Hopefully some of you guys have been able to take advantage of IFC's IFC in Theaters platform, which brings new independent releases on-demand to televisions. The studio has a whole lot more coming this year, too, including a number of genre films that don't necessarily fall into what you'd expect from the independent film channel.
Like, for example, a movie about a radio station under siege by zombies (Pontypool), a movie about a skiiers attacked by Nazi zombies (Dead Snow), or a movie about mirrors reflecting an alternate reality (Dark Mirror). There's also more traditional, prestigious indie stuff too, including Cannes Official Selection The Chaser, a Korean thriller that will be remade as a Hollywood film (of course).
Read about all of these films in the press release we've reprinted below, and instead of watching Legally Blonde on TBS for the hundredth time, give some of these films a chance instead.
IFC IN-THEATERS TITLES -- SPRING/SUMMER 2009
This Spring/Summer, IFC Films will be releasing two highly anticipated horror films via its IFC in Theaters platform which brings acclaimed independent movies to on demand viewers in more than 50 million homes across the country the same week they premiere as an exclusive engagement in New York and/or Los Angeles. The films are:
* PONTYPOOL (May 29th) -- 2008 Toronto Film Festival favorite directed by Bruce McDonald
[[ and starring stephen mchattie about a radio station that comes under attack also had its u.s. premiere last month at sxsw film festival and the museum of modern prestigious canadian front ]]
* DEAD SNOW (June 12th) -- a thrilling Norwegian horror-comedy about a group of medical students on a holiday who must make it through the night when they are attacked by Nazi-zombies; direct from its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival.
APRIL IFC FESTIVAL DIRECT ON-DEMAND TITLES -- DIRECT FROM THE CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
Each month IFC Films offers two to four new genre titles via its IFC Festival Direct on-demand service. These films are available nationwide for 90 days on most major cable systems representing more than 30 million households and can be found in a special "IFC In Theaters" "IFC Festival Direct" or "IFC Midnight" branded section within each cable company's on- demand platform. The dynamic April lineup includes two critically acclaimed films direct from the 2008 Cannes Film Festival: THE CHASER and FRONTIER OF DAWN.
THE CHASER, directed by Na Hong-Jin, won seven 2008 Korean Film Awards including Best Picture, Director, Actor and Screenplay and was a massive box office hit in South Korea. It premiered at Cannes in the Official Selection and was quickly snapped up for an American remake by the producers of THE DEPARTED and Warner Brothers. An edge-of-your-seat crime thriller, the film follows a pimp who sets out to find out what's happened to his missing call girls. The film takes the trappings of the serial killer movie and turns them upside down for one of the more unforgettable films of the genre.
Also from Cannes is FRONTIER OF DAWN. Directed by the acclaimed French auteur Phillipe Garrel (REGULAR LOVERS), the film stars Louis Garrel and Laura Smet in a tempestuous tale of amour fou. FRONTIER OF DAWN comes to IFC Festival Direct following its limited theatrical run during the 2009 BAMcinematek's Focus on IFC Films series where it received rave critical notices (http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/03/06/movies/06dawn.html).
Rounding out the April lineup are A L'AVENTURE, a no-holds-barred sexy and erotic drama from one of Europe's most controversial filmmakers, Jean-Claude Brisseau, and HUSH, a horror-thriller directed by the emerging British filmmaker Mark Tonderai and starring sexy newcomers Will Ash and Christine Bottomley in the story of a deranged kidnapping truck-driver with terrifying plans for his human cargo.
COMPLETE APRIL LINEUP:
THE CHASER - April 8th through July 7th
HUSH - April 8th through July 7th
FRONTIER OF DAWN - April 22nd through July 21st
A L'AVENTURE - April 15th through July 14th
MAY IFC FESTIVAL DIRECT ON-DEMAND TITLES -- FEATURING SUPERNATURAL THRILLER DARK MIRROR
The May IFC Festival Direct Midnight lineup features Pablo Proenza's critically-acclaimed supernatural psychological thriller DARK MIRROR.The film stars Lisa Vidal in the story of a photographer who moves her family into a home filled with mirrors which seem to reflect a different reality. Also in May is CADAVER, a portentous mix of claustrophobic menace and old-fashioned gore from South Korean filmmaker Derek Son. The film centers on a group of medical students who embark upon their first autopsy in an apparently cursed medical department. CADAVER premiered at the Edinburgh Film Festival in 2008.
COMPLETE MAY LINEUP:
DARK MIRROR - May 6th through August 4th
CADAVER - May 20th through August 18th
JUNE IFC FESTIVAL DIRECT ON-DEMAND TITLES -- ACCLAIMED TRIBECA FILM FEAR ME NOT
The June IFC Festival Direct Midnight lineup features the acclaimed psychological thriller FEAR ME NOT from the award-winning Danish director Kristian Levring. In this intensely chilling film, a run-down middle-aged workaholic (Ulrich Thomsen) enrolls in a clinical trial for a new antidepressant without telling his family. When the trial is abandoned because of dangerous side effects, he continues to take the medication, triggering a hellish descent into madness. FEAR ME NOT premiered at the 2008 Toronto Film Festival and will also be shown at the upcoming Tribeca Film Festival. Also in June is the Spanish arthouse film DIARY OF A NYMPHOMANIAC. The film tells the erotically charged story of a middle-class French girl's unbridled trysts in hotels, parks, cemeteries, her fall into prostitution, the ins-and-outs of a brothel and her final redemption.
COMPLETE JUNE LINEUP:
FEAR ME NOT - June 10th through September 9th
DIARY OF A NYMPHOMANIAC - June 24th through September 23rd
[[ and starring stephen mchattie about a radio station that comes under attack also had its u.s. premiere last month at sxsw film festival and the museum of modern prestigious canadian front ]]
