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In Will Howarth and Tom McKeith‘s new film In Vitro, there are very real, and strange, consequences to bio-engineering. And our hero Layla discovers that the hard way on the cattle farm she runs with her husband, who has a few secrets of his own…

In the new film:

Layla lives on a remote cattle farm with her husband Jack, a biotech researcher who’s developed a new livestock breeding process. As their struggling farm and growing isolation strain their marriage, Layla begins to sense a disturbing presence lurking on the land.

In our exclusive clip from the film, Layla hears something strange in the kitchen…

Watch now:

Talia Zucker, Ashley Zuckerman, and Will Howarth star in the new film. Howarth, McKeith, and Zucker also penned the script.

In Vitro comes to select theaters, digital, and on demand on June 27, 2025.

"One mistake. One secret. One betrayal. Can multiply." Saban Films has revealed a brand new US trailer for the indie sci-fi thriller titled In Vitro, made in Australia and finally ready for its full release in the US this summer. We originally posted the first trailer for this last year, and here's one more for its opening soon. On a struggling cattle farm set some years in the future, a woman discovers the unsettling consequences of her husband's animal breeding technology. This is a sneaky lo-fi sci-fi film. This initially premiered at the 2024 Melbourne & Sydney Film Festivals last year. One night, everything changes when a storm knocks out the power and they soon discover that something unknown has has been released onto the farm.

Will Howarth and Tom McKeith's sci-fi thriller, In Vitro, is coming to theaters, Digital and On Demand on June 27th from Saban Films. We have your first look at the trailer for the Australian flick. Check it out down below. Layla lives on a remote cattle farm with her husband Jack, a biotech researcher who’s developed a new livestock breeding process. As their struggling farm and growing isolation strain their marriage, Layla begins to sense a disturbing presence lurking on the land. Howarth and McKeith directed a screenplay they wrote with one of their leads, Talia Zucker (Alice Palmer in the cult horror film Lake Mungo). Their Director's Statement follows. Our goal with In Vitro was to create a grounded sci-fi with...

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

In Vitro immediately plunges the viewer into a chillingly familiar near-future, presenting a science fiction thriller framework that resonates with profound dramatic undercurrents and palpable atmospheric horror. We are introduced to Layla and Jack, a couple whose existence on a remote Australian cattle farm is anything but idyllic.

Their struggle is set against a stark backdrop: a climate crisis has decimated traditional agriculture, making natural resources perilously scarce. In this world, meat is largely a factory product, a synthetic echo of what was. The couple has staked their hopes and dwindling finances on pioneering cloning technology for cattle, a desperate bid to cater to a population still yearning for the “real thing.”

From its initial frames, the film masterfully cultivates a mood of pervasive foreboding. The vast, empty landscapes amplify their isolation, while a palpable bleakness seeps into their interactions. The tension in their marriage is an unspoken third presence,...

The Fantaspoa Film Festival has unveiled its top award winners for 2025, Variety can exclusively reveal. The festival’s 21st edition wrapped on April 21 and had record-breaking attendance.

For 19 days, Latin America’s largest genre film festival played over 200 films across five different venues, garnering over 500,000 attendees. The winners range from “Scared Shitless” in the Midnight Films Competition, “The Lonely Musketeer” in the International Competition to “The Instinct” in the Ibero-American Competition. Annapurna Sriram‘s “Fucktoys,” which had its world premiere at this year’s SXSW, was recognized for Caroline Keenan Russell’s art direction.

The main categories include both shorts and feature-length films. See the full list of winners below.

Short Film Competition

Best Brazilian Short Film: “Carne Fresca”

Best International Animation Short Film: “Tinkerhell”

Best International Live-Action Short Film: “Help, I’m Alien Pregnant”

Mèliés D’Argent Award: “L’ essence de la Sirène”

Honorable Mentions:

“A Corte da Cúpula...

When we see them lying in bed, Jack (Ashley Zukerman) and Layla (co-writer Talia Zucker), there’s something about the way that he has his arm around her that seems just a little bit off. It’s as if, from his perspective, he’s holding not a person but a possession. It’s as if he’s afraid that if he doesn’t keep a tight grip, she’ll inevitably slip away.

Will Howarth and Tom McKeith’s indie thriller, which screened at the 2025 Glasgow Film Festival before going on to Fantaspoa, is full of little touches like this. He watches her oddly when she’s on the computer. He protests when, doing the dishes, she takes off her ring. It’s there in the tone of his voice, little things that he says – and yet she seems to be able to stand up for herself. They both have to be confident,...

Unlike the average offering of found-footage filmmaking, Joel Anderson’s debut Lake Mungo limits the amateur aesthetic now deemed a signature of this genre. The characters aren’t taping themselves or their story in real time, but rather they are being recorded post factum by a documentary crew, including Anderson as the off-screen interviewer. The director/writer as well as John Brawley, the associate producer and director of photography, had the know-how for imitating true crime documentaries; that mimicry — everything from talking head interviews to authentically made but fictional news footage — is key to this film’s power of persuasion.

