Movies
WETA Gets Behind WWII Horror ‘The Devil’s Rock’
Island Bay Studios announced that short film director Paul Campion is hard at work building sets for his first feature-length project, The Devil’s Rock, a film described as “WW2-German-bunker-overrun-by-occult-demon-mayhem.”
Richards vision is to capture the oppressive damp concrete claustrophobia of an underground base and introduce elements of unimaginable unstoppable malignant horror which see the base’s occupants slowly picked off and terrorized.
Written by Paul Finch, Paul Campion and Brett Ihaka, The Devil’s Rock is award-winning short film director Paul Campion’s debut feature film. His short films “Night of the Hell Hamsters” and “Eel Girl” have screened at every major genre film festival worldwide.
“The film is set in the Channel Islands on the eve of D-Day. Two Kiwi commandos, sent to destroy German gun emplacements to distract Hitler’s forces away from Normandy, discover a Nazi occult plot to unleash demonic forces to win the war.”
Academy Award winning New Zealand company WETA Workshop (Avatar, District 9, Lord of the Rings, King Kong) will create the film’s physical effects, whose ensemble cast includes Craig Hall (Love Birds, Boy, 30 Days of Night, The World’s Fastest Indian, King Kong), Matthew Sunderland (Out of the Blue, Under the Mountain), Gina Varela (Xena, Siones Wedding, Power Rangers) and Karl Drinkwater (A Song of Good, Lord of the Rings, Spartacus: Blood & Sand).
Principle photography has begun in Wellington, New Zealand.
Movies
‘Boorman and the Devil’ Documentary Trailer Chronicles Complicated Relationship with ‘Exorcist II’
Critically acclaimed documentary Boorman and the Devil chronicles how one of the world’s greatest filmmakers made one of the most hated movies ever: Exorcist II: The Heretic. A new trailer highlighting some of the troubled production woes has arrived.
Boorman and the Devil opens at The Quad in NYC on August 28 before opening wider in various cities on September 4, including: Los Angeles, Columbus, Houston, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Seattle and more.
After the success of Point Blank and Deliverance, Warner Brothers offered John Boorman the opportunity of a lifetime: the chance to direct a sequel to their smash hit, The Exorcist. The result was one of the biggest disasters in movie history. A critical and financial failure that not only changed how Hollywood did business, but nearly ended Boorman’s filmmaking career… but to be an artist is to be a risk-taker.
Now, John Boorman, Linda Blair, Louise Fletcher, Karyn Kusama, Joe Dante, Mike Flanagan, and more reflect back on the ambition of the film, the artistry and craft, and the value of big creative swings.
“I am beyond thrilled that Yellow Veil has come on board to help us share this story with a larger audience,” said director David Kittredge. “Like myself and the rest of our team, they’re huge cinema-lovers. It’s so exciting that a film which is not only a love letter to John Boorman, but also to ambitious filmmaking, will be handled by people who share the same passions that our team shares.”
“I first saw the film at an early festival screening and the post-screening buzz was just electric. Everyone was loving Boorman and the Devil,” added Yellow Veil co-founder Justin Timms. “To be able to team up with David and the filmmaking team on this release is incredibly exciting, and we can’t wait to spread that post-screening electricity with audiences across the country.”
Boorman and the Devil is produced by Kittredge’s Triple Fire Productions, Travis Stevens (Jodorowsky’s Dune, Starry Eyes) of Snowfort Pictures, and Jim Fall (The Lizzie McGuire Movie), with Alan Koenigsberg of Milton Ventures Media serving as co-producer.
Daniel Kurland wrote in his review, “Boorman and the Devil goes above and beyond to be the definitive text on Exorcist II. This documentary will delight horror and Exorcist fans alike, but it also provides incredible insight for anyone who is just marginally interested in film production.”