...and further to my last post...

There must be something going on in Hollywood right now. I just came across an article from NATPE (National Association of Television Program Executives) where they were talking about how broadband video is going to disrupt Hollywood. Here's the blurb:

Further, is the very nature of what's expected of Hollywood changing? Herb Scannell, CEO/founder of Next New Networks, asserted in his panel that the current generation of 'auteurs' - multi-skilled and motivated people who can write, direct, produce, act and promote implies a far different role for how Hollywood creates value for itself in the future. In fact, Herb believes that technology-empowered talent is the biggest disruptive force to the traditional Hollywood equation.

Just so you know, all of us indie horror filmmakers are those "multi-skilled and motivated people who can write, direct, produce, act and promote". So, I'm not the only one who thinks that the market for this stuff is going to explode soon and what all of you can and ARE doing is a huge, huge skill. Long and short, Hollywood is scared of what you can do and they're turning a blind eye to it. However, your day is coming...

So, I don't mean to keep harping on this, but I just saw that and wanted to quickly post on it. I'll get back to talking about nothing but indie horror for a while... it's more fun and less frustrating.

Digital Is the Future of Entertainment and, I guess, Warner Bros. hasn't figured that out yet

I came across two articles today, the first one was Media, Entertainment Execs: Digital Is the Future - but How to Get There? on some site called marketingcharts and the second one was Warners axes Picturehouse, WIP on some other site called The Hollywood Reporter. At first, I was going to write two separate posts, but when I started thinking about it, I thought I could tie them together. It'll be long and I may ramble, but who knows? I may come up with something good here...

Everyone knows who Picturehouse and WIP (Warner Independent Pictures) are, right? If not, for shame... you should. Picturehouse is the joint venture between HBO and New Line and they released "The Orphanage", "Pan's Labyrinth" and "King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters"... WIP is the specialty division of Warner Bros. and they released "Funny Games", "A Scanner Darkly" and "The Jacket". None of those films would be considered 'indie' by our readers, but by Hollywood standards, these are as indie as they get, but that's really not my point. The point is, you have to take a step back and see what this means... and keep in mind that New Line was shut down and consumed by Warner Bros., as well. Consider this quote in there, "After much painstaking analysis, this was a difficult decision to make, but it reflects the reality of a changing marketplace and our need to prudently run our businesses with increased efficiencies." Translated - We can't figure out how to make money on this indie shit, we're going to stick to making films that do make us money and keep our investors happy, such as: "Harry Potter", "Speed Racer" and "Dark Knight". And with that, the divide between the studios and indie filmmakers widens...

Now, let's look at the other article, where media and entertainment executives agree that digital is the future, but they don't know how they're going to get there. If you're too lazy to actually click on the article and read it, I'll sum up: no one's making money on downloading, VOD, digital advertising or user-generated content right now, yet content is being developed for consumption on those formats. New platforms and new ways of delivering content is where things are going and they're all going to pursue a "multi-screen" distribution strategy, which includes theatrical, TV, online, mobile, everything... Finally, in the future, they almost all agree that the advertising supported business model is where it's at. So, in conclusion, your entertainment content will be available in various formats to be played on whatever device you want, it will be ad supported (so, it won't cost you anything, ie. TV) and it will be available whenever and wherever you like, on demand. I'd like to focus on one aspect of this... and that's the 'on demand' part. With Tivo, VOD and digital downloads, we're basically at that point now, but it's just a matter of how long it takes for everyone to adopt. Further, by definition, 'on demand' means that the consumer picks WHAT they want to watch, WHEN they want to watch it... and to get those consumers eyeballs, you better have choice. If I want to watch a low-budget, indie horror, by golly, I'm going to watch one... whether you have it or not. Media companies are going to have to have a lot of content available, as to try to keep me from going to another provider... and it's not like you need a massive warehouse to house a shitload of content because digital content doesn't take up shelf space, it's just stored in a computer. Now, let's juxtapose this with the first article...

