Fright Night is a "Rondo"-nominated horror convention, with guests this year from the cast of the original "Halloween" and "Walking Dead". Once again a fan con is a friend to film, and vice-versa!
HIFF is the beautifully organized and ever-expanding brain child of Miguel Rodriguez, the Alistair Cooke of the San Diego horror cinema scene - an intellectual and aficionado, with energy levels that I suspect come from a sinister pact with forces Beyond Our Ken.
The titles of the schedule blocks hint at the knowledge and enthusiasm the HIFF team bring to their curation of film: Child's Nightmares Horror-Comedy Creature Feature Youth and Student Showcase Horror for Humanity LGBT Showcase Natural Born Killers Supernatural Animation ... and then there are Q&As, panels - which this year included a panel on the rise of Mexican horror cinema - and the Local Spotlight Feature, Valley of the Sasquatch! Something for everyone. This year the festival expanded into the Museum of Photographic Arts in the very grand Balboa Park downtown - a 15-minute cab ride from the airport, with reasonably-priced hotels all around. For me as a filmmaker, it was a good place to meet other filmmakers informally and trade experiences, but I also had a good time just watching the films. The Horrible Imaginings Film Festival is a serious cultural asset to San Diego. If you are a fan of horror cinema in any of its weird manifestations, go to San Diego and stay for the whole festival (now at three packed days and nights).
Lovely review of The Bunny Man by Frank Tuttle, America's witty and eerily productive author of fantasy noir. I've read all his books, always with that lovely feeling of being in the hands of a master storyteller. Frank also wrote the script for "The Embalming", a curious tale of the undertaker's profession: https://vimeo.com/78071809 Clever script, gorgeous cinematography, expert sound design, and beautifully appropriate music. It's presented by "The Southern Documentary Project", which makes me curious about what goes on in Mississippi...
San Francisco Cutters, the Bay Area's professional group for film editors, colorists and people who love them, hosted a private screening of The Bunny Man in January - exciting and slightly intimidating as many attendees are experienced pros with significant reputations. It seemed to go over well - laughs in the right places!
