Don't Miss American Mary in San Diego

 "It's scary how well "American Mary" is made. But the real horror in the film comes in some unexpected places. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will say that the story does turn into a revenge film and part of what’s scary is the darkness Mary finds inside herself. That’s what makes the Soskas so good. They do not go for the knee-jerk scare of something jumping out of the dark or for gross-out gore. They deliver carefully calibrated horror that looks to the darkness that lies within each of us. And they are really smart about how they use gore effects; they know when to show blood and when to leave it to our imaginations. They prove that all horror needs is a woman’s touch to refresh it. 

The Soskas will have a special video introduction for the film on Friday night at 10 p.m. They will be in town on Saturday for a Q&A following the 10 p.m. screening. The second film in the series will be "Gut," with filmmaker Elias offering a mini-workshop on making and distributing an independent film after the two screenings of his film on June 14 and 15."

Beth Accomando paid out of her own pocket to make sure American Mary played in San Diego. I don't even know how to express my gratitude for such an opportunity and I cannot wait to see you guys there!

Read the whole piece here!

-Sylv

American Mary Comes to the Theatre in San Diego

If you live in San Diego, you can have two nights to spend with the lovely Dr. Mary Mason with two screenings of American Mary in San Diego on May 31 and June 1 at the Digital Gym Cinema. Please bring your buddies and get the word out about this screening!

Get your tickets here!!!

-Sylv

American Mary Coming to San Diego

Cinema Junkie will be presenting American Mary May 31 and June 1 at the Digital Gym Cinema with a special something exclusive to the screening. 

San Diego-ians bring your buddies, your family, people you don't know to this killer screening for necessary unnecessary surgery!

-Sylv

Cinema Junkie Delivers the Goods at Comic Con

A great deal about how a person can reach success is rated on the people you surround yourself with. I know as a fact that without the people who have stood beside Jen and me and our work, that we could have and would have never been able to do the things we do - from our crew, our cast, our family, and our extended family in the horror community. It is at this time that I must sing the praises of one of the most hard-working women, dedicated to excellence with no holds barred, Beth Accomando, the Cinema Junkie.

If you are unaware of the awesome that is Beth, please click here to get caught up with the rest of the class. Jen and I have long dreamed of having the opportunity to go to Comic Con and with our sophomore film, AMERICAN MARY, fast approaching release, it was the chance of a lifetime not only to attend the convention as fans, but to promote the film. Being Comic Con first-timers, a lot of what the convention would be was unchartered territory for us, but Beth was there not only to support and guide us through the beautiful chaos, but she is the woman responsible for our autograph meet and greet as well as our panel.

Because Beth Accomando fucking rocks. She doesn't take no for an answer and she's the kind of woman that makes things happen. In this case, she gave us the experience of a lifetime where we got to speak on a panel discussing AMERICAN MARY with Jen, myself, Todd Masters (our master FX artist behind the film), and Paula Lindberg (our Ruby RealGirl and very first cast member) - all moderated by Beth.

Here is the full panel in all it's awesomeness for those of you that were unable to attend and those of you that want to relive the rad.




Here is the full article on AMERICAN MARY at Comic Con by Beth Accomando - take a read, pass it to your cool friends, and thank you for doing so! 

I am going to be thanking Beth for the rest of my life for her kindness, and knowing her, she's just going to keep being so amazingly supportive of the independents and giving us the opportunity to do this. Thank you, Beth, we had the time of our lives and we owe it to you!

-Sylv

Cinema Junkie Makes a Stand Against Bullshit

The Canadian grindhouse homage "Dead Hooker in a Trunk" screened in San Diego last year at Horrible Imaginings but the film has run into controversy trying to get a screening in Saskatchewan for the Dark Bridges Film Festival.

Censorship really ticks me off. The case involving "Dead Hooker in a Trunk" is the kind of censorship that business folks like brush off by saying they are not really "censoring" they are just responding to the marketplace. Only problem with that is sometimes the "marketplace" is just one person or a few complaining people trying to force their narrow boundaries of acceptable fare on others. And to make matters worse, the people who claim to be offended have never bothered to actually see what it is that they are trying to ban from public view. But wait, I get ahead of myself.

-Beth Accomando, Cinema Junkie

There is almost nothing in the world that I love more than a smart feminist. There are so many misconceptions on feminism and every time a 'feminist' speaks out without having all the facts, they make the rest of us look stupid. Like the 'feminist' that anonymously called complaining about the screening of DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK who also cowardly ripped down all posters advertising the screening festival in the middle of the night. Thank you for trying to get us bare foot and pregnant, making a delicious dinner in the confines of the kitchen. That said, 'anonymous' probably didn't think that far or farther than her own knee-jerk reaction to something she didn't have all the facts for.


Thank God that isn't the situation in all cases. One of the most brilliant and well spoken feminists I have ever had the pleasure of knowing is Beth Accomando. She has heard about this banning bullshit and she decided to look into it with this expertly articulate article and interview with John Allison, the programmer for the Dark Bridges Film Fest. Beth doesn't pull punches and says it like it is with a full knowledge of the entire issue and I love her for it.

