Dr Gangrene's Heebie Jeebies Horror Short Film Festival

Have you shot a horror short lately?  Have an idea for a horror short and you think you can finish it by August 22nd?  Well, why not enter it in Dr. Gangrene's Heebie Jeebies Horror Short Film Fest?  If you're interested, check out this press release that we found in our inbox!  


Dr. Gangrene and Culture Cringe Give You The Heebee Jeebees.

Horror Short Film Contest Set To Invade Bucket City

Murfreesboro, TN (07.24.2012) Nashville horror host Dr. Gangrene is teaming with Culture Cringe for the First Annual Heebie Jeebies Horror Short Film Festival. The one night event will showcase horror short films made locally in the middle Tennessee area as well as around the globe.

Dr. Gangrene said of the festival, “I'm excited to partner with Culture Cringe for the Heebie Jeebies film festival. They've been doing some exciting events in Murfreesboro, and their energy and enthusiasm will help make this an exciting event!”

Films will be screened September 29th 2012 at 3 Brothers Deli and Brewhouse located in the heart of Murfreesboro Tennesee, followed by an Award Scaremony honoring the best of the festival. Awards will be given for Best Director, Actor, Actress, Funniest Short, Scariest Short, Best Music Video, a best young film maker award and the Grand Prize of the festival will presented with the coveted Cringie Statue. Winners will also be included on a dvd release from Shackle Island Studios and Culture Cringe and aired on THE CW on Dr. Gangrene Presents television program.

Alongside Dr. Gangrene the festival is being curated by Benjamin Kaboom of Culture Cringe and film maker Cameron McCasland. McCasland said of the films being selected to screen, “I think everyone involved with Heebie Jeebies likes the idea of No Budget Lo-Fi film making. People just picking up a camera and shooting something that scares them, inspires them, makes them laugh, whatever. We want something different. It doesn’t have to be slick to make a good movie. I honestly just love the idea of friends running around in back yards and city streets making monster movies for the hell of it. Thats the stuff I want to see! ”

Films must be 22 minutes in length or less, horror themed,  and meet TV decency standards. The contest is open to U.S. and Canadian citizens. Submissions must be received by August 22, 2012 A full list of rules can be found at http://heebiejeebiesfilmfest.blogspot.com

Culture Cringe is a label specializing in LO-FI media releases of indie musical artists and films on cassette tape, vhs, and a handcrafted self published zine. Culture Cringe podcast all things strange from Bucket City, Murfreesboro TN,  Culture Cringe continues to put on shows and events in offbeat places with a focus on keeping things local and weird. For more information check out culturecringe.com

Larry Underwood is an award winning writer and television producer. Outside of his role of Dr. Gangrene , he writes a regular column for Scary Monsters Magazine and daily musings in his Tales From The Lab Blog at DrGangrene.com

Cameron McCasland is an Emmy nominated film maker from Edgewood Texas who has called Nashville home since 2001. His work has been seen on MTV, CMT, The CW, and film festivals around the globe. His upcoming feature film “The Lashman” is due out later this year.

New Horror Festival: Horror-on-Sea Film Festival

If I'm going to be telling everyone how important the film festivals and screenwriting competitions are, I should probably start updating our listings of them.  It could be a while until I get through all of that, but until then... here's a new one you should check out.  Best part about this one?  It's free to enter.  Also,  really like the idea of a faux trailer competition.  Here's what festival director, Paul Cotgrove, had to say: 

Next January sees the start of a brand new Horror Film Festival based in the seaside resort of Southend-on-Sea, Essex. England. The Horror-on-Sea Film Festival will be screening a mix of Horror Films from the UK and the rest of the world. We are now accepting feature length submissions on DVD until the 30th September and admission is free. There is also a faux trailer competition. Please go to www.horror-on-sea.com or email horror@thewhitebus.org.uk for further details.

Be sure to check it out!

Toronto After Dark Announces its Lineup - Watch Out For "The Human Centipede"

It goes without saying that the Toronto International Film Festival is one of the big fests of the year. It ranks up there with Cannes, Sundance and Trebecca. It's also big for horror... because, in conjunction with TIFF, we get Toronto After Dark. Toronto After Dark is now in its 5th year and they bring attention to new, innovative, independent and international horror, sci-fi, action and cult films and they JUST released their 2010 lineup. What I like about it is that festivals like this are a good gauge for what's going to be hot over the next year or so. Festivals like this not only break films, but they break new sub-genres and film styles. So, as a writer or emerging filmmaker, it's good to look at what's coming out and it may even give you some ideas. Here's a link to the announcement, but I'm going to look at and discuss a few of the films that are screening.

