Guerilla Filmmaking, or Filmmaking Gorilla?

Placeholders Ep 2, top 10 lists, and some Zacuto gear reviewed!

2012-01-19T06:52:00.001-08:00

A three-parter today. I'm apparently going from zero to sixty in the blogging world again. I'll shoot by the first couple rather quickly.

First off, Placeholders - Episode 2 is up over at Atom.com! Go check it out...it's where the foundation REALLY starts to get poured down for the wackiness we'll be building over the course of the rest of the episodes. Really like how this one came together, and think all the gags still work. And of course, it's great to see Debbie fully inhabit the Carla role. Can't wait for that arc to play out...bwa ha ha. Also, Fangoria did a nice write up on Placeholders, which you can read here. Thanks, Fango!

Secondly, quite a few folks recently (for whatever reason, independently of one another) have asked me what my favorite horror films are. I've also been revisiting Stephen King's Danse Macabre lately...so I'm in that "list your personal faves" kind of mood. Here's my top 10:

A Nightmare on Elm Street

From Beyond

Hellraiser

The Shining

The Fly (Cronenberg)

Halloween

Fright Night

Poltergeist

Night Of The Creeps

Return of the Living Dead

Psycho, Scanners, Videodrome, and Ghost Story get honorable mentions as they can creep in there depending on my mood. All hold a special place in my heart.

I guess since I'm doing that for horror, I should probably do the same for comedy, what with Placeholders and all. So...here's the personal fave comedy list.

Ghostbusters

This Is Spinal Tap

Beverly Hills Cop (though I actually consider it more an action film w/funny moments, still...banana in the tailpipe, laymon tweest, etc.)

The Blues Brothers

The Jerk

Animal House

The 40 Year Old Virgin (trust me, I was as surprised then as you are now)

South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut

Amelie

Shaun of the Dead

Honorable mentions this time are Better off Dead, Grosse Pointe Blank (again, that's a BH Cop situation), Airplane!, and The Naked Gun.

So there you have it. All my inner cinematic workings laid bare. Now I can just get lazy and hand folks a business card with a link when they ask me these questions.

GEAR REVIEW: ZACUTO CROSS FIRE, Z-FINDER, EVF FLIP

Now that Episode 2 of Placeholders is up (see above), I feel like the time is right to go ahead and post these revi

ews and pics of the Zacuto gear that we used on that part of the shoot. Mostly used during the shoots for Placeholders episodes 2, 3, and 4, the Cross Fire, Z-Finder, and EVF Flip are all camera support elements geared toward making "film-style" DSLR shooting easier.

Let me backtrack a little first to give some context. I'm 35, and went through film school in the late 90's/early 00's. As a result, the first several projects I worked on for other folks were shot on film. The first few things I did personally were shot on film. My shoulder has been home to quite a few Arri 16-BL's and even a 35-BL a time or two (it might have actually been a 35-3, I don't remember. Ah, youth. :) At any rate, coming up through film school, commercial production, a few feature film and music video sets, I was used to lugging those big bastards around on my body. Even when I began working at the public access station and using THAT equipment, it didn't stray far from the the paradigm, as things back then were still shot using heavy, unwieldy 3/4" ENG kits. Obviously, my point here is that during my formative cameraman/DP/operator years, I got used to the weight, the eyeline, and the grip stature that came from handling those monstrous cameras.

Of course, the digital revolution happened, and I've since done or produced projects that were shot on everything from the Canon GL1 to the RED, and everything in between. But - it is important to note that about 80 percent of those times, I wasn't the one shooting the thing. On the off chance that I personally had to operate camera on second unit or pickups, I would rarely shoot handheld. If I tried it (mostly with a DVX, XH-A1, or HVX), I would instantly become uncomfortable with the "feel" and I was never terribly happy with my results afterward. Usually I'd lock things off on a tripod and shoot that way, unless the handheld approach absolutely HAD to happen for the shot. Long story short...I really didn't (still don't) like shooting things that way with small cameras.

Of course, once the decision was made to shoot Placeholders on a Canon 7D, I got even more sketched out about going handheld for the episodes I directed (I served as camera op/DP on those as well). Add to this the fact that I was still pretty resistant to DSLR shooting overall (insert whatever archaic, inflexible motives you wish to here...you honestly probably aren't too far off-base), and...well, let's just say I was somewhat worried going into the shoot.

The Zacuto gear assuaged my fear in literally a manner of minutes. First up was the Cross Fire apparatus alone, as a few of the shots we had planned required the use of an on-camera light (as shown in the pic above). Once we got the camera set up and ready to rock on the Cross Fire...I honestly didn't want to put the damn thing back on the tripod. The weight, functionality, grip placement and adjustable points of articulation were all where they needed to be and easy

to tweak to my frame. After I had my setup "dialed in", I found myself being able to go for pretty long stretches of shooting without any issues or fatigue. In the past, I've had shoulder and ba

ck pain set in pretty quick with similar rigs...not so with the Cross Fire. As a result, we were able to positively blaze through our second and fourth episodes (which, thanks to Zacuto, now included about 90% handheld footage). I strongly believe that those aforementioned extra points of adjustment make all the difference...you can really micromanage the architecture of the Cross Fire to fit your exact personal comfort level, rather than just maybe getting in the ballpark.

I must admit to some level of skepticism when setting up the strap-on follow focus portion of the Cross Fire (I felt like there was too much slack in the Zip Gear...admittedly, this was probably due to a fair amount of "operator error" on my part), but when everything was set up and ready to go...no issues whatsoever. Actually, the rig worked so well that I came up with a few complicated multi-focus-pull shots on the fly...and knocked them out with no issues. Bottom line: the Zacuto Cross Fire very quickly became an integral part of our production strategy. A highly recommended piece of gear.

I found myself using the Zacuto EVF Flip and Z-Finder a little less frequently - again, the blame lies all on me and my bad habits - but I absolutely made a point to bring them both into the game whenever I found myself fairly awash in light (due to the lighting design, it happened a lot - especially in Episode 4 where operating production lights were actually part of the set dressing). The difference was as drastic as you can imagine...they really took the guesswork out of exposure and focusing. Color and tonal representation were extremely true (to these tired eyes, at least), and the ability to offset the apparatus in nearly any position (thanks to that lovely Zacuto articulation) and the oversized eyecup really added to the comfort factor. Also, did I mention that the EVF Flip uses a standard DLSR battery? Freaking awesome.

During the shoots for Episode 3 (which I didn't direct), I noted that my colleague, Chris Warren (pictured above) almost exclusively went with the "Z-Finder on camera body" configuration, since most of Ep 3 was shot on sticks. He apparently loved it, and I noticed that the Z-Finder aided considerably in the composition and execution of the shots that day. Of course, being in the role of "Producer" as I was for E3, my senses were heightened for such things.

In summation - Zacuto makes really, really good stuff. I'd actually go so far as to call it an indispensable part of the DSLR shooter's repertoire...especially if you're looking to step your game up to more professional, cinematic levels. Speaking of stepping up the game...check out the Scorpion rig that Zacuto has recently unleashed. Gives me chills.

Well...that's it for now. I'm sure I'll be back soon as there's a TON of stuff going on right now (Soon, Imago, Placeholders, some others). And for those wondering, Placeholders Episode 3 will hit the web the second week of February! In the meantime, show your friends Episode 1 and 2 all over again!

- Mel

PLACEHOLDERS are go!

2012-01-15T16:02:00.001-08:00

If you missed it, the first episode of Placeholders is up over at Comedy Central's Atom.com. So far the response has been quite positive...so much so that I decided to put up Episode 2 early if we could get E1 up to 500 views. Looks like we'll hit that mark tonight (Sunday) or tomorrow...so get ready for Placeholders Episode 2 to hit the net soon. Additionally, this week we're starting our press push to get the word out on a wider scale, so look for some Placeholders related news items, some new poster art, and maybe a cast interview or two. I'll put up links here and on the Upstart site as they come in.

Thanks for your support, everyone! This crazy comedy "experiment" is turning out to be a whole lot of fun. Looking forward to playing in this sandbox a little more.

Oh, and if you don't already, please follow Placeholders' own Stephanie Stone on Twitter!

PLACEHOLDERS et al...but mostly PLACEHOLDERS

2012-01-08T20:23:00.000-08:00

Here we are again, at probably the weirdest, most surreal personal timeframe since I started this blog. Lots of reasons why that is, all of which will probably become clear over the next few months. Chief among them is the small human growing within my wife's womb.

Crazy. So yeah, that particular project has a release date of 8/5/12. [pauses for nervous puking].

Meanwhile, in addition to the various movie things (Soon (pre-pro), Experiment (foreign), Imago (post-pro)) we've been busy working to finish our comedy webseries, Placeholders. Yes, you read that correctly. Comedy. With minimal horror incursions (though they are indeed there). For those that haven't heard of it yet, Placeholders focuses on the producers providing content to Channel 19, the (fictional) local public access station. We've got an everyman, a preacher, a racist, a gun nut, an animal rights activist, a wannabe actress/model, a sexually aggressive administrator, a porn guy, some Russian mobsters, a guy with half a face...suffice to say, it's pretty wacky. It also provides me a chance to gain some catharsis by using a lot of my crappy film experiences (and the crappy people I've met during same) as comedic fodder. What, me use autobiographical stuff in a script? Yeah, I guess it's to be expected at this point.

Placeholders is also a pretty fun project in that we had several guest directors join us for the run. Besides myself, Robert Luke, Jerry Ochoa, Carlos Tovar, James LaMarr, Cliff Holverson, and Chris Warren each took the reins for an episode at one point or another. I've seen most of them all, and yeah...I can't wait. The cast (comprised of TONS of folks we'd worked with already in some form or another, plus some awesome new discoveries) really knocks it out of the park in the hilarity department. Enough talking...why don't I just show you? Here's a playlist of a bunch of teaser clips from the series.

Stay tuned for info on the Placeholders series premiere, which is going live this week. And keep checking back for more blogs as we release the episodes...we had a few generous production equipment vendors hook us up with some gear during the Placeholders shoot. Now I have to review it :). Shouldn't be hard, as it all made my on-set life much simpler.

More news on the other projects coming up soon, but in short: we're working on closing a couple foreign Experiment deals, we're doing a bunch of Imago ADR/sound mix stuff on the Left Coast soon, and we've got some stuff happening with Soon/Light that we just can't wait to share. Busy over here, as always. Back shortly with more!

XXXV

2011-12-27T07:54:00.000-08:00

Well, here we are at another 12/27. I'm now 35 years old. 34 was crazy. Mostly good crazy, as the previous blog entry pointed out. Actually, since my birthday falls pretty much at the end of the year, I was going to do a yearly wrap-up catch all thing...but that last blog kind of covered it all, I guess. Since then, Fangoria #309 has hit the stands - that issue features an awesome write up on Psychic Experiment by our own Debbie Rochon - but other than that, I think I hit all the main bullet points last time...at least the ones I can talk about right now.

So yeah, looking forward, in abstract, the next year is going to be pretty nutso as well. Something tells me that this time next year will find us in a drastically different place - not only because we'll be parents by then, but for lots of other reasons too. Interested to see where it all takes us, and excited for the surprises. I've already set some wacky shit in motion that I'm seeing through this week...so the sea change may come sooner than anticipated.

Almost forgot: Psychic Experiment cracked the top 1000 on IMDb last week, coming in at #968 in popularity. It's still there as of this week's update (coming in at #982). Awesome...thanks to everyone for their support, purchases, rentals, recommendations, remote-button-pushes, etc. We/I appreciate all of it.

Stay tuned for the opening salvo from the next chapter. :)

The lead made us all go insane.

2011-12-11T09:50:00.000-08:00

Well, here I am again after another extended absence. Fitting, I guess, since I'm creeping up on my 35th year here as well as the final several months of "not being a father" (more on that later)...as well as a crapload of other stuff. Some good, some not-so-good, but all valuable experiences. Of course, now I have the semi-daunting task of trying to encapsulate the last year - easily the most eventful one of my adult life - into one blog entry. So, yeah, it's probably gonna be long and rambling. Moving forward, I'm making a solemn vow to try and update with more regularity as in the "old days"...I've got lots of reasons to get back on the blogging horse, not least of which are a few awesome sponsorships/equipment loans requiring me to talk at length about their stuff in an online venue. (side note: Hi, Zacuto!)

Anyway, here we go, along with the candor you're all used to on this blog. Actually probably more so...if anything, I've become even more jaded over the last year, and now give way less fucks than I ever have up to this point in my life. Don't misunderstand that or misconstrue what I'm saying...I'm actually the happiest I've ever been in my adult life (probably a direct result of less giving of fucks).

Anyway, I guess if there were a greatest hits (and misses) tracklist of the past year it would go like this:

1. Psychic Experiment (then still known as Walking Distance) picked up by Lionsgate.

2. Bunch of Psychic Experiment screenings around the U.S. and the world (still screening in it's Walking Distance 120-minute form).

3. Began re-edit/rescore of Walking Distance to create the 90 minute Psychic Experiment version.

4. Started proactively dealing with some shady film bullshit (sound familiar?) and threatened to sue over same (also sound familiar?) - (also dubbed the "Melpocalypse"). No reason to hide it, I'm talking about Sweatshop.

5. Texas Frightmare Weekend 2011 - best showing ever for us in spite of (or perhaps because of) the above. Fulfilled a lifelong dream there (that bore fruit a few weeks later). Actually received my Sweatshop investment back. Shit pants, pinched self several times, checked for flying pigs and whether gravity still was, you know, gravity-ing.

6. Got involved with a couple of film projects that didn't happen for one reason or another. So if you're wondering about Holy Oak, it's dead.

7. Finally finished the Soon, A Light On script, promptly got it into the hands of my hero, and started the wheels rolling on that one.

8. Was encouraged (as a filmmaker who's "making things happen") to apply for a Texas Filmmaker's Production Fund grant to finish up Imago post. (Long story, but we're currently self-financing to cover an investor gap). Got totally denied for ANY funds. Here's who they did fund. Draw your own conclusions. To be fair, one of the judges DID note that I lacked the skills to actually produce results. Please see numbers 1, 3, 4, 9, and 13.

9. Completed delivery of Distance (now Psychic Experiment) to Lionsgate. Saw my first big studio box art and MPAA red band, "legit" trailer. Nearly cried. They would have been highly acidic man-tears, of course, but still.

10. Started a web comedy series called Placeholders that's turning out to be great fun. Making sure to rip on all the stuff and folks that I've bitched about thus far, including number 11 there.

11. Throughout all that, started getting pretty hardline about taking bullshit from folks. Finally cut a lot of negative influences out of my life, both professionally and personally. Seriously, fuck that noise. The TFPF debacle helped me "see the light" as well - I had been deluded into thinking that the support net for an...Upstart like me might actually exist, especially since I'd done most of the heavy lifting (so to speak) myself. But no, things are no different from the elitist bullshit and cinematic vaporware worship which I experienced back in the late 90's when I got started doing this. I could bring up so many projects that were supposed to be awesome, that would "change the landscape of local film"...that actually never happened - but I kinda lost count. Needless to say, these Films That Never Were have gotten WAY more local press/support than Distance/Experiment ever did. Cut to now. That sound you hear is me, laughing like a hyena sprayed with Joker Venom. Anyway, that one got a little ranty. Back to the positive tip:

12. Received an awesome voicemail (and a few follow-up phone calls) from the Springwood Slasher himself.

13. Psychic Experiment released on DVD 12/6/2011. Available damn near everywhere, including big box retailers, streaming, On Demand services, Blockbuster video, Netflix, etc.

There's more than that, but I'll keep it at lucky 13 for now. It's funny - I'm not very open about most of that stuff (might have something to do with the fact that my blog has lay dormant for a while now), and I guess since all folks see is the "positive news/promotional excitement" thing on Twitter or Facebook, they get the impression that I'm an egomaniac who thinks his shit doesn't stink, a deluded asshole, or both. Actually one of the people I've cut ties with accused me of getting my figurative dick sucked constantly in this town (Houston, if you don't know) - which couldn't be farther from the truth. I've got a movie in wide release, and I get more press from NY/LA and fucking Europe than I do in my home town...or state, for that matter. More support, too. Even the people that work for or with me go off on regular stretches where they think I'm crazy and totally full of shit. My wife included. That's not a dig on them, it's just the reality of the situation, and a reflection of the hard lifestyle choices one has to make to get to this point. Don't get me wrong, I have had TONS of support from cast and crew involved with the various projects...but there are just as many times (if not more) where I am out on a limb totally alone. The hard times, after the fun of the big crazy weekend shoot is over. The limb may be creative, financial, or just psychological...but it's a realization that's stuck with me and settled in pretty hard this year. Could be a result of having to repeatedly defend myself from all kinds of bullshit over the years, from Generic Records to the Access television show to Witchcraft to Closet Space to Distance/Experiment. It's a battle. It's a fucking war, sometimes. That's a pretty well worn metaphor for filmmaking, but it is one of the most apt I've ever heard. Blood is shed. People desert, change sides, die in the crossfire. But as Chuck Russell (Nightmare 3, Scorpion King) once said: "my definition of 'Director' is the last man standing."

Anyway, that was a little ranty, too, but I needed to put that out there. Lately, I've been doing a lot of informal speaking engagements at film school programs and it seems that people respond most to my honesty. Well, that and my winning smile. So, I'm trying to be honest here as well - it ain't all red carpet premieres and Facebook fan pages, trailers, lattes, and an assistant. And it's not going to be just like all the books you read, or special features you watched, or articles you found on Wikipedia. And it's surely NOTHING like the view you've gotten from behind your desk preparing your business packet and reading Syd Field, or the limited field of view you got during your PA position on Kickboxer 7. (Disclaimer: I'm pulling this out of my ass, but if there is a Kickboxer 7, I'm sure it's awesome, especially if Sasha Mitchell returns to whup more Tong Po ass). It's a dirty, tiring, thankless business with a lot of casualties. But I'm making my way through the pile of bodies one project at a time. And if you think I'm doing it the wrong way (despite some pretty cool results/returns to the contrary), feel free to blaze your own trail. Just know that you might have to gnaw through a corpse or two on the way out.

