Stars: Dominic Purcell, Viva Bianca, Robert Taylor, Belinda McClory, Nicholas Hammond, Carmen Duncan, Roger Ward, Suzannah McDonald, Juan Jackson, Stephen Phillips, Glenn Maynard | Written by Jon Hewitt, Belinda McClory | Directed by Jon Hewitt
After a civilian massacre in a foreign war zone, Navy Seal Rick Tyler (Dominic Purcell), is falsely imprisoned for the crime. But Rick is offered the chance of freedom – all he has to do is enter and survive a deadly game show, which pits him against some of the world’s most ruthless killers in a series of brutal locations. The rules are simple: kill or be killed. Can Rick survive the game, win his freedom and find out why he was framed for a crime he didn’t commit?
See that title at the top of this review. Forget it. This is Not Elimination Game. It’s not some straight to DVD knock off of The Running Man,...
After a civilian massacre in a foreign war zone, Navy Seal Rick Tyler (Dominic Purcell), is falsely imprisoned for the crime. But Rick is offered the chance of freedom – all he has to do is enter and survive a deadly game show, which pits him against some of the world’s most ruthless killers in a series of brutal locations. The rules are simple: kill or be killed. Can Rick survive the game, win his freedom and find out why he was framed for a crime he didn’t commit?
See that title at the top of this review. Forget it. This is Not Elimination Game. It’s not some straight to DVD knock off of The Running Man,...
- 10/12/2015
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Screen Australia.s decision to hand back the rights of 1,200 titles to the producers, effective July 1, will result in the reissue on DVD and pay TV of some films and TV productions that have long been out of circulation.
While few if any producers expect to get rich from regaining the rights, the move has been widely welcomed.
The agency has clarified that the concession applies to all projects, including features, miniseries, series and telemovies funded by the Film Finance Corp. and during Screen Australia.s first year, that were released or broadcast in the seven years prior to December 31 2008.
The handover has been brought forward by six months. All rights minus a 1% copyright fee revert back to producers.
Producer Matt Carroll is looking forward to exploring the potential of new revenue sources for Passion, his 1993 drama about composer Percy Grainger, which starred Richard Roxburgh. Beyond Films handled the film directed by Peter Duncan.
While few if any producers expect to get rich from regaining the rights, the move has been widely welcomed.
The agency has clarified that the concession applies to all projects, including features, miniseries, series and telemovies funded by the Film Finance Corp. and during Screen Australia.s first year, that were released or broadcast in the seven years prior to December 31 2008.
The handover has been brought forward by six months. All rights minus a 1% copyright fee revert back to producers.
Producer Matt Carroll is looking forward to exploring the potential of new revenue sources for Passion, his 1993 drama about composer Percy Grainger, which starred Richard Roxburgh. Beyond Films handled the film directed by Peter Duncan.
- 6/29/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Screen Australia.s decision to hand back the rights of 1,200 titles to the producers, effective July 1, is likely to result in the reissue on DVD and pay TV of some films and TV productions that have long been out of circulation.
While few if any producers expect to get rich from regaining the rights, the move has been widely welcomed.
The agency has clarified that the concession applies to all projects, including features, miniseries, tv series and telemovies funded by the Film Finance Corp. and during Screen Australia.s first year, that were released or broadcast in the seven years prior to December 31 2008.
The handover has been brought forward by six months.
Producer Matt Carroll is looking forward to exploring the potential of new revenue sources for Passion, his 1993 drama about composer Percy Grainger, which starred Richard Roxburgh. Beyond Films handled the film directed by Peter Duncan.
The topic may...
While few if any producers expect to get rich from regaining the rights, the move has been widely welcomed.
The agency has clarified that the concession applies to all projects, including features, miniseries, tv series and telemovies funded by the Film Finance Corp. and during Screen Australia.s first year, that were released or broadcast in the seven years prior to December 31 2008.
The handover has been brought forward by six months.
Producer Matt Carroll is looking forward to exploring the potential of new revenue sources for Passion, his 1993 drama about composer Percy Grainger, which starred Richard Roxburgh. Beyond Films handled the film directed by Peter Duncan.
The topic may...
- 6/29/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
The Little Death and the Turkey Shoot reboot had multi-platform launches in the Us last Friday, drawing mostly positive reviews from critics. Magnolia Pictures released Josh Lawson.s sex comedy while EntertainmentOne is distributing Jon Hewitt.s Turkey Shoot remake, retitled Elimination Game. The Toronto Star.s Bruce DeMara opined, .Part comedy, part cautionary tale, The Little Death is above all entertaining and original. The title references la petite mort, the euphemistic French term for orgasm and there.s plenty of that. But Lawson.s feature film debut is much more, darkly funny, occasionally poignant and teeming with the unexpected..
The Los Angeles Times. Gary Goldstein described the film as .alternately silly and provocative, strained and funny..
National Public Radio.s Ella Taylor responded to the .winning humanity [that] seeps through the high jinks,. observing, .Lawson comes not to judge, but to assess the unintended consequences of sexual free play. He gooses prudery and political correctness,...
The Los Angeles Times. Gary Goldstein described the film as .alternately silly and provocative, strained and funny..
National Public Radio.s Ella Taylor responded to the .winning humanity [that] seeps through the high jinks,. observing, .Lawson comes not to judge, but to assess the unintended consequences of sexual free play. He gooses prudery and political correctness,...
- 6/28/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Acolytes and X director Jon Hewitt remakes 1980s Ozploitation classic Turkey Shoot with Elimination Game in which Dominic Purcell stars as a disgraced former army officer forced to fight for his life in a live televised game show. Yep, the concept is a direct-line predecessor of films such as The Running Man and The Hunger Games and with eOne releasing the films to theaters and VOD on June 26th we've got an exclusive clip from the film below....
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 6/22/2015
- Screen Anarchy
Viva Bianca has joined the cast of Showing Roots, a Us feature set in the 1970s when Alex Haley.s ground-breaking slavery miniseries Roots was released.
Now shooting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the indie film stars Taken.s Maggie Grace, Orange Is The New Black.s Uzo Aduba, Downton Abbey.s Elizabeth McGovern and Cicely Tyson, who played Kunta Kinte.s mother in Roots.
Scripted by Susan Batten and directed by stage veteran Michael Wilson, Showing Roots is set in a small Southern town in 1977.
Grace and Aduba play Violet and Pearl, two women who work in a beauty parlour and are inspired to integrate their community when pent-up racial tensions erupt.
Bianca, whose credits include John V. Soto's The Reckoning, Jon Hewitt.s Turkey Shoot remake and X, and Spartacus: Blood and Sand, portrays Dee, the uneducated owner of the local diner, who has an awakening during the social upheaval.
Now shooting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the indie film stars Taken.s Maggie Grace, Orange Is The New Black.s Uzo Aduba, Downton Abbey.s Elizabeth McGovern and Cicely Tyson, who played Kunta Kinte.s mother in Roots.
Scripted by Susan Batten and directed by stage veteran Michael Wilson, Showing Roots is set in a small Southern town in 1977.
Grace and Aduba play Violet and Pearl, two women who work in a beauty parlour and are inspired to integrate their community when pent-up racial tensions erupt.
Bianca, whose credits include John V. Soto's The Reckoning, Jon Hewitt.s Turkey Shoot remake and X, and Spartacus: Blood and Sand, portrays Dee, the uneducated owner of the local diner, who has an awakening during the social upheaval.
- 2/11/2015
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Though Jon Hewitt.s latest project, Turkey Shoot, was released theatrically last week; Australian cinemas is not where the writer/director is hoping his film will find its primary audience.
In a movement being echoed around the industry, Hewitt is pinning his hopes on VoD returns, with a focus on international sales in particular.
.Theatrical [release] is over for about 90 per cent of any film made anywhere in the world,. he tells If. .You just have to look at what.s released in cinemas now to understand that, but we are still compelled and forced to release every Australian film that gets made to give it a theatrical release, because of the way things are financed.
.So that.s led to a lot of negativity because there.s a lot of movies that just won.t work theatrically. Theatrical is whole different thing now, it.s about tent-pole movies and blockbusters...
In a movement being echoed around the industry, Hewitt is pinning his hopes on VoD returns, with a focus on international sales in particular.
.Theatrical [release] is over for about 90 per cent of any film made anywhere in the world,. he tells If. .You just have to look at what.s released in cinemas now to understand that, but we are still compelled and forced to release every Australian film that gets made to give it a theatrical release, because of the way things are financed.
