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Belgian director Vincent Lannoo first caught eyes around these parts with Vampires, his slyly tongue in cheek moc-doc exploration of 'real life' vampires living in Brussels and Montreal. With his latest film, In The Name Of The Son, he tackles a more horrifying and more true to life topic.Elisabeth is brilliant, radiant and sunny on the day Father Achille arrives at her home. He is going to become part of her family. A perfect family that admires Elisabeth so much for her chat show on "Christian Hope Radio", for the time that she devotes to others, her family and housework. But neither her faith, nor "Christian Hope Radio", nor love will prevent Elisabeth from falling into the harsh reality. The lies of her husband, the...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Evoking the gospels both sacred and profane (Father Tarantino, hallowed be thy name), Vincent Lannoo's In the Name of the Son (Au nom du fils) is divided into six 'books'. It is only fitting for a film that veers wildly between farce and tragedy, but also between engaging thriller and limp noodle. It's a savage and incendiary take down of the Catholic Church that is, somewhat improbably, soft as a whisper -- a valentine to forgiveness and spirituality. As a follow up to his deadpan mockumentary Vampires, I don't think anybody could have seen this one coming. The film opens with a YouTube prologue, where two burly and buffoonish priests make a series of increasingly ridiculous requests of their parish -- Money? Time? 500 pounds of...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Release Date: Nov. 29, 2011

Price: DVD $24.98

Studio: IFC/Mpi

Imagine Nigel Tufnel and David St. Hubbins as blood-suckers, and you have the idea behind Vampires, a mockumentary that is being called the This Is Spinal Tap of vampire films.

The 2010 foreign movie, directed by Vincent Lannoo (Ordinary Man), follows a documentary film crew who have a few bloody mishaps in their attempt to film vampires, until they finally find a Belgian clan willing to go on camera — and not eat the crew.

In the family, the dad’s channeling Bela Lugosi, the mom’s giving bite lessons, the son is rebellious and the daughter is pining for her lost mortality.

The documentary crew watch and shoot as the family eat illegal immigrants, children, the handicapped and bleed the country’s social benefits for all they’re worth.

Vampires wasn’t released in theaters in the U.S., making it a DVD premiere.

The 2011 Bram Stoker International Film Festival, running October 28th-31st, takes place in Whitby, North Yorkshire, England, and shows independent narrative features, documentaries, and shorts from around the world, many of which will be having their world or UK premieres at this year's fest. Read on for all the details regarding the lineup!

Below is a list of all the films screening this year. Other events include a Vampire Ball on Saturday, October 29th; a performance of The Feast of Blood on Sunday, October 30th; and the Scorpius Dance Theatre's production of A Vampire's Tale on Halloween itself. In addition, the following awards will be presented at the festival:

Best Picture

Best Short

Best Director

Best Effects

Best Script...

...and a special Lifetime Achievement Award

For more info visit the official Bram Stoker International Film Festival website, and click here for ticket packages.

Absentia - UK Premiere

Director: Mike Flanagan...

Vampires is a slow-burn movie.

Initial reactions to the mockumentary on vampires, isn’t anything we haven’t seen on any reality show on E! Entertainment Channel, despite its satrical vibe. There’s little action, just drama. The woeful eternal (or is it internal) struggle of immortality is a thread line often seen in vampire movies. Vampires adds little to the genre, nearly a 100 years old, which started in deft horror in Nosferatu and has seen itself self go all emo in Twilight. The mockumentary aspect isn’t new, but thankfully not “found footage”, but it’s not as funny or smart as This is Spinal Tap and Man Bites Dog, films it desperately wants to be.

A documentary crew has been trying, rather unsuccessfully, to film this vampire sub-culture in the underbelly of Belgium. After a two crews met an untimely death, the researchers finally met a family willing to go all Kardashian.

