Interview with Indie Filmmaker Andrew Schrader

Recently I had the stellar opportunity to view one of the most inventive and original indie horror flicks I’ve had the pleasure of seeing this year. Fever Night aka Band of Satanic Outsiders blew me away with its hallucinogenic story of Satanists lost in the woods. It was a real throw back to ’70s acid trip movies, and I mean that in the best way possible!

Made over two years on a minuscule budget, Fever Night is a triumph in indie filmmaking! Recently, I had a chance to talk with co-creator Andrew Schrader about he and fellow creator Jordon Harris’ mini masterpiece. Both Schrader and Harris wrote, directed and basically acted as the entire crew when making Fever Night. Since Fever Night was one of my favorite indie films of 2009, I had a bunch of burning questions to ask Andrew!

Fatally Yours: Hi Andrew! I was seriously blown away by your first film, Fever Night aka Band of Satanic Outsiders. What is the backstory on the film and why did you and co-creator Jordan Harris decide to make it?

Andrew Schrader: Thank you. I don’t know where to start, really…college was coming to an end and we figured it was either make a movie or just find a shitty industry job and jerk off our bosses like everyone else. Originally, the plan was to move to the middle of nowhere to start an artist commune where we were going to experiment with method acting.

But one night, [I] was having a breakdown in the shanty out back where [we] lived, and Jordan came in to talk. We basically decided right then and there that we were going to make a horror movie, and that was the end of it. So, on graduation day, we met up at eight in the morning, got really drunk, graduated, and left for San Diego to start pre-production. All we knew when we started (on Jordan’s mom’s living room floor) was that we were going to make a 1970s acid movie about Satanists. It would be shot in the woods, lit with flashlights. And we knew what the last shot was going to be. That’s it.

Fatally Yours: You mentioned that it took two years to complete the film. How did you manage to have the willpower and passion to see it through to the end and keep inspiring the cast and crew to work on it?

Andrew Schrader: Even at the lowest points, we always said the movie was going to get done. We just resigned ourselves to the project and to the lifestyle, because as long as it took to make it what it needed to be, we knew that it would get done. Sometimes it was really hard to work on the movie, and some times it was all we wanted to do (usually not both of us at the same time). We got really lucky and were able to find actors who had a lot of faith in the project and in us, and genuinely loved the whole process. It definitely helped that we all lived on a bare cement floor in the woods for a month to kick it off – it created a sense of solidarity. Over time, we became close friends; they often inspired us to work harder.

We were two-thirds of the crew, the other was Steven Isaac Getz. At times, he really held the production together – it really helped having a third voice in the mix. He is an awesome guy; he also shot (and is currently making) the feature-length behind-the-scenes doc. He shot something like 60 hours of footage.

Still from Fever Night

Fatally Yours: What were your influences and inspirations when making Fever Night?

Andrew Schrader: Other movies, most of them shitty ones. We wanted to make a really indie film that wasn’t gonna fuck around, and that wasn’t going to have any of the aesthetics of the contemporary horror flicks that were and are still popular.

Shitty movies are the best inspiration because they make filmmaking appear more accessible. You watch a great film like The Shining and think I could never make something like that. Watch Surf Nazis Must Die! and you think, I could make a better movie than that one.

We love watching propaganda and bizarre television, like Fox News. We also saw Crispin Glover’s latest movie, It Is Fine, Everything is Fine which was real cool. That was one of the best movies we’d seen in years. Super messed up, but really awesome. A movie like that could only be made once – I mean, at one specific point in history. Soon after, the main character (a palsy victim) died. Check it out!

Fatally Yours: The look of the film is very hallucinogenic and distinctive. How and why did you decide upon such a stylized palette for your film?

Andrew Schrader: We honestly don’t remember. We had originally written the acid trips as series of images of snakes and fire – just cutting from one to another, like in 70s acid movies. But then we edited a cut or two of the movie and realized we had to do more with it. It didn’t really flow right…

The rape scene was originally edited much differently, but after the hallucinogenic style had been established, we changed it to fit with the rest. We have many different cuts of that scene.

