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The Becomers: "Forced to flee their dying planet, two body-snatching alien lovers arrive separately on Earth. Determined to find each other, the aliens jump from body to body, but they quickly learn that it's not easy to inhabit their new, fleshy hosts, and that life in modern-day America is more complicated than they could have ever imagined."

"Writer/director Zach Clark’s acclaimed sci-fi genre-bender The Becomers kicks off its U.S. theatrical release on Friday, August, 23rd and arrives on VOD in North America on Tuesday, September 24th. The film will open in New York on August 23rd at Cinema Village, in Los Angeles on August 30th at Lumiere Music Hall, and in Chicago on September 13th at Music Box Theatre, with more cities listed below.

The latest film from the celebrated American indie filmmaker, the visually striking and outrageously plotted film reverberates with the pulse of politics...

Indie filmmaker Zach Clark is returning to the big screen with the alien sci-fi dramedy “The Becomers.”

Written and directed by “White Reindeer” filmmaker Clark, “The Becomers” centers on two aliens who realize just how messed up America is after landing on Earth.

The official synopsis reads: “Forced to flee their dying planet, two body-snatching alien lovers arrive separately on Earth. Determined to find each other, the aliens jump from body to body, but they quickly learn that it’s not easy to inhabit their new, fleshy hosts, and that life in modern-day America is more complicated than they could have ever imagined.”

Molly Plunk, Mike Lopez, Keith Kelly, Isabel Alamin, and Frank V. Ross star. Sparks lead Russel Mael narrates.

The film is being released by Dark Star Pictures and includes satirical references to Covid, QAnon, and other divisive issues in American politics. The film debuted at the 2023 Fantasia...

Having recently shifted away from their one-film-a-day approach, Mubi has now unveiled their October lineup, which is headlined by Ira Sachs’ stellar drama Passages following its theatrical run this summer. The slate also features handpicked selections by Sachs, with work by Maurice Pialat, Luchino Visconti, Jack Hazan, Shirley Clarke, and Tsai Ming-liang.

Also arriving in October is “Watch If You Dare: Horror Halloween,” a series featuring a trio of giallo classics, with The Fifth Cord, The Possessed, and Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion, alongside Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone and more. The service will also spotlight the work of underseen Japanese director Yasuzô Masumura, including his aching melodrama Red Angel, his biting workplace satire Giants and Toys, his thrilling noir Black Test Car, and more.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

October 1

The Infiltrators, directed by Alex Rivera, Cristina Ibarra | National Hispanic Heritage Month

The Vanished Elephant,...

Adapted from the 2015 novel by Katherine Center, Netflix’s “Happiness for Beginners” largely takes place in the wilderness, where different kinds of people are forced to bond while braving the elements as they hike the Appalachian Trail. Led by “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and “The Office” alum Ellie Kemper, the gaggle of goofballs provides laughs of all kinds as well as some heartfelt moments.

Zealous camp guide Bennett (Ben Cook) keeps everything interesting, especially when he scolds Helen (Kemper) for her careless mistakes on the hike and praises Jake (Luke Grimes) for all of his perfect moves in setting up and taking down camp. Nico Santos and Gus Birney even more humor to this romantic comedy story.

Here’s who plays who in “Happiness for Beginners”:

Helen (Ellie Kemper)

Ellie Kemper portrays Helen, who wants to start over after she divorces her husband. She experienced infidelity and a miscarriage during their marriage.

A new, exclusive first-look clip and poster has been released for Zach Clark’s upcoming genre-bending comedy The Becomers ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival later this week on July 22nd. The Becomers tells the story of a body-snatching alien who comes to Earth, reconnects with their partner, and tries to find their way in modern America. You can check out the exclusive clip and brand-new poster below.

Written and conceived in early 2021, The Becomers reflects the challenges of the real world at the time through its pointedly chaotic portrayal of society, with science fiction elements heavily inspired by the original Star Trek series. A true brew of surprising genres, the film is all at once comedic, horrific, grotesque, and romantic. The imminent premiere of The Becomers marks Clark’s second time screening at the Fantasia International Film Festival following the 2016 Canadian premiere of Little Sister,...

Horror Feature “My (Best Friend’S) Head Exploded” to Premiere in June: "Writer/Director Scott Bryan’s puppet-filled existential horror feature, “My (Best Friend’S) Head Exploded,” will have its two-weekend world premiere this June.

