Watch This Movie: OTIS

I'm an acclaimed feature writer/director in Hollywood who has studied over 6,000 films. Since 2007, millions of Netflix members have ranked me as a Top 10 reviewer. Here is a movie I think is worth your time and money, and will enrich your life.

- Elisabeth Fies

OTIS
(2008) minutes
Genres: Family, Comedy, Horror, Thriller, Satire, Family, Gender Issues
Feels: Funny, Empowering
Directed by: Tony Krantz
Written by: Erik Jendresen, Thomas Schauz
Starring: Bostin Christopher, Ashley Johnson, Daniel Stern, Illeana Douglas, and Kevin Pollack

LOGLINE: When their bright daughter is kidnapped by a loser serial killer, a dysfunctional family pulls together to bring her home and avenge her honor, American-style.

REVIEW: 4.5 out of 5 stars. Watch it now!

Sooooo funny. Has a terrific horror-comedy tone, which I didn't not realize from the main poster and trailer (I much prefer the ones I've posted here, though the trailer still doesn't capture OTIS's excellent mood). Guess I should have paid more attention to the cast, as Illeana Douglas and Kevin Pollack are their usual badass selves. All the actors are top notch including the wonderful Ashley Johnson who makes mincemeat of the prototypical victim role.

The screenplay is brilliant. I'm incredibly proud to report that this is not another torture porn against teen girls, but rather a dysfunctional family comedy about a smart teen who gets kidnapped, and what the family does to the serial killer (yes, with a lot of blood). Just typing that description makes me want to go watch the movie again. Director Tony Krantz knocks this one out of the park. Add it to the top of your queue!

Watch on AMAZON INSTANT
Rent DVD from NETFLIX
Watch the TRAILER

Bzzzline.com interviews Drew Daywalt and Marichelle Daywalt at BleedFest

Bzzzline.com comes through for BleedFest Film Festival Group filmmakers yet again with this wonderful article on BleedFest Award Winners Drew Daywalt (April 2011 Partnership Award)and Marichelle Daywalt (MOCKINGBIRD, THE MANY DOORS OF ALBERT WHALE).

Great interviews with the unstoppable husband/wife team on our red carpet, and it's all just in time to celebrate Drew's amazing directorial debut on MTV comedy-horror series sensation DEATH VALLEY!

Thanks so much Alisha Rayne and Bzzzline Team! We love you and all you do for our Bleeders! Congrats Daywalts!

Scrutinize - a new Fies Sisters short covered by Chuck Norris Ate My Baby

With one of the most badass titles on the web, Matt at Chuck Norris Ate My Baby is a writer we have long admired for his terrific coverage and analysis of all things genre. Matt writes with eloquence and humor about the old and the new, the big and the indie, and is always entertaining. Check out this gem he unearthed: How VCRs Destroyed America's Youth

The Fies Sisters are honored to have our first YouTube release SCRUTINIZE covered by the man, the legend, the Chuck-tamer himself. Who wouldn't feel thrilled to hear this about their work:

"But what I think I dig the most about Scrutinize is the idea itself and how it's executed. It grabs your attention and keeps you wondering where it might go, only to have a genuinely smart and very fun reveal in the end."

Check out the awesome article here! Become a member of Matt's blog. The Fies Sisters highly recommend it because Chucktober is coming!

A great horror night in San Diego!

Brought to you by our good friend Miguel Rodriguez, founder of Horrible Imaginings Film Festival and the man behind Monster Island Podcast!

Night of the Hell Hamsters

Another brilliant short you can watch free online. Funny, but definitely horror from a gifted filmmaker.

Massively thrilled to be planning for Women in Horror Month!!!

Because February is right around the corner, it's time for female genre filmmakers and the men who love them to go from a whisper to a scream. WE EXIST!!!!

October Herror Fest: Directress #8

It's October, which of course means there are no women who make horror films. So here's a feature by another director who doesn't exist:

Marion Kerr

Already a working actress/producer/writer, Marion Kerr added feature film director to her resume this year with her debut film GOLDEN EARRINGS. The intimate thriller made its world premier at my alma mater DANCES WITH FILM FESTIVAL (don't they have good taste?) and played last weekend at my friend and sometimes producing partner Jed Hammel's brand new festival FILMSHIFT in Boston.

GOLDEN EARRINGS also played Big Bear Lake International Festival, and won Best Horror Feature at IndieFest!

