His 1971 camp horror classic The Corpse Grinders tells the gruesome tale of pet food made from human corpses and the domestic pussies who by eating it develop a taste for human flesh. Number two in the franchise, to similar effect, hit the video shelves in 2000.

“Now The Corpse Grinders 3 is under way in Spain,” Mikels told the Backbrain. “A new spin on one of my older success stories. I am the executive producer of Corpse Grinders 3, with approval over the shoots and edits. I’m sure it will be as successful as my original and Corpse Grinders 2.”

Directed by Manolito Motosierra and written by Motosierra and Marc Gras, it will be filmed in English and released worldwide, full of cats, fresh corpses and a touch of the monstrous.

Gras, who is also producing along with Mikels, José M. Rodriguez, Sr. Guijarro, Kiko Underground and José Vicente Tomás for Tyrannosaurus Entertainment in association with TVM Global Entertainment, told us: “The film is the official third part of the Ted V. Mikels’ franchise and will be filmed in Spain over three weeks. We hope to have the movie finished and edited by September.”

Just like its predecessors it will be “a low budget camp horror-comedy” sporting a plot that is basically a re-interpretation of the original movie but “with a ‘monster’ touch”.

Synopsis:

An American entrepeneur comes to Spain to build a new Lotus Cat Food factory and establishes the company in a small Spanish town. The new Lotus doesn’t do too well until they accidentally add a special ingredient to the food — human flesh, ground up into a mash. Soon the cats that eat Lotus not only attack people, but also transform into hideous mutated cat-monsters.

As a Backbrain exclusive, Gras has sent some conceptual artwork — an early incarnation of the monster cats:

Cats are notoriously difficult to herd and films that feature them en masse — even the evil cat episode of The X-Files, “Teso dos Bichos” — resort to a lot of tossing of the indignant feline stars at hapless actors and close-ups of pussies that look like they’re more interested in the off-camera tuna supreme than in biting off the heads of their human victims. These days, CGI would allow for considerable advancement in the conviction department, even for low budget productions — so it will be interesting to see if this new one will come up to scratch — assuming, of course, that the monster cats will be digitally rendered. Who knows, maybe they’ll be cats in rubber cat-monster suits!

Source: Courtesy of Ted V. Mikels, Marc Grass and Manolito Motosierra via Avery Guerra. Written by Robert Hood.  Official website; Facebook page.

Bonus 1: A Lotus Cat Food factsheet (click to make bigger)

Bonus 2: In case you aren’t familiar with Mikels’ earlier work, here’s a classically 1970s trailer to The Corpse Grinders that will give you some idea as to what we’re in for:

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Lots of men are sharks, especially in the vicinity of holiday resorts. Generally speaking referring to them as sharks is a metaphorical gesture, indicative of predatory sexual behaviour. But what if the phrase “shark man” wasn’t a metaphor?

A new Hawaiian film is currently in production dealing with just such a situation. It’s called Makua Charley, and is a modern-day horror story based on the legend of Nanaue, the Shark Man of O’ahu. Directed by Al and Jayne Cloutier, it is being produced by World Class Productions.

So far a few scenes have been shot for the trailer (you can see it further down the page), but principal photography will take place on location in Honolulu during Spring 2012, with an anticipated release for the final film of September 2013.

Synopsis:

Folks are disappearing from the Shark’s Cove youth hostel on the North Shore of O’ahu. When young Karen Palmer visits for a two week vacation, she meets a handsome and charming local boy named Charley. He promises to show her some sights “off the normal tourist path”. Karen finds herself irresistibly drawn to her mysterious tour guide. When her two new friends, Mona and Lester, warn her that there is something fishy about Charley, Karen ignores their advice. She falls deeply under the spell of Charley’s good looks and suave island charm.

Straight out of a romance movie, right?

Wrong!