“My (Best Friend’s) Head Exploded” is a rebellious, existential, terrifyingly messy puppet feature made out of material things by actual people. It tells the story of Lydia, a coming-of-ageless vampire forced to deal with the loss of her best friend, Sam, after the pair conjures a moment of complete clarity which causes Sam’s head to explode.

In the aftermath, Lydia must contend with old ghosts, generational trauma, oppressive authority figures, and the confusing fear of infinity to set reality right and save her own sanity.

“I love making weird stuff that a studio would be afraid of and a computer couldn’t replicate,” Bryan said.

The film will show at the Salem Witch Board Museum in Salem,...

Yellow Veil Pictures has acquired worldwide rights to “The Becomers,” a genre-bending comedy written and directed by Zach Clark. The company will launch the film at the Marche Du Film in Cannes this week. “The Becomer” tells the story of a body-snatching alien who comes to Earth, reconnects with their partner, and tries to find their way in modern America.

“During the pandemic, I binged the original ‘Star Trek’ series for the first time and then I made this movie” Clark said about his latest film. “It felt like life as we knew it was ending, but then again, it also felt like that might not be the worst thing either. ‘The Becomers’ is a story of love, longing, and alienation. A kitsch-soaked, pathos-laden melodrama about our sad, sad planet. It’s the weirdest thing I’ve ever made and I can’t think of anyone better than Yellow Veil...

After the 2000s seemingly kickstarted a new wave of independent horror, the 2010s (and beyond) were an exceptional time for new and emerging, as well as established, filmmakers to leave their own mark on the landscape of genre storytelling. One of the most notable aspects, or even trends, that I noticed while doing research for this entire series of retrospectives is how out of all of the decades, it feels like the 2010s was one of the best times for female filmmakers to get the opportunity to take the helm in comparison to other decades. The 1980s had a handful of women directors working in independent horror, but during both the ’90s and ’00s, it felt like the industry as a whole had taken a few steps backwards in providing female filmmakers the opportunity to tell the stories they wanted to tell.

Thankfully, though, the door swung back open in...

Writer/Director Lawrence Michael Levine is a filmmaker who spins strange yarns delivered through often uncomfortable conversations that are generally a combination of superb realism and the utterly implausible. In much the way several scenes in Wild Canaries and Always Shine play out, Black Bear is almost entirely a film of conversations in which people say […]

The post Black Bear Review – Elaborate Kantian Ethics Koan With Manipulative Artists? appeared first on Are You Screening?.

When filmmaker Lawrence Michael Levine gave the script for “Black Bear” to Aubrey Plaza, it included one hell of a direction in its final act: the leading lady “breaks down and gives the best performance that anyone has ever seen ever.” No pressure.

“I had this moment before we started shooting, where I just felt like, ‘This is going to be really hard and fucked up,'” Plaza said during a recent interview with IndieWire. “But there was something in me that felt like I needed to dive off the deep end. If the movie had been about anything else, I don’t know if I would have been able to put myself through that. It was too much for me to pass up. I just had to do it.”

While she’s best known for charmingly sardonic roles like April Ludgate in NBC’s beloved series “Parks and Recreation...

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.

Happiest Season (Clea DuVall)

Happiest Season, Hollywood’s first major lesbian Christmas rom-com, has everything you’d expect from a Christmas movie: snow; sweaters; mismatched family members coming together under one roof; characters saying they hate Christmas and then succumbing to holiday cheer; conflict; satisfying resolution. Director and co-writer Clea DuVall embraces cliches, but filtering them through a lesbian perspective allows old tropes to gain new context. Family dysfunction carries extra weight when viewed through the lens of heteronormativity. The happy couple’s falling-out hits deeper because it’s wrought with the anxiety of coming out. Their fairytale ending feels all the more precious because it’s hard won,...

The November 2020 lineup for The Criterion Channel has been unveiled, toplined by a Claire Denis retrospective, including the brand-new restoration of Beau travail, along with Chocolat, No Fear, No Die, Nenette and Boni, Towards Mathilde, 35 Shots of Rum, and White Material.

There will also be a series celebrating 30 years of The Film Foundation, featuring a new interview with Martin Scorsese by Ari Aster, as well as a number of their most essential restorations, including films by Jia Zhangke, Ritwik Ghatak, Luchino Visconti, Shirley Clarke, Med Hondo, and more.

There’s also David Lynch’s new restoration of The Elephant Man, retrospectives dedicated to Ngozi Onwurah, Nadav Lapid, and Terence Nance, a new edition of the series Queersighted titled Queer Fear, featuring a new conversation between series programmer Michael Koresky and filmmaker and critic Farihah Zaman, and much more.

