Platoon of the Dead Production Diary - September 1 & 5, 2007

Platoon of the Dead Production Diary - September 1, 2007
John liked the Platoon of the Dead concept that was my favorite as well. Used my webcam to grab a shot of myself making a zombie face, then pulled that into Photoshop, overlaid a skull on half my face and made myself up as a zombie. Used that behind the main logo and sent it off to John. He dug it, as did the producer, which was way cool to hear.

The house visit didn't happen as Marie and Joe were heading out of town that afternoon. Plan to try again in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'm going to e-mail John a rough layout of the house so he can use that and the photos for reference when he works on his rewrite.

Had dinner with Rob the other night and he'd decided that he couldn't do the movie project as it was currently scheduled. Too close to his finishing up two weeks of play production plus a Disneyland trip, catching up at work and being out of vacation. He said that if the shoot could be moved out even just two weeks he could probably do a weekend of effects work (he'd still be out of vacation days). John had previously said that's the only time he had to shoot it, but I wasn't sure what the reason was. I e-mailed John and told him what Rob had said, adding that I could probably change my vacation at this point. John called me and said that he could probably push the shoot out two weeks. The key was finding out if Tom Stedham had bought his plane tickets yet. If he hadn't, or could change his dates without too much hassle, the plan would work. Otherwise John would be faced with finding another effects person. He'd talked about us trying to do it ourselves but my concern is not only the quality but having the time to do make-up on top of all the other stuff we'll need to be doing.

I've e-mailed Tom about it.


Platoon of the Dead Production Diary - September 5, 2007
Tom Stedham e-mailed back and said that the new dates were fine. Then my wife asked me what the new shooting schedule was. Turns out it was scheduled right over days my son has off from school and parent/teacher conferences. Changing the schedule again in less than 24 hours might make John, Rob and Tom mad at me, but I don't have to live with them! So I talked to Rob and called John and called Tom and luckily everyone was able to make it work for the week in between the original shooting schedule and the first revised shooting schedule. As long as the house is available then, we're good to go. So now we are looking at shooting October 27 - November 4. Halloween is smack dab in the middle, so we'll need to take that night off to take our kids trick or treating, but can shoot during the day. I'll also miss my sister's birthday, but will just have to have a belated celebration for her.

Rob skimmed through the script the other night when he was over, looking for effects he needed to do. He seemed to get excited about the project, despite the busy schedule he has leading up to it.


We got an Oriental Trading Company catalog in the mail the other day and my wife pointed out a "bag of bones" that looked pretty realistic and was only about $30. I suggested it to John for the "pile of bones" outside of the house in the script. He said he'd take a look when he was in town next week. Hoping to check out the house that night, but waiting to get an OK from Joe and Marie.

John is working on the script revisions and hopes to have them done by the end of the week.

Platoon of the Dead Production Diary - August 28, 2007

Hung out with Rob Merickel Friday night and he told me all about his involvement with a stage version of Night of the Living Dead in early October. John has been trying to keep Platoon of the Dead top secret, so as soon as I got home I dropped John a note that he should really contact Rob right away. For one thing, maybe Rob could get some zombie prosthetics together for the movie when he was making ones for the play. John e-mailed Rob and Rob said that he is going to be busy with the play and then off to Disneyland so will be worn out and out of vacation when he returns. It might work to squish all the zombie scenes into one weekend, plus a pick-up day after the main shooting, but Rob said he needs more time to think about it.



Marie e-mailed photos of her house to John and I and John was initially scared off by the wild art inside the house. He called me and we chatted about it. I said that if John doesn't want to shoot there I'm totally fine with it - after all, it's his movie. However, I didn't know of any other place we could take over for so many days in a row, so it would fall to him to find a better location. I said that perhaps the fact that the house had so much character would work in the movie's favor and be better than a bunch of plain white walls. John said he felt better about using the place. He is going to drive over this Thursday and the plan is to go and check out the house in person late in the evening as my son has TaeKwonDo testing earlier in the evening.


I drew up four rough concepts for the Platoon of the Dead logo today and e-mailed them to John. His plan is to put up a MySpace page for the movie and use that for casting and communication.

