2 minutes and 46 Seconds of Terror from FEWDIO

You guys may remember the interview we posted a few weeks back on FEWDIO, the group that's making all the awesome horror shorts. Here's a link to the post, if you didn't check it out. Well, FEWDIO is BACK with a new short, called "Bedfellows" and you can check out the 2 minutes and 46 seconds of terror here or just scroll to the bottom and push play.

Also, we should mention that their site is now up and running, find it here... and, for the count, that's three shorts that they've put out there. A personal favorite, "The Easter Bunny is Eating My Candy", "Creep" and now this...

Just a side note. I was talking with Drew Daywalt, one of the members of FEWDIO, about the interview that we did with them. Unfortunately, he wasn't there, but he listened to the whole damned thing and had a thought come to mind. I've decided to post it here, as it's something that I think all indie horror filmmakers should hear, if only because it's somewhat inspirational. "It's always been said that "writers write." And that could never be said about directors, because the palette to direct was so damned expensive and complicated... until now, with the amazing new access to low cost film capabilities. So, to the writers, I say, "Writers write." And to the directors, I say, "Directors direct."

Spot on Drew... and I can't wait to see what FEWDIO comes up with next!

Dead Harvey interviews Matthew Broomfield, director of "UNHOLY SIDESHOW" - A film that's unlike any other film you've ever seen before!

When you're a site that's dedicated to indie horror filmmakers, you end up watching a wide variety of films. Some follow more traditional guidelines and stories, some try to break the rules, some try to be out there... and then there's "Unholy Sideshow". I was on a plane to L.A. a while back and I grabbed a couple of films to watch, one of which was "Unholy Sideshow". After I was allowed to turn on my electronics, I watched the film for about 45 mins or so, before I had to get up and give back some of the Budweiser I was drinking. When I got up, I looked back and there were about 3 or 4 people with shocked looks on their faces, shaking their heads. It wasn't a surprise, I knew exactly why they were giving me those looks, they had a line of sight on my monitor. "Unholy Sideshow" is a sledge hammer to the face... and that's if you're into sledge hammer's in the face. I can quite honestly say, it's not like anything else I've ever seen... and that's saying quite a bit. Dead Harvey had the pleasure to talk with Matthew Broomfield, writer and director of "Unholy Sideshow".

So, tell us about the origins of "The Unholy Sideshow".

I was living in a three story stand alone house in West Philadelphia, built in the late 1800's, with Jelly Boy the Clown, The Reverend First Minister, and a few other artists. On several occasions we would discuss how perfect our house was for a horror film, especially after watching Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1 and 2 and House of 1,000 Corpses. Which are really two different takes on the same story. So, it started with the house. The Reverend, myself and our friends, The Amazing Barry Silver and Elisha Caplan, had a Sideshow performance troupe, The Unholy Sideshow. So, we went with the idea of a Sideshow family of serial killers living in a fucked up house in an urban enviornment who kill their audience. Similar to The Wizard of Gore and Blood Sucking freaks, with the use of the Malerkus character, another persona of Jelly Boy's.

Several months later I began writing the script and putting together the cast and crew. I wanted to make a trailer to go along with the script, and package them together and attempt to get some funding, but I had absolutely no idea how to do it. The crew started with my associate producer and production manager, Elizabeth Hand, who can do just about anything and everything you can think of when it comes to DIY film; Justin Berger, artist and composer who started with very little make-up/FX experience; Nick Lerman, a musician and fellow film maker who had worked on a few productions and; Naomi Littell, my other main associate producer and production manager, who is another jack of all trades especially in puppetry and sculpture. Naomi also provided us with the space for Malerkus' lab. She lived in a huge warehouse just off the El in Fishtown. So, she slept next to the lab for several months, gaurding the precious trash, and donated objects we collected over several months. Quickly after we added Jon Cobb, Barry Silver, Frank Walsh and Jelly Boy, who performed dual roles of actor and crew hands in construction, gaffer, camera work, PA, basically what ever you can think of they did. Oh and let's not forget about Pyro techniques.

It took an entire summer to go through some casting for the character of Rebecca, a nightmare which I'll go into later, to finish writing the script and prepare for our big Zombie shoot, which became known as 'Zombies in the Snow.' We started production in late October of 2005 with two cameras, some home depot lights, and a makeup box. As the shoots rolled on we dropped down to one camera, because the two we had didn't match. During the 'Zombies in the Snow' shoot we met Chris Carlucci, who signed on along with Justin and Naomi as one of the main make-up and FX people. Chris is an amazing FX guy, with brilliant ideas and ability. He is young and ambitious and was in his last two years at the University of the Arts during production of Unholy Sideshow. The Final piece to the crew puzzle came about through mutual friends, when we added Ed Stites the final of the four main FX/makeup artists. Ed has worked on a lot of films, the biggest being Land of the Dead. With out Ed there would be no stomach rip, and that would be a damn shame.

About half way through we realized that we were all ready making a feature length movie and had gone beyond the original idea of making a trailer. The big problem was that with out funding we didn't have the ability to make the film the way it was written. And the script kept on changing, as it still is today. We added new characters, developed ideas and completely altered the orginal idea. Making it more about The Order of Mystery and the Curse of the Necromancers. And adding The Enigma to the story line after Jelly boy met him at the Philadephia Tattoo convention. Jelly told The Enigma that we were making a horror movie with zombies and sideshow freaks and the blue puzzle pieced demon wanted immediately in. How could we refuse?

So, I got off my ass because everything was right there in front of me. The locations, the cast the crew. All of the tools and materials to finally make a film completely on my own with a group of friends like my unkowning mentors Ed Wood, Jon Waters and Lloyd Kaufman.

You definitely had a unique cast, tell us a bit about who they are and how they came about being in the film.

Well, all the Sideshow performers are working acts, but not all of them are The Unholy Sideshow. Jelly Boy, myself (Matters Squidling) and Frank Walsh (Lazari, and The Masked Perfesser) are in a troupe called the Squidling Bros., The Reverand First Minister, Hell Cat (Carrie Brown), and Elisha Caplan are in the Unholy Sideshow Performance troupe and The Amazing Barry Silver is in both. The Enigma runs his own troupe, currently The Electric Acid Theater, in which Jelly Boy also performs. John 'Red' Stuart, the oldest living sword swallower, is one of our main mentors, along with The Enigma, and he has performed with all of us at one time or another. Mike Dombrowski and Jon Cobb (NYC pioneer in the art of body modicfication and piercing) have performed with us as fire performers. We Sideshow folks like it confusing eh?

One of the first rules of screen writing is to write about what you know, write about what is around you, what inspires you. That's exactly what I did.

Throughout the films, there were scenes that were throwbacks to 30’s or 40’s film. Those scenes felt like an old school Boris Karloff film or “Nosferatu”. Are these inspirations? Tell us a bit about what films inspire you.

