News

South by Southwest, the multi-faceted film, music and technology festival held annually in Austin, TX will feature such upcoming films as Paul Feig’s Spy, David Gordon Green’s Manglehorn, Alex Gibney’s documentary Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine, and Ondi Timoner’s Russell Brand profile Brand: A Second Coming as headliners in this year’s film festival lineup.

SXSW runs from March 13 to 21 in Austin and is now in its 22nd year. Variety has details of the 145 films and 100 world premieres bowing at this year’s festival. Brand, as previously reported, will be the festival’s opening night film.

Other notable titles on the list are the Will Ferrell/Kevin Hart comedy Get Hard, a rough cut of Judd Apatow’s Trainwreck, the directorial debut of 28 Days Later screenwriter Alex Garland, Ex Machina, and a new comedy by Michael Showalter, Hello, My Name is Doris.

On the small screen,...

Finally we have the first teaser trailer for the new Katharine Isabelle flick entitled Torment from Filmax, and what better way could there be to end the work day and kick off your weekend?

Jordan Barker (The Marsh, Duress) directs. Robin Dunne and Stephen McHattie also star. Look for the film to play October 11th as part of Screamfest La 2013.

Synopsis

Newlyweds Sarah and Cory Morgan have decided to take a relaxing holiday with Cory’s seven-year-old son, Liam, to try to smooth over some of the teething problems Liam is having with his new mom. Despite the idyllic location of Cory’s isolated and luxurious country house, the family members soon realize they have made a mistake by going there. The house brings back too many painful memories of Liam’s deceased mother, and the boy reacts angrily, punishing Sarah for trying to take his mom’s place.

However,...

Tagline: "Welcome to the Family." Filmax International is also developing the slasher film Torment. From director Jordan Barker (Duress), this film is still in production through Gearshift Films. Shooting is taking place in Canada and the film hosts a few Canadian actors. Stephen McHattie (The Tall Man), Katharine Isabelle (American Mary) and Robin Dunne (Cruel Intentions 2) are three participating Canadian actors. Isabelle can be seen in an early still for the film (below) and a strangely hooded killer is seen in the film's early poster (left). The film's story involves a couple, Sarah (Isabelle) and Cory (Dunne), out on holiday, with their young son. Though, someone or something has been staying in their old country house. Now, Liam (Peter DaCunha), the son, is missing. Both Sarah and Cory must fight for their lives against an entity, which has come straight from hell. Pre-production on this slasher film is likely...

Tagline: "What Would You Do to Save Your Child?" Screen Media Films is set to release Jordan Barker's (The Marsh) Duress this November, 2013. This film was completed in 2009. Also in 2009, Duress was screened at several film festivals, including Fantastic Fest '09. The film was shot in Greece and thriller fans can preview Duress, before the release, here. The film involves a single father, whose daughter is kidnapped. Richard (Martin Donovan) must turn vigilante, in order to find her. But, this kidnapper has done this before and his malicious ways will eventually lead to murder. Duress has received some notable reviews. Brian Salisbury of Film School Rejects enjoyed the thrilling aspects of this title: "This is a very cool little film. It is cold and haunting with an atmosphere of extreme dread." The tone is dark within this title. And, thriller fans can pick Duress up on DVD November 12th.

American Mary star Katharine Isabelle and “Sanctuary”'s Robin Dunne are teaming up for a new terror-filled project for Filmax International, and we have the first details ready and waiting to Torment you right here!

Variety reports that the Barcelona production-distribution-sales house announced that Dunne and Isabelle (pictured) will topline Torment, which is directed by Jordan Barker (The Marsh, Duress).

The flick will be produced by Canada’s Gearshift Films in association with Parachute and sold abroad by Filmax Intl. The home invasion slasher went into production on May 1st. Filmax distributes in Spain.

Synopsis

Cory Morgan, his wife, and their 3-year-old daughter, Emily, decide to spend a quiet family holiday alone. When Sarah starts seeing strange things around the house, it soon becomes clear that they have some unwanted guests… Now the family are forced to fight for their lives in what has become a festival of terror of epic proportions.

WWE Studios have announced the leading role debut of one of the biggest names in the WWE, Triple H. The wrestler, real name Paul Levesque, will join Kevin Corrigan, Ariel Winter and Annabeth Gish (one of my all-time favourite actresses), in the upcoming comedy, The Chaperone.

Triple H will play ex-con Ray Bradstone, a former getaway driver determined to turn his life around and establish a relationship with his estranged daughter Sally, in the film directed by Stephen Herek (Critters, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead, The Mighty Ducks).

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m pretty interested to see The Chaperone. For one, Triple H can do comedy and action – we’ve seen that in the WWE; two it also stars Annabeth Gish; and three, it’s directed by Stephen Herek – who has made some damn fine comedies over the years.

