Movies
SDCC ’08: Halo-8 Entertainment’s Comic Con Happenings
Halo-8 Entertainment is heading to the sold-out San Diego Comic Con on Saturday July 26th with starlets Tiffany Shepis (“NIGHTMARE MAN”), Melissa Bacelar (“PINK EYE,” Lionsgate’s upcoming “SKINNED ALIVE”), Katie Nisa (“THREAT”), and Joanna Angel (TLC’s “L.A. INK,” “SICK & TWISTED HORROR”) to preview the studio’s most ambitious production yet: an interactive horror-comedy called “SLUMBER PARTY SLAUGHTERHOUSE: THE GAME,” created by award-winning filmmaker Matt Pizzolo (“THREAT,” upcoming graphic novel “GODKILLER”). Halo-8 has slated the film for a Halloween 2008 release. Read on for more info.
The innovative feature stars Shepis, Bacelar, Nisa, Angel, and Masuimi Max (“INLAND EMPIRE,” “THE DEVIL’S MUSE”) in a narrative, splatterpunk DVD-game with scenes written and directed by numerous filmmakers on the Halo-8 roster including Pizzolo, Angel, Doug Sakmann (“PUNK ROCK HOLOCAUST”), Joshua Nelson (“PINK EYE”), Ramzi Abed (“THE DEVIL’S MUSE”), Kurly Tlapoyawa (“GIMME SKELTER”), and Peter Hoare (“BEER THE MOVIE”).
“SLUMBER PARTY SLAUGHTERHOUSE: THE GAME is a unique and exciting Halloween treat developed especially for the rabid fans of Halo-8’s bold filmmakers and intriguing starlets,” said Todd Miller, Director of Operations for Halo-8. “Filmmaking has always been collaborative, but the interactive-movie Matt developed has taken that collaborative spirit to another level.”
“We wanted to put together a really fun and hare-brained Halloween treat for the fans,” said Matt Pizzolo. “The awesome thing about Halo-8 is that we’re all huge fans of one another… filming a game together gave all the directors and actors a chance to work together in a really cool and different way.”
In SLUMBER PARTY SLAUGHTERHOUSE: THE GAME, audiences get the chance to put their horror movie trivia skills to the test while also helping a recently deceased high school geek take revenge on his former friends. The story follows Paul Tard, a geek on the eve of his high school graduation. Paul’s friends are throwing a graduation party with hookers and drugs, but, when they come up one hooker short, Paul is uninvited to the party. Drowning his sorrows in wine stolen from a homeless man, Paul decides to take a bubble bath and bring along his laptop for some internet porn. Of course, the laptop falls in the bathtub and Paul electrocutes himself to death. None of this would have happened if he’d only been invited to the party, so Paul sells his soul to a demon in exchange for the power to take revenge on his former friends.
Structurally, SLUMBER PARTY SLAUGHTERHOUSE: THE GAME is a trivia challenge. Whenever Paul wants to kill one of his friends, the demon asks a horror movie trivia question and the film dissolves to a multiple choice menu. If the audience chooses the correct answer, Paul gets the power to kill his ex-friend (and the friend’s hooker, to tie up those pesky loose ends); but the wrong answer will send Paul to hell unavenged. Each “killscene” in the film is written and directed by a different Halo-8 filmmaker and stars actors from Halo-8 films.
Halo-8 Entertainment (www.halo8.tv) is devoted to supporting the unique visions of bold filmmakers by widely releasing daring films, alt-culture videos, and punk rock cinema. Recent releases include the controversial documentary YOUR MOMMY KILLS ANIMALS (which Variety called “a miraculously evenhanded treatment of a snarlingly divisive debate”), the award-winning hardcore-punk thriller THREAT (which Urb Magazine said “makes KIDS look like an after-school special”), and the legendary NY hardcore documentary N.Y.H.C. (which Cinematical called “smashing… a terrific, well-told, engaging story”). Upcoming releases include the Manson-inspired shocker GIMME SKELTER (which ScreamTV called “a low budget masterpiece”), the hard-edged slasher film PINK EYE (which Bloody Disgusting called “vicious and convincing… a lingering nightmare”), and the stylish & surreal horror film THE DEVIL’S MUSE (which Rue Morgue called “intoxicating and sensual”).
Fangoria Studios and Panick Studios are turning horror comic Black Diamond into a film, and Variety reports that Ernest Dickerson (Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight) will direct.
Black Diamond comic book creator Brendan Columbus will write the screenplay.
Black Diamond follows Owen and Victoria Welch on a family ski trip that spirals into a nightmare. When their son is abducted by a mysterious cult, the couple is pushed to the brink and faced with a soul-crushing ultimatum: sacrifice another child or lose their own forever.
The comic book series from Panick Entertainment is described as a “chilling folk horror thriller blending Hitchcockian psychological tension with the dread of The Wicker Man.”
“Black Diamond was my attempt to put everything I love about thrillers on the page,” Columbus tells Variety. “I want to make sure it feels like you physically can’t leave the theater or else you’ll miss the next twist or turn. With his masterful cinematic eye and his great story sense, Ernest is going to scare the hell out of everyone with this one.”
“Black Diamond immediately grabbed me because its horror is rooted in impossible human choices,” says Dickerson. “It taps into parental fear, morality, isolation, and survival in a way that is so unsettling and emotionally real. That combination will make for a very suspenseful and exciting cinematic experience.”
Ernest Dickerson is directing and executive producing the feature film. Black Diamond will notably be Ernest Dickerson’s first feature film as director since Double Play in 2017, though he has in more recent years been directing for an impressive string of television shows including “The Man in the High Castle,” “The Purge,” “Raised by Wolves,” “Bosch,” and “DMZ.”
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