Now I'm not saying that these films are inoffensive or that if the complaining folks had seen the films they would change their mind. Quite the contrary. These films are almost designed to be offensive and the the outraged parties might have become even more outraged if they had bothered to see the films or even watch the trailers. But the films serve up a gleeful kind of offense, the kind John Waters would be proud of because it offends as it skewers conventional values and suggests anarchy is better than a tame status quo. Plus there is such a sense of joy in the inventive, do-it-yourself filmmaking that if you love horror or just film in general it's hard not to take some delight in the filmmakers' passion. The real question is, "Are these films not just offensive but obscene, and obscene to the point that audiences should not be allowed the choice to see them?"

In my opinion these films are not obscene, and people who want to see them on the big screen should have the opportunity. A midnight screening with viewers made fully aware of the films' ratings and content seems perfectly reasonable. No one is being forced to watch and the late hour restricts who would be able to see the extreme films. So there has to be a very clear distinction made between merely offensive and obscene. Because as John Cleese once said: "Some people deserve to be offended."

Please take the time to check out the whole, informative article. It explores the whole issue without any sugar-coating which is precisely the way an adult discussion about censorship in today's world should be handled. I would like to thank Beth for looking into these events up North and sharing the story with people. Even if this wasn't our film that had come under attack, I would still be in an uproar that a film was banned from a theater without being viewed based on a satirical title.

I don't think the nay-sayers expected this kind of response from the horror community which has been looked down upon like a group of sadists with no artistic merit in the work they love. In a way, I'm happy that this happened. It gave outsiders an opportunity to find out who really makes up the horror community: intelligent, responsible, and informed individuals interested in an open discussion and exchange of ideas. So many beautifully put together thoughts, while they were probably just expecting us to say 'fuck you' and run away like frightened animals.


It's a great day for horror indeed. Despite the fights we will all be fighting for a very long time to educate those who don't understand us and why we are impassioned about what we are.

~Sylv

How Horrible our Film Fest will be... Horribly Awesome!

"Halloween is over but you can still find something scary in San Diego. Here's a preview of the inaugural Horrible Imaginings Film Festival playing this Saturday at the Tenth Avenue Theater beginning at 1:00 pm.

If you're a horror fan like myself and are counting the 361 days left until next Halloween then here's something to make the wait a little easier: Horrible Imaginings Film Festival. The film festival serves up horror features and shorts both old and new as well as two floors of artwork. This celebration of horror is the brainchild of Baltimore transplant Miguel Rodriguez, who saw a need for more horror in San Diego and decided to try and fill it."

This is an exert from an article by Cinema Junkie - Beth Accomando of KPBS San Diego: Public Radio, TV, and Web News and we couldn't agree more - we're not ready to give up our love of the spooky and strange - hell, we embrace it year round. Coming up this weekend is the first horror genre film festival of San Diego - The Horrible Imaginings Film Festival - brainchild of Miguel Rodriguez who decided to bring the splatter to the people and the people couldn't be more stoked!

"What people can expect from the film festival," says Rodriguez, "is people can walk around, meet other people who are like-minded and like the same type of genre. They will be able to expect artwork of dark or macabre nature, and also a number of films including two classics that are being screened over the course of the 12-hour period.

Twelve hours may sound like a long time to spend in the dark getting scared but the festival is broken up into two halves representing two different kinds of horror.

"I wanted to showcase how the horror genre can bring out different ways that people communicate fear," Rodriguez explains, "And that could be either from a psychological way or from a more visceral way."

We met Miguel at this past year's Viscera and Bleedfest Film Festival and we horror aficionados know one another when we meet them. Nicest, most down to earth, funny gentleman ever who knows his horror inside and out. When he decided to bring the genre fest to the people of San Diego, we knew something special was a'brewin' and now the time is almost upon us! This weekend it happens. It was a huge honor when Miguel requested 'Dead Hooker in a Trunk' to play in the fest --

"The enticingly titled "Dead Hooker in a Trunk." (I mean how can you resist a film with a title like that!)

"It's a very fun kind of grindhouse film," says Rodriguez who can't help but smile at the mere mention of the title. "Just go for the ride. Turn the brain off and have a lot of fun."

The film was made in Canada by identical twin sisters Jen and Sylvia Soska, and the female characters they play are anything but passive victims. The film is an uneven, ultra-low budget project fueled by wild energy and do-it-yourself inventiveness."

Exactly what we wanted when we created the film, something that is fun to watch, you have a blast, and makes the girls and the boys feel like they can kick ass! Badass has that affect on people, she's a special type of girl. Now read the whole article, girls and boys, you'll be glad that you did!

If you can get to it, call in sick and start driving now - go check out this festival and bring your friends. Now that The Horrible Imaginings Film Fest has arrived in San Diego, it's here to stay! Thank you to Beth for getting the word out about this fantastic fest, Miguel for creating it and giving a voice to horror in the community, and for all the fans and film makers alike for loving the genre - you are the best quality of people in the world!

xo
Sylv