News

Amazon Studios is heading to the supermarket.

The company has acquired Jennifer Harrington’s feature script titled Hell’s Belles. The comedy will follow three female grocery store employees who have always wanted to stand up to their repellent boss, Ron, but have never found the fortitude. They must somehow find that resolve after discovering Ron is actually Satan and on the verge of taking over the universe.

The project is in development at Amazon with longtime producing partners Jake Kasdan and Melvin Mar on board to produce. Hell’s Belles marks a reteaming of sorts, at least on the development front, for Harrington and the pair. In early 2020, Sony snapped up Harrington’s original spec script It’s the End of Liz as we Know It in a highly competitive situation with Kasdan and Mar on board to produce.

In addition to Hell’s Belles and Liz, Harrington also worked on the Apple TV+ documentary Dear…...

The Nowhere Inn: "From real-life friends Annie Clark (a.k.a. Grammy award-winning recording and touring artist St. Vincent) and Carrie Brownstein comes the metafictional account of two creative forces banding together to make a documentary about St. Vincent’s music, touring life, and on-stage persona. But they quickly discover unpredictable forces lurking within the subject and filmmaker that threaten to derail the friendship, the project, and the duo’s creative lives. From first-time filmmaker Bill Benz comes a densely woven, laugh-out-loud funny and increasingly fractured commentary on reality, identity, and authenticity. A story of two close friends who attempt to wrestle the truth out of a complex subject before the hall of mirrors that is their artistic lives devours them completely."

Directed by: Bill Benz Co-Written By: Annie Clark & Carrie Brownstein Starring: Annie Clark, Carrie Brownstein, & Dakota Johnson Music by: St. Vincent Produced by: Carrie Brownstein, Lana Kim,...

Scarehouse Celebrates 20 Years of Fears: "There’s no need to fear … actually, come to think of it, there is – because the legendary haunted attraction ScareHouse, named one of the scariest haunted houses in the United States, will open its doors of doom for its 20th spine-tingling year on Saturday, Sept. 18.

The first visitors to ScareHouse screamed their way through its horrifying haunts and sinister sights and sounds in 1999 – but it’s this year that the attraction is commemorating 20 Years of Fears as a result of a scaled-down, pandemic-influenced version last season.

Tickets to ScareHouse are available beginning today at www.ScareHouse.com. ScareHouse will be open Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 1; and Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays through Nov. 6. General admission tickets – which require advance online reservations – begin at $22.95, with a special “Rip Ticket” that offers no-reservation front-of-line access available beginning at $39.95.

“This year, Halloween is back, and so is ScareHouse – bigger,...

Company to distribute roster of completed titles in US.

Vertical Entertainment continues to grow its international business and is in talks on a virtual Cannes market slate led by thriller Last Survivors starring Alicia Silverstone and civil rights drama Son Of The South executive produced by Spike Lee.

Head of international sales and distribution Ryan Keller and his team have been taking meetings this week on the international sales roster, which includes sci-fi thriller Risen, horror Shook, thriller Stalker, and The Resort. All titles are completed and Vertical will distribute in the US.

Drew Mylrea directed the thriller Last Survivors,...

Influencer culture should be fertile ground for horror. There’s a delicious potential in stoking our schadenfreude as we watch the vapid and the beautiful get bumped off in inventive ways; alternatively, there’s plenty of scope for a deep-dive on the psychology and sociology of Instagram celebs: what makes them tick, what role do we, the viewer, play in their lives, why do we watch, and why do they want us to? All of that stuff. The problem with Shook is that it attempts both approaches and consequently manages neither.

Mia (Daisye Tutor) is a moderately-successful influencer, sharing the glamorous ticks of her life via make-up tips on an unnamed Instagram-style platform. She has slightly less glamorous, less popular influencer friends, and a decidely unglamorous sister, Nicole (Emily Goss) living with the same degenerative genetic disease that recently killed their mother. Mia is back in the family home, passing...

Written and directed by Jennifer Harrington and starring Daisye Tutor (Guest House), Emily Goss (Snapshots), Nicola Posener (The Bold and the Beautiful), Octavius J. Johnson (Sleepless), Stephanie Simbari (Here and Now), Grant Rosenmeyer (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and real-life make-up and social media influencer Genelle Seldon, Shook will premiere and debut exclusively on Shudder in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.

