Best known for playing Rick Grimes in AMC’s The Walking Dead, Andrew Lincoln made his professional debut in 1994 as Terry in an episode of Drop the Dead Donkey, a British television sitcom that aired on Channel 4. The English actor gradually built his acting resume in the following years, showcasing his talent on screen and stage. His breakthrough came in the 2000s with his Simon Casey role in Teachers, Mark in Love Actually, and then Robert Bridge in Stephen Volk’s Afterlife. None of these measures up to his Rick Grimes role, which remains the major highlight of his career.
- 9/24/2023
- by Banks Onuoha
- TVovermind.com
Bloody Disgusting has learned this afternoon that legendary broadcaster Michael Parkinson has passed away at the age of 88. A statement from his family reads, “After a brief illness Sir Michael Parkinson passed away peacefully at home last night in the company of his family.”
Dubbed “the king of the intelligent interview” in a tribute tweet from Eddie Izzard today, Michael Parkinson was best known as the host of “Parkinson,” a long-running British talk show for BBC One (and later ITV) that began in 1971. The show featured conversational interviews with various celebrities, with guests over the decades including the likes of Anthony Hopkins, Bing Crosby, Cher, Clint Eastwood, David Bowie, Denzel Washington, Elton John, Gene Wilder, John Lennon, Madonna, Ozzy Osbourne, Robin Williams, Tom Cruise, and Tom Hanks.
The series ran on BBC One from 1971-1982 and 1998-2004, and on ITV from 1987-1988 and 2004-2007. The final episode of “Parkinson” aired...
Dubbed “the king of the intelligent interview” in a tribute tweet from Eddie Izzard today, Michael Parkinson was best known as the host of “Parkinson,” a long-running British talk show for BBC One (and later ITV) that began in 1971. The show featured conversational interviews with various celebrities, with guests over the decades including the likes of Anthony Hopkins, Bing Crosby, Cher, Clint Eastwood, David Bowie, Denzel Washington, Elton John, Gene Wilder, John Lennon, Madonna, Ozzy Osbourne, Robin Williams, Tom Cruise, and Tom Hanks.
The series ran on BBC One from 1971-1982 and 1998-2004, and on ITV from 1987-1988 and 2004-2007. The final episode of “Parkinson” aired...
- 8/17/2023
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
“You gave me these emotions, but you didn’t tell me how to use them. Now two people are dead because of us. Why?”
Robert De Niro and Kenneth Branagh in Mary Shelley’S Frankenstein (1994) will be available on 4K Ultra HD April 12th from Arrow Video
Kenneth Branagh leads an all-star cast including Robert De Niro, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Hulce, Ian Holm, John Cleese and Aidan Quinn in his definitive cinematic version of Mary Shelley’s classic tale of gothic terror.
At the turn of the 19th century, visionary scientist Victor Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh) embarks on an obsessive quest to conquer the mysteries of human mortality. But his hubristic bid to create life out of death goes hideously wrong, and succeeds only in begetting a deformed monster (Robert De Niro). Horrified by what he has wrought, the scientist attempts to destroy his creation, but fails. Rejected by his creator...
Robert De Niro and Kenneth Branagh in Mary Shelley’S Frankenstein (1994) will be available on 4K Ultra HD April 12th from Arrow Video
Kenneth Branagh leads an all-star cast including Robert De Niro, Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Hulce, Ian Holm, John Cleese and Aidan Quinn in his definitive cinematic version of Mary Shelley’s classic tale of gothic terror.
At the turn of the 19th century, visionary scientist Victor Frankenstein (Kenneth Branagh) embarks on an obsessive quest to conquer the mysteries of human mortality. But his hubristic bid to create life out of death goes hideously wrong, and succeeds only in begetting a deformed monster (Robert De Niro). Horrified by what he has wrought, the scientist attempts to destroy his creation, but fails. Rejected by his creator...
- 3/14/2022
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
In his latest podcast, host Stuart Wright talks with the screenwriter of Stuart Wright talks to BAFTA winning screenwriter Stephen Volk about his choices of 5 Great British Horror Films.
Written by Stephen Volk, directed by Nick Murphy and starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton and Shaun Dooley, The Awakening is available to watch on Netflix UK at www.netflix.com/gb/title/70208816. Stephen Volk’s forthcoming book The Dark Masters Trilogy – three stories featuring Peter Cushing, Alfred Hitchcock, Dennis Wheatley and Aleister Crowley – will be published by Ps Publishing in one volume, late October. (www.pspublishing.co.uk). For more information on Stephen visit www.stephenvolk.net...
Written by Stephen Volk, directed by Nick Murphy and starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton and Shaun Dooley, The Awakening is available to watch on Netflix UK at www.netflix.com/gb/title/70208816. Stephen Volk’s forthcoming book The Dark Masters Trilogy – three stories featuring Peter Cushing, Alfred Hitchcock, Dennis Wheatley and Aleister Crowley – will be published by Ps Publishing in one volume, late October. (www.pspublishing.co.uk). For more information on Stephen visit www.stephenvolk.net...
- 11/2/2018
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
The expansion of The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies into Los Angeles and London gives horror fans new opportunities for expert explorations of horror sub-genres and live conversations with some of the genre's most influential figures. We have details on two upcoming October events: "I Dream of Deep Water: An Exploration of the History and Psychology of Aquatic Horror" with Rebekah McKendry in Los Angeles, and "Live from Miskatonic: Stephen Volk in Conversation with Sean Hogan" in London.
For more details on both events, visit: https://www.miskatonicinstitute.com/
The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies - La Presents: I Dream Of Deep Water: An Exploration Of The History And Psychology Of Aquatic Horror at the Philosophical Research Society October 24th!
The Miskatonic Institute Horror Studies - La explores the depths of underwater horror from Jaws to Lovecraft and from the screens to the real-life seas. Miskatonic La co-director Rebekah McKendry uses cinema,...
For more details on both events, visit: https://www.miskatonicinstitute.com/
The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies - La Presents: I Dream Of Deep Water: An Exploration Of The History And Psychology Of Aquatic Horror at the Philosophical Research Society October 24th!
The Miskatonic Institute Horror Studies - La explores the depths of underwater horror from Jaws to Lovecraft and from the screens to the real-life seas. Miskatonic La co-director Rebekah McKendry uses cinema,...
- 10/1/2018
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
In his latest interview/podcast, host Stuart Wright talks to BAFTA winning screenwriter Stephen Volk about writing his period ghost story screenplay The Awakening (2011). Directed by Nick Murphy and stars Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton and Shaun Dooley, The Awakening is available to watch on Netflix UK at www.netflix.com/gb/title/70208816
In 1921, in London, the arrogant and skeptical Florence Cathcart is famous for exposing hoaxes and helping the police to arrest con artists. The stranger Robert Mallory tells her that the headmaster of a boarding school in Rookford had invited her to travel to Cumbria to investigate a ghost that is frightening the pupils to death. He also tells that many years ago there was a murder in the estate and recently pupil Walter Portman had died. The reluctant Florence finally accepts to go to Cumbria. On arrival, she is welcomed by governess Maud and the boy Thomas Hill.
In 1921, in London, the arrogant and skeptical Florence Cathcart is famous for exposing hoaxes and helping the police to arrest con artists. The stranger Robert Mallory tells her that the headmaster of a boarding school in Rookford had invited her to travel to Cumbria to investigate a ghost that is frightening the pupils to death. He also tells that many years ago there was a murder in the estate and recently pupil Walter Portman had died. The reluctant Florence finally accepts to go to Cumbria. On arrival, she is welcomed by governess Maud and the boy Thomas Hill.
- 9/21/2018
- by Stuart Wright
- Nerdly
One of the most fascinating live events that Daily Dead has recently attended was the career-spanning conversation with Michael Ironside that took place at the Fantasia Film Festival, so we're thrilled to share the news that The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies is launching a Los Angeles branch this fall, and we also have full details on all of the organization's classes and events taking place around the world in the autumn of 2018.
Below, we have the official press release with full details on The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies' new Los Angeles branch, as well as information on all of the Miskatonic classes taking place this fall in New York City and London. To learn more and to keep up to date on the organization's enlightening lectures on the horror genre and the people who make it so special, visit Miskatonic's official website.
Press Release: The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies,...
Below, we have the official press release with full details on The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies' new Los Angeles branch, as well as information on all of the Miskatonic classes taking place this fall in New York City and London. To learn more and to keep up to date on the organization's enlightening lectures on the horror genre and the people who make it so special, visit Miskatonic's official website.
Press Release: The Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies,...
- 8/28/2018
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Why do we respond to some filmmakers and not others?
I’m a pretty film literate guy, so I’ve seen my share of both classics and avant-garde movies and understand both the films that influenced them and those on which they had a big influence. I don’t mind being challenged or taken outside of my comfort zone. But the older I get and the more movies I see, the more I resign myself to the notion that I like what I like and that I shouldn’t try to fight those feelings in the interest of appearing “highbrow.” If it comes down to a classy mess or good trash, I’ll take the good trash any day.
