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‘Killing Joan’ is Unpolished But Shows Strong Potential: Review

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Killing Joan

Uncork’d Entertainment’s Killing Joan combines the focused supernatural revenge of The Crow and the gritty feel of Death Wish, infusing it with the righteous power of an ass-kicking, take-no-shit alpha female.

Joan (Jamie Bernadette, All Girl’s Weekend, I Spit on Your Grave: Deja Vu) is an enforcer known for her ruthless tactics and wild abandon. After she is double crossed by her boss and left for dead, she becomes a vengeful spirit and is doomed to wander the Earth until she is able to take down the men that attacked her.

via Uncork’d Entertainment

Joan works on a short fuse, dangerously blasting through her assigned shakedowns. She careens from one job to the next while entangling her personal affairs – including some unfinished business with her ex-boyfriend, Anthony (Teo Celigo), a good-natured youth counselor.

Even when Joan is kicking ass and taking names as an enforcer, she has a zero-tolerance policy for macho posturing. She is a protector at heart. This communicates the overall journey of the film; while her methods are fueled by anger, Joan’s desire to do the right thing is her strongest quality.

via Uncork’d Entertainment

As a modern exploitation film, it’s surprisingly bloodless. This doesn’t necessarily alter the affect of the movie – you don’t need buckets of blood for a revenge film – but it does lower the stakes for the dramatic scene in which Joan is attacked. It leaves her condition rather ambiguous in a time when we should genuinely fear for her life.

Bernadette as the titular Joan has intensity, but she lacks the bite to truly sell her character’s inherent violence. She seems more sardonic than aggressive, although she perfects that world-weary quality that the audience can completely relate to. Her reckless actions seem to come from a deep-seated apathy rather than a personal desire to cause harm.

via Uncork’d Entertainment

The source of Joan’s afterlife upgrade is unclear – she is imbued with powers of shadow manipulation, but we don’t get a clear sense of why, or how, or what the limitations are. Early on, it’s established that she can only move through darkness, but that rule isn’t strict in its execution. Perhaps as she grows stronger, she moves past that restriction? If so, we’re missing the step that directly addresses that.

Overall, Killing Joan is a clever and compelling concept, but it’s a bit unpolished. The editing is, at times, a tad choppy, and the fight scenes are missing the commitment to fully sell them. That being said, I am curious to see what comes next from writer/director Todd Bartoo. Killing Joan is an earnest effort that shows a lot of potential as Bartoo’s first feature.

With creatively incorporated visual effects by Paul Lada (Prometheus, Harry Potter, Pacific Rim Uprising), the cast includes Erik Aude, David Carey Foster, Katarina Leigh Waters, Erin O’Brien and Daniel Gardner. Killing Joan is available digitally on April 3rd and comes to DVD July 10th.

Check out the trailer and poster below!

via Uncork’d Entertainment

For more revenge films with a strong female lead, check out this trailer for the aptly titled Revenge.

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Childhood Memories Collide in New Horror Film ‘Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble’

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It looks like ITN Studious and Jagged Edge Productions are going the Avengers: Infinity War route with their upcoming film Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble. From the deranged mind of Rhys Frake-Waterfield (Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey) comes this belligerent mash up of beloved childhood icons.

According to an article out of Variety today, Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble will consist of Winnie the Pooh, Bambi, Tinkerbell, Pinocchio, Peter Pan, Tigger, Piglet, The Mad Hatter, and Sleeping Beauty. All of these iconic figured will be warped into nightmarish versions of their former selves. Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble is set to be released upon the world sometime in 2025.

Poohniverse

Actor-producer Scott Chambers (Malevolent) had the following to say about Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble. “As horror fans, we would love an Avengers that is all villains. It’d have Freddy Krueger, Jason, ‘Halloween,’ ‘Scream,’ all of those. Obviously that will never happen, but we can make it happen in our own little way, and that’s where this film has been born.”

Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble will be a part of The Twisted Childhood Universe. Just like the MCU, each character will first get a standalone film. After introductions are made, they will be reunited in an Avengers style film. Although they will be killing off the survivors from the previous films, they won’t be working together.

Chambers describes this as an “epic sequences of monster vs. monster.” And I don’t know what more fans could ask of the studio. This fantastical idea is a huge risk but Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble sounds amazing.

That’s all the information we have at this time. Check back here for more updates on Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble. If you haven’t already, check out the trailer for Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 below.

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Blumhouse’s ‘The Wolf Man’ Reboot Kicks Off Production with Leigh Whannell at the Helm

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Blumhouse Productions has officially commenced filming its reboot of the Universal Monsters legend, “Wolf Man”. Under the direction of Leigh Whannell, known for his acclaimed work on “The Invisible Man” (2020), the project promises to breathe new life into the iconic tale. The film is slated for a theatrical release on October 25th, marking a new chapter in the storied franchise.

Wolf Man

The journey of a “Wolf Man” reboot began in 2020 when actor Ryan Gosling presented a fresh take on the classic story to Universal. This concept quickly evolved into a screenplay crafted by the talented duo Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, who are known for their work on “Orange Is the New Black,” alongside contributions from Whannell and Corbett Tuck. The narrative is set in contemporary times, drawing inspiration from the atmospheric tension of Jake Gyllenhaal’s “Nightcrawler,” albeit with a distinct supernatural twist.

The film has seen its share of directorial and casting shifts, with Whannell initially signing on to direct in 2020, only to step away and then return to the project after Ryan Gosling and director Derek Cianfrance exited. The lead roles have been filled by Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, both of whom bring significant talent to the screen. Abbott portrays a man whose family faces the terror of a lethal predator, with Garner likely playing his wife, sharing in the familial peril. The storyline also hints at a daughter named Ginger, adding a layer of depth to the family’s harrowing experience.

Julia Garner and Christopher Abbott

This reboot represents a collaboration between Blumhouse and Motel Movies, with Jason Blum producing. Ryan Gosling remains involved as an executive producer, alongside Ken Kao, Bea Sequeira, Mel Turner, and Whannell himself. The announcement of the film’s production start was made by Jason Blum, who shared an exciting glimpse of Whannell on set, signaling the beginning of what is hoped to be a memorable addition to the horror genre.

As the “Wolf Man” reboot moves forward, fans and newcomers alike are eager to see how this modern interpretation will pay homage to its roots while offering a fresh and thrilling experience. With a talented cast and crew at the helm, the film is poised to reintroduce the timeless tale of transformation and terror to a new generation.

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‘Immaculate’ Stars Reveal Which Horror Villains They Would “F, Marry, Kill”

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Sydney Sweeney is just coming off the success of her rom-com Anyone But You, but she’s ditching the love story for a horror story in her latest film Immaculate.

Sweeney is taking Hollywood by storm, portraying everything from a love-lusting teenager in Euphoria to an accidental superhero in Madame Web. Although the latter got a lot of hate among theater-goers, Immaculate is getting the polar opposite.

The film was screened at SXSW this past week and was well-received. It also gained a reputation for being extremely gory. Derek Smith of Slant says the, “final act contains some of the most twisted, gory violence this particular subgenre of horror has seen in years…”

Thankfully curious horror movie fans won’t have to wait long to see for themselves what Smith is talking about as Immaculate will hit theaters across the United States on March, 22.

Bloody Disgusting says that the movie’s distributor NEON, in a bit of marketing smarts, had stars Sydney Sweeney and Simona Tabasco play a game of “F, Marry, Kill” in which all their choices had to be horror movie villains.

It’s an interesting question, and you might be surprised at their answers. So colorful are their responses that YouTube slapped an age-restricted rating on the video.

Immaculate is a religious horror movie that NEON says stars Sweeney, “as Cecilia, an American nun of devout faith, embarking on a new journey in a remote convent in the picturesque Italian countryside. Cecilia’s warm welcome quickly devolves into a nightmare as it becomes clear her new home harbors a sinister secret and unspeakable horrors.”

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