Movies
Cinedigm Making 10 Horror Films Back-to-Back-to-Back, etc.
Cinedigm is launching a reinvention of American International Pictures exploitation titles including Girls in Prison and The Brain Eaters in a whopping 10-picture project within a single movie universe, reports Variety.
Cinedigm is teaming with producers Lou Arkoff (Inspector Gadget), Jeff Katz (Snakes on a Plane) and Hal Sadoff (Hotel Rwanda) to shoot the 10 films with storylines and characters as part of a single story arc. The films will be shot starting in September with cast and directors to be announced soon.
Katz has written all 10 films, which are based on Girls in Prison, Viking Women and The Sea Serpent, The Brain Eaters, She-Creature, Teenage Caveman, Reform School Girl, The Undead, War of the Colossal Beast, The Cool and the Crazy and The Day the World Ended.
Cinedigm will handle the theatrical release, DVD, digital, TV and nontheatrical formats including on CONtv, Cinedigm’s upcoming digital network targeted to the Comic-Con audience.
“In a unique twist on the current filmmaking model, all 10 films will shoot back-to-back and share a single movie universe with a big recurring cast of antiheroes, monsters and bad girls,” said Arkoff, son of AIP founder Samuel Arkoff. “This format will allow our casts and directors to build a strong relationship with the characters — and our audience — over the course of several films.”
Katz said audiences should respond to the hybrid format, which he called “binge-viewing at the feature film level.”
“Each movie in this series has a complete beginning, middle and end, yet watched over all 10 films we’re really telling one larger, epic story,” he added. “These are very much, at heart, indie comic book movies. Unpretentious. R-Rated. It’s fantastic to have a distribution model that fits that sensibility.”
Sunrise Films has announced the official North American release of William Bagley‘s horror comedy Hold the Fort, and it’s accompanied by an energetic new trailer.
Hold the Fort debuts on digital platforms on June 23.
In the film, “Lucas and Jenny think their life is finally coming together when the couple become homeowners. Little do they know that their new house comes with a big catch. Lucas and Jenny soon find themselves in a fight for their lives when they become trapped in a battle between their Homeowners Association and an onslaught of monsters from hell. The horror-comedy takes the timely concern of home-ownership and wraps this up in an entertaining action-packed thrill ride.“
Watch the new trailer below, which introduces one wild HOA gathering during an equinox. Things get bloody fast.
Chris Mayers (Adult Swim Yule Log), Haley Leary (“The Walking Dead”), Levi Burdick, and Julian Smith star.
William Bagley writes and directs, in addition to producing with Smith, Matt Dodd, Luke Williams, and Tim Reis (Adult Swim Yule Log).
Ahead of the release, Bagley said, “My goal with this film was to make a hilarious, fast-paced thrill ride while also telling a great story with heart. Hopefully, through all the blood, laughs, fights, and gags, you leave the film feeling inspired to tackle whatever life throws at you.“
Hold the Fort premiered at Fantasia last summer before going on to play FrightFest London, Toronto After Dark, and Beyond Fest.
I wrote in my review, “It’s an infectiously charming assemblage of jokes and monster vignettes bound together by a barebones plot with not much on its mind beyond delivering an entertaining time.”
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