This brings me to the two newest Blu-ray releases from Vestron Video’s Collector’s Series line: Ken Russell’s 1986 effort Gothic and the 1990 sci-fi actioner Class of 1999, written and directed by Mark L. Lester.
I’m a pretty film literate guy, so I’ve seen my share of both classics and avant-garde movies and understand both the films that influenced them and those on which they had a big influence. I don’t mind being challenged or taken outside of my comfort zone. But the older I get and the more movies I see, the more I resign myself to the notion that I like what I like and that I shouldn’t try to fight those feelings in the interest of appearing “highbrow.” If it comes down to a classy mess or good trash, I’ll take the good trash any day.
This brings me to the two newest Blu-ray releases from Vestron Video’s Collector’s Series line: Ken Russell’s 1986 effort Gothic and the 1990 sci-fi actioner Class of 1999, written and directed by Mark L. Lester.
- 2/14/2018
- by Patrick Bromley
- DailyDead
January’s genre-related home entertainment releases are ending on a somewhat quiet note, as there are only seven titles making their arrival this week. That being said, this cinematic septet of Blu-rays and DVDs make for a truly fantastic assortment of films, including the Vestron Video Collector’s Series editions of both Class of 1999 and Gothic, as well as stunning special editions for both Re-Animator and the original The Hills Have Eyes.
Other notable movies heading home on January 30th are Hack-o-Lantern, Lucifer’s Women, and Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween.
Class of 1999: Vestron Video Collector’s Series (Lionsgate, Blu-ray)
Robots who have been programmed to teach and discipline students in a violence-prone school turn homicidal, and the students must fight back to save their lives.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Producer/Director Mark L. Lester
- Interviews with Director/Producer Mark L. Lester and Co-Producer...
Other notable movies heading home on January 30th are Hack-o-Lantern, Lucifer’s Women, and Tyler Perry’s Boo 2! A Madea Halloween.
Class of 1999: Vestron Video Collector’s Series (Lionsgate, Blu-ray)
Robots who have been programmed to teach and discipline students in a violence-prone school turn homicidal, and the students must fight back to save their lives.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Producer/Director Mark L. Lester
- Interviews with Director/Producer Mark L. Lester and Co-Producer...
- 1/30/2018
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
What if the events that inspired Frankenstein's monster were more horrifying than the monster itself? For the 13th entry in their Vestron Video Collector’s Series, Lionsgate is taking viewers to a fateful night with Mary Shelley and her friends with the Blu-ray release of Ken Russell's Gothic this January:
Press Release: From the Vestron Video Collector’s Series, the horror classic Gothic will arrive for the first time on limited edition Blu-ray on January 30 from Lionsgate. Starring Golden Globe® winner Gabriel Byrne (2009, Best Actor, “In Treatment”), Julian Sands, and Natasha Richardson, and from legendary director Ken Russell (Lair of the White Worm), Gothic is the fictional retelling of the night Mary Shelley developed the story of Frankenstein. While under the influence of experimental substances, she and a group of friends experience terrifying visions that bend reality into her horrific tale. The Gothic limited edition Blu-ray is packed with all-new special features,...
Press Release: From the Vestron Video Collector’s Series, the horror classic Gothic will arrive for the first time on limited edition Blu-ray on January 30 from Lionsgate. Starring Golden Globe® winner Gabriel Byrne (2009, Best Actor, “In Treatment”), Julian Sands, and Natasha Richardson, and from legendary director Ken Russell (Lair of the White Worm), Gothic is the fictional retelling of the night Mary Shelley developed the story of Frankenstein. While under the influence of experimental substances, she and a group of friends experience terrifying visions that bend reality into her horrific tale. The Gothic limited edition Blu-ray is packed with all-new special features,...
- 11/23/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
From the Vestron Video Collector’s Series, the horror classic Gothic will arrive for the first time on limited edition Blu-ray™ on January 30 from Lionsgate. Starring Golden Globe® winner Gabriel Byrne (2009, Best Actor, “In Treatment”), Julian Sands, and Natasha Richardson, and from legendary director Ken Russell (Lair of the White Worm), Gothic is the fictional retelling of the night Mary Shelley developed the story of Frankenstein. While under the influence of experimental substances, she and a group of friends experience terrifying visions that bend reality into her horrific tale. The Gothic limited edition Blu-ray is packed with all-new special features, including audio commentaries, isolated score selections, interviews with the cast and crew, and more, and will be available for the suggested retail price of $39.97.
Five famous friends spend a hallucinogenic evening confronting their fears in a frenzy of shocking lunacy and horrifying visions in this fictional tale, which tells the...
Five famous friends spend a hallucinogenic evening confronting their fears in a frenzy of shocking lunacy and horrifying visions in this fictional tale, which tells the...
- 11/22/2017
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Drama written, directed by team behind controversial BBC documentary Ghostwatch.
Toby Kebbell has been cast as twin brothers in sci-fi film Extrasensory from Genesius Pictures.
Lesley Manning directs from an original screenplay by Bafta-winning writer Stephen Volk.
The duo worked together on Ghostwatch, the infamous drama-mockumentary presented by Michael Parkinson that received over 30,000 complaints when it aired on BBC1 in 1992.
Kebbell plays twin brothers who are recruited for a top-secret experiment by Soviet Russia to test the power of telepathic communication.
Harry Gregson Williams (The Martian, Prometheus) will write the score. Produced by Debbie Gray (Northern Soul) and Myf Hopkins, former head of production at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, Extrasensory has been developed with and is supported by Film Cymru Wales.
Shooting will commence in late October 2017.
Genesius has also announced that Elbow front man Guy Garvey and I Am Kloot’s Peter Jobson have written the score for upcoming comedy drama The More You Ignore Me, starring...
Toby Kebbell has been cast as twin brothers in sci-fi film Extrasensory from Genesius Pictures.
Lesley Manning directs from an original screenplay by Bafta-winning writer Stephen Volk.
The duo worked together on Ghostwatch, the infamous drama-mockumentary presented by Michael Parkinson that received over 30,000 complaints when it aired on BBC1 in 1992.
Kebbell plays twin brothers who are recruited for a top-secret experiment by Soviet Russia to test the power of telepathic communication.
Harry Gregson Williams (The Martian, Prometheus) will write the score. Produced by Debbie Gray (Northern Soul) and Myf Hopkins, former head of production at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, Extrasensory has been developed with and is supported by Film Cymru Wales.
Shooting will commence in late October 2017.
Genesius has also announced that Elbow front man Guy Garvey and I Am Kloot’s Peter Jobson have written the score for upcoming comedy drama The More You Ignore Me, starring...
- 5/12/2017
- by orlando.parfitt@screendaily.com (Orlando Parfitt)
- ScreenDaily
Next to Orson Welles’ 1938 radio play of The War Of The Worlds, The BBC’s presentation of Ghostwatch is probably one of the best-known media-induced panics in broadcasting history. (And possibly more effective, as historians have recently concluded that the bedlam surrounding Welles’ broadcast was exaggerated by contemporary newspapers eager to discredit their radio-news rivals.) On Halloween night of 1992, the BBC aired Ghostwatch, a 90-minute faux-investigative report purporting to show evidence of real paranormal activity in a London house featuring real news and kids’ show personalities. The whole thing was a stunt dreamed up by screenwriter Stephen Volk, but the people of Britain didn’t know that. Thinking they were seeing a real ghost really taking over the TV airwaves, people freaked the fuck out, leading to national panic, soiled underpants, and, more tragically, a suicide connected to the incident.
And Ghostwatch is remarkably terrifying, not least because ...
And Ghostwatch is remarkably terrifying, not least because ...
- 4/18/2017
- by Katie Rife
- avclub.com
Craig Lines Oct 31, 2016
We chatted to Rich Lawden, the maker of documentary Ghostwatch: Behind The Curtains, about the haunting legacy of Pipes...
When Ghostwatch screened on BBC1 in 1992, it received a record number of complaints from viewers who were upset, shocked, terrified or angry about it. Worried that perhaps they had gone too far, the BBC refused to rebroadcast it and, as a result of its relative obscurity, the show took on a near-mythical cult status. However, one young viewer it made a huge impression on was Rich Lawden who, twenty years later, would release a passionate and comprehensive documentary (Ghostwatch: Behind The Curtains) that covered everything you could ever want to know about the programme but were afraid to ask.
See related Marvel's Luke Cage episode 13 viewing notes: You Know My Steez The Punisher: 5 new cast members and 2017 release confirmed
With both Ghostwatch and Behind The Curtains released this...
We chatted to Rich Lawden, the maker of documentary Ghostwatch: Behind The Curtains, about the haunting legacy of Pipes...
