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Kaitlyn Dever stars as infamous scammer Belle Gibson in “Apple Cider Vinegar” — a woman who built a business empire on a fake cancer diagnosis.

As Belle lies her way through several business launches, she weaves a complex web of deceit with cancer patients, associates, friends and even her on partner. Dever stars in “Apple Cider Vinegar” alongside Alycia Debnam-Carey, Ashley Zukerman, Aisha Dee, Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Mark Coles Smith and Phoenix Raei.

Keep on reading for the full breakdown of all the characters in “Apple Cider Vinegar,” and where you’ve seen them before.

Kaitlyn Dever as Belle in “Apple Cider Vinegar” (Netflix)

Kaitlyn Dever as Belle Gibson

Kaitlyn Dever stars Belle Gibson, a troubled young woman who pretends to have brain cancer in hopes of gaining more attention in personal life, before the lie grows as she develops an app and book for healthy eating, using her trials and tribulations...

London is set to become the capital of fear this winter as the Soho Horror Film Festival makes its eagerly awaited return for 2024. With an expanded hybrid format, this year’s festival promises to be the biggest yet, delivering a chilling mix of in-person and online scares across two weekends. Kicking off at Brixton’s Whirled Cinema from 22nd to 24th November, the festival then moves online for its Sohome Horror Film Festival from 28th November to 1st December, offering fans a ghoulish feast of over 80 films from 17 countries.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Blair Witch Project, the festival will showcase an exceptional strand of found footage films. Leading the charge is the international premiere of Tim Kasher’s Who’s Watching, a disturbing tale of obsession starring Zachary Ray Sherman. Horror fans can also expect chills from Stuart Ortiz’s documentary Strange Harvest: Occult Murder in the Inland Empire,...

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It’s What’s Inside is a sci-fi comedy horror film written and directed by Greg Jardin. The Netflix film revolves around a group of college friends who reunite before one of them gets married but the arrival of an uninvited guest with a mysterious suitcase starts to tear the group apart. It’s What’s Inside stars Alycia Debnam-Carey, Gavin Leatherwood, James Morosini, Reina Hardesty, David W. Thompson, Madison Davenport, Nina Bloomgarden, Hailee Keanna Lautenbach, and Brittany O’Grady. So, if you loved the thrilling suspense, compelling characters, and an intensely dramatic story with a tinge of comedy in It’s What’s Inside here are some similar movies you should check out next.

Talk To Me (Paramount+ & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – A24

Talk To Me is a supernatural horror thriller film directed by Danny and Michael Philippou from a screenplay...

Updated: It’s official. Netflix has confirmed Yerin Ha will join the Season 4 cast of Bridgerton as the love interest for Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson). As was previously reported (see below), Ha will portray Sophie Baek, a name change from Sophie Beckett in the book series, to reflect Ha’s Korean heritage. Sophie has a slow burn romance with Benedict in Julia Quinn’s novel An Offer From a Gentleman, on which Season 4 will be based.

This is not the first time Bridgerton has changed the name of a character from the books. In Season 2, Kate Sheffield’s surname was changed to Sharma to reflect the character’s Indian heritage.

The streamer also unveiled a first-look teaser featuring Ha as Sophie. Watch it below.

Your Sophie has finally arrived. Please welcome Yerin Ha to Bridgerton Season 4! pic.twitter.com/sHZMZIPhTD

— Netflix (@netflix) September 11, 2024

Previous, August 16: Bridgerton has courted Yerin...

“Bridgerton” has cast Yerin Ha as Benedict Bridgerton’s love interest for Season 4.

According to sources, Ha will play Sophie Beckett in the upcoming season of the hit Shondaland-Netflix series. As previously announced, Season 4 will tell Benedict’s (Luke Thompson) love story and will be based on the events of Julia Quinn’s third “Bridgerton” novel, “An Offer From a Gentleman.”

Reps for Netflix and Shondaland declined to comment. Reps for Ha did not immediately respond to request for comment.

Per the official logline for the season, “The fourth season of ‘Bridgerton’ turns its focus to bohemian second son Benedict. Despite his elder and younger brothers both being happily married, Benedict is loath to settle down — until he meets a captivating Lady in Silver at his mother’s masquerade ball.”

Beckett is the “Lady in Silver.” In the novel, she is the illegitimate daughter of an earl and one his maids.