Unfortunately, Charley is the embodiment of an ancient Polynesian curse, and he’s torn between his basic human nature and his predatory killer instincts. Makua Charley is a feeding frenzy of horror set amidst the gently swaying palm trees of idylic Hawaii. In this paradise turned to hell, the scent of fresh spilled blood is carried on a tropical breeze. (Source)

Check out the newly released trailer:

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

On the genesis of the film, the filmmakers had this to say:

We live in Honolulu, Hawaii — coincidentally really close to where Makua Cave, the original lair of the shark man, is located. It’s really spooky inside there, let me tell you! We went inside to explore it and there’s a slimy stone at the back of the cave where Charley would drag his victims to eat them and you can just feel the creepy-ness. Gave us chicken-skin right away. Anyway, we just had to do this film, natch! We started by doing a ton of research on Hawaiian legends. Now we’re almost like living breathing experts on scary Hawaiian myths. Mega-awesome, I know, right?

If you don’t agree take it up with these guys!

Naturally, Makua Charley needs financial assistance and in common with many productions, the producers felt that a Kickstarter campaign would give interested “backers” a chance to help get the film made. The campaign began a few days ago and runs until 26 May. Albert Cloutier commented: “With the funds we raise from KickStarter we will intensify our shooting schedule, hoping to wrap in late July.” Go to Kickstarter to read more about the production and contribute.

• Sources: Albert Cloutier via Avery Guerra. Written by Robert Hood.
• Official website; Facebook page; Kickstarter campaign page.

How many horror films have been set against the background of the fashion industry? And does Showgirls count? I can think of a few that deal with cosmetics, such as The Wasp Woman (US-1959; dir. Roger Corman and Jack Hill) and its 1995 remake. But I doubt that there have been any with the look and credentials of Animal Charm, a satirical tragi-comedy horror thriller directed by Ben Charles Edwards and starring, among others, Boy George — not as a super-model as it happens, but as a policeman. The film has the look and feel of something made by John Waters in collaboration with David Lynch, maybe with Cronenberg in an advisory role.

Synopsis:

During her performance in a tasteless musical based on Animal Farm, ex-fashion designer and fur fanatic, Anne Thrope (Sadie Frost) is kidnapped by a group of animal activists led by her nemesis, Audrey Hoober (Sally Phillips). However, have the activists bitten off more than they can chew? With the help and hindrance of Thrope’s put-upon assistant, Verdell, the police close in on the kidnappers. But is too late? And is it Anne that needs salvation…?

Trailer:

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Animal rights can provide a good theme for horror. Hitchcock’s The Birds was about the wanton cruelty of keeping birds locked up in tiny, gilded cages, right? 28 Days Later… began with experimental animals being released into London and subsequently bringing about a devastating viral apocalypse. But the fashion industry — spiritual heart of the world of glamour — has another curious connection to the horror genre. Did you know that the word “glamour” originally referred to the veneer of magical illusion that sorcerers used to hide themselves and to change their appearance? Werewolves transformed from man to wolf through the use of a glamour. How appropriate this is, now that the word refers almost completely to the veneer of make-up and fashion consciousness behind which women (and men) hide their “ordinary” unadorned appearance.

Extended Synopsis:

Under the glare of stage lights and in the blue moonlight that falls through the windows of an isolated country farmhouse… and finally in the flashing police lights of a strange and horrifying climax, two fashion giants of yesteryear play out their rivalry and take a grudge to the bitter end.  This is a true bonfire of the vanities.

Anne Thrope (Sadie Frost) used to be the biggest in the business and with an ego to match.  Once a much feted and successful fashion designer, the lights of the catwalk have now faded and her glory days are behind her.  In a disastrous attempt to reignite her celebrity and reinvent herself as a West End star, and with the help of her trusty ass-kissing assistant Verdell (Neeraj Singh) she has produced and taken the central role in a new musical adaptation of Animal Farm, entitled “Animal Charm”, which is an unapologetic defence of her use of fur and a vulgar vanity project, and is sinking faster than the Titanic with critics and audiences alike.   But Anne captures the headlines once again when she is snatched from the stage during a musical number; abducted by masked animal rights activists led by Audrey Hoober (Sally Phillips), along with her right hand woman, model/animal rights terrorist Jezebel (Emily Beecham).