When Ghostwatch screened on BBC1 in 1992, it received a record number of complaints from viewers who were upset, shocked, terrified or angry about it. Worried that perhaps they had gone too far, the BBC refused to rebroadcast it and, as a result of its relative obscurity, the show took on a near-mythical cult status. However, one young viewer it made a huge impression on was Rich Lawden who, twenty years later, would release a passionate and comprehensive documentary (Ghostwatch: Behind The Curtains) that covered everything you could ever want to know about the programme but were afraid to ask.
See related Marvel's Luke Cage episode 13 viewing notes: You Know My Steez The Punisher: 5 new cast members and 2017 release confirmed
With both Ghostwatch and Behind The Curtains released this...
- 10/30/2016
- Den of Geek
The minds behind Monster Fest 2016 out of Melbourne, Australia, have announced that the French horror film Raw will open the festival, which will also feature a screening of Beyond the Gates. Also in today's Highlights: a trailer for Halloweed and a sneak peek of Aliens: Life and Death #1.
Monster Fest 2016 Lineup Announced: Press Release: "Returning this year from November 24-27, Australia’s premier genre film festival Monster Fest is thrilled to announce the Australian premiere of controversial new French horror film Raw as its Official 2016 Opening Night Film.
Raw made its World Premiere in Critics Week at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year where it was awarded the coveted Fipresci Award and was lauded by critics and fans alike as the genre sensation of the festival.
Raw is the debut feature of French director Julia Ducournau and tells the story of a young vegetarian who discovers her dark side...
Monster Fest 2016 Lineup Announced: Press Release: "Returning this year from November 24-27, Australia’s premier genre film festival Monster Fest is thrilled to announce the Australian premiere of controversial new French horror film Raw as its Official 2016 Opening Night Film.
Raw made its World Premiere in Critics Week at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year where it was awarded the coveted Fipresci Award and was lauded by critics and fans alike as the genre sensation of the festival.
Raw is the debut feature of French director Julia Ducournau and tells the story of a young vegetarian who discovers her dark side...
- 9/19/2016
- by Tamika Jones
- DailyDead
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James Wan's Conjuring sequel has its moments, but it also points at a format that's coming to the end of its time...
The Conjuring felt like a breath of fresh air in 2013. Although similarly plotted to a glut of other ghost films and old-fashioned to the point of being simple, it had energy, style and jump-scares as huge as the box office receipts, perpetuating the idea that director James Wan had a golden touch. Three years and a spin-off later, its official sequel (also helmed by Wan) continues to plunder the case files of celebrated paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren (played again by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), albeit to far less exciting effect.
After a confusing and unnecessary prologue in the Amityville house, the action cuts to Enfield in 1977, where the inhabitants of a damp and dingy - yet abnormally spacious - council house are being troubled by a poltergeist whose aim is to "hear them scream". Peggy Hodgson (Frances O'Connor with a Dick Van Dyke accent) is a long-suffering single mum with four kids who’ve been recently abandoned by their deadbeat dad. With no money to even buy biscuits, the last thing she needs to deal with is the ghost of a nasty old man who likes moving her furniture in an inconsiderate manner (more often than not, it breaks before reaching its destination) and possessing her youngest daughter Janet. The police, a group of psychical researchers and even some TV reporters all take a look inside the Hodgson house and raise the haunting's profile, so eventually the church calls in the Warrens in from America to stay at the house and find out if the it's real or not...
The Enfield Poltergeist is, of course, a well-documented case that's already had its share of books, documentaries and films written about it (including, loosely, Stephen Volk's immaculate Ghostwatch). It is widely believed to be a hoax but this is a studio horror picture so obviously it's going to play fast and loose with the truth and opt for a supernatural explanation. Fine in theory but it's a shame that the one it goes for is so flavourless because it actually winds up being somehow less interesting than the real story. Despite a noisy torrent of house-trashing visual FX it's an indulgent, overlong half-plot with very little meat on its bones.
While the first film was hardly subtle, it knew where to draw a line to keep its scares the right side of effective. This one, however, overplays everything and not in a fun audacious way either. It just takes its good ideas and drives them off a cliff, time and time again. For example, the Crooked Man zoetrope (this film's obligatory yet inexplicable Victorian-style toy) and the dog bell both seem like strong setups for the kind of inventive scares The Conjuring pulled off so well but the payoff is bewildering; a Burton-esque CGI dogman hybrid in a candy striped suit that stomps all over the screen like it's escaped from Night At The Museum.
Likewise, the characterisation takes a similar trajectory. There's a scene where Ed sings an Elvis song with the Hodgsons to bring everyone together and, when it starts, it's a rare moment of levity; warm, funny and tender. Then it's smothered with a string section that swells and swells until any emotion is lost beneath the heavy-handed soundtrack schmaltz. Joseph Bishara's score is irrationally bombastic throughout in fact, and the use of use of contemporary (or thereabouts!) music is so hysterically on-the-nose it's hard not to laugh. There is an opening montage of the local tourist sights set to The Clash's London Calling and then – with just a few cor blimeys in between - it cuts straight to a bus stop, while playing Bus Stop by The Hollies, in case we still weren't sure we were in Britain.
The worst offence, however, is the runtime. 133 minutes! Only the most ambitious genre films should dare to go over 90 and a simple one like this, focused as it is on scares, finds it impossible to sustain that much tension. Far too many of the shocks fall flat. At their best, the long takes of characters staring into darkness channel our universal fears of being alone in the house at night, uncertain of what we've just seen or heard. At their worst, it's literally just someone staring into space. I'd estimate there’s somewhere in the region of 40 minutes worth of staring into space in this film.
Ultimately, between the first Conjuring, the Annabelle film and three Insidious chapters (also Wan-directed or produced), this format seems exhausted. There's nothing here we've not seen done before and better. From the possessed kids to the pale-faced demons to the creepy use of a corny old vaudeville tune, what once was fresh now feels stock and predictable. Even the way that Lorraine is investigating one haunting (the Enfield Poltergeist) while having ominous visions of a different one (some kind of demon nun that looks like Marilyn Manson) is exactly what happens with Lin Shaye's character in Insidious 3. I hate to make the obvious gag but if there's going to be another Conjuring, it may be time they learned a few new tricks...
The Conjuring 2 is in UK cinemas now.
Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
Movies The Conjuring 2 The Conjuring James Wan Patrick Wilson Vera Farmiga Frances O'Connor Joseph Bishara Review Craig Lines 13 Jun 2016 - 05:56...
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James Wan's Conjuring sequel has its moments, but it also points at a format that's coming to the end of its time...
The Conjuring felt like a breath of fresh air in 2013. Although similarly plotted to a glut of other ghost films and old-fashioned to the point of being simple, it had energy, style and jump-scares as huge as the box office receipts, perpetuating the idea that director James Wan had a golden touch. Three years and a spin-off later, its official sequel (also helmed by Wan) continues to plunder the case files of celebrated paranormal experts Ed and Lorraine Warren (played again by Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga), albeit to far less exciting effect.
After a confusing and unnecessary prologue in the Amityville house, the action cuts to Enfield in 1977, where the inhabitants of a damp and dingy - yet abnormally spacious - council house are being troubled by a poltergeist whose aim is to "hear them scream". Peggy Hodgson (Frances O'Connor with a Dick Van Dyke accent) is a long-suffering single mum with four kids who’ve been recently abandoned by their deadbeat dad. With no money to even buy biscuits, the last thing she needs to deal with is the ghost of a nasty old man who likes moving her furniture in an inconsiderate manner (more often than not, it breaks before reaching its destination) and possessing her youngest daughter Janet. The police, a group of psychical researchers and even some TV reporters all take a look inside the Hodgson house and raise the haunting's profile, so eventually the church calls in the Warrens in from America to stay at the house and find out if the it's real or not...
The Enfield Poltergeist is, of course, a well-documented case that's already had its share of books, documentaries and films written about it (including, loosely, Stephen Volk's immaculate Ghostwatch). It is widely believed to be a hoax but this is a studio horror picture so obviously it's going to play fast and loose with the truth and opt for a supernatural explanation. Fine in theory but it's a shame that the one it goes for is so flavourless because it actually winds up being somehow less interesting than the real story. Despite a noisy torrent of house-trashing visual FX it's an indulgent, overlong half-plot with very little meat on its bones.
While the first film was hardly subtle, it knew where to draw a line to keep its scares the right side of effective. This one, however, overplays everything and not in a fun audacious way either. It just takes its good ideas and drives them off a cliff, time and time again. For example, the Crooked Man zoetrope (this film's obligatory yet inexplicable Victorian-style toy) and the dog bell both seem like strong setups for the kind of inventive scares The Conjuring pulled off so well but the payoff is bewildering; a Burton-esque CGI dogman hybrid in a candy striped suit that stomps all over the screen like it's escaped from Night At The Museum.
Likewise, the characterisation takes a similar trajectory. There's a scene where Ed sings an Elvis song with the Hodgsons to bring everyone together and, when it starts, it's a rare moment of levity; warm, funny and tender. Then it's smothered with a string section that swells and swells until any emotion is lost beneath the heavy-handed soundtrack schmaltz. Joseph Bishara's score is irrationally bombastic throughout in fact, and the use of use of contemporary (or thereabouts!) music is so hysterically on-the-nose it's hard not to laugh. There is an opening montage of the local tourist sights set to The Clash's London Calling and then – with just a few cor blimeys in between - it cuts straight to a bus stop, while playing Bus Stop by The Hollies, in case we still weren't sure we were in Britain.
The worst offence, however, is the runtime. 133 minutes! Only the most ambitious genre films should dare to go over 90 and a simple one like this, focused as it is on scares, finds it impossible to sustain that much tension. Far too many of the shocks fall flat. At their best, the long takes of characters staring into darkness channel our universal fears of being alone in the house at night, uncertain of what we've just seen or heard. At their worst, it's literally just someone staring into space. I'd estimate there’s somewhere in the region of 40 minutes worth of staring into space in this film.
Ultimately, between the first Conjuring, the Annabelle film and three Insidious chapters (also Wan-directed or produced), this format seems exhausted. There's nothing here we've not seen done before and better. From the possessed kids to the pale-faced demons to the creepy use of a corny old vaudeville tune, what once was fresh now feels stock and predictable. Even the way that Lorraine is investigating one haunting (the Enfield Poltergeist) while having ominous visions of a different one (some kind of demon nun that looks like Marilyn Manson) is exactly what happens with Lin Shaye's character in Insidious 3. I hate to make the obvious gag but if there's going to be another Conjuring, it may be time they learned a few new tricks...
The Conjuring 2 is in UK cinemas now.
Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
Movies The Conjuring 2 The Conjuring James Wan Patrick Wilson Vera Farmiga Frances O'Connor Joseph Bishara Review Craig Lines 13 Jun 2016 - 05:56...
- 6/1/2016
- Den of Geek
January 19th has some really unique home entertainment releases that should make fans of cult cinema happier than Jason Voorhees on the first day of summer camp. Scream Factory is debuting William Friedkin’s The Guardian on Blu-ray this week and one of my personal favorites from my childhood, The Ice Pirates, is also getting an HD overhaul, courtesy of the Warner Archive Collection.
Vinegar Syndrome is also keeping themselves busy with a duo of cult classic releases, Nightmare Weekend and Luther the Geek, and for those of you sci-fi TV fans, season one of 12 Monkeys as well as the final season of Continuum arrive on Blu and DVD this Tuesday as well.
The Guardian (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
William Friedkin, the Academy Award winning director of The Exorcist, delivers a new kind of fairy tale for adults. A handsome young couple finds the perfect live-in babysitter to look after their newborn child.
Vinegar Syndrome is also keeping themselves busy with a duo of cult classic releases, Nightmare Weekend and Luther the Geek, and for those of you sci-fi TV fans, season one of 12 Monkeys as well as the final season of Continuum arrive on Blu and DVD this Tuesday as well.
The Guardian (Scream Factory, Blu-ray)
William Friedkin, the Academy Award winning director of The Exorcist, delivers a new kind of fairy tale for adults. A handsome young couple finds the perfect live-in babysitter to look after their newborn child.
- 1/19/2016
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
A babysitter has evil intentions in William Friedkin's The Guardian, making its Blu-ray debut tomorrow from Scream Factory. Ahead of the movie's new home media release, we've been provided with three Blu-ray copies to give away.
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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of The Guardian.
How to Enter: For a chance to win, email contest@dailydead.com with the subject "The Guardian Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.
Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on January 24th. This contest is only open to those who are eighteen years of age or older that live in the United States. Only one entry per household will be accepted.
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The Guardian Blu-ray: "William Friedkin, the Academy Award®-winning* director of The Exorcist, delivers a new kind of fairy tale for adults.
A handsome young couple finds the perfect live-in babysitter to look after their newborn child.
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Prize Details: (3) Winners will receive (1) Blu-ray copy of The Guardian.
How to Enter: For a chance to win, email contest@dailydead.com with the subject "The Guardian Contest”. Be sure to include your name and mailing address.
Entry Details: The contest will end at 12:01am Est on January 24th. This contest is only open to those who are eighteen years of age or older that live in the United States. Only one entry per household will be accepted.
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The Guardian Blu-ray: "William Friedkin, the Academy Award®-winning* director of The Exorcist, delivers a new kind of fairy tale for adults.
A handsome young couple finds the perfect live-in babysitter to look after their newborn child.
- 1/18/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Years after making an indelible mark on the horror genre with The Exorcist, William Friedkin returned to the scarier side of cinema in 1990 with The Guardian. Ahead of its January 19th release, we have high-definition clips and a trailer teasing Scream Factory's Blu-ray debut of the film.
The Guardian Blu-ray: "William Friedkin, the Academy Award®-winning* director of The Exorcist, delivers a new kind of fairy tale for adults.
A handsome young couple finds the perfect live-in babysitter to look after their newborn child. It seems like a fairy tale, until ancient, supernatural forces turn the couples dream into a nightmare.
In his first horror film since The Exorcist, Oscar®-winning* director William Friedkin spins a terrifying tale based on every parent's worst fear. Jenny Seagrove (Local Hero) portrays the enchanting guardian who enters the home of new parents Dwier Brown (Red Dragon) and Carey Lowell (Licence to Kill...
The Guardian Blu-ray: "William Friedkin, the Academy Award®-winning* director of The Exorcist, delivers a new kind of fairy tale for adults.
A handsome young couple finds the perfect live-in babysitter to look after their newborn child. It seems like a fairy tale, until ancient, supernatural forces turn the couples dream into a nightmare.
In his first horror film since The Exorcist, Oscar®-winning* director William Friedkin spins a terrifying tale based on every parent's worst fear. Jenny Seagrove (Local Hero) portrays the enchanting guardian who enters the home of new parents Dwier Brown (Red Dragon) and Carey Lowell (Licence to Kill...
- 1/15/2016
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Welcome back, guys for the final installment in Daily Dead’s 2015 Holiday Gift Guide. Because this is the last day, we’ve got a blowout of gift ideas for horror and sci-fi fans of all ages that includes a selection of great recent books and films, horror-themed playing cards and pop culture inspired Risk, a few games perfect for the kiddies, and much more.
This year’s Holiday Gift Guide is being sponsored by Rlj Entertainment and their recent terrifying yuletide release, A Christmas Horror Story, and to help you guys get into the spirit of the season, we’ve put together 10 amazing prize packs filled with goodies, a t-shirt and your very own copy of A Christmas Horror Story on Blu-ray to get you ready for the holiday season.
For a chance to win one of our 2015 Holiday Gift Guide prize packs, send an email to contest@dailydead.
This year’s Holiday Gift Guide is being sponsored by Rlj Entertainment and their recent terrifying yuletide release, A Christmas Horror Story, and to help you guys get into the spirit of the season, we’ve put together 10 amazing prize packs filled with goodies, a t-shirt and your very own copy of A Christmas Horror Story on Blu-ray to get you ready for the holiday season.
For a chance to win one of our 2015 Holiday Gift Guide prize packs, send an email to contest@dailydead.
- 12/6/2015
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Years after making an indelible mark on the horror genre with The Exorcist, William Friedkin returned to the scarier side of cinema with The Guardian. Ahead of the 1990 film's January 19th Blu-ray debut from Scream Factory, we have the release's extensive list of bonus features and a look at the cover art:
Press Release: William Friedkin, the Academy Award® winning director of The Exorcist, delivers a new kind of fairy tale for adults. A handsome young couple finds the perfect live-in babysitter to look after their newborn child. It seems like a fairy tale, until ancient, supernatural forces turn the couples dream into a nightmare. On January 19, 2016, Scream Factory™ is proud to present The Guardian, arriving for the first time on Blu-ray™. A film by William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The Hunted), the supernatural thriller stars Jenny Seagrove (Local Hero), Dwier Broan (Red Dragon) and Carey Lowell (License to Kill).
A must-have for loyal fans,...
Press Release: William Friedkin, the Academy Award® winning director of The Exorcist, delivers a new kind of fairy tale for adults. A handsome young couple finds the perfect live-in babysitter to look after their newborn child. It seems like a fairy tale, until ancient, supernatural forces turn the couples dream into a nightmare. On January 19, 2016, Scream Factory™ is proud to present The Guardian, arriving for the first time on Blu-ray™. A film by William Friedkin (The Exorcist, The Hunted), the supernatural thriller stars Jenny Seagrove (Local Hero), Dwier Broan (Red Dragon) and Carey Lowell (License to Kill).
A must-have for loyal fans,...
- 12/3/2015
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
20 year old newcomer Sally Messham, a final year student at Rada, has been cast as Jane Watkins, the daughter of exorcist Merrily, in ITV Encore’s new three-part drama Midwinter of the Spirit.
Sally (represented by Curtis Brown), will leave Rada early to take up the role alongside the double BAFTA award-winning actress Anna Maxwell-Martin who leads the cast as Merrily Watkins, a single mother who isn’t your average country vicar.