Directed by: Vincent Lannoo

Starring: Carlo Ferrante, Vera Van Dooren, Pierre Lognay, Fleur Lise Heuet, Julien Dore

When you receive a movie in your mailbox for review with nothing but the disc--no press release, nothing describing what other people think about the very movie you are about to see---you tend to reserve judgment. Although to be quite frank the number one cause of judgement comes from the one thing that you do receive with the movie; it's title. That is why upon receiving Vampires in my mailbox, I became very dubious of its appeal. Vampires, were already getting phased out. How great could a film be about vampires that was called Vampires? An already tired genre with what is perhaps the most tired and obvious title you could choose from. Little did I know in those beginning moments of judgement, that Vampires would take me for surprise.

Just as vampires are slowly getting phased out,...

If you have a deep rooted love for b-movies and will be in or near Franklin, Indiana this September, there’s a film festival taking place that is just for you. With everything from b-movie classics to world premieres and several top names from the world of B-filmdom in attendance, think of the B Movie Celebration as the Cannes Film Festival for aficionados of fine schlock.

The annual center of all b-Movie fandom celebration is back again September 23rd-25th in Franklin, Indiana. This year, besides a Huge list of classic films being screened, there are also a few world premieres and screenings of some very eagerly anticipated films. There's the world premieres of Fred Olen Ray's "Dino Wolf" [aka "Dire-Wolf"], David A. Prior's "Night Claws", Jim Wynorski's "Camel Spiders", and screenings of other hotly anticipated titles such as "The Millennium Bug", "El Monstro Del Mar", "Rare Exports:...

Vincent Lannoo's comedy Vampires made quite the impression on the FanTasia audience last year. And on the verge of the film being released by IFC Midnight we have been given three clips to share with you!  They did it! They made a documentary on a bunch of vampires! A family of vampires, bored with immortality, lives in Belgium, eats illegal immigrants, children, handicapped folk, and takes every advantage they can suck out of the country's social system. Samson, a seventies throwback, lives his 55th year like he's forever 20. Grace, an eternal teenager bent on being human again, keeps committing suicide. George, the patriarch, manages as best he can, heading the eccentric family and its on-going squabbles with the neighboring vampires. It turns out vampires must keep to a strict...

Two more clips have come our way for Vampires, joining the exclusive one we debuted a couple of days ago. Who doesn't love vampire flicks in which the main baddies don't sparkle and shit broken hearts? Dig it!

From Belgian director Vincent Lannoo, Vampires is being heralded as "Spinal Tap meets The Munsters, Benelux-style!" Look for it nationwide on demand from IFC Midnight, via Comcast, Cox, Cablevision, Time Warner, and Bright House starting July 1st.

Synopsis

In the hilarious, satirical 'Vampires', a documentary film crew introduces us to husband and wife Georges and Bertha and their children Samson and Grace, a family of vampires living in suburban Belgium. They feed on illegal immigrants and former prostitutes (referred to as "meat") and attend gatherings with other vampires in the same district. Georges is a bit creepy, Bertha a little unhinged, and Grace is trying to kill herself (which, as an immortal vampire,...

We’ve got three new clips from the comedy Vampires, which hit VOD from IFC Midnight on July 1st. You can check out our previous post about this Hungarian flick here.

Synopsis:

They did it! They made a documentary on a bunch of vampires!

A family of vampires, bored with immortality, lives in Belgium, eats

illegal immigrants, children, handicapped folk, and takes every advantage

they can suck out of the country.s social system.

Samson, a seventies throwback, lives his 55th year like he.s forever 20.

Grace, an eternal teenager bent on being human again, keeps committing

suicide. George, the patriarch, manages as best he can, heading the

eccentric family and its on-going squabbles with the neighboring vampires.

It turns out vampires must keep to a strict code. They are, for example,

prohibited from sleeping with their leader.s wife. That.s where Samson

went too far… Now he and...

