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Earlier this year, Star Wars alum Daisy Ridley laced up her boots, loaded her guns and got to work in Martin Campbell’s high-octane flick, Cleaner. Though the movie didn’t sweep up the box office figures it was hoping for, it will have another chance to wipe the slate clean and start over again, as it has set a streaming arrival for Max on Friday, June 13. Though the movie left audiences wanting more, receiving a Rotten Tomatoes critics' approval rating of 51% and a slightly higher audience stamp of 66%, viewers could all agree on one thing — Ridley was born for a life of action. The film gives the actress her own Bruce Willis or Jason Statham-like character, and she steps up to the challenge without hesitation, making the role of the hero look like a piece of cake.

After leaving the military following a squabble with a misogynist co-worker,...

Ahead of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, Vertical has acquired North American rights to post-apocalyptic thriller “We Bury the Dead.” The film stars Daisy Ridley (“Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens”), Brenton Thwaites (“Titans”), Mark Coles Smith (“Mystery Road: Origin”), and Matt Whelan (“Narcos”).

Written and directed by Australian filmmaker Zak Hilditch, the story unfolds after a catastrophic American military experiment results in mass casualties across Tasmania. Ava (Ridley) joins a body retrieval unit to help identify the dead and search for her husband on the southern part of the island. As Ava makes her way south, across the ravaged landscape, she soon learns that some of the victims of the disaster are coming back to life.

The film most recently screened on closing night of the Atlanta Film Festival, and previously screened to great critical acclaim at SXSW 2025 and the Adelaide Film Festival.

“’We Bury The Dead’ has...

Vertical has acquired the North American rights to the post-apocalyptic zombie thriller We Bury the Dead starring Star Wars‘ Daisy Ridley, Deadline has learned.

Written and directed by Zak Hilditch (1922), the Australian film is due out in 2026.

After a catastrophic American military experiment results in mass casualties across Tasmania, Ava (Ridley) joins a body retrieval unit to help identify the dead and search for her husband on the southern part of the island. As Ava makes her way south, across the ravaged landscape, she soon learns that some of the victims of the disaster are coming back to life.

Brenton Thwaites (“Titans”), Mark Coles Smith (“Apple Cider Vinegar”), and Matt Whelan (“Narcos”) co-star.

“With a great cast led by Daisy Ridley and Brenton Thwaites, Zak has re-energized the zombie genre with We Bury the Dead,” said Vertical partner Peter Jarowey. “Next year, North American audiences will be on the edge...

Stephen King is one of the greatest storytellers of our time. He’s a prolific author with more adaptations of his work than any other living writer. With so much content floating around, it’s probable that you’ve overlooked at least a few compelling adaptations. With that in mind, I’m about to champion a Stephen King feature you may not have seen but absolutely should.

I’m talking about the Netflix original 1922. The film went straight to Netflix after premiering at Fantastic Fest in 2017. The streamer is a great home for content. However, without a theatrical release, I think the film got lost in the shuffle for many. And that’s a damn shame.

Here’s the lowdown on the setup:

A farmer conspires to murder his wife for monetary gain and convinces his teen son to participate. Wilfred and his son Henry soon become delusional as they continue on their lives.

Daisy Ridley says it was "terrifying" to fight a 'zombie' in her new horror flick 'We Bury the Dead'.The 32-year-old actress plays Ava Newman in the survival thriller - which sees the desperate woman join a body retrieval unit as she hunts for her missing husband following a "catastrophic military experiment", but when she buries the corpses, they suddenly come alive.This is the first film the 'Star Wars' star has battled with the undead, and she admitted the "unbelievable" makeup made the experience "super intense".Daisy told Collider.com: "It was really intense. I fought a lot of things - people and things - but it was intense. It was super intense. "As you were discussing, the progression of the zombies is very satisfying because there's an element of understanding at the beginning for Ava. "She's trying to figure out what it is that's going on, and then...

We Bury the Dead isn't the average zombie film, and Daisy Ridley and the cast of the movie help explain what makes it unique amongst other entries in the genre.

The zombie movie, which takes place in Australia, centers on Daisy Ridley's Ava, who is desperately seeking to find her missing husband in the wake of a catastrophic military experiment.

The Direct was on the red carpet for the film at SXSW, where we spoke with the talent behind the movie, including Daisy Ridley, Mark Coles Smith (Riley), Kym Jackson (Lieutenant Wilkie), and Zak Hilditch (Director and Writer).

Read full article on The Direct.

Exclusive: Star Wars vets Daisy Ridley and Alden Ehrenreich are starring in Donald Petrie’s Philippines set romantic comedy, The Last Resort which Asia Pacific Films is producing and financing.

Production begins in April. CAA Media Finance is handling worldwide distribution rights.

