The Family That Films Together | SF DocFest 2026
Don't be a film d**k.
Dear Moviegoers,
What toxic fans are to Star Wars, family is to horror. These two ideas can have opposing and swappable meanings, sure, but I do believe that where one would rather be ignored by its community, the other is embraced and expressed more articulately.
Beneath the brightest of days and within the darkest of nights - sometimes VERY dark - all sorts of things are revealed, from desire and pain to monsters held close. Horror. Sheer horror.
For the Adams Family of independent filmmakers, through genre births togetherness and artistry. Blood & Guts documents the exploits of parents John and Toby and their daughters Zelda and Lulu, as they make some gothic and macabre cinema, all the while wading through the tides of change, maturity, and small-town living. For them, family through horror is literal and figurative, but also real. VERY reel.
A good opening sets up the thesis, and that's so true for this film. Introducing a fine-looking, if secluded-ish home on a hill, matriarch Toby, on the porch, answers the phone. Her husband, John, asks her to pick up some movie props from their lawn. Happily, she heads over and grabs bloody rubber limbs and heads, and places them on the porch near some skeletons and other "go away" paraphernalia. The title of Blood & Guts is earned here, but never really factors in anywhere else.
Still, what a way to establish who these people are.
Their films receive praise from the horror community for their resourcefulness, craft, and, of course, the fact that they're family-made. Zelda is the prodigy among them, almost existing as a soon-to-be fully blossomed young director herself, helping to guide and collaborate with her father's many visions. They cuss comfortably with each other and refer to one another by first names. That alone was a freakout to this traditionally-raised forty-year-old, but so was the level of technique and the kind of skillset that each member of this flock has. What they might lack in "etiquette," they more than make up for with talent and love.
Purely a joyful romp, this documentary is. Sometimes messy, sometimes loosey goosey, but always heartfelt and fun. This isn't an American Movie-level film, but why should it have to be? Throughout, the family rarely sees the kind of conflict that would make for expected dramatic movie watching, but that's mostly because they seem to have things pretty settled emotionally. There's nothing wrong that syrupy fake blood can't solve, nor is there anything too small to have a hug.
That's nice. Just nice. 4/5
Blood & Guts is coming to the 25th SF Documentary Festival. Click on the banner below for more information.
