Weekly Horror Round up - Saturday 27th June 2015

The Sun is out , weekend here Bradley Hadcroft is delivers his Weekly Horror Round up cooling you down with his weekly horror scares…

– Fingersmith

When ever work begins on a new Park Chan-wook(Oldboy,Thirst,Stoker) project genre fans start salivating and that’s exactly what happened this week when cameras started rolling on Fingersmith.

Adapted from a 2002 novel by Sarah Waters(Tipping the Velvet) the story has already been the subject of a BBC mini-series back in 2005 and goodreads carries this description:

“No one and nothing is as it seems in this Dickensian novel of thrills and reversals. Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a “baby farmer.” Mrs. Sucksby’s household also hosts a transient family of petty thieves–fingersmiths–for whom this house in the heart of a mean London slum is home.

One day, the most beloved thief of all arrives–Gentleman, an elegant con man, who carries with him an enticing proposition for Sue: If she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, they all will share in Maud’s vast inheritance.

With dreams of paying back the kindness of her adopted family, Sue agrees to the plan. Once in, however, Sue begins to regret her decision.”

The peerless auteur faces a big challenge in transferring the location to Korea but the subject matter gives him plenty to get his frequently vicious teeth into.

– Film4 Frightfest 2015

This week saw the Frightfest team announce the opening and closing films for this years horror extravaganza.Kicking off the proceedings is the European premiere of Irish film Cherry Tree directed by David Keating.

The press release carries this synopsis :

“Keating, who directed the acclaimed Wake Wood for the revamped Hammer label, offers another provocative and compelling twist on the pagan cult chiller, in which a young girl, Faith (Naomi Battrick), in an attempt to save her father’s life, makes a fateful pact with Sissy Young (Anna Walton) head of a sinister black magic coven.”

Closing the festival is American portmanteau movie Tales of Halloween with it’s European premiere:

“Ten tales of terror unfold in a sleepy American suburb on All Hallows Eve as ghouls, imps, aliens, goblins, demons, axe murderers and serial killers roam the witching hour. This anthology of power nightmares is directed by the cream of the scream industry crop: Neil Marshall, Darren Lynn Bousman, Axelle Carolyn, Adam Gierasch, Lucky McKee, Dave Parker, Paul Solet, Ryan Schifrin, John Skipp & Mike Mendez.”

Frightfest takes place at the Vue Cinema, Leicester Sq between Thurs Aug 27 & Mon Aug 31. Festival and day pass sales will go on sale Sat July 4 at 10.00am and will only be available online. Single tickets will go on sale on July 25. Full booking details will be announced on Thurs 2 July.

A festival pass will cost £185. Day passes are: Thursday £30, Friday & Saturday £60, Sunday & Monday £50. Single tickets will be £13.25.

– Trailer watch:

– Der Nachtmahr

Based on a short of the same name this mystery drama is the latest project from filmmaker,painter and sculptor Akiz Icon and comes complete with a cool and trippy trailer.This is the synopsis for the film as featured on it’s official page :

“Tina is 16 years old and apparently has everything a girl her age wants, but after a party she experiences horrific nightmares in which she is haunted by an abysmally ugly creatures night after night.”

– They Will All Die in Space

At last Brain on Fire has some competition for the best film title of the year with this trailer for the fabulously named They Will All Die in Space as reported on Twitch.Short film exponent Javier Chillon(pictured above) directs this 14 min Sci-Fi thriller set aboard the star-ship Tantalus as it drifts through space.

– Harbinger Down

This much anticipated creature feature released an international trailer via it’s Facebook account this week much to the delight of practical effects fans who have been tracking it’s progress.Harbinger Down is the most successfully funded sci-fi/horror film in Kickstarter history.If the film makes major industry waves will we see special effects guru Rick Baker reassess his recent retirement ?

Below is the official synopsis :

“A group of grad students have booked passage on the fishing trawler Harbinger to study the effects of global warming on a pod of Orcas in the Bering Sea. When the ship’s crew dredges up a recently thawed piece of old Soviet space wreckage, things get downright deadly. It seems that the Russians experimented with tardigrades, tiny resilient animals able to withstand the extremes of space radiation. The creatures survived, but not without mutation. Now the crew is exposed to aggressively mutating organisms. And after being locked in ice for 3 decades, the creatures aren’t about to give up the warmth of human companionship.”

The film receives a VOD and limited cinema release on August 7th 2015 in the states with a DVD date of Sept 1st 2015.

– Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

Gregory Plotkin escapes from the editing suite(Frequency,The Insider) for the first time and bags the directors chair for the final installment in this hugely popular franchise.This weeks new trailer is full of shocks and jump scares as a new family discover what lurks in the shadows when they look through a camera lens.

The final installment will be the first in the series to be unleashed in 3D and RealD 3D something that could really ramp up the traditional shock factor and is a pioneering element in terms of found footage.

Prolific horror film producer Jason Blum has gone on record stating that :

“Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension will answer all of the questions that the series’ mythology has posed up to this point.”

Prepare to meet finally meet Toby when the film is released in the states on October 23rd 2015 and in the U.K. just over a week later.

– Queen of Spades:The Dark Rite

Russian horror received a much needed shot in the arm this week with a new English subtitled trailer for this supernatural chiller.

Twitch carries this synopsis :

“There is an ancient ritual known to humankind for more than a hundred years…According to the legend, an ominous entity known as The Queen of Spades can be summoned by drawing a door and staircase on a mirror in the darkness, and by saying her name three times. The Queen of Spades gets her energy from reflective objects; she cuts locks of hair from those asleep, and those that see her go mad or die.Four teenagers decide to call The Queen of Spades as a joke. But when one of them dies of a sudden heart attack, the group realizes they are up against something inexplicable and deadly dangerous.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpHuepj7e1s

– Severed Thumb Drive Edition release of the week

Pat Healy(Starry Eyes)and Ethan Embry(The Guest) star as two friends embroiled in an escalating game of dare constructed by a twisted couple played by David Koechne(Scout’s Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse) and Sara Paxton(The Innkeepers).This downward spiral into degradation embodies it’s self as one of the most entertaining films in modern horror cinema.

Director E.L. Katz unleashed this mischievous riot of a movie back in 2013 and Cheap Thrills is still capturing new fans with it’s gore soaked mayhem and vicious take no prisoners attitude. Although made for just $200,000 there is nothing cheap about the slick visuals and vivacious script and the short running time fly’s by in a bloody blur of fantastic acting and gross derring-do.

This limited edition from Diabolik DVD is served up in the form of a sliced off human thumb flash drive and gives an entirely new meaning to the concept of digital media.

There are some great extras on offer here too :

Audio Commentary with Director E.L. Katz and Star Pat Healy
The Making of Cheap Thrills
Cheap Thrills at Fantastic Fest 2013

This is an unusual opportunity to invest in a bit of cult movie history as the reputation of this brutally funny horror comedy will only continue to expand.You can order one here if there are any left by the time you read this.

I don’t care how much money is in that box i am not sucking his…….