Into The Abyss

What I learned from the festival circuit

2011-11-16T12:25:00.001-08:00

After more than a year and almost 40 festival screenings, Enter the Dark's World Tour 2010 - 2011 is finally at an end. It's been a great experience and I've learned quite a few things that will help me as I move forward with new projects. I figured I might as well pass along some of these hard-earned nuggets to anyone who dares venture forth into the world of indie filmmaking.

First, in order to keep track of all the festivals I submitted to, I created a big-ole spreadsheet, including festival name, date of upcoming deadline, cost of entry, dates of the festival, location of festival, date when they would notify filmmakers of their decisions, whether I got in or not, and if we won any awards.

From these magic columns I can extrude the following data:

TOTAL SUBMISSIONS: 88
YES: 40
NO:    42
TO BE DETERMINED: 6

Almost a 50% batting average - not too bad. I can tell you this - in the future I would not submit to as many festivals. Since this was my first time, my main goal was getting as much exposure as possible and finding out which festivals were worth the entry fee. Having submitted to that many festivals, I now have a pretty good idea which are the good ones, and which are the shady ones.

And let me tell you this - there are quite a few shady ones. Look, here's the deal - there are way too many festivals. More and more are popping up every day. If you jump on withoutabox (which I'll get into later), you can see literally THOUSANDS of them. And what I've found is that many of the smaller, newer ones are being created by filmmakers simply looking for a way to screen their (and their buddies') films.   Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but you should be a bit concerned when you see the following:

- Festival with less than 2 years history
- Disorganized website with more info about the festival organizers than the films
- Very little updates to their Facebook page or website
- Certainly, any festival that outright promotes the festival director and his/her films
- Poor communication with the festival - not responding to emails, or it becomes obvious that only one person is in charge of everything - festival programming, marketing, filmmaker liaison, etc.

And this is a really big one - a couple of festivals I was accepted to immediately started to send emails promoting "special extras" to me. These were usually opportunities to attend distribution seminars and filmmaking workshops all at additional expense. It soon was obvious that the "festival" was really a scam for these folks to push these seminars to a naive and desperate indie film community.

At one of these festivals, it became clear something was fishy when the times and venues for screenings kept changing, the website never had final info about films or screenings until less than a week from opening night, and when the festival awards were finally posted, one film among all the entries garnered almost all the wins. It turns out that film had connections to the festival director. Yeah - big surprise there...

You may also come across these film "competitions" that are not really festivals, but ways to generate accolades and publicity for your film by having them win "awards". Now, as a first-time filmmaker, this is not necessarily a bad thing - but just be aware that these "awards" are not really recognized as such by those in the know. The submission fees are pretty steep, and most of them also will try to encourage you to submit to as many categories as you can - all at additional expense. I'm not going to outright say that every one who pays up and submits will actually "win" an award - but let's just say that the list of "winners" is three pages long. And of course when you do win, you have to shell out an additional few hundred bucks if you actually want that hunk o' acrylic taking up space on your shelf.

I will say that of these competitions, the Maverick Movie Awards was different. There was only one fee. I was fortunate to be nominated for multiple categories and there were not tons of "winners". Also, when I did actually win an award, I was eventually given the option to buy that chunk o' acrylic, but at a much more reasonable price.

One other type of opportunity for horror filmmakers to screen their films are the horror/sci-fi/fantasy conventions. My experience with these was not the greatest. Most of these are run by a small staff who have many responsibilities on their plate - wrangling up genre "stars" for the event, dealing with vendors, securing the location (usually at run-down hotel ballrooms with no air conditioning), so they have little time to deal with filmmakers. The films are usually an afterthought and are screened straight from DVD with crappy projectors and horrible sound, in out of the way ballrooms, with little promotion or care.

One of these conventions was too cheap to pay for more than one room to screen all the films it had accepted, so it decided to run the programming 24 hours a day for three days straight. My film screened at 5:00am in the morning. Needless to say, I wasn't thrilled.

Of all the conventions however, I will say that Dragon*Con was the best. It is a well-organized, massive convention that draws over 40,000 attendees. The festival staff was very attentive to the filmmakers - even having a separate website for the film festival. It is well-worth the submission fee.

Speaking of submission fees, let's take a second to think about the total costs for entering all these festivals. My total for all submissions was $2,745 - an average of around $32 per festival. Add to that shipping costs, DVD screeners, additional materials like postcards and HDCAM and BluRay festival copies and you get closer to $3,800. That's almost twice what it cost me to produce my short film. However, when you look at all that as marketing costs to have Enter the Dark screened almost 40 times in venues around the world, that's really not all that much. That comes to about $95 per screening. Just try to rent a theater and market and produce a screening yourself and you'll see that $95 is quite a bargain.

However, an argument could be made that all this fuss is a waste of time anyway - you could just put your short up on YouTube, let everyone see it and generate buzz that way - and not have to spend a single dime. Although this may be true, I think the festival circuit still holds merit - especially for horror films.

First, the horror community is a rabid, dedicated bunch. Getting the movie directly where they are is critically important to help generate buzz. There still is no better way to see a film - especially a horror film - than in a theater, projected onto a large screen, in front of an audience. I can't tell you how rewarding it is to experience an audience actually "getting" your film - laughing at the right parts, peeking from behind their programs and jumping at the end.

This is another reason to get your films into festivals - to meet your fans. Take the opportunity to do a Q&A session whenever you have a chance. At one of these festivals, I had the amazing experience of having one person say to me, "That was the best movie I've seen all year - I mean ALL MOVIES - not just short films, not just indie films - That's better than anything Hollywood has produced. You really need to make it into a feature film."   Wow - how much is an ego boost like that worth to a new filmmaker?

I think today's filmmaker needs to look at all avenues of getting their work seen by the public. So, my approach was to get it in a bunch of festivals (including some that included online screenings), and once it had run its course in the festival circuit, then post it on YouTube and Vimeo for all to see. I took every opportunity to have it reach more people. "Would you like to be part of our online festival?" YES! "We are thinking about a horror-based iPad app that would include short videos." SIGN ME UP! "Can we embed your film on our website." OF COURSE.

Take every available opportunity to have your film seen by as many folks as possible. It is not a matter of should I do this, or that - DO THEM ALL. Do not allow yourself to be frozen into inaction trying to protect the intellectual rights of your work. EFF THAT! In this day in age, your art will get ripped off by many - do not fight it - use it to your advantage. Now, feature-length films are another matter, and that's why I'm not making them (yet). But for short films your strategy should be to be lucky enough that people would actually want to "steal it" and make copies available for all to see.

I think I lost some potential eyeballs by being too protective early on. I signed up with IndieFlix to have them provide DVD and streaming versions of my film. I felt like I wanted to try to capture some of this revenue stream, but for short films, it really is a joke. My last quarterly payment recently arrived from them and the check came to a whopping $1.20 - not much more than the stamp it cost them to mail it to me. With my next project I will be much more willing to have it available online for free while it is also in festivals - I no longer think there's an issue with this.

One problem with being so protective of my film early on is that it cost me a lot of potential fans (my most important resource) at a time when I was getting a lot of press. As soon as I was finished editing the film, I contacted a ton of available websites and bloggers to have it reviewed. I was lucky enough to have 25 or so actually provide a write-up (which, for a relative unknown was pretty good), and almost all of them were very favorable. So, I had potentially hundreds, if not thousands of fans out there who would have been thrilled after reading those reviews, to follow a link to YouTube and watch it right then and there. But I didn't have it up there yet - I wanted to drive sales to IndieFlix, or have them see it in a festival, so all those leads probably became dead ends. I may never be able to get them back to see my film.

If there's one thing I've learned about this whole new world of content delivery via the web it's this - you have to hook them when they first hear about you. If they've bothered to read a review about your short film, there sure as hell better be a direct link to see that film RIGHT THERE AND THEN. It has to be immediately available - the simplest and most pain-free route to see your work before they are sidetracked by that cute kitten video with boobies, or they bop over to Facebook to check out what their high-school ex is up to.

And it has to be free. Not kinda free, not almost free, not 99¢, but FREE. Not only are people on the 'net easily distracted, but they're cheap. There is now an assumption that content should be free. Now this surely isn't a good thing, but that's just the way it is - deal with it. Let's say you just got a nice write up and someone follows a link to see your movie on IndieFlix for 99¢. They spend just a second contemplating if it's worth it or not. Then they remember there was another review for a cool horror short that had a link to it on YouTube. Guess what they're gonna do. What would you do?

That's what I thought.

As hard as it may be for artistic content-creators like us, you just have to bite the bullet and embrace the free. What other choice do we have?

After all has been said and done - after all the hustling: more than a year's worth of festivals, screeners to reviewers, downloads and YouTube viewings, I estimate that my short has still only been seen by about 1,500 folks. That seems pathetically small for all the work I've put into it. Not so much the work making the film - that was easy. It's the work marketing and distributing it that's the hard part. All that for 1,500 pairs of eyeballs.

Don't get me wrong - I'm immensely grateful that anyone would actually want to take the time to watch my little tale of chills and thrills, but considering the worldwide population of all folks connected to the 'net - its really nothing at all. However, I do know that all it will take is just one online taste-maker, one influential reviewer in the horror world to off-handedly tweet about how much they liked my short and BLAMMO - everything changes in a nanosecond. Suddenly the hordes will come swooping in.

But for now I'll just wait - start working on my next project, and see what happens.

---------------------------------------------

Indie film resources:

- Withoutabox This one's pretty obvious to any filmmaker. Almost all festivals now use this as their source of contact. Upload all your info to withoutabox once and from there you can submit to thousands of festivals with a click of a mouse. Use their search tools to find festivals that match your film. Take the time to create and upload an electronic press kit (cast/crew info, director's bio, film synopsis, poster, stills, trailer, etc.). You can also upload a digital version of the film for submission screenings as well - this will save you postage costs of sending out all those DVDs.

Be sure to note the submission deadlines and always send as soon as you can to save on late fees.

- Short Film Central   This one's really cool - a hub for filmmakers, film fans and festivals. Sign-in to create a page for your film, including upcoming screenings, awards, reviews and your trailer. It also has a nice database of festivals (some not on withoutabox) and you can see ratings of festivals from other filmmakers - very useful! Once your film has played in a festival, you can rate it yourself.

The other cool thing about this website is that festival programmers search it to find new films for their upcoming festivals. I've had a few contact me after finding my film on this site, and the best part is that when you are invited to submit by a program director, they will waive the fees!

- IndieFlix If you do want to try to generate some cash from your film, this one way to go. They were very easy to work with. They used to provide DVDs to order, but now are only offering streaming downloads. I'm not sure how much traffic they get however. After a year of being listed on their site I've only had 11 streams and about 20 or so DVDs (most bought by me or cast/crew members). My total take has been about $30.00. You decide whether it's worth the effort or not.

For feature-length films, IndieFlix will also act as a distributor to get your film onto Netflix, Amazon and iTunes.

Unfortunately, there still is not one single agreed-upon website for streaming short movies - where the artist can actually get paid. There are a lot of players out there (like IndieFlix) but no one clear winner, which makes it hard for an audience to find the good stuff, and even more difficult for a filmmaker to reach a mass audience. This is something that iTunes could own in a second if they wanted it, but for now, short films are still the ugly stepchild that gets forgotten.

It is because of this that YouTube will probably wind up being the defacto method of short film distribution on the web. It is easy (and free) to create your own channel and upload your films. The potential audience is massive and you can theoretically make some money through Google Adsense. I say theoretical, because unless you have massive hits (like hundreds of thousands) you will only be generating pennies. And of course, they only pay once you've accrued $100. Good luck with that.

Again, they key is somehow generating buzz to point to your YouTube channel. Just tagging some keywords to your film clip is not enough. Work all the angles - festival screenings, blogger reviews, tweeting, creating a facebook page, short film central page, jump up and down and send out semaphore signals - whatever.

Good Luck!

Here are some film festivals that I found to be worth their submission fees. Some I got into - some not. I'll skip the more obvious ones like Sundance 'cuz... well unless you're Brad Pitt making a little home-movie on the side, you're not getting into those festivals anyway!

General Indie Film Festivals:

Austin Film Fest
Bare Bones Film Fest
Cinequest Film Fest
Dam Short Film Fest
Dances With Films
First Glance Film Fest
Hollyshorts
Indie Spirit Film Fest
Love Your Shorts
Maverick Movie Awards
Mill Valley Film Fest
Palm Springs Intl. Film Fest
Slamdance
SXSW
STIFF Seattle True Independent Film Fest
Toronto Indie Film Fest
Tulsa Intl. Film Fest

Horror/Fantasy Film Festivals:

A Night of Horror
Another Hole in the Head
Atlanta Horror Film Fest
Big Bear Horror Film Fest
Bram Stoker Intl. Film Fest
Buffalo Screams
Buried Alive Film Fest
Dark Carnival Film Fest
Dead by Dawn
Dragon*Con Indie Short Film Fest
Famous Monsters of Filmland Imagi-Movies
Fantasia Film Fest
Fantastic Fest
Fear Fete
Freak Show Horror Film Fest
Killer Film Fest
Maelstrom Intl. Fantastic Film Fest
New Orleans Horror Film Fest
New York City Horror Film Fest
Puerto Rico Horror Film Fest
Rhode Island Intl. Horror Film Fest
Sacramento Horror Film Fest
Screamfest
Shriekfest
Sitges
Spooky Movie DC Film Fest
Thriller Chiller
Toronto After Dark

Rhinos' Flight

2011-11-03T12:34:00.000-07:00

When I'm not scaring myself silly with new story ideas or ranting about media wackiness, I actually have a real job (sort of) as video editor.

Outside magazine recently posted a short film "Rhinos' Flight" I edited for the series "The New Environmentalists." Check out the story of Raoul du Toit, working to save the last of Africa's black rhinos. To see the whole six-part series, narrated by Robert Redford, check your local PBS listings.

Halloween treats for all!

2011-10-31T10:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! To celebrate the day when the dead walk amongst the living, I've posted my award-winning horror short film, Enter the Dark on YouTube and Vimeo for all to enjoy absolutely free.

Just make sure to watch it fullscreen. At night. With the lights off!

Then, if you liked what you saw, you could help me out tremendously by heading over to our facebook page and "liking" us (I know, that sounds so 8th grade pathetic and needy). And also bop on over to out IMDB page and give us a great rating (somehow I don't think 6.2 stars quite does the film justice).

...and remember please, please, take out all batteries from children's toys when not in use. They really can be quite a nuisance when taken over by evil spirits. You'll thank be later.

Trust me.

Enter the Dark's FREE Online Halloween Premiere

2011-10-17T17:01:00.000-07:00

It's been a great run.

My little horror film which started out originally as a simple exercise in micro-budget filmmaking has now played in over 30 film festivals worldwide, garnered 6 awards, and introduced me to a whole new family of horror and indie film enthusiasts.

Along the way, I've traveled with the film from it's premiere in Chicago last year, to screenings in Sacramento and San Francisco. I've made connections with fellow filmmakers and fans that I hope to nurture into collaborators and evangelists for my future work.

As I look back on the past year, it has been much more than I would have hoped. I am deeply grateful for all the help I received along the way - mostly from my tremendous group of friends that just happened to be my cast and crew, and also from the numerous horror fans, bloggers and festival directors that championed our cause.

Heartfelt thanks to all!

And now, as the festivals wind down, in recognition of the great year we've just had, I'd like to offer you something for free...

Yes, that's right kiddos, Enter the Dark will be going live on the big bad worldwide web this Halloween!

See what all the fuss has been about. See why folks much smarter than me have been saying things like:

…Enter the Dark, ladies and gentlemen, is what independent film making is all about.
The suspense was built up so finely that it almost started making me have a claustrophobic reaction in my room. HORROR SOCIETY

Miro's story works like a good horror tale should, suckering us in with one hand while it's preparing to pop up and scare us with the other. There's a command here that can't be taught, and Miro shows a natural gift for creating tension. FROM MIDNIGHT, WITH LOVE

…a very surreal, scary and realistic depiction of a universal fear that all of us have…
...a sonic achievement of style and horror, but in a very psychological way. SCARY FILM REVIEW

…Enter the Dark proves once again a good ghost story simply needs to put emphasis on the story and not flashy effects or big budgets in order to provide some fun and scares … delivers everything I look for in a horror short. ALL THINGS HORROR

Halloween - Monday night, Oct. 31, 2011 at 5PM Pacific Time, Enter the Dark will me made available for free for the first time ever on YouTube and Vimeo. And there it shall live - for all to see whenever you dang well please, in the comfort of your very own home. Copy it - send the link around worldwide - make fun of it - argue about it - I don't care, the more the merrier!

So now there's no excuses - you cheappos who won't pony up $1.95 to watch a 30-day stream from IndieFlix. Or you lazy types who couldn't bother to travel to one of the more than 30 festivals worldwide where it has already screened. No, that's fine - just stay right there. Yeah, don't move hardly a muscle - just click your little mousy-thingy and flood your computer with 17 minutes of spooky good times.
Be my guest.

Really.

Did I mention that it will now be FREEEEE!??!?!?

(good - just checking...)

My gift to you.

Enjoy!

Where are the voices of anger?

2011-09-28T12:37:00.000-07:00

We are living in turbulent times my friends. Most of us live under a cloud of uncertainty - an omnipresent gloom that permeates every waking moment. How will I pay my rent? Keep my house? Find a job? What happens if I get sick? What kind of a world will my kids live in? How will our country move forward into these uncertain times without fracturing into a million splinter groups of special interests, each with voices raised in hyperbole and hysteria.

And throughout all this upheaval, what has the medium of cinema had to say about all this?

I'm waiting...

In the 60's and 70's, the turmoil of society was reflected in its cinema.

Movies like Easy Rider, Woodstock, Bonnie & Clyde, The Graduate, Dr Strangelove, Straw Dogs, Taxi Driver, Midnight Cowboy, and Night of the Living Dead represented their times with bold, revolutionary statements, new directions, and a cold hard look at societies' issues.

Vietnam had fractured the country, but starting with MASH in 1970, filmmakers were already attempting to deal with the horrors of war and its effects on our country.

Then came Coppola's brilliant love letter to chaos and darkness, Apocalypse Now, and eventually, more mainstream efforts like The Deer Hunter, Coming Home, Platoon and Born Under the Fourth of July.

In 1976, Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumet seemed to speak for a whole nation with their brilliant satire, Network:

"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!"

In the 80's and 90's a new wave if independent cinema burst in the scene.

