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?

Week of The Dead

Principal photography is finally complete - more or less. I still have a few shots to get with Tim Wrobel (Will Spanner) and Melanie Donihoo-House (my wife, standing in for Jennifer LaFleur) just to tighten things up a bit and to do some crazy shots for the final scene. We're also adding more blood, of course.

So how did the final weekend of shooting go, you ask? Well...it fluctuated between mildly crazy and complete and utter clusterf#%k the whole time. Which, truth be told, is par for the course in independent filmmaking.

Here's the Readers' Digest version:

We (meaning Tim, Oliver, Eddie, and myself) got to the cave about 4 PM on Friday and loaded our stuff downstairs to prepare for the next day. No big deal. After that, we check in the hotel and Domingo, Oliver and I proceed to eat at the Chinese Buffet Of The Gods (China Sea off of I-10 and Wurzbach Rd. in San Antonio, if you want to hit it up yourself). We kill time and talk about what's to come. Meanwhile, back at the hotel, the rest of the skeleton cast and crew are trickling in.

By the time we get back to the hotel, all sorts of personal drama is going on between a lot of the cast and some of the crew. Things are a little...charged, and I begin to worry about the smoothness of the next day's shoot. Plus, I made the mistake of going back on my convictions and showing some rough-cut dailies to a few people - big mistake. I will never, ever do that again - and if you are a burgeoning filmmaker, I urge you to take that advice to heart. I could tell the roughness of the scenes (mostly due to the fact that we were missing half of the shots...which we were specifically at the cave to shoot this time around) began to screw with everyone's heads. I got the feeling that some people started to think that I have no clue how to do this.

F%#k you, because I do.

Anyhow, as per usual, everyone except for me gets wasted. I set up and do my shotlist. I should have remembered to lube up my rear end as well. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Saturday we get the clearance to start shooting in the cave at about 1 PM. Since most of the stuff is down there already, we get started relatively quickly and are actually moving at a decent clip. Of course, we pretty much lose all the ground that we've gained so far when it's time to set up the pentagram on the cave floor. This takes forever, and I'm getting bled like a teenager at Leatherface's house. This is when I start to really lose it a little bit, because it seems that my continual battle on this movie set is that no one wants to move with a purpose and get things done as fast as possible. Well, that...and dealing with people constantly complaining, or the myriad of derailing, irrelavant questions at inopportune times that I've already thought and rethought over and over....but I digress. The point is, people moving slow + Mel paying by the hour = one uptight negro director. Plus we were having difficulties with the actors in one scene that we have to shoot...soon it won't be a camera that I'm shooting with, if you know what I mean.

Somehow, amidst all the slow moving, bitching, and moaning we get thorugh the shotlist. The highlight definitely had to be us squibbing up Anjanette for the gunshots and having the blood fly out of her in great gouts. Looked fantastically gory, in a Dead/Alive sort of way. We did split up into seperate units a few times to get through the shots even faster, and that worked rather well.

So, about 9 PM we call a wrap and start packing up...then Melanie runs up to me and says "Anjanette's upstairs, she took the contacts out, and she can't see anything". Slight explanation here: our main group of witches are using cosmetic contact lenses for certain FX shots (rather than us add "glowing eyes" in post - which historically looks like crap). These are the contacts that Anjanette had just removed. Anyway, she was in serious pain. By the time I got up the stairs, chaos reigned supreme. People were freaking out and exacerbating the situation. An ambulance was on the way. The cops showed up. We ended up having to drive Anjanette to the hospital anyway, because the situation was deemed "not an emergency" (this after the paramedic made sure to tell her that other people have been permanently blinded by these lenses). So we head back to San Antonio, and to the emergency room. Melanie and I ended up staying with Anjanette the whole time (which only amounted to about 2 hours - quite expedient for an E.R., and I know from experience), and the final verdict was that even though the pain was intense, Anjanette's eyes were just temporarily traumatized due to lack of oxygen (the contacts are non-permeable). However, she had to wear eyepatches for a few days, which meant that for all intents and purposes, she's still blind for a bit.

Because of Anjanette's temporary blindness, on Sunday Melanie and I ended up driving her and her car back to Dallas (5 hours) and then we headed home to Houston (4 hours). When we dropped Anj off, she had a friend come over to help her out, so she was going to be okay with a little rest and a lot of pain pills. The drive actually wasn't that bad for me (I drive a lot for work), but we were pretty tired after all was said and done. We got home and unpacked, then I went out to meet sound guy Mike and Domingo at Chacho's. Chacho's is my comfort zone.

