SLASH Filmfestival 2023 has five carefully curated programs and various shorts before features bring a total of 48 short films from all corners of the world to Vienna.
With over 34 World, International, European or Austrian premieres the 14th edition of SLASH Filmfestival has its largest short film lineup ever and sees the festival take new initiatives to celebrate the short form in its own right.
In addition to program mainstays Fantastic Shorts Competition Chapters 1 and 2, SLASH is delighted to bring back My First SLASH to continue guiding young viewers and families on their first steps into the diverse world of genre cinema. Fantastic Futures has matured into its own program that celebrates promising film school students while SLASH is also excited to treat viewers to the first-ever Fantastic Flings, a sidebar which will become an annually recurring ‘hook up’ that sees SLASH collaborating with an international film festival for a co-curated program that explores relationships through a genre lens.
For its inaugural edition of Fantastic Flings SLASH is proud to get into bed with Italy’s TOHorror Fantastic Film Fest.
The competitions
With three competitive sections, SLASH continues to reward short film excellence.
A total of 10 shorts make up the Fantastic Shorts competition with what we believe are the freshest and fiercest genre short films from the past year. As always, the winner will be chosen by our most diligent judges – the SLASH audience – and takes home 1,000 € in prize money. Highlights include the Austrian premiere of Liam LoPinto’s The Old Young Crow, a singular ghost story that embraces a hybrid form to celebrate multicultural identity, darkly satirical social comments in the guise of a children’s game gone horribly wrong in Joséphine Darcy Hopkins’ Sweet Tooth, a run in with post-colonial Leatherface in
Bangladesh-set Foreigners Only (Nuhash Humayun), and the Austrian premiere of Hole (Hyein Hwang), the runner up of Cannes’ Cinéfondation competition.
A total of 8 shorts comprise the Fantastic Futures competition, which puts an exclusive spotlight on talented student filmmakers and collectively offers a mouth-watering taste of how fantastic the future of genre cinema is. The program sees the uniquely apocalyptic On the 8th Day taking its world premiere bow in addition to the European premiere of Nathan Ginter’s The Third Ear, a surreal and probing look at self-image. Also in the mix are Austrian premieres of Shengwei Zhou’s nightmarish paper animation Perfect City: The Bravest Kid and the Austrian premiere of homegrown The Hand That Feeds by
Helen Hideko.
Juried by SLASH (the) Industry experts Todd Brown (XYZ Films) and Tania Morissette (Fantasia International Film Festival/ Frontières), the winner will receive 500€ in prize money on top of being awarded a full certificate for Final Draft screenwriting software.
Playing across the aforementioned five programs, SLASH attendees will also discover six Méliès d’argent contenders, which include a colorful clash with inner demons that embody fear of commitment (Amok), a narrow escape from food processing (Remove Hind Legs Before Consumption) and the international premiere of hyper-sensual giallo tribute La Vedova Nera, which has the honor of being the opening night short of SLASH Filmfestival 2023.
All six films are in the running for being crowned best European fantastic short under 25 minutes at SLASH 2023. Doris Bauer (Vienna Shorts) and guest of honor Brandon Cronenberg will decide who wins the Méliès d’argent and is then in the running for the main prize – the Méliès d’or – at Sitges.
The trailer
Our killer short film trailer edited by Joana Gil-Rico should get you in the mood for films that find unique ways of channeling the past, coping with the present and envisioning the future as they take viewers on a surreal, darkly comedic and horrifyingly visceral ride.
To learn more:
SLASH Film festival – general info
SLASH Filmfestival is Austria’s largest event dedicated to Fantastic Cinema. Founded in 2010, it quickly grew in size and scope, attracting close to 15.000 visitors over its 11-day run. Each year’s program is comprised of 50+ Austrian, European or international premieres of highlights from the field of fantastic cinema, ranging from crowd-pleasers to hot docs, from fiercely independent films to heritage revivals.
Hurry and grab issue #25 of Drive-In Asylum on Etsy!
Vivvy got hers!
At long last, the new issue of DIA is ready! Issue 25 features Armand Mastroianni, director of 1980 slasher classic He Knows You’re Alone and also a profile of Stevan Mena’s Malevolence trilogy with comments from the director himself. Film reviews include Starship Invasions, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, Race with the Devil, Ghoulies,Pulgasariand Blood and Lace plus profiles of director Renato Polselli — hmm, who wrote that? — and actor Tristan Rogers. Also, AC Nicholas is back with more grindhouse/drive-in memories.
Drive-In Asylum is a 60-page fanzine, 8.5″ x 5.5″ black and white with some colored pages.
