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Horror Channel Announce September Premieres

A trio of films hit UK TV for the first time as Horror Channel announce their September slate. Among them are the slick sci-fi thriller G-LOC, from director Tom Paton.

The films debuting on the channel are, in transmission order:

The Haunted (2018) – Saturday, September 4th (UK TV premiere). A young carer arrives for a new job at an isolated house in the country but when she’s left alone with her new patient she’s forced to confront some very dark secrets.

The Last House (2019) – Saturday, September 11th (UK TV premiere). Original I Spit on your Grave star Camille Keaton plays a widow who is being pressured to sell her property by the sons of a local landowner. When the local sheriff won’t help her out, she looks to protect herself and her home by any means necessary. (Also known as Cry for the Bad Man.)

G-LOC (2020) – Friday, September 17th (UK TV premiere). With the Earth dying, the population has inhabited another world. Stephen Moyer plays a man with nothing left to lose who attempts to flee on a supply ship. Also stars Casper Van Dien and John Rhys-Davies.

The Taking (2014) – Sunday, September 18th (channel premiere). A film crew are allowed to film an elderly woman’s fight with Alzheimer’s disease, but something more sinister seems to be going on.

Let Us Prey (2014) – Saturday, September 25th (channel premiere). Pollyanna McIntosh plays a new police officer in a small Scottish town. On a night shift, she has to deal with an inmate (Liam Cunningham) who can control the minds and souls of others.

For more information, head over to http://www.horrorchannel.co.uk/ Tune in on Sky 317, Virgin 149, Freeview 68, Freesat 138.

Y: THE LAST MAN Gets Official UK Release Date

They say good things come to those who wait, so considering we first reported on the TV adaptation of Brian K. Vaughn & Pia Guerra’s ground-breaking comic book series Y: The Last Man in October of 2015 (read that story here), this show better be a bloody masterpiece!

Even before FX’s series was announced, many had already tried and failed to get a movie version off the ground, with the last filmmaker to develop it being Dan Trachtenberg (10 Cloverfield Lane). That finally fell through in September of 2014 (more details in our story here), and to be honest, we were kind of relieved. A densely plotted 60-issue comic book arc squeezed into a two-hour movie was never going to work, and even though we’re certain a trilogy was hoped for, if the audience didn’t show up for that first movie then chances were fans would never get to see the whole story. TV is this story’s natural home, and we’re waiting with bated breath to see if it’s been done justice.

Luckily, we now know just how long we have to go, with Disney+ announcing the official release date earlier today. Subscribers to their service will be able to enjoy the first three episodes of Season 1 on September 22^nd via its adult-orientated STAR sub-channel (which is, thankfully, included in the price). Episodes 4 through 10 will then presumably air weekly. Frustratingly for British fans, this is more than a week later than the US premiere date of September 13^th, but we’ve seen plenty more egregious international release patterns in the last few years, so we won’t complain (much).

For those not up to speed on the series or the comic book on which it’s based, here’s its (very succinct) official synopsis:

Y: The Last Man traverses a post-apocalyptic world in which a cataclysmic event decimates every mammal with a Y chromosome but for one cisgender man and his pet monkey.

The series will star Ben Schnetzer as the titular ‘last man’ Yorick Brown, with the Warcraft actor stepping in last year when Barry Keoghan (Killing of a Sacred Deer) suddenly left the show for unknown reasons; though the move was likely tied with the departure of original showrunners Aida Mashaki Croal & Michael Green due to ‘creative differences’. (Yes, we’re aware this stuff usually doesn’t bode well for a project, but we’re choosing to remain positive!)

Also starring in key roles are the much-celebrated Diane Lane as Yorick’s politician mother Senator Jennifer Brown, Dredd’s Olivia Thirlby as his sister Hero, and Ashley Romans (NOS4A2) as the mysterious badass in charge of keeping our main character out of harm’s way), Agent 355.

Check out the trailer below, and mark September 22^nd in your calendars!

Alex Proyas Returns to DARK CITY

Fans of Alex Proyas’ 1998 cult sci-fi picture Dark City have a double dose of unexpected news today – not only has the filmmaker unveiled a new short film set in that universe, he’s also developing a continuation in the form of a TV series.

The 20-minute short is entitled Mask of the Evil Apparition and has just debuted as part of the Popcorn Frights film festival. According to the official synopsis, Proyas’ new tale is about “a young woman lost in a nocturnal, dreamlike city”, who, alongside her “twin psychic brothers” must find a way to escape whilst avoiding antagonists very similar to Dark City‘s ‘The Strangers’, here described as “a shadowy cult known as The Mysterious Ones.” Check out the first image below:

Talking about the short in a post-premiere Q&A conducted by fellow genre filmmaker Joe Lynch (Mayhem), Proyas confirmed that he’s in early development on furthering the Dark City canon for TV. “I’m having to go back and kind of jog my memory as to what we actually did work and what I think didn’t work, and re-evaluate my own film,” says Proyas, “so that’s been a very interesting experience as well which I’ve not done before.”

