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Leigh Whannell on Splicing Horror and Science Fiction in ‘Upgrade’

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Leigh Whannell says that his film ideas arrive to him in a flash.  “My story ideas just appear in my head randomly,” says Whannell, the co-creator of the Insidious and Saw horror film franchises.  “They seem to arrive when they want to, not when I want them to.”

This was the case with Whannell’s latest film, Upgrade, which combines horror and science fiction.  “I remember that I was sitting in my backyard one day, many years ago, when the image of a quadriplegic being puppeteered by a computer just popped into my head,” says Whannell.  “I was instantly excited about it, and that moment began the long, long journey of getting an independent film made.”

Upgrade tells the story of Grey Trace, a technophobe who is the victim of a brutal mugging that leaves him paralyzed and his wife dead.  “Grey’s goal in the beginning of the film is to find his place in this new technological world,” says Whannell.  “He wants to know where he fits in.  Then, when his wife is taken from him, he wants revenge, and he uses technology to aid him in that quest.”

Revenge is made possible through an experimental computer chip implant called Stem.  “Technology gives him [Grey] a chance at a new life,” says Whannell.  “Someone who previously hated technology becomes technology, and he sees how intoxicating and overpowering that can be.”

Whannell says that Upgrade was heavily influence by the 1980s science fiction films that Whannell grew up watching.  “I think the horror that exists in the film is of the ‘body-horror’ variety and the idea of technology intruding on human flesh,” says Whannell.  “My influences were definitely sci-fi films from the 1980s.  There was always a horror tinge to many of the sci-fi films of that time, perhaps born out of the practical FX boom.  I’m talking about films like The Terminator, Scanners, Robocop, Videodrome, Aliens, The Thing, Total Recall, and The Fly.  They were grimy and icky.  They were not slick.  They were violent and raw.  I wanted to capture that again with Upgrade—a time when sci-fi was contained and very practical FX-driven.”

The making of Upgrade represented a triumphant homecoming for Whannell, who shot the film entirely in his hometown city of Melbourne, Australia.  “The one memory that stands out the most for me happened when we were filming in an area where I used to live in Melbourne,” recalls Whannell.  “We had found this old technical school that had closed down and was lying abandoned.  There were so many rooms of such different sizes in the building that we ended up using it as a kind of back-lot for so many of the scenes.  We turned rooms there into a morgue, a dive bar, a minimalist loft apartment.”

“This building was next door to a pub called The Tote,” continues Whannell.  “It’s kind of a legendary music venue in Australia; it’s beautifully grimy and grungy, and it almost exclusively hosts rock ‘n’ roll and punk bands.  It’s the CBGB’s of Melbourne, if you will.  It just so happened that I shot my student film at The Tote, when I was nineteen.  It was called The Demise of Fallon Thomas, and it wasn’t very good. I remember thinking, during the making of this student epic, that perhaps directing wasn’t for me. On the first night of shooting Upgrade at this back-lot, I got to set early and snuck off to The Tote for a drink.  I was sitting at the bar and just thinking of that younger version of me—so nervous and convinced that I was terrible at filmmaking—and contrasting it with the fact that I was now shooting a sci-fi movie with a crew of hundreds right next door!  It was a moment of true perspective—about how far I’d come and how lucky I was. It brought a smile to my face and a tear to my eye.  Upon telling the story to the bartender, the drink was on the house.”

Upgrade is scheduled for theatrical release on June 1, 2018.

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The Pope’s Exorcist Officially Announces New Sequel

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The Pope’s Exorcist is one of those films that’s just fun to watch. It isn’t the most terrifying film around, but there’s something about Russel Crow (Gladiator) playing a wise cracking Catholic priest that just feels right.

Screen Gems seems to agree with this assessment, as they have just officially announced that The Pope’s Exorcist sequel is in the works. It makes sense that Screen Gems would want to keep this franchise going, considering the first film scared up almost $80 million with a budget of only $18 million.

The Pope's Exorcist
The Pope’s Exorcist

According to Crow, there may even be a The Pope’s Exorcist trilogy in the works. However, recent changes with the studio may have put the third film on hold. In a sit-down with The Six O’Clock Show, Crow gave the following statement about the project.

“Well that’s in discussion at the moment. The producers originally got the kick off from the studio not just for one sequel but for two. But there’s been a change of studio heads at the moment, so that’s going around in a few circles. But very definitely, man. We set that character up that you could take him out and put him into a lot of different circumstances.”

