New Horror out on DVD this Week... Finally, My Name Is Bruce

Another great week for new horror releases, basically because "My Name is Bruce" is finally getting released this week. So, might as well get right to it... and, as usual, if you want to buy one of these, click on the title and get it through Amazon. Also, if you want to see all the trailers, head on over to our Youtube page and check them all out...

Okay, let's cut the shit and get right to the release of the week. I'm a big Bruce Campbell fan... I mean, who doesn't quote "Evil Dead" as a major influence and/or respect the whole relationship that he has with the Raimi brothers? Seriously, I love the fact that Sam Raimi is one of the most respected filmmakers of our generation right now and he STILL puts Bruce and Ted in every film... even though the films that Bruce and Ted do on their own could be considered, well... retarded. Take "My Name Is Bruce", for example, which is CLASSIC Bruce Campbell. Bruce plays a sleazy version of himself, who, after being harassed and mistaken by fans to, basically be Ash, is abducted from his trailer home to fight Guan Di, a Chinese war deity. F'ing awesome... just reading that plot line makes me think I'm back in film school for some reason. Now, a lot of naysayers thought the film was a disaster, as it was screened over a year ago, but then... nothing. It turns out that the truth is quite the opposite. Apparently, after the studio that financed it, saw it... they gave them more money to do a second shoot, so they could beef it up and go to the theaters with it. Anyhow, it's destined to be a classic and there's already a sequel in the works.

"Red Victoria" is written, produced, directed by and stars Anthony Brownrigg. He also shot it, edited it, did the visual effects and was one of the camera operators. Oh... and he also designed the website. WTF? Talk about going at it yourself! I'm going to have to try to get in touch with this guy... anyhow, it's an award winning film, having got the 'best feature film' award at the World Horror Convention, among others. It looks like it's a violent horror-comedy and it's got a very intriguing plot. Jim is a down and out writer, who's forced to write a horror film... and he finds a muse, an undead girl named Victoria... who decides to teach Jim about horror by killing his friends and family. So, can Jim finish his horror movie to Victoria's approval before she kills everyone he knows? Wow, love it.

"Otto; Or, Up With Dead People" is written and directed by Bruce La Bruce and created a bit of buzz throughout the festival circuit and, really, what gay zombie film hasn't? La Bruce has actually made a whole bunch of real gay porn, so it doesn't come as a surprise to find out that this film "contains extreme zombie sex". The film is about an underground filmmaker who is finishing up an epic political-porno-zombie movie, when he runs into Otto and starts to film him... they discover parts of Otto's past, such as the details of his ex-boyfriend, and they arrange a meeting between the two in the schoolyard where they met... with devastating results.

I hate it when they change a good title to a mediocre title for international audiences... and this is a classic example. "Freakdog" is now "Red Mist", which is from Irish filmmaker, Paddy Breathnach. You may remember Breathnach's last film, which I really liked, called "Shrooms". Definitely check that out, if you haven't seen it. Anyhow, "Red Mist" ALSO looks pretty good, it's about a young doctor who administers a powerful drug to a coma victim, but instead of curing him... it triggers an out-of-body experience that enables the patient to inhabit other people's bodies and, subsequently, take revenge on the bullying medical students who were responsible for his condition.

"The Lodger" comes from David Ondaatje and it's his first film in around a decade... his last film was "Waiting for Dr. MacGuffin". "The Lodger" is based on a novel, which I've never heard of... but that doesn't mean much. I don't read fiction novels. Hell, I barely read non-fiction. However, it's the same novel that Hitchcock based HIS version of "The Lodger" off of. Anyhow, it's got a decent cast, with Alfred Molina, Simon Baker (now well known because of "The Mentalist"), Donal Logue, among a bunch of others... So, the film has two converging plot lines: the first involves an uneasy relationship between a psychologically unstable landlady and her enigmatic lodger; the second is about a troubled detective engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with an elusive killer.

"Dorothy Mills" comes from multi-award winning French director, Agnes Merlet and, although I haven't seen it, it's getting great reviews and is being likened to "The Excorcist". It's about a psychiatrist who's sent to a small island village (sounding very "Wicker Man"-like, so far) to work the case of Dorothy Mills, a teenaged girl who tried to strangle a baby. The psychiatrist diagnosis her with multiple personality disorder until the day that Dorothy speaks with the voice of the psychiatrist's dead son. I'm definitely intrigued.

"Are You Scared 2" is the sequel to the very unscary "Are You Scared?", which came out in 2006. They did manage to get Tony Todd in this, but I'm not sure it'll save it... I'm sure you'll get a lot of what you got in the first movie, which was the whole 'reality show horror' thing.

Film Fest Updates: Spooky Movie, Fantastic Planet and Final Draft's Big Break

Am I the only guy who's week gets just a bit longer after the Superbowl? I'm really looking forward to this Sunday, in a weird way... I mean, I love NFL Football, I do. However, my ability to work on the site and watch films increases two or three-fold after the season ends. It's a bitter-sweet. It's probably better for my liver, too. It'll definitely ensure that I have enough time to check out the new "Friday the 13th" next week, really looking forward to it. Anyhow, a few updates in the festival world...

First off, the 4th annual Washington, D.C. International Horror Film Festival... or Spooky Movie, as they like to be called, now has their call for entries open. They accept almost anything, from shorts to features, every sub-genre of horror, they even accept screenplays this year... and even though they're non-competitive, they will be giving out a DarkHart Screenplay Award. The other really cool thing they do is the "Festival of Horrors" DVD. So, your film can live on past the festival and get further exposure. I'm not sure if you get any of the profits or anything, but hey... if an audience is what you're after, then an audience you'll get.

For a little international flare, how about submitting to Fantastic Planet: Sydney International Sci-Fi & Fantasy Film Festival? It's based in Australia, obviously, and it's founded by the same guys who bring you the "A Night of Horror International Film Festival". It's a five day festival that's going to take place in October and they're currently accepting entries for features, shorts, short animations and screenplays. My guess is that your film should have more sci-fi/fantasy elements than straight horror, but whatever... what horror film doesn't have SOME sci-fi elements? Speaking of, do you think Jason will still have his telekinetic powers in this new "Friday the 13th" movie? I mean, have you seen the trailer where he runs, then throws the machete? It took me back a bit... I don't think I've EVER seen him run before. He just saunters around and appears wherever he needs to, but I digress...

I'm a Final Draft user, so I feel I should mention Final Draft's Big Break Screenplay Contest, which is an annual, global screenwriting contest designed to launch the careers of aspiring writers. According to them, their objective is "to discover talented screenwriters and help them find success in today's screenwriting industry". If you head over to the site there, you can check out success stories and other stuff like that. It's all genre's, of course, but I don't see too many horror-like titles in the success story page, but you never know. On this note, I would like to officially throw it out there... I will enter a few screenplay competitions this year, just to see what the process is like and find out what you get out of it. I'll keep you posted.

Anyhow... that's all I got for the week. Have a good one, see you on Monday.

Interview with C.A. Kline, writer of The Fright Night Series

The definition of horror, when referring to a horror movie, is 'centered upon or depicting terrifying or macabre events' and if you asked the average horror fan what elements need to be in a good horror film, they'd probably say things like, it needs a good killer, there needs to be some good gore, a bit of nudity, some good scares... horror is generally thought of as that typical R-rated fare that parents don't want their kids to watch. Well, what about horror that parents DO want their kids to watch?

The truth of the matter is, horror is a genre and it doesn't necessarily have to be catered to a mature audience. If you were a filmmaker or writer, looking to break into the industry, and horror was your thing, you should probably look at what people aren't doing and do that, right? If everyone was making slasher flicks, shouldn't you make the opposite? Well, right now, there's just not enough youth horror and, remember, kids like this stuff, too... and although they sound like kid-fare, they're not ready for "Pumpkinhead" or "Chucky". They should be watching "Goosebumps" or reading "The Fright Night" series books from C.A. Kline.

"The Fright Night" series books from C.A. Kline are suspenseful and fun and it's horror that's geared towards kids aged 8 - 14... or so. Kline is currently on her fourth novel in the series and if you want to get a kid into horror, these are a great place to start. We had the chance to discuss the series, plus the whole idea of youth oriented horror with Kline and she offers a lot of insight into the writing process and where this sub-genre is at right now. It's a great read and if you're interested in the other side of the horror spectrum, you should probably give this a read...

Tell us about yourself. How did you get into horror?

I have always been fascinated with the macabre from when I was a young girl. I started watching horror films when I was about nine or ten and I think you are either born loving it or not. For example: I have two children. My daughter loves everything spooky and my son can be watching a cartoon and say it is scaring him. She definitely takes after me and he is just like my husband, who I have to practically beg him to watch a scary movie with me.

Tell us about The Fright Night series, where did you get the idea from?

I was home one night with my husband and one of his friends and they were getting ready to watch football. Not being a fan of the sport, I thought that it was going to be a boring evening when the thought just popped into my head that I was going to write a book. I have no idea where it came from because I really never thought about it before. I went into the computer room and began typing. Two weeks later my first book was completed.

Personally, I think that horror that's geared towards a younger demographic is currently an under served niche. Talk about youth oriented horror, where's the whole scene at right now?

I think there have been some excellent books and TV shows out there for our youth, like Goosebumps and Are You Afraid Of The Dark. The books are still coming but I would love to see more shows like Goosebumps or Are You Afraid Of The Dark's put back on Friday or Saturday nights. Something that kids have to look forward to as the weekend approaches.

What appeals to an older demographic may not be what appeals to a younger demographic. Talk about what you think makes good horror for younger readers.

Well I definitely feel that horror which is written for younger readers needs to be much cleaner that something aimed at older readers. What I mean is I think that killing and gore needs to stay away from the minds of our youth. Kids need to have a safe place to escape and enjoy a spooky book that is age appropriate. This is where The Fright Night Series books come in. They are geared more to giving the readers a good jolt without the blood and gore that you might find in horror books geared toward adults.

Talk about youth oriented horror on TV or film. Do you think the same rules apply on making good horror for youth on TV and film as it does for a book?

Absolutely! I will let my kids watch Goosebumps and Are You Afraid Of The Dark shows but I won't let them watch the real horror flicks that I watch. On Halloween night, my husband and I settled in to watch Halloween H2O, which we absolutely loved but my daughter couldn't understand why she couldn't watch it. Kids don't need to have the pictures of someone being slashed into pieces and have those images stay with them.

Are you thinking of adapting any of your work for film or TV?

It would be fantastic to have The Fright Night Series made into a TV series. I would love to see it move into a weekly Friday night spot and have someone talking to the viewers before the show starts, during the commercials, and at the end of the shows.

How hard was it to get started? What was the process like for you, as in... you just finished your first book. Now what?

It is rather easy to write as long as you have faith in yourself and are open to your ideas. I just finished my third book of The Fright Night Series, which is called "Mr. Peabody's Ghost". It is currently at the publishers and it will be released soon.

What advice would you give to up-and-coming horror authors and writers who may be looking to get a book published?

Finding a reputable publisher is where the hard work comes in. Publishers like Random House will pretty much only work with established authors or celebrities, who are a guarantee to generate sales. Another option is Pay On Demand publishing. Where you hire a publisher to publish your work. One piece of advice for anyone who goes with POD, make sure you have the editing done. One of my favorite books has many spelling and grammatical errors because the author didn't have this done, which was a huge mistake. Even though it is one of the most captivating and bone chilling books I have read, the reviews were poor due to the many errors that would have been caught with the the advanced editing. Therefore it is definitely worth spending the extra money for this service.

Where can people find more information about The Fright Night series and your other work or, better yet, buy a copy?

People can read excerpts from The Fright Night Series books on myspace.com/thefrightnightseries and the books can be found on Amazon.com, target.com, barnes&noble.com, and all of the Internet bookstores. They are starting to make their way into Borders stores.

What's next for you?

I am presently working on my fourth book and I will scare you later.

