BORDER RUN -- Blu-Ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 2/22/13

 

Sharon Stone as a conservative, "fair and balanced" TV reporter who's against illegal immigration?  Well, I just knew that sounded too un-Hollywood to be true, and sure enough, before BORDER RUN (2012) is over, her character has an epiphany that revs her overacting dial up to eleven and beyond.

Sharon plays "hard-nosed right-wing journalist" Sophie Talbert, who, with a black fright wig emphasizing her pale skin, hardly looks like someone who lives right on the Arizona-Mexico border.  Like Jane Fonda's initially conservative TV newswoman in THE CHINA SYNDROME, she's on the wrong side of the issue at hand (by Tinseltown standards, that is) until shown the error of her ways--in this case, when her own relief-worker brother Aaron (Billy Zane) disappears in Mexico and she must enter the world of the illegal immigrant herself in order to find him. 

After Sophie arrives in Mexico, Aaron's co-worker Rafael (Rosemberg Salgado) offers to take her in his pickup to a meeting with someone named Javier who may be able to help her.  On the way there, they form an instant romantic bond that has them stopping off at a roadside bar to get drunk and dance while precious minutes in the missing Aaron's life tick away.  This odd passage indicates how awkward some of the tone shifts and scene transitions will be for the rest of the film.

Before we know it, Sophie and Rafael get separated and she meets up with Javier (Miguel Rodarte), joining a group of migrants whom he's smuggling across the border.  Naturally, Sophie's rigid attitude toward the whole thing begins to change when she discovers that some of the migrants are nice people with heartwarming personal stories (imagine that!), and that the process tends to be both dangerous and uncomfortable. 

Just how dangerous becomes clear when the tanker truck they're stashed inside gets diverted to a remote farmhouse well short of the border, where Sophie meets the film's main villain, Juanita (Giovanna Zacarías), a real piece of work who could easily be the poster girl for PMS.  We've already seen this mega-bitch-on-wheels repeatedly beating up the bound Aaron, who's also being held there, and now we get to see her kicking a pregnant woman in the stomach while one of her fat, sweaty henchmen has his way with the bound Sophie. 

This decidedly unpleasant rape scene gives Sharon Stone yet another chance to do some full-tilt emoting and it will be far from her last.  I won't go into everything that occurs next but after an escape, a chase, and the proverbial run for the border, Sophie ends up in a border station where her newly-found righteous indignation against U.S. immigration policy is given full vent.  Here, Sharon lets loose with a "big acting" moment by throwing a fit that is borderline (excuse the phrase) hilarious.

You might think that the film, having made its point, will fade out on Sophie's return to the USA to crusade against immigration reform, but this is when BORDER RUN pulls a plot twist on us that's worthy of a horror movie, with Sophie suddenly ending up in more grave peril than ever.  With this added sequence, the film finally lurches all the way into "so bad it's good" territory and makes me wish I'd been watching it as a wacky exploitation flick instead of a misguided message pic all along.

As mentioned before, Sharon Stone's performance here is wonderfully bad, especially since director Gabriela Tagliavini seems intent on photographing her as unflatteringly as possible from start to finish.  Billy Zane, who plays Aaron, demonstrates once again that if a project doesn't make him feel like turning on the old "Billy Zane" magic, he's Stiff City.  And as the monstrous Juanita, Giovanna Zacarías almost makes Al Pacino look like a study in subtlety.

The Blu-Ray disc from Anchor Bay is in 2.35:1 widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  No extras.

BORDER RUN is ridiculously melodramatic where it means to be hard-hitting, and goes for big emotional moments that it hasn't really earned.  A weird combination of social relevance and pure exploitation, it fails as a "good" movie but succeeds, to some extent anyway, as a perversely entertaining train wreck. 

BORDER RUN -- Blu-Ray Review by Porfle

ALIEN AGENT -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

 

Canadian sci-fi/action flick ALIEN AGENT (2007) began as a somewhat more ambitious vehicle for Dolph Lundgren. First announced in 2000, it went through several proposed cast members and directors (including Sidney J. Furie, John Fries, and Roger Christian), and an apparent reduction in scope, before finally going before the cameras in 2006 with "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven" star Mark Dacascos in the lead and acclaimed stunt coordinator Jesse Johnson (PIT FIGHTER) in the director's chair.

