STACK #150 Apr 2017

EXTRAS NEWS

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WIN A TRIP TO SAN DIEGO COMIC-CON

S an Diego Comic-Con is one of the biggest celebrations of popular culture in the world, and you have a chance to attend the 2017 event. Between now and May 7, visit your local JB Hi-Fi store and purchase any specially stickered 20th Century Fox title to win a once- in-a-lifetime trip to San Diego Comic-Con! It really is that easy. Once you've chosen your DVD(s), simply head to jbhifi.com.au/comic-con and in 25 words or less, describe what you think your favourite part of SDCC 2017 would be and why. It could be anything from the awesome cosplayers and the panels, to the celebrity guests and the awesome exclusive merchandise. The prize includes return airfares for you and a mate to San Diego Comic-Con 2017, as well as $500 to spend while you're over there. We'd

Leigh Whannell in Saw (2004)

STACK visited the set of LeighWhannell's new film, the sci-fi thriller Stem , and we liked what we saw. Words Scott Hocking TECH NOIR

I t's a scorching afternoon in Melbourne, and behind the urban facade of downtown Collingwood, the future is being created. And it's a strange world. At the end of a gloomy corridor illuminated by discarded glowsticks and littered with empty pill bottles, there is a room resembling a crack den. Only it isn't drugs that are being consumed here... STACK is on the set of Stem , a noirish new sci-fi action-thriller written and directed by Leigh Whannell – best known as the scribe of Saw and Insidious – and starring Logan Marshall-Green ( Prometheus ), Betty Gabriel ( Get Out ) and Benedict Hardie ( Hacksaw Ridge ). Although we're sworn to secrecy on plot details, we can reveal that Stem is set in a utopian near-future, where

genre will be something quite unique. Australian producer Kylie Du Fresne ( The Sapphires ) agrees: "Seeing the world he has created, he's a film director who presents something distinct and different – he really understands genre and commercial beats." A co-production with American genre stable Blumhouse ( The Purge , Get Out ), Stem is Whannell's second feature as director following Insidious: Chapter 3 (2015) and his first back on home soil, having been based in the US for the last ten years. " Stem is an Australian film, and you don't normally get to make films like this in Australia," adds Du Fresne. Production in Melbourne wrapped on March 10.

a paralysed technophobe (Marshall-Green) receives an experimental computer implant that turns out to have a mind of its own. Think of it as being like a techno version of George Romero's Monkey Shines , albeit with a computer instead of the monkey. "My first reaction was fear," says Marshall-Green of reading the script," which means I really liked it. But I knew it was going to be a lot of work, given the stakes and emotion this guy has to deal with. It was going to need every ounce of my theatrical ability." Gabriel, who plays a detective investigating the murder of the wife of Marshall-Green's character, is thrilled to be involved in Stem – being a self-proclaimed sci-fi fan – and promises that Whannell's venture into the

recommend saving at least some of this for return baggage allowance. SDCC gets bigger and better every year, with panels featuring the stars from your favourite TV shows and movies, as well as premiere footage and trailers. Oh, and of course comics and artists. The best part? We'll be there too. We've caught up with the past two winners, and needless to say, they had the time of their life. San Diego Comic-Con 2017 runs July 20-23 at the San Diego Convention Center and STACK will be bringing you all the news as it breaks.

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APRIL 2017

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