Welcome to the Sawdust City Fright Fest! Take a look around and get to know us! Each of us offers unique perspective and experience to make this a diverse and interesting experience for our independent horror loving community.
Contact us: info@sawdustcityfrightfest.com
Dave Burke – I’ve been a movie lover, particularly horror, since I can remember. One of my earliest horror movie memories is seeing Frankenstein on TV when I was 3 or 4. The first movie I ever saw in a theater was in the Sawdust City Fright Fest’s home, The Time Community Theater, in 1975, a double feature of Escape To Witch Mountain and Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory.
As a part-time photographer, I’ve been involved in shooting behind-the-scenes photos of various feature films in Wisconsin and Illinois and have seen the hard work that goes into even the smallest of small-budget films.
Through the years, I’ve supported the various film festivals that have called The Time home and have been a member of the SCFF committee since its inception.
Morgan Churchill – Morgan has been hooked on monster movies and horror since seeing Q the Winged Serpent at an entirely too young age. An associate professor of Biology at UW Oshkosh, Morgan’s research focuses on the evolution of marine mammals, which has led to several podcast interviews on the Silver Bolo-awarded Horror Movie Podcast to discuss sea monsters and megalodon. Morgan has been on the SCFF committee since 2021.
Mark Krawczyk – Mark the Movieman is an award winning mainstay of the Wisconsin Independent Horror community. He has been a part of several festivals, has over a decade of experience, and continues to share and expand his expertise on multiple popular podcasts and movie websites.
Lee Marohn– Lee’s experiences with horror started with reading JAWS in 3rd grade, causing a parent-teacher meeting. He definitely prefers classic horror to almost anything recent, particularly the Universal Monsters, but he’ll always be a fan of Jason Voorhees too. He’s a longtime volunteer at the Time Community Theater (home of the SCFF) and loves seeing old horror films on the big screen. He’s produced a couple locally-made horror films and hopes to continue that someday. He loves to talk about movies and TTRPGs – at length – anytime he can.
Dawn Schroeder – I’ve been a fan of the horror genre all my life, ever since I accidentally walked in on the “Here’s Johnny” scene from The Shining in the theater as a child. I don’t consider myself a reviewer or critic or anything like that, but I do have a blog where I write my thoughts on some of the films I watch. I’ve been attending independent film festivals for many years and was a committee member of a different film festival since 2016. I dabble with horror inspired crafting and art as well.
Ray Sidman – Ray Sidman is a lifelong movie geek and former professional pop-culture reviewer including of movies and television. He has been a horror fan since childhood. His experience in the field also includes having worked on the film crew of the feature horror movie, Gags the Clown (2018). Along with that, he has been a guest on myriad episodes of multiple movie podcasts. By day, Ray is a college communication instructor. He has been a member of the Sawdust City Fright Fest committee since 2021.
Mark Wooldrage – I’m a musician and songwriter who has been kicking around the Wisconsin music scene for 20 years now. Growing up, I was never much for horror…I hate jump scares! That all changed when I volunteered to work on sound for an independent horror film. I needed to do research, so I did a deep dive into classic horror…and loved it! I still hate jump scares, but have come to enjoy the atmosphere, tension, and dark sense of humor to be found in the genre. I particularly enjoy independent horror, and seeing what creativity, low budget and heart can bring!