Movies like Sex, Lies & Videotape, Do The Right Thing, Slackers, Clerks, Drugstore Cowboy, Stranger Than Paradise all reflected the new attitudes of their era.

In 1999 two films, American Beauty and Fight Club presented very different, but uniquely bold, amazing and heartfelt visions of modern-day existential malaise.

They challenged their viewers to take a closer look at their materialistic priorities.

And then, it all seemed to stop.

Since Sept 11, 2001 this country has gone through multiple ongoing traumas, yet through it all, the filmmakers of today have been incredibly absent from engaging in an intelligent discourse with society that should be helping us all process an unprecedented amount of conflict, upheaval and crisis:

- coping in a post 9/11 world: terrorism; 2 wars waging for a decade; the loss of basic rights under the Patriot Act.

- economic collapse: massive unemployment; foreclosures.

- environmental calamity: global climate change; industrial pollution and devastating oil spills.

- major shifts in the workplace: outsourcing; longer hours; lower wages; increased productivity at the cost of leisure time; 24/7 intrusion of work into our private lives.

- runaway development of advancing technology that outpaces our ability to understand its effects.

- non-stop consumption of images, data and trivial information, with little to no time to actually process any of it.

- a completely dysfunctional government.

- inequal wealth distribution and a vanishing middle class.

- corruption by wall street and corporate interests.

- a major national shift away from being the world's superpower to just another player.

- a nation of repeated violence and tragedy - mass killings - rampage killings, murder/suicides.

- a mass media that fans the flames of ignorance and hatred.

- an oppressive, permeating undercurrent of paranoia that a nightmare apocalypse is just around the corner - 2012, Doomsday, The End of Times.

What have our current filmmakers had to say about these unprecedented turbulent times? Art can be a crucially important vehicle by which society processes confusing, disruptive and complex new ideas and situations.

While there have been many very good documentaries that have addressed some of these complex issues, I believe that narrative films can do even more to help a society work through its traumas, as cinema works at the subconscious level of myth and archetype.

I can honestly think of only a couple narrative movies that have attempted to deal with any of these issues: the academy award winning The Hurt Locker and the excellent Up in the Air.

There may be more, but even with these two fine films, neither was really a rallying cry for a generation - neither became a national speaking point, or a prism by which society could direct and clarify its arguments.

I'm still waiting...

I don't necessarily expect Hollywood to be making these kinds of films. It's just not in their nature (or economic interests) to do so. But where the hell are the indie voices of indignation, frustration and revolution?

Television seems to have done somewhat better in this regard. There have been a number of excellent series that have dealt with many of today's pressing issues.

Shows like Rescue Me, Boardwalk Empire, Treme, The Wire, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, Louie and Generation Kill represent the times we are living in and the turmoil we all face.

yes, I know Boardwalk Empire is set in the 20's - it is clearly an allegory for today's corrupt political system and economic disparity

But Cinema, that great medium of dream and drama, where are you when we need you the most? Please prove me wrong - please present me with challenging, revolutionary ideas and visions that reflect our troubled times. Please shock me with outrageous dramatic representations of war, political corruption, economic upheaval and personal tragedy.

And then please give me stories of hope, compassion and humanities' capacity to do good.

Please tell me it's going to be okay.

So I can sleep at night.

Enter the Dark summer updates

2011-08-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

So, it's been a while since I posted about my little bundle of cinematic chills - or about anything for that matter. Seems like "real life" has been taking most of my time lately. My day job as freelance video editor has finally picked up again and since I've been quite slow the past two years, it's been time to simply bear down and bank some coin.

This is good since it means I can continue to do the little things like pay my mortgage and keep our house. But it's also quite draining so there's been little time for much else.

However, the 2011 Enter the Dark World Tour continues with or without me! It's been doing tremendously, making the rounds and picking up awards along the way. Here's some spots our short film has screened since last we met:

- Seattle True Independent Film Festival
- Fright Night Film Fest - Louisville, KY
- Pittsburgh Horror Film Fest
- Motor City Nightmares - Michigan
- Tumbleweed Film Festival - Washington
- Action On Film International Film Festival - Pasadena

In addition, we will be screening at a number of upcoming festivals:

New York City International Film Festival

Tuesday, Aug 23, 4pm - Abington Theater, NYC

Dragon*Con Independent Short Film Festival

Friday, Sept 2, 10pm - Atlanta, Georgia

Toronto Independent Film Festival

Sept. 8 -17 - Toronto, Ontario

Atlanta Horror Film Festival

Thursday, Sept 15, 10:30pm - Atlanta Georgia

Tulsa International Film Festival

Friday, Sept 23, 11pm - Tulsa, Oklahoma

Fear Fete Horror Film Festival

Saturday, Oct 29 - Baton Rouge, Louisiana

If you're within spittin' distance of any of these events, please come on out and show your support!

We were also fortunate to have won a few awards, so I now have a growing collection of sharp-edged acrylic monoliths and other cool momentos:

Best Horror Short - Indie Spirit Film Festival:

Best Short Thriller - Bare Bones Film Festival:

Best Scare - Famous Monsters of Filmland Imagi-Movies:

Now that's really cool - I got a BANNER for that baby!

Best Paranormal Short - Fear Fete Horror Film Festival:


Now I haven't actually received this lil' shirt-ripping dude yet, but I hope they'll send me one. How sweet is that!

In June we also screened in my neck of the woods at Another Hole in the Head Film Fest at the Roxie in San Francisco. This was especially rewarding as I attended film school at S.F. State, so it felt like a homecoming celebration for film finals. Most of the cast and crew (as well as many friends and family) were able to attend the screenings, and actor Charles Yoakum and I were able to do a Q&A session afterwards. All in all, a tremendous time and one of those moments that makes it all worthwhile.

Outside the Roxie with Alaina Yoakum (Charles' wife) and hey, there's my dad too on the right!

Yep, that's me with Kristin Nelder - Assistant Camera, Gaffer, and all-around great person.

Charles and I gabbin' it up.

As Enter the Dark nears the end of it's festival run, I am starting to gather the inspiration for the next short film. Once I get a little downtime, I'll jump on that baby and hopefully start shooting spring of 2012. Can't talk much about that one yet, but I'll leave you with this little visual nugget to chew on:

Thanks for nothin'!

2011-07-16T21:51:00.000-07:00

Remember those halcyon days when the web was abuzz with the idea that a dedicated writer could wax poetic on their blog and actually get paid for it... The two main sources of income usually presented were Google Adsense and Amazon Associates.

Google Adsense is responsible for some of the ads you see down the right side of my page. Most times they actually have some relevance to my content. In the year and a half since I started yammering away on this blog I've had roughly 450,000 pageviews, which I imagine puts me in the upper-middle of traffic for all blogs. Now, I'm not trying to brag here, it's just that the reality is that the vast majority of folks who start a blog never get viewed by anyone other than their friends or family. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

So those 450,000 pageviews are way more than I ever had expected, and mostly due to one crazy rant on Hollywood color grading.

Go figure.

Anyway, 42 folks have actually clicked on one of those Google-supplied ads (most of them probably just an accidental mis-click).

So what have I been paid so far from Google?

Nothing.

Zip.

Nada.

All those eyeballs, and 42 actual clickthroughs have netted me zero dollars.

Now, that's not to say I will never get paid... Here's the dealio:

Google is keeping $50.78 of my hard-earned money hostage. Here's how they justify that. Once you earn $10 for them, you get the privilege of filling out a form to indicate how you'd like to be paid from them. This sounds very exciting. Most bloggers will never even get to this point. However, when you read the fine print at the bottom, a shocking bit of tom-foolery is revealed.

They will not send you any money until you have earned $100 dollars. Let me state that again. YOU WILL RECEIVE NO PAYMENTS UNTIL YOU HAVE EARNED $100! Now, the vast majority of bloggers will never ever, ever in a thousand years reach this point. And Google knows this. The corporation that prides itself with the motto "Do No Evil" is doing one of the most reprehensibly slimy accountant moves ever. How many millions of "virtual" dollars are sitting in accounts that will never come to fruition? Who knows? Maybe I'll buy some Google stock and demand the answer.

All I know is I'll probably never get to $100, so my $50.78 is currently being held hostage in some weird accountant's wet-dream limbo state.

So, "Is Amazon any better?" you might ask. Well, they used to be. Since I signed up with them, some 18 months ago, they have actually sent me payments totaling $49.23. Now, that's not something I can pay my mortgage with, but at least they paid me!

However, that all ended a couple of weeks ago thanks to my Governor, Jerry Brown. He had the incredible gall to actually ask that Amazon start paying their fair share of sales taxes - you know, like what real businesses have done for like, forever. So how did Amazon respond? Well, like this:

For well over a decade, the Amazon Associates Program has worked with thousands of California residents. Unfortunately, a potential new law that may be signed by Governor Brown compels us to terminate this program for California-based participants. It specifically imposes the collection of taxes from consumers on sales by online retailers - including but not limited to those referred by California-based marketing affiliates like you - even if those retailers have no physical presence in the state.

Now, I figured this was just a threat to get California to back down, you know typical bull$#!t posturing. Except the next day I got this email:

Unfortunately, Governor Brown has signed into law the bill that we emailed you about earlier today. As a result of this, contracts with all California residents participating in the Amazon Associates Program are terminated effective today, June 29, 2011. Those California residents will no longer receive advertising fees for sales referred to Amazon.com, Endless.com, MYHABIT.COM or SmallParts.com. Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned before today will be processed and paid in full in accordance with the regular payment schedule.

Wow - way to go Amazon. You really showed Gov'ner Brown. And you made a total dedicated convert to your anti-sales tax views by one of your hard-working associates.

Not.

Oh well, I guess those starry-eyed dreams of being able to rake in the big bucks on the web have finally been put to rest. Now I can just continue to rant for my own amusement and sanity.

And Google and Amazon...

Oh yeah... Thanks for nothin'!

The Hubris of Apple

2011-07-05T18:18:00.000-07:00

I woke up last week to a brand new world. The business I had grown and nurtured for more than a decade was changed overnight. Steve Jobs decided that I no longer mattered.

I've been editing for most of my life. I started out on a CMX 3600, cutting videos on BetaSP and D2 tape. Actually, strike that... I really started out splicing Super8 film in my bedroom, then moved on to VHS tape to tape assemble editing, then 16mm Steenbecks, then came the CMX 3600. From there I jumped into the futuristic world of "non-linear" computer-based editing. First on Avid, then to a Media 100 and finally to Apple's Final Cut Pro.

I've been cutting primarily on Final Cut for the last decade, which makes it my longest running platform so far. Since I started off editing with film, the concepts of film editing always made the most sense to me - things like having clips in bins and sequences running from left to right, and multiple tracks stacked on each other. These were things first introduced by Avid, and then carried on by every editing program thereafter. My jumps from Avid to Media100 to Final Cut were never really huge ones as all had common elements that they borrowed from each other and that ultimately led back to the days of film editing.

But now, Steve Jobs has decreed that all this shall end. He is determined to drag editors kicking and screaming into the future that he has decided is best for all of us. With the advent of Final Cut Pro X, he has obliterated many of the useful ways that we go about our business of editing. And he could care less how we feel about it.

This actually goes against the very reason that Final Cut was so good to begin with. After I had made the switch to Apple's editing tool around 2000, I kept encouraging others to follow - whether they were familiar with Avid, or Media100 made no difference. The strength of Final Cut to me, was the fact that you could use the tool in many different ways. In other words, if you liked traditional 3-point editing performed in source and record windows like an Avid, Final Cut could do that. Or, if you preferred making edit decisions in the timeline, like a Media100, Final Cut could do that too. If you were a keyboard guy and liked to control the software through keyboard commands - no problem. Prefer to mouse-around and drag things - no problem there either. In fact, for most functions, there were usually two or three ways to do the same thing. Whenever I watched another editor use the software I always learned something new because the toolset was so rich, it seemed almost like an entirely different animal, depending on who was operating it.

Apple's approach was obvious - learn from other successful programs what works well, and instead of dictating one way to do things, offer as many as possible, ultimately allowing the editor to determine how they should work.

But Apple is a very different company today than it was back in 2000. Back then, they were still known as Apple Computer - and they actually cared about their higher-end customer base. The decision for Apple to enter the video editing market themselves made perfect sense. Most editing platforms ran not only on Macs, but on suped-up high-end Mac systems with two monitors, fast drives and lots of RAM. They needed the fastest processors and the biggest chassis to handle additional PCI cards to run everything. This high-end market was always on the bleeding edge of technology, constantly upgrading, always searching for faster, bigger better. Not only that, but it was a very prestigious, and sexy market - one that could drive customers to see Apple as a player in all things media-related.

So, it made perfect sense for Apple to want to play in this market not just on the hardware side, but on the software side, and use Final Cut to continue to drive hardware revenue. They did very well in this market - expanding into DVD production, sound editing, motion graphics, color correction and bundling it all into a new product called Final Cut Studio. They were kicking Avid's ass and climbing up the ladder of credibility - eventually edging into the ultimate territory of Avid's domain - motion picture editing. It seemed they were about to own the whole market... and then a funny thing happened.

They no longer wanted it. Just when it seemed Avid was dead, Apple took their foot off the pedal. They let up. They stopped upgrading their software. They started doing random things like buying up Shake (a market leading software compositing tool used by folks like ILM), releasing one version and then abandoning it completely. They stopped attending NAB (the National Association of Broadcasters convention) and then even stranger, stopped attending MacWorld. They changed their name to just Apple. No Computer. A change was coming.

To put it simply, Apple is no longer a computer company. They are a mobile device company. They are a media-absorption company. They sell iPads, and iPhones and Apps, and Clouds and IOs. They barely continue to upgrade their desktop Macs (the workhorse of video-editing). The strategy of pandering to the technological vanguard of content creators no longer fits with their business model. They don't want to sell high-end $1000 software to drive hardware sales, they want to sell a million downloads of a $2.99 app.

I get all this - I really do. It makes perfect sense. They no longer need me.

But did Steve really have to completely thumb his nose at the business I've built over the last ten years, using his software and his computers?

How am I supposed to tell my clients that, "I'm sorry, I can't open up that project we did last year - Final Cut Pro X can't read it." Or, "No, I can't send an OMF file to the audio post house to work on your sound mix, Final Cut Pro X can't do that." Or, "Gee, I'd love to be able to read in that list you generated from your rough-cut edit you did on your Avid, but Final Cut Pro X can no longer import an EDL."

Now look - I understand that it's really just version 1 of a brand new piece of software. And I know that they'll work out some of the bugs, and add back some of the functionality. And I know that 3rd party developers are already scrambling to full in the holes where Apple no longer cares.

But let's really call it what it is - iMovie X. A glitzy, cool new piece of software to edit fun videos for web and social media. It is in no way a professional tool that I can use with my existing clients, and not something I can use to edit feature films, or broadcast documentaries.

So, like a scorned lover, I must wait. Wait and see if Steve ever decides to play with me again - to bless me with the pure light of his affections.

I'll give it a year. I'll continue to run Final Cut Pro 7.0.3 on my existing system. Continue to bill my clients on an edit suite that fulfills their needs and mine. I'll check out and download Adobe and Avid's latest products and figure out which will better suite my needs. Maybe, just maybe, Steve will come to his senses and like the New Coke fiasco, or the Apple Cube, this will all just be a blip in product development stupidity history, and some day soon, shiny new Final Cut Pro 8 will be made available.

If not, I'll soldier along just fine. In the end, the toolset is never what matters most. It's always been and will always be about telling a story in an effective and compelling way.

But damn Steve - did you really need to be such a dick about it?

Everything is Possible but Nothing is Real

2011-06-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

So I was in Vegas recently, and while I was there I was stopped not once, but twice by strangers who wanted to comment on the shirt I was wearing. I happened to be sporting my Black Country Communion t-shirt.

Who are Black Country Communion you say?

Shame... Shame on you for not knowing. Well, actually it's not that surprising.

Black Country Communion are a super-group of sorts, fronted by Joe Bonamassa, who just happens to be the best blues-rock guitarist on the planet. It also includes industry stalwarts Jason Bonham (yes, son of the GREAT John Bonham, Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple, Black Sabbath), and Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater). Not that you should actually care or anything, but they happen to be making the best true rock sounds since Bad Company and Led Zeppelin.

But that's not the point.

The point is that while talking with one of the folks who felt the need to comment on my shirt (a drummer who supposedly knew Joe B. when he was just a wee lad), he made the comment, "Man, it's too bad he can't make it in the music scene today..." I said, "What do you mean - he HAS made it."

The rules of success in the music industry have just radically changed from where they were twenty years ago or so.

Joe Bonamassa has a loyal following who buy all his records. He tours all over the world. He even got to play with Eric Clapton at the Royal Albert Hall. That's success in today's music biz. Is he a household name? No, but he's not a 15-year old pop star kid either. The music biz is now even more divided between the 5 or 6 mega stars who are heavily marketed (Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, Justin Bieber, etc.), and everyone else. It used to be you made money off sales of your CDs, but that's long gone. Now the CD (er... digital download I mean) is a loss-leader just to get people excited about your live shows. Cashflow is based mostly on ticket sales and merchandising revenue.

The time when an artist could make a living off the intellectual property of their art may be coming to an end. And it's all your fault.

Yep, it's your dang fault for having an insatiable need to consume music and movies and not want to pay anything for them. Once something can be digitized and transmitted as zeroes and ones on the net, it inevitably spirals down to a value of zero. Folks just don't wanna pay if they don't have to.

And this is the sad future for filmmakers as well.

Thanks to Netflix, the assumption is that at any time I can click on a box and instantly watch great entertainment in the comfort of my home. For free. Or nearly free. As a consumer, this is amazing. As a film buff I can now watch all sorts of titles I never would have been exposed to before. I know so many more directors and their visions. But are those filmmakers, really being compensated for all this?

Not really.

The indie film I edited and co-produced, The Commune, was offered a deal by Netflix for their Watch Instantly streaming service. Do you know what they offered us?

$7500.

And that was before the distributor took their 30% cut.

So, let's see, our meager budget was under $100,000. Hardly anyone got paid. And now, Netflix wants to own it and allow anyone in the world to watch it for free in the comfort of their own home. And for all that, we'll be compensated around $5000.

Now I'm not knocking 5 grand. Hey, that's better than nothing. Many filmmakers would love to be offered a Netflix deal.

But, do the math. It's not rocket science. There is no sustainable business model there.

Now, musicians have a way to get around this dilemma. They no longer expect to make money off their art. They can make money off their live performances. And so now they are always on the road - like a hamster on a treadmill - keeping the machine running.

Live to rock and rock to live!

But filmmakers don't have this revenue stream. We don't get paid for live performances. Our films are our live performances. Unless you're Kevin Smith, no one really gives a s#!+ about hearing or seeing the director - they just wanna see the movie.

So how will the indie filmmaker survive in this climate?

I don't know. I really can't see it.

The only business model I can see working is to crowd-source the funding of your film. Spread the risk. Let your true fans feel like they are part of the process. Set up a kickstarter campaign and raise just enough money to hopefully cover costs. Maybe pad it a little so you can actually pay your rent while making the film. Then at least any scraps of revenue that are generated will be profit.

Do not go into debt and take out a mortgage on your home to make your next indie feature film kiddos. It ain't worth it.

Welcome to the future. Everything is possible but nothing is real.*

*(Living Colour - Type)

Another Hole in the Head

2011-06-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

... you know, like, "San Francisco needs another film festival like it needs another hole in the head."
Except in this case, San Francisco really needs this festival, because this is the only bay area film fest that celebrates horror, sci-fi, exploitation and general wackiness.

And y'all are invited to attend two weeks of mayhem from June 3 to June 16 at the Roxie Theater in the happening Mission District, S.F.

Highlights include:

- Helldriver, by Yoshihiro Nishimura (opening night)
- The Victim, Directed by and Starring Michael Biehn (who will be at the screening!)
- Absentia, by Mike Flanagan
- Red Ice, by Ralph Hyver (San Francisco Filmmaker)
- The Bleeding House, by Philip Gelatt
- Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, by Jalmari Helander
- Apocrypha, by Michael Fredianelli (Bay Area Filmmaker)
- I am Nancy (cool doc about actress Heather Langenkamp, "Nancy" from Nightmare on Elm Street)

AND...

Enter the Dark! by yours truly, which will screen twice:

Thursday, June 3 at 5:20 pm (We actually open up the festival, supporting the feature film, Haunted Changi!)

Friday, June 9 at 7:20 pm

I will be attending both screenings, along with some of my cast and crew, so if you're in the Bay Area and want to catch some cool films, drop on by.

Tickets can be purchased here:

Exclusive Interview with Chauntal Lewis, Star of Toolbox Murders 2

2011-05-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

You probably haven't heard of Chauntal Lewis yet. Hopefully, that will soon change. I was lucky enough to work with her on the indie film, The Commune. She recently took some time off her busy schedule to do this interview with me for Horror Society. Take a sec to read about her inspirational story:

The Next One...

2011-04-29T12:20:00.000-07:00

I've been so fortunate with the success that Enter the Dark has had so far: screenings around the world, great reviews and multiple awards. More importantly, people really seem to respond to it and have encouraged me to keep going. And therein lies the problem. That dreaded sophomore slump. It's time to start writing the next one.

With Enter the Dark, my main goal was simply to finally finish something. I've been very good at coming up with ideas in my lifetime, and horrible at actually finishing any one of them. I purposely made this goal embarrassingly easy to accomplish - shooting it in my own house, with my friends, with gear we already owned. No excuses. If I couldn't complete a short film under those circumstances, I never would and I should just accept that fact. Fortunately with the great help of my friends, we did indeed steam forward and not only finished the project, but made a pretty darn good one as well.

But now, things are different. This time, there can be no excuses - no conditions. It's not enough to say, "Hey, isn't this pretty good considering we did this with no money and it was just me and my buddies?" No, this time it has to stand on its own. This short film has to be good enough that it could be shown to anyone and they would assume it was a Hollywood-produced film. The story, acting, camerawork, lighting, art direction, sound design and everything else all have to be top-notch. It has to be seamless - no excuses.

And why is that - you may ask. Well, it's simple - this has to be my calling card. There's no more goofing around. If I'm to ever make it in this industry - to actually fulfill my little ol' BA in Cinema from S.F. State University, then the time is now. This project has to be good enough for someone to look at and say, "Wow, this guy's good - let's give him a couple million and see what he can do with an actual budget. Let's give him a feature film to direct."

There, I said it - that's what I ultimately want to do.

So, you tell me, how can anyone actually produce good art under those pressures? You see, I have to play a game with myself - to forget what my goals are and just concentrate on the task at hand - writing a great story. But it has to be a story that not only speaks to me, but that enables me to showcase my talents as a writer/director. It has to be small enough so it is do-able (considering I still will have almost no budget), but big enough to explore inventive ideas.

In short, I need to produce a tiny, perfect gem of a story that will be the seed to my future. No pressure there…

UGH!!!

I'm stuffing myself with movies, pouring over M.C. Escher prints and reading Borges' Labyrinths to hopefully have all this wash over me so that some of its brilliance may somehow seep into my pores. But I know I need to find my own true voice - I cannot allow myself to try to write to please others. Only by making the story personal will it connect with others on a deeper level. The things that work in Enter the Dark work because they feel authentic. I must focus on that.

The good news is I think I've found the story - the architecture around which I may be able to create my film. I still need to flesh out the details, breathe life into the characters, find the heart - but I think I've found the vessel. Now, if I can just make the damned thing float!

Insidious - An Empty Shell of a Movie

2011-04-21T17:35:00.000-07:00

I was worried.

You see - with all the buzz surrounding the new film by James Wan (Saw), I thought maybe someone had made the new classic haunted house/demonic possession movie before I could.

Turns out I needn't have worried.

Insidious is an empty shell of a movie, adrift in a nether nether land, with other nasty, scary movies forcing their way into it's lifeless corpse. Hey... that also happens to be the film's premise - what a coincidence!

It has its moments of great jump-scares, but never really develops the undercurrent of dread necessary to make a movie like this really get under your skin.

And why is that?

Well, it's simple. It seems like James Wan has made a scary movie about other scary movies - kinda like Scream, but without all the fun. Starting with the blood red embossed lettering of the title (a la Suspiria), Insidious follows the predictable path of The Exorcist, Poltergeist, The Entity (nice casting of Barbara Hershey by the way) and eventually all the way to Carnival of Souls (stumbling white-faced ghoulies anyone?) and back to Suspiria (bright red lighting) once again.

Wan even throws in a sketch of his Saw puppet on the blackboard behind one of the characters just in case we're not getting the hint- THIS IS A MOVIE ABOUT MOVIES!

Now, the whole thing actually almost works because he's borrowing from some really great films, so moments of the film hold your attention, draw you in and elicit some real nice scares, but you find yourself counting the references (a drinking game for sure) more than actually caring about any of the characters.

I did however, like his attempt to stay away from digital effects and go with mostly old-school costume, makeup and lighting, but while this works fine in the buildup phase of the movie it kinda left me wanting more when we enter the third act and we're supposed to accept the fact that this amazing, limitless astral-projecting reality we're entering is just a dark old house with red lights and a dude who look like Tim Curry.

I'm starting to understand why certain horror movies work for me and some don't. This quote from William Friedkin sums it up nicely:

“The only way I could have made ‘The Exorcist’ the way I did, is if I believed it. If you look at the film, it’s a film made by people who believe this – we’re not kidding. The guy who wrote it and the guy who directed it, accept demonic possession and exorcism as a possibility.”

This is exactly why Insidious only works on a superficial level. These dudes don't believe any of it, and they never expect the audience will either. Everything is done with a wink and a nod. The only things that ever terrified James Wan as a kid were obviously other horror movies. If you were ever a kid with night terrors, you would never present them like they are in this film - trust me, I should know.

Real horror comes from tapping those deep lurking fears within us and expressing them for others to see. Not because it seems like a fun thing to do, or to make the next hit movie, but because you have to.

Because you are compelled.

Wait for my next movie... then you'll see what I'm talking about.

New Horror Society Review - Kill Devil Hill

2011-04-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

A nasty little satanic horror short to check out:

What is a Horror Movie?

2011-04-05T11:18:00.000-07:00

Ok kiddos, hate to go on a rant here, but let me make this perfectly clear...

BLACK SWAN IS NOT A HORROR MOVIE!!!!

(phew... glad to finally get that off my chest)

It is psychological thriller that examines a young woman's descent into madness.

Is it scary? Yes.
Is it disturbing? Yes
Is it a horror movie? No.

Just because a film is scary, suspenseful, disturbing, even terrifying, that does NOT make it a horror movie.

Let me tell you a little secret... Are you ready? Ok, here goes...

Jaws is not a horror movie either. (uh oh, I can hear the masses grumbling)
Neither is Psycho. (ducks head, awaiting flying cookingware)
Silence of the Lambs? ...forget about it - it's a straight up thriller (hey, put that pitchfork down willya? lemme explain!)

Stop looking at me like that, Lecter, lemme explain

I tend to be protective of the term "horror". To me, it represents a very specific type of movie, and in this age of inclusiveness, I feel people have tagged many films as "horror" in order to justify the genre. They want to say, "Hey look! Look at all the "horror" films that have won Oscars! We're legit! We're not the grade-B low-budget degenerate shlockfest that people think we are. Please like us..."

Well EFF THAT! Horror does not need justification or legitimacy. It's just fine as it is, thank you very much - in all its bloody, subversive, thought-provoking glory.

Therefore, I think a little clarification is in order. A comprehensive definition of what a horror film is, so these constant mis-classifications can stop. If a term like "horror film" is used incorrectly, eventually it loses its meaning and has no value anymore.

Once we have a solid definition we can use that as a filter to pass a bunch of movies through it and see how it stands up under scrutiny.

I'll take the first stab - here's my definition. A horror movie has to have the following elements:

- it has to have an element of the supernatural (witches, ghosts, demons, alternate realities, etc)
or
- it has to have a monster (some creature that does not actually exist)
AND
- its primary aim has to be to elicit fear, horror, disgust or suspense.

This means that many of the most famous movies that you see on those best horror films lists, ARE NOT EVEN HORROR FILMS!

Ok, let's go back to the films already mentioned and pass them through my filter.

-Black Swan has nothing to do with the supernatural and has no monsters. It teases the audience with weird things going on - dopplegangers and a young woman sprouting feathers, etc. - but it is evident from the beginning of the movie that the lead character (whose point of view the film is seen) is by every piece of evidence, BATSHIT CRAZY! Let's see,we got bulemia, cutting, boundry issues with ma, a little OCD perhaps, some good ol' sexual repression and a huge whopping dose of psychosis and schizophrenia.

Sorry Bruce, you're outta here!

- Jaws is a tremendous example of an action thriller and created the summer blockbuster, but I hate to break the news to you, GREAT WHITE SHARKS ACTUALLY EXIST. And they actually kill people.

- Psycho, Silence of The Lambs and yes... even Texas Chainsaw Massacre are all based ON A REAL-LIFE PSYCHOTIC PERSON NAMED ED GEIN. These are all incredibly great, monumentally important films, but none of them are true horror films, my friends.

I think people want to classify these films as horror in order to make themselves feel safer - "Oh, those chainsaw wielding, lunatic cannibals are just monsters! Thank goodness they don't exist in real life." Well I've got news for you folks, human beings are capable of unimaginable acts of cruelty and depravity. Just ask the Jews or the Chinese what they went through during WWII. This stuff actually happens. This is no boogeyman tale to keep kids in line. Ed Gein actually existed, created a lamp shade out of a face, wore a woman's "suit" from real flesh. And he's not the only one.

Look, when I worked at a bookstore back in the 90's, I knew all about Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon. I loved those books and recommended them to customers constantly. You wanna know under what section they were kept? Take a guess...

In the MYSTERY section, with all the other detective stories about murderers and child molesters and serial killers. Wanna know why? Because THEY AREN'T HORROR BOOKS! And neither was American Psycho for that matter - that was in the general fiction section.

Its all your fault!

Psycho started this whole line of suspense/thriller movies that eventually morphed into slasher films and then into... well, I'll discuss that a little later. Here's some more of these films that aren't horror movies:

- Last House on the Left - a disturbing thriller based on an Ingmar Bergman classic, The Virgin Spring. You wouldn't call The Virgin Spring a horror film, would you?

- Friday the 13th - a classic slasher film. This movie and all the carbon copy slashers that came after it almost killed true horror films with their lack of imagination, cliched stories and endless teenage body counts.

- Seven - a psychological thriller/detective film. One of my favorite movies of all-time.

- Scream - a self-referential slasher/thriller. Two kids, Billy and Stu are the killer. Nothing supernatural here folks.

And then we have the subgenre of torture porn films that started with Saw and Hostel and all their nasty offspring. NONE OF THESE ARE HORROR MOVIES EITHER! They are the bastard spawn of slasher movies. They are at best, clever psychological thrillers, and at worst, cynical, dehumanizing snuff wannabies.

Now let's take a look at some actual horror movies so we can get a clear sense of what I'm talking about:

Blair Witch Project - supernatural
Poltergeist - supernatural
Halloween - although set up like a slasher film, Halloween in my eyes blurs the line with supernatural with Michael Myers being described as "Pure evil" - he is clearly more than human.
The Entity - supernatural
Evil Dead II - supernatural/comedy, still horror in my eyes
Drag me to Hell - supernatural/comedy, still horror in my eyes
The Shining - supernatural
In the Mouth of Madness - supernatural
The Exorcist - supernatural
The Last Exorcism - supernatural
Paranormal Activity - supernatural
Hellraiser - supernatural
The Ring - supernatural
Devil's Backbone - supernatural but Pan's Labyrinth is not, it is more Fantasy/Magical Realism

Night of the Living Dead - monsters
28 Days Later - monsters
Splice - sci-fi/monster
Descent - monsters
Pumpkinhead - supernatural/monster
Sixth Sense - supernatural
Signs - sci-fi/alien monsters
Nightmare on Elm Street - monster/supernatural
Rosemary's Baby - supernatural
Angel Heart - supernatural noir/horror
Suspiria - supernatural (but Deep Red, and Argento's other Giallo films are not)
Jacob's Ladder - borderline, but ultimately, supernatural
Shivers - monsters (but Dead Ringers, NO - psychological thriller - What the heck is Videodrome ??)
The Thing - alien monster
Alien - alien monster

Aliens - well, now look what James Cameron did to one of my favorite movies ofall time. He took a classic horror movie and turned it into an action/sci-fi/combat movie. It's really not a horror movie at all. He took all the mystery and menace out of the original Alien Monster and instead gave us a bunch of scurrying cockroaches to be exterminated. Gee, thanks Cameron.

10:30... time for my union coffee break...

Aliens fails the test, because to me it fails the second level of screening:
- its primary aim has to be to elicit fear, horror, disgust or suspense.

One could make the argument that Aliens has monsters in it and its primary aim is to elicit horror or at least suspense, so therefore it is a horror movie. And I agree that this is a borderline case, but for me, the setup of Aliens is a pure action/combat film. This could easily have been set in the tunnels of Iwo Jima. The emotions Cameron seems interested in are not horror, terror, or even suspense, but to elicit the catharsis of defeating an enemy.

Predator and Predators - same as Aliens

Let's take a look at some more movies that don't make the cut because although they may have monsters, or elements of the supernatural, the tone of the film is all wrong:

Ghostbusters - action/comedy

Shawn of the Dead - another great film, but this one to me is a comedy - a parody of zombie movies.

Gremlins -fantasy/comedy

Jurassic Park - scifi/action - borderline. It feels a lot like Jaws (thanks to Spielberg) and it definitely is set up to elicit suspense and terror, and dinosaurs no longer exist... But not quite.

Altered States - Scifi/action with horror elements

Lord of the Rings - fantasy/drama/action with horror elements

Cloverfield - disaster/giant monster movie

Grab your camera quick! There's a really stupid-looking monster coming!

Many giant monster movies are really simply disaster or armageddon films with monsters as stand-ins for earthquakes or hurricanes or meteors. So, Cloverfield, while it does have a monster in it, is actually closer to The Towering Inferno in its tone, than it is to Frankenstein. Same as all the Godzilla movies (except perhaps, for the original) and these others:

Independence Day - disaster/scifi/action film

War of the Worlds - disaster/scifi/action film

Monsters - drama/disaster/giant monster movie Yeah, the title of the film is called "Monsters", and there are actual alien giant-squid monsters in it, but the movie really isn't interested in them. It's kinda like Before Sunrise with occasional tentacles here and there.

And then, we have the movies that are right on the border:

American Werewolf in London - monster/action/comedy Is it a comedy with horror elements? Or a horror film with comedic touches? I'd say this is a horror movie first, with comedic touches, it gets in.

Let the Right One in - supernatural/drama, but is its primary aim to elicit horror or suspense? I love the movie, but its borderline. Ah heck... let it in!

Eraserhead - experimental/horror All of Lynch's movies are hard to classify. Although it really never sets up suspense or terror, it is disturbing as hell and the "baby" is monstrous enough for me, so bring it on!

Cabin Fever - no supernatural, but you could argue that the virulent plague is a "monster". Its tone however is straight horror - going for gore, and terror, so it gets in too.

The Human Centipede - Wow, this one's tough. It's got your classic psycho-doc element straight out of a thriller, but it plays like a modern-day Frankenstein. There's nothing supernatural, but does the completed human centipede represent a "monster" per se? I'd say no, this movie belongs in the slasher/torture porn genre - Get it outta here!

Now, out of all the movies I eliminated, there is really one one that falls through the cracks that I'd like to have back. I'm fine with Jaws not being a horror film, fine with Psycho and Silence of the Lambs and Black Swan being left out too.

Welcome back, Leatherface -we missed ya big buddy!

But for me, I want Texas Chainsaw Massacre back! I'm giving it a special pardon, because although technically everything in it has happened, or could happen, it is just so damned shockingly EXTREME and beautifully horrific that I cannot keep it out. Welcome back Chainsaw - you are an honorary HORROR MOVIE!!

Now it's your turn. Prove me wrong. Explain why Black Swan is a horror movie - or not. Create a specific definition of what a horror movie is and pass a bunch of movies through it. See what is included and what is left out. Does it still have merit?

As with all things, the interesting discussions will arise at the edges. Is Gremlins a horror film? What about Shawn of the Dead? Altered States? Videodrome? Eraserhead?

Bring in on!

Watch Enter the Dark for FREE

2011-03-30T15:27:00.000-07:00

Watch Enter the Dark for FREE and help us win a spot at the FirstGlance Film Festival!

Friends, family, fans and horror freaks - now is your opportunity to watch our award-winning horror short, Enter the Dark for free in the comfort of your own home. But be sure to hurry, this event only lasts until May 13th.

Simply bounce on over to the FirstGlance Online Competition website - http://fgff.openfilm.com , click "Join" and enter your info to create an account.

Then click on the picture for Enter the Dark, press play, click the full-screen icon, settle down and get ready for spooky fun.