Platoon of the Dead Production Diary - August 9 & 22, 2007

Platoon of the Dead Production Diary - August 9, 2007
Spoke with John last night. He was hoping to work with an actress from L.A. that the producer had suggested, but there just isn't money in the budget for it so we will be looking at all local casting, aside from Tom Stedham if John can work out a deal with him. I suggested an ad on Craigslist as well as the local college paper. John has written some fog scenes that happen out in the woods, which will be a problem if we shoot out in a local park or something: no electricity. If we can find woodsy areas near houses we know the owners of, we can string extension cords out. John and I will both be on vacation for the next couple of weeks, so after that we are going to touch base and start some serious planning. Included will be John coming to town to check out the main house location and see what kinds of wooded areas might be nearby.

Platoon of the Dead Production Diary - August 22, 2007
Got an e-mail and a phone call from Tom Stedham thanking me for recommending him to John. John had e-mailed him the script and Tom "took the gig." It will be great to work with him again. John wondered if I could put up Tom at my house to save on hotel expenses. Not sure yet as I know we will have friends from out of town staying over part of the time for a visit. Waiting to hear confirmed shooting dates and when John will be in town to check out locations. Told John one thought on casting - if he's hoping to get some college students from the local university, we may have trouble getting them to take a whole week off from classes. Might have to work around some school schedules. We'll see how it goes. John asked me to go contact an actress I worked with a few years back about playing a role, but turns out she can't take the needed time off of work for the shoot. I also asked Marie to take photos of the house and surrounding area and send them to John as he can't make it over to see the place in person for a few weeks. This will help him make the revisions he needs to make for the producer. I also gave John the contact info for a couple of actors we've both worked with in the past, as he's going to see if they are up for this new project. John has also hired me to design a logo for the movie. Sweet!

Platoon of the Dead Production Diary - August 2, 2007

A few months ago my buddy John Bowker told me he was planning to shoot a zombie movie later in the year called PLATOON OF THE DEAD. He sent me the script to check out while he was working on arranging the financing. The script was cool, contained a few neat plot twists and was mostly in the woods or at a single house and had a small cast, both of which boded well for our usual very low budgets and 10-day shoots. The zombies, fog and other effects concerned me a little only because I knew they would take time, which we usually don't have enough of. He wanted me to handle shooting/lights/sound. He asked if I would be interested in coordinating food and I said I would, for the selfish reason of making sure we had some good food on set and weren't having baloney sandwiches for 9 days. John reminded me that it has been five years since he made a movie. I was excited to be a part of this new one.


I worked with an actor named Tom Stedham two summers ago when he flew out from Alabama to be in a thriller I shot called DEADLY PREMONITIONS. I couldn't recommend Tom more highly to John - he was a great actor, knew his lines, helped out on set any way he could, is a great photographer and a really funny guy. Not only that, but he would add some "beefcake" to the project and had military background that would make portraying the commanding officer that much more authentic and his wrestling background gave him a lot of fight choreography skills. John agreed he would be great for the role and plans to contact Tom once financing is in place.

John was at a loss on a location for the main house and initially I said I was as well. Then I remembered a picnic we had at my high school reunion at a funky old house in a small town about 9 miles from town. The house is owned by a guy I went to high school with. I mentioned it to him and the guy and his girlfriend are psyched about the movie shooting there and are even more psyched about the possibility of getting to play zombies. John plans to visit town in a few weeks so we can all meet, chat and check out the location. If it works out, it will be nice to be able to go home after shoots and sleep in my own bed. Plus we'll know where to eat, where to buy stuff in a pinch and John can line up all kinds of friends and family as extras and helpers as needed.

So right now, I'm just waiting. John is still working on a revision of the script based on some producer notes, so I'll wait until I get that to start with any storyboards. Once the schedule is locked-down, I can work on a plan and budget for food. John wants to shoot this "all in a row," that is, all at one time, rather than splitting shoots up over multiple weekends. He's hoping to have shooting dates picked out in the next few weeks, which is good so I can make sure I can take that time off of work.

Scenes from Evil Rising Weekend Three

We go now live to Chuck Gomez at the scene!


