Your Top 3 Horror Films of All Time?

I don’t know what your picks are – but you do. Send them in to Indie Film Chat – and you could win a prize too.

A Couple of Top Ten Lists for your amusement

Over at Row Three they have each announced their Top Ten movies for 2007:

Kurt:
10) Gone Baby Gone
9) The Darjeeling Limited
8 ) My Winnipeg
7) M
6) No Country for Old Men
5) Death Proof (Grindhouse)
4) There Will Be Blood
3) Paprika
2) Zodiac
1) Inland Empire

Andrew:
10) Zodiac
9) I’m Not There
8 ) The Man from Earth
7) Paris Je’Taime
6) No Country for Old Men
5) Rescue Dawn
4) Atonement
3) Once
2) Grindhouse
1) The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Looks to me like they each lean heavily towards movies with lots of shooting and/or talking…

” The Manson Movie” Preview, Sept 28 in L.A.

Hot off the press!

The Manson Movie: Directed by Robert Hendrickson, Feature Film, 85min.
Tobann International Pictures presents “The Manson Movie.” Walk with Robert Hendrickson through the “Gates of Hell” into a world you never knew existed, as he films the actual Charles Manson Family in the late 60′s and early 70′s. You will live at the Spahn Movie Ranch, visit the secret Devil’s Canyon, and the gang’s Death Valley hide-out. Then go behind the scenes of the Trial of the Century, and to Vietnam anti-war demonstrations and even witness the tragic Eastside LA riot where Rubin Salazar was killed. A small portion of the film, taken back then, was used to create the original Academy award-nominated 1973 “Manson” documentary, but now, an entirely new motion picture “The Manson Movie” has just been completed, and will be seen for the first time at the NYIIFVF. Relevant to today’s headlines, this time, you will be an actual witness to the Vietnam War and its most bizarre by-product, the Charles Manson Family. No actors, no recreations, just you and your guide Robert Hendrickson, and the Manson Family.

A very modern horror film: “Right at Your Door”

Director Chris Gorak‘s thriller “Right at Your Door” takes place after multiple dirty bombs are detonated, spreading deadly toxic ash across Los Angeles. Brad [Rory Cochrane] inadvertently quarantines his wife, Lexi [Mary McCormack] outside their new home by safely sealing himself inside. With the city under siege and martial law in affect, Brad and Lexi struggle to survive with little supply, limited time and no information–all the while separated by thin doors and thinner sheets of plastic. “Right at Your Door” screened in competition at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.  The film opened on Friday, August 24 in limited release.

PopMatters gave it 6/10, as did the many folk at IMDB. It might be an average movie, but it’s a great example of how an independent production can use a topic that Hollywood would be too scared to touch. Well, if it really did happen, they’d wait 3 years and then make many films about it… Without seeing it I would guess that McCormack has been miscast. If I’m wrong she might be up for an Oscar.

Michael Berryman joins Eerie Horror Fest.

The Eerie Horror Film Festival has announced that famous horror Michael Berryman will be a special guest at their event this October.Berryman suffers from a rare disorder known as hydrochotic-extodermaldysplasia, so he has mostly portrayed mutants, madmen and murderers, (yet has also appeared in comedies, dramas and action flicks).

In 1975 he appeared in the Academy Award winning film “One Flew Over The Cukoo’s Nest” with Jack Nicholson, but it was his role as the cannibal Pluto in the original “The Hills Have Eyes” that most people associate him with.

Berryman has also appeared in “Weird Science”, “Star Trek IV”, and “My Science Project”, “The X-Files”, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and “Tales from the Crypt”.

He continues to act and has several film projects on the horizon.