At any rate, as mentioned above, we are just on the other side of the biggest movie thing I've done thus far - the Psychic Experiment release. I still don't think the enormity of it all has entirely sunk in (I actually think that will happen once the first sizable chunk of money arrives). It's available damn near everywhere - even on your DirecTV boxes. Fucking weird, man. Really fucking weird. Of course, I'm beyond happy and excited, but the reality of the situation is...well, what's next? Where do we go from here? I'm insanely proud of Experiment, but for me (especially lately) this is a stepping stone, a beachhead from which to launch the next campaign. I'm sure living with the film for 3.5 years helped that "disconnect" process along somewhat, but I remember it happening with Closet Space to some extent as well. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the fact that I've done a LOT of growing up in the years since I began the script back in college, and also via the lessons learned during the film production and sales process. And some of the Imago hard knocks as well. So yeah - totally enjoying the Psychic Experiment moments, but priming for the next journey from a better tactical position as well.

That next journey looks to be Soon, A Light On, which I think I mentioned in my last blog entry. It's my "old school ghost story". We hope to start in the spring, and we have a BAD ASS cast and crew attached thus far - with hopefully more on the way. Wish I could say more at this point, but yeah...dream project. Emphasis on dream. More as we can reveal it, but you know, hints are around if you know where to look. :) Shooting this one in New Orleans, and happy to give THAT city the $1 million USD injection that Houston and Texas apparently don't want from my no-account, indie horror directing, doesn't play well with others (when the others are full of shit) self. Real Talk.

Somehow, in the interim, we started up production on a comedy web series titled Placeholders. The series takes place in and around a public access station, much like the one I worked at here in Houston. Of course, it's populated with the same types of wacky characters as well. There's also a healthy dose of what I've come to term "cine-hatred". Pretty sure you know what I mean by that if you've read this far. It's been great fun, VERY cathartic, and it's also been a good opportunity to involve other folks as directors on varying episodes - which is turning out to be a pretty successful experiment thus far. Look for Placeholders to launch before the end of the year.

There's tons more to say (some spec scripts I'm working on, our impending move elsewhere), but we'll get to the rest later as we finish Imago, launch Placeholders, and start Soon, but I'll go ahead and wrap this one up with inarguably the biggest news of the year - Melanie and I are with child. Yep, the Houses are pregnant, and it looks like I'll be a father before I turn 36. So...I guess I better enjoy this Christmas and birthday as it will probably be the last purely selfish one I have for myself. Paintball/Fogo De Chao/Comic book run, anyone?

2010-09-14T20:26:00.000-07:00

Wow, I guess I really let the dust gather over here, huh? I think the issue is not entirely my fault - Facebook and Twitter have evolved in such a way as to allow us to dole out "blogstuff" in small slices now, so it generally feels like there's no need to ramble on for an extended period of e-time. I can get my pissing, moaning, and rancor out in small bursts - not entirely unlike "suppressing fire".

Sometimes, though, you need to empty the clip and lob a couple of grenades. Maybe even attach some explosive to a computer monitor and hurl it down an elevator shaft.

Which is to say...today deserves a full frontal blogging of the highest order. Let's see if I can try and hit the major points without forgetting anything.

I guess first off, and of most "immediate importance" - as of today,Closet Space has finally been released in the U.S. Big thanks to our new compatriots at R-Squared Films for helping us get it out there. Head over to the website, and click on the News page to get ordering links - it's currently available online at Best Buy, F.Y.E./Suncoast, Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, and a few others that I'm probably forgetting. We're looking at putting up some "special packages" on the website in the next few days that will include more than just the movie. We also have a few theatrical/special event screenings set up, starting this weekend with the Week Of Terror event in Cupertino, CA. After that, Space will be screening at the Sacramento Sci-Fi and Horror Show the weekend of 9/25-26, then the Week of Terror hits the CAP Theatre in Los Angeles the first week of October. And beyond that, we know that we have a screening at the Killer Film Fest in Foxboro (Boston) Massachusetts in November. There are a couple more dates on the horizon, after that... so yeah...after laying dormant for a bit, Closet Space is picking up steam and shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. Think we have some more foreign territories to snag as well as some VOD opportunities. Who knew?

Next up is obviously Walking Distance. To back up a little bit, we red-carpet premiered Distance at the 2010 Dallas International Film Festival. It was...surreal. Surreal, but great. Pretty awesome when "Agent Aaron Pierce" tells the press that you're warped and sick in the head. And Adrienne "I Killed Jason's Mom" King experienced her first red carpet walk. One of the coolest days of my life, to be sure. Soon afterward, we did a private screening in Houston to another packed house that went apeshit, intellectually speaking, of course. Debbie Rochon and Kathy Lamkin were able to join us at that one, so that was awesome. As of now those are the two times we've screened so far - but we just found out that WD is an official selection of Blood Bath 2: The Film Festival, and Reggie Bannister and Debbie Rochon are coming out for it. Excited - Reggie has yet to see the film. Response has been pretty much exactly what I hoped it would be - those that love it see that I'm trying to do something different and weird, and even those that don't entirely "get it"....still see that I'm trying to do something different and weird. No review can really ever touch, change, or compare to the words that came out of Debbie's mouth when she first saw the film in Houston: "Fucking....AWESOME." The look on her face was priceless, too. It's all gravy for me from there on out, folks. Distribution-wise we have a few options we're looking at, so hopefully we'll have some definitive news on that front soon. It's not as easy as some might think (see the above paragraph), but I assure you that we're working as hard as we can - I don't exactly want to just throw money down a hole, you feel me?

Imago is up after that - I'm pretty damn proud of what we were able to pull off with that one. It was designed to kind of bridge the gap between a project like Space and one like Distance...and I think we hit that mark. I tapped Chris Warren (my "protege", for lack of a better word) to direct that one, and I helped him write the script as well. We were able to bring Debbie back, and also got to work with the amazing, Freddy-slaying Lisa Wilcox from Nightmare On Elm Street 4 and 5. My mind = blown. We knocked out the shoot in 14 days, with a few pickups here and there, and while there were a few hardships, the cut we have now is lean, mean, and weird in that "Upstart Filmworks" way. We are now deep in post (sound design, VFX, score, color timing, etc), so the film should be done shortly. The Walking Distance and Imago shoots really hammered home some things that had been I'd been noticing/needing to address for quite a while in a number of areas, so look for our next feature to really "bump up" (similar to the jump between Closet Space and Distance). Still learning things from both experiences, of course. What doesn't kill you...

Rather unexpectedly, I found a new cinematic ally in Bryan Ryan (who's name is indeed the inspiration for the Glee character, I'm told). We met through serendipitous means - several people I know (independently of one another, including my wife) knew Bryan, and he and I finally met around the 2009 holiday season. I quickly began to like the guy, and we shared similar cinematic/musical tastes. A good sign. He gave me a script he had written, titled Hurricane Country. I dug it, and came on as producer. To get ready, we decided to do a short film, titled The Guest. Shot that bad boy in the O.C. over a weekend in August 2010 with Will "I Shot Both Hatchets, Frozen, and Grace, Among Others" Barratt as the Director of Photography. The project allowed me to make lots of other L.A. connections as well - cast and crew. Definitely going to try and fold some or all of them into the next thing I do. Just saw the final product not long ago, and I'm extremely proud to have my name on it. Everyone did a killer job (always a concern when you're working with total strangers) and it even connects with Closet Space and Walking Distance. How? You'll have to see it to find out. You'll get your chance to catch the World Premiere of The Guest at Shriekfest 2010. There may be another screening announcement right around the corner, just wait and see :).

Beyond that, I'm slowly mounting my next project, Soon, A Light On a.k.a. Untitled Mel House Ghost Project and trying the "crowdfunding" angle to get things going. Feel free to help out if you can - if we can pull this one off the way I'd like to....wow. That's pretty much all I can really say about that one other than if you think Distance was a swing for the fences, well...you ain't seen nothin' yet. We're also putting together the aforementioned Hurricane Country for production in 2011. And I was asked recently to teach a workshop - details tentative, but I'll let everyone know when they solidify. And I think Melanie and I may be looking at making a pretty big change by this time next year (not a baby, so I'll stop you right there).

All told - it's crazy time up in here. Wouldn't have it any other way, since it finally feels like we're "breaking through". Even through all the cynicism, distrust, cautiousness, and general "mental callousing" that's built up over the decade or so I've been seriously doing this - I'd be hard-pressed not to admit that.

2009-06-03T21:37:00.000-07:00

This weekend I will be in New York for the East Coast Fangoria Weekend of Horrors (taking place Friday - Sunday) at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. We'll be promoting WALKING DISTANCE all weekend, and maybe even talking about some of our upcoming projects (cough...IMAGO...cough cough).

First off, I will be on FANGORIA radio this Friday night. The show starts at 10 PM EST. You can tune in on Sirius 108/XM 139. For those that don't know, the show is hosted by Dee (Twisted Sister) Snider, and the lovely Debbie Rochon (who also stars in WALKING DISTANCE). Not sure what time I'll be on, but you should listen to the whole show anyway, as they're always great. Radio show info is right here.

Next up, at 4:30 pm on Saturday, is our WALKING DISTANCE panel at the show. Debbie will be joining me on the panel as well as actress Natali Jones. We'll also be showing a new clip from the movie.

Sunday I'll just be hanging out at the convention being a dork. Some things never change. You can get info on the convention and guests at http://www.fangocon.com

Lastly, DISTANCE stars Adrienne King and Reggie Bannister will be at Seattle Crypticon this weekend as well, so don't feel slighted, Left-Coasters. Drop by their tables and check out what they have going on. Info at http://www.crypticonseattle.com/2009index.html

So...if you're on the East Coast or have the opportunity to tune in to the radio show on Friday, please check us out! And if you're in Seattle, check out Adrienne and Reg! And, as always, thanks for all the support. Look for more WALKING DISTANCE and IMAGO-related happenings in the coming weeks.

2009-05-27T22:40:00.000-07:00

Like a lot of folks lately, I've been a bit neglectful of my blogging duties. If you really want to keep up on my ramblings, I suggest you keep an eye toward my personal blog, or my Upstart Filmworks blog. If you're here, then you're following directions. Applause. I'm trying to streamline things and put everything in one of those two places from here on out. I'm sure I'll still pop in here and there.

So, for the last couple months I've been slowly putting the pieces together for the next Upstart Filmworks project. I won't be directing this one, but I'm producer and co-writer. The picture is called Imago, and Chris Warren is going to be the captain of the ship this go round. Today, Fangoria put up our first cast announcement, and it's a doozy. Lisa "Alice Johnson from Nightmare 4 and 5" Wilcox has joined the cast of Imago, and I'm freaking ecstatic. That should come as no real surprise to anyone that's known me for any length of time. Melanie and I had the pleasure of having lunch with Lisa a while back, and she's one of the coolest ladies on the planet. I can't wait to work with her. We also have a ton of Walking Distance people returning both in front of and behind the camera, so I'm excited about that as well. I know things will run smoothly and look great...and as a producer, that's all I can really ask for. Well, that and more money. HA! If you want to keep up on Imago, you can add the MySpace page here, or add the Facebook page here.

As for Walking Distance, we are in the very late stages of post production. CG and color timing are being worked on, sound design is starting soon, and Dwayne and I have begun the scoring process. The full website is also about to go live over atwalkingdistancemovie.com. East Coasters can catch us at the upcoming NYC Fangoria Weekend of Horrors, where Natali Jones, Shannon Lark, Debbie Rochon and myself will be on a Walking Distance panel to rap a little about the flick. We should actually rap. Like Whodini in Nightmare 5. At any rate, I can't promise the spitting of hot fire, but I'm sure we'll have a clip or something.

So, keep your eye on all those sites and blogs for updates throughout the next few months. Lots will be happening. LOTS. Stay tuned.

2008-12-24T07:19:00.001-08:00

The two Walking Distance trailers are making their rounds, and response has been phenomenal. Glad I went through with the dual trailer idea - people seem to be digging it/them.

My favorite quote so far:

"Man, I've seen both Walking Distance trailers now, and I feel like I'm putting together a puzzle without the border... and I love that." - Matthew Orsman

Here are a few more online mentions:

Arrow in the Head did a story on the Black trailer.

Our friends at Horror-Movies.ca did a piece on the Red one (and reposted the Black).

Dread Central ran a piece linking to the Red trailer as a companion piece to their earlier Black trailer exclusive.

Icons of Fright reposted a link to the Dread Central story.

Horror Yearbook also did the same for us.

Totally bitchin', as the Regman would say. I'm extremely pumped that everyone is so excited to see Adrienne, Reggie, and Debbie go after it (which they do, with gusto).

Quick answers to a few repeat questions that I've recieved:

Q: I thought there were supposed to be zombies in Walking Distance?
A: The first few drafts I wrote in the late 90's had zombies. Actually, it was envisioned as a zombie movie. Then we had a couple of really good zombie movies come out, re-igniting interest in the sub-genre. THEN we had a shit-ton of bad ones come out. I got pretty sick of zombies/infected/the walking dead, so I began an overhaul around the time we started Closet Space. And here we are, sans zombies, and all the better for it, I think.

Q: Wow, it looks like a REAL movie.
A: I hired a great DP by the name of Philip Roy. Check out his other projects. Hopefully I can continue to "borrow" him from the other Phillip :). We agreed early on to step outside of the accepted "context" of horror movie cinematography. Additionally, my goal is to keep raising the bar as far as production value - steadily climbing as we go along. That seems obvious, but a lot of folks are content with spinning their tires (or "waiting for funding").

Q: How'd you get all those people in your movie?
A: Have you ever read Faust?

Seriously, everyone pretty much responded to the script. Which was kind of a shock to me, because I figured it was too esoteric, personal, and dark. Apparently they all like projects that are esoteric, personal, and dark. Who knew?

Q: Where'd you get the CG for the liquidy trailer stuff?
A: If by "CG", you mean "Carport Gestated", then you'd be right. Dwayne, Chris, Melanie, and I did it using an aquarium and some basic science I picked up when I was almost an engineer. I also shot it overcranked on the HVX200 at 720p to make it look even cooler. If you want more details, you can email me about it.

Q: Why "Red" and "Black"?
A: Have you looked at the poster?

Q: Why do two trailers?
A: 'Cause there's a lot going on. I preferred to do two shorter trailers that give you some info/background, rather than one overstuffed one, or one with just a bunch of flashy shit and no story beats at all. There are other reasons as well, but the depth of the story is the main reason.

I almost did a trailer as Mel House, head of the House Travel Agency, enticing you to come take a trip to the community featured in the movie. Then I realized that I had heard that one before.

Q: Why no "Made In Texas" tag at the end?
A: Lots of reasons. Some personal, some professional, some probably irrational. But that's how I roll.

Q: What's the movie about, really?
A: Anger, family, racism, something evil, arson, sexual deviancy, emotional stuntedness, betrayal, revenge, selfishness, pseudo-science, sickness.

Among other things.

Q: What's next?
A: Fangoria Chicago. Another trailer ("White") in Spring 2009.

Q: YOU SUCK, YOU TALENTLESS, ELITIST, SMUG, HOMO BASTARD!
A: Mom?

2008-12-24T07:18:00.000-08:00

Walking Distance trailers are up and running.

BOTH trailers are now live:

The BLACK trailer is right here on Dread Central.

The RED trailer is right here on Fangoria.com!

Make sure you watch both, as they are totally different. Each accompanying story and pictures are different as well.

Many thanks to Dread Central and Fangoria for the love!

On a side note, these trailers are causing some really...uh..."strange" things to happen. I guess they're not all that strange, but still. "Funny" might be a better word (in the Funny Games sense, of course). Maybe I'll get into it later. For now, back to editing the movie proper.

2008-12-03T18:47:00.000-08:00

December '08 is looking to be a fitting epilogue to a pretty bitchin' year.

A few movies that I'm associated with in some capacity are hitting the streets. Electric Purgatory, the documentary on Black Rock that I DP'ed a few years ago is now available on Amazon.com. Pick it up, and see where all those whigger White bands that you love ganked their moves from.

While I'm on the subject, if you want to be schooled in person, you should check out the Fishbone show next week (the 8th) at the Meridian. Fishbone is the greatest live band on the planet. For real.

Anyway, as I was saying...Marcus Koch's 100 Tears hits DVD on Tuesday the 9th. You can find it at Amazon, at Best Buy, and on Netflix. Check that one out, too.

Gerald Nott's The Flesh Keeper is out now via CreateSpace, and you can visit that link to get your own copy. I was the Unit Production Manager, made a cameo as "Angry Black Bean Farmer" in the AWESOME FLASHBACK SEQUENCE (TM), and nearly had to earn the title of "Official Bull Murderer Via Shotgun". I also killed a snake or two.

Gerry/John/Clint/etc...I hope the movie has a commentary track to explain all that anecdotal yammering I just did.

Also coming out soon is The Lawless, which you can find on Amazon right here, and on Netflix over here. The Upstart connection begins with the film's lead, Denton Blane Everett, who is also one of the leads in Walking Distance. Distance's Eryn Brooke also stars in the film....Eryn was our A.D. as well as the actress portraying "Tracie" in WD...and I definitely would have had a harder time on set without her - as an A.D. she kicks major ass. And you'll notice James LaMarr is a producer on The Lawless as well. It seems like just yesterday that I met James at the Closet Space casting call....

In addition, a good deal of the behind the scenes crew on The Lawless worked for us on Walking Distance. In addition to James and Eryn, there's our amazing D.P. Philip Roy, and sound guru David Frost. I'm not sure if our Assistant Camera Zach, or 2nd A.D. Natalie worked on Lawless, but I think they may have. Director Philip Guzman also gave us some much needed assistance on the first day of WD shooting. At any rate, these guys take/took the idea of an "indie film crew" to the next level - pretty much negating the "indie" tag. They are all bad asses, and it totally shifted the whole paradigm for me. If you want to get a sense of what Walking Distance is going to look/feel like, then check out Lawless. And add more blood and melty stuff.

As for my own movie(s) - I think Closet Space just got into another festival, and I'm an hour and a half into the first pass edit of Walking Distance (which leaves half an hour or so to go). I'm very excited about how WD is shaping up so far, and once again I have to effusively thank the cast and crew that made it possible. That's definitely a big reason why 2008 ruled for me. Can't wait to get that first trailer out there. I know I'm starting to sound like a broken record, but it's coming, man.