Mike brought along a hard drive with all the scoring work they did on Sunday at his uncle's studio. The plan was originally for me to sit in while his uncle scored the first scene, but due to the eye-mergency, Will and Mike filled in for me. And I have to say, even though it's preliminary, the score sounds pretty awesome and lends a lot to the movie. It's got a very Nightmare on Elm Street vibe, so of course I dig it a lot.

The footage we got over this past weekend looks really good as well, so I'm excited to start cutting it in the coming days. Big thanks to Mike Burrell and company at the Cave With No Name in Boerne, Texas.

Now that I've pretty much gone through this trial by fire, I have a few tips for anyone aspiring to be part of an independent film, be it cast or crew.

1. Shut the hell up. No one cares if your hair is frizzy, your feet hurt, or you think the shot is taking too long to set up. If you think the director "has no concept of time" when they're paying for the cave by the hour, then you're a f%$king idiot. Make sure you do time on other movie sets, so you have an idea of when things are running smoothly, and when they aren't.

(For the record, we did 29 setups in 8 hours on Saturday.)

2. Yeah, I know you're hungry. When do you think the director ate last? Probably way before you did, if at all.

3. Don't drag ass when you have 29 setups to do in 8 hours.

4. Don't continually ask the director stupid questions. Yes, there are such things are stupid questions.

5. Don't get pissy when the crew is trying to adjust your light. We're trying to make you look good, moron.

6. If you don't have problem solving skills, stay away from the problems to be solved.

The rest will be included in my forthcoming book: Mulatto Without A Gun: How An Independent Filmmaker Managed To Go Completely Insane While Making The Most Recent Entry In A Direct To Video Franchise.

But make no mistake - for all the drama and craziness, we have one hell of a movie on our hands. I can't wait to spring it on the unsuspecting public. This holiday season should be an exciting one.

Back in the saddle again

So the wedding is over, I am now an honest man, and the movie madness can continue in earnest. I have to admit...the break that I was forced into taking because of the nuptials and subsequent honeymoon has refreshed me. I dove into editing the movie on Sunday night, and I've already got the first assembly cut of the inital scene done. It's looking quite good, I think. Next (probably beginning this afternoon) I'll start putting the cave sequences together so that I'll know what coverage we need to shoot next weekend when we return to The Cave Without a Name to get the final shots and wrap the production.

There's a bit of excitement in the air as lots of opportunities seem to be making themselves available to myself and the extended film family - I'm positive that Witchcraft is the Keymaster to the Gatekeeper of opportunity.

The IMDb page is on its way to being complete and accurate, and the official website is pretty much on the same track. Once I get some more space on the web host, I'm going to start throwing some video on the site.

Off to the womblike darkness of the edit bay....

How the Gods Whine

Just got back from seeing Danzig - quite possibly the weakest show that I've ever been to, all told. That guy is the biggest freaking baby, I swear. Glenn cut the show short because he was all in a tizzy about some hecklers in the audience. We got to see about 20 minutes of Danzig material, and then about 20 minutes of the Misfits material set with Doyle. Thank God for that (the only reason I went, really). People were super pissed. Glad I didn't have to pay the 30+ bucks for a ticket.

Sorry, had to vent on that. No wonder Vivian Campbell and that fat guy from North Side Kings knocked Glenn the fuck out. The man is a dick. A diminutive, quasi-evil dick. More to come in my Space City Rock review of the show when it goes up.

Anyway...movie stuff....we shot the "bloody lesbian" scene, and also the "zombie Ben" scene this past weekend. That stuff looks great. I may be totally uprooting some of the movie after we get back and recasting and reshooting some scenes. I'm going to think about that over the honeymoon. I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make the movie as good as it can be, and if that means scrapping some mediocre/potentially problematic stuff and going back to the drawing board, then so be it.

I suffered through The Roost last night...it's just another overhyped second-coming of horror movie. Looks like a blind guy shot it, and the "pacing" was nonexistent. Inspired me even more for WC13. If this hack can get a deal off of a piece of crud like that, then I should be winning a freaking Oscar for WC13. Or at least a Chainsaw Award.

In closing, Danzig and The Roost can both suck it.

No news is good news

Since we are somewhat floating around in the movie production ether right now (at least until after my wedding and honeymoon), I figured that for the sake of writing something here, I'll let everyone know what's happening.

I'll be updating the website very soon - right now I'm about to upgrade the storage and traffic allowance so that I can put some of our "making of" videos up on the site. I've got the first day already (great job Russel)...it's alternately funny and hellishly infuriating to notice who has sold us out since the beginning.

Look for that to be up hopefully by this time next week.