Reviews: Four Gore Films of Davide Pesca

Reviews: Four Gore Films of Davide Pesca

 Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Note that these four films are listed chronologically, rather than in the order in which I watched them. Also, the screener versions that I saw were low rez and grainy, but I am sure if you rent the film, it will be in a much higher resolution. The trailers for all four films are after the reviews.

 

Suffering Bible
Directed by Davide Pesca
Demented Gore Productions
65 minutes, 2018
www.digitmovies.com/

Although this is not a long film, it was the first full feature Pesca directed, and ironically, the last of the four films I watched. The Bible is a very apropos topic for a film centered on gore and body horror, as the book is filled with genocide, incest, child rape, slavery, infanticide, and multiple killings of animals (along with talking serpents and donkeys).

Pesca has a certain style that he employs on all these films, which are short stories stitched together to form a theme. The camera is often handheld (jerky, but not seasick worthy like, say, 2008’s Cloverfield. There is also minimal talking, usually dubbed but occasionally with subtitles, and use of multiple monochrome filters (black and white, blue, etc.), though sometimes he uses an ultra-chromatic filter for colorful effects. But the main focus of all his films is the gore factor, which is ripe and rife, often involving body organs. Pesca does all the SFX himself, and generally it looks really amazing, considering the budget, which is low-Lira…oops, I mean Euros. As for the stories, they are there for the gore, rather than the other way around, and may make you say, che cosa?

There are five stories – or Acts – here, with the bookends (and between each story) being a naked man and a nude woman, individually, with bandages on their heads crawl through a forest on their stomachs. By the end, it’s obvious which Biblical story to which this refers.

As for the stories themselves, the it starts with “Act 1: My Only God.” In this tale, two ex-friends are, well, reunited, for lack of a better term. Truthfully, I am not sure what story this references in the Bible. “Act II: San Toma,” as in St. Judas Thomas. A self-flagellating man (monk?) – an event that was common during the Middle Ages (see Monty Pythonand the Holy Grail (1975) – hallucinates Jeebus appearing on a cross, and he does what a Doubting Thomas would do, but more so. We learn eating the “body of Christ” (not on a cracker) is not always a positive thing.

“Act III: In the Name of the Father” is next. A woman who is sensually attracted to an old book (it looks like a dictionary, but it could possibly be a stand-in for a Bible) and a cross with the image of Jeebus on it, does some damage to herself in self-erotic ecstasy. My question here is, I realize Jeebus supposedly wants us unbelievers to burn for eternity, but does “he” really want his followers to suffer at their own hands this much, as well? Seems more Darwinian. But, I digress…

Next up is “Act IV: The Pact.” As might be expected, a depressed woman makes a deal with a mysterious and devilish woman for riches and beauty, which cannot end well and, considering the context of the film this is in, one might add bloody. The piper must be paid. This is my favorite segment in the film. For the final piece, “Act V: Redemption of the Lost Souls,” we meet three people, an OD’d junkie, a tuberculosis victim, and an old man who was homeless, as they meet their judgments. Were they good or were they bad, and what was their fate? Again, context. There was a brief coda to this one with a gift that I did not quite understand.

There are no real stories here, just vignettes into bloody religiosity, which is a comment on the state of spirituality throughout the last 2000 years, where suffering is equated with religion, to supposedly understand the suffering “the Lord” went through the days before Good Friday for “your sins.” Pesca plays on that rather than narration, and is effective in that mode.

Ironically, most of the people in this film (and the others) about the Bible are tattooed, which the Leviticus poo-poos on as much as homosexuality. Again, I digress…

 

Dead Butterfly: The Prophecy of Suffering Bible (aka Suffering Bible 2)
Directed by Davide Pesca
Demented Gore Productions
56 minutes, 2019
www.digitmovies.com/

This film is a collection of individual scenes related only by their connection to extreme and distorted versions of Catholicism and religiosity. There is very little dialogue, but what there is, is in Italian with very clear captions (i.e., easy to discern; not white on white).

