News

We return with another edition of the Indie Spotlight, highlighting independent horror news sent our way. Today’s feature includes release details for Zombie, Indiana, a Circus of the Dead teaser trailer, news on the line-up for FearFest Glasgow, an Escaping the Dead trailer, the trailer for Bb, and much more:

Zombie, Indiana Release Details: “The newest novel in Scott Kenemore’s bestselling series, Zombie, Indiana is the tale of a harrowing undead attack on the heartland of America. From the highest echelons of state government—to the gritty world of an eastside narcotics detective—to the elite folds of the state’s most-expensive prep school—this novel explores the impact of an invading zombie horde on a trio of Hoosier protagonists… each of whom has some dark secrets to keep.

Indiana governor Hank Burleson has spent eight years cutting social services, castrating the unions (not literally…yet), and chipping...

Zack Parker’s Scalene is a small midwestern gem of a psychological thriller, with several moments that are as shocking as any that will find their way to commercial movie screens all year. Parker and his co-writer, longtime collaborator Brandon Owens use two storytelling devices that have gone in and out of vogue — out-of-sequence and multiple-perspective recounting of events — to marvelous effect. Shot in the filmmaker’s home state of Indiana, it is a heady and tragic mind bender, one that has been unduly overlooked by the major American fests while having had a long run on the regional circuit.

The film opens with Janice, expertly played by Margo Martindale, character actress extraordinaire, in her first starring turn after winning an Emmy for her role in FX’s Justified, arriving at the suburban home of Paige (Hanna Hall, who once played Forrest Gump’s daughter) and brutally assaulting her. The...

After reviewing Zack Parker's Inexchange (2005) and Quench (2008), I've been waiting to see what the young director might come up with next. Finally there's some light at the end of that tunnel as his new feature Scalene will be having its world premiere June 4th at the Dances with Films indie film festival. Read on for the details!

The Scalene premiere has a Facebook event page set up, and you can also get tickets directly from the Dances with Films website.

Synopsis:

Scalene is a perceptual thriller told from three points of view revolving around the rape of a female college student by a mentally handicapped man and his mother's subsequent revenge after his incarceration.

It was written by Brandon Owens and Zack Parker, directed by Parker, and produced by Parker and Carlos Jimenez Flores. The film stars Margo Martindale ("Justified"), Hanna Hall (Rob Zombie's Halloween), and Adam Scarimbolo (Stake Land...

Zack Parker is an Indiana director who has what I consider to be a really special film that will be hitting the festival cicuit this year. His newest film Scalene simply impressed me from beginning to end.  The film is one of those rare gems that offers the audience a Wtf ending so you can interpret the ending how you see fit, could be this way or it could be this way!  The guy knows how to make a great indie thriller and make it look like a studio movie from Hollywierd!  Check out my latest Versus with director Zack Parker and learn more about him and his film Scalene.

 

Brian  S- First off tell me how you got into film making?

Zack Parker- It's really become quite the cliche of a lot of filmmakers of my generation. My Dad bought an 8mm Sony Handycam when I was around 11 years old.

• Filmmaker Richard Griffin of Scorpio Film Releasing let us know that he’s self-distributing his latest feature Beyond The Dunwich Horror through the Scorpio site linked above.

Inspired by the H.P. Lovecraft tale, Dunwich Horror follows a young man named Kenny (Michael Reed) as he arrives in the titular town to find out why his brother Andrew has been committed to a mental institution, and also flashes back to reveal how Andrew (Jason McCormick) became enmeshed in occult phenomena thanks to sexy local girl Nikki (Sarah Nicklin). Genre veteran Lynn (The Crazies) Lowry and busy horror actor Jeff Dylan (Bryan Loves You) Graham also star. The disc’s widescreen transfer is supplemented by:

• Audio commentary by writer/director Griffin, producer Ted Marr, stars Reed and Nicklin and Dp Ricardo Rebelo

• Photo gallery

• Trailer

• Easter egg

Retail price is $20. Look for info on Griffin’s next feature, an expansion of his sacrilegous short Nun Of That,...

Zack Parker’s Quench, a unique character study set in the world of “cutters,” hits home video courtesy of Vanguard Cinema on October 28th. I was able to speak with Parker about the film earlier this year after catching it at the 2008 Indianapolis International Film Festival.

Collin: Thanks for taking the time to speak with Twitch. Tell me a little about where Quench came from.

Zack: I saw a documentary on HBO in the late ‘90s called The Vampire Murders about a group of kids who were involved in this “vampire cult” and ended up killing the parents of one of the kids involved. I believe it happened in Kansas, and they ended up on this road trip to Florida, which is where they were finally caught. What really got me thinking, after seeing it, was that I had never seen a film portray this sort of alternative lifestyle in an honest way.

While I may been a bit harsh in my criticism of the indie film Quench (review), I did see a lot of promise in one of its stars, Bo Barrett (pictured), and today he sent us the news that he and some of his fellow actors have formed their own La-based production company, Badass Haircut Productions.

Barrett has joined forces with Adam Scarimbolo, Gil Menchaca, and Bill Parks for this venture; and they already have three projects in various stages of completion that should be available for viewing in late 2009. According to Barrett Paper Cut is a pure horror film, and a yet-to-be-titled film about two brothers has many genre elements to it as well. In addition, they have two more horror offerings in the works that are slated to be released in 2010.

Along with his producing, writing, and acting duties for Badass Haircut, Barrett is also one of the leads in Richard Clark,...

It was announced today that Vanguard Cinema has acquired Zack Parker's Quence for worldwide DVD release. We can expect the film to be released sometime between September and November of this year. Also, if you're in the Seattle area, Quench will be making its Seattle Premiere on Friday, June 13th at 7PM as part of the Seattle True Independent Film Festival. Quench tells the story of Derik, a young man grieving over the recent death of an unknown loved one. Finding no one to turn to, Derik decides to abandon his current life at college to visit Jason. Although best friends since grade school, the two have not seen or spoken to one another in three years. Once they have reunited, Derik soon realizes that Jason is no longer the friend he once knew. Not only has he dramatically changed his external appearance, but he is now a part of a mysterious group,...