There ARE still scares out there. I repeat… there ARE still scares out there. And they are not coming from where you think they are.

You, the jaded horror fan, YES you. I am talking to you. The one who is convinced that you have seen it all. And YOU the one who turns up his nose at all of the studios and their remakes. And HEY- I’m not forgetting you- person who dismisses all direct to video horror as, “Well, if it wasn’t good enough for the theaters, then who cares about it.” I say this to you as I am one of you. And I very, very rarely get freaked. Most of my enjoyment at this stage of the game comes from introducing movies to my unknowing friends and living through THEIR fear and scares the same way I used to.

Now I am about to give an opinion…Something that is very dangerous in this business. And I know that what scares me, will not scare most of you. It is all about that moment that has to be right, in the right place, with the right circumstances, in the right frame of mind. Well, tonight was that night for me.

Small background for this. I have just recently bought a house. I have an amazingly light sleeper of a wife, 2 yippy dogs, and my parents in our in-law apartment down stairs. I also suffer from insomnia and spend my late night waking hours watching movies. Unfortunately, watching movies had become a problem as I am slightly deaf from my years playing in metal bands in small clubs. So as to not wake everyone with my movie addiction, I purchased a decent pair of headphones and a 12 foot cable that connects to my home theater system. Poof – problem solved, and I’ve found this completely adds to the experience of watching movies. You hear EVERYTHING. Every footstep, every breath, every frikkin’ creak of the Old Dark House. But it also totally isolates you from your surroundings. Fostering paranoia forcing me to remove them every few minutes to make sure there is nothing going on in the house.

So tonight I kiss my wife good night, put on the cans (see, I got the kids’ lingo down…), shut off the lights, and throw in a DVD I picked up at the San Diego ComicCon from a small production company called Fewdio. (Ahh, I see a few of you nodding with understanding now). The DVD is a collection of short films from Fewdio called Nightmare House Vol. 1. I am no stranger to horror shorts. I have seen (and made) my share of bad ones. But a small handful has always stayed with me as the ones that have set the bar. (”10 Steps,” “The Facts in the Case of Mr. Hollow,” and “Don’t Worry, It’s Only Your Imagination” to name my favorites. )

I sat back almost half paying attention to the first short (”Creep”). I was checking my e-mails on my phone and looked up JUST in time to see something that jarred me to actually rewind. Yup – I DID see that. And that was the payoff to this 2 minute short. Shit, these are REALLY short. I better start paying attention if that is how cool these are all going to be.

And from that point it was hard NOT to pay attention to the screen. Each short had its own feel and look to it. Almost all had the same production teams, but they took great effort to make sure each short had its own identity from the last. Sure, some of the same faces show up from time to time, and for those paying attention, actually playing the same character, but after going through some of the special features, I understand it was totally intentional.

As with any collection, there are some that are better than others. But that just comes down to taste. There is not one short on this collection I ever felt the need to forward through. And that, my friends, is a feat in itself.

They are all like small episodes of Tales From the Crypt, with subject matter ranging from jilted lovers (”The Anniversary”), to a hitman double cross (”Marie”), to ghosts who haunt their last living place (”Cleansed”).

In a four minute short, the Fewdio team somehow manages to create a sense of dread, atmosphere, false scares, and a fun payoff that most 90 minute films can’t even dream of achieving. And you’ll want to do yourself a favor, and hit the “Play All” option as some of the titles of the films are VERY misleading. “The Easter Bunny is Eating My Candy” is a good example of this. Forget the bunny from Cabin Fever, or even that dog/bunny thing in The Shining. THIS is the most frightening bunny since Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Almost all of the acting is above par as far as “indie actors” go. Some do fall short (there are only so many friends you can call in who can act). The locations and set designs are top notch, adding to the fear, and filth of some of the shorts. On occasion I felt that the blood used for the film was a bit off. I know how nit picky that sounds, but for a story that relies on the blood to be one of the main focuses of one of the films (”Cleanse”), it should be perfect.

On the main menu there is a “Play All” feature or a “Choose Short” option. There are 13 shorts that range from 2 minutes to close to 10. Also on the main menu is a “Special Features” button. Under the special Features we have the following.

-What is Nightmare House – A definition of what a Nightmare House actually is.
-Artifact Gallery – Photos and histories of some of the items from the shorts.
-Portrait Gallery – Quick snapshots and descriptions of some of the reoccurring characters.
-Nightmare House Vol. 2 trailer – this is SO worth watching. If just for the “Bedfellows” clip.
-Audio set up – Exactly what it sounds like.
-There is also an easter egg – But I’ll leave that for you to discover…

All in all, there were at least 5 instances of me either jumping, taking off my cans to make sure nothing was in the house, or smiling to myself on how clever and well done these were. All of my buttons were pressed. Silent images, background appearances, in your face shocks, and of course musical stings. I can’t wait to sit my unknowing friends down and unleash this collection on them.

It is now 2:16am and I am just finished writing this. The reason I wrote this review so late is because I couldn’t bring myself to get the courage to get off the couch and walk down the darkened hall to go to bed. Fewdio’s slogan is “We make nightmares.” I raise my glass to you Fewdio, yes you do… Yes you do.

“In the darkest depths of fear, at the edge of sanity, there are many doors…Nightmare House.”

Tags: Fewdio, Nightmare House Vol. 1

This entry was posted by tony on Sunday, August 1st, 2010 at 5:21 pm and is filed under Reviews, Tony B3. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.