Film Fest Updates - Fright Night Film Fest, The Fantasy Film Fest, Film4 Fright Fest, Fargo Fanatastic Film Fest and LA Shorts Fest

It's a long weekend up here, so I've been boozing for three days... thus the late post. Here's some info on some new film fests and some others with updates. I'll be adding them / updating the horror film fest section soon... I swear.

We've covered Fright Night Film Fest in the past, but it's coming up here pretty quick. It's August 15 - 17 in Louisville, KY. So, obviously, you can't submit your film to THIS years festival, but you can submit to next years. You can see their film schedule here, so take a look. By the way, if you think your film is in line with what they're accepting, get yours in for next year. They accept a LOT of films, so this is a great one to look into if you want to get one of those little logos that say "official selection of..." on your DVD cover.

The Fantasy Film Festival takes place in various cities in Germany. They screen a lot of big budget indie films, such as "My Name Is Bruce", "Mother Of Tears" and "The Rage". That's not to say that's not awesome, all three of those films are... it's just to say that they probably aren't accepting too many 'shot of DV' films, especially non-German ones. In any case, the festival runs August 12th - September 10th and there are screenings in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Dortmund, Frankfurt... and a bunch of other German cities. Go to the site if you're interested (and look for the button that says 'english' on the left side) to make navigating the website a bit easier.

Sticking to overseas festivals, the Film4 Fright Fest, which takes place in London, England, is going on August 21st - 25th. Obviously, once again, you can't submit your film now, but make note that submissions for the 2009 festival open on Jan 1, 2009. Once again, they screen more of the higher budget indie-fare, such as: "Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer", "Midnight Meat Train" and "Bad Biology", but they do have a few lower-budget films in there. It's a little more open than that last one.

Now, quickly, a few domestic festivals... First, the Fargo Fantastic Film Festival is still accepting submissions. The deadline is September 15th, the late deadline is October 1st. The fest takes place October 31st - November 2 this year. They show both professional and amateur productions, "as both can learn from the other". Any lengths, formats and styles accepted. Here's a link to the entry form.

I just found out about LA Shorts Fest when they sent me a message... can't remember if I got by Myspace or through email, but whatever. They screen all genres of films, so they're not exclusively horror, but they do have a horror section. Their jurors are all pro's, such as Sandra Oh - actress from Grey's Anatomy, Andrew Reimer - Sr. VP of Acquisitions and Productions for HBO, etc. When I clicked on 'horror', nothing seemed to come up. Further, I have no idea how submissions work... or even how the festival works period. WTF? Maybe someone can go on there and enlighten me? Are you supposed to just upload your film and hope for the best? Why are there films (most that don't work) just playing randomly? Wow... for a fest that boasts high-end judges and being "Academy accredited", they sure don't make it easy to figure out what the F is going on.

Exclusive Interview with Joaquin Montalvan, writer/director of "MOBIUS"

It's tough to find a low-budget indie horror that tries to capture that real creepy, film noir type feeling... That dark brooding sort of feel that you may get from, say, a Lynch or Cronenberg film. Joaquin Montalvan's "Mobius" does just that. Montalvan studied filmmaking and acting at UCLA and completed his first feature, "The Sleep of Reason", in 2000. After that, his second feature, "Adagio", screened at Sitges International Film Festival, then his documentary, "Visual Futurist: The Art & Life of Syd Mead" won him the Audience Award at Dances with films in 2006. His next project would be the afore mentioned feature length fiction film, "Mobius", which is described as a journey into the fractured psyche of a man named Caleb. Dead Harvey had the chance to discuss it with him...

Where did the idea behind "M O B I U S" come from?

The lead of the film, who was not an actor at that time, wanted to get into acting and asked me to take some head shots of him. Instead of grabbing my Nikon F3 (35mm still camera), I grabbed my Canon XL1 and started filming him. Immediately, I noticed 2 things: A) The camera loved him, and B) There was a depth of emotion that was coming through him which I loved. This went on for over an hour. Afterwards, I sat on the front porch with a cup of coffee and a cigar. The lead actor, Paul E. Respass, my co-writer, Eunice Font, and I started discussing the possibility of a feature narrative film with Paul as the lead. BUT, what if there where 2 leads who are brothers, and one brother is homeless, while the other brother is a professional who wears a suit and tie. What if the homeless guy is shot in black and white, and the professional guy is always seen in color. ...AND what if there is a murder at the beginning of the film with one brother confronting the other...those were the initial elements from which everything else materialized.

You've directed a few projects before. However, none of them were feature length dramatic films. What was the motivation behind going out and doing this particular project?

Actually, my credits as listed on IMDb are purposefully incomplete. The first 2 films which I directed where Psychological Horror films in which I played the lead. After completing those films, I was inspired to make a documentary, "SKINHEAD". It was during the making of that film that I discovered I enjoyed being behind the camera composing images, more than I enjoyed acting in front of it. Although, I still love acting and I played the character of "Ashtaroth" in "M O B I U S".

