"Your soul for a sweet?" If you summon him, don't take him up on his offer. The Man in the Rabbit Mask short film, an entry in the Storyhive contest, can be viewed in today's Horror Highlights, which also includes The Room at the Top of the Stairs, Game of Thrones pens, The Field Guide to Evil, and the Famous Monsters Party in San Jose.

The Man in the Rabbit Mask Short Film: "A poem spoken over candlelight by two girls invites an unexpected visitor, offering a gift… for a price. As the allure of the ultimatum invokes their better judgement, the illusion of safety begins to fade in the presence of the masked stranger.

DIRECTOR: Ariel Hansen

ACTORS: Iris Truong, Holly Burr, Chris Walters, Catherine Slingsby"

To learn more and to vote for The Man in the Rabbit Mask in the Storyhive competition, visit:

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The Room at the Top of the Stairs Now Streaming on Shudder: "Acclaimed Tasmanian short joins the horror streaming service February 6th!

A young artist feels overshadowed by a charismatic girl she’s never met, in the haunting short that world premiered at Los Angeles New Wave International Film Festival. Her life changes when she decides to follow in her nemesis’s footsteps.

Autobiographical in origin, THE ROOM AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS is a coming-of-age story told in the style of a gothic melodrama. The film is strongly influenced by Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier’s exploration of identity confusion and obsession, and 1970s horror films. Starring rising talent Fiannah de Rue and featuring an original score by Heath Brown (41, CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY VANILLA), it was produced by Adam Walker Film in Hobart, Australia, and financed by Screen Tasmania.

Briony Kidd was mentored by Jennifer Kent, director of THE BABADOOK and is now the director of the Stranger With My Face International Film Festival and coordinator of the festival's Attic Lab, which places a focus on women genre filmmakers. Her most recent short, WATCH ME, written by Claire d'Este, premiered at Australia's Monster Fest late last year and is currently on the festival circuit. Her next project is a feature film supported by Screen Australia with producer Catherine Pettman, a post-apocolyptic psycho-biddy thriller."

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Game of Thrones Pens: "With its epic storylines of treachery and nobility, family and honor, ambition and love, and death and survival the hit HBO® series Game of Thrones has captured the imagination of fans globally and made it one of the most popular shows on television. Montegrappa is proud to announce a series of writing instruments that convey the grandeur of this most remarkable saga.

Montegrappa’s collection of writing instruments represents of each of the four key families: Stark, Baratheon, Lannister and Targaryen.The desirability of the pens is enhanced by a collective style, each pen individualised for the family it represents through sigils and emblems representative of the clan.

All barrels and caps are made with colourful lacquered surfaces, while the trims are fashioned of palladium, or yellow and rose 18k gold-plate, with “Game of Thrones” engraved on the cap ring. All of the fountain pens’ nibs are formed in stainless steel, decorated with a sword, and are available in the writing grades: Extra Fine, Fine, Medium and Broad. The fountain pen is both cartridge- and converter-fed.

Montegrappa’s Game of Thrones pens arrive in a double box consisting of a rich, black outer carton bearing each family’s symbol. The inner box is covered in material evoking the styles of the historical period that inspired Game of Thrones, with sigils and patterns relevant to the four families.

Baratheon: Coloured a sombre charcoal, but accented in contrasting yellow gold, the House Baratheon pen features a stag’s head for its pocket clip, with a stag rampant on the cap’s top, above the motto, “Our Is The Fury”. A fleur-de-lis pattern decorates the cap.

Lannister: For House Lannister, a regal red accented in contrasting yellow gold is the dominant color. The House Lannister pen features a lion’s head for its pocket clip, and a lion rampant on the cap’s top, above the motto, “Hear Me Roar”. A floral pattern, reminiscent of the Tudor Rose, decorates the cap.

Stark: With House Stark’s northern origins, the colour chosen for the family’s pen is a silvery-white, accented in palladium, conveying winter. The cap is patterned with a runic symbol reminiscent of Norse artistry. A direwolf’s head forms the pocket clip, while the top of the cap shows the direwolf’s profile, above the motto, “Winter Is Coming.”

Targaryen: Only a fiery, metallic red against a coal-black background could represent House Targaryen. Naturally, a dragon’s head forms the pocket clip, while a dragon coils above the legend, “Fire and Blood”, on the cap’s top. A filigree pattern graces the cap.

Future plans for the series include deluxe limited editions."

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The Field Guide to Evil Greenlit: "Press Release: "(Los Angeles, CA |February 7, 2017) - Producers Christos V. Konstantakopoulos (Before Midnight, The Lobster), Keith and Jess Calder (Anomalisa, Blair Witch, You're Next) and Legion M, the first ever fan-owned media company have invested and come onboard as Executive Producers for The Field Guide to Evil. Theanthology is a global exploration into dark folklore, and will feature eight terrifying tales from the world's most exciting new voices in international filmmaking.

