Virgin Comics "Virulents" optioned by New Regency

"Virulents" takes place in the worn torn deserts of Afghanistan in 2001 and concentrates on a small platoon of American soldiers looking to find some missing soldiers... When night falls, they find out what happened, they've turned into vampires and then the Americans and Indians must band together to fight them.

Virgin Comics was founded by Sir Richard Branson, his Virgin group, Indian medical doctor / writer / spiritual wacko Deepak Chopra, Indian filmmaker Shekhar Kapur among a few others... One of their main areas of focus is "the creation of original stories and character properties that tap into the vast library of mythology and re-invent the rich indigenous narratives of Asia in a unique, compelling and entertaining way." They're based in Bangalore, India and currently have various titles in production, including projects for John Woo, Guy Richie, Ed Burns and Jenna Jameson(?). Seriously... Jenna Jameson.

New Regency optioned it, "The Omen" director, John Moore will helm it and it'll be distributed by 20th Century Fox.

Notable John Moore movies:

Vancouver Film School partners with Joost

Vancouver Film School has just done a deal with Joost, where "student produced content" will help pay for funding future films. Here's the full article.

It's a great article and all, and it shows how you can use web-based video to promote and monetize independant film... but it does raise a few questions for me. If VFS plans to put it's 30% of the revenue towards an alumni fund for graduate projects... wouldn't that mean that most of the people who produced these films get nothing? Maybe I'm misreading it, but it seems to me that if YOU produced something that was good enough to earn ad dollars, YOU should get some of the revenue. VFS is just using the content that the students produced to raise money for it's own uses and, all the while, it's marketing and promoting itself. It's no different than American Idol saying it owns the rights to every singer who ever makes it to the top 40 (or whatever it is)... then saying that THEY get a cut of everything they make, ever. (at least the artist gets something in that case) I'm simplifying here, of course, but I think the point is still valid. You can't get mad at VFS, though. They're just using what they have... but I do thing that the filmmaker should get something, especially after they paid an arm and a leg to go to the school in the first place.

I was reading another article this morning that talked about the viral effect of online movies and how celebrities were starting to do it. (namely Will Ferrell on his site, Funny or Die) It went on to basically say that the content has to be "good" and even short video's with celebrities flop and get no traffic. The lesson to be learned here is this, if you're making short movies, video's, etc., especially if they're good - the web is a great way to promote your stuff and draw attention to your projects. Further to that, there's no reason that a group of people can't make a site and upload a new clip every couple weeks and start getting a bit of traffic and some interest in their other projects. In fact, every low-budget horror filmmaker should be making short clips, branding the hell out of them with your name, website or production company and drawing attention back to themselves. Who knows who will see it? A lot of careers have started that way... just make sure it's good and YOU'RE getting the credit for it. Any way you cut it, in the end, it's all about having an audience, isn't it? So, put it out there and see what happens...

New to Theaters - Sept 28, 2007

There is absolutely nothing of interest opening this weekend... "The Kingdom", with a bunch of comedians playing serious roles, 'The Rock' stars in the feel good Disney comedy, "The Game Plan" and Greg Kinnear plays the same role he always plays in what looks like the sequel to "Little Miss Sunshine", "Feast of Love". It's basically just a countdown to Oct 19th, when "30 days of Night" opens... let's check out the trailer.

Opening this week: The Game Plan, The Kingdom, Feast of Love, Trade, Sharkwater, The Darjeeling Limited and Lust, Caution.

Screen Gems to remake "The Stepfather"

Why throw an original horror screenplay into development with a young, up and coming director when you can remake an old one with an aging director who doesn't really know horror and has been doing TV for the bulk of his career? Ask Screen Gems... they're continuing their return to film production by remaking "The Stepfather" with director Nelson McCormick, who just wrapped up another remake, "Prom Night".

Taking a quick look through the top 100 box office movies of the year, so far... horror comes in at 26. "1408", 29. "Halloween", 46. "The Number 23", 47. "Zodiac", 52. "28 Weeks Later", 53. "Mr. Brooks", 54. "Hannibal Rising", 58. "Resident Evil: Extinction", 59. "The Reaping", 67. "The Hills Have Eyes 2", 76. "Hostel Part II", 78. "The Hitcher", 95. "Primeval".

First off, I'm not sure what my point is... but is it weird that "The Number 23" came in at 46, which is double 23? In any case... WAY too many sequels and remakes AND I'm thinking that remakes of "Prom Night" and "The Stepfather" will be more like 2007's version of "The Hitcher" than "Halloween". Bottom line, quit it with the remakes, there's plenty of good, new horror out there... let the kid's play!

The original "Prom Night" and apparently "The Stepfather" isn't available:



Horror movies available from the top 100 for 2007:

New on DVD - Sept 25, 2007

The big new release tomorrow is "Exorcist" director, William Friedkin's "Bug" - released by Lionsgate and starring Ashley Judd, Harry Connick, Jr. and Michael Shannon. "Bug" was actually adapted from an off-Broadway play of the same name and had it's U.S. Premiere at Fantistic Fest last year. It also won some sort of horror award from the Cannes Film Festival, but take that with a grain of salt because not many "quality" horror movies make it to Cannes.

The other new release that's getting some buzz is "Broken" by Simon Boyes and Adam Mason. It's been called "sick", "unpleasant" and "disturbing"... which means it's probably worth checking out. The cover art is awesome.

There's also a bunch of rereleases and special editions coming out, including: Demons, Demons 2, Night of the Demons 2, Cujo, From Beyond the Grave, Spider Baby, Eaten Alive, The Hand, Deadly Friend, Dr. Giggles, Black Roses, Opera, The Ferryman, The Cat O' Nine Tails, Eyes of a Stranger and Cat People.

