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The Dublin Film Festival came to an end at the weekend after one of its most varied programs yet. Guests visiting the event included deep-dive documentary-maker Alexandre O. Philippe, attending with his Texas Chain Saw Massacre meditation Chain Reactions; director Jason Buxton, there with his acclaimed Ben Foster-starring thriller Sharp Corner, soon to be released by Vertical; Albert Serra, supporting his surprise San Sebastian winner Afternoons of Solitude; Palestinian director Elia Suleiman, honored by a curated retrospective; and British ’60s pop-culture icon Twiggy, subject of Sadie Frost’s film of the same name. From closer to home, director Lorcan Finnegan and writer Thomas Martin brought their cult Cannes hit The Surfer, and the UK’s Polly Steele came with Four Letters of Love starring Helena Bonham Carter and Pierce Brosnan.

Under the always assured stewardship of artistic Gráinne Humphreys, the festival took a big swing by opening with The Return,...

By the time Stanley Kubrick came to make "The Shining" in the late '70s, he was firmly ensconced in England. The Bronx native had moved to Britain in the early '60s to shoot "Lolita" at the famed Elstree studios. After that, he stayed. Not only did he stay, but in order to make all the cinematic classics for which we now know him, he made everyone else come to him. Before he designed the industrial nightmare Gotham for Tim Burton's "Batman," for example, production designer Anton Furst was tasked with creating Vietnam in North London for Kubrick's "Full Metal Jacket." This continued right up until the director's final film, "Eyes Wide Shut," which took Kubrick's exhausting methods to new extremes by requiring entire New York City blocks to be recreated on the backlot of England's Pinewood Studios — all because Kubrick refused to actually shoot on location.

Keanu Reeves has built a career starring in action movies such as The Matrix and John Wick, but he was initially not a first-choice actor in this genre. Starting his acting journey around the late ‘80s, he found immense fame after appearing in the 1989 comedy film Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.

Keanu Reeves in John Wick / Credits: Lionsgate

This achievement led to filmmakers wanting to work with him, and one director saw his potential to become an action star. Of course, this was contested by the higher-ups who didn’t believe in Reeves’ versatility.

Keanu Reeves became an action star because of Kathryn Bigelow

Kathryn Bigelow’s Point Break was a crucial part of Keanu Reeves’ career as this was the movie that established him as a rising action star. In retrospect, it ultimately led to his highly successful franchise, John Wick, and all it took was complete trust from...

Nicole Kidman Tom Cruise Films (Photo Credit – Instagram/Facebook)

Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise weren’t just a Hollywood power couple—they were the couple of the ‘90s. Big stars, big movies, and a whirlwind romance that played out on and off screen. But while their chemistry was undeniable, Kidman later admitted that working alongside Cruise wasn’t always the best move for her career.

Take Days of Thunder, the movie that brought them together. Sure, it was a hit, but for Kidman? Not exactly a dream role. She straight-up called her character “one-dimensional.” While Cruise got to speed around in race cars, Kidman’s job was mostly standing there, looking concerned.

And that wasn’t the only time she questioned working with her superstar husband. After starring in multiple films together, she realized she might’ve blended into the background a little too much. But once their marriage ended?...

Many directors are known for shooting a lot of takes. David Fincher's penchant for multiple takes led to a lot of demanding days on the "Mindhunter" set, while Stanley Kubrick's exhausting methods are infamous, such as when he made Tom Cruise walk through a door 95 times on the set of "Eyes Wide Shut." The question of whether the effort involved in this approach actually yields better results than something like Clint Eastwood's commitment to using the very first take remains unanswered at this point. But sometimes, shooting take after take results in something undeniably great. Case in point: one of Al Pacino's most memorable lines in Michael Mann's "Heat."

The 1995 crime thriller remains a touchstone of the genre, and not just because it finally saw Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro share a scene and featured one of the best gun fights ever put to screen.

Tatum O’Neal is reflecting on the role that could have been.

The iconic actress, who made history at age 10 by winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 1974’s “Paper Moon,” told Variety that her father — fellow actor and “Paper Moon” co-star Ryan O’Neal — forbid her from auditioning for “Taxi Driver.” Tatum was asked to audition for the Martin Scorsese feature after her Academy Award win; the film was released in 1976 with a 13-year-old Jodie Foster instead in the Oscar-nominated role of a child prostitute.

“My father said, ‘No, you can’t,'” Tatum said of Ryan restricting her budding career as a child star. She added that Ryan thought the part was “a little too naked.” Tatum continued, “And I never really recovered from that.”

After Tatum became the youngest person to ever win an Academy Award (a record she still holds to this day), she explained that her father...

