Backwoods Horror

Hallows Eve: Slaughter On Second Street

DIRECTOR: PJ STARKS
PRODUCER: RODNEY NEWTON
(These Guys Also Take Credit For Writers/Creative Team/Etc.)

Here’s a synopsis from the Official Website:

Days before the annual opening of Slaughter on Second Street, Owensboro’s premiere haunted attraction, a tragedy befalls one of their own. Despite pleas from the manager, Buck Masters, the attraction is shut down until the mystery is solved. In his frustration, Buck devises a plan to get the haunt back on its feet and make some extra money while he’s at it. Playing on the rumors that the attraction may in fact be haunted, Buck brings in a rag-tag group of paranormal investigators to prove the rumors true. The investigator’s arrival is met with the feeling that something isn’t right, but it’s just another job…Or so they think! An unfriendly encounter with the building’s maintenance man, Mr. Jenkins, makes the team realize that the history of the building is far darker than they could have ever imagined and they may actually be visiting one of Owensboro’s most haunted sites. Locked in overnight, along with Buck, they begin their investigation which becomes interrupted when three volunteers appear from the dressing room amidst their goodbyes for the season they had worked so hard on. As the night goes on, the volunteers begin falling victim to fatal accidents that may or may not be supernatural. It is then that the investigators must solve the mystery of Slaughter on Second Street. One by one, the ghost hunters are preyed upon by malicious forces and must rely on each other if they are to survive the night. Who will live to see morning and who will perish before the true secrets of Slaughter on Second Street are uncovered?

Alrighty, so, what did I think?  Well, first of all, it’s much MUCH better than that shitfest Stockholm Syndrome, but that doesn’t really do it justice (because I could take a shit, film it, and put it out on DVD and that’d be a better film).  The reason I bothered to put the two in the same sentence is that they’re both examples of independent horror filmmaking.  Unlike ‘SS’, however, I really liked Hallows Eve.

First with the bad:  Of course, given the “out of pocket” financing, there are going to be particular technical problems, sound, lighting, stage actors, etc.  But hell, I mean, the actors were working for free from what I understand, and given that, they didn’t do that bad of a job.  There were particular moments that actually stood out as far as acting talent goes.  I loved hearing the southern inflection from time to time (as I’m a southerner myself, and all these actors today just try to cover it up.  FLY THAT SOUTHERN FLAG, ASSHOLES.  Wait…that might come off as racist.  Meh, fuck it.).  If you can get past some of the Technical flaws, however, and sit back, pop some popcorn, drink a guiness, and relax, you’ll experience what I experienced.

HERE’S A BIT OF INFORMATION FROM PJ STARKS ABOUT THE MAKING OF THE FILM:

In Aug of 2007 we went to a film fest and watched a low budget film that we were less than satisfied with, but ultimately the film had garnered some amount of success & accolades from hitting up other festivals.  Rodney Newton (Producer) & I work at a non-profit tv station here in Owensboro KY & had been wanting to do a film together for a long while and decided it was time to put our head together and create a project that would eventually become Hallows Eve.  Our motivation was simple, we believe that we have an amazig talent pool in our community and using all local resources we wanted to bring artists together from all walks of lifes an backgrounds to be apart of something unique.  Johnny Depp is not the only real actor that was born here and we felt it was time they got their chance to prove it.  So with that in mind we began to process of recruiting individuals from around our area to help out in our endeavor.  The budget for the film came directly out of mine & Rodney’s pocket; all cast and crew were volunteering their time and efforts to help bring the project to fruition.  We had someone compose an original score as well as had 8 original songs created by 8 local bands in the area, all donated to project.  We had an 8 month pre-production process, shot the film over 2 months and then spent the next 2 editing the film.  We premiered Hallows Eve on October 31st 2008 to a full house that was also a benefit where all proceeds were donated to a non-profit organization.  Essentially our goal was to amass an army of likeminded individuals from FX to costuming to sound and so forth to help bring our vision to life.  The project may have started with us but it ended with a lot of dedicated and passionate souls who without their help this could not have been possible.