I'm also considering the possibility of having a birthday shindig in the Upstart Warehouse this year. My birthday (the 27th) falls on a Saturday, so I kind of feel obligated to do something besides eat a lot of broiled flesh at either the Taste of Texas or Fogo De Chao. Although I'll be doing that as well, I assure you. At any rate, I may put something relatively low-key together for that night, so consider yourselves warned. I've got the space, so why not? It might be kind of cold, but I don't think it would be too bad. Maybe we can cook up a little Acoustic Alchemy, or project a movie on one of the walls or something. I'll know for sure within the next week or so. There's some heavy stuff coming up next year on all fronts, so perhaps I should try to enjoy life a little while I still have time to breathe.

2008-11-17T16:01:00.000-08:00

Today, Dread Central put up a few pictures from our recent 2nd Unit FX shoot for the infamous "Doll Scene" in Walking Distance. Before anyone asks, no, the movie is not about killer dolls. They are but a tiny part of the twisted tapestry. The scene is definitely the moment in the script where the train crests the lift hill, though.

Thanks go out to everyone that showed up for the doll scene shoot...the footage looks totally out there. I'm excited to cut it together.

ZombieFriends also was cool enough to set up a Walking Distance profile for us over there, and also to put together a couple of video interview clips with Reggie Bannister (which you can check out at the Dread Central link above, or you can view them right here).

Check out this video: Walking Distance (BTS) Reggie Bannister

..

Check out this video: Reggie Bannister Talks Mel House

..

Like the article says, I hope to have a trailer soon. We're still shooting 2nd Unit FX stuff through early next week, but I'm a good deal through the rough cut of the movie.

Lagniappe of the Dead

2008-11-04T06:21:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile, and I've been primarily blogging on my MySpace page, but I'm going to try and keep this one updated as well.

Well, we’ve returned from our 3rd-anniversary-commemorating Louisiana ghost tour without getting sucked over to "the other side". It was a blast. Check out the "Anniversary Ghost Tour" album in my pictures section for photo accompaniment to the following rundown. It should entertain you while you either decide to laud the democratic process, or contemplate a move to Canada (or Australia, depending on your party I.D.. Actually, Australia has compulsory voting, which is kind of cool. At any rate...) First up, we stayed a night at the Myrtles Plantation in St. Francisville, Louisiana (about an hour north of Baton Rouge). The Myrtles is semi-notorious for being one of the most haunted places in America. We arrived after nightfall, and the place definitely gave off a hell of a creepy vibe...even with quite a few people milling about the grounds (all the rooms were booked, and workers were busy renovating the on-site restaurant). After we ate dinner at a surprisingly good pizza joint in the Louisiana sticks, we made our way around the property in the dark, hoping to find some crack in the veil of reality. Well, I was hoping. I think Melanie was more "dreading". She was pretty freaked out (but in a fun, "amusement park" way). A few other folks were trudging around with flashlights in the dark (including a couple of drunkies). Melanie and I noticed the distinct aroma of strong cigar smoke near our room. After some pretty thorough investigation, we discovered that no one we could see was smoking. Strange.

The night was...interesting. Melanie claims she was poked, prodded, and pushed all night, and her covers were constantly being tugged. I couldn't sleep because my bearlike frame was a bit much for the bed (and my terrified wife curled up in the small of my back). I fell into fitful bits of sleep I think, and the things I saw/experienced were during those periods. Unreliable...but very intriguing. Anyway, my alarm on my phone goes off at 7 AM, and Melanie exclaims "THANK GOD!". We get up, stroll around in the daylight, and head to the completely delicious (and all-inclusive) home-cooked breakfast in the Myrtles Gift Shop. After ingesting some of the best biscuits I have ever had in my life, and talking to a few of the other guests (who saw nothing...but most of whom are regulars), we took the guided tour of the main house. The place is beautiful, but has a very distinct vibe that's a bit off putting. And we learned that apparently the cigar smoke thing is one of the manifestations of the spirit of William Winter, who was murdered in the house. Sweet.

After the tour, we headed down to New Orleans to take in some of the Halloween craziness down there. We got there a bit early, so we had lunch at Mandina's (mmmm, Turtle Soup and Po-Boys), and drove around a bit. We stumbled upon the still-thrashed 9th Ward, which was interesting. We then headed to the Garden District and walked around for a bit, seeing a bunch of bad ass houses, including Anne Rice's old place. We also discovered a sweet (pun intended) dessert bar called Sucre that I just HAD to get gelato at. After finally checking in to our luxury hotel in the French Quarter (right between Bourbon and Royal Street) we commenced to walking around the Vieux Carre by starting down Bourbon Street a.k.a. The Dirtiest Place on Earth. I loved every minute of it. Of course, once you get off of Bourbon, the rest of the Quarter is beautifully awesome, and with the combination of the Garden District, very Walking Distance-y. It definitely gave me inspiration that I'm going go put in the new script, and I'm most definitely going to try and shoot that script on location there. Anyway, we walked around a bit as the Halloween craziness began to wind up, ate dinner, then headed out to start our Haunted History Tour, which was a LOT cooler than I thought it would be. I guess I had primed myself for Anne Rice-y Metrosexual Vampire Cheesiness (TM). Instead, we had a blast...seeing Jean Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop (where he pushed a few guys into the forge for skimming off the top), the Provincial and Andrew Jackson hotels (both haunted as hell, apparently), and then the icing on the cake for me was seeing the LaLaurie Mansion. The place radiates evil. It's back on the market, and if I had the money (3.5 million at the moment), I'd totally buy it. Hell, no one else will, apparently. Wish we had photos of that place, but they were kind of sketchy about taking pictures there because of the current owner's celebrity status: it's Nicolas Cage.

About 2 minutes into this clip from Letterman, Cage talks about the LaLaurie Mansion: After the tour, we headed over to Cafe Du Monde for some truly awesome beignets. A nice, powdery end to an awesome trip.

Anyway, now we're back in the "real world". Marcus has returned, and we're ramping up to shoot the last FX bits for WD over the next few weeks. It should be fun/nerve wracking.

And seriously, if anyone wants to go in on that LaLaurie thing, let me know.

Fango Cover sneak peek and more Mulatto Balls

2008-03-19T21:59:00.000-07:00

Found this on Ryan Rotten’s page - here’s the first look at the Fangoria issue that will feature the Southern-Fried Horror article:

It’s issue 273, and I believe it hits the stands on or around April 15th. Scoop it up if you can - I hear the coverage is awesome. They pretty much talk up all of our movies - from Closet Space to 100 Tears to Domain of the Damned to Flesh Keeper to Sweatshop and beyond. Check out that above-title blurb. We got a Clive Barker movie cover issue to boot. Awesome. Here’s the blurb from the Fangoria website:

"SOUTHLAND TERROR TALES A gang of up-and-coming frightmeisters unleash murder and monsters below the Mason-Dixon Line."

By the way, the "Mulatto Balls" in the title of this blog is purely a baiting tactic to get people to come look at the Fango cover. When I put "Mulatto Balls" in the title of my last Obama-centric blog, I got tons of page views from people who apparently are very intrigued by my "mixed bag".

Speaking of mixed bags, I’m in the process of becoming a S.A.G. signatory for the purpose of making Walking Distance a S.A.G. production. Hopefully, this won’t be another "it seemed like a good idea at the time" situation. There have been too many of those over the last few years. I guess I’ll have to play in that sandbox sooner or later, and now’s as good a time as any.

2008-02-05T14:17:00.000-08:00

Back in black. Sorry that I've been neglecting this blog. The daily moratorium on MySpace that I experience during the week has pushed me back into the loving arms of Blogger. So, realizing that others are probably in the same boat, what I'll try to do is continue to copy and post stuff in both places.

So, first off, thanks to all that came out to the MFAH screening of Electric Purgatory. It was pretty much a sold-out house, and the audience seemed to really get behind the material. The panel discussion afterwards was also quite interesting, although there was an unfortunate lack of Black Rockers at the table. Hey guys...your DP is one. Just sayin'. Anyway, much love to Raymond Gayle for putting on a successful event.

Also, I am officially a guest at Texas Fear Fest in March. A Closet Space screening announcement will soon follow, along with some other cast and crew appearances. It should be exciting, especially with most of my horror genre heroes running around the place as well. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Speaking of throwing up in my mouth, lately I've been trying to woo some horror "names" into taking part in Walking Distance. For the most part, the talent I'd want actually seem to be into it. Of course there's scheduling and pay scale and any number of other things to take into account now...but just opening a dialogue with these people is pretty damn exciting for me. It re-awakens my dormant inner fanboy. Anyway, I just have to wrap up the script in the next week or so and send it off. I'm projecting a mid-April start on that. We might as well adopt Marcus, our Tampa-based FX guy, since right after Distance we go into production on the Untitled Marcus Koch Project.

I finally finished reading The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. It was good. Damn good. Actually, I think it's my second-favorite book ever. (The #1 spot goes to Stephen King's It, and that probably won't ever change. #'s 3-5 are also King books. Surprise, surprise.). Check it out if you haven't already.

And speaking of books, if (like me) you're into mid to late 90's hardcore/post-hardcore/emo (the good kind)/screamo, then make a point to check out Norman Brannon's new book, The Anti-Matter Anthology. It's a compilation of some of the best interviews Norm did for his Anti-Matter zine back in the day. This may sound only vaguely familiar to some of you, so let me help you out: Norman Brannon used to be Norm Arenas, guitarist for Shelter, Texas Is The Reason, and New End Original. To bring it full circle, Jonah Matranga was in New End with Norm. So, here's to more cool people making stuff.

2007-09-26T21:24:00.001-07:00

Just a bunch of quick news flashes:

I'm associate producing Stacy Davidson's new project, Sweatshop. Script by Ted "Gaygun". Fangoria did a story on that a couple days ago. Shooting begins in October.

I'll probably also be helping out on Desdemona, a project produced by Closet Space's James LaMarr. They start shooting in a couple of weeks as well.

The schedule for SiliCon is up (for the most part). Northern California folks - I expect to see you at the "Images of People Of Color" panel with your hardball questions in hand. I just know someone out there wants to ask me what a nubian is.

Walking Distance is coming together. The new job leaves me little time to write, but I think I'm about to put a bow on it and get ready to shoot in January or so.

Speaking of January, that's when the Austin Fangoria show is. Marcus (100 Tears) Koch, Joe (Fearmakers) Davison, Elmar (100 Tears) Berger, Stacy, and myself are all on a "Southern Horror" panel. It should be pretty crazy. I have a feeling that I'll have to spend most of the time keeping Stacy from humping Robert Rodriguez' leg.

...and last and sort of least...Witchcraft 13 finally got a release date. To say that I have mixed feelings is a massive understatement...but admittedly...it will be pretty cool to have a distributed title out with my name on it. Fortunately, Closet Space will be out there soon as well. More on that as it develops.

For anyone wondering where my usual movie rants are...I actually haven't been to the theater in a while (see above sentence about the new job murdering my schedule). Don't worry - they'll be back, so you'll all have something to either cheer on or piss and moan about very soon. Actually, the only movie I've watched lately was Elvira, Mistress Of The Dark a couple nights ago. It was on Chiller, what can I say?

And, in closing...the new Foo Fighters album fairly well rocks. I don't think these guys are capable of sucking.

2007-08-25T06:48:00.000-07:00

Dude.

To everyone in the PLUS CAPACITY CROWD that came out - I can't thank everyone enough for showing up. Big thanks go out to the Studio Movie Grill in Copperfield as well for letting us do the entire shindig. I just found out that at least 30 people were turned away after they filled the place. Of course, I'm bummed that not everyone got to see it, but fuck, dude...they TURNED PEOPLE AWAY. How fucking cool is that? Guess that means that we'll have to do another screening in the future.

The night was awesome, to say the least...so thanks for helping put the exclamation point on this year-long tentacle journey. I'm glad everyone enjoyed the movie and had a good time. People responded exactly how and when they were supposed to...I heard a couple of people even got the shit scared out of them.

The actors that hadn't seen the movie were all super-excited afterwards, which is a good thing. I recieved tons of compliments from them and the "moviegoing public", most of which seemed sincere and heartfelt. Again, the most entertaining one was:
"Wow...this was actually REALLY good!"

What the hell...did you guys expect for it to suck? But seriously...I can't blame people that say things like that, because indie horror has kind of shot itself in the foot that way. I'm glad everyone last night felt like CLOSET SPACE was the exception to the rule of taking the "path most traveled".

And of course, it was super-rad to have my good friend and musical hero Jonah Matranga in the audience. We showed the video for "Not About A Girl Or A Place" and people loved it. I think Jonah was a little nervous about being on the big screen. It was kind of cute.

Plans are afoot for more CLOSET SPACE screenings at festivals and such, so keep an eye out for more info on that. Same goes for DVD distribution, etc. Keep watching. Exciting things are happening.

2007-07-23T14:49:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots from the video shoot for Jonah:

As you can see...it went pretty well. Lots of blood and gore. There's even more to check out here courtesy of Jeremy Hart.

2007-07-02T00:32:00.001-07:00

I'm sitting in Newark Airport right now typing this up (for later upload) because I've basically got nothing better to do since my departing flight got delayed. Again. It's a fitting coda to the final pre-movie premiere convention trip, which has been among the best and worst of them all for various reasons. Rather than go through all the positive and then all the negative stuff in segregated list fashion, I'll run it all down for you in sequential order to preserve the rollercoaster like effect these things tend to have on me.

So, I get everything prepared, pack up, get my usual greasy spoon breakfast at Frank's Grill, and then head to the airport on Thursday morning. My flight was scheduled for a 9:15 AM departure. I get to the airport and my spider-sense starts tingling. There are massive gluts of obviously flustered people. Jason Stewart leaves me a voicemail saying that his flight from the OC has been outright canceled, and he can't fly out until Friday afternoon. Kristi calls me and tells me HER flight out is delayed. Then I notice the news, and apparently the entire East Coast is being attacked by Galactus or something. Crazy weather is screwing up the flight schedule and basically stranded people en route to the Right Coast for about 24 hours. What does this mean for me? Nothing at first, as it seems that my flight is still running on time. I paid full price for my ticket, so those bumped standby passengers can eat a bag of dicks, I think to myself. No way are they going to give my seat away. Then I see a crane sidle up to the rudder of the plane we were supposed to be boarding. The maintenance man aboard that crane started to do some pretty major mechanical stuff to the inner working of this plane's ass. Then the departure time starts what will be a steady rhythmic slide...later....later...still later....updates every 15 minutes....still later...more mechanical difficulties...the maintenance man pulls out a roll of duct tape (not kidding)...later....it's about 11:00 at this point...then they try to find another plane for us, because the previous one is unfixable (even with duct tape)...more time passes....they finally get a plane, board us, and we're in the air about 12:30 PM or so. Then we end up circling for an hour and a half in a holding pattern because the weather is too bad to land in Newark. Then we get diverted to Philly, because Newark is not accepting flights. We sit on the runway in Philly for about 2 hours, then take off and head to Newark, finally. I landed and got my rental car at about 10:30 PM. I was supposed to arrive in Newark at about 2 PM. Then I saw the huge gaggle of people that got screwed much worse than me, and it didn't really seem like that big of a deal in the long run. I slept or listened to the iPod during most of it anyway. I think Wilco's Summerteeth is my new favorite in-flight soundtrack.

So, I arrive at the hotel, and I'm all by my lonesome for the rest of Thursday evening and part of Friday. I take part in a Indie Horror Filmmakers panel on Friday morning/early afternoon, and it went very well - the Closet Space trailer got an awesome response, and sowed the seeds for people approaching me about it all weekend. Marcus Koch was also up there with me promoting 100 Tears. That trailer went over like gangbusters as well. I also got to see a bunch of other trailers from some really talented guys like Alan Rowe Kelly, Bart Mastronardi, Joshua Nelson, and Stolis Hadjicharalambous. I can't wait to see each and every one of these flicks, and it was an honor to sit on the panel alongside these guys. Here are some photos from that.

From left to right: Alan, Joshua, Bart, Stolis, Marcus and myself. This is beyond awesome to me, since I've been coming to these Fango conventions since I was a kid.

Me saying something stoically brilliant. Or probably just cursing a lot.

They sent us to the back to do autographs. Autographs?!?

Marcus and I signing away. People actually were into it. Weird.

So yeah, the panel was awesome. Lots and lots and LOTS of people approached me over the weekend and complimented me on the movie, the trailer, and the stuff I said during the panel (even the cursing). Several of them were like "bro, I can tell you are going to do great things in horror just by seeing that trailer." I even had other filmmakers at the con mention the fact that there was huge buzz about Closet Space going around in the horror community. Of course, that's one of the most awesome things a burgeoning horror filmmaker can hear, so I thank them all and hopefully I won't let you down.

Friday night I got to hang with the extended 100 Tears/Barricade/Alan Rowe Kelly family and some Fangoria folks which was really nice. We all had a lot of fun eating steak and talking shit. I wish we could do that every weekend.
Saturday was more of the same - Melanie and Jason Stewart showed up, as well as Jason "The Unquiet Void" Wallach (whom we had never met up until then). He fit right in to the dysfunctional family, and we had a blast, busy though it was. Jason Stewart also sat in on a Fearmakers panel with Joe Davison, Debbie Rochon, and Manoush, which was pretty cool. Of course, he managed to plug Closet Space as well.

I also had a chance to talk a lot with David Stagnari and Chris Garetano from Horror Business, which was really really cool. David was someone who I really responded to upon seeing Horror Business, and Chris is equally cool to talk with. I look forward to whatever both of these guys have up their sleeves.

The most surreal moment had to be when Harry "ki ki ma ma" Manfredini came up to me and complimented me on Closet Space, and my panel appearances at Fango and Texas Frightmare Weekend. I mean, this guy FUCKING SCORED FRIDAY THE 13TH for Christ's sakes. I'm still kind of wigged out by that one.

Dinner again with the gang on Saturday night, then back to the hotel for the drunken debauchery/starfucking/empty conversation with your too-drunk friends that takes place every Saturday night at every one of these shows. This is where I check out, pretty much, 'cause it ain't my thing. I even tend to avoid the VIP parties because they seem like kind of a joke to me for all those reasons I just mentioned. Plus, I'm usually tired from actually, you know...WORKING during the day at these shows. It's draining. Even when we did go into the VIP party, I ended up talking to David Stagnari for most of the evening...which is what I was doing in the lobby BEFORE I went into the party. Melanie and I actually ended up hanging out with Michael Gingold for a while and just bullshitting, which was great. Jason and I did the same on Friday night with Mike, and I look forward to more horror bullshit sessions in the future with him. He's a really cool guy, and not just because he's the managing editor of Fangoria.

