I recently watched a couple of wildly different independent films that truly captured my heart, and wanted to pass them on to you faithful readers (wherever you may be) for your viewing pleasure. The first we screened during our few moments of down time at the Woodstock Film Festival. The programmers were handing out DVD copies, and playing it in ‘fest hangout The Colony Cafe. It’s a film of truly Rocky-esque proportions, the tale of patriotism and shadow-rockin’ known as Air Guitar Nation.

This hilarious and oddly spellbinding documentary charts the rise to greatness of the first American entrants in the World Air Guitar Championships (yea, that’s right), which takes place every year in Finland (you just can’t make this stuff up). I won’t spoil the ending, I’ll only say that of course the Americans rocked quite hard, and the story held just enough drama and uncertainty to keep me glued for the duration. But so much more important than the story was the sheer joy of the competitors. Though many of them couldn’t play a lick of actual music, they flipped and twirled and manhandled their air instruments like the second coming of Eddie Van Halen, all the while strutting across the stage like they were born and raised there. And as a closet air guitarist myself, I was in awe of the sheer ballsiness of the display, of the armchair rockers who left behind the mundane in search of that elusive quality known as “Airness”, when the performance transcends the medium and becomes something great. I realized that in some ways life itself is about that search, and whether your instrument is a pen, a camera, or a bit of oxygen organized solely by imagination, the true goal is to settle for nothing less.

Air Guitar Nation is currently available on DVD here, through IndiePix Films.

Second, and on the complete opposite end of the spectrum, is Dave Gebroe’s awesome horror flick, Zombie Honeymoon. I finally caught the movie on cable this weekend, late enough at night that I was sufficiently horrified, but early enough that I had time to watch the Red Sox reach the World Series and become horrified for an entirely different reason. I know Dave, he’s a talented and generous filmmaker who helped me with some advice on a feature I have in development, so I wasn’t surprised the film was good. But…damn.

The film centers on Newlyweds Denise and Dan, tucked away at the New Jersey shore (Down the shore, as they say) for a relaxing honeymoon. But when Dan is mauled by a stranger, dies at the hospital and wakes up…different, Denise finds her marriage vows put to an immediate and strenuous test.

So, the title alone sets you up for some good ole’ Zombie action, and on that front it definitely delivers. The effects are solid, the death toll sufficiently high, and the scares are there in full force. And there’s one sequence with the most truly nauseating sound design I’ve experienced since Peter Jackson’s Bad Taste. Rule of thumb, if it puts you off your dinner, it’s working on all cylinders. But in the end, that’s not what stuck with me about this film. There’s a depth of emotion at work that I haven’t seen in a long time, and maybe ever in this genre. At heart, this zombie flick is a full-on love story, with the depth, intimacy, and idealism of a new marriage at stake. As crazy as it gets, I felt Denise’s loss of her new husband as I’ve felt the loss of many past relationships, with hope destroyed and emptiness left behind. And the strong performances grip you in that emotional ringer and won’t let go. Gebroe found inspiration for the story in the unexpected loss of his brother-in-law, and perhaps a catharsis as well, and that power resonates throughout. Funny, but the idea of losing the one you love more than anything else, whether to drugs, or a freak accident, or zombification, is much more horrifying that merely being eaten alive.

The film is playing on October 29th on The Movie Channel, soon on Showtime, and is available on DVD through The Zombie Honeymoon Website.