As with last year, the focus for the final day of Nightmares Film Festival is homegrown, Ohio-made horror. Of the seven blocks of programming today, a whopping six have been dedicated to Ohio-based feature films and shorts. In a festival that has already seen new works from the makers of such films as Hatchet, Inside, Friday the 13th, Child’s Play, Room 237, and Creep, that’s pretty amazing.
Whether it be indie horror of the bigger, smaller, or fulblown grassroots persuasion, NFF doesn’t discriminate. The fourth days variety of features is also a nice surprise. Primordial is a dark crime drama about one woman’s violent descent into personal hell. Blood Ride pumps up the action with a yarn of bikers versus jocks, with none other than Pollyanna McIntosh (The Woman, “The Walking Dead“) in tow. Don’t Fuck in the Woods closes things out with a monster movie and who doesn’t love a rampaging creature feature? The diversity also more than extended to the two Ohio shorts blocks, showcasing a vast array of growing talent.
It would be so easy for founders Chris Hamel and Jason Tostevin to just skip over homegrown horror in the festival, especially given how much NFF has grown since last year. Lord knows they had enough submissions this year to do so. That’s not the point of NFF though. At the end of the day, the fest’s mission is to better the horror community by promoting #BetterHorror (be it big or small) and helping to grow the community itself by fostering a positive and friendly environment. And to that I say MISSION: ACCOMPLISHED!
I would like to take this moment to thank both Chris and Jason for having me again. They’re one of a kind and I’m proud to have participated in both years thus far. I would also like to thank the hospitality of Bridget Oliver and the rest of the Nightmares Film Festival and Gateway Film Center crew. Ditto to fellow fans like Brandon, Melissa, and all of the others fans and filmmakers I’ve hung out with over the course of the past few days. Whether I’ve known you for awhile or only just met you this week, I had a wonderful time. Here’s hoping I’ll see you all again for Nightmares Film Festival 2018!
