This seems like the perfect item to start this year's 31 Nights of Halloween with, what with it dealing with the beginning of life and all. It's one several films from Dylan Clark that we've featured this year, all of them GREAT! And you can look for more of his work as this year's festival unfolds. (While we're just talking, let us state that Clark does an impressive job with the creatures in this film!)
Hatched (2021) Starring: Gavin Watt Director: Dylan Clark Rating: Nine of Ten Stars
Last year, we celebrated the artwork of the late Richard Sala, a comic book creator and artist whose work embodied the fun and mystery of Halloween more-so than perhaps any other artist in recent memory. We're continuing that celebration this year with a different water color paiting from Sala of one of signature characters--Peculia--squaring off against menaces and monsters!
First up, we present "Peculia vs. the Pumpkin King"!
Beginning tomorrow, and running through the end of October, we're going to feature short films, artwork, and music videos that will get you in the proper spirit for the big night on the 31st! This will be the seventh year in a row we've done this... and we hope you'll join us each and every night!
As a warm-up, we're presenting a cautionary tale from writer/director Alex Magana whose work is an anchor-point of this year's celebration; there'll be at least one film by him each week for the month. Similarly, tonight's star Katy Ford will also make several appearances.
Enjoy! And please take consider tonight's story a warning to not be stupid. We want all visitors to Terror Titans to remain safe during the 31 Nights of Halloween!
There's been a celebration of the Little Red Riding Hood tales going on over at our sister blog Shades of Gray, and it's spilling over onto Terror Titans! After you've taken in Richard Sala's colorful illustration below, click here to see a variety of monochromatic takes on the tale!
Next month is October, and we'll once again be bringing you short horror films along with commentary, music videos, art gallery posts, and perhaps one or two other things to get you in a proper mood for Halloween. As in years past, there's going to be Halloween material at the Shades of Gray blog as well, but today, the cross-over is going the other direction.
September is Red Riding Hood month at Shades of Gray, and each week there will be a post featuring commentary about an included song, animated short film, or artwork inspired by the famous fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood". Click here to see those posts at Shades of Gray.
Red (2008)
Starring: Sadie Franck and Shawn Jennings
Director: Shawn Jennings
Rating: Six of Ten Stars
Red Riding Hood (Franck) is on her way to Grandma's house with the intent of bringing her some desperately needed medicine. The Big Bad Wolf (Jennings) has other plans.
"Red" is a well-staged and expertly executed adaptation of a familiar story. It probably goes without saying, but there's a couple startling twists along the way that end up pushing a mildly creepy film solidly and chillingly into the horror genre (even if you can almost hear the Crypt Keeper cackling in the background as the film comes to its conclusion). The gimmick of having the film be in shades of gray except for things that are red is surprisingly effective--and grows increasingly so as the film unfolds. And if you're really paying attention to what's going on, you'll have a "what the heck is going on here?" moment just as the film gets really good.
Bor all the things that was done right in "Red", the few things that were done wrong caused me to knock it down to a Six Rating instead of a High Seven. The biggest drawback is the Big Bad Wolf costume; it's big and rather bad. It's not terrible, but the film would have been better served if it had been hidden in shadows, or only caught in glimpses. While the visual effects on the fangs were interesting, the overall impact of the costume detracts from an otherwise stylish film, because it's not at the same level of quality as everything around it. Secondly, the film could have benefitted from a more effective use of the black-and-white medium. Things are lit to brightly and seem a bit flat because of it. Further, the scenes as Red Riding Hood is being chased through the forest and the climactic moments at Grandma's house would have been far better served if they had featured more and deeper shadows than they do.
All-in-all, though, this is a highly entertaining spin on a familiar tale, and it's well worth spending the six or so minutes it'll take you to watch it.
There are many reasons why you don't want to fall asleep while sunning yourself on a public beach. Filmmaker Alex Magana (with ample help from actresses Jenly Crespo and Courntey Rotz) demonstrates a couple of them with this bit of summer-time creepiness.
Nightmare at the Beach (2020)
Starring: Jenly Crespo and Courtney Rotz
Director: Alex Magana
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars
October 2021 will be the 7th annual 31 Nights of Halloween horror short film festival here at Terror Titans. The featured films are chosen from the thousands of tiny chillers available on YouTube and elsewhere online, but we've done the digital digging so you don't have to! We plan on featuring several of Alex Magana's efforts, so if you liked this one, be sure to check back in a couple months, after the shadows have grown long and the beaches have emptied...
