It’s that time again. Another year has come to an end. Another decade, even. We defied the odds and live to fight another day, just like horror cinema proved itself – once again – a genre that continues to survive, adapt and thrive. Even at that, 2019 was an odd year for horror in that mainstream titles featuring household villains ended up leaving less of a mark than so many vastly different indies (in my opinion). If anything, 2019 was a reminder of the tremendous diversity among horror subgenres that offer a cornucopia of terror. Take your pick, choose your fate and dive into Part I of our top horror movies of 2019.
20) Pledge
In a year when toxic masculinity takedowns skewered fratboy culture on a rotating spit, Pledge paddles Greek life into submission. Three boys, a “dudes only” initiation and the true meaning of “Hell Night.” Director Daniel Robbins and writer Zack Weiner...
20) Pledge
In a year when toxic masculinity takedowns skewered fratboy culture on a rotating spit, Pledge paddles Greek life into submission. Three boys, a “dudes only” initiation and the true meaning of “Hell Night.” Director Daniel Robbins and writer Zack Weiner...
- 12/31/2019
- by Matt Donato
- We Got This Covered
Exclusive: Orion Pictures has signed on Daniel Robbins to direct Most Evil, a new horror film from a screenplay by brothers Benjamin and Paul China. The latest news comes after the revamped label recently released genre pics The Prodigy in February and a new Child’s Play in June.
The new project reunites Orion with producers Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger, who via their Automatik also are producing the upcoming Gretel & Hansel, directed by Osgood Perkins, starring Sophia Lillis and due in theaters January 31.
The plot of Most Evil film follows a group of twentysomethings who take a business tycoon’s daughter hostage in a failed robbery attempt and realize they’re in over their heads when the girl turns out to not be as innocent as she appears.
Automatik’s Rian Cahill will executive produce the pic. Orion’s Dan Kagan will oversee for the studio.
It will be Robbins’ fourth feature film,...
The new project reunites Orion with producers Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger, who via their Automatik also are producing the upcoming Gretel & Hansel, directed by Osgood Perkins, starring Sophia Lillis and due in theaters January 31.
The plot of Most Evil film follows a group of twentysomethings who take a business tycoon’s daughter hostage in a failed robbery attempt and realize they’re in over their heads when the girl turns out to not be as innocent as she appears.
Automatik’s Rian Cahill will executive produce the pic. Orion’s Dan Kagan will oversee for the studio.
It will be Robbins’ fourth feature film,...
- 10/7/2019
- by Geoff Boucher and Patrick Hipes
- Deadline Film + TV
One of these years we are going to have to get ourselves over to Greece to celebrate international genre cinema at the Horrorant Film Festival. That and the Saganaki, which we can get here in Toronto in our own Greek town but, you know, Greece! The festival wrapped up it's sixth edition this week and announced award winners on the final night. Daniel Robbins' horror flick Pledge took home the Best Horror Award. Competition was reportedly fierce for the festival's Panorama award so they awarded it to two films, Wen Ren's Last Sunrise and Erwan Marinopoulos' Kill Ben Lyk. The remainder of the awards were evenly spread out to all other films invited to the festival. Horrorant Film Festival “Fright Nights”, one...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 5/18/2019
- Screen Anarchy
Pledge is a recent indie horror gem from director/writer team Daniel Robbins and Zack Weiner, who were friends in high school and went on to make low-budget horror movies together, starting with Uncaged, a teen werewolf horror thriller from 2016. The film follows three hapless college kids as they attempt to pledge for a highly exclusive […] The post Horror Business: Indie Horror Filmmaking Lessons from Pledge appeared first on Dread Central.
- 2/27/2019
- by Nick Taylor
- DreadCentral.com
Independent horror doesn’t need to go overboard when it comes to a premise. Just set the scare for something scary and then let the brutality commence. Simple is rarely a bad thing. The new indie fright flick Pledge has certainly figured out the secret sauce. A horror film set during fraternity pledging? Very little sounds more terrifying. So, watching young men suffer while trying to join a club may bring back fond memories for some, for plenty of others it sounds like literal torture, something the film just takes to the next level. The result is something slick and very compelling. The film is a horror/thriller hybrid set on a college campus. Justin (Zachery Byrd), Ethan (Phillip Andre Botello), and David (Zack Weiner) are a trio of nerdy friends looking to rush a fraternity. As they get rejected from frat after frat, despair on the part of Justin and Ethan sets in,...
- 1/9/2019
- by Joey Magidson
- Hollywoodnews.com
Tagline: "Few Get In. None Get Out." Pledge is an upcoming horror film. Set to be released through IFC's Midnight label, the film focuses on three friends and their unifying dream to enter an elite fraternity. They could never expect what lies in store for them. From director Daniel Robbins (Uncaged), Pledge stars: Zachery Byrd, Phillip Andre Botello, Aaron Dalla Villan and lots of others. This title had its World Premiere at the Fantasia Film Festival (Montreal), earlier this year. Now, a trailer and release details are available for this torture porn styled thriller. The story involves a group of misfits. Ethan (Botello), David (Zack Weiner) and Justin (Byrd) hope they can leave their losing streak behind, by finding acceptance in college. Their desperation leads to a bad choice as they are lured into a fraternity, run by psychopaths. After they are loosened up with alcohol and parties, the...
- 12/7/2018
- by noreply@blogger.com (Michael Allen)
- 28 Days Later Analysis
What at first seems like standard hazing takes a lethal left turn for a trio of unsuspecting friends looking to join a sorority in IFC Midnight's unsettling trailer for Pledge.
Directed by Daniel Robbins, Pledge stars Phillip Andre Botello, Zachary Byrd, Zachary Weiner, Joe Gallagher, Jean-Louis Droulers, Erica Boozer, Aaron Dalla Villa, Cameron Cowperthwaite, and Jesse Pimentel. IFC Midnight will release Pledge in theaters and on VOD on January 11th.
Synopsis: "Three friends get the chance to live the college dream when they’re invited to join an elite fraternity—but first they’ll have to survive the hazing from hell. Freshman social misfits Ethan (Phillip Andre Botello), David (Zack Weiner), and Justin (Zachery Byrd) are desperate to improve their terminally uncool reputations by pledging one of their university’s prestigious Greek houses. When every frat on campus turns them down, they are unexpectedly recruited by a shadowy social club...
Directed by Daniel Robbins, Pledge stars Phillip Andre Botello, Zachary Byrd, Zachary Weiner, Joe Gallagher, Jean-Louis Droulers, Erica Boozer, Aaron Dalla Villa, Cameron Cowperthwaite, and Jesse Pimentel. IFC Midnight will release Pledge in theaters and on VOD on January 11th.
Synopsis: "Three friends get the chance to live the college dream when they’re invited to join an elite fraternity—but first they’ll have to survive the hazing from hell. Freshman social misfits Ethan (Phillip Andre Botello), David (Zack Weiner), and Justin (Zachery Byrd) are desperate to improve their terminally uncool reputations by pledging one of their university’s prestigious Greek houses. When every frat on campus turns them down, they are unexpectedly recruited by a shadowy social club...
- 12/7/2018
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
"Privilege comes with hard work." IFC Midnight has debuted the first official trailer for an indie horror thriller titled Pledge, a much more horrifying take on the fraternity ritual of recruiting young university students. This premiered at Fantasia and Screamfest this year, and is hitting theaters at the beginning of January. Pledge is about a group of outcast college freshmen who decide to pledge an exclusive fraternity but soon realize there's more at stake than they could have ever imagined. The full cast includes Zachery Byrd, Aaron Dalla Villa, Zachary Weiner, Phillip Andre Botello, Cameron Cowperthwaite, Joe Gallagher, Jesse Pimentel, and Erica Boozer. I don't like fraternities much anyway, but this is taking the idea of hazing to the most extreme - literally turning it into a brutal cult horror film. Crazy frightening. Here's the first official trailer (+ poster) for Daniel Robbins' Pledge, direct from YouTube: Three nerdy college freshmen,...
- 12/7/2018
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Returning for its 18th year this October is Hollywood's Screamfest Horror Film Festival, a celebration of horror cinema's past, present, and future. Back in May, we teamed up with Screamfest for a 10th anniversary screening of Gregg Bishop's Dance of the Dead, and now we're thrilled to share the first wave of programming for this year's festival, as well as the exciting news that Lin Shaye will be the festival's 2018 ambassador!
Taking place October 9th–18th at Tcl Chinese 6 Theaters in Hollywood, Screamfest's first wave of programming includes Padraig Reynolds' Open 24 Hours, Daniel Robbins' Pledge, Timothy Woodward Jr.'s The Final Wish, a 10th anniversary screening of Toby Wilkins' Splinter, and much more!
You can read the official announcement below, visit Screamfest's website for more information, and stay tuned to Daily Dead for more Screamfest news!
Press Release: Hollywood, Calif. – September 25, 2018 – America’s largest and longest running horror film festival,...
Taking place October 9th–18th at Tcl Chinese 6 Theaters in Hollywood, Screamfest's first wave of programming includes Padraig Reynolds' Open 24 Hours, Daniel Robbins' Pledge, Timothy Woodward Jr.'s The Final Wish, a 10th anniversary screening of Toby Wilkins' Splinter, and much more!
You can read the official announcement below, visit Screamfest's website for more information, and stay tuned to Daily Dead for more Screamfest news!
Press Release: Hollywood, Calif. – September 25, 2018 – America’s largest and longest running horror film festival,...
- 9/25/2018
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Frat life has never been so scary. And we don’t mean the recent wave of headlines and controversies. Hot newcomer Daniel Robbins’ film Pledge is set to premiere this July at the prestigious Fantasia International Film Festival, and we have the first look at the teaser trailer. Inspired by the rise of the social thriller, […]
The post Trailer: Frat Life Gets Scary in Daniel Robbins’ Pledge appeared first on Dread Central.
The post Trailer: Frat Life Gets Scary in Daniel Robbins’ Pledge appeared first on Dread Central.
- 7/16/2018
- by Mike Sprague
- DreadCentral.com
Besides managing Lady Gaga in Bradley Cooper’s “A Star Is Born” remake (out October 5), this year Sam Elliott will star in another movie that sounds original in every way. “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then he Bigfoot” will have its world premiere this July at the Fantasia International Film Festival. Writer-director Robert Kryzkowski’s first feature — executive produced by twice-Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Sayles — casts Elliott as a WWII veteran who American and Canadian cops send to slay a plague-riddled beast.
A full line-up for Montreal’s annual celebration of horror/sci-fi/action cinema is forthcoming on June 28, but festival organizers have released the names of several notable entries from its 22nd program. Daniel Roby’s French-language film “Dans La Brume” (“Just a Breath Away”) will open the proceedings, transporting the audience to a post-earthquake Paris. That cast includes Olga Kurylenko, last seen as Adam Driver’s lover in...
A full line-up for Montreal’s annual celebration of horror/sci-fi/action cinema is forthcoming on June 28, but festival organizers have released the names of several notable entries from its 22nd program. Daniel Roby’s French-language film “Dans La Brume” (“Just a Breath Away”) will open the proceedings, transporting the audience to a post-earthquake Paris. That cast includes Olga Kurylenko, last seen as Adam Driver’s lover in...
- 6/15/2018
- by Jenna Marotta
- Indiewire
Blumhouse horror Hurt among second wave of selections.
Announcing the second wave of programing on Thursday (June 14), top brass at the 22nd annual Fantasia International Film Festival said the Montreal event that runs from July 12-August 1 will open with Daniel Roby’s Dans La Brume.
The France-Canada thriller about a toxic mist that takes over Paris after an earthquake stars Romain Duris, Olga Kurylenko, and Fantine Harduin.
It is one of more than 130 features to be announced later this month. Thursday’s announcement includes the world premiere of Blumhouse thriller Hurt from director Sonny Mallhi, as well as Tales From...
Announcing the second wave of programing on Thursday (June 14), top brass at the 22nd annual Fantasia International Film Festival said the Montreal event that runs from July 12-August 1 will open with Daniel Roby’s Dans La Brume.
The France-Canada thriller about a toxic mist that takes over Paris after an earthquake stars Romain Duris, Olga Kurylenko, and Fantine Harduin.
It is one of more than 130 features to be announced later this month. Thursday’s announcement includes the world premiere of Blumhouse thriller Hurt from director Sonny Mallhi, as well as Tales From...
- 6/14/2018
- by Jenn Sherman
- ScreenDaily
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