For a veteran star like Keanu Reeves, it is a surprise he never got to work with legendary filmmaker Stanley Kubrick. Fans would think they would have been a match made in heaven simply because they like doing a lot of takes, but the actor believes he would only break him for a hilarious reason.

Keanu Reeves in The Matrix / Credits: Warner Bros.

Reeves is a perfectionist actor who takes his job seriously. He always wants to deliver the best possible performance, and that’s why he asks for several takes. Despite his talent and legacy, he doesn’t think he’s capable of just doing a single take.

Keanu Reeves would have given Stanley Kubrick the worst nightmare of his career

Before John Wick, we knew Keanu Reeves from the sci-fi action franchise The Matrix. He said that blockbusters like these films afforded him to do several takes compared to small-budget projects.

It is always nice to see King in action. Stephen King’s stories, that is. The 77-year-old writer has given us many stories worth cherishing. And many movies as well. The Shining, Doctor Sleep, and It. The list keeps going on and on.

His stories are far from done though. The Monkey is ready to take the world by storm. And the next big King project is in the works, with Mike Flanagan working on The Dark Tower. And the hype is unreal. Even the author is not ready to jinx it.

Mike Flanagan has something great in the pipeline The Monkey is the latest project based on Stephen King’s works || Neon

The Monkey has already shaken many people up. A story that revolves around a toy monkey is all set to send chills up the viewers’ spine. Starring the likes of Theo James, Tatiana Maslany, and Oz Perkins...

We’re less than a week away from the 97th annual Academy Awards, and host Conan O’Brien has been doing tons of promotion for the big day, conducting interviews and starring in at least one short film in which he’s trapped in a loveless marriage with a giant Oscar statuette.

In one behind-the-scenes video posted to the Oscars’ official YouTube account, O’Brien name-checked some of his all-time favorite hosts (Johnny Carson and Bob Hope) and noted that one of his earliest memories of the Academy Awards was the time a streaker ran across the stage in 1974, teeing up a dick joke from David Niven.

Conan was also asked if he could give “any movie in history that was overlooked” by the Academy an Oscar, which would it be? Instead of singling out, say, one of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpieces, he suggested that he would honor a 1960s comedy starring Barney Fife himself,...

George Lucas launched the epic space opera franchise Star Wars with the 1977 original film, which gained critical acclaim and was a box office hit. The film introduced viewers to a galaxy far, far away populated by a host of unique and interesting characters who became instant icons of modern pop culture.

Darth Vader actor David Prowse (Credit: Flicks and the City | YouTube).

During an interview, actor David Prowse, best known for being the original actor to play Darth Vader, opened up about his experience with the franchise. In the process, Prowse revealed that he was initially offered a different fan-favorite original trilogy character but instead opted to play Vader. Here is the other Star Wars role offered to Prowse that he turned down.

Darth Vader actor David Prowse turned down a different iconic Star Wars role

David Prowse played the role of Darth Vader in the first Star Wars movie directed by George Lucas.

There are a lot of Stephen King books out there — and about as many movies based on those King-ly books. The writer earns his title as a horror master not just through craft, but prolificity. He's got multiple works that could contend for "scariest book ever written," but quite a few that aren't so great either.

If you're preparing for a King deep dive, with movies or TV, consider starting with the cream of the crop. One story that's absolutely in that cream is King's novel "The Dead Zone," which fellow horror master David Cronenberg adapted as a movie in 1983. For added convenience, "The Dead Zone" is now streaming for free (with ads) on Pluto TV.

Now, Cronenberg is synonymous with body horror, but "The Dead Zone" is no gross-out picture; the violence happens only in spats. What makes it Cronenbergian is that is about a man undergoing a physical...

Stephen King does not even hide his hatred for Stanley Kubrick’s take on The Shining as the author publicly criticized it for lacking emotional investment. We can’t blame him, though—he looked for the elements that reflected his own personal struggles in the movie and failed to find them.

Stephen King / Credits: CBS News

Thankfully, Mike Flanagan set out to fix things and reconcile Kubrick’s film with King’s novel. Doctor Sleep was not a commercial hit, but over the years, fans have grown to love and appreciate it, and perhaps we could say that the film had finally hit its mark.

Stephen King was happy with Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep after his disappointment with Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining

Stanley Kubrick helmed The Shining in 1980. It made a decent box office run but was plagued with mixed reactions from fans. Perhaps the most striking comment came from Stephen King,...

Mike Flanagan has proven himself a master of horror stories with several hit shows and movies under his belt. Altough Flanagan is best known for his work on The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, his filmography remains criminally underrated with movies like Oculus and Hush being some of the best horror-thrillers of the past two decade.

Doctor Sleep director Mike Flanagan (Credit: Netflix | YouTube).

