Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Heavy hitting horror

Horror film aficionados consider this fair warning — you have until mid-October to prepare your submissions for the seventh annual B-Grade Horror Fest.

Horror film aficionados consider this fair warning — you have until mid-October to prepare your submissions for the seventh annual B-Grade Horror Fest.

Lovingly organized by Heavy Hitting Films, the producers that brought you the popular underground ski movie, Parental Advisory, Volume 1, this year’s Horror Fest will again showcase local, independently produced short horror films.

“Last year was amazing,” said Feet Banks, co-owner of Heavy Hitting. “All the movies ruled, each year the filmmaking talent pool gets deeper. This event is about getting out here with your friends, covering them in blood, and having fun.”

B-grade horror flicks originated in the late 1950s and were popular through to the 1960s, when independent filmmakers produced double-bills on the cheap, featuring stunning poster art and catchy titles, like Devil Girl From Mars and Door to Door Maniac .

Now, Heavy Hitting producers are looking for creative locals to get gory and prepare their submissions for the Oct. 15 deadline. The festival itself will be held the night before Halloween at MY Millennium Place. The winning submission will take home the coveted chrome skull trophy and a cash prize.

“What we’re hoping for once more is budget B-grade horror movies, not Hollywood Academy Award winners with cookie-cutter sentimentality forced in,” said Banks. “I’m talking zombies and aliens, monsters and murderers, blood, guts, token nudity, whatever. Anything goes, just make it scary, gory, funny, short and just give’r. We’re accepting trailers for movies as well, if people have a hard time getting a whole movie done.”

For more information or submission guidelines, contact feet@heavyhitting.com or call 604-902-2666.

 

Children’s Festival gets gold star

 

After 25 years, the Whistler Children’s Festival is still going strong.

The long-running annual event, organized by the Whistler Arts Council (WAC) and held last weekend, attracted almost 3,800 visitors — an increase of almost 1,000 people — during the two-day extravaganza. Half of the art workshops were sold-out before the festival even started, thanks to enthusiastic pre-registration numbers, with returning workshops like the Bear Paw Print T-Shirts and Fairy Houses topping the wish lists of most children.

Under sunny summer skies, kids of all ages and their patient parents were treated to art workshops and song and dance performances by groups like Chris Hamilton and the Sticky Jam Band, and the fire juggling feats of the Inner Ring Circus. Bobs & Lolo drew a large crowd of diehard fans from the Lower Mainland, who had been lucky enough to catch their regular show at the Vancouver Aquarium. Circus Fungus characters roved throughout the grounds, wowing tots with their crazy get-ups and personalities.

According to WAC survey results, an increased number of national and international visitors attended this year’s event, with a higher number of families from the Lower Mainland coming to Whistler specifically to attend the festival.

WAC organizers attribute the success of the 25 th Children’s Art Festival to the efforts of their enthusiastic volunteers. They are looking forward to an even bigger and better festival next year, thanks to increased funding from the federal government through Whistler’s designation as a Cultural Capital of Canada.

 

Blind Mute presents…

 

To celebrate their second year of creative artistic exhibitions in the Sea to Sky corridor, Blind Mute Productions is hosting the Circusbilly Freakout and Art Extravaganza this weekend.

A throwback to their first themed art event, held last year, this show will feature circus-themed, sideshow style artwork by artists from throughout the region, like Scott Johnson, Arne Guttman, Dave “Pepe” Petko and Nicole Stein, to name a few.

DJ Buddha and Sean Rose are on-board for the musical component of the evening, while a body suspension performer provides some appropriate entertainment that’s sure to raise a few eyebrows.

The show will be held at 1375 Alpha Lake Road on Saturday, July 19 at 9 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door.

 

Great films in the great outdoors

 

LUNAFLIKS presents their second film screening of the summer this Wednesday, at a new location. Rather than holding the event at Lost Lake Park, the event will be held at Rebagliati Park.

Paprika, a film based on the novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui, is a “mind-twisting” futuristic anime flick that tells the story of a revolutionary new psychotherapy device that can enter people’s dreams and explore their unconscious thoughts. But before the government passes a bill authorizing the use of the technology, the prototype is stolen. In the wrong hands, this device could be used to destroy a dreamer’s personality while they sleep.

The film won top honours for visual design at the 2008 Choltrudis Awards, the 2007 Newport Beach Film Festival Feature Film Award for Animation, and the 2006 Montreal Festival of New Cinema Public’s Choice Award.

DJ Select-R-Us will provide musical entertainment, and a short film, entitled Why the Anderson Children Didn’t Come to Dinner, will be screened before the feature film.

Gates open at 8:30 p.m., and the screening begins at sundown. Admission is $7.

 

Out of town gig

 

Fans of Michael Franti and Spearhead may want to check out the musical stylings of Blue King Brown. This talented group just wrapped up a tour supporting Santana. A serious roots band from Down Under, the group will be performing in Vancouver before they come to Whistler on Sunday, Aug. 10 to perform as part of the Crankworx entertainment lineup.

If you’re looking to get out of town and catch a show in the city, head to the Media Club on Thursday, Aug. 7. Or, wait a few days and the show will come to you!