ShockerFest International Film Festival 2009

This is a photo of me with ShockerFest International Film Festival founders/directors, Louise Baker and George Baker. This dynamic duo, along with their distinguished judges, has yet again selected a group of entertaining horror, science fiction, and animation films from skillful filmmakers. Perhaps it is because the Bakers are also filmmakers (GREELEY’S FIELD http://www.greeleysfield.com/).

This weekend I enjoyed several of the films, but the comedy-horror feature SCARE ZONE, HURT starring Jackson Rathbone, CHILDHOOD FEARS (short), MANEATER starring Dean Cain, DARK ROOM THEATRE, and FIREMOUNT (short) stand out in my mind. Not surprising, three of these movies won awards.

SCARE ZONE (http://www.scarezonemovie.com/) is a fun movie! It starts out kind of silly, as it is a comedy-horror film, but then the horror elements “kick in” when the haunted maze (a.k.a. haunted house) opens for business, and the movie actually ends with a message stemming from a storyline with its goth character, “Claire,” played by the talented Arian Ash.

HURT (http://www.hurt-the-movie.com/) stars Jackson Rathbone as “Conrad.” “Conrad,” along with his mother and sister, must go to the desert to live with his uncle after his father dies. The family’s world becomes even more of a debacle when the mother decides to move a foster child into their home. I know this seems like ORPHAN, but I will admit I was on edge during some of the scenes, even though I saw where the story was going near the beginning of the film.

CHILDHOOD FEARS is a short film about something many of us may have feared growing up: “the closet monster.” The only difference here is this young man’s “monster” is an older cousin who terrorized him as a child. Director Cameron Roubique has promised a Web series based on childhood fears. Let me know if you find it.

MANEATER stars Dean Cain as a former FBI profiler who is now sheriff of a small town investigating inexplicable, gruesome murders that have been taking place. Also, he is raising his teenage daughter alone since his wife mysteriously disappeared, and that situation provides an intriguing storyline.

DARK ROOM THEATRE (http://www.darkroomtheater.com/) is a fun film. If you like The Twilight Zone television series, you will probably enjoy DARK ROOM THEATRE. The movie’s poster is accurate in stating, “2 tales of the macabre that will tickle your scary bone…” The acting is superb, especially in the first story, and the music is right on with the mood of the tales.

FIREMOUNT (http://www.firemountmovie.com/) is a short science fiction-fantasy film written and directed by Daniel Denegre, a film student who submitted this as his thesis. It is quite impressive, and many individuals at the ShockerFest International Film Festival seemed to agree that Denegre should make this a feature (I even told him to do it!). Fortunately, Denegre assures that is his intention, especially now that he won two awards at ShockerFest. FIREMOUNT is about a mysterious swordsman seeking a cure for a poison that is killing him. He discovers that the one with the answers is who he has been running from.

Comrades in Dreams

The documentary, COMRADES IN DREAMS, follows four theatre owners from four different parts of the world: Korea, India, United States, and Faso. Each of them love movies and share that passion with their communities. The theatre owner in Korea is the only woman in her country to work in cinema and the theatre owner in India is only 25 years old, and actually runs a moving tent theatre, taking the movies to various villages. The theatre showcased in the United States is owned by a lady, who lives in a very small, rural town, and the theatre in Faso is operated by three friends who dedicate much of their time to maintaining it; in the movie, their families express how they wish the men would spend more time at home.

I recently watched COMRADES IN DREAMS on the Sundance Channel. It received a nomination for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. This documentary reminded me of how important it is that people, including me, make movies because every person revealed the impact films have had on their lives.

They Came From Outer Space

I have been watching the series They Came From Outer Space on Hulu. The show originally aired on television from 1990 to 1991, and stars Stuart Fratkin (“Abe”) and Dean Cameron (“Bo”) as brothers who land on Earth from the planet Crouton to attend university in England. During their space ship ride to Earth, “Bo” discovers that California, U.S.A. would be more exciting than studying, so he changes their direction. The alien “fish-out-of-water” concept makes for some very hilarious situations, including the two Air Force officers trailing “Abe” and “Bo” in hopes of capturing them for dissection.

This show is fun, and displays a type of comedy that is no longer on television. Unfortunately, there are only 20 episodes; however, they are available for viewing at http://www.hulu.com/search?query=they+came+from+outer+space. After watching each episode, viewers are able to vote and comment. There is also a group for They Came From Outer Space on Facebook, where fans of the series can have discussions about the show.

Lastly, I will add that Stuart Fratkin is starring in my next feature film, AFRAID FOR YOUR LIFE. Right now we are in the development process. I will keep you updated here at the blog, and of course we are providing information at the TDA Entertainment Web site – http://www.tdaentertainment.com/ – as it is available.