DVD Review: NEW YORK CITY HORROR FILM FESTIVAL

I recently had the pleasure of watching Vanguard Cinema's NEW YORK CITY HORROR FILM FESTIVAL (NYCHFF) DVD. This DVD showcases 8 of the best short films from the NYCHFF. The short films contained on the DVD are:

PLASTICITY by Brian Forest
CUP-O-ABOMINATIONS by Ben Hillman
ENTRAPPED by Alan Smithee
NON-ABDUCTEES ANONYMOUS by Phillip Powell
SLASHER FLICK by Nick Basile
TOMORROW'S BACON by Bryon Norton
SUBWAY by James S. Murray
SCREAM FOR ME by Chris Broadstone

Bonus Features include an introduction by festival director Michael Hein, 2002 fest coverage, and the making of SUBWAY.

Now, based of the warning on the front of the box (WARNING! Contains scenes of extreme violence.....not for minors, the squeamish, or the faint at heart!), I was expecting some really crazy, gritty, stuff here. What I got were some short films that were actually all pretty tame, at least by today's standards. But, that being said, they were all still very enjoyable films, I just feel that warning tag line was very unnecessary and a little mis-leading.
The films themselves were all very well made. My favorite shorts were SLASHER FLICK and the more comedy than horror short, NON-ABDUCTEES ANONYMOUS. In fact, this DVD is worth a purchase for NON-ABDUCTEES ANONYMOUS alone! It tells the story of a group of people who are upset and very hurt by the fact that they have never been abducted by aliens! They wonder what is wrong with them and why the aliens have never chosen them. It is a great short with lots of laughs packed into its short run time. SLASHER FLICK is a great spoof of splatter flicks, poking fun at many of the splatter movie cliches we have come to expect from that type of film.
Most of the other features are more dialog driven, and not gore driven as that previously discussed tag line may lead you to believe, but each short is worth your time to check out.

CLICK HERE to purchase your own copy of the NYCHFF DVD from Amazon.com
CLICK HERE to visit the official website of VANGUARD CINEMA
CLICK HERE to visit the official website of the NYCHFF