News

Das Fantasy Filmfest hat erstmals einen Jury-Wettbewerb ausgelobt, bei dem der Fear Good Award vergeben wird. Die Jury sitzt in den jeweiligen Festival-Städten. In München macht den Job Filmemacher Sebastian Niemann.

Sebastian Niemann (Credit: Imago/Future Image)

Beim 38. Fantasy Filmfest gibt es erstmals einen Jury-Wettbewerb, in dem nach dem Motto „Sieben Festivalstädte – Sieben Jury-Mitglieder – Sieben Filme“ europäische (Ko)Produktionen um den Fear Good Award konkurrieren. Die Jury-Teilnehmer:innen sind in ihrer jeweiligen Fantasy-Filmfest-Stadt vor Ort im Kino. Dabei handelt es sich um Filmemacher Sebastian Niemann (München), Filmemacher Lukas Rinker (Frankfurt), Jens Gutfleisch, Leiter der Film Commission Region Stuttgart (Stuttgart), Moderator und Filmjournalist Daniel Schröckert (Hamburg), Carlos Rincón, Programmgestalter und Filmvorführer (Berlin), Bibi Blackcraft, Moderatorin und Produzentin (Nürnberg) und Alper K. Turfan, Moderator und Produzent (Köln).

Eröffnungs- und Abschlussfilm der 38. Festivalausgabe waren schon bekannt („Speak No Evil“ bzw. „Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In“ (hier ist unsere Meldung). Weitere Highlights sind die...

Fresh off last year’s bloody and disgusting horror movie Holy Shit! – now streaming on Screambox – director Lukas Rinker is back with the upcoming creature feature Paws.

Variety reports this week that “The Playmaker has signed with Neopol Film to handle international sales” on the project, but that’s not the most noteworthy aspect of their report.

The website teases that the upcoming Paws will feature “polar bear creature animatronics from the renowned studio behind Star Wars and Jurassic World“!

Check out early sales art below and read on for everything you need to know.

“The film tells the story of a climate researcher stranded in the Arctic who must forge an unlikely alliance with a polar bear in order to survive.”

Here’s the full plot synopsis: “A ship crashes in the Arctic, leaving climate researcher Tessa and her team stranded. Searching for help inside an abandoned tanker-wreckage, they...

The Halloween season is almost here, which means a hectic Fall release schedule filled with horror looms just around the corner. Some of the year’s biggest horror releases are still ahead, including The Nun II, Saw X, The Exorcist: Believer, and Five Nights at Freddy’s.

Of course, they join countless movies already released these past eight months. As always, many titles might’ve slipped through the cracks, despite being available to stream now.

Whether you’re looking to get ahead on curating Halloween watchlists or catching up on 2023 horror before the year is through, here are twenty 2023 releases you can stream right now.

65 – Netflix

A high concept sci-fi effort from Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, the writers behind A Quiet Place and writers/directors of Haunt. Adam Driver and Ariana Greenblatt star as the unlucky pair that find themselves on a hostile planet filled with creatures and obstacles. Driver...

The Playmaker Munich has signed with producer Ulysses Films to handle international sales for its upcoming family animation project “Pirate Mo & the Legend of the Red Ruby,” which has a planned release of early 2026.

Ulysses produced animation box-office hits such as “The Amazing Maurice” and “Niko & the Way to the Stars.”

The script for “Pirate Mo,” which is based on Kirsten Boie’s bestselling novel, was written by Richie Conroy, and the director is Florian Westermann, co-director of “The Amazing Maurice.”

The Playmaker team will present “Pirate Mo” at the Marché du Film in Cannes, and will deliver the first teaser presentation at their booth, and at their upcoming highlights market screening on May 18.

Emely Christians, one of the film’s producers, and CEO of Ulysses, said: “I’m really happy that we’ve found a great ‘world sales port’ for our ‘Pirate Mo’ film. The project is very close to my heart.

Twenty-five years after the international premiere of his graduation work “Banquet of The Beasts” in the Panorama section, and twenty-two after “Hole in the Sky”, Kazuyoshi Kumakiri is back in Berlin with the thriller “#Manhole” which celebrates its international premiere in the Berlinale Special program. In this one-man suspense drama, a relatively simple story of an unfortunate incident evolves into a film rich with unexpected twists.

