Old news (July-December 2007) 22nd December 2007
Hatchet UK DVD in January
Adam Green’s Hatchet is released in the UK on 28th January by Universal. The award-winning film is notable for bringing together three icons of modern horror: Kane Hodder, Robert Englund and Tony Todd - four if you include FX legend and Troll/Deep Freeze director John Carl Buechler who not only does effects on this film but acts in it too. The DVD includes a trailer, a 40-minute Making Of and 38 minutes of assorted other extras. Review coming soon. (RRP is 20 quid, Amazon.co.uk has it for twelve.) 14th December 2007
RPBA:TBOV
Alex Ferrari (Cyn, Broken) has completed Red Princess Blues Animated: The Book of Violence, his snappily titled seven-minute anime prequel to his forthcoming Red Princess Blues live action feature: “Artist extraordinaire and Creative Director of the visual effects house Numb Robot, Dan Cregan makes his directorial debut. RPB Animated is a chance to explore the world of Princess, the main character of Red Princess Blues. The film is done completely hand drawn with a few shoots using 3-D and pays homage to the great Japanese anime films of the past. In this tale we meet her as a 12 year old little girl who finds herself in a strange country looking for her father. She is then taken in by a ‘unique’ looking man who goes by Nino. The short film is completely from the perspective of Princess and what she is going through. She soon discovers the Book of Violence and slowly begins her journey that one day will lead to vengeance.” The lead character is voiced by Paula Garces (Harold and Kumar Get the Munchies) and you can see a trailer and find out more - about both the short and the feature - on the Red Princess Blues website. 14th December 2007
Furnace UK DVD
Furnace, directed by William Butler, will be released in the UK by Revolver on 11th February 2008. “When a number of brutal and suspicious deaths occur in and around a maximum-security prison, detective Michael Turner is brought in to investigate,” says the press release. “But what begins as just another suicide investigation quickly unfolds into a furious and frightening struggle to uncover the unexplainable, while escaping death at the hands of a vengeful spirit unleashed within the prison walls.” The official website describes the movie as ‘The Grudge meets The X-Files in a maximum-security prison’; that could also describe Haunted Prison - and Danny Trejo is in both movies - but let’s hope this one’s better! Also in the cast are Michael Pare (BloodRayne, Komodo vs Cobra, Sanctimony), Kelly Stables (The Ring Two), hiphopper Ja Rule (Half Past Dead, Assault on Precinct 13 remake), Tom Sizemore (The Relic, Dreamcatcher) and Jenny McShane (Cyborg Cop 3, Shark Attack I and III). Butler created the original concept of The Gingerdead Man. 14th December 2007
A Blog Blog about Weng Weng
Andrew Leavold of Trash Video in Brisbane has started a terrific blog about his in-production documentary The Search for Weng Weng. The blog is full of amazing posters, filmographies, interviews, clips and photos that you won’t find anywhere else. Andrew also contributed some interviews to the new Mondo Macabro double-disc release of Silip: Daughters of Eve. 14th December 2007
Tony Tenser obituary
Fangoria asked me to write an obituary of Tony Tenser for their website. 14th December 2007
Marc and Jake launch Naughty DVD label
Marc Morris and Jake West’s DVD company Nucleus Films has started up a specialist label called Naughty devoted to ‘high class European erotic cinema’. Here’s the press release: January 21st 2008 sees the launch of the risqué Naughty label, established by those cheeky chaps at Nucleus Films - cult film specialist and author Marc Morris and feature filmmaker Jake West. Naughty will release these provocative titles alongside their existing Nucleus DVD label. Naughty have already acquired their first two Naughty movies for release on DVD in the UK, and negotiations are already in place for further additions to swell Naughty Films library. The first two exciting DVD releases from Naughty are two carefully selected and highly charged French titles, Education Anglaise (Jean-Claude Roy, 1982) and its follow-up, Dressage (Pierre B Reinhard, 1985). Originally these best selling saucy flicks were released in heavily censored BBFC rated 18 versions on VHS in the mid-1990s. With the growing enlightenment of UK censorship finally relaxing its prudish death grip on great cinema, Naughty are proud to present these two fantastic slices of Eurotica so they can finally be fully appreciated in their original uncensored and uncut versions for the first time anywhere in the world! Education Anglaise is set is a French girl’s boarding school The school readily and willingly resorts to a very strict regime of correction and corporal punishment to discipline its female pupils and the young girls compensate for the rigors of their education by devoting themselves to all kinds of kinky schoolgirl sexual encounters. Dressage is a sexually charged Sadean journey into depravity and corruption of the innocent, which will astound you. Prepare yourself for scenes of masturbation, incest, lesbianism, bondage and all manner of unspeakably depraved sexual acts, together with a grand display of some of the finest lingerie in this classic example of French erotica. Future releases from Naughty include further examples of both classic and just downright sleazy European erotica. You can be sure that Naughty will leave no corset unbuckled or stocking unpeeled as they track down the best sexy titles that you won’t find anywhere else on DVD! 14th December 2007
Cry for Bobo director’s blog
David Cairns, director of the brilliant ‘clown noir’ short Cry for Bobo has a blog - and there’s a YouTube version of Bobo on there so now you can all watch it (although the image is sadly too small to see some of the brilliant background gags).  11th December 2007
Chainsaw Cheerleaders
Here is the provisional DVD sleeve design for Chainsaw Cheerleaders, the latest movie from Donald Farmer (Red Lips, Dorm of the Dead). The movie stars Tiffany Shepis (NyMpha) and Debbie Rochon (everything) with Jackey Hall (Dorm of the Dead), Ciara Richards (Dorm of the Dead, Demon Sight), Michele Grey (Return of the Beast, Dissected), Rabecca Lee, Victoria De Mare and Jim O’Rear (Vampyre Tales). The film is scheduled for a DVD release in March (this is not the final sleeve). You can see some images from the film on its MySpace page.
