the jaded viewer

Davide Melini (director of the short: The Puzzle) dropped me a line to tell me that the teaser and trailer are now live for his new short "The Sweet Hand of the White Rose".

Here is the plot:

"How many times have you had a bad day? How many times have you thought you would run away from everyone and everything? That is exactly what happens to Mark. In order to forget about a heated discussion with his girlfriend, he decides to get in the car and go far away. But a little mistake will change his reality forever...".

A few facts: It's a 16 min short and it was shot all over Spain.

Check out the teaser and the trailer below.

Teaser





Trailer





Head over to Davide Melini's blog for more information.

Labels: the puzzle, the shortround

Posted by the jaded viewer at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

From Double Edge Films and Jamin Winans, the director of one of the best indie films of last year, Ink comes their newest short: Uncle Jack!

Double Edge Films was recently commissioned by Pentax cameras to make a short film. Most of the actors from Ink are back in this one, so your bound to see some familiar faces.It stars a few of the Ink crew including Chris Soren Kelly, Quinn Hunchar, Jeremy Make, and Shelby Malone.

Check out the short below!





That little 5 minute short just made my day. So full of coincidental fun and lots of LOLs. If you still haven't seen Ink, you can head over to the official site.

Labels: independent cinema, ink, ink torrent, ink trailer, Jamin Winans, the shortround

Posted by the jaded viewer at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The one thing that I've been not familiar with is the world of web horror and horror shorts. I've been trying to correct this with my ongoing The Shortround series where I put up shorts or web series that I think are pretty cool.

So after stumbling on a short by Drew Daywalt called Suicide Girl via Horrorland, I must say I was impressed. Once you see something you like, you start Fox Mulder-ing the investigation to see what else you can find. Thus, my extensive viewing of FEWDIO.com shorts on their YouTube Channel.

Color me floored. This is some good shit.

I am ecstatic that I found these videos and these are some of the best high quality, top notch horror shorts I've ever seen. All the shorts are masterfully produced, feature solid acting, eerie soundtrack and music, expert camera work and deliver the BOO! scares you won't forget.

First, go watch what caught my eye and you can be my Dana Scully and believe the hype I've been throwing at you.

Check out the Drew Daywalt's short called "Suicide Girl"





the jaded viewer says: For a 4 minute short, it packs a creepy punch right out of the park. Internet horror is usually hit or miss but this little short blends social tech with Ringu style madness. One of the best shorts I've seen.

Here are a few more shorts I think are standouts from the mass filmography of Fewdio Entertainment. Some of them are long slow burns that BOO! you, others are a minute or so of Twilight Zone twisty twizzler horror goodness.


I'm never closing my eyes.....again



The worst job in the world....



Mommy?



Love that spin cycle...




So many other good shorts, check all of them out at Fewdio's YouTube Channel.

Labels: horror short, suicide, suicide circle, suicide girl, the shortround, web series

Posted by the jaded viewer at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I never heard of Jeremiah Kipp until he sent over a link to his latest short Contact. But a quick search on his name and his career comes into clear view on the interweb. So never turning a deaf ear on the indie scene, I watched the short (and you can view here).

the jaded viewer says: Simply, its a story about a couple (a black dude who look like Andre 3000 and a white woman) who score some crack, get naked and smoke it. But it's done a little more avante garde than that.

Entirely in black and white, the film I thought was a silent short until somebody spoke and seems to echo a message that drugs are indeed a virus that can break up the family mold.

It's shot nicely, the establishing scenes are very dark but with light filtering in. The naked drug use gives way to some surrealistic kissing hallucinations that were top notch.

Contact is a dream that seems like a nightmare but we don't know which is true. Not sure what the message is, but for a 10 minute short, it's going to make you think twice on doing hard drugs. Just say No, but say yes to this short.

It is online as part of the IndieRoar Online Film Competition (www.indieroar.com).
More info about Jeremiah Kipp go here: http://www.colonelscrypt.com/Interviews/Jeremiah%20Kipp/index.htm

Labels: the shortround

Posted by the jaded viewer at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Alice Jacobs is Dead

Alice Jacobs is Dead (2009)

Directed by Alex Horwitz

I found the trailer for Alice Jacobs is Dead last week. It was a short that from the trailer seemed to give us a different perspective on what a zombie film could be.

And what a difference it is.

Here is what we don't see: Zombie hordes in mass, kinetic, fast moving zombies, good guys vs zombies or any zombie attack force.

Here is what we DO see: A couple who are deeply in love until the bitter end despite a sickness that ultimately leads both of them to their deaths.

Alice Jacobs is part zombie film, part romance story. It's zombmanticism. A new subgenre of zombie films that takes the Romero of old and adds in a tender juicy slice of love. Put in the shoes of our brilliant doctor and having to choose between the woman he loves and the safety of the human race, it's an ethical and moral question that puts the viewer to the test. What would you do?

