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

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

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

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

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

My favorite quote so far:

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

Here are a few more online mentions:

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

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

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

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

Horror Yearbook also did the same for us.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Among other things.

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

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

Walking Distance trailers are up and running.

BOTH trail​ers are now live:

​The BLACK trailer is right here on Dread Central.

The RED trailer is right here on Fangoria.com!

Make sure you watch​ both,​ as they are total​ly diffe​rent.​ Each accom​panyi​ng story​ and pictu​res are diffe​rent as well.​

Many thank​s to Dread​ Centr​al and Fango​ria for the love!​

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Check out this video: Reggie Bannister Talks Mel House

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

Lagniappe of the Dead

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fango Cover sneak peek and more Mulatto Balls

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Just a bunch of quick news flashes:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dude.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here are some shots from the video shoot for Jonah:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Closet Space Premiere :30 TV Spot

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

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

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

Mark your calendars...

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

Show starts at 9:00 PM.

Admission is FREE!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Please submit headshot/resume to:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's the link to the aforementioned podcast.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here's the table (with Melanie):

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Back to the edit...