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So our next Grossfest 2027 guest announcement should not come to any surprise as her directorial smash debut I:Scream – A Minty Musical put the independent community on notice she is just not another pretty face. She may be known for her work in front and behind the camera in such titles: Amityville Christmas Vacation, Curtains for Christmas, and the Caroushell series. But her unbelievable directorial hit has all of us in the independent community excited about what she does next? Of course we can only be talking about the lovely, the multi-talented, the absolute beauty of a person… Aleen Isley!
For our next Grossfest 2027 guest announcement you know we cannot have Grossfest without him. His last film Caroushell 4 has taken this independent filmmaker to new heights of popularity in the independent community and makes us question how much longer before he takes his talents to the big time as he collects awards for several of his most recent projects and is just getting started. There is only one person in the room we can give this to: we like to introduce the man, the myth, the Grossfest legend… Steve Rudzinski!
So for the next Grossfest 2027 guest announcement this youthful duo needs no introduction as they have seen and done it all in independent cinema as they are past Grossfest Lifetime Achievement Award winners. This cute duo truly oozes independent filmmaking through and through as their careers have spanned over five decades and not stopping now as they have us super excited for their next project that starts production in Spring 2027 called “Dracula vs. The Groovy Chick”. We are beyond honored and happy to have the ones and only David and Diana Silvio! (P.S. as you can see one picture can say a thousand words about these two.)
The Executioner II (Tubi) – I know there is a recent special edition of this forgotten action flick too for the physical media collectors. There is a serial killer or vigilante on the streets of LA cleaning up the streets as police and mob people are baffled who it is but both want rid of the person. The film looks more like 1977 than 1984 but adds to the exploitation of the flick that comes complete with Vietnam flashbacks, a gang bothering innocent people of course, a cop’s daughter needing “the dope” who gets into more trouble she can handle, a mob dude known as the tattoo man, and the detective who figures out his Vietnam buddy is the one going out looking for criminals. It is no “The Exterminator” but it does the job for those of who love these action type of flicks from the early 80s as I give it 2 stars.
Virus of the Dead (DVD) – A viral outbreak story is told across 15 segments of this anthology using cameras, phones, etc., that was edited together and shot by over a dozen directors. With the editing aspect you are able to see the progression of the outbreak through several people’s point of views, different parts of the world, and how they are reacting to it. For me this didn’t feel like a true anthology or a found footage film (as some critics called this 2018 project) but an independent zombie flick going for a different take on the genre? Definitely the project “5G Zombies” borrowed this idea and did a much worse execution of the concept. I enjoy zombie films as I just believe this concept isn’t for me. I think the concept was the right kind of thinking before COVID just needed that little something to make it stand away from the bloated zombie genre as I give it 2 out of 4 stars.
Friday the 13th Blood Loss (Blu-ray) – A fan made feature about the infamous Camp Crystal Lake that has Ari Lehman playing a bartender who begins to tell a story to two young men who are there just to piss around because like many they have heard about the legend of Jason. Apparently the legendary campground has been reopened again as the stories of Jason refuse to go away. But with a few recent nearby homicides and a child gone missing who fell in the lake this only fuels the community to wonder if Jason has returned. A down on his luck detective is brought in on the case of the missing kid more like fresh eyes to the case, plus a second chance for him to keep his job. As the detective digs deeper into the case he learns that many believe the lake is the source of all the problems that have surrounded this community for decades and talking to a ghost isn’t helping his sanity. Overall the film starts off solid having Jason involved but more of a background character like his ghost mother but in the end the film feels like a mess as the story feels like it falls apart and with no real ending other than the boy being found. Now, I also can see I am contradicting myself, but it felt there was no real ending to tie everything together as I can only give the project 1 ½ out of 4 stars.
Pantomime (Google Drive) – The latest short film from filmmaker Matthew Diulus who gives us a magnificently fun project about a clown found in a park. Also a reminder to stay away especially when they have signs on trees nearby declaring “Beware of Clowns”. Melissa Sapienza makes this short film special with her inherently creepy performance as the killer clown! Because of all that this film deserves 4 out of 4 stars.
