Tuesday 18 July 2000

International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival 2009

The International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival is a sister festival to The Phoenix Film Festival. It's shorter, cheaper and more fun; and also naturally restricted to genre film, showing everything that range might suggest. There are classic films you've seen with guest appearances from some of the stars; new features, some in competition; plenty of short films from student, amateur or up and coming directors; and a few odd other gems thrown in too. It's also where my better half and I found a scene in Arizona.

Back in 2007, we noticed an ad for this festival so headed out to the Harkins Centerpoint in Tempe to see what it was all about. Neither of us had been to a festival before, so had no idea what we would find, but we loved it. We knew nobody when we got there, but we had found a few friends by the time we left, one of whom was the Midnite Movie Mamacita, an introduction that led us to become regulars at her shows over the last few years, originally at the sadly defunct Chandler Cinemas and now at MADCAP Theaters in Tempe. Through her, we've become part of a vibrant local film community that just keeps on growing. It's been a fascinating and thoroughly enjoyable few years and The International Horror & Sci-Fi Film Festival is where it all began for us. In 2007 we were wide eyed newbies, in 2009 we were part of the viewing committee and we're eager for more.

This year's festival is its fifth year, back at the venue where we first found it, though it's now MADCAP Theaters instead of the Harkins Centerpoint. Special guests were Casper Van Dien (Johnny Rico in Starship Troopers), Judith O'Dea (Barbra in Night of the Living Dead) and Marilyn Burns (Sally Hardesty in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre). A great time was had by all.

The people running this festival know precisely what they're doing and they're all major players in this local community. Check them all out if you're into film in Arizona, beginning with Chris and Jason and the folks at the The Phoenix Film Foundation. Andrea, the Midnite Movie Mamacita is the schedule programmer for MADCAP Theaters. Festival programmers are Danny and Brandon from I Can Smell Your Brains for horror; and science fiction writer Mike Stackpole for scifi.

Here are all the films shown this year, with film titles linking to my reviews and the IMDb pages added for reference. My reviews will fill in over the next week or so.

Horror Features
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
XII 2008 Michael A Nickles IMDb
Evil Angel 2009 Richard Dutcher IMDb
Neighbor 2009 5 5 Robert A Masciantonio IMDb

Sci-Fi Features
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
8th Wonderland 2008 6 6 Nicolas Alberny & Jean Mach IMDb
Eyeborgs 2009 5 6 Richard Clabaugh IMDb

Showcase Features
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Blood Moon Rising 2009 4 4 Brian Skiba IMDb
Burial Ground 1981 Andrea Bianchi IMDb
Embodiment of Evil 2008 José Mojica Marins IMDb
Necromentia 2009 5 4 Pearry Teo IMDb
Night of the Living Dead 1968 7 7 George A Romero IMDb
Night of the Zombies 1980 Bruno Mattei IMDb
The Revenant 2009 D Kerry Prior IMDb
Starship Troopers 1997 6 7 Paul Verhoeven IMDb
The Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1974 7 5 Tobe Hooper IMDb
Trail of the Screaming Forehead 2007 Larry Blamire IMDb
Vampire Girl vs Frankenstein Girl 2009 Yoshihiro Nishimura & Naoyuki Tomomatsu IMDb
Zombie Girl: The Movie 2009 5 4 Justin Johnson, Aaron Marshall and Erik Mauck IMDb

Deadly Event
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Argumentalism 2009 Aaron Burckle IMDb
Don't Cry 2009 Jose Rosete IMDb
Eleanor Rigby 2009 Brenton Covington IMDb
Focal Point 2009 Ernie Lausten IMDb
The Heart of Evil 2009 Austin Nordell IMDb
The Killing Hour 2009 Jordan Pillar IMDb
Sex and Violence 2009 5 5 Charles Peterson IMDb
Soul Survivor 2009 Angel Ruiz n/a

Horror Shorts A
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Aaaaagh! A Monster 2009 5 5 Gabriel Renfro IMDb
& Teller 2008 Frank Ippolito & Teller IMDb
Elder Sign 2009 Joseph Nanni IMDb
The Horribly Slow Murderer with the Extremely Inefficient Weapon 2008 6 6 Richard Gale IMDb
The Long Night 2008 Paul Allen IMDb
Smooth Operator 2009 5 5 Alyn Darnay IMDb
Void 2009 Meredith Ann Berg IMDb
Zombies & Cigarettes 2009 Rafael Martinez & Iñaki San Román IMDb

Horror Shorts B
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
1881 Zombies 2009 5 5 Dusty Duprel IMDb
& Teller 2 2008 Frank Ippolito & Teller IMDb
The Baby Shredder Song ? 5 6 David Avallone n/a
Clowns vs Ninjas 2009 David Brocca IMDb
Goodnight, Victor 2009 5 6 Andrew Grissom IMDb
Jack the Reaper 2009 Gregor Habsburg IMDb
Not Quite Dead 2007 4 4 Stephen C Krystek IMDb
Take Out 2004 Joe Russo IMDb
Thirsty 2009 Andrew Kasch IMDb

Sci-Fi Shorts A
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Alone 2008 Mack Duncan IMDb
Dish Communication 2009 6 5 Shaun Wilson IMDb
iGod 2009 Christian Cantamessa IMDb
The Kirkie 2009 6 6 James Krieg IMDb
SchizoFredric 2009 6 6 Andy Poyiadgi IMDb
The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9! 2009 Jake Armstrong IMDb
Tranquility 2009 Paul Jenkinson IMDb
Übermensch 2009 Simon Temple IMDb

Sci-Fi Shorts B
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
2095 2007 Troy Romeo IMDb
Bohemibot 2009 5 5 Brendan Bellomo IMDb
Fractalus 2008 James Ward Byrkit IMDb
ID 2009 Daishi Takiishi IMDb

Bonus Short
Title Year H D Director(s) IMDb
Treevenge 2008 Jason Eisener IMDb

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