The Karen McCullah penned script follows Brooke (Ridley), who is determined to prove herself worthy of running her father’s hotel empire. She travels to the Philippines to scout a new resort location. There, she meets Ben (Ehrenreich), a charming expatriate pilot who helps her discover the beauty of the country—and a newfound sense of freedom. As love and duty collide, Brooke must choose between the life she’s built and the one she’s only just begun to love. Petrie has directed such rom com hits as Miss Congeniality and How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days.

Some subgenres of horror are so well-worn that it’s hard to find genuinely original new films in that style. We Bury the Dead offers an unconventional approach to the zombie genre, emphasizing emotion over straightforward scares, resulting in a film that is much more affecting and dread-inducing than the typical flick about the undead.

We Bury the Dead Review

The film is set in Tasmania after the accidental detonation of a weapon that kills everyone on the island, as a woman volunteers to retrieve the bodies of the dead, hoping to find her missing husband, soon discovering that many of the dead are exhibiting signs of life. Although Zak Hilditch’s script hits many familiar beats and tropes, it explores them with an uncommon emotion and vulnerability that elevates it beyond this familiarity.

RelatedAsh SXSW Review — Flying Lotus Brings Visual Style and Little Else to Aaron Paul/Eiza González...

Plot: After a military experiment gone wrong, much of the population of Australia has been killed by a chemical weapons discharge. Yet, among the dead, some of the victims have come back “online” where they’re not exactly living, and not exactly dead. An American woman (Daisy Ridley) searching for her husband volunteers to be part of a body retrieval unit but soon goes off the grid.

Review: It’s tough to make an original zombie flick (although hopefully that will soon change). Ever since 28 Days Later reinvigorated the genre back in 2003, we’ve been inundated with movie after movie, not to mention hundreds of episodes of The Walking Dead (and its spin-offs) and others. Into the fray comes the Australian We Bury the Dead, which is an attempt to make an elevated, realistic exploration of the genre. In this one, the undead are never referred to as “zombies...

Ah, the "fringe horror" conundrum rears its head again. Zak Hilditch's We Bury the Dead is the latest in a line of zombie movies that want their zeds pushed to the background. It's the “Stage 1” approach to undead scenarios that ignites a doomsday we’re never meant to witness. How do humans contemplate the first reanimated corpses, navigate their emotional bandwidths, and defend against the evils of humanity that unfurl when Hell swallows Earth? All these questions and more are answered in Hilditch's shambling zombie-lite drama, but like many other films with the same approach, horror elements take a back seat and the overall experience suffers.

After a tragic accident leaves hundreds of thousands dead, a woman volunteers for clean up duty in an attempt to find her missing husband in Zak Hilditch’s meditative zombie thriller, We Bury the Dead. After an accidental nuclear detonation by the US military turns all of Tasmania into a graveyard, the Australian government recruits volunteers to help clean up the mess. With over half a million corpses strewn across the island, it’s a big job, and Ava (Daisy Ridley) is up for it. Her husband was sent to the island for a work conference right before the bomb, and there are rumors that some of the dead are exhibiting signs of life long after their bodies have grown cold. With nothing but a bit of...

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

Writer/Director Zak Hilditch enters the familiar realm of zombies to explore the pursuit of closure and the emotional fallout that entails in meditative zombie drama We Bury the Dead. Daisy Ridley stars in this moody piece that manages to find new ground when it comes to the well-trodden zombie horror, delivering a few bursts of genuine scares in the process and an awe-inducing sense of scale. But Hilditch’s hesitance to abandon familiar territory, thematic and otherwise, and a tacked-on provocative ending counteracts the strengths of this otherwise stunningly crafted feature.

The United States military causes the incident that sparks the slow spread of reanimated dead in Tasmania. Their accidental deployment of an experimental weapon off the coast causes an explosive Emp with a wide, catastrophic range, prompting over 500,000 people to drop dead, their brains shutting down instantly. Inexplicably, though, some manage to reboot at random, pale echoes of their former selves,...

Zak Hilditch’s Australian disaster feature “We Bury the Dead” wrestles with how much it wants to be a zombie movie. It’s at its most interesting and exciting when it approaches the well-worn subgenre with brand-new spins, resulting in haunting scenes that open a cinematic window into the darkest, most mysterious parts of the human condition. Unfortunately, it keeps swerving back toward traditional horror territory at breakneck speed, resulting in a lopsided structure and half-baked philosophical musings clashing against riveting dramatic moments.

Making use of its minimal budget, “We Bury the Dead” creates an immediate sense of scale and spectacle, starting with its central premise, in which the United States accidentally deploys an experimental weapon of mass destruction off Australia’s southern coast. The large-scale Emp has caused up to half a million people to drop dead by shutting down their brains — only for reasons unknown, some of them come“back online,...

