See exclusive stills from DARK CIRLCES by going to www.afterdarkoriginals.com.

Los Angeles, CA (February 2, 2012) – With the success of the After Dark Films Horrorfest “8 Films To Die For” brand, and the unanimous success of the first installment of After Dark Originals (ADO), ADF, in conjunction with Lionsgate and IM Global, is proud to announce that they will be bringing another set of 8 terrorizing films to theaters in 2012 — After Dark Originals 2 (ADO2).  www.afterdarkoriginals.com

“We’re very proud of this new line of horror films and DARK CIRCLES is the perfect film to set the tone for our ‘newest brand of fear’.”
-Courtney Solomon, CEO of After Dark Films

After Dark Films kicks off After Dark Originals 2 with its first chilling feature of the new series that will send shivers down your spine.  DARK CIRCLES, written and directed by Writer-Director Paul Soter (of Broken Lizard infamy, the team behind CLUB DREAD, SUPER TROOPERS and BEERFEST) and starring Pell James (The Lincoln Lawyer) and Johnathon Schaech (That Thing You Do), will have its blood-curdling theatrical release in 2012.

“Hopefully this will serve as some kind of cinematic equivalent of birth control.”
-Paul Soter, Writer/Director of Dark Circles

For a high resolution version of the DARK CIRCLES one sheet (attached), please email info@afterdarkfilms.com with ‘Dark Circles’ in the subject.
Synopsis:

When new parents Alex and Penny retreat from the city and move into a place outside town, the stress and massive sleep-deprivation caused by their infant has both of them seeing things in the house that may or may not exist.  Persistent sightings of a strange woman has each of them wondering if they are suffering from hallucinations, or if their new home holds a dark, supernatural presence.  As their fragile grasp on reality spirals into delirium, Alex and Penny find themselves nearly helpless to deal with the horrific truth of what is really going in this house.

After Dark Films has made yet another unprecedented commitment to the production of eight original horror films this year under the After Dark Originals “A New Brand of Fear” label, continuing the Company’s mantra of supporting first time independent film writers and directors.  The creation of the second AD Originals slate is just another example of the Company’s commitment to the Indie film industry.

Continuing the success of After Dark Originals, the second installment will uphold the tradition of giving After Dark fans the scare they crave. The ADO 2 slate will make the genre proud, with supernatural demons, psychological killers, gruesome mysteries, and even a sci-fi sector fully equipped with aliens and a killer leprechaun.  Beware horror fans, After Dark Films is giving the fans exactly the type of horror movies they asked for!  Come and see for yourselves.  We dare you…

* *

About After Dark Films:

After Dark Films, an Independent motion picture studio, was formed in 2006 by director/filmmaker Courtney Solomon and Hong Kong based real estate magnate Allan Zeman. After Dark Films’ first motion picture film release was An American Haunting (2006) starring Sissy Spacek and Donald Sutherland. Co-founder and CEO Courtney Solomon wrote, produced, and directed this film under the newly formed After Dark Films banner.

After the release of An American Haunting, partners Solomon and Zeman formed a multiyear marketing and distribution deal for Horrorfest “8 Films To Die For®” between After Dark Films and Lionsgate Entertainment, with After Dark handling theatrical marketing & releases and Lionsgate handling the distribution of all ancillary forms of media (Home Video, Pay TV, Pay Per View). After Dark Films released Horrorfest 4 in theaters on January 29, 2010.

Building on the success of Horrorfest, After Dark released the first 8 originally produced horror films in January 2011 under the moniker After Dark Originals. Its second slate of 8 more originally produced films, After Dark Originals 2, is scheduled to debut in theaters in 2012.

Publicity Contacts:
LOS ANGELES:
After Dark Films/Autonomous Films
Sara Finder
Vice President, Publicity and Promotions
sfinder@afterdarkfilms.com
Ph: 310-270-4260

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What most of you don’t know, there is a conspiracy brewing against Horror Movie vixens. Who’s to blame? From the dawn of the genre hapless blondes running through the woods always gets it in the end, and this can be attributed to twigs. No just any twigs the kind that just happens to be strolling across the screen at the same time she looks back to gauge distance. You know it’s going to happen at some point 2, 3, even 4 times during the same movie. These drills should help you with your Foot/Ass (the cousin of hand/eye) coordination, so when it’s asses and elbows time you won’t end up in some Maniac’s Stacker (all meat sandwiches).

Our horror movie basic training is the ideal way to a rock hard Baddie Busting Body

Tire Drills: A classic football drill that hones players’ speed and agility. This should help with those pesky twigs; we all know how tricky those guys can be especially when taking the family for a walk, all of a sudden a twig pops out of nowhere. Now you can just high step your way through the twig family effortlessly while making the highlight reel.

The Hill Climb: The hill climb is one of my favorite workouts, great for endurance and stamina. We amplify this workout with or patented knapsack -o- Rocks. Once removed this give the words “fleet of foot” new meaning.

Hurdles:  Imaging this scenario, you are being chased by hordes of the recently deceased you make a wrong turn; there are halves of corpses everywhere dragging themselves slowly towards you muttering something soft like “braiiiiin!, what do you do? Yes we can help you there also. We’ve added a twist to the original hurdle concept, or obstacle course is equipped with land minds and sharpened bamboo spikes smothered with horse manure for that all so authentic feel and smell.

Balance Training: Did this in martial arts, pretty cool once you get the hang of it. We applied the same concept of the sobriety test and allow you to have fun a bit of fun. Let’s try tight roping from one Skyscraper to another after a few shots of tequila.  So the next time the only thing that separates you from the other side of the lake is a fallen tree bridge, you can navigate the b*tch while doing your makeup and brushing your hair.

The Stair Climb: Perfect for the buns and thighs, also great for endurance and stamina. Now you can pull an all-nighter with Paris and Nicky and still have the endurance to navigate, bear traps, half breeds and WTF is that!

The Door Kick: We realized the need after watching reruns of Police Academy that is a much need part of or training (remember Cadet Sweetchuck). This should be practiced repeated by all aspiring horror movie vixen. What’s a better way to buy your some time than a face full of Masonite? No more locked doors!

Warning: Not an Actual Workout Regimen.

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This year’s selections of Animatronic Props are quite interesting and will put the (mu) in your (hahahaaah). From Raging Psychos to a full scale Tyrannosaurus Rex, You will be able to find something to match your needs. Some items are a bit pricey, but some are in range for the budget conscious. One pretty neat prop that I like is the Demon Dog (shown below) and Asylum Killer.

Demon Dog:

Whether you Looking for a BAG “O” GORE: or a maybe 6 foot tall Head Holding Zombie:  I think you will be happy with what you find, not making any guarantees just going off my impressions.

Other really cool additions for 2010 are the Professional Haunted House Video Effect Props. Create by special effects guru John Hyers, realistic 3Dimensional visual effects can be a great way to create haunted scene with the use of just your home projector. Effects range from creepy crawly spiders to the man himself Old Man Grim. Worth mentioning are the TV effect and tutorials that shows the steps of creating lifelike scenarios with the use of a standard television Set.

3D Visual Effects:

Also check these out:

Haunted House Package Deals

Haunted House LED Eyes Wall Decor

About haunted Props:

Hauntedprops.com is one of the fastest growing online and catalog retailers in the haunted house / Halloween products industry. HauntedProps.com carries an extensive range of products for the haunted house industry.

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“You and 20 million other guys,” says Lou Costello’s Wilbur with a smirk.

That’s the sort of thing that constituted — some might say “passed for” — knowing adult humor in popular entertainment those days. Less than a decade later, after Sinatra’s bobby-soxers brought the notion of adolescent hormonal activity into the mainstream, a movie calling itself “I Was a Teenage Werewolf” was hardly a surprise. Since that fairly risible 1957 Michael Landon film, the teen-horror subgenre has gone through quite a few changes of its own, growing out of its awkward phase and yielding some of the most striking work in horror, period. But then something happened. Last weekend yet another remake of yet another teen-horror classic opened and became the number one movie at the box office: “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” in which the iconic bogeyman Freddy Krueger (here played by Jackie Earle Haley, the go-to guy for creep-you-out roles nowadays) troubles the already anxiety-laden dreams of your average teens by actually slaughtering the kids from within those visions. As with recent rethinks of scare fare from “The Hills Have Eyes” to “Friday the 13th” and beyond, the filmmakers’ concern here seems less about artistically revitalizing the genre than with making a few bucks off a familiar brand.

Read The Full Article Here!

