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The After Dark Horrorfest was a game-changer back when it premiered in 2006. Not only was this film festival devoted to the horror genre, it was accessible. Founder Courtney Solomon (An American Haunting) chose the best possible venue for this “ultimate celebration of horror”: the big screen. So from November 17 to 21, these hand-picked titles were shown at select theaters across the U.S.

There have been four “sequels” to the After Dark Horrorfest since then, but for many horror hounds like myself, the original one is a bit more meaningful. It was an exciting time for discovery, developing one’s own taste, and for learning what the genre had to offer in the non-mainstream sector.

So in honor of this momentous film fest, we look back at the first “8 Films to Die For”.

The Abandoned (Nacho Cerdà)

Pictured: Anastasia Hille in The Abandoned.

That February following the first After Dark Horrorfest,...

Stars: Miles Mitchell, Dean Bone, Sally Collett, Samantha Neale, Richard Brake, Andrew Lee Potts, Daniel-John Williams, Steven Blades, Jennifer K Preston, Theo Preston, Jordaine Lincoln, Rufus Hound, Katie Sheridan, Finbar Healy | Written by James Bushe, Patrick Michael Ryder, Christine Barber-Ryder, Greig Johnson | Directed by James Bushe, Patrick Michael Ryder, Greig Johnson

Tales told around the fire, especially a campfire, have been one of the primary ways humans have passed on myths, lore and scary stories in general as long as humans and fire have co-existed. And the movies have picked up on that, using it as a framing device in Grim Prairie Tales, Screams of a Winter Night and plenty of others.

In the aptly named anthology film Lore, a quartet of campers, Dan, Mark, Donna, and Sally share their stories with their guide, the exceptional creepy Darwin.

After informing them of the evil history of the ground their tents are pitched on,...

Stars: Simone Kessell, Andrew Howard, Rosie Day, Rachel Adedeji, Joseph Millson, Daphne Cheung | Written by Mark Shea Price | Directed by James Bamford

Somebody seems to have a lot of faith in director James Bamford. After years of working as a stuntman and directing episodes of mostly DC Comics-related TV shows, Hard Home is his fourth film to see release this year. The fact that the previous three, Air Force One Down, Jade, and Shadow Land left a lot to be desired is, of course, another matter.

Here he’s working from a script by Mark Shea Price, whose previous credits consist of shorts such as The Mayans Were Right and Raised by Fish. It opens with Mary jogging through the woods and attracting the attention of a Polaroid-wielding psycho when she stops to check out an old cemetery.

He shrugs off being maced, but just as he’s about to kill her,...

Before making films like The Convent, The Gravedancers, Big Ass Spider, Lavalantula and Don’t Kill It, our buddy Mike Mendez made his feature debut with a film titled Killers back in 1997, which is now headed to Unrated Director’s Cut Blu-ray from Synapse Films.

Synapse previews, “In 1997, director Mike Mendez and co-writer/star Dave Larsen collaborated on the brutal, uncompromising and wickedly funny Killers, a movie that divided audiences at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival but then had a hard time finding an audience due to scattershot distribution. Having gained a cult following in the years since, Synapse Films is bringing Killers to Blu-ray in its complete, unrated director’s cut on October 8, 2024!

“Once upon a time, the James Brothers, Odessa (Dave Larsen) and Kyle (David Gunn), murdered their parents in their own beds. Now they’ve escaped from Death Row and are on the run on a stormy night, looking...

Sydney Sweeney‘s second film of 2024 is finally here, let’s hope that it doesn’t turn into a disaster like the first one. Produced by Sweeney herself, Immaculate is a psychological horror film and it follows the story of a young nun who joins a convent in the Italian countryside. Her quiet life quickly turns into a nightmare because of the horrific secrets hidden in the convent. Directed by Michael Mohan, Immaculate also stars Simona Tabasco, Benedetta Porcaroli, and Álvaro Morte. So, if you loved Sweeney’s horror film here are some similar movies you should check out next.

The Convent

Co-written and directed by Paul Hyett, the 2018 film British horror film titled The Convent gives a similar atmosphere to Sweeney’s Immaculate. The Convent tells us the story of a group of young women seeking refuge from the turmoil of World War II in an isolated convent in the countryside.

It’s a good time to be a fan of filmmaker Mike Mendez. Not only did he contribute to the horror anthology Satanic Hispanics, which received a theatrical release a few months ago and is coming soon to Blu-ray, but now Synapse Films has given his awesome 2000 horror comedy The Convent (watch it Here) a limited edition 4K release! Copies of this release can be purchased directly from Synapse Films, or through Diabolik DVD.

