Saturday, 30 January 2016

Welcome to Dead Town - Book Release


You may recall recently I published a piece looking at new short comedy show Dead Town, well if not you can go check that out By Clicking Here

To accompany the new show they have also released a book called Welcome to Dead Town which is available now for Kindle and also as a paperback book.

Synopsis:
‘My name is John Diant. Tortured father to a teenage girl, friend to a retro smart arse and brother to a Spam loving Chuck Norris wannabe, only with less hair and a shitter beard. It has been several days since the outbreak and now my home town is nothing more than a dead town.’

Follow the zombie outbreak as it happens in the small industrial town of Runcorn in the North West of England, with journal entries from survivor John Diant bringing you the apocalypse from his perspective, whilst chapters bring you tales of survival from the town.

Welcome to Dead Town is the Amazon bestselling horror comedy series Death in a Northern Town 1, 2 and 3 told as one complete story.

Amazon Links:
Welcome to Dead Town - Paperback
Welcome to Dead Town - Kindle

And below is the trailer for the new online show which is released this Sunday at 9pm on their  YouTube channel

Trailer:

Wednesday, 27 January 2016

Interview with Can Evrenol


About:
Born and raised in Istanbul, Evrenol studied Film Studies and Art History at the University of Kent at Canterbury. Upon graduating, he has independently written, directed and produced short horror films, which won him several international awards, as well as being officially selected to more than 40 international genre film festivals around the world.

His feature debut film Baskin (2015), based on his 2013 short film of the same title, premiered at Toronto International Film Festival's Midnight Madness section, and awarded the Best Director at Austin Fantasticfest's New Wave Awards.

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Ahead of the UK premiere screening of BASKIN at the Glasgow Film Festival, we asked the director Can Evrenol a few pertinent questions…

Q: What were the challenges of elongating the BASKIN short film ideas into a full feature?

A brief history of Turkish genre cinema and the must-see movies virgins should see?
Please refer to the awesome award winning documentary "Remake, Remix, Rip-Off" (2014) for a brief history Turkish genre madness. Must see movies: "Man Who Saves The World aka Turkish Star Wars", "Tarkan vs Viking" and "Deathless Devil", tho be sure to have your fast forward button close. And last but not least "Dort Yanım Cehennem" whose english subttiles are done by Evrim Ersoy and I!

Q: BASKIN is visually and narratively very ambitious for your first feature…

I guess it is a continuation of the same visual and narrative journey that I've been experimenting and progressing on through my short films. I'm learning as I go.

Q: Lucio Fulci, HELLRAISER, ‘Hansel and Gretel’ … what were your other main inspirations for BASKIN?

Once Upon A Time in Anatolia, David Lynch, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Frontieres, Calvaire, Only God Forgives, Twilight Zone

Q: Ulas Pakkan’s electronic score really creates a fabulous mood. Was it always the idea to invoke an 80s vibe of creepy unease?

Yes it was actually. A mixture of that 80's feel and modern dark synth in the footsteps of Trent Reznor, Clint Mansell and Cliff Martinez

Q: BASKIN begins as an arthouse shocker and then turns hardcore gore – you seem to favour genre collisions and shifts?

It was always my intention to make a movie that begins a as a European arthouse festival film, slow, controlled and orchestrated. But as later progresses into the mad world of surreal horror and a visual attack on the audience. That's what I tried to experiment with Baskin.

Q: Alp Korfali’s cinematography is exceptional. Was the Nicolas Winding Refn vibe intentional?

Only God Forgives, Frontieres and I Saw The Devil were particularly the films that we studied together in terms of light.

Q: Let’s talk frogs…how many did you use and why?

Frogs are doom bringers in mythology. In Baskin, they lead the cops to their doom, in their nightmarish journey. They symbolise the film getting off it's tracks. We used quite a few, although if I had the budget I'd love to have hundreds more...

Q: Mehmet Abi cuts quite a strong impression as Father. Where did you find him and is he the new Michael Berryman? 

