Sacramento Horror Film Festival Day One

An acquaintance of mine puts on the Sacramento Horror Film Festival and he was kind enough to give me a 3-day pass with a +1 for a friend so I could write about the event. Yay for press credentials!

VIP lanyards, flyers, and program! So many little souvenirs to remember this fun festival.

Sacramento Horror Film Festival is a three-day event that takes place at the historic Colonial Theater and showcases independent horror films and shorts. There are also a smattering of other horror-related events, panels, and performances throughout the weekend, including live shadowcast theater.

SHFF will show "Bride of Chucky" on Halloween. Kyle and I would totally be there except for we have tickets for a Danny Elfman concert in L.A. that night. 

Exterior of the Colonial Theater. It's so old-school and has more personality than I do.

On day one, which was a Friday, I brought along my girl friend Kasi, who also appreciates cinema, particularly the macabre.

Movie theater lighting. Queens of darkness. Plus we only come out at night. Not true - it was totally day time and still hot outside. Come on weather…can we have fall already??

The first section of the day started out with a series of shorts and ended with a full-length feature called "Eat," which was about a struggling actress in Los Angeles who develops a disturbing habit of eating pieces of herself when she gets upset. The horror aspect of this film lies in its gross-out factor. There were several scenes where the protagonist's body, namely her toes and fingers, ended up in such bad shape that Kasi and I were both gagging and laughing simultaneously. "Eat" was thoroughly enjoyable with good cinematography and pretty decent acting. It also had memorable effects, although the ending was kinda lame.

After a short break during which Kasi and I grabbed some vegan eats from the restaurant next door to the theater, we headed back inside for some Evil Dead burlesque complete with fake blood and boobies. Score.

Jezebelle's Army with an "Evil Dead" inspired performance. And yes, that's a chainsaw underneath that chair in the center. 

A bloody burlesque performance. This is how the act began.

Hula hoops and booty shakin'.

Bloody zombie faces and hula hoop dancing with nipple pasties. 

Yay - more blood.

Next was a creature and zombie makeup contest. The winner was a "demented Minnie Mouse" as the judges named her, but the runner-up was Regan from The Exorcist, and personally, I think her costume was the best.

Regan costume that took second place. Later, she did an Exorcist-inspired burlesque act.

I can't imagine why this movie disturbs so many people. ;-P

Regan, Little Red Riding Hood werewolf, and the honey badger. Honey badger don't give a shit.

Judges and contestants in their full glory. 

"Demented Minnie" took first place. Although technically that's not what her costume was - she said it was a demented porcelain doll, but the judges called her Minnie, so whatever works.

After all the performers finished up, the shadowcast of Troll 2 began. Kasi had gone home because it was late, so I was there by myself sitting on the aisle seat during the intro credits with all the cheesy dancing trolls and I got spooked by an actor dressed as a troll touching me while I was not paying attention! The trolls came prancing up the aisles to get to the stage and messed with people along the way and although the trolls themselves are the farthest thing from scary, I was very much not expecting that interaction and was caught totally off guard.

Dancing trolls.

I left after the "piss on hospitality" scene because the audience got squirted with super soakers and being that I was on the aisle, I got pretty wet. Plus it was late and I was tired and Kasi had ditched me, so I called it a night before the show finished. I wish I had the energy to stay because two actors from the film, Darren Ewing and Deborah Reed, were both there to do a signing and Q&A session afterwards. I love Troll 2. It seriously is the "best worst movie" ever.

Next up is day two of the Horror Fest.

Until next time!