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Bloodsuckers, the water-soaked paranormal, and a Herschell Gordon Lewis film collection are coming out on Blu-ray this October from Arrow Video, and the official special features lists and cover art for The Herschell Gordon Lewis Feast collection, Dark Water (2002), and 1986's Vamp tease plenty to enjoy on all three releases:

"Mvd Entertainment Group furthers the distribution of Arrow Video in the Us with several new titles in October...

Dark Water [Blu-ray + DVD] (October 11th)

After terrifying audiences worldwide with the blockbuster J-horror classic Ring and its sequel, director Hideo Nakata returned to the genre for Dark Water, another highly atmospheric, and critically acclaimed, tale of the supernatural which took the common theme of the "dead wet girl" to new heights of suspense and drama.

Based upon on a short story by Ring author Koji Suzuki, Dark Water follows Yoshimi, a single mother struggling to win sole custody of her only child, Ikuko.

Wes Bentley‘s first big breakout role was in the 1999 Best Picture Winner, American Beauty. Over the past few years, we’ve seen Bentley in all sorts of films, including Interstellar, The Hunger Games, Knight of Cups, and two comedies more people should’ve seen, Welcome to Me and Weirdsville. The actor’s latest role is in director David Lowery‘s Pete’s Dragon, a remake of Disney’s 1977 […]

The post Interview: ‘Pete’s Dragon’ Star Wes Bentley on Working With David Lowery and Terrence Malick appeared first on /Film.

We return with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting the recent independent horror news sent our way. Today's feature includes release details for One Drop, a look at Evil Lurks in Innocence, a teaser trailer from The Church, a Q&A with Amanda Adrienne from the film Avenged, and much more:

Women in Horror Month and One Drop Release Details: "February is Women in Horror Month, and few women are working harder in the genre than Tricia Lee. The director of the award winning films Silent Retreat and Clean Break has been pounding the pavement to secure financing for her next film One Drop.

One Drop tells the story of Ellie, a drug addict who overdoses and wakes up in the basement of a medical facility. Everyone around her is dead, and she is suddenly nine months pregnant.

With a strong creative team including long time partner in crime,...

International Sales Agents are the core of the current international film market system – i.e., the buying and selling of films worldwide. Half of the approximately 450 worldwide ISAs are based in La, the rest spread around the globe, but it matters little in a business sense where they are based. They gather together during the upcoming American Film Market November 6 in Santa Monica, California, in Berlin at the European Film Market February 6, 2014, and at the Cannes Marche in May as well as other events around the world to license rights to their films to distributors coming from every corner of the world. Their films also originate from every corner of the world.

Shoreline has been selling to the international film market since 1992. Morris Ruskin sat down last week for a chat with me here in La. I sum up our discussion as follows, after I add that Morris’ friendship and professionalism (and good taste!), is in general one of the principal reasons we like this film business. When we travel, which is frequent, it is people like Morris who light up the distant locations for us and, while both of us are L.A. based, we often only see each other throughout the year at various film business related events in remote places such as Cannes, Berlin, Bahamas., etc.

Morris Ruskin was born in South Africa to anti-Apartheid parents. He left there, along with parents and three older sisters, at age 9, to move to Boston where his Dad went to Harvard Business School. Then they moved to Bermuda for 3 years. When Morris was 15 his mother attended graduate school at UCLA School of Theater. There he met Athol Fugard, the South African playwright about whom his mother did her dissertation.

Many years later, Morris Executive Produced Master Harold & the Boys and dedicated the movie to his mother. He fell in love with L.A. and the movies in high school in L.A. His best friend lured him into filmmaking through Super 8 films which they recreated --movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Blues Brothers. Attending UCLA he wrote screenplays, some of which were optioned and he became an intern at MTV, an experience he considered at that time to be “the new frontier” of entertainment.

He soon became employed at Zupnik Entertainment Enterprises, staying for 6 years. He began as a script reader, then moved up to become the Director of Development and finally became a Vice President. His high water mark there was as a Co-Producer for the high profile very successful film, Glengarry Glen Ross.