Boring Plot-O-Matic

Dr. Ben Jacobs saved the world. The drug he created allowed mankind to fight back against the Z-virus, which nearly destroyed civilization entirely. Now, in the aftermath of the crisis, hes trying to cure the last victims of the virus. But what will happen when he brings his mysterious work home?

Awesome Review-O-Matic

Alice Jacobs is Dead stars John La Zar as Dr. Ben Jacobs and Adrienne Barbeau as Alice Jacobs. It has a feel of World War Z as we are 2 years removed from the outbreak, with a partial cure coming from the doc. But unknown to all, including his lab scientist George, his wife is sick with the virus as well, having been prolonged by Jacob's "cure". She lives between life and zombie life,
a purgatory of hell in which she is imprisoned in her own home.

Barbeau is perfect as Alice who has to deal with this conflict. Trapped and beginning to get the cravings of a soon to be undead, she deteriorates before our very eyes. In the penultimate scene of her pending transformation, she devours tasty red meat in glorious cannibalism. La Zar is solid as the doc and husband who blinded by love lives only to find a cure and keep his wife alive.

Later, our junior doc discovers Dr. Jacob's "secret" which leads to the chilling conclusion. Dr. Jacobs has to make a choice. Keep his wife alive or kill her to protect humanity. That's the foreground question of AJID. But the backround question is what Alice decides to do. She too has to make a choice. Prolong a life isolated from humanity or let the sickness progress and turn into the inevitable. Which would you choose?

Romero made us feel for Zombies with Bub in Day of the Dead, but never have I felt torn for how I felt about Alice Jacobs. Humanizing people with a sickness may be the satire of this zombie short but it's packs an emotional POW!

Alice Jacobs is Dead is what zombie movies should be in this new millennium. Spinning a new perspective on this genre, questioning our morality and adding scenes of terror and gore to the satire.

At the end of watching Alice Jacobs is Dead, those 2 questions will linger in your mind for a long time. What would you do?

Gore-ipedia

Some ripped intestines
Blood trauma to the back of the head

WTF moment

The ending

The Jaded Viewer's Final Prognosis

Check out the official site and Facebook page for more information. Thanks to Alex Horwitz for sending me a screener of the short film. Hopefully the short will make its go around in festivals soon. People need to see this if they even consider themselves a fan of zombie movies.

Check out the review of this short on Planet of Terror as well.

Rating:
Check out the trailer below.

Labels: 2009 horror trailers, george romero, the shortround, zombies

Posted by the jaded viewer at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

What happens when you mix blaxploitation and Christmas? Oh you get Ken Foree kicking freakin ass as Black Santa in Black Santa's Revenge, a short from David Walker.

The teaser trailer is chock full of chocolate chip badass goodness. Fuck Milk! I think we all need to see this for the taglines and one liners.

"In a city where crimes runs rampant and despair rules the streets, one man delivers hope with a VENGEANCE!"

(sounds like Detroit)

"He Knows When You've Been Naughty"

(Nice people get shot by the naughty)

"Merry Christmas you naughty motherf*cker!"

(he's got a shotgun!)

Check out the teaser trailer below.





For more inforama, check out the official site. It's now available for digital download as well. It's also premiering at the Horror Society Holiday of Horrors Film Festival on December 12th in Chicago.

Labels: 2009 horror movies, black devil doll, black santa's revenge, blaxploitation, christmas, santa claus, the shortround

Posted by the jaded viewer at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I think I may have found the Romero zombie movie I've been looking for. And it's not Survival of the Dead. Oddly enough, after watching the trailer for Alex Horwitz's trailer for his short Alice Jacobs is Dead, I think this may be the zombie film that we should all want to see.

Here be the plot:

Dr. Ben Jacobs saved the world. The drug he created allowed mankind to fight back against the Z-virus, which nearly destroyed civilization entirely. Now, in the aftermath of the crisis, hes trying to cure the last victims of the virus. But what will happen when he brings his mysterious work home?

Starring John La Zar and Adrienne Barbeau, it has a feel of World War Z mixed in with I Am Legend and a touch of Night of the Living Dead. It's interesting enough to get on my radar. It should all be on yours as well.

It premiered at the San Diego Comic Con this summer. Check out the official site and Facebook page for more information.

Check out the trailer below. What do you think?

Labels: 2009 horror trailers, george romero, the shortround, zombies

Posted by the jaded viewer at 10:00 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Hot off the presses from the jaded viewer inbox of awesomness is a little short entitled Wade. Thanks to director Haynze Whitmore who sent me a screener of the film. After watching the trailers (you can see them all below) I was expecting a zombie exploitation flick. It's a little of both and you can see bits of Ash in the titular character.

Here be the plot.

