2017 Preview.

We made it, guys! Here were are in 2017 with a new slate of horror films for which to look forward. Let's take a look.

Since it's January, we can first look to Park City and I see three possible winners in Damien Power's Killing Ground, Cary Murnion & Jonathan Milott's actioner Bushwick and the anthology XX.

The horror anthology has made a full-on comeback in recent years, so I'm hoping this female-centric affair keeps the momentum going. The pedigree is certainly there, as Karyn Kusama killed it with The Invitation last year and up-and-comers Roxanne Benjamin and Jovanka Vuckovic could really cement their reputations.

I am fully aware I may be the only one, but I'm super chuffed I get not only a new Resident Evil movie to start the year, but also an Underworld flick. I love these two ladies so much. I'll watch them dispatch monsters for as long they want to do it, God bless 'em.

#DontJudgeMe

It looks like last year's The Shallows performed well enough for this whole shark thing to keep going in 2017. Though the long-gestating Meg won't see the light of day until next year, there's a new found-footage shark tale called Cage Dive coming up. I'll be able to take the sensationalized affair of Meg, but the horrifying reality of this one, man? Honestly, I wimped out halfway through the trailer.

Some other A-list genre fare that looks decent are Gore Verbinski's Cure for Wellness and Colm Mcarthy's The Girl with All the Gifts. I saw a listing for Stefan Ruzowitzky's Patient Zero and was all like “yeah, this sure looks like a zer-- Natalie Dormer's in this??? Ok... I'll watch it (sigh)” More enticing I think, is Jordan Peele's take on horror with Get Out.

Then there's M. Night Shayamalan's Split. Fuck man, you never know what you're going to get with this guy. I enjoyed The Visit and thought it was a good bounce back from a series of misfires, but I don't know. This could be a solid thriller or a fucking trainwreck. I think it will depend on who M. Night thinks is the star here, him or James McAvoy.

Out of all the indies in this year's landscape, the most intriguing might be Monolith. The premise is delicious and of a new wave of horror that has sprung from our over-reliance on technology.

Looking through all the titles it was a veritable sea of remakes and sequels. I know this is par for the course these days, but holy... so many I don't give a shit about. I am reasonably receptive to It, or at least I have no desire to shut it out like Suspiria, F13, Flatliners et al.

These sequels though. I think the only one I'm actually upset about not being excited for is Alien: Covenant. I don't need more Prometheus. Every single Alien movie that gets made seems to get us further and further away from what made the first two remarkable. Anyway, I digress.

My parting words here would be to make sure you support Julia Ducournau's Raw and Greg McLean's The Belko Experiment when they hopefully hit theatres in 2017. These are the kinds of films that keep the genre fresh and exciting, not recycled tripe we've seen a million times before.

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Hello all. Winter has finally arrived here, so naturally I'm now nestled under a million blankets. Here's what I've got for you this week.

Park City At Midnight.

Well, 2017 is almost upon us which means that Sundance is not far away. This week, the Midnight selections for the festival were announced. Here are three for which I am looking forward.

Sundance has played several horror documentaries in the past, and this edition will see the premiere of Alex Phillippe's 78/52, an exhaustive exploration of one of horror's most iconic sequences - the shower scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.

From Australia comes Damien Power's Killing Ground. This flick, about a couple of campers who come across a child wandering in the wilderness, premiered in Melbourne last summer to positive reviews, so colour me intrigued.

The female-centric anthology XX will finally have its premiere in Park City this year. Featuring diabolical tales from Karyn Kusama (Jennifer's Body), Roxanne Benjamin (Southbound), Jovanka Vuckovic (The Captured Bird) & Annie Clark aka St, Vincent, I am really excited to see how this one turned out.

The Kids Aren't All Right.

A solid short I caught at Fantasia this year has made its way online. Here below is Tim Hyten's Snake Bite.

Spicy Meatball.

You know how sometimes you don't realize how much you've missed something, until it shows up again? Well, that's what happened to me when the trailer for Yoshi Nishimura's Kodoku: Meatball Machine arrived this week.

I love this stuff. Always have, always will.

2016 Preview.

Hey all. It's the beginning of a new year, and with it comes another slate of upcoming titles. Unlike last year, I won't spend a lot of the playing catch-up, as apart from Krampus and Dark Places, I've seen pretty much what I want from 2015's offerings. So, let's dive in.

The coming of January means the first festival screenings a la the Sundance midnight programme. Obviously, the most anticipated one would be Rob Zombie's 31. After Lords of Salem, I feel he is on the upswing and news of his recent battles with the MPAA is certainly a good sign. Also on the Park City schedule is Rich Fox's The Blackout Experiments and Mickey Keating's Carnage Park. While the former is a complete wildcard, the latter should be a decent seventies-style survivalist horror romp.