Really, we just wanted to make a cool Satanic acid movie, a new wave horror film. As we reached the next stage in production – whether it was the writing, or the filming, or initial editing, etc. – the movie was constantly changing. It turned out to be a great process for this movie. Very organic.

Fatally Yours: Not only is the film stylish, but it also has a very professional feel to it, despite its low budget and the fact that it is your first directing gig. Did you or Jordan have any formal schooling or training before filming or did you just go for it?

Andrew Schrader: Thank you. We went to UCSB. I was a film and media studies major; Jordan did honors art studio work. There is not really a film program there in terms of production, so in school I focused on film history, theory, and analysis. Essays and such.

We wrote scripts and made shorts on the side. We had written several features. Jordan’s short film work was awesome. I saw a 16mm film he made and told him we should live together the next year.

So came the Bad People commune house in Isla Vista. Six lived there – but the backyard or living room was always buzzing – we would basically just make stuff and play music and write and drink. I think the most training actually came from each other, because everyone pushed each other to be better.

Fatally Yours: The actors in the film are phenomenal. How did you find them and how was it working with them?

Andrew Schrader: All the actors are fucking great, for sure. Trying to remember…we held several auditions. Phil [Marlatt, who played Warren] showed up late, I remember – at the very end of the day.
Peter [Tullio, who played Elliot] showed up as his girlfriend’s chaperone (who was auditioning for Terry). We liked his look and asked him to read. He had this cool greaser vibe going, like a fifties character. And the character was supposed to be a “greaser punk”, so yeah…

We had been drinking for about six hours when Melanie [Rose Wilson] showed up to audition for Terry. I think she was weirded out a bit, but she turned out to be really cool. Michael Q. Schmidt threatened us a bit and then talked to us about Hamm’s beer. Figured he’d be the one for the job. He’s cool, too.

Everyone was really awesome; that’s the thing. I was amazed when Melanie actually flew up to Shasta County, because she came about a week after Peter and Phil. I figured she’d back out – she was basically flying up to a nowhere town in the middle of the forest to sleep on a one-room concrete floor.

And everyone was totally down for whatever needed to be done. They are all the most awesome people to work with, and several of us have become real close.

Fever Night DVD with my quote on the back! :D

Fatally Yours: What were your favorite/least favorite experiences when filming Fever Night?

Andrew Schrader: We have no idea. I think we’re still in post-traumatic shock or something. The most interesting experience, though, might have been watching Michael Schmidt jerk off before his scene for, like, and hour and a half. In plain view. Staring at Vanity Meers. We were so busy setting up stuff, we didn’t think about how creepy it was until we checked out Steve’s behind the scenes footage!

Fatally Yours: What obstacles did you face making Fever Night?

Andrew Schrader: Everything. Money. Time. People. Girls. Money. Girls. Cops. Technology…

Fatally Yours: What advice would you give aspiring filmmakers?

Andrew Schrader: Produce ten times more material than you can actually use. 90% of what you make is going to be shit, so make sure you over compensate. Make sure you know what film you want to make and don’t let anything stop you until it becomes what it needs to be.

Fatally Yours: Are you working on anything else at the moment? What is next for you and your production company, Bad People Motion Pictures?

Andrew Schrader: We have lotsa scripts in many genres we want to do, but right now we’re in pre-production on a teenage melodrama called The Age of Reason. We started working on it in college before Fever Night. It was written for us to play the main characters originally because we thought that no one would want to work with us anyway, but now we figure it’ll be the only time we have the chance, so why the hell not? It’s gonna have a cool style, kinda like Clockwork Orange and a ‘80s PG “coming of age” movie.

Fatally Yours: I know people are clamoring for a DVD release of Fever Night; do you have a DVD release date yet or is there another way people can see the film?

Andrew Schrader: Unfortunately, not right now. There are distributor kits being sent out this week, but until it’s distributed, it’ll be tough to see. We have a lot of music in there, so things are tricky legally. There is, however, a way to see it online…

Fatally Yours: Thanks so much for chatting with us Andrew! 

