Southland Tales

From Richard Kelly, creator of (one of my favourite films) Donnie Darko.

“HAVE A NICE APOCALYPSE!” or “THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS, NOT WITH A WHIMPER BUT WITH A BANG!”

I watched the checkdisk, my brain went to mush. And I could quite easily imagine that is where the above quotes come from, the mushing and/exploding of the brain. As Richard Kelly apparently said, “You need to watch it twice to unlock its mysteries”. Yeah, no brainer really, it’s like a weird comic with so many strands and freaky things all at once it makes me think maybe he made it for his own amusement - a lets see how many ideas and effects and storylines and actors and other such things we can have in a large viewing timeframe-, and forgot there were people who were looking forward to it, to having to pay to watch it, to at least get some semblence of a cohesive story from watching it.

I’ll be putting myself through 2 hrs 25 minutes in the next day or so, and hopefully will be able to work out what the heck was going on.

By the way, the above doesn’t mean I dislike it, it’s just a lot for the five senses to take in. I think two of mine shutdown after about an hour and a half, so, once they’re bolstered up and recovered, I’ll re examine the film.

Until then, here’s some info to whet your appetite…
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Night Is Day : Full Feature

Fraser Coull at Silly Wee Films are to release the episodes of Night Is Day as a feature length edit.

The sci-fi/drama series follows the life of Jason Mackenzie, a young Glaswegian who is bestowed with the power of ancient lightening demi-gods, allowing him the power of foresight whenever he touches another human being.

However when he does, a charge of electrical energy transfers from his body into the person he touches. This can be fatal to both Jason and anyone he comes into contact with.

The feature length DVD is due for release in January. It will include a 50 minute behind the scenes documentary, outtakes from all 6 episodes, cast interviews, a photo gallery, promotional trailers and a music video for Transaudio’s “Frequencies” which is the official theme tune to the series.

Seeing the outcome of the editing will be interesting: will it be edited straight off as it is, sequentially, or will it be edited (as much as can be) across episodes…

You can get upto the minute information from the newly designed nightisday.com.

Watch episodes of Night Is Day.

Read other articles/reviews/background on Night Is Day.

A world where men and women carry magic in their blood, and spilling it can unleash terrible power

Near the start of its development, we reviewed episode one and episode two of BloodSpell.

It has now been edited together, and the entire story has been released as a feature film, available for free download.

BloodSpell has been four years (and one month) in the making. It’s a “punk fantasy” adventure
story, about a world where some people are infected with magic in their blood. When that blood is spilled, the magic comes out, to harm or heal.

These people have been forced into slums and magical hiding places by the Church of the Angels, who believes they must hunt the “Blooded” down and bring them to their Angelic master to be “cleansed”. The story starts when a young warrior monk in training with the Church discovers that he has magic in his blood, and has to flee into the world of the Blooded…
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Daywatch (Dnevnoi Dozor): Exclusive Film Clip

Day Watch (Dnevnoy dozor) is the sequel to Night Watch (Nochnoy dozor) and is due to be released October 5th 2007. It is directed by Timur Bekmambetov, produced by Konstantin Ernst and Anatoly Maximov, with the screenplay by Segei Lukyanenko, Timur Bakmambetov and Alexander Talal.

Starring Maria Porishina, Vladimir Menshov, Galina Tyunina, Victor Verzhbitskiy, Zhanna Friske, Dima Martyniv, Valeriy Zolothukhin and Aleksey Chadov.

To show you what the visual effects, sound effects and overall essence of the film will be, we’ve been given an exclusive clip of Day Watch for you to look at. If you’re into fantasy with some neat, but not over the top, effects, then have a look at this.

It’s not too long and will give you a nice taste of the film.

Day Watch Exclusive Clip:

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All Posts For NightWatch / DayWatch (Interviews, images, trailers).
Part 1: NightWatch To DayWatch (Dnevnoi Dozor) Introduction
Part 2: Inside The Film’s Origin: DayWatch (Dnevnoi Dozor)
Part 3: Casting Of The Dark And Light Ones: DayWatch (Dnevnoi Dozor)

:.: :.::. ..:: .:

Night Is Day : Promotional Pictures by Richard Hawkins on August 17th, 2006

Bloodspell Free Download Full Length Feature by Richard Hawkins on October 21st, 2007

Deaden: Screening At Fantasia Film Festival, Montreal, Canada by Richard Hawkins on June 28th, 2007

Bill Pullman As Philip K. Dick? by Richard Hawkins on August 5th, 2006

I, Robot by Richard Hawkins on July 29th, 2005

Un Vaso di Buio (Italian Title), A Vase Of Darkness (English Title)

In production from Pulsemedia situated in Reggio Nell’ Emilia, Italy, this enticing fantasy follows a small nine year old boy on his journey and destiny.