See the lineup below and learn more on the official site.

Since bringing her signature deadpan sizzle to turns in “Ingrid Goes West,” “The Little Hours,” and “Safety Not Guaranteed,” Aubrey Plaza has succeeded in becoming a one-woman mini-genre unto herself. Because of her discerning choices of roles, her name indicates something about the tone, quality, and artistic ambitions of the films to which she lends her talents. From the intriguing new trailer for “Black Bear,” which premiered in the forward-looking Next section of this year’s Sundance Film Festival, it looks as if Plaza has done it yet again.

Describing the film as “an intriguing and unexpected comedic thriller,” the official synopsis goes on to explain: “At a remote lake house in the Adirondack Mountains, a couple entertains an out-of-town guest looking for inspiration in her filmmaking. The group quickly falls into a calculated game of desire, manipulation, and jealousy, unaware of how dangerously convoluted their lives will soon become...

before it kills her, Lara Jean Gallagher’s “Clementine” begins with an intimate little scene that shadows the rest of the movie. We meet Karen (Otmara Marrero) in some iPhone footage that her unseen ex-girlfriend shot in bed one morning — a loving, needy close-up. “Wake up, I need inspiration,” a sober English voice intones from off-screen. “You’re beautiful. You’re so young.” And then: “You’re going to break my heart.”

Karen replies that she’s “never broken one single heart,” but her response isn’t reassuring. On the contrary, it lingers in the air like an omen. And the more that she loses sight of herself during Gallagher’s loaded but unfulfilled debut feature, the more those words seem to explain her problem. Karen naturally defaulted to a recipient role in her relationship with a much older artist — she was the object of affection, more seen than seeing.

Hulu is out with its list of everything new coming and going in March, and the new additions include the three-episode series premiere of “Little Fires Everywhere” starring Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon, and the premiere of the Hillary Clinton documentary “Hillary.”

Those two shows premiere March 18 and March 6, respectively. Other highlights include “Into the Dark: Crawlers,” about body-switching aliens and also out on March 6; the complete second season of “Love Island: Australia” coming March 13, and the two-episode series premiere of “Devs” starring Nick Offerman on March 6.

Movies leaving the site on March 31 include “When Harry Met Sally…,” “Precious” and “Big Fish.”

Also Read: Hulu's 'Into the Dark' Sets Body-Switching Aliens Thriller 'Crawlers' as March Movie (Exclusive)

Here’s everything coming and going to and from Hulu in March:

Arriving March 1

Ok K.O, Let’s Be Heroes!: Complete Season 3 (Cartoon Network)

50/50 (2011)

Abduction (2011)

Blue City (1986)

Cantinflas (2014)

Charlotte’s Web...

Alec Bojalad Feb 18, 2020

We have a list of the new Hulu movies and shows arriving in March 2020.

March sees the beginning of one of TV's more interesting experiment in 2020. Hulu's new releases for March 2020 are highlighted by the launch of the torturously-named "FX on Hulu" in which certain FX shows will premiere exclusively on Hulu.

Yes, when Disney set out up the entertainment industry, it gained more brands than it knew what to do with. And that's how you get stuff like FX on Hulu. The streaming/cable hybrid begins in earnest in March with two series, Alex Garland's sci-fi Devs and the weird Lil Dickey comedy Dave. More FX on Hulu is set to arrive in April as well.

Hulu's only $5.99/month now, grab the deal here!

In addition to FX's offerings, Hulu has some intriguing originals of its own for March 2020. Hillary Clinton docuseries, Hillary, premieres on...

This year’s Sundance market was filled with questions, but buyers didn’t waste any time. (Browse the full list of acquisitions here.) By the end of the first weekend, it already featured the biggest sale in the festival’s history as well as the biggest documentary sale. Countless other buzzy projects landed homes at companies ranging from Searchlight (“The Night House”) to Sony Pictures Classics and Magnolia.

Nevertheless, with a lineup this vast, even the most aggressive distributors can only move so fast — and many of this year’s gems remain homeless. Here are the ones we think deserve to sell Asap.

“Black Bear”

Lawrence Michael Levine’s razor-sharp comedy “Black Bear” is a big step forward for the indie stalwart: a clever, twisted black comedy that skewers both contemporary culture and the film industry in two distinctly different (but related) parts. Fans of Levine’s wife Sophia Takal...

