Session 9 and The Machinist director Brad Anderson has signed on to direct the George A. Romero zombie project Twilight of the Dead

Back in 2021, it was revealed that the legendary George A. Romero (who passed away in 2017) had left behind a treatment for the “seventh and final installment” in his Dead franchise – following Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, and Survival of the Dead. The story Romero had come up with used a title than many fans expected him to use for his follow-up to Day, Twilight of the Dead, and the team of Joe Knetter, Robert Lucas, and Paolo Zelati, who also worked on the treatment with Romero, were working on fleshing it out into a screenplay. Last month, we heard that Twilight of the Dead had secured funding from Roundtable Entertainment. And now we know who’s going to direct the film: Session 9 director Brad Anderson!

Anderson provided the following statement: “George Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead may have been the first real horror movie I ever saw and its shock value, its keen social relevance, and even the means by which it was made were all hugely inspirational to me. George’s indie spirit, his Do-It-Yourself approach to filmmaking – outside of the main industry; on a shoestring budget; collaborating with family and friends – is exactly how I made my first film, and to some extent still make films now. Night of the Living Dead, and many of those that followed, wove together straight up horror with pointed social commentary. This unexpected combination is what elevated George’s films, and for me it is exactly what is most exciting about Twilight of the Dead.  This too is a zombie movie in which limbs fly and heads roll, but one that is also about social transformation, one that asks the question: What is it to be human? It is also a horror movie with heart and, dare I say, hope. As a filmmaker who relishes combining and reinventing genres, the chance to bring to life (so to speak!) this last installment in George Romero’s zombie franchise is a true honor and a privilege.“

Set on a tropical island, Twilight of the Dead will “delve into the dark nature of humanity from the perspective of the last humans on earth who are caught between factions of the undead.” Like the previous Dead films, it’s being described as a “thought-provoking sociopolitical commentary wrapped in a genre piece.”

Zelati is producing the film with John Baldecchi, Sarah Donnelly, Ardvella Entertainment’s Stephanie Caleb, and Romero’s widow Suzanne Romero. Dominic Ianno, Alex Dundas, Jason Resnick, Chris Roe, and Luis Riefkohl serve as executive producers.

Baldecchi had this to say about hiring Anderson: “Brad is the ideal filmmaker to bring this project to life. Both Brad and George began their careers in the independent film scene and have directed seminal movies in the genre space and beyond. Brad has had tremendous success both commercially and critically and Roundtable is thrilled to have him onboard to direct. Twilight of the Dead is the seventh and final chapter of the Dead series and we think Brad is the perfect storyteller to bring this cinematic tale about the human condition to life.“

Twilight of the Dead is expected to start filming in Puerto Rico later this year. Stephanie Holbrook is casting the project.

In addition to Session 9, Brad Anderson’s previous credits include Next Stop Wonderland, Happy Accidents, The Machinist, TransSiberian, Vanishing on 7th Street, The Call, Stonehearst Asylum, Beirut, Fractured, Blood, Masters of Horror: Sounds Like, Fear Itself: Spooked, and episodes of The Wire, Fringe, and Boardwalk Empire, among many other TV credits.

Romero is one of my favorite filmmakers, so I was very interested to see who was going to be chosen to take his place at the helm of Twilight of the Dead. Anderson being hired for the job is one of the best case scenarios as far as I’m concerned, as I’ve been a fan of his work ever since I saw Session 9 during a 24 hour theatrical horror marathon back in 2001.

What do you think of Brad Anderson signing on to direct Twilight of the Dead? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 is now in production, and the first batch of images feature Pooh, Piglet, Owl, and Christopher Robin

Made on a budget of less than $100,000, director Rhys Frake-Waterfield’s movie Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey (watch it HERE) earned more than $6 million during its global release earlier this year. So it was no surprise to hear that a sequel was on the fast track, with Premiere Entertainment having secured multiple international distribution deals for Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, which would have a substantially larger budget than its predecessor. The sequel is now in production, and The Hollywood Reporter has unveiled a batch of first look images that feature Pooh and Piglet, as well as Christopher Robin and Owl! You can check them out at the bottom of this article.