Merrily’s newly acquired training has put her on the dark side of the pulpit. She’s become one of the few women priests working as an exorcist - a job increasingly mistrusted by the modern Church and rarely talked about, even though it operates in virtually every diocese in the UK.
Merrily is deeply human in her doubts and scepticism, but her knowledge of the paranormal underworld brings her to the notice of local police who need...
Sally (represented by Curtis Brown), will leave Rada early to take up the role alongside the double BAFTA award-winning actress Anna Maxwell-Martin who leads the cast as Merrily Watkins, a single mother who isn’t your average country vicar.
Merrily’s newly acquired training has put her on the dark side of the pulpit. She’s become one of the few women priests working as an exorcist - a job increasingly mistrusted by the modern Church and rarely talked about, even though it operates in virtually every diocese in the UK.
Merrily is deeply human in her doubts and scepticism, but her knowledge of the paranormal underworld brings her to the notice of local police who need...
- 4/14/2015
- by noreply@blogger.com (ScreenTerrier)
- ScreenTerrier
David Threlfall and Anna Maxwell-Martin have been confirmed to star in ITV's Midwinter of the Spirit.
The pair will lead the three-part supernatural crime drama, which begins production in Herefordshire this month.
The series follows country vicar Merrily Watkins (Maxwell-Martin), who is one of the few women priests working as an exorcist in the UK. When a grisly murder takes place in her local area, the police come calling for her assistance.
Threlfall, who previously starred in Shameless, will play Rev Huw Owen, Watkins's mentor.
The series will air on ITV Encore and is based on the books by novelist Phil Rickman. Stephen Volk (The Awakening) will write the screenplay for the adaptation.
Also confirmed to star in the drama are Siobhan Finneran (Happy Valley, Downton Abbey), Ben Bailey Smith (Law and Order: UK), Leila Mimmack (Home Fires), Kate Dickie (Game of Thrones), Simon Trinder (Dalziel and Pascoe), Oengus MacNamara...
The pair will lead the three-part supernatural crime drama, which begins production in Herefordshire this month.
The series follows country vicar Merrily Watkins (Maxwell-Martin), who is one of the few women priests working as an exorcist in the UK. When a grisly murder takes place in her local area, the police come calling for her assistance.
Threlfall, who previously starred in Shameless, will play Rev Huw Owen, Watkins's mentor.
The series will air on ITV Encore and is based on the books by novelist Phil Rickman. Stephen Volk (The Awakening) will write the screenplay for the adaptation.
Also confirmed to star in the drama are Siobhan Finneran (Happy Valley, Downton Abbey), Ben Bailey Smith (Law and Order: UK), Leila Mimmack (Home Fires), Kate Dickie (Game of Thrones), Simon Trinder (Dalziel and Pascoe), Oengus MacNamara...
- 4/7/2015
- Digital Spy
Biopic currently in development with BFI Film Fund; aiming for 2015 shoot.
UK production outfits Blacklisted Films and Leopard Drama (both part of the Argonon group) have attached theatre director Adrian Noble to direct their Danny La Rue biopic.
Based on an original screenplay by Martyn Hesford, the film is currently in development with the BFI Film Fund and is expected to go into production in 2015.
Sir Danny La Rue, OBE was an British entertainer known for his singing and cross-dressing performances.
Noble, former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, said: “What drew me to the project was Martyn’s brilliant and funny screenplay which tells two unexpected love stories in an unexpected way.
“Over the course of his life Danny stood at the fulcrum of a changing British society and his story is filled with potent images where a man could dress as a woman and rub shoulders with royalty and gangsters alike.”
Argonon’s most...
UK production outfits Blacklisted Films and Leopard Drama (both part of the Argonon group) have attached theatre director Adrian Noble to direct their Danny La Rue biopic.
Based on an original screenplay by Martyn Hesford, the film is currently in development with the BFI Film Fund and is expected to go into production in 2015.
Sir Danny La Rue, OBE was an British entertainer known for his singing and cross-dressing performances.
Noble, former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, said: “What drew me to the project was Martyn’s brilliant and funny screenplay which tells two unexpected love stories in an unexpected way.
“Over the course of his life Danny stood at the fulcrum of a changing British society and his story is filled with potent images where a man could dress as a woman and rub shoulders with royalty and gangsters alike.”
Argonon’s most...
- 12/16/2014
- ScreenDaily
ITV has ordered a new supernatural crime drama.
Midwinter of the Spirit has been commissioned for three episodes, with production set to begin in Herefordshire in April 2015.
The series will air on ITV Encore and is based on the books by novelist Phil Rickman. Stephen Volk (The Awakening) will lead the adaptation.
The series follows country vicar Merrily Watkins, who is one of the few women priests working as an exorcist in the UK. When a grisly murder takes place in her local area, the police come calling for her assistance.
As Merrily assists Dci Annie Howe and DS Franny Bliss in their investigation, she leads them into a dark and dangerous world.
ITV's Director of Drama Commissioning, Steve November, said: "Midwinter of the Spirit is a contemporary and edgy drama which draws upon dark, pagan forces which are intriguing and spiritually frightening.
"We're delighted to commission three episodes of...
Midwinter of the Spirit has been commissioned for three episodes, with production set to begin in Herefordshire in April 2015.
The series will air on ITV Encore and is based on the books by novelist Phil Rickman. Stephen Volk (The Awakening) will lead the adaptation.
The series follows country vicar Merrily Watkins, who is one of the few women priests working as an exorcist in the UK. When a grisly murder takes place in her local area, the police come calling for her assistance.
As Merrily assists Dci Annie Howe and DS Franny Bliss in their investigation, she leads them into a dark and dangerous world.
ITV's Director of Drama Commissioning, Steve November, said: "Midwinter of the Spirit is a contemporary and edgy drama which draws upon dark, pagan forces which are intriguing and spiritually frightening.
"We're delighted to commission three episodes of...
- 11/14/2014
- Digital Spy
Exclusive: Keanu Reeves has been approached to star in Antti J. Jokinen’s thriller The Criminal about organised crime in Finland and Russia.
Pitching the project at the first edition of the Northern Seas Film Forum (Nsff) in St Petersburg at the weekend, producer Markus Selin of Solar Films Inc. Oy and director Jokinen said that they are speaking to the Matrix star about headlining the crime thriller which is set to shoot next year.
The Criminal is based on interviews conducted with Russian and Finnish felons over the past four years and has the Organised Crime Unit of the Finnish Police now serving as an advisor on the screenplay.
Selin revealed that Ireland’s Subotica Films is already onboard as a co-producer and he is now looking for a Russian company to join the production.
The $16m (€12m) production would shoot in Helsinki, Dublin and St Petersburg in Russian and Finnish with the English actors speaking...
Pitching the project at the first edition of the Northern Seas Film Forum (Nsff) in St Petersburg at the weekend, producer Markus Selin of Solar Films Inc. Oy and director Jokinen said that they are speaking to the Matrix star about headlining the crime thriller which is set to shoot next year.
The Criminal is based on interviews conducted with Russian and Finnish felons over the past four years and has the Organised Crime Unit of the Finnish Police now serving as an advisor on the screenplay.
Selin revealed that Ireland’s Subotica Films is already onboard as a co-producer and he is now looking for a Russian company to join the production.
The $16m (€12m) production would shoot in Helsinki, Dublin and St Petersburg in Russian and Finnish with the English actors speaking...
- 9/16/2013
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
The recently created Saint-Petersburg-based Point Of View (Pov) Development Fund has backed three film projects a total of $86,000 (€65,000).
An international expert group of producers that selected the projects included Sergei Selyanov (Ctb Film Company), Artem Vasiliev (Metrafilms), Riina Sildos (Amrion), Konstantinos Kontovrakis (Heretic) and Berlin-based sales agent Jean-Christophe Simon of Films Boutique.
The films they selected each have the fate of a woman at their centre:
The Woman From Ingria, to be produced by Pavel Odynin, is based on the biography of a simple woman in the north-western corner of Russia during the 20th century (€25,000);
Svetlana follows the real love story between Stalin’s daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva and the Indian raj Brajesh Singh in the mid-1960s. It will be produced by Anastasia Perova, Olga Kolegaeva and Konstantin Nafikov with Karsten Stöter of Germany’s Rohfilm,which was a co-producer of Ritesh Batra’s Cannes hit The Lunchbox (€25,000);
Manifestation, the feature debut by Georgian-born film-maker Anna Sarukhanova...
An international expert group of producers that selected the projects included Sergei Selyanov (Ctb Film Company), Artem Vasiliev (Metrafilms), Riina Sildos (Amrion), Konstantinos Kontovrakis (Heretic) and Berlin-based sales agent Jean-Christophe Simon of Films Boutique.
