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2006 NYCHFF Awards Winners Announced
By John Marrone
Oct 24, 2006, 19:46

The 2006 New York City Horror Film Festival announced the winners on Sunday evening after a long weekend of shorts, feature films, and special presentations which we will be posting coverage of in the next couple of days in more detail.  For now, lets take a quick look at the categories and the films that won the awards...

BEST FEATURE

Fingerprints
directed by Harry Basil

Starring Kristen Cavallari, Leah Pipes, Lou Diamond Phillips...  "Fingerprints" is based on the widely publiced urban legend that took place 50 years ago in a small Texas town, where a school bus filled with children are supposedly still in the area where the accident took place. It is said that if a car is put in neutral on the railroad tracks, the children will push the car off the tracks, leaving only 
their ghostly fingerprints behind. The story centers on a troubled teenager who discovers the gruesome truth behind the legend.

Last year it was The Dark Hours that took home this award - it ended up being distributed on DVD here in the US, and theatrically in Canada.  Expect to hear more about Fingerprints in the months to come....

BEST SHORT

Happy Birthday to Me
directed by David Alcade

Clara, a social worker, is going to discover a dark secret on her way to help a kid who is supposed to be suffering from child abuse. But nobody, even herself, is who they pretend to be in this story about murder, cats, and birthday presents.

Last year it was Zombie Movie - this year its Happy Birthday to Me - a psychological twister filled with senseless violence, trippy dream sequences, and gory amputations.  It also took top short honors at LA's Screamfest 2006 - so congratulations to David for taking both shores!  When and if it becomes available for general viewing, HoH will let you know ASAP.

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY 
BEST SPECIAL EFFECTS

The Marsh
directed by Jordon Barker
 
Stars Gabrielle Anwar and Forest Whitaker... Haunted by nightly horrific nightmares, the beautiful Claire Holloway rents an upscale farmhouse in a remote idyllic setting to clear her head, only to discover that she's plunged into
an even more troubled universe - one where it's impossible to distinguish between reality and illusion, a world controlled by the ghost of a murdered eight year old girl.  Is Claire about to become the next victim?

The Marsh is a feature horror film that will rise to the surface of attention in 2007, capturing dual honors - best cinematography and best special effects.  This film has been getting a lot of attention and should become available to the masses in due time.  Congrats go out to special effects artist Max McDonald and cinematographer David Perrault for their outstanding work.

BEST SCREENPLAY
BEST ACTRESS

Last Rites of the Dead (review)
directed by Marc Fratto

Angela is the perfect neighbor. She's quiet, young, pretty, and keeps to herself. But, Angela is different, very different...  she's dead.  She's not the only one. All over the world the recently deceased are returning to life as organized, intelligent, flesh craving members of the Undead. Now, a fight for dominance has broken out between a crazed cult of zombie terrorist and a ragtag militia of zombie hunting humans battling for the survival of mankind as we know it. Stake your claim to survival before it's too late.

If there was one thing that was absolutely original at this year's fest was Marc Fratto's screenplay for LROTD.  Taking the over abundant zombie film, he changed things and delivered us an evolved slant on the living dead that succeeds where unfortunately George Romero's Land of the Dead did not.  This and the combination of the incredible over hot Gina Ramsden, who I remember mentioning weeks ago was a standout lead actress (ahem) won LROTD best screenplay and best actress.  Congrats to Marc and Gina, both of whom we hope to be speaking with in the very near future.  Just gotta shake this crush I have on Gina so Ill be able to speak in full sentences when I see her again.  WOW

BEST ACTOR

Rapturious
directed by Kamal Ahmed
 
John Oppenheimer is an up and coming, self destructive rapper who goes by the stage name "Rapturious" . After a series of bizarre, unexplainable, paranormal events begin to plague him, his paranoia (along with drug use) makes him believe that demons are to blame. This causes hiim to seek professional help, and it is then he discovers he may be the reincarnation of a killer from years past, who somehow managed to escape Hell. Or is he?

Actor Robert "Opal" Oppel takes home the best actor award in Rapturious.  Congratulations go to him for standing out with an exceptional performance amongst exceptional performances...  We'll be taking a closer look at Rapturious in the weeks to come.

AUDIENCE CHOICE

Eddie Loves You
directed by Karl Holt

During a weekend alone a man has a clearout of his old toys and throws the ripped Eddie into the trash. In the middle of the night Eddie is returned to him on his doorstep. Is someone stalking him or is there something more sinister at work?

It was hard to choose from so many good films.  Mime Massacre, Eyes of Samir, and Recently Deceased certainly had to be front runners in this category, judging from the crowd reaction - and The Lost certainly punched a lot of people in the brain, but it was Eddie Loves You, a funny homage to horror films that stood out to the crowd and took the Audience Choice award.  Congratulations to director Karl Holt for winning a very special category - the only one voted on by the fans who paid to get in. 
        

House of Horrors will be posting further coverage of the 2006 NYCHFF - including our NYCHFF experience from a fan's perspective.  We will also be bringing you interviews, Q&A's, and chats with author Jack Ketchum, Patrick Rea and Ryan Jones of SenoReality Pictures, director Kevin Shulman of "Eyes of Samir", legendary director Mick Garris, as well as some insight into my night hanging out and partying with Tony Todd and Ken Foree in the days to come.