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Apple TV's sci-fi mystery show Sunny has earned positive reviews, but fans are eager to find other shows and movies that have similar atmospheres. Sunny stars Rashida Jones as an American living in Japan who receives a mysterious robot companion after her husband disappears in a plane crash. Sunny's season 1 finale provided a satisfying ending, and if there are plans for a season 2, the wait will be more than some fans can bear.

Fortunately, there are plenty of good options for fans who can't get enough of Sunny. There are other shows and movies which feature compelling mysteries set in the near-future, or ones which probe at the sticky issue of artificial intelligence. Apple TV has some great sci-fi shows that fit the bill. Fans of Sunny who admire the show's stylish aesthetic and dark mystery will want to check out similar shows and movies to ease the pain of season 1 coming to an end.

Follow the tapes.

Broadcast Signal Intrusion, the latest by director Jacob Gentry (The Signal) draws inspiration from actual broadcast interruptions in Chicago in the late 1980s and remains unsolved to this day. It results in an eerie neo-noir technological nightmare, starring Harry Shum Jr. (Glee, Crazy Rich Asians), that’s now streaming on Screambox.

“While logging tapes of decades-old TV broadcasts, video archivist James discovers a surreal and disturbing clip that James believes is the product of a mysterious broadcast signal hacking. His discovery takes a sinister turn when he tracks down similar broadcast intrusions that send him on an obsessive mission. Now James must confront two very real possibilities: that the videos may be clues to a crime beyond all comprehension; and that whoever was behind them may be very aware that James is coming uncomfortably close to the truth.”

Tim Woodall and Phil Drinkwater wrote the script. Kelley Mack...

David Bruckner is a successful but still up-and-coming director in the horror industry who first achieved widespread acclaim for the segment “Amateur Night” from the anthology movie V/H/S, which was later adapted into a full-length film. As he first gained notoriety for his short films and segments within horror anthology films before moving on to features, Bruckner is perhaps not known by name, but his work has certainly become well-known in recent years.

Though he gained fame among horror fans relatively early on in his directing career, Bruckner hasn't squandered his talents and has even shown signs that he's ready to move beyond the horror genre soon. From literary adaptation to an original concept to a franchise reboot, the feature-length David Bruckner movies all show that the director is on a clear path to becoming one of the most respected and reliable names within the horror genre.

SiREN (2016)

SiREN is...

The Signal cast and crew (from left): Co-writer/co-director Jacob Gentry, actor Aj Bowen, co-director Dan Bush, actress Cheri Christian, producer Alexander Motlagh, co-writer/co-director David Bruckner, actor Scott Poythress and actor Chad McKnight. The relationship between filmmakers and critics can be a complicated one. Directors can spend years getting something made,...

The festival runs Octobber 6-9 in Manchester.

Final Cut from Michel Hazanavicius and Neil Labute’s House Of Darkness are among this year’s line-up for Grimmfest, a UK horror, sci-fi and fantasy festival, which will be held in Manchester frorm October 6-9.

Hazanavicius’ French comedy horror, a remake of 2017 Japanese title One Cut From The Dead, opened Cannes out of competition earlier this year.

House Of Darkness stars Justin Long and Kate Bosworth whose casual date takes a sinister turn. The gothic horror had its world premiere at Montreal’s Fantastia festival last month.

Also screening at the festival...

Arrow Video FrightFest, the UK’s most popular horror and fantasy film festival, is back at London’s Cineworld Leicester Square and the Prince Charles Cinema from Thursday August 25th – Monday 29th August for five days of the very best of global genre cinema. Celebrating its 23rd blockbuster edition with thirty-two world, twenty-two International / European and eighteen UK premieres, the world renowned event leads the way in attesting to the versatility of the genre and this year is no exception, with seventeen countries represented, spanning five continents:

The festival opens with the World premiere of The Lair, an action-packed gore shocker from Neil Marshall, who calls his latest monstrous creation “The Dirty Half Dozen meets The Thing”. Neil will be attending with star Charlotte Kirk and will also introduce a special 4K restoration screening of his modern classic, Dog Soldiers.

The Closing night film is the European premiere of Scott Mann’s Fall.

Stars: Harry Shum Jr., Chris Sullivan, Kelley Mack, Justin Welborn, James Swanton | Written by Tim Woodall, Phil Drinkwater | Directed by Jacob Gentry

Expanded from the 2016 short of the same name, Broadcast Signal Intrusion stars Harry Shum Jr. as James, a bereaved video archivist who, while logging tapes of old TV broadcasts, comes across a surreal and disturbing clip of a masked entity. He believes it’s the product of broadcast signal hacking, but his discovery takes a sinister turn when he tracks down similar broadcast intrusions that turn his mission even more rabbit-hole obsessive.

