LEGEND reveals slate of sizzling summer premieres and more horror delights from THE VINTAGE VAULT

 

Horror Channel continues its transformation into new channel Legend with a heady mix of  classic horror, sc-fi, thriller, action, fantasy and suspense titles.

Saturday nights on Legend in August get trigger-happy, with four action-packed premieres, including the UK TV premiere of CODE NAME: GEROMINO, John Stockwell’s explosive military thriller starring Tom Sizemore. There are also channel premieres for AN EYE FOR AN EYE, Michael D. Moore’s classic Western revenge drama starring Robert Lancing and Slim Pickens, BUFFALO BILL & THE INDIANS, Robert Altman’s acclaimed revisionist Western starring Paul Newman, Burt Lancaster, Geraldine Chaplin and Harvey Keitel, and Peter Yate’s  superior crime thriller THE ROBBERY, which stars Stanley Baker, Frank Finlay and Barry Foster

And the popular stand THE VINTAGE VAULT continues, once again presenting double-bills of classic sci-fi and horror films every Sunday night. The vault is unlocked on Sunday August 7th with THE CHANGELING, Peter Medak’s classic supernatural horror starring George C. Scott. This is paired with THE BROOD, David Cronenberg’s early body-horror shocker, which stars Oliver Reed and Samantha Eggar.

The following Sundays boast some of the greatest genre movies of all time – John Carpenter’s THE FOG, and Joe Dante’s werewolf cult hit THE HOWLING, David Cronenberg’s body horror masterpiece SCANNERS, Tony Maylam’s THE BURNING,  John Carpenter’s brilliant body-mangling monster horror THE THING and the equally brilliant VIDEODROME Croneberg’s cult-classic with acclaimed performance from James Woods and music legend, Deborah Harry.

Full film details in transmission order:

Saturday 6 August @ 21:00 – AN EYE FOR AN EYE (1966) *Channel Premiere

Talion is on the trail of Ike Slant and his gang, responsible for the murder of his wife and child. He teams up with Benny, a youthful bounty hunter. During a fight with the killers, Benny is blinded and Talion's hand shattered. In order to overcome their handicaps, Benny learns to shoot according to Talion's shouted command.

Sunday 7 August @ 21:00 – THE CHANGELING (1980)

PART OF THE VINTAGE VAULT

Months after the death of his wife and child in a car accident, composer John Russell retires to an old mansion which has been unoccupied for years. But John’s hopes of peace and quiet prove unfulfilled, as he finds himself regularly disturbed by a strange and uncanny presence that haunts the house. John begins to research the house’s past, and soon finds secrets more terrible than he ever imagined. 

Sunday 7 August @ 23:05 – THE BROOD (1979)

PART OF THE VINTAGE VAULT

Frank Carveth is becoming increasingly concerned about his ex-wife Nola’s secretive treatment at the sinister ‘Somafree Institute of Psychoplasmics. Headed by cult figure Dr Raglan, his controversial and extreme methods seek to unleash his patients' rage, often taking on physical manifestations. As Frank delves deeper he is finally led to an horrific and repellant final confrontation.

Saturday 13 August @ 21:00 – BUFFALO BILL & THE INDIANS (1976) *Channel

Premiere

In 1885, Buffalo Bill's name is the symbol of heroism in America. His famous "Wild West Show", which is known all over the country, is organised by his brilliant manager, Nate Salsbury. But when he is off stage, Buffalo is a show-off who drinks and continually seeks new mistresses, while trying to consolidate his prestige. When he calls Sitting Bull for help to improve his show, he begins to get into trouble…

Sunday 14 August @ 21:00 – THE FOG (1980)

PART OF THE VINTAGE VAULT

A Northern California fishing town, built 100 years ago over an old leper colony, is the target for revenge by a killer fog containing zombie-like ghosts seeking revenge for their deaths.

Sunday 14 August @ 22:50 – THE HOWLING (1981)

PART OF THE VINTAGE VAULT

A female reporter is attacked by a notorious serial killer and to get over her trauma she is sent to ‘The Colony’, a remote mountain resort. But there her problems really begin, as the residents are werewolves.

Saturday 20 August @ 21:00 – ROBBERY (1967) *Channel Premiere

Based on the infamous Great Train Robbery, we follow Paul Clifton (Stanley Baker) as he forms a team to carry out an ambitious heist of cash from a government mail train traveling from Scotland to London. Everything goes to plan until the very last moment when a series of unforeseen events conspire against them and the police manage to capture the gang. Clifton however tries to escape the country using a counterfeit identity.

