Writer & Director Adam Ahlbrandt of Cross Bearer and The Cemetery is seeking funding for his next project entitled The Ritual. Using the ever popular Kickstarter, Ahlbrandt is not seeking much. His goal of $6,500 is defiantly reachable if presented to the right fans. Offering up the grit of films from the 70's & early 80's The Ritual is set to be a genre nuts wet dream. However this film can not be made with out the help of us, the fans.
Kickstarter is easy. Choose a donation amount, then ONLY if the film hits its pledge goal, your donation amount is withdrawn from your bank account. Each donation amount has incentive as well. The Ritual has offered up a nice little batch of rewards for the donators.
$1 - Have your name entered in a drawing if funding is reached.
$15 - Receive a digital copy of the film, have your name entered in the drawing.
$25 - Receive a DVD copy of finished film signed by the cast.
$30 - Receive a DVD copy of the film as well as a poster both signed by the cast.
$35 - Receive a DVD copy of the film signed by the cast as well as a DVD copy of Cross Bearer
$50 - Receive a DVD copy of the film signed by the cast and a DVD copy of The Cemetery as soon as its released
$75 - DVD of the film, as well as Cross Bearer and The Cemetery on DVD and a poster of the film.
$1000 - all of the above as well as an Executive Producer credit, the will appear on the film as well as IMDB.
Adam has also asked me to let you all know of a VERY SPECIAL reward that doesn't appear on the Kickstarter page.
For $150,000 Adam will let the investor cut off his Middle Toe. Yeah that's right, His MIDDLE TOE.
Please go help this film be made, and spread the word to all your friends. This film can not happen with out the help of you. For more information on the kickstarter project or to make a donation CLICK HERE! View the video of Adam explaining the project below.
When it comes to indie horror films, I usually go in with low expectations and plan on being disappointed when its finished. So when I rented I Didn't Come Here To Die (IDCHTD) it was no different. I sat down and was ready to spend most of the movie on my phone. This time my phone never left my pocket. IDCHTD held my interest, and I finished the film with a huge shit eating grin on my face.
IDCHTD is a film written & directed by Bradley Scott Sullivan. The film is about 6 volunteer workers that head out to the woods to start clearing it out for underprivileged kids. After a while unfortunate accidents start to happen around the camp, leaving each of them fending for themselves. The usual suspects are all here The Jock/ Douche Chris (Niko Red Star), The Goody Two-Shoes Miranda (Madi Goff), The Indie/ Emo Chick Julie (Indiana Adams), The Pussy Whipped Guy Steve (Jeremy Vandermause), The Quite Guy Danny (Kurt Cole), & The Leading Lady Sophia (Emmy Robbin).
I really thought this film was great. It was a refreshing take on new horror. Writer/ Director Bradley Scott Sullivan did a great job flipping the conventions of the horror genre by placing the victims fates predominantly in their own hands. Not to mention the film filters and effects are a homage to Grindhouse cinema of the 70's and 80's. The subtle film grain gave IDCHTD a very nice tone, as well as a slight feeling of maturity. I felt like the camera angles used were complimentary to the film as well as creative.
Acting in this film was really good. All of the actors took their roles and ran with them, Most notably Madi Goff as Miranda, I wanted her to die so bad, where as I felt sympathy for Jeremy's character Steve at one point. The actors all did great with their respective roles. I have to admit something ..I think I fell in love with Emmy Robbin while watching this movie. She is ABSOLUTELY STUNNING! She did a fantastic job with the character of Sophie.
The visual effects in the film were done really well, you could tell there was some CGI but I didn't think it was too over done. The practical effects used in the film were great, considering that the budget for the film as approximately $100,000. The viewer gets some serious death including one involving a chainsaw. This film really takes a big leap for Indie Horror, offering up a sophisticated new school slasher feel without conforming to any of the so-called "RULES".
If I can sum up my thoughts of IDCHTD, I would have to say this film is great. The film has humor, gore, and great acting. It also far exceeded my expectations. GLP gives this indie effort a whooping 5 out of 5 for outstanding cast, effects, film editing, and direction. Not to mention a pretty sweet soundtrack featuring one of my favorite artists Passion Pit. I will defiantly be looking out for Bradley Scott Sullivan's future efforts, and buying up the DVD once they become available again. In the mean time, the film is currently available all major OnDemand video providers. Be sure to check out the film's Webpage as well as their Facebook page. Check out the trailer below.
As most of you may or may not know, Sam Raimi's cult classic The Evil Dead (1981) was based off a short film he made in 1978 called Within The Woods. The idea was to make a short that would gather interest in a feature length film and hopefully a way to provide funding for such a project. Eventually the film was remade into what is now considered on of the best horror films of our time...The Evil Dead.
Thought to be long lost, a very grainy and extremely worn out print of Within The Woods has surfaced. Thanks to Dreadcental.com we now have the opportunity to view the short film that started it all, Within The Woods. The film starts Evil Dead Boomstick King himself, Bruce Campbell along with Ellen Sandweiss & Scott Spiege Check it out below, and head over to Dread Central for current happenings in the horror world!
The award for most spoileriffic movie title goes to..."John Dies At The End". All jokes aside this films is a solid watch. The hype for this film was almost annoying, it seemed like every site I went to was talking about this film. Did the movie live up to the hype...I will let you decide, but I had some fun watching it.
John Dies At The End is a film by legendary writer director Don Coscarelli. The man behind the Phantasm series and Bubba Ho-Tep. The film stars Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, Glynn
Turman & Doug Jones. The run down of the film goes somewhat like this, 2 friends get literally sucked into another dimension because of a new drug called "Soy Sauce". The drug takes you to another dimension and defies the physics of time, allowing the user to jump from periods of time within seconds..or something like that. I have trouble putting the film into words because I feel like the film was very convoluted.
With all the hype surrounding the film, I was expecting more. What I got was a hot mess of a horror picture that did a lot of things right and a few crucials wrong. What did the film do right you ask? Well for starters the acting was very good. Chase Williamson (David) & Rob Mayes (John) carry the film. The acted the parts with justice, and the chemistry between the duo was evident. Paul Giamatti is good as usual, playing the cynical journalist. everyone else had smaller roles but all did them well.
Another thing the film accomplished was the hilarity and gore. The comedy aspect was probably the most entertaining part of the film. At one point in the film a door handle literally turns into a cock and balls, and the reaction to the event was hilarious. Things like this riddle the movie and it was welcomed with open arms. The gore is over the top and full of red...just how I like it. The gorewhores get a solid red stuff with beheadings, head explosions, skin melting, and some decent monster violence.
Now lets talk about the bad. The film is adapted from a novel of the same title by David Wong. I havent read the book, but from what I have been reading...its great fans love it. However the film, like most, deviates greatly from the book. From what I've gathered is the book is a collection of short stories all involving John and Dave.Apparently Don tried to take elements from each story and weave them together. Unfortuantly is because of this the films story is rather incoherent and convoluted. I mean this was the breaking point of the film...it made almost no fucking sense. The imagery is great, effects, gore, & comedy were all solid...but no fucking plot. It jumps around like a dude that has stubbed his toe & as a result your left with a movie that could have been AMAZING. Instead you get all filler no killer so to speak.
I was really hoping the movie would be better than it was. I loved everything but the damn story. the films runs around an hour and a half...I would say the about 30 minuets of the film were a letdown. Almost all of that time was plot/character development. Like I stated earlier it IS still a solid watch. For solid acting, gore, effects, and humor, John Dies At The End gets 3 out of 5 stabs. I would suggest everyone at least watch it once. It's worth a watch and the humor really saved the film. The film is currently ONLY available to watch on demand. You can also check out more about the film on Facebook. It has yet to hit theater but I have a feeling it wont do so well. Check out the trailer below.
In a time when horror movies were being heavily censored by distribution companies and the MPAA, Intruder was one of the films that received the short end of the stick. The tale of this film is sad but, light has shined its head upon this classic slasher film once again and fans finally have the opportunity to view the film as it was originally intended...UNCUT.
Intruder is about a night crew of a local Michigan grocery store. The crew finds out that the store is being sold and they will be losing their jobs in a couple of weeks. Unbenounced to them, someone is watching them, and eventually the crew begins getting picked off in gruesome ways.
Intruder is one of the later 80's slasher movies that really works amidst a slew of very bad low rate knock offs. However most of the public who saw the original release of the film may not agree with that. Long story short Intruder was made in 1989 at the tail end of the slasher craze. It was originally set to be distributed by Empire Pictures which was Full Moon owner Charles Band's first company which unfortunately when under. As a result of the company folding most of the unreleased films were sold off to other companies. Intruder was one of those pictures. Band sold the releasing rights to Paramount who released the film to VHS with an R rating and over 5 minuets of footage missing from the picture.
As a result of Paramount's misstep, the film was almost un-watchable, and incoherent. Many fans wrote the film off as just another ugly slasher film trying to coattail a dying genre. Fortunately this movie was no where near that. Written & Directed by Scott Spiegel of Evil Dead II fame the film boasts some very creative camera angles, as well as some very neat POV shots. Scott really nailed it. You can defiantly see the similarities between Sam Raimi's and Scotts shooting styles. This could be due to the fact that they grew up together in Michigan along with Bruce Campbell and Sam's brother Ted. This film actually started off as a short film shot by Scott, Sam, and Bruce under the name Night Crew. Unfortunately the film is now long lost.