It is directed by Lazzaro M. Ferrari, written and produced by Tara Thomson and the executive producer is Roberto Ruini, founder of Pulsemedia. Director of photography is Tobia Sempi. It was shot on state of the art HD equipment and is currently about 12 minutes long.

The story is based on a Native American Legend, where an old man has stolen the night and placed it in a vase. The villagers bake under the sun all day and cannot sleep nor dream because night never comes. The boy goes on a journey with the horse and discovers his destiny/curse restoring the balance. The imagery is modern and surreal.

A Vase Of Darkness will have two versions; one all in Italian and one with English narration and English subtitles. It will be very easy to follow as there is very little dialogue.

In process is the cutting of the back stage interviews with the director, writer and other people involved in the project. Including the animal trainer who supplied the ‘fable like’ white snow pony that is used for a major part of the film, and the head of one of the largest and oldest factories in Europe, bombed for manufacturing war planes. The village looks like an abandoned village from the past and creates an ideal backdrop for the story. A scene includes a shot in the warehouse space which holds an enormous furnace which was used to melt metals.

The soundtrack was done by Massimo Zamboni of the former CCCP and CSI. The final publicity shot selection and captions will be finalized soon and I will put them up then.

Pulsemedia are a few weeks away from the final cut and final soundtrack, hoping to meet the deadline of August 31st ready for the Torino Film Festival (if they decide to enter). Eventually they hope to submit it to top Film Festivals around the world.

BlinkBox: Express Yourself With Scifi Film And TV Content

BlinkBox: Beta Phase

Blinkbox lets you express yourself with great film and TV content. Blinks, as they are called, are film clips tagged with personal messages that can be sent to anyone via email or mobile, and are embeddable on blogs, sites and social network profiles. There’s already loads of SciFi (only a small part of the full content) to be blinked from.

We’re currently in the middle of ‘getting the hang of it’, so once we’ve used it in anger, we’ll be able to give you the low down. As a taster, I’ve created a most non-scifi, yet hilarious, blink from the scifi film . Unfortunately, after that I couldn’t either retrieve it via my mobile phone or actually navigate from the blink creation page - these things are to be expected on a beta system, so be patient. I’ll update you once I’ve gotten the blink to blink on.

There’s limited availability of invites for the beta phase, but anyone who signs up will receive £1 free credit. It’s free to email blinks, it only costs 25p to send to a mobile device.

Heads-up! Competition:
In addition to this for the first two weeks of the campaign we are running a competition to win one Golden Pass and two Standard Passes to the London Comicon on the 1st and 2nd September for the best Sci–Fi blink created. Click here for details.

Update: It’s now blinking, so: As a taster, I’ve created a most non-scifi, yet hilarious, blink from the scifi film A Scanner Darkly. (Minus any text, which I believe you can add at build time).

www.blinkBox.com

It works well on a mobile phone too, a lot clearer than I thought it would be, and the download speed is respectable.

P.S. Youtube is Old Skool. Well, in all fairness, BlinkBox seems to be geared around films and tv, rather than home-movies, so they’re different beasts… probably.

From the director of Blue Velvet & Mulholland Drive

Inland Empire, written and directed by David Lynch

Starring Laura Dern, Jeremy Irons, Justin Theroux and Harry Dean Stanton

Will be out on DVD on 20 August 2007

David Lynch’s first film since the award-winning Mulholland Drive (and his first shot completely on digital) is a complex Hollywood mystery that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality and features an astonishing performance by Laura Dern.

Inland Empire Synopsis

Dern plays Nikki Grace, an actress preparing for her biggest role yet, a Hollywood movie from an acclaimed director (played by Jeremy Irons) opposite an amorous leading man (Justin Theroux). But when she finds herself falling for her co-star, she realizes that her life is beginning to mimic the fictional film that they’re shooting. Adding to her confusion is the revelation that the current film is a remake of a doomed polish production that was never finished due to an unspeakable tragedy…

Inland Empire DVD Extras

The release is packed with a suprising amount of extras: Guardian interview at the NFT with David Lynch / A Short Interview in London / Conversation with David Lynch by Mike Figgis / A Masterclass with David Lynch / Interview at the Cartier Foundation

Inland Empire DVD Smallprint

Cert: 15 /

Running Time: 173 mins approx /

Region 2 /

Aspect Ratio: 1.85.1 Anamorphic /

Colour PAL / Stereo 5.1 /

Cat No: OPTD0961 / English Language /

RRP: £17.99

Inland Empire Film Images
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The Bourne Story Is Back (calm down girls)

This isn’t really scifi, but when I saw The Bourne Identity (and The Bourne Supremacy to some extent) it reminded me of Philip K Dick (probably Paycheck) - a person struggling with his environment, not knowing who he really was, or is, and venturing to find out by learning about what’s locked in is mind.

