ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE FINALLY SEEING THE LIGHT OF DAY!

With the success of Jonathan Levine's WARM BODIES, it's no surprise that someone finally got around to releasing his feature length directorial debut. I've been curious about it myself and have wondered for some time why it was never released. Seven years later, I'll finally see if it has been worth the wait. Here's more info on this "lost" Horror film that being released by RADiUS and The Weinstein Company:

PRESS RELEASE

RADiUS-TWC is proud to announce that it has acquired U.S. rights to ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE, the long anticipated feature directorial debut from director Jonathan Levine (WARM BODIES, 50/50) that has been rescued by the Weinstein Company’s boutique label.

Starring Amber Heard and Anson Mount, ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY is about a group of high-schoolers who invite Mandy Lane, “a good girl” who becomes the object of everyone’s affection after returning from summer break, to a weekend party on a secluded ranch. While the festivities rage on, the number of revelers begins to mysteriously drop one at a time.

ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE will be released in late summer – seven years after its Toronto Film Festival Midnight premiere.

RADiUS Co-President Tom Quinn says:  “I've been chasing this film since I first saw it in Toronto. [Executive producer] Keith Calder and I have kept in touch over the years and he's finally been able to wrangle the film from a deal at Senator.  Originally, Harvey and Bob beat us to it in Toronto and now we get to work together to finally bring MANDY LANE to U.S. audiences. This is one of the few horror films that has remained relevant and in the zeitgeist for years - - no easy feat - - and it still surpasses so much of what is being produced today.“ 

According to Harvey and Bob Weinstein, “We’ve always loved MANDY LANE and are thrilled that RADiUS shares our passion for the film and will get in front of the widest possible audience.”

Levine goes on to say:  “I am thrilled that MANDY LANE has been rescued and is back where it belongs with Harvey and Bob.  Hard to believe it's been seven years, but then again I’ve always perceived myself as a misunderstood artist who was light years ahead of his time, so I am thrilled the world has finally caught up. Seriously, I am incredibly proud of the film and of the hard work that my cast and collaborators put into it, and I am so happy the world will finally get a chance to see it.”

“It's finally time for me to come clean… During the production of MANDY LANE, I broke a mirror and doomed the film to seven years of bad luck. Thankfully, the team at RADiUS-TWC has shown up to rescue our film and clear my guilty conscience. I'm ecstatic that our first film with RADiUS-TWC is also the first film we produced, and I'm looking forward to working with Harvey, Bob, Jason, and Tom on the release,” echoes Calder.

Quinn and RADiUS Co-President Jason Janego negotiated the deal with Calder.

In the dark on this flick, or you just haven't seen the trailer in a long time? Well give it a look and get excited because it looks pretty darned good. I personally enjoyed WARM BODIES a lot, so I'm pretty sure I'll enjoy ALL THE BOYS LOVE MANDY LANE:



No official theatrical, video on demand, or DVD/Blu-ray release dates have been announced yet, but I'll be sure to post them once I find out!

Coming March 19th: FRIGHT-RAGS' LIMITED EDITION FREDDY VS. JASON TEE!

Next Tuesday, FRIGHT-RAGS will be unleashing yet another awesome limited edition t-shirt, this time to celebrate the tenth anniversary of one of cinema's biggest matchups: FREDDY VS. JASON! (Egads.... it's been ten years already? I'm feeling OLD!) The shirt was designed by the insane(ly) talented Jeff Zornow and will be available for pre-order starting at 10 AM EST, up until Tuesday, March 26th. The shirts come in sizes Small to 5XL (for menfolk) and are $25.95 apiece. As always, they will also have hoodie pre-orders going as well (sizes Small to 3XL) for $49.95. But enough about the logistics of the shirt, take a look for yourself and begin to drool!

Freddy died by fire, Jason by water - how can we use that?

Stay tuned for more awesomeness from FRIGHT-RAGS because they'll soon be unveiling some more kick ass new shirts as March progresses. Naturally I'll totally plug the new designs on this here blog, so keep an eye out!

New DVDs & Blu-rays for 03/12/13 + World Premiere of OOGA BOOGA!

