Okay, technically, a couple of these may not be classified as horror but rather thrillers; they’re worth sharing whatever the genre. Zombies, mind-benders, slashers and the paranormal are all featured below.

Please note: I haven’t watched these movies in their entirety yet, only the trailers.

COLIN (2008)
Written and Directed by Marc Price

Click Here to Watch the Trailer

Tagline: N/A

Synopsis: “Our hero Colin is bitten by a zombie; he dies and returns as one of the undead. We follow him as he wanders through suburbia during the throes of a cadaverous apocalypse. Through his encounters with objects, places and people, we learn who Colin was and more pertinently, what he has now become. Including a broad daylight zombie versus human street battle, an epic housebound siege and bags of gore. Colin is the must see Zombie phenomenon.” (Source: Nowhere Fast Productions)

My comments: What’s the major downside to loving Indie horror? The seemingly endless wait for films you’re dying to see. This is one of those movies that I heard about a couple years ago but still isn’t available for rent. I finally gave in and added it to my Amazon Wish List.

Read more at: Official Site | Facebook | IMDb | Netflix

I COME WITH THE RAIN (2008)
Written and Directed by Anh Hung Tran

Click Here to Watch the Trailer

Tagline: Can you find the path to redemption?

Synopsis: “Ex-Los Angeles cop turned private eye Kline travels to Hong Kong in search of Shitao, the missing son of a powerful pharmaceutical conglomerate boss. Enlisting Meng Zi a friend and a former colleague now working for the Hong Kong Police, Kline follows a faint trail left by the ethereal Shitao. The path leads to local gangster Su Dongpo and his beautiful, drug addicted girlfriend Lili. But Kline is distracted from his search, haunted by memories of the serial killer Hasford whose ‘body of work’ was the reason Kline quit the police force. Will Kline once again need to lose his mind to find his latest quarry?” (Source: Central Films)

My comments: I’ll admit this one looks somewhat all over the place; but, with a cast that includes Josh Hartnett and Elias Koteas, I have to watch it, someday, somehow. My attempt to buy it from an overseas seller on eBay failed miserably.

Read more at: Facebook | IMDb | DVD Outsider

BITTER FEAST (2010)
Written and Directed by Joe Maggio

Click Here to Watch the Trailer

Tagline: N/A

Synopsis: “A celebrity chef exacts revenge on a food blogger who torpedoes his career.” (Source: Glass Eye Pix)

My comments: Finally! This one’s available to rent or buy. The premise is one writers and critics should enjoy and, perhaps, think about whenever they start to trash someone’s work.

Read more at: Official Site | IMDb | Netflix

MONSTERS (2010)
Written and Directed by Gareth Edwards

Click Here to Watch the Trailer

Tagline: Now, It’s Our Turn to Adapt.

Synopsis: “Six years ago, a NASA probe returning to earth with samples of an alien life form, crashed over Central America. Soon after, new life forms began to appear, and half of Mexico was quarantined as an INFECTED ZONE. Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain “the creatures”… The story begins when a US journalist agrees to escort a shaken American tourist through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the US border.” (Source: Magnet Releasing)

My comments: I love a good alien movie, so when I first heard about this one last year, I added it to my must-see list. The low budget coupled with the more character driven sci-fi story – versus million dollar F/X and action – are right up my alley.

Read more at: Official Site | Facebook | IMDb | Netflix

VANISHING ON 7TH STREET (2010)
Written by Anthony Jaswinski and Directed by Brad Anderson

Click Here to Watch the Trailer

Tagline: Fear lives in the dark.

Synopsis: “From director Brad Anderson (Session 9, Transsiberian, The Machinist) comes VANISHING ON 7TH STREET, a terrifying, apocalyptic thriller that taps into one of humankind’s most primal anxieties: fear of the dark. An unexplained blackout plunges the city of Detroit into total darkness, and by the time the sun rises, only a few people remain—surrounded by heaps of empty clothing, abandoned cars and lengthening shadows. A small handful of strangers that have survived the night (Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton, John Leguizamo and newcomer Jacob Latimore) each find their way to a rundown bar, whose gasoline-powered generator and stockpile of food and drink make it the last refuge in a deserted city. With daylight beginning to disappear completely and whispering shadows surrounding the survivors, they soon discover that the enemy is the darkness itself, and only the few remaining light sources can keep them safe. As time begins to run out for them, darkness closes in and they must face the ultimate terror.” (Source: Magnet Releasing)

My comments: The director and the plot should make for one helluva film, at least that’s what I’m hoping. And I suppose the yummy Hayden Christensen doesn’t hurt. What?! He’s a good actor, too; I recommend LIFE AS A HOUSE and SHATTERED GLASS as proof (both are dramas).

Read more at: Facebook | IMDb | Magnet Releasing | Netflix

Do you know about any other must-see Indie horror movies? Then please share with the rest of us and leave a comment below. I’m always on the lookout for new ones!

Photo credit: Dave Dyet

Now, I don’t know for certain this is a direct quote from Josh Hartnett, but if it truly is, I like it even more. (For those of you who don’t visit my blog on a regular basis, you might not be familiar with my, um, appreciation for Josh and his work. Hubba, hubba. I like him a lot.)

Committing oneself to a life filled with hope is a little scary and definitely risky. When I wake up in the morning and think, “Man, I hope I don’t break my pinky toe again today,” I’m out here admitting I have no idea what will happen, good or bad, but I trust that something good will find me, sooner or later. I know most of us want the sooner version. Sometimes though sooner doesn’t equate to better. Sometimes you need to wait a while for those good things to happen – stumble over a few bad obstacles in order to really appreciate when those good moments find you. And they do find us, it’s not the other way around. You can’t catch good or happy with a net.