Where it DIDN'T play was at Shriekfest, Screamfest, Fantasticfest, Toronto After Dark, and all the other genre festivals that continue to assert there aren't great horror movies by female writers/directors.

But their loss is our gain. You can watch GOLDEN EARRINGS right now on my distributor's site INDIEFLIX.com for $4.95. Or you can buy the DVD through their site for $14.99...it comes with lots of goodies!





And my good friend and indie film supporter Nic Baisley at FILM SNOBBERY has a great video interview with Marion here.

October Herror Fest: Directress #7

It's October, which of course means there are no women who make horror films. So here's a feature by another director who doesn't exist:

Aya Tanimura

You supporters are really digging the directors who have work available to see online, so here is Aya's 2010 short U-2074. Shot for $1500 in four days, U-2074 is a creepy installment for our October Herror Fest month. The dialogue was all a requirement of the Philip;s Parallel Line contest, but look at those Canon 5D visuals and the wonderful tension Aya creates! Her photography background is evident.

Aya's resume includes directing a documentary feature for Bill and Melinda Gates and being a top 5 contender in a different contest (Peter Jackson's YOUR BIG BREAK; follow the link to see that short). I'm sure we'll be hearing more from Aya soon...and hopefully in our favorite genre.

Also of note is U-2074 female Director of Photography Polly Morgan. Hollywood hires even less woman cinematographers than it does directors (I believe the percentage is around 3%)...so check out her beautiful portfolio here.

A big shout out to first-time horror screenwriter Julia Camara, whom I met five years ago in UCLA screenwriting. Julia wrote and directed the award winning short comedy NEVER ODD OR EVEN.

She also wrote a sci-fi feature film AREA Q which stars Isaiah Washington. I discovered U-2074 yesterday at LADY FILMMAKERS film festival because Julia's SCREAM MACHINE was there (A short her husband Tim Aldridge directed from her script). A Tabloid Witch award-winning short, SCREAM MACHINE is just beginning its festival run and is not available online yet.

You can read Julia Camara's fictional story JAIL BIRD online at Freight Train Magazine.

If you're here cuz you're a BITCH...

Welcome! Good to meet lovers of horror and women!

I feel so happy and grateful to be featured in lovely Hannah Neurotica's BITCH magazine piece on lady horror directors. And check out my good friends The Soska Sisters for their awesome blogpost about BITCH and Hannah!

October Herror Fest: Directress #6

It's October, which of course means there are no women who make horror films. So here's a feature by another director who doesn't exist:

Elizabeth Schieffer

Schieffer has pulled off a coup that is all too rare for female directors of any genre...she has won a studio-sponsored short film contest. Universal Studios (who should know a thing or two about horror) has awarded her short JASPER its top honors for Halloween Horror Night. And the prize package also gets her short seen on the not overly friendly to female filmmakers SyFy.com and Chiller TV. Three birds with one ricocheting stone!

Actually, don't get too excited about ladies taking over Hollywood just yet...the Hollywood judges picked the top ten and then online voters picked Elizabeth as the deserving winner (Viva the democratization of filmmaking and filmmgoing!).

Unlike all the seasons of PROJECT GREENLIGHT and those other horrible industry contests that were milquetoast showcases for interchangeable frat boys, we get to enjoy Ms. Schieffer's challenging and inspiring short online right now...and we better get to cheer her on to at least a few Hollywood meetings. Perhaps if the suits actually watch Beth's smart, funny, stereotype-bending work they'll know not to judge a dame by her gender.

The Dallas Observer's coverage of the win.
The official press release from Universal.

And for your viewing enjoyment, below is the entire three minute award-winning short JASPER...directed, produced, and special fx-ed by Elizabeth Schieffer:

October Herror Fest Directress #5

It's October, which of course means there are no women who make horror films. So here's a feature by another director who doesn't exist:

Barbara Stepansky

A student Emmy winner for her brilliant short thesis film THE TROJAN COW, Stepansky is a writer/director/producer with a film masters from both AFI and USC. She cut her teeth on Christopher Nolan's no budget first feature FOLLOWING, and has come to the horror world via her skill at building suspense scenes. Barbara's seven figure feature directorial debut HURT is a for hire project that drips with atmosphere and pathos, and makes her one of a handful of women currently hired to helm horror projects over the million dollar mark.