It's good to see all the "Demons" movies out again... can't say I'm that excited about seeing the rerelease of Dr. Giggles.

New on DVD - Sept 25, 2007

New to Theatres - Sept 21, 2007

The only horror movie of note that comes out tomorrow is "Resident Evil: Extinction". Being completely honest, I was mildly amused by the first one, drastically bored by the second one and this third one will probably continue the downward trend. It's really being hyped up, so chances are that they're looking to have a big release and make their money before the bad word comes out. I can't say I'm excited for it...

In any case, there are a few interesting things about it. The Godfather of zombies, George A Romero, actually wrote the first draft of the script for it, though it was eventually rejected. Paul W. S. Anderson wrote the previous two and, ultimately, got to write the third, as well. (Anderson directed the first) I'm not sure what Paul W.S. Anderson would be most known for - my personal favorite of his is "Event Horizon", although he also did "Mortal Kombat", "Soldier" and "Alien vs. Predator", among others. This installment is directed by Russel Mulcahy, who happens to be the guy who directed "Highlander" (a personal favorite), along with various episodes of "Queer as Folk", various Duran Duran video's and a lot of stuff that I wouldn't want on my resume.

Check out the Resident Evil: Extinction site here.

Other movies opening tomorrow: Good Luck Chuck, Sydney White, The Jane Austen Book Club, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Into the Wild and The Last Winter.

I'd rather punch myself in the face than see Dane Cook in "Good Luck Chuck", but out of all these, I think "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" is worth checking out. Brad Pitt produced it and it's in limited release...

Previous Resident Evil films:

Paul W. S. Anderson films of note:

Russel Mulcahy films of note:

Next week, there's no horror movies coming out. Let's just look forward to "30 days of Night" on October 19th.

Weinstein's pick up Dario Argento's "The Mother of Tears"

The Weinstein Co. picked up Dario Argento's third installment from the 'Three Mothers" trilogy, "The Mother of Tears", at the Toronto International Film Festival. This is fresh of the Weinstein's picking up George A Romero's "Diary of the Dead" just a few days ago. "The Mother of Tears" sold for 'mid-six figures', whereas "Diary of the Dead" went for quite a bit more, if I remember correctly. Either way, they're acquiring some good horror flicks.

I haven't seen it, but apparently it's loaded with sex, violence, plenty of gore and there's a really freaky monkey in it. The reviews are really good, so my guess is it's worth checking out... if not for the monkey, for the gore.

There's still a whole bunch of horror movies at the Toronto International Film Festival that haven't been picked up, but those two were the big ones.

For more on "The Mother of Tears"

For more on the Weinstein Co.

Horror Film Festivals

JANUARY

FEBRUARY

February 22 - 24/2008
The NEVERMORE FILM FESTIVAL is produced by the historic non-profit Carolina Theatre of Durham, Inc. and was created in 1999. They showcase and solicit new films from various distributors, as well as independent genre films which have yet to secure a theatrical distributor. The festival is a mixture of quality features and shorts from major and independent distributors, as well as low-budget and underground filmmakers. Further to that, they also sometimes have special anniversary screenings, remastered prints and artists in attendance. It always takes place on the second to last weekend of February. Submissions are accepted as early as the previous September and the deadline is always early December. Nevermore has grown to become one of the largest genre festivals in the Southeastern United States, draws a big crowd from a wide age-range and is definitely worth attending. Here's a link to the latest Dead Harvey post on NEVERMORE.

Submitting your film: It costs nothing, contact Jim or just send it to him at:

NEVERMORE Film Festival
The Carolina Theatre
309 West Morgan Street
Durham, NC 27701
Attn: Jim Carl

February 29 - March 8, 2008
FantasPorto
Porto, Portugal
http://www.fantasporto.online.pt/

MARCH

March 7-15, 2008
The South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival is essentially two events in one. By day, it is an industry-oriented film conference with panels, workshops, mentor sessions and a Trade Show. It has been described as a five day crash course on guerilla filmmaking and marketing. Day and night the SXSW Film Festival screens about 150 - 200 of the best independent films produced during the previous year as well as works from established directors who have inspired the latest generation of filmmakers. Aspiring novices and seasoned professionals alike can immerse themselves in film and the business of film by registering for SXSW. They have a 'Round Midnight category which will screen horror films.

Submitting your film: SXSW receives close to three thousand submissions. There's usually a link to their submission form, but it's closed at the time that I'm writing this. You'll have to include a VHS tape/DVD, 50 word synopsis, director's bio, cast and crew lists, and list of previous and planned screenings.

With all the panels, workshops, mentor sessions, hands on demos, the trade show and the festival itself, SXSW is a great opportunity to network with people who can help move your career to the next level and educate you on how the industry works.

March 27 - April 8
Brussels International Festival of Fantasy Film
Brussels, Belgium
http://www.bifff.org/

March 6-8, 2009
Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors takes place in Chicago. They promise gruesome guests, vendors, film room, creepy contests, eerie exhibitors... and more.


APRIL

Apri, 2009 (dates to be announced)
Sci-Fi-London, takes place in April of 2009 and I just missed the last one, so there's not much info on the 2009 edition yet... this festival is more exclusively sci-fi than it is horror, if you couldn't tell from it's name. However, sci-fi and horror are pretty closely linked, so we'll give it it's due. The festival started primarily because there wasn't anywhere for low-budget, interesting or foreign science fiction films. Its purpose is to show films that you're not likely to see in the UK at all, or that are going to be difficult to get hold of. They're not accepting submissions now, you've gotta wait until October...

