Horror Favourite – Erik Bloomquist

DANSE MACABRE and MVD are pleased to announce the North American physical release of Erik Bloomquist’s award winning vampire horror TEN MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT and to celebrate we quized the films brilliant director about his favorite horror film.

Caroline Williams (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II) stars as a veteran disc jockey about to be replaced by younger model, Nicole Kang (Batwoman), but as she prepares her last broadcast she is bitten by a bat and transforms into a blood sucking vampire. William Youmans (Birdman) and Nicolas Tucci (You’re Next) add weight to an impressive cast.

Ten Minutes To Midnight is currently on DVD and Digital release in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Scandinavia. On June 22 the DVD will be released in the US and Canada On July 6th the Blu-ray will be released in US and Canada. Both DVD and Blu-ray are collectors editions with an abundance of bonus materials.

Below Ten Minutes To Midnight writer and director Erik Bloomquist talks scary movies:

“Scream is my favorite horror movie. For years, my younger brother Carson and I navigated the horror aisle at Blockbuster Video with both curiosity and fear — sometimes going so far as to pick up a box or two to read the back but never daring to rent one. We’d heard that Scream was “gory” from Blockbuster’s resident movie expert Josh. We didn’t know exactly what that meant, but the thought chilled us.

I vividly remember borrowing a DVD copy from our local library on a cold afternoon with Carson (my younger brother) when we were both still too young to be watching it. We had a remote at the ready to immediately flip the TV’s input back to cable if anything ever got too scary, but we knew we owed it to ourselves and to each other to make it through.

And it was, and is, that good.

Beyond all the wonderful things people talk about when they profess their love for Scream (which we of course share), I have to highlight the music. Marco Beltrami’s score is wistful but immediate — and orchestrated in such a penetrative way (imagine our excitement at the recent Instagram post of the creators wrapping up scoring in studio on the reboot). Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand” is also perfectly mischievous — infused with a pardoxical eager inquisitiveness and apprehension (akin to what Carson and I felt wandering that aisle at Blockbuster). The “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” cover is captures a deep, visceral yearning while mourning what is being left behind. And when “First Cool Hive” hits in the last moments before going to credits, it’s an almost transcendent and spiritual experience.

Everything in the soundtrack (and indeed in all elements of Scream) is so specific. So distinctly this movie. What an enormously impressive feat that is.”

Read our full review HERE and check out the trailer below: