Category Archives: Movies

Ridley Scott’s Post-Apocalyptic Thriller ‘The Dog Stars’ Hits Digital and 4K This Fall

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Ridley Scott is bringing Peter Heller’s acclaimed novel to life, and it’s landing on home video soon.

“The Dog Stars” follows Hig, a young pilot played by Jacob Elordi, who’s built a bare-bones existence with military survivalist Bangley (Josh Brolin) in a world that’s been ravaged beyond recognition. Their isolated setup works until a mysterious radio transmission disrupts everything, pulling Hig into the unknown in search of whatever humanity might still be out there.

The film hits premium digital platforms on October 27, including Prime Video, Apple TV, and Fandango at Home. Then on December 1, it arrives on 4K Ultra HD and DVD with HDR, expanded color, and immersive audio.

The cast is stacked. Alongside Elordi and Brolin, you’ve got Margaret Qualley, Guy Pearce, Allison Janney, and Benedict Wong. The home release also includes a making-of featurette and seven deleted scenes.

Polygon’s Jake Kleinman called it “a post-apocalyptic odyssey like no other,” praising the cinematography and score. For indie creators and fans of character-driven sci-fi, this is one to watch. Scott’s vision paired with a strong ensemble could mean a fresh take on a genre that’s been done to death.

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Nicolas Cage Plays a Criminal Called “The S.O.B.” in Diner Standoff Thriller

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Nicolas Cage is back in action mode, and this time he’s playing a character literally named “The S.O.B.”

IFC Films is releasing BEST PANCAKES IN THE COUNTY on November 20th in select theaters and on VOD. The film stars Cage alongside Justin Long and Shelley Hennig in a shoot-’em-up thriller set entirely in a small-town diner.

The story unfolds over one night as an ordinary diner becomes ground zero for a deadly standoff. Cage plays an eccentric criminal caught between rogue federal agents, a con man with a sketchy past (Long), and a waitress hiding her own secrets (Hennig). Survival comes down to who can outsmart and outshoot everyone else.

Director Ken Sanzel reunites with Cage after their 2019 collaboration on Kill Chain. The cast also includes Lauren German, Ravi Patel, Brandon Mychal Smith, Kelly Greyson, Jaylen Moore, and Michael Sirow.

Shot in Arkansas, the film is backed by Beno Films and CaliWood Pictures, with Fortitude International handling international sales.

IFC Films has been championing independent cinema for 25 years, releasing everything from THE BABADOOK and BOYHOOD to recent hits like LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL and IN A VIOLENT NATURE. This one looks like pure pulp fun with Cage doing what he does best.

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Larry Fessenden Brings His Monsters Together in ‘Trauma, or Monsters All’

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Larry Fessenden is uniting his classic monsters for what may be his final film.

Dark Sky Films just announced that *Trauma, or Monsters All* hits theaters November 4th. The film opens at IFC Center in New York, followed by a Los Angeles run at Lumiere Music Hall and a nationwide VOD release on November 24th.

The new film brings together the vampire, Frankenstein’s monster, and werewolf from Fessenden’s earlier work (*Habit*, *Depraved*, *Blackout*) into a single story. French actress Laëtitia Hollard plays Cassandra, a visiting writer researching George Washington Carver in the upstate town of Talbot Falls. After she publishes an exposé on the town’s dark history, the monsters emerge and the community’s buried trauma comes flooding back.

The ensemble cast includes Aitana Doyle, Addison Timlin, Alex Hurt, Barbara Crampton, James Le Gros, and Fessenden himself. The 119-minute film marks another collaboration between Dark Sky and Fessenden’s Glass Eye Pix, the production house behind *The House of the Devil*, *The Innkeepers*, and *Stake Land*.

“I’ve spent my career reimagining classic monsters because they reveal something deeply human about us,” Fessenden said. The film reportedly blends gothic horror with social commentary, tackling themes of memory, guilt, and identity.

IFC Center is also running a seven-film Fessenden retrospective starting October 28th in honor of Glass Eye Pix’s 40th anniversary.

This matters because Fessenden has championed independent horror for decades, both as a filmmaker and a producer who’s nurtured voices like Ti West, Jim Mickle, and Kelly Reichardt. If this is truly his last film, he’s going out swinging.

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Sundance Winner THEYDREAM Blends Animation and Family Archives to Explore Nuyorican Identity

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A queer Puerto Rican filmmaker and his mother built miniature sets, stepped in front of green screens, and used motion capture to bring their dead family members back to life.

THEYDREAM, William D. Caballero’s hybrid documentary, hits AMC Empire 25 in New York on November 13. Executive produced by John Leguizamo, the film took home the NEXT Special Jury Award for Creative Expression at Sundance earlier this year.

Caballero and his mother Migdalia “Milly” Caballero spent over two decades archiving their family’s story, from Brooklyn public housing to rural North Carolina. Now they’ve turned those memories into art, mixing 2D and 3D animation, handcrafted miniatures, digital rotoscoping, and vérité footage to process devastating losses.

The film traces a working-class Nuyorican family across generations, exploring queer self-acceptance and intergenerational healing through animation and candid conversations. It’s already picked up awards at Miami, the New York Latino Film Festival, Ann Arbor, and LA Latino International.

The theatrical release follows festival screenings in Charlotte, Montclair, San Francisco, Asheville, Memphis, and a DOC NYC presentation on November 15.

This matters because indie filmmakers are proving you don’t need a massive budget to tell deeply personal stories. Just green screens, miniatures, and two decades of love.

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New Zealand Body Horror Comedy MUM, I’M ALIEN PREGNANT Hits Digital Oct. 27

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A messy millennial gets knocked up by an extraterrestrial, and nobody believes her.

MUM, I’M ALIEN PREGNANT, the feature debut from New Zealand directing duo THUNDERLIPS, drops on digital and VOD October 27th via XYZ Films. The film follows Mary, an underachieving twentysomething who accidentally becomes alien-pregnant and has to navigate skeptical doctors, a useless baby daddy, and her oversharing mother just to survive.

The film expands on THUNDERLIPS’ 2024 short HELP, I’M ALIEN PREGNANT, with Hannah Lynch (The Rule of Jenny Pen) returning to play Mary. She’s joined by Yvette Parsons (What We Do in the Shadows), Arlo Green (Shortland Street), and Jackie van Beek, co-creator of the Australian version of The Office.

MUM, I’M ALIEN PREGNANT premiered in the Midnight section at Sundance earlier this year and earned strong reviews, currently sitting at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s a wild mix of body horror and comedy that puts a millennial spin on alien invasion tropes.

For indie filmmakers working in genre, this is proof that a strong concept and fresh voice can carry a feature, even when scaling up from a short. THUNDERLIPS took a weird idea and ran with it all the way to Sundance.

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Disney Theme Park Heist Doc Stolen Kingdom Heads to International Market

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A documentary about stolen Disney World props and a half-million-dollar animatronic is going global.

BayView Entertainment picked up international rights to Stolen Kingdom, Joshua Bailey’s debut feature that digs into the seedy underworld of Disney theme park theft. The film centers on the 2018 heist of “Buzzy,” an animatronic swiped from Epcot and valued at nearly $500,000.

Bailey co-wrote the doc with Matthew Serrano of Defunctland. It traces the history of mischief and scandal at Walt Disney World, exposing a surprisingly lucrative black market for stolen props.

The film’s had a strong festival run with sold-out screenings at Big Sky, Slamdance, IFF Boston, and Florida Film Festival. Sidewalk Film Festival picked it as opening night. It hit #1 on Apple TV for new documentaries in the U.S. and screened theatrically over 150 times across the U.S. and Canada.

BayView is shopping it to international buyers at MIPCOM this month. The company’s Craig Sussman and Selena Paskalidis called it a “passion project about mischief and misdeeds” they’re eager to bring to global audiences.

Producers include Slater Wayne (Jackass Forever), Brandon Pickering, Colin Alexander, and Sam Fraser. Antenna Releasing handles North America.

For indie docs chasing niche audiences, this one found two massive ones: Disney fans and true-crime junkies.

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Harry Belafonte Doc Chronicles Final Years of Legendary Activist’s Life

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following-harryA documentary capturing the last twelve years of Harry Belafonte’s life hits major streaming platforms next week.

Following Harry, directed by Emmy-nominated filmmaker Susanne Rostock, drops October 13 on Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango, and other VOD platforms in the US and Canada. The film follows the legendary singer and civil rights leader as he works to inspire a new generation of activists and artists to fight injustice.

Rostock, who previously directed Sing Your Song about Belafonte, embeds with the icon from the aftermath of Trayvon Martin’s death through the Ferguson protests. The doc shows both public moments and private conversations, including the creation of the Women’s March in Belafonte’s own office.