The start is a woman (the beautiful Barbara Sirotti) who receives a gift (a theme which would be revisited in another form in “Dust to Dust” from Grand Guignol Madness: Show Your Fear; see review below) of a liquid in a vial and virtual reality glasses presenting a Christ-like figure that proves to show the opposite of what is happening in the physical world (“Heaven’s Doors”). Then a religious woman puts a chained (and I believed drugged) man through the tortures and then some of Jesus’ last days before befalling her own fate (“The Saint’s Friday”). Another man burying something in the woods befalls a bloody end by a possible ghost with a screwdriver (“The Secret”). After a jewel robbery (including a butterfly necklace) the older woman victim does a bit of voodoo on the younger woman who stole her possessions (“Do Not Steal”). In the last tale, a woman is tortured and beaten by cool looking techno-demons in hell (I believe) for her Earthly crimes, such as adultery and taking the Lord’s name in vain after a desperate act (“The Judgment”; see, this is why I am an atheist),

The gore is explicit and plentiful, as is the top body parts of much of the female cast. While not as sophisticated as Pesca’s later works, as far as the graphics (both SFX and digital FX), it is easy to see the talent in the way the film is constructed. He is also setting up his auteur workings through the type of gore he employs, and the use of vignettes, or original short stories combined with a wraparound that is inserted as bookends, and between each tale that is in black and white, as a man puts sharp objects (hooks, pins, etc.) through his skin on different parts of his body in self-harming religious fervor (“The Angel”); I could not watch these parts, in all honesty.

 

Grand Guignol Madness: Show Your Fear
Directed by Davide Pesca
Demented Gore Productions; Digitmovies Alternative Entertainment; Home Movies
67 minutes, 2020
www.digitmovies.com/

Right from the start, the film lets us know where it is thematically heading with the title card that reads (in Italian): “The sound of the lament caused by suffering is almost identical to the groan caused by pleasure.” Shades of Hellraiser (1987)!

The film is an anthology; a collection of Pesca’s shorts made especially for this release. The framework is that a woman is kidnapped, and forced, through electrodes, to experience the terrible things that happen to the people we see in the shorts, while bound to a chair in a laboratory (“Broken Mind”).

Each story is mostly silent with musical backgrounds, though what little Italian dialogue is spoken does not deter from the stories. They involve the likes of a gift to an online nude model gone wrong (“Dust to Dust”), a nature-loving photographer deciding to go all Dexter on some litterers and polluters (“Save the Planet”), a strip-off contest going horribly wrong (“The Competition”), an obsessive body builder misusing steroids (“Muscles”), a lonely woman who is out to capture a man’s heart (“The Heartbreaker”), and a model in underwear who is posing for a photographer has a negative reaction to the many exposures to the flash of the camera (“Shot my Soul”).

Each vignette has its own style and look, usually through a mostly monochrome or hyper- chromatic filter. The major themes seem to be revenge, stripping, tattoos and fingers in wounds, with an occasional side order of someone holding someone else’s organs.

The effects range from a bit cheesy to very effective, and there is a lot of it as it is the point in the whole exercise, hence the title, which is based on a theater in Paris that ran from 1897 to 1962 that specialized in realistic shows of graphic horror. The title is effective, and it is an interesting watch for a gorehound.

 

Night of Doom
Directed by Davide Pesca
Demented Gore Productions
61 minutes, 2021
www.digitmovies.com/

For this story, Doom is the name of a powdered drug that seems to be similar to Bath Salts in that it causes violent psychosis. According to a newscast, the crime rate is up 40 percent and the drug is rampant in Italy, where this is filmed (it is dubbed into English; note that the trailer below is in its original Italian). While the topic of addiction to Doom is not mentioned, it is (for me) assumed by the desire for it.

That being said, this is as much as about the drug as it is focused on sado-masochism, and snuff entertainment. While not an anthology film, there are a series of vignettes that overlap, and some return, making this somewhat narrative, but also being a bit esoteric in how it is presented.

There are lots of primary colors used for lighting, specifically blue and red, and the camera work is quite imaginative, sometimes with nearly psychedelic green screen backgrounds.

The largest part of the story focuses on a televangelist who, in the name of the Lord, is into B&D, S&M, erotic asphyxiation, and yes, of course, Doom. A bit of it is for himself, but most is for his loved one that he leaves bound and gagged while he is away from home.

