One night, in an abandoned theatre, six twisted tales are told as a puppet (played by Udo Keir) takes Ken Kasten’s protagonist, Enola Penny, on a trip through a Theatre Bizarre of fear, shock, laughter, and gory delights.

Richard Stanley follows a young couple in the French Pyrenees in “Mother of Toads” – a Lovecraftian discovery of the dark side of magic that sets the stage for the wild trip to follow. In Buddy Giovinazzo’s “I Love You” a crumbling relationship takes a grisly turn in this brutally blunt and vicious view of the human condition. In Tom Savini’s “Wet Dreams,” limbs and loins are unabashedly violated as reality informs an unfaithful husband’s Freudian nightmares. A young girl and her mother reflect upon a roadside accident in Doug Buck’s “The Accident”- a gut-wrenching meditation on death. In Karrim Hussain’s psychologically horrific “Vision Stains,” a writer’s determination to record the visions and memories of others enters forbidden territory.

And in a delightful and dizzying concoction of comedy and horror, David Gregory’s “Sweets” offers up a sugarfest for a relationship gone sour- and is the perfect dessert to complete the filmmakers unforgettable feast. –Oldenburg Film Festival

Director

Buddy Giovinazzo

Buddy Giovinazzo is an independent filmmaker and author who is known for his gritty-low budget debut film, Combat Shock, and his collection of harrowing short stories of low urban life in his 1993 novel, Life is Hot in Cracktown.

Born May 5, 1957 in New York City, Buddy grew up in Staten Island. He went to the College of Staten Island where he graduated with a Masters in Cinema, later teaching film there as well.

He is the brother of Rick Giovinazzo (Ricky) who is a composer, orchestrator, and the star of his premier film, Combat Shock. His cousin is television and film star, Carmine Giovinazzo.

His novel, Life is Hot in Cracktown, was recently adapted into a feature film by Giovinazzo himself as writer and director. It will be seeing distribution in the United States soon. —wikipedia

Karim Hussain

Co-writer of Nacho Cerda’s THE ABANDONED (2006), Karim Hussain is also known for his controversial first feature film as a director, SUBCONSCIOUS CRUELTY (2000) and the art-house genre film ASCENSION (2003), Winner of the New Visions Award at the Sitges Film Festival in Spain, and the short film LA DERNIÈRE VOIX (THE CITY WITHOUT WINDOWS) that Hussain co-directed in 2002, and was nominated for a Jutra (Quebec Academy Award) for Best Short. Between 1997-2001 he was a programmer for the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal and also works as a cinematographer. LA BELLE BÊTE (The Beautiful Beast) (2006) premiered at the Sitges Film Festival and is Hussain’s third feature film as a director. —fantasticfest.blogspot.com

Richard Stanley

Richard Stanley (born 22 November 1966) is a film director and screenwriter born in South Africa. Stanley currently works and lives in London, England.

He has worked on music videos for bands like Fields of the Nephilim, as well as directing a 50-minute length video for Marillion’s concept album, Brave, which has since been released on DVD. In April 2006, it was announced he is to direct a new music video for Fields of the Nephilim’s latest studio album, Mourning Sun.

He has directed two feature films: Hardware in 1990 and Dust Devil in 1993.

Hardware was the subject of controversy when it was revealed that Stanley used the story “Shok!” (published in comic magazine 2000 AD) created by Kevin O’Neill and Steve MacManus for a basis of his screenplay. Only after a court case, which Stanley lost, were the two given writing credits on the film. Hardware is now considered the first 2000 AD story to be adapted into film.

Stanley contributed to the screenplay for… read more

Richard Stanley (born 22 November 1966) is a film director and screenwriter born in South Africa. Stanley currently works and lives in London, England.

He has directed two feature films: Hardware in 1990 and Dust Devil in 1993.

Stanley contributed to the screenplay for the 1996 film The Island of Dr. Moreau but was fired as director at Val Kilmer’s insistence and replaced by John Frankenheimer; the film was nominated for the 1996 Golden Raspberry Awards in several categories, including “worst picture” and “worst screenplay”, albeit the final script drastically differed from the original Stanley version.During this period he also turned down the director’s chair for Judge Dredd (1995) and Spiceworld (1997) which both earned a number of Razzie nominations and one win.

