes a theatrical component and was made prior to the movie.s North American premiere in the Cinemania section at the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival. Maas wrote the screenplay for the picture and produced with Tom de Mol. Starring Huub Stapel, Egbert-Jan Weeber, Caro Lenssen, Bert Luppes and Escha Tanihatu, the Dutch film premiered tonight at 9:00pm at the AMC Loews Village 7.

An original and delightfully gruesome slasher film, Saint re-imagines jolly old Saint Nick as a murderous bishop fulfilling a grisly prophecy under the December full moon. Packed with creative yuletide horror, Saint is a fun chiller that follows local teen Frank (Weeber) as he sets out on a bloody, high-energy battle to save Amsterdam...

IFC Midnight has picked up the U.S. distribution rights to Dick Maas' evil Santa film "Saint" ahead of its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. Starring Huub Stapel, Egbert-Jan Weeber, Caro Lenssen, Bert Luppes and Escha Tanihatu, the Dutch film will premiere tonight at 9:00pm at the AMC Loews Village 7. IFC acquired the film from Xyz Films Full press release below. New York, NY (April 21, 2011) - IFC ...

As we mentioned yesterday, with the 2011 Tribeca Film Festival starting on April 20th, over the next couple of days we'll be providing updated info and screening dates/times for all the genre films playing at the fest. On tap for today we have two new stills and the schedule for the Dutch film Sint (or Saint).

Synopsis:

St. Niklas, a bishop fallen out of grace, travels in the middle ages with his gang of robbers and thieves through the countryside, raping, plundering and killing. When villagers take the law into their own hands and murder the bloodthirsty bishop and his thugs by setting the ship on which they travel ablaze, Niklas vows revenge. Now every time there is a full moon on December 5th, the date that he died, something that on average takes place every 36 years, St. Niklas and his helpers will rise from the dead and take revenge in a horrible way.