Fresh off the box office success of Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs, which just had the highest opening weekend in the company’s history, NEON has picked up YouTube critic Chris Stuckmann’s debut horror movie Shelby Oaks, Deadline reports this afternoon.
NEON has acquired worldwide rights to the found footage horror movie, which is World Premiering at Fantasia this week. No word yet on a wide release date. Stay tuned for more.
Horror master Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep, “The Fall of the House of Usher”) recently came on board the upcoming Shelby Oaks as an executive producer. Flanagan, Trevor Macy and Melinda Nishioka of Intrepid Pictures have joined the team.
The cast for Shelby Oaks will include Camille Sullivan (Hunter Hunter), Brendan Sexton III (Don’t Breathe 2), Michael Beach (If Beale Street Could Talk), Robin Bartlett (Shutter Island), Keith David (The Thing), Charlie Talbert (The Big Short), Emily Bennett (Alone With You) and Sarah Durn (Where the Crawdads Sing).
So what is Shelby Oaks about, you ask? Here’s the synopsis…
“Shot as a traditional feature, but with some elements of found footage, Shelby Oaks is a horror film about missing paranormal investigators (the paranormal paranoids), the dark legacy they uncovered, and the far-reaching effects their investigation has as Mia searches for her sister Riley, the lead paranormal investigator, 12 years later.
“As Mia uncovers new and disturbing leads related to Riley’s disappearance, she uncovers evidence of a hidden supernatural evil dating all the way back to her and Riley’s childhood.”
Stuckmann wrote and will be directing Shelby Oaks for Paper Street Pictures.
An Italian thriller from director Renato De Maria has been topping charts all over the world, but how is the movie performing in the US Netflix charts?
While Ian McShane was in production on Hot Rod, the Lonely Island crew got to hear him record some of his profane dialogue as Al Swearengen for Deadwood.
The second half of the year is loaded with hotly anticipated horrors including Alien: Romulus, director Fede Alvarez’s (Evil Dead, Don’t Breathe) sequel to the original horror classic that takes place between the events of Alien and Aliens. The film is set on the Renaissance research station, and Total Film has shared three brand new images of the human crew this week.
Meet the crew by checking out Total Film’s exclusive images below.
Alien: Romulus will be unleashed in theaters on August 16.
In Romulus, “While scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station, a group of young space colonizers come face to face with the most terrifying life form in the universe.”
Cailee Spaeny (The Craft: Legacy, Pacific Rim Uprising) leads the cast alongside Isabela Merced,David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Spike Fearn and Aileen Wu.
Fede Alvarez co-wrote the script with Rodo Sayagues (Evil Dead). Ridley Scott is on board as producer for the film, the first movie in the franchise to be released by Disney.
Alien: Romulus is based on characters created by Dan O’Bannon and Ronald Shusett.
Image credit: Murray Close/20th Century Studios/Disney
Image credit: Murray Close/20th Century Studios/Disney
Image credit: Murray Close/20th Century Studios/Disney
Genre classifications tend to fall apart the further we look back in time. That’s why nearly all the original versions of classic fairy tales contain at least one bizarrely horrific element or another. From the Evil Queen’s cannibalistic intentions in Snow White to the Big Bad Wolf successfully devouring both granny and Little Red Riding Hood, even the most innocent stories featured a twinge of terror back when they were first created. However, there is one fairy tale that remains surprisingly dark even in its current iteration, and that would be the chronicle of ThePied Piper of Hamelin.
A simple yet memorable yarn about a pipe-playing stranger who takes revenge on the populace of medieval Hamelin once they fail to pay him for eliminating their rat problem, the story of the Pied Piper has influenced countless other works of art (even popping up as a recurring influence on the Slenderman mythos). That’s why I find it so surprising that there’s no definitive big-screen adaptation of the iconic story – unless you count stop-motion animation.
Enter Czech filmmaker Jiří Barta, a pioneer stop-motion animator working for Kratky Film in the early ’80s. Having already made a name for himself by contributing to a myriad of televised short films aimed at children, Barta and the humble studio wanted to branch out and create a large-scale project meant for older audiences. After some discussion, the director settled on a bold retelling of the Piped Piper, wanting to present the story in a way that would stay true to its Germanic roots while also taking inspiration from Viktor Dyk’s 1911 reinterpretation of the tale, Krysař (Rat-Catcher in Czech).
And so production began on a one-of-a-kind animated spectacle that would incorporate German expressionism and medieval artwork into its visual design. Over the course of a year, Kratky’s artists produced meticulously crafted puppets and locations meant to evoke wood carvings – as well as a rat infestation brought to life through taxidermized skins and the occasional use of live-action photography.
Not very appetizing.
In the finished film (which doesn’t require subtitles since the characters all speak in a fictional German dialect that we aren’t meant to understand), we follow the downfall of Hamelin as the wealthy townsfolk become corrupt in their miserly ways, with the bustling city eventually attracting a vicious swarm of rats. It’s only then that a pipe-playing stranger comes to town and is promptly hired to take care of the problem. Naturally, the Piper is soon betrayed, leading to a horrific comeuppance as the town faces the consequences of extreme avarice.
In 1986, Krysař (retitled to The Pied Piper in North America) would premiere to rave reviews, though this success remained mostly limited to the festival circuit and Eastern European theaters. It would actually take decades for the film to reach home video in America, with most Western cinephiles only coming across this landmark stop-motion fable through bootleg copies and international DVDs aided by the film’s lack of intelligible dialogue.