Ok, let’s get the elephant in the room out of the way first. Yes, Broadcast Signal Intrusion is Remarkably similar to Brian De Palma’s Blow Out, and to a lesser extent the 2021 horror Sinister. Like remarkably. Of course, this is also apparently inspired by actual real-life events that took place in Chicago in the...

This just-inside-realism drama about hackers interrupting terrestrial television broadcasts teases with the possibility of a plausible explanation, but finally loses its way

At one point in this unsettling paranoia thriller, a character warns protagonist James (Harry Shum Jr) that he’s at risk of going down “a rabbit hole”. Just in case you didn’t catch that Lewis Carroll reference, another character who helps James out on his quest is a young woman with long flowing hair named Alice (Kelley Mack). There’s a bad guy who wears a hat later on too, but that might be an exegesis too far.

Nevertheless, director Jacob Gentry’s horror-tinged drama, its script by Phil Drinkwater and Tim Woodall, ventures into the oneiric underground world of conspiracy theories and creepy online culture in 1999, when the latter at any rate was only just getting started. Like the recent British horror feature Censor or 2012’s Berberian Sound Studio,...

"Say someone did hide a message in those tapes - do you really want to be the guy to figure out what that means?" Lightbulb Film in the UK has revealed another full UK trailer for their release of the indie mystery horror-thriller Broadcast Signal Intrusion, made by filmmaker Jacob Gentry. This originally premiered at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival and opened last fall in the US (it's out now to watch in the US only if you to check it out). The film lands in UK cinemas this March. In the late 90s, a video archivist unearths a series of sinister pirate broadcasts that took over antenna TV signals, and he becomes obsessed with uncovering the conspiracy behind them, while wondering if any of this might connect to the disappearance of his wife years ago. Harry Shum Jr. stars as James, with an indie cast including Chris Sullivan, Kelley Mack,...

MPI Media Group has added Kevin Kopacka’s German-language arthouse horror and Fright Fest 2021 premiere Dawn Breaks Behind The Eyes to its international sales slate for the virtual EFM.

The gothic homage to European mind-bending genre from the 1960s and 1970s stars Luisa Taraz and Frederik von Lüttichau as a married couple whose relationship and sanity are tested when they spend the night at a dilapidated castle where time and space become fluid.

Anna Platen, Robert Nickisch and Jeff Wilbusch round out the main cast. Kopacka co-wrote the screenplay with Lili Villanyi, who served as producer.

The company’s VP of television,...

Inspired by Actual Events in 1987 Broadcast Signal Intrusion Starring and Executive Produced By Harry Shum Jr. Also Starring Chris Sullivan, Kelley Mack and Directed by Jacob Gentry Comes to Blu-ray and DVD on 12/7 Broadcast Signal Intrusion Comes to Blu-ray and DVD on 12/7 While logging tapes of decades-old TV broadcasts, video archivist James …

The post Harry Shum Jr., Chris Sullivan & Kelley Mack Star in Broadcast Signal Intrusion appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

Broadcast Signal Intrusion Photo: Courtesy of Fantasia

Broadcast Signal Intrusion is inspired by the Max Headroom signal hijacking of two Chicago television stations in 1987. Those behind the hijacking were never identified. In director Jacob Gentry's “historical fiction”, written by Phil Drinkwater and Tim Woodall, video archivist James (Harry Shum Jr.) discovers what he believes to be a broadcast signal hacking. Finding similar signal intrusions, he slips down an obsessive rabbit hole when he realises that they may be clues that will reveal what happened to his missing wife Hannah.

Gentry's previous credits include the ensemble drama Last Goodbye, which explored the connections between a diverse group of characters, including a horror actress, runaway teenager, an alcoholic preacher and a rock band; and the time travel sci-fi drama, Synchronicity. No stranger to horror, he directed the feature film The Signal, and the made-for-television slasher trilogy, My Super Psycho Sweet 16.

Chicago – In 1987, one of the oddest incidents in broadcast history took place in Chicago, when a local news sports segment and an episode of “Dr. Who” on PBS was interrupted by a bizarre video sequence featuring a man in a Max Headroom mask. This infamous event was the inspiration for the new film “Broadcast Signal Intrusion” – directed by Jacob Gentry – which was release to theaters and through Video-On-Demand on October 22nd, 2021, after playing at the 57th Chicago International Film Festival.