26th November 2007
DeathRay issue 8
The latest issue of DeathRay, with Primeval on the cover, is now on sale. The only contribution from me this time is a DVD review of The Possession of Joel Delaney. I won’t be reviewing it on the site, but if I was I would probably give it C-. It’s pretty awful. 26th November 2007
Troll 2 screening report
On Saturday I was in Birmingham to film a sequence for Best Worst Movie, the forthcoming documentary on Troll 2 produced and directed by that movie’s (now grown-up) child star, Michael Paul Stephenson. I sat with Michael and two other cast members - Darren Ewing (nerdy Arnold who gets turned into a tree) and George Hardy (Mr Waits senior: “You can’t piss on hospitality! I won’t allow it!”) - upstairs at the Electric Cinema, discussing the film at some length. About 50 people turned up to watch Troll 2 on the big screen, many of whom had not seen the film before. The screening was preceded by a Q&A of the cast members by Emily Booth in her role as reporter for the Zone Horror channel, who will presumably be screening that clip. At the bar, I bumped into director Johannes Roberts (Darkhunters, Sanitarium, Forest of the Damned) whom I hadn’t seen in ages; Jo’s latest feature When Evil Calls is out on DVD in January. 20th November 2007
Colour from the Dark trailer
The trailer for Ivan Zuccon’s new Lovecraft feature Colour from the Dark (adapted from ‘The Color Out of Space’) is now available online. The film should be ready by next March and a short chat I had with Ivan yesterday is now on the Fangoria website. 18th November 2007
Conor Timmis is Richard Upton Pickman
Pickman’s Model is a new short film adapted from the HP Lovecraft story of the same name. It stars Conor Timmis and reteams him with the make-up supervisor from Kreating Karloff, Norman Bryn. Directed by Gary Fierro (Sweating Bullets), the film also features Jesse Murphy (Banshee!!!) and Derek Meinecke. You can see some stills from the film on this page. 18th November 2007
Footsteps R1 DVD up for pre-order
Gareth Evans’ excellent movie Footsteps will hit US shelves on 11th December through Unearthed Films and TLA Releasing. This special edition DVD will have a bunch of extra features and is available to pre-order now from Amazon. 18th November 2007
Cyn available online
After screening in over 40 international film festivals Alex Ferrari's short film Cyn is finally available for rent or purchase though his website. You can now download his film along with tons of behind the scenes footage. The interface is easy to use, just click rent $1.49 or purchase $3.99 then you will be prompted for your credit card (VISA, Mastercard or American Express) which goes though his trusted financial partner Brightcove. 8th November 2007
Two:Thirteen serial killer movie website
Charles Adelman dropped me a line to let me know that the website for his new serial killer flick Two:Thirteen is now up and running at www.213themovie.com. Written by and starring Mark Thompson (Mother Ghost, Jason Goes to Hell) the film is described, in one of the behind-the-scenes ‘webisodes’ on the website, as ‘Saw meets Seven’, not least because cinematographer David A Armstrong also lit all four Saw films. The cast includes Mark Pellegrino (Prayer of the Rollerboys, Knight Rider 2010), Teri Polo (House of Frankenstein, The Van Helsing Chronicles), Kevin Pollack (Casino, Hostage, erm, Dr Dolittle 2) and stetson-toting country singer Dwight Yoakam. Jeffrey S Farley (Deep Freeze, Totem, Jacqueline Hyde) supervised the special make-up effects. 6th November 2007
Troll 2 to play theatrically in the UK!
Who would ever have thought it? The cult of Troll 2, which was a forgotten obscurity when I originally reviewed it, has now reached these shows. Cast members including George Hardy, Darren Ewing and Michael Stephenson will be attending the Memorabilia event at the NEC over 24th/25th November, signing stuff and meeting fans, courtesy of Gorezone magazine. What’s more, the film will be shown at two cinemas that weekend, with the cast in attendance. It’s screening in Birmingham on the Saturday and in London on the Sunday. Precise details still to be announced but keep an eye on the BestWorstMovie official Troll 2 website for times and locations. After the Memorabilia weekend, Hardy and Stephenson will be travelling around Europe meeting Troll 2 fans and interviewing them for a forthcoming documentary on the movie. They have already shot a bunch of stuff in the USA and you can see a trailer for the documentary on YouTube. 28th October 2007
First image from Zombie Undead
Rhys Davies has sent me the first still from Zombie Undead which started principal photography this week. The extended trailer/short film of Zombie Undead played the ‘Day of the Undead’ zombiethon at Leicester Phoenix Arts last weekend just before Day of the Dead and is also screening as part of the Can Short Film Festival at Phoenix. You can see some concept art and a short trailer at the Zombie Undead website. 