"The Last Lovecraft" is a monster comedy where a group of social misfits battle an assortment of sea monsters that are trying to take over the earth. Now, I'm bullish on monster and creature films... and if you're a regular reader, you probably know that. It's interesting to see that the formula for zombie films is being taken to monster films, which is a new twist. I mean, there are so many zombie comedies that it's spawned a whole new sub-genre called the zombedy. These days, if it's not a comedy about social misfits fighting zombies, it's against the grain. So, I think this is big for the monster and creature sub-genres. Maybe not this particular film, but the fact that films like this are getting made and getting out there. Watch for more creature features and monster films... I think they're going to be big over the next year or so.

"Doghouse" and "Evil in the Time of Heroes" are both part of Toronto After Dark's Zombie Appreciation Night. Truthfully, how much gas is left in the zombie tank? It's unbelievable. But, people still love them and they still sell... so, guess what that means? They're going to keep making them. I mean, "Zombieland" was a big hit last year and Romero seems to be back on track, making a new dead film every couple years. I wouldn't venture this path, personally, but... it's interesting to see the legs that the genre has. Zombies seem to always sell.

"Human Centipede" and "Rubber" are both, simply, bizarre. I haven't seen "Rubber", but I've heard about it. It's about a killer tire with feelings and it screened at Cannes. "Human Centipede", I have seen and, well... it's about a scientist that wants to create just that - a human centipede. He wants to sew humans together, ass to mouth. You've gotta see it, it doesn't disappoint. The interesting thing is that these bizarre films are getting their due. I mean, the ideas are way out there, but people talk about them, they get a ton of buzz and people watch because they're intrigued. If you wrote a script called "Human Centipede" and submitted it to screenwriting competitions or to agents or managers, you're damn right it's going to get read. Why? Because it's called "Human Centipede". Writing or making bizarre films is a great way to get noticed, just make sure you can deliver when they get past the title.

Anyhow, I suggest you go through their site and check out all the films that are screening. Have a great weekend!

Film Festival Updates: The Paranoia Horror Film Festival

I have been aboard the RMS Queen Mary. It's true. I've also seen the Spruce Goose, which is housed next to it at Long Beach. They're tourist attractions now. However, before the Queen Mary was retired in 1967, it was used as a cruise ship, then to transport troops during World War II and then back to being a cruise ship. And now, like I said, there's kids running around it, line ups, cotton candy, things like that... What most of those fat little kids don't know is that ghosts have been reported on board, but only after it docked in California. You see, in 1966, an 18 year old fireman was crushed by a watertight door in the engine room and his ghost is said to haunt the ship. In fact, because of all that, the Queen Mary operates daily paranormal themed tours, some of which have theatrics and effects. There's a haunted maze and they do some other stuff on Halloween. If you remember, the X-Files also did an episode on the ship, although it wasn't about The Queen Mary, it was about the Bermuda Triangle and the ship stood in for a WWII-era vessel. So, why am I bringing this all up? Well, because The Queen Mary will be hosting the first annual Paranoia Horror and Sci-Fi Convention and Film Festival this March 13th - 15th.

The Paranoia Horror and Sci-Fi Convention and Film Festival or "Paranoia", as they'd like to be coined, is vying to be the world's largest Horror Convention & Film Festival and they'd like to find the next great thing in horror each and every year. So, they're doing a judged festival and will be accepting submissions for feature-length films, short films, videos, trailers and screenplays. You have until February 14th to get your submission in and you can find more information on submitting by going to their site and clicking on the submissions page. By the way, the site is a little tough to navigate... that is, until you figure out that all the candles are the different tabs. You might figure that out right away, but it took me a few minutes. They'll be giving out awards for Best short film, best director, best actor, best actress, best scream, scariest scene, best sfx, best screenplay, best trailer and an audience award.

On top of the films, they will also present midnight showings of classic horror movies in the boiler room, along with a themed "Dinner of the Dead". I'm also assuming that there's some sort of convention aspect, but I can't guarantee that, as there's a candle to go to sponsorship opportunities, but it hasn't been updated, so there's no mention of tables or anything like that. Having said that, the world "convention" IS in the title, so there's gotta be something going on.

As for details, just to reiterate, it's the Paranoia Horror Film Festival and it's from March 13th - 15th. Their website is Paranoiafest.com and it's held aboard The Queen Mary in Long Beach, California.

That's all we got for this week... I think we'll throw a post up on Monday about all the horror DVD's coming out, then shut down for the week for Christmas. You never know, though... we could get all aled and feel compelled to write something.