“#Manhole” is screening at San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase

On the evening before his wedding day, Shunsuke (Yuto Nakajima) walks into into his own stag party he was unaware of. The mood is excellent: as congratulations pour in, so do drinks. A bit wobbly after a drink too many in a pub in Shibuya district, Shunsuke falls inside a manhole, and wakes up injured and unable to climb back to the street. To make things worse, his cellphone Gps stops working and...

Writer/director Lukas Rinker made his feature debut with the comedic thriller Holy Shit! last year, and now he’s reteaming with his Holy Shit! collaborators Neopol Film and The Playmaker for the eco-horror movie Paws, about a killer polar bear! Variety reports that producers Tonio Kellner, Andrea Simml, and Jakob Zapf will be pitching Paws at Frontières, “a market and networking platform focused on genre film financing and co-production between Europe and North America”, next month. Loredana Rehekampff and Andreas Schmied are co-producing the project for Samsara Filmproduction.

Paws will tell the story of young scientist Nook, who’s on board a research ship in the Arctic. Reformed oil billionaire Fox is funding the crews’ efforts to fight climate change. Just when Nook learns that Fox’s interest is not so much in saving the planet but exploring and claiming fresh oil fields, their ship crashes. The crew search...

Fresh off this year’s bloody and disgusting horror movie Holy Shit! – now streaming on Screambox – director Lukas Rinker has set up a brand new horror movie titled Paws.

Variety reports, “Neopol Film, a production company based in Frankfurt, and Munich-based sales agency The Playmaker have teamed for a second time with writer and director Lukas Rinker, following their collaboration on his debut feature, black comedy Holy Shit!”

Rinker teases, “Being trapped on an ice-field with no help in sight, freezing temperatures and a looming hungry monster – seemed very horrifying to me. And from the bears’ perspective, having your habitat exploited and melted away, with nothing you can do against those greedy intruders, is horrific. Then there’s the climate angle. Horror all around!”

He also suggests the film’s bears will be animatronic rather than computer-generated!

“The film centers on young scientist Nook, who’s on board a research ship in the Arctic.

Neopol Film, a production company based in Frankfurt, and Munich-based sales agency The Playmaker have teamed for a second time with writer and director Lukas Rinker, following their collaboration on his debut feature, black comedy “Holy Shit!,” which was sold by The Playmaker to multiple territories last year.

Producers Tonio Kellner, Andrea Simml and Jakob Zapf will be pitching Rinker’s latest feature film project, eco-horror “Paws,” at Frontières, a market and networking platform focused on genre film financing and co-production between Europe and North America. Frontières is organized by the Fantasia Intl. Film Festival, in partnership with the Cannes Film Market, and takes place on May 20 and 21 in Cannes.

Loredana Rehekampff and Andreas Schmied will co-produce the project for Austria’s Samsara Filmproduction.

The film centers on young scientist Nook, who’s on board a research ship in the Arctic. Reformed oil billionaire Fox is funding the crews’ efforts to fight climate change.

Screambox is getting even crazier with Lukas Rinker‘s bonkers black comedy Holy Shit!, a Screambox Original that’s now streaming!

Living up to its title, the single-location German splatterfest explores the horrors of being trapped inside a portable toilet.

Scriptwriter and director Lukas Rinker has created an ultimate worst-case scenario that feels relatable yet unimaginable at the same time when Architect Frank awakens bloodily trapped inside a portable toilet standing on a construction site.

“Architect Frank (Thomas Niehaus) regains consciousness in a locked portable toilet on a construction site where a detonation is being prepared. As he desperately tries to find ways of escaping this „prison” before potentially being blown to smithereens, he realizes who has put him into this predicament: none other than the corrupt and lecherous mayor Horst (Gedeon Burkhard) who also has designs on Frank‘s pregnant girlfriend Marie (Olga von Luckwald).

“Now Frank has to...

A long-running horror franchise based on a classic Stephen King tale returns with a brand new installment this week, and it’s joined by six additional new release horror movies.

Here’s all the new horror releasing March 21 – March 26, 2023!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

First up, the Bloody Disgusting-powered Screambox premiered Lukas Rinker‘s black comedy Holy Shit! today, now streaming exclusively on the Screambox platform.

Living up to its title, the single-location German splatterfest explores the horrors of being trapped inside a portable toilet. Scriptwriter and director Lukas Rinker has created an ultimate worst-case scenario that feels relatable yet unimaginable at the same time when Architect Frank awakens bloodily trapped inside a portable toilet standing on a construction site…

“Architect Frank (Thomas Niehaus) regains consciousness in a locked portable toilet on a construction site where a detonation is being prepared. As he...