THE GOOD!
This movie was just a fun little horror/mystery romp.  If you don’t notice right away, I’m going to give away the obvious connections to Scooby Doo.  All the characters are there (Scooby was a black guy named Doobie), and “Scooby and Shaggy” are smokin’ weed all the time (as we ALL know they did in the cartoon, baking out the Mystery Machine).  Fred, Velma, and, uh…the Hot one.  They were all there.  But imagine if Scooby Doo was on ACID!  This film delivered on the gore, let me tell you.  A chick’s nose gets ripped off, guts hangin’ out, hatchet to the crotch, WHAMMY! HA! just to name a few.  And the story was a pretty damn decent little mystery (even though I called it), however it’s left sort of open ended where you could draw your own conclusions towards the end.  There was even a “And I would’ve Gotten Away With It Too” speech.  I got Owen from THE BACKWOODS HORRORSHOW to watch it with me and he also said it was a pretty decent little film.  I’m not sure about when or where you’ll be able to buy this flick, but I’d suggest you SUPPORT INDEPENDENT HORROR and check this one out.  KEEP AMERICA STRONG, WATCH (INDEPENDENT) HORROR MOVIES!!

I’d like to see what these guys could do in the future with a higher budget.  There’s definitely a spark of talent there I’d like to see become a flame of independent horror greatness.

Hallows Eve Full Trailer

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

Ok, well, apparently the folks over at 4th Floor Pictures weren’t too terribly excited about the review I gave for their film STOCKHOLM SYNDROME (synonymous with everything else Brain Damage excreets).  Thus, I had an email sitting in my inbox this morning:

Its funny you guys call yourself Backwoods Horror because you dont’ know anything about horror films or at least independent films.  This was an independent film made a few thousand dollars.  Its not Hollywood – its low budget film making.  Thanks for trashing it…

Ryan
4th Floor Pictures

Interesting to say the least.  I love the part where he attacks the site, stating with full intellegence how a horror site that talks MOSTLY about independent cinema (though, mostly GOOD independent cinema…some bad).  I often rail heavily against the shit coming out of Hollywood these days.  I report on it, yeah, but I also usually give a little tidbit of how shitty I believe it’ll be.  Stockholm Syndrome CAN be compared to a “Hollywood” horror film, if not by budget, than in one way…they blow chunks together.  Difference being, Hollywood blows millions to suck out loud, 4th Floor blows thousands.  Regardless, here’s my response email:

That’s great.
Listen, because you’re young and impetuous, I’ll understand this launch against me, about my not understanding about film, something I’ve devoted my life to and have worked in the industry for about a decade.  No biggie.  I understand what it is to work on independent, WAY independent budgets and I gave you credit for it.  It’s hard, I realize that.  I’m just curious as to what you expected when you finished with the film?  When you sat back and realized what you had made, did you truly think it belonged amongst the pinnacles of exploitation/independent cinema?  I’m happy for you that you’re making films, I really am.  It’s an amazing dream not everyone gets to follow and you’re doing it in spades.
Given my respect for that, there’s no way around the review I gave.  The film is just terrible.  I’m sorry, but you’re going to hear things like that when you make a terrible film.  Like I said in the review, I’d be happy to look at your other work.  I’d be interested in seeing what your films are generally like.  You know, get an overall view of the writer/director Ryan Cavalline’s repertoire.  I can’t judge you as a filmmaker on one picture alone, and I never set out to judge you personally.  I set out to review the film itself.  And the fact of the matter is that the film is just….bad.  Poor writing and poor acting was the overall MAIN problem with the film.  The sound issues could be worked with in post, not an issue, and the directing wasn’t always that bad.  There were real flashes of talent here and there.  A fantastic example of what someone can do on a low budget would have to be George Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead.  The guy had virtually no money.
The problem is, if you have such a limited budget, you need to get more creative with the story in a way to work around budgetary restraints.  Trust me man, I believe you can do it.  But if you continue to spew out flicks Brain Damage picks up for distribution, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.  Perhaps you can get some money behind you from the Brain Damage deal, however, and move on to make a better, more polished project.
I wish you all the best in future endeavors, Ryan, and look forward to seeing your future work.

