Tuesday, July 03, 2012

Ain't It Cool News Reviews Twisted Fates

 
Aintitcoolnews.com's Mark Miller reviewed TWISTED FATES! Here are a few choice quotes:

"Filmed with a budget as low as they come, there’s something quite charming about this low fi anthology. I shouldn’t like it...But despite it all, every scene and every minute of TWISTED FATES oozes a love for all things horror and I can’t help but get behind it for that fact alone."

"If anything, the folks behind this film should be proud they have a horror anthology completed and able to present...Again, TWISTED FATES is low, low, low budget, but redeems itself with some decent takes on age old tales and a palpable sense that this is one of those bare bones budgeteers where everyone involved had a great time making it. I am interested in seeing what the filmmakers have in store next and if you don’t mind overlooking the low fi production, TWISTED FATES has a lot going for it."
 
Pick up your copy here!

 

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Bob's Burgers!

When I was in high school and college I loved Bob's Burgers. They were cheap and had awesome sauce! Sadly, all the Bob's locations have been closed for a long time now, BUT the family still makes the sauce and sells it in a few places in Eugene. My buddy Dale picked up a couple of bottles for me recently and we planned to recreate the good ol' Bob's cheeseburger.


I had done this last summer, but made the burgers way too thick and used real cheese. They were good, but not like those good ol' cheap fast food Bob's cheeseburgers.

This time, I had an inside track, though. Lisa, a girl that I went out with in high school, had worked at Bob's when I was in college and she had recently friended me on Facebook. I knew I had to make the burgers thinner and planned to cook them on a big griddle to get close to that fast food grilltop method. I asked her what else I should do. She told me to not only make really thin patties, but to freeze them! Of course! Then, cook them and flip only once, salting after the flip.

I needed to use that plastic-y cheese like Kraft Singles, which I had planned on. She also said to butter the buns and toast them on the cooktop. Slather the bottom bun with sauce, stack the burger with melted cheese on top, then the top bun and I'd be done!

 
It was amazing how much my kitchen smelled like a fast food place once I slapped those frozen patties onto the griddle!

One interesting tidbit - Lisa said that they used to put the sauce on with a flattened out spoon, but that they had to replace it every once in a while as the sauce would eventually start to eat away at the spoon! Yikes! Well, the first ingredient is vinegar after all.


 

They were nearly perfect! Even though I tried, the patties were still a little too thick, so the meat to sauce to cheese ratio was off. But they were still DELICIOUS!!!

My next plan is to just go buy some McDonald's cheeseburgers, PLAIN, and then add the Bob's sauce.

I'll let ya know how that goes...

Friday, June 29, 2012

Happy Birthday To Me!


I celebrated by birthday the other night doing what I love to do - shooting scenes for a cheeseball horror movie!
 
More info and pics as this project wraps up.

Meanwhile, I finally had a chance to look at the tapes that were thought to contain the werewolf short footage. And guess what? THEY DID! One tape was damaged to an extent that I can't use the footage (the tapes were in an attic in an area of the state where it is desert-hot in the summer and lots-of-snow cold in the winter, so that may have had something to do with it, who knows?) and one tape turned out to be the director's vacation footage, but one tape had werewolf footage on it.

I dubbed it from Hi8 to miniDV and the next step will be to import it into my mac and see how much I want to re-edit - perhaps a few scenes, perhaps the whole thing. We'll see. Step by step...

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Blood Creek Woodsman - The Editing Begins!


So excited that the editing on BLOOD CREEK WOODSMAN has begun. I spent last weekend sitting next to Mike Hegg as we slogged through take after take, angle after angle and managed to get the first 6 or so minutes together.

Even in that short bit, there is amazing stuff. And Mike and I do seem to be of one mind with a lot of this stuff, so that's even better. Many more trips up to his place in my near future but I am so psyched about this phase beginning!