28th October 2007
Redemption news: box sets and Nature Morte
Redemption have just released two box sets in the UK, each collecting three typically eclectic films. Let Us Pray: A Box of Nunsploitation has The Marquis De Sade’s Justine aka Cruel Passion, a 1977 UK-German-Italian wimplefest starring Koo Stark; The Sinful Nuns of St Valentine, a 1974 holy romp from the director of the Agent 077 films; and Nigel Wingrove’s own Sacred Flesh. The Sex A GoGo Collection, meanwhile, rounds up a trio of British sexploitation classics: Val Guest’s Au Pair Girls, the obscure She’ll Follow You Anywhere and notorious David Warbeck starrer The Sex Thief. Also of note from Redemption is a US and UK release of Paul Burrows’ ultra-stylish and enigmatic Nature Morte in January 2008. 28th October 2007
Mississippi screenings and Live Evil stunts
Michael Nyman dropped me a line about Beneath the Mississippi, the horror film on which he was associate producer and casting director as well as one of the cast. Beneath has two screenings at the AFM next month, on 1st and 5th November at 7pm at Le Merigot. Michael will be at the market all week and in attendance at the second screening. For more on the film, see the Beneath the Mississippi website. Another film that Michael made recently was Live Evil, the latest feature from Jay Woelfel (Trancers 6, Demonicus), in which he plays a vampire. A great montage of behind-the-scenes stunt footage is now up on YouTube and you can find out more about the film, which stars Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead) and Tim Thomerson (Dollman), on the Live Evil website. 28th October 2007
Horror stars cast in Beautiful Outsiders
Andrew Jones reports that he has cast Giovanni Lombardo Radice (Cannibal Ferox, A Day of Violence) and David Hess (Last House on the Left) in his next feature, The Beautiful Outsiders, which shoots next year. Doug Bradley is in talks to join the cast too. Originally conceived as a sequel to The Feral Generation, this is now a stand-alone film with different lead characters. Here’s the plot synopsis: After six years, 29 year old former drug addict Jason Starkweather is released from prison. Placed in a halfway house and in a dead end job, he struggles to suppress the urge to return to heroin. His ex-girlfriend Sarah Fugate works in a brothel to pay her way through university while living with an abusive older man. Desperate to make up for his past mistakes, Jason tracks Sarah down. A shocking incident reunites the couple and they go on the run, fleeing the authorities while rekindling their love for one another. After a number of incidents on the road, including betrayal by a friend of Jason's, the couple take sanctuary in the house of affluent Richard and his daughter Shannon. Eventually the unlikely foursome are brought together by the shared pain of their pasts and forge a genuine bond as the police close in. 25th October 2007
MJS in Death Ray 7
The latest issue of Death Ray has my review of Halloween: 25 Years of Terror and a piece by me about Halloween movies (and indeed, Halloween movies). 25th October 2007
Silencer DVD news
The Silencer is now up for pre-order on Amazon.co.uk. You can find the link and the sleeve design on the film’s review page. Unfortunately the Swindon Film Festival, where the film was due to be shown, has been cancelled. 13th October 2007
‘It takes Bal....dersons’: tribute season in NY
The Tribeca Film Center in New York is staging a Steve Balderson tribute at the end of this month, using a quote from me in their publicity (which is very gratifying). Wamego: Making Movies Anywhere is screening on 26th October, Wamego Strikes Back on 29th and Firecracker on 31st. Each screening kicks off at 7pm and is followed by a Q&A and a party (which, given the exuberant nature of some of Steve’s friends, should be memorable!). The whole thing is being organised by the Domani Vision Film Society with the support of the Kansas Film Commission. and you can purchase tickets here. 13th October 2007
Ghost Month wins in Chicago, screens in Florida
Danny Draven’s latest feature, Ghost Month (see previous news story) picked up two awards at the Chicago Horror Film Festival: Best Cinematography (Michael King was the DP) and Best Director. Ghost Month next plays two nights in Florida, at the Freakshow Film Festival in Orlando on 19th October and at the Halloween Horror Picture Show in Tampa on 20th. 13th October 2007
A Welsh film director in Indonesia
Gareth Evans, director of Footsteps, has just got back from shooting a documentary in Indonesia and is already packing his bags in preparation to move out there permanently! Well, the weather’s better than Cardiff... Jakarta has its own horror movie festival, Screamfestindo which runs from 28th November to 2nd December, and Footsteps will screen there this year along with the likes of Anders Banke’s Frostbitten and Simon Rumley’s The Living and the Dead. DVD details for the US release of Footsteps are expected imminently. 13th October 2007
Silencer UK DVD announced
Steve Lawson and Simon Wyndham dropped me a line with some great news about The Silencer: Blackhorse Entertainment are planning to release The Silencer on DVD in the UK on 10th December 2007 (rental) and 7th January 2008 (retail). This may be subject to change but at the moment that is the plan. The DVD we have produced has a brand new 5.1 surround sound audio mix, a number of featurettes and two commentary tracks, all of which we are hoping will make it onto the released product. The film is also being represented at this year's American Film Market by Don Warrener and Isaac Florentine of Rising Sun Productions in LA. And finally, it's also being shown at the Swindon Film Festival which is taking place over the weekend of 17th/18th November. 3rd October 2007
Dead Wood playing festivals
David Bryant dropped me a line to report on the progress of Dead Wood, which is now playing festivals in a slightly different cut from the one I saw (a few minutes of the London footage has been trimmed from the start. David says: “I attended Salento Film Festival in Italy - had a great time and the film played outstandingly to the audience. The film is also screening at Shockerfest (California), Thriller Chiller (Michigan) and we have a screening and Q&A at Abertoir, Wales.” 3rd October 2007
Day of Violence promo artwork
Darren Ward sent me this cool promo image for his forthcoming feature A Day of Violence. You can see some photos from the shoot here. 