Calling this film Lake Mungo is confusing when realizing the catalyst for the story, the drowning of 16-year-old Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker), occurs at Norval Dam in Ararat. Lake Mungo, a dry lake in National Mungo Park, doesn’t even come up until around the one-hour mark. Of course, that...

Stars: Ashley Zuckerman, Talia Zucker, Will Howarth | Written by Will Howarth, Tom McKeith, Talia Zucker | Directed by Will Howarth, Tom McKeith

In Vitro opens with some quiet, but effective, world-building. Jack (Ashley Zuckerman) and Layla (Talia Zucker – also pulling double duty as co-writer), are a married couple of bovine farmers in a near future, but very recognisable world: a snippet of radio, tells us about the struggles of farming and agriculture, in the face of climate challenges. A newspaper cutting sees Jack, at the forefront of new breeding technology. The vistas of muted Australian farmlands, accompanied by a haunting, ethereal score imply the hardships of working the land. And then alarms start going off in the barn…

The farms difficulties are evident in the fraught relationship of Jack and Layla – their exchanges are hollow, distant – the long hours and the absence of their only son weighs heavy in their reluctant exchanges.

In Vitro Photo: courtesy of Strike Media

Every now and again one comes across a film which offers lots of interesting potential talking points but is reliant on a twist that makes a straightforward interview impossible. That’s very much the case with In Vitro, directed by Will Howarth and Tom McKeith, and co-written by Talia Zucker. Talia stars as Layla, opposite Ashley Zukerman as her husband Jack – a couple who live on an isolated farm in a future where food supplies are under threat and new methods of production are being explored. Will and Talia joined me in the run-up to the film’s screening at the Glasgow Film Festival and we did our best to work around the elephant in the room so that we could explore other aspects of the filmmaking process.

“Talia had the original idea for the film, this sci fi concept that focused around...

It’s rare nowadays where valuable tension or fear is not ruined by cheap jump scares. This is where directing duo Will Howarth and Tom McKeith buck that trend with thriller In Vitro.

Australian cinema recently and over the past few years is enjoying a period of success and that trend seems set to continue.

When a film opens to rural landscape complete with a dark looming sky accompanied by an ominous score it clearly signals something is brewing. Those shots that we see throughout do well as a reminder of the secluded setting and generates that feeling of being trapped.

All contained within one location of a cattle farm we meet married couple Jack (Ashley Zukerman) and Layla (Talia Zucker).

This is a thriller with hints of horror and elements of sci-fi where it doesn’t dive too deep into the latter. It’s somewhere in the near future,...

A chilling and atmospheric sci-fi thriller is set to make its UK premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival on 27th February, with In Vitro promising to deliver a tense, slow-burning mystery against the backdrop of Australia’s vast and isolated farmland. Co-directed by Will Howarth and Tom McKeith, and featuring a script co-written by Lake Mungo star Talia Zucker, the film blends psychological horror with unsettling sci-fi elements, weaving a haunting tale of control, isolation, and the unseen consequences of scientific ambition.

Set in the near future, In Vitro follows Layla (Zucker) and her husband Jack (Ashley Zukerman), a struggling cattle breeder who has developed a groundbreaking method for improving livestock genetics. Their life on a remote farm, already strained by financial and emotional pressures, takes a sinister turn when a storm exposes the unforeseen consequences of Jack’s experiments. As unsettling events begin to unfold, Layla’s growing unease turns to full-blown paranoia,...

From directors Tom McKeith and Will Howarth (Beast), the Australian horror movie In Vitro is headed to the American Film Market, and Deadline shares a first look image today.

The Exchange has boarded world sales on the film, Deadline also notes. “The Exchange will introduce In Vitro to buyers at the upcoming American Film Market in Las Vegas.”

Here’s the plot synopsis for In Vitro: “In a future where ecological disasters have ravaged the agricultural industry, Layla and her husband Jack live in isolation on their struggling cattle farm. While Layla longs for her son who is away at boarding school, Jack experiments with biotechnology that he hopes will save his family from financial ruin. But as unsettling occurrences start to plague the property, their once loving relationship begins to unravel.”

Talia Zucker (Lake Mungo), Will Howarth (Beast) and Ashley Zukerman (Succession) star.

Deadline adds for context in today’s report,...

Exclusive: The Exchange has boarded world sales on Australian horror-thriller In Vitro, starring Talia Zucker (Lake Mungo), Will Howarth (Beast) and Ashley Zukerman (Succession).

Directed by Tom McKeith and Howarth, the film marks the follow-up after their debut feature Beast, which was nominated for Best First Feature at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015.

After a world premiere at the Sydney Film Festival this summer, where it was the Audience Award Runner-Up, the movie is set for its North American premiere at the Austin Film Festival this week where it is nominated for the Dark Matters Jury Award. Pic was written by Howarth, McKeith, and Zucker. It is produced by Fictious.

