Very Scary Productions - Thoughts For The Month Archives 2008

This is the spot where I discuss, and offer my opinions on, different topics (both horror-related and not) each month. I decided to create this page because I find that I often come across things that either interest me, excite me or maybe just bug me. For example, I'll often read about movie projects that I have a strong interest in, or opinion on, for one reason or another. This page gives me a forum to discuss these things. Anyone who has feedback concerning what I have to say here, feel free to contact me. I'd also like to point out that the following is just my opinion, and everyone is free to agree or disagree with what I have to say. ENJOY!

SUBJECT: A look at the Evolution of Underground Digital Cinema February 2008

- A discussion of some of my experiences, insights and perspectives - Part 4.

(Note: See the October 2007 Thoughts For The Month for Part 1 of this continuing column, the November 2007 TFTM for Part 2, and the December 2007 TFTM for Part 3).

In contrast to the adult drama (discussed in part 3 of this series), the raunchy B-movie comedy is played

for laughs. The 1979 film H.O.T.S. is a perfect example of the genre for the times. Other sex comedies discussed are the "Cinemax After Dark" films The Beach Girls (1982), and Confessions of a Window Cleaner (1974), as well as its sequels. The discussion of these types of movies is meant to provide a point

of reference to digital B-movie and exploitation cinema being produced today.

SUBJECT: A look at the Evolution of Underground Digital Cinema March 2008

- A discussion of some of my experiences, insights and perspectives - Part 5.

(Note: See the October 2007 Thoughts For The Month for Part 1 of this continuing column, the November 2007 TFTM for Part 2, the December 2007 TFTM for Part 3, and the February 2008 TFTM

for Part 4).

This column discusses the popularity of mixed wrestling and female wrestling, how the matches work, and

the intertwinement of these different varieties of underground sports with digital and new media, particularly

the internet. The differences between female matches, mixed matches and traditional professional wrestling are examined, and a parallel is drawn to the differences between digital independent cinema and Hollywood movies. It's also noted how there are a large number of companies producing this type of content nowadays;

and finally the concepts of "jobbers, "jobber girls" and "scream queens" are discussed in lengthy footnotes.

This installment of the Underground Digital Cinema column series is meant to present a worthwhile tangent

to the topic.

SUBJECT: A look at the Evolution of Underground Digital Cinema April 2008

- A discussion of some of my experiences, insights and perspectives - Part 6.

(Note: See the October 2007 Thoughts For The Month for Part 1 of this continuing column, the November 2007 TFTM for Part 2, the December 2007 TFTM for Part 3, the February 2008 TFTM

for Part 4, and the March 2008 TFTM for Part 5).

In this installment I look at Ei Cinema (recently renamed POP Cinema), a prominent underground cinema production company from New Jersey. POP Cinema (to use the new company name) has two main divisions - Shock-O-Rama Cinema and Seduction Cinema, which produce horror-themed and erotic-themed independent movies, respectively. They have achieved great success, and their biggest starlet is Misty Mundae, an actress who has become an indie and cult film icon with over 50 movies to her credit.

SUBJECT: Movie Review - "The Ruins" May 2008

- A compelling and grisly horror tale not to miss.

In The Ruins a group of teens on vacation in Cancun decide to leave the comfort of their poolside resort and head into the jungles to search for a young man who disappeared after venturing out on an archeological adventure. While this may sound like another typical horror flick where attractive young people away from home do foolhardy things and get themselves in trouble, it turns out to be a terrifying tale about a most determined, patient and ultimately lethal enemy. This movie is quite bloody, however the reason it works

so well is because the focus always stays on the four main characters and their reactions to their ever-deteriorating situation. The Ruins is a hard R-rated film with a compelling story, good acting, plenty of action, terror and graphic carnage.

In the 2007 documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, director Seth Gordon introduces us to

a group of people for whom classic arcade games are a central part of life, often bordering on obsession.

The main players are Billy Mitchell and Steve Wiebe, two men who are both aces at Donkey Kong but otherwise couldn’t be more different. The story follows Steve as he makes several attempts to break Billy's

record on the game, and his trials and tribulations along the way. It also introduces us to Walter Day and the establishment he runs called Twin Galaxies, which is the authority on classic arcade games and high-score records on them. The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters provides a fascinating insight into the little-known world of competitive classic arcade gaming. It is a movie I highly recommend.