26th September 2007
The Demon Within - coming next Spring
Harold Gasnier (The Witches Hammer, Darkhunters) dropped me a line to say that he has wrapped photography on The Demon Within, a feature which he is directing for his company 24 Carrot Films. As well as Gasnier himself, the cast includes Chloe Thomas, Brandy Doubleday (Theatre of Souls), Jay Carrington, Paul Kelleher (Bane, Meatcleaver Massacre), Robert Wainwright (The Adventures of a Plumber in Outer Space) and Mitchell Powell. Harold’s film is in post-production now and should hopefully be ready by next March. 26th September 2007
Thomas Lee Rutter at the double
Tom Rutter (Full Moon Massacre, Mr Blades) reports that he is currently working on two features, Bloody Hell! and Dame Demise, as well as shooting documentary footage of the 2007 Kidderminster Rock Festival (no, I didn’t know either...). 26th September 2007
MJS in Death Ray issue 6
The latest issue of Death Ray is now on sale, including a whole bundle of pieces by me. There’s a ‘ten-minute guide’ to Godzilla, a celebration of Santo movies, an interview with Tim Lucas and a review of his massive new book about Mario Bava, an interview with Philip Saville and a review of the BBC Count Dracula which he directed, now available on DVD, plus reviews of new Redemption DVDs of Jean Rollin’s The Living Dead Girl and Jess Franco’s Dracula’s Daughter. 26th September 2007
Alex Chandon’s new zombie film
The other week, when several hundred zombies gathered in central London for a zombie walk to promote the release of The Zombie Diaries, Alex Chandon (Cradle of Fear) was there with his camera and he has now edited together a terrific ten-minute film of the zombie walk which he has posted on YouTube. 26th September 2007
Longer version of Dreamscape on the way
Dan Fox dropped me a line ot say that “the extended cut of Dreamscape is now well into production and will be coming in at over 85 minutes. A lot of scenes have been tweaked, recut and reshaped and we hope to have the film on DVD in the new year. Check out www.youtube.com/Chatnoirproductions for production diaries and www.dreamscapethemovie.com for behind the scenes photos!” 26th September 2007
Summer Scars - that world tour in full
Julian Richards’ Summer Scars is doing the rounds of American film festivals. It played the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia last Friday and was at the Austin Fantastic Film Festival in Texas last Sunday, playing there again tomorrow (Thursday 27th). In October the film is at Raindance in London (2nd and 3rd) before jetting off to the Eerie Horror Film Festival in Pennsylvania (14th), the Turks and Caicos International Film Festival (16th and 17th) and the Hollywood Film Festival (19th-21st), then back across the Atlantic for Horrorthon in Dublin (26th-30th) and Abertoir in Aberystwyth where it screen on 2nd November inbetween Hatchet and Black Sheep. 26th September 2007
Shorter iDol, Invasia script complete
Norman England recently trimmed The iDol slightly, lopping four minutes off the running time, and he tells me he is much happier with this edit. Norman says: “I had a terrific screening of the film in Osaka three weeks ago and next month I'm flying over to Vancouver with Shusuke Kaneko for a The iDol/Death Note double bill. I like the idea of my 20 grand movie playing with a 10 million buck film!” Norman has also finished writing his second feature, Invasia: “I'm really happy with the screenplay and when I get the Japanese translation next month I'll go full out in trying to sell it.” 26th September 2007
Frankenstein/Blood Cove merchandise
William Winckler’s Frankenstein vs the Creature from Blood Cove has generated a bundle of merchandise, just in time for Halloween. There’s a full-head Creature mask, $150 from Cemetery Gate Productions; a Creature resin kit, $100 from Geometric Design; a soundtrack CD on Lakeshore Records, 15 bucks from Best Buy; and a T-shirt available from November Fire, priced from $16.50 for small to $27 for - holy crap! - size 10XL! Action figures, posters and collector cards are on their way - and of course the DVD is still available. 26th September 2007
Zombie Undead - latest update
Rhys Davies sent me the ‘full length trailer’ for his feature film Zombie Undead. It’s a stylish and emotive few sequences, showcasing some good acting, camerawork, editing and make-up. If the feature turns out this good, we could have a little Leicester-shot hit on our hands. Rhys has been shooting some exterior scenes over the past few weeks and plans to start the main filming at the end of this month. You can find out more at the film’s website, www.zombieundead.com. 18th September 2007
Zombie movie marathon in Leicester
Leicester Phoenix Arts will play host to ‘Day of the Undead’, an all-day zombiethon on Saturday 27th October. Kicking off at 2,30pm with the original Day of the Dead, the thoroughly international programme continues with the 2004 Irish feature Dead Meat, the 2000 Japanese cult classic Versus, new British indie The Zombie Diaries and finally Peter Jackson’s Braindead. Assorted zombie shorts and trailers will be scattered throughout the day. Make-up man Stuart Conran (Alien Blood, Urban Ghost Story, The Mutant Chronicles etc) will be on hand along with Jamie Russell, author of zombie movie reference tome Book of the Dead. The event is sponsored by DeadRising, Tartan Video, FAB Press and Revolver Entertainment. For more info see www.terror4fun.com. 6th September 2007
Frazer Lee's new project needs your help
PRæY, a new horror project by writer/director Frazer Lee (On Edge, Red Lines) and renowned author Max Kinnings (Hitman, The Fixer) is one of the eight feature films selected in the Movie Mogul Fund contest. Click here to visit the site, sign up and get access to the PRæY screenplay, blog and forum. £25 investment gives you 1,000 Mogul Dollar$ to invest in the project you like most and access to four projects, including screenplay, blog, forums & more The Movie Mogul Fund is an exciting ‘democratic filmmaking’ contest by Wales-based producer John Shackleton (and sponsored by Panavision, Technicolor and many other industry sponsors) to fund one feature film and one short film every 3 months on a budget of £200,000. YOU get to decide which of the films will be made by backing your favourite and have the chance to get involved as ‘Movie Moguls’ with Producer credits on the finished film, plus opportunities for set visits, becoming an extra in the movie, and more. 6th September 2007
Zuccon, Draven nominated at Chicago horrorfest
Ivan Zuccon’s NyMpha will screen at the Chicago Horror Film Festival (at 6.50pm on 6th October) and has been nominated in five award categories: Best Feature Film, Best Make-up Effects, Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Cinematography. Danny Draven’s new feature Ghost Month is also screening (at 5.00pm on 7th October) and has been nominated for Best Special Effects, Best Director and Best Cinematography. 5th September 2007
Kreating Karloff in Wales
Kreating Karloff has been accepted for screening at next year’s Swansea Bay Film Festival, which runs from 31st May to 8th June. 4th September 2007
Pixel trailer online