When it comes to Stephen King adaptations, Netflix's track record thus far has been pretty solid. From Mike Flanagan's precision tooled 2017 take on Gerald's Game and Zak Hilditch's underappreciated supernatural thriller 1922, through Vincenzo Natali's 2019 offering In The Tall Grass and John Lee Hancock's Donald Sutherland led Mr. Harrigan's Phone, the streamer has shown a solid knack for bringing the Master of Horror's works from page to screen. And now, per Deadline's reporting, the streaming giant has just set its fifth King joint — a new adaptation of the legendary writer's 1981 killer canine thriller Cujo.

Details on Netflix's plans for the King classic are scarce at this stage, with no writer, director, or St. Bernard shaped star set in place just yet. We do however know that Roy Lee, whose credits include Andy Muschietti's It duology, Mike Flanagan's Doctor Sleep, The Stand TV series, and the recent Salem's Lot remake,...

The last time zombies dominated the horror genre, George W. Bush was in the White House. Since then, the braindead hordes have retreated — never disappearing completely, of course, but showing up in reduced numbers compared to their heyday of “Shaun of the Dead” and the “28 Days Later” series. Now, with climate change accelerating and fascism on the rise, the mood has turned post-apocalyptic once again.

Multiple films at this year’s SXSW engage with this ambient feeling of existential paranoia. The Australian entry “We Bury the Dead” takes the straightforward zombie-apocalypse route, with a little bit of “elevated” thematics mixed in. And given how many variations on both themes already exist, it’s impressive that writer/director Zak Hilditch has located some fresh angles on the concept.

Chief among them are the disarming flashes of humanity that still exist inside of Hilditch’s undead, which surface occasionally, like the...

Before she returns to the Star Wars franchise, Daisy Ridley took a detour into the horror genre with her newest movie, We Bury the Dead. The zombie movie had its world premiere at the South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) and has been garnering some praise from those in attendance.

Daisy Ridley's new zombie movie debuted at SXSW and viewers are sharing their reactions. While there has been no shortage of zombie films made since George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, We Bury the Dead has drawn high marks for doing something different with the genre. The film's cinematography along with Ridley's performance in her lead role have also been touted.

As DiscussingFilm's Joe Aranda on X stated, "We Bury The Dead is zombie movie you haven’t seen before and it does its best to take the genre to new heights with its stunning cinematography.

The 32nd edition of SXSW running March 7-14 in Austin, Texas, will open with the Apple TV+ series The Studio starring Seth Rogen and brings world premieres of new films from Nicole Kidman, Rosamund Pike, Ben Affleck, and Paul Rudd.

Rogen stars as the frazzled head of fictitious Continental Studios in The Studio, which debuts on the platform on March 26.Rogen co-directed with Evan Goldberg, and co-wrote with Goldberg and others. The cast includes Catherine O’Hara, Ike Barinholtz, and Katheryn Hahn, with cameos from A-listers.

Anticipated feature highlights include Headliners selections Holland from Amazon Studios, a thriller starring Kidman and...

With nearly 200 horror films on Netflix at any given moment, there’s never a shortage of great films to induce paralytic fear. As a true fan of the macabre, that’s what you want, right? As Stephen King refers to a member of his unparalleled fandom, the Constant Reader craves that jolt to the soul.

Happily, Netlifx is delighted to scare you to your very core, night after sleepless night. I’m certain they’d like nothing better than to see you as their Constant Viewer. My apologies to Mr. King, but he cribs a lot himself, as he’s more than happy to acknowledge. Of course, when King borrows, it typically results in a towering achievement. Clowns were always scary but were never as terrifying until Pennywise entered the culture.

It is not in the following group of films. A property grossing over $1.1 billion worldwide didn’t exactly fly under the radar.

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Stephen King is one of the most legendary writers in the world, and in the horror genre he is basically a god and his work has been adapted endlessly in movies and TV shows. With Netflix having such a huge content library we though of picking out the best of the best Stephen King adaptations you should check out right now.

Stand by Me Credit – Columbia Pictures

Stand by Me is a coming-of-age drama film directed by Rob Reiner from a screenplay co-written by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon. Based on the 1982 novella The Body by Stephen King, the 1986 film follows four friends who decide to go hiking to find the dead body of a local teenager who was hit by a train. Stand by Me stars Will Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, Jerry O’Connell, and Kiefer Sutherland.

Daisy Ridley grew to fame thanks to her role as Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, but she's had many exciting roles outside the Star Wars universe. With many projects lined up, one of them is a zombie survival horror.

Speaking to Collider to promote her latest film, Magpie, Daisy Ridley also detailed her upcoming role in the zombie horror We Bury the Dead. The film, which comes from Zak Hilditch, will hold a special preview at Australia's Adelaide Film Festival on Nov. 1. Ahead of its world premiere, Ridley detailed how she tackled her "sad, sad" character, Ava.

Related 'It's Actually Scary': Daisy Ridley Opens Up on Her Return to Star Wars

Daisy Ridley explains how it feels returning to Star Wars after so many years.

We Bury the Dead follows a woman, Ava, who travels to Tasmania after a disastrous military experiment kills most of the population. Even worse,...

Star Wars sequel trilogy star Daisy Ridley is swapping a lightsaber for an axe for her first foray into the horror genre.

Ahead of its world premiere at Australia's Adelaide Film Festival this November, Variety has shared the first official stills from new zombie survival thriller We Bury The Dead.

Written and directed by Zak Hilditch, the movie stars Ridley as a woman named Ava who is searching for her husband in the aftermath of a catastrophic military experiment that has decimated the population of Tasmania.

Ava joins a “body retrieval unit” in a desperate attempt to find out what happened to her husband, and ends up being tasked with burying the corpses. However, she soon comes to realize that some of the bodies aren't quite as dead as they should be.

Seemingly unfazed by the emerging supernatural threat, Ava takes up an axe and begins to dispose of the...

Back in October, we heard that Star Wars sequel trilogy star Daisy Ridley (who is set to return to the Star Wars universe for another film that is meant to launch “the next chapter” of the franchise) had signed on to star in We Bury the Dead, a survival thriller from Zak Hilditch, the director of the Stephen King adaptation 1922 (which featured an incredible performance from star Thomas Jane). That film has since made its way through production and will be having its world premiere soon, as well as a special preview event at Australia’s Adelaide Film Festival in November – so, in anticipation of those events, Variety was able to get their hands on a batch of first look images! You can check them out in this article.

Scripted by Hilditch, We Bury the Dead is said to be “a story about grief, loss, and the undead.” Ridley takes on the role of Ava,...

Daisy Ridley, star of the “Star Wars” sequel trilogy, is a different kind of vigilante in Zak Hilditch’s upcoming horror-survival-thriller “We Bury the Dead.”

The film, which will have its world premiere shortly and hold a special preview event at Australia’s Adelaide Film Festival in November, unveiled a first look at Ridley in the role of a desperate woman who joins a body retrieval unit, hoping to find her husband alive after a disastrous military experiment destroys the population of Tasmania. As she sifts through the corpses, she discovers that many are not quite dead.

Ridley’s character looks haggard as she journeys to the south of Tasmania and is forced to make peace with her own unfinished business in the face of futility.

Daisy Ridley in ‘We Bury the Dead’

Production took place across Albany and the Great Southern region in Western Australia earlier this year. The...

"Here is something I learned in 1922: there are always worse things waiting. You think you have seen the most terrible thing, the one that coalesces all your nightmares into a freakish horror that actually exists, and the only consolation is that there can be nothing worse [...] But there is worse, your mind does not snap and somehow you carry on."

These chilling words grace Stephen King's novella "1922," originally published as a part of his collection "Full Dark, No Stars" before getting a stand-alone release in 2017. The inspiration for the novella's setting was found in the photographs attached to Michael Lesy's nonfiction book "Wisconsin Death Trip," which evoked a sense of rural desolation and harshness, contributing to the narrative's gritty and brutal tone. Such a visceral aura is tough to replicate in a visual adaptation, as the power of words often falls short when transported to a medium...

2017 was a major year for fans of the author Stephen King. While adaptations of Kings work had been popular for decades, his loyal followers were treated to several highly anticipated projects within the twelve-month period. The Dark Tower may have been a financial and critical disappointment, but the first chapter of the It movies was warmly received and became one of the highest grossing R-rated films of all-time. Additionally, Netflixs Geralds Game kicked off filmmaker Mike Flanagans interest in the works of King prior to adapting Doctor Sleep. Given the abundance of King-related material that was made available, it would have been relatively easy to overlook Netflixs 2017 adaptation of 1922. 1922 is a period horror thriller from director Zak Hilditch that is based on Kings 2010 novella of the same name.

Stephen King's works of fiction have time and again provided a wealth of written material for tortured and monstrous characters in their adaptations, and one translation to film, in particular, stands out as containing an especially explosive and beguiling performance from its lead actor that still goes underrated. The King novella in question is 1922, and the lead star of the movie adaptation is Thomas Jane, who plays the tortured and corrupted protagonist Wilfred James. Directed and written for the screen by Zak Hilditch, the film slowly builds in momentum, delving into the recesses of humans' aptitude for darkness, and the subsequent stark, maddening consequences. These twisted themes are carried perfectly and powerfully by Jane's enactment of the tough-as-nails, weather-beaten farmer, Wilf.

Naomie Harris, Gwendoline Christie and Mark Williams (Harry Potter, Golden Years) have joined the ensemble cast of a new family adventure film ‘Robin and the Hood.’