Hey gang! This week has a small number of genre releases BUT a lot of it is quality stuff! Tibor Takacs (director of THE GATE) delivers a new CGI spider-fest in 2D & 3D, George Lucas' 80s "Hobbit" flick WILLOW makes its Blu-ray debut, THE TAINT makes its shocking Blu-ray debut, and Peter Weller  Batman brings the crazy in BATMAN: THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS PART 2! Check out what's new below and put some of your tax return money to good use!




NEW TO DVD & BLU-RAY
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns Part 2
Grave Encounters 2
Life of Pi
Rise of the Guardians
Spiders (2D & 3D)
Storage 24
The Taint (DVD/Blu-ray combo)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit: 25th Anniversary Edition (DVD/Blu-ray combo)
Willow (DVD/Blu-ray combo)


NEW TO BLU-RAY
Abolition
Blade Runner: The Final Cut
The Blob (Criterion Collection)
Giant Killer
Till Sunset


NEW TO DVD
Curandero: Dawn of the Demon
The Devil is My Witness
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - Season 4
In Their Skin
Jack the Giant Killer
Killer Biker Chicks
Monster
Mystikal
Unaware
Underground Lizard People
Vampire Boys 2: The New Brood
Xena: Warrior Princess - Season 4


MULTI-FILM COLLECTIONS ON DVD
4-Film Favorites: Post-Apocalyptic Collection
Contains: I Am Legend, Logan's Run, Dark City Director's Cut, and The Omega Man.

Bloody Disgusting Double Feature Vol. 2 - The Pack & Outcast

Death Penalty.com / Death Penalty.com: A New Beginning (Double Feature)

Dimension Extreme 6-Film Collection
Contains: Black Sheep, Automaton Transfusion, Broken, Rogue, Welcome to the Jungle, and 13.


Savage Water & Death by Invitation (Double Feature)

SyFy Mega Pack - Maneater Series
Contains: SWAMP DEVIL, SEA BEAST, RISE OF THE GARGOYLES, WYVERN, SAND SERPENTS, and ROADKILL.


BLU-RAY DOUBLE FEATURES
Clash of the Titans (1981/2010)
The Losers / Jonah Hex
Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic / Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter


Also, I have to note that today is the premiere of Charles Band's new film OOGA BOOGA! The film is available to stream or download online EXCLUSIVELY through GrindhouseFlix.com! It will be $1.99 to rent it or $7.99 to own the digital download. The movie revolves around a black kid that's gunned down by racist cops for a crime he didn't commit, so naturally he returns from the grave as a goofy killer puppet to avenge the wrongs done to him by us evil whitefolk. This is what it's like when the worlds of Puppet Master and Blaxploitation cinema collide! Check out the trailer below:



Hahahahahaha. The doll hiding amongst other stuffed animals and toys "E.T." style had me cracking up! And it's good to see Karen Black being terrorized by a killer doll again! Ooga Booga looks fun; think I'll give it a rental this weekend!

UFO movie news round-up (11 March, 2013)

By Robbie Graham Silver Screen Saucers

Nolan’s ‘Interstellar’ gets a release date

 

Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures jointly announced last week that writer/director Christopher Nolan's sci-fi epic Interstellar will be will be released beginning November 7, 2014, in theaters and IMAX. The film will be co-produced and distributed by the two studios, with Paramount Pictures on domestic distribution duties and Warner Bros. Pictures handling International distribution.

Based on a script by Jonathan Nolan, and inspired by the work of theortical physicist Kip Thorne, Interstellar will be produced by Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan. Kip Thorne will executive produce. According to Paramount, “the film will depict a heroic interstellar voyage to the furthest reaches of our scientific understanding.”

Jeff Robinov, President, Warner Bros. Pictures Group, said, "Christopher Nolan is truly one of the great auteurs working in film today, and we're extremely proud of our successful and ongoing collaboration with him and Emma Thomas. We are excited to be teaming with Paramount, and look forward to working with the Nolans, and producer Lynda Obst, on this extraordinary new project."

Interstellar was originally being developed by Steven Spielberg, who eventually let the project go due to other film commitments. Whether or not it the film’s heroic explorers will encounter alien life on their travels remains to be seen.

