Alam Nyo Ba?

Curry Barker’s wish

The monkey paw trope is an extremely versatile concept for the horror genre. The notion of someone’s wish coming true at a great cost usually lends itself to some deliciously sadistic poetic justice and the movie Obsession from director Curry Barker is the latest example of that. The inciting incident comes when the main character comes across a product called the “One Wish Willow,” which grants him his fantasy in real life.

If Obsession becomes successful enough for a sequel, Barker would want to explore more “wishes-gone-wrong” with the One Wish Willow in episodic television. According to Bloody Disgusting, Barker told Total Film,

I obviously have a couple more things that I’m excited about next, but I do see Obsession 2, maybe. Or even, what really is exciting to me, is maybe an anthology. Like a one-hour episode… each episode is a different wish that goes completely off the rails.”

Barker even started brainstorming, “Maybe I’ll direct the pilot with the same DP, and then you could invite other filmmakers to give their spin at it. That would be really cool.”

Obsession

Starring Michael Johnston and Inde Navarrette, Obsession is a story about a hopeless romantic who makes a wish that his long-time crush falls in love with him. A sinister enchantment ensues. Here’s the official synopsis: After breaking the mysterious “One Wish Willow” to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price. Cooper Tomlinson, Megan Lawless, and Andy Richter are also in the cast.

James Harris of Teashop Productions produced the film with Haley Nicole Johnson of Under the Shell, Christian Mercuri of Capstone Pictures, and Roman Viaris. Blum’s fellow executive producers are Leonora Darby (Teashop), Mark Lane (Teashop), David Haring (Capstone), and Ruzanna Kegeyan (Capstone Pictures).

What did we think about Obsession?

Our Chris Bumbray had a blast with the film when he saw it at SXSW. He gave it an 8/10 and said in his review, “Barker guides the film with a sure hand and doesn’t shy away from hammering home his message about the difference between real love and obsession. Many will note the movie’s gallows humor, with gore-heavy moments happening so randomly and brutally that you can’t help but laugh at how demented they are—only to realize moments later that what you’re watching is, in many ways, a classic horror tragedy.”

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Paul Feig and suspense

Paul Feig’s career never strayed too far from his comedy roots, which included projects like Arrested Development, Freaks and Geeks and Bridesmaids. The director subverted expectations with movies like A Simple Favor and its sequel, Another Simple Favor, which started as comedies, then would evolve into darker and more twisted mysteries. Recently, Feig directed Sydney Sweeney, Amanda Seyfried and Brandan Sklenar in the even more twisted film The Housemaid. And he’s set to return for another chapter in that series. Feig’s suspense movies also maintain his signature humor and he continues to enjoy the new lane he’s picked.

Persona

While on a roll with suspense films, Deadline is reporting that the director has now signed on to direct Persona. Not much has been revealed about its plot, but it has been described as a “Fatal Attraction-style thriller with a modern twist.” Persona is based on a novella from author Marc Guggenheim, who some may know as the co-creator and executive producer of Arrow, as well as one of the architects of the Arrow-verse franchise.

20th Century Studios won the auction to acquire Persona for seven figures. It’s his second seven-figure deal in around six months, with his first being An Innocent Girl, a movie currently in production that stars Kerry Washington, James Marsden, Chloe East and Colman Domingo. Guggenheim co-wrote An Innocent Girl and is on board as an executive producer.

The Housemaid’s Secret

In the sequel to The Housemaid, Millie (Sweeney) returns, taking a job keeping house for a woman she’s never allowed to see — only to discover the truth behind the locked door that threatens to expose secrets far darker than her own. Joining Sweeney in the cast of the sequel are Kirsten Dunst (Roofman, Spider-Man) and Michele Morrone (365 Days, Subservience).

Director Paul Feig stated, “It’s been thrilling to see audiences around the world fall in love with The Housemaid and the incredible work of our talented cast and crew. We’re lucky that Freida McFadden has already extended Millie’s journey on the page, and that we get to work with Rebecca Sonnenshine and Lionsgate to bring this next story to audiences.”

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The Trailer

Neon has released the trailer for Her Private Hell and just like other Nicolas Winding Refn films, it feels very dreamlike. NEON is planning to give the film a “moderate release in 800 to 1,200 theaters” on July 24. Refn’s style is very present here with neon colors, beautiful cinematography and a somber, melodic score. Stay tuned for Chris Bumbray’s review from Cannes.

