SUMMONING SYLVIA: "The Horror Collective is excited to announce the North American theatrical and TVOD release of their LGBTQ horror comedy Summoning Sylvia. Written and directed by Wesley Taylor (Smash, The Spongebob Musical) and Alex Wyse (Marvel’s Iron Fist, soon to join Broadway's Good Night, Oscar), the hair-raising romp tells the story of a gay bachelor party that takes a spooky turn when sinister spirits are suddenly summoned. The Horror Collective will release Summoning Sylvia in theaters nationwide March 31, 2023 and on Cable VOD and Digital HD April 7, 2023.
The cast of Summoning Sylvia includes Travis Coles (Superstore), Michael Urie (Younger), Frankie Grande (Henry Danger), Nicholas Logan (I Care a Lot), Troy Iwata (Dash & Lily), Noah Ricketts (American Gods), Sean Grandillo (Scream: The TV Series), Camden Garcia (Station 19), and Veanne Cox (You’ve Got Mail) as the titular specter."
Synopsis: "Summoning Sylvia tells the tale of Larry, who has been kidnapped by his three best friends for a bachelor weekend getaway at a haunted house. As they sashay through the dusty corridors, the comrades recount the house’s legend from a hundred years ago: a murderous woman named Sylvia slaughtered her son and buried him beneath the house's floorboards. But then Larry remembers that he was supposed to spend the weekend bonding with Harrison, his mysterious future brother-in-law. Horrified at his oversight, Larry invites the army-uniformed, hetero Harrison to join his gaggle’s gaycation, neglecting to run it by his friends. Later, as they hold a high-spirited séance to summon the sinister Sylvia, the group ends up welcoming more houseguests than they bargained for."
Summoning Sylvia will open for weeklong runs in markets nationwide on March 31. The film will be available on VOD beginning April 7.
---
HALLOWEEN TEAM #3 is Now Available: "HALLOWEEN TEAM Issue #3 (of 4) is now available to purchase digitally via Amazon/Comixology and GlobalComix (links below). Issues #1 and #2 are also still available for purchase, and a release date for the fourth and final issue of the miniseries will be announced soon! For more news and updates, follow @HalloweenTeam22 on Twitter or Halloween Team on Facebook."
Issue #3 Synopsis: "THE TEAM REUNITES! The mystery deepens in the extra-sized third issue of Halloween Team, as Tommy finally gets what he's long dreamed of: his old team, together once again. At their first official meeting in years, Halloween Team makes a plan to solve Greenwood's apparent demon problem - even as old friendships are rekindled and old wounds revisited. What have Casey, Chuck, and Ruby been up to all these years? Find out in this can't-miss penultimate installment of Halloween Team!"
About Halloween Team: "Years ago, five misfit kids banded together to form Halloween Team - a group dedicated to solving mysteries and hunting monsters in the small town of Greenwood, MA. Now, twenty years later, the kids are grown and lead separate lives - until a new mystery brings them together for one more adventure. And that adventure begins with this thrilling four-issue comic book series! If you're a fan of Stranger Things, Paper Girls, Buffy, or just love Halloween - you won't want to miss this!"
About the writer, Danny Baram: "Danny Baram is a writer for Film, TV, and comic books who loves big, fun, ambitious, action-packed genre stories – sci-fi, fantasy, and horror – that have relatable characters, plenty of humor, and lots of heart. Danny's stories tend to be filled with monsters, magic, alternate universes, and mind-bending musings about the nature of reality – but he also like to explore the everyday challenges, awkwardness, and uncertainties that we all face. Danny's written award-winning scripts like TV pilots Alt Alex and Simulation Theory, and feature scripts like Frank & Stein and Wylde. However, writing for comics and creating an original comic book has also long been a goal of his – and working on his new comic book series Halloween Team is, hopefully, just the tip of the iceberg. Originally from the small town of Bloomfield, CT - Danny now resides in the Los Angeles area."
About the artist, Matt Shults: "Matt is based in Austin, TX – and has extensive experience in comic art and illustration. His past comic book work includes the 5-issue series The Link (with writer Joey Cruz). He’s also been commissioned to create original poster art for trade shows, corporate events, concerts, and more. He’s got an expressive style that is bold and unique, but also places a premium on characters. Matt is handling pencils, inks, colors, AND letters (not to mention covers!) for Halloween Team."
