Hail there film fiends, and a very merry bank holiday to you!

As promised last week here’s a boatload of new releases to wet your appetite –

PET GRAVEYARD concerns a group of friends tormented by the Grim Reaper and his sinister pet after they undergo an experiment that allows them to revisit the dead.  The film marks the directorial debut of Rebecca J. Matthews (producer of MOTHER KRAMPUS), from a screenplay by Suzy Spade.  Scott Jeffrey (THE BAD NUN) produces.  Jeff Miller (THE TOYBOX, OUIJA HOUSE) is executive producer.

The movie stars Jessica O’Toole, David Cotter, Rita Siddiqui, Hindolo Koroma, Kate Milner-Evans, Georgina Jane, T’Jean Uter-Dinh, and Hattie Willow.

PET GRAVEYARD is on release on dvd/digital in North America now.  Uncork’d Entertainment is handling worldwide distribution.

Award-winning* dystopian thriller Division 19, starring Mandy’s Linus Roache and Alison Doody (from Indiana Jones and the last Crusade), heads to theatres and digital this April from Uncork’d Entertainment.

In the future, prisons have been turned into online portals where paying subscribers get to vote on what felons eat, watch, wear and who they fight. Panopticon TV is so successful it is about to be rolled out to a whole new town. When the world’s most downloaded felon escapes, the authorities set a trap to reel him in. The bait is his little brother who has so far managed to avoid detection.

Also starring Jamie Draven (Billy Elliot), Lotte Verbeek (Outlander), Clarke Peters (Jessica Jones), L. Scott Caldwell (Lost) and Will Rothhaar (Grimm), District 19 is written and directed by S A Halewood.

Division 19 in theatres and available on demand now.

*WINNER Critics’ Award, Fantasporto Film Festival, WINNER Best Director Suzie Halewood, Boston Science Fiction Film Festival 2018

Widely regarded as one of the goriest films in years, Brazilian horror hitCannibal Club, directed by Guto Parente, premieres in North America this March via Uncork’d Entertainment.

Otavio and Gilda are a very wealthy couple of the Brazilian elite who have the habit of eating their employees. Otavio owns a private security company and is a notable member of The Cannibal Club. When Gilda accidentally discovers a secret from Borges, a powerful congressman and the Club’s leader, her and her husband’s lives are in grave danger. 

Cannibal Club is on US release now.

The Hallucinatory Epic From Writer/Director/FX Master Gabe Bartalos comes home this May!
Warwick Davis (Leprechaun) features in the hallucinatory new horror epic Saint Bernard, releasing this May!

From legendary FX Master Gabe Bartalos (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Darkman) comes a “must-see for the truly adventurous” (UnseenFilms.net), premiering on Blu-ray, DVD and digital platforms May 14 from Severin Films.

Shot on Super 16mm and 35mm film, the highly-anticipated horror jaunt fixes on a classical musical conductor who unravels into the abyss of insanity.  Jason Dugre (Bosch), Katy Sullivan (Last Man Standing), Peter Iasillo Jr. (HellBilly 58), Bob Zmuda (Man on the Moon) and Warwick Davis (Leprechaun, Solo, Return of the Jedi) star.

Gabe Bartalos, the film’s director, writer and special effects artist pulls heavily from his ripe imagination, creating extraordinary characters, bizarre set designs, and incredibly inspired prosthetic effects. Amid a palette of dark themes, the film takes its audience on a turbulent ride through Bernard’s surreal adventures as he spirals into madness.

Saint Bernard’s marvellously hypnotic tone displays influences characteristic of prior collaborations with art world icon Matthew Barney, horror aficionado Frank Henenlotter, and renowned photographer Mark Seliger, yet carves out a distinct new voice for Bartalos.

Saint Bernard out May 14 from Severin Films.

Highly-anticipated suspense thriller Room for Rent, starring veteran actress Lin Shaye (the Insidious franchise, Ouija), will be released in theatres and on digital this May.

Room for Rent, stars Shaye as a lonely widow who rents out a room in her house and becomes dangerously obsessed with one of her guests.

The Uncork’d Entertainment release, also starring Oliver Rayon, Valeska Miller, and Ryan Ochoa, opens May 3 in select theatres and releases May 7 on digitalin the US.

Lonely widow Joyce rents out a room to make easy money.  She meets mysterious drifter Bob and takes him in as a long-term tenant.  She becomes obsessed with her much younger guest, making him the object of her deepest romantic fantasies.  When a friend’s betrayal derails Joyce’s fantasy world, she seizes control of her own destiny with a deadly mission to finally get what she deserves.

Long-awaited Horror fantasy Flay, from director Eric Pham, will be released April 2 from Phame Factory.

Flay hails from a filmmaker who cut his teeth working VFX work on some of Robert Rodriguez’s best known films, including Grindhouse and Sin City.

The film features Alita : Battle Angel‘s Elle LaMont, Violett Beane (The Flash) andPhantasm star A. Michael Baldwin. Dalton Gray (Lazer Team, Dumber and Dumber To), Johnny Walter, Aaron Spivey-Sorrells, Peggy Schott, Kaylee King and Noe de la Garza also star.

After the death of her mother, an estranged daughter struggles to save her brother, and those around her from a malevolent faceless spirit.

Flay available digitally now from Phame Factory.

On a final note –  to any aspiring independent filmmakers, podcasters or film related writers out there out there reading this, let me know if you’d like me to publicize and/or review your projects, The Stricken Land is always happy to promote new talent and ideas! And as ever, please feel free to share this post and any others on here that you like, far and wide.

Spread the Word!
Ian