Entertainment executives admit that we're going digital and people are going to want more choice, yet Warner Bros. is steering away from making smaller, niche films and they're sticking to making high-gloss, PG-13 theatrical releases... which, in my mind, just means a whole lot of the same, generic releases meant for a mass audience. I could REALLY rant at this point, but let me bring this all together and tell you why it's good for the indie filmmakers of the world... the media and entertainment landscape is obviously moving to where people can consume any kind of media on numerous devices and when that happens, your film is just as easily put out there as "Speed Racer" or "Dark Knight". If you think about it, the market for these big budget theatrical releases is fairly saturated right now and the market for indie films is not. Seriously, if I want to see "Iron Man" today, I can... but if I want to see "Evil Ever After", I probably can't. So, really, for indie horror, there's way more demand than there is product... and that means there's a market that's waiting to be served. The long and short is, it's just too costly right now to make sure that everybody who wants their copy of "Bikini Bloodbath" gets it. However, the executives themselves say that's changing... the market place is going to open up and there's going to be lots of consumers out there who are ready to buy your indie film and, hopefully, when that time comes, you'll be ready. Meanwhile, the big studios will be sitting around, wondering why no one's going to see "Harry Potter 8" and the latest Kate Hudson romantic comedy in the multi-plex.

You've finished your low-budget horror, now what?

In our opinion, if you've just finished a low-budget horror, your first move should be to try and get it into one of the horror film festivals. However, truth be told, there's not enough room in the festivals for all the low-budget horror out there... Let's just say you tried the festivals and you're S.O.L. there. What now? Well, your next move is probably to try and get distribution. This is the long process where you look up distributors, figure out how to get in touch with them, send them a screener and, most of the time, never hear back. Every once in a while, though, the sun does shine on a dogs ass... and one of these guys may pick up your film and you're off to the races. Dead Harvey wants to make the whole process a little easier for you. Every Wednesday (until I've done them all), I'm going to write up something about these distributors, give you the link to their home page, plus their email address, if possible. Then, we'll log it all under a new section on the left called "Independent Horror Distributors" or something. Hope it helps... after all, we just want you to get to that rejection letter faster.

Brain Damage Films is where it seems that most low to no budget horror gets distributed through. Some sample titles would be "The Veil", "Satan's Whip", "The Blood Stained Bride"... all of which are low to no budget films, shot on DV. Brain Damage bills itself as "a full service distribution house and film production company dedicated solely to scaring the hell out of you." They distribute worldwide and domestically and they invite you to send your film on over... Contact them at moviedistribution@braindamagefilms.com

Unearthed Films is a little tougher to get distributed through, as they're also into securing rights to Asian films and old, forgotten horror movies, but they will look at your film. They've released some indie films, such as: "Bone Sickness", "Nails" and "City of Rott". It's "the brainchild of a group of hard-core cult film enthusiasts who intend to blow the lid off of the DVD industry as we know it. Setting their sights on rare underground horror films, lost animated gems and psychotic action films, Unearthed Films is making a dramatic impact in the North American DVD market." They can be contacted at heneverdies@aol.com

Elite Entertainment mostly distributes restored 'classics', but they will, occasionally, release a low-budget, never seen before indie film. You'll have to be a cut above the regular fare, but it is possible. Founded in 1993, Elite "was initially created to fill a void in the laserdisc community. At the time it was clear that horror/sci-fi were not getting any special treatment. Once the world made the jump to DVD, so did Elite Entertainment. This year will bring many new classic DVD titles as well as several new and never-before-seen films premiering on DVD." They can be contacted through their website or at info@elitedisc.com.

POPcinema is "home to long-standing genre film labels Seduction Cinema, Retro-Seduction Cinema and Shock-O-Rama Cinema, which have achieved a level of popular and critical success uniquely tied to their consumer-centric marketing and branded style of entertainment". There's a certain type of camp film that they like, but if your film fits the bill, you may be in luck. POP Cinema has released films like: "Creature from the Hillbilly Lagoon", "Chainsaw Sally" and "Kinky Kong".

Camp Motion Pictures is parent company to three labels: Camp Motion Pictures, Bloody Earth Films and Secret Key Motion Pictures. Bloody Earth Films is probably what you should be looking at. It's the contemporary horror label of Camp Motion Pictures, a feature film acquisition and production company dedicated to reviving the DIY spirit of filmmaking. You can browse the Bloody Earth Films stuff at their Alternative Cinema page, they've released stuff like: "Splatter Beach", "Zombie Bloodbath Trilogy" and "Trailer Trash!". If you want to contact them, you need to go to their contact us page.

Linkapalooza - May 6, 2008

And now... on it's new day, LINKAPALOOZA!

I Can Smell Your Brains Cinema presents Street Trash - I love what the guys over at I Can Smell Your Brains are doing... having a classic, low-budget horror film screen every other week or so and inviting the filmmaker, actors or writers in to discuss it. This time around, they're screening the 80's classic, "Street Trash" and actor Bill Chepil will be there for a Q & A and sign autographs. If you're anywhere close to Chandler, AZ, you should go check it out...

Blu-ray Disc Hardware Not Picking Up Steam - this article is about how Blu-ray isn't selling like they predicted... and I'd like to point out that I just deleted a huge, long post on my opinions on this because I thought it was too long winded and I didn't want to bore anyone with my ramblings. So, instead, I'll summarize my points. If you really care about the history and my rationale, feel free to email me. So, here we go... Blu-ray (at least how it's marketed now) is about increased quality and, with technology going where it's going, we're not into quality. We're into quantity... and choice. Blu-ray discs have ten times the space on them, so what I think they should be doing is putting ten times the content on there. Further, why replace a medium that has nothing wrong with it? When's the last time anyone complained about DVD's because the quality sucks? Lastly, if you are going to change something, get rid of the disc all together, we want it on demand and/or digitally... and I want more options. I want to scroll through an endless library of films, pick what I want and have it play instantly. I don't give a flying F if it's in 1080p. 720p will do just fine... thank you.

The complete eejit's guide to Filmmaking - I'm not sure how useful this is for our readers, but if you're just starting out, it's worth a look-see. I'm not sure how I came across it, but it's goes through some basics, such as "how to get your movie online" and "creating dramatic structure for screenplays". It goes through fundamentals... and I think there's more Hollywood studio execs who should go through this than low-budget indie filmmakers, but hey... that's just my opinion.

AAAAAH!! Indie Horror Hits - They have a pretty cool concept going that I KNOW a lot of you would be interested in. Basically, they take indie horror shorts that are just collecting dust, put them together and sell them as a compilation... and split the profits with you. A blurb from their website - "AAAAAH!! Indie Horror Hits was created by filmmakers for horror fans and filmmakers alike. We've made short horror films and we want discerning audiences to enjoy them long after their all-too-brief film festival runs. Let's face it. Most short horror films don't have much - if any - life beyond a handful of genre festivals in a few scattered cities. For horror fans and filmmakers, that's really scary. We aim to resurrect the best of the best of these horror films and unleash them in compilations for viewers everywhere to enjoy over and over..."

May 5, 2008 - New horror out on DVD today

And a happy Cinco de Mayo to all Dead Harvey readers... although I did most of my drinking over the weekend, I'm more than happy to raise a Pacifico today. So, I've switched things up and I'm now going to talk about all the new horror releases on Mondays... I think it just makes more sense. Also, be sure to check out our Youtube page, where we put all the trailers for these films AND, if you want to buy any of them, you can just click on them and get them from Amazon.

This is the kind of film that I'm all about... so, I'm leading off with it. "Zombies Anonymous", written and directed by Marc Fratto and released by Insane-O-Rama productions, is the new name to what was originally called "Last Rites of the Dead" way back in 2006 when it screened at the New York Horror Film Festival. The plot is a lot like "Fido", but it's way more indie... It's like "Fido" in that zombies live amongst the humans, however in "Zombies Anonymous", they've become a group of second class creatures, usually being beaten up and humiliated. Another thing that separates this from "Fido" is that when you become a zombie, you don't lose your brain. You just die and kinda rot.... So, in this, the zombies start to form terrorist groups and, eventually, a war breaks out. The hero of the film is a girl who was shot to death by her boyfriend in the opening scene... she later has to join a zombie support group to help her adjust to life undead, thus... "Zombies Anonymous".

"Teeth" is probably the biggest horror release of the week, as it was a Sundance film. It was written and directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein and Dead Harvey actually discussed it before it screened at the festival. If you don't know, it's about a girl who has a toothed vagina. That's right, her muff bites back... Since we wrote about it, it was nominated for a few awards and actually won a couple. The film won the special jury prize at Gerardmer Film Festival and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance. The films star, Jess Wiexler, won the special jury prize for a juicy and jaw-dropping performance and was nominated for the breakthrough award at the Gotham Awards. When you first hear that it's a film about a virgin who finds out that she has a toothed vagina after someone tries to rape her, you think Troma. At least I do... However, the film does a great job of making the whole scenario seem, well... believable. So, don't expect a gory, slasher film about a girl who walks around on her hands, giving guys scissor locks with her legs... maybe they're saving that for "Teeth 2".

"Grizzly Rage" screams Sci-Fi original, but it, in fact, comes from RHI Entertainment... who was contracted out by the Sci Fi Channel to produce it. Before you dismiss it, there's a couple cool things about this... first off, as it's a Sci-Fi Original, you'd expect them to CG in a 20 foot, mutant bear. However, they used a real grizzly bear and it's actually a believable situation. (there is a mild hint that it's a mutated bear, but it doesn't act, look or behave mutated) A group of teenagers accidentally kill a bear cub, which throws momma bear into a rage and she comes after them. Secondly, it's directed by David DeCoteau, who seems to have been involved in every low-budget, indie shock horror film made since the mid-eighties, including: writing "Creepozoids", producing "Robot Ninja" and directing "Beach Babes From Beyond"... seriously, check out his credits at imbd... crazy.

"Abominable" is Ryan Schifrin's feature length directorial debut, having only directed the short, "Evil Hill", before this. He must have some pull somewhere, maybe because he's the son of film composer Lalo Schifrin, I don't know... but he managed to get horror icons Jeffrey Combs and Lance Henriksen in his film. The film is, obviously, about Bigfoot and it's got great production value. So, I don't feel I need to discuss the plot. I think this is a better opportunity to rank my top three Combs and Henriksen films. For Combs, let's go (and in order): "Re-Animator" and I leave out the sequels, then "From Beyond" and, finally, "The Frighteners". For Lance, let's go: Well, obviously "Aliens", then... "Near Dark" and, finally (and I'll apologize in advance) "Hard Target". F'ing love that movie...

"Bloodsucking Babes from Burbank" is written and directed by Kirk Bowman, who's directed some of indie-horror's best titles. By best titles, I mean just that... the titles. Who wouldn't want to see "Santa Clause Versus the Christmas Vixens", "Curse of the Pink Panties" or, now, "Blood Sucking Babes from Burbank". Bowman's done a few other things, as well, and he usually acts as producer and editor, along with being the writer and director... and he usually shows up as a bit role, too. "BBfB" is about some passionate archeology co-eds who unearth a cursed jewel box in the Burbank mountains which turns the girls into blood-thirsty cannibals and the guys they meet into "dinner".

I have to give some coverage to Patrick Roddy's "Mercy", not because of the fact that the film is award winning (which it is), but because Roddy graduated from the same University that I did. He received his B.A. in Media and Theatre Arts from Montana State University, just like me. Albeit, he did it a few years before me and went on to get his Masters in Film and Television Producing from UCLA and I just drank a lot of Bud Light in Encino after graduating. Roddy usually acts as a producer, but he's written, shot, directed and even acted. "Mercy" is about an ex-con who tries to settle into a new life on the outside, but a mysterious woman starts to follow him and finds her way into his dreams, creating nightmares with devastating consequences that threaten his parole, sanity and dream for a new start.

The fact that "Kill the Scream Queen" is being rereleased tomorrow is as good a reason as any to do a little post on Bill Zebub, who wrote, produced, shot, acted and edited the film. Actually, he plays all those roles on all his films, which include: "The Worst Horror Movie Ever Made", "Ass Monster: The Making of a Horror Movie" and "Jesus Christ Serial Rapist". "Assmonster" managed to get screened at the Fantasia Film Festival among a few others festivals... and reviews were actually quite good. Bill Zebub is the top manager of Bill Zebub Productions, which publishes a quarterly magazine called "The Grimoire of Exalted Deeds", which is about Death Metal and indie horror. He also hosts a radio show in New Jersey under the alias "Professor Dum Dum" and, apparently, lives at home, in New Jersey, with his Mom... who does his laundry for him.

"The Fearmakers" comes from German horror and sci-fi filmmaker, rapper and founder of 'Sword of Independence Filmworks', Timo Rose. He's best known for his "Mutation" trilogy, which is about a toxic chemical created by Nazis and rediscovered in modern times. All his films are low-budget and are generally based on the early films from other German directors, such as Andreas Schnaas and Olaf Ittenbach. In under ten years, he's directed more features than any other filmmakers in the underground German horror scene. "The Fearmakers" is about two old friends that team up with a woman to solver her sister's murder... and stop a vengeful, murderous ghost.

Film Fest Friday - Results from 'Dead by Dawn' and 'Nevermore' Film Festivals

As usual, my Friday post is a little late, but here it is... Dead by Dawn just wrapped up on April 27th and they already sent out an email with notes on all the winners... here's some exerpts, plus I added a few notes in there.

Our thanks as ever to the gorgeous Stuart Gordon for continuing to make movies that take our breath away - STUCK is the winner of Dead by Dawn's 2008 Audience Award for Best Feature. (DH note - "Stuck" is the film, starring Mena Suvari and Stephen Rea, where she hits a guy with her car and he survives, but is stuck in the windshield. Then she drives home and parks the car in the garage... Believe it or not, it's based on a true story)

In second and third place respectively were THE MIST and MACHINE GIRL, just beating FIVE ACROSS THE EYES by one vote, for which it definitely gets an honourable mention! (DH note - Man alive, I have to see "Machine Girl" soon, check out the trailer)

The Audience Award for Best Short goes to Nash Edgerton's SPIDER with DR TRAN in second place and BUTCHER'S HILL completing our top three. (DH note - we actually covered Jason Noto's "Butcher's Hill" quite some time ago, we're hoping to have some updates on that, soon)

In case you missed the announcement about our Cutting Edge short film competition, the winner was Richard Gale's CRITICIZED and in second place was Liz Adams' SIDE EFFECT and in third, Mark Steensland's PEEKERS.

We also received some updates from the NEVERMORE Film Festival...

The NEVERMORE Film Festival actually ended back on February 24th, but we checked in with Jim Carl to see how it went. He informed us that it was the 3rd highest attended festival of its kind with almost 2500 attendees and there were more artists in attendance than any other year.

As for how things went, Director Kevin Tenney (Witchboard, Night of the Demons) was in attendance with his newest flick, "Brain Dead", which is the story of six people stranded in a deserted fishing lodge with a host of alien-infected, mutant amoeba-controlled zombies. They also had the world festival premiere of "13 Hours in a Warehouse", which is sort of like "Reservoir Dogs" with ghosts.

Although they don't give awards, if they did, Jim told us that the winners of the audience favorites would probably have been Shawn Linden's directorial debut, NOBODY, which is "part mystery, part gangster film, part time-travel paradox, and part extraordinarily ambitious supernatural thriller" and Yfke van Berckelaer's ZOMBIE LOVE (short).

"Satan's Whip" - Our continuing case studies on getting your indie horror film done.

Continuing on with our new feature of doing case studies on filmmaker's indie horror efforts, here's the second one... which means I'm going to have to acutally set up a link to archive them on the left now. This time, we talk to Jason Maran, the writer and director of "Satan's Whip". As usual, if you're a filmmaker and would like us to cover you and your film, just let me know.

Film: Satan's Whip
Written By: Jason Maran
Directed By: Jason Maran
Released By: Brain Damage Films

About: Being honest, having seen the film and looking at the cover art now, I really have no idea what it has to do with the movie, but... that's Brain Damage for you. "Satan's Whip" is billed as straight horror, but it's really got a lot more to it than that and, by that, I mean that it's really more of a dark comedy, with some twisted horror elements. The film screened at various festivals, including Shockerfest international Film Festival, Terror Film Festival and the Filmmakers Series in NY and it's the story a young priest, Claude, who embarks on a quest to find a missing priest, which spirals into a blood-bath of witchcraft, insanity and cannibalism.

Budget: Jason Maran managed to secure financing on his own and "all in all, the film cost approximately $15,000", but there were a few incremental things that may have pushed the budget up slightly. A rarity in low-budget filmmaking, Jason usually "had between 5 and 7 paid crew members, making between $75 and $150 each", on the set. However, "the grip/electric equipment rental didn't cost much and someone loaned (them) the camera for the shoot, so (they) saved there". If you do check out the film, it does have the look and feel of a more expensive film, so they really did do a good job at stretching those dollars.

Getting it made: The film was shot in eleven days, spread out, unbelievably, over nine months, and it was shot on mini-dv, using a 24P camera. As mentioned above, for a $15K budget, the film looks great and Jason gives credit where credit is due - "the credit for the cinematography goes to Chris Benker, who also produced". Shooting over nine months is not really optimal and the reason they had to do that is because of two factors that were out of their control and one that was in their control... The first two factors were that "almost all the actors worked for free, so (they) had to be as accomodating as possible", as well as that they "pretty much (ran) out of money and (Jason had) to take a temp job", which would, obviously, delay them a few more days. However, if Jason could've changed anything, it would've have been the third factor, which is securing locations. They had couple locations drop out on them and "if (he) had done a better job of locking down locations before the first day of the shoot", they may have avoided that. "To spread eleven days of shooting over nine months is absurd."

The performances: All things considered and by his own admission, the actors were "very patient with a director who was, at times, indecisive and inarticulate" and who also "violated a cardinal rule of directing." "Supposedly, a director is never supposed to make an actor watch a film or television for inspiration... I think it's a bullshit rule, so I did show them some stuff." Whatever he did, the performances were way above par for low-budget indie horror. In fact, there was a stand out performance by Pete Barker, who plays the old priest, Father William. First off, rarely do you see older actors in low-budget horrors, but to see one that gives a good performance is extremely rare. He did a great job and "in fact, the only reason why (Jason) wrote an 'old' character was because (he) know he would do it." As for the other actors, Jason "found almost all (of them) by placing an ad in Backstage, which is a publication for actors." Jason adds, for "a filmmaker who can base his casting out of NY or LA has much to choose from. There are a great many actors who aren't rich or famous, but who are good and are willing to work on no-budget stuff."

Distributing the film: The film was picked up by Brain Damage and "distribution is going about as well as it possibly can." Asked if there's was anything learned from the distribution process, "you have to tell the audience what they're getting, so they know how to react to it. "Satan's Whip" is being marketed as a hard-core horror film, when...it was intended to be a comedy, albeit a dark, weird one." So, what about that reaction? "I've gotten a kick out of the public reaction to the film, which has been pretty negative. One fellow from Nigeria wrote on IMDB that he wept for humanity after seeing it. For my part, I have never seen a film that has made me weep for the future of the world. Not even Pasolini's Salo. I hope he had Kleenex."

What’s next: Jason is currently working on a script that he hopes to produce later this year and, it's another absurd, weird comedy.

For more information on the film, you can go to the "Satan's Whip" Myspace page or to buy a copy of "Satan's Whip", you can click on the link below:

"Scream Farm" from Jim O'Rear

I'm working on another one of those case studies and I thought I'd have it done for today, but... nope. So, I quickly wanted to mention Jim O'Rear's upcoming film, "Scream Farm", which will be available on June 10th from Under The Bed / Phoenix Entertainment.

A little about Jim... He started out as a magician, then worked as a stuntman and actor, all before getting into screenwriting and, later, directing. Currently, he's also contributing to national publications, such as 'Scary Monsters Magazine', 'Haunted Attraction Magazine' and 'Underground Entertainment'. Also, he will soon be appearing, as himself, along with Ken Foree, Brinke Stevens, Tom Savini, Debbie Rochon and James Gunn, in the new fictional horror novel, "Bad Moon Rising". So, he's been at this a while and when it comes to getting his films made, they're as indie as they come. On his latest project, "Scream Farm", he acts as the producer, writer, director, assistant art director, still photographer, casting director, editor, special makeup effects artist and he also acts in it, as well as did some stunts.

"Scream Farm", which is currently screening at select festivals and recently got distribution, follows a group of students who build a Halloween haunted house to help raise money for their senior class trip. However, the students get more then they bargained for when they come across a substance in the building that begins turning them, and the townspeople, into flesh-craving zombies.

Look out for it on June 10th, I'm sure we'll cover it again, though. For more information on Jim, you can go to his website or Myspace page. For more information on the film, you can go to its Myspace page.

