The long-delayed horror film, starring Chris Hemsworth, The Cabin in the Woods finally arrives to horror audiences at the South by Southwest Film Festival. Directed by Drew Goddard, the twisted creeper has been selected as the opening-night film for the fest — March 9, 2012 at the annual Austin fest. As an extra bonus, the panel discussion will include producer Joss Whedon on Saturday, March 10, 2012.

Cabin is the directorial debut of Goddard. He also wrote Cloverfield and worked on the series “Lost” and “Alias”. Goddard also co-wrote the screenplay with Whedon.The film will get an April 13, 2012 theatrical release.

Cave Of Forgotten Dreams is now available to watch from the comfort of your home on SundanceNOW.com. How cool is that!

A breathtaking documentary from director Werner Herzog (Encounters At The End Of The World, Grizzly Man) Cave Of Forgotten Dreams follows an exclusive expedition into the nearly inaccessible Chauvet Cave in France, home to the most ancient visual art known to have been created by man. It is an unforgettable cinematic experience that provides a unique glimpse of pristine artwork dating back to human hands over 30,000 years ago — almost twice as old as any previous discovery.

The documentary was an Official Selection at the 2010 Toronto International Film Fest. The film is the top grossing documentary of 2011 and the 25th highest grossing doc of all time.

And, what is super cool is that I have a code to giveaway for a complimentary viewing of the movie!

Simply, post your name and I will pick the winner August 5, 2011.

For over 20,000 years, Chauvet Cave has been completely sealed off by a fallen rock face, its crystal-encrusted interior as large as a football field and strewn with the petrified remains of giant ice age mammals. In 1994, scientists discovered the caverns, and found hundreds of pristine paintings within, spectacular artwork dating back over 30,000 years to a time when Neanderthals still roamed the earth and cave bears, mammoths, and ice age lions were the dominant populations of Europe. Since then, only a few people have been allowed access into Chauvet Cave, and the true scope of its contents had largely gone unfelt—until Werner Herzog managed to gain access.

Filming in 3D, Herzog captures the wonder and beauty of one of the most awe-inspiring sites on earth, all the while musing in his inimitable fashion about its original inhabitants, the birth of art and the curious people surrounding the caves today.

This week saw the announcement of an array of films for this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, which starts on September 8th.

Leading the pack is Luc Besson’s latest film. Surprisingly, it doesn’t involve guns or hot naked bods. Rather The Lady is a biopic of Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy politician who spent over a decade under house arrest and away from her family in the militant Burma. This change of pace for Besson will be an interesting pic. Also debuting will be Alex Payne’s long-awaited follow-up to Sideways, The Descendants, which stars George Clooney, as well as Cronenberg’s Freud/Jung tale A Dangerous Method, and Cannes darling The Artist. And for a complete list of films check out the official site.

The Toronto Film Festival is an essential industry event, and often a platform for releasing some of the biggest independent and arthouse films of the year. It often marks the start of movie awards buzz, and indeed the winner of last year’s festival People’s Choice awards was a little film called The King’s Speech.

On behalf of Salient Media I am introducing you to the horror-thriller Atrocious – will hit theatres on August 17th for a special engagement! Atrocious will join the “Night Terrors” film series where The Collective, AMC Theatres and Bloody-Disgusting.com have teamed up to distribute the best new horror and thriller titles from the festival and international markets to AMC theatres across America.

These showings are totally for horror fans.

Atrocious is a gruesome, mind-bending thriller shot in a style reminiscent of The Blair Witch Project. The horror film excerpts found footage from a film reel recovered by Spanish police, documenting a family of five discovering the truth behind a dangerous urban legend. The 37 hours of found footage follow Cristian and July Quintanilla passing time at their summer home by investigating a terrifying and mysterious urban legend. As their investigation intensifies, strange occurrences in and around the house escalate rapidly, culminating finally in unspeakable atrocities.

After confirmation this week that Paolo Sorrentino’s first English-language film This Must Be the Place will premiere in the Cannes Film Festival next month, here’s something to whet your appetities. This Youtube video is a compilation of out-takes from the film, all neatly edited into a sort-of trailer.

The film stars Sean Penn as a Robert-Smith-like retired lead singer of a popular 80′s goth group. When the singer’s father passes away, he embarks on a journey to discover a Nazi hiding out in the US. If that sounds bizarre, wait until you see the photos of Penn in white make-up and lipstick. But what do you expect from the director of Il Divo. The film also features Frances McDormand, Eve Hewson (daughter of Bono, no less), and Judd Hirsch. It was shot in Ireland and in the US.

The footage also gives us a blast of the band’s music, which is appropriately dated. Alt-country singer Will Oldham joined up with Talking Heads frontman (the film gets its title from a Talking Heads song, and Byrne also makes an appearance in the movie) to add a few numbers to the soundtrack, although it’s unclear if this is one of their collaborations.

James Laxton, courtesy of IFC Films

Myth of the American Sleepover is directed by David Robert Mitchell and written by David Robert Mitchell. The cast includes Marlon Morton, Amanda Bauer, Claire Sloma, Brett Jacobsen, Nikita and Jade Ramsey.

The movie is being billed as an independent teen drama about a poignant and tender coming-of-age drama. This story follows four young people on the last night of summer – their final night of freedom before the new school year starts. The teenagers cross paths as they explore the suburban wonderland they inhabit in search of love and adventure – chasing first kisses, elusive crushes, popularity and parties. While looking for the iconic teenage experience, they discover the quiet moments that will later become a part of their youth they look back on with nostalgia.

