News

From director Dustin Wayde Mills (Skinless, Easter Casket, Applecart) comes Her Name Was Torment II: Agony, the sequel to last years runaway underground horror hit.

After a successful crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo – of which I was one of the backers – which blew through it’s goal to raise 178% of its intended target, Mills has completed filming of his new Crumpleshack Films feature, with an intended Summer 2015 release date.

Once again starring a wealth of Mills’ regular cohorts: Dave Parker, Haley Madison, Erin R. Ryan, Allison Egan and Brandon Salkil to name a few; Her Name was Torment II used some of that crowdfunding cash to hire special effects wizard Marcus Koch (100 Tears, Sweatshop, The Theatre Bizarre, American Guinea Pig) to add that little extra “something” to the films gore-filled scenes!

Want to see for yourself? Well check out the uncensored, unflinching trailer below. Beware this is certainly Nsfw…...

Stars: Dave Parker, Haley Jay Madison, Alison Egan, Erin R. Ryan, Joni Durian, Josh Miller, Brandon Salkil | Written and Directed by Dustin Mills

If there’s one thing you can say about director Dustin Mills, it’s that he never ceases to surprise… From the puppet-based terrors of Easter Casket, Puppet Monster Massacre and Snuffet, to the living-dead horrors of Bath Salt Zombies and Zombie A-Hole; to his foray into Grindhouse-esque exploitation via his Crumpleshack Films shingle – of which Applecart is the latest release – the man crosses genres, bends stereotypes and mixes tropes unlike any other filmmaker I can think of working today.

His work, despite the independent ethos behind it, is – at its core – the very antithesis of the auteur theory. Which means you never truly know what to expect from his movies; and I certainly never expected this!

Applecart is a strange beast. A portmanteau film connected by ideas of love,...

As far as gross things are concerned, skinless-ness is pretty up there. And the film Skinless has some pretty gross skinless sequences (and even one scene that involves a character cutting their skin off their own face—a scene that I had to fast-forward through). But while this horror film lives up to its terrifying DVD cover, there is actually a pretty decent story buried somewhere within the movie.

Eccentric young and handsome Dr. Peter Peele (Brandon Salkil) has discovered the cure for cancer—at least of the melanoma variety. The cure lies within the enzymes produced by a very gross (and very fake) looking worm from some exotic location. Peter eagerly shares the news with the woman he loves but who does not love him back, Dr. Alice Cross (Erin R. Ryan). Unfortunately, the duo is fairly broke and needs some outstanding evidence of the cure’s abilities for funding.

From Dustin Wayde Mills, director of Easter Casket, Puppet Monster Massacre and Kill That Bitch, comes Snuffet - the latest film from his down-and-dirty Crumpleshack Films production shingle which specialises in more experimental, more extreme, and – frankly – more bizarre, horror stories.

Snuffet, which stars Brandon Salkil and Janet Jay, is not your typical terror tale – this a found footage snuff film with a psychotic twist… the victims are all puppets!

Imagine a world exactly like our own except for one crucial detail… puppets are real and they coexist with humanity. Just like our world there is a seedy underbelly beneath the surface. Puppet racism, puppet hate crimes, puppet civil rights issues, and of course puppet serial killers. Human serial killers who hunt puppets to be specific. Our story follows a maniac’s video diary as he hunts, mutilates, dismembers, and violates poor hapless Puppet Americans. Watch them scream, bleed, and...

From Dustin Wayde Mills, director of Easter Casket, Puppet Monster Massacre and Kill That Bitch, comes Snuffet - the latest film from his down-and-dirty Crumpleshack Films production shingle which specialises in more experimental, more extreme, and – frankly – more bizarre, horror stories.

Snuffet, which stars Brandon Salkil and Janet Jay, is not your typical terror tale – this a found footage snuff film with a psychotic twist… the victims are all puppets!

Imagine a world exactly like our own except for one crucial detail… puppets are real and they coexist with humanity. Just like our world there is a seedy underbelly beneath the surface. Puppet racism, puppet hate crimes, puppet civil rights issues, and of course puppet serial killers. Human serial killers who hunt puppets to be specific. Our story follows a maniac’s video diary as he hunts, mutilates, dismembers, and violates poor hapless Puppet Americans. Watch them scream, bleed, and...

