When director Gerard Lough (Stolen Wings) told me he had adapted King’s short story “The Boogeyman” for a short film, warning bells started sounding in my head. I respect Lough’s work, but there are few filmmakers I would trust to adapt this story convincingly.

I needn’t have worried. Lough embraces the intamcy in this tale of a man confessing the horror of his children’s deaths to a psychiatrist.

As the story begins, Andrew Billings (Simon Fogarty) is explaining to Dr. Harper (Michael Parle) that his children’s deaths, though ruled accidents, were actually murder. At first, the film is dialogue driven, a conversation between the two men, but it soon flashes back to show how he lost them to the mysterious Boogeyman.

For a short story, “The Boogeyman” packs in a lot of horror. Lough’s film, too, leads the audience through some horrible revelations, as it becomes more and more believable that Andrew may not be crazy.

Something lurks behind the closet door in the short film adapation of Stephen King's The Boogeyman. ©2010 Arcadia Video

I’ll say this. Lough’s screenplay is very faithful to what I remember of the original. Most of the noticeable changes are for the sake of setting. In moving it from America to Ireland, nothing is lost, but the language does change a bit. The dialogue has a few Irish idioms that added authenticity to the piece.

Produced on a shoestring budget — I read it was made for 2000 euros — the sound quality is not quite perfect. But the directing is spot on. There’s a beautiful change in color when Andrew remembers his own childhood and the root of his fear of water. And the transitions after the first death of a child subtly reflect the passage of time.

If I had one complaint about the film, it would be that it didn’t show as much as I would have liked. Too often, the action taking place in the past was merely talked about in the psychiatrist’s office. In particular, the pregnancy of Rita (Joanne Cullen) after the death of her children was reduced to a mere phrase about knitting and eating pickles. I think it would have been nice to see her more.

Overall, I heartily recommend The Boogeyman if you get a chance to see it. This short film is an outstanding example of what independent filmmakers can do — even with limited means.

Watch the trailer

The festival is competitive, with approximately 50-60 films screened and will host a variety of workshops and panels covering various aspects of the film industry and horror genre.

All winning entries will be reviewed for consideration for production and/or distribution. In addition, to recognition among thousands of industry professionals, in some cases there will be a cash prize and/or a product/software bundle.

The regular deadline for submission is June 5, 2010. Final submission deadline is July 3rd. All entries must fall into at least one of the following categories: horror, supernatural, monster, sci-fi, crime, thriller, suspense, cult, or mental illness.

For more information and the festival’s submission form, visit their Web site at: www.oklahomahorrorfilmfest.com

Shooting in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Reeves (who directed Cloverfield) noted that while the new film will pay respect to the original Swedish version, they intend to forge a unique identity for Let Me In, placing it firmly in an American context.

Let Me In stars Kodi Smit-McPhee (The Road) as an alienated 12-year-old boy who befriends a mysterious young newcomer Chloe Moretz ((500) Days of Summer) to his small New Mexico town and discovers an unconventional path to adulthood.

The film is based on the bestselling vampire novel, Lat den Ratte Komma In, by Swedish author John Ajvide Lindqvist, and is an English-language remake of the highly acclaimed Swedish film of the same name.

Hammer Films acquired the remake rights to Let the Right One In at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival where the film took home the Founders Award® for Best Narrative Feature. The production is scheduled for a 2010 release in the U.S. by Overture Films.

Follow the production on Twitter: twitter.com/letmeinthemovie and Facebook: facebook.com/letmein

Watching writer/director Ti West’s new horror film The House of the Devil is like going back in time. By setting the story in the 1980s, West gets a chance to fill his film with the clichéd moments of that era, including hairstyles, clothing, and the portable cassette player. More importantly, he has set this story in a world without the now-ubiquitous cellular phone – making communication with the outside world almost impossible.

In this throwback to the Satanic cult scare tactics of the 1970s and ’80s, The House of the Devil is a fairly tame “alone in the woods” kind of story. The story involves a young college student named Samantha (Jocelin Donahue), who decides to rent an apartment and must come up with some quick cash for her first month’s rent.