3 new clips from Vampires starring Vincent Lannoo, Vera Van Dooren,Pierre Lognay and Fleur Lise Heuet Vincent Lannoo directs the comedy horror which opens via IFC on July 1st on VOD. They did it! They made a documentary on a bunch of vampires! A family of vampires, bored with immortality, lives in Belgium, eats illegal immigrants, children, handicapped folk, and takes every advantage they can suck out of the country’s social system. Samson, a seventies throwback, lives his 55th year like he’s forever 20. Grace, an eternal teenager bent on being human again, keeps committing suicide. George, the patriarch, manages as best he can, heading the eccentric family and its on-going squabbles with the neighboring vampires.

3 new clips from Vampires starring Vincent Lannoo, Vera Van Dooren,Pierre Lognay and Fleur Lise Heuet Vincent Lannoo directs the comedy horror which opens via IFC on July 1st on VOD. They did it! They made a documentary on a bunch of vampires! A family of vampires, bored with immortality, lives in Belgium, eats illegal immigrants, children, handicapped folk, and takes every advantage they can suck out of the country’s social system. Samson, a seventies throwback, lives his 55th year like he’s forever 20. Grace, an eternal teenager bent on being human again, keeps committing suicide. George, the patriarch, manages as best he can, heading the eccentric family and its on-going squabbles with the neighboring vampires.

3 new clips from Vampires starring Vincent Lannoo, Vera Van Dooren,Pierre Lognay and Fleur Lise Heuet Vincent Lannoo directs the comedy horror which opens via IFC on July 1st on VOD. They did it! They made a documentary on a bunch of vampires! A family of vampires, bored with immortality, lives in Belgium, eats illegal immigrants, children, handicapped folk, and takes every advantage they can suck out of the country’s social system. Samson, a seventies throwback, lives his 55th year like he’s forever 20. Grace, an eternal teenager bent on being human again, keeps committing suicide. George, the patriarch, manages as best he can, heading the eccentric family and its on-going squabbles with the neighboring vampires.

Not to be confused with the Sundance selection Vampire, IFC Midnight recently announced the release of their Vampires, a fresh, biting comedy from Belgian director Vincent Lannoo. They say it's like Spinal Tap meets The Munsters, Benelux-style! This morning we scored a pretty gruesome exclusive clip that takes you deep into a feeding frenzy. Dinner is served! "In the hilarious, satirical 'Vampires', a documentary film crew introduces us to husband and wife Georges and Bertha and their children Samson and Grace, a family of vampires living in suburban Belgium. They feed on illegal immigrants and former prostitutes (referred to as "meat") and attend gatherings with other vampires in the same district. Georges is a bit creepy, Bertha a little unhinged, and Grace is trying to kill herself (which, as an immortal vampire, she can't), but otherwise they seem like a normal family. But when the partying son ..."...

No stranger to releasing relatively unknown, foreign genre flicks stateside, IFC Midnight have announced VOD distribution of Hungarian vampire satire Vampires for streaming as of July 1st. I’m rather unfamiliar with this one so I will go ahead and quote the press-release from IFC:

IFC Midnight is pleased to announce the release of Vampires, a fresh,

biting comedy from Belgian director Vincent Lannoo. Think Spinal Tap

meets The Munsters, Benelux-style!

In the hilarious, satirical Vampires, a documentary film crew introduces

us to husband and wife Georges and Bertha and their children Samson and

Grace, a family of vampires living in suburban Belgium. They feed on

illegal immigrants and former prostitutes (referred to as “meat”) and

attend gatherings with other vampires in the same district. Georges is a

bit creepy, Bertha a little unhinged, and Grace is trying to kill herself

(which, as an immortal vampire, she can’t), but...

I must confess to having a serious weak spot for Vincent Lannoo's Vampires, a film that plays out like the Christopher Guest spin on life among the undead. It's a picture that we wrote about here on Twitch back when it was still in production and one which I had a hand in bringing to screen at the Fantasia Festival in Montreal where it played to a rousing reception. I like this film a lot and find it a slyly funny piss-take on the romanticism of many vampire stories and I could not be happier that IFC is bringing it to Us shores with a VOD release beginning July 1.In the hilarious, satirical Vampires, a documentary film crew introduces us to husband and wife...

