8 Films to Die For
Encyclopedia
After Dark Horrorfest is an annual horror
film festival
featuring eight independent horror movies, sometimes with "secret" bonus films, all distributed by After Dark Films
in the USA. The first HorrorFest was held in 2006.
Dread
The Final
The Graves
Kill Theory
Lake Mungo
The Reeds
Hidden
ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction
Autopsy
The Broken
The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations,
Dying Breed
From Within
Perkins' 14
Slaughter
Voices
After Dark Films
produced and distributed both Slaughter and Perkins' 14, making these the first films that the company has produced and then released as part of the 8 Films to Die For.
On October 31, the 8 semifinalists were announced: X-Actra, Princess Agoniya, Shelly Martinez
, Saffron Sinclaire, Dracula's Girls, Demon, Vic Tim, and Bella Vamp. Three weeks later, the 4 finalists were picked: Demon
, Princess Agoniya, Vic Tim, and Saffron Sinclaire.
On December 13, Vic Tim (aka Kelly Marchand) was announced as the third Miss Horrorfest.
Borderland
Crazy Eights
The Deaths of Ian Stone
Lake Dead
Mulberry Street
Nightmare Man
Tooth and Nail
Unearthed
Frontier(s)
, which will be shown as part of Horrorfest III.
The Abandoned
Dark Ride
The Gravedancers
The Hamiltons
Penny Dreadful
Reincarnation
Unrest
Wicked Little Things
. Participants auditioned both online and in person at Los Angeles and New York locations, and were later flown to those cities to appear at the Fuse/Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, the Fangoria Radio Show with Dee Snider
and Debbie Rochon, PlayMania
and a short series of reality-style movies featured on YouTube. The four finalists were chieko13, msblackbetty, darkspidernyc, and Ysabella Brave
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ysabellabrave. Internet voting ended on November 9, 2006. Msblackbetty was named Miss HorrorFest 2006 on November 18, 2006.
was released on September 11, 2007, and The Tripper
was released by Fox Video on October 23, 2007.
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
film festival
Film festival
A film festival is an organised, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theaters or screening venues, usually in a single locality. More and more often film festivals show part of their films to the public by adding outdoor movie screenings...
featuring eight independent horror movies, sometimes with "secret" bonus films, all distributed by After Dark Films
After Dark Films
After Dark Films is a horror film production company and distributor founded by Courtney Solomon.-History:The company is the organizer for the annual independent horror film festival After Dark Horrorfest, also known as 8 Films to Die For, which is currently in its fourth year...
in the USA. The first HorrorFest was held in 2006.
Films
- 5151 (film)51 is an American horror film, which was directed by Jason Connery and starring Bruce Boxleitner and John Shea.-Plot:Political and public pressure coerces the government into allowing two well-known reporters and their assistants limited access to the ultra-secretive Area 51...
- Fertile GroundFertile Ground (film)-Plot:Emily and Nate Weaver leave the city for the rural comfort of Nate's ancestral home in the country. Once there, Emily is plagued by horrifying visions and haunted by the ghosts inhabiting their isolated new home.-Cast:...
- HuskHusk (film)Husk is an American horror film. It stars Devon Graye, C. J. Thomason, Tammin Sursok and Ben Easter. It is directed by Brett Simmons.-Plot:...
- Prowl
- Re-KillRe-KillRe-Kill is an upcoming American horror film starring Scott Adkins, Bruce Payne and Daniella Alonso, it was directed by Valeri Milev and written by Michael Hurst.-Cast:* Scott Adkins as Parker* Daniella Alonso as Matthews* Raicho Vasilev as Elvis...
- Scream of the BansheeScream of the BansheeScream of the Banshee is a 2011 monster movie directed by Steven C. Miller and released as part of the After Dark Originals series. The film is co-produced by Syfy. Filming began in November of 2009 in Louisiana...
- Seconds ApartSeconds ApartSeconds Apart is a 2011 thriller/horror film starring Orlando Jones and twins Edmund and Gary Entin. The film concerns a pair of twins, Jonah and Seth, who share telepathic and telekinetic abilities. Things start to spiral out of their control as their classmates end up dying in twisted and bizarre...
- The TaskThe Task (film)The Task is a 2011 horror film directed by Alex Orwell, written by Kenny Yakkel, produced by Christopher Milburn and Courtney Solomon, starring Alexandra Staden, Victor McGuire and Adam Rayner...
HorrorFest 4
After Dark's HorrorFest for 2010 was scheduled for January 29 through February 4, 2010.Films
The eight films shown during the course of the festival were:Dread
Dread (film)
Dread is a 2009 horror film directed by Anthony DiBlasi and starring Jackson Rathbone, Shaun Evans and Hanne Steen, based on the short story of the same name by Clive Barker...
