Cathy Yan to Direct BIRDS OF PREY

Cathy Yan

With a Birds of Prey movie long confirmed to be in development, a director has been found for the female-centric DC effort.

As per Deadline, Cathy Yan has reportedly been selected to helm Birds of Prey, with the only confirmed cast member being Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn at this stage. Yan is best known for the Dead Pigs feature which nabbed the World Cinematic Dramatic Award for Ensemble Acting at Sundance earlier this year, and it’s believed that Robbie is a huge supporter of the director.

In terms of what we know about Birds of Prey – which is just the loose title for the female-heavy effort right now – the only concrete detail, as mentioned, is that Robbie will be back as the Maid of Mischief. Previously, it was rumoured that Barbara Gordon, Catwoman, and Black Canary could well be the ones to make-up the rest of the Birds of Prey line-up , although that remains simply speculation right now.

Following her DCEU debut in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, Robbie’s Quinzell was lined up for a whole host of further big-screen outings. At this point in time, there’s Gavin O’Connor’s Suicide Squad 2, a twisted romance movie alongside her beloved Joker, and the similarly female-themed Gotham City Sirens that could include names such as Poison Ivy, Zatanna, and Huntress in addition to the aforementioned Birds of Prey team.

Right now, the current word is that the David Ayer-helmed Sirens has been pushed to the back of the line. Initially, the Suicide Squad sequel was to be the next film to feature Harleen, but now Birds of Prey has been made the priority picture, with Robbie to start work on it as soon as she’s finished with Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

As ever, expect more on all of the many, many DCEU projects in various stages of development as they continue to flesh out.

Full Details on This Week’s DEAD BY DAWN

This year sees the quarter-century anniversary of Edinburgh horror festival Dead by Dawn, running from Thursday, April 19th to Sunday, April 22nd in independent cinema bastion the Filmhouse.

Festival Director Adèle Hartley stated, “In 25 years we’ve introduced so many amazing directors to Scottish audiences – the likes of Peter Jackson, Neil Marshall, Jim Mickle, Jaume Balaguero, Mike Flanagan, the Spierig Brothers – and this year’s selection showcases yet more exceptional talent from all over the world. Dead by Dawn continues to treat fans to the very finest chills and thrills!”

There will be many films of note crammed into the intense long weekend, but first let us focus on the fact that the tireless Hartley has somehow landed a Guest of Honour in the shape of none other than John Landis! The genre legend will be hosting screenings of his 1992 vampire flick Innocent Blood and iconic An American Werewolf in London (with a Q&A after each), and will also introduce a double-bill of James Whale’s Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. He has also graciously agreed to be inundated with DVDs and memorabilia to sign.

Other, not as squee-inducing but no less appealing attractions include a varied assortment of films collected from all over the globe, with no fewer than 17 countries represented by the various features and shorts.

In Knuckleball, 12-year-old Henry is left with his irascible grandfather while his parents attend a funeral, but the isolated farmhouse, padlocked doors and a creepy neighbour all add up to a sinister situation, and one that Henry has to figure out answers for himself.

Director Mike Peterson will be in attendance.

South African chiller Siembamba (aka The Lullaby) sees the pregnant Chloe return to her home town and fall into depression after her son is born. As the young mother attempts to adjust to a childrearing regime she becomes paranoid about any potential danger to her son, so when she begins seeing a dark figure stalking her child she must figure out if it really is all in her head or the entity poses some otherworldly threat to her baby.

Aj Zombies!, a Peruvian take on the surprisingly populous rom-zom-com subgenre, sees childhood friends Felipe and Claudia having grown apart due to class constraints; she the daughter of a rich family, he the son of their maid. But an undead outbreak in Lima provides Felipe’s moment to shine and save his first love from the encroaching horde, provided he can get her to stop updating her status long enough to notice. Producer Javier Salvador will be in attendance.

In Rabbit, university student Maude returns home to Australia after she comes to believe that recurring nightmares are telling her where to find her twin sister Cleo, missing for a year and presumed dead. Joining with her sister’s boyfriend and a police officer obsessing over the case, she embarks on a search for her sibling, while also determined to convince herself of her own sanity.

