[DVD NEWS] - FrightFest releases : Dead Meat & Malefique

FRIGHTFEST PRESENTS FOR HORROR FANS BY HORROR FANS

‘Malefique' and ‘Dead Meat'

AWARD WINNING independent distributor Revolver Entertainment is proud to announce the long awaited and massively anticipated DVD label born of the UK's Number One horror fantasy film festival FrightFest.

FrightFest has steadily grown into the must-see event for all horror aficionados. The FrightFest brand already has a massive fan base in the UK with over 10,000 people attending the four-day festival over last year's August Bank Holiday weekend.

FrightFest Presents is a unique new collaboration between Revolver and FrightFest and is expected to become the UK's premiere horror DVD label. All FrightFest releases will be laden with high quality, exclusive extras. Benefiting from meticulously designed concept artwork and packaging, each FrightFest release will be an unmissable feature of the must-have collection.

‘Malefique' – 7th November 2005
"It's been a long time since we've had an extremely violent horror film, that isn't afraid to play it straight for once.
Malefique is a definite treat" - The Horror channel


‘Malefique' is a grisly tale of the macabre events that unfold when four prisoners find a book of occult spells, which offer them their freedom.

The film is the feature debut of French director Eric Valette and stars popular Gallic TV actor Gerald Laroche, Dimitri Rataud, who starred in the international hit ‘Look At Me', Phillipe Laudenbach who appeared in ‘Arsene Lupin' with Kristin Scott Thomas and Clovis Cornillac whose role in ‘A Very Long Engagement' turned him into a superstar virtually overnight.

Four men are incarcerated in a grim, cramped prison cell. Marcus (Cornillac) is a pre-op transsexual, Daisy (Rataud) is a mentally challenged man with a voracious appetite and Lasalle (Laudenbach) is an uncompromising wife-murderer. Eric Carrere (Laroche) has had a particularly raw deal. Thrown into prison for a white-collar crime and then double-crossed by his wife, he is more desperate than any of them to break out and seek revenge.

They discover the book of spells behind a loose stone slab next to Carrere's bunk. As the four men pore over the hand-written journal peppered with strange Satanic-looking symbols, they learn that it was written by a serial killer who cut out the placentas of pregnant women in an effort to stay young.

The killer was also a student of black magic and wrote a series of spells in the book which he claimed would enable prisoners to escape by walking through the walls of their cell. The four men are dubious at first but the book soon proves its power in a series of strange and often gory events.

‘Malefique' is priced at £19.99 and the bonus extras include two shorts, ‘It's Difficult Killing Somebody Even On A Monday' and ‘Saturday, Sunday and Monday Too', director's commentary, theatrical trailer and ‘Making Of ...‘documentary.

‘Dead Meat' – 3rd October 2005
“Joyously Juicy...funnier than 28 Days Later...Nastier than Shaun of the Dead...
delivering scene after scene of wet zombie-riffic goodness' – efilmcritic
"The goriest, funniest and most energetic zombie flick since Peter Jackon's Braindead" - Fangoria Magazine

‘Dead Meat' is the first and to date only Irish horror movie and is released by FrightFest on 3 October, the first time the film will be available in the UK on DVD.

It is the debut feature from rising writer/director Conor McMahon who said: “The plan was always to make an all-out, take no prisoners Irish horror movie but with a high element of gross humour and outlandish fun”. One critic acclaimed the film as “the goriest, funniest and most energetic zombie flick since Peter Jackson's Braindead” while another wrote “nastier than Shaun Of The Dead ... funnier than ‘28 Days Later'.

Spanish actress Marian Araujo is cast in the lead role as Helena with David Mallard as Desmond, David Ryan (‘Interference') as Martin and Eoin Whelan (‘The Braineater' short) as Hurling coach Cathal.

Martin (Ryan) and his girlfriend Helena (Araujo) are driving across rural Ireland when they kill a wild eyed pedestrian who stumbles out in front of their car. They load the corpse onto the back seat and set off for the nearest hospital but the ‘corpse' suddenly leans forward and bites a chunk out of Martin's neck.

They beat back the corpse and Martin persuades Helena to head for a nearby farmhouse while he tries to stem the bleeding but unbeknown to her the attack has turned Martin into one of the ghouls.

Helena soon discovers she is not the only person alive in the area and teams up with local gravedigger Desmond (David Mallard). Together they try to make their way across the zombie-infested countryside to a safe meeting-point that is being broadcast on the radio ... but unaware that Martin is following them.

‘Dead Meat' is priced at £19.99 and is being released in 16:9 widescreen. Bonus extras include ‘The Braineater' short, Surround Sound, director's and producer's commentaries and theatrical trailer.

Justin Marciano, MD at Revolver Entertainment, said: “The UK horror market continues to grow from strength to strength yet amazingly there is no dedicated horror label: our new partnership with Frightfest rectifies this.
Combining Revolver's award-winning marketing, distribution and PR initiatives with their strong brand, unparalleled market knowledge and relationships, we will work to create what will be the UK's leading definitive horror force. For horror fans by horror fans, FrightFest Presents will be the must-have label for aficionados and the preferred distribution choice for film-makers in the genre.”