The Zone SciFan International Film Festival screens at Comicpalooza, a Houston comic convention.
Entering its fourth year, The Zone is both a film festival and a film
race. It accepts entries of completed films, but also runs a
filmmaking contest at the convention.
Initially, The Zone was a sci-fi only.
"But this year we ventured into sci-fi horror with our
newest film race, The Void," said J'Nathan Gwynn, who is both a
festival director and filmmaker. "The Void has the same rules as
The Zone, but with an additional challenge -- no blood. We want to
challenge filmmakers and expand their talents."
Science fiction has been called a genre
of ideas, a philosophy embraced by Gwynn's events. "We look for
the best sci-fi ideas and concepts. Sci-fi is at its best when it
addresses current issues in a unique way. It's a genre that lets you
explore morality and ethics in way that no other genre can. Plus,
it's one of the few genres that can combine with others to create
something unique. Some of the best horror films are sci-fi."
* Avoid Clichés
"Many filmmakers just go for the
cliché, because it's what they've seen," Gwynn laments. "They
don't ask why it should be there. Don't just drop it in. Give
it a reason. Otherwise, clichés take your audience out of the film
and makes them roll their eyes.
"The days of the slasher
are dead. We've seen everything we can. In the 1980s, slashers were
fresh and new. For a brief period in the late 1990s, they became
fresh again with Wes Crazen's Scream. But since then they've
become cliché.
"We have an annual event at a
local theater, called Horrorthon. The creator, Damir Catic, gets
horror directors to come and screen one of their films. This year he
had the director of Jason Goes to Hell premiere Secret Santa -- a hilarious horror film
that also made me jump. It used clichés in a way I hadn't
seen. He made the clichés work.
* Monsters Should Be Scary
"I love zombies," said
Gwynn, "but not only have they become cliché, few movies or
TV shows use them in a fun, scary way. Everyone wants to make
them cool.
"And I'm
sick of beautiful, sexy vampires.
Enough already. They aren't fabulous creatures. They're
monsters who feast on our blood. They don't fucking sparkle and have
perfect jaw bones. They are to be feared.
"If anything in current horror
annoys me, it's making monsters cool and sexy. Keep them frightening.
Make me want to run from them, not fuck them."
* Keep the Monster Offscreen
"The best tip is an old tip: What
you don't see is always more terrifying than what you do see.
"I miss 1970s horror. The smart
horror that made you think. That terrified you by showing
nothing. The mindfuck horror. Tension is the best horror aphrodisiac.
"It's started to make a slow
comeback with films like The Babadook and It Follows.
Those films scared me and made me anxious. What made It Follows
scary wasn't what you saw, but what your imagination created. Fuck
with the mind more. Be less visceral. We've seen just about
everything. Now scare us with what we can't see."
Despite all this, Gwynn admits that he
"personally loves gore porn."
* Future Growth
Like Crypticon, The Zone and The Void
screen at a convention. "Presenting at Comicpalooza has been a
great success. It provides us with a built in audience.
"We've reached out to the
Hollywood indie scene for judges. They've been spreading the word.
Some of our films have garnered international attention. Our mayor
has a new initiative to bring films to Houston. We are working with
him on that. But currently the city is still trying to rebuild itself
after Harvey.
"We canceled The Void this year
because it was to take place a week or two after that disaster, and
we know no one could afford to spend money on it. Nor were they in
the mood. We'll try again next year."
================
For a behind-the-scenes look at horror film festivals and the festival directors who manage them, see Horror Film Festivals and Awards. This book also includes a directory of over 200 horror film festivals, and a list of festival award winners from dozens of festivals over several decades.
================
For a behind-the-scenes look at horror film festivals and the festival directors who manage them, see Horror Film Festivals and Awards. This book also includes a directory of over 200 horror film festivals, and a list of festival award winners from dozens of festivals over several decades.
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