Taiwanese horror comedy Mon Mon Mon Monsters sees miserable high school student Shu-wei forced into community service with a trio of bullies who torment him on a daily basis. After he joins them in various misdeeds to gain acceptance, they encounter and abduct a flesh-eating ghoul, who the group torture for fun as Shu-wei empathises with her, all the while the creature’s sister hunts for the insolent humans who have taken her sibling.

In the surreal and inventive horror comedy Dave Made a Maze, the titular slacker artist constructs a cardboard maze in his living room, only for it to mysteriously transform into a vast labyrinth filled with traps and monsters. After he becomes lost, his long-suffering girlfriend ventures inside with several of their friends to get him out, where they all must navigate the deadly dangers if they hope to survive.

The intensely simple Downrange sees a group of twentysomethings become stranded by a flat tyre in the middle of nowhere, only to become targeted by a sniper who begins picking them off one by one in a relentless barrage of bullets and blood.

Documentary Spookers showcases the family-run scare park of the same name that operates on the site of former psychiatric asylum Kingseat Hospital outside Auckland, New Zealand. Telling stories of the attraction’s operators, performers and guests – while also accepting potential negative connotations that further stigmatise mental illness – the film celebrates the weird, freakish and outlandish instead of condemning it.

In Trench 11, a band of First World War soldiers are assigned to investigate an abandoned underground German bunker, only to unleash the biological weapon sealed beneath the Western Front, and must frantically attempt to escape the contagion and the death that follows with it.

Opening the festival is a special event of the original vampire movie FW Murnau’s expressionist Nosferatu, which will be screened with a live score accompaniment by pianist Forrester Pyke; and later on a ‘taste-along’ screening of Sam Raimi’s slapstick horror classic Evil Dead II is presented in collaboration with Conjurer’s Kitchen, a company who specialise in edible art and will be providing some sweet treats to accompany key scenes in the film.

A double bill of cult undead Euro-shenanigans will keep the late night lively; in Michael Soavi’s blackly humorous Dellamorte Dellamore (aka Cemetery Man) a loner graveyard caretaker awaits by the gravesides of the newly dead to slay them when they arise as zombies; while in Jorge Grau’s The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue (aka Let Sleeping Corpses Lie) the dead are awoken by a signal from an experimental ultrasonic pest-control device and menace the English countryside.

In between the feature offerings are the regular short film programmes 2D & Deranged (animation) and What You Make It (non-horror but with genre appeal), which along with two others, It’s Your Funeral and Not in Kansas Anymore, make up 33 shorts being screened. Also returning is the annual Shit Film Amnesty, where people are invited to donate the dregs of their movie collection, and the owner of the one deemed the worst ‘wins’ the lot.

All-inclusive festival passes are available to buy in person at the Filmhouse box office, over the phone on 0131 228 2688 or from their website, and individual tickets are available for each screening if the whole lineup doesn’t take your fancy.

More information and updates can be found on the festival’s website, Facebook page and Twitter feed.

Horror Channel Lines Up a Terrifying May

horror may

May is set to send viewers of Horror Channel shivering – although hopefully not because of the weather as the favourite spot for genre fans screens a host of UK TV premieres.

Top of the bunch is a favourite from FrightFest 2017, Caroline Labrèche & Steeve Léonard’s Radius, in which a man awakes from a car crash with no memory but surrounded by dead bodies. He finds that anyone within a 50-foot radius of him dies instantly.

Also screening is Eduardo (Blair Witch Project) Sánchez’s Seventh Moon, Matt Eskandari’s The Gauntlet, and Extinction, a post-apocalyptic zombie film directed by Miguel Ángel Vivas (Inside).

Classics being shown for the first time on the channel include The 6th Day, the clone-based shocker starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Urban Legends: Final Cut, and Amityville II: The Possession.

For more information, head over to the Horror Channel website. Tune in via Sky 319, Virgin 149, Freesat 138. Freeview 70.

Ian Somerhalder to Headline Netflix’s V-WARS Adaptation

Ian Somerhalder V-Wars

With comic book adaptations seemingly everywhere we turn these days, Netflix and Ian Somerhalder are now coming together to develop an adaptation of V-Wars.