After working extensively in the genre, Flanagan finally got a chance to adapt one of his favorite horror IPs when he helmed 2019’s Doctor Sleep, a sequel to The Shining, both based on works from Stephen King. During an interview, Flanagan discussed why actor Ewan McGregor was the right choice for the role of a grownup Dan Torrance. Here is what Flanagan had to say about McGregor’s casting in the movie.

Mike Flanagan explained why Ewan McGregor was perfect for...

This post contains spoilers for "The Monkey."

Despite Stephen King's reputation for having bad endings, there are some conclusions in his beloved works that have gone down in history, like the famous ending of "Carrie," or the moving final moments of "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," which are largely recreated in their respective movie adaptations. But some film adaptations of King's work have boldly diverged from the source material.

The renowned filmmaker Stanley Kubrick famously decided to scrap the ending of "The Shining," forcing Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) to face a trial by ice instead of fire, freezing to death in a hedge maze rather than blowing up the hotel as King originally wrote. Now, years later, "Longlegs" director Osgood Perkins has also dared to wander off the King's road with his adaptation of the 1980 short story "The Monkey." What's surprising is that somehow, the filmmaker has conjured...

“Longlegs” writer-director Osgood Perkins has returned this month with “The Monkey,” another nightmarish horror film with a shockingly violent edge. The similarities between the two movies more or less end there, though. The new film is, for starters, more of a blackly comic horror comedy than “Longlegs.”

Unlike “Longlegs,” “The Monkey” is not an original story, either. On the contrary, while Perkins wrote and directed “The Monkey” alone, the new film is actually an adaptation. It is, in fact, based on a piece of source material written by one of the horror genre’s most influential and recognizable artists.

Is “The Monkey” based on a book?

“The Monkey” is based on a short story of the same name by “The Shining” author Stephen King. Published over 40 years ago, the story was originally included in a 1980 edition of Gallery magazine. King subsequently revised and re-published it as part of his “Skeleton Crew...

Spoilers for "The Monkey" follow.

"Longlegs" director Osgood Perkins is back with "The Monkey" (you can read our review of the film right here), a blood-soaked horror-comedy based on a short story by the king of horror himself, Stephen King. King is one of our most prolific writers, and a huge chunk of his bibliography has been adapted to the screen. Some of these adaptations, like 1989's "Pet Sematary," which has a screenplay by King himself, remain fairly true to the source material. Then you have takes that veer off into their own directions. King has gone on record as saying he's not particularly upset when film adaptations of his work change things up, telling Vulture: "My idea is, 'If you're going to make changes, hopefully they'll work.'" At the same time, King isn't shy about voicing his displeasure when he feels changes don't work. After all, he's...

Fans are already aware of Stephen King’s dislike for Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining as he felt it did not capture the emotional investment found in the book. So when Mike Flanagan got the opportunity to helm the sequel, Doctor Sleep, he was tasked with the impossible: to reconcile Kubrick’s and King’s visions.

Mike Flanagan via Netflix / Credits: YouTube

It’s incredible how Flanagan managed to pay homage to the original movie while also getting the approval of King. That is exactly a talent we don’t come across every day, yet somehow, he proved that he’s not only a master in the horror genre but also a versatile filmmaker.

Mike Flanagan on the challenge of making Doctor Sleep

Mike Flanagan spoke with GQ Magazine and talked about what Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining meant to him. He was in fifth grade when he first watched the movie,...

Filmmaker Guillermo del Toro is known for his gothic horror movies, having defined the genre for over two decades. After starting with indie films, del Toro eventually won an Oscar for his work while delivering commercial hits. However, one entry in del Toro’s filmography remains extremely underrated, especially for being genre-defying.

Crimson Peak director Guillermo del Toro (Credits: CBS News).

During an interview, del Toro talked about his work on the 2015 gothic romance film Crimson Peak. The filmmaker explained how his intention with the movie was to always flip one common trope of the gothic genre that had become a tradition. In the process, del Toro made one of the saddest underrated horror movies, and here is what he had to say regarding it.

Guillermo del Toro wanted to flip a gothic trope with Crimson Peak

Director Guillermo del Toro helmed the 2015 gothic romance film Crimson Peak, starring Mia Wasikowska,...

Guillermo del Toro often draws inspiration from the works of other great filmmakers and incorporates them into his own movies to create a visually indulging cinematic experience. He has always expressed admiration for Stanley Kubrick’s films, although he mostly prefers the ones most people dislike.

Guillermo del Toro / Credits: BBC

While this is not entirely an unpopular opinion, it’s worth noting that del Toro’s favorite Kubrick movies have greatly influenced his works, and therefore it meant that they resonated with him in ways that we can only understand once we’ve immersed ourselves in his films.

