In 1760, Joshua and Naomi Collins sailed from Liverpool to Maine with their young son Barnabas (Justin Tracy), and quickly set up a fishing port community called Collinsport. The town prospered, and the Collins family built a large mansion — Collinwood. Barnabas (Johnny Depp) grew into a young lothario, and had an affair with a servant girl, Angelique (Eva Green).  Barnabas soon spurned Angelique for the love of the virtuous Josette (Bella Heathcote), which proved to be his undoing… for Angelique was secretly a witch. She killed Barnabas’ parents, and bewitched Josette into throwing herself off the cliff at Widow’s Hill. In her ultimate act of vengeance, Angelique turned Barnabas into a vampire, simultaneously turning the town against him. Barnabas was then chained inside a coffin and buried “alive” (undead?), doomed to suffer his losses for eternity. Read more »

David Lynch’s surreal cinematic mash-up of love and depravity won the Cannes Film Festival’s prestigious Palme d’Or. It’s a simple story about two fierce lovers, Sailor and Lula (Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern) who try to keep their heads above water in a world gone, almost literally, to Hell. The overt Wizard of Oz references serve as a constant reminder that you’re watching a morality tale — think Grimms’, but with more doggy-style and exploding heads. The lack of subtlety may be pretentious, but it’s interesting to see adult themes like redemption and sexual desire forced into fable. Read more »

Featuring the best new short horror films by women, the Viscera Film Festival’s carpet ceremony is taking place on July 7th at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, CA. A fantastic lineup, consisting of 13 shorts, was carefully selected by Viscera’s special guest judges and staff to provide the audience with the most original, innovative, and dynamic horror films being made by women today. Fresh Blood, Viscera’s newest category, features the best shorts made by girls 18 and under.  These films provide a promising look at some of the horror genre’s up and coming filmmakers.

Axelle Carolyn directing "The Halloween Kid"

In addition to the amazing short film lineup, the audience will also be treated to a very special sneak peek screening of Danielle Harris’ directorial feature debut Among Friends, starring Alyssa Lobit, AJ Bowen, and Jennifer Blanc-Biehn. Among Friends is a twisted film about a dinner party gone wrong. Set against an 80s backdrop, the good time takes a dark turn when one in the group hijacks the evening in an attempt to help the others come clean about their secret betrayals against one another–and is willing to cut through the bone in order to expose the truth.

Among Friends. This dinner party’s gonna be KILLER.

Bloodtraffick by Jen Thym

Viscera’s carpet ceremony will kick off an international tour for the selected short films with a curated program of a whopping 73 shorts, including a fantastic lineup of selected films that aren’t screening at The Egyptian Theatre. The Viscera Tour landed in 25 venues in the past year, ranging from movie houses to universities, screening an eclectic program of shorts that have been curated since 2007. Viscera will be screening in Toronto with Fangoria Entertainment’s Fright Nights with Curio-Media, as well as co-hosting a 2 day symposium and screening at UCD in Dublin, Ireland. Go here to see the upcoming Viscera Tour events.

The July 7th carpet ceremony is a co-presentation brought to you by the American Cinematheque and Viscera Film Festival and they intend to make it one hell of a party. Tickets will go on sale in late May. For now, visit the Viscera Organization’s website for more information.

Shorts Program:

Baby Face – Kate Shenton
Barbie Girls – Vincianes Millereuu
Bloodtraffick – Jen Thym
Escape From Hellview – Hadas Brandes
How to Rid Your Lover of a Negative Emotion Caused By You – Nadia Litz
Jump – Louise Fielden
Nice Guys Finish Last – Kimberly McCollough
Sibling Rivalry (Under 18) – Tara-Nicole Azarian
The Dump – Rebekah McKendry 
The Halloween Kid – Axelle Carolyn
The Morning After – Jen Moss
The Night Caller – Donna Thorland and Peter Podgursky
The Third Eye – Caroline du Potet

2012 Tour Official Selections

2012 Viscera Sponsors
FEARnet, Final Draft, Curio Media, Inc., Wirtshaus, LyzArts, Bloodcurdling Baubles, Rotten Cotton, Irene Langholm, Matt Orsman, Desert Pinups, KC SoapsNMore, Jessica Grundy, Starfruit Productions, Laughing Vixen Lounge, Humphrey’s Handmade, The Poisoned Apple, PlanetFury.com, PlanetEtheria.com, thechainsawmafia.com, Fangoria Entertainment, mrfrights.com, Rude and Reckless, Emerald Angels, Bob’s Imagination, The Spooky Bones Company, Crye’s Creations, Cherry Lock, Hot Chick Physics, Vena Kava, Last Blog on the Left, Devour the Blog, Friendly Misanthrope, Scary Art, Blood Bath, and Red Covers Me.

The Barn is a short indie horror film directed by Corey Norman, and written by Tyler Wood and Rebecca Johnson. Read more »

Just as Johnny Depp is Tim Burton’s cinematic avatar, Danny Elfman is Burton’s brother-in-atmosphere, connecting to the director’s unique atmosphere through music the way that Depp connects with the director’s misfit heroes. Since 1985’s Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, Elfman has contributed the score to nearly all of Burton’s major studio output (with the exceptions of Ed Wood and Sweeney Todd, the latter of which for obvious reasons, and the former due to a feud with Burton at the time Ed Wood was in production). Danny Elfman’s offbeat, zany, and atmospheric music, fueled in part by his days with the new wave/rock band Oingo Boingo, usually compliments Burton’s offbeat, zany, and atmospheric fims. Read more »