No one knows what the hell it is - and if they do, they aren’t talking. Elaborate prank? Feature-length sweding? The world’s first film to feature a cardboard MRI scanner? We’ll find out soon - this Friday, June 5th, in fact, when the elusive After Last Season drops in four territories across the US for a limited run. Whatever it is, those shots of the Rubbermaid bins scooting across the floor of their (apparent) own accord are, in their own bizarre way, sublimely creepy.
If you’re in Lancaster CA, North Aurora IL, Rochester NY, or Austin TX you have no excuse not to be there for whatever the hell is happening this Friday.
A little while back, yours truly posted a ToM dealing with remakes that I felt, at the very least, equaled their inspiration for one reason or another. It shouldn’t surprise that reader response was pretty divided, with some people decrying the institution of remaking films as a whole while others brought up great examples I had boneheadedly missed. I thought we’d give this another go-round but change things up a little in that this ToM will focus on remakes that, in my mind’s eye anyway, sullied the good name of their source material. Here are five that get my fanboy blood boiling…
Continue Reading "Remakes Done Wrong"...
I count myself as a big fan of 2007’s Nazi zombie shocker Outpost. Not only did the film feature a surprisingly textured script and strong work from a roster of character players including recent big-screen Punisher and Rome star Ray Stevenson, there was a hefty dose of fun faux-science ladled into its tale of a team of mercenaries tasked with locating a long-shuttered WWII-era bunker and retrieving a mysterious device housed within (suffice to say, there are zombies involved). Original Outpost producer Kieran Parker dropped us a line to let us know they are prepping a sequel, Outpost II: Black Sun, through Black Camel Pictures and that said sequel is up for grabs at this year’s Cannes Festival. We now offer a peek at an early poster. Can never have enough Nazi zombie pics in my book. As more details emerge, we’ll try and keep you posted!
Twitch staff favorite Pop Skull has landed a North American DVD release courtesy of boutique distributor Halo 8! Details below…
HALO 8 SWALLOWS POP SKULL
Halo-8 Entertainment has secured North American distribution rights to the manic, twisted, drug-infused Pop Skull, an award-winning psychological horror film directed & co-written by Adam Wingard (Home Sick), starring & co-written by newcomer Lane Hughes, co-written and co-produced by E.L. Katz (Autopsy), and produced by Peter Katz (Mortuary ). The film premiered domestically at the AFI Film Festival and internationally at the Rome Film Festival, where Wild Bunch acquired the foreign rights. Halo-8 has slated the film for a limited theatrical run followed by a DVD release on July 28, 2009.
POP SKULL depicts the lonely and disjointed life of Daniel, a young Alabama pill addict, as his efforts to cope with the trials of his day-to-day life collide with the increasing influence of murderous and displaced spirits that inhabit his home. Plagued by ghosts, Daniel discovers his home holds a secret to a grisly crime… a crime he’s doomed to repeat if he can’t prevail against the forces that haunt him.
The deal was negotiated by Glen Reynolds for his Circus Road Films on behalf of the filmmakers; (Maddy) Dawson and (Matt) Pizzolo negotiated the deal on behalf of Halo-8.
A much-deserved release for one of the most original horror films to come down the pike in the last few years!
As usual, this ToM will remain at the top of the page for the better part of the day. New stories will appear below!
Sorry folks – I’m not intro-ing a betting function here at Twitch but tackling another ToM, this one focused on films other folks love that I hate, and vice-versa - the classic overrated, underrated debate. We all have movies we just can’t convince our friends to get behind, and we all have films we’re maybe a little ashamed to admit we don’t quite “get” or just can’t stand. Here are six of mine – three each (of course there are plenty more, both ways). What are some of yours?
Continue Reading "Over / Under"...
One of the most critically lauded works in a field still shorted mainstream respect, Allan Moore’s 1986-87 short run series “Watchmen” sees its big-screen adaptation glow to life in early March. Moore has a history of prickly behavior when it comes to Hollywood’s take on his work, but there appears to be a groundswell of support among fans and the general public alike for director Zach Snyder’s interpretation. The rush of comic book and graphic novel adaptations has accelerated over the last few years as studios look for projects with built-in brand recognition, and it shows no sign of slowing. With this ToM, we’ll look at a few adaptations and consider what they may have done right and wrong. There are many we’ll miss (some with good reason, others without) - as always, you’re encouraged to agree / disagree / digress below…
Continue Reading "Comic Book Adaptations"...
This one’s been flying way under the radar which is a damn shame, but at least it’s out there and we can now help spread the word - one of the more notorious hoax productions to have ever made it to air, the BBC’s sublimely creepy Ghostwatch, has spawned an officially-sanctioned retrospective documentary - Ghostwatch: Behind the Curtrains.
Premiered on Halloween night in 1992, the telefilm purported to showcase a number of recognizable BBC personalities (including venerable presenter Sir Michael Parkinson) as they investigated what was rumored to be the most haunted house in all of Britain. As the “live” broadcast played out, strange events inside the home and studio itself transformed an otherwise routine 90 minutes of reality TV into an entirely original, tech-savvy “you-are-there” ghost story. A YouTube page, launched in early 2008, has collected a number of rare clips including scenes deleted from the broadcast and media reactions to the program’s controversial one-time airing in its home country. Better yet is the production’s official blog, which continues to track the project’s status and highlights the on-going involvement of original cast members and creative talents.
