The Viscera Film Festival 2011 Edition!

Want to know what it’s like for a girl? Now, you get your chance.

The submissions have been announced for the 2011 Viscera Film Festival and Tour! Viscera is a non profit horror film festival specializing in promoting women horror filmmakers with an annual event each summer in Los Angeles to kick off the Viscera Tour: screening innovative horror films by women all over the world.

The bloody carpet event will be held at the historical Silent Movie Theater on July 17th, 2011 in Los Angeles with a screening of the officially selected films, Bloody Carpet and Awards ceremonies, and entry into the After Party (food and alcohol included). Special Guests and attending filmmakers to be announced!


2011 Viscera Film Festival
Where: Silent Movie Theater
Los Angeles, Ca.

When: July 17th, 2011

Tickets: Event admission is $15 with advanced purchase and $20 at the door. Make sure you have a seat by purchasing advance tickets right now at Brown Paper Tickets!

2011 Festival Selections*
These films will be screening in Los Angeles on July 17th! Make sure to check the listings below for the Viscera Tour.

THE PARTY’S OVER by Gigi Romero
BON APETIT by Kate Shenton
DOLL PARTS by Karen Lam
BLOOD BUNNY by Molly Madfis
A FEVER AND A RIVER by Rachael Deacon
THE KEY TO ANNABEL LEE by Staci Layne Wilson
THE MANY DOORS OF ALBERT WHALE by Marichelle Daywalt
BOX by Nikki Wall
LUMP by Faye Jackson
NURSERY CRIMES by Laura Whyte
SHORT LEASE by Jennifer Eiss
12-15-1996 by Mae Catt
AFTERSHOCK by Lori Bowen
THRENODY by Tyrrell Shaffner
DADDY’S GIRL by Komini Wilson
THE GHOST AND US by Emily Carmichael

*Mature Content. Parental Discretion Advised

2011 Festival Tour*
These are the films that will be playing on the Viscera Tour. Check out the tour dates and lineup for each event!

THE PARTY’S OVER by Gigi Romero
TOGETHER by Gigi Romero
BON APETIT by Kate Shenton
MODERN GRIM by Kate Shenton
DOLL PARTS by Karen Lam
BLOOD BUNNY by Molly Madfis
A FEVER AND A RIVER by Rachael Deacon
THE MANY DOORS OF ALBERT WHALE by Marichelle Daywalt
THE ROOM AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS by Briony Kidd
THE KEY TO ANNABEL LEE by Staci Layne Wilson
BOX by Nikki Wall
NURSERY CRIMES by Laura Whyte
7-28-1989 by Mae Catt
12-15-1996 by Mae Catt
AFTERSHOCK by Lori Bowen
BELATED BY VALENTINES DAY LOVER by Ruby LaRocca
GASP by Thomai Hatsios
I WAS A TRANNY WEREWOLF by Lola Rock ‘n’ Rolla
CANDY by Sage Hall
BELLE NOUVEAU by Cassandra Sechler
THE BRIDE by Ana Almeida
THE GHOST AND US by Emily Carmichael

*Mature Content. Parental Discretion Advised

Festival Judges
Allison Anders
Shersy Benson
Joe Bob Briggs
Drew Daywalt
Mick Garris
Stacy Hammon
Frank Henenlotter
Heidi Honeycutt
Jamie Jenkins
Mary Lambert
Shannon Lark
Lucky McKee
Hannah Neurotica
Katt Shea
Andrew Shearer
Annette Slomka
Elizabeth Stanley

Festival Sponsors
Final Draft, Gorilla Software, Fangoria Entertainment, Fangirltastic, The Chainsaw Mafia, 33 Rooms, Women in Horror Month, Malibu Wines, Farmer’s Daughter Hotel, Matt Orsman, Crimson Stained Lace Productions, Kimyoo Films, The Horror Digest, DOA Bloodbath Entertainment, Rotten Cotton, Hot Zombie Chicks, There is No Halo, Annie M. Vickar Dolls & Skellery, Angel City Derby Girls, Zerner Law, Jessica Grundy, Morgue Art Films, Friendly Misanthrope, 1428 Films, Dan Dillard, Mike Merryman, Caisson Films, Hannah Foreman, Nick Goodrick, Assorted Oddities, Jen Morgart, Scary Art, The Big Bad, Lia Scott Price, Amityville Studios, Quirk Films, Philly Chick Pictures, Dan Dillard, Laughing Vixen Lounge, Brent Schoonover, Irene Langholm, Shannon Rose, Mark Berryman, Cassandra Sechler, Mike Snoonian, Mary Katherine Sisco, Simon Nisbet, 1428 Films, Post-Mortem Depression, Jessica Grundy, Susan Bell, Jeffrey Kane and Dreams for Dead Cats.

More Sponsors to be announced! Please visit the Viscera Film Festival Sponsor page to learn more.