If you thought Belgian Waffles were tasty, wait until you sink your teeth into the latest horror comedy on its way courtesy of IFC Midnight called Vampires. Sugar coating and syrup are completely optional. Dig it!

From Belgian director Vincent Lannoo, Vampires is being heralded as "Spinal Tap meets The Munsters, Benelux-style!" Look for it nationwide on demand from IFC Midnight, via Comcast, Cox, Cablevision, Time Warner, and Bright House starting July 1st.

Synopsis

In the hilarious, satirical 'Vampires', a documentary film crew introduces us to husband and wife Georges and Bertha and their children Samson and Grace, a family of vampires living in suburban Belgium. They feed on illegal immigrants and former prostitutes (referred to as "meat") and attend gatherings with other vampires in the same district. Georges is a bit creepy, Bertha a little unhinged, and Grace is trying to kill herself (which, as an immortal vampire,...

IFC Midnight has announced a July 1st video-on-demand release date for their Belgium mockumentary called Vampires, from director Vincent Lannoo.

A film crew ventures amidst a family of vampires to make a documentary. They seek answers to the crucial questions we all ask ourselves… Who are they? Do they drink anything other than blood? How do they manage their social life? Do they file their teeth? Can they sleep, dream, die, feel feelings, eat garlic? After several weeks in the company of this family of four and their friends, foes and neighbors, our brave little crew finds the answers, and a lot more… They will find themselves at the heart of a family drama that takes the friendly vampire clan all the way to Quebec. Montreal will be the theater of profound mutations that will change the international vampire community forever, and ever. The community we discover through this film is strange indeed,...

Movie trailer and poster for Vampires, starring Carlo Ferrante and Vera Van Dooren The comedy opens nationwide on demand from IFC Midnight, via Comcast, Cox, Cablevision, Time Warner, and Bright House on July 1st. They did it! They made a documentary on a bunch of vampires! A family of vampires, bored with immortality, lives in Belgium, eats illegal immigrants, children, handicapped folk, and takes every advantage they can suck out of the country’s social system. Samson, a seventies throwback, lives his 55th year like he’s forever 20. Grace, an eternal teenager bent on being human again, keeps committing suicide. George, the patriarch, manages as best he can...

Movie trailer and poster for Vampires, starring Carlo Ferrante and Vera Van Dooren The comedy opens nationwide on demand from IFC Midnight, via Comcast, Cox, Cablevision, Time Warner, and Bright House on July 1st. They did it! They made a documentary on a bunch of vampires! A family of vampires, bored with immortality, lives in Belgium, eats illegal immigrants, children, handicapped folk, and takes every advantage they can suck out of the country’s social system. Samson, a seventies throwback, lives his 55th year like he’s forever 20. Grace, an eternal teenager bent on being human again, keeps committing suicide. George, the patriarch, manages as best he can...

Movie trailer and poster for Vampires, starring Carlo Ferrante and Vera Van Dooren The comedy opens nationwide on demand from IFC Midnight, via Comcast, Cox, Cablevision, Time Warner, and Bright House on July 1st. They did it! They made a documentary on a bunch of vampires! A family of vampires, bored with immortality, lives in Belgium, eats illegal immigrants, children, handicapped folk, and takes every advantage they can suck out of the country’s social system. Samson, a seventies throwback, lives his 55th year like he’s forever 20. Grace, an eternal teenager bent on being human again, keeps committing suicide. George, the patriarch, manages as best he can...

Earlier this year, IFC Midnight acquired Vampires , Belgium's horror-comedy which is also a revealing faux doc about bloodsuckers. Shock landed a look at the U.S. trailer and poster for the Vincent Lannoo-directed flick. You can check them both out below just past this synopsis! The film hits VOD July 1. They did it! They made a documentary on a bunch of vampires! A family of vampires, bored with immortality, lives in Belgium, eats illegal immigrants, children, handicapped folk, and takes every advantage they can suck out of the country.s social system. Samson, a seventies throwback, lives his 55th year like he.s forever 20. Grace, an eternal teenager bent on being human again, keeps committing suicide. George, the patriarch, manages as best he can, heading the...

