The first three films to screen will be "Zombie Beach," "Crustacean" and "Boneyard Collection," which should tell you everything you need to know about the focus of the Imagi-Movies Film Festival, which opens on Friday, April 8 at the normally staid Laemmle's Music Hall 3 in the heart of Beverly Hills.
The festival will also include a Vincent Price Centennial celebration, a tribute to the 80th anniversary of "Dracula," a selection of movies based on H.P. Lovecraft's books and a rare screening of "Stephen King's Dollar Babies," short films drawn from King's short stories.
An annual tribute to all things horror and sci-fi oriented, the Imagi-Movies festival is presented by the magazine and website Famous Monsters of Filmland, which has been mining this genre for 53 years. It is designed to celebrate the legacy of the magazine's founder and editor, the late sci-fi fan and collector Forrest J. Ackerman.
Special guests at the festival's panels will include director/producer Roger Corman, director William Malone and Vincent Price's daughter Victoria Price, who will appear at a panel after screenings of Price's films "The Masque of the Red Death" and "The Abominable Dr. Phibes"; Bela Lugosi Jr. and Carla Laemmle, who will speak after the screening of a special print of the 1931 classic "Dracula"; and other horror and sci-fi filmmakers.
A collection of new independent shorts and features submitted to Famous Monsters and chosen by a special jury will also be screened.
There are no Godzilla movies on the bill, but a portion of the proceeds will go o the Red Cross to aid in tsunami and earthquake relief in Japan.
And while the films screened at the Imagi-Movies festival are not exactly the kind you'll find competing for Oscars, it's worth noting that on the weekend of the fest, two of the films that the Academy will be screening for its members at its headquarters across the street from the Laemmle's Music Hall might even fit the Imagi-Movies bill.
On Saturday, while Imagi-Movies are showing the shorts collection "The Reel!" ("twisted and fantastic visions of life, death and the world around us"), AMPAS will screen the violent, dark superhero comedy "Super." And the following day, while the Laemmle audience watches a Vincent Price movie, Academy members will see Duncan Jones' sci-fi thriller "Source Code."
The full list of films and the screening schedule – which also includes sneak peaks and previews of upcoming horror, sci-fi and fantasy films – is available at the festival website.