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

I purchase my own equipment which I use in the making of my films. As such, they are completely self-financed. This allows me to maintain control through the entire filmmaking process. To be intentionally vague, I would say the budget is under $100,000.

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

I shot on a Canon XL1, and the shoot took over 3 years. Due to the budget constraints, you are forced to shoot typically on weekends when your actors are available. We're not talking every week, or even every other week. Sometimes you go 3weeks or more between shoots. Because of this, I try as much as possible, to shoot sequentially for obvious continuity reasons. If you figure that most feature length films have anywhere from 40 - 50 scenes, and your popping off a scene every couple of weeks, you can do the math and see how long it takes to finish a film in this manner.

This is not entirely without advantages, however. When a story is stretched out over such a long period of time, it GROWS! You can continue to add layers to it because you're able to study it in detail. It allows you to return to it with ever more objective eyes, finding places to add another color here or there, and put that finishing touch in at the last minute, like a painting. It becomes ORGANIC and develops a LIFE of its own.

How different was the film from the script?

The script never existed in any kind of COMPLETE format that you could sit down with, look at, and read. ALL the scenes were outlined, and the ORDER in which the story was to unfold was laid out. But, BEYOND THAT...basically it was all IN MY HEAD. It was written, between my co-writer and I, as we went along and as necessity dictated shooting-wise. It was not my intention to do it that way. It just worked out that that is how it transpired. But yes, EVERYTHING that we wrote/wanted to put in the film is there. If you know what you can believably CONVEY given your budget, you don't waste time writing things that you don't have the money to shoot.

Talk about how you got such good actors for a low-budget film and tell us a bit about your directing style.

Paul E. Respass is a WONDERFUL actor! He's one of those actors that you can just turn the camera on and...without dialogue...without direction...he's COMPLETELY COMPELLING! He can just "BE", He doesn't need to "ACT". Not everybody can do that. A lot of actors NEED dialogue, NEED direction, and even still, they're "PERFORMING". You are "AWARE" of the "ACTOR". I think the audience should forget whoever it is that they're watching and become TOTALLY immersed with the character living inside the screen. That's why I tend to use people that I already know in my films. I pick people who already embody the psychological spirit of the character, whether or not they're an "ACTOR". Some ARE actors, and some ARE NOT. To me, it's all about what the camera can CAPTURE in someone. Sometimes issues do arise with non-actors, primarily with regard to line memorization, but I'm willing to sacrifice speed if someone has the right FEEL for the character.

As for style, I don't subscribe to any particular style. Films are like children. They each have their own UNIQUE bent. I listen CLOSELY to each one to discover the path IT wants to take, and try not to impose myself on it. That is IMPOSSIBLE, by the way. A film WILL reflect the individual who made it, like it or not. Believing that, I try not to FORCE anything in there deliberately.

Talk about tackling such a heavy idea on a low-budget.

Well, I've always been attracted to MOODY films. "BLADE RUNNER" is my favorite film, and to this day, I still feel "MillenniuM" was the best TV show ever, PERIOD! I like opposites, contrast, and shadows. I think the silence in between words speaks more LOUDLY than the words themselves. I feel LIGHT is more interesting when it is glimpsed through the veil of DARKNESS. This brings us to what I would call the landscape of the PSYCHOLOGICAL which, for me, is where HORROR truly resides, within our SELF. Fortunately, you can go pretty far on a low budget with Horror, apart from elaborate effects. Then again, often times, less is more with gore. What people can IMAGINE is far worse than ANYTHING that can be put up on screen. Look no further than my favorite Horror film, "The Texas Chain Saw Massacre" (1974), where more blood is imagined than is actually shown.

After it was all said and done, what would you have done differently?

When I set out to make a film, I try to create the BEST film POSSIBLE with the tools available to me. So, I can honestly say, I wouldn't have done ANYTHING differently. It was crafted in the manner I wished it to be given what I had to work with. However, if I were to set out to make the film TODAY, I would probably shoot it 16:9 as opposed to 4:3.

What about distribution? Are there any lessons learned that you could pass on to other indie filmmakers.

I presently own all rights, and will entertain any offer from a TASTEFUL distributor, or any VIABLE avenue of distribution. I haven't as yet had the wonderful opportunity of getting SCREWED to be able to share any lessons at this time.

Where can people find out more about "M O B I U S" and, better yet, buy a copy?

"M O B I U S" is CURRENTLY not available to the public. However, you can follow the films journey towards that end here.

What's next? Do you have any more projects in the works?

I'm presently in production on my follow up to "M O B I U S", another Psycho-Spiritual Thriller titled "HOLE" which is being shot in HD with an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 using some of the same actors from "M O B I U S". You can view promo pics, production stills, as well as track the films progress here.

10 Reasons The Sky Isn't Falling For Indie Horror

Ted's Reaction To Mark Gill's Speech at the L.A. Film Festival's Financing Conference

You may or may not have heard about it or read about it, but there's a lot of people talking about the speech that Mark Gill, CEO of The Film Department (and former President of Miramax Films), gave on Saturday at the L.A. Film Festival's Financing Conference. Basically, he went on and on about how "the sky is falling" for indie film. It's a long speech, but I do recommend you read it. It's a great 'State of the Union' of film. You can find the complete prepared remarks in this INDIEWIRE article. If you're lazy or just don't want to read it, he basically describes an incredibly bleak future for indie film and, at first, I thought... wow, what a nightmare. However, the more I thought about it, this really isn't pertinent to low-budget indie filmmakers. In fact, I think the future is quite bright for low-budget indie film, especially horror. Using his list of why things suck so bad as my guide, I'll retort with 10 reasons why he's wrong.

1. Picturehouse, Warner Independent, New Line and Paramount Vantage have all either folded or been sucked up into their mother companies: As I've mentioned many times before, this is not an indication that indies are in less demand, it's just an indication that Hollywood studios and their executives, who are used to 7 figure salaries and reading financial balance sheets, don't know how to make money off them anymore.

2. Wall Street money is no longer pouring into Hollywood and it isn't being replaced by anything: Well, if you were Wall Street, would you keep pouring money into the system? Indie's used to make money, now they don't and Wall Street's only interested in one thing, making money. Figure out how to make money on the films and guess what, you'll get the Wall Street money again.

3. 5000 films were made last year, 603 released theatrically. There's no room in the market: There's no room in the THEATRICAL market, find another market... how about VOD, online or just on DVD? These guys are so stuck in the classic Hollywood distribution model, they can't think outside the box. There's a sea of change happening as far as distribution is concerned, ride the wave, don't go against it.

4. Advertising costs have outpaced inflation, making movie companies spend more while being less effective marketers: The answer to this is easy, become a more effective and efficient marketer. Last time I checked, Myspace and Facebook cost nothing. Getting a web presence, while sending out screeners to all the media doesn't cost much either. Here's an idea, do it yourself... or have your assistant do it or something. You don't need to hire a massive PR, marketing or advertising agency. The way they are NOW is inefficient. I've worked with ad agencies on big budget releases, you wouldn't BELIEVE the budgets they have, seriously.

5. Movies are competing with iPods, Xboxes, Tivos, Youtube and cable television: Don't beat them, join them. All of those products and mediums screen, air or sell films. Why can't you use them instead of fighting them? These products are the future of distribution. Why are you trying to compete against them? To put it in perspective, how did the war against the digital revolution work out for the music industry, huh?

6. Studio movies are eating up the growing international marketplace: Once again, this only effects theatrical releases. Cut out the theaters and this isn't an issue... in fact, a growing international marketplace is great for DVD sales. Not to mention, a lot of European and Asian countries are way ahead of us when it comes to digital distribution. Find out what they're doing and adapt.

7. Independent film financiers are exiting the industry: So what? Some of the best movies I saw this year were financed by Visa.

8. The cost of an independent film released theatrically shot up: Okay, what don't you get? Then don't release it theatrically! Find another way to distribute it. There's very little cost in distributing things digitally, there's no packaging, shipping or shelf space used.

9. The sweet spot for independent films is ones budgeted at $15 - $50 Million: I said, I beg your pardon? What? Okay... are we still talking about 'indie' film? There were so many AWESOME indie horror films that were SUCCESSFUL (and I mean that financially), which were budgeted at less than $100K... way less.

10. We need to make fewer movies and we need to make them better: This, I agree with... kind of. I think there's plenty of room for more movies, but we definitely need to insure that what we make, moving forward, is better. The cost of making a movie now is next to nothing, however... that doesn't mean that anyone who can afford to get a camera and pirated copy of Final Cut Pro should be making a movie. We'll never really be able to fully saturate the market in my mind, but let's just make sure we don't flood it with crap.

My Conclusion: Really, what THEY consider to be indie film is not what I consider to be indie film... and I do think what they're talking about IS dying. In classic Hollywood form, they're fighting change, instead of embracing it. Go back and read through that article and tell me if any of what he has to say is pertinent if you DON'T think about a theatrical release and you cut your budget down to next to nothing. By less than nothing, I mean less than $1Million. Because, if you can keep your budget down, you don't need a theatrical release. You can go straight to DVD, VOD, Xbox, whatever... and make a killing. The death of 'indie' film, as far as Hollywood knows it, is coming... yes. However, there's going to be a big rise in world of TRUE indie film. Film that's made independent of Hollywood Studios and their whole system.

Exclusive Interview with Marc Fratto, director of "Zombies Anonymous"

"Zombies Anonymous" opens with the main character, Angela, being shot in the head by her jealous boyfriend. Shocking? Yes. However, that's just the beginning. You see, the characters in this film inhabit a world where the living and the dead co-exist. So, for the rest of the film, Angela not only has to deal with the fact that she is now dead, but also the fact that most of the non-zombie population has anti-zombie feelings...

"Zombies Anonymous" is one of the best indie horrors of the year and it won various awards to prove it. We can't say enough good things about the film, as it delivers on gore, on humor and on story. Originally called "Last Rites of the Dead", "Zombies Anonymous" comes from writer/director Marc Fratto and Dead Harvey had the chance to discuss the making of the film with him.

