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A brief moment that determined the vastly different destinies, fortunes and identities of two sisters from Yunnan on the China-Myanmar border is at the heart of “The Unseen Sister,” a mix of crime suspense and family drama that takes time to warm up before coming home strongly in the second half. Adapted from elements of Zhang Yueran’s 2017 novella, “Sister” is the most commercial film yet by leading Taiwanese filmmaker Midi Z. After opening with a bang domestically on Oct. 26, “Sister” launched internationally in competition at the Tokyo Film Festival.

As with much of Midi Z’s work, his latest film touches on aspects of his personal background. Of Chinese descent and born in Myanmar, Midi Z moved to Taiwan as a teenager and became a Taiwanese citizen. Interestingly, several of his credits on the end roll appear as “Midi Z,.” Though most of “Sister” takes place in Beijing, the...

Only a few years after her acting debut in 2003 on the Irish medical drama series The Clinic, Saoirse Ronan was offered the role of Susie Salmon in The Lovely Bones, a 2009 supernatural thriller film directed by Peter Jackson.

Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon in The Lovely Bones, capturing a poignant moment as she looks towards the afterlife (Credit: Paramount Pictures)

According to The Los Angeles Times, her parents were hesitant to accept the part because of the rape and murder content in the film based on Alice Sebold’s award-winning and bestselling 2002 novel of the same name.

Filming Challenges and Saoirse’s Maturity Beyond Her Years

Production for the movie commenced in October 2007, filming in Pennsylvania, USA, and New Zealand. During the shoot, Saoirse was just 13 years old, celebrating her 14th birthday on April 12, 2008.

Saoirse Ronan posing with her father Paul Ronan at the Irish premiere of The Lovely Bones...

Exclusive: Ron Ninio, whose crime drama Kvodo was remade for Showtime as Your Honor, has signed with CAA for worldwide representation.

He is best known for co-creating Israeli drama Kvodo with Shlomo Mashiach and for executive producing the U.S. remake starring Bryan Cranston, which is into its second season.

The show, about a respected judge who decides to hide the truth after his son kills a mobster’s son in a hit-and-run collision, has been one of the successful scripted formats of recent years. Ten remakes have been commissioned around the world, for the likes of Ard Degato and Orf in Germany and Austria, TF1 in France and SonyLIV in India.

Ninio is currently fast-tracking several shows, including Dust and Coal, which he presented at Series Mania in Lille, France, last month. He is co-creator and director of the drama, which Ronen Ben Taj and Morgan Le Moine are...

Exclusive: The Expendables outfit Millennium Media is underway at its Bulgarian studio Nu Boyana on horror-thriller Abyzou, which is loosely based on a Jewish folk tale.

Starring will be Nick Blood (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Emm Wiseman (Winchester), Allan Corduner (Homeland), Paul Kaye (Game Of Thrones), Daniel Ben Zenou (7 Days In Entebbe) and Jodie Jacobs (The West End’s Rock Of Ages).

Set in a Hasidic community, the pic follows a family struggling with unresolved trauma which finds itself at the mercy of an ancient demon bent on destroying them from the inside.

Directed by Oliver Park (Strange Events), script comes from Hank Hoffman (The Clinic) from a story by Hoffman and Millennium’s Jonathan Yunger.

Jeffrey Greenstein, Les Weldon, Yunger and Yariv Lerner of Millennium and screenwriter Hoffman will produce with Millennium’s Sam Schulte as co-producer. Millennium’s Avi Lerner, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson and Tanner Mobley are executive producers.

While hardly a new topic within the genre, the horror of pregnancy has been tackled from major Hollywood productions “Rosemary’s Baby” and “The Seventh Sign” to indie fare like “Devil’s Due” and “Prevenge.” Even efforts from around the world, like the French “Inside” or Australian “The Clinic” have tackled the issue, which opens the door for Indonesia to go head-long into the subject matter with first-timer Ook Budiyono’s new feature “Fetus.”

In the early stages of pregnancy, young mother Dinar (Jill Gladys) and her husband Randu (Reuben Elishama Hadju) are ecstatic to learn all’s going well and to carry on with their lives as the day approaches. As she begins to get stressed out, thinking something’s wrong with her, he decides to hire live-in nurse Susan (Rhesa Putri) to help care for her only for the attacks to continue and intensify. At his wits’ end, he comes...

"This is user friendly... They're going to get respectful treatment." There is nothing more important than healthcare. We need it more than ever nowadays. With so many people struggling financially and medically, a doctor who listens and understands, and provides care judgement-free can make all the difference. The Clinic is a short documentary made by filmmaker Elivia Shaw, profiling one generous healthcare provider who gives free support to those who need it most. Amidst a devastating opioid epidemic, a needle exchange and free clinic operates in the shadows of Fresno, California. Dr. Marc Lasher provides care out of a "dingy old school bus", but that doesn't matter. As you'll see with this short, his compassion and openness and care can actually change lives. This doc's power is in its rawness, by showing us real compassion at its most pure. Thanks to Short of the Week for the tip on this.

