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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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

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.

Here are some photos from Saturday's shoot.

Photos are once again courtesy of Kenny Haner.

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).

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.

We start principal photography on Closet Space tonight (Friday the 19th) at about 9 PM. Of course, I'm going through the usual pre-shoot maelstrom of emotions...but overall I have a good feeling about this production, and I'm really stoked to get some of this sick imagery off of the page and onto the screen.

If everything gels correctly, I will also have the closest thing to a "full" crew than I've ever had the luxury of working with before. It will be nice not having to wear ten hats at once.

We had another cast reading last night, and the vibe was awesome. The principal cast is gelling nicely, and they are all looking forward to digging in to the material. Wow...maybe I'll actually have a positive experience with positive people for once. Who would have thought? Then again...after my "dark college days", spinning my tires in local bands, taking part in stillborn hubris-driven projects (record labels, TV shows), and the general mess and craziness that was/is Witchcraft 13....I guess I was about due for something fun and rewarding. And just as I was about to become a crotchety old scenester. Or...worse yet...a movie critic. (-shudder-)

Marcus (our special FX guy) is hard at work on tentacles as we speak. I can't wait to see them. More importantly, I can' t wait to make them do horrible, vile things on screen.

Guess I better crash...long day ahead. Actually...long month and a half ahead. Here we go again. Of course, I would have it no other way.

...and the more or less finished version (sans ceiling, and with one panel missing for access):

The evolution of an extra-dimensional wormhole-in-a-closet set:

And here we are. This Friday we begin principal photography on Closet Space. As always, this week has been and will continue to be a whirlwind of last minute preparation. In the last few days I've had to wrangle wardrobe and equipment, go out to the set to build some more on it, do final shotlists and schedules, and storyboard a little. Next, I have to go out to the set AGAIN to finish what we were not able to on Saturday, start dressing the house a bit, set up my new laptop with DVRack (which should be a massive help to us on the set), meet with the AD, DP, and VFX guys on Tuesday, read with the actors again on Wednesday, meet with our last-minute replacement sound guy and boom guy, and then head out to the house to shoot on Friday night. Crazy. Fortunately this first weekend of shooting is comparably light, although not without its challenges. I'm very interested to see how the cast and crew gels while we are out on location. Hopefully we won't have any mutinies, blowups, injuries, show-mances, or selling-out this time around. Then again...that's probably too much to ask. I'll probably stick with "Please, O Lord, may the tentacles look really cool".

Baby...love is building.

Back and thoroughly exhausted from our first set-building weekend. A few of the crew and I set out to our farmhouse location in Ledbetter, Texas to start construction on some prectical sets. Saturday started out bleak, as we hit the road about 5 AM only to encounter a hellish typhoon en route to the location. It was almost bad enough to make me turn around. Almost. We made it to the Home Depot by 6:30 AM, and then to the location by 7:30 to await delivery of the materials. Upon their arrival, we began to construct the closet/entryway and then created some false boulders and berms for landscaping. By this point it was beginning to clear up, and the rain had made it kind of cool outside, so it worked out for the best.

We also found ourselves within listening distance of Austin's 101X, which was probably my favorite station when I lived there, and it continues to kick ass to this day. Within an hour we heard the Pixies, Fugazi(!), Flaming Lips that wasn't "She Don't Use Jelly", Danzig, and Mama Said-era Lenny Kravitz. It reminded of the fact that Houston has the shittiest radio on the planet, but also reminded me of why I sometimes miss Austin so much. If Closet Space is a success, maybe I can talk the wife into moving back up there. It would make a lot of sense at that point. We'll see.

I was packing heat the whole time of course (because you never know what can happen to a bunch of mostly non-whites in the somewhat desolate farmlands of Texas), and nearly shot Oliver when he got up in the middle of the night to pee. Fortunately, I came to my senses quickly enough before I gave Ollie the full Cheney treatment. It's a good thing too, because he really knows his way around building an interdimensional closet gateway atrium.

We are heading back up to Ledbetter this weekend to finish up construction and start "dressing" the set a bit for the shoot that begins in two weeks. Things are picking up in a massive way. I hope that we are ready.

The Year in Review

Here's a review of Witchcraft 13: Blood Of The Chosen. I'm glad that some people out there "get it". One thing is certain: I'll never make fun of Jason X again.

3.75

The first cast reading of the Closet Space script went pretty well. Everyone seemed to really hit the correct beats at the right times, even bringing some shading to the characterizations that I hadn't thought of. Jason (the writer) and I definitely have some things to run with as far as dialogue and character tweaking go, so now were back on the computers, typing away with newfound aplomb. Our cast definitely makes me feel at ease this time around.

Before the reading yesterday, a few of us went out to the farmhouse location to purchase the materials for our set build-out up there. We start actual construction next week - it should be an interesting (and sweaty) experience. Hopefully I won't nail-gun my hand to the wall again.

I just resubmitted the Closet Space info to the IMDb, so hopefully it will go through this time. I'll also begin fleshing out the website with bios and such soon.

It's a veritable whirlwind of activity at the Upstart Filmworks home offices, and we have our crew meeting this evening to discuss the game plan with them. And so it begins....again.

Three and a half...

Production on Closet Space begins in three weeks. The writer is flying in this weekend to sit in with me on the actors table reading so we can get some final dialogue ideas and character tweaks. Over the last week or so I've been talking with Stacy (Necrophobia) Davidson about helping me out with Closet Space, and it has resulted in his coming on the production in a lighting and Visual FX Supervisory capacity. Will (the Closet Space DP) and I spent most of Sunday with Stacy hashing out FX shots and execution, and I think we'll be able to pull a lot off with our combined efforts.

