We heard good things about Tower Block out of last year’s Fantastic Fest and we;re pleased to report that the film will be released on DVD and Blu-ray via Shout! Factory on July 2nd.

Written by James Moran (Torchwood, Severance, Cockneys Vs. Zombies) and directed by Ronnie Thompson (Screwed) and James Nunn (Cockneys Vs. Zombies), the high concept suspense thriller stars Sheridan Smith(Quartet), Russell Tovey (Being Human, History Boys), Jack O’Connell (Skin, Harry Brown), Ralph Brown (Alien 3, Nearly Famous) and Kane Robinson (AKA rapper Kano).

“The residents of Tower Block 31 are terrified after witnessing the brutal murder of a young man. The case is left unsolved, due in large part to their collective silence. A year later, with their building marked for demolition, the witnesses begin to find themselves picked off one by one by a mysterious sniper out for justice. Pitted against not only the sniper’s deadly traps, but also each other, the residents must figure out a way to escape their own building…or die trying.

Featuring critically hailed performances by Jack O’Connell (300: Rise Of An Empire) and Sheridan Smith (Quartet) and co-starring Ralph Brown (Stoker), and Russell Tovey (BBC’s Being Human), Tower Block is a pulse-pounding thriller that delivers gritty action and relentless suspense.”

Specs and bonus features are still being determined.

From director Alex Craig Mann, and starring Jacob Zachar (“Greek”), Alexa Nikolas (“The Walking Dead”)Christa B. Allen (“Revenge”), Jayson Blair (“The New Normal”), Justin Chon (“21 and Over”), and Max Adler (“Glee”), Detention of the Dead will open Tuesday, June 18 on VOD and Friday, June 28 theatrically at the Laemmle NoHo 7 in Los Angeles, CA. We’ve got a new clip titled “Midal” that details a drug deal gone mildly wrong.

“Comedy and Horror unite in this The Breakfast Club meets Shaun of the Dead tale about a group of oddball high school students who find themselves trapped in detention with their classmates having turned into a horde of Zombies. Can they put their differences aside and work together to survive the night? Fat chance! This is High School after all.”

Check out the new clip below!

Gravitas Ventures recently aquired U.S. VOD rights to Jug Face (read our review), the tense horror-thriller that was written and directed by Chad Crawford Kinkle. The film was produced by Andrew van den Houten (Funeral Kings, The Woman) and Robert Tonino (Home Movie, Ghoul) for Modernciné, and stars Lauren Ashley Carter (The Woman), Sean Bridgers (Deadwood), Sean Young (Blade Runner), Larry Fessenden (I Sell the Dead) and Daniel Manche (The Girl Next Door). The film was executive produced by Lucky McKee, Arrien Schiltkamp and Loren Semmens. Jug face won the Slamdance Grand Prize Screenwriting Award in 2011 and debuted as a Special Screening selection at this year’s festival.

The film will receive “a pre-theatrical VOD rollout July 8th, with a day-and-date VOD and theatrical release August 9th” from Modernciné’s new distribution outfit Modern Distributors. I’m not sure what makes this second VOD window different from the first, but we’ll find out soon I suppose.

“Ada, her family and a small isolated backwoods community worship a mysterious pit. The pit has the power to heal and protect all who honor it but at a deadly price…it demands an occasional sacrifice. The pit communicates through the local potter who, while in a trance, crafts ceramic jugs that carry the face of a person to be sacrificed to the entity that lives within it. Ada has a secret about the latest jug face that she’s determined to keep hidden but the pit demands a sacrifice and unleashes an evil onto the community until it gets who it really wants.“

Directed by “Twisted Twins” Jen & Sylvia Soska, Xlerator Media’s American Mary (read our review) is currently on VOD (iTunes Link Here) and hits theaters today, May 31st.

Starring Katharine Isabelle (Freddy vs. Jason, Ginger Snaps), Antonio Cupo (“Bomb Girls”), and Tristan Risk, “American Mary is the story of a medical student named Mary who is growing increasingly broke and disenchanted with medical school and the established doctors she once idolized. The allure of easy money sends a desperate Mary through the messy world of underground surgeries which leaves more marks on her than the so-called freakish clientele. Appearances are everything.”

I recently hopped on the phone with the Soska sisters to talk about how American Mary parallels their Hollywood career and the steps they took to make it a different aesthetic statement after their last film, Dead Hooker In A Trunk.

Check it out below!

I talked to Katherine Isabelle and she said she thinks this film represents you guys becoming acclimated to Hollywood. At first you’re wide-eyed and idealistic, but then you get a bit more wary.