So, Sunday comes, I make the drive through the Lincoln and Midtown tunnels to take Melanie to LaGuardia, come back to the con for a bit to see the exclusive footage for The Third Mother (not that impressed, sorry, although Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni is an awesome person), and then say my goodbyes and pack up and leave. And here I am now, burned out but satisfied. I'm glad this is the last show for a while, because part of this whole convention thing really wears me down. And it ain't cheap, either.

Now I just have to start pre-production for Jonah's video shoot, which we start on the 18th or so. No rest for the wicked.

2007-06-06T21:43:00.000-07:00

Don't mistake my silence for inactvity. Strap in, 'cause here we go.

FIRST - if you go out and scoop up the new issue of ENVY Magazine tomorrow (either the Houston or the Dallas version - it has Amaury Nolasco on the cover), you'll notice a TEXAS HORROR blurb on the cover.

Open it up to page 48 (in the Houston one, at least) and you'll see my bloody, axe-wielding mug staring back at you. They gave me an entire page to talk about CLOSET SPACE, horror, and indie filmmaking. Check it out if you can.
For those that can't grab one, I'll be scanning in the article tomorrow.

Also look for the extra special bonus - a photo of CLOSET SPACE star Melanie Donihoo pops up in the Shooting Range feature on page 68.

Extra extra special bonus - Melanie and I got married at the Aurora Picture Show...which is featured on page 46.
So go out and grab one if you can. Support ENVY's continuing support of local filmmakers and musicians.

NEXT - I did a cross-channel cable ad to help promote the CLOSET SPACE screening. It should start airing in the greater Houston area in a couple of weeks. Here it is:

Closet Space Premiere :30 TV Spot

Add to My Profile More Videos

It was pretty hard to condense the CLOSET SPACE experience into 20 seconds (I left the final 10 for the didactic voiceover and info screen). The task was made easier due to the fact that I couldn't really show anything too talky, graphic, or suggestive, so I ended up going with a lot of shots that I hadn't really used for trailers up to this point. Hopefully that will get some other folks interested in seeing the flick.

THIRD - speaking of seeing the flick, most of the first wave of screeners went out earlier this week. Soon I will discover whether or not I should have stayed in Aerospace Engineering. At any rate, the CLOSET SPACE gang will be at Texas Frightmare Weekend and the New Jersey Fangoria later this month. Stop by and say hello - we'll have posters and t-shirts to pawn off on you as well.

FOURTH - I think I'm joining another band. More info on that as it develops, but signs point to yes.

2007-05-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

Mark your calendars...

CLOSET SPACE will be making it's Houston premiere on Thursday, August 23 at the Studio Movie Grill.

Show starts at 9:00 PM.

Admission is FREE!

Come out and enjoy the tentacles. The movie is UNRATED at this point, so there's gore and disturbing material aplenty. Don't bring the kids.

Studio Movie Grill
8580 Hwy. 6 North (Hwy 6 and West Rd.)
Houston, TX 77095

I'm still submitting to genre festivals, and should start hearing back from most of them by mid-June. Hopefully we'll be able to do a CLOSET SPACE horror fest run in the fall. That would be pretty sweet.

Right now I'm working on the surround mix of the movie, and planning for the Texas Frightmare Weekend show as well as the New Jersy Fangoria (which we'll probably be driving to again...shudder). At least there's nothing going on in July - so far, that is. Sometime during that month I might fly out to SoCal again to work with Jason on Closet Space 2 and 3...and maybe a musical (!). No, it's not a musical set in the Closet Space universe - although that's an idea. Dancing tentacles.

2007-05-20T23:46:00.001-07:00

Just got back home a few minutes ago from another whirlwind convention adventure. We saw a lot of old friends and made some new ones (as is usually the case with these things), and generated more heat for the movie. Highlights include hanging out with the Moomooch Clothing guys, the Quick and the Undead/Flesh Keeper gang, and meeting Molly and Wil from Horror Yearbook in person. I actually gave Molly and Wil a couple of actual props from (gasp) Witchcraft 13 as thanks for the awesome interview they did with me. And they both got the pleasure of meeting Tim "Will Spanner" Wrobel in the flesh, along with James LaMarr and Melanie, who were also at our table. It was fun hanging out with everyone, and I look forward to Texas Frightmare, NJ Fango, and SiliCon in the fall.

We actually made a TON of business contacts this time around, and I look forward to following up on those. People are really itching to see the movie, which is good. I watched the current cut with Jason and James, and they both seemed to like it. I, of course, noticed some things that need tweaking, so I'll be taking the 3-day weekend to do the work on that stuff.

We got our official Closet Space posters and t-shirts in just in time for the convention, so if you want a piece of the action, let me know. T-shirts (S, M, L, XL, 2XL) are $15 and posters (23" x 36") are $10. You all know what the posters look like, but you can check out the shirt design below:

Thanks go out to the Moomooch guys for kicking ass with the shirts. Email now before they run out (we got rid of a lot at the convention).

2007-05-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

I've been away for far too long. Mainly finishing up CLOSET SPACE, so at least it's for a good cause. There are a couple of new interviews up with me. I talk about everything from my racial background to that f*%king witch movie to NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 5 to the Muppet Show to CLOSET SPACE (of course).

The first one is over at Racks and Razors. Thanks to Brad for doing it (and also doing the interviews with James LaMarr and Melanie Donihoo that you will also find on the site). We bonded over our love for alternative country.

The next one is over at HorrorYearbook.com. They actually call it their "best interview ever". I'll let you be the judge of that, Constant Reader, but it sure was a hell of a lot of fun. And Melanie even makes a cameo appearance.

And for anyone attending the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors in Burbank this weekend, look for the CLOSET SPACE table. We should have actors signing pictures, posters, and t-shirts. Stop by and say hello.

In movie news, Jason Wallach aka The Unquiet Void got his copy of the final picture locked cut today. He says that it's much darker than the previous cut he saw, and now he's got new twisted plans for the soundtrack. Mission accomplished. Once I get to Cali, I think Jason Stewart, James LaMarr, and I are going to check out the current version of the movie. I watched it with Melanie on Saturday night, and she was freaked out...even though she's in the damn movie. I guess that's a good thing.

2007-04-11T23:50:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'm jumping the gun here, but I'm already posting cast and crew calls for Closet Space 2 and 3. Actually, with what I have planned for both of them, the more time we have to prepare, the better. So, if you're interested, here's the info:

Upstart Filmworks will begin production on two feature length follow-ups to the soon-to-be-completed CLOSET SPACE in the fall of 2007. The plan is to shoot both sequels back to back (possibly concurrently), and as such, a lot of pre-production planning will be required. With this in mind, Upstart Filmworks is beginning the casting and crewing process so that we have the summer months to prepare.

CLOSET SPACE has already been courted by several distributors, festivals, and media outlets, and we expect to ride this wave of interest and positive press with CS2 and 3.CLOSET SPACE 2 and 3 will continue with the tone set in the original - very dark, Lovecraftian, creepy, gruesome, and at times fantastically gory.

CAST: Looking for all types 20-50, with emphasis on fit, military types. Martial arts, dance, firearm handling, and stunt experience are plusses.

CREW: Seeking EXPERIENCED crew for most positions.Cast and crew will be paid.

Please submit headshot/resume to:

Upstart Filmworks
4321-A Tulsa Rd.
Houston TX 77092.
RE: CLOSET SPACE

There you have it. Please pay close attention to the part where it says EXPERIENCED. I'm getting too old to provide OJT on the set anymore. Also...if you're lazy, unfocused, or just a plain old pussy...don't even bother. It's already going to be a rough two to three months without me carrying you on my back.

In current Closet Space news, I'm actually shooting even more stuff this weekend...although for the most part, the shots have been long-languishing inserts that I never really got around to getting. I kinda wanted to get the movie in some sort of finished form prior to doing any of these pick-ups, and now I've got that, so I can shoot the last few niggling things.

While we're at it, of course, I can't resist adding a few things here and there, so I'll be doing that as well. Once again, we are doing new FX insert shots that I just came up with a few days ago - to add a little more "horror" to the proceedings. I'm like the indie horror George Lucas over here. Maybe I'll make Nancy shoot first.

2007-03-28T20:13:00.000-07:00

Today I restarted up my MMA training. I'm trying to ease back into it, starting with the Thai boxing first to get my stamina back, and then gradually stepping up to the Jiu-Jitsu again. It felt great..due to some other factors (the diet I'm on, and generally working out more), I actually didn't throw up or pass out. The guy that runs the gym is Saul Soliz, trainer of Tito Ortiz and Ricco Rodriguez (he was also on Season 3 of "The Ultimate Fighter" as the boxing coach). He's also a pretty good friend of mine...but man...he's a serious hardass when it comes to the training. Which is exactly what I need right now, and also the reason that I would never go anywhere else to train. I was pretty proud of the fact that he only said "Mel, that looked like shit" once tonight, especially since that was my first time in the place in a couple years.

I feel like I'm gradually getting back on the horse...my life has been pretty crazy ever since that witch movie and the wedding, up through Closet Space and Flesh Keeper, so I haven't really been able to take care of myself and keep on the training. Like I said, tonight I realized that I hadn't been in the boxing gym to train in roughly 2 and a half years. Hell, the last time I was there was to shoot a death scene for that fucking witch movie. Couple that with the inherently crappy diet that comes along with working on a bunch of movies around the clock, and BAM...I found myself in the worst shape I had ever been in my life. Blood pressure was up, asthma was kicking my ass...so it was time to make a change.

I also started a diet a couple weeks back, and so far I've lost about 30 pounds and closed my belt up two loops. This weekend I'm also planning on restarting the yoga thing that I got into before the movies cropped up.

Now, the trick is to keep myself on a regimented workout schedule and diet when we prepare for Closet Space 2 and 3 in the fall/winter. Since I plan on putting Melanie through the Saul Soliz Training Program From Hell for the movies, I guess it won't be too hard. Plus, with all the pent-up movie related frustration from the last couple years, I could stand to hit stuff for a long time coming.

Speaking of movie...segue segue...Closet Space was officially FedEx'ed to the composer today so that he can get started. Getting close now. I can see the light.

Also, if you haven't seen it yet, we are doing a Houston-area screening of Barricade in a couple of weeks. Make sure you come out and support if you can. The turnout at this screening will directly affect our ability to do future screenings at the Studio Movie Grill.

2007-03-27T13:07:00.001-07:00

Here's the link to the aforementioned podcast.

Melanie's interview comes up about 1 hour into it, and I pop up at about 1 hour 8 minutes in (right before Roddy Piper). But we highly suggest you listen to the whole thing - they also rap with Tony Todd, James Duval, and Ryan Nicholson, among others.

Be warned, we and others drop the F-bomb and dirty innuendo quite a bit. This is NOT WORK SAFE.

Thanks to the mofo's at The Pickled Embryo for doing it.

2007-03-26T08:47:00.000-07:00

Back tracking to Wednesday, the Necrophobia premiere finally went down. It was fun, albeit kinda rowdy and uncomfortable at times (and not in a good way...people need to learn to respect the fact that they aren't the only ones watching the movie. Assholes). Anyway, the whole thing was kinda ruined for me because, due to technical difficulties, the new Closet Space trailer didn't play prior to the show. It sucked even more that people asked about it afterward....people that were actually looking forward to seeing it. Well, it didn't suck that they wanted to see it, but you know what I mean. Anyway, it kind of set me up in a sour mood for the rest of the week - probably because I worked a sleepless night to cut it, but more likely because I deliberately cut the new trailer with a lot of dialogue at the beginning so that I could listen to my audio engineering work in a large room to see how it sounded. So, for those of you that might think the new trailer is long-ish, there's an actual reason for it...but fuck you anyway for not having an attention span. If you want to see a music video, go watch MTV. Wait, they don't play music videos anymore...

Anyway, so then I had to prepare for Fear Fest this past weekend. Dwayne and I drove up on Friday to set up our table, and after a little bit of craziness and disorganization we got things figured out and got our spot. Friday night started out slow, but the Closet Space trailer was working its magic. First of all, we were right across from a "Smokeless Tobacco" booth manned by young, cowboy types. Nice guys, but not really horror fans (their words). Still, they could not take their eyes off of the trailer, even after about the 100th time it played. And, each time when the gory stuff would kick in (especially Evan's neck-bubbling), they would all cringe, gasp, or look away, only to quickly look back. One of the dudes said that I fucked him up for life. Mission accomplished. Okay, so I've got Joe Public...what about the horror fans?

Friday night was actually pretty damn productive for us in that regard. Several people stopped to watch the trailer and were visibly blown away. I like to sit back and watch their faces as things happen on screen...I can usually tell exactly what part they have just seen even if I can't hear the soundtrack. Most everyone had the desired reactions...a few of them even shaking their heads in disgust and walking away...which is ALSO a desired reaction. We had a couple of Ain't It Cool News guys watching the trailer and loving it, as well as fellow filmmakers, but my favorite quote came from a 20-something female horror fan. After standing transfixed for both trailers (I had the 2nd and 3rd cut playing on a loop), she turned to me and said:

"I want to see this movie. RIGHT NOW."

That was awesome, and made everything worth it for me. I high-fived her and gave her my assurance that we'd screen it in Dallas sometime soon after it's done. Then after that, Joe (Wrong Turn 2) Lynch talked us into attending the screening of The Funhouse. That was pretty fun, even though guest of honor Tobe Hooper had cancelled. The fact that Lynch, Ryan (Abominable) Schifrin, Adam (Hatchet) Green, and John (Feast) Gulager were there pretty much made up for it. I don't even necessarily like all of these guys movies (haven't even seen some of them yet), but the solidarity and support is awesome, and everyone seemed to be having a blast.

Here's the table (with Melanie):

The good vibes continued throughout the weekend, and many more people were turned on to the tentacley madness that is Closet Space. I got lots of positive comments on the acting, cinematography, music, and subject matter...lots of "I'm glad it's not a slasher film", "It looks awesomely disturbing", and "Thank god you did lots of practical FX". Melanie and I also lucked into doing a couple of podcast radio interviews with the guys from Pop Syndicate:

The interviews were extremely fun, and they want to have us back around when the movie actually is released, so we look forward to it.

Saturday and Sunday, Melanie signed and posed for a bunch of photos....I signed a few autographs, we raffled off another signed CS poster, and lots and lots of people asked me about

100 Tears, which is also awesome. People apparently love them some killer clowns. Next show, we'll have a trailer for that one as well.

At the convention I met quite a few people who don't seem to be drinking the same cinematic Kool-Aid that both horror fans and the general public seem to be imbibing lately (well, for a long while in some cases). It was refreshing to talk to folks that thought 300 was just "eh...", that were worried/depressed about Rob Zombie's Halloween, that see Grindhouse as not necessarily a watershed cinema moment, but a fun experiment for a specific niche audience, and that weren't really fans of Italian horror. Yeah, I said it. I hate Italian horror movies (with the notable exceptions of Bird With The Crystal Plumage and Deep Red). So fucking sue me. If anyone replies to this with that "look at the colors and mood in Suspiria" bullshit, I will personally come to your house and put a steel-toed Dr. Marten in your crotch.

But...you know, that's what's beautiful about the best films of the horror genre. You have lots of disparate viewpoints and tastes, with (hopefully) no one trying to parrot or rip off anyone else. Anyway, it was fun to rant and argue with people who knew their shit.

So...now I'm back at home doing the movie edit thing again, and laying plans for a few different things to come in the few months, so stay tuned. Closet Space goes off to the composer very soon (like today or tomorrow), so that process will be started shortly.

Back to the edit...

2007-03-16T22:07:00.000-07:00

Just returned from this year's SXSW trip with Jonah Matranga. Once again it was a whirlwind of craziness, stressful situations, bad parking jobs, running around, and douchebags. Lots and lots of douchebags. SXSW is but a shadow of it's former self. Soon it will be entirely comprised of industry vultures and yes-men.

With that all said, Jonah's shows went pretty well - mainly because they were a bit outside the "mainstream" SXSW program - while still being in the thick of the activity downtown. I also greatly enjoyed the sets of Jonah's tourmates Frank Turner and Joshua English, and they were nice guys to boot (actually, Frank would be a "lad", or "chap", I guess...).

Anyway, Jonah and I spent most of the time on the road discussing and listening to his new album (due out this summer), and we talked quite a bit about the related plans that have been brewing for a while.

First off, I had to give the album a listen with an ear toward song placement for Closet Space. There are actually two cues in the movie where actual "pop" songs need to go. The first cue had to be pretty loud and uptempo...and lo and behold there was a song on the album that fit the bill perfectly. Not only sonically, but lyrically as well - the theme of the song actually hints at one of the through-lines that propels the movie. I can't really discuss it in too much detail without ruining some of the surprises I guess, but to drop something of a hint (and another bit of weirdness)...the song also is a remarkably accurate description of my feelings on the debacle surrounding the last movie that I directed, and all of the bullshit I had to deal with as a result. It's actually eerily on the mark as far as that stuff goes (albeit a little less violent and angry that yours truly tended to get). Anyway, it made choosing the song painfully obvious. Look/listen for it when the movie and album come out.

The second song is more incidental (issuing from a radio in the background of a scene), but we actually turned that into a big deal as well. Earlier this year, Jonah expressed interest in doing a video for one of the songs from the new album. A horror video. A gory horror video. With zombies. I figured we'd kill two birds with one stone and make it a semi-official Closet Space video in the tradition of "Dream Warriors". So...later this spring, we are going to be shooting a super-gory zombie video for one of indie rock's most favored sons, and Closet Space's Melanie Donihoo (and maybe even some others) will be playing pretty important roles. Can you say "DVD Extra"? The most interesting and challenging part of the whole deal will be the incongruity of the whole thing - the song is not your standard zombie killing soundtrack. It's kinda airy, midtempo, and pretty upbeat. I'm sure some people will be put off by the juxtaposition. Personally, that makes me want to do it even more.

So yeah, Closet Space haunts my days even when I'm at a huge music festival with one of my favorite artists.

2007-03-09T13:20:00.000-08:00

I am nearing completion of Closet Space (except for the scoring part - it's going out for that very soon). Actually, I guess I should say that I'm nearing completion on all the stuff I personally have to do to the movie - in addition to the score, I'm still waiting on a few FX shots, both digital and practical. That stuff can be dropped in pretty simply, though.

