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Movies and TV shows about true crime can be hit or miss, to say the least; sometimes, the families of real killers accuse the project of exploitation, and other times, it's just insensitive. That's what makes former Disney teen idol Hilary Duff's 2019 film "The Haunting of Sharon Tate" so baffling. Not only is it based on the very real murder of Sharon Tate at the hands of Charles Manson and his followers in her Hollywood home in 1969, but it has Duff, as Tate, playing the murdered woman's ghost as she relives the events of the horrific Manson killings.

"The Haunting of Sharon Tate" is, to put it lightly, a bizarre movie, and though it's not Duff's fault that this misguided project is pretty bad, the evidence of its numerous failures as a movie (and retelling of Tate's death) is evident in its Metacritic score. The movie only earned a...

Bradford English had a screen acting career that spanned from 1971 to 2010, and over those 39 years he racked up more than 70 credits – but for many of us, he’s best remembered for playing the drunk, abusive blowhard John Strode in the 1995 horror sequel Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. Sadly, we lost English right before Halloween this year, as it has been reported that he passed away on October 25th in Pasadena, California at the age of 82.

English was born in South Orange, New Jersey on January 16, 1942. His obituary can be found online and says he “was a true force of life and was filled with love. He was a husband and a family man who was survived by his loving wife and high school sweetheart Cecelia Gail English. Together they created a beautiful family of four children: James Bradford English Jr., Jeffrey Brennan English, Kristin Lunney English and Colleen Margaret Theresa English.

Known to horror fans as “Uncle Creepy,” prolific journalist and producer Steve Barton tells the wild story of his life and career in the upcoming autobiography A Comedy of Tragedies, which will be released by Encyclopocalypse Publications on December 10, 2024.

Paperback pre-orders in the USA are now available directly at encyclopocalypse.com, with International Pre-orders soon to be available via Amazon, Waterstones, and Booktopia. The first 100 paperback copies pre-ordered through the site will come with a signed bookplate.

Beginning today, eBook pre-orders are also now available for everyone via encyclopocalypse.com and all major online booksellers, including Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

All pre-orders via the Encyclopocalypse site will get the book 2 weeks early.

Check out the cover reveal below and read on for everything you need to know.

Encyclopocalypse Publications previews, “As the co-founder and former Editor-in-Chief of Dread Central, Barton is a pioneer of horror journalism who became one...

The Halloween: Resurrection episode of Wtf Happened to This Horror Movie? was Written by Eric Walkuski, Edited and Narrated by Tyler Nichols, Produced by Andrew Hatfield and John Fallon, and Executive Produced by Berge Garabedian.

You knew we’d have to tackle this one eventually, so let’s just hold hands and get through it together.

Halloween: Resurrection (watch it Here). The two words combined are enough to send chills down the spines of even the most hardcore movie fans. It causes trick-r-treaters to cross to the other side of the street; it’s the movie your parents warned you about. It’s the movie where this happens. To watch it is to wonder how, as in, How did we get here? From the terrifyingly simple 1978 classic to this silly, slapdash goof. It has its defenders, I think, but most of us agree that it lives near the bottom of...

Twice a month Joe Lipsett will dissect a new Amityville Horror film to explore how the “franchise” has evolved in increasingly ludicrous directions. This is “The Amityville IP.”

There’s something frustrating about a film that begins with a lot of potential, and then thoroughly squanders it.

Writer/director Daniel Farrands’ The Amityville Murders is one such film. It’s one of the few “true” entries from the last dozen or so films, in that it actually tackles the Amityville story by focusing on the true crime murders of the DeFeo family. It’s well-shot, looks good, has mostly decent (albeit broad) performances.

These are all things that many of the IP cash-grab entries have been lacking.

Unfortunately it’s also incredibly sensational, relies too heavily on repetitive supernatural elements, and – most egregiously – features a distasteful ending that highlights Farrands’ unfortunate tendency to exploit real life tragedy for cash.

If the name sounds familiar,...

Fans of the Halloween franchise received some sad news today, as it has been confirmed that stuntman George P. Wilbur – who played horror icon Michael Myers in both Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) and Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), the sixth entry in the series – has passed away at the age of 81.

Wilbur’s fellow Michael Myers performer Chris Durand, who played the character in 1998’s Halloween H20, broke the news of his passing on Facebook earlier today: “George P. Wilbur passed away last night. George, you were a class act and well loved. You will be missed. May you Rest in Peace.” Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers screenwriter Daniel Farrands reacted to the news by saying, “Very sad to hear of George’s passing. He was such a kind soul and a beloved member of the Halloween family.“

Born on March 6, 1941 in Connecticut, Wilbur served...

