MidWest WeirdFest's Full 2018 Program Announced

MidWest WeirdFest announces its full 2018 program today. The second annual film festival - a cinematic celebration of of all things fantastic, frightening, offbeat, and just plain weird - will take place March 9-11, 2018 at the Micon Cinemas Downtown in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

“This year's festival program runs a weird and wonderful gamut, ranging from the boldest and bloodiest in sci-fi and horror, through documentaries of the strange and macabre, to twisting thrillers and erotic underground dramas” says festival director Dean Bertram, an Australian expatriate and veteran of the international film festival scene. “Whether you want to be thrilled, terrified, mesmerized or titillated you're going to find an abundance of entertaining films in this unique cinematic smorgasbord.”

Opening the festival is the Wisconsin premiere of PICKINGS from director Usher Morgan. In this neo-noir, western, thriller a short-tempered mobster and his gang of thugs try to shake down a neighborhood bar. But they're soon confronted with the wrath of its owner: a mysterious southern mother with a dangerous past. PICKINGS is a twisting, blood-drenched, super-stylized, thrill ride.

PICKINGS

And for closing night, MidWest WeirdFest presents director Amara Cash's DADDY ISSUES.  A compelling and at times confronting film that tracks a bizarre love triangle: Maya, a desperate young artist, is unaware that her new girlfriend is involved in an emotionally charged, co-dependent, fetish relationship with a neurotic and drug-addicted sugar daddy: a man who is also Maya's biological father. All three lovers are oblivious to the dark secret of their entanglement, and revelation will change them, forever...

DADDY ISSUES

Some other fantastic titles the festival announces today include:

CANNIBALS AND CARPET FITTERS (Director: James Bushe) A ragtag group of carpet layers are sent on a job to an old English country house in the middle of nowhere. They soon discover it's a trap set up by a savage cannibalistic family. The carpet fitters must fight for their lives or risk ending up as the evening's dinner. Horrific delights abound in this gore filled dish of a horror comedy, that tastes like a wickedly decadent blend of SHAUN OF THE DEAD and THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.

CANNIBALS AND CARPET FITTERS

IMPOSSIBLE HORROR (Director: Justin Decloux) Lily, an insomniac filmmaker, hears a sinister scream outside her window every night. Determined to help the screaming person, she heads into the darkness of her neighbourhood. There she meets Hannah, a veteran “scream hunter”, obsessed with putting a stop to the nightly occurrence. The young women join forces to solve the bloodcurdling mystery, and quickly discover that its source may be an otherworldly threat that drives its victims into madness - and Lily and Hannah are next.

IMPOSSIBLE HORROR

THE MILWAUKEE MAFIA: FRANK BALISTRIERI (Director: Jason Love)
Frank Peter Balistrieri (AKA "Mr. Big", "Big Frank", "Mr. Slick", and "Mad Bomber") was the most notorious and dangerous Mob Boss in Milwaukee's history. In this documentary, learn about the secret world of organized crime through the lens of the most dangerous man in Milwaukee. Known for using car bombs to murder his enemies, Frank Balistrieri was willing to do anything to keep his power over the city.

THE MILWAUKEE MAFIA: FRANK BALISTRIERI

OFFICER PIGSLEY (Director: Kevin Losani, Michael J. Widger) In a a city full of superheroes and monstrous villains, a clumsy police officer stumbles upon an evil conspiracy. He has to decide whether it's worth taking the law into his own hands – and risking his life - to save a city that despises him. An indie epic, that bats miles above its meager budget, and delivers laughs, gasps, and feels.

OFFICER PIGSLEY

See full festival program here.

Festival passes now available for purchase here.

MIDWEST WEIRDFEST 2018: FIRST WAVE OF FILMS ANNOUNCED!

MidWest WeirdFest announces its first programming wave for 2018 today. The second annual festival - a cinematic celebration of all things fantastic, frightening, offbeat, and just plain weird - takes place March 9-11, 2018 at the Micon Downtown Cinema in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

“We are delighted to unveil this first glimpse at some of the 2018 festival's incredible program”, says fest founder and veteran programmer Dean Bertram. “The selection encapsulates MidWest WeirdFest's mission of showcasing a heady combination of the latest and most original horror, sci-fi, underground, and documentary films. We can't wait for the festival's audience to journey with us on another twisting, terrifying, and at times hilarious journey through the cutting-edge of this season's weird cinema.”

