IFC

Since it's almost Valentine's Day, I guess this is as good a time as any to profess my newfound love for IFC. The company is continually wooing me with news of one cool release after another, and today's no exception since they've just announced that they've acquired the distribution rights for Stuart Hazeldine's Exam.

Screen Daily got the scoop on the company's plans for the title, which is being billed as "The Apprentice goes to Hell". IFC hasn't set a firm release date for Exam, but the article indicates that it will come out later this year through the distributor's Festival Direct Video-On-Demand channel.

If this is your first time hearing about Exam, then allow me to regale you with some plot synopsis...

Eight job candidates have reached the final interview for a position with a powerful corporation. They're shut in a room with an armed guard and given 80 minutes to answer a single question--only when they turn over the paper, there's nothing on it. The rules are simple: don't spoil their papers, don't talk to the guard, and don't leave the room. Confused, the applicants begin to work together and uncover clues as to what they're supposed to do. Soon enough, the candidates start to turn against one another. How far will they go to pass this exam and land the job?

Jump past the break for a look at the trailer. We'll bring you official details on Exam's release date as soon as they become available.

If you're a fan of foreign horror, you've got to love IFC. Over the course of the past year or so, they've become ardent supporters of fright films from around the globe, bringing numerous movies to America that probably would have never seen the light of a projector's bulb in domestic theaters otherwise.

Their latest, the French horror offering Mutants, is set to debut on their Video-On-Demand service on February 10th. In preparation, they've released an official trailer that you can check out after the jump.

The clip looks good--very reminiscent of 28 Days Later with its vicious and bloody monsters running amok. It doesn't appear to be particularly original--I think we may need a moratorium on pandemics as plot devices--but I don't think it's necessary to reinvent the wheel when making a movie of this nature in the first place. Give us some gore, a reasonably compelling story, and characters who don't act like total morons and I'll probably be happy.

Here's the official plot synopsis, courtesy of IFC:

"A world devastated by a pandemic virus that turns human beings into primitive and bloodthirsty creatures, Marco and Sonia set off to find a secret base to escape from the 'mutants.' When the latter attack them, Marco is contaminated, too. Little by little, he undergoes the same changes. Sonia, who is expecting a baby, is then forced to fight her worst enemy, the man she loves."

Click the handy "read more" button to watch the clip.

If you're a film person, you have no doubt been following all the journalists and bloggers as they tweet their little hearts out about all the fun they're having at Sundance. One of the more talked about films was Michael Winterbottom's The Killer Inside Me, a remake of a 1976 film based on the 1952 Jim Thompson novel of the same name.

The film follows Casey Affleck as the sheriff of a small Texas town who slowly reveals himself to be a psychotic killer. Also starring Jessica Alba, Kate Hudson and Simon Baker, The Killer Inside Me has been mired in controversy since its first screening at Sundance. Star Jessica Alba walked out halfway, and the second screening was met with outraged festival goers who demanded Winterbottom explain why the film featured such graphic and seemingly realistic depictions of physical and sexual violence against women.

Proving the old adage "there's no such thing as bad publicity," Shock Till You Drop by way of Variety is reporting that this ultra-violent adaptation has been picked up for distribution by the inimitable IFC Films. This choice seems ideal for IFC, as they were the company that picked up Antichrist (review), Lars von Trier's sexually explicit and ultra graphic thriller starring William Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

The rights to the film were sold for about $1.5 million, and IFC intends to release the film theatrically and through their Video-on-Demand service this summer. The Killer Inside Me was written by John Curran and produced by Andrew Eaton, Chris Hanley and Brad Schlei.

One of the most intriguing films to emerge last year was Dutch filmmaker Tom Six's The Human Centipede. Yes, the title pretty much tells you what to expect. The film recounts the story of a mad doctor who wants to take people, remove their knees, and sew them together (mouth to anus...) to craft the titular beast for some odd reason. It created quite a buzz on the festival circuit. Even more amazing is that it's merely the first film in a planned trilogy.

However, unless you make it to the festivals, you missed out on seeing the film. The good news is that IFC is set to remedy that problem soon. ShockTillYouDrop broke news earlier this afternoon about the company's plan to bring The Human Centipede to American audiences as part of its IFC Theaters platform, which promises a limited theatrical release and Video On Demand debut on the very same day.

IFC President Jonathan Sehring had this to say about the announcement:

"Echoing back to the early works of David Cronenberg, 'The Human Centipede' is a landmark work in the horror genre, taking the "mad doctor" conceit and perversely twisting it into a mind-boggling roller coaster ride. Everyone at IFC is excited to introduce such a unique talent as Tom Six to American audiences and it's a perfect film for our theatrical and VOD platforms."

No release date has been set for The Human Centipede, but we'll bring it to you as soon it's announced.

Jump past the break for a clip from the film.

Killer Movie, directed by Jeff Fisher, 2008
Now this was a pleasant surprise. Most straight-to-video horror movies with generic titles like Killer Movie end up bringing absolutely nothing new to the table, but writer/director Jeff Fisher apparently snuck one past the straight-to-video goalies, delivering an above-average slasher that is genuinely entertaining. It's about a down-on-his-luck director that takes a gig shooting a reality show in a small town in North Dakota. He think he's making a series about the local high school's underdog hockey team, but when he arrives in town he learns that the producer has another angle in mind.

The day before the director arrived, a gal whose murderous father was just released from jail is found dead under suspicious circumstances (apparently being decapitated while riding a four-wheeler isn't the norm in North Dakota). Tension is running high with the locals, some believing the killer father has returned, others believing it was a genuine accident, but before long it's pretty clear that someone is killing not only the locals, but the film crew as well.

It's not the most unique premise in the world, but it's well paced, well acted by some familiar faces (Nestor Carbonell!), avoids the usual pitfalls associated with making a movie within a movie, and has the right balance of levity and arterial spray to appeal to anyone willing to give something called Killer Movie a chance.

Despite not receiving a release - and a limited one at that - until October 30th, Ti West's 80's throwback The House of the Devil is receiving oodles of praise, with some touting it as the best horror film of the year. While I do not share the same sentiments (I felt the story lagged considerably), I have nothing but respect for Mr. West, as The House of the Devil is not an homage to early 80's Satanic Panic flicks, it IS an 80's Satanic Panic flick. If you were to awaken from a 30-year coma and the first thing you did was watch this film, you would think no time has passed at all.

Instead of trying to emulate this success with another film, Mr. West is venturing into cyberspace to develop a webseries with IFC called Dead and Lonely, which will premiere on October 26th. According to Shock Till You Drop, the series will star Justin Rice as a newly-single man who turns to the online dating site DateorDie.net. He connects with a young woman searching for life, but there's a catch: she's a vampire.

Tormented first caught my eye two months ago when Trailer Addict posted an excellent clip from the movie that had me covering an eye with one hand by the time it was done. Now that IFC's Festival Direct program is bringing the British slasher to the US of A, we've got a full length trailer for the film and a slick little plot description on the Independent Film Channel's website:

"A sexy, scary high school horror movie that smells like teen spirit...with a hint of rotting flesh! From classrooms and cafeterias, to school ties and pool parties, teenage traumas full of promise, pimples and panic get a terrifying makeover as the best days of your lives become your worst nightmare."

The trailer definitely does a good job of selling the 'rich high schoolers up to no good' angle, so if you need selling on the horror angle I've happily embedded the aforementioned clip below along with the trailer. If Tormented looks like a good time, and I think it does, you can catch the film on IFC's On-Demand platform starting October 21st.