Movies
News Bites: ‘World of the Dead’/’Mother’s Day’s UK Release, ‘Wicker Tree’ Goes Anchor Bay, New ‘Melancholia’ Poster
Thanks to Dimension Extreme the U.S. was the last place on the freakin’ planet to see Michael Bartlett’ss pretty-OK The Zombie Diaries, and it looks to be a continuing trend. While the rest of the planet sits back and waits, World of the Dead: The Zombie Diaries 2 will be opening in the UK on June 24, 2011. The sequel, directed by both Kevin Gates and Michael Bartlett, begins three months following the first film. Click the title above for more info.
In addition, Darren Lynn Bousman’s Mother’s Day, the quasi-remake of the classic ’80s Troma film, will open in UK cinemas on June 10 via Optimum Releasing. The pic follows “Three brothers on the run from the law head for home, only to discover that their mother lost the house in a foreclosure. Mother ingeniously orchestrates her sons’ escape, teaching the house’s new owners and their guests a few lessons along the way.”
More pre-Cannes news as Anchor Bay Entertainment has nabbed Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Tree for U.S. distribution. Wicker Tree, starring Christopher Lee, Joan Collins, Graham McTavish, Paul Wesley, Susie Amy, Morgan James and Natalie Parnes, is a companion piece to The Wicker Man that follows “young Christians Beth and Steve, a gospel singer and her cowboy boyfriend, whom leave Texas to preach door-to-door in Scotland. When, after initial abuse, they are welcomed with joy and elation to Tressock, the border fiefdom of Sir Lachlan Morrison, they assume their hosts simply want to hear more about Jesus. How innocent and wrong they are.” Click the title for images, art and the trailer.
In addition to the previously released images, poster and trailer, inside you’ll find a second (and much better looking) one sheet for Lars Von Trier’s end-of-the-world drama Melancholia. “Justine (Dunst) and Michael (Skarsgård) who are celebrating their marriage at a sumptuous party in the home of her sister (Gainsbourg) and brother-in-law (Sutherland). Meanwhile, the planet, Melancholia, is heading towards Earth…” The world ends on November 4, thanks to Magnolia Pictures.
Lastly, I don’t really understand why every single website makes a big stink over a film gaining a “sales agent” (some even misreport them as “acquired”). They must not understand that producers behind every completed film will hire a company to help sell their film across the globe. It does not mean the film actually HAS distribution. “Hello? Hello? Anybody home? Huh? Think, McFly. Think!” Yes. Anyways, Lightning Entertainment will help sell both Kerry Prior’s breakout hit festival horror comedy The Revenant and One Way Trip 3D. Revenant, a pretty darn good vampire film, has been sitting on the shelf since 2009. Hopefully this will help get it out into the world (finally). Click either title for posters, images, trailers, etc.
Final Destination Bloodlines filmmakers Zach Lipovsky & Adam Stein return to their mutant roots with Freaks Part II, their follow-up to 2018’s Freaks. The first look has arrived ahead of the film’s world premiere.
Freaks Part II is the official closing film of Fantasia, where it will make its world premiere.
In the sequel, “Several years after a traumatic escape, we meet Mary (Amanda Crew, Freaks) and her daughter Chloe (Lorelei Olivia Mote, Riddle of Fire) as they live on the road, hiding their powers and identities. They are hunted by the Abnormal Defense Force, paramilitary police that specialize in ruthlessly exterminating ‘freaks‘ like them. Mary is fueled by revenge, determined to find the ADF officer (Lili Taylor, The Conjuring) who killed her first child.“
It’s not just the story that’s progressing with this sequel, but also the gore. Fantasia teases, “There’s also inventive gore – the most we’ve seen in a Canadian film in years – that punctuates the outstanding performances and serious subject matter.”
Mote takes over for Lexy Kolker, who played Chloe in the 2018 film that saw the young protagonist with growing powers confined to her home by an overprotective and paranoid father (Emile Hirsch).
Rafael Motamayor wrote in his review, “Freaks feels like an even more grounded, small-scale version of the X-Men, a sci-fi film filled with surprises, a message about parenthood and wanting to keep your child safe and isolated from the world, and a future star in Lexy Kolker.”
Lipovsky & Stein’s have a packed slate ahead, co-writing Gremlins 3 with Chris Columbus, directing the sci-fi survival film The Earthling for Columbia, directing the psychological horror film Long Lost for Amblin, and directing the sci-fi drama The Traveler for Paramount.