.So that.s led to a lot of negativity because there.s a lot of movies that just won.t work theatrically. Theatrical is whole different thing now, it.s about tent-pole movies and blockbusters...
- 12/9/2014
- by Emily Blatchford
- IF.com.au
Australian films. share of the national box-office this year is destined to fall well short of last year.s 3.5% and the 10-year average of 3.8%.
Through last Sunday the 31 local features and documentaries released this year, plus around 20 titles that carried over from 2013 or earlier years, had racked up $19.6 million.
The year-to-date gross is $908.9 million so that represents a market share of 2.18%. Still to come are Paul Fenech's comedy Fat Pizza vs Housos (November 27), Jon Hewitt.s Turkey Shoot reboot and Jim Lounsbury.s mystery drama Love is Now (both December 4) and Russell Crowe.s The Water Diviner (Boxing Day).
So by year.s end the market share will probably be the lowest since 2004.s 1.3%.
Last year Aussie films and docs accumulated $38.5 million, boosted by The Great Gatsby.s $27.4 million. This year only The Railway Man (which launched on Boxing Day), Wolf Creek 2 and Tracks surpassed $2 million and no other title cracked $1 million.
Through last Sunday the 31 local features and documentaries released this year, plus around 20 titles that carried over from 2013 or earlier years, had racked up $19.6 million.
The year-to-date gross is $908.9 million so that represents a market share of 2.18%. Still to come are Paul Fenech's comedy Fat Pizza vs Housos (November 27), Jon Hewitt.s Turkey Shoot reboot and Jim Lounsbury.s mystery drama Love is Now (both December 4) and Russell Crowe.s The Water Diviner (Boxing Day).
So by year.s end the market share will probably be the lowest since 2004.s 1.3%.
Last year Aussie films and docs accumulated $38.5 million, boosted by The Great Gatsby.s $27.4 million. This year only The Railway Man (which launched on Boxing Day), Wolf Creek 2 and Tracks surpassed $2 million and no other title cracked $1 million.
- 11/11/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Exclusive: Guardian Entertainment International in collaboration with Lightning Entertainment has acquired world sales rights to Jon Hewitt’s action film starring Dominic Purcell.
Turkey Shoot will receive its market debut at Afm this week and is directed by Jon Hewitt, who wrote the screenplay with Belinda McClory.
The action takes place in the not-too-distant future as a disgraced former Navy Seal is allowed to swap a prison sentence for participation in a kill-or-be-killed hit reality TV show.
The film is based on Brian Trenchard-Smith’s 1982 film and also stars Viva Bianca, Belinda McClory and Robert Taylor.
Antony I Ginnane produces and William Fayman, Richard S Guardian, Anthony J Lyons, Trenchard-Smith, Mark Spratt and Peter de Rauch serve as executive producers.
Lightning’s international sales slate includes the comedy Preggoland, drama Bravetown starring Lucas Till, Josh Duhamel, Maria Bello and Laura Dern, horror-thrillers Indigenous, Dark House, The Pack, dramatic thriller Ask Me Anything and Healing with Hugo Weaving.
Turkey Shoot will receive its market debut at Afm this week and is directed by Jon Hewitt, who wrote the screenplay with Belinda McClory.
The action takes place in the not-too-distant future as a disgraced former Navy Seal is allowed to swap a prison sentence for participation in a kill-or-be-killed hit reality TV show.
The film is based on Brian Trenchard-Smith’s 1982 film and also stars Viva Bianca, Belinda McClory and Robert Taylor.
Antony I Ginnane produces and William Fayman, Richard S Guardian, Anthony J Lyons, Trenchard-Smith, Mark Spratt and Peter de Rauch serve as executive producers.
Lightning’s international sales slate includes the comedy Preggoland, drama Bravetown starring Lucas Till, Josh Duhamel, Maria Bello and Laura Dern, horror-thrillers Indigenous, Dark House, The Pack, dramatic thriller Ask Me Anything and Healing with Hugo Weaving.
- 11/3/2014
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
In a sign of the rising volume of film production, 25 features are eligible for the 4th annual Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) Awards in January.
That.s up from the 15 titles that were in contention for last January.s awards.
The contenders include Russell Crowe.s The Water Diviner, Julius Avery.s Son of a Gun, Stephen Lance.s My Mistress, Tony Mahony and Angus Sampson.s The Mule, Geoff Davis. William Kelly.s War and Jon Hewitt.s Turkey Shoot. Those titles will be among those unspooling at. the Aacta Awards Screenings program to be held from October 6-23 at Event Cinemas, Bondi Junction, and Melbourne.s Palace Cinema Como and Backlot Studios.
Universal is launching The Water Diviner on Boxing Day.. Son of a Gun is set for October 16 via eOne, Ifm/Filmways is releasing William Kelly's War on October 30 and Transmission opens My Mistress...
That.s up from the 15 titles that were in contention for last January.s awards.
The contenders include Russell Crowe.s The Water Diviner, Julius Avery.s Son of a Gun, Stephen Lance.s My Mistress, Tony Mahony and Angus Sampson.s The Mule, Geoff Davis. William Kelly.s War and Jon Hewitt.s Turkey Shoot. Those titles will be among those unspooling at. the Aacta Awards Screenings program to be held from October 6-23 at Event Cinemas, Bondi Junction, and Melbourne.s Palace Cinema Como and Backlot Studios.
Universal is launching The Water Diviner on Boxing Day.. Son of a Gun is set for October 16 via eOne, Ifm/Filmways is releasing William Kelly's War on October 30 and Transmission opens My Mistress...
- 9/16/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
After focussing on TV dramas, David Caesar plans to direct a conspiracy thriller, his first feature since Prime Mover in 2009.
Scripted by Terence Hammond and produced by Antony I. Ginnane, Spontaneous Combustion is set during a pandemic involving government and Big Pharma.
The plan is to start shooting in Melbourne in the first quarter of 2015, with post production and VFX in Queensland. The logline reads, "When a marine biologist who saw his father burst into flames for no reason is drawn into investigating an outbreak of spontaneous combustion deaths by an investigative journalist, they uncover a Big Pharma conspiracy and put their own lives on the line in a race to stop the development of a deadly global weapon."
.David is harking back to his Dirty Deeds milieu here, and he.s a big fan of The Parallax View, Three Days of the Condor and The Conversation, which is the zone we are in here,...
Scripted by Terence Hammond and produced by Antony I. Ginnane, Spontaneous Combustion is set during a pandemic involving government and Big Pharma.
The plan is to start shooting in Melbourne in the first quarter of 2015, with post production and VFX in Queensland. The logline reads, "When a marine biologist who saw his father burst into flames for no reason is drawn into investigating an outbreak of spontaneous combustion deaths by an investigative journalist, they uncover a Big Pharma conspiracy and put their own lives on the line in a race to stop the development of a deadly global weapon."
.David is harking back to his Dirty Deeds milieu here, and he.s a big fan of The Parallax View, Three Days of the Condor and The Conversation, which is the zone we are in here,...
- 7/16/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Claire van der Boom and Eamon Farren are playing the leads in Love is Now, a romantic drama now shooting in Sydney and regional Nsw.
It.s the first narrative feature from writer/director Jim Lounsbury and producer Behren Schulz, who formed Eponine Films in 2009.
The plot follows experienced photographer Audrey (van der Boom) and aspiring snapper Dean (Farren) as they embark on a trip through orchard country and a passionate relationship develops.
The supporting cast includes Anna Torv, Dustin Clare, Heather Mitchell and Chris Haywood.
Schulz told If that he and Lounsbury came up with the idea on a plane trip and the first draft of the script was written in one weekend.
He raised the budget from private investors and sponsorship from Nikon and Reid Cycles. The filmmakers announced the partnership with Nikon at Tropfest last year; the film is being shot on Nikon cameras and Nikkor lenses.
It.s the first narrative feature from writer/director Jim Lounsbury and producer Behren Schulz, who formed Eponine Films in 2009.
The plot follows experienced photographer Audrey (van der Boom) and aspiring snapper Dean (Farren) as they embark on a trip through orchard country and a passionate relationship develops.
The supporting cast includes Anna Torv, Dustin Clare, Heather Mitchell and Chris Haywood.
Schulz told If that he and Lounsbury came up with the idea on a plane trip and the first draft of the script was written in one weekend.