Festival passes are now on sale here. Individual tickets to each film will go on sale closer to the festival, directly from the Micon Downtown Cinema. Full program details and guests will be revealed in February.

The first seven feature films announced follow:

3 DEAD TRICK OR TREATERS (dir: Torin Langen)
After stumbling upon the graves of three murdered trick or treaters, a small town paperboy discovers a series of handwritten horror stories tacked to the children's headstones. Penned by a deranged pulp author driven mad by his craft, the stories chronicle grisly tales of Halloween rites, rituals and traditions. Absent of dialogue and heavy on atmosphere, 3 DEAD TRICK OR TREATERS is a horror chiller unlike any you've seen before.

ATTACK OF THE TATTIE-BOGLE (dir: Pete Marcy)
A group of unlikely bunkmates gathers at a mutual friend's cabin in remote Wisconsin. Armed with all the comforts of urban life, they are ready to celebrate Independence Day; but when the group is attacked, they are sent reeling. Confused, scared, and unprepared to handle real danger, survivors are forced to battle fears, balance egos, and summon their courage - or die. Forget "cabin in the woods" slashers in the style of FRIDAY THE 13TH. This edge of your seat film depicts believable adult characters being killed with unpredictable, rapidly descending, and brutal violence. It feels uncannily real, and is all the more disturbing for it.

BORLEY RECTORY (dir: Ashley Thorpe)
This spine-tingling film chronicles the true story of “The most haunted house in England”. Narrated by Julian Sands (WARLOCK, GOTHIC, LEAVING LAS VEGAS), and starring Reece Shearsmith (THE LEAGUE OF GENTLEMEN, SHAUN OF THE DEAD), BORLEY RECTORY features a stunning combination of live action re-enactments, animated photographs from the period, and eerie visual effects. Be prepared to be mesmerized and chilled in equal portions by the most haunting film of the festival season.

FAKE BLOOD (dir: Rob Grant)
Rob Grant and Mike Kovac receive a disturbing fan video inspired by their previous horror movie MON AMI, motivating them to investigate the responsibility of filmmakers in portraying violence in movies. In their pursuit of the truth they are unwittingly introduced to the real world of violent criminals and their victims. Few films have managed to so successfully examine the blurred lines between real and imagined violence. FAKE BLOOD will keep you engaged and unbalanced until the final frame.

THE FLATWOODS MONSTER: A LEGACY OF FEAR  (dir: Seth Breedlove)
Ahead of its official release this April, MidWest WeirdFest proudly presents this special sneak-peak screening of the latest, highly anticipated offering from production company Small Town Monsters. It is a terrifying documentary that revisits one of the earliest and most famous alien encounter reports of American UFO lore. The film's director, Seth Breedlove (BOGGY CREEK MONSTER, THE MOTHMAN OF POINT PLEASANT, INVASION ON CHESTNUT RIDGE) is the most important documentarian working in the UFO/paranormal/cryptid field today, and was the recipient of 2017's "Cryptozoologist of the Year" award. Don't miss your chance to be one of the first people on this haunted planet to see his latest film.

FUTURE (dir: Robert Cousineau, Chris Rosik)
A drunken train-wreck of a time traveler offers a suicidally depressed tea store barista a do-over. The catch is, the do-over comes at a murderous price. FUTURE is a poignant and funny low-fi sci-fi that begs the question: If you only had a few days left to live, and you felt like no one wanted you around, what would you do with that time? Would you climb a mountain, fall in love, invent a world saving device? Or would you eat all the junk you usually don't let yourself have, and blow off work to get drunk with your old friends?

THE MOOSE HEAD OVER THE MANTEL (dir: Rebecca Comtois, Bryan Enk, Jessi Gotta, Matthew Gray, Shannon K. Hall, Jane Rose)
Lillian Hoffhienze-Bachman and her family move into the previously abandoned Hoffhienze ancestral home, where their hopeful new start becomes tainted by the discovery of a century's worth of abuse, dysfunction and violence. Lillian becomes consumed by her sordid ancestry, terrified that the past might dictate her son's future. The grisly events of the past 100 years are revealed through the eyes of the family's victims... including the moose head hanging on the mantel wall. Influenced and inspired by the notorious real lives of H.H. Holmes, The Bender Family, Lizzie Borden, Carl Panzram and The Fox Sisters, this dark and unsettling anthology chills to the core.

