Movies
Slamdance ’10: Full Festival Line-Up Revealed!
Slamdance’s 2010 feature competition will serve up 10 narrative and eight documentary feature films, programmed in the spirit of the fest’s motto “by filmmakers, for filmmakers.” The 16th annual fest runs Jan. 21-28 in Park City, Utah. The event, which runs concurrently with Park City’s Sundance Film Festival, is loaded with genre pics. YOu can check out the 2010 line-up by reading on. In 2008, the fest screened Oren Peli’s $15,000 phenom “Paranormal Activity” (pic’s debut was at Screamfest in October 2007), after which DreamWorks execs took notice. Pic has since topped $100 million at the domestic box office via DreamWorks’ former home Paramount.
** denotes world preems
NARRATIVE COMPETITION
** “Cummings Farm” (Andrew Drazek) Comedy about three couples who try group sex at a lakeside strawberry farm, naively hoping it will lead to enlightenment; with Laura Silverman.
** “Drones” (Amber Benson & Adam Busch) A man discovers a universal threat to his life, job and the planet; Angela Bettis and Jonathan M. Woodward star.
** “The Four-Faced Liar” (Jacob Chase) When a small-town couple meets two best friends, unexpected sparks fly; cast includes Emily Peck, Marga Lewis Ryan and Todd Kubrack.
** “The Last Lovecraft: The Relic of Cthulhu” (Henry Saine) An ordinary guy is stuck in his boring life until a strange old man gives him an ancient relic and tells him that he’s the last bloodline of H.P. Lovecraft; with Devin McGinn and Kyle Davis.
“One Hundred Mornings” (Conor Horgan) Ireland. Set in a world upended by a complete breakdown of society, two couples hide out in a lakeside cabin hoping to survive the crisis; Ciaran McMenamin, Alex Reid and Rory Keenan star.
“The Scenesters” (Todd Berger) Dark comedy featuring Sherilyn Fenn, Suzanne May and Blaise Miller about a group of crime scene videographers who hatch a plan to catch a serial killer picking off beautiful young hipsters on the east side of Los Angeles. Visit the official website for the trailer and more.
** “Snow and Ashes” (Charles Olivier-Michaud) Canada. A war correspondent in Eastern Europe wakes from a coma to discover his collaborator missing; Rhys Coiro, Lina Roessler and Frederic Gilles star.
** “URFrenz” (Jeff Phillips) High school girls and their parents collide over the use of a popular social networking site when the identity and motives of an online boy come into question; featuring Lily Holleman, Gayla Goehl and CaroleAnne Johnson.
** “The Wild Hunt” (Alexandre Franchi) Canada. A medieval reenactment game turns into a Shakespearean tragedy when a non-player crashes the event to win back his girlfriend; cast includes Kaniehtiio Horn, Mark Anthony Krupa and Ricky Mabe.
** “YellowBrickRoad” (Jesse Holland & Andy Mitton) An expedition looks for answers to something horrible in the forest, but the forest finds something horrible in them; stars Cassidy Freeman, Lee Wilkof and Anessa Ramsey. Watch the trailer.
Recent comments from producer Jason Blum suggested that a retool was in order when last year’s The Exorcist: Believer wasn’t as successful as Blumhouse and Universal hoped. That certainly seems to be the case, as Deadline reports tonight that Mike Flanagan is in talks to direct the next Exorcist movie.
Director David Gordon Green was initially on board to direct an entire trilogy of new movies in the franchise, with The Exorcist: Believer intended to be only the first film in that three-film sequel series. Originally set to hit theaters on April 18, 2025, sequel The Exorcist: Deceiver was delayed when Green left the project.
If talks come to fruition, Flanagan will take over, likely steering the franchise in a new direction.
The first film in the trilogy was released theatrically on October 13, 2023, with Leslie Odom Jr. starring alongside a returning Ellen Burstyn from the original classic.
In Believer, “Since the death of his pregnant wife in a Haitian earthquake 12 years ago, Victor Fielding (Leslie Odom, Jr.) has raised their daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) on his own.
“But when Angela and her friend Katherine (Olivia Marcum) disappear in the woods, only to return three days later with no memory of what happened to them, it unleashes a chain of events that will force Victor to confront the nadir of evil and, in his terror and desperation, seek out the only person alive who has witnessed anything like it before.”
The final moments of The Exorcist: Believer brought Linda Blair’s Regan MacNeil back into the fold, seeming to suggest that the legacy character could return in future installments.
As for Flanagan, the horror filmmaker has Life of Chuck on the way. Flanagan previously helmed Stephen King adaptations Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game, and he’s also known for titles including Ouija: Origin of Evil and Oculus, along with the Netflix horror shows The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and The Fall of the House of Usher.
Stay tuned for more as we learn it.
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