Halloween always provides a good excuse to celebrate scary movies, but as anyone keen on the genre knows, it’s never really a bad time to do that. That’s especially been true this year, long before “It” broke box office records. Just a few months into 2017 and it was already a banner year for genre films, with “Get Out” becoming a cultural phenomenon, new horror festivals generating headlines, and other promising developments that send a positive message to genre fans. While the industry worries about the future of moviegoing and the quality of the art form in a blockbuster-dominated era, horror fans have nothing to worry about — the genre is secure, but only if you know where to look.
Keeping up our annual tradition, here’s an overview of 13 of the very best horror indies produced over the last 12 months, all of which are available to rent, on streaming platforms or in theaters.
Keeping up our annual tradition, here’s an overview of 13 of the very best horror indies produced over the last 12 months, all of which are available to rent, on streaming platforms or in theaters.
- 10/31/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
It’s Halloween time, so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that you’ve heard some Edgar Allan Poe verse in the past few weeks. “The Raven,” most likely. If you had been alive during the time when Poe was still living, your chances of hearing “Once upon a midnight dreary…” would have been just as good.
“‘The Raven’ was a massive hit. [Poe] was a huge celebrity during the time ‘The Raven.’ Everybody knew ‘The Raven.’ People did parodies of ‘The Raven.’ Kids memorized it in school,” actor and literary superfan Denis O’Hare explained in a recent interview
In Eric Stange’s new PBS film “Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive,” O’Hare plays Poe in surreal, reimagined moments, performing the writers’ work to empty rooms and slinking through the streets of Poe’s eventual home city of Baltimore under cover of darkness.
Read More:Ken Burns,...
“‘The Raven’ was a massive hit. [Poe] was a huge celebrity during the time ‘The Raven.’ Everybody knew ‘The Raven.’ People did parodies of ‘The Raven.’ Kids memorized it in school,” actor and literary superfan Denis O’Hare explained in a recent interview
In Eric Stange’s new PBS film “Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive,” O’Hare plays Poe in surreal, reimagined moments, performing the writers’ work to empty rooms and slinking through the streets of Poe’s eventual home city of Baltimore under cover of darkness.
Read More:Ken Burns,...
- 10/30/2017
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
It’s been a very strong year for Stephen King adaptations (well, adaptations not named The Dark Tower), with the release of Andy Muschietti’s It and several new TV series, too. Now we’ve got two other stellar projects making their way to Netflix, Gerald’s Game from Mike Flanagan (Ouija: Origin of Evil, Oculus, Hush) and 1922 from genre newcomer Zak Hilditch. This dynamic duo of Netflix films recently screened at the 2017 Fantastic Fest in Austin, and I'd like to share my thoughts on these two wildly different films that were both equally compelling and entertaining viewing experiences all the same.
Gerald's Game: With Gerald’s Game, Flanagan has nearly done the unimaginable by somehow finding a way to translate a story that is mostly internally driven by its protagonist, and bring it to life visually in a way that’s still in line with King’s material,...
Gerald's Game: With Gerald’s Game, Flanagan has nearly done the unimaginable by somehow finding a way to translate a story that is mostly internally driven by its protagonist, and bring it to life visually in a way that’s still in line with King’s material,...
- 10/1/2017
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Adapting Stephen King for the big screen doesn’t always work out. For every “The Shawshank Redemption, “Stand By Me,” and “The Shining” there is a “Secret Window,” “Dreamcatcher,” and “The Dark Tower,” which means that by now King fans know better than to get their hopes up any time an adaptation is announced. Fortunately, the fall movie season is shaping up to be the strongest run of Stephen King adaptations the movies have ever seen. “It” is already a fan favorite and a box office sensation, dethroning “The Exorcist” to become the biggest horror grosser in the U.S., but Netflix is about to provide a one-two punch in great King movies.
Read More:‘Gerald’s Game’ Review: Kinky Sex Goes Wrong, but It’s Stephen King Done Right
The streaming giant premiered two original films based on Stephen King works at Fantastic Fest this weekend, “Gerald’s Game...
Read More:‘Gerald’s Game’ Review: Kinky Sex Goes Wrong, but It’s Stephen King Done Right
The streaming giant premiered two original films based on Stephen King works at Fantastic Fest this weekend, “Gerald’s Game...
- 9/25/2017
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
The Netflix-produced “1922” has jolts of violence and sweeping period details, but in a year overrun with Stephen King adaptations, it’s also the simplest of them: “It” features a ludicrous shapeshifting clown, “The Dark Tower” is an inter-dimensional sci-fi western fantasy, and “Gerald’s Game” has kinky sex gone wrong and a giant goal. In “1922,” a guy kills his wife and feels guilty about it. That’s the gist of its premise, and while nothing groundbreaking, the story mines a degree of profundity out of the traditional supernatural thriller tropes at its core.
Read More:‘Twin Peaks’: Kyle MacLachlan Takes James Corden Inside the Red Room on ‘The Late Late Show’ — Watch
As directed by Zak Hilditch (whose 2013 debut “These Final Hours” was an expressionistic apocalyptic tale), “1922” (originally a King short story) has the merits of a solid “Tales From the Crypt” or “Masters of Horror” episode, with a...
Read More:‘Twin Peaks’: Kyle MacLachlan Takes James Corden Inside the Red Room on ‘The Late Late Show’ — Watch
As directed by Zak Hilditch (whose 2013 debut “These Final Hours” was an expressionistic apocalyptic tale), “1922” (originally a King short story) has the merits of a solid “Tales From the Crypt” or “Masters of Horror” episode, with a...
- 9/23/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Clay McLeod Chapman doesn't just write horror, he performs it in The Pumpkin Pie Show, an immersive storytelling experience that recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. If you haven't had the pleasure of seeing Chapman perform (which our own Daily Dead Editor-in-Chief Jonathan James experienced at The Overlook Film Festival), you can certainly read his work anytime in a number of books, including his new short story collection, Nothing Untoward: Stories from The Pumpkin Pie Show. To celebrate the release of his new collection, we caught up with Chapman for our latest Q&A feature to discuss his literary influences, twenty years of The Pumpkin Pie Show, writing The Tribe trilogy for Disney press, and his upcoming Marvel project that he describes as "a love story between Deadpool and Venom."
What authors and storytellers were you drawn to in your formative years that influenced your own writing and performing?
Clay McLeod Chapman: First off…...
What authors and storytellers were you drawn to in your formative years that influenced your own writing and performing?
Clay McLeod Chapman: First off…...
- 5/25/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Nicolas Cage walks into a movie theater and grabs a microphone. This may sound like the setup for a joke, but it's a true story. The actor grabs the mic not to introduce himself. He doesn't even address the 200+ fans who packed an Alamo Drafthouse for a 10-hour, 5-film Nicolas Cage movie marathon. No, Cage grabs the mic and launchs into a highly unexpected and increasingly passionate performance of Edgar Allen Poe's The Tell-Tale Heart. After its fiery conclusion, Cage drops the pages of the short story like they're a microphone. He lets the crowd, now in rapturous applause, absorb the moment. Then he finally addresses the room with a three-word declaration: "That just happened." It was a very surreal way to spend Sunday morning, to say...
Read More...
Read More...
- 1/31/2017
- by Peter Hall
- Movies.com
For the past three years, Alamo Drafthouse film programmer Greg MacLennan has paid tribute to Nicolas Cage in the form of Caged, a marathon of movies starring the actor, partly in the hope that the Oscar winner would attend. While that plan may seem to be about as ludicrous as the plot of Face/Off, it is one that had a happy ending yesterday when Cage actually did turn up at the fourth annual event in Austin, Texas.
The actor also personally selected the five films being shown at C4GED — a lineup which included Martin Scorsese’s Bringing Out the Dead...
The actor also personally selected the five films being shown at C4GED — a lineup which included Martin Scorsese’s Bringing Out the Dead...
- 1/30/2017
- by Clark Collis
- PEOPLE.com
Every year for the past four years, the Alamo Drafthouse has celebrated Nicolas Cage’s birthday by throwing a Nicolas Cage movie marathon, paying tribute to the lovable madman by basking in his energy for 12 solid hours. And every year for the past four years, Drafthouse programmer Greg MacLennan has tried to talk Nicolas Cage into attending this Nicolas Cage movie marathon. Well, this year, it finally worked: Not only did Cage surprise the audience by showing up, he proceeded to regale the assembled crowd with a dramatic cold reading of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart,” saying it inspired some of “[my] more manic performances.” Here, take a look:
Cage also served as programmer for this year’s event, selecting movies he thought best represented his dramatic oevure and then sticking around to watch all five of them. For those of you who want to re-create the ...
Cage also served as programmer for this year’s event, selecting movies he thought best represented his dramatic oevure and then sticking around to watch all five of them. For those of you who want to re-create the ...
- 1/30/2017
- by Katie Rife
- avclub.com
Diehard Nicolas Cage fans recently gathered at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas for the fourth (and last) Caged marathon, C4GED 4-ever. In addition to 35mm screenings of five Cage films, attendees were also treated to a surprise appearance by Cage himself, who celebrated the event with a live reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart that you can watch right now.
From Alamo Drafthouse (via Shock Till You Drop): “Nicolas Cage shocked and awed attendees with a surprise appearance at the fourth and final Caged Marathon in Austin, TX! True to his anarchic spirit, he kicked the five movie marathon off with a cold reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.””
The post Watch Nicolas Cage’s Live Reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-tale Heart at Alamo Drafthouse’s C4GED 4-ever appeared first on Daily Dead.
From Alamo Drafthouse (via Shock Till You Drop): “Nicolas Cage shocked and awed attendees with a surprise appearance at the fourth and final Caged Marathon in Austin, TX! True to his anarchic spirit, he kicked the five movie marathon off with a cold reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart.””
The post Watch Nicolas Cage’s Live Reading of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-tale Heart at Alamo Drafthouse’s C4GED 4-ever appeared first on Daily Dead.
- 1/30/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Imagine showing up to an Alamo Drafthouse theater in Austin, Texas, with you and your friends all prepared to sit for twelve straight hours and watch a marathon of Nicolas Cage movies. It'd be pretty cool to find out that Cage himself chose which movies of his that you were going to watch that day, but it'd be straight-up legendary for Cage himself to appear in the flesh and randomly read Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" before sitting down and watching all five movies with you. That's exactly what happened yesterday at C4GED, Alamo Drafthouse's fourth annual Cage movie marathon celebration, and while we weren't in the room, there are some official videos that make us feel like we were.
Here's the full intro where Cage surprises the crowd:
Here's a long Q&A that includes some pretty amazing moments:
And in case you were wondering, here...
Here's the full intro where Cage surprises the crowd:
Here's a long Q&A that includes some pretty amazing moments:
And in case you were wondering, here...
