Sure, I could lead with "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street", but I'm not. This site isn't about big budget films (although I did kinda like "Sweeney Todd" and I will cover it second), this site is about indie horror... so, I'll lead with indie horror. Let's start with Anchor Bay's "The Cook"."The Cook
" is being released by Anchor Bay and it comes from director Gregg Simon. Simon worked for Brett Ratner while he was in college, then went on to make music videos and do some work in commercials, all while he also out making short films. His award-winning short film "The Final Resolution" screened at 15 international film festivals and earned him a slot as a finalist in the Project Greenlight Directors Competition. "The Cook" is his first feature length film and it's filled with boobs and guts. The story revolves around a sorority house over a long weekend and the handful of girls that stay behind for three days of partying, sex games and strangely delicious meals prepared by their odd new chef. The sisters start disappearing and the remaining ones 'find themselves trapped in a nightmare of graphic slaughter, involuntary cannibalism and heaping helpings of gourmet nudity'. Sold!So, a lot of low-budget horror gore hounds are not going to like "Sweeney Todd - The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
", but it is a horror... and it does have gore. Admittedly, it does take a bit to get over the fact that they sing throughout the whole movie and I'm not really a big musical fan, but... look, it's the best movie that came out of the "Best Movie" category at the Oscars as far as I'm concerned and the story is great. Did you know that they actually had to cut some of the movie to get an R rating? The American cut focuses more on Johnny Depp than the gore, so maybe you should check out the international cut for that extra 'je ne sais quoi'? Either way, culture yourself and watch it... as far as horror-musicals are concerned, we can only hope that "Repo! The Genetic Opera" is half as good."Fear House
" comes from indie writer/director Michael Morris, whose only other feature is "Last Seen at Angkor", although he's made a couple of shorts, also. I don't know too much about him, but it looks like he got his start as a P.A., then worked a bit as a D.P. before breaking into writing and directing... "Fear House" is about a group of friends and family who pursue an estranged writer to an isolated house, only to find that once they've entered, their own fears will kill them if they leave.James Van Der Beek in a movie about a giant squid, must be a Sci-Fi Original... "Eye of the Beast
" is, in fact, a Sci-Fi Original and it comes from director Gary Yates and writer Mark Mullin. Gary Yates is actually an award winning Canadian director and "Eye of the Beast" marks his inaugural move into horror, even though he quickly followed it up with another Sci-Fi Original, "Maneater". Mark Mullin wrote another Sci-Fi Original, "Something Beneath", as well as "Extreme Ops". I'll tell you what, once you get in at with the Sci-Fi channel, you're in. "Eye of the Beast" is about a government scientist who is sent to investigate a reported story of a giant squid that appears to be devouring everything within sight and scent... and he uncovers a one-ton, tentacled terror with its eye on a new feast... man.The low-budget, indie horror "Divine Intervention
" comes from first time director Rufus Chaffee. From what I can tell, from reading their press kit (which you can find here), it looks like a few of them got together to write the script, then they did some auditions, built up a bit of a reel, then managed to secure a bit of financing. Enough, anyhow, to shoot it on High Def, get a decent light kit and get some audio design and a score put to it. Shot entirely in Ware, MA, it takes place in Ware and is about four friends who fight an insane man's crusade to eliminate sinners from the small Western town."Purvos
" comes from writer/director Jerry Williams and it was originally part of the Tomb of Terrors package, but now it's getting its own release. It stars Conrad Brooks, who's been in so many crappy horror films, I can't count them, and it's about the tormented dreams of insomnia patients, which have a terrifying connection - they all dream of a murderous clown called Purvos, who's very real and closer than anyone would ever had imagined."Das Komabrutale Duell
" is actually a few years old, it came out in 1999. I usually don't cover movies that are older, as I like to concentrate on the newer, indie stuff that comes out, but... this deserves mention. Directed by Heiko Fipper's (it's the only thing he's ever done) "Das Komabrutale Duell" could be the bloodiest and goriest film ever made... and it's being called a 'gem of an amateur splatter gorefest', 'sit down, open some beers and have fun watching the characters kill each other in the most bizarre ways'. Okay, I might just do that..."Hell's Threshold
" is from writer/director Felix Diaz and it was supposedly filmed over a 24 hour period... so, I'm thinking it's as indie, micro-cinema as it gets. Diaz's only other film is "Superhero Excelsior", a rock n roll, superhero comedy, which had great reviews. I haven't seen "Hell's Threshold" yet, but I'm interested to see a micro-budget film that was shot over a 24 hour period... I think I'll keep my expectations low.New horror on DVD today:
on Amazon. Further, his article "Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business" is being flushed out into a book and should be out in 2009.... I'm assuming that it, too, will probably be a must read.
