In the 1990s and 2000s, May (and specifically Memorial Day) typically marked the beginning of Summer Movie Season. Multiplexes nationwide were packed to the emergency exits with big names, big explosions and (presumably) big box office. The film industry has changed since then, obviously, and summer no longer packs the same high-octane punch that it once did. But in this evolution, release schedule space has opened up for a stellar month of Don’t-Miss Indies titles.
Jeanne Du Barry
When You Can Watch: May 3
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Maiwenn
Cast: Maiwenn, Johnny Depp, Benjamin Lavernhe, Melvin Poupaud, Pierre Richard
Why We’re Excited: In 18th-century France, Jeanne Vaubernier, a common girl eager to climb the social ladder uses her distinct charms to convince her lover, the Count du Barry (Melvin Poupaud) to introduce her to the King, Louis Xv (Depp). The Count organizes the meeting through the intermediary...
Jeanne Du Barry
When You Can Watch: May 3
Where You Can Watch: Theaters
Director: Maiwenn
Cast: Maiwenn, Johnny Depp, Benjamin Lavernhe, Melvin Poupaud, Pierre Richard
Why We’re Excited: In 18th-century France, Jeanne Vaubernier, a common girl eager to climb the social ladder uses her distinct charms to convince her lover, the Count du Barry (Melvin Poupaud) to introduce her to the King, Louis Xv (Depp). The Count organizes the meeting through the intermediary...
- 5/1/2024
- by Su Fang Tham
- Film Independent News & More
Stars: Phoebe Tonkin, Lamorne Morris, Christopher Denham, Madison Hu, Lauren Bowles, Patrick Fischler | Written and Directed by The China Brothers
Up until recently I worked the night shift in a hotel, so I know how creepy it can feel at times, especially when you’re getting used to the place with all of the building’s odd little noises and quirks. That’s the position Gwen finds herself in.
Recently moved into the area and in need of money, she’s answered an ad for a temporary overnight position at the All Tucked Inn. The owner Teddy, who seems to be making his story up as he goes along, tells her the woman who regularly does the job has been sidelined with medical issues. He’d love to stay and help, but he has a date. But there’s nothing to worry about, this is a quiet, peaceful place where nothing ever happens.
Up until recently I worked the night shift in a hotel, so I know how creepy it can feel at times, especially when you’re getting used to the place with all of the building’s odd little noises and quirks. That’s the position Gwen finds herself in.
Recently moved into the area and in need of money, she’s answered an ad for a temporary overnight position at the All Tucked Inn. The owner Teddy, who seems to be making his story up as he goes along, tells her the woman who regularly does the job has been sidelined with medical issues. He’d love to stay and help, but he has a date. But there’s nothing to worry about, this is a quiet, peaceful place where nothing ever happens.
- 3/19/2024
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
Stars: Melora Walters, Jocelin Donahue, Joe Swanberg, Richard Brake | Written and Directed by Mickey Keating
Offseason, the new film from writer/director Mickey Keating opens with Ava Aldrich addressing the viewer in a scene that recalls Marianna Hill’s warning at the start of Messiah of Evil.
That film involved a woman’s trip to a touristy coastal town in search of her missing and presumed dead father, Offseason opens with Marie Aldrich heading to the touristy island where Ava is buried. It seems her grave was desecrated and her presence is required to remedy it.
As she and George arrive their trip is almost derailed. It seems the drawbridge to the island is raised during the offseason and the Bridge Man only relents and lowers it after finding out why she’s there. He also warns them that after tomorrow it’ll be locked until spring.
Keating opens Offseason...
Offseason, the new film from writer/director Mickey Keating opens with Ava Aldrich addressing the viewer in a scene that recalls Marianna Hill’s warning at the start of Messiah of Evil.
That film involved a woman’s trip to a touristy coastal town in search of her missing and presumed dead father, Offseason opens with Marie Aldrich heading to the touristy island where Ava is buried. It seems her grave was desecrated and her presence is required to remedy it.
As she and George arrive their trip is almost derailed. It seems the drawbridge to the island is raised during the offseason and the Bridge Man only relents and lowers it after finding out why she’s there. He also warns them that after tomorrow it’ll be locked until spring.
Keating opens Offseason...
- 3/14/2022
- by Jim Morazzini
- Nerdly
Seasonal beach towns feel haunted once balmy temperatures start to tumble. Remove the cheery masses, ice cream vendors and sizzling sands overtaken by crowds, and you’ll be left with eerily quiet streets, alongside waves echoing with distant memories of summer days. Set on one such mostly vacant (and likely fictional) island getting ready to shutter before an impending storm, writer-director Mickey Keating’s unnerving “Offseason” comprehends the particular creepiness of an insular vacation spot braving the year’s colder months. Though thinly conceived overall with not much philosophy to back its daunting visuals, “Offseason” still offers some genuinely spine-tingling images and sounds that will keep midnight audiences on their toes until the end.
