Category: Movie news

Book to movie adaptation: ‘The Cabin at the End of the World’ by Paul Tremblay

‘The Cabin at the End of the World’ is the inspiration for the new M. Night Shyamalan movie Knock at the Cabin, now in theaters. Photo: Amazon

Paul Tremblay is the author of the Bram Stoker Award and Locus Award winning “The Cabin at the End of the World,” winner of the British Fantasy Award “Disappearance at Devil’s Rock,” and Bram Stoker Award/Massachusetts Book Award winning “A Head Full of Ghosts.” He is also the author of the novels “The Little Sleep,” “No Sleep till Wonderland,” “Swallowing a Donkey’s Eye,” and “Floating Boy and the Girl Who Couldn’t Fly” (co-written with Stephen Graham Jones). His essays and short fiction have appeared in the Los Angeles Times and numerous “year’s best” anthologies. He is the co-editor of four anthologies including “Creatures: Thirty Years of Monster Stories” (with John Langan). “The Cabin at the End of the World” is a terrifying twist to the home invasion novel and the

inspiration for the upcoming major motion picture from Universal Pictures. Knock at the Cabin is an apocalyptic psychological horror movie written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan starring Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Nikki-Amuka-Bird, Kristen Cui, Abby Quinn, and Rupert Grint. (Amazon, 2023)

“The Cabin at the End of the World: A Novel” – Seven-year-old Wen and her parents, Eric and Andrew, are vacationing at a remote cabin on a quiet New Hampshire lake. Their closest neighbors are more than two miles in either direction along a rutted dirt road. One afternoon, as Wen catches grasshoppers in the front yard, a stranger unexpectedly appears in the driveway. Leonard is the largest man Wen has ever seen, but he is young, friendly, and he wins her over almost instantly. Leonard and Wen talk and play until Leonard abruptly apologizes and tells Wen, “None of what’s going to happen is your fault.” Three more strangers then arrive at the cabin carrying unidentifiable, menacing objects. As Wen sprints inside to warn her parents, Leonard calls out: “Your dads won’t want to let us in, Wen. But they have to. We need your help to save the world.” Thus begins an unbearably tense, gripping tale of paranoia, sacrifice, apocalypse, and survival that escalates to a shattering conclusion, one in which the fate of a loving family and quite possibly all of humanity are entwined. “The Cabin at the End of the World” is a masterpiece of terror and suspense from the fantastically fertile imagination of Paul Tremblay.

Photo: Google

New movie release: The Last Deal

The Last Deal opens in theaters Friday February 3 and digital Tuesday February 7, 2023. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Sala Baker, known to Lord of the Rings fans as Sauron, stars in the non-stop action thrill ride The Last Deal, coming to theaters February 3 and digital February 7. (The Last Deal, 2023)

A captivating profusion of Heat and Savages, The Last Deal nabbed Best Director at the Boston Film Festival, and later, the Jury Prize for Best Performance at the San Antonio Film Festival.

Black market marijuana dealer Vince is living the high life in Los Angeles, but everything changes when new laws pass making cannabis legal. With limited dispensary licenses available, Vince may be squeezed out of the business. He is desperate to make one final score, but borrows money from the wrong people.

Directed by Jonathan Salemi, and also starring Anthony Molinari (Tenet), Mister Fitzgerald (“F.B.I.”), Jeffri Lauren (Inside & Out), Mike Ferguson (Ebola Rex), Conner Floyd (“The Young & The Restless”), and Gigi Gustin (The Retaliators), The Last Deal is a Scatena & Rosner Films release.

Rated R for some strong violence, drug content, language throughout, brief sexuality, and nudity.

Movie adaptation: ‘Women Talking’ by Miriam Toews

Miriam Toews’ ‘Women Talking’ is now a major motion picture and is playing in theaters everywhere. Photo: Amazon

Miriam Toews is the author of the bestselling novels “All My Puny Sorrows,” “Summer of My Amazing Luck,” “A Boy of Good Breeding,” “A Complicated Kindness,” “The Flying Troutmans,” “Irma Voth, Fight Night,” and one work of nonfiction, “Swing Low: A Life.” She is winner of the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, the Libris Award for Fiction Book of the Year, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and the Writers’ Trust Engel/Findley Award. Her book “Women Talking” is the basis of the Oscar-nominated film from writer/director Sarah Polley, starring Rooney Mara, Claire Foy, Jessie Buckley, with Ben Whishaw, and Frances McDormand. The movie adaptation is now playing in theaters everywhere. (Amazon, 2023)

“Women Talking” – One evening, eight Mennonite women climb into a hay loft to conduct a secret meeting. For the past two years, each of these women, and more than a hundred other girls in their colony, has been repeatedly violated in the night by demons coming to punish them for their sins. Now that the women have learned they were in fact drugged and attacked by a group of men from their own community, they are determined to protect themselves and their daughters from future harm. While the men of the colony are off in the city, attempting to raise enough money to bail out the rapists and bring them home, these women―all illiterate, without any knowledge of the world outside their community and unable even to speak the language of the country they live in―have very little time to make a choice: Should they stay in the only world they have ever known or should they dare to escape?

