waz Tagged Articles at Cinematical
'WAZ' Director to Deliver 'The Day'
Filed under: Horror », Thrillers »
Late last year I got to see a Frightfest "members only" screening of Tom Shankland's WAZ, which (despite being a fairly clear combo of Seven and Saw) I really enjoyed a whole lot. It's a very dark thriller about serial killers, burnt-out cops, and all sorts of horrible demises -- and it definitely works as evidence of a director who knows his craft. So while American audiences have yet to see WAZ for themselves (the Weinsteins own it), you'll just have to trust me that when I say Shankland knows how to ramp up the nasty.Ah, and here's some good news: Shankland has just started production on a new horror flick. (Cool.) According to Shock, production is already underway on The Day, which is about a family outing that's ruined by (maybe) a flock of demonic children. Cast members include Rachel Shelley, Stephen Campbell Moore, Eva Sayer and Jeremy Sheffield. Shankland co-wrote the screenplay with The Cottage creator Paul Williams. (And I'll be happy to drop you a reminder once WAZ gets a locked-in release date.)
Waz Trailer Now Online
Filed under: Horror », Thrillers », The Weinstein Co. », Movie Marketing », Cinematical Indie », Trailers and Clips »
If you're excited about the latest psychological thriller, Waz (or WΔZ), then be sure to watch that trailer above (courtesy of TerrorFeed.com). I'm not going to promise that you can see much, though. Really, it has got to be the darkest preview I've ever seen -- and I'm not talking about dark in terms of subject matter. I know my computer is facing a sunny window, and there's probably a good amount of dust on my screen, but still. A scary movie trailer shouldn't only be accessible to horror geeks watching from their black-curtained basement bedrooms. If I hadn't read the synopsis provided by HorrorMovies.ca, I wouldn't have had any idea what was going on. All I would have had to say was, "Stellan Skarsgard sure does look badass with a mustache," and "boy, Melissa George is even more easily confused for Rachel McAdams in the dark."
Now that I've gotten over the seemingly poor quality of the movie (or the trailer, at least), I recall that I was once pretty interested in Waz. Last May, when Ryan wrote about the film being picked up at Cannes by The Weinstein Co., he quoted George from his interview with the actress, and her description made the thing sound very intriguing. She called it a "genius storyline" dealing how humans are more willing to sacrifice a loved one for their own survival than other animals, who are apt to sacrifice themselves for the good of "the kingdom." Yeah, that sounds good, right? Too bad the end result looks more like just another Se7en knock-off. But of course, there is a chance that it is as good as George claims. Variety's Derek Elley called it a "mightily impressive feature debut" from director Tom Shankland and Cinematical horror expert Scott Weinberg wrote on another site that it's "solid" and "one of the best [serial killer flicks] I've seen in awhile." I guess it's just a bad trailer, then?
The Weinsteins Will Distribute 'Waz'
Filed under: Drama », Thrillers », Deals », Cannes », The Weinstein Co. », Home Entertainment »
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Last November, when I interviewed Melissa George for the horror film Turistas, we ended up talking about another project on her horizon, the psychological thriller Waz, with Stellan Skarsgard. George said the film had a "genius storyline" but sort of went around the world when describing it, not wanting to be pinned down on an actual plot description. "It's about altruism in nature and whether you'd kill someone you love in order to survive yourself," she said. When pressed, she gave me a monkey analogy. "In nature there are some animals who will put themselves on the front line to be killed in order to save the kingdom, because they are the same gene pool. They don't care. They just want to survive. One monkey will go out in front of another and get killed in order to save 300 of them behind him. You know what I mean? Whereas, humans, we're a separate gene pool." Hmmm ...
Anyway, the trades are reporting that just as the Cannes fest was closing, the Weinsteins made a couple of last-minute deals, and one of them was to pick up North American home video rights to Waz. The film, which is described in the article as "the story of a detective (Skarsgard) stalked by a serial killer," will be released through the Genius home video label, although when hasn't been specified. In addition to Waz, the Weinsteins also picked up North American rights to the Joy Division biopic Control and Australian rights to the animated film Persepolis -- both of the latter were reviewed by our own James at Cannes.
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