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Stars: Melanie Papalia, David Schlachtenhaufen, Matt Riedy, Adam Shapiro, Victoria Hanlin, Matt Lasky, Brian Bell | Written by Zachary Donohue, Lauren Thompson | Directed by Zachary Donohue

It may seem, given my past reviews of found footage movies, that all I do is spew bile and vitriol when it comes to a lot of these particular movies but that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to still give the genre a a fair shake. Good job too, otherwise I would have missed out on a great example of it in The Den.

The idea of using the internet (and webcams) is nothing new in horror, it’s cropped up in dozens of movies, some good, a lot bad. With the advent of webcams, CCTV and “always-connected” devices, any good horror movie villain would – given that using the net is his or her modus operandi – have almost total control over their victims lives.

The line-up for this year's Film4 FrightFest in London has just been announced – and boy, is it a doozy! Sporting a record-breaking 38 UK/European premieres and 11 world premieres, this August is going to be an exciting time in the genre calendar.

Check it all out right here, including lots of new images!

This year Film4 FrightFest will be moving from its previous home at Leicester Square's Empire Cinema to the nearby Vue Cinema (also on Leicester Square), prompting an ingenious reshuffle of the screening arrangements.

All main screen films will be presented at different times across three different screens, with two extra screens reserved for single-slot screenings of the various films hitting this year's Discovery Screens.

Here's the full list of goodies:

Main Screens (5, 6, 7)

Thursday Aug 21

Opening Night Film - The Guest (UK Premiere)

Director: Adam Wingard. Cast: Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe, Brendan Meyer, Sheila Kelley, Leland Orser. USA 2014. 99 mins.

Film4 FrightFest 2014, returning for its 15th year, unveils its biggest line-up ever. From Thurs 21 August to Monday 25 August, the UK’s leading event for genre fans will be at the Vue West End, Leicester Square, to present sixty-four films plus twenty shorts across five screens. There are sixteen countries representing five continents with a record-breaking thirty-eight UK or European premieres and eleven world premieres.

Are you ready for a monstrous and memorable mayhem of killer claws, cannibalism, cult classics, murderous musicals, chiller thrillers, graphic novel action and sick celluloid masterpieces? Then prepare yourself for the biggest, strongest and most eclectic must-see programme in Film4 FrightFest’s history.

From the opening night turbo-driven thrill-ride The Guest to the UK premiere of the closing night mesmeric sci-fi fantasy The Signal, FrightFest has netted the latest works from genre big-hitters such as Eli Roth (The Green Inferno), Alan Moore and Mitch Jenkins (Show...

Tagline: "He wants to watch you." Director: Zachary Donohue. Writers: Zachary Donohue and Lauren Thompson. Cast: Melanie Papalia, David Schlachtenhaufen, Matt Riedy and Adam Shapiro. The Den is a film from first time director and scriptwriter Zachary Donohue. This title was released through IFC Midnight's online platform in mid-March. And, this film fan wished he heard of the film earlier. The Den focuses on the protagonist Elizabeth (Melanie Papalia), who is exploring the internet's dark underbelly. Elizabeth loses control of a research project. And, Donohue films all of her failures through an interesting collection of mediums. Shot with an innovative style, The Den is one of the best found footage films to come by way of Los Angeles in awhile. The story is a character study of Elizabeth. Elizabeth is a bright, young woman with a brilliant future. However, her choice of study is a poor one. You see, there...

Be careful on who you meet on the Internet.

“The Den” is a thriller horror movie about a young college student studying social networking on random video chat rooms similar to Chatroulette. And then unexpectedly, she witnesses a murder in one of the chat sessions as strange events follow the incident.

The film stars Melanie Papalia, David Schlachtenhaufen and Matt Riedy. It marks the directorial debut for Zachary Donohue.

Latino-Review had an exclusive telephone interview with actress Melanie Papalia on her experiences with the film and Chatroulette. She recalls the creepiness of socializing on the Internet and the reflections back towards the movie.

“The Den” is playing in select theaters and available on VOD.

Read the interview transcript below.

Latino-Review: What attracted you to the script for “The Den?”

Melanie Papalia: I think one of the main things that attracted me was that it’s not often a movie...

Unlawful Entry: Donohue’s Debut a Promising Idea with Faulty Execution

Director Zachary Donohue brings the home invasion thriller to the millennial doorstep with his directorial debut, The Den. Unfortunately, the advanced technology that furthers the narrative of his film gets reduced to a gimmick, wedding itself to the same glorious faults of the found footage genre as it manages to arrive feeling just a titch outdated already, as well as managing to be a visual eyesore with its insistence on unfolding almost exclusively from computer and/or phone cams. Distant, very distant echoes of classic women in peril films from the vaults of vintage Hollywood may put one in mind of something fun and classy (and incredibly campy) like the sickly Barbara Stanwyck character in Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), an element that lends Donohue’s material incredible and unprecedented mileage in building tension. But an eventual marriage with standard...

Bored at night? Ever visited Chatroulette?

Like any Internet trend, Chatroulette opened up a new world of randomly meeting people with one’s webcam. But, the Internet world is very dangerous and you’ll never know what kind of random stranger you’ll meet.

Horror thriller “The Den” sets itself in this webcam social networking arena with a young college student trying to research her thesis. She witnesses pranks, nude flashers, foreigners, dancers, etc. Until she came across a video, in which she witnessed a murder. And then strange things started to happen.

The film stars a few relatively young stars with Melanie Papalia (“Smiley”), David Schlachtenhaufen (“Loose Cannons: The Movie”) and Adam Shapiro (“Now You See Me”). It is the directorial debut for Zachary Donohue, who wrote the script with Lauren Thompson.

Although “The Den” is a fictitious horror setting, it plays into the certain themes of Internet stalkers...

Horror has always been considered sort of a "niche" genre, but even within the vaunted halls of horror-dom, there are smaller niches. Cannibal movies are sort of like that; there are some serious horror fans who simply don't like all those crazy old Italian cannibal movies. (Strange but true.) "Found footage" is a horror sub-genre "niche" that seems to have few supporters and a whole lot of detractors -- but the stream of found footage horror flicks doesn't seem like it will be abating any time soon.

So perhaps it's just time to accept that the gimmick is here to stay, and focus on the indie horror films that do manage to craft a gimmicky horror movie that also actually works as, you know, just a plain old movie. The Den is, obviously, a pretty solid example of how to not only do found footage well, but how to bring...

If most people weren't batshit stupid, then we probably wouldn't have much to talk about in terms of horror movies. For instance, if you're using a service like Skype or something similar to make friends, then you're just asking for it! Speaking of which...

From director Zach Donahue comes The Den, starring Melanie Papalia, Adam Shapiro, David Schlactenhaufen, and Matt Riedy.

Look for it from IFC Midnight in select theaters and on VOD on Friday, March 14th, 2014.

Synopsis

After receiving a grant for her graduate thesis, Elizabeth Benton (Melanie Papalia) logs onto a video-chat site known as The Den, on a mission to explore the habits of its users. During one of her random video-chats, Elizabeth watches in horror as a teenage girl is gruesomely murdered in front of her webcam. While the police dismiss it as a viral prank, Elizabeth believes what she saw is real and takes it...

IFC Midnight, the genre arm of IFC Films, announced today that it has acquired U.S. rights to Zachary Donohue's debut film, "The Den." Co-written by Donohue and Lauren Thompson, the film stars Melanie Papalia, David Schlachtenhaufen, Adam Shapiro and Matt Riedy. "The Den" follows a young woman, who, studying the habits of webcam chat users, witnesses a brutal murder online, and plunges into an investigation that could befall a similarly grisly fate. The deal was negotiated by Arianna Bocco, Svp of Acquisitions & Productions for Sundance Selects/IFC Films, with Cliffbrook Films and Intricacy Productions on behalf of the filmmakers. “The Den is a unique, modern thriller and we are very happy that it has found a home at IFC Midnight,” says producer Dan Clifton. “We’re excited for audiences to experience the film in both a theatrical setting and as a VOD title, which are opportunities presented in working with IFC Midnight.

IFC Midnight acquired North American rights to the Zachary Donohue-directed The Den. Scripted by Donohue and Lauren Thompson, the pic stars Melanie Papalia, David Schlachtenhaufen, Adam Shapiro and Matt Riedy. David Brooks and Dan Clifton produced. A young woman studying the habits of webcam chat users witnesses a brutal murder online and, after she decides to investigate digitally, is immersed in a nightmare in which she and her loved ones are targeted for a similarly grisly fate.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again. That Greenside crew down in Wisconsin has got their s##t together.

First they zing us with the Japanese hero inspired film Greenside, We then tracked down their Kaiju inspired film Zero Trooper. Then they get together and give the full length feature Dark Island [aka Infected]. So there is no doubt in our minds when word of another short film from one of the Greenside crew has been made available that it would be something of noteworthiness and we were not wrong. Directed by Andy Schlachtenhaufen, starring Dave Schlachtenhaufen and Mike Lussenden and featring music by Joey Cienian, Wayne is completely unassuming until the final minute. It is beautifully shot and definitely worth your time. You’ll find in embedded after the break!