Crow has also stated that film’s source material involves twelve separate books. This would allow the studio to take the story in all kinds of directions. With that much source material, The Pope’s Exorcist could even rival The Conjuring Universe.

Only the future will tell what becomes of The Pope’s Exorcist. But as always, more horror is always a good thing.

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New ‘Faces of Death’ Remake Will Be Rated R For “Strong Bloody Violence and Gore”

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In a move that should surprise absolutely no one, the Faces of Death reboot has been given an R rating from the MPA. Why has the film been given this rating? For strong bloody violence, gore, sexual content, nudity, language, and drug use, of course.

What else would you expect from a Faces of Death reboot? It would honestly be alarming if the film received anything less than an R rating.

Faces of death
Faces of Death

For those unaware, the original Faces of Death film released in 1978 and promised viewers video evidence of real deaths. Of course, this was just a marketing gimmick. Promoting a real snuff film would be a terrible idea.

But the gimmick worked, and franchise lived on in infamy. The Faces of Death reboot is hoping to gain the same amount of viral sensation as its predecessor. Isa Mazzei (Cam) and Daniel Goldhaber (How to Blow Up a Pipeline) will spearhead this new addition.

The hope is that this reboot will do well enough to recreate the infamous franchise for a new audience. While we don’t know much about the film at this point, but a joint statement from Mazzei and Goldhaber gives us the following info on the plot.

“Faces of Death was one of the first viral video tapes, and we are so lucky to be able to use it as a jumping off point for this exploration of cycles of violence and the way they perpetuate themselves online.”

“The new plot revolves around a female moderator of a YouTube-like website, whose job is to weed out offensive and violent content and who herself is recovering from a serious trauma, that stumbles across a group that is recreating the murders from the original film. But in the story primed for the digital age and age of online misinformation, the question faced is are the murders real or fake?”

The reboot will have some bloody shoes to fill. But from the looks of it, this iconic franchise is in good hands. Unfortunately, the film does not have a release date at this time.

That’s all the information we have at this time. Make sure to check back here for more news and updates.

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Movie Reviews

Panic Fest 2024 Review: ‘The Ceremony Is About To Begin’

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People will look for answers and belonging in the darkest places and the darkest people. The Osiris Collective is a commune predicated upon ancient Egyptian theology and was run by the mysterious Father Osiris. The group boasted dozens of members, each forgoing their old lives for one held in the Egyptian themed land owned by Osiris in Northern California. But the good times take a turn for the worst when in 2018, an upstart member of the collective named Anubis (Chad Westbrook Hinds) reports Osiris disappearing while mountain climbing and declaring himself the new leader. A schism ensued with many members leaving the cult under Anubis’ unhinged leadership. A documentary is being made by a young man named Keith (John Laird) whose fixation with The Osiris Collective stems from his girlfriend Maddy leaving him for the group several years ago. When Keith gets invited to document the commune by Anubis himself, he decides to investigate, only to get wrapped up in horrors he couldn’t even imagine…

The Ceremony Is About To Begin is the latest genre twisting horror film from Red Snow‘s Sean Nichols Lynch. This time tackling cultist horror along with a mockumentary style and the Egyptian mythology theme for the cherry on top. I was a big fan of Red Snow‘s subversiveness of the vampire romance sub-genre and was excited to see what this take would bring. While the movie has some interesting ideas and a decent tension between the meek Keith and the erratic Anubis, it just doesn’t exactly thread everything together in a succinct fashion.

The story begins with a true crime documentary style interviewing former members of The Osiris Collective and sets-up what led the cult to where it is now. This aspect of the storyline, especially Keith’s own personal interest in the cult, made it an interesting plotline. But aside from some clips later on, it doesn’t play as much a factor. The focus is largely on the dynamic between Anubis and Keith, which is toxic to put it lightly. Interestingly, Chad Westbrook Hinds and John Lairds are both credited as writers on The Ceremony Is About To Begin and definitely feel like they’re putting their all into these characters. Anubis is the very definition of a cult leader. Charismatic, philosophical, whimsical, and threateningly dangerous at the drop of a hat.

Yet strangely, the commune is deserted of all cult members. Creating a ghost town that only amps up the danger as Keith documents Anubis’ alleged utopia. A lot of the back and forth between them drags at times as they struggle for control and Anubis keeps continuing to convince Keith to stick around despite the threatening situation. This does lead to a pretty fun and bloody finale that fully leans into mummy horror.

Overall, despite meandering and having a bit of a slow pace, The ceremony Is About To Begin is a fairly entertaining cult, found footage, and mummy horror hybrid. If you want mummies, it delivers on mummies!

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