New ‘After Earth’ trailer

Columbia Pictures has released the new trailer for After Earth, the official synopsis for which reads as follows:

“A crash landing leaves teenager Kitai Raige (Jaden Smith) and his legendary father Cypher (Will Smith) stranded on Earth, 1,000 years after cataclysmic events forced humanity’s escape. With Cypher critically injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help, facing uncharted terrain, evolved animal species that now rule the planet, and an unstoppable alien creature that escaped during the crash. Father and son must learn to work together and trust one another if they want any chance of returning home.”

 

 

 

After Earth hits cinemas June 7 this year.

‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ will be set mainly in space

 

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has told SFX that the vast majority of the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie will take place in space.

“The Thor film and the Guardians of the Galaxy film certainly are cosmic,” he said. “Guardians and Thor will take the brunt of the cosmic side of the universe, particularly Guardians, which is 95% in space...”

Feige also added that while Guardians of the Galaxy is very much “a standalone film” in the Marvel franchise, “It takes place in the same universe” as The Avengers, “but the Avengers are not involved with what's happening out there at this time.” If that makes any sense.

Tarantino mocks ‘Prometheus’

 

Ever wondered what Quentin Tarantino thought of Prometheus? No, me neither. But now we know...

While being interviewed by Craig Ferguson late last year, Tarantino said:

"I saw Prometheus. I loved it and I was disappointed at the same time. On one hand I was a little disappointed about it. On the other hand, it was actually kind of cool to see such a big deal, serious, science fiction epic by a director like Ridley Scott. There were parts of it I actually did like and over-all the experience was really cool having been in it. There was also a lot of dumb stuff in it, though."

Tarantino then mocked what he called the “space cobra” scene where the crew’s exobiologist greets a hideous and clearly deadly alien snake-thing as if it were fluffy puppy before dying a horrible death. A contender for the dumbest scene of 2012?

Tarantino’s Prometheus comments begin at counter reading 4:48 in the video below...

 

 

NOW PLAYING: OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL, ABCS OF DEATH, and THE SILENCE

Along with the release of JACK THE GIANT SLAYER last week, it seems like we are now at the start of Hollywood's blockbuster season which seems to start earlier and earlier every year. (Remember when all the mega budget blockbuster films came out exclusively in the Summer?) This week, Sam Raimi looks to put a hurting on the box office receipts for Bryan Singer's latest fantasy epic, a foreign murder mystery/thriller gets a limited release, and a new-ish Horror anthology will be popping up at a select theater (probably not) near you. Leading the charge this weekend is OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL:


Admittedly I didn't have high hopes for this one (sorry Sam!) but after seeing this latest trailer, I'm inclined to grab a ticket to scope it out. It is certainly visually appealing to say the least, and from the handful of reviews I've read, it pretty much is style over substance. Plus there's a helluva good chance of seeing Bruce Campbell in a cameo appearance here, so I may just head out to see it next week!

Up next is a film I'm more than familiar with, namely THE ABCS OF DEATH (read my review for it HERE):


It kills me that this movie wasn't as good as it should have been. The concept is still pretty cool, and I truthfully want another one, but there's gotta be more quality control the next time around. Also, it seems to me that this would play better as an actual competition between filmmakers (weekly TV format?), with the winners walking away with prize money and a distribution contract. If anything though, I have to admit the advertising campaign for this is really damned good. I just watched the trailer again and was like "Man I want to see this.... oh wait.... I did. Nevermind." Hahaha.

Finally, here's the trailer for a film I've been talking about on this here blog for the past few weeks. THE SILENCE opens in select theaters and will treat you to a moody, murder mystery/thriller that'll keep you guessing until the end(?).


It seems interesting but I don't know if I'd go out of my way to see it on the big screen. This one screams "NetFlix streaming" to me, so I'll just hold off on seeing this for a while.

Are you seeing/have you seen any of these on the big screen this weekend? Drop me a comment below and tell me what you watched and how it was, or share your opinions with me on Facebook or Twitter!

Poster, Synopsis, and Trailer for Michael J. Epstein's TEN!

