>>PREVIEW
CALGARY UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL
48-Hour Horror Movie-Making Challenge
Sunday, April 15
Broken City
On your mark, get set, film!
If pressed, could you make a horror film in two days? That’s the question answered by Calgary’s most determined guerrilla filmmakers in CUFF’s outlandish 48-Hour Horror Movie-Making Challenge. The frenzied results of that unbelievably stressful competition can now be seen in a two-part special screening at 3:30 and 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 15 at Broken City (613 — 11 Ave S.W.). See our city’s fastest horror directors battle for film festival glory, using nothing more than a camcorder, some fake blood, a few actor friends, periodic nervous breakdowns and several gallons of black coffee!
The rules are as simple as they are daunting. All entrants are forbidden to begin any creative work on their films until the start of the 48-hour period, at which time they receive their randomly-assigned theme (horror/comedy, horror/thriller, horror/action, or (gulp) horror/musical), a prop that must be incorporated (anything from poker chips to Twinkies) and a single obligatory line of dialogue (stolen from such films as Slaughterhouse (1987) and Shaun of the Dead (2004). Two days later, entrants must turn in a completed film. In the intervening time, they must write the script, cast roles, rehearse, shoot, edit and score their masterpieces. It’s a tight schedule – of the 20 entries, only 12 films actually made the deadline in time for judging. I can only imagine how these guys looked the Monday morning after.
The competition is being judged by Colin Geddes ("Midnight Madness" programmer for the Toronto International Film Festival), Dave Alexander (Rue Morgue magazine), Bruce Fletcher (programmer for San Francisco’s IndieFest), George Mihalka (director of My Bloody Valentine (1981) and me, your friendly neighbourhood Video Vulture. In my wildest dreams, I never imagined that one day I would be teaming up with such luminaries to evaluate the artwork of several bloodstained Calgarians chasing each other around Craigie Hall and the Saddledome with butcher knives.
If you’ve ever seen a horror flick so rough around the edges that you’d swear it was filmed over a weekend, here’s your chance to compare it to the real deal. Where else can you see psycho stripper clowns, evil poker chips and victims stabbed in the face with a Twinkie?
For more conventional short-form horror, check out CUFF’s "Short Scares" screening at 8:45 p.m. on Wednesday, April 11 at the Hifi Club (219 — 10th Ave S.W.). These shorts were made under much looser time limits and are therefore more polished and less likely to contain actual moments of violence from stressed-out film crews. ("Let’s do one more take, guys. I can still see the price tag on Stuart’s hockey mask." "What?! I’m not falling down those steps again! Die!!! Die!!!" "Aaaargh! (Keep filming, Randy, this is awesome!) Aaaargh!") |
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