Movies
SDCC ’08: Halo-8 Entertainment’s Comic Con Happenings
Halo-8 Entertainment is heading to the sold-out San Diego Comic Con on Saturday July 26th with starlets Tiffany Shepis (“NIGHTMARE MAN”), Melissa Bacelar (“PINK EYE,” Lionsgate’s upcoming “SKINNED ALIVE”), Katie Nisa (“THREAT”), and Joanna Angel (TLC’s “L.A. INK,” “SICK & TWISTED HORROR”) to preview the studio’s most ambitious production yet: an interactive horror-comedy called “SLUMBER PARTY SLAUGHTERHOUSE: THE GAME,” created by award-winning filmmaker Matt Pizzolo (“THREAT,” upcoming graphic novel “GODKILLER”). Halo-8 has slated the film for a Halloween 2008 release. Read on for more info.
The innovative feature stars Shepis, Bacelar, Nisa, Angel, and Masuimi Max (“INLAND EMPIRE,” “THE DEVIL’S MUSE”) in a narrative, splatterpunk DVD-game with scenes written and directed by numerous filmmakers on the Halo-8 roster including Pizzolo, Angel, Doug Sakmann (“PUNK ROCK HOLOCAUST”), Joshua Nelson (“PINK EYE”), Ramzi Abed (“THE DEVIL’S MUSE”), Kurly Tlapoyawa (“GIMME SKELTER”), and Peter Hoare (“BEER THE MOVIE”).
“SLUMBER PARTY SLAUGHTERHOUSE: THE GAME is a unique and exciting Halloween treat developed especially for the rabid fans of Halo-8’s bold filmmakers and intriguing starlets,” said Todd Miller, Director of Operations for Halo-8. “Filmmaking has always been collaborative, but the interactive-movie Matt developed has taken that collaborative spirit to another level.”
“We wanted to put together a really fun and hare-brained Halloween treat for the fans,” said Matt Pizzolo. “The awesome thing about Halo-8 is that we’re all huge fans of one another… filming a game together gave all the directors and actors a chance to work together in a really cool and different way.”
In SLUMBER PARTY SLAUGHTERHOUSE: THE GAME, audiences get the chance to put their horror movie trivia skills to the test while also helping a recently deceased high school geek take revenge on his former friends. The story follows Paul Tard, a geek on the eve of his high school graduation. Paul’s friends are throwing a graduation party with hookers and drugs, but, when they come up one hooker short, Paul is uninvited to the party. Drowning his sorrows in wine stolen from a homeless man, Paul decides to take a bubble bath and bring along his laptop for some internet porn. Of course, the laptop falls in the bathtub and Paul electrocutes himself to death. None of this would have happened if he’d only been invited to the party, so Paul sells his soul to a demon in exchange for the power to take revenge on his former friends.
Structurally, SLUMBER PARTY SLAUGHTERHOUSE: THE GAME is a trivia challenge. Whenever Paul wants to kill one of his friends, the demon asks a horror movie trivia question and the film dissolves to a multiple choice menu. If the audience chooses the correct answer, Paul gets the power to kill his ex-friend (and the friend’s hooker, to tie up those pesky loose ends); but the wrong answer will send Paul to hell unavenged. Each “killscene” in the film is written and directed by a different Halo-8 filmmaker and stars actors from Halo-8 films.
Halo-8 Entertainment (www.halo8.tv) is devoted to supporting the unique visions of bold filmmakers by widely releasing daring films, alt-culture videos, and punk rock cinema. Recent releases include the controversial documentary YOUR MOMMY KILLS ANIMALS (which Variety called “a miraculously evenhanded treatment of a snarlingly divisive debate”), the award-winning hardcore-punk thriller THREAT (which Urb Magazine said “makes KIDS look like an after-school special”), and the legendary NY hardcore documentary N.Y.H.C. (which Cinematical called “smashing… a terrific, well-told, engaging story”). Upcoming releases include the Manson-inspired shocker GIMME SKELTER (which ScreamTV called “a low budget masterpiece”), the hard-edged slasher film PINK EYE (which Bloody Disgusting called “vicious and convincing… a lingering nightmare”), and the stylish & surreal horror film THE DEVIL’S MUSE (which Rue Morgue called “intoxicating and sensual”).
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
You must be logged in to post a comment.