", which I thought was one of the best films of 2007. It was written and directed by Frank Darabont, who also did two other Stephen King adaptations, "The Green Mile" and "The Shawshank Redemption". Looking through his resume, "The Mist" is by far the darkest thing that Darabont has done... It stars Thomas Jane, who you might remember as The Punisher from the 2004 version, but he's been in lots of stuff, including David Arquette's "The Tripper" from 2006. I don't know what else to tell you, but that you should see it. It was awesome... and I can't believe that it only made $25Million at the box office, bringing it in at number 95 on the box office gross list for 2007, right on top of "The Reaping" and right below "Nancy Drew". My bet is that "The Mist" gets a big run on DVD, it's really worth checking out...
", so I'll just cut and paste some of what I already wrote. Usually, I'd just gloss over this and not bother, but... It turns out that it's actually a pretty good film and I wrote up that I wouldn't watch it because it's in French. So, I take it back. Check it out... It's about a couple who have recently moved to this rural part of Romania and are awakened in the middle of the night by a series of disturbing noises. They investigate, only to find their car being stolen. Attempts to report the crime to the local police are unsuccessful and soon the couple realizes that the mysterious figures have returned... and are trying to enter their house. It's been well received internationally, has been called "77 minutes of gloriously maintained tension" and now "the film that terrified Europe has come to America".
" is a remake of the 1986 classic of the same name. This one is written and directed by Mitchell Altieri and Phil Flores, otherwise known as 'The Butcher Brothers'. I'm not sure why they have that alter-ego, but I'm pretty sure that it's self proclaimed. In any case, their first feature film was "The Hamiltons", which won the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and the Malibu International Film Festival, was selected for the '8 Films to Die For' festival and was, subsequently, picked up and released by Lionsgate in 2006. After a career in music video's, a big break and sucess with "The Hamilton's", they go on to remake "April Fool's Day" as a straight-to-DVD release.
" actually won Harry Basil the best feature award at the New York City Horror Film Festival. It was filmed over a couple months in 2006 and the story is based around that urban legend out of San Antonio where a school bus of children were all killed in a terrible train accident and if you stop your car in neutral on the tracks where the accident happened, the ghosts of the children will push it to a safe area. You know the one? Anyhow, the movie centers around a teenage girl who just finished rehab and moves in with her sister, when the two of them investigate mysterious happenings occuring around town that could be connected to the legend. Harry Basil has actually had a crazy career and I talked a bit about it when I was discussing one of his other films, "Soul's Midnight". Originally a comedian, he's been doing various horror films lately, which is crazy. Any guy who can direct both "Funky Monkey", which is about a super-ninja, secret agent football star chimp AND "Soul's Midnight", which is about a vampire cult seeking to resurrect their leader, is alright in my books. Actually, he's better than alright... that's f'ing genius and it's the definition of a diverse career.
" is just coming out on DVD now, it feels like forever ago that I watched it. Either way, it's a great horror film... and, of course, the subject matter, as well as the way the film's put together, should entertain the viewers. It's about a group of American backpackers, who are constantly high, and their Irish guide who are stalked by a serial killer while out in the woods looking for, well... shrooms. It was written by Pearse Elliot and directed by Paddy Breathnach and it won Paddy best director honors, as well as best film honors, at the Irish Film and Television Awards.