Aside from Sundance, I couldn't help but notice the abundance of horror flicks being released in the first quarter of 2016. I'm not sure whether that's a good sign or not, but here are three that I am eyeing, if only just that they all star actresses I like very much.

January 8th

January 22nd

Actually, the third one doesn't even have a poster yet, which makes the March 11th release date rather dubious. Valencia stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead and is directed by Dan Trachtenberg, a guy who once upon a time ran a web show I used to watch religiously.

Moving on, I can't deny the fun energy present in the trailer for Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. If it is half as fun as Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, it will be worth a watch. I know Russian producer Bekmambetov isn't involved in P&P&Z, but hey, it could still be a hoot.

Feb 5th

The home invasion genre is still a hot trend in horror as we have a new trio of titles coming this year. In addition the sequel to 2008's The Strangers, the man behind the Evil Dead remake, Fede Alvarez returns with A Man in the Dark about a blind man sets upon by some thieving teenagers. The third one, Adam Schindler's Intruders aka Shut In, I can actually vouch for having seen it at last year's TAD.

Feb 19th

I am glad that the rest of the horror world is going to be able to feast their eyes on Robert Eggers' The Witch this year. While I don't know if its pace and non-flashy demeanor will appear to everyone, I feel there just aren't enough of these straight-up, character driven genre pieces being made these days.

Feb 26th

Moving onto the “nope” category, I have to mention the Martyrs remake, and the Leatherface remake/reimagining/rewhatevs prequel thingy. I have no interest in the former because the films of the French Extremity were unique to a particular time and place. Recreating that to make a few bucks is even more unpleasant to me than watching the stuff depicted in Laugier's film.

As for Leatherface, I read the script and I'm good. There's a cool sequence in the middle that reminded me of the diner sequence in Natural Born Killers, but the rest is pretty uninteresting. The only reason I would be curious is to see how they manage to get around a glaring plot hole I foresaw them having a big problem representing visually. Okay, strike that, put this down as a soft maybe.

Lastly, I think the most unlikely production coming this year maybe the feature length version of Lights Out. How do you flesh out two minutes to ninety? I suppose Andrés Muschietti's Mamá was semi-successful, but this one seems like a stretch.

So, there we go. Hopefully at least one or two of these end up on my top list at the end of the year. Until then, have a great 2016.

2015 Preview.

Here we are again at the start of a new year. There are so many gigantic non-horror movies hitting screens this year - Avengers 2, Spectre & Star Wars VII being my top three - that it's somewhat difficult to focus on the genre stuff coming out in the next twelve months. I managed to power through it though and come up with a bunch of promising prospects.

In addition to trying to see the elusive titles I mentioned in my 2014 wrap-up, there are also a few that I missed at last year's festivals. I am still bitter that Maggie was pulled from TIFF at the eleventh hour, and seeing a mediocre UK crime film instead of the homegrown Backcountry was likely a bad decision on my part. The Austrian thriller Goodnight Mommy and the werewolf coming-of-age flick When Animals Dream are also both registering loudly on my radar.

Jonas Arnby's When Animals Dream.

Obviously, the first big event of the year is the midnight programme at Sundance. We're not only getting new films from Bruce MacDonald & Rodney Ascher, but also a cool looking UK horror called The Hallow. To be honest though, the most exciting thing playing at Sundance is Kornél Mundruczó's White God. I don't think it is horror per say, but watch this trailer and tell me you don't want to watch this like, RIGHT NOW.

Anyway, onto the more mainstream fare.

Crimson Peak (Oct 16)

Guillermo del Toro's latest, shot here in Ontario in tandem with his TV show The Strain (though not related) this haunted house flick stars Jessica Chastain, Tom Hiddleston and Charlie Dunham. Hopefully, this little horror piece is solid, as we won't get another one for sometime as he ramps up pre-production on Hellboy 3 and Pacific Rim 2.

Phantasm V (TBD)

It's been a long time since The Tall Man has wreaked havok on our dimension. My expectations are tempered, but I just really want to see Mike & Reggie strap on the quad-barrel shotguns again. Some of the effects in that teaser trailer looked a little out there, but as long as Hartman & Coscarelli's hearts are in the right place, it should be a hoot.

31 (TBD)

Being one of the people that dug The Lords of Salem, I'm actually looking forward to seeing Rob Zombie's next film. Though the story sounds like familiar territory, I am curious to see how he attacks it given the brilliant visuals of his last effort. At the very least, we'll get to see him further explore his weird infatuation with evil clowns.

