News

Heath Ledger’s turn as The Joker in 2008’s The Dark Knight remains one of the most chilling performances of this century, the actor eventually winning a posthumous Oscar for the defining portrayal of The Clown Prince of Crime. Based on peeks and teases, we knew we would be in for something special when the film came out. And so did Ledger himself, fully aware just how powerful the performance and The Dark Knight would be.

Recounting working with Heath Ledger on The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Andrew Garfield (Anton) remembered the star telling him about his go as The Joker. “He had just done the Joker, he had just finished doing The Dark Knight, and he was so smug about it. I was like, ‘How did that go?’ and he was like, ‘Yeah, it’s really good.’”

However, Heath Ledger wouldn’t find everything to be funny surrounding the promotion of The Dark Knight,...

Founded by Danish musician Samuel Arkan and featuring a huge international lineup including members of Evergrey, Metallium, Triosphere, Sons of Seasons, Between the Silence, Symphony X and more, self-proclaimed “supernatural thriller” band Epysode first emerged in 2011 with Obsessions, a dark fantasy concept album woven from dense layers of symphonic/progressive rock and melodic power-metal in the European tradition. This year's semi-sequel Fantasmagoria continues in the same mode (with a new roster of artists, still numbering ten in all), but boasting more impressive production values and a fuller, more cinematic scope. Far-flung concept albums and rock operas are common to progressive rock and metal, and European symphonic rock artists have turned out some memorable entries in the genre recently, including two Charlemagne albums featuring screen legend Christopher Lee (yes, that Christopher Lee), Avantasia's The Mystery of Time, Nightwish's Imaginaerum (which spawned a feature-length film, recently screened at Fantasia), and the...

The full Fantasia 2013 lineup will be announced next Tuesday, July 9th, but in the meantime we have the second wave of titles to share, and per usual, it's a doozy!

From the Press Release:

Following last week’s first wave of programming announcements, the Fantasia International Film Festival is proud to unveil several additional highlights to warm you up for our July 9th Press Conference, where we’ll be unveiling of our full 120+ film lineup. The festival runs from July 18 to August 6.

Official Opening Night Film – Takashi Miike’s Shield Of Straw (North American Premiere)

Hot off its screening in official completion at the Cannes Film Festival, Takashi Miike’s riveting crime thriller Shield Of Straw will be kicking off Fantasia’s 2013 edition with its first screening on the North American continent. Shield Of Straw stars Takao Osawa, Nanako Matsushima, and Tatsuya Fujiwara. Fantasia’s 1997 screening of Fudoh marked the...

From the press release:

Following last week’s first wave of programming announcements, the Fantasia International Film Festival is proud to unveil several additional highlights, before their July 9th Press Conference, where they’ll be unveiling the full 120+ film lineup!

Official Opening Night Film – Takashi Miike’s Shield of Straw

(North American Premiere)

Hot off its screening in official completion at the Cannes Film Festival, Takashi Miike’s riveting crime thriller Shield of Straw will be kicking off Fantasia’s 2013 edition with its first screening on the North American continent. Shield of Straw stars Takao Osawa, Nanako Matsushima, and Tatsuya Fujiwara. Fantasia’s 1997 screening of Fudoh marked the first time that a Miike film had ever been shown in North America, making it all the more joyous to open our 2013 festival with his latest work.

Extensive Artist Talks with Bryan Singer and Simon Boswell

Fantasia will once again offer audiences...

Last week we shared the first group of films and events slated for this year's Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, the largest genre-themed film festival on the planet. In addition to dozens of film entries, many of which are making their world premieres at Fantasia, there will also be some major one-of-a-kind events at the fest, the first of which you can read about in our previous update. But now, here's the latest crop of films and events added to Fantasia's schedule: Official Opening Night Film: Takashi Miike’s Shield of Straw (North American Premiere) This is the second time Miike has chosen Fantasia to debut a film in North America at this fest; the last was Fudoh in 1997. Rated X: A Night with Bryan Singer The acclaimed genre director will engage the audience in an hour-long discussion on his films, career and the genre in general, moderated by Fangoria veteran Tony Timpone.

Marks the second consecutive year a Takashi Miike film has opened Montreal’s genre film festival.

Takashi Miike’s Shield of Straw, which screened in competition at Cannes, is to open the 17th edition of Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival (July 18 - August 6).

Miike’s crime thriller receives its North American premiere at Fantasia and continues the long relationship between the director and festival.

Last year, Fantasia opened with Miike’s For Love’s Sake and the festival’s 1997 screening of Fudoh marked the first time a film by the director had ever been shown in North America.

The festival will also host the world premiere of 24 Exposures, from mumblecore director Joe Swanberg. The film stars Adam Wingard as a fetish photographer whose models begin to turn up dead while Simon Barrett plays a cop tasked with investigating him.

Wingard and Barrett are the director-screenwriter duo behind You’re Next and A Horrible Way To Die. Fantasia...

Imaginaerum is a dark fairy tale from Finnish director Stobe Harju. Filmed in Canada, this title seems like an ambitious tale for a first time director. The film's story involves a composer who has succumbed to an illness. Tom is now in a coma. In his unconscious, Tom dreams up unbelievable scenes and scenarios. He fights both light and dark forces as he tries to recover his physical awareness. Currently, there are no plans to distribute this film in North America. However, the Imaginaerum soundtrack will be released in this territory in January of 2013. Fans of the imaginative can view the film's official and very stylized trailer below. Director: Stobe Harju. Writers: Stobe Harju, Mikko Rautalahti, Richard Jackson, and Tuomas Holopainen. Cast: Tuomas Holopainen, Marco Hietala, Marianne Farley, and Quinn Lord. The trailer for Imaginaerum is here: *this title has been released in Finland, already. Source: Imaginaerum at the Film...

