The Canadian indie film will be released on VOD March 26 via Persimmon. Watch the trailer below.

During a live television special, true crime hosts Roberta and Frasier reopen the 30-year-old murder of horror novelist Bernard Balance and his missing son. The couple’s relationship begins to crumble as the investigation derails with eccentric witnesses, hidden clues, and absurd twists.

Jonas Chernick (“Degrassi: The Next Generation”), Storm Steenson (“Reacher”), and David Hewlett (“Stargate: Atlantis”) star with Julian Richings (Cube), Varun Saranga (Ready or Not 2: Here I Come), and Tommie-Amber Pirie (“Bitten”).

Jake Horowitz writes and directs, in addition to producing with Jason Speir.

A Thousand Cuts premiered at the 2024 Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival.

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In Debug, “In this tale of deep space cyberhorror, six young computer hackers are sent to work on a derelict space freighter as a part of a work release program. They quickly fall prey to the ship’s vengeful artificial intelligence, a program that would kill to be human. They are helpless to defend themselves as it silently roots out their deepest desires to use against them in the most imaginative and horrific ways. It takes a very determined and brilliant hacker, Kaida (Goossen), to battle this malevolent entity and send it back to cyber hell.”

Adam Butcher (Wolves), Jeananne Goossen (The Vow), Adrian Holmes (Elysium) and Jason Momoa (“Game of Thrones,” Wolves) star.

Here’s the Debug clip in which one of said hackers attempts to end the program. Jason Momoa says nah.

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In Scanners II, the film picks up where the original left off, as the government moves to control and harness the powers of the scanners. A Doctor Morse (Tom Butler) has developed techniques for controlling the scanners through narcotics. Aiding him is an ambitious and unethical cop named John Forrester (Yvan Ponton). The duo are looking for a specific scanner who will be invaluable in their crime-fighting task force. They find it with David Kellum (David Hewlett), a man whose scanner powers result in a foiled corner store robbery. As Forrester begins to mold David into the perfect weapon for the government’s war on crime, Forrester’s plans to create a new world order with his group of scanners is discovered by David. Horrified, David resolves to stop Forrester before it’s too late.

Scanners II substitutes the slow burn story of the first film in favour of showing us more action sequences intertwined with the plotlines regarding Forrester’s political ambitions, as well as explaining just where scanners come from. Performance-wise, Hewlett performs well as our hero, hitting the right notes as the naive farmboy who grows up very quickly after becoming aware of Forrester’s plans. As for Forrester, Ponton also does a nice job as the villain, though like the rest of the performances, it’s quite obvious from when we first meet him he’s your cliche’d bad guy. The real highlight of the film is the effects. Heads do explode in this one, along with folks melting, leaking snot from everywhere, gunshots galore and more fun stuff with bladders. Unfortunately, the film really does come across as more of a remake of the original more than anything, with slight tweaks in the story and some story elements that cause the film to drag during its 100 minute runtime. Overall, the film is early 90s cheese with some fun effects. While it pales in comparison to the original, it’s still a fun follow-up.

In Scanners III, the existence of scanners has been revealed to the public. A doctor Elton Monet (Colin Fox) has been spending years trying to find a cure for their condition, as Monet’s own son and daughter are scanners. After Monet’s son, Alex (Steve Parrish), accidentally kills someone at a Christmas party, Alex goes on a religious retreat to try and learn to control his powers. Meanwhile, Monet’s daughter, Helena (Liliana Komorowska), steps forward to try and help her father in finding a cure by being a guinea pig, in spite of her severe headaches. The result is a drug that while cures her headaches, makes her into a homicidal sex machine. Helena initially decides to use the drug to raise a scanner army to take over the world, but then finds out that she can use the media and television to accomplish her goals, instead. Alex senses something is wrong, and returns to put a stop to Helena’s plans.

Oh boy.

Whereas Scanners II was cheesy fun, Scanners III is a mess. The plot is all over the place, with some interesting elements involving the use of television to control and deliver the drug to other scanners, as well as the use of the drug to control scanners, but really it feels ham-fisted and just plain silly. Acting-wise, Parrish tries to make us like him as our hero, but his butter face along with his lame attempts at acting as a scanner aren’t winning anyone over. The real winner is Komorowska, who plays her role so over-the-top it’s hilarious. Who knew watching her make guys burn themselves with cigars or causing them to piss themselves would be fun? It also helps that she strips down and shows some skin (is it just me, or does she look like Valentina Vargas?). But other than that, the film is pretty rotten. With a story that mashes ideas from other films together in an attempt to create something ambitious, cheap effects and lame ending with an even lamer twist, Scanners III is hilariously bad. Avoid this one if you’re sober.

Video/Audio:

Scanners II and Scanners III are given AVC-encoded 1.78.1 1080p transfers. Since both films were essentially shot back-to-back and released within a year of each other, both transfer look very much the same. Detail and colour are great for both, albeit they both exhibit heavy grain with some of the darker shots. Textures are also quite good, and skin looks natural. Blacks get into the murky side of things, but overall, these look quite good for low-budget early 90s action/horror films.

As for the sound, both films are given DTS-HD 2.0 Stereo tracks. As with the transfers, the mixes are very good, but not the reference-quality some would want. Both tracks are kind of flat and don’t have the oomph for explosions, gunshots, etc. That said, dialogue is clear and free of distortion, and there’s no hissing or any other anomalies. Again, both of these tracks are suitable for the films themselves.

Extras:

Aside from the set being a Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack, there aren’t any extras to speak of. The discs start up with a menu selection between the two films, and from there the films just play. Neither film has any trailer included.

As for Scream Factory’s traditional reversible covers, there’s no real alternate cover on the back side, just the hooks for both films with images sprinkled in between.

Overall, this is another fine job by Scream Factory, and the lack of extras is understandable, but I question why at the very least the trailers for both films weren’t included. Oh well.

The post [BD Review] Scream Factory’s ‘Scanners II/Scanners III’ Looks Good, But Not Much Else appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The film stars Abigail Breslin (The Call, Final Girl, Zombieland) as a young girl who must unravel a decades-old mystery to save her family in this terrifying haunted house thriller.

“Lisa Johnson is one day shy of her sixteenth birthday. And she will be forever. She and her family are dead and doomed to repeat that fateful last day before they were all killed in 1985. Only Lisa has “woken up” and realizes what is going on. She starts to feel as if she is being haunted, but the “ghost” turns out to be Olivia, a very much alive girl who lives in the house in the present day with her own family. With her help, Lisa discovers that the house once belonged to a serial killer who kidnapped teenage girls and burned their remains in a hidden furnace room. When he died, he became a Haunter – a powerful, evil spirit able to possess the living.“

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Bloody Disgusting scored an exclusive first look at one-sheet for the flick that stars Abigail Breslin (The Call, Final Girl, Zombieland) as a young girl who must unravel a decades-old mystery to save her family in this terrifying haunted house thriller. The gorgeous poster features Breslin trapped in a giant jar. We can only hope the film is like trapping lighting in a bottle…

“Lisa Johnson is one day shy of her sixteenth birthday. And she will be forever. She and her family are dead and doomed to repeat that fateful last day before they were all killed in 1985. Only Lisa has “woken up” and realizes what is going on. She starts to feel as if she is being haunted, but the “ghost” turns out to be Olivia, a very much alive girl who lives in the house in the present day with her own family. With her help, Lisa discovers that the house once belonged to a serial killer who kidnapped teenage girls and burned their remains in a hidden furnace room. When he died, he became a Haunter – a powerful, evil spirit able to possess the living.”

Check out the one-sheet and two new stills right here!

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“Lisa and her family are dead and doomed to repeat that fateful last day before they were all killed in 1985. Only she has ‘woken up’ and realizes what is going on. She starts to feel as if she is being haunted, but the ‘ghost’ turns out to be Olivia who lives in the house in the present day with her own family. With her help, Lisa discovers all secrets around her family.”

Abigail Breslin, Stephen McHattie, Peter Outerbridge, Michelle Nolden, David Hewlett all star.

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Starring Zombieland and The Call‘s Abigail Breslin, as well as Stephen McHattie, Peter Outerbridge, Michelle Nolden and David Hewlett, Haunter premiered last night at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas. In it, the ghost of a teenager who died years ago reaches out to the land of the living in order to save someone from suffering her same fate.

Evan Dickson attended the World Premiere and had mixed feelings.

