Horrorfest 2007

[Darkwolf71]

Anyone been?

I went this past weekend and holy CRAP is my poor arse sore. Some 13 or so hours in a ten year old (at least) theater seat is... not pleasent.

I had my doubts after seeing last years mostly bad flicks and the travesty that was the online pre-purchase system.

However, even the worst of this years was better than most of what we endured in 2006.

Mulberry Street, was possibly the weakest, but I cannot say that for sure without seeing it at least one more time. The editing was poor, that's for certain but the story itself while quite off the wall was at least interesting. It even had very believable relationships between the various characters. The filming was in the '28 Days Later' shakey cam style that has become over used. combined with poor lighting... Still an interesting and nearly believable story.


The best? Have to say The Deaths of Ian Stone. Nice story, good acting. Worth seeing all by itself.

 

[frankthedm]

Links?!

 

[Darkwolf71]

Links?!

http://www.horrorfestonline.com/index.html

 

[frankthedm]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horrorfest

Borderland wanna see it
Written and directed by Zev Berman, this film centers around Phil (played by Rider Strong from Cabin Fever) and his two college buddies who road-trip down to a Mexican border town to celebrate their college graduation. They run into a cult looking for human sacrifice and their weekend becomes a bloody test of survival.

Crazy Eights :\ Maybe
After a mutual childhood friend dies, six friends reunite after 20 years and decide to unearth a time capsule they buried. Upon opening the time capsule they find the dead remains of a child, which begins to haunt their everday life and could lead to their death if they can't uncover the mystery behind the child's death.

The Deaths Of Ian Stone :\ Maybe
Starring Mike Vogel in the title role, along with Christina Cole, Jaime Murray, and Michael Dixon. The films revolves around Ian Stone who is in a constant cycle of dying at night only to wake up in the morning as someone else.[2]

Lake Dead wanna see it
A group of teenagers inherit a motel on a lake, only to uncover a series of dark and frightening family secrets.

Mulberry Street wanna see it
Co-starring Debbie Rochon and directed by Jim Mickle, a film about six evicted New Yorkers fighting off were-rats.

Nightmare Man Pass, won't risk paying to see a movie that might just be about one lone nut imagining things and chopping up her own friends.
Written, produced, and directed by Rolfe Kanefsky, and starring scream queen Tiffany Shepis alongside Gwen Davis, Robert Donovan, and Richard Moll. Oficial blurb>>>After receiving a mysterious mask, Ellen Morris believes she was attacked by an evil being she calls ‘Nightmare Man’. Her husband, Bill, believes she is crazy. On their way to the mental hospital their car breaks down and Bill goes to get gas, leaving Ellen alone. When Nightmare Man appears, Ellen takes off into the woods, unsure whether she is hallucinating or not. She stumbles upon a cabin filled with friends who unknowingly becoming prey the moment Ellen steps inside.<<<

Tooth and Nail :\ Maybe
The film, starring Michael Madsen, Vinnie Jones, Rider Strong, Robert Carradine, and Rachel Miner, revolves around a group of people in a post-apocalyptic world fight to survive against a band of vicious cannibals.

Unearthed The one movie of this lot I really wanted to see, though now i am warry... fan review .
It is written and directed by Matthew Leutwyler and stars Emmanuelle Vaugier from Saw II. A mysterious creature in a New Mexican town is the reason for the disappearances of several townspeople, nature dying, and animals being murdered.

 

[Darkwolf71]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horrorfest

Borderland wanna see it

Turistas without the harvesting of body parts. It's not a bad movie, if you like your typical modern slasher type flck. (Which, I do.)

Crazy Eights :\ Maybe

Traci Lords. What else needs to be said? Unusual for someone of her origins to actually be a decent actress. Another good movie over all, but the secrets of these friends childhood make for a tangled and confusing flick. Now, in fairness this was the last one we watched, I was uncomfortable, my knees hurt, my butt was sore. I need to go back and see this one in a more comfortable theater. The final scene, which should have been the final piece of the puzzle feels like it was taken from another script entirely, I am unsure at this point, how it ties into the main storyline.

The Deaths Of Ian Stone :\ Maybe

This was actually my favorite one. The short description doesn't do it justice. Ian doesn't wake up as 'someone else' everyday. He wakes up as himself, only his life is different than it was before. Like he had made different choices. Then when it explains why this is happening to him it all makes a kind of scense.