Guillermo del Toro reveals his favorite Stanley Kubrick movies

During the release of Guillermo del Toro’s 2015 movie, Crimson Peak, he spoke with Little White Lies and revealed that the waltz sequence was a direct reference to Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon. “It was, it was. Curiously, it’s one of my favorite Kubrick films,...

Matthew Modine starred in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, but it was a role he may not have received had it not been for Val Kilmer. While you might think that this story involves Kilmer recommending Modine for the role or helping him audition, it doesn’t. Instead, Kilmer was pissed that Modine was taking all the roles and inadvertently told him about Full Metal Jacket after assuming he had snagged that role as well.

“I was with the wonderful actor David Alan Grier at The Source on Hollywood Boulevard,” Modine told THR. “So we were sitting there having pancakes and discussing that, and just a few feet ahead of me, someone was looking at me and clearly telling me, for simplicity, to go f*** myself. And I told David, ‘Unless this guy’s got Tourette’s or he is an actor memorizing a monologue, he’s clearly telling me to go f*** myself.

In the 1980s, Vision Quest star Matthew Modine was the apple of the studio system’s eye. Coming off a half-dozen roles in a two-year span, Modine was having a pancake breakfast with David Alan Grier, one of his co-stars from Robert Altman’s Streamers (1983), when a fellow patron at West Hollywood’s The Source Restaurant greeted him from afar with an f-bomb and a glower.

“David looked over his shoulder and said, ‘Oh, that’s Val Kilmer. He’s a really nice guy.’ He got up and started talking to Val, and then I said to him, ‘My name’s Matthew.’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I know who you are,’” Modine tells The Hollywood Reporter in support of Vision Quest’s 40th anniversary. “I was on a run from Private School and Streamers to Vision Quest and Mrs. Soffel, and while Val could have easily been cast in those movies,...

To the world, Malcolm McDowell will always be defined by an identity of two: the cult-classic icon who pioneered one of the greatest Stanley Kubrick movies ever made: A Clockwork Orange, or the Star Trek villain who killed the beloved Captain Kirk.

Malcolm McDowell as Dr. Tolian Soran in Star Trek: Generations (1994) [Credit: Paramount Pictures]

The actor knows there is no escaping from the identities that have been imposed upon him and McDowell has ever since worked on embracing the duality rather than letting it hinder his work. However, swarms of Trekkies still return to remind him of the atrocity that he committed as Dr. Tolian Soran from time to time.

Malcolm McDowell takes up an impossible task Malcolm McDowell (left) in Star Trek: Generations (1994) [Credit: Paramount Pictures]

As one of the founders and core members of the Star Trek universe, William Shatner has always been held in high esteem, alongside Leonard Nimoy and...

From its clinical opening moments—a series of wide, indoor, static shots of a somewhat abandoned house in need of renovation—Harry Aspinwall’s feature film directorial debut, the coldly sparse chamber piece “The House Was Not Hungry Then” (2025), establishes the purely observational approach applied to its poltergeist horror story; an ominous sequence that not only displays the limited geography of the film’s single location, a coverage consisting of six different vistas but also lulls the audience into a sedated state of passive witnessing, assuming the role of onlookers.

The timing of this film is rather incidental, to say the least, for the minimal restraint and unobtrusive detachment in terms of presentation feel like an economic cross-breed between the visual gimmicks of two very recent movies by high-profile filmmakers: Robert Zemeckis’ deeply flawed and tedious technical exercise “Here” (2024), a centuries-spanning film shot entirely from a single angle, and Steven Soderbergh...

Since the publication of "Carrie" in 1974, Stephen King has knocked out over 60 novels/novellas and penned over 200 short stories. He has overcome severe substance abuse issues and survived one very gnarly car accident. He directed "Maximum Overdrive." He's hit dizzying peaks and deep, dark valleys, but, through it all, he has never lost his sense of wonder, nor his ability to enthrall readers the world over with his words.

King has been around long enough that he's seen several generations of filmmakers adapt his work. Old masters like Brian De Palma, George A. Romero, and Stanley Kubrick have passed the torch to the likes of Andy Muschietti, Mike Flanagan, and Edgar Wright (whose film adaptation of "The Running Man" is due out this November) — and it feels like subsequent generations will keep tending the flame so long as his work doesn't get banned out of existence. There is so much King out there,...

Kevyn Major Howard, an actor known for playing Rafterman in Full Metal Jacket, has died. The 69-year-old died on Friday, February 14, at a hospital in Las Vegas with loved ones at his side, his family told TMZ. Howard’s cause of death isn’t yet known, but his family explained he’d been in the hospital and dealing with respiratory issues for weeks. Full Metal Jacket costar Matthew Modine paid tribute to Howard in an X post the following day, sharing a photo of the two of them on the set of the 1987 war film alongside fellow cast members Sal Lopez, Gary Landon Mills, and Adam Baldwin. “Kevyn Major Howard gave and gave and gave so much to the world and especially the men and women of our armed forces,” Modine wrote in his post. “He became famous for his role of Rafterman in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket.

