News

The Old Globe today announced it will present Emmy Award-winning actor Richard Thomas The Waltons, Fifth of July, The Americans starring in A Distant Country Called Youth, an intimate look at the making of an artist, adapted by Steve Lawson from early letters Tennessee Williams sent to his family, friends, and professional associates. This one-night-only engagement takes place on Monday, June 9 at 700 p.m.

Synopsis:

A gang of tough London gangsters get more than they bargained for when a group of businessmen make an offer to buy their club, the Inferno. They turn out to be nothing less than Vampires wanting their land back and turn viciously on the gangsters when their demands are not met.

Review:

Director – Steve Lawson

Starring – Craig Fairbrass, Dexter Fletcher, Billy Murray

You can rob a man of his money, you can even rob a man of his dignity, but whatever you do, don’t rob a man of his strip club! So goes the movie… More...

Vampires vs. gangsters. What could go wrong? Well, you'll get a chance to find out on us as we're giving away five (5) copies of Dead Cert on both Blu-ray and DVD!

Winning is simple! To enter, just send us an E-mail Here including your Full Name And Mailing Address along with whether you want the Blu-ray or the DVD. We’ll take care of the rest.

Good luck!

From the Press Release

This fall get ready for a bloodthirsty mix of From Dusk Till Dawn and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels when Dead Cert debuts for the first time in the U.S and Canada on Blu-ray™ and DVD September 27, 2011, from Shout! Factory, in association with Black and Blue Films. Jam-packed with all the ingredients of both a vampire flick and a gangster film -- creepy monsters, scantily-clad women, tough-talking wise guys, gratuitous bloodshed and a seemingly crazy vampire...

Shout! Factory has been rocking for the last year or so, with quality genre releases, namely their Roger Corman Collection. Now, they’re releasing something newer in Dead Cert to Blu-ray/DVD on September 27th.

Produced by horror specialists Black and Blue Films and directed by Steve Lawson, Dead Cert marks a welcome return to the fun, almost-traditional British horror filmmaking style that affectionately evokes the spirit of the contemporary-set movies of Amicus and Hammer — particularly the latter’s Dracula A.D. 1972 and The Satanic Rites of Dracula.

When respected but small-time gangster Freddie ‘Dead Cert’ Frankham (Craig Fairbrass) is unexpectedly given the chance to make a tentative leap into the big leagues with the opening of his new nightclub in London’s East End, he doesn’t quite realize what he’s getting into. Unknown to Freddie and his partners, the club stands on the former site of a Black Church,...

One toothy little UK vampire flick we've been keeping our eye on for a while now, Dead Cert, is making its way Stateside courtesy of Shout! Factory; and we've got everything you need to ready yourself ... except sharpened stakes.

From the Press Release

This fall get ready for a bloodthirsty mix of From Dusk Till Dawn and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels when Dead Cert debuts for the first time in the U.S and Canada on Blu-ray™ and DVD September 27, 2011, from Shout! Factory, in association with Black and Blue Films. Jam-packed with all the ingredients of both a vampire flick and a gangster film -- creepy monsters, scantily-clad women, tough-talking wise guys, gratuitous bloodshed and a seemingly crazy vampire hunter -- Dead Cert features a star-studded cast of familiar British acting talent including Craig Fairbrass (The Bank Job), Dexter Fletcher (Kick-Ass), Billy Murray (Rise of the Footsoldier), Lisa McAllister...

This Fall, get ready for a bloodthirsty mix of From Dusk Till Dawn and Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels when Dead Cert debuts for the first time in the U.S and Canada on Blu-ray. and DVD September 27, 2011 from Shout! Factory, in association with Black and Blue Films. Jam-packed with all the ingredients of both a vampire flick and a gangster film — creepy monsters, scantily-clad women, tough-talking wise guys, gratuitous bloodshed and a seemingly crazy vampire hunter, Dead Cert features a star-studded cast of familiar British acting talent including Craig Fairbrass (The Bank Job), Dexter Fletcher (Kick-Ass), Billy Murray (Rise Of The Footsoldier), Lisa McAllister (Pumpkinhead: Ashes to Ashes), Steven Berkoff (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), Dave Legeno (Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince), Jason Flemying (X-Men: First Class) and Danny Dyer (Dead Man Running).

Produced by horror specialists Black and Blue Films and directed by Steve Lawson,...

