CARRIERS infect the UK this December

Despite a much delayed - and what can only be described as “token” - theatrical release in the U.S, Alex and David Pastor’s post-apocalyptic horror Carriers still managed to do pretty good business, and on the whole, garnered some very favourable reviews. So with that in mind, we thought it worth a mention to our British readers the flick is set to open in the UK next month. Piper Perabo, Emily VanCamp and Chris Pine star – putting a tick in the eye candy quota box - against the back drop of continental America, descending into the grip of a pandemic meltdown. Carriers opens in the UK December 11th.

Synopsis: Four kids are driving through the desert on the way to the beach, their faces anything but cheery: this isn't Spring Break. They're trying to outrun the end of the world and each other. no one is safe from the viral pandemic threatening to wipe out the human race. Determined to elude the deadly virus, Danny, his brother Brian, his girlfriend Bobby and Danny's school friend Kate speed across the Southwestern U.S. to reach a place of possible safety. Over the course of four days, the group is faced with moral decisions that no human should ever be forced to face. They discover that their greatest enemy is not the microbe attacking humanity, but the darkness within themselves.

Carriers official site

Dario Argento’s cult horror SUSPIRIA on Blu-ray!

Having undergone a brand new high definition transfer courtesy of Nouveaux Pictures and Cine-Excess, Dario Argento's horror cult classic Suspiria is heading to Blu-ray for the first time ever, with a HD disc due to go on sale in the UK. The new release will also feature a host of newly commissioned extras including a brand new documentary and a feature length audio commentary by Argento, and experts Alan Jones and Kim Newman.

We don’t have a full list of all the extras and specs yet, but here’s what we know is included so far: "Fear At 400 Degrees: The Cine-Excess Of Suspiria" documentary featuring director Dario Agento and composer Claudio Simonetti; audio commentary by leading Dario Argento experts Alan Jones and Kim Newman; "Suspiria Perspectives" featuring Claudio Simonetti, Norman J. Warren and Patricia McCormack. Suspiria goes on sale on BRD in the UK 18th, January 2010.

Synopsis: Suzy Bannnion is an American ballet student, travelling to Germany to study at an exclusive dance academy in the Black Forest. After one of the students and her friend are hideously murdered (in the first of Argento's breath-catching set-piece killings) Suzy discovers that the academy has a bizarre history and, as the body count rises, she gets involved in a hideous labyrinth of murder, black magic and madness.

Suspiria trailer

Documentary clip

Indonesia goes slasher happy with WATERFALL BRIDE

What’s this…An Indonesian horror movie with a storyline that doesn’t revolve around teens being chased by Pocong, or long haired girl ghosts?! Watching the great looking trailer for their latest frightener Waterfall Bride (they do still need to work on their titles) it does seem that convention is well and truly out the window for this bloody little gore fest. We have a full blown Indonesian slash ‘em ‘up on our hands.

But does it have all the right ingredients for success? A big name local pin up girl and actress (aka Tamara Bleszynski) in the lead. Check. A parade of Bikini wearing babes on a fun packed, care free weekend break to a deserted island. Check. The deserted island actually turns out to the lair of a deranged madman. Check. He’s hell bent on one by one knocking off our team of tanned fun seekers, in the most bloody manner imaginable. Chhheeecck. All present and correct. Let the blood letting begin.

Waterfall Bride opens in Indonesia next month.

 

Waterfall Bride trailer

MOON: DVD Review

Director: Duncan Jones. Review: Adam Wing.

How many times have you heard the phrase ‘they don’t make them like that anymore’? Well next time some smart arse film fanatic bangs on about the golden age of science fiction cinema, point them in the direction of Moon. Not the actual moon you understand, that would be taking things a little too far, I’m talking about Sam Rockwell’s (Frost/Nixon) latest movie, an engrossing journey directed by Duncan Jones.

