The Next One...

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

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

A nasty little satanic horror short to check out:

What is a Horror Movie?

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.

Watch Enter the Dark for FREE

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

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

Enter the Dark - World Tour 2011

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...