HAPPY HUNTING - "Best Film" winner at MidWest WeirdFest - in select theaters and VOD now

HAPPY HUNTING the "ruthless social satire" (THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER) written and directed by Louie Gibson and Joe Dietsch is now screening in select theaters and available on iTunes.

The film opens on Warren (Martin Dingle Wall), a degenerate drifter, scraping by, and suffering from debilitating alcohol withdrawals on a daily basis. On his way down to Mexico, he finds himself stranded in Bedford Flats, a one-horse town nestled deep in the American desert. It was a once-prosperous hunting community that has been reduced to an impoverished dust bowl. Unfortunately for Warren, it turns out that the town’s pastime is rounding up drifters and hunting them as part of an elaborate sporting event. To make matters worse, he'll go into alcoholic withdrawal unless he finds a way to stay intoxicated. It all builds to a blood-soaked, live-or-die showdown deep in the desert.

Martin Dingle Wall in HAPPY HUNTING

Check out the film's official website here: http://www.happyhuntingmovie.com/

Watch the multi-award winning film on iTunes now:  https://itunes.apple.com/ca/movie/happy-hunting/id1267538493

MIDWEST WEIRDFEST ANNOUNCES 2ND ANNUAL FESTIVAL DATES

MidWest WeirdFest, the cinematic celebration of all things fantastic, frightening, offbeat, and just plain weird, announces its 2nd annual festival dates today.

The festival will be returning to the Micon Cinema in Downtown Eau Claire from March 9 to 11, 2018.

“We can't wait to bring a new showcase of underground cinema to our enthusiastic Eau Claire audience." says festival director Dean Bertram. "Festival goers can expect to see the latest in cutting edge films: from genres like horror and sci-fi, through experimental and avant-garde creations, to documentaries about the bizarre and exotic."

Minnesota-based filmmaker Paul Von Stoetzel, whose short film IN THE KITCHEN WITH... played at MidWest WeirdFest 2017, says: "I have been screening at film festivals for over a decade and I've never had such an incredible experience at a fest much less an inaugural year at a festival. The staff was great, accommodating and wonderful to work with as well as the fact that the shorts selection my film was screening with was one of if not the strongest selection of shorts I've ever been programmed with. I cannot recommend MidWest WeirdFest enough. I'm already planning on submitting for next year and I hope to screen and attend there again."

MidWest WeirdFest is now accepting submissions in the following categories: Feature films, documentaries, shorts, animations, music videos, and TV and web content.

Click here to enter your film to the 2018 festival, or for additional information.

Help MidWest WeirdFest alumus complete "Noir at the Bar" film series

MULES is the upcoming Killing Joke Films' adaptation from the story of the same title by acclaimed novelist Ed Kurtz. The tale follows a pair of drug mules who face tragedy and horrific weirdness. MidWest WeirdFest alumnus Paul Von Stoetzel (of Killing Joke Films) needs your help to make his latest weird-tastic film!

Killing Joke Films is a Minneapolis based production company who have produced over 30 short films/music videos, and two feature documentaries including SNUFF: A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT KILLING ON CAMERA and SCRAP. KJF has collaborated with acclaimed author Ed Kurtz in the past on the short film "South of Heaven" and for the adaptation of his novel "Bleed" as a series for SeekaTV. The latest film will be produced in tandem with Minneapolis based Know Idea Productions: comprising the perfect team for this disturbing adaptation.

From director Paul von Stoetzel: "We are attempting to raise funds to adapt Ed's unreleased short story “Mules” to complete the KJF short film collection Noir at the Bar which are adaptations of the works of novelists who have contributed to Noir at the Bar somewhere in the nation. Noir at the Bar is an internationally spread event of writers reading and drinking, created by Jedediah Ayres who KJF have collaborated with in the past on the award winning short film 'Viscosity'. 'Mules' would be the final short needed to finish the collection for distribution which would include the adaptation of Dennis Tafoya's 'How to Jail', John Rector's 'In the Kitchen With . . .' (which screened at MidWest WeirdFest 2017), and Jeff Shelby's 'Twisted Sister'. This collection has been seven years in the making and we are all very excited to finally officially release it to the public."