A ten-episode first season of Jonathan Maberry’s IDW property is in the works, with Lost and The Vampire Diaries’ Somerhalder to tackle the headline role of Dr Luther Swann.

The early word on the Doc Swann gig has the character pegged as someone who “gets introduced to the horrific world of the vampiric when his best friend, Michael Fayne, succumbs to the disease, turning into a vampire and feeding on the blood of others. It doesn’t take long for the disease to spread. And, much like the bubonic plague, the disease influences society’s fracture and disarray into chaos. Swann will race against the clock to figure out how to save his friend. However, his friend carves his way to become the leader of the bloodsuckers.”

This small-screen take on V-Wars will be produced by High Park Entertainment and IDW Entertainment, with 1-800-Missing’s Willian Laurin and Glenn Davis on board as showrunners.

Premiere Date Set for MR. MERCEDES’ Second Season

With us having just reported some news regarding the latest take on Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, now comes word on another King adaptation.

Having wowed audiences with its first season, AT&T have moved to confirm the premiere date for the second season of Mr. Mercedes. Said Season 2 will debut on August 22nd.

The early word on the show’s returns reads:

Mr. Mercedes Season 2 takes place a year after Hartsfield’s thwarted attempt to perpetrate a second mass murder in the community of Bridgton, Ohio. Since the incident, Hartsfield has been hospitalized in a vegetative state. Hodges has done his best to move on from his Brady obsession, teaming up with Holly Gibney to open Finders Keepers, a private investigative agency. But when unexplainable occurrences begin to affect hospital staff members attending to Brady, Hodges is haunted by the feeling that Brady is somehow responsible.

For this second year, Mr. Mercedes has already brought in new additions in the form of Jack Huston, Maximiliano Hernandez, and Tessa Ferrer, and they’ll be joined by the returning Harry Treadaway, Brendan Gleeson, Jharrel Jerome, Scott Lawrence, Breeda Wool, Justine Lupe and Holland Taylor.

The ten-episode second season will look to adapt all three of the Bill Hodges Trilogy. Disappointingly, Mr. Mercedes has still yet to be picked up by a UK broadcast, but here’s hoping that is rectified sooner rather than later.

Jason Clarke in Talks for New PET SEMATARY

Jason Clarke

The last we’d heard on the upcoming new take on Stephen King’s Pet Sematary was that it would hit the big screen in April 2019. And now, we have word on who is currently in talks to headline the picture.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Jason Clarke is believed to be in talks to star in this latest adaptation of King’s 1983 novel. Clarke, of course, will be best known to genre fans for the likes of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and Terminator Genisys, and he’s now in negotiations to play the Dr Louis Creed role played by Dale Midkiff in the 1989 adaptation of the property.

For not familiar with Pet Sematary, as mentioned it began life back in ’83, with the story focussing on an eerie pet cemetery – which is misspelled as sematary – behind the new home purchased by the Creed family. Rumour has it, any animals buried in said cemetery will come back to life. The tale doesn’t stop there though, for things don’t go exactly to plan when the hallowed ground is used to reanimate humans…

King’s work would famously be adapted for the big screen in 1989 by director Mary Lambert – itself in turn followed by a 1993 sequel. Ever since 2010, there’s been regular chatter of a remake happening, and at one point we even had the brilliant Guillermo del Toro throwing his hat in the ring to tackle the redo. Ultimately, del Toro’s uber-busy schedule didn’t allow for anything further to happen on that front, but we are now still getting a new take on this old favourite.

Where this latest take on an old favourite is concerned, the duo of Dennis Widmyer and Kevin Kolsch are sharing directing duties, with the pair also having worked on the screenplay with Jeff Buhler.

As ever, expect more on this new Pet Sematary as it continues to develop.

Gabriel Luna is the New TERMINATOR

Gabriel Luna Ghost Rider Agents of SHIELD

With franchise creator James Cameron and Deadpool director Tim Miller currently developing a new Terminator movie, we’ve now finally got some information and just who’ll be playing the new Terminator in the picture.

