Produced, Composed, Edited & Directed by: Shawn Buffington Written by: Shawn Buffington (Segments "Prologue", "Satan Claws", and "Thirst for Blood") and Eric Morse ("The Darkest Secret") Starring: Phil Trasolini ... Francois Dupius Michael Root ... LaChop Greg Russell Tiderington ... Gareth Freeman / Satan Claws Krista Kelloway ... Carrie / Angela Fleur Jacobs ... Mama Alice Diablo Ed Appleby ... Northey Dean Wunsch ... Richard Sandra Medeiros ... Dianne Andrew Mondia ... Reverend Burbank / Easter Beast Thomas Buchholz ... Holden Lonnie McDonald ... Vance Christy Nguyen ... Alicia Krystal Vrba ... Maggie Special Apppearance: Live She Cries ... Band Release Date: New York International Film & Video Festival: February-June, 2005 Rating:

The overall framing mechanism of these pieces is contained within a composer’s revamped performance of Vivaldi’s ‘The 4 Seasons’. The most winning segment is the first.

Autumn (The Darkest Secret) is a story about a man trying to run from his past (primarily the OD death of his stepbrother) by taking residence in a creepy boarding house.

The Winter (Satan Claws) segment is next. This part concerns the wrath of God – which (interestingly enough) is not only incurred by those who forsake the word of God, but also those who exploit it to press their own demented views.

Spring (Easter Beast) is the third segment. It is a comedic-silent piece. The fourth segment, Winter (Thirst for Blood) is a modern it’s-not-easy-being-a-vampire tale.

These four stories are framed around not only the presented concert but around the composer Francois Dupius’ fear of writing music since each of his musical compositions is accompanied by the death of someone close to him.

In the delicious tradition of Tales From the Crypt, From Beyond the Grave, Creepshow, The House That Dripped Blood, and all those wonderful multiple story-pieces, comes The Horror Seasons -- a quartet of four horror tales.
Like with all films of this nature the segments presented are of varying depth and effectiveness…and The Horror Seasons is no exception.

Overall The Horror Seasons is an admirable and ambitious project on a budget. Some of the problems rest precisely on the production’s finances.
The sound can be sporadic, several of the FX are clearly make-do, and some of the locations don’t really work.
These criticisms aside, there is no denying the talent involved in the project that shines on several fronts -- the cast is game and energetic, the production design is often creative and imaginative, there’s some interesting camera work and direction, and the storylines are gay-friendly (yippee!).

In the first chapter titled The Darkest Secret, it features some gorgeous black-and-white montage work and some delicious camera composition.

The Winter chapter Satan Claws has some intriguing points to make though it’s effectiveness is somewhat undermined by the culminating appearance of a truly perplexing and bizarre monster.

The third chapter Easter Beast works well visually with it's comedic-silent piece, has a decent amount of laughs, and shows substantial production ingenuity. 
However, the primary problem with this segment is that the overall story should have been aggressively trimmed. The narrative lacks focus and tends to meander -- though by the climax Spring manages to get back on course with an ironic twist that is both funny and a nice stroke of karmic comeuppance.

The fourth chapter Thirst for Blood featuries a nice amount of gore with some fine FX and some good production values…though overall the story didn’t really contribute anything new in regards to the presentation of vampire lore.

Like the say with a promising ball team …Next season for sure!

The scenes and interplay between the composer and his boyfriend/assistant are well done and solidly acted. In addition this framing segment is very nicely written and the surprise at the end of his final composition is a solid success.

In the Darkest Secret chapter, This moody and surreal piece is the best written and acted of the segments.

The brainchild of director/writer/editor/composer Shawn Buffington, this ambitious shot-on-video chiller definitely has its moments, yet it is oftentimes fitfully erratic in its successfulness.

U.S.A.

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