When Mia, a social media star, becomes the target of an online terror campaign, she has to solve a series of tests to prevent people she cares about from getting murdered. But is it real? Or is it just a game at her expense?

Produced by Tara L. Craig with music by celebrated electronic artist and Italians Do It Better label owner Johnny Jewel and tracks from his cult hit bands Chromatics, Symmetry, and Glass Candy, Shook premieres on Shudder on February 18th. Check out the trailer and...

"What do you want?" "I need you to make a choice." Shudder has unveiled the official trailer for a horror thriller titled Shook, yet another new social media horror story. When Mia, a social media star, becomes the target of an online terror campaign, she has to solve a series of games to prevent people she cares about from getting murdered. But is it real. Or is it just a game at her expense. Who knows?! Who even cares?! Yet another derivative, cliche version of this horror. Written and directed by Jennifer Harrington, the film stars Daisye Tutor as Mia, with Emily Goss, Nicola Posener, Octavius J. Johnson, Stephanie Simbari, Grant Rosenmeyer, and real-life make-up and social media influencer Genelle Seldon. Featuring some new music by electronic artist and Italians Do It Better label owner Johnny Jewel. This doesn't look so good. Here's the official red band trailer (+ poster) for Jennifer Harrington's Shook,...

That's it. I'm officially old. I'm watching the standard and red band versions of the new trailer for Jennifer Harrington's Shook, a story about a social media 'influencer' becoming the target of terror, and I want everyone to die already.    But this is the world of new media and I'm not the target audience. Shook is not meant for me to enjoy, right? Or maybe not? Seeing real-life 'influencer' Genelle Seldon catch a high heel in the red band trailer does bring grim satisfaction. Yeah! Give it to that InstaTweetTuber! Yeah!    Harrington's social media thriller will premiere and debut exclusively to Shudder on February 18th in the US, here in Canada, and over in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. It will...

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

Shook will premiere and debut exclusively to Shudder on February 18th in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, as well as via the Shudder offering within the AMC+ bundle where available.

In Shook, Mia, a social media star, becomes the target of an online terror campaign. She has to solve a series of tests to prevent people she cares about from getting murdered. But is it real? Or is it just a game at her expense?

Check out the spooky new trailer:

Written and directed by Jennifer Harrington and starring Daisye Tutor (Guest House), Emily Goss (Snapshots), Nicola Posener (The Bold and the Beautiful), Octavius J. Johnson (Sleepless), Stephanie Simbari (Here and Now), Grant Rosenmeyer (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and real-life make-up and social media influencer Genelle Seldon.

Produced by Tara L. Craig with music by celebrated electronic artist and Italians Do It Better label owner Johnny Jewel and...

Ahead of its world premiere on February 18th on Shudder, here's a look at the new trailer for Shook:

"When Mia, a social media star, becomes the target of an online terror campaign, she has to solve a series of tests to prevent people she cares about from getting murdered. But is it real? Or is it just a game at her expense?

Written and directed by Jennifer Harrington and starring Daisye Tutor (Guest House), Emily Goss (Snapshots), Nicola Posener (The Bold and the Beautiful), Octavius J. Johnson (Sleepless), Stephanie Simbari (Here and Now), Grant Rosenmeyer (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) and real-life make-up and social media influencer Genelle Seldon.

Produced by Tara L. Craig with music by celebrated electronic artist and Italians Do It Better label owner Johnny Jewel and tracks from his cult hit bands Chromatics, Symmetry, and Glass Candy.

Shook is a Squid Farm production."

The post Watch the...

In addition to a jam-packed January of new releases, the horror streaming service Shudder has plenty of scares in store for viewers in February, including Jeremy Gardner and Christian Stella's After Midnight, Padraig Reynolds' Open 24 Hours, Jennifer Harrington's Shook, the Nicolas Cage-starring Vampire's Kiss, the practical effects wizardry of Basket Case, Takashi Miike's One Missed Call, and much more!

Below, you can check out the full list of titles coming to Shudder in the U.S. in February, and be sure to visit Shudder's website to learn more about the streaming service and their scary good lineup!

