JoBlo-produced The Shelter receives positive response at London’s Frightfest

From August 27 to September 1st, John Fallon (aka the Arrow) and I had the pleasure of flying overseas (yes, we took the red-eye) to London, England to take part in my first film festival as a member of a film team…as opposed to the media, that being London's FRIGHTFEST! Over my 18 years at the site, I'd been to many film festivals but always as press, not the executive producer of an actual movie, so this experience was surreal for me and then some! (read John's thoughts on Frightfest here)

Overall, the trip was a success as John's film, THE SHELTER, was very well received by critics and audience members (see links to reviews below) which is yet another step in the process of getting the film sold to distributors around the world, who will then package it for your movie fan loving eyes in some shape or form. The festival itself was a great deal of fun and super well organized by its 4 very cool directors (Alan Jones, Greg Day, Ian Rattray and Paul McEvoy). Each man was gracious and fun to be around, never taking themselves too seriously, yet seriously organized and professional at every turn. I especially enjoyed the "brunch with the filmmakers" which they had organized the day after our screening, where we got to chow down and meet/greet a lot of fellow horror filmmakers. I'm actually embarrassed to admit that we had a character actor sitting right next to us on our table but for the life of us, couldn't remember his name! (it was Danny Huston) We also ran into director Neil Marshall in the elevator on our way to the brunch, how cool is that?

We were most relieved to read the positive reviews about the film since you never really know if people "get" your movie until they actually see it on the big screen — especially in the case of THE SHELTER which isn't a "straight-forward cookie-cutter" type of movie. John also got interviewed by many UK publications and even a TV interview here and there. Check out his interview with the Evil Twins below for some insight into the backstory of THE SHELTER.

We also received some other great news while in London regarding another genre festival that accepted THE SHELTER for a screening in the near future, but that announcement will have to wait a few more days.

On the downside, it was also very bizarre to return back to our hotel room one night, drunk and happy (thank you, Phoenix!), only to find out that the man who led horror films through the 80s with the NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET franchise and then later in the 90s with the SCREAM franchise, the great Wes Craven had passed away. Needless to say, things got fairly dark and depressing in our room that night.

At this point, we're just happy that the film was well received and starting to garner attention from distributors. In fact, if anyone out there is interested in a specific territory, please feel free to contact our sales agent David Cholewa from DC MEDIAS at [email protected].

Thanks again to everyone at Frightfest for treating us so kindly and to everyone who was nice enough to approach us, hang out with us and drink with us…we miss you already and hope to see you all very soon!

PS: Crossing the streets was a nightmare for us! We were almost killed 8 different times as cars/buses are coming from all directions. Just nuts! Also, Big Ben…Parliament.

STARBURST MAGAZINE: “For all its anger and impressive visuals, The Shelter is a meditative piece about moving from confusion to the acceptance of something perhaps cannot be fully understood. Fallon’s piece is piercing as a disconcerting family dreamscape.”

SCIFINOW: “The Shelter swirls Christianity and Silent Hill-levels of guilt to torment its protagonist, and Fallon’s strong visual style combines with a very strong turn from Pare to good effect. There’s a confidence to Fallon’s choices too, as he gives us a not particularly likeable protagonist and maintains a sombre tone throughout this emotionally raw journey.”

MOVIERAMBLINGS.COM: “Director John Fallon keeps the audience on their toes, as well as off balance, with a series of scenes that practically force the viewer to pay attention. From what appears a simple opening the film opens up into musings on life, love, loss, suffering and redemption.”

THE HOLLYWOOD NEWS: “The Shelter is the directorial debut of John Fallon who, up until now, has had a steady career as an actor and writer. His first venture running things highlights a lot of visual flair and a head full of ideas. A tale of one man’s existential plight, the horrors within The Shelter aren’t your usual jump scares or buckets of blood. Imagine being trapped, watching a movie of all your greatest mistakes with no way to turn it off, that’s way more horrifying than anything Carpenter could dream up. ”

NERDLY: “The Shelter is at its core a one-man production, with Michael Paré carrying the film entirely on his shoulders and often without saying so much as a word – often backed only by atmospheric visuals and a strong, sullen, score. And Paré revels in it, easily giving his best performance since the actors early 80s heyday.”

BRITFLICKS: “It’s an uncomfortable watch as real become unreal! SHELTER broods on the edges of hope, but like all falls from grace, rock bottom is as high as Thomas will ever get and this story rubs him into the dirt like a discarded cigarette.”

You can also access previous reviews of THE SHELTER at Ain't it Cool News and Dread Central.

You can follow THE SHELTER happenings over at our Facebook page or the film's official blog.