Buffalo is known as a city that is up to its eyeballs in the production of horror films. This is helped by possessing some creepy abandoned buildings, the relatively low cost of shooting, and a number of local horror directors based here. This city has become a sort of mecca for horror movie producers and their fans. Even Troma’s Lloyd Kaufman has praised Buffalo for its openness to filming his works.
Recently, local writer/director Dominic Mendez reached out to me to tell me that one of his film shorts had made it into a wicked horror film anthology called World of Death (WoD). Intrigued, I clicked on the promo link that he passed along, and before I knew it I was on a wild nail biting ride that took me through a series of 100 snapshot film clips. The horrific clips were strung together in a jaw dropping way that is not for the faint of heart. Honestly, do not watch this movie trailer unless you have an iron clad stomach.
World of Death is a compilation of short horror films that will terrorize, astonish, disturb, and excite genre fans across the globe.
After watching the clip, I sat back and took a deep breath. What had I just witnessed? Basically it was a promo of recent works from some of the hottest horror film directors and producers in the world. Buffalo’s Dominic Mendez had made the cut early on. His dark comedy short film, Meatus, is only five minute, but packs a painful punch. In his film, a kidnapped man is seated in a chair. A drill with a feather at the end is held up to his face. When turned on, the drill tickles the guy so much that he sneezes, which causes him to impale himself upon the electric tool – death by tickling.
WoD is being released in two formats:
- A triptych of all of the short films presented as an anthology
- As a daily feature showcasing individual shorts
The concept of WoD was formulated by James Petersen and Tony Wash (Bloody Disgusting Movies). The duo set out to gather a hoard of horror filmmakers together to produce the largest horror anthology of all time – 200 filmmakers x 5 minutes each, releases in three installments. Walsh contacted Dominic early on to be included in the project. “When I was contacted, there were only 12 films,” said Dominic. “In the end there would be 200 filmmakers. Only 100 film clips are featured in the trailer.”
Buffalo can never get enough publicity about movie making in the area.
I asked Dominic how he got his start in the business, and ultimately chosen to be included in the anthology and he said, “After graduating film school in 2012, I started working in the local film circuit. Everything from being an extra to a director depending on the project. I’ve worked with Troma Entertainment, the SYFY Channel, and Universal Pictures. As well as on smaller films and commercials that have been filmed locally, including a zombie themed commercial I was hired to do special effects makeup work for that aired on AMC during the 3rd season on The Walking Dead.”
Curious about what’s next for the local director, I inquired about any up and coming films that he was working on. “I’m working on a feature called Limestone Burning at the moment. I shot it in 2012. Last year, I had a nearly complete edit of the film finished, but a large chunk of the work was lost, so I put it on the back burner for a while to focus on a “normal job”. I’m picking it up again right now, and it should be released late this year or early next year. It will be an online release – probably Video on Demand. It’s a found footage style movie. Science friends travel to the countryside to document and search for an urban legend as part of an online web series. The film is inspired by a real life Canadian urban legend on Warner Road – The Screaming Tunnel in Niagara Falls. I also directed a short titled The Shadow of October for an official Halloween Fan Film festival held by Halloweenmovies.com, and created the only short that did not feature Michael Myers.”
Of course I also wanted to know what Dominic’s favorite horror film of all time was, but he told me that he would have to think about that and get back to me. When he did, he said, “My favorite horror movies shift all the time, but just to name one for you, the original Dawn of the Dead. That’ll always be one of my favorites.”