Editorials
‘Camera Obscura’s’ Aaron B. Koontz’s Top Austin-based Horror Directors
“Austin has such a robust, ingrained filmmaking community that, when combined with SXSW, Fantastic Fest and the Alamo Drafthouse, was the driving factor for me relocating here back in 2011,” Aaron B. Koontz tell us during a chat about his Camera Obscura in theaters on June 9th and on VOD and Digital HD on June 13th. “I wanted to get my feet wet in a smaller community before the inevitable L.A. move and Austin has proven to be a perfect place for that endeavor. So much so, that it gets harder and harder to picture ever leaving here.
“Most when thinking of Austin Filmmakers immediately go to the usual suspects of Robert Rodriguez, Richard Linklater, Terrance Malick and David Gordon Green, and for good measure,” he explained before reciting his personal favorites, adding, “But they also have inspired an entirely new generation of Directors that I have looked up to since my Texas arrival that includes Kat Candler, David Zellner, Jeff Nichols and Andrew Bujalski. I though, want to highlight another sub-sect here, the Austin Genre filmmaker. Almost two years ago I started a small support group, an AA for filmmakers really, that was focused on Genre Directors in Austin. Since that time members of that group have gone on to create some of the most dynamic Horror and Genre products in recent memory. Four of the names on my list, come from that group.
“In no particular order, here are my top 5 Austin-based horror filmmakers:”
Benjamin Moody – Ben got started editing for GameTrailers.com and went on to do a number of short film spoofs of popular games like “Skyrim” and “Mass Effect”. In 2015 Ben and his Producer/Wife, Rachel Moody, embarked on a low-budget, character-study slasher, Last Girl Standing (available on VOD). Which might seem like an odd pairing but when you see how beautifully Ben pulls this off, it quickly is evident the talent we are working with here. I am stoked to say that I will be working with Ben on his next project as well, a Martial Arts Survival Horror film called Bar Fight that is going to really show the world how talented this Moody couple is.
Chris McInroy – As a UT grad, Chris has been making various short films and commercial products since 2002. Over the past 3 years though, Chris has separated himself from the field Writing and Directing two of the best Horror-Comedy shorts in the country: 2014’s Bad Guy #2 and 2016’s Death Metal, which went on to play at over 100 festivals worldwide including Fantasia, Fantastic Fest and Sitges. Chris is currently in post for his most ambitious and bloodiest short yet, We Summoned a Demon which should hit festivals this fall.
Steven DeGennaro – A veteran in the Austin Filmmaking scene, Steven was best known as the go to Sound Mixer for various commercial, short and feature productions. But in 2014 he set out to make his feature Directorial debut, the ambitious Meta Horror-Comedy Found Footage 3D and since their premiere at Bruce Campbell’s Horror Fest (where they won the Jury Award), everyone has been talking about, and rightfully so, this absolute gem of a film. Details on distribution are not known at this time but this will surely make its way to you, and soon, so be on the lookout.
Phillip Guzman – As a photographer and filmmaker, Phillip has made a name for himself in Central Texas as a fearless and creative Director, willing to tackle interesting and complex subject matters. His most recent Directing effort was no different with the creepy, atmospheric Horror/Thriller Dead Awake (now on VOD), written by Final Destination creator Jeffrey Reddick, featuring genre icons like Jocelyn Donahue and Brea Grant. His next project, a Horror feature about a sleep deprivation study gone wrong, 200 Hours, is currently in post-production and prepping a festival run.
Owen Edgerton – Owen is Austin royalty for many of us here. He is a renowned author, with a recent Horror screenplay of his making the coveted Blood List. A comedian, commonly working with the comedy troupe Master Pancake which is the Alamo Drafthouse’s version of Mystery Science Theater 3k, Owen can be commonly seen hosting the now legendary Debates for the annual Genre bash, Fantastic Fest, which if you are not familiar with, I encourage you to come visit us this September for a taste of this weird greatness. I though want to highlight Owen’s feature Directorial Debut, the moody, psychological body-horror film Follow starring Noah Segan. This is one of those overlooked gems that I think deserves more love.
Bonus Pick: Jeff Ray – Although it may be a stretch to call the beautiful works of this soon to be household name “Horror”, there are sensibilities to Jeff’s style that scream genre. Whether it was his shocking, survival-story viral video for Sigur Ros or his gritty, noir short Where the Red Fox Lies, you can see the inspiration here that is part Jeff Nichols and part John Carpenter. Currently, Jeff is in the final stages of a feature length script for his aforementioned short, about a tormented young woman suffering from spontaneous combustion, which I will be Producing.
Sigur Ros Video:
Chiller Films will the release Camera Obscura in theaters on June 9th and on VOD and Digital HD on June 13th, Bloody Disgusting learned. We’ve been provided with an exclusive new clip from the film that marks the theatrical directing debut Aaron B. Koontz. In it, some tooth pain turns into horror as a man begins to lose all of his teeth. Next to spiders, this is my worst nightmare…
In ‘Camera Obscura’, a veteran war photographer with PTSD sees imminent deaths in his developed photos, questioning his already fragile sanity and putting the lives of those he loves in danger.