I found Mehmet Abi's headshot while randomly going through the old archives of a cast agency. I was just looking for a creepy looking extra for my short film, Baskin (2013). I noticed him right away when I arrived at the set. He was the centre of attention. Yet everybody was looking at him from a distance. I went straight to him, casually introduced myself, and shook his hand.Turns out that he's a car park attendant. No acting experience. He just enrolled at a cast agency 10 years ago and been waiting ever since.

When it was time for the feature, I wrote the Father character with him in mind. But it was obviously a huge gamble to give this most important role of my first feature film to a non-actor. I rolled the dice and sent him the script. Mehmet Abi told me that he would read the script during the religious holiday, while he visits his hometown Samsun. A couple days later he sent me, on my phone, some the scenes that he actually painted. I was flabbergasted. I loved it. I asked for more, and he painted some more. Soon after seeing these amazing paintings I said that's it, this is a much more special case than I thought... After the Turkish premiere of Baskin, his paintings were exhibited in "Bant", the coolest independent art gallery in Istanbul.

To prepare him for his character, I asked him to watch such films as Apocalypse Now, Hellraiser and Zeki Demirkubuz films. He loved them all. His feedback to me was pretty deep and poignant. I was touched. There and then, I trusted that we had a new Michael Berryman at hand! Today, whenever we are at a festival Q&A, it is my great pleasure to hear Mehmet Abi (Brother Mehmet) talk about Baskin...

Q: You already have the sequel written?

Yes we do have a crazy idea for a sequel actually, but currently I'm working on something else.

BASKIN screens at part of FrightFest Glasgow 2016 on Sat 27th Feb at the GFT Screen 1, 7.05pm. Can Evrenol will be in attendance.

To book tickets: http://tickets.glasgowfilm.org/en-GB/categories/frightfest

Monday, 25 January 2016

Competition: Win Five Dolls for an August Moon on Dual Format [Blu-Ray + DVD]

Five Dolls for an August Moon is out on Dual Format [Blu-Ray + DVD] on 1st February! and to celebrate we have a great competition for you and 2 copies to win.

Synopsis:
A weekend retreat on a private island should be a recipe for rest and relaxation unless you re appearing in a giallo by the master of the macabre, Mario Bava (Black Sunday, Blood and Black Lace)...

Wealthy industrialist George Stark (Teodora Corrà, Django the Bastard) has gathered a group of friends - played by a who's who of Italian genre cinema including William Berger (Faccia a faccia), Ira von Fürstenberg (The Fifth Cord), Edwige Fenech (Your Vice is a Locked Room and Only I Have the Key) and Howard Ross (The New York Ripper) - to his island retreat. He hopes to entice them into investing in a new project, but soon the sunbathing and cocktails parties give way to murder, as the corpses begin to pile up one by one.

Paying homage to Agatha Christie s Ten Little Indians, Five Dolls for an August Moon turns the style up to ten. Surrounded by beautiful women, stunning locations and flamboyant fashions and abetted by Piero Umiliani s equally exotic score Bava creates one of his most eye-catching movies, a visual tour de force.

Win This:
Five Dolls For An August Moon Dual Format [Blu-Ray + DVD]

To enter all you have to do is answer this easy question...

Competition Closed

Winners will be chosen randomly and will be informed via email.

Thursday, 21 January 2016

Film news (UK): Horror Channel unleashes a fear-filled February of premieres



Sky 319 / Virgin 149 / Freesat 138 / Freeview 70


Horror Channel presents eight petrifying premieres for Friday and Saturday nights this February, including the UK TV Premiere of Daric Gates’ possession  thriller THE APPEARING and the Network premieres of Paul Hyett’s disturbing directorial debut THE SEASONING HOUSE, Stephen King’s psychological thriller SECRET WINDOW, starring Johnny Depp and Renny Harlin’s supernatural cult favourite THE COVENANT.

