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Vertigo Releasing have released the horror thriller, New Life, which is out now in the UK on all major Digital Platforms including to rent/buy on Amazon Prime Video. Written and directed by feature length debutant, John Rosman, New Life stars Sonya Walger, Hayley Erin (Pretty Little Liars: Perfectionists & General Hospital) and Tony Amendola. Jess is a woman on the run, desperate to cross the Canadian border toescape her past. On her tail is Elsa, a resourceful agent, whose recent life-altering diagnosis leaves her one step behind. As their chase narrows to the mountains of the Pacific Northwest, holes in Elsa’s investigation begin to fill with fresh bodies. Soon the pursuit spirals toward its harrowing confrontation between the two women, in search of meaning and redemption, on the razor’s edge of catastrophe. Following its hugely successful festival run, including FrightFest and Fantastia, the film is currently rated as 97% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

John Rosman’s effective debut intertwines the lives of a woman escaping a black-site facility and a woman hired to contain the outbreak

Amid the dumper-truck of post-Covid lockdown-inspired films, very few take disease and pandemics themselves as their central focus. So John Rosman’s stripped-back but effective debut is a sobering flashback to those incubative early days, its title punning its title punning on the microbe that asymptomatic protagonist Jessica (Hayley Erin) is carrying on her person, as well as her hopes for a fresh start, unharassed by government spooks, north of the Canadian border.

All we know at the start is that blood-splattered Jessica has just escaped imprisonment in some black-site facility. She bundles herself into a pickup heading north, which luckily belongs to kindly farmer Frank (Blaine Palmer), who sends her on her way with a new jacket and a rucksack full of tinned food. Rosman makes...

A good thriller works best when it keeps its proverbial cards hidden, which is to say, by keeping viewers in the dark about vital information to toy with their expectations involving the narrative—only to drop it in the most pivotal moment, which makes the experience feel worthwhile. The deliberate delay heightens the tension and pokes at the audience’s curiosity for just long enough to be complemented by a satisfying twist or cathartic moment. Unfortunately, John Rosman’s thriller New Life takes the majority of the movie to hold on to the surprise, which turns out to be more bewildering and nonsensical than surprising. Additionally, not giving enough space to flesh out the characters makes the connection with the audience nonexistent as well, resulting in a rancid thriller that neither thrills nor shocks.

The creative drawbacks feel even more disappointing after realizing that the plot of New Life could...

Stars: Hayley Erin, Sonya Walger, Tony Amendola, Jeb Berrier, Blaine Palmer, Betty Moyer, Ayanna Berkshire | Written and Directed by John Rosman

Since making its debut at last year’s Fantasia Film Festival, New Life has garnered a lot of attention for its first-time writer/director John Rosman and his potentially apocalyptic chase film. I missed it during its festival run, but on the eve of its American release, I got my chance to rectify that and see if it lived up to its hype.

It starts like a conventional thriller, with a bloodied woman slipping through the streets of what looks like a typical American suburb, trying to avoid being seen. She lets herself into her house and cleans herself up. She barely managed to wash and change before she sees armed men in her kitchen. She lets herself out a window and, since they apparently never learned about guarding a perimeter,...

Fifteen minutes into John Rosman’s elegantly scripted and emotionally harrowing debut feature, New Life, you’re wired into the psyche of Jessica Murdock, a young woman fleeing an unspecified old life and grappling with primitive elements of survival: where to sleep and what to eat. And, within a few scenes, where to live, find a job and rebuild. In her impressive feature debut, a fierce Hayley Erin brings both a feral intensity as well as a wary calm to these moments, which are of the sort found in many independent films dealing with women leaving bad relationships, or of those searching […]