Audrey and Anne were friends and came up through the fashion ranks together, until their rivalry and the love of a man came between them.  Audrey’s own fashion career crashed and burned long ago after a particularly hideous fashion faux pas and over the years her mind has gone the way of the cuckoo bird and her resentment of Anne has turned into a vengeful obsession.  Now she has Anne where she wants her… or so she thinks.  Over the course of a single night, while Anne’s assistant Verdel tries to convince butch, non-nonsense policeman (Boy George) to take the disappearance seriously, this conflict reaches its horrible conclusion, and all concerned realise just how much fashion has changed.

Intrigued by the bizarre humour promised by the trailer for Animal Charm and the almost surreal imagery that must inevitably arise from the story’s background in fashion, the Backbrain’s news-robot, Avery Guerra, decided to track down the film’s director/co-writer and get the goss on it.

An Interview with Ben Charles Edwards

Undead Backbrain: Is this a short or feature? If so, is this your first feature film?

Ben Charles Edwards: A featurette, as I call it.  It has full narrative, cast list and an original score throughout, including a track especially written for the closing titles by The Puppini Sisters. However, this film is a miniature feature, coming in at around 30 minutes.

UB: What was the inspiration for Animal Charm? How exaggerated is its depiction of the fashion industry? Were you shooting for satire or a more-or-less accurate portrait?

BCE: Animal charm was written in collaboration with Dominic Wells (former timeout editor) whom I met when he interviewed me for The Times article on my first short film “The Town That Boars Me”, also starring Sadie Frost. We set to work on a peculiar story borne of both of our imaginations based around the central anti-hero, Anne Thrope. Animal Charm is a hyper-real satire.  It’s like a circus hall of mirrors — what you see is real, but exaggerated and distorted.

UB: Beyond the plot, what is Animal Charm about, at least from your perspective?

BCE: Animal Charm is partially auto-biographical in the sense that I drew on personal experience which I then amplified to the point of surrealism: my time working in the fashion industry as a photographer, witnessing the desperation of success and the need to be noticed. Success is a very slippery slope to climb in this industry, and managing to stay at the top is even harder. The humour and jealousy of sibling rivalry between the two leads is also similar to that which I experienced growing up in a large family. I drew from many different films which have stuck in my mind from childhood, and there are plenty of homages paid to these films throughout Animal Charm; films such as Sunset Boulevarde with its satire of the media, which when I saw as a child made me realise that film had no limitations and could be playful, sincere, timeless and brilliantly original all at the same time.  I have an early memory of my father taking me to see Death Becomes Her in our hometown. I couldn’t get my mind around these new special effects and I felt like I was watching magic on screen.  And Serial Mom, a film that I became obsessed with as a teenager — watching it time after time, picking every line, character, set, and marker spot apart until I understood the complete make up of the film’s production.

“Bob Dylan once said the entertainment industry had exploded in our faces. This film is an examination of the mess left behind after that explosion.”

Animal Charm is a regurgitation of all of these things; the experiences, characters and lives of myself and all the people involved. Bob Dylan once said the entertainment industry had exploded in our faces. This film is an examination of the mess left behind after that explosion. It is a parody of the lives of those in fashion or entertainment and the desperation that pushed them hard to shine and stay on top and the depths to which you will sink to get back up there if you fall.

AG: Is the film completed yet or at what stage is it?

BCE: Yes Animal Charm is complete and it is now being submitted to Film Festivals worldwide. All show dates will be listed on my website www.bencharlesedwards.com

AG: Has the film had its premiere?

BCE: Animal Charm had a private press and cast/crew screening in Leicester Square, London, at the W Hotel at the end of January. The response was brilliant, along with the turn out number of guests, the film was screened five times in one evening to allow everyone to see it. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I felt like I had been looking too closely at the film for too long — so the premiere was the first time I could reflect and watch others reactions to the film. There was a lot of laughter. I guess that’s the good side of making a dark comedy — you can measure the success of it based on the amount of laughs.

AG: Are there any other upcoming screenings planned?

BCE: Yes, visit www.bencharlesedwards.com  for screening updates.

AG: Does the film have distribution yet?