We’re getting this week started with a new episode of the Wtf Really Happened to This Horror Movie? video series, and this time we’re looking at the awful true crime story behind the 2007 film The Girl Next Door (watch it Here). To find out all about the crimes that inspired the movie, check out the video embedded above.

Based on a novel by Jack Ketchum, The Girl Next Door was directed by Gregory Wilson from a screenplay by Daniel Farrands and Philip Nutman. The film has the following synopsis: A teen suffers horrible abuse at the hands of her caretaker, who also encourages the neighborhood boys to torment the girl.

Farrands is best known for writing Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers, and has also directed the documentaries His Name Was Jason, Never Sleep Again, Scream: The Inside Story, and Crystal Lake Memories, as well as the films The Amityville Murders,...

I’m still astonished that you can own the so-called “producer’s cut” of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers on 4K Ultra HD. It was the first bootleg movie I ever purchased, courtesy of eBay, as I believed that the murky DVD-r sourced from a generations-old VHS would be the only way to ever see the alternate footage from the franchise’s 1995 sixth installment.

Scream Factory shocked fans with the producer’s cut’s first official release as part of its 2014 Blu-ray box set, Halloween: The Complete Collection. They’ve done it again with The Halloween 4K Collection (1995-2002) box set, which features both the theatrical and producer’s cuts newly scanned in 4K from the original camera negative, presented in Dolby Vision with DTS-hd Master Audio 5.1 and Stereo options.

Even before seeing the alternate version, I had a soft spot for The Curse of Michael Myers. It’s...

This article contains Halloween Ends spoilers.

Evil has the same face it’s had for the past 44 years—that’s the motto of David Gordon Green’s Halloween Ends. Four years after he brought the seminal slasher back to our screens for the confusingly titled Halloween (2018), the director is back to round out his trilogy with Halloween Ends. While the name suggests Michael Myers will be put in the ground for good, we know that’s not how this franchise usually goes.

Jamie Lee Curtis is once again brandishing her butcher knife as final girl Laurie Strode while also doing a great job of marketing Halloween Kills as both her and Michael’s last tango. However, with Halloween (1978) director John Carpenter telling the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “If the movie makes money, I don’t believe it’s the end,” fans are curious to know if the corn syrup will keep flowing.

There’s a new Halloween movie in theatres and on the Peacock streaming service right now – and it looks like Halloween Ends (read our review Here) is going to be a divisive one for fans of the franchise. So to coincide with the release of that film, we have decided to look back at another divisive entry in the Halloween franchise: the sixth one, which was released in 1995. Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (watch the theatrical cut Here and the producer’s cut Here). But we’re not here to tear Curse down. We’re here to say some positive things about this Black Sheep of the Halloween series. To find out why we think it deserves more appreciation, check out the video embedded above.

Directed by Joe Chappelle from a screenplay by Daniel Farrands, Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers has the following synopsis:

In a single horrifying night,...

October is obviously a busy month for physical media lovers, and Scream Factory is a big part of that with their upcoming Halloween 4K Collection (1995 – 2002). Announced today are the final specs and special features for the collection, which for fans of the Producer’s Cut of The Curse of Michael Myers, includes a brand-new 4K scan of the original negative!

Here’s the rundown for the set, which arrives on October 4:

Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers (1995) Disc One (4K Uhd – Theatrical Cut):

New 2022 4K Scan From The Original Camera Negative In Dolby Vision (Hdr 10 Compatible) DTS-hd Master Audio 5.1, 2.0 New Audio Commentary With Screenwriter Daniel Farrands And Actress Marianne Hagan, Moderated By Filmmaker Michael Perez

Halloween: The Curse Of Michael Myers (1995) Disc Two (4K Uhd – Producer’S Cut):

New 2022 4K Scan From The Original Camera Negative In Dolby Vision (Hdr 10 Compatible) DTS-hd Master Audio 5.1, 2.0 Audio Commentary With...

Stars: Peyton List, Tobin Bell, Lydia Hearst, Swen Temmel, Andrew Biernat, Nick Vallelonga, Ashley Atwood, Christa Collins, Christopher Corbin, Joseph Schwartz, Hamish Sturgeon | Written and Directed by Daniel Farrands

In recent years writer/director Daniel Farrands, who penned 1995’s Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (still a personal favourite in the franchise) has turned his hand to creating films about some of America’s most notorious serial killers – starting with 2018’s The Amityville Murders, following that up with writing and directing The Haunting of Sharon Tate in 2019 and directing The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson the same year. I’m not sure what Farrands’ obsession with such infamous cases is but it has resulted in films of varying quality, with the most-recent Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman easily the best of the bunch – mainly because Farrands told the story of Bundy as a literal boogeyman, playing up the horror elements...