The films they selected each have the fate of a woman at their centre:
The Woman From Ingria, to be produced by Pavel Odynin, is based on the biography of a simple woman in the north-western corner of Russia during the 20th century (€25,000);
Svetlana follows the real love story between Stalin’s daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva and the Indian raj Brajesh Singh in the mid-1960s. It will be produced by Anastasia Perova, Olga Kolegaeva and Konstantin Nafikov with Karsten Stöter of Germany’s Rohfilm,which was a co-producer of Ritesh Batra’s Cannes hit The Lunchbox (€25,000);
Manifestation, the feature debut by Georgian-born film-maker Anna Sarukhanova...
- 9/2/2013
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Hammer made a nice little comeback last year with The Woman in Black. While I wasn’t the hugest fan of the film, I dug the atmosphere it brought to audiences. It also felt like British Horror, something I admired even more. Hammer has created six audio dramas that vary from 30 to 45 minutes each and will be released in a digipack later this week. If you order the digipack, you will get the audio files immediately. You can also buy the tracks individually if you want to give one of them a listen. Between this and Tales from Beyond the Pale, it’s nice to see horror audio making a comeback. We have included toggles below which include synopses & links below.
Check out all the Audio Dramas by clicking here The Box Synopsis
The culmination of the Wainfleet Maritime College sea rescue and safety course is a session in The Box,...
Check out all the Audio Dramas by clicking here The Box Synopsis
The culmination of the Wainfleet Maritime College sea rescue and safety course is a session in The Box,...
- 7/22/2013
- by Andy Triefenbach
- Destroy the Brain
The team behind the now defunct Fantastic Films Weekend (Ffw) has reformed and regrouped as Fantastiq and will present the first edition from August 9-11 at Derby Quad in the UK.
Cinema Retro will be present in the form of Hammer’s quirky horror tale Vampire Circus, which we are sponsoring. The film’s director Robert Young will be present to talk about the 1973 film, one of the run of off-kilter shockers that Hammer produced in the Seventies.
Director Robert Young
The director of Fantastiq is Tony Earnshaw, formerly Head of Film Programming at the National Media Museum in Bradford where he launched the Ffw in 2002. He said: “I’m genuinely delighted to be able to resurrect my pet project, albeit under a new name. And I’m thrilled to welcome Cinema Retro on board as a key supporter along with We Belong Dead magazine and publisher Spectral Press, which...
Cinema Retro will be present in the form of Hammer’s quirky horror tale Vampire Circus, which we are sponsoring. The film’s director Robert Young will be present to talk about the 1973 film, one of the run of off-kilter shockers that Hammer produced in the Seventies.
Director Robert Young
The director of Fantastiq is Tony Earnshaw, formerly Head of Film Programming at the National Media Museum in Bradford where he launched the Ffw in 2002. He said: “I’m genuinely delighted to be able to resurrect my pet project, albeit under a new name. And I’m thrilled to welcome Cinema Retro on board as a key supporter along with We Belong Dead magazine and publisher Spectral Press, which...
- 7/10/2013
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
Hammer Chillers is a new horror anthology series that will premiere June 7th. Available first as six 30-minute weekly downloadable episodes from the Hammer website, the collected series will also be released on CD July 26th with special bonus material.
Writers for the first series include some of the biggest names working in horror today: Stephen Volk (Ghostwatch, The Awakening), Mark Morris (Toady, Vampire Circus), Stephen Gallagher (Chimera, The Eleventh Hour), Christopher Fowler (The Bryant and May Mysteries), Paul Magrs (The Brenda and Effie Mysteries, Doctor Who) and comedian Robin Ince (Radio 4’s The Infinite Monkey Cage).
“Hammer films have been a massive influence on my writing from the days when I sneaked into the White Palace cinema in my home town of Pontypridd to see the likes of The Devil Rides Out and The Vampire Lovers,” says Stephen Volk. “Now to be writing an audio drama under the Hammer...
Writers for the first series include some of the biggest names working in horror today: Stephen Volk (Ghostwatch, The Awakening), Mark Morris (Toady, Vampire Circus), Stephen Gallagher (Chimera, The Eleventh Hour), Christopher Fowler (The Bryant and May Mysteries), Paul Magrs (The Brenda and Effie Mysteries, Doctor Who) and comedian Robin Ince (Radio 4’s The Infinite Monkey Cage).
“Hammer films have been a massive influence on my writing from the days when I sneaked into the White Palace cinema in my home town of Pontypridd to see the likes of The Devil Rides Out and The Vampire Lovers,” says Stephen Volk. “Now to be writing an audio drama under the Hammer...
- 5/13/2013
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
Legendary UK horror studio Hammer Films has just announced a new partnership with audio specialists Bafflegab Productions to launch Hammer Chillers, a weekly series of six original horror-themed audio dramas premiering next month. There's some impressive genre talent behind the series, including screenwriters Stephen Volk (The Awakening, Ghostwatch, Gothic) and Stephen Gallagher (Eleventh Hour), Doctor Who novelist Paul Magrs, comedian Robin Ince, and award-winning horror novelists Christopher Fowler and Mark Morris. “Hammer films have been a massive influence on my writing,” says Volk, “from the days when I sneaked into the White Palace cinema in my home town of Pontypridd to see the likes of The Devil Rides Out and The Vampire Lovers. Now to be writing an audio drama under the Hammer banner is a dream (or nightmare!) come true." (Volk's episode “Don't Go There” premieres on July 19th.) Hammer Chillers launches on June 7th with Stephen Gallagher's “The Box,...
- 5/9/2013
- by Gregory Burkart
- FEARnet
Ghostwatch
Stars: Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Craig Charles, Mike Smith, Gillian Bevan | Written by Stephen Volk | Directed by Lesley Manning
Back in 1992, in the halcyon days before Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project and Most Haunted, the BBC used Michael Parkinson to terrify the nation in a one-off TV special called Ghostwatch. Viewers were invited to watch as real-life presenters including Sarah Greene and Craig Charles investigated the spooky goings on in ‘Britain’s most haunted house’ in the hopes of either a few cheap thrills (mostly provided by a hammily hateable Charles) or the uncovering of a hoax, but over 90 minutes they got a hell of a lot more.
Let’s get the bad out of the way first: Ghostwatch has not been treated well by either time or a DVD release. The twenty years since its first broadcast have seen a meteoric rise and fall of found-footage films...
Stars: Michael Parkinson, Sarah Greene, Craig Charles, Mike Smith, Gillian Bevan | Written by Stephen Volk | Directed by Lesley Manning
Back in 1992, in the halcyon days before Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project and Most Haunted, the BBC used Michael Parkinson to terrify the nation in a one-off TV special called Ghostwatch. Viewers were invited to watch as real-life presenters including Sarah Greene and Craig Charles investigated the spooky goings on in ‘Britain’s most haunted house’ in the hopes of either a few cheap thrills (mostly provided by a hammily hateable Charles) or the uncovering of a hoax, but over 90 minutes they got a hell of a lot more.
Let’s get the bad out of the way first: Ghostwatch has not been treated well by either time or a DVD release. The twenty years since its first broadcast have seen a meteoric rise and fall of found-footage films...
- 2/7/2013
- by Mark Allen
- Nerdly
Chicago – In contrast with the other subpar supernatural blockbusters released last August, Nick Murphy’s “The Awakening” lacks the cheesy thrills of “The Possession” and the hilarious ineptitude of “The Apparition.” Instead, it’s a humorless and ponderous bore buoyed only slightly by its vivid lead performance from Rebecca Hall, a supremely gifted character actress who has yet to receive the cinematic showcase she deserves.
As headstrong skeptic Florence, Hall charges through the picture, determined to debunk every rumored instance of paranormal activity. Sadly, the clunky script co-authored by Murphy and Stephen Volk spells out all of her inner turmoil with the most dreadfully monotonous exposition. Even before she’s swept into the film’s central mystery, the audience is already bored to tears.
Blu-ray Rating: 2.0/5.0
Murphy has a background in BBC documentaries (such as the splendid reality TV miniseries, “Manor House”), so perhaps he was attracted to the material...
As headstrong skeptic Florence, Hall charges through the picture, determined to debunk every rumored instance of paranormal activity. Sadly, the clunky script co-authored by Murphy and Stephen Volk spells out all of her inner turmoil with the most dreadfully monotonous exposition. Even before she’s swept into the film’s central mystery, the audience is already bored to tears.
Blu-ray Rating: 2.0/5.0
Murphy has a background in BBC documentaries (such as the splendid reality TV miniseries, “Manor House”), so perhaps he was attracted to the material...
- 2/1/2013
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Universal Studios Home Entertainment releases The Awakening January 29 on DVD ($19.98) and Blu-ray ($26.98), with anamorphic widescreen transfers and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound on the former, DTS-hd 5.1 Master Audio on the latter. No bonus features have been announced. Rebecca Hall stars as Florence Cathcart, who specializes in debunking alleged psychic and ghostly phenomena in post-wwi England, and takes a case at a country boarding school that challenges her beliefs. Nick Murphy directed from a script he wrote with Stephen Volk; see our review of The Awakening here and an interview with Hall here. ...