Wrath of the Skunk Ape (YouTube) – An oldie but a goodie from 1997 out there free to watch from the early days of Mike Hartman and Silver Bullet Pictures. This SOV feature has an old dude hunting for the notorious creature in the woods that killed his brother many years before. For whatever reason when the skunk ape isn’t stealing campers’ beans and bananas it attacks unsuspecting campers and kidnaps beautiful women. This is some fun hijinx long before this crew made features like “Chubbies” and “Blood Orgy at Beaver Lake” as I give this feature 2 out of 4 stars.
Big Shark (Tubi) – Finally the project has been released into the wild for all of us to see as for years we would hear it wasn’t finished or played at some film festival no one heard about. Anyway, the cult star Tommy Wiseau wrote, directed, and stars in a shark film about three firefighters in New Orleans that are put into action to go kill a “big shark”! The film is as bizarre, absurd, and incoherent as advertised but I do quite enjoy Tommy Wiseau wearing a hat and gloves at all times throughout this mess whether he is in a wet suit or not and for that I can still only give 1 star for this.
Emotional Support Shark (Blu-ray) – A Mark Polonia flick that doesn’t fall into his usual stuff but also not exactly the killer shark film horror fans would be used too. Tim Hatch is Virgil the janitor for the local aquarium attraction that has sharks. Virgil is quite attached to the sharks as he spends time everyday to talk and watch them. Virgil truly feels these amazing animals are his only friends as this project takes the slow burn approach with shark psychology and physiology that builds up pressure on the main character of Virgil as he feels only comfort with them. There is a part in the film where Virgil is under pressure to pay his bills as he is behind but he has no internet and then two minutes later he is looking at something on a laptop, lol. As the walls are closing in Virgil of possibly being fired, poked fun at by the beautiful receptionist, bullied by his supervisor, etc. Virgil has dreams of someone killing people with a shark mask. It is a fun pressure cooker I believe most are not used to seeing from Mark as you start to wonder if there really is a killer, is Virgil the killer, or is there something entirely different going on here? Definitely a very different killer shark film from the independent filmmaker as I give 3 out of 4 stars.
Hey Chuck (DVD) – A short film project from Broaden Torture Productions that is quite entertaining nine minutes of a young man being followed by a demented individual. This demented individual tortures the young man and only speaks the words “Hey Chuck” while following him… everywhere! And its hilarious where they have him followed so if you need a few laughs this is worth checking out as I give it 3 out of 4 stars.
The Final Wasteland (DVD) – Another feature from the Broaden Torture guys as they head to their final wasteland convention knowing they will with to contend with their old friend Dan. Things seem to go well until finally they begin to interact with their friend and all hell breaks loose as Dan makes sure it is the last convention the boys attend. I give the project 2 out of 4 stars.
Pigskin (YouTube) – Another interesting short film project from MMH Productions as they are tasked with making a quickie film about a killer football player. The crew takes an hour and a camcorder and came up with this with the promise of a sequel soon. MMH Productions is constantly coming up with off the wall independent projects and mainly short film style but don’t sleep on this talent as I like how weird Mr. Hunter gets when it comes to the features as I give this 2 out of 4 stars for its on the spot idea.
Our next guest for Grossfest 2027 is just an absolute sweetheart who has taken the independent world by storm with her perky, peaceful, joyful talent and personality. But don’t let that fool you as this actor has been hard at work the past six years showing off at break neck speed what they got to offer in such titles as The Legend of Crick Foot, Killer Campout II, The Slasher Nurse, Return of the Corn Zombies, along with many other soon to be released titles Crackcoons, Shriekshow 2, and In the Midnight Hour, Black Sheep! Of course we can only be talking about the lovely Chanda Rawlings!
For our next Grossfest 2027 guest announcement is someone who will only be there for one day (Saturday) but one day is all we will need for this talented underground filmmaker. This person retired several years ago from being a filmmaker to pursue a dream of owning a toy store and running one of the biggest toy shows on the east coast in Ohio. But there are quite a few of us that remember such titles as Toxic Shock Zombies, Slashing Prices, Holy Shit… Zombies!, and a few others including the famous unfinished project Incest Bernie: The Legend of Blood Forest that just hit for all of us in the early 2000s. Now this person in pursuing their dream (Toyhio) brings in thousands of toy collectors on a regular basis to their show that runs a couple times a year. We are so happy to bring into Pittsburgh not just a talented person but a great longtime friend as we can only be talking about… Rick Fusselman!
For our next Grossfest 2027 announcement this filmmaker we have known for a couple decades now. This independent filmmaker is a Long Island-based writer / producer / director and actor. In 2001, he and his partner, Robert Harrison, created the self-distributing film production company Ramsteer Films. Among the short films featured in Ramsteer’s catalog of titles are Remover (2001), Bad Review (2003), and Secretary’s Day! (2005). This person not only wrote, directed, and produced a number of these shorts, but also handled wardrobe, editing, set design, cinematography, and special make-up effects as well as acted in all of the films. Ramsteer Films disbanded in 2006.Some of this person’s acting credits include Mulva: Zombie Ass Kicker! (2000), Chosen (2004), Ski-Wolf (2008), Blitzkrieg:Escape From Stalag 69 (2008) and Mulva: Demon Ass Kicker! (2026).Also acted in a few sketches on Troma’s EdgeTV (2000) and has helped produced a number of recent films, including Screamwalkers (2023), The Ex-Change (2025), Nazi Werewolves From the Moon (2026) and the upcoming documentary What an Institution: The Story of Police Academy. In 2022, released a Friday the 13th tribute film, Victim No More, and has plans to release its feature-length anthology sequel, Loose Ends – Victim No More Part II, in 2027. This person’s career has been all over the place proving you can do what you love but also be a cool person to get to know as we can only be talking about our good friend… Bob Heckman!
We are just gonna come right out of the gate with guest announcements as we got a huge reaction with this one at our past show. This filmmaker all their life has just wanted to make movies. Their outrageous comedic humor, writing, directing has become a celebrated staple in the independent community throughout the 90s,00s,10s. Within the past couple years there was a documentary about their work that was absolutely wonderful called “Zero Budget Heroes”. This person has given you characters like Mulva, Teenape, and such films as Sexsquatch, Terror at Blood Fart Lake, The Weirdsies. This extremely talented, funny, super cool individual with their band of misfits has made over 65 films and doing it for 35 years… we can only be talking about the one, the only from Low Budget Pictures… Please welcome to Grossfest 2027, Mr. Chris Seaver!
After the Millenium (Blu-ray) – This is an excellent 2 ½ hour deep dive documentary into Chris Carter’s creation that changed television in 1996. With X-files slowly becoming a huge hit on Fox, the network turned to Chris to do it again as we got a very dark show about groups within the government that work outside of the lines preparing for the oncoming millennium that some believed would be the end of mankind? The show centered on a retired profiler in Frank Black (Lance Henriksen) who has a talent unlike most profilers to get in the killer’s mind. This dark departure from the X-files is something I think people at the time claimed to be ready for but were not as this show went to places that wasn’t seen before on networks. This documentary is such a nerd thing but great thing if you were a fan of the show as it has interviews with everyone (except Terry O’Quinn which I am not sure why as they all spoke well of him). The doc breaks down many episodes, how they were getting on television, to the reason the show was getting canceled as most behind the scenes blame television watching habits were already starting to change in 1999. I loved how deep this gets into the Frank Black character but it was really cool to see Lance Henriksen just relish the idea of speaking about the character again. If you were a big nerd for the show in the 90s like I was this will satisfy the hunger to know more as I give it 4 stars.
Second Chance (YouTube) – Grey Valley is a location where it seems there is a struggle between God and the Devil or who actually believes in them? This 2020 film is about a christian community dealing with a cult that has shown up to revive Satan as the cult believes in the second coming. Many in the town ignore or ignorant to the fact that bodies are beginning to pile up and this cult is going to take over. Kudos to the filmmaker for taking on some cool old school horror that I believe with a tweak here or there would get the independent film in fun creepy territory. I enjoyed the concept but the one thing that kept bothering me was the music as from beginning to end if there was different music that more fits the theme of this feature I believe there would be more eyes on this project as I give it 2 out of 4 stars.