SUBJECT: Zombies, The Internet and Filtered Realities July 2008

(or Movie Magic in the Age of Information – an expansion)

This column discusses some themes & ideas present in Diary of the Dead. I also expand on my May 2004 Thoughts For The Month Column, and reflect on how things have moved even farther in the deconstruction

of films. Movie-within-a-movie plotlines are seen with increasing regularity, films such as Cloverfield feature characters roaming around with camcorders, and video cameras as tools to capture and "filter" reality have

been discussed in movies such as The Blair Witch Project and The Last Broadcast. Diary of the Dead also takes things one step further and adds new media such as the internet into the plot (a character is determined to upload video to get people current information on the zombie epidemic).

SUBJECT: Movie Review – The X-Files: I Want to Believe August 2008

The X-Files: I Want to Believe is a movie geared mainly towards longtime X-Files fans. The plot of the film involves the disappearance of an FBI agent, as well as a disgraced priest claiming to have psychic visions, vicious kidnappers, and a grisly trail of human remains, among other things. However the focus always remains primarily on Mulder and Scully, their relationship, and their feelings at this moment in time. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson fall easily back into their famous roles, and for fans of the series watching them is like catching up with old friends. While this movie may not be on par with some of the most classic series episodes, it is a competent film and a worthy addition to the X-Files universe.

SUBJECT: A look at the Evolution of Underground Digital Cinema September 2008

- A discussion of some of my experiences, insights and perspectives - Part 7.

(Note: See the October 2007 Thoughts For The Month for Part 1 of this continuing column, the November 2007 TFTM for Part 2, the December 2007 TFTM for Part 3, the February 2008 TFTM

for Part 4, the March 2008 TFTM for Part 5, and the April 2008 TFTM column for Part 6.)

Tomb Raider is an incredibly popular action film and video game franchise about sexy adventurer Laura Croft. Two Hollywood features were made about the character, and in 2002 the good folks at indie production company Ei Cinema gave us the spoof Mummy Raider (also known as Misty Mundae, Mummy Raider). This piece of digital cinema served as a prototype for other comedy spoofs to follow from the company, and can best be summed up by the tagline “Guns Blazing! Fists Flying! Skin Baring!” Filled with comedic dialog, fast action, beautiful women and lesbian sex scenes, this technically proficient movie (produced with crisp, sharp high-end digital video) stays true to its B-movie roots.

SUBJECT: Halloween 2008, Horror Theme Music and More October 2008

A few years ago I bought a CD called Very Scary Music – Classic Horror Themes, with music on it from films such as The Exorcist, Psycho, Poltergeist, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Halloween, among others.

This made me think how some of the most memorable theme music is often the simplest. And despite the incredible popularity of the horror genre these days, it can be argued that most popular horror theme music comes from movies made in the 1980's and earlier. Possible reasons for this are discussed, and the column concludes with a list of some of my personal favorite music in this category.

This month I’ll conclude my talk about the Seduction Cinema line of indie movies by discussing one of their highest profile titles, namely the 2002 feature Play-mate of the Apes. * I call this Planet of the Apes comedy spoof one of their highest profile movies simply because of the fact that it became a modern Cinemax staple, much like B-movies of years past discussed previously. And like those earlier pictures, Play-mate of the Apes was shot on film. When I wrote about movies such as H.O.T.S., I was using them as examples of B-movie exploitation classics of yesteryear in an attempt to provide a point of reference in my discussion of modern underground digital cinema. Now writing about Play-mate of the Apes highlights how an underground independent company can eventually progress to the level where their movies can be shot on film and become regularly featured on pay cable networks such as Cinemax (like those earlier B-movie film classics). So with that having been said, let’s take a look at this indie epic starring Misty Mundae, Darian Caine and Debbie Rochon.

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SUBJECT: DVD Horrors Movie Review: December 2008

“Two Thousand Maniacs!” (1964)

(A look at a memorable 60’s cult film from “Godfather Of Gore” Herschell Gordon Lewis)

Plus: A review of “Trailer Park of Terror” – A modern cousin to the cult classic

Two Thousand Maniacs! is a revenge tale about a group of innocent Northerners set upon by the residents

of an all but forgotten Southern Town. The movie is a cult classic with an incessant feel-good vibe that continues even as things turn ugly. This juxtaposition of mood is very effective and makes the gory murder scenes all the more unnerving. The more recent zombie film Trailer Park of Terror uses a similar idea as its main premise, but is however less focused than its famous predecessor. And while it may appeal to the gore crowd, this film goes off on its own wild path, meandering between different styles and elements and never deciding quite what it wants to be.