MULES synopsis: Mary-Jo and Hank are drug mules who just got across the border full of product inside them. After a night of partying, Mary-Jo is left to deal with a horrible situation and has to do the unthinkable in this weird tale/crime/horror hybrid story.

Check out the great perks for getting involved in the MULES Indiegogo campaign here, and help a Midwestern filmmaker with a truly original and weird vision: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mules-a-short-film#/

New documentary - THE MOTHMAN OF POINT PLEASANT - from festival alumni Small Town Monsters

In 1966 four people driving on a deserted stretch of road in rural West Virginia encountered a bizarre, winged entity that came to be known as “the Mothman”. The event was the catalyst for a thirteen month-long string of unusual activity centered around the town of Point Pleasant, WV. For over a year, citizens of Point Pleasant were witnesses to UFOs, strange government and military-related activity, and the Mothman itself. Today a new trailer for a film that traces the Mothman case (titled THE MOTHMAN OF POINT PLEASANT) has been released: from Small Town Monsters the makers of BOGGY CREEK MONSTER that screened at MidWest WeirdFest 2017.

THE MOTHMAN OF POINT PLEASANT will document the “thirteen months that changed history”. The feature-length documentary will delve into not just the unusual happenings in the area but also the history of the small town and how it was impacted by the creature sightings. It will also tell the tale of the tragic Silver Bridge collapse; an event that claimed the lives of 46 people and brought the Mothman story to a close. “Mothman” promises to unsettle viewers with unnerving accounts from original witnesses and area residents as well as deliver new information related to the case.

THE MOTHMAN OF POINT PLEASANT was successfully funded through a Kickstarter campaign that raised almost triple it’s asking goal. The film is produced and directed by Seth Breedlove of Ohio, who also co-wrote the film with executive producer, Lyle Blackburn. Blackburn is a best-selling author and television personality who has previously appeared on Animal Planet, Destination America, and more. The movie was filmed by award-winning cinematographer, Zac Palmisano and features a score from the recent Hollywood International Independent Documentary Award’s choice for “best film score” (BOGGY CREEK MONSTER) Brandon Dalo.

The independent production crew is comprised of filmmakers and friends who have previously made three other films together in other areas of the country. The company is run by husband and wife team, Seth and Adrienne Breedlove. Small Town Monsters begins production on their next film, INVASION ON CHESTNUT RIDGE, this May. That film explores a possible UFO crash which occurred in 1965 in rural Pennsylvania.

DVD pre-orders have launched through the Small Town Monsters website (http://shop.smalltownmonsters.com) and the film will be available on Vimeo OnDemand, Amazon, iTunes and most major streaming platforms upon the film’s official release date of June 2nd.

Support CIVET from MidWest WeirdFest winner Benjamin Capps

Benjamin Capps won the inaugural MidWest WeirdFest's "Best Animation" award for his stunning life-size stop-motion animation in IT GROWS DARK.  Now Benjamin is gearing up to make the sequel: CIVET.

Check out the film's Indiegogo page (where you can also watch IT GROWS DARK online for a limited time) and get involved here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/civet-horror#/

A message from Benjamin: "CIVET is the sequel to my award winning, retro science fiction/horror short film, It Grows Dark. It is the next chapter in the nefarious life of Deke Lape and continues an exploration of the interrelationship between technology and the occult. Both films are innovating in that they combine live action with life size, stop-motion animation puppetry. CIVET will be shot in the summer of 2017 and we are excited to have you be a part of bringing another film from The Inner Below to life."

Benjamin Capps at MidWest WeirdFest.

WINNING FILMS OF INAUGURAL MIDWEST WEIRDFEST ANNOUNCED

The inaugural MidWest WeirdFest has wrapped at the Micon Downtown Cinema in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The festival provided enthusiastic audiences a cinematic smorgasbord of all things fantastic, frightening, offbeat, and just plain weird. Today, MidWest WeirdFest announces the winning films of the inaugural event.

