News

The organisers of the MidWest WeirdFest have revealed the first 7 films for their 2018 event. The second annual festival – a cinematic celebration of all things fantastic, frightening, offbeat, and just plain weird – takes place March 9-11, 2018 at the Micon Downtown Cinema in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

Says fest founder and veteran programmer Dean Bertram:

We are delighted to unveil this first glimpse at some of the 2018 festival’s incredible program. The selection encapsulates MidWest WeirdFest’s mission of showcasing a heady combination of the latest and most original horror, sci-fi, underground, and documentary films. We can’t wait for the festival’s audience to journey with us on another twisting, terrifying, and at times hilarious journey through the cutting-edge of this season’s weird cinema.

The first seven feature films announced are:

3 Dead Trick Or Treaters

(dir: Torin Langen)

After stumbling upon the graves of three murdered trick or treaters, a...

The Blood Stream mines the Internet for horror gold so you don’t have to, delivering streamable horror titles never before featured on Dread Central. Occasionally I’ll dredge up something good, maybe even great. To find those gems, I’ll have to sift through a lot of breathtakingly bad cinema. Enjoy!

After the torture of The Devil’s Gravestone last week, I am delighted to present a marginally more professional, infinitely more watchable movie this time around: The Big Bad (2011).

Add The Big Bad to your Netflix queue.

Rent The Big Bad on Amazon for $2.99.

I attribute the phrase “the big bad” to Spike from "Buffy." He used it to refer to himself, seeing as he was Buffy’s arch nemesis at the time. I therefore assumed the title of this movie was simply synonymous with "the main villain." That's not untrue, but there’s another, even more obvious...

Legend has it that cockroaches will still be wandering the Earth long after you and I are gone. Which begs the question: If some sort of apocalyptic event were to go down, would the cockroaches take over the world?

Such is the premise of an upcoming horror comedy called They Will Outlive Us All, which you can find the info and trailer for below!

It's directed by Patrick Shearer, written by Jessi Gotta, and stars Gotta, Nat Cassidy, Alyssa Simon, Gavin Starr Kendall, and Stephanie Cox-Williams.

Synopsis

New York City. 2016. In the years since Hurricane Sandy, the city has been brought to its knees by a series of ‘Frankenstorms.’ As hurricane season hits yet again, New York braces itself for the oncoming wave of destruction. Roommates Margot and Daniel attempt to survive this ‘new’ New York by avoiding it at all costs. But with the advent of three strange deaths in their Brooklyn building,...

Review by Dane Marti

In our zany age, apocalyptic weather conditions pop up around the world in a plethora of evil metrological events. Quite often, they leave behind massive casualties, twisted metal and devastated, stunned humans. Since people also live in a paranoid world in which terrorism and crime are ubiquitous, a good horror film can often use modern existence to highlight a story.

They Will Outlive Us All takes place almost entirely in a Brooklyn building…a seedy structure similar to places that this reviewer has lived in. The edifice itself is one of the preeminent elements in the film, reminiscent of the kind of buildings found in, say, a Roman Polanski film. It deserves an Oscar. Or a Condemned sign….

Taking place in 2016, Margot and Daniel live a simple life…a contemplative life. Are they lovers? Does it matter? They know what the fundamentally essential things in life are: Drinking,...

We return with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes release details and clips from Abandoned Mine, information on Judgment and Unit 44, a video from Joe Dante discussing his film Dark, a teaser trailer from All Hallows’ Eve, and much more:

Abandoned Mine Trailer and Clips: ”In Abandoned Mine, five small-town school friends celebrate Halloween with an overnight adventure into the legendary “haunted” Jarvis Mine. Local legend tells of the angry spirits that have occupied the mine since a family was murdered for still mysterious reasons exactly 100 years ago. But that doesn’t stop these young adrenaline junkies from exploring the unknown – and bringing mini-cameras to capture their every move.

Yet once deep into the mine their best-laid Halloween plans go awry, leaving the adventurers trapped without escape. Are their misfortunes purely accidental or is the legend true and...

