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“Tonight It’s You” Twists and Turns to the Haunting End

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Dominic Haxton really didn’t want to make another short film.  He’d already done four and he had his sights set on a feature length horror film that he was passionate about.  Luckily for us, his friend convinced him to make one more.  “Tonight It’s You” is one for the books.

“Tonight It’s You” opens on C.J. sitting on the side of a pool in serious need of a cleaning.  As he stares over the water, we get a sense that life isn’t what he wants it to be.  We follow him back to his claustrophobic trailer home and his night takes a turn when his gets a notification from a hookup app.  The obligatory torso shot is good and he agrees to meet.

Then he arrives and is instructed to meet in the shed out back.  Above all, be quiet.

“I wanted to play on the audience expectation of where the horror was coming from,” Haxton explains.  “When he initially gets to the shed, you see occult images and you wonder what’s going on.  Then you meet the guy and he’s kind of weird but they go ahead and hook up and you wonder what’s going on.  Then the guy’s dad comes out of the house and you think maybe they’ve lured C.J. out there and they’re going to do something to him.”

As the young man, Hunter, goes out to meet his father, we immediately realize that this is not a good relationship.  The father demands to know what his son has been up to and when he gives no answer, he’s told to go inside.  As they both retreat indoors, C.J. decides to now is his chance to leave.  The chance is short-lived however as another car pulls into the drive and a small town preacher and his wife step out of the car.

In a split second decision, C.J. enters the house through a window, only to find Hunter, the sweet young man he’d only had sex with a few moments before, tied and gagged on a bed.  He begins to untie him but is forced to hide in a closet as the father, the pastor, and his wife enter the home.  And that, readers, is when the real terror begins.

As the pastor prays over Hunter, I was convinced they were trying to exorcise the gay out of him.  I’m from a small town in rural East Texas and that idea isn’t so far fetched to me.  It doesn’t take long, however, for both the audience and C.J. to realize there is so much more going on here.

You see this guy just so happens to be actually possessed.

“The story I had was playing off the fears of being gay in a small town, living with your parents, and they have no idea about your sexuality,” the director told me.  “So we played with this allegory of someone’s repressed sexuality being like a demon inside them.  There are people who actually believe that gay people are possessed.  You can go on YouTube and see videos of ‘gay exorcism’.”

Haxton turns the gay exorcism upside down, however.  What happens when you want to exorcise the gay out of someone and it turns out they really are possessed?  Haxton wants to be clear, however, that he’s not promoting the idea that one causes the other.

“A lot of people have made comments that I’m equating being gay with demons,” he says.  “There’s this idea that if you make a gay themed horror film then this person or that person can’t be the bad guy because then you’re equating being gay with being bad.  They protested Silence of the Lambs because they said it painted a negative picture of trans people.  They did the same thing with the lesbian character in Basic Instinct.  Anytime we see representations of queer characters in horror or in a suspense/thriller in a negative light or showing them as the antagonist, people think the filmmaker is making a negative commentary on it.  But sometimes, the character just happens to be gay and he also just happens to be possessed by a demon.”

The rest of the film jumps with terrifying precision from scene to scene as C.J. desperately tries to escape a situation he never imagined, and Haxton beautifully pulls each scene together   He has a keen eye that focuses the terror to pin the viewer to their chair.

Jake Robbins gives a strong performance as C.J.  Not only is he a talented actor with classic leading man good looks but he also manages to give a performance that is sympathetic and honest as the fantastic and terrifying happens around him.  The love scene he is shares with Ian Lerch (Hunter) is electrifying in its eroticism and beautiful its emotional vulnerability.  You can feel Hunter’s need to touch and be touched by another human being and C.J.’s almost protective and domineering desire.

This film is a must see for straight and queer audiences alike.  The gay characters are far from stereotypes, even if they meet under the most stereotypical of circumstances.  Yet, they are human with all the human failings that come with our condition.

“Tonight It’s You” will be playing as part of a special horror block at the FilmOut San Diego film festival on June 10, 2017 beginning at 10 pm!

Tonight It’s You (Gay Short Film) from Dominic Haxton on Vimeo.

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Brad Dourif Says He’s Retiring Except For One Important Role

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Brad Dourif has been doing movies for nearly 50 years. Now it seems he is walking away from the industry at 74 to enjoy his golden years. Except, there is a caveat.

Recently, digital entertainment publication JoBlo’s Tyler Nichols talked to some of the Chucky television series cast members. During the interview, Dourif made an announcement.

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting,” says Nichols. “The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.”

Dourif has voiced the possessed doll since 1988 (minus the 2019 reboot). The original movie “Child’s Play” has become such a cult classic it’s at the top of some people’s best chillers of all time. Chucky himself is ingrained in pop culture history much like Frankenstein or Jason Voorhees.

While Dourif may be known for his famous voiceover, he is also an Oscar-nominated actor for his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Another famous horror role is The Gemini Killer in William Peter Blatty’s Exorcist III. And who can forget Betazoid Lon Suder in Star Trek: Voyager?

The good news is that Don Mancini is already pitching a concept for season four of Chucky which might also include a feature-length movie with a series tie-in. So, Although Dourif says he is retiring from the industry, ironically he is Chucky’s friend till the end.

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Editorial

7 Great ‘Scream’ Fan Films & Shorts Worth a Watch

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The Scream franchise is such an iconic series, that many budding filmmakers take inspiration from it and make their own sequels or, at least, build upon the original universe created by screenwriter Kevin Williamson. YouTube is the perfect medium to showcase these talents (and budgets) with fan-made homages with their own personal twists.

The great thing about Ghostface is that he can appear anywhere, in any town, he just needs the signature mask, knife, and unhinged motive. Thanks to Fair Use laws it’s possible to expand upon Wes Craven’s creation by simply getting a group of young adults together and killing them off one by one. Oh, and don’t forget the twist. You’ll notice that Roger Jackson’s famous Ghostface voice is uncanny valley, but you get the gist.

We have gathered five fan films/shorts related to Scream that we thought were pretty good. Although they can’t possibly match the beats of a $33 million blockbuster, they get by on what they have. But who needs money? If you’re talented and motivated anything is possible as proven by these filmmakers who are well on their way to the big leagues.

Take a look at the below films and let us know what you think. And while you’re at it, leave these young filmmakers a thumbs up, or leave them a comment to encourage them to create more films. Besides, where else are you going to see Ghostface vs. a Katana all set to a hip-hop soundtrack?

Scream Live (2023)

Scream Live

Ghostface (2021)

Ghostface

Ghost Face (2023)

Ghost Face

Don’t Scream (2022)

Don’t Scream

Scream: A Fan Film (2023)

Scream: A Fan Film

The Scream (2023)

The Scream

A Scream Fan Film (2023)

A Scream Fan Film
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Movies

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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