Film 102: Wild Country

Scottish werewolf movie with Peter Capaldi. Good characterisation, good dialogue (as much as can be understood through the accents) but really awful creature effects. I mean, just ludicrous.

Bob Keen is credited but when I asked him about the film he sought to distance himself from it, and I can understand why.

Also, this is really, really short. Even with five minutes of credits it's only 70'03".

Film 101: Small Town Folk

Townies get mixed up with psychotic locals in this labour-of-love horror comedy from many of the same folk who brought us Freak Out.

A lot of time and effort went into this but it is sorely lacking in plot, characterisation or, frankly, laughs. Which is a shame, as I was quite looking forward to this.

Warwick Davis is token name value but only on screen for about 90 seconds.

Film 100: WAZ

Technically the title is W-Delta-Z but who knows how to do a capital delta on their keyboard? Even the distributors called it Waz - the copyright is 'Waz Distribution Ltd'.

Looks and feels like one of those modern, gritty US cop shows but incredibly this was mostly filmed in Belfast and most of the actors are British, apart from Stellan Skarsgard (Swedish), Melissa George (Aussie) and Selma Blair (a real Yank).

I quite enjoyed this, but possibly because I've never seen it's stylistic influences. It's often called 'Seven meets Saw' but I have no intention of ever watching any Saw film and I can't stand David Fincher movies. And I don't watch any US cop shows.

Battlefield Death Tales retitled

Battlefield Death Tales, the Jim Eaves/Pat Higgins/Al Ronald follow-up to Bordello Death Tales, has been picked up by Safecracker Pictures, who released the previous film. But it won't be called Battlefield Death Tales. As you can see from this image, the film is now called Zombie Death Tales.

Personally, I don't think that's as good as the original title, partly because there are a million films called Zombie This or Zombie That, and partly because only one of the three stories is about zombies. Plus it takes away the distinctive aspect of the film - that these are all war stories - and aren't all zombie films 'death tales' by definition?

But I suspect that films with 'zombie' in the title sell a lot better than films with 'battlefield' in the title...

Safecracker have this pencilled in for a 13th August release.

Can't wait to see: The Eschatrilogy

The Eschatrilogy is an anthology film from Damian Morter and Safehouse Pictures, whose first horror feature was the as-yet-unreleased Bicycle Day. The film consists of three stories: The Dead Inside, Dying Breed and A Father for the Dead, linked by a story about survivors of a zombie apocalypse.

A new promo for the framing story, including comments from Morter and lead actor Tim McGill Grieveson, is now online and it looks terrific. And there's another one for Dying Breed with plenty of behind-the-scenes footage of the many, many zombies. Also in the movie's cast are Stuart Wolfenden (Dead Man's Shoes) and - blimey! - Sarah-Jane off CBeebies!

'Zombie Undead' US release in July

Rhys Davies' low-budget zombie feature Zombie Undead - the first ever horror film shot in Leicester! - will be released in the States on 24 July by Jinga Films. The film was shot in 2009 and released in the UK last May.

'Vampires: Brighter in Darkness' moved to October

British gay vampire feature Vampires: Brighter in Darkness, originally announced by Peccadillo Pictures for an April release, has been bumped back to 22nd October.

Synopsis
When cute, wide-eyed Toby comes out of a disastrous relationship, sister Charlotte sets him up on a blind date with a difference. What neither of them realise is that the date is with Lucas, a 1500 year old vampire. Before long, Toby is plunged into the dark world of demons, black magic and the supernatural, where nobody is safe and nothing is what it seems... An exciting British feature film brimming with a whole fresh batch of upcoming and easy-on-the-eye local talent, Vampires: Brighter in Darkness brings the romance and terror of the Twilight series to the UK, with a queer twist and oddles of sex appeal.

The feature is evidently based on a web series although I can't work out if it's a remake or a re-edit. A sequel, Vampires: Lucas Rising is in pre-production. Here's the most recent trailer for V:BiD, from December last year (which says September 2012 at the end):