The 14th annual Revelation Perth International Film Festival is, once again, packed to the gills with worldwide wonderful, weird and revelatory filmmaking. The fest runs this year on July 14-24.

The highlight of the festival is the once-in-a-lifetime live performance of Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then, which will be performed on July 17 at 7:15 p.m. American animator Brent Green will be traveling Down Under to provide the live musical score and narration for his emotional, live-action animated tale about undying love and creation. He will also be accompanied by band mates and foley artists, Mike McGinley, John Swartz, Donna K and Drew Henkles.

Some other films to look out for at the fest will be the Australian premiere of Zach Clark‘s terminally twisted Vacation!, a black comedy about four girls on a debauched weekend of drinking and drugging that ends horribly for all involved; Marie Losier’s acclaimed...

We'll take just about any kind of vampires over the sparkling brooding kind any day, and thanks to the latest acquisition from IFC Films, we'll soon be getting to know a new breed of vampires -- the bored kind!

IFC announced today that they've secured the rights to the mockumentary Vampires from Belgium's House of Film and director Vincent Lannoo.

"Vampires is a smart, quirky film; IFC is the perfect company to ensure that this film reaches a North American audience and gets the attention it deserves," says a House of Film rep of the recent sale.

Dig on the trailer below and look for more soon!

Synopsis

A film crew ventures amidst a family of vampires to make a documentary. They seek answers to the crucial questions we all ask ourselves... Who are they? Do they drink anything other than blood? How do they manage their social life? Do they file their teeth?...

And a drum roll, please, because here are the winners from the 2010 Sitges Festival.

Oficial FANTÀSTIC COMPETICIÓ Sitges 43

Jurat / Jurado / Jury

Francesco Barilli, Jaume Collet-Serra, Colin Geddes, Jan Harlan & Elena Manrique

Millor Curtmetratge / Mejor Cortometraje / Best Short Film

The Legend Of Beaver Damm de Jérôme Sable

Menció Especial pel seu original homenatge a una indiscutible obra mestra del cinema fantàstic / Mención Especial por su original homenaje a una indiscutible obra maestra del cine fantástico / Special Mention for its original tribute to one of the undisputed masterworks of the fantastic cinema

Vicenta de Sam Millor

Disseny de Producció / Mejor Diseño de Producción / Best Production Design

Yuji Hayashida per Thirteen Assassins

Millors Efectes de Maquillatge / Mejores Efectos de Maquillaje / Best Make Up FX

Vitaya Deerattakul & Andrew Lin per Dream Home

Millors Efectes Especials / Mejores Efectos Especiales / Best Special Effects

Gareth Edwards per Monsters

Millor Banda Sonora Original / Mejor Banda Sonora Original / Best Original Soundtrack

Seppuku Paradigm,...

The 2010 edition of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival has just announced their complete Noves Visions program. The program where the festival places the young, edgy material, this is the big discovery program of the festival. Here's the announcement!

Noves Visions, The Most Indie

And Daring Section At Sitges 2010

The 43rd Sitges - International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, that will take place 7 to 17 October, presents its lineup for the Noves Visions section:

Noves Visions - FICCIÓ Section

Exploration of new territories in narration, placing emphasis on both thematic and formal aspects of films that are a vision of the present as well as a disturbing premonition of times to come.

A Horrible Way To Die (Adam Wingard, USA)

Chatroom (Hideo Nakata, UK)

Dispongo De Barcos (Juan Cavestany, Spain)

Earthling (Clay Liford, USA)

Everything Will Be Fine (Christoffer Boe, Denmark)

Finisterrae (Out of competition. Sergio Caballero, Spain)

Isolation (Stephen T. Kay,...

It's been called the Cannes of genre cinema an the first wave of programming has been announced for Sitges 2010, a lineup featuring the best in genre film of all types from all around the globe. Here's the full announcement!