This films restored cut, is in fact a very cohesive film, and is extremely well put together. The film also boasts a very familiar cast consisting of Elizabeth Cox, Sam & Ted Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Dan Hicks and more horror familiars. Each doing a good job with their roles. The dynamic between characters seemed very genuine, probably because, for most of them, it was their first feature.
Most of the removed footage was that of now infamous K.N.B's effects. For those of you who don't know who that is think of Nightmare on Elm Street 5, Halloween 5, A&E's The Walking Dead, and more. As their first feature film Kurtzman, Nicoterio, and Berger did the film for next to nothing but proved they would be an effects company that would be around for sometime. The uncut effects in this movie are amazing some of the best and most gruesome kills I have seen in a slasher film for its time. Each kill makes your cringe and smile with sadistic delight. Not to mention there are some very creative kills thrown into the mix.
For the longest time this film would stay cut to shreds. Until Wizard Entertainment released a Directors Cut of the film with all the cut scenes placed back into the movie. But like most smaller slasher movies to be released on DVD the transfer was low quality and rather sub-par to what bigger companies were releasing at the time.
Now enter Synapse Films, In November of 2011 they released an amazing Blu-Ray & DVD combo pack of a newly remastered and fully uncut version of Intruder. This Blu-Ray sports a crystal clear 2k digital restoration and its the best it's ever looked. The colors are vibrant and the lighting is just right. Not to mention its loaded with special features. A 30+ minuet featurette of the making of the film made its way on the release and it sheds a lot of light on the history of Intruder. Synapse Films has made its way into a die hard horror fans heart and as a result I want to pick up everything I can from them.
All and All, this film is a really good slasher. Granted it has the 80's cheese and some of the acting may be over the top at times but that is all part of the fun. Story wise Scott Spiegel did a great job of keeping the viewers on their toes, and adding a memorable setting to slasher universe. K.N.B's effects work shows exactly why they are still uber successful in the industry. GLP gives this film 4 out of 5 for great gore scenes and a very well written cohesive slasher film. You can currently still get the film from Synapse Films on Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack and you really should. View the trailer below and as an added bonus here are some behind the scenes looks at K.N.B's work while on the film.
I'm sure a lot of you fans already know about this "Lost" treasure, however I am sure that a lot of casuals are currently scratching their head asking "What the fuck is All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, and it's from 2006?" and for good reason. This film has been in U.S. film limbo almost since its inception. It's a rather interesting story of a great horror film shelved and essentially lost.
All The Boys Love Mandy Lane is a fantastic modern slasher movie. The story is clever, the cast is fresh, and the gore is not bad. The film is set up like this, The main character Mandy (Amber Heard) returns to school from summer break and has gotten hot, and every guy in school wants a piece. Her best friend Emmet (Michael Welch) is the resident loser of the school. After the head jock "tragically fails" to impress Mandy by jumping off the roof of his house into a pool, we are thrust 9 months ahead where the popular kids are setting up a party at the stoner's (Aaron Himelstein) ranch house. All the while all the dudes are still trying to put the mack on Mandy. Once they arrive the group starts to disappear one by one. Who is killing off all of Mandy's new friends, The twist may surprise you.
The acting in the film is quite good. Amber Heard leads the cast with innocence, and beauty. Playing to role of Mandy, Amber demands the audience's attention. Other standouts are Whitney Able of Monsters fame who plays Chloe. Her portrayal of an overly bitchy high school girl was spot on. Michael Welch of Twilight fame plays Mandy's best friend Emmett, his character development throughout the film is great, and seeing him play a slightly awkward high school kid worked.
The gore is used well, not over the top but for the most part just right. The occasional continuity errors involving make-up and hair but to most it's probably unnoticeable. As far as deaths we get a head cracking, rifle deep throat, shot to the head, knife to the eyes and back, shot to the back, and a stabbing. Nothing too creative but it works. The dudes also get multiple lingerie shots, and Whitney Able shows her goods. Ladies don't get much but a few shirtless dudes.
The thing that surprises me about the movie is that it has not received an official release in the U.S. yet. To me its a disservice to the film and fans of the genre. After quick Google searching I found out why it hasn't been released in the U.S. According to Wikipedia, the film was to be released in 2007 under The Weinstein Company's Dimension Films banner. However do to the lack luster box office performances of horror films and the heavily pushed Grindhouse. The Weinstein Companyc inevitably sold the film to the start up company Senator Entertainment US, who later when out of business. The film has since been held in U.S. film limbo with other films on the roster.
Truthfully, All The Boys Love Mandy Lane is a fantastic new age slasher film that should really get the chance to be seen by all horror fans. With such a talented cast, and well written story its heard to believe more people haven't seen it. For that GLP gives this effort a solid 4 out of 5 stabs. If your interested in watching this film, good luck. The film is only available on Region B Import Blu-Ray, however its been inspected to play on all players, which is a good thing however the price can be a little steep. The film is available here, and here. Seriously check out the film if you can...its great. View the trailer below.