Stars: Jason Crowe, Josh Eal, Erin R. Ryan, Steve Rimpici, Dustin Mills, Allison Fitzgerald, Janet Jay, Roni Jonah, Brandon Salkil, Minnie Grey, Eugene Flynn, Dave Parker | Written and Directed by Dustin Wayde Mills

Dustin Wayde Mills is an indie filmmaker out of Ohio, who specializes in low (some would say micro) budget horror, a number of which involve puppets(!), released directly to his [growing] fanbase via self-distributed DVD, Blu-ray and VOD channels. Having found some success with the films released under his Dustin Mills Production banner, Mills has expanded his repertoire with his new production shingle Crumpleshack Films which aims to produce rough(er) exploitation flicks. And with the release of the first Crumpleshack Films production, Her Name Is Torment, we’re taking a look at some of the highlights of Mills’ oeuvre, beginning with his killer bunny flick Easter Casket.

All hell breaks loose when Peter Cottontail aka The Easter...

We return with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes photos from Utero, The Last Halloween, and Phantasmagoria, release details on The Horror at 37,000 Feet starring William Shatner, casting news for The Divine Tragedies, and much more:

First Details on Utero: “Writer/Director Bryan Coyne’s (Harvard Park and Incarnate) new film Utero started production this week in Los Angeles.

Independently financed by Coinopflix, the movie stars Jessica Cameron who is also producing along with her Truth or Dare partner, Jonathan Higgins. Former Platinum Studios Exec (Cowboys and Aliens, Dylan Dog: Dead Of Night) Richard Marincic also serves as a producer on the film.

Utero is about “an agoraphobic unwed mother who finds her psyche unraveling as she becomes convinced that her unborn child is more monster than human.”

Cameron’s latest film Truth or Dare, is playing...

Dustin Mill’s The Ballad of Skinless Pete, follows the story of a scientist on the verge of a medical breakthrough. Dr. Pete Peele, believes he has found the cure for cancer in the stomach of a parasitic worm. Desperate to prove his finding to be true in order to save himself from his own skin cancer, Pete pushes forward with human testing enlisting himself as the Guinea pig. Pete injects the “cure” into his body unleashing a nightmare he could have never prepared for in this beautiful return to 80s era sci-fi horror.

If you are one of those types that translate low budget into meaning “bad acting, lazy writing, and bad special fx” this is the perfect film to change your way of thinking. Dustin Mills is an absolute master when it comes to showcasing just how much a filmmaker can achieve on a low budget with creativity and undeniable ability.

Bath Salt Zombies (2013) (DVD Review) Directed By: Dustin Wayde Mills Starring: Brandon Salkil, Josh Eal, Ethan Holey Rated: Ur/Region: 0/16X9/Number of disc: 1 Available from Mvd Visuals The bath salts epidemic facing the southern and mid-western Us has been stifled by an unprecedented government crackdown. This has led to a tremendous amount of surplus stock hidden by black market dealers, and a migration of those dealers to the northeast. In…...

Check out this awesome grindhouse style, gloriously gory and over the top music video for The Panic Beats punk song Chop Chop, which stars Haley Jay Madison and Brandon Salkil and is directed by Dustin Mills – the independent movie maker behind such movies as Bath Salt Zombies, Puppet Monster Massacre and Night of the Tentacles.

Be aware, this video is most Definitely not safe for work…...

I recently reviewed a film titled Bath Salt Zombies, an incredibly low budget (and low quality) horror-comedy from multitasking cult filmmaker Dustin Wayde Mills. Despite the film’s various faults (and trust me, there were many), my overall impression was rather positive; the cast and crew’s lack of filmmaking prowess was somewhat canceled out by the impression that they clearly had a great deal of giddy enthusiasm for what they were doing.

However, Night of the Tentacles, which I hoped would entertain me in the same ridiculous way, did not measure up to the incredibly low bar set by Bath Salt Zombies, which is saying a lot. The films share much of the same cast, including goofy star Brandon Salkil as Dave, a lonely artist who spends his days jerking off to his pregnant neighbor and his nights creating “fantasy erotica” for other people to jerk off to. It...