- Dread, the second in the Book of BloodBook of BloodBook of Blood is a 2008 British Mystery-Drama-horror film directed by John Harrison and stars Jonas Armstrong, Sophie Ward and Doug Bradley.-Plot:...
franchise is a stylish horror/thriller about three New England college students working on a documentary for school focusing on what others dread in life... and one of them is a psychopath who takes his work a little too seriously.
The Final
The Final (film)
The Final is a revenge horror film directed by Joey Stewart, the film also serves as teen torture porn to some viewers and starring Marc Donato, Jascha Washington and Travis Tedford.-Plot:...
- After receiving a lake-house granted to him in his uncle’s will, a high school outcast named Dane, and his friends, Jack, Ravi, Andy, and Emily prepare for a single night to abduct their bullying classmates, and leave their tormentors scarred for life... both physically and emotionally.
The Graves
The Graves (film)
The Graves is a 2009 horror film. Described as a "supernatural survival shocker," it is written and directed by veteran comic book creator Brian Pulido and produced by Mischief Maker Studios, and Ronalds Brothers Productions.- Plot :...
- On their last weekend together, two teenage girls get lost in a remote part of the Arizona desert where they are lured to Skull City Mine, an abandoned silver mine town. But they soon learn Skull City is anything but abandoned, and there’s no way out.
Kill Theory
Kill Theory
Kill Theory is a 2008 horror-thriller film directed by Chris Moore and written by Kelly C. Palmer.-Plot:Three years ago, an unnamed man was sentenced to a mental institution for cutting the rope that held his three friends during a mountain climbing trip, sending the trio plunging to their deaths...
- Are you capable of the unthinkable? That’s the question seven college students face when they visit a secluded vacation home in Louisiana to celebrate graduation and are put to a horrific test by a mysterious killer who forces them to kill one another in order to survive the night.
Lake Mungo
Lake Mungo (film)
Lake Mungo is a 2008 Australian psychological horror mockumentary film directed by filmmaker Joel Anderson and stars Talia Zucker.-Plot:Sixteen-year-old Alice Palmer drowns while swimming in the local dam. When her body is recovered and a verdict of accidental death returned, her grieving family...
- A "mockumentary" featuring interviews detailing how a 16-year-old Australian girl drowned while swimming in a local lake. With a verdict of accidental death, her grieving family buries her. A series of clues and a haunting by the teen girl's spirit force her parents to learn more about her life when her secret past emerges.
The Reeds
- A weekend boating trip through the English Norfolk Broads becomes a terrifying, deadly ordeal for six 20-something year old friends when their boat gets damaged and they are menaced by unseen forces lurking in the reeds.
Hidden
Hidden (Skjult)
Hidden is a 2009 Norwegian psychological horror film written and directed by Pål Øie, which stars Kristoffer Joner, Karin Park and Bjarte Hjelmeland.-Plot:...
- A man unwillingly returns to the small Norwegian town he ran away from 19 years ago. His cruel mother has recently died, and left him the house he grew up in and he soon is entangled up in a series of events that seem beyond anyone’s control...
ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction
ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction (film)
ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction is a 2010 zombie comedy film directed by Kevin Hamedani.-Plot:The film begins on a beach of the island town of Port Gamble. A blind resident discovers a rotting zombie washed up in the sand, who wakes up...
- A conservative island community is under attack! The small town of Port Gamble in Washington state is being overrun with brain/flesh-eating zombies, and a rag tag band of rebels try to turn the tide and push the invading hoards of undead back.
HorrorFest 4 DVD releases
Horrorfest 4 DVD's released March 23, 2010 and went out to retailers March 12, 2010.HorrorFest III
After Dark's HorrorFest for 2009 was scheduled for January 9 through January 15, 2009.Films
The eight films shown during the course of the festival were:Autopsy
Autopsy (film)
Autopsy is a 2008 American horror film directed by Adam Gierasch and from the producer of the Final Destination film series. It was premiered on August 24, 2008 in the United Kingdom at the London FrightFest Film Festival...
- A young woman attempts to find her injured boyfriend in a bizarre hospital located in the middle of nowhere.
The Broken
The Broken (film)
The Broken is a horror film written and directed by Sean Ellis and starring Lena Headey.- Plot :Gina McVey is a radiologist who is enjoying dinner one evening with her family and her boyfriend Stefan when a mirror shatters for no apparent reason...
- A young Englishwoman is surprised to see what looks like herself, drive by one day. She follows the woman, which sets off a chain of events which leads her into a haunting, nightmare reality.
