Saturday 9 July 2016

News Letter for July 2016 - Round up of the Latest Horror News

I have had to do a lot of overtime in my bill paying job lately and so have not been able to blog as much as I would have liked to. Over the last few weeks I have received a load of emails about various things I had blogged about before, not enough for them to get their own separate posts but enough that I could jam them all together in a news letter type thing.

So first up there is a new trailer for the upcoming horror Lights Out that is out at UK cinemas on August 19th. This is based on the short film of the same name and concerns an evil spirit who only has power in the dark. It is from producer James Wan (The Conjuring) and directed by David F. Sandberg (who directed the original short). I didn't think the first trailer was that good, it made it seem like the whole film would just be people flicking light switches on and off. This new trailer is a lot better, with some quite inventive moments that seemed creepy. I really hope the film delivers on the promise the short showed.



Next up is one I am quite looking forward to; The Unkindness of Ravens which last December became the most funded UK horror on Kickstarter ever. This film comes from Lawrie Brewster, the maker of the memorable gothic chiller Lord of Tears. This new film follows Andrew; a homeless veteren suffering from PTSD. He heads to a retreat in the remote Scottish Highlands where he hopes to get better, but rather than help he finds all sorts of horror. Brewster describes the film as "...an unsettling, visceral commentary on the mental turmoil that war leaves in its wake. It's brutal, it's relentless but it's also thought-provoking." The Unkindness of Ravens world premiere is going to be at London's FrightFest (that runs from 25th to 29th August).



Another world premiere at FrightFest this year is the next film from Tricia Lee (Clean Break, Silent Retreat) which is called Blood Hunters (previously known as One Drop). Blood Hunters is a character driven piece about a single mother who wakes at a medical facility to find everyone dead, and that she is mysteriously nine months pregnant. Lee's previous films had some great bits in them so am optimistic this could be good.



Finally there is an update about YouTube show Scream Queen Stream. This show that takes place every Friday at 11:00 AM features horror actresses Jessica Cameron (All Through the House) and Heather Dorff (Truth or Dare) and has lots of interviews with horror friends as well as drinking games, challenges and more. There has been a new segment created called Gender Reversal Parody which aims to recreate iconic scream queen scenes but with genders switched. An example of a Psycho parody has been released, with some impressive mimicking of the classic Hitchcock camera editing.

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