Screambox has acquired North American rights to Lukas Rinker‘s black comedy Holy Shit! and it’s headed to the Bloody Disgusting-powered streaming service on March 21.

Living up to its title, the single-location German splatterfest explores the horrors of being trapped inside a portable toilet. Speaking of which, check out a brand new clip down below!

Scriptwriter and director Lukas Rinker has created an ultimate worst-case scenario that feels relatable yet unimaginable at the same time when Architect Frank awakens bloodily trapped inside a portable toilet standing on a construction site…

“Architect Frank (Thomas Niehaus) regains consciousness in a locked portable toilet on a construction site where a detonation is being prepared. As he desperately tries to find ways of escaping this prison before potentially being blown to smithereens, he realizes who has put him into this predicament: none other than the corrupt and lecherous mayor Horst (Gedeon Burkhard) who...

To me, the idea of getting trapped and potentially dying in a porta potty is one of the most unsettling "what ifs?" out there when it comes to bathrooms (and it's why I've always considered Stephen King's "A Very Tight Place" to be one of the scariest things he's ever written), so I'm especially creeped out by our exclusive clip from Lukas Rinker's feature debut, Holy Shit!

Below, you can watch the architect Frank (Thomas Niehaus) struggle to escape the claustrophobic confines of a porta potty in our exclusive clip from Holy Shit! (as well as the film's trailer), and keep an eye out for the movie when it exclusively streams on Screambox beginning Tuesday, March 21st!

Synopsis: Architect Frank regains consciousness in a locked porta potty on a building site where a demolition is being prepared. As he desperately tries to escape, he realizes the person behind...

Screambox has acquired North American rights to Lukas Rinker‘s black comedy Holy Shit! and it’s headed to the Bloody Disgusting-powered streaming service on March 21.

Living up to its title, the single-location German splatterfest explores the horrors of being trapped inside a portable toilet. Watch the official Holy Shit! trailer down below!

And check out a very Nsfw exclusive clip over on Dread Central now.

Scriptwriter and director Lukas Rinker has created an ultimate worst-case scenario that feels relatable yet unimaginable at the same time when Architect Frank awakens bloodily trapped inside a portable toilet standing on a construction site…

“Architect Frank (Thomas Niehaus) regains consciousness in a locked portable toilet on a construction site where a detonation is being prepared. As he desperately tries to find ways of escaping this prison before potentially being blown to smithereens, he realizes who has put him into this predicament: none other...

Twenty-five years after the international premiere of his graduation work “Banquet of The Beasts” in the Panorama section, and twenty-two after “Hole in the Sky”, Kazuyoshi Kumakiri is back in Berlin with the thriller “#Manhole” which celebrates its international premiere in the Berlinale Special program. In this one-man suspense drama, a relatively simple story of an unfortunate incident evolves into a film rich with unexpected twists.

#Manhole is screening at Berlinale

On the evening before his wedding day, Shunsuke (Yuto Nakajima) walks into into his own stag party he was unaware of. The mood is excellent: as congratulations pour in, so do drinks. A bit wobbly after a drink too many in a pub in Shibuya district, Shunsuke falls inside a manhole, and wakes up injured and unable to climb back to the street. To make things worse, his cellphone Gps stops working and a heavy rain starts falling making his situation more insufferable.

The biggest question of the new year is whether horror can continue the tremendous hot streak unleashed in 2022. The good news is that, so far, all signs point to yes!

From new adaptations to hotly anticipated sequels, indie darlings, and much more, 2023’s list of horror movies looks incredibly stacked with great offerings.

We’re excited to check out these 35 horror movies in 2023, but perhaps even more excited knowing that this list is only a fraction of what’s in store….

M3GAN – January 6

(from left) M3GAN and Cady (Violet McGraw) in M3GAN, directed by Gerard Johnstone.

Get Out’s Allison Williams combats a state-of-the-art A.I. doll in this horror movie directed by award-winning filmmaker Gerard Johnstone (Housebound), from a screenplay by Akela Cooper and based on a story by Akela Cooper and James Wan.

Candy Land – January 6

This slasher movie written and directed by John Swab (Ida Red...