He raised the budget from private investors and sponsorship from Nikon and Reid Cycles. The filmmakers announced the partnership with Nikon at Tropfest last year; the film is being shot on Nikon cameras and Nikkor lenses.
- 7/16/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
The Melbourne International Film Festival has announced a wide swathe of their programming - though not all titles are currently available on the festival website you can find a quick overview here - and included in the Night Shift section is the World Premiere of Acolytes and X director Jon Hewitt's remake of cult favorite title Turkey Shoot. Original producer Antony Ginnane continues to mine his own back catalog here - he also produced a remake of his own Patrick with Mark Hartley directing last year - with Dominic Purcell starring as a disgraced military man cast as the lead contestant on a televised game show to the death.We've got your first look at the first poster art for the film below, remember that you...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 7/8/2014
- Screen Anarchy
Writer-director John V. Soto.s crime thriller The Reckoning will be launched in Australia on September 4 by Selina Chong.s Sc Movies.
A six-screen release- three in Perth and one each in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane- is planned for the film which stars Jonathan Lapaglia as a troubled detective who hunts two runaway teenagers who hold video footage that identifies a cop killer.
Luke Hemsworth, Hanna Mangan-Lawrence, Viva Bianca and Alex Williams round out the cast.
.We had offers from a couple of other Aussie distributors but Selina was definitely the most passionate and committed,. said Filmscope Entertainment.s Soto, who in May was named best director at the British Independent Film Festival, where The Reckoning had its world premiere.
Backed by ScreenWest and Lottery West, the film was produced by Filmscope Entertainment.s Deidre Kitcher, with Robert Lundberg, Roger and Kim Savill and Malcolm and Kate Rudd as executive producers.
A six-screen release- three in Perth and one each in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane- is planned for the film which stars Jonathan Lapaglia as a troubled detective who hunts two runaway teenagers who hold video footage that identifies a cop killer.
Luke Hemsworth, Hanna Mangan-Lawrence, Viva Bianca and Alex Williams round out the cast.
.We had offers from a couple of other Aussie distributors but Selina was definitely the most passionate and committed,. said Filmscope Entertainment.s Soto, who in May was named best director at the British Independent Film Festival, where The Reckoning had its world premiere.
Backed by ScreenWest and Lottery West, the film was produced by Filmscope Entertainment.s Deidre Kitcher, with Robert Lundberg, Roger and Kim Savill and Malcolm and Kate Rudd as executive producers.
- 6/23/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Exclusive: Producer is planning remakes of Thirst and The Survivor.
Antony I Ginnane, producer of the upcoming remake of Turkey Shoot, which was being promoted at Cannes, is planning to remake two more of his films: Thirst from 1979, and The Survivor from 1981.
Ginnane has credits as either producer or executive producer on 64 films and the first to be remade was director Mark Hartley’s recent Patrick – the original was made in 1978.
“Genre – particularly thrillers, sci-fi and action – never really dates,” said Ginnane, who is aiming to satisfy the 15-25 year old multiplex audience now and those who saw and loved the originals upon release or subsequently.
“Sales agents and international buyers like something that has been previously tested, has cult resonance and is made for a price. In some cases we are selling to the children of the guys who bought the originals.”
Ginnane’s production company, Fg Films, gets a rights fee and a producer fee and...
Antony I Ginnane, producer of the upcoming remake of Turkey Shoot, which was being promoted at Cannes, is planning to remake two more of his films: Thirst from 1979, and The Survivor from 1981.
Ginnane has credits as either producer or executive producer on 64 films and the first to be remade was director Mark Hartley’s recent Patrick – the original was made in 1978.
“Genre – particularly thrillers, sci-fi and action – never really dates,” said Ginnane, who is aiming to satisfy the 15-25 year old multiplex audience now and those who saw and loved the originals upon release or subsequently.
“Sales agents and international buyers like something that has been previously tested, has cult resonance and is made for a price. In some cases we are selling to the children of the guys who bought the originals.”
Ginnane’s production company, Fg Films, gets a rights fee and a producer fee and...
- 5/29/2014
- by Sandy.George@me.com (Sandy George)
- ScreenDaily
Wolf Creek.s Greg Mclean will make his Us directing debut on 6 Miranda Drive, a supernatural thriller which will star Kevin Bacon and Radha Mitchell.
The low-budget film will be produced by Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions, which specialises in horror and created the Paranormal Activity, Insidious and Sinister franchises.
Scripted by Mclean, Shane Krause and Shayne Armstrong, the plot will follow a family that unwittingly brings a fear-feeding supernatural force when they return from a Grand Canyon vacation, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Shooting is due to start in March.
Krause listed that project among those which he and Armstrong are developing in an. interview with If last month.
Krause and Armstrong.s debut feature was Jon Hewitt.s 2008 horror movie Acolytes and they were among the writing team on Kimble Rendall.s Bait 3D. Their credits also include the children.s series K9 for Network Ten and the...
The low-budget film will be produced by Jason Blum's Blumhouse Productions, which specialises in horror and created the Paranormal Activity, Insidious and Sinister franchises.
Scripted by Mclean, Shane Krause and Shayne Armstrong, the plot will follow a family that unwittingly brings a fear-feeding supernatural force when they return from a Grand Canyon vacation, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Shooting is due to start in March.
Krause listed that project among those which he and Armstrong are developing in an. interview with If last month.
Krause and Armstrong.s debut feature was Jon Hewitt.s 2008 horror movie Acolytes and they were among the writing team on Kimble Rendall.s Bait 3D. Their credits also include the children.s series K9 for Network Ten and the...
- 2/27/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Dominic Purcell, Viva Bianca and Robert Taylor are set to star in Turkey Shoot Reloaded, an action adventure set in the near future.
The director is Jon Hewitt (X, Acolytes, Bloodlust), who co-wrote the screenplay with his wife, actress-writer Belinda McClory, with whom he collaborated on X and Acolytes.
Hewitt tells If the film is in the spirit of Brian Trenchard-Smith.s 1982 cult item Turkey Shoot but is not a reboot. .I loved Turkey Shoot but I did not want to remake it," he says. "This is a complete reinvention..
Principal photography starts in Melbourne on February 5. The Post Lounge is handling the visual effects and investing in the film. The producer is Antony I. Ginnane, who produced Turkey Shoot, with David Lightfoot as line producer and Lizzette Atkins as associate producer. Trenchard-Smith is an executive producer.
Turkey Shoot (also known outside Australia as Escape 2000 and Blood Camp Thatcher...
The director is Jon Hewitt (X, Acolytes, Bloodlust), who co-wrote the screenplay with his wife, actress-writer Belinda McClory, with whom he collaborated on X and Acolytes.
Hewitt tells If the film is in the spirit of Brian Trenchard-Smith.s 1982 cult item Turkey Shoot but is not a reboot. .I loved Turkey Shoot but I did not want to remake it," he says. "This is a complete reinvention..
Principal photography starts in Melbourne on February 5. The Post Lounge is handling the visual effects and investing in the film. The producer is Antony I. Ginnane, who produced Turkey Shoot, with David Lightfoot as line producer and Lizzette Atkins as associate producer. Trenchard-Smith is an executive producer.
Turkey Shoot (also known outside Australia as Escape 2000 and Blood Camp Thatcher...
- 1/10/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Shane Krause has a refreshingly candid view of the commercial prospects of The Contents, a self-funded supernatural thriller which marks his directing debut.
.If the film turns out to be any good we will get interest. from distributors and sales agents, says Krause, who co-wrote and produced the film with his regular collaborator Shayne Armstrong.
.If it doesn.t it will die the death it deserves to. The amount of money at risk is pitifully small. If it doesn.t work no one gets hurt..
The cast and a small crew worked irregularly on the film for the past six months shooting on locations in Brisbane. It.s 80% completed; still to come are the visual effects elements created by Steve Boyle whose credits include The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Bait 3D, Daybreakers and who.s just worked on Chris Sun.s low budget horror film Charlie.s Farm.
The plot...
.If the film turns out to be any good we will get interest. from distributors and sales agents, says Krause, who co-wrote and produced the film with his regular collaborator Shayne Armstrong.
.If it doesn.t it will die the death it deserves to. The amount of money at risk is pitifully small. If it doesn.t work no one gets hurt..