Oh, and please, be sure to watch it at night… alone… with the lights out… for full effect!

But wait… there's more! We would really appreciate it if you would take a moment to vote for our movie and help us win prizes and a spot at the FirstGlance Film Fest in Philly (try saying that three times fast!) Once you've watched the film to the end you will have an opportunity to vote (look for the stars above the film - wow, wouldn't FIVE RED STARS look really cool?!?! I'm not trying to influence your vote or anything… just sayin')

Now, in order for your vote to actually count, the official rules state that you must watch THREE films in their entirety and vote on them (I guess they don't want anybody stuffing the vote or somethin'), so browse through the list of other equally entertaining nominees and pick out two others to watch and vote for.

That's it - you're done! You've watched some really cool short indie films AND you've helped us tremendously!

If you don't have the time to watch three short films and just want to check out Enter the Dark, that's totally fine as well. Thanks so much for your interest, and I hope you enjoy it.

The Feed Review

2011-03-28T12:57:00.000-07:00

Check out my review of the indie horror movie, The Feed at Horror Society:

Enter the Dark - World Tour 2011

2011-03-15T10:54:00.000-07:00

Big money baby - Big Money!!

Who says filmmaking doesn't pay off? My first official check for Enter the Dark from DVD and streaming sales at IndieFlix is a whopper! $21 big bucks! Looks like I can now pay off that line item for Oreos eaten during production of my little horror flick.

... In all seriousness, any money, no matter how small, generated from this film represents a huge success! And it's not about the money anyway - for now it's all about going through the filmmaking process, learning from it, getting my name out there and getting the film in front of as many folks as possible.

Speaking of which...

April through May will see ETD screened in theaters worldwide! I kid you not!

From Los Angeles to Scotland, to Australia the world will be abuzz with horrified viewers passing out in their seats, barely able to catch their breath from the terrifying menace that is ENTER THE DARK!!!
(well, actually just a few theaters worldwide... six to be exact... but it sounds much more impressive to say it the other way... and folks probably won't be passing out... unless they get low blood sugar from not picking up a snack before watching hours upon hours of indie films... or if they get up too fast from their seats after sitting too long for a while... that can do it to me sometimes, ya know... well, not actually passing out, but kinda light-headed and seeing a couple of stars pass by... that's gotta count for something, right?)

Anyway, here's the official-sounding dealio for Enter the Dark's 2011 World Tour:

Enter the Dark is excited to be an Official Selection of the following film festivals:

- A Night of Horror International Film Festival - Sydney Australia
Saturday, April 2, 4pm

- Famous Monsters of Filmland Imagi-Movies - Beverly Hills, CA
April 8 - 10

- Indie Spirit Film Festival - Colorado Springs, CO
April 14 -17

- Bare Bones Film Festival - Muskogee, OK
April 25 - May 1

- Dead by Dawn - Edinburgh, Scotland
May 5 - 8

- High Desert Shorts International Film Festival - Pahrump, NV
Friday, May 27, 11:15pm

Phew, now that's a whirlwind tour! I'd love to be able to attend all of these festivals, but alas, such is not the way for the lowly indie filmmaker. I'm planning on going to the High Desert Shorts (tie it in with a trip to Vegas), and seeing if I can make it to Famous Monsters in LA.

So far, 2011 has blazed to action with a blistering start and I still have many festivals to hear from. While it may seem excessive to enter into some 60 or more film fests, I find it money well-spent as it is really the only way for and indie filmmaker to have their work screened in theaters... or community centers... or casino ballrooms. It really makes no difference to me as long as the lights are out, butts are planted in seats and all the hard work of my cast and crew is projected on a screen. The ability to have people see our vision is priceless (well, actually on average, it's about $35/ per festival submission, plus burning the DVDs, shipping, making the postcards, etc.), but still, the marketing payoff is huge.

And speaking of marketing payoffs...

A number of months ago, I received the exciting news that I had won an award from the Maverick Movie Awards for Best Sound Design/Editing. I had also been nominated for Best Director and Best Special Effects. Now this was totally unexpected and very very cool news, but when I let people know, their response was tepid at best.

Now, let's face it, no one really knows what the Maverick Movie Awards are. I hadn't even heard of them myself, until I had submitted my film for their perusal. So, it's not like I had won an Oscar or anything, but still, any recognition is greatly appreciated.

Anyway, as with a lot of these award contests, the winners had an option of buying an actual award trophy or plaque for an additional cost. Now, my usual reaction to this had been "Eff that! This is all just a scam to make money off of inflated costs for stupid plastic keepsakes", so I wasn't really considering it. But then, these guys seemed like legit folks, and they weren't really pushing the trophies - just offering it as an option since so may people had asked. "Oh, what the hell", I thought, "I need something sparkly for my office and I can write it off as a marketing expense anyway."

So I pulled the trigger and bought the dang thing:


The mighty acrylic monolith next to a DVD copy of Enter the Dark (still only $5.95 from IndieFlix)

And do you know what I discovered? People are way more impressed with an etched piece of Acrylic-Crystal than I had imagined. Suddenly, this makes one seem legit. I am now an "award winning filmmaker" and I have the dang hardware to prove it. So there.

Lesson learned. Saying you have won an award is one thing. Having something people can actually see, hold in their hands and reflect upon is another. And while my natural inclination is not to toot my own horn, so to speak, I'm learning that shameless self-promotion is a necessary evil of this whole game of filmmaking.

Just a few months ago, my 8-year old was shoving his cheap, tacky plastic soccer trophies in my face, "Hey dad, how come you don't have any trophies? And why do you keep making movies that don't make any money?" Now I can blast him back, "Hah!!! Look at me now buddy! Feast upon the bounty that is my $21 check!! And bow down in worship to the mystical glory of my gold-tinted acrylic-crystal glittering monolithic behemoth!!"

Yeah... lesson learned...

FantAsian: Fantasy Films by Asian Women Invade March 6th BleedFest!

2011-03-05T09:22:00.000-08:00

My good friend and blazingly smart filmmaker Elizabeth Fies has been working her tail off to promote amazing work written, produced and directed by women. With the tireless help of her sister Brenda, they have created the Bleedfest film festival to showcase badass genre work that would otherwise go unnoticed. If you're in the L.A. area, be sure to check it out!

Los Angeles, California-- March 4, 2011 --

Monthly badass genre film festival BleedFest continues its quest for gender equality in movies and moviemaking with its March 2011 charity and screening event. The theme of BleedFest's March 6th event is FantAsian: Fantasy and musicals by female Asian filmmakers.

Deepika Daggubati will be present for a Q &A after her fantasy musical feature WAKING DREAMS, as will Anna Biller for a retrospective of her subversive retro shorts including THREE EXAMPLES OF MYSELF AS QUEEN. Carly Lyn will receive her Inanna Award statue for A FOUNDLING, and Nora Jesse will receive the Best Producer certificate award for her satirical short GRANDPA. Susan Bell will accept the Partnership certificate award for FIELDS OF MUDAN. Special appearances on our red carpet include rapper Lil Zane, writer/director Steve De Jarnatt (MIRACLE MILE, CHERRY 2000), The Garza Sisters (TRANSYLMANIA, The Doublemint Twins), featured alumnae and actors: Sulekha Naidu, Deepika Daggubati, Anna Biller, Jared Sanford, Carly Lyn, Susan Bell, Cindy Baer, Tara Cardinal, and Nora Jesse. The volunteer bartender for the event will be comedian Candice Rankin, who will perform part of her routine at the May 1st BleedFest Event. Schedule subject to change, personal appearances dependent on schedule.

Featured guests and audience members are invited to have their photos taken on the BleedFest red carpet between 11-11:30am and 1-1:30pm. There will be two event photographers, including stalwart Winston Burris, whose past BleedFest photos have been featured on the front page of PR Photos.com and Exposay.com. Online magazine Bzzzline.com will be back again to cover the red carpet and video interview filmmakers and actors about their projects.

BleedFest's charity events for the month of March are a book drive for BRIDGE TO ASIA (READ THIS LIST on their website and bring an approved educational or text book). Or you can donate cash to THE ASIA FOUNDATION-WOMENS EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM and get into BleedFest for half off (five dollars).

Sunday marks the fifth BleedFest event, which has taken critics and the genre world by storm showcasing over a dozen unexpected and bold genre shorts and features by women every month. Festival co-founders and masterminds Brenda Fies and Elisabeth Fies say May 2011 could be the last event unless a title sponsor can be found. Says filmmaker and programmer Brenda Fies, "My sister and I started BleedFest because of all the incredible female artists we met on the festival circuit who weren't getting their movies played as much as the boys, and weren't getting studio deals and funding for their next picture. Before meeting these women and seeing their work, we bought the party line that they didn't exist or weren't making movies as good as men's. We started BleedFest to dispel these myths and get eyeballs on fantastic films that we knew the genre community didn't want to miss. Sadly, the financial burden of putting on a monthly festival that charges no entry fees, gives bronze award statues to winners, and an open bar to its audience has taken a financial toll on the Fies Sisters in this recession. "I wish we could continue shouldering the fiscal responsibility and asking the community for monthly donations through our IndieGoGo fundraisers, but it's just not feasible that we continue on past May working full time on BleedFest without a title sponsor. It's been my sister's and my privilege to fund BleedFest with the help of the generous donations from audience members, filmmakers, our wonderful volunteers, and especially co-sponsors Film Radar and Werewolf For Hire.com. We sincerely hope the genre communities can provide help finding a title sponsor. Because no woman should have their awesome film sitting in their closet because they don't know what to do with it next." Several BleedFest alumna have received theatrical and DVD distribution offers as a result of their BleedFest screenings. A dozen have received more festival screenings at Miguel Rodriguez's Horrible Imaginings, Mike Snoonian's All Things Horror, or Jennifer Cooper's Jennifer's Bodies in Scotland. Many alumni attest to the Fies Sisters' PR savvy and BleedFest's dozen Press Partners who cover the event monthly, review the films, and even interview alumnae. Says Partnership Award winner Dave Reda "My movies have played in many festivals. BleedFest is brand new and got me as many reviews as top tier festival" (BleedFest December 2010 WINNER for THE HORROR OF OUR LOVE). Carly Lyn, writer/director of A FOUNDLING (BleedFest January 2011 WINNER Best Picture) states "I received more press coverage from BleedFest than from paying a Hollywood publicist $7,500. The exposure the Fies Sisters provide for filmmakers is invaluable."

Elisabeth Fies stresses the fight isn't over yet, and the Fies Sisters are still aggressively pursuing companies. "Our dream is to be hosting the Tampax BleedFest Film Festival, or the Belvedere Vodka BleedFest Film Festival. Corporations are so hip nowadays, why wouldn't they want to follow the Dove route of marketing directly to their female patrons with empowering content? But for now, we're relying on the generosity of our amazing fans through our IndieGoGo campaign, which offers some really fun perks including t-shirts and autographed posters." April's campaign will be up soon will be available at BleedFest.com next week. The March BleedFest fundraiser at IndieGoGo is located here: http://www.indiegogo.com/FantAsian-BleedFest-a-March-Blend-of-Fantasy-by-Female-Asian-Directors

The February BleedFest WiHM Blood Drive was a smashing success, raising 25 pints of blood for the Twisted Twins Massive February Blood Drive. Many celebrities walked the red carpet or snuck in to the blood mobiles to quietly give blood without fanfare. Special appearances included Michael Worth, Diana Hart, Devanny Pinn, Lori Bowen, Lil Zane, Kevin Tenney, Michelle Tomlinson, Viscera Film Festival founder Heidi Martinuzzi, model Olga Socal, musician Shawn Bowen, and first ladies of horror Brinke Stevens and Linnea Quigley. BleedFest Inanna Award winners included horror mistresses Katt Shea and Stacy Title, and Aussie slasher SLAUGHTERED which made its triumphant US premier. Ray McDermott was on hand to present co-sponsor Film Radar's Award to Susan Bell's frightening A PATCHWORK MONKEY. The audience award for Best Horror Short went to Terryll Shaffner for her lyrical retro vampire tale THRENODY. Other audience favorites of the day included whacky gorefest DAY OF THE HELL HAMSTERS and the indescribable cartoon stylings of Sarah Brown's zombie kitty apocalypse MEOW. Coverage of BleedFest's February Women in Horror Blood Drive event can be found here: http://bzzzline.com/bleedfest-a-badass-film-festival/The next BleedFest will be Sunday April third, and the theme is THRILLHER. Canadian filmmaker Maude Michaud is flying in for a retrospective of her shorts and to world premier short RED and the first episode of BLOODY BREASTS: AN EXPLORATION OF WOMEN, FEMINISM, AND HORROR. The April feature film will be the world premier of the anthology I HATE LA. The horror feature is 11 interlocking vignettes by seven horror mistresses including Barbara Stepansky, Maude Michaud, Tyrrell Shaffner, Heidi Hornbacher, Marichelle Daywalt, Elisabeth Fies and Brenda Fies. Drew Daywalt will receive the Partnership Award for his short SUICIDE GIRL.

More information is available at http://www.BleedFest.com

++++++++++++++++++++++++

Full March 6th Schedule:

March BleedFest Event: FANTASIAN
Sunday March 6th, 2011
TIME: 11am-4:00pm (come and go as you please!)
Downloadable/printable PDF: march_BleedFest_schedule

Location: CAP Theatre
13752 Ventura Blvd.
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
Free unlimited street parking.

$10 cash at door for all day ticket and open bar
(Mimosas, Bloody Marys, red and white wine)
$5 with cash donation to Asia Foundation Women’s Empowerment Fund or bring an approved book donation to Bridge to Asia.

11am-11:30am Red Carpet, Mixer, Open Bar

11:30am-12:45pm ANNA BILLER RETROSPECTIVE
FAIRY BALLET, 1998 (11 minutes)
THREE EXAMPLES OF MYSELF AS QUEEN, 1994 (26 minutes)
A VISIT FROM THE INCUBUS, 2001 (26 minutes)
VIVA, feature trailer 2007 (2 minutes)

http://www.lifeofastar.com

“Biller paints feminist fantasies with her lush 35mm film stock, fetishistic detail, trademark humor and intelligence. Not content to be a regular multi-hyphenate, Ms. Biller acts, writes, produces, directs, scores, sings, and creates the spectacular settings and costumes. Ms. Biller both worships and reimagines our celluloid history with her blend of wit, camp, y chromosome perspective, and love of movies. It is a cinematic crime that she has not been given a Hollywood deal.”
Inanna Award presented to Anna Biller
Q & A with Anna Biller

12:45pm-12:50pm A FOUNDLING TRAILER

Inanna Award presented to Carly Lyn of A FOUNDLING (screened at BleedFest in January)
“An important film. We were thrilled to play the sci-fi/western/drama A FOUNDLING in January to a warm and enthusiastic crowd ready for a smart, genre-bending film steeped in feminist film theory and issues of race, gender, other, and literal alienation. It is beautifully shot and directed, with fine acting performances.” – BleedFest Film Festival

12:50pm-1:00pm PRODUCER CERTIFICATE AWARD
GRANDPA, 2009 (2 minutes) produced by Nora Jesse
“There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

http://www.youtube.com/user/andynovak35

Inanna Certificate Award accepted by producer Nora Jesse, writer/director Andy Novak. Q&A.
“A cute AND provocative take on the current climate of race relations versus gender politics. Kind of amazing that 32 years after Yoko Ono’s provocative quote and Lennon’s song immortalizing this ‘slave of the slave’ stance, women are still subservient to men across all cultures.” – BleedFest Film Festival

1:00-1:30pm BREAK Red Carpet, Mixer, Open Bar

1:30-3:20pm FEATURE
WAKING DREAMS, 2007 (92 minutes)

http://www.wakingdreamsmovie.com/

comedy/romance/fantasy/musical by Deepika Daggubati
Bollywood meets Texas, when a dreamer discovers the world of professional gamers.
Inanna Award presented to Deepika Daggubati
Q & A with writer/director Deepika Daggubati, actress Sulekha Naidu, producer Kalyan Vindhya
“We started BleedFest to show ambitious films like WAKING DREAMS. Deepika’s tyro feature is a brave and bold act of courage allowing a glimpse into the female Indian American culture, and the pressures still constricting modern Indian American women. The movie utilizes a vibrant backdrop of fantasy, humor, and whimsy while telling a humanist story about a female protagonist straddling two cultures and a global recession, in the middle of a quarter life crisis. The feature was a huge undertaking with a large cast of industry vets, shot on two continents, with elaborate dance numbers and even animation. We’re thrilled that WAKING DREAMS is coming to DVD to find the audience that will appreciate Ms. Daggubati’s fine work.”

3:20pm-3:30pm BREAK

3:30pm-4:00pm PARTNERSHIP AWARD
FIELDS OF MUDAN (23 minutes) by Stevo Chang
Drama 2004

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0447106/

A young Asian girl, Mudan, is forced into modern day slavery by a brutal child brothel owner. Mudan soon befriends another young girl in the brothel, and starts dreaming of a better life with her mother in America.
Inanna Certificate Award accepted by Associate Producer Susan Bell. Q & A.
“The sex slave industry is an issue near and dear to our hearts. We are proud to present this fine, moving short. Another stellar achievement from Florida State University.” – BleedFest Film Festival

If I Picked the Oscars - Part 2

2011-02-24T14:55:00.000-08:00

We're now only three days away from the big night, so I better get my picks in for the rest of the awards:

Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay):

    • “127 Hours” Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy
    • “The Social Network” Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
    • “Toy Story 3” Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
    • “True Grit” Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
    • “Winter's Bone” Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini

I liked "The Social Network", but felt it never really got inside the skin of Zuckerberg. For me, "Winter's Bone" stands out for its perfectly nuanced and balanced storytelling.

My Pick - "Winter's Bone"
Oscar's Pick - “The Social Network”

Best Writing (Original Screenplay):

    • “Another Year” Written by Mike Leigh
    • “The Fighter” Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson;
      Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
    • “Inception” Written by Christopher Nolan
    • “The Kids Are All Right” Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg
    • “The King's Speech” Screenplay by David Seidler

"The Fighter" and "Inception" were great. "The Kids Are All Right" was funny and poignant. "The King's Speech" was... well, I'll get into that later.

My Pick - "Inception". This multi-layered Borges meets the Matrix head-spinner was complex, thought-provoking and yet personal at the same time.

Oscar's Pick - “The King's Speech”. Ok - here's the deal. This was a good film. There was nothing wrong with it. It is a simple story told well. But it's just so damned safe. It takes absolutely no chances. It is basically an ABC afterschool special: dude has stuttering problem... dude overcomes stuttering problem, except the dude just happens to be the future King of England.

