8 is Great?!

Finally set in stone, the 8th and final film has been announced for the 4th annual After Dark Films Horrorfest 8 Films to Die For line-up. Written by Kelly Palmer and directed by Chris Moore, Kill Theory is about a group of seven college friends that celebrate their upcoming graduation at a secluded vacation home. Things take an ugly turn when the group encounter a sadistic unknown madman who forces them to kill one another in order to survive. Whomever is left standing at 6 am the next morning, is the one that is allowed to walk away with his or her life.

Sounds interesting enough to me and Kill Theory seems to have elements of Saw and even a bit of Cabin Fever and Battle Royal in a way. All of the After Dark Films acquired for the upcoming festival (which begins January 29th) have a lot of promise and I have already heard positive things about Lake Mungo, which is one that I really wanted to check out even before reading a few solid reviews.   

Now that the movies are all in place, there is a tight little trailer for the festival and to be completely honest, it gets me pumped for this line-up and I have pretty high hopes for it. There have been some real gems in the previous three installments, but those gems were hidden in piles of mediocre-to-bad. I would love to see After Dark come out with a strong set of movies, if not for the fact that they are spotlighting independent horror cinema and giving films a chance that might not have gotten one any other way. And while I will more than likely not have any chance to see any of them ‘round these parts, at least I know there will be a DVD release soon enough. 

When a non-foreign language trailer for Kill Theory is available, I will be sure to post it, but for now, here is the trailer for the festival itself. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the line-up’s potential and what you think looks good!

Totally Tubular Trailers!

It has been a while since I posted a bunch of trailers, so here I am, posting a bunch of trailers that are of interest to me and hopefully to your foxy little ass. Great batch though, with a few promising ones, along with a few that are promising to be good. Never can trust a hoe, don't ya know...now on with it already!

First up is the trailer for the Indian film Porkkalam, which translates to Battlefield in English and is written and directed by first timer, Bandi Saroj Kumar. No real details as far as plot goes, which is a little wiggity-wack, but the writer/director promises that this will be revolutionary movie for the Indian film market with it's high-voltage action that strays away from fantasy and is grounded in reality. While the trailer is pretty dope, there is no action to be seen...it's all build up. Can this build up lead to a massive climax? It would be nice.



Next, we got a Russian horror film known as Phobos: Club of Fear! Really? That's your secondary title? "Phobos: Bar of Scared" Even the plot isn't too appetizing with a bunch of jerk offs going to a club, that unbeknownst to them, is an underground bomb shelter...in disguise! When this BOMB club's giant blast door slams shut, the club kids are trapped in total darkness. Now, they are forced to use their glow sticks for light, instead of for fun. I made that last part up. Lame title, lame plot, but the trailer is interesting enough for me to keep it in the eaten babies room long enough to show it to you guys.



If there is one thing I hate, it's "From the Producers of Lassie, comes blah, blah, blah..." However, I do love me a Werewolf movie and the Producers of Dog Soldiers brings us a new one titled, 13 Hrs (or Hours or whatever). The easiest way to describe the idea and plot to 13 Hrs is it’s Cabin Fever, with Werewolves instead of a flesh-eating virus. Malfoy from Harry Potter is in it and I hope he gets his dickhead ass eaten. By a Werewolf, I mean.



Rounding out tonight’s terrible trailer event comes The Reeds. Directed by Nick Cohen, The Reeds was just announced as the seventh pick for After Dark Films Horrorfest: 8 Films to Die For. Another group of 20-year-olds in this one, but instead of a house, or a sick club, these ones are out for a weekend boating trip through the Norfolk Broads. Things get complicated when they get lost in the vast reedy tidewaters, where unknown forces begin to terrorize the lost and terrified group. The trailer is promising and it looks like a survival film of sorts, but what are the characters surviving exactly? We'll find out January 29th of next year when 8 Films rolls around again.



Also, here is a brand spanking new photo from The Reeds...hot chick+gun=I'm in!

That's all I got for ya...until next time!

Totally Tubular Trailers!

I have a dick load of super fun trailers for you to check out today, so I'm not gonna waste any time and get right into it! Ready...set....GO!

Very excited for this one - With a rookie in the cockpit, Altitude is about a group of teenagers out for a flight when their plane mysteriously malfunctions and the group find themselves up against a supernatural force. A supernatural force that is very inspired by H.P. Lovecraft. With a singular location, it may be tough keeping this film interesting for an entire feature, but I'll be damned if this trailer isn't super promising - and the final moment is so awesome!