AFI Fest said Friday that I Am Not Alone, Garin Hovannisian’s documentary about the 2018 Armenian revolution, won this year’s feature film Audience Award, topping the list of prizes given for the annual festival that wrapped its run last night in Hollywood.

The festival also said today that it will hold its 2020 edition next October 15-22.

Among the winners unveiled today were Sonia K. Hadad’s Exam, which took the Grand Jury Prize in the Live Action Short category, while Niki Lindroth von Bahr’s Something to Remember won the Grand Jury Prize for Animated Short. The wins make both films Oscar-eligible in those categories.

The festival’s documentary competition resulted in a tie, with Grand Jury prizes going to Sophia Nahil Allison’s A Love Song for Latasha and Elivia Shaw’s The Clinic.

Here’s the list of winners:

Audience Award – Feature

I Am Not Alone

(Dir...

Garin Hovannisian’s documentary I Am Not Alone wins 2019 edition audience award.

AFI Fest has moved up its 2020 edition to October as festival brass take advantage of a “more competitive” slot that will see the event start within one month of Toronto.

Next year’s edition will run from October 15-22, 2020, bringing the festival out of its traditional November slot and positioning it not long after Toronto International Film Festival, which will take place from September 10-20, 2020.

A festival spokesperson said, “As the calendar gets more congested at this time of year, we saw this an as opportunity to shift...

Peaky Blinders' season five sees Irish actor Emmett J. Scanlan play Billy Grade, an ex-professional footballer and budding singer who reluctantly gets drafted into the Peaky Blinders gang. Having starred in numerous TV shows and movies, including Guardians of the Galaxy and The Fall, Scanlan is no stranger to our screens, but many of you probably know him best from his tenure on Hollyoaks. His résumé continues to impress with an upcoming role in the British crime drama Gangs of London. You can currently catch him on Treadstone, USA's Jason Bourne TV spinoff.

If you've been watching Peaky Blinders and wanted to know more about this scene-stealing star, read on for all the details.

Related: The Shelby Family May Be Fictional, but Peaky Blinders Definitely Isn't Just a TV Drama Emmett J. Scanlan was born on Jan. 31, 1979, in Dublin, Ireland. He studied history and sociology at Maynooth University before...

Five years after it launched, the Mammoth Lakes Film Festival finished another edition having screened 80 films, with 63 in competitive categories over May 22-26.

“A Great Lamp” took the narrative feature prize and with it a $1,000 cash award, $10,000 Panavision Camera rental grant and $10,000 Light Iron post-production package. In addition, star Max Wilde received an honorable mention for his performance and animation. The international winner, with a $500 cash prize, was the Indian film “Cat Sticks,” directed by Ronny Sen. Kazakhstan’s “No Exit” won the audience award for narrative with a $1,000 in cash and $5,000 Panavision camera rental grant.

“Our fifth festival was nothing short of spectacular,” said festival director Shira Dubrovner. “We are thrilled to have been able to host over 100 attending filmmakers and showcase their fabulous and thought-provoking films to our audiences.”

Besides the films, the event honored The Groundlings comedy troupe with the Spirit of the Sierra Award. Former Groundlings Julia Sweeney,...

Blu-ray, DVD & Digital Release Date: Sept. 16, 2014

Price: DVD $119.98, Blu-ray $149.99, Limited Edition Blu-ray with Figurine $199.99

Studio: Starz/Anchor Bay

The dust has settled and the blood-stained ground is quiet for Spartacus. But for those who haven’t witnessed the epic struggle of a gladiator forced into combat who would become the stuff of legend, the journey is about to begin.

The entire Spartacus TV show is collected in these box sets.

Every release of the Spartacus series, especially the Blu-ray versions, have been spectacular both in their visual representation and sound. The Blu-ray discs are reference material without a doubt, and we don’t expect any less from this new complete series release.

If you’re a fan of the sandal epic then you really Need this set if you don’t already own them.

The series will be released in the standard Blu-ray + Digital HD with Ultraviolet, as well as...

Stars: Tabrett Bethell, Andy Whitfield, Freya Stafford | Written and Directed by James Rabbitts

Allegedly inspired by true events, but seemingly more inspired by the urban legend of waking up in a bath of ice with an organ removed, The Clinic tells the story of Cameron (Whitfield) and his pregnant fiancee Beth (Bethell) who are forced off the road by a mysterious driver whilst they are on their way to spend Christmas with their relatives. Choosing to spend the night in a sleazy motel rather than carry on with their journey following the late-night accident Cameron goes off to find some food. Like all good (and not so good) horror movies set in a sleazy motel that turn out to be a big mistake. Returning to their motel room he finds Beth, and their unborn baby gone.