The drug is the spine of the film, but the meat and bones is a commentary about religion (heavily leaning towards Catholic; though would Mother Mary have had painted nails?) and S&M, and how sometimes they philosophically satisfy the same needs; though not blatantly stated, it is presented as such in a more subtle means. And that is the only subtly in this film’s actions.

One thing I will mention as far as men and women, they are similarly treated badly, and equally being the perpetrators of the violence (except there is a much better chance that the women will be dressed sexually, if at all).

Amid all the violence, there is a touch of humor here and there, such as the presentation of Miss Bathory Body Lotion that is presented as nearly an inserted commercial. That’s a bloody good joke (pun intended).

I especially like that the person ending up being the main character is not who you might expect, but certainly this actor is the best of the batch. This is definitely low budget (you even get to see the boom mic in one shot), and Pesca managed to do a lot with a little.

This film could fall into the artistic Transgressive subgenre, and I have seen a lot of body horror, but I have to say, thematically, I was more interested in the drug end than the S&M, which is something I have never found appealing. The film is well-made and creative in camera work, visual effects, and SFX – especially on this budget – but even though I enjoy gore effects, which are done well here, the torture stuff was a bit much for me at times. Ahh, I’m getting old.

 

Review: A Ghost Waits

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

A Ghost Waits
Directed by Adam Stovall
Rebecca Films; Arrow Video; MVD Visual
80 minutes, 2020 / 2021
www.aghostwaits.com/
https://arrowfilms.com/
www.MVDVisual.com

Most of us have seen hauntings films, such as Poltergeist (1982) and The Amityville Horror (1979). The spirits are present in the home and they are going to get physical on some level, eventually probably scaring the inhabitants away.

Natalie Walker

This is the job of a particular ghost, Muriel (Natalie Walker), and she is a champ at it. No one will stay at the Cincinnati house, which is – in the alive world – possessed by a management company, owned by Neal (director Adam Stovall). He’s a cranky new dad of twins, and he just wants the problem of constantly rotating lease-breaking tenants solved.

To get the house ready for the next renters, Neal sends his handyman employee, Jack (MacLeod Andrews) to clean up and take care of any issues. It becomes pretty obvious early on that what is there walks alone, and steals his pizza. Jack is a bit of a ne’er-do-well though good at his job, whose own rental is under fumigation, has no family or friends to speak of, can’t get anyone to listen to or help him, and is just floating through life in a job that doesn’t really mean much to him.

It is pretty obvious that Muriel and Jack are going to connect on some level. It takes a while, but these two lost souls are looking for something and someone. While Jack has to contend with an absent boss (yeah, those new twins keep him distracted), Muriel has her own issues with her by-the-book spook supervisor, Ms. Henry (scene stealer Amanda Miller) and a fellow up-and-coming “spectral agent” Rosie (Sydney Vollmer). What’s a poor ghost to do?

MacLeod Andrews

This film definitely has a comic vibe to it, though it is more of a “dramedy.” It is well written, especially the way it uses the soundtrack as another major character, such as songs by the likes of Wussy and Honeyhoney, which was well played.

It is also interesting to see the differences between the two main haunting ghosts. Rosie is newer, and more up-to-date in her language as a teenager, while Muriel talks with no contractions, as in “I do not,” as opposed to the more modern “I don’t”. The viewer may not get that, but will notice something is off in her cadence to modern speech. I thought this was a really smart, deliberate, and subtle choice.

There are also a few references in one (of a few) Muriel-inspired dream sequence for Jack that definitely harken back to Stephen King, such as Jack talking to himself as a bartender, right out of The Shining (1980), and there is also a subtle nod to IT (1990), where the bartender-nee-Muriel mentions being both a clown and a spider in the past. Jack even wears a tee that says “King” on it. However, in one of the commentaries, the director states that was not his intention, though perhaps it was subconscious. It still works, though, for genre fans.

Sydney Vollmer

Another one of the understated points of the film, though written by men, is that the strongest characters here are the women. Jack is kind of weak and generally unmotivated in life, drinking way too much of (not his) beer, and I wonder at some of the choices he makes, but Muriel likes what she does and is, to say the least, fierce. And yet she has a lot to learn in the experience which makes her more independent and a leader (such as over Rosie), taking control of her own life – er – death to make choices. I also like the fact that one of the ghosts, who obviously has been dead a long, long time, is “Ms.” rather than “Miss” or “Mrs.” This pro-women aspect is one of the finer themes of the film for me.