Tell us about the idea behind “Zombies Anonymous”.

The idea came up while I was shooting my first movie, Strange Things Happen At Sundown. It was not too long after 9/11, and the U.S., and particularly New York, was still kinda reeling over the whole thing. Middle eastern people had it kinda rough in the U.S., and I remember there was a news story about some guy who shot some poor Arab dude who was just working at some store. I remember commenting to a friend at work about how some people are always looking for a new group to channel their hatred towards, and that's where it started. The original script was far more serious. I wrote a second draft that toned down the 9/11 parallels and added more humor to it to lighten it up... I still wanted to capture some of that post 9/11 angst in the movie, though, with the scenes of decapitations and pro-zombie terrorism.

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

We had a few people throw us some cash for the movie, but the majority of it was financed by my poor visa card.

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

We shot on the Sony Hdr-fx1. The shoot was about 35 days long, but it was shot on weekends over the course of 5 months. We started in Late February 2005 and wrapped principal photography at the end of August.

The gore was fantastic, talk about the special effects.

It's funny, cause a lot of the gore had been cut for the North American release. The overseas version will be even bloodier. There are some really graphic decapitations in that version, including scenes where heads are placed on sticks, with the eyes still moving around. It's really cool stuff. The gore was supplied by Anthony Pepe, who has tons of fake body parts and guts just lying around his workshop. He also did some amazing zombie makeup too. The special effects budget was a large part of the overall budget.

The acting was another high point. How did you go about getting your actors?

Most of the actors had been in my first movie, and a few were newcomers. We found most of our actors through Backstage Magazine, and just auditioned the shit out of them until we found the best actors we could find.

The film was very “big” in idea. Talk about making such a big film and on a low-budget.

Locations and characters usually don't cost as much as you think. Most of our locations were free, and most of the actors worked for little or nothing other than food. On a really low budget, it's usually harder to have fewer locations and fewer actors, because you really need commitments from people. Especially when you're shooting on weekends over the course of 5 months. There's nothing more devastating to a low budget production than relying on one location for the entire shoot, and then having that location fall out from under you during production.

After it was all said and done, what would you have done differently?

There were a bunch of scenes that were trimmed from the last half of the movie, by the distributor. I completely understand why they were cut. In the original hour and 45 minute version, there was a lot of plot exposition to get the characters into play for the big finale. In the 90 minute North American version, the version you saw, most of those scenes are gone so the film moves along really quickly. But there are definitely some questions raised, like why does the Commandants hair change length and color; what happened to Malcolm; and why does Angela turn on the zombie cult in the end? I would have loved the opportunity to have been able to sum up those lost 15 minutes into a 2 minute montage so that the film still moved fast, but those questions were answered. But the good news is that the foreign release version will be the full directors cut, so it will be kinda cool to have those two versions floating around.
Until that version is released, though, I posted up those missing scenes on youtube at http://youtube.com/user/insaneorama since they never made it onto the deleted scenes portion of the dvd.

Talk about the festivals. What was the process like, how did the film do and what did you learn from that experience?

We were in one in New York, and one in Rhode Island, but we didn't get too crazy with festivals. We used those two festivals to get more of an audience reaction and then re-cut the film before looking for distribution.

What about distribution? Are there any lessons that you would pass on to other indie filmmakers who’ve just finished a film?

We had gotten a few offers from distributors that we had sent to early on, but Wellgo's offer was the best, and they seemed to have the biggest reach, which was what really made us want to sign with them. They did an amazing job promoting this movie.

Where can people find out more about “Zombies Anonymous” and, better yet, buy a copy?

Blockbuster, amazon.com, netflix. I'm sure an online search should turn up a number of retailers that have it.

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

I just finished a script not too long ago, and i'm currently working on a second script. Nothing I want to reveal just yet, but we're going to be looking for major funding for the next movie.

For more information on Marc Fratto and Insane-O-Rama Productions, you can go to their site here or his Myspace page here. To buy your copy of "Zombies Anonymous" off Amazon, click here.

Linkapalooza - July 30, 2008... FearNet's getting serious.

I don't know if you've noticed or not, but we've been posting a couple times a day lately. If you're wondering why, it's because we've got piles of interviews and case studies backed up and we'd really like to get them all out there. So, even though we're posting all those interviews and case studies, we can't neglect Linkapalooza... it just wouldn't be right.

VH1 scares up 'Queens' team on THR.com: I don't know why I find this that interesting or telling, but I do. James Gunn, who came out of the world of Troma to write the new "Dawn of the Dead" and write and direct the kick-ass "Slither", along with actress Shawnee Smith from the "Saw" series, "Repo! The Genetic Opera", among others, and an acting coach, John Homa are going to judge a 'Scream Queens' reality competition on VH1 where the winner will get a shot at winning a "major role" in a Lionsgate film. I guess it's interesting because it seems very mainstream for horror... I mean, horror has its ups and downs - late 80's were a low, late 90's were a high - and I don't mean that from a fans perspective, I mean that from a studio perspective. (Personally, I love the late 80's for horror) Anyhow, seeing something like this could mean horror's headed for a new high, after having a bit of a down period. "Fear Itself" has managed to stay on network TV, which I didn't think would happen. What's next? Anyhow, like I said, it's just kinda interesting.

Time Warner Cable Is FearNet's Latest Haunt on Multichannel.com: To continue where I left off from my last comments on that last article, horror seems to be slowly lurking into new corners. Sort of like a disease... or, maybe more like Brad after a long night/morning of drinking. Anyhow, FearNet inked a VOD distribution deal with Time Warner, which will take its online lineup to 29 million digital cable homes. If they can make a few more strategic moves, they could end up having FearNet become, essentially, its own network. Also, and looking at the big picture, this means that there's a demand for horror, it's just not at the theaters. Something I've been saying for a while.

Alas, the decline of the age of celebrity on Medialifemagazine.com: This article talks about how the public may finally be getting sick of celebrities. May be? I think it's official... sure, there's still a bunch of people out there who love following celebrities, but here's the thing. There's no mystic to them anymore. With the internet, media, blogs, gossip sites, etc... we know everything. We know that they beat their wives/girlfriends/mothers, we know that they get wasted a lot, we know they bang a lot of people. Basically, we know they're idiots. So, when their films come out, we don't care... because we take them personally. So, coming soon, star power won't be worth what it was. People are getting into franchises and brands. That's why they love films like "Transformers" and "Batman" and other projects that don't need stars necessarily, but can still sell merchandise and things besides tickets... that's why I'm always telling filmmakers, think like a brand, not like an individual film.

Horror Movies & Stuff - I haven't had much of a chance to clock many hours on this site, but I hear they have a fairly active forums section. They contacted me and wanted to exchange links, so I said I'd do more than that and mention them in a post. So, there you go... go check them out and let me know what you think.

EXCLUSIVE DEAD HARVEY INTERVIEW with JACOB COONEY, director of "The Frolic"

"The Frolic" is based on the Tom Ligotti short story of the same name. It's a supernatural thriller about a prison psychologist who uncovers a deadly supernatural force in one of his inmate patients, the child loving murderer, John Doe.

Dead Harvey had the pleasure of downing some beers with Jacob Cooney, the director of "The Frolic" as he filled us in on how he got his first directing gig roughly three months after receiving his B.A. As the ale flowed, he talked about the process of adapting the short story from the great Tom Ligotti and how he secured the actors and other necessary elements to make such a well executed flick. Cooney is down to earth, well spoken, intelligent and down-right inspiring. The performance he gets out of the villain, (Maury Sterling) will send a brutal chill down your spine. And with the reverence he gives to the author's material, I hope Hollywood gives this guy a shot at a big budget adaptation. Dead Harvey hopes you enjoy the interview as much as we did.

Clip 1 - Adapting A Short Story
Clip 2 - A Supernatural Vibe
Clip 3 - Adapting On A Budget
Clip 4 - Adapting On A Budget II
Clip 5 - Ligotti's Opinion Of Frolic
Clip 6 - How The Frolic Got Financed
Clip 7 - The Road To Directing
Clip 8 - Film School: Yes or No
Clip 9 - Making It
Clip 10 - Film School: Yes or No II
Clip 11 - Shawshank Was The Clincher
Clip 12 - 1st Big Break
Clip 13 - The Casting Process
Clip 14 - A SAG Agreement
Clip 15 - What Was It Shot On?
Clip 16 - The Look
Clip 17 - The Locations
Clip 18 - Directing Style
Clip 19 - Approaching The Actors

For more information on Jacob Cooney and "The Frolic", you go to Myspace page here. To buy a copy of The Frolic, you can get it off the Wonder Entertainment site here.

July 29, 2008 - New Horror on DVD this week... and our review of "Lost Boys: The Tribe"

Once again, although it appears that there's lots of new releases this week, there really isn't, there's just a few... we're just getting inundated with rereleases and 'collections' of old films. There are a few notable releases, though, including "Dimples", "Side Sho" and the much anticipated "Lost Boys: The Tribe", which Brad has a few choice words for. As always, you can click on the titles to buy them off Amazon and you can go to our Youtube page to watch all the trailers.

"Lost Boys: The Tribe" comes out this week and, I haven't seen it, but Brad has and here's Brad's review:

After much anticipation, the long awaited sequel to one of the greatest tounge-in-cheek horror movies of all time arrives on video. I am such a fan of the first one (it's in my top ten of all time favorite movies), I just about pleasured myself without even touching myself when I saw it on the shelf.

So, it is with great sadness, my friends that I report this movie is complete and total S. It's like a bunch of executives just wanted to make a movie with a bunch of pretty, twenty somethings skateboarding and motorcycling. There's nothing new about the story. It's basically just a low remake of the first one with all the good parts taken out.