Other network premieres for Friday nights are: Christian Duguay’s dystopian Sci-Fi actioner SCREAMERS and Robert Heath’s Brit revenge shocker TRUTH OR DARE, whilst Saturday night’s exclusive line-up embraces haunting chiller DARKNESS FALLS and Simon West’s frenzied pulse-racer WHEN A STRANGER CALLS.

Be afraid.

Full details in transmission order:

Fri 5 Feb @ 10.55pm – SCREAMERS (1995) *Network Premiere

Based on Philip K. Dick's short story "Second Variety", this cult favourite stars Peter Weller as Cmdr. Joe Hendricksson, who sets out across the surface of Sirius 6B, hoping to settle a violent labour dispute at a remote mining outpost. However, the desert is riddled with deadly "Screamers", which Hendrickson helped create. These burrowing weapons, designed to protect the mines, have learned to replicate themselves and can also assume humanoid form. And now they have a new mission: to obliterate all life.

Sat 6 Feb @ 9.00pm – DARKNESS FALLS (2003) *Network Premiere

Kyle (Chaney Kley) must confront the painful memories of his mother’s brutal murder when
he is summoned back to Darkness Falls by his childhood sweetheart (Emma Caulfield), whose nine-year-old brother is having the same nightmares that drove Kyle to the brink of madness. When he returns, Kyle realises that the evil spirit who killed his mother is a vengeful spirit that has taken the form of the Tooth Fairy to exact vengeance on the town that lynched her a hundred and fifty years earlier. Directed by Jonathan Liebesman.

Fri 12 Feb @ 9.00pm – THE APPEARING (2014) *UK TV Premiere


A woman once possessed by a mysterious entity uncovers a shocking secret about her past and must face the demon that dwells inside of her.

Sat 13 Feb @ 10.50pm – WHEN A STRANGER CALLS (2006) *Network Premiere

City detective Michael (Will Wallace) relocates to a quaint, small town with his wife Rachel (Emily Brooks), following her emotional breakdown after the sudden death of their young daughter. Michael takes a job in the sheriff’s office and is asked to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a teenage girl. As the investigation deepens he discovers secrets which unlock the realms of the supernatural and nightmare terrors. How far will Michael and Rachel go to fight the dark forces and locate the missing girl?

A remake of Fred Walton's 1979 horror film of the same name, this contemporary re-imagining casts Camilla Belle as babysitter Jill Johnson, who thinks her latest job, in a hilltop luxury designer house, is a cushy number. But then the phone rings and each time an ominous voice asks, "Have you checked the children?" Jill phones the police, who inform her that the calls are coming from inside the house. Jill's quiet night of babysitting is about to turn into a nerve-shattering nightmare of suspense, horror and dread.

Fri 19 Feb @ 10.50pm –TRUTH OR DARE (2012) *Network Premiere

A group of teens at a party play a game of 'Truth or Dare'.  It gets out of hand when one of
the party-goers (Felix) is violently picked on by the others. A few months later the group are invited to a party that Felix is throwing at his parents' mansion. But when they arrive they are guided to a cabin further up the road, to find that Felix's brother is there instead. And he’s out for revenge for what the group did to his brother - sparking a terrifying sequence of events and a whole new twist on the game of Truth or Dare - where the truth can kill you.

Sat 20 Feb @ 9.00pm – SECRET WINDOW (2004) *Network Premiere


While in the process of an ugly divorce from his wife (Maria Bello), writer Mort Rainey (Johnny Depp) relocates to his remote cabin in upstate New York for solitude. Attempting to recover his mental health, Rainey has the misfortune of being found by John Shooter (John Turturro), a farmer who claims Rainey plagiarised his work. At first, Rainey ignores the accusations, but Shooter has no intention of quietly disappearing. The film is based on the novella Secret Window, Secret Garden by Stephen King,

Fri 26 Feb @ 9.00pm – THE COVENANT (2006) *Network Premiere

In the 17th century, five families with supernatural powers make a pact of silence. Eventually one power-hungry family is banished. The descendants of the four remaining families are heirs to tremendous power. Known as the Sons of Ipswich, the boys attend elite Spencer Academy. When a student there is found dead after a party, unravelling secrets threaten to shatter the pact that has protected the boys' families for centuries.
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Sat 27 Feb @10.45pm – THE SEASONING HOUSE (2012) *Network Premiere