Over the last week or so (pretty much right before and right after the Chicago Fango show) I proceeded to get each of the lead actors in for their ADR work. For those that don't know...ADR stands for "automated dialogue replacement" or "additional dialogue recording" (whichever you prefer) and it involves the actors coming in to re-dub or loop lines for various reasons. Cleaner audio, better delivery, even adding lines that weren't there the first time around.

Anyway, that process naturally requires the talent to pretty much see the movie in it's near-final form. I have reservations about that for various reasons...not the least of which is that most people cannot extrapolate what a "finished" movie is going to look like from any stage other than the actual finished version - even those "in the know". I had some pretty bad experience with this on my last project, which turned me off the idea even more. Plus, I hate the whole "another set of eyes" theory...but more on that later.

Anyway, the stuff had to be done, regardless of my personal feelings in the matter. And oddly enough, most everyone seemed to be excited about the way the movie was turning out. A few were super-stoked at the sight of some of the more...intense sequences, which was awesome. Others were a bit put off or taken aback by things...a few times I could tell that the actor/actress in the hot seat was actually disgusted by the images on the screen. I heard "I'm not going to be able to bring my parents/grandparents/family/minister to see this" quite a lot over the last few weeks.

Well...that's fucking awesome, and here's why.

When I decided to make Closet Space, I wanted to make a REAL horror movie...something like I saw back when I was a kid. I wanted it to push buttons, to disturb, and to maybe even make some people question my sanity. That's what a real horror movie should do. All the soulless crap that's been passing for horror lately is sterile and nutless, mainly because the filmmakers want the broadest audience possible (which of course means more money). God forbid they ostracize the 14-year old giggly girls out there who are just waiting to plunk their (conservative) parents hard-earned dough down to see the latest TV heartthrob making his debut in a "supernatural thriller in the vein of PSYCHO or THE EXORCIST". They don't even call them horror movies anymore, yet they name drop horror movies left and right in the promotional push!

In my eyes, horror is supposed to be disturbing. It is not meant to be easily palatable. That defeats the purpose.
With that said, I can assure you that Closet Space is pretty disturbing in parts. You may even have to avert your eyes or leave the theatre. That's fine. If people do that, then we have done our jobs. In addition to that...there's no "comedic relief" in the form of "wacky stoners" or "sexed-up teenagers". We do have an African-American in the cast, but guess what - he doesn't talk jive or wear a bunch of bling. He actually has some of the most intelligent lines in the movie. And sure, there's some sexual innuendo and nudity in the movie...but not at all what you might think. Trust me.

If any of that puts you off of seeing Closet Space, then I'm sorry...but it's probably for the best. I never intended this to be a movie for everyone, and hopefully that turns out to be a good thing. You'll understand when you see it.

2007-03-04T22:11:00.000-08:00

So...we're back from the Chicago Fangoria show in one piece. Things went really really well (for once) and interest in the movie and our efficacy in getting the word out really surpassed my expectations. Definitely a fruitful trip with many highlights...but the best part was being able to hang with my fellow indie-horror brethren from Barricade, 100 Tears, and Necrophobia. We should all collaborate on an independent, low-budget Grind House/4 Rooms-type project. The Grind Shack. Yeah. I like that.

Anyway, yeah, it was very successsful, and I'm looking forward to Fear Fest in a couple of weeks, followed by Fangoria Burbank in May, and then Texas Frightmare in the summer. The Closet Space express keeps trucking along.

As for the movie edit status - most of the ADR work is done (only 2 actors remain, and one of them is my wife), and I'm also getting into the home stretch with color correction and FX shot placement. A rough cut will be going out to our composer very very soon - so hopefully we'll have a finished version by the time the Burbank show rolls around. Definitely for Texas Frightmare though.

Meanwhile, Jason and I are steadily hashing out Closet Space 2 and 3. My current plan is to go into production on these later this year (late fall/winter), and as usual, I'll be doing another crew jettison/replacement sweep. One of these days, I'm sure I'll be able to secure a group of people that can work together effectively without personal baggage getting in the way, but that day has yet to arrive. So, if you have movie experience, and you're interested on working on a crazy back-to-back horror film shoot in Texas near the holidays, feel free to drop me a line. Dipshits, drama queens, reprobates, backseat directors, and lazy asses need not apply.

2007-02-18T22:19:00.000-08:00

Man, I am getting worse and worse with updating this. Mainly because I'm a good deal of the way through post on Closet Space. We've started the ADR process, and I am enginieering the existing audio as well. It was tedious at first, but I'm kind of in the groove now. This is my first real serious attempt at audio engineering, even after years of being in bands and doing movie stuff. It sounds good so far, though. On a related note, I highly recommend the noise reduction preset in Adobe Audition 2.0 - it's been a huge help.

Edit edit edit...and then Wednesday we head off to the Chicago installment of the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors. A huge gaggle of us are going, so it should be fun. Closet Space, Necrophobia, 100 Tears, and Barricade will all have a presence there. I'm sure I'll freeze my Texas-bred ass off, just like last year. Maybe this time I won't lose my voice.

Big updates are coming as far as the Closet Space soundtrack/score, and premiere date, so look for those soon. We're shooting for a premiere in the Spring...probably April sometime.

2007-02-06T12:22:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone. First off, I have to say that last night's HFO Industry Mixer was a success. Thanks to Stacy Davidson and Mike James for putting it on. Several people came up to me and either said that they were scared, that they might not be able to sit through the movie based on the new trailer, etc. That makes me feel like I've done my job. I look forward to future Filmmaker First Mondays at Fitz.

I've included the new trailer and interview footage on the CLOSET SPACE MySpace page so everyone can take a peek behind the tentacled curtain. Jason Stewart and I talk about the project in general, and I included some of the Oddtopsy FX interview footage again...because really, who can get tired of those guys?

Anyway, before the video stuff, I just wanted to refresh everyone's memories on our little incestuous horror-movie web. Here are our current partners in crime, some or all of which will be alongside us at the upcoming Fangoria Weekend of Horrors in Chicago:

NECROPHOBIA is our lighting director/digital FX supervisor Stacy Davidson's horrific magnum opus. CLOSET SPACE's Morgan McCarthy is also one of the stars, and yours truly makes a cameo death appearance. It premieres in Houston in March. Keep your eyes peeled for this one. I've seen the movie, and it rocks.

BARRICADE is a little movie you may have heard about. Our friends Ted G., Timo Rose, Raine Brown, and Joe Zaso are all responsible/accountable for this sick little flick. I've also seen this one, and it tickled my long-dormant gag reflex. Good stuff.

One of our aforementioned FX gurus, Marcus Koch, is currently in Florida directing a nasty little picture called 100 TEARS.
Ted from BARRICADE and myself are helping them produce it. It features the biggest fucking cleaver I've ever seen.

Fellow Houston filmmaker Josh Vargas is almost finished shooting SWAY, which features all manner of stuff to turn your stomach, revolt you, or just plain piss you off. SWAY also stars CLOSET SPACE's Melanie Donihoo.

Jason Beam is a bad-ass artist who did the BARRICADE artwork, the CLOSET SPACE poster, and a whole slew of other dark/fantasy things that you should check out at his website. I hear Christy Hemme is going to be at his table in Chicago, so you'll probably want to make a point to stop by.

Finally, The Unquiet Void provided us with some super creepy ambience and music for the new trailer. It really fits the mood that I'm aiming for with the movie, and I'm sure that the music had no small part in unsettling our audience last night.

Okay, enough rambling. There's more exciting CLOSET SPACE news on the horizon concerning our score, our screening plans, and our sequel(s!), but all in good time. Until then, enjoy the new videos!

2007-01-24T20:44:00.000-08:00

This just in:

The first ever Houston Filmmaker's Organization Mixer is taking place next Monday, February 5, from 5-8 PM at Fitzgerald's.

More details can be found here.

Come by and check it out - I'll be sitting on a panel with some of my Closet Space brethren to field questions and such. Admission is FREE.

2007-01-23T20:45:00.000-08:00

I know, I know...most times these days I totally disown this movie and most everyone involved with it (for lots of reasons - all of them quite valid...chalk it up to "creative differences", to recycle a hollow phrase that was once pseudo-used against me), but Wil Keiper of Horror Yearbook just wrote up a pretty positive review of Witchcraft 13: Blood Of The Chosen.

This means even more when one realizes that Wil is probably the biggest Witchcraft series fan on the face of the earth. He even threw in a "Witchcraft Guide" of sorts.

Check it out here.

Thanks again to Wil and HorrorYearbook.com!

2007-01-20T23:24:00.000-08:00

Whew.

The first pass/assembly edit of Closet Space is done. 98 minutes and 44 seconds, without end credits. Tomorrow begins pass 2, which will entail color-correction, and some sound engineering.

I've also been added to the list of guests that are going to be at Texas Frightmare Weekend in June. My understanding is that all of us "Texas Frightmakers" will be sitting on a panel detailing the ins and outs of crafting scares on a budget. Should be lots of fun.

More news soon, and more regularly, I swear. I've just had my head so in this edit it's unreal. I guess that's good, right? I mean...besides the killer screen-stare headaches.

2007-01-08T07:12:00.000-08:00

I'm back at work after another whirlwhind weekend of promotion for Closet Space. From Wednesday, January 3rd up until about 2 hours ago, I was in California for the San Jose installment of the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors.

Last Wednesday, I arrived at LAX, got my rental van, and drove out to Orange County to meet Closet Space screenwriter Jason Stewart. He had procured a "west coast door" that we were using as a prop for the table, so we had to put feet on it and make sure that it would fit in the vehicle. That went much more quickly than I thought it would. Building and rebuilding sets for the past 6 months probably helped hone my construction skills a little bit. That evening we just chilled and prepared for the trip up to the convention.

On Thursday, Jason and I hit the road to San Jose. 5 hours and one In N Out stop later, we found ourselves at the Doubletree (a very nice hotel to have the convention in, I might add...they even gave us warm chocolate chip cookies on check in). We set up our basic table stuff pretty quickly, finding ourselves next to the crazy guys from Moomooch Clothing Co. ...fortunately, they quickly became our homeboys. Thursday evening was uneventful, save for some horror icon spottings in the hotel (Doug Bradley, Sid Haig, Ken Foree). Basically more chilling and preparation.

Friday started off slowly, of course, but we had a few people come by the table, check out the trailer and making-of, and generally show interest. Jason and I also got in the habit of talking up the movie over the course of that day, so it was a nice break-in period before the historically "big" day, Saturday. The highlight definitely had to be the popping of my Fangoria Panel cherry thanks to my work with the cast and crew of The Flesh Keeper. The writer/director, star, producer, and myself talked up the flick and showed some clips...one of which featured me cameo-ing as a black bean farmer. Inside joke. Anyway...the Flesh Keeper guys were also there to promote the recent release of The Quick and The Undead, so it was nice to hang out with them a little bit again.

Friday night involved a lot of running around on my part...I had to pick up Tim "Professor Polanco" Wrobel from the San Jose Amtrak station (he was coming up from LA), and Melanie "Nancy" Donihoo from the airport...in Oakland. The flights were cheaper, what can I say? Overall, it wasn't that bad of a "running around" session, but I did discover that apparently people do not eat in San Jose. Seriously...I had to drive around for half an hour before I even found a Carl's Jr. Where the hell do the people that work at eBay eat lunch? Anyway...there's Friday for you.

Saturday was our big push day. Number one - it's usually the busiest day of the convention. Number two - we had two actors there signing 8 x 10's for FREE. Everybody likes free stuff, right? It took a while to "grease the wheels"...most people are (rightfully) wary of something for nothing, but overall It was a smashing success. Both Melanie and Tim gave out dozens of pics and autographs. Lots of people stopped to chat about the movie. All seemed excited and eager to check out Closet Space when it's finished. We even lined up some interviews and possible screenings. All around a great step forward for Texas indie horror. As far as extra curricular activities go, I got a pic with Doug Bradley, Tim got one with Adrienne Barbeau, Jason hob-nobbed with Jeffrey Combs, and our 2nd unit FX artist Kristi Boul hung out with EVERYONE, apparently.

One weird thing about Saturday was getting called out regarding my last movie. Someone there had seen a screener of it, and had pretty good things to say about the flick, especially in reference to what we did with what we had, resource wise. That actually was kind of nice to hear, after the shit-storm that I went through because of it.

The wife and I took the opportunity to break away Saturday evening and head up to San Francisco for dinner. We ate at the same restaraunt in Fisherman's Wharf that we had dinner at right before I proposed to her - the place is called Cioppino's. That was pretty neat...this time I could actually eat my meal without being weird and nervous. After that, we dropped in on my friend Jonah, who lives in SF. It was nice to visit with him and share convention stories...and we also discussed the first video for his new album, which I'll be directing and co-producing. Trust me, it's going to be pretty insane. In a good way.

We returned to SJ early enough to find most everyone hanging out at the bar, Pinhead included. After a final few bad jokes and innuendo, we crashed and got ready for the long day of travel ahead.

Sunday morning I took Melanie back to the Oakland airport, came back to SJ, picked up Tim and Jason, and then we headed back to the LA/Orange County area. We had a fun (yet intermittent) talk/brainstorming session about several projects-in-the-works. Here's hoping they all reach fruition so that Tim can ride my coattails to success.

We have big plans for the Chicago Fango, Texas Fear Fest, Burbank Fango, and Texas Frightmare Weekend, so you'll be seeing a lot of Closet Space in the near future. Here's to hoping that the positive buzz keeps building.

2006-12-30T13:37:00.000-08:00

I posted an end of the year/30th birthday/wrap-up/reflection/news/update blog on my MySpace page. You can check it out there. In the future, I will probably double-post news and updates both here and there, but for now I'm too lazy to copy it all over here with the links intact. So hop over there, read, and enjoy.

2006-12-13T08:52:00.000-08:00

Add Unfilmable.com, Dread Central, and Bloody Disgusting to the press list from yesterday. They each show off the new poster design (Dread Central professed a particular fondness for it), and Bloody Disgusting got hold of a couple of exclusive screenshots.

2006-12-12T12:14:00.000-08:00

Fangoria ran a story on their website today regarding the new Closet Space poster. Awesome.

I get more and more pumped as time moves on and I get more of the edit done. The movie is looking pretty sweet so far, and it's just my first pass.

2006 is definitely shaping up to be a year that doesn't suck (for the most part). Thanks to everyone that helped it not suck - from my wife, to my crew, to my lawyers, to my favorite bands/musicians, to my colleagues and fellow movie makers. Hopefully 2007 will tear the door off the hinges.

UPDATE:

This evening I noticed that Arrow In The Head ran a piece on the poster as well. They also went to the website and grabbed a pic of Danielle, who is slowly becoming our unofficial mascot.

I find that funny in a lot of ways, especially since she was a last-minute replacement because of some stupid bullshit that was left over from the last project I did. Long story, but it worked out for the better. Things happen for a reason, I guess...it should suffice to say that I'm glad that we found her...and I need to find a way to have Monica return in Closet Space 2. Twin sister, maybe. Or maybe the "Earth-616" version of Monica.

Wow...I'm a huge nerd.

2006-12-10T20:13:00.000-08:00

Got back from Tampa today. All of the pick-up shooting went well, and some really weird disturbing stuff was captured on tape. I'll be dropping it in the movie over the next few days. We also got a chance to talk a little bit about Marcus' upcoming movie, 100 Tears, which I will be co-producing.

We've confimred our appearances at the San Jose and Chicago Fangoria Weekend of Horrors shows - at the very least, myself, Melanie and Marcus will be at both, with other cast and crew joining us as schedules permit.

Here's the final poster if you haven't seen it - feel free to make it your desktop background.

2006-12-06T22:01:00.000-08:00

Flying out to Tampa tomorrow to get some final FX inserts for Closet Space. More gore, punching up kills, things of that nature. Should be fun.

We also confirmed our presence at the San Jose and Chicago Weekend Of Horrors dates. That also should be fun.

I'll be unveiling the new Closet Space poster shortly, so keep an eye out for that. On the edit front, I've got a little over a third of the movie in rough-assembly edit mode. By the end of next week I should have most if not all of it done, and then the fine tuning begins. Hopefully, I'll be able to cut another trailer before Christmas.

Just watched Superman Returns again for inspiration. I love the class and majesty of that film.

2006-11-26T22:27:00.000-08:00

The Texas Is The Reason show was phenomenal. It shook me to my core, lifted me up, inspired me, recharged me in so many ways, etc. The best show I've ever seen in my life, period.

We also saw Evil Dead: The Musical, which was pretty damn entertaining. It took place in the coolest theatre space that I have ever seen.

Bad ass bands, support for the arts...yep, more reasons that I should have taken the chance and gone to college in New York. Ah, the folly of youth.

Here's a video from Saturday night's show. You can see my ever-bobbing head and "rock fist" in there a few times.

Texas is the Reason reunion live Back and to the Left

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2006-11-19T20:50:00.000-08:00

3 weeks...man, I'm seriously slacking on this blog thing. I know you're all out there waiting to read the latest goings-on with baited breath. Some of you probably were hoping that I was dead. Not the case. Not yet, at least.

Hmmm...let's see if I can remember all that's transpired. First of all, Witchcraft 13 and all it's related issues are finally a thing of the past. Thankfully, that also means that I am done with all parties involved (both in front of, and behind the camera), and I am legally and (soon to be) financially free of that cinematic tarbaby.

By the way, I can say "tarbaby", because I'm Black.

Great big thanks are due to my cadre of lawyers, as well as the actors and crew that had my back throughout all this nonsense. You know who you are...because you were probably in Closet Space. Or you'll hopefully be in the sequel (ahem...Zoe, Lynn, Cesar...). If you are reading this and feel indignant, then you probably fall in the "thanks for nothing, and I hope you burn in Hell" category. Have a nice life.

So yeah, that movie is finally gone off the hard drives, so I had the latitude to start screwing around with Closet Space in a big way. I've gotten most of the assemble edits done for the bigger kills and setpieces, so the next step is to do a hand off to Visual Oddysee to start optical FX. I'm also still planning on trekking out to Tampa this month to get some more practical FX inserts done. I'm hoping to have a new trailer cut within the next couple of weeks, and I'll also be rolling out the new poster design.

Jonah made a quick trip through Houston to do a show, and we were finally able to talk about some collaborations. Look for at least one Jonah Matranga composition on the soundtrack to Closet Space. We also discussed some plans for next year that are pretty exciting, so I hope those come to fruition.

This weekend we checked out roughly half of the movies that were part of the After Dark Horror Fest. Some okay, some laborious...but The Grave Dancers was one of the best horror movies I've seen in a long while. Go see it if you can.

I'm going to try and get a lot more of the Closet Space assembly edit done before we go off this weekend for this:

2006-10-30T22:45:00.000-08:00

The new Deftones album is amazing. Go buy it. Good job, Shaun.

2006-10-29T22:40:00.000-08:00

Here's a scan of the Fangoria mention. Thanks to Barricade screenwriter/producer Ted Geoghegan for scanning it in and sending it to me.

2006-10-26T22:56:00.000-07:00

Well, another dream has come true.

My name is in the print version of Fangoria.

This months's issue (#258, Saw III cover), page 26...Closet Space has a short blurb in the "Terror Teletype".

Awesome. Scan of the page is forthcoming.

2006-10-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

It' s been a while here, but not for lack of activity. I've just been hella busy lately.

First, I had to drive what I hope are the final nails in the coffin for my last project. We'll see where that goes...the producers now have what they want (the complete elements of the movie), and it looks like everyone on this side will get what they want (i.e. payment). Everything is going through escrow, so it will take a week or so. Involved parties will be getting an email with the next step. On a related note, the Project Manager function of Premiere Pro 2.0 is a huge lifesaver. It helped me reassemble and clean up a project that had become pretty unwieldy. It went from about 400 gigabytes to a svelte 70 G's. Nice.

Concurrently with the above, I also had to throw together some Closet Space packets and mini promo DVD's for the American Film Market. We just recently were able to have someone out there to promote and get the word out, so I had to do a rush job, but I think things turned out okay. Hopefully, we can get some sort of response out of that.

Closet Space's own FX guru Marcus Koch is planning his directorial debut next year, and I've been talking to him about coming on as a producer. I definitely have enough experience, but I've never just been a producer, so it should be nice if it all works out.

I've secured tickets for the wife and I to see Evil Dead: The Musical while we are in New York next month. I've heard good things about it, so I'm looking forward to that. This has become our semi-offical anniversary getaway. Evil Dead one day, Texas Is The Reason the next...how could it get any better?

Speaking of Texas Is The Reason, I just got lined up to do a phoner interview with Norman Brannon (nee Arenas) tomorrow for inclusion on the Space City Rock website. Look for that soon, hopefully between now and the date of the show. I'll also be writing up a review of the show for SCR afterwards.

Now that I've exorcized my computer, the Closet Space edit is kicking into overdrive. A new trailer should be out before Thanksgiving, along with our new (and official) poster design courtesy of Mr. Jason Beam. We're also getting our ducks in a row for the San Jose and Chicago Fangoria shows. It's going to be another busy holiday season for the House That Never Sleeps.

2006-10-17T21:50:00.000-07:00

For those of you that clicked over here from the Zombos Closet or Blogcritics interview - you might want to start further back if you want to read all the crazy production stories. I'm in post on Closet Space right now, so there aren't that many tales to tell...I'm sure when promotion, screenings, and distribution stuff starts to kick in it will get a little more exciting around here. For now, courage.

Here's a good place to start. That's around when we did our cast readings, conceptual designs, and set construction. We began shooting in May, shot heavily through June and July, and wrapped principal photography in August. You can use the monthly list on the right to click around, and note that the older entries are at the bottom of the pages.

I hadn't realized that there was so much to trudge through, as I really didn't expect to write all that much on this thing. It will make my snarky autobiography all the easier, though.

2006-10-17T07:54:00.000-07:00

Our first interview Q/A is up at:

http://zomboscloset.typepad.com/zombos_closet_of_horror_b/2006/10/interview_with__1.html

Thanks to Zombo's Closet for conducting it.

Enjoy.

2006-10-13T13:03:00.000-07:00

In honor of Friday the 13th, I give you Kane Hodder choking the crap out of me.

Third in a series.

2006-10-10T21:28:00.000-07:00

I've just about settled down from my whirlwind September, and am slowly getting into the editing groove again. Closet Space is looking good...so much so that I'm starting the process of setting up Closet Space 2 to shoot this time next year. My plan is to use the spring and summer of 2007 for pre-production and monster and F/X building. I've been talking with Jason about having a CS2 brainstorming weekend sometime soon, so I'm pretty sure I'll find myself in California in the next month or so. Our aim is to have a draft done by January.

This past weekend the wife and I took advantage of a Best Buy sale to pick up an 32" HDTV for my edit suite. I'm using it as an output monitor, so now I can really dissect picture and contrast during the CS editing process. My goal is to time things pretty dark...but without losing a whole mess of detail, much like...you guessed it...A Nightmare on Elm Street.

I'm also flying out to Tampa sometime soon to do some final 2nd Unit FX shooting for Closet Space - that will happen within the next month or so as well. Thank God I have a OnePass account.

The first weekend of my Screamworld security detail went by without a hitch, and I got the chance to scare the ever living shit out of quite a few people. It's the little things in life...

2006-10-04T21:56:00.000-07:00

Back from our crazy drive out to the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors...which came directly after my work on The Flesh Keeper...which resulted in my being sick for the last couple of days just from the sheer toll of all that on my body. It was all for a good cause though - the Flesh Keeper footage looks good, and Closet Space has already generated a grassroots buzz in the horror community. Now I just have to make sure I deliver with the edit.

The Weekend of Horrors trip was so successful that we are definitely doing it again for the California show in January, and more than likely the Chicago show in the spring of 2007...and probably a few after that as well. And yes, we will be bringing the door along whenever possible.

On a more personal note, I have successfully secured tickets to the Texas Is The Reason reunion show, so I'll be back in New York on Thanksgiving weekend. I'm really looking forward to that.

I also finally picked up my copy of the Infinifilm Nightmare On Elm Street DVD, and spent my day watching the movie, commentary, and all the extras. Damn, I love that film. I have to admit that a lot of the behind the scenes anecdotes reminded me of shooting Closet Space, which I guess has to be a good thing. If CS turns out to be even one-quarter as effective as NOES then I'll be happy.

2006-09-30T12:14:00.000-07:00

Fango Pic #2: Me at the Closet Space table. People are digging the door.

2006-09-30T06:41:00.000-07:00

So....last night Domingo, Marcus, Chris, Kristi and myself had dinner with Michael Gingold, Scooter McRae, and Mike Mendez. Very, very cool company for a horror nerd like me, and the conversation was excellent. I also found a male hetero life-mate in Scooter; we bonded over our shared love for Alien 3.

Today begins the second (and probably busiest) day of the convention, so we'll be pimping Closet Space super-hard. Tonight I believe we are having another "horror nerd night out". Awesome.

2006-09-29T15:53:00.000-07:00

Fangoria pic #1. Me with Dee Snider.

"Street Justice....whoa oh oh!"

2006-09-29T14:14:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here at the Closet Space table at the Fangoria Weekend Of Horrors. The convention is a lot of fun so far, and it's only the first day. We've already made a ton of connections and talked our heads off about the movie. There's lots of interest, which is really, really cool. Most of the kind words we've recieved go something along the lines of "it looks like you guys had a huge budget". I try not to get a coronary each time I laugh at that one. It's definitely high praise in my eyes.

Tonight we're probably going to party/hobnob with some of the other horror luminaries, and then tomorrow night we are setting up an impromptu screening for one of our fellow filmmakers. Sunday is a day of mystery at this point, but I'm sure some of it will involve driving.

The Flesh Keeper completes principal photography tomorrow night...my friend Matt is taking my place there now since I'm in movie-pimping mode. The shoot was fun, yet harrowing, although we got some really really good stuff. I can't wait to see the finished project. The crew was great, as was the cast...I definitely have some casting ideas in mind for Closet Space 2 now.

It will take me a while to recover from the one-two punch of that shoot and this Fango trip, but I have a lot of relaxing editing in front of me. So...next stop - rough cut of Closet Space. Engage.

2006-09-17T07:10:00.000-07:00

They've started a Closet Space page on the IMDb. Updates should be going in shortly.

I go back into crazy Flesh Keeper shoot mode tomorrow for another week of nuttiness and sleep deprivation. I seriously can't wait. There's no sarcasm in that last sentence, or in this one for that matter. The Flesh Keeper is a really fun ride so far, regardless of the toll it's taking on my soon-to-be 30 year old mind and body.

The weekend after that is Fango. Excited about that as well.

Today I plan to read some comic books and vegetate. Maybe even edit a little of Closet Space.

2006-09-16T11:03:00.000-07:00

I am dog tired from the movie shoot, so I'm going to be lazy and repost a bulletin I put out on the internet crack colloquialy known as MySpace:

It's been a wild few days for me.

First off, my last/current project, Closet Space , got some love from my favorite horror press outlets.

Fangoria

Arrow In The Head

Dread Central

. Check out the stories if you have time.

Next, I began work on The Flesh Keeper, which is Gerald Nott's follow-up to The Quick and The Undead (due out on DVD later this year - check it out). The shoot has been extremely tiring, but a blast nonetheless...and it's cool to have Texas moviemaking ideals crash headlong into aspects of the "Hollywood" system.

Finally, one of my favorite bands announced a reunion show that I never thought would happen. I know what I'm doing this Thanksgiving.

Check out the links if you're got a moment. More news on all movie fronts to come shortly, and remember that Closet Space will be at the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors in NYC later this month.

2006-09-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

Closet Space got some love from my favorite horror press outlets. Check out our news items on:

Fangoria

Arrow In The Head

Dread Central

Look for more exciting CLOSET SPACE news in the near future! In the meantime, Stacy Davidson and I are working with Gerald Nott on The Flesh Keeper (see below) out in the middle of nowhere. I haven't slept in almost two days. It's been a blast.

Closet Space - FX Interview

2006-09-08T23:11:00.000-07:00

Oddtopsy FX talks about working on Closet Space. There be minor spoilers within.

2006-09-08T12:37:00.000-07:00

Okay, I lied.

I give you - THE FLESH KEEPER!

Click here for the MySpace page.

2006-09-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm jumping into the deep end on Monday. I start my first "real" movie gig (by "real" I mean a weekly schedule and drawing a salary, rather than shooting on weekends or whenever time allows for little to no pay...or actually negative pay, for that matter). Not to cheapen the other stuff I've done by any means...but I can actually almost see myself making a living doing horror movies, and that's weird to me. I'm still not positive that I can leak the title and concept, but suffice to say the movie is firmly in the Chainsaw/Last House/Tourist Trap vein.

What's even more interesting is that our Texas movie synchronicity continues...we have three cast members carrying over from Closet Space along with three crew members, and a couple of those cast and crew also worked on Necrophobia. It's like we have our own Texas horror version of the Titanic, Brittanic, and Oceanic now....well, without the hyperbole, I guess. What I'm saying is that it's neat to have sister movies and a solid working core of people from which to draw.

I'm taking the laptop along, so maybe I can steal some moments to finish my long in development scripts. We'll see.

For those of you in the Houston area, Raymond Gayle will be on KPFT 90.1 tonight at 7:30 to talk about Electric Purgatory, which is a documentary that I helped him with. It's good stuff, and the subject matter is very salient to me. I know I've said that 20 or so times here, but I can't stress it enough.

Closet Space Trailer #1

2006-09-05T08:05:00.000-07:00

I may still make some small sartorial changes, but here it is for the most part.

2006-08-30T12:30:00.000-07:00

I guess I didn't officially mention it, but Closet Space has wrapped principal photography. I'm hard at work editing...I took a lot of time initially capturing, organizing bins, and naming clips in a somewhat orderly manner. I learned this lesson pretty quickly on Witchcraft...when I ingested all the footage for that picture I did it all in large chunks, tape by tape, thinking that would be the easiest approach. Not the case at all. Editing Lesson #1: Take more time on the ingest to save yourself lots of time during the actual cutting period.

Hopefully a Closet Space trailer will be done within the next few days. Things are ramping up on the Nott Entertainment movie that I start work on in a couple weeks, so I'm busy getting that stuff together as well. Helping with casting, production managing, equipment...the usual. This weekend, Mrs. House and I are taking the drive up to the location so that I can scope it out and start putting together the general game plan.

I'm really excited about the Nott movie for many reasons...but mainly it marks my first official foray into being a PAID member of a movie crew....like in a Mr. Blonde "job-type job" way. I feel somewhat legitimized. Next stop: unionization!

The Rollins Band show was awesome. Seeing Hank onstage always re-energizes and focuses me.

2006-08-28T10:50:00.000-07:00

I keep forgetting that in addition to seeing Rollins Band, I also get to see punk legends X tonight. So therein lies the filmic connection: John Doe has been in a shit-ton of movies, and Exene Cervenka was married to Aragorn for a while.

As such, I get to double rock the f%&k out tonight.

2006-08-27T23:06:00.000-07:00

The Gorilla Biscuits show was pretty crazy. The stink of anger and sweat permeated the place. I fit right in.

Closet Space is wrapped (save some possible pickups way in the future). The trailer should hopefully be done this week sometime.

We're also ramping up for the shoot on Gerald's movie next month...it looks like I'll be working with a few people again, some for the third or fourth time. I think I've almost locked in my Tarantino-esque cadre of returning faces both in front of and behind the camera.

The relative isolation of the location for Gerald's film will hopefully lend me the opportunity to finish the screenplays that I'm working on so that I can maybe get something else going in the spring of 2007. Then again, I may wait until next fall or winter...shooting movies here in the full-force Southeast Texas heat sucks pretty hard. We'll see what happens, I guess.

2006-08-26T22:11:00.000-07:00

Here's a post from Stacy (taken from the Odyssee Pictures' website) detailing the until now amorphous "September Project":

Texas Horror Triple Threat
August 26, 2006
Texas studios Odyssee Pictures and Upstart Filmworks (Closet Space) have joined forces with Nott Entertainment (The Quick and the Undead) to film Gerald Nott's next vision of pure terror in Texas. Although the title is still under wraps, we can tell you that it will feature Gerald Nott as writer/director, Odyssee's Stacy Davidson as cinematographer, and Upstart's Mel House as production manager & 2nd unit director. The movie will be shot in HD, and filming is set to begin in September.
According to Stacy: This is one f&@%ed up flick. After I read the script, I had to take a shower. It's sick, it's demented, I think Gerald should be locked up for writing it, and I can't wait to help him put it on screen.
Stay tuned for details!

- So there you have it, sort of. That's the next thing I'll be doing, and it's shaping up to be a pretty cool experience. Closet Space photography is over and done with as of tomorrow evening. I've been working on the trailer all weekend, and I'm excited.

Over the next two days I'm getting my hardcore anger rock on: Gorilla Biscuits tomorrow night, and Rollins Band on Monday. It couldn't have come at a better time. I plan on raging in the pit both nights.

2006-08-21T22:00:00.000-07:00

Tonight we shot even more FX stuff for Closet Space - and word has it that the Oddtopsy FX gang are going to begin work on still more debauchery soon. Maybe I'll get the dreaded "X" rating on the first pass. What a badge of honor that would be.

Marcus Koch of Oddtopsy will most likely be joining us for the NYC area Fangoria Weekend of Horrors at the end of September, so I'm really looking forward to that. Hopefully, Chris and Derek can join us as well.

Looks like I will be taking care of security at Screamworld again this year...at least for the last few weekends before Samhain. Should be fun, as always.

Friday, Stacy Davidson and I are meeting up with the writer/director of the flick we will begin work on next month. That too, should be fun. I'm looking forward to the transition into moviemaking as my "job". I'll post info about that movie (which is the infamous "September Project") once we get closer to production.

2006-08-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

Last night's FX pickup shoot for Closet Space went pretty smoothly. We got a lot of crazy, gross, creepy stuff that should enhance the crazy, gross, creepy stuff that we already have. As always, the thing that sucked the most was the humid-ass Houston weather....five minutes after being outside I end up looking like someone dumped a bucket of water on me. Additionally, three or four shots involved copious amounts of fire, making it even hotter. I think I lost about 5 to 10 pounds last night. Of course, no one had it worse than Domingo, who was our creature puppeteer...after being inside the monster last night I thought he was going to pass out.

I'm working on the trailer a little more today, and now I have several more shots to choose from that don't give away too much of the movie. I'll see if I can't post up some screenshots here soon.

After this weekend, we are done, done, DONE with shooting on Closet Space, and I can go into editing hibernation again...until we start production on the next movie I'm involved with on September 11.

2006-08-18T13:29:00.000-07:00

Snakes on a Plane was great fun, as I expected. It actually warms the cockles of my heart that they went in and added more gore, sex and general mayhem due to fanboy net-buzz. There are some really gruesome deaths...some not even snake-related.

Ahhh, Witchcraft....so much to tell...but that's a blog for another day. Let's just say that many lessons were (and are still) being learned. It will make an interesting chapter in my autobiography, that's for sure.

On a related note...thank Christ for Closet Space. I know I piss and moan here a lot about the recent production, but damned if perspective didn't set in like a motherf&*ker this week. I kind of wish I had just started Closet Space (or even a half-assed Walking Distance) last year instead. Oh well...I guess everyone needs an albatross around their neck to keep them grounded.

Speaking of reshoots for more gore and brutality...that's exactly what we are doing tomorrow. I can't wait.

"Just what we need. Snakes on Crack."

2006-08-16T22:54:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday's shoot went pretty well. We also shot a little bit on Monday. I got everything that I needed. No more actor stuff now until the 24th (when we are at the college for the school scene).

This weekend we are doing a lot of FX pickup shots with tentacles, bloody flesh, a latex abomination, and maybe even some fire. That should be fun and dangerous. Well...I guess the fact that it's dangerous lends to the fun factor somewhat.

Closet Space will be at the East Coast Fangoria Weekend of Horrors, so I'm looking forward to that. We're also getting close to crunch time on the 'September Project', so I'm looking forward to that as well.

There are lots of weird and crazy things going on lately....I think I've made my Alien 3, so hopefully Closet Space will be my Se7en. I realize that it's quite a lofty analogy to make, but that's the best way to explain how I feel about CS as it starts to come together. My apologies to David Fincher for the comparison.

