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Good morning film fiends!
I have a quadruple whammy of glorious upcoming movie goodness this week –

First up is 4/20 Massacre from director Dylan Reynolds. Billed as the first ‘stoner slasher movie’ Here’s the official press release to tell us more –

‘420’ has become synonymous with marijuana culture, with April 20th now dedicated as ‘The Official Holiday’ for weed enthusiasts. And now, this new holiday gets its very first themed slasher, with the gore filled 4/20 MASSACRE.  Over 4/20 weekend, five young women decide to celebrate their friend’s birthday by taking a camping trip to a secluded part of a nearby national park. However, their fun is quickly snubbed out when they stumble upon an illegal marijuana grow operation hidden in the greenery and protected by a bloodthirsty maniac. Will they survive or will they perish in search of the ultimate high?

Starring Jamie Bernadette (I Spit On Your Grave), Stacey Danger (Neon Demon), Justine Wachsberger (Divergent) and Jim Storm (Trilogy of Terror, Dark Shadows), 4/20 MASSACRE is a high octane comedy thriller which mixes gore, suspense, and humor, and is the perfect film to accompany your next joint…or maybe you’ll want to think twice before lighting up.

Sounds good to me. Yours truly has previewed the movie and will be providing a full spoiler free review just ahead of the film’s release date (DVD and VoD) of 3rd April 2018

Next up is the incredibly fun looking Bus Party to Hell –  

A party bus en route to Burning Man breaks down in the middle of the desert among a satanic cult. A massacre leaves survivors trapped on the bus, fighting for their lives and panicked that someone is not what he seems.

I mean who doesn’t enjoy watching comely American teens being hunted down by desert dwelling satanists?  I don’t know about you peeps, but that poster alone is selling it to me. I have no idea if it’s intentional but the design looks alot like a homage to the poster art for A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge (1985). The movie’s publicists have kindly sent me a screener, so expect a review soon!

Thirdly we have the supernatural action flick Killing Joan –

Joan Butler is an implacable spirit out to bring down the mobsters that left her for dead in writer/director Todd Bartoo’s highly-anticipated and unique unification of The Crow and Death Wish, Killing Joan – released this April from Uncork’d Entertainment.

Joan (Jamie Bernadette, All Girl’s Weekend, I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu) is an enforcer known for her ruthless tactics and wild abandon. After she is double crossed by her boss and left for dead, she becomes a vengeful spirit and is doomed to wander the Earth until she is able to take down the men that attacked her.

With eye-popping visual effects by Paul Lada (Prometheus, Harry Potter, Pacific Rim 2: Uprising) and a superlative support cast including Teo Celigo, Erik Aude, David Carey Foster, Katarina Leigh Waters, Erin O’Brien and Daniel Gardner,Killing Joan is available on VoD 3rd April 2018 and on DVD 10th July 2018.

I must say this looks like great fun. Keep your eyes peeled for my review!

Last but not least we have sci fi thriller Forbidden Power from director Paul Kyriazi. Here’s the buzz from the press release I received last week –
Films such as Lucy, Limitless, and The Wolfman have featured story lines where the heroes have received transmitted powers via drugs or animal bites, but now comes a fresh take on that idea … sexually transmitted power in the soon-to-be-released science fiction action thriller Forbidden Power –

Young businessman George (Lincoln Bevers) has a one-night affair with a mysterious Native American woman (played by Nasanin Nuri). When he wakes up the next morning, she’s vanished, but leaves him empowered with abilities that far exceed his own, and with a cryptic message. George embarks on a dangerous quest to find her and the meaning of her message and the extraordinary superhuman gift developing within him.

Forbidden Power, the 7th feature film from director Paul Kyriazi (cult classics Death Machines and Ninja Busters), will be released on Amazon On Demand. Kyriazi is a graduate of San Francisco State University’s film department and spent four years in the movie department of the US Air Force.

Forbidden Power is coming soon to Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service.

Coffin Hill
This week I’d like to give a shout out to Coffin Hill, a YouTube channel dedicated, in their own words, ‘to offering weekly original scary stories submitted by our viewers.’ They got in touch via Instagram, and seen as I’m a sucker for scary stories I’ve subscribed to get a weekly dose of chills. Check them out here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq69GDYpQ5aECLbBSSt0C-w

And finally –  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.

Watch the Skies,
Ian

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Good morning film fiends!