So far so cliched right?

Well maybe not. The Clinic turns proceedings on their...

Lynette Curran, Susie Porter, Gillian Jones and Lisa Hensley are attached to star in a 30-minute drama which tackles sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.

A Priest in the Family is based on a short story by Irish writer Colm Tóibín about an elderly woman whose son, a parish priest, is accused of molesting his former students.

The producers aim to raise $40,000 via crowd-funding site Indiegogo (http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-priest-in-the-family/x/2213312) by August 5, with plans to start shooting in the hamlet of Portland, near Lithgow, on September 28. Peter Humble wrote the screenplay and will share the directing duties with the producer Anni Finsterer.

.We are making a film that tells the emotional tale of how clergy sexual abuse affects not just individuals but also families and communities,. Anni said. .We want to make people more informed and thereby give them a voice.

.It is a simply told tale...

DVD Release Date: Sept. 17, 2013

Price: DVD $45.99

Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment

Connie Britton (TV’s American Horror Story) and Hayden Panettiere (TV’s Heroes) play rival country music stars in ABC’s TV show Nashville.

Britton is veteran star Rayna James and Panettiere is new diva Juliette Barnes. When they’re not battling each other, they’re dealing with battles in the rest of their lives.

Barnes’ drug-addicted mother is an embarrassment and an upsetting force, as our the rest of Barnes’ personal relationship. And James is dealing with a cheating husband (Eric Close, TV’s Suits), an overbearing father and her love for fellow musician Deacon Claybourne (Charles Esten, TV’s Enlightened). Meanwhile, up-and-comer musicians Avery Barkley (Jonathan Jackson, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles), Gunnar Scott (Sam Palladio, TV’s Stoke) and Scarlett O’Conner (Clare Bowen, The Clinic) are doing what they can to make it to the big stage.

The jury members for this year’s Mumbrella Awards can be today revealed.

The 27 jurors are among the most senior and experienced panels seen for an industry awards.

The official closing date for the Mumbrella Awards is this Friday.

The chairman of the juries is Telstra’s chief marketing officer Mark Buckman.

The jury features marketers from some of Australia’s biggest brands, recruiters and headhunters who have had a hand in some of the biggest roles in the industry and consultants whose expertise spans the entire landscape. To minimise conflict, there are few people on the jury with current agency roles, although many of the jurors have in depth experience on agency side.

The jury:

Chairman of juries – Mark Buckman, chief marketing officer, Telstra

Peter Cornelius, principal, Kinesis Media Nick Williams, principal, Williams International William Leach and Sangeeta Leach, owners, The Leach Partnership Esther Clerehan, owner, Clerehan David Thomason,...

Australian actor Harold Hopkins died on Saturday, aged 67 of asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma in a Sydney hospice.

Most recently Hopkins was seen in Underbelly: A Tale of Two Cities as Melbourne gun dealer George Joseph and as Chester in the film The Clinic.

Hopkins also featured in Gallipoli (1981, dir: Peter Weir) as local bully Les McCann, the 1983 Mark Egerton film The Winds of Jarrah and Bruce Beresford’s 1976 film Don’s Party, alongside Graham Kennedy (pictured) and Ray Barrett.

The ABC reports that Hopkins recently auditioned for the role of Henry C Gatz, Gatsby’s estranged father, for Baz Luhrmann’s remake, just days after being diagnosed with cancer.

Hopkins is survived by his twin brother John and five other siblings, Michael, Naomi, Gregory, Suzanne and Margaret.

Harold Hopkins, who appeared in several important Australian movies including Gallipoli (right), The Year My Voice Broke, Don's Party, and The Club, died yesterday, Dec. 10, at Neringah Private Hospital in Wahroonga, north Sydney. According to reports, his death was caused by the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma.

Hopkins, who was 67, is supposed to have been exposed to the cancer right after finishing high school, while working as an apprentice carpenter sheeting asbestos in Queensland in the early 1960s.

Following on the footsteps of his twin brother John, Harold Hopkins (born on March 6, 1944, in Toowoomba, Queensland) graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1967. He then performed onstage and began his feature-film career in 1969, landing a supporting part in Michael Powell's Age of Consent, starring James Mason and Helen Mirren.

Film roles were sporadic throughout the 1970s — among those was an appearance in Bruce Beresford's comedy-drama Don's Party — though Hopkins...

To mark the release of The Clinic on DVD 17th October, we’ve been given three copies of the movie to give away. You can pre-order your copy here.

Inspired by terrifying true events, this unsettling and shocking film follows young couple Cameron (Andy Whitfield - Spartacus TV Series) and his pregnant fiancée Beth (Tabrett Bethell – The Legend of the Seeker) as they travel across Australia on Christmas Eve 1979.

