News

Anouk Whissell’s “Holi Womb,” Talal Selhami’s “The Shelter” and Hannes Baumgartner’s “Insect World” bid fair to prove standouts at Fantasia’s 2025 Frontières Co-Production Market, one of the world’s biggest, widest-ranging and highest caliber genre project platforms.

“Holi Womb” reps a potential first solo writer-director outing for Whissell who shot to fame as part of Canadian filmmaking trio Rkss, behind cult sci-fi hit “Turbo Kid.” Brother Yoann-Karl Whissell, another Rkss member, is stepping into the producer role for the first time.

With “Succession” star Haim Abbas on board to play the lead role of Leila, a Syrian Civil War refugee, “The Shelter” looks like a big step up for Selhami in market potential after head-turning Moroccan creature feature “Achoura.” Sophia Menni produces at prestigious Moroccan production house La Prod.

“Insect Empire” unites some of Switzerland’s finest: director Hannes Baumgartner after breakout debut “The Midnight Runner,” Zurich-based...

News today from Variety is that Mongrel Media have boarded Anouk Whissell's psychological horror, Holi Womb, for Canadian distribution. The news comes ahead of the project’s bow at the opening pitch session at Frontières on July 23rd. Holi Womb unfolds at a holistic retreat in Poland for single mothers-to-be, where pregnant Grace starts experiencing distressing hallucinations and noticing the strange behavior of the staff. Anouk's brother, Yoann-Karl Whissell (Whissell Films), also part of Rkss, is on board as a producer. Maja Jacob (Maja Jacob Films) and Benoit Beaulieu (Slykid) join them. Marc Lapointe serves as executive producer. “With ‘Turbo Kid’ and ‘Summer of 84,’ Anouk showed she could play in genre with wit and precision,” Mongrel Media co-president Andrew Frank told Variety. “‘Holi...

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

Psychological horror project “Holi Womb,” from Montreal writer-director Anouk Whissell, famed for her part in collective Rkss (“Turbo Kid”), has been picked up by Mongrel Media for Canadian distribution. The acquisition comes ahead of the project’s bow at the opening pitch session on July 23, of the Fantasia International Film Festival’s Frontières Co-Production Market.

“With ‘Turbo Kid’ and ‘Summer of 84,’ Anouk showed she could play in genre with wit and precision,” Mongrel Media co-president Andrew Frank told Variety. “‘Holi Womb’ is a bold leap – a fierce, unapologetically feminist vision that reclaims body horror with brains, blood and beauty.”

The second feature collaboration of Whissell and New Brunswick-based producer Maja Jacob, “Holi” unfolds at a holistic retreat in Poland for single mothers-to-be, where pregnant Grace starts experiencing distressing hallucinations and noticing the strange behavior of the staff.

The project, which has secured development funding from Telefilm Canada, was conceived...

François Simard, a former member of the Canadian filmmaking collective Rkss (Roadkill Superstars), has been removed from the group following allegations that he sexually assaulted two minors. In a statement provided to Dread Central, remaining Rkss members Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell confirmed Simard’s removal and announced that he has also been taken off the credits of their latest feature, Wake Up, which opened in theaters on April 4, 2025, via Blue Fox Entertainment. (Dread Central previously reviewed the film and interviewed the Whissell siblings before its release.)

The allegations were first reported by La Presse, which revealed that Simard was arrested in October 2024 and now faces four charges, including sexual assault and sexual interference with a child under 16. According to court records cited by La Presse, the alleged victims were between the ages of 9 and 11. Screen Anarchy also published a brief article about the arrest at the time.

The duo...

The Canadian filmmaking team of Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell – popularly known as Roadkill Superstars (Rkss) jump out of their nostalgia-fueled narratives in “Turbo Kid” (2015) and “Summer of 84” (2018) for a more grounded and contemporary setting in “Wake Up.” Teenagers are still at the center of their tale, but the shift, which is aided by Alberto Marini’s pointless script, doesn’t lead to any concrete takeaway.

Powered by Arnau Bataller’s excellent score, “Wake Up” begins with a group of Gen-z activists who identify themselves with the movie’s namesake, secretly sneaking into an Ikea-like store. Led by Ethan (Benny O. Arthur), they plan to hide in the store’s many blindspots and come out when all the employees, except the supposed unruly and lazy guards have left. Armed with spray paints and paint guns, the group’s objective is to graffiti the entire store, play some paintball on the premises,...

So, what are you hoping to see this month? Whether you’re seeking a 420-friendly road movie, body horror with a fairy tale twist, based-on-a-true-story exorcisms, or romantic comedies with green cards and gay couples, there’s bound to be a Don’t-Miss Indie in this April edition… two of which will be featured in Film Independent Presents screenings on April 2 and 15 – will we see you there?

