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On Friday nights, IndieWire After Dark takes a feature-length beat to honor fringe cinema in the streaming age.

In October 2024, we’re doing the Midnight Movie Monster Mash with films that challenge our understanding of evil characters and creatures just in time for Halloween.

First, read the spoiler-free Bait: a weird and wonderful pick from any time in film. Then, come back for the Bite: a breakdown of all the spoiler-y bits you’d want to unpack when exiting a theater.

The Bait: A Genre Cannibal Comedy Worth Preserving — Maggots and All

Measured against classics like “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and contemporary farmhouse fare like “Pearl,” “Motel Hell” is no blue ribbon winner. Still, this outrageously funky genre blend — a pitch-black horror comedy about screwy siblings turning motorists and motel guests into scrumptious jerky — deserves its a special spot in the greater midnight movie pantry.

From swingers seeking bestiality to an inexplicable hypnosis sequence,...

Welcome to IndieWire After Dark, where we pick a new theme for our midnight movie programming every month!

Join us Friday nights at 9:30 p.m. Et to explore the best in fringe films — available at any hour in the streaming age.

Whether you’re working in the lab late one night or going to your favorite repertory theater after hours, now’s the time to do the Midnight Movie Monster Mash. This October, we’re honoring the Halloween season with a carousel of killers so unusual their beastly mugs would make Lon Chaney quake — and he’s been dead for 100 years.

Ancient beasts predate humans, and monsters have always stalked our campfire stories. But in cinema, the monster movie has mutated into an uncontainable genre behemoth all its own. From B-movie creature features to chilling portraits of serial killers, the terrors of the big screen we choose to call...

Award Winning Horror/Thriller Film ‘Séance Games Metaxu‘ is coming to VOD 13th February 2024.

Directed by Tane McClure, ‘Séance Games Metaxu‘ was written by Tane McClure and Tyke Caravelli and stars Eric Roberts, Tane McClure, Nisha Catron, Andrew James Ferguson, Olivia Deligan, Madison Taylor, Bernard Timmons II, Farryl Christina Lawson, Sylvester Bowen.

Synopsis:

Four popular social media stars, team up to play the online Séance Game called “Metaxu”. Each team must live-stream 2 séances over two nights at the scariest, most haunted place they can find. The team with the highest number of followers during the séances will win over 1 million dollars and worldwide Metaxu fame. Thinking this is all fun games, with just a little horror cos-play, our team soon discovers that they have encountered a true haunting with deadly consequences. The intensity rises as they are followed by the ghost of their murdered friend, and learn that someone in...

Broadway’s Here Lies Love, the disco-pop musical from David Byrne and Fatboy Slim about the infamous former First Lady of the Philippines Imelda Marcos, is launching a new ticket initiative tied to Filipino American Heritage Month.

In an effort to increase access to the historic musical, which features Broadway’s first all-Filipino cast, Here Lies Love‘s producers have partnered with Gold House and The Asian American Foundation (Taaf) on “Democracy in Action.” The initiative aims to raise $1 million in tax-deductible donations, which will go to subsidizing 33 percent of tickets to the show in October, a cultural heritage month for Filipino Americans.

“We are extremely proud of this initiative and grateful to our colleagues at Gold House and Taaf for recognizing the unique opportunity Here Lies Love creates to broaden the demographics of Broadway audiences,” said the show’s producers Jose Antonio Vargas, Patrick Catullo, Diana Dimenna, Clint Ramos,...

The episode of The Test of Time covering Motel Hell was Written by Andrew Hatfield, Narrated by Niki Minter, Edited by Mike Conway, Produced by John Fallon and Tyler Nichols, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

Copycat movies have been a thing forever. You can look at the broader scope and consider that most slasher movies became copycat in one way or another. A supernatural killer, excessive gore and nudity, and even the high body counts. That style of horror movies could become a dime a dozen. Twin films are similar, but they are made at roughly the same time and actually trying to release first to beat the other to market so as to not be seen as an attempted clone of the other studios idea. Boiling it down even further, some copycats go beyond just the themes and even try to take direct elements from the previous movie that made money.

This article contains spoilers

Alfred Hitchcock almost blew it. For most of Psycho’s runtime, the master of suspense lived up to his name, turning Robert Bloch’s pulpy novel into a thrilling mystery with shocking twists. But then, after the revelation of Norman Bates emulating his mother, now a rotting corpse, the movie stops for a psychiatrist to lecture the audience on Freudian theory. Were it not for the chilling closing voiceover by Virginia Gregg as Norma Bates, and Anthony Perkins’ proto-Kubrickian stare at the camera, Psycho may have gone out with a whisper.

As ill-advised as the lecture scene surely is, it did help establish a key element of the slasher genre that followed. Slashers aren’t just about serial killers who pick off victims one by one. They also need to have deeply weird storylines, dealing not only with the killer’s personal hang ups, but also...

