Horror Highlights: Terror Films Teams Up with iflix, MONSTER HUNT DVD, THE PASSING, THE THING IN THE WOODS, Philip K. Dick Sci-Fi Film Fest

Terror Films and iflix recently forged a partnership to distribute films digitally in multiple global markets, including Unearthed and Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary. Also: Monster Hunt DVD release details, The Passing clips, Matthew Quinn's The Thing in the Woods, and the winners recap for the 5th Annual Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival.

Terror Films and iflix's Global Distribution Digital Deal: Press Release: "Los Angeles, California (Friday, May 26th, 2017): Genre distributor Terror Films has teamed up with the world’s leading Subscription Video on Demand (SVoD) service, for emerging markets, iflix. This newly formed partnership will allow the distributor to expand their digital reach into multiple territories within iflix’s footprint including South East Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, with future territories to be announced.

The films set to launch under the deal will include a wide variety from the label. They will include: the post- apocalyptic film, Antidote, the paranormal thriller Trace, the star-studded anthology Patient Seven; the Blumhouse.com praised, found footage film Hell House LLC, the Halloween house gone wrong teen horror House of Purgatory, the in-depth documentary into the making of Stephen King’s original “Pet Sematary” Unearthed and Untold: The Path to Pet Sematary and the recently released, award-winning, female-directed horror film Inner Demon. The films were released on May 18th in Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Myanmar, Brunei, Maldives, Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. The release phase into these additional countries will follow in the coming months.

The partnership is part of a strategic move to solidify Terror Films ability to distribute indie horror content to literally every corner of the globe.

To learn more about Terror Films, visit: www.terrorfilms.net , https://www.facebook.com/TerrorFilmsLLC

To learn more about iFlix, visit: https://www.iflix.com"

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Monster Hunt DVD Release Details: Press Release: "Monster Hunt, China's highest-grossing movie of all time until just recently, is coming to DVD via FilmRise and MVD Entertainment Group on June 13th.

Made for around $50 million, Monster Hunt has grossed over $390 million to set China's all-time box office record. It beat out several foreign titles to get there, including Furious 7, Transformers: Age of Extinction, and Avatar. Directed by Shrek the Third co-director Raman Hui, the live-action / CG fantasy epic centers on a war between monsters and humans. At the center of the story is Wuba, a baby monster born to a human man. Yes, a man.

SYNOPSIS:
In a mythical ancient world, monsters rule their land while humans keep to their own kingdom. But when adorable baby monster Wuba is born to a human father and the monster queen, mortals and creatures alike set out to capture the newborn, and Wuba's epic adventure begins. This is the latest film from Raman Hui - whose animated work includes modern-day children's classics "Shrek," "Madagascar" and "Antz." "Monster Hunt" smashed box office records when it became the highest-grossing film in China's history. This family-friendly version is intended for kids of all ages and has been dubbed in English.

Slash Film says, "Maybe the cute little baby monster will attract enough curious American moviegoers to make it a modest success. After all, if there's anything Star Wars' BB-8 taught us, it's that adorable blobs cross all cultural and linguistic barriers."

Order online at the MVD Shop"

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Watch Two Clips from The Passing: Press Release: "LOS ANGELES, CA. (June 6, 2017) - Global Digital Releasing has set a distribution date for the award-winning Welsh Drama, THE PASSING. The release will go worldwide, across multiple digital and VOD platforms, this Tuesday, June 13.

The film, which was acquired for North American distribution by XYZ Films, revolves around two young lovers (Annes Elwy & Dyfan Dwyfor). They crash their car into a ravine, in the remote mountains of Wales. Dragged from the river by a mysterious figure known as Stanley (Mark Lewis Jones), they are taken to a ramshackle farm; it is a place untouched by time. As events unfold, we learn the explosive truth about the young couple's past. More unsettling, viewers will discover the ghostly truth about Stanley and the tragedy of the valley, he once called home.

The film was written by Ed Talfan and directed by Gareth Bryn. In addition to winning three 2016 BAFTA Cymru awards (Best Actor: Mark Lewis Jones, Best Writer: Ed Talfan and Best Production Design: Tim Dickel), the film also won the Univercine Jury Award in the Nantes British Film Festival. Also, it was nominated for Best Debut Screenplay in the British Independent Film Awards 2016.

The film has also been critically acclaimed. The Hollywood Reporter stated: “Bryn's quiet confidence earns him a place on filmmakers to watch lists.” The Guardian mentioned the characters: “writer Ed Talfan and director Gareth Bryn find in their characters’ apparent isolation something simultaneously beautiful, terrifying and sad.”