Imaginaerum Trailer. Stobe Harju‘s Imaginaerum (2012) teaser trailer stars Elias Toufexis, Ron Lea, Quinn Lord, Glenda Braganza, and Francis X. McCarthy. Imaginaerum‘s plot synopsis: “Imaginaerum tells the story of an elderly composer, Tom, who suffers from severe dementia. As he has had the disease for years and has regressed into childhood, he remembers practically nothing from [...]

Continue reading: Imaginaerum (2012) Teaser Trailer: Stobe Harju, Elias Toufexis, Ron Lea...

Imagined by the keyboardist and song writer for the Finnish metal band Nightwish, Imaginaerum is a fantasy musical which travels through the mind of an old composer who suffers from dementia, and it feels like something Marilyn Manson would do if he were given half the chance. It has a mold of macabre horror with a hint of Alice in Wonderland. I'm guessing Nightwish wants this to be their version of Pink Floyd's The Wall. Finland will see it's release in November. [Continued ...]...

Based on the upcoming album of the same name, Stobe Harju's feature film Imaginaerum aims to put the music of Finnish metal act Nightwish on the big screen.The protagonist of the film is a songwriter with an otherworldly imagination. He is an old man who still thinks he's a young boy. While asleep, he travels into his distant past where his dreams of old come back to him mixed to the young boy's world of fantasy and music. In his dreams the old man fights to find the memories most important to him. Readers may recall the Finnish backed horror film Dark Floors from a few years back - that one based on metal band Lordi - and, not surprisingly, this one shares a...

We're back with the latest installment of Radio 66.6! This week features news, music, videos, tour dates and more from the likes of System of a Down, The Wonder Years, Nightwish, The Acacia Strain, Deftones, For Today, Death By Stereo, Dead and Divine and more. Don't touch that dial!

News

Serj Tankian will release a new album entitled Harakiri on July 10 via Reprise Records/Serjical Strike. This is the third solo album from the System of a Down frontman. Its title is a Japanese word meaning ritual suicide.

The Acacia Strain have signed to Rise Records. The band's new album is due out in October.

Mike Heller has joined Fear Factory on drums, Heller has previously played with Malignancy and System Divide.

Glass Cloud will release their debut album, The Royal Thousand, on July 3 via Equal Vision Records. The band features former members of Of Mice & Men, Sky Eats Airplane and The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza.

The video for "Storytime" – the first single off the ambitious new concept album and feature film Imaginaerum from symphonic metal band Nightwish – is now online, and you can watch it on the flipside. The video arrives just ahead of the single's 11/11/11 release, and offers a wild and exotic peek into the style and imagery of the movie, which is currently in post-production with an eye on theatrical release next year. Hit the jump to viddy the clip and dig the latest news on the progress of the album and film... Last week the 13-track album was recently previewed for the press in the German offices of Nuclear Blast Records, and the feedback has been quite positive, which bassist Marco Hietala said gave...

Earlier this fall we shared some stories from the making of Imaginaerum, the upcoming dark-fantasy feature film and concept album of the same name created by acclaimed gothic metal group Nightwish. The first taste of the combined musical and visual elements of that project is coming soon in the form of "Storytime," an epic music video that the band will premiere in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, the band has posted a teaser for the video, and you can view it on the flipside, along with a featurette about the making of the album. Check 'em out! As we reported earlier, the $3.7 million-budgeted Imaginaerum (previously titled Imaginarium) ells the tale of a dying man who travels back to his childhood with...

Last month, we tipped you off to the upcoming dark fantasy film and concept album Imaginaerum (originally titled Imaginarium) from internationally famed gothic-metal band Nightwish. Now the band has come forward with a mountain of info about the album, which is due later this year. We've recapped it all for you below the fold, including the official release date, the new cover art for the album & first single, and the complete CD tracklist... so come on in and take a look! The artwork we showed you earlier is still being used as the advance poster for the Imaginaerum movie, which is currently in pre-production. But the band decided to go with a different version for the CD cover. According to band founder Tuomas...

Finland-based Gothic metal group Nightwish have spent the past three years planning a combination of major motion picture and concept album titled Imaginarium... and now according to a new announcement on the band's official site, the film is ready to go before the cameras next month. We've got all the info from that update and more – including their plans to promote the album and movie with a major appearance in the Us – so hit the jump and see what's up! With a budget of $3.7 million (partially funded by a grant from the Finnish Film Foundation), Imaginarium tells the tale of a dying man who travels back to his childhood with the power of his imagination in an attempt to cheat death. The story is based...

European bands are really going out of their way to create "experiences" for their fans. First it was Within Temptation who released their fifth studio album "The Unforgiven" earlier this year with a series of companion comic books and short films. Now Nightwish is getting into the added value market.

Last year the band confirmed that they were working on songs for a new album but earlier this year they announced that the album, titled "Imaginarium," would also be accompanied by a film. The idea started as a series of short films on a common theme but with the help of director Stobe Harju, who previously worked with the band on a music video, they've developed the concept for an 80 minute feature film. And the concept? From the band's official website:

"Imaginarium" is a music fantasy - film based on the forthcoming Nightwish album of the same title and its 13 songs.