It sounds like the emphasis in ‘early development’ should be firmly placed on the “early” part, but if Proyas is capable of conjuring up a 20-minute short in secret, who knows how fast he can turn this around! Perhaps Dark City’s 25^th anniversary in 2023 would be a good premiere to shoot for…

By purchasing passes to POPCORN FRIGHTS, fans can watch MASK OF THE EVIL APPARITION while it’s available until August 19^th.

Source: Bloody Disgusting

Arrow Video FrightFest Reveal ‘Best of the Fest’ Digital 2021 Line-Up

As well as the physical event in Cineworld Leicester Square, this year Arrow Video FrightFest will give fans a chance to catch a selection of the films at home in a digital event taking place between September 1st and 5th.

Horror Channel will once again team up with the festival as a digital sponsor and as well as the First Blood strand and a great variety of films from the main event, there will be five features available only as a ‘digital bonus’

Like the digital event last year, the line-up is split over the Arrow Video and Horror Channel screens, with an additional option – the Discovery Screen – added this year so there’s even more choice. Pass holders can choose which film they wish to watch and view as each movie is streamed live. The films will be geo-locked to the UK and only streamed once.

The digital-only films are Adam Ethan Crow’s Lair, Gerald Rascionato’s Claw, the UK premiere of Chad Crawford Kinkle’s Dementer, and two vintage slashers, which will receive their worldwide Arrow Restoration Premieres: Phantom Of The Mall: Eric’s Revenge (1989) and Deadly Games (1982).

From the main line-up, you can catch:

The Show, Gaia, Crabs!, The Exorcism of Carmen Farias, Broadcast Signal Intrusion, Coming Home in the Dark, Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes, Ultrasound, King Knight, Sweetie, You Won’t Believe It, Evie, Motherly, As in Heaven, So on Earth, Hotel Poseidon, Mystery Spot, Killer Concept, Nocturna: Side A – The Great Old Man’s Night, Shadow of the Cat, The Unburied, Forgiveness, Bad Candy, Antidote, The Parker Sessions, Greywood’s Plot, Touch, Red Snow, Laguna Ave, She Watches From the Woods, Captive, Night Drive, Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: A History of Folk Horror, The Found Footage Phenomenon, and The Brilliant Terror. The First Blood selections – supported by Horror Channel – will all be available to view: Boy #5, Are We Monsters, When the Screaming Starts, and Bring out the Fear.

Stewart Bridle, Senior Channel Manager, Horror Channel, commented: “Horror Channel is excited to once again partner with FrightFest for their Digital Edition this September, which promises another amazing line-up of the latest and best in deliciously dark film delivered directly to your home. We are especially proud to support the ‘First Blood’ strand for the second year. ‘First Blood’ shines an important spotlight on first-time British and Irish feature directors, whose bold creations ensure that the future of genre cinema remains bright.”

Passes and Tickets go on sale Saturday, August 14th. For detailed information on the line-up, ticketing details and event guidelines: https://www.frightfest.co.uk/thedigitalbit.html

Apple Original Films Announce Date for FINCH

The highly anticipated excellent film Finch has been given a November 5th premiere date. The Apple Original Movie will debut on Apple TV+.

Finch stars Tom Hanks as a robotics engineer who is one of the few survivors of a solar event that left the world a wasteland. Finch creates a robot with the intention that it will look after his dog when he passes away.

The film is full of charm and humour and is beautifully poignant, and is highly recommended. Check out the first look image below.

Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod touch, Mac, select Samsung, LG, Sony and VIZIO smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV and Roku devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for £4.99 per month with a seven-day free trial. For a limited time, customers who purchase a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy one year of Apple TV+ for free. This special offer is good for three months after the first activation of the eligible device.

ADDAMS FAMILY Spin-Off Series Casts Morticia and Gomez

Tuesday brings fresh news on Wednesday, Tim Burton’s upcoming Addams Family spin-off!

Currently being developed as an 8-episode live-action series for Netflix, Burton’s new take on the beloved property will focus on Wednesday Addams as she attends Nevermore Academy. There, the young adult (played by former Disney star Jenna Ortega) will balance her studies whilst also investigating a supernatural threat that’s killing off locals and has possible ties with her family.

Recent casting reports are confirming that Wednesday’s parents – Gomez and Morticia Addams – will be portrayed by Luis Guzman and Catherine Zeta-Jones respectively. Guzman has a string of film/TV credits longer than Cousin It’s coif, but is probably best known for his roles in Paul Thomas Anderson’s early trilogy of Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love. Wednesday will easily sit amongst his most high-profile projects to date.

Luis Guzman

Zeta-Jones, meanwhile, has recently been enjoying somewhat of a resurgence thanks to roles in such TV hits as Feud: Betty and Joan and Prodigal Son.

Catherine Zeta-Jones

Behind the camera along with director Tim Burton are screenwriters Alfred Gogh and Miles Millar, who enjoyed huge success in the past as creators of the immensely popular Smallville.

Although its release date has yet to be announced, expect Wednesday to hit screens sometime in 2022.

FrightFest and Screen International’s Genre Rising Star Award Announced

For the fifth year, FrightFest has teamed up with Screen International, the UK’s top film industry magazine, to present the Genre Rising Star Award. Established in 2016, the award celebrates the work of emerging UK genre talent.