The post “As Much As I Want to Explore a Character, I Can’t Lose Sight of Those Thriller Elements”: John Rosman on His Horror Drama Hybrid, New Life first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Fifteen minutes into John Rosman’s elegantly scripted and emotionally harrowing debut feature, New Life, you’re wired into the psyche of Jessica Murdock, a young woman fleeing an unspecified old life and grappling with primitive elements of survival: where to sleep and what to eat. And, within a few scenes, where to live, find a job and rebuild. In her impressive feature debut, a fierce Hayley Erin brings both a feral intensity as well as a wary calm to these moments, which are of the sort found in many independent films dealing with women leaving bad relationships, or of those searching […]

The post “As Much As I Want to Explore a Character, I Can’t Lose Sight of Those Thriller Elements”: John Rosman on His Horror Drama Hybrid, New Life first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Sonya Walger in New Life. Courtesy of Brainstorm Media

New Life is a drama that opens with a young woman, Jessie (Hayley Erin), running through the woods, head bleeding. She’s obviously escaping from someone or something, but we won’t find out why she’s in this pickle until about halfway through the film. What we next learn is that she’s trying to flee to safety in Canada. Meanwhile, some unidentified entity with extensive resources hires a first-rate tracker (Sonya Walger) to catch her before she can get to the border. Walger doesn’t learn who she’s actually working for or why they are so hell-bent on catching her until well into the film when we do.

Jessie seems like a nice young woman to viewers and to all she meets in her northward journey through rural areas. There’s suspense in who will help or harm her,...

The return of a fan favorite franchise, the critically acclaimed new movie from a modern day genre visionary, and a slasher from the perspective of the Jason Voorhees-like killer.

It’s all headed our way in the coming weeks. And it’s only the tip of the iceberg…

Here’s all the new horror releasing in theaters and at home in May 2024!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

I Saw The TV Glow – May 3 (Limited), May 17 (Wide)

Fresh off the haunting and singularly creepy indie We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, Jane Schoenbrun is back with A24‘s I Saw the TV Glow, releasing only in theaters May 3.

In I Saw the TV Glow, “Owen is just trying to make it through life in the suburbs when his classmate introduces him to a mysterious TV show — a vision of a supernatural world beneath their own.

Newly released is the first trailer for the thriller, New Life, the directing debut of Emmy-award-winning journalist John Rosman. Rosman was one of Filmmaker‘s 2023 25 New Faces, selected on the basis of this film, which Erik Luers described thusly: “A tale of two women—one being chased, the other a fixer doing the chasing—New Life is a pandemic-era horror film that rewards its audience with gory twists and a surprisingly heartfelt center.” One of the film’s two lead characters faces Als, a subject Rosman covered for PBS while a journalist. Of the journey of his Fantasia-premiering film’s characters, Rosman said, “One […]

The post Trailer Watch: 25 New Face Filmmaker John Rosman’s New Life first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Newly released is the first trailer for the thriller, New Life, the directing debut of Emmy-award-winning journalist John Rosman. Rosman was one of Filmmaker‘s 2023 25 New Faces, selected on the basis of this film, which Erik Luers described thusly: “A tale of two women—one being chased, the other a fixer doing the chasing—New Life is a pandemic-era horror film that rewards its audience with gory twists and a surprisingly heartfelt center.” One of the film’s two lead characters faces Als, a subject Rosman covered for PBS while a journalist. Of the journey of his Fantasia-premiering film’s characters, Rosman said, “One […]

The post Trailer Watch: 25 New Face Filmmaker John Rosman’s New Life first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

The new ‘apocalyptic survival thriller’ “New Life”, directed by John Rosman, stars Sonya Walger, Hayley Erin and Tony Amendola, opening May 3, 2024 in theaters:

“…’Jess’, desperate to escape her past, is on the run trying to cross the Canadian border. ‘Elsa’, on the other hand, is a resourceful agent assigned to bring her in. As the two embark on a quest for redemption, things quickly turn into a terrifying confrontation in the midst of a disaster.

