New 8 Films To Die For Horrorfest entries and short film contest

Dread Central has teamed with After Dark Films for the 8 Shorts to Die For contest, which will run through December 15th, 2008. Filmmakers are invited to submit their own short horror films, no longer than 3 minutes in length, during that time frame. Then, on December 15th, 2008, submissions will close and the voting shall begin.

For more details visit www.dreadcentral.com/page/8-shorts-die-for-contest.

After Dark Films also recently announced additions to the next addition of it’s national horror film festival Horrorfest, which will oddly take place in January, from the 9th through the 15th, 2009. So no Horrorfest for Halloween 2008, which has its mainstay time slot for the past few years. But hopefully a great one to come on early 2009.

Below are the details on the new films that will be screened during the festival.

Autopsy

Cast: Robert Patrick, Jessica Lowndes, Jenette Goldstein, Michael Bowen, Ross McCall

Director: Adam Gierasch

Writers: Jace Anderson, Adam Gierasch, E.L. Katz

Synopsis
It’s the middle of the night. You’re driving on a lonely road. Suddenly, out of nowhere, another car hits you. When you wake up there’s shattered glass all over the pavement, your friends are injured, and the other car is gone. You’re disoriented, hurting… but when you see the ambulance’s flashing red and blue lights, you know help has arrived. Emily Johnson, her boyfriend Bobby and their friends Clare and Jude are recent college grads driving cross-country, taking a last vacation together before they face the “real” world. An accident leaves them hurt and stranded on a lonely Louisiana road. When the ambulance arrives, it whisks them to Charity Hospital. With a minimal staff and many of its floors empty, the hospital is an eerie place… but that’s only the beginning. The staff is conducting inhuman experiments on helpless patients under the instruction of Dr. Benway, a direct descendant of the infamous New Orleans family that committed atrocities in the 19th centu ry. Combining the tension and scares of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre with the grisly realism of Saw and Hostel, Autopsy explores some of our deepest fears.

CLICK HERE to watch the trailer for Autopsy.

Dying Breed

Cast: Nathan Phillips, Leigh Whannell, Bille Brown, Mirrah Foulkes, Melanie Vallejo, Ken Radley, Elaine Hudson, Sheridan Harvey

Director: Jody Dwyer

Writers: Michael Boughen, Rod Morris

Synopsis
Dying Breed interweaves the two most fascinating icons of Tasmanian history: the extinct Tasmanian tiger and “The Pieman” (aka Alexander Pearce) who was hanged for cannibalism in 1824. Against all odds, Pearce escaped from the most feared penal settlement of the British Empire – Sarah Island – and disappeared into the impenetrable forests of Western Tasmania. Seven convicts escaped with him, yet Pearce was the only one that emerged… along with chunks of human flesh in his pockets. The legend of Pearce was born. An extinct species… a long forgotten legend… both had a desperate need to survive; both could now have living descendants within the Tasmanian bush. Many sightings of the tiger have been reported. Many hikers have gone missing. Hundreds in fact. Zoologist Nina is convinced there are still tigers remaining in the Tasmanian wilderness, and she has proof – a photograph of a paw print snapped by her sister just before she met with a fatal accident in the bu sh eight years before. Unable to attain funding for an expedition, Nina fears her wish to finish her sister’s work (and perhaps lay to rest recurrent nightmares she has about her sister’s death) will never happen. Her partner, Matt, manages to persuade an old mate Jack to help finance the trip – at a price. Jack brings along a girlfriend, Rebecca, who uses the trip as an escape from her stifling real estate job. On their quest to find the extinct tiger, the group venture deep into isolated territory and into the domain of “Pieman” descendants. “Sarah” is a small township that passionately upholds its cannibalistic heritage in honour of the convict patriarch that gave birth to it. It needs to stay hidden to survive… but it also needs fresh “stock” to breed. The four hunters become the hunted.

The other films already announced for the festival include The Broken, Slaughter, Perkins 14, Butterfly Effect: Revelation and From Within. Another film is yet to be announced.

Get more info on the fest at www.horrorfestonline.com.

Below are trailers for some of the other films that will be screened during the festival.