Written by Peyton Brock, Photo by Peyton Brock
As thunder, lightning and rain bombarded Savannah, horror fans arrived at The Lucas Theater, Saturday Oct. 5, for an event befitting of such ominous weather: the 2019 Graveface Fright Fest. This nine-hour horror movie marathon features vendors, live music and special guests. Fright Fest is a refuge for Savannah’s horror fans, providing an occasion to celebrate and enjoy the delightfully macabre with fellow darkly inclined individuals.
“Horror either makes me laugh or actually makes me consider bizarre social ideas. It’s an interesting way of addressing things in a unique fashion,” said Ryan Graveface, owner of Graveface Records & Curiosities and organizer of the event. Keeping in that theme, this year’s festival had a variety of horror films to satisfy viewers.
To start, “The Brain” (1988) was a cheesy but fun paranoia thriller about a giant, monster-faced brain. Next, “The Legend of Boggy Creek” (1972) slowed things down, with an atmospheric docu-drama about real-life accounts of a Sasquatch type creature in rural Arkansas. This included serene footage of nature, folksy music and narration akin to a Steinbeck novella. Following that was the campus slasher movie “Splatter University” (1984) which provided no shortage of screams, laughs and cheers, along with a surprising ending which floored the audience. The composer for the film, Chris Burke, was in attendance and provided a live score to the film, full of pumping synthesizer fun.
Second to last was “Pet Semetary 2” (1992), a sequel to the adaptation of the Steven King novel, which was surprisingly original, while also being unforgivingly graphic. “I’m probably most excited to see “Pet Semetary 2” on the big screen, because I never have,” said Graveface. To end the festival, the silent film classic, “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” (1920), played accompanied with a live score by “Marshmallow Ghosts and Patients from the Park View Sanatorium,” a musical act lead by Graveface himself.
“This year I did something totally different,” Graveface said, when asked what lead him to pick this year’s films. “I’m only showing things I’m involved with in some capacity. I’m licensing these things anyways, so might as well extend that and push it.” He went on to explain that, in addition to his music act’s live scoring of “Caligari,” that he’s releasing the scores for “The Brain” and “Pet Semetary 2” through his horror movie music label, Terrorvision. Terrorvision has already released both the score and a VHS reprint of “Splatter University.” He also mentioned he has future plans for the “Boggy Creek” score.
In addition to the frightful films, a variety of merchandise, media and oddities were available to buy, thanks to Graveface Records, Terrorvision and other vendors. From LPs and cassettes of horror movie soundtracks, to DVDs and Blu-Rays, to Fright Fest posters and shirts and even animal skulls, there was something sure to catch the eye of every horror fan in attendance.
“We’re doing a screening of “Not of This Earth” at The Foundry on Oct. 18.,” said Graveface. “Also, I’m going to have an 8th anniversary of the store block party later in the month, and usually around Halloween we do craziness, all day, every day. So just stay tuned to the Graveface Facebook page.”