Because, in part, due to the use of sharp shadows, especially on Muriel’s face as she is consistently lit from below (as are all the spectral agents), the film works so much better in Black and White and, again, it was a wise choice. It’s just the right amount of grainy without being hard to see at all, which gives the look a sense of texture. There are also many very long shots, some static and others following the characters, rather than a jumble of quick edits. It works for the pace of the story.

Amanda Miller

I spent nearly two full days with this project. There are so many extras on this Blu-ray, including three (yes, three) full commentaries. The first is with the director and Corrie Loeffler, a friend of his who is mentioned in the “thanks” at the end of the film. Stovall has a tendency to wander off on subjects, but Corrine does really well to reel him back in. Their friendship is evident throughout which makes the commentary more organic. The second is the director with one of Stovall’s long-time best friends and male lead, Andrews (who co-wrote the screenplay with him). This is a fun conversation that discusses the film but also veers off to delve into things like the genre in general and storytelling. It was the best of the commentaries. The last is with Stovall, Cinematographer Michael Potter, Vollmer, Andrews, and Actor/Co-producer Nicholas Thurkettle. Much of the stories told are repeats of previous commentaries and the eight interviews mentioned below, but they do manage to not overtalk each other.

At the film’s first festival showing at Frightfest Glasgow 2020, there is an interview (11 min) and a post-film Q&A (14 min) with director Adam Stovall, both moderated by Alan Jones. The sound quality for the second is a bit echoey, but listenable. Some of the same ground is covered in each, but it is still interesting. The “Outtakes” reel (12 min) is actually quite fun, more than I have seen in others recently, and part of that is the chemistry between the two leads, Andrews and Walker.

There are eight Zoom individual interviews with the cast and crew moderated by critic and programmer tt stern-enzi (an ee cummings fan?), who is the Artistic Director of the Over-the-Rhine International Film Festival and Member at Critics Choice Association; he did a fine job.

Of the cast, there is MacLeod (21 min) who discusses his character and the film’s music, and Vollmer (12 min). For the crew, there is Executive Producers MF Thomas (12 min) and Deborah Parag (7 min) – who is also Adam Stovall’s mother, Director of Photography Michael C. Potter (13 min), Composers Mitch Bain (9 min) and Margaret Darling, who did the original soundtrack (9 min) and, of course, it ends with Director Adam Stovall (30 min).

“Humanity and the Afterlife in A Ghost Waits” (15 min) is an Isabel Custodio-directed featurette that looks at the film’s themes and influences on a deeper, almost academic level, though it never talks above the viewer. Others include the theatrical trailer, an image gallery, along with available English subtitles. There is also a reversible cover and outer case sleeve with artwork by Sister Hyde.

Walker

I have one random question: while Jack is waiting for something to do, why didn’t he paint the outside of the garage, which has peeling paint above the door? Things you notice…

While I thought the ending was predictable, it was really the right way to end this, so I did not let that get in the way of the story. Overall, it was the right length to keep the interest up, and had some really fine moments. The acting is top notch and helps make the film even more enjoyable. This is fun, and may play well as a date night film without being too Hallmarky with over-schmaltz. For a director’s first film, this is quite compelling and a positive release.

 

A Brief Interview with Screenwriter and Director John Oak Dalton

 A Brief Interview with Screenwriter and Director John Oak Dalton

Introduction by Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films
Films reviewed on this blog are linked to their titles
Images from the Internet

John Oak Dalton

Ohio-based John Oak Dalton has directed two films, both of which prove his worth in this field: The Girl in the Crawlspace (2018) and Scarecrow County (2019). But what Dalton is mostly known for is his screenplays, for films such as Alone in the Ghost House (2015), Jurassic Prey (2015), Amityville Island (2020), and recently Shark Encounters of the Third Kind (2020). It was for this latter film that he was interviewed by “The Schlock Pit,” who did not use all of Dalton’s quotes, which he recently published on his email blog, “I Was Bigfoot’s Shemp," on August 13, 2021 (Johnoakdalton.hotmail.com). With his permission, as a fan, I am printing what was left out of the blog interview below, written by John Oak Dalton. I have made minor editorial changes. – RG, 2021

* * *

I was as surprised as anyone when my new film, Scarecrow County, hung on for four straight weeks in the Amazon Hot New Releases in Horror. Thanks to everyone who picked up a copy or has seen it on some other platform.