BCE: Talenthouse.com, an online artistic community who helped fund the film, have assisted me in distributing it out to all major film festivals worldwide. So I think I will keep this for the festival circuit for the time being.  I just want as many people to see the film as possible. I haven’t made this for profit (as I’m sure you can tell from its rather niché appeal!)

AG: The film is full of such great talent from Sadie Frost (Bram Stoker’s Dracula) to Michael Urie (Ugly Betty), and Sally Phillips (Bridget Jones’s Diary) among others. How did you go about casting the different eccentric characters in the film?

BCE: When I was a kid I watched Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula over and over again.  I just thought Sadie was so beautiful and charming in it, and I thought the animal imagery was fascinating. It really struck a chord with me.

Later in my life, feeling dissatisfied with fashion photography, I decided to make a film – a bit of a leap into the dark as I knew absolutely nothing about filmmaking. However, I went ahead with an outrageous musical, a social satire called “The Town that Boars Me”, about a man/pig hybrid that terrorises a town and attacks women for their high-heel shoes, all in song.  I knew from the beginning I wanted Sadie to play the Queen of the town who has the boy-pig killed and served as the main course at a banquet. And when we met I could see instantly she had the humour and the presence to be queen of that vicious little town, and I thought it appropriate, given her treatment at the hands of the press at the time.

We had so much fun making that film, and Sadie and I had developed a really creative professional relationship, that I knew I wanted Sadie to be in the next project I did, and that’s why I wrote the character of Anne Thrope in my new film Animal Charm specifically for her.

Sally Phillips and I met at the British Film Institute, I showed her the script, which she later said was “so mental that I was drawn to look into the role further” — and so we began on developing Anne Thrope’s Nemesis “Audrey Hoober”.

AG: Were any of the characters based on or inspired by real life?

BCE: Each character was written with the actor in mind. I have always admired Boy George, Sadie Frost and Sally Phillips. And I felt Sadie and Sally would make great nemeses, in the tradition of Joan Crawford and Bette Davis [in, for example, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?]. I felt the parallels between Sadie’s life in fashion, acting and being hounded by the press, and Anne Thrope’s character made her perfect for the role.

AG: The legendary pop icon Boy George plays a rather serious cop character in the film — a rather masculine and bearded one at that, when he is so well-known for being a flamboyant and androgynous celebrity. A bit of irony and a role switch, that is. Was this intentional and if so what was his initial reaction to playing this role? What was he like to work with on set?

BCE: The film was full of colourful pseudo characters as it was. However, in our real world Boy George is the real thing. It would have been lost in the film to cast him as himself, so I drew on Boy George’s personal legal history to cast him as a homophobic police officer instead. George was wonderful to work with.

AG: What would you like the audience/fans to take from Animal Charm?

BCE: I hope the experience of watching Animal Charm is the cinematic equivalent of being punched in the face with a whoopee cushion — a whoopee cushion full of shit. I hope it will leave everyone with something. Preferably a rash.

AG: What’s next for you? Any prospective film projects you care to share with us?

BCE: This year, Sadie Frost and I are going to do our first feature together. An adventurously ambitious story which Sadie has created herself. It’s brilliant!! It’s particularly funny and dark and full of dream worlds and bad haircuts.  We can’t wait.

AG: In closing, is there anything you’d like to add to address the fans?

BCE: Use your time and resources to create something of your own, be it a film or a short story. It doesn’t have to cost a thing to make a new idea reality…  If you make a painting or a film that you enjoy, you will enjoy giving it to other people, not selling it.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

• Source: Ben Charles Edwards via Avery Guerra. Lead-in and editorial work by Robert Hood. BCE’s website; Facebook page.

Addendum:

Animal Charm has “cult classic” written all over it. It has already inspired a gallery of amazing fan-made posters. Check them out.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Frazetta’s fantasy art, along with that of Boris Vallejo, provided a muscular, dynamically iconic vision of John Carter and Dejah Thoris, as his cover art also did for Conan the Barbarian (perhaps even more so).