- 1/30/2017
- by Ben Pearson
- GeekTyrant
Nicolas Cage fans in Austin, Texas got what can only be described as a gift from the movie gods over the weekend when Cage made a surprise appearance to C4GED, the fourth annual marathon of Nicolas Cage movies screened in celebration of the month of his birth.
Read More: Isabelle Huppert, Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe Star in Abel Ferrara’s New Film ‘Siberia’
While a packed theater was singing the happy birthday song, Cage walked out on stage and immediately launched into a reading of “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe. The next 12 hours were spent watching Cage films that the actor personally programmed. Cage also presided over an in-theater marriage proposal.
C4GED was first programmed by the Alamo Drafthouse’s Greg MacLennan four years ago, and the annual marathon has become one of the most popular events at the Alamo Drafthouse. This year’s marathon...
Read More: Isabelle Huppert, Nicolas Cage and Willem Dafoe Star in Abel Ferrara’s New Film ‘Siberia’
While a packed theater was singing the happy birthday song, Cage walked out on stage and immediately launched into a reading of “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe. The next 12 hours were spent watching Cage films that the actor personally programmed. Cage also presided over an in-theater marriage proposal.
C4GED was first programmed by the Alamo Drafthouse’s Greg MacLennan four years ago, and the annual marathon has become one of the most popular events at the Alamo Drafthouse. This year’s marathon...
- 1/30/2017
- by Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
Stars: Michael Jibson, Mark Lewis Jones, Ian Virgo, Stephen McDade, Joshua Richards, Charles Curran, Jason May, Nathan Sussex, David Lloyd, David Shillitoe | Written by Paul Bryant, Chris Crow, Michael Jibson | Directed by Chris Crow
Horror tends to disturb us much more when it taps into our own personal demons… The Lighthouse is a film based on a true story, the Smalls Island Incident of 1801, showing how our own demons can actually be the scariest of them all!
Thomas Howell (Michael Jibson) and Thomas Griffiths (Mark Lewis Jones) are posted at the Smalls Island Lighthouse, with the job of ‘keeping the light’ to protect sailors from the islands rock. The temperamental nature of the weather on the Irish Sea leads to the two becoming stranded 25 miles from land in the Lighthouse and as their supplies start to run out, their grip on reality begins to fail.
While based on a true story,...
Horror tends to disturb us much more when it taps into our own personal demons… The Lighthouse is a film based on a true story, the Smalls Island Incident of 1801, showing how our own demons can actually be the scariest of them all!
Thomas Howell (Michael Jibson) and Thomas Griffiths (Mark Lewis Jones) are posted at the Smalls Island Lighthouse, with the job of ‘keeping the light’ to protect sailors from the islands rock. The temperamental nature of the weather on the Irish Sea leads to the two becoming stranded 25 miles from land in the Lighthouse and as their supplies start to run out, their grip on reality begins to fail.
While based on a true story,...
- 11/3/2016
- by Paul Metcalf
- Nerdly
If you live in Los Angeles and you're a fan of Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead, there's a Halloween theatrical experience coming up that you don't want to miss out on!
The Evil Dead is going to be screened at the gothic 1920s movie palace The Theatre at Ace Hotel with a live orchestra performing a re-imagined score for the film! The old hotel is going to be all decked out for the event in gory Halloween greatness.
The world premiere of The Evil Dead in Concert / Live to Film: A Halloween Theatrical Experience will take place on Tuesday, October 25th and Bruce Campbell will be there to host it! I've included all of the details for the event below. I'll definitely be attending!
The Evil Dead In Concert / Live To Film: A Halloween Theatrical Experience.This event, hosted by Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell, will include La’s wild...
The Evil Dead is going to be screened at the gothic 1920s movie palace The Theatre at Ace Hotel with a live orchestra performing a re-imagined score for the film! The old hotel is going to be all decked out for the event in gory Halloween greatness.
The world premiere of The Evil Dead in Concert / Live to Film: A Halloween Theatrical Experience will take place on Tuesday, October 25th and Bruce Campbell will be there to host it! I've included all of the details for the event below. I'll definitely be attending!
The Evil Dead In Concert / Live To Film: A Halloween Theatrical Experience.This event, hosted by Evil Dead star Bruce Campbell, will include La’s wild...
- 10/22/2016
- by Joey Paur
- GeekTyrant
In the history of the horror genre, there has been no shortage of movies adapted from the great Edgar Allan Poe. From the classic 1935 Universal adaptation of “The Raven," to the brilliant gothic Roger Corman/Vincent Price collaborations of the 1960s, and even through Stuart Gordon’s 1991 filming of “The Pit and the Pendulum” for Full Moon Features, there’s not a corner of horror that hasn’t been touched by the works of Poe. This makes any new adaptation of the author’s work challenging, though, because so many horror fans may carry a “been there, seen that” mentality towards the umpteenth retelling of “The Tell-Tale Heart.” It is to the credit of directors Bart Mastronardi and Alan Rowe Kelly that their new anthology, aptly titled Tales of Poe, offers a new spin on an author whose work has been brought to the screen for nearly 100 years.
Adapting three...
Adapting three...
- 10/17/2016
- by Patrick Bromley
- DailyDead
To celebrate the success of a variety of Game of Thrones merchandise, HBO is hosting a scavenger hunt for fans at Comic-Con starting on Wednesday, July 20th at 6:00pm! Also: Famous Monsters at Sdcc 2016, Tales of Poe DVD and Digital HD release details, and info on Spell on Wheels‘ first issue debut.
Game of Thrones Sdcc 2016 Scavenger Hunt Details: Press Release: “Wednesday, July 13, 2016 — HBO Global Licensing is excited to debut a wide array of new Game of Thrones products and convention exclusives at this year’s San Diego Comic Con, and to highlight some of its bestselling products released throughout the series’ run. To help celebrate, HBO is inviting fans to participate in a Comic-Con Scavenger Hunt, sending them on a quest to find some of the coolest Game of Thrones products available on the Comic-Con floor.
Starting Wednesday, July 20th, at 6 p.m. Pt when the convention floor opens for Preview Night,...
Game of Thrones Sdcc 2016 Scavenger Hunt Details: Press Release: “Wednesday, July 13, 2016 — HBO Global Licensing is excited to debut a wide array of new Game of Thrones products and convention exclusives at this year’s San Diego Comic Con, and to highlight some of its bestselling products released throughout the series’ run. To help celebrate, HBO is inviting fans to participate in a Comic-Con Scavenger Hunt, sending them on a quest to find some of the coolest Game of Thrones products available on the Comic-Con floor.
Starting Wednesday, July 20th, at 6 p.m. Pt when the convention floor opens for Preview Night,...
- 7/14/2016
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
It feels like almost every new movie is coming out on April 5th—and yes, that is probably a bit of an exaggeration, but still, we do have over 20 horror and sci-fi titles arriving on Blu-ray and DVD this Tuesday and there’s no denying that’s a bunch.
Of course the big title this week is Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but there are also several great indie horror films being released this week, including Ava’s Possessions, The Hallow, Cherry Tree, #Horror, and Creep, which is finally makes its way to DVD as well. Arrow Video has several special edition releases coming out on Tuesday, including The Black Cat, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key and the Death Walks Twice box set.
Other notable releases for April 5th include Anguish, Deadly Weekend, The Entity, The Tell-Tale Heart and Journey to the Seventh Planet.
Of course the big title this week is Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but there are also several great indie horror films being released this week, including Ava’s Possessions, The Hallow, Cherry Tree, #Horror, and Creep, which is finally makes its way to DVD as well. Arrow Video has several special edition releases coming out on Tuesday, including The Black Cat, Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key and the Death Walks Twice box set.
Other notable releases for April 5th include Anguish, Deadly Weekend, The Entity, The Tell-Tale Heart and Journey to the Seventh Planet.
- 4/5/2016
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
This April’s VOD offerings are a strong and eclectic bunch, including one of my favorite films out of the 2015 SXSW Film Festival, The Invitation, which arrives on digital platforms April 8th.
For you Norman Reedus fans out there, IFC releases the road thriller Sky, in which he plays a supporting role, on April 15th. The latest horror anthology, Holidays, makes its VOD bow on the same day, courtesy of Vertical Entertainment and Xyz Films, and if you dig Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, then you have The Tell-Tale Heart to look forward to on April 5th.
Other notable VOD titles for April 2016 include The Girl in the Photographs, Pandemic, The Forest, and 13 Cameras.
The Girl in the Photographs (Vertical Entertainment) – April 1st
In Nick Simon’s The Girl In The Photographs, Colleen’s life isn’t going anywhere. The small town check out girl with natural beauty is bored with...
For you Norman Reedus fans out there, IFC releases the road thriller Sky, in which he plays a supporting role, on April 15th. The latest horror anthology, Holidays, makes its VOD bow on the same day, courtesy of Vertical Entertainment and Xyz Films, and if you dig Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, then you have The Tell-Tale Heart to look forward to on April 5th.
Other notable VOD titles for April 2016 include The Girl in the Photographs, Pandemic, The Forest, and 13 Cameras.
The Girl in the Photographs (Vertical Entertainment) – April 1st
In Nick Simon’s The Girl In The Photographs, Colleen’s life isn’t going anywhere. The small town check out girl with natural beauty is bored with...
- 3/31/2016
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Cover art and release details have been revealed for John La Tier’s The Tell-Tale Heart. Based on Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tale of a man haunted by his heinous crime, The Tell-Tale Heart will be released on DVD and VOD on April 5th.
Press Release: Los Angeles, CA (March 23, 2016) — Alchemy is proud to announce the home entertainment release of the haunting, The Tell-tale Heart, directed by John La Tier. Starring Rose McGowan (Charmed, Scream, Grindhouse, Jawbreaker, The Blac), Patrick John Flueger (The 4400, The Princess Diaries, NBC’s Chicago P.D.), Academy Award® nominee Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show, HBO’s The Sopranos), Jacob Vargas (Next Friday, Selena, Traffic, Jarhead), and Damon Whitake. The Tell-tale Heart has a running time of 82 minutes and is not rated. The Tell-tale Heart is available on DVD and VOD April 5th, 2016.
A haunting account of a tormented man, haunted by the heart of a man he murdered,...
Press Release: Los Angeles, CA (March 23, 2016) — Alchemy is proud to announce the home entertainment release of the haunting, The Tell-tale Heart, directed by John La Tier. Starring Rose McGowan (Charmed, Scream, Grindhouse, Jawbreaker, The Blac), Patrick John Flueger (The 4400, The Princess Diaries, NBC’s Chicago P.D.), Academy Award® nominee Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show, HBO’s The Sopranos), Jacob Vargas (Next Friday, Selena, Traffic, Jarhead), and Damon Whitake. The Tell-tale Heart has a running time of 82 minutes and is not rated. The Tell-tale Heart is available on DVD and VOD April 5th, 2016.
A haunting account of a tormented man, haunted by the heart of a man he murdered,...
- 3/24/2016
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
The long, strange trip of The Tell-tale Heart continues. Culled from the Wtf Happened to That Movie?! files, John La Tier’s Poe-inspired The Tell-tale Heart is apparently coming to DVD and VOD on April 5th from Alchemy. The IMDb page for The Tell-tale Heart calls it a 2016 film but we’ve been reporting on…
The post Rose McGowan Horror Film The Tell-tale Heart Finally Set to Release appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
The post Rose McGowan Horror Film The Tell-tale Heart Finally Set to Release appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
- 3/23/2016
- by Chris Alexander
- shocktillyoudrop.com
Despite being filmed way, way back in 2011, John La Tier’s Edgar Allan Poe adaptation The Tell-Tale Heart isn’t getting released on DVD until next month. So yeah, I really hope that it was worth the wait after all these… Continue Reading →
The post John La Tier’s Edgar Allan Poe Adaptation The Tell-Tale Heart Finally Getting Released Next Month appeared first on Dread Central.
The post John La Tier’s Edgar Allan Poe Adaptation The Tell-Tale Heart Finally Getting Released Next Month appeared first on Dread Central.
- 3/22/2016
- by David Gelmini
- DreadCentral.com
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We return to the 2015 horror Unfriended, and how it and other films explore the dark side of social media...
Nb: The following contains spoilers for Unfriended
Unfriended is one of those horror films that becomes less effective the noisier it becomes. Released across America by Universal last year, the film's a twist on the old teen-slasher format, so of course there’s lots of screaming, stalking and violent death. But these scenes of bloody pay-off are a distraction from Unfriended’s quieter moments - for its here the movie's true power lurks.
At a time when the found-footage genre is in desperate need of reinvention, Unfriended finds an ingenious twist on the old first-person, shaky-cam sub-genre. The entire movie takes place on the flickering laptop screen of its protagonist, Blaire (Shelley Hennig). We’re subjected to an initially dizzying array of opening and closing windows, as Blaire...
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We return to the 2015 horror Unfriended, and how it and other films explore the dark side of social media...
Nb: The following contains spoilers for Unfriended
Unfriended is one of those horror films that becomes less effective the noisier it becomes. Released across America by Universal last year, the film's a twist on the old teen-slasher format, so of course there’s lots of screaming, stalking and violent death. But these scenes of bloody pay-off are a distraction from Unfriended’s quieter moments - for its here the movie's true power lurks.
At a time when the found-footage genre is in desperate need of reinvention, Unfriended finds an ingenious twist on the old first-person, shaky-cam sub-genre. The entire movie takes place on the flickering laptop screen of its protagonist, Blaire (Shelley Hennig). We’re subjected to an initially dizzying array of opening and closing windows, as Blaire...
- 3/9/2016
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
Among the crown jewels of Scream Factory’s ever-growing library of classic horror titles on Blu-ray (and some not-so-classic) are their Vincent Price Collection boxed sets, collecting many of the icon’s greatest films including most of the Roger Corman “Poe cycle”, as well as other goodness like the Dr. Phibes movies and the brilliant Witchfinder General. Not only do these collections celebrate one of the greatest icons the genre has ever known, but also honor a kind of old-school horror of which we don’t see enough anymore.
But by the recently released Vincent Price Collection III, the third collection of Price movies on Blu-ray, Scream Factory has had to dig up some fairly esoteric titles, not all of which can be considered horror. Unfortunately, Theater of Blood is still nowhere to be found on Blu-ray and Kino Lorber has the rights for anthologies like Tales of Terror and Twice Told Tales,...
But by the recently released Vincent Price Collection III, the third collection of Price movies on Blu-ray, Scream Factory has had to dig up some fairly esoteric titles, not all of which can be considered horror. Unfortunately, Theater of Blood is still nowhere to be found on Blu-ray and Kino Lorber has the rights for anthologies like Tales of Terror and Twice Told Tales,...
- 3/8/2016
- by Patrick Bromley
- DailyDead
Shout Factory opens the crypt once more, for the last remaining UA and Aip fright movies starring our favorite gentleman of horror. The label lays on the extras, with Steve Haberman commentaries and episodes of Science Fiction Theater. Now where are the Vincent Price cooking shows? The Vincent Price Collection III Master of the World, The Tower of London, Diary of a Madman, An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe, Cry of the Banshee Blu-ray Scream (Shout!) Factory 1961-72 / B&W + Color / 1:85 & 1:66 widescreen / 420 min. / Street Date February 16, 2016 / 69.97 Starring Vincent Price Directed by William Witney, Roger Corman, Reginald Le Borg, Kenneth Johnson, Gordon Hessler.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Scream Factory now brings us Part Three of its Vincent Price collection, pretty much emptying the closet over at MGM. Not counting his twilight feature The Whales of August every Vincent Price film under the MGM banner will soon be out on Blu-ray.
Reviewed by Glenn Erickson
Scream Factory now brings us Part Three of its Vincent Price collection, pretty much emptying the closet over at MGM. Not counting his twilight feature The Whales of August every Vincent Price film under the MGM banner will soon be out on Blu-ray.
- 2/27/2016
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
A new TV documentary about iconic author Edgar Allan Poe aims to separate the man from the myth, but its producers must first deal with more pressing matters in the present day. As Halloween grows near, Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive is running out of time to raise the $75,000 it needs to cover post-production costs.
The project, which stars Denis O’Hare as the famed writer, launched a Kickstarter campaign earlier this month with a deadline of October 31 and has already raised more than $63,000. But with four days to go, producers are banking on Poe’s extensive fan base to help them reach their goal.
“We’re constantly amazed at Poe’s ubiquitous presence on the web,” said director Eric Stange in a press release. “His worldwide fan base is extremely wide and includes everyone from goths to steam punks to scholars. We’re hoping plenty of them will...
The project, which stars Denis O’Hare as the famed writer, launched a Kickstarter campaign earlier this month with a deadline of October 31 and has already raised more than $63,000. But with four days to go, producers are banking on Poe’s extensive fan base to help them reach their goal.
“We’re constantly amazed at Poe’s ubiquitous presence on the web,” said director Eric Stange in a press release. “His worldwide fan base is extremely wide and includes everyone from goths to steam punks to scholars. We’re hoping plenty of them will...
- 10/27/2015
- by Isaac Feldberg
- We Got This Covered
Fear is an intricate emotion, which triggers visible physical reactions but profoundly affects one’s psyche in ways far more destructive. It thrives on uncertainty as it serves to prevent us from facing danger and experiencing pain. It’s because of this that death, the most certain part of our mortal lives, ranks high on the list of things we fear. It can happen anywhere, at any time, for countless reasons, it’s permanent, and yet its aftermath is unknown.
Enthralled by this idea, Edgar Allan Poe explored humanity’s relationship with its fatal destiny by writing fiction that focused on the supernatural, on evil, and alternate realities, attempting to decipher this terrifying concept. “Extraordinary Tales," Raul Garcia's animated anthology, takes five of these stories by revered writer and transforms them into stylistically distinct shorts that are as visually striking as they are spine-chilling.
The Spanish animator became fascinated with Poe and his otherworldly stories at an early age, but worked on an array of projects before finally bringing one of his favorite authors to the screen by simultaneously honoring numerous other artists that have influenced his career. Each of the five segments in "Extraordinary Tales" is inspired by a different aesthetic, which makes for an eclectic showcase of what 3D animation could be beyond the mainstream conventions.
To make the film an even more compelling affair, Garcia was able to recruit some of the most important and iconic voices in genre cinema. Bela Lugosi reappears from beyond the grave thanks to a previously unreleased recording, Christopher Lee returns to horror one final time to narrate one of the episodes, Roger Corman continues to demonstrate his love for Poe by voicing one of the characters, and Guillermo del Toro shows his voice acting talents in an unexpected fashion.
During our conversation Garcia talked about his artistic influences, being an independent animator today, getting to work with his childhood heroes, and the biggest mistake horror films make when trying to instill fear.
How did you fall in love with Edgar Allan Poe's stories? What was the seed that sparked this fascination with his work that compelled you to create this beautiful animated anthology?
Raul Garcia: The seed was planted when I was bout 12-years-old because the firs adult book I read was a compilation of Poe’s stories. That was the first book for grown-ups I read [Laughs]. Then there was my passion as an avid comic book and graphic novel reader. I’ve always leaned towards the dark side, so it was the perfect combination. Since then, I’ve been a fan of horror literature and science fiction and fantasy as well. That first book was the seed that started it all.
Edgar Allan Poe’s stories have been adapted countless because it seems like they lend themselves to interpretation and experimentation. How did you approach the material to make your animated versions distinct from the rest?
Raul Garcia: There are thousands of different film adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe’s works everywhere. Obviously, the ones that most of us know are the ones done by Roger Corman in the 60s with Vincent Price, which were not really adaptations because they only used the titles as an excuse to make a horror film. When I decided to make my version of Poe’s stories, I wanted to respect the original material or to at least get closer to what his stories are really about. Most other adaptations I’ve seen sort of follow the story but they never satisfy me as an audience member or as a reader. I wanted to get closer to the spirit of the stories more than than to the text itself. I didn’t necessarily want to do it verbatim, but there are some lines of dialogue that I’ve taken literally from Poe’s writings. I wanted to make adaptations that distilled the essence of what attracted me about these stories in the first place.
Each segment has a very particular stylistic approach. While they are all beautiful in their own right, each showcases an eclectic mix of textures and influences. How did each visual style originate?
Raul Garcia: Everything started with “The Tell-Tale Heart," which was the first short I made for this project, which originally was supposed to be a one-off. This was a story that I wanted to tell with art inspired by one of the greatest comic book artist there is, Alberto Breccia. He was Argentine comic book artist. It was about adapting his style to this story. Departing from this decision I created a set rules for myself, which I would apply to the rest of the stories. Since for this first story I had used Breccia’s art as the basis, I thought that for the rest of the stories I would try to reconnect with all the artistic influences I’ve had in my life and apply them in a way that had something to do with the spirit of the each story. I searched for things that attracted in terms of artistic styles and I tried to adapt them into the world of animation to make these short films.
For example, in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the idea was for the characters to look as if they were carved out of wood, like if they were figures that belonged to Czech animator Jirí Trnka. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the biggest influence was Egon Schiele and Bruegel. Egon Schiele worked with oil paint, but he used very thin layers of paint which made his works look like watercolors. I tried to resemble that to create moving painting for that’s story. That short is one of my favorites, because in Poe’s original story there is no dialogue except for the line that’s in the short. It’s all very descriptive. This really represented a challenged that allowed me to have fun during the process of creating it. I’ve always tried to find those distinct approaches because this is a 3D animated film and I wanted to stay away from the style that all 3D animated films have today. They are all rendered in the same manner with photorealist textures. I tried to make something much more pictorial, so that the audience wouldn’t know if they were watching something done in 3D, 2D, in oil paintings, or made out of cut-outs.
The segment based on “The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar” looks very much like if it was a 2D animated film. It's interesting to hear it was all 3D.
Raul Garcia Yes. Poe wrote that story as if it was a real case or the study written by a scientist taking notes from an experiment. When it was published people thought that the case in the story actually happened. People though that what they were reading were the notes taken by a scientist that had brought a corpse back to life. Having this in mind, my approach to find the right style was to look at medical illustrations and to make the animation look like if it was taken from a medical journal. However, and because I think I should also tell you about the bad experiences, I have to admit that approach didn’t work. I didn’t like how it looked. It felt very cold and calculated. But then, I reread the story and realized that this story was over the top, very exaggerated. Then I thought about the horror comic books that I read when I was kid, which shared this outrageous and exaggerated spirit.
That’s when I decided to make this story based on the look of horror comic books from the 50s, which were printed on cheap paper and only used four different color inks. They were printed using the Cmyk color model, so the color spectrum used was very small. Colorists, who used to be very underpaid, did what they could with these four colors. Sometimes in one panel a face was blue and in the next one the same face was red, and nobody cared about having any sort of continuity [Laughs]. I applied this color limitation to this story. Besides the fact that the style is very much inspired by those comic books, the animation is also animated as if it was 2D. In computer animation each second is created by 24 frames and each one of these 24 frames is different. In 2D animation, to save time and money, you create 12 drawings and each drawing is used twice. In one second created of 24 frames you really only have 12 frames. I tried to do it this segment using this process as if it was 2D because it gives the animation a different cadence in comparison to the rest of the stories.
Then you have “The Pit and the Pendulum,” which is in a sense hyperrealist even though it still feels like there are elements of fine art in it.
Raul Garcia: That one was interesting because the original story takes place in a prison and there is only one character. When I started thinking about how to make these stories, what I wanted was to experiment with different types of animation and see how far we could get in terms of technology. Initially, I wanted to make this segment using motion capture. At the time I thought that films made using motion capture always looked bad, and I wanted to know why! [Laughs]. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a motion capture team to make it. At that moment the challenge changed, and we decided to make something hyperrealist - something I personally hate [Laughs]. I decided we should make something hyperrealist but with more traditional 3D animation and see how refined and subtle we could make it without using motion capture or any real life references. That’s how the style for this one came about, which I think it’s a blend between Goya and Nicéphore Niépce and the beginning of photography, mixed with those prisons that Piranesi drew in his carvings. What I’ve tried to do is give myself the pleasure and luxury to explore the universes of the artists I admire.
One of the many remarkable qualities of the film is that every segment captures the unsettling tone of the stories. The macabre atmosphere, regardless of which style you are using, is subtle but always present. At times it's truly terrifying.
Raul Garcia: Let’s remember that one of the biggest problems with horror cinema is showing too much. When horror turns into gore, when you show the monster, the killings, and the blood, it loses its suggestive powers. It loses part of what makes a horror film a horror film, which is that the images you see develop in your brain and you become the one imagining what you are not seeing on screen. You give the audience a bit of information, and he or she fills in the blanks with the most horrifying things they can think of. That was a key element I wanted to preserve. I didn’t want to make to make something very graphic, but instead maintain that mental introspection so that the viewer could put himself in that situation and imagine what’s happening.
In terms of the voice cast, you managed to put together and incredible cast including a voice from beyond the grave in a sense. The legendary Bela Lugosi returns thanks to your film. How did you obtain this recording?
Raul Garcia: It was a stroke of luck. I’m originally from Spain, so I’ve always read Edgar Allan Poe’s works in Spanish and at some point I wanted to enjoy the original material in English. For several years now I’ve been collecting narrated versions of Poe’s works. When I was getting ready to make “The Tell-Tale Heart, “ I discovered a recording of Bella Lugosi narrating this tale on Ebay. It was a cassette tape that was a copy of the original. It was the copy of the copy, of the copy, of the copy [Laughs]. When I finally got it the first thing I did was contact Bela G. Lugosi, his son who handles the Bela Lugosi’s state, and I discovered that this recording had never been published or released. Bela G. Lugosi didn’t even have in his archive, as it had been lost. Nobody had heard it and it hadn’t been exploited at all. I restored it as best as I could, but since I made that short in 2006 the technology was probably not as good as it's now. I tried to digitally polish it as much as possible to remove the static sound. But even though I wasn’t completely successful, I think that this static you hear gives the narration an unsettling quality. It sounds like something from another time that has returned after many years.
He was an icon in the horror genre, which makes it even more special for a film like "Extraordinary Tale."
Raul Garcia: Absolutely. This was the first short I did, so when I decided that it would instead be an anthology of several shorts, the bar was very high in terms of the voices that I could use. If the first one is someone as big as Bela Lugosi, who could be next? That pushed me to seek voices that meant something in the world of science fiction, fantasy and horror. The next short I made was “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and evidently Christopher Lee was the number candidate on my wish list.
How did you manage to get Christopher Lee to be a part of the film? "Extraordinary Tales" is the last film project he worked on before, unfortunately, passing away.
Raul Garcia: Unfortunately, as you point out, it's his last film appearance. But on the other hand, we were so fortunate to have his talent because it was really an incredible experience to work with him. It was very emotional for me, I was working with my childhood idol. It was great. When I recorded his voice, Christopher Lee was 89-years-old. He wasn’t very interested in revisiting horror cinema because at the time he was focused on becoming the lead singer of a heavy metal band [Laughs]. He was recording an album that was sort of like a heavy-metal-rock-opera based on the Charlemagne’s life. He was so passionate about it. It was hard to believe that an 89-year-old man had so much energy to do that. When I showed him the artwork he changed his mind and he agreed to do it. It was also funny that he didn’t want to go to a recording studio to do it. We set up a recording studio in his home so he could record it whenever he felt inspired.
Then you have Guillermo Del Toro, who has become Hollywood’s genre master working in horror, fantasy, and science fiction, and more recently in animation. How did he come on board?
Raul Garcia: Guillermo and I have been friends since the time he lived in Spain, and when I was searching for voices that were meaningful and important in the horror and fantasy genres he was high on my list. I know that deep inside Guillermo has a thing for acting, which he never talks about [Laughs]. I asked him to narrate the short and he agreed immediately. Then we had to chase him for a couple years because he has been extremely busy in the last few years, and we could never find the right time to do it. In the end we did it and Guillermo really gave it his all. His narration is very interesting and intriguing because it’s not the Guillermo we know. It’s a different facet of his talent that nobody knew about
Tell me about the process of creating the frame narrative in which Poe, in the shape of the iconic raven, has a dialogue with Death. This conversations connect the five major segments and give insight into the tormented mind of the artist.
Raul Garcia: I wanted to make a feature-length work and I didn’t like the idea of just putting one short after the other. It felt to me like it would look like a shorts program at a festival without any relationship between them, when in fact the relationship between them is Poe and his personal story. These interludes or framing segments where the last to be produced and at that point we were out of money, out of time, out of patience, out of everything [Laughs]. As I was working on each of the shorts the framing story that would unite them changed. Initially I wanted to unite the stories with this epic framing narrative where we would see the last day in Poe’s life as he went drunk from bar to bar until he dies. Then it changed to a story where Poe was lonely walking down the street towards the cemetery and finding different things that would remind him of his stories along the way.
As we got farther into production of the five major segments the framing narrative kept on changing and becoming shorter. In the end it became this dialogue between Poe and Death, which is like Scheherazade and the One Thousand and One Nights, where they tell each other stories. Poe wants to postpone his own death, while Death wants to convince him that if he is so miserable he might be better off dead. The biggest problem I faced, and which was truly a nightmare, is that as a viewer I don’t really like anthology films where there are connecting segments in between the stories, like George A. Romero's "Creepshow." As a viewer, when we get to the interludes or the framing narrative, what I’m thinking is, “Come on, Come, on, start the next story already!” [Laughs]. That’s why I really thought about the rhythm of these segments to try to precent the viewer from thinking, “I don’t want to see this. I want to see the next story.” I also wanted to give the viewer small doses of information needed for the whole story to make sense and for it to have structure.
Why do you think Edgar Allan Poe became so fascinated, even obsessed, with death and the darker and more disturbing aspects of the human condition?
Raul Garcia: Poe lived in a very romantic time. His life was the life of the typical tortured artist. His mother died when he was very young and his wife also died very young. In the Victorian era the health standards and life expectancy weren’t very high, thus death was a constant possibility lurking around. Besides this, his turbulent life turn him into a taciturn man with mental health issues. I think this really had an effect in the obsession he had with death. More than with death in general, he was obsessed with the possibility of being buried alive and discovering that he had to hold on to life even after death.
His work definitely set a precedent in the horror genre and in literature as a whole.
Raul Garcia: He was the first one to write horror stories. Without Poe probably Sherlock Holmes wouldn’t have been written because when Poe wrote the adventures of Dupin, like The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter, he was setting up the basis for what would become the detective novel. In a way Poe was a big influence for Conan Doyle to create Sherlock Holmes. I think he really did influence many artist of the time like Baudelaire, who was a big fan of Poe, and who was the one that brought attention to Poe’s work in Europe. That’s how another generation of writers like Lord Dunsany, Ambrose Bierce, and many others were influenced by Poe’s stories.
Besides working in the U.S. you've worked in animated projects in Spain and Latin America, what's the most difficult aspect about creating animation in countries that are not necessarily seen as animation producers or that perhaps haven't fully developed the infrastructure for it?
Raul Garcia: I’ve worked in animation for a long time. I started in Spain and I wanted to make feature films. That desire to figure out how to make animated features brought me to the U.S. to work for Disney. Now things are different, in recent years technology has made it easier to make animated films than it used to be maybe 15 or 20 years ago. This has made it possible for the latent talents that are in countries without a tradition in animation to explore, learn, and create work. The biggest problem in countries that don’t have a tradition in animation or a film industry, is that precisely, that it’s not an industrial activity as it is in Hollywood where there are clear production procedures. Because of this we all become snipers making our films any way we can and crossing our fingers to get distribution so people can see them.
In a certain way working in animation has become very democratic because now anyone with the right technology can at least prepare a project from home in order to attract investors. Some people can even set up a small home studio and start working. Making features is much more complicated and expensive, but on the other hand, and thanks to this ubiquity and the decentralization of animation, anyone even in a small town can work with an animation program, stay in touch with people in other parts of the world, and manage to produce a film. That’s what we’ve done with "Extraordinary Tales,”although the film is a co-production between Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain and the U.S, in the end Mexican talent worked on it, people all over Spain worked on it, and even people in Honduras worked on it doing some modeling. With small teams across the world we managed to unite everyone’s talent to make the film.
"Extraordinary Tales" is finally opening in the U.S. Now that the cycle for this film is getting to its final stage, are you already working on your next project? Are you pursuing another horror writer to adapt into animation?
Raul Garcia: Independence can be tough. Without a studio to back you up, when you finish a feature and want to start a new project you have to start from zero. The next thing I want to do is to bring to the screen a novel by Cornelia Funke, she is also the voice of Death in “Extraordinary Tales.” She is a German author who wrote the novel “Inkheart,” which was made into a film a few years ago. The book I want to adapt is called “Young Werewolf,” but my version would be titled “Bitten." I’m still trying to find the initial financing that will allow me to get started and get things going. Once the initial financing is secured the rest becomes easier, and just like with “Extraordinary Tales,” we can make a film with the cooperation of several small studios. For example, another film I worked on was the Mexican animated feature “El Americano,” which was mostly made in Tijuana but also had teams in Puebla and Los Angeles. It’s possible, but you do have to have the financial infrastructure behind you so this can work. In the world of independent animation there are many projects that are never completed because they lack that structure.
"Extraordinary Tales" is now playing in L.A. at the Sundance Sunset Cinemas and In NYC at IFC Center.
Enthralled by this idea, Edgar Allan Poe explored humanity’s relationship with its fatal destiny by writing fiction that focused on the supernatural, on evil, and alternate realities, attempting to decipher this terrifying concept. “Extraordinary Tales," Raul Garcia's animated anthology, takes five of these stories by revered writer and transforms them into stylistically distinct shorts that are as visually striking as they are spine-chilling.
The Spanish animator became fascinated with Poe and his otherworldly stories at an early age, but worked on an array of projects before finally bringing one of his favorite authors to the screen by simultaneously honoring numerous other artists that have influenced his career. Each of the five segments in "Extraordinary Tales" is inspired by a different aesthetic, which makes for an eclectic showcase of what 3D animation could be beyond the mainstream conventions.
To make the film an even more compelling affair, Garcia was able to recruit some of the most important and iconic voices in genre cinema. Bela Lugosi reappears from beyond the grave thanks to a previously unreleased recording, Christopher Lee returns to horror one final time to narrate one of the episodes, Roger Corman continues to demonstrate his love for Poe by voicing one of the characters, and Guillermo del Toro shows his voice acting talents in an unexpected fashion.
During our conversation Garcia talked about his artistic influences, being an independent animator today, getting to work with his childhood heroes, and the biggest mistake horror films make when trying to instill fear.
How did you fall in love with Edgar Allan Poe's stories? What was the seed that sparked this fascination with his work that compelled you to create this beautiful animated anthology?
Raul Garcia: The seed was planted when I was bout 12-years-old because the firs adult book I read was a compilation of Poe’s stories. That was the first book for grown-ups I read [Laughs]. Then there was my passion as an avid comic book and graphic novel reader. I’ve always leaned towards the dark side, so it was the perfect combination. Since then, I’ve been a fan of horror literature and science fiction and fantasy as well. That first book was the seed that started it all.
Edgar Allan Poe’s stories have been adapted countless because it seems like they lend themselves to interpretation and experimentation. How did you approach the material to make your animated versions distinct from the rest?
Raul Garcia: There are thousands of different film adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe’s works everywhere. Obviously, the ones that most of us know are the ones done by Roger Corman in the 60s with Vincent Price, which were not really adaptations because they only used the titles as an excuse to make a horror film. When I decided to make my version of Poe’s stories, I wanted to respect the original material or to at least get closer to what his stories are really about. Most other adaptations I’ve seen sort of follow the story but they never satisfy me as an audience member or as a reader. I wanted to get closer to the spirit of the stories more than than to the text itself. I didn’t necessarily want to do it verbatim, but there are some lines of dialogue that I’ve taken literally from Poe’s writings. I wanted to make adaptations that distilled the essence of what attracted me about these stories in the first place.
Each segment has a very particular stylistic approach. While they are all beautiful in their own right, each showcases an eclectic mix of textures and influences. How did each visual style originate?
Raul Garcia: Everything started with “The Tell-Tale Heart," which was the first short I made for this project, which originally was supposed to be a one-off. This was a story that I wanted to tell with art inspired by one of the greatest comic book artist there is, Alberto Breccia. He was Argentine comic book artist. It was about adapting his style to this story. Departing from this decision I created a set rules for myself, which I would apply to the rest of the stories. Since for this first story I had used Breccia’s art as the basis, I thought that for the rest of the stories I would try to reconnect with all the artistic influences I’ve had in my life and apply them in a way that had something to do with the spirit of the each story. I searched for things that attracted in terms of artistic styles and I tried to adapt them into the world of animation to make these short films.
For example, in “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the idea was for the characters to look as if they were carved out of wood, like if they were figures that belonged to Czech animator Jirí Trnka. In “The Masque of the Red Death,” the biggest influence was Egon Schiele and Bruegel. Egon Schiele worked with oil paint, but he used very thin layers of paint which made his works look like watercolors. I tried to resemble that to create moving painting for that’s story. That short is one of my favorites, because in Poe’s original story there is no dialogue except for the line that’s in the short. It’s all very descriptive. This really represented a challenged that allowed me to have fun during the process of creating it. I’ve always tried to find those distinct approaches because this is a 3D animated film and I wanted to stay away from the style that all 3D animated films have today. They are all rendered in the same manner with photorealist textures. I tried to make something much more pictorial, so that the audience wouldn’t know if they were watching something done in 3D, 2D, in oil paintings, or made out of cut-outs.
The segment based on “The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar” looks very much like if it was a 2D animated film. It's interesting to hear it was all 3D.
Raul Garcia Yes. Poe wrote that story as if it was a real case or the study written by a scientist taking notes from an experiment. When it was published people thought that the case in the story actually happened. People though that what they were reading were the notes taken by a scientist that had brought a corpse back to life. Having this in mind, my approach to find the right style was to look at medical illustrations and to make the animation look like if it was taken from a medical journal. However, and because I think I should also tell you about the bad experiences, I have to admit that approach didn’t work. I didn’t like how it looked. It felt very cold and calculated. But then, I reread the story and realized that this story was over the top, very exaggerated. Then I thought about the horror comic books that I read when I was kid, which shared this outrageous and exaggerated spirit.
That’s when I decided to make this story based on the look of horror comic books from the 50s, which were printed on cheap paper and only used four different color inks. They were printed using the Cmyk color model, so the color spectrum used was very small. Colorists, who used to be very underpaid, did what they could with these four colors. Sometimes in one panel a face was blue and in the next one the same face was red, and nobody cared about having any sort of continuity [Laughs]. I applied this color limitation to this story. Besides the fact that the style is very much inspired by those comic books, the animation is also animated as if it was 2D. In computer animation each second is created by 24 frames and each one of these 24 frames is different. In 2D animation, to save time and money, you create 12 drawings and each drawing is used twice. In one second created of 24 frames you really only have 12 frames. I tried to do it this segment using this process as if it was 2D because it gives the animation a different cadence in comparison to the rest of the stories.
Then you have “The Pit and the Pendulum,” which is in a sense hyperrealist even though it still feels like there are elements of fine art in it.
Raul Garcia: That one was interesting because the original story takes place in a prison and there is only one character. When I started thinking about how to make these stories, what I wanted was to experiment with different types of animation and see how far we could get in terms of technology. Initially, I wanted to make this segment using motion capture. At the time I thought that films made using motion capture always looked bad, and I wanted to know why! [Laughs]. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a motion capture team to make it. At that moment the challenge changed, and we decided to make something hyperrealist - something I personally hate [Laughs]. I decided we should make something hyperrealist but with more traditional 3D animation and see how refined and subtle we could make it without using motion capture or any real life references. That’s how the style for this one came about, which I think it’s a blend between Goya and Nicéphore Niépce and the beginning of photography, mixed with those prisons that Piranesi drew in his carvings. What I’ve tried to do is give myself the pleasure and luxury to explore the universes of the artists I admire.
One of the many remarkable qualities of the film is that every segment captures the unsettling tone of the stories. The macabre atmosphere, regardless of which style you are using, is subtle but always present. At times it's truly terrifying.
Raul Garcia: Let’s remember that one of the biggest problems with horror cinema is showing too much. When horror turns into gore, when you show the monster, the killings, and the blood, it loses its suggestive powers. It loses part of what makes a horror film a horror film, which is that the images you see develop in your brain and you become the one imagining what you are not seeing on screen. You give the audience a bit of information, and he or she fills in the blanks with the most horrifying things they can think of. That was a key element I wanted to preserve. I didn’t want to make to make something very graphic, but instead maintain that mental introspection so that the viewer could put himself in that situation and imagine what’s happening.
In terms of the voice cast, you managed to put together and incredible cast including a voice from beyond the grave in a sense. The legendary Bela Lugosi returns thanks to your film. How did you obtain this recording?
Raul Garcia: It was a stroke of luck. I’m originally from Spain, so I’ve always read Edgar Allan Poe’s works in Spanish and at some point I wanted to enjoy the original material in English. For several years now I’ve been collecting narrated versions of Poe’s works. When I was getting ready to make “The Tell-Tale Heart, “ I discovered a recording of Bella Lugosi narrating this tale on Ebay. It was a cassette tape that was a copy of the original. It was the copy of the copy, of the copy, of the copy [Laughs]. When I finally got it the first thing I did was contact Bela G. Lugosi, his son who handles the Bela Lugosi’s state, and I discovered that this recording had never been published or released. Bela G. Lugosi didn’t even have in his archive, as it had been lost. Nobody had heard it and it hadn’t been exploited at all. I restored it as best as I could, but since I made that short in 2006 the technology was probably not as good as it's now. I tried to digitally polish it as much as possible to remove the static sound. But even though I wasn’t completely successful, I think that this static you hear gives the narration an unsettling quality. It sounds like something from another time that has returned after many years.
He was an icon in the horror genre, which makes it even more special for a film like "Extraordinary Tale."
Raul Garcia: Absolutely. This was the first short I did, so when I decided that it would instead be an anthology of several shorts, the bar was very high in terms of the voices that I could use. If the first one is someone as big as Bela Lugosi, who could be next? That pushed me to seek voices that meant something in the world of science fiction, fantasy and horror. The next short I made was “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and evidently Christopher Lee was the number candidate on my wish list.
How did you manage to get Christopher Lee to be a part of the film? "Extraordinary Tales" is the last film project he worked on before, unfortunately, passing away.
Raul Garcia: Unfortunately, as you point out, it's his last film appearance. But on the other hand, we were so fortunate to have his talent because it was really an incredible experience to work with him. It was very emotional for me, I was working with my childhood idol. It was great. When I recorded his voice, Christopher Lee was 89-years-old. He wasn’t very interested in revisiting horror cinema because at the time he was focused on becoming the lead singer of a heavy metal band [Laughs]. He was recording an album that was sort of like a heavy-metal-rock-opera based on the Charlemagne’s life. He was so passionate about it. It was hard to believe that an 89-year-old man had so much energy to do that. When I showed him the artwork he changed his mind and he agreed to do it. It was also funny that he didn’t want to go to a recording studio to do it. We set up a recording studio in his home so he could record it whenever he felt inspired.
Then you have Guillermo Del Toro, who has become Hollywood’s genre master working in horror, fantasy, and science fiction, and more recently in animation. How did he come on board?
Raul Garcia: Guillermo and I have been friends since the time he lived in Spain, and when I was searching for voices that were meaningful and important in the horror and fantasy genres he was high on my list. I know that deep inside Guillermo has a thing for acting, which he never talks about [Laughs]. I asked him to narrate the short and he agreed immediately. Then we had to chase him for a couple years because he has been extremely busy in the last few years, and we could never find the right time to do it. In the end we did it and Guillermo really gave it his all. His narration is very interesting and intriguing because it’s not the Guillermo we know. It’s a different facet of his talent that nobody knew about
Tell me about the process of creating the frame narrative in which Poe, in the shape of the iconic raven, has a dialogue with Death. This conversations connect the five major segments and give insight into the tormented mind of the artist.
Raul Garcia: I wanted to make a feature-length work and I didn’t like the idea of just putting one short after the other. It felt to me like it would look like a shorts program at a festival without any relationship between them, when in fact the relationship between them is Poe and his personal story. These interludes or framing segments where the last to be produced and at that point we were out of money, out of time, out of patience, out of everything [Laughs]. As I was working on each of the shorts the framing story that would unite them changed. Initially I wanted to unite the stories with this epic framing narrative where we would see the last day in Poe’s life as he went drunk from bar to bar until he dies. Then it changed to a story where Poe was lonely walking down the street towards the cemetery and finding different things that would remind him of his stories along the way.
As we got farther into production of the five major segments the framing narrative kept on changing and becoming shorter. In the end it became this dialogue between Poe and Death, which is like Scheherazade and the One Thousand and One Nights, where they tell each other stories. Poe wants to postpone his own death, while Death wants to convince him that if he is so miserable he might be better off dead. The biggest problem I faced, and which was truly a nightmare, is that as a viewer I don’t really like anthology films where there are connecting segments in between the stories, like George A. Romero's "Creepshow." As a viewer, when we get to the interludes or the framing narrative, what I’m thinking is, “Come on, Come, on, start the next story already!” [Laughs]. That’s why I really thought about the rhythm of these segments to try to precent the viewer from thinking, “I don’t want to see this. I want to see the next story.” I also wanted to give the viewer small doses of information needed for the whole story to make sense and for it to have structure.
Why do you think Edgar Allan Poe became so fascinated, even obsessed, with death and the darker and more disturbing aspects of the human condition?
Raul Garcia: Poe lived in a very romantic time. His life was the life of the typical tortured artist. His mother died when he was very young and his wife also died very young. In the Victorian era the health standards and life expectancy weren’t very high, thus death was a constant possibility lurking around. Besides this, his turbulent life turn him into a taciturn man with mental health issues. I think this really had an effect in the obsession he had with death. More than with death in general, he was obsessed with the possibility of being buried alive and discovering that he had to hold on to life even after death.
His work definitely set a precedent in the horror genre and in literature as a whole.
Raul Garcia: He was the first one to write horror stories. Without Poe probably Sherlock Holmes wouldn’t have been written because when Poe wrote the adventures of Dupin, like The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Purloined Letter, he was setting up the basis for what would become the detective novel. In a way Poe was a big influence for Conan Doyle to create Sherlock Holmes. I think he really did influence many artist of the time like Baudelaire, who was a big fan of Poe, and who was the one that brought attention to Poe’s work in Europe. That’s how another generation of writers like Lord Dunsany, Ambrose Bierce, and many others were influenced by Poe’s stories.
Besides working in the U.S. you've worked in animated projects in Spain and Latin America, what's the most difficult aspect about creating animation in countries that are not necessarily seen as animation producers or that perhaps haven't fully developed the infrastructure for it?
Raul Garcia: I’ve worked in animation for a long time. I started in Spain and I wanted to make feature films. That desire to figure out how to make animated features brought me to the U.S. to work for Disney. Now things are different, in recent years technology has made it easier to make animated films than it used to be maybe 15 or 20 years ago. This has made it possible for the latent talents that are in countries without a tradition in animation to explore, learn, and create work. The biggest problem in countries that don’t have a tradition in animation or a film industry, is that precisely, that it’s not an industrial activity as it is in Hollywood where there are clear production procedures. Because of this we all become snipers making our films any way we can and crossing our fingers to get distribution so people can see them.
In a certain way working in animation has become very democratic because now anyone with the right technology can at least prepare a project from home in order to attract investors. Some people can even set up a small home studio and start working. Making features is much more complicated and expensive, but on the other hand, and thanks to this ubiquity and the decentralization of animation, anyone even in a small town can work with an animation program, stay in touch with people in other parts of the world, and manage to produce a film. That’s what we’ve done with "Extraordinary Tales,”although the film is a co-production between Luxembourg, Belgium, Spain and the U.S, in the end Mexican talent worked on it, people all over Spain worked on it, and even people in Honduras worked on it doing some modeling. With small teams across the world we managed to unite everyone’s talent to make the film.
"Extraordinary Tales" is finally opening in the U.S. Now that the cycle for this film is getting to its final stage, are you already working on your next project? Are you pursuing another horror writer to adapt into animation?
Raul Garcia: Independence can be tough. Without a studio to back you up, when you finish a feature and want to start a new project you have to start from zero. The next thing I want to do is to bring to the screen a novel by Cornelia Funke, she is also the voice of Death in “Extraordinary Tales.” She is a German author who wrote the novel “Inkheart,” which was made into a film a few years ago. The book I want to adapt is called “Young Werewolf,” but my version would be titled “Bitten." I’m still trying to find the initial financing that will allow me to get started and get things going. Once the initial financing is secured the rest becomes easier, and just like with “Extraordinary Tales,” we can make a film with the cooperation of several small studios. For example, another film I worked on was the Mexican animated feature “El Americano,” which was mostly made in Tijuana but also had teams in Puebla and Los Angeles. It’s possible, but you do have to have the financial infrastructure behind you so this can work. In the world of independent animation there are many projects that are never completed because they lack that structure.
"Extraordinary Tales" is now playing in L.A. at the Sundance Sunset Cinemas and In NYC at IFC Center.
- 10/24/2015
- by Carlos Aguilar
- Sydney's Buzz
Out now in select theaters and on iTunes is Extraordinary Tales, an animated film anthology adapting five Edgar Allan Poe stories and boasting a voice cast that includes late legends Sir Christopher Lee and Bela Lugosi, as well as Julian Sands, Roger Corman, and Guillermo del Toro. For our latest Q&A feature, we caught up with director Raul Garcia to discuss his film's amazing vocal lineup and much more.
Thanks for taking the time to converse with us today, Raul. Based on the trailer for Extraordinary Tales, you obviously have a real passion for the works of Edgar Allan Poe. When did you first become a fan of his fiction?
Raul Garcia: Since a very early age, I was addicted to reading comic books and I especially loved horror comics. When I was 12 or so, I read Extraordinary Tales by Edgar Allan Poe, my first "grown up" book I ever read,...
Thanks for taking the time to converse with us today, Raul. Based on the trailer for Extraordinary Tales, you obviously have a real passion for the works of Edgar Allan Poe. When did you first become a fan of his fiction?
Raul Garcia: Since a very early age, I was addicted to reading comic books and I especially loved horror comics. When I was 12 or so, I read Extraordinary Tales by Edgar Allan Poe, my first "grown up" book I ever read,...
- 10/23/2015
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Legendary horror film alumni lend their voices to animated Poe tribute Extraordinary Tales. Although he stalked off this mortal coil back in 1956, the essence of the immortal Bela Lugosi is alive and well in director Raul Garcia’s upcoming animated feature film Extraordinary Tales, a diverse anthology picture that translates the words of Edgar Allen…
The post Exclusive: Bela Lugosi Not Dead! Horror Legend Reads “The Tell-Tale Heart” appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
The post Exclusive: Bela Lugosi Not Dead! Horror Legend Reads “The Tell-Tale Heart” appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
- 10/21/2015
- by Chris Alexander
- shocktillyoudrop.com
Image Comics will release Monstress #1 online and in stores on November 4th. Also: Blu-ray / DVD details for The Diabolical, a Kickstarter campaign for Edgar Allan Poe: Buried Alive starring Denis O'Hare, a look at TeeFury's second wave of Halloween shirts, and a new teaser for Sable.
Monstress #1: "New York Times bestselling author Marjorie Liu (Astonishing X-Men, Black Widow) and artist Sana Takeda (X-23, Ms. Marvel) come together for the all-new ongoing fantastic adventure, Monstress, first announced at Image Expo and set to launch from Image Comics this November 2015.
In Monstress, steampunk meets Kaiju in an alternate 1900s Asia, where a teenage girl named Maika begins to unravel her mysterious past, and in the process discovers a psychic connection to a powerful otherworldly creature, one of many that roam the earth — a connection that will transform them both, and make them the target of both human and otherworldly powers.
Monstress #1: "New York Times bestselling author Marjorie Liu (Astonishing X-Men, Black Widow) and artist Sana Takeda (X-23, Ms. Marvel) come together for the all-new ongoing fantastic adventure, Monstress, first announced at Image Expo and set to launch from Image Comics this November 2015.
In Monstress, steampunk meets Kaiju in an alternate 1900s Asia, where a teenage girl named Maika begins to unravel her mysterious past, and in the process discovers a psychic connection to a powerful otherworldly creature, one of many that roam the earth — a connection that will transform them both, and make them the target of both human and otherworldly powers.
- 10/9/2015
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
The trailer for Extraordinary Tales has arrived. Based on some of Edgar Allan Poe's most notable works, Extraordinary Tales is narrated by Guillermo del Toro along with other iconic artists. Also: more details on A&E's The Enfield Haunting, Diamond Select Toys at Nycc, and release details for Dark Awakening.
Extraordinary Tales: "A film anthology of five of Edgar Allan Poe’s best-known stories, each told in a unique graphic style and featuring some of the most beloved figures in horror film history. Adapting the look and variety of a classic horror anthology, Extraordinary Tales offers heart-pounding takes on The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar, and The Masque of the Red Death. Each tale is given a unique animated look, inspired by sources as diverse as classic Hollywood black-and-white monster films,...
Extraordinary Tales: "A film anthology of five of Edgar Allan Poe’s best-known stories, each told in a unique graphic style and featuring some of the most beloved figures in horror film history. Adapting the look and variety of a classic horror anthology, Extraordinary Tales offers heart-pounding takes on The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar, and The Masque of the Red Death. Each tale is given a unique animated look, inspired by sources as diverse as classic Hollywood black-and-white monster films,...
- 9/29/2015
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
Edgar Allan Poe meets Guillermo del Toro? Sign me up.
The first trailer for the animated horror anthology, Extraordinary Tales, was released last week and showed the latest takes on five of Poe’s most popular stories. The film features the voice work of Del Toro, Roger Corman, Bela Lugosi, Julian Sands, and Christopher Lee in one of his final roles.
The film follows five of Poe’s stories: The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, The Masque of the Red Death, and The Pit and the Pendulum.
Each story has different animation and directed Raul Garcia seems to bring a distinct, spooky look to the stories that feels fresh even though these have been done multiple times before. It has been awhile since we have had a Poe adaptation (don’t remind me of that dreadful John Cusack...
The first trailer for the animated horror anthology, Extraordinary Tales, was released last week and showed the latest takes on five of Poe’s most popular stories. The film features the voice work of Del Toro, Roger Corman, Bela Lugosi, Julian Sands, and Christopher Lee in one of his final roles.
The film follows five of Poe’s stories: The Fall of the House of Usher, The Tell-Tale Heart, The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, The Masque of the Red Death, and The Pit and the Pendulum.
Each story has different animation and directed Raul Garcia seems to bring a distinct, spooky look to the stories that feels fresh even though these have been done multiple times before. It has been awhile since we have had a Poe adaptation (don’t remind me of that dreadful John Cusack...
- 9/29/2015
- by Zach Dennis
- SoundOnSight
Read More: Gkids Acquires Raul Garcia's "Extrodinary Tales" A new trailer has been released for "Extraordinary Tales," a horror anthology that reimagines five of Edgar Allan Poe's most bone-chilling stories, each in a different style of animation. The five stories to be reborn on screen are "The Tell-Tale Heart," "The Pit and the Pendulum," "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Masque of Red Death" and "The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar." The above trailer offers all the thrills and chills one would expect from Edgar Allan Poe, and the creepy, stylized animation perfectly captures the menacing aura of the gothic poet. The stories will also be narrated by some of the most legendary names in horror, including Christopher Lee, Roger Corman, Guillermo Del Toro and Bela Lugosi. "Extraordinary Tales" will be released in theaters and On Demand on October 23, just in time for Halloween.
- 9/28/2015
- by Ryan Anielski
- Indiewire
Horror star joined Guillermo del Toro, Roger Corman and Julian Sands on the animated project, also said to feature Bela Lugosi
Christopher Lee’s regal tones will again be heard in a new movie at multiplexes after an animated film based on the stories of Edgar Allan Poe that features his voice was picked up for Us distribution.
Lee is a narrator for the Extraordinary Tales project, with horror directors Guillermo del Toro, Roger Corman and actor Julian Sands also taking part. The film will cover Poe’s stories The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Facts in the Case of M Valdemar and The Masque of the Red Death, though which storyteller will work on which tale is not known.
Continue reading...
Christopher Lee’s regal tones will again be heard in a new movie at multiplexes after an animated film based on the stories of Edgar Allan Poe that features his voice was picked up for Us distribution.
Lee is a narrator for the Extraordinary Tales project, with horror directors Guillermo del Toro, Roger Corman and actor Julian Sands also taking part. The film will cover Poe’s stories The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Facts in the Case of M Valdemar and The Masque of the Red Death, though which storyteller will work on which tale is not known.
Continue reading...
- 6/17/2015
- by Ben Child
- The Guardian - Film News
Animation features a voice performance from the late Christopher Lee.
Gkids has acquired North American rights to Extraordinary Tales, an animated film anthology of five of Edgar Allen Poe’s best-known stories.
The film, which features the voices of Sir Christopher Lee (in one of his final film performances), Bela Lugosi, Julian Sands, Roger Corman, and Guillermo Del Toro, screens throughout this week at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
Gkids plans a day-and-date release on October 30, in theaters and on video-on-demand platforms.
The deal was negotiated between Stephan Roelants for Melusine Productions and Eric Beckman for Gkids.
The film, directed by Raúl García, features new takes on The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar, and The Masque of the Red Death.
The animation is inspired by sources from classic Hollywood black-and-white monster films to the pulp feel of EC Comics...
Gkids has acquired North American rights to Extraordinary Tales, an animated film anthology of five of Edgar Allen Poe’s best-known stories.
The film, which features the voices of Sir Christopher Lee (in one of his final film performances), Bela Lugosi, Julian Sands, Roger Corman, and Guillermo Del Toro, screens throughout this week at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.
Gkids plans a day-and-date release on October 30, in theaters and on video-on-demand platforms.
The deal was negotiated between Stephan Roelants for Melusine Productions and Eric Beckman for Gkids.
The film, directed by Raúl García, features new takes on The Tell-Tale Heart, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Fall of the House of Usher, The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar, and The Masque of the Red Death.
The animation is inspired by sources from classic Hollywood black-and-white monster films to the pulp feel of EC Comics...
- 6/16/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Today is Vincent Price’s 104th Birthday! Price was born here in St. Louis on this date in 1911 and is the most iconic movie star to hail from our city. Price, who died October 25th 1993, was also a gourmand, author, stage actor, speaker, world-class art collector, raconteur, and all-around Renaissance man. Vincent Price was simply one of the most remarkable people of the 20th Century. Four years ago we had the opportunity to celebrate his 100th birthday and St. Louis was the place to do it. I teamed up with Cinema St. Louis to present Vincentennial, The Vincent Price 100th Birthday Celebration, an event that lasted through much of the Spring of 2011. The following year Vincentennial won two coveted Rondo Awards, one for “Best Fan Event” and a second for myself as “Monster Kid of the Year” for directing the event. The Rondo Awards are prestigious Fan Awards given out...
- 5/28/2015
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Another poster for M. Night Shyamalan’s The Visit has been released, once again stressing grandma's strict rules. Also included in our latest round-up are details on an upcoming modern day-set film adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart, as well as information on an in-development mystery series from It Follows writer/director David Robert Mitchell.
The Visit: A Blumhouse Productions and Blinding Edge Pictures film from Universal Pictures, M. Night Shyamalan's The Visit will hit theaters in September:
"Writer/director/producer M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable) and producer Jason Blum (Paranormal Activity, The Purge and Insidious series) welcome you to Universal Pictures’ The Visit. Shyamalan returns to his roots with the terrifying story of a brother and sister who are sent to their grandparents’ remote Pennsylvania farm for a weeklong trip. Once the children discover that the elderly couple is involved in something deeply disturbing,...
The Visit: A Blumhouse Productions and Blinding Edge Pictures film from Universal Pictures, M. Night Shyamalan's The Visit will hit theaters in September:
"Writer/director/producer M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, Signs, Unbreakable) and producer Jason Blum (Paranormal Activity, The Purge and Insidious series) welcome you to Universal Pictures’ The Visit. Shyamalan returns to his roots with the terrifying story of a brother and sister who are sent to their grandparents’ remote Pennsylvania farm for a weeklong trip. Once the children discover that the elderly couple is involved in something deeply disturbing,...
- 4/23/2015
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Edgar Allan Poe’s immortal short story, “The Tell-Tale Heart” will be adapated to a college-set thriller in director Colin Theys’ (Deep in the Darkness) Tell-Tale Lies. Written by John Doolan (Deep in the Darkness), Tell Tale Lies will star Alexa PenaVega (Repo!) and Beau Mirchoff (MTV’s Awkward) in what sound to be a blend of the origianl…
The post Tell-Tale Heart Told Again in Tell Tale Lies appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
The post Tell-Tale Heart Told Again in Tell Tale Lies appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.
- 4/23/2015
- by Samuel Zimmerman
- shocktillyoudrop.com
Exclusive: The Tell-Tale Heart is headed to college. Beau Mirchoff, who stars on MTV’s Awkward, and Alexa PenaVega are set to star in Tell-Tale Lies, a modern take on Edgar Allan Poe’s classic chiller. Synthetic Cinema International and Stargazer Films have begun production on the film directed by Colin Theys from John Doolan’s script. It revolves around four friends at a prestigious university whose promising futures are jeopardized when they become connected to the…...
- 4/22/2015
- Deadline
Well it’s that time of year again – the one where websites across the globe churn out Top 10 list after top ten list. So why should we be any different?! Yet whilst we may be following the predictable end of year lists, I can guarantee that my list is anything but predictable, featuring films from across the globe: including the Us, Canada, Italy, Australia, New Zealand and even good old Blighty!
This year more than ever there has been film after film that knocked it out of the park for me – which is why my Top 10 list has Two sections: the Top 10 and then the pick of 35(!) more brilliant movies (I would have loved this list to be a Top 45, honestly). So what’s my criteria? Well it has to be a movie I’ve seen this year, one that was released this year, i.e. making its UK debut,...
This year more than ever there has been film after film that knocked it out of the park for me – which is why my Top 10 list has Two sections: the Top 10 and then the pick of 35(!) more brilliant movies (I would have loved this list to be a Top 45, honestly). So what’s my criteria? Well it has to be a movie I’ve seen this year, one that was released this year, i.e. making its UK debut,...
- 12/19/2014
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Scream Factory gave many classic horror film fans a Halloween treat with the release of The Vincent Price Collection II, and now Arrow Films is looking to sate the viewing appetites of Price fans in England with Six Gothic Tales, due out on December 8th. Comprised of six Roger Corman movies based on Edgar Allan Poe’s works and starring Vincent Price, Arrow Films has unveiled their collection’s special features:
Press Release - “From the Merchant of Menace, Vincent Price, and the King of the B’s, Roger Corman, come six Gothic tales inspired by the pen of Edgar Allan Poe. Arrow Video is thrilled to announce the limited edition release of this Six Gothic Tales box set. Limited to a run of just 2000 copies, this much-anticipated release will include The Fall of the House of Usher, Tales of Terror, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, The Haunted Palace...
Press Release - “From the Merchant of Menace, Vincent Price, and the King of the B’s, Roger Corman, come six Gothic tales inspired by the pen of Edgar Allan Poe. Arrow Video is thrilled to announce the limited edition release of this Six Gothic Tales box set. Limited to a run of just 2000 copies, this much-anticipated release will include The Fall of the House of Usher, Tales of Terror, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Raven, The Haunted Palace...
- 11/20/2014
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Robert Eggers appears to be soaked in horror, noir fairy-tale lore. His Filmmaker Magazine 25 New Faces profile over at Filmmaker Mag informs us that the final October weekend that just passed would have been an event for the Brooklyn based prod designer. For his previous outings as a director, he turned to Hansel and Gretel and Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart for his short form debuts and created an original stage adaptation of F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu. A Sundance Institute Cinereach Feature Film Fellow, The Witch (formerly titled “The Witch of New Canaan Woode”) was shot this past April/May in slightly north of the border – Ontario seconds for a circa 1630-looking New England in this pic.
Gist: 1630s. Sam, a newborn baby, has disappeared without a trace. William’s eldest daughter, Thomasin, 14, has become idle and temperamental. Caleb, 12, often wantonly glances at Thomasin and believes he hears the voice of God.
