News

Shelley Hennig, the actress best known for playing Malia in the MTV series “Teen Wolf,” will star in a psychological thriller in the vein of “Rosemary’s Baby” called “Bibi.”

Screenwriter Christopher Beatty is making his directorial debut on “Bibi,” and the film is being produced by Glen Trotiner and co-produced by Logan Hunter.

“Bibi” tells the story of Vivian (Hennig), who lives in a secluded mansion along with her teenage daughter, Bibi. The two are increasingly haunted by the death of Bibi’s twin sister, which occurred in the house years earlier. Ultimately, the long-held secret of what really happened is finally revealed.

“Bibi” hopes to begin production this summer in New Jersey, and casting is underway for the teenage girl to play the title character. Stephanie Holbrook is the film’s casting director.

“The script was surprising right until the final page. It just needed to be made...

"Not everyone can walk in the light of truth, Sam, some will merely burn." Gravitas Ventures released this horror film on VOD this week and there's a trailer to go along with it, in case anyone might be interested in seeing this. The Nightmare Gallery is an indie horror film made by filmmaker Gene Blalock, and it's a paranormal thriller that goes down some dark paths. Amber Benson plays a renowned anthropology professor whose life is turned upside-down by the sudden, suspicious disappearance of her star pupil. When a package of paranormal artifacts arrives on her doorstep three years later, she becomes obsessed with this paranormal mystery that threatens her job, marriage, and sanity as she fights to find where this student went. Also with Kevin Chamberlin, Mat Devine, Mieko Hillman, and Rahul Parikh. Looks a bit odd yet still freaky. Here's the official trailer (+ poster) ...

While chestnuts roasting on an open fire and wrapped presents are signature hallmarks of the Christmas season, nothing signifies the holiday more than the Christmas tree. Every year, thousands upon thousands of them are sold to families so they can celebrate the holiday in style. But who are the people who sell those tress? The new documentary “Tree Man” explores the lives of New York City tree sellers, many of whom leave their families behind to endure harsh living conditions just for their business. The film primarily follows François, a father of three from Québec, who returns to the same Manhattan street corner every year to deliver the magic of the season. Watch an exclusive clip from the film below featuring François excitedly selling Christmas trees to his many fans.

Read More: ‘Tree Man’ Exclusive Trailer: New Documentary Explores The Lives of New York Christmas Tree Sellers

The film is...

In just a little over a month, Christmas season will be upon us, which means warm fires, caroling and, of course, Christmas trees. Every season, hundreds of Christmas tree sellers from across North American come to New York City to ply their trade on the streets. Jon Reiner and Brad Rothschild’s new documentary “Tree Man” explores the lives of those tree sellers, many of whom leave their homes and families behind and must endure living out of cars and vans for the holiday season. The film primarily follows François, a father of three from Québec, who returns to the same Manhattan street corner every year to deliver the magic of the season. Watch an exclusive trailer for the film below.

Read More: Sundance Review: Low-Key And Wistful ‘Christmas, Again’

Co-director Brad Rothschild is best known as a producer of such films like “Homeland,” about the love story of an...

Go Here if you want to listen to the podcast about the newest horror phenomenon that got the horror folks jumpin outta their pants in back into the movie theater. Having written a review about the damn movie I think ya’ll know my humble opinion on the subject. If not than this podcast will serve to create a delightful positive synergy around Drew Goddard’s first offering in the director seat. This week on Dead Air Jeff Konopka, Shawn Savage and James Harris discuss the finer points of newsworthy horror, what we’ve been watching and our feature, The Cabin in the Woods.

Note: We will not be posting the trailer to The Cabin in the Woods because it gives too much away. Don’t let this movie get spoiled for you. See it in the theater.

Instead enjoy this montage demonstrating with great ease how you too may...

by Ryan Rigley

What happens when you take TV shows like "House" and "Fringe," get them really drunk, lock them in a room together, and blast some of Barry White's greatest hits? We'll give you a hint. It begins with "Witch" and ends with "Doctor." Still can't figure it out? From the demented mind of Brandon Seifert, "Witch Doctor" is the most awesome medical horror comic to date. (In fact, "Witch Doctor" might be the only medical horror comic to date.)

With a unique combination of spine-tingling terror and medical drama, there's no doubt that "Witch Doctor" would be an immensely successful TV show. If people love shows like "Nurse Jackie" and "True Blood," then odds are they'll enjoy a show that seamlessly smashes the two of them together.

"Witch Doctor" also happens to be the first official title published by Skybound Entertainment, "Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman's imprint through Image Comics.

Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow added to the cast of her highly anticipated Navy Seal Team 6 and its hunt for Osama bin Laden drama with Deadline reporting today that The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions star Harold Perrineau joined the film in an unknown role. Perrineau, last seen in the indie thrillers Seeking Justice and The Killing Jar as well as ABC’s Lost, joined cast members Kyle Chandler, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, Chris Pratt, Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong and Edgar Ramirez on the movie. Bigelow, screenwriter Mark Boal and producers Sony Pictures and Annapurna Pictures remained committed to its spring start of principal photography despite the Pentagon investigating charges made by Rep. Pete King (R-n.Y.).

Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow added to the cast of her highly anticipated Navy Seal Team 6 and its hunt for Osama bin Laden drama with Deadline reporting today that The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions star Harold Perrineau joined the film in an unknown role. Perrineau, last seen in the indie thrillers Seeking Justice and The Killing Jar as well as ABC’s Lost, joined cast members Kyle Chandler, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, Chris Pratt, Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong and Edgar Ramirez on the movie. Bigelow, screenwriter Mark Boal and producers Sony Pictures and Annapurna Pictures remained committed to its spring start of principal photography despite the Pentagon investigating charges made by Rep. Pete King (R-n.Y.).

Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow added to the cast of her highly anticipated Navy Seal Team 6 and its hunt for Osama bin Laden drama with Deadline reporting today that The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions star Harold Perrineau joined the film in an unknown role. Perrineau, last seen in the indie thrillers Seeking Justice and The Killing Jar as well as ABC’s Lost, joined cast members Kyle Chandler, Joel Edgerton, Jason Clarke, Chris Pratt, Jessica Chastain, Mark Strong and Edgar Ramirez on the movie. Bigelow, screenwriter Mark Boal and producers Sony Pictures and Annapurna Pictures remained committed to its spring start of principal photography despite the Pentagon investigating charges made by Rep. Pete King (R-n.Y.).

Hey Fiends! Happy President’s Day to those in the states. I’m supremely jealous of you if you are off work. Here are this week’s DVD & Blu-Ray Releases. We have some Coffin Joe for you as well as the killer bird film, Birdemic and more. Click beyond the break for the list.

All Descriptions of the following titles are provided by Amazon.com unless otherwise noted. If you plan on buying a flick from this list, please click on the links provided or click on the cover as it helps us pay the bills around here. Also, unlike most sites, we provide the Netflix widget which we think is pretty convenient to add these films to your queue. If you don’t have Netflix, feel free to click on “Free Trial” and try it out!

——————————————–

The 7th Hunt

Format: DVD

—————–

From IMDb.com – For Gothic Callie, her deaf sister Ariel,...

Your Weekly Source for Blu-Ray and DVD Release News

There’s a lot to choose from this week. Criterion Collection adds three, two old and one new… Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis star in Sweet Smell Of Success about a powerful columnist who tries to keep his sister from marrying a jazz musician; Senso is an Italian classic about a countess and a lieutenant who pursue a self-destructive relationship; Fish Tank tells an edgy, inspirational story of a disadvantaged British girl who longs to be a hip hop dancer. Relish in 80′s buddy cop cinema with Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte in 48 Hours. Admire the melding of nature and art in Rivers & Tides, a documentary about Andy Goldsworthy. Have a frighteningly silly time with the “animals attack” schlockfest fan-fave Birdemic. Robert Duvall shines as an eccentric recluse planning his own funeral party in Get Low, Vincent Cassell gets dangerous as...