With the imminent release of the new Disney fantasy blockbuster John Carter (US-2012; dir. Andrew Stanton), which is due to open in Australia on 8 March, the current generation will acquire, I suspect, a new vision of Burroughs’ characters — even if from the look of recent publicity there is a certain familiarity to it all (as there should be). Check out this latest poster, which ups the fantastical ante over previously released collateral:

Previous:

The stills below tell a similar story and the lush re-imagined familiarity of them makes me very keen to see the film. John Carter has been long overdue to make a big-budget appearance at the movies — one fitting Burroughs’ neglected importance in the genre.

If you haven’t already seen them, check out the trailers and the following clips:

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

One exorcism film is among my horror favourites, namely William Friedkin’s 1973 classic The Exorcist, based on the equally excellent book by William Peter Blatty. There was no shortage of exorcism films in the 1970s — in the wake of The Exorcist, its massive box office success and its unique Oscar performance (as the first horror film to be nominated for Best Picture) — though most of them were cheap knock-offs. 1979′s The Amityville Horror and its progeny probably fit in the genre, too, as the entity causing the trouble is more demonic than ghostly. Since 2000, there has been a plethora of movies in this possession/exorcism sub-genre, with recent examples such as The Exorcism of Emily Rose and The Last Exorcism doing decent business, and they rarely fail to generate an entertaining chill or two. Now we have The Devil Inside (see the Backbrain article The Devil’s Inside the Details). A “real” exorcist has proclaimed this one a worthy depiction of exorcism — the most accurate of the bunch — and interviews with him have flooded the internet as a result.

When a representative of Paramount Pictures in Australia contacted me to ask if I’d like to talk to “The Real Exorcist”, Rev. Bob Larson, I immediately agreed. Real-life accuracy isn’t of particular interest to me when it comes to such films — artistic conviction and internal consistency within an imaginary context being what I require of fantasy/horror stories, as well as the power of the central conflict as a metaphor. However, as the chance had arisen I thought it would be of benefit to get the perspective of someone who believes in the literal existence of demons. I knew nothing about Rev. Larson, but the idea of talking about The Devil Inside with someone who claimed to regularly dispossess victims of demonic occupancy seemed like an interesting opportunity. I was willing to give it a go.

Rev. Larson isn’t an archetypal Catholic exorcist, of course — rather an American fundamentalist version of an exorcist, with an effective publicity machine, a 575-page encyclopedia (Larson’s Book of World Religions and Alternative Spirituality) that is said to be “a standard reference … at many colleges and seminaries” and 31 other books under his belt, a training seminary for exorcists, and a reputation that includes having hosted a reality TV show called “The Real Exorcist” — in which, on a weekly basis, he exorcised possessed individuals willing to get their 15-minutes of fame in this rather extreme manner.

When he came on the line he sounded reasonable enough, though reception was poor and as we spoke his words shuffled in and out of audibility, making real interchange difficult. This wasn’t his fault, of course, or the consequence of demonic harassment (I assume), but the result of some mundane demon of telephony. Later, as I transcribed his words I thought I could hear airport sounds in the background. Perhaps he was in transit.

I began by asking Rev. Larson if his experiences with exorcism were generally as dramatic as those in the movies.

Rev. Larson: They can be, yes. There aren’t the special effects and smoke and mirrors [of cinema], of course, but I have seen many kinds of supernatural occurrences, including unnatural changes in the atmosphere, the violence, speaking in other languages, often uncharacteristically obscene, the person knowing things that couldn’t have been known through natural means – types of things we’re familiar with from films. For example, [as in The Devil Inside] there’s a case where a woman is on a quest to find out if what happened to her mother was caused by a mental issue or by demons and she finds that the mother knows things about her that no one else knows, she speaks in a language she does not know … one of the more interesting things is this issue of the dilation of pupils and I’ve seen that happen many hundreds of times.

The Catholic Church, I believe, is very stringent about ever performing exorcisms as an official thing. They like to validate it to the n-th degree first and so as a result very few ever happen. Obviously many people see those who are supposedly possessed as having a mental illness. How do you differentiate between mental illness and demonic possession?