"It was an honor just to play alongside so many innovative and inspiring films. This recognition is truly humbling and really means a lot to everyone involved with VORE KING, particularly because no other festivals in Wisconsin had the guts to program the film”, said Daniel Schneidkraut, director of VORE KING the winner of the festival's “Best Documentary” award.  “We are eternally grateful to Midwest WeirdFest for their guts, and to the attendees/filmmakers for their testicular/ovicular fortitude! Long live The King of Vore Raymond P. Whalen!”

Louie Gibson, who co-wrote and co-directed HAPPY HUNTING with Joe Dietsch, said: “It's an honor to be awarded “Best Film” at the inaugural Midwest WeirdFest. Can't wait for next year. Stay Weird!”

“That my style of life-size, stop-motion in IT GROWS DARK would receive 'Best Animation' accolades from MidWest WeirdFest is both exciting and humbling”, said director and animator Benjamin Capps. “The festival brought together an astounding gamut of eclectic films and filmmakers, from whom I am drawing much inspiration for my ongoing work.”

A complete list of the winning films follows:

Best Film: HAPPY HUNTING (Dir: Joe Dietsch & Louie Gibson)

Best Documentary: VORE KING (Dir: Daniel Schneidkraut)

Best Short Film: GWILLIAM (Dir: Brian Lonano)

Best Animation: IT GROWS DARK (Dir. Benjamin Capps)

Best Web or TV Content: HOOKED (Dir: Luca Vecchi)

Best Music Video: MY ETERNITY - CHRYSALIS (Dir: Jonathan Martin)
 

Raymond P. Whalen star of "Best Documentary" winner VORE KING greets the audience at MidWest WeirdFest!

GENRE AND UNDERGROUND FILMMAKERS INVADE WISCONSIN THIS WEEKEND

Horror, sci-fi, underground, and documentary filmmakers from around the country descend on Eau Claire, Wisconsin this weekend for the inaugural MidWest WeirdFest. Taking place March 3-5, at the Micon Cinemas in downtown Eau Claire, the film festival is a cinematic celebration of all things fantastic, frightening, offbeat, and just plain weird.

“The immediate interaction between filmmakers and audiences is one of the great joys of attending a film festival,” says festival director Dean Bertram. “Not only do audience members get to see the latest in cutting edge cinema, they also have the opportunity to speak directly with the films' creators. It's a unique and immersive filmgoing experience.”

Some of MidWest WeirdFest's feature filmmaker guests include:

Director duo Louie Gibson and Joe Dietsch, with producer Joe Toronto: Hollywood based filmmakers attending the festival to represent their high-octane and terrifying horror film HAPPY HUNTING, the tale of an alcoholic drifter caught up in the murderous games of a brutal desert community.

Daniel Schneidkraut and Raymond P. Whalen: the director and subject (respectively) of the hilarious and confronting documentary VORE KING. The film chronicles the Wisconsin-based Whalen's life as America's number one creator and purveyor of “Vore” pornography.

Dakota Laden: Minneapolis-based enfant terrible of documentary and horror filmmaking. Dakota directed and produced the real life horror film/documentary TRAIL TO TERROR when he was just nineteen.

Bryna Smith: Lead actress and visual effects artist of the madcap NEIL STRYKER AND THE TYRANT OF TIME, one of the hottest sci-fi films currently touring the world's festival circuit.

The festival also has some very special virtual guests. Skyping all the way from Wakaliwood (Uganda's answer to Hollywood) will be BAD BLACK's cult action director Nabwana Isaac Godfrey Geoffrey and writer Alan Hofmanis– who will remotely direct the festival's audience in a brief scene, giving everyone in attendance the chance to be a Ugandan action star!

Filmmakers representing their short films at the festival include:

Paul von Stoetzel (IN THE KITCHEN WITH...), Danny Villanueva Jr. (DON'T CRY, PAPA), Benjamin Capps (IT GROWS DARK), and UW-Eau Claire graduate Andrew Swant, who has a number of short films in the festival's A NIGHT AT THE SEAHORSE shorts block that was curated by Swant and The Found Footage Festival's Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher.

