News

Exclusive: Warner Bros Discovery (Wbd) has dipped into the acquisitions market for European drama series The Crimson Rivers.

The licensing deal with Zdf Studios is for all four seasons of the show, comprising 32 episodes in total, for French-speaking territories and Belgium. On June 11, the series will launch on Max in France and HBO Max in Belgium. This comes after Wbd on May 21 began rolling out the Max brand in Europe, phasing out HBO Max over time.

Set in a macabre world of gruesome criminal cases, sadistic killers, creepy rituals and mysterious incidents, The Crimson Rivers follows Detective Pierre Niémans and his new partner, Camille Delauney, as they investigate a series of bizarre crimes in remote regions of France. The shocking brutality of the cases, steeped in regional myths and forgotten customs, are far beyond the capacity of the local police departments.

Olivier Marchal, a former police officer and the creator of French crime drama Braquo,...

French actor and director Mathieu Kassovitz has been seriously injured in a motorbike accident on the Montlhéry circuit outside Paris, according to French media reports.

French news channel Bfmtv said the actor had been taken to the Kremlin-Bicêtre hospital in Paris. It said that according to the actor’s entourage, his life was not in danger.

Kassovitz broke out at home and internationally in 1995 for La Haine, which is still regarded as one of the seminal works tackling racism and police violence in France.

He won Best Director in Cannes in 1995 for the film, which also went on to win the French César for Best Film.

Other directorial credits include Crimson Rivers (2000) and Gothika (2003), starring Halle Berry and Penélope Cruz.

More recent credits have include episodes of the hit spy thriller series The Bureau, in which he also starred. His other notable acting credits include Amélie as well Birthday Girl,...

Zdf Enterprises, to be rebranded Zdf Studios in April, has snagged worldwide distribution rights to the topical post-wwii dramatic series “Between Two Worlds” (“Ein Hauch Von Amerika”).

Skein is set in a fictional German town in the ’50s where a robust U.S. military presence is impacting the lives of its people, in particular the two young friends Marie and Erika, whose relationships with their family, community and each other are put to the test by the presence of a U.S. army base.

Commented Sebastian Krekeler, director Zdfe.drama, Zdf Enterprises: “The clash of different cultures and the defence of a free society is more topical than ever. Racism and anti-Semitism, emancipation and civil rights, tradition versus new beginnings – many of the conflicts that were fought back then are far from over today.”

“‘Between Two Worlds’ is entertaining and at the same time provokes thought about issues that still concern us today,...

Banijay has partnered with Alain Goldman, the French producer of “La Vie en rose” to produce premium scripted series and feature films through his two production entities, Pitchipoï Productions and Montmartre Films.

Goldman, whose production company was previously named Legende Films, will work alongside Banijay France.

The French producer had been working with nearly every French film studios, notably Gaumont, and has also been collaborating with streamers such as Netflix with “The Spy,” starring Sacha Baron Cohen, and Amazon Prime with Caroline Vigneaux’s “Flashback” and Mélanie Laurent’s “The Mad Women’s Ball.” Besides “La Vie en Rose,” which earned Marion Cotillard an Oscar, Goldman has also produced “An Officer and a Spy” (2019), “The Connection” (2014) and “The Crimson Rivers” (2000).

“Banijay shares our vision for the company going forward, and their immediate understanding and belief in our ethos makes them the perfect partner for our future,” said Goldman. “Joining a forward-thinking...

Xyz Films handles North American sales.

Sylvester McCoy, Rita Tushingham, Ian Kenny, Jake Curran, Andrew Ellis and Stacha Hicks have been announced as cast members of home invasion thriller The Owners alongside Game Of Thrones star Maisie Williams as the production starts shooting in the UK.

McCoy, whose credits include Doctor Who, plays an elderly doctor opposite veteran UK actress Rita Tushingham as his wife. Together, the retired couple turn the tables on a gang of local hoodlums who break into their isolated house.

Kenny and Ellis (This Is England) play two dead-beat, childhood friends who are spurred on by...

For a while there, French horror was the big thing. We horror fans were getting genre flicks that were so gruesome and grotesque, it almost boggled the mind. Films like Inside, Frontier(s), Trouble Every Day, and the like were shocking… Continue Reading →

The post Recollecting The Crimson Rivers, a Seemingly Forgotten French Horror/Thriller appeared first on Dread Central.

