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Embrace The Adrenaline Watch The New UK TV Spot For THE RAID 2

2011 Gareth Evans introduce cinephiles to the action packed brutal world of The Raid , 2014 it's time to embrace the adrenaline as it's time to return to that world in The Raid 2 watch new UK TV Spot.

The new spot delivers 31 seconds of intensity, action, pain and excitement as well as the critics quotes to put our minds at ease that The Raid will deliver that suckerpunch of excitement we expect to see in the follow up movie. Most of all after it's world premier at Sundance Film Festival some critics are going as far as saying its action film of 2014 a powerful statement to make even if we're not even quarter of the way through 2014 yet!


Last week whilst we where on Film Festival duty an Australian trailer for The Raid 2 was released online which backs up those critics comments and why we're so stoked to see this next month!


The Raid 2 will be released in UK on 11th April starring Iko Uwais, Julie Estelle, Alex Abbad, Yayan Ruhian, Mathias Muchus, Tio Pakusadewo, Marsha Timothy, Cecep Arif Rahman, Matsuda Ryuhei, Endo Kenichi and Kitamura Kazuki

Everything Is A Weapon In The New American The Raid 2: Berandal Trailer

V/H/S 2 DVD Review

Rating:
18
DVD Release Date:
14th October 2013 (UK)
Distributor:
Koch Media
Director:
Gareth Evans, Timi Tjahjanto, Adam Wingard, Gregg Hale, Jason Eisener, Simon Barrett, Eduardo Sánchez
Cast:
Lawrence Michael Levine, Kelsy Abbott, Adam Wingard,
Buy V/H/S 2: [DVD]


V/H/S rescued found-footage for me last year. It took the frankly tired cash cow medium and applied it to anthology horror, a concept that had taken a back bench in the past few years of mainstream horror. V/H/S 2 continues in the same strand, though this time a pair of private investigators stumbles across the ominous collection of tapes whilst checking out the home of a missing person.

Like last time V/H/S 2 is a mixed bag, some of the films are conceptually intriguing but things misfire in the execution.  The film presents us with four short films but- when teased with piles and piles of ominous tapes potentially containing horror gold-you can’t help but feel some of the naffest films got picked out.

Adam Wingard’s introductory Phase 1 Clinical Trials is a step into sci-fi horror: a man’s new synthetic eye starts shows him things beyond our world. Like I say, conceptually interesting, but its already been handled to a tee by Oxide Pang Chun in The Eye, however that doesn’t stop it pulling off a few good scares. Tension is depressingly fizzled away by the introduction of a girl with a more auditory connection to the afterlife (perhaps a more unnerving idea?), and a laughable way of keeping the ghosts at bay. Wingard’s section ends in a mess that leaves the viewer more bamboozled than scared.

Next up is the slightly better A Ride in the Park; a zombie film from the zombie’s POV. With a camera strapped to his helmet a biker is assaulted, transforms, then goes on his own undead rampage through a sunny camper-filled wood. There’s nothing clever going on here (see Colin) but its concise, enjoyable, and well put together.

The third segment, put together by Timo Tjahjanto who’s most repulsive segment L is for Libido, is the most impressive and by far the most creative.  There are more than a few moments that will stick in your mind, but it really works best as a bit of a blind-sider. With the best and most accomplished narrative, the most striking visuals, and the most intense journey, Safe Haven is a great and commendable addition to the V/H/S collection of short films.

Last and probably least is the near-woeful (comedy?) Alien Invasion Slumber Party. It does what it says on the tin, but not in a great way. Sure there are a few cool moments, some woodland running and a tense pier scene, but overall not well done. Watching it, you can see what the direction is and maybe even enjoy it at points, but bad effects and overexposure – the same over exposure that killed the first V/H/S’s alien story- ultimately spell doom.

By the end of V/H/S 2 we are no closer to understanding the reasons for the macabre collection of bizarre snuff films, but that’s not a bad thing because genuine interest has been tickled. However, when the overarching story draws to an anti-climactic slap-dash finale you can’t help but feel a little cheated. The same hasty regard with which- at least two- of the shorts were hobbled together is reflected in those in-between segments. No desire to build tension is displayed. First time round, the film showed us groups of bastard Jocks who we couldn’t wait to see get offed, this time round there’s an unfortunate lack of any reaction to characters. We can only be led through horror by asshole types for so long.