April 29, 2008 - New Horror available on DVD today

At first glance, it looked like there were a lot of new horror flicks out today, but... after further review, the bulk of them are useless rereleases. However, there are some new ones out there, plus a few notable rereleases. I'd like to also mention that Dead Harvey now has a Youtube channel where we will have the trailers for the current new releases of the week up and we hope to do that each week... also, as usual, you can click on the films links below to purchase them from Amazon.

"Headless Horseman" is, yet again, another Sci-Fi Channel film, this one first aired in October, 2007 and is directed by Anthony C. Ferrante, who got his start in special effects, having worked as the special makeup effects supervisor on such films as: "The Dentist", "Progeny", "Wishmaster 2: Evil Never Dies" and "Faust, Love of the Damned". His only other feature length directorial effort was "Boo", which was nominated for Best DVD Release at the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films in 2006. "Headless Horseman" is, obviously, based on the legend of Sleepy Hollow and the Headless Horseman, however this film sets the record straight. According to this, the Washington Irving story was a little 'white-washed' and the events that take place here are the real deal. Oh... and if you're wondering whatever happened to Richard "Bull from Night Court" Moll, he's one of the stars.

"In The Blood" was written, directed and edited by Lou Peterson for the Logo Network, which is, yes... the lesbian and gay network from MTV. Logo, in itself, is kind of a cool concept, not because of their content, but in how they deliver it. It's a network that you can get on regular cable, by VOD, watch online, download, buy programming on DVD and even get on your phone. That's pretty 'ahead of the curve' and big networks should start shifting to this business model to leverage their properties and, I just heard today, that Warner Bros. is kinda doing this by moving The WB online, but I digress... "In The Blood" is about a guy, struggling with his sexuality, who happens to go to a college where there's been a string of co-ed murders and his sister, who also attends the school, fits the victim profile. Further, he's having vivid dreams of his sister covered in blood and his player buddy making moves on her. I haven't seen it, but almost every review says the end is shocking... and not necessarily in a good way. In a, 'where the hell did that come from' kinda way, which sorta makes me want, just to see what the hell they're talking about... and there's nothing wrong with that.

"Knock, Knock" was first screened around a year ago, May 7th, 2007, at Fangoria's Monster Mondays screening, to be exact and six months later, it was picked up by Grindstone/Mandate Pictures for distribution through Lionsgate Home Entertainment. It was written, produced and directed by Joseph Ariola, which explains why the trailer says 'Ariola Productions presents', here I thought it was a spelling mistake and a reference to boobs. It's a typical, retro-slasher flick and reviews are decent. Ariola's written, produced and directed a few other projects, but this is, I believe, his most ambitious to date.

"Karaoke Terror: The Complete Japanese Showa Songbook" was known as "showa kayo daizenshu" in its native Japan and it was written by Ryu Murakami, who's the same guy who wrote Takashi Miike's "Audition". This is your classic, over the top, extremely gory, Japanese satirical, twisted tale. However, you have to love the premise... a gang of karaoke loving middle aged women and a gang of young, slacker guys go at it against each other, first with knives... then guns... and eventually with rocket launchers... and beyond. The originality that comes out of that nation, I swear...

That's really it for new releases, so... I'm going to tell you about the rereleases because there's actually some good ones coming out.

First off, old Lloyd Kaufman must not have made a fortune off of "Poultrygeist", as we're getting both "The Complete Toxic Avenger" and "Make Your Own Damn Movie: Young Filmmakers Series, Vol. 1 - Pot Zombies" this week. There really has to be a soft spot in every indie horror filmmaker for the Troma stuff, bless the studio that brought us "Tromeo and Juliet" and "Surf Nazis Must Die". Who can claim to not like what they do? Either way, the Toxie movies are classics and there's a lot that can be learned from his whole "Make Your Own Damn Movie" stuff, so... there you go.

There's also a few grindhouse classics being rereleased, including: Umberto Lenzi's "Nightmare City", Pasquale Festa Campanile's "Hitch Hike" and the, 'banned in many countries' classic, Lucio Fulci's "The New York Ripper". I have the trailers for these up on our Youtube channel, you should check them out.