To learn more and pick up Halloween Team #3, visit:
----
Fantaspoa 2023 Announces Poster Art and First Wave of Titles: "Fantaspoa Fantastic Film Festival triumphantly returns to the cinemas of Porto Alegre, Brazil from April 13 through April 30 of 2023, with this year’s massive festival being held in four theatrical venues - one of which is dedicated solely to short films! And as they have done in years past, a portion of the festival’s program will also be available to audiences online, geo-blocked for viewers within Brazil.
The stunning poster for this year's festival was conceived by filmmaker Elizabeth Schuch: with art inspired by 1920s Expressionist films alongside the inky illustrations of “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.” In her words, “We’ve been hidden away from the world, little solitary figures, and now we join together again to celebrate the joy of fantasy and imagination.”
Opening night of the festival will be a tribute to the 100th anniversary of Wallace Worsley’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame starring Lon Chaney, with the cinema classic receiving an all-new soundtrack by Argentinian guitar virtuoso Germán Suane. The closing night film will be the world premiere of Konstantinos Koutsoliotas' Lovecraftian monster musical craziness Minore.
This recipient of Fantaspoa 2023’s Career Achievement Award is prolific American filmmaker Mark L. Lester, who will join the festivities to screen three of his classics: Commando, Class of 1984, and Showdown in Little Tokyo.
According to festival director João Fleck and Nicolas Tonsho, Fantaspoa’s program becomes harder and harder to lock every year. “In 2023, we saw once again a significant increase in film entries - both in number and overall quality of the projects. We received over 800 entries, which is a huge figure for a genre film festival, especially one in Latin America. We are very proud to say that over 80% of our program has come directly from FilmFreeway entries, pointing towards a growing industry interest in Fantaspoa.”
Confirmed in-person guests at this year’s Fantaspoa currently include Ted Geoghegan (Brooklyn 45, Molli and Max in the Future), Michael Lukk Litwak (Molli and Max in the Future), Stefan Kubicki (Safe Space), Pablo Aragüés (Home Owners), Colton Van Til and Sophia Hoefle (Meltdown: A Nuclear Family’s Ascension into Madness), Ryland Tews and Quinn Hester (Hundreds of Beavers), Ryan Stevens Harris (Moon Garden), Serpil Altın and Korhan Ugur (Once Upon a Time in the Future: 2121), Rócio Mesa (Tobacco Barns), Maya Heble and Max Topplin (Fixation), Beth de Araújo (Soft and Quiet), Axel Ranisch (Orphea in Love), Caye Casas (The Coffee Table), Sadrac González-Perellón (Amazing Elisa), Paul Urkijo Alijo (Irati), Raúl Cerezo and Fernando González Gómez (The Elderly), Fabián Forte (Witch Game), Konstantinos Koutsoliotas and Elizabeth Schuch (Minore), Richard Elfman and Anastasia Elfman (Bloody Bridget), Luciana Mazeto and Vinícius Lopes (Ana’s Farewell), Alê Camargo and Camila Carrossine (Forbidden World), and Sabrina Greve (The Basement of Scream Street).
The festival's initial wave of 40 feature films contains three World Premieres, four International Premieres, 27 Latin American Premieres, and three Brazilian Premieres. These films represent a total of 25 countries and have played prestige festivals such as Annecy, Cannes, Fantastic Fest, Karlovy Vary, Moscow, Rotterdam, Sitges, SXSW, Tallin Black Nights, TIFF, and Tribeca.
Below are the first 40 feature films to be announced for the 2023 edition of Fantaspoa.
