Movies

With Tom Holland's adaptation of Stephen King's The Ten O'Clock People currently making the sales rounds at Cannes, word has come that Chris Evans (Captain America, Snowpiercer) is in talks to replace Justin Long, who had to drop out due to a scheduling conflict. Per Deadline, the plan is to shoot The Ten O'Clock People, an adaptation of King's short story of the same name that was first published in Nightmares and Dreamscapes in 1993, this fall in Atlanta. Holland, the 1980s horror maven who wrote and directed Fright Night and Child's Play and previously tackled King’s Thinner and The Langoliers, will direct. The story centers on a man who, when attempting to kick his smoking habit, has his eyes opened to a frightening reality in which many people in authority are monsters. He joins a group of others like him called "The Ten O’Clock People." Pascal Borno and Scott Karol’s Conquistador Entertainment, Holland’s Dead Rabbit Films, and E.J. Meyers (who co-wrote the script with Holland), Robin Reitman, and Nathaniel Kramer’s Making Ten O’Clock Productions will produce the film. Previously Rachel Nichols (Raze, P2, "Continuum") was in talks for the project as well, but we haven't gotten an update on that in a while. We'll keep our eyes and ears open for more details as they come. VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON! Got news? Click here to submit it! Burn 'em if ya got 'em in the comments section below!

“I don’t think I can hold on much longer,” groans a soldier in “Death March,” and his sentiment is likely to be echoed by the small audience for Adolfo Borinaga Alix Jr.’s gruelingly abstract and attenuated war meditation. Deploying a curious mix of artificial scenery, extended slow-motion and black-and-white cinematography, the director seeks to suspend... Read more »

Word is coming out of the 2013 Cannes Film Fest that UK-based Stealth Media Group and Cathartic Pictures have teamed up to produce a revolving slate of films, and the first two projects will be a zombie Western and a vampire flick. Read on for the first few details. Per Deadline, Stealth and Cathartic (Iron Sky producer Cathy Overett’s new shingle ) have set up Bullets for the Dead, a $2M zombie Western, to shoot in Queensland, Australia, in July. It will be followed by Bite, a $5M vampire film slated to shoot in Oz in October. Stealth Australia is also looking to pick up two to three films a year out of Australia. We should have updates on both productions shortly. In the meantime for more info on the fest, which runs until May 26th, visit the official Festival de Cannes website. VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON! Got news? Click here to submit it! Load your weapons with bullets for the dead in the comments section below.

Star Trek Into Darkness was expected to open somewhere around $100 million for its first four days, but it ended up falling $15 million short. Should Paramount be worried with Hangover 3 and Fast & Furious 6 on the way next weekend?

Creeping about the West End in search of film obscurities being something of a hobby of mine, your pal Scenester fair leapt out of his office at 5.30 one chilly Monday evening, throwing his coat on as he did, to make his way once more to BFI Stephen Street, for a screening of Deep End, a forgotten gem from 1970. I confess to not having heard of this film before, although I am at a loss to say why, in view of the gritty subject matter, year of production, authentic London locations and strong cast. The list of films dealing with society's changing sexual mores, young and older people and their contrasting attitudes to sex is a particularly lengthy one, but I can safely say that this one is a real oddity, even by the standards of the time. The story concerns Mike, (John Moulder-Brown) a young lad who has started work in his first job as a public baths attendant, in an age where the 'baths' were not simply for swimming, but were also to bathe in, there still being people who did not have the luxury of a bath in their own home. Mike is a pleasant sort, but very inept and shy with girls, and the fact that one of his co-workers is the sexy Susan, (Jane Asher) means his hormones are running crazy. Susan introduces Mike to the seedier side of bath house life, where attendants can earn a few tips doing 'favours' for their customers. Mike's complete lack of experience leads to many embarrassing moments, including one with a notable cameo role for Diana Dors as a buxom matron, who projects all manner of football-related fantasies onto Mike whilst she paws him into submission. The baths are frequented by a long succession of frustrated women, scruffy men and schoolchildren, the latter being of particular interest to a lecherous teacher (Karl-Michael Vogler) whose bottom-slapping and 'come hither' behaviour would earn him an appearance in court in these more protective times. Mike, of course, only has eyes for Susan, and has determined to disrupt her relationship with her soon-to-be fiance (Chris Sandford, a face no doubt familiar to almost everyone reading this article, such was his ubiquity in 60s and 70s films and TV). His farcical attempts to split the two lovers up only serve to make Mike more miserable and Susan more attached to her man. The lengthy scenes where Mike follows the couple around town, first to a cinema showing a truly hilarious excuse for an adult film (little more than some poor quality dominatrix spouting pseudo-scientific babble in an elegant house), and later on to the inevitably expensive nightclub, well beyond Mike's modest means, are spellbinding for their shots of the streets, cafes and people in their late 60s/early 70s finery. Mike ends up eating more hot dogs than could ever be healthy for a body, served by the ever-present Burt Kwouk, during his long waits around Soho to catch a glimpse of the seductive Susan, always accompanied by her fiance. ??If this is all beginning to sound like 'Here we go round the bike sheds' or 'Carry on up the S-Bend', I would stress that the scenes with Mike going through adolescent agony and frustration are handled with a great deal of sensitivity, even when Mike kidnaps a cardboard cut-out that looks like a scantily-clad Susan, from outside a strip joint. And is if to compound his misery, he is forced to hide out in a prostitute's 'workroom' to evade the strip-joint owner’s heavies. His awkwardness in front of the ageing pro, one of her legs in plaster, summons up pathos as well as hilarity in roughly equal measure. As our hero tries and fails over and over again to get something more than Susan's attention, the film starts to take a surreal turn, with Susan losing the stone from her engagement ring in the snow. Their eccentric method of retrieval staggers the viewer, as does the fate of our two leads. To tell you any more of the plot would be plain cruel. I will however mention that the shots of London just after the glad-tide of the 1960s had receded are a joy of dis