V/H/S 2 lacks the ingenuity and surprise of the first, so unfortunately it’s not a step up but still a watchable, enjoyable, and varied collection of films. Frankly it’s worth a watch just to get the third segment. If you’re easily peeved at run-of-the-mill film making, then perhaps steer clear.

★★★☆☆

Scott Clark

FF 2013 Review - V/H/S 2

Rating:
18
Release Date:
23rd August 2013 (Frightfest) 14th October 2013 (UK DVD)
Director:
Simon Barrett, Greg Hale, Gareth Evans, Adam Wingard, Timo Tjahjanto, Jason Eisener
Cast:
Lawrence Michael Levine, Kelsy Abbott, Adam Wingard
Pre-order/Buy V/H/S 2:
[DVD]
The horror anthology has received a fair bit of new blood lately with two high-profile effort V/H/S and The ABCs of Death both arriving on a huge wave of hype in horror circles but ended up raining a shower of disappointing poop over us instead. Both indulged in the worst of what this genre’s filmmakers seem to think fans want, splashes of misogyny, gore purely for gore’s sake and the same old story repeated ad infinitum with the same old scares played the same old ways. The insanely quick turnaround of V/H/S 2 (or as its original brilliant title had it, S-V/H/S) was cause for concern but with filmmakers more exciting than those involved in the first instalment, there was cause for hope. This is something which is thankfully proven to be the case with V/H/S 2 improving on the first anthology in virtually every single way and in moments pushes your expectations of what a horror film can do .

Simon Barrett’s wraparound segment, Tape 49, is wholly more satisfying than the original films equivalent showing two private detectives breaking into a house to retrieve a woman’s son and finding a bunch of tapes. Unlike many wraparound segments in horror anthologies, this has a beginning, middle and end, it’s a story in itself with its own little horrors working as a stand-alone but also giving us the inkling of mythology, alluding to certain events in the first film but not feeling beholden to them and weaving elements of both J-horror and body horror to crunchy effect.

Adam Wingard, director of the next hotly buzzed horror film coming down the road, You’re Next, brings us the first uninterrupted short Clinical Trials, which is the least effective of the whole film, relying on jump scares which feel very tired, but the first person perspective manages to remain effective and at least a gratuitous sex scene, one of only two in the whole film, in itself a refreshing change, comes off as funny and not leering.

Better than this is Eduardo Sanchez and Gregg Hale’s A Ride In The Park, a zombie tale with a USP of being told from the zombies perspective. Suffering from tonal inconsistency with a vein of humour uncomfortably meshing with somewhat sadder, darker content, this still hits home thanks to its at-times ferocious paciness, it by far feels the shortest of the bunch, the directing team wisely understanding that this is a one-note story and thus can only be played for a limited time to remain effective. This pace also feeds into some rather crazy “how did they do that?” moments of directional sleight of hand which are huge fun to behold.

This is just an appetiser for the main course that is Gareth Evans’ and Timo Tjahjanto’s Safe Haven, the longest film in the anthology and one which is absolutely breathtaking. The first film of either V/H/S to be centred in another country, already bringing a sense of otherness, this tale of a documentary crew entering a cult’s sanctuary manages to pull off the brilliant and highly skillful trick of being both incredibly disturbing while also being an awful lot of fun with mixture of body horror and cult rituals which builds up with superb intensity but ends on a quiet but rather chilling note. This one feels like a love letters horror fans which evolves from the pathetic “fratboy” nature of so many horrors today and instead offers the cliched but true “thrills and chills”. A mature and harrowing effort, it is the finest piece of horror cinema I’ve seen in quite some time.

After Safe Haven virtually anything would be a bit of a come down and Jason Eisner’s Alien Abduction Slumber Party is indeed that, though it’s got a lot of merit to it also. Focusing on a bunch of kids having rather dirty fun and getting caught in a house invasion from unfriendly aliens, this works through a sheer sense of blind panic. When the alien strike it’s visually and audibly overwhelming, hitting that primal nerve of “what the hell is going on” with the camera being tossed around all over the place before finding the characters in perilous situations. The intensity recalls the final segment of the first film but is a meaner beast than that especially with the last shot which is a little too cruel for my blood takes away from the enterprise somewhat.

This and other relatively minor quibbles peppered in spots aside, V/H/S 2 is a wholly more impressive and satisfying collection of horror shorts than last year’s film, resulting in the best horror of 2013 up to this point. Daring, shocking, fun and managing to regain my sense of hope that there is still horror of great worth out there, the whole experience is hugely refreshing and it’s delightful to say so.