Secret Mall Apartment

When You Can Watch: April 2 (Film Independent Presents)

Where You Can Watch: Film Independent Theater, Theaters (limited)

Director: Jeremy Workman

Cast: Michael Townsend, Colin Bliss, Adriana Valdez-Young

Why We’re Excited: “Let’s all live at the mall” is the tagline of this documentary about eight artists who did just that – for four years. As Providence, Rhode Island’s historic mill district was getting a facelift in the early 2000s, art spaces were getting ousted in favor of shopping centers and power plants.

The following contains spoilers for Wake Up, in theaters April 4, 2025.

Wake Up is the latest brainchild of the Canadian horror directing team Roadkill Superstars -- comprised of François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell, the same minds behind Summer of '84and We Are Zombies. Both of those films became cult hits thanks to their creative takes on 80s horror tropes and zombie movies. With its interesting premise, fascinating motifs and a disturbing yet compelling villain, Wake Up has all the potential to be a similar hit, but ends up sleepwalking through its good ideas.

Six teenage animal rights activists don masks, break into a local Ikea knockoff, and vandalize the store, filming their antics to bring attention to the destruction of the rainforest. Their protest quickly goes south when a horrible accident incurs the wrath of night guard Kevin. Kevin is mentally unstable and has a strong obsession with hunting,...

The richly imagined world of Mad Max boasts plenty of memorable villains, but the desolate landscape of the Wasteland could also believably house many other classic foes. While the likes of Immortan Joe, Lord Humungus, and Rictus Erectus make Mad Max a fascinatingly varied and frightening franchise, there are many other characters who would fit right in as villains in this world created by George Miller. While the Mad Max series boasts several sequels, if a crossover ever happened, these would be ideal candidates for inclusion.

Some of the smartest sci-fi villains of all time have characteristics that make them feel right at home within the Wasteland. From recent sci-fi releases that clearly pay homage to Miller’s creator right through to earlier classics, the post-apocalyptic, drought-stricken landscape would make for an excellent home to plenty of cunning criminals, deranged devils, and wicked wastelanders. While it’s unlikely these villains...

We Are Zombies is a 2023 Canadian French zombie horror comedy film based on the comic series The Zombies That Ate the World written and directed by Yoann-Karl Whissell, François Simard and Anouk Whissell. The film stars Alexandre Nachi, Derek Johns and Megan Peta Hill.

In a city infested with the living-impaired aka non-cannibal zombies – three slackers, after easy money, must fight small-time crooks and an evil mega corporation to save their kidnapped grandma.

We Are Zombies is available to watch now on Streambox. You can read our written review of the film right here.

Stars: Alexandre Nachi, Derek Johns, Megan Peta Hill, Vincent Leclerc, Benz Antoine, Carlo Mestroni, Guy Nadon, Patrick Abellard | Written by Jerry Frisson, Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell | Directed by Francois Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell

Knowing this film comes from Rkss – the Canadian filmmaking collective composed of François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell – I couldn’t wait to see it. These three previously created Turbo Kid and Summer of ‘84. Both excellent movies, with Turbo Kid being one of my very favourite movies. They also have another film out this year – Wake Up – which looks just as great, but for now, I was happy to watch We Are Zombies.

The first thing to note about the movie is that it’s not the usual zombie movie. The directors have tried to do something a little bit different. We see a city infested with the living-impaired — also known as non-cannibal zombies — and...

The Alien franchise returns to theaters for the first time in seven years with Alien: Romulus, which is one of six brand new horror movies available in theaters and at home this week.

Here’s all the new horror releasing August 12 – August 18, 2024!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

When the dead are back, what do we do with them? The filmmaking group Rkss (Turbo Kid, Summer of ’84) offers a fresh take on the undead in the Screambox Original horror-comedy We Are Zombies, now streaming on VOD and Screambox.

In a city infested with the living-impaired — also known as non-cannibal zombies — three slackers after easy money must fight small-time crooks and an evil megacorporation to save their kidnapped grandma. Watch the official We Are Zombies trailer below.

Rkss — the Canadian filmmaking collective composed of François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell — wrote and directed the horror-comedy,...

Based on the comics series The Zombies That Ate the World by Jerry Frissen and illustrator Guy Davis, We Are Zombies is a new horror comedy from the team behind cult favorites Turbo Kid and Summer of '84. Similar to the eclectic and evocative spirit of those previous films, Franois Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell's latest nostalgia-heavy genre hybrid is set in a future where humans and the undead cohabitate. There are many ideas crammed into an 80-minute runtime that never really gives any of them the time or focus to flourish. Though it has some laughs that land, effects that occasionally spring to life, and an admirably committed cast, We Are Zombies ultimately fails to leave much of an impression, paling in comparison to other films of its ilk, many of which it clearly emulates.

When the dead are back, what do we do with them? The filmmaking group Rkss (Turbo Kid, Summer of ’84) offers a fresh take on the undead in the horror-comedy We Are Zombies, streaming on all VOD platforms and Screambox today!

