Magnet Releasing Tagged Articles at Cinematical

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Cinematical has just received this exclusive poster for the film Special, starring Michael Rapaport as a lonely meter maid who has a psychotic reaction to his medication and becomes convinced he's some sort of superhero. Back when Cinematical's Jette Kernion reviewed Special at the Austin Film Festival, she called it "different" and "attention-grabbing" -- adding that "Rapaport is riveting to watch as Les, as he transforms from a mild-mannered, easily duped meter maid to a self-identified superhero determined to help fight crime, and even further to his final state at the movie's climax."

As we told you last week, Special is part of Magnet's Six-Shooter Series, featuring six of the more talked-about genre flicks from the past year or so (Let the Right One In, Timecrimes, Donkey Punch, Eden Log, Big Man Japan) -- all of which are heading our way courtesy of Magnet Releasing. Special will hit theaters on November 21, but will be available On Demand beginning November 7.

Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of distributor Magnolia Pictures, has been busy adding to their slate. Earlier this month, Scott Weinberg reported their acquisition of Donkey Punch, a UK thriller involving "sea-bound debauchery that goes horribly wrong." More recently, Jette Kernion told us they had picked up Special, a movie "about a guy [Michael Rapaport] whose antidepressant makes him think he's a superhero."

Now indieWIRE is reporting that the label has secured North American rights to Let the Right One In, described as "romantic horror ... based on a best-selling novel by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist about a lonely twelve year-old boy and his friendship with a young girl, who appears to be a vampire." I wonder if he suspected anything when he tried to kiss her and she sprouted fangs? Or when her mother kept on telling him, "Don't come over until after nightfall!" Pure speculation on my part, of course. Tomas Alfredson directed; he previously made Four Shades of Brown, a comedy/drama that I found exhausting, so this looks like a good change of pace.

The film has played a couple of European festivals and was picked up by Magnet out of the European Film Market. It's due for release in its native Sweden in April and has already received good reviews (Variety, Twitch). I love the variety of films that Magnet Releasing has acquired so far, in addition to those noted above: titles from France (Eden Log), Spain (Timecrimes), Japan (Big Man Japan), and Chile (Kiltro, Mirageman). We'll keep an eye out for a release date for Let the Right One In.

I saw Special at Austin Film Festival back in October 2006 and hadn't heard a thing about the quirky little film since then. As you can see from my review, I liked this story about a guy whose antidepressant makes him think he's a superhero, and Michael Rapaport was excellent in the lead. Now the news in Hollywood Reporter is that Special's North American theatrical distribution rights have been sold. Magnet Releasing, the genre division of Magnolia Pictures, plans to release the film in the late summer, which should provide a fun counterpoint to early-summer comic-book-hero blockbusters.

Special premiered at Sundance in 2006, which shows you can't give up hope that a film-fest movie you enjoyed might someday hit theaters. Hollywood Reporter notes that the film's leads may be one reason the deal was made. Rapaport has a role on a continually popular TV show, The War at Home. Josh Peck, who plays one of Rapaport's comic-book-loving sidekicks in Special, starred in one of the hits of Sundance this year, The Wackness. Scott Weinberg didn't like it much, or Peck's performance, but he seems to be in the minority. Perhaps this deal is Magnolia's gamble that if The Wackness does well, Special can ride on its coattails, but I think Special has its own comic merits.

[via SpoutBlog]

If you catch wind of a cool foreign film / indie horror / bizarre genre flick at a film festival somewhere (and it's any good), odds are the film will eventually end up in one of two places: Either Lionsgate or Magnolia. But by picking up imports like The Host, District B13 and Severance, Magnolia Pictures showed that they were poised to move quickly on the high-end genre fare. So why not do like most of the other distributors and create a whole new branch just for the action, the horror, and the 'weird' stuff?

Yesterday Magnolia Pictures announced that they were creating Magnet Releasing, a "new label to specialize in films from the vanguard of horror, action, comedy and Asian cinema." Heck, sounds good to me. So what will Magnet have to offer over the upcoming months? Here's just a taste:

Big Man Japan (Dainipponjin) -- "A middle-aged slacker living in a rundown, graffiti-ridden slum, Daisoto's job involves being shocked by bolts of electricity that transform him into a stocky, stick-wielding giant several stories high who is entrusted with defending Japan from a host of bizarre monsters." Fun stuff! Read my Toronto Film Festival review right here.

Boarding Gate -- "Asia Argento plays sexy ex-prostitute Sandra, who is forced to flee London after a steamy S&M encounter with a debt-ridden ex-lover (Michael Madsen) ends in violence." Sounds cool enough. Plus it played Cannes.

Murder Party -- "It's Halloween night in Brooklyn, and Chris, a lonely, square and unremarkable man is returning home from his meter-maid job when he finds a mysterious invitation on the street. Following it to what he believes will be a fun costume party, he discovers that he's stumbled into a lethal trap set by a gang of deranged hipster artists." Another one I liked! Check out my Fantastic Fest review right here.

For more on the Magnetic plans (and flicks!), check out the official press release and/or the brand-new website. But why no mention of The Signal? I could have sworn that Magnolia snatched that one up -- and it's a damn fine horror flick, I don't mind saying. A perfect one to kick-start a new genre division, actually...