The film will be available in North America and across the globe on major platforms. Platforms include iTunes, Amazon Instant, Seed & Spark, Google Play, Sony PSN, X-Box Live, Vudu, Vimeo on Demand, Steam, Roku, Crackle, Hoopla and Tubi TV. A Cable VOD release date is coming soon. As well, the official poster and trailer will debut just prior to the film’s release. But, the distributor has provided several stills and two exclusive clips titled: “Transgressions” and “Not Alone”. Both items can be found here!

The GDR Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/GlobalDigitalReleasing"

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The Thing in the Woods: Press Release: "ATLANTA, Ga – We are living in an age where some of the old tensions of the past are meeting head on with a new generation. Jordan Peele’s masterful debut hit horror film Get Out took a unique look at racism in America and its horror told through a creative story line. Jordan Peele’s story took place in the North, but what American history buffs know is that most of the atrocities of racism took place in the South. This is what makes Matthew Quinn’s debut horror book, The Thing in the Woods, not just horrifying, but believable.

Quinn is a not just a history enthusiast, but he is also a social studies teacher in the Atlanta region by profession and it shines through in his story-telling. He has always been a fan of the horror genre and his debut novel showcases why he was born to become one of its best authors with a successful long career. His creative imagination shines through as he takes the reader to the edge of their seat from the very beginning of the book. Although the book is a short read, it is none the less lacking in nail-biting horror, thrilling scenes and mysterious encounters.

In The Things in the Woods, seventeen-year-old James Daly's father bought a house in small-town Edington, Georgia to go with a promotion at his Atlanta law firm, only to lose his job when the housing bubble collapsed. Now James has to work at the Edington Best Buy to help pay the mortgage they're underwater on. He can't wait until he turns eighteen and can leave Edington behind forever. But when a local boy challenges him to an ATV race near a tree farm most people avoid, things get much worse. James' rival is dismembered alive by a tentacled horror emerging from a nearby pond. The monstrosity has been worshiped by a secretive coven since before the Civil War, and its devotees don't take kindly to their secrets being threatened. Now with the aid of Amber Webb, a local girl he doesn't like liking, and a renegade cult member, James must fight to avoid ending up bound to a picnic table and offered up to a monster. He must do battle with both the local cultists and their predatory master, the titular Thing.

Quinn says of the vision of his debut work, “I plotted out most of THE THING IN THE WOODS in the 2008-2010 range; the story itself takes place in May 2010. It takes place in a "bedroom community" that suffered heavily from the Great Recession.The story is told from the perspectives of protagonist James Daly, a teen Buckhead snob whose family has moved to a small town; antagonist Phil Davidson, owner of a BBQ joint and secret leader of a Lovecraftian cult; Sam Dixon, a troubled member of Davidson's cult; and Amber Webb, an insecure and artsy teenage girl.”

Get ready horror book fans, you are about to be introduced to a new author who will be around for a long time keeping his audience thrilled with cutting edge horror, blood and guts. The Thing in the Woods is a timely book that needs to be read by all those looking for a great heart pounding terror filled horror novel set in an American historical background."

To learn more about The Thing in the Woods, visit Amazon and Matthew Quinn's official website.

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5th Annual Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival Winners: Press Release: "(New York City, N.Y.) June 7, 2017 — The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival has announced the award winners for its fifth-anniversary event that presented over 100 films, exclusive premieres, virtual reality demonstrations and celebratory gatherings. The festival took place from May 25-30, 2017 and screened a lineup of science fiction, horror, VR and fantasy official selections with 15 films honored for their artistic and illustrious productions.

"The awards were presented to features, shorts and documentaries based on originality, brevity, depth of research and attention to craft," said Daniel Abella, the founder and director of the festival. "The sheer variety of these films made our fifth-anniversary film festival a success." In addition to a record amount of screenings, the festival opened with a performance by singer/songwriter IAMEVE and launched the new panel series PKD Talks: Conversations with Luminaries, Visionaries and Mavericks with computer scientist Jacques Vallee, physicist Dr. Ronald Mallett, directors Maryanne Bilham-Knight and Caroline Cory, parapsychologist Dr. Harold Puthoff and more special guests.

The Philip K. Dick Science Fiction Film Festival congratulates the 2017 award winners:

BEST PHILIP K. DICK FEATURE:
The Tomorrow Paradox (2016, USA) — NYC Premiere
Director: Bruce Wemple
Synopsis: A young insomniac's black-market sleep aid sends his mind time traveling into the future where he is the suspect in the disappearance of a girl he hasn't met yet.

BEST BIOPIC:
A Life Gone Wild (2016, USA) — World Premiere
Director: Maryanne Bilham-Knight
Synopsis: A biopic of visionary artist and writer Ingo Swann, the "father of remote viewing," the CIA's paranormal spying program and longtime friend of Philip K. Dick. Swann's life on the frontier of the paranormal included creating the Stargate Project, "psychic probes" of Jupiter, Mercury, the Moon and Mars which detailed many features that came to be verified years later by NASA. Drawing on archives and new interviews, the film is also an exploration of the nature of reality as perceived via the six senses of the world's most-tested psychic.