An upcoming independent horror film with Hereditary and The Conjuring vibes is creeping its way toward screens. Screenwriter Lila McLaughlin is stepping behind the camera for her directorial debut, shooting from a script she wrote that sounds bone-chilling in all the best ways. Joining McLaughlin for Don’t Let Them Out are Emily Rios, Louis Ferreira, and Bonnie Root as primary cast members.

According to Deadline‘s exclusive report, Don’t Let Them Out follows “a struggling woman who journeys to a property she has inherited in hopes of selling it to pay off her debts. But upon arriving to the property, the story takes a terrifying turn when the woman is lured into a desperate scavenger hunt down a perilous rabbit hole.”

McLaughlin and Root are teaming up to produce Don’t Let Them Out, which is soon to end production. Seasoned editor Eric Strand joins the team after...

I love a twisted party-horror flick like Talk to Me, Bodies Bodies Bodies, or the incredibly underrated +1 (aka Plus One but not the Jack Quaid and Maya Erskine movie), which might explain my adoration of Greg Jardin’s It’s What’s Inside. You might recognize the title for its astounding $17 million sale to Netflix out of Utah’s Sundance Film Festival, which is money well spent for the streamer. Jardin writes, directs, and edits a shifty yet cleanly conveyed science fiction thriller that feels akin to the functional simplicity of Shane Carruth’s Primer meets a boozy [redacted as per filmmaker and studio wishes]. Filmmakers who’ve tackled similarly fantastical concepts have stumbled over needlessly complicated narratives, while Jardin focuses on digital-age comedics and dire consequences that entertain with ease.

We first meet struggling couple Shelby (Brittany O'Grady) and Cyrus “The Virus” (James Morosini): stagnant, physically starved "lovers" who get into heated arguments about when to have sex.

In the wake of last week’s mega-sized patch, brand new content is headed to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre video game in the coming weeks. Let’s first recap for a second here.

The following content will be added to the game throughout the next 2 months…

New Execution Packs with “turned up” brutality. New Weapon Skins for the family members. New Cosmetics for family & victims. New Victim. New Family Member. Museum Mode to explore the family house. *Free* “Shirtless Johnny” Outfit. *Free* “Bride Sissy” Outfit. *Free* New Map: The Mill. *Free*

Gun Interactive has taken to social media this week to provide first-look previews at two of these updates, giving us a sneak peek at the new Johnny and Sissy outfits.

Available Free to all players, Shirtless Johnny and Bride Sissy are coming soon.

The game features classic villains from the movies as well as new family members, and...

The team at Gun Interactive hopped on a live Twitch stream this afternoon to tease what’s coming to The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, including “over 150” patches and fixes that are expected somewhere in the ballpark of February 6. But that’s not all, as New Content is also coming soon, and a whole bunch of it was previewed by Gun during the stream today.

The following content will be added to the game throughout the next 90 days…

New Execution Packs with “turned up” brutality. New Weapon Skins for the family members. New Cosmetics for family & victims. New Victim. New Family Member. Museum Mode to explore the family house. *Free* “Shirtless Johnny” Outfit. *Free* “Bride Sissy” Outfit. *Free* New Map: The Mill. *Free*

You can preview brand new map “The Mill” below, which is said to be quite a bit different than the existing maps. With its vertical design, it’ll provide unique gameplay opportunities.

Pink and blue hues overwhelmed the stretch of Sunset Boulevard outside Netflix on Thursday as the “Trans Takeover” picket drew at least 200 writers and allies to address concerns about trans employment and how the community is portrayed in pop culture.

“Trans people are workers too. We’re in solidarity with the labor movement around the world and we are showing up in ways that we are often not depicted,” said writer Jacob Tobia, whose credits include the Showtime pilot “Sissy.” “Strikes are moments where you redefine who is at the table, and we want to be sure that we’re sending a really strong message to the world that we’re at the table now and we want to stay at the table.”

Tobia and others noted that the hostile backlash to LGBT rights, particularly for trans and nonbinary people, in states including Texas and Tennessee has come on the...

The Dutch comedy duo of Steffen Haars and Flip van der Kuil have a new project heading our way -- and it stars some pretty recognizable faces. Nick Frost has been tapped to lead the pair's first English-language feature, which is already gaining some pretty intense buzz. In a statement to Variety, Haars and van der Kuil said, "It's a dream come true working with this amazing, talented cast on our most insane movie yet." That's one hell of a claim considering these are the folks who made the cocktail of absurdity and vulgarity known as "Ron Goossens, Low Budget Stuntman."

