Join Streebo on the set of Michael Sharpe’s Deviling as he talks to fellow filmmakers about the notion that “Horror is dead.” Special guests in this video include Robert W. Filion, Kenny Caperton, Mac Allen, Johnny Priest, and Michael Sharpe. Be sure to leave comments below and let us know you you think! Is horror really dead?
Work for G.H.O.S.T. started back in January with the launch of the MVP Blog here at Mutantville.com and the beginning of intense pre-production on G.H.O.S.T.. The cast and crew put in many a long day and night throughout production during October and November and we’ve carried that level of intensity into post-production by shooting pick ups all through December. We started editing during the second week of filming and are finally nearing completion of the first assembly of G.H.O.S.T..
There is so much going on behind the scenes that’s it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep producing timely updates in addition to doing the actual work. This has been an amazing adventure so far. The footage looks great. The performances were fantastic and the special make-up FX are spectacular. Just as it seems we’re nearing the end – we are in fact reaching a new beginning. It’s not official yet – but we are working on ideas for new scenes to shoot for the movie – to expand it from it’s intended half hour format into a full length feature! That’s right – we will still be able to cut G.H.O.S.T. down to a very tight half hour TV pilot s intended – but there is enough material there that with a few smart additions – we can expand the story a touch and turn G.H.O.S.T. into a full movie.
I’m so excited that I can hardly contain myself. While this is good news for us – it also means that this non-stop rollercoaster of work that we’ve been on since July will continue for the foreseeable future! Thank you all for your help in making this dream a reality. Everyone in MVP plays an important role and we couldn’t have made our movie without you! Keep checking the MVP Blog for more updates as they happen!
**Streebo
From Wearemoviegeeks.com: This past weekend, Netflix delivered me a documentary that I have been wanting to see ever since I missed it at SLIFF back in 2007. The film was ‘Spine Tingler: The William Castle Story’. For those of you that don’t know who William Castle is, I implore you to check out ‘The William Castle Collection’ that was recently released on DVD (click here to see it at amazon.com) which also includes said documentary. While the meat of the story is how a man who turned some B-Movies into Grade-A events at movie theaters by offering a thousand dollar life insurance policies to attendees of one of his films if they die of fright. While I have always been a fan of Castle and his gimmicks/promotions, this really made me reflect advertising of film past.
homicidalWhen films really started becoming mainstream, the majority of the films were carried by the actors and actresses who headlined or had top-billing for a film. While Castle never had this courtesy, he knew of a way to get people in the seats. He created gimmicks. Believe it or not, PSYCHO by Hitchcock had a gimmick of – which the documentary points out as well – not allowing anyone after the first 15 minutes of the film has been shown. William Castle’s audience participation gimmicks ended in 1965 with ‘I Saw What You Did’ where seat belts were installed in seats to keep you from jumping out of your seats from fright. His ideas made movie watching a bigger thing. He wanted you to experience the film, to make the film fun. He also showed Hollywood and other film makers on how they could promote a film regardless of the content and quality.
Read the rest of the article at the link below.
via I Heart Horror: The Gimmick | We Are Movie Geeks.
From Fangoria.com: After watching hundreds (or thousands?) of horror movies over the course of decades, how many horror fans still get scared after watching a horror movie? I’m not talking about merely feeling tension because a character is in danger, but actually feeling frightened by a film.
All too often, it seems that people complain that a horror film was “bad” because it wasn’t “scary”. Without any context, this is essentially meaningless. For example, when was the last time a movie scared them, and what was it?
I feel that this “problem” has less to do with the quality of a film than it does with someone’s having built up a tolerance. Besides being a horror fan, I’m also a fan of very spicy food, and I have an assortment of hot sauces made from habanero and scotch bonnet peppers in my refrigerator at all times. My tolerance of spicy food is significantly higher than average, but my fiancee would argue that just because I don’t feel a dish is spicy, this doesn’t necessarily make it so.
Curiously, when horror films aren’t being accused of being bad because they’re not scary, it’s because they’re “not fun”. This seems to be a by-product of the ’80s, when so many horror films were glutting the market that the genre largely descended from “fright films” into horror-comedies – intentional or not.
I’m not talking about films that use comic relief to briefly release tension, I’m talking about films where you’re laughing at the film more than you’re laughing with the film – or are scared of the film.
With that, if a horror film isn’t “fun” is it a bad horror film? I don’t remember Tobe Hooper’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre being a particularly fun film, but does this make it a bad horror film?
I also find it puzzling when people suggest that I’m “immature” when I don’t find a film that emphasizes shadows, noises and even action from off-camera “scary”. It may simply be a by-product of getting older, but I stopped being afraid of the dark – and creaky houses – decades ago, though I hardly feel that this is a sign of my immaturity.
So have at it – are horror films supposed to be scary or fun? Both? Neither?
via Are Horror Films Supposed To Be Scary Or Fun?.
From EW.com: The Cult 25: The Essential Left-Field Movie Hits Since ’83
25. THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION II: THE METAL YEARS (1988)
Most of the headbangers in Penelope Spheeris’ doc never made it, but Metal Years showcases their big-bucks dreams in a way that’s far more memorable than their songs.
SIGNATURE LINE ”I’m the happiest sonofabitch motherf—er there ever was.”