You can forget the smash, bang, wallop of Star Trek, this is an altogether different kind of cinematic beast, feeling more at home with genre classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Silent Running. Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) is nearing the completion of his 3-year contract with Lunar Industries, mining Earth’s primary source of energy on the dark side of the moon. The only company he has is a vigilant computer called, wait for it, Gerty (voiced by Kevin Spacey). The only contact he has with the outside world comes via satellite messages from his wife and young daughter. He can’t wait to get home, but a freak accident changes everything he thought he knew about his world, leading to paranoia, altered fates and shocking revelations...Continue review here.

Moon official site

Roy Chow’s MURDERER on English friendly DVD

Bloody and brutal thriller, Murderer, the debut feature from ‘Lust, Caution’ assistant director Roy Chow is up to own on English subtitled DVD. Starring Aaron Kwok as a Hong Kong police detective suspected of being a sadistic serial killer, Murderer delivers tense gory suspense, topped off with an equally large dollop of campy over the top nonsense. A cult classic, for all the right reasons perhaps? Murderer goes on sale today.

Synopsis: There's a brutal serial killer on the loose, and the latest victim is cop Tai, who lies comatose in the hospital after getting thrown off a building. Also at the scene of the crime was fellow detective Ling (Aaron Kwok), who wakes up with no injuries and no memory of the incident. Rumours spread quickly in the police force as Ling turns into the prime suspect. Convinced that someone's out to get him and his family, Ling searches desperately for the murderer, but all the clues he encounters point back to himself

 

 

Order the DVD here

Murderer trailer

VENGEANCE TRILOGY pushed back to March… for Blu-Ray!

Yes, my friends, you read that right! We just got word straight from Palisades-Tartan that the release of their 8 disc Vengeance Trilogy box set of Chan-wook Park's Oldboy, Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance and Lady Vengeance has been delayed until march of 2010 so that it can be released simultaneously with it's Blu-Ray counterpart!!!

Woo-hoo!!!

Check out our previous story on the boxset for release specs.

Tadanobu Asano joining Branagh’s THOR?

Don't get too excited just yet, but word is out that Tadanobu Asano may have joined the cast of the upcoming Thor movie, to be directed by Kenneth Branagh. I say "may" because the story, which we read about over at ComingSoon, links to a Variety article that is no longer in place. Maybe someone spoke too soon about something not yet confirmed? The original report stated that Asano had joined the cast as one of The Warriors Three, alongside Ray Stevenson (Punisher: War Zone) and Stuart Townsend, who fight alongside Thor in battle.

The cast for Thor already includes Natalie Portman, Anthony Hopkins, Colm Feore, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgard, Jaimie Alexander and presumably Samuel L. Jackson in a cameo as Nick Fury. If it's true that these other three have also signed on (and we really, really, hope it is), then... wow. I wonder what kind of budget this movie has?

Once more information is available, you know you'll hear about it here.

Death on Wheels. First trailer for Aussie horror ROAD TRAIN

There’s nothing like a good road (horror) movie and from the looks of this first trailer for local director Dean Francis’s Road Train, he may well soon be adding to the list. Unfairly or not, in past coverage we’ve drawn similarities in RTs storyline to Steven Spielberg’s Duel, but watching the trail it seems Francis (and writer Clive Hopkins) have thrown some new twists into the mix, and if nothing else we want to see what the hell is in the back of that truck! Still in post production there’s no word yet on when or where it’s due to open, but this has an American release written - right down to its 20-something slaughtering hub caps - all over it.

Synopsis: Four young friends on a camping adventure in outback Australia are run off the road by an erratically driven road train - a massive three-trailer truck. With their own vehicle wrecked, and the road train stopped, the friends march off to remonstrate with the drivers. But mysteriously, there is no one to be found. Suddenly, the silence is broken by the sound of gunshots. A distant figure in the bush screams and runs towards them. Have they become witnesses to a murder? There’s no time to discuss it. The friends commandeer the road train. The next town is only three hours away. But the next town is somewhere they will never reach. And what they discover inside the vehicle’s trailers proves more terrifying than anything out there on that lonely road.

