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The Slayer (1982) comes to Slasher Movie Saturday!

In honor of this weekend’s screening at Scarecrow at Midnight at the Killuride film festival at Myrtle Beach we’ve decided to feature a rare slasher gem from the golden age of slashers – the 80′s. This week it’s the little known The Slayer (1982) featuring a killer that would give Freddy Krueger a run for his money. I mention Craven’s creation for a reason because during the time period that Craven’s script for A Nightmare On Elm Street made the rounds through every studio in Hollywood – it was rejected by a certain studio which then promptly turned around and commissioned a script with elements lifted directly from Craven’s script. The tale would eventually be told as A Nightmare On Elm Street finally made it to the screen in 1984 thanks to New Line Cinema and The Slayer faded into little known obscurity.

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Roger Corman with MVP’s Inspirational Filmmaking Quote of the Week.

“Other writers, producers, and directors of low-budget films would often put down the film they were making, saying it was just something to make money with. I never felt that. If I took the assignment, I’d give it my best shot.”~~Roger Corman

Kevin Smith’s Red State takes over Trailer Park Tuesday!

Kevin Smith has set out to prove the critics wrong!  After spending years making stoner comedies in his own little world called the Askiewniverse, Smith has broken his own mold and made a horror film close to his heart.  Smith shopped the script for Red State around to all of the usual suspects but was only met with rejection.  Smith raised the money to shoot the film on his own and at Sundance earlier this year decided he would distribute the film himself!

(watch the trailer after the leap!)

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George A. Romero honored as Inspirational Filmmaker of the Month!

It was 1968.  George A. Romero and a group of his friends and co-workers pooled their money and resources together to  make a horror film.  That horror film was Night of the Living Dead and it changed the course of horror forever by ushering in the modern age.  George A. Romero celebrates his 71st birthday on February 4th.  Mutantiville.com and the Mutantville Players would like to wish Mr. Romero a happy birthday.  Mutantville.com would like to award Mr. Romero the Inspirational Filmmaker of the Month award for February 2011 for his influence on and undying dedication to the genre we all love.  Thank you for the many amazing movies and here’s to hoping for many more.

Francis Ford Coppola makes Inspirational Filmmaker of the Week

Francis Ford Coppola set the mold for what an independent filmmaker should be.  Over thirty years ago, he gathered together a group of his friends, grabbed the best cameras and technology that he could find, found money wherever he could and set out to create his movies – his way.  Francis started his career with a guiding hand from Roger Corman and in turn helped launch the careers of many a young filmmaker such as john Milius and George Lucas.

Check out this fantastic article on Coppola on 99%.com by clicking here.

MVP’s Inspirational Filmmaker of the Week: Sam Raimi

Sam Raimi didn’t start out at the top directing three of the highest grossing blockbusters of all time with Spiderman.  He started at the very bottom going door to door with his aspiring actor buddy Bruce Campbell, asking dentists to invest their Vegas money in a little project called “Book of the Dead.”  That obscure project went on to become one of the most lauded horror films of the eighties and helped start the entire video nasty craze in England under the more well known name of “Evil Dead.”

Check out this great clip from Jonathan Ross’ Incredibly Strange Film Show as Raimi discusses the horror roots of his filmmaking career.

For more on Sam Raimi and the Evil Dead, be sure to check out Geo’s great article on Evil Dead here.

Build a Steadicam

If you’re like me, you’re probably not a big fan of shakey camera work. A little is cool, but not “Cloverfield” style (at least not for me). One thing that the studios use is the steadicam. Of course if you’re shooting with low or no budget, you can’t afford one of these big pimpin’ Steadicams like the one in the pic. You can however make something that does a decent job with some time and a little money. When shooting “C for Chaos” we made a simple Steadicam to use with the Cannon GL-1. The new Panasonic DIVX-100B is heavier so I’ve been looking for something different to try.

These links all go to video tutorials. Each sort of has their own build type. Some are straight out counter balances some are more complex. Check ‘em out and let me know what you think!

This first video is a tutorial for how we built the steadicam we used. It’s a good tutorial that shows how to build a steadicam with some pipe and fittings. Very easy DIY project!

How to build a pro level steadicam for $14 | Video « Wonder How To

Build a pro level steadicam for $14 |► Steadicam is important in filmmaking and can help you get the perfect shot. If you are a budding filmmaker and don’t have the cash to shell out for a professionally made model, check out this …

Steadicam – build story « gadas.eu

I have completed my in-house small project building the Steadicam from scratch. This is the 2nd try. 1st one was not so very successful or better say stable. 1st try was based on very small u-joint. I kept the old one: …

DIY Merlin Steadicam Camera stabilizer with test footage | Diy …

Josh, thanks for the great tutorial. It was probably the easiest one to build on Youtube. It works pretty well when perfectly balanced, and that’s where the problem lies. DIY steadicams take a long time to fine tune. …

This one looks pretty Awesome, but not so easy to build. Plus not as cheap.

*UPDATED* How to build a DIY $100 Merlin-type Steadicam camera stabilizer that really works.

The Jaybilizer 3000 started out as a DIY Merlin-type Steadicam project. I wanted something that was better than the barbell on a stick type of camera stabilizer but not as expensive as a Steadicam Merlin or even a GlideCam 1000. I assembled a couple …

Point Pivot Steadicam design

This video demonstrates a steadicam rig that I designed and built for about $12. It utilizes a unique “point-pivot” which eliminates the need for mechanical gimbals, reducing costs and maintaining a full range of motion. Shoot me a message if you are…

I hope this helps to have several styles of steadicams to build in one spot. Please let me know if you’ve built any of these or if you have a video walking people through how to build a steadicam. I’ll check it out and possibly add it.

Thanks!