March 25 - April 3/2009
A NIGHT OF HORROR is Sydney, Australia's premier genre film event. It's March 25 - April 3 this year and accepts features, shorts, animations, music video's and, new this year, a screenplay competition. They'll be accepting submissions until October 3, 2008. Kodak is the official sponsor of the festival's "Best of Fest Award" and the winner will receive 5 X 400ft of 16 mm film, valued at $1,250.00, as well as negative processing from another sponsor, Atlab. People magazine (not the popular North American version, I'm assuming) has another prize, $3,000 for the "Best Scream Queen Award" and Starz Entertainment donated some other cash and prizes for other winners.

Submitting your film: there's a link on their website or you can submit through Without A Box. It'll cost you $25 - $55, depending on your film.

With Starz Entertainment as a sponsor, as well as various other media companies, you could expect to get some great exposure by getting into the festival... especially if you're based in Australia. If not, you could get some good stuff for a press kit. It looks like they're affiliated or partnered up with the It Came from Lake Michigan! Festival in Wisconsin, as well.

April 24 - 27, 2008
DEAD BY DAWN takes place in Edinbourgh, Scotland, usually around mid-April, and was established in 1993 by Adele Hartley. They show mostly independent films and both shorts and features are accepted... there's a bunch of good films screening and it looks like various films that were screened got picked up.

Submitting your film: There's various forms you can download off their site: general submissions, shorts submissions and features submissions.

Awards: They do have audience choice awards, not sure if there's any cash value to winning, but it looks like you'll get some good exposure if you get in.

April 17-19, 2009
Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors takes place in L.A. They promise gruesome guests, vendors, film room, creepy contests, eerie exhibitors... and more.


MAY

May 15-17, 2009
ZOMPIRE: THE UNDEAD FILM FESTIVAL takes place in Portland, Oregon in The Hollywood Theatre and it's run by the same guy, Andrew Miguore, who does the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. It's dedicated to all things undead, namely zombies and vampires... thus Zompire. They highlight various filmmakers creative attempts to show the undead in new and unexpected ways. All film entries must be submitted online using Withoutabox.com. Here's a link to the submissions page on their site.


JUNE

June 13 - 15, 2008
Fantastic Films Weekend is the UK's fastest growing festival dedicated to horror, fantasy and sci-fi cinema and television. Taking place in Bradford, UK, The Fantastic Films Weekend is a dynamic annual celebration of old, new, bloody and obscure, hosted by Britain's National Museum of Photography, Film & Television - a unique £60 million site operated by the UK government which boasts some of the finest projection facilities in the world.

Submitting your film: Filmmakers with new short and feature films are encouraged to submit their work for consideration. Screeners (preferably on Pal format DVD) should be sent to: 7th Fantastic Films Weekend, Film Department, National Media Museum, Pictureville, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD1 1NQ, England.

They accept live action, animation and documentary films - All submissions should be accompanied by a full Press pack including contact details, an English language synopsis, cast/crew credits, images and a portrait of the director. Selection will begin towards the end of the year.

June 5-7, 2009
Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors takes place in New York. They promise gruesome guests, vendors, film room, creepy contests, eerie exhibitors... and more.


JULY

July 1 - 6, 2008
Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival was founded in 2000 and continually gains in importance to the point of becoming one of the main cinematographic events in Switzerland. Indeed, thanks to its innovative programming (where else can you see Polish Sci-Fi and Takashi Miike's latest delirium on the same day?) and prestigious guests (Terry Gilliam, Roger Corman, Ray Harryhausen...), the NIFFF has seduced both the public (more than 17,000 spectators in 2007) and the critics. The first characteristic of the festival is a rich and diversified programming constructed around one central axis: Fantastic Cinema.

Submitting your film: Here's a link to the section on their site.

Awards: There's actually lots of awards. No prizes, though... I think. Here's a link.

July 3 - 21/2008
FANTASIA FEST takes place in Montreal, Canada from July 3 - 21, 2008 this year and they call themselves "North America's Premier Genre Film Festival". They showcase diversified programming, ranging from repertory movies to entertaining, commercially-oriented genre films. They screen an average of 130 long and 250 short features.

Submitting your film: they have an online entry form here. You must get it in by May 5th, 2008.
Prizes: Any film produced in the past 18 months is eligible for both their official jury competition and their Public's Prize.

July 11-13, 2008
BLOBFEST takes place in the historic Colonial Theatre in Phoenixville, PA, which can be found at 227 Bridge Street. They do a short film contest, where films have to be no longer than 5 minutes, are family-friendly, as somehow Blob-related, and submitted on DVD. They also do a few other events and things.

Visit their site for more information on submissions.

July 30 - August 1st, 2010
THE FRIGHT NIGHT FILM FEST, which takes place in Louisville, KY, is the largest genre show in the Mid South. They accept a LOT of films, so this is a great festival to look into if you want to get one of those little logos that says "official selection of..." The festival has risen to prominence and has attracted worldwide attention. The films come from Spain, Sweden, Canada, England, LA, New York and of course all over the Country. Not only are they a Film Festival and Convention, they are an industry show providing educational forums for actors, producers, investors, directors and others wanting to break into the industry. They support the independent community by providing a forum for their film and a voice of support to help them get distribution. As a direct result of the show they have helped launch the careers of many filmmakers.

Submitting your film: There's full guidelines and information on their site here.

AUGUST

August 21 - 25/2008
FRIGHTFEST takes place in London, England and is the UK's premiere fantasy and horror film festival. It takes place over four days in August, with premieres, personal appearances, signings and surprises. They've launched the careers of a few UK directors, including Christopher Smith (Creep, Severance) and Simon Hunter (Mutant Chronicles), plus having hosted many first UK screenings, including Shaun of the Dead and Hostel.