The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations,
- A young man with the power of time-travel attempts to solve the mystery of his girlfriend's death. In doing this, however, he frees a vindictive serial killer.
Dying Breed
Dying Breed
Dying Breed is an Australian horror film, which was directed by Jody Dwyer and stars Leigh Whannell and Nathan Phillips.-Synopsis:A group of hikers looking for a Tasmanian Tiger encounter a family of cannibals descended from Alexander Pearce who are out to find fresh breeding stock to...
- Australian zoology student Nina and her four friends go into the Tasmanian Forest in search of the endangered Tasmanian Tiger. What they discover, however, is a cannibalistic clan who are the descendants of a famous escaped serial killer known as The Pieman.
From Within
From Within (film)
From Within is a horror film directed by Phedon Papamichael Jr. and written by Brad Keene. Filming took place in Maryland in fall 2007. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April-May 2008.-Premise:...
- The residents of a small town in MarylandMarylandMaryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
begin to die off, supposedly of suicides.
Perkins' 14
Perkins' 14
Perkins' 14 is a 2009 horror film originated by Jeremy Donaldson, written by Lane Shadgett, and directed by Craig Singer. The film is produced by Jeremy Donaldson, Matthew Kuipers, and Christopher Milburn. The film was released theatrically nationwide January 9–15, 2009...
- Robert Perkins brainwashes 14 people, in order to create an army that will defend him from his parents' killers.
Slaughter
Slaughter (2009 film)
Slaughter is a 2009 film produced and distributed by After Dark Films. It was one of the films shown during the third Horrorfest.-Synopsis:...
- A young woman meets a girl at a bar and returns to her family farm in rural Georgia in the hope of escaping an abusive situation. Unfortunately, this safe place ends up being much more abusive than her previous one.
Voices
Someone Behind You
Someone Behind You is a 2007 South Korean horror film, based on the Manhwa It's Two People by Kang Kyung-ok. It was released in America as Voices under the 2009 After Dark Horrorfest film festival. In this movie, a young woman tries to escape what seems to be a curse that is killing members of her...
- Overnight, brutal murders become everyday occurrences as friends turn on friends, brothers turn on sisters, and husbands turn on wives. Originally released in South KoreaSouth KoreaThe Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
as 'Du saram yi-da' ("Two people"), based on the best selling Korean comic book series of the same name. Also known as 'Someone Behind You'.
After Dark Films
After Dark Films
After Dark Films is a horror film production company and distributor founded by Courtney Solomon.-History:The company is the organizer for the annual independent horror film festival After Dark Horrorfest, also known as 8 Films to Die For, which is currently in its fourth year...
produced and distributed both Slaughter and Perkins' 14, making these the first films that the company has produced and then released as part of the 8 Films to Die For.
Miss HorrorFest 2008
The auditions for Miss Horrorfest 2008 were open from September 15 to October 17. There were online auditions via Youtube, as well as on-site auditions on October 6, 2008 in Sherman Oaks California.On October 31, the 8 semifinalists were announced: X-Actra, Princess Agoniya, Shelly Martinez
Shelly Martinez
Shelly Leonor Martinez is a Mexican American model, actress, professional wrestler and valet. She is known for her work with World Wrestling Entertainment on its ECW brand under the ring name Ariel and for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling under the ring name Salinas as valet to The Latin American...
, Saffron Sinclaire, Dracula's Girls, Demon, Vic Tim, and Bella Vamp. Three weeks later, the 4 finalists were picked: Demon
Vanessa Rosa
Vanessa Gomes Rosa is an American Horror model and actress of Puerto Rican and Cape Verdian descent. She is most commonly referred to as one of the first Alternative models of color.-Early life:...
, Princess Agoniya, Vic Tim, and Saffron Sinclaire.
On December 13, Vic Tim (aka Kelly Marchand) was announced as the third Miss Horrorfest.
HorrorFest II 2007
After Dark's HorrorFest for 2007 was scheduled for November 9 through November 18, 2007.Films
The eight films shown during the course of the festival were:Borderland
Borderland (film)
Borderland is a 2007 horror film written and directed by Zev Berman. It is released as one of the 8 Films to Die For at Horrorfest 2007. It is very loosely based on the true story of Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo, the leader of a religious cult that practiced human sacrifice...
- Phil and his two college buddies road-trip down to a Mexican border town to celebrate their college graduation. While there, they run into a cult looking for human sacrifice and their weekend becomes a bloody test of survival.