- 11/15/2012
- by gingold@starloggroup.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
Universal Studios Home Entertainment releases The Awakening January 29 on DVD ($19.98) and Blu-ray ($26.98), with anamorphic widescreen transfers and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound on the former, DTS-hd 5.1 Master Audio on the latter. No bonus features have been announced. Rebecca Hall stars as Florence Cathcart, who specializes in debunking alleged psychic and ghostly phenomena in post-wwi England, and takes a case at a country boarding school that challenges her beliefs. Nick Murphy directed from a script he wrote with Stephen Volk; see our review of The Awakening here and an interview with Hall here. ...
- 11/15/2012
- by gingold@starloggroup.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
Universal Studios Home Entertainment releases The Awakening January 29 on DVD ($19.98) and Blu-ray ($26.98), with anamorphic widescreen transfers and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound on the former, DTS-hd 5.1 Master Audio on the latter. No bonus features have been announced. Rebecca Hall stars as Florence Cathcart, who specializes in debunking alleged psychic and ghostly phenomena in post-wwi England, and takes a case at a country boarding school that challenges her beliefs. Nick Murphy directed from a script he wrote with Stephen Volk; see our review of The Awakening here and an interview with Hall here. ...
- 11/15/2012
- by gingold@starloggroup.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
Universal Studios Home Entertainment releases The Awakening January 29 on DVD ($19.98) and Blu-ray ($26.98), with anamorphic widescreen transfers and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound on the former, DTS-hd 5.1 Master Audio on the latter. No bonus features have been announced. Rebecca Hall stars as Florence Cathcart, who specializes in debunking alleged psychic and ghostly phenomena in post-wwi England, and takes a case at a country boarding school that challenges her beliefs. Nick Murphy directed from a script he wrote with Stephen Volk; see our review of The Awakening here and an interview with Hall here. ...
- 11/15/2012
- by gingold@starloggroup.com (Michael Gingold)
- Fangoria
Ghostwatch is twenty years old this Hallowe’en and one man’s mission to reunite the creative forces behind the spellbinding and rightly famous broadcast is almost at an end.
I’ve written about the show before for a seasonal Video Vault and had the chance to talk with writer Stephen Volk about Ghostwatch and the resurgence of the found footage subgenre which came after it. Trawling through the Horror category of your local Netflix and Lovefilm emporium you can’t escape the fact that for every Blair Witch Project there are a dozen Paranormal Entities; the method of filming has unfairly become shorthand for lazy, reductive filmmaking.
When Ghostwatch appeared it was the first time the (then) modern idiom of the outside broadcast and studio bound ‘reality’ TV show was subverted. Friendly presenters and a bank of phone-in desks were commonplace on the Beeb back then and though the...
I’ve written about the show before for a seasonal Video Vault and had the chance to talk with writer Stephen Volk about Ghostwatch and the resurgence of the found footage subgenre which came after it. Trawling through the Horror category of your local Netflix and Lovefilm emporium you can’t escape the fact that for every Blair Witch Project there are a dozen Paranormal Entities; the method of filming has unfairly become shorthand for lazy, reductive filmmaking.
When Ghostwatch appeared it was the first time the (then) modern idiom of the outside broadcast and studio bound ‘reality’ TV show was subverted. Friendly presenters and a bank of phone-in desks were commonplace on the Beeb back then and though the...
- 10/26/2012
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Craig Charles and Michael Parkinson have appeared in a trailer for an upcoming documentary about Ghostwatch. Behind The Curtains will mark the 20th anniversary of the classic BBC horror mockumentary, that scared millions of viewers at the time with its Orson Welles War of the Worlds-style presentation. Writer Stephen Volk, and stars Sarah Greene and Mike Smith also appear in the film, which is yet to have a release date. It is expected to be released in some form in 2012 to celebrate 20 years since its first - and so far, only - broadcast. The show followed a seemingly-real live investigation (more)...
- 10/24/2012
- by By Tom Eames
- Digital Spy
Gothic
Written by Stephen Volk
Directed by Ken Russell
UK, 1986
Natasha Richardson (in her leading role debut) plays Mary Godwin, later Mary Shelley, in Ken Russell’s fictionalised take on the inception of both her classic novel Frankenstein and John Polidori’s The Vampyre. It is based on the Shelleys’ visit with Lord Byron at Villa Diodati, on the shores of Lake Geneva, where there was a famous challenge among the collected guests to write a horror story; this event was notably portrayed on film in the opening of James Whale’s The Bride of Frankenstein. Befitting of his stylistic trademarks, Russell’s version of events is a demented concoction of sex, hysteria, fear and hallucinatory dreamscapes.
One summer evening in 1816, Percy Shelley (Julian Sands) and Mary arrive by boat at the lakeside estate of Lord Byron (Gabriel Byrne), with Mary’s cousin Claire (Miriam Cyr) in tow, who is...
Written by Stephen Volk
Directed by Ken Russell
UK, 1986
Natasha Richardson (in her leading role debut) plays Mary Godwin, later Mary Shelley, in Ken Russell’s fictionalised take on the inception of both her classic novel Frankenstein and John Polidori’s The Vampyre. It is based on the Shelleys’ visit with Lord Byron at Villa Diodati, on the shores of Lake Geneva, where there was a famous challenge among the collected guests to write a horror story; this event was notably portrayed on film in the opening of James Whale’s The Bride of Frankenstein. Befitting of his stylistic trademarks, Russell’s version of events is a demented concoction of sex, hysteria, fear and hallucinatory dreamscapes.
One summer evening in 1816, Percy Shelley (Julian Sands) and Mary arrive by boat at the lakeside estate of Lord Byron (Gabriel Byrne), with Mary’s cousin Claire (Miriam Cyr) in tow, who is...
- 10/5/2012
- by Josh Slater-Williams
- SoundOnSight
Chicago – There a lot of sighs and longing looks in the new horror film “The Awakening” (and good luck trying to distinguish between the generically-titled “The Apparition,” “The Possession,” and this one — all in theaters). This disappointing attempt at an atmospheric ghost story tries to tell a tale that first feels like a haunting from within. Survivor’s guilt and depression lead people to such depths of sadness that it is like they are ghosts themselves and perhaps more susceptible to visitors from beyond the grave. Or is that what this story is about? This potentially strong foundation for a ghost story dissipates as “The Awakening” gets less interesting as it becomes more supernaturally dramatic and builds to a generic twist ending.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
“The Awakening” is one of those ghost stories in which characters say things like “I don’t think there’s a place on Earth where people understand loneliness better than here.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
“The Awakening” is one of those ghost stories in which characters say things like “I don’t think there’s a place on Earth where people understand loneliness better than here.
- 8/31/2012
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
The Awakening
Directed by Nick Murphy
Written by Stephen Volk and Nick Murphy
United Kingdom, 2011
The horror genre goes through phases, often flooding the marketplace with outrageous rip-offs of a good concept. In the 21st century, horror has been mostly found-footage or torture porn, all the time. It’s not often that something without excessive gore or ghosts who aren’t dark-haired girls, a la J-horror antagonists, squeaks through. 2012 has been a lucky time for horror fans who appreciate scares of a less bloody nature, what with CBS Films’ The Woman in Black and now another British entry, The Awakening. The Awakening, while not as successful as The Woman in Black at generating tension, is a decent and somewhat unnerving ghost story.
Rebecca Hall of Vicky Cristina Barcelona and The Town plays Florence Cathcart, an author and paranormal debunker. It’s 1921 in England, where quite a few people believe ghosts...
Directed by Nick Murphy
Written by Stephen Volk and Nick Murphy
United Kingdom, 2011
The horror genre goes through phases, often flooding the marketplace with outrageous rip-offs of a good concept. In the 21st century, horror has been mostly found-footage or torture porn, all the time. It’s not often that something without excessive gore or ghosts who aren’t dark-haired girls, a la J-horror antagonists, squeaks through. 2012 has been a lucky time for horror fans who appreciate scares of a less bloody nature, what with CBS Films’ The Woman in Black and now another British entry, The Awakening. The Awakening, while not as successful as The Woman in Black at generating tension, is a decent and somewhat unnerving ghost story.
Rebecca Hall of Vicky Cristina Barcelona and The Town plays Florence Cathcart, an author and paranormal debunker. It’s 1921 in England, where quite a few people believe ghosts...
- 8/17/2012
- by Josh Spiegel
- SoundOnSight
Title: The Awakening Cohen Media Group Director: Nick Murphy Screenwriter: Stephen Volk, Nick Murphy Cast: Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton Screened at: Review 1, NYC, 7/25/12 Opens: August 17, 2012 Any student taking Psych. 101 knows that an individual who has been traumatized can believe almost anything. The same applies to a nation. Great Britain, having lost one million people from influenza and World War I, went through a national grieving process illustrated on a small scale by director Nick Murphy in “The Awakening” by honing in on a séance. Seated at a long table with several others, one of whom kills and bleeds a bird, a woman whose [ Read More ]...
