Next week, I will be attending the 2020 Women in Horror Film Festival in downtown Marietta, Georgia, as was announced at the beginning of February. I was first clued in to the festival by filmmaker Nickolas Duarte, whom actually has a short film, “Old Man Forever,” playing in one of the blocks during the festival this year. I’m looking forward to not only seeing a new short film from one of my favorite filmmakers, but also continuing the run of genre films that have started out my 2020 moviewatching.
This month is Women in Horror Month, but this year, horror has been a big part of the movie release schedule for the first couple of months. It started with a reboot of “The Grudge,” as well as a horror film called “The Turning” in January, but that emphasis on the scary has continued with “Gretel & Hansel”, which is an interesting take on a classic fairy tale and Blumhouse’s take on “Fantasy Island”, which is more of a thriller, but leads in to a crazy month for the genre studio that includes their promising new take on “The Invisible Man” and the release, finally, of “The Hunt.” This week sees the expansion of a low-budget horror thriller in “The Lodge”, as well as the sequel, “Brahms: The Boy II.” This time is very perfect for a weekend of genre films.
The festival is only three days long, and all of the screenings take place at The Strand Theatre in downtown Marietta. That makes planning easier, and technically speaking, I should be able to watch everything over those three days. I do want to make sure I have time for food, though, and possible interviews with filmmakers, so I may have to miss some screenings. I will say, I am anticipating taking in all of the features playing- “The Dark Red” (screening Thursday night), “Black Lake” (screening Friday night), “Cold Wind Blowing” and “Mass Hysteria” (both screening Saturday)- and all of those will be reviewed for Sonic Cinema. That leaves the short film blocks. There are 10 total, and I hope to do at least half of them, with special interest in the 3:45pm one on Friday, the “Renegade” block, which contains “Old Man Forever,” although each day will involve at least one short film block being watched. Depending on how I do each day, I do plan on going to the After Party each night, where I will hope to meet and talk to people further. After the weekend is done, I will be writing a piece about the festival as a whole, as well as recording an episode of the Sonic Cinema Podcast, where I discuss it further, as well as share any audio and interviews I get over the weekend. (I’ll also try and do some videos as the weekend goes along.) I’m looking forward to sharing the experience with you.
Viva La Resistance!
Brian Skutle
www.sonic-cinema.com
Sonic Cinema to Cover the 2020 Women in Horror Film festival