Scribbles from the Crypt (DVD) – This anthology comes in different with its August Underground/Nekromantik imagery to begin the project with its four stories that hit more like a lost 80s SOV film. First story has a man reflecting on his madness and murder, the second story tackles a man’s obsession with death, as the third story is about a woman who has always felt she had more in common with the dead than the living, and the last story deals with a young woman seeing it through to become a witch. Surprisingly this anthology kept my interest and succeeded where some others failed because of it embracing its low budget, knowing the idea of an anthology flow and connection, the passion behind this felt genuine, understanding of editing, but also its play with colors and being a little abstract at times. This was quite a piece of entertainment that I haven’t heard much on so take a chance and check this independent project out as I give it 3 out of 4 stars.
Popeye Resurrection (Tubi) – Another sequel into ITN Entertainment’s franchise that I am not sure why I am still paying attention to as a survivor (Cassie) from the last entry is trying to get over the horror of the Popeye experiment. Cassie having nightmares long after and isolating herself mostly except for the roommate she has to cope with the problem. Cassie’s roommate convinces Cassie to take a trip to her cabin with her just to get away? But they don’t mind the cult members already hanging out in the cabin as they wait for nightfall to plan bringing order to chaos as they want to have a ritual to bring Popeye back. Popeye comes back for ten minutes, the slaughter is on, Cassie must confront her nightmare, and this feels completely lazy and boring as I can only give this terrible sequel a ½ star.
Water Park Shark (Tubi) – Same person that gave us “Sharknado” gives us a new fun shark terror flick in which sharks have entered a water park. Wicked Waves water park has a celebrated football player come back home to work at the water park for a second chance. As Austin Dillard finds his way around, sharks are finding their way through the park’s drain system to attack unexpecting humans. Of course the mayor/owner of the park doesn’t want word to get out as the park is not as popular as it once was so of course he is trying to use all the electricity from the park to help mine for crypto in his park basement bunker. The high current is what makes the sharks search out the park to feed! It’s hilarious and fun but it lacks one thing and that would have been a premiere of SyFy Channel during “Shark Week”. It was a yearly fun thing that made it an event for horror movie fans to get killer shark movies every year. But now it just doesn’t feel right and actually feels it takes a little something away from watching something this fun as I give it 2 ½ stars.
Bambi: The Reckoning (Tubi) – Now I am not expecting a whole lot from this CG garbage as I just wanted to see a deer fuck shit up! And to their credit they gave me a mutant deer fucking people up. Anyway, deer and a few other animals drink the toxic waste that has been spilled in the forest, they mutate, now the animals are pissed. As Bambi stalks a family living out in the middle of the woods, a small group is trying to contain the mutant animals to dispose of them so there is no evidence of what has been done. You got a whiny kid, a crazy grandma, and a mutated deer that just fucks humans up… yep I enjoyed as I give it 2 stars.
Peter Pan’s Neverland Nightmare (Tubi) – This is an odd but interesting tale of a dude calling himself Peter Pan who is looking for boys to take them to Neverland, shooting up Pixie dust, and has a strung out woman living with him named Tinkerbell. A bizarre and somewhat brutal tale of a serial killer who snatches up his latest victim Michael but whose sister Wendy refuses to give up trying to find who snatched up her brother. But this isn’t any regular kidnapping as Peter Pan goes on an oddity of killing spree of a school bus and Michael’s friends’ family. For whatever reason this delusional serial killer believes Michael is his chance to be young again in Neverland but it soon becomes an unsuspecting bloodbath of a feature that I was glad I watched as I give it 2 ½ stars.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — August 21, 2026 — Trailblazing dark symphonic composers Midnight Syndicate have officially released their new studio album, Plankett’s Grove, available today on physical media and all major streaming platforms. Celebrated as foundational audio architects of the haunt, Halloween, and tabletop gaming industries, duo Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka return with an 18-track immersive orchestral work designed to transport listeners into a shadowy realm of gothic mystery and dark fantasy. Building on nearly three decades of pioneering “soundtracks to imaginary films,” Plankett’s Grove delivers the signature blend of orchestral composition, haunting melodies, and immersive sound design that has defined the group’s legacy.
