Purtee's idea is to create short films based within the confines of our online social world, a series of vignettes that are confined by the limitations of the single camera set up. So far we have been treated to murder, suicide and envy fueled revenge, a steady build up of creeping terror preparing us for this journey into the mind of twisted lovers, brought to life on the screen by talented newcomers Shaun McGregor and Nikki Farce.
Anyone familiar with Charles' writing will know he has no qualms with crossing the lines of good taste and he does so here with what seems to be a knowing smile on his face, penning a script that manages to rub taste's nose in the dark stench of Taboo's darkest areas.
Unnerving, unsettling and already quoted as being “Totally effed up”... Here is From the Heart:
Take a look at the upcoming zombie flick: ZOMBIE DRUGS. The adventure/comedy is the newest venture of actor/writer/director (whew that's a lot of slashes) Alex Ballar and follows Vinny (Wolfgang Weber) and Sebastion (Beau Nelson), two burnouts, going nowhere in small town suburbia and still riding the high of their high-school days as they start a business doing the only thing they have ever excelled at...drugs. With the help of a jealous girlfriend and a rich goth chick, Vinny and Sebastion take on the mob, angry, geeky, frat-boys, and zombies in the search of the perfect high.
Check out the official site for news and updates. But until then, here is the official trailer along with some extra incentive *hint hint*
Not every horror filmmaker is out to scare you with oodles and gobs of blood and guts. Not every horror filmmaker throws in a gratuitous tit shot around every corner. And not every horror filmmaker relies on countless jump scares to horrify you. That being said... I am the "Gore Whore" so blood and guts is something I like and the gratuitous tit shot never bothered me either. But there's a time and a place for it. Take all three of these and put them together in the best film in the world and it's not gonna work if the timing is off or if it's just thrown in for the sake of soaking some tits in blood. I know you guys are there are cursing my name right about now but let it marinate for a bit and you'll see I'm right.
A series of documentary footage, audition reels and video diaries are compiled together to tell the story of Ashley Swan (Ava Santana) who takes a role in director Tom Grayson’s (Scott Feinblatt) latest horror film and becomes the victim of a horrendous crime. All caught on film, the events unfold to reveal the decisions and actions that lead to not just one but two chilling and brutal murders. All this being presented to the viewer as evidence in a murder trial. Most of the footage was shot by Danny Wilson (Jeffry Chaffin) as he followed the cast and crew around behind the scenes of the film within the film "My Brother's Keeper".
The acting is pretty solid all around. They do really great jobs and for the most part make acting look easy. They're believable in their roles. Santana plays the innocent and naive actress well but half way through, she transforms into Super Bitch, a petty, unlikable character that cares more about being “discovered” than anything else in life. Feinblatt plays the indie horror filmmaker who slowly goes off his rocker (Hmmm, does film mimic real life? Kidding Scott, you know I dig ya!). Before it's over with, you feel sorry for Feinblatt’s character. All he wants to do is make a horror film his way and nobody, I mean nobody is cooperating and helping him do that. His character may come off as an uptight asshole in the beginning but his descent into madness leaves you feeling like you just wanna give him a big hug. He’s burning out faster than he's filming and at some point, something’s gonna give. You don't see too much of Chaffin as he's mostly behind the camera but he gives a slam dunk performance himself. It's pretty amazing to me that all of them started the film with one personality and finished it up with a completely different one and it's not like you see in some films where one minute a character is normal then BOOM, psycho. No, it's a slow, burning transition that is done with ease. Oh and did I mention there are also special appearances by horror icons Tiffany Shepis and Lloyd Kaufman?? No? Well there are and they give great performances as well.
The film benefits from good writing and it's paced so that you're not flooded with pointless chatter and sub-plots. Yes, it's shot in a documentary style but it doesn't have the shaky Blair Witch Project camera so you don't have to worry about losing your lunch or dinner or breakfast... mmmm, bacon... sorry, got side tracked. Bacon will do that to you ya know? What I like about this film is that Feinblatt and Chaffin had an idea that was different and unique. Yes, the "found footage/documentary" thing has been done before but not in this way. Comparing this to other documentary style films is like saying Friday the 13th is a romantic comedy. If you get the chance, definitely see this one. It's horrifying without slamming you with disturbing images and blood soaked tits, a rarity in this genre.
It still dumbfounds me why film makers release films as a "sequel" when one really has nothing to do with the other. I've had many discussions about this and I get that sometimes they just wanna take it in a different direction but why call it a sequel? Why not just make the film, give it a clever title and release it as an entity all it's own. That would make a lot more sense to me anyway.
After witnessing the murder of his wife and young son at the hands of Henry Caine (Craig Fairbrass) who then turned the gun on himself, Abe Dale (Nathan Fillion) is so distressed that he attempts to take his own life. A near-death experience follows that leaves Abe with the ability to identify those who are about to die. He acts on these premonitions to save three people from death, among them a nurse met during his recovery, Sherry Clarke (Katee Sackhoff). Abe soon learns that Henry, before murdering Abe's wife and son, actually saved their lives. This leads Abe to believe that Henry also had the ability to see death. This makes Abe want to learn more about Henry, so he visits his house only to learn that Henry survived his suicide. Investigating further, Abe discovers that three days after cheating death, those whose lives he saved will be possessed and compelled to take the lives of others. Accepting this responsibility, Abe comes to terms with the horrible fact that he must consider killing to prevent further tragedy.
I'm one of probably millions of Fillion fans and I was intrigued to see him in such a serious role. There are a few times I've seen him "go serious" on the big screen or TV but he normally follows up with some off the wall goofball comment. Happily, he did a really great job at serious. He and Sackhoff were the best things about this film. Sackhoff is just as cute as can be and it took me forever to figure out where I'd seen her before... DUH, Halloween Resurrection. DUH, Battlestar Galactica. DUH, 24. What the hell is wrong with me?? What I didn't care for was Adrian Holmes character. I mean he did a fantastic job with what he was given but, to me, his character was insignificant. Like they wanted to move the story in a different direction but had no idea how to do it so they added in this character to help move the plot forward.
The film itself is nothing spectacular but leaps and bounds better than it's counterpart. Definitely don't go into it expecting to see the same content as the first because while there is some reference to it in the beginning, this film takes a whole different direction. And while we're on the subject of direction... I must be honest and say that I kinda zoned out when all the biblical stuff started coming up. Again, I felt it was insignificant. Yes, it propelled the story forward but I'm not convinced it was the right fit for this particular film. As for the ending... well, it was unimpressive to say the least. There are some decent effects and plenty of jump scares that are sure to get any rookie horror fan. If you're a Fillion fan, it's worth a watch just to see him excel at a different than usual performance. If not, I'd say find something more interesting to do... like water your lawn.
For fans of Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, the witty mockumentary that deconstructs the slasher film, this news may be a bit unbelievable. As greatly received as it was, distributors have slammed the door on this budding slasher. So what else can Scott Glosserman do? Turn to the fans of course.
“I had a very rude awakening when I called the distributor of the first film and said ‘We’re ready to go with the sequel.’ And they said not only forget about financing but that if I brought them a finished movie, if I handed a finished movie to them, they would not even distribute it for a fee. It just blew me away. I figured of anybody they must know how well Behind The Mask has been accepted. It did a great number on DVD,” says Glosserman. “We sold mid six figure units on the original DVD and if half of those people spend twenty bucks pre-ordering the second film then we’ve raised more than a million dollars. So, in theory, we could crowd fund the movie. I know that’s probably not a fully realistic possibility but, nonetheless, it’s fun to set a goal to be the first movie ever to crowd fund more than a million dollars. That’s our benchmark. At worst what we’re trying to do is demonstrate a groundswell of online community support and, in so doing, we want to demonstrate that there are several thousand people who have pre-ordered the DVD and we’ve got several thousand Facebook friends and if I can take that – with a fully baked script and a couple of cameos – to a Lionsgate, who are already making original two million dollar films, it just seems to me that it would be a no brainer that they would finance this film.”
So get out there and help this project. Glosserman has already proven that Leslie Vernon is the man but he can't bring him back without your help. I for one intend on helping where I can and I hope that my readers will do the same. Click here to find out more info and let's get this thing done!!
I really hate spending my time and wasting my breath by having to repeat myself but who the hell categorizes all these films? Who decides what is horror and what is something else all together? There should be some kind of false advertisement retribution for that shit. There is nothing worse than sitting down to watch a horror film in your jumbo sized adult diaper, waiting to get the piss scared out of you and in the end all you get is a rash. Huh? No one else does that? Awkward.
Liz Dunn (Thora Birch) is a student at an exclusive private school who is head over heels for Mike Steel (Desmond Harrington), a handsome classmate whose father is a well-known American rock star. Liz, however, is self-conscious about her looks and is convinced Mike would rather be with the prettier girls in her class. Liz is also unenthusiastic about an upcoming field trip, in which she and the other students will have to camp out for three days while studying local geography. Liz confesses her infatuation with Mike to Martin Taylor (Daniel Brocklebank), a science-minded geek and longtime friend who happens to be in love with Liz, though she prefers to ignore it. Martin proposes a solution to both of Liz's problems; he's found an underground bunker built during World War II near the school grounds, and he arranges a little party in which Liz and Mike will spend the three days of the field trip in the bunker, with class couple Geoff (Laurence Fox) and Frankie (Keira Knightley) going along, giving Liz a perfect chance to impress Mike with her charm. The students lay in a supply of food, water, and booze to last them for three days, but after 72 hours, they discover they've been locked in, and they're not sure if Martin intends to let them out.