The Exchange will introduce In Vitro to buyers at the upcoming American Film Market in Las Vegas. The sales deal was negotiated by Matt Hechinger on behalf of The Exchange and by Will Howarth on behalf of Fictious.

The...

Mike Flanagan knows how to get under our skin. The horror auteur gravitates toward themes that deal with generational trauma and cyclical grief, entwined with supernatural manifestations of such visceral emotions. His Netflix horror hits offer a variety of scares: series like "Midnight Mass" mix religion-tinted bouts of vampirism with acute human loss, while his rendition of "The Fall of the House of Usher" maps the disintegration of a generational legacy marked with greed, betrayal, and pain. Apart from helming effective horror films like "Hush" and "Oculus," Flanagan has also adapted seminal literary works, including Stephen King's "Doctor Sleep" and "Gerald's Game," which the director has invested with inimitable depth.

As someone so well-versed with the inner machinations of the genre, is Flanagan easily spooked? Maybe not anymore, but horror movies "scared [him] too much" as a child, until he came to appreciate the terrifying ability of the written word...

Mike Flanagan has been the mastermind behind some of the scariest movies and television shows in recent years. However, this has not made the filmmaker immune to getting the creeps himself.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Flanagan revealed the name of the last movie that scared him, "The last one that truly frightened me into getting up off of the couch was an Australian movie, Lake Mungo," he said. "It chilled me to the bone. There are others, like this French film Martyrs. There's a lot of gore, but it's gore with a point. I generally don't love splatter," the filmmaker explained.

Related Mike Flanagan Explains Casting Loki's Tom Hiddleston for New Stephen King Movie

Tom Hiddleston will make his debut in the Flanaverse soon.

Released in 2008, Lake Mungo is written and directed by Joel Anderson. The movie is presented in a found footage documentary format, though the story is entirely fictional.

"What do you think would happen if people found out about it?" Madman Films in Australia has revealed a first look official trailer for an indie sci-fi thriller titled In Vitro, made by the two filmmakers Will Howarth & Tom McKeith. On a struggling cattle farm set some years in the future, a woman discovers the unsettling consequences of her husband's animal breeding technology. This is a sneaky lo-fi sci-fi film. It's premiering at the 2024 Melbourne Film Festival (Miff) after initially debuting at the Sydney Film Festival. "Unnatural selection." One night, everything changes when a storm knocks out the power and they soon discover that something unknown has has been released onto the farm. But as Layla discovers more about the mysterious presence and Jack’s behaviour becomes increasingly controlling, Layla finally uncovers a secret that brings her face to face with the reality of her relationship with Jack and life on the ranch.

Joel Anderson's "Lake Mungo" is one of the most enduring horror movies of the aughts. While the Australian documentary-style film started small -- it was made on a shoestring budget and premiered at the Sydney Film Festival in 2008 -- the reputation of "Lake Mungo" has only grown in the 15 years since its release. The movie is enigmatic and polarizing. While some horror fans see its mellowly presented talking-head interview structure as mundane, others call it one of the scariest movies of all time thanks to the creeping sense of dread that builds throughout the movie, culminating in a heart-pounding third-act reveal.

Both camps, though, seem to agree that there's more to "Lake Mungo" than meets the eye. The movie about a dead girl's family seeking closure after her drowning includes several clear-cut twists, but also a handful of points of ambiguity -- and scenes that gesture towards interpretations of...

Warning: Major spoilers for the following films abound.

Few experiences unite people from all walks of life like a fear of the dark. Often surpassing specific concerns of serial killers, monsters, witches, or demons, what we collectively fear most is that mysterious, dark unknown. Anything and everything could be lurking in the shadows just waiting to pounce. Bishal Dutta’s terrifying new film It Lives Inside follows an ancient evil that hides in dark corners while terrorizing its prey. The film follows a troubled teen named Tamira (Mohana Krishnan) terrorized by a flesh-eating demon known as the Pishacha that feasts on negative energy. This malevolent being soon sets its sights on her best friend Samidha (Megan Suri) and begins a campaign of terror hoping to gorge itself on chaos, destruction, and emotional pain.

One of Dutta’s most frightening scenes takes place in Samidha’s darkened bedroom. Staring at her open closet door,...

Odin’s Eye Entertainment has boarded “In Vitro,” an elevated sci-fi thriller starring Ashley Zukerman (“Succession” ) and Talia Zucker (“Lake Mungo”).

Pic is co-directed by Tom McKeith and Will Howarth, whose debut feature, “Beast,” was nominated for best first feature at the Toronto Film Festival in 2015. Odin’s Eye will introduce the new film to buyers for the first time during the Cannes Market.

The narrative of “In Vitro” is set on a remote cattle property in the near future, where a woman (Zucker) and her husband (Zukerman) have been experimenting with biotechnology and developing illegal breeding methods. It’s a mostly isolated existence for the couple, but when a series of unsettling occurrences take place, the woman is faced with the disturbing reality of just how far her husband will go for love. McKeith and Howarth co-wrote the script with Zucker.