Dacascos plays Rykker, an intergalactic lawman who is trying to stop fellow aliens Saylon (Billy Zane) and Isis (Amelia Cooke) from opening up a wormhole between their planet and Earth to facilitate their conquest of the human race. 

After Isis and her goons murder the only remaining family of truckstop waitress Julie (Emma Lahana, "Power Rangers"), she hooks up with Rykker to help him stop the invaders and falls in love with him in the process. Meanwhile, the construction of a stargate between the two planets continues in an abandoned power station, where the final battle for Earth's fate will take place.

Despite the loftier aims initially attached to this project, the final result doesn't look much different from standard Sci-Fi Channel fare, but with extra violence and brief nudity added. Vlady Pildysh's sketchy script is pure pulp, with good aliens vs. bad aliens (who have taken over human bodies so that very little special makeup is required) battling each other with guns and martial arts in normal everyday settings. Even the stargate which features prominently in the finale is little more than a big, rotating plastic ring with some CGI sparkles added.

What ALIEN AGENT does have going for it is an abundance of action. Blazing shoot-em-ups and fierce hand-to-hand battles occur in quick succession with brief snippets of story to link them together. The martial arts sequences are well-staged and convincingly executed, and are edited so that the rapid-fire shots flow together very smoothly. The gunfights and car chases are similarly impressive, with an abundance of satisfying explosions and other mayhem. 

One early moment which got my attention shows warrior woman Isis firing a bazooka from a moving truck and blasting the pursuing Rykker's car right off the road, all in one shot; another finds her blowing up half the cars and trucks in a parking lot as Rykker makes off in another vehicle. The only detriment in these scenes is director Johnson's unfortunate tendency to try and accentuate the action with jittery zoom-in, zoom-out camarawork, which never fails to make even big-budget movies look rinky-dink (as Michael Bay demonstrated in THE ROCK's big San Francisco car chase).

Dacascos, with his soulful demeanor and martial arts skills, is well-suited for the role of Rykker, while Emma Lahana makes for a spunky sidekick. On the bad alien side, Amelia Cooke plays a pretty convincing Isis, but Billy Zane doesn't appear to be investing much in the role of the evil leader Saylon; in fact, he seems to be having more fun playing the baseball-capped yahoo whose body Saylon inhabits upon his arrival on Earth. In a lesser role, the great Kim Coates, who was Chet in the celebrated "Touch me again, I'll kill ya" scene from THE LAST BOY SCOUT, makes a welcome appearance as a sniveling human scientist in league with his future alien overlords.

DVD specs include 1:78:1 widescreen, Spanish subtitles, and a trailer. This Allumination Filmworks release is rated R for violence and brief nudity, the latter consisting mainly of a nude shot of a showering Julie which appears to have been done by a body double with great abs.

Though not quite the sci-fi epic originally conceived, ALIEN AGENT is an action-packed diversion that's fun to watch as long as you keep your expectations low.

 

ALIEN AGENT -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE LAST DROP -- movie review by porfle

 

Originally posted in 2005 at Bumscorner.com

 

No, it's not a feature-length commercial for Maxwell House coffee, although if it were, it would probably be a lot more entertaining.

THE LAST DROP (2005) starts out as though it might actually be worth watching, as we see a swarm of British bomber planes towing gliders filled with soldiers on their way to German-occupied Holland during the final days of WWII.  The CGI effects in this sequence are pretty good, giving the impression that the film we're about to see is a quality product, at least visually. 

But things go downhill from there as we discover that nothing else from this point will be anywhere near as impressive.  Camerawork and editing that are sloppy and choppy, respectively, combine with an often silly script, performances that range from bland to ridiculous, and a curiously underpopulated Europe to give THE LAST DROP the cheap aura of a made-for-TV movie that is reaching beyond its means to look like a "real" war film.

One of the gliders is shot down short of its landing zone and the soldiers, who are on a mission so top secret that only one of them knows what it is and he's not telling, are forced to make their way on foot toward their destination.  It turns out that they've been sent to protect a cache of priceless works of art stolen by the Nazis and stored beneath an old mill somewhere in rural Holland.  And they must get there before the goose-stepping kraut-snarfers come back and cart the treasure trove away for good. 

When the details of their mission finally become known to our heroes, a plan to snatch the loot for themselves pops into their sneaky little heads.  But they're not the only ones drooling for dollars -- there are also three greedy renegade Nazis on their way to grab summa dat booty, too.  

