News

In an era of TikTok favorites getting record deals and lead acting roles, follower counts and blue checkmarks seem to be a requirement for getting a big break in Hollywood. It is therefore refreshing and rare when a 19-year-old from Manhattan with no internet fame whatsoever is plucked from relative obscurity and given the chance of a lifetime: voicing the protagonist of one of the highest-grossing anime movies in Japan of this past year as her industry debut. And, boy, does she have the pipes to prove she belongs in the big leagues.

Much like her character Suzu in Mamoru Hosoda’s highly-acclaimed and visually stunning “Belle,” Kylie McNeill is just a soft-spoken teenager that likes to record herself belting her heart out from the comfort of her bedroom. Though she majored in theater at New York’s prestigious Professional Performing Arts School — which has churned out singers and musicians like Alicia Keys,...

Stars: Dora Madison, Tru Collins, Rhys Wakefield, Jeremy Gardner, Graham Skipper, Chris McKenna, Rachel Avery, George Wendt, Abraham Benrubi, Mark Beltzman | Written and Directed by Joe Begos

f ever there was a filmmaker I felt made films especially for me it’s Joe Begos. Almost Human, The Minds Eye and now Bliss. Three films that take on different cinematic horror tropes: alien invasion, telekinesis and vampirism repectively but also three films that harken back to the 80s, in both style and substance. In this reviewers opinion the 80s is an era where ideas where allowed to run rampant, mainly in part due to the explosion if the direct-to-vhs market and a burgeoning, if not rabid, fan base for horror movies on tape who would watch literally Anything they could get their eager hands on.

Begos’ latest, Bliss, tells the story of a brilliant painter facing the worst creative block of...

Looking for horror to love this February? Shudder has you covered with their eclectic lineup of original series, new releases, and totally rad films from the VHS era, including Night of the Comet, Child's Play (1988), The Dead Lands, 3 From Hell, My Bloody Valentine (2009), the Horror Noire: Uncut podcast, a "Love Sick" collection that's perfect for Valentine's Day, and much more!

Below, you can check out the full list of titles coming to Shudder in the Us in February, and visit Shudder online to learn more about the streaming service.

Press Release: Good thing 2020 is a leap year, since you’ll need to find room to stream all the amazing movies, series and podcasts we’re serving up this month: new episodes of supernatural mythic adventure series, The Dead Lands; must-see Shudder original/exclusive movies Rob Zombie’s 3 From Hell, Fantastic Fest Best Picture winner Dog’S Don’T Wear Pants,...

From new original series and recent movies to beloved favorites that generations of horror fans grew up with, Shudder is casting a wide net with their January 2020 releases, including Fred Dekker's The Monster Squad, Joe Begos' Bliss, Ti West's The House of the Devil, The Dead Lands, Tilman Singer's Luz, and the uncut version of Tammy and the T-Rex.

Below, you can check out the full list of titles coming to Shudder in the Us in January, and visit Shudder online to learn more about the streaming service.

Press Release: If your New Year’s resolution is to watch more incredible horror, you’ve come to the right place. January serves up an unbeatable lineup featuring The Dead Lands, a Māori supernatural action-adventure series set in a mythical New Zealand past, the exclusive streaming premieres of untamed Australian horror The Marshes and arthouse-meets-grindhouse masterpiece Bliss, and great new...

Stars: Dora Madison, Tru Collins, Rhys Wakefield, Jeremy Gardner, Graham Skipper, Chris McKenna, Rachel Avery, George Wendt, Abraham Benrubi, Mark Beltzman | Written and Directed by Joe Begos

Directed and written by Joe Begos (Almost Human), Bliss follows an artist named Dezzy who is confronted by the biggest block in creativity she’s ever experiences, and so attempts to free herself from this creative cage by doing all she can, taking her on a journey of drugs, sex and murder in the flashy sparkly hallucinatory underbelly of La.

This is one of those films that won’t find a huge audience, but it will find a niche audience who will fall for its gritty artsy nightmare feel, its drug-addled dark atmosphere and its heavy handed and confident style that is entirely its own. The film looks and plays out like an arthouse flick in both tone and performances from its cast.

Stars: Dora Madison, Tru Collins, Rhys Wakefield, Jeremy Gardner, Graham Skipper, Chris McKenna, Rachel Avery, George Wendt, Abraham Benrubi, Mark Beltzman | Written and Directed by Joe Begos

If ever there was a filmmaker I felt made films especially for me it’s Joe Begos. Almost Human, The Minds Eye and now Bliss. Three films that take on different cinematic horror tropes: alien invasion, telekinesis and vampirism repectively but also three films that harken back to the 80s, in both style and substance. In this reviewers opinion the 80s is an era where ideas where allowed to run rampant, mainly in part due to the explosion if the direct-to-vhs market and a burgeoning, if not rabid, fan base for horror movies on tape who would watch literally Anything they could get their eager hands on.