Rev. Larson: That’s relatively easy to tell. First of all, if a person comes to me who has been psychiatrically evaluated, mental illness has been determined and they are under proper medication for it, then they don’t need an exorcism. That’s quite obvious. In borderline cases and instances where either explanation might apply, then that’s the task of the exorcist to find out. I can understand why the Catholic Church is cautious. Well over 50% of people who come to me in need of an exorcism are Catholics and many of them have demons and unfortunately they couldn’t get help from the Church because of these very strict measures. [Again as in the film] you see these very young priests who are unwilling to put up with that discipline but are very serious about wanting to help people – and that’s why they go outside the boundaries of the Church and perform exorcisms. Unfortunately they get themselves into a little bit of trouble because they get in over their heads.

In regards to The Devil Inside. Like a lot of exorcism films, it makes claims to being based on true events, in particular the story of Maria Rossi, who apparently rang 911 to confess to a multiple murder and who had previously been involved in an exorcism. I was wondering if, with your experience, you know whether this background story is real or just part of the film’s fictional construct.

Rev. Larson: That’s a good question and it’s part of the mystery of it. I’ve been a spokesman for this film but I was not at all involved in the development of it in any capacity. I was brought in at the end. Paramount seems to be a little silent on the accuracy of it, as to whether all of [the events] included were in the original incident. However, it very well could be because what goes on we read about in the newspaper all the time. Terrible acts of violence. There have been very celebrated cases – one in Ohio where a woman, possessed, did murdered a Catholic priest. That kind of thing can happen.

Have you seen the whole film?

Rev. Larson: Yes, of course, I was given an advanced screening. That’s one of the reasons I’m on this, as I liked what I saw in terms of its factual approach.

From your experience, are the details of the possession and exorcism as depicted in it fairly accurate then?

Rev. Larson: It’s the most accurate of any of these films – and I’ve seen them all. This one comes over as really different. In fact in the first part of the movie, before they really get into the whole horror genre, there’s a lot of discussion about exorcism – what it is and what it isn’t. It centers around this issue of whether the mother has a psychological problem or [is possessed by] a demon – and a dialogue develops concerning theological issues.

As an exorcist yourself, do you think that Hollywood’s fascination with the subject, especially after The Exorcist back in 1973, is a healthy one or are there dangers attached to this pop-culture fascination?

Rev. Larson: Well, there’s a lot of danger attached to the fascination of it. But I don’t think most people delve into the wrong or darker side of it, as a result of that fascination, unless they’ve got something else much more serious wrong with them. I think Hollywood is just in it for the bump in the night. They’re scary and they’re inexplicable – you see that in all the ghost hunting shows and so on. But this particular movie really isn’t in that genre. It isn’t like Paranormal Activity, I don’t think, even though it takes that whole documentary approach. It is scary but is much more in touch with reality.

It’s arguable that the heightened interest in films of exorcism and demonic possession in popular culture corresponds to periods of social uncertainty and fear for the future. The 70s was a period of great change and a lot of people felt uncomfortable with the way morality was going, for example. They felt something was taking their children away from them, and this is reflected in The Exorcist. Certainly since the year 2000 there’s been an upsurge in these sorts of films and the events of 9-11 have to be responsible for creating the psychological background for the cultural upsurge. Do you find that a reasonable proposition from your particular point-of-view?

Rev. Larson: I think that’s a very reasonable proposition, but I also think there is legitimate rise in actual evil activity. I think it can be quantified and it’s very clear to me from the case load that we have that people want to know who’ll come to their aid in the face of it. I think sometimes that the interest [in exorcism stories] is occurring because the level of demonic activity in society has quantitively grown.

By this stage the interference on the phone line had become worse and I had to leave it there, even though I hadn’t had much of a chance to interact with Rev. Larson and would have liked to discuss other issues. Still, it had been interesting and I finished up with an acute awareness that, assuming his genuine belief in what he was saying, Rev. Larson perceives the world very differently than I do. His is a world where demons abound, where many people are literally possessed by evil personified — not metaphorical demons either. That’s a pretty disturbing thought. For him the accuracy of The Devil Inside allows the film to act as a warning, even if much of its content is fictional.

The Devil Inside premieres in Australia on 1 March. See the Backbrain article The Devil’s Inside the Details for more details.

Good friend and supremo artist Nick Stathopoulos — whose “Toy Porn” exhibitions featuring super-realistic paintings of toys based on such iconic figures as Astroboy, Tin-Tin, Gigantor and the Thunderbirds are among the most astonishing and beautiful things I’ve ever seen — recently dropped into conversation the fact that he and Ryan Cauchi were making a monster movie. My ears pricked up and my pulse quickened. Nick has very similar taste to me when it comes to movies.

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s just a small thing about an alien plant.”

“How far along are you?” I pressed.

“Oh, there’s a script and some models. At the moment we taking colour test shots.”

Naturally I wanted to see more, so I pressed him for details. It seems the film is called It Grows and conceptually it’s “Alien meets The Thing meets Little Shop of Horrors meets The Blob.” Here’s the first teaser poster:

The project came about  [Nick explained] when Ryan Cauchi was directing my movie show See You Next Wednesday on TVS. He’s a talented young guy with a passion for film making and we talked about collaborating on some small movie, possibly for Tropfest.

We determined it had to be small and not too complex so we could actually have a chance of completing it. These projects notoriously fall in a heap, and it’s a huge investment of time — something I have little enough of as is. It had to be something that could be shot around my tumble-down terrace house; that used what we had at hand, and also took advantage of my ‘old school’ special effects approach. We both love puppets and models and a non-digital look. We’re shooting on a Canon 550D digital SLR camera, and the look is incredibly good.

Then he sent me some colour test images — the first ever seen by public eyes — and they are so good I officially can’t wait to see more. [Click on the images to get a closer look at the texture details.]

There’s a subsidence in my backyard, and I thought that would make a great crater … and that’s the germination of It Grows.

I wrote the script quickly, and then started sculpting. This was meant to be a quick, no-nonsense little film, but it’s been a protracted schedule due to other work and exhibitions, but I’ve just about finished all the models and puppets and we hope to start shooting when the weather clears. We’ve done hung-miniature tests and lighting and colour tests and everything looks great in a goofy kinda way. We’re both excited by what we’ve tested.

Go for it, guys! Your fans are clambering!

• Source: Nick Stathopoulos. Thanks, Nick!

Now here’s a new independent film I really want to see completed!

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Delirium (US-2012; dir. Jared Black) is a new supernatural thriller that absolutely shrieks of promise. It’s currently in post-production with an anticipated release date of somewhere around June 2012. Producer/Director Jared Black tells us that they’ve begun to give the film a score and sound design. “The aim was to release it this summer on TV, iTunes, Netflix/etc. But there is now the chance it’s going to theaters. Very exciting! We’ve got a few people interested so that’s now in the equation. The film runs 90 minutes and will be rated-R. Shot on RED/RED EPIC. Our site is being built, but there is a Facebook page.”

Synopsis:

Emily has mysteriously returned home to her mother Rachel and stepfather Timothy, after being missing for over a year. There are no clues as to where she has been, and after extensive medical research, no one has been able to provide any answers to the mystery of the past year. Upon Emily’s return, her biological father Barry has decided to launch a custody war against Rachel and Timothy, threatening to take Emily away from Rachel again. As the days go on, strange events begin occurring in the home. Something came back with Emily. Delirium explores the story of two parents faced with the ultimate double-edged sword, through 90 minutes of heart pounding events and situations. Rachel and Timothy are presented with the choice of keeping Emily in a dangerous home, or letting her biological father Barry take her. Delirium has been received extremely well in the test screenings, with audience members being left in tears at the dramatic and emotional ending which seems to last with them for days. The film has been labeled, “a family horror film,” meaning it offers something for just about everyone in the family, creating a whole new category and raising the bar for entertainment. Delirium delivers twists and turns, intense situations, dramatic moments, complicated dilemmas, and of course, extremely scary and violent moments.

