Film Review - Hatchet II (2010)

Win Digging Up The Marrow On DVD

Film4 FrightFest 2013 announces guest line-up Ben Wheatley, Don McKay, Adam Green All Confirmed

This year’s Film4 FrightFest guest list brings together over 100 talented filmmakers, performers, writers and producers – a mix of familiar FrightFest faces and up-and-coming talent who will soon be staples on the horror fantasy scene across the world.

As individual tickets go on sale tomorrow (Saturday 27 July), the guest list boasts 34 directors from around the world including: Don Mancini (CURSE OF CHUCKY), Suri Krishnamma (DARK TOURIST), one of America’s best loved funny men Bobcat Goldthwait (WILLOW CREEK) and FrightFest soul-male and HATCHET III producer Adam Green (HOLLISTON). Also joining us is Gareth Evans, straight from the completion of principal photography of THE RAID 2 and FrightFest pant-dropper Jason Eisener, both here for V/H/S/2. We also welcome CHEAP THRILLS director Evan L. Katz, Steven R. Monroe for the world premiere of I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE 2, director Blair Erickson, on hand to launch BANSHEE CHAPTER, plus Anthony DiBlasi (MISSIONARY), Jeremy Lovering (IN FEAR), Kit

Ryan (DEMENTEMANIA) and Christopher McBride for THE CONSPIRACY. The Ford Brothers are here for opening night film THE DEAD 2: INDIA), as are co-directors Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado for closing night film BIG BAD WOLVES.

The stars of the films are out in force (with more to be confirmed). Michael Cudlitz, one of American television’s most acclaimed stars and the headliner of the independent discovery of the year DARK TOURIST, will be making his FrightFest debut. As will I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE 2 stars Jemma Dallander and Joe Absolom. Also joining us are Gemma Aitkinson and Holly Goss, who will present THE DYATOLOV PASS INCIDENT and Twilight Zone star Charlie Bewley, who will join us for HAMMER OF THE GODS, as will actors Sam Robertson, Vincent Regan and Holly Weston for DEMENTAMANIA. Then we have FRANKENSTEIN’S ARMY star Alexander Mercury, plus Game of Throne’s Alfie Allen and Hannah Tointon (‘The Inbetweeners’) for the short film THE BODY.

.The star of our opening night film THE DEAD 2: INDIA, Joseph Millson, currently attracting plaudits as Macbeth at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, will be attending, alongside his Indian co-stars Meenu, Anand Goyal &Sandip Datta Gupta. And from Israel we have the exceptional cast from our closing night film, - Tzahi Grad, Rotem Keinan & Dov Glickman, so far confirmed.

BIG BAD WOLVES

Film4 FrightFest’s Variety Award was inaugurated last year with the movie trade bible giving that honour to special effects genius Greg Nicotero. Their 2013 tribute goes to Ben Wheatley, the most distinctive and unique talent to burst on the British scene in years Ben will receive his award after an onstage interview about his career conducted by journalist Damon Wise.

He said today: “Attending FrightFest is like being plugged into the brain of Genre cinema. A true group experience. Over a thousand serious fans praying at the altar of Horror then spilling out into the Foyer to digest what they have just seen before diving back for more…it’s great”.

The Discovery strand of FrightFest is proving very popular and fans will be able a whole host of directors including STALLED director Christian James, THE DESERT director Christoph Behl, SADIK 2 director Robin Entreinger and cast members Alexandra Bialy and Chloe Gallen, DAYLIGHT director David McCracken, FOR ELISA director Juanra Fernandez, CONTRACTED producer J.D. Lifshitz, ON TENDER HOOKS director Kate Shenton, THE DEMON’S ROOK producer Katarina Gligorijevic, CANNON FODDER director Eitan Gafni, producer/star Yafit Shalev and cinematographer Tom Goldwasser, plus the director, Kevin Gates, and cast of THE PARANORMAL DIARIES: CLOPHILL.

From our short film selection in association with The Horror Channel, we welcome directors Paul Davis (THE BODY), Will Gilbey (TURNCOAT), James Moran (CRAZY FOR YOU), Dominic Brunt (SHELLSHOCKED), Mike Mort (CHUCK STEEL), Nick Gillespie (SAMUEL AND EMILY VS. THE WORLD), Toby Meakins (BREATHE) and The Hassall Brothers (IF I HAD A HEART).