Special effects in Joe's garage: Rob is controlling a fog machine located in the bottom center of the picture. It is shooting fog into a hole in the side of a styrofoam container, which has a string of red LED lights bunched up in it. On top of that are two boards with crumpled paper bags taped on to them, spray painted black and covered with topsoil. The cinderblocks are holding up the parts of the boards that hang out past the styrofoam container. The camera is aimed at the scene, zoomed in on where the two boards meet. John and I shook the boards and pulled them apart to simulate an earthquake, revealing red light and rising steam. Sweet!


Back art


Maren sat through over 5 hours of make-up, then got covered in sticky blood and tied to a bed for about 5 more. Plus she had to pose for this photo with me - what a trooper!

Still Plugging Away

Shot Link Masters newscaster footage for EVIL RISING up in Washington State, celebrated my son's birthday and had a low-key spring break last week. Got a new desk chair, installed a light fixture, changed some light bulbs, sorted through a bunch of papers and other exciting house stuff. Finished my taxes!

Got the DEADLY PREMONITIONS DVD-r proof from Mike and it looks great! Unfortunately, now he's run into some computer troubles, so waiting to hear how that works out and we'll go from there.

Chipping away at Welcome Sister segment of TWISTED FATES, doing color and sound work. Once it's done, I'll get the NEW NEIGHBOR edit rolling.

Uploaded almost all of the EATER footage and anxious to get working on that.

Gearing up for last weekend of shooting on EVIL RISING this weekend.

Have been working on a series of blog posts for here that I hope to begin putting up in May.

Tired.....

Gettin' Stuff Done

Managed to get a couple of hours of editing in on the Welcome Sister segment of TWISTED FATES. Clocked in at just under 12 minutes. Not bad for a 5-page script! Finished the video edit and am now adjusting colors, fixing sound and working on music.

Friday the 13th came along and my wife got into a car accident and the front of our car is all smashed in. She is OK and our friend who owns a repair shop said it's fixable, so waiting to hear how that goes.

Had a very nice memorial gathering for my father-in-law on Sunday. Lots of old friends and family showed up and it was very nice.

Took care of a bunch of pick-up shots for my friend John for the EVIL RISING project tonight. Shot a bunch of house exteriors and interiors for the opening credits, plus some pick-up shots with Amanda Bounds and a few other odds and ends.

Heard back from Mike Hegg and he said that he's going to get back on finishing up the DEADLY PREMONITIONS dvd tonight. Sweet!

Onward!

Friday the 13th

It's only appropriate on this horrific date to post a report on where all of my varied projects are since most of them are horror movies.

PLATOON OF THE DEAD



I was the director of photography on this flick written and directed by my buddy John Bowker, as well as doing a whole bunch of other things like locations, props, make-up, asst. directing, craft services, still photos, blah, blah, blah. Everybody did a little bit of everything on this shoot. You can check out a bunch of cool pix at www.drsquid.net/platoonofthedead.html.

Tempe Video is releasing this puppy in June, but you can pre-order it in April - go here for details.

Not only is it a cool flick, but the DVD will come with a whole bunch of extras including cast interviews, a behind the scenes featurette, bloopers and the "zombie house tour," all of which I put together. Sweet.

And here's the trailer!



TWISTED FATES

All of this horror anthology has now been shot. The IT HAUNTS segment is 99.99% done. The WELCOME SISTER segment has only about 30 seconds of footage left to be edited, then it's on to some color correction, sound work and music. The NEW NEIGHBOR segment will be re-edited next (I had it together a few years back but some weird glitch ruined it so I'll be starting over). The narrator/wrap-around is all shot, but will need to be put together as well.



DEADLY PREMONITIONS

This supernatural/slasher/thriller is all done, but the last bits of DVD authoring work remain. I'm hoping to work with my buddy Mike in the next few weeks to try and get this finished up and get some copies made.


EVIL RISING

I'm the director of photography and play a small part in this latest horror flick written and directed by John Bowker. We are 2 out of 3 long weekends into shooting this. I'll be shooting some pick-up shots next week and going up to Washginton State to shoot some Link Masters newscaster footage next weekend. We plan to wrap up the project with a long weekend at the beginning of April.



