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Raven Banner Entertainment, the Toronto-based genre outfit that attended AFM last week, has promoted Michael Da Silva to general manager.

Da Silva previously served as manager of sales and acquisitions, and has been a core part of the team for six years, working on titles like Frankie Freako, The Sadness, and Yummy.

In his new capacity, Da Silva will oversee all facets of the company.

Michael Paszt, Raven Banner managing partner, said: “The past few years have shown a lot of growth at Raven Banner, of which Michael has been a driving force, and we’re confident that Michael will...

After featuring a number of key art that left the standard credit block out the design, it is nice to see this poster from Mexico's festival darling coming-of-age plague-zombie film, Párvulos, has a more traditional sense, where they are tucked discreetly into the bottom right corner. That and the evocative reminder of a reaching Bub from Day of the Dead. The attractive part of this design however is its commitment to verticality. It is not simply the block-red title card and director's credit moving upwards along the left side, but the reaching hands. The pull quotes and festival laurels, stacked downward on the right add even...

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Stars: Mateo Ortega Casillas, Leonardo Cervantes, Carla Adell, Farid Escalante Correa, Norma Flores, Horacio F. Lazo, Noé Hernández, Juan Carlos Remolina | Written by Isaac Ezban, Ricardo Aguado-Fentanes | Directed by Isaac Ezban

Mexican horror movies have always been about it seems but there’s never been enough of them in the mainstream to make them popular enough that fans would call it a sub-genre of any kind. Issa Lopez has perhaps changed this in recent years, starting with the excellent Tigers Are Not Afraid. Parvulos is hoping to continue the high quality of that Mexican horror movie.

Unfortunately, or maybe not because it’s a good thing, you don’t want to know too much about Parvulos before watching it. But what I will say is that it involves two brothers living in a cabin in the woods, in some kind of post-apocalyptic world. We soon discover that they are hiding...

Raven Banner has acquired worldwide sales rights excluding Cis and Lartin America to Mexican genre veteran Isaac Ezban’s Fantasia selection Parvulos.

‘Parvulos’: Fantasia Review

The post-apocalyptic horror centres on three young brothers who attempt to survive a zombie apocalypse while maintaining maintain some semblance of normality.

When new threats appear at their doorstep, they quickly discover that their world is far more dangerous than they initially realised. Felix Farid Escalante, Leonardo Cervantes, and Mateo Ortega star. Ezban and Ricardo Aguardo-Fentanes co-wrote the screenplay.

Parvulos was produced by Natalia Contreras, Javier Sepulveda, Eduardo Lecuona and Isaac Ezban.

Raven Banner...

Mórbido, my Mexican home away from home, has announced the lineup for this year's festival. As expected there are a tonne of great films coming to Cdmx at the end of the month and I'm super sad that I'm not going to be there to experience it con mi familia Morbido. Local lad Isaac Ezban will open this year's festival with his terrific horror hit, Parvulos. Other local and LatAm offerings include Edgar Nito’s A Fisherman’s Tale, A Mother's Embrace from Christian Ponce, 1978 from the Onetti Brothers, Portraits of the Apocalypse from Fabien Forte, and I'm really curious to see how Catholic Mexicans respond to Pedro Cristiani's Deus Irae. Really curious. Morbido alumni Alexandre O Philippe's Venice-winning documentary Chain Reactions will play at the festival along...

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Pigeon Shrine FrightFest, the UK’s leading genre film festival, is back with a thrilling Halloween special, returning to the Odeon Luxe West End in Leicester Square on November 1 and 2, 2024. Following the spectacular celebration of its 25th anniversary in August, the festival promises another adrenaline-fuelled weekend with a selection of nine new genre films from around the world.

This year’s line-up features premieres from six countries, representing an exciting variety of cinematic talent from Europe, North America, South America, and Asia. Festival-goers will have the opportunity to experience each film twice, as both screens at the Odeon Luxe will be taken over by FrightFest’s special Halloween showcase.

Opening the event is the UK premiere of Magpie, directed by Sam Yates. This tense psychological thriller stars Daisy Ridley, who will be in attendance alongside her husband, actor Tom Bateman. The film explores the unraveling of a family as Ridley’s character,...

Our friends at the Telluride Horror Show down in Colorado have revealed the lineup for this year's event. Celebrating it's fifteenth year it's the best weekend you can ever have during spooky season in the Centennial State.    This year, Steven Soderbergh's Presence will close out the weekend while festival faves like A Desert, Dark Match, Daddy's Head, Dead Talents Society, Parvulos, The Rule of Jenny Pen and The Soul Eater are among the list of feature films playing this year.    The weekend always includes an author's program and this year our friend Grady Hendrix will be joined by another author whose works I've read, Jeremy Robert Johnson.  Other books I'm going to have to read now come from other guest authors including Rachel...

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Mexican director Isaac Ezban has quickly become a favorite of genre fans for his inventive blending of science fiction, horror, and psychological thrills. In films like The Incident and The Evil Eye, he’s warped time and viewers’ perceptions through surreal storytelling. Parvulos marks something of a shift, focusing the lens on more emotionally grounded material.

We meet three brothers—Salvador, Oliver, and Benjamin—struggling to survive in a ravaged world overrun by zombies. A viral outbreak has left the kids orphaned, forcing Salvador into a parental role at a young age. He hunts, provides for his siblings, and keeps the truth about their “parents” hidden away. Beneath its surface of entrails-ripping action, Parvulos contemplates what really powers people through impossible situations—the enduring bonds of family.