★★★★☆

Review By Phil Wheat at Nerdly.co.uk

V/H/S 2 Is A Sea Of Blood In New Red-Band Trailer

They may not be the most popular type of films critically but amongst genre fans especially horror fans, anthology films. Now the best of the bunch V/H/S surprised many with its consistency and now a full red band trailer for the S-VHS now called V/H/S 2 has been released  looks like will exceed all expectations.

I just recently watched the first film I was impressed and if you where , V/H.S 2 looks like it ill deliver the goods once more. Plenty of blood, guts, gore and mayhem. It looks like they will follow the same concept unsuspecting people this time private investigators searching for missing student and they come across a set of VHS tapes. When they switch the tapes on what they find is an number of horrific footage which suggests the missing student might be involved in something a lot more darker and disturbing.

Whilst the trailer doesn't reveal much on the plotlines or individual stories what we get is what we can expect in scares, explosions and unexpected frights.the directors scaring us this time are Simon Barrett (V/H/S), Adam Wingard (You’re Next), Jason Eisener (Hobo With a Shotgun), Gareth Evans (The Raid), Timo Tjahjanto (The ABCs of Death), Gregg Hale and Eduardo Sánchez (The Blair Witch Project).




No word on a UK release date but don't be surprise if V/H/S 2 will make it's UK premier at Edinburgh Film Festival next month if not Film4 London Frightfest in August. American horrorphiles can catch the film on 6th June on VOD or 12th July at a cinema near you.

source: Yahoo

Berandal aka The Raid 2 Starts Shooting, First Images Revealed

Production has finally started on the eagerly awaited The Raid 2 also known as Berandal, kicking off an 100 day shoot in the Indonesian capital Jakarta and we have some images to get us in the mood!

The Raid 2:Berandal reunites Gareth Huw Evans and star of The Raid Uwo Iwais as Rama once again picking up from the moment he leaves the towering high rise taking the city's infamous crime syndicate. With the stakes now even higher and with corruption among the city's police department now exposed too Rama must protect his family and go deeper into Jakarta's criminal underworld.

Very moody images with Rama looking tired, bruised but not out looking edgy but most of all ready to inflict more pain on some nasty people which we want to see. What's more intriguing is Evans promises The Raid 2: Berandal will be “bigger, better and bloodier!”. The Raid was one of my highlights of 2012 when it made it's UK premiere at Glasgow Film4 Frightfest  meeting the director and the film's main star and of course my autographed poster takes centre stage in The Peoples Movies & Cinehouse main office!

The Raid 2: Berandal will arrive sometime 2014.

Here's the official American press release:

Highly-anticipated Actioner “The Raid 2” Starts Production in Jakarta, Indonesia

Los Angeles, CA (January 31, 2013) – PT Merantau Films and XYZ Films announce the start of production for THE RAID 2 (Indonesian title, THE RAID 2: BERANDAL), the sequel to the wildly popular international hit THE RAID (aka THE RAID: REDEMPTION).  The film reunites writer/director Gareth Huw Evans with actor Iko Uwais, who will be reprising his starring role.  Ario Sagantoro is producing for PT Merantau Films, along with Nate Bolotin, Nick Spicer, Aram Tertzakian and Todd Brown for XYZ Films.  Executive producing are Rangga Maya Barack-Evans and Irwan D. Mussry.

In addition to Uwais, the international cast includes Tio Pakusadewo, Putra Arifin Scheunamann, Julie Estelle, Alex Abbad and Roy Marten.  The film is currently lensing in Jakarta, Indonesia and is scheduled to shoot for over 100 days. Line producing the film is Daiwanne Ralie, with Matthew Flannery and Dimas Imam Subhono serving as directors of photography.

Picking up right where the first film ends, The Raid 2 follows Rama (Uwais) as he goes undercover and infiltrates the ranks of a ruthless Jakarta crime syndicate in order to protect his family and uncover the corruption in his own police force.

The Raid premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival, where it took home the Audience Award in the Midnight Madness section. It went on to play at Sundance and SXSW, before enjoying a theatrical release in the United States through Sony Pictures Classics. The film is approaching $15M in global box office.

