FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Women in Horror Film Festival Call for Entries
Posted on January 3, 2017
2016 has been a bad year in so many ways (there’s even been a horror movie made about it!) but there were some fantastic horror films released this year—and here’s our top ten. These are all terrifying films, but thought provoking at the same time. So I don’t get repetitious, let me say from the beginning that all ten of these films are superbly acted and directed. And if there’s one of them you haven’t seen yet, make it a new year’s resolution!
Posted on December 24, 2016
Jacques Tourneur’s Curse of the Demon: Horror and the Persistence of Evil
Dawn KeetleyPartaking in the long tradition of reading ghost stories at Christmas, I’ve recently been immersed in the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century supernatural tales of M. R. James. One of my favorites is “Casting the Runes,” published in 1911, about a strangely cursed parchment of runic characters that occultist Karswell passes to his enemies and rivals, ensuring their death in three months unless they are able to pass the paper on. (The central plot device really reminded me of Gore Verbinski’s The Ring—but that’s another post!) James’s “Casting the Runes” has been adapted for television on several occasions, but it was, most famously, made into a 1957 film directed by Jacques Tourneur, called The Night of the Demon (in the UK) and The Curse of the Demon (in the US, where a shortened version was released). The film is flawed, to be sure, but it has some wonderful moments, including two scenes (one of which opens the film) shot at Stonehenge—a Stonehenge before all the barricades, parking lots, gift shops, and tourists. Read more
We’ve been excited to learn that producers of the film Rainy Season, based on the story by Stephen King, are launching a one-of-a-kind film festival in Atlanta in the fall of 2017.
The Women in Horror Film Festival will be dedicated to showcasing and honoring women within the horror genre. They will be welcoming filmmakers and writers from around the world for three days on independent film screenings, industry workshops, and frightening fun!
They will be accepting submissions for films and screenplays through Film Freeway beginning January 1, 2017.
Spots are still available for sponsors and vendors, as well as advertising opportunities.
If you would like to be apply to be a judge or volunteer for the fest, you can send an inquiry to WIHfilmfest@gmail.com.
For more information, please visit their website or on Facebook and Twitter.
Posted on December 17, 2016
Train to Busan: Zombies and Crises of Conscience on a Train
Dawn KeetleyTrain to Busan marks the live-action debut of animator Yeon Sang-ho—and it is a stunning debut. It tells the story of a workaholic fund manager, Seok Woo (Gong Yoo) whose marriage appears to have been a casualty both of his ambition and of what his daughter, Su-an (Kim Su-an), describes as his ingrained propensity to think only of himself. When the film opens, Su-an is staying with her father in Seoul, but she demands he take her back to her mother in Busan—which sets off the eponymous high-speed train ride. As father and daughter board the train, evidence of strange, violent behavior manifests on the edges of the frame, not quite in vision—but soon it’s clear that something is infecting the passengers on the train. What follows is a terrifying film about the struggle of the dwindling uninfected against the increasing hordes of infected. The film is also about so much more than that—it’s about what humans are capable of becoming, both good and bad.
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