Movies
Cannes Sales Art for Australian Haunter ‘The School’
Australia-based Bronte Pictures has completed principal photography on supernatural horror thriller The School, directed by award-winning Australian writer/director Storm Ashwood, with a new piece of art being released out of the Cannes market.
The School follows Amy, an attractive, successful surgeon, who struggles to cope with her emergency room duties and those of a young mother looking after her hospitalized son who has fallen into a coma. After being reprimanded by her boss, Dr. Wang, for obsessively believing her son will wake up, she becomes trapped in a coma/purgatory of her own – The School – where children from her past emerge to taunt and test her to her core, putting in doubt whether Amy will be able to save her son and leave The School.
The School was filmed at the Gladesville Mental Asylum, which was founded in the late 1830’s, making it the oldest asylum in Australia. Unfortunately, the cruel and unusual punishment of its patients was a normality there, including the use of electric shock therapy and both patient and employee deaths were common. There are 1,228 unmarked patient graves on-site providing an unsettling location to capture the supernatural horror elements in the film.
Megan Drury, Nicholas Hope, and Jack Ruwald star.
Blake Northfield and Jim Robison are producers on The School, and Phil Hunt and Compton Ross at Headgear Films (Black Mass) are executive producers. Earlier this year, international sales company Cinema Management Group (CMG) acquired worldwide sales rights, excluding Australia and New Zealand.
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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