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.

"DOOR 17", Another New Short From FEWDIO

The short horror films from Fewdio come fast and furious... and I had to post this one, as it's officially my favorite to date. Damn, they do good work.




Oh, and I should mention that Fewdio's films have been accepted into a whole bunch of festivals... here's a list of the films and which festival they'll be playing in. If in you're in the area, make sure you go support them!

THE TAP - Fantastic Fest in Austin

BREACH - Fantastic Fest in Austin

CURSE - Sacramento Horror Fest

THE LAUNDROMAT - Toronto After Dark

BEDFELLOWS - HP Lovecraft Fest in Portland

CONVICTION - HP Lovecraft Fest in Portland

LAUNDROMAT - 62nd Film Festival in Los Angeles

THE TALE OF HAUNTED MIKE - Screamfest L.A.

ALL THE FEWDIO FILMS - The Scare Fest in Nashville

For more information on Fewdio, go check out their homepage here.

Another Short Film From Fewdio - Anniversary

Okay, okay... one more post before we all get into the sauce this weekend.

I'm happy to share the latest short film from Fewdio, this one's called "Anniversary" and it's Marichelle Daywalt's directorial debut. Check it out!




To see all Fewdio's films and find out more about them, go to their site, which can be found here.

Exclusive Dead Harvey Interview With Yfke van Berkelaer: Director of "Zombie Love"

"Zombie Love" is proof that women can spill just as much blood in a horror flick as men can. And spill it, Yfke van Berkelaer does. The only difference is, this movie is also a musical.

"Zombie Love" is one of the best shorts I've seen and Yfke gave Dead Harvey an awesome mp3 interview. Like Roger A. Scheck's, "Nobody Loves Alice", "Zombie Love" is even more impressive because it was made when Yfke was in school.

School is usually a time for people to f up. I know I certainly did. Yfke, on the other hand, used her time in school to pursue grants and take advantage of the equipment and availably of local actors and crew to make a stunning debut. Yfke shows us, as filmmakers, what great things can happen when determination meets talent.

For more info, check out Yfke's website at zombielovethemovie.com. There, you will find trailers and hear music from the film. Don't be surprised if the songs get stuck in your head and stay for awhile. Thank's for the interview, Yfke! We look forward to what you have in store for us next...

clip 1 - Background
clip 2 - Theatre vs Movies
clip 3 - Rehearsing
clip 4 - The Neverending Story
clip 5 - Influences
clip 6 - The Zombie World
clip 7 - Pre-Production
clip 8 - Raising The Money
clip 9 - Film Festivals
clip 10 - Grants
clip 11 - Gore As A Choice
clip 12 - Film School: Yes or No
clip 13 - Horror Stories
clip 14 - Shooting Schedule
clip 15 - Budget
clip 16 - Post Problems
clip 17 - Film vs Video
clip 18 - Getting The Material
clip 19 - Directing Approach
clip 20 - Distribution
clip 21 - Zombie Love: The Feature
clip 22 - Dream Movie
clip 23 - Parting Advice

"AAAAAH!! Indie Horror Hits - Volume 1"... and how you can get in Volume 2

I've mentioned Aaaaah!! Indie Horror Hits before... but, to refresh your memory, their plan was to take a bunch of horror shorts and put them together on a DVD to give them a life after the festival circuit. In the meantime, the filmmakers of those shorts would keep 100% ownership of their film, there's no up-front fees or anything and you get to split profits with Aaaaah!!. Let me just tell you this, the more and more we talk to people in the industry, the more and more we know that there's lots of sharks out there that are going to try to rip you off. From my conversations with Miguel Gallego, the guy behind Aaaaah!! and The Crypt Club, I can tell you... he's not one of those guys. He's really in it to help filmmakers out. That's why I'm happy to let you know that "Aaaaah!! Indie Horror Hits - Volume 1" is just about ready and that you should really check it out! Here's some info from their press release...

