MGM and Paramount have found Ben-Hur. The studios are setting Jack Huston, and you just knew he was going to get a big, star-making film role after his portrayal of the masked, war-scarred assassin Richard Harrow on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. It would be hard to imagine a bigger-scale picture than Ben-Hur, with Timur Bekmambetov directing the epic remake in Europe next year. Huston joins Morgan Freeman, whom Deadline broke will play the role of Ildarin, the man who teaches the slave Ben-Hur to become a champion-caliber chariot racer.
MGM and Paramount still have to find their Messala, Ben-Hur’s former close friend-turned-bitter rival. Actors have been circling both parts, and it looked for a while there like Huston might have played the latter. He read for that role, but Bekmambetov decided instead he had the sympathetic manner and grit to play the title role, the one that brought a Best Actor Academy Award to Charlton Heston for the 1959 William Wyler-directed pic that won 11 Oscars in total. They’ve set a February 26, 2016, release date on the epic film, which has a script by Keith Clarke that John Ridley rewrote. This one hews closely to the 1880 Lew Wallace novel Ben-Hur: A Tale Of The Christ – the biggest-selling novel of its time until it was eclipsed by Gone With The Wind. Mark Burnett, Sean Daniel and Joni Levin are producers, with Clarke and Jason Brown exec producing with Roma Downey.
Messala will be the next major role to be filled.
Source: Deadline
Arrow Video is thrilled to announce the UK Blu-ray and DVD release of Mark of the Devil, once proclaimed as “positively the most horrifying film ever made”, Mark of the Devil finally arrives uncut in the UK on 29th September 2014 with both English and German audio tracks.
With Mark of the Devil, writer-director Michael Armstrong created a bloody and brutal critique of state-funded brutality and religious corruption with a doomed romance at its centre. The use of real torture implements, which Armstrong had found in the Mauterndorf Museum, added to the realism of the picture and made it all the more shocking and the violence unpalatable. In America Mark of the Devil was distributed with the marketing gimmick of a free sick bag provided for every patron.
In the UK the BBFC were obliged to sit through the entire uncut film and deemed it “vicious and disgusting.” They recommended that a certificate be refused entirely and provided a list of required cuts to make the film acceptable for an X certificate.
Altogether the required cuts amounted to 2,100 feet of film; approximately twenty-four minutes running time. However, despite being awarded an X certificate, Mark of the Devil never received a theatrical release in the UK. In 1993 Redemption Films resubmitted the uncut film with cuts still demanded which amounted to more than four minutes. Described by the BBFC as a film whose “primary urge is with the dynamics of inquisitorial torture”
Another ten years later a DVD was released by Anchor Bay Entertainment which was also cut, although by only 38 seconds. Three cuts were made to the scene in which the blonde woman is tortured on the rack. The cuts removed her naked breasts as it was an unacceptable combination of sexually titillating and violent images under the BBFC guidelines at that time.
This means that finally, after more than forty years, the full-blooded, full-frontal version of Mark of the Devil can be released onto an unsuspecting UK public making its UK Blu-ray debut on 29th September 2014 in a newly restored transfer with a host of extra features including an audio commentary by Michael Armstrong, moderated by Calum Waddell, an exclusive feature-length documentary, Mark of the Times, which looks at the emergence of the ‘new wave’ of British horror directors that surfaced during the sixties and seventies. The documentary will feature contributions from Michael Armstrong, Norman J. Warren (Terror), David McGillivray (Frightmare), Professor Peter Hutchings (author of Hammer and Beyond) and famed film critic Kim Newman.
Other special features included on the disc include, Hallmark of the Devil, which sees author and critic Michael Gingold looks back at Hallmark Releasing, the controversial and confrontational distributor that introduced Mark of the Devil to American cinemas and Mark of the Devil: Now and Then which looks at the film’s locations and how they appear today.
The disc will also feature interviews with composer Michael Holm and actors Udo Kier, Herbert Fux, Gaby Fuchs, Ingeborg Schöner and Herbert Lom. Alongside this, the Blu-ray will also feature outtakes, the original theatrical trailer, a reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys and a sizable collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Adrian Smith and Anthony Nield, plus an interview with Reggie Nalder by David Del Valle, all illustrated with original stills and artwork.
Synopsis
A bloody and brutal critique of religious corruption, Mark of the Devil sees horror icon Udo Kier (Flesh for Frankenstein, Suspiria) play a witchfinder’s apprentice whose faith in his master (Herbert Lom) becomes severely tested when they settle in an Austrian village. Presided over by the sadistic albino (a memorably nasty turn from Reggie Nalder), the film presents its morality not so much in shades of grey as shades of black.
Written and directed by Michael Armstrong, who would later pen Eskimo Nell, The Black Panther and House of the Long Shadows, this classic shocker has lost none of its power over the years – especially now that British audiences can finally see it in one piece.
Special Features
· High Definition Blu-ray (1080p) and Standard Definition DVD presentation of the feature, transferred from original film elements – available uncut in the UK for the first time!