Absolutely you put the nail right up the nose. As I said above we were working off of an unfinished script, which originally was intended to be a trailer, so when the final rough was pieced together everyone that watched it was confused by the flow of the plot. Since a lot of the scenes and characters were inspired by the old films of the 30's and 40's, and ever eariler, we decided to go with the titles to help fill in plot holes we couldn't afford to shoot.

The Mummy with Boris Karloff, Well really anything with Karloff and Bela Lugosi, The Wizard of Gore, The Hammer Classics, The Reanimator, Blood Sucking Freaks, Lucio Fulci Zombie films, Romero Zombie films, All the old monster movies, Texas Chain Saw Massacre 1 and 2, Night Mare on Elm Street etc.-the list is long. Ed Wood, Wes Craven, Lloyd Kaufman and Rob Zombie.

I also pull inspiration from directors outside the horror genre, Terry Gilliam, Tim Burton, Ed Wood, John Waters, Federico Fellini, Stanley Kubrick, Martin Scorsese, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Francis Ford Coppola and Guillermo Del Toro.

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

There was no financing for the film. Funded mostly by myself and my brother Jelly Boy. I was working in an underground Flower Shop making deliveries out of Suburban Station in Center City Philadelphia and Jelly Boy was painting houses. All of the producers mentioned in the credits contributed financially in some way and we collected many props and materials through donations and the amazing trash picking network of Philadelphia. One person's trash is another person's treasure applies perfectly well when describing the production work done on Unholy Sideshow. Countless hours of volunteer work from over 100 people, cast and crew, who with out them the film could not have been possible.

The gore and effects are amazing, they blew me away. Tell us about the effects, maybe explain how you achieved some of the better looking ones. The stomach rip comes to mind…

You don't need millions, you don't even need thousands of dollars to make realistic, scary, bad-ass gore effects. It's about skill and know how. Secrets, some may consider, but a talent and skill that not every make-up artist can pull off. The four main make-up/fx artists that worked on Unholy Sideshow, including the many others as assistants and on larger shoots, all had varying range of expierence. They learned as art students, haunted houses and dark rides and specialty FX trade schools. Liquid Latex, Corn Syrup, plastic bags, cardboard, make-up, pizza dough, cotton, paper towel, coffee grounds, chocolate syrup, etc.

Ed Stites was the man for the job, along with his assistant Dirty Dave, they spent all day into the night making the organs out of cotton, plastic bags, and latex. As they worked in the back we shot, shot after shot at The Triangle Theater in North Philadelphia. Before the shoot we used an old theatre flat and cut out a hole in the middle for the actress, who we didn't cast until the night of the shoot, to fit into. So from the mid back up would be above the table, with her stomach down underneath. We had a medical gerney for Tess (stomach rip girl) to lie on so we put the table on top of the gerney and had Tess climb into the hole. At this point it was 4am, and we had been there since the early morning, Jelly who was Malerkus at the time was asleep and we had to wake him, which is always a task. Ed and Dave had finished the organs and a cardborad/liquid latex stomach airbrushed the color of Tess' skin. The organs with a lot of extra fake blood were stuffed in a plastic grocery bag and placed on top of Tess' stomach. The fake stomach was placed on top of that and we made sure to cover the top seem with her shirt. All shots were waist up, so you couldn't see her legs were missing. When Malerkus reached into the cuts on the carboard and latex stomach all he had to do was grab hold of a sticky slab of organ and pull. The rest is what you see.

What did you film on and what did you use for post production to achieve those certain looks?

I filmed on a Canon XL1, mini dv tape , 3CCD camera. I began post production with Final Cut Express and upgraded to Final Cut Pro Studio 2, so I could color correct, create a pro DVD menu, and utilize the handy compressor that came with the Studio package. Did a lot of audio tweeking back and forth from Final Cut to Pro Tools, most of it done by my good friend Styx Latte, drummer of The Hydrogen Jukebox (Jellyboy and I are also in the band). The amount of hours spent on trying to polish a turd when it came to our audio source was one of the more difficult tasks to endure during this project. Let's all thank Styx! Audio was mastered by Brian Tobianski and the disc was printed by Discmakers.

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

Probably the most valuable lesson I learned was never, ever rush casting, especially for a challenging lead role, no matter how much you want to start production. Not to knock Han Salzman, who played the role of Rebecca, but she had no acting experience and was are only choice out of a handful of auditioners who were much worse and unfitting for the role than she was. Shooting went on way longer than originally discussed, and Han just didn't fit the description or type that the character Rebecca represents.

We had a real hard time deciding to shoot 4:3 or 16:9. 16:9 just seemed to stretch everything out and not really achieve what it was trying to do, so we went with the square TV format. If I could do it again I would have saved up a little more cash, spent some more time with casting the Rebecca character and shot everything in HD

And most importantly, have a fucking audio technician. Many, many hours were spent in post fixing horrible sound, with camera noise and room noise and whatever else you can think of to make a sound engineers job a waking nightmare. We did everything in camera audio, and a lot of the shooting was handheld. I couldn't afford the extra gear, and none of my skilled friends could volunteer their time for free.

I rarely, if ever, ask this question… but was there any negative feedback? I can see some people thinking it's a little over the top.

Most people think it's funny. Some people think it sucks and they can't follow it. Others get it completely, like yourself, and want to see more. When we were doing a screening and performance at The Palace of Wonders, a sideshow dime museum and performance bar, a friend of mine who was smoking a cigarette outside during the screening and saw two middle-aged white people walk out in a huff. The woman told the man that it was the most disturbing thing that she had ever seen, she thought everything was real! A great compliment as far as I'm concerned. You don't want everyone walking out of a horror film all happy and glad they came. Only the true horror fans get a real sense of enjoyment from seeing someone's guts ripped out, our a needle skewered through someone's face.

Talk about film festivals. I see that you at least entered one, winning best make-up and special effects at The Philadelphia Terror Film Festival. Anything you can pass on to other up-and-coming filmmakers?

Film Festivals-Lots of trips to the post office, lots of rejections, from horror fests and regular independent festivals. Withoutabox.com is a great resource. I have submitted everything through them and they are tied in with the entire circuit. The Terror Film Festival in Philadelphia was a great experience. Very good people showing quality independent films at a grass roots level. They were the first to except us out of many, most likely because we're local. I think that the Independent Film Market is saturated. That's the feedback I've gotten back from the festivals and that's what I've heard from other film makers. But never, ever stop trying to get your film noticed. Every year more and more people are able to make films at lower costs and every year Independent Film becomes more marketable so even the Indie fests that were much more excessable, say even 5 years ago, are about who you know, or who you've got in your picture. We will be screening Unholy Sideshow in NYC at the New Film Makers Film Festival on October 29th. They want us to do a 'Rocky Horror Picture Show-esque' performance and screening. I'm going to have several members of the cast performing sideshow before and in between different sections of the movie. I'll probably have some nasty looking zombies to walk about and get things sticky.

