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Yellow Veil Pictures has boarded worldwide sales rights on “Mother of Flies.” The indie feature is the latest supernatural horror from the family directing trio of John Adams, Toby Poser and their daughter, Zelda Adams.

The official logline for the film reads, “When a young woman faces a deadly diagnosis, she seeks dark magic from a witch in the woods. But every cure has its cost.”

Poser, John Adams and Zelda Adams direct as well as star alongside Lulu Adams. Poser serves as producer. Yellow Veil Pictures will present the first footage to buyers at the Cannes Film Festival in the coming days.

Previous credits for Poser, John Adams and Zelda Adams, serving as directors and stars, include “The Deeper You Dig,” “Where the Devil Roams,” and “Hellbender.” The trio’s breakout hit “Hellbender” was acquired by horror streamer Shudder in 2021 ahead of its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival.

One of the best ways to scare viewers with horror films is to make them feel realistic. Nothing is scarier than something that could happen in reality. For example, the Final Destination film series shows various ways people can die during everyday activities. Clowns, sharks, anacondas, and more are also a bit nightmarish — thanks to the horror genre — and it seems like Hollywood is not running out of ideas anytime soon. Lionsgate and Pitch Perfect producer Paul Brooks are working on a rat horror flick, and what better place to have the movie set in than the Big Apple? New York City is known for many things, having a lot of rats being one of them. So, the killer rat infestation film will create a new meaning for "the city that never sleeps."

According to Variety, Lionsgate and Brooks have partnered on worldwide rights to Rats!, which is such asimple...

Set against the dreary, nondescript backdrop of Pfresno, Texas, circa 2007, Rats! opens the door to a world where reality is as warped as the characters populating it. A town stuck in the purgatory of cultural stagnation, where disembodied hands (pronounced “hahnz”) are casually tossed into the landscape like confetti at a grim carnival.

The film, an absurdist comedy with dark humor and biting social satire, introduces Raphael (Luke Wilcox), an apathetic community college student whose arrest for graffiti spirals him into a convoluted underworld led by the deranged Officer Williams (Danielle Evon Ploeger).

The film quickly unveils its chaotic and nihilistic nature, blending slapstick humor with uncomfortable truths. Raphael’s journey, which pivots from a simple arrest to his forced role as an informant for a lunatic cop convinced his cousin Mateo (Darius Autry) is trafficking nuclear materials, serves as a surreal exploration of small-town paranoia. The film’s absurdity...

During the pandemic, director Todd Strauss-Schulson made a 4 minute short film called Rat, which was about “a lonely rat in New York City that finds love and dances the night away.” Now, Variety reports that Strauss-Schulson is set to direct the survival horror feature film Rats!, but it has no connection to his short film other than the fact that it’s set in New York City and will have rats in it.

Strauss-Schulson wrote the Rats! screenplay with Paul Sado, whose previous credits include the Adam Sandler movies Leo and The Cobbler. The story Strauss-Schulson and Sado crafted for this one puts New York City in a race against time to stop a killer rat infestation unlike anything the world has ever seen. The concept and setting brings to mind the 2002 movie The Rats (which was based on a James Herbert novel that was actually set in London), but...

Todd Strauss-Schulson, the director of 2015’s The Final Girls, is headed back into the horror genre with Rats!, an upcoming rat infestation horror movie for Lionsgate.

Deadline reports tonight that Lionsgate is teaming with Paul Brooks (Pitch Perfect) on worldwide rights to the survival horror project, with Todd Strauss-Schulson directing.

“Lionsgate is launching for sales at the upcoming Cannes market,” Deadline notes.

In Rats!, “New York City races against time to stop a killer rat infestation unlike anything the world has ever seen.”

Paul Sado (Leo) and Todd Strauss-Schulson wrote the film’s screenplay.

Jason Fuchs (“Welcome to Derry”) is on board to produce the project.

