Jacob Cooney's "Rocco" - Man vs Muppet

Jacob Cooney, friend of Dead Harvey, sent us a link of his most recent project to share. It's a short called "Rocco" and revolves around the relationship of a man and his muppet who aren't on such good terms. Several friends of the main character, muppeteer Nathan Danforth are revealed slain in the beginning, then Danforth opens a small treasure box and "Reading Rainbow" style sparkling lights fly around psychotically and transform into the vicious muppet Rocco.

This is a fun short played deadpan and the results are very effective. The muppetry and music are fantastic as well. You can check it below...

ROCCO - a short film from Jacob Cooney on Vimeo.

For more information on filmmaker Jacob Cooney and his work, visit his website at: www.jacobcooney.com.

Also worth mentioning again is a short entitled "The Frolic" and we interviewed Cooney about it. It is further proof of Cooney's talent as a filmmaker and features some very impressive acting and directing.  You can listen to that interview by clicking here.

This Time, It's Different... Or is it?

So, Hollywood's in a bit of a financial slump, which is really just a reflection of the monetary woes of the entire nation. Couple that with a war that's lingering in people's minds and you've got a nation in a state of flux. Filmmakers are responding with films based in the harsh truths of war, stories surrounding real people in real scenarios, unsettling looks at city life and stories that reflect the disenfranchisement brought on by the excess of the past twenty odd years. Some of these films will go on to financial success and a lot of them will gain huge critical success, but as for the audience, they head out in droves to see disaster films, blockbusters and horror films. Any of this sound familiar? Am I talking about what's going on right now? I could be, but I'm actually talking about the 70's.

We all know that Hollywood churns out films for a profit, it's just business. It's what they do. However, I don't care what you say, film is an art. There's 'artists' involved in every film you see. Until bean counters can write and lawyers can storyboard, there will always be artists involved in every film. And artists always use their canvas, in some way, as a reflection or interpretation of what's going on in the world. Not only that, what audiences want to see will change with the economic and social climate. There's a reason that films like "The Hurt Locker" are getting critical acclaim today... it's the same reason that "M*A*S*H" did well in 1970. People want to see the harsh truths of war, 80's style action probably wouldn't do well right now. Having said that, people love their fantasy films, as they did in the 70's. Why? Escapism, the idea that there's something else out there, something better - "Star Wars", "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Superman"... or was that "Avatar", "Transformers" and "Dark Knight"? Disaster Movies scare the crap out of people because, well... they want something else besides the economy and war to be scared of - 1970's: "The Poseidon Adventure", "Airport" and "Earthquake". 2000's - "2012", "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Knowing". What about our favorite genre? Well, horror becomes less about fantasy and more about true, gory depictions of what humans are capable of. 1970's - "Halloween", "The Hills Have Eyes" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre". 2000's - "Halloween", "The Hills Have Eyes" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre"...

My point here is that film becomes a reflection of what's going on in society and audiences will respond, based on that. Right now, a decade into the new millennium, we're remarkably similar to where we were in the 70's. We're recently off the 'great recession', there's a war on everyones minds and there's massive movement towards 'green living' and a sustainable lifestyle. Excuse me if that doesn't sounds a lot like oil shocks and stagflation, the Vietnam and Korean wars and the hippy movement. So, if you're wondering where film is going and what you should be writing and making right now, look no further than film history. Sure, just like stocks, past performance can't gauge the future, but... it can give you a good idea of what's going on and maybe it'll give you an idea or two.

So, what does this mean for you, the filmmaker or writer? Well, here's my thoughts... if you're a horror writer, you should be sticking to gritty, realistic films. Think "I Spit On Your Grave", "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" or "Last House on the Left". Of course, if you're into the sci-fi or adventure stuff, you better go way out there and have a high level concept that easily saleable and explained in one sentence. Other thoughts... I think you need to keep your characters down to earth, realistic and somewhat depressed... think early Woody Allen or Travis Bickle. I think there's going to be a rash of gritty crime films coming, too. Like "Godfather" or "Scarface", update those and you may be on to something. Escapism will be a constant theme for sci-fi and blockbusters... and I think there's going to be a rise in monster movies and realistic alien movies. I may be wrong, I may be right, who knows? At absolute worst, I hope I give you something to think about... and maybe an idea or two.

Have a great weekend, see you next week!

"Dahmer vs Gacy" - Midnight Screening Series: Jan. 15th & 16th at Laemmle Sunset 5 in Hollywood!

Being a member of the press does have it's privileges, including an invite from filmmaker Ford Austin to the pre-screening party for "Dahmer vs Gacy". This film looks to be a crazy ride and features an outstanding cast. Randal Malone looks so f'ing psychotic in that clown outfit and makeup, this may just be the role he was born to play - even if that means I may have nightmares after the screening. I encourage everyone to check it out and support independent cinema! And if you go on Friday, word through the grapevine is you may brush elbows with many members of the stellar cast. I'm certainly hoping to score some interviews, which should be pretty entertaining because there's more than a slight chance that booze will be involved. I hope to see you all there!

Midnight Screening Series: Jan. 15th & 16th at Laemmle Sunset 5 in Hollywood!

DAHMER vs GACY
"Just shut up & go with it!

Running time: 86 minutes - this film is not yet rated.
Producer & Director: Ford Austin
Director of Photography: Orestes Gonzalez
Writers: Chris Watson & Andrew Rausch

Underground stars Ford Austin (Slaughter Party) and Randal Malone (Hollywood Mortuary) go head to head as Dahmer and Gacy in a slaughter filled rampage that includes appearances by Harland Williams (Half Baked), Art LaFleur (The Replacements), Steven Adler (Guns ‘N Roses), Ethan Phillips (Star Trek: Voyager), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Jerry Maren (Wizard of Oz), Bonnie Aarons (Drag Me to Hell), Irwin Keyes (House of a 1,000 Corpses), Jed Rowen (Acts of Violence), Lee Perkins (Live Evil), Brooke Lewis (iMurders) and many more!

Film Synopsis: A secret government lab has been trying to create the ultimate killer using the DNA of infamous killers Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy, but there's one
big problem: They've escaped! Bloody mayhem stretches across the United States as they go on the ultimate killing spree. Trying to stop the maniacal madness is Ringo, a hick warrior being trained by God, using only a shotgun and a bottle of whiskey. In his road trip to hell, he must first fight off his own demons, not to mention an army of Japanese ninjas! It all leads up to the ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN!

Purchase tickets at Laemmle.com
The Sunset 5 theatre is located at:
8000 Sunset Blvd.
West Hollywood, 90046

Indie Horror Distributors Part 53C: Brightly Entertainment and Creep FX

I think 2009 is going to be a pivotal year in horror, I feel a massive change in the air. I do. I think we're going to start getting back to gritty, realistic, brutal horror... which is cool with me. You see, everything's cyclical. The impact of the Vietnam war and the subsequent end of the hippie movement, thanks, in part, to Charlie Manson, brought about a certain 'end of innocence' in the 70's. This, whether you believe it's related or not, was followed by a new wave of horror. This is when we got "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Last House on the Left", "Halloween", "I Spit on your Grave" and "Dawn of the Dead", to name a few. (BTW, the only one not remade at this point is "I Spit on your Grave", but I believe a remake is currently in the works)

I think the current war in Iraq and the state of the economy is going to spark another wave of brutal horror and this is the year that you're going to start to see it. Oddly enough, we're getting a re-envisioning of "The Last House on the Left" on March 13th, but the change is going to happen in indie film first. To be honest, I'm already noticing that indie horror filmmakers are starting to get away from the supernatural and fluffy horror and starting to get into the realistic, more 'horrors of humanity' stuff. By the way, DV and the micro-cinema 'feel' really lends itself well to these particular type of horror, too. It gives it a real creepy, homemade feel. Anyhow...

We all know that the heart and soul of film really lays with the indies and the indie filmmakers and that's where this change will all start. So, it got me thinking about the distributors... which made me realize, I haven't highlighted anyone new to add to my list of indie horror distributors. So, here's a couple new ones for the list; Brightly Entertainment and Creep FX.

I'm not sure if that all tied together, but give me a break... sometimes I'm coherent, sometimes I'm all over the place.

Brightly Entertainment is a small, boutique media production, distribution and international sales company operated by Rainmaker LLC. They also happen to distribute all the "Bikini Bloodbath" films, which they're on three, if you're interested. They acquire and produce select indie projects for worldwide distribution and their goal is to develop long term, mutually beneficial relationships with filmmakers. Basically, they're a small company and they're looking to do more than just distribute your one film, they hope to keep you making films and distribute all of them. Now, as they are a small distribution company, I'm not sure how many submissions they take... having said that, they DO have their contact information on their site and that means that you CAN mail them something.

Creep FX is a part of Maverick Entertainment Group. Maverick's been around since the mid nineties or so, but they launched Creep FX in 2004 because they saw the growth in indie horror and, in a short five years, they've built a decent library of indie horror and have distributed some pretty good films, including, "13 Hours in a Warehouse", "Blood Descendants" and "Zombie Night". They've got a pretty good foothold in the DVD market, as well. They distribute into Blockbuster, Wal-Mart, Netflix, Amazon, Best Buy and Circuit City... although they should update that on their site, as Circuit City has gone bankrupt. They do have a submissions page, which is nice. Just click on the 'filmmakers' tab and it'll take you to a page where you can download some form, then it gives you instructions on how to submit your DVD.