Frost also spoke with Variety and said, "'Krazy House' has been a completely bonkers project to be a part of and I've absolutely loved every minute of it." This is also certainly quite a claim, as Nick Frost is somewhat synonymous with wild, wacky, and wonderful comedy films.

Sore Winners and Losers 2.

Back in December, Trace and I opened up voting in the fourth annual “Hereditaries” (named after Toni Collette’s Hereditary omission), our version of the horror Oscars. Our supporters on Patreon helped us narrow down the shortlist in 18 categories and then the public at large, including folks on this site, voted on the winners throughout December 2022.

Going into the voting, blockbusters like Nope and Scream (2022) lead the nominations with 10 each, alongside other popular films like Barbarian, Smile, and Orphan: First Kill.

Now it’s time to reveal who won in the following categories:

Best Wide Release Best Indie Release Best Under The Radar Film Best Non-English Language Horror Film Best Horror TV Show Best Queer Horror – New for 2022 Best First Feature Director Best Director Best Lead Performance Best Supporting Performance Best Ensemble Mvp 2022 – New for 2022 Best Creature Design Best Villain Best Sequence Most Painful (Non-Fatal) Injury...

Screen Producers Australia on Thursday announced nominees in 13 categories for its annual Spa Awards. Eligible works must have screened between July 2021 and December 2022.

In the running for feature film of the year are: “The Drover’s Wife – The Legend of Molly Johnson” (Oombarra Productions and Bunya Productions), “Here Out West” (Co-Curious), “The Power of the Dog” (See-Saw Films), “The Stranger” (See-Saw Films and Blue-Tongue Films), “Sissy” (Arcadia), “Gold” (Deeper Water Films), “How to Please A Woman” (Feisty Dame Productions and Such Much Films) and “Interceptor” (Ambience Entertainment).

In the hunt for the best drama series accolade are: “Heartbreak High” (Netflix) from Fremantle Australia; “Bump” season 2 (Stan) from Roadshow Rough Diamond; “The Twelve” (Foxtel and Binge) from Easy Tiger Productions and Warner Bros. International Television Production Australia; “Firebite” (ABC) from See-Saw Films; “Mystery Road: Origin” (ABC) from Bunya Productions; “Significant Others” (ABC) from Fremantle Australia; “Troppo” (ABC) from...

Click here to read the full article.

When Harry Met Sally …, Iron Man, The Little Mermaid, Hairspray, House Party and Carrie are among the 25 cinematic gems chosen this year for the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, it was announced Wednesday.

Also voted in: Cyrano de Bergerac (1950), which made José Ferrer the first Hispanic actor to win the Oscar for best actor; Stanley Donen‘s Charade (1963), starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant; the documentaries Titicut Follies (1967) from Frederick Wiseman and Union Maids (1976) from the recently deceased Julia Reichert; Super Fly (1972), the blaxploitation classic starring Ron O’Neal; and The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982), starring Edward James Olmos.

The latest selections span the years 1898 (a film about a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans) to 2011 (Pariah, directed by Dee Rees) and include at least 15 films directed or co-directed by filmmakers of color, women or LGBTQ+ filmmakers.

TCM will screen some of the inductees starting at 5 p.

The 12th annual Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) Awards was held at The Hordern in Sydney’s iconic Entertainment Quarter on Wednesday, December 7, where Baz Luhrmann‘s “Elvis” dominated the star-studded ceremony, with four wins: Best Picture, Luhrmann for Best Direction, Austin Butler for Best Actor and Olivia DeJonge for Best Supporting Actress. Add in its lucky seven wins at the creative arts ceremony, and its haul totals a whopping 11 awards.

The musical biopic triumphed in the top category of the night over George Miller’s “Three Thousand Years of Longing,” starring nominees Idris Elba and Tilda Swinton, actor/director Leah Purcell’s “The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson” (for which Purcell took home the Best Lead Actress prize), anthology film “Here Out West” and horror comedy “Sissy.”

Sean Harris took home Best Supporting Actor for Netflix’s psychological drama “The Stranger” (in a...

The 12th annual Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (Aacta) Awards unveiled its Industry Awards in Sydney on Monday, celebrating the best of the Australian film and television industry across a spectrum of creative arts categories. It will be followed by the star-studded main ceremony, which will take place at The Hordern in Sydney’s iconic Entertainment Quarter on Wednesday, December 7, hosted by acclaimed Aussie comedian and actress Amanda Keller.

See dozens of interviews with 2023 awards contenders

Oscar-nominated director Baz Luhrmann (“Moulin Rouge!”) and his team behind musical biopic “Elvis” cleaned up at the creative arts event, taking home seven trophies, including for 2022 Aacta Longford Lyell Award recipient (and two-time Oscar winner) Catherine Martin, who claimed the awards for Best Costume Design and Best Production Design. “Elvis” Dp Mandy Walker also shattered records Monday when she became the first woman ever to win the Best Cinematography award.

“Elvis” is...

Horror fans looking for something new to stream this October are in luck, as we’ve got the rundown of where to stream 79 horror movies from 2022.

The slasher “X” and “The Black Phone” with Ethan Hawke — which are both set in the ’70s — are now on streaming, as is Jordan Peele’s “Nope,” David Cronenberg’s “Crimes of the Future” and Rob Zombie’s take on classic ’60s sitcom “The Munsters.”

And you may have missed these foreign films: “The Innocents,” a Norwegian movie about children who misuse their supernatural powers; Austria’s “Luzifer,” which earned lead Franz Rogowski a Best Actor award at Fantastic Fest; Dutch folk horror film “Moloch;” “The Sadness,” an extreme body horror/zombie movie from Taiwan; “Saloum” from Senegal, which The Guardian called “slick gangster horror in wild west Africa;” and “Speak No Evil,” in which a get-together with a couple from Denmark and one...

Stars: Gillian Alexy, Luke Ford, Téa Heathcote-Marks, Nick Atkinson, Alexandra Nell, Ryan Panizza | Written by Andrew Slattery, Adam Enslow, Dane Millerd | Directed by John V. Soto

As the Australian thriller Avarice begins Kate Matthews is not living her best life. Her husband Ash spends so much time at his job that it’s affecting their marriage. And daughter Sarah (Téa Heathcote-Marks) is a typical teen which seems to be more than Kate can handle. Worst of all, the stress from all this made her miss an easy shot and place second in the local archery tournament.

She’s even less amused when Ash takes a call from the office on what is supposed to be their vacation to tell him they just closed a big deal. And that no one can get a hold of Tom. We know why they can’t and pretty soon Kate and her family will...

Ten months ago, we heard that the Texas Chainsaw Massacre video game being developed by Gun Interactive and Sumo Nottingham will be introducing killers other than the Leatherface, Cook, and Hitch-Hiker characters from the original Chainsaw film (watch it Here). Killer characters that haven’t been seen in any of the movies. Now the folks at Game Spot have made their way through an alternate reality game experience that led them to the reveal of two of those new killer characters: Johnny and Sissy. Click over to Game Spot to find out how you can experience the Arg yourself, and scroll down to the bottom of this article to get a look at Johnny and Sissy.

Game Spot notes that Johnny and Sissy “were created by Gun in collaboration with Kim Henkel, the movie’s original screenwriter and rightsholder.” As Gun’s creative director Ronnie Hobbs said last year, “As interesting as The Cook,...

This year's Aacta Award for Best Film will be a contest between Baz Luhrmann’s 'Elvis', George Miller’s 'Three Thousand Years of Longing', Leah Purcell’s 'The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson', Thomas M. Wright's 'The Stranger', Western Sydney anthology feature 'Here Out West', and Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes' horror 'Sissy'.

The post More Aacta nominations for ‘Elvis’, ‘Mystery Road: Origin’ appeared first on If Magazine.

It's Halloween season and even though horror fans can't wait to watch the conclusion to the latest Laurie Strode and Michael Myers confrontation in Halloween Ends, there are plenty of 2022 horror movies that might have stayed under the radar that fans of the genre would most definitely like to check out.

From innovative found footage films to chilling witchcraft stories, there are movies for all tastes to binge-watch in the spookiest time of the year. These are the quality horror movies that are worth a watch despite not being a major release or having a lot of hype behind them.

You Won't Be Alone Available To Rent On Vudu

For Halloween night itself, You Won't Be Alone makes a great movie with its new take on witchcraft. The film is set in 19th-century Macedonia, where a young shape-shifting witch accidentally kills a peasant. Assuming the peasant's shape, she sets out...

