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[Video] ‘Born Again’ Unleashes Marduk, Aranunna & Greg
The horror genre is not lacking when it comes to features and shorts about cultists attempting to summon the Devil. The are plenty of examples out there of such groups that have achieved (or come close to achieving) that goal. Surely there must be a few that just plain suck at it though? Have you ever wanted to see a comedy about the “worst Satanists ever”? Then Born Again is for you! The multi-award-winning horror comedy short has finally made its debut online via one of the world’s largest platforms: Short of the Week.
As of today, you can view the short that has knocked the socks off of the festival circuit for the past year. Stops on its never-ending tour included, but were not limited to, Oscar-qualifying fests such as Cleveland International, Rhode Island Vortex, and Sitges. It hauled in more than 60 awards and nominations during its run, making multiple end-of-year lists and accumulating honors such of Cinema Constant’s “Best Short Film of 2016”, From Dusk Till Con’s “Top 10 Short of 2016”, iHorror’s “Top Five Horror Short of 2016”, and Fright Meter Awards’ “Top 20 Horror Short of 2016”.
That’s a laundry list of acclaim, but I can personally attest that Born Again earned every single last bit of it. I actually reviewed it last year for this site. I really dug it at the time and my appreciation for it has only grown in the past 13 months. Full disclosure: I now count director/co-writer Jason Tostevin as a good friend, but he wasn’t at the time of that review, so my words remain 100% unbiased. Don’t just take my word for it, however. See it yourself…
Speaking of Jason, he created the short under his Hands Off Productions banner, whose other shorts have regularly been just as celebrated worldwide as Born Again. The team has never actually released any of their shorts online before, but that’s finally changing. Why?
I’ll let Mr. Tostevin answer that himself…
“Overwhelming audience response. So many people have seen it at fests and asked to see it again, or heard from friends they had to see it, we just felt it was right to arrange an online premiere.”
The seven-minute movie tells the tale of “five amateur Satanists who have their summoning ceremony go terribly wrong, and accidentally create the holiest holy shit moment ever.”
“We wanted to go back to our ‘80s horror roots, when you could get a laugh with your blood splatter. And we wanted to push some boundaries. I know for sure we were left out of some programs because of the ending.”
Other award-winning shorts from Hands Off Productions include I Owe You, ‘Til Death, and their latest effort, A Way Out. ‘Til Death, their first festival short, was also included in the horror anthology Seven Hells. I unfortunately haven’t seen any of those, but that’s where the fun part of this announcement comes in. Not only is Born Again finally hitting the ‘net, but so are ‘Til Death and I Owe You. Both are now available to watch on Hands Off Productions’ Vimeo channel. Jackpot!
Born Again is an original horror comedy short. It is directed by Jason Tostevin, from a screenplay by Randall Greenland and Jason Tostevin. The film was produced by Christy Tostevin and Jason Tostevin. It stars Ellie Church, Brian Spangler, Tiffany Arnold, Randall Greenland, Jordan Fehr, and Jaysen Buterin.
Note: This content originally appeared over at our sister site, Cinema Runner.
We have the Jason Universe to thank for the recent return of Jason Voorhees, with the short film Sweet Revenge and Jason’s arrival in Dead by Daylight helping to bring the hockey mask-wearing horror icon back into our lives. What else is planned, you ask?
In a chat with Variety this week, Jason Universe’s Robbie Barsamian teases that everything we’ve seen up to this point is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Jason’s return.
“We’ve been busy behind the scenes laying the foundation that everyone is finally starting to see come to life, but this is just the tip of the iceberg,” Barsamian teases.
“We have a thrilling lineup of new projects that we can’t wait to share more details on soon.”
Barsamian also notes during the chat with Variety, “We want to give fans fresh takes on what they love most about Jason and continue to expand his world in authentic ways that resonate with horror fans today.” One of those expansions will take the form of the upcoming Peacock and A24 series “Crystal Lake,” which stars Linda Cardellini as Pamela Voorhees.
“The Crystal Lake TV series will take fans back in time to tell the story of how Pamela Voorhees came to be the mother of all slashers,” Barsamian tells Variety this week.
“Crystal Lake” premieres October 15 on Peacock.
Callum Vinson (“Chucky”) is playing young Jason in “Crystal Lake,” which will tell the origin story of the masked slasher who has stalked the grounds of Crystal Lake for decades.
Last year, the Jason Universe team had teased that a new movie and a new video game are top priorities for the near future. But at this time we have no updates on either front.
Stay tuned for more from the Jason Universe.
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