Andrew Schrader: Thank you! Yer the best!

Visit Fever Night’s Official Site!

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Book Review: Dark Delicacies III - Haunted edited by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb

In the third collection of short stories from Dark Delicacies, a Burbank bookstore that has all a horror fan could ask for, we are treated to new short stories from illustrious authors like Chuck Palahniuk, Mick Garris, Heather Graham, Simon Clark, Axelle Carolyn and even a new poem from Clive Barker! All the stories are unique, set in different locations with diverse characters facing their own horrors. Yet, after reading each and every one of the tales in Haunted that is the exact feeling you’ll be left with. You’ll be disturbed, anxious and a little spooked after finishing these stories, and those feelings won’t quickly dissipate. Instead, just like a ghostly apparition they will linger long after you’ve finished all the stories and closed the book. Are you ready to be haunted? Then keep reading…

With any Dark Delicacies book you know you are getting the cream of the crop in regards to authors, and Haunted is no different. All of the stories contained within the 300+ pages will knock your socks off! Kudos must be given to editors Del Howison (proprietor of the Dark Delicacies store) and Jeff Gelb (who gives us a fantastic intro) for compiling such talented contributors, whether they are well-known or not.

While all of the stories are absolutely stellar, I do have my personal favorites of the anthology. My absolute favorite is The Architecture of Snow by David Morrell, about an editor tracking down a reclusive author. While this is not an outright horror story and more of a personal journey of the lead character (though it does have its tension-filled and horrific moments), it is a very touching story that shows there are many different ways to be “haunted”. Morrell writes with a fluidity that sweeps you away and carries you into his imagination and  into the very story so you feel like you are standing alongside the characters.

Another two of my favorites deal with self-mutilation, with the first being Mick Garris’ Tyler’s Third Act about a down and out director who decides to make some money by giving the YouTube generation what they want…blood. Weaved throughout the story is also a cute love story…though it doesn’t end up so cute in the end. I loved the social commentary Garris offered with this tale, both about desperate people in the entertainment industry who are getting slammed hard by the recession as well as the public’s extreme view on what qualifies as “entertainment”. In a morbidly funny tale, Richard Christian Matheson tells us How to Edit. The author in the story keeps “editing” his life, continually cutting things out…including appendages he doesn’t think he needs. Matheson writes with a bitingly satirical tone that I just love!

Another favorite is Heather Graham’s Mist on the Bayou, about a touristy “haunted house” on the Louisiana bayou whose grisly tableaus of murder turn out to be a little more real than expected. And yet, wrapped up in that is also a very satisfying “haunted” story – of the haunted plantation house itself as well as a character in particular that doesn’t even realize they are being haunted. I loved Graham’s descriptions of the mansion, of each scarily themed room within the house and of the surrounding setting. Just the descriptions themselves give the story a spooky feel!

Starlets & Spaceboys by Joseph V. Hartlaub is one of the most bizarre and inventive pieces in the anthology. During a hot-air balloon festival in New Mexico, a teenager meets what she thinks is the man of her dreams. He tells her he is a manager for a band and they are testing out new type of music delivery technology – in pill form. If she takes the pills over the span of a week, she will begin to hear music in her head. Turns out, “swallowing music” is pretty bad and she soon finds the music drowning everything else out…not to mention her “dream man” turns out to be more like a nightmare. This story is truly one of the most original in the book and is so peculiar that it borders on bizarro.

I wish I had the space to go on to mention many of the other great stories, including Axelle Carolyn’s ghoulish Resurrection Man, John R. Little’s shocking The Slow Haunting, Maria Alexander’s elegantly stunning “Though Thy Lips are Pale”, Victor Salva’s satisfying The Wandering Unholy, Chuck Palahniuk’s inventive Fetch and many others. All of the stories within Dark Delicacies III: Haunted are phenomenal and not one of them is disappointing. Editors Del Howison and Jeff Gelb deliver yet another high-caliber and talent-packed anthology of terrifying tales. If you are looking for a guaranteed ghoulish time, this Haunted tome is sure to send shivers of pleasure (and fear) up your spine!

Order it on Amazon!

The Last House on the Left (2009)

Another week, another horror movie remake. This time around, it’s Wes Craven’s cringe-worthy classic, The Last House on the Left (which is loosely based on Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring), being remade by director Dennis Iliadis and written by Adam Alleca and Carl Ellsworth. Wes Craven’s original is a gritty and shocking film whose disturbing subject matter should at least be experienced once (that’s as much as I could handle). The remake, while competently made, lacks the down-and-dirty look and intense feel of the original. It is among one of the better reboots out there, but if you look at recent remade films out there like Friday the 13^th, it’s not saying much.

Following the story of the original pretty closely, the remake tells the story of upper class family the Collingwood’s – doctor daddy John (Tony Goldwyn), overprotective mother Emma (Monica Potter) and 17-year-old Mari (Sara Paxton) – who are heading to their isolated summer house for a relaxing vacation. The first day there, Mari begs mom and dad to take the car into town to visit her friend Paige (Martha MacIsaac). They acquiesce, and Mari roars into town, looking to have some fun with Paige.

They meet twitchy Justin (Spencer Treat Clark), who invites them back to his motel room to get high. Once there, the impromptu party is interrupted by Justin’s dad and recently escaped convict, Krug (Garret Dillahunt), Uncle Francis (Aaron Paul) and Sadie (Riki Lindhome). Turns out they are all on the run after killing some cops and don’t want to leave the girls behind as witnesses. They drag Mari and Paige out to the woods, torture them, rape one of them, and leave them both for dead.

The quartet of killers seeks respite from a harsh storm in the nearby house of the Collingwood’s, not realizing that they are the parents of Mari. When the parents realize what they have done to their daughter, they seek swift revenge on the murderers.

This is a pretty cut and dry remake with just a few changes made to the script (well, and one big and glaringly evident change that you can see in the trailer). Nothing is really done to make it its own film or to make it a better film, period. I will credit the writers with not dumbing down most of the film (well, except for the dialogue) like other remakes, but they really should have risked a bit more with the script and written something different to make this remake stand out. Unfortunately, while it’s a well-made and watchable film, it is easily forgotten whereas the original will be seared in my mind forever.

As for the brutal rape scene, yes, it is graphic and seems to go on forever, but the rest of the girls’ tortures seemed easy and breezy in comparison. Where in the original film their entire ordeal was horrific and humiliating, in the remake it is the rape scene that is the most brutal. Why is this a problem? Well, with the rape scene being the most disturbing, all of the other scenes that are supposed to be filled with tension pale in comparison. The rest of the film is just easy to sit through, which made it rather dull. Even the blood-splattered revenge sequence, while ultimately satisfying (except for the SILLIEST use of a microwave this side of Microwave Massacre!), felt like it lacked viciousness.

Also lacking viciousness was the acting from Garret Dillahunt, who played Krug. He was about as scary as a box of kittens and didn’t have a glimmer of intimidation in his glare. As the leader, he was supposed to be the most frightening of the killers, but I was no way threatened by him and felt he did a poor job portraying a sadistic psychopath, especially when compared with David Hess’ unnerving original performance. Aaron Paul and Riki Lindhome did a much better job playing Krug’s thugs, Francis and Sadie, both giving creepy and menacing performances. I also thought Sara Paxton did a fantastic job playing Mari, with fantastic performances also coming from Monica Potter and Tony Goldwyn as her parents.

The original The Last House on the Left was a fantastic social commentary on the paranoia of the changing times (Craven was inspired to write the film in response to the atrocities going on during the Vietnam War), loss of innocence, not trusting strangers, and a “what if” scenario to see what people would do when pushed to their physical, emotional and psychological limits. The remake sticks to these original concepts, but doesn’t realize that times have changed and these themes have been done to death and that perhaps new, more current ones should be explored. Therefore, it brings nothing new to the table and is ultimately a forgettable movie. However, I will say that it is much better than the teeny-bopper, bubblegum horror remakes like Friday the 13^th, Prom Night, etc. that the studios insist on putting out. If you have your mind set on seeing a remake, I would tepidly recommend this House…but not without reservations.

