Movies
The Great Bruce Dern Writes About ‘The Lords of Salem’ Witch Trials!
Rob Zombie announced today that Academy Award nominated actor Bruce Dern has joined the cast of The Lords of Salem, which begins lensing this fall from the producing team behind Insidious and Paranormal Activity.
Bruce is taking on the role of “Francis Matthias”, author of the book “Satan’s Last Stand – The Truth About The Salem Witch Trials.” Francis may know a little too much about witches for his own good.
While Bruce most recently completed work on Francis Ford Coppola’s Twixt, he has also appeared in many classic films from The Wild Angels to The Trip, Psych-Out, Hang ‘Em High, They Shoot Horses Don’t They, The Cowboys, Silent Running, The King Of Marvin Gardens, The Great Gatsby, Family Plot, Black Sunday and my pwersonal favorite, The ‘burbs.
Jeff Phillips was recently cast as Herman “Whitey” Salvador, one third of “The Big H Team” at WIQZ – Salem’s Rock Radio. Meg Foster was also cast as “Margaret Morgan”, the leader of a secret coven of witches in Salem. Ernest Thomas will play Chip “Freakshow” McDonald, the station manager at Salem’s #1 rock station. Torsten Voges stars as “Count Gorgann”, the lead singer of the Norwegian death metal band Leviathan the Fleeing Serpent.
“The story is about a local DJ who mistakenly unleashes a hellish curse on the town. 300 years earlier on the very streets of Salem that the townspeople walk on today, innocent folks were rounded up from their homes, convicted of being witches and sentenced to death. The Lords of Salem ran the town with an iron fist, but four witches who were tortured and killed in secrecy vowed that one day they would be back for revenge.”
Hollywood is serious about landing the next Backrooms. Hot on the heels of a Siren Head feature announcement, Deadline reports that a new movie based on viral YouTube series The Mandela Catalogue is in development.
It also has some Hollywood heavy hitters behind it.
Amblin Entertainment’s Steven Spielberg, United Artists’ Scott Stuber (Frankenstein), and Amazon MGM Studios are set to produce, emerging victorious after a highly competitive 11-studio bidding war.
Launched in 2021, the YouTube series is set in the fictional Mandela County, Wisconsin which is “invaded by shape-shifting, nearly immortal creatures called Alternates. The Alternates are led by a false depiction of the Archangel Gabriel and their aim is to wipe out the human race by psychologically torturing them to the point of suicide. The Alternates are known for manipulating AV media, TVs, computers and GPS systems.”
The movie will be directed by the series’ creator, Alex Kister, based on a screenplay he adapted with Tyler Clifton.
The Mandela Catalogue has racked up an impressive 100 million views across its official episodes alone, solidifying it as one of the largest original analog horror franchises on YouTube.
Spielberg and Holly Bario are producing for Amblin Entertainment alongside Aaron B. Koontz for Paper Street Pictures and Stuber and Nick Nesbitt for United Artists. Kister and Clifton are also producing. Annie McCreery will oversee the project for United Artists. Maria Fortese will oversee for Amblin.
Get acquainted with The Mangela Catalogue below while we wait to learn more.