Editor

The Sixth Annual Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival will kick-off with the international hit HELLDRIVER on Thursday, October 13, 2011. Presented for the first time in several years in one venue, scary movie watchers from all over the Washington, D.C. metro area can scream together under one “Dome” during this spook-tastic weekend in Artisphere’s magnificent 220-seat Dome Theatre, less than one mile from the famous “Exorcist Stairs,” from October 13 -16, 2011.
Click here for the festival trailer:

Since its debut at Austin’s Fantastic Fest in 2010, HELLDRIVER has proven to be one of the more popular Japanese horror films to come along in years. Filmmaker Yoshihiro Nishimura (TOKYO GORE POLICE) takes you on an apocalyptic ride into a diseased and flesh-eating world. “This is the kind of movie you should watch with a crowd, because you’re all going to be shouting, laughing, and cheering your way through the madness.  4 ½ out of 5 stars,” reviewed DreadCentral.com. Fangoria magazine called the film, “Refreshingly entertaining!”
“Sushi Typhoon is thrilled that Yoshihiro Nishimura's HELLDRIVER will screen as the opening film for this year's Spooky Movie Film Festival,” said Marc Walkow, Overseas Marketing Director from Sushi Typhoon, the producers behind HELLDRIVER. “With the DVD and Blu-ray release coming at the end of November from our partners at WellGo USA, it's the perfect timing to help make fans more aware of how they can see the movie for themselves, and in their own homes.”
HELLDRIVER will screen twice on October 13 at 7:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. as part of the film festival’s opening night reception which will be hosted by local television legend “Count Gore De Vol” with a special appearance by actress, and alum of the Spooky Movie Film Festival, Mink Stole (DESPERATE LIVING, CRYBABY, ALL ABOUT EVIL), who will be in attendance in support of her new short film BUGBABY, which will be shown prior to HELLDRIVER.
Opening night attendees will enjoy a sponsored reception by Café Asia, complete with scary-oke, in Artisphere’s Town Hall between the two screenings. Tickets to opening night can be purchased individually for $20 or as part of the VIP festival pass for $80.
On Saturday, October 15, Spooky Movie will host the North American premiere of MR. BRICKS: A HEAVY METAL MURDER MUSICAL, a GG Allin meets The Rocky Horror Picture Show bloody musical adventure produced by Spooky Movie alum, Lloyd Kaufman, and distributed by Troma Entertainment.
“The Troma Team is proud to return to Spooky Movie with the American premiere of MR. BRICKS, Troma's answer to Glee!” said Kaufman, President of Troma Entertainment and creator of THE TOXIC AVENGER and POULTRYGEIST: NIGHT OF THE CHICKEN DEAD. “MR. BRICKS is a one-of-a-kind, original film,” continued Kaufman. “Director Travis Campbell and producer Justin Martell will take their places alongside James Gunn, Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Eli Roth in the movement of 'Make Your Own Damn Movie' style of film making!”

In addition to HELLDRIVER and MR. BRICKS, 13 feature films will be screened during the festival, including several of the most anticipated works from the film festival circuit today: the sleek vampire movie MIDNIGHT SON, the provocative and disturbing LITTLE DEATHS, the Australian slasher comedy THE KILLAGE, the African zombie masterpiece THE DEAD, the controversial Sundance midnighter THE OREGONIAN, and the giant monster hit THE MILLENNIUM BUG.
“Five years after saying goodbye to my beloved politics and DC dive bars, I am preposterously excited to return armed with a monster movie of epic proportions,” said producer and star of THE MILLENNIUM BUG (which screens on Friday, October 14), John Charles Meyer, who spent fifteen years working in Washington, D.C. for a political strategist and a European news broadcaster, but gave it up to be an actor in Hollywood. “A job on a presidential campaign is hard to top, but battling a 50-foot insect on celluloid might just do it!”
Rounding out the remaining schedule of amazing independent and international debuts is the world premiere of the British thriller PATIENT 17, as well as regional premieres of the feature films I DIDN’T COME HERE TO DIE, SKEW, THE AFFLICTED, PIG, and the locally produced THE WATERMEN.
“We are very fortunate,” said Curtis Prather, founder and director of Spooky Movie. “Every year hundreds of outstanding submissions come in from all over the country, and the world, challenging us to program the very best genre festival. I am really looking forward watching these selected films with our audience!”
In addition to the new films, a free 60th Anniversary screening of THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD will be shown Sunday, October 16 – a screening which will be appropriate for anyone 10 and over!
Most of the feature length movie programs will be preceded by selections from the Shorts Program, comprised of 29 films thirty-five minutes or less, including the winner of Best Horror Film at the American International Film Festival AN EVENING WITH MY COMATOSE MOTHER, the winner of Best Short at the Dark Carnival Film Festival ENTER THE DARK, the winner of Best Horror Short at the Phoenix Film Festival BUGBABY, and the winner of Best Short at the Fantasia Film Festival THE SUICIDE TAPES.
In addition to the features and the shorts screening all weekend, the Spooky Movie Trailer Competition will reward several filmmakers who created outstanding trailers – some for produced movies, and some for film that have yet to be made. The top ten semi-finalists will be on display in Artisphere’s Bijou Theatre, with the final three announced during the closing night exhibition of the THE KILLAGE.
Tickets can be purchased through www.artisphere.com. Individual screenings are $8; opening night is $20; VIP Pass 1 (includes admission to Thursday, October 13 opening night 7 pm screening, and all screenings from October 14-16) is $80.00 with a savings of $44; VIP Pass 2 (includes admission to Thursday, October 13 opening night 10 pm screening, and all screenings from October 14-16) is $80.00 with a savings of $44; Weekend Pass (includes admission to all screenings from Friday, October 14- Sunday, October 16, does not include Thursday, October 13 opening night) is $70.00 with savings of $34. A complete schedule of screenings follows. For more information visit www.spookyfests.com or www.artisphere.com.

Spooky Movie International Film Festival
Thursday, October 13 - Sunday, October 16, 2011