It's high time that someone rewrote Andy Williams' hit single "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" to be about Halloween instead of the godforsaken hellscape known as Christmas. With October officially in bloom and everyone currently scrambling to figure out what to wear this All Hallow's Eve, there's no better time to curl up with a good scary movie. Fortunately, every streaming service understands the value of a good horror movie in October, and the options for one good scare are limitless. Whether it's ghosts, aliens, slashers, psychological nightmares, or even animals run amok, there's absolutely something for everyone.

The classic holiday favorites like "Halloween," "Trick 'r Treat," "Psycho," "The Exorcist," and "The Shining" have all been recommended time and time again, but there's a rich throng of horror movies ready and waiting for your viewing pleasure. To make things even sweeter, 2022 has been a banger year for horror,...

Frank, ya basic!

After looking at two very different types of queer-coded bromances in Robert Eggers’ The Lighthouse and Rob Underwood’s Tremors, we took a trip to Poland to analyze the trans allegory in the mermaid horror musical The Lure. This week, we’re heading back into the twisted mind of Clive Barker to discuss his infamous directorial debut, Hellraiser, on the week of its 35th anniversary!

In the film, hedonist Frank (Sean Chapman) inadvertently opens a portal to hell when he tinkers with a box he bought while abroad. The act unleashes gruesome beings called Cenobites, who tear Frank’s body apart. When Frank’s brother Larry (Andrew Robinson) and his wife Julia (Clare Higgins) move into Frank’s old house, they accidentally bring what is left of Frank back to life. Frank then convinces Julia, his one-time lover, to lure men back to the house so he...

Sissy Review Video — Sissy (2022) Video Movie Review, a movie directed and written by Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes, and starring Aisha Dee, Yerin Ha, Lucy Barrett, Hannah Barlow, Victoria Hopkins, Alea O’Shea, Emily De Margheriti, Darcie Irwin-Simpson, Daniel Monks, Ryan Panizza, Jared Jekyll, and Michael Slater. Plot Synopsis Sissy‘s plot synopsis: [...]

Continue reading: Video Movie Review: Sissy (2022) – A Subtly Shocking Satire & The Messy Musings on the Miasma of the Modern Age...

Synopsis: Teen best friends Cecilia and Emma, after a decade run into each other. Cecilia is invited on Emma’s bachelorette weekend where she gets stuck in a remote cabin with her high school bully with a taste for revenge. Review: When confronted with past trauma, with your whole life’s work on the line, some might …

The post Film Review: Sissy (2022) appeared first on Horror News | Hnn.

Thank goodness Summer is nearly over. Who's with us? High five? Anyone?   Alas, the days will become shorter and the air crisper but do not dwell on the absence of light and heat but bask in the glow and warmth of a bounty of horror goodness in Shudder's The Home For Halloween event.   The 61-day Halloween celebration starts on September 1st and concludes on Halloween night, October 31st. The program will include eleven Shudder original films and premieres, a new Job Bob Briggs Halloween special and three new series. Shudder's cup overfloweth.    The originals and premieres include Ressurection, Deadstream, Speak No Evil, Flux Gourmet and Sissy - all films lauded here on our pages. We already knew that the new V/H/S/99 film...

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

"We made a horror film and it's found this wonderful audience. It's definitely unexpected. And I wouldn't even necessarily say that our film is a straight horror film, but obviously as soon as you squash someone's head, it tends to not really fall in any other genre, no matter what the rest of the movie's about."

The post Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes on the joy of genre mashing with ‘Sissy’ appeared first on If Magazine.

Sissy

Few genre film this year have made quite as much impact as Sissy, an Australian horror comedy with important subtext about bullying, social media, and how we process our negative experiences. It stars Aisha Dee as the title character (who now prefers to be called Cecilia), a young woman who has built up a following as an internet self-help guru, whose carefully constructed world falls apart when she once again comes face to face with the girls who made her miserable at school. Stylistically informed by the slasher movies of the Eighties and Nineties, it takes a slightly different approach as a series of violent altercations are seen from the perspective of this troubled lead.

“I think we wanted to expand the horror genre and the slasher tropes to subvert them some in some way,” says co-director Hannah Barlow, who also stars in the film as Cecilia’s sometime best.