· Optional English and German audio
· Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
· Newly translated English subtitles for the German audio
· Audio commentary by Michael Armstrong, moderated by Calum Waddell
· Mark of the Times – exclusive feature-length documentary from High Rising Productions on the emergence of the ‘new wave’ of British horror directors that surfaced during the sixties and seventies, featuring contributions from Michael Armstrong, Norman J. Warren (Terror), David McGillivray (Frightmare), Professor Peter Hutchings (author of Hammer and Beyond) and famed film critic Kim Newman
· Hallmark of the Devil – author and critic Michael Gingold looks back at Hallmark Releasing, the controversial and confrontational distributor that introduced Mark of the Devil to American cinemas
· Interviews with composer Michael Holm and actors Udo Kier, Herbert Fux, Gaby Fuchs, Ingeborg Schöner and Herbert Lom
· Mark of the Devil: Now and Then – a look at the film’s locations and how they appear today
· Outtakes
· Gallery
· Reversible Sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Graham Humphreys
· Illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing on the film by Adrian Smith and Anthony Nield, plus an interview with Reggie Nalder by David Del Valle, all illustrated with original stills and artwork
Boise, Idaho duo Wolvserpent formed in 2009. Wolvserpent plays a masterful mix of apocalyptic doom, dark folk, avant-orchestral drone and blackened, sepulchral ambience. Creating beautifully bleak visuals of other worlds, times and spaces. Some that are vibrant and full and some that have long turned to dust and been drained of life. 2010 saw the release of their debut full-length, Blood Seed, which was met with immense critical acclaim and quickly sold out of its limited edition pressings. In 2012 the band signed to renowned indie label Relapse Records and recorded their sophomore full-length entitled Perigaea Antahkarana , a four song 80 minute opus, with producer/engineer Mell Dettmer in Seattle. Released September 17 2013. Perigaea Antahkarana is Wolvserpent’s most haunting and diverse material to date. The pair’s sprawling compositions gracefully wend their way through the valleys of death, drone, black metal, doom, and chamber music and arrive triumphantly on foreign shores. Borne of its creators’ 20+ years of classical training and deep appreciation for the works of composers like Arvo Part, Gyorgy Ligeti, and Krzysztof Penderecki, Wolvserpent’s vision combines stringed amplified instruments with a 21st century approach to composition to create works that are dark, emotional, menacing, cinematic, atmospheric, and heartbreakingly beautiful.
Of Perigaea Antahkarana Pitchfork warned listeners, “even when Wolvserpent sounds plainly pretty, a hint of danger lurks steadfast in the background, foreshadowing the tumult that inevitably arrives,” as Metal Injection remarked “Perigaea Antahkarana is an album that is monumentally huge. Monolithic riffs meeting sprawling post-rock black metal, with elements of drone create such an album that is large in length and in scope.” Cvlt Nation also intoned, “Perigaea Antahkarana flows from deeply felt and atmospheric sounds of nature – crows cawing and a fire crackling – laid over a melancholic and rich string sound (Brittany McConnell) that weaves itself around the increasingly claustrophobic noises and a subtle howling wind.
September
25 Thur: Czech Republic, Prague: Club 007
26 Fri: Germany, Leipzig: IFZ
27 Sat: Austria, Kremsmünster: Mukuku
28 Sun: Germany ,Munich: Backstage
29 Mon: Swiss, Zurich: Boschbar
30 Tue: Swiss, Basel: Hirscheneck
October
1 Wed: France, Marseille: Le Lounge
2 Thur: Spain, Barcelone: Razzmatazz 2
3 Fri: Spain, Madrid: Sala But
4 Sat: Spain, Oviedo: La Lata De Zinc
5 Sun: Portugal, Oporto: Amplifest
8 Wed: France, Borduex: Heretic
9 Thu: France, Montaigu: Zinor
10 Fri: France, Paris: Les Instants Chavires
11 Sat: Holland, Utrech:t DBS
12 Sun: Belgium, Bruxelles: Mag4
13 Mon: Belgium, Liege: Inside Out
14 Tue: Germany, Freiburg: Slowclub
15 Wen: Germany, Kassel: Hellroom
16 Thu: Holland, Arnhem: Willemeen
17 Fri: Germany, Berlin: Urbanspree
18 Sat: Russia, Moscow: TBA
The young Berlin based electronic artist KlangKuenstler has unveiled the release of his new single ‘Man On The Moon’ featuring folk singer Alice Phoebe Lou. The track, to be released through Rob Da Bank’s Sunday Best, simply blew up when it first hit sound cloud ten months ago and will be the first single to be taken from the 23-year old’s upcoming album ’That’s Me’ and includes enigmatic remixes from Hot Creations mainstay Miguel Campbell, and two of Berlin’s most exciting electronic duo's Umami and SokooL.
Michael Korb, more commonly known as KlangKuenstler, has been crafting his uniquely warm, melodic productions for years - first receiving attention with his tracks such as ‘Freudentraene’ which marked a huge milestone in his fledging career with over 2 millions plays on Youtube to date.
2014 holds big plans for KlangKuenstler, and in between his the release of the single and the much awaited release of his album, KlangKuenstler will be tearing up cities all around the Europe, playing his captivating live shows at events such as Habitat and Berlin Festival.
Tracklist
1. Man On The Moon ft. Alice Phoebe Lou
2. Man On The Moon ft. Alice Phoebe Lou (Umami Remix)
3. Man On The Moon ft. Alice Phoebe Lou (SOKOOL Remix)
