Good day, horror fans. This week’s new releases are pretty limited, though each has its own rewards if you’re near where they’re playing. First is the anthology horror V/H/S: Viral, a predictably scattershot affair that features a stellar short from Open Windows director Nacho Vigalondo (you can find this one on VOD if your local big screens aren’t showing it). The second one, a NYC exclusive for this week, is the Iranian vampire western A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, which our own Kristy called "a seductive journey that defies convention" in her review. Here’s hoping that flick gets enough buzz to go wide in the future.
In smaller news, Cheap Thrills director E.L. Katz will direct You’ll Be the Death of Me, a comedy horror that sees two New Yorkers’ impending romance interrupted by a mask-wearing lunatic. Spike Lee’s upcoming Ganja & Hess remake Da Sweet Blood of Jesus is getting a release from Gravitas Films on February 13, 2015, which makes the perfect Valentine’s date, right? The interactive movie/app sequel Dark Hearts: The Secret of Haunting Melissa has been released. And for a change of pace, here’s one of the latest music videos from the horror-themed band Jason and the Kruegers, "Get in the House, Carl," which is technically TV-related and about The Walking Dead, but it’s 8-bit and great and you can listen to their other movie-related stuff after you’re done reading.
And now, heeeeere’s Johnny.
The Shining Musical is Coming
Since we’ve already gone into TV territory, we might as well hit some stage musical news, right? Writer/director Joe Lovero (Book of Leo) has put together a stage adaptation of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining called REDRUM: The Unauthorized Musical Parody of The Shining, which will put the insanity-filled story to the tune of composer Jon Hugo Ungar’s musical score, along with Lovero’s lyrics. For anyone who just can’t get through The Shining without imagining how the lady in the bathroom’s scene would have gone as a toe-tapper, you’re not alone, as Lovero didn’t just throw this thing together willy nilly. Here’s how he described his inspiration.
REDRUM was born like most major works of musical theater - drunken spouses on their 2nd (3rd?) bottle of wine, watching one of their favorite horror movies for the 1,000th time, crying out ridiculous song ideas while wondering, ‘Why hasn't anyone turned this into a campy musical yet?!’ This of course leads to the next logical step, a 2:30 a.m. Craigslist post from a sleep deprived writer/director, seeking a composer to ‘make beautiful musical theater with’ – because everyone knows all great composers seek work on Craigslist from writers that promise to pay them with his wife's legendary meatballs."
And here’s the truly excellent proof of concept video released last year.
I may plan a vacation around going to watch this. Having just run its successful sneak preview at Pearl Studios NYC, REDRUM is planning on opening during Halloween Season 2015, and they’re saving a seat for Jack Nicholson. But not Grady?
Krampus Begins Building Its Cast
Not to be confused with the Kevin Smith project, the Christmas comedy horror Krampus is coming to us from Trick ‘r Treat director Michael Dougherty - which some may find is more exciting than anything Smith-related. The film has found its first cast members in Allison Tolman – who reached the upper stratosphere with a breakout role in FX’s Fargo - and child actor Emjay Anthony, who played Jon Favreau’s son in Chef and had a role in the now-cancelled drama Rake. That’s him below.
Both actors are currently in negotiations for their roles in Krampus, based in part on the titular legend that works as an anti-Santa Claus, punishing misbehaved children in horrible ways. Allison Tolman will play the mother of Emjay Anthony’s character, though it’s the younger performer who will be the crux of the story. According to THR, the son is the one who has to rise above the evil beast in order to save the day/neighborhood/world, and that’s not a bad thing, since Anthony has got some chops for such a young actor. Universal will be releasing this Legendary Pictures production to theaters on December 4, 2015.
I Declare War Director Will Adapt This Philip K. Dick Work
Filmmaker Jason Lapeyre has had an interesting career thus far, with the past three years seeing the war games drama I Declare War followed by the sex scandal documentary Restless Virgins, with Lifetime’s Unauthorized Saved by the Bell Movie. His next project? A feature adaptation of sci-fi legend Philip K. Dick’s short story "The Crawlers," which was first published in 1954. He will be working with a screenplay written by relative unknowns Travis Sentell and Kalen Egan.
The Crawlers will mix monster movie tropes with southern fried noir horror, and focuses on a small Texas town in the late 1960s. A government land-surveyor gets sidetracked and soon finds himself in Boyle, Texas, where he is immediately immersed in the town’s peculiar residents. It doesn’t take long for him to do some snooping and discover that the humans aren’t the only things living in town. The project is being produced by Edward R. Pressman and Dick’s daughter Isa Dick Hackett and Electric Shepherd Productions, and they’ve already got a solid makeup and visual artist team pulled together. Adaptations of Dick’s work are almost always interesting, even when they’re not instant classics. Here’s hoping The Crawlers is as good as A Scanner Darkly and the first Total Recall.
The Woman in Black 2 Drops Another Spooky Trailer
I’ll be honest here. I truly expected to report on The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death once and then find solace in the film building up dust on a forgotten shelf somewhere - yet I now find myself convinced that this sequel is going to be better than the atmospheric but completely forgettable first film, directed by James Watkins. The newest trailer, seen above, utilizes elements I normally hate – children who already look like adults, and rhymes involving the film’s antagonist – but retains its ominously spooky tone. Fuck no, tiny hands appearing out of a hole in the wall, you cannot come to my house for Thanksgiving.
Directed by Tom Harper from a screenplay written by Jon Croker, The Woman in Black 2: Angel of Death takes place 40 years after the events of the first film, and is set in the middle of the London bombings in WWII. Eve (Phoebe Fox) is a schoolteacher who evacuates her children to keep them safe, only instead of actually going somewhere safe, they head to Eel Marsh House, where the children awaken the evil Woman in Black, who gets back to her evil ways with the quickness. The dark and dim supernatural thriller will be the first horror you’ll find in 2015, as it will hit theaters on January 2nd.
This Exciting Pyramid Clip Will Give You Gas
Grégory Levasseur’s CGI-filled adventure thriller The Pyramid has been flying under our radar here at Cinema Blend, despite having an extremely bonkers and disbelief-suspending trailer. (Perhaps because of it. Who knows?) The clip above inspires the same kind of "well this is ridiculous but I’m going to continue watching with my critic’s hat off" feelings. It’s admittedly intriguing and more documentary-ish to see the found footage approach used in catching people discover things (though I’m certain the stereotypical running-around sequences are sprinkled throughout). What does this gas do to the main characters?
The basic premise behind The Pyramid involves a group of archaeologists who go off exploring a pyramid, only to find that they’re the ones under the microscope, and that the structure is intent on keeping them inside. Ashley Hinshaw (True Blood), Denis O’Hare (American Horror Story), and James Buckley (The Inbetweeners) star, among others. We got burned earlier this year with the slightly similar horror As Above So Below, which also added an adventure element to the stagnant world of found-footage horror. Find out how treasure-worthy The Pyramid is when it hits theaters on December 5th.