When you compare this to really great movies, this one story arc would just be a subplot, woven into a bigger, more compelling whole. Really folks, get over it. Does this movie come even close to "The Godfather", "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "Amadeus", or "Silence of the Lambs"?

I didn't think so.

Best Documentary (Feature):

    • “Exit through the Gift Shop” Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz
• “Gasland” Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
    • “Inside Job” Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
    • “Restrepo” Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
    • “Waste Land” Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley

This is a very strong category this year. "Gasland" is a compelling personal journey through the toxic wasteland of Natural Gas Drilling. "Restrepo" does a tremendous job showing the viewer what life is truly like for U.S. soldiers serving duty in Afghanistan's Korangal Valley. And "Inside Job" explores the nausea-inducing reality of the wall-street players who continue to hold the White House hostage.

For me however, "Exit Through the Gift Shop" stood out for its unique journey that explored the concepts of art, fame, and media manipulation. And I'm still not even sure it was a documentary...

My Pick - "Exit Through the Gift Shop"
Oscar's Pick - This is a toss-up here.   I'll guess they give it to "Inside Job" to send a message to the controlling interests that rule Wall Street, the Republican Party, the Top 1% high-income earners, the Tea Party... not to get on a political rant or anything here...

Best Actor:

• Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
    • Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
    • Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
    • Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
    • James Franco in “127 Hours”

This one's tough because I've only seen "Social Network" and "King's Speech" and to be honest, I wasn't blown away by either performance. In all fairness I really shouldn't make a pick in this category, but who said this was fair anyway? I'm going to give it to Javier Bardem because I've heard great things about the movie and the guy is a total acting stud - so there.

My Pick - Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
Oscar's Pick - Colin Firth in “The King's Speech” The Academy loves them some feel-good movie and especially any acting gymnastics. A king who overcomes a speech impediment is an easy, safe pick.

Best Actress:

    • Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
    • Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
    • Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
    • Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
    • Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

An easy pick for me. It comes down to Natalie Portman and Jennifer Lawrence. They both carry their films - the entire narrative rests on their shoulders. Both bring extraordinary performances. For me however, Jennifer Lawrence was a revelation. She created such an authentic, understated yet dynamic and powerful performance as a sixteen-year old desperately trying to hold her family together, that I think she deserves it the most.

My Pick - Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
Oscar's Pick - Natalie Portman in “Black Swan” Portman's performance as a ballerina at the tipping point of madness is a tour-de-force, and she deserves all the accolades she has received. She is the obvious choice and will most likely win.

Best Director:

    • “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
    • “The Fighter” David O. Russell
    • “The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
    • “The Social Network” David Fincher
    • “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Ok - down to the nitty gritty here. I love Fincher and the Cohen Brothers, but don't think their work was Oscar-level this year.   Tom Hooper makes nice ABC after-school specials... er, I mean movies (actually, I liked "The Damned United" much more than "King's Speech"), but c'mon.. let's get real here.

That leaves Aronofsky's "Black Swan" and David O. Russell's, "The Fighter" (and I would also add, Debra Granik for "Winter's Bone".) Aronofsky showed true film mastery with absolute control of his psychological thriller. All elements of the film were fully realized to support the central theme. Russell showed a lighter touch, though no less effective, letting his actors control the scenes and weave a heart-heavy tale of redemption, balancing humor and pathos and never regressing to melodrama.
Debra Granik, like Russell, chose a verite approach to weave her neo-noir tale - perfectly nailing the appropriate tone for such a story.

My Pick - “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky. I'm torn here, but give Aronofsky the slight nod over Russell and Granik. Great jobs by all.
Oscar's Pick - “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky. I think this one is a slam dunk for Aronofsky. He is one of cinema's shining lights.

And now... Drumroll please... Time to get the kids to bed and drain the last of the drinks, 'cuz the show's almost over. Just one last Oscar to give out...

Best Picture:

    • “Black Swan” Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
    • “The Fighter” David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
    • “Inception” Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
    • “The Kids Are All Right” Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers
    • “The King's Speech” Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers
    • “127 Hours” Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
    • “The Social Network” Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceán Chaffin, Producers
    • “Toy Story 3” Darla K. Anderson, Producer
    • “True Grit” Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
    • “Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Dang... that's a long list! But I'll make this short, because by now, you pretty much know my take on these films.

It's a close call, and I love them both, but I have to give "Winter's Bone" the slight edge over "The Fighter", simply because of its more original story. If "Black Swan" had walked the line a little more convincingly between horror and psychological thriller (ala "Rosemary's Baby" "Jacob's Ladder", "Angel Heart") then that would have been my choice.

My Pick - "Winter's Bone"
Oscar's Pick - "Black Swan". If "King's Speech" wins, please shoot me and put me out of my misery.

If I Picked the Oscars

2011-02-16T12:18:00.000-08:00

Every year we do a little Oscar get together at my place - watch the show, critique the fashion, check out the parade-of-dead-stars montage and say, "Oh, that's right, I forgot HE died...", but most importantly we bet on the winners. That's right, while the Super Bowl may be the single most bet-upon day every year, in my house Oscar night is the time to put your big ol' $5 bill on the line and put up or shut up.

Just like Fantasy Football magically makes that Arizona vs. Jacksonville game so exciting 'cause you're hoping Jay Feely can kick you 6 points so you can pummel your best friend and gloat about it at work the next day, so does betting on the Academy Awards suddenly make that best animated short category the single most important thing in the world 2 1/2 hours into the always excessively long ceremony. And trust me, the overall winner each year is almost always determined by who correctly picks "Logorama" over "Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty." What's that you say, you've never even heard of those flicks, well welcome to the club my friend, now put your fiver in the hat, pick up your pen and do what we all do...

Guess.

That's why my 8-year old has about as good a chance as I do. It's like they always say, "The family that bets together, stays together..."

Anyway, in this post I will not do that - pick all the winners that is. Because let's face it, I wanna win that pot as much as the next guy. No, in this post I'd like to do what Siskel & Ebert used to do, which is present my picks as if I were suddenly king of the academy and able to choose the winners from the best and brightest cinema had to offer in 2010. I will use their list of nominees as a starting point, except for when they completely whiff and ignore great work. Ok, and I'll also throw in my predictions of who I think the Academy will choose for the big categories - those are usually pretty obvious anyway. And I won't do every single category - just the ones I care about and where I've seen the majority of the contenders. Unless I decide not to. So there.

Alright then... bring it on!

I'll start where the Oscars traditionally start - with Best Supporting Actor:

    • Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
    • John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
    • Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
    • Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
    • Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

I've seen all of these films except for "The Town" and for me, this one's pretty easy. While Geoffrey Rush brings his usual charismatic charm to his role as royal speech therapist and Mark Ruffalo is charming as well as the sperm-donor with a heart of gold and John Hawkes, while not especially charming, brings a powerful authenticity to his role as well, Christian Bale clearly owns his film.

Bale's performance in "The Fighter" carries the movie and while it may seem a bit showy and over the top at first, he settles in and gradually reveals the layers underneath without resorting to melodrama. The funniest moment was seeing the real Dicky Ecklund at the end of the film and realizing, wow, I'm not sure Bale was even wacky enough.

My Pick - Christian Bale in “The Fighter”

Oscar's Pick - Christian Bale in “The Fighter” This one seems like a slam dunk, with Bale already having taken home the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards.

Best Supporting Actress:

    • Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
    • Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
    • Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
    • Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
    • Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Amy Adams is great playing against type as a "sexy bitch" in "The Fighter", and there's lots of buzz surrounding Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit", but for me Melissa Leo has the best role and makes the most of it as the matriarch of an irascible clan of characters.

My Pick - Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”

Oscar's Pick - Melissa Leo in “The Fighter” Having already won a bunch of awards, I think she's a lock to take home Oscar as well.

Best Animated Feature:

    • “How to Train Your Dragon” Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois
    • “The Illusionist” Sylvain Chomet
    • “Toy Story 3” Lee Unkrich

I actually really liked "How to Train Your Dragon" and it's kind of a toss-up for me between that and "Toy Story 3", which I liked, but not as much as the first two installments of the Pixar franchise. Oh heck, I gotta give it to my Pixar bud, Carlos Baena who animated the Spanish Buzz Lightyear scenes, so once again, the Emeryville magic continues.

My Pick - “Toy Story 3”

Oscar's Pick - “Toy Story 3” Not great surprise here.

Art Direction:

    • “Alice in Wonderland" Production Design: Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Karen O'Hara
    • “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1" Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
    • “Inception” Production Design: Guy Hendrix Dyas; Set Decoration: Larry Dias and Doug Mowat
    • “The King's Speech” Production Design: Eve Stewart; Set Decoration: Judy Farr
    • “True Grit” Production Design: Jess Gonchor; Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh

For those of you not in the know, Art Direction determines the overall "look" of a film. A Production Designer will work with the Director and the Director of Photography to incorporate all the style choices into a cohesive vision that helps to support the characters and the narrative. Or they can just choose to make everything Orange and Teal and call it a day.

Nothing really jumps out at me from this group. "Alice in Wonderland" is the most obvious choice simply because an entire world and all the characters had to be realized to make that film. "Harry Potter" looked good, but the looks of those films have been pretty much set ever since Alfonso Cuaron took the helm in "Prisoner of Azkaban" and created that dark, cold, steely atmosphere.

The most glaring exemption here is "Black Swan". In a psychological thriller, Art Direction is an essential element for making the whole movie work. Production Designer, Therese DePrez and Art Director Davin Stein did incredible work - draping the film in black, white and red, and slowly changing the tones from light to dark. For the Academy to complete whiff on this one and not even nominate "Black Swan" is indefensible.

My Pick - "Black Swan"

Oscar's Pick - "The King's Speech" The Academy loves costume drama... and the UK. 'Nuff said.

Cinematography:

    • “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique
    • “Inception” Wally Pfister
    • “The King's Speech” Danny Cohen
    • “The Social Network” Jeff Cronenweth
    • “True Grit” Roger Deakins

All great work. Black Swan and Inception stand out in my mind. I loved the from-behind-tracking shots following Natalie Portman, the great dance sequences and the many shifts of mood created by the fantastic cinematography of "Black Swan." In a film like that, the cinematography plays such a crucial role in supporting the themes and subtext of the story. Brilliant job.

My Pick - “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique

Oscar's Pick - “Black Swan” Matthew Libatique   They might go with Danny Cohen and "The King's Speech" here again, but I think this is where "Black Swan" starts a run on technical awards.

Film Editing:

    • “Black Swan” Andrew Weisblum
    • “The Fighter” Pamela Martin
    • “The King's Speech” Tariq Anwar
    • “127 Hours” Jon Harris
    • “The Social Network” Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter

Ok, now here's something I think I know a little about. All of these are fine examples of great work (except for perhaps again, "The King's Speech" - nothing wrong there, but nothing exemplary either. It seems like every year there is one movie that the Academy just loves and throws in all categories regardless of whether it actually deserves it or not and this appears to be the year of the stuttering king!)

However, I must again order off the menu and choose a film that was not even nominated. To me, the best edited film this year was "Inception" and the great work by Lee Smith. To make that story work with so many parallel stories playing at once, and so many complex ideas to get across was no easy feat - and Lee Smith did a great job.

My Pick - "Inception" Lee Smith

Oscar's Pick - "Black Swan" I hope. If they give the award to "The King's Speech" I will be hurling mu shu pork at the tv. Really.

Visual Effects:

    • “Alice in Wonderland” Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
    • “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1” Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
    • “Hereafter” Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojansky and Joe Farrell
    • “Inception” Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb
    • “Iron Man 2” Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick

I'd like to tell you a little story. The year is 1983 and the Academy Awards are about to present the winner of the Best Visual Effects for the prior year. A young, impressionable teenager eagerly awaits the affirmation of the incredible work of cinematic art he has recently seen. Instead, "E.T." wins for it's Mary Poppins inspired blue-screen work of a boy on a flying bicycle over "Blade Runner's" revolutionary visualizations of a dystopian Los Angeles belching fire while Japanese advertisements echo from the ever-present floating blimps.

Welcome to the real world, Todd. I'll never forgive the Academy for that one.

This year however, they can't really screw it up too much. For me, the winner is "Inception" for its incredibly realized dreamscapes and that one iconic image of the world folding up.

My Pick - "Inception"

Oscar's Pick - What...?? No King's Speech here?? Wha happened? Well, since the stuttering king isn't here, it's kind of a toss-up, but I think they may go with “Alice in Wonderland”.

But I could be wrong... just like I was in 1983.

Stay tuned next week for part 2 when we get to the really juicy stuff, like Best Actor, Actress and Picture.

Enter the Dark Updates

2011-02-07T10:23:00.000-08:00

Here's what's new and exciting with my little bundle of horror goodness:

FESTIVALS

Enter the Dark will be screening at a couple of really fun festivals this week.
First off, if you happen to be in the greater Boulder City, NV. region (or ripping it up in Vegas), be sure to check out the Dam Short Film Festival. We will close out their Wednesday evening block of horror shorts from 9:15 - 10:15.

Then, hop on over to Sanford FL, and their brand new Love Your Shorts Film Festival, where you can see tons of great short movies of all genres (including the Oscar nominated God of Love). Then stick around until Saturday night's sci fi/horror selections at 9:30 as we close out that evening's festivities as well.

We are also excited to be part of the High Desert Shorts Film Festival, May 27 - 29 in Pahrump, NV., another cool indie film short fest. I'll let you know exact dates when I have them.

... And now for all the rest of you horror fans, this March you will get your chance to see Enter the Dark for FREE!!! We were fortunate to be selected as part of First Glance Film Festival's short online contest:

In 2010 we presented over 50 short films online. More than any other festival in the world and awarded over $5000.00 in prizes.

Over 5000 registered voters, voted over 14,000 times to create one of the most competitive online short contests for any film festival in North America.

We look forward to you being part of the next Short Online Contest.

The Short Online Contest begins in Late March 2011 and run for 6 weeks.

Stay tuned for more info on how you can watch and vote for a bunch of great short movies!

REVIEWS

Enter the Dark continues to enjoy great reviews from some really cool bloggers. It has been incredibly rewarding to see that the vision I had for this short film is being well received.

From Midnight, With Love:

Miro's story works like a good horror tale should, suckering us in with one hand while it's preparing to pop up and scare us with the other. There's a command here that can't be taught, and Miro shows a natural gift for creating tension.

Dollar Bin Horror:

… this 17 minute short has no gags. It's just scary.
It's just a really damn good film.

Chuck Norris Ate My Baby:

It's quick, fun and a bit spooky and, as promised, watching Enter the Dark in the dark makes it all the more effective.

Fatally Yours:

Enter the Dark is an entertaining, scary and thought-provoking short film.
The acting is also top-notch, with actors Charles Yoakum and Rob Sandusky putting on convincing performances.

That's all for now. In the meantime I'll continue to play the festival circuit until October or so (do a full year to hit all that I can), and work on ideas for the next short film.

The we'll do it all over again!

Bleedfest needs your help!

2011-01-31T17:15:00.000-08:00

My good friends Elisabeth and Brenda Fies could use a little help:

HELP! We have less than 1 week to meet our financial goal. We need to meet our goal to SAVE BleedFest from folding. We're doing what we said we would by bringing you badass genre films directed, produced and written by women... in addition to honoring a badass awesome man each month. Do you need something else from us in order to assist us in our cause? Thank you in Advance for being a BleedFest HERO!

Check out all the great things Lis and Brenda are doing with their monthly indie film fest Bleedfest.

We are passionate about raising the visibility of indie genre movies by female filmmakers.  BleedFest Values: Empowerment, Partnership, Fun, Self-Expression  BleedFest fetes the women who love writing, producing, directing, and watching badass genre movies: horror, thriller, action, sci-fi, western, exploitation, B-movie, and erotica. We also screen a few male filmmakers who have empowering and edgy female protagonists; their work screens out of competition and receives our "Partnership Award". Our mission is to spotlight these bold films and their fearless makers, and prove to the world that the derogatory term "chick flick" needs to be retired.

Sound good? Then bounce on over to IndieGoGo and spread a little love their way to help keep the festival alive!

Many thanks!

Inside a color grading session

2011-01-31T16:55:00.000-08:00

Stu Maschwitz, the amazing DV Rebel himself, has posted an incredibly illuminating vimeo clip of a recent color grading session, using his Colorista II plugin for After Effects and Final Cut.

Now the skeptic may say, "Hey, this is just one big demo to pitch his software", and while this may indeed be true, it overlooks the fact that Stu presents an amazing wealth of information on all things color. And it happens to be free. You not only get to see the toolset in action, but more importantly, Stu's thought process as he is grading. And that is indeed priceless.

07 - Color Correcting Food with Magic Bullet Colorista II from Red Giant Software on Vimeo.

Just please folks, all I ask is that you promise me you will use this knowledge for good...

Not Orange and Teal!

Red State: Kevin Smith Discovers 21st Century Indie Filmmaking

2011-01-24T12:34:00.000-08:00

As many of you may know, Kevin Smith recently completed his latest film, Red State, which he made for a reported $4 million outside of the studio system. The film premiered at Sundance, after which Smith made a big to-do about auctioning off the distribution rights for his home-made horror flick right there - right then to the highest bidder.

If you are interested, check out the clips of Smith's often funny (and of course expletive drenched) rant from Sundance here:

and part 2 here:

Of course, the whole thing was really a big setup for Smith to proclaim a big F_You to the current distribution model and announce that he was going maintain ownership of his movie and self-distribute through a road-show style series of bookings at various venues throughout the country. In filmmaking terminology, this is known as "four-walling" - traditionally a last-option tactic for a desperate filmmaker looking to get some exposure, or at best a way for an unsigned movie to try to find an audience.

The funniest thing to me is that Smith has basically come to the same conclusions that most indie filmmakers have today: own your content, build your fanbase and self-distribute. Welcome to 21st century indie filmmaking, Kevin.

The problem is that someone like Smith has a tremendous advantage over someone just starting out in that he already is a known name brand and has a huge fan base that ironically was generated my the same marketing machine that he rails out against in his diatribe. So, when he says things like, "We're going to distribute without any advertising costs.", he can get away with that because he already has 1.7 million rabid followers on Twitter. And where did they come from? From all the films he's made over the past 20 years. And how did folks come to see those films? From the same bloated, unimaginative marketing machine he now says is unneccessary. And you know what? He's right.

For him he's right. Or say, Eli Roth. Or the Cohen Brothers. Or any other writer/director who already has a fan-base he/she can sell to directly. For the rest of us poor scrubs looking to work our way up - good luck.