Best Regards,
Aaron J. Howell

And that’s that.  Jesus man…some people.  Just chill the fuck out guys and make a better movie.

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

STOCKHOLM SYNDROME
Produced/Directed by Ryan Cavalline
Story by Ryan Cavalline and Jason Senior

Well…let’s begin with a summary of this flick from what will probably be the back of the DVD (coming from Brain Damage Films on 05/05/2009):

“Somewhere, in a sleepy rural area, an underground organization is operating.  People are being kidnapped, beaten, and tortured beyond comprehension.  They are then reprogrammed to succumb to the will of their vile captors for their sick games and sold for the highest price.  Along with his accomplice, a member of this evil group is having second thoughts about his role in this field and will do whatever it takes to leave the horror behind.  Meanwhile, a young man and his pregnant wife take shelter in a run-down motel while on a road trip, unaware of the sheer terror that will soon befall them.  All three will soon come to realize that in this kind of business….NO ONE ESCAPES”

Colorful, I’m aware.  That is the kind of writing that your Joe Blow movie guy would read on the back of a dvd in your local movie-rental-plex…well, those that actually take the time to read the back of a Brain Damage “film”.

Let me talk about Ryan Cavalline.  I have to give him…what do the kids say these days?…Mad…Props? Yeah, that’s it, I have to give him Mad F-Ing Props for forming his own production team at the ripe old age of eight-freakin’-teen and proceeded to push ahead, churning out movies like a b-flick factory.  That’s tough work, and I respect that.

However…

Stockholm Syndrome is a mess.  A bloody, afterbirth of a mess.  Terrible is too haughty a word for the thing.  I have to be honest, I just couldn’t make it through the entirety of the movie; 3/4 is about as far as it went.  Normally, I never do this, but I just could NOT, BY ANY MEANS GO ON.  There was nothing even remotely redeeming about this one.  I’ve read some good reviews of the flick, and I’m happy that there’s a market out there for STOCKHOLM SYNDROME, but we (by that, I mean ME) just don’t dig it at Backwoods Horror.

First of all, it’s not even remotely MY kind of horror flick.  In fact, it’s a matter of symantics as to whether or not the film could be categorized as horror at all.  More or less, what you have here is the dreaded “psychological thriller” with a shit ton of “torture porn” thrown in for good kicks.  If that were all the problems related to STOCKHOLM SYNDROME, I’d be willing to let it slide…but I digress.

The effects were terrible, beginning with the “preggers” chick at the beginning with a very obvious Basketball under her skirt.  Ok, if you listen carefully (I had to rewind to make sure what I was hearing was, indeed, what I was hearing) when the woman pats her “pregnant” belly, you can hear, quite audibly, that “thump” one gets when slapping or flicking a basketball.  That sort of hollowed out thump.  COME ON, SERIOUSLY?  Then there’s the makeup effects.  Not too terribly bad if made by retarded monkeys throwing blood spattered poo at people.  Unfortunately, however, this doesn’t seem the case…unless chimps are taking credit.  And what about that cabbage patch doll baby?  How over the top does it get?  Was this meant as a joke?  You couldn’t create a synthetic laytex or foam rubber baby mold so that it at least has that squishy element to it?  I mean…a plastic doll?  COME ON.  Then we have all other types of zaniness.  Fake puke that didn’t look like puke, a chick pissin’ herself that was a poorly done riff from Last House On The Left, the list goes on and on.

Then there’s the sound design.  The levels were OUT OF FUCKING CONTROL.  I’d have to turn my receiver up and then BAM, VOLUME’S BACK UP TO 11.  What the hell?  So the time I DID waste watching this film was spent mostly with the remote, vainly attempting to manually equalize the audio.