Submitting your film: It's currently closed, so I can't tell any of the guidelines. Here's the link, though.

Awards: I can't see any specific awards, but this festival gets a lot of coverage from different media in London and the UK.

September 4 - 7, 2009
DRAGON*CON INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL is held in Atlanta, Georgia around the end of August. It's a combination of film oriented panels, celebrity guests, new and classic independent feature and short film screenings, discussions, and a short film competition.

Submitting your Film: They're just looking for short horror films, but there's no information on how to submit right now, as they just finished up the '08 festival. I'll update this as soon as they post new information.

Awards: They do give away a few awards, such as the "Futura Award", the "Georgia Fandom Award", as well as fan awards.

August 30th, 2008
THE PHOENIX FEAR FILM FESTIVAL takes place in Phoenix, AZ. Their scheduled 2007 venue closed down, so they had a few setbacks after the success of their first event in 2006. Either way, they're back for 2008. The two winners used to get a distribution deal, but I'm not sure what they're doing now. You'll have to go to their site to find out. As of the time of this writing, it's not fully updated.

Submitting your film: Send in a DVD, all the submission rules are here.

Awards: The two winners get a distribution deal (or at least they did in 2006, I'll double check what's going on this year, then update this)

August 12 - September 10, 2008
The Fantasy Film Festival takes place in various cities in Germany. They screen a lot of big budget indie films, such as "My Name Is Bruce", "Mother Of Tears" and "The Rage". That's not to say that's not awesome, all three of those films are... it's just to say that they probably aren't accepting too many 'shot of DV' films, especially non-German ones. In any case, the festival runs August 12th - September 10th and there are screenings in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Dortmund, Frankfurt... and a bunch of other German cities. Go to the site if you're interested (and look for the button that says 'english' on the left side) to make navigating the website a bit easier.

August 22 - 24, 2008
The Rue Morgue Festival of Fear takes place in Toronto every year and, although you can't submit your film, it's a festival to go to. There's lots of good screening, lots of guests, panels and off site events.

SEPTEMBER

September 26 - 28, 2008
THE "B" MOVIE CELEBRATION is having its second annual celebration this year. They will feature screenings of over 50 classic B movies, 20 educational seminars and the world's largest beach party, featuring the music of The Moon-Rays. The film line-up is huge, well... it's over 50 films. You can see the whole list when you click on the link.

You can't submit your film, therefore there's no awards.

September 26 - 28, 2008
THE CHICAGO HORROR FILM FESTIVAL had it's first festival in 2003 and is still running strong. It tooks place Sept 26 - 28 this year and it mainly showcases shorts, but does have a few features. They have a whole bunch of guests, vendors, bands and more... They do give away awards and some of the films that have played at the festival went on to get picked up.

Submitting your film: CHFF uses Without a Box, but you can also download a paper entry form here

and mail it in. If you get it in early, it's $20 per short and $20 per feature.

Awards: They don't go into much detail, but they do have various awards, a good crowd and lots of networking opportunities.


September 4 - 13
TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL: MIDNIGHT MADNESS takes place, obviously, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Generally, it begins the Thursday night after Labour Day, which is the first Monday in September in Canada. It lasts for 10 days and hundreds of films are screened. It's a launch pad for lots of Oscar-type films and that's why it has notoriety. However, they do have the Midnight Madness program, which "highlights the weird and the wonderful, including thrillers, chillers and rockumentaries from directors who prefer to work in genres not usually seen in a festival context." They're not showing the full film list until July 23, but you should be able to go here after then... Last years Midnight Madness had "Diary of the Dead", "Mother of Tears" and "Stuck", to name a few...

I'm not sure how you go about submitting your film. However, do note that it's all top films from around the world being screened...

September 16 - 20
Dark Carnival Film Festival
Bloomington, Indiana
http://www.darkcarnivalfilmfest.com/

September 20 - 27 (2007 dates)
FANTASTIC FEST is an annual event, held in Austin, TX, USA this year on September 20 - 27. It's sponsored by the Alamo Drafthouse and Ain't It Cool News. The Alamo Drafthouse is an old-school theatre down in Austin and Ain't It Cool News is, of course, the website.

Submitting your film: Approximately 35% of the films at Fantastic Fest are selected through the submission process. For 2007, we are exclusively using Without a Box for submissions. Submissions for the 2007 Festival begin on January 1.

It doesn't look like there's prizes, so to speak, but... "shorts and features in our jury and audience competitions will get extensive coverage on Ain't It Cool News, the nation's most popular movie fan site as well as coverage in numerous local, regional and national news outlets" AND "expose your film to a wide audience of video and film acquisition professionals, members of the media and a die-hard dedicated audience of genre film fanatics."

Sept 30 - Oct 3, 2010
SHRIEKFEST takes place in L.A. and it's a festival and screenplay competition dedicated to getting horror/thriller/sci-fi/fantasy filmmakers and screenwriters the recognition they deserve. What makes Shriekfest unique is that they poractively help the filmmakers and screenwriters by promoting their work to the industry. They're dedicated to celebrating the art of independent filmmaking without all the politics! There's plenty of success stories, too. Check them out here.

Submitting your film: There's a downloadable submission form here. It'll cost you between $25 and $55... but there's lots of options, you'll have to read through the form.

Awards: There's a long list of awards, accolades and that sort of thing.


OCTOBER

October 4 - 7 (2007 dates)
ATLANTA HORROR FEST is part of, or affiliated some way with the ATLANTA UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL which takes place, obviously, in Atlanta, Georgia. It looks like the Underground Film Festival is in August, while the Horror Fest is in October. The Horror Fest will showcase independent horror films, bands and special events and goes from October 4th to 8th, 2007.

