Reawakening
The story follows a team of research students that discovers the secret to bringing subjects back from the dead — however, their actions result in a series of sinister consequences.
Peachfuzz
Peachfuzz follows a young man who answers a Craigslist ad and gets much more than he bargained for. Other details are being kept secret.
Pitchfork
Pitchfork is a dramatic thriller about the middle-aged mother of an indie rocker who, after her son is killed in a car accident, seeks vengeance on an online blogger who had peddled snark about her son (on the music site Pitchfork, hence one of the title’s entendres). Things take a turn, though, when she finds out the snarker is just a teenager.
Black Rock
Three childhood friends set aside their personal issues and reunite for a girls’ weekend on a remote island off the coast of Maine. One wrong move turns their weekend getaway into a deadly fight for survival.
Wilde And Duplass Go Through A ‘Reawakening’ For Lionsgate
Olivia Wilde (pictured above; Turistas, Tron: Legacy, “House”) and Mark Duplass (pictured below; Zero Dark Thirty, Safety Not Guaranteed have signed on to star in Reawakening for Blumhouse and Lionsgate.
The David Gelb (Jiro Dreams Of Sushi) directed film will be written by Luke Dawson (Shutter and Jeremy Slater (the upcoming Fantastic Four reboot). Jason Blum will produce through Blumhouse along with Mosaic Media Group.
In the thriller, “The story follows a team of research students that discovers the secret to bringing subjects back from the dead — however, their actions result in a series of sinister consequences.”
Definitely interested to see how this one pans out! READ MORE
[News Bites] Lance Henriksen For ‘Nevermore’; ‘The Call’ Gets Rated “R”; Universal Announces ‘Mercy’
In super weird late news, TriStar’s The Call, pictured, in theaters March 15, has been rated “R” for violence, disturbing content and some language.” In the film, “When veteran 911 operator, Jordan (Halle Berry), takes a life-altering call from a teenage girl (Abigail Breslin) who has just been abducted, she realizes that she must confront a killer from her past in order to save the girl’s life.”
Universal Pictures has provided us with the official synopsis and cast for Mercy, a supernatural thriller from The Haunting in Connecticut‘s Peter Cornwell. “Based on a short story by Stephen King, Mercy tells the tale of two young boys (“The Walking Dead’s” Chandler Riggs and Super 8’s Joel Courtney) who move with their mother to take care of their dying grandmother at her decrepit farmhouse. When they suspect that the elderly woman they love has encountered a dark spirit, they fear she might not be the only one who won’t make it through the summer alive. Once George (Riggs) and Buddy McCoy (Courtney) arrive at their Gramma Mercy’s (Shirley Knight), what they find inside her 150-year-old home is nothing short of terrifying. As the brothers experience deeply disturbing phenomena they believe to be the work of an ancient witch, they must fight for their lives and overcome the evil forces threatening their family. Shirley Knight, Frances O’Connor, Mark Duplass and Dylan McDermott also star.
Lastly, genre icon Lance Henriksen (Aliens, Pumpkinhead; pictured below) is starring in Nevermore, a supernatural horror thriller written and being directed by Dean C. Jones, writes THR. Jason Cook and Valerie Azlynn also are starring in the movie, shooing in Graham, N.C. “The movie centers on a couple who experience paranormal activity involving dead children when they move to an estate in Massachusetts.” Henriksen will play a parish priest whom the couple turn to, but the move is a mistake because the priest already knows all about resurrected children. READ MORE
Mark Duplass In The Mood For A Little ‘Mercy’
Writer/director Mark Duplass (Baghead, Jeff Who Lives At Home) has successfully been branching out into acting with roles on Zero Dark Thirty and Safety Not Guaranteed. Now, (per Deadline) he’s going a step further with Mercy for Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions.
Pic is based on a Stephen King story, “Gramma”, from his “Skeleton Crew” collection. In the story two boys visit their grandmother only to discover that she’s a witch. Frances O’Connor, Chandler Riggs, Joel Courtney, Dylan McDermott, Shirley Knight and Chris Browning are also set star.