Stars: Chad Michael Murray, Holland Roden, Jake Hays, Lin Shaye, Greeer Grammar, Olivia DeLaurentis, Julianne Collins, Gianna Adams, Dashiell Connery, Anthony De Longis, Asante Jones, Diane Franklin | Written and Directed by Daniel Farrands

Daniel Farrands, writer of 1995’s Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers, continues his recent meander through American “killer” culture with Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman which, once again, tells the story of one of America’s most notorious and charismatic serial killers.

Chad Michael Murray, best known for his roles in One Tree Hill and more recently Riverdale plays the notorious serial killer alongside horror icon Lin Shaye playing Bundy’s mother; as well as Holland Roden (Teen Wolf) and Jake Hays who makes his feature length film debut.

We all know the Ted Bundy story by now though. Notorious killer, Ted Bundy (Murray), stalks the highways of gritty 1970s America looking for his next victim. Hunting...

Smoke And Mirrors : The Story Of Tom Savini: "Special Makeup Effects legend, Actor, Director, Stuntman. Tom Savini has redefined the horror genre with his arsenal on talents. But who is the man behind the "King of Splatter?" From his his childhood in Pittsburgh, Pa; to his tour of duty during Vietnam, to his beginnings with George A. Romero and beyond. Smoke And Mirrors is the defining documentary on the life and career of horror icon Tom Savini.

Featuring Tom Savini, Danny McBride, Robert Rodriguez, Danny Trejo, Alice Cooper, Greg Nicotero, Tom Atkins, Corey Feldman, Doug Bradley, Bill Moseley, and more!

From Wild Eye Releasing, director Jason Baker's Smoke And Mirrors on Digital October 19."

Wide On Demand And Digital Release : October 19

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And Then! He Kissed Me: "A small bump on an otherwise smooth date sends Nastya on a gory journey of self actualization. "

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Screamfest® Horror Film...

"No man is truly innocent." Dark Star Pictures has released the official US trailer for an indie thriller titled Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman, the latest feature film made by murder-obsessed filmmaker Daniel Farrands. Why do we need more Ted Bundy movies?! We've seen enough, too many of them recently (including No Man of God as well). Chad Michael Murray stars in this as Bundy, along with Lin Shaye, Jake Hays, Marietta Melrose, and Holland Roden. The film focuses on the extensive FBI manhunt to find and apprehend "America's most infamous serial killer," around the time he was down in Florida killing more people. Scary stuff, as always. But this doesn't look it has much to offer that we haven't already seen. Official trailer (+ poster) for Daniel Farrands' Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman, from YouTube: A specter roams the highways of a gritty and decadent ...

A determined detective tries to track down the notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy, in the new trailer for Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman, set to arrive August 16th on video-on-demand platforms, with a DVD release following September 3rd.

The new film stars Chad Michael Murray as Bundy, while Holland Roden plays Kathleen McChesney, a detective working out of the Seattle Police bureau, and Jake Hays plays Robert Ressler, an FBI profiler who would ultimately coin the term “serial killer” (a moment that’s highlighted in the trailer). The trailer is centered...

The trailer for American Boogeyman, yet another film to cast a handsome actor as a serial killer, faces backlash. Who is asking for more Bundy content?

Ted Bundy, the serial killer convicted of murdering more than 30 women in the 1970s who probably killed upwards of 100 whose names receive little attention, once mused, in interviews on death row, that he hoped his story would sell. Thirty-two years after his death by electric chair, Bundy seems to have been prescient about a curiosity with the mild-looking sociopath. The past couple of years has seen a veritable “Bundy binge” in true crime content: a two-hour Oxygen special, too many podcasts to list, the Netflix docuseries Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes and the biopic Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, starring Zac Efron as a suave Bundy.

Despite significant pushback to the glamorization of Bundy as an object of fascination that distracts from his victims,...

Chad Michael Murray may be a dream man, but now he's taking on the stuff of nightmares.  After shedding his One Tree Hill heartthrob persona to play a cult leader in Riverdale, Murray is set to portray real-life serial killer Ted Bundy in Ted Bundy: American Boogeyman. His rep confirmed the casting exclusively to E! News. Per Screen Daily, the film "follows the elusive and charming killer and the manhunt that brought him to justice involving the detective and the FBI rookie who coined the phrase 'serial killer.'"  Director Daniel Farrands, who helmed The Haunting Of Sharon Tate starring Hilary Duff, also wrote Boogeyman. (For those keeping...

Fathom Events to release thriller and companion piece American Boogeywoman in US cinemas.

Voltage Pictures has secured worldwide rights to the thriller American Boogeyman, based on the untold story of the intrepid detective and rookie FBI profiler who pursued serial killer Ted Bundy.

Daniel Farrands wrote and directs the project, which is currently in post and stars Chad Michael Murray, known for his roles in Warner Bros.’ House Of Wax, Lionsgate’s The Haunting In Connecticut 2: Ghosts Of Georgia, and the CW’s Riverdale, as Bundy.

Rounding out the key cast are Genre actress Lin Shaye and Holland Roden.

Exclusive: Voltage Pictures has taken worldwide rights to American Boogeywoman, based on the early life of one of America’s most notorious female serial killers, Aileen Wuornos. Charlize Theron won an Oscar for playing her in the 2003 film Monster.

Currently in postproduction, the film stars Cobra Kai star Peyton List as young Wuornos and is written and directed by horror filmmaker Daniel Farrands.

List is joined by veteran genre actor Tobin Bell (“Jigsaw” from the Saw franchise), Lydia Hearst (The Haunting of Sharon Tate), Nick Vallelonga (Green Book), Swen Temmel, Meadow Williams, and Andrew Biernat (Shadow’s Edge).

Based on Wuornos’ early life in 1976, the film follows America’s most notorious female serial killer in Florida when she marries Lewis Fell, an older wealthy yacht club president only to inflict mayhem...

The 40th Annual Razzie Award winners were announced on Monday, March 16 — two days after they were originally scheduled to be announced — so which film won Worst Picture: “Cats,” “The Fanatic,” “The Haunting of Sharon Tate,” “A Madea Family Funeral” or “Rambo: Last Blood”? Scroll down to see the complete list of winners, and watch the announcement above.

The musical “Cats” was adapted by Oscar winner Tom Hooper from the Tony Award-winning Broadway show, but its visuals creeped out critics and scared away audiences. It earned a leading nine nominations at this event: Worst Picture, Worst Director (Hooper), Worst Actress (Francesca Hayward), Worst Supporting Actress (Judi Dench and Rebel Wilson), Worst Supporting Actor (James Corden), Worst Screenplay, Worst Screen Combo (for any two half-feline/half-human hairballs) and Worst Screen Combo again (for Jason Derulo and his CGI neutered bulge).

SEERazzies: Every Worst Picture Winner 1981 to Today

“Madea” and “Rambo” followed close behind with eight nominations,...

“Cats” will sweep the 2020 Razzie Awards. That’s according to the combined predictions of well over 1,000 Gold Derby users who have placed their bets here in our predictions center. But it won’t quite be a clean sweep. Scroll down for our complete forecasts in all 11 categories, listed in order of their racetrack odds (our projected winners are highlighted in gold).

SEERazzies: Every Worst Picture Winner 1981 to Today

The feline musical, based on the Andrew Lloyd Webber stage production, was not greeted nearly as well on the big screen as it was on Broadway, where it won seven Tonys including Best Musical for its original run. Despite its strong pedigree (including direction by “The King’s Speech” Oscar winner Tom Hooper), the film’s unsettling character design was greeted with bafflement at the first sign of the trailer, and then the film was released in December to negative reviews and poor box office.

You knew this was coming. The 40th annual Golden Raspberry Awards dishonored the cinematic feline felony known as”Cats” with eight nominations, including one for no less than Dame Judi Dench herself. In fact, the organization even felt the need to describe her Old Deuteronomy as looking suspiciously similar to the Cowardly Lion from “The Wizard of Oz.” Somewhere, Bert Lahr is crying.

But incredibly, there were two other 2019 releases that proved egregious enough to also be pelted with eight nominations: Sylvester Stallone‘s “Rambo: Last Blood” and Tyler Perry‘s 12th and purportedly last appearance in a wig and dress, “A Medea Family Funeral.”

As per usual, the competitors for disgraced excellence were announced on the eve of the Academy Awards, which airs live on ABC on Sunday. The cheeky Razzies also had the nerve to slap around two other Oscars winners besides Dame Judi: Anne Hathaway, up for both “The Hustle” and “Serenity,...

As the grisly, counterfactual but oddly rosy ending of “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” continues to be a point of debate among critics and audiences, along comes “The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson” to remind even the most insistent detractors of Tarantino’s what-if rewrite of the Manson murders how much worse things could be. Like some unholy collaboration between the Lifetime network and the National Enquirer, Daniel Farrands’ unabashedly tacky true-crime thriller does nothing if not deliver on the bald promise of its title. A grimy portrayal of the last month of Nicole Brown Simpson’s life, gruelingly counting down the days toward her violent murder as she’s tormented by a host of bad men and bad juju, it’s a cheap, unloving death march of a movie — scarcely made more intriguing by the half-cooked theory it posits as to who (or how many) did the deed.

It was only a matter of time before we got a cinematic dramatisation of one of the most high profile murders involving O.J. Simpson. Quiver distribution has launched a new trailer for ‘The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson.

Directed by Daniel Farrands, the film stars Mena Suvari, Nick Stahl and Taryn Manning.