Twelve musicians will be included in the upcoming Broadway production of the David Byrne-Fatboy Slim musical Here Lies Love, an agreement reached today in a labor dispute over the use of pre-recorded music tracks.

“After negotiation, we have reached an agreement that will bring live music to Here Lies Love with the inclusion of 12 musicians to the show,” said Tino Gagliardi, president and executive director of Local 802 NYC Musicians Union. “Broadway is a very special place with the best musicians and performances in the world, and we are glad this agreement honors that tradition.”

The musical’s producers said in their own statement, “On behalf of our entire cast, company and creative team, we have reached an agreement with Musicians Union Local 802, per the collective bargaining agreement. We look forward to welcoming audiences to experience the revolutionary musical experience that is Here Lies Love at the Broadway Theatre beginning on Saturday,...

John Ratzenberger's acting career is riddled with the kind of trivia-fodder that would delight his "Cheers" character, Cliff Clavin. Aside from his sitcom stardom, the actor is best known as Pixar's good-luck charm (he appears in the animation studio's first 23 features) and, pre-"Cheers," as a master of the blink-and-miss-it walk-on role. Settle in to watch films as disparate as Richard Donner's "Superman," Kevin Connor's "Motel Hell," or Warren Beatty's "Reds," and you'll spy Ratzenberg at some point.

With his amusingly bushy mustache and awkward bearing, Ratzenberger was never going to be a leading man. He's a born character actor, and could've very well been a member of the "that guy" all-stars with Dick Miller, Stephen Tobolowsky, and James Rebhorn, had he not found television immortality as everyone's favorite know-some-of-it-all mail carrier. He's certainly not upset about how his career shook out, but his "Cheers...

Scream Factory sure loves director Kevin Connor’s 1980 oddball horror classic Motel Hell (which you can watch Here). They gave the film a special edition Blu-ray release from back in 2014, then a steelbook release with a 4K transfer back in 2020. Now they have announced that they’ll be giving Motel Hell a 4K Uhd release on June 27th – and copies are available for pre-order at This Link! While supplies last, fans who order the 4K Uhd release through the Scream Factory site will also receive an exclusive 18″ X 24″ rolled poster featuring the original theatrical artwork.

Written by Robert Jaffe and Steven-Charles Jaffe, Motel Hell stars Rory Calhoun, Paul Linke, Nancy Parsons, Nina Axelrod, Wolfman Jack, Elaine Joyce, and John Ratzenberger. The synopsis: It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent’s fritters! You really are what you eat with Farmer Vincent’s smoked meat in this creepy horror...

Scream Factory continues upgrading their Blu-ray titles to 4K Ultra HD, and up next is the 1980 horror movie Motel Hell. Announced today, the film comes to 4K on June 27, 2023.

In director Kevin Connor’s 1980 movie, “A seemingly friendly farmer and his sister kidnap travelers and bury them alive, using them to create the “special meat” they are famous for.”

Special Features include:

Audio Commentary With Director Kevin Connor, Moderated By Dave Parker Interviews With Kevin Connor, Producers/Writers Robert Jaffe And Steven Charles Jaffe, Actor Marc Silver And Stunt Co-ordinator Gene Hartline Interviews With Actors Paul Linke And Rosanne Katon Ida, Be Thy Name: A Look Back At Motel Hell’s Frightful Female Protagonist, Ida Smith Theatrical Trailer

Pre-order the release now and get an exclusive poster, while supplies last.

The post ‘Motel Hell’ Opens Up on 4K Ultra HD This Summer from Scream Factory appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!

Producers Kevin Connor and Nichola Ellis introducing project to buyers at AFM.

Veteran editor Nick Moore will direct the South African comedy Missionary Position which producers Kevin Connor and Nichola Ellis have been introducing to buyers at AFM.

W. David McBrayer (Beat The Drum) wrote the screenplay about a young couple posing as missionaries to escape the chaos of Western economic society who face the harsh reality of surviving in rural Africa.

The project is out to casting and the producers are preparing an early 2023 start of production. McBrayer will also serve as executive producer.

“It is a fun poignant...

By E.J. Panaligan

Editor-turned-director Nick Moore, known for his work on British romantic comedies including “The Full Monty,” has boarded comedy “Missionary Position” as its director. The film will be set in South Africa and comes from writer W. David McBrayer and producers Kevin Connor and Nichola Ellis, who will present the film to buyers at the AFM.

The fish-out-of-water comedy follows a young couple posing as missionaries to escape the chaos of the western economic society, instead finding themselves faced with the harsh reality of surviving in rural Africa.

“It is a fun poignant entertaining script while making a profound global statement as it mushrooms into serious environmental political issues and the conservation of wildlife facing South Africa today,” Moore said of the film’s premise.

Casting is underway for the film, with the goal for Moore and company to begin production and filming in 2023.

Moore’s exhaustive...