Sylvia: That is absolutely accurate. We didn’t even realize at the time how much of ourselves and our personal journey we were putting in there. When we were making our first film we were so broke and we realized how much of show business was “show.” We gave ourselves two weeks to write this and everything we were going through at the time made it into the script through different analogies. The body-mod community is really representative of the horror community, the indie scene. And the mainstream doctors – the ones that you’re told you should trust your life with – were representative of the big Hollywood industry. It’s very much where we were two years ago, it’s very much what we needed to say.

Jen: It feeds very much into our tagline of “appearances are everything.” A lot of times people who appear normal are just trying to project that image. We’ve met some absolute monsters where everyone goes around talking about what wonderful people they are. You really can’t judge someone by what they put out there.

Did you write this with Katherine in mind?

Sylvia: The script was definitely written for her. We’re huge horror nerds and loved her performance in Ginger Snaps and after that we were obsessed with watching her in different productions. I thought she was so talented and was being underutilized. The scene she has with Al Pacino in Insomnia is incredible. Everything in this film is something I wanted to see Katie do.

Jen: As a rule, we never ever write for a particular actor. We have types in mind, but we’re trying to create characters. We totally broke that rule with Katie because we’ve been watching her for so long, she just has this presence.

Tristan Risk plays such an interesting character, this Betty Boop person. But that’s a huge risk that paid off because it could have taken people out of the movie.

Sylvia: It was such a difficult part to cast. We saw 60 different actresses, we had lord of people coming in and tapings around the world. It was really hard to find someone who could make that real. And dealing with prosthetics, we wanted her to have scars. We didn’t want her to look perfect. Originally Tristan wasn’t even in the call, she was hired to be our staff coordinator and choreographer, and I couldn’t stop staring at her. I was like, “it’s too bad you don’t act” and she said, “oh, I act.” And then I said, “it’s too bad you don’t do voices” and she said, “oh, I do voices.”

Jen: We really wanted to open up a conversation about cosmetic surgery vs. body modification. Body modification isn’t accepted because it isn’t seen as a necessary change but cosmetic surgery like botox and breast enlargement is seen as necessary. As I see it, cosmetic surgery is about fitting into the overall ideal, or North American ideal, of what is beautiful. But with body modification people are trying to extend their own relationships with themselves and what they think is beautiful.

Can you talk about your approach to the visuals? The film is quite stately and striking.

Sylvia: It’s more of an homage to Asian and European cinema. When we were trying to pitch the film people were like, “oh, that’s Hostel, that’s Saw. That’s gross no one can look at it.” But I thought, “what if we take that as a focal point and really focus on appearances and try to make it a stunningly beautiful movie.” We have a clitorectomy in the film that I challenge anyone to tell me a more beautiful body modification scene. We wanted to bring the art into that.

Jen: With the tagline “appearances are everything,” it was so important for the film to be beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. We had two nickels to rub together for all of our departments, but the work they were able to pull off was just phenomenal.

The best kind of comedies are based on self-deprecation. There’s nothing funnier than someone being able to poke fun at themselves, which is why so many standup comedians are great at what they do. In film, many writers and directors think the best way into an audience’s heart is through slapstick and prop gags – a cheap way to obtain laughs without doing any actual work (ie; a character tripping over a chair and falling face first into a cake). Because that route is (unfortunately) box office dynamite, it’s incredibly rare when we are gifted with an authentic comedy that’s built around great plotting, characters and payoffs.

This Is the End, which is a horror comedy (don’t let the advertising fool you), is without a shadow of doubt the funniest movie to hit theaters since Superbad or The Hangover.

In one of the most ingenious, brilliant and clever plots, This Is the End features the comedy best friends club of Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Aziz Ansari, and Emma Watson all playing themselves. This takes self-deprecation to an entirely new level as each and every of the aforementioned cast jab each other in a roast-styled comedy that’s jam-packed with gut-busting laughs.

Baruchel, a recluse who likes to play video games, eat burgers and smoke weed, is visiting Rogen from Montreal. He hates the Hollywood lifestyle, yet is convinced by Rogen to go to Franco’s housewarming party. They arrive to a starfucker extravaganza that includes bizarre moments like Robinson singing about panties alongside Rihanna, and Michael Cerra doing lines of coke and getting double-teamed in a bathroom while drinking juice packs. The internal conflict is that Baruchel hates the scene and feels like Rogen is a traitor who’s become one of “them.” Bickering ensues. During a trip to the store for smokes, a major earthquake erupts and residents are all blasted to the sky in a blue beam of light. It’s the apocalypse and the rapture is upon them.