“A mysterious woman on the run, and the resourceful fixer assigned to bring her in. Their two unique stories inextricably link, as the stakes of the pursuit rise to apocalyptic proportions…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Two years have gone by since we heard that Sonya Walger (For All Mankind) had signed on to star in the cat and mouse horror thriller New Life with Hayley Erin of Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, and Tony Amendola – who was in both the Conjuring Universe film Annabelle and the Conjuring Universe adjacent The Curse of La Llorona. It’s been seven months since JoBlo’s own Tyler Nichols got to check the movie out at the Fantasia film festival, resulting in a 7/10 review you can read Here. But we only have one more month to wait until a wider audience is going to have the chance to see New Life. Brainstorm Media will be giving the film a VOD and limited theatrical release on May 3rd, and in anticipation of that release a full trailer has arrived online. You can watch it in the embed above.

This film...

"What we need now is for you to put an end to this..." Brainstorm Media has unveiled an official trailer for an indie apocalyptic survival thriller made in Canada titled New Life, marking the debut of filmmaker John Rosman. This premiered at the Fantasia Film Festival up in Montreal last year, and is set for a US release on VOD starting in May. A mysterious woman on the run (starring HayleyErin as Jess), and the resourceful fixer assigned to bring her in. Their two unique stories inextricably link, as the stakes of the pursuit rise to apocalyptic proportions. Soon it spirals toward a harrowing confrontation between the two women. She's on the run some kind of disease, but is there really a disease? Or something else. Also starring Sonya Walger and Tony Amendola. Reviews from last year say: "This piece of deeply moving, bittersweet, and terrifying horror filmmaking will embed...

From the producers of Something in the Dirt and The Mortuary Collection comes New Life, a tense thriller of apocalyptic proportions. Brainstorm Media has unveiled a new trailer for the genre-bender, teasing some of the apocalyptic thrills.

Look for New Life to arrive in theaters and On Demand on May 3.

The feature debut by writer/director John Rosman stars Sonya Walger, Hayley Erin (“Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists”), and Tony Amendola (Annabelle, The Curse of La Llorona).

Watch the new trailer and check out the new poster below.

New Life follows “a mysterious woman on the run (Hayley Erin) and the resourceful fixer assigned to bring her in (Sonya Walger). As their two stories inexorably link, the stakes of their pursuit rise to apocalyptic proportions.”

Michelle Shwarzstein, CEO of Brainstorm Media, expressed excitement about the acquisition, “New Life is an impressive debut from John Rosman that will captivate audiences in unexpected ways.

From the producers of Something in the Dirt and The Mortuary Collection comes New Life, a tense thriller of apocalyptic proportions. Bloody Disgusting can exclusively announce that Brainstorm Media has acquired the horror thriller for North American release after an acclaimed festival run.

Look for New Life to receive a theatrical and Digital release this Spring 2024, release date Tba.

The feature debut by writer/director John Rosman stars Sonya Walger, Hayley Erin (“Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists”), and Tony Amendola (Annabelle, The Curse of La Llorona).

New Life follows “a mysterious woman on the run (Hayley Erin) and the resourceful fixer assigned to bring her in (Sonya Walger). As their two stories inexorably link, the stakes of their pursuit rise to apocalyptic proportions.”

Director John Rosman said of the acquisition, “From our first conversation, Brainstorm has been exceptionally collaborative and creative. I feel lucky that our project landed a team...

Stars: Sonya Walger, Hayley Erin, Tony Amendola | Written and Directed by John Rosman

New Life is a low-key ground-floor beginning of-the-apocalypse thriller. A character-driven piece of one woman’s fight to evade capture and another woman’s race to find her. Told from two very uniquely distinctive perspectives worlds apart yet not so different.

As a lover of the “end of the world” genre I’m always keen to see projects dealing with the beginnings of the event. Yes, sometimes times they can be snooze fests like Side Effects but when done right you get movies like Outbreak. You could also go full musical and give the world Anna and the Apocalypse (my favourite Xmas movie). Where does New Life fit in though?