Thora Birch + American Beauty = Greatness. Here, not so much. What was suppose to be an English accent, faded in and out so much that it was distracting. Some scenes, she dropped it all together which leads me to question why they didn't A) cast an actual English person or B) just make her character American. Why bother insulting your audience with a sub par performance? Not only that but she was suppose to be the lead and she was totally out shined by the rest of the cast. Knightley (in a pre-Pirates role) is effective in her role but given that she's suppose to be a snotty mean girl, her character wasn't explored nearly enough to have that come across on film. In fact, none of the characters were really explored at all. It was like pretty face, pretty face, pretty face, pretty face... now let's dump 'em all in a hole and get 'em really dirty. Fox works it out as the goof ball jock dude but again... exploration. And Harrington? Well he made some facial expressions so that was a nice change. BUT, can we say it all together this time..... "EXPLORATION". I had no idea who these people were really suppose to be so why do I care if they're locked in a freaking hole?
The good news? It's over in 102 minutes. The bad news? It's over in 102 minutes. There are so many things wrong with this film it would take two pages and a lot of spoilers to tell you so I'm just going to say this... the title is a good description of the plot. It's sloppily done. There are shots where camera equipment is clearly visible. How do you not catch that shit in post? There is also some very poorly done prosthetic work. OMG, the list of inconsistencies goes on and on. If this film has you on the edge of your seat, it's probably because you're about to get up and walk out. I'd say watch it for yourself but I'm trying to avoid having you guys torture yourselves. You know that stuff that comes out of your mouth if you pour Pop Rocks in there and swish them around with soda? That's what this was. What could've been a great adaptation of Guy Burt's novel 'After the Hole' fizzled into a bubbly mess with no substance.
The ZomCom has quickly developed into a subgenre that's wildly over used. Let's face it folks, it's getting old. With so many zombie comedies coming out, it's hard to tell what to watch and what to stay far, far away from. Usually there's no in between, they're either really good: Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland or really bad: Redneck Zombies, Zombie Strippers. So how do you tell? Fuck, I dunno. It seems like any and everybody with a camera, some slight makeup skill and too much time on their hands is putting something out these days. Half the time I'm not even sure who the hell fronts the cash from some of the shit that's out there but I just do what anybody else does... watch and listen then form my own opinion.
So, here we have the usual setup, the military is trying to bury a failed project when everything goes awry. A container of goopy green stuff ends up contaminating some ice cream and bing bang boom, you've got zombies. Problem is, these zombies don't actually realize they're zombies. They know something isn't right but have no idea what it is or how it happened. Enter the under appreciated Army dude (Colby French) with tons of useless knowledge and they're off to search for answers encountering the usual pitfalls along the way.
This film has a lot going for it, one of the best things being it's strong cast. Matthew Davis is consistently funny and the most likable brain eater (literally) of the bunch. Michael Grant Terry and the amazingly cute Betsy Beutler carry their weight well as the couple who after 10 years of friendship finally "hook up". In the beginning, Julianna Robinson's character seems like it was thrown in simply to give Davis someone to banter back and forth with. As the film goes on, she is given a lot more to do and she does it very well. French meshes well with the rest of the cast and helps carry the film in a big way.
The other thing going for it is director Matthew Kohnen and co-writer Sean Kohnen. Together they crafted quite a unique tale of life as a zombie. There is some clever and very witty dialogue throughout the entire film. The plot races along pretty fast but just fast enough to keep the audience from getting bored. It's well paced and gives you plenty of time to get to know the characters. Throughout most of the film the characters have no idea they are zombies which leads to some genuine comedic moments. You're given two different perspectives, theirs (in color) and ours (in black and white). I'll admit, I started watching it then walked away (sigh... real life) for a couple minutes and had no clue what the hell was going on. It wasn't until my second viewing that I understood the transition and why "humans" were walking and talking at a very rapid pace. But, nevertheless, my brain finally caught up with my eyes and I figured it out (yes, I'm a little slow sometimes).
By no means is it perfect. There are some pretty significant plot holes and no doubt the horrible title will scare people away from watching it. But this is one ZomCom that delivered much more than I thought it would. The uniqueness of this concept really made this film worthwhile. It doesn't rely on flashy lighting or over the top blood and guts, it's purely a character driven film that will have you seeing zombies in a whole new way. If you're a zombie fan and you like comedies, and/or a mixture of the two then you should definitely give this one a chance. "KITTY GO BOOM"
