SHARK WEEK Stills and a Teaser Trailer!!!

So much Shark Week info this week, and now we get the cherry on top: production stills and this incredibly awesome teaser trailer: 

Man oh man oh man oh man, I wrote the damn thing and that trailer gave me chills. Check out the finished product this Saturday night at 9 p.m. on SyFy. Patrick Bergin, Yancy Butler, Erin Coker, Josh Allen, Frankie Cullen, Valerie Garcia, Bart Baggett and more star for director Christopher Olen Ray.

 

Details on 4 New Asylum Projects

Lots of new over at The Asylum page today, where we get cast, crew and plot details on 4 upcoming productions; let's just get into it, shall we?

#holdyourbreath: This is The Asylum's theatrical debut, written by Geoff Meed and directed by Jared Cohn. 

The plot: "A group of friends on a roadtrip explore a cemetery where the ghost of a notorious serial killer jumps from body to body, killing his victims one by one."  

The stars: Katrina Bowden, Randy Wayne, Lisa Younger, Seth Cassell, Erin Marie Hogan.  

The release date: October 5th, in theaters!

40 Days and 40 Nights: an upcoming disaster flick, written by me, H. Perry Horton, and directed by Peter Geiger. 

The plot: "When a colossal tectonic shift causes the sea level to start rising, a microbiologist gathers the DNA of as many species as she can, while the military creates an "ark" in a desperate attempt to preserve life on Earth." 

The stars: Monica Keena, Alex Carter, Christianna Carmine, Emily Sandifer, Mitch Lerner.  

The release date: November 27th.

12/12/12: thriller written & directed by the ever-busy Jared Cohn. 

The plot: "When baby Sebastien is born on 12/12/12 everyone around him starts to die. Soon, his mother realizes that her son is the spawn of Hell."  

The stars: Sara Malakul Lane, Jesus Guevera, Carl Doleson, Steve Hanks 

The release date: 12/4/12


Age of the Hobbits: written by Eric Forsberg for Joseph Lawson to direct.

The plot: "In an age long ago, the last village of clever, peace-loving Hobbits is attacked and enslaved by the Java Men, komodo-worshiping, dragon-riding cannibals. Now the young Hobbit Goben, along with his father and sister, must seek help from the "giants" (human hunters) to find the Javas' lair and rescue the last surviving Hobbits, Goben's mother among them. In their quest to destroy the Javas, the heroic partnership of humans and Hobbits will transform both species forever." 

The stars: Christopher Judge, Bai Ling, Sun Korng

The release date: December 11 

WHALEY HOUSE on DVD Today!!!

That's right, my fellow faithfully-committed, if it's Tuesday it must be time for another Asylum new release. This week it's the righteous haunted house flick, The Haunting of Whaley House, from writer/director Jose Prendes. Now, if you scroll down a few centimeters past the bottom of this post you'll find my glowing review of the film, which is absolutely a must-see for fans of the genre: great story, great cast, great scares, great film. So get thee to a DVD outlet be it rental or retail, and get your hands on this one while supplies last. Also on Blu-Ray and VOD.

observation notes: THE HAUNTING OF WHALEY HOUSE

Coming this Tuesday to DVD is The Asylum's The Haunting of Whaley House, an original ghost story from writer/director Jose Prendes (The Terminators, Haunting of Winchester House stories) based on the real-life history and lore of an historic home in San Diego. The plot is straight forward enough - "When a tour guide breaks into America’s Most Haunted House, a bit of amateur ghost hunting with friends turns into more horror than they could have ever imagined." - but the results are far from expected or ordinary: HoWH is an intelligent, paranoid and horrifying thriller, well-steeped in reality and thus resonant with authenticity.