The full list of judges and the lineup of the 2013 Viscera Film Festival have been revealed along with the name of this year's Inspiration Award recipient. It all happens on July 13th at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, California. Read on for the details.

From the Press Release:

The festival’s gala celebration will spotlight emerging female horror directors from around the world, including the UK, Japan, Spain, Mexico, Canada, and the Us and will serve as host to four world premieres and two Los Angeles premieres.

This year’s Viscera Film Festival lineup was carefully selected by an esteemed panel of industry judges who had the difficult task of selecting winners from the record-breaking number of entries for the 2013 festival and tour season, ultimately proving that innovative and dynamic short-form storytelling is still alive and well within the horror community.

"This year we had over 200 amazing entries,...

Today the official slate has been announced for this year's annual Viscera Film Festival, which showcases the work of female horror filmmakers from around the world. This year's lineup – selected from over two hundred entries – features thirteen short films from the Us and Canada, the UK, Japan, Spain and Mexico, and includes two Los Angeles premieres. This year's judging panel is a veritable who's-who of horror entertainment, including Jennifer Lynch, Rachel Talalay, Jeffrey Reddick, Amber Benson, Trent Haaga, Anthony Masi, Brea Grant, Andrew Van Den Houten, Elizabeth Stanley, Anthony Diblasi, Shade Rupe, Jim Vanbebber, Drew Daywalt, Kier-La Janisse, Chris Alexander, John Skipp, David Decoteau, Alan Spencer, Barbara Peeters, and prior Viscera winners Jennifer Thym and Mae Catt. The festival will be held on July 13th in a co-presentation with the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard. The event includes a “bloody carpet” ceremony and after-party at the...

Viscera is a non profit organization that highlights female horror filmmakers and details on the 2013 Viscera Film Festival have been announced, including the lineup of films that will be screening at the event:

“Los Angeles, CA – June 3rd, 2013 — Today, the Viscera Organization announced the stellar line-up of 13 brand new short films that have been selected to screen on July 13, 2013 in a co-presentation with the American Cinematheque at the Egyptian Theatre (6712 Hollywood Boulevard) in Hollywood for this year’s Viscera Film Festival. The festival’s gala celebration will spotlight emerging female horror directors from around the world, including the UK, Japan, Spain, Mexico, Canada, and the Us and will serve as host to four world premieres and two Los Angeles premieres.

This year’s Viscera Film Festival line-up was carefully selected by an esteemed panel of industry judges who had the difficult task of selecting winners from the record-breaking number of...

Phase 4 Films has announced the VOD premiere of The Big Bad on September 1st.

The film is directed by Bryan Enk and stars Jessi Gotta, Jessica Savage and Timothy McCowan Reynolds.

The Big Bad has received some good notice during its festival run which included New Jersey Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival, and Syracuse Horror Sci-Fi & Fantasy Film Festival. You'll find a trailer inside...

Frankie Ducane is obsessed with seeking revenge against the deranged killer who destroyed her family. The search for the depraved man who tore Frankie’s life apart has left her exhausted, but she will not give-up until he suffers for his actions. Her journey turns into a non-stop grotesque battle for vengeance, where only one person will come out of this alive.

Read more...

Directed by: Bryan Enk

Written by: Jessi Gotta

Cast: Jessi Gotta, Jessica Savage, Alan Rowe Kelly, Timothy McCown Reynolds

Movies like The Big Bad frustrate me. It's clear there's talent involved, but in service of what? The filmmakers obviously had some cool ideas, but they've been stitched together in such a way that we're not provided an emotional context, and by the time we are provided one, it's too late.

Think about it like this: A talented seamstress delivers to you a nicely made winter coat, but with no buttons. The coat is okay and all but, man, it really needs some buttons.

As a werewolf riff on "Little Red Riding Hood," The Big Bad does have a plot, but the tale is told in what is essentially a series of three setpieces that seem more concerned with style than story. I guess these sections could be described as acts,...