When the lights go down and the blood splatters across the screen at this weekend’s Reel Terror Film Festival the audience will be watching more than just a few scary movies. The 12 films selected for the fest represent the unwavering commitment and drive of the filmmakers, a diverse bunch of professionals and enthusiasts who devote countless hours and sink untold amounts of spare cash into their love. But why horror? Why not make a nice romantic comedy?
“My mother is also an avid horror fan and she took me to see horror films with her when I was as young as 3 to 4 years old,” says Robert Kreh, the writer/director of Knicker Knockers. “The first film I recall seeing was one of the early Nightmare on Elm Street films. But I saw all the classics at a young age.” Kreh’s Knicker Knockers is a creepy, well-made short about a pregnant woman terrorized by a creature lurking just outside her home. It was shot over five summer evenings in 2009 — in a beautiful Bayshore home owned by the very generous Bill Hayes — by a crew made up mostly of Kreh’s former classmates at the International Academy of Design & Technology in Tampa. “Yeah, I exclusively do horror,” Kreh continued. “I honestly don’t have much interest in any other genre.”