This seemingly normal trip is thrown off kilter when the couple are forced to take shelter in a remote hotel. When Cameron leaves Beth briefly to get some food, his return yields a nightmare he could never have prepared himself for as he finds the room empty and Beth vanished.

Dark, tense and chilling, viewers will be on the edge of their sofas as every mother’s worst nightmare unfolds when Beth awakes alone in an isolated clinic in a bathtub...

Inspired by terrifying true events, this unsettling and shocking film follows young couple Cameron (Andy Whitfield – Spartacus TV Series) and his pregnant fiancée Beth (Tabrett Bethell – The Legend of the Seeker) as they travel across Australia on Christmas Eve 1979.

This seemingly normal trip is thrown off kilter when the couple are forced to take shelter in a remote hotel. When Cameron leaves Beth briefly to get some food, his return yields a nightmare he could never have prepared himself for as he finds the room empty and Beth vanished.

Dark, tense and chilling, viewers will be on the edge of their sofas as every mother’s worst nightmare unfolds when Beth awakes alone in an isolated clinic in a bathtub of ice with a very fresh C section. And no baby.

As desperate Beth struggles to understand the full horror of what has happened to her, she discovers that she...

The movies teach us many wise things. Chief amongst them: if you need medical attention, avoid every place we're about to talk about...

We’ve all been there. You fall asleep in a seedy motel room only to wake in a sinister medical facility, discovering not only that you have been nocturnally abducted, but also that the baby you were hitherto carrying has been exchanged for a nasty-looking surgical wound nestled neatly below your navel.

This everyday occurrence befalls Tabrett Bethell in The Clinic, the Australian shock-horror that is out now on DVD. And taking its unorthodox medical practice as inspiration, here’s a selection of other medical facilities from the movies that you wouldn’t like to find yourself in.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest

Jack Nicholson’s McMurphy chose the secure unit over a jail term thinking it was the easy option. Wrong.

Nurse Ratched’s...

The Clinic

Stars: Tabrett Bethell, Andy Whitfield, Freya Stafford | Written and Directed by James Rabbitts

Allegedly inspired by true events, but seemingly more inspired by the urban legend of waking up in a bath of ice with an organ removed, The Clinic tells the story of Cameron (Whitfield) and his pregnant fiancee Beth (Bethell) who are forced off the road by a mysterious driver whilst they are on their way to spend Christmas with their relatives. Choosing to spend the night in a sleazy motel rather than carry on with their journey following the late-night accident Cameron goes off to find some food. Like all good (and not so good) horror movies set in a sleazy motel that turn out to be a big mistake. Returning to their motel room he finds Beth, and their unborn baby gone.

So far so cliched right?

Well maybe not. The Clinic turns proceedings...

Inspired by terrifying true events, this unsettling and shocking film follows young couple Cameron (Andy Whitfield – TV’s Spartacus) and his pregnant fiancée Beth (Tabrett Bethell – The Legend of the Seeker) as they travel across Australia on Christmas Eve 1979.

This seemingly normal trip is thrown off kilter when the couple are forced to take shelter in a remote hotel. When Cameron leaves Beth briefly to get some food, his return yields a nightmare he could never have prepared himself for as he finds the room empty and Beth vanished.

Dark, tense and chilling, viewers will be on the edge of their sofas as every mother’s worst nightmare unfolds when Beth awakes alone in an isolated clinic in a bathtub of ice with a very fresh C section. And no baby. As desperate Beth struggles to understand the full horror of what has happened to her, she discovers that she...

Andy Whitfield, the Welsh born 39 year old actor with an impressive physique who was a star of the Starz series Spartacus: Blood and Sand passed away on Sunday in Sydney, Australia, a victim of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It was said by his manager and wife that he died on sunny Sydney morning” in the “arms of his loving wife.” He had lived in Australia since enrolling at University of Western Sydney, studying engineering.

Whitfield who broke through into acting late (in his mid 30′s) was building a notoriety for himself on the show, but was forced to exit it when he was diagnosed with the disease 18 months ago.

Says Starz President and CEO Chris Albrecht;

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of our dear friend and colleague, Andy Whitfield,

“We were fortunate to have worked with Andy in Spartacus and came to know that the man who played a champion...

Director/writer: James Rabbitts.

It is amazing how many first time directors begin in horror. Australian director James Rabbitts is the latest filmmaker to try this genre and succeed. His tale, The Clinic, is a tense time spent with a group of mothers, who are forced into a sort of mommy cage match. The antagonists are many and the film has a lot of advantages going its way. Despite the disposable "based on a true story" label, The Clinic manages to exploit certain innate fears of parenthood, while re-introducing the topic of eugenics into horror.