Begos’ latest, Bliss, tells the story of a brilliant painter facing the worst creative block of...

After a quick run through the North American genre festival circuit Dark Sky Films has announced that Joe Begos' latest horror flick Bliss will have its U.S. theatrical and digital release on September 27th.    To pique your interest here is the poster, and the trailer is below.   Known for her dark and macabre artwork, painter Dezzy Donahue (Dora Madison) is in a professional rut. Unable to finish her newest commissioned work, Dezzy looks to reignite her creative juices by letting loose-as in, taking every drug in sight and tearing through raucous house parties and heavy metal bars. After a few nights spent with her debauchery-loving friends Courtney (Tru Collins) and Ronnie (Rhys Wakefield), though, Dezzy notices changes within...

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

Indie horror director Joe Begos (Almost Human) has secured a wide release for his title Bliss. Dark Sky Films will launch the film this September, on Digital platforms and in a few theatres. Already having shown at several film festivals, Bliss tells a tale of a drug-fueled artist, who finds inspiration with the use of blood. Bliss stars: Rhys Wakefield (The Purge), Jeremy Gardner (The Batter), Dora Madison and Tru Collins. More details on the film's upcoming release are hosted here. The official synopsis and trailer focus on Dezzy (Madison). An empassioned artist, Dezzy paints by day and hits the seediest of Los Angeles' nightspots at night. Finding inspiration in the darkest corners, Dezzy's artwork becomes more an more macabre. Now interested in her taste for blood, Dezzy finds herself acting out more and more violently. Bliss has already had an extensive film festival run. Initially, Bliss showed in Tribeca - for its World Premiere.

"Somethin' came over me and it all just started pouring out of me..." Dark Sky Films has revealed the full-length official trailer for a psychedelic, bloody vampire film titled Bliss. We first posted the teaser trailer for this earlier in the year just before its Tribeca Film Festival premiere, and it's arriving in theaters / on VOD later next month. The synopsis describes this without the horror: A brilliant painter turns to anything she can to complete her masterpiece, spiraling into a hallucinatory hellscape of drugs, sex, and murder. But it's actually a vampire film. "As someone who has never been able to control her vices in the first place, Dezzy is quickly and violently consumed by this bloodlust." Starring Dora Madison as Dezzy, along with Tru Collins, Rhys Wakefield, Jeremy Gardner, Graham Skipper, and George Wendt. This looks seriously all-out crazy, a cult classic in the making (if not already...

"You know what's wrong. You don't give it up. You can't... forever." In her Tribeca review, Daily Dead Managing Editor Heather Wixson called Joe Begos' Bliss a "gruesome and nightmarishly gritty descent into madness," and ahead of its southeast Us premiere at Popcorn Frights Film Festival in Fort Lauderdale, Dark Sky Films has unveiled the official trailer for Begos' latest film.

Dark Sky Films will release Bliss in theaters and on digital platforms on September 27th, and you can get an idea of what to expect in the official trailer and synopsis:

"Known for her dark and macabre artwork, painter Dezzy Donahue (Dora Madison) is in a professional rut. Unable to finish her newest commissioned work, Dezzy looks to reignite her creative juices by letting loose-as in, taking every drug in sight and tearing through raucous house parties and heavy metal bars. After a few nights spent with her...

Joe Begos has cited Gaspar Noé as a celluloid role model. But he may have outdone the Gallic sensationalist with his third feature, which actually does the piling-druggy-excess-upon-excess thing better than Noé’s own psychotropic nightmares “Enter the Void” and “Climax.” An adventuresome step up from Begos’ somewhat more conventional prior horror outings, “Bliss” is as much a movie about addiction and mental illness as it is about vampirism — in fact, it’s held out as a possibility here that the film’s belligerently self-destructive L.A. artist heroine may simply be hallucinating her periodic bloodbaths.

Whether classified as straight-up genre piece or substance-abuse drama in disguise, this is a dive into psychedelic hedonism that succeeds in constantly topping itself, rather than succumbing to shock-value fatigue like the aforementioned Noé joints. It is certainly not for everyone, but those eager for a walk on the wild side will find those expectations fully sated.

From suburban cultists to an extreme haunted house that's home to more than just jump scares for those who enter its doors, Popcorn Frights Film Festival is bringing a wide range of horror movies to life on the big screen in Fort Lauderdale this August. Daily Dead is thrilled to once again be one of the media sponsors of this year's Popcorn Frights Film Festival, and we have a look at the entire first wave of programming that includes Fangoria's Satanic Panic, the dark comedy Villains, and the world premiere of Haunt.

