All of them. Plus Turistas, the version too gruesome for theaters.

Yeah, baby. Pure almond joy.

A horror geek's wet dream.

And yes, I am that geek.

Thus far I haven't seen Turistas, but I have watched two of the Horrorfest titles (late at night so as to avoid warpage to the fragile little minds of my 5 and 6 year-olds), and though the reviews on Amazon have been sort of lukewarm in regard to most of the films, I thoroughly enjoyed them. The one I most want to watch is The Gravedancers, and I've been panting over it for days but I wanted to wait and see it with John, which thus far hasn't happened. He's been working overtime this week and has been pretty wiped out. #1 son just happens to be the only other hardcore horror enthusiast here besides myself and the ads for that film made us both go, "Oooooooooooooohhhhhh...". Lots of disturbing images and a seriously creepy feeling generated by just viewing the trailers makes it seem so intriguing. Hopefully, tonight's the night.

Wicked Little Things is the story of a mother who moves her two young daughters out to the hills of Pennsylvania, to live in a house she inherited from her recently deceased husband. The house itself gave me the chills; it's big, old and extremely dark, even during the day. It doesn't help that the place has been closed up for so long that everything is covered in dust and hanging with cobwebs, adding to the impression that nothing has been disturbed there for decades. From the look of things I literally expected someone to fall through the floor. Just a matter of time, I figured.

It never did.

What I did see was (wihtout revealing too much), was a strange local man who painted the doors of occupied houses with blood, lots of local lore and several zombie children. Not average, slow moving, rotting body parts dropping off during the chase zombie children, either. These were pickaxe wielding, shovel-swinging, black eyed little bastards who really believed in the old country saying condemning waste, "Eat what you kill."

This was an independent film with mostly a cast of unknowns and yet the acting was good. I loved the setting as well; though I didn't see anything in the credits about where shooting took place I'm guessing Poland, Russia or a location with a similar climate, as the area was overcast most of the time and seemed on the verge of rain. I also noticed a lot of White Birches, more than I've ever noticed in one place and it has never been my experience to find so many in one location. Not saying it doesn't happen in the states, just that I've never seen clusters of them here. Whomever chose the location chose well - it was a beautiful area that looked mostly untouched, and the sense of isolation and helplessness was increased by the first glimpse we got of their home; this giant rotting old house that looked as if it were being swallowed by the wilderness.

The production values were excellent also, sort of an Evil Dead approach. Let the darkness and the location set the tone and go from there. It worked better for the Evil Dead series than it did for Wicked Little Things however, as the story tended to lag (and in some places pendulously drag and sag), but overall it was a decent film. Plenty of blood, nice amount of tension and a satisfying ending. I'd watch it again.

I loved Unrest. The film opens with a young woman (Allison) starting medical school, specifically attending her first Gross Anatomy class. As soon as the sheet is pulled away from the face of her cadaver she throws up and passes out. Upon awakening she immediately senses ('knows') that something isn't right with her cadaver and decides to find out her identity. This is not as easy as it sounds, as cadavers are shipped from at least 500 miles away to protect his/her indentity and make sure there's no chance the body would be dissected by someone who recognized the person. One by one, those who come in contact with the dead woman's body begin to turn up dead, so Allison's quest to learn about her takes on a new urgency.

Again, we've got some fantastic production values happening here. The anatomy lab has that bleached, white, flourescent harsh look of hospitals - which is enough on it's own to give most people the creeps. Add to that the gruesome way in which victims die, the mystery behind the identity of the cadaver, the tribal drumming and sometimes eerie lack of any sound at all, and the film really delivers that skin-crawling response that makes horror enthusiasts like myself get the big happy all the way down to our toes.

The best part: in order to create a more intense sense of realism, real cadavers were used. Real. Cadavers. And the actors did indeed work on them. Cut, removed the breastplate, secured the skin open to expose the organs, the whole deal. Knowing this ahead of time really added to the suspense for me, that sort of, 'Yeesh, look what you just touched' feeling.

At times the music was a bit too loud; it seemed to drown out the suspense rather than enhance it. Also there were times in which Allison's constant insistence that there was 'something wrong' with her cadaver, and the talk of enraged spirits became a bit overly repetitive but I wouldn't take any points off for it. If anything, I'd ADD points for using real cadavers.

The story line was creative, the acting was decent and there was plenty of gore. Plus, Jessica Alba's brother is gorgeous. Granted, that has no bearing on the overall experience of the film, I just enjoyed mentioning it.

I'll definitely be watching this one again. Perhaps even tonight after The Gravedancers.

It almost made we wish I hadn't changed my mind about becoming an emblamer.