Director Jacob Gentry of ‘Broadcast Signal Intrusion’

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

“Broadcast Signal Intrusion“ reframes the Max Headroom event as a thriller narrative, in which James (Harry Shum Jr.) becomes obsessed about the interruptions, looking for messages within them that could reveal some secrets. Kelley Mack portrays Alice, who James brings into his obsession. The script by Phil Drinkwater and Tim Woodall and the...

Chicago – In 1987, one of the oddest incidents in broadcast history took place in Chicago, when a local news sports segment and an episode of “Dr. Who” on PBS was interrupted by a bizarre video sequence featuring a man in a Max Headroom mask. This infamous event was the inspiration for the new film “Broadcast Signal Intrusion,” which was release to theaters and through Video-On-Demand on October 22nd, 2021, after playing at the 57th Chicago International Film Festival.

Harry Shum Jr. of ‘Broadcast Signal Intrusion’

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

“Broadcast Signal Intrusion“ reframes the Max Headroom event as a thriller narrative, in which James (Harry Shum Jr.) becomes obsessed about the interruptions, looking for messages within them that could reveal some secrets. Kelley Mack portrays Alice, who James brings into his obsession. The script by Phil Drinkwater and Tim Woodall and the direction of Jacob Gentry...

Chicago – Day Three of the 57th Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff), and the festival kicks into gear with many notable films, including the much anticipated thriller “Antlers” at the ChiTown Movies Drive-In (click Antlers for details).

The 57th Chicago International Film Festival Day Two features screenings in theater, at the drive-in and virtual/online. Click here for a complete how-to guide on navigating the 57th Ciff. And click Day Two for the complete line up of films.

‘Antlers’ at the 57th Ciff, October 15th, 2021

Photo credit: Chicago International Film Festival

Event Of The Day: 10:00am: “Coffee Talk: “Green Screens: Exposing Environmental Crises in Cinema” … Three directors talk Earth issues in their work (click here).

Appearances Of The Day: 10:30pm: “Shorts 3: Unexpected Terrors (After Dark)” … Spooky shorts for Pre-Halloween. Special Guests (the Filmmakers) Scheduled to Attend.

Film Of The Day: “A Cop Movie” – In this highly unusual profile...

Dark Sky Films and MPI Media Group will bring to Blu-ray Jacob Gentry's thriller Broadcast Signal Intrusion (2021), starring Harry Shum Jr., Kelley Mack, and Chris Sullivan. Gentry is the director of some killer genre films including the cyberpunk noir Synchronicity and the apocalypse horror The Signal.

The release will be available for purchase on December 7 and is available to pre-order now.

Synopsis:

For three years, James (Harry Shum Jr.

(Welcome to ...And More, our no-frills, zero B.S. guide to when and where you can watch upcoming movies and shows, and everything else you could possibly stand to know.)

The spooky season terror continues with the upcoming release of "Broadcast Signal Intrusion." This suspenseful thriller sees a man spiraling down a rabbit hole as he investigates a very creepy mystery. The Jacob Gentry-helmed horror movie leads us into the twisty world of broadcast hijackers and unsolved murders. To get ready for some mystery solving, here's everything you need to know about "Broadcast Signal Intrusion."

"Broadcast Signal Intrusion" is slated for a limited theatrical and VOD release on October...

The post Broadcast Signal Intrusion: Release Date, Cast, and More appeared first on /Film.

Stars: Harry Shum Jr., Chris Sullivan, Kelley Mack, Justin Welborn, James Swanton | Written by Tim Woodall, Phil Drinkwater | Directed by Jacob Gentry

Expanded from the 2016 short of the same name, Broadcast Signal Intrusion stars Harry Shum Jr. as James, a bereaved video archivist who, while logging tapes of old TV broadcasts, comes across a surreal and disturbing clip of a masked entity. He believes it’s the product of broadcast signal hacking, but his discovery takes a sinister turn when he tracks down similar broadcast intrusions that turn his mission even more rabbit-hole obsessive.

Ok, lets get the elephant in the room out of the way first. Yes, Broadcast Signal Intrusion is Remarkably similar to Brian De Palma’s Blow Out, and to a lesser extent the 2021 horror Sinister. Like remarkably. Of course this is also apparently inspired by actual real-life events that took place in Chicago in the 80s...

Genre festival reveals 25 titles set to play at its first in-person event since 2019.

UK genre festival Festfest is to open this year’s edition with Neill Blomkamp’s Demonic and has revealed the first wave of titles set to screen at its first in-person event since 2019.

The supernatural thriller, shot by South African writer/director Blomkamp during the pandemic, will receive its European premiere at Frightfest, which will take place in central London from August 26-30.

The festival will close with the UK premiere of Taiwanese virus horror The Sadness, which marks the feature directorial debut of Rob Jabbaz.

The...

Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival got an early 25th birthday present in the form of James Gunn’s “Suicide Squad,” which will receive a special screening on Aug. 4, the day before Fantasia officially kicks off with the world premiere of Julien Knafo’s zombie thriller “Brain Freeze.” Gunn is a long-time friend of the fest, having first attended in 1997 before later returning for the Canadian premiere of his Marvel blockbuster “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

Fantasia also unveiled its second wave of features participating at this year’s festival, joining a raft of titles announced in May, and will announce the rest of its slate in late July along with details on several virtual events and this year’s juries.

New world premieres, joining the a six-pack announced last month, include Ruth Platt’s “Martyrs Lane,” Anna Zaytseva’s feature debut “#Blue_Whale,” Jonathan Rhys Meyers-starrer “Yakuza Princes” from filmmaker Vicente Amorim,...

Tech thriller premiered at SXSW earlier this year.

MPI Media Group has added SXSW tech thriller Broadcast Signal Intrusion to its Pre-Cannes Screenings slate and launches talks with buyers next week.

Jacob Gentry, whose credits include Synchronicity, directed the story about a video archivist in the late 1990s who unearths sinister pirate broadcasts and becomes obsessed with uncovering the dark conspiracy behind them.

The film is inspired by actual broadcast interruptions that occurred in Chicago in the late 1980s and remain unsolved to this day. Phil Drinkwater and Tim Woodall wrote the screenplay.

Harry Shum Jr. of Crazy Rich Asians...

The Chattanooga Film Festival lead the pack and set a high bar for virtual festivals last year and they're back again this year with another virtual edition! Taking place June 24 - 29, the opening and closing night films have been announced, along with special events from Clay McLeod Chapman and Grady Hendrix:

Chattanooga, Tenn. - After holding one of the first successful virtual film festivals in May of 2020, the Chattanooga Film Festival (Cff) returns again virtually this year June 24 - 29, 2021.

Kicking things off opening night is the world premiere of Dark Sky Film’s Scenes From An Empty Church. Though audiences have already started to see films that take place during the pandemic or use the fear, loss of hope and isolation it has caused to inform their stories, no film has managed so brilliantly to ponder the long-term effects of Covid-19 on the human condition than this film. Director...

As someone who grew up in the Chicagoland area, I have vague memories of there being a discussion of what would become known as the “Max Headroom Incident,” but never actually saw either of the videos in question until a few years ago. But this real-life occurrence that involved both WGN and Wttw getting their feeds hijacked with a Headroom impersonator has continued to be a mystery after all these years (the hackers were never caught), as well as a bit of technological folklore for anyone growing up in Illinois during that time. It also serves as the inspiration behind the latest feature film from Jacob Gentry, Broadcast Signal Intrusion, which is loosely based on those incidents, but utilizes far more horrific imagery as the means of crafting a tension-fueled tech thriller that managed to creep me out in ways I wasn’t expecting.

Bsi follows James (Harry Shum Jr....

One of the first films I ever covered in my career was The Signal (2007), which was co-directed by David Bruckner, Dan Bush, and Jacob Gentry, so it’s been a real pleasure to follow this trio’s career paths over the last 13 or so years. And Gentry’s latest directorial endeavor, Broadcast Signal Intrusion, celebrated its world premiere earlier this week as part of the 2021 edition of the SXSW Film Festival.

Recently, Daily Dead had the opportunity to speak with Gentry about his involvement with Broadcast Signal Intrusion, infusing this fictional story with real-world elements, utilizing the year 1999 as the backdrop for this paranoia-fueled tech thriller, his experiences collaborating with the film’s star Harry Shum Jr., and more.

Great to speak with you again, Jacob. I know this is based on a real occurrence that happened in Chicago in the late '80s, which is where I grew up.

Chicago – The virtual/online 2021 SXSW Festival began on March 16th, and continues through March 20th. In the participation of its film festival part of the fest, many of the newest and most cutting edge voices are creating new cinema perspectives. Below are capsule reviews of three new films.

There will be many advantages and unique opportunities through this event, centered as usual in Austin, Texas, including the keynote/speeches, conference sessions, music festival showcases, film festival screenings, world-class networking, online exhibitions, and the unexpected discoveries that are always a part of SXSW, all in a digital setting.