Back at Franco’s, shit gets crazy as half the party is decimated in a sink hole, while the survivors are holed up with a psychopath (played by McBride) completely messing up the chemistry. Extreme comedy ensues.

But this is a horror website, so let’s cut the shit. This Is the End is the best horror comedy since James Gunn’s SLiTHER. The studio can hide it as much as they want, but you’ll get heavy doses of gore and extreme violence, not to mention exorcisms, demons and the mother fuckin’ Devil himself.

While most of the movie takes place inside the interior of Franco’s ridiculous new pad, the visual scope of the film is stunning as we see the Hollywood hills completely engulfed in flames, helicopters crashing, and a large-scale battle with a massive beast. The visual effects, which include the demons and Satan, look absolutely incredible.

Outside of a few messy transitions and some pacing lulls, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg directed the living shit out of their screenplay. It’s rare to see a genre crossover like this, but Rogen and Goldberg stunned me with their understanding of the horror genre, the beats, and how to scare the audience. While This Is the End may be a comedy – one of the funniest this decade – it’s still an insanely competent horror movie that’s going to blow your collective minds.

LA rockers Falling Still have announced that they will be releasing a mini-EP entitled Hot Piss on June 25th. The release will feature three tracks: “I’m Pissed”, “Gods Of The Echospace”, and “Castle Walls”. Structured almost like a concept album, the tracks follow the path of troubled youth through his life to his death bed.

Bassist/vocalist Brett Hamilton states, “This is a more honest representation of our creative process than anything else we’ve done. We’re just three filthy-mouthed degenerates trying to make something beautiful.” He adds, “This EP is a rite of spring for us.”

Guitarist/vocalist Eric Podnar comments, “We’ve found that the EP format of releasing fewer songs more often helps keep things interesting for both us and our fans. We have so much music we want to make right now, and by regularly putting out new material and tirelessly playing live, we’re finally in a position to get it all out there.”

Below is a stream of “I’m Pissed”, which can be downloaded for free.

Got any thoughts/questions/concerns for Jonathan Barkan? Shoot him a message on Twitter or on Bloody-Disgusting!

BJ McDonnell’s Hatchet III hits limited theaters June 14 from MPI/Dark Sky Films. After yesterday’s clip it’s apparent that the beginning of this new film flows directly from the ending of the last, just the same as Hatchet 2 picked up right after the original Hatchet.

So it makes sense that writer/producer Adam Green would eventually want to cut all three films together, Godfather style, with extra and uncut scenes. And, according to Under The Gun, that’s what he’s planning on doing. “ Green told the packed theater he plans to one day release the complete Hatchet trilogy as one single, epic feature film. He added the new cut would also include new sequences which were left out of the previous films, including at least one additional death scene intended for the original.”

The report goes on to mention that this might not happend for some time due to Green’s various projects and the fact that Anchor Bay owns the first film and Dark Sky owns the other two.

For better or worse, the Xbox One is being touted as an all-in-one device. If you’re one of the many gamers who are upset with Microsoft and their decision to turn their gaming console into a TV/sports box, Sony has you in mind. Speaking at D11 earlier today, Sony CEO Kaz Hirai said they’re focusing on the video games first, and the other features second. More after the break.

“The most important thing we need to make sure we do at least initially is that we all agree and understand that the PS4 is a great video game console that appeals to video gamers. If we miss that part then I don’t think we get the initial establishment of the console,” said Hirai. “We take a look at this first and foremost as a game console.” Hirai said.

Obviously, this doesn’t mean it won’t carry many of the features the Xbox One will — Netflix, Hulu, HBO, streaming TV, sports, etc. — but those will not be the primary focus of the PlayStation 4.

“We don’t want to end there. That’s an area we will obviously reveal and talk about in the coming months.”

There’s a lot of outrage, or indifference, about the Xbox One. I’ve noticed many of you aren’t very happy with Microsoft, saying there’s nothing they can do to get you back on their side. So I have to ask, are you planning on grabbing a PS4 instead?

Which Next-Gen Console Are You Getting? PlayStation 4 Xbox One None All of the above What about the Wii U?
 

Have a question? Feel free to ever-so-gently toss Adam an email, or follow him on Twitter and Bloody Disgusting.

Arriving on VOD and in limited theaters June 28 is Neil Jordan’s Byzantium, which was acquired by IFC Films out of the Toronto International Film Festival.