There’s a moment in the Netflix film “The Old Guard” where Marwan Kenzari is sitting, handcuffed in a car, surrounded by guards, next to his partner passed out. And a shitty cop says “what is he, your boyfriend?.” All the cops giggle like morons. And then, Marwan proceeds to give one of the most beautiful speeches about love, ending in, “he’s not my boyfriend, he’s all and he’s more.” And then they kiss. And oh, what a kiss. The next time you see them, they are walking out of that armored van having knocked out all the guards. Not only did that monologue make me cry, but I was so overwhelmed to finally see two openly gay characters in a superhero movie wax poetic about love and then kick major ass. It made me realize that that’s what I’m craving in cinema. I want us to be the superhero,...

Aaron Latham, the journalist, screenwriter and husband of CBS News veteran Lesley Stahl who penned the articles that served as the basis for the John Travolta films Urban Cowboy and Perfect, has died. He was 78.

Latham died Saturday at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Pennsylvania after a battle with Parkinson’s disease, his wife told The Hollywood Reporter. His health declined after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 in 2020, she added.

A native of Texas who wed Stahl in 1977, Latham worked for The Washington Post, Esquire, The New York Times and Rolling Stone, among other publications, during his career.

Urban Cowboy (1980) came from Latham’s Esquire piece that revolved around a romance between a mechanical-bull rider and a woman at the Houston-area nightclub Gilley’s. The real-life pair became Travolta’s Bud and Debra Winger’s Sissy in the box office hit.

Latham’s stories for Rolling Stone about young, single people...

Australian production and distribution firm Arcadia has begun development of non-fiction best-selling book “Stephanie Alexander and Maggie Beer’s Tuscan Cookbook” as a feature film.

Envisaged in the style of “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” or “Under the Tuscan Sun,” the feature film is currently in development and is being written by Australian film and television writer Katherine Thomson.

Written by two of Australia’s most celebrated cooks and food writers, and published by Penguin, “Tuscan Cookbook,” took readers on a journey, beginning in 1977 when the pair left Australia to open a cooking school in a villa outside of Siena. It records their time in Italy, the dishes cooked, the places visited, people who made it happen and the guests who joined for the ride.

Arcadia has optioned the film rights to both the “Tuscan Cookbook” and Stephanie’s Journal, Alexander’s account of 1997, which saw: the opening of the...

Odin’s Eye Entertainment has boarded “In Vitro,” an elevated sci-fi thriller starring Ashley Zukerman (“Succession” ) and Talia Zucker (“Lake Mungo”).

Pic is co-directed by Tom McKeith and Will Howarth, whose debut feature, “Beast,” was nominated for best first feature at the Toronto Film Festival in 2015. Odin’s Eye will introduce the new film to buyers for the first time during the Cannes Market.

The narrative of “In Vitro” is set on a remote cattle property in the near future, where a woman (Zucker) and her husband (Zukerman) have been experimenting with biotechnology and developing illegal breeding methods. It’s a mostly isolated existence for the couple, but when a series of unsettling occurrences take place, the woman is faced with the disturbing reality of just how far her husband will go for love. McKeith and Howarth co-wrote the script with Zucker.

“In Vitro” is produced by Arcadia and Fictious. Arcadia...

Charlotte Gainsbourg-starring “The Passengers of the Night” and Ralph Fiennes- and Jessica Chastain-starring “The Forgiven” are among the first batch of movies revealed by the Sydney Film Festival. The festival is planning an in-person event running 8-19 June, 2022.

Australian-produced titles include dance film “Keep Stepping”; “Sissy,” which mixes social media and horror; music title “Six Festivals”; and intimate portrait “The Plains,” which had its premiere in Rotterdam earlier this year.

The 22-film advanced lineup also leans heavily on other festival favorites. “Gentle” which premiered in Sundance; “Hinterland,” which won the audience award in Locarno last year; Peter Strickland’s “Flux Gourmet,” from the Berlinale; Kamila Andini’s “Yuni” winner of Toronto’s Platform award; “Private Desert,” audience award winner at Venice; documentary “Calendar Girls” from the recent Sundance and Cph:dox festivals; “Please Baby Please,” which opened the Rotterdam festival; “The Territory,” the documentary award-winner at Sundance; “Blue Moon,...

Sydney Film Festival has today unveiled the first 22 films on its line-up, with the event ready to return in-person during its traditional June dates for the first time since 2019. While 2021’s festival was only held last November, director Nashen Moodley hasn’t been deterred by the quick turnaround required to craft this year’s program. […]

The post ‘6 Festivals’, ‘Sissy’ on early Sydney Film Festival line-up appeared first on If Magazine.