Directed by Mendez from a screenplay by Chaton Anderson, The Convent has the following synopsis: In 1960, a young woman named Christine enters St. Francis Boarding School for Girls and lays waste to the resident nuns. Four decades later, a group of college students head to the long-abandoned building late one night to tag it with their fraternity letters, little knowing that rumors of the place being haunted are terrifyingly true. Stir in a couple of disapproving...

Synapse Films have announced a Limited Edition Uhd & Blu-ray Slipcover combo for Mike Mendez’s much-cherished The Convent (a personal fave of mine Fyi).

From its opening massacre, set to the strains of (appropriately enough) Lesley Gore, The Convent is an in-your-face fright film with a full-blooded sense of humor. Director Mike Mendez both embraces and skewers the traditions of supernatural/possession cinema, with wicked twists that upend expectations and deliver jolts and laughs in equal measure. Not for the devout or the easily offended, the film gives Barbeau one of her best roles as the motorcycle-riding, shotgun-wielding Christine, with bonus appearances by fellow genre icon Bill Moseley (The Devils Rejects) and rapper/actor Coolio. The Convent rocked audiences at festivals including Sundance and Fantasia, but has long been unavailable on disc. Now you can possess its uncensored U.S. debut remastered in Dolby Vision 4K from the original uncut...

What do you get when you bring five of the most talented Hispanic genre filmmakers in the indie space together on a horrorific anthology project? A whole lot of bloody fun, and that’s exactly what Satanic Hispanics delivers. Four very different spooky stories connected by a fun wraparound from a variety of voices explore the diversity of the Latin American horror scene, from Argentina to Cuba to Mexico to Los Angeles, it’s a smorgasbord of guts and gore – and more than a few laughs – sure to entertain genre fans no matter where their preferences lay. The project, a brainchild of Mike Mendez and Alejandro Brugués,...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Horror anthology Satanic Hispanics assembles five Latin American horror filmmakers to celebrate Hispanic talent in front of and behind the camera, curating tales that spotlight Hispanic myths and legends. Uniting four tales of terror is Satanic Hispanics‘ wraparound from producer/director Mike Mendez.

In Mendez’s wraparound, a police raid uncovers a grisly crime scene full of dead bodies. They take the sole survivor, a man that refers to himself as “The Traveler” (Efren Ramirez), into custody for answers. The Traveler attempts to explain the bizarre events that led up to his capture to skeptical detectives Gibbons (Sonya Eddy) and Arden (Greg Grunberg). He entertains them with four tales of supernatural encounters, hoping to persuade them to let him go.

Ahead of the film’s theatrical release on September 14 (tickets on sale now), Bloody Disgusting spoke with the filmmaker about the challenges of curating an anthology and helming a wraparound...

Stars: Greg Hovanessian, Michael Ironside, Dempsey Bryk, Greg Bryk, Noah Dalton Danby, Ted Atherton, Natasha Henstridge | Written by Craig Davidson, Andrew Thomas Hunt | Directed by Andrew Thomas Hunt

The Fight Machine is the second of two very different movies based on novels by Craig Davidson that Raven Banner debuted at this year’s edition of Fantasia. This one is adapted from his novel The Fighter. The other is The Breach, based on the novel of the same name by his perhaps more familiar pseudonym Nick Cutter.

Paul Harris comes from a rich family. He doesn’t have a care in the world until he mouths off to the wrong person and gets beaten bloody. Humiliated, he develops an obsession with bodybuilding and boxing, training under Lou. Rob Tully on the other hand comes from a working-class family and was, according to his father Reuben, born to fight. He trains with...

Stars: Mike Beckingham, Mhairi Calvey, Grahame Fox, Wayne Gordon, David Hayman | Written by Philip Daay | Directed by Paul Dudbridge

First things first, Fear the Invisible Man is not a sequel to the 2020 version of The Invisible Man although I’m sure the film’s makers won’t mind if you think so. Instead, it’s an adaptation of H.G. Wells’ novel that, unlike most adaptations of his work, keeps the book’s Victorian setting.

Griffin is in a race against time to finish his experiments. The reason, his landlord and a bailiff are pounding on the door, ready to evict him. Injecting himself with it moments before they kick in the door, his flesh and bone vanish and he escapes, though not before causing an explosion that kills them and destroys his lab.

Elsewhere Adeline is disbelievingly reading about a series of crimes supposedly caused by an invisible man.

Genre regulars Bill Moseley and Lin Shaye have just found their latest horror project to work on – and Shaye is a producer on this one as well! Deadline reports that Moseley and Shaye have signed on to appear in Scared to Death, which will be filming in Los Angeles next month.

Written and directed by Paul Boyd, Scared to Death will tell the story of a group of young filmmakers who enter an abandoned children’s orphanage in order to do research for a movie… and that’s their first mistake.