He began Shoreline in 1992 on his own with a financial partner. It started as a production company. He then had operating money to run the company but No income. Projects were set up at New Line, Warner Brothers and various sales companies but they all got stuck in development. He figured out that there were two viable ways to make money in the business – selling movies worldwide and managing talent. Because he worked very closely with the sales company, New Line, on Glengarry Glen Ross, he decided to start a sales company. In 1995 he hired sales people to sell films and within six months he had three films in play. Morris says this meant “we were off to the races”. He then began to pick up / or acquire other films to sell.

He continues to branch out. In 2012 he formed a management company for directors, writers and writer / directors.

When we spoke he was intensely proud of a new film he served as Executive Producer on, Pablo, which was opening the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival this past October. This is a Spanish language feature documentary about graphic artist, trailer and title maker, Pablo Ferro, narrated by Jeff Bridges. Pablo was Kubrick’s title designer. Born in Cuba, he migrated as a teen to New York and had, as Morris expresses it, “a rags to riches and back to rags life”. The documentary is a representation for how difficult it can be to make it as an artist in the business. Perhaps it resonates with Morris as he has been able to successfully balance the art of filmmaking with the business side of selling movies.

For Morris Shoreline is a “purposely eclectic” company. His team acquires and sells feature narrative films and documentaries. They pick up “foreign language” (meaning – non English language) films and art house indies. On the commercial side they sell “genre” pictures, thrillers, horror.

Now that sales are successful, Morris now focuses his daily work on management, production, financing. He has produced approximately fifty films. Two of those films were directed by his high school friend who introduced him to filmmaking through Super 8 movies! Shoreline tends to be very loyal to the filmmakers it works with. If it picks up someone’s finished film, often Morris works with that filmmaker to produce the next film and perhaps even to manage him or her. As a producer Morris has had many award winning films and multiple films in Sundance and at The Toronto International Film Festival.

He has started a film financing company called Watermark. His partners here are the Swiss / London based Blue Pencil Investments. They will raise equity money for films, will give MGs (aka minimum guarantees) and sales advances. They will take all rights to world markets and license them to distributors through Shoreline.

A film he used to outline his way of working was the 2005 Sundance hit Marilyn Hotchkiss' Ballroom Dancing and Charm School, a romantic film about a couple meeting in a charm school, starring Robert Carlyle, Marisa Tomei, John Goodman and a cameo from Danny DeVito. These elements gave it heat for sales – Sundance, good cast, mini majors involved and CAA. Lots of CAA talent were cast in film. CAA was also brought in to sell U.S. rights post and during Sundance. Goldwyn acquired the film for U.S. distribution. For this deal CAA was proof (to the market) that the film had “the best elements”.

Another successful film out of Sundance in 2007 was The Signal which had a Usd $50,000 budget and made over $3 million Usd from the U.S. alone.

Shoreline acquires and sells lots of Spanish language films now. Some recent titles are Rabbit Woman, The Precocious and Brief Life of Sabina Rivas and 7 Boxes which has been to as many as seventy five film festivals.

Morris’ main philosophy for Shoreline films is, “get the films out in the biggest way possible”. Often these days this means going firstly to festivals as there is often no theatrical release. Festivals can lead to or even replace theatrical. Festivals spread the word, help marketing, get films seen and reviewed, and can even mean income when a festival will pay a screening fee.

Some recent titles he is proud of include A Perfect Man with Liev Schreiber which will be released theatrically in North America by IFC on November 1st, A Farewell To Fools with Harvey Keitel and Gerard Depardieu which will be released theatrically in North America by Monterey Media in the Spring. (About Liev Schreiber Morris says “a good name really helps” and he says that sometimes the films with known cast sell best). Also The Geography Club, which premiered at OutFest and will be released theatrically in North America by Breaking Glass on November 15th, the aforementioned 7 Boxes which will also be released theatrically in North America by Breaking Glass in February, and Baal Shem Tov, a Jewish film in clay animation which Morris says is a very rare film medium and because it belongs in a niche which has attracted much attention.

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Shoreline’s website says the following about Morris’ work and career.