Starring Gemma Arterton, Saoirse Ronan, Caleb Landry Jones, Danny Mays, Bradley James, Sam Riley, Jonny Lee Miller and Tom Hollander, the pic is about a pair of women who claim to be vampire siblings.

“On the run for murder, two young “sisters” arrive penniless at an English seaside town. Clara is a fiercely modern woman who has her eyes on the future and no time for the past. Teenager Eleanor is shy and innocent. Yet they both hide the same secrets: they are really mother and daughter, and they are both … vampires!“

Palms, the new supergroup featuring singer Chino Moreno (Deftones) and ex-ISIS members Aaron Harris, Jeff Caxide, and Clifford Meyer, have released a trailer for their upcoming self-titled debut album, which will be released June 25th via Ipecac Records. You can watch the trailer below (warning: turn down the volume if you’re wearing headphones as the first few seconds are a bit intense). The album can be pre-ordered in several different formats on the band’s official website.

Palms also has four tour dates in California. They are listed below along with a stream of the band’s song “Patagonia”.

July 10 San Diego, CA Belly Up Tavern
July 11 Santa Ana CA The Observatory
July 12 Los Angeles, CA The Troubadour SOLD OUT
July 13 San Francisco, CA Slim’s

Got any thoughts/questions/concerns for Jonathan Barkan? Shoot him a message on Twitter or on Bloody-Disgusting!

One Village Entertainment, an RLJ Entertainment, announces the release of the urban thriller film, Apartment 4E (formerly known as Small of Her Back), now available on DVD. Starring Nicole Beharie (42, Shame) and Christopher Domig (Second-Story Man), the film was written and directed by Russell Leigh Sharman.

“Piper (Beharie) is a beautiful, intelligent young woman with everything to live for…but she’s trapped in a dark world of her own making. Deeply troubled, desperate and clutching a handgun, Piper has not left her apartment in a long time, and when there’s a knock on the door, she will face a choice that will make the difference between life and death. This stranger may have the answers to the mystery at the center of Piper’s world, or he may have his own reasons for tracking her down. The truth lies up the stairs and down the hall in Apartment 4E.”

A passion project for Sharman, the film received partial funding from a Kickstarter campaign in 2010, reaching 126 backers and raising its goal of over $10,000. The movie then made its world debut at the Urban World Film Festival in New York in 2012 and at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles earlier this year.

NBC has decided to continue on with Bryan Fuller’s “Hannibal,” which means I have 4 episodes to binge on over the weekend. For those of you keeping up, it not only means you have “faith,” which I do not, but it also means you’ll enjoy this preview from next week’s episode.

In 1.11 “Rôti”, airing next Thursday night, “Dr. Gideon escapes and sets out to murder the psychiatrists who profiled him. Meanwhile, Hannibal misleads the team in a scheme to bring Will and Gideon together; and Dr. Chilton is questioned in the wake of Gideon’s flight.“

In the newest image from MGM/Screen Gems’ Carrie, in theaters October 18, Carrie, played by Chloë Grace Moretz, is on her way to what will be the most memorable prom ever with Tommy Ross (Ansel Elgort).

Also starring Julianne Moore, Alex Russell, Gabriella Wilde, Judy Greer and Portia Doubleday, the pic, directed by Kimberly Peirce, “is a reimagining of the classic horror tale about Carrie White, a shy girl outcast by her peers and sheltered by her deeply religious mother (Julianne Moore), who unleashes telekinetic terror on her small town after being pushed too far at her senior prom.”

Brian De Palma’s 1976 film version of Carrie, adapted from Stephen King’s novella, earned Oscar nominations for stars Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie.

In the first of a series of character reveals, here’s a look at the sexy Michale Rodriguez as “Shé” in Machete Kills, the Robert Rodriguez-directed sequel to Machete.

In theaters September 13 from Open Road, Danny Trejo stars as the title character, alongside Michelle Rodriguez, Mel Gibson, Jessica Alba, Demian Bichir, Amber Heard, Sofia Vergara, Charlie Sheen, Zoe Saldana, Edward James Olmos, Elise Avellan, Electra Avellan, William Sadler, Lady Gaga, Alexa Vega, Vanessa Hudgens and Marko Zaror.

“In Machete Kills, Danny Trejo returns as ex-Federale agent Machete, who is recruited by the President of the United States for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man – he must take down a madman revolutionary and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer (Mel Gibson) who has hatched a plan to spread war and anarchy across the planet.“

Jason Blum is seeing Visions, coming on board to produce the thriller through his Blumhouse Prods. with Saw 3D and Jessabelle (Ghosts) director Kevin Greutert helming.