Broadcast Signal Intrusion

Photo credit: SXSW.com

Films Of SXSW: Capsule Reviews

Click the title for film information and screening status …

Rating: 4.0/5.0

”Dear Mr. Brody” – Some phenomenons fly under the radar in our information obsessed world. Way back in January of 1970, a lone hippie kept the world enthralled with a vision. 21-year-old Michael...

The new thriller "Broadcast Signal Intrusion", directed by Jacob Gentry, stars Anthony E. Cabral, Richard Cotovsky and Jeff Dlugoleckim releasing March 21, 2021: 

"...while logging tapes of decades-old TV broadcasts, video archivist 'James' discovers a surreal and disturbing clip that he believes is the product of a mysterious broadcast signal hacking. His discovery takes a sinister turn when he tracks down similar broadcast intrusions that send him on an obsessive mission. Now James must confront two very real possibilities: that the videos may be clues to a crime beyond all comprehension and that whoever was behind them may be very aware that James is coming uncomfortably close to the truth..."

Click the images to enlarge....

Jacob Gentry‘s evolution as a filmmaker remains fixated on electromagnetic waves (outside MTV’s My Super Psycho Sweet 16 franchise) in the SXSW premiere Broadcast Signal Intrusion. It’s a clash of science fiction imagery and novice sleuthing, as Possessor-reminiscent masked interruptions splice between ’90s television programming until narrative beats transform into something more tensely true crime. […]

The post ‘Broadcast Signal Intrusion’ Review: An Ambitious Thriller Whose Creepy Reach Exceeds Its Grasp [SXSW 2021] appeared first on /Film.

There's something about the unexplained and seemingly unexplainable that can turn the most rational person into a conspiracy theorist when they start to look too closely at details that were never meant to be put under a microscope. In Jacob Gentry's Broadcast Signal Intrusion, video archivist James in the late '90s loses himself in a mystery that turns out to be more sinister than he ever could've imagined when he stumbles across an odd snippet of disturbing video while working. Tumbling down a conspiratorial rabbit hole, James bounces from one clue to the next, all the while bringing this increasingly macabre puzzle closer and closer to a personal tragedy that leaves him unable to walk away. Inspired by the pirate broadcast signal...

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

It’s tricky to pull off the kind of cryptic mystery labyrinth that “Broadcast Signal Intrusion” attempts, and Jacob Gentry’s film only works to a point — whatever point at which the viewer decides this thriller’s elusive menace is just too vague to generate sufficient urgency or suspense. As long as the promise outweighs the frustrating lack of payoff, however, it’s an intriguing and atmospheric puzzle, with “Glee” star Harry Shum Jr. chasing down a possible link between the titular phenomenon and his wife’s disappearance. The SXSW-premiering feature will be a viable item for home format sales; theatrical prospects are slimmer.

James (Shum) is an Av tech geek in 1999 Chicago, working the graveyard shift in a basement archive, logging old TV broadcast videos for posterity. It’s a solitary job that complements the loner lifestyle he had since his dancer wife Hannah disappeared three years ago. Now,...

It’s hard to believe that it’s already time for the SXSW Film Festival once again, but here we are. For the 2021 iteration of the fest, SXSW is going virtual, which gives more people the opportunity to get to experience their brilliant lineup of films this year. As someone who is already well into my SXSW viewings for this year, I can confidently say that this might be SXSW’s best slate of Midnighters from top to bottom, and a few other genre and genre-adjacent films that are premiering in other sections are very much worth your time as well.

So, if you’re looking to check out some excellent horror and sci-fi cinema during this year’s SXSW from the comfort of your own home, here are 15 different projects you’ll definitely want to make time for. Oh, and because I included both How it Ends and Violation during my Sundance 2021 preview,...

Next month marks the 28th annual SXSW Film Festival, which will take place online from March 16th–20th. As in past years, genre fans will have plenty of films to look forward to seeing (this time from the comfort of their own homes!), with an impressive Midnighters slate of eight eclectic movies that will have their world premiers at the festival.

You can check out the full Midnighters slate below, as well as additional details on this year's virtual South by Southwest Film Festival, and be sure to keep an eye on Daily Dead's online hub for our coverage of the festival!

From the Press Release: Austin, Texas, February 10, 2021 – South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conference and Festivals announced the full program for the 28th edition of the SXSW Film Festival. This year, the acclaimed program will be online, where it will draw thousands of fans, filmmakers, press, and industry leaders...

