Watch UK Trailer For A Hijacking (Kapringen)

When you look at the Scandinavian market for television and cinema you must look back at it with jealousy at the constant level of  quality along with excitement, tension all in engrossing stuff. The latest film that will hit our shores comes from a former director of Borgen a popular TV series shown on BBC channels Tobias Lindholm  who has already directed The Hunt (Mads Mikklesen),now A Hijacking. Courtesy of the good folks at Arrow Films we now have the new UK trailer and poster for your visual entertainment.

Starring Pilou Asbæk (Borgen), Soren Malling (Borgen) in tense drama of a Danish freight ship that finds itself captured by Somalian pirates everyone onboard is taken hostage. What results is all the hostage caught in the middle of a game of cat & mouse between the hostages and shipping directors as they attempt to negotiate a ransom leaving the hostages no clue when or if they'll ever be set free.

I was fortunate to catch this film at last month's Glasgow Film Festival, it was a film I picked randomly but also on back of its reputation from it's film festival circuit especially from London. Its a slow burning burning film full of tension, it is violent on all levels especially psychically and emotionally becoming one of my favourite films of the festival.

I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed A Hijacking and you can enjoy it when the film arrives in UK&Ireland 10th May with the American release coming 14th June.

Synopsis

A tense, chilling drama following the emotional journeys of a ship’s crew as they are taken hostage in the Indian Ocean, A HIJACKING was the stand out film at the London, Venice and Toronto Film Festivals 2012.The cargo ship MV Rozen is heading for harbour when it is hijacked by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean. Amongst the men on board are the ship’s cook Mikkel (Pilou Asbæk) and the engineer Jan (Roland Møller), who along with the rest of the seamen are taken hostage in a cynical game of life and death. With the demand for a ransom of millions of dollars a psychological drama unfolds between the CEO of the shipping company (Søren Malling) and the Somali pirates

Victor Crowley Is Back Watch Hatchet 3 Teaser Trailer!

Watch your back as Victor Crowley is back!Adam Green's ever popular serial killer returning for a third outing despite his untimely death he's making sure he'll get his Horror icon status returning for another day, but what makes Hatchet so popular? They keep it old school from old school special effects, plenty of gore and keep everything fun!

Hatchet 3 sees Adam Green hand over the directors chair to BJ McDonnell who was in charging of camera for the first two films hence the third been his directoral debut. Danielle Harris returns  along with Kane Hodder (as Victor), they are joined by Zach Galligan (Gremlins), Derek Mears, Caroline Williams, Sean Whalen. No word on a UK release date but the film will get a limited cinema release on 14th June.

Synopsis

The film continues the tale of the now-iconic villain Victor Crowley (Kane Hodder). As a search and recovery team heads into the haunted swamp to pick up the pieces and carnage left behind from the first two films, Marybeth (Danielle Harris) hunts down the true secret to ending the voodoo curse that has left the ghost of Victor Crowley haunting and terrorizing Honey Island Swamp for decades

John Schlesinger’s Billy Liar Restored On Blu-Ray For 50th Anniversary May Release

Tom Courtenay delivers a star-making turn as William Terrence Fisher (‘Billy Liar’) in one of the most memorable and universally acclaimed films of the 60s.

Running from an unsympathetic working-class family, a pair of demanding fiancées and an insecure job at an undertakers, Billy escapes, Walter Mitty-like, into a world of fantasy where he can realize his dream ambitions. As work and family pressures build to new intolerable levels, Liz (an early, charismatic turn from Julie Christie), enters his drab life and offers Billy the one real chance he’ll ever get to leave the past behind.

Scripted by Keith Waterhouse from his own novel, and sensitively directed by John Schlesinger (Midnight Cowboy), Billy Liar is one of the few comedies of the British ‘New Wave’, marrying visual and verbal wit with a rather poignant rumination on the futility of dreams.

The newly restored version of Billy Liar will also screen as part of this year’s Bradford International Film Festival, hosted by Bradford UNESCO City of Film on Sunday 14 April.

David Wilson, Director of Bradford UNESCO City of Film said, ‘Billy Liar is a key component within Bradford's rich film heritage and formed part of our bid to become the world's first UNESCO City of Film. It is still an important reference within film studies and I am really pleased that the 50th Anniversary edition on DVD/ BLU-RAY will bring the film to whole new audience.'

