In the midst of UK winter, it’s hard to imagine that elsewhere in the world could be anything but cold. But, such narrow minded presumptions are debunked on the other side of the hemisphere, where temperatures fluctuate between mid to high scorchio.
After last year’s ‘Virtual Edition’ of The Dead of Night Film Festival, we finally got a traditional DoNFF in 2021, returning with a weird and wonderful selection of horror films.
Etheria Film Night announced today the 2021 Official Short Films Showcase Lineup, which will stream exclusively on Shudder, AMC Networks’ premium streamer for horror, thrillers, and the supernatural, beginning Friday, 25th June through 25th July.
Remastered onto BD-R/DVD-R, Carnie Features have released the definitive edition of Thomas Lee Rutter’s Bella in the Wych Elm; a West Midlands phantasmagoria based on the world-famous unsolved Hagley Wood mystery. Part documentary, part experimental horror, Bella in the Wych Elm is a delight to watch and never comes across as exploitative.
For the most part, The Game of the Clock had me intrigued. Michele Olivieri’s short film begins well and in typical horror fashion. A beautiful girl visiting her friend finds she’s not answering the door, so she enters her home, quickly realising that she’s missing and that there are some sinister, supernatural shenanigans going on. Once on the premises, she’s faced with a ringing alarm clock and a series of unnerving notes left asking her if she can endure the next five minutes; along with other handwritten and hand-drawn riddles.
The Dead of Night Film Festival returned this year despite everything happening in the world, proving you can’t keep a good horror hound down. After all, look at how many different ways Christopher Lee died as Dracula. This year’s festival was a free virtual edition!
A dog’s bark pierces the silence of the night as a man emerges from a car into the shadows wearing a Michel Myers style jumpsuit. We are only a few seconds in and already there is an atmosphere of intrigue and dread. The man is John, a janitor who has arrived to work a shift at an orphanage where strange occurrences are afoot. In an office turned nursing room, a woman holds a baby closely as vintage music pipes its way out of an old radio, adding to the overall sense of foreboding.
Director Adrienne Lovette came to my attention through the release of her 2016 short horror/mystery film Hidden Daylight. A film that almost plays as a companion piece to The Dark Room, as it not only has some of the same cast, but most notably actor John Rice plays a psychic in both. The characters are very different, but Lovette is now carving out a name for herself in the horror genre as a director to definitely keep an eye on. Both films seem very similar in pacing and style and it’s easy to identify it was directed by the same person, which I always believe is a good thing.
Clocking in at little over two minutes, Hangnail certainly packs enough of a punch to raise an eyebrow or two. Everything on show here is to be applauded. This is low budget indie-filmmaking thinking big.
Continuing from our previous interview, Attack from Planet B talked with Michael Fausti regarding his first feature film EXIT, and the various influences that have helped shape him as a filmmaker.
Have you ever looked at a mannequin and swear you seen it move or talk? Variable in size, shape and detail, these human-like but hallow creations have a definite mystique. Filmmakers have included them continually in horror, relying on their presence to create a deep and unnerving effect…
1982 saw the release of Louis La Vope’s horror short which was broadcast on American television. Entitled simply The Dummy, and running at less than eight minutes, it tells of the eponymous doll who comes to life and inflicts mental and physical torment on an unsuspecting victim.