And as if that weren't enough, they're being hunted by a company of American G.I.'s led by "guest star" Michael Madsen, who has stumbled onto the fact that something's up and can't wait to stick his big nose right in the middle of it.

This might've been a passable flick if only the scriptwriters could've decided whether they wanted to give us a realistic war thriller like THE GUNS OF NAVARONE or THE WILD GEESE (on a considerably smaller scale, that is) or a grab-the-money-and-run knock-off of KELLY'S HEROES. 

In trying to combine the two, they've merely presented us with a cringe-inducing mess that doesn't add up to much of anything -- and the score mirrors this thematic indecisiveness by juxtaposing traditional orchestral music with, of all things, heavy metal. 

Some good actors such as Sean Pertwee (SOLDIER), Karel Roden (the lawyer from BLADE II), and Tommy Flanagan (the Irish mercenary who liked to make things explode in SIN CITY) struggle to bring underwritten characters to life, while TITANIC's Billy Zane wanders around in a role that gives him practically nothing to do. 

Michael Madsen, unfortunately, contributes his not-quite-A-list presence and nothing more (as he usually does in small films such as this), doing just enough to justify a paycheck while taking it about as seriously as he would mugging for home movies.  (His mug, of course, is plastered nice and big on the DVD cover as though he played a major role.)

Eventually, all of these sub-par shenanigans lead to a big -- ehh, not that big -- shootout as everyone tries to get to the plane that's been loaded with the art treasures and fly away.  It's not a very well-done or thrilling conclusion, and the tacked-on "gotcha" ending that's supposed to leave us with a smile sorta made me throw up in my mouth a little. 

Or maybe that was just my accumulated response to this entire movie, which I looked forward to seeing because I like a good war movie, and then regretted watching because I don't like a war movie that's boring, pointless, and just plain dumb.

 

 

THE LAST DROP -- movie review by porfle

WEST OF REDEMPTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

If you're a Billy Zane fan as I am, you should be pleased as punch to see him back in fine form in such a first-rate, emotionally-intense suspense thriller as WEST OF REDEMPTION (Indican Pictures, 2015).

Billy (THE HESSEN CONSPIRACY, ZOMBIE KILLERS: ELEPHANT'S GRAVEYARD, SCORNED, BORDER RUN, BLUE SEDUCTION, GHOST OF GOODNIGHT LANE, BLUE WORLD ORDER) plays Hank Keller, a simple country boy living on a secluded farm with his wife Becky (Mariana Klaveno, "Dexter"), who works as a waitress.

All is serene until one stormy night when a disheveled young man (Kevin Alejandro, PURGATORY FLATS, "Lucifer") comes to the door asking to use the phone to call a tow truck.  Hank complies, but when he hears the man identify himself as "Rick Youngblood", he knocks him unconscious and ties him up in a shed.

Why Hank does this is a mystery that grips us and doesn't let up as the man is kept prisoner and interrogated while his presence is hidden from the unsuspecting Becky. 

Before long we realize that she's the focus of the whole thing, but the reason for this is just one of the plot twists that you don't want to know about before delving into this deeply involving and ultimately tragic tale.

Meagan Daine's screenplay is a sizzling slowburn that has us guessing from start to finish.  What appears at first to be shaping up as a potentially violent horror thriller turns out to be much richer and more emotionally resonant, turning down unexpected paths and exploring aspects of these characters and their motives that are continuously illuminating.

Director Cornelia Duryée has taken this sharply-written script and given it an exquisitely well-rendered visual interpretation that always strikes just the right note.  Camerawork is fine but never interferes with the story, while all other technical aspects are also well done.

Zane gives one of his best and most involved performances in years, while Alejandro and Klaveno also fully and convincingly inhabit their characters. As the plot teasingly unfolds, we wonder which of the two men is the good guy and which is the bad, if indeed things are that simple.

When a series of flashbacks involving Becky begin to reveal secrets previously hidden from us, things take on a whole different dimension.  I'm not going to  reveal a single one of them, and I'd also advise you not to watch the too-revealing trailer beforehand.

WEST OF REDEMPTION doesn't resort to violence or shocks to hold our attention, and when the final twist falls into place, we discover what a beautifully told tragedy it really is.


