Like the masked killer in oh-so-many slashers of yesteryear, something is slowly creeping up on the Dallas film scene. While the departure of Fangoria studios for Georgia late in 2020 left something of a vacuum in the once-burgeoning local horror film culture, quietly- under the cover of darkness, when no one’s been looking, when we’ve all least suspected it- a disparate group of industrious filmmakers have been hard at work to make sure this is one monster that doesn’t die. 13 TRACKS TO FRIGHTEN AGATHA BLACK— the unique, multimedia driven tale of a young woman whose life falls apart after inheriting a box of vintage novelty records– entered post at the height of the COVID pandemic after writer/director Bradley Steele-Harding decided to film the coveted script himself rather than wait for backing from any of the studios dragging their feet on production. Not to be outdone, Dallas filmmaker Riley Cusick and producer Xander McCabe went ahead and shot AUTUMN ROAD— a horror drama about the lingering impact of a missing persons’ case on a pair of twin brothers who run a haunted house in rural America– during the pandemic itself using social distancing techniques, completing production in 2021 just in time for it to be acquired by Gravitas Ventures. Yet while the two movies represent individual successes for a pair of local filmmakers, an entire outlet has been growing up in Fort Worth to ensure the longevity and continuation of the DFW horror scene.
“Buzzard View Manor started as a small Horror loving podcast,” says co-founder Lana Winters. “We chat about it all. From films, to folklore, ghost stories, conventions… We have guests on every now and then. As for me, I’m a hardcore fan of Horror myself. I’ve acted in a few indie films that will be released next year.”
A lifelong hororr fan, Winters had been optimistic about what appeared to be the revival of the homegrown Dallas horror scene, which in the 70s had given birth to such cult classics as DON’T LOOK IN THE BASEMENT and KEEP MY GRAVE OPEN. “It all started as a child. My mother was a horror-movie lover. It basically started with the old classic monsters evolved on from there,” Winters says. When the bottom seemingly dropped out of the DFW horror film scene at the height of COVID, she felt a personal drive to make sure that it didn’t just survive but thrive. To that end, she and husband/co-founder Leo Winter expanded Buzzard View beyond a podcast into its own company, growing it to encompass a website, lifestyle brand, and now production company based exclusively in the DFW area. Their first project: Midnight Cinema Hour, an EC Comics/Tales from the Crypt-style short about the comeuppance delivered to a trio of theater employees who take a juvenile prank too far.
“I filmed at the Ridglea Theater in Fort Worth,” says Winters, who also served as producer, cowriter, and director of Midnight. “It’s just my taste.” Indeed, the on-location shoot at the historic theater—which opened in 1950 and which has retained its unique atomic age interiors—helps to differentiate the short from much of the other low-budget DIY horror currently populating the indie scene, where quality often takes backseat to cost (an issue discussed in grassroots documentary THE BRILLIANT TERROR, which DG covered earlier this year). Starring Paul Taylor (HELLRAISER: JUDGEMENT), Elissa Dowling (GIRL ON THE THIRD FLOOR; WE ARE STILL HERE), and Winters herself, the Buzzard View crew hopes that the short can act as the opening salvo in making the company the new name in DFW horror production. Having just completed post in the late Summer of 2021, it’s already been accepted in the Spooky Empire and Cult Movies International film festivals, with more to come—though Winters is quick to point out she’s not necessarily entering to win. “Winning doesn’t concern me. Just knowing my cast and crew’s talent and hard work is being shown somewhere is very satisfying,” she says. Wanting to prove they mean business, while they were in the process of submitting Midnight, the Buzzard View crew shot and completed another short, Never Play Alone; and Winters is currently in the process of assembling what she hopes will be the company’s first feature-length film, having used the two shorts as learning experiences.
“I’ve been learning on the job,” says Winters, a self-taught director who felt a personal drive to make sure the genre she loves doesn’t die in the city she calls home. While she herself may be learning on the job, Winters wants to make sure that Buzzard View productions distinguish themselves from the competition, so rather than just recruit crew members from among her friend group she’s sought out industry professionals, including composer Anthony Espina (LAKE NOWHERE) and Benjamin L. Ward, who boasts over 25 cinematography, editorial, and directorial credits going back to 2012. The result is a short that looks less like a DIY effort and closer to the professional quality horror films Winters hopes to bring back to the Dallas indie scene—and she wants everyone to know that Buzzard View is just getting started.
“I want a chance for others to see indie horror is still very alive in the Dallas and eventually collaborate with other indie horror filmmakers in the area. It’s never too late to create, or to take on a new goal in life.”
You can view a trailer for MIDNIGHT CINEMA HOUR here!
Thank you for this article! Lana Winters is incredibly talented. More great things to come from her!