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James Quinn’s Horror Manifests from Real Psychological Pain

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It was six or seven years ago that Austrian filmmaker James Quinn was first diagnosed with schizophrenia.  What followed were five years of unimaginable horror the likes of which we genre fans will probably never experience.

Two years of just trying to get the right medication and dosing plus an additional three years where life seemed to throw every kind of hell imaginable at him.  There were suicide attempts and the loss of friends as he began to open up about his mental illness and they simply couldn’t handle what was happening.

In a moment of pure desperation, he decided to make a film that would, if successful, show the world some of what he’d been through.  That short film was called The Law of Sodom.  He wrote scenes when his mind was in a manic state and at one pivotal moment, even filmed himself in the midst of a manic episode in a scene that is visceral and terrifying in ways that must be seen to be believed.

In an equally bold move, he sent that short film to the first ever Nightmares Film Festival in Columbus, Ohio and it was chosen to screen at midnight.  To his further astonishment, he won an award for his efforts.

It was that win that began to turn Quinn’s life around.  He began his next projects immediately and formed Sodom and Chimera Productions.  Soon, he was making Flesh of the Void which was screened at this year’s Nightmares Film Festival.

Flesh of the Void‘s official synopsis on IMDb is as follows:

Flesh of the Void is a terribly disturbing experimental horror film about what it could feel like if death truly were the most horrible thing one could ever experience. It is intended as a trip through the deepest fears of human beings, exploring its subject in a highly grotesque, violent and extreme manner.

“I was pretty sure I wanted to actually shoot on film,” Quinn explained to me as we chatted via Skype a few days after the festival ended.  “I didn’t have the resources or the experience to do it when I shot The Law of Sodom, but I knew I needed to do that for this project.”

It began with a couple of rolls of Kodachrome, one of the earliest forms of film.  In fact, the film was so old that the chemicals needed to develop them actually no longer exist.  Not to be outdone, however, Quinn began experimenting with his own chemical process to develop the film.

“Some of the rolls wouldn’t develop at all, or they came out completely black.  The ones that did were the most grainy and disgusting things I’ve ever seen!” Quinn enthused.  “I even took the negatives and slapped them on the ground after developing to add to the scratches and graininess.  It all added to the overall look.”

In step with the rest of his process, writing and shooting and filming all took place seemingly out of order.  He would search out locations and then return home to write out his surreal scenes then return to the places he found to shoot.  Ultimately, he broke the film into three acts with a different type of film used for each.  Act One was Kodachrome; Act Two was modern Super 8, and the final act was filmed using 16mm.

“It’s a continuous increase in quality in terms of sharpness and grain,” he says.  “By the third act, I think there is a lot of beauty.  I tried to make and show the beauty in creepy and disgusting things.”

The process seems to have worked.  It was a moment no one who attended Nightmares Film Festival 2017 will forget as Quinn was awarded Best Overall Feature, and we watched a young man overcome with emotion as he explained that the festival had saved his life and that he would return every year whether he had a film in the festival or not because it meant so much to him.

“It changed my life,” he told me.  “I’ve always enjoyed solitude my entire life, but I realized that I actually enjoyed being a part of a community   I have a family here.”

As our interview ended, I couldn’t help feeling that I’d spent a half hour talking to perhaps the most sensitive filmmaker I’d ever met…a man who has walked through a personal hell that would have crushed other people, and found a way to create from that destruction.  He’s a face that will change the landscape of experimental horror.  In fact, he already has.

For more information about Flesh of the Void, you can follow the film on Facebook.  And keep your eyes peeled.  We’ve not heard the last of James Quinn.

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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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Part Concert, Part Horror Movie M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Trap’ Trailer Released

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In true Shyamalan form, he sets his film Trap inside a social situation where we aren’t sure what is going on. Hopefully, there is a twist at the end. Furthermore, we hope it’s better than the one in his divisive 2021 movie Old.

The trailer seemingly gives away a lot, but, as in the past, you can’t rely on his trailers because they are often red herrings and you are being gaslit to think a certain way. For instance, his movie Knock at the Cabin was completely different than what the trailer implied and if you hadn’t read the book on which the film is based it was still like going in blind.

The plot for Trap is being dubbed an “experience” and we aren’t quite sure what that means. If we were to guess based on the trailer, it’s a concert movie wrapped around a horror mystery. There are original songs performed by Saleka, who plays Lady Raven, a kind of Taylor Swift/Lady Gaga hybrid. They have even set up a Lady Raven website to further the illusion.

Here is the fresh trailer:

According to the synopsis, a father takes his daughter to one of Lady Raven’s jam-packed concerts, “where they realize they’re at the center of a dark and sinister event.”

Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, Trap stars Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Saleka Shyamalan, Hayley Mills and Allison Pill. The film is produced by Ashwin Rajan, Marc Bienstock and M. Night Shyamalan. The executive producer is Steven Schneider.

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Woman Brings Corpse Into Bank To Sign Loan Papers

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Warning: This is a disturbing story.

You have to be pretty desperate for money to do what this Brazilian woman did at the bank to get a loan. She wheeled in a fresh corpse to endorse the contract and she seemingly thought the bank employees wouldn’t notice. They did.

This weird and disturbing story comes via ScreenGeek an entertainment digital publication. They write that a woman identified as Erika de Souza Vieira Nunes pushed a man she identified as her uncle into the bank pleading with him to sign loan papers for $3,400. 

If you’re squeamish or easily triggered, be aware that the video captured of the situation is disturbing. 

Latin America’s largest commercial network, TV Globo, reported on the crime, and according to ScreenGeek this is what Nunes says in Portuguese during the attempted transaction. 

“Uncle, are you paying attention? You must sign [the loan contract]. If you don’t sign, there’s no way, as I cannot sign on your behalf!”

She then adds: “Sign so you can spare me further headaches; I can’t bear it any longer.” 

At first we thought this might be a hoax, but according to Brazilian police, the uncle, 68-year-old Paulo Roberto Braga had passed away earlier that day.

 “She attempted to feign his signature for the loan. He entered the bank already deceased,” Police Chief Fábio Luiz said in an interview with TV Globo. “Our priority is to continue investigating to identify other family members and gather more information regarding this loan.”

If convicted Nunes could be facing jail time on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and desecration of a corpse.

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