This year’s Sundance Film Festival broke a number of records, from diversity in its programming to sales, but none of these statistics address the fundamental question behind all the noise: Were the movies any good? As it turns out, the festival more than delivered: Culled from 15,000 submissions, the 2020 edition offered up a range of timely, boundary-pushing documentary storytelling, promising new voices, and satisfying new heights from established filmmakers. Here are the best of the best.

“Boys State”

Co-directors Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine’s revealing documentary has the potential to be this year’s “American Factory,” in the sense that the filmmakers gained incredible access to capture an intimate story in real time — one that provides the perfect metaphor for this moment in our socio-political history. Boys State is a yearly event put on by the American Legion, where 17-year-olds are split into two political parties and put through...

There is indeed an actual, living, occasionally roaring black bear that appears in Lawrence Michael Levine’s razor-sharp “Black Bear,” but that’s one of the few hard-and-fast elements of That the film — the first of Levine’s to premiere at Sundance — is programmed in the festival’s forward-thinking Next section should suggest to audiences that the film is more than the psychosexual drama hinted at in its official description. Well, it is, but it’s also so much more.

The basics: set in the kind of glamorous mountain mansion that never seems like anyone’s actual home, we’re first introduced to flinty filmmaker Allison (Aubrey Plaza), who is visiting the makeshift artist retreat on the recommendation of a pal. It’s run by — and owned by and lived in — flirty Gabe (Christopher Abbott) and his pregnant partner Blair (Sarah Gadon), who are amusingly ill suited for any kind of professional endeavor.

There’s a distinct daughters-of-Carol-Clover vibe in the new remake of Black Christmas that hits you almost immediately — a kind of knowingness with a serrated edge that’s different from the meta-winks of something like Scream, or the in-joke camaraderie that happens when horror franchise entries start getting into the double digits. It’s not just that its creators are familiar with the 1974 original, a proto-slasher flick involving a sorority house, a masked killer, the holiday season and a body count. (This vintage exploitation gem is also the answer to...

Don Kaye Dec 13, 2019

Director Sophia Takal discusses the challenges of getting Black Christmas finished in time for the holiday season.

After starting out as an actress in 2009, New Jersey native Sophia Takal quickly graduated to directing, helming her debut independent feature Green in 2011. That was followed in 2016 by Always Shine (featuring an up-and-coming Mackenzie Davis) and, last year, an episode of Hulu’s horror anthology series, Into the Dark, titled “New Year, New You,” which Takal also wrote.

With her previous two films (she also wrote Green) essentially being psychological dramas/thrillers exploring aspects of the female psyche, it somehow makes perfect sense for her to direct the new feature Black Christmas, the third movie to come out under that title since 1974. All three are set in a sorority house on a mostly empty college campus during the Christmas break, but only Bob Clark’s 1974 original and Takal’s version...

There’s nothing tidy about the conclusion of Bob Clark’s 1974 horror classic “Black Christmas,” hailed as one of the first slasher films and the inspiration for some of the horror sub-genre’s most indelible works. After doling out thrills and chills and vicious kills to a group of sorority sisters over the course of a tidy 98 minutes, Clark’s film doesn’t end with a grand reveal of the crazed killer, no catharsis for its final girl, and little in the way of explanation as to why the hell a group of innocent coeds have forever had their holiday happiness shattered. These days, it’s the kind of open ending that would signal sequel hopes for a burgeoning franchise, but back in the ’70s, it was just a wild way to end a terrifying feature. What’s scarier than not knowing?

“Black Christmas” eventually inspired a lackluster sequel in...

If the original 1974 “Black Christmas” had to obscure its feminism with subversion, subtlety, and a flirtatious Margot Kidder, the latest remake of the classic slasher film wears it proudly on its crop-top sleeve. When #MeToo launched an international conversation around rape and sexual assault in 2016, survivors breathed a collective sigh of relief that people finally believed them. Women knew about the domination of toxic male behavior for years; it didn’t take a genius to see that the calls were coming from inside the house.

In her gutsy and glossy remake, director Sophia Takal builds a timely horror out of the gaslighting and disbelief many survivors know all too well. Using the hyper-gendered spaces of college Greek life as a fertile palette, Takal and her co-writer April Wolfe skewer toxic masculinity, the white male literary canon, rape culture, patriarchy, and white male rage — all wrapped up with a bow in...

Last year, Blumhouse Productions founder Jason Blum got in a little trouble when it was discovered that none of the horror movies at his shingle had been directed by women — because, he said, “There are not a lot of female directors period, and even less who are inclined to do horror.”