Earlier this month, Australian filmmakers Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes celebrated the world premiere of their pitch-black horror comedy Sissy at the 2022 SXSW Film Festival. Co-written by both Senes and Barlow, the film’s story is centered around two estranged childhood best friends named Cecilia (Aisha Dee) and Emma (Barlow) who cross paths as adults, and their attempt to reconnect during Emma’s bachelorette weekend goes awry when Cecilia finds herself on the outs with Emma’s fiancée, Fran (Lucy Barrett), and the rest of her friends, culminating in a hellish experience for everyone.

While in Austin, Daily Dead had the opportunity to speak with the filmmakers and several members of the cast of Sissy about their experiences collaborating on the project, and during our conversation, we chatted about the inspirations behind the story, how and why Aisha Dee was the perfect person to take on the role of Cecilia,...

The AMC-owned horror streamer pounced on the film ahead of its world premiere at SXSW over the weekend, where it impressed critics with its sense of humour and performances - it has a 100 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes so far.

The post Shudder jumps on horror comedy ‘Sissy’ as film impresses at SXSW appeared first on If Magazine.

Sissy Review — Sissy (2022) Film Review from the 29th Annual South By Southwest Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes, starring Aisha Dee, Yerin Ha, Lucy Barrett, Hannah Barlow, Victoria Hopkins, Alea O’Shea, Emily De Margheriti, Darcie Irwin-Simpson, Daniel Monks, Ryan Panizza, Jared Jekyll, [...]

Continue reading: Film Review: Sissy: Social Media and Social Anxiety Blend in Murky Australian Horror [SXSW 2022]...

Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes' appropriately scorched-earth "Sissy" is more than a cautionary tale. As modern societal trends become horror's next flavor of the week, writer/director duo Barlow and Senes embrace influencer culture for all its toxic positivity. It's akin to "Superhost" or "Spree," where sociopaths chase audiences because they cannot connect in real life. Online communities promote safe spaces where outcasts can escape, but "Sissy" opts for graphic exploitation delirium to layer its warnings of healthy screen usage heavy-handedly. The film will be too fantastically overwhelming for some as realism strips away, but for those who love their videos nasty, it's an energetic breakdown with the widest...

The post Sissy Review: When Influencers Attack [SXSW] appeared first on /Film.

What is more real? The person you present to the outside world, or the person you hide and keep bottled up. Philosophically, it's tricky. They are both you, and they are both real. The latter might be the easy answer because it relies solely on the individual for confirmation, the the latter can is the face you present to the world and if that is everyone else's experience of a person, is that not also real, maybe even more real? Australian horror comedy Sissy asks the question, and the answer is just as messy as you might think in this glitter-bombed cabin-in-the-outback slasher from directors Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes. Cecelia (Aisha Dee) is an Instagram wellness influencer who goes by @SincerlyCecelia. She preaches balance,...

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

Supernatural Dark Comedy Jethica Releases First Clip Ahead of World Premiere at SXSW: "A supernatural dark comedy like you’ve never seen, Jethica was shot in New Mexico in January 2021, in the midst of the pandemic, and world premieres at SXSW in the Visions section. Jethica boldly blends and bends genres, all at once shining as a sharp comedy and dire stalker thriller with an undead edge.

The third feature from Pete Ohs, one of Filmmaker Magazine’s 2013 ‘25 New Faces of Independent Film’ and co-director of the award-winning Julia Garner lead sci-fi fable Everything Beautiful Is Far Away, the film stars Austin-raised actress Callie Hernandez, Will Madden, Ashley Denise Robinson (Taking Stock), and Andy Faulkner (Youngstown).

Conceived and created through radical approaches to filmmaking, Pete Ohs continues to push the boundaries of indie film, collaborating with his four leads on the script and story of Jethica, each of whom shares writing credits,...

Playing at SXSW this month, the Australian horror movie Sissy, written and directed by Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes, has been acquired by Shudder, Variety reports today. Variety notes in their report this afternoon, “Shudder will be the exclusive streamer for the film in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.” “Directors Hannah Barlow and […]

The post SXSW Horror-Comedy ‘Sissy’ Finds Exclusive Streaming Home at Shudder appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The hotly-anticipated Australian slasher Sissy will have its World Premiere tonight at the ongoing SXSW Film Festival. Written and directed by Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes, Bloody Disgusting caught up with the filmmakers to talk about their quirky and absolutely bonkers horror that will leave viewers #triggered. The film stars Aisha Dee as the title character who is invited […]

The post ‘Sissy’ Directors Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes Ask, What Genuinely Terrifies Millennials? [SXSW Interview] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Streaming service Shudder has acquired the rights to Australian horror-comedy film “Sissy” ahead of its premiere at SXSW in the Midnighters section on Friday.

