ATLRetro

by Melanie Crew
Managing Editor

The Buried Alive Film Festival is back for its 12th chilling year, brought to you by the Buried Alive team of Kool Kat Blake Myers, Luke Godfrey, Mark Malek and Alyssa Myers, with five killer days (November 15-19) of film terror, including six features, 54 short new independent horror films from around the globe, and three extra special events.  Its sinister shenanigans return for a second year to 7 Stages Theatre in Little Five Points.

This year’s festival features five brand new movies, including our Kool Kat of the Week, Ashley Thorpe’s BORLEY RECTORY is a documentary feature (rotoscope/animation), described by Thorpe as “an ultrasound of a haunting” (see ATLRetro’s exclusive interview with Ashley here). The opening (Thursday) night feature is the latest from director Mickey Keating (POD; DARLING; CARNAGE PARK), a bloody tale of seven serial killers and their deadly agendas as they cross paths over one night, PSYCHOPATHS, which premiered at the Tribecca Film Festival earlier this year. Other feature films include AMERICAN GUINEA PIG: THE SONG OF SOLOMON, a story of satanic possession and the clergymen who confront it directed by Stephen Biro (AMERICAN GUINEA PIG: BLOODSHOCK); WHO’S WATCHING OLIVER, the tale of a mentally unstable loner and his killing spree directed by Richie Moore (CRAZY MEDICINE); and the World Premiere of BB, a provocative psycho-sexual thriller outlining the dangers of technology and who just may be peeking on the other side directed by CJ Wallis (DEAD HOOKER IN A TRUNK[editor]).

This year BAFF features will go beyond the usual horror narratives and include documentaries. FOOLISH MORTALS: A HAUNTED MANSION DOCUMENTARY explores the fan culture surrounding Walt Disney’s Haunted Mansion ride from director James H. Carter II featuring interviews with Disney legend Rolly Crump, artist Topher Adams, AMERICAN MARY’s Tristan Risk, Robert Kurtzman, SpookyDan Walker and more.

Buried Alive also continues to show its love for the local Georgia horror scene. This year’s festival includes six local shorts, with two  directed by our very own Kool Kats Dayna Noffke (UNDER THE BED about a girl and her favorite monster fiend) and Vanessa Ionta Wright (I BAKED HIM A CAKE). Other local shorts include AHEAD IN THE ROAD about three college girls learning the dangers of “the middle of nowhere” directed by Walt Guthrie and Matt McGahren, WEED WHACKER MASSACRE about a grumpy old man-turned-deadly machine vs. the HOA directed by Benjamin R. Dover, MONGO’S GOT A SPIDER GUN changing the world one arachnid at a time directed by Tim McGahren, and SKY TRIPPER featuring ancient artifacts and perilous actions directed by Philip Freeman.

Back by popular demand is the BAFF Sinema Challenge, which challenges local filmmakers with the opportunity to make a horror film in 13 days. Production starts on November 1 and the films will screen on the festival’s opening night, Wed. Nov. 15, at 8 p.m., judged by co-creator and exclusive programmer for Turner Classic Movies (TCM) weekly late-night cult movie showcase TCM Underground, Kool Kat Millie De Chirico and “Archer” animation director and Atlanta-based filmmaker, Marcus Rosentrater.

One of the real strengths, and our favorite part, of Buried Alive Film Fest is the shorts programs. This year brings five shorts sets (The Groundkeeper’s Faves; Cult of the Grave Worm; Weirdness from 6 Feet Under; If These Tombstones Could Make Movies!; and If this is all there is my friend? Then let’s keep digging.) presenting 54 new films that will enlighten, scare and disgust you to the fullest extent. A few highlights from the selections include Huseyin Hassan’s 2AM about a middle-aged man, a white rabbit and supernatural events, the American premiere of Finnish animator and Buried Alive awardwinner Tomi Malakias’ THE ZOO and Mathew E. Robinson’s RIGOR MORTIS about gory and guilt-ridden sibling rivalry. 

Finally, no respectable horror film festival would be complete without screening a few horror classics, and ATLRetro loves the two special events chosen this year. On Friday night at 10 p.m., BAFF will present a special screening of Robert Wiene’s silent horror classic THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1921) with a live soundtrack by Atlanta-based jazz group Samadha! And on Saturday night at 10 p.m., BAFF offers a special treat with a digitally remastered Tim Burton’s ED WOOD, the 1994 biopic starring Johnny Depp, Martin Landeau (as Bela Lugosi) and more. The screening will be hosted by Atlanta’s award-winning Blast Off Burlesque, who will stage one of their signature TabooLaLa events including a performance inspired by the film before the screening. With Plan 9 Graveyard photo-ops, auditions for ED, drag races for prizes and costume contests…let’s just say, things will get wonderfully bizarre.

The 7 Stages Theatre is located at 1105 Euclid Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30307. Individual program block tickets are $12, and five-day festival passes are just $100.

For more information and the complete Buried Alive Film Festival schedule, visit the website here. And view the official BAFF bumper here.

You thought the Halloween season was over? Think again, because the Buried Alive! Film Fest (BA!FF) is about to invade ATLRetro’s favorite movie palace, the Plaza Theatre, over the weekend of November 11-12 and unleash a slew of weird, wonderful horror films on lucky attendees.