And I was extremely flattered by this interview and review of a film I wrote, Shark Encounters of the Third Kind, by the British Website “TheSchlock Pit.” I am appreciative that the people there give thoughtful attention to the B-movie world, and are good writers to boot.

They used just a few snippets of an interview about the writing of Shark Encounters of the Third Kind, so I thought I'd share the whole of what I wrote back when they asked a few questions via email, probably more than they wanted to know.

* * *

(Director) Mark (Polonia) had asked me to write all the scripts for a three-movie deal with Wild Eye (Releasing) that all already came with titles and basic descriptions; the caveat being is that he needed all three in six weeks. I'm to the point in my career where if I write something for somebody, there has to be a reason; and I have always been interested in director Thomas Carr, who once shot six B-Westerns in 30 days, which I think not enough has been made of. So, I thought this might be a neat challenge.

I had never written this fast in my life; typically, I can write a full script in three weeks, if I'm pushing it. I think I worked on these an average of 10 days each. They were written at a fever pitch and honestly I didn't remember a lot of detail until I saw the final product, and even then wasn't sure what I thought up and what Mark added.

Rewind to when I wrote my first movie for Mark, Among Us (2004), and he had a three-picture deal afterwards and asked me to write all three in a year, and I wasn't sure I could write three movies in one year! In that case I rewrote two and then wrote a third from scratch.

The first was Psycho Clown, which was turned into Peter Rottentail (2004). I took John Polonia's handwritten script and rewrote it as I was typing it into a screenwriting program. Next I did a rewrite of Razorteeth (2005), then my original script was Demons on a Dead End Street, which remains one of my favorite scripts, but didn't get made.

Peter Rottentail has been rated one of the worst horror films of all time by “Nerdly,” and Fangoria did a whole podcast dedicated to it; as well as all the people who watch it on Easter every year. Razorteeth disappeared almost without notice; and frankly, which is worse? To me, at least, it's the latter.

So, for this new trilogy of scripts: Amityville Island (2020) was the easiest of the three for Wild Eye; I had written a movie for Mark a few years before called Doctor Zombie that had not been made, but I noticed had a lot of similar beats as the Amityville premise. It was heavily influenced by Mark's love for Zombi 2 (1979) and Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972), with my own interest in Lust for Freedom (1987) thrown in. So, I knocked that together quickly and it has been noted by reviewers that it has a little of everything, and all of it crazy, as I intended. I wrote another one whose title I will hold back as it hasn't come out yet, but it was full of time travel and dinosaurs and alternate timelines, and I had a blast with it. My favorite script of the three. I hope it streets yet this year.

Aliens vs Sharks (the original title of Shark Encounters of the Third Kind) was the hardest to get my mind around for some reason, so I saved this to write last. But once I got going, it started cooking, and again, I don't exactly remember writing it. In fact, I went back and read the outline before responding to this email. It came with a four-page outline with a lot of the beats, mostly the effects that were going to be made or on hand, and a little bit of story. I made the Jenni Russo character a therapist when she was a photographer in the original, because I wanted to include an alien abduction storyline; I think the other characters were pretty much as presented in the outline. I thought the treasure hunters were a neat touch in the original. I thought the movie was very ambitious, but especially the third act, which I thought was going to be too much to get on screen in a workable way, so I toned it down quite a bit. My ending, which featured a group of teens on the beach Frankie Avalon-style inadvertently re-starting the whole mess, was not used, and I think the whole part with Dave Fife was created so that Mark could work with Dave before he moved. I think I had somebody quoting a lot of Shakespeare, which was cut out, understandably enough. Otherwise, by and large, what I wrote is up there, for better or worse.