Note: DVD Horrors is a Thoughts For The Month topic focusing on horror films made for the DVD and

home video markets, and horror films that have been successful primarily upon release to DVD and video.

The majority of the movies I review under this topic heading are low/no budget, non-Hollywood independent films, or foreign titles that don’t see theatrical release here in the USA.

Note: The following movie reviews of Two Thousand Maniacs! and Trailer Park of Terror may contain

plot details which could be considered spoilers.

At my most recent trip to The Chiller Theatre Toy, Model & Film Expo I finally got around to picking up a movie

by cult horror film guru Herschell Gordon Lewis, also known to some as the “Godfather Of Gore”. I say finally because Lewis was a director I had heard about for some time, but someone whose work I had (for whatever reason) never gotten around to watching. Two Thousand Maniacs! has an interesting story to say the least.

It’s about a group of people driving through Georgia who are detoured off the main highway into a quaint little Southern town called Pleasant Valley (population 2000). They are very quickly surrounded by the overly cheery townsfolk and informed by Mayor Buckman (Jeffrey Allen) they are to be the “guests of honor” for a centennial celebration. Despite confused reactions by the motorists and even some protests, they soon become reluctant guests of the jovial townsfolk. Unbeknownst to them however, Pleasant Valley isn’t as pleasant a place as it initially seems; for they are to be killed in revenge for the violence committed by a group of Union soldiers at the end of the Civil War. It turns out these soldiers slaughtered the entire town some 100 years ago, and once every century is payback time against some very unfortunate Northerners. Read More...

“Once again the spooky holiday of Halloween is upon us. Once better known as a children’s holiday, the 31st of October has, in recent years, turned into a night when the adults come out to play. Halloween parties are going on at many bars and clubs all around the Capital Region as we speak. Even though Pamela Rhodes is at home feeling bitter now…” * This is what Pamela hears come out of her radio one eerie Halloween night in my 1999 short film The Green-Eyed Monster. The movie is in many ways my most classic horror-oriented picture in that it deals with such things as otherworldly voices and dancing zombies. (Yes, you read that correctly… it has dancing zombies in it). ** I’m going to be releasing a newly re-mastered DVD version of the movie soon, hopefully in time for Halloween 2008, and it made me think that I haven’t written anything about my favorite time of the year in quite a while. The last time I wrote I talked about Trick or Treating as a kid, and how Halloween

has become more of an adult’s celebration in recent years, with the prevalence of trendy and popular movie-inspired Halloween costumes and adult parties. This time around I’d like to chat a bit about horror theme music and my appreciation for it. Read More...

After a long hiatus it’s time now to return to this continuing column series about underground digital cinema

and the companies that produce it. In the last installment I discussed New Jersey-based Ei Independent Cinema (see Part 6, April 2008), one of the most prominent producers of indie film fare on the scene today. And now as promised we’ll take a look at some specific movie titles from their wildly popular Seduction Cinema series of films. As noted in Part 6 this product line mainly consists of sexy B-movie comedy spoofs of popular Hollywood films. * And since ultra-popular starlet Misty Mundae’s name graces many of their titles, it’s only fitting to start with one of her early high-profile spoofs - namely the 2002 Tomb Raider parody Mummy Raider (also known as Misty Mundae, Mummy Raider). Read More...

Note: The following movie review of The X-Files: I Want to Believe may contain plot details which could be considered spoilers.

The X-Files: I Want to Believe heralds the triumphant cinematic return of former FBI agents Fox Mulder

(David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) when they are asked by the Bureau to help in unraveling the case of a missing agent. The movie is the second big-screen adventure for the duo, following the 1998 feature The X-Files: Fight the Future, and was directed by X-Files series creator Chris Carter. Of course

the original X-Files television series was a cultural phenomenon back in the 1990’s, which makes this a much-anticipated film. In this tale the two former agents venture back into dark territory as their investigation of the missing agent also involves a disgraced priest claiming to have psychic visions, vicious kidnappers, and a

grisly trail of human remains, among other things. The case forces Mulder and Scully to deal with their personal relationship and their own inner demons along the way as well. Read More...