Right away, we’re questioning motive. Why rent? She’s living on campus with a roommate (who seems to “entertain” quite a bit), but she’s not being forced out. And who rents an apartment without the money to pay for it? She doesn’t even have a job.

But Samantha is determined to make ends meet. She sees a flyer on campus requesting a babysitter and calls the number. After a few stops and starts, she is asked to come to the house that very night. And the job pays $100. With her friend Megan (Greta Gerwig) providing the transportation, she goes out to the creepy old house and meets with Mr. Ulman (Tom Noonan).

Mr. Ulman confesses that they don’t need a babysitter for any children. They merely need someone to stay at home with his wife’s mother. They are in the area for the once-in-a-lifetime lunar eclipse and don’t want to leave grandma alone. All they ask is that Samantha not bother grandma, who prefers her privacy.

Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) doesn't know what is on the other side of the closed door in The House of the Devil. (©2009 Magnolia Films)

The plot suffers from the director’s intent to build up the terror slowly, and it fails. Point of view is broken twice, leaving Samantha to we can see what is happening elsewhere. Rather than increase the horror, it throws the audience out of the story.

To West’s credit, the trappings of the 1980s are not just eye candy in this film. The reliance on pay phones and answering machines is actually integral to the setup of the story. The fact that there is no instant communication – no cell phones, no Twitter, no Facebook – is important.

The House of the Devil appears to be homage to the early films of John Carpenter. It has the same plodding pacing as Halloween or The Fog. I love Carpenter’s work, really. But I have trouble engaging these films because they move so slowly.

So, too, The House of the Devil moves at a frustratingly slow pace through much of the story. Even after the first victim meets a surprising demise, the story continues to amble through Sam’s slow discovery of the house.

The problem is not that the film moves slowly. It’s the fact that it moves slowly for no reason. The tension is not heightened to a moment of horror. It just keeps shuffling along, as if West couldn’t figure out how to be scary. Watching the 6′ 6″ Noonan tower over Donahue is about as eerie as this film gets.

The film has a few moments that make it worth watching. Dee Wallace, a true ’80s film icon, appears as the landlady at the beginning of the film. And, to my delight, there is even the requisite ’80s dance montage to get things rocking when things get too dull.

The 2009 Redbox “Halloween Thrillers” survey was conducted nationwide and included more than 600 Redbox customers.

According to the poll, 64% of Americans plan to watch a horror movie this Halloween. Watching a scary movie was the number one activity chosen by 23% of those responding, beating out trick-or-treating (17%) and costume parties (17%).

Among the surveys other findings:

• 60% of respondents said they prefer to watch scary movies at home rather than at a theater
• The Exorcist was voted the scariest movie of all time with 19% of the vote.
• Hannibal Lecter from Silence of the Lambs was voted most memorable villain overall (21%), but the younger audience (18-34) skewed toward Michael Meyers from Halloween and Freddy Krueger from Nightmare on Elm Street (tied with 22%)
• Creepiest kid in horror? Damien from The Omen (23%)
• Most memorable scary movie quote? “Here’s Johnny!” from The Shining (33%)

As for me, my wife and I have been trying to catch up on the horror movies that we’ve missed in theaters over the past few years. We’re pretty dedicated, but we miss a few that are either in limited release or just pass us by. This month has been horror month at our house, with the high point being the recently released Trick ‘r Treat from Warner Home Video.

Written and directed by Michael Dougherty, Trick ‘r Treat is an exciting romp through four interconnecting tales of horror on Halloween night. I haven’t been this surprised by a movie in a long time. It was genuinely fun and frightening in a Halloween sort of way. This film will be a perennial favorite for many Halloween nights to come.

Hyeon-a Seong as Hong Mi-ju in Woo-cheol Lee's Cello on Sundance Channel as part of Asia Extreme

Who says art films have to be about people drinking wine and smoking cigarettes? This weekend, the Sundance Channel is taking a step into horror with a block of films especially for Halloween.