During the course of producing more than fifty films, Morris has structured deals that incorporate deferments, soft money and international co-productions in order to create financially-viable motion pictures. These productions focus on bankable genre content and star-driven projects that can secure success in a sometimes-uneven marketplace.

Notable amongst such productions are the modern classic Glengarry Glen Ross (Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin) which led to an Academy Award Nomination for Al Pacino; The Man from Elysian Fields (Andy Garcia, Mick Jagger, Angelica Huston); The Visit (nominated for four Spirit Awards) and Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing & Charm School (John Goodman, Marisa Tomei, Octavia Spencer, Robert Carlyle, Danny DeVito).

Morris is no stranger to the festival circuit having films in the most distinguished festivals worldwide such as the Toronto International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, and Sundance, where The Signal was sold in a multi million dollar bidding war hours after the world premiere.

Morris’s productions have spanned a variety of genres and locations, from a stereoscopic RealD 3D-animated film based on a comic book being released by Anchor Bay (The Amazing Adventures of the Living Corpse) to a wartime dark comedy starring Harvey Keitel and Gérard Depardieu (A Farewell to Fools). A documentary narrated by Jeff Bridges (Pablo), a co-production shot on location in China ( Wushu Warrior) a comedy that was the opening night gala film at Slamdance (Weirdsville), an action thriller shot in India starring Harvey Keitel (Beeper), a heist crime caper starring

Timothy Olyphant that premiered in The Berlin International Film Festival (High Life) and a South African feature dedicated to Morris’s mother (Master Harold And the Boys).

By consistently developing and acquiring projects that are attractive to domestic and foreign markets alike, Morris has ensured for over twenty years that Shoreline remains a stable yet versatile and ever-evolving organization.

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The website describes Shoreline like this:

Established by Morris Ruskin in 1992, Shoreline Entertainment's Worldwide Sales, Production, and Management divisions comprise one of the longest-running and most-respected film companies in the industry.

Shoreline presents itself via its quality participation at more than 15 major media markets and festivals a year and positions itself to nourish continuous relationships with broadcasters, distributors and festival programmers.

Shoreline has represented numerous award-winning films that have premiered at high profile Festivals such as Sundance, Toronto, Berlin, Tribeca, Rotterdam and San Sebastian, as well as films nominated for Spirit Awards and Golden Globes.

Such films include: The Man From Elysian Fields, 7 Boxes, Father’s Chair, Un Mundo Secreto, Freaky Deaky, Zona Sur, Undertow, Marilyn Hotchkiss’ Ballroom Dancing & Charm School, Weirdsville, High Life, The Signal, and The Maid.

Shoreline’s advertising presence includes a long-standing deal with the Hollywood Reporter for its back cover on the dailies during the Toronto International Film Festival, American Film Market, European Film Market (Berlinale), and Marche Du Film (Cannes).Moreover, Shoreline’s marketing efforts include sponsorship of the Buyers Lounge during the American Film Market. With more than 20 years of experience, Shoreline’s momentum is greater than ever.

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Lastly, some useful links to various that Shoreline supplied to us –

Here is a link to our website:

www.slefilms.com

Here is a link to an article Screen did on Watermark – which is the company we set up with Blue Pencil Investments to finance films -

http://www.shorelineentertainment.com/Pdfs/screendaily-bluepencil.pdf

The number of festivals 7 Boxes has played in to date is 75. It will be released theatrically in North America by Breaking Glass in February. It all started for 7 Boxes in San Sebastian. This year we had Rabbit Woman there, so we hope for the same success. Tom Davia is our director of festivals and alternative theatrical.

Here is a link to all the markets we attend:

http://www.shorelineentertainment.com/markets.html

Here is a link to the YouTube Baby Panda Sneezing that went viral

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAcdvmnZ_GM

From this they made a family adventure film which we picked up. Here is a link to the film on our website:

http://www.shorelineentertainment.com/movies/SneezingBabyPanda.html

We’ve had success with family films and this is a title that is attracting a lot of interest from buyers.

