Michael Sharpe is a busy guy. He’s an actor and a director. Nothing too unusual about that; there are many actors who step behind the camera. However, this is the horror indie-cinema world, and it isn’t quite so easy to be successful at both. Yet Sharpe is making strides, and rather quickly.

Back in the 1970s, there was a poster for a movie. At first, I didn’t even notice the name of the film; the poster showed four young people standing around what I presumed to be a dead body. The angle was such that it was looking up at their faces rather than straight on them, as they gazed down. Again, not even registering the movie’s title, I did note that one of them was what I back then called “a cute guy,” which made me want to see it.

For those of you unaware of Kody Zimmerman and his wildly successful short film THE FAMILIAR, you’re in for a hilariously dark treat. After nearly two years of festival haunts and with more nominations and wins than this writer can count, Zimmerman has posted the movie on-line, and I promise you the most fun 19 minutes you’ll spend today!

The vampire has become so high-fashion that I’ve ended up making the comparison between the bloodsucker and the queen of the prom, or the lead singer in a rock ’n’ roll band. And just when I thought the undead were lagging behind, TV’s THE WALKING DEAD hit the pop-culture scene. However, there are other horror themes that never go away because they work, and one is the timeless psycho on the loose. INSATIABLE writer/director Scott W. Perry has just released his new short SOMETHING JUST, in which he puts his own spin on the serial-killer genre.

As the clock strikes 2:22 a.m., a young woman is awakened from her peaceful sleep and thrown into a hellish memory of what happened the night before. Shrieking as her world spins out of control, and with blood everywhere, she jumps out of bed and onto the cold tile of her bathroom floor. Her screaming continues as she begins to flash back to what began as an incredibly fun night out with her girlfriends. However, as she pieces together the grisly sequence of events, she gets closer to finding out the truth. But is it now too late for her to be saved?

Many consider Halloween to be one of the most fun holidays of the year. Halloween means dress-up and parties and all those sweet treats. Mother’s Day can be another enjoyable holiday, one where families get together and celebrate dear ol’ Mom. Fun times, right?

Last year, in support of independent filmmaking, I set up a special showcase of short horror films at the FANGORIA Weekend of Horrors convention in Los Angeles. When I noticed they gave me a screening room that seemed miles away from the main convention area, I started to panic: “How is anyone going to find out about my show of indie shorts?” I despaired. One filmmaker whose movie was to be part of the screening noticed my anxiety and said, “I’ll help you out here,” and the next thing I knew, he cried out in a loud, powerful voice, “My name is Robert Filion and I am a filmmaker!”