Horror Facts
Vampa’s Terrorizing Tales the conclusion of a short film trilogy is upon us, with Independent filmmaker Mara Powell overseeing the project from her Director’s chair in the Great Lakes State of Michigan. “Occasion of Sin” is Mara’s third short film, and will conclude “Vampa’s Visions”, which showcases Powells’ alter-ego of Vampa Del’Ombra who is a late-night horror host (in the vein of an Elvira) telling the in’s and out’s of three tales of terror. This film will be in production early into 2021 and has been stated as Mara’s most ambitious project to date with a Kickstarter that is currently in circulation until December 11th/2020 to help fund it. The fundraiser has a tonne of great rewards for a few different donation tier levels, you may want to act fast due to donation tiers of $35 or higher being in limited supply.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/vampasvisions/vampas-visions-an-occasion-of-sin
The first of Vampa’s terror tales is the short film “Cannabis Cannibals”, which achieved third place at the 2018 Planet 9 Film Festival. It’s an ultra-low-budget short that takes place at a backyard summer barbeque with a few close friends and gets increasingly awkward as soon as newcomer Alex joins the fray. Everyone knows a person like Alex, and MOST of us don’t enjoy the company of a person like Alex, especially when they come unprepared. So will Alex end up providing the get-together with some much-needed euphoria?
You can check out Cannabis Cannibals on Mara’s YouTube channel. Links will be posted at the bottom.
Bringing us to her second short film feature called “Murder Pool”, in which she teamed up with Metro-Detroit based independent production company Sundown Pictures (The Red Dream) to tell a cold-blooded revenge tale about what seems to be a disingenuous man named James seeking to disintegrate the faults of his past in a pool of astringent liquids. This is once again another ultra-low-budget flick with a great plot, begging for backstory and explanation, honing a fantastic score created by Detroit’s own “The Slot Rods”. This film can be viewed in the link below.
https://www.thinkshorts.com/films/799/murder-pool
The final installment of this Vampa era of short horror tales will be Mara Powell’s “Occasion of Sin” which is stated to be “a morbid love story that centers around a serial killer obsessed woman whose new boyfriend may or may not be a psychopath”. Inspired by the pre-code EC Comics (Tales From The Crypt) from back in the day and the authentic mid-century melodramas of the one and only Douglas Sirk (Shockproof, There’s Always Tomorrow).
Starting off in the independent film making industry, with low budgets, close friends holding down the acting department, and extremely familiar locations is the route that Mara Powell is taking, as many filmmakers do. As she navigates down this road, she is proving to have a knack for projecting her great ideas onto the screen with real life and relatable characters. Powell is able to select and use great music to accommodate sequences and seems to have a Troma-esque flair. As the budgets increase, we only hope to see more growth from Mara, so show support in her journey through the canals of horror and subscribe to her YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMarapowell
Keep Vampa alive and stay updated on some killer content by following her on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/vampas_visions/
