Exclusives
Vincenzo Natali Constructs Terror on ‘High Rise’
Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival this weekend is Vincenzo Natali’s Splice, his highly anticipated sci-fi thriller that looks like a modernized Species. We caught up with Natali (made famous by his mind-bender Cube) prior to the event where he revealed to Bloody Disgusting that he’s developing a thriller that takes place in the “perfect High Rise.” Read on for the scoop.
“Yeah. At certain times, it’s necessary to develop and kind of juggle a bunch of projects all at once,” Natali tells us when asked about future projects. “There’s a whole roster of things, but one thing that’s public knowledge and which is very exciting for me is an adaptation of a J.G. Ballard novel called HIGH RISE.”
“Essentially, HIGH RISE is a book – I guess it was written over 30 years ago – that was very much ahead of its time because it posited a sort of vertical city, a super high rise, where everything you could ever possibly want or need is in the building, and there’s really no requirement to leave at all. And here we are in 2010, at the opening of the Burj building in Dubai, which is the world’s tallest building, which I think in many respects mirrors what J.G. Ballard was writing about. Essentially, the story of HIGH RISE is how that insular society ultimately collapses, and how even in luxurious, beautiful surroundings, human beings are still capable of reverting to the worst kind of savagery. (Laughs) So it’s another feel-good film.”
Sounds very similar to George A. Romero’s themes in LAND OF THE DEAD. I look forward ot seeing what Natali delivers.
A bedtime lullaby soothes an unsettling newborn in our exclusive clip from Nightborn, from Hatching filmmaker Hanna Bergholm.
The dark fable makes its debut on Shudder on July 31.
Seidi Haarla (Compartment No. 6) and Rupert Grint (Knock at the Cabin, “Servant”) star as new parents in Nightborn, and this exclusive clip highlights mom’s harrowing transition into motherhood.
In Nightborn, “With dreams of starting a perfect family, Saga and her British husband Jon move to the isolated house where she spent much of her childhood, deep in the Finnish forest. But as soon as their baby is born, despite the reassurance of all around her, Saga knows there’s something terribly wrong with her son. As their marriage starts to crack, Jon struggles to support his wife, but only Saga suspects the terrible truth about her newborn.”
Pamela Tola, Pirkko Saisio, Rebecca Lacey and John Thomson also star.
Bergholm teased of her maternal horror movie, “In Nordic countries, there’s a long-standing mythology of trolls living in the forests. In ancient times, people truly believed that trolls inhabited the woods and had a kind of control over nature. And in Nightborn, the forest reflects Saga’s emotions and the animalistic, primitive physical side of humankind.”
“Hanna Bergholm’s audacious sophomore follow up to Hatching delivers tension and shocking moments surrounding parenthood and self discovery — with a touch of humor,” said Emily Gotto, senior vice president of acquisitions and production at Shudder. “We are thrilled to share Nightborn with audiences.”