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Early incarnations of the genre could be seen in the 1989 release Sweet Home, for the Nintendo Entertainment System. The Gameplay focused on solving a variety of puzzles using items stored in a limited inventory, while battling or escaping from horrifying creatures, which could lead to permanent death for any of the characters, thus creating tension and an emphasis on survival.

Developed by Capcom, Sweet Home would become the main inspiration behind their later release Resident Evil which also borrowed various other elements from the game, such as its mansion setting, “opening door” load screen, death animations, and multiple endings depending on which characters survive. Some thus consider Sweet Home to be the first in the genre.

In 1992, Infogrames released Alone in the Dark, which has been considered a forefather of the genre. Alone in the Dark was one of my personal favorites. The camera view was a bit awkward at times, but the chills and surprises certainly made up what was lacking in the camera angles. The game featured a lone protagonist against hordes of monsters, and made use of traditional adventure game challenges such as puzzle-solving and finding hidden keys to new areas.

The term “survival horror” coined by Capcom to market their 1996 release, Resident Evil. The game was mainly inspired by Capcom’s Sweet Home, released seven years earlier. I still own the PC version of this game, which to me I felt was the best one. No offense Playstation junkies the graphics were way better. Especially with the rig I had back then. Resident Evil also adopted several features seen in Alone in the Dark, including its fixed cinematic camera angles and some of its puzzle-solving challenges.

“The control scheme in Resident Evil became a staple of the genre, and future titles would imitate its challenge of rationing highly limited resources and items.”

Overblood is considered the first survival horror game to make use of a fully three-dimensional virtual environment. This is also true of the 1999 release Silent Hill, which drew heavily from Resident Evil while using realtime 3D environments in contrast to Resident Evil’s pre-rendered graphics. The game was praised for moving away from B movie horror elements to the psychological style seen in art house or Japanese horror films, due to the game’s emphasis on a disturbing atmosphere rather than visceral horror.

The original Silent Hill is considered one of the scariest games of all time, and the strong narrative from Silent Hill 2 in 2001 has made the series one of the most influential in the genre. Fatal Frame from 2001 was a unique entry into the genre, as the player explores a mansion and takes photographs of ghosts in order to defeat them. The Fatal Frame series has since gained a reputation as one of the most distinctive in the genre, with the first game in the series credited as the best-written survival horror game ever made.

In recent years, developers have combined traditional survival horror gameplay with other concepts. Left 4 Dead (2008) fused survival horror with cooperative multiplayer and more action. In 2005, Resident Evil 4 attempted to redefine the genre by emphasizing reflexes and precision aiming, thus broadening the gameplay of the series with elements from the wider action genre. Its ambitions paid off, earning the title several Game of the Year awards for 2005, and the top rank on IGN’s Readers’ Picks Top 99 Games list. The original genre has persisted in one form or another. The 2005 release of F.E.A.R. was praised for both its atmospheric tension and fast action, while Dead Space from 2008 brought the survival horror genre to a science fiction setting.

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From time to time, we see so many horror movies come and go. Spooky, haunted houses, serial killers, slashers, maniacs, mentals, satanic and many others have been pictured in the movie. A lot of sub genres, a lot of remakes, a lot of variations, twist and all that can easily be found through the ages. Yeah, it’s all true. But have we ever thought where it all came from? Or how does the horror movies genre change from time to time?

For you who share the same passion about horror movies, and want to know the road that have been travelled by Horror movies, allow me to have the honor to be your guide. Buckle up, here we go.

Where It All Began

The year was 1922, place: German. I can say that it was the birth of horror movies. W Murnau started the terror and fear thru Nosferatu, nosferatuthe story about bloodsucking vampire. It wasn’t the first vampire movie, as in 1896 Georges Melies made Le Castle Du Diable, but Nosferatu was the first movie where we saw vampire destroyed by sunlight. This one boasted remarkable animalistic makeup that has not been replicated, even with modern technology. Dozens of vampire movies followed after that. In 1931 Universal Studio launched 2 legendary horror movies, Dracula with Bela Lugosi and Frankenstein with Boris Karloff. Both of the movie became a classic and very successful. Boris Karloff even became a legendary name in horror movies history. The Mummy (1932) a silent picture with horror icon Boris Karloff in the title role, remains a classic, with unforgettable make-up and atmosphere. In 1935, the sequel of Frankenstein, The Bride Of Frankenstein was made.This isn’t silent anymore.

