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Leigh Whannell and Logan Marshall-Green Talk ‘Upgrade’

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Upgrade, the sci-fi thriller from writer/director Leigh Whannell and starring Logan Marshall-Green, is headed to theaters June 1, 2018.

Set in the not-so-distant future, Marshall-Green stars as Grey Trace, a technophobic man who becomes a quadriplegic after a horrific accident. Grey is offered a new chance at a normal life when an experimental computer chip called Stem is implanted in his neck, but that’s really only the beginning of his new adventure.

The film, produced by the geniuses at Blumhouse, is already garnering a lot of online buzz, and Whannell and Marshall-Green recently spoke with iHorror about the experience of creating this exciting and dangerous new world.

“It’s funny to think about how long ago it was that I started writing the script,” Whannell laughed, “and it makes me reflect on how long it takes to get a film made.”

The story started for Whannell when he was sitting in his back yard. The idea of a quadriplegic man being given a new lease on life through technology excited the writer, and he began researching what others had written about bridging the gap between technology and humans.

“There are a lot of books by Ray Kurzwell where he talks about the future and the singularity when humans merge with technology,” the writer/director explained. “I was so excited by that idea because it was exactly what I was going for in the script.”

As the project came together, and it was time to look for someone to take on that rather daunting task of playing Grey, Logan Marshall-Green quickly moved to the top of the list. Once he was cast in the role, he quickly went to work playing with different ways of moving and using his body so that he could portray a man who in many ways becomes a passenger in the active aspects of his life.

Original Poster for Upgrade from Blumhouse Productions

“I started sending Leigh videos of myself doing very pedestrian movements. Sitting down, drinking water, taking a bit of an apple,” the actor said. “I would do them as Grey, and then I would do them a second time as Grey and Stem together.”

Neither the director nor the actor wanted the movements to seem robotic in the ways we’ve seen before on film. Instead, they focused on more efficient ways of moving that could potentially come from the tech component.

“Ultimately, it took a lot of work with a brilliant stunt team and movement coaches to make it seem as though Grey was a passenger with Stem,” Marshall-Green pointed out. “We were working our butts off from the neck down while trying to stay as neutral as possible and tell an emotional story from the neck up.”

“There were so many roles that Logan had to take on,” Whannell explained further. “He would train with a movement coach, then do fight choreography, and he also had to learn to use the wheelchair and play a quadriplegic.”

The role is full of obstacles, but for Marshall-Green, that’s really what acting is all about, and it was all about getting the small details correct to make the Grey/Stem performance work.

“I got to spend some time with someone who is quadriplegic, and I knew I had to be true to him and to his experience when we were telling that part of the story,” the actor said. “Little things like, I’m a nail biter. I can’t do that in this character, and while I was in it, I didn’t do it. It’s funny, though, because I do now. It came back as soon as the role was over.”

More importantly for the actor, Whannell’s script and direction allowed him to act with his full body and embrace the physicality of movement and body language in a way that many films roles can’t offer.

“I came up in the theater,” he said. “I love the ability to act from head to toe which is something you don’t get in film. You generally isolate your performance to your face and shoulders mostly, and I was grateful that Leigh gave me the opportunity to tell this story with my whole body.”

As filming began, Whannell had one more surprise up his sleeve to help make the performance as real as possible.

In the film, Stem has a voice that only Grey can hear and they can communicate internally. So, Whannell placed Simon Maiden, the actor voicing Stem, out of sight, but allowed the two actors to communicate via an earpiece and mic.

“I wanted them to be able to interrupt each other and interact,” Whannell said. “I wanted them to play those scenes together like any two actors would.”

“It was another ball to juggle in the middle of those fight scenes,” Marshall-Green added, “but we got a really positive effect from it.”

The actor worked hard to pull double duty in those fight scenes, but also really focused on Grey’s evolution with Stem throughout the film, and it’s fascinating as Grey goes from a bystander to an active participant in what’s going on around him. In the final stages of the film, Stem may be doing the fighting, but Grey is actively watching for danger and working with the implant confidently.

Upgrade is set to hit theaters nationwide on June 1, 2018. Check out the trailer below!

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

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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