"ALL KILLER – NO FILLER” This is the good stuff. The short horror films that caused a buzz on the festival circuit - then vanished. If you saw them the first time you know what we mean. If you didn’t, you can enjoy them now - for the first time.

From a dark, cautionary tale (The Crypt Club - with Alison Pill from Pieces of April) to gallows humour on the job (Ghost Busted); from the grotesque otherworld of H.P. Lovecraft (The Veil) to today’s outbreak fears (The Ninth Entry); from the stylishly bizarre (My Skin! – with Tony Simmons from Human No More & Carnie) and the chillingly macabre (Oculus) to the dire family survival drama (Old Friends - from Kevin Greutert, editor of the SAW films).

We've resurrected these great short indie horror films. Turn down the lights and dig in for your own private horror film festival.

The DVD will be available in September, but they're holding the DVD's Worldwide debut at the Crypt Club Productions booth at the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear in Toronto, August 22-24. Drop by and pick up a copy! Otherwise, you can go to the Crypt Club Productions site here or go directly to the Aaaaah!! Indie Horror Hits site here... if you're interested in submitting your short film for the Volume 2, click here.

2 minutes and 46 Seconds of Terror from FEWDIO

You guys may remember the interview we posted a few weeks back on FEWDIO, the group that's making all the awesome horror shorts. Here's a link to the post, if you didn't check it out. Well, FEWDIO is BACK with a new short, called "Bedfellows" and you can check out the 2 minutes and 46 seconds of terror here or just scroll to the bottom and push play.

Also, we should mention that their site is now up and running, find it here... and, for the count, that's three shorts that they've put out there. A personal favorite, "The Easter Bunny is Eating My Candy", "Creep" and now this...

Just a side note. I was talking with Drew Daywalt, one of the members of FEWDIO, about the interview that we did with them. Unfortunately, he wasn't there, but he listened to the whole damned thing and had a thought come to mind. I've decided to post it here, as it's something that I think all indie horror filmmakers should hear, if only because it's somewhat inspirational. "It's always been said that "writers write." And that could never be said about directors, because the palette to direct was so damned expensive and complicated... until now, with the amazing new access to low cost film capabilities. So, to the writers, I say, "Writers write." And to the directors, I say, "Directors direct."

Spot on Drew... and I can't wait to see what FEWDIO comes up with next!

EXCLUSIVE DEAD HARVEY INTERVIEW with JACOB COONEY, director of "The Frolic"

"The Frolic" is based on the Tom Ligotti short story of the same name. It's a supernatural thriller about a prison psychologist who uncovers a deadly supernatural force in one of his inmate patients, the child loving murderer, John Doe.

Dead Harvey had the pleasure of downing some beers with Jacob Cooney, the director of "The Frolic" as he filled us in on how he got his first directing gig roughly three months after receiving his B.A. As the ale flowed, he talked about the process of adapting the short story from the great Tom Ligotti and how he secured the actors and other necessary elements to make such a well executed flick. Cooney is down to earth, well spoken, intelligent and down-right inspiring. The performance he gets out of the villain, (Maury Sterling) will send a brutal chill down your spine. And with the reverence he gives to the author's material, I hope Hollywood gives this guy a shot at a big budget adaptation. Dead Harvey hopes you enjoy the interview as much as we did.

Clip 1 - Adapting A Short Story
Clip 2 - A Supernatural Vibe
Clip 3 - Adapting On A Budget
Clip 4 - Adapting On A Budget II
Clip 5 - Ligotti's Opinion Of Frolic
Clip 6 - How The Frolic Got Financed
Clip 7 - The Road To Directing
Clip 8 - Film School: Yes or No
Clip 9 - Making It
Clip 10 - Film School: Yes or No II
Clip 11 - Shawshank Was The Clincher
Clip 12 - 1st Big Break
Clip 13 - The Casting Process
Clip 14 - A SAG Agreement
Clip 15 - What Was It Shot On?
Clip 16 - The Look
Clip 17 - The Locations
Clip 18 - Directing Style
Clip 19 - Approaching The Actors

For more information on Jacob Cooney and "The Frolic", you go to Myspace page here. To buy a copy of The Frolic, you can get it off the Wonder Entertainment site here.

