Back in 2006, I stumbled upon a few movies at a convention that would open my eyes to a whole sub-genre of horror that I didn’t really know existed. Those movies were August Underground and Slaughtered Vomit Dolls. Up until that point I hadn’t really seen the kind of violent brutality and incredibly realistic and nasty gore FX on the screen. While Slaughtered Vomit Dolls was never really my thing (I’m not into the whole puke motif), the August Underground films became treasures. There was a period of a few years that I really fell out of the whole horror scene completely, but have thankfully found my way back. In coming back, and wanting to find some more extreme horror like those films I watched long ago, I stumbled around the production company Unearthed Films.
What first brought me to Unearthed was reading about the American Guinea Pig series. Way back when I had seen a couple of the original Japanese Guinea Pig flicks and absolutely adored them. To read that there was a company doing an American series comparable to the Japanese series, I was immediately excited. I remember before buying any of the DVD’s I watched the Bouquet of Guts and Gore and Bloodshock trailers a million times. I have since purchased all the movies in the series that have been released and love them all. They are all pretty different, but amazing nonetheless. The one constant is brutality and gore. I really can’t wait to see what else they do with this series.
Digging through the Unearthed catalog so far has been a gold mine for me. It’s great to be able to get my hands on newer extreme flicks that I wouldn’t be able to find in a Wal-Mart. I am glad that I don’t have to be cut off from up and coming independent horror filmmakers that wouldn’t see their films distributed by other more “mainstream” indie horror distribution companies. They have even started a new line called Too Extreme for Mainstream, which contains flicks that can NOT be made available through outlets like Amazon due to their graphic content. These are the worst of the worst (or you may say best of the best) that you probably wouldn’t be able to access any other way.
Not only does Unearthed Films keep their selection brimming with new releases, they also pay homage to some of great horror classics of yesteryear. Although it has been out of print for some time, they did an official release of the original Japanese Guinea Pig series. They also have another line called Unearthed Classics, which has seen the release of some great horror flicks of the 70’s and 80’s.
Another big reason I’ve grown to love Unearthed Films so much is their familial atmosphere among fans and creators. The Unearthed Films Facebook group is probably the group I check out the most. There you see the big dawg of UF, Stephen Biro, and other directors shooting the breeze with the fans. Everyone is very down to earth, and its like one big family.
I could go on for days, but don’t just take my word for it. Do some research and then grab your first UF release. The great thing is their selection is SO diverse. They have extreme possession/exorcism films like Song of Solomon, to more arthouse style/philosophical gore flicks, and even a batshit crazy animated feature called Where the Dead Go to Die. If you can stomach some of the more extreme aspects of the horror genre you are bound to find something you’ll enjoy. I am currently doing all Unearthed movies for my October horror challenge. I’ll post the graphic below. Just pick a film on that list and dig in!