Horror stories and films have always been on the cutting edge of technology--not just when it comes to cinematic special effects, but also the technology that is commonplace in our lives. Partly, this is necessary because how can characters be isolated and stalked by a scary killer when all they need to do is use their cellphone and call for help? It is also necessary because part of what makes horror stories horrific is how they invade and corrupt our everyday safe existences.
Computers, smart phones, the internet, and all manner of instant messaging and video-chatting has been the fodder for horror films of varying lengths for quite some time now. It's natural, because over the past 15-20 years, our lives have grown increasing centered around them. This month's Terror on the Thirteenth selection is one of those, being brought to us by talents who have emerged as favorites here at Terror Titans--writer/director Dylan Clark and his frequent star Hannah Clark.
We love everything about how this is executed and we also love the fact that the main character doesn't just sit around and wait for doom to befall her, but we also wish that there was more to this film. There are so many unanswered questions by the time it ends that we want to see "Transfigure" developed into a longer piece. (More often than not, we're satisfied with having unanswered questions by the end of these short films, but not here! We want more!)
If you think you're having relationship troubles, you might feel better after watching this little tidbit.
Overly Possessive (2017)
Starring: Jon Robben and Colleen Kelly
Director: Russell Hansen
Rating: Nine of Ten Stars
(For more short films, make sure you're back in here October for the 31 Nights of Halloween. We'll try to get something up once a month until then... but only the October festival is a sure thing!)
The Ballerina (2021) Starring: Valeska Miller Director: Aaron Fradkin Rating: Nine of Ten Stars
A late-night rehearsal turns into a nightmare for a young dancer (Miller).
Since mid-2020, Aaron Fradkin has been putting a short horror film onto the Social House YouTube Channel every month. We came upon his excellent work while preparing for the 2020 31 Nights of Halloween, and we suspect his name will come up quite a bit during the 2021 Halloween festivities around here; his output has only gotten better over the past year. (Selections are already underway, but we start getting serious around late August.)
Fradkin released "The Ballerina" early in the month of April, and as soon as we watched it, we knew it had to be featured here on International Dance Day. (We'd already added a picture of star Valeska Miller to this year's observance at Shades of Gray, so this couldn't be more perfect!)
And speaking of perfect, there isn't a second of wasted time in this film's 8-minute running time. It stars by establishing the lonely emptiness of the dance studio late at night and continues building the tension and mystery as the horror really starts. That said, there were a few moments at about the halfway mark, where I feared Fradkin might be losing his grip on the horror-mood as I found myself increasingly reminded of a famous scene from "Duck Soup" starring the Marx Brothers... but that ultimately made the horror more intense when it exploded in full-force.
The curiously long-limbed Valeska Miller is the perfect actor for this brief excursion into weird horror, especially because she is a classically trained dancer. The genius of the casting is even clearer during the last few minutes of the film and the end credits sequence.
"The Ballerina" is almost a Ten-star film. It misses perfection only because of a special effect near the end that doesn't quite come off as well as it needs to. Otherwise, it's spot-on technically, and brilliantly performed by its star. I encourage you to take a few minutes to check it out right now, by clicking below.
And when you're done, you can visit Shades of Gray for more celebrations of dancers and International Dance Day by clicking here. You can also see more Valeska Miller by clicking here.
Today, Terror Titans brings you a public service announcement with an object lesson attached: Don't be stupid and play one of those "mirror games." Bad things always happen.Devil's Door (2020)
"The Deli-very" is only 14 seconds long, but it tells a complete story and provides a twist ending! This is an amazing little film! How it came in 15th in the competition it was made for I'll never know--the other 14 must have been Platonic Ideals, each and every one!
What happens if you mean to write a letter to Santa but accidentally send it to Satan? Richard Sala conjures up an artist conception of this terribly festive day!
Writer/Director Dylan Clark was one of our featured creators during 2020's 31 Nights of Halloween celebration here at Terror Titans. We couldn't fit this little masterpiece in, but that's why we have the bi-monthly Terror on the Thirteenth posts! (We started these earlier this year, and we're going to continue them into 2021!)
Jamie (2018)
Starring: Ramzi McFarland
Director: Dylan Clark
Rating: Eight of Ten Stars
A teenager (McFarland) performs an occult ritual to contact a spirit from Beyond.
"Jamie" is one of those short films that relies almost entirely on the plot-twist to work. That's pretty common. What isn't common is that the twist is perfectly executed, as is everything leading up to it... and that comes after. The only reason this film isn't getting a Nine or perhaps even a Ten rating is because the creature in it is a bit underwhelming in its appearance--Clark and his ensemble of actors and technical crew have some along way in the two years since this film was made. (Although I loved the way the creature communicated.)
Watch "Jamie'" for yourself and let me know what you think!