The cast and a small crew worked irregularly on the film for the past six months shooting on locations in Brisbane. It.s 80% completed; still to come are the visual effects elements created by Steve Boyle whose credits include The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Bait 3D, Daybreakers and who.s just worked on Chris Sun.s low budget horror film Charlie.s Farm.
The plot...
- 1/6/2014
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Freya Tingley..
.
When Freya Tingley auditioned for the part of Frankie Valli.s daughter Francine in the movie Jersey Boys, she sent in her audition by tape. She got the role but didn.t meet the director- Clint Eastwood- until her first day on the set in Los Angeles.
So was the 19-year-old, Perth-born actress, who moved to the Us with her mother Coppelia early last year, feeling a tad nervous or overawed in first meeting the legendary director?
Not a bit. .I was really excited,. she told If on the line from her home in La. .Clint directed a lot of my favourite films in the 1970s and 80s, the golden era of Hollywood..
Eastwood famously works fast and gives little direction to his actors, which is precisely how Freya found him. .He.s a very calm person,. she says. .He encourages his actors to do what they...
.
When Freya Tingley auditioned for the part of Frankie Valli.s daughter Francine in the movie Jersey Boys, she sent in her audition by tape. She got the role but didn.t meet the director- Clint Eastwood- until her first day on the set in Los Angeles.
So was the 19-year-old, Perth-born actress, who moved to the Us with her mother Coppelia early last year, feeling a tad nervous or overawed in first meeting the legendary director?
Not a bit. .I was really excited,. she told If on the line from her home in La. .Clint directed a lot of my favourite films in the 1970s and 80s, the golden era of Hollywood..
Eastwood famously works fast and gives little direction to his actors, which is precisely how Freya found him. .He.s a very calm person,. she says. .He encourages his actors to do what they...
- 10/10/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
Tiff’s Midnight Madness program turned 25 this year, and for two and half decades, the hardworking programers have gathered some of the strangest, most terrifying, wild, intriguing and downright entertaining films from around the world. From dark comedies to Japanese gore-fests and indie horror gems, the Midnight Madness program hasn’t lost its edge as one the leading showcases of genre cinema. In its 25-year history, Midnight Madness has introduced adventurous late-night moviegoers to such cult faves as Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs. But what separates Midnight Madness from, say, Montreal’s three and half week long genre festival Fantasia, is that Tiff selects only ten films to make the cut. In other words, these programmers don’t mess around. Last week I decided that I would post reviews of my personal favourite films that screened in past years. And just like the Tiff programmers,...
- 9/18/2013
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
As a solo producer, Unicorn Films. Lizzette Atkins has a remarkably diverse and prolific development slate.
Atkins is preparing projects for directors Sue Brooks, Matthew Saville and Ana Kokkinos plus a slate of low-budget horror movies. While they span a variety of genres, Atkins says there is a common thread: all are director-driven.
She founded Unicorn Films last year after nine years as a partner in Circe Films, whose credits include Jon Hewitt.s steamy thriller X, Lawrence Johnston.s Night and Eddie Martin.s Lionel, a feature documentary on Aboriginal boxer Lionel Rose.
Her latest production, Anna Broinowski.s Aim High in Creation! had its world premiere on Wednesday at the Melbourne International Film Festival.
The most advanced project on her slate is Brooks. Driving Back from Dubbo, the saga of a 15-year-old girl who runs away with her best friend to see her favourite band, prompting her parents...
Atkins is preparing projects for directors Sue Brooks, Matthew Saville and Ana Kokkinos plus a slate of low-budget horror movies. While they span a variety of genres, Atkins says there is a common thread: all are director-driven.
She founded Unicorn Films last year after nine years as a partner in Circe Films, whose credits include Jon Hewitt.s steamy thriller X, Lawrence Johnston.s Night and Eddie Martin.s Lionel, a feature documentary on Aboriginal boxer Lionel Rose.
Her latest production, Anna Broinowski.s Aim High in Creation! had its world premiere on Wednesday at the Melbourne International Film Festival.
The most advanced project on her slate is Brooks. Driving Back from Dubbo, the saga of a 15-year-old girl who runs away with her best friend to see her favourite band, prompting her parents...
- 8/7/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
The follow-up to the shark-in-a-flooded -supermarket saga previously known as Bait 2 has been retitled Deep Water.
The switch signals this is a stand-alone horror movie, not a sequel, with killer sharks as the common element, according to the producer, Arclight Films' Gary Hamilton.
Screen Australia is funding the development of the project which is being scripted by Shayne Armstrong and Shane Krause, who were among the writing team on the original.
The plot revolves around a flight from Beijing to Sydney which crashes in the Pacific, pitting an air marshal and a small group of survivors against huge tiger sharks.
The first film, shot in 3D, cost $20 million and earned more than $40 million at cinemas worldwide, including $27 million in China. Hamilton said Screen Australia will see a return on its investment in that film.
The follow-up will be budgeted at more than $25 million with a larger CGI component, said Hamilton,...
The switch signals this is a stand-alone horror movie, not a sequel, with killer sharks as the common element, according to the producer, Arclight Films' Gary Hamilton.
Screen Australia is funding the development of the project which is being scripted by Shayne Armstrong and Shane Krause, who were among the writing team on the original.
The plot revolves around a flight from Beijing to Sydney which crashes in the Pacific, pitting an air marshal and a small group of survivors against huge tiger sharks.
The first film, shot in 3D, cost $20 million and earned more than $40 million at cinemas worldwide, including $27 million in China. Hamilton said Screen Australia will see a return on its investment in that film.
The follow-up will be budgeted at more than $25 million with a larger CGI component, said Hamilton,...
- 7/31/2013
- by Don Groves
- IF.com.au
With the new trailer for Mark Hartley's remake of Australian cult classic Patrick only launching yesterday, it's time for more news of the highly-specialised 'remake of Aussie exploitation movie that everyone remembers thanks to Not Quite Hollywood' variety. Today's news concerns Turkey Shoot, which apparently was also called Escape 2000 and - my favourite - Blood Camp Thatcher when released outside Australia.Tony Ginnane who produced the original 1982 cult classic Turkey Shoot (and who produced both the original Patrick and the recent remake) has got together with director Jon Hewitt, who made the fantastic Acolytes and X, to bring this remake back to big screens. With The Hunger Games being a monster success there's no better time to revisit the terrifying year 1995! Where hunting is the...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...
- 5/18/2013
- Screen Anarchy
Despite the Falling Snow
Charles Dance ("Game of Thrones"), Olga Kurylenko ("Oblivion") and Maria Furtwangler are attached to star in Shamim Sarif's spy-thriller "Despite the Falling Snow". Shooting begins mid October.
Kurylenko plays an enigmatic female spy who falls in love with an idealistic politician. The action will move between 1950s and present day Moscow and London. [Source: Screen Daily]
With the Outlaws
Brendan Fraser will star in Andy Morahan's comedy western "With the Outlaws" at Shoreline Entertainment. Nicholas Sercombe penned and will produce.
The story portrays what life would be like for British immigrants settling in the Wild West. [Source: THR]
London Town
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Liv Tyler and Daniel Huttlestone ("Les Miserables") are all set to star in Derrick Borte's coming-of-age story "London Town" at Cargo Entertainment, Dutch Tilt Film and Killer Films.
The music-infused story follows a teenage boy who goes to London to find his estranged mother after...
Charles Dance ("Game of Thrones"), Olga Kurylenko ("Oblivion") and Maria Furtwangler are attached to star in Shamim Sarif's spy-thriller "Despite the Falling Snow". Shooting begins mid October.
Kurylenko plays an enigmatic female spy who falls in love with an idealistic politician. The action will move between 1950s and present day Moscow and London. [Source: Screen Daily]
With the Outlaws
Brendan Fraser will star in Andy Morahan's comedy western "With the Outlaws" at Shoreline Entertainment. Nicholas Sercombe penned and will produce.
The story portrays what life would be like for British immigrants settling in the Wild West. [Source: THR]
London Town
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Liv Tyler and Daniel Huttlestone ("Les Miserables") are all set to star in Derrick Borte's coming-of-age story "London Town" at Cargo Entertainment, Dutch Tilt Film and Killer Films.
The music-infused story follows a teenage boy who goes to London to find his estranged mother after...