TECH SPECS
Runtime: 89 mins
Format: 16:9 HD
Sound: Dolby Stereo
Country: United States
Language: English
Website: www.IndicanPictures.com
Genre: Thriller / Drama
Bonus: Director's Commentary

WEST OF REDEMPTION -- DVD Review by Porfle

"SAMSON" From Pure Flix -- Opens Nationwide in Theaters Today

OPENING DAY ALERT--FRIDAY, FEB. 16 FROM PURE FLIX

'SAMSON'

BRINGS EPIC BIBLICAL STORY TO LIFE ON SCREEN NATIONWIDE

It’s one of the Bible’s best-known stories. Or is it? There’s more to Samson than muscles and a haircut.

Official Website

WATCH THE TRAILER:

From Pure Flix, creators of GOD’S NOT DEAD, comes SAMSON, the action-packed biblical epic starring Billy Zane, Golden GlobeÆ winner Rutger Hauer, Jackson Rathbone, EmmyÆ winner Lindsay Wagner, Caitlin Leahy and Taylor James in the title role.

SAMSON is based on the powerful, biblical epic of a champion chosen by God to deliver Israel. His supernatural strength and impulsive decisions quickly pit him against the oppressive Philistine empire.

After betrayal by a wicked prince and a beautiful temptress, Samson is captured and blinded by his enemies. Samson calls upon his God once more for supernatural strength and turns imprisonment and blindness into final victory.

A HERO OF OLD IS RELEVANT NOW
Pure Flix is a faith-film studio taking on contemporary issues in movies such as the hit GOD’S NOT DEAD. Now comes a page from ancient history. Samson’s journey of passion, betrayal and redemption reminds audiences that our failures do not define our future.

Pure Fix is the No. 1 independent producer of faith films, responsible for the phenomenally successful GOD’S NOT DEAD, among other well-known productions.

DIRECTOR
Bruce Macdonald

SCREENPLAY
Jason Baumgardner
Galen Gilbert
Timothy Ratajczak
Zach Smith

FEATURING
Billy Zane (TITANIC) as King Balek
Rutger Hauer (BLADE RUNNER) as Manoah, Samson’s father
Jackson Rathbone (The Last Ship, TWILIGHT) as King Balek’s son, Rallah
Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman) as Samson’s mother, Zealphonis
Caitlin Leahy (Black-ish) as Delilah
Taylor James (JUSTICE LEAGUE) as Samson

About Pure Flix
Founded in 2005, led by Michael Scott, David A.R. White, Elizabeth Travis and Alysoun Wolfe, Pure Flix is the leading independent faith-and-family studio in the world. Recent releases include: The Case for Christ, God’s Not Dead 2, God’s Not Dead, Do You Believe?, Woodlawn, A Question of Faith and Same Kind of Different as Me. With offices in Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Pure Flix has produced, acquired, marketed, and distributed more than 100 faith and family-friendly films. Aiming to influence the global culture for Christ through media, Pure Flix is the industry leader in creating high-quality inspirational feature film content. The studio’s official website is Pureflixstudio.com.  The company also features a leading streaming video on demand service, with thousands of movies, originals, TV shows and more emphasizing faith, family and fun. For more information, go to Pureflix.com.

"SAMSON" From Pure Flix -- Opens Nationwide in Theaters Today

BLUE WORLD ORDER -- Movie Review by Porfle

I always enjoy watching filmmakers take really low budgets and do all they can with them, especially in the area of sci-fi.  This goes double for post-apocalyptic sci-fi in a world turned upside-down, which directors Ché Baker and Dallas Bland (with the help of their co-scripter Sarah Mason) have done a pretty nifty job of pulling off with BLUE WORLD ORDER (2017).

In this modest but effective Australian production, a nuclear war with strangely specific targets has left the northern hemisphere in ruins while a mystery virus creeps its way south and kills or mutates everything in its path. Jake Slater (Jake Ryan, THE GREAT GATSBY, "Wolf Creek") is somehow immune, as is his young daughter Molly (Billie Rutherford) although she's in a catatonic state.

As it turns out, all the children in the world have been killed by the virus, which makes Jake and Molly a top priority for the medical research wing of a group of paramilitary survivors led by Billy Zane. 

Father and daughter are captured, but make their escape with the help of portly comedy-relief guy Madcap (Stephen Hunter), who tells Jake of a ragtag group of resisters living in a remote camp in the woods. 