By the way, I'm not busting on Alien 3. I actually liked the movie a lot when it came out, and I still do (especially the alternate Alien Quadrilogy work-print edit). I actually plan on rewatching it soon - it's always been a source of inspiration for me, especially considering the constant adversity surrounding the picture.

However...Ellen Ripley's quasi swan song will have to wait until after my Snakes on A Plane engagement tomorrow night.

2006-08-09T15:08:00.000-07:00

We're in the home stretch, and there's lots of movie craziness going on. As per the vintage Witchcraft-era blog, I will oversimplify and distill it down to song lyrics.

My friend Jonah Matranga wrote a song called "Tides" a while back, and I find myself thinking of it often, especially during the watershed moments of my life (which have been quite prevalent in the last three years or so). Very emo of me, I know...but I've shot a lot of guns, bought Slayer albums, and trained in jujitsu, so hopefully that will all balance out in the end. Anyway, to the song:

This time next year
I won't be here
By then I swear
I'll be somewhere
I rely on this
Standing on top of a tall pole
Trapeze, still air, and me there wondering
"Will I jump or won't I?"
Just show up, there is time
Just walk in the light
And all you desire will rise like tides.

So...whenever I get to some sort of crossroads I often reflexively mutter "will I jump, or won't I" to myself. There are lots of weird "Mysteries of Life" that I'm trying to decipher right now....relating to this movie, the next few, and even my non-movie life (yes, there is such a thing).

Will I jump or won't I?

What's funny is that when I did my dream-fulfilling stint of sharing the stage with Jonah earlier this year, we had a lot of time to talk about the vagaries and bugbears of the entertainment industry - especially since he's been through every major-label and band related trial by fire that you can think of. It gave me a lot of food for thought - here's a guy that (to me) "keeps it real" in every sense of the word, still manages to do what he loves to do, and in addition to all that, he makes a living doing it. Plus, he manages to be a great father to his daughter. And he doesn't ever compromise what he believes in...which leads to a lot of head-butting and arguably missed opportunities (plus three disintegrated bands)...but he's still out there, doing his thing, his way. I'm sure he's ostracized a few people along the way, but apparently it's working out for him...I just saw him on MTV a few days ago (he sings on the latest Fort Minor single).

Anyway, it inspires me. Thinking of the conversations I had with him really makes me want to "jump".

Enough waxing poetic - here's the movie status. More shooting this weekend, next weekend, and on the 24th of August, and then we are done with photographing this movie. The official Closet Space website also has a new look, so check it out.

2006-08-04T13:25:00.000-07:00

I spent the last few days editing together demo reels for two of my Closet Space actors (and I'm getting ready to start on the third), so I pretty much went through and culled footage from the entire movie.

Damn, it looks good.

I'm ramping up the editing process a little bit and doing more and more each day. I'm trying to keep myself from burning out and losing objectivity....but damn...it looks good. Our footage easily blew away anything else on the demo reels. Of course, it could look better, but considering what we shot this movie for and with, it's pretty impressive.

I'm meeting with folks about the "September Project" in a week or so to finalize some things. I think at least one other Closet Space crew alumnus will be involved...but I can't say who just yet.

The two scripts are coming together...one is almost finished, and the other is ftotally finished in my head. Now I need to get to work on leveraging the "swing for the fences" deal. Hopefully, Closet Space will aid me in that regard.

I also am working on a deal to DP another movie...taking it "back to the roots" as my people would say. If things work out on that deal, I'll be shooting that one late September/early October I believe. It's actually not a horror movie (gasp!) but I just read the script, and I connected with a few things in it, so I won't entirely be whoring myself out.

Tomorrow we are rebuilding the CS set...I mentioned that a lot already. Pickup shots begin next week, and I'm looking forward to filling in the little pieces of the puzzle that will complete a compelling whole.

And to adding more gore.

2006-07-31T08:41:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we ("we" being Dwayne, Oliver, Melanie, and myself) successfully broke down the sets at Phobia. The place looks like were were never there. I'm very thankful to the Darke Institute for letting us shoot there, so if you're in the Houston area, make sure you patronize them when the season begins in late September.

We moved all the material to the duplex so that we can rebuild one or two sets for some pickup shots. This week and weekend I will begin construction on HouseWalker Ranch in earnest. We'll shoot some pickups the following weekend (the 11th and 12th) and after that, all that remains is the school stuff in late August.

I'll have to buy a few things and work a little harder, but the combination of the most convenient location in the world coupled with the minimal involvement of outside parties will probably make these shoots go a lot smoother than previous ones. Maybe I'll actually get my entire shotlist this time. About midway through principal on Closet Space, I seriously considered abandoning the project just out of sheer frustration, but I think I've isolated the issues and hopefully ironed them out. Unless of course, the issues are just endemic to my control-freakiness and short fuse. Maybe I just need to kickbox on a more regular basis.

I've still been working on music ideas here and there, but that's in the background until I can get an edit done. We met with our Digital FX team yesterday, and started that process along. I need to dig in and get some serious work done on CS before the next project rolls around in September....and I also should bang on the screenplays a little to get them ready. Lots to do, and of course, never enough time to do it all. It seems overwhelming, but then I think back to what I was doing in 1998, and I get pretty thankful for the crazy workload.

2006-07-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

Last night I went and had a rock session with my drummer John - intitally to start work on new band material, but also so that we could begin jamming out some ideas for the Closet Space score. Mainly I wanted to see if I could actually pull off some semblance of incidental move music in the power trio (or duo in this case, although I will be playing guitar and bass on the recordings) context. I actually think things went pretty well - I threw in lots of minor 2nds, major 7ths and tritones (aka "the devils interval"), and it gave the music a restless feel that I think will lend a lot to the on-screen proceedings. I'm still going to take an initial pass at one or two scenes and then see what I come up with...at that point I'll decide whether or not to go to an outside composer. It's pretty interesting to at least try it, though.

The discovery of the night was definitely John's old analog synth. I think it will play a prominent role in the compositions, since we got some killer sounds from just screwing with it for an hour or so. I wish I had thought of using the thing during Witchcraft...there were definitely some cool stings and "magic shooty" noises that we found

CS editing and new project(s) scripting proceeds apace. Now if only I could quit my 9-5 and do this full time. Dreaming cant hurt, right?

2006-07-26T11:35:00.000-07:00

The relative calm before the storm...

Editing on Closet Space continues in earnest. I actually don't really want to commit to the term "editing" too much...mostly I'm roughly assembling scenes to see what I need to reshoot or pickup (not much so far), and to get the 2nd unit practical FX and digital FX processes underway.

While I'm working on that, I'm also mounting plans for not just one, but three follow-up projects. The first is pretty much a definite go, and we are shooting in September. More on that one as it develops...I'll actually be acting in a moderately different capacity than what I'm used to doing...although basically I'll be doing a lot of what I already do on set, if that makes sense. Reading over it, it probably doesn't.

The second and third are kind of a big deal (at least to me)...and are in no small part motivated by the fact that I've gotten away from my intended "writer/director" path. Don't get me wrong - it's a moderately fun and interesting experience to bring the words and ideas of others to life, but I really miss throwing my personal issues, peccadilloes and bullshit on the page in some foul mockery of therapy. I actually get a lot of negative vibe thrown my way for not having written lately, despite the fact that I wrote my first feature, and did a considerable amount of uncredited on-set rewrites and additions to my subsequent projects. Not that I'm a bitter auteur (well...not entirely bitter), but the minimal flexing I've done makes me want to work those atrophied muscles. So in that regard...I'm retooling and finalizing a long dormant pet project of mine, hopefully to set up for production in the next couple of years. Yes, it's horror. The third one is kind of a "swing for the fences" deal, but I think I actually might stand a decent chance...then again, maybe it's just delusion on my part. At any rate, I'm writing up a treatment for an "established" property that will probably end up being a full script. So far it's turning out pretty well. Hopefully, I can position myself to make a pitch to the "powers that be".

No, it's not a Nightmare script. I'm not that cocksure yet.

2006-07-24T14:02:00.000-07:00

Real quick...

Been editing some of the more complicated scenes of the movie together, similar to the approach I took with Witchcraft. My homicidal rage and cynicism quickly gave way to giddy, schoolgirl excitement. Things are looking good.

Saw Criteria, The Appleseed Cast, Russian Circles, and Radio Pioneer last night. All were good. I needed a hot rock injection to rejuvenate me. It also served to further my burgeoning idea of scoring Closet Space myself. We'll see what happens with that.

More set movement this weekend, as we move from Phobia to the inveterate locale of the Tulsa Carport...soon to be known as HouseWalker Ranch. It is there that we will bring the CS shooting to a close by doing the final set of pickups and FX shots.

2006-07-21T23:53:00.000-07:00

In the words of the prophet Angelo Moore:

"Am I going crazy...or is it the world around me?"

There's been some weird shit going on lately...I've felt it in the air since about midway through the Closet Space shoot, and it's a vibe I got a whiff of during Witchcraft, as well as something I had to deal with numerous times during my stint as a producer of public access television.

Hubris is a motherfucker.

I guess the best analogy in this case would be to liken low-budget filmmaking to being in a band. You've got all these people ostensibly coming together for the same goal, and you have to work together under pretty strenuous conditions to acheive said goal. Of course, there's all kinds of similar bullshit to deal with as well...you may not have the best gear (or cameras), your rehearsal room (location) is cramped and hot, the drummer (cinematographer) would rather be off doing his own experimental project, and the guitarist (assistant director) keeps showing up drunk and playing in the wrong key.

Just like in a band situation, when things are firing on all cylinders and you're "in the groove"...nothing can stop you. Problem is, most of the time you're operating at half potential because of ego, or lack of focus, or both. Maybe your bassist doesn't like the composition you're working on, and would rather go off on some Return To Forever trip. Or perhaps your keyboardist keeps trying to send text messages on their Blackberry while you're trying to nail down an arrangement. Better yet, maybe the backing band begins to each develop the dreaded "frontman syndrome" - you know..."why is this guy writing the riffs and lyrics, so derivative, sounds too much like Sabbath, I could do so much better on my own". I guess coming together to make a killer sound/movie isn't enough at that point. It seems so easy to just go off and create your own heartbreaking work of staggering genius. Maybe you take the Megadeth route and spit in the face of your percieved "oppressors" by forming a band with a similar sound and logo and showing them how it's REALLY done. Or, you could pull the classic "you know, this material is beneath me, so I'm going to go off and record my concept album of klezmer music". Either way, the point is that egos flare up, and everyone acrimoniously goes their separate ways, and they eventually find new people to jam with. And the cycle begins anew.

Of course, things usually don't work out too well. You generally can't have a band with four frontmen, or it will turn into a fractured, schizoid mess. There needs to be a Hetfield...and maybe even an Ulrich (I'm talking up to and including the Black Album here) to write the arrangements, and set the groundwork for the other guys to add their parts to. It's not an easy thing to do, either. I think people fail to realize how hard being that guy really is. You're called a control freak if you run a tight ship (movies: Kubrick, music: Jeff Tweedy), and you're criticized for lack of focus if you let everyone run roughshod over you in some approximation of "democracy". Not only that, you probably won't ever get anything done (be it a movie or an album), because you're going to be too busy listening to the production assistant's lighting suggestions.

I know that seems pretty black and white, but there really is no middle ground. Trust me on this one. Maybe in the studio system when you bring unions and clearly-defined job-descriptions into the mix, but not in the indie world. And the biggest death wish that you can make would be to get your friends to help you out. In most cases, this is the absolute worst idea you could possibly have. You can't manage to have a "business" rapport with people that you have baggage with. You'll begin to notice that people start to take things way too seriously and get offended as if you're making a personal attack, when really all you're trying to do is get a shot that looks halfway decent in a reasonable amount of time. That's not to say that you won't find people that are able to switch back and forth between "business" and "pleasure" mode...it's just a rarity. The set of Sweet Thing was a great example of that vibe. My wife manages to pull it off pretty well (and she's probably got it the most difficult, because she has to live with me and listen to the fallout of other people fucking up on a regular basis), as do most of my main grips. And one of the hardest workers on the set is our new sound guy, most likely because initially I didn't know him from Adam, so he's approaching the gig with some seriousness.

For the next few projects I have lined up, I'm hiring the crew for sure. Fortunately, I'm past the point of "eager beats pretty", so I can ensure that they have actual on-set experience as well. To bring this back full circle to the music analogies, Dave Mustaine (Megadeth) hired bad-ass session musicians to record The System Has Failed, and then hired bad-ass touring musicians to play the live dates. The result? Megadeth's best album since Rust In Peace, followed by a critically acclaimed word tour. Sure, Mustaine can be a little much at times, but you can't deny the success of his Machiavellian tactics.

But you know, with all that said...the dissidents will always think that they have a better handle on the way things work than "the powers that be"...whoever that might be at any given time...the director, bandleader, etc. The only way to convice them otherwise is to have them try, and most likely fail...a few times over. Trust me, I speak from experience. Granted, my shit-talking egomania kicked in when I was a boom operator in the middle of my college career, so I was able to learn the hard lessons before I really was in a position to screw up someone else's directorial groove. My first feature Fade To Black, was an experiment and learning tool all in one, and I count myself lucky that a few people dug it...because honestly, I knew nothing about anything back then as far as making movies. Oh sure, I thought I knew it all, from criticizing and aping things I picked up on other sets...but that wasn't the case. Not in the least.

Maybe more on this topic later...I just needed to vent, and now I'm falling asleep at the keyboard.

Requisite movie status update: we are getting more pickup shots tomorrow night, and then I believe we are finished shooting at Phobia. Principal photography on Closet Space is about 98% complete.

2006-07-18T22:35:00.000-07:00

Two posts in somewhat rapid succession. What ever could be the cause of that, you ask?

Well...it looks like I've pretty much got my next movie gig lined up. And it's coming up pretty soon. So much for time off...I'm starting to notice a disturbing trend in my production schedules. But I couldn't be happier.

More info to come in the next few weeks once things solidify. To head things off at the pass for speculation's sake:

- No, it's not the Nightmare prequel.
- Nope, not Alien 5, either.
- Witchcraft 14?....no.
- and also a big no to Leprechaun Vs. Chucky By Way Of Demonic Toys.
- no, I did not recieve a big windfall from Witchcraft 13 and use it to fund this production.
- Yes, it is horror.
- No, it's not Closet Space 2...although that's probably directly afterward.

Man, the freako numerologists would have a field day with this post. Anyway, more on that later. In the meantime, check out this quasi-review of Electric Purgatory....the documentary I shot for my buddy Raymond. It's lukewarm, but hey, I got my name in Variety magazine.

2006-07-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

Life can be really unfair sometimes.

Before I get into this, let me warn you that this post is only tangentially Closet Space related....if you are here just for news on the movie, here's the Cliff Notes version: things are fine, we have one or two more weekends of pickups left, and then we are done with principal photography. I am already editing footage together, and it looks stellar. The movie is going to be awesome.

Anyway, today I'm really focused on something else. This morning I was informed that my best friend's father passed away last night.

Now, I'm not the emotional type. Anyone that knows me can attest to that fact. I've even been accused of acute sociopathy on numerous occasions. But this is affecting me a little more than usual...for a number of reasons.

First of all, this man (and his wife) are probably the closest thing to what I'd call my godparents...assuming I believed in God. Those that know me know how virtually worthless my birth parents have been throughout my entire life. The Baragans were seemingly always there to fill that gulf. When we were kids, and I wasn't able to hang out, go anywhere, or do anything because my parents didn't want to drive me anywhere, the Baragans came all the way across town to give me a ride. Usually to Astroworld (and once I started driving myself, I discovered how literally out of their way they were going for me) so that Domingo and I could strike out with girls on a regular basis.

Domingo and I kind of drifted apart for a couple of years at the end of high school, but on the couple of occasions I was around, his parents were among the only people to actually congratulate me and tell me how proud they were of my accomplishments. Background on that: I did some stuff that enabled me to get a full ride to UT, plus numerous other scholarships as well. My birth parents never ONCE said anything even remotely scraping praise. The most I got out of my father was disappointment at the fact that I didn't get a football scholarship. Anyway, aside from a few teachers (who I will also be thanking in my Oscar acceptance speech), the Baragans were the only people there for me.

Fast forward to the present time, and the aforementioned movie connection. Just for a little context, my parents and immediate family have never ever seen anything that I've done. No movie screenings, no live shows with bands, nothing. And it's not because they weren't invited (at least until I stopped wasting my time inviting them). Not only did the Baragan family show up at just about every screening; upon my finishing and screening Witchcraft 13, the Baragans believed in me enough to finance a great deal of my follow-up project, which of course you know as Closet Space. I will forever be thankful for that...because once again, they were the first people to come up and actually tell me that they were proud of me. And then they gave me the means to go really nuts with this movie. Throughout all those conversations and interactions, what touches me most to this day is the fact that they would always refer to me as "son". And I feel like they really meant it.

So I spent a lot of the day thinking about all those things and occasionally tearing up because the world totally sucks sometimes. Good people leave us way too soon, it seems.

With all that said, I extend my heartfelt thanks to Domingo Baragan II for being there when I needed him, and most of all believing in me. On behalf of the cast and crew, we dedicate Closet Space in your honor.

Rest in peace,
Mel
(Your third son)

2006-07-07T15:23:00.000-07:00

I posted this as a MySpace bulletin, but I'll repost it here since it's an update of sorts:

It seems that our incestuous little circle is becoming even more incest-y. I shot 2nd camera on Necrophobia a while back, then a great deal of the Necrophobia gang became part of the Closet Space cast and crew, and now this.

This past week my wife (and Closet Space lead) Melanie was cast as a last minute replacement lead in Rejected Films' latest mission-to-offend, entitled Sway. I've been around for one night of shooting so far, and I think it's going to send people screaming for the hills.

Eve Blaack from The Hacker's Source was also on hand to do an interview with Josh, the director. Most people don't know that we have a pretty classy genre publication right in our own backyard. Of course, I took the opportunity to slide in some Closet Space and Witchcraft 13 references, of course. I also gave her a screener of Witchcraft 13 so we'll see how that goes.
So now we have at least four (Sway, Necrophobia, Witchcraft 13, and Closet Space) indie horror movies primed to burst out of our fair city in the next year or so. And when I say indie, I f*%king mean it. Blood, sweat, and more blood...big budget sensibilities be damned. And as a result, we have a pretty tight-knit group of individuals to collaborate on more sick stuff going forward.