Other hot Afm titles include:

A Perfect Man with Liev Schreiber who has heat from his new show Donavan.

http://www.shorelineentertainment.com/movies/PerfectMan.html

A Farewell to Fools which stars Gerard Depardieu and Harvey Keitel

http://www.shorelineentertainment.com/movies/Ipu.html

The Amazing Adventures of the Living Corpse which was bought by Anchor Bay for North America, UK, Australia and New Zealand.

http://www.shorelineentertainment.com/movies/Corpse.html

Sir Billi which is a family animated film with the voice of Sean Connery.

http://www.shorelineentertainment.com/movies/SirBilli.html

Freaky Deaky which is based on the novel by Elmore Leonard and stars Billy Burke, Christian Slater, Michael Jai White and Crispin Glover.

http://www.shorelineentertainment.com/movies/FreakyDeaky.html

The Geography Club which won the Audience Award at Outfest and will be released theatrically by Breaking Glass in November.

http://www.shorelineentertainment.com/movies/GeographyClub.html

Hidden Moon which stars Wes Bentley

http://www.shorelineentertainment.com/movies/HiddenMoon.html

was nominated for Eight prestigious Silver Goddess Awards, given by the

Mexican Film Press and Critics / Pecime on their 42nd. edition in 2013. The Silver Goddess Award is the most prestigious film award in Mexico.

1) Best Film of the year: Producers Antonio Ruiz, Ray Diaz Gonzalez, Rodrigo Lobo & Pepe

Bojórquez.

2) Best Director: Pepe Bojórquez

3) Best Screenplay: Pepe Bojórquez / David Howard

4) Best Actress: Ana Serradilla Winner

5) Best Supporting Actress: Alejandra Ambrosi

6) Best Actor "Best upcoming Lead Actor": Osvaldo de León

7) Best Female Actress in a feature role: Angélica María

8) Best Original Song: Hidden Moon. Performed by Il Volo. Music by Luis Bacalov. Spanish Lyrics by

Edgar Cortázar / Tony Renis / Humberto Gatica / Massimo Guantini. Produced by Humberto Gatica /

Tony Renis / David Franco. Winner...

Wes Bentley shot to fame at just 21 years old when he played mysterious boy-next-door Ricky Fitts in the Oscar-winning film, "American Beauty". After a series of personal setbacks throughout his twenties, the 34-year-old actor returned to the big screen — in a big way — as head gamemaker Seneca Crane in 2012's "The Hunger Games". (That beard, though.)

His newest release, "The Time Being", premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and will open in limited theaters July 26. Bentley plays Daniel, a struggling young artist who is given a slew of strange assignments — think: film children in a playground — by a quiet, reclusive millionaire named Warner (Frank Langella). Through this process, Daniel discovers the importance of balancing his personal relationships with his ambitions as an artist.

NextMovie chatted with Bentley via phone prior to the film's release to discuss "The Hunger Games" craziness, his celebrity doppelganger, and why he always seems to...

With Christmas coming up on the horizon, it seems appropriate that we’ll have a few Christmas-themed film stories to bring you, and this sounds like an interesting one to me.

Known best for her roles in 8 Mile and Hustle & Flow, both Oscar-winning films, Taryn Manning is now set to take the lead on the indie film, A White Trash Christmas, Deadline report, which is to be a new take on the Christmas Carol story we all so know and love.

The film centres on,

“the tribulations of of a trashy, whiskey-soaked, unemployed hairdresser and mother (Manning) who is visited by three ghosts who try to show her a path to a brighter future.”

Though I admit that I’ve not seen Hustle & Flow (yet; it is on my To Buy list), I thought Manning was great in her part in 8 Mile, and was brilliant in Weirdsville, another fantastic indie...

THR reports that the much anticipated film adaptation of Suzanne Collins’ novel The Hunger Games has another cast member for the film.

Wes Bentley, best known for his acclaimed performance in American Beauty, has signed on to play the role of Seneca Crane in the upcoming post-apocalyptic film.

Bentley is without a doubt an actor of exceptional talent, and I think it’s a real shame that he’s not become more widely known after such a promising start to his career with American Beauty back in 1999. The Hunger Games is shaping up to have the potential to be a big success story, so I’m hoping some of that success will find its way to Bentley in the form of a career boost, putting him back on everyone’s radar.

