CategoryIndie
Independent horror: micro-budget features, short films and first-time filmmakers doing more with less — and often doing it better.
2,258 stories
GamingIndieProductReviews
German indie game developer Mooneye Studios allowed me the honor to take a crack at Lost Ember, their debut game. This third-person adventure game takes you the adventure of a wolf with the ability to shape-shift into other animals as you explore lands once occupied by a civilization of people called the Yanrana. As mentioned, you play as a wolf. But there’s more to that, the wolf in a past life was a member of the Yanrana people whose soul is not permitted to pass to the afterlife. Fate brings the wolf together with the lost soul of a long-dead Yanrana who needs help passing to the next life; these are known as “Lost Embers”. The soul accompanies the wolf as the animal retraces its past life to uncover a way to help it pass on as well but along the way the wolf is granted a mysterious power that allows it to possess any creature it finds meaning that
Continue reading →
GamingIndieProductReviews
Indie game developer Brain Seal Entertainment gave me the opportunity to prove myself to the gods by entering the fighting arenas of ancient Rome to show myself worthy! Or at least virtually with the help of their game Story of a Gladiator. This 2D beat ‘em up tells the story of a man of humble beginnings fighting his way to the top for glory as a gladiator with the hopes of competing at the Coliseum. Players can pick three different characters at the beginning of the game where each individual has their own perks, a Greek, a Carthaginian (North African), or Egyptian. There are three areas that you fight in, Capua in Greece, Neapolis in Carthage, and the Coliseum in the heart of the Roman Empire. In each arena has levels that are full of waves of enemies you must defeat in order to advance as well as earn coins and XP to build up your rankings and buy better
Continue reading →
IndieMovies
L.A. based visual artist Ama Lea is preparing to shoot an experimental short film that is right up my (and most likely your) arcane alley titled The Invocation of Lilith! Here’s the lowdown on the project straight from the sinister source: The Invocation of Lilith is a psychedelic experimental short film inspired by Andy Warhol, Kenneth Anger, and Alejandro Jodorowsky. It is about transcendence, summoning and claiming of feminine power and exploring themes of occultism, lunar magik, sisterhood, and equality. It is about the reclaiming of Lilith, who is often portrayed as a demon for simply wanting equality. She will be our heroine and savior guiding the hand of our female cast in finding and owning their power and letting go of the pain and resentments of patriarchal restraint to find love and light and forgiveness within the universe. Though I am inspired by these filmmakers above, this will be something that is entirely my own and my own vision.
Continue reading →
IndieInterviewsMovies
One thing we need more of in the horror genre is more holiday horror films. When I heard about Holiday Hell, both a holiday film and an anthology, I wanted to know more, so I went straight to the source, Holiday Hell writer and director Jeff Ferrell who talked about the film and more during our interview. Horror Fuel: “Your film Holiday Hell is an anthology. Can you tell us a little about the segments? Jeff Ferrell: “Holiday Hell is an anthology. It’s in the tradition of movies like Creepshow, Trick ‘r Treat, Tales from the Crypt, and Tales from the Hood. Essentially, it’s five short segments all woven together and the twist in each segment is based around a different holiday. One of the segments is around Hanukkah, another around Valentine’s day, and then we have Christmas, and the winter solstice. Each segment is its own little contained story. There’s a wrap-around that ties everything together. The wrap-around stars
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
All “teenager” Roxy Miller (Marilyn Manning who appears to be pushing thirty) wanted was to get her ass to a local shindig… too bad she almost hits Eegah (Richard Kiel, best known as Jaws from the James Bond series), a gigantic mother fuckin’ caveman, with her car… which is more common than one would assume. I mean, I would think the number of colossal caveman related auto accidents would hover around a solid zero, yet here we are… Foxy Roxy informs her boyfriend, pompadour maestro/dune buggy enthusiast Tom Nelson (Arch Hall Jr., who soon performs his number one shit single Vicki) and her pulp-author pappy Robert Miller (Arch Hall Sr., who also directed and came up with the story for this here terror tale) about ol’ Captain Caveman, which spurns Bob to go looking for that sumbitch in his whirly-bird… but he never returns from the trip. Tom shows concern the only way he can; by warbblin’ another standard substandard
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesNewsTrailers
From writer-director Christopher M. Don (Minutes to Midnight) comes the survival horror film Restricted Area. Four blue-collar friends take a camping trip only to discover a backwoods cult with a cataclysmic agenda. Now, they must fight to survive. Randy Wayne (Hellraiser: Judgment), Phillip Andre Botello (The Art of Self-Defense), and Shawn C. Phillips star alongside Robert Don, Paige Lindsay Betts, Emily Gardt, Ross Britz, and West Murphy. Featuring an original score from Michael Levinson and bands Agent 51 and The Megas, Restricted Area is now out on DVD and Digital.
Continue reading →
GamingIndieNewsProduct
Xaviant was awesome and invited me to preview their upcoming rogue-lite game, Don’t Die Minerva! for the Xbox One. The game will be available for Steam early access and Xbox Game Preview on December 9th! With it being a preview, the game I experienced is in the early stages of being finished so this is not a review. Don’t Die Minerva! Is about an 11-year old girl named Minerva who is looking for her parents, her search leads her to a spooky mansion that’s full of ghosts, evil spirits, and creatures. Armed with only a flashlight and stuffed animals, Minerva goes forth! Overall impression, this game is not only cute; it’s very bright and colorful. I dare say that the game makes it feel like Halloween again! The music is appropriate for the game as it’s not too over the top but also not subtle. I enjoy the fact that if Minerva walks through a smashed pumpkin or the ectoplasmic
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviewsThriller
Mild-mannered dry-cleaning delivery man Howard (Robert Gribbin) lives with his mother, enjoys putting together model kits and drinking root beer… and has a propensity for raping (the female ones anyway) and killing hitchhikers that have runaway from home and hate their mommies… an admittedly niche demographic, but Howard is rather successful in his murder biz all the same. Why does Homicidal Howie commit these awful acts? Simple, his sister ran away from home and caused his mother static… seems solid enough to me! Anyway, who will attempt to stop this nightmare before the bodies pile-up further? Why none other than Russell Johnson (you know, The Professor from Gilligan’s Island) as small-town Police Captain J.W. Shaw. Will Howard escape justice or will his reign of terror continue on? Everything from the over-the-top acting of leading man Gribbin, to the ridiculously dramatic musical score (courtesy of Perry Daniels), to the cheesy dialog, swirls and bubbles in a witch’s cauldron to create pure
Continue reading →
IndieInterviewsMoviesNewsTrailers
One of the best indie horror films headed your way is Frank Sabatella‘s The Shed, on digital and On Demand November 15th. I sat down with Frank who filled me in on how the film came to be, bullying, and more. Sabatella is an actor, writer, director and producer, known for his film Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet and multiple short films. He appeared in 2018’s indie horror hit The Ranger. In other words, he’s a busy man. A jack of all trades I guess you’d say. The Shed centers on Stan, played by Jay Jay Warren, a kid whose life went from the American dream to a nightmare after the death of his parents. Stan is mercilessly bullied by everyone in his life, but things are about to get worse. There’s something deadly in his shed. Horror Fuel: “How did the idea come about for the story?” Frank Sabatella: “The story about a vampire trapped inside a
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesNewsReviews
What do you get when you mix bullies and bloodthirsty vampires? You get Frank Sabatella’s indie horror film The Shed, from the producer of the Saw franchise. The film centers a teen named Stanley (Jay Jay Warren) whose back story is a heartbreaking one. Things go from good to bad to dreadful quick in the film when his parents die. Being a victim of abuse and bullying at both his new home and at school really makes you feel for the kid. When he finds something inhuman and hungry hiding in his shed all hell breaks loose. But Stanely’s not giving up on being a decent person without a fight. Besides being entertaining, the movie has a strong anti-bully message. Let’s be honest, bullies, both in real life and online are a real problem. Bullying can really damage a person, sometimes for life. So, repeat after me, don’t be a dick. Jay Jay Warren really brings his character to life.
