Russo Brothers In Talks To Direct Next Two AVENGERS Movies

steve rogers captain america in avengers: endgame directed by anthony and joe russo

Marvel’s lengthy search for the directors of its next two Avengers tentpoles seems to have come full circle, with The Hollywood Reporter stating that Joe and Anthony Russo have entered talks with the studio to direct both films. As previously announced, Marvel’s Phase 6 will end with the films Avengers: The Kang Dynasty in 2026 and Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027.

We don’t know how Marvel’s parting of ways with Jonathan Majors, who played the titular Kang the Conqueror in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Loki, will affect Avengers 5. The Kang Dynasty was originally set to be directed by Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings filmmaker Destin Daniel Cretton, but he left the project late last year and was tapped to direct a live-action Naruto movie for Lionsgate instead.

Instead then, it appears Avengers 5 and 6 will be placed in the hands of the Russo brothers, who directed a number of the MCU’s best entries: Captain America: The Winter Soldier; Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.

Returning to a tried-and-true partnership seems like a good call for Marvel, which has been struggling to keep up momentum (and audience interest) post-Endgame. While the successes of entries like Spider-Man: No Way Home and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever indicate there is still an appetite for superhero blockbusters, the lukewarm reception and poor box office performance of titles like The Marvels, Eternals, and Black Widow is more representative of the franchise’s overall trajectory since 2019. The Russo’s’ return to the helm might just be the boost the MCU needs.

Festival Favourite Horror RED ROOMS Drops Trailer

Red Rooms trailer releases for Pascal Plante cyber thriller

Utopia has released the trailer for Canadian writer-director Pascal Plante’s Red Rooms, a critically acclaimed psychological horror about a voyeuristic model obsessed with the crimes of a serial killer.

The cyber-thriller follows “Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy), a young woman who wakes up every morning to wait outside the courtroom to secure a seat at the high-profile trial of Ludovic Chevalier, a man charged with the murder of three teenage girls, with the gruesome videos of two of the crimes surfacing for sale online on the dark web. She finds herself bonding with a fellow voyeur, momentarily breaking her out of her loneliness, while also witnessing the emotional decline of the victims’ families. As the proceedings continue, it becomes increasingly difficult for Kelly-Anne to maintain the psychological and physical balance between her normal life and her morbid fixation with the accused killer, with her obsession reaching new lengths when the final piece of evidence reveals itself within reach. ”

The film swept up four awards at last year’s Fantasia Festival, including Outstanding Performance for Gariépy, Best Screenplay for Plante, Best Score for Dominique Plante, and Best Film.

Utopia writes: “Named after the highly disputed violent dark web spaces known as red rooms in online urban legends, RED ROOMS was inspired by the fans who inexplicably flock to serial killers throughout modern history and further motivated by the current state of cybersecurity and tech crimes. The film not only succeeds as one of the most chilling entries to the serial killer genre from the last decade —despite never revealing any of the explicit images that the film’s characters are forced to witness— with Plante creating a fictional killer that is a devastating product of our time, but excels as a cinematic portrayal of how modern civilization engages with technology while holding a mirror up to the loneliness and isolation that exists within the dark side of present-day society.”

Red Rooms is released in UK cinemas on September 6th. Watch the trailer below:

Indie Hit WALKING AGAINST THE RAIN Hits VOD

Following a hugely successful festival tour that kicked off with a sold-out world premiere at Frightfest, and including Nightmares Film Festival (where the film was awarded Best Overall Film) and PanicFest in the US, as well as the Trieste Science+Fiction Film Festival in Italy, Scott Lyus’ debut feature film Walking Against the Rain finally arrives on digital in the UK and Europe this summer.

Walking Against the Rain tells the story of two strangers, Blair and Tommy, who are navigating their way across a barren landscape in a desperate attempt to find each other. Their only form of communication is two soon-to-die battery-operated radio mics and a new evil monster in the shape of ‘The Forsaken’ is tracking them down. They must learn to confront loss and rediscover trust in humanity.

Lyus said, “From inception, I knew a character-driven exploration into loss, grief and human connection, hidden within an old-school practical effects monster movie wouldn’t be for everyone. But following an overwhelmingly positive reaction from our North American release, I am beyond excited to finally bring our character-driven creature feature to UK genre fans. Walking Against the Rain is a project born out of love and passion to create something a little different. It’s a monster movie that promises incredible practical creature effects but also a heartfelt and emotional character study. And I am beyond excited to see the film find a whole new audience in the UK and Europe.”

The film stars Sophia Eleni (The Shamrock Spitfire), Reece Douglas (Cruel Summer), Johnny Vivash (How To Kill Monsters), Francesca Louise White, Diane Spencer, and James Swanton (The First Omen). With full-body practical creature effects from BIFA award-winning FX designer Dan Martin (Infinity Pool).

