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Cold winter weather is the perfect excuse to wrap yourself in a cozy blanket while you watch horror movies – no one will notice if you pull it up over your eyes a few times. And slow-burn horror is a great way to go on those chilly nights, especially when it’s a slow-burn against a snowy background itself. Nick Szostakiwskyj’s Black Mountain Side is an underrated contemporary gem that blends elements from two of the most iconic winter horror movies of all time – Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and John Carpenter’s The Thing – with its own unique folk horror twist.

Black Mountain Side was made for a remarkable $30k budget and surpasses expectations in quality. The film pays homage to John Carpenter's The Thing while crafting a fresh take on classic horror tropes. Despite a limited release, Black Mountain Side has become a cult classic, showcasing its director's talent in low-budget filmmaking.

So much of the discussion of film goes back to budget. How much money did a filmmaker get, and what was done with it? Is it on screen? Did it come back in the box office in a big enough way? It's a question that often overrides opinion, both critical and general, when it comes to a film's success: Furiosa: A Mad Max story got largely very good reviews and (other than some vocal few) is a hit with the public, garnering an 89% Audience Score on that site at the time of this writing. But, it...

Syndicado, an international film and television distribution company, has unleashed a trio of horror flicks ahead of Halloween now available on all major VOD platforms including Amazon, Google Play and Vimeo. Archons Photo credit: Portfolio Entertainment Archons Directed by Nick Szostakiwskyj, 88 min, 2017, Canada Starring Josh Collins (“The 100”), Rob Raco (“Riverdale”) During a …

The post Syndicado Unleashes Three Horror Films on All Major VOD Platforms To Chill You Ahead of Halloween appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

Our friends at Raven Banner Entertainment are releasing Nick Szostakiwskyj's Canadian horror flick Black Mountain Side this week. We have a new trailer and the release cover art to share with you. "Canada's remote wilderness becomes a chilly catalyst for terror as a group of archaeologists uncover a strange structure buried in the snow. As paranoia and mistrust take hold, the researchers turn on each other, encouraged by visions of a mysterious figure lurking at the fringes of the woods. Is the terror real or a hallucination? Whatever they've unleashed is a powerful force they may never comprehend ... if they survive." I saw Black Mountain Side when it was on the festival circuit in 2015. If you like show burning descents into madness, culminating...

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

Canadian chiller Black Mountain Side comes to DVD. Writer/Director Nick Szostakiwskyj’s chilling (literally and figuratively) Canadian Horror flick Black Mountain Side won awards at Montreal’s legendary Fantasia Film Festival. Now, Monarch Home Entertainment is packaging the picture for you to take home on ye olde DVD on January 26th. Critics have compared the film –…

The post It’s Like The Thing in Canada! Black Mountain Side Comes to DVD appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Black Mountain Side is a psychological thriller from director and writer Nick Szostakiwskyj. The film is set in the Great White North aka Canada. Here, several archaeologists uncover an underground structure, which causes a strange psychological affect. Very similar to The Thing (1982) in plot and genre, Black Mountain Side stars Shane Twerdun (She Must Burn), Michael Dickson, Carl Toftfelt and Marc Anthony Williams. The film's first exciting trailer is hosted here. The trailer shows the archaeologists uncovering something in the snow. A small celebration takes place. But then, the characters begin to experience hallucinations and a general psychological breakdown. How far will these explorers descend into the depths of their paranoid minds and will they ever return? Black Mountain Side has toured several film festivals, recently. The film was just at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival, in Portland, Oregon. Now, this title has a date with DVD, through Monarch Home Entertainment.

Here's the trailer for Black Mountain Side, the Canadian horror production that made its premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival. You can read my review of it here.

Nick Szostakiwskyj writes and directs this paranoia-driven thriller about a group of archaeologists that uncovers a strange structure in Northern Canada, dating over ten thousand years before the present. The team finds themselves isolated when their communication systems fail and it is not long before they begin to feel the effects of the solitude.

The post Fantasia: Festival Trailer for Black Mountain Side appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

The concept of finding something in the snow that you shouldn't mess around with isn't a new one. The concept has been at the center of any number of horror movies, most famously The Thing, but that's not to say there isn't mileage left on the idea. At least that's what writer/director Nick Szostakiwskyj is hoping for.

Black Mountain Side stars Shane Twerdun, Michael Dickson, Carl Toftfelt, Marc Anthony Williams and Andrew Moxham as a group of researchers who uncover a stone structure which features archaic writing none of them recognize. When the group begins to research where the structure came from, things start to go wrong: some expedition members go Awol while the rest are struck by a mysterious illness which begins to spread through camp.

Black Mountain Side [Continued ...]...

Montreal-based genre festival to screen over 160 films at its 18th edition, which runs July 17-Aug 6.

Fantasia International Film Festival has unveiled the full line-up for its 18th edition, which takes place in Montreal from July 17-Aug 6.

Along with those previously announced in the first two waves, this year’s festival will also host the world premieres of Gun Ho Jang’s Heavenly Sword, Simon Boisvert’s Bold & Brash: Filmmaking Boisvert Style, Nick Szostakiwskyj’s Black Mountain Side, Maude Michaud’s Dys-, Chad Archibald & Matt Wiele’s Ejecta and LeRoy McCoy’s McCoy the Space Cowboy.

As previously announced, Jacky in the Kingdom of Women and Welcome to New York bookend this year’s festival.

Strands

Jonas Alexander Amby’s Cannes title When Animals Dream will receive its North American premiere as part of the festival’s Camera Lucida strand, which will also screen the likes of Josephine Decker’s Thou Wast Mild and Lovely and the North...

Following previous announcements of their film lineup, the Fantasia International Film Festival has released their full lineup of movies to be shown at the 18th Annual festival, starting July 17.

New additions to the lineup include 2014 Cannes Selection When Animals Dream, directed by Jonas Alexander Amby and the return of Fantasia’s showcase of animated films, Axis.

Tickets for the festival go on sale starting July 16, and the festival runs through August 5.

View the whole press release of additional announcements below:

Fantasia Celebrates Its 18th Birthday

With Over 160 Feature Films Montreal, Thursday July 10, 2014 – 2014 is the year that Fantasia turns 18. We can’t believe it either. Fantasia’s 18th birthday means over 160 features and something in the neighborhood of 300 shorts, many being shown for the first time on this continent, a good number screening here for the first time anywhere in the world.In addition to being stacked with a multitude of breathtaking debut filmmaker discoveries,...