A look at what's new on DVD today:

"Black Lightning" (2009)

Directed by Dmitriy Kiselev and Aleksandr Voytinskiy

Released by Universal Studios

"Wanted" director Timur Bekmambetov produced this Russian action flick about a man and his flying car, using the same effects team that worked on all of his previous films including "Night Watch." A Russian trailer is here since where we're going, we don't need to understand words.

"7th Hunt" (2010)

Directed by Jon Cohen

Released by Vanguard Cinema

A motley group of young adults are abducted and forced to fend for their survival at an abandoned military training center in the middle of nowhere in Jon Cohen's thriller.

"Alien Vs. Ninja" (2010)

Directed by Seiji Chiba

Released by Funimation

A selection of last year's New York Asian Film Festival, Seiji Chiba's crazy genre mashup may just be "the best and wittiest movie ever to air at 2am on the SyFy Channel" in the future,...

Vincent Gallo and Michael Madsen are attached to star in the indie feature "Loosies" for Verdi Corrente Prods. "Nurse Jackie" and "Twilight" actor Peter Facinelli, who wrote the screenplay, is already set to star.

The story line follows a New York City pickpocket who is confronted by a pregnant woman with whom he had a one-night stand.

Vcp managing partner Michael Corrente ("Outside Providence") is producing and directing the project, which begins filming in July. Vcp managing partner Chad A. Verdi is also producing along with Glenn Ciano, who directed the company's forthcoming "Inkubus."

"Madsen and Gallo are an incredible duo," Corrente said. "They elevate the project to a whole new level."

Gallo recently starred in Francis Ford Coppola's "Tetro." Madsen recently starred in "The Killing Jar" and "Hell Ride."

The newly formed Vcp just wrapped its first feature, the Robert Englund-toplined horror film "Inkubus," which they hope to spin into a franchise.

It debuted in January at the Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema, and got picked up for distribution at the European Film Market last month. IMDb says its USA release date was last week Friday, the 19th, but I couldn’t find it on DVD on any of the major sites, nor does Box Office Mojo show it as a theatrical release. So, I dunno… IMDb isn’t always entirely accurate. Although, it may have been a really limited theatrical release – not enough to register.

What’s it about? A stranger armed with a shotgun takes seven patrons hostage in a remote roadside diner. But as the body count increases, the desperate survivors discover that one of the hostages may be even more dangerous than their captor.

Harry Perrineau joins a cast that includes Michael Madsen being Michael Madsen (he seems to play the same kind of character in every film...

Mar 21, 2010

In an era of filmmaking dominated by giant ensembles, bloated scripts, and CGI-heavy presentations, it can be refreshing to find a pared-down indie thriller with one set and a limited cast. The desire to stumble on to something that can truly be called Hitchcockian is likely to lead a few theatre goers to The Killing Jar, a low budget flick with a few recognizable faces opening in limited release this weekend. Sadly, writer/director Mark Young's film should serve more as a cautionary tale of how easy it is to fall off the rope ...Read more at MovieRetriever.com...

Action films that take place in one setting might come off as boring, but not The Killing Jar. The Killing Jar does fall into the action genre, but this Mark Young production keeps the intensity up by unleashing one sinister character after another. In fact, it is hard to tell who is the central villain as each person is badder than the last. However, The Killing Jar is centrally a well timed and well paced film that utilizes one time period with one set to focus on the characters.

One villain is having a really bad, or a crazy day and he takes out his frustrations on the local deputy. The local policeman does not stand a chance against a murderous tough only know as Doe (Michael Madsen). Doe does not stop with the deputy. Soon the kitchen help, customers, and anyone with a pulse goes down to Doe's illogical vengeance.