Scared to Death is coming to us from Mirror Films, and Shaye is producing the film alongside Eric Barrett.

Moseley and Shaye are joined in the cast by Olivier Paris (How I Met Your Father) and Daytime Emmy winner Victoria Konefal (Days of Our Lives).

Moseley and Shaye have both been showing up in horror movies since the 1980s.

Stars: Greg Hovanessian, Michael Ironside, Dempsey Bryk, Greg Bryk, Noah Dalton Danby, Ted Atherton, Natasha Henstridge | Written by Craig Davidson, Andrew Thomas Hunt | Directed by Andrew Thomas Hunt

The Fight Machine is the second of two very different movies based on novels by Craig Davidson that Raven Banner debuted at this year’s edition of Fantasia. This one is adapted from his novel The Fighter. The other is The Breach, based on the novel of the same name by his perhaps more familiar pseudonym Nick Cutter.

Paul Harris comes from a rich family. He doesn’t have a care in the world until he mouths off to the wrong person and gets beaten bloody. Humiliated, he develops an obsession with bodybuilding and boxing, training under Lou. Rob Tully on the other hand comes from a working-class family and was, according to his father Reuben, born to fight. He trains with...

Missed The First Purge in theaters last July? Well, then, check out a few clips of Gerard McMurray's film, which kicks off today's Highlights. Also: Retro Nightmares returns with Sweet Sixteen and The Convent screenings and soundtrack release details for the RPG Vampyr.

Watch The First Purge Clips: From the Press Release: "Universal City, California – The origin story to the worldwide phenomenon that redefined horror, The First Purge, the fourth chapter in the thrilling franchise, arrives on Digital and the digital movie app Movies Anywhere on September 18, 2018 and on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray™, DVD and On Demand on October 2, 2018 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. When the New Founding Fathers of America look to push the crime rate below one percent for the rest of the year, a radical sociological theory that vents aggression is tested among an isolated community. But once the violence of oppressors clashes with the rage of the marginalized,...

Veteran press agents Jim Byk and Shane Marshall Brown are launching a new theatrical and entertainment publicity office, the duo announced to Deadline today. The new company will be called The Press Room.

Publicist Kelly Guiod will serve as vice president.

Both Byk and Brown move from Sam Rudy Media Relations; Brown, a senior press agent there, will work concurrently with Rudy and The Press Room before pivoting to the new company full time in 2019.

Clients to be represented by The Press Room include this season’s Broadway productions of Kenneth Lonergan’s The Waverly Gallery; King Lear starring Glenda Jackson; the world premiere of Gloria: A Life; and The Book of Mormon.

Also repped by The Press Room: The Royal Opera House’s Cinema Series for Trafalgar Releasing; Shakespeare’s Globe; Michael Morpurgo’s Private Peaceful; the world premiere of Jessica Dickey’s The Convent; New York Classical Theatre...

Just in time to kick off the Halloween season, five HD digitally remastered cult horror classics are coming to the big screen as part of the “Bloody Disgusting Presents Retro Nightmares” Cinema Series. Films screening every Thursday starting on September 27th, 2018 include The House on Sorority Row, Amityville: The Evil Escapes, Amityville: It’s About Time, Sweet Sixteen, and The Convent. We’re […]...

Stars: Steve Guttenberg, Nia Peeples, Patrick Renna, Carlos Bernard, Michael Winslow, Marion Ramsey, Leslie Easterbrook, Ralph Garman, Danny Woodburn, Noah Hunt, Diana Hopper | Written by Neil Elman, Mike Mendez, Ashley O’Neil | Directed by Mike Mendez

Back in 2012 I reviewed a Syfy channel monster movie called Arachnoquake, which saw an earthquake in New Orleans unleash fire-breathing giant spiders. Flash forward to today and we have a Syfy channel monster movie called Lavalantula which… features giant fire-breathing spiders unleashed by an earthquake And erupting volcano in Los Angeles! Retreading old ground? Technically yes. But given that this is a movie by Mike Mendez, there’s guaranteed to be some air of originality about it.

As the cover art states, Lavalantula is something of a Police Academy reunion. Not only does the film star Steve Guttenberg, but also featuress Michael Winslow, Marion Ramsay and Leslie Easterbrook – who buys the farm in truly spectacular fashion,...

To celebrate the October 16th release of the horror anthology Tales of Halloween, Daily Dead spoke to the filmmakers behind the movie to discuss the project, their individual contributions and more.

Mike Mendez is best known as the director of films like The Convent, The Gravedancers, Big Ass Spider! and, most recently, the horror comedy Lavalantula for Syfy. He’s both a producer and a director on Tales of Halloween, contributing the ’80s slasher-inspired “Friday the 31st.”

