In a huge bit of news for classic horror fans, Scarlett Johansson and James D’Arcy have officially signed on to play Psycho stars Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins in Fox Searchlight’s “Alfred Hitchcock and the Making of Psycho”. Variety reports that they will both appear opposite Anthony Hopkins as Alfred Hitchcock.

Variety reports that Sacha Gervasi will direct the film, which tells the true tale of Hitchcock’s attempts to finance his now-classic 1960 horror film. The story is rumored to be centered on the relationship between Hitchcock and his wife Alma Reville. Helen Mirren has been confirmed to play Alma.

Wow! This sounds like a dream project for any horror fans and we here at Slasher Studios will keep you updated with any details on the production as soon as they are released.

“Martyrs” begins with a young girl, Lucie (Jessie Pham), as she escapes from a disused abattoir where she has been imprisoned and physically abused for a lengthy period of time. No signs of sexual abuse are identified, and the perpetrators and their motivations remain a mystery. Lucie is placed in an orphanage, where she is befriended by a young girl named Anna (Erika Scott). Anna soon discovers that Lucie believes that she is constantly being terrorized by a ghoulish creature; a horrible, disfigured, emaciated woman (Isabelle Chasse) covered in scars.

Fifteen years later, Lucie (Mylène Jampanoï) bursts into a seemingly normal family’s home and kills them all with a shotgun. Lucie calls Anna (Morjana Alaoui) to tell her that she has finally found and killed the people responsible for her childhood abuse and requests her help in burying the bodies. Upon arriving, Anna is horrified at the carnage, and worries that Lucie may have murdered the wrong people. Anna later discovers the mother is still alive and tries to help her escape, but the two are discovered by Lucie, who bludgeons the mother to death. Lucie is again attacked by the scarred creature, but all Anna sees is Lucie banging her head against the wall and cutting herself with a knife; the ‘creature’ is nothing more than a psychological manifestation of Lucie’s guilt for leaving behind another girl who was also imprisoned and tortured with her as a child. Lucie tells the apparition that she killed its tormenters and that it can rest, but it has no effect. Lucie finally realizes that her insanity will never leave her and slits her throat. She dies in Anna’s arms.

The next day, after mourning her friend’s death, Anna attempts to clean up the house and discovers a secret underground chamber. Imprisoned within is a horribly tortured woman, covered in scars with a strange metal contraption nailed to her head. While Anna attempts to care for her and clean her wounds, a group of strangers arrive and shoot the woman dead. Captured by the menacing newcomers, Anna meets their leader, an elderly lady only referred to as Mademoiselle (Catherine Bégin). She explains that she belongs to a secret society seeking to discover the secrets of the afterlife through the creation of “martyrs”. Systematic acts of torture are inflicted upon young women in the belief that their suffering will result in a transcendental insight into the world beyond this one. So far, all of their attempts have failed, and they have only created “victims.”

“Martyrs” is the kind of movie that makes you want to take a shower immediately after viewing it. It is bleak, hopeless, and has a constant theme of despair. It is also brilliant in the way that it is able to depict the suffering that one human being can force onto another. It is gore but it is poetic gore with a clear message for it’s audience. I don’t know that I can or will ever watch this masterpiece again and it is too bad that the ending gets a bit too abstract for its own good but it is still a worthwhile watch. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Buy “Martyrs” at Amazon: Martyrs

Happy Friday the 13th everyone! Today at Slasher Studios we decided to present you with a piece not only defending the Friday the 13th but telling you while they are important in the history of film. So sit back, relax, and enjoy. Just don’t let Jason get you.

Looking at Friday the 13th, it’s easy to see why the film was so controversial. Many feminist groups were so angered by these types of movies in the 1980’s. After all, aren’t these films merely an excuse to show a topless girl running through the woods waiting to get impaled on a killer’s “long blade”? The references to death and sex aren’t exactly subtle. As Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film states, many feminists were downright disgusted by Friday the 13th finding it repulsive and borderline offensive that every female in the film, with the exception of the “final girl” (which I will go into detail on later), is killed because of her sexual experience and independence. What kind of message does this send to the female youth of America? Stay subservient to your male partner and everything will end up being okay for you?