AFI’s 100 Movies – Bloggers Comment

The American Film Institute came up with the Top 100 Movies from the last 100 Years. They nicely invited visitors to their blog (certainly all movie buffs) to comment on the list. Regardless of whether they were blogging to say they agreed or disagreed, the movies that received the most comments are:

1. Brokeback Mountain – 124
2. The Godfather – 79
3. Gone with the Wind – 44
4. Star Wars – 43
5. Casablanca – 42
6. The Shawshank Redemption – 42
7. Lord of the Rings Trilogy – 34 [note: Return of the King - 11]
8. Titanic – 34
9. To Kill a Mockingbird – 21
10. Citizen Kane – 20

The rest of the list is here

NYIIFVF July 19-26 – Interview with Briege McGarrity

MovieGoat recently had a chance to ask Briege McGarrity of the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival a few questions:

How long has the festival been around?

The festival is now in its fourteenth year

What was your first year like in comparison to the current festival experience?

The original mission of Mr. Stuart Alson’s festival has never changed. NYIIFVF is designed as a platform to showcase a diverse range of independent films and eschews common festival protocol of showing mostly celebrity-driven or big-studio films.
Audiences experience a wide array of films made by passionate and talented filmmakers. That said, the festival has grown tremendously throughout its 14 years. In the 90’s it was much smaller and less diverse in terms of applicants and films and was only staged in New York City. In the early days, audience attendance was also fairly small. Nowadays we can screen 300-400 features shorts, docs and animations. Entire screenings sell out a month in advance and in the upcoming July festival, over 40 countries are represented, including, The Philippines, Indonesia, Argentina, Ukraine, the U.K, Scotland, China, Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Canada, Sweden, South Africa, Israel, India, Romania, Malta, Tunisia, Taiwan, France, Portugal, Brazil, Luxembourg, Mexico and all over the U.S. We have an extensive number of high quality documentaries narrated by A-listers such as Meryl Streep and Patrick Demspey, a trend since a Variety article on the NYIIFVF that was published in 2002.

We have also conducted an NYIIFVF festival tour and have exhibited a selection of our films in Brazil, and staged satellite film festivals in Miami, Las Vegas and in Los Angeles. We became a bi-coastal event in 2000, we screen festivals twice a year at the Sunset Laemmle 5 and the

Already a bi-coastal event showcasing international works, do you plan on growing any more in the future? If so, how?

We are in talks to do an independent showcase in London as we have a great many stellar films from the U.K and Ireland. We are now concentrating on producing quality events in New York and LA that are valuable to the filmmaker and compelling for audiences. For example our panel series. We have had speakers from Greenstreet film, Focus Features and Palm pictures so that our filmmakers can get much-needed insights into the film financing, producing and especially the complex and thorny world of distribution.

We represent a new wave film filmmakers who want to show their work. We are also working hard on our distribution wing, ITN Distribution Inc. which has grown tremendously since its inception in 2002. ITN attends all the major markets such as Cannes, AFM and NATPE and is inking deals with buyers worldwide.
We recently learned that NYIIFVF is one of the largest film festivals in the world. What is the most effective way you get the word out there? Where do you advertise? How do you sell tickets so easily for films people have never heard of? What’s your secret?

We have a very good online traffic, over 30,000 hits per week so that is our main advertising medium. We have also advertised in various publications in New York and LA and have purchased Google ad word campaigns that are very effective. When you type in independent film festivals we are ranked third, which is tremendously effective. When filmmakers get accepted the sales and advertising staffers strongly encourage filmmakers to promote their own films. For example, they are taught how to design an appealing invite with all the pertinent info and then blast it out to all their contacts as well as word of mouth. We also pair out of country/towners film entries with local so that audiences are good. Like every festival, audiences can be slow at times especially during the day. On a more practical level, ticket prices are affordable at $12 and you can get into the sponsored afterparties held in upscale locations, which definitely gets audiences excited! As our ethos is to be more inclusive rather than exclusive, we don’t’ do the velvet rope mafia or clipboard wielding publicist thing common at other festival parties. We like to have full control of the door! We also have a great communications partner, Independent Film Group. The PR team target all the media outlets and utilize PR Newswire services to get the world out.