While waiting for funding for her next for hire feature HYSTERIA, Stepansky made the no budget ghost story FUGUE, an intimate interstices of drama/thriller/horror mores that was so personal it was shot in her own home. FUGUE is currently on the festival circuit; you can check for upcoming screenings here. And expect one of them to be soon at my very own BLEEDFEST in Los Angeles, where I'll also be showcasing her amazingly taut retro thriller ROAD RAGE (Full disclosure: I'm a producer on RR...I can't help it if I have mothereffing talented friends).

"I have a hard time categorizing women in horror vs women in the film industry because I don’t really see that women directors in general get the proper recognition. The numbers of theatrically released films made by women hasn’t really risen throughout the years, and there’s only a handful of female directors tackling action or horror movies on a larger scale. Even though women have started to run studios and huge productions, this didn’t necessarily translate into hiring more women directors. I find the numbers out there quite discouraging but that definitely won’t keep me from continuing making movies." -Barbara Stepansky

Here is a recent interview with Barbara conducted by stalwart indie supporters Rogue Magazine.
Heidi Martinuzzi's FanGirltastic site has a new review of Fugue.

Rental Suggestion: HURT

October Herror Fest: Directress #4

It's October, which of course means there are no women who make horror films. So here's a feature by another director who doesn't exist:

Stephanie Rothman

Considered the first lady of Exploitation Flicks of the 60s and 70s, Rothman was a writer/producer and director on classic B movie features like TERMINAL ISLAND, BEYOND ATLANTIS, THE VELVET VAMPIRE, and BLOOD BATH. A retrospective of her work in Vienna in 2005 credits her as “one of the most headstrong and interesting women of American cinema of the 1960s and 70s.”

Stephanie Rothman was the first female to be given a Directors Guild of America fellowship, and credits boss Roger Corman as the only mentor she ever had. She is also a feminist an academic, and a thoughtful public speaker.

"I was never happy making exploitation films. I did it because it was the only way I could work. With all the options that exist today, if I were beginning my career as a filmmaker, I would not choose to make exploitation films."

Here is a fascinating Interview With Stepahanie conducted by legendary media theorist Henry Jenkins.

Rental Suggestion: THE VELVET VAMPIRE

October Herror Fest: Directress #3

It's October, which of course means there are no women who make horror films. So here's a feature by another director who doesn't exist:

Jackie Kong

Writer/director/producer of 80s exploitation/horror features THE BEING, NIGHT PATROL, and BLOOD DINER.

"I try never to insult my audience. That's my number one goal. I try to treat my audience as though they're very smart and will know my next move unless I'm clever enough to surprise them."- Jackie Kong

Rental Suggestion: BLOOD DINER

Here is a clip from BLOOD DINER:


Thank you to Hart Fisher, the mastermind behind TV show AMERICAN HORRORS for the suggestion of Jackie Kong! Readers, keep those suggestions coming to me...

October Herror Fest: Directress #2

It's October, which of course means there are no women who make horror films. So here's a feature by another director who doesn't exist:

Rachel Talalay

Writer/Director of the funny and gross FREDDY'S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE.

After Freddy, Rachel directed GHOST IN THE MACHINE and TANK GIRL. Now she works in TV and has directed episodes of THE DEAD ZONE, WITHOUT A TRACE, and MASTERPIECE THEATRE. She also has writing and producing credits on many of these projects.

"The other day I was discussing with my man whether it was a mistake to go the humorous, tongue-in-cheek route with Freddy. I wondered if we should have gone full-on horror. He reminded me that at the time it was the right decision. We were burned out on ideas, on scripts, and horror was predictable. We were looking for something to make it different."

- Rachel Talalay

Here's a terrific interview with Rachel.

Rental Suggestion: FREDDY'S DEAD: THE FINAL NIGHTMARE



Thank you to Hart Fisher, the mastermind behind TV show AMERICAN HORRORS for the suggestion of Rachel Talalay!

October Herror Fest: Directress #1

It's October, which of course means there are no women who make horror films. So here's a fabulous, scary two minute short by a director/producer who doesn't exist:

Marichelle Daywalt

Marichelle Daywalt worked for years in the studio system on feature films classics like FIGHT CLUB and CAST AWAY. After a decade of watching and producing her husband Drew Daywalt's successful horror movies seen through outlets like Fewdio and the Daywalt Feat Factory's Youtube channel, she listened to his encouragement and gave horror writing/directing a shot. The tyro's result is the Viscera-winning short you can see in full here on Youtube:

MOCKINGBIRD short film

Drop Marichelle some encouragement on Facebook; she's got another horror short ready to shoot.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/axwoundradio "Radio Interview With Marichelle "AxWound Radio #3: Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter"