Kathryn Morris UK

Horror Hits Hotspot Tuesday

As Britain suffers through another heatwave (not really, it is warm but this is Britain so we’re just grateful it’s not snowing!) the Horror Channel is going to raise more than temperatures this coming week.

The 1998 TV movie Inferno (not to be confused with lots of other films with similar titles) gets an airing on British TV on Tuesday afternoon (21st July) starting at 3:50pm on the Horror Channel.

I’m guessing the channel has shown the film before, but as I only focus on widely available stations for these Media Alerts I’ve not had reason to mention it before. The Horror Channel has been broadcasting for over 10 years but until earlier this year it has only been on the satellite and cable systems. Now it is on over-the-air Freeview, the minimum that anyone in the UK needs to watch TV.

Inferno is a drama about a variety of people dealing with the possible end of days scenario caused by a massive fireball ejected from the Sun. As it approaches Earth the temperature rises to dangerous levels.

James Remar (Dexter) and Stephanie Niznik (Everwood) are the main leads but I think there is more like a collection of story lines involving different characters.

Kathryn plays the role of Ryan Tibbet who appears to be a mechanic (all short hair and smudges of oil) and she is involved with Jonathan LaPaglia’s Eddie. Jonathan went on to guest star in the last couple of seasons of Cold Case as an Assistant District Attorney so they worked together again. From clips I’ve seen Kathryn tries to take advantage of the heat to err… take advantage of Eddie. It should be worth watching the film just for that scene 😉 I’ve never actually been able to watch the film in full so I’m not sure of the plot details. I guess many of us will know more soon

As well as the airing on Tuesday there is a repeat on Wednesday morning (11:10am) and Saturday (25th) at 4:50pm. On some systems you may also have access to a +1 channel. No excuses then

The always helpful KM UK Gallery already contains a small number of poor screencaps from Inferno. They are some of only a handful on the whole site that aren’t my own work. I’ve now added a couple of promo photos and some artwork.

I’ll no doubt be returning to Inferno in the future.

The Coin Looks On The Brightside

To paraphrase: Just when you thought you’d got out, they pull you back in!

Short film The Coin continues in it slow march to world domination of film festivals. The next target is a Jersey City at The Brightside Tavern Film Festival.

For those of a geographical bent: if the Statue Of Liberty was to look back over her left shoulder she’d be glancing in the general direction of The Brightside Tavern.

The event takes place over the weekend of the 15th and 16th of August so just five weeks to go from today (11th July).

The organisers have plenty of awards to be given for the many films to be screened so fingers crossed for Fabien Martorell’s 9 minute piece. Thanks to him for letting us know, as usual.

If you can attend the BTFF the please let us know about your experience.

The BTFF website has/will have more details.

The Perfect Guy Gets Rated

But he’s perfect isn’t he? Surely that makes rating him redundant?

The poster for not-long-now-until-release thriller The Perfect Guy was missing a key thing. No, I don’t mean modesty or under-wiring. I’m referring to the age rating.

The official body, the MPAA (Motion Picture Association Of America), in the USA that issues the classification and gives a brief explanation as to the reason has delivered its verdict on the film.

The pronouncement is thus:

Rated PG-13 for violence, menace, sexuality and brief strong language.

I’m guessing that Kathryn’s small role is unlikely to be a key factor in any of those elements. Though of course with her one of them is always present 😉

Quite how the PG-13 will translate to other territories is difficult to say. In the UK it would probably be closest to a 12 but could be pushed in to the 15 level depending on how the examiners see particular aspects. As of yet there is no sign of the film being classified by the UK’s BBFC organisation.

The Perfect Guy is due for release in America on the 9th of September.

THE Perfect Guy Poster – Update

After a few teaser posters were released recently we now have something that appears to be a proper movie poster for the film The Perfect Guy. You can tell because it’s got all that small text at the bottom with no punctuation so you can’t separate one name from another.

As you can see, it depicts Sanaa Lathan (Nip/Tuck), two unnamed bald gentlemen, Michael Ealy (Almost Human) and Morris Chestnut (Nurse Jackie). Presumably one of them is ‘perfect’.

Which do you favour: Mr Leftie or Mr Rightie?

Importantly for us Kathryn fans, our favourite lady gets a look in. If you can drag your eyes south you’ll see this:

There she is, sandwiched between Tess Harper (maybe from No Country For Old Men, she uncredited on TPG so far) and Rutina Wesley (True Blood).

The Perfect Guy is due for release in the US on the 9th of September, and much of the rest of the world in the following days and weeks. In the UK we’re made to wait until November.