The Cast

Last year, we heard that Sophie Thatcher (Companion), Kristine Froseth (Sierra Burgess Is a Loser), Havana Rose Liu (No Exit), Charles Melton (Warfare), Dougray Scott (Mission: Impossible II), Diego Calva (Babylon), Aoi Yamada (Perfect Days), Shioli Kutsuna (Deadpool & Wolverine), and Hidetoshi Nishijima (Drive My Car) star in the film. Details on the characters they’ll be playing have not been revealed

The Plot

Deadline hears that the movie has myriad storylines, but fires up in a metropolis future where actresses are gathering at a posh hotel where they’re set to make a Barberella-like movie. A heinous killer known as Leather Man is going around the city taking the lives of women.

Refn directed from a screenplay he wrote with Esti Giordani, whose credits include the TV shows The Skinny, I Love Dick, Room 104, Vida, and Stick

Although ten years have passed since Refn’s previous movie, Neon Demon, he has been keeping busy outside of the feature world. In addition to making made two streaming noir series (Prime Video’s 2019 Too Old to Die Young and Netflix’s 2022 Copenhagen Cowboy), he has also been a brand filmmaker for Prada, making shorts like 2022’s Touch of Crude.

The director is best known for making the 2011 film Drive. His other credits include Pusher, Bleeder, Fear X, Pusher II, Pusher III, Bronson, Valhalla Rising, and Only God Forgives. He was also one of the many directors who contributed to the “surreal and psychedelic journey” known as Circus Maximus. Although none of the projects he has made since Drive have been able to match the success or popularity of that film, he has made sure to remain a director worth keeping an eye on.

Her Private Hell‘s summer release date sends it out into the world right in between the releases of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey on July 17th and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day on July 31st. Are you looking forward to the movie? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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PLOT: In a small South Korean village near the DMZ, strange cattle mutilations convince the police chief, Bum-seok (Hwang Jung-min), and a hunter, Sung-ki (Zo In-sung), that a wild, dangerous animal might be running loose. The truth is far more outrageous, and potentially apocalyptic, than they can imagine.

REVIEW: Hope was pretty much the last kind of thing I expected to see here at Cannes — at least as part of the official selection. Typically rather highbrow, Hope, which comes from Korean auteur Na Hong-jin, the man behind The Chaser and The Wailing, rocked the Croisette. It’s is an outstanding piece of action cinema. A sci-fi/action/horror hybrid that runs 160 minutes, the hyper-kinetic action sequences and grandiose filmmaking left some critics dazed — at least at first. But, by the time Hope roared to an ending that heavily implies a sequel is on its way, the Cannes critics were cheering and applauding, with it delivering a kind of visceral thrill no other movie in the competition has really aimed to pull off in the same kind of way.

So, what is Hope exactly? It’s hard to go too deeply into the plot, as part of the fun is how the various reveals are presented, with the scale growing increasingly epic as the film goes on. The whole first hour of the movie is an extended, real-time chase sequence, as Hwang Jung-min’s initially clumsy police chief realizes an unkillable giant monster is rampaging through the village, racking up an ever-increasing body count as it destroys buildings and rips citizens limb from limb. For forty whole minutes, you never actually see the creature, and as some critics are already pointing out, the eventual reveal is a bit of a disappointment, as Hope has one significant flaw — the CGI just isn’t up to snuff. Hong-jin was apparently racing to get this ready for a Cannes debut, and with Neon distributing stateside (where it could easily become a Parasite-level blockbuster), it’s not hard to imagine the VFX will be improved before it hits theaters.

Even if the VFX aren’t perfect, the bravura filmmaking is so dazzling you’ll forgive that shortcoming quickly enough. The opening action sequence is outstanding, with Jung-min a terrific hero, in that he’s believably terrified (I’ve always appreciated how South Korean action heroes never feel the need to be stoic), but also reliably kick-ass when push comes to shove. Initially a blustering cop the hunters make fun of behind his back, despite being so scared that he can barely load his shotgun, when it comes down to it he’s exactly the guy you want in charge as he rises to the occasion, even if he constantly admits he’s having an impossible time wrapping his head around what’s actually happening. One of the funniest recurring gags in the movie is how the mostly elderly citizens of this fishing village all seem to be hiding vast armories of weapons, as whenever Bum-seok asks someone where they got one of the (many) machine guns featured in the film, they always dismiss him by saying, “No time to explain.” The firepower in the movie is extensive, with the amount of rounds and rockets fired in this likely dwarfing any western action film of recent memory.

Where Hope really kicks into high gear is with the arrival of Squid Game’s Jung Ho-yeon as Sung-ae, the local rookie, whose intro, with her in slow motion pulling out a grenade launcher to back up Bum-seok, had the audience cheering. Her and Jung-min turn out to be a potent buddy movie pairing. By the time this sequence played out, I truly had no idea where Hope was going to go, but after about a half hour of downtime that attempts to explain (kind of) what the monsters are, as their bodies are examined, we dive into another massive forty-minute action sequence that manages to outdo the first one.

The whole final third of the movie follows Zo In-sung’s Sung-ki, as he and his fellow hunters find the source of the monsters, leading to a slaughter and an extended chase where he tries to escape, while Bum-seok and Sung-ae, with a couple of locals along for the ride, try to come to the rescue. The final stretch, which involves a high-speed horse-to-speeding-cop-car transfer done practically, is a masterpiece of action stunt work and choreography, with Zo In-sung such a cool action hero as he blasts away at the pursuing monsters with a machine gun that Sung-ae literally tells him he looks like a movie star and that she wants to date him. The comedy mixed with the action strikes the kind of balance a guy like Michael Bay has always aimed for but never quite managed, where instead of diffusing the tension, the comedy adds to it because it’s character-based.

It’s all complemented by an incredible, pounding score by Michael Abels, who also scored Jordan Peele’s Nope, to which this has a few thematic similarities. And, I haven’t even gotten into the fact that Michael Fassbender and Alicia Vikander have prominent roles — but I’m not going to reveal how they figure into the plot here. Many critics are, but to me that spoils too much of the movie.

Reading the early reviews at Cannes, it’s interesting to see how Hope is already polarizing critics. Some can’t see past the dodgy CGI or the admittedly lengthy running time (the director even seemingly admitted at the premiere that it’s a shade too long), but just as many are praising it as one of the most brilliantly executed action films in recent memory, with the Croisette having not seen this much carnage since Fury Road. It’s one of a kind, and a total blast that will no doubt become an instant classic as far as South Korean cult cinema goes. But, in this era where Korean pop culture is gaining a major foothold in North America, it might be wise for Neon to give this a wide, blockbuster-style release, as I doubt any summer action film out of the States this year will deliver the same kind of thrills.

cannes

AMAZING

9

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Like the indie video game the movie is based on, Markiplier’s Iron Lung (read our review here) goes a long way to prove you don’t have to come from a triple-A studio to make a significant impact in Hollywood. Earlier this year, YouTube creator Markiplier unleashed Iron Lung in theaters, based on the dread-inducing horror video game developed, published, and composed by David Szymanski. Produced for only three to four million, Markiplier’s little movie that could grossed $51 million worldwide, turning a profit no one saw coming. That same movie is getting a YouTube release on May 31.

Markiplier announced Iron Lung’s YouTube premiere date on Sunday morning during a panel at Cannes. The film will be a YouTube exclusive. “I’m pretty loyal to it,” Markiplier said about making Iron Lung exclusive to YouTube instead of Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango at Home, On Demand, or any of the other digital platforms for at-home movie watching.

Iron Lung was a hit despite having no marketing campaign

Amazingly, Iron Lung banked over $50 million with no marketing spend, yet it reached audiences due to word of mouth, its social media presence, and people talking it up online. I remember seeing an Iron Lung movie poster while walking home from a Nine Inch Nails concert, and one of the other concert-goers saying, “Iron Lung? What the hell is that?” The person they were walking with then launched into a TED Talk about the film’s history and release. I stayed silent, admiring this person’s passion for indie horror.

What’s Iron Lung about?

Iron Lung takes place “in a post-apocalyptic future following ‘The Quiet Rapture’, an event that causes stars and habitable planets to vanish.” The synopsis continues, “A desperate attempt to explore an ocean of blood on a desolate moon unfolds when a convicted individual is sealed inside a decaying submarine nicknamed the Iron Lung — a descent into dread that becomes as psychological as it is physical.”

When is Markiplier getting back to work?

In addition to Markiplier, Iron Lung stars Caroline Rose Kaplan, Troy Baker, and Elsie Lovelock. While addressing the crowd at Cannes, Markiplier said he won’t be making another film for at least a year, saying he wants to spend time with his wife. “Next year I’ll be working on something,” he said.

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PLOT: A medical resident (Mara Taquin) starting an ER rotation under an impossibly strict doctor (Karin Viard) notices a pattern among some young visitors to the ER. They present with horrible skin rashes and uncontrollable bleeding, followed by psychotic rampages, which inevitably end in their suicides and the deaths of anyone unlucky enough to be around them. Soon, she notices that she, too, has begun to develop a similar rash and the same uncontrolled bleeding.

REVIEW: Body horror’s comeback continues with Sanguine, or, as it’s translated into English, Species. Given the fact that there’s already a horror classic with the latter title, it seems likely Sanguine will be the title everyone uses once this gruesome, clever, and often darkly comedic horror film comes stateside. It comes from director Marion Le Corroller, who makes an impressive debut with this shocker, which continues body horror’s resurgence, mostly under the watch of a fresh new generation of female directors including Julia Ducournau (Raw and Titane), Coralie Fargeat (The Substance), and Emilie Blichfeldt (The Ugly Stepsister).

The film starts out with a whopper of an opening scene, where a harried young employee at a burger restaurant snaps when an annoying influencer holds up his line, beating the man to death before brutally taking his own life. It’s only the start of this nifty horror romp, following Mara Taquin’s Margot as she somehow becomes infected with the same condition she saw in the ER, but that her colleagues refuse to believe actually exists. The film offers sly commentary on the pressures faced by ambitious young employees trying to get ahead, with each victim working in a high-stress job, such as a stockbroker, a freelance journalist, or, of course, a medical resident.

Le Corroller’s film is slick and stylish, with a sharp visual style similar to The Substance’s, featuring bold colors and bright cinematography that never for a second hides the gory, pus-filled scabs that start to take over Margot’s body. The body horror stuff is definitely ramped up, with Margot at one point burning scabs off her body, peeling them off in an agonizingly clinical way, the camera never shies away from. And that’s only the beginning, with some novel set pieces, including what might be the first on-screen birth filmed from the inside of the birth canal. It also has a pounding electronic score by ROB, who also scored Fargeat’s Revenge and is a frequent collaborator of Alexandre Aja’s.

Yet, it’s not all just flash. Sanguine tells a compelling story, with Taquin’s Margot easy to invest in. She’s presented as a good, kind person, and you want her to come out alright, even if the genre makes that outcome unlikely. Recent body horror seems to be skewing toward a darkly comedic mode, but Sanguine is more like a Cronenberg movie: at its heart, it’s a tragedy.

The supporting cast is also strong, with Viard convincing as a hard-as-nails supervising doctor with little to no compassion for her residents, while Sami Outalbali has a nice turn as a fellow resident with a crush on our heroine, who is recovering from his own breakdown but doesn’t realize how the mental side of her problem is far from the worst of it. Kim Higelin also makes an impression as Margot’s adversary-turned-friend in the program, who, like Outalbali’s character, also has a crush on Margot — because that’s one of the side effects of the condition. It allows its sufferers to, for a while anyway, become irresistible and infallible, only for it to later come at a terrible cost.

Sanguine — or Species if they don’t change the English name — should become a horror breakout if it gets a good distributor (Shudder should for sure chase this one). It’s a promising debut for Le Corroller and a great addition to the rapidly expanding body horror canon. Keep ’em coming!

cannes

GREAT

8

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The Asylum has brought us many mockbusters over the years, including The Mummy: Bride of the Dead, Frankenstein’s Bride, Ballerina Assassin, Morgan: Killer Doll, The Jolly Monkey, The Twisters, Road Wars: Max Fury, The Exorcists, Bullet Train Down, Jurassic Domination, Top Gunner, Top Gunner: Danger Zone, Battle Star Wars, Alien Predator, Triassic World, Tomb Invader, Atlantic Rim, Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies, Almighty Thor, Thor: God of Thunder, AVH: Alien vs. Hunter, Transmorphers, Snakes on a Train, The Da Vinci Treasure, War of the Worlds, Hillside Cannibals, Battle for Pandora, Pandora: Fire and Ice, Predator: Wastelands, The Anacondas, The Last Hail M.A.R.Y., and many more. Now, it’s time for another one!

With the Netflix streaming service having recently released a shark thriller called Thrash, The Asylum has swooped in to cash in on it by giving a digital release to their mockbuster Shark Trash! You can watch the trailer in the embed above. The release date is today, May 15th.

What is Shark Trash about?

Directed by Marcel Walz (The Anacondas) from a screenplay by Jacob Cooney (Quid Games) and Jason White (Titanic 666), Shark Thrash has the following synopsis:

A small and touristy beachside town is hit by a storm the size of which nobody could have predicted. A family who just arrived tries to escape, but gets stuck in the quickly rising waters. They try to figure a way out with the help of some locals, but any progress is shut down when the sharks make their way onto the flooded streets. The family and locals must now find a way to survive as the waters rise.

The cast includes Adam Huss (Her Life Is on the Line), Gina Vitori (The Prince’s Ugly Bride), Rachel Emma Goodwin (Nanny and the Alpha Daddy), Nicholas Olbina (Rhythm Is a Dancer), Brian Lemmons (War of the Worlds: Extinction), Leanne Johnson (Dracula: The Count’s Kin), Angelo Kern (Reborn for the Lycan King), Carla Kidd (The Nurse Who Knew Too Much), Greg Lutz (Walker: Independence), Danielle Munday (A Royal Christmas Hope), and Lucas Hart (My Poor Husband Is a Billionaire).

Have you watched Thrash, and will you be watching the mockbuster Shark Thrash? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

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