Perhaps Behind the Curtains‘s eventual roll-out will spur the Beeb to re-release the long out-of-print original again on DVD. For fans who have yet to revel in its spooky splendors, here’s hoping! We’ll be training a much closer eye on this one going forward, and will keep you updated!
If you’ve navigated the dense series of electric tubes that (I’m told) comprise the internet to Twitch, chances are you’re a “movie person.” That is, when people think of you, they think of film – specifically, the sort of oddball titles that cascade down our beloved online home on a daily (often hourly) basis. Being a “movie person” has, among its many perks, a great big plus in that people will often come knocking for cinematic suggestions. It’s always great to tout something you love to someone new and impressionable. What follows is a(n abbreviated) list of my go-to titles in a few genres – I consider all to be accessible (not just in terms of tone and style but availability) but still outside the realm of most average viewers – in the event my “movie person” status goes active.
Continue Reading "“You’re a movie person, right?”"...
The misplacement of trust is a go-to device within the whole of dramatic storytelling. It allows us to root for or against a protagonist’s decisions, and can make us question our own beliefs and prejudices. There’s a subset of films out there that take this notion and apply it not to characters but an institution, and within that subset there’s a wonderfully campy corner we’ll examine today. Past ToM’s have addressed plants and animals run wild – it’s time to tackle technology. If you can’t trust your dishwasher, what can you trust?
Continue Reading "Technology Gone Wrong!"...
Zack Parker’s Quench, a unique character study set in the world of “cutters,” hits home video courtesy of Vanguard Cinema on October 28th. I was able to speak with Parker about the film earlier this year after catching it at the 2008 Indianapolis International Film Festival.
Collin: Thanks for taking the time to speak with Twitch. Tell me a little about where Quench came from.
Zack: I saw a documentary on HBO in the late ‘90s called The Vampire Murders about a group of kids who were involved in this “vampire cult” and ended up killing the parents of one of the kids involved. I believe it happened in Kansas, and they ended up on this road trip to Florida, which is where they were finally caught. What really got me thinking, after seeing it, was that I had never seen a film portray this sort of alternative lifestyle in an honest way.
Continue Reading "Interview with QUENCH director Zack Parker"...
Post-apocalyptic impresario Cirio Santiago, perhaps responsible for more Mad Max-inspired madness than any other filmmaker, passed away on Friday, September 26th at the age of 72 from lung cancer. A veteran of the Roger Corman ranks, Santiago has been canonized by Quentin Tarantino (citing Santiago’s work as one of the many influences on his Kill Bill pictures) and was set to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Film Academy of the Philippines next month.
He was currently in production on a sequel to one of his better know Max riffs, Stryker, to be titled Road Raiders. No word on whether and how that project may now be completed.
Why not track down a copy of Wheels of Fire or Future Hunters and pay tribute to a low-budget legend?
For those not aware, the first debate in the upcoming U.S. Presidential election is this Friday, September 26th. It’s currently impossible to avoid – whether trolling the internets, turning on the TV, opening a newspaper, or even just walking outside – the crush of political pontificating and posturing on display 24/7 in the weeks leading up to the election (November 4th). With all this inexorably in mind, I’m taking this week’s ToM to touch on a few beloved(ish) pictures set in the political realm – all of which lay bear more truth than 90% of what passes for news reporting these days. There’s no shortage of great films focused on Washington’s glories and gaffes and the genre, if there is one, is endlessly malleable so sound off below – what are some of your favorites?
Continue Reading "Politics as Usual"...
It’s no secret we here at Twitch love up-and-coming director Adam Wingard’s low-low-budget shocker Pop Skull. On the eve of the release of his freshman feature, Home Sick, in a feature-laden special edition courtesy of Synapse (the disc streets August 26th, 2008), I had the opportunity to speak with Wingard about his work thus far and what fans can look forward to from him in the future.
Continue Reading "Interview with HOME SICK, POP SKULL director Adam Wingard"...
Per usual, this Twitch-o-Meter will remain at the top of the site for 24 hours. New stories will appear below.
The seemingly never-ending stream of remakes continues rushing down Hollywood’s pike in the coming weeks – Paul W. S. Anderson’s Death Race (eviscerated by Todd here) and Alexandre Aja’s Mirrors premier in August, while September brings another tragic Nic Cage hairpiece to screens in Bangkok Dangerous. When a film is judged as suitable remake fodder, it’s likely there was something to the original – maybe a kernel of transcendent storytelling or an exciting spin on something shopworn – which marked it as special. That something tends to be lost in translation, but every so often a remake gets things right, parlaying what made the original special into something intriguing in its own right. This ToM will look at a few remakes which do just that – managing a fresh take on revered material.
Continue Reading "Remakes Done Right"...
For 90 unbridled minutes Dance of the Dead, director Gregg Bishop’s lovingly over-the-top riff on the ever-malleable zombie genre, had the Alamo Drafthouse crowd in a persistent, giddy state of beer-fueled uproar (the first round of drinks having been provided by the savvy filmmakers themselves). The film is a pulpy, blood-drenched gas from beginning to end, hitting the ground running and never looking back or kowtowing to common sense.
Loaded with a slew of standout, genuinely electric sequences (including one graveyard assault with spry zombies exploding up from their graves wire-fu style) the film also features a host of game performances by, wonder of wonders, teenager actors actually playing teenagers. Sometimes the best innovations are the most obvious, you know?
Continue Reading "FANTASIA - DANCE OF THE DEAD review"...