The trouble is, Zane's group has a tower that emits signals which control the minds of everyone exposed to the virus--which is, in effect, sort of a biological version of a computer virus, and Madcap can only fight its control by zapping himself with a taser-like device every few minutes.

He outlines his plan to Jake for getting into Zane's facility and blowing up the tower, a plan that's expedited by their subsequent capture, torture, and medical experimentation.

Naturally, all of this involves lots of running around, hand-to-hand combat (Jake's a tae-kwon-do master) against robot-like soldiers, and infiltrating this or that stronghold while trying to destroy that nasty mind-controlling tower. 

There's also a measure of surprise as we discover that some of Zane's drones are actually undercover allies of Madcap's group (making it a game of "who do you trust?") and that the bad group's motives go deeper and darker than anyone suspects.

The filmmakers handle it all well enough, giving BLUE WORLD ORDER the look and feel of a pilot movie for a nicely-mounted cable-TV series (which the open ending would indeed suggest).  The Australian exteriors are nice--that's a given--and the production design stretches its budget dollars into some passable underground sci-fi interiors. 

There's even a stab at pulling off a ROAD WARRIOR-type chase sequence near the end, which isn't entirely successful but is fun enough in its own modest way.  All of which is aided immeasurably by some good performances from the leads, including cameos by familiar Aussie stars Bruce Spence (the auto-gyro pilot from  ROAD WARRIOR) and Jack Thompson (MERRY CHRISTMAS, MR. LAWRENCE).

Zaniacs, of course, will bask in the presence of their man Billy (TITANIC, BLUE SEDUCTION, SCORNED, THE HESSEN CONSPIRACY, ZOMBIE KILLERS: ELEPHANT'S GRAVEYARD), who gives his role as the sinister leader of the bad-guy group just enough of that indefinable Zane magic to tide us over until his next odd project.  

It all adds up to passably fun entertainment, not great but certainly worth investing some time in if you're into sci-fi of the dystopian kind.  As for that open ending, it certainly seems as if those of us who enjoyed BLUE WORLD ORDER may indeed have a sequel to look forward to. 


Available Nationwide on VOD and DVD from Random Media
Release date 1-16-18

BLUE WORLD ORDER -- Movie Review by Porfle

Random Media Heralds in a "BLUE WORLD ORDER" with Billy Zane on VOD January 16th

A Blue World Order Begins January 16th

Jake Ryan, Billy Zane and Stephen Hunter Headline Indie Sci-Fi

Available Nationwide on VOD and DVD from Random Media

Los Angeles, CA-- Random Media brings humankind to the edge of ruin in Blue World Order.  Starring Billy Zane (Titanic, The Phantom), Jake Ryan ("Home and Away", The Great Gatsby) and Stephen Hunter (Peter Jackson's The Hobbit trilogy), Blue World Order will premiere nationwide January 16th on Cable and Digital VOD, including iTunes, Amazon Instant Video, inDemand, Dish and more. 

Blue World Order is the first feature from writer-directors Che Baker and Dallas Bland.  The duo collected the awards for Best Film at the Canberra International Film Festival and the LA Invasion Film Festival amid screenings around the world.  Bruce Spence (Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Matrix Revolutions), Jack Thompson (The Man from Snowy River, Around the Block) and newcomer Billie Rutherford round out the cast of survivors in search of a new beginning after nuclear war and a deadly plague have pushed humankind to the edge.

After a nuclear war decimated the Northern Hemisphere, the surviving population was infected with a deadly bacterium. In an attempt to rebuild civilization, a self-appointed government called The Order distributed an immunization to the bacteria, which inadvertently killed all the children. Only one man, Jake Slater, remained immune. The only child that survived is his daughter, Molly. Now, Jake scavenges the wasteland searching for a way to keep her alive, unaware that she is the key to the survival of humankind.

The DVD physical release of Blue World Order (SRP $19.95) will be available from all major online retailers.

