‘Diabetesville’ a true-life horror film

Mysanantonio: JULY 26, 2013

“Diabetesville, USA” paints a frightening picture about diabetes at the southernmost tip of Texas — so frightening that the film was the only documentary to be screened at the Scarlet Waters horror film festival in Austin last fall.

“They sent me a note saying it was the scariest film they’d seen, so they were including it, even though they never really do documentaries unless it’s the making of a horror movie or something,” said filmmaker Michael Seringer, 39, who lives in San Antonio and shot parts of the film here.

The facts are undeniably bleak in Cameron County, an area in the Rio Grande Valley encompassing Brownsville and Harlingen: Nearly 30 percent of the population has diabetes, including a growing number of children. A majority of the population is overweight or obese. More than half have no medical insurance. Read more