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

Watch The Action Packed Sci-Fi Short Memorize

Whilst we may not always give the credit CGI deserves, Jimmy Eriksson and Eric Ramberg's action packed sci-fi short Memorize proves the technology has a few beneficial tricks up it's sleeve. If your opposed Identity cards with chips in them containing everything you need to know about yourself (good & bad) , in Memorize 15 years from now we'll all have chips embedded into our necks!

In 2027 The SSU - Special Surveillance Unit track all our moves to make sure no crime is committed, Earth is simply a Police state. When a SSU agent attempts  track down an suspected killer that perfect system to prevent crime show the agent it has 'problems'. As we slowly move towards becoming a 'Police State' I'm sure the Police force of today would love to get their hands on some of those gadgets and control those among us  who love to be on the wrong side of the law. Memorize is a very slick looking film with nice CGI touches and with a big doze of Minority Report thrown in, just remember don't think about things that could be construed as 'criminal' or you'll have The SSU breathing down your back!


Memorize - Short Film from Jimmy Eriksson on Vimeo.
source:Vimeo

Watch Alan Moore's Jimmy's End

Been a kid from UK who loved comic books in 1980's I didn't go for the typical Beano, Dandy, Topper,I just loved something a little darker, gritter sometimes surreal like 2000AD, Watchmen and V For Vendetta. It was unusual choices as I first went to primary school in 1980 starting high school 1988. There's one man I have to thank is Alan Moore the British cult comic book writer and his latest story come film Jimmy's End has appeared online in it's entirety.

Jimmy's End is a 32 minute short film which is part of a bigger project revolving around the same narrative, characters and locations. When you watch the film you can see a big David Lynch feel to it, very intense, surreal and full of sexual tension, it's neo-noir ala 1950's style at it's most disturbing. After you watch the film check out the 19 minute prequel Act Of Faith and spend an glorious hour in the company of Britain's finest comic book writer Alan Moore!

Did someone say bizzare?!

We’ve all been there: in the lapses after midnight, stumbling down unfamiliar gutters after one too many for the road and looking for inviting lights before they call last orders. James is trying to lose himself, but in a fractured men’s room mirror finds the eyes that have been waiting for him.

Following from the unnerving prelude Act of Faith, Alan Moore and Mitch Jenkins unveil a phantasmagoric English dreamtime made of goosefleshed pin-up girls, burned out comedians and faulty lights, with judgement just behind the tinsel
Jimmy’s End pulls back the purple drapes upon an intricate new planet of desire and mystery. We’ve all been there.

source:Bloody Disgusting

When the blood begins to flow, who will be left to scream. Exploitation Flick Dear God No! Coming to UK DVD

MONSTER PICTURES present “DEAR GOD NO!”, a twisted fairy tale for beer drinkers and hell-raisers, released on DVD on 14 January 2013

“Dear God No!” is a tribute to a lost regional drive-in film from 1976 that doesn’t rely heavily on computer gimmicks, and cuts to the core of what made these low-budget films shockingly fun. Shot entirely on SUPER 16MM Fuji film and using equipment from the era, Dear God No! is a drive-in & grindhouse lovers dream. No pretty actors- just a rocking original soundtrack, bikers, babes and blood, and as many naked breasts as the script would allow.

Outlaw motorcycle gang The Impalers tri-state rape and murder spree ended in a bloody massacre with rival club Satan’s Own. The surviving members sought refuge in a secluded cabin deep in the North Georgia mountains. What first must of seemed like easy prey for a home invasion, became a living nightmare of depravity and violence. A young innocent girl being held captive may hold the key to the twisted secrets locked in the basement and the killing machine feasting on human flesh in the forest outside.

“Dear God No!” is a brand new biker/horror/sexploitation feature written & directed by exploitation aficionado James Bickert, released on DVD in the UK by Monster Pictures UK on 14 January 2013. 

Regular Readers of Cinehouse may remember this film wen we brought you the trailer for it's American release Summer 2011, but now the film is coming to UK&Ireland!

