EXCLUSIVE: Umbrelic Entertainment co-founders Thomas Zambeck and Brian Katz are bringing back a new Anchor Bay Entertainment with an eye on genre films, undiscovered treasures, cult classics, and remastered catalog releases.
“We had an opportunity to take the name of a beloved genre film brand, one we feel a personal connection to, for our new company,” says Zambeck. “This is a new venture, unaffiliated with any previous incarnations. We aim to honor the history and spirit of the past as we look for interesting films that break the mold, and will be discovered by new generations for years to come.”
In Lionsgate’s acquisition of Starz in December 2016, the studio absorbed the North American branches of Anchor Bay Entertainment. The Anchor Bay Entertainment trademark was up for acquisition so Zambeck and Katz took the opportunity to acquire it. The new Anchor Bay Entertainment doesn’t include the previous label’s library.
Since the launch of Umbrelic Entertainment in 2018, Zambeck and Katz have produced and executive produced over 14 feature films. Recent releases include the Chris Sivertson-directed horror thriller Monstrous, starring Christina Ricci; the crime thriller American Murderer, starring Tom Pelphrey and Ryan Phillippe; the sci-fi thriller Share with Bradley Whitford and Alice Braga; director Adam Sigal’s dark comedy Nandor Fodor and the Talking Mongoose, starring Simon Pegg, Minnie Driver and Christopher Lloyd; and the Emile Hirsch murder mystery Helen’s Dead. The pair are currently in post-production on three additional films: Hellfire, toplined by Stephen Lang and Harvey Keitel, Deep Six, starring Tom Welling and Cam Gigandet, and the screen life horror Stay At Home, featuring Jenna Davis and Lilah Pate. Umbrelic Entertainment is represented by Nick LoPiccolo and Babacar Diene of the Paradigm Agency.
A 16-year post-production veteran who has shepherded more than 1,500 projects to global delivery, Zambeck who started his career at Anchor Bay Entertainment, has also previously held roles at Starz, Sony, and Post Haste Digital.
Katz is a film production veteran and a sales professional with more than 20 years of experience within the technology, manufacturing and private equity fields. He resides in the Detroit Area.
Both Zambeck and Katz are traveling to the Berlin International Film Festival to acquire additional films for Anchor Bay Entertainment.
On Anchor Bay Entertainment’s slate is the horror movie, Abruptio, directed by Evan Marlowe. The feature is enacted entirely with lifelike puppets in realistic settings, and took close to eight years to complete from script to post-production.
In Abruptio, Les Hackel (James Marsters) is a guy down on his luck who wakes to find an explosive device has been implanted in his neck. He must carry out heinous crimes in order to stay alive while trying to identify the mastermind manipulating the now twisted and strange world around him.
Pic also stars Christopher McDonald (Thelma & Louise), Hana Mae Lee (Pitch Perfect Franchise), Jordan Peele (Get Out), Sid Haig (Halloween), Rich Fulcher (Wonka) and Robert Englund (A Nightmare on Elm Street Franchise). Kerry Marlowe executive produces along with Evan Marlowe, Barry Finlayson (Horror House), Sue Finlayson (Blood Rush) and Martin Lee White (A Right Fool). Kerry Marlowe negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers, with Katz and Zembeck on behalf of Anchor Bay Entertainment.
To release this fall is Dinner With Leatherface, the anticipated documentary on Gunnar Hansen, the actor who portrayed the character Leatherface in the 1974 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Friends, colleagues, filmmakers, and fellow actors share personal stories and discuss the dichotomy between the maniacal chainsaw-wielding character Hansen played on-screen and the very intelligent, creative, soft-spoken man he actually was in real life. In the docu there’s interviews with horror mainstays such as Bruce Campbell, Barbara Crampton, Betsy Baker, Brian O’Halloran, Kim Henkel, Danielle Harris, Linnea Quigley, Kane Hodder, and Debbie Rochon. The film also features all of the remaining cast of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the original director of photography, Daniel Pearl and producer/co-writer Kim Henkel.
Dinner With Leatherface is written, executive produced and directed by Michael Kallio (The Skeptic). Lowell Northrop (Hap and Leonard) is also a producer. Kallio negotiated the deal with Katz and Zambeck on behalf of Anchor Bay Entertainment.