Now, as you know, Committed is 100% anti-spoiler, so I won't delve on the details, but I can say in sweeping generalizations that Prendes has built a ghost story classically constructed, confident and fluid, and paired with lively, fast-pace and quick-witted dialogue rife with horror- and pop-cultural references that together create a delightful amalgam of old and new. The scares are smart, abrupt and startling - no corner or shadow is safe - resulting in a palpable tension from the first frame to the last; and believe me, once shit starts popping off in this one, SHIT STARTS POPPING OFF.

One of the major strengths of the picture outside Prendes' talents is the ensemble of actors he's assembled. Admittedly, there's been an over-saturation of ghost hunting in popular media over the last decade; and more often than not, when such characters are presented, it's with a dash of humor/pity. But Whaley House is how ghost hunters should be represented - passionate, scientific, meticulous and above all hungry for proof - and manages to an authentic and even admirable portrayal of such persons. The chemistry between the actors - Stephanie Greco, Alex Arleo, Arielle Brachfeld, Graham Denman (who also scored the film), Carolina Groppa, Howard McNair and Jason Owlsley - is believable and relaxed, while the individual characters themselves are nicely balanced, equally valuable and distinctly drawn; this is not your typical cast of ghost hunting characters, and the film is richer for their uniqueness. 

As a director, Prendes is obviously well-versed in all the classic horror films, domestic and foreign, and he brings his experienced eye to every frame, the result of which is perhaps the most suspenseful Asylum film to date. I honestly didn't know what to expect here, and Prendes and team surprised me at every turn, often to my nerves' chagrin. There is a creeping, anticipatory direction that transforms the camera into a pensive voyeur almost afraid to progress through the story, but unable to turn away. This one raises the bar, for real. It's lusciously atmospheric, rife with the best elements of its old-school influences, all the while breaking some scary new ground itself. And it's filmed in a really good looking house.

So then bottom line - stop what you're doing this Tuesday and rush to wherever you procure your home rentals and wrestle for your copy of Haunting of Whaley House; I can't imagine a world in which you'd be disappointed. Highest possible recommendation.

SHARK WEEK Gets an IMDB Page...Further Cast Details!

With only 10 days to go until the Shark Week premiere on SyFy - Saturday, August 4th, 9p.m. - there's now an IMDB page giving away further cast and crew details. The film, as avid Committed readers (assuming there are any) will know, stars Patrick Bergin (Sleeping With The Enemy, Patriot Games) and Yancy Butler (Witchblade, Lake Placid 3 & 4) as the shark-loving madman and his moll, respectively, who abduct a group of strangers and force them to fight for their lives in a gauntlet of ever-deadlier shark species on a remote island compound; now we know who some of the "contestants" are:

Josh Allen (below, Nazis at the Center of the Earth) and Erin Coker (right, 11/11/11) had already been mentioned on The Asylum's Shark Week page, and while Ms. Coker has not yet been added to the IMDB page, Mr. Allen has, and he's playing "Cal," the primary protagonist. I would assume - not just out of the blue, I wrote the script - that Ms. Coker is playing his female counterpart, but we shall see. New names include Asylum vet Bart Baggett (2010 Moby Dick, Airline Disaster, Air Collision) as "Holt," a cantankerous fellow, Frankie Cullen as, appropriately, "Frankie," and Valerie K. Garcia - the same VKG who works magic as a key makeup artist, with a resume that includes not only this film and several others, but especially the INCREDIBLE ghost-witches from A Haunting in Salem - as "Layla," the wild card of the bunch, if you will.


Shark Week was directed by the great Christopher Olen Ray (Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, Almighty Thor, 2-Headed Shark Attack) and written by me, H. Perry Horton, and is the perfect way to spend next Saturday night (9 p.m., SyFy)

100 GHOST STREET: THE RETURN OF RICHARD SPECK on DVD Today!

The Asylum's next entrant into the found-footage phenomena is the chilling film 100 Ghost Street: The Return of Richard Speck.

