Soldiers of the Damned: poster and news

Back in January I included Mark Nuttall's WW2 horror Soldiers of the Damned in my list of Recent, Unreleased British Horror Films. Well, the good news is that Safecracker Pictures are planning a DVD for later this year, with a few theatrical screenings ahead of it (all dates TBD).

For details, keep an eye on www.soldiersofthedamned.com or www.facebook.com/SOTDfilm

In the meantime, here's the new poster design:

And here's the very cool-looking trailer:

Stag Hunt available on Amazon Prime

Checking my site stats, I wondered why my review of James Shanks' terrific horror-thriller Stag Hunt, which I posted back in January, was suddenly getting lots of traffic.

It seems that the film has recently snuck onto Amazon Prime without anyone noticing. No sign of a DVD yet though.

Shanks' next feature should be Bigfoot, Small Budget: "A small band of foolhardy filmmakers wreak havoc on a remote village in Southern France in an ill-conceived attempt to shoot the ultimate gorilla film, without money, without permits, without a clue."

Image gallery: Eileen Daly

Yes, it's true. The Queen of (low-budget) British horror, Dame Eileen Daly herself is following her appearance on The X Factor with a trip into the Big Brother House. In celebration of which, here's a gallery of some of her many, many horror roles:

Eileen's feature debut in Elisar Cabrera's Demonsoul, with Kerry Norton

Josh Collins and Alex Chandon's amazing steampunk fantasy spoof Pervirella, with a very young Emily Booth

Tony Luke's Sci-Fi Channel short Archangel Thunderbird, with the back of Doug Bradley's head

The definitive Eileen role: as Lilith Silver in Jake West's Razor Blade Smile, with Chris Adamson

Working for Elisar Cabrera again on Witchcraft X: Mistress of the Craft, where I first interviewed Eileen

 Keeping her clothes on (unlike most of her co-stars) in Nigel Wingrove's Sacred Flesh

With Linnea Quigley in Richard Driscoll's hilariously dire Kannibal.

 Alex Chandon's terrific anthology Cradle of Fear, with Louie Brownsell

In uniform for Anglo-Greek obscurity Sentinels of Darkness, with ?

One that I haven't actually seen, Machines of Love and Hate

Not learning from her mistakes - working for Richard Driscoll again in Evil Calls aka The Legend of Harrow Woods

Another one I have yet to track down - Alexander Birrell's Braincell

Three 21st century UK horror stars (in Germany): Eileen poses with Marysia Kay (front) and Eleanor James on the set of Timo Rose and Andreas Schnaas' Karl the Butcher vs Axe

 Jason Impey's The Turning aka Zombie Lover

Andrew Jones' The Amityville Asylum

 Eileen's self-scripted, self-directed trilogy of horror comedies: First Bite is the Deepest...

 ...and Hollywood Betrayed...

...and Mr Crispin, with Tom Bonnington

To finish... a Finnish film The Curse of the Witch's Blood

The Taking becomes Bait on DVD

Dominic Brunt’s brutal revenge thriller The Taking, which premiered in Leeds last November, has been retitled Bait for its DVD release. Metrodome have penciled the film in for a 7th September release.

Brunt previously made the brilliant zombie picture Before Dawn but remains best-known to mainstream audiences as ‘Paddy off Emmerdale’. Scripted by Emmerdale writer Paul Roundell, The Taking/Bait stars Dominic’s wife Joanne Mitchell (Before Dawn) and Victoria Smurfit (The Last Great Wilderness) as two friends looking for a loan to help them set up a small business. And Jonathan Slinger as the psychotic loan shark who hunts them down.

Also in the cast are Adam Fogerty (Scintilla), Mark Rathbone (Cradle of Fear, Inbred), Leanne Rowley (Entity), Rula Lenska and, somewhat bizarrely, comedian Charlie Chuck.

Eden Lodge (definitely NOT Eden Lake) lined up for August DVD

Andreas Prodromou’s Eden Lodge has unexpectedly popped up on Amazon, scheduled for a 31st August UK release through Signature Entertainment. Shot at the end of 2012, the film had a cast and crew screening in September 2013 then disappeared.

Synopsis: A young family are stranded at the Eden Lodge. The people they meet are being killed one by one. They must fight to save their lives.

This is the debut feature from Andreas Prodromou, whose horror short In the Red was made back in 2010. It stars Georgina Blackledge (The Last House on Cemetery Lane), Cyd Casados (Blood Feast 2), Ivy Corbin (Apocalypse Z), Ben Gardner Gray, Ellie Dickens, Aggy Kuk, Garry Mannion and James Killeen.

At one stage Eden Lodge was briefly retitled Breakdown, but then reverted to its shooting title. And clearly somebody has decided that, although this is clearly a very different from Eden Lake – what the hell, they may as well shamelessly rip off that movie’s poster.

And just in case you were trying to recall what the Eden Lake poster looked like...

Not even remotely similar...

Can't wait to see: Fallen Soldiers

How has this sneaked past me? Fallen Soldiers was shot back in 2013 but only came to my attention when I spotted the DVD release scheduled for 27 July from 101 Films.

Fallen Soldiers is a Napoleonic zombie film, set just before the Battle of Waterloo (very topical for the bicentenary). “Think Sharpe with zombies” is how the film-makers are pitching it. I like the idea of “Sharpe with zombies”. I like it very much!

The film is the work of Bill Thomas who directed a documentary (with dramatized seqences) that I caught on Yesterday just the other week, Berlin Wall: The Night The Iron Curtain Closed. Back in 2009 he made a 20-minute horror short, Butchers Blossom. But mostly he works as a prop/model guy on blockbusters like Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars Episode VII, The Dark Knight Rises and assorted Harry Potters.

Synopsis: Europe 1815. War rages across the continent. A young noblewoman’s coach is hijacked and her husband is murdered by a desperate British soldier. At gunpoint, the soldier spins her an outlandish tale of plagues, conspiracies, and dead men returning from the grave. He begs for her help and, with time running out, she must decide: trust this madman, or kill him? It’s a decision that could save or damn thousands, and turn the tide of the war.

There’s loads of background info on the movie’s website and Facebook page. It’s described as “an art-department-heavy period adventure with fully-realised sets, props, explosions, fights, and effects shot on a shoestring budget.” The cast is headed by Matthew Neal, Eve Pearson and Zachary Street. The make-up was designed by Ruth Pease who also worked on Axelle Carolyn’s Soulmate and Mel Light’s The Herd.

Steve Lawson triple bill up for pre-order

Steve Lawson has three new horror features lined up for DVD release in the space of four months. And just to confuse matters, they’re coming out in the opposite order to how they were made.

First out of the starting blocks is Killer/Saurus, Steve’s brand new movie about a genetically engineered dinosaur, which 88 Films has lined up for a 6th July release in the UK.

Over in the States, on 25th August, SGL Entertainment release Nocturnal Activity, the supernatural erotic thriller which Steve produced for reclusive director Georg E Lewis.

Finally, on 21st September you can buy Steve’s rural horror-thriller Survival Instinct (formerly Rites of Passage) – again from 88 Films.

All three films are now up for pre-order on Amazon:

• Killer/Saurus
• Nocturnal Activity
• Survival Instinct

Before then, you can catch Survival Instinct on the big screen when it receives its festival premiere as part of the Fantastiq Festival at Derby Quad this Friday, 8th May. Steve and some of the cast will be in attendance for a Q&A.

You can find out more about Steve's work at www.creativ-studios.com