Movies
Cannes: New Chinese Slasher Pic ‘Dream Home’
Variety just reported on a new Chinese slasher film that was filmed right under our nose. Fortissimo Films has boarded Hong Kong helmer Pang Ho-cheung’s slasher pic Dream Home, which tells the story of a young woman who goes to extreme measures when she can no longer afford her dream home. Start-up shingle 852 Films is producing the pic, for which Fortissimo is handling worldwide sales, excluding Hong Kong. “Dream Home,” which is in post-production, stars Josie Ho (“Exiled”) and Anthony Wong (“Infernal Affairs”), Eason Chan, Michelle Ye Suen, Lawrence Chou, Derek Tsang, Juno Mak, Sin Lap Man, Wong Ching and Lo Hoi Pang. “We’re hoping with ‘Dream Home’ to have a repeat of the success we previously enjoyed in the genre zone with the ‘Eye’ films,” commented Fortissimo co-chairman Michael J. Werner.
Produced by the late Roger Corman, the low budget sword and sorcery film Deathstalker was a hit in theaters back in 1983 and went on to become a cult classic through home video and TV airings, and it was followed by three sequels released between 1987 and 1991.
Decades later, Deathstalker will return with a fresh remake, and Variety has shared a first look image from director Steven Kostanski’s (The Void, PG: Psycho Goreman) new movie.
The website notes that the Deathstalker remake is now filming in Canada, with Raven Banner Entertainment launching sales in Cannes. Daniel Bernhardt (John Wick, Nobody, Barry) will star as the titular Deathstalker in what’s being described as “a newly reimagined installment of the cult sword and sorcery series of the same name.”
Written and directed by Kostanski, Bernhardt will portray the barbarian who finds himself cursed by a magical talisman that draws him into conflict with a malevolent wizard and a clan of monstrous assassins.
The original films were produced by Roger Corman throughout the 1980s and capitalized on the popularity of John Milius’ Conan the Barbarian with a similar collision of pulp fantasy and lurid excess. Kostanski’s new vision promises a greater emphasis on exploring the series’ fantasy setting and filling it with monsters that will be largely realized through the director’s signature combination of creature suits, prosthetic FX make-up, and stop-motion animation. These effects are courtesy of the director’s newly minted Action Pants FX shop, which recently completed work on Kostanski’s upcoming horror-comedy Frankie Freako.
“The Deathstalker universe is such a fun sandbox to play in,” said Steven Kostanski, “Every installment has played so fast and loose with its lore, which means that there’s no limit to my imagination when it comes to what I can pit Deathstalker against.”
Deathstalker is being produced by Hangar 18 Media with Pasha Patriki, Avi Federgreen, and Michael Pazst producing, with Executive Producers Andrew Thomas Hunt, James Fler, Josh Viola, and Peter Kuplowsky, alongside Slash and Rodrigo Gudiño of Berserkergang Films, with Associate Producer Scott Weatherall and Co-Producer Melissa A. Smith.
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