TRULY DREADFUL TALES

The TREESPIRIT segment is all done, as is the DEATH NURSE segment. I finally sent off the BEETLE MANIAC package to the filmmaker so he can get started on it. Also, once I finish up the POOL MONSTER outfit, my buddy Rob Merickel has agreed to give directing that segment a shot.

EATER

I am anxious to work on putting together this sci-fi/horror short feature I made with my son, but right now, all of the above are stacked up in front of it.

I was recently asked to shoot a music video for a friend's band, so that may happen sometime later this spring, if I can carve out the time.

Busy busy busy...

Sasquatch Dumpling Gang on TV

OK, unless you don't have cable, now you can check out the funniest movie I have seen recently without having to rent or buy it.

The Sasquatch Gang is going to play on Comedy Central on Thursday, March 19 at 4 p.m. I don't know what kind of cuts they will make to it for TV, if they cut anything at all as it's all pretty tame as far as that stuff goes.

The Zerk and Shirts characters are so hilarious!!!

The movie was originally shot as The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang, and is known as that all over the world, except for in the US, where the distributor dropped the "dumpling" from the name. Lame. As Zerk would say, "This ain't dang China!"

Here's a video I made with my son and his friends after we were all inspired by watching the movie.

Scum of the Earth

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008802838_webbogusbills02m.html

This human garbage ripped off Girl Scouts with fake $20 bills. Completely disgusting.

This pathetic scum should be made to stand outside the exit of a big grocery store, with a table and handmade sign that reads "We stole from the Girl Scouts," and every person exiting the store for the whole weekend would get to punch them in the mouth.

Death

My wife's father died this morning from pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed just 5 weeks ago. We're his only family caretakers. It was the worst thing I have ever had to go through. Hospice workers are angels on earth. I'll be offline for a while longer. Now that he is at peace, my family can be at peace.

Scarce

I haven't been posting for a bit, and won't be for a bit longer.

Yes, I spent 7 days shooting and acting in a new John Bowker movie recently. Another weekend of shooting remains in a few weeks. I intend to post a production diary with photos and such, but it will take a while to put together.

Meanwhile, I have personal business to attend to that is going to keep me occupied for several months.

Be back later.

Tired...

Three days into shooting John Bowker's latest flick. Behind schedule and feeling the fatigue. Only 9.5 hours scheduled tomorrow...


Tonight's dinner - chili cheese dogs by Brent. Awesome.

What the hell is wrong with you people?!

According to The Washington Post, Washington trash trucks hauled away at least 130 tons of garbage after the inauguration of President Obama, with more to go still 2 days after the Inauguration.

Apparently, there were hardly any trash cans for fear of some nutjob putting a bomb in one. So big freakin' deal - if you brought a bottle, food, newspaper, blanket, pair of gloves or cooler (a list from the article of some of the things left behind) IN you can certainly take it OUT with you. Justifying leaving your crap on the ground on there not being a trash can nearby just makes you a big fat pussy.

A spokesman for the Mayor's office said, "They left behind Obama hats, Obama bags, Obama socks... lot of it was the vendors along the parade route" So not only did people just drop their crap and walk away, but vendors just dumped all of their unsold merch and left, too. Nice way to run a business - and show how sincere your support for our new president is. Jackasses.

What is infuriating about this is that I'd bet a ton of those Obama supporters would say that the environment/being green/global warming is a big issue to them, and would support all kinds of laws to keep America clean. But to shove an empty candy wrapper in your pocket or God forbid carry out your coffee cup IN YOUR HAND so you could throw it away later? Too much hassle for you apparently. Pathetic.

Crazy Busy...As Usual

Have been crazy busy so far this year.

Worked around some technical glitches with the "It Haunts" segment of TWISTED FATES and have finally finished all of the music and pretty dang happy with it. It was fun making themes like "Kelsey Mellow" and "Luther and Alma."

Have also made progress on editing the "Welcome Sister" segment. Up to just over 8 minutes and finished cutting the catfight together.

Big thing is that a week from Friday I'll begin shooting a new untitled horror flick for my buddy John Bowker. IT HAUNTS and PLATOON OF THE DEAD alum Michelle "Ame" Mahoney, Amanda Bounds, Doom Grrl and Joe Scott will be in it, along with Bryn Kristi from "Welcome Sister" and Robert J. Olin, last seen as Billy Joe Barney Bob in BLOODSUCKING REDNECK VAMPIRES!

Rob Merickel's going to do make-up and Eric Singer among others will help on the crew. It's a super-tight schedule, but I'm sure we'll get through it somehow. I've been parsing out the script and storyboarding my head off.

Depending on how John feels about it, I'm hoping to post some production blog stuff and photos and such. We'll see....

2008 Wrap-Up

Greetings everyone! As I look back over 2008, I'm happy to have such a great group of friends and fellow moviemakers in my life. It was a busy year, but then again, what else is new?

I started the year off coming off of the PLATOON OF THE DEAD shoot for my good friend John Bowker. I spent the first part of 2008 editing together behind-the-scenes footage and bloopers as well as shooting a featurette for the movie. This zombie action flick is set for release from Tempe Video in the second quarter of 2009. Tempe also released a loaded double feature DVD of THE EVILMAKER/ABOMINATION: EVILMAKER II at the end of 2007. Sweet.

In January I began writing a screenplay based on an outline by an actor/director. The project, BAD ILLUSION, was designed to be one for him to travel to Oregon to star in while I directed. Scheduling difficulties got in the way of a late Spring shoot, so we decided the best thing was for him to take my script and try to shoot it up where he is at.

I screened my horror comedy TRAILER PARK DOUBLE WIDE TRILOGY OF TERROR at the Northern Lights Theater Pub in Salem, Oregon on January 11 - a whole mess of people showed up and we all had a swell time!

I finally finished editing my DEADLY PREMONITIONS feature plus the behind-the-scenes and photo gallery featurettes at the end of January. I handed everything off to my BLOODSUCKING REDNECK VAMPIRES buddy Mike Hegg and he is currently wrapping up post-production tweaking and DVD authoring.



Actor in many of my movies over the years and a writer/director himself, Tom Shaffer finally shot the "Treespirit" segment of TRULY DREADFUL TALES for me and I edited and scored it in January/February. Then I edited and scored the "Death Nurse" segment that W.A.V.E. Video favorite Laura Giglio and her husband shot for it a couple of years back. Later in the year, I finished up the bugman mask for the next segment, which will shot by up in Canada in 2009.

I shot the last remaining shots for EATER over the Spring/Summer/Fall.



On the first of February, a BLOODSUCKING REDNECK VAMPIRES screening was held up at the Northern Lights Theater Pub with special guest Troma's Lloyd Kaufman! A last minute scheduling change on Lloyd's part had the organizers asking me to do Lloyd's "How to Smash a Head" bit, so I picked up a melon on the way to the theater, slapped a wig on it and smashed it to pieces! Lloyd was running late so instead of waiting for his movie (which he had with him) they showed my erotic thriller UNDERBELLY! Lloyd showed up and after a bunch of Q&A, posed for photos and was a really nice guy. The Salem Statesman Journal did a swell cover story on BLOODSUCKING REDNECK VAMPIRES in their entertainment section.



In March, I shot scenes for COLD AS SOUL for Luc Bernier and SLEEPWALKER STRANGLER for W.A.V.E. with Toni Draggon.

Also in March, I shot scenes with Darla Doom and Joe Scott for Phil Herman's INTO THE WOODS. Phil also used music I'd composed throughout the whole movie. Sweet! The movie was released in November to good reviews and we held a little screening party for it.

I shot "It Haunts" in May and June with Darla Doom, Joe Scott, Michelle 'Ame' Mahoney, John Bowker, Morgan Mayhem and Amanda Bounds. Originally intended as a stand-alone project, I later decided to swap it out for the "VideoDrone" segment in my Anthology TWISTED FATES. I got Ariauna Albright to be in a couple of phone call scenes, brining one more PLATOON OF THE DEAD cast member in to the project! Thanks to Eric Spudic who shot the footage for me down in California. I am finishing up editing and working on music for this segment.