Biographies of each of the above filmmakers can be read here.
 

LEGENDARY WEIRDO & HIS CARNIVOROUS SEX MONSTERS EXPOSED IN SHOCKING NEW DOCUMENTARY

After a long hiatus from public life spent building the world’s largest people eating sex monster (among other things), underground film legend (Go To Hell, Mondo Collecto, Mark of the Astro Zombies) and lauded raconteur Raymond P. Whalen (a.k.a. Rock And Roll Ray) is returning as the subject of a new feature documentary entitled VORE KING at Micon Cinemas Downtown on Sunday March 5, at 8:00pm, in beautiful downtown Eau Claire as the closing film of MIDWEST WEIRDFEST.

VORE KING is a detailed portrait of R.P. Whalen, world famous horror host, trash movie guru, carnival sideshow barker, and America’s premier purveyor of vorarephilia fetish film. Vorarephilia, popularly known as “vore,” is an eating fetish where arousal is brought about by the act of one creature consuming another creature, most commonly manifested by monsters eating women. This documentary follows Whalen’s process of conceiving and constructing an array of vore creatures while he rekindles a bond with his elderly father and battles the demons of suburban Milwaukee. VORE KING features interactions with R.P. Whalen’s actresses (affectionately known as “La Vore Girls”) and family, as well as a rare glimpse into the production of vore film and the mind of a magical (and volatile) super genius.

Said VORE KING director Dan S, “Ray had to leave the limelight several years ago under pretty unfortunate circumstances so I’m overjoyed that I have the privilege of bringing him back to the fore with this triumphant celebration of his life and work. I can’t wait for the citizens of Wisonsin to finally indulge in this new and exciting banquet for the senses.”

Dan S is a writer/director/producer who was born and raised in Colorado but currently resides and works in Minneapolis, MN. Dan is primarily known for his experimental narrative work (SEEKING WELLNESS, INVINCIBLE FORCE) but he has recently delved into the documentary form (NED ABDUL NEEDS MORE RETAIL SPACE, OLD MAN). He has been the recipient of The McKnight Fellowship for Filmmaking (2010/2016), and the 2015 Creative Capital Award for Moving Image in support of VORE KING.

MIDWEST WEIRDFEST is the brainchild of veteran Australian film festival director Dean Bertram (A Night of Horror, Fantastic Planet) who recently relocated to Wisconsin where he plans for MidWest Weirdfest to be “a cinematic celebration of the fantastic, frightening, underground, offbeat and all things weird."  Raymond P Whalen and Dan S will be in attendance to defend VORE KING and celebrate cinematic weirdness with the citizens of Eau Claire.

MIDWEST WEIRDFEST'S FULL 2017 PROGRAM ANNOUNCED!

MidWest WeirdFest announces its full 2017 program today. The inaugural film festival - a cinematic celebration of of all things fantastic, frightening, offbeat, and just plain weird - will take place March 3-5, 2017 at the Micon Cinemas Downtown in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

“MidWest WeirdFest's programmers have put together a world class program of genre and underground cinema”, says festival founder and director Dean Bertram, who has been running film festivals in Australia for over a decade. “From some of the freshest horror and sci-fi feature films on the fest circuit today, through underground oddities to fascinating and frightening documentaries. There's also three short film blocks, including a hilarious program curated by UWEC graduates Andrew Swant and The Found Footage Festival's Joe Pickett and Nick Prueher.”

Some of the festival's other highlights include:

Friday FrightNight: Three terrifying horror feature films. Starting with the festival's spectacular opening night film, the high-octane and high body count HAPPY HUNTING. Followed by the blood drenched TONIGHT SHE COMES. Then the real-life horror documentary TRAIL TO TERROR.

Sasquatch Saturday Night: After a day packed with weird shorts and feature films, the fest will screen two fantastic Bigfoot movies back to back. First at 8:00pm the brand new documentary BOGGY CREEK MONSTER that examines one of the most famous Bigfoot cases, Arkansas's “Fouke Monster”. And following at 10:00pm the film that started it all! A special 45th anniversary screening of the drive-in classic, horror/docudrama THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK. The most terrifying and influential Bigfoot movie ever made.

