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Charlie David’s ‘Shadowlands’ is a Lyrical Queer Paranormal Anthology

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Charlie David’s Shadowlands is a film that is, much like the filmmaker, difficult to pin down.

Author, screenwriter, producer, musician, actor, television host…David has worn many hats in his career, and his passion for LGTBQ storytelling has shone through at every step.

Which brings us back to Shadowlands.

Originally released as a three part mini-series in Canada, Shadowlands delves into the depth of folklore, mythology, and urban legend to tell three specific stories in a world where the paranormal overlaps with our daily existence. Each erotically charged story builds upon the last to create a film-scape with the emotional intensity of bel canto opera.

It all begins in the 1920s where a surgeon (Sean C. Dwyer) hosts a decadent, fetish-laden party at his home. He has become a mutated version of Narcissus, no longer content to stare at his own reflection. He is obsessed with perfection, and only the most beautiful are welcome to join him in his revelries.

When that perfection cannot be found, however, his most monstrous qualities emerge, and what begins with murder soon turns inward as he makes one final all-too-gory decision.

In the next segment, a gay couple in 1951, one of whom is a sailor in the Navy, take a camping trip and while out in the woods, discuss whether or not they’d like to open up their relationship, sexually, because they have to spend so much time apart. When a stranger wanders into their camp, their resolve is tested and in a twist worthy of a classic urban legend, the following morning, they wonder if the he had ever been there at all.

And finally, an artist (Charlie David) whose lover has died becomes obsessed with creating a life-like painting of him in a heart-wrenching version of the tale of Pygmalion and Galatea. His love pours onto the painting and so does his life force, seemingly, bringing the film to a tragic close.

It is interesting to watch and dissect the ways in which the films connect. A character who crosses over here, a magical painting that exists when it should not, all of these things work together to connect Shadowlands in an anthology film without a framing story.

Shadowlands is a beautiful film overall. From the sets to the costuming to the lighting, everything is visually stunning with beautiful textures. Likewise, the soundtrack of the film is almost infectious with songs by Michael Daniel Murphy.

The film is not without its foibles, however.

At times the dramatic settings and dialogue almost overshadow the story. That dramatic flair works for the hyper-emotional storytelling of the film, but at moments I almost felt removed from the scene trying to take in the words rather than the story as a whole.

Still, the cast is beautiful, the stories compelling, and by the end of the film I felt as though I’d taken a real journey with David and his cast.

Shadowlands is available for streaming on Amazon Prime. It’s also available in a novelization also on Amazon. Check out the trailer below and give it a watch today!

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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