Founded by horror fanatic Luke Godfrey (Atlanta’s Godfather of Gore, who started the Zombie Walk Atlanta, as well as one of the sick minds behind Halloween attraction Chambers of Horror and the award-winning monthly Splatter Cinema screenings at The Plaza), Buried Alive! has been generating international attention as the coolest, strangest movie festival in Atlanta. Since we’ve interviewed Luke (here)and Festival Director/filmmaker Blake Myers, (here), we decided to go after Programming Director (and our own contributing blogger) Philip Nutman. Despite his insane schedule, ATLRetro managed to get a few minutes of his time…

ATLRetro: Describe this year’s festival.

NUTMAN: “Psychotronic” – a whacked selection of crazy short films and some cool features. Comedy, gore, zombies, disappearing cats, resurrected goldfish, amputees, killer sperm; this year’s selection of films defy classification. The range is from the bizarre to the very serious, from the downright demented to very funny. Every program block is different. We have a terrific selection of local shorts. But the feature I’m most excited about showing is CHILLERAMA. It is the sickest, most freakin’ insane anthology film I’ve ever seen. It’s a total reinvention of an early 70s grindhouse movie…*very* retro. And I mean *in-f***ing-sane*

Let’s come back to CHILLERAMA. But first, how about the short films? And how do you program them?

My title as “program director” is an honorific; the BA!FF board all watch the movies and we selected them together. Last year was the festival’s most successful to date. This year we received a ton of submissions and we had to make some tough choices. Please don’t ask me to name favorite films; they are all different and we’re excited to show them. ‘ Nuff said…but, check out the program listing at the official website.

Understand this: we do this for love of Independent filmmaking, not money. None of us involved – Luke, Blake, Alyssa Myers, Mark Malek – make a dime off the festival. This is about supporting people who make movies and deserve to have them screened; bringing the best shorts and features we can find to Atlanta; entertaining the audience…and supporting The Plaza, which is a nonprofit and an Atlanta treasure.

Writer/director Ryan Lieske is your guest filmmaker and Patrick Rea is your “featured filmmaker” this year. Why?

Because they are two of the most talented, diverse filmmakers out there. Ryan is coming into town on his own dime – we have no funding to be able to afford to fly people into Atlanta. We screened the fake trailer for CLEAN BREAK  and the actual short last year. Ryan and the Collective Studios gang came into town at their own expense and had a great time. But if DOWN TO SLEEP, his most recent short, which we’re screening, was crap, we would have rejected it. He’s coming back to Atlanta because he loves the festival.

Patrick Rea's EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS.

If all goes to plan, we also will have the world premiere of the trailer of British filmmaker Ashley Thorpe’s new short, BORLEY RECTORY. He’s so hard at work, he doesn’t have the time to come to the festival this year. (Editor’s note: Thorpe won the BA!FF Visionary Award for three animated shorts, including the haunting highwayman story SCAYRECROW, last year.)

Patrick Rea is a prolific filmmaker. He submitted three films last year and we rejected two of them. This year we accepted three out of five. His films keep winning awards and getting better. He’s a director to watch out for. So, since we’re screening three of his films, all of which are different, he deserved to be “featured filmmaker.”

But everything in the festival is solid gold. I’m especially delighted we’re screening Eddie Ray’s SATANIC PANIC: BAND OUT OF HELL, which is totally nuts. And Chris Ethridge and Jayson Palmer managed to pull off what I thought was an unfilmable Stephen King story with SURVIVOR TYPE. These are in the local shorts section. The quality of talent in Atlanta keeps growing, and we want to support that.

So back to CHILLERAMA…

It’s going to blow the audience away. It’s sick, totally twisted and hilarious. It’s a contemporary retro grindhouse anthology film that takes place in an old, about-to-close Drive-In. The four films are written and directed by Adam Green (who made the HATCHET flicks), Joe Lynch (WRONG TURN 2, which was better than the original), Tim Sullivan (2001 MANIACS) and Adam Rifkin (DETROIT ROCK CITY). It’s a love letter to ’50s/’60s/’70s exploitation movies. Sullivan’s I WAS A TEENAGE WEREBEAR is like a ’50s AIP teen monster movie crossed with a Frankie & Annette BEACH BLANKET BINGO film. It’s a musical with gay leather boy werewolves and is hysterically funny. Adam Rifkin’s WADZILLA is the biggest “come shot” on film; giant killer sperm – what’s not to love? Adam Green’s THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANKENSTEIN is like what if Ed Wood made a Jewish anti Nazi propoganda movie starring the Golem. It’s nuts. Joe Lynch is responsible for the wraparound story at the Drive-In which turns into a totally demented narrative with sex-crazed zombies. Words don’t do the flick justice. It’s totally retro with post-modern humor. (I can’t believe I just said that; damn, that sounds pretentious!). Watch the trailer online and “come” see the movie – we have a stunning print. I nearly puked up my dinner with laughter after I first watched it.

And final words?

NUTMAN: If you love independent filmmaking, horror, weird shit – you need to come to the festival and support The Plaza.

Check out the full frightening film schedule here.