Category: Movie news

New movie release: A Town Full of Ghosts

A Town Full of Ghosts’ digital release date is June 17, 2022. Photo: google

For fans of ‘found footage’ horror movies: Some towns should stay forgotten. This June, travel to Blackwood Falls. From filmmaker Isaac Rodriguez, A Town Full of Ghosts premieres on digital platforms June 17. (A Town Full of Ghosts, 2022)

A Town Full of Ghosts – Mark and his wife Jenna sell everything they have to purchase a western ghost town in the middle of nowhere called Blackwood Falls. They plan to turn the ghost town into a tourist attraction with hotels, restaurants, and attractions. They hire a small film crew to document their journey and upload the videos to their video channel. When funding falls through, they find themselves stuck in the middle of nowhere. Things take a twist when Mark discovers the town has a horrible history of death. He secretly digs deeper into the past and stumbles upon something evil.

Tensions start to rise when one of the film crew goes missing, and everyone finds themselves trapped in the town. Jenna comes up with a plan to escape, but Mark begins to lose his mind and takes matters into his own hands. Jenna makes one last attempt to escape the town. She gets lost in the wooden maze while something evil goes after her. She must escape or become an eternal resident in Blackwood Falls.

Andrew C. Fisher, Mandy Lee Rubio, Lauren Lox, Sarah Froelich, Isaac Rodriguez, Keekee Suki, and Vania Vasquez star in an Isaac Rodriguez film,

“After visiting the J. Lorraine, TX, ghost Town in Austin, TX, I was immediately inspired to make my next film there. The town was actually all built by the current owner. Some of the buildings were very small and looked fake, but I knew I could incorporate that into the story. A few months back, I saw a YouTuber who sold everything and moved into a real ghost town in California. I wanted to use that basic idea with a married couple and add a The Shining vibe to it.” – writer/director Isaac Rodriguez

New movie release: Guidance

Francesco Chen and Yu Chieh Chiu in Neysan Sobhani’s GUIDANCE. Photo, Good Deed Entertainment, used with permission.

The movie Guidance, directed by Neysan Sobhani and starring Sun Jia (Han Miao), Harry Song (Mai Zi Xuan) and Francesco Chen (Su Jie) will be released in the US on Video On Demand June 17 on all major platforms including Apple TV/iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, Vudu, XFinity Cable, and more. (Good Deed Entertainment, 2022)

Guidance – In the not-too-distant future, humanity slowly rebuilds itself a decade after The Great War. Believing that the ability to lie is the root cause of the devastating conflict, a tech entrepreneur creates a pill containing a nanotechnology app known as “Guidance” that allegedly will make everyone more enlightened. Once swallowed, an A.I. “installs” in the person’s nervous system and aids their ability to detect deception in other people among other enhancements. A young couple goes on a weekend retreat to the countryside and they begin to use Guidance. However, recent events have potentially compromised their trust in one another. With the tech in their bodies, the couple tries to subvert Guidance in the hopes of saving their relationship before it’s too late.

China, 2021, 93 minutes, In Mandarin Chinese with English subtitles

Writer/Director Neysan Sobhani is an award-winning writer and director making short films and now his feature debut, Guidance, in Asia. Raised in Asia and North America and at times officially stateless, his identity was shaped by the diverse places he lived, having fled war and conflict twice while young.

As a diaspora filmmaker, Sobhani’s films have flavors of Asian and Western cinema, with his short films appearing in over 40 international film festivals around the world. Reframing audience perceptions of Chinese films through a blended genre approach, his feature film, Guidance (2021), was released in cinemas across China in late 2021.

Good Deed Entertainment (GDE) is an Ohio based independent studio dedicated to producing, financing, and distributing quality entertainment for under-served audiences. Its distribution slate includes recent releases Summertime, Ma Belle, My Beauty, and Lucky Grandma, in addition to the Academy Award nominated Loving Vincent and Spirit Award nominated To Dust.

Photo: Good Deed Entertainment, used with permission.
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New movie release: Isolated

Isolated, starring KateLynn E. Newberry, will be available for digital/DVD release starting June 14, 2022. Photo: Uncork’d Entertainment, used with permission.

