Slash Gets Into Horror Pic Biz With "Slasher Films"

[FunkyMonkey]

Guitar Hero Slash Gets Into Horror Pic Biz

Wednesday October 6, 2010

EXCLUSIVE: Unless you answer to Rob Zombie, what musician has a name better suited to horror film making than Slash? The iconic guitarist of Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver has teamed with Scout Productions to start Slasher Films. They will produce edgy contemporary horror fare with a nod to the thrillers of the '70s and '80s. They've set up their first: Nothing to Fear, a horror/thriller that follows a young family as it tries to reinvent itself by moving to a small town in rural Kansas. The family is tormented by an ancient demon with an insatiable blood lust. The script was written by Jonathan W.C. Mills, who's currently working on the Gold Circle pic Inside Passage.

Scout Productions has generated the TV series Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and films that include Transsiberian, Session 9 and Fog of War. Scout will finance development of screenplays for Slasher Films, with Scout toppers Michael Williams and Rob Eric overseeing production. Nothing to Fear will begin production early next year, with Shaun Redick and Ray Mansfield as executive producers. "I've always been a huge horror fan and creating films that take you back to the days where horror movies actually scared the hell out of you is something I've always wanted to do," Slash said in a statement. The rocker will produce films and target them to an established fan base that follows him on tour and online. "My audience is made up of young, edgy, discerning consumers, with an appetite for quality and a hint of anarchy."

http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/guitar-hero-slash-gets-into-horror-pic-biz/

[AxlReznor]

"My audience is made up of young, edgy, discerning consumers, with an appetite for quality and a hint of anarchy."

Exactly the reason why we're unlikely to go and see shitty slasher B-movies.

[Dayle1066]

"My audience is made up of young, edgy, discerning consumers, with an appetite for quality and a hint of anarchy."

Exactly the reason why we're unlikely to go and see shitty slasher B-movies.

Spot on!

[FunkyMonkey]

^^

Slash Forms Slasher Films, A Production Company Dedicated to Horror Films

In a statement about the formation of Slasher Films, Slash had this to say:

I?ve always been a huge horror fan and creating films that take you back to the days where horror movies actually scared the hell out of you is something I?ve always wanted to do. My audience is made up of young, edgy, discerning consumers, with an appetite for quality and a hint of anarchy.

While that first sentence inspires hope, the second yields only skepticism. ?Young? and ?edgy? aren?t the most comforting buzzwords to hear in promotion of filmic endeavors. It?s alarmingly easy to pick up on when a movie is pandering to its audience?even more so when those movies are geared toward youths. I?ll remain optimistic until we see a trailer, but I?m keeping my expectations low in case these films end up heading straight to Walmart?s $5 bin.

http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/10/07/slash-forms-slasher-films-a-production-company-dedicated-to-horror-films/

[FunkyMonkey]

Meeting w/a potential financier this morning for the horror flick I'm coproducing. This film is going to be savage! Iii|; ),

4 minutes ago via ?berTwitter

[FunkyMonkey]

Sundance Q&A: Slash talks about his new horror-movie label, Slasher Films

JAN 24, 2011

When you think of Sundance, your mind doesn?t necessarily go to heavy metal guitarists with big hair and mirrored sunglasses. But former Guns N? Roses guitar god Slash (who has actually been to Sundance many times as a movie buff, thank you very much) showed up at the festival on Sunday to announce the launch of his new horror-movie production company, Slasher Films, in which he?s partnering with Scout Productions. Turns out Slash ? who?s currently on tour with Ozzy Osbourne ? isn?t just into striking fear in the heart of teenage headbangers? parents. He wants to scare everyone who goes to the movies, too.

EW: Where did the idea come from to get into producing horror movies?

Slash: It sort of fell in my lap. Rob Eric from Scout Productions is a friend of my wife, and one night we stayed up all night talking about horror movies. I?ve been a fan of horror films my whole life, and I have a pretty broad knowledge about them. Rob said, ?You should start a production company and get behind making horror films. You could call it Slasher Films ? it?s perfect!? I was like, ?Far out!? So we said, let?s do it.

EW: Is there a hole in the current horror-movie landscape you?re looking to fill?

Slash: The big thing for me is, I was raised on really great horror movies. But sophisticated, dramatic horror movies died out in the late ?80s, and now I?ve sort of lost interest in going out and seeing horror movies because they?re usually gore movies and they?re not very creative. It?s all about the sensationalism and shock value. What I want to do is bring back character-driven, dramatic, intelligent, humorous horror movies ? horror movies that have some depth.

EW: What kinds of movies are you developing?

Slash: We have four really great scripts we?re going to go into production with one right after another. The first one has the tentative title Nothing to Fear, which is going into production this year. It?s a really well-written demon story. It?s basically about a God-fearing Christian family who gets relocated to a small town in Kansas called Stull, which unbenownst to them happens to be one of the seven gateways to hell, and they?ve been lured there for an annual sacrifice [the townfolk] do for the demon that appears every year to satiate his bloodlust ? otherwise he goes on a rampage. The ironic thing is that Stull is a real town that has this Internet folklore: It actually is supposed to be one of the gateways to hell, and the Pope won?t fly over it. I looked it up and was blown away. There?s another script called Theorem that?s about a mathematician who figures out the equation for evil and then, of course, there?s the hell that comes along with it. Then there?s another one called Wake the Dead, which is basically a modern, young Frankenstein story about a brilliant college student who?s discovered how to animate dead tissue ? but he?s a teenager so he goes overboard. The last one is The Other Kingdom, which is about a big metropolitan hospital where the patients are overcome by an epidemic that turns them into these savage killing zombie types and the staff gets stuck in there with them.

