Movies
Chucky is a Prick on This New ‘Cult’ Promo Image
Last week was huge for Child’s Play fans as Universal Home Entertainment not only unveiled an October 3, 2017, release date for Cult of Chucky, the seventh film in the franchise but also released both green and red band trailers for the Don Mancini-directed sequel.
Here’s a new promo image featuring Chucky, who is once again voiced by Brad Dourif, while his daughter, Fiona, will be reprising her Curse of Chucky role. Also returning are Summer H. Howell (Curse of Chucky), Jennifer Tilly (who became the popular female doll, Tiffany, in Bride of Chucky before transferred her soul into the body of actress Jennifer Tilly in Seed of Chucky) and Alex Vincent, star of the first two Child’s Play films who returned in a shocking post-credits sequence in Curse. The film ended as if Mancini planned to tie the previous three films – Bride of Chucky, Seed of Chucky and Curse of Chucky – together in this seventh film.
In the film, “Confined to an asylum for the criminally insane for the past four years, Nica Pierce (Fiona Dourif) is erroneously convinced that she, not Chucky, murdered her entire family. But when her psychiatrist introduces a new therapeutic “tool” to facilitate his patients’ group sessions — an all-too-familiar “Good Guy” doll with an innocently smiling face — a string of grisly deaths begins to plague the asylum, and Nica starts to wonder if maybe she isn’t crazy after all. Andy Barclay (Alex Vincent), Chucky’s now-grown-up nemesis from the original Child’s Play, races to Nica’s aid. But to save her he’ll have to get past Tiffany (Oscar-nominee Jennifer Tilly), Chucky’s long-ago bride, who will do anything, no matter how deadly or depraved, to help her beloved devil doll.”
The film’s Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital releases include two featurettes: a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film, called Inside the Insanity of Chucky, and a peek into Alterian, the studio behind Chucky’s puppeteering, called Good Guy Gone Bad: The Incarnations of Chucky. The movie also comes with a commentary featuring writer-director Mancini and head puppeteer Tony Gardner. In addition to these individual releases, Cult of Chucky will be part of the Chucky: Complete 7-Movie Collection, also releasing Oct. 3.
Movies
‘Backrooms’ Director Kane Parsons Is No Fan of Generative AI: “Defeats the Purpose Entirely for Me”
There has been a lot of talk recently about filmmakers embracing generative AI as part of the filmmaking process, from Darren Aronofsky to Martin Scorsese. But what about filmmakers that are against the use of Gen AI for creative pursuits? You can count 20-year-old Backrooms director Kane Parsons among that group, which should give you some hope for the future.
In a new chat with The Australian, the self-taught young filmmaker makes it crystal clear that he won’t be using generative AI in any of his upcoming filmmaking projects.
“I think I’m in the same boat as most well-adjusted people,” Parsons tells the outlet. “If I could snap my fingers and make generative AI disappear forever, I probably would. Creatively, I get no enjoyment from using those tools. It defeats the purpose entirely for me.”
“What interests me more is interrogating it artistically,” Parsons notes. “We already live in a world where you walk outside and there are billboards and signs that are obvious AI slop. That’s become part of our visual reality. To me, generative AI feels less like innovation than a symptom of a broader cultural and economic rot.”
He explains, “I’m interested in using that iconography in art – not using AI to make the art itself, but examining what it represents. I definitely want to explore it further in future projects.”
Kane Parsons also notes during the interview with The Australian, “… there’s so much at stake and so many genuinely harmful consequences already happening.”
Backrooms marks young prodigy Kane Parsons’ feature directorial debut, and it’s based on his own series of YouTube videos that were brought to life using Blender, the open-source 3D computer graphics software suite. So it’s no surprise that Parsons, who has hand-made his filmmaking career up to this point, isn’t buying into the hoopla around Generative AI.
His debut feature is the #1 movie in the world, so perhaps he’s onto something.
What’s next from Kane Parsons, you ask? Stay tuned…
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