This project started with you and Axelle Carolyn, right?

Mike Mendez: It’s Axelle’s concept and she’s the one who got the ball rolling. She told a few of us about it, and I brought in Epic Pictures and got it financed. From that point on, it’s been Axelle’s and my burden to bear, for better or worse. A very fun burden to bear.

Was it a case of,...

The pint-sized burlap-clad Sam is back in the four-part graphic novel Days of the Dead from Michael Dougherty, the creator of Trick 'r Treat. Also: release details for Lavalantula, an excerpt from Mark Morris' The Society of Blood, and a special Halloween weekend iTunes release for Crazy Bitches.

Trick 'R Treat Graphic Novel: "From the twisted imagination of Trick ‘r Treat creator Michael Dougherty (director of the upcoming Krampus and Trick ‘r Treat 2 and screenwriter of X-Men 2 and Superman Returns) alongside a top-notch team of creators including writers Todd Casey and Zach Shields (Krampus), Marc Andreyko (Batwoman) and artists Fiona Staples (Saga), Stephen Byrne (Buffy/Angel), Stuart Sayger (Bram Stoker’s Death Ship) and Zid (Son of Merlin) comes this 4-part collection that paves the way for the Trick ‘r Treat film sequel.

Days of the Dead takes readers on a journey through Halloween history with 4 chilling new Trick ‘r Treat tales.

Mike Mendez, director of Big Ass Spider! and The Convent, will team with action icon Dolph Lundgren for Alaskan demon hunting tale, Don’t Kill It. Written by Dan Berk and Robert Olsen (directors of current fest hit, the wicked indie Body), Don’t Kill It has Lundgren’s demon hunter ‘team with a reluctant FBI agent to battle an ancient evil unleashed in a…

The post Don’t Kill It: Dolph to Demon Hunt for Big Ass Spider! Director appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Ready to crack open another horror title from 'The Vault?' This week, we're unleashing an early cult classic from legendary director George A. Romero. That's right, it's the original 1973 version of 'The Crazies!' And this week's commentators are two of the most well versed horror minds working in the industry today. Director Mike Mendez ('Big Ass Spider,' 'The Gravedancers,' 'The Convent') is paired up with the managing editor of Shock Till You Drop Ryan Turek to talk all about Romero and 'The Crazies.' 

Although technically George followed up his monstrous debut 'Night Of The Living Dead' with 'Season Of The Witch' (and 'There's Always Vanilla'), 'The Crazies' is what many consider his true follow-up to his defining zombie classic. Starring a young Lynn Lowry and Richard Liberty (who'd later play Logan aka Dr. Frankenstein in 'Day Of The Dead,...

The big names in horror are often recognized by both the genre community and mainstream entertainment culture, showered with accolades by horror fans and film critics alike. Directors like John Carpenter, Tobe Hooper, and Wes Craven have secured their place in film history, but many more talented directors go largely unsung for their hard work and noteworthy contributions to the genre. To remedy that, we recently kicked off a recurring segment that gives much-needed credit to those groundbreaking horror filmmakers who aren’t always given the praise they deserve. [You can check out part one here and part two here.] Since the first two installments proved popular, we're back with another round, and this time we present not five, but six more of our favorite underrated genre film directors. Mike Mendez Director of The Gravedancers and Big Ass Spider, Mendez and frequent collaborator Dave Parker (Coldwater, The Hills Run Red) helped to inspire the popular Showtime series Masters of Horror, but...

With Halloween in the air, we thought it would be fun to reach out to the horror genre's biggest and brightest stars - both legends in the industry and up-and-coming superstars - to ask them two quick questions: What's your biggest fear, and what's your favorite scary movie? Read on for the results!

Some of the results will make you laugh. Some will make you shiver... and some, well some are just too funny for words. Sit back and get ready to hear from the likes of Anne Rice, John Carpenter, Robert Englund, the "Ghost Adventures" crew, cast members from "The Walking Dead," George A. Romero, and many - Many - more. Who knows? You may even find some new movies you should check out or at least revisit.

Let the scares begin!

A

Jace Anderson

Writer - The Toolbox Murders (2004), Schism, Night of the Demons (2009), Mother of Tears

1) I...

Giant insect movies have been around for the better part of the last century. There’s just something about those tiny things that creep so many of us out running amok and squashing us for a change that seems to speak to moviegoers. When you couple that notion with the recent public adoration of made-for-cable campfests like Sharknado, Piranhaconda, or Mega-Whatever-Animal-Meets-Some-Other-Mega-Thing, it’s not hard to figure out why a movie called Big Ass Spider! (orginally known as Megaspider) would be a real thing. Well, as far as movies featuring giant CGI bugs go, Big Ass Spider! is far from the worst of the lot, but it’s also nothing that you need to rush out and see as soon as possible either.

