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