BEST DOCUMENTARY:
Gods Among Us: The Science of Contact (2016, USA) — USA Premiere
Director: Caroline Cory
Synopsis: Discover the jaw-dropping stories of individuals from around the world who share similar accounts of extraterrestrial and otherworldly encounters. Producer and host Caroline Cory takes the viewers on an extraordinary journey to uncover whether these seemingly independent yet parallel reports may actually be scientific evidence of a greater phenomenon at work. Through a series of groundbreaking on-camera experiments, irrefutable science, and interviews with leading scientists, viewers will find themselves pondering the nature of their own reality or yet the true origin of the human species and be shown that the traditionally unexplained is in fact far more attributable to science than fiction.

BEST HORROR FEATURE:
Vilsen (2016, Sweden) — USA Premiere
Director: Rasmus Tirzitis
Synopsis: Several dead bodies have been found in Gothenburg, striking fear into the city's population. Clues lead to suspicions of an occult group and a former reverend who has her own reasons for wanting to stop the killings, offers to help as the path is led down the world beyond understanding.

BEST DRAMATIC FEATURE:
The End of the Lonely Island (2016, China) — East Coast Premiere
Director: Renchao Wang
Synopsis: A girl named comes to a lonely island to save the world in less than 24 hours as men in black are chasing her. What does she bring with her and how could she save mankind from the supernova explosion?

BEST AFRICAN AMERICAN, LATINO AND ANY PERSON OF COLOR SCIENCE FICTION FILM:
Synchronous (2016, Colombia)
Director: Ricardo Fernández Jiménez
Synopsis: A man whose consciousness has the ability to live in two parallel worlds simultaneously must help a dangerous gangster to win a bet. But everything changes when he meets a woman.

BEST ANIMATED FILM:
Waking Dreams (2014, USA)
Director: Brad Jones and Jacob Carah
Synopsis: A disabled young man overcomes his afflictions with the power of his imagination. The story drifts between fantasy and reality, combining elements of his real life with imaginative material inspired by the works of noted science fiction author Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game).

BEST VIRTUAL REALITY:
I, Philip (2016, France)
Director: Pierre Zandrowicz
Synopsis: In early 2005, David Hanson, an American robotics is developing its first android human. His name is Phil, a copy of the famous science fiction author Philip K. Dick. In a few weeks, Phil became famous on the internet and in the author's fan circles and is presented in several conferences around the world. In late 2005, the head of the android disappeared during a flight on America West Airlines between Dallas and Las Vegas. Through the memories of the android and those of the author, the film offers an interpretation of Phil's life.

BEST PHILIP K. DICK SHORT:
Peter (2014, UK)
Director: Jane Topping
Synopsis: Seeking to reframe Ridley Scott's 1982 film Blade Runner, long considered a classic of dystopian cinema, with the intention of positioning the artist within the text and so implying that such radical gestures are not only warranted and necessary, but also implicit in the contemporary viewer's experience of watching film.

BEST SCIENCE FICTION SHORT:
Sociopaths (2016, Japan)
Director: A.T.
Synopsis: A girl encounters an android on the street. She finds something strange about the experience and decides to follow the android to give it a "message."

BEST EXPERIMENTAL SCIENCE FICTION FILM:
Adam (2016, Denmark/Bulgaria/Lithuania/Sweden/UK)
Director: Veselin Efremov
Synopsis: In a dystopian future, an organic body is a privilege easy to lose and a convict awakens to the grim reality of having been transferred into a mechanical shell.

BEST HORROR SHORT:
The Plan (2016, France)
Director: Pierre Teulières
Synopsis: In an isolated mansion, a creature follows the orders of his master in order to accomplish a plan that will change the world. Meanwhile, a desperate father is looking for his missing daughter.

BEST SINGULARITY, ESCHATON AND BEYOND FILM:
Oak (2016, UK)
Director: Yann Giroud
Synopsis: Two brothers encounter a chance of salvation for humanity. Could post-apocalyptic tourism destroy it?

BEST WEB SERIES:
Mission Backup Earth (2016, Germany)
Director: Alexander Pfander
Synopsis: A ship is on a dangerous collision course with an unknown celestial body during an interstellar mission to colonize exoplanets and mission failure is not an option.

BEST TRAILER:
The Plague Doctor (2014, USA/Italy)
Director: Emanuele Mengotti
Synopsis: Upon being called to care for an elderly man, a young doctor finds himself trapped in deranged visions mixing his reality with the obscure legend of an ancient Italian mask and the echoes of a timeless love."