This year’s short-list highlights the work of three emerging directors and two outstanding performers.

The nominated directors are:

Leroy Kincaide for his creepily assured feature debut, The Last Rite, which he wrote, directed and edited.

Writer/director Prano Bailey-Bond for her stunning breakout debut feature Censor.

Writer/director Eric Steele for Boy #5 – an ultra-low budgeted but emotionally spin on the vampire legend.

Actor April Pearson for Jamie Patterson’s The Kindred

Actor Najarra Townsend for her standout performance in Jill Gevargizian’s The Stylist, which she also produced and played at the online iteration of FrightFest last year.

Past winners include Prevenge director Alice Lowe, Double Date writer/actor Danny Morgan, Anna and the Apocalypse star Ella Hunt, and Abigail Blackmore, writer-director of the comedy horror film Tales from the Lodge.

The winner will be announced in a special ceremony at FrightFest’s annual 5-day event at the Cineworld Leicester Square, at 6.45pm on Monday, August 30th.

Entry is free and seats can be reserved here: https://www.frightfest.co.uk/

THE BAD BATCH Suiting up for Second Season

With only two of the sixteen episodes still to air, Star Wars fans have been on tenterhooks over whether Aug 13^th will mark the end of The Bad Batch, and whether we’ll be saying farewell to Clone Force 99 for good. Happily, Disney has decided to put us out of our misery and make the early announcement that the popular animated series will indeed be returning next year for a whole new round of adventures.

In a statement, executive producer Dave Filoni said “The entire Lucasfilm Animation team and I would like to thank Disney + and our fans for the opportunity to continue telling the story of the Bad Batch.”

While it’s presented as somewhat of a surprise, we can only imagine this was the plan all along, as the show has a noticeably slow pace at odds with its subject matter, in particular, the rapidly changing galaxy under the newly appointed Empire. Other fascinating plot threads that will undoubtedly have largescale ramifications on future Star Wars storytelling include the importance of the Bad Batch’s young ward Omega and her brother ‘Alpha’, better known as Boba Fett, and the growing division amongst the clone army ranks as they struggle with moral uncertainty under the rule of their new leaders. These two utterly compelling arcs have progressed steadily throughout Season 1, interspersed with the tried-and-tested (but admittedly in need of a shake-up) ‘mission of the week’ formula, but both are far bigger than a single season could ever have contained. Let’s hope that The Bad Batch follows the precedent set by The Clone Wars and Rebels before it and allows its Season 2 (and beyond) episodes to lean further into the larger unfolding narratives vs standalone tales.

While there’s no set date in 2022 for Season 2, we’d most likely expect another May debut.

Find the STARBURST review of the latest Bad Batch episode here, and for a full run-down on what other Star Wars projects are heading to our screens soon, read our breakdown here.

Critical Role Gets The Beadle & Grimm Treatment

Fans of hit Dungeons and Dragons livestream Critical Role will be delighted to learn that the newcampaign book, Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, will get the full Beadle and Grimm treatment. This means that it will be available in a deluxe boxed-set version.

The box will include maps, in-world handouts, coins and jewellery, encounter cards, a Dungeon Master’s screen and bonus adventures. The core book will be split into smaller booklets, allowing for each of use on the gaming table. Beadle and Grimm specialise in taking popular roleplaying game books and turning them into deluxe boxed sets.

Boxed sets for roleplaying games have fallen out of fashion in recent times; back in the 80’s and 90’s they where a common thing, stuffed with books, maps and more. These days RPG expansions tend to come in a hardback book format, and the vanilla version of Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn will be available as a normal book from it’s creators, Darrington Press.

The Beadle and Grimm box can also be upgraded to include additional jewellery and extra maps. The company was founded by Hackers and Scooby Doo actor Matthew Lillard who wanted to give modern gaming a deluxe, old-school twist. They specialise in utterly gorgeous looking things for table-top gaming; physical items are a very cool way of inspiring gamers

The campaign book is set between the first two campaigns of the Critical Role, show. Specifically the events after Vox Machina and shortly before Mighty Nein begins. It is keenly anticipated by Critical Role’s ever growing fanbase.

Disney Unveil their STAR WARS Hotel in New Video

If you’re a Star Wars fans that lives outside of the US, then no doubt you’ll have been wrestling daily with how on earth you’re ever going to get to Disney World Resorts to take in the sights of their in-universe land Galaxy’s Edge. If you’re one of the lucky few who’ve managed to make the trip already, then prepare to start saving up for your next visit, because the company has now unveiled their latest addition to the park – the incredible-looking Galactic Starcruiser, a 2-night, fully immersive Star Wars hotel experience.

Check out the announcement trailer below, but before you get too excited, it’s best to know upfront that a stay on the Halcyon Starcruiser will cost around two thousand dollars per person. And that’s not galactic credits – that’s Earth money!

For full details, visit StarWarsGalacticStarcruiser.com

If you’d like to know more about Galaxy’s Edge itself, we recommend taking a look at The Art of Galaxy’s Edge from Abrams Books. Read our review here.