Oh, a doubly good reason to be happy emerges today, folks, as we’ve got a lovely combination of joy coming our way. The combination in question is “Spanish horror” and “the IFC“, by way of Kidnapped. They may call it Sequestrados over in Spain, but for us, it’s Kidnapped, and it’s all kinds of awesome.

Kidnapped follows a family who’s recently moved into a new house. A stressful time, sure, but when the three of them get reasonably settled in, they have a nice family dinner to celebrate. Of course, it doesn’t last long when a group of armed men bursts into the family’s new house and breaks up the celebration by taking the entire family hostage. They’ve come for money, but they’ll get a lot more than that when the family starts fighting back.

You know when you kick your movie’s first five minutes off with a semi-conscious guy with his hands tied behind his back and his head in a tied-shut plastic bag, you know you’re in for something really big and impressive. It’s too unaccountably bizarre not to be impressive.

But it only gets substantially more so from there, and when I say more so, I mean, “more so”. It’s only going to get more violent, more nerve-wracking, and more downright unnerving from its already mind-blowing beginning. It’s easily one of the most aggressively disturbing thrillers I’ve run into in a long time. You could call this horror, sure as you’re born, but that’s almost a misnomer. This is a pure, wild hunk of thriller, and if you want stuff that will keep you up at night, this one should qualify.

I’ve always said that the scariest movies are the ones that feature events that might actually happen to you at some point. While being chased through the woods by an undead juggernaut with a machete and a kill count the size of Texas isn’t too likely, and thus not scary, getting your house broken into by thugs who mean to take your money and threaten your family to ensure your compliance is the stuff of front page news, and thus, is incredibly scary.

The Spanish have already shown their incredible talent for thrillers and horror film, and Kidnapped will not let you down if you’re fond of the scary. The IFC bringing this one into wider release is a development that’s just insanely welcome, and if you want something that will make you cringe in your seat, this is exactly the stuff you’ve been waiting for.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Kidnapped a full ten out of ten for being an intense and thoroughly plausible thriller that will leave you checking your door locks for days afterward. The IFC’s really got a winner with this one.

Red Riding Hood, from the director of Twilight, will be released on June 14th on Demand, for Download, and Blu-ray combo pack.

We are hosting a giveaway in conjunction with the release of the movie. I have two (2) prize packs to send your winners.

Prize Pack Content:

• Cable Cash (which is $5 off the winner’s cable or satellite bill)
• Canvas Roll-up Bag
• Tribal Wolf t-shirt

Catherine Hardwicke (Twilight) directs a fantasy thriller that puts a haunting twist on the classic fairy tale. For years the villagers of Daggerhorn have maintained an uneasy truce with a werewolf – but the beast changes the stakes by killing the older sister of beautiful young Valerie (Amanda Seyfried). Promised in marriage to one man but in love with another, Valerie has her life dramatically affected yet again by the creature’s bloody actions. When a werewolf hunter warns that the beast takes human form by day and walks among them, panic sets in as the death toll rises. And Valerie learns she has a unique connection to the wolf that inexorably draws them together, making her both suspect…and bait. Gary Oldman, Billie Burke, Shiloh Fernandez, Max Irons, Virginia Madsen, Lukas Haas and Julie Christie also star.

To enter the giveaway, post your name and I will pick the winner June 24, 2011.

Remember: Watch it your way, On Demand, For Download and on Blu-ray combo pack.

No, really. You didn’t misread that title. Today we’re talking about Wild Zero, and the folks at Synapse Films sent this out for us to review. The original Japanese rock and roll zombie movie, and we’ve got it right here. And believe me, it’s as weird as it sounds.

Wild Zero joins us with Ace, a Japanese rockabilly fan (I’m just going to stop right here to gently remind you that everything you read in this synopsis WILL BE TRUE, NO MATTER HOW OUTLANDISH OR RIDICULOUS IT SOUNDS. So brace yourselves appropriately, because here we go.) who’s out to see his favorite band, Guitar Wolf (an actual Japanese band) when a horde of aliens invades the planet. This invasion causes a lot of deaths…but not for long, as the victims find themselves coming back to life with a hunger for human flesh. Now the only thing that stands between a planet full of zombies and what’s left of the human race is Ace…backed up by Guitar Wolf.

Yes, that’s right. A Japanese rockabilly fan and a Japanese rockabilly band are going to save the Earth from zombies created by aliens. And it’s only going to get weirder from here.