Tristan Versluis, the special effects artist who directed Plastic Reality, has posted a short teaser trailer for his next film, Pixel, on his MySpace page. Pixel was shot over two days in July and is currently in post. 29th August 2007
Ivan Zuccon wraps film, wins prize
Ivan Zuccon has wrapped principal photography on Colour from the Dark this week after a 35-day shoot. Meanwhile his previous film NyMpha has just won Best Cinematography at the Dark Carnival Film Festival (Ivan does his own DP-ing). NyMpha screens in Manchester this weekend and at the Chicago Horror Festival on 6th October. You can check out some exclusive stills from Colour from the Dark on this page. 29th August 2007
Summer Scars at Raindance
Julian Richards’ new film Summer Scars, which reunites him with The Last Horror Movie star Kevin Howarth, will be shown in London this Autumn as part of the prestigious Raindance Festival, where TLHM won Best British Feature four years ago). The film will be shown twice at Cineworld, Shaftesbury Avenue: at 8.45pm on Tuesday 2nd October and at 2.00pm on Wednesday 3rd October. I’m hoping to catch it in Manchester this weekend and should have a review up next week. I also need to get on with transcribing the cast and crew interviews I did when I visited the set last year. 29th August 2007
Lloyd Kaufman's East European films
My thanks to Arminio Grgic from the cool Croatian movie site Zuti Titl who has alerted me to two forthcoming Lloyd Kaufman screen roles. Woman’s Day is a one-minute short that was produced during the Grossman Film Festival in Slovenia earlier this year and is currently in post. It was directed by Marek Dobes (Choking Hazard) and Lloyd has a photo from it on his MySpace page. Arminio himself filmed Lloyd at the same festival in a cameo for the sequel to his martial arts spoof Condor Peasant vs Venom Triad, snappily entitled Condor Peasant and Venom Triad vs Attack of the Killer Zombie Garden Dwarfs From Space. This half-hour chop-socky/horror spoof is still in production. There are two cool teaser trailers here (the bottom one is a spot-on pastiche of old Shaw Brothers trailers) and if you can read Croatian, there’s some info about the film on the Zuti-Titl site here. Photos of Lloyd's contributions to both films can be found on this page. 27th August 2007
Killin' director's new film stars Norman Wisdom
Expresso is a new short comedy, set in a coffee shop, which features the last ever screen performance by Sir Norman Wisdom, who now sadly suffers from dementia. Directed by Kevin Powis (The Killin’), the film’s all-star cast includes Geoffrey Hughes (Keeping Up Appearances), Richard Warrington (Rising Damp) and even Hong Kong legend Richard Ng. The Silencer director Steve Lawson also worked on the film and a photo of him with Richard Ng can be spotted in the Gallery section of the Expresso website. A DVD of Expresso is available from the site for a fiver, of which a quid covers costs and the other four quid goes to Macmillan Cancer Support. 27th August 2007
Death Ray issue 5
The latest issue of Death Ray, with Heroes on the cover, includes my reviews of Belcebu, The Last Winter and Lost in New York, plus a short interview that I did with Larry Fessenden. I just delivered a bundle of stuff for issue 6, which should have my features on Godzilla and Santo and my interviews with Tim Lucas and Philip Saville. 27th August 2007
Under Surveillance: title change and DVD release details
Dave Campfield dropped me a line to say that Under Surveillance has been retitled Dark Chamber. The film has won a few (well-deserved) awards and will be released under this new title by Pop Cinema/Shock-O-Rama next February. The DVD will include some newly shot footage and a ton of extras including this short documentary on the real-life murder which partially inspired the film (as well as Ricky 6, a movie I saw many years ago). 27th August 2007
Cleopatra Wong - latest news!
I had an e-mail from Andrew Leavold, the Aussie whose comments on the people behind They Call Her Cleopatra Wong (aka Female Big Boss) were linked from my review. Andrew, whose shop Trash Video is ‘Brisbane's biggest cult rental emporium’, has recently premiered his documentary The Search for Weng Weng, in which he travelled to the Philippines and interviewed lots of directors, producers and actors, with the ultimate aim of tracking down the midget star of For Your Height Only. Among those he spoke with were Bobby A Suarez, Marrie Lee (producer and star of the Cleopatra Wong films) and even Dolphy, star of James Batman! Andrew tells me that The Vengeance of Cleopatra Wong is once more in development hell but Suarez still hopes to make it some day. 23rd August 2007
Far Out Festival movies announced
The movies on offer 8th Far Out Festival of Fantastique Film have been announced, including two UK premieres. A season of Jan Svankmajer films throughout September (Lunacy, Alice, Faust and Conspirators of Pleasure) is complemented by a range of other East European movies: the wordless Hukkle, the truly odd Taxidermia and the unutterably brilliant Sleeper-esque sci-fi comedy Sex Mission. Over the weekend of 28th-30th September, we can enjoy the UK premieres of Takashi Miike’s One Missed Call and horror anthology Trapped Ashes, which features segments directed by Sean S Cunningham, Monte Hellman, Joe Dante, John Gaeta and Ken Russell. Also the Franco-American robot film Electroma, the first screening of Black Sheep outside of London, bonkers B-movie Mesa of Lost Women and a black and white triple bill consisting of Un Chien Andalou, Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary and an oddball British short called Prayer Cushions of the Flesh. For more on Far Out, check out the Leicester Phoenix Arts website. 23rd August 2007
More photos from A Day of Violence
Darren Ward has sent me four more stills from A Day of Violence, which has recently recommenced production after a couple of months off. I’m hoping to catch up with Darren in Manchester next week. 23rd August 2007
New UK DVD label: Shameless
Press release: 1st October sees the launch of Shameless Screen Entertainment which will be a highly visible pulp-inspired in-your-face exploitation brand of discovery offering up carefully picked vile, evil, gore-soaked, demented, disturbing, deranged, naked flesh-filled, flesh-ripping, depraved, tormenting movies that will delight horror and exploitation fans. Working from a growing vault of several hundred films Shameless will often be able to offer titles brought for the first time to UK DVD and in some cases films never before available on UK home video! Shameless will release two titles to collect each month and launches 1st October with the highly controversial previously banned New York Ripper and the giallo thriller Phantom of Death starring Donald Pleasence and Michael York. These will be followed on 26th November with the infamous nunsploitation movie Killer Nun along with the saw-filled slasher classic Torso starring Suzy Kendall. 2007 ends with the true version of the ultimate S&M movie Venus in Furs (not to be confused with the Jess Franco film) and Lucio Fulci's Hammer-style take on Edgar Allen Poe's The Black Cat both available from 31st December. 16th August 2007
