News

Raven Banner Entertainment, the Toronto-based genre outfit that attended AFM last week, has promoted Michael Da Silva to general manager.

Da Silva previously served as manager of sales and acquisitions, and has been a core part of the team for six years, working on titles like Frankie Freako, The Sadness, and Yummy.

In his new capacity, Da Silva will oversee all facets of the company.

Michael Paszt, Raven Banner managing partner, said: “The past few years have shown a lot of growth at Raven Banner, of which Michael has been a driving force, and we’re confident that Michael will...

The term "brutal" has often been used to sum up the essence of Damien Leone's "Terrifier" films, with its central terror, the unsettling Art the Clown (David Howard Thornton), being the one behind increasingly gruesome acts. The first "Terrifier" featured some really boundary-pushing kills within the gore/slasher genre mold, while "Terrifier 2" solidified the franchise's appeal by widening the scope of its spine-chilling premise. Wretched, sensationalist excess is the name of the game here, and it is not surprising that the upcoming "Terrifier 3" has further raised the stakes, with its disturbing opening scene having caused walkouts during the film's U.K. premiere. The "Terrifier" franchise's sadistic edge can be boiled down to Art's inherently vile motivations, which are never personal, but sudden, arbitrary torture-and-kill instincts that seldom follow any pattern, making him more dangerous than most fictional killers with a distinct modus operandi.

"Terrifier 3" recently had...

AMC Networks’ Shudder has announced the titles that will be available on the streaming service next month. The Shudder September 2024 slate includes horror, thriller, and supernatural titles.

The September highlights include the films The Demon Disorder, In a Violent Nature, and Oddity, as well as the TV series Horror’s Greatest and The Last Drive-In with Joe Bob Briggs.

Shudder’s expanding library of films, TV series, and original content is available on most streaming devices in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand.

The Demon Disorder Shudder August 2024 Highlights

Films

The Demon Disorder (Shudder Original Film) – New Film Premieres Friday, September 6

The Australian demonic family drama centers on Graham, a man haunted by his past since the death of his father and the estrangement from his two brothers. Jake, the middle brother, contacts Graham, claiming that something is horribly wrong: their youngest brother, Phillip, is possessed by their deceased father.

A feature adaptation for one of the most depraved, boundary pushing comic books ever, Crossed, is currently in development. THR reported late last week that The Boys and Preacher comic creator Garth Ennis has penned a script that’s been acquired by indie outfit Six Studios to finance the adaptation.

Crossed is set “in a pandemic-stricken world, in which those who catch a disease are marked with a cross-like rash on their faces. Those afflicted follow their worst impulses — think a zombie apocalypse, but instead of zombies, these are humans who retain their intellect but are homicidal maniacs.”

If that plot sounds familiar, it might be due to the extreme horror movie The Sadness, with filmmaker Rob Jabbaz drawing clear inspiration from the gnarly comic book series.

The original 10-issue series that inspired the movie adaptation ran from 2008-10, with the series spawning more than 200 issues from various writers and artists,...

Klayton, the multifaceted musician known for his work across movies, TV, and video games, and bestselling writer and film producer Joshua Viola have teamed up to form Bit Bot Media. The cutting-edge multimedia company will spearhead the creation of original films and video games, along with "a diverse range of licensed comics, music, apparel, and merchandise such as latex masks, toys, and more." Today, they’ve unveiled a teaser video for the company, and we have your exclusive first look, along with more details on their new partnerships.

Bit Bot Media has forged a strategic partnership with Raven Banner Entertainment, a prominent indie Canadian film studio celebrated for its innovative genre films from around the globe. Together, they will collaborate on an array of ancillary offerings and film productions. Raven Banner’s recent productions include Steven Kostanski’s Frankie Freako, Nick Cutter’s The Breach, and the Shudder Original hit...

Clockwise from bottom left: Halloween (Compass International Pictures); Hellbound: Hellraiser II (New World Pictures); Mandy (XYZ Films); Re-Animator (Empire Pictures); Chopping Mall (Concorde Pictures) (Screenshots: YouTube) Graphic: The A.V. Club We’re halfway to Halloween, and even though October 31 is still six months away, there’s still one place...

Clockwise from bottom left: Halloween (Compass International Pictures); Hellbound: Hellraiser II (New World Pictures); Mandy (XYZ Films); Re-Animator (Empire Pictures); Chopping Mall (Concorde Pictures) (Screenshots: YouTube)Graphic: The A.V. Club

We’re halfway to Halloween, and even though October 31 is still six months away, there’s still one place...