Meanwhile, I have a shoot tomorrow night for the vampire chicks project I've been working on, and just lined up someone yesterday to shoot a small part for the project as well. Details later...

Worked on a script for a new short.

Many irons in the fire...as usual...

Monday, June 11, 2012

And The Lycanthrope Turns...


So a few months back I posted about the long and winding road that a certain werewolf short had taken to get done. After all of that, I just found out that the original footage tapes may have been found after all...in an attic of all places. Since the owner's camera is broken and the tapes unlabeled, he can't tell me if they are indeed the tapes. I've asked him to mail them to me so I can check them out.

If they turn out to be the tapes of raw footage for this short, I plan to go in and re-edit a few sections, which will mean I'll need to rework some of the sound effects and soundtrack as well. With my summer calendar getting jam-packed already, I am not sure how much delay this puts on BENEATH A DEAD MOON, but I'd gladly take the time to make these improvements if the tapes turn out to be what he thinks they are. Of course, if they turn out to be more vacation videos, then I am right back where I am right now: almost done!

Meanwhile, I am excited as all get out because editing on BLOOD CREEK WOODSMAN has begun! This thing is jam-packed with b-movie horror goodies and I can't wait to see it come together!

Meanwhile, I've been trying for the last three weeks to schedule the last bits of a campy vampire feature I've been working on with Tom Shaffer, but everyone's schedules have yet to align. Maybe this week? And so it goes...

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Back from Crypticon 2012...And Tired...

Had a fantastic time at this year's Crypticon Seattle convention, including a screening of my TWISTED FATES flick! Slogging through close to 300 photos to create my annual photo-filled trip diary. For now, here is a shot just outside the screening room. We had a great Q&A afterwards and I sold some DVDs. Not too shabby!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

A Little Bit of Progress



About a decade ago, my buddy John and I were hired to make two werewolf shorts for inclusion in an anthology. I shot one that John directed and then I directed and shot one of my own. VHS screeners of the anthology were sent out by the producer to movie review websites, but it never got any real distribution.

So a few years ago I acquired the rights to the two shorts with the intention of re-editing them, shooting a third segment and releasing my own werewolf anthology.

Time rolled on and I instead decided to put these two shorts together with some other of my horror shorts that either had gotten spotty or no distribution along with a new short I did last year. Last fall I really got serious about reworking these old shorts and had all but one ready to go.

Way back when, I had shot the werewolf short my friend John directed and handed the tapes off to him. He'd thought that he still had them, but when it came time to find them a few months ago, they were nowhere to be found.

After many weeks of searching, the original producer ended up finding a 3/4" tape that had the short on it. It was the final edited version with a faux film process already applied to it, not the raw footage, so I wouldn't be able to re-edit it from scratch and use some scenes that had never been included, but it was the best I was going to get. And at least it was something - I had pretty much resigned myself to not being able to use it at all and shoot a new short to include in the anthology.

So, I've copied the short from 3/4" to miniDV and uploaded it into my computer, along with some other footage I originally shot for a music video but will be adding to the short as a dream sequence. Just started trimming some footage last night.

I'll need to shoot a few insert shots and am going to redo sound effects and compose new music for it. I'll do the best I can with it and it will be nice to have it and the other shorts eventually out there for people to enjoy.

Onward!

Friday, April 06, 2012

TWISTED FATES REVIEWED AT ROGUE CINEMA

Check out this review of TWISTED FATES: http://www.roguecinema.com/article3148.html - skip the first four paragraphs if you don't want any major spoilers!


"...It's the quality of the stories that really make it stand out amongst its peers...I loved the fact that each story had a twist to it...The technical aspects of the film were all rather well done...Each of the stories was just the right length for what it was, and the whole thing just came together as one nice package...They did a good job with it all and put together a very nice anthology type film all wrapped up in a fun, master story. It's definitely worth your time to check it out."