We've covered the hell out of the new vampire flick out of the UK, Dead Cert, here on Dread Central. If only because it shares our initials. Well, not really; we did so because it has vampires of the badass non-sparkling variety. In any event all that coverage is about to pay off because the flick is now on its way Stateside.

According to Screen Daily, following its UK release via Momentum Pictures, Moviehouse's UK vampire film has been snapped up for Us distribution by Shout! Factory for release later this year. It has also sold in France (Fip), Germany (I-on New Media), and Australia/New Zealand (Visual Entertainment Group) with other deals pending.

Starring Craig Fairbrass and Billy Murray, director Steve Lawson's Dead Cert follows a gang of tough London gangsters who get more than they bargained for when a group of businessmen make an offer to buy their club,...

When talking about British Film there are certain, unavoidable, assumptions one automatically makes. Those crisply enunciated words have long conjured pictures of rolling hills, heaving bosoms, mad Kings and foppish fools. An entire industry has been built upon the ever changing hair of Mr Hugh Grant and Jane Austen’s back catalogue has been taken advantage of in the parlour time and time again.

It is a world apart from those reliable old exports that we may find the Britain of gangster flicks. They populate a straight-to-dvd nether world which has scant regard for global recognition. These are not slick Ritchie flicks, attracting Hollywood stars to a middle-class vision of roughing it. These are honest to goodness, behind the scenes at the terraces, unflinching looks at a crude life of crime. A fist-full make it to limited big screen release bolstered by underworld faces, true-crime notoriety and boxing names. Few...

Given the seemingly never ending popularity of the Brit gangster film, it was always inevitable that sooner or later someone would take the next logical step and combine it with the horror genre. “Dead Cert” does just that, following in the footsteps of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriquez’s classic “Dusk Till Dawn” by throwing vampires into the mix. Directed by Steve Lawson (“Just For The Record”), the film comes with a cast list that reads like a who’s who of Brit genre talent, including Craig Fairbrass (“Rise Of The Footsoldier”), Billy Murray (“Essex Boys”), Dexter Fletcher (“Kick-Ass”), Steven Berkoff (“44 Inch Chest”), Dave Legeno (“Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince”), top character actor Jason Flemying (“Clash Of The Titans”) and even a bonus in the form of a cameo, from the one and only Danny Dyer (“Basement”). The film now arrives on DVD via Momentum Pictures, coming complete with...

Another vampire flick, you ask? Yes, dear readers, another vampire flick. Director Steve Lawson’s upcoming blood-sucking gangster opus “Dead Cert” actually looks pretty snazzy despite the fact that my patience with modern vampire movies is quickly running low. Granted, this one appears to be taking the tired formula in a completely different direction, but it’s hard to get genuinely excited about a project featuring vampires these days. Everyone’s got a vampire movie coming out, and if they don’t, chances are they’re getting ready to start one. “Dead Cert” certainly looks cool, and I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. Good thing I’m open-minded, right? Here’s a synopsis courtesy of Horror-Movies.ca: When respected but small-time gangster Freddie ‘Dead Cert’ Frankham (Craig Fairbrass) is unexpectedly given the chance to make a tentative leap into the big leagues with the opening...

Just in time for its debut at the Film4 FrightFest we've gotten our hands on a couple of more stills and even the DVD cover art for Dead Cert!

After premiering at London Film4 FrightFest (August 26-30), Dead Cert will be released on DVD in UK by Momentum Pictures on September 27th. Special Features include an audio commentary, and a making-of featurette.

Producer Jonathan Sothcott says of star Billy Murray (pictured below), "“Billy Murray has the same qualities as an actor that DeNiro and Nicholson do – he can be utterly charming and utterly terrifying – and he can turn either on at will. He’s an actor whose brilliant TV work kept him away from film audiences in the last decade but his performances in recent movies like Rise of the Footsoldier, Freight and now Dead Cert are utterly compelling – an incredibly accomplished, stylish film actor at the top of his game.

Just in time for its big world premiere news comes along the official artwork for Dead Cert , Steven Lawson's genre-bending gangster/vampire hybrid that stars Craig Fairbrass, Janet Montgomery and Jason Flemyng. You can read our exclusive set report here . The world premiere of Dead Cert will take place 11:30pm on Thursday, August 27 at The Empire Cinema in Leicester Square, London, on the opening night of the FrightFest horror film festival. Those attending: Craig Fairbrass, Lisa McAllister, Billy Murray, Dexter Fletcher, Jennifer Matter and screen legend Steven Berkoff along with director Steve Lawson, executive producer Martin Kemp and producer Jonathan Sothcott. The film hits UK DVD on September 27. Check out the video promos we have here .

The full schedule of screenings for London's premiere horror film festival, FrightFest, has been announced.

The event, which takes place at the Empire in Leicester Square, will present four days of blood-soaked terror to keen audiences. No fewer than six world premieres are planned, including first showings for Adam Green's Hatchet II, Aussie director Josh Reed's Primal and Brit horror flick Dead Cert from Steve Lawson.

An unmissable retrospective sees director Tobe Hooper come to the city for the first time in almost 20 years to present a screening of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and participate in an on-stage interview after the film.

British directors are well represented, with seven titles at the event. Highlights include Gareth Edwards's incredibly impressive feature debut Monsters (pictured), which had its world premiere at SXSW, and Paul Andrew Williams's latest chiller, Cherry Tree Lane, fresh from its debut at the Edinburgh Film Festival.

This year’s FrightFest horror festival has revealed its full line-up and it should have horror fans very excited. A special appearance by Tobe Hooper and a screening of his little seen Eggshells is a must for film lovers.

And of course they’ll be showing his masterpiece The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. It’s special because Hooper hasn’t visited the UK for almost twenty years!

Check out the main titles playing at the festival below. It’s a good mix of world horror cinema.

Thursday Aug 27

6.30pm Hatchet II (World Premiere) – 90 mins Director: Adam Green USA 2010

9.15pm Primal (World Premiere) – 85 mins Director: Josh Reed Australia 2010

11.30pm Dead Cert (World Premiere) – 90 mins Director: Steve Lawson UK 2010

Friday Aug 28

10.45am Eggshells – 90 mins Director: Tobe Hooper USA 1969

1.00pm The Texas Chain Saw Massacre – 83 mins Director: Tobe Hooper USA 1974

3.15pm Interview With Tobe Hooper.

5.30pm Isle Of Dogs (World Premiere) – 90 mins Director:...

More stills for another movie we've been talking about for a while now, Dead Cert, have come in in celebration of the film's debut at the Film4 FrightFest and we've got them for you fresh and bloody!

Synopsis

It’s a splatter Disco Inferno as East End gangsters and Eastern European vampires battle it out for the ultimate prize – owenership of the night-club, ‘The Inferno’. Foul-mouthed thugs take on a city infested with the undead in a super-modern take on ‘Dracula’ influenced by House of Hammer classics plus Fright Night and The Lost Boys. You think you know all there is to know about vampires? Well, you’re wrong, dead wrong, in director Steve Lawson’s all-action horror that paints London town red - with blood!

Look for the film's world premiere at the festival on Thursday August 27th at 11:30pm. Dig on the new stuff below.

- Uncle Creepy

Visit The Evilshop @ Amazon!

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,...

Now here's a flick about vampires we can really get behind! That's right, kids, you won't be finding any sparkling teenage brooders in Steven Lawson's UK vampire import Dead Cert, and we've got some new artwork and stills to prove it!

Starring Craig Fairbrass and Billy Murray, director Steve Lawson's Dead Cert follows a gang of tough London gangsters who get more than they bargained for when a group of businessmen make an offer to buy their club, the Inferno. They turn out to be nothing less than vampires wanting their land back and turn viciously on the gangsters when their demands are not met.

"One of the things I strove to give this movie is a sense of history, of vampire lore," says writer/producer Jonathan Sothcott. "In a lot of ways this is a super-modern version of Dracula, which is a pretty big undertaking given that...

Just for the Record gets its DVD release today. The latest offering from British hard man movie veterans Raw Productions and Black and Blue Films represents quite a departure from the usual blokes, birds and bust ups you might expect from a glance at the impressive ensemble cast. Uniting honest-to-goodness Brit luvvies Rik Mayall and Steven Berkoff with genre regulars Danny Dyer, Craig Fairbrass, Billy Murray and Sean Pertwee, the mockumentary details, in flashback and anecdote, a doomed film shoot. A year after the collapse of low-budget flick Just for the Record, documentarian Andy Wiseman (Rik Mayall) sets out to uncover and capture the cause of the films demise. Along the way he encounters a cast of real-life characters so far-fetched it soon becomes horribly clear why the movie failed…

The film-within-a-film premise of Just for the Record is an interesting one and on paper the cast are strong. Though...

Four Lions (15)

(Chris Morris, 2010, UK) Riz Ahmed, Kayvan Novak, Nigel Lindsay, Arsher Ali. 102 mins

Still grasping the nettles others would rather strim over, Morris returns with a suicide-bomb-com that both makes you laugh, and makes you wonder if you should be laughing. Tracking an inept Sheffield terrorist cell with big plans, it's packed with priceless lines and inspired absurdity in an Ealing comedy-meets-In The Loop sort of way. But we're not let off that lightly. These are more than simple caricatures, and as their mission becomes increasingly real, in every sense, we laugh at our peril.

The Back-Up Plan (12A)

(Alan Poul, 2010, Us) Jennifer Lopez, Alex O'Loughlin. 104 mins

J-Lo returns to reclaim her title as lightweight romcom champion, with another surreally dumb relationship souffle that should have Jennifer Aniston quaking in her fluffy slippers.

Cameraman: The Life And Work Of Jack Cardiff (Nc)

(Craig McCall, 2010, UK) 90 mins

Self-explanatory doc about the pioneering British cinematographer,...

The main thing that separates HeyUGuys from other film sites is one of the things I value most about us – we aren’t obsessed with the Hollywood Blockbuster. While we enjoy the privilege of bringing you coverage of the popcorntastic openings of films such as Iron Man 2 and The Prince of Persia we also embrace the opportunity to support newer voices in British cinema. To that end we spent last night in Mayfair. We were not there shopping for fine designer goods, nor were we fine-dining from a quadruple starred plate. We were there to celebrate film – gritty British film. That film was Just for the Record and the night was about as gritty and Britty as you can get without a bulldog, a Union Jack, or George and his Dragon putting in personal appearances!

This joint production from Black and Blue Films and Raw Film Productions documents the...

A new production trailer for the latest vampire outing coming our way, Dead Cert, has found its way online along with some nifty artwork, and we have a look at it for you. Spoiler alert: These toothy bastards still don't sparkle!

Starring Craig Fairbrass and Billy Murray, director Steve Lawson's Dead Cert follows a gang of tough London gangsters who get more than they bargained for when a group of businessmen make an offer to buy their club, the Inferno. They turn out to be nothing less than vampires wanting their land back and turn viciously on the gangsters when their demands are not met.

The film is due out sometime in 2010, though no firm plans have been announced yet. We'll keep our ears to the ground.

Dead Cert - Trailer

Uploaded by dreadcentral. - Classic TV and last night's shows, online.

- Uncle Creepy

Visit The Evilshop @ Amazon!

Dead Cert is a film we’ve had our eye on for a while now.

Director Steve Lawson’s take on vampires running amok in London’s gangster-strewn underworld has attracted a pretty impressive UK cast including Craig Fairbrass, Billy Murray, Kick-Ass’s Dexter Fletcher and Steven Berkoff and now there’s a trailer for you all to see what the fuss is about.

Embedded below is an unofficial production trailer and sets out the story effectively, with plenty of fangs and fists rolling between gangsters and vampires and there’s something of the From Dusk Till Dalston about this one.

We spoke to the director Steve Lawson before the film rolled into production (you can read our interview here) and we’re hoping to sit down with him again

Check out the trailer below.

Here’s our Dead Cert coverage so far, and there’s plenty more to come from this one.

Below the break you can see a non-official production trailer for Steve Lawson's vampires 'n' gangsters movie, Dead Cert. This trailer was cut for next weekend's Memorabilia event in Birmingham. It was also clearly cut for fans of the genre, not exactly pushing the boat out for a wider audience. If you have both From Dusk Til Dawn and Lock Stock on your shelf, however, you're right in the centre of their target. Fans of English TV and/or the films of Guy Ritchie and Matthew Vaughn will spot a few familiar faces. Having some members of the Kick-Ass cast all over your promotions really can't hurt, wouldn't you say? Every little bit helps - and will be needed when you're an independent British film like this. Here's /Film's own YouTube upload of the clip.

There is a lot happening in British independent film at the moment, with Gerard Johnson’s Tony making waves and Steve Lawson’s Dead Cert looking good for this year. A chorus of new voices are being heard, and their passion and talent is evident with every new release.

Here at HeyUGuys we are always looking to bring you news of these and other British movies and we’ve got something really rather special for you today.

We were lucky enough to visit the set of The Last Seven, the new film from Imran Naqvi and Simon Phillips, a thriller about, coincidentally enough, the last seven people on Earth, and we’ll bring you footage and pics from the visit in a later post.