" is not a zombie film... However, it is a shocking and grotesque film about family dysfunction, so it's got that going for it, which is nice. It's about a desperated husband, who leaves his bedridden wife alone with their son James, who happens to be a schizophrenic man-child. In a horrific fit of dementia, James abandons his medication, locks the doors, and plays nurse. As his ability to distinguish morbid fantasy from reality decays, he plunges into a mental labyrinth so violent and deranged, none of them may survive it. It's written and directed by Simon Rumley, who won a best director award for it at the Austin Fantastic Fest, as well as a new visions award at Sitges - Catalonian International Film Festival. It was done on a fairly low-budget by Simon Rumley, who got the idea from watching his own mother dying of cancer and the maddening cycles of hope, helplessness, anxiety and guilt that families experience while dealing with organized health care.
", until I realized that it's actually an unrated version of 2003's "Garden of Love" by Olaf Ittenbach under a new title. There's only two things you need to know about this film. (1) It's basically a goofy, German, splatter-fest about a girl who's haunted by her father, a musician who died, along with a bunch of his friends, a few years earlier. (2) Olaf Ittenbach is a buddy of Uwe Boll's, worked on a bunch of his films and mainly concentrates on special effects. So, with that, you should know exactly what you're getting when you get this film...
" was written and directed by Jeremy Wallace, who happens to be a V.P. in charge of production, distribution and marketing at Wicked Pixel Cinema, which distributed "Deadwood Park", "Savage Harvest 2: October Blood", among a few other indie horror's. It's a low-budget slasher film about six friends who stumble upon an old town with a deadly secret... which is a seven foot-tall homicidal maniac who's sole purpose in life is to rid the town of strangers in the most violent manner his mangled mind can dream up. F yeah....
" when it came out on February 14th. Maybe it's because that was a Thursday and I usually only check the new releases on Tuesdays. Either way, I missed it and it first came to my attention when I actually had a chance to discuss the film with the writer and producer, Jackie Olson. So, in a way, I'm kind of glad I missed it, as I got to hear all about how and why it was made before I watched it.
" There may be confusion regarding the title, but make no confusion when it comes to the star of "Wrestlemaniac", for he is Rey Misterio Sr! Mexico's most famous professional wrestler! Why he is not the hero of this movie, I have no idea. They really dropped the ball there... Instead, he plays insane wrestler, El Mascarado, who escaped from a mental home after having 50 lobotomies.... that's right, 50 lobotomies. He then he runs into a low-budget porn crew on their way to Cabo and kills them one by one, usually by ripping their faces off. "Wrestlemaniac" was written, directed, produced and edited by Jesse Baget. I'd tell you more about him, but Rey Misterio told me not to.
" is Sci-Fi original, this one directed by David Flores. Flores seems to be one of their 'go to' guys, as he's directed a few of them, including: "Lake Placid 2", "S.S. Doomtrooper", "Crimson Force" and, the all-time classic, "Boa vs. Python". I'm not sure if "B.V.P." is a Sci-Fi original, but... the others are... in all honesty, I just wanted another chance to mention it, so I could abbreviate it to "B.V.P." Anyhow, Flores' credits read like a '5 for 1' bin at Blockbuster, having also worked on "Maximum Velocity", "Dragon Fighter" and "Phantom Force". The plot to "Sands of Oblivion" is actually kind of interesting and they've got some decent actors in it, including: Adam Baldwin from "Firefly" (who was also 'Animal Mother' in "Full Metal Jacket"), Dan Castellaneta from "The Simpsons", George Kennedy from the "Naked Gun" movies and Morena Baccarin, also from "Firefly" and "Stargate SG-1". The plot is about the reasons behind why Cecil B DeMille bulldozed the sets from "The Ten Commandments", which they say is because there were legitimate Egyptian artifacts being used as props and one of them housed the spirit of an Egyptian avenging god... which gets released when these archeologists try to dig up the set.
