Fangoria's Blood Drive II Review Country : USA Year: 2005 Genre: Horror (shorts) Format: DVD Running Time: n/a Distributor: Koch Vision Short film collection bringing together the winners of the second Blood Drive film contest hosted by horror magazine, Fangoria. John Gray was particularly impressed by the quality of work this time around. Keep reading to see what he thinks about these promising pieces... Well, it's been another great year for Fangoria. They just keep kicking horror fans asses with all the great material they put out year round. The magazine, conventions, excellent little gems like Skinned Deep, etc... but now, we get to look at some of the best, and most undiscovered talent with another round of Fango's highly successful Blood Drive. This year, the winners exceeded my expectations and really showed up last years contestants! The winners: Disposer by BC Furtney, Los Angeles, CA Gibbering Horror of Howard Ghormley - by Steve Daniels, Columbia, SC The Journal Of Edmond Deyers By William Rot, Las Vegas, NV Mainstream - by Adam Barnick, Hoboken, NJ Means To An End - by Paul Solet And Jake Hamilton, Los Angeles, CA Sawbones - by Brad Palmer, South Pasadena, CA We All Fall Down - by Jake Kennedy, Santa Monica, CA Working Stiff - by Erik A. Candiani, Citrus Heights, CA The first and best film by far is We All Fall Down by Jake Kennedy. The Ringu-esque chiller follows the story of high school friends that kill a little girl by accident, and dispose of the corpse in a rather nasty and unconventional way. Needless to say, she gets her revenge on all of them and the short really works. I was amazed at how much meat Kennedy put into such a short time frame. The production values are also amazing. It looks like the filmmakers spent a good amount of time and money to make sure his film was the best. I see a bright future for Mr. Kennedy. The second chiller is not so chilling as it is strange. The Gibbering Horror of Howard Ghormley by Steve Daniels can only be described as an Ed Wood meets HP Lovecraft genre film? It probably looked the best out of all the films in my opinion. But, I am a sucker for Super-8! I really didn't get what the hell Steve Daniels was going for here, but he pulled off a cool, quirky short with some interesting visuals to say the least. The next thriller is Means To An End by Paul Solet And Jake Hamilton out of Los Angeles, CA. These guys are true horror fans that try anything and everything to get into the business and prove they are the best F/X guys in Hollyweird. After being kicked out of every studio, they start filming each other stabbing, biting, sawing, drilling, grating, and hammering each other into bloody pulps. After editing their demo tape together and eating a few bottles of vicodin, they take it to studio head 'Mr. Devlin' who tells them they need a 'killer ending' to make it work. Needless to say, they oblige and come out on top on the cover of none other than Fangoria magazine! This one really impressed me and deserves to be in the top three for sure. I also love the nods to Fulci, Carpenter, and just about every great horror film you could fit into less than fifteen minutes. Sawbones by Brad Palmer was probably my next favorite. It is a period piece that takes place in 1864, during the civil war. A doctor, who can't seem to handle the pressure of his job amputates a wounded soldiers leg, but as it turns out, he cut off the wrong appendage. The soldier dies from shock and as you may be able to guess, the outcome is rather grisly. I was impressed by the acting, sets, and the direction. Hats off to Brad Palmer... another filmmaker that has some genre potential. The other entries failed to impress me so I really won't go into much detail. The Journal Of Edmond Deyers By William Rot made no sense at all and almost looked like a trailer for a feature rather than a short. Disposer by BC Furtney was just plain stupid! A guy calls in on a sex/dating chat line and the gal on the other end gets off by sticking her hand in the disposer and turning it on. I don't really see how this qualifies as horror, but who am I to judge. Mainstream by Adam Barnick was okay, but I really don't look at that as horror... it seemed more like a Nine Inch Nails video than anything. Finally Working Stiff by Erik A. Candiani really hit home with me since I recently got laid off from my corporate job and while I did like it, I think it falls more into the comedy/Shaun of the Dead type category. Good, but I don't really see how it belongs on this compilation. The extras are great. A special "day-in-the-life" featurette with horror film legend Bruce (Evil Dead) Campbell, interactive menu screens featuring Mistress Juliya (Who annoyed me to no end. How did she get this job? Please, bring back Rob next year!) and an excellent behind-the-scenes featurette with acclaimed special effects studio KNB EFX. (Kill Bill 1 & 2, Lemony Snicket, Scream) Also, we get some great insightful commentary on each feature with none other than the man himself, Mr. Tony Timpone! You gotta give props to the best magazine on earth for horror. They continue to do the fans right time after time. I'm fully inspired now to do my own film for Blood Drive III! Keep an eye out for it! For more information, check out the site and buy the DVD today! OFFICIAL SITE DISCUSS ON OUR FORUMS Review by John Gray, for Pitofhorror.com