In Honor of Friday the 13th--JASON GOES SHOPPING!

Happy Friday the 13th, Vault dwellers. I've never been very superstitious, so I've never really attached bad luck to it. As a matter of fact, it's a day close to my heart, because I was actually born on one. I know, not much of a shock there. Anyway, in recognition of the day, please enjoy this marvelous fan film by Sean Dillin, featuring a certain Mr. Voorhees.

You know, I think I may have actually been behind the big guy at the Stop 'n Shop checkout a time or two...

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Having Some Fun with Dave Reda's HORROR OF OUR LOVE...

It's been described as a "horror romantic comedy short film that twists your normal love's story's back until it breaks," and that just about sums it up. A tasty little sendup of '80s slasher cinema crossed with MTV kitsch, Horror of Our Love is the kind of morsel that will bring a smile to any died-in-the-wool fright fanatic. Being one myself, needless to say, it left me tickled pink, with a goofy grin on my face--and I'm not even a fan of slasher flicks!

Shortly after we checked out the short flick, Captain Cruella and I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Zombie Dave Reda, director of Horror of Our Love (you can give that interview a listen over at Cruella's Crypt). And I have to say, I'm hard pressed to decide which was more fun--chatting it up with the hilarious Mr. Reda, or checking out his clever film.

The encapsulated tale of unrequited love between a Jason-like slasher (played by Reda himself) and a would-be final girl, Horror of Our Love is made with an obvious sense of love and admiration for the type of cinema being lampooned. As the strains of Ludo's song of the same name play, we are treated to our anti-hero's clumsy, and brutally violent attempts to win the heart of his lady. Needless to say, some serious splatstick antics ensue--and not to give too much away, but it all ends up leaving the viewer with a nice, warm fuzzy feeling. Kind of like Friday the 13th Part 4. Except not at all.

Horror of Our Love has been showing at a few film festivals, including Dances with Films last summer, and most recently, Liz & Brenda Fies' Bleedfest. The Captain and I were privileged to have an opportunity to check it out, and we hope that you get a similar chance sometime soon. Here's to more brilliant bits of horror comedy gold to come, from the twisted mind of Zombie Dave!

In the San Diego area for Valentine's Day? Check out Horror of Our Love as part of Miguel Rodriguez' Horrible Imaginings film festival on February 12, in which it will be screening alongside Bride of Frankenstein!

Dave Reda at Cruella's Crypt

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It's MURDER BABY!!

Courtesy of Grumpy Panda Films

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The Family Tie: If Dali Made a Revenge Flick...

The word "absurd" has come to be pretty much a universally negative term in the English language. But I'd like to bring back the more literal meaning of the word, if I may...

ab·surd (ab-sûrd', -zûrd'): Of, relating to, or manifesting the view that there is no order or value in human life or in the universe.

Having gotten that out of the way, I'd like to declare that Matthew Glasson's trippy 40-minute featurette The Family Tie is totally absurd. And I enjoyed the heck out of it.

Together with his school buddy, Scott Greene, Chicagoland native filmmaker/musician Glasson had the idea to make a brutal, darkly comic revenge movie that turned the subgenre on its ear and injected a '70s exploitation horror sensibility to the proceedings--and this is the germ that led to The Family Tie, which began life as a short video made in college.

In late 1997 and early 1998, the two men got together a rag-tag cast and crew and shot the thing in the suburbs of Chicago. Unfortunately, amateur editing capabilities being what they were at the time, the multiple hours of footage sat on the proverbial shelf for eight years, until Final Cut Pro finally enabled Glasson to undertake the grueling tasks of editing the footage into workable form, adding narration and shooting extra FX shots. The film was finally completed in 2007.

Shot on a veritable microscopic budget, The Family Tie tells the story of Dave Buglesias, a poor young man whose family is destroyed by a maniacal gun-runner. Filled with a thirst for vengeance, Dave embarks on mission to wipe out the man responsible for it all--a mission that pretty defies any and all expectations that watching movies of this kind would ever foster in your mind. The word "surreal" does not even do justice to the blood-drenched proceedings which follow...

The order of the day here is hyper-realism, and once you accept that, it's quite an amazing bit of fun. The acting is completely over-the-top to the point of total hilarity, with Greene taking on the role of the villain with a level of nihilistic insanity that has to be seen to be believed. Non-actor Phil Anzelmo is also game as Dave, whose obvious lack of experience only adds another level of absurdity to the film.