Krampus (Dec 4th)

Michael Dougherty burst onto the scene in 2009 with his horror anthology Trick r' Treat. It was heavily lauded and this year, we not only get an announcement of a Trick r' Treat sequel, but also this festive horror. Based on the myth, this demon could strike fear in the hearts of many children this Christmas.

Cell (TBD)

This long gestating Stephen King adaptation starring Sam Jackson, John Cusack and, most importantly because I don't think she's in enough stuff, Isabelle Fuhrman, may see the light of day this year. The idea of cell phones bringing forth madness is even more relevant now. Or is it? Does anyone actually talk on the phone anymore? I wonder if they tweaked the script to somehow include texting and social media.

Bone Tomahawk (TBD)

A western about gunslingers versus cannibals. With Kurt Russell and Patrick Wilson. Yeah, I'm on board for that.

Monsters: Dark Continent (TBD)

I was pretty impressed with Gareth Edwards' 2010 predecessor. I think he managed to do a lot with very little. For this sequel, it looks like the scope has been increased to a worldwide crisis. There are no names to back up this title, so it could go DTV in the blink of an eye.

Dark Places (TBD)

Though the story doesn't grab me, the cast of this adaptation of the Gillian Flynn novel does. You put Chloe Grace-Moretz, Charlize Theron and Christina Hendricks all in a movie together, well I guess you have my attention. I only hope the latter doesn't get frustratingly underutilized like she did in Drive.

Lastly, and MOST importantly, every horror fan should be marking May 17th on their calendars. That is the day It Follows comes out. That is the day you should go see it. No excuses.

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Hello all! I'm hitting my first Escape Room in a few hours, so I'll be brief. Here's what I've got for you this week.

Kosovo-A-GoGo.

For years, a Toronto fixture has been a midnight marathon called Shock & Awe put on my cinephile Dion Ventress. Now, having worked in film and television production for years, he has now begun his latest endeavour - directing not only his first horror feature, but the first ever shot in Kosovo. But he needs your help. Here's the teaser below.

Dion's a cool cat, with an encyclopedic knowledge of cult film and all things weird, so if there's anybody I'd like to see make a film, it's him. Check out the IndieGogo page here.

Midnight, Park City, 2015.

This week, Sundance announced the slate of Midnight films screening this January. It looks like there are some doozies here.

Last year, Park City rocked the house with The Babadook. In 2015, it looks like Irish director Corin Hardy is set to bring similar scares in The Hallow, about a man who must protect his family after awakening evil beings during a agricultural survey. And it has Michael Smiley. I love that guy!

Corin Hardy's The Hallow

Rodney Ascher, who brought us the fascinating documentary Room 237 last year, is back with another doc/horror hybrid called The Nightmare. This one visually explores the terrifying affliction of night terrors and sleep paralysis through the eyes of eight subjects.

Eli Roth returns with a new thriller starring Keanu Reeves called Knock Knock about a married man set upon by two mischievous young girls - one of which is Ana de Armas from Blind Alley, so...

Lorenza Izzo, Keanu Reeves & Ana de Armas in Knock Knock.

What began as a ABC's of Death contest submission in 2011 has now become a feature film. This Canadian/New Zealand co-production, which looks like a wonderful marriage between Astron 6 and Peter Jackson, will finally see the light of day in Utah this January. Here's where it all started below.

To see the rest of Sundance 2015's recently announced lineup, check out The Wrap's rundown here.

Killer Comic.

I heard about this cool looking upcoming comic on Bloody Disgusting this week. Dark Horse will begin running a comic called Lady Killer next month.

The “Betty Draper meets Hannibal” thing is all I pretty much need to know. Although from the preview pages here, it looks more like “Draper meets The Professional” would have been more apt. Unless of course, she's eating her targets! Whichever. I'm in!

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Greetings everyone! Here's what I have for you today on this fine January afternoon.

Trailer Trash.

My first extinct was to put up that Devil Baby viral from earlier this week, but considering everybody and their mother has seen it by now, I'll go a different route. If by some miracle you missed it, click here.

This week, a trailer was released for Jennifer Kent's spook-fest The Babadook. Here it is below.

I'm pretty happy with how this is looking. There's some great imagery in there with considerable effort given to the lore around the antagonist - whatever it may be. It is playing Sundance this week, but I'm hoping it will appear in my neck of the woods sometime this year.

You know, I was just thinking the other day about how the story of Lizzie Borden seems to have escaped the public consciousness over the last ten years. When I was a kid, her story was the stuff of legend, right up there with Charles Manson and Jack The Ripper. This little rhyme;

“Lizzie Borden took an axe

And gave her mother forty whacks.