As per Deadline, Gabriel Luna has been signed up to play a new Terminator in the film. Luna is likely best known to genre fans for playing the Robbie Reyes’ version of Ghost Rider in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

This return for the Terminator series will completely ignore anything that’s happened since Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgment Day. While the rights for the franchise have now reverted to creator Cameron, his involvement in the four ongoing Avatar sequels means he won’t be directing this return for Das Arnold’s T-800. That’s where Tim Miller comes in, for he’s the person tasked with filling the director’s chair. The current plan is for this next Terminator to be the launching pad for a new trilogy, but then again, that was also meant to be the plan with 2015’s so-so Terminator Genisys before that underperformed at the box office and those plans were canned.

In addition to Arnold Schwarzenegger reprising one of – if not the – most iconic roles of his career, Linda Hamilton will be back as one of the most badass women in cinema history, Sarah Connor. In terms of newcomers to the franchise, Blade Runner 2049’s Mackenzie Davis, Lady’s Natalia Reyes, and Scream Queens’ Diego Boneta are all on board.

At present, this to-be-titled Terminator effort is booked in for a November 2019 release.

Charlize Theron Confirms ATOMIC BLONDE Sequel

Atomic Blonde

With the long-gestating big-screen take on Atomic Blonde having impressed many when it was released last year, now comes word that a sequel is indeed in the works.

Speaking to IndieWire at the San Francisco Film Festival, star Charlize Theron simply stated, “We’re working on a sequel.”

Just what that sequel will be and when we’ll get to see it, that’s all unknown at this early stage. Interestingly, this would mark the first time that Oscar winner Theron has returned to a role, even though there have been plentiful stories of her reprising her Mad Max: Fury Road role of Furiosa.

Previously, Atomic Blonde director David Leitch has teased that any sequel could jump forward several years and take place in the ‘90s.

Expect more on the Atomic Blonde sequel as we get it.

 

Zombie’s 3 FROM HELL Adds Richard Brake

Richard Brake 31

Well, this is some pretty great news! With Rob Zombie’s 3 from Hell continuing to flesh out its cast, the follow-up to The Devil’s Rejects has added Richard Brake to its cast.

Brake has previous with Zombie, having menacingly mesmerised as Doom-Head in 2016’s 31.

Zombie took to social media to reveal the news:

 

Already on board for 3 from Hell are the returning Sheri Moon Zombie, Bill Moseley, Sid Haig, Danny Trejo, and Daniel Roebuck, with new additions in the shape of Austin Stoker, Dee Wallace, Dot-Marie Jones, Tom Papa, Jeff Daniels Phillips, David Ury, Kevin Jackson, Richard Riehle, Sean Whalen, and Clint Howard.

Zombie, Moseley, and Haig famously played Baby, Otis, and Captain Spaulding in The House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects, while Trejo appeared as Rondo in The Devil’s Rejects and Roebuck had the small role of TV host Morris Green in that same film. Those four aren’t the only ones to have previous with Rob Zombie, however, with Tom Papa having voiced El Superbeasto in the animated The Haunted World of El Superbeasto, Jeff Daniel Phillips having played Seymour Coffins in Halloween 2, David Ury and Pancho Moler portraying Schizo-Head and Sick-Head, respectively, in 2016’s 31, Kevin Jackson being one of the victims in 31, and Richard Riehle and Sean Whalen having both had a role in Halloween II. Elsewhere, we know that Clint Howard’s role will be that of a new clown dubbed Mr Baggy Britches.

3 from Hell is currently shooting, with an official release date to be confirmed a little later down the line. As ever, expect more on the return of the Firefly family as we get it.

Randall Park Joins AQUAMAN

Randall Park Dr Stephen Shin Aquaman

With James Wan’s Aquaman currently in the middle of some additional photography, the Jason Momoa-starrer has added Randall Park to its ranks.

Park is best known for the likes of Veep and The Interview, and he’ll be playing Dr Stephen Shin in the picture. Director Wan took to social media to confirm the casting:

The Dr Shin character is a longtime mentor figure of sorts for Aquaman, in the comic books helping the young Marine Marvel to understand his unique abilities. In addition to being a marine biologist, Doc Shin is also pretty well versed in all things Atlantis.

Continuing Warner Brothers’ DC Extended Universe, Aquaman is currently set to swim to the silver screen on December 21st.