At 1pm this humble Sunday began with a filmmakers discussion panel that, upon admission, allowed you and anyone else to sit in a small discussion group with some of the horror genre's minds and icons.  Hosted by festival director Michael Hein, this panel included Michael Gingold (managing editor of Fangoria Magazine), director Bill Lustig (Maniac, Maniac Cop, Army of Darkness), director Jeff Lieberman (Squirm, Satan's Little helper), Jack Ketchum (author of The Lost and The Girl Next Door), and Betsy Palmer (Friday the 13th).  There were a lot of filmmakers in the audience and the information shared was a goldmine of info to anyone with a digicam and an inspirational fire in their heart to create something within the genre.

At 3pm - three shorts were screened, along with Damon Vignale's The Entrance.  The shorts included "Where's Julie" directed by Stephen J Hadden, "Oculus" directed by Mike Flanagan (trailer), and "Binding Silence" directed by Ray Zablocki (trailer).  "Oculus" is about a man in a room with video cameras, and a particularly haunted mirror, and deserves a closer look, so Ill be bringing some more of this and some other key shorts that have played this festival very shortly.  The Entrance is a full length feature in which a police detective is swept into a web of deception while searching for the truth.  She soon finds herself in a contest with the forces of the occult.  Visit the official website for more, including the trailer.

6pm meant it was time for the final program.  The shorts that screened were "Grace" directed by Paul Solet (official website), "Puppeteer" directed by Guido Toelke, and "Ghost Town" directed by Tai Logsdon (trailer) which puts some good old western flava into the mix.  The feature of the program was Last Rites of the Dead directed by Marc Fratto (trailer/review).  Marc was cool enough to send a screener more than a month back, as it was a film Id been following and talking about since last year.  If youre sick to death of zombie films (and lets face it, even diehard undead fans are getting burned out on it as of late), Id take a left turn into Fratto's land of the dead and check out the new angle.  To sum things up in short, I think it completely accomplishes what Land of the Dead sought to do, only this screenplay was much more evolved and thought out.  Plus it contains mega gore and arterial spewage - which is what draws a lot of us to zombies in the first place.  We'll be talking with Marc Fratto soon to find out where it goes from here.

Shortly after, the filmmakers of the festival all gathered in the Tribeca lounge and collectively congratulated each other for all their fine work.  Not one of these shorts sucked - Michael Hein and crew really did a fine job of putting together programs that clicked and really gave you your money's worth.  Lets take a look at each of the categorial winners - and for more information on these mysterious new gems, keep it here at House of Horrors in the days to come.

BEST FEATURE

Fingerprints
directed by Harry Basil

Starring Kristen Cavallari, Leah Pipes, Lou Diamond Phillips...  "Fingerprints" is based on the widely publiced urban legend that took place 50 years ago in a small Texas town, where a school bus filled with children are supposedly still in the area where the accident took place. It is said that if a car is put in neutral on the railroad tracks, the children will push the car off the tracks, leaving only 
their ghostly fingerprints behind. The story centers on a troubled teenager who discovers the gruesome truth behind the legend.

Last year it was The Dark Hours that took home this award - it ended up being distributed on DVD here in the US, and theatrically in Canada.  Expect to hear more about Fingerprints in the months to come....

BEST SHORT

Happy Birthday to Me
directed by David Alcade

Clara, a social worker, is going to discover a dark secret on her way to help a kid who is supposed to be suffering from child abuse. But nobody, even herself, is who they pretend to be in this story about murder, cats, and birthday presents.

Last year it was Zombie Movie - this year its Happy Birthday to Me - a psychological twister filled with senseless violence, trippy dream sequences, and gory amputations.  It also took top short honors at LA's Screamfest 2006 - so congratulations to David for taking both shores!  When and if it becomes available for general viewing, HoH will let you know ASAP.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY 
BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

The Marsh
directed by Jordon Barker
 
Stars Gabrielle Anwar and Forest Whitaker... Haunted by nightly horrific nightmares, the beautiful Claire Holloway rents an upscale farmhouse in a remote idyllic setting to clear her head, only to discover that she's plunged into
an even more troubled universe - one where it's impossible to distinguish between reality and illusion, a world controlled by the ghost of a murdered eight year old girl.  Is Claire about to become the next victim?