Walking Against the Rain hits all popular digital platforms on July 29th.

MEANWHILE ON EARTH Sci-Fi Thriller Drops Trailer

meanwhile on earth still from trailer

Writer-director Jérémy Clapin, whose 2019 animated debut feature, I Lost My Body, was nominated for an Academy Award, is back with a new film: this time, a live-action sci-fi thriller titled Meanwhile on Earth. The first trailer has just been dropped for this strange, space-set mystery.

In the film, Elsa (newcomer Megan Northam), along with her family, is struggling following the disappearance of her brother Franck, an astronaut who vanished during his first mission. While stargazing one night, Elsa is shocked to receive contact from Franck, but her joy is short-lived when she learns of the dark and troubling forces behind Franck’s reappearance, forcing her to confront the lengths she will go for the brother she once feared was gone forever.

I Lost My Body tells the story of a cut-off hand that escapes from a dissection lab with one crucial goal: to get back to its body. As it scrambles through the pitfalls of Paris, it remembers its life with the young man it was once attached to, until they met Gabrielle. The English-dubbed version of the film featured voice work from Dev Patel, Alia Shawkat, and George Wendt.

Metrograph Pictures is releasing Meanwhile on Earth in cinemas from September 13th. Watch the trailer below:

THE KILLER Trailer Gives First Look At John Woo Remake

nathalie emmanuel and omar sy in the trailer for john woo remake the killer

John Woo is back with a radical reimagining of his own 1989 Hong Kong action classic, The Killer, for which Peacock has just revealed their first trailer ahead of the film’s August 23rd release date.

Woo’s original film, which he both wrote and directed, followed a disillusioned assassin (Chow Yun-fat) as he accepts one last hit in hopes of using the money to restore vision to the singer (Sally Yeh) he accidentally blinded. It went on to become a cult favourite and influential work in the action-thriller canon. Details of the Peacock reimagining are still unknown.

The screenplay for this reimagining comes from 10 Cloverfield Lane duo Matthew Stuecken and Josh Campbell, as well as Eran Creevy and Brian Helgeland. 

In 2024’s The Killer, Game of Thrones star Nathalie Emmanuel stars as Zee, a mysterious and infamous assassin known and feared in the Parisian underworld as the Queen of the Dead. But when, during an assignment from her shadowy mentor and handler (Sam Worthington, the Avatar films), Zee refuses to kill a blinded young woman (Diana Silvers, Ma) in a Paris nightclub, the decision will disintegrate Zee’s alliances, attract the attention of a savvy police investigator (Omar Sy), and plunge her into a sinister criminal conspiracy that will set her on a collision course with her own past.

With the motorbike/car chase scenes through Paris, the merciless hand-to-hand choreography and even a Church set, we can’t help but be reminded of John Wick 4 – which is very much a compliment.

Watch the trailer for The Killer below:

A24 Releases First A DIFFERENT MAN Trailer

sebastian stan in a different man

A24 has just unveiled the first trailer for A Different Man, its darkly funny, psychological fantasy thriller starring Marvel and Fresh‘s Sebastian Stan, which is due to release in cinemas on September 20th.

Also starring The Worst Person in the World‘s Renate Reinsve and Under The Skin‘s Adam Pearson, the film from writer-director Aaron Schimberg centres on Edward (Stan), an aspiring actor with neurofibromatosis who undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance, in hopes of getting work opportunities. Edward’s new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare however, as he loses out on the lead role in a play based on his life and becomes obsessed with reclaiming what he’s lost.

The genre-bending film blends elements of drama, fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and psychological thriller into a film that’s very much its own, with a truly stellar lead performance from Stan. C. Mason Wells, Owen Kline, Charlie Korsmo and Patrick Wang also star. (Potential spoiler:) Michael Shannon also stars as himself.

Aaron Schimberg writes and directs the pic. A Different Man premiered in January at Sundance Film Festival, before going to screen at the Berlin International Film Festival, where Stan was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance.

Watch the trailer below:

TERMINATOR ZERO Releases Trailer Starring Sonoya Mizuno

timothy olyphant voices the terminator in netflix animated series terminator zero teaser trailer

The Terminator franchise is back with Netflix’s upcoming animated reboot, Terminator Zero. Hailing from Japanese animation studio Production IG, best known for 1995’s Ghost in the Shell, the eight-episode series stars Sonoya Mizuno as the voice of resistance fighter Eiko. Though set in the same universe that we know from the films, the series introduces all-new characters.

Terminator Zero takes place across two timelines, “2022: A future war has raged for decades between the few human survivors and an endless army of machines. 1997: The AI known as Skynet gained self-awareness and began its war against humanity.”