Gone is the style and spirit of the original. Gone are all the great characters and humor. Haim has a quick cameo, but you have to wait a long time to see it and nothing cool happens. My recommendation, leave it on the shelf and let it do it's time in s-movie jail. You'll be much better off buying the original, which just keeps getting better with time. Next to the sequel, it's f'ing, "Lawrence of Arabia". Thanks, Brad... Personally, I'll leave it be.

"Dimples" comes from writer, director and editor, Dusty DePree and it has not one, but two Beverly Hills 90210 Alums in it! First off, you get Gabrielle Carteris, who was none other than Andrea Zuckerman, and then you have Aaron Spelling's own son, Randy Spelling, who, if you remember, played Ryan Sanders in a few episodes. The only other film to DePree's credit is "Golden Showers", a short comedy with, what I think, is a kick-ass title and I have no idea what it's about... but I hope it's about what I think it's about. Either way, I can tell you what "Dimples" is about. It's about a girl named Frances, who has a terrible dream about a little girl being chased by a monster... and then goes on a road trip with her friends the next day, only to end up at a secluded house where that little girl from her dream lives with a man called 'The Doctor'. Frances finds out all the horrors that the little girl has been subjected to and she tries to save her, while Frances' friends run from the monster from her dream, which 'The Doctor' had created.

"Side Sho" was directed by Michael D'Anna and comes from Lucky Kitty Productions. Lucky Kitty is "the South's leading independent producers of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy films" and D'Anna is a partner. This is his feature length directorial debut, as well as the first feature produced by Lucky Kitty. That's not to say that D'Anna isn't a veteran, he's been directing commercials and music videos for close to a decade now. "Side Sho" is about a family that's travelling because of the hot daughter's softball league and they decide to take the 'scenic route', only to end up in the middle of nowhere. They stop at an old abandoned side show in a small town. The show is filled with inbred freaks, who promptly kidnap the half dressed women and leave the young son and father to fend for themselves.

I'm going to briefly touch on "Salvage" and "Mortuary" and link to their regular DVD's, even though they're both coming out on Blu-Ray this week. Reason being, they've already been released, just not on Blu-Ray... and I don't think that many of our readers have Blu-Ray, so... Anyhow, "Salvage", from the Crook Brothers, was an official selection of the 2006 Sundance Festival and, according to them, was shot for around $25,000. It has a a wicked twist ending and is about a young woman who repeatedly relives the day she was murdered by a knife-wielding maniac. "Mortuary" is a Tobe Hooper film that came out in 2005 that stars Dan Byrd, Alexandra Adi and Denise Crosby. It's about a family that moves to a small town to take over a long abandoned funeral home, which is haunted and the cemetary on the property is the living place of a sadistic monster.

"Hair Extensions (EXTE): Special Edition", which was originally called "Ekusute", is from Sion Sono and it won the horror jury prize at the Austin Fantastic Fest. In classic J-horror form, this film asks the question, "What if hair extensions carried the grudge of the individual to which the hair originally belonged and started attacking people wearing it at random?" This is the extreme, gruesome version that comes from Tokyo Shock.

...and if you're into those massive packs of low-budget horrors, here's a few of these "Advantage" packs to look into. I won't cover the films, as they're all old...ish and there's too many of them.

Advantage: Ultimate Vampire Collection - (Vampire Stakes, Vulture's Eye, Abomination, The Satanic Rites of Dracula, Project Vampire, The Darkness, Lord of the Vampires and The Werewolf Versus Vampire Women)

Advantage: Monsters Gone Wild - (The Screaming Skull, The Monster Walks, She Beast, The Brain that wouldn't Die, The Giant Gila Monster, Attack of the Giant Leeches, The Killer Shrews, The Snow Creature, Beast from Haunted Cave and Human Monster)

EXCLUSIVE DEAD HARVEY INTERVIEW with PAUL CAMPION, writer/director of "Night of the Hell Hamsters" and "Eel Girl"

Another Dead Harvey Exclusive... this time, Brad speaks with up and coming writer/director Paul Campion about his two award winning short films, "Night of the Hell Hamsters" and "Eel Girl".

Brad Paulson - I received two awesome movies from New Zealand director, Paul Campion: "Night of the Hell Hamsters" and "Eel Girl". Since I've received these films I've shown them to numerous friends over beers. I don't want to give any spoilers away, I'll just say that when I see a movie where a hamster gets possessed, talks like a psychotic member of Alvin and the chipmunks and attacks crotches with bloody veracity, I just get all warm and fuzzy and want to share it with the world. And then there's, "Eel Girl". Now that's a movie that stays in your mind after you watch. So, do yourselves a favor and check out Campion's films. Dead Harvey guarantees you will not be disappointed. Enjoy the interview.

DH: "Night of the Hell Hampsters" was awesome. gory and funny. It had the feel of Peter Jackson's older, more ballsy work: aka "Bad Taste" and "Meet The Feebles". What was the inspiration for this film as well as, "Eel Girl"?