Sunday WeirdDay: A day and night loaded with the weirdest features and shorts from around the planet, including the madcap sci-fi festival hit NEIL STRYKER AND THE TYRANT OF TIME; and the festival's closing night film, the shocking, hilarious and compelling documentary VORE KING.

For more details check out the festival's fill program here.

A full list of feature films screening at MidWest WeirdFest follows:

ATMO HORROX (Dir: Pat Tremblay) Through a very surreal chase of spying and surveillance, Catafuse, a dubiously dressed "creature", hunts down specific human targets with the help of Molosstrap. But in a world completely run by the shadowy hands of the pharmaceutical industry, the lines of reality become so blurry and complex, that the mastering of insanity might just be the only way out...

BAD BLACK (Dir: Nabwana I.G.G.) The tale of a mild-mannered western doctor, who is trained in the art of ass-kicking commando vengeance by a no-nonsense ghetto kid named Wesley Snipes! BAD BLACK is the latest film straight out of Wakaliwood: Uganda's no-budget answer to Hollywood!

BOGGY CREEK MONSTER (Dir: Seth Breedlove) The true story behind one of the most infamous American legends ever recorded. This fascinating documentary centers around the true stories that inspired the famed Charles B. Pierce-directed, 1972 Bigfoot horror film, THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK.

THE CHAIR (Dir: Chad Ferrin) A man struggles to escape a grisly fate on death row in this intense story of betrayal, revenge, and humanity's horrifying capacity for evil.  Stars the late Roddy Piper in his last feature film role.

HAPPY HUNTING (Dir: Joe Dietsch, Lucian Gibson) An alcoholic finds himself the prey of the residents of a border town, whose pastime is rounding up drifters and hunting them as part of an elaborate sporting event. It builds to a violent, vile, live-or-die showdown in the desert.

INDIANA (Dir: Toni Comas) A disillusioned paranormal investigator decides he no longer wants to partake in the business of removing unwanted spirits from people's homes. But his partner convinces him to take on one last case, far more troubling than anything they've ever worked on before and possibly the one that changes their lives forever...

THE LEGEND OF BOGGY CREEK (Dir: Charles B. Pierce). A special late night, 45th anniversary screening of the classic Bigfoot docudrama / horror movie. A drive-in classic in its day, this film remains not only terrifying but acts as a fascinating anthropological document, capturing the character and feel of Arkansas backwoods/swamp culture of the early 1970s.

NEIL STRYKER AND THE TYRANT OF TIME (Dir: Rob Taylor) In a madcap future era, the world's greatest secret agent must race through time to rescue his son from the clutches of his infamous former mentor.  And with STAR TREK's Walter Koenig on board, this film boldly goes to new comedic heights.

TONIGHT SHE COMES (Dir: Matt Stuertz) After a girl goes missing, two of her friends and a mysterious set of strangers find themselves drawn to the cabin where she disappeared. They will laugh, they will drink, they will kiss, they will have sex, and THEY ALL MUST DIE.

TRAIL TO TERROR (Dir: Dakota Laden) This jump-in-your-seat documentary is a real life horror film. The film's director takes his sister, and best friends on a five night journey to test the limits of their fear. This terrifyingly real experiment, and what the four friends experience is like nothing captured on film before.

VORE KING (Dir: Daniel Schneidkraut) This documentary is a detailed portrait of R.P. Whalen, world famous horror host, trash movie guru, carnival sideshow barker, and America’s premier purveyor of vorarephilia pornography. Vorarephilia, popularly known as “vore,” is a sexual fetish where arousal is brought about by the act of one creature consuming another creature, often manifested by monsters eating women. VORE KING features a rare glimpse into the production of a vore film and the mind of a magical (and volatile) super genius.

WE NEED YOU! VOLUNTEER FOR MIDWEST WEIRDFEST!

Love weird cinema? Think you're weird enough to join the MidWest WeirdFest team? If so, we'd love to hear from you! We're looking for dedicated volunteers for the inaugural festival, which runs March 3-5, at the Micon Downtown Cinema, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. 

If you're interested in helping at the fest, email: info@midwestweirdfest.com with "Weird Volunteer" in the subject line. Tell us a little bit about yourself, and we'll be in touch.

In the meantime, stay weird!