Exclusive Interview with "Claw", Festival Director of The Terror Film Festival

I think we can agree that horror, as a genre, kinda peaks in October... and, really, it's with good reason. We're getting into Fall, where everything dies and it's the month that's got Halloween in it... and that's a pretty scary holiday. Anyhow, on top of all that, it also has the most horror film releases and horror film festivals. So, if you're into horror, it's a pretty damned good month. Last week, alone, had at least 7 festivals and conferences going on somewhere and some of those were among the best festivals of the year. One that happened to be last week and definitely makes the cut for 'one of the best' is The Terror Film Festival in Philly.

The Terror Film Festival took place from October 21 - 25 in Philadelphia, PA this year and, really, it's one of the best, if not THE best film festival for indie horror. There's a lot that they do for you, the filmmaker, that no other festival does. However, I'm not going to tell you about it... I'm going to let "Claw", the Terror Film Festival Director tell you about it.

Please tell us a bit about yourselves… how’d you get into indie horror?

We're just indie filmmakers who love horror films (plus other genres). And we got into it by simply wanting to shoot a movie. And then another, and then another, etc. And here we are.

Tell us a bit about TFF… when and why did it get started?

It got started in 2006 because we wanted to start bringing credit and recognition to indie filmmakers in these genres. Most people don't realize it, but genre films make up most of the box office revenue in the world. They make billions of dollars.

From the perspective of the film, why should indie horror filmmakers try to get their films into festivals?

Well, I don't know much about other film festivals. We're kinda in a bubble here at TFF. We don't compete with other fests and we don't concern ourselves with how the other fests run. And we don't do it for money's sake. We're TRUE horror fans at TFF (Halloween, Candyman, Hitchcock, etc). And we run it all from our own creativity and only do what we feel is good for the filmmakers and screenwriters. I don't know what other fests offer, but I do know that our website gets a lot of traffic from them. But regardless, we bust our butts for the filmmakers and screenwriters. We honestly know every piece of their project. Plus, we've pioneered a LOT of original concepts that no other fests have ever done. Such as, we list the Submitted films and screenplays on our website with links to their websites. No one's EVER done that before. They're starting to now, but they're just copying our moves really. And we also work on getting people deals and ask for nothing in return. No percentage. No one else does that either. And then there's Princess Horror. No one else has ever had a cool, sexy spokesperson. Of course now they're springing up at other fests and horror corporations, but none of them even comes close to Princess Horror. She's one of a kind for many, many reasons. And she's not an actress trying to make it, and she's not a marketing gimmick. She's a true believer. We were the first to do all of these things, and more. So I can't really speak intelligently on why to enter other festivals. I can only tell you what we offer.

From the perspective of the filmmaker, what can I expect to get out of having my film screen at Terror Film Festival?

LOTS of exposure to the right people, unheard of and intelligent feedback on your project, a lot of caring for your project, and support in landing a deal and starting your career in the entertainment industry. We don't just screen your film, we go a lot further than that. And we do it for free.

As a horror fan, what can I expect to get out of attending Terror Film Festival?

A great time, networking and meeting industry people, a truck load of filmmaker contacts, and the best benefit of all. GREAT films to watch. We screen the best of the best. Plus, there's so many little surprises we spring on our audiences and fans. Like the whole Bruce Campbell thing this year. He doesn't do cons or fests too much anymore, but he gave us a special intro for our fest and it kicked ass at the Claw Awards! And that's another thing...the Claw Awards. No one else does that. It's truly "The Oscars of Horror". Just ask any of the people who attended this year. Some of the comments were, "You guys are completely honorable", "I was at the American Music Awards and this was BETTER", "This is the most professional event I've ever been to". And we hear it every year, all year long. People just love us because we're real. Another thing too. Alan Howarth came to our festival this year. He called me one day and insisted on coming. He's an Oscar winner, an Oscar nominee, and has scored music (and done sound) on every cool film in the last three decades. He doesn't need us. But he insisted on coming to the festival because as someone who's very cool himself, he saw the cool thing that we do. And another person came out from Bruckheimer's camp without us knowing it. Totally surprised us. That's the power of what we do.

When you’re accepting films, what are you looking for?

A great film, from every angle. It has to satisfy an intense criteria list. But that doesn't necessarily mean a huge budget or lots of celebrities. Neither of those equate to a great film. It has to be executed right. Even if it's from a famous filmmaker (which we've gotten our share of). The project has to be great or it doesn't get in. We've had many first-timers beat out seasoned pros in getting selected. And vice-versa. And it's all because of a film's true value. Plus, we have a great rating system that's unbeatable. We can actually spot a sleeper hit before anyone else does.

Does budget come into play when you’re considering films?

Not at all. It's all in the execution of the project. Some of our selections are first-time films with no budget at all. And some are big Hollywood budgets with star power. But that doesn't matter to us. Only the execution. Art for art's sake.