- 5/18/2013
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Australian cult hit Bloodlust is hitting DVD in a bonus packed special edition!Directed by Jon Hewitt (Acolytes, X) and Richard Wolstencroft, the new DVD edition includes: All-New Audio Commentary, Cast Reunion, Behind-The-Scenes Featurette, Blooper Reel, Trailer, Limited Edition Slipcase and Poster.The notorious Australian Cult Classic Bloodlust arrives in a 21st Anniversary deluxe special edition! Available for the first time on DVD, this infamous genre gem focuses on a group of modern day vampires. Armed with an arsenal of weapons and a dangerous hunger, they prowl a twilight world of bizarre nightclubs and seedy streets looking for kicks - with an insatiable appetite for carnage. A blood drenched saga of epic proportions which features enough ammunition to blow the roof off, the film erupts into...
- 6/3/2012
- Screen Anarchy
At the end of last year we reported that the Fantasia Film Festival is gearing up to become the next hot spot to acquire unproduced projects being sold as part of its film market - the Frontières International Co-Production Market. And now we have additional details.
From the Press Release
Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival, widely acclaimed as one of the largest and most influential genre film festivals in the world, is embarking on its 16th edition with a major new industry-driven venture: the Frontières International Co-Production Market. Frontières is the first international co-production market to connect North American with Europe and Australasia in an environment focused specifically on genre film production.
The projects to be presented in the market have now been chosen and feature an exciting array of filmmakers, from gifted newcomers to world-renowned maestros, as well as numerous established international producers.
Blood Borne (Australia) Director / Writer:...
From the Press Release
Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival, widely acclaimed as one of the largest and most influential genre film festivals in the world, is embarking on its 16th edition with a major new industry-driven venture: the Frontières International Co-Production Market. Frontières is the first international co-production market to connect North American with Europe and Australasia in an environment focused specifically on genre film production.
The projects to be presented in the market have now been chosen and feature an exciting array of filmmakers, from gifted newcomers to world-renowned maestros, as well as numerous established international producers.
Blood Borne (Australia) Director / Writer:...
- 5/7/2012
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival, (also known as Sound On Sight’s favourite film festival world wide), as well as widely acclaimed as one of the largest and most influential genre film festivals in the world, is embarking on its 16th edition with a major new industry-driven venture: the Frontières International Co-Production Market. Frontières is the first international co-production market to connect North-American with Europe and Australasia, in an environment focused specifically on genre film production.
The projects to be presented in the market have now been chosen and feature an exciting array of filmmakers, from gifted newcomers to world-renowned maestros, as well as numerous established international producers. Fantasia just announced the selection of the first fourteen projects and there is plenty of reason to be excited.
Here is the press release:
Four of the 14 projects hail from Canada and Quebec: Adored maverick trail-blazer Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo 1 & 2, This Movie Is Broken,...
The projects to be presented in the market have now been chosen and feature an exciting array of filmmakers, from gifted newcomers to world-renowned maestros, as well as numerous established international producers. Fantasia just announced the selection of the first fourteen projects and there is plenty of reason to be excited.
Here is the press release:
Four of the 14 projects hail from Canada and Quebec: Adored maverick trail-blazer Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo 1 & 2, This Movie Is Broken,...
- 5/7/2012
- by Kyle Reese
- SoundOnSight
Warrior
Stars: Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison, Frank Grillo | Written by Gavin O’Connor, Anthony Tambakis | Directed by Gavin O’Connor
The ultimate test of a fighter becomes the ultimate test for a family when ex-wrestler Tommy (Hardy) returns home for the first time in fourteen years to enlist the help of his estranged father (Nolte) to win a coveted Mixed Martial Arts tournament. By chance, Tommy’s fighter-turned-teacher brother Brendan (Edgerton) has also entered the tournament in a desperate bid to provide for his family and the stage is set for a climactic confrontation between the two brothers.
Critically acclaimed as the new Rocky, Warrior is just that. Taking the same basic traits as Stallone’s classic flick – the underdog battling against both himself, his situation and in the ring – the film blends the same facets of action and melodrama and updates it for the Mma generation.
Stars: Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, Nick Nolte, Jennifer Morrison, Frank Grillo | Written by Gavin O’Connor, Anthony Tambakis | Directed by Gavin O’Connor
The ultimate test of a fighter becomes the ultimate test for a family when ex-wrestler Tommy (Hardy) returns home for the first time in fourteen years to enlist the help of his estranged father (Nolte) to win a coveted Mixed Martial Arts tournament. By chance, Tommy’s fighter-turned-teacher brother Brendan (Edgerton) has also entered the tournament in a desperate bid to provide for his family and the stage is set for a climactic confrontation between the two brothers.
Critically acclaimed as the new Rocky, Warrior is just that. Taking the same basic traits as Stallone’s classic flick – the underdog battling against both himself, his situation and in the ring – the film blends the same facets of action and melodrama and updates it for the Mma generation.
- 2/19/2012
- by Phil
- Nerdly
Real Steel; Don't Be Afraid of the Dark; Fright Night; X: Night of Vengeance; Girl Model
If you want to know just how thoroughly rotten Michael Bay's infernal Transformers films really are, then look no further than Real Steel (2011, Buena Vista, 12A), a guilty pleasure that demonstrates perfectly how a movie about robots hitting each other should be made. While Bay failed spectacularly over the course of three movies (a fourth instalment is, depressingly, on the way) to conjure up anything vaguely resembling either story or characters, jobbing hack Shawn Levy, whose CV includes such underwhelming fare as Night at the Museum and Date Night, hits the nail right on its metal head on both counts.
While the writing credits may acknowledge Richard Matheson's "Steel" (previously filmed as a Twilight Zone episode in 1963), this shameless crowd-pleaser owes a greater debt to the fists aloft underdog mantra of Rocky.
If you want to know just how thoroughly rotten Michael Bay's infernal Transformers films really are, then look no further than Real Steel (2011, Buena Vista, 12A), a guilty pleasure that demonstrates perfectly how a movie about robots hitting each other should be made. While Bay failed spectacularly over the course of three movies (a fourth instalment is, depressingly, on the way) to conjure up anything vaguely resembling either story or characters, jobbing hack Shawn Levy, whose CV includes such underwhelming fare as Night at the Museum and Date Night, hits the nail right on its metal head on both counts.
While the writing credits may acknowledge Richard Matheson's "Steel" (previously filmed as a Twilight Zone episode in 1963), this shameless crowd-pleaser owes a greater debt to the fists aloft underdog mantra of Rocky.
- 2/19/2012
- by Mark Kermode
- The Guardian - Film News
To mark the release of X: Night of Vengeance on DVD 20th February, Revolver Entertainment have given us 3 copies of the movie to give away. The movie is directed by Jon Hewitt and stars Viva Bianca, Hanna Mangan Lawrence, Peter Docker, Stephen Phillips, Eamon Farren and Belinda McClory.
Viva Bianca (Spartacus: Blood & Sand) and Hanna Mangan-lawrence (Acolytes) star as a jaded call-girl and a fledging hooker caught up in a night from hell in the action-packed, sizzling X: Night Of Vengeance, coming to DVD on 20th February 2012 (Rrp £15.99)
Holly (Bianca) is retiring, kissing her successful life as a high-class escort goodbye. She just has to get through one last night on the job. Shay (Mangan-Lawrence) is a teenage runaway, broke and alone. She just has to get through her first night on the streets.
When a twist of fate throws the two women together on a job that goes horribly wrong,...
Viva Bianca (Spartacus: Blood & Sand) and Hanna Mangan-lawrence (Acolytes) star as a jaded call-girl and a fledging hooker caught up in a night from hell in the action-packed, sizzling X: Night Of Vengeance, coming to DVD on 20th February 2012 (Rrp £15.99)
Holly (Bianca) is retiring, kissing her successful life as a high-class escort goodbye. She just has to get through one last night on the job. Shay (Mangan-Lawrence) is a teenage runaway, broke and alone. She just has to get through her first night on the streets.
When a twist of fate throws the two women together on a job that goes horribly wrong,...
- 2/10/2012
- by Competitons
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Haywire (15)
(Steven Soderbergh, 2011, Us) Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender. 93 mins
Soderbergh flexes his action muscles for a change, and why not? Since he can do just about anything and get just about anyone. Pro-fighter Carano certainly convinces in the many punch-ups – she could have Salt and Hanna any day – and she's wisely given little space for acting in between them. It's a slick enough succession of foot chases, double-crosses and close-quarters violence, but it still lives in the shadow of the Bourne movies.
