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Juan Carlos Medina on Directing “The Limehouse Golem”

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Juan Carlos Medina first received the script for The Limehouse Golem back in 2012, and he was immediately taken by the storytelling in the mysterious period piece.

“It’s my favorite kind of story,” the director admits.  “To me, it’s about a journey from innocence.  We were able to show the most beautiful and darkest sides of society at that time.”

The Limehouse Golem takes place in 19th century London.  A brutal killer is on the loose and a young woman (Olivia Cooke) has been accused of killing her husband in an unrelated (or is it?) murder.  As all the pieces on the game board move into place, we slowly discover that no one is truly innocent.

It’s a wonderful mystery that recalls the films we saw from Hammer Studios in the 1960s, a fact that Medina relishes.

“I’m obsessed with the films of that time,” he says.  “I’ve always kind of liked those stories that are romantic and slightly baroque in their designs.  I wanted the film to be eccentric, over the top, and most of all, very creepy.”

For better or worse, that meant that his entire cast had to strap into this emotional roller coaster and commit to the challenges he presented to them.  Thankfully, they agreed, though they might not have realized what they were in for in the beginning.

Of Cooke’s commitment, he says, “She was really a trooper.  She fought through everything, met every emotional and physical challenge.  I’m very proud of her work on the film.”

Meanwhile, Douglas Booth, in the role of music hall star Dan Leno, faced a different kind of challenge.

“With Douglas, he has mostly played these very handsome, very clean characters, but life in the music halls and this kind of environment would prematurely age anyone,” Medina explains.  “So, we pushed to make him seem almost ugly by comparison…emaciated….brought down by the world that he was living in.  And once we had the look in place, he had to embody the exhausted life and expectations of a performer at that time.”

Still, there was one more element that had to come to life in order for Medina’s vision with the film to be realized.

“I worked the hardest on creating this world in the beginning,” Juan Carlos said.  “This environment informs everything about how the story is told.  So, that world had to be real for the actors, for their characters to walk through.  There was a lot going on in the social and political climate at the time and the environment had to reflect all of that.”

Medina succeeds beautifully with this environment, and the piece has a whole.  It’s an impressive bit of work, especially considering that this is only Medina’s fourth major credit as a director that’s listed on IMDb.

You can see The Limehouse Golem in theaters and on demand on September 8, 2017.  Check out the trailer below!

 

TITLE: THE LIMEHOUSE GOLEM
IN THEATERS AND AVAILABLE ON VOD AND DIGITAL HD: September 8, 2017
DIRECTOR: Juan Carlos Medina
WRITERS: Jane Goldman, based on the novel “Dan Leno and the Limehouse Golem” by Peter Ackroyd
CAST: Bill Nighy, Olivia Cooke, Douglas Booth, Daniel Mays, and Eddie Marsan
SYNOPSIS: The city of London is gripped with fear as a serial killer – dubbed The Limehouse Golem – is on the loose and leaving cryptic messages written in his victim’s blood. With few leads and increasing public pressure, Scotland Yard assigns the case to Inspector Kildare (Bill Nighy) – a seasoned detective with a troubled past and a sneaking suspicion he’s being set up to fail. Faced with a long list of suspects, including music hall star Dan Leno (Douglas Booth), Kildare must get help from a witness who has legal troubles of her own (Olivia Cooke), so he can stop the murders and bring the killer to justice.
GENRE: Thriller
DISTRIBUTOR: RLJ Entertainment
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Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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