Let’s hope it keeps the same vein as the earlier movies (and ok, I admit I’ve only read the first book, couldn’t quite get into the others).

Matt Damon returns as the trained assassin Jason Bourne for the latest showdown in The Bourne Ultimatum. In the follow-up to 2002’s The Bourne Identity and 2004’s The Bourne Supremacy—the smash hits that have earned over $500 million at the global box office—acclaimed director Paul Greengrass (United 93, The Bourne Supremacy) joins returning cast members Julia Stiles and Joan Allen and new additions David Strathairn, Paddy Considine and Edgar Ramirez.

All he wanted was to disappear. Instead, Jason Bourne is now hunted by the people who made him what he is. Having lost his memory and the one person he loved, he is undeterred by the barrage of bullets and a new generation of highly-trained killers. Bourne has only one objective: to go back to the beginning and find out who he was.

Now, in the new chapter of this espionage series, Bourne will hunt down his past in order to find a future. He must travel from Moscow, Paris, Madrid and London to Tangier and New York City as he continues his quest to find the real Jason Bourne—all the while trying to outmaneuver the scores of cops, federal officers and Interpol agents with him in their crosshairs.

The Bourne Ultimatum was shot in Morocco, Spain, France, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Bourne Ultimatum Teaser Trailer:

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Daywatch (Dnevnoi Dozor): A Russian Fantasy Horror Epic

Casting Of The Dark And Light Ones

At the heart of Day Watch (Dnevnoi Dozor) are the supernatural creatures of both the Day Watch and the Night Watch who wage a nocturnal war when the city of Moscow is asleep. Director Timur Bekmambetov knew that a key to making his film viscerally and emotionally exciting would be finding actors who could stand clearly on opposite sides of the Good and Evil divide. This took a very special casting process.

Bekmambetov began by separating leading Russian actors into two different groups. “I felt that there are actors who look like actors and there are actors who just look like people. We cast the actors who look like actors as the Dark Ones because they are very cool, very original, interesting and proud. But those actors who look like regular people, they were cast as the Light Ones, the members of the Night Watch. So for example, there is the character of Svetlana, the woman who wherever she goes misfortune happens. To play her we cast Maria Poroshina who to me looks like a normal Russian girl from the street. On the other hand, to play the character Alisa from the Day Watch, we chose an actress, Zhanna Friske, who in real life is a famous Russian pop star.”

Taking advantage of Russia’s highly trained ranks of actors, Bekmembatov also put the emphasis on finding those who could handle not only the film’s intense action but also would probe their characters emotional and psychological worlds. He believes this sets Day Watch apart from other modern horror fantasies. “In American fantasy movies the characters aren’t usually so deep,” he comments. “But here we have access to Russian actors who have a very strong schooling in Stanislavsky. So, because of that, we could bring to the fantasy genre very deep characters and very complicated relationships and a lot of complexity of story through the performances.”

Bekmambetov cast Konstantin Khabensky, one of Russia’s most popular actors, in the lead role of Anton Gorodetsky, one of the premier Protectors of Light as a member of the Night Watch. Bekmambatov found Khabensky a perfect match for the wide-ranging role of Anton. “Konstantin is a very good dramatic actor but at the same time he has the skills of a character actor,” says Bekmambetov. “He’s like a clown, he can play funny, he can play extravagant, and it’s a good combination, because to bring the Russian audience into this world of creatures I needed an actor who would be entirely believable.”

As Boris Geser, businessman by day, leader of the Night Watch by night, Bekmambetov cast Vladimir Menshov, the star of the Oscar®-winning film Moscow Does Not Believe In Tears and a multi-talented actor, writer and director. The head of the Protectors of Light for centuries, Geser is both a father figure and a figurehead of all that is good. He is instrumental in saving his comrade Anton from a near-fatal encounter with the Warriors of Darkness.

“Boris is one of the few Russian directors to have won an Oscar, and he is a very Russian person,” notes Bekmambetov. “His image to Russian audiences is like that of political party chief or bureaucrat – so I thought he would be an interesting and a funny person to represent the leader of the Light forces.”