The teaser trailer for the film, which stars Simon Phillips, Tamer Hassan, Sebastian Street, Rita Ramnani and Danny Dyer, is out now and does a great...

The promotional trailer for the latest vampire outing coming our way, Dead Cert, has found its way online, and we have a look at it for you. Spoiler alert: These toothy bastards don't sparkle!

Starring Craig Fairbrass and Billy Murray, director Steve Lawson's Dead Cert follows a gang of tough London gangsters who get more than they bargained for when a group of businessmen make an offer to buy their club, the Inferno. They turn out to be nothing less than vampires wanting their land back and turn viciously on the gangsters when their demands are not met.

The film is due out sometime in 2010, though no firm plans have been announced yet. We'll keep our ears to the ground.

- Uncle Creepy

Visit The Evilshop @ Amazon!

Got news? Click here to submit it!

Put the bite on in the Dread Central forums!

Dead Cert Writer and Co-Producer, Ben Shillito talks to Ed Whitfield about the perils of orchestrating an orgy of rampaging violence between Gangsters and Vampires on the page and how it all started in Colin Baker’s Tardis.

Tell me a little about your background. How do you get involved in screenwriting and what brought you to Dead Cert?

I’ve been writing since I was a child. It started with Dr Who scripts for Colin Baker’s doctor, mainly based around Tardis repair, bickering with Bonnie Langford and regenerating every few pages. A little later I read some lit. crit. and got it into my head that telling stories was a better idea than just plodding out a bunch of random scenes and then killing everyone off (a lesson I forgot on Dead Cert but promise to re-learn for my next project). Studying literature and film helped with the writing,...

Recently HeyUGuys published the new poster for Black & Blue productions’ forthcoming film, Dead Cert. A few days before the poster went online, we managed to sit down with the film’s producer, Jonathan Sothcott, and director, Steve Lawson to find out how things were going.

When we last spoke to Lawson, the script was still in development, and the cast was just beginning to come together. Barely weeks later, things had moved on significantly. As Steve explained, “Actors have had a lot of input on the dialogue, which has made it a lot clearer… A lot of the cast that we wrote the characters around are back here again”.

As well as an expanding cast, which now features Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels veterans Dexter Fletcher and Jason Flemyng, the production designers have been busy building sets for the film. Rather than spending much of their budget on hiring studio space,...

Dead Cert is a low-budget British horror film about a group of East-end gangsters who take on Eastern-European vampires. Starring Craig Fairbrass, Dexter Fletcher and Billy Murray it’s got a pretty good chance of being next year’s underground horror hit, in the vein of Dog Soldiers and Severance.

A few weeks ago we published an interview with the film’s director, Steve Lawson. As a follow up to this we managed to pin Steve down again, along with the film’s producer, Jonathan Sothcott for a chat a couple of days before the film entered principal photography.

That interview will be online over the next couple of days, but in the mean time, to whet your appetites, we have been given an exclusive high-resolution version of the film’s poster.

Call us a bunch of sycophants if you like, but we think that it’s pretty awesome. In...

At HeyUGuys we love low budget gangster films almost as much as we love low budget horror films. You can imagine then, how excited we were to hear about forthcoming Brit-flick Dead Cert. Described by the films producer, Jonathon Sothcott as “Layer Cake meets From Dusk Till Dawn”, it tells the story of a group of London gangsters, who go up against a group of Romanian vampires.

HeyUGuys sat down with the film’s director, Steve Lawson to find out more.

British producer Jonathan Sothcott got in touch with Fango to tip us off to a couple of genre projects he’s attached to. The first is Devil’S Playground, which is slated to begin production in London in late January with Andrew Gunn on board as director.

“The script is by Band Of Brothers and Rome actor Bart Ruspoli, and is something pretty special,” Sothcott tells us. “It takes everything you want in a balls-to-the-wall zombie film and structures it into a high-concept thriller.

”Starring Vinnie (Midnight Meat Train) Jones, Danny (Severance) Dyer, Tamer (The Ferryman) Hassan, Martin (Embrace Of The Vampire) Kemp, Jemima Rooper, Billy Murray and Lisa (Pumpkinhead: Ashes To Ashes) McAllister, Devil’S Playground details the plight of the last remnants of a civilization destroyed by an all-out zombie armageddon, following the misguided experiments of a presumed-dead Nobel Prize-winning virologist. In a bid for survival, a group...