Plus there’s the ever-popular ‘Quiz From Hell’ hosted by our KICK-ASS 2 star compere Andy Nyman. And ZOMBIE FLESHEATERS/Lucio Fulci composer Fabio Frizzi will be making a special appearance.

Film4 FrightFest 2013 is on from Thurs 22 August to Monday 26 at the Empire Cinema in London’s Leicester Square. Tickets for Individual films are on sale from 27 July.

Bookings: 08 714 714 714 or www.empirecinemas.co.uk

Chillerama - Adam Green Interview

Adam ‘Hatchet Man’ Green talks about the future of the genre, why he turned about ABC’s Of Death, his new movie inspired by the artist Alex Pardee and courting controversy as CHILLERAMA gets its Horror Channel UK TV premiere on Sat 30th March at 10.55pm

Q: Your story for Chillerama could be looked at as being controversial by some, how did you pitch it to the other directors?

AG: Actually, Adam Rifkin pitched me the title (The Diary Of Anne Frankenstein) when the four of us first met up to discuss potentially doing this project. He said, “Green, you’re Jewish- you should do Anne Frankenstein.” I said, “But Rifkin, you’re Jewish, too. Why don’t you take that one?” He replied, “Yeah, but what if instead you did it?” And that was sort of it. Though the phrase “the diary of Anne Frankenstein” is a joke that’s been around for decades, I have to admit I was still scared to death of it at first. I mean, who wants to touch that title with a ten-foot pole? Unfortunately, we live in a world full of people who literally seek out reasons to be offended and who love nothing more than to be “outraged” so that they can get attention. Especially coming off of Hatchet 2 and all of the controversy I had just lived through with that film’s public battle with the MPAA and its assassination from cinemas here in the US… the last thing I wanted was to be put in the spotlight for ridiculous negative reasons again. However, I immediately came up with the idea of doing a piece that would be a complete mockery of Hitler and not something that could possibly be taken seriously.

Q: To me its Monty Python at its creative peek meets classic Universal horror, would you agree?

AG: Wow. That’s a very big compliment and yes, that was exactly what I was going for. I walk away from every screening feeling so incredibly proud of the piece. Reviews, awards, and accolades… those are all nice. But as a comedian, there is no feeling of accomplishment greater than hearing an audience howl with laughter to the point that they drown out the film itself. You can’t fake laughter like that. There are no politics or agendas behind that kind of uproarious laughter. It’s the most primal and real reaction you can hope to get and when it happens universally across oceans and language barriers… it’s a wonderful thing.

Q: Do you think the horror genre is in good health at the moment?

AG: I’m excited to see what the next decade will hold. Looking back, filmmakers my age who came onto the scene in the past ten years or so were saddled with some very difficult hurdles. Not only was the “trend” all about remakes over originals (both with the studios who churned the remakes out and the fans who supported them in droves) but we also saw the indie financing industry take a nosedive with budgets and distribution as internet piracy wreaked havoc on us. There was never a harder time than this past decade to get an original (decent budgeted) horror movie made and distributed. But now that remakes have kind of run their course they’re now out of recognizable titles to remake and people are starting to see the light about internet piracy I am optimistic that more and more original horror movies will get a chance to be made and to be seen. As a genre- we’re always alive and well. Horror will never die and we will always survive the passing trends because we’re a “community” unlike fans of other genres. Just walk by the “sleepy queue” for FrightFest later this summer and look at the die hard fans standing in line over-night for tickets (not even knowing 100% what the programming will exactly be yet). Of course we’re fine! We’ve got zombies! The rest of ya’ll are f***** though.

Q: You must be pleased Chillerama is getting its UK premiere on the Horror Channel?

AG: I’ve had a very special connection with the UK audience ever since Hatchet first premiered at UK FrightFest in 2006 and so I’m always especially excited when a new film of mine premieres across the pond. The Horror Channel has been incredibly supportive of my career over the years so this is like a double-win. Who knows? Perhaps Holliston will wind up on the Horror Channel when it arrives in the UK? You never know!

Q: Would you like to be part of another anthology film such as the recent ABCs Of Death?

AG: I was approached for “ABC’s Of Death” when they first started putting the project together but I passed. I was in the middle of post-production on Chillerama when they started assembling their team of directors and the thought of doing another anthology film at that time just wasn’t appealing to me, as fun as the project sounded and as terrific as the people behind it were. While I can never say “never”, right now another anthology just isn’t in the cards for me. Remember, with Chillerama I didn’t just write and direct a segment. My company (ArieScope Pictures) also produced it and put the money and distribution together to make it happen. That’s a hell of a lot of responsibility/heartache and so I couldn’t just make my segment and “let the chips fall where they may”. When you produce a film it is essentially an STD for your company. It never goes away and it is never really over. Wait, did I really just compare Chillerama to syphilis? Yup. Have at it, critics and haters. You’re welcome for that one.