Sunday 21 August @ 21:00 – SCANNERS (1981)

PART OF THE VINTAGE VAULT

Drifter Cameron Vale is plagued by incessant voices in his head unaware that he is a Scanner, a group of people with extraordinary powers who can not only read minds but literally tear them apart. He is discovered by a scientist aiming to help his kind adapt to society. However an underground movement of Scanners led by the psychotic Derryl Revok have other intentions and the ultimate confrontation of minds awaits.

Sunday 21 August @ 23:05 – THE BURNING (1981)

PART OF THE VINTAGE VAULT

At summer camp, some teenagers pull a prank on the camp's caretaker, Cropsy (Lou David). But the joke goes terribly wrong, and the teens leave Cropsy for dead after setting him on fire. A few years later, the burned and disfigured caretaker returns to camp equipped with his trusty shears, ready to unleash his particular brand of vengeance…

Saturday 27 August @ 21:00 – CODE NAME: GEROMINO (2012) *UK Premiere

Seal Team 8 must fight their way through the Congo to defuse one of the greatest threats the world has ever known.

Sunday 28 August @ 21:00 – THE THING (1982)

PART OF THE VINTAGE VAULT

In remote Antarctica, a group of American research scientists are disturbed at their base camp by a helicopter shooting at a sled dog. When they take in the dog, it brutally attacks them and they discover that the beast can assume the shape of its victims. Helicopter pilot (Kurt Russell) leads the camp crew in a desperate, gory battle against the vicious creature.

Sunday 28 August @ 23:05 – VIDEODROME (1983)

PART OF THE VINTAGE VAULT

Creative and idiosyncratic filmmaker David Cronenberg directs this delightfully bizarre film about a television programmer who stumbles onto a sado-masochistic video stream that might just be trying to subliminally effect television viewers everywhere.

TV: Sky 148 / Virgin 149 / Freeview 41 / Freesat 137

FRIGHTFEST RECRUITS FOR NEW BLOOD CLASS OF 2022

 

With Arrow Video FrightFest unleashing the fearsome hordes into London’s West End cinemas in late August, the search resumes for new writers in the horror genre through its New Blood initiative. New Blood reunites FrightFest with Giles Edwards of Queensbury Pictures in its mission to find emerging UK-based writers dedicated to the genre and nurture their projects from script to screen. Queensbury Pictures is ultimately interested in acquiring scripts ready for production rather than just an idea, and so, all successful final candidates, if selected, should be able to send even a rough draft of the first ten pages of their script through with their acceptance.

The successful shortlisted applicants will workshop their ideas in a group setting under the guidance of top industry professionals and genre experts. This year’s panel will be announced shortly.

Applications are open for 10 days from 19th July with potential participants asked to submit a 400 word proposal through the dedicated New Blood page on the FrightFest website and if selected, each writer is expected to submit the first ten pages of their script idea. The deadline is 28th July. All successful applicants will be notified by 29th July and then will be requested to send over their sample script pages. All participants are expected to pay for their own travel to, and accommodation in, London.

To apply: https://www.frightfest.co.uk/NEWBLOOD.html

Arrow Video FrightFest 2022 adds MEAN SPIRITED to line-up

 

Director Jeff Ryan’s thoroughly entertaining found-footage horror comedy MEAN SPIRITED will receive its World premiere at this year’s Arrow Video FrightFest event. It will be screened on Sunday 28 August, 1.15pm at the Cineworld, Leicester Sq., Screen 1.

Synopsis: When two estranged friends reconnect, things buried deep down are bound to surface. Wannabe famous vlogger Andrew Castellano, aka ‘The Amazing Andy’, sets off for a weekend at his former friend turned famous actor Bryce. After receiving the invitation to Bryce’s mountain cottage, Andy has decided to bury the hatchet. Unfortunately he isn't quite himself anymore…

It is exec produced by FrightFest stalwart Shaked Berenson of SLAXX, TURBO KID and TALES OF HALLOWEEN fame.

Arrow Video FrightFest, the UK’s most popular horror and fantasy film festival, is back at London’s Cineworld Leicester Square and the Prince Charles Cinema from Thursday August 25 – Monday 29 August for five days of the very best of global genre cinema.

Single tickets on sale from Sat 23 July, noon

For booking and programme details: https://www.frightfest.co.uk

Graham Humphreys’ stunning poster art for Arrow Video FrightFest 2022 - a celebration of the festival’s past 'trophy' films.

 

Arrow Video FrightFest has revealed Graham Humphreys’ stand-out poster design for 2022, which marks the 14th appearance for his iconic Monster.

Graham revealed today: “The predominant theme is a celebration of past 'trophy' films. I took my inspiration references from an old paperback cover 'Vincent Price presents: The Price of Fear', in which Vincent's head is depicted mounted on a wooden shield. It seemed the perfect way to represent the films, with key portraiture represented as mounted heads. Rather than mount the head of the regular FrightFest monster, I thought it would be fun to turn him into the roaring lion of MGM's familiar mascot!”

This year’s annual Bank Holiday event, the UK’s largest celebration of genre cinema, takes place at Cineworld Leicester Square and The Prince Charles Cinema. between Thurs Aug 25 & Mon Aug 29, 2022.

This year’s line-up of films will be announced on Thursday 14th July at 2pm BST.

Interview with Chris McAuley - By David Kempf

When did you first become interested in writing?
I’ve been interested in crafting stories and worlds since I was very young David. It’s probably a well-known story now but my father would have taken me to the local library. There was one writer whose work I continually sought out, John Peel. John wrote several Doctor Who novelizations, his richness of language and immersive world building often encouraged my imagination. I would find myself sitting at the kitchen table constructing stories about Doctor Who, Dinosaurs and Vampires. As I disclose this, I realize how, now I am almost 40, that everything has come full circle! This love of writing was then rekindled when I was mentored by the creator of 2000AD Pat Mills in 2017. He encouraged me to continue to explore the craft and I started writing some Judge Dredd stories and progressed from there. As an aside, I was lucky enough to write a Dracula novel with the aforementioned John Peel last year. It was entitled ‘Dracula’s Bedlam’.

How did you get involved with Fantasy/Horror?
The love of both came from childhood cartoons. I grew up with Thundercats, Dungeons and Dragons and Ghostbusters. These all had fantasy and horror motifs. Later I became a fan of Doctor Who and I do have a very distinct memory of reading Dracula when I was seven years old. Vampiric imagery fascinated me growing up. It’s a very Irish myth, the vampire, a lot of vampirologists miss that. We have the creatures that emerge from the bogs, Carmilla was the creation of an Irish writer, Sheridan Le Fanu. Growing up I was steeped in the old stories and myths of the old Irish world, kings and demons fighting with sword and claw. I think that is a very deep ancestral connection to Fantasy and Horror. I started writing these genres a few years ago, Horror with several US published comic books featuring werewolves, mummies and of course Dracula. I crafted a fantasy universe with Claudia Christian (the Babylon 5 actress) and we have several titles being released in that range this year across various media.

How would you classify the genre you write?
That’s actually difficult, I have touched detective stories with Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Fantasy, Cosmic Horror, Science Fiction…Perhaps it would be more accurate to say that I write about the grotesque. I’m extremely comfortable with that. There’s something that transfixes me about the disturbing aspects of humanity, flukes and magnified flaws. Is there a genre that describes looking unwavering at your own soul and using its perceived failings to craft characters? I’m not sure but I think that’s what I do. An equal amount of self-realization and projection.

Please tell us about your work with video games.
It all started when I began to write games, by that I mean I was coding them in C# and C++. I was employed to do that by various companies. I worked on code, animation, visual design and even 3D artwork. I was in the trenches so you learn to become proficient at many aspects of crafting a game that way. My first work on game narrative was with Tiny Rebel Games and their Doctor Who Legacy mobile game. I scripted some of the dialogue and scenarios. I moved on from that and worked on attempting to craft a cohesive narrative for Bioware’s Anthem title. That was difficult as the game had already shipped. I managed to help create a more engaging introduction but I think the studio knew that it was too late. The audience for the game had disappeared. In the last few years, I’ve worked with retrogames for an amazing cloud-based Arcade company Antstream which is taking the industry by storm and now am employed by Amazon Games as lead narrative designer to work on several franchise titles for games being release on Web 3.0. Also, I mustn’t forget that I am working on a Dracula video game as a narrative consultant (with my wonderful business partner Dacre Stoker)

Why do you think Horror and Fantasy Books remain so popular?
They tap into powerful escapism and a unique way of using imagination. The possibilities offered by each genre are endless. There’s also the ability to discuss many sensitive issues within the framework of these genres and also be entertained.

Why do you think the vampire myth, particularly Dracula remains so popular?
Why was the Horus myth for the Egyptians popular? Or the Vampiric Aset Ka- who was a form of Isis? They tap into something primal which we have never forgotten. The early Judeo-Christian texts forbid the drinking of blood for example yet the established Christian church approves of it (in a symbolic fashion). Tradition in some cultures (including the ancient Irish) thought that by drinking blood you would extend your natural life. For the Dracula myth it’s the thumbing the nose at traditional religion, desire to live forever and (thanks to the movie interpretations) sex.

