Spooky Movie Announces 2013 Schedule

Posted by Michael Parsons on September 10, 2013 in / No Comments

 

spooky_movie_2013PRESS RELEASE:

SPOOKY MOVIE INTERNATIONAL HORROR FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2013 SCHEDULE

(September 10, 2013) Washington, DC: The Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival announced today the 51 short and feature films which will screen at the eighth annual festival, held for the second consecutive year at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Md. from October 10-19, 2013. Block1

The search for “big foot” is the subject of WILLOW CREEK, which is the opening night feature for Spooky Movie 2013 on Thursday, October 10 at the AFI Silver Theatre. WILLOW CREEK, from filmmaker Bobcat Goldthwait, is one of the most intense and scary films on the festival circuit these days, and has proven to be a dramatic departure for Goldthwait, who will be in attendance opening night for a Q&A moderated by Laura Kern from Film Comment.

“Nerve-wracking – it’s not easy to manufacture the kind of tension WILLOW CREEK achieves.” – Variety Block2

Opening night 2013 will also feature a screening of the explosive horror mash-up AN AMERICAN TERROR, the winner of the 2013 Spooky Movie Opening Night Feature Film Contest, and one of the coolest true indie horror films of the last decade. Congratulations to filmmaker Haylar Garcia, and thank you to all of the filmmakers who participated this year.

In addition to WILLOW CREEK, Spooky Movie and the AFI Silver, will present a complete filmmaker retrospect of Bobcat Goldthwait, beginning October 14 through October 17 – SLEEPING DOGS LIE, WORLD’S GREATEST DAD, GOD BLESS AMERICA and Goldthwait’s debut SHAKES THE CLOWN. Festival Pass and Combo Tickets will be honored for the retrospect.

For anyone concerned Spooky Movie has gone soft on horror, Spooky Movie 2013 has plenty teeth chattering features and shorts to rattle even the hardest hard core fan.

Block6.jpgDARK TOUCH, which screens on Friday, October 11, and had its premiere at the Tribeca Film Fest earlier this year, blends supernatural and horrors all-too-real. As the Village Voice said, “Much of the best horror, (DARK TOUCH) works the fears that connect to real life.”

Block9bOn Midnight the following evening (Saturday, October 12), things get intense with the Canadian shocker, THANTAMORPHOSE. An intimate and powerful trip into the private hell of a woman who has begun to rot away to nothing, one of the goriest and most unrelenting and unsettling experiences you will have at the movies.

On Friday, October 18, Spooky Movie is proud to present the DC area premiere of BIG BAD WOLVES, one of the top genre films of the year. Sponsored by the Embassy of Israel, BIG BAD WOLVES will keep you hovering beyond the edge of your seat.

“BIG BAD WOLVES is mesmerizing from start to finish, including a haunting final image that you’ll find impossible to forget.” – The Hollywood Reporter

Block9Ever since the 2010 Opening Night premiere of TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL, fans of the Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival have hungered for great horror comedies. On Saturday, October 12, the festival is thrilled to present, straight from Australia, 100 BLOODY ACRES, a gory and funny feature called “the best low budget horror comedy since SHAUN OF THE DEAD.”

Screening right before 100 BLOODY ACRES on Saturday the 12th is HAUNTER, a modern twist on the classic haunted house film, which has its premiere at South by Southwest earlier this year.

“A lovely homage to haunted house cinema and a very crafty ghost story in its own right.” – FearNet

Also hot on the festival circuit is HALLEY, which screens on Friday, October 18th. From its premiere at Sundance, up through upcoming screenings in Austin at Fantastic Fest, HALLEY is a film audiences have not been able to shake.

This is all just the tip of the ice berg at Spooky Movie 2013. From bad girls (CHASTITY BITES, PIN UP GIRLS ON ICE), to evil spirits (SPIRIT CABINET), to British killers (ART OF DARKNESS), to zombies and hillbillies (BUCK WILD) to a documentary about zombie walks (DEAD MEAT WALKING), the ten nights of Spooky Movie 2013 will be the best yet. But that is still not all!

The Mid-Atlantic region – home of cult legends John Waters, George Romero, Don Dohler, Jeff Krulik, Ed Sanchez and more – has long been fertile ground for creative independent filmmaking.