In a city infested with the living-impaired — also known as non-cannibal zombies — three slackers after easy money must fight small-time crooks and an evil megacorporation to save their kidnapped grandma. Watch the official We Are Zombies trailer below.

Rkss — the Canadian filmmaking collective composed of François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell — wrote and directed the horror-comedy, based on the comic book series The Zombies That Ate the World.

Alexandre Nachi (1991), Derek Johns (The Boys), Megan Peta Hill (Riverdale), Vincent Leclerc (The Revenant), Benz Antoine (Death Race), and Carlo Mestroni (Assassin’s Creed II) star.

We Are Zombies delivered laughs and bloodshed at Fantasia International Film Festival, Sitges Film Festival,...

When the dead are back, what do we do with them? The filmmaking group Rkss (Turbo Kid, Summer of ’84) offers a fresh take on the undead in the Screambox Original horror-comedy We Are Zombies, streaming everywhere August 13!

Whet your appetite for the film’s gory mayhem with a gruesome exclusive clip below.

In a city infested with the living-impaired — also known as non-cannibal zombies — three slackers after easy money must fight small-time crooks and an evil megacorporation to save their kidnapped grandma. You can also watch the official We Are Zombies trailer below.

Rkss — the Canadian filmmaking collective composed of François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell — wrote and directed the horror-comedy, based on the comic book series The Zombies That Ate the World.

Alexandre Nachi (1991), Derek Johns (The Boys), Megan Peta Hill (Riverdale), Vincent Leclerc (The Revenant), Benz Antoine (Death Race), and Carlo Mestroni (Assassin’s Creed II) star.

"When the dead are back, what do we do with them?" This is the crucial question society faces while living side by side with "non-cannibal zombies" in We Are Zombies, the latest movie from the filmmaking collective Rkss. With We Are Zombies heading to Screambox and other streaming platforms on August 13th, we have an exclusive clip to share with Daily Dead readers!

Below, you can learn about living dead research at the Coleman Corporation in our exclusive clip from We Are Zombies, and we also have the official trailer and press release with additional details on the film ahead of its release on Screambox:

When the dead are back, what do we do with them? Rkss offers a fresh take on the undead in the Screambox Original We Are Zombies, streaming everywhere August 13.

In a city infested with the living-impaired — also known as non-cannibal zombies — three slackers after easy...

Nine years ago, we heard that producer Pierre Spengler was teaming with French comic book publisher Humanoids to bring adaptations of some of their properties to the screen. Spengler got the filmmaking trio of Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell, and Francois Simard, a.k.a. Rkss, to sign on to make the adaptation of Jerry Frissen and Guy Davis’s futuristic zombie spoof The Zombies That Ate the World… and back in 2022, the project finally made it into production under the title We Are Zombies! The movie is now set to be released through the Screambox streaming service on August 13th – and with that date just a couple weeks away, a trailer has arrived online. You can check it out in the embed above.

The story of We Are Zombies is set in a city breeding non-cannibal zombies who are considered “living-impaired.” The offbeat comedic plot follows three slackers looking to...

When the dead are back, what do we do with them? The filmmaking group Rkss offers a fresh take on the undead in the Screambox Original horror-comedy We Are Zombies, streaming everywhere August 13!

In a city infested with the living-impaired — also known as non-cannibal zombies — three slackers after easy money must fight small-time crooks and an evil megacorporation to save their kidnapped grandma. Watch the official We Are Zombies trailer below.

Rkss — the Canadian filmmaking collective composed of François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell — wrote and directed the horror-comedy, based on the comic book series The Zombies That Ate the World.

Alexandre Nachi (1991), Derek Johns (The Boys), Megan Peta Hill (Riverdale), Vincent Leclerc (The Revenant), Benz Antoine (Death Race), and Carlo Mestroni (Assassin’s Creed II) star.

We Are Zombies delivered laughs and bloodshed at Fantasia International Film Festival, Sitges Film Festival, and Fantastic Fest, drawing comparisons to such...

Summer of 84 brings serial killer horror to a nostalgic 80s backdrop, creating a chilling modern take on a classic concept. Frailty adds religious fervor to the murder mystery genre, crafting a tense thriller with a creative twist ending. M, a classic from 1931, remains a smartly-produced, influential film chronicling the hunt for a child murderer.

Serial killers are a popular topic in movies, but not every great film using them as subject matter is as widely seen as it may deserve. The morbid fascination with repeat murderers is something of a staple in cinema, with both past hits and modern classics like the recently-released Longlegs featuring serial killers prominently. But there are plenty of incredible films centered on the topic that have somehow evaded popularity, despite the excellence with which they portray human killers.

It goes without saying that many serial killer films fall into the genre of horror, with...

My favourite festival of the year is soon to be upon us and Fantasia has another insanely brilliant line-up ready for you! Here are ten films – in no particular order – that I cannot wait to check out.

Samara Weaving in a new horror film. That’s all I need to say really but I will go on. Azrael is also written by Simon Barret and directed by E.L. Katz (Cheap Thrills) and is a post-apocalyptic survival horror. With almost no dialogue, this promises plenty of gore, action and another fantastic performance from Weaving.

In Bookworm, director Ant Timpson and Elijah Wood team-up once again (formerly in the excellent Come To Daddy), this time in a much more family-friendly movie. A camping adventure for eleven-year-old Mildred with her absent father does not impress her. But they will be searching for The Canterbury Panther in this strange and heart-warming adventure.

There’s...

The Fantasia International Film Festival kicks off its 28th edition this week, running from July 18 through August 4, 2024, at the Concordia Hall and J.A. de Sève cinemas, with additional screens and events at Montreal’s Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée. That means multiple weeks of dense genre programming, buzzy premieres, and more.

The festival is set to debut Chuck Russell’s Witchboard remake, the Mike Flanagan-presented found footage Shelby Oaks, the latest from La Llorona filmmaker Jayro Bustamante, Steven Kostanski’s Frankie Freako, and more, but there’s a wealth of titles beyond the high profile titles worth seeking out.

Here are five horror movies to keep an eye out for at this year’s fest, from festival darlings to fresh debuts.

The Beast Within

The narrative debut of filmmaker Alexander J. Farrell explores the duality of werewolves with a Grimm fairy tale-like twist. Stopmotion’s Caoilinn Springall stars as Willow,...

World-ending apocalypses are inherently terrifying, but sometimes what comes after is even scarier. The remnants of humanity are left to pick up the pieces of a world torn apart by devastating catastrophe, with resources far scarcer than ever-present threats.

This week’s streaming picks belong to post-apocalyptic horror movies that explore life after the world as we know it has ended, where conditions are harsh and survival odds are low.

While the frequent recurring theme of post-apocalyptic movies highlights how humankind is its own worst enemy, these five titles take drastically different approaches. Some favor retro style, while others infuse their wastelands with a heaping helping of inhuman monsters.

Here’s where you can stream them this week.

For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.

Arcadian – AMC+, Shudder

For fifteen years since an unexplained global event decimated the population, Paul (Nicolas Cage) has raised his two sons, Joseph and Thomas,...

Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival has unveiled its second wave of titles, which includes the world premiere of Ant Timpson’s “Bookworm” as the opening night film. This year’s edition, the 28th for the festival, will run from July 18 to August 4. More titles will be announced July 3.

Other world premieres included in the line-up are “The Beast Within” starring Kit Harington (“Game of Thrones”), which follows a young girl as she starts to question her atypical life in her family’s compound in England, and makes a shocking discovering about her dad; and “Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain,” with director Kenji Nakamura reviving the thrills of the original anime.

“Bookworm” stars Elijah Wood (“Yellowjackets”) and Nell Fisher (“Evil Dead Rise”). The official logline reads, “Mildred (Fisher), a precocious eleven-year-old bookworm, escapes her humdrum existence by immersing herself in novels where literary adventures abound, with a...

French Canadian directing trio Rkss are back with new movie Wake Up, and Deadline reports this afternoon that Blue Fox Entertainment has picked up the North American rights.

The film will “release across the U.S. and in Canada later this year.”

“We are thrilled to add Rkss’s next film to our theatrical slate,” said Blue Fox Entertainment’s Lisa Gutberlet. “With Wake Up, these incredibly talented filmmakers demonstrate another side to their unique style. The result is a timely, violent yet fun thrill ride that will keep audiences on the edge of their seats until the very end.”

In Wake Up, group of hot-headed Gen Z activists find themselves brutally hunted after they become trapped in a furniture superstore during an act of environmental protest gone wrong.

The film features an impressive cast of young and emerging talent that includes Benny O.Arthur (Sky and Canal + Django series), Jacqueline Moré...

Despite ancient humans having already overcome several potential doomsday scenarios in real life, post-apocalyptic fiction used to be relatively rare until the invention of the atomic bomb convinced us that the end of the world could be just around the proverbial corner.

Since then, we’ve seen many different stories about the collapse of civilization and the strange societies that might emerge from the rubble, but I’d argue that one of the most interesting of these apocalyptic visions is the post-nuclear America of the iconic Fallout games. A witty satire of American jingoism and cold war shenanigans, it’s honestly baffling that it so long for us to finally see a live-action adaptation of this memorable setting.

Thankfully, Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet’s Fallout TV show isn’t just a great adaptation – it’s also an incredibly fun standalone story that makes the most of its post-apocalyptic worldbuilding.

