OCTOBER 31, 2004


SPIDER GHOST
Just in time for Halloween, Piranha Pictures presents a terrifying short film! When a man moves into a haunted house to find a demonic entity living within, will he be horribly killed or driven insane, or will he somehow be able to survive?
Not to hyperbolize, but this film is about ten million times scarier than anything anyone has ever seen! To be driven to the brink of madness, simply go to www.piranha-pictures.com and check it out!
Witness the true horror that is...Spider Ghost!

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OCTOBER 25, 2004

Mind's I Update
SHADOWS OF LIFE has been optioned. Congrats to Gary Lumpp!

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BRAVO! To Shock-O-Rama Studios and 100 Scariest Movie Moments! The Bravo channel, a cable television subsidiary of NBC, is celebrating Halloween with a 5-part special entitled 100 Scariest Movie Moments! The show will air over a course of 5 evenings beginning Tuesday October 26 at 9:00pm, and will count down the 100 most frightening moments in cinema history. Utilizing a combination of interviews, film clips and production stills; 100 Scariest Movie Moments will go behind-the-scenes of your favorite creature features and unearth the challenges presented in the making of the all time 100 Scariest Movies ever! Interviewed are some of the leading horror directors of this century, including Wes Craven, Peter Jackson, John Carpenter and Clive Barker. Notable other interviewees include Courtney Cox, Stephen King, and - Shock-O-Rama Studio's own - Misty Mundae and Rachel Robbins! So join the rest of the Shock-O-Rama staff in preparing for the 5 most frightening evenings of your life! Schedule at: www.bravotv.com/Schedule

Editor's Note: FANGORIA's Anthony Timpone has been working on this project, and he tells me it should be a lot of fun!

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DARKNESS: THE VAMPIRE VERSION theatrical and dvd distribution news!
A BARREL full of blood...and DARKNESS!
It's been a big month for 13th Dream Entertainment and Evolution Digital Studios. First off, they are extremely proud to confirm that almost a full year after they announced the remastering of Leif Jonker's DARKNESS, the film has finally found it's dvd distribution home.
Barrel Entertainment, the company that brought the 70's cult classic LAST HOUSE ON DEAD END STREET and the infamous German made NEKROMANTIK series kicking and screaming into the digital realm, has acquired the underground/splatter/epic DARKNESS with plans for a huge special edition dvd release in 2005 -- just in time for the film's 13th Anniversary!
"Since 1988 we've had six companies make us offers to release DARKNESS onto dvd, but we always held out for someone who had a desire to do a true remastering and saw eye to eye with us as to how the film should be released and promoted." said director Leif Jonker. "We realized no one was really aware of how good the Super 8mm film could look when professionally mastered so we managed to arrange the work ourselves when we joined forces with Evolution and the end results were extremely impressive."
A workprint screener of the new version was circulated several months ago and 13th Dream/Evolution received another round of offers, some from very prominent well known companies, but none of the deals assured the filmmakers that the film would be released in the manner they were hoping.
"We had been disappointed with some of our previous releases and had decided to hold out for a company that would agree to handling the film in the manner we desired." the director recalls. " "Once we got down to brass-tacks and really dug into details of how we wanted the film put out, we realized it wasn't a situation where he had to fight for control, these guys actually totally agreed with us."
"Unlike all the other companies we had talked to, it was obvious that John and Brian were simply on the exact same page as ourselves so there was no need to fight for certain rights, we were all wanting the same thing for the film already." says Rick Pour, executive-producer of the VAMPIRE VERSION, "And believe me, Barrel's really going all-out for this release even to the extent that the purists/hardcore fans of the film will not only get to rock out to the entirely remastered, definitive director's cut of the underground classic, but they'll even have the opportunity to get the original version of the film, completely unchanged and untouched, exactly as it was first released, all packed into a special edition 2-disc set.
People are going to see this film in a whole new light."

Brian and John will be at the Chiller Con this Halloween weekend promoting all of the Barrel Entertainment titles. Be sure to hit them up for a free DARKNESS: THE VAMPIRE VERSION poster!

