Twiztid, Vampires, and Santa Slashers! [Giallo Julian’s Indie Spotlight: 04/01/2022]
Welcome back, Gorehounds and Blood Babes! Before we get to the indie spotlights, there’s something I want to address first. Sharron Jones reached out to me about the health of her husband, indie-horror director Andrew Jones (Robert, The Legend of Halloween Jack).
Jones suffers from a rare, life-threatening adrenal condition known as Cushing’s Syndrome. Left bedridden due to his illness, the couple has lost their main source of income and are now facing eviction from their home. Because of this, they’ve made a FundRazr to help cover expenses for his medical treatment. They could use all the help they can get. Below is a video about their crowdfunding campaign, which you can visit right here. Please check it out if you have a moment and share around if you can. Thank you!
Fright Fiends, I’m happy to say that I have quite a bit to share with y’all in this edition of Giallo Julian’s Indie Spotlight! From films to music to comic books, I feel there’s a little something for everyone out there. With that said, let’s tear back the curtain and see what creative ventures the indie-horror scene has for us today!
SPOTLIGHTS:
1. The Who Incident (Feature Film)
First up, we have an upcoming found footage flick from Ron Chevarie titled The Who Incident. And what better way to start than with an exclusive premiere of the film’s newest trailer!
Chevarie describes the film as such: “When a loving couple record the days leading up to a 20th-anniversary celebration, fear combines with a primitive fight for survival, as their wedding vows rise to a deadly new level. Who… will survive?”
The film’s crew spans from coast to coast, with a VFX duo working from the eastern side (Dan Turner, Natalie Garceau-Turner) and producers from the western/central side (Mickey Syn, Ashleen Robinson). Editing will be handled by Vaughn Keith, with numerous duties (including directing, writing, acting, and executive producing) being performed by Chevarie and his wife, Jan Chevarie.
Personally, I’m looking forward to giving this one a watch, even if I’m not completely sure what it’s all about! One of those cases where you don’t entirely know what you’re getting into, but the team behind it is so passionate, you can just feel it’s going to be dripping with red, hot, sticky blood… I mean, love. Some of the crew are even working pro bono to ensure this flick gets off the ground, which is a kind of support I always highly commend. Their faith gives me faith, and I’m stoked to see what they have in store for us!
Chevarie has set a loose release date for January 2023, with plans to sell physical/digital copies through their website (under development). The team is also making arrangements with some streaming platforms as well. On top of this, they started an Indiegogo, the money garnered being used solely to cover the cost of VFX (which includes CGI, practical FX, AND stop-motion!) and crowdfunding perks.
Check out their Indiegogo here, and please consider supporting it if you’re able to!
2. Twiztid Haunted High Ons: The Darkness Rises (Comic Book Series)
If the name Dirk Manning sounds familiar to you, it might be because I covered his incredibly fun web-comic-turned-graphic-novel series Nightmare World in the first article I ever posted on Dread Central. Now he’s conjured up something else for us, a specter called Twiztid Haunted High Ons: The Darkness Rises! The Darkness Rises is the first volume of a comic book series Manning created in cooperation with talented artists Marianna Pescosta and Alessandro De Fornasari, and, of course, Twiztid. Who would have thought Twiztid Haunted High Ons would have something to do with Twiztid, right?
Manning says:
“In Twiztid Haunted High Ons, Jamie “Madrox” Spaniolo and Paul “Monoxide” Methric (aka the hip-hop/rock crossover band Twiztid) have a side business as a pair of fake ghost hunters, only to take a job that leads them to realize that not only are ghosts real… but so are supernatural forces more dangerous than that! After joining forces with the recently-deceased Felicia, the trio finds themselves the focus of attention of the mysterious Dr. Fallenlegna, a man who has answers about ‘The Darkness’ that threatens all mankind.”
Initially a five-issue mini-series, Haunted High Ons went on to not only get a second volume (which just released its last issue) but also be nominated for several Ringo Awards in 2020, including “Best Humor Comic”, “Best Illustrator”, and “Best Colorist”.
As someone who’s read the first volume, I can assure you that it’s a hell of a time! Ghosts, monsters, banter between hip-hop rockers dressed as clowns, all that, and more! To be completely transparent, though, I’ve never listened to any of Twiztid’s discography. I’m sure their fans will really appreciate seeing the duo take on all manners of evil!
You can pick up the first volume right here, and volume two’s issues here!
3. Christmas Slasher (Feature Film)
Destiny Soria is making her feature film directorial debut with Christmas Slasher!
Of the film, Soria says:
“When a group of college kids decides to go on a hunting trip for their Christmas break, they get more than they bargained for when their past comes back to haunt them. An undead reindeer has set Mr. and Mrs. Claus on a murderous rampage of revenge, with the entire group as the target. As the group struggles to stay alive and figure out what put them on Santa’s murder list, feelings run high and love triangles are revealed. However, it will take more than love and Christmas cheer to stop the killing.”
Soria also stars in the flick, along with Nicholas Brendon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Coherence) and Ryan McGivern (Vigor, Sasquatch 1: It Begins; the Curse of the Were-squatch), with appearances by Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp, Return to Sleepaway Camp) and Lloyd Kaufman (Troma Entertainment) … huh, didn’t expect Kaufman to show back up so soon. That’s on me, though. He’s a pioneer of indie cinema, so I should honestly expect to see his name more often.
