Julia Kaminski's blog

Making a film can be a daunting venture for most people. There will always be a reason (or many) to not do it. It is nearly impossible to attend a filmmaker Q&A without someone in the audience asking what their advice would be to prospective filmmakers and across the board the answer is almost always the same: just do it. Scrounge up some cash, call in a lifetime’s worth of favors and just make your damn movie. We live in a time of overwhelming accessibility. High quality technology is readily available to just about anyone, yet it can still be a terrifying gamble.

The 1990’s are often thought of as having relatively little to contribute in the way of quality genre films. While I can see the truth in this, I think there were some very special and unique films to emerge from the decade, especially within the confines of the unique subgenres that emerged. These were the days of Erotic Thrillers and Teen Dark Comedies, of Hacker Thrillers and Meta Slasher films. One of my favorite subgenres to have emerged in the prime days of Gen X, was their twist on Christian Theology Horror.

During Screamfest 2016, a young actress by the name of Mimosa Willamo won our award for Best Actress for her performance in the Finnish film Lake Bodom, or simply Bodom, the third feature for talented director Taneli Mustonen. After seeing so many films in such short succession, it is sometimes difficult for a film to stand out, Lake Bodom however, firmly rooted itself in my psyche. Part of that, was the enigmatic mystery that inspired the film. Much like most horror fans, I am not as easily impressed by the “based on a true story” gimmick as I once was.

This past Saturday, May 6, Screamfest hosted our most recent Fears & Beers screening, a series of events and screenings sponsored by Shock Top where guests can enjoy a movie and a beer included in their ticket, often with special guest Q&As. This week, we enjoyed a double feature of Brian Yuzna’s cult classics Society and Bride of Re-Animator. In case you missed it, here is a rundown of the evening.

For almost any kid subjected to the public school system in the United States, you are probably familiar with the D.A.R.E program. For those unfamiliar, it is a program to educate young children on the dangers of doing drugs. Until very recently, marijuana was considered a “gateway drug”, relatively harmless if used on it’s own, but could pique an interest in harder stuff. Now, what if the same idea were to be applied to the horror genre?