It’s quite the golden age for horror anthologies with ABCs of Death 2 and V/H/S Viral currently doing the rounds on the festival circuit. Whilst these projects tend to be particularly hit and miss, there’s no denying they are the perfect showcase for short film. Given their popularity of late it wasn’t going to be long before a new anthology franchise made its way out of the woodwork. Epic Pictures Group, also responsible for the aforementioned V/H/S Viral, have broken the ice by confirming they will be financing Tales of Halloween, an all new anthology film set to feature short sections from 11 top genre directors. The film will consist of ten interconnected segments all set on Halloween in a sleepy American suburb terrorised by ghouls, aliens and psycho killers.
The directors on board for the project are nothing short of perfect: Mike Mendez (Big Ass Spider!), Neil Marshall (The Descent), Joe Begos (Almost Human), Axelle Carolyn (Soulmate), Adam Gierasch (Night of the Demons), Andrew Kasch (Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy) and John Skipp (Stay at Home Dad), Dave Parker (The Hills Run Red), Darren Bousman (Saw II, III and IV), Ryan Schifrin (Abominable), and Paul Solet (Grace). Axelle Carolyn was the director who actually came up with the whole concept and she will be producing alongside Mike Mendez, who has just wrapped the TV movie Lavantula which stars Steve Guttenberg and Leslie Easterbrook.
Many of the directors in this long list hail from LA’s tight-knit horror scene with some also having teamed up with Epic Pictures before such as Mendez for Big Ass Spider! Epic plans to present Tales of Halloween next month at the American Film Market. Right now the project is in pre-production and filming is expected to start this very November.
Words: Howard Gorman