If you can get your hands on a copy of it, I highly recommend giving Bentley’s performance in 2007’s Weirdsville a watch,...

A couple of our more popular Seriously Random Lists in the past were lists that explored once popular actors and actresses who have seemingly fallen off the face of the Earth (or at least, no longer appear in movies with which we are familiar). People like Rene Russo or Paul Reiser, who were once ever-present, and then just vanished. Today, we're going to do the same with directors. It's more difficult with directors because they work behind the camera and, in many cases, weren't very familiar to begin with. But you knew their movies. Many of the directors below had considerable success before all but vanishing -- some of them still work, on TV or making Direct-to-dvd movies or movies no one has ever heard of. But the fall from their peak has been precipitous and, in some cases, mysterious.

10. Joe Dante

Signature Movies: Gremlins, Gremlins 2, The Howling, Twilight Zone: The Movie,...

Kat Dennings (Nick and Nora’s Infinite Playlist, Housebunny) has officially signed on to play the role of Kat in the upcoming feature film “Defendor”, joining Actor Woody Harrelson (No Country For Old Men, The People Vs. Larry Flynt) and Sandra Oh (Sideways, Grey’s Anatomy). Harrelson will be playing Arthur, a regular man who believes he has a secret identity as the superhero “Defendor”. Sandra Oh plays his psychiatrist and Kat Dennings plays a teenager living on the streets whom Arthur befriends. The picture is being produced by Darius Films’ principal Nicholas Tabarrok (Coopers Camera, Weirdsville, The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifco). “Defendor” is written and will be directed by Peter Stebbings in his feature film directing [...]...

Toronto International Film Festival

Director Allan Moyle has described Weirdsville as a Canadian Trainspotting, which is a bit of wishful thinking. It's true that this picture takes a slightly fractured, surreal look at a group of stoners, but it lacks the inventiveness and biting edge of Danny Boyle's landmark movie. While Moyle's offering has some quirky pleasures, it seems unlikely to achieve either major cult status or boxoffice success.

The plot interweaves a number of discordant plot strands. Dexter (Scott Speedman) and Royce (Wes Bentley) are druggies and low-level dealers who owe money to their drug boss, Omar (Raoul Bhaneja). They think they might be able to get out of the hole when they learn about a stash of money secreted in a safe belonging to a local businessman, but before they can bag the loot they have to contend with the apparent overdose of their pal Mattie (Taryn Manning). While trying to bury the body, they run into a bumbling gang of satanists crying for blood. Mattie revives unexpectedly, but the satanists target her as their next human sacrifice. Soon the chase is on, abetted by a band of midgets.

While some of the incidents in Willem Wennekers' script are bizarrely funny, director Moyle (Pump Up the Volume) fails to provide the energy necessary to keep us involved. The film jumps around following the misadventures of the characters, and the whole enterprise comes to be frenetic and convoluted rather than pleasingly impudent. One problem is that drug humor has lost much of its novelty by now. On the other hand, the satanists are an amusing troupe, with their clean-cut appearance belying their taste for torture. Jordan Prentice also has some tartly funny moments as a height-challenged security officer.

In fact, the cast is generally better than the material. Speedman and Bentley, who haven't quite been able to parlay their good looks and youthful promise into successful careers, demonstrate more charm incarnating these grungy characters than they have sometimes shown in blander heroic parts. Speedman plays the brainier and more responsible of the pals, while Bentley is his clueless sidekick. Both of them relish their walk on the seamy side. Manning, who made a strong impression in "Hustle & Flow," is wasted here, but Greg Bryk and Maggie Castle as the two earnest devil-worshippers bring a lot of flair to their loopy roles.

Technically, the film is fairly ragged, and it tries too hard to make a virtue of its kinkiness. Plotting is far too haphazard to hold the audience's attention. Although this macabre comedy has diverting touches, it fails to add up to a satisfying whole.

