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Weekend Movie Guide: After Dark Originals Herald A Whole Lotta Horror
The After Dark Film Festival is an annual showcase for new voices in horror. This year, they make the leap from distributors to producers with After Dark Originals. For one week only, Laemmle's Sunset screens these five fearsome features, some with filmmakers in tow. Here's the rundown:
- Prowl starts things bumping in the night with a handful of teens and a warehouse full of ghouls. Dread Central presents a Prowl post-mortem after Friday's 7:30PM screening with writer Tim Tori, and stars Courtney Hope and Ruta Gedmintas.
- Husk is an all-American slasher set in the amber waves of grain. Fans of the film Trick 'R Treat will be either pleased as punch or completely outraged that the prowler resembles Sam. Shock Til You Drop continues the maize-hem with a 9:30 Friday Q&A featuring director Brett Simmons, and stars CJ Thomason, Wes Chatham and Tim Losee.
- Seconds Apart is a telekinetic twin thriller with a two-for-one on terror. Bloody Disgusting breaks it down after the 9:30 Saturday show with writer George Richards, director Antonio Negret and stars Gary & Edmund Entin and Samantha Droke.
- Fertile Ground hearkens back to haunted house films like The Amityville Horror & After Dark's first theatrical release An American Haunting, with a bit of Rosemary's Baby thrown in for good measure. Writer/director Adam Gierasch is no stranger to the After Dark Film Festival; his gorefest Autopsy was featured in 2009, and his remake of Night of the Demons screened in some markets last year.
- The Task rounds out the After Dark Originals. The film skewers reality TV trappings with a group of money-hungry students whose staged challenges in a "haunted" prison go straight to hell. If they did that on Jersey Shore I'd watch every week!
Genre fans who can't make the trek have plenty to look forward to as well. Warner Bros.' The Rite leads the pack. The exercise in exorcism stars Anthony Hopkins as a priest training a skeptical student to battle demons in the Vatican. Another torch passing drives The Mechanic, as one elite assassin takes another under his wing. The film retools a 1972 Charles Bronson vehicle, which begs the question: can Jason Statham best Bronson? Which begs another question: who cares? He kicks a great deal of ass in his own right.
Speaking of ass-kicking, masters come no grander than Ip Man 2. The second in a series of biopics continues charting the life of Yip Man, who taught Bruce Lee everything he knew. The first Ip Man is available on Netflix Instant if you need a refresher. Or take a total testosterone break with From Prada to Nada; the East L.A. spin on Sense & Sensibility is the perfect counter-programming.
To see something even further off the beaten path, check out our weekly Film Calendar of specialty theatres, revival houses and midnight movies. See you at the movies!
Wide Release
- From Prada to Nada (Showtimes)
- The Mechanic (Showtimes)
- The Rite (Showtimes)
Limited Release
- Dil To Bachha Hai Ji (Laemmle's Fallbrook 7)
- Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance (Downtown Independent)
- Fertile Ground (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (After Dark Originals)
- Husk (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (After Dark Originals)
- Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster (Mann Chinese 6) (Rave Motion Picture 18)
- Prowl (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (After Dark Originals)
- Seconds Apart (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (After Dark Originals)
- A Somewhat Gentle Man (Nuart Theatre)
- The Task (Laemmle's Sunset 5) (After Dark Originals)
- VS: The Movie (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
- When We Leave (Laemmle's Music Hall 3)
Featured Trailers
Prowl
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Husk
Fertile Ground
The Task
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The Rite
The Mechanic
Ip Man 2: Legend of the Grandmaster
From Prada to Nada
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That's all for this week.
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