After the inevitable backlash, he apologized with swift sincerity. Now he seems to be presenting “Black Christmas” as both penance and an amend.

Directed by indie auteur Sophia Takal (“Always Shine”), this burn-the-house-down remake really belongs in the midnight-movie section of a festival like Sundance or SXSW. As a wide release studio film nominally aimed at a multiplex audience, it feels strangely, if intriguingly, out of step.

Watch Video: 'A Christmas Carol' Trailer: Guy Pearce Has an Extremely Un-Merry Holiday in FX's Dickens Adaptation

In 1974, the original “Black Christmas” earned its place in pop culture as...

This Christmas we will be hit with Blumhouse's PG-13 remake of director Bob Clark's classic seasonal slasher Black Christmas. And today we're hearing from director Sophia Takal that her film is very, very loosely based on Clark's original movie and that the plot is extremely different, being more inspired by the feeling of the original film that reflects our time and what it feels like to be a woman in 2019. On top of that, she also adds that, at the end of the day, she thinks of her remake as a fiercely feminist film.

Specifically, Sophia Takal says this about her movie.

"You know, this movie, even though it's very, very loosely based on Black Christmas, I'd say the plot is extremely different. It's more inspired by the feeling that Black Christmas made me feel watching it, this idea of misogyny always being out there and never totally eradicable.

From “Truth or Dare” director Jeff Wadlow comes “Fantasy Island,” a horror-movie adaptation of the classic, campy 1970s TV series about a magical resort that grants vacationers their wishes, for a price. With a screenplay by Wadlow with Jillian Jacobs and Christopher Roach, the film’s cast includes Maggie Q, Michael Peña, Portia Doubleday, Lucy Hale, Ryan Hansen, and Kim Coates. Below, watch the first trailer for the Blumhouse production, which opens theatrically next year on Valentine’s Day from Sony Pictures.

Here’s the film’s official synopsis: “The enigmatic Mr. Roarke (Peña), makes the secret dreams of his lucky guests come true at a luxurious but remote tropical resort. But when the fantasies turn into nightmares, the guests have to solve the island’s mystery in order to escape with their lives.”

Blumhouse has a slate of promising projects based on previously existing properties coming up, including “Black Christmas,...

Welcome to 31 Days of Streaming Horror. Every day this October, we’ll be highlighting a different streaming horror movie to help you get into the Halloween spirit. Today’s entry: Always Shine (2016). Always Shine Now Streaming on Amazon Prime Video and Kanopy Sub-Genre: A Hitchcockian Meets Lynchian Psychological Thriller Best Setting to Watch It In: Big Sur How […]

The post 31 Days of Streaming Horror: ‘Always Shine’ Explores the Horrors of Jealousy and Self-Doubt appeared first on /Film.

After successfully teaming up for the “New Year, New You” episode of Hulu’s Into the Dark, producer Jason Blum and director Sophia Takal are reteaming to remake the horror classic Black Christmas. A staple of independent cinema for a decade now, Takal’s film follows up on her well-regarded episode and previous directorial outing Always Shine.

An early entry into the ever growing sub-genre of Christmas horror, Bob Clark’s 1974 Black Christmas concerned a group of sorority sisters who are stalked by menacing phone calls and a killer during the Christmas season. Takal’s film will be the second remake, following Glen Morgan’s ill-received 2006 Black Christmas.

Takal’s film stars Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon, Brittany O’Grady, Lily Donoghue, and Caleb Eberhardt. In addition to directing, Takal also co-wrote the film with film critic April Wolfe.

Black Christmas’ release comes on the heels of Jason Blum’s regrettable...

Jason Blum is finally putting his money where his mouth is. After an unfortunate gaffe about the dearth of women horror directors landed him in hot water late last year, the producer backed actress-turned-filmmaker Sophia Takal’s third feature, a remake of Bob Clark’s 1974 horror classic “Black Christmas.” The recently released trailer teases a pro-sisterhood take on the original, which starred Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, and John Saxon and has long been hailed as one of the earliest examples of a slasher film. Takal’s version features Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon, Brittany O’Grady, Lily Donoghue, and Caleb Eberhardt.

For those unfamiliar with the story, here’s the official Blumhouse synopsis: “Hawthorne College is quieting down for the holidays. But as Riley Stone (Poots) and her Mu Kappa Epsilon sisters… prepare to deck the halls with a series of seasonal parties, a black-masked stalker begins killing sorority women one by one.