The first crew meeting is this weekend as well, and then next weekend a few of us are headed out to the house to begin construction on the first practical set.

So far I've only had one actor, and one crew member back out - hopefully there won't be any more.

Three To Get Ready

I finally spent some time this weekend getting the Closet Space website up and running. I'll probably have more to put up there when we actually start shooting.

As per usual, I've been plagued by some cast and crew backing out when we're almost a month away from rolling camera, but things have a way of working themselves out, so all the positions have already been recast/refilled. This actually might lead to some interesting collaborations that I hadn't really thought of initially, so I guess it's not all bad.

Tomorrow night I'm meeting our digital FX guy to get some test footage that he's been working on for me. Of course, I can't wait to get a look at it to see how the stuff translates from script to screen, even in this "rough draft" format.

Over the next couple of weeks we are going to start the build-out of our first major set, so that should be interesting.

Lounge Act

I was fully prepared to spend today in musical mourning (as I do every year at this time), for one of my greatest influences (musical and otherwise). But lo and behold, my omnipresent contract labor benefactor called me up and asked me to shoot video at the KB Home Homeowner Appreciation Day at Minute Maid Park. It's weird - it's almost as if they know just when to call me to get me out of the financial doldrums.

I've been breaking down the Closet Space script into manageable pieces, while doing some rought thumbnail storyboards and character designs. To help me get into the groove, over the last couple of days I've watched Raging Bull, Nang Nak, The Deadly Spawn, The Innocents, and one of my favorite movies of all time (which is one of the 5 movies responsible for turning me on to the art of cinema) - Streets Of Fire. Walter Hill's actions setpieces kick the living shit out of anything that passes for a "fight scene" in this day and age. Two words. Sledgehammer. Fight.

Come to think of it, Walter Hill is also one of the Alien producers....

A Jack With One Eye

We've started the "conceptual" phase for the Closet Space monsters and make-ups in earnest. It's getting me jazzed, that's for sure. We've also gotten almost all of our locations squared away for the shoot - I think only two remain to lock down for sure. I may have put this down already, but we start principal photography on May 20th. It's fun actually budgeting things out with a bona-fide budget to speak of.

I did my "directorial pass" on the script, which didn't amount to much other than adding more wanton violence and brutality (my wife Melanie is going to be our Bruce Campbell for sure), but I think now the project is about where I want it, logistically and creatively. I'm down to casting the final few roles, and I'm going to start breaking up the shots and hopefully doing some storyboards by the weekend. We'll probably be having a crew meeting in the next few weeks as well to get everyone on the same page and to do the contracts.

I'm also wrapping up Witchcraft 13 for it's DVD debut. There's a chance that there will be some extras on there, which is cool. This week I've actually watched a few DTV low-budget horror movies, and by and large I have to admit that they all pretty much sucked. WC13 is no Battleship Potemkin, but some of these flicks had absolutely no sense of pacing, shot composition, editing, etc. Notice that nothing I said had anything to do with the budget. These cats all probably had more money than we did, but I would easily put WC13 up against any and all of them. Honestly, I think it would (and will) fare pretty well in the marketplace. It's nice to have that feeling - towards the end of the editing process, I started to get a bit worried about how the movie would turn out. Now that I'm seeing more and more of the "competition", my fears are slowly starting to subside.

I've been reading that John (Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer) McNaughton currently has the Nightmare On Elm Street prequel gig. While I think this is an awesome choice, I guess I'll have to set my sights on some other equally unattainable movie directing chalice for myself now. Hello, Alien 5.

In A Jar

Dinosaur Jr. was awesome, as I figured it would be. Saw a lot of old-school music scenesters there (before the Houston music scene became too "hip and ironic" for it's own good), as well as a bunch of people that I knew from all levels of public schooling. Small world.

I think I'm in the planning stages of my first "promo tour" as a bona-fide horror moviemaker. In October, the wife and I are planning to hit the Fangoria Weekend of Horrors in Jersey/NYC, and then go straight to the Eerie Horror Film Festival in Erie, PA (with a slight detour to Cedar Point to celebrate our 1 year anniversary a bit early). We are planning to have tables at both events, and we might be appearing in conjunction with other horror biz people. I'm starting to put the details together right now. More on that as it develops, along with updates on the Burbank edition of the Weekend of Horrors (in June).

Today (Sunday) I'm going to possibly begin meandering back into the world of public-access television by helping my friend (The Reverend Bart Stewart) produce a show intended to air on the channel. While I'm not really excited about the prospect of returning to that facility/situation, Bart really wants to make incisive television so I can dig it. Plus, the man performed the wedding rites for us (pretty much verbatim as my sick ass had written them), so how could I say no?

Tonight, a few of the producers and I are having another budgetary meeting regarding Closet Space, and hopefully this will be the final pre-production hurdle. One thing that I've noticed in dealing with people on this movie is that I'm a lot more cut-throat than before. I just don't want...how is it my "people" would say this?

I don't want no triflin' ass bitches to be killin' my game.

Sometimes a nigga has to be ghetto to survive.

Dinosaur Jr. tomorrow night.

Original lineup. Ears will bleed.

Can't wait.

The Cross (as done by Prince)

I'm getting closer to finally finishing Witchcraft 13 in it's DTV market form. I don't really know what's going to happen to it, but I guess it will be out there in one form or another - possibly even with commentary and behind-the-scenes. It seems like a lifetime ago that we were in production on it...but it hasn't even been a year yet. Crazy.

Closet Space is trucking along - we shot some test footage for the tentacles over the weekend. Test footage...tentacles...does that make it "test-tacle" footage? These are the questions that haunt us.

Anyway, the digital FX guy is working on that stuff for us right now, so we can see what he can do with it. The practical FX guy is also doing some tests and designs.

Started doing the CS shooting schedule last night - its another motherf&%ker, but we only have 3 locations. If we can hit things efficiently, I think we'll have no problem shooting this one out.

But then again, I said that last time, didn't I?

In totally unrelated news, I experienced the worst pain I've had to endure in a while at the doctors office today. I will leave you with this: stop using q-tips to clean out your ears immediately. Trust me.

Manic Compression

I'm spending this weekend in a state of quasi-relaxation to allow my brain and body to catch up to one another after the madness of the last few weeks. Actually, it's been longer than that...this is the first pure down-time that I've had since my honeymoon late last year. But, as is par for the course for me, I'm not fully immersed in laurel-resting. To wit:

After we returned from the mini-tour with Jonah, I dove right back in to Closet Space mode - getting the actors ready to rehearse, securing some locations and materials, getting the shoot dates together, and most importantly finding a digital and practical FX supervisor. I believe that I've found both, and they seem to be on the same page creatively, which of course, is a huge plus. They both are also very enthusiastic about the project - another huge plus. The final plus is that neither of them are flinching about any of the really brutal, gory, rough stuff that I want to do in this movie. We all seem to be sick in the same way, which is great. Now we can begin the design and life-casting process.

We are doing some more location work tomorrow, and then I'm going to start storyboarding and character designs this week. Our go date is May 20, and we are shooting throughout June. I guess I'd better rest while I can.

And by "rest", of course I'm implying that I'm going to see a midnight screening of Cannibal Holocaust tonight. What better way for the House to unwind than to watch an infamous exploitation movie featuring bludgeoning, animal cruelty, rape, genital mutilation, and (of course) cannibals? I tremble in anticipation. Of course, I've seen the movie dozens of times already, but I can't wait to see it on the big screen with a crowd. Should be a blast.

I'm not really here...

Wow. This week(end) has been surreal.

I've been the unofficial tour manager/bass player for Jonah Matranga these last few days on a small Texas run of shows. Jonah came in on Tuesday night, and we had dinner, hung out a little and had a short practice with the other two members of his band to be. Wednesday Jonah and I got to hang out and talk a lot about various things (some of which might prove to be exciting projects for the future). Wednesday night was the show at the Proletariat. Radio Pioneer, You In Series, and Jenny Westbury opened the show, and they were all really, really good. Jonah dedicated "A-L-L-Y-S-O-N" to my wife Melanie (who became his unofficial merch woman), which was sweet.

Thursday night we played at The Yellow House in Denton. The "venue" was punk-rock/d.i.y. to the extreme, but it ended up being a pretty fun show, with Jonah jumping up on couches and furniture while singing. Right afterward, we got on the road to get to Austin in time for our 9 AM SXSW showcase load-in. Domingo was a driving machine, and we made it to Austin in time to catch at least a couple of hours of sleep.

Friday was a madhouse - there were 10 bands showcasing on each of the Emo's stages, and it was total anarchy at times - but in a good way. During the day, I got to catch pieces of sets by Head Automatica, You In Series, Fear Before The March Of Flames, Fall Of Troy, and the reunited Lifetime (who were incendiary).

Before I knew it it was time for us to play, and I quickly went from being pretty nervous to having the time of my life. Jonah did a couple of solo acoustic songs while we set up behind him, and then we all launched into "Lukewarm" - but not before Jonah plugged Witchcraft 13 (thanks for that, by the way). The crowd (which was probably the largest that I've ever played in front of) went crazy over the loud rock. When we closed out the set with the Far classic "Bury White" it all went to a whole other level entirely. I was screaming the song along with guys in the crowd who were going positively batshit over the whole thing. I forget how much of a following that Jonah has until stuff like that goes down. It was a phenomenal experience, to say the least. Afterwards, I spent the rest of the afternoon/evening in Austin eating and walking around the 6th St. St. Paddy's day/SXSW nuttiness, all the while coming down from that sizable high.

This morning the crew all woke up and headed home to get Jonah on his flight. Before we left Austin, we stopped in to Whole Foods for breakfast, and we ran into a couple of Jonah's friends from NYC. They told me that they absolutely loved my playing during the show and the fact that I was getting nuts and singing along the whole time. I told them thanks, and that it meant a lot to me...seeing as how Jonah is a huge musical idol of mine. Their remarks really made me feel nice and complete, and it was a neat post-script to this wonderfully surreal experience for me.

Thanks to Dwayne and Rudy from Radio Pioneer for being a kick-ass guitarist and drummer, and helping me with this crazy idea. Thanks also to You In Series and Fear Before The March Of Flames for letting us all use your stuff. And most of all, thanks to Jonah for being not only an inspiration, but a great friend as well.

This Is The Part

I played onstage with one of my rock idols last night. It was bad ass.

The crowd was practically screaming all the songs, especially the Far stuff. Or maybe it was me screaming them on stage.

More to come once we finish up our Texas run of shows on Saturday.

Could this be the impending release of Witchcraft 13?

If you look at the description, it is that of Witchcraft XII, but the box art makes it look like the included movie is Witchcraft 13.

Either way, I guess we'll know on May 23, 2006. Thanks to Joel for pointing this out to me.

Just a quick aside:

You should all be watching Penn & Teller's BULLSHIT!. If you don't have Showtime, go out and buy the DVD's right now.

Penn Jillette for President in 2008.

I'm out of luck...are you the same way?

Well, we are back from our trip to Chicago for the Midwest edition of the Fangoria Weekend Of Horrors. I believe the trip was a pretty successful one, even though I'm still suffering through the final throes of a killer cold/laryngitis (which of course, was exacerbated by the snowy, cold Illinois weather).