The plot of the film is simple: Everyman exterminator, Alex (played by Heroes‘ Greg Grunberg), gets bitten by a brown recluse, resulting in a trip to the hospital.

It’s that time of year again… The leaves are changing color and falling to the ground, every single product has a pumpkin scented/flavored option, the stores are filled with monster masks and skeletal decorations, and horror fans all over are rejoicing and counting the days until our version of Christmas; Halloween. While I love all of these things just as much as all of you, there is one other reason that I look forward to October each year, and that is the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, which kicked off last night.

For more comprehensive info on exactly what the festival is all about, you can either check out our previous coverage of past years’ fests, or you can visit the festival’s official website. However, the short and skinny of it is that it is a genre fest specializing in horror, sci-fi, action, and cult films that...

If you're unfamiliar with Mike Mendez's classic The Convent from 2000, then you cats should fix that immediately by getting a copy of the DVD. Simply put, it rules. I mean really, really rules. As someone with Nun-o-phobia, I can tell you this one screwed me up good!

The movie is notable for quite a few things, including putting Bill Moseley back on the horror map after a fairly long absence. Hell, it's worth seeing for that alone. In any event... while doing press for his new film Big Ass Spider!, Mendez mentioned that he may just be about ready to head back into this demonic world for a sequel.

“Chaton Anderson [who scripted the original] wanted to revisit it, and I was like, ‘I only want to do it if it has a unique point of view,’ Mendez tells Fangoria. "For those who saw the first movie, there’s something that happened in...

Mike Mendez (The Gravedancers) has been making horror films since before the dawn of the new millennium. He has been drawing a great deal of attention over the last couple of months with his latest addition to the genre, Big Ass Spider. FEARnet had the opportunity to check in with the man himself about Big Ass Spider. The film has garnered rave reviews through its debut at SXSW. Big Ass Spider has been getting praise for good-naturedly laughing in the face of its farcical premise but still taking itself seriously enough to provide the viewer with a fun experience.

We talked with Mendez about his struggle to get approval from the produces to call the film Big Ass Spider, how he reluctantly learned to embrace digital effects, and what kind of distribution the film is headed for.

Can you give us a brief rundown of what we can look forward to in Big Ass Spider?...

Among the movies joining those already slated (see item here) for the fest, which runs Wednesday-Sunday, March 27-31 at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Ma, is the tongue-in-cheek big-bug epic Big Ass Spider (pictured above), fresh from its world premiere at this month’s SXSW. Accompanying this closing-night screening will be director Mike Mendez (of The Convent and The Gravedancers, who discussed Spider here), and producer Travis Stevens, also repped at Buff by E.L. Katz’s Cheap Thrills.

Also added to the Buff lineup are Chad Crawford Kinkle’s rural shocker Jug Face (see story here), with Kinkle and producer Andrew van den Houten on hand for this East Coast premiere; Guilty Of Romance, an eerie thriller from Suicide Club, Exte: Hair Extensions and Cold Fish director Sion Sono; The Rambler, an exercise in comic brutality from The Oregonian director and V/H/S co-star Calvin Reeder, also making its...

Among the movies joining those already slated (see item here) for the fest, which runs Wednesday-Sunday, March 27-31 at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Ma, is the tongue-in-cheek big-bug epic Big Ass Spider (pictured above), fresh from its world premiere at this month’s SXSW. Accompanying this closing-night screening will be director Mike Mendez (of The Convent and The Gravedancers, who discussed Spider here), and producer Travis Stevens, also repped at Buff by E.L. Katz’s Cheap Thrills.

Also added to the Buff lineup are Chad Crawford Kinkle’s rural shocker Jug Face (see story here), with Kinkle and producer Andrew van den Houten on hand for this East Coast premiere; Guilty Of Romance, an eerie thriller from Suicide Club, Exte: Hair Extensions and Cold Fish director Sion Sono; The Rambler, an exercise in comic brutality from The Oregonian director and V/H/S co-star Calvin Reeder, also making its...

Among the movies joining those already slated (see item here) for the fest, which runs Wednesday-Sunday, March 27-31 at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Ma, is the tongue-in-cheek big-bug epic Big Ass Spider (pictured above), fresh from its world premiere at this month’s SXSW. Accompanying this closing-night screening will be director Mike Mendez (of The Convent and The Gravedancers, who discussed Spider here), and producer Travis Stevens, also repped at Buff by E.L. Katz’s Cheap Thrills.