So, the model for any indie filmmaker trying to make it today seems to be something like this:

- Build your skills. Write and direct a number of shorts. Figure out what works and what doesn't on a small-scale that won't wipe out your life savings. If you're good enough to get into some festivals and have some favorable reviews, keep going. If not, hey you can always make videos of kittens and boobies for YouTube.

- Build your fanbase. Utilize Facebook, blogs, twitter, YouTube, etc to find and engage folks who seem to like your work.

- Develop your brand. This is kinda huge in the long-run. When I hear Kevin Smith is making a new film - I already know what I'm in for. That doesn't mean all his films are the same, but that he has a certain worldview, a certain style that shows through in all his movies. If you are all over the map in the type of movies you make (especially in the beginning) it will be harder to grow and maintain a fanbase. After you're established, you can branch out more.

- Take your big shot. Now it's time to step up and make a feature. If you can, find financial backing through traditional investors, or crowd-sourcing sites like IndieGoGo and Kickstarter. Keep production costs low by leveraging digital technology - shoot on HDSLRs, or Red. You know your craft, you've built your fanbase and established your brand - now, put everything together into a great script THAT SOMEONE CAN ACTUALLY MARKET. This is not the time for introspective, experimental filmmaking - unless you already have a fortune and can afford to live off a trust fund. This is a project that will make or break you, so it better be something your existing fanbase as well as others will want to see.

- Make your deal. Here is where I disagree with Kevin. For someone just coming up in the ranks, if you are lucky enough to have a distributor approach you and actually want to drop $20 million to promote your film - EFF YEAH, you should take that deal. Sure, you will sign your film away and will probably never see any profits, but the trade-off is well worth it because now that bloated, unimaginative marketing machine will spread your name (and brand) far and wide in ways that you could never do yourself.

Now, what happens if no distributor ever offers you a big deal (which will be the case for most everyone)? Well, in that case, you will need to self-distribute through IndieFlix, Netflix, etc. and scrape by, hoping that you can slowly build your brand and fanbase to a point where you can eventually make money doing this.

- Make your next film. Hopefully, that first feature was successful and since your name brand has hit the big stage, you can now maintain ownership of your movies and their distribution. Utilize your fanbase as evangelists to market your next film for you. EFF the traditional marketing and distribution models. Keep costs low, own everything and develop a one-to-one or one-to-many model to get your movies directly to your fans. You are now Kevin Smith. Go and buy a hockey stick.

Golden Globes - quick hits

2011-01-16T21:10:00.000-08:00

Some off-hand observations from an evening of Hollywood glitter and self congratulation.

First off, when you bring Ricky Gervais back a second time you really should know what you're getting yourself into. Have a little thicker skin folks - these are jokes, 'mkay?

That being said, I doubt we'll see him next year.

His best line of the evening wasn't even directed to anyone in particular and was said right at the end, so many may have missed it:

"And finally, thank you to God for making me an atheist."

And now to my awards:

The Toughest Category goes to:

Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series Drama (and longest category title)
Steve Buscemi
Bryan Cranston
Michael C. Hall
Jon Hamm
Hugh Laurie

Wow, now that's a loaded category. Any one of them could have easily taken the award and although I would have preferred Cranston, I was happy to see Buscemi bring it home.

The Who Knew He Owned a Tux award goes to:

Trent Reznor

Nice job rockin' the thin tie-look.

The Most Inspirational award goes to:

Glee star Chris Colfer and his heartfelt speech:
"But mostly importantly [a thank you] to all the amazing kids that watch our show and that our show celebrates and are constantly told 'no' [by] people and environments and bullies at school, that they can't be who they are or can't have what they want because of who they are... Screw that, kids."

The Best Presenter award is awarded to:

Robert Downey - Hilarious, witty, bawdy and perfect timing as always. Perhaps we just saw next year's presenter???

(Runners up - Steve Carell and Tina Fey)

The So Last Year's News award goes to:

Mad Men. Sorry folks, no love this year - although I still love ya.

The Best Acceptance Speech award goes to:

(Tie) David Fincher and Steve Buscemi. Concise, well-thought, funny and to the point. Well done, lads.

The OMG, is She Actually Wearing That award goes to:

January Jones... who knew??
Sorry, I guess that should be How is She Actually Wearing That...

(two-sided tape)

The Wish I Knew What He Said award goes to:

Paul Giamatti. He got bleeped right away - then kept the censor's fingers trembling the rest of the way. God, how I love that guy!

The Creepy-as-all-Hell-Laugh award goes to:

Natalie Portman, right after she delivered the line, "He totally wants to sleep with me...", she let out this weird snickering cackle, which made her punch-line very creepy indeed.

The Most Gratuitous Cutaway award goes to:

Brad & Angelina. Besides being the butt of many of Gervais' zingers, there really was no reason to be seeing them every third cutaway. Except of course that they are... Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Also, Jack Nicholson wasn't there.

The Hey, Could we Actually Hear From Someone Who Deserves It award goes to:

Lisa Cholodenko, the Writer/Director of award-winning The Kids are Alright had to stand mute as the producer yapped on and on and took all the glory. Now, I know the award is officially given to the producer, but cripes, it is her movie, at least let her say something.

The Looking Like a Wax Figure award goes to:

Sadly, Sandra Bullock, who usually comes off so effortlessly beautiful and charming looked sad and a little waxen. Ouch.

And, finally the Biggest Winner award goes to:

The Social Network won for Best Director, Best Drama, Best Screenplay and Best Original Score.
Nice job to Mr. Fincher - he looks to be a lock for Oscar Night as well.

Devil - review with Horror Society

2011-01-11T13:18:00.000-08:00

Well, after a year of blogging, I've decided to expand my radius a bit. I'm now excited to announce that in addition to my usual ramblings here, I will now be writing for one of the best horror sites out there - Horror Society!

So, check out my first review for Devil:

The Black Pit of Mental Illness... er Swan

2011-01-06T16:44:00.000-08:00

Phew, let me take a breath for a sec.

That is one claustrophobic movie!

Endless smothering close-ups and from-behind tracking shots (Aronofsky loves these shots and used them to great effect in The Wrestler as well) and mirrors and reflections and non-stop black and white art direction and a feeling of inevitably falling off the edge and oh the anguish.

Let's see, how many mental illnesses did you catch? I saw some bulemia, cutting, boundry issues with ma, a little OCD perhaps, some good ol' sexual repression and a huge whopping dose of psychosis and schizophrenia. I sense a drinking game in the making!

It's kinda exhausting to have to see through someone's eyes when they're at complete frayed ends.

The last movie that was this psychically taxing was The Machinist. What, you never saw The Machinist You mean you never saw Christian Bale's attempt at bulemic method acting?

Anywho, that's another story for another day - suffice it to say that I hope both Bale and Portman got to go on nice long vacations in the warm sun and drink themselves silly and stuff themselves with chimichangas or somethin' after having finished these taxing movies.

As for The Black Swan, it is indeed a masterful ride, and between this movie and The Wrestler, Aronofsky proves he's got the chops to go from a heartfelt verité character study to a tightly controlled thriller. And Natalie Portman is a shoe-in for an Oscar nod as she carries the entire burden of the film on her oh-so-fragile shoulders.

(STOP SCRATCHING WILL YA???!!)

My only qualms with the movie are with its screenplay. It's fairly obvious from the getgo that Portman's character has some real mental issues and therefore the viewer never really walks that tightrope of "is it reality, or is it in her head" that is so crucial to films like this. Check out Rosemary's Baby or Jacob's Ladder if you want to see it done right. I also would have like to have seen the movie be much braver and push even further into surreal territory a la Lost Highway or Mulholland Drive. Or perhaps the relationship between Portman and her mother could have exploded into further revelations and madness. To me, it just seemed like the movie was a one-note melody.

Ooof - anyway... time to cleanse the palate with something light and breezy. Oh, I don't know, something like...

Oh yeah - much better. No mental anguish there...

Miro Digital Arts - Shameless Plug Time

2011-01-04T13:48:00.000-08:00

Well, now that the new year has rolled around it's time to roll up the sleeves and actually get back to work. And speaking of work - I recently took a little time to spruce up the website for my editing business.

As you may know, while I quite enjoy rambling on this blog, and making short films, those things in no way actually pay the bills. My real work is as an editor, and to be honest, work has slowed these past few years - hence the need to update the website and actually start (gasp) marketing myself.

So, here's my blatant marketing pitch:

When you have a moment, please check out my new website. There you will see some of the work I do, and some of the projects I have recently completed. I believe the work speaks for itself - documentary work that has aired on PBS's American Masters; corporate work for major companies such as Cisco, Old Navy and Skype; and independent films that have garnered multiple awards and have screened at festivals worldwide.

So if you, or anyone you know needs help editing a video, or has questions on how to finish their documentary, or how to get their indie film on Netflix, please drop by my website:
www.mirodigitalarts.com

Ok - now back to your regularly scheduled rambling...

Best Horror Movies of the Decade

2010-12-31T12:11:00.000-08:00

To be honest, this wasn't a great decade for horror. We saw lots of trends - J-Horror, Zombie mania, Torture Porn, 3D, and endless, mindless remakes, but not many memorable installments into the horror movie hall of fame.

Here are the lone standouts:

Let the Right One In - the vampire tale finally told from a personal perspective. Quiet, reflective and chilling to the bone.

The Ring - the best of J-Horror transferred to the states. A compelling ghost riddle with a great ending.

The Devil's Backbone - Del Torro's haunting ghost story.

The Orphanage - another foreign language pitch-perfect ghost story.

The Host - the best monster movie in a long time. Great characters - a fun ride. What Cloverfield and Monsters wanted to be.

The Mist - best Stephen King adaptation since Shawshank. Builds up gradual tension and then crashes you with a brutal Lovecraftian ending.

Drag Me to Hell - Raimi returns to his manic Evil Dead roots, but with a more toned-down approach. Fun, funny, scary and always entertaining.

28 Days Later - Danny Boyle's brilliant zombie reboot for the 21st century.

Saw - yes, it launched a torrent of horrible torture porn, but as a standalone low-budget horror movie Saw remains as a great example of what you can do with minimal sets, a couple actors and one nasty idea.

Paranormal Activity - lots of haters with this one, but I loved the setup and bought most of it - except for the flaming Ouija board - ok, that was kinda silly.

Let's see, a top ten list where 5 out of the 10 are foreign made (remember, 28 Days Later is British), another one (The Ring) is a remake of a Japanese film and two of the American-made movies were indie films, far from the mainstream studio system. Really, a pitiful showing from Hollywood, where dollar signs led them to blindly rehash old favorites in a desperate attempt to generate revenue - instead of developing great new horror talents.

It's obvious the foreign and indie markets will continue to drive this genre.

The best of the rest:

The Mothman Prophecies
REC
Hostel
Trick 'r Treat
1408
The Last Exorcism

Best TV Shows of the Decade

2010-12-28T09:50:00.000-08:00

I decided to skip over the Top 10s of the year and go right for the big daddy - the Best of the Decade.

First up - Television.

This last decade of TV represents for me, the golden age of television. Simply put, it is the best television has ever produced:

The Wire - The best. Ever. David Simon's brutally honest dystopian vision is the gold standard.

The Sopranos - The one that started it all - and relaunched Journey's career.

Breaking Bad - Fearless. Bold. Funny. Visionary. Brutal.

Mad Men - Tone-perfect subtle portrayal of the pivot point of a decade and a man's journey to find his authentic self.

Deadwood - David Milch's foul-mouthed Shakespearean western is a multi-layered tour-de-force.

Band of Brothers - Epic portrayal of the realities of war in the mid-century.

Dexter - Puts all those CSI clone shows to shame. Michael C. Hall carries the show with nothing but subtle facial expressions.

Curb Your Enthusiasm - Seinfeld synthesized into a crack-like addictive journey into Larry David's warped vision of ultimate social discomfort and humiliation.

Battlestar Gallactica - Sci-Fi told on an epic scale while maintaining its focus on character.

Rescue Me - Foul-mouthed. Daring. Brutally honest. Went head-first into post 9-11 territory that no one else with a sane mind would touch. Thank you Dennis Leary.

These brilliant and revolutionary shows easily match up against the best television of any decade - perhaps even the best narrative dramas of any medium. If will be interesting to see if the next decade can live up to these achievements. Clearly the most creative minds are now working in television - where the showrunners (usually writers) can maintain control of their vision.

Not one of these shows was produced by traditional network television. And no one cares anymore - the era of the networks is dead. My children couldn't tell a network from cable or pay tv or YouTube or hulu or Netflix. It is all simply visual storytelling that comes to them from a box in our home - or on a mobile device on the go. The revolution is already over.

The best of the rest:

Six Feet Under
The Office
Rome
Entourage
Generation Kill
Friday Night Lights
30 Rock
True Blood
Survivor
The Daily Show With John Stewart
Lost

Next up: Best Horror Movies of the Decade

Enter the Dark - Updates

2010-12-21T10:32:00.000-08:00

The latest greatest happenings of my little bundle of spooky goodness known as Enter the Dark:

First, a couple of recent reviews:

Scary Film Review: … a very surreal, scary and realistic depiction of a universal fear that all of us have... a sonic achievement of style and horror, but in a very psychological way.

Killer Reviews: ...one of those short cool films that is efficiently produced and directed, well written and acted and a damn good use of a spare 17 minutes.

Be sure to check out these websites as they offer great insights and content on all things horror.

In other news, we were excited to find out that Enter the Dark received an Award of Merit from IndieFest!

From their website: "Indie awards go to those filmmakers who produce fresh, standout entertainment, animation and compelling documentaries. The Indie is a showcase for cinematic gems and unique voices."

Woo Hoo! While we're stoked to have received the recognition, I think we'll hold off on getting the actual trophy you see on the left. You see, that little baby would set me back another $350 bucks, and while it would be nice to see it up on my mantle, I can live with the JPEG image just fine.

Also, congrats and a shout-out to my friend Elisabeth Fies for taking home an Award of Excellence at the same awards for Sound Overall Impact for The Commune. Elisabeth and I, along with sound-recordist and mixer, Winter, spent a lot of time and effort on the sound design of that movie to really set mood, create tension, and emphasize plot points. I learned a lot, which definitely paid off when it came time to think about sound for Enter the Dark.

No new screenings or festivals at the moment, but hopefully that will soon change as many of the festivals I have submitted to will be making their selections any day now. Most of the recent submissions have been to short film festivals, or indie film festivals, so it will be interesting to see how the movie is received by a non horror-specific audience. I hope it will do well, as folks who have seen it already who don't normally like horror movies (my wife included) have so far responded well to it.

We shall see...

Teal & Orange Holiday Edition

2010-12-13T11:13:00.000-08:00

Merry Holiday Festivus season boys and girls! Today Santa's got a great present to share with you. A brand new movie trailer just dripping with those classic holiday colors - Orange and Teal!

Can you guess what it is? What's that you say?

Oh - Tron? Well, no, that's an obvious choice - I mean it is absolutely drenched with those beautifully festive hues:

Just look at the amazing rainbow colors of those fireworks - I can taste every one of them: strawberry, blueberry, lime, raspberry. It sure is remarkable how colorful the inside a computer can look! Those Hollywood colorists sure had to get up early in the morning to dream up all of that!

I've heard folks say that this new Tron looks just like the original - that it HAD to be Orange and Teal 'cuz that's what it looked like way back when:

Hmm - but wait, what's that purple doing back there. Here, let me waive my magic pipe, say three Ho, Ho Ho's and make it more Christmassy:

Ahh - now that's much better - That's how Santa remembered it.

Oh watch out for my new reindeer - they do get a tad restless when someone mentions the word "purple"!

Now wait a sec, those aren't reindeer - those look like hounds from hell from that new movie-

Yeah, The Tempest, that's what I wanted to show you. A new adaptation of Shakespeare's great play. You know...

Shakespeare... The Bard...

Ooh - now that's rather gloomy isn't it. Took the festive right out of festivus! Let's give him a little holiday cheer shall we:

Much better!

Now let's take a look at this great new version of The Tempest:

What?... what is that? Oh wait, that's the 1982 Paul Mazursky version - horrid, simply horrid colors with all that leafy green in there and that flesh tone looking all fleshy. Let's update that shall we?

Oh... (sniff) now that's so much better (sniff) - brings me right back to my childhood - to holiday seasons past... Sorry, I'm getting too emotional here... just sit back and let the Christmas orange and teal spirit wash over you:

Ahhh - Shakespeare's work never looked better. I couldn't have dreamed a more cheerful vision if my life depended on it. Thank goodness these Hollywood art directors, colorists and directors continue to spread holiday cheer with their exquisite taste in color.

And damn what anyone else says. Eff those frigging other colors anyway - what did they ever do for me, eh? I see you over there purple - yeah, and your buddy violet too - tell him and burgundy to get the frak off Santa's porch if you know what's good fer ya! I got a sawed-off shotgun of TEAL and ORANGE with your name on it buddy!! Awash! Awash in ORANGE and TEAL my kingdom shall be!! And all others shall shake in their puny pink boots! SO SAYS SANTA! SO SAY WE ALL!! UNTIL THE DAY OF RECKONING WHEN THE OLD ONES WILL AWAKE FROM THEIR ORANGE AND TEAL SLUMBER BENEATH THE GIBBOUS MOON AND CTHULU SHALL SING THE SONGS OF THE COSMOS FOR THE GREAT NYAHJDGKJYEGKDYUAKS...Hdkjfhg...deakjkk...

ack...

Uh... Sorry Kids...

Santa had a bit too much egg nog there and all those beautiful colors kicked-off a sort of seizure (too much information, santa) Oh.. ok, anyway, thanks for sharing this holiday season with me and I look forward to seeing you all in 2011- forever spreading Teal and Orange goodness throughout the land.

Winter's Bone - a triumphant win of silence over car crashes

2010-12-09T10:42:00.000-08:00

Winter's Bone is a movie that Hollywood could never produce.

They just couldn't.

It is a quiet, studied examination of the scorched aftermath of meth, and the determined spirit of one young woman who tirelessly fights for those she loves.

It tells the tale of a community ravaged by drugs, the dysfunction of the police to do anything about it, and the folks who are just barely hanging on. It is the type of storyline that you could easily imagine being one of the threads of HBO's The Wire, but this time, instead of a bombed out Baltimore slum, the story takes place in the cold Ozark mountains.

