UFF666: A Final Fest Roundup – The Best of the Rest
Before we dive into a few short films, a couple long form shorts, and one final feature, wrapping up our UFF666 coverage, let’s recap what we’ve covered so far…
The aptly named Everybody Dies by the End
The film Deadstream wishes it was, #chadgetstheaxe
The polished, refined, and truly harrowing The Gulf of Silence
The ingenius faux-film-commentary of Razzennest
The Onion‘s own 2012 reality spoof Sex House
The Lord of the Flies flavored Tontine
Invoking Yell
Set in 1997 South of Chile, a trio of metalhead twenty something girls venture into the woods to shoot their demo tape for their black metal band, Invoking Yell, while also documenting the eerie and unsettling process of recording psicofonias in the woods for the final track.
What black metal story would be complete without death, the occult, and carnage, right? Well, not this one, that’s for sure. While the film starts off slowly and takes a bit to ramp up, the build works and the ending delivers. Good use of the found footage conceit, we get the unique experience of hanging out with an all female black metal contingent as they hang in the woods summoning demons, acting like young kids, and taking ominous polaroid photos. This, our final feature being covered from this year’s incredible lineup, is a fantastic addition to the metal horror subgenre.
Content: The Lo-Fi Man
“Filmmaker” Brian Lonano tries to talk about a beloved cult film. What happens next will shock you!
This film starts as a documentary about a beloved cult film, then turns into a youtube video until it escapes into a dystopian sci-fi adventure, upon which it transforms into a body horror film resulting in a kaiju battle finale.
Content comes from the brilliant minds of Brian Lonano and Blake Myers. You may know Brian as the director Gwilliam, the absurd gross-out horror short that made my wife throw up. You may know Blake from the art department of your favorite horror shows (including The Walking Dead and Creepshow) and movies (such as VHS Viral and The Collection) or as the producer of countless brilliant genre shorts.
This 15 minute short is extremely witty and extremely fun, with the great effects that Brian has become known for and Blake has been helping create on countless sets for years and years. One of the highlights of the entire festival, expect this brilliant short film to make an appearance at this site’s very own film festival – Skate or Die – as it’s a real gem by a duo of great, talented filmmakers and a fun cast.
Aunt Linda
A boy hides in the back of his mother’s car and films an unwanted hitchhiker’s torturous occupation.
It’s best to say little else about this comedic horror short, as it’s essentially just one gag – a pretty damn funny and fun one at that. Filmmaker Jason Carl Kluytman took a funny concept and made it happen, nothing more, nothing less. Here’s hoping to more to come from the young director.
Digital Video Editing with Adobe Premiere Pro: The Real-World Guide to Set Up and Workflow
The screen shows a scene from an average romance film that can be everywhere. For all the good cuts, a ghost shows up. The scared director asks for help from the “King of Editing” only to find that the ghost is not the only problem in the movie.
Among the best films about filmmaking I’ve seen in awhile. Behind this fun horror comedy, there is a ton of witty commentary on the relationship of a filmmaker with their editor and the editing process. That said, it’s fully able to be appreciated on the surface level as a light and quippy horror comedy. A longer form short film, it clocks in at 40 minutes… but it’s well worth a watch or three.
The list of fantastic features and shorts that played at this year’s Unnamed Footage Festival is lengthy, lengthier than ever before. With the best attendance of the fest’s history and the biggest, most impressive lineup to date. These are but a sample of what UFF666 had in store for festgoers this in 2023. But stay tuned for more!
Full information on the festival can be found at unnamedfootagefestival.com. Can’t wait to be back covering the festival’s 7th season next year. Viva la found footage!