Word has reached the Stricken Land that Fox are threatening to remake one of my most beloved films, Escape from New York (1981). Luther scribe Neil Cross has reportedly finished the script which has met with John Carpenter’s approval. Mexican action wunderkind Robert Rodriguez is set to direct what Fox reportedly hopes will spawn another franchise. This one has some impressive talent on board already and it could work, but I’m inclined to think the original is very much a movie of its time. We shall see.

A new flick that caught my attention is Eat Me (2018), which I discovered via a tweet by the film’s writer and star Jacqueline Wright. Set over the course of one night, it’s the story of a suicidal woman whose life is saved by a home invader and the subsequent mayhem that ensues. No idea if this has a UK release date set, but judging by the trailer, it’s one to watch out for.

Rapid Fire Reviews
I watch a lot of films, far more than I’ve ever got time to write full reviews on. So I’ve decided to put a new section on the site called Rapid Fire Reviews which will aim to give more succinct appraisals of the many celluloid glories out there. Look for out for the first posts in the coming weeks.

Rounding off, here’s a couple of horror shorts I found on YouTube in the last week; The Long Walk and Larry. Enjoy!

 

And finally –  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.

Watch the Skies,
Ian

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Hail there bad movie brethren! Oh what delights we have in store for you this fine morning…

Amazon optioning Consider Phlebas

Imagine Firefly reimagined by Frank Herbert on strong mushrooms, and you get Consider Phlebas, the first in the late Iain M Banks’ series of science fiction novels featuring the Culture, a super advanced civilisation of utopian space communists.

Now comes the news that Amazon is to adapt the novel for their Amazon Prime streaming service. The series is to be written for the screen by Dennis Kelly and produced by Plan B Entertainment. Anyone who has read Bank’s complex work will be aware of the challenges in pulling off an adaptation successfully. Despite this, we are officially excited! More news as we get it!

 

The Reel Talk Podcast
We’ve been checking out this rather spiffing film review channel on YouTube, and thought it would be remiss if we did not bring it toy your wider attention! Check out their top ten films of 2017 and other videos here –

https://youtu.be/Cy9LVaUq8lI

The Reel Talk can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Spread the love fellow cineastes!

 

Fangoria
In other exciting news, the much loved and missed horror movie magazine, Fangoria is to rise from the dead. Cinestate has purchased the rights to the magazine and all associated brands from previous pulisher The Brooklyn Company. With new Editor in Chief Phil Nobile already installed, the first issue of the revived mag is due to hit the newsstands this Halloween. How appropriate. Cinestate is already working hard to recompense pevious subscribers who were left out of pocket when the mag last seized publication.

According to nerdist.com, Cinestate is also planning on expanding the Fangoria brand to produce movies, podcasts and horror novels.

For more news on all the above go to http://fangoria.com/

 

Halloween sequel

Blumhouse Productions have wrapped filming on director David Gordon Green’s Halloween movie set for release in October 2018. The film will be a direct sequel to the classic 1978 original and ignore all other previous films in the franchise. Please be good…

 

Skeleton Cop

‘He’s got a bone to pick… with crime!’ Check out the preview trailer for the frankly amazing sounding Skeleton Cop! This indie short has been funded through Kickstarter and looks worth every penny! And thinking about it, I don’t think there has been a bad movie made that had ‘Cop’ in the title. Robocop, Maniac Cop, Samurai Cop…

And finally –  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.

Watch the Skies,

Ian

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Good morning film fiends! Read on for the latest round up –

The infamous 80’s nuclear aftermath docu-horror Threads is getting a brand new blu-ray and DVD release. Remastered from the original BBC 16mm prints, this re-release of Threads coupled with a host of brand new extras is available in the US via Severin Films , and is scheduled for release in the UK from Simply Media on April 9th. You can pre-order from Amazon’s UK site here. What once seemed like a fascinating time capsule of Cold War era fears now feels frighteningly relevant again, so have a stiff drink ready while watching.

The UK edition special features include:

Disc 1

UK 2k Remaster from BBC CRI prints

DVD Audio Commentary with Karen Meagher (UK Exclusive)

DVD Audio Commentary with Mick Jackson

Disc 2

PDF of Radio Times articles and letters (UK Exclusive)

Documentary: Shooting the Annihilation

Documentary: Auditioning for the Apocalypse

Documentary: Destruction Designer

Documentary: Stephen Thrower on Threads

An infinitely more fun experience is listening to two of the horror film related podcasts I’ve gotten into. Horror of the Remake and Invasion of the Remake are, as their titles suggest all about the film industry’s penchant for revisiting past glories (or not, as the case may be.)