Based on real events and told through the “minutes” of the women’s all-female symposium, Toews’s masterful novel uses wry, politically engaged humor to relate this tale of women claiming their own power to decide.

Photo: Google

New zombie horror movie: Alive

Alive will be available on digital platforms starting January 31, 2023. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Beware the infection this January! In movie news: in the tradition of 28 Days Later and Cabin Fever comes the new zombie horror movie Alive. It will premiere on digital platforms on January 31 from Gravitas Ventures. From writer/director David Marantz, and featuring an electric cast headed up by Ellen Hillman, Kian Pritchard, and Neil Scheffield.

Alive – Helen navigates a ravaged world with her boyfriend Kevin and her little brother Barney. Desperate to find help after Barney’s infection slowly turns him into a zombie, they come upon a house where Dan lives; he is a man harboring a heavy secret.

Alive, 2022
Horror/Mystery/Thriller – 1h 33m

Forest zombies in Alive. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Book of the week: ‘Lucy and the Lake Monster’ by Richard Rossi and Kelly Ann Tabor

‘Lucy and the Lake Monster’ is the story of a nine-year old orphan named Lucy searching for the sea serpent Champ. Photo: Amazon

Co-written by Academy-Award-considered filmmaker Richard Rossi and retired school teacher Kelly Tabor, “Lucy and the Lake Monster” is a children’s series and soon-to-be feature film that masterfully illustrates how to overcome mental health challenges like worry, depression, and anxiety with childlike faith. It is currently being adapted into a major motion picture. (Richard Rossi/Kelly Ann Tabor, 2023)

“Lucy and the Lake Monster” is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

“Lucy and the Lake Monster” – Lucy Lago is a nine year-old orphan. She believes that Champ, the Lake Champlain Sea Serpent, lives and lurks in the lake by her cabin in Crown Point. She lives there with her grandpa, who she calls “Papa.” Despite mockery and mercenary forces opposing them, Lucy and Papa determine to venture out on their rickety rowboat and bring awareness of America’s Loch Ness Monster to the world.

“For me, growing up in Crown Point was magical. Hearing stories of our legendary Champ, captivated my interest as I swam and explored the shorelines and waters of Lake Champlain. As a teacher, I later took those stories and experiences I had with me into the classroom and shared them with hundreds of students over the years, piquing their interest.” – Kelly Tabor, Co-Writer

“Champ, the sea serpent, is an allegory for God. The pure in heart, like Lucy, see Champ as good. Others teach Champ is a monster for mercenary purposes, the way manipulative ministers scare people today.”- Richard Rossi, Academy-Award Considered Filmmaker, and Co-Writer

New horror movie release: Those Who Call

Those Who Call is a new horror movie available now for streaming. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Uncork’d Entertainment has acquired Anubys Lopez’ backwoods horror film Those Who Call and premiered on digital January10, 2023. It is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, Google Movies, and You Tube. (Those Who Call, 2023)

Those Who Call – The film, starring Angie Sandoval, Yetlanezi Rodriguez, Reese Fast, Kevin Kinkade, and Addison Cousins, tells of two sisters who go on a road trip to Colorado. On their way there, their car breaks down in an abandoned old town. Soon they realize things are not what they seem, and they are not alone in the forest. They find themselves being hunted by a sadistic pagan cult and must do everything in their power to survive.

“If you enjoyed The Lodge, Winchester, and The Heretics, Those Who Call should be on your must-see list. Headlined by two very strong actresses, Those Who Call has so much going for it. We look forward to audiences discovering it in January, when we release.” – Keith Leopard, President Uncork’d Entertainment

Uncork’d Entertainment was founded in July, 2012 by Keith Leopard, a Home Entertainment industry veteran with more than 23 years of experience in purchasing, acquisitions, merchandising, marketing, and analysis of major studio and independent supplier to the home entertainment market. The Company focuses on distribution in six areas: Digital Media, Physical Home Entertainment, Aggregation, Theatrical and Television, Foreign Sales, and has secured relationships across all platforms to ensure your film reaches the widest audience possible. Keith and his team are committed to maximizing revenue, controlling costs, and assuring their Content Partners the highest quality of service, a commitment to market and merchandise their film and a rewarding experience by partnering with Uncork’d Entertainment.

New horror movie release: Twisted

Twisted is available in digital and On Demand. Photo: Google

New horror movie release: Twisted – Available on digital and On Demand.

Twisted – A young woman seeks independence from her protective mother, only to be questioning her own sanity when newfound friends die, and her mother suggests Hannah is the cause of their death. (Twisted, 2023)

Written and directed by Vibeke Muasya
Starring Vibeke Muasya, Vibeke Muasya, Nikolaj Scherfig

Upcoming horror movie release: The Ghosts of Monday

Ghosts of Monday will be released January 23, 2023. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Because any day is a good day for a horror movie: Acclaimed actor Julia Sands stars in The Ghosts of Monday, an unnerving new horror experience from filmmaker Francesco Cinquemani (Eye For An Eye). It will be available on digital, blu-ray, and DVD starting January 23, 2023. (The Ghosts of Monday, 2022)

Mark Huberman (Vikings Valhalla) stars as a television director who becomes embroiled in a supernatural conspiracy after traveling to Cyprus to make a tv pilot about a haunted hotel. Julian Sands (Warlock), Marianna Rosset (Survive or Sacrifice), Elva Trill (Jurassic World: Dominion) and Anthony Skordi (Onassis) also appear in the frightening profusion of suspense and scares.

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The Ghosts of Monday release date

New documentary release: Good Shepherds

Good Shepherds is available on Tubi and Amazon Prime Video. Photo: Google

Narrated by Dr. Jane Goodall and featuring the Vienna Boys Choir, Good Shepherds is a visual masterpiece for the holiday season by director Curt Faudon. It is available now free on Tubi and to buy or rent on Amazon Prime Video. (Good Shepherds, 2022)

The Vienna Boys Choir, alongside narrator Dr. Jane Goodall, present a gripping, deeply emotional, and stunning mix of holiday and herding music from Ireland, Laponia, Kenya, Norway, Palestine, and Austria. It features a haunting blend of classical arias and motets: 22 pieces of inspiring music selected from Handel’s Messiah, Heinrich Schutz, Johann Sebastian Bach, Antonio Vivaldi, George Frideric Handel, and Jean Lheritier, as well as carols and animal calls with traditional herdsmen and women and nature’s very own music. Five years in the making, the stunning photography and visual enhancements create a mesmerizing tapestry of color and images.

Good Shepherds is an appeal to act as “good shepherds“ towards each other and our environment. The Vienna Boys Choir meets with internationally acclaimed musicians and with real – traditional – herdsmen and women in Lapland, Ireland, Palestine, Norway, and Kenya to perform together. Narrated by primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall.

Movie review: Rickshaw Girl

Rickshaw Girl is available to stream now. Photo: Amazon

Mitali Perkins writes novels for young people, including “You Bring the Distant Near,” (nominated for the National Book Award) “Rickshaw Girl,” (NYPL best 100 Book for children in the past 100 years), “Bamboo People,” (ALA Top 10 YA novel) and “Tiger Boy.” (South Asia Book Award winner) Her newest is “The Story of Us,” a picture book from Beaming Books, and a nonfiction book for adults, “Steeped in Stories: Timeless Children’s Novels to Refresh our Tired Souls,” published by Broadleaf. “Rickshaw Girl” is the critically acclaimed story of a young, artistic Bangladeshi girl who bravely defies tradition in order to support her family through hard times. It was adapted into an award-winning film and is available for streaming on Amazon Video and Apple iTunes, from Filmhub and Sleeperwave Films. (Rickshaw Girl, 2022)

In the movie adaptation, Novera Rahman portrays the teenage Naima who, after her father, a rickshaw driver, gets sick and cannot work, is determined to do whatever it takes to help out the family. She is a talented artist and her father encourages her gift but it is not financially rewarding. His rickshaw is repossessed because he has been unable to report to work and her mother loses her job when she is accused of stealing a cellphone. When Naima’s mother dashes her dreams of being an artist, it sends the frustrated teen off to the big city, determined to earn money for the family’s survival. At first she gets a job as a housekeeper but the conditions are so bad she leaves after one day. Out of options, she disguises herself as a boy to get a job as a rickshaw driver using the skills her father taught her. Her creative drive has her sneaking every opportunity to paint and her vivid artwork comes to life in beautifully animated form, along with hope that her emergence as an artist will be her true salvation.

Life’s harsh reality can be tough on anyone, especially children and teenagers. Rickshaw Girl does an exemplary job of combining the grittiness of the big city with the beauty of Naima’s paintings, which proves that beauty can be found in the most desolate of places. This coming of age movie touches on the topics of family pride, female empowerment, and self esteem/respect while sharing the Bangladeshi culture. While it is reminiscent of Mulan, friendship, hardships, and familial responsibilities are elements of the human condition that are similar across cultures and languages. Most importantly, it stresses the importance of never giving up on your dreams, even if you have to temporarily set them aside. It is a positive, uplifting movie recommended for teenagers and adults alike.

** Thank you to October Coast for an advanced screening.