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EXCLUSIVE: Director of “Stung” was influenced by James Cameron

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Horror gets a new creature this month. Benni Diez’s “Stung,” now available on VOD, is a new take on an old concept: nature’s most terrifying creatures grow to thousands of times their own size.

[iframe id=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/QnYXxqmQc0c”]

This time, picnic pests with stingers are the altered beasts, and a catering company led by an exasperated waiter (Clifton Collins Jr.) must defend himself and guests from the venomous flying gargantuans.

Director Benni Diez talked with iHorror about the movie, his inspiration and what audiences can expect.

Lance Henriksen feels the sting.

Lance Henriksen feels the sting.

The inspiration for “Stung” was actually based on true events, somewhat. Screenwriter Adam Aresty was employed at a catering company, where he experienced a nasty swarm of bees.

The elitist clients were so annoying that Aresty began to fantasize about the insects becoming large enough to attack them on a human-sized scale. The writer’s love for monster movies inspired him to sit down and bring the fantasy to life on paper.

After reading the screenplay, Diez loved the idea and decided to bring the concept to film.

Kitchen Nightmares

Kitchen Nightmares

Diez wants people to watch the film and be amazed at what they are witnessing. The director says that James Cameron was a big influence and he wanted to bring that suspense to “Stung,”

“I watched Aliens and the Terminator movies at a very young age, too young probably, and my brain almost couldn’t handle what I was seeing there. I guess that’s one thing that drives me, trying to induce that feeling in an audience, to make them think ‘holy shit, I can’t believe what I’m seeing right now’ – hopefully in a good way of course,” he said.

Unlike the paltry budgeted laughable creature features so often played on genre networks such as SyFy, Diez says he knows that human-sized wasps are a gamble to viewers sensibilities. But he thinks that his cast was key in making “Stung” more than a 90-minute parody,

“There’s a balance you need to keep,” he said. “If you play it too straight, the characters will seem ridiculous, if you poke too much fun at it, their emotional believability suffers. I owe it to our great actors that I think we found a way to be funny in the face of insanity that lets you root for them even more.”

On the business end of a stinger

On the business end of a stinger

One of those actors, Lance Henriksen (Terminator, Aliens) kept the atmosphere on the set comical. Diez recalls a time when the actor made the whole crew laugh,

“We had such a blast on set all the time. But one of the most hilarious moments was when Lance Henriksen, while we all had lunch break, winked at Ulrik, our stunt trainer, who was still wearing a woman’s dress from a panic scene we had been shooting, and slipped him a napkin with his phone number on it.”

Although the concept of “Stung,” giant wasps invading a wealthy catering event, would appear to contain less-than-extravagant special effects and shoddy patchwork rendering, Diez decided to use a majority of real-time creatures created by some of the best in the business.

“The practical creature effects were done by Design Of Illusion, a Berlin based company run by Martin Schäper. They had over a dozen artists work day and night for so many months to accomplish the many puppets, animatronics and gore effects. All the full CG creatures and the countless other digital effects were created by an in-house team of artists lead by my longtime collaborators Peter Hacker and Sebastian Nozon. I’ve lost count of how many times those guys saved our asses in what became almost a year of intense post production. The third and equally important effects category is our sound design. Tilman Hahn, our lead sound designer, spent months recording and editing an insane variety of real life sounds to give the wasps character and make them as menacing as they are.”

Keep your eye on them

Keep your eye on them

As for gore, Diez says there is plenty of it. Every ounce of budget that could be used for make-up and creature effects was poured into filming. The director has a love for fans and he wasn’t going to disappoint them with “Stung.” In fact, he was going to sit there and watch it with them over and over again:

“I think many genre fans will be delighted with some of the disgusting ideas we came up with,” he said. “Many filmmakers tend to leave the theater at screenings of their own films because they’ve just seen them a million times, but I still enjoy sitting through, just because it’s such a blast to hear the audience squirm and giggle at the screen. That’s what we should make movies for, after all.”

Diez is hard at work finding his place in the realm of motion pictures. He seems to be getting his hands dirty in all departments, including continuing “Stung” as a possible franchise:

“I am developing a few genre projects with our producer Ben Munz, hoping that one of them might turn into a movie in the near future,” he said. “Other than that I still do occasional visual effects work, and I’m flexing my writing muscles as much as I can. And of course there have been talks about potential Stung sequels, but that depends on how this one is received. Times are definitely not boring right now!”

Within the bold realm of Mother Nature there are plenty of opportunities to explore her monsters. “Stung” captures one these creatures and gives them human-sized thoraxes equipped with needle precise stingers.

What separates this movie from the others within the same concept, is a director’s ambition to not only get it right with the genre audience, but have the stingers firmly planted in cheek while doing so.

“Stung” is now available on VOD. Check you streaming device for details.

 

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New Poster Reveal For Nicolas Cage’s Survival Creature Feature ‘Arcadian’ [Trailer]

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Nicolas Cage Arcadian

In the latest cinematic venture featuring Nicolas Cage, Arcadian emerges as a compelling creature feature, teeming with suspense, horror, and emotional depth. RLJE Films has recently released a series of new images and a captivating poster, offering audiences a glimpse into the eerie and thrilling world of “Arcadian”. Scheduled to hit theaters on April 12, 2024, the film will later be available on Shudder and AMC+, ensuring a wide audience can experience its gripping narrative.