Through these young protagonists, Ezban examines familiar post-apocalyptic and coming-of-age genres. But he brings new life to tropes by prioritizing full-bodied characters we really care about.

Alan Wake 2 - The Lake House: "Enter the Lake House, where monsters wear many faces, and survival is just the beginning. The Lake House, the second Alan Wake 2 expansion, is available this fall exclusive to the Deluxe Edition. Alan Wake 2 is available on PC on the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Developed by Remedy Entertainment. Published by Epic Games.

Find out more at https://alanwake.com."

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Los Angeles Haunted Hayride Reveals First-ever Celebrity Collab With Janelle MONÁE: "Ten-time Grammy Award nominated musician, author, actor, and fashion icon Janelle Monáe has announced a partnership with Thirteenth Floor Entertainment Group and the Los Angeles Haunted Hayride. This partnership is the first of its kind and will bring an all-new haunted maze to the legendary Halloween event taking place in Griffith Park. Step into Monáe Manor, where it’s Halloween every night and things aren’t quite what they seem.

The are two constants in this world, states Isaac Ezban’s quirky coming-of-age-in-a-zombie-apocalypse film Párvulos– family, and change. Forced to rely on each other after the collapse of the entire world, three squabbling brothers struggle to survive in their remote forest home. They hunt, they forage, they hide from strangers….they study the zombie disease by observing two undead creatures they keep chained in their basement. Oh, and it’s also technically a Christmas movie if you’re looking to add some more intestine eating into your holiday watchlist...

Stars: Mateo Ortega Casillas, Leonardo Cervantes, Carla Adell, Farid Escalante Correa, Norma Flores, Horacio F. Lazo, Noé Hernández, Juan Carlos Remolina | Written by Isaac Ezban, Ricardo Aguado-Fentanes | Directed by Isaac Ezban

Mexican horror movies have always been about it seems but there’s never been enough of them in the mainstream to make them popular enough that fans would call it a sub-genre of any kind. Issa Lopez has perhaps changed this in recent years, starting with the excellent Tigers Are Not Afraid. Parvulos is hoping to continue the high quality of that Mexican horror movie.

Unfortunately, or maybe not because it’s a good thing, you don’t want to know too much about Parvulos before watching it. But what I will say is that it involves two brothers living in a cabin in the woods, in some kind of post-apocalyptic world. We soon discover that they are hiding...

Zombie apocalypse meets “Lord of the Flies” in “Parvulos,” the latest from adventurous Mexican genre specialist Isaac Ezban. Here, a familiar dystopian near-future of survival amid scarcity and violence is seen through the eyes of three underage brothers who’ve had to largely invent their own “new normal,” for lack of surviving adult minders.

By turns grotesque, whimsical, brutal and poignant, this episodic tale is more consistently interesting than riveting. Yet somehow its wayward, tonally diverse approach adds up to a distinctive hybrid that lingers in the mind, and should win over horror fans open to something more complicated than your basic undead gorefest. Not that there’s any lack of grisly (and gristly) content here.

A brief prologue of wildlife footage has a child talking in voiceover about lessons learned in Natural History class, though his father countered them by saying the only real constants in life are “family and change.

Leonardo Cervantes, Farid Escalante Correa and Mateo Ortega Casillas in Párvulos Photo: Fantasia International Film Festival

A dark, gritty tale but one bound together by love, Párvulos is the story of three brothers living deep in the woods with no adult supervision, with desperately few resources and something nasty in the cellar. One of the harder-hitting contributions to this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival, it’s a project that took Mexican filmmaker Isaac Ezban many years to bring to fruition, with a lot of challenges along the way. When we connected at the festival, we discussed the fact that although cinema is stuffed to the gills with post-apocalyptic tales these days, we very rarely see anybody explore what happens to children. It’s as if people are afraid to imagine it.

“We see zombie movies everywhere every week,” he agrees. “I always like to subvert genres or story tropes or clichés.

Director Isaac Ezban continues exploring themes of family through a fantasy horror lens with his latest, Párvulos. As its title indicates, roughly translating to pre-schoolers or toddlers, the coming-of-age dystopian fable follows three young brothers, practically newborn babes, discovering the perils and pleasures of life after a world-ending pandemic. Ezban reinvigorates a well-worn setup and subgenre with style and poignancy, framing a classic zombie apocalypse story from the naïve, impressionable, and whimsical eyes of children.

Párvulos introduces one-legged teen Salvador (Farid Escalante Correa), downing worms as he sets about a bizarre series of chores while teaching younger brother Oliver (Leonardo Cervantes) and baby brother Benjamin (Mateo Ortega Casillas). The peculiar rituals aren’t the only sign that normalcy long ago ceased in this virus-ravaged world: decayed bodies hang in the yard in front of the boys’ rural country home. The brothers live in isolation, caught between childhood innocence and survival.

My favourite festival of the year is soon to be upon us and Fantasia has another insanely brilliant line-up ready for you! Here are ten films – in no particular order – that I cannot wait to check out.

Samara Weaving in a new horror film. That’s all I need to say really but I will go on. Azrael is also written by Simon Barret and directed by E.L. Katz (Cheap Thrills) and is a post-apocalyptic survival horror. With almost no dialogue, this promises plenty of gore, action and another fantastic performance from Weaving.

In Bookworm, director Ant Timpson and Elijah Wood team-up once again (formerly in the excellent Come To Daddy), this time in a much more family-friendly movie. A camping adventure for eleven-year-old Mildred with her absent father does not impress her. But they will be searching for The Canterbury Panther in this strange and heart-warming adventure.

There’s...