I arrived on Thursday, picked up my rental car (somehow upgraded to a 2006 Mustang at "economy class" rates - thanks Hertz), checked myself in to the hotel, and pretty much slept until dinnertime to try to get the sick out of my system. Later on, I hooked up with Mike (WC13 sound guy) and Will (WC13 DP), and we hooked up with Shaun (WC13 producer) and Mike Wolinski (WC13 writer) and had some "pie" aka pizza.

Friday, we pretty much killed time until that evening, when it was time to start setting up our booth for the convention. We put up posters for Witchcraft and Drawing Blood, and generally situated things. We also met up with Zoe Hunter (one of the witches of WC13 in attendance for the convention), and it was good to see her again. Then we popped into Chicago proper to see Jeff Wolinski's (WC13 writer and brother of Mike) new band play. I enjoyed what I saw/heard, but I felt like utter crap, so we had to bail relatively early.

Saturday morning I got to the convention center about 8 AM, and things were ramping up. The con ended up being pretty freaking packed, and there was a lot of traffic around our table. Zoe sold and signed a bunch of pictures, and even I did a few, but the big crowds started forming when Robert "Maniac Cop" Z'Dar joined our merry band of misfits. He was signing at the Tripod Films table to promote Drawing Blood (which he stars in), and a lot of the fans showed him some love, most of which spilled over onto us through osmosis.

Saturday night the gang and I caught an advance screening of Slither (with cast and crew in attendance), and I have to say that it was pretty much everything that I expected. Slither wears it's influences on it's sleeve, but what's great about that is that the aforementioned influences are the wet, slimy, hard-R body horror movies of the 70's and 80's. No pussy PG-13 "horror" here. Kudos go out to James Gunn and company - the audience enjoyed the hell out of your movie.

Sunday was more of the same, although I did get to see the Silent Hill panel, which amped me up for the movie even more than I already was. The SH producers showed the brutal clip that they showed at the Comic-Con a while back, and it looks freaking sweet. Thank Christ that someone finally applied the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" adage to these survival-horror video game adaptations. We can finally have one to be proud of, it seems.

Thankfully I didn't go swag-crazy this time (although I did finally pick up the Meet the Feebles DVD), but it looks like I'll be going to the Burbank show as well, so maybe I can go broke then. I was also informed that Witchcraft 13 will be screening in Chicago next month, so I'll be heading back up there for that. Hopefully, it won't be so freaking cold.

Vitruvian Man

We did our first set of auditions/readings for Closet Space yesterday. They went very, very well (thanks to the LeBlancs for letting us use their place AGAIN for movie stuff). The luxury I have this time around is that we have so many good people and no real nudity or sex scenes to worry about, so I pretty much have my pick for the cast. Plus, I'm actually at the top of the food chain on this movie, thus making me the sole casting decision maker - which is the way I like it, of course. I think I have all the roles decided on by this point - there are just a few x-factors floating around out there before I can finalize the cast. I was most worried about the male lead, though....turns out the filling of that role fell into place quite well yesterday.

Now we can start setting up cast readings and crew meetings, in addition to getting the remainder of the financing and legal stuff squared away (aka the "Movie Business" part).

The doer alone learneth. - Freidrich Nietzsche

Preach on, brother Freddie.

It does feel kind of strange wrapping up the Witchcraft stuff - as much as it drives/drove/has driven me crazy, it has been a large part of my life for the last 6 months or so. I guess in a way, I have Closet Space ramping up quickly to quell my cinematic separation anxiety. That, and I don't want to waste another 4 to 5 years between movies.

In hindsight, Witchcraft has paid off in a lot of ways (and it hasn't even hit the market yet) - our Closet Space budget is in large part due to those who were impressed by what we did on WC13. And the enthusiasm seems to be spreading...in the days surrounding the release our CS budget effectively doubled as we gained more interested (and impressed) parties. I always read about things like that happening to producers/directors, but now it's actually happening to me....and it's kind of weird, but also exciting at the same time, of course.

I'm hoping to make some more inroads at the Fango convention next week - I made a shit-ton of connections at the Texas Frightmare Weekend, and Fango is probably the largest convention of that ilk. Plus, the fanboy side of me is looking forward to it as well, especially since we are "vendors" and have heightened access. Witchcraft and Drawing Blood are set to have a table, and Robert Z'Dar (Drawing Blood, Maniac Cop, Tango and Cash), and Zoe Hunter (Witchcraft 13) will be with us to sign autographs and take pictures.

In other news - my other musical identity took over and we had our first full-band practice for the Jonah Matranga shows next month. Things went pretty well - I'm actually a better bassist than I thought I would be, what with not really playing at all the last few months, and only then playing guitar while I was rendering an edit or something. Plus, I only really play bass guitar on our Grey Party demos and recordings (and on the Electric Purgatory teaser trailer theme). At least I won't be the center of attention, so I can creep into a dark corner and rock out at the shows.

The best and the worst of me...at the same time.

So the Witchcraft 13 premiere was tonight. I had a feeling that it was going to kick ass early on, when we had to move everyone from the smallest theatre in the Drafthouse to one of the largest. The original theatre seated 80, and the second, larger one held 150 (supposedly). The evenings head total was 170. 170 people there to see the movie that I went through all 7 levels of hell for. It was a pretty cool feeling...but what would they think of it?

More importantly, would I care?

Fortunately, everyone seemed to like the flick. The refrain for the evening was "Better than I thought it would be" ...which leads me to wonder what it was exactly they expected.

All of the people whose opinions I actually would take to heart dug the fuck out of WC13 - these are the working actors, musicians, film/movie makers, and general industry people that have gone through the trenches as well. Actually, the only thinly-veiled shitty comments I recieved were courtesy of the biggest reprobates that I know. "Talking loud and saying nothing", to quote the Godfather of Soul. Sad, really...but some people are just curmudgeons for life, I guess.

I hung out with some of the local filmmakers afterwards, and it actually seemed like I inspired a few of them to get their things off the ground. I couldn't ask for a better reward. Just make sure you put that 'Made In Texas' tag on there.

Now the final cut gets turned in and the video release date gets set, and I'm off to start pre-production on Closet Space...well, I guess actually I'll start that AFTER the Jonah shows, so I have to put on the musical hat before doffing the movie one again. Closet Space auditions are this weekend, though, so that should be fun.

Next weekend we are in Chicago to promote WC13 and Drawing Blood at the Fangoria Weekend Of Horrors. That should be fun as well, especially since the guest list kicks ass.

I never wanna say my best days are behind me.

We went on our first location visit to one of the locales for Closet Space today. The place is awesome, and offers lots of opportunities. We are doing a small audition on Saturday the 25th, mainly so that we can start the FX casting process (molds, etc.) There's some weird stuff going on right now in regards to some of the roles, but hopefully I'll be able to iron that out in a week or so. One luxury we have with Closet Space is that of time.

I have two screenings at the Alamo this week: Electric Purgatory tomorrow night, and the Witchcraft 13 premiere on Wednesday. It's Mel House week at the Drafthouse, apparently.

I'm also practicing for the upcoming mini-tour with Jonah Matranga. So basically...I'm finishing post on one movie, prepping another to shoot, and learning music in any downtime that I have after that (plus my 8 -5 job, of course). It makes for an interesting sleeping schedule.

Rockin' in the free world...

Okay, so here's the news. A lot of you probably already know who Jonah Matranga is. If you don't - well, he was in a bunch of really good bands like Far, Gratitude, New End Original, and Onelinedrawing. He also sings on the new Fort Minor record. Those of you that came to my wedding heard me play one of Jonah's songs.

Anyway, Jonah is coming to Texas to play the SXSW showcase for Equal Vision Records (on March 17 at Emo's if you're interested in coming down for that), but we are trying to book a couple of Texas shows around that for him. So far we have the Houston one locked down: the show will be Wednesday, March 15 at The Proletariat (903 Richmond). Actual show time and cover are forthcoming, but I would guess we will start about 7-ish.

Houston's own Radio Pioneer will be opening the show, but here's the "big personal musical announcement": myself and members of Radio Pioneer will also be performing as Jonah's backing band. I'll probably be playing bass, maybe regular guitar as well. I'm pretty stoked about that - it should be a really fun time. Some of you may remember me going up in flames the last time I played with Jonah (in 1999 I think)....hopefully that won't happen this time. I was mainly freaked out about being on stage with one of my musical idols (I would liken it to playing onstage with Kurt Cobain for me, seriously), but I think I've gotten over being squirrely about fame in the last few years.

Anyway, I hope to see all the Houstonian readers there. Dallas/Ft. Worth area people - do not fret, as we are working on getting a show set up there the following night.

For more info, you can check out Jonah's website or the Equal Vision Records site.

The long in the works "musical announcement" is about a day or two away. It's not necessarily a huge deal, but it's pretty exciting for me (and who knows, it might excite one or two of you as well). Check back in a couple of days for more info.

In The Valley Of Dying Stars

Got back from my whirlwind excursion to L.A. today - it was a very productive trip, and I also managed to enjoy myself a little bit as well.

Friday afternoon I arrived, went through the usual "pick up the rental car and fight LA traffic" BS, and I met up with Andras Jones in Hollywood (oddly enough, he was staying at Andy Dick's house), and we proceeded to talk a little more in depth about Closet Space. Andras has lots of great ideas about the script and character dynamics, and it gets me really excited about the possiblility of us collaborating on this project.

Plus, he was in A Nightmare On Elm Street 4. So this is still a little surreal to me.

Friday night I met up with Cesar (from Witchcraft 13's opening scene) and Pam B. (who trained me at the Cheesecake Factory back in my table-waiting days...she was also the object of my first and last Chasing Amy-style crush back then) and we had a great time eating chicken and waffles and then selling our souls to the mighty Amoeba.

Saturday, Jason (writer of Closet Space) and I went out and killed some time in the lovely O.C. weather (which of course included my consuming a 4x4 "Animal Style") until we could meet up with Andras again - mainly so that we could pow-wow on the script ideas with Jason present. We sat and talked about things for a while, and generally all got amped up about the project. Andras is also helping us make some connections that have the potential to greatly increase the quality of the movie.

The trip went so well that I didn't once mind waking up at 3 AM to drive into LAX and catch my early Sunday-morning flight. Of course, I slept the whole plane ride home (with the help of the iPod and The Soft Bulletin).

This week will see me trying to get all the ducks in a row to make this project happen the way that I want it to.

Walk Among Us

So this weekend I will find myself in Los Angeles once again, mainly trying to make some things fall into place for Closet Space. I guess you could say that I'm "taking meetings"...which is strange, to say the least. Unfortunately I'll miss a Fishbone performance by a scant few hours. I guess this is technically a business trip, anyway, although I still plan on hangin' with my other LA homies if I can.

Before I take off, I'll be meeting with several key crew and cast to try and get the ball rolling on CS. I'm also trying to put the next (and hopefully final) edit of Witchcraft 13 to bed in the next few days.

I know I still have yet to make that "musical announcement" - that's still coming together as well, but hopefully I'll have something solid by the beginning of next week.