When she saw what she had done,

She gave her father forty-one.”

--was often heard uttered around the school playground. Then, as I got older, her story seemed to fade. It had been years until I had even thought of her until recently. Well, it looks like Lifetime is going to rectify that.

This looks, well... It looks like Lifetime. Not the most flattering trailer, but hey, its Christina Ricci, so... Lizzie Borden Took An Axe premieres this Saturday the 25th.

A Very Bad Boy.

I heard some cool news out of Sundance a few days ago. It looks like Elijah Wood, with his producing partners at SpectreVision, is moving ahead with a project called The Boy. According to The Hollywood Reporter;

“The Boy is the first movie of a planned trilogy that will track the childhood of a future serial killer. The films will explore the killer at the ages of 9, 14, and 18, culminating with him becoming an iconic mass murderer.”

The Boy is based on a 2012 short film called Henley. Here's a clip below.

All this sounds good to me. For the original HR article, click here.

The Doctor Speaks.

A few weeks back, I talked about a new book called Hidden Horror that chronicles underseen and underappreciated horror films. Well, Filmmakermagazine.com recently interviewed the editor Dr. AC (Aaron Christensen) on his newly released tome. Here's a snip.

Filmmaker: “Are these original essays? And did you curate the films included, or respond to the passions of your writers?”

AC: “All the pieces were written specifically for the book, and I’m thrilled with the results. Because of the personal nature of the essays, we get a little glimpse into each writer as well as the critical analysis one would expect. We all love the genre as a whole. Most of the writers are people I know personally, but a few came via recommendations from other contributors. Some are established journalists and authors, others are filmmakers, some have podcasts or blogs, and a few are just passionate fans that I’ve met at conventions. I couldn’t ask for a better band of lunatics to help run the asylum.”

Click here for the full interview. Also, as a bonus, Filmmaker posted five of the essays from the book over the course of the week and are linked at the bottom of the article. Enjoy!

2014 Preview.

So, here we are at the start of another year. I have to say though, looking over the coming horror landscape it looks a tad anemic. Weeding out the studio chaff I have no interest in, there appears to be less meat in this year's sequel & remake sandwich that I'd like. Despite that, I remain cautiously optimistic, as I know the festival circuit will bring forth a bevy of titles during the year that I have yet to hear about. For now, here are the titles I am excited for in 2014.

Tusk (TBD)

Writer/Director/Fanboy Kevin Smith has a new horror flick on the way. I was a big fan of Red State and felt it really gave Smith a chance to spread his wings creatively. This one has to do with the search for a missing friend in the Canadian backwoods. Degrassi references abound! Oh, and it also has Michael Parks in it, so what's not to love?

Faults (TBD)

Short filmmaker Riley Stearns brings us his feature debut, about a couple trying to wrestle their daughter (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) from the grip of a mysterious cult called The Faults. I adore Winstead, and after her stellar performance in last year's Smashed, her star continues to rise.

Lucky Bastard (TBD)

I posted the trailer last week. I am intrigued with this one, as the filmmakers seem to have come up with a legitimate reason for the “found footage” format. It may not be pretty, but it may surprise.

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (TBD)

More of a sequel than a remake, the story picks up sixty-five years after the original Moonlight Murders with a new string of murders terrorizing rural Arkansas. The director, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon, has helmed a dozen episodes of American Horror Story and an impressive cast of character actors including Gary Cole, Veronica Cartwright and Ed Herrmann make this worth a look. Let's see if the trombone makes an appearance this time around.

So yes, I was slagging on sequels, but there are several I actually am looking forward to seeing.

It's a bit strange that three of those four are anthologies, but I look forward to them all. Theatre Bizarre and ABC's of Death were uneven to be sure, but I feel the former's line-up is too stellar to pass up, and the latter's sophomore group of filmmakers learned from their predecessors about what worked and what didn't.

REC 4: Apocalypse (TBD)

My excitement for this one should be self evident. Jaume Balagueró's return to straight-up horror (after the comedic tone of Paco Plaza's previous installment, Genesis) is just what this doctor ordered. This one continues the story of Angela after her extraction from the infected apartment complex of the first two films.

The films I am likely most looking forward to seeing are the crop playing Park City this month.

I went over them a few weeks ago, but Adam Wingard's newest, another wave of Nazi zombies and rabid children attacking their teachers is enough to make any horror fan drool.

Oh, and I guess there's this too.

Lastly, I wanted to get stoked for 7500 - It's Takashi Shimizu, and has a ton of actors I like - but when the marketers pull shit like THIS

Way to earn your pay, guys...

