The folks at dEdmonton events have been asked a similar question repeatedly: "So why is there no film festival this year?", and we have to tell them there is, is't just renamed. Re-invigorated. Re-animated! It's now DEDfest.
The rich tradition of horror fests in Edmonton began in 2004 with Chris Bavota, then-owner of Oddity Cinema. Chris created "Return to Odd", a six-day marathon of new independent horror releases along with classics like "Nightmare In A Damaged Brain", "Cut Throats Nine", "Riki-Oh: The Story of Riki", and "Evil Dead".
Chris relocated to Canada's east coast, and for a few years the festival was in limbo. But in 2007, the fest was resurrected by local horror fans as a one night only, from-dusk-til-dawn movie marathon. Based on its success, a fest in 2008 was planned and rechristened as "Deadmonton".
In 2008, the Deadmonton Horror Fest was unleashed upon our unsuspecting city. Expanded to three days, the fest featured an eclectic mix of new independent horror films, foreign genre flicks, and classic gore-fests from the 70s and 80s. With a lineup that included the Canadian premiere of horror-legend Bruce Campbell's "My Name Is Bruce", "Tokyo Gore Police", and retro screenings of "Night of the Creeps" and "Phantasm", the fest sold out two of its three nights and was a rousing success.
2009 promises even more gore, grue, and mayhem as the fest, now shortened to "DEDfest" (and working in conjunction with the newly minted "dEdmonton" Halloween Festival), will expand to four nights this October 15-18. Bloody rare meals on the menu include the English splatter-comedy "Lesbian Vampire Killers", a bit of nastiness from the US called "Neighbor" (a film that shocked audiences at this year's Fantasia Festival), an animated version of "Night of the Living Dead", a retro screening of the zombie-punk classic "Return of the Living Dead", and a gore-filled entry from Japan called "Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl" - a film that can be best described as a mix between Takashi Miike, David Cronenberg, and John Hughes. And more films will be announced shortly!
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