Uncork’d Entertainment has picked up Isolated, starring KateLynn E. Newberry (Widow’s Point, Devil’s Junction: Handy Dandy’s Revenge) and is set for a digital/DVD release date of June 14, 2022. (Uncork’d Entertainment, 2022)

Isolated – The self-contained mystery/action thriller, similar in concept to Red Eye and Devil, tells of a woman who wakes up trapped inside of a room with no memory of who she is or how she got there. As she fights to find a way to escape, she ends up talking to a man in a room next to hers, who claims he, too, is trapped. As she questions whether or not to trust this man, she starts to remember things from her past that lead her to question not only where she might be, but also what she might be.

Directed by Tyler Lee Allen, the film also stars Lanny Joon and David Solomon.

“Newberry commands the screen in this captivating mystery” said Keith Leopard, President Uncork’d Entertainment. “We look forward to audiences discovering the masterful work Allen has done on Isolated this June.”

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.

New movie release: The Fall of the Queens

The Fall of the Queens will have a digital release starting June 9, 2022. Photo: Uncork’d Entertainment, used with permission.

Uncork’d Entertainment has picked up Aleph Cine-directed Spanish thriller The Fall of the Queens, which will have a June 7 digital release. (Uncork’d Entertainment, 2022)

The Fall of the Queens – Two teenage sisters, Juana and Mara, live in an isolated beekeeping country house with their aunt. When their cousin Lucio bursts into their lives, the perfect symbiosis that is their relationship is endangered: seduction, jealousy, rivalry, and the need to destroy whatever gets in the way begins to grow. The hive is preparing for the arrival of a new queen bee.

Malena Filmus, Lola Abraldes, Franco Rizzaro, Umbra Colombo, and Giovanni Ciccia star in the Wicker Man-style spooker.

“A sibling of The Wicker Man and Dare Me, THE FALL OF THE QUEENS has one heck of a killer concept and it’s been executed magnificently,” said Keith Leopard, President Uncork’d Entertainment. “The direction, cast and, most importantly, scares are superb.” 

 

An Act of Worship to premiere at Tribeca Film Festival 2022

Khadega in Nausheen Dadabhoy’s An Act of Worship. Photo: Capital K Pictures, used with permission.

In other film festival news, ‘An Act of Worship’ will have its WORLD PREMIERE in Documentary Competition at the forthcoming Tribeca Film Festival 2022. The festival will take place in New York City from June 8 through June 19, 2022. (An Act of Worship, 2022)

‘An Act of Worship’ is a polyphonic portrait of the last 30 years of Muslim life in America. Told through the lens of Muslims living in the United States, the film offers a counter-narrative of pivotal moments in U.S. history and explores the impact of anti-Muslim rhetoric and policy on young Muslims who came of age after 9/11. Due to their first-hand knowledge and intimate access to the Muslim community, the filmmaking team is able to take charge of the account, which has previously been shaped by outsiders. ABER’s father was deported when she was 16. Now, she is a community organizer leading a sanctuary city initiative in New York. KHADEGA is an 18-year-old Sudanese immigrant living in Michigan. While she feels compelled to advocate for her community, she struggles to overcome society’s expectations of her and find her own way. AMEENA is a civil rights lawyer in California, but as a mother, she is conflicted between caring for her three young children or sacrificing her time with them to fight for change. Weaving together observational footage of these three women with community home videos, and evocative recollections from individuals impacted by incidents of Islamophobia,’ An Act of Worship’ opens a window into the world of Muslim Americans through collective memory.

NAUSHEEN DADABHOY is a director and cinematographer whose work spans fiction and documentary. She lensed an Oscar nominated film, an Emmy winning documentary, and films that have played at Sundance, TIFF, Locarno and on Al Jazeera, HBO and PBS. Her directorial debut THE GROUND BENEATH THEIR FEET premiered at IDFA.

Running Time: 83 Minutes
Language: English, Arabic Country: USA

TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL 2022
An Act of Worship (Section: Documentary Competition)
WORLD PREMIERE
Directors: Nausheen Dadabhoy
Producer: Sofian Khan, Kristi Jacobson, Heba Elorbany

Public screening schedule:
Thursday, June 9 at 5p.m. at Village East – WORLD PREMIERE
Friday, June 10 at 6p.m. at Cinepolis – 2nd Public Screening
Sunday, June 12 at 8:15p.m. at Tribeca Film Center – 3rd Public Screening

Dances with Films premiere date of animated documentary ‘Eternal Spring’

Film participant and illustrator Daxiong. “Eternal Spring (長春)” will make its West coast premiere on June 15 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theaters. Photo: Lofty Sky Pictures, used with permission.