Order it on Amazon!

Gory Gear: Headstone City Horror Tees

With Halloween right around the corner, people like you are surely looking for some deadly duds to dress your dapper corpse! Problem is, most horror-inspired designs are just tees with boring ol’ movie poster prints ironed on them…and EVERYONE has one of those! I love classic horror movie posters as much as the next ghoulish girl, but with horror tees I want designs to stand out and be different than what everyone else is wearing!

Sometimes, it can be quite difficult to find new and exciting horror tee companies that deliver unique designs, but certainly not today! Today I bring you Headstone City, a clothing company that specializes in original designs that you won’t see anywhere else!

Founder and designer Damon Cassaro created the company because he had the same problem as many others with finding distinctive horror tees. So, he decided a solution to that problem was to start his own company where he could design all the shirts to ensure they were one of a kind. His shirts are inspired by all things horror, from movies to magazines and books, as well as a strong dose of rock ‘n’ roll thrown in for good measure.

Cassaro was gracious enough to send a big pack of amazing tees to review, which included Headstone City’s newest designs  “Gravedigger’s Local 552”, “Headstone City Cleaver”, “Your Name Here” and “Chiroptera of the Western Carpathians”. All of the t-shirts are extremely high quality – I always hate when companies use cheaper, flimsier shirts, but I didn’t have to worry about that with Headstone City! All of their tees are thick, yet still soft, cotton material.

Me wearing the Gravedigger's Local 552 tee (don't mind my kissy face; it's just cuz I love these tees so much!!)

My favorite tee is “Gravedigger’s Local 552”, a macabre black tee with stark white lettering that proudly proclaims the gravedigger’s union while a twisted skeleton adorns a spiderweb on the top part of the shirt. Besides the spooky connotation of “the gravedigger” I love the historic feel of the shirt. Even the description of the tee delves into the haunted history of this particular North Carolina union.

As you can tell, I am very amused

Another cemetery-themed t-shirt is the appropriately named “Your Name Here”, another bold design featuring a tombstone with, you guessed it, “Your Name Here” fearlessly etched onto its surface. Those that appreciate morbidly dark humor (like myself) will no doubt fall head over heels for this particular design.

“Headstone City Cleaver” offers a splash of blood-red color with the gruesome aftermath of a cleaver cutting off a hand. And who doesn’t like a little blood splatter on their clothes?

I'm batty for this "Chiroptera of the Western Carpathians" tee!

The girl’s tee “Chiroptera of the Western Carpathians” features one of my favorite animals – the bat. Only, this isn’t just any bat; this is the giant bat that terrorized the Carpathian Mountains in the ‘50s! No matter if this colossal bat ever existed, all that matters is that it looks creepy-cute on this t-shirt!

I love how each of the tees come with their own story – fact or fiction, they are all entertaining! Besides the amusing stories that accompany every Headstone City t-shirt, the tees are special because they are one of a kind, possessing a style all their own. As Cassaro points out, “There are a million shirts you can get with Freddy or Jason on them. But if you want a shirt that’s truly original, creative and avant garde then Headstone City is the place for you…Headstone City’s t-shirts appeal to the devoted horror fan, the passive horror fan and everyone in between.”

Headstone City tees are available on headstonecity.com or at several horror conventions in the tri-state area, including Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors in NYC as well as the Horror Expo Saturday Nightmares, which will be held March 19-21, 2010, at the Landmark Loew’s Theatre in Jersey City, NJ. If you live in  Southern California, you can find Headstone City tees at Necromance on Melrose Avenue in L.A.

If you are looking for high-quality, unique horror tees, Headstone City should be one of your destinations!

Visit Headstone City’s Official Site!

Fear Itself: Season One (2009)

It seems like the horror community pretty much turned its collective back on 2008’s weekly episodic horror series, Fear Itself, originally broadcast on NBC. Even I only watched a few episodes before basically forgetting all about it. In fact, only eight episodes actually aired before the network pulled the plug on the show during the summer of 2008. Now, the series has been released on DVD with all of the 13 episodes (some even with director’s cuts) included.

