A documentary about the grassroots horror phenomenon, the filmmakers, the fascination and the brilliant terror.
The Brilliant Terror - a feature documentary that goes behind the scenes of grassroots horror to witness genre filmmakers and the obsessive lengths to which they go to bring their greatest fears to the screen with only creativity and a micro-budget.—The filmmakers
A feature length documentary about grassroots horror filmmakers, "The Brilliant Terror's" inspiration comes from being intimately included behind the scenes of micro-budget genre filmmaking. Witness the obsessive lengths to which people will go to bring their greatest fears to life on screen - and why. It's not just about blood and boobs, zombies and vampires.
We follow the life of small-town creator Mike Lombardo as he writes, directs, shoots, and re-shoots (and re-shoots) the Lovecraftian horror "The Stall" and the ghost movie parody "Long Pig." He does makeup FX on dozens of actors on the set of Jeff Heimbach's adaptation of Brian Keene's "Fast Zombies Suck." Throughout, viewers are privy to candid moments that inform Lombardo's inner drive - from his giddy triumph at successful DIY special effects to his painful personal crises to the everyday tedium of working at a pizza shop.
Along the way, interviews with fierce women filmmakers, other grassroots directors, horror experts, and misunderstood fans bring fascinating diversions and unexpected viewpoints.Author Cynthia Freeland asks why there aren't more female monsters as we see filmmaker Julie Ufema O'Connor direct "Caveat," a story of five sisters and revenge. Film journalist Heidi Honeycutt outlines the ingredients that go into making a good independent low-budget horror film and slams men who don't take it seriously and are in it just to take advantage of scream queens. Filmmaker Jason Pohlig insists it's about warping people's minds and making them as uncomfortable as possible. Researcher Joanne Cantor explains how fear and empathy play out in our brains when watching a horror movie and why some people are prone to dislike it. Filmmaker Jeremiah Kipp voices his love of story and his view that epic emotions expressed through horror get us closer to our own reality. Horror fan Scott Jeune reflects on how watching monsters was an antidote to his own interior terror. Filmmaker Thomas Norman talks about putting one's phobias on screen like with his movie "Gitchy" about a clown who tickles people to death. Director Ashley Thorpe delves into the neglected aspects of British folklore through animation inspired by his haunting Devon backdrop. Filmmaker Micah Ginn describes the tricky practicalities of bringing a Cajun werewolf to life, struggling to stand up on stilts and dealing with constant hair in the mouth. Filmmaker Paula Haifley expresses her nerdy rockabilly sensibility, creating movies with classic monsters and goofy scares.
At times hilarious, at times repulsive, and at times weirdly moving, "The Brilliant Terror" is not only for horror fans, but for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider. It helps us understand why we all, in some way, need a place to belong - and why that place may well be lying with friends on a cold, dirty bathroom stall floor wrangling (and re-wrangling) bloody, slime-covered tentacles. Speaking to the psycho-entrepreneur in us all, Lombardo says, "It's not going to be easy, but it's going to be awesome."
