Buried Alive Film Festival Features Horror, Gore And Fun

November 14th, 2016

The 11^th annual Buried Alive Film Festival kicks off this Wednesday, featuring the best of independently produced horror films, including some made by Atlanta filmmakers

Instead of sticking exclusively with fear and gore, the festival takes a rather broad definition of horror.

“We try to bend what horror can be,” said Festival Director Blake Meyers. Event Director Lucas Godfrey continued, “A lot of it is just weird, suspenseful, dark, and arthouse-y.”

Buried Alive includes 15 feature films and 75 shorts this year, so Godfrey and Meyers offered some recommendations.

Grossest:

Frankenstein Created Bikers: A locally produced film, Godfrey said, “It’s grindhouse horror. It was all shot on film.”
Arcana: Meyers explained this film is all about the sound effects. He said, “It’s about a witch lady chained up in a dungeon and she keeps making spells out of her spit and fingernails and all this really gross stuff.”

Most psychologically disturbing:

Here Alone: Imagine zombies but more subtle. “It’s about a lady who has to live in the wilderness all by herself because the rest of humanity has been decimated by a virus. It’s really unnerving,” said Meyers.
The Procedure: The title tells all: “It’s about getting caught and procedure being done on you,” said Meyers as a shiver goes up all our spines.

Campiest:

Your Life As A Dream: “It is very John Waters. It’s almost not horror, but it’s just so weird,” said Godfrey. “It’s one of the best things we have. It’s awesome.”

Most horrifying:

Bad Blood: Another local film, Godfrey said this one has great special effects with its were-frog. “It’s got this werewolf-amphibious twist to it…It’s gross and awesome and dark.”
Another Evil: “It’s about a ghost investigator,” said Meyers, and the film raises a lot of questions “You never know who’s actually evil.”

And their suggestion for people who can’t stomach horror films:

The Night Watchmen: This is their opening night film and has a similar vibe to parody horror like “Shaun of the Dead.”

Along with these films and more, the Buried Alive Film Festival created a filmmaking challenge, where filmmakers make a horror film is 13 days. Those will premiere this Wednesday. The festival officially opens on Thursday. All screenings are at 7 Stages in Little Five Points. For a full list of events, visit their website.