Weekly Horror Round up - Saturday 25th July

From Backstreet Boys to killer Bears here’s Bradley Hadcroft with his latest horror round up…

– Dead 7

Horror fans went crazy this week with the news that a “zombie Western futuristic horror movie” was in the pipeline starring members of 90’s boy-bands Backstreet Boys ,’Nsync and New Kids on the block.Except that they didn’t.

Movies.com reported that this abomination was to be written by none other than Nick Backstreet himself(pictured above right) and financed by serial turd peddlers The Asylum(Sharknado).

Rolling Stone says the film is about about a “ragtag band of gunslingers fighting a zombie plague” and will star ‘NSync’s Joey Fatone as a drunkard.

Nick Carter has promised(threatened) a bizarre The Magnificent Seven type recruitment program in which he is targeting Jordan from New Kids on the Block and the presumably in hiding Justin Timberlake(above left).

What next ? A Giallo where Tony Mortimer from East 17 tracks multiple serial killers played by members of Brother Beyond and Curiosity Killed the Cat ?

This really is the end of days.

– Goddess of Love

This Jon Knautz(The Shrine,Jack Brooks:Monster Slayer) directed movie will receive it’s world premiere at Film4 Frightfest.The film will feature on the Discovery Screen 1 a thread of the festival that grows in prestige each year.This week the director himself gave me his thoughts on what being selected means to him.

Director of Goddess of Love Jon Knautz :

“I’m honoured and so excited to be selected for this year’s Frightfest. Our Producer/Co-Writer and Star of the film, Alexis Kendra, will be attending the festival. Anyone looking for a dark, psychological thrill-ride should get their fix with Goddess of Love. I truly hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did making it.”

Here is what Frightfest says about the film :

“Enter into a baroque vortex of madness when an emotionally unstable stripper is shattered after being dumped by her boyfriend. Brian was the love of Venus’ life and the thought of him having an affair with another woman begins her volatile descent into the dark side of psychosexual insanity. Co-writer Alexis Kendra plays Venus with startling insight in an erotic thriller that’s sexy and shocking in the super-stylish tradition of Brian De Palma and Roman Polanski.”

Look out for the effects work in this one because the special makeup & creature effects designer is none other than David Scott who’s work is praised below in our DVD Release of the week.

Goddess of Love screens at 6.45PM – Monday 31ST Aug 2015 and you can buy tickets here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuBu8gCJmEQ

– Don’t Knock Twice

From the talented team behind award winning genre picture The Machine this urban legend shocker started filming in rainy Cardiff this week.

Here is the official word on the film :

“A mother desperate to reconnect with her troubled daughter becomes embroiled in the urban legend of a demonic witch.”

According to the BBC the film was funded by the Welsh government’s media investment budget and this is what Economy Minister Edwina Hart had to say:

“Film production is a hugely important element of the creative industries and an area that Wales excels in.We are building on this success, attracting new productions to Wales and, through the Media Investment Budget, ensuring that at least 50 percent of each production is filmed in Wales, supporting Welsh talent and Welsh companies.”

This picture and caption appeared on the film’s Facebook page :

“First shot of the first day on Don’t Knock Twice with director Caradog James and Producer John Giwa-Amu— with Katee Sackhoff, Pooneh Hajimohammadi andLucy Boynton.“

Trailer Watch :

Contracted:Phase II

After his second unit director’s gig for the much touted Some Kind of Hate Josh Forbes takes to the big chair for this sequel to the acclaimed 2013 sexually transmitted contagion body horror Contracted.This Swiss produced follow up posted a trailer on line this week.

Here is a synopsis for the film from Film4 Frightfest:

“In this shocking sequel the fear escalates as the sexually transmitted outbreak worsens and threatens to engulf all humanity. Prepare for some wince-inducing sequences of body horror and beyond which will have you squirming in your seat.”

Contracted:Phase II is released in theaters , digital and VOD on September 25th 2015.The film has it’s UK premiere at Frightfest at 6.00pm on Saturday August 29th.

– Amnesiac

The trailer for this horror drama dropped this week and it looks intriguing.Director in demand Micheal Polish(Big Sur) is the man in charge ahead of his afterlife effort 90 Minutes in Heaven and his super model sex robot Sci-Fi comedy Hot Bots.

The film stars aspiring scream queen Kate Bosworth(Black Rock,Straw Dogs[2011]) who also stars in the much anticipated upcoming horror Before I Wake directed by the super talented Mike Flanagan(Absentia,Oculus).

Here is the official synopsis :

“A man who wakes up in bed suffering from memory loss after being in an accident, only to begin to suspect that his wife may not be his real wife and that a web of lies and deceit deepen inside the house where he soon finds himself a prisoner.”

– DVD Release of the week :

Alex and Jen are a city couple off on a trip into the remote bear infested Canadian wilderness with no map and just ill advised stubbornness and dogged idiocy for company.What could possibly go wrong ?

Unfortunately this is just the kind film that would have benefited from no prior knowledge before watching it as the sudden shift in tone could have had a devastating effect on the viewer.However the distributors have changed it’s name from Backcountry to the rather more obvious Blackfoot Trail and slapped a huge growling bear on the cover so you kind of know what to expect.

This Canadian killer animal flick from first timer Adam Macdonald is a little heavy handed in it’s build up to the ursine mayhem but that does not stop it being a highly enjoyable and effective survival horror.When it arrives the attack is pure CGI free brutality and is one of the most harrowing scenes of movie carnage you will ever see.The subsequent attempts at survival are tense and gruelingly focused.

Do bear in mind that though the BBFC have seen fit to give it a 15 cert for gory images it really is not for the squeamish.The effects work from Luc Benning(The Witch) and David Scott(Dawn of the Dead[2004] ,Stage Fright) is truly world class.

Blackfoot Trail is the perfect example of a movie that returns the investment you make in it and you can buy it from here.