What do we have to look forward to in this summer’s New York event?

One of the most unique aspects of the festival is the diverse range of talent and film that we promote. Our film line-up is a mix of novice filmmakers, student filmmakers, professional filmmakers, documentarians, and animators who are very familiar with the festival circuit. We also attract Indie film gurus such as Abel Ferrara (King of New York, Bad Lieutenant). We are delighted to be showing Abel’s latest film Go Go Tales in our July line-up; he always likes to premiere his work in conjunction with the NYIIFVF. Go Go Tales is down and dirty story about a nightclub owner and the beauties and beasts who work for him and stars Willem Dafoe and Sylvia Miles.

This summer we will be exhibiting 250 films on every topic imaginable, experimental, world cinema, documentaries, edgy shorts, impossible love stories. Features include Last of the Romantics, a dramedy set in a funeral home called staring Brittany Daniel (White Chicks) and Ted Lange (Love Boat) and a suspenseful Mob film called Little Bruno starring Ryan Burgess and Larry Laverty.
In our high-profile doc category, we will be showing a stellar hurricane Katrina doc featuring famous New Orleans musicians such as Allen Toussaint and narrated by Meryl Streep, a doc about the history of heavy metal, Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal, featuring bands such as Metalica and Anthrax, a progressive soccer documentary called Street Sessions 2006 and a Human Rights documentary, Return to Chernobyl from Ireland.

Edgier fare includes a fascinating doc, Triple XXX Marriage about a married couple who are both veteran actors in the adult film entertainment and Pop Whore, A New American Dream about a young wife and mother with no money who starts a porn website starring herself!

Short film titles include a love story called La Vida Blanca, starring the former Miss Mexico, Blanca Soto.

Summer Shorts Online 2007

Lots of excellent short films currently available to view for free online at:

http://www.ifc.com/films?aId=20130

This is made possible through a partnership between Rooftop Films and IFC.com.

They represent a very good selection of a variety of shorts. There is comedy, drama, animation, documentary,  experimental: pretty much a taste of everything.

A new film is being added every day until the end of August.

(Give the June 1st film a go – Daylight Hole, a lovely horror premise)

More on Eerie Horror Film Fest

Special guests for the 2007 Eerie Horror Film Festival include actress Adrienne Barbeau (“The Fog”), Dee Wallace Stone (“E.T.”), Tom Savini (“Grindhouse”), James Duval (“Donnie Darko”), Michael Berryman (“The Hills Have Eyes”) and Ken Foree (“Dawn of the Dead”), with many more to be announced in the near future.

Of special interest to horror fans – buy horror related merchandise and converse with film company representatives at the Carnival of Carnage Expo across the road.

The 2007 Eerie Horror Film Festival & Expo takes place October 10 – 14 at the Erie Playhouse and Avalon Hotel in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Listed as one of the “Best Genre Events in North America”
- January 2006 & 2007 issue of Rue Morgue Magazine.

Review: FilmSpecific.com

It’s easy to get lost in the endless vortex of networking known as MySpace. The independent film world is most certainly ready for an alternative web marketing experience. FilmSpecific.com could be that alternative. It’s hard to say at this point, since it’s brand new, but it has great potential. Great, clean, professional site layout (unlike MySpace) offering a perfect forum for budding filmmakers to promote their current and upcoming projects to distributors all over the world. The distribution model for films changes so frequently and FS aims to help keep its users keep with the times and stay abreast to the current trends and such. It’ll cost you at least $9.99 a month to gain access to this web service but the doors it could potentially open are priceless, especially if this site gains a reputation. Besides, if your plan was to get a distribution deal without spending a dime, best of luck to you my friend. Anyways, FS has an endless number of resources for filmmakers looking for distribution including direct contact with distro’s, monthly seminars, comprehensive articles, messageboards, mailing lists and more.
FilmSpecific.com

4/5 Hooves