It's really hard to pretend everyone behind this isn't on auto-pilot (see what I did there?)

So yeah, we'll see how it goes. Fortunately for the rest of you, you'll  also have bright spots like Oculus, The Sacrament, Green Inferno and Horns making their way to mainstream screens this year to fill in those open spaces. See you in the dark!

DKTM 200!!!

Hey gang! It is not only a special occasion because this is the two hundredth edition of Don't Kill the Messenger, but tomorrow is also the sixth anniversary of The Horror Section. Each milestone that goes by I marvel at the fact I've managed to stay at it for so long. A good chuck of my motivation is the constant good will I receive from you guys, but mostly it is just that I have to. By now, it is habit and deeply ingrained. Anyhoo, I've got a super-sized news post for you, so let's get on with it.

Park City At Midnight.

The first highlight of the year is always the midnight lineup at the Sundance Film Festival. For 2014, it looks like there are more than a few corkers. Here's a sampling of some that caught my eye.

Aussie director Jennifer Kent brings the scares in The Babadook about a single mother protecting her child from a malevolent force inside her house.

Cooties looks to be a sort of reverse version of The Faculty as a band of teachers battle for survival after a mysterious virus turns the student body into vicious savages. It stars Elijah Wood, Alison Pill, Rainn Wilson & Leigh Whannell, who also co-wrote the screenplay.

Elijah Wood & Alison Pill in Cooties.

Tommy Wirkola follows up his Hollywood Hansel & Gretel picture - which imho was way better than it should've been - with a sequel to his fan fave Dead Snow. Entitled Red vs Dead, this one sees the survivor from the first film battle the Nazi undead for all the marbles.

Perhaps my most anticipated of this lineup is the new film from Adam Wingard & Simon Barrett. The Guest sees a soldier contacting the family of a fellow comrade killed in action, only to find all is not what it seems. These guys are at the top of their game right now, so I can't wait to see their next project.

Maika Monroe in The Guest.

The Japanese/Indonesian co-production Killers sounds like a recipe for insanity as two serial killers log their crimes online in an effort to one-up each other. Co-written by Timo Tjahjanto, who made the batshit crazy VHS 2 segment Safe Haven earlier this year, I am now expecting big things of this.

I am happy if there are one or two titles to take away from Park City, but this year has over six I'm chomping at the bit to check out. The 30th edition of the Sundance Film Festival runs January 16th to 26th. For more info, click here.

Twenty Four by Thirty Six.

There's a Kickstarter campaign going on right now for an exciting new documentary about movie poster art called 24 x 36. A few months ago, a company called Post No Joes made a short featurette about artist Ghoulish Gary Pullin. They had so much fun making it that they decided to make a full doc about him and his creative brethren. Here's the video pitch below.

You still plenty of time to give generously, and the rewards are plentifully awesome. Click here to get more info.

The Carpet From Another Place.

I love this little mash-up drawing from artist Jared Lyon.

For more work of the artist, click here.

Getting Scary.

A few weeks back, I talked about discovering a set of old books written by Alvin Schwartz called Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark. Well, it appears I wasn't the only one as Saw scribes Patrick Melton & Marcus Dunstan are planning on turning it into an anthology for CBS Films. According to the press release;

“Dunstan and Melton will adapt some of the Scary short stories into a screenplay about a group of outcast kids who stand up to their fears to save their town when nightmares come to life.”

It sounds a lot like It, but there are no shortage of great source material to pull from, so a skilled hand should be able to make this work. I look forward to seeing these folk tales made flesh.

Shock Advertising.

Here's an crazy ad from Japan. It is supposed to be an for snow tires, but I think it could easily just make you want to sell your car and never drive again.

It is not quite as clever as the Exorcist parody from Germany a few years ago, but it is certainly a commercial you won't soon forget!

Bloody Scraps.

Here's a few more things I wanted to mention. After many years of waiting a trailer for Nurse 3D finally popped up online.

Yeah, so maybe not quite as excited as I once was. Maybe it's just from hearing all those Paz Vega horror stories over the past few months. They sure did pick the best possible screencap for that YouTube video though, didn't they?

However, here's something I AM excited for - the next project from the Resolution guys from Aaron Moorhead & Justin Benson. Entitled Spring, Twitchfilm reports that it is about “a young man in a personal tailspin as he flees California to the Italian coast, where he meets a woman carrying a dark secret.” Here below, is the first still from the film.

Nadia Hilker in Spring.

Lastly, Guillermo del Toro is now in production on his television adaptation of his book series The Strain. Here below, is the recently released rat-tastic teaser.