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Grindstone Plays Voodoo With ‘Needle’
Filmscope Entertainment and Lightning Entertainment are pleased to announce two major deals for their super bloody mystery horror feature film, Needle, ahead of EFM, Berlin. Grindstone Entertainment Group LLC, has acquired all North American rights to the film and will release it through Lionsgate Home Entertainment while Shochiku has acquired all distribution rights for Japan.
Head of acquisitions at Grindstone Entertainment, Stan Wertlieb, commented “We are thrilled to have acquired this fresh and fun horror film which we believe is the perfect compliment to Lionsgate’s already strong home entertainment line-up for 2011”.
Richard Guardian from Lightning Entertainment, who negotiated the deal together with Filmscope’s John V Soto, noted “Needle is a highly original mystery horror film and we are excited that the film has found a good home with Grindstone”.
Needle’s director, Soto, commented “Apart from wanting to make a cool horror film, it has always been a goal of mine to make a movie good enough to be released in North American through Lionsgate, who are genre specialists, so this is pretty exciting.”
In addition to North America and Japan, Needle has been sold in numerous territories around the world and is set for release in the following countries during 2011; Germany, Austria, United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, South Africa, Middle-East, India, Korea, Turkey, Indonesia. A deal is close to being finalized for distribution of the film in Australia and New Zealand.
Recently Needle also became the first West Australian film to win a “Golden Skull” award at Screamfest (2010) Los Angeles. The film also won awards for Best Cinematography, Best Special Effects and Best Supporting Actress at the 2010 British Horror Film Festival in Bournemouth, England.
Filmed in Perth, Needle features the cream of Australian acting talent including Jessica Marais (Packed to the Rafters), Michael Dorman (Daybreakers, Triangle), Trilby Glover (Righteous Kill), Tahyna Tozzi (Wolverine), Travis Fimmel (The Beast, The Valley), Ben Mendolsohn (Animal Kingdom), Khan Chittenden (West), John Jarratt (Wolf Creek) and Jane Badler (V TV series).
Needle, a supernatural murder mystery, is about a killer who uses an 18th century machine with supernatural powers to terrorize students at a local college.
The film is rated MA and has a running time of approximately 90mins.
Are you ready to go back?
After a record-breaking box office run and an extended cut re-release, A24 and director Kane Parsons’ Backrooms is heading home to Digital.
Backrooms will be available to rent or buy this Tuesday, July 14.
In the film, Chiwetel Ejiofor stars in Backrooms as the owner of Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire, who discovers a strange doorway in the basement of the furniture showroom. He sets out to explore the mysterious, liminal space, walking headfirst into a creepypasta nightmare.
Renate Reinsve (A Different Man) also stars in Backrooms.
Will Soodik wrote the screenplay.
I wrote in my review, “Backrooms is at once complex and sparse, but never repetitive. It might be set in 1990, but it effectively captures modern anxieties and isolation in a way that frequently makes your skin crawl. While the journey ultimately loses steam by its cryptic end, Parsons’ visual representation of the human psyche disturbs like no other.”
YouTube prodigy Kane Parsons makes his feature directorial debut based on his creepypasta-inspired video series, which debuted in 2022 and has amassed over 190 million views to date.