Variety had the exclusive yesterday that Cinedigm Corp has acquired the rights to Lukas Rinker’s black comedy Holy Shit! Cinedigm plans to release Holy Shit! on their streaming platform Screambox in early 2023. ...architect Frank wakes up trapped inside a portable toilet in the middle of a construction site. To survive the impending demolition blast and rescue his pregnant girlfriend from Mayor Horsts’ sleazy grasp, Frank needs to puzzle himself out of the blue plastic coffin and solve a horrible crime. Holy Shit! enjoyed a good festial run, premiering at Hardline at home in Germany then on to others like Night Visions, Neuchâtel, Grimmfest and Imagine. We caught the film when it played at Fantaspoa this year. Here are a couple excerpts from...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Screambox is getting even crazier having acquired North American rights to Lukas Rinker‘s bonkers black comedy Holy Shit! from The Playmaker Munich out of this year’s American Film Market.

Cinedigm will release Holy Shit! on the company’s Bloody Disgusting-powered Screambox streaming platform in early 2023.

Scriptwriter and director Lukas Rinker has created an ultimate worst-case scenario that feels relatable yet unimaginable at the same time when Architect Frank awakens bloodily trapped inside a portable toilet standing on a construction site.

“Architect Frank (Thomas Niehaus) regains consciousness in a locked portable toilet on a construction site where a detonation is being prepared. As he desperately tries to find ways of escaping this „prison” before potentially being blown to smithereens, he realizes who has put him into this predicament: none other than the corrupt and lecherous mayor Horst (Gedeon Burkhard) who also has designs on Frank‘s pregnant girlfriend Marie...

Cinedigm Corp. has sealed a deal with sales agent The Playmaker Munich for North American rights to Lukas Rinker’s claustrophobic black comedy “Holy Shit!” The deal was made at last week’s American Film Market where the film was shown to buyers.

Cinedigm will release “Holy Shit!” on the company’s Screambox streaming platform in early 2023.

Previously announced distribution deals were Japan (New Select), South Korea (Lumix Media), China (Beijing Blue Media Times), France (Family Films) and Baltics (Estin Film).

The film won the audience award at its world premiere at this year’s Hard:Line Film Festival and was shown at several genre festivals such as Night Visions Film Festival in Helsinki, FrightFest in London and Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival. At Fantaspoa, it received an honorable mention for “the best blood (and shit) bath.”

In the film, architect Frank wakes up trapped inside a portable toilet in the middle of a construction site.

Stars: Thomas Niehaus, Gedeon Burkhard, Rodney Charles, Uke Bosse | Written and Directed by Lukas Rinker

I recently watched Man On A Ledge for the first time but the title for it seemed a bit misleading. Yes, there was a man on a ledge but less than half of the movie seemed to be about and feature that man on the ledge. Now, although not 100 of Holy Shit! (aka Ach du Scheisse!) is focused on this one guy, it would still justify being titled ‘A Man In A Portaloo’.

I actually really enjoy single-location movies, maybe even more so when that location is very small. Whether it be Buried starring Ryan Reynolds, Phone Booth starring Colin Farrell or a movie more similar to Holy Shit! – the low-budget zombie movie Stalled, which takes place almost entirely in a toilet cubicle.

Here, Frank (Thomas Niehaus) wakes up in a portaloo that has been knocked on its side.

Munich-based sales agency The Playmaker has sold black comedy “Holy Shit!” to distributors in several major territories ahead of its U.K. premiere at Frightfest on Aug. 28.

The Playmaker has closed deals for Japan (New Select), South Korea (Lumix Media), China (Beijing Blue Media Times), France (Family Films) and Baltics (Estin Film).

Scriptwriter and director Lukas Rinker’s claustrophobic real-time genre movie made its market premiere in Cannes this year.

“Holy Shit!” won the Audience Award at its world premiere at this year’s Hard:Line Film Festival and was shown at the Night Visions Film Festival in Helsinki. At Fantaspoa, it received an Honorable Mention for the “best blood (and shit) bath.”

The trailer for “Holy Shit!”

In the film, architect Frank (played by Thomas Niehaus) regains consciousness in a locked portable toilet on a construction site where a detonation is being prepared. As he desperately tries to find ways...

The festival runs Octobber 6-9 in Manchester.

Final Cut from Michel Hazanavicius and Neil Labute’s House Of Darkness are among this year’s line-up for Grimmfest, a UK horror, sci-fi and fantasy festival, which will be held in Manchester frorm October 6-9.

Hazanavicius’ French comedy horror, a remake of 2017 Japanese title One Cut From The Dead, opened Cannes out of competition earlier this year.