“In Vitro” is produced by Arcadia and Fictious. Arcadia...

Exclusive: Succession and The Lost Symbol actor Ashley Zukerman leads the sci-fi thriller feature In Vitro, which has just wrapped filming in regional New South Wales, Australia.

In the lead opposite Zukerman is Talia Zucker (Lake Mungo) alongside Will Howarth (Beast).

Set on a remote cattle property in the near future, the film follows Layla (Zucker) and her husband Jack (Zukerman), who have been experimenting with biotechnology and developing new farming methods. It’s a mostly isolated existence for the couple, but when a series of unsettling occurrences take place, they soon discover a disturbing presence on the farm that threatens to upend their lives.

In Vitro marks writer-directors Tom McKeith and Will Howarth’s follow-up to their debut feature Beast, which was nominated for Best First Feature at TIFF 2015. They co-wrote the script with Zucker.

Producers are Arcadia, the Australian production and distribution company behind Kodi Smit-McPhee sci-fi starrer 2067 and horror comedy Sissy,...

Stars: Rosie Traynor, David Pledger, Martin Sharpe, Talia Zucker, Tania Lentini, Cameron Strachan, Judith Roberts, Robin Cuming, Marcus Costello, Chloe Armstrong | Written and Directed by ‎Joel Anderson

Horror can be all about the jump scares, or all about the scares. Some though work at a more cerebral level and hits the emotions more. Lake Mungo is a horror that may be too subtle for some, but for others who like this kind of film it creates a truly chilling experience.

Filmed in a documentary style, Lake Mungo looks at the tragic drowning of sixteen-year-old Alice Palmer and how her family deal with her death. With the help of a parapsychologist, they uncover secrets she was hiding, and find Alice was being haunted by Lake Mungo.

In the film, we look at two things, that is the story of Alice herself and her family. With the family we look at how...

The Film

When cinephiles talk about film, we often find ourselves discussing directorial careers; the trademarks, the way we see their identities as filmmakers emerge and change. That’s fascinating, but equally interesting in their own way are those directors who give us only one film to look at. It might be a singular masterpiece, a cult item, or a contender for worst film ever made (Manos: The Hands of Fate). In the case of Joel Anderson, writer/director of Lake Mungo, what we have is not just a great film, but real unfulfilled promise of a career we’re yet to see.

Lake Mungo is a faux documentary telling the story of the Palmer family in the wake of the drowning death of 16 year old Alice (Talia Zucker). Her parents June and Russell (Rosie Traynor and David Pledger) and brother Matthew (Martin Sharpe) are obviously devastated, and all begin...

Contains spoilers for the movie Lake Mungo.

“We were thinking it’d be nice if we could make a film that was kind of a curiosity, but if you saw it years from now you wouldn’t know anything about where it came from.”

This quote from a 2009 interview with Lake Mungo director Joel Anderson proved to be strangely prescient. Anderson was speaking ahead of the film’s screening at the Brisbane Film Festival – the movie had already premiered at the Sydney Film Festival, played South by Southwest in the US, and would go on to tour several more festivals before eventually finding its way onto DVD.

Anderson conducted a few interviews. He talked about how the film had in part come about because he wanted to make something cheap and manageable that could be shot in sections because he’d had trouble getting financing for a different, bigger, more...

"Stay forever." Gravitas Ventures has revealedthe new Us trailer for an indie horror survival thriller titled Motel Acacia, the latest from Malaysian-Filipino filmmaker Bradley Liew (Singing in Graveyards). In the cold west, Motel Acacia is tasked with exterminating immigrants by the government through a bed, haunted with the spirit of a Filipino tree demon, that eats men and impregnates women. A young Filipino man, Jc, is groomed by his tyrannical father to take over the business. But he risks losing his own humanity to try and stop what's happening. The horror film stars Jc Santos, Jan Bijvoet, Nicholas Saputra, Agot Isidro, Vithaya Pansringarm, Bront Palarae, and Talia Zucker. This looks totally gnarly! Wtf! A tree demon inside a bed that eats people?! I want to see more of this big bad monster that appears at the end. Hot damn. Here's the official Us trailer (+ two posters) for Bradley Liew's Motel Acacia,...

“Motel Acacia” takes place in America, but not any version of America that Americans will recognize. “Re-elect Roberts!” announces a garish campaign billboard bearing the face of a generic white politician. “We are great again!” Well, it’s easy to guess who that’s referring to and to extrapolate what alternate reality “Motel Acacia” has in mind. This is America as seen from abroad, America as a scary place where ugly white racists don’t just build walls to keep undocumented aliens out; they sacrifice oblivious immigrants to a menacing tree demon.

A what? Tree demons aren’t really a thing in the United States, but they’re a fertile part of Filipino folklore, and given that “Motel Acacia” is actually an Asian co-production from Philippines-based director Bradley Liew (“Singing in Graveyards”), that explains how such a monster would find its way into a movie set in the Northern U.