EXCLUSIVE DEAD HARVEY INTERVIEW with PAUL CAMPION, writer/director of "Night of the Hell Hamsters" and "Eel Girl"

Another Dead Harvey Exclusive... this time, Brad speaks with up and coming writer/director Paul Campion about his two award winning short films, "Night of the Hell Hamsters" and "Eel Girl".

Brad Paulson - I received two awesome movies from New Zealand director, Paul Campion: "Night of the Hell Hamsters" and "Eel Girl". Since I've received these films I've shown them to numerous friends over beers. I don't want to give any spoilers away, I'll just say that when I see a movie where a hamster gets possessed, talks like a psychotic member of Alvin and the chipmunks and attacks crotches with bloody veracity, I just get all warm and fuzzy and want to share it with the world. And then there's, "Eel Girl". Now that's a movie that stays in your mind after you watch. So, do yourselves a favor and check out Campion's films. Dead Harvey guarantees you will not be disappointed. Enjoy the interview.

DH: "Night of the Hell Hampsters" was awesome. gory and funny. It had the feel of Peter Jackson's older, more ballsy work: aka "Bad Taste" and "Meet The Feebles". What was the inspiration for this film as well as, "Eel Girl"?

PC: Hell Hamsters started out as an idea for the 48hour Film festival in New Zealand. We were brainstorming ideas for different genres, and I came up with the idea of the babysitter and her boyfriend fooling around with the occult and summoning up a demon which possesses the family hamsters, which we were going to do with just socks and red beads for eyes. We didn't get to make the film in the festival so I just developed the idea afterwards. The rest of the story really revolved around that scene where the boyfriend is being viciously attacked by the hamster in his pants. I thought it would be hilarious if the only way to save him was to kick him in the nuts. Those two ideas were the basis of the whole plot, and myself and Mike Roseingrave and Hadyn Green, the other two writers just built the story around that, with the intention of making it as entertaining, gory and fun as possible.

The inspiration for Eel Girl came entirely from the music. Friends of mine own a small record label called Superglider and that was one of the songs on an album of theirs. I was listening to it one day and thought it was quite an interesting track, and just started getting ideas for the eel girl in that weird room from the music. The entire film was always meant to be about those visuals combined with the music.

DH: Who are the filmmakers that have inspired you the most and why?

PC: Well, there are so many, but Ridley Scott first and foremost. His visual style for me is second to none; Sam Raimi and Guillermo Del Toro - I love their comic book style - Hell Hamsters was very much meant to be similar in style to Evil Dead 2 and Blade 2 and I'm particularly a fan of Guillermo Del Toro's use of makeup effects; Peter Jackson of course, particularly for Brain Dead and obviously Lord of the Rings, which I worked on; Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese- possibly the two greatest filmakers of all time - the way they tell the story with the camera is incredible, and Stanley Kubrick, everything about his films is so incredibly meticulous.

DH: How would you describe your individual style?

PC: I've only made two short films so I'm not sure I've found it yet, but for now I'd like to think of it as good visuals, use of practical effects and makeup combined with a bit of CGI here and there, and overall just entertaining storytelling.

DH: What is your particular method of directing? Any tips?

PC: Yes, lots of preparation, and surround yourself with the most experienced cast and crew you can find and just give them the freedom to do what they do best - it makes the directors job so much easier!

DH: When you wrote, "Eel Girl" and "Hell Hampsters" were you always intending to direct them?

PC: Yes, absolutely, they were always ideas that I wanted to put on film, there was never any intention for someone else to direct them.