Rising star Darcey Ewart will play the lead role of Robin, whilst Harris takes on the role of evil developer ‘Clipboard’, Christie plays environmental activist ‘Aura’ and Williams features as the local Town Mayor.

The official synopsis reads; For the tenacious 11-year-old Robin (Ewart) and her loyal band of friends ‘The Hoods’, the patch of overgrown scrubland at the end of their cul-de-sac is a magical kingdom. Sticks and bin lids have become swords and shields, drones have become majestic eagles and the hippy lady in the forest (Christie) is a terrifying witch. The only thing limiting their colourful imagination is the prospect of losing their kingdom forever. When the slippery property developer Clipboard (Harris) turns up and dazzles the parents of the area...

Daisy Ridley has jumped on board a survival thriller, the next project from ‘1922’ filmmaker Zak Hilditch, ‘We Bury the Dead.’

The movie centres around grief, loss and the undead. Ridley plays Ava, a desperate woman whose husband is missing in the aftermath of a catastrophic military experiment. Hoping to find him alive, Ava joins a “body retrieval unit,” but her search takes a chilling turn when the corpses she’s burying start showing signs of life.

Also in news – Vanessa Kirby joins RonHoward’s survival thriller ‘Eden’

Written and directed by Hilditch, the film is produced by The Penguin Empire’s Kelvin Munro and Grant Sputore, who produced ‘I Am Mother,’ and Ross Dinerstein of Campfire Studios, who produces Netflix’s upcoming ‘Players.’

The film will be co-produced by Gramercy Park Media with the company’s Joshua Harris and Mark Fasano serving as producers, and Nathan Klingher and Ford Corbett executive producing.

Star Wars sequel trilogy star Daisy Ridley is set to return to the Star Wars universe for another film that is meant to launch “the next chapter” of the franchise – but before she picks up Rey’s lightsaber again, Deadline reports that Ridley will be starring in We Bury the Dead, a survival thriller from Zak Hilditch, the director of the Stephen King adaptation 1922 (which featured an incredible performance from star Thomas Jane).

Scripted by Hilditch, We Bury the Dead is said to be “a story about grief, loss, and the undead.” Ridley will be taking on the role of Ava, a desperate woman whose husband is missing in the aftermath of a catastrophic military experiment. Hoping to find him alive, Ava joins a “body retrieval unit,” but her search takes a chilling turn when the corpses she’s burying start showing signs of life.

The project has been fully financed by Screen Australia,...

Zak Hilditch, director of the Stephen King movie 1922, is next directing a survival thriller titled We Bury the Dead, and Deadline reports that Daisy Ridley (Star Wars) will star.

“The film is a story about grief, loss and the undead. Ridley plays Ava, a desperate woman whose husband is missing in the aftermath of a catastrophic military experiment.

“Hoping to find him alive, Ava joins a body retrieval unit, but her search takes a chilling turn when the corpses she’s burying start showing signs of life.”

“Filming will begin in February 2024 in western Australia,” Deadline notes.

We Bury the Dead is written and directed by Hilditch and produced by The Penguin Empire’s Kelvin Munro and Grant Sputore, and Ross Dinerstein of Campfire Studios.

The film will be co-produced by Gramercy Park Media with Joshua Harris and Mark Fasano serving as producers, and Nathan Klingher and Ford Corbett executive producing.

Exclusive: Daisy Ridley has found her next project – a survival thriller from Zak Hilditch, director of Stephen King adaptation 1922.

Ridley, who plays Rey in the Star Wars sequel trilogy and is returning to franchise in the next film, will star in We Bury the Dead.

The film is a story about grief, loss and the undead. Ridley plays Ava, a desperate woman whose husband is missing in the aftermath of a catastrophic military experiment. Hoping to find him alive, Ava joins a “body retrieval unit,” but her search takes a chilling turn when the corpses she’s burying start showing signs of life.

Filming will begin in February 2024 in western Australia. It is fully financed by Screen Australia, Screenwest, Lotterywest, the Wa Regional Screen Fund and Gramercy Park Media. As such, the production complies with the terms of the Meaa / SAG-AFTRA agreement as part of Global Rule One.

We...

Most Stephen King movie adaptations are hit or miss, often failing to capture the terrifying elements that make his novels so great. The movie adaptations of Pet Sematary, Secret Window, Secret Garden, Cell, Firestarter, and Graveyard Shift all fall short compared to their novel counterparts in terms of scaring audiences. It is a prime example of how most Stephen King adaptations struggle to be scarier than the original novels, and even when they do succeed, they often require significant changes to the story.

While some movie adaptations of Stephen King's novels honor their source materials by recreating their terrors, others do not even close to matching the quality of their book counterparts. In his career as a writer, Stephen King has published over 60 novels and 200 short stories. Even on screen, the author is no less prolific, with many of his short stories and novels having multiple remakes and adaptions. Time and again,...

Exclusive: Industry veteran Josh Kesselman is joining Sugar23 as a producer and manager in the company’s expanding management division.

“Coming to Sugar23 is a dream come true. Michael and I have been talking about working together for years and what better time than in the year 2023! Could not be more excited to be working with all of my new colleagues. The energy and growth at this company is second to none!” said Kesselman.

Prior to Sugar23, Kesselman spent the last decade at Thruline Entertainment. His most recent projects include the Emmy-winning television series The Great and the documentary Obey Giant for Hulu, the docuseries Medal of Honor for Netflix, Dean Craig’s comedy The Estate starring Toni Collette, Anna Faris, and David Duchovny, and A Little White Lie with Michael Shannon and Kate Hudson. Upcoming projects include the crime thriller Devil’s Peak starring Billy Bob Thornton, Robin Wright, and Hopper Penn,...

The Stephen King adaptation renaissance is showing no signs of slowing down, in large part thanks to Netflix, which has recently brought three of the author's short stories to our screens. Joining the streamer's library alongside Mike Flanagan's "Gerald's Game," Zak Hilditch's "1922," and Vincenzo Natali's "In The Tall Grass," Netflix has finally released a trailer for the upcoming film, "Mr. Harrigan's Phone," another movie based on a chilling story from the famed horror writer. This time around, the supernatural is clashing with one of the scariest concepts of all: growing up. The film comes from writer-director John Lee Hancock and stars Jaeden Martell and Donald Sutherland in the lead roles.

Coming-of-age drama takes center stage in this story about Craig (Martell), a teenage boy befriending a reclusive billionaire (Sutherland as the titular Mr. Harrigan). They form a bond so strong that not even death can split them...

2017 was home to four Stephen King adaptations: "It," "Gerald's Game," "The Dark Tower," (I didn't say they were all good adaptations), and the most slept on, "1922." Released without much advance publicity on Netflix ahead of Halloween, the movie had the least source material to draw from. Instead of a tome like "It" or an eight-book series like "The Dark Tower," "1922" was based on a novella from King's collection "Full Dark, No Stars."

Set in, you guessed it, 1922, the film and book star Wilfred James (Thomas Jane in the film), a Nebraskan farmer who murders his wife Arlette (Molly Parker) with the help of their teenage son Hank (Dylan Schmid). Wilfred is haunted by the deed and his guilt is embodied by a ghost of Arlette and a swarm of rats, both of which may or may not be a hallucination.

King isn't just one of the most prolific authors working,...

Controversial fact-based Australian drama “Nitram” won the first prize this weekend at the CinefestOz film festival in West Australia. Worth A$100,000 the award is one of the richest in cinema.

The film documents the build-up to a mass murder in Tasmania and its production was opposed by some community groups. But the finished avoids depicting any on-screen violence and instead concentrates on the troubled psychology of the lone perpetrator.

Directed by Justin Kurzel and presented in competition in Cannes in July, “Nitram” won the best acting prize for star Caleb Landry Jones.

Similarly distanced from the actual events, the CinefestOz jury said: “After much deliberation we agree ‘Nitram’ presented a unique perspective of this story, with great use of cinematic language, depth of detail, particularly in performance and many layers of nuance.” The film also features strong performance from Australian actors Judy Davis, Essie Davis and Anthony Lapaglia.

And, while...

Justin Kurzel’s Nitram has added another award to its festival run, crowned the winner of the $100,000 CinefestOZ film prize on Saturday evening.

The story about the lead-up to one of the darkest events in Australian history beat out Leah Purcell’s The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, anthology feature drama Here Out West, and Jennifer Peedom’s River for the honour, which was announced at the Closing Night Gala at Orana Cinema in Busselton.

It comes after star Caleb Landry Jones won best performance by an actor at the Cannes Film Festival in July, where Nitram became the first Australian film to premiere in competition in a decade.

Scripted by Kurzel’s frequent collaborator Shaun Grant, the film also features Judy Davis, Essie Davis, and Anthony Lapaglia.

CinefestOZ jury chair Nadia Tass, who has supported the festival virtually from Melbourne, said the compelling thriller was found to...

Actress Isla Fisher, director Zak Hilditch, producer Judi Levine, and producer Julia Redwood will make up the jury for next week’s CinefestOZ Film Festival.

They are set to join jury chair Nadia Tass to decide which of the four in-competition films will take home the $100,000 Film Prize at the Closing Gala Night August 28 at Orana Cinemas Busselton.

This year’s finalists include Leah Purcell’s The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson, Justin Kurzel’s Nitram, anthology feature drama Here Out West, and Jennifer Peedom’s River.

