Jacob Cooney, friend of Dead Harvey, sent us a link of his most recent project to share. It's a short called "Rocco" and revolves around the relationship of a man and his muppet who aren't on such good terms. Several friends of the main character, muppeteer Nathan Danforth are revealed slain in the beginning, then Danforth opens a small treasure box and "Reading Rainbow" style sparkling lights fly around psychotically and transform into the vicious muppet Rocco.
This is a fun short played deadpan and the results are very effective. The muppetry and music are fantastic as well. You can check it below...
ROCCO - a short film from Jacob Cooney on Vimeo.
For more information on filmmaker Jacob Cooney and his work, visit his website at: www.jacobcooney.com.
Also worth mentioning again is a short entitled "The Frolic" and we interviewed Cooney about it. It is further proof of Cooney's talent as a filmmaker and features some very impressive acting and directing. You can listen to that interview by clicking here.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Night of the Punks - see the short, relive the interview
Very happy to share this... We saw "Night of the Punks" a couple years back and we had the chance to interview filmmaker Dan Riesser about it. Check out our interview with him here. It's a very well done short and you can check it out below. Here's the press release we received recently about the short...
"Director Dan Riesser has created an instant cult classic with Night of the Punks."
- Sarah Jahier, Fatally Yours
"A fun-filled grue-gala with awesome F/X and a rad sense of humor."
- Jake Dee, Arrow in the Head
In Night of the Punks, small town punk rockers The Brain Deads have their first out of town show, but there are a few problems: the venue is deserted, the promoter is a creep, their bassist has gone missing and the only kids in the audience turn out to be bloodthirsty punk rockers from Hell.
Drawing inspiration from Return of the Living Dead, Night of the Demons and the Evil Dead series, Night of the Punks is a blood-splatted love letter to '80s horror cinema. The cast includes industry veteran Luke Edwards (The Wizard, Little Big League, Newsies), sketch comedian Nick Munday, professional wrestler Vic D. Vine and L.A. horror punk band Murderland. The short has been Official Selection at more than 25 film festivals around the world and took home numerous awards and accolades.
Director Dan Riesser comments, "Making Night of the Punks and taking it to festivals was an amazing experience, and I'm glad everyone now has a chance to catch it on YouTube." Riesser plans to turn the self-financed, 19-minute short into a feature film. The script is complete and the project is currently seeking funding. In the interim, Riesser is focusing on his feature directorial debut, Stomping Ground. Billed as a scary comedy about love and Bigfoot, the movie enters production this month.
For more information on Night of the Punks, visit its official website at NightofthePunks.com.
Thursday, October 11, 2012
Press Release - Season of Darkness
Hey guys, thought I'd share the press release that I received for Jay Woelfel's upcoming flick, "Season of Darkness". You have to like that cast... Tim Thomerson, Tiffany Shepis? Also, if you have a press release for your film or you're looking for some promotion, please let us know. More than happy to promote indie horror!
Director Jay Woelfel (Closed for the Season) has just
released the first trailer, poster and production stills for his upcoming
gore-gasm, Season of Darkness. Please find the latest for Season of
Darkness below:
Season of Darkness
“He escaped his insanity only to face a darker
reality.”
Director
Jay Woelfel (Closed for
the Season) returns to horror with a psychological tale of mistaken
identity. Woelfel’s Season of
Darkness is a story that focuses on a protagonist who is an escaped
mental patient. He finds release daunting and strange. Once free, the
public believes Dwight is actually a successful motivational speaker named
Artemus Finch. Unsure of what is real and what is imagined, Dwight eases into
his new role as Finch. But, there is a price to pay for Dwight’s new fame and
loving wife.
Shades
and faceless figures pursue him at every turn and they threaten Dwight’s love
for Ellen. Will Dwight succumb to madness, or will he face his troubles head
on?
Season
of Darkness stars Richard
Hatch (“Battlestar Galactica), Tiffany
Shepis (Night of the Demons) Tim Thomerson (Trancers, War
Wolves) and Nick Baldasare
as Dwight (Beyond Dream’s Door, They Bite) in a classic tale of horror.
To pay homage to past tales of the macabre, Season of Darkness was
exclusively shot on 35mm film to enhance the dark and moody atmosphere of the
film. This is a tale of true psychological horror few will forget.
The
film’s logline:
“Dwight
Stroud, a mental patient, escapes from an asylum seeking true freedom only to
find horrifying insanity in the outside world.”
Director/writer:
Jay Woelfel.
Producer:
Lawreen Yakkel.
Cinematographer:
Scott Spears.
Makeup/special
effects: Brian Spears, Peter Gerner, Beki Ingram and John Ellis.
Cast:
Nick Baldasare, Amanda Howell, Tim Thomerson, Richard Hatch and Tiffany Shepis.
*this
title is the most recent collaboration between Emmy Award winning
collaborators: Jay Woelfel and Scott
Spears.
The
film’s fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Season-of-Darkness/179160104500
The
first trailer for the film is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDyR-ovJd90&feature=youtu.be
**premiere
date: TBA shortly.
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
The Dead Feed - An Interactive Web Series
I've had various meetings with different producers and industry folks over the last little while about some projects that we're trying to get off the ground and what I've found to be very interesting is how much clout is given to online status. I guess it makes sense, it's something that's measurable. What's crazy is... and I don't mean to take anything away from the festivals, they're very important... but if your video on Youtube has over 1 million hits, you're going to get noticed faster than if you win best picture at a film festival. Not only that, your ranking on imdb matters, anything on Youtube matters, how many unique visitors your site gets, whatever. Long and short, if you've got Google juice, you can use that to your advantage and it can open up doors.
The truth is, how we use the internet for entertainment purposes is still in it's infancy. Sure, the internet can deliver a film to you through Youtube, Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, whatever... but that's just a delivery mechanism. How about really using all the tools that are out there? Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc. Now, what if we actually start integrating these? We're starting to see experimentation and when one of these projects rises to the top and gets noticed, we could see a revolution in how online is used for entertainment.
So, who's doing this? Well, I received an email from James O'Connor about a month or two ago. He's part of a new interactive web series called THE DEAD FEED. The first episode aired a while ago, on August 17th, but a new episode has aired every two weeks. The series follows three groups of people during the start of a zombie apocalypse and it's truly interactive... it utilizes Facebook, Twitter and users can upload Vlogs and more. If you want to check it out, their Youtube channel is called "The Deadfeed" or you can just go to www.deadfeed.com and watch there. When there, you'll also find all the links to the characters Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, etc. The teaser video is embedded below. It's a very cool idea and we wish them the best of luck.
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Carnival of Darkness 3 - October 24th in LA
For all those in the LA area, here's a must attend festival for you... Carnival of Darkness 3 on October 24th. If not for the screenings or the collectibles, because Drew Daywalt, good friend of Dead Harvey, will be on a live panel. Here's the press release - make sure you check it out!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Film Festival Presents Bite-Sized Chunks of Horror
Festival confirms Veronica Cartwright, Tara Cardinal and Drew Daywalt
HOLLYWOOD, CA
- October 1, 2012 - Filmmaker Alex
Bram presents the most promising new
voices in horror at the third annual Carnival
of Darkness Film Festival. The most haunting and disturbing
horror/sci-fi short films from across the world will
be presented on a THX Authorized, state-of-the-art screen at LA Film School this October 24th.
The theater lobby will be set up
like a twisted art gallery and horror related collectibles, graphic novels,
DVD’s and T-Shirts will be available.
Attendees will enter a funhouse of mysterious events and surprises,
freaks, performers and artists.
Selected filmmakers and casts
will get to walk the “Blood Red Carpet” along with industry heavyweights
and notables from the horror/sci-fi communities. The doors open at 6:30 p.m. and
the Red Carpet starts at 7:00 p.m.
Live Industry Panel for Carnival of Darkness 3
“Carnival of Darkness is extremely proud to be able to welcome true master actor Veronica Cartwright to this year’s festivities,” said Bram. “Alternating between television and big screen movies, Veronica has appeared in such films as the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and the horror classic Alien (1979).
“Carnival of Darkness is extremely proud to be able to welcome true master actor Veronica Cartwright to this year’s festivities,” said Bram. “Alternating between television and big screen movies, Veronica has appeared in such films as the remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and the horror classic Alien (1979).
“Tara Cardinal is the daughter of a psychic and a
musician,” said Bram. “She frequently
appears in horror and fantasy films and likes to perform her own stunts. Look
for her film Legend of the Red Reaper,
(2012) coming soon.
Cardinal is currently filming, Spreading Darkness, (2013) and has
several projects in the works.
Drew Daywalt’s first Online horror short film Bedfellows earned a million viewers with a week of its
launch. Later, the world’s leading short horror film creator, enjoyed millions
of hits to his 2010 horror web series Camera Obscura. Most recently Daywalt directed three episodes
of MTV’s new horror comedy TV series Death Valley, and wrote the screenplay for the remake
of Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things for George
Romero, now set up
at Anchor Bay.
Carnival of Darkness 3
Carnival of Darkness 3
LA Film
School
6363 Sunset Blvd
Hollywood, CA
90028
$12.00 General
Admission
$ 6.00
Facility Parking
Monday, October 1, 2012
Dedfest '12 - October 6th in Victoria, BC
It MUST be October... because I'm getting lots of requests to promote horror film fests. I'm more than happy to give time to all of them, too! I'm posting info on this one now, as the fest is actually next week. It's not one you can enter, but they are screening some cool flicks. I haven't actually seen "V/H/S" yet, but I hear it's great and I'd love to check out "Famine"... if you're in the Victoria, BC area -- check this out. If you're not, try to check out "Famine" and "V/H/S" wherever you can! Organizer Ira Hunter of Absolute Underground, Burning Moon Videos and Zombie Walk Victoria are pleased to announce the return of Dedfest Victoria! This is a film festival running into its second season and the schedule for the film festival is hosted below:
Dedfest ‘12
“Just when you thought it was safe... we're back!”
In conjunction with Dedfest Edmonton, Victoria will be premiering the slate of Dedfest films with the Victoria Dedfest Horror Film Festival. This event begins Saturday, Oct. 6th, following the Victoria Zombie Walk on the same day. This is the second year for the film festival!
Victoria Dedfest will screen 4 feature films: Night of the Living Dead, Creepshow, V/H/S, and Famine. A special guest director, Ryan Nicholson, will be in attendance for a Q & A after the final screening. Plus, there will be: prizes, vendors, vintage trailers and more!! The schedule:
3:30pm Screening: Night of the Living Dead (1968)
The original zombie classic directed by George A. Romero.
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5gUKvmOEGCU
5:15 Screening: Creepshow (1982)
This will be Creepshow’s 30th Anniversary Screening!
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_6vtAmFnkA
7:30 Screening:V/H/S (2012)
This is an insane found footage anthology, which has been called "the scariest, rawest horror film of the year!" *this is the film’s Provincial Premiere!
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LfLDeXLmAw
9:30 Screening: Famine (2012)
This film is an over-the-top new slasher/comedy feature from Canadian splatter king, Ryan Nicholson of Gutterballs, and Hanger fame. This will be the film’s British Columbian Premiere! The filmmaker will be in attendance!
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LDoBN217-w
When: Saturday, October 6th - Doors @ 3pm - First Show at 3:30 - Show ends at 11pm.
Where: The Vic Theatre, 808 Douglas St, Victoria, B.C.
**Advance tickets are available at Absolute Underground (1215 Government St) - $15 for full festival pass or $10 per individual show. $10 Full Fest Passes available at the door to anyone in Zombie make-up or horror costume. More Victoria Event info here: http://www.facebook.com/events/175647359226686/
More info on the Edmonton Festival line-up here:http://www.dedfest.com/
Saturday, September 29, 2012
The Best Article On Filmmaking That I've Ever Read
If you didn't know, the Dead Harvey team is currently trying to get a few projects off the ground. One's a low-budget horror and the others are more mid-range. Currently, it looks like we'll get this low-budget one off the ground first, but you never know. Regardless, we have a bunch of finished, polished scripts, but we just finished the last one and we're thinking about our next. What to write?
You've had the conversation, right? Do we do something niche, do we do something more commercial? This stuff sells, this isn't hot right now. Everyone wants found footage films, alien films are out, ghosts are in. Blah, blah, blah... well, read this article and I think it'll help you when you're at that stage. It certainly helped me AND it put a few things in perspective.
Without further ado, here's the link to "Everything I Know About Producing, Pt 1". I hope you like it as much as I did!
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Interview with Christopher DiNunzio about his upcoming film, "A Life Not To Follow"
Tell us about your film, what’s it all about?
It's called "A Life Not To Follow", A trilogy
of Neo-Noir films: Eric is a dead man and he knows it. Death is imminent and he
must make amends for his past sins, by killing those who wronged him, no matter
the price: A wiseguy willing to do anything to move up in the world must now
make the ultimate sacrifice. He must kill his best friend or in turn be killed:
An F.B.I.agent turned P.I. is on the trail of a missing girl. In his long
search for her he comes face to face with a host of unsavory characters who
will lead him to perdition or salvation.
If you don’t mind us asking, what was the budget for the
film and how did you secure financing?
Don't know yet, I'm still adding up the receipts and we
have one last part that still needs to be filmed.
As of right now, what are your goals for the film and
what kinds of things are you doing to make sure you reach your goals?
We want to play at the bigger named film festivals and
get distribution with a studio who can really help us get our film in
front of people. Me and our fantastic Producer/Actress Amy DePaola are
gong to go over everything after the final cut is done and work to make it
happen. But for now we are still putting the film together so that needs to get
done before we can even begin acting on any goals we have for the film.
What about film festivals? Are you going to enter your
film? If you have, how did it do? Tell us about your feelings around the indie film fest
circuit.
When the film is done absolutely! I help run The
Massachusetts Independent Film Festival so I love film festivals!!!(Sept
25,26,28th 2012) They are a great place to get your film and name out
there. It's a hard road getting into festivals, a lot of good films don't play
at places they should. You just never really know what people are thinking when
they see your film. For us at Mass Indie we try to find the best films we can.
We don't judge it on how long it is or genre. We want great films! And we want them
to be Independent films. Bottom line is when you get into a festival it's a
great feeling but you just need to find the right festivals for you.
Talk about distribution. Have you secured distribution?
If so, how did you go about doing that? If not, what’s your plan?
Not yet. I have already talked to a few people. We'll see
what happens but my goal is to screen it and see who's interested. I want a lot
from my distribution at this point in my career. I know that could be asking for
too much but I believe in this film and I can't forget that.
Where can people find out more about the film and/or get
their hands on a copy?
On IMDB http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2179734/ and FaceBook http://www.facebook.com/ALifeNotToFollow
Please like both! It would be a great help to us.
Well there was a lot of joking around. Nothing I should
share. LOL. But it's been hard but really fun! We have had to get to a bar at
5am to shoot with a time limit and battled weather (Not easy to do in Boston)
and I've had extras drop out last minute but in the end we still stand tall!
The locations we got are places I would have picked out if we had a ton of
money and the acting has been amazing. The look we are getting is just
beautiful! It's the best looking film I've done to date. That is thanks to
Nolan , he's a great DP. Also 1st AC Alex Huang has helped with that as
well. I try to find not only talented people but good people, the kind that
know how to act like a professional. You need both! I have no room on my set
for divas. That's just not acceptable at all. I've felt really honored to be
able to have the cast & crew I have. They have put in so much effort while
keeping a positive attitude and it's paying off. The evidence is in how great
the film is coming out. I can't thank them enough. Filmmaking isn't easy. When
you work on an Indie film everyone who has a credit did something to earn it.
So Thank you cast & crew! Michael Capozzi, John Martellucci, Molly
Kay, Fiore Leo, William DeCoff, Erica
Derrickson, Johnny Cammarata, Jaimie Tucker, William
Bloomfield, Vincent Di Nunzio, Leighsa Burgin, Geno
Mirabella, Amy DePaola, Keith Bennett, Justin Thibault, Nick
Apostolides, Angel Garcia, Madeleine McKenzie, Mark Mandracchia,
Michael Caggiano, Pedro Alvarado, Jason Miller, Nolan
Yee, Alex Huang, Laura Grose, Mike Shea, Jessica-Lee Van
Winkle, Scott Reardon, Roy Bosell, Steven Panetta, Shawn Contois,
James L. Leite. And the best for last Melanie Kotoch! There's more to thank but
If I don't stop this interview we'll be one long thank you letter. LOL. One
thing and I can't stress enough is find good people to work with and treat them
right. Something good will always come out of it.
What about you? Tell us a bit about yourself and how you
got into indie horror.
For me it was Dario Argento. He made me see how Horror can
be art. I love dark things. I'm just attracted to them. So being young horror
drew me in. As far as getting into crime films. That's from growing up hearing
all the stories from my family and friends in the North End in Boston,MA. Now
the North End is just a tourist spot but man the things that went on
there.
Talk about the indie horror scene. Where do you think it
is now and where do you see it going?
I'm at a loss with it. I'm not sure how I feel about it
right now. I'll have to get back to you on that one. LOL. A far as where it's
going it will never die. Horror has a great fan base who make it fun to like
horror.
Do you have any more projects in the works? What’s next
for you?
A few things but nothing that I'm able to talk about at the
moment. It's just not at that stage yet and it's partly because A Life Not To
Follow is all I can think about right now.
As always thank you so much for the interview!
Christopher Di Nunzio writer/director/producer
www.creepykidproductions.com
http://www.facebook.com/CreepyKidProductions
http://twitter.com/Creepykid
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Ahtanum... and raising money online.
The masters of Micro-budget Horror are returning once again, and this time, they are asking for your assistance!
It all begins with a secret, one that has been kept hidden in the woods of Central Washington for decades… an unsuspecting group of college students gather for a weekend party and festivities when the group begins disappearing one by one. What’s even more terrifying is the revelation behind it.
Ahtanum, this chilling College-Aged Horror which takes a unique twist was created between Light Productions and new production company, RED Winter Films is producing this project in association with JH Productions LLC. Shooting begins on October 8th, 2012 through October 28th, 2012! After the Film's Picture/Video Lock (1st Q 2013), we will place it in a heavy film-festival run before moving forward with our Indie venues of Theatrical, Online, and Television Distribution. We aim to film this production on the Red Epic, and if get enough help... it'll be done in 3D! (Do we really need another bloody 3D horror film, um, yes!)
Production Personnel attached:
- Director - Cliff Goldsmith
(A Trick& A Long Way Home)
- Producers - Michael J.
Mitchell (Scarecrow's Last Dance & A Trick), Josh Hodgins (Jackson
Horn & Ghost Experiment 3D), Chris Waun, Cliff Goldsmith.
- Assoicate Producers - Erik
Williams (The Man In The Maze), Blake McKinney, and Kyle Wilson.
- Ashton Leigh (Breakout
Kings, Treme, and SYFY's Swamp Shark) is attached to star as well as
Christopher Waun (FOX & CW's Jackson Horn) ! More annoucements for
Cast/Crew to come! In the meantime, learn more about the production here! https://www.indiegogo.com/ahtanumMovie
View our Demo Reel Here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC1ZnOHtJpY
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
Interview with Greg Hanson about his film, "Thy Kill Be Done"
I love it when we can share a film with our readers, then follow the film up with an interview with the filmmaker... do yourself a favor, check out "Thy Kill Be Done" -- an awesome nunsploitation short flick. It's embedded below. Then, read up on the interview with Greg Hanson, one of the indie filmmakers behind the project!
Thy Kill Be Done (2010) from Greth Productions on Vimeo.
Tell us about your film, what’s it all about?
Thy Kill Be Done is a short nunsploitation/revenge film about an inner city church where the Monsignor Priest is killed by a gang of no-good hoodlums and their drug lord leader, so the nuns in the church’s clergy vow bloody revenge. But these are no ordinary nuns…
If you don’t mind us asking, what was the budget for the film and how did you secure financing?
The budget for the film was about $3,000. This was a student film and we were actually able to somehow get the school to pay for a large chunk of it through campus film organisations that make and finance films. We had to formally pitch to the boards – it was really funny. But everyone was really behind us and super supportive. The rest of it I put up from my bank account, haha.
As of right now, what are your goals for the film and what kinds of things are you doing to make sure you reach your goals?
The film has pretty well done everything we (my co-director Casey Regan and I) could hope for – it has gotten us some great press, it was the first of our films to play a film festival – it has now played more than 25 and still screens – plus we learned a ton from it. It’s now available online for people to enjoy, so I think it’s done pretty much exactly what we had hoped for!
What about film festivals? Are you going to enter your film? If you have, how did it do? Tell us about your feelings around the indie film fest circuit.
The film has played more than 25 festivals worldwide so far and it’s still playing every now and then. It did pretty well but definitely had its fair share of rejections. That’s the way it goes. I love the indie festival circuit – we had some amazing experiences, met lots of great people, had a lot of fun. The indie festival route is sometimes tough but often rewarding. We ended up screening to more than 600 people in a huge amazing theater before Hobo with a Shotgun when we screened at the Sitges Fantastic Film Festival in Spain. Sitting next to Jason Eisener and Michael Biehn (who was there with The Victim) and a ton of other great people, it was very surreal and wonderful. It’s a great experience to finally sit back and enjoy your film with a great audience after it’s all said and done. It’s an amazing feeling of satisfaction.
Talk about distribution. Have you secured distribution? If so, how did you go about doing that? If not, what’s your plan?
Distribution is a slippery thing, especially for shorts. We have talked to a few people over the last few years but it really comes down to a lack of market for shorts. With a few exceptions (the occasional such-and-such director’s early work or Wholpin compilation), shorts are typically special features if they even make it on DVD. So, not surprisingly, nothing has happened on that front. So, instead we put it online for anyone to check out and enjoy!
Where can people find out more about the film and/or get their hands on a copy?
https://vimeo.com/31342303 or go to Grethproductions.com
Talk about the production. How did it go? Tell us one good or funny story that demonstrates the trials and tribulations of being an indie filmmaker.
The production was definitely tough – we had to push the shoot back a few months from late October, 2009 to late January, 2010 because we had to figure out money stuff and get all the pieces together. As you could imagine, a January shoot outside of Boston was pretty brutal – we were pulling 17 hour days because we had to get it all done in a weekend, so we were shooting night exteriors in the middle of the night in 20 degree weather. We had no such thing as a warm room or tent. We were so worried that everyone was going to hate us afterwards and that we wouldn’t finish, stuff like that.
On the last day of the shoot, I had gotten about an hour of sleep before I had to wake up to go to pick people up. But when I got up to get ready, I fell to the floor. I couldn’t really walk or form sentences because I was so delirious. I called up my producer Ben Brewer and tried to ask him something about his car that I was using to pick people up. But I couldn’t finish the sentence. I kept slurring my words and nodding off. After a few minutes of arguing, he said he was pushing the call back. After some fighting, I rolled back over, sprung up three hours later feeling like a million bucks, and we went and shot the whole final sequence of the film. After a long three days, we got everything we needed, it looked great, and everyone had an amazing time.
What about you? Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into indie horror.
I got into horror movies late in life. This is, in part, because horror movies did what they were supposed to do – they scared the shit out of me. So much so that I wouldn’t sit and watch one until I was 10 or 11, and even then I typically stayed away. But when I was about 13 or so, I watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) for the second time and suddenly everything clicked. It all seemed to make sense. It was the first time I watched a movie and I noticed the beautiful art of filmmaking. I noticed cinematography, the eerie sound design, the atmosphere, and I was hooked! The movie ended and I said, “That’s the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen!” and I wanted to immediately go back to the video store and pick up something else. It didn’t take long for me to get my hands on the classics – Suspiria, The Hills Have Eyes, The Fog – and that’s when I knew I wanted to make movies.
Talk about the indie horror scene. Where do you think it is now and where do you see it going?
I love the indie horror scene – it’s pretty much the only horror scene, as far as I am concerned. Big budget horror is pretty much dead – the indie scene is where the innovation happens and horror is and has been such an innovative genre. I love the old school vibe of a lot of the films happening, the mixing of genres, the absurdist edge, comedic twinges. There has been this great movement to make films that channel the best elements of yesteryear – funky music, crazy costumes, real suspense, horror, dread – and employ them in modern stories. It’s great to see less and less straight gross-out films happening and more imagination and experimentation. There are so many talented people making stuff right now - people like Alex Chandon, Ti West, Jason Eisener, Lucky McKee, Alex de la Iglasias, and countless others are making some of their best work right now!
Do you have any more projects in the works? What’s next for you?
We have a short black comedy that we are editing right now called Ipecac about a gambling addict who realizes he can cough up money but rather than pay off his debts, he creates horrible new ones. Casey and I just premiered our latest short, our family drama in a town full of cannibals Meat Me in Plainville at the amazing PiFan Film Festival in South Korea, so keep a lookout for that! Past that, we have some fun scripts coming together involving screwed up families, feudal dojos, post-apocalyptic pimps, and more! So the future holds some fun stuff.
Thy Kill Be Done (2010) from Greth Productions on Vimeo.
Tell us about your film, what’s it all about?
Thy Kill Be Done is a short nunsploitation/revenge film about an inner city church where the Monsignor Priest is killed by a gang of no-good hoodlums and their drug lord leader, so the nuns in the church’s clergy vow bloody revenge. But these are no ordinary nuns…
If you don’t mind us asking, what was the budget for the film and how did you secure financing?
The budget for the film was about $3,000. This was a student film and we were actually able to somehow get the school to pay for a large chunk of it through campus film organisations that make and finance films. We had to formally pitch to the boards – it was really funny. But everyone was really behind us and super supportive. The rest of it I put up from my bank account, haha.
As of right now, what are your goals for the film and what kinds of things are you doing to make sure you reach your goals?
The film has pretty well done everything we (my co-director Casey Regan and I) could hope for – it has gotten us some great press, it was the first of our films to play a film festival – it has now played more than 25 and still screens – plus we learned a ton from it. It’s now available online for people to enjoy, so I think it’s done pretty much exactly what we had hoped for!
What about film festivals? Are you going to enter your film? If you have, how did it do? Tell us about your feelings around the indie film fest circuit.
The film has played more than 25 festivals worldwide so far and it’s still playing every now and then. It did pretty well but definitely had its fair share of rejections. That’s the way it goes. I love the indie festival circuit – we had some amazing experiences, met lots of great people, had a lot of fun. The indie festival route is sometimes tough but often rewarding. We ended up screening to more than 600 people in a huge amazing theater before Hobo with a Shotgun when we screened at the Sitges Fantastic Film Festival in Spain. Sitting next to Jason Eisener and Michael Biehn (who was there with The Victim) and a ton of other great people, it was very surreal and wonderful. It’s a great experience to finally sit back and enjoy your film with a great audience after it’s all said and done. It’s an amazing feeling of satisfaction.
Talk about distribution. Have you secured distribution? If so, how did you go about doing that? If not, what’s your plan?
Distribution is a slippery thing, especially for shorts. We have talked to a few people over the last few years but it really comes down to a lack of market for shorts. With a few exceptions (the occasional such-and-such director’s early work or Wholpin compilation), shorts are typically special features if they even make it on DVD. So, not surprisingly, nothing has happened on that front. So, instead we put it online for anyone to check out and enjoy!
Where can people find out more about the film and/or get their hands on a copy?
https://vimeo.com/31342303 or go to Grethproductions.com
Talk about the production. How did it go? Tell us one good or funny story that demonstrates the trials and tribulations of being an indie filmmaker.
The production was definitely tough – we had to push the shoot back a few months from late October, 2009 to late January, 2010 because we had to figure out money stuff and get all the pieces together. As you could imagine, a January shoot outside of Boston was pretty brutal – we were pulling 17 hour days because we had to get it all done in a weekend, so we were shooting night exteriors in the middle of the night in 20 degree weather. We had no such thing as a warm room or tent. We were so worried that everyone was going to hate us afterwards and that we wouldn’t finish, stuff like that.
On the last day of the shoot, I had gotten about an hour of sleep before I had to wake up to go to pick people up. But when I got up to get ready, I fell to the floor. I couldn’t really walk or form sentences because I was so delirious. I called up my producer Ben Brewer and tried to ask him something about his car that I was using to pick people up. But I couldn’t finish the sentence. I kept slurring my words and nodding off. After a few minutes of arguing, he said he was pushing the call back. After some fighting, I rolled back over, sprung up three hours later feeling like a million bucks, and we went and shot the whole final sequence of the film. After a long three days, we got everything we needed, it looked great, and everyone had an amazing time.
What about you? Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into indie horror.
I got into horror movies late in life. This is, in part, because horror movies did what they were supposed to do – they scared the shit out of me. So much so that I wouldn’t sit and watch one until I was 10 or 11, and even then I typically stayed away. But when I was about 13 or so, I watched The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) for the second time and suddenly everything clicked. It all seemed to make sense. It was the first time I watched a movie and I noticed the beautiful art of filmmaking. I noticed cinematography, the eerie sound design, the atmosphere, and I was hooked! The movie ended and I said, “That’s the creepiest thing I’ve ever seen!” and I wanted to immediately go back to the video store and pick up something else. It didn’t take long for me to get my hands on the classics – Suspiria, The Hills Have Eyes, The Fog – and that’s when I knew I wanted to make movies.
Talk about the indie horror scene. Where do you think it is now and where do you see it going?
I love the indie horror scene – it’s pretty much the only horror scene, as far as I am concerned. Big budget horror is pretty much dead – the indie scene is where the innovation happens and horror is and has been such an innovative genre. I love the old school vibe of a lot of the films happening, the mixing of genres, the absurdist edge, comedic twinges. There has been this great movement to make films that channel the best elements of yesteryear – funky music, crazy costumes, real suspense, horror, dread – and employ them in modern stories. It’s great to see less and less straight gross-out films happening and more imagination and experimentation. There are so many talented people making stuff right now - people like Alex Chandon, Ti West, Jason Eisener, Lucky McKee, Alex de la Iglasias, and countless others are making some of their best work right now!
Do you have any more projects in the works? What’s next for you?
We have a short black comedy that we are editing right now called Ipecac about a gambling addict who realizes he can cough up money but rather than pay off his debts, he creates horrible new ones. Casey and I just premiered our latest short, our family drama in a town full of cannibals Meat Me in Plainville at the amazing PiFan Film Festival in South Korea, so keep a lookout for that! Past that, we have some fun scripts coming together involving screwed up families, feudal dojos, post-apocalyptic pimps, and more! So the future holds some fun stuff.
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