Cinematical

You just don't see many Comedy Movie Festivals (although there are a few), and you rarely if ever find yourself attending a Drama-Con or a panel discussion with the collected hosts of Family Feud -- but horror ... yeah, there's lots of horror festivals and conventions out there. (Sci-fi, too, obviously -- but those guys are even weirder than the horror freaks!) In North America we have Fantasia, Fantastic Fest and ScreamFest (among many quality -- usually smaller -- events), but across the globe the horror genre is even more beloved. (And, get this, respected!)

So I wasn't all that shocked when I caught wind of Insomnifest, the world's first exclusively online horror film festival. A joint effort between the ravenous gore-munchers of Slasherpool and the cult curators of Mondo Macabro, Insomnifest runs from February 11 to 24, showcases twelve new (or little-seen) fright flicks from across the globe, and appears only on your computer monitor. (Each flick will set you back five bucks, which seems more than fair in relation to your average rental / VOD options.) But since this is the first year of the event, combined with the fact that I haven't seen any of the flicks yet, I thought I'd pick the brain of Swedish horror junkie Josh Frederik Nordstrom, Insomnifest ringleader and longtime horror advocate at Slasherpool:

Cinematical: Horror geeks have lots of options these days. Explain to these gore-addicted, hyper-active lunatics why Insominfest is worthy of their $5.00 (times twelve).

Fred: Well, we naturally don't expect people to check out every single one of these movies. We have a very varied selection of horror movies and I'm sure that some people will just check out the slashers while others will just check out the ghost movies. Several of these movies are world premieres and some of them are very hard to come by and we've selected twelve terrific horror titles and I personally think that they're worth every penny but that's really up to the viewer to decide. The movies are also presented in their fully uncensored versions (and in some cases the fully uncut versions will never be released anywhere else) and instead of paying $9.00 to fall asleep in an empty theater to some generic Ring rip-off, you get to watch horror movies made by true horror fans (and selected by as well) for only $5.00 in the comfort of your own home.

Cinematical: At first I thought your twelve picks were all recent little indies, but you have quite a selection of international horror flicks, several of which have played at festivals all over the world. How hard was it to pick the final slate?

Fred: Well, with the international horror flicks, yes some aren't brand new but most of them never reached an audience outside their native countries which we really thought was a shame since these are terrific movies. We wanted to give these great titles some much needed exposure and we wanted to share with the rest of the world what we have had the pleasure of viewing. Picking the final slate was very difficult though and we made several changes along the way. We were very surprised to see how many horror movies were interested in being a part of this new festival.

Cinematical: Aside from maybe making a few bucks and sharing some good horror movies with a passionate audience, what's your ultimate hope for Insomnifest?

Fred: We're actually not hoping to make a few bucks, we just want to break even. Every dollar that we get after that will go to next years event. We're sick and tired of companies churning out low-rent DTV horror films and we want to show horror fans that there are options. Our ultimate goal is to give some terrific independent horror titles exposure and share them with the rest of the world (this festival is NOT just limited to America, the entire world will be able to join in on the fun). Hopefully horror fans will recognize all the effort we put into this and also appreciate the selected titles as much as we did. There is not one horror movie in this festival without a heart. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the film makers and production companies who have put their trust in us. It's been months of headaches and tears but hopefully it'll all be worth it. We really want to make a difference.

The flicks! (Synopses taken from the Insomnifest website.)

Backwoods Bloodbath (America) -- "An old school horror-gore flick about six friends who take a road trip to a back country town where a local legend has been feeding off the population for decades, only to find themselves becoming the latest items on the creature's menu."

Complexx (Netherlands) -- "Gamers from all over Holland have gathered at a game convention to find out about the latest game. After the convention, most of the gamers go home, but for a few of them, the night has just begun. Some have received text messages saying that they should stay in the building after everyone has left and play a new game. Since the prize money is 1 million euros, they all decide to stay, unknowing of the terror that awaits them."

Dead Floor (Indonesia) -- "Luna has just gotten her first job as a secretary for a major company in Jakarta. She's got her own desk, new good friends and a seemingly friendly boss. There's only one problem. Ever since Luna started working for the firm, she's been having horrifying visions and she's certain that something happened on the 13th floor of the building."

Fear House (America) -- "Relatives and colleagues of reclusive writer Samantha Ballard track her to an isolated house in the California desert where they discover a traumatized Samantha. She greets them with the grim announcement that they will die if they attempt to leave the house. After Samantha¹s ex-husband and his girlfriend suffer horrible deaths while trying to escape, the others realize that she was serious."

The Grief (Sweden) -- "A group of students are making a documentary on the legend of Norah Ashtor, a woman which is said to have been killed in the 19th century since the locals thought that she was a witch. Unfortunately for them, this is one legend that they shouldn't have messed with."

Gutterballs (Canada) -- "A brutally sadistic rape leads to a series of bizarre gory murders during a midnight disco bowl-a-rama at a popular bowling alley. One by one, players of two teams meet blood-drenched gruesome deaths at the hand of a black bowling-gloved masked killer. This alley will run red with blood by sunrise and the shocking twist that reveals the killer will shock even the most jaded viewer!"

The House at the End of the Road (Sweden) -- "Four students majoring in art leave the civilization for a couple of days to be able to dedicate some time to their current art projects. They've rented a remote house where the nearest neighbour is miles away and nothing but woods surround them, but just as they start getting settled in, strange things start to occur."

Left for Dead (Canada) -- "It's Devil's Night, the night before Halloween, and five fraternity brothers have just become responsible for the death of an innocent person. They swear to never speak of the accident again and it seems like they have just gotten away with it. One year later the five friends are at a Halloween party and someone hasn't forgotten about last year... and he's got a machete!"

Methodic (America) -- "A young boy gets possessed by an ominous presence and ends up killing his parents at his own birthday party. He's sent off to a mental institution where he will spend the rest of his days... or so they thought. As the presence grows stronger and stronger, the boy, who's now fully grown, is soon completely overtaken by the demonic presence and goes on a killing rampage."

Shrouded (Indonesia) -- "Wisnu is a good man with a loving family, but all of this changes when a gang of crooks break into his family's store and kills his entire family right before his eyes. Shortly thereafter, Wisnu starts having ghostly visions of a shrouded ghost and everytime he sees it, his desire for revenge grows stronger." (BANNED in its native country!)

Shrouded 2 (Indonesia) -- "Maya and her younger sister Andin are orphans since a year back and have just started to move on with their lives. Maya is getting married to her boyfriend soon and Andin is afraid that Maya will forget about her. To patch things up with her sister, Maya decides to buy Andin her own apartment now that she's starting college and has to take care of herself. What she doesn't know is that the building is haunted, and that something evil is coming for Andin."

TheCampusHouse.com (America) -- "30 years ago, Catherine Blakely was brutally killed by an unseen killer. Now, a production company has bought the house and is starting up an online reality-TV show called "TheCampusHouse." Seven college students will expose their lives to a curious audience over the next couple of weeks but someone doesn't want them there."

The carnage starts on February 11. Right here!