It is high holy days for the Frightening, Gory and Hysterical horror films we love – HALLOWEEN!!! One of our favorite holiday traditions begins when filmmaker Adam Green and his production juggernaut at ArieScope releases their annual Halloween Short film every year. The ArieScope H’ween comedy bloodfest always arrives just around the same time as the great programming from Shriekfest and Screamfest, so we get to gobble up copious amounts of outstanding comedy horror shorts this time of year.
Our October HOLLYWOOD SHORTS program featured HOW MY DAD KILLED DRACULA, directed by HS member SKY SOLEIL a few years ago. Joe Wilson’s VAMPIRE MOB web series just keeps getting better and better – we screened the pilot episode at HOLLYWOOD SHORTS at our Comedy Film Nerds show this summer. It always just gets us in the spirit for some trick-or-treatin’.
Scroll down, grab yer candy corns and watch some of our favorite comedy Halloween short films!
JUST TAKE ONE from Adam Green
VAMPIRE MOB, Episode 1 by Joe Wilson
THE HORRIBLY SLOW MURDERER WITH THE EXTREMELY INEFFICIENT WEAPON by Richard Gale
Several key elements must occur for me to get into the holiday spirit – the arrival of the seasonal Pumpkin Latte at Starbucks, and the annual Halloween short film from the guys at ArieScope, led by horror film director ADAM GREEN. Coming off Adam’s new feature HATCHET 2, and all the media guff a few weeks ago when the much anticipated film was unbelievably yanked by theatres during opening weekend, they still made the time to put together another amazing Halloween short film. JUST TAKE ONE is their 12th annual Halloween short, starring Adam and Joe Lynch. The hysterical film features a nice cameo appearance from the JACK CHOP guy!
CAST: John Colella, Reamy Hall, Marcia Wallace, Kirsten Vangsness, Chris Mulkey, Elizabeth Beckwith, Andrew Cansler, Jim Roof, Cris D’Annunzio
Comedian/filmmaker Joe Wilson created and directs VAMPIRE MOB, a web series about a hitman who is a vampire. His mother-in-law is now moving in… for all eternity. Outstanding cast and laugh out loud funny. Season 1 includes 6 episodes, and they are currently beginning production on Season 2.
CAST: Paul Clemens, Brian Rohan, Fay Kato, Melissa Paladino, Mike Kacey
Three time Emmy winning filmmaker Richard Gale wrote, directed and produced the little film with the big name. HSMWTIW was clearly “The” Horror Short Film of 2009, grabbing 12 fest awards during its epic festival run. This film was everywhere, and has over 9 million views on YouTube alone. Oh… and it is really funny.
Veteran actor and filmmaker Sky Soleil’s HOW MY DAD KILLED DRACULA hit the festival circuit in 2008, and instantly became a Halloween classic. It went on to over 20 festival appearances, including Palm Springs Shortfest, Shriekfest, Chicago Horror, Cleveland, Florida and Rhode Island Film Festivals. HMDKD won the Audience Award for Best Family Film at the ’08 DC Shorts Film Festival
A schizophrenic pickpocket scours the underground trains at the command of his inner demons. But when an accidental score reconnects him with his past, he must test his strength and defy the voices in his head. In the end, the quest for love proves to be the most meaningful of all.