Winter’s chill is nothing compared to the spine-tingling, bone-chilling selection Shudder has lined up for this season. As the nights get longer and the darkness swallows the light a bit earlier each day, what better way to embrace the eerie than with a curated list of horror that promises to keep you at the edge of your seat?

From suburban nightmares to dark fantasies that blur the lines between pleasure and pain, Shudder’s Winter 2024 lineup is a horror aficionado’s dream—or should we say, nightmare? So, grab your favorite blanket, double-check those locks, and dive into our top 10 must-watch horror movies. Just remember, when the scares get too real, it’s only a movie… right?

Shudder 10. Destroy All Neighbors (2023)

Struggling prog-rock musician William Brown’s life spirals into chaos when he accidentally kills Vlad, the neighbor from hell. This darkly comedic horror takes suburban disputes to a deadly level,...

New deals on upcoming horror Terrifier 3.

The Coven has hired Toronto-based Anelle Dehghani as head of sales to kick off the year on a slate which includes Terrifier 3, the next instalment in the cult horror franchise.

Dehghani previously served as director of domestic distribution and international sales at Raven Banner, the genre specialist headquartered in Toronto, where she began her career more than a decade ago.

The executive has focused on bringing elevated genre films to the global market with titles such as The Autopsy Of Jane Doe, Tigers Are Not Afraid, and The Sadness.

The Coven currently...

Stars: Ezequiel Rodriguez, Demian Salomon, Luis Ziembrowski, Silvina Sabater | Written and Directed by Demián Rugna

When Evil Lurks (Cuando Acecha la Maldad) is the new feature film from Argentinian director Demián Rugna. Rugna assured himself a place in horror history with his film Terrified in 2017 and then vanished off the scene until his segment in last year’s Satanic Hispanics. Thankfully he didn’t make us wait another five years for something new, and When Evil Lurks premiered this year at TIFF as part of its Midnight Madness program.

Appropriately enough the film starts somewhere around midnight when Pedro and his brother Jimmy are awakened by the sound of gunshots somewhere in the woods. Going to investigate the next morning they find a body, or half of one anyway, with a strange device nearby and a notebook in a language the brothers don’t recognize nearby.

As it turns out...

We are prompting discussions with our new ‘opinion piece’ section titled Shock & Cheese and in this first article the discussion is on the zombie genre.

Yes, the Zombie genre “shot its load”. The Masters of Horror TV series episode titled “Clive Barker’s Haeckel’s Tale” directed by John McNaughton showed the Dead doing that on screen. The Zombie genre has been dead for a long time time. The carnivorous dead started by George Romero has always been about the ultimate consumer society be it consuming people or haunting a mall.

The Zombies of “Classic Horror” reflected the time as the term referred to those that “blindly” followed orders be it by signing up to fight a War, doing someone’s evil bidding or working in a sugar cane field.

Today, Zombies are self-made monsters anyone can costume themselves up as and walk about mindlessly. Zombies have lost their precociousness...

Debuting as an actor back in 2011 with Giddens Ko's “You Are the Apple of My Eye”, Kai Ko has since gone on to become a formidable name in modern Taiwanese cinema, even winning a Golden Horse Award for Best New Performer and a Taipei Film Award for Best Actor over the years. In 2022, he took over the directorial chair from Giddens Ko for “Bad Education”, a script written by Giddens that he was supposed to direct but ended up being Kai Ko's debut behind the camera. In addition to the support of his first director, Kai Ko also had the support of Midi Z, who he worked with on “The Road to Mandalay” and who acts as a producer on “Bad Education”.

Bad Education is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival

On the night of their graduation from high school, three drunk best friends Chang, Wang and Han decide that,...

The Fangoria Chainsaw Awards are back here in 2023, with Fangoria officially announcing the nominees and beginning the voting process this week. Unlike the Oscars, the Chainsaw Awards are voted on entirely by the fans, and now is your chance to let your voice be heard.

Fangoria previews, “This past year in horror has been an absolute feast of frights, and we are so excited to celebrate outstanding achievements in horror film and television with our 2023 Chainsaw Award nominations.”

“We shouldn’t be surprised at the lack of love horror received from mainstream awards this year, but 2022 was an embarrassment of riches for the horror fan, and to see none of it nominated by the bigger institutions was a bit of a shock. As ever, Fangoria is happy to pick up the slack,” Editor-in-Chief Phil Nobile Jr. said in a statement.

“The genre excellence on display in 2022 encompasses veterans and new voices,...

