Macabre Faire Film Festival

This past weekend (about a week ago, now) I attended the Macabre Fair Film Festival, put on by Twitch Twitch Productions, and you've probably been seeing videos popping up on my channel reviewing some of the features that I happened to watch there. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to watch everything, since there was a ton of stuff going on, but that was some of the fun about it. Let me go through what I did see, though.

The festival started on Friday, and since we got into New York around 10 or 11, it wasn't really feasible to get there for the first night. The main thing we missed was The Turnpike Killer, since some of the other films played multiple times over the course of the weekend. Saturday is when we spent the most time there and saw the most stuff.

They basically sectioned off part of a hotel, spanning three floors. This included a small convention space, two screening rooms for films, a reception area, and a bar/restaurant. The setup worked well and made for an interesting experience with plenty to see. There was pretty much always something playing, though I found myself sticking to the upper floor unless to eat or grab a drink. The dealer area was a strange mix of a lot of different things. There were some props and special effects guys, some steampunk stuff, some girls selling cupcakes, an author, some artists, and plenty more. There were even a couple of celebrities, including Cleve Hall (Syfy's Monster Man). It was a small area, but the variety was unexpected.

As for the films themselves, I didn't manage to catch quite a few of them, but I've already posted video reviews of the features that I watched. See them below.





Check out more at Moldthemovie.com



Other than those, I saw a small bit of Sloppy the Psychotic, and while it had its' moments, it was already getting incredibly repetitive, so we ducked out, wanting to see the rest of the layout before settling down into a movie. I also happened to catch The Tell Tale Heart (written and directed by Bart Mastronardi) and that was pleasantly surprising. It was a unique twist on the Poe story, with a wraparound segment and a totally different vibe to it, including some gender reversal and some classic silver screen imagery. I liked it quite a bit.

My overall thoughts were that it's a fun time, but unfocused, and obviously up and coming. It seemed to me like the people who put it on just tried to throw in everything that they enjoy, and while that's cool in certain venues, it doesn't always make for the best event. As an attendee it's fine, but the vendors would have done much better business if it pulled in more of a unified crowd. Ultimately what I think needs to happen for future events is one of two things, either they need to focus it a lot more or they need to get a hell of a lot bigger (the later is much easier said than done, I know). Personally, I'd also have liked to see a booth or booths that sold things specifically related to the films being played.

That being said, I had fun. It was a good time and I look forward to seeing them put on more events, conventions, festivals, and gatherings.

Links

Twitch Twitch Productions
Macabre Faire Film Festival

The Orphan Killer

Directed by Matt Farnsworth
Written by Matt Farnsworth
Starring Diane Foster, David Backus, and Matt Farnsworth

Marcus Miller is a serial murderer hellbent on teaching his estranged sister Audrey what it means to have family loyalty. His lessons are taught in massive doses of vulgar and unimaginable pain.

Mold!

Directed by Neil Meschino
Written by Dave Fogerson, Neil Meschino
Starring Ardis Campbell, Robert Fattorini, Chris Gentile

Set in 1984, when the war on drugs was at its height, the story concerns a strain of mold developed by the government to wipe out Colombian coca fields. Unfortunately, during a demonstration, the mold gets out of control and proves to be deadly to more than just vegetation.

Monster Brawl

Directed by Jesse T Cook
Written by Jesse T Cook
Starring Dave Foley, Art Hindle, Jimmy Hart

Eight classic monsters fight to the death in an explosive wrestling tournament set inside an abandoned and cursed graveyard.

DREDD trailer

In the past, I've posted gaggles of trailers on here, talking briefly on each one, but lately I've been slacking in that department a lot. Sorry guys, life gets in the way. This trailer is one that I just COULDN'T pass up talking about, though. Check it out below. The trailer for DREDD!



Now THAT looks like a Judge Dredd movie! Don't get me wrong, if I'm in a certain mood I do actually enjoy Stallone's version of Dredd. It's not particularly comic-accurate, but it has a great visual style, some neat practical effects, and some nice action going on. Sure, Rob Sneider needs to be dragged out back and beaten with a crowbar, but there's enough going on in the flick to enjoy that I can watch it in a total cheesy b-movie kind of way. It's not GOOD, but it's entertaining.

Like I said, though... it's not very comic-accurate, mainly in tone, characterization, things like that. Dredd shouldn't feel like a light and funny summer blockbuster. It should be serious, gritty, and violent. Dredd should feel like an 80s action flick. It should be Rambo meets Bladerunner (Ok... maybe not Rambo specifically, but you get the idea). This trailer alone gives me more of that feeling than the entirety of the Stallone version EVER did. Color me intrigued.

Between all of that and the inclusion of Judge Anderson (a much more compelling character than Hershey EVER was... also she's psychic), I'm definitely looking forward to this.

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Directed by Lynne Ramsay
Written by Lynne Ramsay, Rory Kinnear, and Lionel Shriver (novel)
Starring Tilda Swinton, John C Reilly, and Ezra Miller

Kevin's mother struggles to love her strange child, despite the increasingly vicious things he says and does as he grows up. But Kevin is just getting started, and his final act will be beyond anything anyone imagined.

Prometheus

Directed by Ridley Scott
Written by Jon Spaihts, Damon Lindelof
Starring Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, and Michael Fassbender

A team of explorers discover a clue to the origins of mankind on Earth, leading them on a journey to the darkest corners of the universe. There, they must fight a terrifying battle to save the future of the human race.

Piranha 3DD

Directed by John Gulager
Written by Patrick Melton, Marcus Dunstan, and Joel Soisson
Starring Danielle Panabaker, David Hasselhoff, and Matt Bush

After the events at Lake Victoria, the pre-historic school of blood-thirsty piranhas make their way into a newly opened waterpark.