Continue reading →
More from Indie
GamingIndieProductReviews
German indie game developer Mooneye Studios allowed me the honor to take a crack at Lost Ember, their debut game. This third-person adventure game takes you the adventure of a wolf with the ability to shape-shift into other animals as you explore lands once occupied by a civilization of people called the Yanrana. As mentioned, you play as a wolf. But there’s more to that, the wolf in a past life was a member of the Yanrana people whose soul is not permitted to pass to the afterlife. Fate brings the wolf together with the lost soul of a long-dead Yanrana who needs help passing to the next life; these are known as “Lost Embers”. The soul accompanies the wolf as the animal retraces its past life to uncover a way to help it pass on as well but along the way the wolf is granted a mysterious power that allows it to possess any creature it finds meaning that
Continue reading →
GamingIndieProductReviews
Indie game developer Brain Seal Entertainment gave me the opportunity to prove myself to the gods by entering the fighting arenas of ancient Rome to show myself worthy! Or at least virtually with the help of their game Story of a Gladiator. This 2D beat ‘em up tells the story of a man of humble beginnings fighting his way to the top for glory as a gladiator with the hopes of competing at the Coliseum. Players can pick three different characters at the beginning of the game where each individual has their own perks, a Greek, a Carthaginian (North African), or Egyptian. There are three areas that you fight in, Capua in Greece, Neapolis in Carthage, and the Coliseum in the heart of the Roman Empire. In each arena has levels that are full of waves of enemies you must defeat in order to advance as well as earn coins and XP to build up your rankings and buy better
Continue reading →
IndieMovies
L.A. based visual artist Ama Lea is preparing to shoot an experimental short film that is right up my (and most likely your) arcane alley titled The Invocation of Lilith! Here’s the lowdown on the project straight from the sinister source: The Invocation of Lilith is a psychedelic experimental short film inspired by Andy Warhol, Kenneth Anger, and Alejandro Jodorowsky. It is about transcendence, summoning and claiming of feminine power and exploring themes of occultism, lunar magik, sisterhood, and equality. It is about the reclaiming of Lilith, who is often portrayed as a demon for simply wanting equality. She will be our heroine and savior guiding the hand of our female cast in finding and owning their power and letting go of the pain and resentments of patriarchal restraint to find love and light and forgiveness within the universe. Though I am inspired by these filmmakers above, this will be something that is entirely my own and my own vision.
Continue reading →
IndieInterviewsMovies
One thing we need more of in the horror genre is more holiday horror films. When I heard about Holiday Hell, both a holiday film and an anthology, I wanted to know more, so I went straight to the source, Holiday Hell writer and director Jeff Ferrell who talked about the film and more during our interview. Horror Fuel: “Your film Holiday Hell is an anthology. Can you tell us a little about the segments? Jeff Ferrell: “Holiday Hell is an anthology. It’s in the tradition of movies like Creepshow, Trick ‘r Treat, Tales from the Crypt, and Tales from the Hood. Essentially, it’s five short segments all woven together and the twist in each segment is based around a different holiday. One of the segments is around Hanukkah, another around Valentine’s day, and then we have Christmas, and the winter solstice. Each segment is its own little contained story. There’s a wrap-around that ties everything together. The wrap-around stars
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviews
All “teenager” Roxy Miller (Marilyn Manning who appears to be pushing thirty) wanted was to get her ass to a local shindig… too bad she almost hits Eegah (Richard Kiel, best known as Jaws from the James Bond series), a gigantic mother fuckin’ caveman, with her car… which is more common than one would assume. I mean, I would think the number of colossal caveman related auto accidents would hover around a solid zero, yet here we are… Foxy Roxy informs her boyfriend, pompadour maestro/dune buggy enthusiast Tom Nelson (Arch Hall Jr., who soon performs his number one shit single Vicki) and her pulp-author pappy Robert Miller (Arch Hall Sr., who also directed and came up with the story for this here terror tale) about ol’ Captain Caveman, which spurns Bob to go looking for that sumbitch in his whirly-bird… but he never returns from the trip. Tom shows concern the only way he can; by warbblin’ another standard substandard
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesNewsTrailers
From writer-director Christopher M. Don (Minutes to Midnight) comes the survival horror film Restricted Area. Four blue-collar friends take a camping trip only to discover a backwoods cult with a cataclysmic agenda. Now, they must fight to survive. Randy Wayne (Hellraiser: Judgment), Phillip Andre Botello (The Art of Self-Defense), and Shawn C. Phillips star alongside Robert Don, Paige Lindsay Betts, Emily Gardt, Ross Britz, and West Murphy. Featuring an original score from Michael Levinson and bands Agent 51 and The Megas, Restricted Area is now out on DVD and Digital.
Continue reading →
GamingIndieNewsProduct
Xaviant was awesome and invited me to preview their upcoming rogue-lite game, Don’t Die Minerva! for the Xbox One. The game will be available for Steam early access and Xbox Game Preview on December 9th! With it being a preview, the game I experienced is in the early stages of being finished so this is not a review. Don’t Die Minerva! Is about an 11-year old girl named Minerva who is looking for her parents, her search leads her to a spooky mansion that’s full of ghosts, evil spirits, and creatures. Armed with only a flashlight and stuffed animals, Minerva goes forth! Overall impression, this game is not only cute; it’s very bright and colorful. I dare say that the game makes it feel like Halloween again! The music is appropriate for the game as it’s not too over the top but also not subtle. I enjoy the fact that if Minerva walks through a smashed pumpkin or the ectoplasmic
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesReviewsThriller
Mild-mannered dry-cleaning delivery man Howard (Robert Gribbin) lives with his mother, enjoys putting together model kits and drinking root beer… and has a propensity for raping (the female ones anyway) and killing hitchhikers that have runaway from home and hate their mommies… an admittedly niche demographic, but Howard is rather successful in his murder biz all the same. Why does Homicidal Howie commit these awful acts? Simple, his sister ran away from home and caused his mother static… seems solid enough to me! Anyway, who will attempt to stop this nightmare before the bodies pile-up further? Why none other than Russell Johnson (you know, The Professor from Gilligan’s Island) as small-town Police Captain J.W. Shaw. Will Howard escape justice or will his reign of terror continue on? Everything from the over-the-top acting of leading man Gribbin, to the ridiculously dramatic musical score (courtesy of Perry Daniels), to the cheesy dialog, swirls and bubbles in a witch’s cauldron to create pure
Continue reading →
IndieInterviewsMoviesNewsTrailers
One of the best indie horror films headed your way is Frank Sabatella‘s The Shed, on digital and On Demand November 15th. I sat down with Frank who filled me in on how the film came to be, bullying, and more. Sabatella is an actor, writer, director and producer, known for his film Blood Night: The Legend of Mary Hatchet and multiple short films. He appeared in 2018’s indie horror hit The Ranger. In other words, he’s a busy man. A jack of all trades I guess you’d say. The Shed centers on Stan, played by Jay Jay Warren, a kid whose life went from the American dream to a nightmare after the death of his parents. Stan is mercilessly bullied by everyone in his life, but things are about to get worse. There’s something deadly in his shed. Horror Fuel: “How did the idea come about for the story?” Frank Sabatella: “The story about a vampire trapped inside a
Continue reading →
IndieMoviesNewsReviews
What do you get when you mix bullies and bloodthirsty vampires? You get Frank Sabatella’s indie horror film The Shed, from the producer of the Saw franchise. The film centers a teen named Stanley (Jay Jay Warren) whose back story is a heartbreaking one. Things go from good to bad to dreadful quick in the film when his parents die. Being a victim of abuse and bullying at both his new home and at school really makes you feel for the kid. When he finds something inhuman and hungry hiding in his shed all hell breaks loose. But Stanely’s not giving up on being a decent person without a fight. Besides being entertaining, the movie has a strong anti-bully message. Let’s be honest, bullies, both in real life and online are a real problem. Bullying can really damage a person, sometimes for life. So, repeat after me, don’t be a dick. Jay Jay Warren really brings his character to life.
Continue reading →