Also in trailers – The Robinson’s face a new threat in new trailer for ‘Lost in Space’ 2

The film hits Us cinemas and On-Demand on January 10th, 2020.

The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson Synopsis

In 1994 Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman were brutally murdered in her Los Angeles home by whom most believe to be O.J Simpson. But what role did Glen Rogers, also known as the Casanova Killer play in their death?

The post A new suspect arises in trailer for ‘The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Experience a truly chilling account of one of history’s most infamous crimes when The Haunting of Sharon Tate arrives on Blu-ray (plus Digital), DVD, and Digital June 4 from Lionsgate. Starring Hilary Duff, Jonathan Bennett, and Lydia Hearst, the chilling film follows one of Hollywood’s most infamous murder cases. The Haunting of Sharon Tate Blu-ray and DVD include an audio commentary with writer-director Daniel Farrands and a never-before-seen featurette, and will be available for the suggested retail price of $21.99 and $19.98, respectively.

Based on one of Hollywood’s most chilling murder cases, this thriller follows pregnant 26-year-old actress Sharon Tate (Hilary Duff), a rising star about to have her first baby with her husband, director Roman Polanski. Plagued by terrifying premonitions, Sharon sees her worst nightmares come to life with the appearance of Charles Manson and his deadly cult.

Blu-ray / DVD / Digital Special Features

· Audio Commentary with Writer-Director Daniel Farrands...

Frank Grillo, Keith David, Taryn Manning and Mark Boone Junior have joined the ensemble cast of “The Gateway.”

They join Shea Whigham, Olivia Munn, Bruce Dern and Zach Avery with Michele Civetta directing. Andrew Levitas is producing under his Metalwork Pictures banner alongside Stephen Israel.

The pic follows Parker, a downtrodden social worker in the grips of alcoholism, assigned to oversee care of the daughter of single mother, Dahlia, in this neo-noir thriller.

Grillo is fresh off the success of the acclaimed Netflix documentary series “Fight World,” an inside look at fight culture all over the globe that he produced and starred in as well as the brawl-thriller “Donnybrook” with Jamie Bell and Margaret Qualley that opened the Toronto Film Festival. He has a slew of projects set to bow in 2019, starting with the Netflix project “Point Blank” followed by the thriller “Boss Level” opposite Mel Gibson and Naomi Watts,...

The Haunting of Sharon Tate will be released on Blu-ray, DVD, and digital platforms on June 4. Also: release details for both William P. Thomson's novel Insanitus and On the Trail of Bigfoot.

The Haunting of Sharon Tate Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Release Details: "Street Date: 6/4/19

Blu-ray + Digital Srp: $21.99

DVD Srp: $19.98

Program Description

Experience a truly chilling account of one of history’s most infamous crimes when The Haunting of Sharon Tate arrives on Blu-ray (plus Digital), DVD, and Digital June 4 from Lionsgate. Starring Hilary Duff, Jonathan Bennett, and Lydia Hearst, the chilling film follows one of Hollywood’s most infamous murder cases. The Haunting of Sharon Tate Blu-ray and DVD include an audio commentary with writer-director Daniel Farrands and a never-before-seen featurette and will be available for the suggested retail price of $21.99 and $19.98, respectively.

Official Synopsis

Based on one of Hollywood’s most chilling murder cases, this thriller follows pregnant...

This summer marks 50 years since cult leader Charles Manson and his followers murdered actress Sharon Tate and four others in her home on Aug. 8, 1969, in addition to Leno and Rosemary Labianca the next day.

Hollywood is marking the anniversary of the Tate-labianca murders in three films: Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, IFC Films’ Charlie Says and the first of the bunch, The Haunting of Sharon Tate, a horror flick that re-imagines the actress’ final days. It is now available on VOD and opened in select theaters over the weekend.

Writer-director Daniel Farrands says the anniversary had ...

This summer marks 50 years since cult leader Charles Manson and his followers murdered actress Sharon Tate and four others in her home on Aug. 8, 1969, in addition to Leno and Rosemary Labianca the next day.

Hollywood is marking the anniversary of the Tate-labianca murders in three films: Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, IFC Films’ Charlie Says and the first of the bunch, The Haunting of Sharon Tate, a horror flick that re-imagines the actress’ final days. It is now available on VOD and opened in select theaters over the weekend.

Writer-director Daniel Farrands says the anniversary had ...

For the moment, we can put aside how much this project is in bad taste. The Haunting of Sharon Tate takes a tragic real life murder and makes a crappy horror flick out of it. Moreover, it gets supernatural agency to an actual criminal act. All on its own, that would be terrific. Worse, the film itself is almost unwatchable, that’s how bad it is. When a movie does as many things wrong as this one does, you wonder how it got made in the first place? Tasteless in concept, misguided in execution, and an utter bore, this is among the worst that 2019 has produced so far. Seriously, you have no idea how awful this is, and I sincerely hope you never find out. In case the title didn’t spell it out for you, this is a tale of how Sharon Tate (Hilary Duff) met her demise, and of course,...

