Lost After Dark (2014)

Posted on October 12, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

I appreciate the need for filmmakers to evoke the eighties building slasher movies within the confines of the decade, but often time movies can get so lost in paying homage to the culture, it doesn’t focus enough on entertaining. “Lost After Dark” falls victim to this gimmick where we have a movie set in the eighties and based around the eighties aesthetic, and yet fails to re-invent the wheel as a slasher film. While we’re at it, the whole grindhouse flourishes feel woefully superfluous to the film, and never adds anything. That said, “Lost After Dark” isn’t a bad movie, it just never manages to be anything but mediocre.

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Dead Kansas (2015)

Posted on October 11, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

I won’t accuse “Dead Kansas” of being a masterpiece of zombie cinema, but damn it you have to appreciate Aaron Carter’s ambition behind this project. I assume if given a huge budget, Carter would have given us a damn good zombie movie. But since it’s mainly a film on a tight budget, he gives us the best movie he can, and at times “Dead Kansas” has glimmers of a strong zombie film. In between it’s mediocre fodder with shaky performances. But damn, you have to appreciate the inherent ambition here.

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The Shorts of Horrible Imaginings 2015

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Emilie Black

[Horrible Imaginings Film Festival San Diego 2015]

Every year, Horrible Imaginings Film Festival in San Diego offers a carefully selected collection of genre short films. At this festival, the shorts are organized by blocks instead of being each paired with a feature length film each. The blocks at this year’s festival were “Child’s Nightmares”, “Horror-Comedy”, “Creature Features”, “Youth and Student Showcase”, “Horror for Humanity”, “LGBT”, “Natural Born Killers”, “Supernatural”, and “Animation”. Due to prior engagements and obligations, it was not possible to see all of them. Missed were the “Child’s Nightmares”, “LGBT”, “Natural Born Killers”, “Animation” blocks and most of the “Supernatural” one. 30 shorts were viewed and enjoyed and 33 were missed. Here are the best ones, the ones you should track down from the ones viewed (in no specific order):

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The Shelter (2015)

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Emilie Black

A homeless man who used to have everything and lost it all wanders until he finds an unlocked house which beckons to him. This house is perfect, food and booze waiting for him in the fridge, a warm place to stay, a nice bath … However, soon he realizes that the house will not let him leave. As he explored the house and spends some time thinking, he starts to question why he is there, what brought him to this point in his life, what he could have done differently? To give away more would be to do the film and the viewers a disservice.

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The Root of the Problem (2013)

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

Director Ryan Spindell’s short horror film is something of sheer brilliance if only for the fact that he perpetuates the horror of the dentist. Going to the dentist is something no one enjoys doing and “The Root of the Problem” plays upon that fear by taking a young woman and putting her in to the hot seat of delirium and what may or may not be a heinous plot to take her wisdom teeth.

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Scream Greats, Vol. 1: Tom Savini, Master of Horror Effects (1986)

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

For folks that want to learn everything and anything about Tom Savini, “Scream Greats” is the crème de la crème of horror documentaries. Savini-philes will love the anecdotes and insight pulled from “Scream Greats,” all the while savoring much of what the man and his company have produced for American horror cinema, from guts, gore, and basic prosthetics. “Scream Greats” is infamous for me, mainly because it’s one of those documentaries that revels in zombie cinema made famous by Savini. And anyone who knows me knows I was absolutely petrified of zombies for most of my childhood.

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Tom Savini: Horror Effects (1989)

Posted on October 8, 2015 by Felix Vasquez

I would suggest “Horror Effects” only to the most ardent hardcore Tom Savini fans, as “Horror Effects” is mostly about, well, horror effects. Truly, “Horror Effects” focuses mainly on a small portion of Savini’s creative work, as he spends most of his time recollecting working on other films that don’t involve George Romero. Is it perhaps because John Russo is the host of this special? Aw, who knows, really? But there’s a surprising lack of talk about his zombie movies in favor of stuff that Savini has done with his company and what they’ve done on the outside of the US, including a slapstick comedy involving facial prosthetics.

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