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

Tried really hard on getting distribution, sent out hundreds of letters to various companies all over the world, heard back from a handful, got the film to a few and was rejected by them. The copy you received is from a pressing I had made through a company in NJ called discmakers. I had 1,000 printed. I've sold about 150 copies and given away as many.

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

Unfortunately my website, westphilth.com, is one of my horror stories of trying to start an independent horror production company. When it's up and running, westphilth.com, will be a source for all of my projects, as well as, other sideshow performers I work with. You can purchase a copy online at filmbaby.com. Or email me directly at westphilth@yahoo.com. The film is being sold for $15+shipping/handling.

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

I am currently working on a feature film, 'The Museum' a narrative/documentary made in the Fellini model of film making, about the people, history and art of The Ellen Powell Tiberino Museum in West Philadelphia. I am also in pre-production on a short, 'The Domestication of Otis Wickel-Wackel'. A dark comedy about a young man who cries all the time until he receives a Top Secret box containing a head who becomes his girlfriend who unintentionally destroys him, turning him inside out with the power of her mind.

As far as Unholy Sideshow, I am working on a more involved feature length script and treatment for a four part Epic Story of our Modern Apocalypse. Beginning in present day and ending with the final destruction of the human race.

August 12th, 2008 - A Slow Week In New Horror Releases...

It's a slow week in new horror releases, but that's fine with me... Brad's off in Vegas shooting some stuff for a project he's working on and my beer-league softball team just made the finals, so I've got a lot of beer drinking and softball to play this week. Here's what's coming out this week and, as usual, you can check out the trailers on our Youtube page (there's only 2 there this week) and/or click on the titles to buy them off Amazon.

Okay, so I've never heard of the Chicago legend of "Resurrection Mary". I was trying to figure out why there were five movies with the same title, so I looked into it. Turns out it's one of Chicago's best known ghost stories. Here's a link to the wikipedia article on it. Regardless, this version of "Resurrection Mary" actually came out in 2005, was directed by Michael Lansu and stars Jason Ryan Lovett and Joe Estevez, among a few other noteables. I'm a big fan of Estevez's, not because he's Martin Sheen's brother, but because he's worked with Dead Harvey's own Brad on a few projects and is both a great actor and a really nice guy. The plot summary for "Mary" is quite long, so, basically, it's about this guy who's unsure about getting married, partly because he see's some girl in white. The girl in white hitches a ride at one point, causes an accident, which ends up leaving the guys fiance in a coma. Then, he finds out that the girl in white, "Mary", is actually in "a dance with the devil and now sins, sanity and his fiances salvation are at stake".

"Survival" comes from Joe Francis, who's currently in production on "Survival 2". I think the trailer looks awesome, as I think they shot this on super 8, which gives it that "Chainsaw Massacre" look, which I really like. I can tell it's a low-budget indie, but I'm having trouble finding out more about the film. I tried to quickly look into it, but unfortunately the director, Joe Francis, shares the exact same name as the founder and CEO of "Girls Gone Wild", which makes it hard to do any sort of search on his name. Either way, I'm going to try and find out more about the project, as it looks pretty good.

"3 a.m." is directed by Sidney Mansa Winters and it was written by Greg Niecestro. It's the first film from Winters and it looks like Niecestro not only wrote it, but produced it, edited it and also acted in it. It was apparently inspired by a true story, where a ghost visits a guys room every night at 3 AM, then the guy is followed by the number 3... sounds a bit like the Jim Carrey film, "23", but better... a lot better. Well, I thought "23" sucked, so it wouldn't be hard to be better, but... either way, check this one out.

"Supernova" - Does this actually warrant me talking about? This is the mini-series that ran on the Hallmark TV channel back in 2005 and starred Luke Perry, Tia Carrere, Peter Fonda and Lance Henriksen... Peter Fonda is as an astrophysicist who discovers that the sun is older than we thought and it's about to blow up. Tia Carrere plays an agent from a secret American government agency and Luke Perry is a scientist buddy of Fonda's... wow, I feel dirty for having just written that.

"Drive-In Cult Classics 2" - I'll just mention the titles from this: The Madmen of Mandoras, They Saved Hitler's Brain, Bloodlust! and The Creeping Terror. They're all in black & white and from between 1961 - 1963.

Film Fest Updates - PAGE Screenwriting Awards, Dragon*Con and The Spooky Movie Film Festival

Well, another drunken weekend passes and it's time to sober up and get to work... so, here's a screenwriting competition, a convention and a film festival to consider.

PAGE International Screenwriting Awards - I've mentioned these guys before, mainly because I think they're one of the better screenwriting contests out there, and, to really quickly tell you a bit about them, there's plenty of success stories, you get to have pro's give you feedback on your script and they have winners in all categories... so, it's a pretty good deal. There are a lot of iffy screenwriting competitions out there, but this isn't one of them. Also, I like stuff like this because filmmaking is a collaborative effort, you're out there with a bunch of people and you're making something. Screenwriting, a lot of the time, is done by yourself in a dark, dingy room and you're drunk. Well, I'm usually drunk when I write, but the 'alone' and 'in the dark' is usually true for everyone. So, to actually get feedback, feel like you're part of something and to enter a contest can be gratifying. Also, knowing there's a deadline for something can actually light a fire under your ass and get you writing. ANYHOW, PAGE just announced their semi-finalists for their 2008 awards, here's a link to the list. You can't enter for the 2009 competition yet, but you can start writing for it... they'll accept entries in December. ..and don't worry, Dead Harvey will keep you posted.

Dragon*Con - Everyone's probably hung over from Comic-Con in San Diego still, but let's not forget about Dragon*Con, which is coming up real soon. Here's a link to the Dragon*Con site. You see, where as Comic-Con gets all the press, Dragon*Con is actually the largest multi-media, popular culture convention focusing on Sci-Fi and Fantasy, gaming, comics, literature, art, music and film in the U.S. It's held Labor Day weekend (August 29 - Sept 1) in Atlanta, Georgia.

Spooky Movie Film Festival - Well, I covered a screenwriting contest and a convention... so, I better mention a film festival. Actually, October's rolling around fairly soon and that's when you get piles of horror festivals, including Shriekfest, Eerie Horror Fest, Hollywood Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy Fest, among others. All of which are outlined in our "horror film festivals" section, feel free to check that out. However, I'm going to mention the Spooky Movie Film Festival that takes place in Fairfax, Virginia October 16 - 19, only because I just came across it. You can currently submit your film and they accept all shorts to features. They are currently a non-competitive festival, but they're partnered with FCC-TV, Artomatic and others, so you'll get a lot of exposure. Here's a link to their site.

Alright, now go get something done this week...

Linkapalooza - August 6th, 2008: New interesting projects announced, Insight into the future, again... and Dead Harvey gets no respect!

So much stuff going on out there! A few new projects announced on THR.com, some insight into the future of distribution, cool new integrated concepts and we're still waiting for OUR clip about "5 or Die". Should get here any time now...

Del Toro, Miramax not 'Afraid of the Dark' on THR.com: I always like reading the little Hollywood Reporter blurbs, as it gives you a bit of insight into how these big deals get done and where the players come from. Usually I hate it when they get ideas from old TV shows, but this first project is kind of cool. The idea comes from a cult show that ABC made in the 70's, they have a comic book artist-writer helming it and del Toro is producing with Miramax. Since I'm mentioning that one, here's another one from THR.com - 'Blood' work for 'Family Guy' scribe. I don't get why they would tap a showrunner from "Family Guy" to adapt a horror property, but maybe there's something I don't know. What's interesting is the fact that Hollywood is going ape-shit over comics these days. I gotta say, the idea behind "Last Blood" is awesome. "Human survivors of a zombie massacre find themselves protected by a band of vampires who need their blood to survive." F'ing awesome.

Viacom CEO: 'Great' content is king on Cnet News.com: Viacom's CEO, Philippe Dauman, spoke at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech Conference a little while ago and said some pretty interesting things about 'content'. Now, before I get into what he said, let me clarify something. Please do realize that what you're making, as an indie-horror filmmaker, is content. I think a lot of people make the mistake of thinking that what they're making is just a film. If you think of yourself as your own little studio and you're making content for distribution, you're going to open yourself up to a lot of new avenues. So, even though Viacom is a multi-national, billion dollar company, try to do what they do. So, what do they do and what did Dauman say? Well, they see themselves as a 'content producer' and they seek to find distribution any way they can and to make money any way they can, while looking to find new audiences thanks to emerging distribution. There you go...

Blockbuster adds Movielink's video downloads to Web site on DallasNews.com and LG Electronics Device To Deliver Movies Online on WSJ.com: The battle for delivering movies to your TV through your PC rages on... another article on Blockbuster finally using Movielink, a company they bought almost a year ago, to offer movies for people to download to their PC as soon as they're available for rent. The other article is how LG Electronics will soon offer a device that plays Blu-ray over the internet from Netflix. We already knew that LG and Netflix were partnering up, but both are really pushing the envelope and trying to open this whole market up. LG isn't really the big story here, it's really Netflix. It looks like both Blockbuster and Netflix are vying to be the new gatekeepers, as they're partnering up witheveryone they can find. Stay tuned to the battle... and don't forget that Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony are all in this fight, too.

Sci Fi Plotline to Play on TV and Video Game on promomagazine.com: I've been waiting to post comments on this article for a while... This is a pretty cool idea and this is the way filmmakers need to think as we delve forward into this new era of distribution. Basically, it's a series that's going to air on Sci-Fi, but it's also a video game that will follow the series. So, you basically play along with the series. I'm not saying that you should go out and copy this idea... what I'm saying is, think of ideas that use other mediums, think outside the box. Maybe you develop a series that has a huge online component, or that's based around live events, a CD release or a mobile campaign, I don't know. Basically, anything that uses other mediums and angles to compliment your project will gain you a bigger audience.

Speaking of ways to drum up interest about a project... a bunch of the horror sites all got sent a video clip called "5 or Die", which looks to be a viral campaign for something. Nice campaign... and a pretty cool way to build interest, as all the sites are talking about it. Including us, who, of course, had to find out about it by reading other sites... thanks "5 or Die" guys, that hurts. I guess our clip got lost in the mail? Whatever... here's a link to 'Icons of Fright' site, which shows the video AND all the sites that aren't called Dead Harvey that got sent the link.

Exclusive Dead Harvey Interview With Sal Ciavarello: Director Of, "The Wicked"

In Sal Ciavarello's, "The Wicked", the Knights Templar take on a Satanic cult. Oh yeah, and hot chicks get in swordfights. Now, that right there is worth the price of admission alone. You can buy "The Wicked" off Amazon by clicking here.

DH: Tell us about yourself. Where are you from and how did you get into filmmaking?

SC: Born and raised in the Bronx, New York. I got into filmmaking at an early age, through an interest in animation actually. When I started all this I used something called a Super 8mm film camera. After experimenting with stop motion animation I discovered the films of Dario Argento and George Romero and the rest is history.

DH: Film school: yes or no?

SC: Yes. School of Visual Arts in New York city. Majored in film production then switched my major to screenwriting.

DH: "The Wicked" has a pretty crazy storyline. Where did the idea come from?

SC: I wanted to make a movie where there are no "good" characters. A film where the protagonists are Satanists, and the ones fighting in the name of God are just as evil if not more so then the main characters that the audience should be rooting for. It's a major gamble. The story throughout the 3 year process evolved into this insanely jam packed tale of different factions being at eachother's throats. It can be overwhelming, but my main goal was to make it the
most entertaining horror thriller I could make under the limited means we had to work with. I actually went against my main philosophy being that the stories that are the most effective are the ones that are character driven. And it's hard to make a character driven piece when you have at least 27 characters dying in your film.

DH: Who are your primary influences as a filmmaker and why?

SC: George Romero for his masterpiece "Dawn of the Dead" which is a great character driven film, because you really do care about what happens to those characters and Dario Argento for his visual style.

DH: "The Wicked" is a very ambitious movie. What were the biggest challenges you faced in pulling it off?

SC: I've always been accused of being ambitious and I take that as a compliment. So thank you. The biggest challenge I faced on this film was dealing with the people problems. I had to write the lead actress out of the film because the situation just became too unhealthy to be on the same set as her, and it's the major reason why the film is no where near as close to the original script. It's also the reason why there are so many other characters in the film. That was the most unfortunate incident and the most difficult decision I had to have made on this film.

DH: What did you sacrifice personally to get your film made?

SC: Besides what I just mentioned? I guess I sacrificed my life for 3 years. All your focus, and all your money is poured into this project, so you don't exactly live the lavish lifestyle because of it.

DH: How did you get Jackie Martling and how much of his material in the film was scripted and how much was improvised?

SC: I am a huge fan of Howard Stern as you can imagine and I simply took a shot to see if he would want to come on board for a cameo appearance. The scene was kind of improvised. I wrote the main idea of what was to happen in the scene but Jackie wrote all the jokes. There is a part where he calls the Senator a "cunt" and that was because the actor who was playing the senator jokingly insulted Jackie and Jackie fired back with that reply. It was so funny that I just had to cut it into the scene.