A Nightmare Wakes — premieres February 4

While composing her famous novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley descends into an opium-fueled fever dream while carrying on a torrid love affair with Percy Shelley. As she writes, the characters of her novel come to life and begin to plague her relationship with Percy.

If you thought last year's Shudder releases were impressive, wait until you see what they have in store for 2021, including eleven weeks of movie premieres. Here's the official press release, detailing all of their upcoming releases that include The Dark and the Wicked, Violation, and many more:

New York, NY – January 14, 2021 – Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, today announced its unbeatable lineup of eleven new Shudder Original and Shudder Exclusive films set to premiere on the service over the next eleven weeks: Hunted, The Queen of Black Magic, A Nightmare Wakes, After Midnight, Shook, The Dark & the Wicked, Lucky, Stay Out of the F**king Attic, Slaxx, Koko-di Koko-da and Violation that together span five countries on three continents and range from dark comedy to survival horror to period psychological thrillers. The eleven films represent vibrant, creative passion driving independent and international genre cinema today,...

In today’s film news roundup, Jodie Foster is directing a Mona Lisa movie, Sony buys a sci-fi script for Jake Kasdan, Lionsgate signs a deal with Kristin Burr and “The Color Purple” is returning to theaters.

Project Launch

Jodie Foster has come on board to direct an untitled drama about the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa with Los Angeles Media Fund fully financing.

Lamf has hired Bill Wheeler to write the screenplay, based on the book “The Day They Stole the Mona Lisa” by Seymour Reit. The robbery, which took place at the Louvre in Paris, was perpetrated by Louvre employee Vincenzo Peruggia, who believed that Leonardo da Vinci’s painting should have been displayed in Italy.

Peruggia kept the painting for two years and was caught when he attempted to sell it to the director of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It was returned to the Louvre in...

Sony is readying for more Jake Kasdan at the studio — thanks to writer Jennifer Harrington, sources with knowledge of the deal tell The Hollywood Reporter.

The studio has snapped up Harrington's original script titled It's the End of Liz as We Know It in a highly competitive situation.

Sony beat out multiple parties who were interested in paying a high-six-figure sum — a significant deal in today's script market, not to mention a rare one, for a spec from a rising writer. Not much is known about the plot, other than it is described as a ...

Sony is readying for more Jake Kasdan at the studio — thanks to writer Jennifer Harrington, sources with knowledge of the deal tell The Hollywood Reporter.

The studio has snapped up Harrington's original script titled It's the End of Liz as We Know It in a highly competitive situation.

Sony beat out multiple parties who were interested in paying a high-six-figure sum — a significant deal in today's script market, not to mention a rare one, for a spec from a rising writer. Not much is known about the plot, other than it is described as a ...

Now well into its second decade, the Slamdance Film Festival is gearing up for its 2017 edition. Mostly taking place at the Treasure Mountain Inn at top of Park City, Utah’s busting Main Street, Slamdance is dedicated to presenting a festival and a community designed “for filmmakers by filmmakers.”

In previous years, projects from directors like Christopher Nolan, Marc Forster, Jared Hess, Oren Peli, Benh Zeitlin, Seth Gordon, Lynn Shelton and Lena Dunham have bowed at the festival, and it’s become a fertile — if offbeat — proving ground for fresh talents. This year looks to be yet another banner one for the fest, and as such, we’ve gone on a little trip through the Slamdance slate to dig up some prime possibilities for must-see films (shorts and features!).

Ahead, check out 13 titles we’re...

Yep, more footage has been found, kids. Are you ready to relive the last few moments of the lives of a group of people who were poking around where they shouldn't have been? Read on to find out if you should start planning your trip to a Dark Mountain.

From the Press Release

Somewhere deep within Arizona's Superstition Mountains lies the most famous lost gold mine in the world--the Lost Dutchman Mine. Its estimated worth is around 200 million dollars. Since the turn of the twentieth century, thousands of people have scoured the mountains in search of it, hundreds have lost their lives in the process, but not one has returned with an ounce of gold.

Legend has it the mine is cursed.

In March of 2011 three filmmakers set out to find the mine and document their entire process. They never made it out of the Superstitions. Eight months later their...