Andrew Bell on Bleeding, Horror, and Seattle’s Filmmaking Scene
Andrew Bell is a Seattle-based filmmaker whose feature debut, Bleeding (2024), has received attention from the broader horror community in the past year. The film follows teenage cousins Eric (John R. Howley) and Sean (Jasper Jones), in a world where vampire blood is a highly addictive drug. While on the run from Sean’s dealer, they run into a sleeping teenager (Tori Wong) locked in a house, and things spiral into a morbid nightmare. Bleeding tackles intense real-world problems while maintaining the heightened fantasy of horror.
Under the Covers
You wake up in hazy, hot darkness beneath your comforter. There is a sound coming from somewhere in your room. It is the sound of a foot, shifting positions. It is soft, but heavy, as if someone tall is trying not to make any noise. You go through your list. Your roommate. But he is gone until Tuesday, and it’s Sunday. And why would he come into your room unless it was an emergency. Your girlfriend, but you saw her last night at her place and then left. Sometimes she comes here to shower after the gym, which could be it. Very quietly, you turn your wrist towards your face. It glows green, illuminating the time: 3:32 a.m. So yeah. Your girlfriend would not be coming from the gym at this time.
Announcing: The Echo is The Gregorys’ Media Sponsor!
This past year has been a time of wonderfully huge growth for our li’l publication that could. We’ve taken our first steps from the online woods into the public eye around town, and we couldn’t be happier with our trajectory as the new year approaches. We’re immensely grateful to everyone who’s come along with us on the journey and helped us reveal our creative natures via support and readership.
As such, it is with great pride that we announce that The Echo is the media sponsor for The Gregorys!
Set the Stage: The Gregorys’ Big Comeback at Town Hall Seattle
Tucked in the jagged seam between the end of one theatrical season and the start of another sits the Gregory Awards: a chance for the artists and theater companies of the region to be recognized and celebrated for their achievements and outstanding performances throughout the year.
Evergreen Style: The FXRY
Nowadays, people are buying twice as many clothes as twenty years ago and disposing of them just as much. This phenomenon exacerbates the presence of worldwide. It is often attributed to fast fashion, which promotes excessive buying.
The FXRY (pronounced “fix-ery”) is offering a sustainable alternative.
The Baroness
The rain fell hard as the moon hung in the obsidian sky like a chandelier. Bramble Manor stood resolute over the dark village of Black Brier. The village, founded on partial truths and gossip, sat at the edge of the cloaked woods surrounding it like a crescent. The only way to leave was down an unkept dirt road through an opening in the black woods.
The Rotten Luck of Melinoë
It was just plain rotten luck, or perhaps some cruel twist of fate, that Melinoë, the goddess of nightmares, had plenty of nightmares of her own.
Nightmares of smooth scales and winding bodies pulled flush against her own. Serpents, snakes. They curled around her shoulders, tangled in her hair, corkscrewed around her wrists and ankles. They pulled taut, slithered, and writhed, covered her mouth, her eyes, her ears. And she woke up gasping.
Sound Cinema: Palace Theatre
Walking up to the Palace is like walking on the main street of most beach towns. There are restaurants, unique shops such as the fabulous Griffin Bay Bookstore, and real estate offices that try and entice you to take the plunge and move to the islands full time. Yet, the Palace is not just any building. It sits in the middle of a T with Spring St. crossing in front and Second St. S directing you right to it. It feels like the town draws you toward the Palace like a beacon.
On the Boards’ What Is War Shows Us What Our Televisions Do Not
What Is War, devised by Eiko Otake and Wen Hui, told a gut-wrenching story of the sufferings of women within war-torn nations, one which has been endured by generation after generation since before antiquity: that of brutality, sexualization, and objectification.
Jeffrey Combs Indulges Nerds at Neptune for Re-Animator’s 40th Anniversary
Released in 1985, Re-Animator was loosely adapted from H.P. Lovecraft’s 1922 novelette, “Herbert West—Reanimator,” and while I would gladly change my legal name to “Official Lovecraft Hate Account,” I try not to hold the association against the movie. Director Stuart Gordon, whose background was in theater, originally planned Re-Animator as a stage production. Then it evolved into a television pilot, which was expanded into a feature film.