The cast includes Christopher Denham (Billions, Argo), Nadja Bobyleva (Bridge of Spies), Catherine Curtin (Stranger Things, Orange is the New Black), Chase Williamson (SiREN, Beyond the Gates) and Noah Segan (The Mind’s Eye, Tales of Halloween).
Camera Obscura is produced by Aaron B. Koontz, Andrew van den Houten (All Cheerleaders Die, The Woman) and Amir Zbeda (Area 51, Paranormal Activity) and is executive produced by Justin Smith (SIREN, The Boy).
From child-eating witches to village-burning dragons, fairy tales have always had a foot in the horror genre. That’s why it makes sense that, for every The Hobbit and The Chronicles of Narnia, there are also darker and more adult-oriented stories about magical worlds inhabited by ravenous monsters and cruel villains.
Funnily enough, these sinister tales were precisely the ones that I gravitated towards back when I was a kid, and I was reminded of this while watching Netflix’s recently released I Am Frankelda, Mexico’s first ever feature-length stop-motion animation and one hell of an entertaining parable about the intersection between fiction and reality.
In honor of this special kind of horror-adjacent fairy tale, today I’d like to share this list recommending six Dark Fantasy films that horror fans might enjoy.
For the purposes of this list, we’ll be defining Dark Fantasy as fantastical stories that don’t shy away from the more macabre elements that fuel classic fairy tales. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own grim favorites if you think we missed a particularly thrilling one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
6. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)
I’m fascinated by bizarre attempts at blockbuster filmmaking – especially when the resulting movies are somehow still fun despite their corporate-mandated origins. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is precisely one of these strangely compelling studio projects, as this surprisingly successful action-thriller boasts a lot of heart (and tongue-in-cheek humor) for a CGI-heavy creature feature.
Directed by Dead Snow’s Tommy Wirkola, Witch Hunters re-frames the classic fairy tale as an origin story for a duo of badass monster-slayers. Of course, it’s the flick’s anachronistic aesthetic and overall visual flair that make it stand out from other action-horror endeavors from around the same time.
5. The Wolf House (2018)
Made in the tradition of faux cursed films in the same vein as Antrum: The Deadliest Film Ever Made, the eerie backstory to 2018’s Chilean animated flick The Wolf House (La Casa Lobo in the original Spanish) already makes it a nightmarish experience before the flick even really begins.
After all, the movie is presented to us as a faux propaganda film produced by the leader of a death cult (heavily inspired by the real life Colonia Dignidad), with this hybrid animated feature using complex movie magic to simulate a single uninterrupted shot as it tells the story of a lazy young girl who runs away from an isolated colony and encounters a creepy old house in the woods.
4. The Brothers Grimm (2005)
Out of all the Monty Python alumni, Terry Gilliam has had the most interesting career outside of the original comedy group. From fascinating canceled projects (such as his scrapped adaptation of Watchmen) to dystopian parodies that feel more relevant by the minute (1985’s Brazil), even his “lesser” films are still intriguing in their own way.
2005’s The Brothers Grimm is one such project, with this peculiar movie attempting to combine the comedian-turned-filmmaker’s unique visual style with a more blockbuster-oriented plot reimagining the titular brothers as con-artists rather than mere writers. The end result isn’t exactly a masterpiece, but it’s still a legitimately fun ride with plenty of memorable monsters and wonderful performances by both the late, great Heath Ledger and Matt Damon.
3. Dante’s Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
2010’s Dante’s Inferno game may have a reputation as something of an unapologetic God of War clone, but I’d argue that the now-obscure game was aesthetically unique enough to deserve a bigger fanbase. However, while the title remains trapped on the seventh console generation, its highly underrated anime adaptation is a lot easier to get a hold of!
Animated by 6 different studios in order to make the 9 circles of hell feel unique from each other, this may not be a completely faithful adaptation of Dante Alighieri’s poem, but it’s still one heck of a great (not to mention gory) time that I’d highly recommend to fans of Netflix’s take on Castlevania.
2. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009)
My personal favorite entry in the Underworld franchise, Rise of the Lycans, is a highly ambitious prequel that actually works better if you haven’t had the story spoiled to you by the previous Underworld films.
While the rest of the series features plenty of urban fantasy elements as the movies combine machine guns and modern environments with gothic storytelling, Patrick Tatopoulos’ prequel fully embraces its fantastical origins and tells a classic tale about a doomed romance between a werewolf and a vampire amid a medieval uprising.
And the best part is that we get a lot more Michael Sheen as the fan-favorite Lucian.
1. Solomon Kane (2011)
One of my personal favorite movies on this list, MJ Basset’s criminally underseen adaptation of Robert E. Howard’s other iconic warrior is thoroughly steeped in horror ambience and features plenty of memorable monsters. However, it’s also a classic origin story for a swashbuckling hero that wouldn’t feel out of place in a tabletop RPG.
While I’ve already written about how the film deftly combines both horror and fantasy elements without breaking the bank, I’ll never pass up an opportunity to recommend the bizarre movie where James Purefoy expertly plays a puritan John Wick.
It’s just too bad that we never got the other films in this intended trilogy.
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