Stars: Turlough Convery, Benny O. Arthur, Jacqueline Moré, Tom Gould, Alessia Yoko Fontana, Kyle Scudder | Written by Alberto Marini | Directed by François Simard, Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell

From Rkss, the directorial collective behind Turbo Kid, Summer of 84 and We Are Zombies, comes Wake Up, which sees a group of young activists set out to make a political statement by vandalising a home superstore as it closes. But their plan goes terribly wrong when they become trapped inside and must face a deranged security guard with a gruesome passion for primitive hunting. As the night fills with violence and terror, a desperate fight for their lives begins.

Very similar to last year’s Glasgow Frightfest film Hunt Her Kill Her, which saw a woman hunted in a store overnight, Wake Up sees a group of Gen Z activists looking to make a statement about the practices of “House Idea” a...

You’d be hard-pushed to find a teenager alive who wouldn’t jump at the chance to let loose in an empty Ikea, after dark. Especially when there’s paintballs and mass destruction on the cards. So it’s no surprise that Rkss stage such a fantasy, as the set-up for their Gen Z focussed somewhat-slasher; a half-baked cautionary tale on vapid activism, with a particularly gnarly killer at the helm.

The directorial collective, otherwise known as Canadian trio François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell, are well-loved on the genre circuit. Heroes of ’80s pastiches Turbo Kid and Summer of 84 (the latter of which offers one of the most memorably downbeat finales of almost any horror this side of the millennium), their latest, Wake Up, is certainly more of a move towards the present. Doing away with much of the team’s stylish neon and bigger production values,...

Huge breaking news out of the ongoing EFM in Berlin as Bloody Disgusting and Cineverse will be bringing the gore with the pulse-pounding and exceptionally bloody zombie comedy, We Are Zombies, which will release this fall on all VOD platforms and our Screambox streaming service!

Deadline first reported the news this morning.

Rkss (the filmmakers behind Turbo Kid and Summer of ’84) has crafted an absolute bloodbath that harkens back to the best of 80s horror and will delight fans of the zombie genre.

The movie follows three slackers looking to make easy money in a city infested with the living-impaired aka non-cannibal zombies; they must fight small-time crooks and an evil megacorporation to save their kidnapped grandma.

Audiences will be immersed in a post-apocalyptic world teeming with undead horrors, where survival becomes a relentless battle against the odds. It is a throwback to the best era of zombie movies and...

Exclusive: Cineverse has acquired the horror-comedy comic book adaptation We Are Zombies.

The company has said it plans to release the pic this fall across all platforms, including its genre streaming platform Screambox, with a premiere date to be announced soon.

The deal was negotiated out of this year’s Berlin Film Festival by Brandon Hill, Director of Acquisitions, on behalf of Cineverse and Gregoire Melin at Paris-based Kinology on behalf of the filmmakers.

The movie follows three slackers looking to make easy money in a city infested with the living-impaired, also known as non-cannibal zombies. They must fight small-time crooks and an evil megacorporation to save their kidnapped grandma.

The film is based on the comic series The Zombies That Ate the World, written and directed by Yoann-Karl Whissell, François Simard, and Anouk Whissell, the filmmaking team behind cult classics Turbo Kid and Summer of ’84. They are collectively known...

Like with many recent titles, Outerminds’ Turbo Kid video game adaptation has been in development for a long while, but we’re finally getting it this April! Originally announced as a Kickstarter back in 2021, Outermind will be bringing the Metroidvania home to PC via Steam on April 10. The announcement coincides with a new trailer debuting at IGN Fan Fest.

As for those looking at the previously-announced Switch version, Outerminds is “still hard at work” getting the port ready, which will be released “shortly after the Steam launch.”

If that news isn’t enough, Outerminds will be launching a new demo on Steam for Turbo Kid this Friday. The demo is described as being “jampacked” with updated art, level design, NPCs, and more.

Set between the end of 2015’s Turbo Kid and the upcoming sequel, and developed in collaboration with Rkss, a writer-director team consisting of Anouk Whissell, François Simard, and Yoann-Karl Whissell,...

The filmmaking trio collectively known as Rkss (François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell) have not one but two features making their rounds in the festival circuit: mean slasher Wake Up (our review) and charming horror-comedy We Are Zombies (our review).

We Are Zombies, an adaptation of Jerry Frissen and Guy Davis’ comic book series “The Zombies That Ate the World,” follows three slackers whose money schemes land them in trouble with an evil corporation that kidnaps their grandma. The catch? This particular world is overrun by zombies, though they’re not the insatiable brain-eaters you’d expect.

Alexander Nachi (“Clash”), Megan Peta Hill (“Riverdale”), and Derek Johns (“Moonfall”) star as Karl, Maggie, and Freddy, respectively, in We Are Zombies.

Bloody Disgusting spoke with Rkss after their Fantastic Fest screenings of both Wake Up and We Are Zombies, where they talked about the back-to-back productions.

Yoann-Karl Whissell tells Bloody Disgusting...

The filmmaking trio collectively known as Rkss (François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell) put their stamp on the slasher subgenre with the brutal Wake Up, which made its World Premiere last week at Fantastic Fest (our review) before heading to Sitges this week.

