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Friday, October 10, 2008
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Interview with Shriekfest Film Festival Founder Denise Gossett
Current mood:  luminous
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
 Written by Fatally Yours The warm and friendly Denise Gossett is the founder of Shriekfest, a horror and sci-fi film festival that runs every year in October in Los Angeles. Founded in 2001, Shriekfest has just wrapped up its eighth year of celebrating independent horror and sci-fi films, and we have Denise to thank for that! Besides being the festival organizer (and so much more!) for Shriekfest, Denise is also an accomplished actress who has worked with Dennis Hopper, Kristin Bell, Will Patton and many others! We had a chance to chat with Denise about her passion for film and how Shriekfest began… Fatally Yours: Denise, how and when did you start Shriekfest? Why did you think there was a need for a horror/sci-fi film festival? Denise Gossett: Shriekfest just finished it's 8th year. 9 years ago I starred in a horror film and wanted it to be put in festivals, but at the time, there really weren't any, so I came up with the idea and told my sister in law my idea and she loved it. 2 months later we held our first festival. Fatally Yours: How do you prepare for the annual festival each year? Denise Gossett: Well, we have judges who narrow down the best films and screenplays and then we have another set of judges who pick the winners. Parties have to be planned as well. Press releases must go out. It really has become a full time job. Fatally Yours: How are the films for the festival chosen? Do you make the final decision on which ones will screen at Shriekfest? Denise Gossett: Well, Todd Beeson, my partner, and I try to stay out of the voting as much as possible. We will help settle a tie if there is one, but really we leave all the judging to the judges. It's really the fairest way to do it.
[READ MORE]
4:14 PM
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New York to Host the "Best of the Best" of Short Horror
Current mood:  vibrant
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
 L.A.'s Screamfest, Edinburgh's Dead by Dawn, Korea's Puchon, Montreal's FanTasia-horror fans know these as world-class showcases. But now you don't have to leave New York to experience some of the best short films that such events have to offer. On October 22 at 9:00 p.m. New York City's Pioneer Theater will present 90 minutes of eye-popping and breath-quickening international releases at DAGGERS, The Short Festival of Short Horror. Then the entire program will repeat at 9:00 p.m. on October 23. For tickets, address, and other information about The Pioneer Theater, please visit http://www.twoboots.com/pioneer/. "Every October pop culture fans and moviegoers are besieged by horror offerings from various mainstream media," points out DAGGERS founder and programmer, Peter Gutiérrez. "And while being too highbow would work against some of the genre's pleasures, is it completely unreasonable to expect our scares to be served up with-dare I say it-art?" "The goal of DAGGERS," continues Gutiérrez, a film critic for Firefox News among other outlets, "is to present the breadth of the genre's possibilities with a program that satisfies both hardcore fans and those who test the waters only at this time of year. In doing so, we'll feature the entire spectrum of terror, from ghostly 'quiet horror' to screaming-loud full-assault, from old-school pulp-flavored tales to cutting-edge animation."
The lineup… [READ MORE]
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Currently
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Repo! The Genetic Opera
Release date: 2008-09-30
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4:10 PM
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Thursday, October 09, 2008
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Film Review: Jack Brooks - Monster Slayer (2008)
Current mood: adventurous
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
 Review by Fatally Yours We've seen a lot of horror homages these past few years, from Hatchet (review) to Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (review). These kind of films relish in winking at the audience, nudging them with past horror movie references and trivia. It is rare for these films to actually transcend their self-referential nature and actually become the films they are emulating. Now, another film that pays homage to old school monster flicks and Evil Dead-style demonic possession movies has been released…and that film is Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer, directed by Jon Knautz and written by the team of Knautz, Jon Ainslio, Trevor Matthews (who also plays the titular role) and Patrick White. The difference between Jack Brooks and other types of "tribute" films is that Jack Brooks actually stands on its own as a bad-ass horror-comedy, action-packed film!
[READ MORE]
3:25 PM
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Interview with Filmmaker Matthew Reel of Jessicka Rabid
Current mood:  giddy
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
 Written by Theron Neel Indie film director Matthew Reel is a man of many talents. Writer, artist, vocalist - it's hard to pin him down. Drawing on influences as diverse as Kenneth Anger and Herschell Gordon Lewis, Reel's films are deeply personal visions. Jessicka Rabid, his upcoming collaboration with actress Elske McCain (interview), promises to be his most controversial project yet. Fatally-Yours.com's Theron Neel recently sat down to chat with Reel about filmmaking, art and love. Theron Neel: Hey Matt, thanks for talking with us. Jessicka Rabid has been getting a lot of attention it seems. How's the film coming along? Is it almost ready? Matthew Reel: Yes! The film is almost in the can, just some sound work remains. Sit tight, kids! Theron Neel: You are doing almost everything on this film. Has the process been overwhelming for you? Matthew Reel: There have been moments, certainly. I've anticipated it, though. The whole feature film thing is a completely different animal, so I made sure to expect the unexpected. I haven't pulled my hair out or anything, but it did kick my butt a few times. It's worth it. [READ MORE]
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Wednesday, October 08, 2008
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Film Review: Wicked Lake (2008)
Current mood:  amused
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
 Review by Fatally Yours Lipstick lesbians Mary (Carlee Baker), Helen (Eryn Joslyn), Jill (Eve Mauro) and Ilene (Robin Sydney) head to a lakeside cabin retreat for some skinny dipping and fun. Little do they know, but a college classmate of one of the girls has followed them and brought his sick and twisted family along for the ride. The family, consisting of the effeminate, unicorn-drawing classmate Caleb (Marc Senter), older brother and leader Palmer (Will Keenan), Grandpa Jim (Frank Birney) and half-idiot brother Fred (Justin Stone), humiliate and abuse the girls until about midnight, when everything changes and the tables get turned… Meanwhile, cops Jake (Tim Thomerson) and Ray (Michael Esparza) are hot on the trail of some supposed killers…Things sure are about to get messy…
[READ MORE]
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Currently
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Wicked Lake
Release date: 2008-10-07
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3:44 PM
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6 Comments - 14 Kudos
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Book Review: Moonlight by Keith Knapp
Current mood:  pleased
Category: Writing and Poetry
 Review by Fatally Yours Keith Knapp's novel Moonlight takes the post-apocalyptic zombie story and turns it on its head, giving us a fresh and exciting new voice in horror fiction. First, the electricity goes out. Then people find out that cars, cell phones, portable radios, watches and clocks have improbably stopped working. A darkness soon begins spreading across the Chicago area and surrounding suburbs. People are turning aggressive, violent and homicidal…and when they are killed, they just get right back up and attack again, moaning "No more room." With modern society crumbling, a dark man in a trench coat appears, intent on turning the world into his own personal playground of hell. A few survivors, including an alcoholic writer, a mayor, a psychiatrist, an artist and a pregnant woman, band together to try and stop the dark man from spreading his darkness any further…or is it already too late?