Submitting your film: I couldn't find their entry form on their general site, but it is on their myspace page here. It costs $20 for shorts, $30 for features...

Awards: I don't think there's any prizes, so to speak, but there's some pretty cool films in it this year. Also, they have what looks like a bunch of low-low-low budget horror shorts, which is good. You don't have to be that experienced or put that much budget into your film and you might get accepted... then you can go meet some people, network, etc. That's what it's all about!

October 5 - 7 (2007 dates)
THE H.P. LOVECRAFT FILM FESTIVAL takes place in early October in Portland, Oregon. They aim to promote the works of H.P. Lovecraft, literary horror and weird tales through cinematic adaptations by professional and amateur filmmakers. The festival was founded in 1995 by Andrew Migliore in the hope that H.P. Lovecraft would be rightly recognized as a master of gothic horror and his work more faithfully adapted to film and television.

Submitting your film: Films should deal with cosmic horror, weird tales, and/or the works of H.P. Lovecraft. You can submit your film through Without a Box.

Awards: There are various awards with no monetary value given for different categories.

October 3-5, 2008
SHOCKERFEST INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL takes place at the Galaxy 12 Theater in Riverbank, CA and was one of the first festivals of its type in the world. Sponsored by the Fireside Foundation, Inc., a California nonprofit corporation dedicated to the promotion and perpetuation of independent film. Proceeds from the festival provide funding and scholarships, and assist the development of independent films.

Submitting your film: You can use Without a Box or there's a downloadable version here. It'll cost you between $25 and $65.

Awards: There are lots of awards, and various award winners have been picked up for distribution.

October 9 - 12, 2008 - THE EERIE HORROR FILM FESTIVAL takes place in Erie, Pennsylvania in October and is for filmmakers, game developers and screenwriters. It was established in order to provide more opportunities and exposure for filmmakers, screenwriters and video game developers working within the horror, science fiction and suspense genres, as well as draw more attention to the Northwestern Pennsylvania region via their film festival and other year round special events. Each year they attract thousands of fans, filmmakers, screenwriters and game developers to Erie for five days of indie cinema, featuring special celebrity guests, screenings and workshops.

This year, so far, Kane Hodder (Jason Vorhees) and Tony Moran (Michael Myers) will be in attendence. Fuji Film has come on as a sponsor and will give away $2,500 to the winner of the best cinematography award.

Submitting your film: Here's the link. It costs between $70 - $80 to enter.

Awards: There's over $10,000 in cash and prizes. More importantly, with their current and ever expanding contacts, they hope to play an active role in connecting their filmmakers and screenwriters directly with those within the industry.

October 15 - 17, 2010
The Telluride Horror Show, new for 2010, is now accepting horror, thriller, dark fantasy, and dark sci-fi film submissions. The festival is a 3-Day Horror Film Festival in Telluride, Colorado. As of this writing, their website isn't up yet, so you'll have to keep checking in for more info.

October 12 - 21 (2007 dates)
THE SCREAMFEST HORROR FILM FESTIVAL is the largest horror film festival in the United States, it's been called "the Sundance of Horror". It's held at the prestigious Grauman's mann Chinese 6 in Hollywood. They premiere and showcase new work from American and International independent horror filmmakers and there are plenty of different categories to get accepted in. The majority of the films that get showcased do get picked up and distributed.

Submitting your film: There's a link to a downloadable submission form here. You can enter features, shorts, student films and scripts. It'll cost you between $25 and $60.

Awards: There's plenty of awards, plenty of networking and plenty of exposure available.

October 17 - 22 (2007 dates)
THE HOLLYWOOD HORROR, SCI-FI and FANTASY FESTIVAL has an alliance with FILM THREAT and Chris Gore. It features both films from emerging filmmakers and film masters, and special events and parties that will celebrate and honor genre filmmaking. The festival gets lots of movie-goers and gets huge coverage in all the major local and national publications. It's part of the HOLLYWOOD FILM FESTIVAL, so there will plenty of opportunities to network, as well as mingle with celebrities. They're also sponsored by STARZ!, for what that's worth.

Submitting your film: you can either submit through Without a Box or there an online form here.
Awards: There's plenty of awards, but they meld them all together with the Hollywood Film Festival. Check out the whole list here.

October 17 - 18
Scary Brains Film Festival
Cobleskill, New York
http://www.scarybrains.com/

October 19 - 21 (2007 dates)
SPOOKY EMPIRE presents SCREAMFEST HORROR CONVENTION and FREAKSHOW HORROR FILM FESTIVAL, Florida's largest Horror convention. It takes place at the Wyndham Resort in Orlando, Florida and it'll be filled with some of the biggest celebrities in horror, the best in horror writers and artists. There's unique seminars, live music throughout the weekend, tattoing, some of the greatest independent filmmakers and their films, a large dealer room, special fx artists, classic movies and much more.

Submitting your film: They accept shorts and features. It'll cost $25 - $35 to enter your short film, $40 - $50 to enter your feature. It looks like they removed the link to the submission form, but I'll put it up as soon as it's there for next year.

Awards: They give out awards for Best Feature, Best Short, Best Florida Horror Film, Best Actor/Actress, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup FX and an Audience Choice Award.

October 17 - 19, 2008
The SACREMENTO HORROR FILM FESTIVAL takes place in Sacremento, CA in October. They exist to deliver high-quality independent and popular studio-release horror films, sci-fi features and short films to the horror movie fan. They promote the genres of horror and science fiction within the Sacramento art community by hosting semi-annual art shows, projectionist events and horror and science-fiction film festivals. It looks like they also have art shows, special guests, musical performances, special FX guests and a few premiers.