The fright night kicks off with Philip Chidel’s Subject Two. In this creepy tale, a scientist (Dean Stapleton) creates a formula for resurrection. And the tests involve the repeated murder of his unhappy student volunteer.

Then things get creepy with Korean filmmaker Woo-cheol Lee’s Cello. In this “atmospheric horror film,” a cellist named Mi-ju (Hyeon-a Seong) attempts to begin a new life after a car wreck. When a student threatens her, Mi-ju experiences flashbacks of the traumatic crash and begins to suspect that supernatural forces are threatening her as well.

The night closes with David Moreau and Xavier Palu’s Them. No, this isn’t the classic 1950s film about giant ants. In this tense thriller, a couple goes through a terrifying night in a rented house in a Romanian forest. The story is supposedly based on true events and told in near real time.

The schedule is as follows:
(Just after midnight on 10/31. Technically, Sunday morning.) All times are Eastern.

• 12:30 a.m.: Subject Two
• 2:05 a.m.: Cello
• 3:45 a.m.: Them

For trailers and more information, visit Scare Tactics, the Sundance Channel’s digital shorts mini site. In addition to seeing previews for the three films that will be playing this weekend, you can also watch clips from Sundance Channel’s favorite scary movies.

The House of the Devil

In anticipation of the coming theatrical release of the ’80s throwback horror film The House of the Devil, DreadCentral has a look at the final poster (in a series of six). This one is so awesome, I just had to share it.

For those who haven’t heard of The House of the Devil, is directed by Ti West, is a satanic thriller set in the 1980s. The film stars Jocelin Donahue, Greta Gerwig, Tom Noonan, Mary Woronov, AJ Bowen, and Dee Wallace.

Here’s the official synopsis from the film’s Web site:

Sam is a pretty college sophomore so desperate to earn some cash for a deposit on an apartment that she accepts a babysitting job even after she finds out there is no baby. Mr. and Mrs. Ulman are the older couple who lure Sam out to their creeky Victorian mansion deep in the woods, just in time for a total lunar eclipse. Megan is Sam’s best friend, who gives her a ride out to the house, and reluctantly leaves her there despite suspecting that something is amiss. Victor at first seems like just a creepy guy lurking around the house, but quickly makes it clear that Sam will end this night in a bloody fight for her life….

The House of the Devil is a Magnolia Pictures release that will debut in limited release on Oct. 30. If you’re not in one of the selected cities, don’t worry. The House of the Devil is being offered on VOD all during the month of October, including Amazon.com The House of the Devil (Pre-Theatrical Rental).

And it will also premiere on HDNet Movies Oct. 28. See HDNet Movies for showtimes.

If horror films interest you, be sure to check out the Screamfest LA festival Check out the Web site www.screamfestla.com for showtimes and tickets.

Void promotional poster.

Void

In a small desert town, FBI Special Agent Liz Metera (Jennifer Christopher) is investigating a series of gruesome deaths. Her job is made more difficult by the fact that the bodies seem to be torn apart by an animal — something monstrous. As she begins to piece together the evidence of the latest death, she meets a young boy named Avery (Michael Len). His ill-tempered father may have information about how the victims met their unpleasant fate.

At first glance, Void seems like a cast-off episode of The X-Files. An attractive FBI agent, sans Mulder, is investigating unnatural deaths. She seems well-educated, and doesn’t flinch when she sees the remains of the body. But Agent Metera is more nurturing, more motherly, than Scully could ever be. Her fascination with Avery comes across as natural, not forced for the sake of story. Meredith Berg does a wonderful job of drawing the audience into a place that is both familiar and strange.

Sophie (Anne Gaelle Ponche) faces her fears in the short film Bad Mistake.

Bad Mistake (Mauvaise Erreur)

Sophie (Anne Gaelle Ponche) and her friends like to watch scary movies every Friday night. But Sophie is a bit jaded and doesn’t seem to find anything scary anymore. Then, one night, she is mistakenly kidnapped by masked men. The situation turns sour when the leader realizes that she is not the right woman. And so Sophie must now deal with the horror of her pending death — and see if she has what it takes to survive.

