Film Festival season is still going strong, and there’s a really good one coming up in scenic Provo, Utah! FilmQuest is going to be unleashing thirteen feature films and, WOW, 76 short films! It’s short film horror heaven!
So, expect that every other week, another great genre festival will wrap up, and a couple of weeks later we’ll get another one. In this case, Popcorn Frights just wrapped and in a couple of weeks from now, FilmQuest launches their slate this year. Take some time to get some fresh mountain air, enjoy the natural beauty of the surroundings, and then prepare yourselves to be bathed in short film horror madness!
There is something special about the Utah film scene, an unlikely place for independent film. This a region of high moral values, and conservative thinking, and yet it’s becoming more and more important to the genre industry. Call it the Sundance Effect. Far away from the major media centers of the country, the Salt Lake City / Provo area has been heavily influenced by the international importance of the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, infusing the love of independent film into the regional culture. Remember, Hereditary was a film made in Utah, and released to the world, with much acclaim at Sundance. Plus, There were three Halloween sequels (4, 5, and 6) filmed in this region as well. And one really bad Troll 2 movie. So, it’s a horror friendly town.
Something that I find remarkable, is that despite all of the film festivals, there are always new films I was not aware of showing up at each different program. Some of that is the timing of when films get released, and it’s nice to see some overlap, so we get a good notion of the level of curation involved. For example, The Scariest Things has seen The Sonata (a beautiful and haunting movie) and Villains (lots of fun), and we would recommend both of those films quite highly.
We will be reviewing a number of the other films on their roster and will get that information released as soon as we are allowed. Daniel Isn’t Real has received rave reviews at every festival it has been to. And there are a number of these features that are new to us. The Frankie Muniz Piece Black String looks very promising, the carnivore switcheroo Wild Boar looks to be a wild tale, and we get an animated horror film with Morena Baccarin, Ray Wise, and William Shatner starring in To Your Last Death.
What REALLY impresses us, though, is how many short films they will be showing. 76, count em! 76 short films! The two that we’ve seen are Five Course Meal, a very dark horror-comedy, and Lobisome, a slick werewolf showdown. This is what you will want to go to FilmQuest for. So many awesome little films. When people complain about no new ideas in the movies… go see the short film blocks. They are pristine condensed horror ideas in easily consumable small packages.
Here is a link to their program schedule:
Tickets are on sale now. There are varying levels of ticket packages from individual tickets to VIP packages that include cool swag, party invitations (with food and drink), and access to all panels and workshops. The festival runs from September 6-14.