Gist: 1630s. Sam, a newborn baby, has disappeared without a trace. William’s eldest daughter, Thomasin, 14, has become idle and temperamental. Caleb, 12, often wantonly glances at Thomasin and believes he hears the voice of God.
- 11/14/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
This month, Boston is paying tribute to its native son: the Master of Macabre. A new statue of Edgar Allan Poe was recently revealed in Poe Square, a bronze bust of Poe will be unveiled on October 30th, one evening before Jeffrey Combs performs in Nevermore: An Evening With Edgar Allan Poe at the Somerville Theatre, and now a poster adds to the celebration with a depiction of Combs as Poe.
Illustrated by Phantom City Creative artist Justin Erickson, the 18” x 24” Nevermore prints are limited to 100 and are priced at $50 apiece. We have the official details on the prints, the bronze bust, and Nevermore: An Evening With Edgar Allan Poe:
Boston (October 1, 2014) — “On October 31, fans of the darker literary persuasion will find a very special treat at the Somerville Theatre. At 8pm, the house lights will go down, and Edgar Allan Poe will return. In “Nevermore:...
Illustrated by Phantom City Creative artist Justin Erickson, the 18” x 24” Nevermore prints are limited to 100 and are priced at $50 apiece. We have the official details on the prints, the bronze bust, and Nevermore: An Evening With Edgar Allan Poe:
Boston (October 1, 2014) — “On October 31, fans of the darker literary persuasion will find a very special treat at the Somerville Theatre. At 8pm, the house lights will go down, and Edgar Allan Poe will return. In “Nevermore:...
- 10/10/2014
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
FX Networks has given a green light to Pariah, a comedy pilot penned by It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia writers/producers John and Dave Chernin and starring funnyman Bill Burr.
The premise is such: Following an on-air meltdown, volatile TV personality “Joe Abbott” (played by Burr) is exiled from show business and forced to navigate society as a man with no apparent skills.
Related You’re the Worst, Married Renewed for Second Seasons; Worst Moving to Fxx
The pilot will be directed by It’s Always Sunny star Rob McElhenney, whose Rcg Productions is producing with FX Networks. (At this early stage,...
The premise is such: Following an on-air meltdown, volatile TV personality “Joe Abbott” (played by Burr) is exiled from show business and forced to navigate society as a man with no apparent skills.
Related You’re the Worst, Married Renewed for Second Seasons; Worst Moving to Fxx
The pilot will be directed by It’s Always Sunny star Rob McElhenney, whose Rcg Productions is producing with FX Networks. (At this early stage,...
- 10/1/2014
- TVLine.com
Who knew Sons of Anarchy could get so poignant?
During a moment of crisis for Samcro on Tuesday’s episode of the FX drama, Bobby reflects on the club’s good ol’ days: “Remember when our biggest problem was which Mayan to kill?” Jax insists those were simpler times, but Bobby takes it a step further: “Simpler men.”
That statement seems particularly fitting for this week’s installment, which finds the motorcycle club getting into hot water with multiple allies — and realizing there’s very few places left to turn. Without further ado, here’s what went down on “Poor...
During a moment of crisis for Samcro on Tuesday’s episode of the FX drama, Bobby reflects on the club’s good ol’ days: “Remember when our biggest problem was which Mayan to kill?” Jax insists those were simpler times, but Bobby takes it a step further: “Simpler men.”
That statement seems particularly fitting for this week’s installment, which finds the motorcycle club getting into hot water with multiple allies — and realizing there’s very few places left to turn. Without further ado, here’s what went down on “Poor...
- 10/1/2014
- TVLine.com
FX and Fxx are saying “I do” to second seasons of its new comedies Married and You’re the Worst, the latter of which will be moving to Fxx.
Related You’re the Worst Finale Post Mortem: Ep Talks Gretchen’s Major Move, Downplays Lindsay’s Big D
Married, starring Nat Faxon and Judy Greer, and You’re the Worst, starring Chris Geere and Aya Cash, both wrapped their first seasons on Sept. 18.
Excited about these renewals? Drop a comment with your thoughts below.
Related storiesThe Strain Recap: The Tell-Tale HeartSons of Anarchy Recap: The Renegades Who Had...
Related You’re the Worst Finale Post Mortem: Ep Talks Gretchen’s Major Move, Downplays Lindsay’s Big D
Married, starring Nat Faxon and Judy Greer, and You’re the Worst, starring Chris Geere and Aya Cash, both wrapped their first seasons on Sept. 18.
Excited about these renewals? Drop a comment with your thoughts below.
Related storiesThe Strain Recap: The Tell-Tale HeartSons of Anarchy Recap: The Renegades Who Had...
- 9/30/2014
- TVLine.com
From the 1980s to the 21st century, Jamie takes us on a guided tour of the most frustrating videogames he's encountered so far...
I want to take you on a journey through a few decades of game-playing frustration, name-checking the titles that have most made me want to kick a sleeping puppy in the face: games that only a heart surgeon would have the dexterity and patience to complete; games so disgustingly unfair and evil that even Satan beholds their exquisitely cruel construction with envy, kicking himself that he didn’t think of them first.
(Disclaimer: no actual puppies were harmed in the making of this article)
Now for another couple of disclaimers: pointless I know, because nobody actually reads these introductions, right? I believe it’s traditional to skip the rest of this article and head to the comments’ section below filled with boundless and unquenchable rage. (If you...
I want to take you on a journey through a few decades of game-playing frustration, name-checking the titles that have most made me want to kick a sleeping puppy in the face: games that only a heart surgeon would have the dexterity and patience to complete; games so disgustingly unfair and evil that even Satan beholds their exquisitely cruel construction with envy, kicking himself that he didn’t think of them first.
(Disclaimer: no actual puppies were harmed in the making of this article)
Now for another couple of disclaimers: pointless I know, because nobody actually reads these introductions, right? I believe it’s traditional to skip the rest of this article and head to the comments’ section below filled with boundless and unquenchable rage. (If you...
- 8/19/2014
- by ryanlambie
- Den of Geek
I’m moving! And I’ve just now realized that this column is more than a year old! And yes, that’s factoring in the weeks I’ve missed. I seriously cannot believe it’s been a full year since I started this thing. And, did I mention I’m moving? I’m pretty excited about that. Cheaper rent, bigger apartment, more roommates, nicer area, longer drive… the benefits outweigh the cons. I’m a fan of moving. I know that sounds crazy but I just have such a deep-seated fear of commitment that it feels good every time to slough off the memories and emotions that hang around living spaces, not to mention getting rid of a lot of shit I don’t need.
Yet here I am, further committing myself to doing this column as long as I possibly can, assuming Destroy The Brain puts up with me for much longer.
Yet here I am, further committing myself to doing this column as long as I possibly can, assuming Destroy The Brain puts up with me for much longer.
- 8/1/2014
- by Chris Melkus
- Destroy the Brain
We recently told Daily Dead readers about the Edgar Allan Poe bronze bust project, which will see a bust of the famous author created and displayed at the Boston Public Library. Along with the unveiling, which is scheduled to take place on October 30th, it has been announced that Jeffrey Combs will perform Nevermore: An Evening With Edgar Allan Poe in Boston on Halloween:
“Boston, Massachusetts (June 2, 2014) — Boston literary enthusiasts and fans of the macabre will get a double whammy of fall fun this October—as a companion event to the Edgar Allan Poe Bronze Bust Project, which will be unveiled on October 30, 2014 at the Boston Public Library, Boston-based filmmaker Izzy Lee and the Poe bust sculptor, Bryan Moore, are bringing Dennis Paoli’s play “Nevermore: An Evening With Edgar Allan Poe” to the Somerville Theatre on October 31, 2014.
Starring beloved character actor Jeffrey Combs, the one-act play is...
“Boston, Massachusetts (June 2, 2014) — Boston literary enthusiasts and fans of the macabre will get a double whammy of fall fun this October—as a companion event to the Edgar Allan Poe Bronze Bust Project, which will be unveiled on October 30, 2014 at the Boston Public Library, Boston-based filmmaker Izzy Lee and the Poe bust sculptor, Bryan Moore, are bringing Dennis Paoli’s play “Nevermore: An Evening With Edgar Allan Poe” to the Somerville Theatre on October 31, 2014.
Starring beloved character actor Jeffrey Combs, the one-act play is...
- 6/2/2014
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
Boston is bookending the month of October with two sculpted tributes to its native son and master of macabre, Edgar Allan Poe. We previously reported that a bronze bust of Poe would be unveiled at Boston’s public library on October 30th, and that a statue of Poe would be revealed in Boston’s Poe Square earlier that month on October 5th. Photos of the Edgar Allan Poe statue have been released and they show the author surrounded by some of his most famous works.
Titled “Poe Returning To Boston,” The Huffington Post reports that the statue was sculpted by philosophy professor Stefanie Rocknak, who was chosen out of 265 proposals. In addition to the meticulous details of Poe in the sculpture, Rocknak has also included nods to two of his most well-known works, his poem “The Raven” and his short story “The Tell-Tale Heart.” A large raven flies beside Poe,...
Titled “Poe Returning To Boston,” The Huffington Post reports that the statue was sculpted by philosophy professor Stefanie Rocknak, who was chosen out of 265 proposals. In addition to the meticulous details of Poe in the sculpture, Rocknak has also included nods to two of his most well-known works, his poem “The Raven” and his short story “The Tell-Tale Heart.” A large raven flies beside Poe,...
- 5/23/2014
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
We return with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes details on zombie-themed charities working to fight Cancer, DVD release details for Raze, first details on Autumn Moon and The Infected, and much more:
The Walking Hope Charity Details: “Do you Relay like I do? Are you a supporter of Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society? Are you a fan of the AMC Show “The Walking Dead?” Yes…Yes…and Yes!! This shirt is for you! All proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society via Rfl!
The Walking Hope has broad support of fans and cast and crew of the show like Melissa Mcbride, Norman Reedus, Addy Miller, Kyla Kenedy, Jon Bernthal, Steven Yeun, Emily Kinney, Lauren Cohan, Brighton Sharbino, Chad Coleman and more!
Each year, millions of people in 21 countries take place in Relay For Life events.
The Walking Hope Charity Details: “Do you Relay like I do? Are you a supporter of Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society? Are you a fan of the AMC Show “The Walking Dead?” Yes…Yes…and Yes!! This shirt is for you! All proceeds benefit the American Cancer Society via Rfl!
The Walking Hope has broad support of fans and cast and crew of the show like Melissa Mcbride, Norman Reedus, Addy Miller, Kyla Kenedy, Jon Bernthal, Steven Yeun, Emily Kinney, Lauren Cohan, Brighton Sharbino, Chad Coleman and more!
Each year, millions of people in 21 countries take place in Relay For Life events.
- 4/27/2014
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
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