Movies
Keep Your Lips Sealed, ‘Pontypool’ Sequel on the Way!
While I wasn’t a huge fan of the film (read my review from the 2008 Toronto Film Festival), the buzz behind Bruce McDonald’s Pontypool is extremely positive. While the lot of you wait to see the film later this month (IFC releases it in limited theaters and on VOD May 29th), acclaimed director Bruce McDonald is already prepping his return to the director’s chair with Pontypool Changes, a sequel to his highly anticipated psychological thriller that follows a small-town radio station DJ (Stephen McHattie) discovers that recent madness in the local population may be caused by a virus transmitted through speech, reports Twitch Film. Read on for the skinny.
From a press release posted by Twitch Film:
“Producer Jeffrey Coghlan confirmed rumors in Cannes today that the Pontypool sequel is scheduled to lens in early 2010, reuniting McDonald with Pontypool screenwriter Tony Burgess, who adapted the original from his book “Pontypool Changes Everything”.
Horror fan and blog sites are already buzzing and early reviews for Pontypool are calling the tensely intelligent thriller McDonald’s best film ever and one of the scariest films in years.
Pontypool, named after the small town in which it’s set, features veteran character actor Stephen McHattie, (Watchmen, 300, A History of Violence), as a cantankerous radio DJ trapped within the station’s walls as a deadly virus consumes the town, turning its citizens into cannibalistic zombie-like creatures. IFC In Theatres releases the film May 29th day and date on its VOD platform, which reaches more than 50 million homes in the US.
The early demand surprised Coghlan who said, “Fan and distributor reactions have been overwhelming, and the script for the sequel takes a whole new side to the story and really opens it up for more action, and more scares. It’s brilliant.”
Pontypool has it’s final marketplace screening in Cannes on Monday May 18 at 5:30 pm with worldwide sales being handled by Forward Motion Entertainment.”
Movies
R-Rated ‘The X-Files: I Want to Believe’ Director’s Cut Gets New Title and Streaming Premiere Date
After a slight delay, Disney has finally announced a new streaming date for the R-Rated director’s cut of The X-Files: I Want to Believe. According to Gizmodo, it’ll also come with a new title.
The X-Files: I Want to Believe Vrach Frankenshteyn begins streaming on Hulu on August 14.
The new cut was first teased in an interview with director Chris Carter on the Fail Better With David Duchovny podcast from last year, where he teased a much scarier movie he intended.
“Now I have a chance to go back and make the scary movie that I always intended to make,” Carter explained last year. “It’s not just doing a Director’s Cut to do a Director’s Cut. It’s really kind of bringing to life something that for me was on the page and never got to the screen.“
The director’s cut of the film was initially set to arrive on Disney+ in June, but quietly disappeared from the schedule without a word. Polygon reported the delay was “due to some last-minute adjustments being made to the film.”
The release’s new “Vrach Frankenshteyn” title certainly suggests those adjustments have been made, likely referring to a Frankensteining of bonus footage.
In the film, Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) have been out of the FBI for several years, with Mulder living in isolation and Scully having become a doctor at a Catholic hospital, where she has formed a bond with a critically ill child patient.
When an FBI agent is mysteriously kidnapped, and a former Catholic priest who has been convicted of pedophilia claims to be experiencing psychic visions of the endangered agent, Scully is asked to bring Mulder back to the bureau to consult on the case because of his work with psychics.
The brand new R-rated cut will “faithfully restore the filmmaker’s original vision.”
Look for it on Hulu next month.