Bloody Disgusting spoke with Rkss after the debut about their slasher with a severe mean streak.

Wake Up is written by Alberto Marini (Sleep Tight), based on an original idea by Martin Soudan, and stars Benny O.Arthur (Sky and Canal + Django series), Jacqueline Moré (The Anarchist’S Dream), Charlotte Stoiber (Downfall), Kyle Scudder (Netflix’s upcoming In Love All Over Again), and newcomers Alessia Yoko Fontana and Tom Gould along with celebrated Irish film and television actors Turlough Convery (Black Mirror, Killing Eve) and Aidan O’Hare (My Sailor, My Love).

The setup is simple: Gen Z activists sneak into a big box furniture store after...

The filmmaking trio collectively known as Rkss (François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell) tend to toggle between two distinct tones of horror: infectious, gory horror comedies and mean horror that packs a punch. With two features screening at Fantastic Fest, We Are Zombies showcased the directors’ playful side. At the opposite end of the spectrum lies Wake Up, Rkss’s delightfully mean-spirited slasher.

Six Gen Z activists hide in a labyrinthine big box furniture store, biding their time until it closes for business to deface the property in protest. Once the lights go out and the exits are locked, the group spreads across the massive maze-like layout to maximize the damage. Despite some adolescent tension, their plan begins without much of a hitch. That changes when newcomer Karim (Tom Gould) isn’t careful and catches the attention of drunk security guards Jack (Aidan O’Hare) and his volatile, psychologically disturbed...

The filmmaking trio known as Rkss has previously brought us the films Turbo Kid and Summer of 84. Their latest is the slasher Wake Up, which had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas yesterday – and we not only have some reactions to the film that came out of that screening, we also have a clip from the film, courtesy of Deadline! You can watch the clip in the embed at the bottom of this article.

Written by Alberto Marini and based on an original idea by Martin Soudan, Wake Up centers on a group of hot-headed Gen Z activists who find themselves brutally hunted after they become trapped in a furniture superstore during an act of environmental protest gone wrong.

The furniture store setting reminds me of an ’80s slasher that deserves to be more popular, Hide and Go Shriek.

Wake Up stars Benny O.Arthur (the Django...

French Canadian directing trio Rkss are back with Wake Up, which World Premiered at Fantastic Fest over the weekend. Deadline shares a first-look preview clip out of the fest.

In Wake Up, which combines a strong timely message with a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse, a group of hot-headed Gen Z activists find themselves brutally hunted after they become trapped in a furniture superstore during an act of environmental protest gone wrong.

“As soon as we read the script, the core concept and the timely subject were so compelling to us, that we immediately could visualize the film and we knew we had to direct it and bring our own signature into the project,” said Rkss. “A slasher in a closed furniture store and warehouse makes an exciting playground for sure!”

Rkss —short for Roadkill Superstars— are based in Montreal, Quebec and have had their shorts and features screened around the...

Exclusive: Here’s a first clip for Studiocanal slasher pic Wake Up, which debuts today at Austin’s Fantastic Fest.

Heralding from the French-Canadian directing trio Rkss, comprising Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell and François Simard, the film follows a group of hot-headed Gen Z activists who find themselves brutally hunted after they become trapped in a furniture superstore during an act of environmental protest gone wrong.

Pic is written by Alberto Marini, based on an original idea by Martin Soudan, and presented by Borsalino Productions and Studiocanal. The film will next screen at Spain’s Sitges Film Festival as part of the Oficial Fantàstic Competition.

Starring are Benny O.Arthur (Sky and Canal + Django series), Jacqueline Moré (The Anarchists’s Dream), Charlotte Stoiber (Downfall), Kyle Scudder (Netflix’s upcoming In Love All Over Again), and newcomers Alessia Yoko Fontana and Tom Gould along with Irish actors Turlough Convery (Black Mirror) and...

Quebec festival wrapped on August 9.

Talk To Me, the horror hit from Danny and Michael Philippou which has grossed more than $31m in North America and close to $50m worldwide, has been named best international feature in the 2023 Fantasia audience awards.

In other key awards Lee Sang-yong’s South Korean title The Roundup: No Way Out was named best Asian feature, while Shigeyoshi Tsukahara’s Japanese entry Kurayukaba earned best animated feature, and

Satan Wants You from Steve J. Adams and Sean Horlor took the inaugural Dgc Audience Award for Best Canadian Film (narrative or documentary).

The full list of audience award winners appears below.