Submitting your film: You can either use Without a Box or download an entry form here. Entry fees vary from $10 all the way to $50 depending on how long your film is and when you submit it.

Awards: I can't find anything about awards on the site.

October 23 - 26, 2008
Thriller! Chiller! takes place at the Wealthy Street Theatre in Grand Rapids, MI. They are currently accepting submission, you can register through Withoutabox here.

They give out awards such as: best feature, best short, best fx, best one-liner, best student film, best "thrill" and best "chill".

October 25
Day of the Undead Film Festival
Leicester, UK
http://www.terror4fun.com/

October 19 - 21 (2007 dates)
The INTERNATIONAL HORROR & SCI-FI FILM FESTIVAL takes place in late October in Tempe, Arizona. The festival, now it's third year, is a way to enlighten and educate folks about horror and sci-fi films - new ones, classics and retro classics. It's also an opportunity for people who love horror and sci-fi to get together. They attract plenty of guests, and showcase more than 50 films, including special screenings of popular movies, feature films and competition shorts. They also have a screenplay competition.

Submitting your film: The current deadline has passed, they'll start accepting entries for 2008 in May.

Awards: There are various awards available in different categories.

October 19 - 25 (2007 dates)
THE TORONTO AFTER DARK FILM FESTIVAL is an annual showcase of international sci-fi, horror and fantasy cinema. It features a diverse selection of feature-length premieres from Asia, Europe and North America. The festival also supports homegrown filmmakers with a showcase of Canadian short films. Last years festival was attended by over 4,000 fans and 60 members of the press and the industry. There's also a hugely popular zombie walk, plus a few parties and plenty of prizes.

Submitting your film: They just closed entries for the last festival, so there's no information on submitting right now.

Awards: There are various awards, none of which I can find on the site.

October 24 - 28 (2007 dates)
THE NEW YORK CITY HORROR FILM FESTIVAL takes place in New York for a week in October each year. It's a competitive festival, drawing a lot of special guests and decent films. Looking over the list of who's screened there, a lot of them go on to get picked up. They show around 60 films and accept features, shorts and screenplays.

Submitting your film: I'll have to update this later, as the festival is taking place as I write this and they don't have info on how to submit right now.

Awards: There's various awards, including: Best Feature Film, Best Short Film, Best Cinematography, Best Special Effects, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenplay and Audience Choice

October 25 - 29 (2007 dates)
The annual HORRORTHON festival takes place in Dublin, Ireland and it showcases the best in the genre in late October.

Submitting your film: As far as I can tell, you can't submit your film. Everything's booked or "showcased".

Awards: See above, I don't think there's any awards.

October 26 - 28 (2007 dates)
THE B-MOVIE FILM FESTIVAL takes place annually in Syracuse, New York. It was founded in 1999 by indie filmmaker Ron Bonk and it's a fairly established festival and does get some good coverage by the indie film circuit. The 8th annual festival takes place Friday Oct 26th through till Sunday Oct 28th, 2007. They'll be showing 12 features, 20 shorts and 5 documentaries.

Submitting your film: There's nothing on their site now, but I'm assuming that's because it's past their deadline. I'll update this once they put out the new submission form for 2008.

Awards: There are "Killer B" awards giving away in Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Best Foreign Film and other categories.

October 21 - November 2, 2008
The FARGO FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL is part of The Fargo Entertainment Expo that takes place in Fargo, ND. They exist to showcase the ambitious and creative independent filmmaker.

Submitting your film: Any length, format and style is accepted. There's an online entry form here. It'll cost you either $10 or $15, depending on when you enter.

Prizes: As far as I can tell, there's no prizes... but you never know.

October 26 - 28 (2007 dates)
IT CAME FROM LAKE MICHIGAN FILM FESTIVAL takes place in Racine, Wisconsin in late October. They're dedicated to promoting independent horror, sci-fi and fantasy films in the midwestern United States. The festival includes both short and feature films and unproduced scripts. They have special guests, plus give classes and workshops on things like Special FX and screenwriting.

Submitting your film: They accept shorts, features and screenplays in the horror, sci-fi and fantasy genres. It'll cost you $25 to submit a film and $20 to submit a script. There's an online submission form here.

Awards: An award of $250 will be given to the winning entry in each of the genre categories, as well as for the best original script.

October 27 - November 3 (2007 dates)
The DONOSTIA - SAN SEBASTIAN HORROR and FANTASY FILM FESTIVAL takes place in San Sebastian, Spain near the end of October. I can't say much more than that because it doesn't say much more than that on the site. There's lots of nice pictures, though...

Submitting your film: I couldn't find it, look through the site. Let me know if you can figure it out.

Awards: It looks like there's awards for the Best Spanish Short Film, various other short film awards, a Golden Melies for the Best European Fantastic Short Film and there's also a cash reward for the audience award for best feature film.

October 31/2008
The TABLOID WITCH AWARDS takes place in Santa Moncia, CA and they're looking for short and feature length horror films. They were founded by the Hollywood Investigator and winners are profiled in the publication.

Submitting your film: There's no entry fee and you simply send your film in to them, attn: Thomas M. Sipos, PO Box 1903, Santa Monica, CA 90406-1903

Awards: They will award trophies, that's about it.

October (various dates)
The BACKSEAT FILM FESTIVAL is a "rock 'n roll film fest devoted to the best in edgy, upretentious movies from all over the cinematic globe". The festival takes place in late January in Philadelphia, then takes the award winners and crowd favorites on the road to other cities, including Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Austin.