Road Train trailer

Now with more Vamps! Full trailer for J-Horror HIGANJIMA

The full trailer for Tae Kyun’s live action adaptation of the Vamp horror Manga Higanjima has appeared online, and unlike the character/dialog heavy teaser, it’s finally showing signs there’s some actual action in this big screen version of the best selling story. For some background on the plot check out our earlier coverage on the film here and here.

 

 

Higanjima full trailer

Higanjima official site

Sion Sono’s LOVE EXPOSURE: Review

Director: Sion Sono. Review: Adam Wing.

Four hours in the company of love, obsession and romance, it’s enough to make a grown man reach for the remote control. But don’t be too hasty with that there wandering hand, because looks can be deceiving, and that’s definately the case with cult director Sion Sono's quirky marathon feature Love Exposure. Having already won me over with films like Suicide Club (a dark, delicious favourite) and Noriko's Dinner Table (a rare sequel that arguably outweighs the original), Sono serves up a twisted opus of love, obsession, martial arts, underwear and violence.

Nishijima Takahiro (he was in a pop group) makes his film debut alongside Mitsushima Hikari (Death Note) and Ando Sakura (Kaze no Sotogawa), as a teen who takes upskirt photos. Yup, the guy is quite clearly the prince of perverts, and the rest of the cast don’t fare much better. In Sono’s twisted world, each and every one of them has their own quirky cross to bare. Winner of the Caligari Film Award and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival, Love Exposure takes on religion, family and sexuality. Miraculously, at close to four hours long, it also manages to be an absolute riot from start to finish... Continue reading review.

Love Exposure trailer

Trailer for Clive Barker’s DREAD, drops in Korea

Even though Anthony DiBlasi’s horror thriller (based on the short story by Clive Barker) Dread is set to open in U.S in just over two months, finding an actual trailer for the movie has been like hunting for proverbial Hens teeth. Luckily, Korea of all places has just come up with the goods as it opens there at the end of month. It’s all looking pretty cool so far, with the added bonus of seeing it before a U.S distributor puts the usual awful “Mr voiceover” narration, with multiple references to it “featuring: Twilight star Jackson Rathbone," all over it. Dread opens in Korea November 26th 09 and the U.S January 29th 2010.

Stephen (Jackson Rathbone) and Cheryl (Laura Donnelly) are college students making a documentary about what people dread in life. But they have no idea that their partner Quaid, witnessed his parents being murdered by an axe-wielding lunatic and wants to make others experience his own personal horror. The three set out to document people revealing their life’s most terrifying moments. But Quaid quickly grows bored with mere interviews and decides to take the study to a much more visceral level, causing all three to become vulnerable as they reveal their fears in front of the camera. Just as Stephen and Cheryl realize they have partnered with a madman, they also find themselves subjects of the hideous experiment they brought to life… learning more about fear and dread than any human mind can stand.

Dread trailer

Genius, new kick-ass French posters for BLACK DYNAMITE

Black Dynamite, Scott Sanders homage to the Blaxploitation movies of the 70s explodes onto French Cinema screens in January, and for the release they have created a slew of new character posters for the flick. The original one sheets were great, but these are a work of pure, frickin, cheesaramic genius.

When “The Man” murders his brother, pumps heroin into local orphanages, and floods the ghetto with adulterated malt liquor, BLACK DYNAMITE is the one hero willing to fight all the way from the blood-soaked city streets to the hallowed halls of the Honky House. Michael Jai White stars as the gun-toting, nunchuck-wielding, ladies man and soul brother.

Black Dynamite had a limited theatrical run in the U.S back in October, so we can expect it to hit DVD early in the new year. In the mean time, check out all the 70s pimp-tastic sh*t, from the links.

Black Dynamite posters

Black Dynamite trailers

TIDAL WAVE (AKA HAEUNDAE): DVD Review

Director: Je-gyun Yun. Review: Adam Wing.

