CASC students Kevin Wages and Kalen Perdue apply special effects makeup to Shalom Staats in preparation for her scenes in “The Tell-Tale Heart.” The student film will premiere Oct. 29 at the Cinemortis Student Horror Film Festival.

Cinemortis Film Festival Thursday

Aliens will land. Greasers will fight zombies. Long-buried  evil will be unearthed. The tell-tale heart will pound.
Carl Albert State College students have planned a night of macabre storytelling for the community on Oct. 29 as they present the annual Cinemortis Student Horror Film Festival.
The festival begins at 6 p.m. in the Hamilton Auditorium on CASC’s Poteau campus. Admission is free.
Students in the college’s Film Studies department have been working more than a year to assemble a slate of films that will scare, delight, and sometimes disgust the audience. The students have been working with two themes: 1950s-style horror movies and adaptations of well-known literary works.
“There is truly something for everyone at this year’s festival,” said Marcus Blair, CASC Film Studies faculty. “People who enjoy the feel of classic horror won’t want to miss this one, yet all of these movies are done with modern flair. It’s the perfect thing for Halloween weekend.”
The evening will begin with the premiere of “Terrorvision,” a horror event that contains three new films set in the 1950s. “Wolf Girl,” “Vampire Cheerleaders,” and “It Came From Space” are made in the style of 1950s horror, complete with period costumes and settings.
The audience will choose this year’s Cinemortis winner from three new films based on well-known horror literature by renowned authors H.P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe. The films in competition are:
• “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe. One of the most well-known and frightening stories of all time about a young man whose murderous conscience is haunted by the thudding of his victim’s heart. The film was made by Scotty Morrison, Kevin Wages, Shannon Smedley and Marissa Heavener.
•  “Rats in the Walls” by H.P. Lovecraft. Students Falicia Starr, Emerald White, Drake Henry and Tommy Williamson present the tale of a man who moves into an old home and is slowly driven mad by scurrying sounds in the walls…and an ancient evil lurking in the cellar.
• “The Hound” by H.P. Lovecraft. The story of a petty thief who steals the wrong amulet and accidentally inherits the curse it bears will be brought to the screen by Dalton Sims, Chelsie Brannan, Terrah Johnson and Matt Orsbun.
All of the Cinemortis films will be frightening and contain realistic special effects. Children will not be admitted.