DH: With all the mayhem and swordfighting, how did you keep everyone from getting hurt?

SC: Well some of those swords were made of plastic but some were very sharp and very real. I believe I cut myself pretty deep with one weapon that was shaped like two devil horns. There were a few bruises here and there but thankfully no major injuries. Kristin Woodburn who plays Katia actually choreographed the sword fights. She has some major experience in that area and did a fantastic job and I'm so grateful to her coming on board in that manner as well.

DH: How would you describe your directing style?

SC: On "The Wicked" I would say overwhelmed. When you have to worry about cinematography and directing actors, it can be very overwhelming. I wasn't the best "actor's director" on this picture as I was with my first feature. But I managed and did the best I could.

DH: The locations, costumes and gore all added a great deal of production value. Any tricks on how you got all these lined up for the movie?

SC: With time and a lot of help. Hahaha. Vincent Guastini provided us with the props and the creature that is in the film but he's in L.A. and we're in New York, so we had some people handle the blood and gore effects here.

DH: What was the budget and how did you go about securing financing?

SC: Cryptkeeper Films approached me about making another horror film after Hardcore Poisoned Eyes and they put up half of the money. I provided the other half.

DH: What's your advice to aspiring filmmakers regarding getting their movie out there? What's the most important thing they need to know about the distribution process?

SC: Expect to not see a dime if you get handed one of those "net profit" deals. If you're movie isn't the second coming of a George Romero film and Nicole Kidman isn't starring in your picture then you better make sure you have the tightest, most riveting story that will knock everyone's socks off. If not you can self distribute the film like I did through amazon and hope that fans spread the word about your movie. Hahaha.

DH: What's next for Sal Ciavarello and will, "The Wicked" have a sequel?

SC: What's next may not be a horror film, it all honestly depends on if we can push at least 5,000 copies of "The Wicked" out there. We really need to see if we can make our money back and then we'll talk next project. It's tough because the market for independent cinema is drying up. No one cares about small indie films anymore. Digital video and HD technology has saturated the business with a lot of wanna be filmmakers. It takes more than the ability to hit the record button and point a camera at actors to make a picture. There needs to be an understanding of the craft which comes with experience, film school, and just getting a ton of work under your belt before you can call yourself a filmmaker.

DH: If you had an unlimited budget, what would your dream movie be?

SC: "THE LORD SATAN", a film about the end of the world. ILM doing the CGI effects, Rick Baker handling the prosthetic effects, Naomi Watts and Daniel Day Lewis as the leads, and making it the scariest tale ever put on film.

For more information on Sal Ciavarello and "The Wicked", you can go to The Wicked Myspace page here or the Profound Images site here.

Brad's Bizzare Movie Spotlight: "Chickenfut"

When I watch an indie movie, I'm looking for something different. Yet when something is so different and just plain f'ing weird I get really fired up. That's the beauty of the indie. movie. It will give you something Hollywood either never has the balls to do or would just plain never think of. And the time to find something that's actually original could never be more relevant than now, when it seems Hollywood is playing it as safe as possible by spending so much of their time attempting to relaunch franchise after franchise.

That being said, I'd like to take this opportunity to showcase those really f'ing weird movies that are out there. Sure, it takes a lot of searching, but that makes it all the more worth it when you do find that diamond in the rough. These are the movies that you have to make your friends watch because explaining it just isn't enough. You've just got to see other's people's reactions to truly do the movie justice.

Dead Harvey is proud to present the very first in it's bizarre movie spotlight: "Chickenfut". Here's it's description from the back of the box: "When an awkward German exchange student is possessed by the spirit of his prized chicken, he is given the power to fight back and avenge the death of his beloved Gisela. Young Gunter's bizarre and tragic tale speaks to anyone who has suffered at the hands of the cruel and the mighty."

Pretty f'ing weird huh? Wait 'till you see it. After the student gets possessed by his chicken, he slashes the s out of people with a stick and looks like a giant chicken foot and squawks and moves around like, well, a freakish man chicken. F'ing awesome. Dead Harvey salutes director Harrison Witt for breathing new life into the indie. genre!

For more info. on, "Chickenfut", you can check out the website at www.chickenfut.com. Attached is a link where you can view the entire movie at undergroundfilm.com. Enjoy and if you've seen a movie that's weird as s, send it our way and we will do our part to share it with the world!

EXCLUSIVE Dead Harvey Interview with JIM O'REAR, director of "Scream Farm" and "The Deepening"

I was sent two screeners from Jim O'Rear, "Scream Farm" and "The Deepening". They're both fun, highly ambitious flicks. O'Rear has an impressive background, including a career as a musician, magician and success in both Hollywood and Independent films. Check out his official website here for more details and be sure to check out the interview. He's got lots of great tips and pointers for indie filmmakers and what he has to say about distribution is a must read. Thank's Jim! Dead Harvey is looking forward to your upcoming work!

DH: You’ve got quite an interesting background. Tell us about what different career paths led you to the work you’re doing now.

JIM: Wow… that answer could be an epic! Do you have about a month? Ha! Long story short, I started out as a magician and traveled around performing as “The Youngest Professional Magician” for several years. I got to work with Copperfield, Blackstone Jr, The Great Tomsoni, and many others. Well, after one of those magic shows a television producer approached me… I was probably around 12 years old, at the time… and he asked if I’d like to be in a TV commercial. I immediately told him “no.” I was a magician and knew nothing about acting. After about a week of phone calls, this producer convinced me that what I was doing on stage in the magic show was considered acting and that he thought I’d be natural on camera. I gave it a shot. It was a recycling commercial with “Woodsy Owl.” Remember those? (I’m probably dating myself as an old-timer… scratch the “Woodsy Owl” reference.. ha ha ha). Anyway, I was seen in that commercial and offered more television and film parts, as well as roles in a lot of live theater (my true love). I had trained in Martial Arts for many years, which led me to film stunt work, and I had written for horror and comic book magazines in my spare time, which led me to screenwriting. So, all of my experiences tied back into the film industry, in the long run, which allowed me to act, write, do stunts, produce, and direct.

DH: What was it that first sparked your interest to make movies?

JIM: I, actually, had no interest in making movies, at all. I loved acting and stunt work and writing. It wasn’t an “interest” in making movie that made me do it… rather, it was a bit of frustration that sparked me to start. I had a couple of screenplays of mine that had been produced and I was EXTREMELY unhappy with how they were translated to film. At the same time, my producing partner (Ted Alderman) was getting frustrated with films that he had acted in not getting released and distributed to the public. Ted called me and, basically, said “Dammit, no one is seeing my work so I should just make my own film and get it distributed.” So I, basically, replied “Dammit, I’m tired of people screwing up my screenplays so I should write one for us to make together and get it distributed.” And that’s when it happened. Ted and I joined forces and created our first film together, a vampire anthology, that received a DVD distribution deal almost immediately. We received good feedback so we jumped onto a MUCH bigger film than our vampire flick. We made THE DEEPENING (with Gunnar “Leatherface” Hansen, Debbie Rochon, and Debbie D) and received distribution then moved on to make SCREAM FARM (a zombie film that was just released this month). Now, these indie flicks are not “Academy Award Winners,” mind you… but, they are the silly, fun horror films we wanted to make.

