A bit of good news from my camp... I officially finished the first draft of my latest script. Now, it's not in any condition to show anyone, but it's done - 109 pages of raw, unpolished screenplay. I'm going to take a few days off from it, then take a few passes through it and fix it up a bit. Then, it'll go off to a few trusted sources and I'll take it from there. When I first conceived of the idea, which was basically a modern take on "Taxi Driver" with a bit of Lovecraftian angle, I had the whole story plotted out in my head... then, you know how it goes. I wrote out the treatment and promptly dumped my Lovecraftian angle. Then, as I'm writing, a few more changes, add a character here, change the ending a bit, move this, alter that and, guess what? The whole thing is completely different than what I originally conceived. I don't know if this happens to you, but, to quote Indiana Jones, "it happens to me all the time". Anyhow, I'm pretty happy with it... at least until I get feedback. Now that I'm taking a short break from that, I can try to tackle my inbox and, quite frankly, that's a far scarier place than anything I can come up with. In keeping with last week, I'm going to pass on some new information from the festival world.So, Horrorfind Weekend is coming up in September, it takes places over the 3rd-5th in Gettysburg, PA. Horrorfind is a great mix of everything, they have a film festival, they'll have celebrities, events, seminars and parties. According to their site, the best way to describe the weekend is like this, "P.T. Barnum had "The Greatest Show On Earth" with his circus, Horrorfind has "The Spookiest Show On Earth" with the Horrorfind Weekend". If you live on the East Coast, it looks to be a great one to attend. In fact, it's not too far from my parents place... I may have to plan a visit around then.
Scarefest is a ways away, but they've already wrangled up some pretty big stars. The horror & paranormal convention takes place in Lexington, Kentucky from November 5th to 7th and, already, they've got George Romero, Adrienne Barbeau, Amelia Kinkade and Tom Atkins swinging by. The cool thing about this festival is the fact that it's also a paranormal convention, so they have psychics, ghost hunters and demonoligists there, as well. They actually don't do a film festival, so to speak, but they do have screenings... I think.
The H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival & CthulhuCon has a couple things going on. They have the annual festival in October in Portland, Oregon, as well as their first film festival in L.A. in September. I like the fact that they're specialized, all submissions have to be influenced by or related to Lovecraftian themes or stories. Having said that, don't feel shunned... you'd be surprised how far reaching Lovecraftian themes and ideas can go. I mean, he's one of the godfather's of modern horror, after all.
That's it for this week, have a great weekend and we'll see you next week!
Well, they told us that the Titans would clash this weekend and they did... in more ways than one. "Clash of the Titans" absolutely dominated the weekend with an estimated take of $61.4Million, which shatters the previous Easter opening weekend record, held by, of all films, "Scary Movie 4". The other story of clashing titans is about how three monster films battled it out to get on those coveted 3D screens. According to Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros, "the more 3D screens you have, the better off you are" and "Clash" managed to get on 1,810 of them, which was fewer than "How to Train Your Dragon", but that's because "Dragon" already had exhibitors locked in and they couldn't switch over. "Avatar" and "Alice in Wonderland" were both on far more screens because they were the only games in town at the time. So, why is this a big fight? Well, let's do some math... 3D screens accounted for 52% of the gross, yet only 1,810 of the 6,700 screens were 3D. I'll spare you the math on this, but that means that the 3D premium added around $10Million to the bottom line. Do you think numbers like that will influence the studios? Damn straight, but the problem now turns to convincing the exhibitors to convert their 2D screens into digital 3D screens and THAT, my friends, requires a lot of money. Money that neither side thinks they should pay for. It's definitely an interesting time for the big boys and it should be fun to watch it all play out... Anyhow, let's check in on us little guys and take a look at the horror that's coming out on DVD this week. As usual, you can see all the trailers on our Youtube Page by clicking 
" on DVD and Blu-Ray.
" came out in 2006 and it's a Hungarian film by Gyorgy Palfi - and I'm missing more than a few accents and squiggly lines over letters in his name there. It's a surreal film that revolves around dark comedy and horror and, most notably... body horror. The film comes highly recommended and apparently it's one of those films that just has to be seen to be believed. So, trying to explain it probably wouldn't do it any justice. Check out the trailer and if it seems like it's your kind of thing, it probably is.
" comes out on DVD and Blu-Ray this week and it stars the sci-fi legend, Robert Picardo... of "Star Trek" and "Stargate" fame. "Sensored" did the festival circuit and had a lot of buzz. Of note, the film was shot entirely on the 'Red One' ultra-high definition digital camera. I'm not sure if it was the first film to do that, but it was definitely one of the first indie horror films to do that. The film revolves around Picardo, who plays a children's book author that's tainted by his own childhood evils - murderous fixation, delusions and terrifying rampages ensue.
" is a low-budget indie zombie film that's based on a book series of the same name, by David Moody. The book was published freely on-line, back in 2005, and spawned an entire series. Reviews of the film are somewhat mixed, but the trailer looks great and fans of the book series are very happy with the film.
", the first feature from Gerard Johnson, looks awfully creepy. It's a gritty depiction of a solitary serial killer that attempts to socialize with the outside world, but all his would-be acquaintances end up meeting their demise. Reviews are great and it looks like a twisted and entertaining film. It's definitely topping my list of films to check out this week. 
" is a micro-budget film from Scott Patrick and he seems to draw heavily on "Twilight"... and I say that with a grain of salt - check out the trailer. Megan's new in town and she falls in love with a vampire, Victor. There's a rash of murders in town, Victor is suspected and Megan's the only one who believes that he's not responsible.
" is another micro-budget film, this one from Bill Barton. It's about the last remaining "Brave" of the Arkansas Cave Tribe and Bigfoot. Yeah, you read that right. The "Brave" think of old Bigfoot as a protector and the residents think that Bigfoot is killing people and, now, a drunk reporter from the UK is in town to get the scoop. That's what I get from the trailer and what I could find online, anyhow... 
" or much else, for that matter, but I love the premise... college students go to their internship at a mental hospital, only to discover that the inmates have escaped and have been running the asylum. Lots of potential with that idea, I hope they do it right.
", an eight DVD collection of all the After Dark Horrorfest films, which includes "Dread", "The Final", "The Graves", "The Hidden", "Kill Theory", "Lake Mungo", "The Reeds" and "Zombies of Mass Destruction". We spoke with the Director of Horrorfest, Sarah Finder, before they all hit the theater and she discussed all of them, so instead of rehashing, just click 
" comes from director Colin Theys and it actually came out a couple years ago, but they've given it some new cover art and are rereleasing it. Maybe they fixed it up a bit, I don't know. Reviews aren't that great and when I saw it a couple years ago, it felt like it could've used a bit more time in post production. Banshee's are creatures from Irish mythology and the banshee in this film has the ability to make its prey hallucinate through sound waves... a group of college friends on a Spring Break camping trip get stalked and slashed up by one these not-so-little suckers.
" stars Lou Diamond Phillips and it came out in 2009 and premiered on the 'don't call me Sci-Fi', SyFy channel. Lou's a small town Sheriff that hunts a mysterious bat-like creature that escapes from a carnival.
". The bonus feature is "Play Dead", a film by Jason Wiles that stars Fred Durst, Chris Klein and Jake Busey. What blows my mind is that "Last of the Living" is an awesome indie zombedy out of Australia that came out a few years back. It was done on next to no budget and it's right up there in the same vein as "Shaun of the Dead" or "Zombieland", check out the trailer... you'll eat it up. "Play Dead" has a bunch of real names in it and just looks awful, why in God's name would you throw it out there with "Last of the Living"? Honestly, it devalues and takes away from both films. In this case, the sum of both projects is worth less than each project on their own and someone really screwed the pooch when it came to marketing and distributing these films in North America. Unbelievable... I have no clue why "Play Dead" was even made, nor do I know why it was added as a bonus feature here, but "Last of the Living" is from Logan McMillan and it's definitely worth watching. Buy the DVD for that and that alone.
", a film by Lucifer Valentine, starring Ameara La Vey. The description says it's about the diabolical depiction of the alternate-parallel dimension of the simultaneous suicide deaths of Kurt Cobain and bulimic porn star Angela Aberdeen, as seen through the mental activity of Angela's journey toward brain death as a result of her self-inflicted death by drowning. There's some clips online and we posted a trailer on our Youtube Page, but they're weird, in a good way... definitely intrigued and the creepy, shot on DV doc look really works... at least in the trailers.
" is a micro-budget horror being released by Brain Damage and staring John Sylvia. It won a couple of awards from indie festivals and is, what else? A slasher flick. Looks alright, should be worth checking out.
" is another micro-budget horror, this one released by Midnight Releasing and directed by Jason Hull and starring Todd Humes, Larry Liggett, Renee Porada and Katie Russell. The film is about a hit man who wants to retire, but finds out that a rival gang is actually a bunch of vampires and they've turned his over-jealous girlfriend into one of the undead. For a no-budget film, they've got some good looking action scenes and great make-up. I'm definitely going to be checking this one out. Also, I love the title.
" is, by far, the biggest budget release of the week. It's got Will Patton in it, as well as Yvonne Strahovski, from "Chuck". I read that it had a limited theatrical release on October 23rd, so... a few weeks ago. And, now here it is on DVD, on November 17th. It's a survival horror, where a couple of newlyweds are honeymooning in the grand canyon and they get lost down there after their guide gets bitten by a snake and have a wee bit of trouble getting out.