Indeed, once you shrug off its thematic emptiness and occasionally clumsy dialogue, Keating’s genre exercise proves to be an absorbing enough watch, with Jocelin Donahue’s resolute Marie leading the way in a survival tale made of nightmares.
Indeed, once you shrug off its thematic emptiness and occasionally clumsy dialogue, Keating’s genre exercise proves to be an absorbing enough watch, with Jocelin Donahue’s resolute Marie leading the way in a survival tale made of nightmares.
- 3/18/2021
- by Tomris Laffly
- Variety Film + TV
Horror fans know Rhys Wakefield from his creepy, sinisterly smiling turn as the "Polite Leader" of a group of Purgers in 2013's The Purge, and the actor is now stepping behind the camera to tell a different kind of unsettling story for his feature film directorial debut, Berserk (in which he also co-stars), a story about two screenwriters looking to experience real fear while trying to finish their long-gestating zombie screenplay. With Berserk now on VOD platforms, we recently caught up with Wakefield for our latest Q&A feature to discuss the chilling real-life inspiration for Berserk, filming the movie in 14 days, and working alongside a talented cast that includes Nick Cannon, Nora Arnezeder, and James Roday.
Thanks for taking the time to catch up with us, Rhys, and congratulations on your new movie, Berserk. When did you and co-writer William Day Frank first come up with the idea for Berserk?...
Thanks for taking the time to catch up with us, Rhys, and congratulations on your new movie, Berserk. When did you and co-writer William Day Frank first come up with the idea for Berserk?...
- 4/9/2019
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
At the age of just 26 or 27, writer/director Mickey Keating already has five feature films under his belt. These aren’t just homemade backyard projects shot with his buddies for $200, either; these are movies with major stars of the indie horror scene (Graham Skipper, Lauren Ashley Carter, Pat Healy, Larry Fu**ing Fessenden) and getting actual distribution through companies like Glass Eye Pix and IFC Midnight. While his previous films have shown major chops behind the camera, they’ve also all had an air of familiarity about them; Keating is a director who wears his influences proudly, and some of his past work has played more like him riffing on an existing piece than like something borne of his own interests and obsessions.
With his fifth feature, Psychopaths, Keating has really come into his own as a director. It is his most original, most ambitious, most audacious work to date...
With his fifth feature, Psychopaths, Keating has really come into his own as a director. It is his most original, most ambitious, most audacious work to date...
- 11/6/2017
- by Patrick Bromley
- DailyDead
Psychopaths Written and Directed by: Mickey Keating Executive Producer: Larry Fessenden Producers: Jenn Wexler, William Day Frank, Mickey Keating, Cam McLellan, and Al Lewison Cinematographer: Mac Fisken Editor: Valerie Krulfeifer Starring: Ashley Bell, James Landry Hébert, Mark Kassen, Angela Trimbur, Larry Fessenden, Jeremy Gardner, Ivana Shein, Helen Rogers, and Sam Zimmerman Running Time: 85 minutes …
The post Clip from Mickey Keating’s Psychopaths first appeared on Hnn | Horrornews.net 2017 - Official Horror News Site...
The post Clip from Mickey Keating’s Psychopaths first appeared on Hnn | Horrornews.net 2017 - Official Horror News Site...
- 4/13/2017
- by Horrornews.net
- Horror News
There are few adjectives that have seemingly lost their weight more when discussing a motion picture than when one describes a film as like a “nightmare.” Oft contributed to not only directors like David Lynch but the go-to descriptor for much of the horror genre (particularly as the genre evolves into what has been known as “arthouse horror”), the word has both lost its power and seemingly lost any definitive meaning. However, when a film like Mickey Keating’s Darling comes along, there’s nothing that makes more sense than to describe the film as akin to having a waking nightmare.
Darling tells the story of a young woman (Lauren Ashley Carter) who begins to house sit for a wealthy woman, played by the incomparable Sean Young. It’s a shockingly simple premise for what is an aesthetically daring piece of work, one that owes as much to a film...
Darling tells the story of a young woman (Lauren Ashley Carter) who begins to house sit for a wealthy woman, played by the incomparable Sean Young. It’s a shockingly simple premise for what is an aesthetically daring piece of work, one that owes as much to a film...
- 4/1/2016
- by Joshua Brunsting
- CriterionCast
Last week, during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, writer/director Mickey Keating enjoyed the premiere of his latest genre effort, Carnage Park, as part of the fest’s Midnight movies lineup. The gritty, crime-inspired film co-stars Pat Healy and Ashley Bell and follows their characters on a dangerous journey through the mountainous California desert one fateful day.