The sad thing about hope is you can’t really sell it to people who don’t wanna buy. It’s much easier to adopt a hopeless way of thinking as opposed to a hopeful one. Why? Because there’s so much more certainty in the hopeless way of thinking. “Nothing good will happen to me today.” Yeah, you’re 100% correct. If you tell yourself that, then “nothing good” is exactly what will find you. “My heart is too broken. I’ll never love this way again.” Damn skippy if that’s what you’re telling yourself. Many of us think self-talk and the law of attraction are a bunch of self-help, psycho babble, mumbo jumbo. Well they’re not, people.

When you’re hopeless, you’re playing it safe. You’re not risking the possibility of disappointment and hurt when that thing you’ve been hoping for, doesn’t materialize. But, you also don’t get to experience the peace that hope brings. The utter pleasure of feeling the power of the words, “I hope” at the beginning of your sentences. Risk is scary. Never risking anything is way scarier, at least to me. I’d rather spend my whole life hoping I publish my stories, even if I don’t ever get my stories published, than spend my entire life telling myself I won’t or couldn’t. That latter is just too depressing.

When you live a hopeful life, you’re accepting that you have zero control over things to come. Your soul exhales, your brain relaxes, and your blood pressure most certainly goes down. I hope you understand where I’m coming from :-)

You may have noticed my weekly “Quote of the Week” posts have dwindled to non-existence over the past 30 days. Even my book reviews have been neglected. “Why?” you might ask. Welp, not one reason in particular really. My work schedule has been hectic with a lot of “Now!” projects on my plate. Then my personal life took an unexpected turn and then another unexpected turn and yet another one so that I’m full circle back to where I started.

Finally, I’m on my first real vacation in FOUR years! June 26th through July 5th. No “work” for 10 whole days. It’s effin awesome I tell ya. Work is so overrated. I set a goal for myself–while making my way-too-ambitious ‘to do on vacation’ list–to get the weekly quotes ready to go through August 1st, update my current WIP word count, which amazingly has gone up 1,000 words over the past two months (yay!), and to get the six book reviews I have scribbled down on paper into Flying Monkeys. All very do-able as long as I stay *gulp* focused.

So I do apologize for my AWOL-like behavior of late, but I promise, I’m still here. I’m still reading every day, sometimes two books a day. I’m still watching way too many movies for everyone else’s good as they’re subjected to my randomly spewing one-liners at them, which I find hilarious, but them, not so much. (Apparently, not enough people have watched Role Models to fully grasp the humor of hearing me tell my daughter, “I will hit a child,” without feeling like they should call in Children’s Services. I get a kick out of it though. On second thought, maybe I should stop quoting that line to strangers’ ill-mannered kids? That could be taking it a tad too far. Something to mull over later I s’pose.)

And, of course, I’m still writing. As a matter of fact, I’ve been bombarded by my muse lately. I see and hear so many stories that I can barely make note of them before I’m getting another burst of inspiration. I have so many unanswered questions that I’m dying to answer in my stories. It can be a little overwhelming sometimes. I love it!

My biggest goal continues to be implementing and maintaining a writing routine that fits into my already overfilled schedule. I read Holly’s “Write A Book With Me” post over on her blog today. Very interesting and I’m going to try it. Many of her techniques and strategies are working for me, why not try one more.

On that note, I am going to sign off for sleepy time.

Do you ever wonder how much more we could accomplish if we didn’t have to spend time on such trivial tasks as waste elimination and sleep?

Just something to ponder when you’re bored.

Toodles y’all!

I am officially way behind in the writing course. Thankfully, I’ve read several classmates’ postings saying they are as well. It’s coming up on Week 10 and I’m still on Week 5. I don’t feel so bad when I read others are still around Week 3 and 4. I’m not totally disappointed with my progress but I need to get back on the wagon quickly so I don’t lose the momentum I was steadily building up in Week 4. It’s a great course though.

My aunt is starting an online creative writing class that sounded pretty interesting so I think I’m going to enroll in that after my six month class with Holly is over. I want to get myself disciplined to write regularly…that’s the only way I’ll ever get published so it’s a high priority on my to-do list.

I am making progress on my new blog. I’ve been brainstorming / clustering ideas for topics to write about. I’m trying to tie it into a book as well so I want to be sure and get ideas down in a setup I can save outside of my blog and build up then compile into a book format.

On a personal note, my daughter is doing well in fourth grade. We’re getting into a routine of getting out of the house for “Field Trip Fridays” and we’re looking to volunteer on a regular basis as well. I think that will definitely help build up her character and help teach her how important it is to give back, pay it forward, if you will.

I went on a fabulous first date this weekend and it looks very promising. Finally someone who is exactly who they say they are. I think we’ll be having a lot of fun together in the coming months. I also watched Eagle Eye this weekend and it was terrific. I’m starting to develop a little crush on Shia *smile*, but nothing to compete with my Josh Hartnett crush *grins*…yet.

I finished Inkheart by Cornelia Funke on Monday and started Jim Butcher’s Proven Guilty (another Dresden Files novel). I need to re-read The Lord of the Rings trilogy before the end of the year because I haven’t done so in 2008; it’s a yearly thing :-)

Until next time–follow your dreams and never stop reaching for the stars!