" is that, back in film school, we used to joke about making a horror film that took place on Thanksgiving. We figured that almost every holiday was covered; Christmas and Halloween are overdone, there's been plenty of New Years films, April Fools Day, Valentines Day... but Thanksgiving is a big holiday and there were NO horror films based on it. Well, now there is. We came up with a plot revolving around rabid, steroid-riddled, mutant turkeys... "Thankskilling" is about a foul-mouthed homicidal turkey axing off college kids during Thanksgiving break. Awesome. Google "Thankskilling" and head to their site. It was shot for $3,500 over 11 days. 
", not knowing that it comes out this week. It's from Ryan Nicholson, the writer-director of "Gutterballs", and it's being distributed by a brand new company called Breaking Glass Pictures. They reached out to me and I'm going to try to do an interview with them and pass some information on them to all you... "Hanger" is about an abortion that lived, who's affectionately referred to as "Hanger", due to the fact that a pimp attempted to give his hooker Mom the abortion with a coat hanger. Now, he lives, and is out for vengeance.
" before, but... I'll cover it again. If anything, it's got a wicked, original plot. It's about a hooker named Nikki who comes over to play the role of this guys ex-wife. However, it turns out that the guys ex-wife is actually locked up in the cellar and he tries to forcibly turn Nikki into his ex-wife... and even starts falling in love with her.
", which was written and produced by Brian Patrick O'Toole, the guy behind "Dog Soldiers", "Evilution" and a few other films, and has a very "Halloween"-esqe feel to it. It's about Basement Jack, a 17 year old kid that went on a killing spree eleven years ago. Now, he's 28 and is being released and is coming after Karen, the lone survivor of his original attack.
" was a low-budget mock-doc, as the film's about a documentary film crew that heads into the woods to shoot a film on The Legend of Herme the Hunter. However, I found the trailer on their website and the film looks to be shot in HD with great production quality. I believe it's out of the UK and it looks like it could have some decent gore.
" is a French film and the trailer that I found is dubbed into German? I can't remember now. In any case, it's a foreign film and it's a strange looking horror/comedy about a big vampire party. Looks like it has budget and some good effects. Not my type of film, but... check out the trailer.
", a full-on rip on "Twilight". The poster's classic.
" is coming out and, well, I hadn't heard of "Godkiller: Walk Among Us #1", but this caught my eye. It's based on "Godkiller", which is a series of graphic novels, illustrated films, and novels created by award-winning filmmaker Matt Pizzolo and it tells the stories of human beings caught in the crossfire of warring fallen gods. Not only that, it's done in a very original way. Art, mixed with visual effects, mixed with some other crazy shit. There's some notable names doing the voices, too. Check out the trailer to see who's involved.
", a film that we had the privilege of checking out a while ago and discussing with the filmmaker. It's a vampire, gangster-horror and it's definitely one for the Dead Harvey crowd. The acting is great and it's really well put together. If you're interested in reading our interview with DiNunzio's, click 
" comes from Lionsgate and it's about a girl that's travelling across the country, but ends up captive in some guy's basement and has to make a choice: whether she wants to join up with this guy's family and do some killing... or if she wants to die. The film actually looks alright, but they're really hanging their hat on the fact that the lead is played by Ashley Greene, who plays Alice Cullen in the "Twilight" series. Hey, if you're in to "Twilight", maybe you want to see Alice Cullen in a more, well... compromising position. The trailer has her chained up in short shorts. 
" stars "Medium"'s Sofia Vassilieva... and "Twilight"'s Jackson Rathbone and it was obviously done a while ago. The film is described as a dark, Gothic tale that slowly unwinds into... something. I don't know, quite honestly, the trailer bored me. Having said that, the reviews are alright and the production quality looks good.
" went wrong, but I think the trailer looks pretty good and it was produced by the guys who remade "The Grudge" and "The Ring". It's a remake from a Filipino Film, originally titled "Sigaw" and Yam Laranas, who co-wrote and directed the original film, directs this remake. As for the story, it revolves around a young ex-con who moves into an old apartment building, only to learn his neighbor is an abusive police officer who savagely beats his wife and daughter. When the ex-con tries to intervene, he becomes trapped in a curse. 
" is a micro-cinema horror that looks really well done... it's from first time director Gregory Caiafa and it looks like it's a classic slasher film, where the slasher is a creepy dude wearing a very creepy clown mask. May have to check this one out.
" comes from writer/director Howie Askins and I really want to know more about this film. It looks awesome... sort of like a Rob Zombie wet dream or something. I can't tell what it's shot on, probably 16mm with some other mediums mixed in? Very intriguing, really want to see this now...
", then there's "
", "
" and Robert Rodriguez's foray into horror, "
".