We follow Jessie (Hayley Erin) who after a chance meeting with a pooch that has recently escaped the lab, she unknowingly contracts a rare string of the Ebola virus.

Hayley Erin in New Life

Recently screened at Fantasia and now on its way to Frightfest, John Rosman’s New Life follows a woman called Jessica – and for the first 40 minutes or so, that’s all we know. It’s a film which packs in some major twists and turns. Whilst i strove to keep my review spoiler-free, there are some minor spoilers in this interview, so if you want to see the film completely fresh, you may prefer to wait and read this afterwards. If you do choose to read on, don’t worry too much – the film will still have some surprises in store for you.

One of those spoilers is that Elsa is afflicted by Als (more commonly known in...

Welcome to Give Me the Fear, a new Frightfest 2023 preview series hosted by screenwriter Stuart Wright.

These brief, spoiler-free interviews will – across the entire series – help you to discover the kind of knowledge and experience about how to make indie horror films that they don’t teach at film school.

After looking back at the blood, sweat and tears that went into their creative successes, I ask them one last question: If you could hand pick one person to be in the audience for your Frightfest screening, who would it be and why? I think you going to love the answers this question elicits.

This episode features New Life and The Black Mass (Devanny Pinn).

For more details about Frightfest see https://www.frightfest.co.uk/2023FrightFestLondon/index.html

Powered by RedCircle...

Nearly a year and a half has passed since we heard that Sonya Walger (For All Mankind) had signed on to star in the cat and mouse horror thriller New Life with Hayley Erin of Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, and Tony Amendola – who was in both the Conjuring Universe film Annabelle and the Conjuring Universe adjacent The Curse of La Llorona. New Life recently made its premiere at the Fantasia film festival, where our own Tyler Nichols got to check it out, resulting in a 7/10 review you can read Here. We included the teaser trailer in that review, but just in case you overlooked it, this seemed like a good time to put a spotlight on it, since New Life is now set to screen at FrightFest in London in just a week and a half, on Friday, August 25th.

This film marks the feature debut of writer/director John Rosman.

The 2023 edition of Fantasia has come to an end and let me tell you: this year was a good one. From personal looks at the dark web to Indian demons, there are plenty of interesting stories to latch onto. I attended virtually and had a wonderful time with the festival, getting to see a bevy of new favorites. I should state upfront that there were several heavy-hitters from the festival that I was unfortunately unable to see due to unforeseen circumstances. So if it’s not here, that’s probably why. Now let’s take a look at some of the best that the festival had to offer.

Aporia (dir: Jared Moshe)

The concept of being able to shoot a gun into the past, therefore changing the future, is already enough to have most people’s attention. But add wonderful performances from Judy Greer and Edi Gathegi and you’ve...

Plot: A mysterious woman on the run, and the resourceful fixer assigned to bring her in. Their two unique stories inextricably link, as the stakes of the pursuit rise to apocalyptic proportions.

Review: After 2020, it’s hard not to watch a movie about a deadly virus and be thrust back to that time. An indirect result of that year is a certain reality to any film involving a pandemic. Before, when things would ramp up in a movie like Outbreak, I’d often roll my eyes at how quickly things get out of control. But 2020 proved that we as a society care more about our comforts than keeping the world alive. With this in mind, New Life had me intrigued from the beginning, as there are few things that are scarier than an apocalyptic virus.

New Life puts the viewer in a state of confusion at first. We’re following...

Writer/Director John Rosman’s feature debut, New Life, introduces an emotionally charged thriller that bides its time setting up the personal stakes behind the central cat-and-mouse pursuit. Prolonging answers behind the motives of the chase instills overarching mystery as it focuses on parallel journeys for two women desperately searching for a better hand than they’ve been dealt. It’s not just the complexities of its characters that are compelling, but Rosman’s ability to drop narrative genre bombs that cataclysmically alter the genre and narrative direction.