I've never heard of "Spektor Island" (it was apparently a very real place that sank in 1985 during a hurricane) which is probably why I've never heard of the "Spektor Island Massacre" before. In 1972, nine women and three men were found brutally murdered at the island's Babirusa Mansion. To this day, there is no explanation for the murders, and no suspect was ever caught. These events are what director Michael J. Epstein's first feature film, TEN, are based on.

Synopsis:
TEN is a collectivist, post-exploitation psychological thriller devised as a possible explanation for the events of the 1972 Spektor Island Massacre. On a cold December afternoon, ten women arrive at a mansion on Spektor Island, famed for years of reported hauntings and strange activities. Will they live through the night?

The all-female cast film is a response to exploitation, slasher, and thriller films, with particular focus on the kind of storytelling prominent in b-movies and genre films from the 1950s to the 1980s. It explores the meaning and fluidity of identity and takes a number of surprising turns, paying homage to filmmakers and producers such as Alfred Hitchcock, Roger Corman, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Jim Wynorski, Jean Rollin, Lloyd Kaufman, and Andy Sidaris.

The film was conceived by Sarah Wait Zaranek, Michael J. Epstein, and Sophia Cacciola as a two-minute trailer for the 2012 Brattle Theatre (Cambridge, MA) Trailer Smackdown. After selection as a "curator's choice" at the Smackdown, a successful Kickstarter campaign with 258 backers raised a portion of the budget for the production. Principal shooting took place in December 2012 with expected festival release in 2013 and wider release in 2014.

This sounds like a pretty interesting flick; let's take a look at the new teaser trailer, shall we?


Well it looks ahm.... really weird. Haha. At first I was kind of confused by all the pig imagery, but I'm assuming that its a nod towards the film's possible villain: A ghostly butcher that was said to roam Spektor Island. Maybe the spirit of The Butcher possesses one or more of the visitors to the island's hotel and begins hacking himself up some "piggies?" Just a guess.

More teasers will pop up as the months tick by until the debut of the official trailer, so if you're intrigued by this production, make sure to swing on by this here blog again for further updates.

Want to know more about the movie? Then visit its official site at www.tenthemovie.com!

ELI ROTH NEWS: HEMLOCK GROVE COMING TO NETFLIX IN APRIL; AFTERSHOCK COMING TO THEATERS IN MAY!

Click for a closer look.

Love him or hate him, you gotta give Eli Roth some credit for creating some of the most brutal gross-out moments in modern film history. From the icky flesh-melting fun of CABIN FEVER, to the torture porn depravity of HOSTEL, to his awesome faux slasher trailer for THANKSGIVING featured in GRINDHOUSE, Eli has come a long way since his short onscreen cameos in Troma flicks.

With that said, Eli Roth's got a new original series prepped  called HEMLOCK GROVE and it premieres exclusively on NetFlix on April 19th. I heard about it a few months back, but it wasn't until recently that I started getting some info on it (like the really kick-ass poster for the show pictured on the left). From the post alone you can assume that werewolves are involved somehow... or at least man-eating dogs.

Synopsis: 
From executive producer Eli Roth and based on Brian McGreevy’s novel of the same name, Hemlock Grove is a riveting one-hour murder mystery that revolves around the residents of a former Pennsylvania steel town.

When 17-year-old Brooke Bluebell is brutally murdered, any of Hemlock’s peculiar inhabitants – or killer creatures – could be suspects. Through the investigation, the town’s seamier side is exposed, revealing nothing is what it seems. Beautiful, terrifying and graphic, Hemlock Grove is unlike anything else in its genre. The cast includes Famke Janssen, Dougray Scott, Bill Skarsgård, Landon Liboiron, Penelope Mitchell and Freya Tingley.

Hmm.... a murder mystery involving supernatural creatures? Count me in!  Check out the trailer for Season one below:


Eli's other new project (which he co-wrote, produced, and starred in) is a disaster movie/horror flick called AFTERSHOCK. Directed by Nicolás López, AFTERSHOCK follows a group of travelers who get trapped in an underground nightclub in Chile during a huge earthquake. But their struggle to escape their would-be tomb is only the beginning because the earthquake has wrecked the city, knocked out the power, and (from what I gathered from the trailer below) unleashed an army of violent criminals upon the panicking populace!


AFTERSHOCK is currently making its festival rounds but is slated for a May 10th theatrical release in the United States!