Tuesday, November 8, 2005
Read the full press release inside: The decade us horror fans will never forget, possibly the best decade horror has ever seen, the '80s! Not a week goes by that I don't pick out a classic slasher film like Friday the 13th Part 6: Jason Lives, or Halloween 2 and pop it into my DVD (VCR) player. Now ThinkFilm and Starz Entertainment Group will bring us back to the decade we all loved so much with their documentary entitled Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, read on for details...
ThinkFilm and Starz Entertainment Group Partner on
Slasher Film Documentary
Documentary Will Trace the History, Passion, and Resurgence of Genre
Toronto and Los Angeles, October 31, 2005 — 
Independent film distributor ThinkFilm and Starz Entertainment Group (SEG) are pleased to announce the start of principal photography on a new film entitled “Going To Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film.” The film provides a comprehensive and original look at the importance, prominence, and newfound legitimacy of the horror film genre and, more specifically, the sub-genre of the “slasher film.” The feature-length documentary will contain an abundance of clips from classic films of the genre, as well as many current hits, and interviews with pre-eminent actors, directors, and producers, many of whom are themselves founders and masters of the genre. The film will be produced by Candy Heart Productions’s Rachel Belofsky and Rudy Scalese. The film is directed by Emmy®-nominee Jeff McQueen and based on the book of the same title by Adam Rockoff.
The book studied and lauded such seminal films as Halloween, Friday The 13th, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Psycho, Prom Night, When A Stranger Calls, Sleepaway Camp, Last House On The Left and Black Christmas. The film will also include clips from many important films of the genre, as well as interviews with icons, filmmakers and cultural critics.
The film is co-produced with premium television company Starz Entertainment Group, which will have exclusive first-run television rights in the US. Michael Ruggiero, vice president of programming and Christopher Black, senior manager co-productions will executive produce for SEG . “Slasher films have always been very popular with our audience,” said Ruggiero. “Everyone has their favorite film , each having a fan base, plus they’re intricately explored for every nuance in magazines, websites, and blogs. But there’s never been a single, standalone tribute. This is a great opportunity to give that to our viewers.”
The deal was negotiated by SEG’s Nancy Silverstone, vice president program acquisitions and ThinkFilm Senior Vice-President of Acquisitions and Business Affairs Randy Manis, who is executive producing the film. “We’ve been working together with SEG for years and have been looking for an opportunity to take our relationship to the next level,” said Manis. “This idea came up and we immediately jumped on it.” In a worldwide deal, ThinkFilm will distribute the film in North America, with its international arm handling foreign sales.
. Belofsky who has come to prominence in the industry as the Founder and Director of LA’s Screamfest Horror Film Festival, arguably the world’s most important horror festival. Scalese joined Screamfest and Candy Heart Productions in the Summer of 2004. As both an expert and an ardent fan of slasher films, Scalese brought the project to Belofsky, who also produced the award-winning women in racing documentary FAST WOMEN that was licensed to Women’s Entertainment (WE). They both felt the time had come for a comprehensive study and tribute to the films that had made such an impact upon them, their colleagues, and their festival participants. Candy Heart Productions will also begin production on its first horror feature film, DESOLATE, with the multiple Academy-Award winner Stan Winston in late Spring 2006. The project emerged out of LA’s Screamfest Horror Film Festival.
“There’s such a rich history of film to cull from, we started to make a short list of seminal films to draw upon,” said Belofsky. “That short list quickly became very long, as did the list of interviews. It’s a real testament to the significance of these films.” “Scalese adds, "To look at the body of the work of the Slasher films is a reminder of a tiny group of films that became the little engine that could and left a significant imprint on the history of American cinema".
The film is expected to be complete in 2006, with plans for a late summer release.
ThinkFilm is a privately held independent film distributor with offices in Toronto, New York City and Los Angeles. ThinkFilm operates in various media throughout the US and Canada including theatrical films, all forms of television, and the home video/DVD market. Recent films include Academy Award Winner Born Into Brothels, 2005 Sundance Audience Award Winner Murderball, and the envelope-pushing The Aristocrats. ThinkFilm can be found online at www.thinkfilmcompany.com.
SEG
Starz Entertainment Group LLC (SEG) is the largest provider of premium movie services in the United States with approximately 179 million pay units. SEG offerings include the Starz Encore Movie Pack with 13 digital movie channels and more than 750 movies per month, Starz HDTV, Starz On Demand, and Starz Ticket, an on-demand premium Internet movie subscription service available on the broadband platform. Starz Entertainment Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, www.starz.com.
Screamfest is a non-profit 501 ( 3 ) ( c ) organization dedicated to furthering the careers of talented filmmakers and writers within the genre. Screamfest is known for “Discovering the new blood of horror and honoring the Masters”.
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