Submitting your film: Here's a link to their submission form, here. It costs $5 for a music video, $10 for a short, $15 for a featurette (31 - 60mins) and $20 for a feature (61mins+)

Awards: There must be some sort of awards, but they don't really list anything that I can find. Pabst Blue Ribbon is a sponsor, though... so, there's gotta be free beer. Good enough

October (no date set for 2008)
FEARLESS TALES takes place in San Francisco, CA and, as of this writing, has been postponed. It's an annual film festival that aims to provide the best in independent cinema. They find unique films, developed and produced by the truly independent artists and connect them with distributors and venues. Fearless Tales actively supports and promotes these films year round.

Submitting your film: I'm not really sure how you submit your film, but these guys seem pretty open to being contacted. All of their contact info is on this page.

Prizes: It doesn't look like there's any prizes, but it does look like a great networking opportunity and they truly seem to want to help...

October (no date set for 2008)
THE RHODE ISLAND INTERNATIONAL HORROR FILM FESTIVAL takes place in October in Newport, Rhode Island and is part of the bigger "Rhode Island International Film Festival" which happens to be the largest and only Academy Awards-qualifying festival in New England and takes place in August or something. The Festival will also consist of various other events, such as a costume contest and awards for Best Feature and Best Short and more... Fangoria and Rue Morgue are sponsors, so you know you're going to get exposure there and it's going to be a great networking opportunity. It looks like you can also enter a screenplay or attend camps or workshops, as well.

Submitting your film: You can either submit through Without a Box or download an application form here. You get $5 off your entry fee if you use Without a Box, which is $45 regardless of length.

Awards: There's all sorts of awards, plus you get lots of exposure. It looks like a great festival to be a part of.

October (no date set for 2008)
THE NEW ENGLAND SHRIEKS HORROR FILM FESTIVAL takes place in Somerville, MA and is a celebration of regional independent & amateur horror filmmaking. It was established to bring together horror filmmakers and fans in the blossoming New England film community. All films have to have a New England connection, check out the rules and regulations here.

Submitting your film: It's free and you can download the submission form here.

Awards: I think it's a fairly small little festival and it doesn't say anything about awards.

October (no date set for 2008)
The SALEM INDEPENDENT HORROR FILM FESTIVAL was cancelled in '07, but is currently planning to be back in '08. The festival showcases the talents of independent filmmakers in the horror genre.

Submitting your film: There's a form you can print out and send in here. $25 for shorts, $35 for features.

Awards: There are first, second and third prize awards and they are included in the festival for viewing by "film industry professionals".

October/November TBA
South African Horror Film Fest
Cape Town, South Africa
http://www.horrorfest.info/

October 16 - 19, 2008
Spooky Movie Film Festival takes place in Fairfax, Virginia October 16 - 19 and they'll be showing 50 films from 11 countries over 7 days in 3 theatres. They accept shorts to features - slasher, monster, zombies, ghosts, ghouls, terror, chiller, suspense, comedy - music videos, cartoons, documentaries, experimental, foreign language, trailers - fat, skinny, tall or short - they want to present a festival that is as diverse as Washington, D.C. itself. (From their site) You can currently submit your film, however they are currently a non-competitive festival, but they're partnered with FCC-TV, Artomatic and others, so you'll get a lot of exposure. Here's a link to their site.

October 25, 2008
The Madison Horror Film Festival's in its inaugural year and you can submit your film. (Late submission deadline is Sept 19th this year) For more info on submitting your film, go here. The event will take place at the Orpheum Theatre Stage Door in Madison, WI. Besides presenting some of the best independent short and feature films in the horror genre, they are pleased to announce Kenneth J. Hall as a guest speaker at the event. It looks like they'll have awards, although they don't mention any cash prizes. Full Moon is all over their website, so they may be a sponsor or involved somehow. Anyhow, I don't know any more than what the website says.

October 11, 2008
The Horror Society presents their first ever film festival and they'll be bringing you the most brutal, blood filled, and extreme horror ever seen on the big screen. Plus, it's all low-budget, underground horror and their goal is to provide a platform for aspiring independent film directors and talent to debut their work and skills to Chicago. They've already filled the slate of films, so you can't submit or anything, but if you're in the Chicago area, do check it out.


NOVEMBER

November 1 - 7 (2007 dates)
RED BLOOD BUENOS AIRES is Argentina's only festival that specializes in fantastic, horror and bizarre films. They tend to only showcase local independent and low-budget films, but have shown some international ones, as well. They show films in all formats and all lengths. The bulk of the site is Spanish, so I can't report much more than that.

Submitting your film: There's a word document that you can print off and mail in, you can find the link here.

Awards: There's various awards, including: Best Feature, Best Feature Director, Best Feature Actress, Best Feature Screenplay, Best FX, Audience Award for Best Feature, Best Short Film, Best Short Film Director and Audience Award for Best Short Film.

November TBA
Sitges Fantastic Film Festival
Catalonia, Spain
http://www.sitges.com/

November 9 - 18 (2007 dates)
HORRORFEST'S 8 FILMS TO DIE FOR runs, this year, from November 9 to 18 in over 500 theatres in 35 American cities. It's an annual celebration of the horror genre and showcases eight films that run the spectrum of horror to thriller to gore to supernatural. It's a unique festival, as it's nation-wide. It's put on by After Dark Films, who distributes all the films.

Submitting your film: No chance, they're all films that have been picked up by After Dark.

Awards: Not really applicable.

DECEMBER

New on DVD - Sept 18, 2007

There's a couple of good releases coming out tomorrow, there's also a few stinkers... notably, Quentin Tarantino's "Death Proof". I'm sure that Tarantino fans will eat it up, but they'd eat up any slop that he puts on the screen.

