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This November, the AFM unveils over 500 films in dozens of languages for prospective international buyers. They screen the majority of these new motion pictures at seven different screening venues in sunny Santa Monica. The AFM is the proud home for the smaller guys, foreign and art-house features and B- to Z-grade movies. Just about everything stars Michael Madsen, C. Thomas Howell and/or Billy Zane. Best of all, the number of genre films has increased substantially over the 11 years I’ve been coming here, thanks to horror’s ongoing box-office resurgence. Unlike before, companies are proud to be selling horror flicks, and there’s no shortage of them here.

Before hitting the screenings, I head to the Loews Hotel, the market’s base of operations, to scope things out. Part of the fun here is spotting familiar faces walking the AFM beat; this year I run into directors Sean S. Cunningham and Fred Olen Ray, plus actors Danny Trejo (super cool), Patrick (PARASOMNIA) Kilpatrick (super intense), Gary Busey (super scary!) and Ken (DAWN OF THE DEAD) Foree, the latter telling me where all the hot parties will be held. More importantly, visiting the film company suites gives me a handle on upcoming trends and allows me to catch promising promos for films that aren’t even in the can yet.

On the latter front, footage from several unscheduled Lionsgate films make me wonder why some of them don’t have theatrical release dates yet: Joel (LOST BOYS) Schumacher’s CREEK (Nazi monsters), THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT (from BONES scripters Adam Simon and Tim Metcalfe) and DAYBREAKERS, from UNDEAD’s Spierig Brothers (the futuristic vampire saga looks to kick serious ass and is no PERFECT CREATURE). New Line/Gold Circle’s Kevin Costner movie THE NEW DAUGHTER also strikes my fancy, especially since the slick film embraces the supernatural and hints at some creatures turning up in the final reel. With Real D specs on my face, I also watch three lengthy scenes from MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D. The extra-dimensional splatter—projectile eyeball, head skewered face-first on pickax, etc.—looks astonishing. Can’t wait to see this remake when it opens January 16.

Another title I place on my radar after seeing its strong trailer is Compound(B)’s NECROMENTIA, a spooky story about a guy who tattoos a Ouija board on his body. The film’s young director, Pearry (THE GENE GENERATION) Teo, tells me he mined the works of Clive Barker and Jean-Pierre (DELICATESSEN) Jeunet for his first fear feature, which sounds like a good recipe for success to me. Production company Bleiberg Entertainment previously gave us DANCE OF THE DEAD, another vote of confidence for NECROMENTIA.

Then there are the films that haven’t even shot a frame of celluloid (or hi-def video) yet that sound intriguing, based on preproduction art or a flier. Besides a 30 DAYS OF NIGHT sequel (being scripted by the original’s creator Steve Niles and Ben Ketai), Ghost House Pictures began preselling BURST, to be helmed by Spain’s Daniel (AUSENTES) Calparsoro, scripted by Gary (SWAMP DEVIL) Dauberman and dealing with spontaneous human explosion! The UK company HanWay has BLACK DEATH on its roster, which bears similarities to the now-lensing Nicolas Cage-starrer SEASON OF THE WITCH: Both films take place in a Black Plague-ravaged Europe. Chris (SEVERANCE) Smith will pilot BLACK DEATH, concerning a young monk, a fearsome knight (Sean Bean of LORD OF THE RINGS) and his band of mercenaries out to stop a satanic necromancer who can bring the dead back to life.

Speaking of Cage, word slips out of the AFM that the actor will topline John Carpenter’s RIOT, the horror vet’s long-awaited return to feature film directing. Though this one’s not horror, the synopsis definitely has an ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13 vibe going for it. For JC’s legion of followers (others can skip the next few paragraphs), allow me to share the film’s official synopsis with you, courtesy of Millennium Films/Nu Image:

“The story starts with Nate Bowen, a delinquent repeat offender who enters the Scared Straight program. A program that takes troubled kids to prison in order to show them their horrifying future. Nate’s destination for the next three hours will be Blackenbush Maximum Security Penitentiary. One of the country’s oldest and worst institutions. Home of serial rapists, murderers and other scorn of society.

“Also home to Ray Manning, a man serving back-to-back life sentences for murder. The story takes a turn as Manning, with the help of his illegitimate son (also one of the Scared Straight kids) and a horde of prisoners, takes over the penitentiary. Among the chaos, Nate is able to get away from Manning. Stepping out of the frying pan and into the fire. The place is a war zone.

“Nate is left to fend for himself in the worst place in the world, until he is saved by our hero, or rather, antihero: Karl Rix—a hardened criminal who comes to see this act as a small chance for redemption. Action ensues as Rix attempts to get Nate to safety. As Manning stays a step ahead of the authorities outside, Nate and Rix barely manage to stay a step ahead of Manning and his men.

“Along the way, Rix forces Nate to face his fears and confront the problems directly. In turn, Rix is forced to do the same. Both of them begin to unknowingly save each other emotionally as they attempt to not only escape this ring of hell, but also foil Manning’s grand plan in the process.”