" is, yet, another Sci-Fi Original. This one is directed by Jamie Dixon, who has a long career in visual effects. This is his second stint as a director, his first was almost ten years ago on "Shadow Builder". To be honest, I don't have much to say on this... it stars a bunch of TV actors, most of whom I don't know... it's set in present day Afghanistan and centers on a group of soldiers who endeavor to capture a fanatical terrorist named Fazul, who has escaped into the maze of caves underlying the landscape of the country. As the troops spelunk, they encounter one major obstacle - genetically altered bats programmed to seek out flesh and eat it. It's the sequel to 1999's "Bats" and, really, has nothing to do with it... except for the genetically altered bats part.
" is a Thai psychological thriller that was originally called "13 Beloved" when it came out in Thailand theaters on October 5, 2006. It's directed by Chukiat Sakveerakul and he won various awards in his native country for the film. This is only his second feature and it was shot on a meager budget of $400,000, which is remarkably low for what he accomplished with the film. "13 Beloved" is about a man who is led through progressively challenging, degrading and dangerous stunts by mysterious callers from an underground reality game show.
", directed by Oliver Kellisch and Andreas Pape, comes out on DVD in North America today, after being originally released in Germany on October 13, 2004. The plot revolves around a late night rave at an abandoned chemical plant, which has nasty consequences after leaking chemicals turn the partiers into ravenous zombies. I haven't seen it, but what can I say about German horror? Expect lots of over-the-top gore and a low, low buget. Take Uwe Boll, pump up the guts, trim down the budget...
" is from director Ryan Cavalline, who's made three other films with very similar themes, "House of Carnage", "Dead Body Man", "Evil Tales 3: The Final Chapter" and "Serial Killer". "Aspiring Psychopath" is about a girl, Lucinda, who wants to be a serial killer, so she watches other killers and their daily routines (fairly simple stuff to do, who doesn't watch a serial killer every once in a while?), she studied them and learned from them, now she's ready to go out and kill on her own. First, though, she must take out the teacher she learned from. It stars veteran B-Movie star, Joel D. Wynkoop, who's been in over 30 films, all... exclusively, low-budget horror.
". Check it out or I'll bite your ear off and I'll make a boot out of it!
" has a few things going for it... (1) it won the audience award for best feature at Cine-Fest, 'Best of Fest' at another and it won "Best Zombie Film" at the Fright Night Film Festival. (2) It's as indie as it gets, with the special effects, music, editing, producing, cinematography, writing and directing all being done by the same guy, Mark E. Pool. (3) They're pending certification from the Guiness Book of World Records for having the largest cast of zombies and the largest zombie scene ever filmed... Oh yeah, the plot... it's a zombie movie.
" is being released by Dimension Extreme, the 'extreme horror' arm of the Weinstein's company. This film was one of Fangoria's top 10 horror films of 2006 and screened at tons of horror festivals, but don't let those accolades fool you - it's a low-budget, indie horror. Shot in the summer of 2005 on a budget of $30K, it was written and directed by Steven C Miller right after he left film school. He made an award winning short film, "Suffer or Sacrifice", while at Full Sail Film School in Orlando, FL, then made this. It's generated tons of buzz and it's the first of a trilogy. I guess it's doing alright, because he's currently working on the sequel, "Automaton Transfusion: Contingency".
" comes from writer/director Franklin Guerrero Jr., who's only other feature film is "The 8th Plague". I haven't seen this unrated version, but I have seen the other version... it's your run of the mill backwoods, 'based on a true story', slasher flick until you get to the end... and the last 20 minutes is for the gore-hounds. I'm not sure what else will be added, but the ending is pretty good, if you're into the special effects and blood and guts.
" is one of the made for TV films from Sci Fi Pictures, directed by Tibor Takacs, who's made tons of 'like quality' films, such as "Ice Spiders" and "Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep". Sci Fi Pictures original films actually comes out with quite a few low-budget horrors and some of it isn't bad. I'm not sure how their process works, as far as how they commission films, but I may look into it. They typically make films with budgets of $1 - $2 Million and they air around 28 original movies per year.