A.A. Milne’s 1926 children’s book Winnie-the-Pooh and the characters in it lapsed into the public domain at the start of last year, and that’s how Frake-Waterfield was able to make these movies happen, no permission required. In the build-up to the release of the first movie, the filmmaker explained to Variety that Pooh and Piglet (go) on a rampage after being abandoned by a college-bound Christopher Robin. “Christopher Robin is pulled away from them, and he’s not [given] them food, it’s made Pooh and Piglet’s life quite difficult. Because they’ve had to fend for themselves so much, they’ve essentially become feral. So they’ve gone back to their animal roots. They’re no longer tame: they’re like a vicious bear and pig who want to go around and try and find prey.”

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter about Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2, Frake-Waterfield said, “Bigger and Badder. The sequel will feature new creature designs, a new cast, and a high death count. However, this time Pooh and friends will be leaving the 100 Acre Wood to take their fight to the quiet community of Ashdown!“

Matt Leslie, writer/producer of Summer of 84, wrote the screenplay for the sequel, working from a story he crafted with Frake-Waterfield. Leslie had this to say: “After speaking with Rhys and hearing his vision — his desire to push boundaries in terms of production scope, and to craft a really unique, twisty plot that also gave significant depth to the characters — I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of. They’re making something special. Something that will absolutely blow people away.“

Producer Scott Jeffrey added, “Our sequel we have a substantially higher budget so Rhys is really able to create a shocking, explosive and gore-filled movie. I truly think people will really dig what we are creating.“

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2 stars Tallulah Evans (Son of Rambow) alongside Scott Chambers (Doctor Jekyll) as Christopher Robin, Ryan Oliva (Seasoning House) as Winnie-the-Pooh, Peter DeSouza-Feighoney (The Pope’s Exorcist) as Young Winnie-the-Pooh, and Simon Callow (Four Weddings and a Funeral) as a character called Cavendish.

Vince Knight is back as cinematographer. Shaune Harrison, who has worked on the likes of World War Z, Game of Thrones, and the Harry Potter franchise, is handling the creature designs and gore, with Paula Anne Booker overseeing the special effects.

Are you looking forward to Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey 2? Let us know by leaving a comment below – but first, take a look at these images:

The Royal Hotel, starring Julia Garner, Jessica Henwick and Hugo Weaving is provocative and entertaining, even if the end rings false.

PLOT: Two backpacking Canadians (Julia Garner & Jessica Henwick) find themselves low on cash and work as bartenders in a small pup in a remote mining town in Australia.

REVIEW: Kitty Green’s The Royal Hotel is exceptional for about ninety percent of its running time. Beautifully shot at an abandoned bar in Yatina, South Australia, a town that consists of only twenty-nine people, the movie is a thoroughly compelling look at the culture of booze, brawling, and misogyny in remote Australia and what happens when two regular, North American girls are dropped right in the middle of it. But, the finale gets a little too close to straight-ahead thriller territory, ending what had up to then been a compelling drama about menace and the constant threat of violence on a somewhat false note. It starts like Wake in Fright but ends like Straw Dogs, and the switch-up doesn’t work.

That said, it’s still a thoroughly compelling watch based on a documentary called Hotel Coolgardie. As in the documentary, the film follows two regular young women who wind up way out of their element when they accept a work-stay assignment due to running low on the funds they need to finance their trip. A bar populated by roughnecks in remote Australia already doesn’t sound like the best place for two North American girls. Still, the movie presents them as open-minded enough that you buy them not running back to the city after the first night.

Of the two, Julia Garner’s Hanna is the more responsible one, somewhat resenting that they’re stuck working in this dingy pub, while Jessica Henwick’s Liv is more go-with-the-flow. Their boss, a bedraggled Hugo Weaving as the permanently soused Billy, greets them by referring to them by the c-word, but they let it go because, as Liv says, “it doesn’t mean what you think it means here, it’s a cultural thing.” While they’re immediately bombarded with harassment, the silver lining is that the pub is quiet most nights, and two of the regular attendees don’t seem too bad. Toby Wallace’s Matty is a womanizer but charming in his way, while the hulking Teeth (James Frecheville) is protective. And, even if the patrons are rowdy, they at least keep their hands to themselves and just seem interested in having a drunken good time.