But that's not all. Encouraged by the amazing audience response at the theatrical test-screening of the work-in-progress at the Cucalorus Film Festival back in March, Pour and Jonker decided to pursue some additional movie house showings before the movie is re-released to video. The final edit of the film just had it's World Premier on Friday, October 22nd at the Warren Oldtown theaters in Jonker's hometown of Wichita Kansas to an absolutely fantastic response.
PHOTO LINK: Friday, October 22nd, 2004. Cast and crew reunite for the World Premier, limited theatrical run of DARKNESS: THE VAMPIRE VERSION -- the 13th Anniversary, Special Edition, definitive director's cut of the underground/splatter/vampire favorite! Photo by Josh Chapman. evolutiondigital.com/images/darknesscast.jpg
"The 10"o"clock premier had completely sold out by 8PM and we were told the midnight shows this weekend were the biggest turnouts they had ever had for the late show time slot." chuckles Jonker, "Apparently we were outselling the revival of the original entry of SCREAM in their other auditorium by a ratio of better than 15 tickets for DARKNESS to only 1 for SCREAM." Not bad for a shot on Super 8mm horror flick that was filmed and directed by a 19 year-old with what was a primarily teenage cast, all for a a cash-out-of-pocket budget of around $5000.00!

The film will continue at the Warren Oldtown with 10PM shows every night through Thursday, October 28th, with Friday and Saturday midnight shows on October 29th and 30th. The film will also enjoy theatrical screenings on Saturday, November 6th at the Fine Arts Theater in Asheville, NC as an official selection of the Asheville Film Festival, a general independent film event. Fans can also check it out early next year at the Carolina Theater in Durham, NC as an official selection of the 6th Annual Nevermore Horror Film Festival running from January 21st - January 23rd, 2005. And yes, the filmmakers are pursuing even more showings on the silver screen before DARKNESS: THE VAMPIRE VERSION hits the silver disc! www.evolutiondigital.com
For more information on the upcoming dvd release go to:
Barrel Entertainment
To see the new Barrel Entertainment trailer for DARKNESS: THE VAMPIRE VERSION, complete with shots of actual audience reactions taken at the Cucalorus Film Festival test-screening, go to: 13th Dream Entertainment

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DOG ME: POTLUCK
Triple Sticks Productions is proud to announce that, DOG ME: POTLUCK the hilarious comedy about a couple going through marital problems who decide to shake things up by hosting a potluck dinner with some of their wild and wacky friends was selected as the "2004 Bare Bones Script-2-Screen Independent Film Festival" Best Feature Film.www.triplestickspro.com/BareFest.html
In addition to the Grand Jury selection as the festivals top fim, Producer/Writer/Director/D.P./Editor M. David Lee III was presented with the "Oscar Micheaux Spirit Award" for his work. The Oscar Micheaux Spirit Award is not given annually, but only when the Grand Jury identifies and chooses to honor an exceptional filmmaker. (Oscar Micheaux web site)
"These awards continue to prove just how good our film is. I am proud of all of the work everyone did on this film... this is more about their hard work than mine." M. David Lee III
Producer/Writer/Director/D.P./Editor

OCTOBER 17, 2004

From Mark Pirro:

Ok, I've been writing a couple of screenplays for the last several months and I don't think anything I have is funny enough or worthwhile enough to spend a year or two on producing. So here we go: I know there are a lot of you who are dying to send a script pitch our way. In the past, we've been turning them all down, but now I honestly believe that if I want to have another film in production by the end of the year, I may have to take on an outside screenplay. So, if any of you have a screenplay that you think is funny and you'd like us to consider making it, now's the time we'll look at them. BUT before you send us anything, make sure IT IS FUNNY. I mean VERY FUNNY. I mean PISS YOUR PANTS FUNNY. If it isn't, then don't bother. I have a couple of scripts that are about as funny as an episode of Everyone Loves Raymond and that's nowhere near the funny I need. If your screenplay is of that caliber, NO THANKS. I used to work in the story department at Universal Studios and I know that 99 out of 100 screenplays are terrible, so I know what to expect. I'm hoping there just might be some gem of a story out there that we can pluck up and produce. What I'm looking for is clever, edgy, hip comedy along the lines of "South Park" or "Curb Your Enthusiasm" or "Reno 911." This is a big step for me. I have never considered taking on someone else's script before, but after all this time writing and not coming up with anything satisfying to me, I have to try going this route. I'll give it one month. If I can't find anything worth taking on in that time period, I'll just bite the bullet and continue to try to pull from whatever residue I can find left in my creative gene pool.

Pirromount.com

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Carshoot Film-O-Rama says that the latest reports from the post-production trenches are positive: the film is alive, and will be released from the hospital before year's end.

"The film suffers from what has become a common malady of science fiction pictures -- a surfeit of visual effects work," says producer Michael Heagle. "The exact shot count isn't in yet, but definitely rivals that of the original Star Wars." As of press time, the film was six minutes of CGI away from completion. Considering the film's running time of ninety minutes, and the number of shots in the can, this is quite an achievement.