Lake Dead wanna see it

A couple of things in this are just... odd. It's good, it's fairly predictable. But, definatly worth seeing.

Mulberry Street wanna see it

I commented on this one already. The more I think about it, the more I like it. For all it's faults this is a really good, original film. Originality is something that's hard to come by in any film these days, especially in horror.

Nightmare Man Pass, won't risk paying to see a movie that might just be about one lone nut imagining things and chopping up her own friends.

Well, first off, it's not that. But...

This starts out as a really good slasher flick but changes directions mid-stride. You could give this one a pass and not miss a thing. I mean, it's worth seeing, but wait till you can rent it.

Tooth and Nail :\ Maybe

This movie is just fun. I really enjoyed it. It's bloody, it's violent, it's funny, and it's ending is one of the cheesiest most badass things I've seen in a long time. I actually recommend this as a must-see-on-the-big-screen.

Unearthed The one movie of this lot I really wanted to see, though now i am warry...

Now, I'm biased here because I grew up in the Southwest and any film that puts a decent Native American story on screen get's a lot of grace from me. The monster is very much an homage to Alien. In fact one scene is set up to specificaly resemble the scene where the Alien has Ripley backed up to a wall and ends up leaving her alive. Some of the acting is indeed weak, but not horrendously so. I definatly recommend it, but again, I am biased towards films set in the deserts of the Southwest.

 

[Insight]

Traci Lords. What else needs to be said? Unusual for someone of her origins to actually be a decent actress. Another good movie over all, but the secrets of these friends childhood make for a tangled and confusing flick. Now, in fairness this was the last one we watched, I was uncomfortable, my knees hurt, my butt was sore. I need to go back and see this one in a more comfortable theater. The final scene, which should have been the final piece of the puzzle feels like it was taken from another script entirely, I am unsure at this point, how it ties into the main storyline.

I saw this with a friend, and yeah, it's confusing. Crazy Eights is the type of movie that definitely would have benefitted from another 20-30 minutes of plot development. If you read between the lines, you can pretty much figure out what's going on, but I don't like movies that make you work to figure out the plot. This is a horror film, not a mystery!

The acting is fairly good, and the directing is so-so. I'm not a fan of how this was edited, especially the first few scenes. I also thought the music was very strange and runs almost counter to the emotions you'd think the director was trying to invoke (a sweeping orchestra when they are just standing around outside the house?)

 

[frankthedm]

Traci Lords. What else needs to be said? Unusual for someone of her origins to actually be a decent actress.

I'll pass on anything with her in it. I see her in a movie and I get angry. Her fraudulent entry into the adult film industry could have put a lot of relatively innocent people in jail.

Saw:

Lake dead: Wanted to like the movie, but too many failings.

Mulberry street:Starts out alike a documentary by a director with a bug up his rump about the plight of the tenement dwelling commoner. The bits that were actually horror movie were not enough to keep my friend and me in the theater for very long.

 

[Darkwolf71]

I'll pass on anything with her in it. I see her in a movie and I get angry. Her fraudulent entry into the adult film industry could have put a lot of relatively innocent people in jail.

Yeah, shame to besmirch the reputations of such upstanding ( ) individuals.

Saw:

Lake dead: Wanted to like the movie, but too many failings.

Mulberry street:Starts out alike a documentary by a director with a bug up his rump about the plight of the tenement dwelling commoner. The bits that were actually horror movie were not enough to keep my friend and me in the theater for very long.

If I were you, I wouldn't spend money of the rest of them. They are, after all, low budget horror flicks. It doesn't sound like that's your thing.

 

[frankthedm]

Lake Dead, IMNSHO, shot itself in the foot with the opening scene that had the old guy trying to ‘walk off’ being clipped in the side of the neck with buckshot. The “Bubba Brothers” were mildly entertaining, though their angry scream was really stupid.

If I were you, I wouldn't spend money of the rest of them. They are, after all, low budget horror flicks. It doesn't sound like that's your thing.

Low budget is fine. I have seen plenty of entertaining low budget. I just don't cut low budget much extra slack. Especially when the movie uses low budget as an excuse to do something down right dumb or the director pushes a political agenda too transparently.

Unrest HF06 was good.

Gravedancers HF06 was entertaining.

Feast has a budget only $700k more than Lake Dead and that was a grand movie IMHO.