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In Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, 10 years have passed since the events of the 2011 film, which ends with Caesar leading a band of genetically enhanced apes into the redwood forests near San Francisco while an infected airline pilot sets off for Paris, accelerating the simian flu plague that will ultimately threaten the human race.

In the new film, which opens July 11, Caesar’s growing tribe is forced to confront a desperate band of human survivors after a decade of pestilence, disorder, and civil war. But how exactly did that breakdown occur, leaving mankind on the precipice of extinction and vulnerable to ape supremacy?...

Earlier today, a new featurette was released for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, where Andy Serkis revealed that the story is set 10 years after Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and humanity is nearly extinct. If you have been wondering what happened to the planet during that decade, 20th Century Fox has teamed up with Vice Media for a series of three short films entitled Before the Dawn of the Apes, that help bridge the gap between both movies.

The first film, Spread of Simian Flu, directed by Isaiah Seret, is set during Year 1, following a mother who is quarantined after contracting the virus, leaving her husband and daughter on their own. The second film, Struggling to Survive, takes place during Year 5, following an orphaned girl's struggle for survival. The final short, Story of the Gun, the longest of the trio at just under 14 minutes, follow the...

Although only three years separate the release dates of Rise of the Planet of the Apes and its upcoming sequel Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, in the story's world, ten years have elapsed. Quite a lot happens in that time, it seems. While the apes are busy developing their own social skills and technological abilities, the humans have fallen victim to a deadly Simian Flu. In order to show audiences just how devastating this disease was to our civilization, a series of short films have been released that bridge the gap between films and set the stage quite nicely for the anticipated feature film. Starring Andy Serkis, Jason Clarke, Keri Russell, Gary Oldman, Toby Kebbell, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Kirk Acevedo, Enrique Murciano, and Judy Greer, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes opens in 2D and 3D on July 11th. Hit the jump to watch the in-betweenquel short films.

Motherboard (Vice's science and tech channel) and 20th Century Fox have collaborated in advance of the upcoming release of Dawn of the Planet of the Apes for something they are calling Island of Apes and along with the trailer (see the very bottom of this post) they have released three scripted short films, produced based on the film's subject matter. First, the shorts... Spread of Simian Flu: Before the Dawn of the Apes (Year 1) Director: Isaiah Seret Amidst a widespread viral outbreak known as the 'Simian Flu', a mother is quarantined after testing positive for the virus, leaving her husband and daughter to fend for themselves. yt id="ejrtt37XzOY" width="640" Struggling to Survive: Before the Dawn of the Apes (Year 5) Director: Daniel Thron Five years after the Simian Flu all but wiped out humanity, an orphaned teenage girl survives by bartering things she has stolen from dead people's homes.

Following up on my previous article, “Watch 15 Great Horror Short Films,” which received a very positive response, I’ve researched and collected 13 more superb horror short films. As with the first article, I limited the choices to stand-alone live-action horror short films not produced for an anthology film and the selections were narrowed down by availability.

In further keeping with the criteria of the first article, animated horror short films and horror-comedy short films were excluded from consideration as both of these categories would make good subjects for their own individual articles. Sorry, Brutal Relax and Fist of Jesus fans.

It should also be noted that a number of highly regarded horror shorts readers might clamor to see in an article like this such as Ryan Haysom’s Yellow continue their long festival runs and have not been posted for online viewing and were therefore not considered for this piece.

San Diego’s Comic-Con International is the biggest event in the world devoted to genre pop culture. While the big Hollywood movies get the most mainstream press, there’s also a large, lesser known and promoted Independent Film Festival devoted to genre short films tucked away within the overall convention.

The Cci-iff, as it’s acronymed, runs completely concurrently with the convention with programming running from morning to night that includes films devoted to comic book-inspired movies, horror movies, sci-fi flicks, comedies and documentaries. There are also several panels on filmmaking sandwiched in between the on-screen entertainment.

The fest also gives out awards. This year’s juror panel includes filmmakers Steven-Charles Jaffee and Kyle Newman, plus entertainment journalist Borys Kit.

Programming blocks are broken up by genre and the full film lineup below gives the exact starting time of each short film. There’s also one feature film screening this year,...

We’re back with the latest edition of the Indie Spotlight. Today’s feature includes a zombie short film, a new trailer for Cell Count, independent genre comics, zombie soap, and more.

Zombie Short Film “Spoiler”: You’ve seen Daniel Thron’s visual effects work on Zodiac, Tron: Legacy, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and many other films. He has also written and directed a short film which we have for you to watch:

“Ten years ago, a zombie-like infection almost tore our society apart — but the Cdc managed to bring it under control and in the process created a massive national infrastructure to prevent future outbreaks. Over time, the world has returned to near-normal — but people still live in fear; and many pay to live in ‘protected’ complexes, designed to quarantine and resolve any outbreak.

Coroner Tommy Rossman has one job — determine the strain,...

Spoiler Short Film. Daniel Thron‘s Spoiler (2011) short film stars Michael James Faradie, Luke Albright, Randy Crowder, David C. Bryant, and Christopher Stack. Spoiler‘s plot synopsis: “The zombie apocalypse happened — and we won. But though society has recovered, the threat of infection is always there — and Los Angeles coroner Tommy Rossman is the man [...]

Continue reading: Spoiler (2011) Short Film: Daniel Thron, Michael James Faradie...