Psycho

During 40′s the world’s on war, and it has changed the genre. Horror was almost forgotten as patriotic movies and war has taken the place. It slowly raised again around 50′s, where comedy and musical movies ruled. There were good ones took place at this time, House of Wax is one of the example. 1960 was the time for Hitchcock to make a memorable movie: Psycho. Too bad, this is the only horror movie by Hitchcock, cuz then he made lots of suspence thriller goodies like Rear Window, Vertigo,North by Northwest,Dial M For Murder that kinda changed the genre again. And remember, spaghetti western Movies in the late 60′s also had its moment.

The 70′s

This is the most creative year of Horror movies.Unlike before, horror movies got big exploration, where so many variation of story and evil came in. Note there were lots of controversy and protest happened here.The Exorcist (1973) for example showed disgusting scenes that never been imagined before, like the green puke to the face transformed to evil. This movie was controversial when Catholic Church protested that the demon cast-out in the movie was against the code of conduct. The shining, that based on Stephen King’s novel was one of the best one during 70′s. Later on from this decade to 80s and 90s, lots of movies was made based on his scary novel such as Carrie, Christine, Cujo, It, , Cat’s Eye, Dream Catcher, are the example. Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) was a low budget movie that reached a great result. This one introduced “the slasher movie” to the world that later followed by Halloween (say hi to Michael Myers) , Friday the 13th, Scream in the 80′s and 90′s and so on. Omen is a bonechillin’ movie that can still give you nightmare even with today’s technology of making movie.Simply unforgettable. Amityville Horror, based on the true story was the first movie that took place in the actual location. The report said a lot of bizzare and dreadful things were experienced by cast and crew in location.

The 80′s

Freddie Kruger

This is the decade of madness. All gory stuff were shown sadistically for viewing. cutted off body parts were seen everywhere. Nightmare on Elm Street that launched Freddy Krueger to horror hall of fame, and Jason Voorheyes slashing games in Friday the 13th are one of the example. These two had some of their sequels during 80s, together with 3 of Halloweens. And remember how Italian horror movies that have a very sick super bloody vision? Count Romero and Argento for this category. This is also the era where horror expanded to tv.

The 90′s

Funny thing happened in 90s. There’s a tendency of self defense and self actualization by horror character on terror they have made to people. For example Ghost, Bram Stocker’s Dracula that told the story about Count Dracula’s painful love to Mina, or Interview With Vampires that unlocked the mystery of vampire lives. Scream started a new genre, teen horror movies, slashing-serial-killer-who-did-it,which soon followed by I Know What You Did Last Summer, Urban Legend, and some more. A note in 1999, an independent movie Blair Witch Project became a big phenomena,using a documentation technique to give us fear,tense and mental disturbance. This one inspired some other movies like St.Francisville Experiment, The Lamarie Project and tv series Freaky Links.

2000′s

Ringu

Still too early maybe to talk about horror movies in 2000s, but looks like Hollywood has running out of ideas. They are trying to widen up their view to see new ideas outside that can give new vision on the term of horror. The Ring, remake from Japanese movie was their first success. Followed by The eye, and some other remakes from Asian cinemas. This decade seems being led by Japan and Korea, by making so many horror movies with lack of effects or gory blood but still successfully tortured our feeling. They don’t go with the Hollywood pattern, they just dig everything else that hasn’t been touched yet. Thailand is also emerging as a good horror maker. Indonesian movies too, with amusing number of horror movies every year. We also mark the decade 2000 for the decade of sequels and remakes too, such as Halloween H2O, Freddy vs Jason, modern version of Bram Stocker’s Dracula, Dracula 2001, Halloween Resurrection , The Texas Chainsaw Massacre , House of The Dead, The Amityville Horror and so on. While the effort to combine some genres and produce something new has still been going on. Saw for example, combine the psycho thriller ala Hitchkock with slasher, sadistic, bloody and graphic scenes. My prediction? I think this decade will continue to do so. Hopefully in the next decade we will see some new approach, style and way to present horror movies. Let’s wait and see where the horror movies continue their path.

About the Author:

By: Riandy Kurniawan

A Movie freak

Website: http://www.vrjunkyard.com

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – The History of Horror Movies – Tribute to Horror in Cinemas

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