The plotline begins simply with a couple travelling to Beth's (Tabrett Bethell) parents for Christmas. They have been recently engaged and actor Andy Whitfield (Spartacus) plays the expectant father. This reviewer knew he had seen Whitfield before. That aside, the tension begins early when a blacked out ambulance nearly knocks this couple off the road.

Title: The Clinic Directed by: James Rabbitts Starring: Tabrett Bethell, Freya Stafford and Andy Whitfield Running time: 94 minutes, Unrated Cameron and his pregnant wife Beth are driving cross country to visit her parents for Christmas, and they decide to stop at a hotel for the night. Cameron’s hungry and goes out to find an open restaurant, while leaving Beth asleep in the room. When he returns, Beth is missing and the police and the weird hotel manager are absolutely no help at all. Meanwhile Beth awakens in a seemingly abandoned warehouse, naked in a bathtub full of ice…and a C-section scar. As Cameron desperately searches for answers, Beth discovers...

You could say it's a "Super" week for releases gang. Here we go!

Super - is a shocking film. If you're going into this expecting something akin to Kick Ass, don't. I mean, it's from James Gunn who did Slither. This is more Taxi Driver than Super Bad, though it is still full of geeky superhero goodness. The casting is also perfect. Ellen Page as an unhinged Boltie paired with Rainn Wilson is just inspired, but a villainous Kevin Bacon steals the show. Read Marina's review for a more in depth look at the film.

Paul - is a sweet little geek road-trip movie that doesn't quite live up to the hype. Nothing bad to say about Simon Pegg and Nick Frost mind you. I could watch these two comedic geniuses play off each other all day. The problem for me was the humour felt broad to obvious, but there...

Rank the week of August 9th’s Blu-ray and DVD new releases against the best films of all-time: New Releases Paul

(DVD & Blu-ray | R | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #764

Win Percentage: 55%

Times Ranked: 7626

Top-20 Rankings: 22

Directed By: Greg Mottola

Starring: Simon Pegg • Nick Frost • Seth Rogen • Jane Lynch • Sigourney Weaver

Genres: Adventure • Comedy • Road Movie • Science Fiction • Sci-Fi Comedy • Adventure Comedy

Rank This Movie

Super

(DVD & Blu-ray | R | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #2200

Win Percentage: 54%

Times Ranked: 2471

Top-20 Rankings: 11

Directed By: James Gunn

Starring: Rainn Wilson • Ellen Page • Liv Tyler • Kevin Bacon • Michael Rooker

Genres: Action • Action Comedy • Black Comedy • Comedy • Comedy Drama • Comic-Book Superhero Film • Drama • Satire • Based-on-Comics

Rank This Movie

Jumping The Broom

(DVD & Blu-ray | PG13 | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #16475

Win Percentage: 32%

Times Ranked: 46

Top-20 Rankings: 2

Directed By: Salim Akil

Starring: Angela Bassett • Paula Patton • Meagan Good • Laz Alonso • Julie Bowen

Genres: Comedy • Comedy Drama • Domestic Comedy • Drama

Rank This Movie

Your Highness

(DVD & Blu-ray | R...

Release Date: Aug. 9, 2011

Price: DVD (rated) $27.97; DVD (unrated) $27.97

Studio: Image Entertainment

Andy Whitfield stars in The Clinic.

Reportedly inspired by true events, the 2010 horror-mystery film The Clinic focuses on a couple, Cameron (Andy Whitefield, formerly of Spartacus: Blood and Sand) and his pregnant wife Beth (Tabrett Bethell, Legend of the Seeker) who take a break from their road trip across the Australian Outback and stop for the night at a desolate motel (something you should never do if you’re the star of a horror-mystery movie!).

The next thing you know, Beth is abducted from their room and wakes up in an ice-filled bathtub … with her baby gone! Could it be she’s being held captive in a crazed clinic where mothers-to-be are given C-sections against their will? Your guess…

Written and directed by first-time feature filmmaker James Rabitts, the 2010 Australian movie played a handful of film festivals in 2010. In the U.

The Clinic (Unrated) Parents will do anything to save their children. What if the unspeakable has happened – how far are they willing to go? On August 9, Image Entertainment will release The Clinic, a film that operates on the deepest human fears and the darkest of speculations. The Official Selection at the Melbourne International Film Festival, Frightfest Film Festival London and Screamfest among others, The Clinic DVD will be available in two versions, rated or unrated – with approximately two more minutes of graphic terror! Msrp for both versions will be $27.97.

On Christmas Eve, 1979, Cameron (Andy Whitfield, “Spartacus: Blood and Sand”) and his pregnant wife Beth (Tabrett Bethell, “Legend of the Seeker”) have decided to take a break from their road trip through the Australian Outback, stopping for the night at a desolate motel. But something diabolical is about to happen: in the dead of night Beth is abducted from their room...