Jess (Hayley Erin) sports a black eye and a skittish nature as she makes her way by foot toward the Canadian border from the Pacific Northwest. She’s on the run but keeps the circumstances as to why a carefully guarded secret. Jess allows any strangers she meets to draw their own conclusions.

Elsa (Sonya Wagner) is the resourceful agent tasked with tracking Jess down,...

John Rosman's "New Life" is a blistering multidimensional thriller that hits from all directions — the kind of debut filmmakers dream about. It messes with you psychologically, stokes existential dread, and drips with bodily liquids worth repulsive physical effects. Where some first features hinge on a sole signature that pulls audiences through less accomplished elements, "New Life" exposes few weaknesses. Rossman creates a small-scale apocalypse movie that becomes achingly intimate despite the threat of worldwide eradication, weighing the disease of one against the infection of many in ways unexplored by notable comparison points like Danny Boyle's "28 Days Later" or the Pastor brothers' "Carriers."

Sonya Walger stars as all-star fixer Elsa Gray, whose sunset years have been tainted by an Als diagnosis. Hayley Erin plays Jessica Murdock, a mysterious woman running from Elsa toward the Canadian border. It's all we know at the film's onset — Jessica is fleeing from an ailing special agent,...

In one of the big deals announced out of Canada’s Fantasia Film Festival, XYZ Films has boarded North American sales rights to “New Life,” John Rosman’s feature directorial debut which is hailed by Fantasia itself as “one of the major discoveries of Fantasia 2023.”

“New Life” stars Sonya Walger and Hayley Erin and Tony Amendola.

XYZ Films has also dropped the film’s first teaser, shared in exclusivity with Variety, ahead of “New Life’s” world premiere on Aug. 8 at Fantasia, North America’s biggest genre festival.

“New Life” is also written by Rosman and produced by T. Justin Ross, producer on Shudder’s record-breaking hit “The Mortuary Collection” and the Judy Greer-led “Aporia,” also premiering at Fantasia, and Mike Marchlewski.

The film is executive produced by David Lawson Jr., producer of the Independent Spirit Award-nominated Sundance darling “Something in the Dirt” and the critically acclaimed sci-fi horror “The Endless,...

The horror festival runs August 24-28 in London

Joe Stephenson’s Doctor Jekyll starring Eddie Izzard will have its world premiere at the UK’s horror and fantasy film festival FrightFest (August 24-28) as the full line-up is unveiled.

Izzard will play Nina Jekyll, the infamous scientist with a dark alter-ego, in a modern adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s book by placing a woman in the titular role.

Doctor Jekyll is one of 25 world premieres screening at the festival, which takes place at Cineworld Leicester Square in London.

Opening FrightFest will be the European premiere of Joe Lynch’s...

Montreal event runs July 20-August 9.

Nicolas Cage will receive the 27th Fantasia International Film Festival’s Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award while the Montreal event (July 20-August 9) will close with Quebcois collective Rkss’s We Are Zombies.

The closing film is based on the French comic book series Les Zombies Qui Ont Mangé Le Monde (The Zombies That Ate The World) and takes place in a world where zombies are referred to as “living impaired” and roam among ordinary people.

Megan Peta Hill (Riverdale), Alexandre Nachi (1991) and Derek Johns (The Boys) star in the feature from Rkss comprising François Simard,...

Nicolas Cage will pick up this year’s Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award at Fantasia.

“He is one of the most individualistic and captivating screen presences in the last 40 years. Beyond his unique charisma, the kinds of atypical characters he’s been drawn to and what he can bring to them is so special and rare,” artistic director Mitch Davis told Variety.

“Audiences lose their minds when he goes to these energetically extreme places: ‘Vampire’s Kiss’ was my first experience with that and I was absolutely floored. But they are also transfixed by the quiet, textured qualities he brings to more somber characters. He’s a one-of-a-kind treasure in American film.”