ABRUPTIO (d. Evan Marlowe. 2023, United States // Latin American Premiere)
AMAZING ELISA (d. Sadrac González-Perellón. 2022, Spain // Latin American Premiere)
ANA’S FAREWELL (d. Luciana Mazeto, Vinícius Lopes. 2022, Brazil // Regional Premiere)
BAD CITY (d. Kensuke Sonomura. 2022, Japan // Latin American Premiere)
BALLAD OF PIARGY (d. Ivo Trajkov. 2022, Slovakia, North Macedonia and Czech Republic // Latin American Premiere)
THE BASEMENT OF SCREAM STREET (d. Sabrina Greve. 2022, Brazil // Regional Premiere)
THE BEASTS (d. Rodrigo Sorogoyen. 2022, Spain // Regional Premiere)
THE BLACK SPIDER (d. Markus Fischer. 2022, Switzerland // Latin American Premiere)
BLOODY BRIDGET (d. Richard Elfman. 2022, United States // Latin American Premiere)
BROOKLYN 45 (d. Ted Geoghegan. 2023, United States // International Premiere)
THE COFFEE TABLE (d. Caye Casas. 2022, Spain // Latin American Premiere)
THE ELDERLY (d. Raúl Cerezo and Fernando González Gómez. 2022, Spain // Latin American Premiere)
FIST OF THE CONDOR (d. Ernesto Díaz Espinoza. 2023, Chile // Latin American Premiere)
FIXATION (d. Mercedes Bryce Morgan. 2022, United States // Latin American Premiere)
FORBIDDEN WORLD (d. Alê Camargo and Camila Carrossine; 2022, Brazil // Regional Premiere)
HALFWAY HOME (d. Isti Madarász. 2022, Hungary // International Premiere)
HOME OWNERS (d. Pablo Aragüés. 2022, Spain // Latin American Premiere)
HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS (d. Mike Cheslik. 2022, United States // Latin American Premiere)
IRATI (d. Paul Urkijo Alijo. 2022, Spain, France // Latin American Premiere)
KICK ME (d. Gary Huggins. 2022, United States // International Premiere)
A LIFE ON THE FARM (d. Oscar Harding. 2022, United Kingdom // Brazilian Premiere)
LINOLEUM (d. Colin West. 2022, United States // Latin American Premiere)
MELTDOWN: A NUCLEAR FAMILY’S ASCENSION INTO MADNESS (d. Colton Van Til. 2023, United States // World Premiere)
MINORE (d. Konstantinos Koutsoliotas, 2023, Greece // World Premiere)
MOLLI AND MAX IN THE FUTURE (d. Michael Lukk Litwak. 2023, United States // International Premiere)
MOON GARDEN (d. Ryan Stevens Harris. 2022, United States // National Premiere)
MY GRANDFATHER’S DEMONS (d. Nuno Beato. 2022, Portugal // Latin American Premiere)
NEXT EXIT (d. Mali Elfman. 2022, United States // Latin American Premiere)
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE FUTURE: 2121 (d. Serpil Altin. 2022, Turkey // Latin American Premiere)
ONE PERCENTER (d. Yûdai Yamaguchi. 2022, Japan // Latin American Premiere)
ORPHEA IN LOVE (d. Axel Ranisch. 2022, Germany // Latin American Premiere)
ROTTEN FLOWERS (d. Kasper Juhl. 2022, Denmark // Latin American Premiere)
SAFE SPACE (d. Stefan Kubicki. 2022, United States // Latin American Premiere)
SIREN (d. Junyong Ahn. 2022, Brazil // Latin American Premiere)
SOFT & QUIET (d. Beth de Araújo. 2022, United States // Latin American Premiere)
TOBACCO BARNS (d. Rocío Mesa. 2022, Spain // Latin American Premiere)
VESPER (d. Kristina Buozyte and Bruno Samper. 2022, France, Lithuania, and Belgium // Latin American Premiere)
VIRUS-32 (d. Gustavo Hernández. 2022, Uruguay and Argentina // Brazilian Premiere)
WE ARE STILL HERE (d. Chantelle Burgoyne, Beck Cole, Dena Curtis, Richard Curtis, Mario Gaoa, Danielle MacLean, Miki Magasiva, Renae Maihi, Tracey Rigney, and Tim Worrall. 2022, Australia and New Zealand // Latin American Premiere)
WITCH GAME (d. Fabián Forte. 2023, Argentina // World Premiere)"
---
ARROW Announces March 2023 SVOD Lineup: "In March ARROW are proud to take subscribers into a deep dive into the work of some of cinema's most eclectic and exciting filmmakers, including Dennis Hopper, Nicolas Roeg, Mike Hodges, Jeffrey Combs and more.
March 2023 Curated Seasons: Re-Animated: The Jeffrey Combs Collection, Nico Mastorakis: Hellas Raiser, Death By Stereo, Horror Movie Survival Guide Selects
Subscriptions are available for $6.99 monthly or $69.99 yearly. New subscribers can start a 30 day free trial.
ARROW is available in the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland on the following Apps/devices: Roku (all Roku sticks, boxes, devices, etc), Apple TV & iOS devices, Samsung TVs, Android TV and mobile devices, Fire TV (all Amazon Fire TV Sticks, boxes, etc), and on all web browsers at https://www.arrow-player.com.
With a slickly designed and user-friendly interface, and an unparalleled roster of quality content from westerns to giallo to Asian cinema, trailers, Midnight Movies, filmmaker picks and much, much more, ARROW is the place to go for the very best in on-demand entertainment."
Daily Dead's Official Podcast! Daily Dead's Official Podcast!