Though this Mick Garris-created series might feel like just another Masters of Horror (which he also created) with a different horror director (some well-known, others not so well-known) directing each episode, I was actually quite surprised at the high quality of some of the episodes. I might even dare to say that this is better than or at least on par with the Masters of Horror series! The only real difference is that on network TV filmmakers couldn’t get away with as much blood and guts as they could on cable. This actually works in favor on Fear Itself, though, because it makes the scares all that much creepier and able to crawl under your skin more as opposed to a visceral, one-time shock of a gore scare.

The directors gracing Fear Itself with their talent include Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, From Beyond), Mary Harron (American Psycho), John Landis (An American Werewolf in London), Darren Lynn Bousman (Repo! The Genetic Opera, Saw) and Larry Fessenden (The Last Winter, Wendigo). Some of my favorite episodes came from these well-known names, but a few lesser known names like Eduardo Rodriguez (Curandero) and John Dahl (Joy Ride) surprised me at their high quality episodes.

In fact, my favorite episode was probably Rodriguez’s “The Circle”. Set on Halloween night and opening with an eerie trick or treating scene, the episode quickly moves to a horror author and his friends holed up in a remote cabin…and two trick or treaters delivering a mysterious book where what’s written inside comes becomes horrifyingly real. This is one of the most stylish and suspenseful episodes of the series and really has some startling scenes. With the Halloween night setting exploited a bit more, this could easily turn into a frightening feature-length movie. Plus, it really makes me want to hunt down Rodriguez’s horror film Curandero.

My second favorite would have to be Darren Lynn Bousman’s twitchy end of the world episode “New Year’s Day”. This is an intense, suspenseful episode that throws you into the chaos of a mysterious catastrophe happening in the wee hours of New Year’s. The drama is heightened by jumping back and forth between the present and an earlier New Year’s Eve party our lead character attends. Though the spastic camera work and flighty editing is a bit much, overall the episode was very stylish and I loved the twist at the end!

In Larry Fessenden’s “Skin and Bones”, a rancher returns home to his family after being lost in the wilderness…but his miraculous homecoming is marred by the fact that he has become possessed by a wendigo. First of all, Doug Jones as the rancher was AMAZING! His gaunt, hollowed face was terrifying enough, but his mannerisms really sold the performance! This was a definitely creepy episode and kept my eyes glued to the screen for the entire running time!

I dug many of the other episodes, including Stuart Gordon’s “Eater”, Mary Harron’s “Community”, and Brad Anderson’s (Session 9) “Spooked”. A few of the episodes weren’t to my liking (Breck Eisner’s “The Sacrifice” was a bit too generic and “Something with Bite” by the relatively unknown Ernest R. Dickerson [Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight] felt kind of hokey), but overall Fear Itself delivers quite a frightfully fun collection of bite-sized horror!

Don’t let Fear Itself go overlooked any longer, seek it out for some surprising and satisfying scares!

Order it on Amazon!

Book Review: Hellbound Hearts edited by Paul Kane and Marie O'Regan

Hellbound Hearts, edited by Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan, is an eerie anthology based on the Hellraiser films and the original novella The Hellbound Heart by Clive Barker. Inside the pages of Hellbound Hearts you’ll find short stories from such famous names as Neil Gaiman, Steve Niles, Sarah Langan, Mick Garris, Kelly Armstrong, Christopher Golden and many, many more.

The book begins with an introduction from the man himself, Clive Barker, who without none of this would be possible. He goes on to speak of the legacy his novella and ensuing Hellraiser films have left in their wake, but is wary to take credit for creating a “mythos”. And yet, here we are, with countless well-known writers eager to feed from this mythos and produce their own tales of pain and pleasure. As Pinhead might say, the Hellraiser mythos will be legendary, even in HELL (where it’s probably already quite popular!)!