On Saturday 13 April Tom Courtenay will also be the festival’s guest of honour where he will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award. [more details can be found here]

Special Features
• Remembering Billy Liar with Tom Courtenay and Helen Fraser
• Interview with Richard Ayoade
• A look through the Keith Waterhouse Archive with British Library Curator Zoe Wilcox
• Interview with Saint Etienne's Bob Stanley
• Stills Gallery
• Trailer
Pre-order/Buy Billy Liar 50th Anniversary Edition:DVD / Blu-ray

Sightseers Blu-Ray Review

Sightseers is the third film from Ben Wheatley, one of the top British directors working today. It is a dark, twisted comedy about a couple on a caravan holiday who go on a killing spree. Think Badlands but in the Peak District and with far more laughs.

The film is a fantastic advert for Britain, in more ways than one. It shows how we still have the capacity to make great movies and it also shows just how stunning some areas of our country are. Alice Lowe and Steve Oram star as the murderous couple and are simply brilliant. They also wrote the script which, while being bleak, is stunningly funny. I have been a fan of Alice Lowe since seeing her in and I hope that the success of this film will lead to us seeing her more on the big screen and indeed television. Her performance here is quite remarkable as she treads the fine line of looking lost and innocent but being deadly and dangerous at the same time. Oram, as her boyfriend, plays confused and lost to perfection, but when he turns on the menace he is genuinely frightening. Both the leads remind us just how good British comic talent can be, and I do hope that they will continue to write and star in films.

The actors had at one point tried to make the story as a television show and looking at it you could see it working in that format, but with the masterful direction of Wheatley this feels truly cinematic. It's simply gorgeous. There is almost a feeling of Sergio Leone, with intense close-ups mixed with huge landscape shots. As the couple descend more and more into violence and isolation, the locations become more breathtaking. Wheatley directs the comic moments in a wonderfully deadpan way, lingering on the characters and their sad lives; but he is equally adept at directing the violence. It is brutal and shocking but, cleverly, does not show too much.

The editing in Sightseers is very memorable and inventive. Wheatley's use of cutting and his juxtaposing violence with the mundane or odd moments is incredibly successful. His style of editing reminded me of Nicolas Roeg's work, and it is so nice to see someone trying to do something different and unusual and, more impressively, making it work.

Reluctantly, I have to say the film isn't entirely successful, however. While the first two thirds are hilarious and constantly take new turns and developments, the last third is a little more predictable and not quite as funny. Its true though that the story gets darker, therefore the fall in laughs is understandable. It reminded me somewhat of God Bless America, a film about a man and a girl going on a killing rampage in the US. It was directed by Bobcat Goldthwait (in my mind one of the top comedic directors working today) and was quite similar in basic story and structure but while it takes Sightseers a good hour before becoming slightly obvious, God Bless America manages it after about ten minutes. There have been many films about couples going on murder sprees and so to keep us from guessing where it is going to go it really needs to do something remarkably different and in the case of Sightseers this is where it falters.

This is my only problem with the film. Everything else about it is a true delight and I thoroughly recommend seeing it, and on blu ray if possible. It looks great and it is fantastic to see a low budget British film putting its money in all the right places. The blu ray also contains an amusing and informative Making Of, a blooper reel and audio commentaries.

Sightseers is without a doubt one of my favourite films of 2012. Its funny, frightening, and very, very British.

Harry Davenport

★★★★☆

Rating: 15
Release Date: 25th March 2013 (UK)
Directed By: Ben Wheatley
Cast: Alice Lowe, Steve Oram, Eileen Davies, Jonathan Aris

Buy Sightseers: DVD / Blu-ray


Win Sightseers On DVD: Enter Here (ends 7th April 2013)

Win 21 Days: The Heineken Kidnapping On DVD or Blu-Ray

Part thriller, part procedural legal drama, 21 Days: The Heineken Kidnapping is a fascinating and absorbing crime story, which will appeal to fans of the legendary Rutger Hauer and audiences who have also been gripped by the new wave of gritty, realistic euro–crime dramas from Sweden, Denmark and France.based on the sensational true story of the Netherland’s most notorious abduction of Heineken himself in 1983 and courtesy of Arrow Films we've teamed up to give you a chance to win this film on DVD or BluRay.

Rem (Reinout Scholten van Aschat) is an amateur street thug looking for an easy way out of poverty. When he overhears his brother-in-law Cor (Gijs Naber) and associates plotting criminal schemes, Rem wants in on the action. In an effort to impress the others Rem suggests the job to end all jobs - a daring kidnap. The target is Freddy Heineken, the multi-millionaire brewery president. Heineken’s immense wealth is the key attraction but Rem also blames him for his father's failing health due to alcoholism after long years of service as a Heineken salesman.