- 8/13/2012
- by Harvey Karten
- ShockYa
Directed by Nick Murphy
Written by Stephen Volk and Nick Murphy
Featuring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton
No, this is not the film version of Kate Chopin’s feminist turn-of-the-20th-Century life-affirming drama; it is a ghost story.
“Ghost Story” may be overstating it, actually. It’s a story about loss and grief and echoes of the numerous deaths during World War I that hang so heavy on many a British heart in 1919.
Florence Cathcart is a modern woman: she smokes, she went to college, and she reads and even writes books. I'll bet she even votes. She’s also terribly wealthy, able to have a crazy fabulous wealthy lifestyle and indulge in her every eccentricity, including ghost hunting. Cathcart’s earliest memories are of her parents getting eaten by lions in Kenya (pronounced Keenya). She’s pretty much the 1919 version of Lara Croft, without any of the excitement.
Written by Stephen Volk and Nick Murphy
Featuring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton
No, this is not the film version of Kate Chopin’s feminist turn-of-the-20th-Century life-affirming drama; it is a ghost story.
“Ghost Story” may be overstating it, actually. It’s a story about loss and grief and echoes of the numerous deaths during World War I that hang so heavy on many a British heart in 1919.
Florence Cathcart is a modern woman: she smokes, she went to college, and she reads and even writes books. I'll bet she even votes. She’s also terribly wealthy, able to have a crazy fabulous wealthy lifestyle and indulge in her every eccentricity, including ghost hunting. Cathcart’s earliest memories are of her parents getting eaten by lions in Kenya (pronounced Keenya). She’s pretty much the 1919 version of Lara Croft, without any of the excitement.
- 8/11/2012
- by Superheidi
- Planet Fury
Cohen Media Group has set an August 10th release date for The Awakening, starring Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton.
Set in post-World War I England in 1921, the film follows a skeptical woman who travels to a countryside boarding school to investigate rumors of an apparent haunting. Just when she thinks she has debunked the ghost theory, she has a chilling spectral encounter which defies all her rational beliefs.
Nick Murphy directs and co-wrote the film with Stephen Volk. You'll find an international trailer after the jump.
Read more...
Set in post-World War I England in 1921, the film follows a skeptical woman who travels to a countryside boarding school to investigate rumors of an apparent haunting. Just when she thinks she has debunked the ghost theory, she has a chilling spectral encounter which defies all her rational beliefs.
Nick Murphy directs and co-wrote the film with Stephen Volk. You'll find an international trailer after the jump.
Read more...
- 6/18/2012
- shocktillyoudrop.com
*spoiler alert.
Director: Nick Murphy.
Writers: Stephen Volk and Nick Murphy.
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton.
Back in the days of post-war England, true paranormal investigators were few and far between. Spiritualists most likely outnumbered the sleuths who were interested in debunking the paranormal. While Houdini did correspond with Harry Price, a British pioneer of paranormal research, both of them were well respected for chasing after frauds. For Price, he showed that the investigative approach to proving the existence of ghosts must be methodical.
In The Awakening, Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall) is a self-proclaimed investigator with plenty of credentials to show that every paranormal case has a plausible reason. This myth buster heads to a boarding school to find a ghost boy said to be haunting the premises, and disprove his existence.
This movie combines the best elements from Shelly Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, Alejandro Amenábar’s The Others,...
Director: Nick Murphy.
Writers: Stephen Volk and Nick Murphy.
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Dominic West and Imelda Staunton.
Back in the days of post-war England, true paranormal investigators were few and far between. Spiritualists most likely outnumbered the sleuths who were interested in debunking the paranormal. While Houdini did correspond with Harry Price, a British pioneer of paranormal research, both of them were well respected for chasing after frauds. For Price, he showed that the investigative approach to proving the existence of ghosts must be methodical.
In The Awakening, Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall) is a self-proclaimed investigator with plenty of credentials to show that every paranormal case has a plausible reason. This myth buster heads to a boarding school to find a ghost boy said to be haunting the premises, and disprove his existence.
This movie combines the best elements from Shelly Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House, Alejandro Amenábar’s The Others,...
- 4/13/2012
- by noreply@blogger.com (Ed Sum)
- 28 Days Later Analysis
One of my favourite films from last year is out now on Blu-ray and DVD and we have an exclusive look at a deleted scene from The Awakening for you today.
Nick Murphy’s film had a couple of fine lead performances from Rebecca Hall and Dominic West and along with Hammer’s recent success with The Woman in Black it showed there was nothing better than a well told traditional ghost story, this one benefitting from writer Stephen Volk’s terrific script.
The deleted scene we have here is introduced by the director, and it’s a shame it was taken out as it’s a nice addition to the side story of Imelda Staunton’s character, the effect of which is heightened once the full story has played out. Excellent to see more of the film, do check it out if you’re a horror fan.
Here’s the video,...
Nick Murphy’s film had a couple of fine lead performances from Rebecca Hall and Dominic West and along with Hammer’s recent success with The Woman in Black it showed there was nothing better than a well told traditional ghost story, this one benefitting from writer Stephen Volk’s terrific script.
The deleted scene we have here is introduced by the director, and it’s a shame it was taken out as it’s a nice addition to the side story of Imelda Staunton’s character, the effect of which is heightened once the full story has played out. Excellent to see more of the film, do check it out if you’re a horror fan.
Here’s the video,...
- 3/28/2012
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Is there some bad blood between BBC Worldwide and Syfy for the American cabler's refusal to pick up shows like "Doctor Who" and "Torchwood"? Or is BBC just smelling opportunity? Syfy could soon be gaining some serious competition in the genre as BBC American and Clerkenwell Films have put together a pair of science-fiction projects that might help establish the American cousin of the government-run British broadcaster as a true creator of original programming. Bbca says it has pushed forward development of "Wired," a robot-style series from Stephen Volk, as well as "The Dead Beat" from John Jackson. "Wired," according to Tg Daily, is set in an alternate universe of Earth that is inhabited not by people, but by Syns, short for "synthetic organisms," that are exact replicas of human ...
- 3/1/2012
- GeekNation.com
It’s always a joy to stumble upon something a little different on the daily jaunt across the internet and this teaser trailer for a forthcoming animated documentary is on a subject close to my heart.
I was pointed to the work of Ashley Thorpe by Stephen Volk, writer of The Awakening and Ghostwatch, and found this short trailer for his latest work, due out in 2012, on Borley Rectory, commonly referred to as the most haunted house in England. Certainly it has a colourful past with floating nuns, mysterious writing found scrawled on the walls and ghostly carriages thundering across the grounds and with psychic investigator Harry Price’s records of his visits there it has an infamy unparalleled.
Now Thorpe has chosen this house, the incidents and Harry Price himself, as the basis for his next work and reading through the comments of the post I was very pleased...
I was pointed to the work of Ashley Thorpe by Stephen Volk, writer of The Awakening and Ghostwatch, and found this short trailer for his latest work, due out in 2012, on Borley Rectory, commonly referred to as the most haunted house in England. Certainly it has a colourful past with floating nuns, mysterious writing found scrawled on the walls and ghostly carriages thundering across the grounds and with psychic investigator Harry Price’s records of his visits there it has an infamy unparalleled.
Now Thorpe has chosen this house, the incidents and Harry Price himself, as the basis for his next work and reading through the comments of the post I was very pleased...
- 1/4/2012
- by Jon Lyus
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The Awakening
Directed by Nick Murphy
Written by Stephen Volk and Nick Murphy
2011, UK
The directorial debut of Nick Murphy opens with a quote from Florence Cathcart’s book, Seeing Through Ghosts, which states that in this age wherein endless lives have been claimed by the war and influenza that ‘this is a time for ghosts.’ Set in 1921, supernatural investigator Florence Cathcart believes there is no such thing as ghosts, only people pretending to be ghosts. In any case, she brings equipment and traps to earn the job title of Ghostbuster, all to reveal the hoax behind “hauntings.” She is the archetypal cynic, and with good reason, as illustrated in the opening scene. An emotional Florence (Rebecca Hall) returns home to be met by her history teacher, Robert Mallorey (Dominic West), who believes that his school is haunted by a genuine ghost. After he provides compelling evidence in the form...
Directed by Nick Murphy
Written by Stephen Volk and Nick Murphy
2011, UK
The directorial debut of Nick Murphy opens with a quote from Florence Cathcart’s book, Seeing Through Ghosts, which states that in this age wherein endless lives have been claimed by the war and influenza that ‘this is a time for ghosts.’ Set in 1921, supernatural investigator Florence Cathcart believes there is no such thing as ghosts, only people pretending to be ghosts. In any case, she brings equipment and traps to earn the job title of Ghostbuster, all to reveal the hoax behind “hauntings.” She is the archetypal cynic, and with good reason, as illustrated in the opening scene. An emotional Florence (Rebecca Hall) returns home to be met by her history teacher, Robert Mallorey (Dominic West), who believes that his school is haunted by a genuine ghost. After he provides compelling evidence in the form...
- 11/14/2011
- by Robert Simpson
- SoundOnSight
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