Steele Studios, a postproduction and visual effects house, has named Thom Burkhart as sr. producer. He formerly served as head of digital postproduction for Rhythm & Hues for 14 years.
During his Rhythm & Hues tenure, Burkhart upgraded his department to a full HD post facility and shepherded post services for high-profile commercials, features and theme park ride films, working in tandem with such directors as Ron Howard, Jake Scott, Peter Berg, Harold Ramis, Steve Beck, Charlie Watson, Clark Anderson, Michael Patterson, Jay Vigon and Randy Roberts, as well as VFX supervisors Bill Westenhofer, Doug Smith, John Heller, Todd Schifflett and Richard Hollander.
Burkhart worked on features including Life of Pi, The A-Team, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Fast and Furious 3 and 4, X-Men, Night at the Museum 1 & 2, Moneyball, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. His spot credits span such clients as Budweiser, Coca-Cola, GMC, Mazda, Dodge Neon, Geico, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Sears, Honda and Toyota.
Review: Drew Hancock Makes Feature Directorial Debut With “Companion”
"Iris, wake up!"
Early in "Companion," lovely Iris and her nerdy-nice boyfriend Josh are driving to a secluded lake house for a stay with friends. Iris wakes from a nap and lovingly tells Josh she was dreaming about him. They reminisce about how they first met at the supermarket. All those oranges tumbling onto the floor! Ha ha.
In 20 minutes, absolutely everything about this sweet scene will be turned on its head in a terrifying and sinister manner. You will be surprised and shocked. Unless you saw the trailer, which reveals the whole thing.
And so we begin with a dilemma, dear moviegoer. "Companion," an exceedingly clever and entertaining sci-fi-horror-thriller-comedy by Drew Hancock in his feature debut, has more twists and turns than a corkscrew. But it's utterly impossible to write about the film without revealing the first of those twists.
So if you like coming in totally cold to a movie, then we're sorry to see you go, but stop reading! Otherwise, stay with us — we promise there'll be more surprises to come.
Moving on: Iris (Sophie Thatcher) and Josh (Jack Quaid) arrive at the estate. A nervous Iris stops at the door, worried that Josh's friends won't like her. He urges her to simply brighten up and act happy.
Kat (Megan Suri), Josh's ex, greets them. She is gorgeous, and frosty to Iris. Eli (Harvey Guillén) and his handsome boyfriend Patrick (Lukas Gage) are nicer. Then there's Sergey (Rupert Friend), Kat's aloof Russian boyfriend — sugar daddy, really — and owner of the house. The password to his devices is Stalin's birthday, which tells you something.
Things get dark, quickly. The next morning, someone dies. They will not be the first — this is a horror movie. And suddenly Iris, caked in blood,... Read More