Universal’s Global Talent Development and Inclusion have unveiled the participants for the 2019 Directors Initiative. The initiative has also expanded their partnerships to include the American Black Film Festival and the New York Latino Film Festival. In addition, NBCUniversal Filmmasters will join veteran partners AFI Directing Workshop for Women as well as the Sundance Institute’s FilmTwo Fellowship.

This year, the Initiative has doubled in size with 17 directors from diverse backgrounds selected to participate. This year, the Initiative has the strongest international reach with directors from China, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Iran and Singapore.

Sundance Institute FilmTwo filmmakers participating in this year’s Initiative include Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre (The Mustang), Rhys Ernst (Adam), Atsuko Hirayanagi (Oh Lucy!) and Kirsten Tan (Pop Aye). From the AFI Directing Workshop for Women are directors Amber Sealey (How Does it Start), Jessica Kaye (Inheritance), Carly Usdin (Suicide Kale), Parisa Barani (Ablution (Wuzu)), Marielle Woods...

Universal’s Global Talent Development & Inclusion group has selected filmmakers for its 2019 Directors Initiative, which introduces directors to the studio filmmaking process as well as executives across the company.

The Sundance Institute FilmTwo filmmakers participating in the Directors Initiative include Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre (“The Mustang”), Rhys Ernst (“Adam”), Atsuko Hirayanagi (“Oh Lucy!”), and Kirsten Tan (“Pop Aye”). From the AFI Directing Workshop for Women, directors participating include Amber Sealey (“How Does it Start”), Jessica Kaye (“Inheritance”), Carly Usdin (“Suicide Kale”), Parisa Barani (“Ablution (Wuzu)”), Marielle Woods (“Do No Harm”), Shilpi Roy (“Hipsterhood”), Siyou Tan (“Hello Ahma”) and Talia Zucker (“Child”).

Additionally, Lukas von Berg (“L’aria Del Moscerino”) is joining from NBCUniversal’s Global Distribution & International Filmmasters program, while Numa Perrier (“Jezebel”) is participating from American Black Film Festival, and Gabriela Calvache (“The Longest Night”) is joining from New York Latino Film Festival. Dinh Thai (“Monday”) is joining from last...

Production has begun on Malaysian director Bradley Liew’s upscale horror film “Motel Acacia.” With a clearly topical message, the film features a hotel bed that eats immigrants.

Actor, Jc Santos called it: “A cautionary tale of what’s going to happen in the future.” Indonesian star, Nicholas Saputra said the he agreed to the role “because of its urgency and relevance.”

The movie has representation in North America through Xyz Films, the sales and production company of Todd Brown. He was also responsible for selecting the concepts to be presented at the International Film Festival and Awards Macao’s project market.

“Set in a fictional snowy United States, the film is about a young Filipino man who is groomed by his tyrannical Caucasian Father to take over Motel Acacia which is tasked with exterminating immigrants by the government through a bed, haunted with the spirit of a Filipino tree demon,...

Xyz Films, the U.S.-based sales agency specializing in genre films, has picked up international rights to Bradley Liew’s elevated horror movie “Motel Acacia.” Xyz will open it up to foreign distributors at this week’s American Film Marketin Santa Monica.

The film is set to start principal photography at the end of November in Philippines and Slovenia. It is targeting a 2019 release.

Malaysian-born, Philippines-based Liew saw his debut feature “Singing in Graveyards” premier at the Venice Film Festival’s Critics Week in 2016. It went on to 30 festivals and won awards in Malaysia and Kolkata.

Set in a fictional snowy U.S., the film is about a young Filipino man who is groomed by his tyrannical Caucasian father to take over a voyeuristic sex motel with a bed that eats men and impregnates women. The screenplay was co-written by Liew and producer Bianca Balbuena, who was last year...

Stunt performer Zoë Bell — Uma Thurman’s double in the “Kill Bill” films and a Quentin Tarantino veteran — is getting into the directing game herself. The New Zealander got her start at 17 as Lucy Lawless’ double on “Xena: Warrior Princess,” and is now among the eight participants in this year’s AFI Directing Workshop for Women. Since 1974, the program has provided tuition-free training to more than 300 women seeking film and television careers behind the camera.

Bell will join Parisa Barani, Jessica Kaye, Shilpi Roy, Amber Sealey, Siyou Tan, Carly Usdin, and Talia Zucker for months of immersive education as they ready short films to debut next year at the Directors Guild of America Theater in Los Angeles. So far, two alumni from the 2017-2018 class have had their Dww projects accepted to prestigious film festivals: Katrelle Kindred premiered “War Paint” at Sundance in January, and Milena Govich will screen “Unspeakable...

The AFI Directing Workshop for Women has revealed its 2018-2019 participants, who will partake in several months of tuition-free film education program, leading to the production of short films, which will be screened at the Directors Guild of America Theater in Los Angeles next year. The new trainees are Parisa Barani, Zoe Bell, Jessica Kaye, Shilpi Roy, Amber Sealey, Siyou Tan, Carly Usdin and Talia Zucker. You can check out their bios <a…...