Bad Mistake is a fun short film. In a brief seven minutes, director Xavier Hibon manages to tell a good story quickly. Like a well told joke or fable, it sets up the story, establishes characters, and delivers the turn. When it’s over, the audience is shocked, and then comes to a realization of what has happened. It pays off generously.

If you’ve seen the trailer for Paranormal Activity, you know that this is supposed to be the horror movie of the year. In what has to be one of the best marketing campaigns for a small horror film, Paramount Pictures has been teasing audiences across the country into seeing a film that has had a lot of buzz in its limited release. What started as midnight-only showings in select theaters is now reaching across the country.

Paranormal Activity begins with the premise that something happened to two young people trying to document evidence of the supernatural in their home. The footage we are shown is taken from their recordings over the course of several weeks.

Katie Featherstone has been haunted by a presence since she was 8 years old. She claims that she has seen something that visits her in the night. Her little sister saw it too. But it has been dormant for years. In recent weeks, however, she and her boyfriend Micha Sloat have experienced unexplained things. Micha has bought a video camera and plans to record their daily (and nightly) activity in hopes of catching something on tape.

What unfolds over the next 80+ minutes is a pseudo-documentary of their lives. They ask a psychic to come in and investigate. He refers them to a demonologist, but Micha refuses to let Katie call. He wants to take things into his own hands. But events get creepier and creepier. What began as noises and closing doors develops into full-blown encounter with something.

Katie and Micah use cameras to try to capture some evidence of the unseen presence haunting them in Paranormal Activity. ©2009 Paramount.

But there are problems with the story. It relies too heavily on short, interspered “gotcha” moments. This makes it seem more like an extended practical joke than a real film.

Paranormal Activity may appeal to certain audiences (those who are entralled by Ghost Hunters International, for instance). It offers a somewhat interesting story of a haunting, but it fails to truly deliver on its tale of fright. In fact, it’s a pretty ordinary (and uneventful) story for most of the movie. It had me jump once or twice, but making a loud noise or throwing something at me will illicite the same reaction.

The problem is that nothing kills a good ghost story like being told over and over that it’s a true story. For me, the “shaky cam” reality point-of-view is the cinematic equivalent to a storyteller interrupting the story to remind me, “This is all true, you know. Saw it for myself. Here’s the proof.”

When The Blair Witch Project debuted in 1999, it used a two-camera point-of-view to tell us a documentary-style horror story. It was fresh. It was unique. And even though I knew it wasn’t real, it still scared the hell out of me. Still does, actually.

Now, 10 years later (10 years? Really?), the shaky cam has been done. It’s a cinematic trope that was effective to various degrees (depending on who you ask) in films like Blair Witch and Cloverfield. It no longer provides cinematic veracity.

In this case, Paramount is hoping that you will provide the X factor needed to make the film really scary. The marketing machine has tried to encourage people to see Paranormal Activity in the theaters. Trailers and TV spots all show packed theaters with audiences screaming and jumping in their seats. It’s as if Paramount knew all along that the film wouldn’t stand on its own.

I saw Paranormal Activity on a Wednesday afternoon in a sparsely populated theater. No one screamed unexpectedly. There weren’t rows of people flinching from the screen in unison. Try as I might, I couldn’t get past the fact that the film was missing something. It needed “snakes on a plane.”

When I saw Snakes on a Plane, I was lucky enough to see a late night showing in a college town. The theater was filled with drunk students who had no problem getting into the movie. They laughed when people met untimely deaths. And they cheered when Samuel L. Jackson said that immortal line that had become a catchphrase before the movie was released. Of course, I never thought for a single moment the film would have been any good without that audience. I have never had a desire to watch Snakes on a Plane on DVD or cable.

Since then, whenever a movie needs that audience participation to make it a successful viewing, I tell people it needs “snakes on a plane.” This is one such movie.

Is Paranormal Activity worth seeing? Only in a theater, and then only if you’re in a packed house of people willing to believe that what they see on the screen is real. Maybe.

But if you’re jaded by horror films that try to pass themselves off as reality television, stay away. Especially if you’re prone to motion sickness caused by shaky camera work.