DH: Film school: yes or no?

JIM: I never went to film school. I did attend the American Academy Of Dramatic Arts, in New York, for acting, but all of my filmmaking knowledge came from just working on the sets as an actor. I think film school is great if you want to get “book smart” and learn certain technical aspects of filmmaking (such as lighting techniques, how to use various camera lenses to your benefit, etc), but nothing beats getting in there and doing it. “Book smarts” are a good, but it’s not going to help you when you’re on the set and an actor is running late, a special effect is not working, a motor in a camera has jammed, and you’re losing daylight. You better know how to think quickly, rearrange scheduling, rewrite a scene, devise a comparable effect, and pull a camera repair out of you’re ass so that you don’t lose time and money. That kind of stuff you can only learn in the “real world”… not in a classroom.

DH: You take on multiple roles as actor, director, and screenwriter. Which one of these do you enjoy the most and why?

JIM: I really like all of them equally, but I don’t necessarily enjoy doing them all at the same time. All of those positions allow you express something creatively in different ways, although it’s a beast doing them together. The purpose of me taking on multiple roles in a production is because I know I’m going to be on set and I know I can count on myself. If I’m directing… for instance… I might as well act in the film, too, because it’s one less person that I have to hire and one less person that I have to worry about showing up on time. If I’m acting in the film, I might as well do my own stunts… after all, I know how to do them and it saves me from having to hire and rely on another person. So, you see, I basically take on more responsibilities to save me from facing potential future problems on the set and adding more stress due to things I can’t control. I’d rather be stressed out worrying about myself than worrying about someone else. It’s probably an odd way of looking at things and it will eventually kill me, but it’s worked so far.

DH: You’ve worked in both Hollywood and indie films. What are the pros and cons of each?

JIM: In Hollywood you are a product and a tool... a means to an end. In indie films you are a creative collaborator. In Hollywood productions you are not really allowed to be creative… you do what you’re told. In indie films you still do what you are told, but you have the freedom to experiment and participate in the creative process. A lot of people ask me why I got out of doing the big budget films and started working in low budget horror and the truth is that I want to work with people who have not had the creativity beaten out of them by the Hollywood system.

DH: How would you describe your directing style?

JIM: I’m very “hands on,” laid back, and always open for suggestion. By “hands on” I mean that I don’t hide myself behind a monitor somewhere in another room and shout orders through a speaker box that sits on the set. I am constantly on set with the actors and crew and don’t mind getting “down and dirty” when it comes to setting up shots. I like for actors to provide input and assist them with what brings the characters alive inside their heads. I also like for crew members to provide their input on other production possibilities within a shot. I look at a film as a team effort with a leader who “drives the bus.” It’s never about just one person.

DH: Both “Scream Farm” and “The Deepening” are ambitious projects (especially “Scream Farm” for its large cast and multiple effects). Do you have any tricks on getting everyone together and coordinating a project of this size?

JIM: No tricks, really, you just have to be EXTREMELY organized and have a good core group of people that you can trust. With SCREAM FARM everything was broken down into lists and schedules… there were cast schedules, crew schedules, scene schedules, prop lists, makeup effect lists, craft service schedules with menus, photo session schedules, and more. You really have to head off any possible production problems during the pre-production time that you have. Plan, plan, and over plan… that’s the key. You’re still going to run into problems when you hit production, but they will be a lot easier to overcome if you have everything logically broken down and scheduled.

DH: You have some great locations in both SF and TD. Namely, the farm and the firehouse location. How did you go about securing locations that added such great production value?

JIM: Ha, ha! The answer may surprise you in its simplicity. I just asked if I could use the locations. That was it.

The firehouse and fire trucks used in THE DEEPENING were located in Watertown, TN. We wanted a small-town firehouse with old engines and Watertown was perfect. I contacted Fire Chief Jewel and told him what we wanted to do. He said he’d ask permission from the City Council and get back to me. A couple of days later he stated the he would turn over the firehouse and the trucks to us to use free of charge. It’s amazing what you can get if you just ask. The trucks and the firehouse added SO much to the production value of that film!

We could have shot SCREAM FARM at any haunted barn, but Ted Alderman was friends with indie horror film actress Kimberly Lynn Cole. He told me about a haunted barn that she had on her property in Jones, Alabama, (also called “Scream Farm”) that she opened every October to help raise money for the St Jude’s charity. Her property also had an in-ground pool with a waterfall, an Egyptian throne room, and many other things that would suit locations in the script. It was possible that we could shoot 95% of the film on her property without ever having to go anywhere else. I contacted Kim (who also plays a role in the finished film) about the project and she was gracious and kind enough to invite us (and about 25 cast and crew members) to her place to make the film. Kim’s place was just perfect and I’m very grateful that we got to shoot there.

DH: What budgets do you typically work with on your films and how do you obtain financing?

JIM: Budgets? How much change do you have in your pocket? Ha, ha! I’m not kidding. If I told you what we had to work with on THE DEEPENING and SCREAM FARM you’d think I was crazy and you’d tell me that no one can make a film for that amount. Let’s just say… we get A LOT out of VERY LITTLE. John Dugan (“Grandpa” from Texas Chainsaw Massacre) came to the theatrical premiere of THE DEEPENING and asked me how much we shot the film for. I asked him how much it looked like we spent. He said, “AT LEAST $50,000.00.” Well, John was waaaaaaay off… by many thousands of dollars.

As far as financing, it’s a lot easier to beg for small amounts of cash than it is to beg for large amounts, so we kept the budgets low on purpose. Ted Alderman actually financed THE DEEPENING, himself, with his credit card. We begged for money to make SCREAM FARM from anyone we thought might give us some. As luck would have it, a fellow horror filmmaker and good friend (Chuck Angell) that I had worked with several times in the past believed in the script and financed the whole film.

DH: Was there anything from the scripts of SF and TD that were changed or left out of the movie? If so, why?

JIM: There were a couple of minor things. In THE DEEPENING we had written a scene where one of the characters gets whacked a couple of times and then beheaded with an axe. When it came time to shoot the scene the actress was afraid of getting blood in her hair. Yeah… you have to wonder why she agreed to be a victim in a horror film if she didn’t want to get bloody. So, the whacking occurs off-screen. We shot everything else that was in the script. Now, we did cut out a couple of shots that we filmed with Gunnar Hansen because I felt that they slowed down the narrative flow of the film, but these brief shots are included as “Deleted Scenes” on the DVD.

