We return with the latest edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting recent independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes details on graphic novel Graveyard of Empires, the Season 2 premiere of Scott Ian's Blood and Guts, Cowboys Vs. Vampires distribution news, and much more:
Graveyard of Empires Graphic Novel: "From Alexander the Great's Macedonian army to Genghis Khan's Mongol horde to the British Imperial machine of the nineteenth to the Soviet Union to the twenty-first century United States of America, no occupying force has ever been able to control Afghanistan — the very reason it's known as the Graveyard of Empires. Mark Sable and Paul Azaceta drew upon that history in their Image Comics series GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES, set in present-day Afghanistan, where American troops are caught in a seemingly unending conflict with the Taliban. That is, until a new enemy enters the field: the undead. The only way to defeat them is for the Americans and Taliban to unite forces, and as former enemies become uneasy allies, tension will rise on all sides.
All four issues of the critically acclaimed, controversial GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES will be collected into a new trade paperback, set to be in stores on May 1.
"Zombies are the perfect metaphor for modern insurgents," said writer Sable. "A seemingly endless foe with inscrutable motives that comes in unstoppable waves. In counter-insurgency theory, there's something we came across in our research called 'insurgent math.' It's the idea that by killing one terrorist, you can create ten more because you've inspired their friends and family. Similarly, in a world where the dead are coming back to life, anyone you kill can return to infect your comrades and turn them against you."
Meticulously detailed and boldly drawn, GRAVEYARD OF EMPIRES can be pre-ordered now. A 128-page full-color graphic novel, its first issue is available digitally for free from comiXology and the Image Comics iOS app."
Blood and Guts with Scott Ian Season 2 Premiere: "Fangoria's Blood and Guts has returned for Season 2 on Chris Hardwick's Nerdist Channel! Celebrate of the art and pure awesomeness of monster makeup and special effects, as host Scott Ian of Anthrax visits the best practical effects artists in show business. The Season 2 premiere features Ron Trost of Class A Special Effects Inc."
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Evil Dead: the Musical Hosts Walking Dead Season Finale Viewing Party: "The cast of Evil Dead: The Musical at V Theater is hosting The Las Vegas WALKING DEAD Season Finale Viewing Party on Sunday March 31st at Hi Scores Bar-Arcade, located at 65 S. Stephanie St in Henderson. Doors open at 8 p.m. and include zombie movies on the screens prior to the show beginning, trivia with prizes, entertainment during commercial breaks, a costume contest, and a raffle with prizes that range from WALKING DEAD merchandise to tickets to EVIL DEAD to a 42" television to a Blue Ray DVD player to complete seasons of WALKING DEAD on DVD.
Doors to The Walking Dead viewing parties at Hi Scores Bar-Arcade open at 8 p.m. and the party runs until midnight. Evil Dead: The Musical is a unique production that combines multimedia, live performance, audience participation and 4D elements to take audience members into its world. From undead ushers to blood spraying out into the audience, this musical comedy is bringing a new type of entertainment to the Vegas Strip. For more details about Evil Dead: The Musical, visit www.evildeadlasvegas.com"
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Cowboys VS Vampires Distribution News: "Origin Releasing LLC is proud to announce that they have acquired COWBOYS VS VAMPIRES, written and directed by Douglas Meyers and staring Jasen Wade (Amber Alert), Emmy award winner Angelica Celaya (Perro Amor) and Shannon Whirry (Me Myself and Irene).
Following a successful foreign run, and a Best Picture win at 2011 IndieFest, Origin is proud to make the film the first title of its 2013 slate, available on DVD and BluRay this spring.
The film will have a presence at LONE STAR COMIC CON in San Antonio next week in addition to making a short festival and convention run in preparation for the release to top outlets such as Walmart, Target, Redbox and more. The official street date will be announced next month along a full list of outlets!
The story of a western movie actor (Johnny Dust) still trying to make it big in a western film studio and theme park, when a 'new management team' takes over the park and turns the film studio into a fright-fest for the month of Halloween. Haunted by the image of his dead western movie hero, who appears to him on the little screen, Johnny unravels the real intent of management and its opening night 'spectacular', which takes place in the depths of the park's cave.