DH: How different were the two shorts you made from their scripts? Did everything that you intended to get on the screen end up on the screen? If there's anything different, why?

PC: I think they're pretty much exactly what was written and planned. The difference is that before you start making the film you have a perfect vision of what you want the film to be, but because of the limits of budget and time you never really get exactly what you've got in your head, you have a limited budget and you can only make what you can afford. But the thing I find really interesting is through the collaborative process of making a film you end up with something different and better at the end. It's still the directors vision, but it's the directors vision made with the input of a lot of other very talented people

DH: What was the budget for both movies and how did you secure financing?

PC: (I'd prefer not to talk about exact figures if that's ok?) A friendly bank manager and an even friendlier visa card! The only way both films were made was with a lot of support from the cast and crew who all gave up their time for free. Eel Girl probably wouldn't have happened without the incredible support from Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop.

DH: What did you shoot on and how long of a shoot was it for each movie?

PC: Hell Hamsters was shot on Digibeta and the shoot took 3 days, which I now know is a ridiculously short time to shoot a 15 minute film. Ideally you want to be shooting 2-3 pages of script per day, and we were shooting 5 pages plus makeup effects, puppets and visual effects, but in the end I think the energy that went into that insane shooting schedule ended up with what you see in the finished film.

Eel Girl was a slightly easier affair in that we were only shooting 5 pages of script in 3 days and there was only a tiny bit of dialogue. We were also shooting on a set, so we had much more space and control of the whole environment, plus a larger crew. However Eel Girl was shot on 35mm so that generally takes more time than shooting on tape. A huge amount of time was spent prepping the Eel Girl shoot, so on the day although it was still hard work and stressful, but generally the whole thing went very smoothly, and we even finished a few hours early on the last day.

DH: After it's all said and done, what would you have done differently on one or both movies?

PC: On Hell Hamsters perhaps a longer shoot time might have been less exhausting, but I'm not sure it would have made the film any better, as all the energy of the crazy shoot ended up in the film. On Eel Girl, I'd have liked to have added a bit more detail into the sets, and shot more coverage so we had more to play with in the edit, but that was just a time and money issue like any film.

DH: How's the distribution going? Any lessons learned there? Anything you can pass on to other indie filmmakers who've just finished a film?

PC: Hell Hamsters has just been picked up for distribution by Canadian company Ouat! Media, and Eel Girl is just starting to hit the festival circuit and has already picked up one award. As far as advice goes, if you want people to see your film, you have promote it and get it into film festivals. It's a huge amount of work but it's just all part of the job of filmmaking. We have websites and myspace pages for both films and we keep them regularly updated.

DH: What's next? Do you have any more projects in the works?

PC: Yes, definitely! Myself and Producer Elisabeth Pinto are currently developing two feature films. The first is called Lore of the Jungle written by UK script writer Paul Finch. I can't reveal much about the story yet but it's set in London and involves black magic and re-animated corpses and it's designed to be a very fun entertaining Evil Dead 2/Dusk Till Dawn style film.

The other project is Terminal, which is a supernatural bank heist thriller, based on the novel by US horror author Brian Keene. We've been writing the script for that ourselves.

We took both projects to the Cannes film festival this year and got a lot of interest so we're currently trying to trying to raise financing for both.

For more information on Night of the Hell Hamsters, you can go to the site here or its Myspace page here. For more information on Eel Girl, you can go to the site here or its Myspace page here.

Gay Zombie, Mr. Video and other horror shorts.... and why you should be making films like them.

We've received a pile of horror shorts for review lately (which we love, thanks!) and the bulk of them are absolutely amazing. As the industry progresses, I think we're going to see a bigger demand for short films in the near future, as there's a lot they have going for them. First off, from the filmmaker's perspective, shorts take less time to make, they're easier to put together and they're also easier to get into festivals and, therefore, win awards and build up your resume. Now, from the viewers perspective, our rotted MTV/Youtube minds can only process so much and we all have A.D.D. So, the short film is easily consumed and doesn't waste much of that valuable time. Further to all that, there are more and more ways to distribute your short film now, especially if all you're looking for is an audience and some recognition. So, if I've convinced you to go out and make a horror short and you want to know what to do now, let's take a look at what Alex Masterson did with "Mr. Video".