Crazy Eights
- After a mutual childhood friend dies, six friends reunite for the funeral. While there, they find a map to unearth a time capsule in an abandoned hospital. They go on a hunt for this time capsule, but discover something else as well: the remains of a dead child.
The Deaths of Ian Stone
The Deaths of Ian Stone
The Deaths of Ian Stone is a 2007 horror film directed by Dario Piana. It stars Mike Vogel, Christina Cole, Jaime Murray, and Michael Dixon....
- Ian Stone is a young Englishman who finds himself trapped in a constant cycle of dying every night, only to wake up with a different life.
Lake Dead
Lake Dead
Lake Dead is a horror film that was released as part of the 2007 After Dark Horrorfest.-Synopsis:The film follows a group of teenagers who inherit a motel on a lake, only to uncover a series of dark and frightening family secrets.-Plot:...
- A group of teenagers inherit a motel on a lake, only to uncover a series of dark and frightening family secrets.
Mulberry Street
Mulberry Street (film)
Mulberry Street is a 2007 horror film that was released by After Dark Films as a part of their 8 Films to Die For 2007. It was released on DVD in the United States on March 18, 2008...
- A deadly pandemic breaks out in New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and six evicted people find themselves trapped in their tenement building having to fight off growing numbers of zombie-like people infected by rat bites who turn into "were-rats".
Nightmare Man
Nightmare Man (2006 film)
Nightmare Man is a 2006 horror film written and directed by Rolfe Kanefsky. It was produced by Paradigm Pictures, a division of Paradigm Entertainment Group, and Frederico Lapenda.-Storyline:...
- After receiving an African fertility mask as a gift from her husband, Ellen Morris is attacked by a mysterious being she dubs "The Nightmare Man". She takes refuge in a lakeside house where she puts the four people there in immediate danger.
Tooth and Nail
Tooth and Nail (film)
Tooth & Nail is a 2007 horror film about a group of people in a post-apocalyptic world who must fight to survive against a band of vicious cannibals.- Plot :...
- A group of people in a post-apocalypticApocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fictionApocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization due to a potentially existential catastrophe such as nuclear warfare, pandemic, extraterrestrial attack, impact event, cybernetic revolt, technological singularity, dysgenics, supernatural...
world of what was once the city of Philadelphia have to fight to survive against a band of vicious cannibalsCannibalismCannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
.
Unearthed
Unearthed (film)
Unearthed is a 2006 horror film, directed by Matthew Leutwyler and starring Emmanuelle Vaugier . This monster movie opened sometime on November 9, 2007 as one of the "8 Films to Die For" in the After Dark Films Horrorfest....
- A creature unearthed during an archaeological dig in a New Mexico town terrorizes the people of the town.
Frontier(s)
- A group of crooks attempt to take advantage of the riots ensuing a conservative regime taking control of France, only to run amok a family of neo-Nazi cannibals who reside in a remote villa on the French–German border. Frontier(s) was slated to be one of the films shown at Horrorfest 2007, but after the MPAA gave the film an NC-17 rating, it was decided that it would instead be released to theatres separately in May 2008. The DVD was released with the same Horrorfest packaging as the other films.
Miss HorrorFest 2007
Mistress Malice (aka Melissa Jones) was chosen as Miss HorrorFest 2007. In 2008, she joined the cast of Butterfly Effect: RevelationButterfly Effect: Revelation
The Butterfly Effect 3: Revelations is a 2009 science-fiction horror film directed by Seth Grossman that is the third film in the Butterfly Effect franchise.-Plot:...
, which will be shown as part of Horrorfest III.
HorrorFest 2006
After Dark's HorrorFest for 2006 was scheduled for November 9 through November 11, 2006.Films
The films shown during the course of the festival were:The Abandoned
- A film producer, who was adopted as a baby and sent to America, returns to her native Russia and the family farm. Once there, strange things begin to happen.
- After completion of the festival, this film was re-released to general theatres on February 23, 2007, due to being named the Fan Favorite.
Dark Ride
Dark Ride (film)
Dark Ride is a 2006 American horror-thriller film directed by Craig Singer and written by Singer and Robert Dean Klein. It was selected to play at the 8 Films To Die For film festival, being one of the first 8 films to be in the 8 Films To Die For films series...
- Ten years after he brutally murdered two girls, a killer escapes from a mental institution and returns to his turf, the theme park attraction called "Dark Ride" where he targets a group of eight college kids on their way to Spring Break.
The Gravedancers
The Gravedancers
The Gravedancers is a 2005 American horror film. It was chosen as one of the 8 Films To Die For in 2006 and screened at that year's After Dark Horrorfest film festival.-Synopsis:...
