MagnetReleasing 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.

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...