Press Release: Fort Lauderdale, Fl – Popcorn Frights is proud to announce the first wave of programming for the fifth annual celebration of the latest and greatest in genre cinema from around the world. The Southeast United States largest gathering of genre films and fans will take place over 9 nights, from August 8-16, at the historic Savor Cinema in Fort Lauderdale.

For his third feature, writer/director Joe Begos heads into the blood-soaked realm of vampires with Bliss, his nightmarishly gritty exploration of the darker side of the creative process and what we’re willing to give up in order to “feed the beast”—so to speak.

Bliss is centered around Dezzy (Dora Madison), an up-and-coming artist living in Los Angeles that is having a rough go of it: she can’t pay her rent, she is suffering from a crippling case of painter’s block, and her agent has decided to dump her, leaving her feeling hopeless and desperately numb. Looking to forget her troubles, Dezzy sets out on a drug and alcohol-fueled bender with the help of her friend Courtney (Tru Collins) and Courtney’s eccentric boyfriend, Dante (Jesse Merlin), and the trio’s night of debauchery culminates in a very brutally intimate fashion.

But when she wakes up the next day,...

Jim Jarmusch’s zombie pic The Dead Don’t Die, which will open the Cannes Film Festival next month, is set to make its U.S. premiere at the Overlook Film Festival, which kicks off May 30 and continues through June 2 in New Orleans. The news was announced today when the horror-centric fest unveiled third festival lineup.

In addition to the 41 films, the fest will feature television presentations, immersive presentations, virtual reality, interactive events, and live performances. This includes their closing night film The Lodge, a sneak preview of the forthcoming Universal Pictures horror Ma starring Octavia Spencer and a screening of DC Universe’s new series Swamp Thing. Robert Rodriguez will also be on hand to hold an educational master class on independent filmmaking before presenting his latest micro-budget independent effort Red 11 and a special screening of the ’90s sci-fi horror The Faculty.

“We’re so proud to unleash this terrifying lineup on audiences.

After Jim Jarmusch’s zombie comedy “The Dead Don’t Die” enjoys a snazzy red carpet premiere as the opening night selection of the Cannes Film Festival, its next stop will bring it to diehard genre fans. The movie will make its U.S. premiere as the opening night selection of The Overlook Festival, the New Orleans horror film festival that returns to the French Quarter for the second time on May 30.

The Focus Features release finds Jarmusch bringing his distinctive deadpan approach to supernatural circumstances for the second time, following 2013’s wistful vampire tale “Only Lovers Left Alive.” For “The Dead Don’t Die,” the auteur mainstay appears to be tipping his hat to George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead,” with the tale of small town characters facing the sudden threat of the undead. The cast includes Adam Driver and Bill Murray as police officers alongside Tilda Swinton...

With his previous films, Almost Human (2013) and The Mind’s Eye (2015), filmmaker Joe Begos tapped into a nostalgia for 80s genre cinema that touched me like no other and now he’s back with Bliss – a film that reportedly ups the ante of his previous work, with searing visuals, kinetic energy, an endearing nastiness, and a ferociously all-in lead performance from actress Dora Madison. And this time Begos takes us back to the grimy days of New York City grindhouse cinema, when films like Abel Ferrara’s The Driller Killer and Bill Lustig’s Maniac were the norm!

Known for her dark and macabre artwork, painter Dezzy Donahue (Dora Madison) is in a professional rut. Unable to finish her newest commissioned work, Dezzy looks to reignite her creative juices by letting loose-as in, taking every drug in sight and tearing through raucous house parties and heavy metal bars. After a...

Who’s up for watching a psychedelic trailer for an insane-looking new vampire horror film called Bliss? As you’ll see, the trailer goes from confusing to weird to super violent as there’s blood and gore splattering all over the place! This looks like a seriously jacked-up movie.

Here’s the synopsis for the movie that offers some insight on the story which is described as an "hallucinatory hellscape of drugs, sex, and murder in the sleazy underbelly of Los Angeles."

Known for her dark and macabre artwork, painter Dezzy Donahue (Dora Madison) is in a professional rut. Unable to finish her newest commissioned work, Dezzy looks to reignite her creative juices by letting loose-as in, taking every drug in sight and tearing through raucous house parties and heavy metal bars. After a few nights spent with her debauchery-loving friends Courtney (Tru Collins) and Ronnie (Rhys Wakefield), though, Dezzy notices changes within herself.