Arcadian Movie Trailer

The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has given this film an “R” rating for its “bloody images,” hinting at the visceral and intense experience awaiting viewers. The film draws inspiration from acclaimed horror benchmarks like “A Quiet Place,” weaving a post-apocalyptic tale of a father and his two sons navigating a desolate world. Following a catastrophic event that depopulates the planet, the family faces the dual challenge of surviving their dystopian environment and eluding mysterious nocturnal creatures.

Joining Nicolas Cage in this harrowing journey are Jaeden Martell, known for his role in “IT” (2017), Maxwell Jenkins from “Lost in Space,” and Sadie Soverall, featured in “Fate: The Winx Saga.” Directed by Ben Brewer (“The Trust”) and penned by Mike Nilon (“Braven”), “Arcadian” promises a unique blend of poignant storytelling and electrifying survival horror.

Maxwell Jenkins, Nicolas Cage, and Jaeden Martell 

Critics have already begun to praise “Arcadian” for its imaginative monster designs and exhilarating action sequences, with one review from Bloody Disgusting highlighting the film’s balance between emotional coming-of-age elements and heart-pounding horror. Despite sharing thematic elements with similar genre films, “Arcadian” sets itself apart through its creative approach and action-driven plot, promising a cinematic experience filled with mystery, suspense, and relentless thrills.

Arcadian Official Movie Poster

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‘Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3’ Is a Go with Enhanced Budget and New Characters

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Winnie the Pooh 3

Wow, they’re churning things out fast! The upcoming sequel “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 3” is officially moving forward, promising an expanded narrative with a larger budget and the introduction of beloved characters from A.A. Milne’s original tales. As confirmed by Variety, the third installment in the horror franchise will welcome Rabbit, the heffalumps, and the woozles into its dark and twisted narrative.

This sequel is a part of an ambitious cinematic universe that reimagines children’s stories as horror tales. Alongside “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” and its first sequel, the universe includes films such as “Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare”, “Bambi: The Reckoning,” and “Pinocchio Unstrung”. These movies are set to converge in the crossover event “Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble,” slated for a 2025 release.

Winnie the Pooh Poohniverse

The creation of these films was made possible when A.A. Milne’s 1926 children’s book “Winnie-the-Pooh” entered the public domain last year, allowing filmmakers to explore these cherished characters in unprecedented ways. Director Rhys Frake-Waterfield and producer Scott Jeffrey Chambers, of Jagged Edge Productions, have led the charge in this innovative endeavor.

The inclusion of Rabbit, heffalumps, and woozles in the upcoming sequel introduces a new layer to the franchise. In Milne’s original stories, heffalumps are imagined creatures resembling elephants, while woozles are known for their weasel-like characteristics and a penchant for stealing honey. Their roles in the narrative remain to be seen, but their addition promises to enrich the horror universe with deeper connections to the source material.

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How to Watch ‘Late Night with the Devil’ from Home: Dates and Platforms

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Late Night With The Devil

For fans eager to dive into one of this year’s most talked-about horror films from the comfort of their own home, “Late Night with the Devil” will be available for streaming exclusively on Shudder starting April 19, 2024. This announcement has been highly anticipated following the film’s successful theatrical release by IFC Films, which saw it earning rave reviews and a record-breaking opening weekend for the distributor.

“Late Night with the Devil” emerges as a standout horror film, captivating audiences and critics alike, with Stephen King himself offering high praise for the 1977-set film. Starring David Dastmalchian, the movie unfolds on Halloween night during a live late-night talk show broadcast that disastrously unleashes evil across the nation. This found footage-style film not only delivers scares but also authentically captures the aesthetic of the 1970s, drawing viewers into its nightmarish scenario.

David Dastmalchian in Late Night with the Devil

The film’s initial box office success, opening to $2.8 million in 1,034 theaters, underscores its wide appeal and marks the highest opening weekend for an IFC Films release. Critically acclaimed, “Late Night with the Devil” boasts a 96% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 135 reviews, with the consensus praising it for rejuvenating the possession horror genre and showcasing David Dastmalchian’s exceptional performance.

Rotten Tomatoes score as of 3/28/2024

Simon Rother of iHorror.com encapsulates the film’s allure, emphasizing its immersive quality that transports viewers back to the 1970s, making them feel as if they are part of the eerie “Night Owls” Halloween broadcast. Rother lauds the film for its meticulously crafted script and the emotional and shocking journey it takes viewers on, stating, “This whole experience will have viewers of the Cairnes brothers’ film glued to their screen… The script, from beginning to end, is neatly sewn together with an ending that’ll have jaws on the floor.” You can read the full review here.

Rother further encourages audiences to watch the film, highlighting its multifaceted appeal: “Whenever it is made available to you, you must attempt to view the Cairnes Brothers’ latest project as it will make you laugh, it will creep you out, it will amaze you, and it might even strike an emotional cord.”

Set to stream on Shudder on April 19, 2024, “Late Night with the Devil” offers a compelling blend of horror, history, and heart. This film is not just a must-watch for horror aficionados but for anyone looking to be thoroughly entertained and moved by a cinematic experience that redefines the boundaries of its genre.

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