WATCH THE TRAILER:

Random Media Heralds in a "BLUE WORLD ORDER" with Billy Zane on VOD January 16th

Billy Zane Joins Eric Bress' "GHOSTS OF WAR" For Miscellaneous Entertainment

KYLE GALLNER, ALAN RITCHSON, BILLY ZANE AND SHAUN TOUB JOIN WRITER/DIRECTOR ERIC BRESS‘ GHOSTS OF WAR FOR MISCELLANEOUS ENTERTAINMENT

BRENTON THWAITES, THEO ROSSI, AND SKYLAR ASTIN WILL ALSO STAR; Principal Photography HAS COMMENCED

LOS ANGELES (March 28, 2017) ––Kyle Gallner (American Sniper, The Finest Hours), Alan Ritchson (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Hunger Games), Billy Zane (Titanic, Tombstone) and Shaun Toub (Iron Man, “Homeland”) have joined the cast of Writer/Director Eric Bress’ supernatural psychological thriller Ghosts of War, alongside Brenton Thwaites (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Maleficent), Theo Rossi (“Sons of Anarchy,” “Luke Cage”), and Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect 1 & 2). Principal photography has commenced in Bulgaria. Miscellaneous Entertainment’s D. Todd Shepherd, Shelley Madison, and Joe Simpson are producing and financing the project alongside Colleen Camp. Adrian Jayasinha will Executive Produce alongside Bernard Stewart, Billy Zane and Andrew Mann. Highland Film Group is handling international sales.

Ghosts of War follows five battle-hardened American soldiers assigned to hold a French Chateau near the end of World War II. Formerly occupied by the Nazi high command, this respite quickly descends into madness when they encounter a supernatural enemy far more terrifying than anything seen on the battlefield. The five soldiers will be played by: Thwaites as Chris Goodson; Rossi as Kirk; Astin as Eugene; Gallner as Tappert; Ritchson as Butchie; and Zane in an undisclosed role. Toub will fill the role of Mr. Helwig.

Gallner currently stars as Hasil in the hit WGN series "Outsiders," with notable film credits including: American Sniper, The Finest Hours, Dear White People, and Beautiful Creatures. Ritchson has carved a space for himself on both the large and small screens in films such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and television series including: “Black Mirror,” and “Blue Mountain State.” Zane first appeared on the big screen in Back to the Future followed by the sequel Back to the Future Part II. His slate also includes: Titanic, Memphis Belle, Zoolander, and appearances in the television series‘ “Twin Peaks,” “Mad Dogs” and “Guilt.” Toub has received accolades for his film and television appearances including: the Iron Man franchise, Crash, War Dogs, The Last Airbender, “Homeland,” “Grimm” and many more.

Producer D. Todd Shepherd said: “Audiences continue to resonate with entertaining and socially relevant genre films. Eric is a master craftsman and has created some truly memorable characters. The addition of Kyle, Alan, Shaun and Billy to our exceptional acting ensemble will ensure Ghosts of War will be a stand out cinematic experience.”

Gallner is represented by UTA. Ritchson is represented by UTA and Industry Entertainment. Zane is represented by Underground. Toub is represented by Abrams Artists Agency

Miscellaneous Entertainment and Highland Film Group previously collaborated on the noir thriller Terminal starring Margot Robbie which is now in post-production.

About Miscellaneous Entertainment
Miscellaneous Entertainment focuses on the development, production, and finance of high-impact feature films. Most recently executive producing Taran Killam’s upcoming directorial debut Why We’re Killing Gunther, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, and the noir thriller Terminal, starring Margot Robbie, Mike Myers, and Simon Pegg, both set to be released in 2017, the company previously executive produced Werner Herzog’s Queen of the Desert, starring Nicole Kidman, James Franco, and Robert Pattinson, Eduardo Sanchez’s found footage thriller Exists, and Parts Per Billion starring Josh Hartnett, Teresa Palmer, and Rosario Dawson.

About Highland Film Group
Led by Arianne Fraser and Delphine Perrier, Highland Film Group (HFG) is an independent worldwide sales, production and film financing company. HFG provides financing through a combination of pre-sales to help cover senior and subordinated debt, gap, tax credit, and facilitates capital for mezzanine and equity financing.

The Highland Film Group slate includes: Vaughn Stein’s Terminal starring Margot Robbie; Jon Avnet’s Three Christs of Ypsilanti starring Richard Gere, Julianna Margulies, Peter Dinklage, Walton Goggins and Bradley Whitford; Lin Oeding’s thriller Braven starring Jason Momoa; Scott Mann’s Final Score starring Dave Bautista and Pierce Brosnan; and Osgood Perkins' The Blackcoat’s Daughter starring Emma Roberts for A24. The company recently acquired remake rights to The Crow and is planning a fall 2017 start.

Billy Zane Joins Eric Bress' "GHOSTS OF WAR" For Miscellaneous Entertainment