Non-professional actor and boxer Chad McKinney, the star of Beast.

Brothers Sam and Tom McKeith graduated from Aftrs in 2010. Since then their shorts have played at the likes of Berlin, Telluride and Busan.

Both still work part-time, Sam for The Huffington Post and Tom for Legal Aid.

The pair have just made their feature debut with.Beast, which premiered in Toronto last year and screened at the Sydney Film Festival last month.

Beast is set in the Philippines and follows a local boxer, played by real-life boxer Chad McKinney.

The brothers began developing the script three years ago with Will Jaymes, an La-based Australian actor who co-wrote and co-produced and has a small role in the film as a local heavy.

The script went through Screen Nsw's Aurora program and took a year and a half to write. The decision to set it in South-East Asia was an organic one,...

Talia Zucker and Will Jaymes

Three young Australian writers have had their project selected for the 2016 January Screenwriters Lab, a five-day writers' workshop at the Sundance Resort in Utah beginning January 15.

Written by Talia Zucker, Will Jaymes and Tom McKeith, In Vitro is described by Jaymes as "a psychological sci-fi thriller set in a very real world - not set in the future. Our story is about a young woman who is kept in isolation on a cattle ranch in northern America and slowly comes to realise the truth about her existence".

Jaymes and McKeith co-wrote Beast, the Manila-set boxing drama which premiered in Toronto last year. Jaymes also acted in it, playing the film's heavy..

Zucker and James are both based in Los Angeles, where they moved a few years ago after each was nominated for the Heath Ledger Scholarship. Zucker has appeared in the likes of Lake Mungo and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.

The Sundance Institute is including a touch of Cannes this week as the likes of Pippa Bianco (her short Share was the 2015 winner of Cannes Cinefondation), Alistair Banks Griffin (Two Gates of Sleep premiered in Directors’ Fortnight in 2010), and the Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza tandem (from Critics’ Week Grand Prize in 2013 for Salvo) are among the dozen selected projects for the 2016 January Screenwriters Lab. The immersive, five-day writers’ workshop takes place just prior to the festival at the Sundance Resort in Utah, January 15-20. Look for several of these projects to one day break into not only Sundance, but other major film fests. Here are the selected people & projects:

The projects and fellows selected for the 2016 January Screenwriters Lab are:

Bull (U.S.A.) / Annie Silverstein (Co-writer/Director) and Johnny McAllister (Co-writer)

In a near-abandoned subdivision west of Houston, a wayward teen runs headlong into her equally willful and unforgiving neighbor,...

Lake Mungo

Stars: Rosie Traynor, David Pledger, Martin Sharpe, Talia Zucker | Written and directed by Joel Anderson

Sometimes the best style of horror is the psychological, which is designed to get into your head and make you really wonder what you are in fact watching. This is the type of movie that Lake Mungo is.

Lake Mungo is filmed as a documentary looking into the events that took place after a teenage girl called Alice Palmer tragically drowns while swimming in a dam near where she lived. The family talk about how they learnt to cope with the death, and also how they did not. After her death strange things start to happen around the house where she lived and it’s not long before the ghostly image of the girl starts to appear in pictures taken after her death. As events get stranger the family set up video cameras...

Lake Mungo

DVD

Director: Joel Anderson

Starring: Talia Zucker, Rosie Traynor, David Pledger, Martin Sharpe, Steve Jodrell

Lionsgate Home Entertainment

Release Date: March 23, 2010

For four straight years now, After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films to Die For has been unleashed. Eight original horror films to quench your thirst for blood and gore and screams galore. Last year I was able to check out and review their third collection of horrors (Read: DVD Review: After Dark Horrorfest III: 8 Films To Die For), and was rather excited to check out their new slate this year! Instead of cramming every review into one mammoth review, this year we'll take it one flick at a time, with this little opener stuck at the top of each one.

Most of the movies that you'll see when watching an After Dark Horrorfest title will involve a whole lot of graphic violence and some pretty horrific other-worldly beings. And...

If you like to be scared, really scared, we know a great way to terrorize yourself for nearly twenty hours, all for just $159.98. How, you ask? Well, here's how: run out and buy the fourth installment of After Dark Horrorfest 8 Films to Die For. Really, it's that simple. Not familiar with 8 Films to Die for? Each year, After Dark opens eight indie horror films in theaters in major markets, and then the folks at Lionsgate release them on DVD, both separately and as a packaged set. The 2010 collection is out now, and there's some stuff well worth recommending, a bunch of cool, up-and-coming actors and actresses screaming their heads off, and stacks of directors showing some major chops and priming themselves for bright futures. Lake Mungo (2010) centers on a family that discovers some crazy secrets about their daughter after her supposedly accidental death. The relatively unknown cast includes Rosie Traynor,...