Both podcasts take a compare and contrast approach to each pair of films, each going into some depth on the merits or otherwise of each.

My own pet bugbear regarding a remake concerns the adaptations of Richard Matheson’s classic inversion of vampire tropes I Am Legend. Three versions down and the world is still waiting for a halfway satisfying version of the source material.

I’m planning a full length blog on all the film related podcasts I’m following, but in the meantime check out these two shows and lend them your support by subscribing if you like what you hear. Both are available on iTunes and most other podcast subscription services.

And finally –  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.

Watch the Skies,

Ian

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Good morning fellow film fiends! This week’s bulletin will be a tad shorter than previous posts as life has been a bit hectic in the past week, which has impinged on my viewing time. I have however been able to watch the first episode of new Netflix show, Altered Carbon, based on Richard K Morgan’s body swapping sci fi novel of the same name. Rest assured I’ll be posting up a review when I get to the end of the series.

I’m currently reading The Steel Remains, the first book in Morgan’s ‘grimdark’ fantasy trilogy A Land Fit For Heroes, where the author has fun messing with a lot of the stock tropes of the fantasy genre. Check it out if you are a fan of George R R Martin or Joe Abercrombie.

In other news, during a tram stop sojourn on to YouTube, I came across two engaging little short horror films – Last Bus Home and Mimic. The former is a nicely put together and atmospheric urban ghost story, while the latter is a creature feature that deftly builds a sense of dread in the viewer. Check out the links below:

And finally –  to any aspiring independent filmakers, 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.

Watch the Skies,

Ian

 

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Hail movie brethren! What fresh terrors have stalked the grey wastes of The Stricken Land in the week past? Read on…

  • Do you feel suitably let down by the really not very good Alien prequels? Sate your disappointment by watching Life (2017), a great little outer space chiller from the makers of Deadpool. Ignoring the golden rule of film that extra terrestrial organisms should be left well alone, the crew of the international space station propagate a globule of Martian bacteria with predictably malevolent results. It’s not going to win any prizes for originality and trite comparisons with Alien are inevitable, but this well crafted horror takes its vintage more from classic fifties paranoid sci fi like the Quatermass films and X the Unknown by way of the novels of John Wyndham, than it does from man-in-a-suit creature features.

  • Next up is The Raven, a stylised period manhunt thriller centred on the conceit of having the father of the detective novel, Edgar Allen Poe investigating a serial killer inspired by the grisly deaths featured in Poe’s gothic masterworks. John Cusack does a great scenery chewing turn as Poe, but the film’s great weakness is its abundance of hard to like characters, not least the drink sodden Poe himself. Director James McTeigue (V for Vendetta) does his best with a basic potboiler plot, but the languid pace and lack of sympathetic protagonists meant this struggled to keep this viewers attention. There is probably a great film waiting to be made about the life of this giant of American literature, unfortunately, The Raven isn’t it.

  • Audible have recently released Bafflegab Productions audio drama version of the 1971 British folk horror film Blood on Satan’s Claw, featuring the voice talents of the ever excellent Reece Sheersmith and Mark Gatiss. I’ll be posting a compare and contrast review of both productions in the near future. Watch this space…

 

  • Spotted on Twitter is this crowdfunded British horror from Ash Mountain Productions and director Richard Rowntree. Scheduled for UK home viewing release in April 2018, Dogged was the 4th most successful UK based horror feature film to receive funding from Kickstarter according to the IMDB. Go to http://www.ashmountainfilms.com  for more info, meanwhile, check out the trailer –
  • Also peaking our interest is Lords of Chaos, the latest flick from Jonas Åkerlund, an account of the Norwegian Black Metal scene of the late 80’s-early 90’s based on the book of the same name. Focusing on the band Mayhem,its founder Euronymous and his subsequent murder in 1993, this looks to be a dark and disturbing look at the lives and time of some very f**ked up individuals.

https://youtu.be/r5vsg9eckbUhttp://

  • And finally, the documentary Unearthed and Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary gets a Blu-Ray release on March 13 2018.This looks like a must for fans of the film as well as Stephen King fans and all those fascinated by what goes into making a film.

https://youtu.be/fnP7swXKQXo

Before I sign off; to any aspiring independent filmakers, 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.