Until then you can keep up-to-date with news relating to the film on the Origin Releasing website: www.originreleasing.com"
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Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival Call for Submissions: "The Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival, Orange County, California's ONLY horror film festival is coming back in September 2013!
"The films we screened at our 2012 festival were incredible" says EDHFF co-founder Sara Parrell. "We can't wait to see what the independent horror filmmakers of the world have in store for us!"
The fest is calling out to all horror filmmakers to submit their short or feature film through the website, www.EverybodyDiesFilmFest.com."
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Trailer for IT CAME! “They ran to the hills! They locked up their families! They stuck on the kettle and cowered in terror when… IT CAME!
Titan Comics is pleased to announce the launch of the brand-new creator-owned series, IT CAME! – a four-issue, 1950s B-movie style mini-series by Dan Boultwood.
Fans of Mystery Science Theater 3000 will love this hilarious romp, a knowing throwback to the heyday of low-budget Sci-Fi cinema!
IT CAME! #1 will hit comic stores on Aug 7, 2013. The series will also be available to read day and date on the iPad, iPhone, Web, Android and Kindle Fire, exclusively through the comiXology app and comiXology.com"
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Nobody Can Cool Release Details: "NOBODY CAN COOL is a suspenseful thriller of a young couple, Susan and David, who travel to the mountains for the weekend where they find their borrowed cabin already occupied by Len,and his pregnant girlfriend, Gigi, who have overstayed their welcome.
Reluctantly, they all agree to share the cabin for the night. An uncomfortable evening amongst strangers turns ominous when Susan and David discover they’ve been locked in their bedroom by desperate fugitives. As Susan and David struggle to escape, Len and Gigi try to violently restrain them while dealing with the aftermath of a mysterious crime. Tensions and secrets fueled by fear, greed, and suppressed hostility bubble over within the couples, and the pending arrival of an unknown danger becomes a test of survival."
A release date has not been set for this film, but for more information on Nobody Can Cool, and to watch the trailer, go to: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0U6RXWT4gzk
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The S From Hell: "The S From Hell, a short film from award-winning director Rodney Ascher (Room 237), explores the disturbing saga of the scariest corporate symbol in history: the 1964 Screen Gems logo, aka the "S from Hell." This documentary-cum-horror film features interviews with survivors still affected by viewing the logo after shows like Bewitched or The Monkees, found footage, and reenactments to bring their harrowing stories to life. Just keep telling yourself, “It’s only a logo!”
Curated by Sundance Institute, The S From Hell features interviews from David Legget, John S. Flack Jr., and Keri Maijala.
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Sinister Visions Release Details: "Horror anthology SINISTER VISIONS is making its way out on the world as we speak – cinematic showings are planned during the summer in the UK, Italy and Spain and a DVD release for the North American market is planned for early autumn.
Are you ready for a terror attack combining both succubi, women possessed by demons, serial killers in electric chairs, aggressive zombies, avengeful crazy women, men with very deep emotional scars and ofcourse a fair amount of amputation and gore? SINISTER VISIONS consists of five grueling horror stories to make your bones freeze.
SUCCUBUS is about a beautiful young blonde, Emma, studying to become an archeologist. On an excavation trip to Syria she finds something in the sand that is about to change her life completely. She hurries home hoping to be able to escape it, but she is about to get wiser.
MY UNDEAD GIRLFRIEND is a twisted story with a lot of morbid, dark humor, telling the story of the day Keith woke up next to his girlfriend who had out of the blue turned into a flesh eating undead and tonight he is about to meet her parents for the first time! This day is going to be a bit out of the ordinary!
MOTHER KNOWS BEST is the story about Carl, a somewhat shy man preparing for a date with his childhood sweetheart, Rebecca. Carl’s mother has quite a few objections about the date and she is not too shy to express them, though.
In A WOMAN SCORNED we meet Gail tied to a bed by Holly. Gail have had the nerve to start a relationship with Richard, who unfortunately is Holly’s former husband – and Gail does not approve at all!