Recently my production partner James Carolus and I sat down to watch zombie master George A. Romero’s latest fright flick titled, appropriately enough, George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead (also known simply as

Diary of the Dead). This movie is of course Mr. Romero’s latest entry in his long-running, legendary zombie film series (it followed Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead). Being a long time Romero and zombie film fan I was, not surprisingly, eager to see the new movie. However at the same time I had heard about the films’ premise, and was intuitively thinking that it was a little out of the range of what a zombie film should be about. (Diary of the Dead had received some negative press as well, which was unusual for a Romero film, and was also cause for some concern). For the uninitiated, this installment in the series is about a group of film students whose horror film production gets interrupted when a real-life zombie outbreak unfolds around them. Despite my initial trepidation towards this storyline, I thoroughly enjoyed the film and found it to be a worthy entry in the zombie film franchise. While in my opinion not on the level of some of the earlier installments, it nonetheless held my attention right to the end, with good acting and the great zombie gore effects I’ve come to expect from a George A. Romero flick. However rather than use this column to give and in-depth review the movie, complete with detailed story breakdown and point by point kudos, I’d like to discuss some of the themes and ideas present in Diary of the Dead and why I think they are important. I’ll also discuss how some of these themes and ideas have been used in other movies as of late, and what I think it all means in the context of contemporary horror cinema today. Read More...

Note: The following review of The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters may contain details that could be considered spoilers.

Ah, the glorious 1980’s. This was the decade that encompassed my teen years and also one in which some of my favorite horror films were produced. The “decade of decadence”, as it’s now called in retrospect, gave us movies like Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Demons, Prom Night, and Terror Train, among many others. However as I mention on my Biography page, I didn’t really become a horror film fan (partially due to being scared witless as a child by Jaws) until the mid to late 1980’s, after seeing the groundbreaking

A Nightmare on Elm Street on video. The 80’s was a time when the VCR and home video revolution was taking hold, and many of the aforementioned films were now readily available in VHS format for the small

screen. Prior to my immersion in the horror genre however, much of my free time went to things that many of my teenaged friends were also engaged in, including popular sports like bowling and baseball and… (drum roll) … video games. Yes, even before I became a horror film aficionado, and long before I became an independent filmmaker, I was bitten by the video game bug/craze of the late 1970’s and 1980’s. I owned the Atari Video Computer System (or VCS for short), also known as the Atari 2600, and a slew of game cartridges to go with it. My friends and I enjoyed countless afternoons in front of the television blasting aliens, slaying dragons or moving a blinking square around a maze while trying to out-maneuver all forms of on-screen pursuers (in Atari games such as Maze Craze and Adventure). I was a regular at the toy store, which at that time was the place to go for video games, eagerly awaiting each new and exciting Atari 2600 cartridge release (until I eventually traded up

to the Atari 5200 Super System - while still making it a point to buy the adapter for 2600 cartridges). I even read Electronic Games Magazine regularly, and of course frequented the arcades at my local mall just as regularly.

I used to bowl in a league on Saturday mornings, and my buddies and I would run into the lounge to play the video games there between games (and sometimes even between frames!). Then, after bowling, we would

walk or be driven to the mall, where we would enjoy the afternoon playing arcade games in the two adjacent arcades they had. Aside from breaking to enjoy a pizza at Papa Gino’s, we would keep popping the quarters (later tokens) into games such as Asteroids, Centipede, Millipede, Galaxian, Galaga, Gorf, Pac-Man,

Ms. Pac-Man, Defender, Donkey Kong, Joust, Dig-Dug, Tempest and Kangaroo, just to name but a small few. These arcade games all eventually became available for the home systems thanks to Atari, Activision and

other companies, which was exciting; however the excitement of being at the arcade playing them “live” was

an experience like no other. I remember some Saturdays staying at the arcades well into the evening after my friends had left and feeling like I had a satisfying day indeed. As I said… Ah the glorious 1980’s. Read More...

Note: The following review of The Ruins may contain plot details that could be considered spoilers.

When I saw the trailer for the horror film The Ruins I thought it looked pretty compelling. The titles said the

story was about an ancient Mayan temple from 1000 years ago that was a place of sacrifice... and still is today. The trailer also showed flashes of an attractive cast of young people looking like they were having a bad day indeed. They appeared to be inflicted with some kind of parasitic infestation that definitely wasn’t good for the complexion. Whoa...creepy stuff indeed. Perhaps remote jungle expeditions aren’t always the best way to

spend one’s time. From these previews The Ruins looked like it was going to be an intense and graphic

movie that would perfectly suit a tried and true horror film fan like me. In this case I’m happy to say I was right.