Bliss is the latest film from director and writer Joe Begos. Known to this film fan for his use of practical effects, Begos' latest picture involves a painter - who lacks inspiration. Dezzy (Dora Madison) searches for her muse, in back alley parties and rock-and-roll, dive bars. But, after losing consciousness, Dezzy turns to bloodshed and finds a new source of paint - blood! Bliss is being produced by Graham Skipper (Sequence Break). As well, this title stars: Rhys Wakefield (The Purge), Jeremy Gardner (The Batter) and Tru Collins. Now, a teaser trailer is available for the film, along with its premiere details. The teaser trailer shows Dezzy stalking several events. With blood on her face, she appears out of it. Turning to more and more drugs, Dezzy loses control and she will have one hell of a hangover, once she recovers. Bliss will have its World Premiere at the Tribeca Film Festvial.

In Joe Begos' new horror film Bliss, a talented painter makes impressive progress on her masterpiece, but it comes at a bloody price in the film's first teaser trailer ahead of its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Written, directed, and produced by Begos (who is also directing the upcoming V.F.W. for Fangoria), Bliss will make its world premiere at Tribeca on Saturday, April 27th.

Visit Tribeca's official website for more details, and check out the festival synopsis, screening times, and teaser trailer (courtesy of Dark Sky Films) below:

Festival Synopsis: "Known for her dark and macabre artwork, painter Dezzy Donahue (Dora Madison) is in a professional rut. Unable to finish her newest commissioned work, Dezzy looks to reignite her creative juices by letting loose-as in, taking every drug in sight and tearing through raucous house parties and heavy metal bars. After a few nights spent with her...

"It's like I was possessed..." Bloody hell! This looks trippy. A festival teaser trailer has debuted for an indie vampire film titled Bliss, the latest from eccentric indie filmmaker Joe Begos. This is premiering in the Midnight section at the Tribeca Film Festival this month. In need of creative inspiration, a professionally stagnant and hard-partying Los Angeles artist recklessly indulges in a series of drug binges. As the narcotics fly out of control, so does her newfound and inexplicable, yet unquenchable, craving for blood. Dora Madison stars in Bliss as Dezzy, with a small cast including Tru Collins, Rhys Wakefield, Jeremy Gardner, Graham Skipper, and George Wendt. This trailer lines right up with a synopsis stating it spirals into a "hallucinatory hellscape of drugs, sex, and murder in the sleazy underbelly of Los Angeles." Yeah, for real. This is a helluva teaser - definitely got my attention. Watch out for the blood.

After the successful premiere of Welcome to Daisyland's first episode, the rest of the series will air on Screambox TV! Also in today's Horror Highlights: Threshold VOD and digital release details, The Padre teaser trailer and release details, and new music by Chris Alexander, including his new track "Sssssss."

Welcome to Daisyland Screambox TV Premiere Details: "Due to the massive success and positive feedback following the self-released premiere of Episode 1 from the thrilling new horror anthology series "Welcome To Daisyland," the subscription-based horror streaming platform Screambox TV has officially signed on to air the series in its entirety beginning Wednesday, April 3. The series will air on Screambox uncut, uncensored and commercial free.

Developed by Spitfire Music, the new horror anthology series enlists the Australian-American hard rock collective The Dead Daisies to provide the music and orchestration for the series, furthering their stance that rock music is indeed alive and well.

While the SXSW Film Festival is kicking off in Austin this week, the Tribeca Film Festival will continue to shine a spotlight on upcoming genre films in April and May, including Joe Begos' Bliss, Ant Timpson's Come to Daddy (starring Elijah Wood and Stephen McHattie), and Something Else (directed by Jeremy Gardner and Christian Stella).

From the Press Release: "New York – March 5, 2019 – The 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, presented by At&T, today unveiled its feature film lineup. Continuing its tradition of elevating exceptional storytelling rooted in today’s global film communities, the 18th annual Festival will showcase debut works from emerging talent and new works from notable filmmakers. The program includes discoveries, comedies, music-centered, political and social films. The 2019 Tribeca Film Festival takes place April 24 - May 5.

The feature program includes 103 films from 124 filmmakers. The films selected in the three competition sections consist of 50% women directed films. The lineup includes 81 World Premieres,...

Many web series claim to offer awkward moments from the lives of their protagonists. This week's featured indie series takes that formula one step further: The protagonist is himself a walking, talking awkward moment. Actor Darrell Lake is the creator and star of The Incredible Life of Darrell, which delivers the funny through its deadpan lead.

The Incredible Life of Darrell is set in Wakooki, a fictional Arizona town. Darrell and his friends all grew up together, and that plot point drives a lot of the comedy. In the debut, for example, Darrell has a "Date Night" with his longtime crush (played by Tru Collins of MTV's Awkward), an event that mostly consists of a stilted conversation on the couch.

The decision to introduce characters who have known each other since childhood complements the fact that they are all varying types of grown-up kids. The second episode centers around a...