A true-crime thriller inspired by real events, The Black Mass is set over a 24-hour period in Florida during the winter of 1978. The film follows a serial killer in the days leading up to his final, unhinged rampage, providing a disturbing and terrifying look into the warped psyche of a notorious murderer, as well as the ramifications of his violence for those who fell victim to it, and for those who survived.
The first feature written and directed by Martin Koolhoven...reveals him as a skillful manipulator of disturbing visual images and a screenwriter adept at sustaining a mood of impending doom.
—New York Times
AmnesiA, directed by Martin Koolhoven (Winter in Wartime, Brimstone), is a psychological mystery thriller in which a photographer (Fedja van Huêt) returns home to find his family's dark secrets uncovered. Winner of the Golden Calf Award for Best Actor for dual role by Fedja van Huêt (Character, Speak No Evil). Debut feature film of Carice van Houten (Black Book, Game of Thrones). Cult Epics presents AmnesiA in a newly restored 4K High-definition transfer and a plethora of bonus features.
"An original, intelligent thriller, well-directed by Joel Schumacher"
—Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
SOME LINES SHOULDN'T BE CROSSED. Known for his impressively eclectic filmography and for helping to launch the careers of several young Hollywood stars of the 80s and 90s, Joel Schumacher (The Lost Boys, St. Elmo's Fire) tackles the existential question that, at one time or another, haunts us all: what awaits us after we die? At the University Hospital School of Medicine, five ambitious students subject themselves to a daring experiment: to temporarily induce their own deaths, hoping to glimpse the afterlife before being brought back to life. But as competition within the group intensifies and their visions of the world beyond increasingly bleed into their waking lives, they're about to learn that the greatest threat comes not from the spirit world but from the long-suppressed secrets of their own pasts... Stylishly photographed by Jan de Bont (Basic Instinct) and featuring a cast of Hollywood's hottest talent - including Kiefer Sutherland (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me), Julia Roberts (Secret in their Eyes) and Kevin Bacon (Wild Things) - Flatliners is the ultimate life-and-death thrill ride.
Death Has Blue Eyes is a gripping paranormal action thriller with shades of giallo from the director of the cult classic video nasty Island of Death (1976).
When local gigolo Chess (Chris Nomikos) greets his vacationing friend Bob Kovalski (Peter Winter) at Athens airport, the pair embark on a string of scams and erotic dalliances that eventually lead them into contact with an elegant wealthy woman, Geraldine Steinwetz (Jessica Dublin), and her glamorous daughter Christine (Maria Aliferi). Geraldine blackmails the two cheeky bachelor boys into acting as bodyguards for Christine, whom it transpires has telepathic abilities and has had her eye on them for some time. After fleeing from a series of assassination attempts, it soon becomes clear that Geraldine herself might not be quite whom she seems, as the two young men find themselves caught up in a political conspiracy of international dimensions.
In his debut feature, maverick filmmaker Nico Mastorakis presents us with a generous meze of non-stop car, bike and helicopter chases, a bevy of beautiful girls with guns, sensational softcore sex scenes, psychic thrills and Cold War political intrigue set against the picturesque landscapes of 70s Greece, all presented for the very first time in a new HD master in both widescreen and full-frame versions.
"In pairing the aftermath of a natural disaster with the minefield that is female adolescence, it proves its own surreal, savage and superbly performed creation."
- Sarah Ward, Screen International
LADYWORLD stars Ariela Barer, Annalise Basso (CAPTAIN FANTASTIC), Ryan Simpkins (BRIGSBY BEAR, THE HOUSE), Odessa Adlon, Maya Hawke (STRANGER THINGS Season 3), Tatsumi Romano, Zora Casebere and Atheena Frizzell. Written by Amanda Kramer and Benjamin Shearn, and produced by Love & Death Productions' Leal Naim and Thomas R. Burke alongside Amanda Kramer, the film is a modernized all-girl story inspired by LORD OF THE FLIES.
In LADYWORLD, eight teenage girls become trapped in an endless birthday party after a massive earthquake. The girls' sanity and psyches dissolve as they run out of food and water. Eventually, they regress to their basic instincts, exploiting each other's fears and insecurities.
The film enjoyed recent success on the festival circuit, including BFI London Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, TIFF Next Wave, Denver Film Festival, and SF Indie Fest.
