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A24 Cuts Into American Theaters with ‘In Fabric’

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In Fabric A24

During it’s premier at the Toronto Film Festival, the North American distribution rights for Peter Strickland’s In Fabric were purchased by art-house film entertainment company A24. While the film has scheduled screening dates within the US for Fantastic Fest and Brooklyn Horror Film Festival (TIFF), a theatrical release was not yet confirmed for Strickland’s consumerist-tale of horror.

Variety reports that A24 has set In Fabric for a 2019 release in American theaters. In Fabric‘s plot is detailed as:

A haunting ghost story set against the backdrop of a busy winter sales period in a department store and follows the life of a cursed dress as it passes from person to person, with devastating consequences.

The dress is sold to victims by a cryptic and malevolent cashier (Fatama  Mohamed (Berberian Sound Studio and The Duke of Burgundy)) of a paranormal department store, watched over by a couple of off-putting bureaucrats. Victims are longing, yearning, helpless souls clawing to fill a void in their hearts, unable to resist the temptation of the baleful dress. With Lynch-ian sound design and cinematography paired with off-kilter comedy, In Fabric aims to entrance audiences with a concept so absurd that they’ll be caught off guard when the terror of the plot finally strikes.

A24 In Fabric

Image via TIFF Talks

Strickland (Berberian Sound Studio and The Duke of Burgundy) disclosed some interesting trivia for In Fabric‘s origins and influence during a Q&A at the Toronto International Film Festival.

While the story primarily circles around the imagery of an enchanted–specifically, cursed–red dress, the dress was not initially the inspirational imagery for the horror film. Mannequins from old department stores, resin dripping from their faces, were a particularly disturbing imagery that Strickland drew from as the original inspiration for the backdrop and imagery of the film. Horror media has used mannequins to serve as some of the most horrifying imagery and creatures, so it’s not far fetched how Strickland could draw inspiration of terror from the uncanny, lifeless, plastic humanoids.

A24 In Fabric

Image via TIFF

Strickland has also stated that In Fabric is a film that, while made as a horror flick, aims to celebrate the life of being a consumer, and specifically to commemorate shopping as a central component to our lives. Oddly enough, Strickland also revealed that ASMR played a role in constructing the sound design and plot for the film, with select scenes focusing on an action’s isolated sound. In fairness, if you’ve seen a film like Eraserhead, ASMR is not the weirdest sound design choice a director could use for a film; however, instead of meshing ambient sounds on top of one another to overbear the viewers hearing, Strickland just has the audience subject themselves to one isolated sound.

Another motif for the film is the essence of being human in the sense of our physical bodies, but more specifically bodily fluids; to elaborate, our interactions with fabrics and clothing often involve various stains we leave as permanent or temporary impressions. This is something Strickland considered heavily when writing and directing the film.

Outside of Strickland’s (artistic) fascination with bodily fluids, ASMR, and reflection of his childhood fears, In Fabric is influenced from Herk Harvey and John Clifford’s Carnival of Souls. Another influence for the film’s creation is the final fight from Lethal Weapon between Riggs and Mr. Joshua; specifically, the part in the fight where Riggs gets Joshua in a judo head lock with his legs. The fight was so intense and raw that Strickland wanted to encapsulate the feeling he had from this scene with the intensity of human nature in his film.

The cast for In Fabric includes Gwendoline Christie (Star Wars and Game of Thrones), Haley Squires (I, Daniel Blake and Southcliffe), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Robocop 2014  and Without a Trace), and Richard Bremmer (The 13th Warrior and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone). While we know the film will release in 2019, no specific date has been listed yet, but In Fabric has so far received positive praise and reviews after it’s viewings.

In Fabric was shown at TIFF alongside a multitude of other huge films, including John Carpenter’s new Halloween. We know most of you have been chomping at the bit to hear more about Michael’s return home, so you can check our review of Halloween at its TIFF screening here!

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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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