Well I know that I did… and I hope that most of you did as well. I wanted to say thanks to all the fans and friends that came out to the Zombie Outbreak last weekend to catch 8 hours of nothing but Zombie flicks!
The night was a great sucess and one of the best festivals we have had all year. The turnout was great, all of the movies played perfectly and everything pretty much ran on time. From the crowd reactions and the general talk around the theater, I got a sense that everyone had some mixed opinions on each of the films. That is what I like to hear. We try and pick films that will represent each of the themes real well and in different ways….and some of them you may like and some of them you may not. With all of the films, we will get you talking about them, discussing them at the theater and later, and give you a chance to see some movies that you have never seen before. That is our goal here at Horror Society and our goal with the festivals we put on here in Chicago. We want you to think about each of the films and talk about them both good and bad after you see them. For all of the filmmakers any opinion is a good one.
I have read several reviews of the show and the general thought of the night is almost the same. Everyone seemed to really get a kick out of The Basement. Some thought it was funny, well written, nice jump scares, and overall a nice little short.
Chemical 12-D seemed to be a big hit with everyone as well. With its nice use of special effects, surprise ending and excellent storyline put together by a promising film student.
Fleashbeast was both loved and hated. HAHA, I had a feeling that some people would think that its blinding use of images, animation and tight editing might be too much to handle. On the other hand, I had a few people come up to me in the theater and tell me that was a piece of art on screen, well put together, and a joy to watch! That is just the reaction I like to see coming from a film like that.
Of course there was the Sub Hub trailer and the Tales from the Script Promo from local legend of horror Ron Fitzgerald and the lovely Claire “Fluff” Ryan. I think many people are anxiously waiting to see what comes from this film. Ron told me they are still in the funding stage, but constantly writing and re-writing the script, so we will keep you informed on how that comes along.
Another mixed reaction was the ultra low budget film “Colin“. Similar to Fleashbeast, some people didnt think it lived up to the hype and others thought it was a moving tale about a zombie from another point of view. Once again, it was good to finally see the film and have the audience judge for themselves.
Pathogen was the zombie movie from 12 year old Emily Hagins. It looked like everyone loved this film for what it was and the fact that a little girl like that could put together a good movie with a story to it.
Zombie Girl the Movie was the documentary about the film Pathogen. This chronicled the daily life of Emily as she made her film and the trial and error process of film making. I got a couple of people tell me that this was not so much a documentary, but just someone out with a camera and filming what ever happened each day. Kind of boring and not like other documentaries. Then again, I had several people tell me that this was a great movie showing just how the process of making a film goes and how what you need in order to get the movie done. One person in particular told me that this inspired him so much, that he is now going to go ahead full speed with a movie that he has been wanting to make for a while.
Thats what I like to hear!
Of course there was the greatest zombie film of all time…. the first movie to show running zombies, talking zombies and zombies wanting brains and not just flesh…. Return of the Living Dead. To see that on the big screen was a great thrill to me personally and I hope it was the same for everyone else in the theater.
Like I said before, we do this for the fans of indie horror! We don’t really make any money out of it, don’t want to make this our living, nor do we want to show movies just for the sake of the movie itself. We are out to show you films you might not have seen or heard of. With of course a classic film that fits the theme thrown in there for the feature. Most of those features are films that may have inspired the other filmmakers at one point in time or another. That is our goal… to get these movies out to the public, get some stimulating discussion going about them, and to have a horror party every few months.
Thanks again to all the vendors that came out to the festival as well. I hope you all had a good time, made some money, and networked with the audience as well. I do hope that you all could come back in the future.
Once more, if you the audience has any sort of comments, suggestions, hate mail, love poems, or anything you want to tell me, please do. Any and all comments are very welcomed.
With all of that said…. we are doing it again! December 12th we are giving you the fans a special Christmas Present. We will be showing one of the best Christmas horror films: Christmas Evil… along with the UNCUT 35mm print, the director of the film LEWIS JACKSON will be in person to talk to the fans, sign anything you have, sell any he has, and he will be screening some rare outtakes from the movie as well. This along with a couple of other Christmas Horror movies (final lineup will be soon) will be at the same theater, 7pm start time, and once again, only $12 at the door!!
I hope to make your Christmas Nightmares come true!
Mitch