Other horror films that fall under the rat umbrella include Ben (1972), Willard (2003), Mulberry Street (2006), Rats: Night of Terror (1984), and TV movie The Rats (2002).

The post ‘Rats!’ – ‘The Final Girls’ Filmmaker Directing New York City Rat Infestation Horror Movie appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

New York City is set to battle a plague of rats in an upcoming survival horror.

Lionsgate and producer Paul Brooks have partnered on worldwide rights to the new project — entitled, simply, “Rats!” — with Lionsgate set to launch sales in Cannes.

The deal follows the studio’s previous collaboration with Brooks on the 2022 horror film “Prey for the Devil.”

“Rats!” comes from director Todd Strauss-Schulson, whose credits include the Rebel Wilson rom-com “Isn’t It Romantic,” comedy slasher “The Final Girls” and buddy stoney sequel “A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas.” Strauss-Schulson was also behind the viral melancholic short film “Rat,” shot in the lockdown of 2020.

“Rats!” appears to something altogether different according to the synopsis, putting New York City in a “race against time to stop a killer rat infestation unlike anything the world has ever seen.”

Strauss-Schulson directs from a script he co-wrote with Paul Sado, who penned the Netflix animated feature “Leo,...

If you’re not rushing out to catch Oscar nominees before Sunday’s ceremony there are more new films in theaters now than there have been in weeks. Anora, The Brutalist, A Complete Unknown, Wicked and more are still out there but screens have opened for a crop of moderate releases.

Grindstone and Roadside Attractions open dysfunctional family crime comedy Riff Raff on just over 1,000 screens. The film by Dito Monteil, which was warmly received at its TIFF 2024 premiere (see Deadline review), was adapted by John Pollono from a stage script from a 1995 production of the same name written by actor Laurence Fishburne.

The ensemble cast features Jennifer Coolidge, Ed Harris, Gabrielle Union, Lewis Pullman, Pete Davidson, Bill Murray, Miles J. Harvey and Emanuela Postacchini.

The story follows Vincent, an ex-criminal seeking a normal life and a nice weekend at a winter cabin with his wife Sandy and their son...

You may question the mental state of co-directors/screenwriters Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky as Rats!unfolds before your very eyes. Between crazed cops, shock humor, generous amounts of body fluids and, well, grotesque rats, this new indie film may end up to be the most absurd comedy of the year. To their credit (and favor), the filmmakers are in on the joke. This whacky comedy knows just how bonkers it is. (At least we hope it does.)

Originally from Austin, Texas, Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky have been best friends and longtime collaborators who hit it off creatively on the set of that great cult classic film Lingua Franca. They’ve been collaborating ever since, and while their brand of humor may not jibe with general audiences — it’s an acquired taste — it’s only a matter of time before the duo winds up in an arena where their work can be seen regularly.

"She thinks that you are in possession of nukes and are planning to blow up Texas." Wait, what!? Yellow Veil Pictures has revealed an official trailer for a wacky, weird, indie comedy film titled Rats! set in Fresno, Texas. This initially premiered at the 2023 Cucalorus Film Festival a few years ago, and played at more fests throughout 2024 including Fantasia and Seattle and Calgary Underground. In Fresno, Texas, graffiti artist Raphael's arrest leads to his involvement in a chain of surprising events involving a sting operation, suicide, drug deals, criminal suspicions, weapons, a newswoman, and a plutonium deal gone wrong, creating chaos. Reviews add even more superlatives: "Chock-full of gross-out humor, emo haircuts, and a female cop who loves the c-word, Rats! is a shockingly touching coming-of-age story." Rats! stars Danielle Evon Ploeger, Luke Wilcox, Darius Autry, Khali Sykes, Ariel Ash, Jacob Wysocki, and John Ennis. Looks like a crazy...

