Frightening Ass Film Festival posterIf You Go> What: Frightening Ass Film Fest 4.> When: 7 p.m.-2:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 31.> Where: Barking Legs Theater, 1307 Dodds Ave.> Admission: $10.> Phone: 423-624-5347.> Website: www.barkinglegs.org
Chris Dortch was sitting in Champy’s Chicken in downtown Chattanooga when he heard an elderly man nearby declare in a Southern drawl: “This is a good a piece of chicken.” Suddenly, Dortch had the perfect name for his annual film festival.
“Here in Tennessee, Southerners use (that word) as an intensifier so why not a Frightening Ass Film Festival; now we’re in our fourth year,” said Dortch, whose passion for horror movies ranges from brilliant Hollywood jewels like Val Lewton’s film noirs to B-movie baubles like “Spider Baby” in which a bug-munching murderess traps humans in a giant web.
This year’s lineup includes “The Babadook,” a critically acclaimed Australian film about a young widow whose son has nightmares about a monster slaughtering them. When a creepy picture book called “The Babadook” mysteriously appears in their home, he spots his nightmare beast in it, prompting bratty hysteria so severe, mommy medicates him – only to discover his monster was real.
In “The Demon’s Rook” little Roscoe is kidnapped by a demon hiding under his bed who raises the little boy in a hellish universe. Roscoe escapes back into our world followed by three demons. Dortch says he loves this indie movie, financed via crowdsourcing, which achieves stunning special effects without CGI.