- A group of friends' lives are invaded by a trio of hostile ghosts after they engage in a drunken bout of grave-dancing during a wake for an old chum.
The Hamiltons
The Hamiltons
The Hamiltons is an independent horror film directed by the Butcher Brothers and the winner of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and the Malibu International Film Festival...
- A picture-perfect American family, making up of four very different siblings trying to get by after the recent death of their parents, is always kind, loving and respectful to their neighbors... except that they usually wind up killing them.
Penny Dreadful
Penny Dreadful (film)
Penny Dreadful is a 2006 independent American horror film. The film centers on a young woman who has a fear of cars and ends up stalked by a maniac hitchhiker preying on her fears....
- A young girl and her therapist take a road trip to help her overcome her phobia of riding in cars. This trip turns deadly as an escaped mental patient starts a new spree of killings.
Reincarnation
Reincarnation (film)
is a 2005 Japanese horror film directed by Takashi Shimizu and written by Takashi Shimizu and Masaki Adachi. Preceded by Infection and Premonition , Reincarnation is the third film in producer, Takashige Ichise's, as part of J-Horror Theater....
- A Japanese film crew recreates a gruesome mass murder at a rural hotel only to find themselves suffer fates they are acting out in the film.
Unrest
Unrest (film)
Unrest is an independent horror film. It was shown at the horror film festival 8 Films To Die For during the 2006 fall season.At the 2006 International Horror and Sci-Fi Film Festival it was awarded Best Picture for Horror, and the lead actress, Corri English, won Best Actress.-Plot:The film...
- A med student collapses upon sensing a "presence" about her cadaver. Her fears are strengthened by the mysterious death of a friend. She must discover the connection before an angry spirit can wreak further vengeance.
Wicked Little Things
- Recently widowed Karen Tunny and her two daughters, Sarah and Emma, move to a remote mountain home in Pennsylvania which Karen has inherited from the family of her late husband. However, she is unaware that the home is situated near an old coal mine, the site of an early 20th century tragedy in which many children miners were buried alive... and have now become zombies out to avenge their deaths.
Pre-HorrorFest Celebration
On Thursday, November 16, 2006, Dark Delicacies, a horror-themed bookstore in Burbank, CA hosted a signing event with about 30 filmmakers and talents from the movies.Miss HorrorFest 2006
A contest for the 'official spokeswoman' of the film series and for After Dark Films, was announced September 2006 on YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. Participants auditioned both online and in person at Los Angeles and New York locations, and were later flown to those cities to appear at the Fuse/Fangoria Chainsaw Awards, the Fangoria Radio Show with Dee Snider
Dee Snider
Daniel "Dee" Snider is an American singer-songwriter, screenwriter, radio personality, and actor. Snider is most famous for his role as the frontman of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister...
and Debbie Rochon, PlayMania
PlayMania
PlayMania is a live interactive game show on GSN, hosted by Mel Peachey, Shandi Finnessey, Jessica York, Angelle Tymon and Jeff Thisted. The two-hour program featured interactive games that the viewers could play to win cash prizes...
and a short series of reality-style movies featured on YouTube. The four finalists were chieko13, msblackbetty, darkspidernyc, and Ysabella Brave
Ysabella Brave
Ysabella Brave is an American vocalist signed by Cordless Recordings, a division of the Warner Music Group. She was discovered through the popularity of her YouTube channels, ysabellabrave and ysabellabravetalk.-Videos:Ysabella Brave posted the first videos of herself singing on YouTube on July...
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ysabellabrave. Internet voting ended on November 9, 2006. Msblackbetty was named Miss HorrorFest 2006 on November 18, 2006.
HorrorFest 2006 DVD releases
7 of the original list of 8 films from the 2006 festival were released on DVD on March 27, 2007. The Abandoned was released on June 19, 2007, the delay having been caused by the theatrical re-release. Of the bonus films, Snoop Dogg's Hood of HorrorHood of Horror
Hood of Horror is a horror film adaptation of a fictional comic book, which is an anthology of three short tales set in an urban milieu in a style reminiscent of Tales From The Crypt and Tales from the Hood. The movie debuted at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival...
was released on September 11, 2007, and The Tripper
The Tripper
The Tripper is a 2007 slasher film which was directed by David Arquette and stars Jaime King, Thomas Jane and Lukas Haas.-Synopsis:The film is a nostalgic homage to the exploitation films of Wes Craven and Tobe Hooper that follows a group of free-loving hippies who escape to a modern-day Woodstock...
was released by Fox Video on October 23, 2007.
External links
- 8 Films To Die For trailer at apple.com
- Miss Horrorfest competition videos at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- After Dark 2007 Review