Media 8 Entertainment is taking the film Duress to the European Film Market, which begins in less than a week. Duress is a story about suicide and the protection of a young daughter. If that was not enough, Duress will also include a charismatic killer, who trains an unwilling protégé in his dark arts. The film is more thriller than horror, but the writing is new and with any luck the film will be picked up for North American distribution, for fans to enjoy. Have a look at the synopsis, which shows potential and a somewhat grainy trailer below.

The synopsis for Duress here:

"Haunted with nightmares of his wife's recent suicide and struggling to mend the relationship with his only daughter, Richard is caught as a witness to the violence of Abner Solvie. He finds himself at the mercy of a charismatic killer and plagued by his involvement in the city's recent murders.

The folks behind Austin, TX’s Fantastic Fest just announced another batch of movies for their 2009 edition, running September 24-October 1. The highlight is undeniably Survival Of The Dead (pictured below), the latest zombie epic from George A. Romero, who will be on hand for a Q&A after the screening. A bunch of vintage Romero trailers will be screened with the feature as well.

Another anticipated undead opus, Zombieland, will be shown Sept. 25 as part of a special event, with details soon to be announced. Also added to the lineup are Daybreakers, the futuristic vampire drama from Undead’s Michael and Peter Spierig; the North American premiere of Doghouse, the latest from Evil Aliens director Jake West; the North American premiere of Jordan Barker’s killer thriller Duress; the world premiere of Yoshiharu Ashino’s First Squad, a supernatural adventure set during WWII; Hard Revenge Milly: Bloody Battle, Takanori Tsujimoto...

As if the first wave of films wasn’t good enough the badasses over at Fantastic Fest have announced the 2nd wave of films and they have outdone themselves. With the additions of movie like ‘Zombieland’, ‘Survival of the Dead’, ‘Daybreakers’ and ‘Yatterman’ this is will be one of the best festivals of the year! Check out the announcement below:

Features:

Daybreakers (dir. Michael Spierig & Peter Spierig, 2009, USA)

The year is 2019. A mysterious plague has swept over the earth, transforming the majority of the world’s population into vampires. Humans are now an endangered, second-class species – forced into hiding as they are hunted and farmed for vampire consumption to the brink of extinction. It’s all up to Edward Dalton, a vampire researcher who refuses to feed on human blood, to perfect a blood substitute that might sustain vampires and spare the few remaining humans.

Doghouse

(dir. Jake West, 2009, UK...

Fantastic Fest in Austin is one of the best festivals in the country devoted to genre films. Previously, we brought you news about the first round of films scheduled to show during the fest. And now, there’s even more news to share today, including some great guests and some relly cool films we’re looking forward to seeing.

But really, I probably can’t do all this info proper justice (given my time constraints today at least) so I’ll just let Tim League, director/co-founder of the Fest, speak for himself via the latest Fest press release:

George Romero Returns to Fantastic Fest!

George RomeroIn 2007, Fantastic Fest was honored by the presence of one of the true masters of horror, George A. Romero. Now, two years later, we are thrilled to welcome back the undisputed champion of all things undead for his latest blood-drenched thrillride, Survival Of The Dead.

That's right folks, the second wave has been announced, and I'm tentatively planning on being there for the opening night world premier of Jared Hess' Gentlemen Broncos followed by the next few days of genre goodness. What does this lineup bring us? Quite the list:

How about the Spierig brothers long awaited next film, a post apocalyptic vampire vision of the future: Daybreakers!

The world premier of Studio 4C's animated Russian war scifi First Squad.

The North American premier of Tom Six's anal grafted centipede sickness Human Centipede (First Sequence).

The Us premier of Tarik Saleh's Swiss animated dystopic vision with voices from the likes of Vincent Gallo, Metropia!

The Us premier of Lee Demarbre's deliciously horrific Sasha Grey starrer Smash Cut. (Review coming soon)

The Us premier of Romero's latest, Survival of the Dead.

Takashi Miike's reimagining of the long running tv anime Yatterman. (Review...

The second round of entries into the Fantastic Fest 2009 line-up have been released this morning. For out-of-towners, Fantastic Fest is Austin's premiere film festival and the largest genre film festival in the United States. Once a year, Alamo Drafthouse master of ceremonies Tim League brings the best horror, action, foreign and otherwise related gems to Austin for a week of fried food, good spirits and great movies at the world's greatest movie theater. And according to the line-up I just read through -- attached below -- this year should be no exception. League and crew will be bringing George Romero back to Austin for the U.S. Premiere of Survival of the Dead. As well, they will also host Ruben Fleischer's Zombieland and the latest film from Takashi Miike, the animeted Yatterman. I would urge you to check out the line-up below. But even more importantly, you should head over to FantasticFest.com...