Harold wins in Scotland

Congratulations to Keith Wright and the team behind zombie comedy Harold's Going Stiff which has picked up the Audience Award for Best Feature at the Dead by Dawn Festival in Edinburgh.

Fantastic Films Weekend in Bradford

The 10th Fantastic Films Weekend in Bradford over 10-12 June has an incredible line-up which includes:

Bloodbath at the House of Death, The Stuff, The Stone Tape, Horror Express, When a Stranger Calls, a 1986 Everyman documentary on Frankenstein, a 1965 Horizon documentary on sci-fi, Nothing But the Night, Hands of the Ripper, new Anglo-South African feature The Dead, Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires, Clash of the Titans, CHUD, Let's Scare Jessica to Death etc etc etc.

Wish I could be there. Looks fab. All the best to Tony Earnshaw and co. for a successful event.

Diseaster - weird Dutch short

I received this press release about a half-hour Dutch short called Diseaster (sic) which is now available online with English subtitles. I've only had time to watch the trailer. It looks somewhat Tromatic. And very Dutch. I'd show you some images or the poster but they've only got massive high-res file which I can't be arsed to convert. Note to indie film-makers: if most of your publicity is going to be online make your publicity images easily available in web-friendly form!

PRESS RELEASE

DISEASTER RELEASED ONLINE: AN EASTER IN THE COUNTRYSIDE DESTINED TO DOOM 

GRONINGEN, the NETHERLANDS - In the aftermath of Easter, a group of indie filmmakers has just released their subtitled, tragicomical, fantastic Easter film DISEASTER (a.k.a. PAASHAAT). It's a thorough re-interpretation of all kinds of Easter and Bunny myths. The story is centred around the uprooting of a dysfunctional family living in the country. The handicapped son’s streams of consciousness in local dialect introduce the viewers to a massively absurd revenge story. 

A unique concept, conceived by writer/director Boki Mekel. He calls his new film "a Northern Eastern with Western influences", but one could as easily describe it as a fantasy horror full of black humour. According to director of photography and editor, Arno Cupédo, "Easter traditions have been utterly transgressed in this film". 

The featurette was realised with the lowest budget imaginable by a group of filmmakers and enthousiasts of the Videocollectief, a film collective in the city of Groningen. Various special effects were created for the film, in particular a thirty centimetre high intimidating animatronic Easter Bunny. Special attention was also given to the eclectic original soundtrack that ranges from happy children's tunes to dark metal and digital hardcore.

Now, with a subtitled version on the website paashaat.nl, global Anglophone audiences can try to experience and understand the tragic events that took place last Easter to that family out there in the North-Western European countryside..

New British horror: Siren

PR: “Dead Calm” meets “The Hunger” in the “genuinely sexy supernatural” (The Aisle Seat) independent British horror flick, Siren, the debut directorial feature of former Art Director, the late Andrew Hull(P2; Queer As Folk; Get Over It; Resurrection).

Described as “lean, dirty and surprising” by DVD Verdict, the film features a cast of “exciting up-and-coming talent” (Maxim) that includes Eoin Macken (Merlin; Centurion), Anna Skellern (The Descent Part 2), Tereza Srbova (Inkheart; St. Trinian’s; Eichmann; Eastern Promises) andAnthony Jabre (debut), and boasts a hypnotic musical theme based around hotly-tipped, LA-based all-girl group Warpaint’s song, “Elephants”.

Hoping to escape their busy city lives for a weekend of sailing off Tunisia’s Mediterranean coast, Ken (Macken), his girlfriend Rachel (Skellern) and her old college friend Marco (Jabre) see their plans hit a snag when they go to the aid of a castaway. Raving incoherently and bleeding from his ears, the man dies on board the boat prompting the three friends, fearing reprisals from the local foreign authorities, to take his body to a nearby deserted island for a surreptitious burial.

On the island they discover another castaway, a beautiful but clearly traumatized young woman named Silka (Srbova). Rachel becomes immediately entranced by the girl, while Ken and Marco’s obvious interests in her lead to a deep sexual frustration that begins to manifest itself in the form of feverish hallucinations, violence and extreme paranoia. As the tensions between the three friends rise towards a deadly boiling point, they make a chilling discovery that suggests they may not make it off the island alive.

Siren (cert. 15, tbc) will be released on DVD (£12.99) by Matchbox Films on 27th June 2011

New reviews: The Frankenstein Syndrome and Camp Casserole

Two new reviews on the site. The Frankenstein Syndrome, which I have reviewed under its UK title The Frankenstein Experiment, is a superb indie horror starring (and produced by) Tiffany Shepis.

Camp Casserole is Anthony Pedone's Making Of feature for Steve Balderson's The Casserole Club.

Seattle reviewer really, really digs Gorgo!

There's a really nice write-up of Waiting for Gorgo on Seattle pop culture site Three Imaginary Girls.


Film reviewer 'Imaginary Rich' saw WFG at a preview of shorts screening at this month's Seattle Film Festival. He says, "I really, really dug the film Waiting for Gorgo" and calls it "super-fun". Cheers, matey!


You can read his review on the TIG site or on his own blog.

Waiting for Gorgo in Camden

Waiting for Gorgo is screening at the Short Cutz evening in Camden. Unfortunately I can't be there.

Date and Time: Sunday 5 June 2011, 7.30pm

Location: Proud Camden, The Horse Hospital, Stables Market, Chalk Farm Road, London NW1 8AH

And it's free to get in.