Definitely check out the top-notch British horror, "Severance", starring Danny Dyer. It's basically "The Office", but it's a slasher flick. It's got lots of laughs and some really good gore. I loved it.

The, sure-to-be-awful, "BloodRayne 2" comes out, as well. I've checked out a bit of it, it looked pretty bad and further to that, I've read nothing but bad things.

"The Insatiable" is also being released tomorrow and word is it's quite good, but I haven't seen it yet. It stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Michael Biehn... I'll endorse anything that Kyle Reese is in.

Then there's "Dorm of the Dead", I'd check it out because... well, because the title rules.

There's a bunch of great titles being rereleased on Blu-Ray or as a rereleases, too - Rob Zombie's 1st (and best) film, "House of 1,000 Corpses" is out on Blu-Ray, "Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things" is rereleased and look for the 'genius 2pak' of Pulse and Black Christmas.

One final movie of note... "That 70's Show's" very own Fez (Wilmer Valderrama) stars in "The Dead One" and looks very creepy on the cover.

New horror releases for Sept 18, 2007

New to theaters - Sept 14, 2007

Distributed by Freestyle Releasing, the much anticipated "D-War" or "Dragon Wars" has it's North American debut tomorrow.

D-War is a South Korean film, directed by Shim Hyung-rae, who's next biggest film is his previous film, Reptilian (D-War is a sequel of sorts). He announced that he was making D-Wars way back in 2002 and had a reel made for it in 2003. They didn't start filming until October 2004, then ended in December. The next three years were all spent on the creature effects. It premiered at the American Film Market in early 2007 and was called "a Z-grade, irony-free script" that would be destined to be "the most expensive cult movie on DVD". It was released in Korea on August 1st, 2007. It set a box office record for the most watched film in it's opening week and as of September 1st, it's grossed $44 million in Korea alone. It's critical panned, but audiences love it... What can I say? I'd pay $10 to see dinosaur's eat each other.

Check out the trailer here.

Hyung-rae Shim's filmography:
Reptilian
Dragon Tuka
Power King
Tirannoui baltob
Pinkbit gangtong
Young-guwa gongryong Zzu-Zzu
Young-guwa heubhyeolgwi dracula

Other movies having theatrical releases tomorrow: The Brave One, Mr. Woodcock, Silk, Moving McAllister, Across the Universe, Eastern Promises, In the Valley of Elah, Ira & Abby, King of California, December Boys and Great World of Sound.

"Eastern Promises" looks good... and check out the trailer to "Great World of Sound", might not be bad.

That's it for horror releases this week. Next week: Resident Evil: Extinction and a bunch of other crap.

Hollywood Zombies

Came across Hollywood Zombies on TMZ.com... thought I'd share. They're a series of cards by Topps, the same company that brought you Garbage Pail Kids. Check out the Hollywood Zombies homepage here.

Note of interest: Michael Eisner's new company, The Tornante Company, acquired Topp's less than a year ago, if I remember correctly. Might be something going on there... I'll have to look into it and possibly update this post later...

Profile - Anchor Bay Entertainment (Starz Home Entertainment)

Every once in a while, I'm going to profile distribution companies or a production company just for interests sake. I might as well start with Anchor Bay Entertainment, as they seem to release piles of good horror movies, year after year. So far, in 2007, they've released Unholy, Masters of Horror: Season One Box Set, Halloween: Restored Limited Edition... and coming soon: more Masters of Horror, Demons/Demons 2, Dawn of the Dead [Blu-ray], Day of the Dead [Blu-ray], Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn [Blu-ray], Halloween [Blu-ray], Hellraiser: 20th Anniversary Edition (Ws), among others...

History: Anchor Bay Entertainment was formed in 1989, as a division of IDT Entertainment until Liberty Media (the owner of the Starz cable network) purchased IDT Entertainment from IDT Corp. in 2006 and renamed it all Starz Media. At that time, Starz Entertainment had 16 movie channels, the Film Roman, Anchor Bay Entertainment, Starz Animation, Toronto and Manga Entertainment brands of production and distribution companies and then, in the Fall of 2006, they also launched Overture Films, which develops, produces, acquires and distributes motion pictures worldwide. Since re-branding Anchor Bay as Starz Media, they subsequently decided to bring back the Anchor Bay Entertainment name, solely for it's horror titles.

Note of interest: Starz Home Entertainment actually released various editions of the Evil Dead trilogy on DVD, including the two-disc "Army of Darkness (Boomstick Edition)". Before Starz released The Evil Dead, it was not available on video. They later lost the distribution rights to Universal, who owned the film rights. Apparently the Anchor Bar releases are better quality and have better special features...

Notable Anchor Bay Entertainment releases:

Behind the Mask - The Rise of Leslie Vernon
C.H.U.D.
Children of the Corn
Dawn of the Dead (Divimax Edition)
Day of the Dead (Divimax Special Edition)
Demons
Demons 2 - The Nightmare Returns
The Evil Dead
Evil Dead II (Special Edition)
Army of Darkness - Director's Cut
Evilspeak
Halloween [Blu-ray]
Hellraiser: 20th Anniversary Edition (Ws)
The Hills Have Eyes
Masters of Horror: Season One Box Set
Near Dark (2pc) (Ws Spec)
Night of the Living Dead (30th Anniversary Limited Numbered Edition)
Phantasm
Puppetmaster vs. Demonic Toys
Re-Animator
Sleepaway Camp Survival Kit (Movies 1-3)
Suspiria (2-Disc Special Edition)

If you're interested in Anchor Bay Entertainment from a business perspective, check out Liberty Media (NASDAQ:LCAPA)