Interview with Kevin Gates, co-writer, director and producer of "Zombie Diaries"

I've said it before, I'll say it again... Dead Harvey is usually a little late to the party. Either that, or we're the guys that never make it to the big party, we were having too much fun at the pre-party.... or maybe we're the guys who got too drunk to even show up at the party, I don't know. The point is, we rarely have breaking news, exclusives or things like that. The reason is, more than anything, we're just fans and filmmakers ourselves... more than we are a media outlet, anyhow. We just get to shit when we get to it. Quite frankly, we've never made a dime off of doing the site, but we have met a lot of wicked people, found out about a lot of kick-ass projects and helped promote a few films along the way. This interview with Kevin Gates, the co-writer, director and producer of "The Zombie Diaries", is a prime example of why we do what we do... mainly because I thought the movie kicked ass and I'm pretty stoked to hear about how they got it done. But that's not all, we may just have some exclusive news this time around, just read to the end.

If you're into indie horror, I'm sure you've either seen "Zombie Diaries", heard about it or, at least, seen the ads... unreal box art, by the way. It's easily one of the most successful indie horror's of the year and with good reason. I hate to knock Romero, I really do, but both "Zombie Diaries" and "Diary of the Dead" set out with extremely similar premises and "Zombie Diaries" is the one that delivered the goods and it did it on a fraction of the budget. It's one of the best first-person, cinema verite style, horror films that I've seen in a long while and, for indie horror fans, it's a must see... period.

We had a chance to discuss the film with Kevin Gates and this is definitely one for our filmmaker readers. There's some great insight, great thoughts and it's a good read.

Tell us a bit about yourself. What are your influences and what brought you into the world of indie horror filmmaking?

I'm from Hertfordshire in the UK. I started off studying painting before discovering a film-making course at my local art college when I was 18. Having always been a horror film fan it really appealed to me. From then on I ditched my paintbrush and started making Super 8 shorts, before studying film-making at university. My influences mainly stem from the movies I grew up watching. Italian horror cinema - the likes of Lucio Fulci, Ruggero Deodato, Umberto Lenzi, Joe D'Amato, Lamberto Bava etc. And of course, John Carpenter and George Romero. My favourite film of all time is Carpenter's 'The Thing'. For me it's the perfect movie.

Film School: Yes or No?

Film-making has changed so much in the last 10 years that I don't think it's as essential. At the same time, I went to film school and it made me much more disciplined in my approach, which I think is very important. I also picked up a lot of technical skills. So there's a choice. Either spend your money on film school, or spend your money on buying some HD equipment and learn yourself. I think there is a myth with a lot of the digital generation whereby anyone with a camcorder considers themselves a director. That's not the case. You've got to learn your craft. Whether that's at film school or working your way up on other people's productions, the choice is yours. But once you've reached a certain level, there's so much scope now with low cost equipment to say "Right, I'm now going to make my own film" and really go for it.

Where did the idea for “The Zombie Diaries” come from and, if you don’t mind me asking, did you come up with the idea before you heard about Romero’s “Diary of the Dead”?

Mike and I are always coming up with ideas for movies - usually horror movies. Often I'll say "No way, that's awful" or vice-versa. On this occasion Mike said "How about a short zombie film, but shot like Blair Witch?" I pondered on this for a little while, before saying "Okay, but how about feature length?" It went from there.

The idea was conceived late 2004, so about two years before Diary of the Dead was even announced. We premiered our movie on Halloween 2006, so way before Diary. There has been a misconception in the US because Diary of the Dead was released first, but that's because The Weinstein Company own both films and was just a scheduling decision.

How did you go about securing financing and what was the approx budget?

100% private investment. I'm not going to reveal the precise budget and the reason being that it doesn't matter. The film is what it is. There have been wild reports on the internet of incredibly high and low estimates for the budget, but we've never officially revealed it and I like that mystery.

What did you shoot on and how long was the shoot?

The movie was shot for the main part on a Sony VX2000 MiniDV camera, with some additional nightvision shots done on a Sony handycam. The credits sequence in London was actually shot on a Canon MV30 – a camera which I loathed. I got revenge though when the camera was rolled down a hillside for the sequence where the character of Matt is shot by Goke. I think that pretty much destroyed the camera, which belonged to Mike.

When you’re dealing with that whole ‘cinema verite’ style of shooting, low-budget films can lose believability due to amateur actors, people trying to remember lines, stuff like that. You guys nailed it. I thought it never lost believability. How did you deal with that? Was it in your approach with the actors, was it pre-production… or?

We were very fortunate with some of the actors we got hold of in London. We didn't even hold that many casting sessions as we knew the people we wanted. The approach was to use a lot of improvisation, but to be careful that the story wasn't lost by too much deviation from the script. With certain scenes, the actors really didn't know what to expect so often the reactions were genuine. A good reference for this is the scene where the two guys go up the stairs in the farm house in 'The Outbreak' segment. They didn't know what was waiting for them in the bedroom, so they really felt like they were there.

It wasn’t over-the-top gory, but there was some extremely gruesome scenes to say the least. On top of that, the gore that was in there was very effective. Talk about dealing with effects on a low budget.

We used professionals for the effects and make up. Two of the guys (Scott Orr and Mike Peel) I'd worked with before and along with Cesar Alonso, they formed a great team to create all the zombie make ups and blood and guts. The effects were very elaborate and time consuming, but that's because we needed absolute realism. Because of the stark nature of the filming, we needed to go right up close to the zombies on occasions. For that reason, the effects had to be as believable as the cinema-verite approach.

The film offered a very bleak look at humanity and it ended on a bit of low note. Talk about deciding to go against the Hollywood ending.

I've always preferred downbeat endings. My favourite films 'The Thing', 'Night of the Living Dead' etc all have a very bleak tone at the end. It's something that sticks with you much more than a Hollywood ending. I think the whole tone of the film is that in this post apocalyptic zombie-infested world, man is gradually going to become extinct, therefore it wouldn't be right to have an optimistic ending. Saying that though, the character of Leeann does survive at the end. She's probably been through a horrendous ordeal at the hands of Goke and Manny, but she is alive. That's a slight ray of hope.

Tell us about some of the hurdles you overcame to get the film done. Any advice you can pass on to other indie filmmakers who might be just setting out to make a film.

Actors and script are still the most important factors in any film. Your film is only as good as your weakest actor or worst line of dialogue. You also need a fresh approach, especially if doing a horror film. To make your movie stand out, it has to be different. At the time we were the first movie to cross zombies with a video diary approach, so it was fresh. Plus we altered the timeline to make it non-linear and to make the audience think a little more. It had the right ingredients and it was different and that's one of the reasons it's been successful.

Did you enter festivals? If so, how did it do? Talk about the festival circuit… is it something that every indie horror filmmaker should consider doing?

The festival circuit is awesome and essential for an indie film to be a success. I attended Sitges, Cannes and Frightfest. The film itself has played all over the world from Argentina, Brazil, USA, Mexico, Spain UK and even Indonesia. Certainly the fans at the horror festivals are the most passionate and it was an honour to introduce the movie at Sitges and Frightfest. The film went down a storm at Frightfest and was the biggest selling movie there in 2007.

Tell us about the process of finding distribution. How did that go and what insight could you pass on to other filmmakers who are looking for distribution?

Have lots of screener DVDs of your movie and send them out. Sales agents and distributors will watch them. I would say to be careful though as there are a lot of sharks out there who are looking to rip off first-time film-makers. We found ourselves a great sales agent who sold the film brilliantly. A sales agent is vital in my opinion as they know how to sell your film, what price it should be sold at to a distributor and they'll be able to sell your movie in such diverse places as Japan, Brazil, South Africa and even the Middle East! Our film has been sold pretty much everywhere in the world now and has hit the top of the charts in a few countries.

But you've got to have a product that is original and stands out from the crowd for a sales agent to be interested. Certain ones specialise in genre movies, so do your research. We had a degree of fortune with The Zombie Diaries in that there was a whole flood of Blair Witch style movies that followed (Diary of the Dead, [REC] and Cloverfield). We didn't latch onto this wave, but we were able to ride it a bit. The film was thus very easy to sell and in many territories, for a lot of money.

Where can people find out more about “The Zombie Diaries” or, better yet, buy a copy?

There's more info over at ZombieDiaries.com and the movie itself is available pretty much everywhere, either in stores like Best Buy or Walmart, or online retailers like Amazon.

Talk about the indie horror genre. Where do you feel it is now and where do you see it going?

For the indie film-maker, DV is dead now, that's for certain. I think The Zombie Diaries was one of the last break out movies to be shot on DV. So ditch your DV camera and upgrade to HD as that's the minimum requirement for the indie film-maker.

In terms of content, we've been through torture porn and the like in the last few years. The films that I've enjoyed the most in the last year are 'Let The Right One In' and 'The Orphanage'. Two much slower paced horror movies, but both absolutely brilliant. Zombie movies will still be around for a while longer though and there is always a market for horror. The video market is going through a lot of problems right now with the credit crunch and global recession, but if you've got a good film, it's always going to sell.

What’s next for you? Do you have any projects in the works?

Well I can tell you that a trilogy of movies is in the works for The Zombie Diaries and you're the first to hear this. Added to that I have another horror feature script called 'Forever Darkness' that is gaining a lot of attention. I've described it as 'Pitch Black' meets 'The Mist'. I'm also working alongside Terry Marcel, producing 'Hawk the Hunter' - a sequel to the 1980 cult sword and sorcery movie 'Hawk the Slayer', so the next year looks to be a very busy and exciting time.

New Horror Out on DVD this week... and it's definitely a good week

Things are really heating up now. First off, it's less than two weeks until Friday the 13th, which happens to be when "Friday the 13th" is hitting the theaters... so, not only are they rereleasing EVERY "Friday the 13th" Movie this week, there's also the upcoming "His Name Was Jason" and the "Jason Slasher Collection". Further, you've got LOTS of horror to pick from this week, I just wish I could check them all out... or even look into them more. Good stuff. Anyhow, you can read about them here, go over to our Youtube page to watch the trailer and, of course, if you're looking to buy them, just click on the titles...

Right off the bat, I'm just pissed that I didn't come up with the idea for a horror film called "Small Town Folk" that stars Warrick Davis. No shit, I'm going to have to buy this poster. F'ing awesome. Now, I don't think I'll be doing the film any justice with this description, but it's about a place called Grockleton and some people that stumble on to it and, well. I can't do it. Check out the trailer. The film looks like a mix of early Peter Jackson and Sam Raimi, with midgets thrown in... The best quote I could find on it is, "imagine if Terry Gilliam took acid and wrote a horror script". SOLD! Where do I sign up? Pick of the week, for sure.

Over here at Dead Harvey, we're well informed of "Blitzkrieg: Escape from Stalag 69" and it's finally getting it's regular DVD release this week. You can find an in-depth Dead Harvey interview with director, Keith Crocker, here. We've been following this film for a while now and I'd really encourage you to check it out... especially if you like Nazi movies with lots of boobs and gore. Really, it's a great indie horror and if you haven't seen it, do... and if you haven't checked out that interview, it wouldn't kill you to read that, either.

I feel like I've already talked about or reviewed "Killer Movie", but it could just be that I've already seen this 'movie' a few hundred times. It's about a reality show gone terribly awry when the crew becomes stranded in a remote Northern town. There's a killer on the loose and he's stalking the crew, one by one. Rings a bell... Anyhow, it's written and directed by Jeff Fisher and I believe it's his first feature film, but he's been around in TV for quite a while. Peace Arch Entertainment is releasing it and they have been on a bit of roll lately, having brought out "Midnight Movie" and "JCVD", as of late. So, if past performance is an indicator for you, you may want to give this one a chance.

"Black Swarm" is a Sci Fi Original from David Winning, who's behind some of the better Sci Fi Original Films, including: "Swamp Devil" and "Something Beneath". Winning's been around for quite a while and has been credited as a director, producer, screenwriter and actor. He's mainly known for his work on "Andromeda" and "Stargate: Atlantis". "Black Swarm" is about a pack of intelligent, but deadly, genetically modified wasps, who... when amassed into a black swarm, have a single, terrifying purpose... and that purpose is to kill... people.

"Blood Predator" comes from Paul Gagne, who's more of an actor than he is a director, even though he's produced and written a few films. In fact, he was also the editor on "Sigma Die!" (read the next blurb) and "Dominion". As for other films that he's written and directed, you may have seen "The Slaughterhouse Massacre". If not, you may know him from his acting... He was in "The Unknowing", "Green River Killer" and even played a sailor in "Pirates of the Caribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl". It's about a private jet that crash lands in the Sierra Mountains and the survivors stumble into some deadly extraterrestrial beasts with barbed-like tongues that are able to pull victims into their razor sharp teeth and shred their human flesh like a haywire garbage disposal. Okay, I didn't make that up, that's from the box...

"Sigma Die" is a low-budget, indie horror from Brain Damage and this one stars the always popular and best thing to come out of the Estevez/Sheen family, Joe Estevez - brother to Martin Sheen. It's directed by Michael Hoffman, who's made a slew of indie horror films and it's a horror comedy about a few sorority girls who rent an off campus property for summer vacation, but someone is watching, waiting... and they want to join the fun. No more details are necessary, I think you know what to expect here.

"Sick and The Dead" is also from Brain Damage and it looks like it's some good old fashioned, shot on DV, indie horror fun... Directed by Brockton McKinney and Jordy Dickens, it's a zombie film that takes place a year after the dead come back and it poses the question, "a year after the world ends... what will you be?". I've actually given this a lot of thought. I'll be as far away from everyone, probably in the woods... maybe on a beach somewhere, drunk off my ass.

"The Sisters Four" comes from Midnight Releasing and it's written and directed by Jim DeVault, who's been the producer, writer, director and cinematographer on a few indie horror films, including "A Grave Waiting" and "Clox Without Hands". It's a shot on DV, slasher flick / murder mystery about an f'ed up orphanage that mistreats the children and those children's quest for redemption later in life. After watching the trailer, it looks to have everything you need, including blood, boobs and, well... more boobs.

Here's one for the fans... "Dead Noon" actually came out in 2007, but I'm thinking that they're rereleasing it because Kane Hodder's in it. I mean, there's a pile of Jason retrospectives out, they're rereleasing all the movies, there's a bunch of hype... and the guy who's played Jason more than anyone else is in your movie that came out a couple years ago? I'd rerelease it, too. It's a low budget horror about a blood thirsty outlaw from the old west who's been resurrected to seek revenge on the present day town of Weston.

Well, okay... So, you're BET, it's halloween and you want to make an original movie to broadcast. Who do you get? Flavor Flav, obviously... and why not put in Tony Todd, Tommy "Tiny" Lister, Sticky Fingaz and... Gary Busey? Actually, as far as I can tell, Flav kinda hosts "Nite Tales" and it's a double-feature, and that's in the loosest sense of the term. I mean that because I think the whole DVD is 90 minutes and that wouldn't make either of them features, but whatever...

Lastly, if you're into Italian horror or Lucio Fulci, specifically, you may want to check out "Paura - Lucio Fulci Remembered Vol. 1". It's basically the life & times of the "Godfather of Gore", as seen through the eyes of his colleagues and peers.

The Legend of Deese Nuts... and a Superbowl hangover

Due to various reason, including, but definitely not limited to, a massive Superbowl hangover, I'm going to have to delay discussing the new horror DVD's out this week until tomorrow.

Until then, I'd like you to check out this five minute animated short from Aaron Burk, called "The Legend of Deese Nuts, Episode 3: The Lifting of the Nuts". It's not horror, but it sure is indie... and not only that, Aaron Burk is part of the Dead Harvey team and will be featured extensively in our upcoming Dead Harvey TV pilot. So, enjoy and help spread the word of the Colonel's salty nuts...

I'm having a bit of a problem with the embedded video, so if it doesn't work, you can click here to link to it directly at FunnyOrDie.com.

The Legend of Deese Nuts Episode 3 "The Lifting of the Nuts" - watch more funny videos

Festivals, movies and things to look forward to...

Another Friday... and it's another countdown to cocktail hour. "The Uninvited" comes out this weekend, which is actually the American remake to the 2003 Korean film, "A Tale of Two Sisters", if you're interested... which was a great film. However, I'm not sure that'll get me to the theaters. I'll be honest, I'm on a countdown to "Friday the 13th" right now. Trailer looks great, anticipation is running high. I hope it doesn't let me down... much like every other Platinum Dunes remake released to date. I've got lots of indie shit to get through, anyhow, so I can wait two weeks to get to the theaters. Regardless, it's Friday and I'm anxious to try and find the solution to all of life's problems at the bottom of some bottle tonight... and I do know it's down there somewhere, just gotta keep looking. However, before I get to that, here's some things to look forward to!

February 6 - 8 is the New York Comic Con and, if you haven't figured it out yet, these conventions are for more than just comics. Sure, there's lots of comics there... and lots of nerds, but there's lots of movie and TV panels, as well as screenings and autographs, etc. Horror is tightly knit with this scene, so they tend to be great places to network and meet like minded people... and I can only imagine that the New York Comic Con gets more than a handful of people attending. If you live in, or around The City, go check it out. If not for the horror movies, for the nerds.

Now, if you're anywhere near North Carolina, you're going to have to attend the Nevermore Film Festival, which takes place this Feb 20 - 22 in Durham. They're a good group of guys, they put on a great festival and they've got a wicked list of films this year, a few of which I've seen. You'll want to make sure you check out "Alien Raiders", "Eel Girl" and "Reel Zombies" for sure.

Also, if you're just finishing up your film, there's a few festivals with deadlines approaching. Now, that doesn't mean that their FINAL deadline is approaching. It could mean that their early bird deadline is approaching... or something. Anyhow, if you're looking to submit a film any time soon, you should be looking at: the Eerie Horror Film Festival, Chicago Horror Festival, Paranoia Horror and Sci-Fi Convention & Film Festival, Sacramento Horror Film Festival, Terror Film Festival and Zompire: The Undead Film Festival.

Lastly, I just read a great little article called "In Praise of Low Budget Films" by Elliot Grove. Now, he's really just trying to push Raindance, a film festival that he founded, but there's a lot to read about in there, such as stuff on elements of a press kit, how to write a film on a minimal budget and script format. A good, short read.

Now, turn that sand timer over... just a few hours until the weekend!

A little company called Amazon.com...

As you may or may not know, us Dead Harvey guys are working on a pilot for a show called Dead Harvey TV. You can check out our posts on its progress here, here and here. Anyhow, as much as I fantasize about it being the next "Three's Company" or "Alf" and that networks will crawl all over each other to take a look at it, I have to face facts... they've got bigger fish to fry and, well, we're more like a barnacle in the ocean that they play in. So, I've been thinking about alternate forms of distribution, outside of the mainstream, that may be viable options. I was thinking about XBox or PS3 and wondering if they would be interested in something like this for their online networks. Maybe Netflix or some VOD service would have a use for it? We could work with some web-based company and stream it, maybe? I mean, there's lots of options out there. Well, what if no one wanted to pay us for it and we just wanted to find an audience? Well, what about Amazon.com? So, I looked into it...

But first, check out this email that ended up in my inbox...

"Dear Reader,

We are excited to announce that Box Office Mojo has been acquired by IMDb.com, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon.com, Inc. This is a major landmark in the nine year history of our company.

Box Office Mojo will continue to operate as a standalone business and produce analysis and the most comprehensive box office tracking freely available online. Our headquarters will also remain in the Los Angeles area.

We expect this change to allow us to expand our offering to readers like you by leveraging IMDb's comprehensive database of movies and those who make them. IMDb is committed to further developing the Box Office Mojo brand and building upon the success of the past nine years.

Our readers have been a vital component in our success, and we are grateful for your continuing support. Please feel free to email us with your questions or feedback at mail@boxofficemojo.com.
We realize this is important news for our community, and we are confident that this acquisition will benefit Box Office Mojo readers and provide us with many opportunities for future growth.

Regards..."

Okay, so... interesting, huh? Now, go to Withoutabox.com and tell me what it says at the bottom... you don't really have to go there, I'm going to quote it, but that's right, "A division of IMDB, an Amazon.com company". Alright, so what? So, let's tally this up. Amazon owns: IMDB, box office mojo and Withoutabox. That's a lot of film related stuff. So, where am I going with this? Well, check out what's at the bottom of an email I got from Withoutabox.com...

FILM MARKETING 101
1) Get an IMDb Title Page for your film. Most films now qualify as soon as their first Withoutabox submission is received by a festival.
2) Bring that Title Page alive by uploading video ASAP: Trailers, Clips, or even your Full Movie to build momentum and word-of-mouth.
3) Sell copies of your film on DVD and Video On Demand, on Amazon.com and other channels, all via CreateSpace. Setup is free, risk is none, and it works as well for selling 10 as 10,000.

Filmmakers who take charge EARLY in these ways see the benefits every day. You can, too. Your Withoutabox Account Home Page has complete step-by-step details to help you find your worldwide audience. So log in today, get with the program - and let us know how else we can help!

So, why would Amazon be promoting CreateSpace.com, an on-demand publishing company that allows you to make your own books, music and video's available to millions of customers? Oh, that's right... it's another Amazon.com company.

It looks like Amazon.com doesn't just own a lot of film related companies, they own a lot of INDIE film related companies. Really, if you've just finished a film, you can submit it to all the festivals, easily, through Withoutabox. Then you can get listed on IMDB.com and promote it. Then, you can submit it to CreateSpace.com and have it available on Amazon.com and Amazon VOD... and it can all be tracked and talked about on Box Office Mojo. ALL companies owned by Amazon.com... I don't even need to find a distributor. Amazon does it all and it doesn't even cost me much.

Long and short, who the hell knows what the future holds for media and media consumption? Only time will tell. But until we find out, you and we, both, do have a lot of options when it comes to finding a company or place to distribute our content, and I think more options are coming. But right now it looks like all of us indie filmmakers better get to know Amazon. They're a one-stop shop for indie filmmakers and it looks like they've got some sort of plan to be involved in the scene for a while...

Interview with Thomas Seymour, co-writer and co-director of Bikini Bloodbath Carwash

What's in a title?

Well, a lot... I think, anyhow. I've never understood people who give their films weird titles, stuff that is esoteric or simply doesn't make sense. A good title is like having a good business card, remember that scene in "American Psycho"? "The coloring? That's bone... and the lettering is something called scillian rail." Really, a film is going to be what it is, but the title helps sell it. The title should capture what your film is about... it's the bow on the present that holds the whole package together. It should make the person reading it understand, at least in part, what they're about to get into. "Star Wars", "Scarface", "Nightmare on Elm Street", "Jaws"... these are good titles. So is "Bikini Bloodbath Carwash".

I actually saw the first film, "Bikini Bloodbath", based solely on the title and, quite frankly, the film is exactly what you'd think it is... and it pays off, in spades. I loved it. So, I was more than excited to review the second installment, "Bikini Bloodbath Carwash", then have the opportunity to discuss it with co-writer/co-director, Thomas Seymour. After checking it out, this second installment builds on the first, both in quality and story. Really, it's a great film, especially if you're into boobs, blood and a laughs. And now knowing that there's more installments coming, I can't wait...

First off, tell us a bit about yourself. What are your influences and what brought you into the world of indie horror filmmaking?

Well I love Monty Python, Robert Rodriquez, John Mctiernan, Ridley Scott, Frank Darabont,Sam Raimi, Curtis Hanson and Benny Hill. Yes that’s right I think Benny Hill is a comedic Genius. However, if you're talking about my influences for the Bikini Bloodbath films it's more like films like Slumber Party Massacre, Silent Night, Deadly night, Friday the 13th, Gut Pile but the actual references in the Bikini Bloodbath films are from films like Revenge of the Nerds Krull, Aliens, Jaws, Indiana Jones,Flash Dance, Silence of the Lambs, Streets of Fire, Mad Max films like that.

Film School: Yes or No?

Yes, I went to school for Film and Video and Northwestern Connecticut College

Where did the idea for the "Bikini Bloodbath" series come from? Was it intended to be a series or did the first one do well enough for you guys to think, 'hey, let's go make a few more of these'?

From the very start we planned on making 8 of them. We wanted to push through the age old idea that a film had to be successful to have a sequel, fortunately people tend to actually like the Bikini Bloodbath films and they have done well for the most part in there reviews and there sales. As far as the title goes I had been making indie films for some years when Jon Gorman and I decided to team up. Jon and I knew we wanted to delve into B-movie horror. We were always huge fans and saw it as an opportunity to make fun movies, double our money and improve our craft. We were trying to make up names that summed up everything that the film represented in one title. We had like twenty combinations of words we were working on and then Jon just blurts out "Bikini Bloodbath" and my brother Bruce Seymour and I were like "Yup, that´s the one."

What's the approx budget for these films and talk about getting financing the first one, versus getting financing the second one...

Jon and Bruce we able to get financing for all three. Bikini 1 was eight grand, Bikini 2 was twelve grand and Bikini 3 was twelve grand. The budgets were small some we didn’t need to raise much at all.

What do you shoot on and how long are the shoots?

We use the Canon H1 HD camera. The shoots for the first two films were 9 days and 11 days for the third. I like the Canon H1 one a lot. We may move to the Red camera for the next film.

Debbie Rochon's a bit of a legend in the B Movie world, how'd you manage to get her in the films?

Have you ever heard of Phil Hall? He’s one of the higher profile online critics, he wrote a bunch of books too. He took a liking to my work way back when. We became good friends and started working together on these films. Phil knew Debbie and put me in touch with her. Phil actually has a great role in Bikini Bloodbath Carwash as Professor Ship Wreck. I tried to Cast Debbie Rochon in The Land of College Prophets. That’s a film I did a few years back. She was going to act in the film but had that crazy accident on one of her other horror film sets before the Land of College Prophets shoot. A real machete was on the set and someone chopped her hand up. So she couldn’t act in The Land of College Prophets for obvious reasons. When the Bikini Bloodbath films came around a few years later and she read the script. She was all for it. She’s a great a comedian as well as dramatic actress. I think this may have been a fun role for her at the time.

The bulk of your actors are young, good looking girls who spend most of the time half naked... or naked. Talk about the process of casting your films.

We audition actors and actresses. They’re standard auditions but if we like there performance we basically tell them there about three or four nude scenes, pretty standard topless changing scenes just like in 80’s horror films. We tell them the scenes are important to sell the film and are they’re fine with it. I think the title of the film scares away the shy types. There’s never any nudity in the auditions. Shooting the scenes is awkward as hell. I like boobs probably even more then the next guy but you still have to get the setup done. We basically set up the camera, do two takes and we’re out. It’s not as cool as it seems to shoot these scenes. As a director you’re dealing with a million problems and ultimately you just want to get the shots done, so you know you’ve make a sellable film.

Talk about directing style, such as how do you direct a scene like a locker room scene filled with bikini clad girls versus, say, a more dramatic or serious scene.

Well I’ve done dramatic scenes, never in Bikini Bloodbath but I’ve done them. In dramatic scenes I tend to like a lot of slow zooms or dollys. Film Snobs look down on zooms but I love a nice super slow zoom. It’s about using the angles to capture people’s posture, there faces. If you have a good actor, you just try to put the camera in the best place to see it all, sometimes seeing the back of the head means more then seeing the front. Or seeing a trembling hand instead of a trembling face. When shooting boobs in a shower room you point the camera at the boobs and shoot boobs. We just feel lucky we’re shooting boobs because I like boobs, they’re good. We also have like an hour to shoot in the locker room so the coverage was very limited.

"Bikini Bloodbath Car Wash" is the follow up to "Bikini Bloodbath"... what did you learn from the making of the first one that influenced you in the making of the second one?

In the first one we thought we could not possibly make a feature in 9 days so we’d shoot like madmen, and do anything we could to reduce shots and get through the setups. Part 2 we realized it’s very possible and we were able to get better angles and more coverage. We also realized we need to get higher end practical horror effects. We hired Leigh Radziwon to do the practical horror effects for part 2. She’s great.

Tell us about some of the hurdles you overcame to get these films done. Any advice you can pass on to other indie filmmakers who might be just setting out to make a film?

People no-show a lot of indie sets, make sure you have someone you can call if people don’t show up on the set. You also need to be calm and think on the fly. Large problems may happen and you might have to juggle the schedule a bit to make things work or in many cases change your script. There were a lot of very big hurtles on the "Bikini Bloodbath Carwash" set. It was a ton of problem solving. We needed to shoot all hot tub scenes but it was pouring rain and there were no make-up days. My brother Bruce Seymour and friend David James Sheehan went out and bought a huge carport and put it together over the hot tub. We shot all the wide shots using that but the audio was terrible because of the rain. So we went inside and put up a black backdrop, pulled a few camera tricks with the iris and the lens length to blur the background and show the close-ups. It turned out well. You can´t tell the close-ups were shot inside. That is one of maybe ten stories like that just on "Bikini Bloodbath Carwash."

Tell us about the process of finding distribution. What was the process like for you guys and what insight could you pass on to other filmmakers who are looking for distribution?

My Brother Started Brightly Entertainment. The Bikini Bloodbath Films are distributed through Brightly. The only way we’d go with another company is if Lions Gate or Sony offered us a deal. The indie scene is hurting, some people think its dying because indie fim has lost the ability to turn a profit or even break even. I think you need to form your own company and do it yourself. That’s the best chance of recouping your money. Anything else is a huge gamble. It may pay off. If you're just looking for exposure it might be a great idea to go with a medium sized distributor but if you’re looking to sustain a filmmaking career where you continue to make film. You might want to try to do it yourself.

Where can people find out more about the "Bikini Bloodbath" series or, better yet, buy copies?

For those of you who are considering buying Bikini Bloodbath Carwash. The proceeds will go to the fourth installment of Bikini Bloodbath. Entitled Bikini Bloodbath Ghost Town.

Bloodbathpictures.com

Buy it off Amazon

Now, let's talk about the indie horror genre. Where do you feel it is now and where do you see it going?

There sure is a lot of indie horror. I feel like horror is the last strong hold of indie film. When it goes, we’re all in trouble. I personally love bad horror films as much as I like good ones. I say the more the merrier. Of course the market is oversaturated and can’t possibly support it all. We’ll all have to just do horror because we love it, not because we want to make a living at it.

What’s next for you? Do you have any projects in the works?

Well, Bikini Bloodbath Christmas will be out next Christmas. It has Rachael Robbins, Debbie Rochon, Monique Dupree and Lloyd Kaufman in it. I think it will be very silly and weird. We’re doing a horror film called Blood River and also an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s Mark of the Beast. If anyone wants to invest, drop me a line! After that we will do Bikini Bloodbath Ghost Town. I just finished a new film that's running in festivals right now called London Betty. It’s been getting some really good press lately. It stars Nicole Lewis, Daniel Von Bargen and is narrated by Clint Howard. If anyone wants to find out more go to Londonbetty.com.

Thanks so much Ted for taking the time to talk with me. Also thanks to the readers for supporting Indie horror films especially when times are so tough. You rock!

The Making of a Tromadance Winner, by Frankie Frain Part IV

That's right folks, the time is finally here. You've been waiting almost a month to tie it all together and this is your chance. It's the last and final part of the Frankie Frain article, "The Making of a Tromadance Winner". Now, I want to make sure that you're all up to date on this, so if you missed parts I, II or III, here's links: part 1, part 2, part 3. And if you're too lazy to click on all that, don't worry. I'll post a link to the article in its entirety at some point over the next few days.

Anyhow, as this is the end of the article, I'd like to give a huge thanks to Frankie for writing it. Honestly, it's a great article with a lot of good advice... especially if you're just starting out. Now, do him a favor and go buy "I Need To Lose Ten Pounds" and/or "A-Bo The Humonkey". Click on either of those links to go to their respected homepages.

So, now... for your reading pleasure, here we are, the last few paragraphs of the article. Right in the heart of his advice to all new, up-and-coming filmmakers...

For the guys out there – get a girlfriend.

Because then you won’t give a fuck about making your shitty little movie.

But seriously, every successful project I’ve been a part of (including my own, obviously) has had a really cool, down to Earth, sociable, hard working and sturdy as a rock girlfriend attached to the director and piece, playing every role she can. I wish I could put my finger on exactly what this does for a production, but obviously a project’s success is based on the help and charity of those who love you, and who better than someone like this? Plus, an all-guy party scares location owners and actresses and everyone, especially if your film contains nudity or sexual situations involving females.

So get a chick to at least be there.

Keep shooting days short.

I have good friends who shoot very long days for successive weeks, and they’ve had complete success. But if your script contains the kind of locations, effects, and shot for shot scope that mine stupidly have, it’s the quantity of locations that will dictate your shooting schedule. So I could have, for instance, a very difficult location that’s only featured onscreen for a minute or so – but regardless, that becomes an entire shooting day, unless you can somehow group locations together (i.e., the all-male bath house buffet is coincidentally a block away from the hermaphrodites-only YMCA that appears later in the film, and both feature the same characters). But because my total shooting time tends to be several months (most people can only commit to weekend shoots since, unless you’re a rich bastard with nothing but rich bastard friends, everyone has jobs or class), I don’t like to tax everyone with dreadfully long shooting days. And there’s another upside to this – you don’t have to spend money on that most wasteful and pointless of commodities even the poorest of filmmakers seem to insist on providing: fuckin’ food. Do full stomachs appear on screen? No. Do they make people happier and turn in better performances? Debatable, but even if true, we low-budget fucks could only afford 4-for-3 medium pizza deals anyway, and pizza makes everyone just wanna hang out or go home and take a crap.

Short days – they’re easier to schedule, get people to commit to, and book locations for. It shouldn’t be too tall an order to keep the day short. I mean, you are shooting on DV aren’t you?

Don’t get snobby about aesthetics.

That’s probably pretty obvious, but I just want to remind you that good actors and a good script are the most important parts of your films, and they can and should be 100% free. But obtaining good aesthetics (and I don’t mean good camera work or competent lighting, a good DP should be able to capture these elements for free as well) is the quickest way to spend unnecessary money. Buying complex lighting kits, unnecessarily large-res camera, or god forbid, shooting on fuckin’ film.

Save yourself money. Focus on what really matters.

Don’t get caught up in “professionalism.”

I think this sorta sums up a lot of what I’ve been saying – only concern yourself with what’s actually going to appear on screen. Too many young filmmakers are too concerned about their perception as professional filmmakers. You know what dude? Do whatever it takes to make the movie. Don’t bring unnecessary equipment to look badass (you scoff, but I’ve seen it), don’t have precious, private moments doing bullshit exercises with the cast while alienating your bearded and autistic crew (you scoff, but I’ve seen it), and for the love of Christ, leave the walkie-talkies at home – you all have cell phones. I’ve just seen too much emphasis put on what “looks right” or how the pros do it and it makes me nauseous.

But I’m probably preaching to the choir – I’m talking to people who make movies with titles like Control-Alt-Die and Terror Dactyl. The only thing stopping you from making your movie right now is a couple of phone calls to some friends saying you shoot on Saturday the 19th. You’ve probably heard this advice more than anything else – just make the movie. Don’t worry about if it’s going to suck – it’s your first movie, it probably will anyway. And who knows? Maybe you can fix the suckiness in post by cutting most of it out (that’s what I did). Just get it out of your system.

Be too stupid to know that it’s impossible.

- Frankie Frain