EXTRAS

·         All new Grindhouse Cut of the feature (UK Exclusive)

·         Exclusive full colour booklet featuring the words of director James Bickert and graphic illustrator Tom Hodge, production stills, and more

·         Audio Commentary with Writer/Director James Bickert and composer Richard Davis

·         Audio Commentary with actors Jett Bryant, Madeline Brumby and Shane Morton

·         UK Theatrical trailer

·         Redband Trailer

·         Behind the Scenes Gag Reel

·         Poster and Still Slideshow

·         Zombie Parody

·         Torture Porn Parody

·         Vlog the Magnificent at The Dear God No! World Premiere

·         Easter Eggs

·         Animated short featuring two of the characters from the film (UK Exclusive)

Pre-order :DEAR GOD NO! (Monster Pictures) (DVD)

Watch The Brilliant Little Short Little Theatres: Homage To The Mineral Of Cabbage.

Little Theatres: Homage To The Mineral Of Cabbage is a brilliant little stop animation short Stephanie Dudley, which was first shown at 2010 Toronto Film Festival. Based on an Erin Moure poem it's simply brilliant, reminder that traditional methods of animation are just as effective probably more powerful than modern day CGI/computer based which lack atmosphere. Cabage as a mineral? Strange?! Watch the short film in its full, enjoy.....


sourceTwitch

Watch The Trailer For Brutal Brit Flick The Fall Of The Essex Boys

Fans of Rise And Fall of A White Collar Hooligan, Bonded With Blood, Jack Says, Rise Of The Footsoldier  will want to check out Paul Tanter's The Fall Of The Essex Boys. The brutal new Brit crime flick follows the rise and violent fall of the notorious Essex Boys, one of the most feared criminal gangs in Britain’s history. The 2000 Essex Boys starring Sean Bean, Charlie Creed Miles and Tom Wilkinson was loosely based on 1995 Rettendon gruesome triple gangland  murders, and now another new  look real life crime.

I haven't seen the Essex Boys but have heard quite a few positive things about the film, however Paul Tanter has his work cut out to convince cinephiles his version of events is worth your hard earned cash. His previous films especially Rise And Fall of A White Collar Hooligan was nothing but atrocious which is a shame as we really want to give British film making especially independent made films our support. On evidence of this trailer the violence levels looked to have risen compared to previous films, its brutal in nature, very gritty drug fuelled looking film and the directors experience in British gangland style films he should at least deliver something gripping (we hope)

The Fall Of The Essex Boys has a familiar cast with Nick Nevern, Simon Phillips, Robert Cavanah all Tanter regulars and their joined by Kate Magowan, Kierston Wareing, Peter Woodward, Craig Rolfe and Roman Kemp. The Fall Of The Essex Boys will be released in UK 8th February 2013.

Synopsis:The 1995 Rettendon Triple Murder. Not since Jack The Ripper has a killer’s identity so captivated the nation. The gruesome death of three drug dealers has spawned a miniature industry – books, TV programmes, merchandise, conventions and – of course – feature films. The appetite for gory detail and suppressed gangland secrets remains unabated, and is constantly titillated further with new tales of football hooliganism, international drug smuggling and police conspiracies of silence.
An 18 year old girl going into a coma after taking an ecstasy pill from a bad batch is the catalyst that sets in motion a series of events that leads to the demise of one of the most infamous criminal organisations in British History. Detective Inspector Stone steps in to try and put pressure on an untouchable unit of criminals - Pat Tate, Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe. The Essex Boys. In order to bring the criminals   down, he must act out of the law to get things done.
As the Essex Boys grow stronger and more fearless, their addiction to drugs and power slowly starts to spiral out of control and they soon start to develop enemies everywhere.As Stone starts to see the cracks forming in their organisation and with pressure from his peers he soon realises that bringing them down will be inevitable but the real test will come when he must find a way of getting his man on the inside out safely.

Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon) DVD Review

Rating: U
DVD Release Date: 
26th November 2012
Directed By: 
Georges Méliès
Cast:
Georges Méliès, Victor André ,Bleuette Bernon
Buy: [DVD] [1902]


I can say without a doubt that A Trip to the Moon is one of the most intriguing films I've ever seen. Clocking in at about 16 minutes, Georges Méliès' seminal work bristles with imagination and invention. It's weird to see common film techniques pioneered this early on. Matte paintings, jump cut effects and the like are all here, a few years after the medium was invented. These types of effects were very common until about 15 years ago when CGI started hogging the spotlight. The film's most iconic image of the Man in the Moon getting a rocket stuck in his eye is still as striking today as it ever was, with the influence of that one image alone being felt in everything from Futurama to The Mighty Boosh.

So, what can I say about it? Well, the plot is easy enough to grasp hold of. Some astronomers want to go to the Moon. They built a rocket that looks like a bullet and shoot themselves out of a massive cannon. They land on the Moon and soon discover it's filled with aliens known as Selenites. After they defeat them, the astronomers and a captured Selenite journey back to Earth and are met with a heroes' welcome. The end. It's all very charming. The creativity is the thing that struck me the most about it. I can't imagine what audiences back in 1902 thought of it, I bet it blew their minds clean across the room. Some of the tricks implemented here (such as an umbrella turning into a huge mushroom that grows) must have left them scratching their heads. Kinda throws how spoiled we are in terms of presentation and effects in this day and age into sharp focus. There's a bit after the astronomers are captured and led to the Selenite leader. One of the astronomers picks him up and dashes him on the floor where he explodes into a cloud of smoke. I let out a little chuckle and realised I was laughing at a 110 year old joke. That's pretty special.

The version sent to me was the recently restored colourised version of the film, complete with the previously lost ending and a new soundtrack by French band Air. The colourisation can be distracting at times, but it's nice enough. It's cool to know the intentions for costume colours and things. Without colourisation, I wouldn't have known that the moon bleeds red blood after getting shot with the rocket. Not being an expert on the film, I'm not sure if the film was accompanied by live piano music when it was projected and if so, I would have preferred that but the Air score is decent enough.

A Trip to the Moon is one of those films that managed to capture just what was possible with the new and exciting world of cinema at just the right time. You can easily see how it inflamed the imagination and inspired audiences for generations. On top of all that, it's arguably the first science-fiction film, so think about that when you sit down to watch your precious Blade Runner or whatever. It's really difficult to talk about the film without sounding like some kind of pipe-puffing loser professor, but it's one of the most important films in cinematic history. It's good to remember your roots.

★★★★★

Ben Browne

The Czechoslovak New Wave: A Collection DVD Review

Second Run has released a limited-edition three-disk set, The Czechoslovak New Wave: A Collection, which features three films from the 1960s: Diamonds of the Night (Jan Němek, 1964), Intimate Lighting (Ivan Passer, 1965) and The Cremator (Juraj Herz, 1968). The Czech New Wave was a very brief episode in European cinema that is probably best known for the fact that Milos Forman came out of it (Forman later directed One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Amadeus).

During the short five-year period from 1963 to 1968, the finest films of this movement were very much influenced by surrealism or were, conversely, very light comedies. It’s a strange mixture but it works. This box set is a good introduction to both sides of this dichotomy. Diamonds of the Night is an almost silent film about two teenage boys who take a train from one concentration camp to another. There is a spell-binding tracking shot that follows the boys as they escape the train, which goes on for at least three minutes. After their escape, the rest of story is told through fragmented memory and fantasy sequences of before they were captured, their capture, escape and re-capture. It was based on a then-unpublished survivor’s book: in the true story, the person was captured and escaped three times and had no memory of how he made his final escape.

Němek owes a huge debt to Robert Bresson, the minimalist French director, but also his direct opposite, the surrealist Luis Buñuel. The film has a very overt homage to Un Chien Andalou (1929) in a fantasy sequence where the boys are lying on the ground and one’s hand is covered by ants and later face. This juxtaposition of surrealism and realist/minimalist filmmaking is very interesting—it’s just a fantastic, moving, hour-long film.