All of the short stories contained within the anthology are truly splattacular, but I do have a few favorites that stuck out as noticeably as Pinhead’s nails sticking out of his cranium. My absolute favorite of the bunch was Sister Cilice by Barbie Wilde. Wilde is best known for her portrayal of the female Cenobite in Hellbound: Hellraiser II, but she is also an accomplished dancer, performer and writer. Her short story absolutely stunned me with its simplicity yet complex character. It tells of Sister Nikoletta, who though appears devout, has violent sexual fantasies and is slipping further and further away from the faith. She one day discovers an old tome called the Grimorium Enochia that tells how to call the Cenobites and enter their world of exquisite pain. The story sounds simple enough, but the character of Sister Nikoletta is so conflicted and perverse that I was just drawn into the story and it stuck with me long after I had finished the anthology.

Another of my favorites was Only the Blind Survive by Yvonne Navarro. This tale really stuck out because it is steeped in Native American lore. It tells of a Native American warrior that stumbles across an odd sand painting in the desert and runs back to his village to tell the elders as it is one of the signs that a gate to evil will soon be opened. Spirit warriors must face off against the evil that slithers from the gate, and the tribe’s people can only be saved if they cannot see the creature, which is known to feed on fear after someone sees it. This take on the demonic was probably the most unique of all the stories considering its far removed setting and Native American setting.

I also wholeheartedly enjoyed Kelly Armstrong’s The Collector, about a puzzle solver who gets herself involved with an online puzzle contest whose final test is solving a very peculiar puzzle box. The delicious twist at the end definitely made this one of my favorites! Other standouts included The Confessor’s Tale by Sarah Pinborough, Every Wrong Turn by Tim Lebbon, A Little Piece of Hell by Steve Niles and The Dark Materials Project by Sarah Langan.

It is truly amazing how Clive Barker’s work could go on to inspire so many different terrifying tales. Each and every one is worth reading and it was painful to try and pick out just a few to talk about when all of the stories are so stellar. Each of the authors captures the aesthetic and themes of the Hellraiser mythos, all the while tweaking it just enough to make it their own. What truly makes this anthology so exciting is how many different directions authors can go with Barker’s legacy. From Native American lore to the future of science behind “Shadow DNA”, there is really no limit to how writers can reinterpret and retell the Hellraiser mythos. And, yes, I disagree with Mr. Barker because he truly HAS created a mythos with distinct stories, rules and characters that are instantly recognizable and that I think will stand the test of time.

Horror fans that relish shocking literature as well as Cliver Barker and Hellraiser fans are sure to enjoy Hellbound Hearts. Don’t torture yourself, get your copy today!

Buy it on Amazon!

Grace (2009)

I’ve been looking forward to Paul Solet’s full-feature Grace ever since I saw his short of the same name. Grace deals with a lot of my biggest fears – pregnancy, children, motherhood, etc. As a woman, the prospect of pregnancy scares the poo outta me and is one of the many reasons I don’t want to have kids. Also, the alien nature of babies just creeps me out, what with their big googly eyes, babbling language, constant crying and incessant hunger, not to mention how much self-sacrifice goes into raising a child. Grace taps into these fears and more, but its not just to unnerve women…men will also be very perturbed by Grace’s turn of events.

Grace tells the story of Madeline (Jordan Ladd) and Michael (Stephen Park), a married couple trying to conceive a baby. When Madeline finally gets pregnant, she is determined to deliver the baby au natural with a midwife instead of going to a hospital, much to the chagrin of her meddling and traditional mother-in-law, Vivian (Gabrielle Rose). Madeline is also a committed vegan and is very eco-conscious, which irks Vivian even more.

Madeline and Michael joyously await the birth of their baby girl, but a tragic car accident leaves both her husband and her unborn baby dead. Against the wishes of her midwife, Patricia (Samantha Ferris), and mother-in-law, Madeline decides to carry the infant to term. When the baby is delivered, it miraculously comes back to life and Madeline names her Grace.