Chicago – We’ve spent the last few weeks working our way through the fourth collection of the series subtitled “8 Films to Die For” and found a few highlights and lowlights of the fourth annual “After Dark Horrorfest” that we would are now unafraid to share. With two entries that are much more accomplished than last year’s thoroughly mediocre octet, this year featured some quality and some, well, not-so-quality. Let us break it down from best to worst.

1. “Dread”

DVD Rating: 4.0/5.0

Starring: Jackson Rathbone, Shaun Evans, Hanne Steen, and Laura Donnelly

Written by: Anthony Diblasi

Directed by: Anthony Diblasi

After Dark Horrorfest IV: Dread

Photo credit: Lionsgate Home Video

Synopsis: “Produced by Clive Barker and adapted from his Books of Blood collection by Anthony Diblasi (screenwriter), Dread follows Stephen (Jackson Rathbone, The Twilight Saga) and Cheryl (Hanne Steen), college students making a documentary about what people dread in life. But...

Now in it's fourth year, Horrorfest, the annual cinematic showcase for After Dark Films, has established something of a reputation as a platform for fresh, daring filmmakers to get themselves noticed. More than just a simple market for nasties, the After Dark label stands for quality by way of authenticity, delivering horror films by genre lovers for genre lovers. In addition to this yearly frightfest, After Dark recently announced a new venture to develop their own projects, in partnership with SyFy, NBC, and Lionsgate, titled After Dark Originals. Aiming to do for horror what the Sundance Institute did for the American indie, the eight slate series will begin production next month with a view towards theatrical release later this fall.

Titles featured in this year's Horrorfest include:

The Reeds

Starring: Anna Brewster, O-t Fagbenle, Will Mellor, Danny Caltagirone, Scarlett Johnson, Emma Catherwood, Geoff Bell

Director: Nick Cohen

Inspired by any...

The Blair Witch Project and Paranormal Activity are the two most successful ‘mock documentary’ horror films but those were alleged as ‘found footage’ and much of the horror derived from the literal point-of-view of its principals and the mystery of what happened to them. The new Australian ‘faux-doc’ Lake Mungo from writer/director Joel Anderson is presented as a full-blown investigative-style documentary about a family grieving the drowning death of their teenage daughter and their belief that her ghost has returned to haunt them. Spooky and original (and of course slated for a Hollywood remake), the horrors in Lake Mungo are so subtle that they’re barely there, and the film is more powerful for it.

Using different types of film stock and videotape to depict ‘real’ footage, Lake Mungo considers the case of 16-year-old Alice Palmer (Talia Zucker). Alice is a smart and attractive girl from a loving, well-off family who one day,...

The official trailer for After Dark Horrorfest 4's Australian import Lake Mungo made itself a fine little splash today and we've got a quick look at it for you!

In Lake Mungo sixteen-year-old Alice Palmer drowns while swimming in the local dam. When her body is recovered and a verdict of accidental death returned, her grieving family buries her. The family then experiences a series of strange and inexplicable events centered in and around their home. Profoundly unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of psychic and parapsychologist Ray Kemeny. Ray discovers that Alice led a secret, double life. A series of clues lead the family to Lake Mungo, where Alice's secret past emerges.

Lake Mungo marks the feature fim debut for writer/director Joel Anderson and stars Talia Zucker, Rosie Traynor, David Pledger, and Martin Sharpe.

After Dark Horrorfest 4 runs for one week in theatres across the United States from January 29nd–February 5th,...

Already released in Australia on DVD, Lake Mungo will hit North American screens on January 29th. More than just a ghost story, Lake Mungo follows Alice Palmer into the afterlife and a poster seen left symbolizes Palmer's transformation to the other side. Hinting at Palmer's death in a dam, water can be seen at the bottom of the image, with Palmer screaming on top. More news, outside the Horrorfest movie poster release, suggests that an American copy of the film is in the works and will be released in 2010. Why do American studios continue to remake European, Asian and Australian horror films? An inferiority complex on the part of American studios? An easy paycheque? As long as Lake Mungo turns out to be as good as initial reviews suggest then 2010 will be a great year for horror filmmaking despite the slew of American remakes.

A short summary of Lake Mungo...

Los Angeles, CA (August 27, 2009) - After Dark Films CEO Courtney Solomon has announced that After Dark has inked a deal with Arclight Films to feature Lake Mungo in it’s next incarnation of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films to Die For. The supernatural mystery is written and directed by Joel Anderson making his feature debut. Talia Zucker, Rosie Traynor, David Pledger and Martin Sharpe star. Georgie Nevile and David Rapsey produced. Dana Lambert, VP of Acquisitions at After Dark brokered the deal with Arclight Films who represented the filmmakers in the negotiations. In Lake Mungo, sixteen-year-old Alice Palmer drowns while swimming in the local dam. When her body [...]...

An early look at Lake Mungo uncovers only more mystery and intrigue, as the film centers around the haunting of Alice Palmer. Lake Mungo is the third officially announced film for the Horror Fest 2010 film festival and the first poster can be seen left. As well, a trailer can be seen for this feature here, that looks both suspenseful and eerie all in one. Check out the synopsis below.