This next teaser is one that I recently found over at our good friend's blog, Planet of Terror - it's called Stake Land and is director Jim Mickle's follow up to the very solid, low budget film, Mulberry Street. It is an apocalyptic/road/vampire film and after seeing Mickle's take on "Zombies" in Mulberry Street, I am curious to see what route he takes with Vampires. It also stars genre sweetheart, Danielle Harris, which is never a bad thing.



Up next, I have the trailer for Fist of Dragon, a Singapore/Chinese martial arts film, written, directed, and staring Michael Chuah. Simple story, Chuah's character is home visiting his uncle when he discovers that his hometown has become overrun with violent gangsters so he steps in to defend the locals. Very classic Martial Arts tale with some great looking fight scenes and Chuah looks to be quite the badass.



Our "Final" trailer for the day is fittingly titled, The Final which was just recently announced as the sixth film in the annual 8 Films to Die For lineup. The Final is about a group of dorks who take revenge on the class mates that have tormented them throughout the years, by taking them hostage and torturing them at a costume party. Very interesting concept and it looks like it could be a very mean spirited film. Also, it may be difficult to side with the popular dickheads, or the pathetic "oh woe is me" geeks...so if done right, it could work very well, or fall flat on its face.



And for shits and giggles, I'll throw in this trailer for the Stephen Chow produced, Jump! It's a Chinese Hip-Hop dance movie, so I'm all for it!

Don't shoot, I'm gay!

Yep. Another zombie film. Another zombie Comedy. The fifth film announced for After Dark's Horrorfest: 8 Films to Die For is in fact a Zombie Comedy titled ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction. Directed and co-written (with Ramon Isao) by Kevin Hamedani, ZMD is about a small conservative island community that has been overtaken by flesh-eaters. The community has no hope for survival against the ongoing Zombie onslaught, until a rag tag band of rebels assemble to save the town.

Zombie movies...I just did a zombie movie review with Automaton Transfusion and I have a Zombieland review waiting to go up early next week, so I am kind of zombied out to be honest with you guys. However, ZMD does look like a cool little flick based off this trailer, with a couple of nice zombie gore shots and a mix of humor that actually seems to be somewhat funny. We will find out if this zombie comedy has any braaaaains (sorry, I should know better) or not January 29th of next year when 8 Films rolls into theaters yet again.

Another "Hidden" Treasure for After Dark Perhaps?

After Dark recently announced its aquisition of Hidden (Skjult), a Norwegian psychological shocker that marks the fourth title for next years After Dark's Horrorfest: 8 Films to Die For.Co-written (with Brio Flint), and directed by Pål Øie, who's previous film, 2003's Dark Woods (aka Villmark) was pretty well recieved all around. I haven't seen it myself, but after checking out the trailer, I will be keeping my eye open for it for sure.

Staring Kristoffer Joner, Cecilie Mosli,Anders Danielsen Lie, Bjarte Hjelmeland and Karin Park, Hidden follows the story of Kai Koss (The daddy Mac will make ya Jump-Jump!), a man who returns to his home town after a 19 year hiatus when his abussive mother passes away. Left in charge of the family home and the dark secrets that come with it - Kai becomes entangled in a series of murderous happenings and soon learns he cannot run away from his dark past, a dark past that he has tried to run away from for almost two decades.

With The Graves, Lake Mungo, and Clive Barkers Dread, After Dark has been hitting it outta the park in terms of the potential that the films they are aquiring for the 4th annual 8 Films to Die For film festival have. Will any of them deliver, chances are yes, at least a few of them, but this slate is the most promising by far, and Hidden only adds to that potential of a great series of horror films. And this is still only the fourth film that is announced...I can only hope that After Dark can come up with four more that have me as interested as the films already announced. Based off this great trailer, Hidden looks creepy and atmospheric with some beutifull looking imagery that should make for a scary psychological thriller.

Lake Mungo

After Dark Films has just announced the third film in their already very strong looking 2010 After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films to Die For lineup (Jan 29th - Feb 5th). Clive Barkers Dread, and a movie that I recently posted about, The Graves will be joined by the Australian thriller/ghost story, Lake Mungo. Lake Mungo is written and helmed by first time director, Joel Anderson and stars Talia Zucker, Rosie Traynor, David Pledger and Martin Sharpe. The story follows a family dealing with the drowning death of their sixteen-year-old daughter, Alice Palmer. After her body is buried, the family experiences a series of strange and eerie events that give them no choice but to seek the help of a psychic/parapsychologist named, Ray Kemeny. His investigation leads to Lake Mungo where a secret past and double life once lived by Alice comes to fruition.