FFF amateur film line-up announced
The Festival of Fantastic Films is just two weeks away now. The latest announcement is the line-up for the amateur competition, which includes films by two former winners. Karl Holt won the competition last year with Eddie Loves You and Ross Shepherd triumphed the year before that with The Kingdom of Shadows. The films for 2007 are: Alicia (Cedric Bourgeois. Belgium, 8m), Chainmail (Richard Chance and John Chance, UK, 27m), Contretemps (Jean Luc Baillet, France, 14m), Delendra Est Genesis (Rafa Dengra, Spain, 20m), Flyer (Helmi Yusof, Singapore, 21m) , Halfway (Karl Holt, UK, 6m), It Came From Beyond (Ian J Simpson, UK, 4m), Missing Connection (Ross Shepherd, UK, 5m), The Morality Game (Jim Walker, UK, 11m), No Fear of Death (Matthew Swain, UK, 10m), Recently Deceased (Chris McInroy, USA, 12m), Shelter (Stephen Hedley and Nick Light, UK, 3m) and Son of the Dawn (Robert Mann, Eire, 15m). 16th August 2007
Fantastic Films Weekend - 2008 dates already
If you’ve got a 2008 diary, make a note that the 7th Fantastic Films Weekend (in Bradford, as usual) will take place over 13th-15th June. Film programmer Tony Earnshaw is hoping to screen a series of 70mm presentations in the Pictureville cinema, possibly including The Thing, Poultergesit, Batman, Outland and Brainstorm. 16th August 2007
Frazer Lee and Lloyd Kaufman at Abertoir festival
My mate Frazer Lee and his producing partner Joseph Alberti will be at the Abertoir Horror Festival in Aberystwyth, showing their short films and discussing their long-awaited Urbane project. Uncle Lloydy will be there too, introducing Poultrygeist and hosting a ‘masterclass’ in indie film-making. As previously mentioned, Dead Wood will be screening, along with a bunch of other great stuff. Festival passes are likely to be about £32.50 for the event which runs from 31st October to 4th November. A proper website should be up soon but for the moment keep an eye on the festival blog for further news. 16th August 2007
 Tom Rutter's latest
Thomas Lee Rutter, the auteur behind Mr Blades and Full Moon Massacre is back behind the camera shooting a script by horror writer Stuart Neild. Here’s the poster! 12th August 2007
Zombie Diaries world record attempt
To celebrate the screening of The Zombie Diaries at London's Film4 FrightFest event on Bank Holiday Monday 27th August, Revolver are organising a ‘zombie walk’ world record attempt (currently standing at 894 zombies for an event held last year at Pittsburgh's Monroeville Mall) immediately prior to the film's screening at 10.45am. The Zombie Walk will take place from 9.00am on the Bank Holiday Monday (don't worry, you won't be at work!) just outside Odeon Leicester Square. Final details are still being arranged, but to register an interest in attending join the MySpace and FaceBook event groups. 8th August 2007
More FFF news
The latest information I have from the Festival of Fantastic Films - now just three weeks away - is that another guest has been added to the line-up. Damien Thomas starred in Twins of Evil and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, as well as appearing in loads of cult TV shows such as Blake’s 7, The Protectors and 1990. Also confirmed is the world premiere of NyMpha, continuing a tradition of Ivan Zuccon movies screening in Manchester. 3rd August 2007
Unearthed Films to release LovecraCked!
Elias, director of LovecraCked! The Movie, tells me that the film has been picked up by Unearthed Films for a US DVD release early next year. This will be an extended cut of the film including a new segment from Elias himself, ‘Coo-coo-Cthulhu’(!) starring Jerrod Bogard (Gatorman) and Susan Adriensen (The Blood Shed, Under the Raven's Wing). Other bonus features will include a cast and crew commentary touted by Elias as "so drunken and disorderly that you will have to be under the influence of something to make it through without your head exploding from sensory overload." For a company specialising in extreme cinema, Unearthed Films’ catalogue overlaps remarkably with the stuff on my site. Among their current and future releases are Frankensteins Bloody Nightmare, Lethal Force, Evil Dead Trap 2, Junk and Footsteps. 3rd August 2007
Death Ray 4
Issue 4 of Death Ray is on sale, with Transformers on the front, including my reviews of The Zombie Diaries and The Pumpkin Karver. My Godzilla feature has evidently been bumped, possibly because I sent them a VHS tape to get screen grabs from and they’re having difficult locating a machine that can play it! Issue 5 will have my reviews of Belcebu, Lost in New York and The Last Winter plus a short interview with Larry Fessenden. 3rd August 2007
Revolver postpones Ferryman, releases Butcher
The Ferryman, a UK/NZ horror movie starring John Rhys-Davies which was scheduled for UK release by Revolver this month, has been put back to next year (review coming soon). Meanwhile the company has a very different horror film lined up for release on 20th August - The Butcher. Terrifyingly brutal and nerve-shreddingly tense, Edward Gorsuch’s The Butcher is Wrong Turn meets The Hills Have Eyes, with some twists and turns you’ll never expect. Starring Myiea Coy, April Gilbert, Ashley Rebecca Hawkins and Bill Jacobson, the film takes these characters on the road trip of their nightmares. Director Gorsuch works mostly as a writer on erotic thrillers including such pick’n’mix titles as Erotic Obsessions, Illicit Sins, Sexual Revenge and Insatiable Needs - he also wrote dodgy Playboy vampire flick Embrace the Darkness II! But he didn’t write The Butcher, Mike Hurst did. April Gilbert was Tami in Decadent Evil. Also in the cast are Tom Nagel (Pirates of Treasure Island, Dracula’s Curse), Catherine Wreford (Wrestlemaniac) and Nick Stellate (Vampires: Out for Blood, Witchcraft XII). The special make-up effects are by Tom Devlin (Are You Scared?, Freakshow). 3rd August 2007
Dead Clowns released in USA, eventually
Four years ago, Steve Sessions made a film called Dead Clowns. In 2004 it was released in the UK by Cryptkeeper Films but it is only now seeing a Stateside release, courtesy of Lion’s Gate. What is interesting (or possibly slightly worrying) is that the film reunites several of the cast and crew from Psycho Santa, including Eric Spudic, Lucien Eisenach, Kimberly L Cole, Krystal Stevenson and Sessions himself. Debbie Rochon and Brinke Stevens lead the cast which also includes Robyn Griggs (Minds of Terror) and Jeff Dylan Graham (Dorm of the Dead, Witchcraft XI, Bloodsucking Redneck Vampires). 3rd August 2007
Horror awaits... Beneath the Mississippi
Actor Michael Robert Nyman sent me some information about Beneath the Mississippi, a supernatural chiller which he acts in and on which he was also associate producer. Directed and co-written by Lonnie Schuyler (Bottom Feeders), the film stars Jon Hazell (who also co-wrote it), Nick Murray (Bred in the Bone) and Ariadne Shaffer (Frog-g-g!, Hideous Scream). Here’s the synopsis and some photos: A documentary filmmaker and her crew fight the elements and try to cope with their fears as they seek to understand the strange mystery of a flooded island where hundreds of people have died. 
