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“Hi, It’s Your Mother!” Joins San Diego FilmOut Horror Block

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“I think I started off with the idea of a mother bursting in on her son having sex and not noticing,”  Daniel Sterlin-Altman told me as we chatted about his stop motion short film, “Hi It’s Your Mother!”.  The film, which will have its West Coast premiere at San Diego FilmOut film festival as part of its newly established horror block, is surprisingly light-hearted with moments of genuine comedy alongside the loss of a finger and a nervous breakdown.

The film opens with mom in the kitchen cutting up vegetables.  We see her son sneak by the door with his boyfriend, obviously up to something.  The phone rings and she tenses as her mother begins speaking over the answering machine.  It doesn’t take long to realize that this woman is “that kind” of mother.  Mom continues chopping the vegetables with a little more gusto and as the answering machine goes quiet, she cuts off her finger.

In a haze of blood loss and emotional overload, she puts the finger in the fridge and walks down the hall to her son’s room.  The two young men, who are in the middle of having sex, freeze as she bursts in, announces dinner is going to be late, and giggles as she leaves the room.

Sterlin-Altman admits he’s had people who were turned off by the onscreen gay sex, which was pretty funny to both of us because, as I remind you, these are puppets!  I can’t help but wonder if the puppets are what make it so disturbing to audiences, though.

The film was made as part of the director’s undergraduate thesis and he was happy to explain the intensive process of bringing his puppets to life.

“With this kind of film you have to create the entire environment, which in this case took about three months.  When filming began I decided to use twelve frames per second.  If I was lucky, I would shoot about 2 seconds per day.  It’s very sexy, though, to play back those two seconds after an entire day of shooting and suddenly see movement.”

In the end, “Hi, It’s Your Mother!” is a fun little romp that defies labels and the director seems comfortable with that.  He notes that while some key into the comedy, other latch on to what he hopes is a genuine sentimentality in this intergenerational story.  But don’t you worry, horror hounds, there’s plenty of blood and severed appendages to go around!

“Hi, It’s Your Mother!”  will screen as part of the FrightOut horror block of the San Diego FilmOut LGBT film festival on June 10, 2017.  The block, consisting of five short films, will begin at 10 pm.

“Hi, It’s Your Mother” – Stop Motion Short Official Trailer (2016) from Daniel Sterlin-Altman on Vimeo.

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

Another Creepy Spider Movie Hits Shudder This Month

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Good spider films are a theme this year. First, we had Sting and then there was Infested. The former is still in theaters and the latter is coming to Shudder starting April 26.

Infested has been getting some good reviews. People are saying that it’s not only a great creature feature but also a social commentary on racism in France.

According to IMDb: Writer/director Sébastien Vanicek was looking for ideas around the discrimination faced by black and Arab-looking people in France, and that led him to spiders, which are rarely welcome in homes; whenever they’re spotted, they’re swatted. As everyone in the story (people and spiders) is treated like vermin by society, the title came to him naturally.

Shudder has become the gold standard for streaming horror content. Since 2016, the service has been offering fans an expansive library of genre movies. in 2017, they began to stream exclusive content.

Since then Shudder has become a powerhouse in the film festival circuit, buying distribution rights to movies, or just producing some of their own. Just like Netflix, they give a film a short theatrical run before adding it to their library exclusively for subscribers.

Late Night With the Devil is a great example. It was released theatrically on March 22 and will begin streaming on the platform starting April 19.

While not getting the same buzz as Late Night, Infested is a festival favorite and many have said if you suffer from arachnophobia, you might want to take heed before watching it.

Infested

According to the synopsis, our main character, Kalib is turning 30 and dealing with some family issues. “He’s fighting with his sister over an inheritance and has cut ties with his best friend. Fascinated by exotic animals, he finds a venomous spider in a shop and brings it back to his apartment. It only takes a moment for the spider to escape and reproduce, turning the whole building into a dreadful web trap. The only option for Kaleb and his friends is to find a way out and survive.”

The film will be available to watch on Shudder starting April 26.

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