An Australian thriller we haven't reported on since 2009, The Clinic , is making its U.S. DVD debut on August 9. You'll be able to select from a rated and unrated version. Synopsis: A road trip turns into a battle for survival when Cameron (Andy Whitfield) and his pregnant wife, Beth (Tabrett Bethell), stop for the night at a desolate motel. That night Beth is suddenly abducted from their room and wakes up in an ice-filled bathtub.with her baby now gone! She finds herself captive at a sinister clinic with other women whose newborns are being taken for an unknown purpose, and as Cameron desperately searches for his missing wife, time is rapidly running out. Inspired by true events, this nail-biting thriller, in the tradition of Wolf Creek, explores the most unspeakable, forbidden...

This week's Hot Babe is a little on the disturbing side, but HBotW is not just to celebrate the hot women and nudity in horror films, it's also a way to learn about movies that have slipped under our radar, like Someone's Knocking at the Door). The Australian film, The Clinic, is also one of those films. It looks and sounds a little like 2008's Inside. The film follows a pregnant woman who "wakes up in an isolated clinic to a mother's worst nightmare." Tabrett Bethell (Legend of the Seeker) plays the pregnant victim, in what looks like to be a very disturbing film.

With hundreds of films screened every year, the American Film Market is the best place to check out all the up-and-comers, and Afm 2010 had a record number of horror movies from across the globe. As always, Dread Central camped out for a week-long marathon of indie and foreign fright flicks, and we've got a big batch of mini-reviews to help you know what to look for and what to avoid in the coming months.

Iron Doors 3D

A douchebag in a business suit wakes up in a mysterious vault with no memory of how he got there. At first he thinks it’s a prank but after several days comes to the horrible realization that no one is coming to help. With no food or water and only a few random implements at his disposal, he must find a way out before he starves to death.

Irons Doors is Saw...

Our friends at the Film Society of Lincoln Center have generously given us five pairs of tickets to attend the fourth annual Scary Movies Film Festival to give away to you hungry horror-loving hounds. So, if you live in, or can get to New York City on your own during October 27-31, we've got your chance to win one pair of the 3-film passes each night on Twitter starting Tuesday, October 19th.

All you need to do is to follow @dreadcentral on Twitter and tweet this: "NYCers: Win 1 pair Horror Film Fest pass at midnite Tue. Follow @dreadcentral & Rt this! http://bit.ly/crQ0L7 #contests" We'll pick a winner at random each night this week at midnight Pt until the passes are all gone. You might just wake up to a free 3-film pass in your Twitter message box! You don't have Twitter yet? What are you waiting for.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center unspools its annual frightening festival Scary Movies (Wednesday, October 27th through Sunday, October 31st). In its fourth unearthly year, Scary Movies 4 returns with an onslaught of spine-tingling flicks - new premieres, rarities, classics, and more. This year will include such scares as the World Premiere of Village of Shadows (directed by Fouad Benhammou), the New York Premieres of Stake Land ( review ), Christopher Smith's Black Death and Triangle , and The Clinic (directed by James Rabbitts); along with a slate of classic frights. Here's the breakdown of what's to come! Handpicked from only the finest horror stock, the spooktacular lineup will feature an eclectic selection of both classic and contemporary eras-sure to surprise,...

Dark House Poster

The 2010 Fangoria Frightfest film entries are moving to DVD this week through Phase 4. This series released in Canada September 21st and the Us release is scheduled for September 28th. Films included: mysterious thriller The Tomb, the suspenseful The Haunting, the goreific Pig Hunt, the dismal Hunger, the disturbing Grimm Love, the original Road Kill, shocker Fragile and this year's winner of the event Dark House. This film festival competition was successful because of fan support and horror enthusiasts can have a look at the DVD special features for each of the titles listed here inside.

Dark House

Director: Darin Scott.

Producer: Mark Sonoda.

Cast: Jeffrey Combs (House on Haunted Hill), Meghan Ory (John Tucker Must Die), and Diane Salinger .

The synopsis for Dark House:

"A group of hot young drama students are recruited to work in a new 'haunted house' attraction by flamboyant, impresario Walston Rey...

With Daniel Craig locked down to play Mikael Blomkvist in David Fincher's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," there remains only the question of who will play Lisbeth Salander, the punk genius tattooed bisexual possibly autistic heart of the thriller and its two sequels.

The Daily Beast quotes an unnamed agent as saying "This is the biggest role for an actress in the last five or six years. If the movie works and the actress is good, it's a role they could be [Oscar] nominated for. And it's a big global footprint to get other jobs. It's a game changer."

Such a game changer, it seems, that the name of every elfin starlet from Carey Mulligan to Mia Wasikowska has been tossed around as being under consideration for the role. But according to that same Daily Beast article, Fincher is taking a similar route to the one that led Swedish...

