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‘M.O.M. (Mothers of Monsters)’ is a Bone-Chilling Thriller

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M.O.M.

M.O.M. (Mothers of Monster), a new found footage style film from writer/director Tucia Lyman will have its big screen debut in Los Angeles on Friday, March 13, 2020 with a release on digital VOD and cable to follow.

The film focuses on Abbey (Melinda Page Hamilton), a single mother who suspects her son Jacob (Bailey Edwards) might be a budding psychopath. Unfortunately, no one will listen to her growing concerns, so she decides to document his behavior for other mothers who might find themselves in the same situation.

Told through cellphone footage, surveillance cameras, and Skype calls, a film whose subject matter is already disturbing delivers a shot of unexpected and uncomfortable realism that will leave audiences squirming in their seats.

Hamilton, who previously appeared in the Netflix series Messiah as well as the ABC hit How to Get Away with Murder, is believable as a woman at the end of her quickly fraying rope. Her emotional arc from anger to vulnerability to fear is utterly captivating.

It’s Edwards, however, in an impressive debut–he’s previously had small roles in film’s like Netflix’s Bright–that will have you on the edge of your seat in M.O.M. He has an unnerving way of staring into the camera, his eyes wide in faux innocence with a dangerous, violent undercurrent just beneath the surface of the mask.

What I found most impressive in his performance was the precision with which he could flip from one emotion to the next in a realistic portrayal of a boy who may have no real emotions at all, but who has learned to mimic what he sees in others. Honestly, it’s the kind of talent one expects from a much older and more experienced actor and it was a pleasant surprise to find in Edwards.

It is ultimately the subject matter, itself, that is most disturbing in M.O.M. Lyman tapped into primal fears of parenthood and the supposed innocence of childhood to craft a story that is tension-filled and compelling.

“I’ve always been intrigued by real-life horror films that use the dysfunctions of society as a vessel to explore the truth,” the filmmaker said in a statement. “M.O.M. is a work of narrative fiction, but much of the behavior, scenarios, and dialogue were borrowed from the journals and publications of real-life school shooters and their parents. It is a very confronting film, much like the subject matter itself, and I hope it will contribute to the national debate surrounding mental health stigma and gun violence in America.”

The realism and the fact that we’ve so many instances of this type of violence in the U.S. rings true throughout. It’s the kind of film that will no doubt fuel discussion in audience members long after its limited release.

M.O.M. will screen for a week at the Arena Cinelounge on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles beginning on March 13, 2020 with release dates for home viewing to be determined.

Check out the trailer below, and let us know what you think in the comments.

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‘Evil Dead’ Film Franchise Getting TWO New Installments

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It was a risk for Fede Alvarez to reboot Sam Raimi’s horror classic The Evil Dead in 2013, but that risk paid off and so did its spiritual sequel Evil Dead Rise in 2023. Now Deadline is reporting that the series is getting, not one, but two fresh entries.

We already knew about the Sébastien Vaniček upcoming film that delves into the Deadite universe and should be a proper sequel to the latest film, but we are broadsided that Francis Galluppi and Ghost House Pictures are doing a one-off project set in Raimi’s universe based off of an idea that Galluppi pitched to Raimi himself. That concept is being kept under wraps.

Evil Dead Rise

“Francis Galluppi is a storyteller who knows when to keep us waiting in simmering tension and when to hit us with explosive violence,” Raimi told Deadline. “He is a director that shows uncommon control in his feature debut.”

That feature is titled The Last Stop In Yuma County which will release theatrically in the United States on May 4. It follows a traveling salesman, “stranded at a rural Arizona rest stop,” and “is thrust into a dire hostage situation by the arrival of two bank robbers with no qualms about using cruelty-or cold, hard steel-to protect their bloodstained fortune.”

Galluppi is an award-winning sci-fi/horror shorts director whose acclaimed works include High Desert Hell and The Gemini Project. You can view the full edit of High Desert Hell and the teaser for Gemini below:

High Desert Hell
The Gemini Project

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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