Friday 21 July 2000

Phoenix FearCon de los Muertos!

The first Phoenix Fear Film Fest was a busy one day film festival. It grew over the years to include more convention oriented activities such as vendors and special guests, leading to a partial rename to Phoenix FearCon. Every year included both aspects, but the balance between them shifted over time until 2014's Phoenix FearCon de los Muertos! was primarily a convention with a film festival attached.

Taking place immediately after Hallow'en at Fear Farm in west Phoenix, a working haunted house attraction, there were more guests than could be comfortably counted, from regulars like Tiffany Shepis to new faces like Ken Foree. None tied to specific screenings. Vendors grew to huge numbers and there were also panels and concerts. Most importantly, it became a two day event for the first time, a cause for great delight amongst horror film fans because Jim & Chris McLennan from Trash City have built up a reputation for being particularly strong on international and independent film.

Beyond that additional second day, I was particularly keen on experiencing FearCon de los Muertos! because Chris and Jim asked me to select and program two short selections, which I was honoured and very happy indeed to do. I selected nineteen films from a few hundred submissions and a few titles (like Plush and The Woodman and the American Woman) that I'd been dying to program somewhere. Ken Miller, director of Dust Jacket attended for a Q&A that was all too brief because of festival schedule constraints. Jim McLennan programmed the features.

Here are all the films that were shown at Phoenix FearCon de los Muertos!, with film titles linking to my reviews and the IMDb pages added for reference, where possible.

Rating System
1 - Abysmal | 2 - Bad | 3 - Poor | 4 - OK | 5 - Good | 6 - Excellent | 7 - Classic

Features
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Dorchester’s Revenge: The Return of Crinoline Head 2014 Tommy Faircloth IMDb
Blood Runs Black 2014 Andrew Muto IMDb
Circus of the Dead 2014 4 - Billy 'Bloody Bill' Pon IMDb
The House of Forbidden Secrets 2013 Todd Sheets IMDb
Berkshire County 2014 Audrey Cummings IMDb
Mar Negro 2013 4 - Rodrigo Aragão IMDb

Shorts A
Night Mare 2014 5 5 Juan Carlos Camardella n/a
Sometimes It Comes 2013 5 5 Félix Llorente IMDb
Martyn 2013 5 5 Francesco Picone IMDb
Dust Jacket 2013 5 5 Kenneth Miller IMDb
Plush 2011 6 7 Ryan Denmark IMDb
Ghost Light 2014 5 5 P J Germain IMDb
Waterborne 2014 5 5 Ryan Coonan IMDb
Special 2014 5 5 Mikeal Burgin IMDb
The Woodman and the American Woman 2013 6 5 Jesús Hernández IMDb

Shorts B
Hellytubby 2012 5 5 Matt Iseminger n/a
Cowboy Ben 2014 5 5 Jon Shaikh & Scott Rawsthorne IMDb
Tin & Tina 2013 5 5 Ruben Stein IMDb
The Heebie-Jeebies 2014 5 5 Todd Slawsby IMDb
Night Guards 2014 5 5 Marko Marinkovic n/a
Sector C-17 2014 5 5 Tim Mattson n/a
Mr Dentonn 2014 5 5 Iván Villamel IMDb
Helsing 2014 6 6 Ryan Johnston IMDb
Bar Talk 2013 6 6 Lowell Northrop IMDb
Roulette 2013 6 5 Dídac Cervera IMDb

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