From the Cradle to The Grave(s)

I love finding trailers for bizarre, off the wall, independent horror films of the lower budget variety. One big problem with those trailers are you might not see the actual movie for who knows how long, as they can lie in release limbo, waiting for a distributor to put them out for our consumption. These are the movies that will almost never have a chance of seeing a theatrical release outside of festivals and some major cities. For example, a movie like Pig Hunt, that has had some festival play (for like two years now!), but still has yet to see the light of DVD day. I think this is the biggest reason why After Dark Films doing it's annual 8 Films to Die For, has been really good for the less than Hollywood horror genre. The movies have been a mixed bag as most of you already know, but there have also been a few real gems to be found in every yearly outing (most notably for me are Frontier(s) and The Gravedancers). Now in its fourth year, After Dark Horrorfest is once again peeking its head out for a solid week (Jan. 29th-Feb. 5th of next year) of horror madness, and playing in theaters across the country - it will be another chance for some little engine that could films to make their way into theaters, and quickly onto proper DVD releases. So, even if you aren't in a town that has a theater playing any of the festival's films, you at least know you will be able to check them out on DVD at some point. I am looking forward to what they put out early next year, and the whole point of this post stems from the trailer for one of the two movies that they have on slate to play the upcoming festival.

The Graves is written and directed by well-known comic creator/writer, Brian Pulido, which is a promising sign with his work mainly being of the horror variety. The Graves stars Clare Grant and Jillian Murray as Megan and Abby Graves, a pair of smokin' hot sisters (who of course, love comics and other such nerdy things!) who head out on a road trip through the Arizona desert, looking for odd roadside attractions that they hope to bump into while on their journey. The sexy sisters find themselves in the mining town of Skull City (!), where they are put in a situation where they have to fight for their lives from forces both supernatural and human. Okay, I have gone on way too long now, and if you haven't already stopped reading, and already clicked on the trailer below, now is the time to do so...I'll go and make some brownies for when you return from watching the trailer.


Amen!!

If you didn't notice, Bill Moseley is in this film, which is fitting since this is trashy hick territory we are treading here with The Graves. And unless you're vegan and can resist the temptation of a juicy glazed ham, how could you not notice the one and only Candyman straight hammin' it up so hard, that he needs a side of scalloped potatoes to go along with his performance. The Graves look like a nice mix of horror, with a slab of madcap fun as seen with some of the FX shots (Shotgun go Boo-ya! anyone?) and supporting actors. Promising start to the Horrorfest line up, that kinda recently added Clive Barker's Dread as the second movie out of the 8 Films to Die For. I love Clive Barker, so I am sure there will be a follow up post about that film in the near future, but for now, I am looking forward to checking out The Graves...and at least I know I will be able to without having to wait a year or two.

One more thing. In the comments section, I would love if someone could guess as to why this trailer kicks ass at 6 seconds in?

Large thermometer, indeed.