It's funny now, but I can see the seeds of my own later movie, The Girl in the Crawlspace, in this script, including the therapist and the character obsessed with Westerns. I always try to hang my stories on things I was interested in, and one in this case is a lawman who is basically on his last day on the job and isn't going to be a lawman any more, and what that means. Honestly, I had also buried a family cat in my back pasture and thought it might be a good set piece for a movie, and that's in there, too. Just all the flotsam and jetsam you pick up through life, interest in culture, interest in other people. Whether people see it or not, I try to put in elements that might resonate with someone besides aliens shooting rayguns or whatever. I think Jennie Russo and Titus Himmelberger are both enjoyable in this. I thought Titus gave his lines an especially eccentric read and it turned out like I hoped. Jeff Kirkendall is good as always. I try to write for the people I know Mark is going to use, but sometimes he changes it up or introduces somebody new, so it's always a nice surprise.

I think when you have a movie titled Aliens vs Sharks, you are either in or out when you hear the title, and the rest doesn't matter. You are going in it to have a good time. So, for this kind of movie, or all three of these movies, I like to try to make them funny, with a lot of nods to horror fandom, lots of energy and outlandish situations and characters. I'm not sure every viewer is in on the joke, but that's what I hope. I think the biggest thing to note is that I have never been involved with a movie that comes from cynicism; these kinds of movies are made by people that love the genre for people that love the genre. Horror fans, by and large, are the most loyal and devoted, and will follow you where you want to go, whether you have the money to make the trip or not.

 

Review: Ten Minutes to Midnight

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Ten Minutes to Midnight
Directed by Erik Bloomquist
Mainframe Pictures; Jingai Films; Danse Macabre; MVD Visual
72 minutes, 2021
www.facebook.com/TenMinutesToMidnight
www.jingaifilms.com
www.MVDVisual.com

While zombie and body horror films are flooding the market right now, it’s nice to see another vampire flick pop up. And what better location than in West Central Connecticut, about 30 miles west of Hartford? Connecticut has some of the richest people in the Tri-State Area, so blood-sucking comes natural to the vicinity. Well, once again, and early on, I digress…

Caroline Williams

In the late night, just in time for her Midnight shift at a local radio station – and during a hurricane – retiring disc jockey Amy Marlowe (Caroline Williams, who has a history of horror films such as Rob Zombie’s Halloween II in 2009, 1986’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II where she also played a DJ, and at least three films I have reviewed on this blog, Hanukkah, Verotika, and Abolition) has been bitten on the neck by a bat on her way to the studio. Oops! Perhaps another good name for this could have been Undead Air, I suppose.  

Her super-scuzzy boss, Robert (William Youmans) who was once her lover when she first started at that station thirty years before, has a new DJ and potential lover in Sienna (Nicole Kang, who is now Mary Hamilton on the series “Batwoman), who is to “shadow” the seasoned music spinner. Amy is not impressed, especially when Sienna chimes, “I grew up listening to you!” An aging Amy is a core feature of the storyline.

Also in the building is Amy’s multiple-pierced engineer, Aaron (Adam Weppler) and security, Ernie (Nicholas Tucci, d. 2020), who seems to be the comic relief – and rabies takes a week or more for symptoms to express themselves, not a couple of hours – but let us move on.

Nicholas Tucci and Nicole Kang

Being the last show before “retirement” from the studio to be replaced by the new, young thing (I mean that as an expression, not a comment on Sienna as a woman), what does an aging DJ have to lose as her anger explodes on-air, especially when transforming into a biter (man, I love the wide mouth chestnut that, if I remember correctly, started with Fright Night (1985).

As the vamp fever makes its way through Amy’s body, the story gets more interesting as she starts to hallucinate, along with doing something incredibly gross for the viewer (i.e., me). That’s a good thing, of course, to keep the – er – flow going. As time goes on, what is real and what is in Amy’s head becomes more and more questionable, which leads to a super interesting third act that I did not see coming, and is phenomenally imaginative.

This film is a fine mixture of ‘80s style and modern sensibilities, with a focus on the beginning and the end of careers in the arts. Some of it is quite accurate, but then again, some of it obviously is not (unless you believe in vampires, of course).

The flick is beautifully shot by Thomson Nguyen, with a lot of primary light coloring (red and blue, especially) to depict mood and process. There is no question the acting is actually quite fine considering the pedigree of the cast, and that’s always a bonus. But let it be known, this is solidly Williams’ film.