The Killing Jar seems to be sneaking up to its March 19th release date with barely a mention, until now. The Killing Jar is a whose who of the independent acting world. The cast includes Danny Trejo (Heat), Patrick Durham (Cabin Fever 2), Lindsey Axelsson (Cabin Fever 2), Lew Temple (House), Harold Perrineau (Felon) and Michael Madsen (The Bleeding). The film involves mystery and a madman with a shotgun. Who is really the killer? The film will be released straight to DVD March 19 through New Films International. Have a look at the somewhat thrilling trailer below, that shows a lot of the action from the film.

A synopsis for The Killing Jar:

"A stranger armed with a shotgun who takes seven patrons hostage at a remote roadside diner. As the body count rises, the survivors discover that one of the hostages might be more dangerous than their captor" (Bloody).

Release Date: March 19, 2010.

Director/writer: Mark Young.

Edgar Allan Poe's Ligeia recently played at the 18th Annual International Film Festival and will likely make further festivals until releasing in 2010 (a prediction). Distribution is being handled through Darclight Films and Ligeia stars Wes Bentley (Ghost Rider), Eric Roberts (The Steam Experiment), Michael Madsen (The Killing Jar) and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. The film involves trapping the souls of the living in vessels to achieve immortality. A dark and twisted tale, the trailer for Ligeia can be found below with a synopsis until an official release date is found.

A synopsis for Ligeia here:

"Based on the classic Edgar Allan Poe short story Ligeia, the film is about a young, successful writer and scholar, Jonathan Merrick, who happens to fall under the spell of the bewitchingly, irresistibly beautiful Ligeia. Ligeia knows that she will die of a rare cancer and has decided to fight death by using her mystic powers to...

Oliver Stone and Hugo Chavez, sitting on a tree... S-p-i-n-n-i-n-g. Back again with the best, worst and weirdest updates from the movie world, including director Oliver Stone's trip down to South of the Border, being buddy-buddies with controversial heads of state. That gave me an idea. How about a new Rambo movie where he rescues lefty filmmakers from mad dictators? What's that, you say? There's already a new Rambo movie in the works?

The Good

• After three months of gracing the Tokyo skyline with awesomeness, Japan's life-size Gundam statue was supposed to be dismantled as scheduled last Wednesday, but a nasty typhoon is delaying the deconstruction for a few days (Police should start looking if there aren't any otaku convention with a giant wind machine). A little over a week ago, a Japanese couple managed to celebrate the most epic wedding ever by getting married in front of the statue and in costume,...

Brett Ratner may not be making that "Guitar Hero" movie that he's dreamed about, but he is getting the chance to help launch the new game with a commercial. And he's excited -- like tweeting about it excited.

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, those wildfires are still burning, and the faces of the Twitter-Wood feed are still watching the smoke fly. Richard Kelly and Rose McGowan caught a glimpse of the flames, while Kevin Smith linked to what the little actress from "Jersey Girl" is up to these days, and Miranda Cosgrove locked herself out of her home. Find out what happened and see the proudest display of nerd-pride on the Internet today in the Twitter-Wood report for September 1, 2009.

Twitter Pic of the Day:

@wilw http://twitpic.com/g1n27 - I am seriously thinking Geek right now.

-Wil Wheaton, Writer/Actor ("Stand by Me," "Star Trek: The Next Generation...

Dive in, because I’ve got behind-the-scenes commentary from Jon Favreau, Ashton Kutcher, and Jeremy Piven in today’s handpicked crop of Twitter-Wood tweets. Favreau offers some praise up for Mickey Rourke’s work thus far in “Iron Man 2,” and Kutcher shares his thoughts on the foreign dubbing process for his new film “Spread,” while Piven points out the common links between his new movie “The Goods” and this summer’s box office success story “The Hangover.”

I also rounded up a few thoughts from film folks about yet another entertainment industry death, comedian and impersonator, Fred Travelena, as well as Bernard Madoff’s sentencing today, and Denzel Washington’s latest post about Michael Jackson. You find all of these, a picture taken by “Buffy” actress Amber Benson at one of my local Chicago comic book shops, and much more in the Twitter-Wood update for June 29, 2009, after the click.

