Blood Shed’s meteoric rise! World Premiere, festivals, award nominations & reviews!

It’s been six months since we shot Blood Shed, and the shed has had something of a meteoric rise since its World Premiere at Horror Channel FrightFest in London just over a month ago! As co-writer, producer and production designer of this tale of 80s shed gore, I couldn’t be more proud.

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Blood Shed cast and crew ahead of the World Premiere! Pic: Moranic Productions 2017

We just yesterday found out that we’ve been selected by our SIXTEENTH festival! AND we’ve been nominated for an award at Sick Chick Flicks Film Festival in North Carolina!

To have sixteen festivals booked in little over a month since our World Premiere is really quite a feat, and we’re overjoyed that so many festival programmers love a story about a killer shed as much as we do! It’s all come as rather a surprise to James and I. We’ve never had a film gather such momentum so fast and only hope that the little shed that could continues to find its tribe on the festival scene and beyond! My fingers and toes are crossed daily.

Last week we announced four festivals – Knoxville Horror Film Fest in Tennessee, Unrestricted View Horror Film Festival in London, Ax Wound Film Festival in Vermont, and Underwire Festival 2017 in London, where we’re up for another award – the Producing Award. Underwire is also a BAFTA qualifier festival – our first to date. I’m more than a little bit overwhelmed by that as it’s a personal award, and Blood Shed was by no means an easy film to make.

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Blood Shed has two festival outings this week in case you’re able to catch it on the big screen. First, the film will be screening in Pennsylvania, USA on Friday 6th October at the Indie Horror Drive-In Film Festival

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Then on Saturday 7th October, the shed is back in London to rock Wimbledon International Short Film Festival from 7.30pm, where we’re nominated for the Best London Filmmaker award, and eligible for two further awards to be decided on the night!

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More details on the festivals that we’ve been able to announce so far can be found on the Screenings page of the official Blood Shed website, which is crammed with stuff!

We’ve also had a flurry of exceptional reviews following our premiere. Here are just a few highlights with some linky links for clicky clicks if you want to feast your eyes on the full reviews. They’re rather lovely and have certainly left us all warm and fuzzy inside.

​“…indebted to the CGI-free horror of the Eighties, and in particular to George A. Romero’s Creepshow (1982)… as though this were a lost British segment of Romero’s anthology film.” SciFiNow

“A thirteen-minute slice of genius… enough gags and gore to put a smile on anyone’s face… Davies and her partner-in-cinematic-crime James Moran have a perfect handle on what makes an entertaining and memorable short.” Starburst

“Loaded with laughs and gore to satisfy in this very niche sub-genre you never knew you needed.” HorrorTalk

We’ve had such tremendous support from our Kickstarter backers and new fans who’ve discovered the film since we ran our crowdfunding campaign back in February. All digital rewards, and most of the physical perks, have been sent out for the gang to enjoy. Those waiting on swag packs that include a poster, badges and magnet – never fear – they’ll be on your doorstep in no time. They’ll be worth the wait!

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Merch! Merch! Merch!

We may offer some of the remaining limited edition merchandise as competition prizes at festivals or on social media, so keep your eyes peeled on the Twitter feed.

We’re deep in pre-production on our next short film, Hank: Portrait of a Serial Killer, which is due to be shot in November (depending on when my baby decides she’s ready to come out) and completed in early 2018. This one is written and directed by me, and produced by James and I. There’s no shed this time, but still lots of gore, blood and jokes. We hope to share this with the festival scene next year.

Connie’s Mexican and Canadian Premieres, and KEEN-wah’s North American Premiere!

It’s been less than two months since the World Premiere at Horror Channel FrightFest, and Connie has bagged seven festival screenings and is nominated for several awards. I’m overwhelmed by how well it’s performing and am now delighted to announce our fantastic Canadian and Mexican Premieres!

First, Connie’s Canadian Premiere will be at Camp Horrors CREEPFEST Film Festival in Ontario, which takes place from 28th to 30th October. Sponsors include Scream magazine, and it promises to be a real treat, screening shorts and features, with a horror art gallery, after parties, costume contest and  more! Screening day and time to be confirmed.

NOTE: Dates and location for Creepfest have moved:

CANADIAN PREMIERE: CAMP HORRORS CREEPFEST FILM FESTIVAL25th – 26th March 2017, The Rainbow Theatre, Toronto, Canada

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Second, the Mexican Premiere is at Morbido Film Fest, Mexico City, which runs from 2nd to 6th November. Connie screens as part of their THE DEVIL IS NOT HOW YOU IMAGINED, programme: Leave pre established ideas outside. Here nothing is what it seems. These are 8 short films that will teach you not to trust appearances! Screening day and time to be confirmed.

The full programme of international short films is very impressive and I’m proud to be included as part of such an esteemed list, which includes The Puppet Man, The Stylist, Dawn of the Deaf, Death Metal, The Itching and The Procedure. Check it out here!

There are also fine arts exhibitions, plays, thematic lectures, book presentations, concerts, and even a traditional Mexican wrestling match!  All that and a whole lot of sunshine.

We had a lot of fun adding the subtitles to the film and we’ve expanded our vocabulary with lots of Mexican swear words!

Connie ha sido seleccionada para el Festival de Cine Morbido en el maravilloso ¡México! está emocionadísima ¡esperamos que estén listos!

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awff2016-laurel-black-transparentFinally, my previous short film, KEEN-wah will have its North American Premiere at Ax Wound Film Festival in Vermont on 5th November! Lovely to see that KEEN-wah is still finding its audience around the world long after Gary and Suzanne’s first date… Especially as Ax Wound is quite possibly the best film festival name ever. Very witty. Connie will also be playing at Ax Wound, so I’m doubly thrilled.

Ax Wound have a range of great sponsors, including legendary horror magazine Fangoria, Twisted Twin Productions (the amazing Jen and Sylvia Soska) and horror on demand service, Shudder (which I LOVE, by the way).

I’m off now to go and pinch myself!

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