What is also nice is that the major cast is relatively small at about five, and the space is very tight and almost claustrophobic (the lighting helps with that). The station reminds me of the one with Wolfman Jack in American Graffiti (1975), with the relatively remote location and small area to cover.

There is a fine mix of SFX and CGI, with neither of them being overly dominant. The blood flows well without being excessive, as this is more story based (hence the occasionally longer than necessary dialogues in a couple of spots). However, the sporadic moments of violence come quite unexpectedly, so there are nice jump scares in that direction. And as I said before, there are a few skeevy scenes that may make one wince or turn away.

 

As for the specials on this Blu-ray, there are an abundant amount, starting with the full audio commentary with the director, the co-writer Carson Bloomquist, and the star, Caroline Williams, the latter of whom has some nice insights to the meaning of the film and especially her character, Amy. Nicely, they never talk over each other, and they tell the story of the filming, with ideas behind some of the action and anecdotes (such as William’s role was first offered to Barbara Crampton, who suggested Williams for the role). This is an ideal commentary, with everything that keeps it interesting.

Zoom interviews at the online Grimmfest 2020 Festival (29 minutes), with the cast and crew, is a bit crowded, but still fun and informative for those who are interested about the film on a deeper level, but with lots of good stories and humor. “CT Style Live,” Connecticut’s feel-good program, has a light “Go Connecticut” interview with the director and Williams (5 minutes) before the official release of the film. The world premiere introduction welcoming and request for reviews on IMB by the director is shown for The Popcorn Frights Film Festival (1 minute), from Southeast United States. Others include two Ten to Midnight trailers (teaser and regular), plus additional MVD coming attractions.

There was a glitch on my disc, so I could not watch the following Behind the Scenes featurettes: “Take One,” “ “Immortality,” “Love Stories,” “Memory Play,” and finally footage from the TMTM at Grimmoire Academy Halloween Carnival.

The film itself is a solid entry into the vampire genre, and the reliance on story more than gore – even with the gross-out moments – makes this worth the watch.

Horror Shorts Reviews for August 2021

Horror Shorts Reviews for August 2021

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Filmmakers, please note: It is important that you list your films on IMDB. Usually, I do not review films (unless requested) that appear on sites like Alter and Screamfest, because they have a known platform, which is great, while I would rather focus on films with no affiliations.

Caw
Directed by Ricky Glore
www.RickyGlore.com
4:45 minutes, 2021
A pregnant woman in yellow (Stephonika W. Kaye) is being chased by a slasher in a yellow slicker through a forest deep. Why? Well, perhaps its ritualistic, but as is common in the shorter horror shorts, it is a scene out of context, but damn it works fine. The make-up effects look really great, and even in that short time, with no dialogue, the viewer can feel empathy for the woman (perhaps it’s the soon-to-be-or-not-to-be child?). Glore does well to keep the tension going for the scene, and his editing is also top-notch. Not bad for a stand-up comic/filmmaker. 
Full film HERE 

 

The Dark Dawn (aka Il Male)
Directed by Alessandro Spada
Fiatlvx Films
22:41 minutes, 2019
The viewer can tell pretty much from the start that this is a bit different, and that it is going to be interesting. In a secluded area, a Priest (Marco Foresti) walks through a snowy road and woods to an isolated farm house. The camera employs a lens that makes the image not completely sharp, and the colors muted. When one sees a modern genre film from Italy and it has a lone priest carrying what looks like a medical bag, it’s pretty obvious what the theme is going to be, in this case the exorcism of a young woman with a sordid past named Janet (Janet Fischietto), with glazed eyes and chained to a bed. But the events that follow are not expected, with a stunningly done twist ending that comes out of freakin’ nowhere to explain what has happened before. Of course, I won’t give it away. The film was shot nearly 10 years ago, but was released in 2019, and is getting a wider showing now. The cinematography by Flavio Toffoli is excellent, and I cannot recommend this highly enough. It is in Italian with some of the easiest captions I have seen. So worth watching, but do so right to the end of the story.
Full film HERE 

 