Blumhouse bought Lucas Sussman’s spec script and is aiming for a fall start, Variety reports.

“Story, in the vein of The Others and What Lies Beneath, centers on a pregnant woman moving to the wine country to be with her husband at their vineyard — a move which triggers terrifying visions.”

Blumhouse recently launched a foreign sales operation at Cannes, selling Sinister 2, and comedy thriller Stretch, to be directed by Joe Carnahan.

Gruetert was the editor on the first five Saw films and directed the final two.

I think the moral of Eyes: The Horror Game is mo’ money mo’ problems. Or, at least that’s what I gleaned from my brief time with the game. I say brief because it only took a few minutes for that head to find me and do whatever it is floating severed lady heads do to strapping young men such as myself.

If you have six minutes and don’t mind me screaming like a baby, you can watch me play Eyes after the break.

Did you know you can subscribe to BDTV for more videos like this, because you totally can. If you’d like to play Eyes yourself, you can download it here.

Have a question? Feel free to ever-so-gently toss Adam an email, or follow him on Twitter and Bloody Disgusting.

Female fronted heavy metal band Huntress have launched an IndieGoGo to raise funds for tour support during their stint on the Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival. People who help fund their cause will see such incentives as signed albums, dirty pictures drawn by singer Jill Janus on drumheads, the prop sword used in the “Eight Of Swords” music video, and even a tour van. Head on over to their IndieGoGo page to contribute today.

Huntress will be releasing their new album Starbound Beast on July 2nd via Napalm Records. It is the follow up to 2012′s Spell Eater. Head here to listen to their song “I Want To Fuck You To Death”, which was co-written by Lemmy of Motorhead.

Got any thoughts/questions/concerns for Jonathan Barkan? Shoot him a message on Twitter or on Bloody-Disgusting!

Polish black death metal band Behemoth have announced the title of their 10th studio album as The Satanist. The album will be released this fall via Metal Blade Records. Pre-orders, new songs, and more will be posted on the Metal Blade Records Behemoth landing page in the coming weeks.

Front man Nergal states, “It took us over two decades to come up with a title that…says it all. While our new songs artistically take surprisingly adventurous directions, our message stands steadfast—Proud and Radical. ‘The Satanist’ stands for undying yearning for liberation and love for freedom in all aspects of life. Considering all our life experiences that often took dramatic curves I couldn’t think of more appropriate and fitting statement of who and where we are now.”

Below is an image from the studio as well as lyrics from an upcoming song.

Lyrics posted via a Facebook post that stated “Magick is happening…” read:

“…At faintest whim they would impale the Sun
and thus the sheep in me became the wolf in man
I am the fly that flew forth from the ark
My thoughts like insects
Whoring wounds divine…”

Got any thoughts/questions/concerns for Jonathan Barkan? Shoot him a message on Twitter or on Bloody-Disgusting!

Once the hottest script in town (penned by Aaron Guzikowski), could Prisoners end up being the hottest movie around?

After years in development hell, the movie is done, and Warner Bros. Pictures has released the trailer and poster for Denis Villeneuve’s thriller that stars Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Viola Davis, Melissa Leo and Paul Dano. It looks absolutely intense.

In theaters September 20, “How far would you go to protect your child? Keller Dover (Jackman) is facing every parent’s worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her young friend, Joy, and as minutes turn to hours, panic sets in. The only lead is a dilapidated RV that had earlier been parked on their street. Heading the investigation, Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) arrests its driver, Alex Jones (Paul Dano), but a lack of evidence forces the only suspect’s release.

Knowing his child’s life is at stake, the frantic Dover decides he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands. The desperate father will do whatever it takes to find the girls, but in doing so, he may lose himself, begging the question: When do you cross the line between seeking justice and becoming a vigilante?“

Danny! and Tim are back, reviewing two PG-13 tales of family, hauntings, and death in this month’s Double Murder: Sinister vs Insidious! These films will make you never trust your children again! Tune in to find out answers to these burning questions: Which movie has not gotten the attention it deserves and which does not deserve your attention? Which one of the hosts is getting married? What’s in store for the upcoming Double Murder 50th Episode Extravaganza? What other podcasts are the guys developing? …and more! ALSO, email Danny! and Tim at DoubleMurder@bloody-disgusting.com with questions to be read and answered on their 50th episode!!

Got any thoughts/questions/concerns for Jonathan Barkan? Shoot him a message on Twitter or on Bloody-Disgusting!