In today's Horror Highlights, we have details on Wild Eye Releasing's acquisition of The Forest of the Lost Souls, Blu-ray / DVD release details for Beast, and a look at Don Mancini's thoughts on Tyler Christensen's House of Purgatory, which is now available to stream on Amazon Prime.

The Forest of the Lost Souls Theatrical Release Details: Press Release: "Leading independent distributor Wild Eye Releasing has acquired Portuguese horror film The Forest of the Lost Souls, setting it as their first theatrical release.

The psychological “coming of age” horror film, written and directed by directed by José Pedro Lopes, marks the distributor’s first theatrical release. The film, which had its world premiere at the Fantasporto Film Festival on February 26, 2017, is scheduled to open in August.

Ricardo and Carolina are complete strangers that meet seemingly by chance in the “Forest of the Lost Souls”, a place where many people go to commit suicide. These two, a young woman and an old man, are no different than the others as they also came to the forest for this very reason.

They decide to briefly postpone killing themselves in order to explore the forest and also to continue talking to one another, as Ricardo and Carolina find themselves intrigued by one another.

However, as the pair go further into the forest it becomes clear that one of them has other reasons for being in the forest and is not who they would have the other believe them to be and is actually a psychopath…

The Forest of the Lost Souls will open theatrically August 5 in L.A and other cities.

Wild Eye Releasing, whose recent releases include well-received sci-fi thriller Soft Matter and James Klass’s House on Elm Lake, represents horror, exploitation, dark arthouse, cult, and documentary films from around the world."

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Beast Blu-Ray and DVD Release Details: "Street Date: 9/4/18

Blu-ray™ + Digital SRP: $21.99

DVD SRP: $19.98

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

Experience the “unexpected and terrifying” (Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com) when Beast arrives on Blu-ray™ (plus Digital) and DVD September 4 from Lionsgate. From exciting new writer/director Michael Pearce (Rite, Keeping Up with the Joneses) comes a thrilling and dark modern-day fairy tale starring newcomer Jessie Buckley in a breakout role that critics are calling “a star-making performance” (Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly). The film was nominated for multiple categories of filmmaking and acting at prestigious film festivals including the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, 2017 London Film Festival, and 2018 Miami Film Festival. The Beast Blu-ray and DVD will be available for the suggested retail price of $21.99 and $19.98, respectively.

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS

Moll is a troubled woman, still living at home, stifled by the small island community around her. When she meets Pascal, a free-spirited stranger, a whole new world opens up to her and she begins to feel alive for the first time, falling madly in love. Finally breaking free from her family, Moll moves in with Pascal to start a new life. But when Pascal is arrested as the key suspect in a series of brutal murders, Moll is left isolated and afraid and finds herself forced to make choices that will impact her life forever.

BLU-RAY/DVD/DIGITAL SPECIAL FEATURES

  •  “The Making of Beast” Featurette
  •  “A Look at Beast” Photo Gallery

CAST

Jessie Buckley TV’s “Taboo,” “War & Peace”

Johnny Flynn Clouds of Sils Maria, TV’s “Lovesick”

Trystan Gravelle TV’s “The Terror,” Anonymous

and Geraldine James Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland

Year of Production: 2017

Title Copyright: Beast © 2017 Agile Stray Beast Limited / Channel Four Television Corporation / The British Film Institute. All Rights Reserved. Artwork & Supplementary Materials © 2018 Lions Gate Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Type: Theatrical Premiere

Rating: R for disturbing violent content, language, and some sexuality

Genre: Thriller

Closed-Captioned: N/A

Subtitles: Spanish, English SDH

Feature Run Time: 106 Minutes

Blu-ray Format: 1080p High Definition 16x9 Widescreen 2.39:1 Presentation

DVD Format: 16x9 Widescreen 2.39:1 Presentation

Blu-ray Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD Master AudioTM

DVD Audio: English 5.1 Dolby Digital Audio"

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House of Purgatory: Don Mancini, the director of three Chucky movies, including the recent Cult of Chucky, recently had this to say about House of Purgatory:

In case you missed it, House of Purgatory is now available to stream on Amazon Prime, and you can also check here to read our Q&A with writer/director Tyler Christensen.

"The film stars Brian Krause (best known for his eight-season portrayal of “Leo Wyatt” on Charmed), Anne Leighton (CBS’ Criminal Minds) and Laura Coover (ABC’s How To Get Away With Murder) and is about four mid-western teenagers who go looking for a fabled haunted house on Halloween night. Once finding it, they slowly realize that the house is much more than a run-of-the-mill Halloween attraction - somehow the house knows each of their deepest secrets. One-by-one the house uses these secrets against the terrified teens, who soon find themselves in a battle to save not only their lives but also their very souls."

  • Tamika Jones
    About the Author - Tamika Jones

    Tamika hails from North Beach, Maryland, a tiny town inches from the Chesapeake Bay.She knew she wanted to be an actor after reciting a soliloquy by Sojourner Truth in front of her entire fifth grade class. Since then, she's appeared in over 20 film and television projects. In addition to acting, Tamika is the Indie Spotlight manager for Daily Dead, where she brings readers news on independent horror projects every weekend.

    The first horror film Tamika watched was Child's Play. Being eight years old at the time, she remembers being so scared when Chucky came to life that she projectile vomited. It's tough for her to choose only one movie as her favorite horror film, so she picked two: Nosferatu and The Stepford Wives (1975).