He has since completed two documentary films, The Secret Glory in 2001, examining SS officer Otto Rahn’s search for the Holy Grail and The White Darkness in 2002 which examines voodoo practices in Haiti. Following several festival screenings worldwide, both documentaries appeared in the Dust Devil DVD box-set, released by Subversive Cinema in September 2006.

His most recent efforts include a number of short films released online. The science fiction story The Sea of Perdition premiered in October 2006 at the Festival de Cine de Sitges, and has since been made available through the director’s MySpace page. This stars Maggie Moor who co-wrote and stars in another short film by Stanley, Black Tulips, which is available on YouTube. —wikipedia

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Tom Savini

Dubbed “The Godfather of Gore” for his brilliant make-up and special effects work on countless horror movies, Tom Savini has grossed people out as the guy behind the gore on films ranging from Friday the 13th to Night of the Living Dead to Quentin Tarantino’s From Dusk Till Dawn.

Developing an interest in magic and illusion as a child, when he was inspired by the 1957 Lon Chaney biopic Man of a Thousand Faces, Savini spent most of his youth in his room, inventing characters and experimenting with make-up techniques. After studying acting and directing at Carnegie Mellon University, he went to Vietnam as a combat photographer for the Army; ironically, he would later gain fame for simulating on the screen the same kind of carnage he witnessed first-hand during the war.

Savini first began working as a make-up and special effects man on horror movies during the early 1970s. Some of his more notable work during that decade and the subsequent years includes George A. Romero’s… read more

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Westley

18Apr13

Pretty awesome horror anthology film. There's some really weird stuff going on in this one. Of the short films in the movie I liked 'Vision Stains' and 'Sweets' the most. The others were good too though.

Scout

16Oct12

Absolutely mad. The framing in Gregory's segment is brilliant. Half John Waters, half Stanley Kubrick. He needs to make another feature.

Glim Ho

19Jun12

坑爹无比

Effendi Ben Smith-Malick

30Apr12

This was fucking awful. Just fucking awful. I'd rather watch Whitney than this shit ever again.

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Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.

DVD Review: THE THEATRE BIZARRE

By Twitchfilm.com on April 26, 2012

When Severin Films announced that they were co-producing a horror anthology with six of the edgiest talents in the business, my expectations were pretty high. Expectations can be a dangerous thing in that

→ read on Twitchfilm.com

Watch THE THEATRE BIZARRE World Premiere Video

By Twitchfilm.com on January 27, 2012

Horror anthology The Theatre Bizarre opens today in limited theatrical release which makes now a good time to look back at the film’s world premiere back in July as part of the Fantasia Festival in Montreal

→ read on Twitchfilm.com

Twitch's THE THEATRE BIZARRE Review Roundup

By Twitchfilm.com on January 27, 2012

The resurgence in anthology horror films has been fascinating — and heartening — to see, both in a professional sense (filmmakers working together; short subjects receiving more attention when combined

→ read on Twitchfilm.com

Exclusive Stills From Buddy Giovinazzo's I LOVE YOU

By Twitchfilm.com on December 17, 2011

Call me crazy but when the director of Life Is Hot In Cracktown and Combat Shock decides to direct a piece called I Love You, chances are it’s not a rom-com. Produced as part of the Severin Films back……

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Richard Stanley Returns To Horror With MOTHER OF TOADS

By Twitchfilm.com on December 17, 2011

Fans of Richard Stanley rejoice. The iconic – but far from prolific – director of Dust Devil and Hardware is currently in production on Mother Of Toads, his entry in upcoming horror anthology project The

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Severin Films Horror Anthology THE THEATRE BIZARRE Trailer Premiere

By Twitchfilm.com on December 17, 2011

Severin Films all-star horror anthology, The Theatre Bizarre is set to premiere at Fantasia this year, and they’ve released the first official trailer. The Theatre Bizarre features segments directed by

→ read on Twitchfilm.com

Grimm Up North 2011: THE THEATRE BIZARRE review

By Twitchfilm.com on November 20, 2011

Horror’s pretty dumb, right, when you get down to it? Subjecting ourselves to seedy vicarious thrills when if we took pleasure in the same things in real life we’d be clinically insane. Lots of people

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