Director Debra Granik does a brilliant job letting her tale unfold naturally. The cinema verite style allows the viewer to enter this world as a documentary viewer might - taking in the sights, gently getting a feel for these characters, until at around the eleven minute mark the plot point that propels the narrative is finally revealed.

17-year-old Ree Dolly, forced to look after her two younger siblings and her incapacitated mother, discovers that her wayward meth-cooking father is due to appear in court soon and has put the house up for collateral for his bail bond. If he fails to appear in court, they stand to lose everything. Meager as it is, their house and property are the only thing holding this shattered family together. Ree desperately tries to track her dad down through a series of tense encounters with the local community - most of whom are somehow related. Round these parts it seems almost everyone is kinfolk.

If taken out of its rural surroundings and placed in a dark, nighttime urban environment, Winter's Bone could easily be seen as a classic Film Noir thriller. Our protagonist stands alone trying to unravel a mystery while dangerous unknown forces thwart her at every turn. She is met with indifference at best, and violence at worst and inevitably comes face to face with the shocking reality of what has become of her father, and what she must do to carry on.

A great movie of determination and will, Winter's Bone is not for those who need a car crash every five minutes to keep them awake. Sit down, settle in and let the movie work through you. Jennifer Lawrence's performance as Bree is both effortless and spellbinding and she absolutely deserves an Academy Award nomination, as does Debra Granik for her amazing pitch perfect direction. I hope it will also receive a nod for best adapted screenplay as well, from the novel by Daniel Woodrell. Granik and screenwriter Anne Rosellini do a tremendous job of letting scenes breathe and displaying the classic screenwriting ethos of "show, don't tell".

Be sure to check out Winter's Bone - it may even soon be re-released into the theaters again when the Oscar buzz hits the beginning of next year.

4 stars! (out of 5)

Goodfellas - sort of

2010-12-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

Ok, I couldn't help myself. This dang xtranormal site is too dang tempting.
It's not my fault... really.

(not safe for work - unless you work for wise guys)

Enter the Dark - Updates

2010-11-29T11:23:00.000-08:00

First off if you are in the Boston area this Wednesday, Dec. 1, it's YOUR LUCKY DAY!
Thanks to Mike Snoonian and Chris Hallock over at All Things Horror, Enter the Dark will be playing with El Monstro Del Mar! (which recently took home the award for Best Feature at the Dark Carnival Film Fest), and two other nasty little horror short gems, The Living Want Me Dead, and Get Off My Porch.

ALL THINGS HORROR PRESENTS
Wednesday, December 1

The Somerville Theater

55 Davis Square, Somerville MA 02143

8 pm/$5

El Monstro Del Mar! is an insanely cool exploitation monster flick from down under that has been generating some massive buzz for it's generous Russ Meyer meets Roger Corman vibe. How can you pass that up?

Speaking of awards...

I'm super excited that my little snack 'o' dread, Enter the Dark took home the award for Best Short at the Dark Carnival Film Festival! Wow - as a filmmaker, you don't do it for the awards, but it feels really great when you do get some recognition that all your hard work is actually having an effect on folks. I really wish I could have attended - it looked like everyone there had a blast.

Also, I just found out that Enter the Dark was nominated in three categories by the Maverick Movie Awards:

- Best Director
- Best Sound Design/Editing
- Best Special Effects

(Drumroll please...)

And we won for Best Sound Design/Editing! This is really cool for me because I do think that sound is enormously important in telling a story (especially a horror story) through the language of cinema. Although oftentimes overlooked, sound hits the audience in an immediate and subconscious way. For an indie film director, good sound design is the most cost-effective way to creating an authentic and deeply resonant experience. Try to imagine Eraserhead without that jarring, industrial nightmare soundtrack.

The ironic thing about winning this award is that Enter the Dark has many instances of little or no sound. Just as composition in art is all about positive and negative space, so is sound. What many forget is that silence is sometimes the most effective way to heighten tension - and horror movies are all about tension.

We've also been getting some great write-ups by fellow horror bloggers and websites:

The Independent Critic: Enter the Dark is an effective, psychologically thrilling chiller ... involving, slick and suspenseful.

The Man-Cave: Miro provided me with something that I crave as a horror fan. A legitimate scare.

I Like Horror Movies: Fans of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY will be happy to discover this spooky short!

All Things Horror: ...effectively creepy with an atmosphere that kept me looking over my shoulder constantly.

Cinema Crazed: …a nail biting bonanza of moments that will definitely keep audiences watching in anticipation the entire time…

Zombies DON'T Run: …a short movie that's shot very well, creepy as all hell, and has a twist that may just catch you off guard…

For all you aspiring filmmakers out there, just be aware that none of this comes without work. Since I completed post-production on this movie, I have easily spent 20 hours a week making all this happen. From burning DVDs, contacting possible reviewers, submitting to festivals, mailing out DVDs, creating postcards, updating the website, Facebook and Twitter - all this is a non-stop marketing blitz. And I've really only done a small amount. If this were a feature film I really would want a professional publicist and marketing team, with the end result hopefully that ever-elusive distribution deal.

But for now I'll keep humming along - probably until next summer when I will have completed a full festival circuit. Then I'll start on the next project - probably another short that may hopefully help to sell a feature idea.

If I'm lucky...

Netflix Short Takes

2010-11-19T11:59:00.000-08:00

I've been filling my head with lots of movies via Netflix recently. I must be working on some idea lurking in the deep recesses of my subconscious that may eventually become a new short movie.

Or... I'm just giving myself nightmares for no good reason.

Anyway, here's a quick look at some of the movies that have been washing over my brain:
(WARNING - SPOILERS ABOUND)

Moon 2009 - Directed by Duncan Jones

Moon is a quiet, atmospheric sci-fi film that effectively captured my attention. Sam Rockwell is brilliant, delivering two great performances as a man and his clone. Or a clone and a man. Er - as a clone and a clone - whatever. This movie borrows ideas freely from 2001, Blade Runner, Silent Running and Solaris, but mostly captures the loneliness and madness that would ensue from being isolated on the moon. As an interesting sidenote, the director just happens to be David Bowie's son, so I found it impossible to watch this movie and not sing to myself, "Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do..."

4 stars (out of 5)

Trick r' Treat 2007 - Michael Dougherty

This little Halloween treat recalls some of the classic horror anthology flicks like Creepshow, as a number of storylines intertwine on a night when all the spooks come out to play. With tongue planted firmly on cheek, Dougherty still manages to set up some nice scares and easily the best Halloween atmosphere since... well, since the original Halloween. The fact that this movie (which features Anna Paquin) was unable to get a theatrical release proves how broken the current distribution model is today. Sure to be a Hallows Eve classic for years to come.

3 1/2 stars

Ginger Snaps 2000 - John Fawcett

If Heathers and American Werewolf in London had a quickie, this would be their lovechild - the movie Jennifer's Body wanted to be, but couldn't get it right. A clever coming of age story of two sisters, their morbid fascination with death and the teenage bummers that come with being a werewolf, this movie, brilliantly written by Fawcett and Karen Walton, shines brightest in the relationship between the sisters. While the tone in the first act is perfect, the movie becomes a one-note song and drags a bit in the middle when it becomes obvious that older sis is becoming a hairy beast, and lil' sis is going to try to stop it. However, the film redeems itself with a powerful ending as it focuses again mostly on the bonds of sisterhood, and less on the bloody scares of lycanthropy.

3 1/2 stars

Inland Empire 2006 - David Lynch

For diehard fans only, Inland Empire is Lynch's most inaccessible and unabashedly surreal movie since Eraserhead. The story of an actress, Laura Dern, who gets a part on a new movie, whose story may be cursed, who then gets involved with her leading man and then literally falls into her role - blurring the lines of reality, dream, cinema, consciousness, and a room with rabbit-headed people speaking in non-sequitors, Inland Empire is simultaneously frustrating, tedious, brain-fatiguing, thought-provoking and amazing. Oh yeah, and there's another whole plot-line involving eastern-European prostitutes. And a crying woman who watches the whole movie with you, on tv. Or is it radio?

Trying to decipher the riddle of this movie is pointless - it speaks directly to your subconscious. Let the images and concepts bathe you and take you. No one does dream-logic like Lynch, and this is his most intricate and rudderless journey yet. But there are moments of pure Jungian cinema that no one but Lynch can pull off.

3 stars

For an inside look at Lynch's ground-breaking filmmaking techniques for Inland Empire (shot on DV video over the course of a couple of years, with no finished script - which explains a lot) be sure to check out the documentaries, Lynch and Lynch 2. Again, these are for true Lynch fans only - those who would enjoy a verite look into the mind and working habits of this true auteur.

Antichrist 2009 - Lars von Trier

The most controversial movie of last year, Antichrist is a love letter to depression and madness. When it premiered at Cannes, it received a large share of jeers and hisses, along with a special anti-award as "the most misogynist movie from the self-proclaimed biggest director in the world". Seeing the movie already knowing all the hype and fuss actually sets it up much better - I was able to go in, already aware of the "shocking bits" and focus more on the amazing tone and courageous performances by Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

If nothing else, von Trier showcases amazing cinematic chops and scenes of pure brilliance and horror that stick with you long after the more talked about provocative self-mutilating shocks. Of note are the tour-de-force black and white prologue; the dream scenes of her walking through the woods, her body magically illuminated as she moves in super slo-motion; the shots of bodies and hands rising through the earth; and especially the self-disemboweling fox who mystifyingly utters the words, "Chaos reigns".

Indeed it does.

3 1/2 stars

Deep Red 1975 - Dario Argento

Argento's finest movie not called Suspiria, Deep Red is an almost-masterpiece filled with wondeful giallo shocks. Argento, like Lynch and von Trier, excels mostly in producing singular moments, memorable scenes of extraordinary beauty and horror. If you pay too much attention to the actual plot, glaring cracks appear, so instead focus on those moments: the opening murder scene where shattered glass inevitably takes on a major role; the amazing art direction of the Hopper-Nighthawks inspired night club; and the crazy scene of the self-propelled cackling toy. Argento's masterfully suspenseful setups are as critical as his lovingly gore-filled murderous climaxes.

4 stars

Funny Games 1997 - Michael Haneke.

I loathed this movie. Really. I can't remember a movie I hated more. Haneke has created an anti-movie wrapped up as a home-invasion thriller that is a big F.U. to his audience. He essentially mocks his audience the whole way through - breaking down the 4th wall - goading them to examine why they are watching such perverse violence. Well you know what, I didn't make this meaningless violent dreck - you did. I hated everyone in the movie - the stupid family who deserved to die for their lack of survivor instincts (I mean please... PICK UP A FRIGGIN WEAPON ARE YOU KIDDING ME??!??!), the smug, cheeky lunatics whose faces I wanted to smash in, and even the dog who barks incessantly. Oh, isn't it clever when Haneke lets his sadistic killer pick up the remote and rewind the movie to change the outcome - yeah, watch this buddy as I fast forward through your movie so I can see if there is any point to this Brechtian meta masturbation. This is the only movie I can recall flipping the bird to as it painfully got to it's final shot. Let me outta here.

Haneke, please leave the big ideas to filmmakers who can handle it. If you want to watch a movie that deals with themes of violence in society and the media, do yourself a favor and watch something of value like A Clockwork Orange or Taxi Driver.

1 star (only because of the first act suspenseful buildup of the cheeky, ever-polite intruders)

Godzilla: Final Wars 2004 - (does it really matter?)

Step 1 - Connect PS3 player to Plasma screen
Step 2 - download Netflix Watch Instantly App to PS3
Step 3 - stream movies from your Netflix queue through the PS3 to your big-ass screen
Step 4 - pick out the loudest, biggest, Godzilla-est movie ever
Step 5 - tell your two kids they're gonna see something really cool
Step 6 - non-stop giant monster-on-monster action
Step 7 - happy kids
Step 8 - happy dad
Step 9 - do it again (what Godzilla movie are we watching next, Dad?)

3 stars

Your Worldview Terrifies Me: Se7en and the Four Shades of Horror

2010-11-09T17:20:00.000-08:00

When it came time to shoot the final scene of my short horror movie, Enter the Dark, I knew it had to have a certain tone. This dark ending had to deliver a crushing psychological blow, like the amazingly resonant movies of David Lynch - especially Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive.

A few days before shooting the final scene, I got this gnawing feeling that I needed watch Se7en, one of my all-time favorite films. As I sat in admiration of the incredible skill involved in that movie - the script, the acting, art direction, cinematography and of course, David Fincher's overall vision, I was mostly overcome by the absolute bleakness of its ending, and especially the amazing performance by Brad Pitt as he is forced to make an impossible decision with the realization that no matter what he does, evil has already won.

I knew I was watching the embodiment of what my ending had to be.

The night that we shot our ending, I had my actor, Charles step into my office, and we alone sat in the darkness and watched that ending of Se7en. Then we stepped into my hallway and shot our scene.

This got me thinking - what about this movie (Se7en) makes it so above the ordinary for me? Why does it emote such feelings of dread in me, while other so-called horror films seem so shallow. It struck me that in this movie, the key issue is that evil has already won. Throughout the film, Somerset tries to warn Mills that society is rotten to its core, but Mills only learns after he has paid the ultimate sacrifice.

To me, it is this pessimistic worldview that ultimately terrifies me. As I examined some of the films that have effected me the most, I realized that most of them contain elements of this same worldview. Extrapolating this further, I realized there are really four different worldviews that a horror movie (or any story, for that matter) can be set in. How a storyteller sees the world will greatly influence the shades of horror that he or she creates.

There are 4 primary worldviews: Light, Grey, Dark, and Empty. (I know these may sound silly - bear with me with the names, you'll see where I'm headed in a sec.)

-LIGHT - In this world, people are inherently good. The systems they create: Science, Education, Politics, The Media, The Police, The Military, The Church are all essentially good. Therefore, the world in which we live is essentially good. The occasional outbreaks of bad behaving people are anomalies that are swiftly and effectively dealt with by the systems we set up to protect us.

There is no evil - no monsters, no demons. There are simply misbehaving individuals that may have been damaged as children. Rehabilitation is always the best way to deal with misbehaving individuals. They can always be fixed - there is always a cure.

Good ultimately and always triumphs. The perfect refinement of our systems will ultimately lead to peace and nirvana.

-GREY - All people have good and evil within them. Who they become is determined by their upbringing, and ultimately their actions. Every one of us, every day by our own actions choose to be good or evil.

However, there definitely is real Evil in this worldview - some of which can never be rehabilitated. The systems we create may be corrupted by this evil and at times work against us. However, Good can always battle back when enough people band together to take a stand and fight against the exposed Evil.

The battle rages on...

-DARK - People are inherently selfish, greedy, violent, sadistic and destructive. The systems they create reflect their diseased state. Occasionally there may be glimpses of people who try to do good, but they are ultimately taken down by the true wretched state of mankind.

The systems we create perpetuate a vision that they are protecting us simply to keep us passive - like sheep being led to the slaughter.

Dystopia and destruction are the ultimate outcome.

-EMPTY - There is no good or evil, no right are wrong. Things just happen. There is no meaning.

The systems we create do what we tell them to - no more or no less.

In this Nihilistic vision, there is no final judgement -no God or Devil. What you do, how you treat your family, how you interact with the world matters not.

You are ultimately alone in the universe.

So, if we go back to my old pal, Se7en you might say that it lives squarely in the Dark worldview. I think that is what makes it so damn frightening to me. If you were to draw a graph (and you know how much I like graphs) and place Se7en on a spectrum from Light to Dark, you might see something like this:

Now, most films will not live entirely within one of these worldviews, but will tend to have elements of one or more. Looking at a bunch of my favorite movies, if I had a bunch of time to waste, I might graph them like this: (click on image to enlarge)

I find this to be an interesting way to look at movies, and horror movies in particular. You can see that most of my favorite movies tend to live in the areas of Dark or Empty, or some combo of both. You'll also notice that almost no horror films live in the Light worldview (no surprise there) so I added some stuff like E.T. and Care Bears Movie so you can see what would live there. And if anyone can find a movie that is both Light and Empty, please let me know. A happy, positively nihilistic film is something I'd like to see someone pull off - perhaps the ending of Life of Brian comes close??

Of course this is all open to interpretation, which is ultimately what makes it so interesting. So, I invite you to argue with me, make your own graphs, chart tv shows, books, comic books do whatever. It might help illuminate why you've always been attracted to or repelled by certain stories.

The question also becomes then, how do you view the world? Where would it be charted in the above graph? I think for me, I'd like to live in the Light world, but know that's a fairy tale. More and more, I'm convinced we live in a Grey world - somewhere between Grey and Empty. Yeah, we exist in a world somewhere between Alien and Jaws.

Heaven help us all...

Enter the Dark - updates

2010-11-02T18:33:00.000-07:00

First off I'm excited to report that Enter the Dark is now available via IndieFlix!

- $1.95 for 30-day stream

- $5.95 for a DVD that you can keep forever and use to scare your friends.

For anyone who has been under a rock for the last six months, Enter the Dark is a short horror movie that I wrote and directed (and edited and produced, yadaa yadaa...). It tells the story of two buddies who are led on an adventure of paranormal encounters: cold spots, an eerie talking children's book, unexplained apparitions and a final mystery that leads to an unforgettably disturbing ending.

Or something like that.

Yeah, I know it sounds a lot like Paranormal Activity, but trust me... it's a lot different. In a good way.

It has been getting some great buzz and positive reviews as it has made its way through the film festival circuit.

Speaking of which...

Enter the Dark will be playing at the Dark Carnival Film Festival, Saturday November 20th at 4:00 in lovely Bloomington, Indiana. It looks like a cool festival with none other than Joe Bob Briggs hosting this year's festivities. Joe Bob says check it out!

At that same festival, we have just been nominated for three awards:

- Best Short

- Best Editing

- Best Supporting Actor (my buddy, Rob Sandusky)

See, I told you we've been getting good buzz. Fingers crossed - hopefully we can bring home some hardware.

In other news, the team from Enter the Dark recently had a great time attending the screening at the Sacramento Horror Film Festival.


(L-R) Actor, Charles Yoakum, Writer/Director(and blogger)Todd Miró, Sound Recordist Ben Weiner & 2nd Unit DP/Assistant Cameraman Eduardo Silva outside the Sacramento Horror Film Festival

The festival was very well organized and we screened in a block of very good shorts, including the very funny, award-winning, The Familiar. Charles and I were able to do a little Q&A session with emcee, and filmmaker, Blake Reigle who had a tremendous knowledge of the horror genre and asked intelligent, and interesting questions.


Although I was nervous at first, Blake put me right at ease.


Charles has 'em cracking up as usual...