The Field Guide to Evil is currently engaged in a first-of-its-kind equity crowd-funding campaign for a film on First Democracy VC, a funding portal brought through a partnership between Indiegogo and MicroVentures. Investors and film fans across the world have the opportunity to become equity partners in this unique horror production.

With these three investments THE FIELD GUIDE TO EVIL has now reached its minimum fundraising goal and the project is officially greenlit. The producers hope to attract additional fans as well as other industry-seasoned financiers to join the team. The campaign has 47 more days to reach its stretch goal of $500,000.

"All of us at Faliro House, are excited to be joining trailblazers Tim and Ant, and the rest of the amazing film professionals attached to THE FIELD GUIDE TO EVIL, as well as over a hundred horror fan investors around the world, in bringing this thrilling project to life," said Executive Producer Christos V. Konstantakopoulos.

"Jess and I are long-time supporters of crowdfunding, and couldn't be more excited to help Tim League and Ant Timpson launch THE FIELD GUIDE TO EVIL," said Executive Producer Keith Calder.

"As a company that is built upon a fan-ownership model, this project is natural fit for our slate" said Paul Scanlan, Cofounder and CEO of Legion M. "We believe in Tim and Ant, and the exceptional team of award-winning directorial voices brought together on this project. We are proud to join the team and continue to pioneer the frontiers of equity crowdfunding together."

From producers Ant Timpson (Turbo Kid, The Greasy Strangler) and Alamo Drafthouse CEO/Founder Tim League (ABCs of Death), The Field Guide to Evil will showcase eight tales that have caused many sleepless nights in their country of origin.

The stories and filmmakers hail from Austria (Veronika Franz & Severin Fiala, Goodnight Mommy), Hungary (Peter Strickland, The Duke of Burgundy), Germany (Katrin Gebbe, Nothing Bad Can Happen), Greece (Yannis Veslemes, Norway), India (Ashim Ahluwalia, Miss Lovely), Poland (Agnieszka Smoczynska, The Lure), Turkey (Can Evrenol, Baskin), and the United States (Calvin Reeder, The Rambler).

Producers Tim League and Ant Timpson will be hosting a Reddit AMA at 12:30pm PT / 3:30pm ET today. If you have questions about the project, the financing model or literally anything, please join them for the spirited online discussion.

THE FIELD GUIDE TO EVIL Indiegogo & MicroVentures:
https://app.microventures.com/crowdfunding/field-guide-to-evil

For developments on THE FIELD GUIDE TO EVIL follow:
http://fieldguidetoevil.com/
https://twitter.com/fieldguide2evil"

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Famous Monsters Halloween Party: Press Release: "SAN JOSE, CA — If Halloween means monsters and partying, then a Famous Monsters Party is the place to be.

San Jose Convention Center will be hosting the FAMOUS MONSTERS HALLOWEEN BASH, Oct 27-29, 2017, and Cosmic Con has hit the ground running with the guest roster, announcing stars from HELLRAISER (Doug Bradley, aka Pinhead), GREMLINS (Zach Galligan), and RE-ANIMATOR (Jeffrey Combs), as well as Richard Brake from GAME OF THRONES and Jeff Daniel Phillips of HBO’s WESTWORLD. Original Scream QueenAdrienne Barbeau (SWAMP THING) will be there, along with legendary stunt man Tom Morga, who has played three different slashers on screen (Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, and Leatherface). More guest announcements are forthcoming.

“Halloween has become the holiday when people just kick back and have fun,” says Cosmic Con Producer and Famous Monsters Publisher Philip Kim. “There’s none of the stress of other traditional holidays; it’s just one big masquerade ball, and that’s exactly the vibe that Famous Monsters is going for in San Jose.”

In addition to celebrity guests, vendors, and artists, Cosmic Con promises to bring virtual reality into the mix, debuting original VR material based on comics from American Gothic Press, Famous Monsters’ publishing division. “Virtual reality is at the cutting edge of entertainment,” says Kim, “and quality genre content is in high demand. AGP’s original horror properties have enabled us to develop our own.”

Clearly, there are all kinds of new ways to haunt a Halloween crowd.

To learn more about becoming a vendor, volunteering, or getting tickets for the Halloween Bash, visit the official website: http://famousmonstershalloween.com."

  • Derek Anderson
    About the Author - Derek Anderson

    Raised on a steady diet of R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps books and Are You Afraid of the Dark?, Derek has been fascinated with fear since he first saw ForeverWare being used on an episode of Eerie, Indiana.

    When he’s not writing about horror as the Senior News Reporter for Daily Dead, Derek can be found daydreaming about the Santa Carla Boardwalk from The Lost Boys or reading Stephen King and Brian Keene novels.