The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

The Trunk (2022): A father and daughter — Marco and Cass (Craig Monk and Ashleigh Morrison) — have found an old trunk covered with chains in the woods. They wonder what’s inside and how much money they can make from what’s inside, but perhaps when you find a chained-up chest buried in the mud you should just leave it there.

Directed and written by Travis Laidlaw, this is a film that builds to its inevitable gory and effects-filled conclusion. It’s a very simple story, yet incredibly well-told and could be the start of a much longer movie that could explore these characters more. I loved the art direction of the poster and how the credits run backward at the end, too. Definitely worth a watch.

The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

I’m Losing You (2022): An alcoholic woman (Koko Marshall) — seen as she uses her computer and through the lends of Facetime and other apps — seeks the comfort of strangers on a video chat website. She’s lost her infant daughter, her parents (Kent Moran and Pearls Daily) keep calling and she’s going to be late for her AA meeting. But she’s close to the edge and even the self-help meditations (Natasha Lyonne is the voice) aren’t keeping her together. And then she meets someone (Catharine Daddario) very familiar on the other side of the computer.

Directed by Courtney and Mark Sposato and written by Courtney, this film uses its narrative technique of remaining online, as well as the visuals it shows, to the fullest. It allows you to get to know so much of its lead and learn how she got to this point. As to whether or not she escapes, the film doesn’t give any easy answers.

You can learn more on the film’s production site.

The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

Get Out of There (2022): The Barber Brothers also made another short I’ve seen recently, Specter of Weeping Hill, and Get Out of There has the same gorgeous attention to look and detail.

After narrowly making it alive out of a fall down a hillside, Officer Jim Soul (Nathaniel Barber) can’t get back on his feet. Yet he knows that he’s not alone in the woods and only has his radio and dispatcher Maggie (Breanne Solis) for help.

This seems like part of a much larger story but it’s hard to complain when it’s so well made. I’d love to see where else the brothers go, as I’ve loved the first two shorts that I’ve seen from them.

The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

Fame Fatale (2021): Michael (Michael James Daly, who also co-wrote this film with director Michelle Iannantuono and story consultant Maddox Julien Slide) has been acting for twenty years and trying to get his break. The role he’d been so hopeful to get has been awarded to someone else, so he heads off to a horror movie convention to try and get his mind off the loss.

The director said, “Michael and I have both spent a lot of time on the film circuit, and we’ve seen a LOT of indie horror movies. And while gay characters are certainly becoming more prominent in horror films, they are still often the first to be victimized, or they are villainized due to their sexuality. Often, their sexuality is their singular character trait that defines and motivates them – which is simply not a reflection of reality. On top of that, very frequently heterosexual actors are hired to play gay roles, making the pool of opportunity even smaller for struggling LGBT performers.

We wanted to create a horror film that stars a gay character, played by a gay actor, who is well-rounded, funny, and sympathetic. His identity is core to his portrayal, but his character is not motivated by it.”

With a strange interaction with Halloween Kills actor Michael Smallwood and an indie filmmaker panel that nearly destroys whatever hope for a career that Michael has, Fame Fatale does a great job at showing just how clique-ish the so-called horror fam of conventions can be. Yet there are still individuals that want to make it better, that know how to reach out to one another and not gatekeep. There’s still a reason to love fandom and push yourself to want to be a creator.

I really loved how Fame Fatale used VHS tracking to denote dream sequences and get inside the head of its lead. It made me consider the indie films that end up on the site and consider the lives and careers of every actor and crew member, no matter how small.

The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

Our First Priority (2022): Directed and written by Ariel Baska, this short uses the lens of a horror movie to tell some truths about dealing with chronic illness. Hannah (Violet Gotcher) has to have a checkup and the doctor (Benjamin Frankenberg) only has so much time to spend with her — he’s reminded that he has another patient waiting more than a few times — and he can’t believe that she has such a strange list of medical issues. His only job is to check the boxes on his paperwork and move on to the next person.

But Hannah is followed by her adult self or guardian angel (Jamie Kirsten Howard) who will make this doctor pay for the way she was treated.