Read More...

This month we move squarely back into the realm of Underground Digital Cinema (after last month’s foray into the world of underground mixed and fem vs. fem wrestling videos). And as promised, the discussion will now

turn to examining movies from some prominent underground cinema production companies. These are companies that produce movies in different and varying film genres, ranging from horror to exploitation to

campy comedy. * In the November 2007 installment of this column I provided an intro to this topic with some conversation about the extreme rape-revenge film Psycho Sisters and New Jersey-based W.A.V.E Productions, and I plan to look at more of their output in future installments. However this month I’d like to focus on one of the biggest and arguably most widely known independent production companies to come out of

The Garden State - namely Ei Independent Cinema (recently renamed POP Cinema). This company produces all three of the aforementioned film genres, with some of their titles crossing or blurring these category lines. They’re a company that has become familiar to underground and independent cinema audiences worldwide, and also one that has gradually grown to a level where their output now reaches large mass, mainstream audiences as well. This is evidenced by Ei movies appearing alongside Hollywood offerings on video store and retail shelves, and being broadcast on pay cable outlets such as Cinemax, among others (in addition to being widely available for sale on DVD and through video-on-demand over the internet). ** Ei Independent Cinema is

a company I remember first becoming familiar with back in the mid 1990’s when I discovered Psycho Sisters (they distributed the film on VHS) at Fangoria’s Weekend of Horrors convention in New York City. And since the mid-90’s when digital video first started to emerge, Ei has moved from marketing underground movies primarily through mail order to these wider distribution outlets. Let’s now take a closer look at the various cinematic product lines the company offers before examining some of the individual movie titles. Read More...

In the second installment of this continuing column series on Underground Digital Cinema I discussed in some detail the movie Psycho Sisters from New Jersey-based W.A.V.E. Productions, a company specializing in

low-budget, damsel-in-distress variety horror movies. As I mentioned last month the plan is to begin to talk

about companies like W.A.V.E. Productions and others producing similar types of indie movies. In the footnotes section following the Psycho Sisters discussion I noted how the original version of the movie (included as an extra feature on the end of the tape) looked a bit like a mixed wrestling video. Now I’d like to elaborate more on the topic of mixed wrestling and its intertwinement with digital and new media, particularly the internet. While it may seem like getting a bit off-topic, this I believe would be a worthwhile tangent before proceeding on to what will no doubt be a lengthier discussion of some of the aforementioned Underground Digital Cinema production companies. The reason is because mixed wrestling and all its variants - including female vs. female wrestling, mixed boxing, mixed fighting, apartment wrestling, amateur and pro-am wrestling, bikini wrestling, erotic wrestling and so on - are today produced using digital video, have become quite an internet phenomenon, and therefore have some connection and/or similarities to Underground Digital Cinema. And while mixed wrestling videos are obviously quite a different animal from digital movies, they do seem to have emerged in the same way, and along the same timeline, that underground digital cinema has. And there may be a parallel between comparing them to traditional mainstream professional wrestling, and comparing independent and underground digital cinema to Hollywood studio productions. Therefore although it may seem like an odd sidetrack for a

writer who normally focuses his attention on movies, I'll go ahead and take the plunge (this month anyway) into

very different territory. Read More...

In part 3 of my continuing column on underground digital cinema I talked about the category of exploitation film known as the adult drama or, sometimes known, as the erotic thriller. As mentioned, this category of B-movie cinema generally focuses on overly dramatic and sensationalistic plotlines held together by nude scenes and/or simulated sex scenes. Some examples discussed were the enduring 'Emmanuelle' film series, and popular 1990’s erotic thriller franchises like Night Eyes and Body Chemistry, featuring actresses such as Shannon Tweed and Tanya Roberts, among others. As a reminder, the discussion of these types of movies is meant to provide a point of reference, because they are predecessors to movies being produced by underground digital cinema production companies of today specializing in B-movie and exploitation cinema, which I plan to discuss in more detail in later additions to this continuing column series. And fear not, I also plan to swing the discussion squarely back into the horror film output of these companies, because, after all, it’s horror films which are my main area of interest and expertise nowadays. But for now back to more discussion of B-movies past...

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