Describing the film, Black says:

“Delirium explores the story of two parents faced with the ultimate double-edged sword, through 90 minutes of heart pounding events and situations. Rachel and Timothy are presented with the choice of keeping Emily in a dangerous home, or letting her biological father Barry take her. Delirium has been received extremely well in the test screenings, with audience members being left in tears at the dramatic and emotional ending which seems to last with them for days. The film has been labeled, “a family horror film,” meaning it offers something for just about everyone in the family, creating a whole new category and raising the bar for entertainment. It delivers twists and turns, intense situations, dramatic moments, complicated dilemmas, and of course, extremely scary and violent moments.”

Black started this project in 2011 with a passion to make an innovative and provocative feature film. He set out to blend the thought-provoking elements of a big budget thriller with the shocking scare-factor of a modern paranormal horror film.

“I began assembling a talented team of actors to portray the distinctive Delirium cast. A solid and established team of behind the scenes players were brought on board to help bring the project to life. The result was a tight knit family of passionate people with a common love for cinema and the desire to bring this imaginative script to life.”

Black added: “We don’t have reviews yet because the film is still in post, but the test screenings have been going very well. People usually have tears as the ending is very emotional.”

Behind the Scenes:

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Cast and Crew:

Actors:

• Jolene Kay – Lead female, as Rachel
• Nathan Polzin – Lead male, breakout role. “Very talented.”
• Jonathan Mandell – “Returning to acting after many years off, making his big debut.”
• Taylor Pigeon – “Talented child actor, she is a recurring role on Conan.”
• Chris Gann – Barry

Crew:

• Jared Black: Producer/Director/Screen writer and editor
• Harold J. Stanton, Executive Producer
• Jordan Fitleberg, Executive Producer
• Stacey Black, Associate Producer
• Thor Wixom, Director of Photography
• Nicholas Longo, Art Department
• Ben Shani, Principals

Source: Jared Black via Avery Guerra; Facebook page; Twitter; Official webpage.

Gallery:

Many have been possessed by one; only one has been possessed by many.

Supposedly more accurate than many other exorcism fantasies, The Devil Inside was produced by (among others) Steven Schneider of Paranormal Activity fame. Though we can take claims of authenticity with a grain or two of over-dramatized salt, this proclamation smears it with a veneer of artistic verisimilitude that’s totally in keeping with the roving, first-person cinematographic techniques used. Rev. Bob Larson, Exorcism Consultant, even gave an interview on the subject of its depiction of demon eviction and I’ve included it below.

Above: Suzan Crowley is not herself

Meanwhile check out both the trailer and a special clip of a nicely creepy scene from the film.

Synopsis:

In 1989, emergency responders received a 9-1-1 call from Maria Rossi confessing that she had brutally killed three people. 20 years later, her daughter Isabella seeks to understand the truth about what happened that night. She travels to the Centrino Hospital for the Criminally Insane in Italy where her mother has been locked away to determine if her mother is mentally ill or demonically possessed. When she recruits two young exorcists to cure her mom using unconventional methods combining both science and religion, they come face-to-face with pure evil in the form of four powerful demons possessing Maria.

Trailer:

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Extended Clip:

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Being something of a fan of demonic possession films — made such not by belief but by, I suspect, the dramatic, emotional and thematic potency of that grandfather of exorcism films (and novels), William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist (US-1973; dir. William Friedkin) — I’m looking forward to this, as it seems to carry a bit more weight than some other Exorcist cash-ins of recent times.

Above: Bonnie Morgan gets twisted up by the whole experience

It’s rather interesting that though it has garnered negative reviews on IMDb, it has so far taken US$52,690,136 at the box-office in the US alone, which, based on an estimated budget of $1,000,000, represents quite a profit. The bad reviews don’t daunt me, of course. This looks like exactly the sort of film that tends to attract naysayers if it deviates from the expected path in any way at all — which I trust it does. We’ll see in March.

Above: The Exorcist, Simon Quarterman

Above: Look into my eyes: Simon Quarterman and Isabella Rossi

Meanwhile, here’s that interview with Exorcism Consultant Bob Larson that I mentioned:

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Source: Paramount Pictures; IMDb.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Comment is pointless. Hit Google to get all the pointless speculation.