Harold Perrineau is safely off the island and away from Lost so has signed to executive produce and star in a drama Case 219. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the independent production will be based on Walter Dean Myers’ Shooter. The trade says the 2005 novel “centers on the aftermath of a high school shooting from the perspective of three misfit teens.”

The cast will include Evan Ross, Leven Rambin and Taylor Nichols, and most likely Leslie Hope.

Since completing his role on the ABC hit series, he has completed similar duties on The Killing Jar, costarring with Michael Madsen. As an actor, he will next be seen in ABC;’s forthcoming The Unusuals.

Myers is a well regarded young adult author of fiction and on-fiction titles. His Fallen Angels made the American Library Association's list of frequently challenged books, due to rough language and its depiction of the Vietnam War. He released a sequel,...

Former "Lost" castaway Harold Perrineau is coming aboard to executive produce and star in the indie drama "Case 219."

The film is based on the novel "Shooter" by award-winning children's book author Walter Dean Myers and centers on the aftermath of a high school shooting from the perspective of three misfit teens.

Christian Faber is producing.

Perrineau joins a supporting cast that includes Evan Ross, Leven Rambin and Taylor Nichols. Leslie Hope is in negotiations.

He recently wrapped up starring in and executive producing the indie film "The Killing Jar" with Michael Madsen and next appears in the upcoming ABC drama "The Unusuals."

Perrineau is repped by Apa. Ross and Hope are repped by Icm. Rambin is repped by Endeavor and Talent Works reps Nichols.

New York -- First Line Entertainment and producer Edward Bass are partnering to launch three features, including the thriller "As Good as Dead," starring Andie MacDowell, Cary Elwes and Brian Cox.

The other projects are Nick Stagliano's modern-day Western "Good Day for It" and "The Shadow of the Shah," a biopic about the Shah of Iran's twin sister.

"Dead" stars Elwes as Ethan, a left-wing extremist who goes on the run after killing the reverend (Cox) behind a white supremacist group. MacDowell plays the widow who hunts him down with two redneck accomplices (Frank Whaley, Matt Dallas). Jess Wexler plays Ethan's estranged wife, and Laura Harring plays his neighbor.

Jonathan Mossek is directing the feature, which he wrote with Erez Mossek and Eve Pomerance. Hubert Gibbs and Bass are producing, and Jonathan Pillot and Heidi Jo Markel are exec producing. Principal photography is under way in New York.

"Dead...

Filed under: Action, Drama, Horror

It's only because Mark Young's upcoming The Killing Jar sounds like a nifty cross between hostage thriller and monster movie that I think this piece is worthy of note -- but there's also the fact that the film now has guys like Michael Madsen, Harold Perrineau, and Danny Trejo attached. And anyone who loves action / horror / B-movies in general has to be somewhat intrigued by that particular ensemble.

Mr. Young, who last year gave us the half-decent Tooth and Nail as part of the After Dark Horrorfest, will direct his own screenplay. The title is indeed The Killing Jar, and according to The Hollywood Reporter, it's about "a stranger armed with a shotgun who takes seven patrons hostage at a remote roadside diner. As the body count rises, the survivors discover that one of the hostages might be more dangerous than their captor." Count me in for this one.

Harold Perrineau is being held hostage for his next big-screen role.

The former "Lost" star has joined the cast of the indie thriller "Killing Jar," with Michael Madsen and Danny Trejo.

Perrineau also is executive producing the Morningstar Films project, with the indie company's John Sachar producing. Filming started during the weekend in North Carolina.

Mark Young ("Tooth and Nail") is directing a script he penned about a stranger armed with a shotgun who takes seven patrons hostage at a remote roadside diner. As the body count rises, the survivors discover that one of the hostages might be more dangerous than their captor.

Perrineau, who is repped by Apa, plays one of the hostages, a traveling salesman named John.

The actor recently appeared in the one-hour ABC drama "The Unusuals," which was picked up by the network for midseason. His film credits include "The Matrix," "28 Weeks Later" and "Romeo + Juliet.