Catching up a bit...

Oh the life of a blogging fool. I have been out of the writing loop for a bit here, is it too many TV shows? Is it laziness? Oh I don't know, but this catch all entry is too get me back up to speed and back on track.


On the first Wednesday of each month the great horror website All Things Horror puts on a horror movie night in the screening room of the Somerville Theater. This month I attended and got to see some very good horror shorts and a feature.
Fallow (2009) - Dave Alexander wrote and directed this tale of a farming community that has a unique way of getting good crops. We see something is not right in the first scene with the nicely done effect of a stillborn calf. The history lesson of the erea brings us up to speed with the story of the community and how they learned to appease the land with sacrifices. Cut to present time and a pregnant woman is sharing a meal with a farm family. Things are going along and we learn she is a surrogate for the son of the family's baby. Only we learn that she is not going to give up the child to them. Their sacrifice baby is going to suddenly be gone so the family drugs the woman. She wakes in a field surrounded by farmer men. I won't give away the twist because this is a nice watch and you should go see it. It is a well put together short with wonderful music by the Creaking Tree String Quartet.
The next Short was a fast paced and interestingly filmed zombie piece called the The Laundromat, at least I think. What was nice about this is it takes the approach of only show what you need to to get the story across. We see the couple struggling to get to the location the woman (Mandy Magnan) and an injured man. The woman of the tries to deal with the guys wounds and finds a really creative way to stop the bleeding. The rest of the show is zombies closing in and the guy turning and how the woman tries to escape the situation. Quick and well done by Dave Jacombs Jr..
Beating Hearts (2010) - A wonderfully dark short by Matthew Garrett about a relationship that should never be and the horrific turn it takes. Disturbing in content and very well executed, starting at the first scene where the girl (Gianna Bruzzese) watches her mother sleep, alllthe way to the resolution this one has you cringing.
The feature of the night is another Matt Garrett film called Morris County which is a somewhat dark episodic three stories capturing the darkness behind a normal middle class community. Dealing with murder, rape, closeted gays and societal expectations and the neglected forgotten elderly, their is a real profound sadness for the truly messed up lives. A worthy movie but it could have used a bit more connection through the stories to tie it all together. There was a nice Q&A with Matt Garrett.

Also I have watched a movie that will not get a review at this time. Predators (2010) was very enjoyable for what it was.