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Tickets On Sale For The Frenzied Hollywood Fringe Festival

June 9, 2013 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Described by the director as the ”best damn thing out of old Hollywood town since VON
STRONHEIM’S GREED”. The 2013 Hollywood Fringe Festival in conjunction with We Make Movies’ WMM FEST is proud to present a preview screening of feature film WAY DOWN IN CHINATOWN. Written and directed by EMK (alias for director Eric Michael Kochmer, a protégé of experimental filmmaker/artist George Landow aka Owen Land) – and co-produced by Maria Olsen of MOnsterworks66, who can also be seen playing Bob – WDiC chronicles over-sexed theater couple, playwright Victor and director Jessica Mitchum who while creating a performance piece about the apocalypse begin experiencing the world slowly falling apart. They are slowly seduced by an underworld created to preserve the few who will survive an on-coming apocalypse brought on by worm-people. The theatrical preview will book-end the Hollywood Fringe Festival with appropriately timed midnight screenings on June 15th, and 29th 2013. WDiC stars Stephanie Sanditz (Strangers with Candy) and Justin Dray (Lake City) with sparkling cameos by Lisa Loring (original Wednesday Addams) and Nancy Wolfe (Helter Skelter). The film has already
polarized critics with claims that audiences will either “…love or hate [it] but whatever your reaction, it’ll get the grey matter working harder than any movie you’ll see this year.”-Knifed In Venice. Some find it “avant garde at its finest”-Gemini Moon, while other critics find it “…a stream of nonsense …”-John Sandel.

Tickets on sale now at: https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/1216
More information at: www.waydowninchinatown.com

We Make Movies (www.wemakemovies.org) is a Los Angeles based film collective of over 2000 filmmakers dedicated to making some really cool shit. WMM gears their energy toward empowering independent filmmakers and providing the resources and connections that will help them get their movies made. Since 2009, more than 40 shorts and 6 features were developed, produced or directly funded through WMM. The group alternates free weekly writers workshops, improv nights, and industry guest interviews in an effort to help filmmakers get feedback on their work, try new ideas, and learn what’s working for others. #wemakemovies @wemakemoviez

Meadowoods Review

June 24, 2012 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Movie: Meadowoods
Year: 2010
Studio: Monterey Media
Director: Scott Phillips
Stars: Michael Downey, Kay Ethen, Kerry Goodwin
Language: English
Length: 88 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Thriller, Found Footage

Plot: When three very warped college kids plot to torture and murder a randomly chosen fellow student, they craft an elaborate, ghoulish killing chamber and keep a video diary to chronicle their bloody exploit. But as the pals proceed with their ghastly plan, the violence they unleash threatens to consume them as well.

Review: In the long and tiresome list of horror movies that have adopted the handheld scenario, Meadowoods, is just another one in the ever growing line of failed movies that have tried to capture the fame that The Blair Witch Project received, and more recently Paranormal Activity.

The storyline is kind of ridiculous. You have 3 college buddies who want to be “known” for something. They live in a small, uneventful city and want to make their mark on society and be famous, or infamous, depending on your outlook. They decide they will document a murder on film, then shelve the video and release it in their old age.

I am not a backer of these style films. With Meadowoods, you get the shaky cam constantly with cut off heads, dizzying fast movement camera clutter, out of frame video, in-and-out focus, and many sky and ground shots with weak dialog in the background. On top of that, the Director felt the need to go back-and-forth between interviews and footage of the 3 friends concocting this plan of murder. Albeit with pretty lame acting and unexciting characters.

There is a positive to this movie, once the plan starts to unfold and unravel, it does get quite freaky, and there is a twist that most viewers wont expect. Still though, that is over an hour into the movie, and by then you are completely out of the flick. Put simply, Meadowoods should be avoided. Chalk it up as another crappy handheld horror film.

Reviewer: BillChete
Date: 06/24/2012
Rating: 2/10
Recommendation: Avoid

Trailer: Watch
DVD: Overstock
BluRay: N/A
Social Media: Facebook

The Tenant Review

January 19, 2012 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Movie: The Tenant
Year: 2010
Studio: ReelDreams Productions
Director: Ric La Monte
Language: English
Length: 94 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Monster, Thriller

Plot: Dr. Walter Newman is bent on ridding the human race of deficiencies via genetic manipulation. When his wife gives birth to twins, he realizes that one of his experiments has gone seriously awry. Years later, his abominable creation seeks its revenge.

Review: The Tenant begins with an engaging scene and 2 quick kills where then the movie shifts back in time to an asylum where a doctor is trying to come up with a cure to many human disabilities while ignoring his patients. This is where the story starts to drag. Half the movie focuses on a backstory when we finally jump to current day.

Michael Berryman does have a brief role in The Tenant, and he was phenomenal as always. During these experiments the doctor actually gets fluid out of his body, and this “juice” gets injected into twin fetuses in the womb, which causes one of them to become a deranged, retarded, monster so to speak.

It is this monsterized human who is terrorizing the halls of the old asylum which is now boarded up and in decay, but, it just so happens, a van-load of people breakdown right where the asylum is. The rest of The Tenant is a typical horror movie with some good kills, scary scenes with mediocre acting.

