The After Dark Horrorfest: 2007
by Brian Tallerico

3. THE DEATHS OF IAN STONE
STARRING: Mike Vogel, Jaime Murray, Christina Cole, and Michael Feast WRITTEN BY: Brendan Hood
DIRECTED BY: Dario Plana
FEATURES:
"Miss Horrorfest Contest Webisodes"

This twisted version of Groundhog Day (or, more accurately, the recent arc of Desmond on Lost) is a clever and well-made horror flick, one of the better entries in this year's fest, despite a few storytelling flaws that keep it back from fulfilling the potential of its concept and a final reel that drops the cinematic ball. The Deaths of Ian Stone takes familiar elements like ones we've seen in The Machinist, Jacob's Ladder, and even The Twilight Zone and tries to make them something new, but forget two major elements of those films - a riveting lead character and an audience-satisfying conclusion. Director Dario Piana and writer Brendan Hood are far more interested in the "Deaths" than "Ian Stone" and the lack of a lead character or any sort of grounding in reality tragically sinks the final act, when the entire piece goes off the rails.

Ian Stone is having a really bad day. He keeps getting brutally killed by creatures that kind of resemble the Dementors from the Harry Potter movies and then waking up in a vaguely different, but similar life, usually a few years down the road. In the opening act, Ian is a young hockey player. After he dies in that life, he's basically just an older version of himself but he never played hockey. Get it? Ian is sort of going through alternate realities of his life but getting sliced by some supernatural baddie in all of them and waking up a bit off. Every time Ian wakes up from his latest gut-ripping, he meets a man who tells him that "they" are killing him because they need to him to remember something. It turns out the creatures are Harvesters, beings that live on the fear and pain that humans associate with dying. So, they keep setting up Ian Stone to use his deaths for their life. Make sense? No, not really. Stop asking questions.

As you might imagine from the plot description, The Deaths of Ian Stone is one of those films that gets significantly less interesting as it goes along. When Ian first wakes up post-death in an alternate version of his previous life, the film has all the promise in the world, but as it starts to pathetically try and tie together loose ends, it loses its way. There's enough originality to the concept to keep some fans interested and to merit a soft recommendation, but Ian Stone became less and less interesting for me following every death. It doesn't help that a story that starts in a realistic, recognizable world devolves into total nonsense in an ending that feels almost ripped from The Matrix trilogy and just can't be taken seriously (red vinyl outfits are never good for realism). Compared to the rest of the After Dark Horrorfest 2007 slate, The Deaths of Ian Stone deserves a modest recommendation just because of the effort made to try to stand out from the rest of the bunch, but compared to the great horror indie offerings of the last few years, this death doesn't have enough life.

4. TOOTH AND NAIL
STARRING: Rachel Miner, Rider Strong, Nicole Duport, Michael Kelly, Alexandra Barreto, Emily Young, Robert Carradine, Vinnie Jones, and Michael Madsen
WRITTEN BY: Mark Young
DIRECTED BY: Mark Young
FEATURES:
"Miss Horrorfest Contest Webisodes"

"We simply ran out of gas." What would happen if the world ran out of gas? Think about everything that would impact. Not only would you not be able to drive your Prius to the mall, but that mall wouldn't have trucks to stock with anything. Neither would the grocery store. And neither building would have power. Tooth and Nail, an awkward fit in the Horrorfest, uses that idea as the clever set-up for yet another post-apocalyptic action story, one that's much closer to something like Escape From New York than The Signal or even Mulberry Street. No were-rats here. To be blunt, Tooth and Nail isn't really a horror movie. It would fit more appropriately in "Before Twilight Fantasyfest."

Boasting one of the more recognizable ensembles in Tooth and Nail, Mark Young's film stars Rachel Miner, Rider Strong (also in Borderland), Robert Carradine, Vinnie Jones, and Michael Madsen. The B-list charms of the cast alone should bring casual renters to this title more quickly than the majority of the After Dark films. They'll be disappointed. Carradine doesn't stick around for long, Madsen looks like he strolled in off another movie, and, after a brief appearance at the beginning, Jones doesn't resurface until minute 75. Nope, you're stuck with another ragtag group of survivors stuck in an abandoned hospital and trying to fend off the gang of "Rovers" outside their door. The Rovers dress like death metal fans, listen to Michael Madsen, and have moved to the only food source left - people.

Doesn't that sound fun? It's not nearly as much as it sounds. Tooth and Nail is the kind of action flick that is so forgettable, it nearly fades away while you're watching it. There's just nothing more to the screenplay than what's in the paragraph above. Even the action scenes are few and far between. The vast majority of Tooth and Nail consists of a group of people sitting around arguing about what to do next while you try and guess which one is going to get an axe in the back courtesy of Mr. Blonde. Madsen is in full over-the-top glory, whistling "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and spouting phrases like "I'm gonna be gnawin' on your bones" as only he could, but he's only in mere minutes of the final product, which could have been a B-movie guilty pleasure, but ends up a pretty standard slasher flick.

5. NIGHTMARE MAN
STARRING: Tiffany Shepsis, Blythe Metz, Luciano Szafir, James Ferris, Hanna Putnam, Jack Sway, and Richard Moll
WRITTEN BY: Rolfe Kanefsky
DIRECTED BY: Rolfe Kanefsky
FEATURES:
Commentary with actor Tiffany Shepsis, director Rolfe Kanefsky, and producer Esther Goodstein
Extended Scenes
"Creating a Nightmare"
"Flubbing a Nightmare"
Tiffany's Behind the Scenes
Stills Gallery
"Miss Horrorfest Contest Webisodes"

Is the Nightmare Man related to Freddy Krueger? Nope. Freddy would kick this ugly dude in bad make-up's ass. Nightmare Man is a ridiculous movie that only works in moments because it crosses over into that so-bad-its-good part of your brain that enjoys watching bad cable movies in the middle of the night. Honestly, I don't know how to respond to Nightmare Man. Is it a good movie? Oh God, no, it's not. But it's one of those movies where you start to wonder if the people involved in the making of it might not have been aware that they were making a ridiculous B-movie. When you're watching a film cut awkwardly back and forth from a woman getting chased by a masked killer/creature in the woods to a group of horny young adults playing "erotic truth or dare," you have to wonder how seriously the filmmakers intend you to take it.

Nightmare Man tells the story of a poor woman who has been having terrifying dreams of receiving an ancient fertility mask, only to find that the face-wear turns into a creature that rips her clothes off and kills her. What's her husband's answer? He tries to take her to a mental hospital in the middle of nowhere with an ancient fertility mask in the trunk. Of course, the car breaks down and he leaves his wife alone to get gas. One guess what happens next. Nightmare Man features some of the worst editing in the history of straight-to-video horror and plot twists that are truly insane (the house where our heroine and her attacker ends up just happens to have a crossbow for protection). But, as Nightmare Man goes more and more off the rails, you almost have to admire it for the audacity of its awfulness. After a few drinks and LATE into a horror movie marathon, it could be the perfect B-movie for you.

The After Dark Horrorfest: 2007 Page 3