Whew! That GHOSTS OF MARS sting doesn’t feel quite so bad anymore…

You can usually count on a plethora of fright flicks from Asia and Europe at the AFM, and many of the genre’s recent best—from Japan’s RINGU to Spain’s [REC]—drove buyers into a tizzy at previous markets. Sadly, the Asian output today has been on a steady decline in both volume and especially quality, while enterprising Spanish producers hope to introduce the next PAN’S LABYRINTH or THE ORPHANAGE to those who don’t mind reading subtitles. Surprisingly, Spain’s Filmax company, which led the Eurohorror renaissance, has cut back on its horror output for 2009 and beyond. At AFM, its catalog lists the expected [REC] 2, as well as the new self-explanatory EXORCISMUS, from THE NUN director Luis de la Madrid. While in town, Filmax president Julio Fernandez gives an interview to The Hollywood Reporter in which he says he wants to shift the company’s focus to erotic films and kids’ movies! Talk about disparity. The Barcelona-based outfit has also teamed with Taiwan company Three Dots Entertainment on a nasty torture picture called INVITATION ONLY.



The HOSTEL/SAW cycle is definitely winding down, though, with a paucity of extreme cinematic cruelty on view at the 2009 AFM. Gorehounds can still seek out SCARCE (snowboarders vs. cannibals, already available on Canadian DVD), GNAW (British vacationers vs. cannibals) and DEATH BELL (a Korean hit about students locked in their high school with a maniac, billed as “SAW meets BATTLE ROYALE”). But the strangest splatter movie I run across is SQUEAL, where an indie rock band is held captive in a barn and tormented by mutant pigmen! The true-crime front, another slackening AFM staple, ranges from the low end (BOSTON STRANGLER/ED GEIN: THE BUTCHER OF PLAINFIELD/CHICAGO MASSACRE: RICHARD SPECK director Michael Feifer continues his knack for oddball casting by hiring Antonio Sabato Jr. to personify HENRY LEE LUCAS: SERIAL KILLER…SERIAL LIAR) to the high end (PHENOMENA/CARNIVÀLE’s Patrick Bauchau as child murderer Albert Fish in the well-received THE GRAY MAN).

Similarly, the Sci Fi Channel-friendly animal-amok movies, once propagated by Nu Image (CROCODILE, OCTOPUS, SHARK ATTACK, SPIDERS et al.) have been left to bottom feeders like The Asylum. This spring, the notorious copycat company threatens us with MEGA SHARK VS. GIANT SQUID (directed by—what happened?—AMERICA’S DEADLIEST HOME VIDEO’s Jack Perez). However, you can’t hold an AFM without a killer-shark movie, so there’s THE REEF (from BLACK WATER co-director Andrew Traucki), set to begin lensing this spring. And for all those who ever feared being trapped in your house with a ravenous tiger (I know, it happens every day), Lionsgate will release BURNING BRIGHT to capitalize on that far-reaching paranoia. Carlos (QUID PRO QUO) Brooks directs the big cat thriller, with Briana (FEAR ITSELF: NEW YEARS DAY) Evigan and Garret Dillahunt (of TV’s TERMINATOR series and Krug in the LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT redux) starring.



One subgenre not missing out at the AFM this season is the zombie movie. The dead just keep on coming! Besides the still untitled George A. Romero …OF THE DEAD movie, you can pick from the following: the comedic WASTING AWAY (“Zombies are people too!”); THE CORPORATE ZOMBIE KILLERS (to be directed by HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE’s Danny Leiner); ZOMBIE DEAREST (a stand-up comic turned walking stiff); LAST OF THE LIVING (“Those damned dead just won’t die”); AUTUMN (based on HATER author David Moody’s postapocalyptic cult novel and starring David Carradine); the Norwegian DEAD SNOW (young director Tommy Wirkola calls his Nazi zombie yarn a “feel-good movie” and a “kickback to the good old slashers like BRAINDEAD and THE EVIL DEAD series where people will scream…and later laugh out loud”); and, nuttiest of all, BOLLYWOOD ZOMBIE, where a bride and her guests are turned into ghouls on her wedding day.



Classic-monster buffs will appreciate the return of traditional fear figures to the AFM, in the form of several vampire movies: the UK’s inviting LESBIAN VAMPIRE KILLERS; TRANSYLMANIA, the latest from KING COBRA/PIÑATA creators David and Scott Hillenbrand; OLD BOY director Park Chan-Wook’s THIRST; and the MATRIX-style SODIUM BABIES, from the Decaillon Brothers, promising French novices. Meanwhile, the fur flies in the Sci Fi Channel-bound WAR WOLVES (with fan favorites John Saxon, Tim Thomerson and Adrienne Barbeau); Rob (THE BUNKER) Green’s GLADIATORS VS. WEREWOLVES; and DEATH HUNTER: WEREWOLVES VS. VAMPIRES, from writer/director Dustin (ESSENCE OF ECHOES) Rikert, who also scripted HAUNTED AIRPLANE (what could that be about?), which is flying the friendly skies of the sales market.



Two additional supernatural screamers worth noting: the Billy Zane vehicle SURVIVING EVIL, which tackles the Filipino Aswang legend (mythical creatures that crave the blood of pregnant women) and EVIL ANGEL, a sleeper with Ving (DAWN/DAY OF THE DEAD) Rhames as a detective hunting biblical demon Lilith. Both Fango scribe/director Anthony (BOO) Ferrante and Fantasia programmer Mitch Davis came out of an EVIL ANGEL screening singing its praises.

Stop back at this site in another day or two for reviews of nearly two dozen movies that I took in at the American Film Market! For more information on the AFM, go here.

TO BE CONTINUED