Haunted Bays, Dark Waves, and Video Tape Killers [Giallo Julian’s Indie Shoutout: 09/01/2022]
Welcome back, Gorehounds! I’m sure y’all noticed something’s a bit different here. In an attempt to get the word out on all the projects sent my way more effectively, I’ve decided to change my bi-weekly indie “Spotlight” to a monthly “Shoutout”. The Spotlights aren’t gone. They’ll just be focusing on singular ventures while this series will focus on multiple projects. With that being said, let’s enter this charnel pit of horrors and see what our indie ghouls have dug up for us this time!
Vampire Guardian Angels (Comic Book)
Based on her vampire novel trilogy, Lia Scott Price’s comic book series — Vampire Guardian Angels — follows several guardian angels who were bitten by vampires, replacing their “holy” nature with a more bloodthirsty one. Still being angels, though, they’re beholden to answer human prayers. However, instead of lending divine aid to the faithful, they just eat them. Kind of like a reverse communion, but a little more gluttonous since I’m pretty sure they take more than a bite and a sip. Spanning ten digital issues, two graphic novels, and an animation, there’s plenty of content to check out! It’s been described as “chilling, edgy, creepy, dark, gritty, disturbing, borderline sacrilegious, freak, metal, and totally NSFW” — all words I like! The indie series can be viewed on Price’s Patreon here and on her Gumroad here, while the animation can be watched right here.
The Haunted Bay (Series)
Starting off as a class project — already foreshadowing the horror movie to come with an A-grade inciting incident — The Haunted Bay became something much more sinister as producer Ying Liu and her crew documented paranormal researchers during their investigations. Exploring the San Francisco Bay Area’s local legends to see if “all this ghost stuff was real”, they expected to just stay behind the cameras. But strange things began to happen: unseen hands pressing down on the crew, people getting pushed and hit, feelings of some presence attempting to “jump into them”, to name just a few occurrences. And luckily for us, they were already filming, so this foray into real-life horror is available for our viewing pleasure! You can check out the series on Amazon here as well as the Asian American Movies website here.
Only Escape (Short Film)
Shawn Robinson’s indie short film, Only Escape, follows a woman who’s trapped in her bedroom… but not alone, as she soon finds out. Considering what’s locked in with her, she may just wish she was. The flick was a combined effort of just three people, and had a budget of — let me check my notes here — zero dollars. Robinson did all the behind-the-scenes work himself, with his wife and daughter acting in the film while using what they had around the house as props. He stated that his main purpose for the film’s creation was to show that “all you need is determination and anything is possible.” That’s a sentiment I can get behind, being a good outlook on indie filmmaking as a whole! Watch Only Escape right here.
Creepy and Scary Tales: A Collection of Short Stories (Book)
Reuben Shupp has written a horror anthology: Creepy and Scary Tales: A Collection of Short Stories. From strange dogs wandering into yards to cameras that turn living things into stone, four tales of terror comprise a collection perfect for “camping, sleepovers, and Halloween”. Hell, why choose? Bring it to a camping sleepover on Halloween and share the spine shivers together! Y’all can pick it up physically and digitally here.
My Boring Zombie Apocalypse (Short Film)
“What happens when the apocalypse you want is not the apocalypse you get?” Kevin Perkins’s short film — My Boring Zombie Apocalypse — aims to answer that question by incorporating a creative narrative that’s filled with a variety of fun scenarios. The popular idea is that a zombie armageddon would create a hard, treacherous hellscape where only the strong survive and the rest are corpse food. But what if it was just… boring? What if after the initial shock of the dead rising, everything just went back to normal? Work, school, chores, responsibilities — the daily grind interspersed with an occasional dodge from a zombie or so. Spoiler, this flick explores that second scenario. Hey, don’t get mad at me! You read the title. You can watch the short film here.
Aphasia (Feature Film)
The latest film from Brandon Tanczak, Aphasia tells the story of a former priest attempting to save Sarah, a suicide survivor, from a demonic presence attempting to seize control of her body. Said demonic presence tortures Sarah with visions of “rotting waitresses, vomiting demons, and promiscuous oatmeal”. Yeah, I’m curious about that last one, too. Tanczak plans to release the film in early 2023, so as soon as I hear more about it, you will!
Nuda (Music)
Coming from Seattle, Nuda is a solo Darkwave/Industrial artist bringing “instrumental soundscapes with a feminine touch to Industrial Music.” She’s relatively new to the Darkwave scene — her first solo album dropped back in February 2019 — but that doesn’t mean she’s not experienced, having formerly been the guitarist for the Electronic band, Possessed Tranquility. She’s also the live performance keyboardist for both the Cyberpunk Industrial band, DK Zero, and the Brutalwave band, FleischKrieg. I’m not the greatest Darkwave connoisseur, but I LOVE the way her music sounds. It feels like it would be perfectly placed in some sort of tech-noir horror-mystery film or something similar. It establishes a mood, a haunting atmosphere that makes you just want to let your body float to the rhythm… or maybe that’s just me. Find out for yourself on her website here!
Tapehead: The Return of Jacob Cobb (Feature Film)
Based on Dustin Mattson’s debut short film, Tapehead: The Return of Jacob Cobb tells the legend of “Tapehead,” a slasher that wears a VHS Tape as a mask. This outing promises “a decent-sized body count with a fair amount of gore, a truly menacing killer, and a cast of kids you really enjoy watching… so when things go bad, they REALLY go bad.” When it comes down to it, though, Mattson’s main hope with this flick is to “inspire a bunch of kids to go make something”, which if I’ve said once, I’ve said a hundred times, is something I can whole-heartedly get behind. The film is still in production, so when I hear more about its release, I’ll be sure to let you know!
A huge thank you to all the creators that have shared their projects with me! There’s still plenty more to talk about, so keep an eye out for the next Indie Shoutout, which should be out next month.
Until next time…
Ciao, friends!
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