I am ready to provide an almost complete debrief on Horrorfest 2009. Aside from one poorly scheduled showtime, I viewed seven of the eight films and am happy to report the best year thus far. The films this year, for the most part, seemed to be bigger budget than previous years and it certainly paid off.

Now remember, this is like an independent film festival for horror, so you can’t go in expecting the equivalent of a blockbuster. My disclaimer for the following reviews is based on appreciating them for what they are and considering things like lack of budget, known actors, and extravagant special effects. If you go in expecting mainstream, you will be disappointed. But if you love film, dig horror, and appreciate indie films, you might want to give one a try.

Read on for a list of the films and my personal review for each.

Dying Breed - Standard plot; not so standard approach. Upon reading the synopsis for this film, I had prepared myself for another gory inbred movie full of senseless killing and ridiculous story lines. But at throughout the movie, I found myself pleasantly surprised. Rather than revolving around a group of drunken college kids stranded in the backwoods of some southern state, the plot stemmed from a smart, quiet girl whose sister went missing while attempting to prove the existence of a supposedly extinct tiger in Tasmania. With the exception of one obnoxious guy, the group had none of the stereotypical characteristics that make us happy when they die. Plot and character development consume over half of the movie and the bloody murder scenes seem to be placed only where truly needed. A horror flick with a bit more depth was a pleasant surprise.

From Within - My favorite of the festival, this movie had a very original plot with an oh so subtle tone of mockery towards overly organized religion (gotta love it). A curse placed on a small, rural, highly-religious town drives resident to commit suicide, one after the other. But they aren’t really killing themselves; their doppelgangers are stalking and murdering them. The imagery used for the ‘me versus me’ effect was endlessly creepy. My one complaint being that it was a little light on character and plot development. Look for Rumor Willis and the twins from America’s Next Top Model (2 or 3 cycles ago).

Butterfly Effect 3 - Okay so this movie was not very good. But I guess if you didn’t see the first one and didn’t know it was a sequel, it wasn’t too bad for this kind of event. Enough said.

Slaughter - Another one for the typical plot, not so typical approach. Who’s murdering the random guys brought home the little farm girl who likes to party? Is it the weird Dad? The perverted brother? The new roommates psycho ex? Good character development. Some nice sub-plots. Interesting twists. Highly unexpected ending - which probably led to the inability to release it to the general public. You know how the main-streamers can’t handle an unhappy ending… There were of course some kind of silly situations that led to more close calls rather then just getting the hell out of there, but overall a good effort.

The Broken - Lena Headey stars in this truly original and well done film. Another eerie mystery revolving around doppelgangers but a completely different take than From Within. It’s one of those where you leave a bit confused but the more you think about it, the less random it seems. Will probably have to give this one another viewing to pick up clues. I still can’t tell you what the ending means - not that you would want to know before you watch it.

Voices - Highly disappointing for a (so I thought) Japanese film (which are typically great)! But it was actually made in South Korea - maybe that’s why it sucked. Don’t bother.

Autopsy - I still can’t figure out if they meant this to be a true horror film and it went horribly wrong or if it was meant to be a campy spoof and went horribly wrong… some laughs, mostly dumb, too much gore, no plot, no character development, don’t bother.

Perkins 14 - This is the one I missed. I will report later.