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In 1995, Alex de la Iglesia directed his second feature, “The Day of the Beast,” which marked a milestone in Spanish cinema, yoking full-on U.S. genre tropes – a bloody against-the-clock search for an Antichrist – with a bathetic but very grounded Spanish reality, featuring a downbeat boarding house, a local metalhead and the tawdry star of an occult-themed trash TV show.

The film opened the floodgates for other directors, weened on VHS binging, to mix U.S. and Spanish realities. Now nearly 30 years later, De la Iglesia is at it again. A showreel of movies and series made by Pokeepsie Films, the shingle he founded with Carolina Bang in 2009, dazzled at a Next from Spain showcase panel on Monday at Berlinale Series Market. Standouts included the sheer visual boldness of excerpts, their pop out tones, – such as in Eduardo Casanova’s lush pink in “La Pietá” – or mixture of gore, high-production values and comedy,...

Starring in this horror film, which is entirely set inside a minivan, are Cristina Alcázar, Ramiro Blas, Beatriz Olivares, Yao Yao and Cecilia Suárez. Raúl Cerezo, a highly regarded figure in the world of Spanish fantastical short films (Años Cero), has co-directed his feature debut, La pasajera (lit. “The Passenger”), together with Fernando González Gómez (Zombie World 2). The colourful array of passengers who will be travelling in the shared minivan in which the film unfolds comprises Ramiro Blas ([Rec] 4: Apocalypse), Cecilia Suárez (The House of Flowers), Beatriz Olivares (Los héroes del mal), Cristina Alcázar (Cuéntame cómo pasó) and Yao Yao (Xiao Xian). The film’s crew is made up of renowned professionals, such as Inside Fx (whom we have to thank for the make-up effects in the Rec saga), User T38 (Verónica) and Alucine. The film promises to...

“Beautiful Youth’s” Ingrid García-Jonsson and “Instinto’s” Silvia Alonso head the ensemble cast of “Veneciafrenia,” the first feature from The Fear Collection, a horror film anthology backed by Sony Pictures Intl. Prods. (Spip) and Alex de la Iglesia’s Pokeepsie Films, in association with Amazon Prime Video.

Announced in May, The Fear Collection saw De la Iglesia, one of Spain’s most bankable directors whose remake “Perfectos Desconocidos” earned $25.8 million in Spain in 2018, commit to direct or produce The Fear Collection’s titles via his Madrid-based Abel Pokeepsie.

“Veneciafrenia” went into production on Oct. 5, shooting in Venice and Madrid, with De la Iglesia both directing and producing. Its ensemble cast also features Goize Blanco (“El Futuro”), Nicolás Lloro, Alberto Bang (“Spanish Shame”), Cosimo Fusco (“Angels & Demons”), Enrico Lo Verso (“The Falcon and the Dove”), Armando di Razza (Cavan in De La Iglesia’s breakout “The Day of the Beast...

Sony Pictures International Productions and Amazon Prime Video have closed a multi-picture deal with celebrated Spanish cineaste Álex de la Iglesia to produce a new horror feature film anthology, “The Fear Collection.”

Put through Pokeepsie Films, De la Iglesia and Carolina Bang’s Madrid-based production company, the deal will see De la Iglesia direct and/or produce movies from The Fear Collection, which also take in suspense titles.

Produced in association with Amazon Prime Video, the films will be initially theatrically released by Sony Pictures Entertainment Iberia. They will then be made available on Amazon Prime in Spain. Spip will control all distribution rights for each picture outside of Spain.

Though always made under De la iglesia’s creative influence, movies may be directed by other notable filmmakers. Sony announced Thursday that several projects are currently in development for “The Fear Collection,” with established writers and directors such as the...