PC: Hell Hamsters started out as an idea for the 48hour Film festival in New Zealand. We were brainstorming ideas for different genres, and I came up with the idea of the babysitter and her boyfriend fooling around with the occult and summoning up a demon which possesses the family hamsters, which we were going to do with just socks and red beads for eyes. We didn't get to make the film in the festival so I just developed the idea afterwards. The rest of the story really revolved around that scene where the boyfriend is being viciously attacked by the hamster in his pants. I thought it would be hilarious if the only way to save him was to kick him in the nuts. Those two ideas were the basis of the whole plot, and myself and Mike Roseingrave and Hadyn Green, the other two writers just built the story around that, with the intention of making it as entertaining, gory and fun as possible.

The inspiration for Eel Girl came entirely from the music. Friends of mine own a small record label called Superglider and that was one of the songs on an album of theirs. I was listening to it one day and thought it was quite an interesting track, and just started getting ideas for the eel girl in that weird room from the music. The entire film was always meant to be about those visuals combined with the music.

DH: Who are the filmmakers that have inspired you the most and why?

PC: Well, there are so many, but Ridley Scott first and foremost. His visual style for me is second to none; Sam Raimi and Guillermo Del Toro - I love their comic book style - Hell Hamsters was very much meant to be similar in style to Evil Dead 2 and Blade 2 and I'm particularly a fan of Guillermo Del Toro's use of makeup effects; Peter Jackson of course, particularly for Brain Dead and obviously Lord of the Rings, which I worked on; Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese- possibly the two greatest filmakers of all time - the way they tell the story with the camera is incredible, and Stanley Kubrick, everything about his films is so incredibly meticulous.

DH: How would you describe your individual style?

PC: I've only made two short films so I'm not sure I've found it yet, but for now I'd like to think of it as good visuals, use of practical effects and makeup combined with a bit of CGI here and there, and overall just entertaining storytelling.

DH: What is your particular method of directing? Any tips?

PC: Yes, lots of preparation, and surround yourself with the most experienced cast and crew you can find and just give them the freedom to do what they do best - it makes the directors job so much easier!

DH: When you wrote, "Eel Girl" and "Hell Hampsters" were you always intending to direct them?

PC: Yes, absolutely, they were always ideas that I wanted to put on film, there was never any intention for someone else to direct them.

DH: How different were the two shorts you made from their scripts? Did everything that you intended to get on the screen end up on the screen? If there's anything different, why?

PC: I think they're pretty much exactly what was written and planned. The difference is that before you start making the film you have a perfect vision of what you want the film to be, but because of the limits of budget and time you never really get exactly what you've got in your head, you have a limited budget and you can only make what you can afford. But the thing I find really interesting is through the collaborative process of making a film you end up with something different and better at the end. It's still the directors vision, but it's the directors vision made with the input of a lot of other very talented people

DH: What was the budget for both movies and how did you secure financing?

PC: (I'd prefer not to talk about exact figures if that's ok?) A friendly bank manager and an even friendlier visa card! The only way both films were made was with a lot of support from the cast and crew who all gave up their time for free. Eel Girl probably wouldn't have happened without the incredible support from Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop.

DH: What did you shoot on and how long of a shoot was it for each movie?

PC: Hell Hamsters was shot on Digibeta and the shoot took 3 days, which I now know is a ridiculously short time to shoot a 15 minute film. Ideally you want to be shooting 2-3 pages of script per day, and we were shooting 5 pages plus makeup effects, puppets and visual effects, but in the end I think the energy that went into that insane shooting schedule ended up with what you see in the finished film.

Eel Girl was a slightly easier affair in that we were only shooting 5 pages of script in 3 days and there was only a tiny bit of dialogue. We were also shooting on a set, so we had much more space and control of the whole environment, plus a larger crew. However Eel Girl was shot on 35mm so that generally takes more time than shooting on tape. A huge amount of time was spent prepping the Eel Girl shoot, so on the day although it was still hard work and stressful, but generally the whole thing went very smoothly, and we even finished a few hours early on the last day.

DH: After it's all said and done, what would you have done differently on one or both movies?

PC: On Hell Hamsters perhaps a longer shoot time might have been less exhausting, but I'm not sure it would have made the film any better, as all the energy of the crazy shoot ended up in the film. On Eel Girl, I'd have liked to have added a bit more detail into the sets, and shot more coverage so we had more to play with in the edit, but that was just a time and money issue like any film.

DH: How's the distribution going? Any lessons learned there? Anything you can pass on to other indie filmmakers who've just finished a film?

PC: Hell Hamsters has just been picked up for distribution by Canadian company Ouat! Media, and Eel Girl is just starting to hit the festival circuit and has already picked up one award. As far as advice goes, if you want people to see your film, you have promote it and get it into film festivals. It's a huge amount of work but it's just all part of the job of filmmaking. We have websites and myspace pages for both films and we keep them regularly updated.

DH: What's next? Do you have any more projects in the works?

PC: Yes, definitely! Myself and Producer Elisabeth Pinto are currently developing two feature films. The first is called Lore of the Jungle written by UK script writer Paul Finch. I can't reveal much about the story yet but it's set in London and involves black magic and re-animated corpses and it's designed to be a very fun entertaining Evil Dead 2/Dusk Till Dawn style film.