The Melbourne International Film Festival heralds the premieres of a lot of Aussie movies, and so this week we've seen a tidal wave of new posters, teasers, trailers and stills for these movies hit the net all at once.

The latest is the Australian poster for The Clinic, the debut feature by James Rabbitts which is having its world premiere at Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in Korea later this month before screening at MIFF2010 and Film4 Frightfest in August.

Starring Andy Whitfield, Tabrett Bethell, Freya Stafford and Clare Bowen, The Clinic is...

...the story of expectant mother Beth Church, drugged and abducted from a desolate outback motel. The year is 1979, many years before the advent of DNA.  Beth wakens in an ice bath in an abandoned abattoir. Her baby has been removed from her.  After searching for a way out she is found by three other young women all in the same predicament.

HollywoodNews.com: Clay Epstein, VP of Sales & Acquisitions of The Little Film Company announced today that the company’s new label Accelerator will be presenting the World premiere of the Australian thriller The Clinic at this year’s 14th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival in Korea.

Starring Andy Whitfield, best known to worldwide audiences as Spartacus in Sam Raimi’s “Spartacus: Blood and Sand,” The Clinic is a frighteningly real story inspired by true events that asks just how far will a mother go to save her child?

Written and directed by James Rabbitts, the film also stars Tabrett Bethell, (“Legend of the Seeker”) alongside Whitfield as Beth his pregnant Fiancé who is kidnapped while traveling across country. She wakes alone in an isolated clinic to a mother’s worst nightmare. Her child has been abducted. Trapped and facing an unknown enemy, Beth struggles to piece together the clinic’s deadly secret.

The UK's most amazing horror film festival Film4 FrightFest has released what could very well be another one of the best horror line-ups we've seen ever for its latest show taking place from Thursday the 26th of August to Monday the 30th of August, brimming with films we've been salivating over Stateside!

From the Press Release

This year there are eight British films in the main programme (another record) including Monsters, Gareth Edwards’ sensational post-Apocalyptic debut, The Ford Brothers’ Cannes-hyped African Zombie flick The Dead and Johannes Roberts F – in which a school gets a lesson in horror! Other home-grown titles are Dead Cert (East-End gangsters meet Eastern European vampires), Isle Of Dogs (nasty gangland horror), Paul Andrew Williams’ harrowing Cherry Tree Lane and werewolf thriller 13Hrs. Plus, Jake West will be presenting his in-depth documentary Video Nasties: Moral Panic, Censorship And Videotape, which will be followed by a Q & A panel discussion.

The complete lineup for the 2010 edition of the Film4 Frightfest has just been announced and, as usual, it is a quality selection of the best in horror film from the UK and around the world. The program splits into two programs - the main lineup and sidebar Discovery program - and you'll find both below!

Programme = Screen 1

Thursday Aug 26

6.30pm Hatchet II  (World Premiere)

FrightFest continues its strong relationship with Adam Green by hosting the world premiere of the sequel to his 2006 slasher sensation. Picking up right where the splatter-tastic original ended, Marybeth escapes the clutches of the deformed, swamp-dwelling iconic killer Victor Crowley. After learning the truth about her family's connection to the hatchet-wielding madman, Marybeth returns to the Louisiana swamps along with an army of hunters to recover the bodies of her family and exact the bloodiest revenge against the bayou butcher. Delivering unapologetically unrestrained gushers of gore,...

While this year's Cannes Film Festival might be bookended by Aussie talent, it be fair to assess this year's representation of Australia's Film industry as "short" in stature. A trio of films have been selected for the festival, and of the three we find a pair of short films. Muscles, written and directed by Edward Housden follows the story of boy and his sister who wants to be a bodybuilder, and will screen in Official Competition. Deeper Than Yesterday, (see trailer) written and directed by Ariel Kleiman (who received an Honourable Mention in Short Filmmaking at Sundance) tells the story of Oleg, who emerges after 3 months underwater and fears that losing perspective may mean losing himself. - While this year's Cannes Film Festival might be bookended by Aussie talent, it be fair to assess this year's representation of Australia's Film industry as "short" in stature. A trio of films have been selected for the festival,...

While this year's Cannes Film Festival might be bookended by Aussie talent, it be fair to assess this year's representation of Australia's Film industry as "short" in stature. A trio of films have been selected for the festival, and of the three we find a pair of short films. Muscles, written and directed by Edward Housden follows the story of boy and his sister who wants to be a bodybuilder, and will screen in Official Competition. Deeper Than Yesterday, (see trailer) written and directed by Ariel Kleiman (who received an Honourable Mention in Short Filmmaking at Sundance) tells the story of Oleg, who emerges after 3 months underwater and fears that losing perspective may mean losing himself. The short will premiere as part of Cannes Critics’ Week. The Tree, the Australian/French co-production will be the closing night film at the festival on May 23, as it makes its international premiere. Directed by Julie Bertuccelli,...

