The Bloody Nightmares Project

I have a great respect and sympathy for the zero-budget filmmaker. I'm not talking about Fred Olen Ray or Charles Band low-budget schlock (though I like that, too), but instead the high schoolers who put on a show, or the college buddies who spend a summer putting together a movie. Making a film is a tiring, frustrating, time-consuming process, and we're lucky enough to live in a time when the ability to make semi-professional low-budget cinema is in the hands of almost anyone. You no longer have to be a film school wunderkind like Kevin Smith or Robert Rodriguez to make an entertaining movie on the cheap, and thanks to the internet there's literally hundreds of new distribution channels to get your film out to the public.

Which brings us to the 24 Disc 100 film collection Bloody Nightmares from Mill Creek Entertainment (under their subsidiary Pendulum Pictures). Mill Creek is best known for their collections of public domain genre films and television (including the Martial Arts 50-pack i've been reviewing recently), but what differentiates the films in the Bloody Nightmares set are that they are almost entirely amateur shot-on-video horror productions made on nearly non-existent budgets. While some might see such a collection as exploiting young filmmakers, I commend the concept and hope we get more collections like this in the future.

For the near future, I will be reviewing the films in this collection in the order in which they appear. Readers should understand that I am keeping my expectations low in approaching them, and will be more forgiving of flaws than I may be on higher budget productions. I have had my own experience making zero-budget films, and recognize the difficulties involved, but I also will remain critical when the creators choose to cut corners or leave in glaring errors.

This will be painful. I know that going in.

Only 100 movies to go.

Bloody Nightmares #1: A Candle In The Dark (2002)

Bloody Nightmares #2: Demon Slaughter (2003)

Bloody Nightmares #3: Nightmare Asylum (1992)

Bloody Nightmares #4: The River: Legend of La Llorona (2006)

Bloody Nightmares #5: Serial Killer (2002)

Bloody Nightmares #6: The Crawlspace (2006)

Bloody Nightmares #7: Catholic Ghoulgirls (2005)

Bloody Nightmares #8: The Bewitching (2006)

Bloody Nightmares #9: High Desert (1994)

Bloody Nightmares #10: Hell's Highway (2002)

Bloody Nightmares #11: Hellbound: Book Of The Dead (2003)

Bloody Nightmares #12: I Dream Of Dracula (2003)

Bloody Nightmares #13: The Veil (2005)

Bloody Nightmares #14: When Heaven Comes Down (2002)

Bloody Nightmares #15: The Dead Live (2006)

Bloody Nightmares #16: Hip Hop Locos (2001)

Bloody Nightmares #17: Invitation (2003)

Bloody Nightmares #18: Las Vegas Bloodbath (1989)

Bloody Nightmares #19: Before I Die (2003)

Bloody Nightmares #20: Terror Toons (2002)

Bloody Nightmares #21: This Darkness: The Vampire Virus (2003)

Bloody Nightmares #22: Burning Dead (2004)

Bloody Nightmares #23: Dead 7 (2000)

Bloody Nightmares #24: Dead is Dead (1992)

Bloody Nightmares #25: Dr. Shock's Tales of Terror (2003)

Bloody Nightmares #26: Matthew (aka Scream Bloody Murder) (1971)

Bloody Nightmares #27: The Shunned House (2003)

Bloody Nightmares #28: Suburban Sasquatch (2004)

Bloody Nightmares #29: Prehistoric Bimbos in Armageddon City (1991)

Bloody Nightmares #30: I Hate You (2004)

Bloody Nightmares #31: Scarlet Fry's Junkfood Horrorfest (2007)

Bloody Nightmares #32: Zombie Rampage (1989/1991)

Bloody Nightmares #33: Slasher (aka Blood Cult) (1985)

Bloody Nightmares #34: The Summer of the Massacre (2006)

Bloody Nightmares #35: Wishbone (2000)

Bloody Nightmares #36: 13 (aka City in Panic) (1987)

Bloody Nightmares #37: Bloodsucking Babes from Burbank (2006)

Bloody Nightmares #38: Up For Rent (2006)

Bloody Nightmares #39: The Witching (1993)