AFTER DARK ACTION RELEASES TRAILER, ONE-SHEET AND STILLS FOR PHILLY KID

AFTER DARK ACTION RELEASES TRAILER, ONE-SHEET AND STILLS FOR PHILLY KID

STARRING WES CHATHAM AS THE PHILLY KID, NEAL MCDONOUGH AND DEVON SAWA

Los Angeles, CA (April 12, 2012) - Dark Castle Home Entertainment and After Dark Films recently unveiled the new action movie franchise AFTER DARK ACTION, which will showcase five original, adrenaline-pumping films theatrically as a commercial film festival in markets nationwide and on VOD on May 11.

Below are links to the brand new trailer, clips and stills for the upcoming action-packed PHILLY KID.

THE PHILLY KID

Starring Wes Chatham, Neal McDonough and Devon Sawa. Directed by Jason Connery. Written by Adam Mervis

On the same night that he was crowned an NCAA wrestling champion, Dillon McCabe (Wes Chatham) was involved in the killing of a cop and then sentenced to fifteen years of prison. Ten years later, Dillon is paroled back onto the streets of his run-down Baton Rouge neighborhood. Before he can pick up the pieces of his life, his best friend gets in trouble with a vicious loan shark. To get the money to free him, Dillon must return to fighting – this time, mixed martial arts. But his quick, brutal success gets him into more trouble than ever. And after three vicious triumphs, he discovers that his real opponent is a corrupt system that requires him to do the impossible: lose.

 After Dark Action website www.afterdarkaction.com 

 After Dark Action on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AfterDarkAction 

 After Dark Films on Twitter https://www.twitter.com/#!/afterdarkfilms 

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 currently in production.

About Dark Castle Home Entertainment:

Dark Castle Entertainment was launched in 1999 by producer Joel Silver (“Lethal Weapon,” “Die Hard,” “The Matrix”) and Robert Zemeckis (“Castaway,” “Back to the Future”). One of the most prolific and successful producers in the history of motion pictures, Silver has produced a catalog of over 60 films, which have earned a combined gross of $13.5 billion worldwide from all sources.

With Dark Castle, Silver expanded his production prowess into the horror market and began with a string of hit films starting  with the record-breaking 1999 opening of “House on Haunted Hill,” followed by “Thir13en Ghosts” in 2001, “Ghost Ship” in 2002, “Gothika” in 2003 and “House of Wax” in 2005. 

Dark Castle Home Entertainment was created in 2007 to produce original horror films and sequels to Dark Castle pictures that would be released directly to the home market.  Some of the movies include “Return to House on Haunted Hill” starring Jeffrey Combs and Amanda Righetti, and “The Hills Run Red,” starring Sophie Monk.

Husk 2010 - REVIEW

I'm the type of person that will watch a film and then hit all the popular sites to see how it was received by everyone else. Believe me when I say that this does not affect my take on it whatsoever. If I like it, I'm not afraid to say so and if I hate it, I'm not afraid to say so. Of course as usual, not everyone is going to agree with my opinions and that's ok. Lord knows I don't agree with everyone else all the time either. But you can bet, once I write it, I stand by it no matter the shit storm that rains down and boy have I weathered some shit storms.

When a murder of crows smash into their car windshield, a group of young friends are forced to abandon the vehicle, leaving them stranded beside a desolate cornfield. Hidden deep within the cornfield they find a crumbling farmhouse – but they soon discover that instead of a sanctuary, the house is actually the center of a terrifying supernatural ritual that they are about to become a part of.

C.J. Thomason, Wes Chatham, and Devon Graye lead this testosterone filled cast and they do a pretty good job at it. I remember Thomason from his role on Harper's Island, which freaking ROCKED, so there was no surprise there that he gave a good performance. I can't really say that I've seen much work by the others. Graye has done a lot of TV work and Chatham worked with a pretty high profile cast in In the Valley of Elah so they all have fairly impressive resumes. The loan female of the bunch, Tammin Sursok, held her own against the guys and pulled off some pretty notable scenes of her own.

I've read a lot of bad press on this film. Some of it I agree with but some of it I don't. While I did take issues with a few things, I didn't think Husk was all that bad. I thought the premise, while done many times over, was a pretty good base to build off of. Director Brett Simmons adds a few new things to the mix but it's hard to get into without spoiling the story. So I'll just say, you gotta watch it to find out.

The down side is that this film has caught the same plague as many others before it being that it's a bit cliche. You're given a cast of five pretty people thrown into something "otherworldly" and now they have to get out. Character wise we're given the usual suspects to root for... the jock, the geek, the pretty girl and the craven. None of these characters are explored too deeply so it is a little hard to pick one to cheer on. However, I have a little crush on Thomason so I was secretly going for him anyway. The dialogue gets a bit stiff in places and there are some crazy out there things that happen without explanation. Usually, I hate that but it didn't bother me all that much here. I can't quite put my finger on it but there was just something about it that drew me in. Maybe it was the creepy scarecrows that had me cringing a little at times or maybe it was just Thomason. Who knows. I didn't hate this film but I didn't love it either. It just kinda fell into the middle for me. Would I watch it again? Yes because it was effective enough to entertain me. Would I recommend it? Yes because I would hope that at least a few see it the same way I did.