This year’s Halloween spooky season was brought to a close by the Silver Scream Film Festival, put on by SU Filmmakers. The festival featured professional grade short films that were able to keep the audience on the edge of their seats, while also telling compelling stories.

Each film had amazing ideas that were all well executed. The motif of the film festival was horror film sub-genres. This theme encouraged filmmakers to explore various horror movie genres such as psychological horror, slasher movies, and another.

The SU Filmmakers club hosted this year’s Silver Scream Film Festival which explored multiple horror sub-genres.

The five movies shown at the festival were “A Silver Scream intro, “In Your Tower”, “Echo,” “Here Comes The Stabbing,” and “Virus.” Each of these films are unique, creative, and will surely give you a fright.

The SU Filmmakers club, consisting of passionate, supportive filmmakers of all different skill levels, are there to learn and grow as filmmakers. Skill levels range from people who are already involved in professional filmmaking to people who are just starting off with little to no experience.

Co-president of the club, Cade Taylor, believes “The club has people doing it professionally and people doing it for fun, so things remain pretty light-hearted and fun.”

In this festival specifically, people were put into groups with the sole intention of having a wide variety of skill levels. Abel Fong, The creator of “Virus,” said, “We teach, we learn, we create.”

Filmmaker Abel Fong created “Virus,” a Black Mirror-esquc film that leaves us haunted even after the film is over. This film is set in the near future, where there are devices called Omnix Mods.

These Omnix Mods are worn in a person’s ear and modify the way things are perceived. When the user talks on the phone with someone, the Omnix allows them to see the person standing in the room with them. The protagonist tries to hack his Omnix to give it new features, but end up contracting a virus. From then on, the film successfully haunts you and turns your brain into paranoid mush. Abel aimed to get into the viewers head and not only scare them temporarily, but for a long time even after the movie.

Suzanne McAuley, the lead creator of “Echo” was another filmmaker that I interviewed. “Echo” is a short film where the television begins to hauntingly predict the future. “The Office” telivision show begins to play. Kevin walks up the stairs carrying a huge pot of chili just to spill it all over the carpet. Immediately following, the roommate drops a pot on the kitchen floor. An unsettling ambiance creeps across the audience. What will pop up on the screen next? McAuley’s goal was to “play with reality and make the viewer question what is real and what is not.”

The SU Filmmakers club is a hidden gem for anyone interested in film. No matter how much experience you have, you will find a place in SU Filmmakers.

The 48-hour film festival is in the winter while the Seattle U Film Festival is in the spring showcases many more talented films.

Making films bonds people in a way like no other, McAuley says. “Filmmaking is a bonding experience, once you’re on set with them you get to know them, by the end of the film you’re truly friends.”

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