Here comes TromaDance!

The weekend horror and independent film fans wait all year for is almost upon us: the TromaDance Film Festival, now in its 13^th year, returns to Asbury Park May 4 and 5, and now we're starting to get a clearer picture of what's in store for viewers over this wholly unique weekend.

The short films program, announced last week, boasts some must-see selections, including John Goras' "Chirpy," described by Oscar nominee and 2011 Tromadance attendee Bill Plympton as "one of the sickest animated films ever made."

One of TromaDance's great powers is its unpredictable, nearly indescribable strangeness; for better or worse, you know you're getting two days of films that need to be seen to be believed. Go down the list of shorts set to screen at the Asbury Lanes and there's bound to be something that demands your attention, whether it's "Can't Dance" ("A tender and comic love story about a man, his dead wife and the next door neighbor") "Flush With Fear" ("A young woman reads an incantation on a bathroom stall and unleashes an ancient evil") or "Tequila" ("A film about love, death and telephones").

We're also now beginning to learn who some of the members of the always-informative independent film panel will be: among the confirmed participants are TromaDance founder and Troma Entertainment president Lloyd Kaufman, longtime "Fangoria" editor Tony Timpone and Troma veteran James Gunn, writer of "Tromeo and Juliet" (1996) and "Dawn of the Dead" (2004) and director of "Slither" (2006) and "Super" (2010).

TromaDance will be held at the Asbury Lanes, 209 Fourth Ave., and all screenings will be free. This year's festival was partially funded through a campaign on Kickstarter that raised over $5,000, with backers receiving everything from posters to DVDs to lunch with Kaufman.