Expect a higher caliber of killer at this year’s Tucson Terrorfest.
The annual silver-screen tribute to blood and gore — now in its third year — is getting better, says David Pike, the festival’s founder and director.
“We receive submissions from around the world,” Pike said. “Every year, the movies coming in have bigger budgets, more special effects. We are starting to gain recognition.”
This year’s three-day festival will feature more than 20 full-length films and shorts.
Among the chosen projects: “Motivational Growth,” a horror comedy about a man and his mold starring cult actor Jeffrey Combs, of “Re-Animator” fame.
International films include “Thanatomorphose,” a Canadian flick about a girl dealing with her decomposing flesh, and two films from Italy screening Friday.
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Both are zombie-themed. The 2012 short “Dead Blood” focuses on a couple caught in the middle of a turf war between walking corpses and vampires.
Then there is the 1980 Umberto Lenzi film “Nightmare City,” which finds a news reporter running for his life after the undead take to the streets.
The movie is the one retro screening of the event.
“It was the first movie to have running zombies,” Pike said. “People always think it was ‘28 Days Later,’ but Lenzi was the first to do it.”
The festival will include three local films — one full-length, a slasher-killer film dubbed “Road Trip,” and two shorts.
Pike said the local films have proved to be very popular.
Nearly 1,000 people attended last year’s Terrorfest.
“They always pack the house,” Pike said. “It gives the community a chance to see what local horror filmmakers are doing.”
