The Burrowers Digs in at ScreamFest L.A.

After their full day of shorts and features, The Annual L.A. ScreamFest hosted two alienistic creep-outs last night.

The first show of the evening was The Burrowers, the much-anticipated original Western/horror film from writer/director JT Petty, whose directorial debut, 2001's Soft For Digging, garnered him a lot of attention as one to watch for and led to his first studio deal (with Dimension, for Mimic: Sentinel).

Petty was unable to attend the festivities, but actors Doug Hutchison (pictured; click photo to enlarge it and check out his posse of lovely ladies), Clancy Brown, and William Mapother were there at the Chinese 6 Theater in Hollywood to represent and enjoy the film along with the rest of the packed house, which included The Burrowers creature effects designer, Rob Hall of Almost Human, Inc.

While it's best to leave the creatures to you when you see the movie for yourself (I believe Lionsgate has it slated for an April 2009 DVD release), let's just say they're crickey-creepy in that they prefer their human smorgasbord ripe, raw, and "soft for digging". Yikes!

Look for Horror.com's official critique of the film in the Reviews section.

Also shown last night was John Gulager's Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds, which played right after The Burrowers. It was the perfect bookend to the first film, because while it's not set in the Old West, it's all about vigilante justice and aliens that sorta-kinda burrow into their victims.

Unlike Petty's understated approach though, Gulager goes balls-out (not to mention many other body parts) to shock, scare, and get the audience screaming with laughter. On hand for the gushing gross-out was Gulager, a few of the cast members, and returning Feast writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan.

The horror continues tonight with Danielle Harris's directorial debut, Madison, and right on through the week, showcasing films such as Eden Lake, Train, and Parasomnia. Tickets for the rest of the event can be still purchased online at the official website: ScreamFestLA.com

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Staci Layne Wilson reporting