The story is inspired by Mitchell’s experiences growing up in Michigan. The positive feedback that I have heard is that the movie is a beautifully rendered portrait of summertime adolescence and the search for human connections. The kids in Mitchell’s world may be lost, a little confused and full of angst, but ultimately the kids are alright in this life-affirming, truthful and fresh take on the teen genre.

The Myth of the American Sleepover had its European premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival in the International Critics’ Week section, the first American film in five years to be selected for this honor.

The Myth of the American Sleepover had its U.S. premiere in March 2010 at the SXSW Film Festival and Conference, where it received a special jury prize for Best Ensemble Cast.

The movie opens July 22, 2011 in New York and July 29, 2011 in Los Angeles, with a national rollout to follow.

This is something of a tough piece to write, folks. Last year you got a taste of the After Dark Horrorfest, and there have been fully three years’ worth before that. But now, the Horrorfest has…well…kind of dissolved. And what it’s been replaced with is a little dismaying. Will we still get the quality movies we’re used to? Or will change deprive us of sweet horror? Today we start out find out with Prowl, a copy of which the folks out at Lions Gate sent over for us to review.

Prowl follows Amber, a small town girl who, like a lot of small town girls, is tired of the small town life, and thus convinces her friends to pack it up and join her in the big city. When their car breaks down midway there, they’re only too happy to get a ride from a stranger in a semi. But when they discover what this trucker’s carrying–a cargo full of blood–their trip quickly turns even darker than they’d thought it would.

Considering that about half the slate of so-called “After Dark Originals” will wind up on the SyFy Channel before they hit video, you might be worried. In the case of Prowl, however, your worries are quite  unfounded.

It’s not the most original thing about the After Dark series–you might just as well choose to call Prowl The Midnight Meat Semi–but it’s still done in an interesting and engrossing fashion that does manage to keep you entertained. And that’s what the After Dark Horrorfest always did best, keep you entertained.

Even better, Prowl represents a comparative rarity, for both the After Dark series and movies in general–a good vampire movie. See, After Dark’s last vampire movie, The Hamiltons, was awful. But this one was definitely much better. It uses the “subhuman monster” vampire instead of the “preening master of the food chain” vampire, and I personally find that makes it a lot more accessible.

And yes, like the best After Dark titles, this one has a nice twist ending that you will really only see coming in retrospect. At least, that was my feeling on it.

Either way, though, if Prowl is representative of what we’ll be getting from this year’s After Dark supply, then I don’t care if it shows up on Lifetime, we’ll still be getting good quality stuff.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives a respectful eight out of ten to Prowl, the movie that defied the odds and made me believe again by virtue of its sheer potency and impressive action.

The Silent House was one of Sundance 2011 main horror features. The story comes from a true incident that happened in the late 40′s in a small village in Uruguay.

The movie begins with Laura and her father Wilson settle down in a cottage they have to renew since its owner will soon put the house up for sale. They will spend the night there and repair the following morning.

Everything seems to go smoothly until Laura hears a sound that comes from outside and gets louder and louder on the upper floor of the house. Wilson goes up to see what is going on while she remains downstairs on her own, waiting for her father to come down.

The movie was filmed in one long continuous shot from beginning to end.  Laura is the main focus, second by second. She is intent on leaving the house which hides an obscure secret, unharmed.

I have no word on when it will arrive in the States. For the horror fans, let’s hope we don’t have to wait too long.

I just took a look at Rainn Wilson and Joshua Homnick’s short film The Blitzen Trapper Massacre, which is now live at SundanceNow and cost nothing to watch. The film had its world theatrical debut last night at SXSW, and is now playing on SundanceNOW.com for an exclusive, one-week run.

Everyone has been obsessed with the music of a favorite band at one time or another, but in The Blitzen Trapper Massacre, writer and director Rainn Wilson (The Office) takes hero worship to a comically frightening new level.

One night, the actor shows up backstage to meet indie rock stars Blitzen Trapper before a big show. Initially excited to meet their most famous fan, the band grows concerned when Wilson produces his own guitar and invites himself to join their performance. The group quickly turns down his offer of backup, but this won’t be the last they’ve heard from the deranged Wilson. Will the band survive to play the show? If they don’t, there’s one fan waiting in the wings to take over. After all, the show must go on.

The short is kind of crude but funny in its own diabolical way.

Filmmaker Evan Glodell will be partying away in Austin because his SXSW 2011 premiere of Bellflower will be happening this weekend. Attendees will see him unveil his hand-crafted, road ready and apocalypse- equipped car – Medusa. This unforgettable machine creates some of the film’s most high-octane moments amidst the romance and revenge-fantasy tale of Woodrow’s journey of love, betrayal and vengeance.

Glodell, a former engineering student, constructed Medusa to be a real-life road monster. Unlike the Batmobile, Glodell’s Medusa is the real deal. There are no CGI or special camera tricks needed. The extraordinary features you see in the film are the same features you will see when you meet Medusa in person!

Medusa is equipped with two fuel injected exhaust flamethrowers with a 30,000 volt ignition system, smoke screen, a bleach drift-kit, adjustable rear suspension, 3 surveillance cameras (all in which are controlled from the dashboard), a customized apocalypse exhaust system, 6-71 Supercharger, posi rear end, a self-contained oxygen supply for chemical or underwater warfare, a roll cage, stow-able fold-down back seat and occasionally holds a sawed-off shotgun in the trunk in case of emergency.

Medusa is available for demonstrations throughout the 2011 SXSW Film Festival!

Now the movie, Bellflower, was a critic and audience favorite at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. One person reported high energy and gorgeous imagery all of which come together in a story of love and explicit mayhem on the outskirts of L.A.

The movie opens in theaters July 22nd, 2011.