Speck, for those gleefully uninformed, was a real nutjob who raped and murdered a bunch of student nurses back in the 1960's. The Asylum has purportedly found footage shot by a team of paranormal investigators who infiltrated Speck's kill-house a year or so ago. The footage is all that remains of their expedition. Check out the trailer below, then, if you dare, check out the film now on DVD, Blu-Ray and VOD.

 

3 Inmates Win 2012 Golden Cob Awards!!!

The Annual Golden Cob Awards for excellence in B-movies, presented by the B-Movie Celebration, were announced over the weekend, and The Asylum has not one, not two, but three inmates being honored for their work over the last year!

First up is actor Bill Oberst Jr., who is being honored as the Best Rising B Movie Actor for his work in last October's ghost flick A Haunting in Salem, in which he played the paranormally-beleagured Sheriff Wayne Downs. Oberst has also appeared in The Princess and the Pony, Born Bad and - a film sure to get recognition of its own next year - Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies.

Next there's the winner for the Best B Movie Soundtrack, The Asylum's musical maestro Chris Ridenhour. Though Ridenhour puts out, like, four dozen scores over the course of the last year, the Golden Cobs are singling out his epic and adventurous work on Mark Atkins' Dragon Crusaders as the best of the year. Ridenhour can next be heard in Shark Week, premiering on SyFy on August 4th, then the disaster flick Supercyclone, then zombie-fest Dead Walking, also set to premiere on SyFy, in October.

And last but by no means least there is director Christopher Olen Ray - of Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus, Almighty Thor and 2 Headed Shark Attack fame - who is being honored with the festival's Bill Cothron Best Emerging Filmmaker Award. His next effort, Shark Week - as mentioned above - premieres on SyFy on August 4th at 9 p.m.

Congratulations to all the winners! Viva Asylum!

inmate profile: Arielle Brachfeld

T-minus two weeks until The Haunting of Whaley House drops on DVD, Blu-Ray, and VOD, and given that the advance copies at Comic Con sold out fast, seems like there's a mighty fine film headed our way. So here at Committed we continue to educate and inform you about the creative talents behind this impending ghostly greatness; already we've profiled writer/director Jose Prendes and actors Stephanie Greco and Alex Arleo. Today we feature actress Arielle Brachfeld.

Ms. Brachfeld began acting professionally in 2005 with a couple of shorts that lead to a role in the indie comedic homage, Return of the Ghostbusters. From there the parts came rolling in, including The House That Jack Built alongside Joe Mantegna and Gail O'Grady, the horror anthology Evil Deeds 2, indie comedy/horror Blood Effects, and Love, Gloria, with Asylum-alum Heather McComb (2012: Supernova). 

In addition to her work in Whaley House - which from the picture below looks pretty pivotal, not to mention blood-curdling - Ms. Brachfeld has several other projects in various stages of development: InSpectres, a comedy; Live-In Fear, a supernatural adventure flick; The Obsession, a drama alongside yet another Asylum-alum, Dominique Swain (Nazis at the Center of the Earth); and Love: As You Like It, "a sexy, bold reimagining of Shakespeare's romantic comedy..." Can't got wrong with that, right?

Until then, check out Arielle Brachfeld's next performance in The Asylum's The Haunting on Whaley House, out July 31st.

inmate profile: Alex Arleo

Next up in the Committed spotlight from the cast of The Haunting of Whaley House is actor Alex Arleo, who plays the awesomely-named "Jake Wildman" in the film.

Arleo made his on-screen debut back in 2009 in George Anton's Dracula, in which he played "Holmwood." A couple years after that he made his first film with The Asylum, the riotously raunchy Barely Legal (that's him below). Then 2012 hit, and Arleo started popping up everywhere, first for The Asylum again in Celebrity Sex Tape, then alongside Michael Madsen in the drama Sprawl. Four episodes of Girls of Sunset Place followed that - another co-star of the series was Gary Stretch of Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus fame - then Bert: The Emotion Picture from Barely Legal director Jose Montesinos and co-starring Barely Legal's Jeneta St. Clair, and now he's back at The Asylum for the Haunting of Whaley House.