As Tenebrous Kate points out in her just-posted review over at Love Train for the Tenebrous Empire (great minds think alike, especially when encased in the bodies of people who have copies of the same screener), the highlight of the film's delicious weirdness may be the scene in which poor Dave must pay a visit to the unthinkably perverted gangster "Brass Balls" Benigno in order to extract some much-needed info on the whereabouts of his nemesis.

Quentin Tarantino meets Slime City, The Family Tie literally had me laughing out loud at the utter ridiculousness of it all--a level of ridiculosity that only continues to escalate just when you think it can't get any more bizarre/random. This flick is clearly a product of Glasson and Greene's absolute passion for film and filmmaking, tempered by some serious filmmaking sensibilities. The teensy-weensy budget is quite evident (it's shot in Video Hi8), and one (one being me) wonders what they might be able to accomplish with some serious scratch to work with. There's no doubt the raw talent is there.

Oh, and did I mention it even has a gosh-darn training montage, for crying out loud? If for no other reason, please see it for that. In fact, you don't even have to sit around wondering how to see it, because thanks to the miracle of the YouTube, here it is, right below, for your viewing pleasure!



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And while I have you here-- You may have noticed that big honkin' graphic at the top of the sidebar (reproduced here). Well, it's Rondo time again--that's right, the nominations for the 8th Annual Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards were announced yesterday, and I'm proud to say that The Vault of Horror has been nominated in the Best Horror Blog category for the second year in a row!

Run by the folks at the Classic Horror Film Board, the Rondos are pretty much the most legit, big-time genre awards on the Internet--I'm talkin' press releases, an awards dinner, and best of all, actual statuette awards, in the image of the unmistakable noggin of vintage film baddie, character actor and acromegaly sufferer Rondo Hatton. They've been endorsed by the likes of geek overlords Guillermo del Toro and Harry Knowles, and since 2002 have been recognizing excellence in every area of horror/genre entertainment you can think of, from film, TV, books and magazines to art, music, collectibles and culture in general.

Last year, they introduced a blog category for the very first time, distinct from Best Horror Website. The Vault was lucky enough to make it to Honorable Mention (for which I received a yummy congratulatory cake from the fam), and I'm honored and humbled to be mentioned again alongside some terrific blogs. If you have an opportunity, proceed to the official ballot page and make your selections (ballots are accepted by email only, to taraco@aol.com). Vote in as many categories as you like. It's a lot of fun, and you're likely to discover a lot of cool stuff you never even knew about.

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What If You DIDN'T Want Your Friends to Shoot You If You Get Bitten? or, Why Zombie Comedy Never Gets Old

I've got an absolutely classic little short film to share with you all today, courtesy of Atom.com. In Sketch of the Dead, Anchorman's Paul F. Tompkins and Mad Men's Ben Acker find themselves barricaded up in a lonely cabin during the proverbial zombie apocalypse and, well... I'll let you enjoy the hilarity for yourselves. I kind of think of it as Night of the Living Dead meets Seinfeld:

Sketch Of The Dead

Atom.com: Funny Videos | Atom Originals | Funny Animations

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Intrigued By Chemical 12-D? But It Now--One Week Only!

Several days ago, you may recall my review of the amazing little underground zombie short film Chemical 12-D, which I so blithely referred to as "Seven Minutes of Zombie Heaven". The flick screened a little over a week ago at the Zombie Outbreak festival in Chicago, and the buzz has been growing ever since. It's just now wrapping up a screening at the Tromadance festival in New Mexico.

And now, I've gotten word from the filmmaker, Mac Eldridge of Water Cooler Productions, that Chemical 12-D is on-sale beginning today on DVD, for just a one-week period. So if your interest was piqued by my review and you've been curious about seeing the movie for yourself, this is your chance. I've gotten lots of requests from people asking to find out how they can see it--well folks, now you can.

The DVD is being sold directly from the Water Cooler Productions website, so head over there if you're so inclined and support this very rare gem, a low-budget indy horror short that is actually very good and made at mainstream professional standards. Reportedly, the proceeds from the sale will be used to help fund the boys' next film--which sounds like a damn worthy cause to me.

