The Manson Family

I, like many horror movie fanatics, have always held a twisted interest in serial killers and what makes them tick. Chief amongst that gaggle of psychopaths is the surfin bird himself, Charlie (how could it not be?) who not only made America distrust hippies even more than they already did, but he also managed to lead a cult of lost and broken souls on that bloody trip with him. Jim van Bebbers film documents said cult, who Charlie referred to as his “family”, and all their depraved antics. I’ve been looking forward to seeing this as soon as I found out it would be screening at HHFF and not just because the director will be there fielding questions. This movie started production in 1988 and wasn’t fully finished until 2004 , features some voice-over work by none other than Phil Anselmo (suitably as the voice of Satan), as well as music from Canadian goth/industrial heavy weight icons Skinny Puppy, The Manson Family is a must see in my mind.

This Night I’ll Possess Your Corpse

I wish I could say that I have a decades long love for this movie. Shit, I wish I had known about this movie 5 years ago so I could obsess about it like a madman and finally have that obsession culminate in meeting the man himself at this festival. But no, HHFF is the reason I found out about this stunning piece of horror film history and dammit, I’m going to make it to this screening…or the screening of At Midnight I’ll Take Your Soul. Either one will do as long as I get to see this screened in all it’s big screen glory.

Birth of the Living Dead

My relationship with zombies is a tumultuous one. I’ll be the first one in line to trash a tired, played out new zombie film but I’m ALSO the guy who pre-ordered the Day of the Dead blu-ray when he first heard it was coming out so admittedly, I’m a bit of a paradox. Though I feel that zombies need to be put to rest for a little while (please, just a few years is all I ask) I’ll love Romero’s zombie movies until the day I die. Looking through the newly released schedule, I spotted this documentary and immediately started cross referencing it’s play time with the play times of copious other stuff going on, hoping it wouldn’t conflict. Well, I’m happy to say it doesn’t and we should be in attendance of this screening, where I will hopefully learn more than I ever needed to know about the production of one of the pillars of the genre, Night of the Living Dead.

The Profane Exhibit

The North American premiere of the profane exhibit is probably the biggest thing happening at HHFF this year next to the live scoring of Suspiria that closes off the festival. The profane exhibit is An anthology film composed of 12 segments, each directed by a legendary director(with the inexplicable inclusion of Uwe Boll, he must have snuck in post editing or something) and centering around a depraved, evil tale. The “bookend” story is that in a dark, gothic nightclub there is a room known as “the room of souls” wherein meet richest and most evil people in the world. Here they spin depraved tales of there sordid lives, for what purpose beyond sick amusement I’m not sure. The setup sounds a tad bit questionable but with such a loaded team of directors I’m sure there will be more hit than miss here. This one has been on my map for a while now and I’ve heard good things so I hope I roll the dice of fate well enough that I am in attendance at the premiere. If not, I’m sure i will be attending something of equal prestige, likely 2 or 3 sheets to the wind.

Suspiria

One of the most talked about and most anticipated events of this festival (or the horror community in general if we’re going to be honest) is the live scoring of Suspiria by none other than Goblin, the “masters of the macabre timbres” as Mr Anselmo so eloquently put it. This is the event people will be talking about years from now, mark my words. I bought my pass the day this was announced, knowing full well that if nothing else that seeing this would be worth the price of the whole trip (well, this and Down but go and check out the companion article to this one for all that nonsense). Housecore Horror will mark the first time that Goblin has ever live scored Suspiria on North American soil and I intend to be there, battle worn from the pit and properly disturbed from all the ghastly films I’ll have viewed over the weekend.

Will this list actually get completed? Who knows! It’s a festival so if I get to see even a handful of what is going on, I will be a happy horror fan.

One final note, if you see us there, come say hi, drink a beer and we’ll probably even have some stickers for you.

See ya in the pit!