For the final nails in the coffin, let’s look at the “acting,” the “cinematography,” and the overall “direction.”  Let’s look at the acting first.  I couldn’t find any.  I found a bunch of people stumbling through their lines as if they were, in some way, constipated and just trying to make it through to the cut so they could eventually drop a giant load (an apt metaphor for this “film” I think).  It was atrocious.  I’ve seen bums on fire act more convincingly (of course…you know…when they’re on fire).  I didn’t give two shits about any of these characters.  Then there’s that horrific of cinematography…or lack thereof.  Ok, it was shot on tape, miniDV from the quality.  That’s ok.  28 Days later (though shot with some nice Cannon Pro-Sumers) was still just miniDV, proving in a way that miniDV has it’s time and place.  Not here.  It just accentuated the overall cheap-ass feeling of the film with more artifacting than an antique shop.  The film was dark (c-stands, clamps and lighting aren’t all that expensive, nor are filters and gels), so at times you couldn’t very well see what was going on.  And the feeling of “in your face reality captured by talented miniDV (or digital in general) users was less than applicable here and one finds oneself wondering why all of the terrible Raimi-wannabe camera angles and extreme, obscuringly so, unnecessary close ups.  This was due in no small part to the directorial mind behind it.

The…plot…was a veritable clusterfuck of cliches, bad dialogue (and bad carrythrough from the actors), and overall story.  Because I can only guess that much of the original story was thrown out, we have, for our viewing displeasure, a series of torture porn riffs that never live up to whomever they were trying to emulate.  Heaven forbid, I even saw a bit of Eli-fuckwad-Roth’s school of “COVER A SHITTY MOVIE UP WITH GORE GALORE and TITTIES AND YOU’LL BE FINE” school of chicanary.  Oh, this flick had gore…bad, atrocious, terrible gore.  A girl (after exposing us to some barely-theres) pisses herself and is made to lick it up.  And what about this mafioso boss that looks like Ron Jeremy?  …I can’t go on, I really can’t.

This flick made me, in all actuality…angry.  I became literally pissed off that I was wasting my time with STOCKHOLM SYNDROME (a word, by the way, not even used corretly within the context of the film, so, they have butchered an English word to boot.  I…

No…that’s it.  I can’t go on any longer.  To Mr. Cavalline, I’m sorry, but if I were you, I’d take whatever negative or final product you have (be it tape or whatever) and destroy it.  I know it won’t stop this film from being released onto an unexpected audiance but, for your own sake, DESTROY IT.  That said, I would be interested to see some of your other films just to see if STOCKHOLM SYNDROME was just some horrible drunken mistake you made this time.  Perhaps this was just the bad bunch in that slowly rotting basket of film apples.

So would I be willing to give Ryan Cavalline another shot to show me that he’s more than this sordid, horrible mixup of piss-poor storyline, poor lighting, editing camera and sound work.  Anyone with the brass balls enough to strike out and work towards doing what they love best I have all the respect in the world for.  I just cannont recommend STOCKHOLM SYNDROME to anyone unless they are into really bad torture porn, horrendous acting and writing, and less than par direction.

Terrible.  DO NOT WATCH THIS.

THIS FLICK IS D.O.A–Watch at one’s own risk.
Stockholm Syndrome teaser trailer

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

I first told you guys about the film THE WILD MAN OF THE NAVIDAD way back in June of last year.  Well, finally, the film will be available to be seen by (just about) everyone (by just about, I mean me, because I can’t gain access to IFC for some damn reason).  The film will be showcased on IFC tomorrow, FEB. 4th, so check your local listings.  In the meantime, check out some creamy video goodness…the trailer and a ‘behind the scenes.’  Man, this one looks to be a good one.  If you like THE TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE, LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK, NIGHT OF THE DEMON(1980), or CREATURE FROM BLACK LAKE, you’re just about damn primed to watch this one.  Check it out!

If you’re itchin’ for more from the dastardly duo of Duane Graves and Justin Meeks, search out an early directorial effort HeadCheese, shot on locations of the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  It’s a rather creepy flick.