The First Snow
Directed by Kyle Bastin
Bastin Films; Media Pit; Pigasus Pictures
11:58 minutes, 2021
A winter’s day, in a deep and dark Greenwood, Indiana acreage. A cold front is a-comin’ (below freezing!! This made me laugh since it gets to -40F pre-windchill where I am, but I digress…) and with it the first snow of the season. Meanwhile, high schooler Jacy (Leah Evelynn Hummel) and her young brother Eli (Jacob Bawi) are getting ready for school, but the pipes are frozen, grandpa (Dennis Crosswhite, who played an uncredited student in Rock ‘n’ Roll High School) has gone missing. The film is a musing on climate change with an angry Mother Earth (Judy Littlefield) ready to kick some student ass. The film is a bit opaque in bits, and the background music drowns some of the dialogue (at least on my system), but the storyline is strong, and the ending is actually very pleasing. It’s not preachy in any kind of way, but still gets its message of damage and love across quite well. It made me think of a song by the band Sparks (HERE). 
Trailer HERE 

 

The Flamboyant Rites of Gay Dracula
Directed by Richard Griffin
Nova Films Productions; Scorpio Releasing
9:08 minutes, 2021
This mock trailer, shot in wide screen, is introduced by Orson Wells (Terry Shea), much as with the old Masterpiece Theater fronted by Alistair Cooke. It seems Dracula (Robert Kersey) is being kicked out by his father, Dracula Sr. (Bruce Church) for being gay. He takes an appropriate Peter Pan bus to find his new life, including changing his name to Homosexuala and hosting the (literal) Fondu Party of the Damned. His nemesis? Well, there is two: of course, there is Anita Bryant (Victoria Paradis) who else, as the Van Helsing, and a rivalry for a suiter’s hand – er – nick by Gay Blacula (Cardryell Truss). Gay Dracula made his premiere previously in Griffin’s 2020 short, “Gay as the Sun.” In fact, Graham Stokes returns from his role in that film as Billy, Gay Dracula’s love focus. The humor here is kind of broad (pun not intended) but effective. The accents come in and out, and are occasionally oddly German (Dracula was Romanian), but that’s all part of the fun for me. Paradis comes close to stealing the show, but this is a laugh fest from beginning to end. It’s one of those things, like Monty Python, that may seem silly, but you can see the smarts written between the lines by Griffin and Robyn Guilford.
Full film HERE 

 

Racyst
Directed by Ricky Glore
www.RickyGlore.com
7:19 minutes, 2019.
When is someone white enough? An “agitated man” (Brian Roesel) can’t seem to cope with what he considers “Other.” People of color and those with accents turn him into a Ken (as opposed to a Karen), but something is suddenly physically wrong with him as his fear manifests into an event Cronenberg may envision in The Brood (1979). The effects work well with a touch of humor to it all, but at the same time reflective of modern technology culture where the Internet is full of Karen and Ken videos. This moral tale hits deep into white rage, pointing a mirror at it, which makes it watchable on many levels. The SFX team on this is currently working on Glore’s upcoming feature film, All Your Friends Are Dead, currently in Kickstarter mode at the above e-address.
Full film HERE 

 

The Serpent Writhes in a Glass Coffin
Directed by Richard Griffin
Nova Films Productions; Scorpio Releasing
6:28 minutes, 2021
Director Richard Griffin has a history of creating fake trailers, such as the excellent “They Stole the Pope’s Blood!” (2014), so it should come as no surprise that he would do one on one of his favorite genres, the Italian Cinema giallos. Many of these had odd names like Bird With a Crystal Plumage (1978) or The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail (1970). For this filmette, Louis (Neil Redfield) is a gay serial killer warped by electroshock therapy (a comment on conversion therapy?) who murders his lovers, with the police hot on his trail. Lots of giallo motifs run through the trailer, such as photographer and model, coppers in trench coats, cartoonish blood and violence, extreme close-ups of shadowed-laden faces, and clumsy, overly dramatic dialogue (“Inside his damaged brain was a nightmare carnival where the price of admission was death,” or “I got the mayor making more noise than a dozen king crabs fucking in an oil drum”). There is even a nod to Blazing Saddles (1974) or High Anxiety (1977) concerning a Republican politician. This is a strongly amusing film that you don’t need to know the genre to enjoy it, but if you have seen a few, your smile will probably be that much wider.
Full film HERE