News

“Strange Darling,” the acclaimed horror film from director Jt Mollner, has landed a major U.S. distribution deal at veteran producer Bob Yari’s new company Magenta Light Studios.

Premiering at the genre event Fantastic Fest in 2023, the Miramax-produced thriller has been universally praised (it currently sits at 100% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with 14 reviews) for its inventive narrative structure and lead performances. Magenta Light has set an August 23 wide release.

“We are thrilled to be bringing nationwide theatrical audiences this unique and exceptional film with terrific performances by Willa Fitzgerald and Kyle Gallner. This second feature from talented writer-director Jt Mollner is destined to become a cult classic that defies conventional storytelling,” Yari told Variety.

Kyle Gallner

Fitzgerald and Gallner star in the cat-and-mouse thriller about a spontaneous hookup gone terribly wrong. Many reviews hint that the film works best with as little information as possible going in, which...

Queen Elizabeth II’s mourning period ended with a final funeral procession on Monday. She passed away at the age of 96 in early September.

The long-reigning English monarch has been lying in state in Westminster Hall for the past few days as members of the public were offered a chance to pay respects.

A funeral service in Westminster Abbey has now wrapped up, and the Queen’s hearse has made its final trip around London. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, facilitated the service and delivered a eulogy for mourners.

Some of the Royals in the front row for the funeral were King Charles III, his wife Camila, Queen Consort, Prince William and two of Prince’s children Prince Charles and Princess Catherine.

Other attendees to the funeral included U.S. President Joe Biden, Emperor Naruhito from Japan and the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska.

The...

Yellow Veil Pictures has acquired U.S. distribution rights to “Ashkal,” following its screening at the Toronto International Film Festival. The murder mystery is the second feature from Tunisian director Youssef Chebbi and had its world premiere earlier this year at Cannes as part of the Directors’ Fortnight section. Yellow Veil Pictures plans to release the film theatrically in 2023.

“Ashkal” is set amongst derelict, half-finished apartment complexes of a former regime, where a mysterious burnt body is discovered by two police officers. The corpse reveals a puzzling repetition of events. As the investigation progresses, a network of violence and corruption is uncovered throughout the city. Fatma Oussaifi and Mohamed Houcine Grayaa star in the picture.

“In ‘Ashkal,’ Youssef Chebbi creates images that stick in your mind long after the credits roll, creating an unforgettable, unshakeable cinematic experience,” Joe Yanick, co-founder of Yellow Veil Pictures, said in a statement. “It’s...

If you love Stephen King as much as you love movies, there's plenty to choose from for a spooky evening in front of the screen. Sure, the batting average on quality of adaptation isn't entirely in King's favor. But the high points — like "Carrie," "The Shawshank Redemption," or "The Shining" — are some of the most vivid and memorable cinematic experiences you'll ever have.

As of 2022, there are nearly 50 feature films based on King's fiction Even then, there's still a colossal amount of brilliant work still yet to make the leap from page to screen. And to be frank, some of those adaptations deserve another shot. From short stories under 10 pages to a novel that's a third of the length of tomes like "The Stand" or "It," we've put together a selection of short(er) fiction works that we think hold the potential to be the next great Stephen King adaptations.

New Release Wall

It’s possible that “Spider-Man: No Way Home” (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment) might have somehow been an even bigger box-office sensation had it not been released during a global pandemic, but all things considered, it still did pretty well for itself. Monetary success aside, this is a rousing and thrilling superhero tale that manages to feel self-contained as it compulsorily sets the stage for a whole bunch of upcoming MCU plot twists. The 4K and Blu-ray versions include a smattering of extras, including bloopers, panel discussions with the guest villains, and behind-the-scenes featurettes.

Also available:

“C’mon C’mon” (Lionsgate): Mike Mills’ disarmingly lovely look at family ties offers Joaquin Phoenix one of the more subdued and humane characters he’s ever played.

“Death on the Nile” (20th Century Studios): Toast Kenneth Branagh’s second Agatha Christie adaptation with enough champagne to fill the… oh, you know.

It's become a cliche. Take unruly kids, put them in an arena, and make them kill each other. Today, it's "Fortnite." Yesterday, it was the TV series "The 100." Before that, the young adult novel series "The Hunger Games" broke records. But the start of it all was "Battle Royale," the poisoned tree from which the death game blossomed. Initially published as a novel in 1999, it was adapted into an acclaimed film in 2000. Since then, it has influenced countless works of art in both the United States and abroad. "Battle Royale" wasn't the first story of its kind; Stephen King's "The Long Walk"...

The post Why the Battle Royale Remake Was Canceled For Good appeared first on /Film.

Mattie Do is an artist, but she has no interest in arthouse. The trained dancer and, as she puts it, "accidental filmmaker," is telling the stories she wants to tell, not the stories people expect her to tell. To double down on that fact, she's made her triumphant third feature film, "The Long Walk," a futuristic time travel story with ghosts, a serial killer, and themes of grief, loss, and regret. 

When Do literally raises her two middle fingers to the arthouse world over a Zoom call, you know she means it. 

It was the festival circuit where Do learned genre was her...

The post The Long Walk Director Mattie Do Raises Her Middle Fingers to the Arthouse World [Interview] appeared first on /Film.

Releasing to VOD this week is Mattie Do’s thought-provoking and haunting sci-fi film The Long Walk. The story of an old Lao hermit man who comes face to face with himself as a child is a beautifully haunting tale that challenges perceptions of what time travel movies can be. It’s a layered story that delivers in more ways than expected, and Do does an incredible job at creating a film that resonates long after the credits roll.

When I saw the film at Fantastic Fest in 2019, it was immediately one of my favorites. I was recently able to chat with Mattie about the release and some of the fascinating aspects of her film-making process.

This film premiered in 2019 and played a number of festivals to great acclaim - how does it feel to have it finally hitting theaters?

Honestly, it's sort of bizarre to see this film having a new life again.

Yellow Veil Pictures has acquired all North American rights to Gaspar Noé’s new meta movie “Lux Aeterna.” The studio is planning a theatrical release for the film this spring. “Lux Aeterna” made its world premiere at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival and was later selected for the Tribeca Film Festival prior to its cancellation due to the pandemic.

“Lux Aeterna” unfolds backstage at a French film production and is stylistically daring, in the manner of many of Noé’s movies. It’s shot documentary style and frequently deploys split-screens to follow two characters at once. In a metafictional twist, Charlotte Gainsbourg, acting as herself, plays the film’s — and the film-within-a-film’s — leading role of an actress taking on the role of a witch burned at the stake while French actress Beatrice Dalle, playing a version of herself as well, assumes the on-screen role of director. Slowly the set descends into aggressive chaos,...

With a brand new month kicking off tomorrow, we’re back with a rundown of all the fun horror and sci-fi films headed to VOD and various digital platforms throughout March 2022. For those of you who haven’t had a chance to see it in theaters, you’ll finally get a chance to check out Scream (2022) as it makes its digital debut tomorrow, and we have a ton of great indie horror headed to both Shudder and Arrow in March as well. Mariama Diallo’s Master arrives on Amazon Prime on the 18th after celebrating its world premiere at Sundance back in January, and we also have a few other festival favorites from 2021—Offseason and Ultrasound—hitting digital platforms in March, too.

Check out our full rundown of all the great genre films hitting the small screen throughout March 2022 below. And happy streaming, dear readers!

After the Pandemic (Uncork’d Entertainment...

The California Film Commission has selected 30 feature films to receive the next round of California tax credits – movies that the commission estimates will generate $1.17 billion in overall production spending in the state and create 4,564 jobs for crew members, 1,212 gigs for actors and more than 48,000 days of work for background performers and stand-ins.

The 30 projects, for which the Commission has reserved $149.2 million in tax credit allocations, include 19 indies and 11 studio films, four of which – Atlas, Beverly Hills Cop 4, Unfrosted and an untitled film from Amazon Studios – are expected to spend an estimated $553 million in the state, including $439.2 million in qualified spending, which are wages to below-the-line workers and payments to in-state vendors – the only qualified portions of each project’s budget that are eligible for tax credits.

The Cfc notes that the list of approved projects is subject to change, as applicants may withdraw from the tax credit program, in...

The California Film Commission announced the latest round of tax credits for film productions on Monday, and once again Netflix emerged as the big winner.