A synopsis for Lake Mungo here:

"In Lake Mungo, sixteen-year-old Alice Palmer drowns while swimming in the local dam. When her body is recovered and a verdict of accidental death returned, her grieving family buries her. The family then experiences a series of strange and inexplicable events centered in and around their home. Profoundly unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of psychic and parapsychologist, Ray Kemeny. Ray discovers that Alice led a secret, double life. A series of clues lead the...

Fango Fiends in the UK have a new haunt to check out when Celluloid Screams, Sheffield’s first horror film festival arrives at the Showroom Cinema (Paternoster Row, Sheffield S1 2Bx ) from October 23-25.

With 24 hours worth of films "featuring everything from classic and cult horror to contemporary new releases," Celluloid Screams was created by award-winning Sheffield filmmaker and horror aficionado Rob Nevitt. Check out the full details and screening schedule below the jump!

Festival highlights include the UK Premiere of Us indie shocker Neighbor. Dominic Monaghan, star of Lord of the Rings and Lost stars in I Sell The Dead, a film harking back to the days of classic Hammer horror while Yoroi: Samurai Zombie and Vampire Girl Vs Frankenstein Girl continue the recent trend of outrageous gore from Japan. From the archives we have rare screenings of Bigas Luna’s Anguish, classic 80’s slasher The Burning and exploitation epic Pieces.

After Dark dropped us a line today with their proposed third film to die for joining the previously announced Dread and The Graves, a little flick that will hopefully move along swimmingly called Lake Mungo.

In Lake Mungo sixteen-year-old Alice Palmer drowns while swimming in the local dam. When her body is recovered and a verdict of accidental death returned, her grieving family buries her. The family then experiences a series of strange and inexplicable events centered in and around their home. Profoundly unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of psychic and parapsychologist Ray Kemeny. Ray discovers that Alice led a secret, double life. A series of clues lead the family to Lake Mungo, where Alice's secret past emerges.

Lake Mungo marks the feature fim debut for writer/director Joel Anderson and stars Talia Zucker, Rosie Traynor, David Pledger, and Martin Sharpe.

After Dark Horrorfest 4 runs for one week in...

After Dark Films has announced that a deal has been inked to include the Australian thriller Lake Mungo in the 2010 After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films to Die For. It's the third film to join the fest behind Dread and The Graves . Lake Mungo is a supernatural mystery written and directed by Joel Anderson making his feature debut. Talia Zucker, Rosie Traynor, David Pledger and Martin Sharpe star. In Lake Mungo , sixteen-year-old Alice Palmer drowns while swimming in the local dam. When her body is recovered and a verdict of accidental death returned, her grieving family buries her. The family then experiences a series of strange and inexplicable events centered in and around their home. Profoundly unsettled, the Palmers seek the help of psychic and parapsychologist, Ray...

It was announced tonight that After Dark has inked a deal with Arclight Films to feature Lake Mungo in its next incarnation of After Dark Horrorfest: 8 Films to Die For, which runs for one week in theatres across the United States from January 29nd February 5th, making it the largest nationwide film festival. The film joins the previously announced Clive Barker adaptation Dread and The Graves. You can check out the first official stills, the promo trailer and full release beyond the break. The supernatural mystery is written and directed by Joel Anderson making his feature debut. Talia Zucker, Rosie Traynor, David Pledger and Martin Sharpe star. Georgie Nevile and David Rapsey produced. Dana Lambert, VP of Acquisitions at After Dark brokered the deal with Arclight Films who represented the filmmakers in the negotiations.

SXSW is one of my favorite festivals of the year as it showcases some of the best and most innovative real independent films, and with this host of world premiers, it's also playing alot of Sundance material as well as genre fare from all over the world, many of which we've covered heavily in these pages.

From the Sundance lineup, we have films like Moon, The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle, You Won't Miss Me, Grace, and Humpday, among others.

For the world genre material we've covered, there's Lake Mungo, The Square, Zift, and Awaydays.

I think you get the point that lots of great looking film will be playing. I'll leave a bit of the exploration to you..

Lineup after the break.

Narrative Features Competition

Artois the Goat

Director: Kyle Bogart. Writer: Cliff and Kyle Bogart

Lab technician Virgil Gurdies embarks on an epic quest to craft the greatest...

One of the most alked about films at last year's Afm was Joel Anderson's Lake Mungo, which tells the story of a teenager whose apparent death sets off a series of paranormal events. Frightened by what appears to be otherworldly activity, her family discovers secrets about their daughter as well as what lurks beneath Lake Mungo. The film was shot in a sort of faux-documentary style and can be sampled when you check out the official promo traler over at Bdtv. Talia Zucker, Rosie Traynor, David Pledger and Martin Sharpe all star. We'll keep you posted on release plans while Paramount Vantage works on remaking the film.