Weekly Horror Round up – Saturday 2nd May 2015
From iconic slasher legend to homes at the end of time, it’s Saturday which mean’s it’s Bradley Hadcroft’s weekly horror round up into the world of macabre
– Leatherface
News this week that British actress Jessica Madsen(Mr Selfridge) joined the Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel furthered the bizarre trend of casting from UK television drama.Sam Strike(Eastenders) and James Boor(DCI Banks) are already on board for this expose of the power tool aficionado’s teenage years. It does make you wonder how legendary directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury(Inside,Livid) have been spending their spare time since kick starting the French horror new wave. Expect someone from Holby City or Call the Midwife to be added next week.
– Headless
Utterly tasteless and totally brilliant indie horror Headless began selling it’s props on E-Bay this week.In a reflection of the twisted plot many severed heads are up for grabs including that of leading lady Kelsey Carlisle.Quite what you would do with it i don’t know(hopefully not re enact the movie) but somewhat ominously the prosthetic is listed as:
“screen-used and comes dirty and blood-stained, exactly as it was packed away after filming wrapped.”
Still it’s a unique chance to own a piece of history from an instant cult classic.The masters for Headless are at the manufactures as i write and a late May/early June release is projected for both Blu-ray and DVD.
– Free Fire
Bloody Disgusting reports this week that horror golden boy Ben Wheatley(A Field in England,Kill List) is taking his 70’s set gun deal gone wrong action picture to Cannes.
This Scorsese produced movie could end up being the one that consolidates the early promise shown by the prolific 42 year old.Live For Films carries this from the man himself concerning the influences and tone of the film:
“The idea for Free Fire came from my love of hard boiled crime movies; from The Asphalt Jungle, The Big Sleep, The Killing and The Big Combo through The Driver, Le Samourai and The French Connection, to the modern cycle of Goodfellas, Casino, Hard Boiled and Reservoir Dogs.
Free Fire will take you and stick you in the middle of the action. I want the film to have the stylish, no nonsense feel that you get in Peckinpah’s The Getaway. It’s a modern ‘70s movie. Muscular, tough and spare.”
– Gutterballs 2 : Balls Deep
The sequel to the original 2008 cult movie screens for the first time this week at the amazing Texas Frightmare Weekend.The movie from the infamous Plotdigger studios(Dead Nude Girls,Hanger) stars Momona Komagata(Sex ,Lies and Snuff Online) and sees the film’s director Ryan Nicholson reprise his role as the The Bowling Bag Killer.
The director had this to say on his Facebook:
“Its safe to say that Death by 69 has officially been topped in Gutterballs 2: Balls Deep”
And this in his great interview with From dusk Till con :
“I think Gutterballs 2 is really pushing my own limits of what I can actually do and still sleep at night! It’s extreme and it’s nasty. But it’s Gutterballs 2, I wouldn’t have it any other way! ”
The Texas Frightmare crowd should lap it up in between stalking Neve Cambell(Scream) during her first ever convention appearance and trying to win the chance to be served ice cream by Reggie Bannister himself at the Phantasm ball.
– It Follows
In just two months time horror behemoth It Follows will finally emerge from it’s hype bunker and attempt to send us scuttling behind our British sofa’s.Surprisingly the most critically worshiped film since You’re Next has no domestic release details – but that might be because the distributors are still stratagising on how best to capitalise on it’s massive success.
Last years great white horror hope The Babadook garnered similar gushing praise from the festival circuit and critics alike but proved to be much more of a “Marmite” experience when exposed to the general horror masses.
Any time The Babadook is mentioned anywhere on social media the comments section is invariably a 50/50 split between adoration and indifference.Will the daemon as a sexually transmitted disease formula of It Follows prove more universally appealing to actual horror fans ?
It Follows manifests itself through ICON Entertainment in the UK on Blu-ray , DVD, VOD and Digital Download from June 29th when us Brits can judge for ourselves if all the hype has been justified. Pre-order here.
– Human Centipede part 3
This new poster for Tom six’s rapidly encroaching sickness parade showcases the epic scale of wrongness it will aspire too.On any other week it would easily be the most shocking and incendiary piece of publicity released.However this was also the week Gaspar Noé(Irreversible) fired the first salvo into the abyss of good taste regarding his Cannes featured ménage à trois movie Love.
That poster can been seen here,tweeted by its producer Vincent Maraval, but DO NOT follow the link and click view content unless you are prepared to be shocked. It makes the publicity campaign for Nymphomaniac look like a John Lewis Christmas advert.It goes without saying it’s well beyond NSFW.
Trailer Watch:
-Night of the Living Deb
From the director of fun Frightfest pick Infestation comes yet another speculative attempt to cling onto the already shredded coat tails of Shaun of the Dead.To be fair this trailer does have it’s moments,Ray Wise(Twin Peaks,RoboCop) is always good value,but some of the CGI looks horrible and Maria Thayer(Forgetting Sarah Marshall) has the potential to turn the annoying up to 11.
– The Suffering
Showing faint signs of breaking out of the genre cliche prison this week came the third trailer for Richard Hamilton’s creepy horror mystery The Suffering in his first outing since 2012 World Music and Independent Film Festival winner The Key.With a very low key cast and well used plot lets hope this one rises above expectations.
Bloody Disgusting carries this synopsis :
“Henry Dawles is at a cross roads in life. A diminished bank account and baby on the way with his estranged wife, has his personal life in shambles. When Mr. Remiel, an elderly shut in, offers Henry a lucrative sum to appraise his rural estate, he accepts without hesitation.What follows is a harrowing exploration of mind and madness. A journey through an estate as vast and beautiful as it is secretive and horrific. When Henry closes in on the lands’ dark truth, Remiel’s eccentric behavior takes a menacing and unforgettable turn.”
DVD release of the week
Latin American director Alejandro Hidalgo’s debut effort arrives on DVD this week courtesy of the intuitive Matchbox Film .The House at the End of Time marks an increasingly familiar career graduation from short films to full blown feature.Hailed as the first main stream horror flick from Venezuela it comes with sanctions of approval from every genre festival it played during it’s extensive run. Not least when it had it’s UK premiere at the overtly influential Film 4 Frightfest.
The film stars television actress Rosmel Bustamante as a woman revisiting her old domicile to unravel it’s mysteries and face her demons.It broke domestic box office records and as such will act as a springboard for other home grown projects from this part of the world further extending the global parameters of horror cinema.
The strengths of this horror thriller delicately spiced with a pinch of Sci-Fi ,lie not in it’s hackneyed premise, but in it’s classy and original execution.Be warned it is a film that unfurls in super slow motion burn but perseverance yields a viable and genuinely arresting twist ending.
Extras are paltry but so is the price tag.
You can buy it here.
Get out of my house !!!
Bradley Hadcroft
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