After focusing on the DeFeo family in The Amityville Murders, writer/director Daniel Farrands tells the story of Sharon Tate and her friends in the days leading up to their tragic murders in the Hollywood Hills in the new movie The Haunting of Sharon Tate. With the movie out now from Saban Films in theaters and on VOD platforms, we caught up with Farrands in our latest Q&A feature to discuss taking a sensitive and sincere approach to telling the story of those murdered by Charles Manson's followers, exploring themes of fate and destiny, and working with a dedicated cast that includes Hilary Duff and Jonathan Bennett.

Thanks for taking the time to catch up with us again, Daniel! Congratulations on the upcoming release of The Haunting of Sharon Tate. When did you first become interested in the tragic story of what happened to Sharon Tate and her...

On the night of August 8, 1969, Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger and Steven Parent were brutally murdered by the Manson Family. It was one of the most shocking and horrifying crimes of the 20th century, a tragedy that still reverberates 50 years later.

And now… there’s a really bad slasher movie about it.

“The Haunting of Sharon Tate” is a ghoulish film that dramatizes these heinous slayings like a particularly tacky pulp thriller, using snippets of documentary footage to remind us that this story is true and deserves more respectful and nuanced treatment than writer-director Daniel Farrands (“The Amityville Murders”) seems able to provide. The lives of Tate, Sebring, Frykowski, Folger and Parent are reduced to stock horror archetypes, trapped in an underwritten and ultimately insulting thriller, with a conclusion that strives for profundity and fails in spectacular fashion.

Watch Video: Hilary Duff Fights for Survival in Trailer...

I have to admit that I was originally skeptical about The Haunting of Sharon Tate. There are just so many pitfalls to making a movie about an event so ingrained in public consciousness as the murder of Sharon Tate and four other people at the hands of Charles Manson’s followers, not the least of which is the potential to turn a real tragedy into exploitative tripe played for jump scares. I soon realized, though, that while The Haunting of Sharon Tate may not be a perfect film, writer/director Daniel Farrands acknowledges that the events of August 9th, 1969 were horrendous, and he reminds the audience of this by creating an atmosphere of dread and melancholy that permeates the film.

After a somber prologue that shows the aftermath of the murders, the film jumps back to show Tate (played by Hilary Duff) and company in the days leading up to the grizzly killings.

Over the years, I’ve consumed my share of movies — documentaries, dramatizations, deconstructive punk curios — that play off the Manson murders. The quality of this genre (and by now it is a genre) is hit-or-miss, yet I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Manson film that wasn’t on some level trying for something, for a new shade of insight into that uniquely horrific and resonant chapter of the American dream-turned-nightmare.

But now, I’m afraid, the track record is broken. “The Haunting of Sharon Tate” may be the first “serious” Manson drama that represents a case of pure, unadulterated cheeseball exploitation. The film has nothing of remote fascination to add to the Manson dialogue that some of us have been carrying on for decades. It doesn’t bring you closer to the events; if anything, it seals you outside of them. But the movie’s petty folly...

Daniel Farrands’ unfathomably bad “The Haunting of Sharon Tate” poses a number of provocative questions. The first is asked by Edgar Allen Poe in a stanza of on-screen text: “Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?” Hmm. The next comes from the film’s casting director, whose name has been omitted from this review in order to protect the under-the-line talent: “What would it look like if the most culturally seismic killings of 1969 were amateurishly dramatized by Lizzie McGuire, Citizen Kane’s great-granddaughter, Lindsay Lohan’s love interest from ‘Mean Girls,’ and a smattering of attractive young actors who look more like ‘Vanderpump Rules’ characters than they do the members of a racist death cult?” And then — spoiler alert! — there’s the question that ties the whole room together: “What if the Manson Family murders were given the ‘Inglourious Basterds’ treatment and re-imagined as...

Stars: Hilary Duff, Jonathan Bennett, Lydia Hearst, Pawel Szajda, Ryan Cargill, Bella Popa, Fivel Stewart, Tyler Johnson, Ben Mellish | Written and Directed by Daniel Farrands

Not until I did some research, after viewing The Haunting of Sharon Tate, did I realise that 2019 would be the 50th “anniversary’”year of the Tate Murders – a mass murder conducted by members of the Manson family. And this fact is the reason there are several movies this year that feature Charles Manson; including Charlie Says starring Matt Smith as the man and most famously, Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, which will apparently feature Manson in the story.

