Fearful Roots, Odd Sites, and Decker Shado! [Giallo Julian’s Indie Spotlight: 04/29/2022]
Here we go again, Blood Babes and Fright Fiends! I hope you brought your swimsuit because we’re about to take a dip into the murky depths of the heretofore-uncharted ocean that is indie horror! Southern Ghosts, Lovecraftian Horrors, Mysterious Killers; just a few of the treasures will find as we explore these terrifying waters… none of this stuff has to do with “oceans” or “sea monsters” or anything like that, I’m just coasting on this analogy for as long as I can. Let’s break open Davy Jones’s Locker and see what riches that peg-legged nerd had stashed… I’m not gonna stop.
SPOTLIGHTS:
1. Decker Shado (YouTube Channel)
First up, we have a YouTube channel that I’ve been following for years. It’s my pleasure to welcome “the internet personality with the best hair”: Decker Shado! Specializing in reviews of genre films (including action, sci-fi, and our favorite, horror), Decker analyzes both mainstream and cult flicks through entertaining and knowledgeable discussions.
Of his work, Decker says: “My channel is mostly about me just talking… about the movies I’ve been watching. I tend to watch a lot of horror, action, science fiction, some kaiju and fantasy… effectively any genre where ‘the body count rises!’ As I grew up on Mystery Science Theater 3000, I don’t know any other way to talk about movies other than to poke fun at them the whole way through and spoil absolutely everything… but that’s what I like to see in a movie review, so it’s how I present mine.”
MST3K is a great base for a review style, so I’m all for it! This is obvious given how I’ve been a fan of Decker for some time now, but I digress. What I wasn’t aware of was why the channel developed in the first place. It was birthed during a darker point in Decker’s history, emerging from a need to enjoy life more than before.
“The ideas of ‘where do you see yourself in five years’ popped up somewhere for me, and my answer was ‘at the same job, doing the same stuff I hate, for the same pay that barely is enough as it is, spending my life just waiting to die’… so I thought of what I could do to have any shot at actually enjoying life… the idea of making enough from internet videos to pay your bills was seen as something a select few got out of pure luck, and that’s just that. But I saw it as possibly the only option I had to actually do something I enjoyed, and do it for a living… there was a great chance I would not succeed, but there was a sliver of hope that I would and that was enough to get me to give it my all.”
Decker has several things lined up for the channel’s future, including new movie reviews every week (the most recent currently being Godzilla VS Kong), director interviews (the latest being Lloyd Kaufman on #Shakespeare’s Shitstorm and Rocko Zevenbergen on I Need You Dead!), his late-cable-show-inspired podcast Live and Wired (now over 100 episodes in), and baking cookies. If that last one seems off to you, it’s because the YouTube algorithm hasn’t been kind to Decker lately, so any support for his channel would be much appreciated.
He’s also planning to cover the Leprechaun series to continue his summer tradition of reviewing entire film franchises, which is something he’s been cooking up for a while. Given that there’s talk of a new Leprechaun movie coming out, it seems the universe thinks it’s a good idea as well!
Check out Decker’s channel here and visit his Patreon here to help support his content if you can. With that, I want to end this with one last word from Decker.
“YouTube can be a frustrating place to work for sometimes, but after ten years free of overnight grocery stock, spending my time watching movies, doing research, writing scripts, and editing videos… I can confidently say it was all worth it… I can say with certainty the biggest reason of all that I wanted to make my channel and be the “internet personality with the best hair” – is that I wanted to be happy.”
Right on, Decker. You’re doing great.
2. Site 13 (Feature Film)
Next up, Nathan Faudree has a new movie currently making rounds on the festival circuit, titled Site 13!
Faudree says of the film’s story: “When Dr. Nathan Marsh wakes up in a mental institution from a ten-year catatonic state, he has to watch the tapes from his last expedition to learn what eldritch horror he had unleashed on the world.”
Sounds like it’s getting Lovecraftian in here, huh? That’s because it is. From arcane books to intrepid adventurers looking for forbidden knowledge to things that were and shall be again driving people to madness, Faudree doesn’t try to hide his inspiration. Site 13 doesn’t skimp out on that good cosmically horrific stuff.
