So last night was the second day of the five day film festival and the quality of the submissions remains quite high. I have attended film festivals at SF conventions and there the quality of the movies varies a great deal from the clearly home-made first attempts to very good productions but Horrible Imaginings has maintained a caliber of quality that should make the director of the festival proud.

I skipped out on the opening feature, a documentary about Pilipino action star Rudy Fernandez. The Last Pinoy Action King certainly in my wheelhouse for documentaries as I adore film making and genre filmmaking subjects, but others things pressed on my times and I was forced to miss this one.

I arrive in time for the short film block, Thursday’s theme being horror/comedy. I would love to go over all the films presented as they all deserve to be talked about but time and space constrict me so i will discuss just a few that stood out to me.

The Phantom Hour – had a lovely retro feel complete with a classic 30’s style of credits and paid homage to classic tropes and the venerable plot of four strangers in a dark and lonely house. I had a chance to speak with one of the members of the cast afterwards always a treat at festivals.

First Like — a nice bit of supernatural killer/monster on the loose and the use of social media ‘likes’ to tell the story works nice as commentary and for overcoming language barriers

Watchbear — The set up of this film, a child with a monster in the closest has been seen before but the strength of the title characters dialogue and performance centers this film in a very strong place making it an audience favorite.

Stained — from the U.K. this film manages to work where the subject matter normally would repel me. The humor is scatological and that usually doesn’t work for my tastes. hence why my favorite Mel brooks movie is Young Frankenstein and not Blazing Saddles, but the filmmakers here walked the line perfectly keeping the tone light enough for humor, gross enough to remain scatological, and wry enough to have that English sensibility. The film’s final shots nail the landing elevating this from simple laughs to a story drenched in psychology and darkness.

A Zombie Next Door — Zombie horror is definitely a thing. In my collection I have three zombie comedies, Return of the Living Dead, Zombieland, and Shawn of the Dead, but to successfully make a zombie horror is difficult. Last weekend a friend and I watched A Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, a comedy with the grievous sin of not being funny and looking like it was made by people with no appreciation or knowledge of the genre. This is no the case with A Zombie Next Door. Crafted in the style of a Christopher Guest ‘mockumentary’ this film was funny, wry, knew the genre and powered by wonderful improv performances.

I was forced to leave the festival before the final feature documentary finished, and again a subject I am interested in Hail to the King: 60 Years of Destruction looked to be a fun Godzilla doc, but exhaustion commanded I return home while it was still safe to drive.

I look forward to the films playing tonight.

#HIFFSD