My favorite parts of this movie are when this monstrosity jumps and breaks through walls which really ratchets up the freak-out factor, giving you several startling scenes and leaves you on the edge of your seat as you never know where this creature is lurking. He also makes strange noises which is always a good thing.

Concluding the review of The Tenant; the beginning stages got boring, the characters were not that interesting after 10 minutes, be warned, then you have another 30 minutes of nothing really happening, for a horror movie that is a huge negative. It did redeem itself once you see this deformed human and what he does to some people, but taking The Tenant on a complete package, I am winding up right down the middle, and recommending a rental. It’s worth seeing but it is one that you forget shortly thereafter.

Reviewer: BillChete
Date: 01/19/2012
Rating: 5/10
Recommendation: Rental

Trailer: Watch
DVD: Amazon
BluRay: N/A
Social Media: Facebook

Reeker Review

December 24, 2011 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Movie: Reeker
Year: 2005
Studio: Primal Pictures
Director: Dave Payne
Language: English
Length: 87 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Thriller, Supernatural

Plot: A group of strangers finds common ground in a remote desert town when they realize they’re being hunted by a foul-smelling enemy. But can they stay alive long enough to neutralize the rotting killer who’s mucking up the air around them? Devon Gummersall ("My So-Called Life"), Eric Mabius ("Ugly Betty") and veteran character actor Michael Ironside (Top Gun, Total Recall) co-star in this tongue-in-cheek horror romp from writer-director Dave Payne.

Review: You immediately get jutted into Reeker from the get-go. A family traveling cross-country hits a deer, and when they stop to get out, their friendly pet gets demolished, and the husband loses half of his face. The brutal parts happened off-screen but it left you wondering what in the world was happening.

After the opening, you must be patient as no more on-screen turmoil happens for another 35 minutes. You meet 5 friends who are traveling on the same road going to Area 52 for a rave. On their way there the ground shakes and all other cars and people vanish. They get held up in a sleazy motel when this supernatural being starts hunting them down.

Blood is minimal but their was one extremely terrifying scene when one of the teenage girls gets locked in an outhouse when the Reeker comes to take her life. The other kills were pretty bland with the score pumping up the decibels, but failing at all jump scares.

When you find out what the madness is behind the story, it actually was a decent payoff. I was engaged in this film, but it just didn’t have enough bite to garner a better than an average rating. Don’t seek it out, but if you’re walking down a Blockbuster or a local rental shop aisle, pick it up for a night, it’s worth a one-time viewing.

Final note; there is a sequel to this titled “No Man’s Land: The Rise Of Reeker” that was released in 2008 on both DVD and BluRay. Suffice it to say, Reeker, didn’t affect me enough to even search out part 2. It’s a forgettable movie but one that possibly the supernatural crowd could be into, just don’t expect anything too scary.

Reviewer: BillChete
Date: 12/24/2011
Rating: 5/10
Recommendation: Rental

Trailer: Watch
DVD: Best Buy
BluRay: N/A
Social Media: Wikipedia

Panic Button Review

December 1, 2011 By Horror Palace Leave a Comment

Movie: Panic Button
Year: 2011
Studio: Movie Mogul Films
Director: Chris Crow
Language: English
Length: 92 Minutes
Sub-Genre: Thriller

Plot: Four young people win a competition of a lifetime; Jo (Scarlett Alice Johnson), Max (Jack Gordon), Dave (Michael Jibson) and Gwen (Elen Rhys from Season Of The Witch) are heading off on an all expenses paid trip to New York courtesy of the social network site “all2gethr.com.” As they board the private jet, they must relinquish their personal items and take part in the in-flight entertainment – a new online gaming experience. Once airborne the games begin, and it soon becomes evident through a series of twisted tasks, that the passengers are in for more than they dared imagine.

Review: With the increasing number of users year after year using social media websites like Facebook and Twitter, I found the concept of this movie to be a fresh idea, and wondered how they could turn a relatively friendly atmosphere into a horror movie. For the most part, I think they pulled it off.

You have 4 friends on this all2gethr.com social site, really strangers, board a plane heading from the UK to the USA, with a chance to win expensive prizes while airborne by playing these sickening games. You soon realize after Stage 2 of these mind games that the trip has a more grandiose purpose that leaves you on the edge of the seat wondering what this demented person behind this flight has in store for the passengers, and their families and friends.

Panic Button actually shies away from showing the kill scenes. You do get the picture, but the movie flashes the images by so quickly it loses its effectiveness. While this “higher purpose” story does come into play about 60 minutes in, the ending was completely predictable especially when you have seen as many horror movies as I have.

On a whole it was an intelligent story, and very relatable to the younger internet savvy teenagers. Panic Button lets you know just how public everything you do online is, both searchable and traceable. The dark tones with social networks really hits hard and is very true to real life. For me, I would of liked more of a chilling track and more violent scenes shown on camera. The acting was very good, but these characters were generally shady, and I just didn’t “feel” for them. With all that said, Panic Button is definitely worth a watch, get your hands on it, you will be entertained for the most part.

Reviewer: BillChete
Date: 12/01/2011
Rating: 6/10
Recommendation: Rental

Trailer: Watch
DVD: Amazon.co.uk
BluRay: Amazon.co.uk
Social Media: Facebook

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