Kevyn Major Howard, best known for his role as Rafterman in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, has passed away at the age of 69. The actor, who later built a reputation as a leading headshot photographer, died in a Las Vegas hospital on Valentine’s Day, according to reports. While his family has yet to confirm an exact cause of death, sources noted that he had been hospitalized for several weeks with respiratory ailments.

Born on January 27, 1956, in Montréal, Quebec, Howard moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career that spanned television and film. His early work included appearances on shows like Trapper John, M.D. and roles in cautionary tales such as Off the Minnesota Strip and Scared Straight! Another Story. He made his film debut in Death Wish II (1982), and his notable credits include supporting roles in Clint Eastwood’s Sudden Impact (1983) and Alien Nation (1988), as well as...

Kevyn Major Howard, known for appearing as Rafterman in the 1987 Stanley Kubrick Vietnam War film Full Metal Jacket, has died at the age of 69.

“Kevyn Major Howard gave and gave and gave so much to the world and especially the men and women of our armed forces,” wrote his friend and former co-star Matthew Modine on X in a tribute. “He became famous for his role of ‘Rafterman’ in Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket. His portrayal gave him a unique entrée into the world of the US Marine Corps. This led him on a decades-long journey to be in service of our nation’s bravest. Thank you for your dedication to others and to America. May all the gods bless you Kevyn. Rest in peace. #SemperFidelis“

He attached a photo from set featuring the “Lusthog Squad,” which included Howard alongside himself and co-stars Sal Lopez, Gary Landon Mills and Adam Baldwin.

When Coralie Fargeat set out to write “The Substance” she wanted to create a film that stayed with the audience long after they left the theater. So, it’s not surprising that when she sat down to write her Oscar nominated screenplay she looked to the films that had left an indelible mark on her.

While on a special edition of the Filmmaker Toolkit podcast, Fargeat returned with a list of six films she wanted to discuss because they had directly inspired the ideas, story, and the visual and aural storytelling of “The Substance.” During the podcast, Fargeat talked about why certain movies left such a lasting imprint on her and what she learned from each.

“It’s about the phantasmagoria, the fact that you break the rules of reality,” said Fargeat. “You create the reality of your film, and then I think it gives you such a freedom to...

The U.K.’s National Theatre Live has unveiled the first trailer for its cinematic presentation of “Dr. Strangelove,” the stage adaptation of Stanley Kubrick’s cold war satire, ahead of its worldwide cinema release.

The footage showcases seven-time BAFTA winner Steve Coogan’s celebrated performances as Dr. Strangelove, President Merkin Muffley, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, and Major Tj Kong in this theatrical reimagining, adapted by Emmy Award-winner Armando Iannucci and directed by Olivier Award-winner Sean Foley. Following a stellar London run at the Noël Coward Theatre, where the Nt Live capture was filmed, the production is currently playing at Dublin’s Bord Gáis Energy Theatre.

“Kubrick’s masterpiece has such a bold, kinetic visual style, and its original trailer captures that perfectly,” National Theatre Live senior producer Ollie Gardner and trailer editor Robin Finetto told Variety. “We set out to create a trailer that paid homage to both, while...

New Zealand-based sales outfit Black Mandala is bringing a sinister lineup of six genre titles to Berlin’s European Film Market (EFM), ranging from occult horror to creature features.

Leading the pack is “1978,” a twisted tale of torturers who get more than they bargained for when their victims turn out to be members of a dark cult. The period thriller, set against the backdrop of the World Cup soccer final, promises to transform a secret prison into a literal hell on earth.

The company’s horror-heavy slate includes “Play Dead,” starring Paula Brasca in a claustrophobic nightmare where she must lie motionless among corpses while mysterious rituals unfold above her. In a different kind of psychological tension, erotic thriller “Traumnovelle” – the English-language adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s 1926 novella that previously inspired Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut” – follows a high-society couple’s dangerous descent into an elite underground world of...

Stanley Kubrick, who directed 2001: A Space Odyssey, would not live to see the actual 2001. But he would last long enough for an unfinished film of his to see release in that year. Steven Spielberg picked up his project A.I. Artificial Intelligence and directed it himself, inviting his buddy John Williams to compose the score. Not everyone liked A.I., but the general public consensus is that there’s never been a bad Williams composition.