Blumhouse and Universal Pictures have dropped the first trailer for their upcoming Black Christmas remake. The first version of the horror movie hit theaters in 1974 and was remade again in 2006. However, the 2006 version of the movie took some liberties with the source material and horror fans weren't too impressed with it at the time. It's unclear which direction Blumhouse has decided to take their adaptation, but if one wants to avoid spoilers, stay away from looking at anything having to do with the 1974 original or the 2006 remake.

Black Christmas takes place as Hawthorne College is quieting down for the holidays. But as Riley Stone (Imogen Poots) and her Mu Kappa Epsilon sisters-athlete Marty (Lily Donoghue), rebel Kris (Aleyse Shannon), and foodie Jesse (Brittany O'Grady)-prepare to deck the halls with a series of seasonal parties, a black-masked stalker begins killing sorority women one by one. The trailer provides some clues...

The first trailer has been released for the holiday slasher film Black Christmas, which is a remake of the 1974 film. The story focuses on a killer in a black cloak who is on a murdering spree on a college campus and he ends up facing off with “a formidable group of friends in sisterhood.”

Here’s the synopsis that was shared:

Hawthorne College is quieting down for the holidays. But as Riley Stone and her Mu Kappa Epsilon sisters—athlete Marty, rebel Kris, and foodie Jesse—prepare to deck the halls with a series of seasonal parties, a black-masked stalker begins killing sorority women one by one.

As the body count rises, Riley and her squad start to question whether they can trust any man, including Marty’s beta-male boyfriend, Nate, Riley’s new crush Landon or even esteemed classics instructor Professor Gelson (Cary Elwes).

Whoever the killer is, he...

Christmas is all about getting cozy by the fire with hot cocoa in hand and spending time with the family. But for a set of sorority girls, it’s all about staying out of the clutches of a stalker in “Black Christmas.” From director Sophia Takal, best known for starring in “Green” and directing “Always Shine,” comes a remake of the 1974 holiday horror hit.

Continue reading ‘Black Christmas’ Trailer: Sophia Takal’s Horror Remake Arrives Just In Time For The Holidays at The Playlist.

Productivity Media Inc and Oakhurst Entertainment announced today that Aubrey Plaza, Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon are set to join the cast of the upcoming thriller Black Bear, directed by Lawrence Michael Levine.&#160 Penned by Levine, the film will be produced by Tandem Pictures' Julie Christeas and Jonathan Blitstein, Richard J Bosner (Blue Creek Pictures), Sophia Takal and Oakhurst's Marina Grasic and Jai Khanna. Productivity will finance the film.&#160 Shooting is underway in the Adirondack Mountains in Long Lake, NY.

Black Bear is a suspenseful meta-drama. An expecting couple (Sarah Gadon & Christopher Abbott) is confronted with an out of town guest Abigail (Plaza), a filmmaker suffering from writer's block who seeks solace in the woods but finds herself at the center of a twisted love triangle. &#160Black Bear explores those parts of ourselves we are most afraid of. Said Lawrence Michael Levine.

"Black Bear is a thriller that...

Cary Elwes has been cast in Blumhouse’s remake of the 1974 holiday slasher horror thriller Black Christmas.

There aren’t any details on who Elwes will be playing, but it’s said that he plays a main part of the story. I like Elwes so it’s always great to see him land a new movie role. Hopefully, this one turns out to be a fun project for him.

He will join the previously cast Imogen Poots (Green Room), Aleyse Shannon, Brittany O’Grady, Lily Donoghue, and Caleb Eberhardt. Here’s the synopsis:

Hawthorne College is quieting down for the holidays. One by one, sorority girls on campus are being killed by an unknown stalker. But the killer is about to discover that this generation’s young women aren’t willing to become hapless victims as they mount a fight to the finish.

The new remake will be directed by Sophia Takal,...

Need a quick recap of the past week in movie news? Here are the highlights:   Big News Blumhouse is remaking Black Christmas: The 1974 holiday horror classic Black Christmas is being remade again, this time from Blumhouse Productions and Universal Pictures with Imogen Poots starring and Sophia Takal (Always Shine) directing. The movie is set to release on Friday the 13th this December.   Kevin Hart to star in Scrooged: Speaking of classic Christmas movies...

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The 1974 holiday slasher film Black Christmas is getting the remake treatment thanks to Blumhouse, the studio that brought us Get Out and the new Halloween movie. While most people think that John Carpenter’s Halloween was the first slasher film, Black Christmas, which was directed by Bob Clark, actually came out four years prior.