[READ MORE]
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Currently
reading
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Moonlight
By
Keith Knapp
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3:44 PM
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Tuesday, October 07, 2008
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Film Review: Dark Reel (2008)
Current mood: chipper
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
 By Fatally Yours In attendance at the annual Shriekfest Film Festival this year, I was lucky enough to catch the quirky and enjoyable Dark Reel, helmed by first time horror director Josh Eisenstadt and written by Aaron Pope. Dark Reel managed to both skewer big-studio politics as well as thrill viewers with some wonderfully nasty kills! In the '50s, a starlet named Scarlett May (Alexandra Holden) was horrifically butchered during a screen test. Her case garnered notoriety over the years for the brutal nature of the crime, as well for the fact that the killer was never caught. Fast forward 53 years and down-on-his-luck horror movie fan Adam Waltz (Edward Furlong) has just won a walk-on role on the horror film Pirate Wench, starring none other than his favorite scream queen, Cassie Blue (Tiffany Shepis). Once legendary but now struggling studio head Connor Pritchett (Lance Henriksen) and his head of marketing Harris Briggs (Emmanuel Xuereb) hope that the walk-on roll will boost publicity for the film. They get plenty of publicity, but of a more gruesome sort than they expected. People involved with the production start dying grisly deaths at the hands of a masked killer. As more and more die, Adam's role in the film keeps getting bigger and bigger, giving Detective Shields (Tony Todd) and his partner Detective LaRue (Rena Riffel) a suspect with a motive. [READ MORE]
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Currently
watching
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Candyman
Release date: 1998-09-09
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3:36 PM
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Film Review: Insanitarium (2008)
Current mood:  rebellious
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
 Review by The Wolf Having a certain family member who has issues with paranoid-schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder, I've visited a mental ward more than one should have to. It's not a pleasant place. It feels like cold death sending chills down your spine. It's uncomfortable. It's disturbing. And I was only visiting for a half-hour. I couldn't imagine staying in a mental ward for a month. However, there are some who are willing to take that chance to protect their ill family member inside a mental asylum. Take former Passions and Desperate Housewives star Jesse Metcalfe's character in the direct-to-DVD feature, Insanitarium. The guy is willing to suffer inside a twisted asylum just to make sure no harm is done to his suicidal sister. Yeah, that's pretty much an idiotic idea if I ever saw one - but at least we get a good film out of it.
[READ MORE]
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Currently
watching
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Insanitarium
Release date: 2008-07-15
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3:35 PM
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3 Comments - 6 Kudos
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ZombieMall.com Halloween Contest!
Current mood:  fabulous
 Our good friend Brian over at ZombieMall.com has announced that they are holding a wicked cool contest just in time for Halloween! Check out what you need to do to enter in their official announcement below: I am giving 1 lucky person a chance to get a FREE copy of Michael Arnzen's Audiovile CD! If you have not heard this, all I can say is WOW! It's perfect for Halloween! It's got horror! It's got macabre! It's got ZOMBIES!!! What do you have to do to win it? Simple! [READ MORE]
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Currently
listening
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Halloween: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
By
John Carpenter
Release date: 1990-10-25
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3:34 PM
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Monday, October 06, 2008
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Film Review: The Original Faces of Death (1978)
Current mood:  eccentric
Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities
 Review by Fiend of Grue Faces Of Death, which was supposedly "Banned in 46 countries!", opens with showing a scene of surgeons performing open heart surgery. With some slow motion camera work and then a freeze frame, we see this person "die". From there, we are treated to a variety of shots that show multiple cadavers in an early stage of rigor mortis: stiff limbs, frozen stares, gaping, dry mouths. Our senses are further pummeled as we then witness a quick, full on autopsy from which one of the doctors steps away from the operating room and begins to talk directly into the camera about how mankind is afraid of death and tells us that what you are about to see is an examination of death. Death is inevitable for all of us and Faces Of Death is about to show us its many horrible faces from around the globe.
[READ MORE]
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