In SCREAM FARM there were 3 things that were altered. In the finished film there is a scene where the zombies chase the characters out of the barn and a major fight erupts between the humans and monsters in the field. Originally, this was written as a huge fight scene inside the barn with a struggle over who would gain control over a gun. When I arrived in Alabama the first thing I noticed was that there was not enough room inside the barn for the fight to play out the way it was written, so I did a quick re-write that would get the characters outside and then back inside so that the story was not disrupted. The second change involved a character who was to have his arms, legs, and head ripped from his torso by the zombies in a brutal and bloody effect sequence. When it came time to shoot the scene, Ted Alderman and our fight coordinator, Miles Spence, suggested that the kill be simplified (I won’t give details to avoid spoilers) and that it only be seen as a shadow reflected against the barn wall by the moonlight. I thought it was a great suggestion and is actually very effective in the finished film. The third change has to do with some zombies who are supposed to be cut in half by a large saw blade. This was going to be accomplished with the use of CGI… but our CGI guy flaked out on us. We replaced him with another CGI guy, Bryan Henry (who was fantastic), but I didn’t want to overwhelm him with this large effect on short notice, so we just shot some extra footage of blood splattering so that the kills happened off-screen.

DH: What particular challenges did you overcome to get SF and TD made?

JIM: Luckily, we had no significant challenges to overcome while making those films. Both of the projects were well planned out and the cast and crew supported the project in any way that they could. We had the typical challenges that every production faces… unexpected weather, occasional prop malfunctions, that kind of thing… but we didn’t face any major crisis on either film. Having said that, I’ve probably just jinxed myself and our next project will be plagued with problems! Ha, ha!

I guess the biggest challenges we faced were in the editing room during post-production. Certain scenes in THE DEEPENING needed a lot of color correction and some dialogue replacement and a lot of the cinematography in SCREAM FARM was poorly shot so we had to manually correct much of that footage, frame by frame. Thank goodness for powerful editing software!

DH: What lessons have you learned from SF and TD that you can pass on to aspiring filmmakers?

JIM: Basically that anyone can do it if they have the determination and don’t give up. Ted and I jumped right into filmmaking on a whim and have produced 3 features together that have all received distribution deals. Granted, both of us already had a background and important contacts in the industry, as well as the additional knowledge that goes along with that, but the process of filmmaking and distribution is the same for everyone. I truly believe that anyone can do it if they are determined to make it happen and don’t give up.

DH: Tell us about how the distribution process worked for SF and TD. What do upcoming filmmakers need to know regarding how to get their movie out there?

JIM: Let’s just say… distribution is a dirty, unforgiving bitch who never knows what she wants except that she’s hell-bent on making your life difficult. Does that sound a bit harsh? Ha, ha. There is no set formula for attracting distribution offers. It’s always different. Distributors are constantly changing their minds about the products they want and everyone has a different view on the state of the current marketplace. Some say you’ve got to have a star attached to your project, some say you don’t need a star just cool monsters, some say you need more nudity, some say you need less nudity, some say your film needs a more developed story, some say you’ve got too much story… you get to the point where you feel you can’t win. You just have to deal with it and not get frustrated, because everyone’s trip through the distribution process is different.

With THE DEEPENING, we set out to make a cheesy, 80’s-style slasher flick. We didn’t want to make a good movie… rarely were the horror films in the 80’s considered “good”… we just wanted to make a stylized piece based on the fun flicks of that time period. What we didn’t notice, at first, was that we had created a story that had not ever been told before. We had something that set it apart from the standard copycat slasher fare… an original story. Up to that point no one had made a slasher fireman movie; there were killer cops, dentists, doctors… but no firemen, as they were considered the “untouched heroes.” Not only did we have a killer that had not been on film before, we took it a step farther and tied it into the events of 9-11 and the firemen who worked during that disaster. We knew we were treading on controversial ground and were taking a risk but I guess we didn’t really realize what we had created until big studios like Universal and Lionsgate started calling. Our story and the fact that we were making something different went a long way in getting attention for our project. Long story short, the film played some limited theatrical engagements and a festival receiving various offers for distribution. In the long run, the majors flaked out on us because they were eventually afraid of the content (much related to 9-11) and how the public would react, leaving us with several independent distribution offers. We eventually settled on Phoenix Entertainment, who was starting a new horror label known as Under The Bed Films. We took another risk placing the project with a brand new horror label, but we liked their attitude and I felt very comfortable with their company.

It was a bit easier with SCREAM FARM. Several of the larger companies viewed it but they all had mixed ideas about what was going on in the marketplace and how they could sell it to the public. Knowing that zombies are always popular, I didn’t wait on the majors to make up their minds. We premiered it at one engagement in Birmingham, Alabama, and immediately received 3 offers for distribution based on the audience’s response. As fate would have it, Phoenix (our DEEPENING distributor) was looking for a zombie movie and, being happy with our relationship over the previous film, we signed with them again, who released it under the title THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE COLLECTION FEATURING SCREAM FARM. It’s actually a cool 2-disc set. SCREAM FARM is the primary feature and then it’s got a ton of zombie shorts that they collected and put together to make up the second DVD of extras.

DH: What’s next for Jim O’Rear?

JIM: I’ve got a ton of films as an actor/stuntman that have just been released and are in post-production, as well as several I’m about to start working on. I’ve also got several personal appearances coming up.

THE DEAD MATTER should be finished with post very soon and a taste of it will be premiered at Comic-Con in San Diego, CA. It’s a great vampire/zombie film I did in Ohio with Andrew “Wishmaster” Divoff, Tom Savini, and Jason Carter. It was made by Ed Douglas of Midnight Syndicate in association with the great Bob Kurtzman.

ACONITE was just released on DVD which is a werewolf-like film I acted in with Reggie “Phantasm” Bannister, Gunnar “Leatherface” Hansen, Linnea Quigley, and Debbie Rochon.

I’m wrapping up filming THE DEVIL’S PLAYGROUND, which is a thriller about a cult who are trying to bring about Armageddon and I will begin shooting OLD HABITS DIE HARD, acting opposite Kane “Jason” Hodder, very soon.

I’ve got several convention, festival, and haunted house appearance coming up that include The Fright Night Film Festival (Kentucky), B-Movie Celebration (Indiana), Nashville Comic & Horror Convention (Tennessee), Ripley’s Haunted Adventure (Tennessee), and more.

As far as producing, we’re currently trying to raise financing for a new film I wrote with Scott Christian Spencer called PRANK CALL that’s an 80’s-style thriller with lots of surprises.

