The Viscera Film Festival was an annual Los Angeles-based horror film festival for women filmmakers. [1] Originally an online festival, Viscera was founded in 2007 by Shannon Lark and Heidi Honeycutt. [2] In July 2010, the festival became a live event with screenings held at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. [3] All of the screenings were short films. [4] After the Egyptian Theatre premiere, Viscera toured their yearly film lineup at events held around the world for the rest of the year. [5] The Scream Queen Filmfest Tokyo was a subsidiary festival. [6]
The 2007 Viscera Film Festival Selections included "Go Ask Alice" by Shannon Lark, "I'm a Little Teapot" by Sallie Smith, "The Cleaner" by Michelle Fatale, "Wretched" by Heidi Martinuzzi and Leslie Delano, "When Sally Met Frank" by Victoria Waghorn, "Snake Pit" by Brandy Rainey, and "Out of Print" by Reyna Young (Viscera Award Winner). [7]
The 2010 Viscera Film Festival Selections included "The Date" (Viscera Award Winner) by Natasia Schibinger and Jennifer Gigantino, "Don't Lose Heart" by Taliesyn Brown and Matt Mitchell, "Hollow Halls" by Ebony Winston, "Sisters" by Belinda Green-Smith, "Fantasy" by Izabel Grondin, "Lip Stick" by Shannon Lark and Stacie Ponder, "Deadly Beauty" by Chandeline Nicole, "Confederate Zombie Massacre" by Devi Snively, "Taste of Flesh, Taste of Fear" by Stacie Ponder, and "Snow Day, Bloody Snow Day" by Faye Hoerauf and Jessica Baxter. [8]
The Inspiration Award was founded in 2012 to honor women filmmakers. [5]
Lou Taylor Pucci is an American actor who first appeared on film in Rebecca Miller's Personal Velocity: Three Portraits in 2002. Pucci had his breakthrough leading role in Thumbsucker (2005), for which he won a Special Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and the Silver Bear for Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival. Pucci then starred in The Chumscrubber (2005), Fast Food Nation (2006), The Go-Getter (2007), Explicit Ills (2008), and Carriers (2009). Pucci had starring roles in the 2013 Evil Dead remake, as well as The Story of Luke (2013) and Spring (2014).
Kyle Steven Gallner is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas in the television series Veronica Mars (2005–2006), superhero Bart Allen in the drama series Smallville (2004–2009), and Reed Garrett in the police series CSI: NY (2006–2010), as well as a lead role as Hasil Farrell in the drama series Outsiders (2016–2017). He is also known for his roles in American Sniper (2014) and the horror films The Haunting in Connecticut, Jennifer's Body, the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010), Scream and Smile.
Rec is a 2007 Spanish found footage horror film co-written and directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza. The film stars Manuela Velasco as a reporter who, with her cameraman, accompany a group of firefighters on an emergency call to an apartment building to discover an infection spreading inside, with the building being sealed up and all occupants ordered to follow a strict quarantine.
S&Man is a 2006 American pseudo-documentary film that examines the underground subculture of horror films. It contains interviews with filmmakers and other participants in the low budget indie horror scene, as well as film professor and author Carol J. Clover. The second half of the film also features a scripted plot, which stars comedian Erik Marcisak as the fictional filmmaker Eric Rost.
Bloody Disgusting is an American multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news site/website specializing in information services that covered various horror medias, including: film, television, video games, comics, and music. The company expanded into other media including advertising, podcast networking, film, television, streaming media, and management.
Adam Wingard is an American filmmaker. He has served as a film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, actor, and composer on numerous American films.
Shriekfest Horror Film Festival is a film festival specializing in the horror genre. It is the longest running horror festival in Los Angeles. In 2017, Shriekfest expanded to include an Orlando, FL festival location.
The Last Exorcism is a 2010 American found footage supernatural horror film directed by Daniel Stamm. It stars Patrick Fabian, Ashley Bell, Iris Bahr, Caleb Landry Jones, and Louis Herthum.