Lofty Sky Pictures groundbreaking filmmaker Jason Loftus’ (“Ask No Questions”) latest film, the powerful animated documentary “Eternal Spring (長春)”  will make its West coast premiere at this year’s Dances With Films (June 9 – 19, 2022), on Wednesday, June 15 with a 7p.m. premiere at the TCL Chinese 6 Theaters (in the Hollywood & Highland complex in Los Angeles). “Eternal Spring (長春)” is a multiple award winner, most recently having won the Hot Docs Audience Award for best film and the Rogers Audience Award for best Canadian film, and both the audience and jury awards for International Documentary Feature Film at Mammoth Lakes Film Festival. (Loft Sky Pictures, 2022)

This extraordinary harmony of animation and documentary has been awarded and acclaimed across Europe in its Film Festival run thus far for its groundbreaking animation – and of particular note, has been its incredible comic-book-style animation that transports the viewer into the brave and heroic world of a group of Falun Gong practitioners. “Eternal Spring ( 長春)” with its story of survival at all costs & battle for human rights continues to draw powerful comparisons to beloved Oscar nominee “Flee.”

This Canadian film was made for theatrical (it is in 2.39 Cinema 4K and audiences are loving it on the big screen thus far from its international film festival run), most recently to sold out audiences at the New York Human Rights Film Festival on May 23 at Lincoln Center & May 24 at IFC Center (one of 10 official selections and the US premiere), and again on May 31 and June 2 at Krakow Film Festival (Oscar qualifying International Documentary Competition, Polish Premiere). 

“Eternal Spring (長春)” – Confronted with government denunciations and human rights violations against their spiritual practice, a group of Chinese activists executes a bold and perilous plan to hack into state television.

“Eternal Spring (長春)” – In March 2002, a state TV signal in China is hijacked by members of banned spiritual group Falun Gong. Their goal is to counter the government narrative about their practice. In the aftermath, police raids sweep Changchun City and comic book illustrator Daxiong (Justice League, Star Wars), a Falun Gong practitioner, is forced to flee. He arrives in North America, blaming the hijacking for worsening a violent repression. His views are challenged when he meets the lone surviving participant to have escaped China, now living in Seoul, South Korea.

Combining present-day footage with 3D animation inspired by Daxiong’s art, Eternal Spring retraces the event on its 20th anniversary, and brings to life an unprecedented story of defiance, harrowing eyewitness accounts of persecution, and an exhilarating tale of determination to speak up for political and religious freedoms, no matter the cost.

New movie release: Erzulie

Erzulie will be available on digital in June and select theaters in May and June. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

A reunion between four friends quickly goes awry when they find themselves face to face with Erzulie: the swamp mermaid goddess in director Christine Chen’s frightening mermaid horror feature Erzulie– in theaters and on VOD during May and June. (Gravitas Ventures, 2022)

Erzulie – Four women accidentally summon a water goddess while reconnecting at a camp in south Louisiana, and a local decides to capture the goddess for himself.

A Kamikaze Dogfight and Gravitas Ventures release, Erzulie stars a young ensemble including Zoe Graham, Elizabeth Trieu, Courtney Olivier, Diana Rose, Leila Annastasia Scott and Jason KirkPatrick.

Scripted by Christine Chen and Camille Gladney. Christine Chen, Payten Brewer and Candice Barley served as producers, with Han Soto and Andrew van den Houten as executive producers.

In select theaters during May :
May 27th – June 2nd: Laemmle, Glendale
On VOD June 14 from Kamikaze Dogfight and Gravitas Ventures.