Also, before watching this movie, I thought it was a bit strange to feature the controversial real life director Roman Polanski and his wife as characters until I realised that this is based on a very true story!

Obviously set in the late 1960’s,...

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Saban Films will release the thriller The Haunting Of Sharon Tate in theaters and on demand on Friday, April 5, 2019.

Check out the trailer:

The Haunting Of Sharon Tate is written and directed by Daniel Farrands (The Amityville Murders, Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy), and stars Hilary Duff (“Younger”, “Lizzie McGuire”), Jonathan Bennett (“Big Brother: Celebrity Edition,” “Awkward,” Mean Girls), and Lydia Hearst (“Z Nation”, “South of Hell,” #Horror).

Based on one of Hollywood’s most chilling murder cases, this spellbinding thriller follows 26-year-old actress Sharon Tate (Hilary Duff), a rising star about to have her first baby with her husband, director Roman Polanski. Plagued by terrifying premonitions, Sharon sees her worst nightmares come to life with the appearance of Charles Manson and his deadly cult.

The post The Haunting Of Sharon Tate Directed by Daniel Farrands and Starring Hilary Duff In Theaters April 5 appeared first on We Are Movie Geeks.

This August will mark 50 years since the murder of 26-year-old Sharon Tate at the hands of the Manson Family, and to coincide with this somber anniversary, several projects depicting the late actress are currently on the horizon. The one you may have heard the most about is Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, which features Margot Robbie in the role of Tate, but before that much-hyped crime drama reaches cinemas, Daniel Farrands’ The Haunting of Sharon Tate will see Hilary Duff offer her take on the title character.

The controversial flick will serve as a horror-themed reimagining of Tate’s last days, with the film’s new poster summing up Farrands’ contentious approach in the tagline: “Based on the story of Sharon Tate’s dreams and the Manson Family nightmare.” To elaborate, The Haunting is said to take inspiration from an actual quote from Tate published a year before her death,...

A handful of actresses are playing Sharon Tate in upcoming projects, including Margot Robbie in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Kate Bosworth in a movie about Tate’s life. And then there’s also Daniel Farrands’ controversial The Haunting of Sharon Tate, which stars Hilary Duff as the actress murdered by the Manson Family in 1969. Check out […]...

The upcoming release of Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile has stirred up a lot of discourse around serial killer Ted Bundy, whose execution was 30 years ago as of last month, but as we move further into the year, you can expect to see similar conversations unfold around the subject of Sharon Tate, whose murder at the hands of the Manson Family has its 50th anniversary in August. Like Bundy’s execution, Tate’s tragic death has inspired the release of several projects that depict the late actress, perhaps the most controversial of them all being The Haunting of Sharon Tate.

As you can see in the newly shared batch of images, Daniel Farrands’ film sees Hilary Duff in the title role, performing alongside the likes of Jonathan Bennett (Mean Girls) and Lydia Hearst (Z Nation) in a story that reimagines the events leading up to Tate’s death in...

Diane Franklin is an iconic 80s film actress, known for her dark curly hair and winning smile. Diane started with modeling, theater, commercials, and soap opera work. She then won the lead role as the dream girl, Karen, in cult classic The Last American Virgin (1982) and soon after played the daughter, Patricia Montelli in Amityville II: The Possession. Her break-out film role was the spirited French-exchange student, Monique Junot, opposite John Cusack in the off-beat comedy Better Off Dead. She also played the medieval Princess-babe, Joanna in the iconic comedy, Bill & Ted’S Excellent Adventure.

Diane Franklin in Amityville II: The Possession

Amityville II: The Possession was a 1982 prequel to the hit film The Amityville Horror (1979). It told of the true story of Ron Defeo Jr., who had massacred his family in 1974 in the house that subsequently sold to the Lutz family, who claimed it was haunted. Diane Franklin played Defeo’s younger sister.

Horror veteran Daniel Farrands is releasing two movies in the first half of 2019: The Amityville Murders, 45 years after the DeFeo murders, and The Haunting of Sharon Tate, the latter to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Tate-labianca murders. Both of these real-life horrific stories have been, certainly, subject of countless other films over the years, so when dealing with extremely well-known source material, Farrands tried to "give a voice to the victims," as he revealed to ScreenAnarchy in a recent interview.  "I wanted to get to know them from my own perspective as a writer first, then as a director," Farrands says. "It was trying to get to know them as people. I wanted to portray them as real people with lives,...

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

Having directed Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th and Scream: The Inside Story, as well as co-directing Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, filmmaker Daniel Farrands is no stranger to extensively researching some of the horror genre's most beloved titles. For his latest film, The Amityville Murders, Farrands explores the real-life horror story of what happened to the DeFeo family in the house on 112 Ocean Avenue, and with the movie coming to theaters, On Demand, and Digital on February 8th, we caught up with the filmmaker for our latest Q&A to discuss diving into the relationships of the DeFeo family, remembering the DeFeos as real people, creating the film's ’70s aesthetic, casting two actors from Amityville II: The Possession, and he also discussed working with Hilary Duff and Jonathan Bennett on his next movie, The Haunting of Sharon Tate.