Just got back from the Texas Frightmare Weekend. Lots of cool stuff went down, but I guess most importantly... Witchcraft 13's Anjanette Clewis was on a "Scream Queen" panel (along with Brinke Stevens, Debbie Rochon, Caroline Williams, Ashlie Rhey and Heidi Martinuzzi) moderated by Joe Bob Briggs. She told the story about going blind. We also set up a monitor at Anjanette's table and played the WC13 trailer on a continuous loop. She posed for photos and did a few signings, and even I got to autograph a few of the WC13 postcards that we printed up. Nice. People did seem to have a morbid curiosity towards the movie, which I guess is positive.

I also made a few valuable connections that may come into play for Closet Space...we'll see how those pan out. Look for a Horror Channel interview with myself in the coming days coverage of the TFW. Also, good show kudos go out to the Necrophobia gang as well as the guys from The Quick and the Undead. Keep an eye out for these flicks in the coming year.

In closing, original Jason Ari Lehman is one cool mofo.

Radio Ga Ga

To expand further on the radio8ball stuff - On a lark, I decided to ask one of the Nightmare On Elm Street 4 cast if he would be interested in being in Closet Space. This guy actually delivered one of my favorite horror-movie performances in his role in that film, even though he doesn't go crazy and kill anyone, or have a massive death scene. The character just seemed real, and I responded to that.

Anyway, I contacted Andras Jones (aka Rick in NOES4), and he seemed up for at least reading the script. He seemed to like it, and asked me to call ino the radio show last night. To explain:

"KAOS 89.3 FM in Olympia, Washington from 6 to 8PM (PST) on Tuesday nights. ----- People call in with questions. We answer these questions by picking a CD at random, placing it in the CD player and pushing shuffle function. The song which is randomly chosen is the answer to the question. Like drawing a tarot card, throwing the I-Ching or shaking a Magic 8 Ball."

Andras' idea was for me to call in and propose the filmic collaboration to the Radio 8 Ball.

First, Andras asked the Radio8Ball himself (probably thinking that I wussed out):

But little did he know - I was the next in queue.

(FYI - The above files are kind of large and long, because they play the whole song through).

It was a fun way to initiate things, and even if it doesn't work out this time around, I can definitely see us working together in the future. Check out Andras' show on Tuesday if you can (they stream live)...I found it pretty entertaining (and at times, eerily accurate).

Andras, I hope you don't mind me posting about this. I figured we blew our cover last night.

At The Mountains Of Madness

I guess this is the "official announcement" (since I did as much on the radio this evening).

What you see to the left is a mock-up poster for my next movie, entitled Closet Space. Shooting is currently scheduled to begin April 1st. We are mass-producing a run of postcards to give out at the Texas Frightmare Weekend this coming weekend to generate some pre-production buzz.

There is a pretty exciting collaboration in the works for this movie - I can't say much about it at this point other than that I hope that it works out.

Look for more announcements to come in the next few weeks as we ramp up towards principal photography.

Witchcraft 13 Trailer

Here are links to the new "full" trailer. It's not much longer than the teaser, but there are more hints at story elements.

Windows Media

Quicktime

In totally unrelated news, I went to check out Criteria last night. They fucking rocked. Radio Pioneer opened up, and played their best show to date (at least I think so). Since they are to be featured on the Witchcraft soundtrack, there is talk of doing a video in the near future. Should be fun.

Last night's show gave me a musical kick in the ass...I've been slacking for a number of reasons (the movie obviously being the biggest one), but I miss writing and playing live. Fortunately, I may be making a pretty big musical announcement along with the movie project announcement later this week. It would suffice to say that my rusty-playing ass has to get some practice time in ASAP. Cue the Iron Maiden.

Hammer To Fall

Big announcements to come in the next few days involving my next project. It's shaping up quite nicely, and things are already looking to run smoother than on the Witchcraft shoot. I'm extremely excited about the material, locations, tone, and budget as well (as I have stated before). I hope to have some info on the movie (at least a teaser poster at the very least) by next week's Texas Frightmare Weekend.

Regarding Witchcraft - we are still working toward a final cut of the film that all parties can be happy with. Hopefully WC13 won't end up being a Thomas Lee film...but I have to admit that some of the changes make me uncomfortable with the flow and the overall quality. We'll see how that goes, I guess. After this is all said and done, I'll definitely have lots of material for a memoir of the experience of making this movie. Regardless of all the usual behind-the-scenes mess, we are still on track for the premiere at the Alamo Drafthouse on February 22.

The Silent Hill trailer makes that movie appear to be the adaptation that Resident Evil wishes it was. They even cop soundtrack elements straight from the game. Awesome.

Big fish eat the little ones...

Witchcraft 13 is on its way to the Executive Producer for final approval/notes/changes. We are on track for the premiere on the 22nd of February at the Alamo Drafthouse, and we have gotten exposure about that from Dread Central, Arrow In The Head, Bloody Disgusting, Horror Movies.Ca, TheHorror411.com and probably some others that I haven't even seen yet. Awesome. Thanks to all those that help us spread the word - I know more than anyone about the stigma that this series carries. Hopefully Blood Of The Chosen will change that a little.

And even if that doesn't come to pass, I guess it doesn't really matter. My next feature project is just about greenlit, and we are pulling the trigger on this one fast. Like before Spring Break fast. And it's a full-blown supernatural Lovecraftian-gory-but-not-jokey horror script. I think Hell has indeed frozen over. Either that or my most recent attempt to sell my soul to the Dark Lord Baphomet was successful. More to come on the Untitled Mel House Project in the next few days.

What's more the Public Access issue is coming to a close, and the Executive Director has stepped down. This is awesome for me personally, because I think the previous regime ruined public access in Houston (and not just because they fired me on trumped up charges). Just for a little context (very little, and with an admittedly personal slant), the former HMS executive director was the executive director of Austin Public Access 'round about the time that Robert Rodriguez was editing El Mariachi on the 3/4" machines there. When asked about Robert, all I got from her was "I don't like him", "he's not what access is about", and "he's not that special".