It's been exactly a year since we last had an update on Jim Mickle's (Stake Land, We Are What We Are) adaptation of the Joe R. Lansdale novel Cold in July, but with Cannes in full swing, news has come that filming is set to begin in late July with an early 2014 delivery. Per Deadline, Paris-based Backup Media has teamed up with Memento Films International to finance Cold in July. Adapted by Nick Damici and Mickle, the film is being produced by Belladonna Productions’ Rene Bastian, Adam Folk, and Linda Moran — frequent Mickle collaborators. Book Synopsis: When Richard Dane shoots and kills a burglar in his living room, he sets off a strange sequence of events, starting with a threat by the thief's father to kill Richard's son and leading to a dark, horrible truth. "It was important to us to find partners on the movie who would help us create an environment for Jim where he would be protected and be able to excel as a filmmaker," Moran and Bastian jointly said. "We are very happy to have found the full support of the Backup/MFI team." For Backup Media this marks a growing determination to put equity into English-language films; in previous investments they provided debt. "We are very proud Cold in July is the first film for which Backup has provided one-stop film financing," a Backup rep said. "We truly believe Belladonna/MFI/Mickle are the ideal team for us to extend our investment framework." “We’re excited to continue our collaboration with Jim Mickle and Belladonna,” Memento's Emilie Georges said. “Cold in July represents a wonderful step for Jim as a filmmaker, and we are eager to introduce it to the world.” Memento Films International will handle foreign sales and team up with WME Global on the domestic end, as they did on the eOne deal for Mickle’s last film, We Are What We Are. Look for more soon! VISIT THE EVILSHOP @ AMAZON! Got news? Click here to submit it! Stay warm in May in the comments section below!

"We are fighting to maintain our identity!" While the Cannes Film Festival rages on, today's trailer is for an indie rock doc called A Band Called Death, which premiered at the SXSW Film Festival this year and was picked up by Drafthouse Films in February. This trailer has been out for a bit, but we haven't featured it yet and I thought it a worthy film to highlight today. Similar to the Oscar winning doc Searching for Sugar Man, this tells the story of a three-member African-American punk rock band called Death from Detroit that never hit it big until 30 years later when tapes were found in an attic. This looks badass. The Ultimate Trip. ››› Continue reading Indie Trailer Sunday: Badass Punk Rock Doc 'A Band Called Death'

At a Hewlitt Packard panel on the future of animation, participants sometimes crossed swords on the finer points of technology, but all agreed that, as in live-action, the script is the key to success. The subject was technology but it quickly broadened into other toon areas. Frank Mannion, CEO of U.K.-based Swipe Films, pointed out... Read more »

Welcome back to another edition of Kickstart This, FirstShowing's weekly column dedicated to spreading the word about cool indie projects that need your help to become a reality. This week, we're taking a look at "a film that utilizes and celebrates practical creature effects" called Harbinger Down. This project comes from the folks at Amalgamated Dynamics and promises a tense, claustrophobic thriller in the vein of Alien and The Thing. The best part? They'll only use practical animatronic and makeup effects to create the film's creatures. Take a look at their pitch video below, leave us a comment, and donate if you can. Watch this! ››› Continue reading Kickstart This: Awesome Practical FX Creature Film 'Harbinger Down'

Paris-based Backup Media, a film consultancy and investor, has unveiled the first financing deals put through on three titles by B Media Global. Launched last year by Backup, B Media Global is a film fund aimed at bringing Gallic financial know-how and clout to non-French movies made around the globe. In one of its earliest... Read more »