I’ll always wonder what the Kubrick version of this movie would’ve been like, and if it would’ve been an improvement. We can all agree it likely would have been darker — Spielberg can’t help but infuse his brand of sentimentality into everything he does — but the popular belief that the “happy” ending was Steven’s invention is not true. That was actually part of it from the beginning, as weird and tacked-on as it feels.

Stanley Kubrick‘s The Shining turns 45 this year — and, despite Stephen King‘s negative feelings about the adaption, its impact cannot be denied. Filmmakers continue to pay homage to the film, including Coralie Fargeat with The Substance.

Work or play, enjoy your stay at the Overlook with apparel commemorating the masterpiece of modern horror from Fright-Rags.

Three new designs by Kyle Crawford — “Room 237,” “Snowed In,” and “The Overlook Hotel” — are available along with Saul Bass‘ classic yellow artwork.

Printed on super soft 4.5-once 100% pre-shrunk ringspun cotton, tees are $33. The Overlook design and Bass’ artwork also come on pullover hoodies for $55.

The post Don’t Overlook Fright-Rags’ ‘The Shining’ 45th Anniversary Apparel appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

A provocative new vision of desire, power, and secrecy is taking centre stage as Traumnovelle begins its theatrical run in Germany, with an international rollout set to follow. Directed by Florian Frerichs, this erotic thriller reimagines Arthur Schnitzler’s classic novella Traumnovelle—the same work that inspired Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. Set against the vibrant and hedonistic backdrop of Berlin’s nightlife in 2024, the film explores the modern complexities of intimacy, temptation, and the unspoken forces that pull at the fabric of relationships.

Starring Nikolai Kinski, son of the legendary Klaus Kinski, alongside Laurine Price, Traumnovelle blends the psychological unease of Black Swan with the sensuality of Fifty Shades of Grey, offering an unsettling yet mesmerizing journey into the blurred boundaries of fantasy and reality. The film has already been met with intrigue, launching in Germany with 60 theatrical copies, and both German and English-language versions available.

Frerichs’ adaptation...

Our friends at Black Mandala have added Florian Frerichs' erotic thriller Traumnovelle to their EFM lineup this year. The thriller is loosely based off of Austrian writer Arthur Schnitsler's novella, Dream Story, the same novella that gave inspiration to Stanley Kubrick's film, Eyes Wide Shut.     When you have a chance to watch the trailer below - in the privacy of your own home or hovel as it has suggestive scenes and mild nudity - you wouldn't be blamed if you thought Frerichs was ripping off Kubrik unless we mentioned the tie in to Schnitsler's novella. The... 'themes' are very familiar.    Still, sex is sex, and erotic thrillers have their place within the fantastic film spectrum. Who doesn't like watching questionably attractive people do...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Ever since George Melies shot a rocket into the eye of the Man in the Moon or when Protazanov entertained the possibility of a proletarian uprising on Mars, and Fritz Lang spellbindingly dramatized the space travel, cinema has started gazing into the outer space and speculating about the mysteries lying beyond the reaches of Earth. Subsequently, the space race between the 1950 and 1970s encouraged the craving for space-set sci-fi narratives. Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) might not be the greatest blockbuster hit like the later-era space operas like Star Wars and Star Trek franchise. Yet, it was one of the earlier films to offer a deeply perceptive look at humans’ existence in the universe.

The more we learned about the cosmos, our feelings of wonderment were mixed with feelings of dread. The question of what’s out there continues to haunt these creators. But the problem with most...

“Storytelling has never been more important,” Illumination founder and boss Chris Meledandri said Saturday night in receiving the David O. Selznick Achievement Award at the PGA Awards.

“We find ourselves now in a far more fragile moment. Our country, our city, our industry, are experiencing unprecedented disruption and uncertainty. We should not forget. That the health of a society is directly tied to its reigning narratives,” said the producer whose animated comedies have delighted global masses to the tune of $11 billion.

Meledandri reflected on his early days in Hollywood as a runner working for producer Dan Melnick. The first day when Meledandri drove on the 20th Century Fox lot, he had an assigned parking space with his name on it. It was an early producing lesson for the young Meledandri that he would carry with him: “Everybody matters.”

Well before he arrived in Hollywood, Meledandri had already been reared in...

For some hardcore cinephiles, there's no greater pleasure than digging into the roots of some of their favorite filmmakers. It's often a highly illuminating experience to see the first cinematic efforts of directors who go on to bigger and better things. Whether it takes them a few features to build up to the height of their powers, or if they came storming out of the gate with originality and attitude to spare, there's usually some kind of overarching story of these filmmakers and their craft to be discovered when watching these early works.

If you can find them at all, that is. While most young filmmakers these days are used to growing up in a world where their baby pictures are still posted on their social media accounts, the analog days of yore meant old media could not only be lost, but become lost for good. That risk goes double...