Upcoming Viscera Events
Crypticon Seattle
Date: May 27th-29th
Location: Seattle, WA
Hosts: Shannon Lark and Sean the Butcher
Details: 2 hour block of Viscera Films plus several panels.
Viscera Lineup: TBA!
http://www.crypticonseattle.com

Underground Horror Fest
Date: Aug 13th, 2011
Hosts: Shannon Lark and UHFF
Details: Five Hours of Viscera Films will screen. The event is from 2pm till 12am-2am. Female fronted bands/sideshow acts to perform between films.
Viscera Lineup: TBA
http://www.facebook.com/UndergroundHorrorFest

Geek Girl Con
Date: Oct 8-9th
Hosts: Hannah Neurotica, Shannon Lark, Heidi Martinuzzi
Details: A panel of women filmmakers and writers will host a panel about where females stand within the industry.
Viscera Lineup: TBA
http://www.geekgirlcon.com


Contacts
Got questions or comments? That’s what these ladies are here for. Or, if you’re shy, you can visit the website for everything you need to know, plus more. http://www.viscerafilmfestival.com

Review: Tucker and Dale vs. Evil

Scream 4 opens today. I wish I could find a way to get excited about that release, but the idea of a fourth installment to an increasingly less-relevant franchise just can't get me in the seat anymore. Sure, I'll catch it on DVD at some point, but why waste money on a big budget retread when the indie world is where the excitement is. Case in point, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, an honest-to-goodness fresh take on the teens-stalked-by-mountain-folk-in-the-woods subgenre. if the film were retitled, it could borrow from Wrong Turn and call itself Wrong Impression.

We first spy the titular heroes in their pick-up truck, driving slowly past an SUV jam-packed with young, hormone-fueled teens on their way to a camping trip. The leering face of Dale (Reaper's Tyler Labine) appears in the passenger seat, giving the entire group the wigguns. Tucker (Firefly's Alan Tudyk) later encourages Dale to approach the beautiful Allison (Katrina Bowden, 30 Rock) at a roadside grocery store, where Dale manages to work up the nerve to talk to her, managing only to creep out the campers more with his nervous behavior and his newly-purchased scythe. Soon, we understand that this group of teens, led by the elitist Chad (Jesse Moss) assumes the worst of Tucker and Dale, who merely want to retire to their recently acquired vacation home - a decrepit cabin in the woods.

Things go from confusing to deadly when Tucker and Dale rescue Allison from the nearby lake after an accident, resuscitating her and taking her back to their cabin when her friends take off into the woods screaming. While Tucker and Dale only want to help, Chad and his gang believe that the pair are intent on killing and eating all of them.

Back at the cabin, Allison awakes, terrified at first, but is quickly won over by Dale's rustic charm and unassuming manner. The pair end up playing trivia board games and bonding while Tucker clears the rotted trees outside with a chainsaw. As you might expect, the sight of Tucker with a chainsaw alarms the teens who have returned to the cabin intent on freeing their assumedly-abducted friend. The body count begins here, as teenager after teenager dies horribly while attempting to free Allison from the clutches of Tucker and Dale, who are left to wrestle with one over-arching question: why are they being terrorized by these college kids?

The movie has more going for it than the central joke of the film, but it's this conceit that makes Tucker & Dale vs. Evil stand head and shoulders over most so-called slashers. By turning the expectations of who the protagonists and antagonists should be on their head, co-writer/director Eli Craig has managed to make a fun, bloody, often hilarious take on the genre without lampooning the genre itself. Instead, he uses the film as a vehicle to send a message of, amazingly, tolerance, communication and understanding.

To satisfy genre purists, I assure you that there is blood, the occasional severed digit, a legendary serial killer and more than one imapling, so the red stuff comes at you more than enough to satisfy your bloodlust, you depraved thing, you. The film also boasts a pretty rockin' score and some great outdoors photography. This may have been a low budget affair, but the movie looks and sounds great.

But let's get back to the stars here - Tucker and Dale. Tudyk and Labine have real chemistry and manage to imbue these characters with such warmth and good will that, at a certain point, you move past the joke and begin to root for these two unlucky bastards to get the hell away from these crazy kids and for Allison to come around to Dale's awkward affection. I liked these guys, with Tucker's misty-eyed joy at having a vacation home of his own and Dale's self-deprecating insistence on his own intellectual shortcomings despite his gift of a photographic memory. Not only are they unlikely heroes, they're also the easiest to root for in some time.

It's hard not to oversell the movie, but this really is one for horror fans to embrace. It's smart and funny and not afraid to be campy without being cynical. It's as good-natured as its protagonists, and that's saying a lot. This is a movie that should be seen by all horror fans, if only for the kids' assault on the cabin, resulting in a fantastic wood chipper gag and a conclusion by Tucker and Dale that's as wrong-headed as it is hysterical. Not since Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon have I come away from a film using all the tropes of a hundred hillbilly slasher films and felt I had seen something unlike anything I had seen before - a joyful, bloody romp.