A couple weeks ago, the Fantasia International Film Festival announced the films that won jury prizes at the 27th edition of the show, which recently came to a close. Yesterday, our own Tyler Nichols shared his list of favorite films from this year’s Fantasia festival. Now Fantasia has unveiled the list of audience award winners, with wins going to films like Talk to Me, The Roundup: No Way Out, Kurayukaba, and Satan Wants You, among others. The full list can be seen below:

Best International Feature

Gold: Talk To Me

Silver: Late Night With The Devil

Bronze: Hundreds Of Beavers

Best Asian Feature

Gold: The Roundup: No Way Out

Silver: River

Bronze: Phantom (South Korea d. Lee Hae-young)

Best Animated Feature

Gold: Kurayukaba

Silver: The Concierge

Bronze: The First Slam Dunk

The Dgc Audience Award for Best Canadian Film (Narrative or Documentary)

Satan Wants You – This year’s...

Pascal Plante’s Red Rooms (Les Chambres Rouges), a French-language thriller about a woman’s obsession with a high-profile serial killer case, took top honors as the Fantasia Film Festival handed out its juried Cheval Noir competition prizes this weekend.

After opening Fantasia’s 27th edition, the Canadian psychological drama earned Cheval Noirs for best feature, best screenplay for Pascal Plante and best score for Dominique Plante. Red Rooms also earned lead Juliette Gariépy an outstanding performance award.

Red Rooms had an international premiere at Fantasia after debuting at Karlovy Vary as part of the Crystal Global competition. The Fantasia jury at North America’s largest genre film festival, led by David Hewlett, also gave its best director prize to Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping for Femme, while the trophy for best cinematography went to Zelda Adams and John Adams for their work on Where the Devil Roams.

The Fantasia International Film Festival is back for its 27th annual edition, running July 20 through August 9, and it’s bringing one of Hollywood’s biggest stars––in spirit now; he’s officially canceled so as to not cross the picket line of the current SAG-AFTRA strike––to Montreal with a world premiere and career recognition. Nicolas Cage, his new film Sympathy for the Devil, and his Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award aren’t the only draw for this three-week event, though.

You’ve got a spotlight on Korean cinema to celebrate sixty years of diplomatic relations between Canada and the Republic of Korea. There’s the honor of bestowing underground filmmaker Larry Kent with the 2023 Canadian Trailblazer Award alongside a screening of a rare 35mm print of his 1981 film Yesterday. And a slew of world premieres from horror’s best and brightest––a list spanning Larry Fessenden (Blackout), Jenn Wexler...

We Are Zombies Photo: Fantasia International Film Festival

The final section of the line-up for the this year's Fantasia International Film Festival was announced today, along with the news that the Rkss Collective's Quebecois ode to the 'living-impaired', We Are Zombies, will have the honour of being the festival's closing film. Based on the popular comic The Zombies That Ate The World, it was created by François Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell, the team behind cult hit Turbo Kid, and is set in a world where zombies have no desire to eat brains but simply wander the streets aimlessly.

The festival also announced that this year's Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award is to be presented to Nicolas Cage in recognition of his more that four decades spent creating unique and memorable characters, often in genre films.

Further additions to the line-up include Irish comedy Apocalypse Clown, manga adaptation Sand Land,...

Montreal event runs July 20-August 9.

Nicolas Cage will receive the 27th Fantasia International Film Festival’s Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award while the Montreal event (July 20-August 9) will close with Quebcois collective Rkss’s We Are Zombies.

The closing film is based on the French comic book series Les Zombies Qui Ont Mangé Le Monde (The Zombies That Ate The World) and takes place in a world where zombies are referred to as “living impaired” and roam among ordinary people.

Megan Peta Hill (Riverdale), Alexandre Nachi (1991) and Derek Johns (The Boys) star in the feature from Rkss comprising François Simard,...

The 27th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is set to run from from July 20th through August 9th at the Concordia Hall Cinema in Montreal, with additional screens at the Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée. In May, they announced the first wave of titles that will be showing at this year’s festival. Last month, the second wave was announced. Now, the titles that make up the third and final wave have been unveiled – and along with that comes the announcement that Nicolas Cage will be receiving the Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award at this year’s show!

The Fantasia International Film Festival has chosen to honor Nicolas Cage this year because he “has brought a wide variety of unforgettable people to life in works that are as memorable as the characters he portrayed, with textured performances that have been among the most exciting and unique from...

Nicolas Cage will pick up this year’s Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award at Fantasia.

“He is one of the most individualistic and captivating screen presences in the last 40 years. Beyond his unique charisma, the kinds of atypical characters he’s been drawn to and what he can bring to them is so special and rare,” artistic director Mitch Davis told Variety.

“Audiences lose their minds when he goes to these energetically extreme places: ‘Vampire’s Kiss’ was my first experience with that and I was absolutely floored. But they are also transfixed by the quiet, textured qualities he brings to more somber characters. He’s a one-of-a-kind treasure in American film.”

Throughout the years, Cage has been embracing genre cinema, admitted Davis. And it has embraced him back.

“He’s someone who sincerely loves cinema and has always embraced genre storytelling. I wish he could have been in the...

The 27th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is set to commence from July 20 through August 9, 2023, taking place at the Concordia Hall Cinema, with additional screens at the Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée.