Madeline dotes on Grace, but she soon notices there’s something not quite right with the baby. Grace attracts flies, smells a bit funky, gets bleeding sores on her skin and seems to prefer human blood to breast milk…

Soon, Vivian starts to nag Madeline about seeing her precious granddaughter and even going so far as to send the family doctor, Richard Sohn (Malcolm Stewart), to check up on her. With Grace craving more and more blood, though, Madeline isn’t exactly ready to show her off. Patricia starts poking around too, concerned about her friend but more interested in putting the moves on the new baby momma. As Madeline deals with the mounting external pressure of intruders, she also tries her best to satiate the hungry Grace…but she soon realizes that her own blood will not be enough to satisfy the bloodthirsty babe…

While more subdued and slower-paced than the shocking short, this feature-length Grace still packs a punch. The woman-centric issues of pregnancy and self-sacrificing motherhood are rarely featured in horror, so it’s nice to see these addressed. The prospect of going through a pregnancy and giving birth to another person is scary enough, but think of if your baby was born…unnatural…how much would you sacrifice for them then? The bond between a mother and child are strong, so like Madeline, I’m willing to bet you would sacrifice everything and anything for them. Madeline breaks her own ethical beliefs to ensure that Grace gets what she hungers for…blood…and is prepared to stop anyone that would try to take her baby away. Sacrifice and a mother’s bond to her child are just a few of the many themes explored in Grace and are among the many intelligent layers to this intriguing film.

Though Grace isn’t your “typical” horror film, the script and story are smart and I squeamishly enjoyed its many different layers, including the “meat is murder” subtext that peppers the film (the real footage of animals being slaughtered/tortured will unnerve many). The character of Madeline was well-written as she was strong, resolute and firm in all her beliefs – beliefs that would soon be challenged by her bloodthirsty monster of an infant. And yet, the film never falls into being an exploitative “killer baby” picture, but maintains a somber, tragic and straightforward tone throughout its running time.

Jordan Ladd absolutely glows as Madeline. Her portrayal of a mother who will do whatever it takes to care for her child felt incredibly realistic, even though Ladd herself has never had any children. The fact that she was able to tap into such a maternal role is amazing in of itself, but she actually made us care about the heartbreaking tragedy of her situation. In fact, all of the women in the film portrayed very strong, maternal roles. Gabrielle Rose as mother-in-law Vivian had her own psychological issues, including being obsessed with being a mother and wanting to breast feed again though she was now a grandma. Rose played the condescending Vivian with a “mother-knows-best” vibe that will make your skin crawl. Even the knowledgeable midwife Patricia, in a commanding performance by Samantha Ferris, was concerned with Madeline and was constantly checking up on her, though most of that came from personal feelings she still had for Madeline; the two used to be lovers in college. Each and every one of the female characters was written to be a strong woman, which is quite refreshing for a horror film! The men, on the other hand, were mainly secondary characters or villains, as is the case with the creepy Dr. Richard Sohn, played by Malcolm Stewart, who almost orders Madeline induced early after she starts having chest pains…until Patricia intervenes. And Dr. Sohn gives Madeline one of the most intrusive and disturbing home exams I’ve been unfortunate enough to witness! It is always a pleasure to see a horror movie that features smart, caring women as the main characters instead of just relegating them to T & A shots or “scream queen” roles.

Besides excelling at writing a compelling script and engaging characters, Solet’s direction is also impeccable. The sharp contrast between the early scenes that are bathed in bright sunshine and warm colors and later scenes where shots are veiled in shadows, sickly greens and muted colors complements the accompanying action perfectly. There are also great shots showing Grace’s room adorned with fly traps and the birthing scene itself is quite traumatic.

Solet has taken a dramatic turn away from the current crop of immediate, in-your-face mainstream “horror” that scares with jumpy editing and fake frights. Instead, he has crafted a restrained film that manages to crawl under your skin and squirm there, increasing the discomfort until the satisfying finale. It’s not a perfect film by any means, and is definitely not for everyone, but it is a very well-done and quiet character study that shows off Solet’s skill as both as a writer and director as well as the amazing range of its actors.

Grace slowly gestates, until it ripens from quiet character study to full-blown horror show. If you can enjoy the slowly unfolding dread, Grace definitely delivers.

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