I was able to speak with some other attending filmmakers including James Tuverson (Zombies Take the School Yard), Matthew Roth (The Man Who Collected Food), and Producer Ethan Cushing (Devil's Creek). Needless to say the atmosphere and experience was much better than what happened to us in Chicago.

That's all for now from the indieworld!

Baseball - a Modern Solution

2010-10-29T12:11:00.000-07:00

Now that my home team, the San Francisco Giants are deep into the hysteria of the World Series, it takes me back to the last time they were in the series - 2002. Unlike this series, where an unlikely hero seemingly steps up each game for the Giants (Cody Ross, Freddie Sanchez, Edgar Renteria), in that series, the buzz was mostly around Barry Bonds, who had broken the single season record for home runs (73) the previous year.

Anyone who went through that season can remember what a bizarre summer it was. Bonds was chasing a mark just recently set by Mark McGwire in 1998, but nobody seemed to care. Unlike the record chasing season of 98, in which McGwire and Sosa captured the imagination of a nation, Bond's accomplishment seemed more like a begrudgingly forgone conclusion. The reason was simple.

Steriods.

Ken burns did a great job examining this complex issue in his recent update to his outstanding Baseball documentary - Baseball: the Tenth Inning.

Although it is clear now that McGuire and Sosa were obviously juiced during their amazing home run derby, the public was under a haze of denial. The story was too compelling to let shady accusations of drug use get in the way. Fans wanted heroes and they got them.

By 2002 however, things had changed. Accusations had become too many to overlook, and Bonds' sudden offensive explosion at the end of his career was too obvious to take at face value - not to mention his huge friggin' head! By the time Bonds went after the all-time career home run record in 2007 most of the country didn't want him to break it and the commissioner didn't even bother to attend the record-breaking game.

It was a strange time to be a Giants fan.

I never want any fan to have to go through that again. And I don't want any more Grand Jury or Senate inquisitions into the state of steroids in baseball, so I offer you a simple solution:

The Designated Steroids Hitter.

Think about it for a second. Wouldn't you love to see another season like 1998? Home runs jumping out of the ballparks. Previously scrawny utility infielders jacking obnoxiously huge bombs into center field. Endless hyped-up replays on ESPN. And all of it legal, out in the open and blessed by the league.

Here's how it works: Everyone on the team is drug-tested on the team except for one player. The Designated Steroids Hitter can do whatever he wants. Any kinda crazy souped-up concoctions dreamed up by Eastern European block countries in the 1980's are totally fine. Joe Canseco injections in bathroom stalls? - go for it! Cream & Clear? Bring em on! HGH? please, ingest 'em until you look like Andre the Giant. The more the merrier!

Then, once a batting order, you'll get to see some freakishly hulking michelin-man looking bobble-headed maniac jack impossibly long home runs into the feverishly screaming throngs of bleacher fans.

What could be more American than that?

Hey, I can dream can't I?...

Monsters - A Love Story

2010-10-25T13:38:00.000-07:00

There's been a lot of buzz recently about an amazing new indie monster movie called... well, Monsters.

The filmmaker, Gareth Edwards took two actors, two crew, a Sony EX3 HD camera and a whole lotta ingenuity to Mexico and Central America and shot a feature film for about $15,000 (if you believe the hype, that is). We'll never really know what the true budget was, but suffice it to say, the dude made a great looking monster movie entirely out of the studio system.

He also did all the the effects shots. By himself. On a PC.

Now, it helps that he happens to be a professional digital effects artist, so don't expect that you're going to buy Maya and After Effects and be able to replicate what he did on your own. But nonetheless, this homegrown movie looks almost as good as the big boys. Most of the fx shots are not even the obvious monster shots, but ones that take advantage of compositing elements in post-production that would normally have to be bought or rented for large sums of cash during production - things like signage, planes, tanks, and destroyed buildings.

As for the story itself, Monsters takes place in a post-alien infected world where a large chunk of Mexico has been quarantined while the military does battle with the creatures. The story follows two people as they try to get across the "Infected Zone" of Mexico, back to the good ol' USA. It's a simple road movie, with the occasional monster thrown in. At it's best, Monsters reminds me of elements of Cloverfield, Children of Men, District 9 and Jurassic Park. Its cinema verite feel lulls us into a sense of psuedo-reality which makes the occasional monster interactions that much more intense. The movie's unavoidable political undertones regarding immigration and the U.S. military add a nice touch of depth without overtaking the plot.

The film this movie really wants to be however, is Before Sunrise - two unlikely people forced to spend time together while they wait around, banter and take in the scenery. Now that's not necessarily a bad thing, except that in Monsters... well, the dang thing is called Monsters and there really isn't much of them in this movie. The story only really gets going when they finally enter the "Infected Zone", and honestly it should have just started there and developed their relationship as they went along. The other issue is that the characters are just not very interesting, and their performances are just kinda flat for the most part. For an intimate road movie like this, the audience needs to fall in love with the characters as they inevitably do each other. If you watch interviews with Gareth, you will discover that much of the scenes were shot in an ad hoc improvised method, and unfortunately, it shows.

And please don't get me started on the character design of the monsters themselves (an issue I also had with Cloverfield) - I had hoped to see something a little more original than giant walking octopi.

I really wanted to love this movie - but in the end it's a near-miss for me. I think I like the idea of it more than the actual finished movie.

Overall, I'd say that Monsters represents a great example of the new leverage of digital indie filmmaking - being able to do so much with so little. The movie is very well-made, with a great idea and some very cool scenes. I loved the verite approach and the attention to detail. I just wish Gareth Edwards had spent a bit more time in the script writing phase to develop his characters and allow his story to live up to his amazing technical achievements.

Monsters is available now on Comcast OnDemand, and also iTunes. It will be in limited release in theaters starting Oct 29. Check it out, but just be aware that you won't be in for 90 minutes of monster mayhem. This is a quiet, reflective movie that gets under your skin and answers the question, do giant alien octopi have feelings too?

Disobedience is Good - Two thoughts to live by

2010-10-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

When I was growing up, I was taught to pay attention to rules; to ask before you do something; to try your best at what you do before you finish it; and these simple rules helped me to succeed in school, and I assumed they would lead to success in life.

Boy, was I ever wrong.

In the dog-eat-dog reality of the grown-up world, those who succeed are rarely those who wait for permission, or who do the most thorough job. The winners are more often those who seize the moment, take action and get things done.

In the last couple of years, as I've tried to make a course correction in my own life and strive to make a name for myself as a filmmaker, I've had to fight against some of my ingrained tendencies in order to succeed. Through this process I discovered two thoughts to live by that have helped me immeasurably:

1) Ask for forgiveness, not permission.

As children, we are constantly reminded to follow the rules, ask before you do something - look to those in power for confirmation. We look to our parents, teachers, coaches and later, our bosses asking them, "Is it okay if I do this?" While this is good behavior as a child, it is not useful as an adult.

As an adult, this puts you at the whim of incompetent bosses, and arcane rules. Yes, obviously you shouldn't break the law, but short of that, everything else is up for negotiation. If you wait around and ask for permission to do something, the stock answer is almost always NO. You will need to get around many NOs to succeed in what you want to do, whether that's make a movie, start a business, or plan a vacation. Why place more phantom NOs in your way? You're a grown-up now - make a reasoned decision and take action. If someone doesn't like it, ask for forgiveness after the fact. More often, however you won't even have to ask for forgiveness as your actions will have proved that you were right.

2) Ready, Fire, Aim!

This was a huge one for me to overcome. I am a natural perfectionist, which is what makes me a good editor. I am paid to notice an edit that's 2 frames off, or a logo that should be eight pixels to the left. However, as someone who is now trying to get my own projects done, this tendency can be crippling.

My natural tendency is to want everything to be perfect before I can accept it and send it out into the world - whether that's a movie, a business idea, or even a blog-post. The problem with this however, is that those who get things done are rewarded more than those who do it better, but who take too long. The lesson for me is that good enough is good enough!

I spent many years coming up with ideas for movies, web sites and products and never finished a single one of them. I would always be crushed under the weight of my own expectations - if it wasn't perfect, it wasn't worth doing. I never wanted to hand in B- work, when I knew I could do an A. But, you know what I realized? The world gets by on B- work. Heck, most people can barely do C level work, anything more than that looks like friggin genius level!

What Ready Fire, Aim! taught me is to do a good-enough job, get it done, get it out there, and make course corrections on the fly. This is how the world really works. Ever wonder why it seems you're always Beta testing software that you have bought? That's because you ARE! The software developer is fine-tuning their product with your help - yup, Ready, Fire, Aim!

When I made Enter the Dark, my main priority was to actually finally finish something. I had to let go of a lot of things in order to do that. One of them was my fear of rejection and putting something out there that wasn't perfect. What I learned however, is that the process of completing this project, of making the movie, submitting to festivals, getting reviews, making connections, is WAY more important than having a finished perfect movie. Enter the Dark is not perfect - far from it. If I were to grade it, I'd probably give it a B. But you know what, it's done, it's out there and I learned tons from the experience. And people seem to like it.

Warts and all.

(p.s. - I'm going to post this blogpost without spell-checking it... so there!)

Enter the Dark - Reality Check

2010-10-05T11:16:00.000-07:00

First the good news - my short horror movie, Enter the Dark will be playing at the Sacramento Horror Film Festival, Friday, Oct 22nd as part of their shorts program that starts at 5:00. Myself, my wife and a number of folks who worked on the movie will be caravanning up to Sac to enjoy the evening. If you are in the area, please stop on by!

I know there has been a lot of Enter the Dark news of late and I never intended for this blog to become just a marketing machine for my indie movies, but that's what my brain has been wrapped around for the last few months. My intent was always to present my honest opinion of things that interest me, and right now that's been writing, shooting, editing, and now screening my horror movie. I've tried to give you a little insight into that process, and into the indie scene in general.

Enter the Dark has been fortunate to have been selected by three film festivals and has had a number of positive reviews so far, but as with everything in life, that is not the whole story. I give you now the complete unadulterated truth that most filmmakers will try to hide.

First, the festivals. Everyone loves to put those laurels on their movie poster and webpage, but what most filmmakers won't tell you is how many festivals they did not get into. Here's the deal:

Of the ten festivals that I've entered and have made their selections so far, seven of those have said no to us. That means that 70% of the festivals that saw our movie, for whatever reason did not have a place for it in their lineup. Was our movie poorly made, misunderstood, or did it just not fit into that festival's focus this year? We'll never know - no one ever says. As a filmmaker you just have to keep plugging along and be happy that any festival has selected it - that someone has given it a home.

I have yet to hear from six other festivals that I've entered, and I'll probably enter in at least 15 more within the next year. My total expenses for entering into festivals will run over $1,200 (entry fees, postage, DVDs) and if I'm lucky enough to get selected and decide to attend any of those festivals I will incur further expenses - travel, hotel, printing of posters, t-shirts, post cards, business cards, and making Blu Ray discs or HDCAM masters for the screening.

We've had seven reviews of the movie from horror blogs so far and none of them has hated the movie. This is a good thing. I've been able to pull impressive quotes from almost all of the reviews that make the movie seem like the best thing since Citizen Kane. This, of course is not the whole truth. I artfully omit all the less-than glowing parts of the reviews and focus on the one or two lines that will help to sell the movie. Everyone does this. The more ellipses you see in a blurb (you know, those magic three dots), like "...the best...thing...since... sliced... bread!", the more the marketing team has had to struggle to carve a semi-positive remark from a scathing review.

However, in the indie scene there is a kind of unwritten rule that most reviewers rarely will write a really bad review for an indie filmmaker. Most of the times if they hate it, they just won't post a review at all. That way, the filmmaker won't have a permanent Google trail of someone completely bashing their home-made little movie. If your movie is lucky enough to get onto Netflix or Amazon or iTunes however, watch out - the kid gloves come off. Now, it's the reverse - if someone likes your movie, they probably won't take the time to post a review, but if for whatever reason they hate it, they will take extra glee in savaging it in the most hateful way possible. And now that putrid pile of regurgitated hate is there for all to see. Forever.

I approached 22 horror sites and blogs to see if they would be interested in reviewing Enter the Dark. Of those, 10 asked to see a screener, and of those, 7 posted reviews. So, 3 reviewers looked at the movie and never posted anything. Did they forget to watch it? Did they hate it? Did they forget to post a review? I'll never know. I do think getting 10 out of 22 to even respond to me is pretty good, and is mostly due to the fact that I had a track record, having edited and produced The Commune, which many of them had previously reviewed.

This brings me to my recent trip to Chicago, to attend the world premiere (I know, that sounds so impressive) of Enter the Dark with my good friend and co-star of the movie, Charles Yoakum. Originally, I had no intention of going to Chicago to see the premiere - it just was not within my budget, and I hoped our film would at some point play closer to home where all of us who had worked on it could attend. This is where the amazing interconnectedness of today's social networking stepped in.

A person I had met only once, maybe ten years ago, who was a friend of a friend, saw my posting of the Chicago premiere on my friend's Facebook page and insisted that I had to go. She was so inspired by my little movie actually making it to a festival that she offered to donate her airline miles so that I could make the trip from the west coast. Wow. I was overwhelmed - how could I say no to her amazingly generous offer. So I asked Charles if he wanted to go and he said "Heck Yeah!", or something like that, and before I knew it, we had landed in Chicago.

(yup - that's Chicago...)

To be entirely honest, some of my reluctance in going to Chicago in the first place, was that I just had a weird feeling about the festival. The website looked good, the lineup of movies looked good, but there didn't seem to be a lot of attention to the filmmakers. I had emailed them when I found out that we would be flying out, and asked them about recommendations on where to stay or eat in the area and got no response. Some festivals are clearly set up as a vehicle for the filmmakers to meet their audience, talk about their film, meet other filmmakers and network with distributors, while other festivals are clearly set up as fun events for the audience - the films just a part of an overall atmosphere that also includes horror-themed contests and other activities. This festival was feeling like latter.

I kinda knew we were in trouble when at dinner, a couple of blocks away from the theater where our movie was going to premiere that evening, our waiter noticed Charles and I wearing our Enter the Dark t-shirts and asked what was up. When we mentioned that we had a short film in the nearby festival, he had no idea what festival we were talking about. Not good. He did however make our night as he kept asking more and more questions about our movie, and then when he realized we had flew out all the way from the west coast he remarked, "Wow - you guys are living the dream - congratulations!" It's small moments like these that sometimes make everything worth it.

As we approached the Portage theater on a Sunday evening just before 8:00, I was aware of a notable lack of people buzzing around. I wanted to arrive a couple of hours before our movie screened to watch a number of the other films in the fest and check everything out. However, when we entered the newly renovated theater, my stomach dropped. In an old venue that holds almost 2,000, I would say there were 30 or so folks scattered around, politely listening to an ongoing auction of horror-themed items. The sound was echoing off the walls of the almost-empty theater. Gulp.

There was nothing for us to do but settle in and hope some more folks arrived by the time our movie screened. The auction ended and they rolled into a feature-length movie and I realized the fest was running late - maybe 40 minutes late. After that movie ended, about ten people in front of us got up and left - I realized they were there just to see that film - probably the filmmakers and their friends. The emcee of the event got up on stage to announce that he really wasn't sure what was coming up next... did anyone in the audience have a schedule handy? Then someone in the audience shouted out the name of the movie that was to screen after ours and the emcee mentioned that since they were running late - maybe that was up next.

That was when I almost lost it. I could handle the lack of marketing, the lack of organization, the lack of an audience, but not this. We had come all this way across the country to see our movie premiere up on the big screen and you're telling me you're going to skip over it to save some time?? NO FRIGGING WAY! I got up and started walking back to talk to someone in charge (if there was any), when they started rolling the movie just before ours. Ok, I realized, our movie should be next. I settled back down next to Charles trying to remain calm.

(Enter the Dark up on the ol' big screen.)

I'm here to say that yes, our film did eventually roll up on the big screen, and the 30 or so folks that saw it actually seemed to enjoy it. They laughed at the right moments, got quiet at the right moments, and two folks audibly jumped at the climatic ending or our movie - it worked. Once that happened, everything else was quickly forgotten. I had no control over the festival - no control over how many people were there - I only had control over my little movie, and in front of a real live audience, my little vision was working. It was all worth it.

So that's the hard truth. Things are never as clear-cut as they may seem, but sometimes in the end, they work out just fine.

(Charles and Todd after the event - geez, what's the deal with the dress-code?)

Into The Abyss

What I learned from the festival circuit

Rhinos' Flight

Halloween treats for all!

Happy Halloween! To celebrate the day when the dead walk amongst the living, I've posted my award-winning horror short film, Enter the Dark on YouTube and Vimeo for all to enjoy absolutely free. Just make sure to watch it fullscreen. At night. With the lights off!

...and remember please, please, take out all batteries from children's toys when not in use. They really can be quite a nuisance when taken over by evil spirits. You'll thank be later.

Trust me.

Enter the Dark's FREE Online Halloween Premiere

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Enter the Dark summer updates

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The Hubris of Apple

Everything is Possible but Nothing is Real

Another Hole in the Head

Exclusive Interview with Chauntal Lewis, Star of Toolbox Murders 2

The Next One...

Insidious - An Empty Shell of a Movie

New Horror Society Review - Kill Devil Hill

What is a Horror Movie?

Watch Enter the Dark for FREE

The Feed Review

Enter the Dark - World Tour 2011

FantAsian: Fantasy Films by Asian Women Invade March 6th BleedFest!

If I Picked the Oscars - Part 2

If I Picked the Oscars

Enter the Dark Updates

Bleedfest needs your help!

Inside a color grading session

Red State: Kevin Smith Discovers 21st Century Indie Filmmaking

Golden Globes - quick hits

Devil - review with Horror Society

The Black Pit of Mental Illness... er Swan

Miro Digital Arts - Shameless Plug Time

Best Horror Movies of the Decade

Best TV Shows of the Decade

Enter the Dark - Updates

Teal & Orange Holiday Edition

Winter's Bone - a triumphant win of silence over car crashes

Goodfellas - sort of

Enter the Dark - Updates

Netflix Short Takes

Your Worldview Terrifies Me: Se7en and the Four Shades of Horror

Enter the Dark - updates

Baseball - a Modern Solution

Monsters - A Love Story

Disobedience is Good - Two thoughts to live by

Enter the Dark - Reality Check

Happy Halloween! To celebrate the day when the dead walk amongst the living, I've posted my award-winning horror short film, Enter the Dark on YouTube and Vimeo for all to enjoy absolutely free.

Just make sure to watch it fullscreen. At night. With the lights off!