Baska dedicated this movie “to all the loved ones we’ve lost to medical bias” and started it while she was getting ready to receive brain surgery, referring to herself and her issues as a “medical unicorn.”

While quick and to the point, Our First Priority made me consider how every patient is treated and how when medical treatment is encouraged to add just one more minute of care to each patient exactly how short of time that is.

The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

Buzzkill (2022): Let me tell you, when you start your animated short off with a logo that says Canon Pictures and looks like Cannon Films, I’m going to love what comes next.

That said, it’s easy to love this movie, which is the story of Becky (Kelly McCormack, who is Jess McCready in the A League of Their Own Series) and Rick (Peter Ahern, also the director and writer), who return to her house after a date and their moment of romance is interrupted by an insect crawling out of her eyeball.

The animation is gorgeous, the story is amusing and I just loved the way that it all pays off. Buzzkill gets in more gross-out and laugh-out-loud moments in its short running time than most movies get in two hours.

The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

Sins of a Werewolf (2020): Father Donovan (Paul Kennedy) gets bit by a werewolf and must confront so many things, from the fact that his violence has brought more people back to mass, that he’s bitten a man’s penis off and that the only way to escape this curse is to lose his virginity.

Made in Ireland by director and writer David Prendeville, this also has a great performance by Lalor Roddy, who was Paddy Barrett in Grabbers. In this, he plays the older priest Father Fox, who is more concerned with the fact that Donovan is uncircumcised than him coming home naked and covered in blood.

Despite the short running time and low budget, this movie goes places where other werewolf movies fear to tread. It’s a blast and could easily be a full-length film.

The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

Sucker (2022): Two sisters — Sam (Sophia Capasso, East Enders) and Caitlin (Annie Knox) — end up battling one another as a leech creature begins to influence and control them both from within. Is it a metaphor for how real world events cast a wedge between families or just an opportunity to have horrifying creatures and no small amount of muck, bile and whatever fluids can be spit and puked up?

I mean, in a perfect world and in a great movie — like this short — it can be both.

Director and writer Alix Austin has done just about every job you can in film — acting, directing, producing, on the crew, second unit, casting, editing, writing and more — and if this film is any indication, we’ll soon be seeing a lot more of her talented work.

The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

GUTS (2021): Chris McInroy is the director of Bad Guy #2, Death Metal, We Summoned A Demon and the segment “One Time In The Woods” in Scare Package and if you’ve seen that, you have some idea of just how bloody and brilliant this short is going to be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZPEQ6ywqbU?

GUTS is all about Tim, who is in love with a girl in his office, wants a promotion and has to deal with all manner of bullies during his day because, well, his guts are on the outside of his body.

Do not watch if you are grossed out by guts, eating guts, drinking guts, eyeballs ala Fulci, whittling awards killing people, spraying blood, ooze, gristle, gore, more guts and fun. I almost puked at one point and I thought I had a cast iron stomach, so Mr. McInroy, you can consider that a standing ovation.

Hunt this down, find it and fall in love. Or throw up. I mean, either way, you’re living, right?

The GenreBlast Film Festival is entering its sixth year of genre film goodness. A one-of-a-kind film experience created for both filmmakers and film lovers to celebrate genre filmmaking in an approachable environment, it has been described by Movie Maker Magazine as a “summer camp for filmmakers.”

Over the next few days, I’ll be reviewing several movies from this fest, based in the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Winchester, Virginia. This year, there are 14 feature films and 87 short films from all over the world. Weekend passes are only $65 and you can get them right here.

Smile (2021): Six minutes, two characters and incredibly unsettling, Smile is a simple metaphor for depression told in an incredibly stunning way.

Anna (Konstantina Mantelos, who was in one of my favorite recent horror films, Anything for Jackson) is the only human we see in this movie — we hear Ashley Laurence (Kristy from the Hellraiser films) as the voice of her mother — and we’re with her as she struggles to smile and then deals with Moros (Tyler Williams), who in Greek mythology is the living and personification of impending doom and a demon destroys mortals fated to die.

Director and writer Joanna Tsanis has made several shorts, but this is the first of her work that I’ve seen. She also has the benefit of great cinematography by Jason Han and magical special effects makeup by Carlos Henriques.