What Inspires your stories?
Thoughts that pop up in my head. Powerful imagery from art books. Poor films that I rewrite to make better. The desire to create something that people enjoy and remember fondly.

What do you think the difference between American horror and British horror is?
Pushing boundaries and cultural context. American horror generally seems more comfortable with graphic nature of horror. British horror is very comfortable in the traditional gothic tale, the art of suggestion. That’s a terrible generalization and I think now there’s more of a blurring of that.

What are your favourite horror books?
I would be in trouble if I didn’t say Dracula. Honestly, I think that was the first horror novel I read. James Herberts Rats, Candace Nolan’s Bishop, Elizabeth Massey, Jeff Strand and Clive Masterson’s works. Anything that makes me pause or gives a powerful sense of dread or situation.

What are some of your favourite horror movies?
Terminator – the first two films, that sense of relentlessness and the dark side of technology. American Werewolf in London for atmosphere, humor and amazing special effects. Anything Hammer or that has Vincent Price in it. The actors and their presence really make the film at times. My friends Claudia Christina and Bruce Campbell would be upset if I didn’t mention Maniac Cop or Evil Dead – they are fun, Schlocky horror films I watched as a kid.

What would you consider your greatest accomplishment as an author?
People reaching out to me and telling me they had a good time when reading my work. Primarily I am writing for entertainment.

Do you have any advice for new writers?
Never be afraid to reach out to your heroes to seek guidance and inspiration. Most authors want to help others find their path. I am a mentor in the Horror Writers Association and I know from experience that established writers want to help up and coming talent. Never be afraid of ‘failure’, its part of the process. Don’t look back too critically on your previous work, but remember fondly the experiences you had when writing it.

What is your opinion of the new self-publishing trend?
If it works for the author – go for it. As for myself, I know I need a good editor for my work and have always found that the publishers I work with to be helpful in this regard. If you are self-publishing make sure you have a good marketing plan. Readership needs to know that your work exists!

What are your current projects?
Working on the Terminator franchise in gaming and in prose, managing several StokerVerse game and comic book projects. Writing Doctor Who stories for anthologies … To be honest there’s so many things going on. I’m also a submission editor for Crystal Lake Publishing and editor of The Horror Tree magazine as well as technical editor for game programming books from O’Reilly publishing.

A Paragraph about my work
I am a writer of graphic novels, audios, novels, short stories, tabletop RPG’s, board and video games. I work in several franchises such as Terminator and Doctor Who. I’ve been partnered with Legendary Disney Imagineer Teri Hardin Jackson for Star Wars narratives; we also did a Batman comic together. I co-created the StokerVerse with Dacre Stoker and Dark Universes, a science fiction franchise with Babylon 5 actress Claudia Christian. My style is mostly visceral and I’m a plotter not a pantser!

NEWS: RAW 'contender for best horror movie of the decade' gets Standard Ed. Blu-ray release 8 August from Second Sight Films

Get ready for a second helping of Raw, as the deliciously dark tale of a strict vegetarian who discovers a taste for human flesh after heading to a brutal veterinary college where initiation ceremonies are the norm, gets a Standard Edition Blu-ray release thanks to Second Sight Films. This horror hit will be dished up on 8 August 2022. Pre-Order at https://amzn.to/3amweUr

BAFTA nominated and Palme d’Or winner Julia Ducournau's (Titane) shocking feature film debut was acclaimed by critics after a barnstorming debut at Toronto International Film Festival, where paramedics had to be called after audience members fainted at the film's premiere. Now, after wowing audiences on its initial release and its hugely successful Limited Edition, Second Sight has once again pulled the Raw ingredients together for the brilliant Raw Standard Edition release, that has a full menu of extras.

Shy student Justine (Garance Marillier – Warning, Titane), heads to a veterinary school and is subjected a tough series of hazing rituals from fellow students. And it's even tougher for vegetarian Justine as she is covered in blood and forced to eat raw meat. But after tasting the flesh, Justine finds herself craving even more meat - and it doesn't matter if it's animal or human as her uncontrollable desires lead to a horrific outcome.

Second Sight has produced a sumptuous buffet for your delectation, with features including interviews with star Garance Marilier and producer Jean des Forets, commentary from critic Alexandra West, as well as interviews and commentaries from Julia Ducournau and plenty more, this is a dish that tastes as good as it looks.

Pre-Order at https://amzn.to/3amweUr