This is one of those better late than never things.   We knew that the trailer for Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky's cringe comedy, Rats! had come out a few days ago but somehow we failed to follow through on sharing it with you.  Aware of our folly we are here to rectify that error. There is no time like the present to share that trailer with you and put this movie on your radar.    Our friends at Yellow Veil Picturs are releasing Rats! in theaters on February 28th, followed by VOD on March 11th, 2025.   It's 2007 in Pfresno, Texas. Raphael is in county jail following an arrest for graffiti. He's a good kid. It's just graffiti. So you can't blame Raphael...

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

Angst is alive and well in Collider's exclusive trailer debut of Rats!, an upcoming film that embodies all the punk rock vibes of the early aughts that you’ve been missing. Throwing things back to familiar and simpler times when movies like Slc Punk! and the Cky film series gave us plenty of reasons to believe in the heavily sarcastic and rage-filled counterculture, the Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky co-helmed feature is a love letter to the coming-of-age genre mixed with small town life and big personalities. Ahead of its theatrical arrival on February 28 and its March 11 digital drop, the trailer for Rats! teases one teenager’s battle with growing up and keeping his nose clean, even when the rest of the world pulls him into its drama.

Screendaily shared the news that Ant Timpson's Bookworm, the story of an absent father who reunites with their daughter to get proof of a mythical beast, has won the Audience Award for this year's edition of Fantasia.    Bookworm was the opening film of this year's festival and stuck a chord with the Fantasia audience early, a crowd that still had two and half weeks to find another champion. They did not. The three-hour French epic, The Count of Monte-Cristo took the silver and American cringe punk comedy Rats! took the bronze prize.    Self Driver was voted the top Canadian feature, A Samurai in Time was voted Best Asian Feature, and Kidnapping Inc. the Haitian/Canadian caper comedy won Best Quebecois Feature. That last one...

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

Heading into Cannes Yellow Veil Pictures has boarded worldwide sales and will handle North American distribution on Carl Fry and Maxwell Nalevansky’s stoner comedy Rats!

Inspired by the DIY filmmaker scene that came out of Austin, Texas in the 1990s the feature centres on Raphael, who after being busted by an overzealous police officer becomes embroiled in the world of drug kingpins, ecoterrorists, mallrats, and proto-soundcloud rappers.

Set in 2007, Rats! Is set to a score of Epitaph Records bands like From First to Last, The Blood Brothers, and Thursday, as well as an original song by Ka5sh featuring Lil B The BasedGod.

Sundance hit My Old Ass with Aubrey Plaza and BFI Flare London Film Festival selection and sophomore feature We Forgot To Break Up bookend the 34th Toronto 2Slgbtq+ Film Festival running May 24 to June 1.

The festival at TIFF Lightbox and online will showcase 106 films from 25 countries including 30 features and five world premieres.

The world premiere of Susie Yankou’s Sisters, about two best friends who want to be sisters until one of them discovers she has a long lost half-sister, is this year’s 2024 Re:Focus Gala selection.

The Centerpiece Gala selection this year will be the Canadian premiere of Anthony Schatteman...

Exclusive: Atx TV Festival has announced the finalists for this year’s Pitch Competition.

Here they are in alphabetical order:

Clue Castle by Nell Kessler, (Diplo)rable by Shatha Yas, Golden by Darren Bluestone, Good Grief by Zavior Phillips, Live From New York by Carolyn Getches and Hilary C. Gish, Mourning Wood by Garrett Williams, Oakdale Country Club by Toni Adeyemi, Rats! by Candelaria Duran and Robert Daniels, Seasick by Libby Glenn and Taylor Kerr, and Swallows by Nathan Pearson.

Find details about each of the Top 10 finalists’ pitches below. Atx TV Festival will be held in Austin, Texas, from May 30 to June 2.

“Working with the Pitch Finalists has become one of my favorite parts of what I do,” Emily Gipson, co-founder and co-president, Atx TV Festival said in a statement. “I love getting to know each of them throughout the year and diving into their projects, as well as...