Masculinity Interrogated at Local Sightings Film Fest
Local Sightings Film Festival returned to Seattle for its 28th year from Sept. 19-28 at Northwest Film Forum. I was able to catch the second weekend of the festival and view three feature-length documentaries from Pacific Northwest filmmakers as well as the All in My Head horror shorts. A tendency in the weekend’s selections was examining large-scale social issues from a personal place, following people enmeshed in the heart of these issues. I noticed a clear thread in several of the films I saw: They contained powerful interrogations of masculinity.
Local Tavia Rhodes Chats First Album, Inspirations, Musical Journey
On September 15, I sat down with Seattleite singer and musician Tavia Rhodes. During that fleeting time, I got to experience Rhode’s creative processes, her muses, relationship with music, as well as her extensive journey to release her first album, Her Say, in October this year.
![The Divided Line: Dunya [Part 2]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/65456cf1d440cc19dd37c744/1759361765662-NUY2GFPTB2YSGK8OQ88S/Kevyn%2BCosta%2B-%2BCalista%2BRobbins.jpg)
The Divided Line: Dunya [Part 2]
Dunya closed her eyes and banished the Old-Man-turned-god from her sight. Still, the gods remained before her. In the abyssal blackness behind her eyes, there burned a glowing light. Shadowed figures cavorted around it, symbols flitting overhead. Vishnu and Rávan circled each other in a violent dance of war, and Dunya lay in the pyre at their stamping feet.
Pepper Pepper on Pink’s Power: Queerness, Movement, and Magic
Walking into Pepper Pepper a.k.a. Kaj-Anne Pepper’s show Pink Moment: Collections at Seattle Central’s M. Rosetta Hunter Gallery feels transcendent. Predominantly a new media show with video, sound, and some photography, Pink Moment is an exploration of “pink as queer energy, movement, and magic.” Viewing the work, the color pink takes on an ethereal effect as the motion of Pepper Pepper—acting as both subject and performer—reveals a dynamic, prismatic quality that is dreamlike and hypnotizing.
Commingling at HUMP: Festival Newbies and Veterans Savor Sexuality on Screen
Upon arrival, we mingled, got in line for the bar, and sat in the lobby chatting about the excellent playlist, the overall vibe, and any preconceived notions (of which there were few). Once the doors to the theater opened, we meandered in, a perk of arriving early and secured seats that would allow for the optimal middle-of-the-theater view. We tried to answer the trivia questions as they popped up on the screen, the preshow displaying information about the sponsors as well as information for submitting a film to HUMP! for next year.
HUMP! Redefines Community with Humans’ Most Basic Instinct
On The Boards hosted the “pervs” of Seattle for part two of its 20th anniversary year. Submissions from all over the world to our backyards were carefully curated down to a selection of erotic short films that have a little bit of everything for everybody. And at least one thing that expands your mind to possibilities previously unthought of.
HUMP! Returns to Seattle for 20th Anniversary Tour
HUMP! Film Festival will return to the Puget Sound this fall with the second half of its 20th anniversary programming. The indie adult short film festival created by Dan Savage has been a staple in Seattle since its debut. This new collection of 22 shorts, selected from hundreds of submissions, will run 17 screenings in Seattle from September 18-27 and October 10-11 at three venues across the city: On the Boards in Queen Anne, Quality Flea Center in Capitol Hill, and The LumberYard Bar in White Center.
Local Sightings Film Fest Starts Today!
The 28th Annual Local Sightings Film Festival is coming September 19-28—an over a week-long and in-person view into the creative psyche of the Pacific Northwest region—with over 60 films and a dozen world premiers held at the Northwest Film Forum in Seattle’s central district.
Trans* Talk: Bathroom Bills
I began following a case titled Doe v. State of South Carolina, in which an anonymous transgender teenager (referred to only as John Doe) is challenging South Carolina’s state law which prohibits students of the opposite sex to enter changing rooms, restrooms, and other private facilities of one sex. This law, South Carolina’s Proviso 1.120, affects all students in public Pre-K through high schools, denying Trans* students the right to use the bathroom that corresponds to their identity. John Doe, who is entering 9th grade this year, has rallied the support of his family and the Alliance for Full Acceptance (AFFA), a local LGBTQ+ advocacy group.
Fossil & Stone Spotlights Natural Worlds in the Heart of Downtown
Just a quick walk from the Westlake Lightrail Station, and a few blocks inland from the bustling Pike Place Market, Fossil & Stone Fine Art Gallery stands still and quiet amongst the normal chaos of downtown Seattle. It is a gallery that one might walk past day in and day out, never quite noticing the inspiring and beautiful art within.