The new remake will be directed by Sophia Takal, who directed the great indie horror-drama Always Shine. On top of that, Imogen Poots (Green Room) will star in the film. So, there’s a solid team of talent already attached, which is good. The movie will also star Aleyse Shannon, Brittany O’Grady, Lily Donoghue and Caleb Eberhardt.

The story focused on a group of sorority sisters who are targeted by an insane killer during Christmas. Everything starts out with strange and creepy phone calls from a stranger and it escalates into being stalked by the murderer and killed.

Bob Clark’s iconic proto-slasher pic Black Christmas is getting yet another remake – this time from Blumhouse. The studio will release the holiday horror film just in time for next Christmas, and they’ve lined-up some impressive talent to make it happen. Sophia Takal, director of the fantastic indie horror-drama Always Shine, will helm the film. And Green Room‘s Imogen Poots […]

The post Another ‘Black Christmas’ Remake is Coming to Deck the Halls in Blood, This Time From Blumhouse appeared first on /Film.

Blumhouse Productions is remaking a classic, and they’ve picked a hell of an intriguing director to bring fresh blood to a bonafide horror standout. The Wrap reports the horror house has tapped director Sophia Takal to helm a new take on “Black Christmas,” as inspired by Bob Clark’s 1974 original, which starred Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea, Margot Kidder, and John Saxon and has long been hailed as one of the earliest examples of a slasher film.

Takal, best known for directing psychologically taut dramas like “Green” and “Always Shine,” wrote the script alongside April Wolfe. The feature will shoot in New Zealand. Jason Blum of Blumhouse Productions, and Ben Cosgrove and Adam Hendricks of Divide/Conquer are producing. Greg Gilreath and Zac Locke of Divide/Conquer will executive produce.

Imogen Poots, Aleyse Shannon, Brittany O’Grady, Lily Donoghue, and Caleb Eberhardt will star in the film.

Late last year,...

I first took note of Caitlin FitzGerald in one of the great showcases of incredible acting in recent indie film — Sophia Takal’s Always Shine. You might know her from Masters of Sex where she played Libby Masters, or the third season of the cult hit series Unreal. Her latest film, just released on DVD and Blu Ray, is The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot. In this half hour she generously opens up about the epiphanies and frustrations she’s experienced as a working actor in this business, how good directors help her process, and how she deals […]...

I first took note of Caitlin FitzGerald in one of the great showcases of incredible acting in recent indie film — Sophia Takal’s Always Shine. You might know her from Masters of Sex where she played Libby Masters, or the third season of the cult hit series Unreal. Her latest film, just released on DVD and Blu Ray, is The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot. In this half hour she generously opens up about the epiphanies and frustrations she’s experienced as a working actor in this business, how good directors help her process, and how she deals […]...

Gay Cannibal B’n’B. The last few weeks on the Horror Queers Podcast have resulted in plenty of great discussions and hilarious shenanigans. We’ve discussed the toxic friendship at the center of Always Shine, defended the underrated 1999 supernatural sequel The Rage: Carrie 2, and we de-virginized our latest special guest, Brennan Klein, who had never seen 2000’s quirky odd-ball Cherry Falls. In […]...

Kill your virgins. The last few weeks on the Horror Queers Podcast have resulted in plenty of great discussions and hilarious shenanigans. We’ve brought in a third to discuss the lesbian Rosemary’s Baby-esque film Lyle, discussed the toxic friendship at the center of Always Shine and defended the underrated 1999 supernatural sequel The Rage: Carrie 2. In the newest episode, we […]...

In Blumhouse’s first female-directed feature film, New Year, New You, Sophia Takal sticks four friends from high school and their hidden grievances into one of the women’s sealed residence for a New Year’s reunion. The four are connected, molded and torn by a tragedy in their past that Takal reveals through sharp cuts of glass shattering and blood inking through a pool. Danielle (Carly Chaikin), now a social media self-care icon who claims to mix amongst the likes of Leonardo Dicaprio […]...

In Blumhouse’s first female-directed feature film, New Year, New You, Sophia Takal sticks four friends from high school and their hidden grievances into one of the women’s sealed residence for a New Year’s reunion. The four are connected, molded and torn by a tragedy in their past that Takal reveals through sharp cuts of glass shattering and blood inking through a pool. Danielle (Carly Chaikin), now a social media self-care icon who claims to mix amongst the likes of Leonardo Dicaprio […]...