Each and every summer millions of tourists flock to Busan City on the East Coast of Korea, and pretty much every summer, major film studios release a big budget disaster movie onto unsuspecting cinema audiences. Hollywood has made a habit of it, drowning us in volcanic lava, invading aliens and soul-destroying earthquakes. So it’s a big warm welcome from the Busan City tourist board, they hope you enjoy your stay at Haeundae Beach, a popular holiday resort for anyone seeking sun, fun and romance. The Korean Film Board on the other hand, well they just hope you enjoy the mayhem as director Je-gyun Yun delivers one of the most successful box office hits in Korean movie history.

You’ll be hard pushed to recognise any of the disaster movie warning signs in the first hour, because Je-gyun Yun introduces the large cast of characters in slapstick fashion. It’s clearly the area he feels most comfortable in, his previous movies include Sex Is Zero and My Boss My Hero, and he certainly gains points for attempting a fresh approach. There are very few glimpses of impending doom in the opening act; no sign of the millions spent on special effects, what we have here is shouty, slapstick farce and larger than life characters. It’s the usual assortment of characters of course; Je-gyun Yun isn’t that daring, so we have the scientist who saw it coming, the non-believing government types, lots of hapless civilians and a sprinkling of hopeless romantics. They are all present and correct; all that’s missing is the wave itself. The comedy actually works well up to a point, more on that in a moment, and the first hour is arguably the most entertaining part of the entire movie. Korean comedy is like Marmite, it’s somewhat over the top and childlike in places but there is a warmth that grows which should have you rooting for the characters come crunch time...Continue reading review here.

Tidal Wave trailer

Stills aplenty for new Spanish horror THE ANQUISH

Yesterday Aullidos dropped the news of the release of some first stills for upcoming Spanish horror film The Anguish, by local helmer Jordi Mesa. To be honest, most of them weren’t all that. The striking poster on the other hand, definitely caught our attention. A rummage around the interweb later and we’ve turned up the director’s blog, packed with a load more on set photos and some new, very atmospheric pics from the film.

The Anguish tells the story of four international robbers fleeing a botched robbery. During the robbery one of them is seriously wounded and the group are forced to seek refuge in a secluded house in the countryside. Everything seems under control until one of them is brutally murdered. From then on, things start to go very wrong.

Melanie Olivares, Jorge Bosch, Pablo Puyol, Ana de la Reguera and Elena Silvia Casas form the cast, and in what seems to be an immerging trend in Spanish horror movie production (with the likes of “Paintball” and Manuel Carballo’s upcoming frightener “Exorcismus”) Anguish is being shot entirely in English. More as we get it.

The Anguish stills  

Dante Lam’s THE BEAST STALKER on R2 DVD

Dante Lam’s superb Hong Kong thriller The Beast Stalker is coming to UK R2 DVD as a two-disc Ultimate Collector's Edition. One of the best HK cop movies of 2008, Stalker features one of the most stunning cinematic car chases seen in recent years, and is topped off with an amazing car crash sequence, that you’d be at hard pressed to see bettered in a high end Hollywood production. Extras wise, for the second disc, they’ve put together a fairly reasonable selection of goodies including; Behind The Scenes (The Car Chase; Scaling The Sign; The Street Chase; Little Actors); Making Of; Interview Gallery (Nicholas Tse; Jingchu Zhang; Nick Cheung; Dante Lam); extended/alternate scenes and trailer gallery. The Beast Stalker hits the streets on January 4th.

Plotline: Sergeant Tong (Nicholas Tse), a tough and uncompromising Hong Kong detective willing to put everything on the line in the pursuit of the city's most dangerous underworld kingpin, Cheung Yat-tung . However, on the day he manages to apprehend his target a fateful car crash sparks a tragic chain of events that begins with Tong accidentally killing the eldest daughter of Ann Gao, the public prosecutor in charge of handling the case against Cheung. Just as Cheung is about to stand trial, Ann's younger daughter is kidnapped by a relentless contract killer, Hung (Nick Cheung), a man also familiar with tragedy and who has been blackmailed into taking on the job by Cheung's henchmen. Still devastated by recent events, Tong, against Ann's wishes, determines to seek out Hung and rescue the young girl in an attempt to find some kind of redemption amidst the chaos of his shattered life.

Beast Stalker website

Our review of Beast Stalker

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