Celebrating 10 years of Raze
Fantastic Fest has just announced that Raze, starring stunt legend and Life of Action book alumni, Zoë Bell (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Kill Bill) will screen as part of the 2024 festival lineup celebrating the film’s 10th anniversary. Fantastic Fest is known as the largest genre film festival in the United States, with a history of championing challenging, hard-hitting and thought-provoking cinema, while celebrating new voices and new stories from filmmakers around the world.
In Raze, after awakening following an abduction, Jamie finds herself in a concrete bunker, and discovers she is not alone. Her and Sabrina, a fellow abductee, both soon realise that they are in a modern-day "coliseum," where, along with 48 other women, they are condemned to kill each other in order to protect their very own loved ones. From writer-director Josh C. Waller (who also helmed Camino, starring Bell), the film blends character-driven action with a gripping story, and marked a strong leading role for the former stuntwoman making waves as a new actress (best recognised at this time from Quentin Tarantino’s Death Proof). Zoë is, of course, interviewed and featured as the cover star of Life of Action II and the film’s striking key art helped inspire the book’s own cover!
Charted throughout her extensive book interview, having first launched her career as lead stunt double for TV series Xena: Warrior Princess, she would become one of the top female stunt performers in the world, and a trailblazer for women in both action cinema and mainstream film. Later drawn towards acting, having found a creative calling while doubling Uma Thurman on Tarantino’s Kill Bill, her subsequent roles drew on a natural physicality and newly nurtured dramatic talent. She would even become immersed in the craft of filmmaking and was inducted into the American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop For Women, supporting new female talent in the industry. All in all, it’s very exciting to see Raze turn 10, and be recognised and celebrated in this way with Fantastic Fest.
Find out more about Fantastic Fest 2024 and book your tickets!
For a limited time only, fans can also pick up the Life of Action II book with 20% off using discount code RAZE at checkout!