In contrast, as Zavulon, leader of the Day Watch, Bekmambetov called upon Victor Verzhbitskiy, a friend from art school, who appeared in both The Peshavar Waltz and Gladiatrix. A master of all that is evil and dark, Zavulon rules over the Day Watch. Though the Warriors of Darkness have maintained balance with the Protectors of Light, the vampires and shape shifters that make up the Day Watch are desperate to command the soul of the Great One – which will shift the balance of power in their favor.

Filling out the cast are a combination of Russian theatre and film actors, including Galina Tyunina as the Sorceress Olga, Aleksey Chadov as Kostya the young vampire and Valeriy Zolotukhin as Kostya’s father.

All Posts For NightWatch (Interviews, images, trailers).
Part 1: NightWatch To DayWatch (Dnevnoi Dozor) Introduction
Part 2: Inside The Film’s Origin: DayWatch (Dnevnoi Dozor)
Part 3: Casting Of The Dark And Light Ones: DayWatch (Dnevnoi Dozor)
Exclusive Clip: The Chalk

BOLLYHORROR! AT THE ICA, LONDON

A Season Of South Asian Horror

17– 31 August 2007, ICA, London

Directions to the ICA, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH.
See all ICA (Institute Of Contemporary Arts) related articles / viewings open to the public.

18 August 2007 – Zibahkhana – Hell’s Ground London premiere with director Q&A

Zibahkhana – Hell’s Ground / Bhoot (Ghost) / Bandh Darwaza (Closed Door) / Purana Mandir (The Old Temple) / Nagin (The Female Snake) / Mahal (The Palace) / Darna Mana Hai (Don’t Be Afraid)

Celebrate the darker side of Bollywood with a season of Bollywood Horror at the ICA including the London premiere of Zibahkhana – Hell’s Ground Pakistan’s first gore movie on 18th August.

From 17 – 31 August, seven Bollyhorrors will be screened at the ICA charting the rise of the Horror genre from the south Asian movie industry. The classic ghost tale Mahal (The Palace – 1949), kicks off this season that takes us through to the 70’s and 80’s with murderous revenge thriller Nagin (The Female Snake - 1976 TBC) and the best of Bollywoods answer to Wes Craven; Shyam and Tulsi Ramsay’s films Purana Mandir (The Old Temple - 1984) unleashing Bollywood’s first homegrown monster and Bandh Darwaza (Closed Door - 1990) their homage to the Dracula stories. Demonic possessions come in the form of Bhoot (Ghost -2003) drawing inspiration from the Exorcist and Darna Mana Hai (2003). All culminating in an Exclusive preview of the first gore movie to come out of Pakistan Zibahkhana – Hell’s Ground(2006).

Zibahkhana – Hell’s Ground

Pakistan’s first gore film Zibahkhana – Hell’s Ground is the first modern horror film to be shot in Pakistan. Made on a shoestring budget and breaking all of the rules of local productions Hells Ground unleashes a new generation of film making talent on audiences. Five teens get lost on their way to a rock concert, are menaced by flesh eating mutations and then fall into the clutches of a family of backwoods killers. The film includes copious amounts of gore alongside a splattering of social commentary and several slices of dark humour.

Directed by Omar Ali Khan, Pakistan 2006, 90mins, English subtitles.

http://www.zibahkhana.com

Darna Mana Hai

Six friends get stranded in a dense forest after their car breaks down. They find an abandoned ruin, light a bonfire and therein begins the backdrop for each of them to share their own ghoulish stories with each other. From a husband trying to shock his wife, a schoolteacher spooked by a mysterious turnaround in an underperforming pupil to a bizarre hitchhiking experience. All these stories are underpinned by the mysterious disappearances of each of the friends throughout the night. Featuring Shilpa Shetty, Saif Ali Khan, Samira Reddy and Nana Patekar.

Directed by Prawal Rawan, India, 2003.

Bhoot

A young couple; Vishal & Swati move into their ideal home on the 12 floor of the high rise. Undeterred by the discovery that the previous tenant was a woman who killed her son and committed suicide. After a while Swati’s strange behaviour begins to change as she is slowly possessed by the malingnant spirit wanting to exact revenge. Loaded with atmospheric sound effects and some surprise scenes that definitely nod to The Exorcist the film, like Darna Mana Hai also departs from adding musical numbers in favour of tension building climaxes.

Directed by Ram Gopal Varma, India 2003, 113mins, English subtitles.

