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Stars: Dolph Lundgren, Natalie Burn, Sean Patrick Flanery, Chuck Liddell, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, Danny Trejo, Al Sapienza, Olya Banar, Riccardo Berdini, Ryan Carnes, Neb Chupin, Joe Corzo | Written by Michael Merino | Directed by Michael Merino, Daniel Zirilli

I’ve been a big fan of actress Natalie Burn since her role in 2016’s Left to Die (aka Awaken). That film, which she also co-wrote, saw her take the lead role in a Most Dangerous Game-esque movie but be sidelined by the marketing materials who focused on the appearance of Vinnie Jones in the cast. And Acceleration does something very similar.

To the uninitiated Acceleration looks like yet another Dtv star-vehicle for Dolph Lundgren; hell, even the cast listing atop the DVD cover puts Sean Patrick Flanery, Lundgren and Chuck Liddell ahead of Burns. But this Is Burns’ film, she and her character are the driving force behind the action. It...

Ahead of the UK premiere of serial killer thriller Anderson Falls at Arrow Video FrightFest Glasgow 2020, director Julien Seri reflects on the his first ‘American’ experience, challenging fight scenes and the importance of personal vision.

It has been five years since we premiered Night Fare at FrightFest London, what have you been up to since then?

I worked on two, very singular, projects as a producer and/or director. I signed for both with Wild Bunch, but we’ve failed to produce them yet. So I keep fighting. And I did a lot of commercials, TV series and music videos.

When did you first hear about the Anderson Falls script and why did you think it was perfect for you to direct?

I received the script late 2017. I read it and said ‘yes’ in the same day. It was a perfect American experience for me because it was low budget,...

In today’s film news roundup, Sony hires a former attorney to write the “Jagged Edge” script, “Anderson Falls” rounds out its cast, and “Dr. Brinks & Dr. Brinks” is sold.

Development

Sony is moving ahead with its remake of “Jagged Edge,” hiring attorney-turned-screenwriter Melissa London Hilfers to pen the script for the Halle Berry-starrer.

Doug Belgrad’s 2.0 Entertainment banner is co-financing the film. Belgrad is producing with Matti Leshem. Berry plays a defense attorney in the pic.

The original 1985 thriller “Jagged Edge” starred Glenn Close and Jeff Bridges. Bridges’ publisher character was accused of murdering his heiress wife. Close portrayed the lawyer for Bridges’ character and Robert Loggia was nominated for an Oscar for his role as a private detective.

Hilfers was a litigator for Cravath, Swaine & Moore before becoming a screenwriter. She’s repped by UTA, and Alan Gasmer and Friends. The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.

Exclusive: Gary Cole and Shawn Ashmore have been tapped to star in Anderson Falls, an indie crime drama from Title Media and Lone Suspect. French director Julien Seri, whose films include Yamakasi and Night Fare, is attached to helm the pic, which will begin shooting this summer in Los Angeles.

The film follows Detective Jeff Anderson (Ashmore) who, after his wife’s suicide, becomes convinced that she has in fact been murdered. Obsessed with his investigation, Anderson finds out that his wife was the victim of a team of father-and-son serial killers and sets out to stop them from killing other women.

Luke Barnett and Vincent Masciale of Lone Suspect are producing with Giles Daoust of Title Media and The Ring franchise executive producer Mike Macari of Koji Productions. Catherine Dumonceaux will serve as the executive producer.

Title Media and Lone Suspect have collaborated before horror-comedy Fear, Inc, starring Abigail Breslin,...

In today’s Horror Highlights, we have five new character posters for a film currently showing at Cannes, Painkillers. Also: a look at a behind-the-scenes video for Venom #1, and The Night of the Virgin trailer and release details.

Painkillers Character Posters Revealed: Press Release: Press Release: "May 14th, 2018 – Title Media, Lone Suspect and Kew Media have released the first round of artwork for Painkillers, a dramatic horror thriller from director Roxy Shih. Kew is currently selling the film at Cannes.

The set of character poster features stars Adam Huss (Power), Madeline Zima, Grant Bowler, Debra Wilson, and Mischa Barton.

This marks the second feature from director Roxy Shih (The Tribe). Giles Daoust wrote the script, which received several awards and nominations in festivals and screenwriting competitions.

Luke Barnett and Vincent Masciale produced the film under their Lone Suspect banner alongside Giles Daoust for Title Media. Mike Macari (The Ring franchise...

Actor Orlando Bloom will be setting up shop in China later this year with the emergence of BlissBloom Productions - created between Bloom's Viddywell Productions banner and China's own Bliss Media. For this, word from Variety broke last week that the actor and star of the upcoming Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, will star and co-produce in Smart Chase: Fire And Earth, news accompanied by the very teaser poster you see above from the festival. Night Fare (2015) helmer Julien Seri will direct from a script by Elephant White (2011) scribe Kevin Bernhardt which tells of a washed-up private security agent who gets ambushed as he attempts to escort a pricey Chinese antique out of Shanghai. Also starring are Special ID...

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

Orlando Bloom has signed up to lead Shanghai-set actioner Smart Chase: Fire & Earth, the first movie from BlissBloom Productions, a venture co-financed by both Bloom and Chinese outfit Bliss Media. As well as taking his first leading action role in a while, Bloom’s also set to produce the pic, which has got quite the international assembly both in front and behind the camera.

Bloom stars as Danny Stratton, described as “a washed-up private security agent,” who is given a chance to turn around his bad luck by “escorting a valuable Chinese antique out of Shanghai, but is ambushed en route. With the safety of the women he loves in jeopardy, Danny has to work with his team of security experts, the S.M.A.R.T., to save her, as a dreadful conspiracy begins to unravel.”