Also added to the Buff lineup are Chad Crawford Kinkle’s rural shocker Jug Face (see story here), with Kinkle and producer Andrew van den Houten on hand for this East Coast premiere; Guilty Of Romance, an eerie thriller from Suicide Club, Exte: Hair Extensions and Cold Fish director Sion Sono; The Rambler, an exercise in comic brutality from The Oregonian director and V/H/S co-star Calvin Reeder, also making its...

Among the movies joining those already slated (see item here) for the fest, which runs Wednesday-Sunday, March 27-31 at the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Ma, is the tongue-in-cheek big-bug epic Big Ass Spider (pictured above), fresh from its world premiere at this month’s SXSW. Accompanying this closing-night screening will be director Mike Mendez (of The Convent and The Gravedancers, who discussed Spider here), and producer Travis Stevens, also repped at Buff by E.L. Katz’s Cheap Thrills.

Also added to the Buff lineup are Chad Crawford Kinkle’s rural shocker Jug Face (see story here), with Kinkle and producer Andrew van den Houten on hand for this East Coast premiere; Guilty Of Romance, an eerie thriller from Suicide Club, Exte: Hair Extensions and Cold Fish director Sion Sono; The Rambler, an exercise in comic brutality from The Oregonian director and V/H/S co-star Calvin Reeder, also making its...

If Syfy hasn’t been filling all your low-budget giant monster movie needs, then Mike Mendez has you covered. The director of The Convent and Gravedancers is back with his latest film – the accurately titled Big Ass Spider. The name tells you all you need to know with this one – a giant alien spider escapes from a military research facility (naturally…) and is now destroying L.A. Scientists and a “clever exterminator” are called in to try and stop the beast once and for all and save Southern California from complete devastation. Mendez has launched a new trailer for the film (complete with a director’s intro where he tells viewers he’ll hunt them down and kill them if they pirate his movie), and it delivers pretty much...

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Mike Mendez is one of the great underrated directors of low budget splattery horror. I first came to notice him with The Convent back in 2000, a fun little haunted house/possession film starring the great Adrienne Barbeau. In the years since then he hasn't done much feature directing, but managed to pop out one of the best films in the After Dark Horrorfest series, Gravedancers. He has kept himself busy in the editing bay on any number of unrelated projects, but I'm glad to see him returning to features with his latest, Big Ass Spider, premiering as part of the Midnighters series at SXSW 2013. Here's the synopsis and trailer:When a giant alien spider escapes from a military lab and rampages across the city of...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

“The Convent” director Mike Mendez is all set to debut his new creature feature “Big Ass Spider” at SXSW this year. Judging from the trailer that has been carefully embedded below, the flick formerly known as “Mega Spider” looks beyond insane. Although I’m terrified of arachnids, I’m always down for a giant spider movie. However, Mendez’s offering looks like it’s own separate beast. Let’s call it a punk rock spider flick. I can’t wait to see it. Check out the film’s official synopsis: Big Ass Spider is a Tremors-style creature feature about a towering mutant arachnid rampaging across Los Angeles and the two unlikely heros who try to stop it. An exterminator (Greg Grunberg) and his sidekick (Lombardo Boyar) are caught in an epic battle when a military assault fails to contain a giant alien spider rampaging through the city of Los Angeles.

As we told you earlier today, Mike Mendez's latest film, Big Ass Spider! (formerly known as MegaSpider), is premiering at SXSW and we now have a trailer to share with you.

Starring Greg Grunberg, Lombardo Boyar, Clare Kramer and Ray Wise, the film concerns a giant, mutated spider that attacks Los Angeles and the two exterminators (Grunberg, Boyar) that join forces with the military to take the threat on.

Mendez previously helmed The Convent and The Gravedancers.

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Big Ass Spider will have it’s World Premiere as a part of the Midnighter’s lineup during SXSW 2013. Here’s the world premiere of the trailer with an introduction by director Mike Mendez.

When a giant alien spider escapes from a military lab and rampages across the city of Los Angeles, it is up to one clever exterminator and his security guard sidekick to kill the creature before the city is destroyed. Big Ass Spider! (aka Mega Spider).

Mendez has directed the horror films The Gravedancers that premiered at Tribeca, The Convent (Sundance) and Killers (Sudance). This is his 5th feature film. The screenwriter is Gregory Gieras (Dark Asylum, Beyond).

The cast includes Greg Grunberg, Lombardo Boyar, Clare Kramer, Ray Wise, Lin Shaye, and Patrick Bauchau.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mega-Spider/...

There's just something so very iconic about imagery involving a giant beast atop a building with jets and helicopters waging war against it. That's just what we have here in this latest image from Mike Mendez's (The Convent, The Gravedancers) Mega Spider. Dig it!