It’s been my experience that Japanese horror comes in only two basic flavors: chatty and dull, and plain old over the top. Naturally, there’s some subclasses in there, but Wild Zero is definitely part of the Japanese over the top school, and it will show throughout.

If you want an experience that’s wild, occasionally hilarious, and often downright incomprehensible, then Wild Zero will absolutely fit the bill. It’s weird, cheesy, crazy, and deeply, deeply fun. Of course, the converse holds true here too–if you like your movies to make sense and be at least kind of possible even as zombies attack, then Wild Zero is totally not the movie for you. It’s going to be too unaccountably weird for you to get behind. You’ll want to stick to Japanese zombie fare like Junk, which is much more of a Romero-style experience. At least, I thought it was the last time I saw it maybe ten years ago. But I digress.

The long and the short of it is, the Screenhead Ten Scale gives Wild Zero an eight out of ten. Weird it may be, but it’s got plenty of action behind it and a lot of zombie action, plus a few extra laughs and twists that will keep you guessing. It’s a great time, but a very, very weird time.

Guillermo del Toro name is all over this movie. He co-wrote and produced Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, a horror film starring Katie Holmes, Guy Pearce and Bailee Madison, directed by Troy Nixey.

Based on the 1973 telefilm that del Toro believes is the scariest TV production ever made, the story follows Sally (Madison), a young girl who moves to Rhode Island to live with her father (Pearce) and his new girlfriend (Holmes) in the 19th-century mansion they are restoring. While exploring the house, Sally starts to hear voices coming from creatures in the basement whose hidden agenda is to claim her as one of their own. Akin to del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth, Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark focuses on a young girl’s struggle against menacing and terrifying forces. FilmDistrict will release the film on August 26, 2011.

Screenhead held a giveaway for two Roger Corman DVD/Blu-ray combo packs to four lucky movie lovers!

I am happy to announce the winners!

We will start with Mark Schultz, who didn’t have much to say about the movies. Next winner, Richard Hansen said, “I thought I was old. These are old movies.” That is very true Richard. Debra Wellenstein is the next winner, and she said, “What fun movies! Thanks!” You are welcome Debra. Finally, Tracy also won and she  said, “love old time moves.”

Thanks everyone for joining the giveaway. We always have more, just keep visiting and entering by posting your name.

Here is what Mark, Richard, Debra and Tracey won:

The first one is Roger Corman’s 1963 thriller The Terror – restored and in HD for the first time ever – will be available in a special DVD/Blu-ray combo pack April 26, 2011.

In 18th century France, Lt. Andre Duvalier (Jack Nicholson), an officer in Napoleon’s army, has been separated from his regiment. Wandering near the coast, he spies a young woman (Sandra Knight) and calls out. When she fails to acknowledge him, he follows her into the dark surf and loses consciousness.

He awakens in a house, tended by an old woman, Katrina (Dorothy Neumann), who claims not to know the mysterious lady. On his way again, Andre comes upon the castle of Baron Victor Frederick Von Leppe (Boris Karlof).

There he learns that the girl is in fact the spirit of the Baron’s late wife being used as a pawn by the witchy Katrina, who is bent on driving the elderly Baron to suicide.

Famous for being shot on leftover film sets from other productions, The Terror, produced and directed by Roger Corman, has been released under several titles (Lady of the Shadows, The Castle of Terror and The Haunting) and more recently aired as episodes of the syndicated TV series Cinema Insomnia With Mr. Lobo and Elvira’s Movie Macabre (Oct. 3, 2010).

The second one is produced by the celebrated B movie icon Roger Corman and directed by the legendary Francis Ford Coppola, 1963’s terror-ific Dementia 13 will be available in a special DVD/Blu-ray combo pack, April 26, 2011.

Considered Coppola’s first mainstream, “legitimate” directorial effort, this gothic psychological thriller – based on a story idea Corman penned in one night – was shot for a budget of $42,000. The majority of the American actors were college pals of Coppola, many of whom paid their own way to Ireland for the opportunity to appear in a film. Although Coppola promised “lots of sex and violence,” Corman later battled with Coppola and hired director Jack Hill to shoot additional scenes of carnage. For years, it was rumored that the film’s print had mysteriously disappeared. Now, Film Chest makes Dementia 13 available to fans, restored and in HD for the first time ever!

After inadvertently causing her husband’s fatal heart attack, Louise, a scheming young woman (Luana Anders), attempts to have herself written into her wealthy mother-in-law’s will.

