Movies
Anchor Bay Entertainment Label Resurrects with Puppet Horror ‘Abruptio’ and Doc ‘Dinner with Leatherface’
A familiar label for horror fans is getting a resurrection. Umbrelic Entertainment co-founders Thomas Zambeck and Brian Katz are bringing back a new iteration of Anchor Bay Entertainment with the goal to curate a new library of films for distribution, projects that range from new release genre films, undiscovered treasures, cult classics, and remastered catalog releases.
The new launch comes with a pair of acquisition titles: puppet horror film Abruptio and documentary Dinner with Leatherface.
“We had an opportunity to take the name of a beloved genre film brand, one we feel a personal connection to, for our new company,” says Zambeck in a press release statement. “This is a new venture, unaffiliated with any previous incarnations. We aim to honor the history and spirit of the past as we look for interesting films that break the mold, and will be discovered by new generations for years to come.”
In Lionsgate’s acquisition of Starz in December 2016, the studio absorbed the North American branches of Anchor Bay Entertainment. The Anchor Bay Entertainment trademark was up for acquisition so Zambeck and Katz took the opportunity to acquire it. That means that the new Anchor Bay Entertainment doesn’t include the previous label’s library, but Zambeck and Katz are quickly looking to build up the new library.
Up first on Anchor Bay’s slate?
Look for Abruptio to arrive sometime soon, with a TBA release date for Q2 this year.
Abruptio was written and directed by Evan Marlowe (The Impact). The film stars James Marsters (House of Haunted Hill), Christopher McDonald (Thelma & Louise), Hana Mae Lee (Pitch Perfect Franchise), Jordan Peele (Get Out), Sid Haig (Halloween), Rich Fulcher (Wonka) and Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street Franchise).
In the film, “Les Hackel (Marsters) is a guy down on his luck who wakes to find an explosive device has been implanted in his neck. He must carry out heinous crimes in order to stay alive while trying to identify the mastermind manipulating the now twisted and strange world around him. The film is enacted entirely using lifelike puppets.”
To release this fall is Dinner with Leatherface, “the anticipated documentary on Gunnar Hansen, the actor who portrayed the character Leatherface in the 1974 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Friends, colleagues, filmmakers, and fellow actors share personal stories and discuss the dichotomy between the maniacal chainsaw-wielding character Hansen played on-screen and the very intelligent, creative, soft-spoken man he actually was in real life.”
Interviews with horror mainstays include Bruce Campbell, Barbara Crampton, Betsy Baker, Brian O’Halloran, Kim Henkel, Danielle Harris, Linnea Quigley, Kane Hodder, and Debbie Rochon. The film also features all of the remaining cast of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the original Director of Photography, Daniel Pearl and Producer/Co-Writer Kim Henkel.
Written, executive produced and directed by Michael Kallio (The Skeptic), he also produced the film with Lowell Northrop (“Hap and Leonard”). Dinner with Leatherface is currently in post-production through Umbrelic’s subsidiary, OutPost X.
Both Zambeck and Katz are traveling to the Berlin International Film Festival to acquire additional films for Anchor Bay Entertainment, so expect to hear a lot more from Anchor Bay soon.
It’s now been five years since the release of sequel Happy Death Day 2U, Christopher Landon’s sequel to the Groundhog Day-style slasher movie from 2017. Both films star Jessica Rothe as final girl Tree Gelbman, and director Christopher Landon had been planning on bringing the character – and the actor – back for a third installment. So… where is it?!
We’ve been talking about a potential Happy Death Day 3 for several years now, with the ball in producer Jason Blum’s court. Happy Death Day 2U scared up $64 million at the worldwide box office, a far cry from the first film’s $125 million. But with a reported production budget of just $9 million, that first sequel was profitable for Blumhouse. So again… where is it?!
Chatting with Screen Geek this week while promoting her new action-thriller Boy Kills World, franchise star Jessica Rothe provided a hopeful update on Happy Death Day 3.
“Well, I can say Chris Landon has the whole thing figured out,” Rothe explains. “We just need to wait for Blumhouse and Universal to get their ducks in a row.
Rothe continues in her comments to Screen Geek, “But my fingers are so crossed. I think Tree [Gelbman] deserves her third and final chapter to bring that incredible character and franchise to a close or a new beginning.”
Back in 2020, Christopher Landon had revealed that the working title for the third installment was Happy Death Day to Us, said to be “different than the other two films.”
In the meantime, Christopher Landon is directing a mysterious thriller titled Drop for Blumhouse and Platinum Dunes, along with a werewolf movie titled Big Bad for Lionsgate.
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