You can get your hot little hands on a copy of TWISTED FATES at
http://www.skullfaceastronaut.com/drsquid/twistedfatesmovie.html

Thursday, April 05, 2012

Aberrations - New Horror Anthology Now Available!

A new horror anthology that I was a producer on is now available!



ABERRATIONS serves up a new batch of supernatural revenge stories in the tradition of the original “Tales From The Crypt” and “Creepshow.”

Bestselling horror novelist Claire Huston (Dawn Duvurger) has a sure way of producing creepy story after story – she steals them from a dead master of the macabre using a Ouija board. What follows are four stories of suspense and terror...

Alice (Mona Duvera), who encounters an all-too familiar ventriloquist doll; Bobby (Amber Peach), who knows something is watching her from within the walls of her home; a crazed sniper (Eric Spudic) that uses geocaching as a lure for his latest victim (Krystal Stevenson Akin); and a man (J.C. Pennylegion) who attempts to resurrect his dead wife, stolen from the grave by two con men (Denman Powers, Kirk Jordan).


Available from http://www.amazon.com/Aberrations-Mona-Duvera/dp/B007MF6QM2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1334337852&sr=8-1

Tell him Dr. Squid sent ya!

Tuesday, April 03, 2012

Sabrina's Movie Pick!



Sabrina, one of the stars of TWISTED FATES, shows off the brand-new DVD!





You can get your hot little hands on a copy of TWISTED FATES at http://www.skullfaceastronaut.com/drsquid/twistedfatesmovie.html




Sabrina, Joe and Dee at the 2012 Mid-Valley Video Festival screening of Twisted Fates!

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Twisted Fates and Scent of the Sasquatch at the 2012 Mid-Valley Video Festival

The 2012 Mid-Valley Video Festival in Salem, Oregon hosted the premiere screenings of SCENT OF THE SASQUATCH and TWISTED FATES on February 24, 2012.



Write-up about the festival in the Salem Satesman-Journal


Festival article on the Salem Statesman-Journal website


A quick introduction of TWISTED FATES


Q&A after the screening


Me and my brother-in-law, Dave


Sabrina Larivee and Dee Alsman (who were both in both movies!) make a Joe sandwich!


Alexandra Paris made a trip down from Portland for the festival!



A few friends and fans after the screening

It was really quite a swell time! Thanks to Kirk, Ross and Chuck for putting me in the 'local filmmaker spotlight,' and here's hoping for more fun next year!

Get TWISTED FATES on DVD here!


Thursday, March 08, 2012

Looking back...

A blog that I check out from time to time started putting up "10 years ago" posts every so often. I haven't had my blog for 10 years yet - I started it in late 2004. However, I find looking back at these older posts interesting because the more things change, the more they stay the same.

So looking back at the few posts I made at the end of 2004, a few things stand out...

TRAILER PARK DOUBLE WIDE TRILOGY OF TERROR
, which I had finished shooting about 4 years eariler, had been sitting edited, around waiting for final dvd work for 3 years. It would be done and duplicated the following spring.

I also had a short called ZOMBIE LOVE SLAVE that had been put together for a few years, but I was waiting for someone to shoot an opening sequence. That never came to pass, and I had further problems with an actress, so reshot all of her scenes. In the end, this strange 30-minute thing is still unreleased.

I had just had the "Videodrone" segment of TWISTED FATES fall through FOR THE THIRD TIME, and frankly it was exhausting me. I decided to wait until after the holidays to regroup and think about how to try and pull it together for the fourth time. While I did recast and make some plans on shooting it, I ended up shooting IT HAUNTS and decided to just replace the "Videodrone" segment with it to finish up the anthology. I finally finished editing last year and got some dvds duplicated a month or so ago.

