We're intrigued by this slick space drama The Darkest Matter. But should we be concerned that the young minds who filmed and acted in this "Lord of the Flies in space" movie are basically lighting each other on fire?
The Darkest Matter
The Darkest Matter is somewhat of a class project. Almost all of the shooting and production happened at the Starting Arts Summer Film Camp. Film vets James Fox (Owner/Director) and Geoff Peck (Director of Photography) taught the kids (6th to 12th graders) advanced film-making techniques from acting to (we assume) filming, directing, editing, FX etc. Peck and Fox's production company Dawnrunner, along with the camp, is producing the film. Here's the synopsis:
Space is a dangerous place for a child. When their colony ship is destroyed in deep space, Elaine Barrett, and a small group of children survivors find themselves marooned on a mysterious derelict space station. As time passes, and their chances for rescue dwindle, the weary children begin to turn on each other. With her allies dwindling and no way to signal for help, Elaine must make a choice: stay on a station filled with angry and violent children or take her chances in space.
The film is scheduled for a release on March 13th, 2011. For more information check out The Darkest Matter website. You can see a handful of stills over at their facebook page, including this horrific child-on-fire scene, which thankfully seems to be a terrible, terrible dream.
RE-KILL
It's been quite awhile since we had some good ol' fashioned fast zombies (Resident Evil doesn't count as the biggest zombie threat was the strange tentacle-face creature that could eat through concrete). After Dark Original's next big zombie flick has a fun spin on the usual mockumentary take — it follows a zombie SWAT team. The movie smacks of Starship Troopers, and that is a good thing. Thanks to Quiet Earth for pointing this out.
It's been 5 years since the outbreak that wiped out 85% of the world's population, but the war between Re-Animates (Re-Ans) and Humans wages on. Most of the major cities are still uninhabitable. Within the few surviving cities, the Re-Ans have been segregated into "zones" and are policed by the R-Division of the QUASI S.W.A.T. Unit who hunt to re-kill the Re-Ans in the hope of quelling a second outbreak.
"R-Division, Frontline" is America's #1 TV show in this Post-Apocalyptic world. Weekly, the show follows different R-Division units on the battlefield as they work to keep America Safe and Re-An free. Jimmy, the videographer for the Outbreak Network, thought this week's episode would be like every other. He was wrong. Through the lens of his eyes and camera, we see raw, revealed and uncut, that which could be mankind's last day.
Benjamin Sniddlegrass and the Cauldron of Penguins (Narrated by Stephen Fry)
More proof that Stephen Fry is a kind, kind man. After responding to an email, the actor met up with the director of this $9,000 flick and narrated the entire film while he had some free time in the afternoon. This light hearted spoof of Potter and Percy Jackson could be funny; the trailer has its hits and a few misses. But we're cheering on any sort of creator that blows all of their money on a parody film, but is still clever enough to get Stephen Fry involved in some way or another. And yes, one of the characters is Werner Herzog and another is an insane penguin. Here's the trailer:
No US screenings as of now, but there may be a very small release in Australia. We'll keep you posted.
Exist
Finally, here's the trailer from the alien invasion movie Exist. While we were tempted to write this flick off as more of the same shaky cam work, the poster begs to differ:
It's damn frightening. The rest of the film seems to be your standard "guy with a camera in the middle of an alien invasion movie." But if the rest of the film is as haunting as this poster, we're in. No news besides the trailer, yet.