WEIRDSVILLE

Magnolia Pictures

ThinkFilm, Shoreline Entertainment, Darius Films

Credits:

Director: Allan Moyle

Screenwriter: Willem Wennekers

Producer: Nicholas Tabarrok

Executive producers: Michael Baker, Morris Ruskin, Perry Zimel

Director of photography: Adam Swica

Production designer: Oleg Savytski

Music: John Rowley

Costume designer: Alex Kavanagh

Editor: Michael Doherty

Cast:

Dexter: Scott Speedman

Royce: Wes Bentley

Mattie: Taryn Manning

Jason Taylor: Matt Frewer

Abel: Greg Bryk

Seamus: Dax Ravina

Treena: Maggie Castle

Omar: Raoul Bhaneja

Garry: James McQuade

Martin: Jordan Prentice

Running time -- 87 minutes

MPAA rating: R...

NEW YORK -- In the latest sale to come out of an active Slamdance Film Festival, Magnolia Pictures has nabbed all U.S. rights to the black comedy Weirdsville, starring Scott Speedman, Wes Bentley and Taryn Manning, from producer Darius Films.

Director Allan Moyle's surreal feature, selected to open this year's fest, centers on the misadventures of two small-town heroin addicts (Speedman, Bentley). After almost burying their not-quite-dead junkie friend (Manning), they run into even more trouble with Satanists, an angry group of little people and the druglord of their remote Canadian town.

The acquisition was arranged by sales agent Shoreline Entertainment with Weirdsville producer Nicholas Tabarrok. Shoreline and William Morris Independent recently sold Magnolia all North American, U.K. and Australian rights to the horror film The Signal for $2.3 million following that film's midnight Sundance screening last month.

"Magnolia has become such a major player on the theatrical distribution landscape for independent films. We're excited to be expanding our relationship with them," executive producer and Shoreline CEO Morris Ruskin said.

Said Magnolia president Eamonn Bowles: "What 'Weirdsville' and the amazing achievement of 'The Signal' represent is the injection of real intellect into the genre film."...

NEW YORK -- Boasting such quintessentially irreverent features as American Zombie and American Fork, the 13th annual Slamdance Film Festival announced its lineup of competitive features and special screenings Tuesday.

The screwball comedy Weirdsville from veteran cult director Allan Moyle (Pump Up the Volume) launches the fest Jan. 18 as the Opening Night Gala film. Scott Speedman, Wes Bentley and Taryn Manning star in what fest programers describe as "the story of two junkies on the run from a satanic cult, a cabal of midget knights, a vengeful drug dealer and a mouse."

Programers say a record 3,600-plus films were submitted this year to fill less than 100 slots, up from more than 3,000 submitted last year.

"What sets Slamdance's program apart this year is a passionate combination that offers a high level of entertainment, social and commercial value," said fest president and co-founder Peter Baxter. "In most ways the program represents the spirit of the Slamdance id. This 13-year-old teenager breaks rules, has stayed true to its roots and embodies the spirit of independent creativity."

Each of the ten narrative and ten documentary films is made by a first-time feature director with budgets of $1 million or less.

NEW YORK -- Boasting such quintessentially irreverent features as American Zombie and American Fork, the 13th annual Slamdance Film Festival on Tuesday announced its lineup of competitive features and special screenings.

The screwball comedy Weirdsville from veteran cult director Allan Moyle (Pump Up the Volume) launches the fest Jan. 18 as the opening-night gala film. Scott Speedman, Wes Bentley and Taryn Manning star in what fest programmers describe as "the story of two junkies on the run from a satanic cult, a cabal of midget knights, a vengeful drug dealer and a mouse."

Programmers say a record 3,600-plus films, up from more than 3,000 last year, were submitted this year to fill fewer than 100 slots.

"What sets Slamdance's program apart this year is a passionate combination that offers a high level of entertainment, social and commercial value," festival president and co-founder Peter Baxter said. "In most ways, the program represents the spirit of the Slamdance id. This 13-year-old teenager breaks rules, has stayed true to its roots and embodies the spirit of independent creativity."

Each of the 10 narrative and 10 documentary films is made by a first-time feature director with budgets of $1 million or less.