Fans of French cinema and femme fatals will remember actress Anne Parillaud as the titular assassin in director Luc Besson’s 1990 actioner La Femme Nikita. Parillaud’s emotionally and physically balls-out performance quickly launched her career in the Hollywood, leading to roles in the 1992 John Landis vampires-vs-gangsters offering Innocent Blood and the 1998 Randall Wallace adventure The Man in the Iron Mask.

Parillaud, still very hot at 50, continues to work in mostly French productions. In Their Sleep, written and directed by Caroline and Eric du Potet, is no exception. Thankfully for those of us in the States, IFC Midnight is making the horror thriller available via VOD (Time Warner, Comcast, Cox, Cablevision, Bright House) on Friday.

The film’s official synopsis reads:

After the brutal death of her 18 year-old son, Sarah’s (Parillaud) life is in pieces. Late one night, her car accidentally hits Arthur, a young man the same age as her boy, who suddenly emerges out of the forest and onto the road. Wounded and frightened, he is running from a mysterious assailant, hunting him down after Arthur caught him red handed in the act of burglary…

Sarah sympathizes with him, taking him in, only to be tracked down by the burglar whose murderous rage towards Arthur forces her to take action. Unbeknownst to Sarah, things aren’t quite the way they seem… but by the time she finally realizes, it is too late to turn back.

Peep le trailer:

“Friday Night Lights” star Aimee Teegarden will be playing haunted house with Dennis Quaid in director Martin Guigui’s Beneath the Darkness. The film is currently shooting in Smithville, Texas and costars Tony Oller, Stephen Lunsford, Devon Werkheiser, the very sexy Amber Bartlett, and  Melody Chase (A Scanner Darkly).

Beneath the Darkness follows a 16-year-old boy struggling with the death of his best friend as he sets out to expose the “secrets” of a local haunted house.

Teegarden most recently completed work on Wes Craven’s upcoming sequel Scream 4. She also guest starred as a teenage confessor in the “Touched” episode of ABC Studios’ fantasy TV series “Legend of the Seeker.”

The MPAA has banned the poster for director Stevan Mena’s indie-slasher Bereavement over its depiction of a six-year-old boy carrying a very big knife alongside the serial murderer who abducted him (shown above). The film is a prequel to Mena’s 2005 feature film debut Malevolance.

He tells Fangoria:

The MPAA has banned the poster for depicting a child holding a weapon. It’s hugely disappointing, because that poster really encapsulated the plot of the film with an intriguing image. It’s a real setback for us, considering the challenges we already face competing for attention with a small budget.

The film’s synopsis reads:

In 1989, six year old Martin Bristoll was kidnapped from his backyard swing in Minersville Pennsylvania. Graham Sutter, a psychotic recluse, kept Martin imprisoned on his derelict pig farm, forcing him to witness and participate in unspeakable horrors. Chosen at random, his victim’s screams were drowned out by the rural countryside.

For five years, Martin’s whereabouts have remained a mystery, until 17 year old Allison Miller (Alexandra Daddario) comes to live with her Uncle, Jonathan (Michael Biehn). While exploring her new surroundings, Allison discovers things aren’t quite right at the farmhouse down the road. Her curiosity disturbs a hornet’s nest of evil and despair that once torn open, can never be closed.

Personally, I think the MPAA have read the poster all wrong. Yes, it conveys the film’s horrific plot, but it also speaks to how rewarding it is to mentor children. Sure, teaching a kid how to gut a hot chick isn’t going to provide much of a future for that kid, but it would boost the killer’s self esteem, something they commonly lack. Just saying.

Anyway, peep the trailer: