A lot of horror fans have already given up on After Dark Films, and regular Horror Yearbook readers know that we were so outspoken about their suckiness, that it resulted in an online flame war with some of their volunteers. However, it seems like Horrorfest 4 has the potential to be decent this year. Did they finally realize that it takes more than just hype to get people interested in their movies, and is it time for horror fans to give 8 Films to Die For another chance?

The problem with After Dark is that every year there are at least eight films that do not make it to theaters that are to “die for,” but for some reason they never seem to be part of Horrorfest. Four years ago After Dark Films promised to release decent hard to see horror films in theaters, and instead horror fans got bargain bin crap backed by a lot of bullshit hype. It wasn’t that the movies were “too extreme” for theaters, it was that they were too shitty for theaters, and barely even deserved a DVD release. 8 Films to Die For gave horror fans and the genre itself a bad name. It was almost a crime, yet the marketing team acted like they were surprised about the backlash from fans. As the years moved on After Dark seemed to scale back their marketing, and looked like they would just hopefully go away. Horror fans started avoiding movies with the ADF label on it, and they became more of a kiss of death than an actual blessing to small filmmakers.

But they’re still here and they’re planning a fourth After Dark Horrorfest for January 29, 2010. The first film they announced was Brian Pulido’s The Graves, starring Bill Moseley and Tony Todd. A film that had the interest of some fans, but still reeks of Direct-to-DVD. The acquisition Clive Barker’s Dread raised a few eyebrows, but the third film — the obligatory After Dark ghost flick — Lake Mungo makes me wonder if this Horrorfest will be the same shit in a new box. They have five more films to announce, that is five more chances to fuck everything up!

You got our attention again After Dark, it won’t happen again, so I suggest you get it right this time! HYB is pulling for you.