House Of Darkness stars Justin Long and Kate Bosworth whose casual date takes a sinister turn. The gothic horror had its world premiere at Montreal’s Fantastia festival last month.

Also screening at the festival...

Competition titles ‘Pacification’, ‘Triangle Of Sadness’, ‘Boy From Heaven’ also backed.

Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk’s Ukrainian co-production Pamfir is one of 49 European films at this year’s Marché du Film to receive Film Sales Support (Fss) from the European Film Promotion (Efp) network.

Twenty-one sales companies are receiving a total of €78,000 for promotion and marketing campaigns of the 49 titles. Thirty-three of the films are completed, with a further 13 still in later stages of production.

Pamfir is Ukrainian director Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk’s debut feature, and plays in Directors’ Fortnight at the festival. A co-production between Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany, Chile and Luxembourg, it...

The Playmaker Munich has released the first trailer for Lukas Rinker's new horror comedy Holy Shit!. The film won the Audience Award at the Hard:Line Film Festival after its world premiere and got an Honorable Mention for the "Best Blood (and Shit) Bath" at Fantaspoa most recently.

In the film, architect Frank (Thomas Niehaus) regains consciousness in a locked portable toilet on a construction site where a detonation is being prepared. As he desperately tries to find ways of escaping this “prison” before potentially being blown to smithereens, he realizes who has put him in this predicament: none other than the corrupt and lecherous Mayor Horst (Gedeon Burkhard), who also has designs on Frank’s pregnant girlfriend Marie (Olga von Luckwald). Frank has to do every...

Heads up. There is a lot of information in this article and in the first trailer for the black comedy Holy Shit! from scriptwriter and director Lukas Rinker. It may give away a few of the surprises. Proceed at your own peril.    Part of the fun of Holy Shit! is all the surprises.    As everyone prepares their wares for the Marche du Film at Cannes in the coming weeks German sales outfit The Playmaker Munich has released the trailer for Rinker's Holy Shit! It was the Audience Award at the Hard:Line Film Festival after its world premiere and got an Honorable Mention for the "Best Blood (and Shit) Bath" at Fantaspoa where we caught the film.    The horror is awesome, with scenes...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The Playmaker Munich is launching sales in Cannes on the claustrophobic, real-time black comedy “Holy Shit!,” and have debuted the film’s international trailer. “Holy Shit!” will have its market premiere in Cannes on May 19.

Scriptwriter and director Lukas Rinker has “created an ultimate worst-case scenario that feels relatable yet unimaginable at the same time,” The Playmaker Munich said.

“Holy Shit!” won the Audience Award at its world premiere at the Hard:Line Film Festival this year, and was also shown at the Night Visions Film Festival and Fantaspoa, where it received an Honorable Mention for the “Best Blood (and Shit) Bath.”

In the film, architect Frank (Thomas Niehaus) regains consciousness in a locked portable toilet on a construction site where a detonation is being prepared. As he desperately tries to find ways of escaping this “prison” before potentially being blown to smithereens, he realizes who has put him in this...

Munich-based sales agency The Playmaker Munich is to handle international sales on Snakefilm’s mystery horror “The Black Spider,” which vividly portrays a gruesome world dominated by eerie demonic force.

The film, written by Barbara Sommer and Plinio Bachmann, is directed by Markus Fischer.

Set in Emmental in the 13th century, “The Black Spider” tells the story of the courageous young midwife Christine. As she returns to her home village to accompany a birth, she witnesses the cruel Teutonic Knights driving the villagers to their deaths.

To protect her village from the terror of the knights, Christine enters a pact with the devil without knowing the costs. Henceforth punished with a spider plague, the villagers turn away from the midwife and Christine goes from being the savior to the hunted.

While the village is preparing for a human sacrifice, Christine faces the crucial battle against the diabolical power that wants...

‘Ach Du Scheisse!’ is the feature debut for Lukas Rinker.

Arri Media International will handle world sales for writer/director Lukas Rinker’s feature debut, the “confined space” comic thriller Ach Du Scheisse! (working title), which began shooting in Offenbach near Frankfurt on Monday (March 1).

The action takes place in real time over 90 minutes, as architect Frank (Thomas Niehaus) regains consciousness in a locked portaloo – known in German vernacular by local brand name Dixi Klo – on a building site where a detonation is being prepared.

As he seeks to escape this prison in a race against time before being blown to smithereens,...