EW: Rob Zombie also went from heavy metal into making horror films. Have you talked to him?

Slash: I haven?t talked to him since I got into this, but he and I have hung out and we both obviously have an affection for horror movies. I respect Rob a lot. I was impressed that he was able to resurrect the Halloween franchise and do a good job with it. But this is all a learning process for me right now. So far it?s been meeting a lot of people in the movie business and understanding director talk and writer speak and just being around a different group of professionals than I?m used to. We?ll see. [laughs] I have nothing to lose.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/01/24/sundance-qa-slash-talks-about-his-new-horror-movie-label-slasher-films/

[FunkyMonkey]

Slasher Film Announcement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnspVS8df8o

[FunkyMonkey]

Slash interviewed on the KTLA Morning News about his "Slasher Films".

Video: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1272990520262

[FunkyMonkey]

He's doing a lot of promotion for this project.  Another video interview:

EXCLUSIVE VIDEO INTERVIEW: Legendary Guns N' Roses Rocker Slash Making Slasher Movies!

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2011/01/exclusive-video-interview-legendary-guns-n-roses-rocker-slash-making-slasher

[FunkyMonkey]

It sounds like this will take up a fair amount of his time.

Exclusive Audio Interview: Slash Talks About 'Slasher Films'

Earlier today, Slash (ex-Guns N' Roses, Velvet Revolver) held a press conference at the Sundance Film Festival where he spoke about his horror movie production company, Slasher Films. Since I live on the other side of the country, it would have been a bit difficult to have made the press conference. However, I got a chance to speak with Slash over the phone and I've got the full interview queued up for all you eager readers. We discuss what kinds of films Slasher Films will be putting out, Slash's love of horror and where it began, what role Slash will play in the creation of these films and more. Check out the exclusive audio stream after the jump.

http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/music/1344

[FunkyMonkey]

Haley Joel Osment For Slash-Produced Wake The Dead

Wake The Dead is a Frankenstein-themed horror from the G'n'R guitarist's company.

VARIETY EXCLUSIVE: With the half-dozen or so Frankenstein-themed projects percolating in Hollywood, it looks like "Wake the Dead" is getting up off the gurney first, with Haley Joel Osment set to star in the retelling that's set in the present day.
Jay Russell will helm the horror pic based on the graphic novels by Steven Niles, with Osment playing the role of Victor Franklin, a college student experimenting with reversing death.

Russell and Jim Hart adapted the script, and Guns 'n' Roses lead guitarist Slash will produce with Michael Williams and Rob Eric through Slasher Films. Shaun Redick and Ray Mansfield will exec produce.

Production will begin this fall with no release date yet set.

Though it seems that just about every studio has something in the works stemming from Mary Shelley's gothic tale, Osment's is the first known casting. The "Sixth Sense" thesp, who's currently in the indie "Sassy Pants," has been on hiatus while working on his college degree.

Eric told Daily Variety, "This role allows him to break out of his shell and he will have no problem handling it."

Variety first reported last week that Fox was cooking up a Frankenstein pic with Max Landis penning the script, and a handful of directors circling the project, including Ron Howard, Paul Greengrass and David Yates.

Other Frankenstein projects in development include Summit's "This Dark Endeavor"; Universal's untitled "Frankenstein" pic with Guillermo del Toro and Scott Stuber developing; Lakeshore Entertainment's "I, Frankenstein," with Stuart Beattie writing and directing; an adaptation of Peter Ackroyd's novel "The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein" from Ghost House Pictures and RT Features; and a contemporary take from Columbia Pictures and Matt Tolmach.

Osment is repped by Paradigm, Coast to Coast Talent Group and The Schiff Company.

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118039206

[FunkyMonkey]

^^This is a much bigger name than I expected for his movie.  I thought these were going to be B Slasher films.

[sleeper]

^^This is a much bigger name than I expected for his movie.  I thought these were going to be B Slasher films.

I think a lot of people are in for a surprise. Like everything he does lately Slash is going for it in a big way.

[FunkyMonkey]

From Slash:

Wake the Dead - Slash and Steve Niles on Haley Joel Osment

With yesterday's casting of Sixth Sense star, Haley Joel Osment, as young Victor Frankenstein in the upcoming Wake the Dead, a new retelling of Frankenstein, from Slasher Films and Steve Niles, we reached out to the powers that be for some comments.

"My favorite type of horror movies have always been the ones with layered performances and rich characters", Slash tells Dread Central. "Haley brings a wealth of experience to a character who is already wise beyond his years. I'm really looking forward to working with him."

Niles shares Slash's enthusiasm. "I'm thrilled with the casting of Osment for Victor in Wake the Dead. It's the exact kind of outside the box thinking I love."

As Niles said in a previous story, ?We want to recapture the quality of horror like they made them in the ?70s. Horror where you care about the characters and story. With ?Wake the Dead, Jay Russell, Slash, and I hope to make a horror movie that sticks with you long after you?ve seen it.?

http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/45304/wake-dead-slash-and-steve-niles-haley-joel-osment

[FunkyMonkey]

Here is the official promo poster for "Nothing to fear." Iii|; )'

http://www.whosay.com/slasherfilms/photos/113339