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

So how did I miss this little nugget of horrorific goodness?  Ti West of ROOST fame and Larry Fessenden’s protege has gone about the task of working on (and just completing) HOUSE OF THE DEVIL and (still in production hell) CABIN FEVER 2.  While I’m not so excited by the prospect of another Cabin Fever, and though I was only partially impressed with THE ROOST, I’m happy to say that I am actually looking forward to his work on the upcoming HOUSE OF THE DEVIL.  Not much is out and about on the mighty internets about this flick just now, but from what I HAVE found, it has my interest piqued.

The synopsis is as follows:
In the 1980s, college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret they plan to use her in a satanic ritual.

Sweeeeeeeet.  It’s been a long time since we’ve had a movie that dealt with Satanism in a fantastically eploitative way, and I for one, think it’s long overdue.  Images are also scarce, though you can find a whole slew of them over at Bloody Disgusting, along with an interview with the man himself, Ti West.  Check it out!

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

Just read this juicy little bit on the upcomming horror flick THE HILLS RUN RED concerning the R-Rating the film just recently received from the (hated) MPAA.  From Shock Till You Drop:

Dave Parker is close to completing The Hills Run Red, a Dark Castle and Warner Premiere production that pulls him back into the cinematic horror fold. And although there’s no release date yet, the MPAA has weighed in on his cut. Surprise, surprise…it got an R for “strong bloody horror violence and torture, grisly images, sexual content, nudity, language and some drug use.”

Hills follows a film fanatic whose obsession with finding a complete print of an infamous slasher movie leads him and two friends into the backwoods where the film was shot. They realize too late that filming never ended—and now they must survive a nightmarish onslaught or become part of the movie forever.

This flick sounds wicked cool.  Strong bloody horror violence and torture, grisly images, sexual content, nudity, language, and some drug use…what more could you want?

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

Ok…”vampire coming of age” kind of flick.  I’ve read review upon review on this flick, and heard nothing but good things, so I felt, good readers, that the article to kickstart my being back on board the Backwoods Horror boat, should be a review of this flick everyone’s been praising.

Well…call me a wuss, but I liked it.  I could probably watch this flick without the vampire element to it (I’m a sucker for movies with a protagonist who’s a little kid who gets bullied and eventually comes back to kick their ass, the underdog kind of flick).  I don’t know if I could say I “loved” it, but I definitely liked it.

Anyone who likes this site will like this movie, I almost guarantee it (almost because there’s always that one percenter out there who HAS to hate it).  So, what’s the movie about?  Ok, there’s this outcast kid who gets bullied.  A vampire that’s always gonna be 12 moves in (oh yeah, and the flick is set in, Sweden, it’s a Swedish flick) next door.  She (Eli) finds the boy (Oskar) outside stabbing a tree one night, wishing for revenge on his tormentors.  They, slowly, form a bond from friendship to love.  Also, there’s a lot of vampire bloody goodness.

This movie did what a lot of vampire flicks do and had us accept the vampire as a sympathetic character, which is blah, but at the same time, it showed the overall monstrousness of the vampire.  I was happy to see that because I HATE when the monstrous, horrible nature of vampires is taken out and replaced with “oh, poor vampy.”  Balancing the sympathy and the monstrousness is always a thin line, and this movie really captured it.  It’s a slow burn, artsy kind of movie set in the frozen wasteland that is Sweden and I actually liked it, just like I find myself surprised, but happy, with a Sigur Ros song (they’re Icelandic, but you get my drift).  This movie seemed like a music video for Sigur Ros for the most part, slow, cold, full of sorrow.  It was just…good.  I really enjoyed it.  I find it hard to bring up anything bad about this film.  It’s not a balls to the wall, rip ‘em up horror flick.  It’s at the very opposite end of that, but in a good way.

It was a very refreshing experience and, as I said before, everyone who reads and enjoys this site should really give it a look.

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

Source: Bloody-Disgusting.com

Check out this kickass post art for the upcoming PERKINS’ 14:

Robert Perkins builds an army of 14 people brainwashed through cult-like methods to protect him from his parents’ killers. When Perkins is imprisoned, the police unwittingly unleash his followers on a small town and they’ve only got one thing on their mind: “Kill for Mr. Perkins.”

