1383 – Pontypool (2008)

timespace coordinates: 2000’s  Pontypool, Ontario

Pontypool is a 2008 Canadian horror film directed by Bruce McDonald and written by Tony Burgess, based on his novel Pontypool Changes Everything.

“Pontypool” was produced as both a motion picture, and as a radio play. Both versions of “Pontypool” were influenced by Orson Welles‘ infamous radio production of “The War of the Worlds.” The radio play was broadcast on the BBC’s Art & Culture section of their World Service website. It is approximately 58 minutes long, as opposed to the film’s running time of 95 minutes.

Writer Tony Burgess and director Bruce McDonald are intending to include more exposition for two planned sequels.

imdb   /   wiki   /   rottentomatoes   /   OST

1381 – Deadwood (TV Movie 2019)

timespace coordinates: 1889, Deadwood, South Dakota

Deadwood: The Movie is a 2019 American television drama film directed by Daniel Minahan and written by David Milch for HBO. It is a continuation of the television series of the same name, which ran for three seasons from 2004 to 2006. The film reunites the majority of the large ensemble cast, including Timothy Olyphant, Ian McShane, Molly Parker, Paula Malcomson, John Hawkes, and Gerald McRaney, and premiered on May 31, 2019. (wiki)

imdb   /   rottentomatoes

1375 – The Wolf Hour (2019)

timespace coordinates: It’s July 1977, and New York City is awash with escalating violence.

June was once a known counter-culture figure, but that was a decade ago. She now lives alone in her South Bronx apartment, having all but cut herself off from the outside world. It’s the notorious “Summer of Sam” and June only has to look out of her window to see the violence escalating with the brutal summer heat. The city is on a knife’s edge, a pressure-cooker about to explode into the incendiary 1977 New York blackout riots. (imdb)

The Wolf Hour is a 2019 thriller drama film written and directed by Alistair Banks Griffin. It stars Naomi Watts, Emory Cohen, Jennifer Ehle, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Jeremy Bobb and Brennan Brown.

wiki   /   rt

1374 – The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019)

timespace coordinates: 2010’s North Carolina > Florida

The Peanut Butter Falcon is a 2019 American comedy-drama film directed and written by Tyler Nilson, Michael Schwartz, and starring Shia LaBeouf, Zack Gottsagen, Dakota Johnson, John Hawkes, Bruce Dern, Jon Bernthal and Thomas Haden Church with professional wrestlers Mick Foley and Jake Roberts and rapper Yelawolf making appearances in the film.

The film is a modern retelling of the Huckleberry Finn story, which takes Gottsagen’s own desire to be an actor and changes it into a quest to become a wrestler.

Its plot follows a young man with Down syndrome (Gottsagen) who escapes from an assisted living facility and befriends a wayward fisherman on the run (LaBeouf); as the two men form a rapid bond, a social worker (Johnson) attempts to track them. The film was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on August 9, 2019, by Roadside Attractions. The film went on to become a sleeper hit, earning a gross of over $20 million. (wiki)

imdb   /   rt

1372 – Society (1989)

timespace coordinates: 1980’s Beverly Hills, California

Society is a 1989 American body horror film directed by Brian Yuzna, and starring Billy Warlock, Devin DeVasquez, Evan Richards, and Ben Meyerson. Its plot follows a Beverly Hills teenager who finds his wealthy parents are part of a gruesome cult for the social elite.

Though the film was completed in 1989, it was not released until 1992. It was Yuzna’s directorial debut and was written by Rick Fry and Woody Keith. Screaming Mad George was responsible for the special effects.

Scottish comic book company Rough Cut Comics acquired the comic book rights to Society in 2002, producing an official sequel. The comic book series returned in 2003 with Society: Party Animal by writer Colin Barr and artists Shelby Robertson (issue 1) and Neill Cameron (issue 2). (wiki)

imdb

1371 – In the Fog (2012)

timespace coordinates: Western frontiers of the USSR, 1942. the territory of Belarus (under German occupation)

In the Fog (Russian: В тумане) is a 2012 period drama/ war film directed by Sergei Loznitsa adapted from Vasil’ Bykaw‘s short story. In the Fog is a Germany | Netherlands | Belarus | Russia | Latvia co-production. 

“Even when the pace wanes, the images are still gripping.” Farran Smith Nehme / New York Post / rt

imdb   /   wiki

1370 – Phantasm (1979)

timespace coordinates: 70’s Oregon – Morningside Cemetery

Phantasm is a 1979 American science fantasy horror film directed, written, photographed, and edited by Don Coscarelli.  “a truly bizarre mix of outlandish horror, cheapo gore, and psychological mindgames that purposefully blur the line between waking and dreaming.” Marc Savlov

The first film in the Phantasm franchise, it introduces the Tall Man (Angus Scrimm), a supernatural and malevolent undertaker who turns the dead of Earth into dwarf zombies to be sent to his planet and used as slaves. He is opposed by a young boy, Mike (Michael Baldwin), who tries to convince his older brother Jody (Bill Thornbury) and family friend Reggie (Reggie Bannister) of the threat.

Phantasm was a locally financed independent film; the cast and crew were mostly amateurs and aspiring professionals. Though initial reviews were mixed in regards to the dream-like, surreal narrative and imagery, later reception was more positive and the film became a cult classic. (wiki)

Analysis   /   imdb