The first trailer and poster for director Barry Levinson’s (Rain Man, Good Morning Vietnam) found footage horror film The Bay have landed online.  The pic centers on a small Chesapeake Bay town where an unprecedented biological disaster is unleashed from the bay’s waters.  The trailer plays like a cross between Paranormal Activity and Contagion, with a little Dawn of the Dead thrown in for good measure.  The jump to the found footage genre is an unexpected move from Levinson, but the horror film actually looks pretty affecting.  In the place of fake jump scares and “shadow ghosts” prevalent in most found footage pics is a real, tangible terror that wreaks havoc on the city.  Fair warning, if bed bugs and such give you the creeps, you may or may not be slightly terrified by this trailer.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and poster.  The film stars Will Rogers and Christopher Denham.  The Bay will be available in theaters and on iTunes on November 2nd.

Does the act of belief (substitute faith if you’re so inclined) outweigh the actual content of reverence?  Such is the question posed in Zal Batmanglij’s great, if somewhat intellectually dubious, Sound of My Voice.  I can’t remember liking a film this much whose ethos I find so suspect.  The sci-fi cult thriller focuses on a cynical couple’s attempt to infiltrate and expose a beautiful cult leader claiming to be a time traveler from 2059.  Of course – the longer the couple spends with the cult and its enigmatic leader, the more inclined they find themselves believing her to be true.  Is she from the future, crazy, a con artist, all-of-the-above?  Does it even matter?  For thoughts on the film, hit the jump.

A new trailer and poster for the drama Sound of My Voice have gone online. The film was one of two breakout hits for star/co-writer Brit Marling at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, the first being the sci-fi drama Another Earth. I’ve heard nothing but great things about Sound of My Voice and I was beyond intrigued by the first 12 minutes of the film that were released online. The story involves a pair of investigative journalists who infiltrate a mysterious group led by an enigmatic leader (Marling) with the intent of exposing her as a fraud. This trailer gets into the larger issues explored in the plot, and Dave remarked in his recap of the film’s WonderCon panel that the hint of menace seen in the opening 12 minutes of the film looks to escalate dramatically in this trailer. The clip is sure to draw interest and I’m incredibly eager to see the full film when it hits theaters.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer and poster. Sound of My Voice opens on April 27th.

Outside of the Sundance Film Festival, you may not have heard of Sound of My Voice, the cult drama from writers Brit Marling (Another Earth) and Zal Batmanglij. Directed by Batmanglij and starring Marling, Sound of My Voice follows a journalist (Christopher Denham) and his girlfriend (Nicole Vicius) as they investigate a cult lead by a supposed time-traveler and end up drinking the Kool-Aid. In the lead-off presentation at WonderCon today, the filmmakers screened the first 12 minutes of the movie. Much like the actors on screen themselves, I found myself being pulled into the mystery of it while wanting to take a step back to due the film’s thinly veiled sense of menace. After watching a screening of the new trailer, it’s clear that the menace is not only present throughout Sound of My Voice, it escalates dramatically.

Sound of My Voice, also starring Richard Wharton and Christy Meyers, opens April 27th. Hit the jump to check out our recap of the panel.

At last year’s Sundance Film Festival, I was told to steer clear of spoilers for Zal Batmanglij‘s Sound of My Voice.  I’ve kept my pledge to do so, and haven’t watched the first 12 minutes of the film, which Fox Searchlight released last week.  The studio has now put six new images online, and I’m willing to look at them since there’s no context for how they figure into the plot.  The vague logline says “a couple and documentary filmmaking team, infiltrate a mysterious group led by an enigmatic young woman named Maggie (Brit Marling). Intent on exposing her as a charlatan and freeing the followers from her grip, Peter and Lorna start to question their objective and each other and they unravel the secrets of Maggie’s underworld.”  I’m content to leave my knowledge of the film at that.

Hit the jump to check out the images.  Sound of My Voice opens April 27th.

One of the breakout stars from the 2011 Sundance Film Festival was writer/director/actress Brit Marling. Two of her breakout films from the fest were Sound of My Voice and Another Earth, the latter of which was released in theaters last year. Now it’s time for the release of Sound of My Voice and the first two minutes of the film have gone online as a preview. I’ve heard all the fantastic buzz about the pic but I knew absolutely nothing of the story when I watched this two minute tease. That said, the opening of the film is positively engrossing. The story follows a couple and documentary filmmaking team who infiltrate a mysterious group with the intention of exposing their leader as a fraud. Judging by the ominous opening, I’m gonna go ahead and predict that things don’t go as planned.

Hit the jump to check out the two-minute tease, which is essentially the first trailer for the film, as well as a really nifty poster. Sound of My Voice opens April 27th.

Ben Affleck’s Argo began shooting today.  The film has a killer cast that includes Affleck, Alan Arkin, Bryan Cranston, and John Goodman, Kyle Chandler, Rory Cochrane, Victor Garber, Richard Kind, and Michael Parks.  I don’t really care about press releases announcing that filming has commenced (what’s newsworthy is when it looks like filming will commence and then it doesn’t), but this press release includes the first official synopsis for the movie.  Check it out:

Based on true events, “Argo” chronicles the life-or-death covert operation to rescue six Americans, which unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran hostage crisis—the truth of which was unknown by the public for decades.  On November 4, 1979, as the Iranian revolution reaches its boiling point, militants storm the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 Americans hostage. But, in the midst of the chaos, six Americans manage to slip away and find refuge in the home of the Canadian ambassador. Knowing it is only a matter of time before the six are found out and likely killed, a CIA “exfiltration” specialist named Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with a risky plan to get them safely out of the country. A plan so incredible, it could only happen in the movies.

Okay, so that doesn’t point out that his plan is to use a fake movie as cover for the operation, but that’s the hook.  Affleck co-wrote the script with Good Night and Good Luck. screenwriter Grant Heslov.  Hit the jump for the full press release which includes a rundown of the behind-the-camera talent.

Fox Searchlight has picked up distribution rights to Zal Batmanglij’s Sound of My Voice. The film, which premiered at Sundance, was co-written by (and stars) Brit Marling who also wrote and starred in the Sundance hit Another Earth, a film which Fox Searchlight is also distributing. Commenting on the acquisition, Presidents Stephen Gilula and Nancy Utley had this to say:

“Zal Batmanglij’s first feature offers a truly unique voice in filmmaking with a tense and compelling tale. Brit Marling amazed us once again with her stunningly deft performance. We are thrilled to be working with such exceptional talent.”

Directed by Zal Batmanglij and written by Batmanglij and Marling, the film stars Brit Marling, Christopher Denham, Nicole Vicius and Avery Pohl. Hit the jump to read the full press release.

Several unknowns have been tapped to star in Barry Levinson’s upcoming horror film The Bay (aka Isopod.)  According to Bloody Disgusting, the film stars Will Rogers  as “Alex,” Steven Kunken as “Dr. Abrams,” Kether Donohue as “Donna,” Frank Deal as “John Stockman,” Christopher Denham as “Sam,” and Kristin Connolly as “Stephanie”.  The film is currently shooting from a screenplay written by Michael Wallach which tells the story of a biological disaster that takes place in the Chesapeake Bay on July 4^th, 2011.  An isopod parasite carries mutated diseases and infects fish and human hosts, replacing them with itself.  The true extent of the disaster isn’t known until seven years later, when the truth is revealed through home videos taken by residents of the town.  Paranormal Activity’s producers of Jason Blum, Oren Peli, and Steven Schneider are producing along with Brian Kavanagh Jones.