Watch the Skies,

Ian

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Good morning film fiends! Here is the first of what I intend to be a weekly bulletin featuring all the best sci-fi/fantasy/horror film related content that I’ve come across on my internet forays during the preceding week. Keep those beady eyes peeled(!) on your inboxes or social media feeds for future Newsblasts from thestrickenland.com!

In this week’s roundup:

  • Check out the trailer for Occupation, an independent Australian alien invasion flick from director Luke Sparke, and starring Jango Fett himself, Temuera Morrison and Bruce Spence (the Gyro Pilot from Mad Max 2). From the look of it, this promises to be Independence Day, but good. Check out the official website and trailer below to judge for yourself.

http://www.occupationthemovie.com/news.php

 

  • Go to YouTube and watch Womp Stomp Films and director Vincente Disanti’s excellent fan film tribute to the Friday the 13th  series, Never Hike Alone.The climax features a great Easter egg that is guaranteed to delight fans of the Camp Blood saga. Given that I personally disregard all the official entries to the series after part VII, I’m minded to regard this as series canon. Yes, it really is that good. See for yourself by clicking the link below –
  • Whilst we’re on the subject of Friday the 13th, YouTube also features an excellent documentary, Friday the 13th part III – The Memorium Documentary. As the title suggests, it focuses solely on the third film in the franchise, and was produced in memory of the late Richard Brooker, the actor and former trapeze artist who portrayed Jason Voorhees in the 1982 installment. A great little time capsule of the early 80’s slasher craze, featuring reminisces by many of the cast and on set photos from the original shoot. Find the link below –

 

  • The trailer for belated sequel Deep Blue Sea 2 is finally here complete with explosions galore and dodgy looking cgi sharks. The original is officially regarded by this site as the second greatest shark movie ever made, so I expect very little from this blatant cash in on the current crop of bargain bin shark flicks. Still the trailer makes it look like fun –

And finally…

  • Winchester gets its UK release on February 2nd, and I’ll be bringing you a full review of the Helen Mirren shockfest in due course. Based on the legend surrounding Sarah Winchester, the real life heiress of the eponymous firearms company, who ordered continuous construction of maze like extensions to her San Jose mansion for 38 years in the belief that if building stopped then the ghosts of those killed by her late husband’s creations would find her and claim her soul in revenge. The obvious conceit of the film is that the legend is founded in truth as an excuse to indulge in some good old supernatural hi-jinks. As a fan of period set horror, I’m looking forward to this one. Check out the trailer if you haven’t already –

Before I sign off; to any aspiring independent filmakers, 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.

Watch the Skies,

Ian

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Over the last couple of days I’ve found myself tweeting with an Australian chap by the name of David Black, frontman for a theatrical horror rock band called Darkness Visible and all round horror film fan.

It turns out that David is deep in production of his own hosted horror show Horror House, which is a late night half an hour slot showcasing the best new Australian short horror films. Presented in the spirit of fondly remembered horror hosts like Criswell and 80’s goth babe Elvira, It will be hosted by David himself playing the role of hapless bloodsucker Count Funghoula along with co-host Tritia DeVisha playing the role of horror goth dominatrix Mistress Boobiyana.

Yes, it all sounds as kitsch and comedic as it looks,(check out the stills below), and frankly, great fun. It’s high time we had this sort of thing back on our screens to promote new talent and creativity in fields other than bubblegum pop and tiresome variety acts. As David himself say; “The preference is always going to be for bucket loads of gore, boobs and bad taste humour.” Amen to that!

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Currently, David and Tritia are busy hawking the show around the Australian networks, but are also hoping to interest one or more of the on demand services so we viewers outside the land of Oz will get a chance to see the fruits of their labours at some point. Watch this space.

In the meantime you can follow Horror House on Facebook @HorrorHouseShow  and David can also be found lurking on Twitter and Tumblr. He also has his own blog, Oz Indie Cinema, a link to which you can find in the sidebar under Blogroll.

On a related note, The Stricken Land is always and everywhere happy to promote film related projects be they indie productions, books, blogs, websites or podcasts, so if anyone reading this would like me to review and/or promote their project do let me know. I am contactable on any of the social media channels listed on the sidebar, or alternatively just leave me a comment on the site. Promotional freebies, cash bribes, free Lamborghinis or trips to the Playboy mansion are not obligatory, but will be greatly accepted.

Semper fi