By MICHAEL GINGOLD
A familiar name from genre distribution’s past will bring us more horror and related movies in the future.
Umbrelic Entertainment founders Thomas Zambeck and Brian Katz have announced that they have launched Anchor Bay Entertainment, a new distribution arm bearing the name of the company that specialized in fright fare during the 1990s and 2000s. Zambeck explains, “We had an opportunity to take the name of a beloved genre film brand, one we feel a personal connection to, for our new company,” says Zambeck. “This is a new venture, unaffiliated with any previous incarnations. We aim to honor the history and spirit of the past as we look for interesting films that break the mold, and will be discovered by new generations for years to come.”
Zambeck and Katz, who have also produced and executive-produced over a dozen features including last year’s Chris Sivertson-directed MONSTROUS, have lined up the first pair of films to go out under the new Anchor Bay banner. The first, set to come out in second quarter 2024, is ABRUPTIO, a unique thriller from writer/director Evan Marlowe that has won over 20 festival awards, and is enacted entirely by lifelike puppets in realistic settings. James Marsters (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER), Christopher McDonald, Hana Mae Lee, filmmaker Jordan Peele, Rich Fulcher and fright veterans Sid Haig and Robert Englund star; the synopsis: “Les Hackel [Marsters] is a guy down on his luck who wakes to find an explosive device has been implanted in his neck. He must carry out heinous crimes in order to stay alive while trying to identify the mastermind manipulating the now twisted and strange world around him.”
Set for a fall release is DINNER WITH LEATHERFACE, writer/director Michael Kallio’s documentary on the late Gunnar Hansen (pictured above), who portrayed the legendary villain in Tobe Hooper’s original THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. It features interviews with friends, colleagues, filmmakers and fellow actors, among them the surviving cast of CHAINSAW, its producer co-writer Kim Henkel and cinematographer Daniel Pearl, along with Bruce Campbell, Barbara Crampton, Betsy Baker, Brian O’Halloran, Danielle Harris, Linnea Quigley, Kane Hodder and Debbie Rochon. The film is currently in postproduction via Umbrelic’s subsidiary, OutPost X. Stay tuned for more details on these releases and other titles from the new Anchor Bay.