That sounds like it has potential to reinvigorate the actor’s career and...

Even though Orlando Bloom has appeared in blockbuster spectacle trilogies like The Lord of The Rings, The Hobbit, and Pirates of the Caribbean, I've never really considered him a leading man action star. But this is Hollywood, so perception be damned: he's taking the lead role in a Chinese action thriller that has to have one of the most ridiculous titles of whatever year this ends up coming out: S.M.A.R.T. Chase: Fire & Earth.

ComingSoon has the synopsis:

S.M.A.R.T. Chase: Fire & Earth, which will film in Shanghai, follows Danny Stratton, a washed-up private security agent, who is given the rare opportunity to escort a valuable Chinese antique out of Shanghai, but is ambushed en route. With the safety of the women he loves in jeopardy, Danny has to work with his team of security experts, the S.M.A.R.T., to save her,...

Actor Orlando Bloom is partnering with China’s Bliss Media to form a joint production company, BlissBloom Productions, and will star in the venture’s first production S.M.A.R.T. Chase: Fire & Earth.

Directed by Julien Seri (Night Fare), S.M.A.R.T. Chase will also star Jing Tian (Great Wall), Leo Wu (The Wonder), Cao Kefan (The Flowers Of War) and rising talent Liu Enyou.

Bliss Media will finance, produce and oversee Chinese distribution for the project, which is written by Kevin Bernhardt (The Immortals) and co-produced with Jerome Salle (The Tourist). CAA packaged the film and reps Us rights.

The story follows a private security agent who is ambushed while escorting a valuable Chinese antique out of Shanghai.

Bloom will next be seen in Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales and Michael Apted’s Unlocked.

Bliss, which launched the $150m Bliss-codi Film & TV Investment Fund at Cannes last month...

The end of days is nigh in the new trailer for Fire City: End of Days, directed by Tom Woodruff Jr. Also: new programming announcements from the 2015 Mile High Horror Film Festival, release details for Aquarius Season 1 and zombie web comic When It's Over.

Fire City: End of Days: Press Release: "Burbank, CA - Academy Award Winning Creature and Character Effects Designer Tom Woodruff Jr. makes his highly-anticipated directorial debut with Fire City: End of Days, hitting DVD and Digital October 6 from Uncork’d Entertainment.

Set in a world where demons live among us, this exhilarating vitrine of effects and action sees a hard-boiled demon named Vine confronted with the ultimate choice between the salvation of his own kind and the life of an innocent human girl. Tobias Jelinek (Hocus Pocus), Danielle Chuchran (Saga: Curse of the Shadow), Glee’s Harry Shum Jr, and Kristin Minter (TVs E.R) star.

Stars: Fanny Valette, Jonathan Howard, Jonathan Demurger, Jess Liaudin | Written by Cyril Ferment, Julien Seri, Pascal Sid | Directed by Julien Seri

I love it when a movie subverts your expectations…

Following the traditional slasher movie framework, Night Fare sees two best friends, Luc and Chris, reunited after a year. A year they’ve spent apart for some (mysterious, to be revealed later) reason. With their relationship on a rocky ground, the pair are further strained by their love for the same woman, Ludivine. However those issues are the least of their worries after – whilst on their way to a party – they skip out of a Parisian taxi without paying the fare. Big mistake. This taxi driver doesn’t take to fare dodgers lightly and the mystery motorist hunts the duo down all night long killing everyone that gets in his way.

Stylistically inspired by Nicolas Winding-Refn’s Drive with a score that,...

What do Barbara Crampton, Rick Wakeman, James Cosmo, Toyah Willcox, Neil Marshall and Bernard Rose have in common? They’re all set to make an appearance at this years London Film4 Frightfest!

Scream Queen legend Barbara Crampton (pictured above) is Film4 FrightFest’s special guest icon, appearing in no less than four films in this year’s line-up. She stars in We Are Still Here, Road Games and Sun Choke plus makes a cameo appearance in Tales of Halloween. Not only will Barbara be introducing all her films, she’ll also be talking about her amazing career during a special interview event, hosted by Alan Jones, on Sun 30th August at 9.15pm.

Says the legend herself:

To say that I am overjoyed, excited and eager to attend FrightFest as a guest is putting it mildly. This festival has been on my radar for some time and to be included and...

Raven Banner has acquired worldwide rights to El Gigante, a film about one Luchador you don't want to mess with. A new Queen of Earth trailer and the guest list for Film4 FrightFest 2015 are also featured in this morning's round-up.

El Gigante: Press Release: "Raven Banner has boarded Luchagore Productions, El Gigante, directed by Gigi Saul Guerrero for worldwide rights, which was featured in the current edition of The Frontieres International Co-Production Market. They will also serve as Executive Producers.

The film tells the story of a deranged maniac in a Luchador mask named El Gigante who wrestles his prey to the mat in a grisly entertainment ritual of thrill-packed culinary prep for his cannibalistic family.

The deal was negotiated by Luchagore's Raynor Shima and Raven Banner's James Fler and Michael Paszt.

"The team of Gigi, Raynor, and Luke at Luchagore is one of the most exciting new genre...

Call it the four-wheeled version of the dine-and-dash, that sudden impulse to simply hop out of a taxi and bolt without paying. What's the driver going to do, right? He can't very well just abandon his car, can he? It's an idea that's at least occurred to most at least once and it's exactly the scenario played out in Julien Seri's Night Fare. Except this cabbie very definitely does come after the runners. And he's not happy at all. Luc and his English friend Chris take a taxi to go home after partying hard all evening in Paris. At destination, they run away without paying the fare. They got the wrong driver for this... The taxi goes immediately into hunting mode, chasing them all night,...

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