 
Obviously Arleo's becoming quite the in-demand young actor. Witness the chops that has casting scouts scooping him up when The Haunting of Whaley House dominates DVD, Blu-Ray and VOD charts everywhere starting July 31st.

SDCC Reveals New Asylum Production!

One of my favorite sites, Dread Central, is sharing some awesome art they picked up at Comic Con, including the previously-seen Bigfoot poster and the Shark Week poster I showed you a couple days ago (on SyFy 8/4 @ 9pm, DVD 8/28), but the real score here is the revealing of a new Asylum production, as well as its stars!

The film, Dead Walking, is also set for a SyFy Premiere, this one on October 27th, just in time for Halloween. The films stars Mariel Hemingway (Manhattan), Levar Burton (Duh) and Danny Trejo. Yep, The Asylum landed Trejo. In a zombie movie. Oh shit is this gonna be good. One thing I can add to this story is a director. If my Facebook feed is to be trusted, Nick Lyon, director of Zombie Apocalypse, is back behind the camera for this one, and since Zombie Apocalypse was pretty damn awesome, I'd expect the same thing from Dead Walking. Hold your breath til October to find out (but don't forget Shark Week in less than three weeks!!!)

SHARK WEEK POSTER!!!!!

With less than a month before its World Premiere on SyFy - Saturday, August 4th, 9p.m. - Shark Week, the next creature feature from the fine folks at The Asylum, at long last has a poster, and a pretty rad tagline:

"7 Days, 7 Sharks, 1 Survivor!" Poetry, pure poetry. 

The film - starring Patrick Bergin and Yancy Butler, and directed by the great Chris Olen Ray (2-Headed Shark Attack, Mega Shark vs Crocosaurus) off a script written by yours truly, H. Perry Horton (A Haunting in Salem, 2-Headed Shark Attack) - hits DVD, Blu-Ray and VOD on August 28th, and is already available for pre-order on Netflix and Amazon. Until then, or at least until a trailer arrives, I'm just going to be staring at this.

HOLD YOUR BREATH Gets a Release Date...and a Hashtag?

Variety is reporting today - first time I've ever said that - that The Asylum's first theatrical picture, Hold Your Breath, will invade movie houses on October 5th, just in time for the start of the Halloween season.

From this article, we get our first synopsis of the film, written by Geoff Meed (I Am Omega, 6 Guns) and directed by Jared Cohn (Born Bad, Bikini Spring Break); dig it: "Film stars Katrina Bowden ("30 Rock") and Randy Wayne ("True Blood") and follows seven friends embarking on a weekend camping trip who pass a run-down cemetery and find themselves arguing about the legitimacy of an urban myth. When one friend refuses to hold his breath while passing by, he finds himself the unwitting host to a notorious serial killer who jumps from body to body."

Sounds pretty damn good, by my biased estimation. The other interesting thing here is how Variety refers to the movie as #Holdyourbreath, and mentions a social media campaign involved with the project. This is becoming some meta stuff here, and I don't know about you, but I'm fucking excited.  

inmate profile: Jose Prendes

Continuing Committed's spotlighting of the creative talent behind the upcoming Asylum fright-fest The Haunting of Whaley House, we turn now to the mastermind behind it all, writer/director Jose Prendes.

A true auteur, Prendes got his start more than a decade ago with the release of The Monster Man, a sci-fi/comedy flick Prendes wrote, directed and starred in, and which also boasted the talents of Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead, Creepshow 2, From Dusk Til Dawn) and Linnea Quigley (Graduation Day, Silent Night Deadly Night, The Return of the Living Dead). Prendes next turned his talents to Corpses Are Forever, which again he wrote, directed, and starred in, this time alongside the recently-passed Richard Lynch (Invasion USA, Deathsport, The Sword and the Sorcerer), the ridiculously prolific Debbie Rochon (Tromeo & Juliet, Santa Claws, Poultrygeist) and Ms. Quigley again. Then Prendes came to The Asylum.