Filming is currently underway in Chicago on Broadcast Signal Intrusion, a sci-fi horror film being helmed by The Signal co-director Jacob Gentry, Bloody Disgusting learned. Hailing from Queensbury Pictures, the cast includes Harry Shum Jr. (Crazy Rich Asians, Glee), Kelley Mack (pictured above in “The Walking Dead”) and Chris Sullivan (This Is Us, I Trapped the Devil). Broadcast Signal Intrusion, […]...

Exclusive: Crazy Rich Asians and Glee star Harry Shum Jr. leads cast with Chris Sullivan (This Is Us) in movie thriller Broadcast Signal Intrusion, which is now shooting in Chicago.

Jacob Gentry (Synchronicity) directs the feature which is inspired by real broadcast interruptions that occurred in the Windy City in the late 1980s.

Shum Jr., also known for his role in Disney-ABC’s Shadowhunters, will play a video archivist who comes across a surreal and disturbing clip of what appears to be an imprisoned android. He believes it’s the product of broadcast signal hacking, but his discovery takes a sinister turn when he tracks down similar broadcast intrusions.

Greg Newman, Nicola Goelzhaeuser, Giles Edwards and Brett Hays are producing for UK and U.S.-based genre firm Queensbury Pictures. Shum Jr. is an executive producer. Writers are Brit duo Tim Woodall and Phil Drinkwater who submitted the screenplay through New Blood,...

Queensbury Pictures, the recently launched Chicago- and London-based production company, has signed Jacob Gentry to direct Broadcast Signal Intrusion, which is set to shoot in Chicago later this year.

The film marks Queensbury’s follow-up to its debut production, the psychological horror film Girl on the Third Floor, which bowed at SXSW and is making its market debut at Cannes.

Broadcast Signal Intrusion is described as "an unsettling journey into our collective technological nightmares," "part-Zodiac and part-Lost Highway by way of Aphex Twin" and "a nerve-shredding horror film that confronts our deepest, darkest fears of both man and machine."

While ...

Queensbury Pictures, the recently launched Chicago- and London-based production company, has signed Jacob Gentry to direct Broadcast Signal Intrusion, which is set to shoot in Chicago later this year.

The film marks Queensbury’s follow-up to its debut production, the psychological horror film Girl on the Third Floor, which bowed at SXSW and is making its market debut at Cannes.

Broadcast Signal Intrusion is described as "an unsettling journey into our collective technological nightmares," "part-Zodiac and part-Lost Highway by way of Aphex Twin" and "a nerve-shredding horror film that confronts our deepest, darkest fears of both man and machine."

While ...

Things are getting out of this world when UFO starring Gillian Anderson is released digitally and on DVD on September 4th. Also in today's Highlights: the search for new writers is on with Arrow Films FrightFest and Queensbury Pictures' New Blood 2 and a Bonejangles 2 Q&A.

UFO Digital and DVD Release Details: "Tony Award® winner Alex Sharp stars alongside Emmy Award® winner Gillian Anderson and Academy Award® nominee David Strathairn in the edge-of-your-seat sci-fi thriller UFO, debuting on digital and DVD September 4 from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. After a freak UFO sighting at a local airport, a college student searches for the truth while the government tries to cover it up. Written and directed by Ryan Eslinger (When a Man Falls), UFO also stars Ella Purnell (Miss Peregrine’s Home for the Peculiar Children) and Ben Beatty.

Synopsis: Derek (Alex Sharp) a brilliant college student, haunted by a childhood UFO sighting,...

Exclusive: Movie market regulars and genre aficionados Greg Newman (Catfight), Travis Stevens (Buster Mal’s Heart) and Giles Edwards are launching film and TV genre production company Queensbury Pictures here in Cannes.

Edwards was formerly Head Of Acquisitions at UK distributor Metrodome, producer Travis Stevens has his own production banner Snowfort Pictures and Greg Newman is Executive Vice President of U.S. genre producer-distributor Dark Sky Films. Stevens will now realign away from Snowfort under whose name he also made movies such as Jodorowsky’s Dune and Mohawk.

Queensbury movies will be supported by Dark Sky parent company Mpi Media Group and the firm will operate out of Los Angeles, Chicago and London. Edwards continues to serve as Head of Acquisitions and Development, Europe, for Mpi.

The new company’s initial slate comprises: Demon, a reimagining of the well-traveled Polish festival title of the same name, to be written and...