Fisher has more than 35 years of film and TV experience, having begun appearing in commercials from the age of nine before playing Shannon Reed in Home & Away. She has since gone on to appear in a raft of international productions, including The Wedding Crashers, Rango, The Great Gatsby, Nocturnal Animals, Definitely, Maybe, Now You See Me, Hot Rod, The Brothers Grimsby,...

Screenwest will help fund the development of six new features from creatives including Alison James, Roderick MacKay, Zak Hilditch, Ben Young, Martin Wilson and Stephen McCallum.

The projects have been funded via the Brighter Ideas program, which was launched to bolster internationally successful Wa talent who have either returned to, or been confined to the state, due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

James said of her new project, A Haven for Strays: “I’m thrilled to be one of the recipients of the Brighter Ideas fund and to now have the opportunity to work with a script editor on this screenplay.

“We’re at a unique point where many mid-level and experienced writer/directors have returned to Perth from overseas due to Covid-19 and for a state that has long suffered from brain drain to the Eastern States and the US, I think it’s a great idea to focus their...

While Aacta’s Byron Kennedy Award is typically given to an individual or organisation who demonstrates “outstanding creative enterprise”, this year the award will go to a film.

The nominees for the honour, which celebrates the legacy of Dr George Miller’s original producing partner and Mad Max co-creator Byron Kennedy, are a short-list of the last decade’s best indie genre features.

The films are diverse, spanning comedies, Westerns, thrillers, horrors and sci-fis, but Aacta has determined each are in line with Kennedy’s “ethos of excellence”, resourcefulness and “the can-do spirit of independent, low-budget local filmmaking.”

They include: The Babadook, Beast, Cargo, Girl Asleep, I Am Mother, The Infinite Man, Mad Bastards, Mystery Road, Red Hill, That’s Not Me, These Final Hours and Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead.

‘Girl Asleep’.

Many nominated are debut features, such as Jennifer Kent’s The Babadook and Zak Hilditch’s These Final Hours,...

Zak Hilditch.

After trying to find ways to reconfigure Airborne, a thriller set during a mid-flight pandemic, Zak Hilditch has given up, conceding Covid-19 is far more lethal and scarier than the scenario he envisaged.

The filmmaker had been developing the project formerly known as Celestial Blue since 2017, initally with his These Final Hours producer Liz Kearney, later joined by US producer Ross Dinerstein.

Backed by XYZ Films, he planned to shoot in Bulgaria. At an Australians in Film webinar with Ben Young and Natalie Erika James in May, he said: “I’ve had to rewrite the entire film because the fantastical virus that happens on that flight is nothing compared to what has actually happened.”

Today, however, at a Director’s Spotlight session at CinefestOZ in Busselton, he said: “It’s too much of a minefield. The time is not right and I’m not interested in it any more.

Catherine S. McMullen with ‘The Other Lamb’ producer Stephanie Wilcox and director Małgorzata Szumowska (Photo credit: Stephanie Wilcox).

Screenwriter Catherine S. McMullen addresses the challenges of making a living in the genre space in Australia and for females to be recognised in the profession.

A former production freelancer, she wrote an episode of the second season of Playmaker Media/Stan’s Bloom, two episodes of Fremantle’s Wentworth Vr and Princess Pictures’ digital series Parked before her international breakthrough, scripting The Other Lamb.

The English-language debut of Polish director Małgorzata Szumowska, the horror movie follows a group of girls and women who live in a mysterious secluded compound with a man they call “Shepherd,” hailed by critics as combining elements of The Witch, The Handmaid’s Tale, Rosemary’s Baby and Carrie.

Q: In the recent Australians in Film webinar with Zak Hilditch, Ben Young and Natalie Erika James, you said it...

Natalie Erika James, Ben Young and Zak Hilditch.

Australian directors working on productions in the Us get far more time, money and resources than they were accustomed to at home.

But there’s a downside: Loss of creative freedom.

“I liken working in the American studio system to working on a two-hour television commercial where you have a lot of different voices telling you that you are not allowed to do things the way you want to,” says Ben Young, who directed Extinction for Netflix and was co-directing Clickbait for the streamer when production was shut down.

“In making an American film you have way less freedom but way more support. The level of support and resources you get in the Us is amazing but I miss the control I had in Australia.

“What I’m desperately searching for is that middle ground where I can have the toys and...

Toby Nalbandian and Greg Schmidt.

Financing feature films is going to be even harder after the pandemic, prompting Truant Pictures’ Toby Nalbandian and Greg Schmidt to offer some practical advice to genre filmmakers.

In a nutshell: Come up with compelling ideas for contained films on low budgets without sacrificing quality. Try to stick to a budget of $3 million, which could be scaled up to $8 million if Netflix or other international players come on board.

The founders of Animal Logic’s genre film and TV production arm surveyed the state of the industry yesterday in an Australians in Film webinar moderated by Krista Carpenter.

The La-based firm is developing 10 features and two TV series and is in the process of financing four of those projects, Nalbandian tells If.

Schmidt, who learned his craft from horror-master Wes Craven and filmmaker Lawrence Kasdan, offered this advice: “Make the most contained, low budget, compelling film you can,...

Screenwest’s re-imagined 2020 West Coast Visions program will fast track more new talent in a two-stage model.

In addition, Sbs acting head of scripted Amanda Duthie and strategic consultant James Hewison from Kinetic will serve as external industry assessors.

Applications are open now and close on Monday May 11 at 5:00pm Awst.

Stage one: Three shortlisted applicants will receive targeted and intensive six-month development and $20,000 in grant development funding.

Stage two: After development, one successful project will be selected to receive production funding of $750,000.

Screenwest talent development manager Eva Di Blasio said: “The new format for the West Coast Visions will enable two additional teams to develop their feature films into market-ready productions.

“The inclusion of Amanda Duthie and James Hewison on the selection panel is a fantastic endorsement of the program and will ensure that three amazing projects go into development and an exceptional, production ready feature is selected as the final recipient.

Zak Hilditch, Alison James and infant.

Expat Australian filmmakers in Los Angeles and London are coping as best they can through the Covid-19 pandemic, including supporting each other.

Zak Hilditch was gearing up to shoot Airborne (formerly Celestial Blue), a prescient thriller about a mid-flight pandemic, in Bulgaria mid-year, produced by Liz Kearney and Ross Dinerstein, backed by Xyz Films.

“Like everything else, it’s all a huge grey area as to whether that’s even remotely feasible,” he tells If. Alexandra Daddario is attached to play a flight attendant who struggles to contain the infected passengers and against the odds land the aircraft safely.

Zak’s wife Alison James, who signed with Wme and Grandview after directing the short Judas Collar, is focused on writing and developing her own projects and collaborating with others in the Us and Australia.

I Am Mother’s Grant Sputore and his wife moved...

1922, a 2017 horror drama written and directed by Zak Hilditch, features a farmer with a tough decision to make. Although this film isn't your typical paranormal or slasher horror film, it had plenty of unnerving and anxiety-inducing moments. Since we all love to feel a little frightened, let's look at the most haunting scenes of 1922, one of the best Stephen King-inspired movies. Spoilers ahead!

Related: 10 Movies To Watch If You Liked 1922...

Stephen King has never been more popular. The peerless horror scribe continues to churn out terrifying stories by the year, with Hollywood adapting old and new ones more than ever before. Be they on the big or small screen with titles such as It: Chapter 2 or HBO's The Outsider currently circulating, King has never been more relevant.

Related: 10 Best Horror Movies On Netflix, According To IMDb

One of King's most recent horror tales to get the Netflix treatment is 1922, written and directed by Zak Hilditch. The film follows a vexed farmer (Thomas Jane) in 1922 who hatches a plot to murder his wife to obtain her plot of land, implicating his son in the process. The slow-burner simmers until an explosive final ten minutes takes hold. If you liked 1922, here are 10 somewhat similar movies to watch!

D.J. McPherson.

Victorian-based writer D.J. McPherson has won the Truant Pictures screenplay competition with her project His Name Is Jeremiah.

McPherson’s screenplay is said to have stood out to judges with for its “rich character work, strong on-the-page craft and a twisted plot that kept readers guessing until the very end.”

Set in a rural Australian town, His Name Is Jeremiah tells the story of a teen struggling to adjust after her estranged mother returns from jail. Feeling lost and alone, the teen develops a dangerous obsession with a missing boy, setting off a chain of events that unfold mysteries from the past and present.

McPherson has been awarded a $5,000 cash prize, a hot desk for one week at Truant Pictures’ office in Sydney, and mentorship from Truant’s development and production executives Toby Nalbandian and Greg Schmidt.

Truant Pictures is the live-action genre arm of Animal Logic Entertainment,...

Three finalists have been selected for a screenplay competition run by fledgling Sydney and La-based production outfit Truant Pictures. The trio will be read and noted by Stuart Beattie, Zak Hilditch (Rattlesnake) or Yolanda Ramke (Cargo).

Launched in 2018, Truant is a subsidiary of creative studio Animal Logic. It is overseen by Animal Logic CEO Zareh Nalbandian with VPs of Development and Production Toby Nalbandian and Greg Schmidt.

The selected writers all have scripts from the horror, sci-fi or thriller genres. The winner, who will be announced on November 25, will receive a $3,400 cash prize, a hot desk for one week at Truant Pictures’ office in Sydney, and mentorship from Nalbandian and Schmidt.

The finalists are:

David Willing and Beth King – The Surrogate

When single mother Natalia gives birth despite not being pregnant, she discovers the ghost of a missing...