A copy of the poster is now in the KM UK Gallery HERE.

Update (2 July 2015): I’ve found a much larger version of the poster which has replaced the original in the Gallery.

Roommate Wanted Review

Roommate Wanted (aka 2 Br/1 Ba) was released in the USA on the 19th of May 2015 on DVD and VOD platforms. At the time of posting I am not aware of the film being released anywhere else in the world. As a UK resident I was able to acquire a copy of the US DVD via Amazon.

The plot of the movie revolves around the rapidly crumbling relationship between two young women that share the (previously) eponymous 2 bedrooms/1 bathroom house. Resentments come to the surface and fists start flying.

Janie (Alexa Vega, Spy Kids) is the studious one. She cares about political issues and the planet, and wants to attend a good college. Money is a sticking point though as the scholarship she was relying on to cover her costs is no longer available due to budget cuts.

Dee (Spencer Grammer, Greek) is the polar opposite. She is wealthy and spends her time at the gym and shopping. The source of this fortune is not made clear, presumably rich parents.

Kathryn has a small role as a woman working for someone that can help Janie with her financial issues.

The film was written by Aaron Edward and directed by Rob Margolies (She Wants Me).

I will admit upfront to being sceptical about this film and was expecting to not enjoy it. If Kathryn was not in it I would probably not be giving it a first glance, let alone a second. But watch it I did.

My initial impressions, possibly coloured by that pre-judgement, backed-up those thoughts. I felt that Alexa and Spencer were in the wrong roles and would have been better suited if they’d swapped places. Alexa’s Janie looked too well dressed, glamorous even, to be a down-at-heel student struggling to get by. The spectacles looked forced and brought to mind Penny in The Big Bang Theory and her “molecules” line. Conversely Spencer’s Dee came across as the poorer of the two. Presumably this was a sign of her not having to try so hard because she’s loaded. And why does the rich girl need to take in a housemate? Is it some sort of out-reach programme or community service? Anyway…

Faced with a lack of money Janie hatches (pun very much intended!) upon a plan to make some money. At first Dee is happy to help but then as the animosity rises between them she takes matters into her own hands.

I have a long standing notion that good things happen in films around the 20 minute mark. Check out Assassination Of A High School President, Cougars, Inc., and Minority Report for proof…

In, quite literally (used properly), steps Kathryn.

To make another reference to The Big Bang Theory, Kathryn was definitely channelling Leonard Hofstadter’s mother in her role as Olivia Morgan. Her greeting of Janie at the house door with a puzzled look when a hand was proffered and the clipped speech had Dr Beverly Hofstadter (as played by the brilliant Christine Baranski) written all over it. I can’t say it is an appealing character trait though, and it came across as a very forced piece of acting. This continued throughout her time with Janie but changed significantly when it came to Dee. Suddenly it was were like they were sorority sisters. Then the befuddled Olivia briefly returned to be quickly replaced by a carefree one again. All very odd.

I did warm to Olivia a little more as her 10 minutes of screen time came to a close but the film was only just getting going really even if I assumed my interested had passed.

The film, and the two lead characters, come alive in the last 45 minutes. It almost becomes one long fight scene but it is punctuated by pauses as the girls briefly question what they are doing and what the other is saying. They tear each apart emotionally as they try and do it physically. Then the fuse re-ignites like one of those trick candles that you can’t blow out.

By this point which girl is which doesn’t really matter. You would think that the set up is designed to put you very much on Janie’s side in all this. She seems to be the nice one after all. By the end you are changing allegiances as often as they switch weapons. Dog lovers be warned though. Early on you can see the twin plot devices of the cute little dog and the big scary snake will have to pay off at some point, and it can only go one way. There are a few other obvious pointers to future destruction.

The ending is a bit shocking (pun intended). As the final minutes approached I could not decide who I wanted to win this battle. Surely someone has to come out on top. But by this point you can’t decide which it should be.

Against my original reservations I stuck with the film and I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed it, even after Kathryn left, which is not always the case. Comments I’ve seen by other reviewers echo my feelings that it is in the latter half of the film where it really picks up the baton and runs with it.

The film is R rated and with good reason. It is not extreme or explicit but it is not good clean fun with some hair pulling.

Roommate Wanted: Try it, you might like it. Let us know with a comment below.

Remember to watch KM UK’s EXCLUSIVE video of Kathryn on the set of Roommate Wanted. It was done especially for us. The HD quality screencaps dotted around this piece, and many more, can also be found in the Gallery HERE.