Despite saying I'd never do it again, in July I squeezed into the orange jumpsuit to play Frank the Astronaut in Tom Shaffer's dinosaur planet movie PREHISTORICUS. One of these days he'll get that stop-motion animation and I can see the dinosaurs I've been pretending to run from for years! Also in July, I shot a friend's wedding.

Made a couple of goofy videos over the summer with my son and his friends for YouTube and then my camera broke in July. I was able to buy pretty much the same model from Amazon and keep on plugging away at everything. Whew!

August saw the 10th anniversary of me shooting and acting in John Bowker's DREAMWALKERS, the first of countless features and shorts we've done since then.

In October, I participated in a blog thing called Halloween Countdown. It was a lot of work but a lot of fun! Idea was to post a Halloween-related post every single day for the whole month. I ended up going through all of the photos and photo albums I had at the house plus going through all of the ones my parents had and scanning old Halloween Costume photos. I was a lot of fun and you can check all of the posts out at http://fandcproductions.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html



October 17 saw a double feature screening at Northern Lights of two movies I shot for John Bowker: HOUSEBOUND and THE SEEKERS. I play a 'Man In Black' in HOUSEBOUND and it was a lot of fun to see the movies on a big screen with a theater full of people.

After trying to get it scheduled for a couple of years, the shoot for the "Welcome Sister" segment of TWISTED FATES finally came together in late October. I'd hired Robert J. Olin to cast and direct and he did a great job and found a terrific bunch of troopers! We had to recast at the last minute and actually cast our replacement from the audience at the HOUSEBOUND/THE SEEKERS screening! Another actress called in sick the day of the shoot, but with some quick rewriting, the shoot came off very well. I'm currently about halfway through editing this segment.



This all lead to a dual showing of HOUSEBOUND in one theater and BLOODSUCKING REDNECK VAMPIRES in another on Halloween! Since they didn't start until 10:45, I was able to go up and attend the BRV show.

Actually did some video projects for work this year - a couple of short youtube-type goofy videos for our student activities department and then a 5-part series of shorts parodying American Idol with the staff for a Foundation project. It was a lot of fun and how cool to be doing what I do for fun at my day job! Our Halloween theme for office decoration this year was the Clue game. We all played characters, had different rooms set up with different weapons and a masking tape game board path zig-zagging through the office. I was Professor Plum in the kitchen with a knife...and I did it!

I worked on various scripts here and there over the year, and made a couple of nifty DVD-r presents for Christmas. One was of STARCHASERS, the first video movie project I made with John Bowker and Rob Merickel back in 1986 - and we're still working on things together today!



The other was of a tape I made compiling video footage from the first year of my son's life. Really reminds you of what is important in life. We got a puppy in June and my son did well this year in school, taekwondo and boy scouts. Life is busy, but rewarding. Spent New Year's Eve with good friends, good steaks and wine, games and guitar hero world tour. Good times.

What's in store for 2009? I've got a couple of potential projects I might be working on - waiting to hear back from folks, as always. I'm planning on finishing up TWISTED FATES and TRULY DREADFUL TALES anthologies, plus probably continuing to do some goofy video shorts with my son.

I wish you all the best in the coming year. Tell the people you love that you love them - even thought they know it, it's good to hear it often.

Trailers Posted

Posted a few trailers on YouTube today.

Here's a long trailer for Bloodsucking Redneck Vampires:



Here's one for Trailer Park Double Wide Trilogy of Terror:



Here's a trailer for We Need Earth Women:

End of The Year In Sight

Mike worked on the DEADLY PREMONITIONS DVD last week. Waiting to hear if it's ready to proof.

Have been working on fixing all the problems with IT HAUNTS. Just about done fixing up some sound issues, hope to do some workarounds this weekend then get back to the music.

Have been busy working on Christmas present video projects.

Have managed to upload and trim all of the footage from the late October WELCOME SISTER shoot. Have the first few minutes edited together.

Went through the NEW NEIGHBOR segment the other night and made some notes for when I have to edit it from scratch again.

Have been crazy busy at work and at home, but hope to get back to writing a year-end wrap-up to post. I didn't get as much done this year as I had hoped, but then again, what else is new?!

Into The Woods Screening

Last weekend we held a little screening of INTO THE WOODS. Here are a few pics:


Darla Doom dressed to kill!