Coriolanus (15)
(Ralph Fiennes, 2011, UK) Ralph Fiennes, Vanessa Redgrave, Gerard Butler. 123 mins
Fiennes trims Shakespeare's martial play and grafts it on to a modern, Balkan-like setting, where his war hero is too proud or noble to play the political game. Veteran thesps help it along.
W.E. (15)
(Madonna, 2011, UK) Andrea Riseborough, Abbie Cornish, James D'Arcy. 119 mins
What could have drawn Madonna to this tale...
(Steven Soderbergh, 2011, Us) Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender. 93 mins
Soderbergh flexes his action muscles for a change, and why not? Since he can do just about anything and get just about anyone. Pro-fighter Carano certainly convinces in the many punch-ups – she could have Salt and Hanna any day – and she's wisely given little space for acting in between them. It's a slick enough succession of foot chases, double-crosses and close-quarters violence, but it still lives in the shadow of the Bourne movies.
Coriolanus (15)
(Ralph Fiennes, 2011, UK) Ralph Fiennes, Vanessa Redgrave, Gerard Butler. 123 mins
Fiennes trims Shakespeare's martial play and grafts it on to a modern, Balkan-like setting, where his war hero is too proud or noble to play the political game. Veteran thesps help it along.
W.E. (15)
(Madonna, 2011, UK) Andrea Riseborough, Abbie Cornish, James D'Arcy. 119 mins
What could have drawn Madonna to this tale...
- 1/21/2012
- by Steve Rose
- The Guardian - Film News
This Sydney-set exploitation flick has a certain intensity, but the buzz fades
Australian director Jon Hewitt comes on like some repentant, social-realist Russ Meyer with this jolting, jittery exploitation flick about two prostitutes in peril. Holly (Viva Bianca) is a high-class pro with dreams of flying out for a new life in Paris; Shay (Hanna Mangan Lawrence) a terrified ingenue in need of a dollar. Together, these two lost souls find themselves pursued by cops and killers after witnessing a drug deal gone wrong, scurrying hither and thither beneath the full moon of Sydney's red-light district as the script clanks and grinds worryingly at their backs. Hewitt's pungent early scenes of Oz's underbelly have a certain crystal-meth intensity, but the buzz can't last, and the film starts to wilt.
Rating: 2/5
ThrillerXan Brooks
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this...
Australian director Jon Hewitt comes on like some repentant, social-realist Russ Meyer with this jolting, jittery exploitation flick about two prostitutes in peril. Holly (Viva Bianca) is a high-class pro with dreams of flying out for a new life in Paris; Shay (Hanna Mangan Lawrence) a terrified ingenue in need of a dollar. Together, these two lost souls find themselves pursued by cops and killers after witnessing a drug deal gone wrong, scurrying hither and thither beneath the full moon of Sydney's red-light district as the script clanks and grinds worryingly at their backs. Hewitt's pungent early scenes of Oz's underbelly have a certain crystal-meth intensity, but the buzz can't last, and the film starts to wilt.
Rating: 2/5
ThrillerXan Brooks
guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this...
- 1/20/2012
- by Xan Brooks
- The Guardian - Film News
Those making films on the subject of female exploitation, especially prostitution, need to be fully alert of not falling into the trap of aligning themselves with the very individuals that fuel a misogynistic interest. Sadly, even with the dangerous locations of Sydney’s very own Kings Cross red-light district on show for the international audience to see, co-writer-director Jon Hewitt and partner, writer Belinda McClory’s new crime thriller X: Night of Vengeance steps into voyeuristic territory with worrying effect.
Spartacus actress Viva Bianca plays jaded high-society call girl Holly Rowe who is called to one last well-paid threesome, before escaping for good on a plane for a new life in Paris, France. After a freak shower accident, she is forced to quickly find ‘a brunette’ off the street, and offers 17-year-old runaway and fledgling hooker Shay Ryan (Hanna Mangan Lawrence) the job for the night. While partying with the John,...
Spartacus actress Viva Bianca plays jaded high-society call girl Holly Rowe who is called to one last well-paid threesome, before escaping for good on a plane for a new life in Paris, France. After a freak shower accident, she is forced to quickly find ‘a brunette’ off the street, and offers 17-year-old runaway and fledgling hooker Shay Ryan (Hanna Mangan Lawrence) the job for the night. While partying with the John,...
- 1/19/2012
- by Lisa Giles-Keddie
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
A few weeks ago I decided to shirk some of my home responsibilities by hunkering down on my family’s couch with a cup of scalding hot coffee and a huge slice of cake (chocolate, naturally) to watch what Netflix promised to be one of the more sensual erotic thrillers Australia had to offer in 2011, Jon Hewitt’s X. Sexy Australians running around Sydney hell bent on killing and/or not getting killed; prostitutes trying to get out of the game but getting pulled back in for one last gig? That sounded like a good time to me. I know we all feel hot and cold when it comes to Netflix and their questionable suggestion algorithm, however I was feeling lucky and honestly the DVD really needed to make its way back to my local distribution after three months of gathering dust. So, why not give what would have been considered a conventional Cinemax after-hours sexy time...
- 1/12/2012
- by Gwen Reyes
- FilmSchoolRejects.com
Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving weekend! Mine was productive and fruitful, so thanks for asking!
This week’s Absolute Must Read — which we haven’t had in awhile — is a recollection about an illicit screening at the legendary Charles Theater in NYC in the ’60s, which used to screen underground films. (See picture above.) Bhob Stewart starts the story that is continued by Tom Conroy and it involves filmmaker Larry Ivie and, mostly, cartoonist Joel Beck.Beyond fascinating is film preservationist Mark Toscano’s write-up on the cue rolls experimental filmmaker Will Hindle employed during the processing of his films back in the ’60s.Cult film review site Movies From Mars took a gander at Greg Hanson & Casey Regan’s Thy Kill Be Done saying they “couldn’t help but wish there was a full length version waiting to come out.” We agree!Film writer Rebecca Harkins-Cross has a...
This week’s Absolute Must Read — which we haven’t had in awhile — is a recollection about an illicit screening at the legendary Charles Theater in NYC in the ’60s, which used to screen underground films. (See picture above.) Bhob Stewart starts the story that is continued by Tom Conroy and it involves filmmaker Larry Ivie and, mostly, cartoonist Joel Beck.Beyond fascinating is film preservationist Mark Toscano’s write-up on the cue rolls experimental filmmaker Will Hindle employed during the processing of his films back in the ’60s.Cult film review site Movies From Mars took a gander at Greg Hanson & Casey Regan’s Thy Kill Be Done saying they “couldn’t help but wish there was a full length version waiting to come out.” We agree!Film writer Rebecca Harkins-Cross has a...
- 11/27/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Jon Hewitt's latest film X, filmed and set in King.s Cross, creates a world of sleaze and danger that isn.t too far from the truth. .We.re at Kings Cross ground zero, and I'm looking out my window and there are two prostitutes standing down there soliciting on the street," the director says. "So, life in the Cross is perhaps a lot more confronting than other peoples.. X is the second film in the Red Light Trilogy and tells of that very subject: the life of working girls in the heart of King.s Cross. .Belinda McClory and I, we live in King's Cross, and we've lived here since 2000 and there was sort of a life and a story that we felt with us every day for 12 years. We felt that we wanted to make a drama set in...
- 11/21/2011
- by Chris Dame
- IF.com.au
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Opening with a titillating full-frontal act of fornication in front of a group of champagne guzzling, celery-stick chomping upper-class lady types, X seemingly prepares you for the ensuing unflinching proceedings that lay ahead. But contrary to the beautifully blunt title this is no exposé of the seedy underworld of Sydney’s red light district – director Jon Hewitt is more interested in setting up some suspenseful surprises that give this film more of a instinctual killer thriller narrative thrust.
Not that we should be surprised. Hewitt is a film-maker infamous in Oz for smart serial killer thrillers like Redball and Acolytes and the sexually tinged Darklovestory. But before that there was his audacious Melbourne-set vampire killing, all-screwing and drug-taking 1992 debut Bloodlust. So there were always sordid hints in this film-maker’s make-up.
The narrative for his latest follows the final exploits of 30-year old upper-class call girl Holly (Viva Bianca) who,...