The other project is Terminal, which is a supernatural bank heist thriller, based on the novel by US horror author Brian Keene. We've been writing the script for that ourselves.

We took both projects to the Cannes film festival this year and got a lot of interest so we're currently trying to trying to raise financing for both.

For more information on Night of the Hell Hamsters, you can go to the site here or its Myspace page here. For more information on Eel Girl, you can go to the site here or its Myspace page here.

Film Fest Updates... A Night of Horror and Halloween Horror Nights

More updates from the world of indie horror film festivals...

Australia's biggest genre festival, A Night of Horror International Film Festival, would like you to know that the earlybird deadline for entries is August 1, 2008 (postmarked). ...and if you'd like me to do the math for you, that's less than a week away. If you don't get your film in by then, you're just going to have to pay full price. They're calling for: features, shorts, music videos, H.P. Lovecraft films and, of course, screenplays. If you do have a finished screenplay to submit, check this out... A representative from Lionsgate, the world's leading distributor of horror cinema, will be reading the festival's three finalist feature length screenplays. So, it's a good opportunity to have your script recommended to the industry. Also, there are categories for both feature length and short screenplays.

For more details visit their site here or enter online at http://www.withoutabox.com/.

This isn't really a festival, but it is a pretty cool deal that you can submit your film to... Universal Studios Hollywood is inviting filmmakers to imagine "Where Nightmares Come Alive" for a short film competition that will invade the Entertainment Capital of L.A. Selected films will be judged based on suspense, relevance to theme and overall chill factor. People will then go to their site, which is just below this paragraph, and vote for their favorite of the top 10 selected film shorts. Entry deadline is September 3, 2008 and the winning film will be announced on September 25. Further, the winner will be invited to come to the Halloween Horror Nights opening night "Eyegore Awards" ceremony in the company of celebrities, studio executives and media. The winner will also receive four tickets to Halloween Horror Nights and $1,000.

For more details visit their site here.

Linkapalooza - July 25, 2008... the onslaught of comic book movies is coming.

Some light Friday reading for all of you... just some more links, news and information that I thought you'd all be interested in.

Comics-Based Movies Keep on Comin' on Wired.com: This is a pretty cool article from Wired that looks ahead at all the movies coming out soon that are based on comic books. I can't decide if this is troublesome or good news, here's why... A few years ago, Marvel Entertainment was just licensing out their characters for use by the studios and taking a licensing fee. Then, it dawned on Marvel, why don't we make our own films? We own the characters, why take a small cut, when we can take the whole thing and control the whole deal? So, they took out a massive loan ($525Million, if I remember) and set out to make "Iron Man" and "The Incredible Hulk" on their own, both of which were considered huge successes. Now, they've got a huge slate in development and they're off to the races as an indie studio. What they figured out is that things like built in audiences, existing characters and the idea of a franchise is where the money is. There's opportunities to expand beyond just a film and into, well, everything... now, all the comic book companies want in on the action and the studios are chomping at the bit to get involved. Here's why I think it's both troublesome and good news at the same time. It's good because the studios are starting to think and look outside the box for new ideas on new projects, it's bad because with all the recent success, they'll be playing in this sandbox for a while. Having said that, I think it's a matter of time before they start looking under them at all the indie shit being made and start grabbing ideas from that pool... until then, think like the comic book companies do and create characters and franchises. When the time finally rolls around where the studios look down for new ideas, you'll be ready.

Horror-Movie Directors To Make Short Films For Xbox on imdb.com: From out of the box thinking on getting ideas for films, let's look at out of the box ideas on distributing films. As you know, new forms of distribution is one of those things I follow closely... We knew that Microsoft and Sony wanted their respected gaming consoles to be the hubs of your living room by connecting to the internet and being able to stream films, but... guess what? They're looking for short form content now, as well. Side note: I really think short form will be the future of film. I mean, there will always be room for massive films like "Dark Knight", but there's going to be a whole new market for short form soon. Anyhow, a bunch of big name horror directors signed on to make short horror films for Xbox Live. If it's successful, maybe they'll be looking at short horror films from lesser known directors?

ZeeVee Introduces ZvBox PC-To-TV System on twice.com: My voice is hoarse from talking about all the new devices that will connect your PC to your TV. Here's another... this one looks to be doomed, though, as it suffers from the same things that's ailed all it's predecesor's, basically high cost and limited content. However, they way I read it, they're not looking to partner with a distributor. They just want to be able to connect the PC to the TV and let you decide what you watch. So, it must have an interface that allows you to browse your PC through your TV. Hmmm... interesting. I like that, putting the power into the hands of the consumer. Like I've been saying for a while, definitely a category to keep watching.

New Magid Survey: Short-Form Dominates Online Video Consumption and Hurts TV Viewership on videonuze.com: This just in, people are watching short form content online and it's hurting TV viewership. Is that really a surprise? Probably not... note this quote from the article, "short-form (is) a legitimate alternative entertainment format that creatives are embracing and audiences are adopting". Enough said... now, let's all go make some short horror films.