Alex Masterson's local video store was closing down due to having to compete with DVD piracy and internet downloading, so he decided to do something about it... well, in a round about way. It motivated him to go out and make the award winning horror short, "Mr. Video", which screened at 15 festivals and won Best Short Film at HauntCon Film Fest, 2nd Place at the 2007 Silver Screams Film Festival and received an Honorable Mention at the 2008 Indie Short Film Festival... It was shot on a Sony 300 XDCAM over a five-day-night shoot and was done on a micro-budget. I spoke with Masterson about the film, asking him why, with the cost of making indie movies so low, he set out to make a short instead of a feature, to which he replied that he "intentionally wanted to make a fifteen minute short film as a prelude to one day directing a feature film, which is roughly six or seven more fifteen minute segments... (and that) to go out and shoot a feature without making at least a few shorts first is kind of stupid, not to mention disrespectful to the art of directing." As for how the film turned out? It's violent without being gory, an artistic decision that Masterson opted for. It's well acted, having found his actors through a combination of auditioning, recommendations and actors he's worked with before and, lastly, having seen it, I can tell you it's a sharp, well put together film that's entertaining, has a point, makes it and delivers on all fronts. The film will be included in an upcoming AAAAAH! Indie Horror Hits DVD (A company that we've covered many times, which splits profits with filmmakers) and Masterson has just finished shooting a short two minute horror film which he wrote and directed, called "Log 159". He's also recently finished writing a low-budget British feature film script, which he hopes to direct in the next couple of years...

Having seen lots of shorts, I can say that some are stand alone films, some are more like trailers and some are used as teasers to gain interest in developing that particular idea into a feature. However, festivals will take all of them, depending on the festival, I guess. Either way, I'm going to slowly get through reviewing and talking about all the shorts we've seen over the next few weeks, but I'm going to start with these next three. Brad reviewed them, so take it away Brad...

"Gay Zombie", written and directed by Michael Simon: Talk about a title that will grab your attention... This is a short flick about a zombie who 'comes out' and struggles to fit in with the human world while he pursues real love. 'Gay Zombie' is a lighthearted, humorous movie which features a clever opening where a shrink tells the main zombie that he must learn how to deal with the fact that he's gay. 'Gay Zombie' has impressively been the official selection of over 60 festivals worldwide. For more info, check out www.gayzombie.net

"Lily", written and directed by Daniel Boneville: Man, is this flick f'ed up. But in a really artistic way. The screener contains the following quote from Oliver Stone, 'In a boldly surreal film, Daniel Boneville confidently directs the actors, the camera, and the story, while showing his potential as a fine, young director.' Agreed. It definitely will stick around in your mind for awhile after you watch it. However, I must admit that I had no idea what was going on after the first five minutes, which leads me to add the following disclaimer: Dead Harvey recommends not to do hard drugs and watch this flick, for reasons not necessary to explain. For more info, you can check out Boneville's website at: www.myspace.com/lilythemovie

"Creepers", written and directed by Nick Thiel: 'Creepers' is a spin on what I call the 'two people, one room' movie. In other words, a movie where most of the flick revolves around a few central characters and a few simple locations, which is actually a very good way to make a low-budget movie. In, 'Creepers' the s hits the fan and the end of the world begins. Zombies run around slaying everyone in sight, as a man and woman hole up in an apartment and try and wait things out... all the while, they become paranoid and don't know who to trust. For more info, check out the, 'Creepers' myspace site at: www.myspace.com/beparanoid

Like I said, there's more to get through and I'll posting something on them soon...