Here’s a selection of the horror and genre news that caught our eye during the last week…
Session 9 Coming to Blu-Ray from Scream Factory
Director Brad Anderson’s (The Machinist) acclaimed horror classic Session 9 is set to finally come to Blu-Ray with Scream Factory! Being set to release the Special Edition 16 August, 2016. Starring David Caruso, Peter Mullan, Josh Lucas, Brendan Sexton III, and Paul Guilfoyle, the real star of Session 9 is the Danvers State Mental Hospital where the film was shot.
Here’s the official synopsis: Grand, imposing… abandoned and deteriorating, the Danvers State Mental Hospital, closed down for 15 years is about to receive 5 new visitors. Donning protective gear, the men of the Hazmat Elimination Co. venture into the eerily vast and vacant asylum that is filled with an evil and mysterious past. Rampant patient abuse, medieval medical procedure and rumors of demonic possession are some of the many dark secrets the hospital holds – but then so do each of the men.
Click here to preorder HERE.
Green Room Game Dares You to Escape
In anticipation of the upcoming release of Green Room on 13 May (UK), Altitude Film Distribution and Picturehouse Entertainment have released a Green Room choose-your-own-adventure style game that brings the film to life.
Directed by Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin), Green Room features Patrick Stewart, Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Macon Blair, Callum Turner, and friend of This Is Horror writer and publisher J. David Osborne as an extra in the film. When down-on-their-luck punk rockers The Ain’t Rights agree to a last-minute gig in a backwoods Oregon roadhouse, the gig takes a sinister turn when they stumble upon a grisly murder scene and find themselves targeted by the ruthless club owner determined to eliminate all witnesses.
Click HERE for the game.
Visions Coming to DVD in June
Lionsgate Home Entertainment and Blumhouse are set to release Visions on DVD and Digital HD on 20 June, 2016. After leaving the city life behind her, mother-to-be Eveleigh (Isla Fisher, Now You See Me), and her husband David (Anson Mount, Safe, Hell On Wheels), move into their beautiful new vineyard home. Soon Eveleigh is being tormented by strange noises and intense visions of a hooded figure. No one else can hear or see what Eveleigh can, not even her husband David, who becomes very concerned about his wife’s state-of-mind. Desperate to prove it’s not a hallucination, Eveleigh researches the local area, discovering the history of the vineyard she now calls home. But when the truth reveals itself, what she finds is far more dangerous for her, and her baby, than she could have imagined.
Directed by Kevin Greutert (Saw VI, Jessabelle) Visions also stars Eva Longoria (Desperate Housewives), Jim Parsons (Big Bang Theory) and Gillian Jacobs (Community).
HWA Announce Finalists in Short Film Competition
The Horror Writers Association (HWA) have announced the finalists for their inaugural Lucky Thr1t3en Horror Short Film Competition. Part of StokerCon 2016, the competition received film entries from nearly twenty countries, including Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Here are the finalists:
The Barber’s Cut – Mark Brocking (UK)
Boogey-Woogie – Enrico Conte (Italy)
Chance – Ryan Wick (US)
Chateau Sauvignon: Terroir – David Maire (US)
Drawn to Fear – Daniel Robinette (US)
In The Ruins – Florian Frerichs (Germany)
Ma Petite Sophie – Ruebén Bautista (Spain)
The Package – Eric Morgret (US)
Quenottes (Pearlies) – Mickael Coedel (US)
Scheherazade – Mehrnoush Aliaghaei (US)
They Will All Die in Space – Javier Chillon (Italy)
Three Wise Monkeys – Miguel Angel Font Bisier (Spain)
Wolves – Alvaro Rodriguez (Spain)
These thirteen selected films will be screened at the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas on 13 May and will be judged by a panel of celebrity judges comprised of:
Daniel Knauf, producer, The Blacklist, Carnivale, and Dracula.
Monica S. Kuebler, managing editor, Rue Morgue magazine.
Mike McCarty, special effects show supervisor at KNB EFX Group.
Mark Miller, vice president, Seraphim Films.
Lisa Morton, president, Horror Writers Association.
John Skipp, screenwriter, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child.
Aaron Sterns, writer, Wolf Creek: 2.
Ryan Turek, head of development, Blumhouse Productions.
Hosted by Tony Timpone, editor of Fangoria Magazine, the judges will award one film/filmmaker the Tredecim Award, which includes a $1,000 cash prize and an exclusive one-year “first look” deal with Co-Conspiracy Entertainment.
For more on the Horror Writers Association, visit http://www.horror.org.
Stephen King’s Cell to Hit Theaters and On Demand in August
Directed by Tod Williams (Paranormal Activity 2, The Door in the Floor) and starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, the Stephen King adaptation of his novel Cell is set to release 26 August, 2016. Cell tells the story of people turning into dangerous predators when a mysterious phone signal reprograms their minds. Cusack and Jackson star as just a few of the survivors left in this worldwide epidemic. Also starring Isabelle Fuhrman (Orphan), Stacy Keach (American History X), Cell is produced by Richard Saperstein (Seven, 1408) and Michael Benaroya (Margin Call, Lawless) and will be released by Signature Entertainment.