Sounds interesting - right? You may be even more interested after watching the trailer for the film. And that trailer is provided for your viewing pleasure right here - ya know, just in case you didn't already notice it sitting there, all lonely, waiting for you to accept it with your mouse. Click that shit, son!


Bleh...so creepy!! I love that entire goose bump promoting paranormal stuff, and I almost thought that Lake Mungo was a documentary at first, because it looks so convincing as one. It is of course, a mockumentary style film that looks like it will be very effective in the scare department, and some of those background apparition shots are just downright frightening. I was already excited for both Dread and The Graves, but this is a nice surprise to have a very scary looking movie like Lake Mungo added to a lineup that is certainly shaping up very nicely.

Apparently, Paramount is developing a remake of Lake Mungo with writer David Leslie Johnson, whose previous effort, Orphan was released to solid reviews and was a movie that I personally quite enjoyed. This being put out by After Dark Films though is a very good thing, because this film very much reminds me of another low-budget ghost mockumentary film, Paranormal Activity. Paranormal Activity had gotten rave reviews, and the trailer was scary as shit, but when the remake (also Paramount) started to make way, the original film had, like a ghost, been left in limbo with no release after what is a few years now (though there have been rumblings of a small theatrical release forthcoming). Wicked annoying if you ask me. So thankfully this will not be the case with Lake Mungo, as we now know that it will be in theaters, and eventually on DVD, without having to wait two or three years for a remake to come out and suck balls.

Here is a link to the films official site for more info!

From the Cradle to The Grave(s)

I love finding trailers for bizarre, off the wall, independent horror films of the lower budget variety. One big problem with those trailers are you might not see the actual movie for who knows how long, as they can lie in release limbo, waiting for a distributor to put them out for our consumption. These are the movies that will almost never have a chance of seeing a theatrical release outside of festivals and some major cities. For example, a movie like Pig Hunt, that has had some festival play (for like two years now!), but still has yet to see the light of DVD day. I think this is the biggest reason why After Dark Films doing it's annual 8 Films to Die For, has been really good for the less than Hollywood horror genre. The movies have been a mixed bag as most of you already know, but there have also been a few real gems to be found in every yearly outing (most notably for me are Frontier(s) and The Gravedancers). Now in its fourth year, After Dark Horrorfest is once again peeking its head out for a solid week (Jan. 29th-Feb. 5th of next year) of horror madness, and playing in theaters across the country - it will be another chance for some little engine that could films to make their way into theaters, and quickly onto proper DVD releases. So, even if you aren't in a town that has a theater playing any of the festival's films, you at least know you will be able to check them out on DVD at some point. I am looking forward to what they put out early next year, and the whole point of this post stems from the trailer for one of the two movies that they have on slate to play the upcoming festival.

The Graves is written and directed by well-known comic creator/writer, Brian Pulido, which is a promising sign with his work mainly being of the horror variety. The Graves stars Clare Grant and Jillian Murray as Megan and Abby Graves, a pair of smokin' hot sisters (who of course, love comics and other such nerdy things!) who head out on a road trip through the Arizona desert, looking for odd roadside attractions that they hope to bump into while on their journey. The sexy sisters find themselves in the mining town of Skull City (!), where they are put in a situation where they have to fight for their lives from forces both supernatural and human. Okay, I have gone on way too long now, and if you haven't already stopped reading, and already clicked on the trailer below, now is the time to do so...I'll go and make some brownies for when you return from watching the trailer.


Amen!!

If you didn't notice, Bill Moseley is in this film, which is fitting since this is trashy hick territory we are treading here with The Graves. And unless you're vegan and can resist the temptation of a juicy glazed ham, how could you not notice the one and only Candyman straight hammin' it up so hard, that he needs a side of scalloped potatoes to go along with his performance. The Graves look like a nice mix of horror, with a slab of madcap fun as seen with some of the FX shots (Shotgun go Boo-ya! anyone?) and supporting actors. Promising start to the Horrorfest line up, that kinda recently added Clive Barker's Dread as the second movie out of the 8 Films to Die For. I love Clive Barker, so I am sure there will be a follow up post about that film in the near future, but for now, I am looking forward to checking out The Graves...and at least I know I will be able to without having to wait a year or two.

One more thing. In the comments section, I would love if someone could guess as to why this trailer kicks ass at 6 seconds in?

Large thermometer, indeed.