Perkins 14 is the winner of the After Dark Films and Massify.com venture dubbed “Ghosts in the Machine.” It’s the first feature film developed entirely via the internet and gave the massify.com community the tools to create, submit and choose the idea for a unique motion picture. The winning pitch and audience selection was Perkins’ 14.

Sounds like a winner!

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

Source: SHOCK TILL YOU DROP

Here’s the scoop from the good ‘ol boils ‘n ghouls over at SHOCK TILL YOU DROP:

DVD release details have surfaced for Toby Wilkins’ Splinter. DVD Active got their hands on an early look at the official cover art (below), not to be confused with the leaked version a few weeks back. The disc streets on January 27th with behind-the-scenes footage, deleted scenes and a making-of featurette.

Starring Shea Whigham, Paulo Costanzo and Jill Wagner, Splinter finds a young couple retreating to the wilderness for a camping weekend, but their romantic idyll is shattered when they are car-jacked by an escaped convict and his girlfriend on the run from the police. As the foursome travel the backroads together, each plotting their next move, they find themselves in deeper trouble than any of them could have imagined – a blood-crazed, parasitic creature that absorbs the corpses of its victims has laid claim to the woods, and the two couples are now in its sights. Finding shelter at an abandoned gas station, they must use their wits and every weapon at their disposal to stave off the onslaught, not only from the insatiable creature, but also each other…

Lookin’ forward to this one.  Keep it Creepy!

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites

More than likely.  As much of a Romero mark as I am, I can’t get behind his latest effort Diary Of The Dead.  It, well, it was just awful and it didn’t really FEEL like a Romero Zombie flick.  The characters weren’t well defined and the social commentary that generally permeates the original trilogy, one of the aspects that made them so damn good, was just slapping you in the face on this one.  Sorry Uncle George, that one was a real stinker.

Dimension Extreme, the company that brought us Diary of the Dead on DVD is also bringing us another film in the same vein, the UK’s ZOMBIE DIARIES, and I’ve got to say, this one looks like a winner.  It’s being hailed as the best zombie flick to come out of the UK…ever (let’s remember that 28 Days Later was NOT a zombie movie, it was a plague movie).  This is what Dread Central got out of Co-Director Michael Bartlett:

“Instead of making it a ‘documentary,’ we felt the Blair Witch format worked better — i.e., people trying to hurriedly document what they could for posterity. We saw a lot of areas that could be improved with this format, too.

For example, our film has music (which seems initially counter-intuitive but works a treat) and does not have annoying sequences with characters constantly arguing with each other. We also broke the story up and shot in Pulp Fiction style. It jumps across time lines and stories and does a pretty neat job of keeping the viewer’s attention, which we felt one single story wouldn’t achieve.

I made sure we did lots of [rehearsing] for this film and combined [that] with complete back-stories for the characters, as well as improv based around a script.

We also then cut the film to pieces in the editing suite. Kevin is a fantastic editor, and we put our egos aside and made sure we were blunt with one another from the scripting right through to the editing. Any dodgy exposition had to be axed. This had to be so real that you felt you were in this genuine ‘zombie world.’ Obviously we had to strike a balance, as at the end of the day this film is entertainment. I think we did that well, but time will tell if we did a good job. We had Mike Peel (The Descent) working on our special effects with two other great artists, and [everything] certainly comes across as very believable, even under the unforgiving eyes of a DV camera.”

This is the summary from Shock Till You Drop: Set in England during a world-wide viral infection, this documentary-style frightfest records the rise of the undead from the videocams of several survivor groups. As each struggles against the flesh-eating hordes, an even more horrifying fate lurks among them.

Granted, I’ve only seen the trailer and some stills, but it looks pretty damn kickass.  Take a look at the trailer and poster below. 

Release Date is set for November 18th, 2008, so mark your Zombie calendars!  And While you’re here, be sure to click the link to your right for The Backwoods Horrorshow podcast!

Keep it creepy!
 

Like This Article? Share It!

Hide Sites