Intimate Lighting is the “worst” film of the collection, but only because the other two are so much better. It is a light comedy about a group of classical musicians who are in a house rehearsing for an upcoming concert performance, and concerns their interactions with each other. Director Ivan Passer is better-known for his early collaborations with Milos Forman, whose early films he wrote, but he also directed the fantastic neo-noir Cutter’s Way (1981). His directing career seems to have taken off much more in America than in Czechoslovakia: most of his films have been in English.

The Cremator is quite possibly the best film in the collection. It follows a professional cremator in Nazi-occupied Prague. He becomes increasingly deranged, and then gets involved with the Nazis. It is a black comedy: a surreal and unsettling film with a great performance by Rudolf Hrusínský, who resembles an Asian Peter Lorre (although he is not, in fact, Asian.) This film has some of the most impressive use of fish-eye lens shooting in cinema, right up there with Citizen Kane and Seconds, as well as some truly astonishing tracking shots and angles, and imagery that will never leave you.

The director Juraj Herz was a puppeteer and animator before becoming a filmmaker, making him an outcast amongst the Czech New Wave crowd as he had not attended film school with the rest. This background gave him a surrealist animator’s look at film. The dvd also an introduction by the Brothers Quay. The Cremator really must be seen to believed it’s indescribable.

Overall, the box set is a very good value for money: two excellent films and one good one. After the failed Czech Uprising of 1968, the majority of New Wave filmmakers left Czechoslovakia, some going to America and others to Europe. Once you’ve watched these, it would also be worth having a look at Cutter’s Way to see how practices that originated in the Czech New Wave impacted American film. Interesting, the director of Diamonds of the Night has recently stated making low-budget/no-budget digital films that hearken back to the experimental nature of this early work, so the story does not end here.

Ian Schultz

Diamonds of the night (15)
★★★★★

Intimate Lighting (PG)
★★★1/2☆

The Cremator (15)
★★★★★

Directed By: Jan Nemec, Ivan Passer, Juraj Herz
Cast:  Rudolf Hrusínský, Vlasta Chramostová , Zdenek Bezusek, Karel Blazek, Ladislav Jánsky, 

Buy: The Czechoslovak New Wave - A Collection (3 Film Box Set) [DVD]

The Passion of Joan Arc Blu-Ray Review

Made in 1928 by the legendary Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer, The Passion of Joan of Arc has recently been remastered by Eureka Entertainment for its Masters of Cinema Range. It had previously only been available to English-speaking viewers as a Criterion release. The film charts the final days of Joan of Arc: her trial, the suffering she went through physically and mentally, and obviously ends with her execution by being burned at the stake for being a witch.

The film is truly relentless throughout. The Masters of Cinema DVD includes 97- and a 84-minute versions; the difference between the two is the frame rate (speed), not the footage. The release also includes the Lo Duca version, which was the cut most widely distributed and was famously used in Jean-Luc Godard’s Vivre sa Vie (1962), probably the first introduction most people have had to this film. This was the version most people will have seen until the complete cut was found in, fittingly enough, in a Danish mental hospital in 1981.

The actress who plays Joan of Arc, Maria Falconetti, is seen here in her second and last film role. She was mostly known as a stage actress and her presence is stagey: she speaks little, but there are extraordinary close-ups of her eyes throughout the film. However, it is probably one of the five greatest performances ever committed to film. Unlike Florence Delay in Robert Bresson’s later attempt to film the Joan of Arc story, Falconetti has a shaven head (this is one of the biggest flaws of Bresson’s film as it is historically inaccurate.) The also includes Antonin Artaud as the monk Massiou. Artaud later stated the film was meant to reveal Joan as a victim of one of the most terrible perversions of justice committed by state or church.

When the film came out it was very controversial in France, partly because Dreyer was Danish and not Catholic, and partly because of the rumoured casting of Lillian Gish as Joan. Gish was then most well known for her role in Birth of a Nation (she later in life starred in Night of the Hunter) It was edited by the Archbishop of Paris and government censors against Dreyer’s will, leaving the director very angry.