German producers Philipp Kreuzer and Jörg Schulze are launching maze pictures, a film and TV shingle designed to develop, finance, produce and co-produce high-end content for the local and international markets. Among the first projects for the Munich- and Berlin-based outfit is the adaptation of The Crimson Rivers as an international hour-long series in partnership with Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp Television. The crime drama will be based on the best-selling novel by…...

German producers Philipp Kreuzer and Jörg Schulze are launching maze pictures, a film and TV shingle designed to develop, finance, produce and co-produce high-end content for the local and international markets. Among the first projects for the Munich- and Berlin-based outfit is the adaptation of The Crimson Rivers as an international hour-long series in partnership with Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp Television. The crime drama will be based on the best-selling novel by…...

Amid Canal Plus shake-up, parent company Vivendi ups stake in video games companies Ubisoft and Gameloft.

New Canal Plus CEO Maxime Saada has put out a call to the French cinema world to produce more action and adventure pictures and crime thrillers to fill the gap left by the Us Studios’ focus on superheroes and teenage audiences.

Speaking at a debate on the future of French cinema at the 25th edition of the Rencontres Cinématographiques de Dijon, running Oct 22-24, Saada said he was worried by the lack of mainstream films for older audiences in the pipeline.

“Through the agreements we have with most the Us studios, we get to see their line-ups into 2018 and 2019. It’s all heavily-skewed towards superheroes and adolescent audiences and this isn’t going to change anytime soon,” said Saada.

He said there was real demand for French genre pictures aimed an older audience.

“Our subscribers aren’t teenagers, well some of...

Amazon

To celebrate the release of The Connection, out now on DVD, What Culture are giving 2 lucky winners the chance to win a copy of the DVD.

The Connection follows young investigating magistrate Pierre Michel (Jean Dujardin) who arrives in Marseille, a city riddled with organised crime, in 1975 with his wife (Céline Sallette, House Of Tolerance, Rust and Bone, Marie Antoinette) and children. He sets to work tackling the French Connection, a mafia organisation that exports heroin around the world. Despite protests from his family and colleagues, he sets his own safety aside to embark on a personal crusade against Gaëtan Zampa (Gilles Lellouche, Little White Lies, The Players, Point Blank), the iconic underworld figure and untouchable godfather of the French Connection. But as he delves deeper into the case, Pierre realises his old methods no longer apply.

A blend of style and intensity, The Connection is a visually stunning...

As Netflix gears up to enter the French market with original series Marseille, the streaming giant is recruiting one of the country’s most widely respected and frequently awarded actors. Gerard Depardieu, who has been nominated for the Best Actor in a Leading Role César 15 times in his career and won it twice, will be taking on a key role in the buzzy series, Netflix announced today.

Depardieu will play Robert Taro, Marseille’s longtime mayor, who finds himself facing off against his ambitious younger protégé (Benoit Magimel) in an election. Suddenly, it’s in question who will hold office in the seaport city, a prospect Taro is none too pleased about. Geraldine Pailhas (Don Juan DeMarco) and Nadia Fares (The Crimson Rivers) also have key roles.

Marseille has been compared to Netflix’s own House of Cards, and the streaming giant is certainly hoping to wrangle similar numbers and acclaim for it,...

Gerard Depardieu has been confirmed to star in Netflix's first French language series, the political drama "Marseilles".

Already compared to the likes of "House of Cards" and "Borgen," Depardieu will play Robert Taro, the longtime mayor of the Southern French city who finds himself facing his ambitious younger protege (Benoit Magimel) in an election.

Geraldine Pailhas ("Don Juan DeMarco") and Nadia Fares ("The Crimson Rivers") also have major roles in the project which is penned by "Carlos" co-writer Dan Franck. Xavier Gens, Florent Emilio Siri and Cedric Anger will helm the eight-episode series which is due to air next year.

Source: Deadline...

Vincent Cassel is set to lead Partisan, replacing previously attached Oscar Isaac. Protagonist to handle international sales.

French actor Vincent Cassel is set to lead Partisan, Ariel Kleiman’s debut feature which will shoot in Australia in October.

Protagonist Pictures has come on board to handle international sales on the film, which was written by Kleiman and Sarah Cyngler.

Cassel will play a charismatic and troubled man called Gregori, who has raised a communal family within the world of his lavish compound. The story is told through the eyes of 11-year-old Alexander who starts to question Gregori’s deadly teachings.

Cassel’s international credits include Mesrine, for which he won the César for Best Actor, Irreversible, Read My Lips, The Crimson Rivers, Brotherhood Of The Wolf, L’Appartement and La Haine, as well as Black Swan, Eastern Promises, Ocean’s 12 and Ocean’s 13. His upcoming work includes Beauty and the Beast.

Warp Films Australia...

Mathieu Kassovitz was hailed as the heir to Truffaut after making La Haine in 1995. So why has he renounced French cinema after making his latest film, Rebellion?

Any doubts over Mathieu Kassovitz's feelings towards his national film industry were cleared up last year when he tweeted: "Bugger French cinema. Go fuck yourself with your shitty films." He's done with France. He's moved to Los Angeles. The tweet was in response to the César nominations, France's equivalent of the Oscars. In a field dominated by The Artist and Untouchable, Kassovitz's sober political thriller, Rebellion, received just one nomination, for best adapted screenplay.

"I wasn't hurt because they didn't want to give me a César, I was hurt because they didn't care about that kind of movie any more," says Kassovitz, who has previously won three Césars and never turned up to collect them. "It's a French story. It's craftsmanship. We...

Many film websites published “decade’s best horror films” lists in late 2009/early 2010. While these lists collectively provided a rough snapshot of the genre’s ups and downs during that time, with more time to reflect, it becomes increasingly clear what an important period the 2000’s were for the horror genre on a global scale.

Not only did this decade easily and obviously eclipse the comparatively arid 1990’s in both volume of production and overall quality, the 2000’s can also be looked at as a crucial one for horror cinema despite the justified outrage about the American film industry’s widespread strip-mining of classics and foreign films for remakes/re-boots and its saturation of the market with teen-friendly PG-13 rated horror films.

While by no means as groundbreaking as the 1970’s or as sentimentally regarded as the 1980’s, the 2000’s will be recalled as the decade that, despite well-founded criticisms...

Gary Oldman as Jackie Flannery in State Of Grace (Phil Joanou, 1990, USA):

Long considered one of the most talented actors in cinema, it’s very strange that his outstanding acting as the younger brother of Ed Harris’ local crime boss in this underrated film doesn’t get talked about nearly enough when discussing Oldman’s body of work. This is a must-see performance for all Oldman fans. For the record, State Of Grace is a far better Irish mob film than The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006, USA), primarily because it contains much better acting across the board. Oldman was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (Tomas Alfredson, 2011, UK/France).

Other notable Gary Oldman performances: Prick Up Your Ears (Stephen Frears, 1987, USA), Dracula (Francis Ford Coppola, 1992, USA), True Romance (Tony Scott, 1993, USA), Leon: The Professional (Luc Besson, 1994, France), Air Force One (Wolfgang Petersen, 1997, USA), The Contender (Rod Lurie,...

We recently dropped the news that Lilly-Fleur Pointeaux and Gala Besson were the newest lovely ladies added to the cast of Romain Basset's French horror film Fever (Fievre). Today co-production company Oh My Gore! has announced the rest of the cast.

Joining the also previously announced Catriona MacColl and Emmanuel Bonami, the official cast of Fever includes: Murray Head (actor - Sunday Bloody Sunday, singer - Say it Ain't So, One Night in Bangkok), Vernon Dobtcheff (The Spy Who Loved Me, The Name of the Rose, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), Fu'ad Ait Aattou (The Last Mistress, he's also the lead in the next Alexander Arcady film Ce Que Le Jour Doit A La Nuit), Joe Sheridan (The Ninth Gate, Dangerous Liaisons) and Philippe Nahon (I Stand Alone, The Crimson Rivers, War Horse). Those players bring some pretty impressive resumes to Fever, which takes place in the world of lucid dreams.

Blu-ray: May 8, 2012

Price: Blu-ray $39.95

Studio: Criterion

Vincent Cassel aims to be heard in La haine.

Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz (The Crimson Rivers), the 1995 French drama La haine (Hate) is a gritty and unsettling film that looks at racial and cultural volatility in modern-day France, specifically the low-income outskirts of Paris.

Aimlessly passing their days in the concrete environs of their dead-end suburbia, Vinz (Vincent Cassel, Mesrine: Public Enemy #1), Hubert (Hubert Koundé, The Constant Gardener) and Saïd (Saïd Taghmaoui, Three Kings)—white, black, and Arab—give human faces to France’s immigrant and otherwise marginalized populations, their resentment at their situation simmering until it reaches a boiling point.

Shot in silvery black-and-white, the hard-hitting La Haine is tough stuff that reflects its country of origin’s ongoing identity crisis.

A work of tough beauty, La haine is a landmark of contemporary French cinema and a gripping reflection of its country’s ongoing identity crisis.

We at Blogomatic3000 love our horror movies, so it’s fitting that we get the chance to bring you the schedule for FEARnet’s exclusive Halloween horror movie extravaganza! So if you’re looking for a good scare in the month of October, read on to see just what FEARnet has planned for you!

On Sunday, October 30th at 9:00 p.m. Et, FEARnet will air a special Halloween episode of Psychoville, the award-winning British black-comedy thriller series written by and starring Reece Shearsmith (Shaun of the Dead) and Steve Pemberton (The League of Gentlemen, Doctor Who). In the Halloween special, four tales of terror unfold as a film crew investigates the abandoned ruins of Ravenhill Psychiatric hospital.

On Halloween, FEARnet will air an all-day marathon of Trick ‘r Treat, starring Anna Paquin (True Blood), Brian Cox (Rise of the Planet of the Apes) and Leslie Bibb (Zookeeper). Michael Dougherty...

Bruno Coulais is the composer of the French comedy My Worst Nightmare (Mon pire cauchemar). The movie starring Isabelle Huppert, Benoît Poelvoorde, André Dussollier follows a married couple that suddenly find their lives turned upside down when a breezy worker is hired to do some renovations in their apartment. The film is directed by Anne Fontaine who last worked with composer Alexandre Desplat on the 2009 drama Coco Before Chanel. Bruno Pesery and Philippe Carcassonne (Coco Before Chanel) are producing. My Worst Nightmare will have its world premiere next month at the Toronto Film Festival. A release in France is scheduled for November and no domestic release plans have been announced yet.

The Academy Award-nominated composer (The Chorus, Coraline, The Crimson Rivers) also has the live action adaptation of Sur la piste du Marsupilami coming up. The film based on the popular French comic book by Andre Franquin is directed by Alain Chabat and stars himself,...

Klaus Badelt is the new composer of the upcoming sports drama Seven Days in Utopia. He is replacing William Ross, who was originally attached to the project as reported last year. The film starring Robert Duvall, Melissa Leo and Lucas Black tells the story of Luke Chisolm, a talented young golfer set on making the pro tour. When his first big shot turns out to be a very public disaster, Luke escapes the pressures of the game and finds himself unexpectedly stranded in Utopia, Texas. A trailer for the movie directed by Matt Russell recently premiered and can be watched below. Seven Days in Utopia is set to be released on August 12, 2011. For updates on the film, visit the official movie website.

Badelt has also signed on to score the French action thriller Rebellion (aka L’ordre et la morale). The film is co-written and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz, who also acts in the project.

Jacques Audiard's new prison thriller is the most stylish film to come out of Europe for years, following up on the promise of his previous movies Read My Lips and The Beat that My Heart Skipped and confirming his place among the greats of French cinema. Jason Solomons talks to a director who wants his audience to fly with him

Jacques Audiard wears a hat. It's a trilby that, the 57-year-old director says, keeps him warm in the winter and cool in the summer. He was wearing it in the heat of Cannes last May when I first met him, on a blazing roof terrace; and he's wearing it again today, in London, on an autumnal Monday when I catch him smoking his pipe outside the hotel where we're due to meet.

With horn-rimmed glasses, smart jacket and a cravat, he looks a bit like an English gentleman, a...

/Film has reported that Winona Ryder is one of three actors to join Darren Aronofsky’s psychological/supernatural chiller Black Swan. The latest from the director of Pi and Requiem For A Dream is set to roll in New York City within the next month.

Vincent Cassel and Barbara Hershey have also come aboard Black Swan, which stars Natalie Portman as Nina, a ballerina who finds herself competing with a newcomer named Lilly (Mila Kunis)—who may a hallucination or a ghostly apparition. (Whatever the case, Nina and Lilly reportedly have a very hot sex scene together). Ryder, whose genre credits include Bram Stoker’S Dracula, Lost Souls and Beetlejuice, plays a veteran dancer whose role Nina and Lilly are vying to take over; Cassell, from The Crimson Rivers, Brotherhood Of The Wolf and Sheitan, is the production’s “handsome but sinister” director; and Hershey, whom horror fans know from...

It's been a Massive week here at Fangoria. With much of the East Coast crew up in Montreal at the Fantasia Film Festival, and most of the West Coast Crew in San Diego for Comic-con, the Midwest Crew here in Chicago (where Fangoria.com is based) has been working overtime to keep all of the updates coming.

That said, this installment of our Week in Review is pretty lengthy. We've got all the gory goodness broken down by category, so you can easily catch up on any horror news that you might have missed.

Fangoria Entertainment Updates:

Fangoria #286 Sneak-Preview - Megan Fox, Cover Ghoul *Updated* Fangoria #286 cover: Banned (and Un-banned) from MySpace Fangoria at San Diego Comic-con - Sdcc '09:

Sdcc '09: Trailer - The Hills Run Red Sdcc '09: The Twilight Saga: New Moon - Press Conference Sdcc '09: 2 Bootleg Clips of The Twilight Saga: New Moon...

Mathieu Kassovitz is not exactly a happy man right now. Talking to AMC, the French director said he's not at all happy with the production of his newest action flick "Babylon A.D.," which opens nationwide this Friday.

"I'm very unhappy with the film," he told AMC. "I never had a chance to do one scene the way it was written or the way I wanted it to be. The script wasn't respected. Bad producers, bad partners, it was a terrible experience."

Based on a novel by Maurice G. Dantec, the futuristic thriller stars Vin Diesel as a mercenary who agrees to escort a young woman from Russia to the United States.

Kassovitz said he always had a deep interest in the book because of its strong thematic. Unfortunately, not much of that made it into the big-screen adaptation. "It's pure violence and stupidity," he said.

Really? I completely understand that...

CANNES -- Commercial broadcaster TF1 said Tuesday that it has signed a deal with French producer Alain Goldman's Studio Legende to adapt the production company's films The Crimson Rivers and Crimson Rivers 2: Angels of the Apocalypse for television. Each film will be adapted in the 6x52 format, unless the scriptwriters thought differently, TF1 head of fiction Takis Candilis said. Financial details for the deal were not disclosed. The crime thrillers are about a detective who faces the threat of the apocalypse while investigating a series of ritual murders. Released in 2000, The Crimson Rivers was directed by Mathieu Kassovitz and stars Jean Reno and Vincent Cassel, and 2004's Crimson Rivers 2 was directed by Olivier Dahan and stars Reno and Christopher Lee.

PARIS -- French producer Alain Goldman said Thursday that he has resigned from France's top producers body because of a statement it issued about Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ. Goldman -- who has produced The Crimson Rivers and Crimson Rivers 2: Angels of the Apocalypse -- said his decision to leave the Union des Producteurs des Films (UPF) was prompted by the group's statement earlier this month in support of producer-distributor Tarak Ben Ammar, whose Quinta Distribution released Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ in France. "I resigned because the statement was issued without consulting any of us who are members, and that is not an appropriate way for the union to be functioning," Goldman said in an interview.

PARIS -- Babylon Babies, French actor-director Mathieu Kassovitz's next project after Gothika, will be co-produced by Legende, Alain Goldman, head of the newly formed French production company, said Wednesday. Goldman confirmed Legende will take a minority stake in Kassovitz's MNP Enterprises and that the new entity will be "a French company open to all kinds of new ideas and projects, both French and international." Legende Enterprises, Goldman's main company, co-produced Kassovitz's detective thriller The Crimson Rivers in 2000. The $17 million film was a runaway hit, grossing $70 million.