David Bruckner’s The Ritual is a harrowing blend of fierce and folksy horror, but also comes with a tingle of Fomo. How, you ask? Track back to 2007, when Bruckner teamed with Dan Bush and Jacob Gentry to dial-in their shared narrative The Signal (three directors, three “transmissions”). Between then and The Ritual we’ve seen two Bruckner visions in the form of (fan favorite) anthology segments – “Amateur Night” (V/H/S) and “The Accident” (Southbound) – yet no solo project. Quite simply, The Ritual is too tight and polished for a “feature-length debut,” but that’s what it *technically* is. Genre fans, we’ve been robbed of boatloads more Bruckner these past years (case and point: where the Hell is Brucker’s Friday The 13th).

Throughout writer Joe Barton’s adaptation of Adam Nevill’s novel, we follow four friends who take a hiking “mancation” through Northern Sweden. Suggestions like Ibiza,...

Earlier this month I had the gracious opportunity to interview director Dan Bush – best known for 2007’s The Signal and 2014’s The Reconstruction of William Zero. Bush’s most recent work – The Vault – is a unique blend between the heist and supernatural thriller genres; set for a September 8th release. Starring James Franco & Francesca Eastwood, The Vault’s theatrical release is a space to watch.

Dan, going from a largely independent film maker, ‘The Vault’ seems to be moving you towards larger ‘blockbuster’ style features. Is this kind of filmmaking & releases a goal of yours to reach? Or would you prefer to stay at an independent level.

I just love making movies, I’ll make a blockbuster if someone wants to give me a budget anywhere in the world. However, I do believe that limitations make us better filmmakers. With all the things you have to consider when making a bigger movie: the unions,...

When I reviewed the original The Blair Witch Project, it was March of 1999. I saw it in Austin, in the apartment of a couple of my friends, thanks to Harry Knowles, who had been sent a VHS copy of the film by the filmmakers during its Sundance run. I went to Austin in February, and Harry had been sitting on his copy, waiting for us to get to town. We were there for the third Quentin Tarantino film festival at the still-young Alamo Drafthouse, and on the last night of the festival, my friends and I were set to hit the road as soon as the movies ended. We were road-tripping, and between the four of us, we figured we’d be able to do the entire drive back to La straight through with no stops for sleep. Harry asked us not to leave town right after the film, though.

Deadpool, Michael Moore, and a few indies worth adding to your collection.Pick of the Week

Wildlike

What is it? Mackenzie (Ella Purnell) is a teen in crisis. Her father has died, and her mother’s addictions have forced her into rehab, so with no other resources she’s sent to stay with an uncle in Alaska for the summer. He shows her kindness, showers her with gifts, and sneaks into her bed at night to do unspeakable things. It may not be the first time, and she knows it won’t be the last, so when the opportunity arises she runs away. Her luck changes when she crosses paths with a hiker named Rene (Bruce Greenwood) in Denali. He wants nothing to do with her at first, but when the two of them end up on the same deserted trail in the park he quietly allows her to join his party of one. What...

Through the hazy light that seeps in via Venetian blinds and in the midst of the cold, dark hallways that make up the world in Jacob Gentry's Synchronicity, a mind-bending, sci-fi love story unfolds. Much of what plays out rests in familiar territory. The general design of the futuristic (but not quite future?) world is more than a little reminiscent of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner. But that familiarity in structure only serves the love story Gentry is telling, the greater of the two mysteries with which the filmmaker presents. With focus, determined pace, and nice swaths of dry humor, Synchronicity emerges as more than the sum of its influences' parts. Gentry succeeds in creating the world, implications and subtext of the story he's telling. At the head of Gentry's story is Jim Beale (Chad McKnight), a physicist who believes he has the key to the greatest, scientific discovery in history.

Synchronicity director Jacob Gentry talks to Shock. Synchronicity is director Jacob Gentry’s newest science fiction thriller. Best-known to genre fans as “one of the directors of that awesome 2007 science fiction film The Signal”, Gentry has once again paired up with Aj Bowen for this dystopian/crime/noir/time travel/alternate dimensions? story. In addition, Brianne Davis and Michael Ironside…

The post Interview: Director Jacob Gentry on Sci-Fi Shocker Synchronicity appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Possessing an infinite wisdom into the origins and purpose of our existence is a unique brilliance that not many people have the luxury of possessing. Furthering their abilities, so that they can travel back in time to protect society’s survival from disastrous events, is an intelligence that scientists have not yet been able to achieve, but is an enviable goal they’re still working on. While preserving civilization is a top priority for scientists, society could face a potential downfall if even one person was suddenly afforded a parallax view of their own life, and selfishly attempted to use physics to solve their own problems. That powerful dilemma over whether people [ Read More ]

The post Interview: Jacob Gentry, Brianne Davis and Aj Bowen Talk Synchronicity (Exclusive) appeared first on Shockya.com.

Jacob Gentry's retro futuristic, time-tripping noir, Synchronicity (review), was one of my favourite films that emerged out of last year's festival circuit, and now that the film is out for the world to see, we thought we'd get the director on line to chat about the movie.

In the interview below, Gentry talks about the various iterations of the idea, the influences on the style of the film, Ben Lovett's moog-driven score, and whether he's ready for the inevitable backlash from the time travel logic police when audiences start picking apart the film's paradoxes.

Synopsis:

Daring physic [Continued ...]...

Time travel is such a highly specific subgenre in sci-fi that a few big movies tend to always dominate the conversation. Primer, The Terminator and Back to the Future are the biggest fan favorites and so any time a new time travel movie comes out, those seem to crop back into the conversation as influencers. However, that's not entirely the case with Synchronicity, the new sci-fi mind bender from writer-director Jacob Gentry (The Signal). At least, not as far as Gentry is concerned. Synchronicity hits theaters and on demand tomorrow (that would be January 22, 2016, in case you're reading this from another timeline), so we asked Gentry to tell us what his actual influences were when writing and directing. His answers may actually surprise you, at least if you're...

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Fans of Timecrimes and Primer might enjoy Synchronicity, the newest film from writer/director Jacob Gentry. I haven't seen any of his previous movies (I hear The Signal was well-liked), but this low-budget indie is a solid piece of science fiction that handles the concept of time travel with the kind of precision geeks will appreciate.

In the not-too-distant future, physicist Jim Beale (Chad McKnight) leads a three-person team in an attempt to create time travel. Their experiments rely on a powerful substance called Mrd that is only manufactured by a single company, run by a shady businessman (Michael Ironside) whose mysterious female companion (Brianne Davis) proves integral to Jim's future. When Jim is essentially blackmailed into giving up the rights to his time machine in exchange for the material necessary to complete his experiment, he ends up desperately sending himself back in time to try to figure a way out of his situation.

If you could slap a dudebro fedora on Blade Runner, you’d get this ridiculous attempt at a mind-blowing sci-fi drama. Pretentious yet accidental silly. I’m “biast” (pro): big science fiction geek

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

If you could slap a fedora on Blade Runner — not a cool Indiana Jones sort of fedora, but the sort of fedora that has come to be a signpost of clueless dorky misappropriation of style and attitude — you’d get Synchronicity. A completely ridiculous attempt at a mind-blowing science-fiction drama, this amalgamation of pretentious yet accidental silliness gives us physicist Jim Beale (Chad McKnight), who is, like, a super genius, totally for real, but also put-upon and misunderstood. Because of course he is. Still, someone compares him to Nikola Tesla, he’s that awesome. And he’s just built a wormhole generator,...

I never thought it would happen, but I have finally, personally, hit the wall with indie time travel flicks. Jacob Gentry's Synchronicity is not lacking in smarts or clockwork precision, but abjectly fails to convince in its core ideas of love and fate. Love may be a sticky and difficult thing, but the film seems to only communicate lust and desire, while empathy fails to make the journey. There is one worm hole too many. This leaves some impressive homages to Blade Runner's dreamy Vangelis score and neo-noir chiaroscuro, as well as Code 46's delight in contemporary-future architecture, simply hanging in empty space.Slightly strung out scientist Jim Beale (Chad McKnight, often evoking Jared Leto) is on the verge of inventing time travel with the help of his two calmer, wise-cracking lab technicians,...

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

Written and directed by Jacob Gentry, Synchronicity is an ambitious neo-noir time travel yarn that feels like a companion piece to Gentry’s first sci-fi feature, The Signal (which he co-directed with David Bruckner and Dan Bush). Both deal with fractured timelines to a degree, but it's his latter that proves Gentry’s keen ability to manipulate popular tropes all while creating a complex and intricate story. The film takes a bit of time to find its footing, but when it does, that’s when Synchronicity evolves into something rather special. On par with films like Timecrimes, Predestination or even Primer to a degree, Synchronicity once again proves that you don’t need a huge budget to create a compelling cinematic experience.

Synchronicity follows a beleaguered scientist by the name of Jim Beale (Chad McKnight) who, along with team members Chuck (Aj Bowen) and Matty (Scott Poythress), have invented a...