Okay...maybe not liking him is subjective (although having met him a few times during my stint at UT, I would have to say he's one of the coolest guys I've ever talked to). But to say that the guy who more or less single-handedly redefined the independent film paradigm not just once, but twice, (and arguably three times) is "not what access is about", and "not that special"? The guy gave "capital-H" Hollywood the finger with both hands, and she makes him out to be a pariah? There's something wrong there, and this woman does not need to be running a cornerstone of free thought. We might as well have put Sean Hannity in charge of Pacifica.

Then again, it may bode well for me symbolically.

So, in closing, here's a big fat middle finger (with both hands) to Houston MediaSource version 1998-2006.

And if you were one of the "live show haters" (you know who you are, "talent" included) - I hope you can hear the cackle of my resounding mean-spirited laughter aimed squarely at you.

DVDTalk is Cheap

Someone found this review online wherein DVDTalk makes sideways mention of Witchcraft 13 in their review of Witchcraft 6. Funny stuff.

Purgatory

Electric Purgatory has some new screenings coming up:

February 20 at the Alamo Drafthouse West Oaks in Houston Texas.

Sometime between February 9 and 20 at the Pan African Film Festival in Los Angeles (ahem, Jason and Cesar).

And, oddly enough, EP is showing at the Lake County Film Festival in Libertyville, IL on the same weekend that we will already be in the area for the Fangoria Weekend Of Horrors. At least that's what Raymond is telling me. Looks like they haven't updated their site from last year yet, but there will be more info here when they do.

These screenings could not come at a better time, since (for various reasons) I really hate me some Whitey right now.

"Sometimes if you want to get rid of the gun, you have to pick the gun up." - Huey Newton

Death to Videodrome -

- Long live the new flesh.

For various reasons, I feel like I've reached a seachange in my life/career. It could be the Witchcraft 13 trial-by-fire...it could be the extremely horrible conditions that I have to endure at my place of employment....it could be the fact that now everything seems to almost be falling into place for my next movie (and the one after that, as well). Things are actually happening, and I'm pretty excited about that.

What are the projects looming on the horizon? Can't say just yet, but I'm very excited about them - at the very least I'll be collaborating with some new faces on some dark and gritty horror material. And, when I say "dark and gritty", I don't mean Saw. Saw is for pussies.

I'm also in the process of setting myself up to make a living doing this, rather than take another fiscal ass-reaming in the name of cinema. That's the biggest challenge of course...but day by day, it becomes an easier goal than one might think.

My buddy Mike Scrutchin has asked me to write up a story about the making of Witchcraft 13 for his website, flipsidemovies.com. It will basically be a more linear version of what you've been reading here, but I think I'll be adding some new perspective, what with the project almost behind me. Look for that in the near future.

The tentative screening date for Witchcraft 13 at the Alamo Drafthouse is Wednesday, February 15th (pending final approval of the movie by the powers-that-be). My cadre of graphic designers is hard at work on a poster as I type this.

In other news, my buddy Dwayne and I went to see Hostel. Eh. It had a few okay moments, but otherwise I was nonplussed (although I enjoyed it more than Cabin Fever). I don't feel like going on about it, but if you want specifics, I pretty much agree with the Fangoria review of the film.

But I just did Witchcraft 13, so what the fuck do I know?

"I'm saying I'm an insect who dreamt he was a man and loved it, but now that dream is over ...and the insect is awake."

With just one touch of my burning hand...

Here's the news:

WC13 is in the final stages of post-production. Can't really say much more than that.

I have four (yeah, that's right...FOUR) projects in varying stages of pre-production, pretty much ready to pull the trigger on any of the four to get rolling on my next movie. I actually have meetings with producers throughout this week. Hey, look at me, I'm a bona-fide Hollywood player. Time to buy an Italian suit and a Blackberry.

There are new interviews done with the Tripod Films guys and myself over on this site.

We do have a screening date lined up for WC13, provided that everyone involved agrees on a picture lock before said date. More on that as it develops.

Both feet on the floor, two hands on the wheel...

...Let the wind take your troubles away". Thanks, Jay Farrar.

Last night's screening of Drawing Blood went really well. There was a sell-out crowd, so we are now officially set up to do more great things with the Alamo - the first of which will be the Witchcraft 13 premiere in February. Working on an exact date for that right now. I may also have more exciting news along those lines, but I want to wait for it to fully coalesce before I say anything.

The coming year is chock full of planned appearances at horror conventions, comic conventions, and film festivals, so the OnePass account will definitely be in good shape.

Got my next two (possibly three) projects lining up, so it looks like I'll be having a busy (and horror-filled) 2006. Maybe I'll actually be where I planned/wanted to be when I hit 30. That's fairly satisfying.

Giving Birth To A Stone

How fitting that I should complete the first version final draft (oxymoron?) of WC13 on my 29th birthday (which was yesterday). Side note: I share the birthday with John Amos, and Gaspar Noe, which is cool. Anyway, I got the movie in viewable form, and FedExed it out to the producers this morning to get final approval. Meanwhile a few of the cast and crew got together last night to view the movie for the first time together. It went well enough, and I noticed some things that still need tweaking (sound FX and color timing, mainly), so I'll be doing that during this next week to try and get the movie in releaseable form (or at least, a releaseable form that I'm happy with).

Tonight is the screening of Drawing Blood at the Alamo Drafthouse in Houston - hopefully things will also go smoothly with that as well. We are showing a Necrophobia trailer beforehand, and possibly even a Witchcraft 13 teaser trailer. Looking forward to it.