Carshool Film-O-Rama

*****

From Rock Savage and the Savage Film Group:

Lots of stuff going on!! First of all, My good buddy Jeff Krulik asked me to host a pilot for a cable show called " Nut Magnet " !! In the show I got to interview some hot porn stars and the wild man who brought you the "Bumfights" videos!! I also interviewed Laurie Holmes (widow of John!!) Jeff is such a cool cat that he said that I could share the interviews with my savage fans!! You see, not all the footage of the interviews will be used, so I will put together all the good stuff and show it at some cons and/or have it as DVD extras on my future projects!! Stay tuned!! Speaking of new projects , I just got started on our new anthology, this is great as it's been two years since the last one!! In Nov, The Mod Mutilator & I will be at Galaxy Con 2, we will have a table and show one of our movies!! BUT that's not all, two Savage Film Group superstars will be making their own movie, Don & L.W. Woods will be filming at the con and they want YOU to star in their film!! So check them out!! Galaxy Con will be on Nov 13 and 14!! See http://www.galaxycon.com/ for details!! Also check out the great Jeff Krulik's website at http://www.planetkrulik.com/index2.htm

Savage Film Group

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From Garry Lump and Mind's I Productions:

"Shadows of Life"

I'm currently in talks with a producer to option the rights to my action/horror spec script. While there's no guarantee it'll ever get produced, it's nice to know that someone is at least interested in seeing it make it to the big (or little) screen. As soon as everything is finalized - i's crossed, t's dotted - I'll fill everyone in on the details.

"When Heaven Comes Down"

The process of putting it to DVD is taking a bit longer than expected. I'm hoping that by the end of September I'll be able to offer the DVD version to the public. Until then, VHS copies are still available. They make great...Labor Day(?) gifts!

Ted Tate Productions

I've met with producer Darren Hafford (one of the barflies from WHCD) about working on a project together this Fall. He just purchased a new Panasonic DVX100a camera, and it's a pretty amazing piece of equipment. Since neither of us is in a position to produce anything with a big budget, we've been batting around various micro-budget concepts. Lately there's been talk of another short, but I'm tempted to do a feature length drama of some kind. We've both got access to some unique locations, so once we hit on the right story hopefully we'll be able to work together on something. Once again, I'll keep everyone posted. Mind's I

OUR FELLOW COUNTRYMEN
Mindbeside Studios is proud to present OUR FELLOW COUNTRYMEN, their latest film that brings politics back to the people.
To view the film online or download please visit www.ourfellowcountrymen.com
MindBeside.com

HUNTING CAMP
The official trailer for Lyons Den Productions' new short HUNTING CAMP is available for your viewing pleasure on the film's website! 
HUNTING CAMP is a drama that tells the story of two men brought up in very different levels of society and the mess they find themselves in during a weekend camping trip.
The trailer (in Windows Media Player format) can be found by going to MEDIA -> VIDEO. You can also find an assortment of stills, behind the scenes photos, and a video of Dedloft, one of the bands featured on the upcoming soundtrack, recording in the studio at the site: www.the-lyons-den.com/huntingcamp The trailer for HUNTING CAMP premiered during this past weekend's Eerie Horror Film Fest to three nights of packed houses!  We are currently looking at a late Fall / early Winter 2004 film premiere (locations and dates TBA) with the soundtrack and DVD double disc set being available at that time as well! Have a good one and thanks for your time!

OCTOBER 2, 2004

HALLOWEEN SEASON BEGINS

TWISTED FATES
Joe Sherlock AKA Dr. Squid reports that production is moving forward on his horror anthology, TWISTED FATES.
"I shot the wraparound/narrator" segment on Saturday, Sept. 25 with Warren (Abomination: Evilmaker 2) E.B.B., Dee (Bloodsucking Redneck Vampires) Alsman, Shawn Edgar and Portland, Oregon model/actress/public access TV hostess Alexandra Paris.
We all had a swell time and I hope to have some photos posted on the Dr. Squid site by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, Scott Phillips will be shooting his "Stink of Flesh" starlet Stephanie (The Halfway House) Leighs shortly as "Isabelle" for the "videodrone" segment of TWISTED FATES.
Also of note is that Rob (Bloodsucking Redneck Vampires) Merickel will star as "Eric" in the "VideoDrone" segment.
Stay tuned to www.drsquid.net/anthology for pics & updates.