Strigoi is a 2009 British comedy horror film directed by Faye Jackson and starring Constantin Bărbulescu, Camelia Maxim, and Rudi Rosenfeld. Based on Romanian mythology, the film involves Romanian vampires, which are referred to as "strigoi".
Andrew N. Shearer is an underground filmmaker, journalist and punk rock musician living and working in the region of Athens, Georgia. He is the co-founder with actress and filmmaker Monica Puller of Gonzoriffic Films, a DIY arts collective which has produced dozens of short and feature-length microcinema films since its founding in 2001. Shearer has served as the sole owner and operator of Gonzoriffic since 2012.
The Lords of Salem is a 2012 supernatural horror film written, produced, and directed by Rob Zombie. It stars Sheri Moon Zombie, Bruce Davison, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Ken Foree, Patricia Quinn, Dee Wallace, María Conchita Alonso, Judy Geeson, and Meg Foster. The plot focuses on a troubled female disc jockey in Salem, Massachusetts, whose life becomes entangled with a coven of ancient Satan-worshipping women.
Radio Silence Productions is an American film and television production company, founded in 2011 by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez and Chad Villella. The group is known for the horror films Ready or Not, Scream and Scream VI, as well as their previous work together as Chad, Matt & Rob.
The Profane Exhibit is a 2013 internationally co-produced anthology horror film written and directed by ten renowned genre filmmakers from across the globe: Nacho Vigalondo, Anthony DiBlasi, Ryan Nicholson, Michael Todd Schneider, Sergio Stivaletti, Marian Dora, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Uwe Boll, Ruggero Deodato and Jeremy Kasten.
The Munich International Film Festival is the largest summer film festival in Germany and second only in size and importance to the Berlinale. It has been held annually since 1983 and takes place in late June or early July. The latest festival was held from June 23 to July 2, 2022. It presents feature films and feature-length documentaries. The festival is also proud of the role it plays in discovering talented and innovative young filmmakers. With the exception of retrospectives, tributes and homages, all of the films screened are German premieres and many are European and world premieres. There are a dozen competitions with prizes worth over €250,000 which are donated by the festival's major sponsors and partners.
Morituris is a 2011 Italian horror film directed by Raffaele Picchio. The film had its International premiere on July 30, 2011, at Fantasia Festival. The film is inspired by the Circeo Massacre, in which three young men abducted, and then raped and tortured, two young women over a two-day period. As a result of its graphic content, the film has been banned in Italy. In May 2013 Synapse Films announced that they had purchased the rights to Mortituris with the intent to release it to DVD.
The Hanover House is a 2014 horror film that was directed by Corey Norman and is his feature-film directorial debut. The film had its world premiere on May 9, 2014 at the Saco Drive-In. It stars Brian Chamberlain as a man that must deal with the demons from his past before he can move on as an adult.
Justin Benson and Aaron Scott Moorhead are an American filmmaking duo. Both have served in directing, producing, editing, and acting roles in their projects, while Moorhead is also a cinematographer and Benson is a writer.
Etheria Film Night is an annual Los Angeles–based genre film festival for new short films by women directors. Etheria Film Night was founded in 2014 by Heidi Honeycutt, Stacy Pippi Hammon, and Kayley Viteo, former Viscera Film Festival staff members. The festival screens a curated lineup of horror, science fiction, thriller, fantasy, dark comedy, and action short films and sometimes a feature film.
Scott Teems is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer best known for his work on That Evening Sun (2009), The Quarry (2020), Halloween Kills (2021), Firestarter (2022) and Insidious: The Red Door (2023).
Heidi Honeycutt is an American journalist, author, actress, filmmaker, film programmer, and co-founder of the Los Angeles-based Etheria Film Night, a film festival that showcases short films by women directors. She established the festival in 2014 with Stacy Pippi Hammon, and serves as its Director of Programming. Honeycutt and Hammon had previously run the Viscera Film Festival alongside Shannon Lark. As a journalist, Honeycutt has written for such magazines as Fangoria and Famous Monsters of Filmland.