Renowned horror author Stephen King has publicly criticized Stanley Kubrick’s version of The Shining, which almost affected Mike Flanagan’s work on Doctor Sleep. The main issue with Kubrick’s film was that he made it his own instead of staying true to the source and incorporating the emotional elements.

Ewan McGregor in Doctor Sleep / Credits: Warner Bros.

King has every right to get mad—after all, it’s his novel and he poured so much of himself into it. Flanagan was to direct the sequel, but because of the controversy, he was left with the unbelievable job of reconciling both Kubrick’s and King’s visions.

How Mike Flanagan worked his magic on Doctor Sleep

Doctor Sleep was almost impossible to pull off, but veteran horror director Mike Flanagan was able to do so—and he managed to stay true to both Stephen King’s novel and Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining.

The 1990s were a golden era for the erotic thriller genre, producing films that masterfully blended sensuality with suspense. This decade saw the rise of provocative storytelling that delved deep into the complexities of human desire and power dynamics. If you loved the intricate power dynamics and steamy encounters in Babygirl, you’ll find plenty to enjoy in these seven 1990s Erotic Thrillers. Each explores themes of desire, control, and the dangerous intersections of love and power, making them perfect watches for fans of Babygirl. Whether you’re drawn to the psychological tension of Basic Instinct or the atmospheric intrigue of Eyes Wide Shut, these films capture the essence of what made the 90s such a thrilling time for cinema.

1. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut is a mesmerizing exploration of desire and secrecy. The film follows Dr. William Harford (Tom Cruise) as he navigates a clandestine...

Stanley Kubrick wasn’t exactly known for being a laugh riot — although he did originally intend Eyes Wide Shut to be a Steve Martin farce. Nevertheless, the legendary filmmaking genius did happen to make one of the greatest comedies of all time: Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb starring Peter Sellers, Peter Sellers, George C. Scott and Peter Sellers.

Famously, Dr. Strangelove was originally going to be a very serious drama about the existential threat posed by nuclear weapons, based on the novel Red Alert by Peter George. That is, until Kubrick and his co-writer began cracking jokes during the writing process, at which point it morphed into a “nightmare comedy.”

But despite the fact that it was reworked into a satire starring Inspector Clouseau, it was still viewed as a potentially incendiary film by the American government.

Dr. Strangelove was released in...

Documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger is reportedly going to direct a remake of nuclear war thriller Fail Safe, the 1964 film that lost out to Dr Strangelove.

Remakes are usually chosen based on brand recognition, so it’s a little surprising to wake up to the news that the 1964 nuclear war thriller Fail Safe might be getting a remake. The film will be directed by Joe Berlinger, previously better known as documentary filmmaker, though he’s also made a couple of narrative features, too, including 2019’s Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile, about the murderer Ted Bundy.

The original Fail Safe was directed by Sidney Lumet and featured a starry cast, including Henry Fonda, Walther Matthau and Fritz Weaver. It wasn’t long, though, before it became more widely remembered as the other nuclear war film released in 1964, since it was beaten to cinemas by the thematically similar Dr Strangelove, directed by...

I think we’re all still reeling from the shock that neither of Luca Guadagnino‘s films “Challengers” nor “Queer” secured Oscar nominations. Still, the Italian filmmaker has revealed an extremely ambitious project he hopes to get off the ground at Warner Bros., and it’s a dozy. In a recent interview with Cura Magazine, Guadagnino says he’s trying to revive a legendary, never-made Stanley Kubrick film, “Aryan Papers,” a Holocaust drama based on the Louis Begley book “Wartime Lies,” set in Poland during the years of the Nazi occupation and centering on two Jewish family members who avoid persecution by assuming Catholic identities.

Continue reading Luca Guadagnino Hoping To Revive Stanley Kubrick’s Never-Made WWII Film ‘Aryan Papers’ For WB at The Playlist.

Luca Guadagnino is reportedly talking to Warner Bros about bringing Stanley Kubrick’s unrealised Aryan Papers to the screen.

Luca Guadagnino seems to love being linked to various projects, as it’s not uncommon for the filmmaker to airily throw out the title of a new film that he is (or sometimes is no longer) attached to. At the tail end of last year, he was attached to a comic book adaptation of Sgt Rock, while just last month he played down the long-standing rumour that he’d be tackling a remake of American Psycho starring Austin Butler.

This is all par for the course for Guadagnino, though, who has previously talked up (or down) connections to other projects such as Lord Of The Flies, Scarface, Separate Rooms and an Audrey Hepburn biopic. As it stands, at least two of those projects (the Hepburn one and the Scarface remake) are...