Faudree continues: “Ultimately, Site 13 is a multi-media horror film that uses several different styles and formats to tell its story. The biggest stylistic touch is the real-time pauses between filming, in one case decades, but using a consistent main character that connects all of the styles and time periods.”
You read that right, this film took DECADES to finish, having just recently shot its last scenes after a long hiatus. How did all that come about, though? I’ll let Faudree explain.
“Well, the film began life in 2003 as an improvised found footage film directed by Tony Urban… We got together and filmed it, but shortly after, Tony decided to retire from filmmaking to become a successful horror novelist… Over the years, I thought about what we had filmed and often wished that there was something I could do with it… I had been reading a lot of Lovecraft at the time and realized that the structure of Lovecraft’s stories had the perfect groundwork for an intriguing idea. Most… have a narrator that is telling the audience about a past incident.
So… I decided to follow that idea, but instead of telling it, we’d see the old tapes… and use the various footage styles to show the passage of time… Tony was interested in the idea and agreed to let me use the footage… all I needed to do was film the present-day portion… We ended up having to essentially edit the movie three times. Once for the old footage, once for the new footage, and then once more to combine the two. But the result provided all kinds of amazing opportunities with at least five different types of footage, from standard digital tape to 4K and pretty close to everything in between.”
I really dig the idea of using older unused footage and recontextualizing it for a new film! It’s not done incredibly often, so it’s always interesting to see when it is.
Along with Faudree, the film’s crew includes the regional theatre talent of Watchworks Studios (led by Chris Steinberger and Megan Piechowicz), producer/editor Alan Rowe Kelly, and composer/sound designer Tom Burns.
As previously stated, it’s currently having a festival run (having won Best Horror Film at the Montreal Independent Film Festival and London New Wave Festival, along with Best Sound Design at the New York Horror Film Festival), so there isn’t a solid date for a wider release yet. But, as per usual, I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as I hear more about it! Also, be sure to check out A Wounded Fawn, a movie directed by Travis Stevens and co-written by Faudree, which is premiering at the Tribeca Festival in June before being released to Shudder later this year.
3. Our Fearful Roots (Book)
Authors Faith Marlow and Carmilla Voiez have collaborated to write a novel named Our Fearful Roots!
Marlow and Voiez say of the book’s plot: “When Mary inherits her aunt’s house in Alabama, she and her family enter an unfamiliar world, a world where none of them fit in. Mary has buried the memories of why she fled The South, but the land remembers. Ghosts make themselves heard by twisting and corrupting the family’s love for each other and creating divisions. If the family is to survive their new home, they must learn to work together.”
Ah, ghosts. Not just ghosts. Southern specters… which is even more frightening, truth be told. However, Marlow and Voiez stress that this isn’t just another typical tale of eerie apparitions, saying it’s “also about people every bit as much as it’s about ghosts”, dealing with “facing past trauma, selective memory, and identity.”
Voiez’s interest in the project stemmed from wanting to stretch their writing comfort zones: Voiez’s previous work being more “gory and violent”, and Marlow’s being more “romantic.” At the same time, Marlow was wanting to create a “classic haunted house story”. Because of this alignment of ideas, they decided to write the novel together despite the fact that Marlow lives STATESIDE and Voiez resides in SCOTLAND. Kind of a long trip between visits, isn’t it?
On this, Voiez explains:
“We relied on email and online chat. Faith took two of the characters and I took the other two and we wrote their stories chapter by chapter. It was fun watching the characters evolve while having dual roles: writer and reader… we influenced each other’s as well when we described their behaviour from an outsider’s perspective… When one of us got stuck, we would discuss the issue and overcome the obstacles together… we wanted the book to sound as though it was written in a single style with the only differences being between characters, not the authors. So, we spent a lot of time at the editing stage to ensure the style was consistent.”
Collaborative writing efforts have always interested me, especially when multiple authors work together to tell a narrative that shares a consistent voice. In this case, the novel’s main focus deals with a family plagued by supernatural events, while also tackling social issues including the LGBTQIA+ experience and racial tensions. Harmonizing tone, balancing the complexity of the storyline, AND maintaining a consistent voice? That’s no mean feat!
You can pick up Our Fearful Roots both digitally and physically right here and see what gothic terrors reside in the South for yourself! Also, keep an eye out for Voiez’s new novel coming soon (a supernatural thriller set in a women’s prison) and Marlow’s fourth installment in her Being Mrs. Dracula series (Formerly Mrs. Dracula). I’ll be sure to keep y’all updated on whatever else they do next!
4. Locked In (Feature Film)
Last but not least, we have Chase Dudley’s latest film: Locked In! And to add a little more splatter to the bloodshed, I’m happy to share an exclusive trailer for the flick. Check it out!
According to Dudley, the story goes as such: “Two women from opposite sides of society find themselves the infatuation of a mysterious killer while struggling with their own convictions and misconceptions.”
Starring Robert Mukes (House of 1000 Corpses, Bone Tomahawk), Amber Dawn Fox (The Walking Dead, Beasts of the Field), and Nailya Shakirova (Hell Nurse, Blood from Stone), it’s looking like it’s going to be full of torture, mutilation, and blood… which is the type of wholesome family fun we’ve come to expect here, so it checks out. Also, the music is being done by Rocky Gray of Evanescence fame, which I’m more than certain caught some of y’all’s attention. Maybe woke you up, even? Yes, I agree, keelhauling does seem like an appropriate punishment for that joke. Just let me finish talking about Locked In first.
Production is already completed, with plans to ship the film through the festival circuit. There’s no word on a wider release just yet, but I’ll let y’all know any news that comes my way. If you want more info now, though, be sure to watch this behind-the-scenes video about its filming!
Keep a lookout for two more of Dudley’s features as well, The Desperate and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, both coming soon!
As always, I’d like to end this article with some Shoutouts! While I didn’t get a chance to talk much about them, they’re definitely worth a look!
SHOUTOUTS:
– Be Kind Rewind (Artist): Charles Richard Clary is making art out of VHS covers, turning them into killer pieces that’d look great on any cult cinephile’s mantle! From horror to sci-fi to comedy, there’s something for all the genre lovers out there. Check out his website here and see if anything sinks its claws into you!
– Trepidity (Feature Film): Based on the S.J. Hermann short story of the same name, this tale follows a group of friends as they “get together in an old barn for a night of partying and… decide to call upon a demon thinking it’s an urban legend.” Old barn? Partying? Demons? Nothing but good ideas all around, right? Naturally, it becomes a fight for survival as a body-hopping spirit begins killing them one by one, their friendships tested as they try to pin down who’s possessed by the sinister force at any given moment. Check out the Indiegogo here and Facebook page here to help support its production!
– Strange Films Studios (Website): The creators over at Strange Films Studios are making their own horrifically bizarre “shared universe” through films and comics! Monsters, serial killers, The Devil, many things lurk amongst the shadows casted by the gruesome minds of this dedicated team. Check out their website here and YouTube channel here!
– The Painter (Short Film): Julian Alexander’s made a short film inspired by the Italian horror films of the 80s. Following a reclusive painter as he puts the final touches on his latest work, he comes to discover that his painting likewise wants to put a final touch on him. A fatal final touch. Watch it here and follow Alexander’s YouTube channel here!
– Gummies (Short Film): “A tomboy transforms the gender trappings of her room to show her cruel mother how sugar and spice don’t equal nice.” I’m always down for a good revenge story! Especially one that “addresses LGBTQIA+ issues such as binary gender essentialism and stereotype enforcement.” Seriously, the amount of representation I’ve been seeing in the indie-horror scene lately just warms my blood… which is nice, because it’s been dead cold for a while. Not only are Michael Clifton (writer) and Renetta G. Amador (director) working with a mostly LGTBQIA+ film crew, but they’re also making two versions of the film (one in English, one in Spanish). How rad is that?! Check out its Indiegogo right here to help support its production!
– The Quantum Terror (Feature Film): A tale of Lovecraftian terror from director Christopher Cooksey, following several friends as they find their way through a “surreal underground world of monsters and shadow people”. Cooksey makes full use of practical effects for his creatures, as well as incorporating miniatures for the numerous settings our protagonists find themselves in. The film will be available for streaming on Xumo and the Free Movie Channel app soon, but you can rent/buy it here if you want to watch it now!
Again, thank you to all the creators that shared their work with me! I can’t wait to see what else is in store for us next time as we dive yet again into the darkest fathoms of indie horror. See? Told you I wouldn’t stop!
Until next time…
Ciao, friends!
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