Is Terrifier (2016) director, Damien Leone, the only director to create a true and lasting slasher since Scream (1996) for modern times with his iconic Art the Clown? Since the incomparably bloody Terrifier 2 (2022), he is not only promising us Terrifier 3, but he had a meeting with some director slash producer about a different movie. That meeting was with Sam Raimi. Anybody ever hear of this guy (lol for those without sarcasm detectors)? Hoping this turns into something hilariously blood-splattering or blood-splattering hilarious, but if it’s just blood-splattering that’s okay, as long as it’s got that Raimi/Leone vibe, a marriage made in horror.
Frankenstein’s Army (2013) director Richard Raaphorst has been busy. The multi-talented artist, who creates some incredible proof-of-concept works for projects ran a successful Kickstarter campaign for the graphic novelization, Worst Case Scenario. This was the original concept behind Frankenstein’s Army, but Worst Case Scenario is a much larger concept set in modern times as seen in the project’s proof-of-concept teaser and trailer. The story is about two children up against a “long dormant … army of nightmarish creatures…Part corpse, part robot, all Nazi.” Sounds like Shock Waves (1977) on steroids and I’m all for that. If you whizzed by that link for the Shock Waves trailer, you’re missing out on a great old-style narrated trailer.
But wait there’s more, and that’s why we’re here today!
Sony has bought the feature rights to the short film “Gnomes” directed by Ruwan Suresh Heggleman and written by Heggleman, Jasper ten Hoor, and our man Raaphorst. Hoor and Heggleman have been cutting their teeth on short films, and it’s paid off in what could be a worthy contender in the small-mythical-monsters-that-run-in-packs subgenre–think Gremlins, Critters, and Ghoulies.
Interesting to note it will be the first work produced by the Mad Scientists Movement, a group that includes artists from several filmmaking areas, who “specialize in the creation of the weird and wonderful.” Some concept art for “Gnomes” can be found on their site. The short film doesn’t seem to be online, but you can catch the trailer on Heggleman’s YouTube page, or better yet, check out their Instagram reels, which include the trailer, some behind the scenes videos, the soundtrack to the short film, as well as a much more graphic trailer. I cannot wait for these little guys to wreak havoc.
I heard about the anthology movie Satanic Hispanics (2022) last year, but it still hasn’t popped up anywhere theatrically or streaming. Five great horror directors helm segments for the film.
Mike Mendez directed the wraparound story–always crucial to an anthology film–entitled “The Traveler,” about the lone survivor of a massacre (Efren Ramirez) telling stories to the police, stories all based on Latin American legends.
Ramirez is mostly known for playing Pedro in Napoleon Dynamite (2004), but since then he’s had parts in Crank (2006), Crank: High Voltage (2009), and Gamer (2009). Even before Napoleon he had parts on the tv shows Boston Public and Judging Amy. And his work goes all the way back to him playing the Pizza Boy in Tammy and the T-Rex (1994). He’s a lifer. Can’t wait to see him again.
Mendez directed Big Ass Spider! (2013) and the “Friday the 31st” segment from Tales from Halloween (2015), but he directed his first feature, The Killers, back in 1996 and followed it up with Bimbo Movie Bash in1997, a movie made from other movies. Make a list of movies using the actual footage of other movies and this will be on the top ten of that list. Granted, there may only be ten, but Mendez deserves credit for re-creating premade material, which must be an incredibly hard editing chore. I imagine there are hundreds of failed attempts out there.
For more like it, check out the slasher-vibe Hollywood Boulevard (1976), directed by Allan Arkush and a young Joe Dante who used footage from several of Corman’s produced works. Plus, it stars Mary Woronov and Paul Bartel. And check out Steve Martin in the Carl Reiner directed Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982).
Where was I?
Satanic Hispanics.
Alejandro Brugués directed the segment “The Hammer of Zanzibar” written by Lino K. Villa. Brugués is one to watch if you’re a horror fan. He wrote and directed his second feature, Juan of the Dead (2011); he wrote and directed “E is for Equilibrium” for ABCs of Death 2 (2014); he directed two episodes of From Dusk to Dawn: The Series; and he’s done much more. Check him out.
“Nahuales” was directed by Gigi Saul Guerrero, who directed her first feature Bingo Hell (2021), written by her, Shane McKenzie, and Perry Blackshear, which is currently on Amazon Prime; “M is for Matador” for ABCs of Death 2. 5 (2016); an episode of The Purge tv series (2018-2019); and a very healthy helping of short genre films deserving of mention, including the following: with a story by McKenzie and co-directed with Luke Bramley, El Gigante (2014) is about a man who is kidnapped, has a Lucha Libre mask sewn to his face, and must fight in a wrestling match, and it looks like it played on Shudder at one point; Mistress of Bones (2020) was written by MacKenzie and is about the titular character fighting evil after graverobbers uncover an Aztec amulet; and Madre De Dios (2015) about a woman transformed into a statue of Santa Muerte in order to bring forth the anti-christ. And there is plenty more from Gigi Saul Guerrero, and I hope there is plenty more to come. She is someone to watch out for. Just check out the rest of her IMDB page.
Demián Rugna directs “También Lo Vi”, which directly translates as “I Saw it Too”. Rugna has directed three features: You Don’t Know Who You’re Talking To (2016); The Last Gateway (2007), about a man with the gateway to hell in his–wait for it–stomach, and it looks like people want out; and–overshadowed by a title with one letter difference and in this very article–Terrified (2017), about a group investigating strange goings-on in a Buenos Aires neighborhood. Man, I’m halfway through the movie, and this thing deserves attention. Check it out.
And then the other segment is by some guy named Eduardo Sánchez.
Okay fine, Sanchez in my opinion is one the most overlooked and underrated horror directors around. Sure, along with co-director and co-writer Daniel Myrick, as well as many others, he created not just The Blair Witch Project (1999), but the advertising campaign for it and, though there were others before them, they also caused a rebirth of the found footage subgenre. And, he has directed episodes of modern horror tv series From Dusk to Dawn: The Series, Lucifer, Supernatural, American Horror Stories, and Yellowjackets; as well as segments in anthology films, “A Ride in the Park” from V/H/S 2 (2013) and a segment in Portals (2019).
However, I’ll never understand why his crowning achievements don’t include aren’t–nor why more people don’t talk about them–Altered (2006) and Exists (2014). Altered is about a group of friends who had been abducted by aliens and years later capture an alien, and I’ll tell you I’ll never forget the intestine scene–never. I’ll never forget Exists either because it stars my favorite cryptid. A group of friends are hunted down by the mother of the creature they ran over and killed. Unfortunately for them, this is a Bigfoot movie, and the best one I’ve ever seen though Harry and the Hendersons (1987) is right behind it.
That’s it for now. I’m already working on the next director roundup. Great horror films are all over the place right now, kind of like blood splatter.