After two packed waves of programming, the festival unveils its third wave of programming this morning, bringing exciting world premieres and the announcement of Nicolas Cage as this year’s Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award recipient.

From the press release:

We Are Zombies

The 27th edition of the festival will end on an especially riotous note with the World Premiere of We Are Zombies, the latest from internationally beloved Quebecois cult collective Rkss (Summer Of ’84) – François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell. Based on the comic Les Zombies Qui Ont MANGÉ Le Monde (The Zombies that Ate the World), the film is set in a society where zombies, referred to as “living-impaired,” roam among us...

Nicolas Cage is set to receive a career tribute award at the 2023 Fantasia Film Festival, organizers announced on Thursday.

Fantasia earlier unveiled a world premiere for Sympathy for the Devil, which stars Cage and reunites director Yuval Adler with Joel Kinnaman after The Secrets We Keep. As part of that screening, North America’s largest genre fest will honor Cage in Montreal with this year’s Cheval Noir career achievement award after a four-decade run in Hollywood where his film credits include Leaving Las Vegas, Bringing Out the Dead, Con Air, Face/Off and Wild at Heart.

Fantasia will also close its 27th edition with We Are Zombies, from the Canadian cult film collective Rkss, led by François Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell. The film stars Megan Peta Hill, Alexandre Nachi and Derek Johns.

Fantasia in its final lineup announcements also booked world premieres for director Mark H. Rapaport’s comedy of discomfort Hippo,...

Not to be all, "being a successful actor is hard!," but it certainly can be tricky. Assuming you're well-off enough to have your pick of projects to work on, there are other factors to consider: whether the material itself is any good, whether you can do something with it, and most importantly, who your co-workers will be and whose vision is behind it. After all, this is several weeks (if not months) of your life and craft that we're talking about, here.

Fortunately, seasoned actors have their own sly ways of testing the waters, especially with young, inexperienced, and untested filmmakers whose reputations don't yet precede them. Canadian thespian Michael Ironside, who's been working at a steady clip since the mid-1970s, is as seasoned as they come, having appeared in well over 100 projects ranging from the small to the big screen. It's no surprise, then, that Ironside has his...

The tragedy cast a very long shadow. Up on Droop Mountain, a college student discovered the bodies of hitchhikers Vicki Durian and Nancy Santomero. They’d both suffered close-range gunshot wounds and were left for dead. The year was 1980, and the summer had barely ripened. The entire region, down to my hometown 20 minutes away, heard about what happened. I grew up in the ‘90s in a town called Renick, and that story clung to our valley like a dark, sticky spider web. I first recall hearing the story from my best friend Sam when I was in elementary school. A good 15 years had passed and the Rainbow Murders, as they were called, still erupted in hushed whispers and gossip. No one was bound to ever forget it.

In Summer of 84, a similar unease shrouds the town of Cape May, Oregon. Fifteen young boys had been abducted over the last decade,...

Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell and François Simard, the team behind Turbo Kid and Summer of 84, are directing “We Are Zombies,” a comedy based on Jerry Frissen and Guy Davis’ cult comic book series “The Zombies That Ate the World.”

Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell and François Simard started shooting the movie on March 29 across various locations around Montreal, Canada, with a young cast led by Alexander Nachi (“Clash”), Megan Peta Hill (“Riverdale”) and Derek Johns (“Moonfall”).

Kinology, the Paris-based banner whose credits include Leos Carax’s film “Annette,” has secured i...

Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell and François Simard, the team behind Turbo Kid and Summer of 84, is back with brand new horror-comedy We Are Zombies! Variety reports that We Are Zombies, an adaptation of Jerry Frissen and Guy Davis’ comic book series “The Zombies That Ate the World,” has begun production in Canada. “It’s disgusting, […]

The post ‘We Are Zombies’ – ‘Turbo Kid’ and ‘Summer of 84’ Filmmakers Directing Zombie Comedy appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The up-and-coming Canadian filmmaking trio behind the Sundance movies “Turbo Kid” and “Summer of 84,” are directing “We Are Zombies,” a comedy based on Jerry Frissen and Guy Davis’ cult comic book series “The Zombies That Ate the World.”

Anouk Whissell, Yoann-Karl Whissell and François Simard started shooting the movie on March 29 across various locations around Montreal, Canada, with a young cast led by Alexander Nachi (“Clash”), Megan Peta Hill (“Riverdale”) and Derek Johns (“Moonfall”). Kinology, the Paris-based banner whose credits include Leos Carax’s film “Annette,” has secured international sales to the movie and will unveil a promo teaser at Cannes.

Published by Humanoids, “The Zombies That Ate the World” ran in the legendary magazine Métal Hurlant in 2003 and earned praises from horror legends such as George A. Romero, Joe Dante and Tobe Hooper.

The high-concept movie is set in a city breeding non-cannibal zombies who are considered “living-impaired.