Bandh Darwaza
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Trivia for Ghost Rider Film (2007)

Jon Voight was attached to the project at one point but dropped out.

Nicolas Cage had to have his Ghost Rider tattoo covered with make-up in order to play Johnny Blaze (Ghost Rider).

A large group of on-lookers converged on a bridge in Melbourne to watch scenes being filmed in a nearby location. Over the four days of filming at this location, the crowds grew so large that traffic was often disrupted and public transport operators reported an unusual jump in passenger traffic to the area.

Some scenes were filmed near Flinders St Station, the busiest railway station in Melbourne. Parts of the station were closed for filming, as well as minor alterations to train services being made.

Nicolas Cage’s hairpiece required three hours to apply every day.

To create the Ghost Rider’s voice, sound designer Don Davis recorded all of Nicolas Cage’s lines as the Ghost Rider, and then filtered them through three different kinds of animal growls (played backwards, covering three separate frequencies) and then played them through a mechanical volumizer, before finally giving them a fiery crackle. Director Mark Steven Johnson compared it to “a deep, demonic, mechanical lion’s roar” and says that “one thing is for sure, his voice will shake the theatre!”
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Daywatch (Dnevnoi Dozor): The Story Behind The Film

Sergei Lukyanenko and Vladimir Vasiliev’s novel Day Watch — and its prequel Night Watch and sequel Dusk Watch — marked a watershed in Russian literature. The book’s story of supernatural battles breaking out on the frenetic, everyday streets of modern Moscow struck a resonant chord with a whole new crowd — young Russian readers, fantasy fans and Internet users — who turned them into instant hip, cult classics, selling 500,000 copies. Since the Russian release of the feature films Day Watch (Dnevnoi Dozor) and Night Watch (Nochnoi Dozor), the trilogy has gone on to sell another 2.5 million copies.

A prolific author who was originally trained as a psychiatrist, Sergei Lukyanenko had always wanted to write an epic tale of ancient magic set loose in our modern times. “I’d been eager to write fantasy for quite some time, but neither gnomes nor elves were of any interest to me,” explains Lukyanenko whose other books include the trilogy Line Of Reveries and Knights Of The Forty Islands. “Then, I had an intriguing notion: this idea of the Night as a battlefield for magicians who live in hiding among us ordinary people and can only fight when it won’t disturb humanity. From this came the further idea of the Night Watch, a special unit created to control the magicians. This then led to the development of the Night Watch’s antagonist, the Day Watch, and their eternal battle against one another.”

Soon, the supernatural beings who run the Night Watch and the Day Watch – beings with devastating magical powers who operate just one step away from the normal urban reality of rundown apartments and crowded subways — were captivating readers across the nation. Among those readers was leading Russian film producer Konstantin Ernst, who is also the General Director of Channel One Russia, Russia’s biggest and most successful television network. Ernst wasn’t usually drawn to works of fantasy, but when he picked up Night Watch, he found that he couldn’t put it down. Now, fueled by a passionate enthusiasm for the story’s cinematic possibilities, he immediately dove into development, along with fellow producer Anatoly Maximov. Nine months later, shooting began with a screenplay adapted by Lukyanenko himself in collaboration with Timur Bekmambetov.

To direct Lukyanenko’s tale of witches, warlocks and vampires set loose on city streets, the producers knew they would need a true visual innovator. They started looking for someone with a distinct and original sense of both story and style – and someone who could combine the powerhouse thrills of modern special-effects filmmaking with a personal understanding of the Russian soul. They found what they were looking for in Kazakhstan-born Timur Bekmambetov, an acclaimed creative powerhouse in the fields of commercials and music videos, who has helmed more than 600 ads for brands including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Apple, Microsoft, Ford and Procter & Gamble. Bekmambetov made his feature film directing debut in 1994 with The Peshavar Waltz, an art-house film about the war in Afghanistan, and his second film, Gladiatrix (2000) (also known as The Arena), was filmed in English and co-produced by the legendary Roger Corman.
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Ghost Rider Available On DVD UMD Video And Blue-Ray

Marvel Comic’s flame-skulled spirit of vengeance burns up the screen this summer as Ghost Rider roars onto DVD in a new two disc Extended Cut on 2nd July 2007, also available to buy on UMD™ Video and Blu-ray and to rent on DVD, courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.

Written and directed by Mark Steven Johnson (Daredevil), Ghost Rider stars Academy Award® winner Nicolas Cage (Grindhouse, World Trade Center, Face/Off), Eva Mendes (Hitch,