Be on the lookout for screenings and announcements in the coming months - I assure you that Houston's streets will run red with blood.

And tentacles.

2006-07-03T08:36:00.000-07:00

I think I can consider this past weekend an "off" weekend, although that wasn't entirely the case.

Friday night began an ordeal which continues to this day - I'm upgrading to a new system drive on my editing suite before getting started on the Closet Space post, and transferring everything over has proven to be a pain in the ass. I think most of it is due to the proprietary and unstable nature of most of the software configuration. Next time I upgrade, I'm definitely going with a Macintosh editing solution, even if I decide to run Windows apps on it. I think I've figured out a workaround of sorts, so hopefully tonight I can finalize that process.

Saturday a few of us went up to Phobia and reconstructed some sets for the pickups that we have to start getting next week. We built a cliff, a tunnel (with walls on both ends), and a short hallway. It was arduous at times, but mostly fun....and we all still have our fingers. Once again, big thanks go out to Phobia for letting us do this up there.

Sunday I basically caught up on my comic book habit. My thoughts on this weeks haul:

- Squadron Supreme is killer, although it definitely is a lot like "JLA meets Rising Stars".
- Astonishing X-Men is still astonishing, even when it veers towards Cheese City, which is an accomplishment. Bravo, Joss. You really should have gotten the X3 gig.
- the Marvel "Civil War" crossover actually has me interested in characters that I've never given a crap about.
- Chris Claremont is leaving Uncanny X-Men, which is a good thing, considering his last two runs.
- Peter Milligan's run on X-Men is over, and I just feel kind of...."eh" about it. He started off with some interesting ideas, but ended more on a whimper than a bang, I think. Especially with the 'Gambit as Death' thing. The new creative teams have me excited, so we'll see what happens.
- As always, The Walking Dead is one of the best comics out there. Maybe I can direct the inevitable adaptation.

2006-06-28T13:31:00.000-07:00

Amidst my blathering about The Last Son Of Krypton, I forgot to mention what amounts to the first press for Closet Space, courtesy of Unfilmable.com. Unfilmable.com is a site devoted to covering projects that are either based on or inspired by the works of everyone's favorite ichthyophobe, Howard Phillips Lovecraft. To check it out, hit the site and scroll down to June 15.

2006-06-27T23:26:00.000-07:00

Yes...once again I believe that a man can fly.

And my belief that there are writers and directors out there capable of pulling off comic book movies with depth and seriousness is also reinstated. Of course, I never once doubted you, Bryan. Yes, the mutants should have waited you out. I know that the attention deficit and mildly retarded masses will cry foul at your 2 and a half hour epic. Forgive them, for they have suckled from the teat of Michael Bay for far too long.

Of course I'm talking about Superman Returns, which was everything I wanted it to be. And the fact that the Spider Man 3 trailer kicks ass is just icing on the cake.

2006-06-26T08:45:00.000-07:00

This weekend was jacked up.

To begin - Thursday and Friday I spent cleaning up after the FX shoots last week. Basically putting my carport, house, and equipment in order, and moving the tentacles and monster into climate-controlled storage until we need to pull them out for insert shots in a few weeks.

Thursday night I started to feel a little weird. Friday...a little worse. Then Saturday came around, and I had full-blown food poisoning (the lack of blood in my explosive diarrhea led me to believe that it was of the staph variety). Now, I am the Food Poisoning King. I've probably been hit with this stuff 15-20 times in my life (both E.Coli and Staph), and this was the absolute worst that I've ever felt because of it. I wanted to curl up and die.

Unfortunately, we had a pretty heavy shoot scheduled at Phobia on Saturday, and try though I did....there was no way in hell that I was going to make it out for that. We couldn't cancel for various reasons (actors coming in from out of town, schedules not permitting reshoots, etc.) so the show had to go on, somehow. I eventually decided to make Will my 2nd Unit Director (which is the industry term for pinch-hitter), and gave him a detailed outline of what to shoot - along with briefing Melanie and Domingo on what needed to be done and how. I somehow managed to do all this between my frequent trips to the bathroom. So I laid on the couch, delusional and feverish, while the cast and crew tried to approximate my ideas of what should be shot. I recieved a few calls throughout the day and fielded some questions and that was about the extent of my "directing" for that day.

So I view the footage after they wrap that night, and of course there's some of it that I'm unsure of...but I think that I can make it work. In hindsight, I probably should have completely rescheduled the entire day...then again maybe I'm being nitpicky. I'm just worried about continuity, visual flow, and in some cases, character beats for some of the sequences. You know...all the things that are a director's job....when he's not puking his guts out. Overall though, I think we made the utmost of a bad situation, and a few things look really cool, so it goes down as a success. I know that there seemed to be a dawning realization that my job isn't as easy as some might think. For that, I am thankful. Well, as thankful as you can be with nothing solid in your stomach.

Sunday...so Sunday I had to get up after the intestinal hell of Saturday, and get a U-Haul and head out to Ledbetter to dismantle the set at the Farmhouse. Domingo, Oliver, Dwayne, Melanie, and Curtis (Melanie's dad) went along to help out. We (mostly they) broke down the closet hallway, replaced the fixtures and original door, and cleaned up all the trash. A lot of crap to do, but we were done pretty quickly, considering. After loading up, we took the set back down to Phobia, where we will rebuild it and shoot some more in the coming weeks. Jason (Soundwave) and Marissa showed up and helped our tired asses out with that. It was a long and arduous process, but it got done...mostly due to everyone else's hard work (since I was sapped of strength and energy, much like Superman 2).

This coming weekend we reassemble the set and build new permutations of it, then the next weekend we shoot some more. Principal photography on Closet Space should be completed by late July.

My thanks go out to everyone that helped pick up slack this weekend - be it mine or anyone else's.

2006-06-20T10:45:00.000-07:00

Addendum to the last post: here's the link for the "Got Tentacles?" t-shirt (and baby tee, tank top, raglan, sweat, and infant creeper) if you're interested in getting one.

2006-06-19T21:23:00.000-07:00

Well, the FX portion of the Closet Space shoot is done (with the exception of a few small pick-up shots here and there that I'll oversee), and I must say that I'm very happy with the outcome. Our FX team (Oddtopsy FX out of Tampa, Florida) killed pretty much every single gag and then some - taking the movie to a whole new level. You know it's a good sign when people are getting queasy and retching on set. I feel like I've finally reached the effects zone that I want to be working in, which is gory, practical on-set, dark, disturbing carnage. And then when you plug that into the movie framework as a whole....man, I'm pretty excited about the finished product.

Screenwriter Jason Stewart was on hand for most of the proceedings. Wisely, he kept to himself and let me work my magic. Just kidding Jason. But not really.

I'll attach a few photos from this past "FX weekend", but I can't really post up too many for the sake of the almighty spoiler.

Melanie as Nancy - about to f**k up some extra-dimensional parasite ass.

Marcus of Oddtopsy FX with Morgan as Kristen.

I was going to include a picture of Tim, but he had to split. ba DUMP bum.

Danielle as Monica, after recieving an axe to the neck.

Assistant Director Dave Gabriel, with Marcus and Derek from Oddtopsy FX, preparing the "roadmap of abomination".

Me modeling the first "official" Closet Space t-shirt, which will be available soon on the website. (Front says "Got Tentacles", back has the www.closetspacemovie.com URL).

Don't ask me what I'm holding down around my crotch. It's a secret.

2006-06-15T08:02:00.000-07:00

So...once again the blog is going to devolve into a bitch rant. Don't look at me like that - I know you guys missed the vitriol. Strong language to follow, so you've been warned.

I've been very frustrated lately movie-wise....maybe even more so than on Witchcraft (probably due to the fact that Closet Space is more my "baby", whereas WC13 was the adopted kid). There are lots of things on this production that I'm unhappy with - thankfully, none of them are on the screen this time. The performances and images are still awesome....it's just getting there that's the infuriating part.

I know it sounds like I'm just complaining like I did back when we were shooting Witchcraft...but I assure you that this is different, mainly due to the fact that the production of Closet Space was forged with the understanding that we wouldn't have a repeat of Witchcraft, and I'd actually have an easier time getting things done and some sort of support. I'm starting to think that I've hung myself with the rope that I've doled out.

I'm starting to see it in sexual terms, actually. You've never tried oral, so you try it. It's okay for a while, but then you realize that you don't really like the taste of someone's dick in your mouth. Similarly...hey, this anal stuff sounds interesting. Okay, that's a different sensation...strange....getting uncomfortable....yeah, I really don't like this thing in my ass one bit.

Now that I fully realize that I don't really like foreign objects in my mouth or ass, I kind of have a better idea of where to go from here. I thought that I changed things enough from the previous debacle, and I did, but I've created entirely new problems that I shouldn't have to be dealing with, along with some old issues that I didn't see in sharp enough relief until now.

Thankfully, we are in the home stretch on the movie...and as I said, it looks pretty damn good despite my unhappiness with some of the "back room" processes. Actually, the movie looks phenomenal so far...so much so that I can't wait to start editing.

Hmmm...now that I think of it, maybe I should keep creating movies in a tense environment. It seems to bear pretty good fruit. I just have to keep from turning into Charles Whitman.

2006-06-14T00:17:00.000-07:00

Here is a new poster design courtesy of our lighting and visual FX guy Stacy Davidson. Enjoy.

2006-06-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

Speaking of Will Spanner - here's how Tim Wrobel (Spanner from WC13) looks in Closet Space.

2006-06-12T21:48:00.000-07:00

Man, I am so fucking tired. This weekend was our swan-song shoot weekend at the farmhouse. We did a kill scene, the final scene, about half of the climactic battle scene, a few creature shots, and several gory things here and there.
Tensions ran pretty high, but we got everything that we needed to, knocking a day off of the schedule in the process. This will allow me more time to do some FX detail shots to really up the gore, grue and kill quotient. I only wish that I had more time with our esteemed FX crew - the guys are bad-ass and consistently come up with stuff that looks awesome on camera without fail.

I did get a little bummed out before this weekend's shoot, mainly because I watched The Descent last week, and some of the similarities between it and Closet Space kind of psyched me out. I'm kind of past it now, but it did make me seriously think about re-tooling the movie in a big way. Even though CS has existed in its basic form since at least 2000, people will probably still think that we're ripping off The Descent, especially since it's the golden child of horror movies right now. Nothing I can really do about that at this point, I guess. It happens all the time with me. Dot The I is pretty much exactly like Fade to Black (my first feature), and when I was prepping Walking Distance I kept getting thrown by the new-wave of zombie movies (28 Days Later, Shaun, the Dawn remake, Resident Evil), so much so that I've shelved that one indefinitely. I'm sure some out there will even say that Witchcraft 13 bites off The Omen because of the 666 birthmark. I call bullshit...Damien Thorn doesn't get nearly as much ass as Will Spanner. Anyway, here are some pics from this weekend.

Part of Laurie's death scene. She should really get that goiter checked out, don't you think?

Monica showing off her "roadmap of abomination" state.

This coming weekend we kill one character in a most interesting way, as well as shoot a bunch of FX shots to pump up some sequences. By "pump up" I mean "finish", of course.

2006-06-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

Last night we did our overnight shoot at the rock gym. Not a smashing success, but not a total disaster either. Here are a couple of pictures, neither of which are climbing-related:

Melanie and Morgan scared sh*tless - but why? You'll have to wait for the movie, folks.

Jovan Jackson after a particularly nasty fall from a climb. Wait till you see the close-up of the fracture. Very nasty.

Here are the rest of the photos from the rock gym shoot.

This coming weekend we are back at the farmhouse for a couple more kill scenes, and the big final battle melee sequence. There should be loads of gross photos up here soon.

2006-06-03T18:20:00.000-07:00

Here's another picture of Danielle as Monica that enables you to see the makeup a little more clearly than in the screen cap. This will be our general look for all the "mid-stage evils" in the movie.

2006-06-03T02:16:00.000-07:00

We just finished our first heavy FX shoot. Things went pretty well, I'd say...especially as I sit here reviewing the footage. The sequence is going to be pretty f-ed up - but I'll let a few screen captures tell the tale:

Evil Monica looking pretty pissed. I wonder what she has in store for Kristen?

Whatever it is, looks like it involves tentacles. Nasty, slimy tentacles. Poor Kristen.

Yeah...looks like Kristen is in trouble.

2006-05-31T22:08:00.000-07:00

We are slowly creeping up on the first day of on-set special FX for Closet Space. This Friday we dive headlong into the practical FX abyss by tackling one of the two or three most disturbing setpieces of the movie. The more time I spend with our nutty FX crew, the more I realize that the movie is going to kick major f*&king ass. These three guys are coming up with really gruesome, sick, wet, and inventive ways to make our deviant little dreams a reality. I've been sitting at their apartment/fx shop (thanks Matt) watching a little of the process and it's pretty freaking cool. There's a bust of Evan (Laurie) on the table, tentacles hanging from the ceiling, fake teeth on the counter, and a broken bone gag sitting on the couch...and this is just stuff they made in the last 24 hours. Tomorrow they are casting Tim (Professor Polanco) for the big final sequence, so that should be interesting.

We've also had to tackle a few last minute obstacles in addition to the FX stuff. First, one of our locations was iffy for a while, but we got that nailed down today, and it looks like we'll get more use out of the place than we initially thought. Secondly, we had a cast member back out at the last minute (this seems to be becoming typical for my productions), and I initially planned on excising the role completely, but our lighting director Stacy came through in the clinch. He made a casting suggestion, and we met up with the actress this evening and sealed the deal. They say everything happens for a reason, and our newly-minted Monica is the perfect fit for the role, and the cast as a whole. Plus, she's a bad-ass theatre actress, so she'll fit right in with the shooting and blocking vibe for the movie. I only wish that I had found her sooner, but there's always the sequel. Danielle, meet Closet Space. Closet Space, Danielle. You two should get along famously.

On the "everything happens for a reason" tip again...our recasting the Monica role has now reduced the on-screen Witchcraft carryover quotient to one and a half. (I only count Peyton as a half because he himself was a last-minute replacement, and he dies pretty early on in Witchcraft.) That makes me feel a little bit better about the project. Honestly...I compromised the f*%k out of Witchcraft 13 both cast and crew-wise, mainly because of the nature of the project and the timeframe that we were dealing with. As such, there's kind of a black cloud around the whole thing for me at this point. It's like the albatross around my neck. It's nice to be able to not have to "settle" for Closet Space, even if sometimes those choices are forced. I guess that will teach me not to be lazy with casting next time. Note to fellow filmmakers: there are good actresses out there that are okay with nudity and disturbing material...you just have to know where to look.

And the bad person/curmudgeon/reprobate/shit-talker culling continues....actually, now that I think about it, there's almost no one left from the flotsam and jetsam that I managed to pick up on my journey from being a UT film-school transfer to "dark, Lovecraftian monster movie" director. I'm guessing that somwhere along the way I'll encounter more jackassery, but as of yet, no one's really shown their ass on Closet Space. Good God...have I actually made a professional step up?

Friday night is our big death/rape/assault setpiece, and then Saturday is our long night shoot at Texas Rock Gym. Some of the actors and crew headed out to TRG on Memorial Day to get their rock legs, and that went extremely well. Here's a picture of Melanie scaling the wall like a woman posessed:

2006-05-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

And now week two of shooting is behind us.

This weekend we started shooting some plates for effects shots, as well as the first few shots inside the "closet" set. We also caught some pickups that we missed last weekend, and finished shooting out some of the previous sequences as well.

Things got a little rough on Saturday night, but we were able to catch up on Sunday. There are still some things that I have issues with as far as the production goes, but the footage looks even better than last week, so I guess it's all okay. I just have this niggling fear that we are headed for a full-tilt disaster once the effects shooting begins - which is this coming Friday.

Speaking of effects, the FX team arrived from Tampa, Florida late Saturday night. They didn't have much to do this weekend, but we talked about achieving some of the gags for the upcoming shots. They also had a chance to start casting some of the leads for their prosthetics. For example, check out this picture of Evan (who is playing Laurie in the film):

This is why I am a horror filmmaker.

Days of Future Wasted

2006-05-26T00:43:00.000-07:00

Ugh - just got back from a midnight screening of X3.

It was pretty much as bad as I thought it would be. Actually, maybe just a bit worse. Not quite Batman and Robin bad, but pretty close. I should have just stayed home and pulled out my comics and wiped my butt with each issue of X-Men, because that's basically what Brett Ratner and company did. Not only that, they peed on the ashes of the divergent yet rich continuity of the first two films.

All the more reason that I believe Bryan "they should have waited for me to end the series with some grace, elegance, and an understanding of things besides massive stunt setpieces" Singer is going to deliver a massive bitch-slap with Superman Returns.

But, as is usually the case...I'm sure the public will eat up the fetid, stillborn mess that is X3. Baa baa masses. Baa baa.

2006-05-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos from Saturday's shoot.

Photos are once again courtesy of Kenny Haner.

2006-05-22T17:20:00.000-07:00

Closet Space cast photo, with DP Will Molina horning in on the action. From top left: James LaMarr (Jack), Will Molina (Director of Photography), Peyton Wetzel (Glen), Jovan Jackson (Dallas), Morgan McCarthy (Kristen), Melanie Donihoo (Nancy), and Evan Scott (Laurie).

2006-05-21T23:19:00.000-07:00

Well - the first weekend of Closet Space is now behind us. As per usual, things got off to a shaky start on the first night before the crew had time to gel. By late Saturday we had fallen into a rhythm, although we were still moving a bit slow for my taste. The shots look great though, and my new AD, lighting, and sound guys are proving to be invaluable crew additions.

The cast that I've lined up for the movie is phenomenal so far, and I'm really happy with all the beats and performances. They bring the characters to life so well that I almost don't want to make them all die horrible grisly deaths. Almost.

This evening (Sunday) we did a character burn for the movie. That was pretty cool, and we even had the Ledbetter Volunteer Fire Department on set for the stunt. Makes me feel like a real-live moviemaker.

The funniest thing I've noticed so far during production is the cast/crew dynamic. Both groups immediately became segregated unto themselves this weekend. Even my wife (a member of the cast) rarely spoke to me over the shoot weekend, unless we were "on set" and actively shooting. I feel like I'm in Hollywood already.

Now it's time to decompress and start getting ready for the next batch of shoot hell.