Does Friday the 13th add to the “media’s representation of women as passive, dependent on men, or objects of desire” as many feminist film critics have stated? Well, that is left up to debate. For example, a select group of feminists actually applauded this film and other slasher films like it. In fact, while most feminists theorists label the horror film as a “male-driven/male-centered genre”, feminist critics like Carol Clover pointed out that in most horror films, especially in horror films like the Friday the 13th series, the audience, male and female, is structurally ‘forced’ to identify with the “innovative and resourceful young female” (“the final girl” as described earlier) who survives the killer’s attack and usually ends the threat. She argues that “while the killer’s subjective point of view may be male within the narrative, even the male viewer is still rooting for the “final girl” to overcome the killer.”

Nonetheless, many key film critics disagreed with the argument that horror films like Friday the 13th are “pro-feminist.” In 1981, Roger Ebert, film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, launched a “famous diatribe against the subjective point-of-view killing mechanism” of the slasher film which, as he argued, “placed viewers in the position of ‘seeing as’ and, therefore, ‘identifying with’ the maniacal killers.” Nevertheless, many filmmakers and other critics disagreed with the “simplistic association of subjective point of view shooting with audience identification by believing in point-of-view cutting as a stronger way of achieving audience identification with a character.” If anything, it could be argued that this point-of-view shooting makes horror films forces the audience to identify with the female protagonist that much more. Or, as feminist critic Clover calls it, “masochistic rather than sadistic.”

Looking at Friday the 13th, it is not hard not to see why the criticisms were made. The film is poorly acted, poorly directed on a minimal budget with a core story that, at best, rips off the Halloween franchise frame by frame. However, this would be avoiding the very essence of why these horror films are so popular. People don’t go to Friday the 13th expecting a great, cinematic movie going experience; they are going to Friday the 13th to have fun. It can be argued that films like Friday the 13th are escapist entertainment at their very best. There is nothing fundamentally great about these films but that’s really the point. They are fun, they are scary (if, by today’s standards, cheesy and tame), and they are very entertaining.

The feminist critics that attack these films don’t seem to see the power these films contain. Here, in Friday the 13th, is a young woman who must put all the pieces of the mystery everything together and save her friends in order to survive the night. And survive she does, something that not a single other male does in the course of the film. In fact, looking at the series as a whole, it takes the franchise until Part 4 before it even allows a male to survive in the end. It should come as no surprise that this male is survived with a female who, once again, was forced to save the day on her own. Whereas in other film genres, such as romantic comedies and dramas, where females are pushed aside to “girlfriend support” roles, Friday the 13th tries to do something different with gender roles by making the males the “supportive partner” and forcing the young female teenager to go take charge and same the day. In essence, the female in this film, as in many other horror films, is the hero.

“Zombie Bohemia” is the story of Michael, a struggling New York City artist, who just happens to be a zombie. Played by New Yorker, Shawn James, Michael is trying to find balance between his drive to produce memorable, inspired art while also being plagued by the underlying needs and urges of a zombie. In short, he is trying to gain approval and respect from the very people he is biologically wired to consume.

“It’s not a typical ‘Zombie eat your brains out’ type of thing… Michael is a zombie with feelings and emotions. The people that surround Michael make up a real, functioning world that any artist might live in… they’re not just running for their lives from him,” said Director Vince Brando.
According to Brando, “Zombie Bohemia” crosses several genres, and would appeal to anyone attracted to zombie movies in general, horror movies, and comedy. It has a reality TV type of feeling, and featuring a cast of quirky and entertaining characters. There is plenty of humor, with more depth than slapstick.

“Zombie Bohemia” is the second short film by Two Man Island Productions. Their first short film, “Hushed” was featured at several film festivals, and screened in the Short Film Corner of the Cannes Film Festival in 2010. The company hopes to take “Zombie Bohemia” to festivals in 2012. “Zombie Bohemia” was produced by Mark Bell and written by Vince Brando and Chris Magdalenski. Featured actors include James, Will Carey, Tim Urian and Havilah Imfeld.