Battling the beast are Greg Grunberg ("Heroes", "Alias") and Lombardo Boyar ("The Bernie Mac Show"), who star as Alex, an exterminator, and Jose, his security guard sidekick, respectively. The unlikely heroes team up with an elite military unit that includes genre vets Clare Kramer (The Gravedancers) and Ray Wise (X-Men: First Class, "Twin Peaks").

Mendez explains what drew him to the project: "The script was hilarious, and as we got into the creature design and the casting, we had one objective in mind: fun! I love the tone of this movie and think audiences are going to have a wild time.”

Synopsis

Surviving extermination by nuclear eradication,...

In 2013, we will (hopefully) get a dose of arachnid terror in MegaSpider - the latest film from director Mike Mendez (The Convent, Gravedancers).  The film has been in post-production over the last few months (hey, bringing a giant spider to life is a tough task), but we hear it's nearing the finish line and, today, Mendez, let loose with a new image featuring the creature itself.

Starring Greg Grunberg, Lombardo Boyar, Clare Kramer and Ray Wise, the film concerns a giant, mutated spider that attacks Los Angeles and the two exterminators (Grunberg, Boyar) that join forces with the military to take the threat on.

Head inside for a larger look at the image!

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I hate spiders. I can’t stand the sight of them. If one happens to find its way onto any part of my anatomy, I will have mind-numbingly frightful nightmares for the next several months. My phobia is, to a certain degree, debilitating, not to mention completely pathetic. Strangely, I love watching motion pictures about arachnids. The bigger the spider, the happier I am. “The Convent” director Mike Mendez’s upcoming creature feature “Mega Spider” features an enormous eight-legged monstrosity wreaking havoc on Los Angeles. Not surprisingly, I’m throbbing like an egg sack in anticipation. Fantastic! This is what the official synopsis has to say about the plot: A 50-foot tall alien spider escapes from a military lab and rampages the city of Los Angeles. When a massive military strike fails, it is up to a team of scientists, soldiers, and one clever exterminator to kill the creature before the city is destroyed.

We are back with our 42nd episode of Choice Cuts, this time speaking with director Mike Mendez.  This maniac dished out The Convent, starring Adrienne Barbeau, and set a few nuns on fire.  Later, he went on to helm The Gravedancers, an After Dark Films release.  Currently, he's in post-production on MegaSpider, which finds Heroes' Greg Grunberg taking on a monstrous menace in Los Angeles.  Click on the player below to hear about the film and more!

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Same Shit, Different Show is usually a jovial podcast, informative and fun while offering fans various behind-the-scenes looks at all aspects of this crazy industry. We get that with Buz Danger's latest offering, too, and a whole lot more!

This week Buz sits down with Mike Mendez, director of The Convent and Gravedancers, for what begins as a lighthearted dialogue about his upcoming flick Mega Spider and winds up a cathartic therapy session for both men. There will be tears! Okay, maybe not, but it's a frank and honest discussion about the challenges of real relationships in the magical world of Hollyweird.

Head on over to Buz's Same Shit, Different Show website (that's .biz, fyi) and dig it.

Same Shit Different Show Trailer from Buz Wallick on Vimeo.

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Ever since the success of Paranormal Activity, everyone's walking around with cameras, setting up make-shift stunts, and passing it off as real footage. The latest to join the ever growing crop? The Convent, not to be confused with the Mike Mendez classic of the same name.

Not many details are available at press time, but as you can see by the trailer below, some nuns died and are now haunting the place where they croaked, which been refurbished into a student dorm. Things moving by themselves, people getting yanked, and chicks screaming ensue.

Yep, we've seen it all before, but you can't blame 'em for trying, right? Tell us your thoughts below after watching the teaser.

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Mike Mendez,who is best known for directing the films Gravedancers and The Convent,announced his next project Mega Spider.That's right horror's going old school with another big bug attacking a city.Mendez stated he's currently in pre-production with the film but gave us a sneak peak with this poster along with the synopsis. Plot Synopsis: Surviving extermination by nuclear eradication, a horrible alien mutation in arachnid form is now growing a…...

Two of the most underrated horror films of the last decade or so are Mike Mendez’s The Gravedancers and The Convent. According to Dread Central, he is back with the nature run amok flick Mega Spider. Production begins this fall.

Surviving extermination by nuclear eradication, a horrible alien mutation in arachnid form is now growing at an exponential rate and making its way toward downtown Los Angeles. Hot on its spindly heels is a crack military unit with absolute authority, led by an obsessively driven commander and his beautiful but lethal sidekick. Unfortunately for them, this mutant spider has an array of deadly defenses including the ability to virtually disappear through camouflage. But the creature’s real adversary quickly turns out to be a hot-shot local exterminator armed only with cocky attitude, some fast one-liners and his homemade gadgets. Joining forces with the military team, this blue-collar hero sets...

