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‘Scare Package’ is a Fun and Fantastic Love Letter to Horror Anthology

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I’m a huge fan of anthologies, and this year, I have had the opportunity to watch several of them. However, it was one wild-ass meta ride of an anthology titled Scare Package that became my favorite anthology of the last couple of years due to its playfulness, heart and pastiche of 80’s horror.

Scare Package has its tongue firmly placed in cheek with its opening story, ‘Cold Open,’ directed by Emily Hagins (Grow Up Tony Phillips). The story revolves around a dude that very much understands that his job in daily life is to offer a generic cold open day in and day out. Tired of the rigmarole, he decides to take steps to become more than a cold open character and someone that might have more a pivotal role in life. Of course this comes with hilarious and deadly consequences.

It’s a nice setup and sets a clear blueprint of the sort of horror-beholden shenanigans the audience is in store for. From Cold Open we are lead into the wrap-around portion of Scare Package and, man is it a fun one.  It takes place in a video store owned by a Joe Bob Briggs obsessed dude named Rad Chad. Each of the following segments in the anthology are introduced through this particular group of video store employees. It gives the entire structure of the anthology a creative and unique approach to its core.

Scare Package does a nice job of delivering the goods with a completely eclectic selection of stories, that could have easily been akin to randomly selecting videos from your local video store on a Saturday night. In fact, the film speaks to that singularly special feeling of sharing random, bloody video store picks and enjoying them with friends over the weekend. That is of course back when video stores were a ubiquitous thing.

Scare Package

For example, One Time in the Woods is a perfectly goopy and hilarious ride that would have fit in very well with the school of Troma. In this one, a group of friends out attempting to camp in the woods is interrupted by a slime gloppola monster and a serial killer. There are some great comedy bits and gags, but the real MVP is the incredible practical makeup effects that ramp up throughout.

Noah Segan (Knives Out) writes, acts and directs in a straight up werewolf story titled M.I.S.T.E.R. I can definitely say that you have never seen any werewolf story like this werewolf story. It’s got the wolfouts and gore that you would hope for and all, but it’s message is really smart and entirely poignant for our current climate.

Horror Hypothesis is the big red bow on the entire run of Scare Package. Directed by Aaron Koontz (Camera Obscura), this entry takes the characters from the wrap around and places them into a seriously hilarious love letter to a bevy of slasher films.  In this one, a group of folks have to escape The Devil’s Lake Impaler (think Jason Voorhees) while adhering closely to the unwritten rules of a slasher. It’s full of winks and nods to some memorable moments from horror history and a big fuckin surprise in the shape of bigger than life Joe Bob Briggs briefly dropping in to assist in battling The Impaler.

You can seriously feel the passionate reverence for horror throughout Scare Package. I know without question these select filmmakers were at the video store picking up as many horror films as they were allowed in a weekend during their youth. That sort of history and love for the genre is bleeding through the screen in unique ways in each of Scare Package’s segments. That sort of thing comes with a two-fisted approach of pure honesty and not holding anything back, and the film is all the better for it.

The most charming thing about horror anthologies is the ability to offer a cup of tea to everyone. Each story recalling youthful bedtime, or campfire stories; these scares feel like an old friend. Scare Package is a resolute, fun and meta take on horror anthologies as a whole. It offers the most meta wormhole that we may have ever traveled through as an audience of anthology fare. It also offers up a group of filmmakers that are made up of the same ilk that made magic possible in anthologies like Creepshow and Tales from the Crypt. Its overt honesty to the genre and the blast I had watching it will keep me coming back to re-watch and show as many like minded friends as possible.

Scare Package

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Russell Crowe To Star in Another Exorcism Movie & It’s Not a Sequel

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Maybe it’s because The Exorcist just celebrated its 50th-anniversary last year, or maybe it’s because aging Academy Award-winning actors aren’t too proud to take on obscure roles, but Russell Crowe is visiting the Devil once again in yet another possession film. And it’s not related to his last one, The Pope’s Exorcist.

According to Collider, the film titled The Exorcism was originally going to be released under the name The Georgetown Project. Rights for its North American release were once in the hands of Miramax but then went to Vertical Entertainment. It will release on June 7 in theaters then head over to Shudder for subscribers.

Crowe will also star in this year’s upcoming Kraven the Hunter which is set to drop in theaters on August 30.

As for The Exorcism, Collider provides us with what it’s about:

“The film centers around actor Anthony Miller (Crowe), whose troubles come to the forefront as he shoots a supernatural horror movie. His estranged daughter (Ryan Simpkins) has to figure out whether he’s lapsing into his past addictions, or if something even more horrific is occurring. “

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New F-Bomb Laden ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Trailer: Bloody Buddy Movie

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Deadpool & Wolverine might be the buddy movie of the decade. The two heterodox superheroes are back in the latest trailer for the summer blockbuster, this time with more f-bombs than a gangster film.

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Movie Trailer

This time the focus is on Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman. The adamantium-infused X-Man is having a bit of a pity party when Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) arrives on the scene who then tries to convince him to team up for selfish reasons. The result is a profanity-filled trailer with a Strange surprise at the end.

Deadpool & Wolverine is one of the most anticipated movies of the year. It comes out on July 26. Here is the latest trailer, and we suggest if you are at work and your space isn’t private, you might want to put in headphones.

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Original Blair Witch Cast Ask Lionsgate for Retroactive Residuals in Light of New Film

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The Blair Witch Project Cast

Jason Blum is planning to reboot The Blair Witch Project for the second time. That’s a fairly large task considering none of the reboots or sequels have managed to capture the magic of the 1999 film that brought found footage into the mainstream.

This idea has not been lost on the original Blair Witch cast, who has recently reached out to Lionsgate to ask for what they feel is fair compensation for their role in the pivotal film. Lionsgate gained access to The Blair Witch Project in 2003 when they purchased Artisan Entertainment.

Blair witch
The Blair Witch Project Cast

However, Artisan Entertainment was an independent studio before its purchase, meaning the actors were not part of SAG-AFTRA. As a result, the cast are not entitled to the same residuals from the project as actors in other major films. The cast doesn’t feel that the studio should be able to continue to profit off of their hard work and likenesses without fair compensation.

Their most recent request asks for “meaningful consultation on any future ‘Blair Witch’ reboot, sequel, prequel, toy, game, ride, escape room, etc., in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael & Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.”

The blair witch project

At this time, Lionsgate has not offered any comment about this issue.

The full statement made by the cast can be found below.

OUR ASKS OF LIONSGATE (From Heather, Michael & Josh, stars of “The Blair Witch Project”):

1. Retroactive + future residual payments to Heather, Michael and Josh for acting services rendered in the original BWP, equivalent to the sum that would’ve been allotted through SAG-AFTRA, had we had proper union or legal representation when the film was made.

2. Meaningful consultation on any future Blair Witch reboot, sequel, prequel, toy, game, ride, escape room, etc…, in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael & Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.

Note: Our film has now been rebooted twice, both times were a disappointment from a fan/box office/critical perspective. Neither of these films were made with significant creative input from the original team. As the insiders who created the Blair Witch and have been listening to what fans love & want for 25 years, we’re your single greatest, yet thus-far un-utilized secret-weapon!

3. “The Blair Witch Grant”: A 60k grant (the budget of our original movie), paid out yearly by Lionsgate, to an unknown/aspiring genre filmmaker to assist in making theirfirst feature film. This is a GRANT, not a development fund, hence Lionsgate will not own any of the underlying rights to the project.

A PUBLIC STATEMENT FROM THE DIRECTORS & PRODUCERS OF “THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT”:

As we near the 25th anniversary of The Blair Witch Project, our pride in the storyworld we created and the film we produced is reaffirmed by the recent announcement of a reboot by horror icons Jason Blum and James Wan.

While we, the original filmmakers, respect Lionsgate’s right to monetize the intellectual property as it sees fit, we must highlight the significant contributions of the original cast — Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Mike Williams. As the literal faces of what has become a franchise, their likenesses, voices, and real names are inseparably tied to The Blair Witch Project. Their unique contributions not only defined the film’s authenticity but continue to resonate with audiences around the world.

We celebrate our film’s legacy, and equally, we believe the actors deserve to be celebrated for their enduring association with the franchise.

Sincerely, Eduardo Sanchez, Dan Myrick, Gregg Hale, Robin Cowie, and Michael Monello

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