Stephen King’s creative output is the stuff of legend. The number of stories that have flowed from that man’s brain, like water from a tap that can’t be shut off, is staggering. They’ve been followed by a similarly jaw-dropping number of film and television adaptations, to the point that some have argued the best of his tales have already been bled dry.

But you only have to crack open one of Stephen King’s short story collections to find many more quality pieces yet to be brought to the big or small screen. The following are four of my personal favorites. They span multiple genres and highlight the versatility of King’s fertile imagination.

If I go to my grave having seen any or all of these given cinematic life in the wake of The Boogeyman finally coming to the screen this year, I’ll be a happy camper…...

On Friday, Fangoria and Fangoria Studios released their 2023 Chainsaw Award nominations, which recognize outstanding achievements in horror film and television. First established in 1992, the Chainsaw Awards honor works and artists in a genre frequently overlooked by traditional organizations and critics groups. Past recipients include Wes Craven, George A. Romero, Lupita Nyong’o, Anthony Hopkins and Elisabeth Moss.

“Nope,” Jordan Peele’s follow-up to “Us,” received the most nominations of any film in Chainsaw Award contention, with 10 nominations including best wide release movie and best director. Other nominees include “Barbarian,” “Pearl,” “Hellraiser,” “Chucky” and “Yellowjackets.” Fangoria also introduced two new categories this year: Best Short and Best Cinematography.

Founded in 1979, Fangoria has become one of the most influential horror brands in the genre, living up to its moniker as “First in Fright.” At one time the only place on newsstands where fans could read about the world of contemporary horror, Fangoria...

Every month during 2022, I had a new film competing for my favorite horror film of the year. Significant theatrical experiences like "Barbarian" and "Nope" surprised me with ingenious storytelling. The small screen independent movie experiences with films like "Terrifier 2" and "Bones and All" broke free of my expectations. Even the wide selection of straight-to-streaming movies on my many apps like "Hellraiser," "Prey," and "Fresh" challenged in every way their theatrical counterparts. 2022 was one hell of a year for horror films. We had movies to celebrate, discover, grow reacquainted with, and travel to new territories. It was amazing to see such a variety of genre filmmaking on so many different levels. Here are my favorite horror films of 2022.

Watcher: Director Chloe Okuno's "Watcher," a story about a young actress who moves to a foreign country and believes someone is watching her from the apartments across the street, was a...

Rob Jabbaz's 2021 horror film "The Sadness" is one of the most intense, most violent films in recent memory. It follows the pattern of traditional zombie films, in that a viral outbreak turns large portions of the population into mindless monsters, but in the case of "The Sadness," people are turned into homicidal maniacs who become intensely driven by the evilest possible impulses. An infected victim can still speak and plan, but now have no compunctions about killing others, eating their flesh, bathing in blood, having blood orgies in public, and ... well, many other horrifying things that will not be listed here. 

The story is a bare-bones affair. A young couple (Regina Lei and Berant Zhu) are in an awkward place after a bad argument and have each gone out to work. When the "rage" outbreak hits, they must each survive a sudden assault of wrathful, cackling, lustful, bloodthirsty maniacs.

Karim Ouelhaj’s Fantasia winner “Megalomaniac” has been selling widely, now adding North America (Dark Star Pictures), France (Factoris Films) and Scandinavia (Njuta Films) to its growing slate.

Media Move manages sales for the world, with XYZ in charge of North America.

“The feedback from the festivals has been enthusiastic and we noticed a real ‘craze’ [for the film] from female spectators. I find it especially touching,” Ouelhaj tells Variety, noting its viewers praise his fourth feature for “leaving its mark.”

“[They say] you keep thinking about it for days, it sticks to your skin and your brain. I’m happy to hear it’s not forgettable. The only ones who are disappointed, which is rare, [come in] expecting an entertaining slasher.”

Produced by Okayss and Les Films du Carré, the film was inspired by the terrifying case of a Belgian serial killer nicknamed “The Butcher of Mons” in the 1990s. He was never captured.

Apart from...

Horror fans looking for something new to stream this October are in luck, as we’ve got the rundown of where to stream 79 horror movies from 2022.

The slasher “X” and “The Black Phone” with Ethan Hawke — which are both set in the ’70s — are now on streaming, as is Jordan Peele’s “Nope,” David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future” and Rob Zombie’s take on classic ’60s sitcom “The Munsters.”

