After Dark Horrorfest, commonly known as “8 films to die for” is an annual horror festival that began in 2006 and features eight feature length horror films. Since the initial Horrorfest in 2006 it has become somewhat of a cult hit, each year cranking out more thrills and chills. Unlike a typical film festival, Horrorfest doesn’t take place at just one location; it actually plays in dozens of theatres across the country, with more being added all the time.
Over this series of reviews I will be chronicling released from different years of Horrorfest, which originally played in January of 2006. There are as the name suggests eight different films, all dabbling into different elements of horror, gore, and the supernatural. I really enjoy the concept of a horror festival on a national level, and it really gives a chance for aspiring writes of the genre to do something unique and outside the realm of cliché that has engulfed the genre so often.
Although in the past I have rarely seen an independent horror film that has captivated my imagination or even thrilled me, I am keeping my mind open to the possibility that the ever growing Horrorfest really will be the difference maker in the genre. So without further delay, how do these films fare?
Films
Borderland is a film inspired by the true story of American serial killer, drug dealer, and cult leader Adolfo de Jesus Constanzo. In real life Constanzo kidnapped murdered people for human sacrifice. In the film a group of three college buddies road trip to a Mexican border town to celebrate their college graduation. While in the town the group encounters a bunch of occultist who are looking for humans to sacrifice and what was going to be a weekend of celebration soon becomes a weekend of survival.
Borderland starts out filled with sex, drugs, and partying in typical horror fashion and tries to develop a story arch evolving the characters; this is where the films failures begin. I am baffled why these movies use nudity and partying as a catalyst for horror, not that I am opposed to either, I just can never understand why they have such a dominant place in horror films. I found nothing horrific about the aforementioned. But that is neither here nor there, as the movie progresses things begin to pick up and there are some rather gruesome and thrilling scenes involving machetes, voodoo, and drugs. At the end of the day this film had potential and wasted it, but ultimately I found it enjoyable enough to consider watching it again, in the distant future.
Crazy Eights goes in a completely different angle, and combines a few different elements of the genre for an overall decent film.
After the death of a mutual friend, six childhood friends reunite for the funeral. While together the group end up on a journey through a long abandoned childhood home, but instead of the pleasant memories they hope to find they are confronted by a mysterious dead girl who will ultimately lead them to their disturbing fates.
First things first I have to point out was the disappointing acting, I mean I didn’t expect a lot from a movie that features a porn star, but you really don’t get much out of anyone. But luckily enough the plot was interesting enough to carry itself, and with the right cast this movie could have been half decent. But I am still happy with the result, and this was definitely one of the better movies out of the After Dark Horrorfest releases.
Video
Lionsgate brings us these films in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 to mostly receptive results. If you have read any other of my reviews on the After Dark films, you will begin to notice complacency with regards to the video quality of these films. They all suffer from the same issues, grain in low light situations, and rather pleasing results in high light. The problem with this is, as with most horror films they take place almost completely in low light situations. So what we end up with is a lot of grain, and an almost bi-polar feeling when in comparison to the perfectly crisp and relatively impressive daylight scenes.
Audio
Brought to us in 5.1 DTD-HD Master Audio, both of these films seem to take a step up with comparison to some of the other After Dark releases. While both remain rather front heavy, they don’t boggle down during scenes of heightened noise, ie screaming. They remain mostly crisp and clear throughout, and even make decent use of ambient noise considering it being front heavy. Ultimately I was rather impressed with these titles in the audio department; my only major complaint comes from the aforementioned front heavy scenes.
Special Features
Borderland
- Rituales de Sangre – A nice little look into the true story of the inspiration behind this film. As you will discover it is rather loosely based but still interesting.
- Audio Commentary – A nice perspective with some interesting notes into the filmmaking by the Directory, star, and other crew
- Inside Zev’s head – The director’s diary with production notes and other interesting tidbits
- Miss Horrorfest Contest Webisodes – For the After Dark Horrorfest there is a competition for the miss horrorfest pinup to represent the festival, this interesting feature gives us a slightly more in depth look
Crazy Eights
- Miss Horrorfest Webisdoes – Continued from the special features of Borderland, we have more look into the finding of Miss Horrorfest
Final Thoughts
Of the two films on this disc Crazy Eight’s was the better one, but that doesn’t mean Borderland was all that bad. Sure the movie started of typically, but if you stick with it, it actually turns out to be half interesting. I would overall recommend this disc, and amongst all of these Horrorfest releases this disc is amongst the top two, and probably the only other one actually worth watching. The audio and video of these releases are half decent, but mostly impressive as far as independent releases go. Finally, the special features are probably the best on Borderland than any other release in the After Dark releases, and Crazy Eights follows suit with its disappointing collection of features. Ultimately I would recommend checking these films out as they give a decent impression of the After Dark films.