The late William Friedkin had a reputation for his wild, whirling, aggressive personality on film sets. He was so blustery and temperamental that he earned the nickname "Hurricane Billy" from his co-workers. Stories from the set of his 1973 horror masterpiece "The Exorcist" are recounted frequently, and many actors, photographers, and writers have talked about the things that happened off camera while making that movie. Friendkin, it seems, thrived in a chaotic environment, and played loud audio cassettes of tribal chanting in between takes. Someone even alleged that Friedkin would occasionally fire blanks into the air, making sure everyone was a little jumpy. That kind of behavior would be considered too reckless today, but in the hoary days of the 1970s, it was considered kinda metal. 

Friedkin made several horror films and thrillers in his career beyond "The Exorcist," which is still often considered one of the scariest films of all time.

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In a January 29 episode of Stephen King-themed podcast "The Kingcast," the horror author joined hosts Eric Vespe and Scott Wampler to discuss the latest King movie adaptation -- "Longlegs" director Osgood Perkins' "The Monkey" -- among many other things. Since King has written so many books that his work spans several decades, his fellow creators and other notable people occasionally drop fun little homages to his work. When King was asked to name the most surprising Stephen King Easter egg that he's ever encountered in the wild, the writer was able to recall one that truly managed to catch him unawares.

"I found out that there was a pro hockey goalie named Curtis Joseph, who called himself 'Cujo'. And he wore a mask that had a dog face on it. That's really resonant." 

Curtis "Cujo" Joseph is no little league pushover,...

February is a time for lovers. Romance, as well as the hope to find it are abound and what better place to seek it out than at your local repertory cinema. Sure, a dark theater full of strangers may seem like an odd space for finding a potential suitor, but who knows what can happen at the concession stand or under the marquee? One thing’s for sure: There’s nothing quite like the allure of the big screen.

This month’s offerings across New York and Los Angeles feature a whole host of fare designed to fill audience’s hearts, not just in the sense of discovering love, but also reaching to the soul. Starting January 31 and running through March 5, Film at Lincoln Center will be hosting a career retrospective titled “Frederick Wiseman: An American Institution” that is sure to envelop newcomers to the documentarian’s hypnotic work, as well as longtime fans.

2024 was a great year for cinema that saw the release of many films that are guaranteed to become future classics, but none have been instantly heralded as an all-time masterpiece in the same way as “The Brutalist.” Brady Corbet’s epic character study of a Hungarian-Jewish architect who immigrated to America is both a shocking examination of the cruelty of capitalism and an astounding examination of what the artistic process looks like. While “The Brutalist” will certainly be analyzed for years based on the density of its social and political commentary, it’s also a film that deserves to be celebrated for what an outstanding achievement it is for independent cinema.

Among the joys of “The Brutalist” is that it feels like an homage to a more classical form of storytelling that has become increasingly rare in modern Hollywood. In an era in which the industry has become even more...

New Zealand sales outfit Black Mandala has acquired worldwide rights to “Traumnovelle,” the German-produced English-language adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s 1926 novella that previously inspired Stanley Kubrick’s “Eyes Wide Shut.”

The neo-noir thriller, helmed by director Florian Frerichs (“The Last Supper”), marks one of Black Mandala’s biggest acquisitions to date. The film stars Nikolai Kinski, son of legendary German actor Klaus Kinski, and Laurine Price in the lead roles, with a supporting cast including Detlev Buck, Nora Islei, Bruno Eyron and Sharon Kovacs.

The film follows Jakob, a doctor, husband and intellectual in Berlin whose life changes when he embarks on a night-time journey through the city. After encounters in Berlin’s erotic underground and a mysterious masked opera ball, he must confront questions about love and longing in a world of illusion and twilight.

Produced by Warnuts Entertainment in cooperation with Thomas Kretschmar Film, Gretchen Film, K-Motion and Studio Babelsberg,...

Frank Ocean, that most elusive musical artist, has a new project: he's directing a film. According to Variety, the movie has already begun shooting in Mexico City, and David Jonsson is the lead. Jonsson made waves in HBO's Industry and the charming British rom-com Rye Lane; he was most recently seen in Alien: Romulus.

If the four-year gap between Frank Ocean’s debut studio album Channel Orange and his follow-ups Endless and Blonde felt long, it’s now been over double the wait to see if another album will ever materialize from the wunderkind artist. We now have a major update on Ocean’s creative output, but rather than a new album in the works, he’s started shooting his directorial debut.

Variety reports David Jonsson has landed the lead role of Ocean’s directorial debut, which Ocean also wrote and is now shooting in Mexico City. While no plot details have arrived, a bit more digging reveals the current title is Philly and shooting actually began in mid-December. As seen below, Ocean was also spotted in Mexico City this past summer shooting footage. Earlier rumors suggested A24 and Taylor Russell were involved in the project, but that has yet to be confirmed.

It...