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CARNIVAL OF DARKNESS'S ALEX BRAM: GREAT ACTORS MAKE FOR GREAT HORROR FILMS

by Thomas M. Sipos, managing editor [October 27, 2012]

[HollywoodInvestigator.com] Great acting -- or the lack thereof! -- is what most separated winners from losers at the third annual Carnival of Darkness horror film festival, which screened on October 25, 2012.

According to festival founder and director Alex Bram, "Acting [is] the deal killer in many films -- the number one reason I have to reject films.

"Folks, move to L.A. or New York if you want to be filmmakers. It's not that you aren't brilliant sound designers or cinematographers or writers. That part is very democratic. You can nail that no matter what part of the world you live in.

"But if you are an otherwise brilliant filmmaker living in Montana, and it comes time to find the cast for your film, you will have a much more limited pool of actors to pick from. People end up casting friends and family, or people in their local theater programs.

"I'm not being snobby," Bram adds. "It's just simple math. Even in Los Angeles, which is crawling with actors, it's a challenge to successfully cast a film. This is the cold, hard fact folks. Sorry."

Since its founding, Carnival of Darkness has been -- and remains -- a "shorts only" film festival. This season they received "over 200 submissions," of which only 14 films were screened.

Among those submissions, "We had two unicorn films," said Bram. "And two films where the girl who seems to be running from the bad guys turns out to be the bad guy in the end. There's always a lot of zombies. And folks always want to film themselves naked and send that in to me."

None of the nudie films were selected, so if you want your horror short to screen at Carnival of Darkness in 2013, it's best to keep your clothes on!

Apart from casting great actors for your horror short, Bram offers one additional piece of advice: "I always look for suspense, which is an art."

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