XYZ and PT Mereantau Films are also in post-production on KILLERS, which is co-directed by Timo Tjahjanto and Kimo Stamboel, with Gareth Huw Evans and Rangga Maya Barack-Evans executive producing .  Evans and Tjahjanto recently collaborated on SAFE HAVEN, a celebrated segment in the horror anthology film S-VHS, which just premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

XYZ Films recently premiered Calvin Lee Reeder’s THE RAMBLER at Sundance as well.

“We’re incredibly excited to start the next chapter of The Raid story,” said XYZ Films. “Gareth introduced a rich and fertile world in the first film, and we’re eager to see him expand on that vision with Berandal.”

“To all our fans thank you so much for your support. We can’t wait to come back and show you what we have been working on,” said writer/director Gareth Evans. “We’ll be there in 2014 with a film bigger, better and bloodier! Wish us luck.”

source:Twitch

You've Been Framed For Death In First Trailer For S-VHS

With the original critically acclaimed horror anthology V/H/S only days away from it's UK cinema release tommorrow over in USA at Sundance film festival the sequel S-VHS is about to make it's world premier and we have the film's first trailer.

Shot once again in a typical 1980's style video analogue style once again in the short film style with a fresh bunch of talented horror film makers lining up to make sure horror fans worldwide will be scream, hide, cringe most of enjoy the anthology wanna be  franchise. This film's new blood includes Gareth Evans (The Raid) co-directing with Timo Tjahjanto (Macabre); Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project) Greg Hale; Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun) with Adam Wingard(You’re Next) and writer Simon Barrett(a horribe way to die) returning for a second round.

Perfect place to show off film 2 at Sundance the festival that loved the film , so its certain S-VHS (super Vhs) will go down a storm. As for the trailer itself its tricky to decipher on what's exactly going on but that's not a negative but more of a positive as it teases you with great precision. But what we are looking forward to is the Cabin In The Woods style child's birthday though an old school zombie attack always goes down well amongst the horror fans at The People's Movies HQ. We enjoyed V/H/S at last year's Edinburgh Film Festival you can find out how much by reading our review.

Nothing as in distribution rights have been sorted for S-VHS but don't be surprise after the festival things will be sorted. For UK&Irish fans V/H/S will have a limited cinema release on 18th January then been released on 28th January on DVD, Blu-Ray.

source: Rope Of Silicon

First Bloody Image From Horror Anthology V/H/S Sequel

This January one of the highlights of next year Horror Anthology V/H/S will finally arrive in UK&Irish cinemas thanks to Momentum Pictures. The film has already done the rounds in U.S Cinemas as well as festivals along with the film's UK premier at this years Edinburgh Film Festival(read our review) and before the film hits these merry shores the first official image of the sequel (see above).

Called S-V/H/S still following classic anthology horror movie with a contemporary and brilliantly visceral spin by some of the hottest new directors working in the genre today. The new movie has Gareth Evans (The Raid) co-directing with Timo Tjahjanto (Macabre); Eduardo Sanchez (The Blair Witch Project) co-directing with his long time producer Greg Hale; Jason Eisener (Hobo With A Shotgun); Adam Wingard (You're Next) and writer Simon Barrett making his directorial debut all providing the scares.

The above image is from Tjahjanto/Evans segment what it's about we don't know at this stage but it looks unhinging , something of occult in nature. If we go buy the buzz built from the first film Found footage horror may have found the film genre an exciting prospect. Check out the new UK poster for the film below!

V/H/S will be released in UK&Ireland 18 January 2013.

source:Twitch

Meet Hammer Girl Berandal's New Character aka The Raid 2

It was the highlight of the Glasgow Film Festival this year or Glasgow Film4 Frightfest to be more exact, Gareth Evans The Raid. It's the only film I've witnessed which had the whole audience giving the film a standing ovation with Evans and the star of the film Iwo Ikais in attendance for what was UK premier of the film. Back then we already knew there was going to be a sequel (even a dreaded Hollywood remake) in the works but now Berandal the name of the sequel which is in pre-production Evans has decided via his Twitter account to reveal one of the new characters we can expect to meet, Alicia aka The Hammer Girl.

We don't know much about Hammer Girl especially if she'll be on Rama's side or against him, but if you've seen the Raid and that's the type of world she' lived in we can assume she knows how to use that Hammer quiet well! Production for the film will start next month for a 2013 release date at the moment the film will still be called Berandal here in UK with USA changing the film name to The Raid :Retaliation.

 

If you missed The Raid (or The Raid:Redemption as it's called in USA) The film will be available on DVD, Blu-Ray from September 24th.

Review: THE RAID