Joe Scott


Me with Rob Merickel

Meanwhile, I've been working on IT HAUNTS, running into some snags, but hoping to work them out over the weekend. Christmas projects have been taking up my time as well.

The end of the year is screaming towards me!!!

Progress on It Haunts

Managed to get several hours' worth of editing done on IT HAUNTS over the weekend. I'm going through and tightening up the edit, adding the ghost hunting footage and Ariauna Albright scenes, fixing sound issues and taking care of a few sound effects here and there. Once I'm through, I'll be going back through to finish sound effects and create some music.

Pretty Maidens All In A Row

At the end of last month, I went with my buddy Rob to see the Maidens of Mayhem perform in Eugene. Beer, billiards and burlesque - what's not to like? I tell you what's not to like - getting to bed at 3 a.m. and having to get up to go to work a few hours later!





My office's Halloween theme this year was a giant CLUE game and I was Professor Plum! As you might guess from the blood on my coffee cup...I DID IT! With the lead pipe in the dining room no less!



Despite a very busy time at work and home, I have been working a bit on the IT HAUNTS and WELCOME SISTER edits here and there. Hope to make some more progress over the weekend. Also hoping to shoot needed pick-ups for WELCOME SISTER on Sunday.

Trailer: Into The Woods

A while back, I shot a few small scenes for this movie with Darla Doom and her husband. Writer/director Phil Herman just sent me a link to this trailer, which features music by me as well. Cool!

Halloween Screenings

So the Northern Lights Theater Pub showed BLOODSUCKING REDNECK VAMPIRES and HOUSEBOUND on Halloween night this year. Each was in it's own theater, one at 10:40 p.m. and the other at 10:45 p.m. It was kind of short notice but Dale and I made the trip up and watched BRV with some folks who really seemed to dig it. Thanks to Mid-Valley Film Festival for helping to set it all up!

October Screening and Shoot

It's been a busy month while the Halloween Countdown was going on. I have to say that was a blast going over all those old photos. I hope folks got a kick out of it.

Finally finished trimming down the ghost hunting footage for IT HAUNTS. Need to edit the pieces together, then get them worked into the timeline.



Had a great screening of HOUSEBOUND and THE SEEKERS at the Northern Lights Theater Pub in Salem, Oregon back on October 17. Writer/director John Bowker was there along with a number of cast and crew. It was great to see those flicks on the big screen and hear a live audience laugh and scream at the right parts! Special thanks to Ross from Mid-Valley Video Festival for making it happen!



The tickets!



It's me on the big screen! Here I am as an MIB in HOUSEBOUND holding a goopy skull!



Me with Ross Swartzendruber of Mid-Valley Video Festival



Writer/director John Bowker and actor Robert J. Olin



Cast, crew and friends at the screening.

When I arrived at the screening, Robert J. Olin told me that one of the actresses for the Welcome Sister segment of TWISTED FATES had dropped out. We were set to shoot the following Saturday, but I just knew we'd manage to make it happen somehow. By the intermission, we'd cast Sabrina out of the audience to play the role! Not only that, but RC, who works at the theater, came on board as a PA.

The Welcome Sister shoot on October 25 was fantastic. Robert was really organized and had arranged for a second cameraman to work with me as well as a craft services person to keep us well fed and watch the home base at a shelter in a park east of Portland, Oregon. Dale came up with me so we had 2 PAs with RC along. One of the actress had to bail due to being very sick, but Robert and I did some quick rewriting and made the whole thing work just fine.

The actresses were phenomenal! They really brought the roles to life and were total troopers, running over rough trails, through sticker bushes, bouncing off of trees, cat fighting on the forest floor, getting drenched in blood and screaming their lungs out. It was so cool! Here are a few pics (warning: SPOILERS!!)



The whole gang - cast & drew for the Welcome Sister shoot



Here I am with two of the girls, post catfight!



Director Robert J. Olin poses with the girls.

Mike Hegg is continuing authoring work on the DEADLY PREMONTIONS dvd.

The horror con Crypticon Seattle announced their 2009 dates - June 5-6-7 - planning to go!

Pushing onward.....