Special make-up prosthetics and splatter genius Paul Hyett made his directorial debut with this harrowing exploration into tense claustrophobia, hard-hitting action and rollercoaster suspense. In a Balkan brothel, where girls kidnapped by soldiers in war-torn zones are prostituted to the military and civilians alike, Angel (Rosie Day) is the deaf mute orphan enslaved to care for the inmates. But unbeknownst to her captors, she moves between the walls and crawlspaces of the seasoning house planning her escape. This is psychological horror in the nerve-shredding Roman Polanski style but with an ultra-modern twist. Also stars Sean Pertwee and Kevin Howarth.

TV: Sky 319 / Virgin 149 / Freesat 138 | Freeview 70
www.horrorchannel.co.uk | twitter.com/horror_channel

Monday, 18 January 2016

Competition: Win Confined on DVD

Confined is out on DVD on 25th January! and to celebrate we have a great competition for you and 2 copies to win.

Synopsis:
CONFINED is an intense and claustrophobic thriller that follows troubled Streak (Louisa Krause Avas Possessions) who, in a last-ditch effort at getting her life together, takes a job working nights as a security guard at an abandoned luxury apartment building.

Stuck with Cooper (Jason Patric The Lost Boys), a perverse rent-a-cop as her partner, she tries to focus on the job at hand and not let the dark hallways play havoc on her delicate mental state. But as the night wears on and the shadows begin to move in the empty halls she realises the darkness inside her own mind might be the least of her worries.

Win This:
Confined [DVD]

To enter all you have to do is answer this easy question...

Competition Closed

Winners will be chosen randomly and will be informed via email.

Friday, 15 January 2016

Full Movie (USA Only) - Cyclotrode X (1946) - From The Paramount Vault



The evil Crimson Ghost threatens to short out the world in this Sci Fi adventure!

Edited-down feature version of the serial 'Crimson Ghost, The (1946)', in which the evil Crimson Ghost tries to make away with an atomic device capable of wreaking havoc throughout the world.

Dead Town - Official Teaser Trailer 2016



Jon Donnis Opinion:
I was contacted by director Peter Mckeirnon, and told about his new show Dead Town, a web based comedy horror show set in the North of England. It already sounds like the perfect mix, zombies and northerners! So I checked out the trailer (see below), and I liked it, so thought I would give the show a plug.

We live in a world of huge budgets, overpaid actors and so on, so any time we have an independent team trying to put together something new we should support them. For truly great comedy has to start somewhere. And without people taking a chance at something, we would never get anything.

So if you are a Zombie fan, and lets be honest, we all are really, whether your thing is Walking Dead or Ash vs Evil Dead, there is always space for a new show, and my pick for that spot is Dead Town. So watch the trailer below, check out their social media pages, and if you want to help click on the Indiegogo link and see if it floats your boat. Ok read the blurb, watch the trailer, that's an order!

Synopsis:
It’s the end of the world. The dead have risen and humanity is crumbling. In the small industrial town of Runcorn in the North West of England, John Diant, his survivalist, spam loving, apocalypse obsessed brother Butty and his retro, chain smoking smart arse best friend 80s Dave, are doing what needs to be done to survive – From both the living and the dead!

Based on the Kindle and iTunes bestselling comedy horror series Death in a Northern Town, Dead Town is a new web based ‘sick-com’ and will be coming to YouTube in January 2016.

Mixing comedy with extreme gore (plus other bodily fluids), Dead Town will follow the adventures of John and co, as they search for his missing daughter, Emily, on the mean streets of zombie infested Runcorn!

For a dead town, Runcorn has never been so alive!

Director: Peter Mckeirnon
Cast: Michael Green, Neil Gallagher, Karl Davies

Social Media
Facebook
Youtube Channel

How you can help
Indiegogo