December 2022 Releases

Are Amazon Studios Brass Changes a Good Sign for Content?

November 29, 2022 — Changes were imminent after Amazon bought MGM for 8.5 billion in March of 2022.  Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke has taken the additional reigns as head of Amazon Studios and MGM Studios. She’ll oversee a host of properties which include, MGM’s scripted TV & Film with a Film Head yet to be established that will report directly to Salke. 

While Salke has ascended, the one-time king of unscripted TV Mark Burnett was finally shown the door after years of internal controversy. Burnett is rumored to have pushed out both high-level execs MGM TV president Steve Stark and MGM Film division head Jon Glickman. Mark Burnett’s Midas touch with hit shows like Survivor and The Apprentice provided him huge political stock, but his rumored meddling, badgering, and at least one HR complaint made him ripe for removal in the latest shake-up at Amazon Studios. 

In March, speculators asserted Amazon’s purchase of MGM wasn’t for MGM’s 4k in features supported by 17,000 episodes. Insiders proclaimed Amazon’s true motivation was the benefit of gaining ad platforms such as IMDb TV. While that transaction took place in March 2022,  Amazon Studios has put up only four notable titles to hang their hat on in the remainder of 2022: Thirteen Lives, Anything Is Possible, and Samaritan, and the theatrical releases of Till and Bones & All.

Will Salke improve Amazon Studios’ content? Read this sampling from a statement released by Jennifer Salke on November 29, 2022:

We have new quality storytelling to bring to our customers in the coming weeks with Women Talking, Boys in the Boat, and Creed III, with even more in development for Prime Video. In addition to launches, we greenlit Road House with Jake Gyllenhaal and The Underdoggs with Snoop Dogg. In partnership with MGM Television, we greenlit and commenced production on Shelter (based on the bestselling thriller novel by Harlan Coben), The Consultant (starring Christoph Waltz), and A Road to a Million (a reality competition series featuring locales from 007 movies). 

Internal memos are flying about and out of Amazon Studios with everyone claiming great content is on the way. Showcasing a remake of Road House  (a straight-to-video 80s movie featuring Patrick Swayze as a cooler) doesn’t give subscribers a lot of confidence. 

Two More Top Roles Nailed Down in James Patterson’s Cross Series 

My Policeman Features Gay Harry Styles

In this forbidden love story, the musical performer turned actor Harry Styles portrays a gay police officer in Brighton, England during the 1950s in, My Policeman. The story focuses a good bit on the physical contact between the featured actors. Unlike many films that have taken on gay love affairs, My Policeman takes on gay sex scenes without any inhibition. 

My Policeman is based on the 2012 novel My Policeman by  Bethan Roberts. The plot is simple. Boy meets girl, boy marries girl. Boy meets boy at the wrong time and place in modern history, 1950s Brighton, England. In spite of accurately portraying the setting in history, critics have scrutinized the film for being reserved compared to the book. 

Terrifier 2 Available November 11

The ultra-slasher  (unrated) Terrifier 2 is coming ultra-fast to home video on November 11th. Damian Leone’s micro-budget gorefest horror film follow-up to Terrifier (2017) has blown up in theaters by word-of-mouth. With reports of audience members fainting and vomiting in theaters viewing Terrifier 2, perhaps a home viewing is a great way of experiencing this ultra-slasher film. 

If you are curious about this sleeper hit horror film, we’ll offer some advice along with notable facts. Neither Terrifier or Terrifier 2 are easily described as grindhouse or suspense thriller horror films. They are gratuitous slasher films featuring a clown killer few adults will find to their taste let alone safe for children. It’s for these reasons so many have flocked to see Terrifier 2. The success of Terrifier made for a modest $35,000 enabled Terrifier 2 to up their budget to $250,000, yielding over 7 million since its release from October 6, 2022, through October 2022. Its official release was at FrightFest on August 29th which generated a word-of-mouth wildfire about over-the-top gore. You’ve been warned. But at least you can turn away or turn it off while watching at home because you will have a whopping 2 hours and 18 minutes to endure it. Director Damien Leone estimated over 20 gallons of fake blood was used throughout the production which may be one reason the film received no financial backing from any major studio. Leone drew inspiration for depicting gore from original kill images of victims splayed by the infamous Jack the Ripper. 

How about effects? Only a fraction of the film has CGI. How was CGI used? It was only used to superimpose faces. Everything else in Terrifier 2 is practical effects using animatronics to real animal entrails. 

If you’ve seen Terrifier (2017), Terrifier 2 takes place immediately after the news reporter incident which may seem confusing as that incident is the first scene in Terrifier. Terrifier 2 does take time to set up where Terrifier begins with action. Meanwhile, Terrifier 2 has raised the bar on just how gruesome it can go where violent killing goes on for minutes, not moments.