Forging a letter from her deceased spouse to convince his family he’s away on business, Louise – determined to get into their good graces – pays a surprise visit to the ancestral home in Ireland. With other family members gathered at the foreboding castle, she joins in a morbid ritual to honor Kathleen, her sister-in-law who died mysteriously seven years earlier.

When an axe-wielding lunatic begins murderously stalking the gatherers, her plans are permanently interrupted. But which one is the killer?  Is Louise – or one of the other peculiar mourners, each with a dark motive – willing to do anything to gain fortune?

Witness an exorcism performed by legendary Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins) in The Rite.

Believe it or not, this movie is inspired by true events and is on the streets wherever DVDs are rented and sold. Screenhead worked with Warner Bros to help promote the thriller. We ran a giveaway for three lucky winners of a movie night package. It includes a free iTunes download of The Rite and a coupon for a large pizza from Papa John’s. We had a lot of interested readers in this giveaway but only three winners. Alas!

Here are our winners. Lynda E. says, “This kind of stuff scares the bejeebers out of me, but I’ll probably watch it anyway.”

Em Savidge says, “Love Papa John’s – and would love to win this movie – great prize combo (all it lacks is beer!)”

Dara Nix says, “We LOVE Papa John’s AND Anthony Hopkins in this house.”

So, thank you for offering your comments. It’s been a great giveaway.

This is what Lynda, Em and Dara won:

Papa John’s Pizza Card
iTunes gift card for the purchase of the movie.

Watch it your way: On Demand, For Download or on Blu-ray combo pack.

Inspired by true events, this supernatural thriller follows a seminary student (Colin O’Donoghue) sent to study exorcism at the Vatican in spite of his own doubts about the controversial practice and even his own faith.

Only when sent to apprentice with legendary Father Lucas (Anthony Hopkins), who has performed thousand of exorcisms, does his armor of skepticism begin to fall. Drawn into a troubling case that seems to transcend even Father Lucas’s skill, the young seminarian glimpses a phenomenon science can’t explain or control – and an evil so violent and terrifying that it forces him to question everything he believes.  What do you believe!?

And we’ve got one more from the folks out at After Dark to bring to you today, one which, once again, they sent out. Fertile Ground isn’t likely to be the dog of the newest block of After Dark, but will it be anywhere near the top?

Fertile Ground joins Emily and Nate Weaver, a young couple leaving the city to go to Nate’s family home out in the middle of nowhere. And in a horror movie, leaving the city to go to the middle of nowhere pretty much ensures a bad time in the offing. And for Emily, this bad time comes in the form of horrible visions and dreams, and for Nate, this bad time comes in the form of a complete change in his behavior. But Emily doesn’t think it’s just bad dreams and a bad mood for hubby that marks the trip to the country. She thinks she might be in the midst of something even more horrible than she imagined.

Thankfully, the creepy and the horror kick off right away. While they do result to that sad, sorry sight that is “miscarriage as plot device”, it turns out that it’s quite necessary. And when you get to that point, you’ve got to take notice.

In fact, this one is head and shoulders above most of the rest in the lineup so far. Prowl had its moments, and Husk was fairly good, and Seconds Apart was too much a disjointed mess to be much use, but Fertile Ground does a magnificent job of packing in the scary. And the creepy. And the blood-soaked carnage, too. Most every tier of horror fan is going to be enamored with this, or should be, anyway.

It’s not every day that you find something that works on a variety of levels the way Fertile Ground does, and packing in all that creepy is definitely a good thing. This is part haunted house story, part haunted person story, and all scary.

It’s actually the best I’ve seen so far, though I still have high hopes for the remaining releases, some I’ve been waiting to see for some time.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Fertile Ground a full on ten out of ten–it’s too creepy, too generally terrifying to be anything but a full score earner. If you want something that will really put a punch in your movie night, this is a great one. And if you can get an actual thunderstorm going in the background, well, that’s even better.

We’ve got more from the After Dark Originals lineup for you, folks, and the crew out at Lions Gate shipped out a copy of Seconds Apart for me to review for you. We’ve had a very good run of things thus far from the new lineup of After Dark stuff, but will this one hold out, or are we about to find the seemingly inevitable dog?

Seconds Apart follows Seth and Jonah, twins who share a common passion for murder and a common gift for making stuff–and even people–move with their minds. The telekinetic psychopaths start killing off the people around them in various horrible fashions, and as the law bears down on Seth and Jonah, the two evil brothers turn on each other and use their dark gifts in a bid to kill each other. Which brother will succeed and come out alive?