Make sure to keep an eye out on Slasher Studios for more updates.

We here at Slasher Studios want to wish both our horror fans and their families a safe and Merry Christmas. Enjoy the blood red on screen with a loved one and pop in a slasher classic like Black Christmas or Silent Night, Deadly Night. You guys have made it already a very Merry Christmas for us. Happy Holidays everyone!

The trailer of horror legend Dario Argento’s “Dracula 3D” was released today. The trailer is…ummm…well, let’s not beat around the bush here; the thing looks godawful. Granted the effects are not completely finished and there is still some work left to be done in postproduction but this thing looks hilariously bad. Of course, that means I can’t wait to see it.

Dracula 3D stars Asia Argento as Lucy, Thomas Kretschmann as Dracula, Marta Gastini as Mina, and Rutger Hauer as Van Helsing. Miguel Angel Silvestre and Miriam Giovanelli also star.

Synopsis:
TRANSYLVANIA, 1893.

One night in the woods adjacent to Passo Borgo, at the foot of the Carpazi mountains, a couple of young lovers, Tania and Milos, secretly meet. On her way home, Tania is chased and overcome by a “dark shadow” that kills her. In those days Jonathan Harker, a young librarian, arrives at the village hired by Count Dracula, a nobleman from the area. Tania’s body mysteriously disappears from the cemetery. In the meantime Harker, before going to Count Dracula’s castle, takes the opportunity to visit Lucy Kisslinger, his wife Mina’s best friend as well as the daughter of the local mayor.

Upon arriving at the castle, Harker is greeted by Tania, brought back to life from the dead and made vampire, who tries from the very beginning to seduce him; however, they are interrupted by Dracula’s entrance welcoming Harker. The following night Tania tries again to bite Harker; she is close to his neck when she is stopped by the count, who gets the upper hand, and it is he himself who bites Harker’s neck, however allowing him to live. The following day, weakened but still conscious, Harker attempts to escape, but as soon as he is outside the castle, a large wolf with a white lock assaults and savagely kills him.

Meanwhile, Mina, Harker’s wife, arrives in the village and is guest for a few days at the home of her dearest friend Lucy Kisslinger, who will also be bitten and vampirized. The day after, Mina, worried about her husband, goes to Count Dracula’s castle.

Their encounter makes her forget the reason for her presence there. She is completely under the count’s influence; the count had orchestrated the events leading up to their encounter; in fact Mina looks exactly like his beloved Dolinger, who died some centuries ago. Upon her return to the Kisslinger house, Mina learns of the death of her dear friend Lucy.

The sequence of such strange and dramatic events summons the aid of Van Helsing, vampire expert of the techniques used to eliminate them. Van Helsing, aware of the circumstances, decides to act swiftly and prepares the tools needed to combat vampires. He directs himself to the center of evil, Count Dracula’s castle.

Meanwhile Dracula, in the village, kills the inhabitants who rescinded their pact, while Van Helsing, inside the castle, is able to definitively eliminate Tania. Dracula, intent on his desire to reunite with his beloved wife, leads Mina, completely hypnotized, to the castle where Van Helsing is waiting. He has decided to engage in a deadly fight with his evil foe. During the struggle Van Helsing loses his gun with the silver bullet, and Mina, still under Dracula’s spell, gathers it and tries to aid Dracula, but she misses the target and involuntarily kills him. The special silver bullet transforms Dracula into ashes; but his spirit lifts the ashes into the air and uniting, they shape into a large bat with a mocking grin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=19d_QKyXn_o

Just wanted to wish everyone out there a huge Happy Thanksgiving from those of us over here at Slasher Studios. We have a lot to be thankful for here. We made two short movies this year, have ever supportive family and friends, and we have our loyal readers out there. To you out there reading us and checking us out on a regular basis, we cannot thank you enough. You have helped us grow from a little tiny site that was lucky to traffic 10 views a day to a very successful (in our minds anyway) site that generates over 1,000 unique hits a day. We hope you guys watch some great slashers out there to help celebrate the season and watch them with your family. Who doesn’t love blood and guts more than mom? :)