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Chemical 12-D: Seven Minutes in Zombie Heaven

Unfortunately, one of the downsides to running The Vault is getting inundated by every Tom, Dick and Harry pushing an amateur film. If I had a nickel for every appallingly unwatchable zombie flick I've been pitched or sent, I'd have at least enough to get me through the McDonald's drive-thru. I've even said before on this very site, that having a camera and a bunch of friends willing to play zombies doesn't give you a justification to make your own zombie movie.

Thankfully, Mac Eldridge's Chemical 12-D is that rare exception to the rule, an amateur zombie short film that is well-worth your time, and deserves exposure to a wide audience.

I can thank Day of the Woman for putting this one in front of me, and helping me get the opportunity to have a look at it. How refreshing it is to watch a movie like this that has so much more than just the filmmakers' enthusiastic love of George Romero movies to its credit. These guys really know what they're doing, and it shows.

Crisply shot by Eldridge's producer David Wagenaar, the seven-minute short has the look and feel of a studio production. Centering on a single incident involving a lone scientist experimenting on a cure for the undead plague, it makes its point quickly, powerfully and deftly.

The brief yet shocking interlude is helped along greatly by the impressive performance of lead actor Bill Stoneking in the role of the scientist. It's an understated bit of business, and he pulls it off in such a way that comes off simple, but really isn't. Seeing him do his thing made me wish that Chemical 12-D was just a small part of a feature film.

Word-of-mouth is spreading on this sweet little ghoulish chestnut, and I'm more than happy to help it along. The Chicago-based Eldridge will be having his film shown this weekend as part of the Windy City's Zombie Outbreak Film Festival, presented by Horror Society.

If you happen to be in the area, I strongly suggest you get yourself over there, not just for Chemical 12-D, but also the terrific Zombie Girl and Colin, both of which are also being screened. And while you're there, you may even run into DotW's BJ-C herself, who will be onhand along with the likes of Buy Zombie's Stuart Conover and The Paradise of Horror's Mr. Johnny Sandman (treat my esteemed colleague right, gentlemen, or I'll be on you like Tallahassee on a twinkie.)

In the meantime, you can enjoy some teaser footage for Chemical 12-D here:

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A Quarter-Century of Krueger: Freddy in Love

Behold, an animated short which is sure to get a chuckle from any die-hard Nightmare on Elm Street fan, particularly if you're an over-eager fangirl who ever harbored a secret crush for the bastard son of a hundred maniacs. Enjoy...

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The Ultimate Monster Movie Mash-Up!

In place of the Vault Vlog this week, I give you this incredible video, cross-posted (a.k.a. stolen outright) from Day of the Woman. It was created almost a year ago by the apparently brilliant Mark & Chris Wournell, so kudos to them. Enjoy!

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Kirksdale: 21 Minutes of Great Horror Filmmaking

"When a tormented mental patient escapes the facility, Molly Walker, a misunderstood teenage girl, and Darryl Pearl, a young sheriff's deputy, must face their inner demons in a fight for their sanity...and their lives."

That's the synopsis printed on the back of the screener copy of Kirksdale that director Ryan Spindell was kind enough to send to the Vault--which got me thinking, "How can a story like that be told in such a short time?" After all, the award-winning short subject is what in the old days would've been called a "two-reeler"--no longer than a sitcom episode. But despite my doubts, Spindell gets the job done--and then some.

It would do the movie a disservice to say that it's very good for a film school production. Though produced by the Florida State University College of Motion Picture, Television and Recording Arts, Kirksdale is just a solid horror flick, period. In less than a half hour, Spindell and his editor Sam Littenberg-Weisberg create more genuine tension and terror than most fright films five times as long.

Spindell and co-writer Bradford Hodgson's tale of a 1960s Florida mental institution taken over by the inmates is engaging from start to finish--although I could've done without the requisite, tired torture porn stuff that inevitably pops up (enough already, people!). The performances and script are mostly very fine, and the warm golden hue created by cinematographer Julie Hotz is a clever juxtaposition to the grim and grisly affair at hand.

Kirksdale was shown last spring at New York's Tribeca Film Festival, but it's a shame that there isn't a more mainstream outlet for short films so that movies like this can get the audience they deserve. With any luck, and if Kirksdale is any indication, Spindell will one day be a successful feature director, and can include Kirksdale as a special feature on some other DVD release. And judging by the fact that Kirksdale was Ryan Spindell's graduate thesis project, I wouldn't bet against it.

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