Director and writer Zach Passero spent eight years bringing this movie to life. It’s the story of Dug, Mel and Fatt, who all go on a camping trip to Jerusalem National Park with Dug’s brother Wyatt and his girlfriend Mary. Then they meet the Night Child, a bug creature that they’d already been warned about. But no, of course they didn’t listen. Now, they’re set to either be devoured by the Night Child or murdered by the townsfolk who seem straight out of The Devil’s Rain!
Between this and Attack of the Demons, I’ve been surprised twice now by animated horror films that end up outdoing their live action counterparts. This feels like the kind of movie that you’d rent along with The Gate, House II, TerrorVision and Critters.
Passero edited Old Man, one of my favorite movies of the last few years, as well as Jug Face and All Cheerleaders Die. Somehow he did all that and also raised two kids with his wife and creative partner, Hannah Passero. There are some recognizable voices, too. The convenience store girl is Angela Bettis, who played May, the sheriff is Sean Bridgers, who was in The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot and Walter is Ellar Coltrane, who was Mason in Richard Linkater’s Boyhood.
If you love 80s VHS-era horror or the kind of animation that Liquid Television had before computer animation, this is for you.
You can learn more at the official website and Facebook page for the movie.
The Chattanooga Film Festival is happening now through June 29. To get your in-person or virtual badge to see any of these movies, click here. For more information, visit chattfilmfest.org and follow us on Facebook,Twitterand Instagram.
South of Chile, if not heaven, a trio of twenty-something women have formed a black metal band, Invoking Yell, and taken to the woods to record their first album. They decide that to capture their sound, they need to find psicofonias, quite literally the voices of dead children killed in a schoolbus accident, inside the forest. While they film their recording, things go wrong. Or right.
Directed by Patricio Valladares, who co-wrote this with Barry Keating, this brings back one of the ideas in their movie Embryoand has a music video in the woods that slowly unravels. It starts with a quote from Maximiliano Sánchez Mondaca, which claims that while the rise of black metal around the world led to more bands trying to record their own music, it also brought about more Satanic rites, vandalism and murder.
Andrea (María Jesús Marcone), Tania (Macarena Carrere) and Ruth (Andrea Ozuljevich) are now in the same conundrum that artists like Snorre Westvold Ruch, Varg Vikernes, Euronymous, Samoth, Jorn Inge Tunsberg, Faust, Dead and Andreas “C. H. Surt” Kirchner, Sebastian “Dark Mark Doom” Schauseil and Ronald “Wolf” Möbus of Absurd — named for, yes, the George Eastman movie — found themselves in. How long can you pretend to be amoral and evil before you have to prove it for real?
A movie that claims to be found footage from Ruth’s video camera as the women recorded in 1997, this finds Tania and Ruth enjoying their time in the woods — drugs and drinks are had by all — while Angela seems devoted to reaching true kvlt status and following up on her goal of having music bringing suffering.
There’s plenty of enjoy here, as you learn how the women want to break out of just being used for their bodies and need to establish their own music. To stand out in a scene where church burning, suicide and seld-mutilation is the norm, however, they’re going to have to go too far to make that happen.
Chile is also known for its extreme music with nearly three thousand bands listed on Encyclopaedia Metallum as proof. There’s Skullshredder, Desecrator and Negro from Slaughtbbath, as well as Ecologist, Invocation Spells, Sol Sistere, Death Yell and many more. Just check out this Spotify list.
The moments of the girls talking about who is true and who isn’t may seem silly, but Euronymous used to be quoted saying stuff like, “I would rather sit at home and cut myself than go to parties.” and that he would only sign evil bands to his label, Deathlike Silence.
Beyond the music, I think that any fan of found footage will enjoy this, even if you don’t have an opinion on Immortal being better with or without Abbath.
The Chattanooga Film Festival is happening now through June 29. To get your in-person or virtual badge to see any of these movies, click here. For more information, visit chattfilmfest.org and follow us on Facebook,Twitterand Instagram.
Directed by Sam Curtain, who co-wrote this with Benjamin Jung-Clarke, Beaten to Death starts with Jack (Thomas Roach) being brutalized by Ricky (Justan Wagner) as the body of his wife Rachel (Nicole Tudor) lies dead next to them. Barely alive, Jack stabs the man in the throat and stumbles out of the room. He runs into his neighbor Ned (David Tracy),, but that’s just the start of his torture.
That title should tell you everything, because Jack gets destroyed in this movie, which moves across multiple timelines and spends much of its time showing a blinded Jack wandering the Australian outback screaming, covered in blood and dirt and near death.
There’s long moments of a man in absolute pain just yelling alternating with moments of extreme violence and an ocular assault that awakened the dead body of Fulci who was probably either smiling or annoyed to be awoken from his slumber. You’re either going to love how audacious this is or hate that there’s this much endless gore. But hey — the cinematography is gorgeous and in no way does this movie do anything less than go hard and then somehow find a way to go even harder.
The Chattanooga Film Festival is happening now through June 29. To get your in-person or virtual badge to see any of these movies, click here. For more information, visit chattfilmfest.org and follow us on Facebook,Twitterand Instagram.
Jack and Janet Smurl of West Pittston, PA say that a demon was in their house for nearly 15 years between 1974 and 1989, despite the denials of the Catholic Church, psychologists and scientific skeptics. Luckily, they had Ed and Lorraine Warren on their side, who encouraged their beliefs and even helped them write the book that this movie was based on.
Sally Kirkland was nominated for a Golden Globe award for her work in this movie as Janet Smurl. Jack is played by Jeffrey DeMunn, who you may know as Dale from TV’s The Walking Dead. Or if you’re like Becca and never watched that show, you’ll know him as the sheriff from the remake of The Blob.
Louise Latham from Marnie plays the grandmother and George D. Wallace — Commander Cody himself! — is the grandfather, who doesn’t believe any of this is happening but has a great part where he fends off the media on the porch with a rifle.
Joyce Van Patten — the domineering mom from Monkey Shines — shows up as a neighbor, with Stephen Markle and Diane Baker playing the Warrens, way before The Conjuring series of films (I kind of Lorraine also appeared on Road Rules: All-Stars before Hollywood truly came calling). Keep an eye out for the reporter who collapses on the Smurl’s front lawn — that’s Lorraine Warren.
The best part of this movie? The crazy way it visualizes the demonic presence as a black formless bit of nothing that has multiple voices. The funniest? There are numerous moments, but I kind of love that copyright issues meant that when the kids watch Lost In Space, they dubbed over the actor’s voices.
The Chattanooga Film Festival is happening now through June 29. To get your in-person or virtual badge to see any of these movies, click here. For more information, visit chattfilmfest.org and follow us on Facebook,Twitterand Instagram.
Directed and written by Alexandra Spieth, Stag is about Jenny (Mary Glen Fredrick) and her attempts to reconnect with her former best friend Mandy (Elizabeth Ramos) during a bachelorette party at a seemingly haunted campground.
What drove these friends apart? Why does Jenny have such difficulty connecting with anyone? Why are the religious beliefs of sisters Constance (Katie Wieland) and Casey (Stephanie Hogan) just so strange? Is this what it’s really like when women get together?
We can all feel for Jenny. Her only anchor in this unfamiliar territory is Mandy. There’s something unspoken that drove them in two directions yet there’s still some love between them. Yet as everyone else’s motivations are so unclear at best and malevolent at worst, it makes me glad that I skipped that bachelor party weekend I was supposed to go to last month.
What the film misses in proper lighting and color balance — the outside footage nearly washes out the movie at times — it makes up for it in writing and acting. A better budget would have done wonders, but let’s just forget that. Let’s concentrate on a movie that takes a great elevator speech — “What if Bridesmaids and Midsommer had mimosas?” — and delivers something special.
The Chattanooga Film Festival is happening now through June 29. To get your in-person or virtual badge to see any of these movies, click here. For more information, visit chattfilmfest.org and follow us on Facebook,Twitterand Instagram.
As they both attend the Mad Monster Party horror convention, they learn that a modern End Zone will be made and they can both audition. That movie will start one hour into End Zone2 before it retcons everything that happened after.
It’s pretty amazing that a This Is Spinal Tap documentary comedy could be made about slasher movies but that’s because we understand the genre’s conventions. And, well, conventions. If you’ve spent any time doing that awkward walk past near-empty stars of the past and the hangers-on who attempt to be important by being in their orbit, this movie will more than ring true.
Directors Sophia Cacciola and Michael J. Epstein, who also brought the world Blood of the Triblades, Magentic and Ten really know what they’re doing. This was a blast.
The Chattanooga Film Festival is happening now through June 29. To get your in-person or virtual badge to see any of these movies, click here. For more information, visit chattfilmfest.org and follow us on Facebook,Twitterand Instagram.
Whatever side you’re on when it comes to the controversy between whether Mikey Smash or William Mouth played Smash Mouth in the sequel to Warren Q. Harolds’ 1965 slasher End Zone, you can say quite simply that they’re both better than Snead Crump when it comes to menacing Angela Smazmoth (Julie Kane). Now that there’s a restored version of this never-released to the public slasher, well, now we can all fight that same fight all over again.
And hey — whatever happened to that final half hour of this movie? Have you seen it? Did you check it out when it played with The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb and The Evil Eye?
Put together from six partial prints and a partial Italian internegative — that explains why the language changes — this is the film that didn’t just give birth to the American slasher, it also influenced movies like Let’s Scare Jessica to Death.
Shh…I like keeping up the premise that this is a lost movie, so don’t tell anyone that it works because it’s just as rough and ramshackle as those pre-78 slashers that we love so much like My Brother Has Bad Dreams and Scream Bloody Murder (which ironically nearly shared a title). I also think it’s kind of wild that in the same year we’ve had two double features based around slasher movies of the past based around football (this pairs with The Once and Future Smash; the other entry is The Third Saturday In Octoberand The Third Saturday In October V).
The Chattanooga Film Festival is happening now through June 29. To get your in-person or virtual badge to see any of these movies, click here. For more information, visit chattfilmfest.org and follow us on Facebook,Twitterand Instagram.
“One Halloween, blood was shed by the wearer of a parasitic mask cursed with black magic and bigotry. Sixteen years later, when Angel’s best friend is slaughtered by a killer with the same mask, they must overcome their personal struggles, fight their fear and find the masked killer before he — or it — slaughters everyone they hold dear.”
Twelve years ago, Angel (Lisa Fanto) lost a mother to the mask, which empowers whoever wears it with the hatred of everyone who has ever worn it. Angel is struggling to deal with the last few days of high school, as she and her friends have identities that cause the world to hate, fear and reject them.
When the mask is found and the killings start all over again, Angel must find out who or what the masked killer is, then stop them before she loses any more of her found family.
Director and co-writer (with Ben Pahl Robinson) Alice Maio Mackay also made another movie that I really enjoyed, So Vam, and the goal with this movie was to “be even better.” Mackay is a 17-year-old transgender award-winning filmmaker based in South Australia and from the two films I’ve seen from her, she definitely has the talent to go beyond these already quite well-made movies.
Also, if you watch that trailer, you may notice the voice of Bill Moseley, which incredibly adds to the scare potential of this movie.
The Chattanooga Film Festival is happening now through June 29. To get your in-person or virtual badge to see any of these movies, click here. For more information, visit chattfilmfest.org and follow us on Facebook,Twitterand Instagram.
In the Trout family kitchen in Redhook, Brooklyn on one day in 1948, father is seeking a new job and Junior returns home after being gone for twelve years. Seems normal, but things spiral out of control. I didn’t expect to watch an Americana play dealing with poverty and family regret but here we are. Director and writer Gavin Field has constructed a story of a family with nothing except debt, guilt, alcoholism and painful memories.
It’s intriguing that this is basically a stage performance being filmed, all set within one hot summer kitchen, a place where all the family can do is look out onto the harbor and just stew, ready to explode in rage or howl with sadness at any second…or just sit there, trapped in ennui and silence. It’s no summer blockbuster but in no way does it intend to be. This is a film with a mission of emotion, storytelling and showing how a story can be built within one setting and a singular family.
The Chattanooga Film Festival is happening now through June 29. To get your in-person or virtual badge to see any of these movies, click here. For more information, visit chattfilmfest.org and follow us on Facebook,Twitterand Instagram.
This collection of strange and magical shorts are the final block that I’ve had the pleasure of watching at the Chattanooga Film Festival.
Content: The Lo-Fi Man (2023): Brian Lonano, who co-directed this short with Blake Myers and wrote it, just wants to tell you about Tetsuo: The Iron Man. Yet he’s been replaced by the new and improved Brian Lonano (Clarke Williams) who is now a streaming content aggregator and influencer, asking you to smash that like button and ring the bell so you get the updates. Breaking free from the mouse-eared androids that have him locked up, he battles the Content Seeker by, well, kind of becoming Tetsuo and joining up with film revolutionaries Kino, B-Roll and Wild Track.
We live in a strange place now, a reality where you can get almost every movie you want but may not have the time to watch it. Or maybe you do and when you want to break it down and discuss it, you get lost in the machine of likes and shares. I try to keep my mind open to both sides, as sure, it’s nice to have the most perfect quality home media ever, as well as streaming materials and everyone deserves the opportunity to find and appreciate pop culture in their own way. But man, if I see another listicle or YouTube video that posits theories like “maybe all the shot in the Eastern Bloc SyFy sequels in the 90s were high art” or ten slashers you never saw before and #3 is The Burning, well…
It’s a fine line between discourse and gatekeeping, I guess.
Everyone really seems like they were having fun with this and it made me think about how I present what I love about movies with more thought. So…mission accomplished.
Seatbelts (2022): In Michael Dunker’s short, a couple heads out on their second date and drives right into the middle of conflict when the guy refuses to put on his seatbelt. Everybody in this story did their own research and has notes for what they want each other to know, but they’re just like every conversation you’ve had outside your own bubble since 2016. Nobody is changing their mind and opinions are much like the football jersey that you live and die to be part of. Some shorts are mini-movies; some are sly jokes quickly told. This does the latter well.
Don’t Let Kyle Sit Down (2023): Directed by Joel Jay Blacker and written by Nick Logsdon, this starts when some friends gather around the campfire. Then, someone makes the mistake of saying, “Let’s throw on one more log,” which brings the beardless and burnt-up Kyle to the party.
When everyone is trying to have a moment of relaxation, count on Kyle to cry over the bus he lost or to pick up that acoustic guitar sure to ruin everyone’s moment of simple nothingness. Leave those logs in the pile, because Kyle is always watching. Always waiting.
This one is absurd fun with a concept that just plain works.
We Forgot About the Zombies (2022): Chris McInroy made GUTS, one of the few movies of the last few years to make me physically sick, which is some kind of standing ovation. This one isn’t as intestine churning, but it does have multiple neon-colored liquids inside syringes, formulas that transform people into cake, a zombie ripping off chunks of its arm to appear more pleasing to look at, a clone and, man, I forgot the zombies too. Four minutes, dude. This movie did more in four minutes than some films and their sequel do in four hours.
Variations On a Theme (2022): In Peter Collins Campbell’s short, there are quite literally Variations On a Theme, as a couple who has been physically splitting into many different versions of themselves soon discovers that a mutation has been created and that could threaten everything. The budget for this probably got spent in the first thirty seconds but with little more thought — and more cash — this could easily become an actual idea for a full-length.
Foot Trouble (2023): Directed by Vanessa Meyer, who co-wrote this short with Joshua Strauch, Foot Trouble is about Jade, who has a foot issue that no one wants to discuss. I mean, my biology teacher and his daughter both had webbed feet and I remember once he made her take her shoes and socks off and show all of us, so the world even outside of this movie is strange. So are parents.
Jade decides that instead of just getting past those feet. she covers them up with socks for swim class. I mean, you want that goth boy to notice you, I guess. When you’re young, you blow romance out of proportion, but I never had to come home to cold hot dogs and my mom’s next strange boyfriend. Just warm soda — my parents did not believe in ice, for some strange reason — and my dad sleeping through Married With Children.
This has a lot of style, even if it doesn’t hit many of its lofty targets. That said, it looks great and the talent shines through.
Gold and Mud (2023): Conor Dooley has taken on a real challenge here. Tell the life story of a female doctor in six minutes and still have us care for her, in spite of how absurd some of the moments can be. Ana Fabrega, as Dr. Ana Fabrega, is our one constant.
I’d say it’s episodic in nature, but some of those episodes last scant nanoseconds while others play out. Falling in love at a horse farm, a patient who spits all over the place, a balloon animal in bed and a remembrance at the end where it’s difficult to tell what was real and what was a dream. I wonder, in the last three years of dementia life that my dad had, how much did he remember and how much did he think was television? Was I any more real to him than Fred Sanford, Jessica Fletcher or Johnny Rose?
This is the kind of short that you can watch so many times and come away with something new each time. Incredibly made and just perfect.
Earthling (2023): Keith Lane and Molly Graham have made something pretty amazing here. It concerns the summer of 1976 and Jack and Jim Weiner, twin brothers who were abducted by aliens from Maine, along with two of their friends, Chuck Rak and Charlie Foltz.
It took a decade to remember what happened and even in 2023, Jack considers himself a representative of those space brothers and wants us to know that we’re killing our planet.
The animation in this is inspired by Jack’s artwork, which is bizarre and yet has the influence of no one else. After all, who has been to other realities and planets? Illustrator and animator Ameesha Lee translates that art for our human eyes and makes this story even more astounding.
Instead of the alien stories you’re used to seeing on basic cable, this film makes what happened to these four men feel authentic and possible.
The Promotion (2023): Directed by A.K. Espada and Phil Cheney, The Promotion starts with two office drones in a 1980s office that slowly reveals just where it really is and just who they truly are. With each insult, they reveal that they just want that promotion, not because they want to destroy one another, but when you’re trapped in the pushing the rock up the hill office life, you need anything you can find to get you through the eternity of ennui. Surprising effects and a song out of nowhere only improve this excellent mini-film.
Vertical Valor (2022): Directed and written by Alex Kavutskiy, Vertical Valor celebrates the lost heroes of World War 3: the skaters who stayed home and keep working on their ollie while delivering bad news to, well, the same dad over and over and over yet again. Man, I never knew I could have served in this unit, because I could rail grind and get some limited air even as a fat teenager. Perhaps my knowledge of sponsored riders and Misfits lyrics could have been put to service for my country. I could have read old issues of Thrasher to blind vets. Man, while I’m glad that we haven’t had a major world war — I mean, give 2022 time — I do know that I could have been part of the effort.
Foul (2022): John (Luigi Riscaldino) has a problem that so many men do. He just can’t stand a foul. Sports are tense, you know? And no matter how hard you play or your team is playing, that feeling that an authority can take it all from you is real. Just like an authority taking away your freedom, which John later finds out.
There are also those moments when in the heat of a match or inning or round you feel that you’re in a life-or-death situation. And all that adrenaline can make you feel so much bigger, stronger and tougher than you are. Consider this film a life lesson that you don’t have to experience yourself, but can walk away with the benefit. The next time you get fouled, just brush yourself off and get over it.
FIN. (2023): After witnessing their husbands blow up real good in a freak fishing accident, Edna and Bertha (Addie Doyle and Lee Hurst, who also directed and wrote this) are forced to carry on the family business. The problem? The Man (Blaine Miller) controls the water and claims that it’s for men only. Well, when you have a fake mustache, the world and everything in it can be yours, chica.
I loved every moment of this. A strange world that exists only in this film lives here, a place where despite all the traumas that they’ve dealt with, Edna and Bertha can still just sit in a boat and drink whiskey when they’re not robbing men for their bear coats.
The Chattanooga Film Festival is happening now through June 29. To get your in-person or virtual badge to see any of these movies, click here. For more information, visit chattfilmfest.org and follow us on Facebook,Twitterand Instagram.
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