Of course, things go downhill fast with one of the pub’s attendees, Daniel Henshaw’s Dolly, a bullying sociopath. While The Royal Hotel isn’t a violent movie, the threat hangs over virtually every scene in the pub. Both Garner and Henwick’s characters feel totally out of their element. If I have a single complaint about the first part of the movie, I didn’t totally buy that Hanna would be talked into working at a bar, given that she’s presented as the abused child of an alcoholic mother.

The performances are terrific, with this marking Julia Garner’s second film with director Kitty Green, following The Assistant. The Royal Hotel feels more commercial and could connect with audiences, even if the movie’s final scene rings a little false, given how the two heroines have acted for most of the running time. Garner is terrific here, with Hanna easy to relate to, and Henwick is just as good as the more easygoing Liv, who just wants to have an adventure but gets a lot more than she bargained for.

As for the rowdy Aussies, while the movie certainly isn’t flattering in its depiction of the ultra-macho side of the culture (as well as continued racism toward Aboriginals), the fellas are all given some redeeming features. Toby Wallace’s Matty is awful in many ways but also charming. At the same time, Frecheville’s Teeth is shown to be somewhat brain-damaged (with a livid scar on his head) and essentially well-meaning, even if he views them more as ladies needing rescuing than people with agency. Hugo Weaving’s Billy is mostly a drunken lout. Still, you also get a sense that he wasn’t always that way, with him having a compelling side story involving his Aboriginal wife (a terrific Ursula Yovich), who you get the sense he really loves, even if she’s just about had it with what a loser he’s become. Of them all, the only one that’s truly irredeemable is Henshaw’s Dolly, who lacks Teeth’s (flawed) morality and Matty’s charm.

While the very end of the film (literally only the last ten minutes or so) is the only part that rubbed me the wrong way, it did somewhat sour a movie that, up to that point, was really terrific. Even still, The Royal Hotel was an excellent first movie for me to see at this year’s TIFF, and when Neon puts it out later this fall, you can bet it’ll provoke some conversation.

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Mario Van Peebles rides out west again for his new film Outlaw Posse, which seemingly has no connection to his 90’s western, Posse.

In 1993, Mario Van Peebles dabbled in the Western genre with Posse. Peebles took after his father, Melvin Van Peebles, who was a notable filmmaker in the blaxploitation genre in the 1970s. Mario appeared as an actor in films like Rappin’, Heartbreak Ridge starring Clint Eastwood, and the infamous Jaws: The Revenge, which featured an apathetic Michael Caine (as well as the much joked-about roaring, psychopathic shark). He would also head up his own projects as a writer and director, much like his father. One of the more popular films Peebles would be known for is the 90s street crime classic, New Jack City.

Peebles is returning to the director’s chair for a new feature he wrote called Outlaw Posse. The film is a Western that bears no connection to the similarly titled Posse. Highland Film Group has picked up the distribution and has shared a first look at the film with a new picture exclusively shared by Variety. Outlaw Posse sports an all-star cast that includes Mario Van Peebles, Whoopi Goldberg, Edward James Olmos, Cedric the Entertainer, as well as William Mapother, John Carroll Lynch known for Fargo and The Founder, D.C. Young Fly, seen in House Party, Jake Manly of Midway, Mandela Van Peebles, known for Jigsaw, Amber Reign Smith from Wu-Tang: An American Saga, William McDonough, Neal McDonough, who can be seen in Minority Report and Captain America: The First Avenger.

According to Variety, the plot synopsis involves being set “in the Wild West of 1908, where men in power take advantage of an unfair world where corruption and greed run deep. Renegade cowboy Chief (Mario Van Peebles), eager to restore balance, assembles a daring group of outcasts and saddles up on a cross-country odyssey to reclaim stolen gold in unsettled territory. Pursued by the vengeful lawman Angel (Mapother), the posse is caught in a deadly game of survival and redemption, navigating the treacherous terrain of gunfights, showdowns, and horse chases. United by honor, they encounter allies such as Stagecoach Mary (Goldberg) that shape their destiny. As they venture closer to the hidden treasure, they soon learn survival is the only justice.”