Thanks for taking the time to catch up with us,...

There’s a reason that this particular story keeps getting told over and over again. A family, seemingly perfect, that up and butchers themselves? Yeah, that’s fascinating. Whether it’s because of demonic forces or (more likely) just your garden variety insanity, there’s something there that makes for potentially strong horror filmmaking. Alas, that’s rarely the case, and this week’s new offering, The Amityville Murders, does nothing to reverse the trend. It avoids being outwardly terrible, but still ends up bland, unremarkable, and among the least interesting releases of 2019 so far. The movie is an origin story, telling the tale of the first killings that inspired this urban legend. As the official plot synopsis states: “On the night of November 13, 1974, Ronald DeFeo, Jr. took a high-powered rifle and murdered his entire family as they slept. At his trial, DeFeo claimed that “voices” in the house commanded him to kill.

You may have read of the controversy lately surrounding Joe Berlinger’s Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile and its provocative depiction of serial killer Ted Bundy, but as we move further into 2019, you can expect the discourse to shift its focus to Sharon Tate. With the fiftieth anniversary of Tate’s murder at the hands of the Manson Family landing this August, several new projects portraying the actress are on the way, perhaps the most contentious of them all being The Haunting of Sharon Tate, which has just seen its second trailer drop online.

Like Extremely Wicked, Daniel Farrands’ upcoming film features a former Disney Channel star in the lead role for a story that’s said to offer a “reimagining” of Tate’s final days. The movie reportedly takes inspiration from an interview published a year before her death in which she recalled having dreams of ghosts haunting her house,...

Be careful, Sharon. Saban Films has debuted the first official trailer for an indie dramatic horror titled The Haunting of Sharon Tate, based on a kinda-sorta true story about actress Sharon Tate - who was sadly murdered by the Manson Family in 1969. The plot is inspired by an actual quote from Tate, found in an interview published a year before her death, wherein she revealed having dreams about ghosts haunting her house and foreseeing her own death at the hands of a satanic cult. Hilary Duff (in her first major horror role) stars as Sharon Tate, pregnant with Roman Polanski's child at the age of 26 at the time. The film's cast also includes Jonathan Bennett, Lydia Hearst, Pawel Szajda, Ryan Cargill, and Bella Popa. There's always room for another pregnancy horror film, especially one with high profile connections to Hollywood. Here's the first official trailer for Daniel Farrands' The Haunting of Sharon Tate,...

Saban Films has released the first trailer to The Haunting of Sharon Tate, the psychological horror film which has Younger star Hilary Duff making her big screen comeback as actress Sharon Tate, the actress and wife to filmmaker Roman Polanski who was brutally stabbed to death at the hands of the Manson Family while she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant with their child.

Written and directed by Daniel Farrands, the film focuses on the last days leading up to Tate’s murder from her point of view. The plot is inspired by an actual quote from the Golden Globe-nominated Valley of the Dolls star, from an interview published a year before her death, wherein she reveals having dreams about ghosts haunting her house and foreseeing her own death at the hands of a satanic cult.

Jonathan Bennett and Lydia Hearst co-star.

Skyline Entertainment...

Hilary Duff stars as the terrified titular actress in the new trailer for The Haunting of Sharon Tate, the horror film that views the Manson family murders through Tate’s perspective. Five people — Tate and her unborn child, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski and Abigail Folger – were killed on August 8th, 1969.

After an expansive aerial shot over the Hollywood sign, the clip — soundtracked by the Zombies’ “Time of the Season” — opens with a pregnant and paranoid Tate at her home in the Benedict Canyon area of Los Angeles, California. As the...

Margot Robbie isn’t the only actress playing Sharon Tate in a movie this year. Upon the 50th anniversary of her death in the midst of the Manson Family murders, we just got our first look at Hilary Duff as Tate in the new horror film “The Haunting of Sharon Tate.”

In the first trailer for the film directed by Daniel Farrands, Duff’s Tate is pregnant with director Roman Polanski’s child and awaiting his return from Europe when the 26-year-old Hollywood actress becomes plagued by visions of her own imminent death.

“This person, these people, they’re a threat to my safety and safety of my baby,” Duff says in the trailer before locking the windows and witnessing the words “Helter Skelter” written in blood on her walls.

Also Read: Sharon Tate's Sister Says Hilary Duff Movie Is 'Classless,' 'Total Fabrication'

Sadly, it doesn’t end well for her.