This aura of mystery may be partly responsible for the film’s enduring legacy as an obscure cult movie, with fans considering it one of the greatest hidden gems of all time, but it’s The Pied Piper’s exceedingly dark tone and imagery that really cemented its place as a classic.
While the general plot was faithfully recreated from familiar versions of the story, which is already one of the darkest fairy tales in existence (possibly due to its origins as an allegedly true horror story), it’s the flick’s deviations from its folkloric source material and the clear preference for Dyk’s bleak retelling that make it such a memorable experience.
For starters, the animated visuals actively enhance the story’s surreal undertones, making a serious experience that much more unsettling due to its whimsical presentation. Horrific moments like the murder and implied sexual assault of a sympathetic main character become downright disturbing when told through the eyes of wooden puppets, and the clockwork-inspired movements of the city folk reveal sinister implications about the inner workings of an oppressive metropolis.
“Them filthy rodents are still coming for your souls!”
The rat plague itself is also incredibly unnerving, with the rodents’ organic design intentionally clashing with the mechanical feel of the rest of the film. The director originally intended for the vermin to feel more alive and sympathetic than the jaded inhabitants of Hamelin, but the use of real rat taxidermy also adds an additional layer of uncanny terror to the mix as the furry plague invades a mostly sterile production.
Of course, the scariest addition to Barta’s The Pied Piper comes from its grisly ending, which ditches the traditional climax of having the Piper kidnapping the local children and instead goes down an unexpected route of city-wide body-horror. I won’t spoil the details for those who still haven’t seen this wood-carved masterpiece, but suffice to say that the finale will stay with you long after the credits roll.
Like the legend that inspired it, The Pied Piper is much more than just a horror story. It’s an anthropological cautionary tale. It’s also a tragic love story, as well as a cathartic revenge yarn. But regardless of how you interpret it, it’s the overall brutality of Krysař that makes it so unique. That’s why I’m glad that the folks over at Deaf Crocodile have finally given the film the remastered Blu-ray release that it desperately needed.
And in a world where adult-oriented animation is finally getting the attention it deserves, with filmmakers like Guillermo del Toro championing the cinematic format as a medium rather than a genre, I think it’s worth looking back on Barta’s magnum opus as a poignant reminder that nightmares are not limited to live-action.
Ketchup Entertainment’s Hellboy: The Crooked Man will introduce yet another live action Hellboy, with Jack Kesy (12 Strong) playing the iconic comic book character this time around.
Check out a fresh look at Jack Kesy as Big Red in the brand new image below.
Hellboy creator Mike Mignola co-wrote the new Hellboy film with Christopher Golden.
Hellboy: The Crooked Man, which doesn’t yet have a release date, is “set in the 1950s and costars Adeline Rudolph (Resident Evil) as a rookie agent of the BPRD (the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense) who teams up with Hellboy to protect the residents of Appalachia from the creepy Crooked Man, who is collecting souls for the devil.”
Brian Taylor (Crank, Gamer,Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Mom and Dad) directed the movie for Millennium, based on a Hellboy mini-series from 2008. The story is said to “expand Hellboy’s world through one of the most beloved issues of the comic series.”
Jefferson White (Yellowstone) stars alongside Kesy and Rudolph asTom Ferrel, Leah McNamara as Effie Kolb, Joseph Marcell as Reverend Watts, Hannah Margetson as Cora Fisher, and Martin Bassindale as the Crooked Man, among others.
“The Crooked Man is a departure from all previous Hellboy films where Mike Mignola and the creator of the comics will finally shepherd an authentic version of his stories and characters in film form,” said Millennium Media’s President Jeffrey Greenstein. “This is the first in the series of films that will captivate audiences in familiar (and new) ways. Brian Taylor is an expert across the board, and I couldn’t think of a better person to bring this story to life to show our audience this different and original Hellboy slate of films.”
Millennium Media is producing the new movie alongside Dark Horse Entertainment.
We’re bringing all the tricks and treats with Creeping Death, having acquired the Halloween-themed slasher with plans to release the film this fall across all platforms, including our Bloody Disgusting-powered SCREAMBOX streaming service.
In the film, “While trying to enjoy a peaceful Halloween with his mother Linda Garner (Monique Parent; That’s a Wrap), Tim is paid a visit by his rambunctious, up-for-anything friends. After reluctantly letting them inside the house he becomes intertwined with the circumstances of their Halloween prankings. One that turns out has broken a sacred tradition kept between humans and otherworldly deities known as the Aos Si.”
Creeping Death is described as a callback to terrors birthed in the mythology, lore and atmospheric dread behind the Halloween traditions based in an ancient Celtic past.
“Since I was a kid, I’ve always loved slasher films and celebrating Halloween,” says director Matt Sampere. “I knew I wanted to dive into the holiday’s lore for my first feature and that’s how I learned about the Aos Si — vengeful spirits related to trick or treating in Celtic mythology. Creeping Death is the first supernatural slasher to incorporate this deity. I hope viewers enjoy my love letter to Halloween, its traditions and a warning to those who trick.”
Sampere also stars in the film with Monique Parent, Alan Maxson, Delian Lincourt, Hunter Kohl, Ian Brown, Elise Rackemann, K Cody Hunt, Andy Horowitz, Jody Pucello and Scott Lea.
Creeping Death had its World Premiere at the prestigious FrightFest Film Festival in London.
Sampere produced alongside Jason Scott Goldberg (Glorious), Erika McGowan, Brenda Block, and Tyler Dane Sutton.
The deal was negotiated by Brandon Hill, Director of Acquisitions, on behalf of Cineverse, and Jason Scott Goldberg, on behalf of the film.