Q: How much involvement have you had with Hatchet III?

AG: I wrote it, I produced it, I’m presenting it, I cast most every actor in it, I was there for every step of pre-production, filming, and post-production, I surrounded our new director with my incredible ArieScope crew, and I had final cut of the film. So let’s just say that it won’t feel like I ever left. If you’re a fan of the first two films I think you’re going to really like what we did with Hatchet III.

Q: So what are you working on at the moment?

AG: Right now I’m finishing up post-production on the second season of my television series Holliston. It’s a massive undertaking each season given that I wear so many hats on the show (writing every episode, being the show runner, directing, and playing one of the main four characters) but it’s far and away my favourite and the most personal project I’ve ever done. Holliston is an absolute joy to work on and I go to work every day surrounded by only my closest of friends. I’m so excited that we’ll soon be starting the process of bringing the series to the rest of the world and we’re all blown away by how quickly and passionately the audience in America embraced this show and this cast. Next week I kick off my tour in support of Hatchet III and the launch of Season 2 of Holliston so I’m basically in a different place every weekend until the end of summer/early Fall. I’m also in the process of shooting Digging Up The Marrow, a “documentary” (kinda) about monsters (sorta) that is inspired by the art of the insanely talented artist, Alex Pardee. We’re keeping the details of that one under wraps for now, but what I can say is that collaborating with a genius like Alex has proved to be a completely soul inspiring and creative re-awakening for not only myself, but for my core crew as well.

Adam Green, thank you very much.

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

Horror Channel To Premier Chillerama & Penumbra On UK Television

Adrian Garcia Bogliano’s creepy thriller PENUMBRA and the US horror fantasy anthology CHILLERAMA will receive their UK TV premieres on Horror Channel - which is a treat for genre fans as the films are not currently available on DVD in the UK.

Here are the transmission details:

PENUMBRA (2011) - Sat Mar 23 @ 22:55

From Adrián García Bogliano, director of unique chiller COLD SWEAT, comes a bold experiment into creeping paranoia with a nasty twist. Marga, an arrogant businesswoman from Spain is on a business assignment in Buenos Aires - she must find a new tenant for her family’s decrepit apartment. But what’s behind the décor signals a startling fate worse than death. PENUMBRA is a superbly realized horror entry from the Argentine talent rapidly becoming a genre powerhouse all to himself.


CHILLERAMA (2011) – Sat Mar 30 @ 22.55 (UK Premiere)

From the depraved minds of US directors Adam Rifkin, Tim Sullivan, Adam Green, and Joe Lynch, a horror fantasy anthology which is a celebration of the golden age of B movies. There’s something for everyone’s bad taste in this quartet of schlock featuring the monster mania rampage WADZILLA, the gay Beach Party musical I WAS A TEENAGE WEREBEAR, the black-and-white insanity THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANKENSTEIN and the creeping fleshy ZOM-B-MOVIE.


Plus…there is a season of crazy-creature double-bills...

MONSTER MASH! -Fridays from March 8 @ 21:00

This fun season of double-billers celebrating Monster Mayhem kicks off with a desert dwelling shapeshifter THE BONE SNATCHER versus a three headed ravenous alien in the 80’s classic THE DEADLY SPAWN.

Then on Mar 15 get ready to quake in your boots as a prehistoric crocodile is resurrected in DINOCROC. This is billed with an 80’s classic as we go back into deep space for the alien possession movie INSEMINOID.

On Mar 22, things start to get slippery when a creature made of plant and flesh devours anyone who dares dip a toe in his beloved swamp in the comic book creature feature MAN-THING! And who could forget the godfather of gothic horror and monstrous mayhem – it’s THE LAST LOVECRAFT.

The final fear fiesta on Mar 29 boasts a beast of Olympic proportions - the OGRE. and a supernatural demon as Lance Henriksen invokes the unstoppable rage of PUMPKINHEAD to avenge his son’s death.

TV: Sky 319 / Virgin 149 / Freesat 138

 www.horrorchannel.co.uk | twitter.com/horror_channel

HATCHET 2 UK DVD/BLU RAY Details