We can never have enough holiday slasher flicks! They’re always a fun time, bringing a bit of that good old “Yuletide cheer” to compliment the murderous mayhem. With undead reindeer and killer Clauses, this one is looking to be a festive addition to future Christmas movie marathons, right alongside It’s A Wonderful Life and Santa’s Slay.
It has a tentative release date for some time in 2023, so once I hear more on it, you’ll hear more! Also, be on the lookout for another flick Soria wrote/directed/starred in called Hallowflix and Kill. It’s a short film currently cruising the festival circuit and will be part of the horror anthology The United States of Horror: Chapter 3. I’ll do my best to keep you updated on this one as well!
4. Castlevania: The Eternal Legacy (Music)
Joshua Pfeiffer is back with more sinister tunes for the dark cinematic dancefloor! If you recall, I did a spotlight last year on the album Exoterica, performed by his band Profondo Delle Tenebre. This time’s different, though, because now we’re talking about his other band, Vernian Process, and their album based on a long-running vampire killer series. You know the one… no, not that one… not that one, either… yes, that one! Castlevania: The Eternal Legacy pays tribute to this beloved video game franchise.
Pfeiffer describes the album as such:
“Castlevania: The Eternal Legacy is a project that was 5 years in the making. The idea was to take the short, addicting original soundtracks for the first 20-25 years of Castlevania’s scores, but translate them into a more modernized dance floor friendly inspired sound. Creating a unique fusion of Chiptune, Darkwave, Neo-Classical, and Goth-Rock, with traces of a dozen other genres from song to song.”
Listen, I may not have played a single Castlevania game in my life (I’ll take my penance for that later), but if there are two things I know about the franchise… it’s that the show is rad as fuck and the soundtracks slap. Making the music dance-applicable just means that I can groove to it that much more, so I’m all for it!
For the project, Vernian Process’s guitarist, Martin Irigoyen, re-recorded all the guitar sections rather than remixing what was already there. Some of the riffs are his, made up completely on the fly. To say that they sound absolutely killer would be an understatement!
Check out Castlevania: The Eternal Legacy here to see what I’m talking about!
Pfieffer is hard at work doing Vernian Process’s sophomore LP, as well as his own original solo material under his Barbary Ghost project. Also, for those in the Bay area, Pfieffer does a lot of DJ gigs. Keep up to date on those by checking out his Facebook page!
5. Meat (Feature Film)
Last on the list is Meat, a film by Roger Conners that plans to add some queer representation to the horror space, which is a sentiment I’ll always support!
Conners says of the film:
“A wild night of drugs and debauchery results in the fatal overdose of an underage gay man, an innocent bystander is left to take the blame. Upon his release from prison five years later, a group of queer individuals associated with the death become the targets of an eccentric killer’s revenge.”
Always a pleasure to welcome another slasher to the list, especially one that’s putting a unique spin on the sub-genre.
“Our goal with Meat,” Conners says, “is to create a piece of mainstream horror cinema that revolves around a cast of queer characters, yet still feel accessible and relatable to all horror lovers regardless of who they are and how they identify. This will absolutely be a piece of LGBTQ+ themed cinema, but above all this is a horror movie and it’s being treated as such.”
The film is still pretty early into production, so there isn’t a trailer or release date yet, but the plan is for it to hit the festival scene come 2023. Whatever the case may be, you can bet I’ll be here to keep you updated as it all develops!
In the meantime, check out Conners’s directorial debut, Rebirth, which is available to watch on Amazon Prime, Tubi, and several other streaming services. I’m told it’ll appeal specifically to fans of George A. Romero’s earlier work, which I am, so I’ll be giving it a watch soon!
Before we bring this Indie Spotlight to a close, I’d like to give a few shoutouts to some projects I didn’t have the chance to go in-depth about, but still think are worth a look!
SHOUTOUTS:
– Little Sparks Films (Website): A film production company based in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas and run by Catalina Querida (ah, another Texan creator!). Their work includes the short film The Torturer (currently making the rounds on the festival circuit), a Hellraiser fan series, and several other flicks being distributed by Troma Entertainment. Check out their website here to keep up with any productions they have going on!
– Underworld Subroxxa (Website): “Delivering Nightmares & Gore to Your Door!” For those of you that are into the more extreme side of horror, this website has you covered! Made to help support indie creators that “lurk through the murky world of horror”, this site has everything from collectibles to clothes to cult/gore films. I meant what I said before, though: some of the content isn’t for the squeamish. Check it out here!
– Hellvira’s Haunted Asylum of Horror (Feature Film): Morgan Welborn has an Indiegogo up for a film about a succubus using an abandoned asylum as a studio set to live out her dreams of being a horror hostess, along with a whole crew of other ghoulish characters to help her out! Check out the Indiegogo right here!
– Found Footage Dracula (Short Film): That title says it all! It’s the story of Dracula told from a found footage perspective, courtesy of director Hunter “Bueller” Farris! Using a variety of digital formats, Bueller hopes to create a similar experience to reading the original novel. You can check it out right here!
As always, a huge thank you to all the creators who shared their endeavors with me! Stay tuned for more spotlights coming your way and be sure to keep this Gorehound updated on any fresh blood floating in the indie-horror waters.
Until next time…
Ciao, friends!
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