Carnival of Darkness Canceled for 2011

What was to be the third annual Carnival of Darkness horror short film festival did not occur this year. According to festival director Alex Bram, "I skipped Carnival this year because I was focusing on creating some new film projects for myself."

Bram was an award-winning horror filmmaker before turning festival director, so essentially, he has returned to his roots.

The script for one of Bram's projected three horror films was co-written by Jeffrey Reddick, co-writer of the original Final Destination. Last year, Reddick was a guest speaker at Bram's 2010 Carnival of Darkness festival.

I've often observed that many festival directors hold (or aspire to hold) other jobs in the film industry, and that running a horror film festival is a great way to make contacts with potential future employers and/or business partners. This may be another such case.

Details on Bram's upcoming film projects may be found at Panic Attack Films.

Bram reports that Carnival of Darkness is expected to return for its third edition in 2012.

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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.

TromaDance Film Festival's Lloyd Kaufman to Teach Filmmaking at Oxford

Horror filmmaking legend Lloyd Kaufman (Mother's Day, Splatter University) -- who also founded the TromaDance Film Festival -- reports that on November 5, 2011, he'll be teaching a Masters class in filmmaking at Oxford University.

Or as Lloyd puts it...



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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.

Shriekfest Award Winning Negative Image Online

Denise Gossett of the Shriekfest Horror/Sci-Fi Film Festival reports that their "Award Winning Horror Short" film, Negative Image (11 minutes) is now online:

Negative Image is about a paranormal journalist who tries to catch an supernatural entity on film (sounds a bit like the J-horror film, Silk).

The film is from Darkline Entertainment. Its director, Karl Holt, also gave us Eddie Loves You.

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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.

Drunken Zombie Film Festival's New Film: Whisper

Not only is Bryan Wolford the man behind the Drunken Zombie Film Festival -- he's a filmmaker in his own right! (Yes, another filmmaker/festival director.)

Wolford has produced a trailer for his upcoming horror film, Whisper:



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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.

JT Seaton Founds New Orleans Horror Film Festival

JT Seaton is the latest in a growing line of filmmakers-turned-film-festival-directors, an especially common phenomenon among horror film festivals. I learned this from Seaton at the 2011 Shriekfest horror film festival, which screened his short film, Divination.

Seaton recently founded the New Orleans Horror Film Festival, not to be confused with a previously announced New Orleans horror film festival called Circus of Terror.

The latter was to have its first screening in 2010. Its plans were destroyed by the BP gulf oil spill, and plans for a 2011 screening apparently never materialized.

Apart from Seaton, filmmakers (and other talent) turned festival directors include actress/producer Rachel Belofsky (Screamfest L.A.), actress Denise Gossett (Shriekfest), actress/filmmakers Shannon Lark and Heidi Martinuzzi (Viscera), script supervisor Michael Coulombe (Big Bear Horror-Fi), producer Pablo Guisa Koestinger (Morbido Film Fest), and filmmakers Elisabeth Fies (BleedFest), Shade Rupe (Deep Red International), Bryan Wolford (Drunken Zombie Film Festival), Eric Morgret (Maelstrom International), and Alex Bram (Carnival of Darkness). And, of course, there's writer/actor moi (Tabloid Witch Awards).

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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.

Horror Film Sound -- How to Do It Right

Since 2005, the Tabloid Witch Awards has honored film sound with a Best Sound Award. This is because sound is an often under appreciated element in filmmaking, and so the Tabloid Witch wishes to highlight those films that put sound to good aesthetic use.

Now there's a book that will teach horror filmmakers just about everything practical and "how to" about how to create, record, mix, and edit great soundtracks. Read our review of David Lewis Yewdall's Practical Art of Motion Picture Sound.

Yes, the book's expensive. But at least read the review before deciding on whether this book might help you with your future projects.

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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.

2001 Screamfest L.A. Horror Film Reviews

Here's a blast from horror's past...

Today Screamfest L.A. is the largest horror film festival in Los Angeles. A glitzy, high-profile event with Hollywood support. But back in 2001, at its first annual screening, Screamfest L.A. was still a small event.

A forerunner in this past decade's horror film festival boom, that first annual Screamfest was something of a historic event (at least for anyone who cares about horror film history). I'm proud to say I was there, reviewing those early Screamfest films for Horrorfind.com.

Ten years is a long time on the web, and Horrorfind has long since removed its film reviews (including mine). But now my report on the first annual Screamfest L.A. is available once again -- at Communist Vampires.

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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.