Cleopatra Entertainment will theatrically release LADYWORLD nationwide on August 2nd, followed by a VOD / Home Entertainment DVD release on August 27th.
Additionally, the film will have an East Coast Premiere on Friday, August 2nd at the Cinema Village, New York, NY and a West Coast Premiere also on Friday, August 2nd at the Arena Cinelounge in Los Angeles, CA with a Q&A with Director Amanda Kramer and cast.
Lightyear Entertainment presents the Australian production Goldstone, a noir thriller set in the Outback. The film was written, directed, shot, edited and composed by Ivan Sen.
Indigenous Detective Jay Swan (Aaron Pedersen, Mystery Road) arrives in the frontier town of Goldstone on a missing persons inquiry. What seems like a simple investigation opens a web of crime, corruption, trampling of indigenous people's land rights, and human trafficking. Jay must pull his life together and bury his differences with young local cop Josh (Alex Russell, SWAT), so together they can bring justice to Goldstone.
Also starring 2-time Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver (Animal Kingdom, Silver Linings Playbook) as the corrupt mayor, David Wenham (Lord of the Rings) as the greedy mine director, David Gulpilil (Crocodile Dundee) as the indigenous man who can't be bought, and Cheng Pei-Pei (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) as the unscrupulous madam.
Goldstone was nominated for five Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards for Best Film, Best Direction, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing and Best Production Design.
MICHAEL JACKSON’S THRILLER IS THE FIRST ALBUM CERTIFIED RIAA 30X MULTI-PLATINUM, THE KING OF POPMAKES HISTORY (AGAIN)!
THRILLER REMAINS THE BIGGEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME, TOPPING 100 MILLION SALES WORLDWIDE
I'm sure Michael Jackson is Moon Walking in his grave right now.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the Estate of Michael Jackson, Epic Records and Legacy Recordings announced today that Michael Jackson’sTHRILLER is the first album in RIAA Gold & Platinum Program history to be certified 30X multi-Platinum for U.S. sales, continuing The King of Pop’s reign as the biggest selling artist of all time with worldwide sales of over 100 million forThrillerand 1 billion overall.
“RIAA has awarded Gold & Platinum records on behalf of the music business for nearly 60 years, but this is the first time an artist has crossed the 30X multi-Platinum plateau,” said Cary Sherman, Chairman & CEO, RIAA. “We are honored to celebrate the unique status ofThrillerin Gold & Platinum history. What an exceptional achievement and testament toThriller’s enduring spot in our hearts and musical history.”
Michael Jackson’s masterpiece Thriller, produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson, won a record setting 8 Grammys, more than any album ever, and has been earning awards and setting new standards of success since its release on November 30, 1982. Thriller spent nearly 2 ½ years on the Billboard album chart and holds a modern day record of 37 weeks at No. 1. It was the first album in history to spend each of its first 80 weeks in the album chart’s Top 10, a feat only reached by one other album in the more than three decades since. During its 112th week on Billboard’s album chart, it became the first title ever to be certified RIAA 20X multi-Platinum (October 30, 1984). Worldwide, Thriller went to #1 in practically every country in the world, including the UK, France, Italy, Australia, Denmark, Belgium, South Africa, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and apartheid South Africa.
The album was acclaimed for its range and depth. Rolling Stone referred to the album as a “watershed” moment for Michael, and Newsweek prophetically wrote that “Michael’s voice haunts these songs, gives them heart…It is what will make this music endure.” Seven tracks from the album became Top 10 singles, and three, “Beat It,” “Billie Jean,” and “Thriller,” went No. 1. ALL nine assumed a permanent place in hearts and memories of everyone on the planet.
Thriller
More than just an album, Thriller has remained a global cultural multi-media phenomenon for both the 20th and the 21st centuries, smashing musical barriers and changing the frontiers of pop forever. The music on Thriller is so dynamic and singular that it defied any definition of rock, pop or soul that had gone before. “Beat It” was a new kind of pop-rock hybrid and demolished the longstanding segregation between black and white music with Eddie Van Halen’s incendiary guitar. On “The Girl Is Mine,” a black man and a white man bantered about the same girl. On the same album were songs like the African-rooted “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” and the rhythm and blues-based “Billie Jean.” No one had ever released an album with such a vast range of material.
“Perhaps Michael’s most significant racial trailblazing came with music videos,” wrote Joe Vogel in Man in the Music. Fascinated with the fledgling art form, Michael wanted to tell a story and entertain on a grand scale. Despite the luscious cinematography, dramatic narrative and spectacular choreography of “Billie Jean,” a fledgling MTV, which was programming white rock artists almost exclusively, refused to play it. Epic persisted. Once the wall came crashing down, MTV’s ratings soared and a door was opened for a generation of African American artists. “He was MTV’s Jackie Robinson,” said cultural critic Touré. Next, came the unforgettable short film for “Beat It,” which featured Michael bringing two gangs together through the power of music and dance. And then there was “Thriller.” Premiered at the AVCO Theatre in Los Angeles in 1983, it sold out every night for three weeks. No other video before or since has generated such excitement and has such a hold on our attention, such that more than 30 years later we all share it as a collective memory and it remains the only music video to be inducted into the elite National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
The importance of Thriller was recognized by Michael Jackson’s industry peers at the Grammys. Thriller was nominated in a record-breaking 12 categories, and won a history making eight, which stands as the record for most Grammy Awards to be won by any album. Seven of those Grammys that year were awarded to Michael for: Album of the Year; Record of the Year ("Beat It"); Best Male Pop Vocal Performance ("Thriller"); Best Engineered Recording, Non-Classical (Thriller); Best Male Rock Vocal Performance ("Beat It"); Best Male R&B Vocal Performance ("Billie Jean"); Best R&B Song ("Billie Jean"). (Michael's eighth Grammy that year was in the Best Recording for Children - Single or Album, Musical or Spoken category for "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial"). That same year, Michael Jackson took home eight American Music Awards and three MTV Video Music Awards. The following year, "The Making of Michael Jackson's Thriller" took home the Best Video Album trophy at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards.
It's time to get your witch on! Thus it must be Halloween, Yay! This is the time of year we turn and face the strange with open arms. It's also when our thoughts turn to music along the lines of Michael Jackson's Thriller & Bobby Pickett's Monster Mash.
Every year on Entertain Me we celebrate with the song Witchcraft covered by it's resident chanteuse Sandy with a "Y" not "E" Zacky.
Originally recorded by Frank Sinatra, Ms. Zacky's rendition is flawless and her vocals are on par with old blues eyes crooning.
Check out our one one one chat we had a few years back here on EM.
Violinist extraordinaire & YouTube
sensation, Lindsey Stirling has hit the road, for the very first to
to sold out venues across the United States! She has a
few other first too, her self titled album hit number on the iTunes
Electronic chart...
Oh, and she dethroned the reigning
Queen of YouTube – Her Royal Highness Taylor Swift by passing 137
Million views on her Lindsey Stomp channel.
Here to get spooky is Ms. Lindsey Stirling...!
MS: So, your debut album “Lindsey
Stirling” is all original material, correct?
LS: Yes, I was so excited to release it
some of the material I wrote some a while ago and some of it I wrote
recently.
MS: While I know you must love all the
songs you put on there, give me some that are highlights for you
personally.
LS: “Zi Zi's Journey” was one I
wrote a while back, it was fun for me because “Zi Zi” was my
nickname, It has the feeling of an animae film theme song. In fact I
want to do an animae video for it with the character “Zi Zi”
resembling me. The other newer one I wrote is a Halloween-esque once
called “Moon Trance” which I am shooting the video for soon.
MS: Tis' the season, so I have to ask,
are you a big fan of Halloween?
LS Yes! I love dressing up in costumes,
I make my own for my videos, I made my first Halloween costume when I
was eight. I was a kangaroo, I made the ears the feet, the whole body
and of course the pouch so I have people put my candy in it. When I
look back I kind of go “Wow that was pretty impressive for an eight
year old”. (laughs) One year my friends and I dressed up as Fairy
Nerds, we had broken wands held together with masking tape. (laughs)
MS: Do you like scary movies too?
LS: Oh no, my imagination is way to
active, I would lay in bed at night awake and freak out! (laughs)
MS: Mine was like that when I was in my
twenties too, I think you will get over it when you are older
(laughs) What are some of the images and ideas you have for your
“Moon Trance” video?
LS: I'd like it to be something like
the “Thriller” video with a lot of people dancing looking like
creatures, I love that song and think doing something along those
lines will look great and be a lot of fun.
