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Horror Short Film Review: Unwelcome (Starring Victor Miller)

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Unwelcome is a 2014 short film written and directed by Nathan Erdel, the guy who’s writing the script for Headless (based on the movie-within-a-movie in Found, which just got a DVD release date). The basic premise is this: “A young couple move into a new home, only to realize that they are not alone.”

Things start happening in the house that each character assumes the other is responsible for, and ultimately create tension in the couple’s relationship. At first, you might suspect that it’s going to be some kind of generic haunted house or Paranormal Activity-like story (don’t worry, it’s not presented as found footage), but as it progresses, it shoots down that notion entirely in a genuinely and refreshingly creepy way.

It’s a very small indie production, but the actors hold their own, making for a believable ordinary couple still trying to figure out if they really belong together.

Oh, and did I mention it has Victor Miller in it? Yes, the man who wrote the original Friday the 13th. He appears as Uncle Ghastly, a cheesy local TV horror host in the style of all those documented in American Scary.

 

Unwelcome also serves as a nice introduction (for me at least) to Chicago horror punk band The Necroholics, who provided a song called Unwelcome specifically for the project.

Erdel tells me he’s currently trying to get Unwelcome into some festivals.

His wife Kara Erdel produced the film, and is a producer on Headless as well (she also makes a brief on-screen appearance in Unwelcome). She tells me about how they scored the legendary Victor Miller for the film:

That was a really lucky coincidence. I’m a member of the steering committee for the Diabolique International Film Festival (formerly the Dark Carnival Film Festival). Last year – our last year as Dark Carnival – we showed a gorgeous 35mm print of the original Friday, and we had Victor in to do a Q&A, which Nathan moderated. In talking to Victor, Nate mentioned that he had a screenplay (Unwelcome), and Victor graciously offered to read it. The next day, we put him on a plane back to California, and that night, Nate had an email in his inbox from Victor, saying that he had really loved the script and that he would love to play Uncle Ghastly, which was a small but featured role. All of his work on Unwelcome was done through the magic of green screen, which was awesome, although it would have been cool to have him on set. Victor will be judging our screenplay competition this year at Diabolique, and we’re super stoked to have him back – he’s just a really cool cat.

I can attest to that. I met him briefly at a horror convention a couple of years ago. Really friendly guy.

Kara also recalled the help they got from the Forbidden Films crew – the folks behind Headless and Found – in making Unwelcome.

Leya Taylor [Found DP] was actually our Director of Photography, Shane Beasley [Headless killer] and Arthur Cullipher [Headless director] did our makeups – in fact, the bulk of that short was shot in Shane’s house. He basically re-modeled his apartment for us and let us tromp in and out of there for eight weeks – that dude is true blue. I would pretty much do anything those guys asked me to do – and it’s really cool to be a part of Bloomington’s little filmmaking community. We’re sort of a skeleton crew – which is really a pretty fitting descriptor, when you think about it – but we’re starting to make things happen! It’s really exciting.

There’s no question that Headless will be much darker than Unwelcome (Nathan recently talked about August Underground: Mordum in a video posted to the Headless Facebook page if that’s any indication – not to mention the footage that already exists). But Unwelcome is a nice introduction to the creative mind that’s been tapped to flesh out an entire story from the small sample that’s already in existence.

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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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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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