The gang successfully execute the kidnapping and demand a large ransom, but when the family refuses to give up any kind of money their plan slowly begins to unravel. Rem is drawn deeper and deeper into the worsening situation and his darker impulses are revealed. When he is tasked with monitoring Freddy's cell, Rem seems to enjoy the power he holds over the rich man and cruelly tests his psychological resolve.

After 21 days the ransom is finally paid but the police are already closing in. Two of the gang are arrested but Rem and Cor manage to flee to France. They are apprehended but legal proceedings and extradition issues may give them a chance to evade Dutch justice. Freddy Heineken then begins his own quest for extrajudicial revenge.

To Win one of 3 copies of 21 Days: The Heineken Kidnapping On DVD or BluRay please Answer the following Question:

Q What famous alcoholic beverage made Rutger Hauer a household name in the 1980's with their 'surreal' Television adverts?

Send your answer, name, address, postcode (No telephone Numbers), email titled '21 Days' to winatthecinehouseuk@gmail.com 

Deadline for Comp is Sunday 7th April 2013 (11:59pm).You must be 15 years or older to enter.

Double your chances follow us at Facebook! (you will get double entry every contest)

Read Our Review after you enter / You Buy on Blu-ray / DVD

In event of the above form not working please refer to Terms&Conditions on how to enter

Terms & Conditions:1.This prize is non transferable.No cash alternatives apply.UK & Irish entries only.2.The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse and  Arrow Films  have the right to alter, delay or cancel this competition without any notice 3.The competition is not opened to employees, family, friends of The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse,  Arrow Films employees 4.This competition is promoted on behalf of  Arrow Films   5. If this prize becomes unavailable we have the right to offer an alternative prize instead 6.To enter this competition you must send in your answer, name, address only, Deadline 7th April 2013 (2359hrs)7.Will only accept entries sent to the correct email (win [at] thepeoplesmovies [dot] com), any other entry via any other email will be void.8.If the above form fails please send the information required from the form email it to win [at] thepeoplesmovies [dot] com (label 21 days) If any info required from the form is not sent in the email your entry will be void 9.automated entries are not allowed and will be disqualified, which could result you been banned.10.If you are friend or like us at facebook for every competition you enter you get double entry, but you must stay stay friend/like us all the time,or future entries maybe considered one entry.11.The Peoples Movies, Cinehouse takes no responsibility for delayed, lost, stolen prizes 12.Prizes may take from days to a few months for delivery which is out of our control13.The competition is opened to Aged 15 and over.14. Majority of the prizes on offer will come from representatives of the distributor, no The People’s Movies &Cinehouse, when we do have the prizes we will inform you.15. Unless Stated Please Do Not Include Telephone Numbers, we don’t need them and if you include your telephone number Cinehouse and The People’s Movies are not responsible for the security of the number 16.The winning entries will be picked at random and contacted by email or announced via facebook, sometimes we are unable to confirm winners.17.This competition is bound by the rules of Scotland,England & Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland.18.By sending your entry for this competition you are confirming you have read and agreed to these Terms & Conditions.

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Game of Throne's Maisie Williams lands 'monster' role

Production Company Movie Mogul Ltd (PANIC BUTTON), has announced today that actress Maisie Williams has signed up to play the lead role of Lorna Thompson in the sci-fi action film WE ARE MONSTERS.

Williams, who shot to fame as Ayra Stark in the HBO hit series GAME OF THRONES said today: “I am really pleased to be involved in We are Monsters and working with John and I can’t wait to bring Lorna to life'

Writer/Director John Shackleton says "Maisie brings a perfect blend of feistiness and vulnerability to this challenging role and I couldn't be more thrilled at the news of her acceptance of our offer."

Producer Gareth I. Davies added: “Maisie, a star in the making, will bring lots of vitality and excitement to the project, and her existing ‘Game of Thrones’ fan following will be delighted to see Maisie embark on her latest lead role – in what promises to be a very special film to hit our cinema screens in 2014”

Also attached to the film, which goes into pre-production later in the year, is actor Doug Jones best known in the UK for his roles in the HELLBOY films and PAN’S LABYRINTH. He plays Lorna’s nemesis, the evil Sir Daniel Southall.

The crew includes monster effects specialist Neill Gorton ( FROM HELL); Stunt Co-ordinator Andy Bennett (THE WOMAN IN BLACK) and Storyboard artist Ben Oliver (JUDGE DREDD, X-MEN).

Tess Blu-Ray Review

Tess was the film Roman Polanski made at the end of quite arguably his great period coming on the tails of The Tenant and Chinatown (his masterpiece). Tess however is a very different kettle of fish to those 2 films, one is homage to film noir and one a rather disturbing psychological thriller. Tess based on novel Tess of the d’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy. He made Tess in part as a tribute to his wife Sharon Tate who of course was brutally murdered by The Manson family. Sharon gave Roman a copy not long before her untimely death saying “it would make a great film”.