The Shining celebrates its 30th anniversary and the 43rd Sitges - International Fantasy Film Festival of Catalonia, that will take place from 7 to 17 October, would like pay homage to it through the image for this year's official poster. The Shining (1980), by Stanley Kubrick, is one of the few undoubtedly classic horror films that still holds up with the passage of time, going beyond the genre and the director himself.

The Festival will also be remembering the 25th anniversary of Back to the Future by Robert Zemeckis, offer a special tribute to the deceased Paul Naschy with the screening of the documentary El hombre que vio llorar a Frankenstein, and will be...

You want the best of genre film from Canada, the Us and around the globe? Fantasia is the place.

Montreal, June 29, 2010 - For its fourteenth edition, the Fantasia Film Festival is proud to present over 50 titles from Asia. Once again, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China are widely represented, demonstrating the great quality and diversity of their industries. And, as always, the programming team is also dedicated to exposing several hidden gems hailing from emerging national cinemas. Through these, audiences can discover new visions and new sensibilities. Therefore, the public will be privy to works hailing from Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and - a first for the festival - Indonesia. The filmic multicultural feast prepared by the 2010 Fantasia Film Festival promises to satisfy film lovers of all kinds.

Fantasia's 2010 occidental lineup of World Cinema is once again on fire with an astounding kaleidoscope of styles and sensibilities.

Year: 2009

Directors: Vincent Lannoo

Writers: Vincent Lannoo & Frédérique Broos

IMDb: link

Trailer: link

Review by: Ben Austwick

Rating: 8 out of 10

Mention Belgium to most genre film fans and they're going to think of Man Bites Dog, the revolutionary 1992 horror comedy that used a mock documentary style to alternately amuse and terrify its audience. Vampires is another Belgian film that takes its cue from Remy Belvaux and André Bonzel's classic, playing down the horror and elevating the humour to great effect.

A documentary film crew introduces us to husband and wife Georges and Bertha and their children Samson and Grace, a family of vampires living in suburban Belgium. Georges is a bit creepy, Bertha a little unhinged and Samson a bit of a tearaway, but otherwise they seem like a normal family. Grace is a teenager going through a difficult phase, repeatedly trying to kill herself (which, as an immortal vampire,...

Director Vincent Lannoo's Vampires will screen at Sci-Fi London beginning May 1st (9:30pm). The film follows a documentary crew who films the life and times of a group of vampires living in Belgium. The Belgium government supports this undead family with a steady supply of fodder e.g. illegal immigrants, and handicapped folk. The film itself moves back and forth between horror and comedy. Vampires is one of the highlights of the film festival and for those with an interest in satire there is a trailer below with more details.

A plot summary courtesy of Sci-Fi London:

"The mockumentary format has now taken on the more sophisticated, eloquent branch of the undead, as a camera crew follows a family of vampires. ‘Living’ in Belgium, a place the head of the vampire family refers to as ‘a flat land full of grey people’, they are bored by their immortality.

Yes we announced the partial lineup a ittle while back, and now we have the exclusive full lineup to share, and boy, is it a doozy. The festival runs April 28th to May 3rd so get your tickets now!

Opening night film: Splice by Vincenzo Natali.

Cosing night film: Cargo (which we loved, review)

TiMER (UK Premier)

Hunter Prey (International Premier) (teaser)

2033 (UK Premier) (Another film we loved, review)

1 The Stanislaw Lem adaptation (UK Premier) (Yes, we loved this too review)

Transmission (A Ballardian telecom malfunction, UK Premier) (review)

Drones

Eraser Children (International Premier, finally I get to see this tonight!) (trailer)

Radio Free Albemuth (Sneak Preview of this Philip K. Dick adaptation! We should have a trailer soon)

Earthling (International Premier) (review)

Depositarios (International Premier, more Mexican scifi) (teaser)

Plug & Pray (UK Premier, documentary)

8th Wonderland (UK Premier)

and much more! You can head over to the festival website for more details and tickets,...