As a filmmaker, what can I do to make my film more festival friendly? Should I even be thinking of that?

Just make a great film. That's the only thing that matters. To Terror Film Festival, anyway. Romero even says it.

At what point in the filmmaking process should I be thinking about the festivals?

Right from the beginning. Figuring out which festivals you're wanting to submit to plays in heavy in the type of film you shoot. So does the type of distribution you're looking for. So it's never too early.

Are there any particular success stories from films that screened at TFF?

Oh, yeah. The Murder Game won Best Feature in 2006 and then got picked up by Warner Home Video. Side Sho won in 2007 and got picked up by Lionsgate. Several of our filmmakers got offers to make features. One of our screenwriters got his script optioned in Hollywood. An actress was hired to star in someone's next film. And there's a lot more successes. And we live for that.

What advice can you give to an up and coming filmmaker in the indie horror genre?

Don't let anyone interfere with your vision. Keep it pure and make the best damned movie you can. BELIEVE in your project and believe in yourself.

Tell us about the future of indie horror, where do you see it going?

Tough one. With all the digital outlets now and all the marketers out there who see a new way to make money, who knows. Only time can answer this question. I just hope it stays pure and real and doesn't get convoluted with marketing tricks and shock gimmicks. Horror and Indie Horror are my babies and I don't want to see them bastardized in any way.

What’s next for you and TFF?

The whole world is next. Everyone wants a piece of us now and we love it all. But we want to stay true and to take over the world and fill it with GREAT horror films and legends. So what's next for us? Everything!

Where can people find out more about TFF and how can they go about entering their film?

Just stop by our website, terrorfilmfestival.net, and simply read up on the submission process. Our submissions re-open on January 01 every year.

Daggers - The Short Festival of Short Horror

So you know, the Dead Harvey team isn't a bunch of vitamin D deficient guys that sit around in dark rooms, cruising the net all day, looking for new ideas to post on the site. We're vitamin D deficient, alright, but that's mostly from hanging out in bars... and we are on the net a lot, but mostly for porn. AND, we're also a bunch of fledgling indie-horror filmmakers, ourselves... but, really, more than that, we're indie-horror fans and we want to see other indie-horror filmmakers succeed. The idea for the site was really to just give like-minded filmmakers a place to find out what other people have gone through, as well as a place to give filmmakers some promotion for their projects. Residually, though, we meet a lot of industry people. And by that, I mean people who are fans of indie-horror and, really, just want to see the whole sub-genre do well and are making a living by being involved in it. One of those guys is Peter Gutiérrez.

Peter is an author on Firefox News, you can check his articles out here. To quote his little bio on that page, "Over the past fifteen years, Peter's criticism, non-fiction, short fiction, poetry, and comics have appeared in numerous publications." I could list the publications, but I won't. He used to list them there, but he removed them and, at this point, I don't want to guess. Anyhow, he removed them, I'm assuming, to promote the new festival that he's putting on in New York... which is also the reason I'm doing this whole post on him.

He sent me a press release on DAGGERS, which is The Short Festival of Short Horror, and I'll cut and paste some information below. It looks like it's going to be a great time and it's got a great line up. If you're in the New York area, you should definitely check it out...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEW YORK CITY, OCTOBER 9, 2008

L.A.'s Screamfest, Edinburgh's Dead by Dawn, Korea's Puchon, Montreal's FanTasia—horror fans know these as world-class showcases. But now you don't have to leave New York to experience some of the best short films that such events have to offer.

On October 22 at 9:00 p.m. New York City's Pioneer Theater will present 90 minutes of eye-popping and breath-quickening international releases at DAGGERS, The Short Festival of Short Horror. Then the entire program will repeat at 9:00 p.m. on October 23. For tickets, address, and other information about The Pioneer Theater, please visit their site here.

"Every October pop culture fans and moviegoers are besieged by horror offerings from various mainstream media," points out DAGGERS founder and programmer, Peter Gutiérrez. "And while being too highbrow would work against some of the genre's pleasures, is it completely unreasonable to expect our scares to be served up with—dare I say it—art?"

"The goal of DAGGERS," continues Gutiérrez, a film critic for Firefox News among other outlets, "is to present the breadth of the genre's possibilities with a program that satisfies both hardcore fans and those who test the waters only at this time of year. In doing so, we'll feature the entire spectrum of terror, from ghostly 'quiet horror' to screaming-loud full-assault, from old-school pulp-flavored tales to cutting-edge animation."

The line-up is great and there's a few familiar titles in there. For more information on DAGGERS, please email fiifgutierrez@gmail.com or visit Myspace.com/peter_gutierrez.