Tess is about a young woman naturally called Tess. Her family the Durbeyfields find out they a part of old noble family. They have fallen on very hard times and her father makes her see their “relatives”. Her father is hoping for some kind hand-out or work. Tess arrives and her Alec d'Urberville falls madly for her and tries to seduce her but Tess isn’t interested. Alec in reality just bought the name to seem more important than he is. He rapes her and impregnates hers but the child soon dies after birth. She starts working on a dairy farm and begins working as a milkmaid and falls in love with Angel Clare. They start a relationship and get married but it does not end well for all parties concerned.

The film is probably most noted for it being the film that propelled Klaus Kinski’s beautiful daughter Nastassja Kinski to worldwide stardom and it’s luscious photography. Nastassja’s accent is patchy at times but it’s more adequate. The supporting cast is very disappointing especially compared to Polanski’s previous work with no real standouts. It’s from all accounts very faithful to the original Thomas Hardy novel (I’ve never read it) and it’s shows cause for such a simple tale, it does drag a bit especially with it’s near 3 hour running time. Despite its flaws it’s absolutely gorgeous to look at and Nastassja Kinski has always being a captivating screen presence.

Tess was the centrepiece of a recent retrospective of Roman Polanski’s work at London’s BFI and it’s no wonder they have re-released it on a blu-ray/dvd double pack. Polanski is better at psychological torment which Tess touches on near the end with it’s unfortunate incident but check out his earlier work before you watch Tess.

Ian Schultz

★★★★☆

Rating: 12
Directed By: Roman Polanski
Cast: Nastassja Kinski, Peter Firth, Leigh Lawson 
Buy:Tess (DVD & Blu-ray) [1979]

The Bay DVD Review

The Bay is one of those films that, for a while, refused to dismount all your favourite horror sites, instead riding a wave of publicity that saw its posters, trailers, and clips trickle down to a (generally) not-too-bothered fan base. Considering the fact that Barry Levinson (Rain Man) is in the director’s chair it’s easy to see why The Bay is getting so much attention.

The Bay takes Jaws, Piranha, our terror for ecological disaster and conspiratorial governments, mixes them up, plants them in an adorable wee fishing town in Maryland then lets everything spiral out of control. Amateur reporter Donna Thompson recalls all this three years later, narrating the patchwork of news coverage, home movie, and CCTV that has been salvaged since the terrible events of July 4th 2009, when a mysterious plague swept through the town.

Levinson tackles the beginnings of the epidemic with ease, carefully constructing a community so idyllic its almost queasy. The initial signs of trouble slip quickly into a fully-fledged plague-like affair but it’s those first moments of panic and terror that are presented in a much more sombre tone to help to set the film’s regretful mood. Unfortunately the last half skips on tension: suddenly everyone is dead and people blowing their brains out on first signs of itchy patches. The film just seems to lose itself in the imagery of chaos, enjoying the sight of panic and eventual silence more than trying to relay that disorientation to the audience.

Cut with all the finesse of a five year old with ADHD, The Bay squanders a nice tense first half by trying to spread itself over too much ground in the last. Jumping between perspectives should have given the story a much needed scope but it doesn’t pull off. ‘From the producers of Insidious and Sinister’ is what you’ll find proudly flaunted close to the film’s title in any publication, notice the pattern of naff third acts emerging here. Hopefully the producers will too.

One of the more interesting found-footage escapades of the past few years, The Bay fails to close the curtain on a successful feature, losing its way after a great set-up. However there are still a good few moments and a squeamish enough creature to sustain some frights.

★★1/2☆☆

Scott Clark

Rating:15
Release Date: 15th March 2013 (UK Cinema) 18th March 2013 (UK DVD)
Director: Barry Levinson
Cast: Will Rogers,Kristen Connolly,Kether Donohue
Buy The Bay:Blu-ray/ DVD

GFF 2013: John Dies at the End Review

When I hear cult-auteur Don Coscarelli is working on a new film I get pretty excited, I read a synopsis and my excitement grows, Angus Scrimm (the Tall Man!) signs on for a cameo and I find out the film is based on a book reputed to be “unfilmable”. I swoon in my soul.

What you’ll notice first is that Coscarelli hasn’t sabotaged his aesthetic in taking his closest step into the main stream; the general look of the film and its cast, which includes the fantastic Paul Giamatti, may scare away some seasoned fans of that garage-feel of his early films. Don’t fret however, there’s plenty of his usual nonsense crammed in John Dies at the End to make up for that.

