Monday, October 27, 2008

Award Winners for Multiple Festivals Announced

Well, we tried something new this month and sponsored awards for the Best Short Horror Film at several film festivals. The submissions rolled in and the competitions were fierce at each of the festivals.

First up was Shriekfest in Los Angeles. It was another great year for this pivotal West Coast festival that is a launching pad for indie filmmakers. Congratulations to the Best Short Film award winner: "Kirksdale" directed by Ryan Spindell , and to the Best Super Short Film award winner: "Eel Girl" directed by Paul Campion. The top photo shows (l to r) "Kirksdale" lead actor Joshua Mikel, director Ryan Spidell, and festival directos Denise Gossett & Todd Beeson.

At the Sharp Cuts Guelph Indie Film & Music Festival the Best Short Horror Film award went to "Ray's Big Day", a stop motion animation film commissioned to honor the legendary Ray Harryhausen, directed by Marc Lougee. The photo shows the festival's judges Ryan James Connors (L) and Rob Keyes (R) flanking Marc & me as I present him the award at the closing gala closing.

Meanwhile, at the Madison Horror Film Festival in Wisconsin, the best short horror film award went to "Initiation" directed by Stephane Beaudoin. This film also won an award for best cinematography ans the Audience Choice award. Sweet! Great turn out for this new Mid-West festival, which boasted several films from Canada, the USA, and Europe.

In addition to winning a sweet prize pack of AAAAAH!! swag, the winning films will be offered a distribution deal to appear in an upcoming volume of AAAAAH!! Indie Horror Hits.

Congratulations to all the winners, runners up, and filmmaker participants. The big winners were the audiences who got to see & enjoy your works.

Where will we turn up next? Stay tuned - and keep supporting indie filmmaking.

Shriekfest - The Los Angeles Horror/Sci-Fi Film Festival
Madison Horror Film Festival
Sharp Cuts Guelph Indie Film & Music Festival

Friday, October 17, 2008

Madison Horror AAAAAH!!wards

Horror in the Mid-West USA is alive and kicking with a brand new horror film festival in Wisconsin - the Madison Horror Film Festival, Saturday October 25th at the Orpheum Theatre Stage Door in, you guessed it, Madison, Wisconsin.

It's a one-day 12 hour marathon of indie horror films & festivities, with special horror industry guests, vicious vendors, an appearance by Freakshow & the Harlots of Horror, putrid prizes & gruesome giveaways.

To get you in the mood there's a pre-festival party at Inferno on Friday October 24 with a horror film costume contest. Sounds like THE hot ticket for a chilly fall weekend. Get your freak on and check it out. I wonder if anyone will go dressed as a dreadful dairy product, or changeling cheese-head?

So why am I telling you all this? Well there will be some jaw-some indie horror films screened. And Crypt Club Productions Inc. is proudly sponsoring an award for the Best Short Horror Film, which includes a submission invitation to be part of an upcoming volume of AAAAAH!! Indie Horror Hits.

Beast of luck to all the indie filmmakers. Give 'em Hell!

Madison Horror Film Festival

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Congrats to Jill & Jude

It was a match made at a horror convention and it paid off today with a wedding at a haunted attraction.

A year and a half back Killer Works' Jill Cooper & I were hanging out at the World Horror Convention in Toronto. There she met Jude Waltermire, a writer fellow from Chicago.

Bim bam boom - a little over a year later the wedding invitation arrived in the mail. Wow! Who'd have thought such things could start in the midst of all that death and decay?

Family and friends gathered in Chicago to witness the wedding, and partake of a fabulous wedding cake that featured the bride and groom carrying a bloody axe and a dirt encrusted shovel - partners in crime. Congratulations! Hope you get away with it... and live scarily ever after.

Killer Works

AAAAAH!! Sponsors Sharp Cuts Fest


I'll be at the 2nd annual Sharp Cuts Guelph Indie Film & Music Festival this week for the Friday Fright Night screenings. Crypt Club Productions Inc. is sponsoring the award for the best short horror film. Come on out to see the films. Winning entries may receive a distribution offer to appear on a future volume of "AAAAAH!! Indie Horror Hits".

The awards & swag will be handed out at the gala on Saturday night. Details are at the Sharp Cuts web site. See you there.
Sharp Cuts Guelph Indie Film & Music Festival