The festival is coordinated through a partnership of St. Petersburg based iHorror.com and Ybor based production company, The Power Station. The company, co-founded by Dan Myrick (Director of The Blair Witch Project) and Jeffrey Reddick (Creator of The Final Destination franchise) will primarily focus on producing horror in the Tampa Bay area.
It was a grueling 12 hour day of 2 hour blocks of short horror (both local and worldwide), an awards presentation and an industry talk with Dan and Jeffrey. I was also lucky enough to squeeze in a ghost tour of the building and learn of the dark history of the Cuban Club. I did witness some weird shit involving a flashlight and a bouncy ball in the basement. The festival was a great experience for those in the industry and fans alike and I look forward to attending in the future.
Finley is the story of an evil ventriloquists dummy struggling at his craft who eventually gets his opportunity to shine. It is written, directed, filmed and edited by J. Zachary Thurman and co-written with Maddison Stroud. It stars Alexa Leigh Fletcher, Brooke Wallace and Keith Dowsett as college roommates who get a little more than they bargained for in a new living arrangement and Chase Anderson and Mike Pearson as a pair of unfortunate burglars. There is also what I believe to be an uncredited child worked in for hilariously edited motion shots.
Finley is a highly entertaining short that has a nice balance between humor and brutality. It has taken home quite a few festival awards including best production design at the iHorror Film Festival. I would highly recommend any fan of horror/comedy spend 25 minutes of your life watching Finley.