If you love movies, old ads and the joy of reading about them, get an issue today.
Maybe Netflix isn’t sending disks any more, but Scarecrow Video is!
Scarecrow Video, the country’s largest publicly accessible, non-profit video archive, has launched their revamped website, making it easier than ever for movie fans nationwide to rent DVDs and blu rays by mail!
Their vast library collection features more than 145,000 film & TV titles on multiple formats, from VHS to 4K, including not only recent studio releases, but rare, noncommercial, hard-to-find & out-of-print titles, and complete collections otherwise inaccessible to the general public.*
With an ever-changing digital landscape where films and TV series risk fading into obscurity, Scarecrow Video’s mission is preserving the future of physical media. Serving as custodians of cinematic history, and dedicated to ensuring this heritage remains accessible to all, Scarecrow’s collection contains thousands of films that exist exclusively on physical media, extending the life of classic (cult or otherwise) treasures that remain beyond the reach of streaming services.
With an impressive collection, spanning 130 countries and nearly 130 years of filmed entertainment, there is truly something for everyone and the passionate team behind Scarecrow Video constantly curate fun & informative sections to help consumers to discover new films and videos across a wide range of subject matters, from Spaghetti Westerns to Psychotronic Horror…and Bigfoot! Also, be sure to check out Viva Physical Media, Scarecrow Video’s movie recommendation show hosted by the Scarecrow staff on YouTube, and participate in The Psychotronic Challenge, their annual October horror movie-a-day competition!
Home entertainment distributor Kino Lorber is launching its Kino Cult genre brand as a packaged-media imprint focusing on collector-oriented blu ray and 4K Ultra HD releases.
The Kino Cult imprint will debut as its own label in October 2023 with special Blu-ray editions of Jess Franco’s erotic horror masterpiece Lorna … the Exorcist (1974, featuring Lina Romay).
Plus, there will be 4K restorations of Alien Outlaw (1985) and The Dark Power (1985), two video rental favorites from North Carolina indie Phil Smoot.
Kino Cult’s premiere 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release will be a deluxe edition of Clive Barker’s Underworld (1985), directed by George Pavlou, and featuring Denholm Elliott and Ingrid Pitt. Upcoming 4K releases for 2024 include the exploitation classic Ilsa: She-Wolf of the SS (1975) and its sequels, Ilsa: Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (1976), Ilsa the Tigress of Siberia (1977) and Ilsa, the Wicked Woman (1977).
While focusing mainly on horror and science fiction, Kino Cult will continue to embrace its trademark brand of “unapologetically weird” with such diverse genres as European erotica, grindhouse classics, and cinematic rediscoveries that defy categorization.
“Some of the most exciting rediscoveries are happening in the realm of cult cinema,” said Kino Cult curators Frank Tarzi and Bret Wood. “These strange and twisted movies are so unique that we feel they deserve their own imprint within the Kino Lorber family of labels.”
Kino Cult will expand its partnership with legendary cult label Something Weird, with collector’s edition releases to be announced soon.
Ted Farrell has lived for mysteries and drama his whole life. While a college student he proves to be a sound designer with a knack for audio thrillers – but his life is about to imitate his art. Fate places him at the doorstep of a beautiful young woman who will soon end up murdered and in his car with no explanation. His night and his sanity quickly spiral out of control as he races to avoid becoming the next victim of the killer on the loose. A very rare regional horror thriller from the late 1980s video store era, The Wrong Door enjoys its first time ever on disc and a brand new 2K transfer from the original Super 8 elements.
This Visual Vengeance blu ray has a brand new director-supervised 2K transfer from original Super 8 film elements with extras that include two commentary tracks, one with directors Bill Weiss and Shawn Korby and a second with director James Groetsch and producer John Schonebaum. There’s also a new documentary Men Make Movie, If Not Million$, interviews with Groetsch, Korby, Weiess and actor Matt Felmlee; an interview with Chris Gore; an alternate director’s cut; two Super 8 shorts, Raiders of the Lost Bark and The Pizza Man, an episode of The Gale Whiteman Show; the original unedited Muther Video VHS intros; an image gallery; trailers; storyboards; a limited edition slipcase and door hanger; a reversible sleeve with original VHS art and a “stick your own” VHS sticker set.