I always get nervous the farther I get into the newest block of After Dark titles. See, I’ve been writing about these since there were After Dark titles to write about in the first place. And whenever they bring out a new block, most of them are great. Almost all of them, in fact, are at least good. But every year, there’s this one, this one that’s so out of place and so absolutely godawful that you wonder what it’s even doing there in the first place. I call it “the dog”, and there’s always one. The Hamiltons, Lake Dead, Dying Breed and Dread–four After Dark blocks, four dogs.

I have to admit, I had my doubts as to whether or not Mad TV alum Orlando Jones could actually pull off a horror movie, but sure enough, he did just fine.

The problem with Seconds Apart is that it spends a large quantity of its run time not making a whole lot of sense. There are too many disturbing paths this movie’s going down, and they’re not doing a whole lot to actually connect these to a central narrative. These kids have these absolutely preposterous mind powers and they spend most of their time making movies and occasionally pushing people into suicide. The rest of the movie goes off onto these strange tangents that do get somewhat brought together toward the end, but for the most part, just don’t work all that well.

This may well be the dog of the current After Dark,  and if that’s the case, then I’m going to be happy here. Because while this isn’t all that entertaining or even very scary up until the last few minutes, Seconds Apart will put on a pretty nice last few minutes. It’s also got a pretty nice twist that helps considerably.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Seconds Apart a five out of ten–it’s weird and confusing until the last few minutes, when it’s downright disturbing. A slow start is somewhat made up for, but this one is definitely near the bottom of the heap for the new installments.

When you start out a movie with a text crawl, you catch my attention most every time. See, there’s this old principle in writing called a “brick”, so named for the old comic strip Krazy Kat. And in same, this mouse by the name of Ignatz was constantly hucking bricks at the titular cat because he was in love with her. And in writing terms, the “brick” is something you use to catch a reader’s attention right from go. That’s what a text crawl often does, at least for me, and that’s why I definitely started off liking Yellowbrickroad, which the folks out at Bloody-Disgusting sent over. Thankfully, they could keep up with what they started.

Yellowbrickroad follows a mysterious story of the town of Friar, NH, which was host to a bizarre incident back in the 1940s. I’ll explain more about that in a minute. But suffice it to say that, in the future, the records behind the incident were declassified, and the coordinates of the town of Friar were released along with them. Now, an expedition is launched to find out just what happened, and the results are more bizarre than most could imagine.

But the title crawl that caught my attention so well? It went like this: “One morning in 1940, the entire population of Friar, NH, walked north up an unmarked trail into the wilderness. Some were later found frozen to death. Others were mysteriously slaughtered. Most, however, were never found. Among the classified records is this audio recording of a lone survivor, conducted at the outset of investigation.”

Creepy? You’d better believe it. A pretty impressive bit of creepy, when you come right down to it. And watching it reveals a pretty well set up affair, with just enough exposition tossed in at just the right times to keep the whole thing moving and sufficiently compelling to hold interest throughout.

Watching these people break down slowly on their expedition, even as we have no idea what’s going on, is especially unnerving, and leaves the whole movie to be a deeply nerve-wracking, chilling experience. It may not have a whole lot in the way of shocks, but this atmospheric chiller is a thing of beauty. Bloody-Disgusting’s really got a winner on their hands with this one. I thought their earlier Rammbock was pretty good stuff, but it was too short. Yellowbrickroad is everything Rammbock was and then some.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives Yellowbrickroad a ten out of ten for being a deliciously creepy romp that’s occasionally tough to follow but well worth your time to watch. You won’t be able to catch this until June 1st, and even then in limited theaters only, but man, will you ever want to get your head around this one if you have any taste for horror at all.

You are looking at the trailer of Craig Gillespie-helmed revamp comedy-horror classic. Senior Charlie Brewster (Anton Yelchin) finally has it all—he’s running with the popular crowd and dating the hottest girl in high school. In fact, he’s so cool he’s even dissing his best friend Ed (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).

But trouble arrives when an intriguing stranger Jerry (Colin Farrell) moves in next door. He seems like a great guy at first, but there’s something not quite right—and everyone, including Charlie’s mom (Toni Collette), doesn’t notice. After witnessing some very unusual activity, Charlie comes to an unmistakable conclusion: Jerry is a vampire preying on his neighborhood. Unable to convince anyone that he’s telling the truth, Charlie has to find a way to get rid of the monster himself.

Colin Farrell looks ripped in this trailer. I can hardly recognize Toni Collette. All in all, it should be a fun movie to watch with your friends.

The movie opens in theaters August 19, 2011 and it’s not rated yet.