The Passion of Joan of Arc clearly owes some debt to German expressionism, which was even more obvious in Dreyer’s next film, Vampyr (1932). Visually it is certainly the greatest silent film ever made due to the lead performance and the incredible set designs. It was shot by Rudolph Maté, who later became very well known for his work as a film noir director, most notably D.O.A. (1950), and also shot for Hitchcock, Welles and Lubitsch. Paul Schrader has praised “the architecture of Joan's world, which literally conspires against her; like the faces of her inquisitors, the halls, doorways, furniture are on the offensive, striking, swooping at her with oblique angles, attacking her with hard-edged chunks of black and white."

This is a film that should be watched continuously, so it is gratifying that it is now available on home video again. It was voted into the top 10 in the Sight and Sound critics’ greatest films poll in 2012, and has recently been shown at the Leeds Film Festival and elsewhere with a live score. If you are a major fan like me, you may also want to have the Criterion version, which has the superior “Voices of Light” score (one of many scores that have been composed for it over the years.) Dreyer never selected a definitive score for The Passion of Joan of Arc, so unlike some other films of that era (such as Nosferatu and Metropolis) it was left open to interpretation by classical and pop composers – there have been many scores made, even one by Nick Cave.

Ian Schultz

★★★★★

Rating:PG
Re-Release BD/DVD Date: 26th November 2012 (UK&Ireland)
Directed By: Carl Theodor Dreyer
Cast:  Maria Falconetti, Eugene Silvain , André Berley
Buy The Passion of Joan Arc: Blu-ray / DVD / Double Play (Blu-ray + DVD) - Steelbook

Southern Comfort Blu-Ray Review

Southern Comfort (1981) is a film directed by Walter Hill, best known for The Warriors, The Driver and his long-lasting involvement in the Alien series. The film is very influenced by Deliverance (1972), which is not unsurprising since Hill has said numerous times that John Boorman’s earlier film Point Blank (1967) and especially its screenplay was a revelation for him—so obviously he had also seen Boorman’s Deliverance.

In a nutshell, the story is about patrol of the Louisiana Army National Guard who are out on training maneuvers in the swamps. They deeply upset the local Cajun population, so badly that eventually the swap-dwellers want to kill the Guardsmen, who then need to evade capture (in other words, not dissimilar to the rafters versus hillbillies plot in Deliverance). It stars Keith Carradine, Powers Booth and Fred Ward, and also features Peter Coyote. Southern Comfort is one of the last American films of that era to touch on the post-Vietnam conflict.  Co-screenwriter David Giler said he knew from the get-go that it would be seen as a metaphor for Vietnam. Giler has worked continuously with Hill, most notably on Alien.

It is a well-shot film, and also notable for its good score by Ry Cooder. Cooder has collaborated with Hill several times, and is also well-known for his score for Paris, Texas (1985). The cinematography of the Louisiana bayou is excellent, making you feel that you are actually there.

Southern Comfort is a solid man-against-nature and man-against-man thriller with obvious political undertones. When it came out it was not very successful, much like most of Walter Hill’s films with the obvious exception of his work on the Alien franchise, but over the years it has grown in stature. Many people consider it a superior film to Deliverance. Although I would not put it above Deliverance, it is well worth watching, especially for a very good early performance by Powers Boothe, who later starred in Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980: another little-seen film that deserved to be better known.) Hill remains an underrated director whose early films should be re-evaluated (The Driver, for example, was obviously a major inspiration for last year’s Drive). This is one of his very finest films, and is certainly better to watch in its new Blu-Ray format release from Second Sight Films, which includes a good-quality interview with Walter Hill.

Ian Schultz

★★★★☆

Rating:15
BD/DVD Release Date: 26th November 2012 (uk)
Directed By:Walter Hill
Cast:Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, Fred Ward, Peter Coyote,
Buy Southern Comfort: (Limited Edition packaging) [Bluray] / DVD