The Haunting in Connecticut‘s Peter Cornwell is directing from a script by Matt Greenberg. Jason Blum will produce with McG and Mary Viola from Wonderland Sound and Vision.
Mumblecore Kings Collaborate With Blumhouse On ‘Peachfuzz’
Jason Blum’s Blumhouse Productions (Insidious, Paranormal Activity) has pre-emptively picked up distribution rights to Peachfuzz, a found-footage movie produced by brothers Mark and Jay Duplass, the indie filmmakers behind Baghead and Jeff, Who Lives at Home.
“Peachfuzz follows a young man who answers a Craigslist ad and gets much more than he bargained for. Other details are being kept secret.”
The movie, which is in post-production, is directed by newcomer Patrick Brice and stars Mark Duplass.
Blumhouse will serve as a partner on the film, making a financial investment and having a stake in it. The company also will work with the pair and film rep firm Submarine on Peachfuzz’s distribution and marketing.
Does This ‘Black Rock’ Trailer Insult The Very Institution Of Horror*?
*My headline has been misconstrued as being 100% serious. I’d like to clarify that it’s only 62.3% serious. Obviously there’s a little bit of sarcasm involved when I say something uber-portentous like “The Very Institution Of Horror.” Anyway, Black Rock, director Katie Aselton’s survival horror tale, “follows three childhood friends as they set aside their personal issues and reunite for a girls’ weekend on a remote island off the coast of Maine. One wrong move turns their weekend getaway into a deadly fight for survival.”
The film premiered at Sundance earlier this year and I was surprised by the negative reaction. I mean, the pedigree is really good! Written by Mark Duplass (Baghead, Jeff, Who Lives At Home, Cyrus) and directed by Aselton (whose film The Freebie is actually supposed to be pretty good), you’d think that this would be the kind of thing where people with dramatic/comedy chops get a chance to do something fresh with horror. But everything I’ve heard – and the trailer backs this up – is that this is an unfortunate case of people who think they’re above the genre “slumming” in it for various reasons. Perhaps ineloquently, I summed up my feelings on it here almost a year ago.
Ryan Daley’s admittedly mixed-to-positive review says “There’s plenty of nail-biting tension in ‘Black Rock’, but that tension fades with every stupid decision the characters make, and audience frustration eventually builds to the bursting point. It‘s one of those movies that makes you want to yell at the screen.”
Again, I haven’t seen Black Rock – but I will and I have every intention of giving it a fair chance when I do. I hope I love it, but I haven’t felt this irked by a movie sight-unseen in some time.
Head inside to check out the trailer. READ MORE
Mumblecore Guru Heads to ‘Black Rock’ with Wife, Actress
Actor-director Katie Aselton (one of the best parts of “The League”) has joined the thriller Black Rock with intentions to direct, writes THR.
“The film follows what happens when three childhood friends meet for a weekend getaway on an isolated island and discover that they have company.”
Lake Bell (“The League”), Kate Bosworth (Strawdogs, Superman Returns), Jay Paulson (“Happy Town”), Anslem Richardson and Will Bouvier will co-star with Aselton.
“I grew up watching classic suspense films and have long had the idea of making a girl-based thriller where the threat to the characters is very real, and the audience is left with the terrifying thought ‘this could happen to me,’ ” said Aselton.
Aselton’s husband Mark Duplass (Baghead, Cyrus) wrote the screenplay.
READ MORE
Baghead (V)
While the Duplass Brothers were shooting their last feature film The Puffy Chair, a crew member raised the question “what’s the scariest thing you can think of?” Someone immediately said “a guy with a bag on his head staring into your window.” Some agreed, but some thought it was downright ridiculous and, if anything, funny (but definitely not scary). Thus, BAGHEAD was born, an attempt to take the absurdly low-concept idea of a “guy with a bag on his head” and make a funny, truthful, endearing film that, maybe, just maybe, was a little bit scary, too.
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