I hate arachnids, but, oddly enough, I love movies about spiders. Go figure. Tossing his demented little hat into the subgenre is director Mike Mendez, the mastermind behind the underrated demonic nun flick “The Convent” and the overrated supernatural thriller “The Gravedancers”. Below you’ll find some nifty artwork for the upcoming production, which is set to begin shooting very shortly. Even the story sounds like fun: Surviving extermination by nuclear eradication, a horrible alien mutation in arachnid form is now growing at an exponential rate and making its way toward downtown Los Angeles. Hot on its spindly heels is a crack military unit with absolute authority, lead by an obsessively driven commander and his beautiful but lethal sidekick. Unfortunately for them, this mutant spider has an array of deadly defenses including the ability to virtually disappear through camouflage. But the creature’s real adversary quickly turns out to be...

Madman Mike Mendez (Real Killers, The Convent, The Gravedancers) is back behind the camera for what promises to be another cinematic romp of insanity like only he can craft. Warning ... this one will not be for the arachnophobic!

Word has just come down that Mendez will be at the directorial helm of Mega Spider for Epic Pictures. Production is slated to begin this fall, and our skin is crawling already!

Synopsis

Surviving extermination by nuclear eradication, a horrible alien mutation in arachnid form is now growing at an exponential rate and making its way toward downtown Los Angeles. Hot on its spindly heels is a crack military unit with absolute authority, led by an obsessively driven commander and his beautiful but lethal sidekick. Unfortunately for them, this mutant spider has an array of deadly defenses including the ability to virtually disappear through camouflage. But the creature’s real adversary quickly...

Mike Mendez is about to apply his sinister sensibilities to the giant bug genre. The director of The Convent and Gravedancers is currently in pre-production on Mega Spider and we've landed the art and synopsis. Given his previous credits - and the producers behind this project - I suspect this will be a cut above the usual mammoth-spider-run-amoke fare. Shooting begins soon, we'll have a cast update for you shortly! Surviving extermination by nuclear eradication, a horrible alien mutation in arachnid form is now growing at an exponential rate and making its way toward downtown Los Angeles. Hot on its spindly heels is a crack military unit with absolute authority, lead by an obsessively driven commander and his beautiful but lethal sidekick. Unfortunately for them,...

Director Mike MendezMike Mendez is the director of The Convent and Gravedancers. He has won awards for his previous work The Convent and currently he is working on a film entitled Ov3rk!ll. The film is in the early phases, but shows a reality game show where thirty contests must battle a dozen+ killers for 50 million dollars. However, if you lose, you lose your life. The trailer, inside, is almost 2 minutes long and the clip is meant to entice financing for the completion of the project. Have a watch as the world turns bloody and chainsaws drown out any other noise in this brief clip for Ov3rk!ll inside.

*No synopsis available.

Director: Mike Mendez.

Writers: Mike Mendez and David Rosiak.

The complete trailer for the film here:

"0V3RK!LL" trailer from mike mendez on Vimeo.

Sources:

Ov3rk!ll at Shock Till You Drop

Mike Mendez...

Ever since Real Killers and The Convent debuted way back when, we knew one director we should be keeping an eye on was Mike Mendez. He struck back again a few years later with what's still one of the best films ever to hit the After Dark Horrorfest, The Gravedancers, and since then the madman himself has been cooking up something insane. Welcome to your first taste of what's to come in Ov3rk!ll!

Below you'll find the sales trailer for his next project, which he hopes to shoot later this year. As you'll see, it's home to just about everything we love about the genre ... famous killers, lots of gore, chainsaws, and Ray fuckin' Wise, who immediately ups the ante of whatever he's involved with.

Again, this is only a sales trailer and not a glimpse at the final product. Either way, though, we think you'll agree the premise rocks ... and knowing Mendez,...

A scriptwriter who laced her hit suburban youth comedy with shout-outs to both Dario Argento and Herschell Gordon Lewis would seem to be someone whose first horror screenplay is something to scream about. Whatever one thought of Juno (personally, this reviewer loved it), the idea of Diablo Cody turning her worldview to the fright genre seemed to promise a teen chiller more knowing and sharp-edged than the norm.

Disappointingly, such is not the case with Jennifer’S Body, which is also not as sexy as one would reasonably expect from a movie in which hottie-of-the-moment Megan Fox plays a figurative turned literal maneater. With women at the helm (Girlfight’s Karyn Kusama directed Cody’s script), it’s not surprising that the film avoids simplistic exploitation of Fox’s obvious charms. But neither does it allow her to turn on the full force of her seductive powers; her high-school antiheroine...