Daily Dead had the chance to chat with Keating, Bell, and Healy about their collaboration together on Carnage Park, respective approaches to the project, thoughts on their characters, and more.
Mickey, what was your approach to Carnage Park in terms of making it feel like an authentic film from the 1970s?
Mickey Keating: What was really important for us was to make something that wasn’t a spoof or wasn’t like a caricature of the 1970s. We wanted to make it as authentic as possible. That’s my favorite era of American filmmaking,...
Daily Dead had the chance to chat with Keating, Bell, and Healy about their collaboration together on Carnage Park, respective approaches to the project, thoughts on their characters, and more.
Mickey, what was your approach to Carnage Park in terms of making it feel like an authentic film from the 1970s?
Mickey Keating: What was really important for us was to make something that wasn’t a spoof or wasn’t like a caricature of the 1970s. We wanted to make it as authentic as possible. That’s my favorite era of American filmmaking,...
- 2/4/2016
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
Somewhere between Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs exists Mickey Keating’s Carnage Park – a primal, maniacal throwback to 1970s post-political backlash. Memories of George Mihalka’s My Bloody Valentine help shape a myriad of influences that drive the director here, as he blends a West Coast criminal escapade with passionate kisses of slasher violence.
Think From Dusk Till Dawn, if you will (yes, another influence), except instead of vampires, you’ve got a patriotic lunatic who can’t accept that the times are indeed a’changing. As echoed in the opening narrative, if you tell people the “American dream” is dead, some folks might get mad – or in this case, retreat to a hellish playground constructed with only innocent deaths in mind.
California plays host to Carnage Park, a sectioned-off abundance of land owned by a military-fatigue wearing madman named Wyatt (Pat Healy). Whenever people break down,...
Think From Dusk Till Dawn, if you will (yes, another influence), except instead of vampires, you’ve got a patriotic lunatic who can’t accept that the times are indeed a’changing. As echoed in the opening narrative, if you tell people the “American dream” is dead, some folks might get mad – or in this case, retreat to a hellish playground constructed with only innocent deaths in mind.
California plays host to Carnage Park, a sectioned-off abundance of land owned by a military-fatigue wearing madman named Wyatt (Pat Healy). Whenever people break down,...
- 1/27/2016
- by Matt Donato
- We Got This Covered
A chilling and unexpected claustrophobic thriller, Mickey Keating’s Pod is a highly effective tale of terror that does a nice job of setting an unsettling tone from the onset and very rarely lets up until the film’s conclusion. Pod uses its micro-budget to its advantage and rises above some uneven performances to deliver a story that feels akin to a lost episode of The X-Files, filled with uncertainty, conspiracy and real emotional stakes.
Pod follows siblings Ed (Dean Cates) and Lyla (Lauren Ashley Carter) who head out to their family cabin in the middle of nowhere to check on their unstable brother Martin (Brian Morvant), a war vet who has been plagued with mental illness issues since coming home some years prior. When they arrive, they find their beloved vacation home in shambles, windows and doors covered to keep out the world around, and Martin an emotional wreck...
Pod follows siblings Ed (Dean Cates) and Lyla (Lauren Ashley Carter) who head out to their family cabin in the middle of nowhere to check on their unstable brother Martin (Brian Morvant), a war vet who has been plagued with mental illness issues since coming home some years prior. When they arrive, they find their beloved vacation home in shambles, windows and doors covered to keep out the world around, and Martin an emotional wreck...
- 8/24/2015
- by Heather Wixson
- DailyDead
There’s something to be said about a movie built on streamlined efficiency, but Pod takes its down-and-dirty mentality a bit too seriously. At the film’s post-screening Q&A, director Mickey Keating revealed that he’d wanted to collaborate on a horror film with a specific producer as quickly as possible, and that speed in production becomes noticeable as you watch what could be one of the more cut-and-dry creature features you’ll ever see. Some viewers will absolutely adore Keating’s ability to go from Point A to Point B with absolutely zero frills, but for others (including myself), Pod blows by like an inconsequential nightmare that’s over before it even begins.
Keating’s story follows Ed (Dean Cates) and Lyla (Lauren Ashley Carter), a brother and sister team who are worried about their more unstable brother Martin (Brian Morvant), so they set out for the family-owned cabin he calls home.
Keating’s story follows Ed (Dean Cates) and Lyla (Lauren Ashley Carter), a brother and sister team who are worried about their more unstable brother Martin (Brian Morvant), so they set out for the family-owned cabin he calls home.
- 3/19/2015
- by Matt Donato
- We Got This Covered
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