@TheBlueTook’s Slaughtered Summary, 2015!

- By @TheBlueTook

Well, it’s nearly over, and 2015 has been another excellent year for us here at The Slaughtered Bird. Our wonderful readers (that’s you sexy devils) have read through our regular wafflings in increasing numbers, and more and more artists – new and established – have sought us out to chat all things morbid and macabre, keeping us abreast of their creations; current and upcoming.

I’ve got so many highlights, more than I can possibly recount for you guys, but here lies a small few, for varying reasons – some universally pleasant, some more personal.

First, I’d like to begin at the end and mention a certain small feature you may have heard of, which hit our screens just before Christmas – Star Wars: The Force Awakens! It wouldn’t be right if I didn’t start a summary by mentioning potentially the biggest film ever, and Folklore’s review may just be his best to date.

Anyways, back to January…
For me, it’s always a special moment when one of our best buddies, Zombie Rob, drops by and graces the site with his opinions on whatever he may have recently jammed into his eyes. So, what better way to kick off the new year than with his thoughts on remakes, and how he’s been duped to within an inch of his sanity, only for unexpected gems to drag him back from the brink.

Soon after, I was blown away by Wyrmwood – a bonkers Australian zombie action film which I honestly didn’t expect a great deal from, yet was compelled by its excellence to write an impromptu review. Also, around the same time, I was asked to revisit 1985 Bava classic Demons, which I thoroughly enjoyed all over again.

March saw my partner in grime and Bird co-owner, Folklore, interview Alterna Comics top boy, Peter Simeti; a man who, no matter how big his company gets, always has time for a natter – a true gent. At the opposite end of the spectrum, I had the pleasure of spending some time with the guys from Ramon Film Productions – this gangs’ work has to be seen to be believed and their personal circumstances makes for a fascinating story!

A great few weeks was rounded off soon after by Jonas Govaerts’s Cub – one of my favourite films of the year.

A pet hate of mine is trying to compile ‘Favourite’ lists! I’m hopeless at remembering stuff and never fail to accidentally miss things out. One thing I am sure of, though, is my #1 film of 2015 – Spring, by Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson. I didn’t review it personally, but I’ve included our contributor’s views.

A film I did review, however, and loved nearly as much, was Juan Ortiz’s Jennifer Help Us, filmed entirely on an iPhone.
A special mention also has to go to our long-serving Stateside boy, Bryan Stumpf, who gave us this brilliant rundown of the Hollywood Underground Film Festival.

The month of May saw filmmaker, Onur Tukel, describe our thorough chat as having his “head pried open and brain poked with a pencil”! Good or bad, I’ve no fucking idea, but I enjoyed doing it nonetheless!
This period also witnessed the birth of our stonking logo - created by the brilliant Paul Johnson.

My favourite read of the year come from author Adam Howe in the shape of Black Cat Mojo. Thankfully, we were lucky enough to strike up a friendship with Adam, who has since provided exclusive articles for our site – The Doctor Will Bone You Now being the first.
June also saw me chat with the lovely Ellen Macnevin, star of the excellent Suspension, and It Follows hit our screens – another that would list amongst my year’s favourite films.

In the last few weeks we’re honoured to announce we’ve linked with brilliant indie horror production company SRS Cinema, led by filmmaker Ron Bonk. In July, though, we didn’t know this and instead enjoyed the wacky She Kills for its merits, completely independent of the linkup. If this wasn’t enough, Folklore also had the pleasure of meeting and chatting to horror icon and legend Ken Foree.

Folklore continued his chatty exploits in August, meeting Banjo director Liam Regan, and we both attended the Liverpool Horror Festival, summarised here.

September turned out to be a huge month for good and bad reasons…
Good: the excellent Deathgasm continued to smash it at the festivals, and I also got the opportunity to chat to Hollywood superstar Tomas Arana.
Bad: the passing of the great Wes Craven – although author Adrian Roe’s exclusive tribute was an inspiring read.

After a great interview with director Paul Hyett, October went from strength to strength – Adam Howe followed up his Dr Challis mash-up with The Damn Dirty Apes Controversy, while Dark Star blew us all away with its fascinating tribute to HR Giger.

The Bird evolved further still by branching out into film sponsoring – Tofiq Rzayev’s excellent short, The Cleaner, proudly displaying our logo in its opening credits.

I have a short film set to shoot in March, Burn, a Slaughtered Bird production, directed by the very talented Judson Vaughan, and speaking to such inspirational souls as Craig Conway, Shaun Robert Smith, and Rafaello Degruttola (director of the awesome Flim) recently has really spurred us on and filled us with enthusiasm to see what 2016 will bring.

From the bottom of our dark hearts, THANK YOU. We’re lucky to have such loyal and vocal support, and we look forward to hearing from you and writing articles about your work in 2016.

All the best,

Chris ‘@TheBlueTook’ Barnes