Beneath the Mississippi will be at the AFM in November, which is also when Jeff Brookshire’s Awaken the Dead (which also features Nyman) gets a DVD release. You can check out the cool trailer for Beneath the Mississippi on YouTube or the official website. 3rd August 2007
David Winning vs genetically engineered killer wasps
PRESS RELEASE: Montreal, August 1, 2007: Muse Entertainment has begun principal photography of Day of the Drones, a frightening tale of genetically engineered killer wasps attacking the inhabitants of a small North American town. The film stars cult-horror film favourite Robert Englund, who made Freddy Krueger famous (Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy vs. Jason) [Also Heartstopper and Mind Breakers - MJS]. Englund plays Eli, the mysterious “Bee Keeper.” The film also stars Canadian actors Sebastien Roberts (Lucky Number Slevin, Maurice Richard) and Sarah Allen (Human Trafficking, Secret Window), as estranged lovers who must come together to save their town. This action-packed television feature is directed by David Winning (Dinotopia, Stargate: Atlantis) and produced by Irene Litinsky (Human Trafficking, The Wool Cap) and Ric Nish (Durham County, The Fountain). It is executive produced by Michael Prupas (The Wind in the Willows, Human Trafficking) Robert Halmi, Sr. (Lion in Winter, The Ten Commandments) and Robert Halmi, Jr. (Poseidon Adventure, The Christmas Card). RHI Entertainment is the international distributor. The director of photography of this CGI-and-special-effects-laden extravaganza is Daniel Vincelette (Leaving Metropolis, Nightlight). Mario Rachiele (Tales from the Neverending Story, Flood) is the visual effects supervisor. The script is by Todd Samovitz (Wonderland) and Ethlie Ann Vare (CSI, Andromeda). In the story, the sinister, monster wasps were created for war by the military – in an experiment run amok. To bring the wasps to life, special-effects makeup/prosthetics supervisor George Tucci built high-tech miniature wasps. He also created the grotesque welts (covering the actors’ bodies) left by stings of the wasps when they turn their human victims into killer drones. Director Winning says, “It’s a tale about a vicious wasp swarm, but it’s also about loss of trust and paranoia and how it ravages and depletes a small sleepy town. This is a great classic horror story with touches of everything from Hitchcock’s The Birds, to Twin Peaks, to 28 Days Later.” Producer Nish adds, “A lot of work has been put towards making this picture more than just another Sci-Fi/Thriller. With a great crew, exciting visual effects, a stellar cast and a seasoned director, it’s a pleasure to produce a picture like this!” The film shoots in Montreal until August 17, 2007. 3rd August 2007
Dead Wood plays Welsh horror festival
Dead Wood will be shown over Halloween weekend at Wales’ only horror festival, with the three directors on hand to discuss the film. The festival is held in Aberystwyth so it’s called... the Abertoir Horror Festival. And it looks bloody good, to be honest, with screenings of Poutrygeist and Poltergeist, both halves of Grindhouse (presumably separately), Hatchet, Black Sheep, Twins of Evil, Roger Corman’s The Raven and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. The festival runs from 31st October to 4th November at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre. 3rd August 2007
Kingdom of the Vampire times two!
The latest release from Tempe is an extraordinary double bill of two versions of Kingdom of the Vampire. The original was made by JR Bookwalter (Ozone, Witchouse 3) in 1991, the remake was directed by Brett Kelly (The Bonesetter) who is following it up with a remake of Attack of the Giant Leeches(!). Here’s the press release for the disc, which hits shelves on 30th October: Jeff works the night shift, then comes home to his domineering mother, who has the grisly habit of slaughtering neighbourhood children to satisfy her insatiable bloodlust. Jeff is reluctant to reveal his true identity until he meets Nina, a young woman with a strange attraction for the introvert. But Jeff's not the only one with eyes for Nina... mother has other plans for her! In 1991, producer/director JR Bookwalter (The Dead Next Door) took his first leap into non-traditional film-making with the video-lensed Kingdom of the Vampire, a moody drama inspired by the '60s soap opera Dark Shadows he grew up watching as a kid. The gloomy tale of a young man and his overbearing vampire mother was certainly far from a financial or critical smash, but it helped pave the way for more successful chapters in the director's career such as Ozone (1994) and inspired a new generation of moviemakers to pick up camcorders and do it themselves. More than 15 years later, one of those moviemakers - Canadian actor/director Brett Kelly (My Dead Girlfriend) - brings a fresh take on Kingdom, improving on the original with an even more atmospheric and thrilling adaptation. Both versions are presented on DVD with commentary from their creators, complete with remastered picture & sound on the original version for the first time ever! 23rd July 2007
FFF announces great line-up of indie features
I’m very pleased to see that six of my mates have features screening at this year’s Festival of Fantastic Films in the independent film competition. Those of you able to make it to Manchester at the end of August will have the chance to see Caleb Emerson’s bonkers horror/superhero spoof Die You Zombie Bastards!, Daniel J Fox’s impressive PKDickian future-thriller Dreamscape, Pat Higgins’ gory, supernatural romantic comedy HellBride, Conor Timmis’ terrific documentary/homage Kreating Karloff, David Winning’s eco-horror Something Beneath and Julian Richards’ disturbing rite-of-passage psycho-thriller Summer Scars. Also in competition are Chill, an American adaptation of Lovecraft’s ‘Cool Air’ directed by Serge Rodnunsky; Argentine horror film Death Knows Your Name, directed by Daniel de la Vega; Fallen Angels, a horror/cop movie by Jeff Thomas with an amazing cast that include Kane Hodder, Bill Moseley, Michael Berryman, David Jess and Michael Dorn; Mark Stirton’s Scottish sci-fi indie The Planet; and The Superhero, a part-animated, Manchester-set film from Adam Simcox. 12th July 2007
Cannibal Ferox star at FFF
The Festival of Fantastic Films has added another guest to its line-up. Actor Giovanni Lombardo Radice is better known as John Morghen and appeared in such notable spaghetti horrors as Cannibal Ferox, Cannibal Apocalypse, City of the Living Dead, Stage Fright, The Church, Phantom of Death and The Sect. 12th July 2007
Three Spider-Man films for a fiver
Phoenix Arts in Leicester is screening a triple bill of all three Spider-Man movies on Sunday 26th August. Tickets are a very reasonable seven pounds but are only a fiver if booked online! For those who can't get enough superhero action, they also have a Fantastic Four double bill on Saturday 11th August, also for a fiver. 12th July 2007
Jean Rollin and new Spanish horror from Redemption
Redemption release Lost in New York, a very rarely seen 1989 Jean Rollin movie, on 16th July. One of the reasons it is so rare is because it'sless than an hour long. However Redemption have padded out the disc with two even rare Rollin shorts, Les Amours Jaunes and Les Pays Loins, made in 1958 and 1965 respectively. Also released on Monday is Belcebu, a recent Spanish horror picture. I will be reviewing these shortly but I still have June's Redeemption releases, Venus in Furs and 99 Women, in the To Be Watched pile. 12th July 2007
UK release for latest Full Moon pics
Charles Band's recent movies Evil Bong and Petrified are both coming out on DVD in the UK through Film 2000. According to an advert in the latest Viz, Evil Bong will also be available as an HMV-exclusive two-disc version which includes Far Out Man (not a Full Moon film or even horror but written by, directed by and starring Tommy Chong, who also stars in Evil Bong). Unfortunately Full Moon no longer send me screeners so I can't tell you whether these are any good. 11th July 2007
Mark Redfield news
Mark Redfield has added Debbie Rochon (Dead and Rotting, Dr Horror’s Erotic House of Idiots, Colour from the Dark) to the cast of his forthcoming version of The Tell-Tale Heart. Mark will be at the Festival of Fantastic Films at the end of August, together with actress/composer Jennifer Rouse, where he will be moderating a Hammer actresses panel with Caroline Munro, Martine Beswick and Vera Day. 11th July 2007
Welsh horror film Isca in pre-production
Producer Dewi Griffiths (High Stakes) has a new project in pre-production called Isca: “Isca is The Wicker Man meets The Faculty – a college horror movie played out against the authentic background of Celtic myth. In the ancient Welsh university town of Isca, a gifted student’s study of the occult leads to the opening of a door into the ancient Celtic Otherworld of Annwn, where an ancient evil wishes to return to our world. Soon she and her friends face dangers from forces in this world and the next.” The film will be directed by Ray Kilby, who helmed the 2002 indie horror Never Play with the Dead, and will reunite some of the crew from High Stakes including cinematographer Viv Mainwaring. The cast includes Stacey Cadman (Cavegirl), Ciaran Joyce (Summer Scars), John Woodvine (An American Werewolf in London, Dragonworld, Z Cars) and Hammer/Bond babe Caroline Munro. 11th July 2007
Industry professionals 'in conversation' at Oxford festival
As part of the North Wall Film Festival in Oxford, four top industry professionals will be giving extended public interviews charting their diverse and successful careers: - Mick Audsley (editor - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Twelve Monkeys) Wednesday 18th July
- Tim Bevan (co-director/founder of Working Title Films; producer - United 93, Bridget Jones) Thursday 19th July
- George Fenton (composer - Planet Earth, The History Boys) Friday 20th July
- Stephen Frears (director - The Queen, My Beautiful Laundrette) Saturday 21st July
The interviews will feature alongside seminars and screenings of some of their most important films including cult classics My Beautiful Laundrette and Prick Up Your Ears as well as pre-release screenings of Sherrybaby (starring Maggie Gyllenhaal) and The Singer (starring Gerard Depardieu) among others. More info at www.thenorthwall.com 11th July 2007
Frankenstein vs the Creature available to rent in UK
William Winckler dropped me an e-mail to let me know that Frankenstein vs the Creature from Blood Cove can now be rented in the UK through Lovefilm: “I always loved the classic Hammer horror films, and I'm delighted we're finally being carried by a major company in the UK. Here in the States, the film continues to be a huge hit for us, with awards, top DVD sales and rentals, TV broadcasts, theatrical screenings, fan clubs, merchandising, etc. Terrific business.” This is the Region 0 disc released by Winckler himself and I must admit to not understanding quite how Lovefilm are able to offer this as it doesn’t have a BBFC certificate. 11th July 2007
Wamego Strikes Back DVD available
Steve Balderson’s extraordinary documentary Wamego Strikes Back, about the travails of getting his film Firecracker released, is now available to buy from the Dikenga website, at $16.95 for US customers and $21.95 for the rest of us. The DVD includes out-takes from Firecracker among its numerous extras. Steve is currently shooting his belly-dancing documentary Underbelly. 11th July 2007
New Tristan Versluis short
My mate Tristan Versluis is shooting another short film, this one called Pixel. Stills photographer Owen Billcliffe has posted several dozen photos from the production on his site My Glass Eye, where you can also find stills from something called Zombie Cheerleader Massacre which looks great! - Old news (Jan-June 2007)
- Old news (Jul-Dec 2006)
- Old new (Jan-Jun 2006)
- Old news (2005)
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