The first movie poster and trailer are available for director and writer James Rabbitts' film The Clinic. This first one-sheet, if looked at closely, shows the mysterious antagonist holding a baby in the top-right hand corner (click to enlarge). Equally spooky is the first trailer, which shows central character Beth (Tabrett Bethell) on the run from again a shady female character, who is only shown in a few frames. Already seen at the American Film Market this year fans will need to hold tight as an official North American release date is unavailable for The Clinic.

A synopsis for The Clinic here:

"Clinic is the story of expectant mother Beth Church, drugged and abducted from a desolate outback motel. The year is 1979, many years before the advent of DNA. Beth wakens in an ice bath in an abandoned abattoir. Her baby has been removed from her. After searching for...

A trailer has finally emerged for Australia's next great psychological horror film, The Clinic. Part Vanishing, part Saw, the film looks like it'll bring a much needed twist to the typical backwoods horror genre.

Synopsis:

Clinic is the story of expectant mother Beth Church, drugged and abducted from a desolate outback motel. The year is 1979, many years before the advent of DNA. Beth wakens in an ice bath in an abandoned abattoir. Her baby has been removed from her. After searching for a way out she is found by three other young women all in the same predicament. There is also one other young woman in the same predicament, Beth and the other three women soon discover that it is everyone for themselves as they find themselves in a deadly game of survival.

Directed by feature length first timer James Rabbitts, The Clinic stars Spartacus: Blood and Sand star Andy Whitfield and Clare Bowen.

More news coming out of Australia - in the form of teaser trailer - for new horror thriller, The Clinic. Set in the 70s Auss, Clinic is the first feature (all the more impressive, considering that) project by director James Rabbitts and stars Tabrett Bethell, Andy Whitfield. Link to the trailer below. Plotline. While travelling across country with her fiancé, Beth wakes along in an isolated clinic to a mother's worst nightmare. Her child has been abducted. Trapped and facing an unknown enemy, Beth struggles to piece together the clinic's deadly secret. Just how far will a mother go to save her child? The Clinic trailer...

More news coming out of Australia - in the form of teaser trailer - for new horror thriller, The Clinic. Set in the 70s Auss, Clinic is the first feature (all the more impressive too, considering that) project by director James Rabbitts and stars Tabrett Bethell, Andy Whitfield. Link to the trailer below. Plotline. While travelling across country with her fiancé, Beth wakes along in an isolated clinic to a mother's worst nightmare. Her child has been abducted. Trapped and facing an unknown enemy, Beth struggles to piece together the clinic's deadly secret. Just how far will a mother go to save her child? The Clinic trailer...

Fango just spent some time on the set of The Reef, the new film by Andrew Traucki (the Australian filmmaker who co-directed and co-scripted 2007’s exceptional killer-crocodile flick Black Water) and came back with a couple of exclusive pics, which you can see below. Traucki, a longtime surfer who couldn’t stay away from the water if he tried, is once again investigating the theme of large predatory animal interactions with humans, but is wading into much deeper here.

And if you’d like to share the experiences of the cast and crew of The Reef (which we first reported on here), you can join them live when they stream on-line in real time from the location in Hervey Bay, Queensland this Wednesday, November 4 if you’re U.S./UK-based and Thursday, Nov. 5 for Australians. Check out the film’s official website to sign up, and also read a production blog and other info.

James Rabbitts' feature debut The Clinic hits the American Film Market this week, screening to potential buyers. Production outfit The Little Film Company has plenty of details on this Australian supernatural thriller, which is supposed inspired by true events (aren't they all these days?). Synopsis: While traveling across country with her fiance, Beth wakes along in an isolated clinic to a mother's worst nightmare. Her child has been abducted. Trapped and facing an unknown enemy, Beth struggles to piece together the clinic's deadly secret. Just how far will a mother go to save her child? Inspired by true events. Tabrett Bethell, Freya Stafford and Andy Whitfield star. Watch the trailer below! Rabbitts previously directed a short film entitled Night Train .

Directed by feature length first timer James Rabbitts, The Clinic is another in a huge wave of gritty thrillers coming out of Australia right now, and while we're unsure of what happens in the story, the stills we have look mighty fine.

Clinic is the story of expectant mother Beth Church, drugged and abducted from a desolate outback motel. The year is 1979, many years before the advent of DNA. Beth wakens in an ice bath in an abandoned abattoir. Her baby has been removed from her. After searching for a way out she is found by three other young women all in the same predicament. There is also one other young woman in the same predicament, Beth and the other three women soon discover that it is everyone for themselves as they find themselves in a deadly game of survival.

Stills after the break.

Head to Quiet Earth to see the stills.