Horror star Malicia Tombs (Linnea Quigley) mysteriously dies after leaving the set of her latest, now unfinished, low budget shot-on-video shocker. Soon, an unseen masked killer is chopping and hacking his/ her way through the cast and crew as punishment for Tomb’s death – leaving a bloody trail of revenge. This super obscurity was shot in 1998 by indy horror stalwart Brad Sykes, and finally finished in 2002. Considered a ‘lost’ Linnea Quigley movie, Scream Queen is not only a solid 1990s shot-on-Video slasher that borrows from the Italian Giallo sub-genre, but also takes swift jabs at the U.S. independent horror movie scene of the time.
Available for the first time ever on blu ray, Scream Queen has a new director-approved SD master from original tape elements, as well as commentary with director and writer Brad Sykes, behind the scenes documentary, the producer’s cut of the film, new interview with Linna Quigley and Mark Polonia, imagery galleries, script selects, a trailer, six-page liner notes by Tony Strauss of Weng’s Chop Magazine, a limited edition slipcase by Rick Melton and Series 2 video store rental card, a Linnea Quigley mini-poster, a “stick your own” VHS sticker set and a reversible sleeve with the original art
September 22: The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster
September 25: The Terror season 1, The Djinn and The Vigil
September 29: Nightmare
There are some good movies coming this month, but it’s kind of sad that there are mostly AMC series showing up and about a fourth of the new movies of the past. There’s also no Sixty Days of Halloween or The Home for Halloween like in the past, as so much of what is on this network is starting to feel like an afterthought for AMC. At least Joe Bob is back.
Don’t have Shudder? Plans start at under $5 a month and you can get the first week free when you visit Shudder.
People ask me all the time, “How much do you get paid for doing that website you spend so much time on?”
Nada. Zip. Zilch.
And that’s the way it should be. This is the one thing in my writing career — I pretty much write from when I get up until when I go to bed for people who pay me — that is outside of the man and paying him back for things that I don’t really own.
But hey — if you like the site and would like to support it, I won’t stop you.
I’ve been told, “You should run ads,” and I never listen to anyone. I don’t listen to myself. But if you’d like to be part of the site, here’s how:
There are four ways you can help:
Go to our Ko-Fi site and just donate. There’s no set amount and I won’t tell you what to do. In fact, if you just keep reading for free, we can still be friends.
Join as a monthly member for just $1. That makes you a Little B&S’er.
As a Medium B&S’er at just $3 a month, if you pick a movie or a director, I’ll write about them for you. In fact, I’ll do one a month and even dedicate the post to you.
For $5 a month, you basically get some major power. As a Big B&S’er, I’ll write an entire week on any subject you’d like. How awesome would that be? In fact, I’ll do it for every month you’re a member. Do you think any of your other movie sites will do that for you?
You can always click the link below or the one on the left of the page. We already have one member, the fabulous A.C. Nicholas who is probably going to make me write about the films of Cicciolina or The Satisfiers of Alpha Blue. He sent the money in a paper bag and it was all in singles.
Anyways! Thanks for reading and I won’t hit you up all that often. And I promise to spend all the money you send on blu rays and drugs.
All September long, this site will be looking back at part of our teens and twenties. USA Up All Night was a major part of our lives from 1989 to 1998, airing on Friday and Saturday nighst from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Whether you were stuck at home or just getting back from the bar, there were so many movies that you could watch. In fact, so many of the films that are part of my genre education were watching on this show.
Check out this Letterboxd list to see what I mean. You can also challenge yourself and see how many of them you’ve seen — I’m 288 out of 729 movies — with this quiz.
USA Up All Night started on January 7, 1989, with Gilbert Gottfried hosting on Saturdays from New York City. The first two movies? Cheerleaders Beach Party and Stuck On You! After a few months, the Friday night show was filmed in Los Angeles and hosted by actress/comedian Caroline Schlitt from another USA Network show, Camp Midnite. Both of these shows replaced the beloved Night Flight but only USA Up All Night was worthy of continuing the weirdness that late night USA was known for.
When Schlitt left the program in December of 1990, she was replaced by the iconic Rhonda Shear on Friday nights. She also hosted a Spanish version in 1993 for Latin American audiences!
Sadly, in 1998, USA came under the new management of Barry Diller. He wanted a less strange and more upscale viewership for USA. Many of the long-running series were soon gone, but the USA Up All Night name and imagery continued without Gilbert or Rhonda until 2002. Sadly, the movies shown were mainstream films that you could see anywhere.
From December 1988 to February 1998, there were nine hundred episodes of this program. While many don’t consider this show in the same category of other horror host programs, in truth it had a longer lifespan than many of them and it was on a larger network.
Get ready. I have an entire month planned. And if you have a memory of the show, write to me. I’d love to feature it on the site.
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