The streaming giant was awarded $60.3 million in state credits, far outpacing Disney ($27.2 million), Warner Bros. ($16.2 million) and Amazon ($16 million). Netflix also led the way in the last round of credits in August 2021, taking $43.3 million.

This time, Netflix was granted credits for four projects: “Atlas,” “Beverly Hills Cop 4,” “Family Leave” and “Unfrosted.”

The latter project stars Jerry Seinfeld in an origin story about the Pop Tart, and was awarded $14.2 million in credits.

“We are so happy to get the California tax credit which enables us to make our whole movie there,” said Seinfeld, who is also writing, directing and producing the film for Netflix. “Having made all of the ‘Seinfeld’ series in L.A., I very much wanted to come back and shoot there again.

Modernization and traditional living collide to strong political effect in Mattie Do’s third feature film The Long Walk. Its first few images see both an unidentified flying ship traveling at warp speed and a rusted-up scooter. We see dirt roads and vegetables being sold in plastic bags in a farmer’s market but currency is now paid through a digital microchip in your wrist. “Oh you’re using an old government chip,” the tender tells The Old Man (Yannawoutthi Chanthalangsy). It seems it’s already out-of-date. Things move fast in The Long Walk while others stay relatively the same.

If there is an initial hindrance in the film’s engrossing structure, it’s that it’s hard to tell what parts are past and what parts are present. But as it progresses we realize this is precisely the point. The Old Man, unnamed and unknown, is a hermit living...

The Long Walk New Alt Poster Released for Mattie Do’s Critically Acclaimed Lao Supernatural Mystery Drama The Entrancing Time-Travel Ghost Story — Out Now In Select Theaters + On VOD March 1 The first Lao film to screen theatrically in the US, from Laos’ first and only women director Synopsis: An old scavenger living on …

The post New Poster Released for The Long Walk (d. Mattie Do) From Laos’ First And Only Woman Director | Out 2/18 in Theaters & 3/1 on Digital appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

The US-born Laotian filmmaker Mattie Do is back on the festival circuit with her third feature “The Long Walk”. This arthouse-genre hybrid premiered at Venice Days sidebar of the 76th Venice International Film Festival before its North American premiere at Toronto and, having in mind Do’s reputation for “Chantaly” (2012) and “Dearest Sister” (2016), it will travel beyond that both regarding the “regular” film festivals (especially those “late night” sections) and more specific genre-oriented ones.

This acclaimed Lao drama/sci-fi/mystery will be out on VOD March 1, 2022 following a limited US theatrical run that kicks off on February 18 from Yellow Veil Pictures.

As with her previous movies, it is a ghost story of sorts that follows some genre conventions while also examining the (contemporary) Laotian society. The plot is realized through two timelines separated by 50 years. It opens in the near future with an old man (Yannawoutthi Chanthalungs) living in the rural area,...

Stars: Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy, Noutnapha Soydara, Vilouna Phetmany, Chansamone Inoudom, Por Silatsa | Written by Christopher Larsen | Directed by Mattie Do

When you think of a time travel sci-fi movie that blends a dark sense of horror throughout, The Long Walk is not what you would think of but that is exactly what it is.

I say the above because when people think of sci-fi they automatically think of this futuristic, often space-orientated world but other than people paying for things via chips under their skin, you wouldn’t realise this was set in some sort of alternate future universe. And the horror isn’t exactly the type to make you jump or gross you out (although there are a couple of close-up injury moments that kind of do that job) but it does feature ‘ghosts’ that fill that supernatural element.

The Long Walk is beautifully shot, making the best of its location and always looks great.

Lightbulb Film Distribution are pleased to share the UK poster and trailer for Mattie Do’s ghostly time-travel feature, The Long Walk. The film will be released on Digital Download platforms from Feb 28. Following its world premiere at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, the film has clocked up thousands of miles playing at genre festivals around …

The post The Long Walk – First look at UK Poster & Trailer for new Mattie Do film appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

An unusual partnership between Kazakhstan and Japan is behind the film “The Horse Thieves. Roads of Time” and it is not just a co-production. The film is in fact co-directed by Kazakh filmmaker Yerlan Nurmukhambetov and Japanese Lisa Takeba – who allegedly met at a party in Cannes – and stars among others, Kazakh film actress Samal Yeslyamova, winner of best actress at Cannes for “Ayka” in 2018, and Japanese actor Mirai Moriyama. The film had its premiere at Busan International Film Festival on the 3rd of October and it is being screened in cinemas around Japan as I write. The odd English title may sound a bit arcane, while the Japanese one – which translates “Olzhas’ White Horse” – goes straight to the point; however, the simple explanation is that “Roads of Time” is the series of paintings by Kazakh artist Gali Myrzashev which are shown during the end credits.

