Elisabeth Fies

By Lis Fies

I was handed this scrappy-looking DVD with a partial eyeroll and a shoulder shrug. Looking at the rinky-dink website with no salient journalism information (Photos? Runtime?) caused even less excitement. A sequel to 2007's "Caesar and Otto" (No? You haven't heard of it either?), Caesar and Otto's Summer Camp Massacre looked like it was going to be porn without the porn. Imagine my elation on discovering that writer/director/producer/star Dave Campfield is talented and well-versed in the language of film.

Featuring stories from by Paul Kane, Marie O'Regan, Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, Dave McKean, Mike Mignola, Kelley Armstrong, Barbie Wilde, Sarah Langan, Mick Garris, Steve Niles
Reviewed by Lis Fies

I do have something new to ask Mick and Cynthia Garris at horror functions. "Hi Mick and Cynthia. So Mick, when your washed-up British-director character was suspended in the air while mid-insertion into his cute female PA and the cenobites filmed them while they had their skin and bones ripped apart by machines, was that a metaphor for how you have no privacy? Mick? Where are you going? Can we watch?"...

Written and directed by Michael Dougherty
Featuring Anna Paquin, Tahmoh Penikett, Rochelle Aytes, Dylan Baker, Lauren Lee Smith, Quinn Lord, Brett Kelly, Moneca Delain, Isabelle Deluce, Leslie Bibb, Jean-Luc Bilodeau
Review by Lis Fies

Warner Brothers apparently had no idea what a rare and wonderful cash cow it had acquired in Trick r' Treat, and made the totally bone-headed decision of releasing this stellar movie straight to DVD instead of giving it what would have been a smashingly lucrative theatrical release supplanting tired warhorse SAW this Halloween season. Not that Hollywood is known for understanding or respecting thriller/horror material and its fans, but their throwaway treatment of Trick 'r Treat is shockingly dumb even for them...

Review by: Elisabeth Fies
Directed by: Jon Springer
Written by: Harrison Matthews, Jon Springer - Writer

Winner of the Atlanta Horror Fest's Buried Alive award last weekend, The Hagstone Demon showcases Mark Borchadt of American Movie infamy in a sometimes hilarious, always interesting low budget smashup mix of seminal favorites including Blue Velvet and Rosemary's Baby. Part noir, part horror, The Hagstone Demon had its audience laughing out loud at scenes both intentionally and unintentionally funny. With another dialogue pass or three on the screenplay and some more judicious editing, this film could have been a breakout hit.

At the 2009 La Femme Film Festival in Los Angeles, Elisabeth Fies' The Commune and Shannon Hile's The Intervention are two feature horror films at the La Femme Film Festival in Los Angeles, California Oct 15-18, 2009. They'll be joining the short thriller rePlay by Michaelin McDermott.

The Commune follows a teenager's unwilling descent into the insanity of her father's New Age commune, which culminates in terror. The Intervention is about a family seeking to rid their belowved Tom from his alcoholism, not knowing that he has far worse demons, literally, to get rid of first. Check out the trailers, then go see the films.

Elisabeth Fies's The Commune and Shannon Hile's The Intervention are two feature horror films at the La Femme Film Festival in Los Angeles, California Oct 15-18, 2009. They'll be joining the short thriller rePlay by Michaelin McDermott.

The Commune follows a teenager's unwilling descent into the insanity of her father's New Age commune, which culminates in terror. The Intervention is about a family seeking to rid their belowved Tom from his alcoholism, not knowing that he has far worse demons, literally, to get rid of first. Check out the trailers, then go see the films...

Written and directed by Elizabeth Fies
Produced by Heidi Hornbacher
Featuring Chauntal Lewis, David Lago, Stuart G. Bennett, Adrian Lee, Cindy Baer, Elisabeth Fies, Trevor Murphy
2009 www.thecommunemovie.com

Often, the most frightening horror films are made by women not intending to make horror movies at all - In My Skin, Urban Ghost Story, and Baise Moi are all examples of female filmmaking that take a terrifying turn into horror when the filmmakers may have least expected it. The Commune is one such film. Skipping all the bullshit and going straight for the visceral purity of true horror, director Elizabeth Fies weaves a dark Alice in Wonderland story with dangerous sexual perversion and exploration, tense realism and Arthurian subtexts...