“Sissy” tells the story of young friends Cecilia (Aisha Dee) and Emma (Barlow), who were inseparable until Alex (Emily De Margheriti) showed up. After Emma and Cecilia run into each other 12 years later, Emma invites Cecilia for weekend at a secluded cabin in the mountains, where Alex turns Cecilia’s weekend into a living nightmare. From writing-directing duo Hannah Barlow and Kane Senes, the film is produced by Arcadia, Dems Entertainment and Freedom Films.

Shudder, which specializes in horror, thriller and supernatural content, will be the exclusive streamer for the film in North America, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.

“Shudder is the perfect home for ‘Sissy’ and we look forward to continuing our partnership with them,” said Arcadia producer Lisa Shaunessy. “The team...

LevelK has boarded the buzzed-about Australian horror movie “Sissy” which have its world premiere at SXSW’s Midnighters section. The company is handling international sales on “Sissy,” while XYZ films is representing North American rights.

Penned and directed by Hannah Barlow (For Now) and Kane Senes, the film stars Aisha Dee (The Bold Type) as Cecilia, aka Sissy, a twenty-something girl whose best friend is Emma. The two were inseparable until Emma’s new friend Alex got in the way. Twelve years later, Cecilia is a successful social media influencer living the dream of an independent, modern millennial woman, until she runs into Emma for the first time in over a decade. Emma invites Cecilia away on her bachelorette weekend at a remote cabin in the mountains, where Alex proceeds to make Cecilia’s weekend a living hell.

“Sissy is a satirical nightmare directed at the self-victimizing child within all of us,...

Exclusive: Succession and The Lost Symbol actor Ashley Zukerman leads the sci-fi thriller feature In Vitro, which has just wrapped filming in regional New South Wales, Australia.

In the lead opposite Zukerman is Talia Zucker (Lake Mungo) alongside Will Howarth (Beast).

Set on a remote cattle property in the near future, the film follows Layla (Zucker) and her husband Jack (Zukerman), who have been experimenting with biotechnology and developing new farming methods. It’s a mostly isolated existence for the couple, but when a series of unsettling occurrences take place, they soon discover a disturbing presence on the farm that threatens to upend their lives.

In Vitro marks writer-directors Tom McKeith and Will Howarth’s follow-up to their debut feature Beast, which was nominated for Best First Feature at TIFF 2015. They co-wrote the script with Zucker.

Producers are Arcadia, the Australian production and distribution company behind Kodi Smit-McPhee sci-fi starrer 2067 and horror comedy Sissy,...

Barbarians: "Set over the course of twenty-four hours, Barbarians sees couple Adam (Rheon) and Eva (Moreno) wake up in their supposed dream house on Adam’s birthday. Lucas (Cullen), property developer and friend of the couple, arrives for dinner with his actress girlfriend Chloe (Spiridonov), to celebrate Adam's birthday and the couple’s buying of the house. But secrets unravel over dinner, and when the doorbell rings the evening takes a nightmarish turn. As manners give way to madness, an 'idyllic' evening of celebration descends into a dark night of terror; and the group's civilised dinner party turns out to be anything but."

In Theaters and On Demand April 1, 2022

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Sissy: "Cecilia and Emma were tween-age BFFs who were going to grow old together and never let anything come between them, until Alex arrived on the scene. Twelve years later, Cecilia is a successful social media influencer living the dream of an independent,...

In late 1999, I was walking down Ventura Boulevard in Sherman Oaks with my late producing partner Sharyn Lane after a day of editing Sordid Lives. We passed the Psychic Book Store and decided to go in and get a reading. We weren’t believers, but what the hell? We needed a sign. Something. We had just taken a big risk, had shot one of the first Hi-Def movies for about $500,000 (we raised from mainly friends with money) and quite frankly, we really didn’t know what the hell we were doing. I came from the theatre which had given me opportunities in television as well as a film adaptation of my second

play “Daddy’s Dyin’… Who’s Got The Will?” for MGM. “Sordid Lives” was also based on a hit play, but it was my first time to direct a film, Sharyn’s first time to produce and although we liked our little movie,...