SCENES ON SCREEN
The latest releases coming to cinemas and home media
Scenes on the big screen
FrightFest, which takes place at Cineworld Leicester Square between the 24th and 28th of August, has revealed the new poster by Graham Humphreys.
The poster marks the 15th appearance of his iconic FrightFest Ghoul. Graham said: “This year’s FrightFest poster shares its theme with the annual FrightFest book, exploring the subject of Mad Doctors. Once again, my artwork needed to be built into multiple parts that could be dismantled and rearranged across different formats, allowing individual elements to work on their own. Re-Animator’s Herbert West is clearly referenced by the FrightFest ghoul. He is surrounded by a series of classic ‘mad doctors’ in film. Unsurprisingly, they are all men!”
The full line-up will be announced on the 13th of July.
Continuing the FrightFest news, the festival has joined forces with CenterFrame to promote new filmmakers. CenterFrame will sponsor the Short Film Showcase at this year’s event, with the full-line up expected on the 3rd of August.
It will also spotlight five films created by CenterFrame members as part of the FrightFest Discovery strand, with members voting on which five will be shown.
Finally, a networking event for members and filmmakers attending the festival will be held, allowing them to build connections.
The latest film from Ethan Coen, written alongside Tricia Cooke, has a new trailer and artwork courtesy of Universal Pictures.
Drive-Away Dolls follows Jamie, who embarks on a road trip to Tallahassee alongside her demure friend Marian. Their plans for self-discovery quickly go awry, however, when they cross paths with a group of inept criminals.
The film stars Margaret Qualley, Geraldine Viswanathan, Beanie Feldstein, Colman Domingo, Pedro Pascal, Bill Camp and Matt Damon, and will be released in cinemas soon.
Scenes on the small screen
Shudder’s July line-up includes the full line-up of the Etheria Film Night 2023 - the annual festival dedicated to horror, science-fiction and fantasy directed by women.
Celebrating the festival’s 10th anniversary, Shudder will once again exclusively stream the festival line-up between the 2nd and 31st of July.
Also joining the platform in July is Quicksand, starring Carolina Gaitan and Allan Hawco, on the 14th of July and Sharksploitation from director Stephen Scarlata, which explores the sub-genre of shark attack films which exploded after the success of Jaws. That streams exclusively from the 21st of July.
A semi-sequel to 2018’s Searching, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment will bring Missing to digital platforms for rent on the 4th of July. It is already available for Download & Keep.
It stars Storm Reid as June, whose mother goes missing while on vacation with her boyfriend. Stuck at home and hindered by red tape, June takes the hunt up herself, using the technology available to her to find her mother before it’s too late.
Also available for Download & Keep (27th June) and on home media and digital rental from the 17th of July, is Big George Foreman, courtesy of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
The biopic follows George Foreman as he goes from Olympic medal winner and World Heavyweight Champion to the pulpit after a near-death experience, before mounting the most unlikely of in-ring comebacks to help his community.
It’s directed by George Tillman Jr. and stars Forest Whitaker and Khris Davis.
Available on digital platforms from the 17th of July, before heading to DVD on the 14th of August, Brandon Slaglel’s The Flood follows a group of convicts who must fight a horde of giant alligators when a ferocious storm complicates their jailbreak.
It stars Nicky Whelan, Casper Van Dien, Louis Mandylor, Devanny Pinn and Randy Wayne and is released courtesy of Altitude Films.
101 Films has announced title 30 in its Black Label collection. Shot with no budget for one day a week over the course of a year, Christopher Nolan’s neo-noir debut, Following, will get its first-ever Blu-ray release on the 30th of July.
It follows a young writer whose voyeurism draws him into a dangerous world of crime. The release will feature new interviews with Nolan, as well as producer Emma Thomas, actors Jeremy Theobald and Lucy Russell and other members of the crew.
Other extras include a short film by Nolan, a short documentary revisiting the locations and a booklet with new writing by James Mottram and Andrew Graves.
Netflix has released a trailer and artwork for its upcoming thriller Heart of Stone, starring Gal Gadot and Jamie Dornan, and directed by Tom Harper.
Gadot plays Rachel Stone, part of a secret organisation, which uses cutting-edge technology to neutralise global threats. However, when a routine mission is derailed, she must fight to beat the odds.
Heart of Stone will be available globally on Netflix from the 11th of August.
Indicator has announced the second edition in its series of boxsets celebrating the film noir output from Universal Pictures. Set for release on the 18th of September, Universal Noir 2 features six films:
Lady on a Train (1945, Charles David)
Time out of Mind (1947, Robert Siodmak)
Singapore (1947, John Brahm)
A Woman’s Vengence (1948, Zoltán Korda)
An Act of Murder (1948, Michael Gordon)
The Lady Gambles (1948, Michael Gordon)
Each film is presented in high definition with original mono audio and the boxset includes audio commentaries and newly filmed features, short films featuring the cast and crew from the collection, which give historical context, and a 120-page book with new essays from Ellen Wright, Paul Duane, Philip Kemp, Tara Judah, Imogen Sara Smith, and Iris Veysey.