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Times Union

Life - Scene Page: D1

Date: Friday, January 21, 2005

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LOCAL HORROR FILMMAKER Bruce Hallenbeck, left, and his wife and producer, Rosa Hallenbeck, will present films this weekend at the State Museum in Albany. Looming over them is fellow local filmmaker Jeff Kirkendall.

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IN HALLENBECK'S latest, "London After Midnight,"

helen Black plays a Lovecraftian demon.

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BY MICHAEL LISI

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES UNION

Top photo: Michael P. Farrell/Times Union

SHARI

SKLAR stars

as a

disgruntled

cultist out for

blood in

"London

After

Midnight,"

which

screens on

Saturday.

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No, it isn't Cannes or Sundance - but to local horror filmmakers such as Bruce G. Hallenbeck, "The Dead of Winter Free Film Festival" is a very, very big deal.

Area scary-movie makers Joe Bagnardi and Jeff Kirkendall would quickly second that notion - probably spattering it with some fake blood for good measure.

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Hallenbeck, Bagnardi and Kirkendall are three of five Capital Region filmmakers ready to show their work at the festival, which kicks off Saturday and Sunday at the State Museum in Albany. It continues next weekend, Jan. 29 and 30.

"One of the reasons we got this together was to make people aware that there is a very much alive and lively horror filmmaking movement in this area," said Hallenbeck, the festival's coordinator. "It lends credibility to get a film premiere at the State Museum. This is not Joe's Bar or something."

The four-day festival spotlights a different filmmaker each day. Hallenbeck will show three of his films on Saturday, including the premiere of "London After Midnight." Bagnardi will offer three movies on Sunday, followed by four Kirkendall films on Jan. 29 and two flicks by Brandon Bethmann and Eric Szmyr on Jan. 30. A panel discussion with the movie makers follows at 2 p.m.

The movies will roll in the museum's 220-seat theater, a space the museum was happy to provide. Hallenbeck phoned in December looking for a place to showcase "London," said Gary Ferris, the museum's chief development officer. Instead of just giving the green light to Hallenbeck, Ferris asked if he would be interested in recruiting other local horror movie makers for a full-fledged fright film fest.

Hallenbeck had postponed the premiere of "London" last year after Broadway Joe's (a favorite screening place for local filmmakers) closed. He accepted Ferris' offer and breathed life into the Dead of Winter festival. His new film is an action/horror tale about a team of paranormal investigators who fight off a series of evil entities; it premieres at 2 p.m. Saturday.

"These are New York filmmakers who made these films in New York," said Ferris. "The State Museum exists to document and celebrate the art of New Yorkers."

A history of horror

Hallenbeck, a 52-year-old state worker from Kinderhook, and Bagnardi, a 50-year-old salesman from Malta, have been working in the horror genre since their early teens. The Latham-based Kirkendall has been making homemade horror flicks since 1996.

Hallenbeck has written, directed and produced nine horror films; he got his start making ultra-low-tech movie shorts on his father's 8mm film camera. "London" is 90 minutes long, features more than 20 actors and took two years to complete.

"I always say that I'm really 11 inside," he said. Bagnardi has completed three full-length films. He says he has watched dozens of classic horror movies, studying actors, camera angles and story plots, practicing on more than 250 short films he has made over the years.

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"I think most people like to be scared, when you come right down to it," Hallenbeck said. "Even after the true horror of 9/11, people have gravitated to horror. People like the make-believe horror - they can escape, face up to their fears and walk away from it, all in 90 minutes."

On a shoestring

Local filmmakers must create that sensation on shoestring budgets, without the flashy special effects that Hollywood fills its scary movies with. Bagnardi, Kirkendall and Hallenbeck shoot their films on weekends, enlisting friends and stage actors willing to accept exposure for pay as their stars, they said.

To keep costs down, most filmmakers shoot their movies on digital video, which produces a quality image and costs pennies to make compared to film. Bagnardi said he shot "Blood of the Werewolf"

(12:30 p.m., Sunday) on video for under $500; his first movie, "Shadow Tracker: Vampire Hunter" (10 a.m. Sunday) cost about $9,000 to shoot on film.

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"EDGE OF REALITY," a trilogy of terror

by Joe Bagnardi, features Dan Bailey as a murderous Bigfoot.

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Most local horror films are shot close to home, mostly using outdoor locations. Two movies Hallenbeck will showcase Saturday - "Vampyre" (10 a.m.) and "London" - were shot in Kinderhook. The Bethmann-Szmyr film "Raising Hell" (10 a.m., Jan. 30) was shot mainly on Albany's Empire State Plaza.

Psychological side

The lack of special effects have forced local horror movie makers to focus more on the psychological side of scary.

In Kirkendall's "The Green-Eyed Monster" (1 p.m., Jan. 29), an evil entity called "The Voice" speaks to a young girl over a dead radio channel on Halloween. Bagnardi's "Edge of Reality" (2:30 p.m, Sunday) features a story line about a man who loses everything, only to meet his worst nightmare: himself.

"When you're on such a low budget, you need to depend on a good story and the acting," Bagnardi said. "Sometimes, what you don't show is scarier than what you do show."

That's one reason why the filmmakers are suggesting that parents be aware before bringing their preteen children to or allowing unchaperoned teens to attend the festival. Even though the films are unrated, museum development officer Ferris said they are worthy of a PG-13 rating.

"We won't turn anyone away, but we want to let parents know that they should think twice before sending their 12- and

13-year-old kids to see these films," Ferris said.

That's fine with the filmmakers, who simply can't wait to showcase their work on the museum's big screen.

"In a sense, it immortalizes things," Bagnardi said of making movies. "Films from the 1920s and 1930s are still being shown. It's like you leave something behind, in a weird way."