The film features Angela Davis, Jamie Foxx, Rosario Dawson, Chuck D, Talib Kweli, Jesse Williams, and Belafonte’s daughter Gina, among others.

Following Harry won jury awards at Sidewalk Film Festival and BronzeLens, plus the FilmSlam Award at Cleveland International Film Festival. It also played Tribeca and Santa Barbara.

Blue Harbor Entertainment is handling the release. For indie filmmakers documenting cultural icons, this shows there’s still an appetite for intimate, long-form storytelling about artists who never stopped fighting.

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Two Friends, 330 Miles, and Zero Score: ‘The North’ Hits Theaters With a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes

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the-northA decade-old friendship gets put to the test across some of Scotland’s most punishing terrain.

The North follows Chris, a Dutchman (Bart Harder), and Lluis, a Spaniard (Carles Pulido), as they reconnect for a 330-mile trek through the Scottish Highlands along the West Highland Way and Cape Wrath Trail. The reunion carries both excitement and uncertainty, and the hike becomes more than just a physical challenge. Between stunning mountain views, creekside camps, relentless rain, and encounters with fellow travelers searching for something, the journey takes on a rhythm all its own.

The film was shot over 16 consecutive days with a skeleton crew of just six people, all hiking and camping in real time. There’s no added score, just the sound of wind, water, and footsteps. It’s a bold choice that pulls you into the experience rather than cueing you how to feel.

The North clocked a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes ahead of its theatrical run, a strong sign that audiences are hungry for stories that strip things down. Director Bart Schrijver, along with Pulido and sound designer Tom Holscher, will appear for post-screening Q&As in NYC on October 9th and 10th.

For indie filmmakers looking to capture something real without the gloss, this one’s worth studying. Sometimes all you need is two people, a trail, and a microphone.

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Willem Dafoe Stars in Mediterranean Thriller ‘The Birthday Party,’ Now Streaming on Lionsgate+

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Willem Dafoe leads a Mediterranean-set psychological thriller that just hit Lionsgate+ on Prime Video.

The Birthday Party follows Marcos Timoleon, an Aristotle Onassis-style tycoon throwing a lavish bash for his daughter Sofia on his private island in the late 1970s. The party becomes a powder keg when Sofia arrives with news of her own, just as her controlling father secretly plots a major decision about her future.

Writer-director Miguel Ángel Jiménez crafted the drama around the clash between Marcos and Sofia as the party spirals into chaos. The cast includes Vic Carmen Sonne, Joe Cole, Emma Suárez, and Carlos Cuevas. Producers Giorgos Karnavas, Adria Mones, Erik Glijnis, Leontine Petit, and Kurban Kassam brought the 103-minute feature to life.

The film taps into themes of power, control, and family secrets, set against the Mediterranean backdrop. As guests arrive and night falls, the decadent celebration builds toward what the filmmakers describe as a heartbreaking climax.

Lionsgate+ offers the film ad-free as part of its $6.99 monthly subscription on Prime Video, with a seven-day free trial available. The service positions itself as the streaming home for Lionsgate’s extensive catalog of dramas, action franchises, and comedies.

For indie filmmakers, it’s another example of how talent-driven thrillers can find their audience through streaming platforms, even without a traditional theatrical run.

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Garden State Film Festival Marks 25 Years of Launching Indie Filmmakers

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Long before New Jersey had a film tax incentive, the Garden State Film Festival was already building the state’s indie film ecosystem. Now, as it approaches its 25th anniversary in March 2027, the nonprofit is pushing to raise $10,000 to keep that work going.

GSFF has screened Academy Award-winning documentaries like A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin and Freeheld. This year, two GSFF alumni films, Saverio and Lawyered Up, made it to the international stage at the American Pavilion during the Cannes Film Festival.

The festival runs March 18–21, 2027, across New Jersey venues, expecting about 20,000 attendees. Beyond the fest itself, GSFF operates year-round film clinics for students who’ve never picked up a camera.

“Every great film needs someone to believe in it first. For 25 years, that’s been our job,” the festival wrote in its DAF Day fundraising appeal. “For many New Jersey students, our year-round film clinics are the first place they pick up a camera and realize their stories matter.”

The goal: give independent voices a stage, especially voices that might otherwise go unheard. As production investment accelerates across New Jersey, GSFF connects that growing industry to filmmakers, audiences, and communities who helped build it from the ground up.

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