There’s a list of current projects and appearances on my website, for anyone interested, which includes links to additional information. That site is www.JimORear.com. You can also find me on MySpace at www.MySpace.com/JimORear.

DH: If you had an unlimited budget, what would your dream movie be to make?

JIM: It’s actually one that I’ve written called BLOODLINE. On the surface it is an action-packed Civil War vampire movie, but at its core it is a story about a father’s relationship with his son. It’s a story that I am very personally close to and hope to see it produced some day.

For more information on Jim O'Rear, you can go to his website here or his Myspace page here. For more information on "Scream Farm", you can go to its Myspace page here or buy it here. For more information on "The Deepening", you can go to its Myspace page here, its webpage here or buy it here.

August 5th, 2008 - Lots of new, bloody, boob-filled horror out this week!

Holy crap, lots of good stuff out this week... I probably won't be able to do each one justice, but I'll do what I can. Anyhow, as usual, go to our Youtube page to see all the trailers and, please, if you want to buy them, click on the titles to get them off Amazon.

First off, I want to mention "Shadows Light" from director Stephen Zimmer, even though I'm not going to say too much about it. The reason I don't want to say much is because we're actually going to be interviewing Stephen soon and we'll have a big post up on the film soon enough. I will say that it's from Ever After Media and it's a supernatural thriller/horror about Father Cuth Abelard, who discovers an immense demonic presence in the highest circles of his cities society and then finds and confronts the power, finding help from very unexpected sources... In any case, stay tuned...

"Blood and Sex Nightmare", about a sex resort on haunted grounds where guests start getting killed, comes from Joseph R. Kolbeck. It's his first feature feature and... wow, I love the premise and the trailer kicks ass, too. It's like Friday the 13th, but instead of campers, it's swingers. What a no-brainer. It's released by Camp Motion Pictures label Bloody Earth and stars Nikki Notarile (Zombies Anonymous, Bikini Bloodbath Christmas) and Tina Krause (Zombiegeddon, Bikini Girls on Dinosaur Planet), both of whom are no strangers to the low-budget horror scene. Further, it's getting great reviews and a lot of interest on various boards and forums... but that could just be because it's got tons of nudity in it, which is fine with me.

"Abe's Tomb" is from Carl Merritt and it won various awards and screened at a bunch of festivals. I'm on the Carl Merritt Productions site right now and it has lots of hot chicks and info, but damned if I can't find a synopsis or anything. After watching the trailer; there's a skeleten guy in a robe, lots of half-naked and naked female vampires and gunfire. What can I say? Without even knowing the plot, it looks pretty f'ing good and I'll try to find out more about it.

I hadn't heard of "Johnny Sunshine" (originally called "Johnny Sunshine: Maximum Violence") until I just saw it available on Amazon here today, but I gotta say, I'm really pumped to see it. It's one of those films that's obviously low-budget, but doesn't let that get in the way of a kick-ass story, good gore and a unique, professional look. At least that's what I'm thinking from watching the trailer and reading about it. Directed by Matt Yeager, it takes place in 2012 and it's about a seedy underworld of exploitation, violence and zombies. Johnny Sunshine is a female porn star and killer for hire who becomes a victim of her own success when a secret plot is hatched to orchestrate her downfall on camera to create the greatest snuff film ever made. Wow. Love it... you have to go check out the trailer on our Youtube page.

"Dr. Shock's Grindhouse of Horrors" comes from After Shock Productions and it's a collection of low-budget horror shorts. They're all films from Lance Otto Smith & Douglas G. Agosti, including: "The Garden Tool Murders", "A Winter's Chill", "The Dweller", "The Town That Loved Pizza", "Bullet For A Vampire" and "Dead And Breakfest".

"Bram Stoker's Dracula's Guest" is from Michael Feifer, who's produced more low-budget horror than you can imagine, including "Witchcraft V" through Witchcraft IX". He's also directed his fair share of films, doing all those serial killer films, like: "Bundy: An American Icon", "Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield" and "Boston Strangler: The Untold Story"... apparently, he also likes to use colons a lot. "Dracula's Guest" stars Andrew Bryniarski, who was Leatherface in the new "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" films. However, I'll always remember him as Lattimer from "The Program". It's about two young lovers, Bram and Elizabeth... and Dracula kidnaps Elizabeth and takes her to his castle, while Bram sets out across Europe to rescue her.

"Dead Fury" comes from Frank Sudol, who also did the animated horror "City of Rott". This is his follow up to that and it's an 82 minute, animated parody of such horror classics as "Evil Dead" and "The Hills Have Eyes".

"Baby Blues" is co-directed by Amardeep Kaleka and Lars E. Jacobson and it's being released by Allumination Filmworks. It's the first feature for both Kaleka and Jacobson and it's about a mother who has a psychotic break due to postpartum depression, which forces the eldest son to protects his siblings from the mother they have always loved.

"The Hive" is from Peter McManus and it's the ninth installment into this Maneater Series that I know nothing about, but keep on hearing about. Maybe it's a series that's running on the Sci-Fi channel? I don't know. Anyhow, it's about a mass of flesh-eating army ants, 200 Million strong, that's making its way through the jungles of Brazil, devouring every living thing in its path.

"Black Ribbon" is from writer/director John Orrichio and it's got it's fair share of nudity and violence. The story revolves around the life of a writer, who moves to the country with his wife and, subsequently, buys a haunted typewriter... which gradually transforms him into a maniacal and evil individual, capable of committing horrifying crimes. The typewriter's original owner was a sadist and satan worshipper who abducted women, encarcerated them and confined them to chains and shackles before brutally torturing them to death. Our writer assumes his persona...

"Blackwater" is written by Wilson Hawthorne and Bill Schreiber and it's directed by Schreiber, along with Bill Rogers and R. Douglas Zipperer. It's about four girls who end up getting stranded deep in the Florida Everglades and their dream vacation becomes their worst nightmare. It was an official selection of The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival and it's the first film in a series of films that these guys have in development...

"My Mummy" is written and directed by J. Todd Anderson, who appears to be making a career for himself as a storyboard artist, while occasionally breaking off to go make a film or two. He was the storyboard artist on tons of big films, like: "Fargo", "No Country For Old Men" and "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind". In between all those gigs, he's made two films, both of which he wrote and directed, "The Naked Man" and this one, "My Mummy". "My Mummy" isn't really a horror, it's more of a comedy... however, the effects looks good, the production value is great and, well... I wrote this much, so I'm leaving this in here.

Lastly, I just have to comment on the "I Love the 80's Collection" "Friday the 13th" and "Friday the 13th II" DVD's. I can't believe that "Friday the 13th" has a release where the box art looks like a "Saved By The Bell" poster, seriously click on those links and tell me it doesn't look like AC Slater and Jesse Spanno shouldn't be on the cover.

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.