New movie release: The Policeman’s Lineage

The Policeman’s Lineage features the stars of the movie Parasite and will be available on digital, Video on Demand and cable on June 7, 2022. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Parasite’s Choi Woo-sik stars in director Kyu-mann Lee’s riveting crime drama The Policeman’s Lineage, premiering on Cable and Digital Rental/Purchase this June from Echelon Studios. A rookie policeman teams up with a veteran cop to investigate a serious criminal case that will rock the police force to its core in the new film. (The Policeman’s Lineage, 2022)

The Policeman’s Lineage – Parasite’s Woo-sik Choi stars as Choi Min-Jae, a rookie police officer and a man of principle, who teams up with Park Gang-Yoon, the chief of an investigation team that has an unrivaled arrest record but includes corrupt methods. Together, the two very different policemen dive deep into a massive case that shakes the police force upside down.

CAST: Woo-sik Choi (Parasite), Cho Jin-woong (The Handmaiden), Park Myeong-hoon (Parasite), and Hee-soon Park (Apple TV+’s Dr. Brain)

The Policeman’s Lineage is directed by Kyu-mann Lee (Wide Awake), produced by Han-seung Lee (The Tower), and executed produced by Hyun-joo Jung (The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil). The production team includes production designer Chae Kyoung-sun (Squid Game), editor Nam Na-young (Squid Game) costume designer Kyeong-mi Kim (Okja), composer Young-gyu Jang (Train to Busan), and makeup artists Hyo-kyun Hwang & Tae-Yong Kwak (Parasite).

The Policeman’s Lineage will be on digital, VOD and cable* June 7, 2022 from Echelon Studios.

The Policeman’s Lineage will be available on:
*Cable and Digital Transactional Video On Demand including:
Comcast
Charter-Spectrum
DirecTV
iTunes
Cox Cable
Dish Network
Sling TV
Google Play
Verizon Fios
Fandango / VUDU
InDemand
Vubiquity
Rogers
Vimeo on Demand

Upcoming new movie release: Scare Zone

From writer/director Jon Binkowski and Terror Films comes Scare Zone, premiering on the Terror Films Channel May 27, 2022. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

Welcome to Scare Zone, just another strip-mall Halloween Horror House …or is it? From the strobe room to the masked maniacs wielding chainsaws, knives, and pitchforks as they chase paying customers through the halls of this haunted maze, it is one good jump scare after another. However, as terrible things begin to happen and people end up dead, the visitors of Scare Zone think it is all just part of the “show”! (Terror Films, 2022)

From writer/director Jon Binkowski and Terror Films comes Scare Zone, premiering on the Terror Films Channel May 27 and on wide digital and Video on Demand June 3 (worldwide). SEAL Team’s Neil Brown, Jr, Arian Ash (Lonely Hearts), Michele Simms (Sex Drive), Jordan Woods-Robinson (The Walking Dead), Chris Burns (Bloodline), and Simon Needham star.

“Ever since I first walked through a Halloween haunted house, I’ve had the same dreadful thought; ‘What if a killer has nested in the attraction and, dressed like one of the actors, just walks up and hacks me with an axe… would anyone notice that it’s not part of the show?’” says Binkowski. “Then, as I was contemplating shooting my first feature film… an opportunity presented itself. The Universal Orlando Resort had built an awesome haunted maze right in the middle of one of their sound stages for Halloween Horror Nights. And, because they wanted to feature the attraction in a late November theme park convention, the maze was going to just sit there for 3 weeks doing nothing. That was my chance to answer my own horrifying question! So, my team and I leapt into action! The script practically wrote itself and it was a blast shooting for three crazy weeks on the Universal soundstage. Although I always had that nagging feeling someone was going to leap out and hack me with an axe! “

Upcoming movie release: Fortress of Sin

Fortress of Sin will be released in digital and DVD coming this June from Wild Eye Releasing. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

A father searching for his trafficked daughter finds a religious cult in Fortress of Sin, coming this June from Wild Eye Releasing. Digital and DVD coming this June from Wild Eye Releasing. (Wild Eye Releasing, 2022)

Winner Best Feature Film at Vesuvius International Film Fest, Fortress of Sin is called “captivating” (Horror Geek Life) and “tackles a very real world horror” (Wicked Horror).

Paul Chomicki (Slayer: The Replentless Killogy, Deadly Xmas, Paranormal Halloween), Katie Otten (Inner Worlds, Infinite Adventures), Avi K. Garg (The Shield, UFO Files), and Paul Guay (Liar, Liar, The Little Rascals) star in a Paul Chomicki and Christian Voss film, Fortress of Sin.