I also had the beginnings of what I was calling "MONSTER ANTHOLOGY," with a short with my son and friend John plus a short that W.A.V.E. Video favorite Laura G had shot for me. This morphed into NIGEL CHEESEBALL'S MONSTER FILES and then changed to TRULY DREADFUL TALES, with some segments dropping off and others being added. I finally got the last segment footage at the end of last year and managed to get some dvds duplicated a month or so ago.

It feels good to know that these long-in-production projects are finally wrapping up. I have high hopes for some other years-in-the-making projects to get finished up this year. EVIL RISING which I shot and acted in at the beginning of 2009 is still in post-production with the editor. BLOOD CREEK WOODSMAN, which I shot and directed in August/September/October of 2009 still needs a few insert shots done but editing won't begin until post-production on EVIL RISING is finished. I am 5/6 of the way done with a new collection of old horror shorts I've worked on. Waiting to get raw footage from someone so I can re-edit the last segment.

Hopefully once I clear out this "backlog" of stuff, and I decide what my next project is going to be, I'll try and make sure it doesn't take a decade to get finished!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Twisted Fates in the Salem Statesman-Journal

Here's the article in today's Salem Statesman-Journal about this weekend's film festival.

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/article/20120223/ENT/202230309/Festival-brings-videos-big-screens?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|s

There is no "bloody gore" in the sasquatch short - it's extremely tame! But still great to be covered!

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Truly Dreadful Tales Now Available!!!



In addition to my latest b-horror flick TWISTED FATES, I also now have copies of TRULY DREADFUL TALES available in the store or via credit card at at W.A.V.E. movies!
As with all my stuff lately, this one has been a looooong time in the making.

Originally this was a project called "Monster Files." There were a few stories originally intended for this that will pop up in other projects and some stories that never quite got made.

It was another of my "experiments," this time with the idea of writing monster shorts and having other filmmakers do the casting/directing/shooting, sending their footage to me to edit and score.



W.A.V.E. Video Laura Giglio stars in the "Death Nurse" segment, playing Donna, caretaker to a recently deceased millionairre. She and her boyfriend are excited about the old coot leaving his money to her, but when they start seeing the old man's ghost, they wonder if their dream has turned into a nightmare! Directed by Laura G and Johnny Monotone.



In the "TreeSprit" segment, a woman is surrounded by abuse - from her boss to her boyfriend and seeks solice in the woods. There her cries are heard by a spirit of vengeance that takes form and punishes those who have wronged the woman. Directed by Tom Shaffer.



In the "BeetleManiac" segment, Isabelle Stephen has a blind date with Luc Bernier, who grosses her out with his tales of is work with insects. Then things get really buggy! Directed by Luc and Isabelle, and Isabelle edited this segment as well!



In the "Crazed" segment, a young girl goes clubbing and awkaes the next morning with a strange mark on her neck and a growing insanity! Directed by Tim Shrum.



It's a mixed bag of monsters, psychos, strangulation, catfights and blood!

AVAILABLE NOW!

Thursday, February 09, 2012

TWISTED FATES in a Film Festival!

TWISTED FATES, along with my short SCENT OF THE SASQUATCH, will be screened as part of the Mid-Valley Video Festival on Friday, Feb. 24 at 8:30 p.m. at the Northern Lights Theatre Pub in Salem, Oregon. Sweet! Here's a trailer!



Copies are now available here!!!

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Lots o' Thing Cookin'

As usual, I have too many projects going at the same time. Waiting for some DVDs to arrive in the mail, waiting to hear back on a potential screening, working bit by bit on re-editing some old projects, have a couple of drawing projects going.

News coming soon!!!

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Artwork for Sale

I'm putting some original artwork up for sale. These are charcoal and/or pencil renderings.



Death Awaits



Voluptuous Turning



Bondage



Finale



Fishnets



Reclining on a Line



Lazy Days



Contemplation



The Darkness



Lonliness



Musing



Woman



Farmhand

Artwork is shipped rolled in a mailing tube. $25 for each piece. Contact me with what you'd like and we'll figure out the shipping cost.
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