Throughout the years, Cage has been embracing genre cinema, admitted Davis. And it has embraced him back.

“He’s someone who sincerely loves cinema and has always embraced genre storytelling. I wish he could have been in the...

The 27th edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival is set to commence from July 20 through August 9, 2023, taking place at the Concordia Hall Cinema, with additional screens at the Cinémathèque québécoise and Cinéma du Musée.

After two packed waves of programming, the festival unveils its third wave of programming this morning, bringing exciting world premieres and the announcement of Nicolas Cage as this year’s Cheval Noir Career Achievement Award recipient.

From the press release:

We Are Zombies

The 27th edition of the festival will end on an especially riotous note with the World Premiere of We Are Zombies, the latest from internationally beloved Quebecois cult collective Rkss (Summer Of ’84) – François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell. Based on the comic Les Zombies Qui Ont MANGÉ Le Monde (The Zombies that Ate the World), the film is set in a society where zombies, referred to as “living-impaired,” roam among us...

Nicolas Cage is set to receive a career tribute award at the 2023 Fantasia Film Festival, organizers announced on Thursday.

Fantasia earlier unveiled a world premiere for Sympathy for the Devil, which stars Cage and reunites director Yuval Adler with Joel Kinnaman after The Secrets We Keep. As part of that screening, North America’s largest genre fest will honor Cage in Montreal with this year’s Cheval Noir career achievement award after a four-decade run in Hollywood where his film credits include Leaving Las Vegas, Bringing Out the Dead, Con Air, Face/Off and Wild at Heart.

Fantasia will also close its 27th edition with We Are Zombies, from the Canadian cult film collective Rkss, led by François Simard, Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell. The film stars Megan Peta Hill, Alexandre Nachi and Derek Johns.

Fantasia in its final lineup announcements also booked world premieres for director Mark H. Rapaport’s comedy of discomfort Hippo,...

From the producers of Something in the Dirt and The Mortuary Collection comes New Life, a tense thriller of apocalyptic proportions.

The feature debut by writer/director John Rosman stars Sonya Walger, Hayley Erin (“Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists”), and Tony Amendola.

Bloody Disgusting has been provided with exclusive first-look images from New Life this week, which you can check out above and below. All signs point to a character driven thriller, with the images giving nothing away.

In the film, “Elsa Gray (Walger) is a brilliant ‘fixer’ assigned to capture a mysterious woman (Erin) on the run. As the noose of the chase tightens, Elsa finds herself entangled in her own secret battle with Als, desperately trying to stay ahead of the explosive case before it hurtles towards a cataclysmic finale.”

The stakes of this cat-and-mouse pursuit rise to apocalyptic proportions, set within the gorgeous backdrop of the Pacific Northwest.

Sonya Walger (“For All Mankind”) has been set to lead the cast of upcoming horror-thriller New Life, which has been announced and detailed by Deadline this week. New Life is written and will be directed by John Rosman. The film “centers around a deadly cat and mouse game in the Pacific Northwest.” Deadline details, “Walger […]

The post ‘New Life’ Will Document a Deadly Cat and Mouse Game With an “Apocalyptic Endgame” appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Exclusive: Sonya Walger (For All Mankind) has signed on to star alongside Hayley Erin (Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists) and Tony Amendola (Annabelle) in the horror-thriller, New Life.

The film from writer-director John Rosman centers around a deadly cat and mouse game in the Pacific Northwest. Walger will play Elsa, a brilliant “fixer” assigned to capture a mysterious woman on the run. As the snare of the pursuit tightens, Elsa must fight her own secret battle with Als to stay on top of the explosive case, before it reaches an apocalyptic endgame. Justin Ross and Mike Marchlewski are serving as the pic’s producers.

Walger is perhaps best known for her turn as astronaut Molly Cobb on the Apple TV+ series For All Mankind, which wrapped production on its third season late last year. She has also appeared in such series as Get Shorty,...