And you may have missed these foreign films: “The Innocents,” a Norwegian movie about children who misuse their supernatural powers; Austria’s “Luzifer,” which earned lead Franz Rogowski a Best Actor award at Fantastic Fest; Dutch folk horror film “Moloch;” “The Sadness,” an extreme body horror/zombie movie from Taiwan; “Saloum” from Senegal, which The Guardian called “slick gangster horror in wild west Africa;” and “Speak No Evil,” in which a get-together with a couple from Denmark and one...

From slashers, to zombies, eco horror, and much, much more, MoMA's "Horror: Messaging the Monstrous" is a 10-week film series that includes 110 films, including a 3D screening of George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead! Featuring horror from around the world and taking place from June 23rd through September 5th, we have all the details so you can start planning your visit! Full program details can also be found at: moma.org/horror

Press Release:

The Museum of Modern Art announces Horror: Messaging the Monstrous, a 10-week film series that includes over 110 features and a selection of short films that capture the horror genre’s uncanny ability to express the lurking fears of a society and the anxieties caused by social, cultural, and political change. Presented in the Museum’s Titus Theaters in the Black Family Film Center from June 23 through September 5, 2022, Horror: Messaging the Monstrous is organized weekly...

Stars: Brianne Tju, Ali Gallo, Benjamin Wadsworth, Peter Giles, Lo Graham, Uriah Shelton, Drew Scheid, Joshua Mikel, C.J. LeBlanc | Written by Marcus Dunstan, Patrick Melton | Directed by Marcus Dunstan

Unhuman begins with title cards proclaiming it ”A Blumhouse Afterschool Special” and “Presented by the Student Teach Division (Std)”. That was the last thing I was expecting from a film by director Marcus Dunstan and his long-time co-writer Patrick Melton. While the three Feast films had their share of humour the duo are better known for more serious fare such as several of the later Saw films as well as The Collector and its sequel, both of which Dunstan also directed.

And it does begin like an Afterschool Special, Ever goes from dealing with her overprotective mother to being picked up by her best friend Tamra (Ali Gallo; Before I Go) who nearly hits Randall on their way to school. But...

On this episode of Daily Dead's official podcast, co-hosts Scott Drebit, Derek Anderson, and Jonathan James discuss Rob Jabbaz's relentlessly intense infection film, The Sadness, as well as the 1991 horror comedy Popcorn, and they also talk about some of their other recent viewing experiences, including Lucio Fulci's The Black Cat, Luigi Cozzi's The Black Cat, Cutting Class, and Everything Everywhere All at Once.

You can listen to the new episode of Corpse Club right now on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, TuneIn, YouTube, Pandora, and SoundCloud!

Looking for more scary good Corpse Club content? Be sure to check out our Corpse Club website and memberships. Not only can you view past episodes, but you can also sign up to be an official Corpse Club member to enjoy a wide range of rewards, including a shirt and pin that are to die for, access to bonus content,...

After a two year absence Horrorant was back in Athens, Greece, ready to feed the needs of its audience.    Over eleven days attendees got to catch up on some of the best offerings from the international genre community these past two years. Favorites like Luz: The Flower of Evil, Post Mortem, The Sadness and Mosquito State came to town.    All four were winners at this year's festival. After careful consideration, the jury of festival- which I was honored to be a part of this year- chose Mosquito State for best picture with best director honors going to Filip Jan Rymsza.    The beauty of Luz: The Flower of Evil is still pretty unmatched two years later which is why we gave the Cinematography...

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

Chow Yun Fat’s ‘One More Chance’ to be relaunched at the market.

Taiwan’s Distribution Workshop is set to introduce Cannes buyers to Philip Shih’s horror Antikalpa and relaunch Chow Yun-fat drama One More Chance.

Antikalpa is a Taiwanese supernatural horror that centres on a group of high school students who are lured into practicing mysterious rituals with demonic results. Adapted from a bestselling novel by Ling Jing, the film is set for a November release.

The cast includes Huang Guan-Zhi (TV series Detention), Regina Lei (The Sadness) and Tseng Wan-Ting (Gatao - The Last Stray). It marks...

Stars: Regina, Tzu-Chiang Wang, Berant Zhu | Written and Directed by Rob Jabbaz

I watched The Sadness knowing that it already had quite the reputation. I’d read parts of reviews that had spoken about the misery, the horrific and sadistic scenes, the over-the-top violence and depravity and much much more. As a long time and hardcore horror fan that has seen (almost) everything, I wasn’t expecting something pretty horrible.

I can’t say that The Sadness disappoints in that regard either. It lives up to that reputation but more on that later. Clearly influenced by the current pandemic this is set in a World which is in about the same place we are now but the virus all of a sudden mutates, leading to much worse things than have come before it. Now those infected are inflicting unforgivable crimes on their victims – rape, murder, mutilation and torture are happening...