If there was a genre called fucking with the future, or unravelling the universe, then John Dies would definitely be a perfect example; it aint time travel and it aint really anything else. You just have to see it and try to let it happen. Essentially it’s the story of a new street drug that pushes the boundaries of human physics, and how two friends are dragged into a mess of alien invasion through the drug, but it’s so much more. It’s like a more elaborate Phantasm on acid.

John Dies flaunts Coscarelli’s signature black humour (see Bubba ho-Tep), those tooling-up sequences he deploys in all his films, a general feel of badass at more than a few points, and enough weird to do you the year. However, the film frequently threatens to be too bizarre for its own good and that will distance some viewers, at points it stretches patience especially in the last twenty minutes where any idea of acceptable narrative seems to boil off and leave a multi-coloured, fantastical, and wholly silly residue. If you consider this amidst the context then sure it pulls off. Time travel, supernatural encounters, aliens, and drugs, it’s difficult to criticise a film for being silly when there’s so much going on.

Chase Williamson and Rob Mayes hold their own throughout as Dave and John respectively, a pair of Coscarelli heroes if ever there was. Giamatti is great, as a wry and doubtful journalist, Doug Jones (he plays all your nightmares in del Toro films) pops up as an alien, and Clancy Brown plays an egocentric exorcist. Special mention goes to Glynn Turman as the cynical old-school detective caught up in something he doesn’t understand. Three guesses as to who I sympathise with most.

Earlier I mentioned context: that’s an important word when you consider Coscarelli’s CV. Don’t question his world too deeply, you won’t get answers, don’t pull a ridiculous face when things get crazy, because I promise it will get weirder. Sit back and watch, enjoy, savour every stupid moment courtesy of a sharp script and a director obviously having the time of his life.

The embodiment of the “Marmite Film”, John Dies at the End will polarise audiences and perhaps even Coscarelli fans. It is entirely unforgiving in its embracement of the bizarre, silly at times, hilarious at others, conceptually intriguing, and above all entertaining. Miss it if you dare.

Scott Clark

★★★★☆

Rating: 18
Release Date: 22nd March 2013 (UK)
Directed By: Don Coscarelli
Cast:  Chase Williamson, Rob Mayes, Paul Giamatti, Clancy Brown, Doug Jones

BFI Flipside Return With Captured, a restricted film by John Krish

The BFI Flipside Presents Captured, a restricted film by John Krish.

Commissioned by the Army Kinema Corporation in 1959 as a military training film and previously only shown to a highly restricted audience of military officials, Captured is a realistic and sometimes disturbing prisoner of war drama. It demonstrates how British POWs responded to brainwashing and torture techniques during the Korean War, thereby revealing what a soldier could expect if he was ever captured by the communist enemy. It will be released by BFI Flipside on 15 April 2013 in a Dual Format edition (a DVD and Blu-ray disc) with extensive special features.

Written and directed by the acclaimed documentary auteur John Krish (The Elephant Will Never Forget, I Think They Call Him John), with all of his trademark lyricism and humanity, Captured is a haunting lost classic of post-war British cinema. It is presented here with a number of other Krish films all designed to warn, advise and inform. They are all transferred to High Definition from the very best available film materials.

H.M.P. (1976), one of the additional films here, is a riveting look at what it takes to be a prison officer. The Home Office approached the COI for a film that would encourage applicants while also improving wider appreciation of what the prison service offered. The film follows three recruits as they go inside a prison to learn more about the realities of the job, through meeting various members of staff, including the chaplain.

Also included on this release is a new interview with John Krish, in which he talks in-depth about his life and work. John was honoured with an Evening Standard Award for Best Documentary in 2010 for his widely acclaimed quartet of films, A Day in the Life: Four Portraits of Post-war Britain, which is released by the BFI in a Dual Format Edition.

Special Features:
• Presented in both High Definition and Standard Definition;
• Sewing Machine (John Krish, 1973, 1 min): hard-hitting road safety 'filler' from the COI;
• Searching (John Krish, 1974, 1 min): shocking fire safety 'filler' from the COI;
• H.M.P. (John Krish, 1976, 52 mins): compelling fly-on-the-wall style recruitment film for the prison service;
• The Finishing Line (John Krish, 1977, 21 mins): violent public safety film intended to discourage children from trespassing on railway lines;
• Shooting the Message: The films of John Krish (2013, 35 mins): an extensive interview with the director about his life and work;
• Illustrated booklet with newly commissioned essays and contributions from James Piers Taylor, Patrick Russell, Stephen Thrower and Alex Davidson, and full credits.



Buy:Captured ( [DVD + Blu-ray]