Perfect Pitch Black

Whirlwind last few days - saw King Kong on Tuesday night (it rocked), saw Cave In on Friday (they rocked), and then from Wednesday through Friday I also completed the rough assembly edit of Witchcraft 13. Final running time: 1hr, 33 minutes without end credits. This rough cut is mainly for the purpose of scoring and audio post, which we began work on this past weekend. To do this, Mike (sound engineer) and I traveled to his uncle's house in San Antonio. Mike's uncle is Robert Ybarra (scroll down, he's the guy playing the Parker Fly guitar), who happens to be a pretty renowned musician. This guy had gold records on his wall, for Christ's sake. I knew that he'd be able to do the movie justice.

Not only did Robert do the movie justice, he took it to a whole other level. Things that I didn't think played that well, or performances that I was unhappy with - gone. Now they come across fine on screen...at times, even epic. I'm sitting there watching the scene with the music, and I'm hooked, wondering what's going to happen next....and I edited the damn thing together! And all because of killer music. Never underestimate the effect of a good score. I'm really excited to start laying in the music and audio effect pads (which I will be doing the bulk of over the holiday weekend). Russel also has to get me the final draft effects sequences and then this time next week I should have a finished cut to show the producers and writers. Needless to say, I'm excited...especially with the new dimension that the composer has added.

Small aside - San Antonio has the best Chinese buffets on the planet. I don't know why this is true, it just is.

Kong At The Gates

As I have stated repeatedly, my days are now long spent in front of my desktop editing suite. I would guess that we are about 70% done with the offline assembly edit of WC13, and then I just have to drop in and sweeten the sound effects, and add some of the digital stuff. This weekend we are scoring the movie, and then it's just little tweaks on the top here and there and some color correction/filtering just for my own Fincher-ian vanity. This is definitely an arduous process, but it does bring a sense of satisfaction when the movie fires on all cylinders.

I just recieved confirmation that we are going to have a table at the Chicago Fangoria Weekend Of Horrors in the spring, so we'll be pimping Drawing Blood and Witchcraft 13 whilst mingling with the stars (and rocking out to "First Jason", apparently). I can also bug Mick Garris about letting me direct one of the second season Masters Of Horror episodes.

Speaking of which, I just watched 'Homecoming' (the one directed by Joe Dante). Granted, the ending was pretty weak, but the other 95% of the program was killer. I've already read about people disliking the pointed and political subject matter (some even going so far as to say that this negates the "horror" label), but I thought that the conceit and excecution were fucking fabulous. Horror has been and should always be a place where you can air out humanity's dirty laundry - Romero's Dead series, Godzilla, Body Snatchers...hell, even The People Under the Stairs. If you get a chance to check out any of the Masters entries, I highly recommend this one, along with 'Incident On and Off A Mountain Road' (which prominently features a song by a friend of mine), and 'Chocolate'.

Tonight I get to get re-inspired once again by one of my main influences, Peter "Kiwi Bad Ass" Jackson. Can't wait to watch him create another watershed cinema moment with Kong.

Humble Pie

I just got checked in the worst way tonight. Will and I went over to my friend Stacy Davidson's house - Stacy is the director/editor/writer of this low-budget lensed in Houston horror movie called Necrophobia - and he's been kind enough to let me borrow some software tools for my post on Witchcraft 13.

Of course when Will and I get there, we want to see clips from Necro, so Stacy starts showing us some footage.

Which proceeds to blow us the fuck out of the water.

I'm not kidding, this guy's movie looks phenomenal, and trust me, I'm not just saying that because he's a friend. With our same camera and the Robert Rodriguez ethic (he's pretty much doing it all himself) Stacy is totally killing it with Necrophobia. It's a nicely shot, fast paced, brutal horror throwback. The movie is going to be huge when it comes out, and I recommend it to anyone just off seeing the rough edit (with some of the CG even unfinished, no less).

So yeah, it was a humbling experience of sorts. Granted, there are a lot of mitigating factors between Necro and WC13 that make them virtually uncomparable...but what Mr. Davidson has done is very impressive and gives me some great ideas for my next project...and makes me wish I had more time for THIS one, of course. But like I said, Stacy gave me some neat plug-ins that are going to definitely enhance the look of WC13. I was up until 3 AM last night playing with them and I didn't really want to stop.

So, in closing, check out the Necrophobia site if you have the time - the trailer is also going to play before the screening of Drawing Blood on the 28th of December.

Now, back to the editing suite, of course.

Lost In the Air

I'm deep in the edit of the movie right now, which explains my absence from here. I'm in front of the computer most of the time these days, but I basically edit, edit, and edit some more until my eyes cross and my fingers begin to become atrophied in the "mouse clicking" position. I've finished most of the harder scenes - which is basically anything involving sex, witchcraft fights, or both - and have passed them on to Russel, our digital FX specialist. Mike is working on sound fx/sweetening as well, and I've also been farming out some footage to Will to edit so that we make our deadline.

The official website has been updated again with a fresh new look, and the "offical" series logo...check it out if you get the time. There's also some video up there if you haven't seen it yet.

The Houston Chronicle did a piece on Lynn Michaels (Officer Gentry in WC13), and there are some quotes from me and a mention of the movie. Check it out in the archives here.

In other news - Drawing Blood is having its regional premiere at the Alamo Drafthouse in West Oaks Mall on December 28th. The screening is free, so come and check it out if you can. Go to the "calendar" section on the website for more details.

I'm getting close to making an announcement on what my next directorial project might be...I'm pretty excited about the possibilites and opportunites that have sprung up recently. Keep checking here for updates in the next week or so on that deal. All I can say now is: yes...it will be a horror movie. What else did you expect?