Finally, GENITAL GENOCIDE presents us to serial killer Charles Albert Harris who, sitting on death row waiting for the switch to be turned on, takes us through his crimes while the audience of the court room listens. Harris wants a last reaction out of the audience that consists of many relatives of his audience – and a reaction he gets.
SINISTER VISIONS is a collaboration between filmmakers from USA, UK, Sweden and Denmark and features works from skilled writers such as Garry Charles, Stefan Bommelin, Henric Brandt, Rasmus Tirzitis, Cody Cather, Doug Gehl and Lars Egholm Fischmann while the directing has been in the capable hands of Henric Brandt, Doug Gehl and Kim Sønderholm."
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First Details on Soul Eater: "One of the Top Independent horror films of 2006 winning Best in Fest at the Freaky Film Festival was “The 8th Plague”. This powerfully charged slay fest was directed by Franklin Guerrero and stars DJ Perry (GPS, Deadly Renovations) as ex-prison guard Mason. The film is about a search for a missing girl where the family/friends of the girl recruit Mason to return to the abandoned prison to search for her. The prison thought abandoned is inhabited by former zombie prisoners now possessed by demons.
Soul Eater is a prequel to that story and will tell the truth of what actually went down surrounding the riots and the fall of the prison. It starts with a captured cult leader and his transfer to the prison facility.
Locations are being looked at in both Michigan and Ohio. The film is partially funded currently and they plan to solidify the remaining amount with distributors and/or presales."
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Production Details for Peelers: "The makers of the Independent Cult Horror Feature SKEW step it up a sinister notch as they get ready for production this summer on their new film PEELERS.
PEELERS takes place on the closing night of a small town strip club when a group of unwanted guests arrive and all hell breaks loose. Club owner and ex-ball player Blue Jean Douglas, is our sexy, confident, ass-kicking heroine who rises to the task of protecting both her girls and her bar from psychopathic infected killers who will stop at nothing to slaughter everyone. PEELERS destroys the cliché stripper horror sub-genre by giving us a story packed with strong characters, exciting twists and lots of blood. Oh, and did we mention strippers?
But the makers of PEELERS need your help. Check out their kick-ass Kickstarter Campaign at http://kck.st/YVgAgf. They need a hand in raising funds to make this bloody film happen. Set to shoot in June of 2013, pledges are vital to see this feature claw its way into theatres the following summer of 2014. Get involved right now as you only have a limited time to receive some amazing rewards."
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Redbox Movie Match Up Contest Details: "Redbox is hosting a March Madness style movie contest for free rentals.
It's pretty simple just vote on you favorite movie and see how your "picks" do. If you complete your "bracket" you get a code for a free rental. The votes are held daily, but you can vote on what you miss if you don't check it daily.
The Redbox Movie Matchup sponsored by Redbox starts on March 18, 2013 at 12:00 am Central Time and ends on April 17, 2013 at 11:59:59 pm CT. The Program consists of an online movie matchup game in which eligible individuals vote for which of two movies they want to “win” in four designated genre categories and otherwise engage with the game to earn points, which may qualify them to receive one or more Redbox promo codes, subject to verification. The matchups will be organized in bracket form and there will be four rounds of matchups. The movie with the most votes from each matchup will “win” and move on to the next round and the other “losing” movie will be disqualified. Participants can vote for any or all of the movie matchups in a particular round by the deadlines in the next section. All votes and other activity must be actually recorded through the Application and Web Site during the Program Period to earn Points and be eligible to receive any Promo Code."
For more information on how to enter, or to read the full terms and conditions of the game, visit Redbox's official Facebook or http://www.redbox.com/moviematchup-rules.
Tamika hails from North Beach, Maryland, a tiny town inches from the Chesapeake Bay.She knew she wanted to be an actor after reciting a soliloquy by Sojourner Truth in front of her entire fifth grade class. Since then, she's appeared in over 20 film and television projects. In addition to acting, Tamika is the Indie Spotlight manager for Daily Dead, where she brings readers news on independent horror projects every weekend.
The first horror film Tamika watched was Child's Play. Being eight years old at the time, she remembers being so scared when Chucky came to life that she projectile vomited. It's tough for her to choose only one movie as her favorite horror film, so she picked two: Nosferatu and The Stepford Wives (1975).
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