WADE is a short film about a war hero that has to adapt to a small town after serving years in the armed forces. He takes a job as a bug exterminator and often feels the urge to go head to head combat with the bugs using army artillery. Disaster strikes when a chemical company does illegal spilling of a bizarre toxic waste and begins turning people into the living dead. Wade has to go back to his roots as a solder and save this small town from damnation.

the jaded viewer says: Whitmore filmed this short in Cheboygan, Michigan on what indie film directors call "a shoe string budget". Unfortunately it shows. The grindhouse, staticky feel got my gore adrenaline pumped early on but when we're introduced to Wade, it's hard to like our anti-hero asshole. He's got a scratchy voice, a severe smoking addiction and hates on everyone. As opposed to Ash, who uses humor and sarcasm, Wade comes off a little difficult to like. But I guess that's his charm. Raspy voice, wifebeater and muscle car. That's Wade in a nutshell.

Wade's day as a bug exterminator has him smoke bombing a lady's house, yelling at his GF, drinking the booze and investigating zombie slaughter. The good stuff finally comes in buckets and drum full of top notch gore and splatter. Zombies attack, zombies eat flesh and zombies get capped via headshots. In the shadow of darkness, Whitmore pulls off some good effects that Raimi would applaud. The movie is very surreal as well, combining some over the top performances from the cast with a hoola hooping girl trio music number.

Overall, Whitmore does his best to compact Wade's story into a short of a would be feature film. I am amazed by the drive indie filmmakers have when making their ideas come to life. You have to applaud the effort by Haynze Whitmore and his crew for making dare I say a first...an exploitation/zombie film. It's a first effort that can only get better on the more than likely sequel.










Wade was screened at the Madison Horror Festival and had two nominations and one win at the Terror Film Festival in Philly. Head over to the MySpace site for more information.

Labels: the shortround, wade

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

Thank the prophets for the country north of the border. Canada keeps churning out great little tidbits of awesomeness and this one is in the form of fake 1980s grindhouse VHS like movie trailers. Part of the Astron-6 collective of Winnipeg, Adam Brooks, director of Fireman just won the the top prize in the Winnipeg Short Film Massacre.

You can view the faux trailer below. You can see the Maniac Cop and grindy grindhouse smell of fire burning from here. So many quotey quotables in this one. I have to say I liked it. Brooks and company have done their homework and it shows. Here's hoping we see The Postal Worker or The Ambulance Driver as the sequel.





Check all the other Astron-6 trailers by heading here.

Labels: fireman short, the shortround

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

[Well I'm going to start another little on and off segment on the jaded viewer called The Shortround. Basically the premise is this. If you see a short around the interwebs, tell me about it and I'll post it up. Let's keep the indie horror and indie interweb scene going!]

I've been getting a few shorts sent to the jaded viewer inbox but haven't had the time to view alot of them. But I finally got a chance to check this one out called The Scare Game.

Here be the plot:

The first installment of the new horror/ comedy web series that chronicles the adventures of a group of horror enthusiasts. Their lives change drastically when they are thrust into a real horror event.

the jaded viewer says: Interesting little quirky web series that "spins" our horror cliches and dabbles some humorish stereotypes into the mix. It's clever but I can't shake the feeling I've seen it before.

Check out the first episode below.

Labels: the scare game, the shortround

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:06 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

It's another round of The Shortround. From the jaded viewer inbox comes this hell of a little short. And I do mean short. It's only 4:49.

This one is brought to us by Davide Melini, an Italian screenwriter and director.

the jaded viewer says: The Puzzle compacts alot of eerieness in it's 4 min+ runtime. It goes into some sort of David Lynch-ian motif and ends with a bang (wink). Kudos to Melin as the sound, the builtup tension and the twizzler twist has a flair for the Argento or even possibly some M. Night. Good, decent short.

Check it out below.

Labels: the puzzle, the shortround

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:05 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

[Well I'm going to start another little on and off segment on the jaded viewer called The Shortround. Basically the premise is this. If you see a short around the interwebs, tell me about it and I'll post it up. Let's keep the indie horror and indie interweb scene going!]

Well the Soska sisters dropped me a line to tell me about their spankin new short called "Bad Girls"that was created in 48 hours for the 2009 Blood Shots fast horror film competition.

My first look at these demented twins work was when I watched the trailer for Dead Hooker in a Trunk. They haven't missed a beat in this awesome short.

Check it out below.

Labels: dead hooker in a trunk, soska sisters, the shortround

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:09 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

[Well I'm going to start another little on and off segment on the jaded viewer called The Shortround. Basically the premise is this. If you see a short around the interwebs, tell me about it and I'll post it up. Let's keep the indie horror and indie interweb scene going!]

Well continuing this Shortround Thursday, I bring you Adam Wingard's (director of Home Sick and Pop Skull) new short called Her Name is Laura Panic.

I particularly liked the first one (which is below as well) because of the lovely and beautiful Hannah Hughes. Wingard's indie slyness blended in with a touch of dark humor mochas into a delicious appetizer.

Check out all the shorts below. They are part of his "Forgot My Meds" trilogy.

Laura Panic (Part 1)





Cerebella (Part 2)






Her Name is Laura Panic (Part 3)

Labels: adam wingard, laura panic, the shortround

Posted by the jaded viewer at 12:07 AM | Permalink | Comments | links to this post