“It’s an interesting concept, The Others meets Groundhog Day. Some truly special stuff comes out of this early on as Natali and screenwriter Brian King nicely develop their world.”

Even with a cool concept, the film’s direction is where it falters: “I just wish it hadn’t gone in the direction it did,” Dickson states. “It starts with the makings of a modest miracle, but eventually uses up exactly as much goodwill as it earns.”

Click here for the entire review.

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Abigail Breslin is excellent as Lisa, a mopey new-wave teen who also happens to be dead and stuck in 1986. Her whole family is dead too, but she’s the only one who’s actually aware of their predicament. Thus, her family enacts the same routine every day and treats her as if she’s acting out when she tries to tell them that she’s tired of having meatloaf for the thousandth day in a row. It’s an interesting concept, The Others meets Groundhog Day. Some truly special stuff comes out of this early on as Natali and screenwriter Brian King nicely develop their world. There’s a moment about halfway though when Lisa’s father suddenly starts smoking at dinner – not part of his normal routine – that signals the onset of what I assumed would be a truly remarkable second half.

Sadly, the remarkable version never shows up. Instead, Haunter disappears down a convoluted rabbit hole once Lisa’s objective – to save the family living in the 2013 version of their house – becomes clear. There’s very little that works after this point. We never get to know the family Lisa’s trying to save well enough (or at all, really) to become truly invested. It’s a horror movie, so when you place the innocent and anonymous in peril the audience doesn’t really care if they die or not. But Haunter isn’t interested in providing that type of investment. The film becomes obsessed with the ins and outs of ghost time travel (that’s a thing here) and, much like its’ protagonists, disappears into a virtual limbo.

Stephen McHattie (Pontypool) is effectively creepy as the film’s villain, but the energy around his motives and actions is so laconic and thinly drawn that his efforts are effectively neutered. An evil lacking any sort of definition, he’s sort of reduced to mugging for the camera by the end. Additionally, in what seems like a bid to appeal to younger teens and a PG-13 rating, the film lacks any punch whatsoever. Brightly lit with people learning important life (or death, I suppose) lessons, I was fairly shocked by the gummy toothlessness of its ending.

Haunter isn’t a bad film, and I certainly commend it for trying something new, I just wish it hadn’t gone in the direction it did. It starts with the makings of a modest miracle, but eventually uses up exactly as much goodwill as it earns. Hopefully it just serves as the ultimate palate cleanser (and expectation diminisher) before Natali returns back to better waters.

The post [BD Review] ‘Haunter’ Starts Strong But Ends Up In Limbo appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Breslin is pictured in the first look at the reverse ghost story broke exclusively by Bloody Disgusting earlier this year. “Teenage Lisa (Breslin) and her family died in 1986 under sinister circumstances but remain trapped in their house, unable to move on. Lisa must reach out from beyond the grave to help her present-day, living counterpart, Olivia, avoid the same fate Lisa and her family suffered.”

Haunter, directed by Vincenzo Natali from a screenplay written by Brian King (Cypher, Night Train), is produced by Steven Hoban (Splice, Ryan, Ginger Snaps trilogy), and co-produced by Mark Smith (388 Arletta Avenue, The Spine). Principal photography will run until May 19, 2012 in Toronto and Brantford.

REMOVED PER REQUEST OF STUDIO.

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In this reverse ghost story broke exclusively by Bloody Disgusting, “teenage Lisa (Breslin) and her family died in 1986 under sinister circumstances but remain trapped in their house, unable to move on. Lisa must reach out from beyond the grave to help her present-day, living counterpart, Olivia, avoid the same fate Lisa and her family suffered.”

Haunter, directed by Vincenzo Natali from a screenplay written by Brian King (Cypher, Night Train), is produced by Steven Hoban (Splice, Ryan, Ginger Snaps trilogy), and co-produced by Mark Smith (388 Arletta Avenue, The Spine). Principal photography will run from April 16 until May 19, 2012 in Toronto and Brantford. Release is slated for 2013.

“‘Haunter’ vividly demonstrates that even ghosts have a lot to be afraid of. Brian King’s script constructs a Borgian Labyrinth out of the most mundane settings and shows us how even in our everyday lives, we are spirits living in the material world,” said Natali.

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