On Sunday, October 13th, the festival is proud to present a series of local features and shorts, including the premieres of features MORTAL REMAINS and BACKWATER, as well as a screening of the festival produced documentary BALD HEADED BLUES: A DOCTORMENTARY ON SARCOFIGUY, accompanied with the short SHOW AND TELL, directed by filmmaker Joseph Pattisall, co-director of the documentary THE LEGEND OF COOL DISCO DAN. Block5c

All good and creepy things come to an end, and on Saturday, October 19th, we wind things up with the 40th anniversary screening of SCREAM BLACULA SCREAM, presented by local television legend (also celebrating his 40th anniversary) “Count Gore De Vol.”

Following February’s sold-out HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN and July’s packed house for PHANTASM, Count Gore returns to present another moldy oldie in the spirit of the original TV broadcasts, with interactive intermissions and lots of ghoulish good fun and surprises in store.

In all there will be twenty-two features and twenty-nine shorts programmed over the course of ten nights at the most ambitious Spooky Movie Film Festival yet. VISIT http://spookyfests.com TO SEE THE FULL SCHEDULE.

ABOUT SPOOKY MOVIE: 298222_10150307263048411_35142648410_8606012_73662381_n-1

Founded in 2006, the Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival is Washington, D.C’s only genre-based film festival. Recognized as one of D.C.’s premiere festival events, as well as “the world’s premiere horror film festival” (BadLit.com), Spooky Fest works closely with our partners to offer year round screenings of feature and short films, in addition to our signature festival event every October.

TICKETS AND ADMISSION:

afi_silver_theatreTickets can be purchased at the AFI Silver Theatre box office or through their website – www.AFI.com/silver. Admission is $12.00 for single tickets – $125 for an all fest pass (good for all films, including the Bobcat Goldthwait retrospect).

COMBO TICKET PACKAGES: If you plan to buy ten or more tickets to films in the Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival, including films in the Bobcat Goldthwait Filmmaker Retrospect, in any combination, ask for the Combo Ticket Package discounted rate of just $10 per ticket. (Normal ticket price is $12) You can buy several tickets to one show, or one ticket to several shows! It’s perfect for couples and friends attending shows together and festival-goers who have planned out their schedule of must-see shows in advance. Combo Ticket Package purchases must be completed in a single transaction at the AFI Silver box office for discount to apply.

WEBSITES:

www.spookyfest.com

www.AFI.com/Silver

* This press release was written and distributed by the Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival*

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Michael Parsons

Father. Realtor®. Movie nut. After pestering my parents for their commentary on “Star Wars” when I was four years old, my mind went into a creative frenzy. I’d imagined something entirely different than the actual film, which I didn’t end up seeing until its 1979 re-release at the Uptown Theater in Washington, DC. This was my formal introduction to the cinema.

During that long wait, which felt like an eternity to a child, my mind was being molded by more corrosive stuff like “Trilogy of Terror” and “Rosemary’s Baby”, most of which I’d conned various babysitters into letting me watch on television ( I convinced one poor lady that “Jaws” was actually “Moby Dick”).

The folks were pretty strict in that regard, so the less appropriate it was for a kid to watch, the more I was fascinated by it. Horror staples like “Halloween” and “Friday the 13th”, as well as lesser-known low-budget fare like “Madman”, “Sleepaway Camp” and “Pieces” all ended up sneaking their way into the VHS on a regular basis.

Since then, I’ve developed an obsession with the entire film industry. Even though I watch and review a wide breadth of films these days, my appreciation for the campy, poorly lit micro-budgeters still lends itself to my evolving perspective on movies just as much as the summer blockbusters and Oscar contenders. As I recall my trips to the movie theater, I realize that this stuff is about much more than just a fleeting piece of entertainment.

A couple years ago, I was finally given the opportunity to lend my opinion on films to a publication, The Rogers Revue, with a subsequent run at Reel Film News. It's been both a privilege and a gateway to what we’re doing now. Most of my experience has come from interviewing independent filmmakers, who consistently promote innovation. The filmmaking process is grueling and relatively unforgiving.

Fellow film enthusiast Eddie Pasa and I have created DC Filmdom as a medium for film reviews, discussion, and (inevitably) some debate. And so, the creative frenzy continues.

(Michael is a member of the Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association).

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