In today’s film news roundup, Jodie Foster is remaking Iceland’s “Woman at War,” the Art Directors Guild honors production designers Anthony Masters and Ben Carre, “47 Meters Down: Uncaged” gets cast and Melissa Takal directs “New Year New You” for Hulu.

Project Announcement

Jodie Foster will direct, co-produce and star in an English-language remake of the thriller “Woman at War,” Iceland’s submission to the Foreign Language competition at the upcoming 91st Academy Awards.

The Icelandic movie centers on a music teacher who’s escalating her sabotage against the local aluminum industry when she discovers that her adoption application has been approved and a baby girl is awaiting her in the Ukraine. The script won the best script prize in the Critics’ Week section of the Cannes Film Festival.

Foster plans to relocate the setting to the American West. It will be her fifth directorial gig following “Money Monster,...

With all the horror movies Blumhouse has released, they’ve never had a female director for a horror film. Until now. Sophia Takal, director of the amazing indie horror film Always Shine, will become the first female Blumhouse director with New Year New You, a feature-length entry in the Blumhouse/Hulu anthology series, Into the Dark. News of Takal’s hiring comes […]

The post Sophia Takal is the First Female Blumhouse Horror Director, But Not the Last appeared first on /Film.

Blumhouse Television’s new Hulu series “Into the Dark” is providing an unique opportunity for genre directors to produce new work. The anthology horror series launched in October, with the plan to have a new entry released each month tied to a holiday. However, unlike other anthology series, each episode is actually feature-length, which means that Blumhouse is producing one new horror movie every month. October’s Halloween-centric “The Body” allowed director Paul Fisher to expand on his short film of the same name, while cult genre filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo’s Christmas-centric “Pooka!” premiered today to rave reviews.

The next entry in the series, IndieWire has learned, comes from a filmmaker familiar from the festival circuit: Sophia Takal, the director of “Green” and “Always Shine,” helmed the all-female horror movie “New Year New You” for the series. The 85-minute feature will premiere on Hulu on December 28.

The all-female cast includes...

When actors are asked about their career motivations, they often default to “just wanting to do something different.” Judging by her resume, however, Mackenzie Davis really means it. Over the course of only seven years and just over two dozen roles, the actress has already done a little bit of everything, sliding from indies to mainstreams films and back again, and that’s not about to change, even with Davis stepping into her most high-profile role yet.

Best known for her work in indies like “Breathe In” and “Almost Shine,” the actress is currently filming her biggest film to date: a “Terminator” reboot in which she’s rumored to be playing a “soldier-assassin from the future.” It’s the kind of movie that seems poised to catapult the 31-year-old performer into a different stratosphere, but before that, she’s still diligently stumping for her latest indie.

That role — likely the...

After announcing the opening night film, Lisa D’Apolito’s documentary Love, Gilda, the complete lineup for the 2018 Tribeca Film Festival has been unveiling. Along with festival favorites, including Disobedience, The Miseducation of Cameron Post, and Daughter of Mine, there’s a number of anticipated world premieres: The Seagull, starring Annette Bening and Saoirse Ronan, Kent Jones’ drama Diane, the documentary McQueen, Miguel Arteta’s Duck Butter, Ondi Timoner’s Mapplethorpe, the Ethan Hawke-led Stockholm, and more. The centerpiece of the festival will be Drake Doremus’ Zoe, starring Léa Seydoux, and closing night is Liz Garbus’ documentary The Fourth Estate.

“In a year that has reminded us more often of our divisions than our connections, this Festival’s program embraces film’s unique power to overcome differences – that connecting with stories not our own is the road into our deeply programmed human capacity for empathy and understanding,” said Cara Cusumano,...

February is known as Women in Horror Month, when the spotlight is put on female filmmakers working inside our favorite genre, and many horror sites run pieces about movies directed by women. And that’s great! But there’s no reason why that spotlight should be limited to only one month, particularly when there are so many brilliant and talented female filmmakers working in the genre. Why not use this October to hit up these titles on Shudder and get to know some of the most exciting female voices in horror right now?

Prevenge (2016, dir. Alice Lowe) Alice Lowe writes, directs, and stars in this darkly comic, twisted fantasy about a woman who is very, very pregnant (Lowe herself was pregnant during shooting) and goes on a killing spree when her unborn baby talks to her and tells her to take revenge for a past tragedy. The film never fully transcends its gimmick,...