Shudder brings the wild, crazy, bloody and controversial zombie movie The Sadness to the table this week, with the film set to debut on the platform on May 12, 2022. While we wait, Bloody Disgusting has scored an exclusive clip from The Sadness to whet your appetite, and it’s thick with suspense while teasing the film’s […]

The post ‘The Sadness’ Exclusive Clip Builds Suspense for Shudder’s Zombie Movie appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The Sadness is coming to Shudder- plus more horror gems to stream in May 2022! The weather is already getting hotter, and so are the streaming services when it comes to horror programming. That means an insane selection of titles to check out this month, from rare slashers arriving in late May to under-the-radar gems […]

The post Ten Must-Watch Horror Movies You Can Stream at Home in May! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Hello and Happy May, everyone! Now that a new month is officially underway, that means we have a new batch of digital and VOD releases headed to platforms in the coming weeks, and to help you plan accordingly, we have a rundown of what to expect in terms of horror and sci-fi digital debuts during May 2022.

Shudder has a lot of great new horror headed to its platform this month, as well as the 2022 Fangoria Chainsaw Awards on May 15th, and if you’re still not feeling comfortable heading into theaters just yet, you can even check out the new Firestarter adaptation on May 13th when it arrives on Peacock. Other films getting a digital and/or VOD release during May include Riley Stearns’ Dual, The Innocents, Monstrous featuring Christina Ricci, and Hanna Bergholm’s Hatching.

Happy Streaming!

Escape the Field (Lionsgate) - May 6th

The fear is inescapable and...

Stars: Paula Silva, Franco Rilla, Pilar Garcia, Daniel Hendler, Malena Sanchez | Written by Juma Fodde | Directed by Gustavo Hernández

Virus: 32 is the latest in the seemingly neverending stream of zombie, or zombie adjacent, films that have come our way since George Romero rebooted the genre with 1968’s Night of the Living Dead. This time it’s a plague of the kind of viral zombies such as we’ve seen in everything from 28 Day Later to Strain 100 and The Sadness being unleashed on Uruguay’s capital city of Montevideo by director Gustavo Hernández and writer Juma Fodde (You Shall Not Sleep).

Iris (Paula Silva; In the Quarry) works as a security guard at an athletic facility. She’s estranged from her husband Javi (Franco Rilla) and has a young daughter Tata (Pilar Garcia) whom the opening dialogue suggests she rarely sees. And now he’s dropping her off and Iris forgot she agreed to take her,...

The Sadness shocked festival audiences and now its heading to Shudder! Here's the official acquisition announcement, revealing that The Sadness will be released across Shudder in the US, Canada, the UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand on May 12th:

"Shudder, AMC Network’s premium streaming service for horror, thriller and the supernatural, has acquired rights to Canadian director Rob Jabbaz’s feature debut The Sadness following its impressive festival run that began at the prestigious 74th annual Locarno Film Festival and celebrated screenings at the Fantasia International Film Festival and Fantastic Fest, where the film took awards for Best First Feature in Montreal and for Best Horror and Best Direction in Austin. The film will be available exclusively on Shudder in the US, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, May 12.

Said Craig Engler, general manager of Shudder, “The Sadness is a brutal, boundary pushing shocker,...

After premiering at Fantasia last summer, zombie horror movie The Sadness has now been acquired by Shudder, with the film set to debut on the platform on May 12, 2022. Deadline broke the news today. Director Rob Jabbaz’s feature debut, The Sadness centers on “a young couple, played by Regina Lei (76 Horror Bookstore) and […]

The post Extreme Zombie Horror Movie ‘The Sadness’ Comes to Shudder in May appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Horror network Shudder has acquired the rights to The Sadness, directed by Rob Jabbaz and shot on location in Taiwan. The film is produced by David Barker and executive produced by Li-Cheng Huang, while Eunice Cheng associate produced for Machi Xcelsior Studios.

The Sadness follows a young couple, played by Regina Lei (76 Horror Bookstore) and Berant Zhu, trying to reunite amid a city ravaged by a plague that turns its victims into deranged, bloodthirsty sadists. Tzu Chiang Wang (It’s Drizzling) and In Ru Chen also star.

“It’s been such an enjoyably bizarre journey getting The Sadness made and distributed! I’m incredibly excited for everyone out there to finally see it!” said Rob Jabbaz.

The Sadness was renowned for receiving trigger warnings from genre festival programmers who had never before felt the need to use such labels. Likened to as...