The Marsh is a feature horror film that will rise to the surface of attention in 2007, capturing dual honors - best cinematography and best special effects.  This film has been getting a lot of attention and should become available to the masses in due time.  Congrats go out to special effects artist Max McDonald and cinematographer David Perrault for their outstanding work.

BEST SCREENPLAY
BEST ACTRESS

Last Rites of the Dead (review)
directed by Marc Fratto

Angela is the perfect neighbor. She's quiet, young, pretty, and keeps to herself. But, Angela is different, very different...  she's dead.  She's not the only one. All over the world the recently deceased are returning to life as organized, intelligent, flesh craving members of the Undead. Now, a fight for dominance has broken out between a crazed cult of zombie terrorist and a ragtag militia of zombie hunting humans battling for the survival of mankind as we know it. Stake your claim to survival before it's too late.

If there was one thing that was absolutely original at this year's fest was Marc Fratto's screenplay for LROTD.  Taking the over abundant zombie film, he changed things and delivered us an evolved slant on the living dead that succeeds where unfortunately George Romero's Land of the Dead did not.  This and the combination of the incredible over hot Gina Ramsden, who I remember mentioning weeks ago was a standout lead actress (ahem) won LROTD best screenplay and best actress.  Congrats to Marc and Gina, both of whom we hope to be speaking with in the very near future.  Just gotta shake this crush I have on Gina so Ill be able to speak in full sentences when I see her again.  WOW

BEST ACTOR

Rapturious
directed by Kamal Ahmed
 
John Oppenheimer is an up and coming, self destructive rapper who goes by the stage name "Rapturious" . After a series of bizarre, unexplainable, paranormal events begin to plague him, his paranoia (along with drug use) makes him believe that demons are to blame. This causes hiim to seek professional help, and it is then he discovers he may be the reincarnation of a killer from years past, who somehow managed to escape Hell. Or is he?

Actor Robert "Opal" Oppel takes home the best actor award in Rapturious.  Congratulations go to him for standing out with an exceptional performance amongst exceptional performances...  We'll be taking a closer look at Rapturious in the weeks to come.

AUDIENCE CHOICE

Eddie Loves You
directed by Karl Holt

During a weekend alone a man has a clearout of his old toys and throws the ripped Eddie into the trash. In the middle of the night Eddie is returned to him on his doorstep. Is someone stalking him or is there something more sinister at work?

It was hard to choose from so many good films.  Mime Massacre, Eyes of Samir, and Recently Deceased certainly had to be front runners in this category, judging from the crowd reaction - and The Lost certainly punched a lot of people in the brain, but it was Eddie Loves You, a funny homage to horror films that stood out to the crowd and took the Audience Choice award.  Congratulations to director Karl Holt for winning a very special category - the only one voted on by the fans who paid to get in.

Its after dark in Tribeca Cinemas.  The lights are off, the employees are gone, but for a lone custodian.  He wears a large rubber apron, and is covered in blotches of coagulating blood and other unnamable fluids.  Limbs are scattered about the wood floor, pools of thickening blood dark as maroon.  Michael Hein and Anthony Pepe have returned to their previous forms and filter back out onto the street, but not before hosting a heart-popping feast of undead carnage and murderous mayhem.  Chaos reigned once more at the New York City Horror Film Festival, at a level so pristine and pure that Satan himself was probably  there, as it was the place to be this Halloween season.  The NYCHFF is another facet on the same rare gem that makes the likes of the Tribeca Film Festival, and there's no better gathering of hellbound souls and horror film fans.  Michael Hein and Anthony Pepe - thanks for all your hard work.  You must have pull with the NYC police because Ive never seen so many bodies hit the floor in one week since, well... since last year's festival.  Anyone reading this - it must interest you - you have a year so make your plans and head this way next Halloween.  If you stick around long enough, Halloween in the village (Greenwich Village) is as ornate and celebrated as Christmas at the mall.  Thanks to NYCHFF and the Caretaker for having me attend - its an eye opening event that plants incredible seeds for the next year to come.  We'll be following up on a lot of the brand new films you've seen mentioned in this coverage, so when youre done checking out mainstream Fangoria and Bloody Disgusting - hit House of Horrors for some of the freshest cuts of meat on the web.  See you next year at the New York City Horror Film Festival!