Shriekfest

Starring Mike Bradecich, John LaFlamboy, Robert Englund, Justin DiGiacomo, Mary Seibel, T.J.

For most people Christmas is their favorite time of the year, but for the horror crowd it's definitely Halloween as that's when we're inundated with all manner of goodies and treats geared specifically toward us. And, best of all, we get to share them with our readers! Case in point: today's debut of Karl Holt's Negative Image, winner of Best Short Film at the 2011 Shriekfest film festival.

And the praise continues to come in for director Mike Flanagan's stunning atmospheric thriller Absentia as the film nabbed the Grand Jury prize during the 2011 Shriekfest Film Festival awards ceremony last night, closing out the Shriekfest's four-day celebration of the world of independent horror.

In the horror musical The Dead Inside, we meet tortured young lovers Wes and Fi, and while their love for each other burns strong, artistically their hearts have been locked in a box for years. Wes is a burned out photographer paying the bills by shooting weddings, and Fi is the writer's blocked author of a series of zombie novellas called "The Dead Survive."

Y2K hysteria and vicious hillbillies. They go together almost as well as peanut butter and jelly, right? At least that's what director Kenneth Cran is hoping with his latest flick, The Millennium Bug, slated to screen during the 2011 Shriekfest Film Festival in Los Angeles on Friday, September 30th at 10:15 pm at Raleigh Studios (5300 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood).

In writer/director Micah Levin's indie thriller Opus, seven strangers show up at an empty house to star in an independent horror film, none the wiser of the misdeeds to follow. Each of the seven cast members are hand-picked from online submission videos by a mysterious director to be part of an unscripted horror film.

In The Mole Man of Belmont Avenue (which has to be one of the catchier names on the indie horror scene these days), we meet down on their luck brothers Jarman (LaFlamboy) and Marion (Bradecich). Following a failed stint raising llamas, Jarman has just returned to the rapidly depopulating Chicago building managed by his deadpan brother, Marion, who's got his own struggles to contend with.

In co-writer/director Steve Gibson's cinéma vérité-style indie horror flick The Feed, we follow a wildly popular TV reality series called "Ghost Chasers" as it is celebrating its fourth year on the air. To commemorate the milestone, the members of the "Ghost Chasers" team have decided to broadcast their anniversary show out to the world live from the (fictional) historic and haunted Brenway Theatre in Pennsylvania.

Next up in Dread Central's Q&A interview series featuring several of the filmmakers whose work was selected as an official selection of the 2011 Shriekfest Film Festival in Los Angeles, California, is indie horror multi-hyphenate Dave Reda.

On Thursday, September 29th, the 2011 Shriekfest Film Festival kicks off in Los Angeles. The festival annually celebrates the best filmmakers working on the independent horror scene, and to get you indie horror-loving fans out there ready for this year's films, Dread Central will be bringing you a series of exclusive Q&A interviews with many of Shriekfest's featured filmmakers over the next week or so.

Can you smell it, kids? It's the faint aroma of fall all around us; the kids are back to school, the days are shorter and the nights are longer which all indicate one thing- Halloween, our favorite time of the year, is fast approaching! Rejoice, fiends!

One of the film festivals I became immediately impressed with when I moved to Los Angeles was the Shriekfest Film Festival. Being unfamiliar with a lot of the more genre-focused festivals, I found Shriekfest and festival founder Denise Gossett’s passion for supporting independent filmmaking refreshing amidst a city filled with people who generally are motivated by their own selfishness.

Now in its 10th year, the Shriekfest International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival took place this past weekend at Raleigh Studios in Hollywood. Celebrating the independent spirit of filmmaking, the festival screened 36 films and had 32 screenplay finalists and 12 original song finalists.

It's that time once again! Another one of our favorite film festivals, Shriekfest 2010, has unveiled its first round of films for you lovers of indie terror out there, and we got the scoop on what to expect!

Tired of sitting back and watching everyone around you doing all of the heavy lifting in the film industry? Have a gazillion and one ideas for a movie but just can't catch a break? Thanks to a new short film competition put together by our very own Heather Wixson, that break could be a lot closer than you think!