Last year, Film Threat braved the masses at New York Comic Con to explore the growing presence of film-related tables and attractions in hidden in the Northeast’s largest comic book convention. We stepped into the maelstrom at the Jacob Javits Center again this year to see if anything had changed.
Underground NYC filmmaker Larry Fessenden had a table for his nearly 35-year-old independent film company Glass Eye Pix. Larry was in attendance to sell both his films and other independent features available through his webstore, as well as vinyl soundtracks and other odds and ends related to his career. His latest film Depraved has caused quite a stir in the horror community, and a documentary about the making of the film, Fessenden’s Depraved: Making Frankenstein in a Brooklyn Loft will premiere at Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.
“…braved the masses at New York Comic Con to explore the growing presence of film-related tables and attractions…”
Right around the corner, IFC and IFC Midnight were promoting their streaming service IFC Films Unlimited and Greener Grass, a new dark comedy from Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe. For those with money to burn, they also had two tables full of DVDs and Blu-rays for sale.
Never ones to miss a Comic Con, Troma Entertainment had their green and yellow corner full of movies and memorabilia. Recently they’ve remastered their films for Blu-ray with help from Vinegar Syndrome, and the results are simply stunning. Word is, Lloyd Kaufman‘s newest film, Shakespeare’s Shitstorm, currently in post-production, maybe hitting the festival circuit early 2020.
For rabid horror fans, Shudder had a booth to sign people up for their streaming service, which has definitely grown over the years with excellent original content. Now they’ve transformed Creepshow into a promising-looking series for those who appreciate the anthology format. Time to set up that subscription to feed your horror needs.
On the other side of the massive room, Magnet Releasing were selling various films from their distribution company and promoting two new ones fresh out of the film can: Mister America, a political comedy directed by Eric Notarnicola and starring Tim Heidecker, and Wrinkles the Clown, a documentary from Michael Beach Nichols about a clown hired by parents to frighten their children.
“…New York Comic Con continues to grow with content geared outside the Marvel/DC Universe.”
A quick stop by the 2000 AD booth confirmed last year’s rumors of a Rogue Trooper movie in pre-production, as well as a Judge Dredd series coming out soon. Hopefully, they’re both better than that 1995 Sylvester Stallone travesty.
In addition to these smaller tables and booths, there were also many major attractions dedicated to films from much larger companies. Netflix had a small building outside the center to promote El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie and Syfy hosted a premiere screening of The Banana Splits Movie. Facebook, who has thrown its hat into the streaming service ring with Facebook Watch, was pushing The Birch, a new horror series that looks like it has potential.
Like comics, video games, movies, and television merge, New York Comic Con continues to grow with content geared outside the Marvel/DC Universe. Next year should be even more spectacular. See you there!