Caught between the future and this past is a soldier Eiko (Mizuno) sent back in time to change the fate of humanity. She arrives in 1997 to protect a scientist named Malcolm Lee (André Holland) who works to launch a new AI system named Kokoro (Rosario Dawson) designed to compete with Skynet’s impending attack on humanity. As Malcolm navigates the moral complexities of his creation, he is hunted by an unrelenting assassin from the future (Timothy Olyphant as The Terminator) which forever alters the fate of his three children. Ann Dowd also stars as The Prophet, a philosophical guide for the human resistance.

Terminator Zero debuts on Netflix from August 29th. Watch the teaser trailer below:

First Look at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest Opener BROKEN BIRD

The opening film at this year’s Pigeon Shrine FrightFest is Joanne Mitchell’s Broken Bird, an expansion of her 2018 short, Sybil. Mitchell wrote the film alongside Tracey Sheals and her husband, Dominic Brunt. You can check out the artwork and images from the film below…

Synopsis:
Sybil is a quiet, creative soul. Her hobbies are taxidermy and poetry. She works in a funeral parlour with the deceased. She likes dead people. They understand her. At just ten years old, she experienced trauma in a tragic accident which took away the family she adored. Now, an aching loneliness prevails in a void which she seeks to fill. But poetry and a vivid imagination provide an escape from the harsh realities of a lonely life. Reality and reason are slipping away from Sybil, and her ‘dark desires’ become more and more insatiable. Her fascination with the dead takes a dark and strange twist. And in a horrific climax of gothic proportions, she finds her own kind of happiness and contentment with the people she keeps as company – dead people.

Sybil is played by Rebecca Calder (Kandahar/Memory) with James Fleet (Four Weddings & a Funeral), Sacharissa Claxton (Avenue 5), and Jay Taylor (Misfits) filling out the cast list.

You can catch Broken Bird at Pigeon Shrine FrightFest on Thursday, August 22nd at 5.30pm before hitting cinemas on August 30th.

CATNADO Is Coming, And We Are Seated

catnado trailer still

We all love (or love to hate, if you also hate fun) the Sharknado franchise, whose success has spawned its fair share of imitations, including titles like Clownado and Monsternado – but now, it’s time to prepare the best you can for Wild Eye Releasing’s Catnado.

In Catnado, “The world faces a horrific onslaught of tornadoes, each unleashing hordes of enraged and deadly cats upon humanity! As chaos reigns, a disparate group of individuals have one mission: to stop this feline fury. But against such odds, and with only one life to spare per person, their battle becomes a cat-astrophic struggle for survival. And when the fur flies, it will be a meow-ssacre.”

The horror (?) film stars Erica Rowell Green, Joshua G. Otto, Blair Kelly, Serena Salieri, and Tucky Williams. It being an anthology, it also has a large team of directors: Donald Farmer, Curtis Everitt, Alaine Huntington, Blair Kelly, James M. Myers, Melvin Pittman, Tim Ritter, Jerry Williams, and Logan Winton.

Catnado premiered in 2022 at Horror Film Fest, and is just now being released on VOD and DVD, from October 22nd, 2024. Just in time for some Halloween viewing!

The forecast is positively claw-ful in the official trailer for Catnado, which you can watch below:

Exclusive: VIDEO VISION Teaser and Poster Unveiled

The Pigeon Shrine FrightFest line-up was announced yesterday (check here if you missed it), and now we can exclusively reveal the poster and teaser for Video Vision, one of the UK premieres at the eagerly awaited horror event.

Written and directed by Michael Turney, the film stars Andrea Figliomeni and Chrystal Peterson, the film’s teaser will hit a chord with everyone who grew up in the VHS era.

Synopsis:

When an old VCR mysteriously shows up at the digitising facility Video Vision, it starts affecting employee Kibby (Andrea Figliomeni) in strange ways. Meanwhile, an unlikely romance with a trans man (Chrystal Peterson) has Kibby’s head in the clouds until she’s brought to her knees by the supernatural force slowly taking control of her body and mind. When Kibby and Gator investigate the VCR’s origins, they discover she has unwittingly unlocked the dark dimension of Dr. Analog.

Writer/director Michael Turney said: “Whether it’s media formats, gender or the passage of time, Video Vision is a story of transition. The setting is New York City which has often changed but never escapes its history. As the VHS villain Dr. Analog says, “All of time is touching, and I feel you”. If we don’t hold the hand of the past, it will leave us behind in the present. I’m so thrilled to be a part of FrightFest and screen this love story turned techno-nightmare to an audience that appreciates nuanced horror.”

VIDEO VISION will have its UK Premiere at FrightFest on August 24th. Find out more at videovisionmovie.com