From Morbidly Beautiful: “On the third day of Christmas, Glass Eye Pix gave to me “Cavity”, a macabre metaphor for self destruction via the most unlikely of gateway drugs. The 2018 Creepy Christmas Film Fest from Beck Underwood and NYC-based production company Glass Eye Pix serves up a sinfully sweet treat for day three of the fest, with the deliciously dark and twisted “Cavity” by Glenn McQuaid.”
For more Holiday madness, go to CREEPYCHRISTMASFEST.COM
From Slash Film: This year, Glass Eye Pix and curator Beck Underwood have reanimated their “Creepy Christmas Film Festival” after a ten-year dormancy. The premise is simple. Underwood gathered a collective of ambitious genre filmmakers and asked them to create their own Christmas Horror themed short films. Every day until Christmas Day – we’re talking December 1st to 25th – a new Christmas horror short will premiere online as part of a digital advent calendar withholding cheery chaos (which you can find here). Bookmark it, check back during lunch or each morning or before bedtime, unwrap a new gift.
GEP pal Adam Schartoff of the Filwax Radio Podcast chats
with Creepy Christmas curator Beck Underwood
New interviews and exclusive photos busting out across the web with one day to go before
The Creepy Christmas Film Fest 2018 launches.
PASTE MAGAZINE: “Ten years ago, the joyful tidings of the holiday season were rent asunder by the arrival of an altogether more macabre December celebration: The Creepy Christmas Film Fest. The brainchild of filmmaker Beck Underwood and actor-director Larry Fessenden’s Glass Eye Pix studio, which has brought us the likes of The House of the Devil and Stake Land, it consisted of a digital advent calendar that once a day offered internet denizens a slew of new, original horror shorts.”
RUE MORGUE: “The festive fiends at Glass Eye Pix want you to have a scary Christmas all December long, so they’re launching a daily short-film showcase tomorrow, and they gave us some exclusive photos and words on the festival!”
Directed and written by Ana Asensio
At the outset, at least, there’s little about Ana Asensio’s directorial debut — which at first appears to be a poignant social drama about an undocumented immigrant — that suggests it might employ the conventions of horror to provide its epic punch. Based around the story of Luciana (played by Asensio herself, who has a background as an actor on Spanish television), the film tells of her increasing isolation as she struggles to make ends meet in her new life in New York City. Through her journey, the film reveals just how deep the cracks undocumented workers fall into can be, and the depravity of those willing to profit from their precarious position. Luciana’s vulnerability makes her easy to exploit, and she accepts a vague, mysterious job that finds her well out of her already tenuous comfort zone. It’s here that Asensio’s experience as a theatrical director comes to the fore with one of the most harrowing and immaculately executed horror scenes in recent years, in which the wealthy pay to watch desperate, beautiful women risk their lives for money in a series of staged Grand Guignol–esque “performances.” To give too much away would spoil the surprise, but Most Beautiful Island — like Get Out — demonstrates just how effective experimenting with definitions of genre can be. By tackling women’s experiences of immigration and exploitation, Asensio film is another indicator of what compelling, exciting things horror has to tell us in the future. —AHN
In 2008, filmmaker Beck Underwood and New York-based production company Glass Eye Pix created a digital advent calendar that offered genre fans a new Christmas-themed horror short every day, from Dec. 1 to Christmas Day. Titled The Creepy Christmas Film Festival, the calendar’s lineup included contributions from directors Mary Harron (American Psycho), Sara Driver (Permanent Vacation), Jim Mickle (Hap and Leonard), and Ti West (House of the Devil).
A decade on, Underwood and Glass Eye Pix are back to distribute more mayhem with a second Creepy Christmas Fest. Contributing directors this time around include Glass Eye Pix CEO Larry Fessenden (Habit), Jenn Wexler (The Ranger), Glenn McQuaid (I Sell the Dead), Graham Reznick (Shudder’s Deadwax), and Mickey Keating (Psychopaths).
“I hadn’t really thought about doing another fest,” Underwood tells EW. “It does seem the landscape of short content is much more cluttered than it was 10 years ago. Then one day I was talking with one of the newer Glass Eye collaborators, filmmaker Ben Duff, who was waxing poetic about how much he loved the original fest. So, almost on a whim, I said, ‘Let’s do it again and would you like to help curate?’ So off we went.
“We invited some of the alumni and a lot of new faces as well. I was quite touched when Mickey Keating replied to the invite with ‘I’ve been waiting to get this email since the first Creepy Christmas.’ When people agreed to participate we reached into our scruffy Santa hat and then pulled a card with a holiday-themed word. These words, like ‘gingerbread,’ ‘mistletoe,’ ‘Santa Claus,’ ‘elf,’ etc. became their prompt. There are not a lot of rules with Creepy Christmas and we don’t really produce or editorialize, we pretty much take them as they come in. I do ask they keep them between 30 seconds and six minutes, but even that rule is violated!
“The spirit of Creepy Christmas seems to shine most in some of the hodgepodge ways people end up making their movies, roping in family members and sometimes even jumping into a medium they always wanted to try, but you know, film business… For instance, Larry Fessenden, known for his dramatic, live-action movies, gets to play with his action figures and dip back into his original love of stop-motion, creating really wacky animated romps.”
SCREEN ANARCHY: “The holiday season is now in full swing and those fine folks with The Creepy Christmas Fest are back with another digital advent calendar. For the first twenty-five days of December a new digital Christmas-themed horror short will be unleashed daily. It is the perfect advent calendar for the horror film fan in your life!”
GHASTLY GRINNING: “Christmas. Although it’s a far cry from the general feeling evoked by Halloween, it seems to be the holiday mined the most for horror. Perhaps it’s because of all of the strange, global mythos on the holiday, it’s pagan roots, or the fact that elves, dolls, and even Santa himself are all just a little bit creepy. Whatever the case may be, you won’t find us complaining because it’s created some truly fantastic moments in film.”
From Rue Morgue: Described as a “digital advent calendar,” the Creepy Christmas Fest saw its first incarnation 10 years ago, spearheaded by filmmaker/animator Beck Underwood. It’s now back with a new round of haunting shorts (both live-action and animated), debuting daily starting this Saturday, December 1 and continuing through Christmas morning. The filmmakers include Glass Eye veterans such as company CEO Larry Fessenden (HABIT, WENDIGO, upcoming DEPRAVED), Jenn Wexler (THE RANGER), Glenn McQuaid (I SELL THE DEAD), Graham Reznick (I CAN SEE YOU, Shudder’s “Deadwax”), Mickey Keating (PSYCHOPATHS), Joe Maggio (BITTER FEAST), James McKenney (SATAN HATES YOU) and JT Petty (THE BURROWERS, HELLBENDERS), plus many others; see the full list at the festival’s official website.
A mid-western transgender woman struggles with the prospect of de-transitioning
under the pressures of her fundamentalist church, family and community.
The Films of Larry Fessenden: Vol 2
Wendigo & The Last Winter
The Films of Larry Fessenden: Vol 1
Habit & No Telling
The Innkeepers
Limited Edition Blu-Ray
The House Of The Devil
Collector Edition Blu-Ray
WENDIGO Figures
From Glass Eye Toyz
CRUMB CATCHER Blu-Ray
From Arrow Video
BLACKOUT BLU-RAY
From Dark Sky Selects
FOXHOLE BLU-RAY
From Vinegar Syndrome
9 Tales From Beyond The Pale
on Amazon!
THE LARRY FESSENDEN COLLECTION Blu-ray
on Amazon!
BENEATH Blu-ray & DVD
on Amazon!