2009 was a productive year for Mr. Prendes, in Asylum terms: that year he wrote one script - Countdown: Jerusalem off a story by David Michael Latt - and earned two story credits, one on The Terminators and the other on Haunting of Winchester House. And now, he brings his directing skills to the studio, stepping behind the camera to helm his own script for The Haunting of Whaley House. If the trailer is any indication, get ready to see a lot more from this guy. For inside looks at the production, follow their Facebook page, then queue up on July 31st when the film is released on DVD, Blu-Ray and VOD. 

inmate profile: Stephanie Greco

The next film slated for release by The Asylum is The Haunting of Whaley House, from writer/director Jose Prendes, and which premieres - for those of us not going to Comic Con - on DVD July 31st. With that in mind, it's time to turn our attention to some of the creative powers behind this impending, chilling masterpiece. First up: actress Stephanie Greco.

Ms. Greco's bio, from her own website: " Native South Floridian Stephanie Greco began acting in High School. She has performed as Corie Bratter in Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park, Helsa Wenzel in The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 and Muffet Di Nicoli in Uncommon Women and Others.  

Her love of film took her off the stage and onto the screen in 2002 when she began dabbling in local productions and independent films.

Stephanie’s first leading role came under the direction of Avery Pack in the film Artifact. Artifact premiered at the Miami Jewish Film Festival in January 2006 and screened at festivals in New York and Israel.

In the summer of 2007, Stephanie made the move to Los Angeles. She has studied under the direction of Michelle Danner at The Larry Moss Studio, Amy Lyndon and Robert D’ Avanzo. She performed in the west coast premiere of John Buffalo Mailer’s Hello Herman and wrote, produced and starred in the web show Nannyland.

Stephanie has performed in numerous independent films, on television and as a series host. She recently finished principal photography on two horror features. In The Haunting of Whaley House, Stephanie stars as Penny Abbot, a skeptic who works at America’s most haunted house. The Haunting of Whaley House will premiere at Comic Con 2012. In Chemical Peel, which has been described as a mix between The Mist and Cabin Fever, Stephanie plays one of six women who become trapped when a bachelorette party goes horribly wrong. Look for Chemical Peel Halloween 2012."

Not a bad resume; Ms. Greco also appeared in another Asylum production, 2008's The Day the Earth Stopped. Here's hoping  The Haunting of Whaley House will be a breakthrough performance for Ms. Greco. Find out for yourself when the film streets on DVD, Blu-Ray and VOD July 31st.

SHARK WEEK Gets a SyFy Premiere!!!!

In a tidbit that rivals the invention of fire as the greatest news ever, SyFy announced their lineup of Saturday Night Movies for the month of August, and they're going to be kicking things off on the 4th at 9 p.m. with the World Premiere of The Asylum's latest shark-saga, Shark Week. This news is especially thrilling to me, as I wrote the daggum thing.

This is not from the movie; it is, however, quite cool.

The film - which stars the venerable Patrick Bergin (Sleeping with the Enemy, Patriot Games) and the versatile Yancy Butler (Witchblade, Lake Placid 3 & 4) - is directed by Christopher Olen-Ray, and marks his third shark film for the studio, behind Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus  and 2-Headed Shark Attack, which I also had the honor of scripting. No poster, production stills, trailer or additional casting has been made public as of yet, but you better believe I'm refreshing various web pages every three or four minutes, all day long, just waiting. As soon as this stuff pops up, I'm gonna post the hell out of it.

To call this a happy moment would be severely understating things; I'm nauseous with glee. I'm really proud of the script and really excited to see how the film came out, and reallllllly excited I'll be watching it with a million or so others. I've already booked the bar for the viewing party. For real.


Stay tuned for details!!!