When Midnight Syndicate emerged in the late 1990s, Halloween music was largely limited to novelty pop tracks, basic sound-effects tapes, hard-to-find movie soundtracks, or vocal-driven darkwave. Douglas and Goszka broke new ground by blending full-scale cinematic orchestration with immersive ambient soundscapes—offering a level of production quality previously unheard in the niche genre. This distinct instrumental approach quickly established Midnight Syndicate as the premier music supplier for the professional haunted attraction, amusement park, and Halloween retail industries, while simultaneously filling a crucial void for board and tabletop role-playing gamers seeking pure atmospheric soundtracks for their sessions.
“Our last full-length release was inspired by a themed 19th-century European nightclub, so we thought we’d take things in the opposite direction for this one and set it in a world that is far more rural and secluded,” said Gavin Goszka.
“We asked our fan community, Legions of the Night, where they’d like to see us go next, and that definitely helped make the decision. Folk horror is a treasure trove of creative inspiration with so many directions you can go,” added Douglas. “It made exploring this new section of the Midnight Syndicate world both rewarding and exciting.”
“Plankett’s Grove is set near the town of Illswich. Rather than making the town abandoned, where the listener’s task would be to uncover the mysteries of what once was, we decided it might be interesting to keep this location very much active and alive, although not without its own share of dark secrets,” said Goszka.
For nearly three decades, Cleveland-based composers Edward Douglas and Gavin Goszka—known collectively as Midnight Syndicate—have been world-renowned pioneers in dark symphonic music, gothic ambient soundscapes, and cinematic world-building. Known as foundational audio architects of the haunted house, Halloween, and TTRPG music genres, Douglas and Goszka revolutionized the concept of a band that creates “soundtracks to imaginary films” by blending full-scale orchestral compositions with film-quality ambient sound design beginning in the 1990s.
Since 1997, Midnight Syndicate has earned an international reputation as premier audio suppliers for the haunted attraction and amusement park industries. Industry analysts estimate that at peak adoption, 75% to 90% of commercial haunted attractions globally utilized Midnight Syndicate’s music. Their compositions have been featured extensively across major global entertainment brands and international theme parks—including Universal Studios’ Halloween Horror Nights (spanning multi-decade collaborations and custom vinyl releases), Cedar Point’s HalloWeekends, Busch Gardens, Six Flags, Ripley Entertainment, Europe’s Alton Towers and PortAventura, Spirit Halloween, and Hot Topic. They have been featured on broadcast programming from SiriusXM’s Scream Radio, NBC, CBS, ABC, SyFy, and ESPN, as well as live stage shows by horror music icons The Misfits and King Diamond.
In 2003, Midnight Syndicate broke ground in the tabletop gaming community by collaborating with Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro to produce the first official soundtrack to the legendary role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. The album pioneered the use of atmospheric music tailored specifically for tabletop gaming sessions, establishing a precedent that influenced the modern TTRPG music genre. The band’s cultural legacy has been recognized with multiple Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Awards, as well as ENNIE and Origins gaming awards. Their album Out of the Darkness was included in Rue Morgue Magazine’s list of “50 Essential Horror Albums” that defined genre music over the decades.
The world of Midnight Syndicate encapsulates a dark ambient discography spanning over sixteen studio albums, multimedia live theater productions, original motion picture projects—including the feature film The Dead Matter (produced by Midnight Syndicate Films, directed and co-written by Douglas)—and scores to films like The Rage and Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan. Midnight Syndicate operates independently under Entity Productions and Linfaldia Records. Maintaining total creative control over their catalog, Douglas and Goszka continue to produce fine-art conceptual pressings and immersive album universes that captivate fans of horror, fantasy, and classical crossover music worldwide.
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