Stop me if you've heard this one before: A rogue virus temporarily halts a speedy nation. A pompous president politicizes a deadly pandemic. Science and facts are ridiculed in favor of returning to some sense of normality before the experts deem it safe. Everyday citizens categorize the crescending mutation as nothing more than a hoax. Said citizens become quickly afflicted by the supposed 'hoax' and suddenly aren't feeling so hot. Riots break out. Bodies pile up. Illness sweeps the streets. Death comes to town. First-time director Rob Jabbaz sets his sights on mainlining familiarity in "The Sadness," and the...

The post The Sadness Review: One of the Most Horrifying Movies of Any Year [Telluride Horror Show 2021] appeared first on /Film.

Tonight in Manchester, England, Grimmfest has drawn to a close and the ‘Grimm Reaper’ awards have just been handed out in a live streamed ceremony. Oh-seung Kwon’s Midnight was awared the Best Feature by a jury made up of UK Horror Channel's managing director Stewart Bridle, director Justin McConnell, US actress and director Natasha Halevi, Diabolique magazine editor Kat Ellinger, and UK based actor and director Dominic Brunt. They gave a special mention to Rob Tabbaz’s The Sadness, which the audience voted their most favorite film of the year. Mark O'Brien's The Righteous was a multi award winner, for Best Screenplay and Cinematography. Likewise Jeremiah Kipp's Slapface took home two awards for Best Score and young August Maturo won Best Actor. All...

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

The Brooklyn Horror Film Festival ended its 6th edition last Thursday with the sold-out closing night East Coast Premiere of Rob Jabbaz’s The Sadness at Nitehawk Cinema and announced today its jury and audience award winners. Launching on October 14th with the NY Premiere of Mlungu Wam (Good Madam), Brooklyn Horror is proud to have welcomed back an eager and excited audience who packed the cinemas after a one year pandemic related hiatus and hosted a majority of sold-out screenings, with special highlights being the festival’s 35mm projection of Session 9, presented for its 20th anniversary with lead actor and co-writer Stephen Gevedon in attendance, and the US Premiere of local filmmaker Edoardo Vitaletti’s debut The Last Thing Mary Saw, with Rory Culkin and Vitaletti present for the Q&a.

Further highlights of the festival include the world premieres of Adam Randall’s Netflix Original vampire feature Night Teeth...

Other winners include ‘Blast’, ‘The Righteous’.

Oh-Seung Kwon’s Korean thriller Midnight has won the best feature award at UK genre festival Grimmfest, which ran as a hybrid in-person and online event this year.

The film, which debuted in South Korea in June this year, centres on a deaf mother and daughter who interrupt a serial psychopath as he attempts to claim his next victim, only to finds his wrath redirected toward them instead. Korean sales firm Finecut is handling sales on the title.

Scroll down for the full list of winners.

The award was chosen by a jury consisting of Stewart Bridle,...

Singapore-based distributor and producer Clover Films has partnered with Taiwan’s Machi Xcelsior Studios for the worldwide theatrical rights (except Taiwan and South Korea) to Giddens Ko’s “Till We Meet Again.”

The film is a fantasy romance starring Kai Ko (“You Are The Apple Of My Eye”), Gingle Wang (“Detention”) and Vivian Sung (“Our Times”) that recently garnered eleven nominations at the Golden Horse Film Awards.

The producers will retain the rights in Taiwan. Hive Filmworks will be handling the theatrical rights in Korea. The movie, produced for a budget of $3.5 million, has been dated for release on 24 November in Taiwan.

Clover has long been a leading distributor of commercial Asian movies in both Singapore and Malaysia. It has also produced several titles in the same two territories. Taking the vastly wider package of rights outside the producer territory (and Korea) is a new step.

“We are not aiming...

What's up Colorado? Still looking for ways to celebrate the horror-days? Waiting with baited breath to hear what the folks at the Telluride Horror Show have whipped up for this year's program? Fear no more for the program was just announced an it is a good one.    Scott Cooper's Antlers will close out this year's festivities but before that there are festival faves like Hellbender, Let the Wrong One in, Mad God, Sweetie You Won't Believe it, The Feast, The Sadness, The Spine of Night and Woodlands Darks and Days Bewitched. Plus many more, including some bang up blocks of short films as well.    Oh yeah, and rep screenings of You're Next and Starship Troopers too. Keen! Passes are selling out fast so...

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

Fantastic Fest 2021 is bringing its physical edition to an end on September 30, and IndieWire is exclusively revealing this year’s award winners below. Many of the winning features will be available to stream September 30 through October 11 as part of the virtual Fantastic Fest at Home, including “After Blue,” “Zalava,” “Name Above Title,” and “Let the Wrong One In.” All the award-winning short films will stream virtual as well.

This year’s Competition winner for Best Film is Bertrand Mandico’s “After Blue.” The movie is set on a mysterious planet populated entirely by women, where a teenager and her mother set out on a journey to find a murderous criminal.

“After Blue (Dirty Paradise) is a mutant-cinema dream,” Mandico said in a statement. “The dream of taking my actresses and collaborators towards an emotional lyricism of creation. The dream of giving spectators an out-of-format, intoxicating and disturbing fantasy. Thanks to...

Today the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival is announcing the lineup for their in-person event being held in North Brooklyn next month from October 14th through 21st. Going into its sixth year the festival will open with the psychological horror Good Madam from South Africa and close on an upbeat note with the audcious horror from Taiwan, The Sadness.    Earwig will be the centerpiece film of the fest while current faves like The Feast, What Josiah Saw, When I Consume You and The Last Thing Mary Saw round out a program that includes two world premieres: Ego from Spain and American vampire flick Night Teeth. All the films and banger short film blocks are below in the gallery.    As we are seeing with any...

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

The Fantasia International Film Festival brought its 25th edition to a close on Wednesday, August 25th with the sold-out in-person screening of Takashi Miike’s The Great Yokai War – Guardians, bowing for its International Premiere at the festival, and the unveiling of this year’s esteemed award winners.

Once again responding to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Fantasia took up a hybrid format for the 2021 festival, returning to Festival Scope and Shift72 for our Canadian geo-locked virtual component and holding in-person screenings at Montreal’s historic Cinéma Impérial and the Cinéma du Musée. Across digital and physical screenings, the festival boasts over 100,000 in viewing numbers that include ticket sales, badge purchases, and streamed events. More than a record-breaking 500 journalists from around the world were accredited for Fantasia, which also saw a heightened industry presence with numerous distribution and sales acquisitions being announced out of the fest, including pick-ups by Shudder,...

Is the world ready for a post-covid outbreak movie? Are zombie pandemics and rabies-style brain viruses still an unreal enough escape for horror fans, after everything that’s happened and all we’ve seen in the last year and a half? It’s a question, I’m sure, that everyone will answer differently, but to Canadian-born writer-director Rob Jabbaz, it’s not only time to get back to one of the most beloved sub-genres in film history, it’s time to give it an even nastier upgrade too.

The Sadness is Jabbaz’s feature debut, a sensationally over-the-top and genuinely disturbing Chinese-language horror, set in Taipei City amidst the outbreak of the mysterious ‘Alvin virus’; a fast-spreading follow-up to Covid that turns its frothing infected not into brain-hungry cannibals, but sadistic rapists and killers. It’s a zombie movie on crack; an ultra-gnarly gore-fest with the most unsettling of foils...

Over the course of the month of August, the 2021 Fantasia Film Festival has been treating genre fans to a bevy of genre fare throughout the course of its three-week run. And now that Fantasia has closed its books on yet another successful year, this writer is finally playing catch-up on some overdue reviews from the festival. For my first review round-up, I’ll be discussing Rob Jabbaz’s The Sadness, the vampire-centric fairy tale All the Moons, and Hellbender from filmmaking trio John Adams, Toby Poser, and Zelda Adams.

The Sadness: Truth be told, I was totally unprepared for The Sadness. In fact, there’s really nothing that could have possibly prepared me for The Sadness because once I was immersed in writer/director Rob Jabbaz’s absolutely horrifying descent into the depraved depths of humanity, I found myself in desperate need of a hug, a drink, and maybe...

Voice Of Silence

Last night saw this year's Fantasia International Film Festival come t a close with a special screening of Takashi Miike's The Great Yokai War. The full slate of awards presented by the festival has now ben announced, with Hong Eui-jeong's remarkable Voice Of Silence receivng the prestigious Cheval Noir award for Best Film.

The hybrid festival, which attracted over 100,000 viewings between its online and in-person events, saw Taiwanese pandemic thriller The Sadness celebrated as Best Début by the New Flesh Jury, while Eiji Tanigawa's Vulnerability was named Best Short Film. The award for Best Documentary went to Woodlands Dark And Days Bewitched by Kier-La Janisse.

Those awards in full:-

Cheval Noir

Best Film: Voice Of Silence Best Director: Igor Legarreta, All The Moons Best Screenplay: Mark O'Brien, The Righteous Best Score: John Adams, Hellbender Best Actor: Yoo Ah-in, Voice Of Silence Best Actress: Zelda Adams, Hellbender Jury Special Mention - Cinematography:.

Korean director Hong Eui-jeong’s debut feature “Voice of Silence” stood out at Montreal’s Fantasia Film Festival as the year’s best film from its Cheval Noir main competition section. The film, about two men who clean up after an organized crime organization, has enjoyed an impressive international festival run, having built up strong buzz as a project when it was selected to Venice’s Biennale College Cinema program in 2016.

“In a film festival that’s known as a melting pot of genres, ‘Voice of Silence’ feels like an excellent representative for the top prize in the Cheval Noir section. It’s earnest and sincere in tone but also unpredictable and experimental, impossible to pin down, and truly idiosyncratic,” said the jury in a statement accompanying the announcement.

Basque filmmaker Igor Legarreta was honored as the year’s best director for his sophomore effort “All the Moons,” a 19th...

Yoo Ah-in (Voice Of Silence), Zelda Adams (Hellbender) win acting prizes.

EuiJeong Hong’s South Korean thriller Voice Of Silence has won the 25th anniversary edition Fantasia International Film Festival’s Cheval Noir award for best film.

Hong’s film follows a mute low-level gangster tasked with taking charge of an 11-year-old kidnapped girl from a wealthy family. The jury described Voice Of Silence as “impossible to pin down, and truly idiosyncratic. Put simply, it’s unlike anything we’d seen before”.

Juried awards

In other Cheval Noir awards Yoo Ah-in who plays the mute man won best actor while...

The state of modern genre cinema has become littered with a constant influx of zombie films invading most aspects of society. This ranges from numerous spin-offs of “The Walking Dead,” “Black Summer” and the upcoming “Day of the Dead” series popping up on the small screens to more feature films that could be counted popping up every year. While Asian cinema is still only just dipping its toes in the TV-series market with “Kingdom,” its film output on the subject is still among the most highly regarded entries in the genre with Train to Busan and One Cut of the Dead scoring incredibly well internationally, showing South Korea and Japan are capable of producing top-tier content. Now, Taiwan drops its own take on the subject with Rob Jabbaz’s new effort “The Sadness,”

“The Sadness” is Screening at Fantasia International Film Festival

After a year of combating a pandemic with relatively benign symptoms,...

Already one of the most controversial genre films of 2021, Rob Jabbaz's Taiwanese political gorefest The Sadness is destined to divide audiences around the world with its extreme violence and no-holds-barred take on the disastrous -- and entirely avoidable -- mishandling of a viral pandemic.  The Sadness sees Taiwan ready to wrest itself free from the grips of a viral pandemic that had kept its citizens mostly isolated for quite a while. However, just as things seems to be getting back to normal, the Alvin virus once again rears its ugly head, with unforeseen and catastrophic consequences.  Jim (Berant Zhu) and Kat (Regina) are a young, good looking couple doing the best they can, and even though Jim botched their upcoming holiday, they are very...

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

Rob Jabbaz’ shocker debut feature “The Sadness” shot in Taipei in Mandarin Chinese and Hokkien language, had its international premiere a couple of days ago in Locarno, where it screened out of competition, causing the exact type of reaction the Canadian-born director was after. It is a film you can’t unsee, the kind of you will not easily forget for all the right and wrong reasons. Bursting with explosive violence and marked by a unique interpretation of a virus outbreak, it is both contemporary and scary as hell, offering some of the most petrifying scenes of molestation, murder and torture offered in a horror movie in recent times.

Although present at Locarno Film Festival, we were unable to meet Jabbaz in person due to different times of attendance, but we managed to finally speak about “The Sadness” over Skype to discuss its blood-drenched plotline and its mad tempo, the original interpretation of zombie-like creatures,...

We are back on the festival track, but most of us are still sceptical as hell about how long this new won normality will last. There are constant warnings of how fragile those new/ old freedoms are, and we are walking around unsure if we are now safe shaking hands, giving each others hugs, or a kiss on the cheek. Is that dangerous? Are we protected by the vaccines? Is there some new mutation out there that can’t be stopped by the safety/ sanitary measures? Or is it all just blown out of proportions?

“The Sadness” is screening in Locarno Film Festival

When it reached Locarno, Rob Jabbaz’ action horror “The Sadness”, was already released nationwide in Taiwan where it hit 80 cinemas back in January, right on time to “greet” the new reality in which people could pretend that everything was back to normal, the virus gone, and that...