Opening with a titillating full-frontal act of fornication in front of a group of champagne guzzling, celery-stick chomping upper-class lady types, X seemingly prepares you for the ensuing unflinching proceedings that lay ahead. But contrary to the beautifully blunt title this is no exposé of the seedy underworld of Sydney’s red light district – director Jon Hewitt is more interested in setting up some suspenseful surprises that give this film more of a instinctual killer thriller narrative thrust.
Not that we should be surprised. Hewitt is a film-maker infamous in Oz for smart serial killer thrillers like Redball and Acolytes and the sexually tinged Darklovestory. But before that there was his audacious Melbourne-set vampire killing, all-screwing and drug-taking 1992 debut Bloodlust. So there were always sordid hints in this film-maker’s make-up.
The narrative for his latest follows the final exploits of 30-year old upper-class call girl Holly (Viva Bianca) who,...
- 11/7/2011
- by Oliver Pfeiffer
- Obsessed with Film
Australian feature film X will get a local cinematic release later this year.
Director Jon Hewitt told Encore, despite the film being finished for over a year the plan was always to give X the time to release internationally first.
The film will be distributed by Potential Films, beginning with November 24 in Melbourne and Adelaide before opening in Sydney December 1.
Hewitt, whose other films include Acolytes and Bloodlust, told Encore: “We always had distribution, but it was a matter of when it would get a release.”
“It’s tougher than it’s ever been to get a non-Hollywood or tentpole film out there, be it tentpole commercial or tentpole art house. X is a film that needs a careful and nurtured release. The one thing I wanted to do was release it internationally first. The fact it recently got to 14 on IMDBs movie metre (a week by week hottest search...
Director Jon Hewitt told Encore, despite the film being finished for over a year the plan was always to give X the time to release internationally first.
The film will be distributed by Potential Films, beginning with November 24 in Melbourne and Adelaide before opening in Sydney December 1.
Hewitt, whose other films include Acolytes and Bloodlust, told Encore: “We always had distribution, but it was a matter of when it would get a release.”
“It’s tougher than it’s ever been to get a non-Hollywood or tentpole film out there, be it tentpole commercial or tentpole art house. X is a film that needs a careful and nurtured release. The one thing I wanted to do was release it internationally first. The fact it recently got to 14 on IMDBs movie metre (a week by week hottest search...
- 10/28/2011
- by Colin Delaney
- Encore Magazine
The benchmark for any decent film festival is the level of cinematic diversity it offers. A good mix of entertaining, provocative, intriguing and possibly even perverse selections from around the globe with a few classic retrospectives thrown in for good measure that inform, intrigue, delight, outrage and provoke thoughtful debate is all that one can hope for in a well compiled line-up. Thankfully Brisbane’s 20th anniversary international film festival, which commences on the 3rd November, appears to have delivered that desired ensemble.
While commencing with the Aussie premieres of Joe Cornish’s UK genre-bender Attack the Block and closing with Pedro Almodovar’s psychologically intense genre hybrid The Skin I Live In, and with a few entries bleeding over from this year’s Sydney Film Festival (Martha Marcy May Marlene, Tyrannosaur and Take Shelter amongst others), there’s more than enough fresh material in between to make the trip to another Aussie state worthwhile.
While commencing with the Aussie premieres of Joe Cornish’s UK genre-bender Attack the Block and closing with Pedro Almodovar’s psychologically intense genre hybrid The Skin I Live In, and with a few entries bleeding over from this year’s Sydney Film Festival (Martha Marcy May Marlene, Tyrannosaur and Take Shelter amongst others), there’s more than enough fresh material in between to make the trip to another Aussie state worthwhile.
- 10/27/2011
- by Oliver Pfeiffer
- Obsessed with Film
The Film:
X centers around two beautiful call girls during the worst night of their lives. Holly (Viva Bianca) is a high class hooker that has been saving money and working her entire life to finally leave the worlds oldest profession for a better life outside of her home. Shay (Hanna Mangan Lawrence) is suffering through her first night in the business, shivering while doling out hand jobs to old men for enough money to buy a value meal at McDonalds. The two cross paths on a job that requires two women and inadvertently witness a murder. Soon the killer, a cop, tracks them down and a dangerous game of cat and mouse ensues.
As Holly and Shay do everything they can to escape the predator that seems to be lurking around every corner, they develop a bond that helps to keep them both alive. Along they way the underbelly of the city of Sydney,...
X centers around two beautiful call girls during the worst night of their lives. Holly (Viva Bianca) is a high class hooker that has been saving money and working her entire life to finally leave the worlds oldest profession for a better life outside of her home. Shay (Hanna Mangan Lawrence) is suffering through her first night in the business, shivering while doling out hand jobs to old men for enough money to buy a value meal at McDonalds. The two cross paths on a job that requires two women and inadvertently witness a murder. Soon the killer, a cop, tracks them down and a dangerous game of cat and mouse ensues.
As Holly and Shay do everything they can to escape the predator that seems to be lurking around every corner, they develop a bond that helps to keep them both alive. Along they way the underbelly of the city of Sydney,...
- 9/7/2011
- by Donny Broussard
- Killer Films
Sorry this is so late this week gang!
The Perfect Host - stars David Hype Pierce as a crazy mofo, so that's your sales pitch right there. It's too bad the trailer and marketing for the film really gave that away because I think it's the turn that probably got the film made. Anyway, one to watch out for.
Wrecked - stars Adrian Brody as a guy who wakes up in a wrecked car in the woods with no memory. Good set-up and Brody is great (as usual), but the film fell a little flat for me. I like that it went for realism, the second act was meandering and felt like there was something lacking. Like we're just killing time for the reveal at the end. But like I said, decent thriller with a great performance by Brody.
Bereavement - I don't know much about Bereavement, but it's touted...
The Perfect Host - stars David Hype Pierce as a crazy mofo, so that's your sales pitch right there. It's too bad the trailer and marketing for the film really gave that away because I think it's the turn that probably got the film made. Anyway, one to watch out for.
Wrecked - stars Adrian Brody as a guy who wakes up in a wrecked car in the woods with no memory. Good set-up and Brody is great (as usual), but the film fell a little flat for me. I like that it went for realism, the second act was meandering and felt like there was something lacking. Like we're just killing time for the reveal at the end. But like I said, decent thriller with a great performance by Brody.
Bereavement - I don't know much about Bereavement, but it's touted...
- 9/2/2011
- QuietEarth.us
Movies were destroyed and awards given to the destructors at the 12th annual Melbourne Underground Film Festival, which was held back on Aug. 19-28.
The Best Film of the fest, as chosen by jury head Jimmy the Exploder in in consultation with The Muff team, was the controversial A Serbian Film by Srdjan Spasojevic, which has been banned in some parts of the country, but now available on DVD in others.
Other big winners are: Larry Wessel who took home Best Director and Best Documentary for his epic 4-hour profile of cult figure Boyd Rice, Iconoclast (Watch the trailer.); Viva Bianca and Hanna Mangan Lawrence appropriately shared the Best Actress award for their starring roles in Jon Hewitt‘s X (Watch the trailer); and John V. Soto”s Needle took home numerous awards such as Best Actor (Michael Dorman), Best Cinematography (D.P. Stephen F. Windon), Best Poster (Horror Version) and the Special Jury Prize.
The Best Film of the fest, as chosen by jury head Jimmy the Exploder in in consultation with The Muff team, was the controversial A Serbian Film by Srdjan Spasojevic, which has been banned in some parts of the country, but now available on DVD in others.
Other big winners are: Larry Wessel who took home Best Director and Best Documentary for his epic 4-hour profile of cult figure Boyd Rice, Iconoclast (Watch the trailer.); Viva Bianca and Hanna Mangan Lawrence appropriately shared the Best Actress award for their starring roles in Jon Hewitt‘s X (Watch the trailer); and John V. Soto”s Needle took home numerous awards such as Best Actor (Michael Dorman), Best Cinematography (D.P. Stephen F. Windon), Best Poster (Horror Version) and the Special Jury Prize.
- 8/31/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
In the underground film world, there are some filmmakers who are still so obscure that they’re virtually unknown to anybody. One of those filmmakers is Avery Willard. However, documentarian Cary Kehayan hopes to change that in the very near future. Embedded above is a preview trailer of the upcoming doc In Search of Avery Willard, which hopes to bring the work of this pioneering gay avant-garde film artist to a more public light. Warning: The trailer is very Nsfw thanks to the frank display of male full frontal nudity taken from Willard’s gorgeously shot footage included in it.
In a blog post, Kehayan covers his discovery of Willard’s films while doing research for the Queer/Art/Film screening series at the IFC Center with fellow filmmaker Ira Sachs. The pair headed to the New York Public Library’s Manuscripts and Archives Division where, as Kehayan explains:
Upon...
In a blog post, Kehayan covers his discovery of Willard’s films while doing research for the Queer/Art/Film screening series at the IFC Center with fellow filmmaker Ira Sachs. The pair headed to the New York Public Library’s Manuscripts and Archives Division where, as Kehayan explains:
Upon...
- 8/26/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Jon Hewitt‘s X is a thriller set in the seedy underbelly of Sydney, Australia. A high-priced call girl (Viva Bianca) wants to call it quits on her career, but she has one last job to perform. She recruits a young runaway girl (Hanna Mangan Lawrence) working her first night as a prostitute to help satisfy a good-paying client.
But, during the course of their evening, the ladies of the night witness a murder and the killer targets them next.
Most recently, X has been selected as the feature film for the Melbourne Underground Film Festival’s “Mystery Screening,” which will be held on the night after the fest’s official Closing Night festivities. The screening will take place on Aug. 28 at 7:00 p.m. at St. Kilda Memo.
Then, the film will screen in Hewitt’s hometown as the Closing Night movie at the 5th annual Sydney Underground Film Festival on Sept.
But, during the course of their evening, the ladies of the night witness a murder and the killer targets them next.
Most recently, X has been selected as the feature film for the Melbourne Underground Film Festival’s “Mystery Screening,” which will be held on the night after the fest’s official Closing Night festivities. The screening will take place on Aug. 28 at 7:00 p.m. at St. Kilda Memo.
Then, the film will screen in Hewitt’s hometown as the Closing Night movie at the 5th annual Sydney Underground Film Festival on Sept.
- 8/19/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Movies will be destroyed once and for all! The 12th annual Melbourne Underground Film Festival is upon us with their great theme of Destroy All Movies. The fest runs Aug. 19-28 and to mark the anarchic occasion, filmmaker Palomar has created two official festival trailers, embedded above and below.
MUFF12 opens on the 19th with the highly controversial A Serbian Film by Srdjan Spasojevic, which has been banned all over the world, including most recently in South Australia! So, if you’re an Australian citizen living in or near Melbourne, take this rare opportunity to see this movie that many of your fellow countrymen won’t be able to.
Other films screening at the fest include the epic documentary on the world’s most dangerous artist, Boyd Rice, Iconoclast directed by Larry Wessel. Plus, there are homegrown flicks like Chris Sun’s Come and Get Me, Boronia Backpackers by Timothy Spanos,...
MUFF12 opens on the 19th with the highly controversial A Serbian Film by Srdjan Spasojevic, which has been banned all over the world, including most recently in South Australia! So, if you’re an Australian citizen living in or near Melbourne, take this rare opportunity to see this movie that many of your fellow countrymen won’t be able to.
Other films screening at the fest include the epic documentary on the world’s most dangerous artist, Boyd Rice, Iconoclast directed by Larry Wessel. Plus, there are homegrown flicks like Chris Sun’s Come and Get Me, Boronia Backpackers by Timothy Spanos,...
- 8/18/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Spanish underground filmmaker Carlos Atanes has posted an ominous teaser trailer for his upcoming film Gallino, which is being subtitled The Chicken System and comes with the description, “A pornophilosophical film.” Although the trailer reveals little as to what all that means, it is a pretty spooky preview.
Atanes has directed numerous films reviewed on Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film — Faq, Proxima and Maximum Shame among them — so we’re very excited by this new endeavor.
Keep up with Atanes’ latest progress on this project and others at his official blog.
Read More:Scream Queen: The TrailerMovie Trailer: Jon Hewitt’s XMovie Trailer: IconoclastClassic Movie Trailer: Andy Warhol’s Heat...
Atanes has directed numerous films reviewed on Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film — Faq, Proxima and Maximum Shame among them — so we’re very excited by this new endeavor.
Keep up with Atanes’ latest progress on this project and others at his official blog.
Read More:Scream Queen: The TrailerMovie Trailer: Jon Hewitt’s XMovie Trailer: IconoclastClassic Movie Trailer: Andy Warhol’s Heat...
- 8/12/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
For their 5th annual event, which is set to run Sept. 8-11, the Sydney Underground Film Festival is looking a little more demented than ever. And that’s saying a lot for this scrappy, still relatively young fest, which typically offers ample twisted cinematic offerings.
The fun kicks off with the Opening Night film, the demented superhero comedy Super, written and directed by former Troma go-to screenwriter James Gunn (Tromeo & Juliet); then ends with the Closing Night wallowing in Sydney’s seedy underbelly, X, by homegrown filmmaker Jon Hewitt.
Crammed between these two excursions into violence and depravity is a lineup filled with perverse visions, scandalous public figures, sickening horror, experimental pop culture remixes and more.
For Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film, the highlight of the fest is Usama Alshaibi‘s Profane, a complex psychological, psychosexual, spiritual morality play about a Muslim sex worker who endures a “reverse...
The fun kicks off with the Opening Night film, the demented superhero comedy Super, written and directed by former Troma go-to screenwriter James Gunn (Tromeo & Juliet); then ends with the Closing Night wallowing in Sydney’s seedy underbelly, X, by homegrown filmmaker Jon Hewitt.
Crammed between these two excursions into violence and depravity is a lineup filled with perverse visions, scandalous public figures, sickening horror, experimental pop culture remixes and more.
For Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film, the highlight of the fest is Usama Alshaibi‘s Profane, a complex psychological, psychosexual, spiritual morality play about a Muslim sex worker who endures a “reverse...
- 8/9/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Hopscotch Films have just announced that Deborah Mailman and Jessica Mauboy will be joined by newcomers Shari Sebbens and Miranda Tapsell as the stars of the new Australian film The Sapphires, set to begin shooting next month in Sydney, and then Vietnam. A successful stage musical, The Sapphires was adapted by Keith Thompson (Clubland) and playwright Tony Briggs, and is set to be directed by Wayne Blair, an actor himself (with roles on the stage, including Phillip Seymour Hoffman's play True West and Steven Soderbergh's production The Mystery Project, as well as a number of Aussie films including 2009's Blessed and Jon Hewitt's upcoming X) and director (mostly known for his acclaimed theatre work but who also helmed the recent children's television series Lockie Leonard, plus a number of short films).
- 7/18/2011
- FilmInk.com.au
X centers around two beautiful call girls during the worst night of their lives. Holly (Viva Bianca) is a high class hooker that has been saving money and working her entire life to finally leave the worlds oldest profession for a better life outside of her home. Shay (Hanna Mangan Lawrence) is suffering through her first night in the business, shivering while doling out hand jobs to old men for enough money to buy a value meal at McDonalds. The two cross paths on a job that requires two women and inadvertently witness a murder. Soon the killer, a cop, tracks them down and a dangerous game of cat and mouse ensues.
As Holly and Shay do everything they can to escape the predator that seems to be lurking around every corner, they develop a bond that helps to keep them both alive. Along they way the underbelly of the city of Sydney,...
As Holly and Shay do everything they can to escape the predator that seems to be lurking around every corner, they develop a bond that helps to keep them both alive. Along they way the underbelly of the city of Sydney,...
- 6/1/2011
- by Donny Broussard
- Killer Films
Celluloid Dreams, the Sales Agent and Production Co. based out of Paris have got a pair of films playing in the festival's line-up in the closing night film Honore's Beloved and the Ucr selected Loverboy from Romania. The top title in our books is Marjane Satrapi's Chicken with Plums which is currently in post and would currently be a contender for a Venice slot and Frederick Wiseman's next docu (see pic above) and an Italian number from Marco Bellocchio called Sorelle Mai. Here is their menu items: Beloved (Les Bien-AIMÉS) by Christophe HONORÉ - Completed Greetings To The Devil (Saluda Al Diablo De Mi Parte) by Carlos Esteban Orozco - Completed Loverboy by Catalin Mitulescu - Completed Another Silence by Santiago Amigorena - Post-Production Atrocious by Fernando Barreda Luna - Completed Bullhead (Rundskop) by Michaël R. Roskam - Completed Chicken With Plums (Poulet Aux Prunes) by Marjane Satrapi...
- 5/13/2011
- IONCINEMA.com
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