" was written and directed by Rick Walker, whose day job is hosting a morning radio show in Oklahoma City. Over his 28 year career, he's casually been picking up filmmaking and screenwriting accolades, having won various awards. "The Fun Park" is his second directorial effort, the other one being a romantic comedy called, "Sam & Janet". Okay... won't be checking out that one, but, "The Fun Park" is about 'Bobo - The Insult Clown', who was supposedly murdered 26 years ago, but was discovered living in the bowels of an abandoned fun park by a group of kids. Bizarre and grisly, ritual murders ensue...
" is being released by Maverick Entertainment and was directed by Joseph Contegiacomo, who usually goes by Joe Conti, I guess. The title and artwork are blatant rip-offs of "Army of Darkness", so I'm having a bit of a tough time with this one... Joe Conti got his start in the world of visual effects, then crossed over into writing and directing with "Bugs" in 2003. "Army of the Dead" marks his second stint as a director. "Army of the Dead" is about a university professor and his students, who unwittingly unleash a long dormant curse while visiting the Baja peninsula and find themselves in a life or death battle with an army of skeletal warriors, the undead remnants of Coronado's conquistadors. Having read that, it's not really a rip-off, well... kind of. Couldn't they have called it something else?
", about a desperate criminal and a merciless posse who become trapped in a remote Mexican ghost town by a vengeful demon. As far as I'm concerned, all of Pyun's movies are 'must see's' and if you don't know about the Hawaiin born director with a penchant for making films that mix martial arts and science ficition in dystopic and post-apocalyptic settings and sometimes involve cyborgs, lets take a look at some of his highlights. Well, of course, there's the classic, "Cyborg", starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, the "Nemesis" series, "Omega Doom", "Postmorten" and "Urban Menace", just to name a few... I say he's back, but, really... Pyun makes an average of two movies a year. In fact, he's made 5 movies inbetween this film, "Left for Dead", which came out in 2007, and it's sequel, "Left for Dead 2", which comes out in 2008.
" is the directorial debut from Christine Parker, who also wrote and produced the film. It's being released under The Adrenalin Group label, which is her label, so I believe that means that she's distributing it independently, which is great. It's the prequel to a 15-minute short that she made called "Second Death" and it was done on the cheap. I don't know much about it, but from what I've read, it's a true indie horror, so do yourself and the industry favor and pick it up.
" is your film. Written, directed, shot, composed, edited and staring Dave Wascavage, "Suburban Sasquatch" is about the mystical and mysterious Bigfoot, who goes on a blood thirsty rampage in the heart of peaceful suburbia. I love the cover art because it looks nothing like the guy in the gorilla suit in the film, which you can see in the trailer 
" is about a seminarian who embarks on a bizarre and horrifying quest that will end in a blood-bath of insanity, cannibalism and witchcraft. To be honest, the trailer looks great and it doesn't hurt that it looks like there's at least one blood soaked sex scene in it... boobs in trailers always sell me. Here's a 
" is about a fireman who suffers from post traumatic stress disorder after working the tragic events of 9-11. Searching for a fresh start, he heads to a rural town, where he has to seek treatment for his recurring nightmares... which don't go away. In fact, they turn into a terrifying reality. It's getting some decent reviews and it looks pretty good, but if you're going to pick it up, pick it up because Gunnar Hansen and Debbie Rochon are in it.
" - I couldn't find anything but this blurb, so here's the blurb: From the makers of DEAD CLOWNS ("one of the most effective indie horror films I've seen in years" - bloody-digusting.com) comes a new tale of coulophobia! Suzi Lorraine (Chainsaw Sally, Satan's Schoolgirls) plays Laura Wiggington, a woman recently discharged from a psychiatric hospital. Her husband Ray (Tom Stedham) takes her to an isolated river cottage to recover. There she is stalked by a psychopathic clown named Dissecto (Lucien Eisenach -- Hellbound: Book of the Dead) who performs macabre "tricks" for his literally captive audiences. But does the clown really lurk nearby or only in the dark recess of Laura's troubled mind?
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