“The Horse Thieves. Roads...

Company plans early 2022 release. Â

Yellow Veil Pictures has acquired North American rights to Mattie Do’s Laotian time travel feature The Long Walk, which will be the second film from the new distribution division announced last week.Â

The company plans an early 2022 release on the story of an elderly man with the power to travel back in time who trespasses into his own past with powerful consequences.Â

The Long Walk received its world premiere at the 2019 Venice Film Festival in the Giornate degli Autori section and went on to screen at Toronto, Fantastic Fest, and Sitges.Â

Do’s second film...

Director Edgar Wright is lining up his next project, an adaptation of Stephen King’s dystopian sci-fi novel “The Running Man” for Paramount Pictures. Deadline first reported the news that Wright will be teaming with “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” screenwriter Michael Bacall on an adaptation that promises to be faithful to the source material, a 1982 book by King originally published under his pseudonym Richard Bachman. Wright and Bacall will write the story together, with Bacall penning the script.

The novel, set in the United States in the year 2025, previously inspired a 1987 sci-fi film, also called “The Running Man,” starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and directed by Paul Michael Glaser. King’s novel is set in a totalitarian, violent, economically depressed world where protagonists participate in a game show called “The Running Man.” Contestants are allowed to go anywhere in the world, but are chased by Hunters assigned to kill them. While...

Alex Ross Perry (“Her Smell”) will write and direct the adaptation of Stephen King’s best-seller “The Dark Half” for MGM, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

The story had been previously turned into a 1993 MGM film, which starred Timothy Hutton. It followed an author whose crime thrillers under a pseudonym sold better than the books written with his real name. Once his pseudonym is exposed, he decides to give his other ego a burial, but things start turning sinister as the alter ego has taken on a life of its own.

King wrote the book based on his own experiences when it was revealed he was writing thriller novels under the pseudonym Richard Bachman. Those novels included “Thinner,” “Running Man,” “Rage” and “The Long Walk.”

Also Read: How 'Doctor Sleep' Star Ewan McGregor Overcame His Worries About Following 'The Shining'

Perry most recently directed,...

Exclusive: MGM has set Alex Ross Perry to adapt and direct The Dark Half, a new adaptation of the 1989 Stephen King bestseller. Perry popped after writing, directing and producing Her Smell, the drama that premiered at the 2018 Toronto Film Festival, and for which Elisabeth Moss is Spirit Awards-nominated for her portrayal as a self-destructive rock star.

Perry plans a reinvention of a story first turned into a 1993 MGM film by the late zombie impresario George Romero. That film starred Timothy Hutton as an author whose books sell Ok and have a literary vibe to them. They don’t sell nearly as well as grisly crime thrillers he writes under an alter ego. Once his pseudonym is exposed, the author and his wife decide to give the other author a ceremonial burial. And then the people who were involved in doing that start turning up dead as it appears the alter...

Laos’ first and only female filmmaker Mattie Do, whose thriller “The Long Walk” screened in the International Film Festival and Awards Macao’s world panorama section, tumbled into her profession with a dose of liquid courage.

She’d recently moved to Laos from the U.S. to take care of her father, who’d moved back after her mother passed when she was just 25, leaving him without an anchor in his adopted country. Once in Laos, Do’s American screenwriter husband Christopher Larsen, who’d moved with her, discovered that the country had essentially no film industry to speak of.

He sleuthed out the company that currently produces her films, who were so excited to meet someone who wanted to make movies in Laos that they hired him on the spot, Do recounts. But Christopher Larsen was no director, and Do had up until that point been a ballerina teaching dance.

Other new openers include Ken Loach’s ‘Sorry We Missed You’.

Stephen King adaptation Doctor Sleep becomes the latest title to try and end Joker’s run at the top of the UK box office this weekend (both are Warner Bros titles).

Directed by Mike Flanagan, Doctor Sleep is an adaptation of King’s 2013 novel, a sequel to 1977’s The Shining.

The narrative is set several decades after the events of The Shining, as an adult Dan Torrance meets a young girl with similar powers and tries to protect her from a cult known as The True Knot.

There have...

Exclusive: Writer-producer-director James Vanderbilt, producer William Sherak, and finance/business operations executive Paul Neinstein have formed Project X Entertainment, an independent production/financing company that launches with a multi-year first look and co-development television deal with Spyglass Media Group.

Project X will co-develop and co-finance episodic content with Spyglass, as Project X endeavors to make film and TV product for streaming, broadcast, cable TV and other distribution platforms. Spyglass chairman/CEO Gary Barber and Spyglass Television president Lauren Whitney made the deal with the Project X principals.

Spyglass launched as a partnership between former MGM chief Barber with Lantern Entertainment Co-Presidents Andy Mitchell and Milos Brajovic after the latter took possession of the assets of The Weinstein Company in bankruptcy. The company has backing from Warner Bros. Pictures, Italy’s Eagle Pictures and global exhibitor Cineworld Group.

“We built Project X because we believe that smart content can be commercial...

An initiative of the Japan Foundation Asia Center, Crosscut Asia is a Tiff section dedicated to films from Asia, especially from emerging markets.

Thematically, the sixth edition of Crosscut Asia takes a snapshot of Southeast Asian genre films. It presents eight horror, fantasy and dark future films from the region, together with two episodes from the HBO “Folklore” horror anthology series produced by veteran Singaporean director Eric Khoo – including one episode “Tatami” directed by Japan’s Saitoh Takumi.

Four of the films are from the Philippines where horror is a thriving genre, including “The Entity” by Erik Matti, an action and horror veteran whose 2013 thriller “On the Job” was selected for the Cannes Directors Fortnight, and the dystopian thriller “Halt” by Lav Diaz, whose work has screened at Cannes, Venice and Berlin as well as many other festivals in the Philippines and abroad.

Also showing is “The Long Walk,” a...

New section sees three up-and-coming Filipino directors competing with five indie filmmakers from Southeast Asia.

The Philippines’ QCinema International Film Festival is launching a new competition section, Asian Next Wave, that will focus on emerging filmmakers from the Southeast Asian region.

The new section sees three up-and-coming Filipino directors, who received production funding from the festival, competing with five indie filmmakers from other countries in Southeast Asia.

The three local films in competition are Rae Red’s Babae At Baril, Arnel Barbarona’s Kaaway Sa Sulod and The Cleaners from Glenn Barit, while Southeast Asian titles include Mattie Do’s The Long Walk,...

Mattie Do’s The Long Walk was one of the most surprising films of Fantastic Fest. Not only because of its quality (it is amazing), but because of how layered and emotional its story is. It’s a beautiful film that sticks in your head and allows you to just sit with it and ruminate. Hours later, you will have uncovered a completely different angle of the film that just makes it shine even brighter.

Set in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the film is an understated science fiction story that lets its characters move ahead of the fantasy elements. The film opens on an old hermit man (Yannawoutthi Chanthalungsy). The man is poor and acquires money by scavenging for different materials and objects that he can sell. He keeps to himself, with the exception of a silent ghost woman who walks the long road from his home to...

It’s no secret how collective audiences view cinema, any genre, as an escape. This leads to “Hollywoodized” representations of fantastical storybook livelihoods and blind eyes turned to inescapable hardships. Foreign filmmakers like Mattie Do aren’t beholden to such candy-coating at this year’s Fantastic Fest, which allows movies like The Long Walk to express more honesty […]

The post ‘The Long Walk’ Stares Death in the Face and Refuses to Look Away [Fantastic Fest 2019] appeared first on /Film.

Daily Dead Managing Editor Heather Wixson was once again in Austin, Texas for Fantastic Fest, and in between world premiere screenings and interviews with the casts and crews of films playing at the fest, she was joined by special guests from the Dead Ringers and Horrorversary podcasts on a new episode of Corpse Club!

Live from Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, it's a special film festival episode of Corpse Club! Co-host Heather Wixson is joined by Horrorversary podcast host Adrian Torres and Dead Ringers podcast co-hosts Emily von Seele, Kat Adams, Paul Farrell, and Nolan McBride to discuss the most memorable movies they saw at the festival, including Color Out of Space, Vfw, The Lighthouse, In the Tall Grass, Synchronic, The Long Walk, First Love, Jojo Rabbit, and Dolemite is My Name. The co-hosts also reflect on some of the shared themes from the films featured at Fantastic Fest, such...

Just as Netflix tries to gain traction in the Middle East by backing local genre series, such as its first Arab original, “Jinn,” from Jordan, and Egypt’s upcoming “Paranormal,” Beirut’s Maskoon Fantastic Film Festival is launching the region’s first platform dedicated to genre films.

Five Arabic-language projects, ranging from a zombie comedy to a supernatural female-empowerment drama, have been selected for the Maskoon Fantastic Lab’s pilot edition, which is set for Nov. 7-8 in Beirut’s Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts. All the projects have a strong sociopolitical subtext, organizers say.

“Arab producers and film festivals haven’t really embraced genre cinema yet,” said Myriam Sassine, the fest’s chief exec. “So we felt the need for a platform to encourage and help those filmmakers who would like to venture into genre”

The fest’s artistic director, Antoine Waked, underlined that, at a time when genre...

(Welcome to The Fantastic Fest Diaries, where we will be chronicling every single movie we see at the United States’ largest genre film festival.) Welcome to Fantastic Fest 2019, day two. In this entry, The Long Walk is a fascinating story that goes on for too long, The Lodge will make you miserable in the best […]

The post Fantastic Fest 2019 Day Three: ‘The Lodge’ is the Feel-Bad Horror Movie of 2019, ‘The Pool’ Defies Reality and Good Taste, and ‘The Mortuary Collection’ Will Scratch Your Horror Anthology Itch appeared first on /Film.

Ever since her debut “Chanthaly” (2012), Mattie Do’s world is visited by ghosts who strongly influence the destiny of every single character that crosses their path. They are moody, sometimes malicious and sometimes well-intentioned, but their presence is always intense. The relationship Do has to ghosts is complex and less influenced by the traditional set of beliefs in Laos, her home country, than by the tales she heard at home.

In her third feature “The Long Walk” shown at the Venice International Film Festival and currently screening in Toronto, Mattie Do goes a step further in her exploration of Laotian landscapes populated by ghosts and people alike, by setting a story in a retro-futurist dimension in which time stops playing its traditional role.

Asian Movie Pulse spoke to Mattie Do about the complexity of her visual language, of possessive ghosts, sanity and humans’ urge to correct own mistakes.

“The Long Walk...

Many people dream of traveling back in time to certain events in their lives in the hopes of changing them, they believe for the better. But what does it mean to travel back, and why do we always think of time as linear? Is this simply an outdated western concept, designed in part to stop people dwelling on injustices and pain and absolving others and themselves of the guilt of wrongdoings, or simply to enjoying the company of a lost loved one? What if they are always with us, not in a metaphorical memorial sense, but a literal one? These are just a few of questions deeply and strangely pondered in Mattie Do’s third feature film, The Long Walk. As with her previous films, Chanthaly and...

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

The Us-born Laotian filmmaker Mattie Do is back on the festival circuit with her third feature “The Long Walk”. This arthouse-genre hybrid premiered at Venice Days sidebar of 76th Venice International Film Festival before its North American premiere at Toronto and, having in mind Do’s reputation for “Chantaly” (2012) and “Dearest Sister” (2016), it will travel beyond that both regarding the “regular” film festivals (especially those “late night” sections) and more specific genre-oriented ones.

“The Long Walk” is screening at

Venice International Film Festival 2019

for the Giornate degli Autori

As her previous movies, it is a ghost story of sorts that follows some genre conventions while also examining the (contemporary) Laotian society. The plot is realized through two timelines separated by 50 years. It opens in the near future with an old man (Yannawoutthi Chanthalungs) living in the rural area, scavenging motorcycle parts for money. There is something sinister about his lonely existence,...