The film program at South By Southwest (SXSW) has really come into its own over the past few years — SXSW is becoming an impressive little film fest in addition to being a massive music party. The lineups for Midnight features and shorts have been announced, and there are some good premieres in there. Attack the Block, from Joe Cornish, will have a world premiere, while Hobo With a Shotgun and James Wan‘s Insidious will show up as well. And the films that most of us haven’t heard of sound pretty great, too. If I was at the fest I’d have my ass planted in a seat for every one of these at midnight. Screw the parties — the crazy genre films are the way to go.
The fill list of features is after the break. The shorts program is massive, and you can find it at the SXSW website. Read More »
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Briefly: In the wake of the debut of Saw, creator James Wan has worked on additional films (Dead Silence and Death Sentence) but neither has become anything like the phenomenon that was spawned by Saw. But his new film, Insidious, reunites him with Saw co-creator Leigh Whannell, and did quite well in the Midnight Madness program at TIFF last September. The film was picked up by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group (not quite the same thing as being picked up by Sony Pictures) and will now be released on April 1 2011 by the relatively new company FilmDistrict.
April 1 is getting to be a crowded date. Also in that slot are Source Code, Mother’s Day, Super and Hop. But if this film has any of the luck of Saw, it will pull a dedicated horror audience to counter some of the other draws represented by Source Code and the limited release Super. Insidious stars Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne as “a young family which makes the terrifying discovery that the body of their comatose boy has become a magnet for malevolent entities, while his consciousness lies trapped in the dark and insidious realm known as The Further.” [BOM]
Saw co-director/co-creator James Wan has signed on to direct, and will oversee the screenplay development of a big screen adaptation of the graphic novel Nightfall for William Stuart’s Aurora Productions and Platinum Studios, Inc.
Nightfall tells the story of a man who finds out just how bad life can get when he discovers that the prison he just entered is controlled by vampires. The graphic novel was published in 2007 and written and created by Scott O. Brown with art by Ferran Xalabarder.Stuart has previously said that “Nightfall is an extraordinary opportunity to make a fantastic horror/thriller in a genre which is unbelievably hot right now.
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Last night we got a brief preview of some of the films that will appear in the always-entertaining Midnight Madness lineup at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Now we’ve got the full nine, which in addition to the three announced last night (Super, Bunraku and The Butcher, The Chef and the Swordsman) include John Carpenter‘s The Ward, Brad Anderson‘s Vanishing on 7th Street and Insidious, by James Wan.
But TIFF isn’t stopping there: a whole host of other high-profile films were announced for the fest today. They include Clint Eastwood‘s Hereafter, Casey Affleck‘s I’m Still Here, Matt Reeves‘ Let Me In, Dustin Lance Black‘s directorial debut What’s Wrong With Virginia? and the Will Ferrell dramedy Everything Must Go, along with confirmation of Danny Boyle‘s 127 Hours, for which there’s a new photo. (Above.) This year’s TIFF looks like a good one: check info about all the films after the break. Read More »
Original Saw creators James Wan and Leigh Whannell are going to film a new low-budget horror picture this summer called Insidious, with Wan directing from a script by Whannell. Making the project a bit more interesting, Oren Peli, Jason Blum and Steven Schneider, the guys behind Paranormal Activity, are producing. Read More »
Saw helmer James Wan is in final talks to direct a live-action adaptation of the Konami video game Castlevania.
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Here’s a mildly disorienting development – apparently, James Wan almost got the Green Hornet gig. The Saw director momentarily posted an update on his Facebook profile which was caught by the Eagle Eyes of Larry Carroll MTV’s Splash Page. It read: Damn you Michel Gondry *shaking fists* Oh well the better man won.
That’s right, he did. But it also seems that Wan is likely to work with Rogen in future. The writer-star said:
Well, we were just given the mandate to bring the studio directors we were fans of, and the discussion would begin from there. So yeah we definitely talked to him. I would definitely love to do something else.
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Lionsgate has revealed new details about the future of the SAW franchise. The fifth installment, follows Hoffman (Costas Mandylor), who has been carrying Jigsaw’s (Tobin Bell) legacy, goes on a man hunt after the secret is threatened.
“People escape one trap, just to get caught in another; it’s closer in feel to the original SAW as thematically it’s about teamwork. I am far and away convinced that these are the best traps we have ever had,” Producer Marc Berg told Bloody-Disgusting. “This film is far less confusing and more linear, and there are TWO great twists. Just when you thought you figured it out, we twist again.”
The film features six different traps and they shot three different endings, which will be included on the eventual DVD release. The full supporting announce was also announced, and includes: Scott Patterson, Betsy Russell, Mark Rolston, Carlo Rota, Julie Benz, Greg Bryk, Laura Gordon and Meagan Good. David Hackl directed the fifth film but will not be returning for the sixth installment after all. I wonder if the studio replaced him or if this was his own choice. SAW series editor Kevin Greutert will be making his feature directorial debut on Saw VI. Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton are back to pen the screenplay.
Also announced is a SAW video game which was written by franchise creators Leigh Whannell and James Wan, featuring all of the original cast members, and will take place in the timeline of the original film. Saw V is scheduled to hit theaters on October 24th, 2008.
sources: Bloody-disgusting, ComingSoon
