The horror community is a buzz over the upcoming film Death House, a film like no other horror film ever made. Death House has a cast so impressive it makes you feel as if your head is going to explode. But don’t be mistaken, Death House is not some gimmick who relies on cameos to carry the film. It has a great story. And no, there is no Freddy vs Jason or anything like that. The stars play new characters from an original story created by Gunnar Hansen, the actor who played Leatherface in the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, among other things.
What truly makes the film special is that it was Gunnar Hansen’s last project. He poured his heart into the script. Just before he passed away the script was turned over to Harrison Smith who rewrote the script with Gunnar. Gunnar approved the script before he passed and gave his blessing to Smith, who is dedicated to making the film in a way that honors Gunnar and his original vision. Smith, who is also directing, told me a few days ago that Death House is being dedicated to Gunner.
“Death House was Gunner’s last movie and we’re proud to have gotten this far. The film is going to be dedicated to him.”
I spoke with Harrison, about the project. He talked about the film with so much passion and excitement. If you have read Harrison’s pieces on Cynema on our website you would know that he is serious about the horror genre. Smith has several great horror films to his credit, including 6 Degrees of Hell, Camp Dread, The Fields, Zombie Killers: Elephant’s Graveyard. Harrison also revealed that Death House is set to be the first of six films in a new franchise.
The plot has a changed a bit since the original details were released back in 2014.
From the Press Release:
The Death House is the Area 51 of Evil…a subterranean government facility that holds humanity’s worst on nine levels. Hell…Dante’s ninth level, holds the Five Evils…the “dark stars” of Death House. These individuals are so heinous they can never walk among society again.
Agents Toria Boon and Jae Novak have their own dark pasts, arriving at Death House to tour its levels and observe its denizens first hand as well as the medical and mental experiments of Drs. Eileen Fletcher and Karen Redmane—their depraved experiments date back to the Nazi doctors of World War II. Prison cells are virtual reality holodecks that recreate prisoner environments before they were incarcerated. A special hallucinogenic gas keeps inmates under control. The victims are homeless bused into Death House to play literal victims while killing habits are studied. The results are sick, but only a hint of what goes on here. Hell literally breaks loose inside the facility when an EMP device detonates, killing all power and communication and…releasing every prisoner. Boon, Novak and Fletcher are caught in a race against advancing prisoner hoards led by occultist Neo-Nazi Sieg. The monsters are freed and they’re going down. Boon and Novak’s fight through Death House turns into a house of horrors gauntlet/with the only hope of escape is descending into Hell and the help of The Five Evils. Events culminate in a violent face to face standoff with absolute evil…only to find that they have traveled down a rabbit hole and through a looking glass. Black is white and white is black and the definitions of good and evil no longer apply… Who are the monsters? Who will escape?
As for the cast, prepare to have your mind blown. The cast list reads like a who’s who of horror legends, including Danny Trejo (Machete Kills), Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street), Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes), Dee Wallace (Cujo), Kane Hodder (Friday the 13th), Bill Moseley (The Devil’s Rejects), Barbara Crampton (We Are Still Here), Ken Foree (Dawn of the Dead), Doug Bradley (Hellraiser), Cody Longo (Piranha 3D), Bianca Bradey (Wyrmwood), Torsten Voges (31), Camille Keaton (I Spit on Your Grave), Don Shanks (Urban Legends: Bloody Mary) and others. Did you squeal like a little girl while reading that list? I did.
Rick Finkelstein, Steven Chase and Entertainment Factory in Association With Class of ‘85 will be producing Death House. The special effects makeup will be handled by SOTA FX , the same company that provided the haunting appearance of the cast of Sinister. Filming for Death House is set begin this April in Philadelphia. I can’t wait to see Death House!
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The Cynema Series By Writer/Director Harrison Smith
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