Frank Fox’s O Feet Away is a nifty little thriller in the tradition of When a Stranger Calls and the opening moments of Scream. Using the queer community’s obsession with hook-up apps as a focus point, Fox’s short film features moments of shadowy tension and fine performances from Max Cutler, as Chase, the piece’s (annoyed then fretful) final guy, and Matt Harrison as a mysterious stranger.
Fox, also, uses sound as a powerful method of communication here. As Chase’s phone rapidly beeps from a stranger’s increasingly invasive missives, viewers’ nerves are slowly frayed.
You can check out this 9 minute excursion in suspense at:
Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
Are you having an Up All Night with Rhonda Shear flashback? Well, you should be! One of the famed and original queens of scream, the eternally divine Deborah Dutch (Sorority Girls and the Creature from Hell, Hard to Die, Vice Academy series), has been working on her dream project The Hollywood Warrioress (with a variety of behind-the-scenes contributors) for over the past year.
While the film, a combination of super heroine vengeance, horror and action, has shot most of its footage in (and around) LA, the East Coast and Midwest have, also, been used as locations. In fact, one very chilly March day in 2014, I gathered with Chicago director and terror entrepreneur Chad Hawks to shoot a newsroom sequence for the film.
Was I excited? Sure! But, in a special case of behind-the-scenes madness, I almost didn’t make it to the studio where we shot. Like most creative types, I have a primary job that serves as my (ahem!) financial oasis. So, while I was finishing up my shift for the day, Chad set up the space. Needless to say, after I left work, I was totally unable to find a cab to get me to the location. As I set about to call one, my phone, naturally, died due to the (suddenly excessive) Midwest wind chill. Frantic, I ran back to my place of employment, plugged the phone in and tried to summon a cab from there. I couldn’t get through to a single cab company! I got in contact with Chad and we, quickly, decided that I’d take a nearby bus to a certain street where he would pick me up. He urged me to keep my phone on, as well, just in case he decided to come fetch me in route. It turns out we only had the filming space for a certain amount of time.
I schlepped onto the bus with my backpack and (by now drooping) garment bag…where my phone promptly died again. Defeated, I turned it off, completely. Then, after, excitedly, getting off at the wrong stop and promptly hopping back onto the bus again, I flicked on my phone and discovered it had powered up again. At that very second, it rang. It was Chad. He was in his car, directly behind us. Flustered and unkempt, I hopped off that dusty yellow chariot at the next stop and got into Chad’s black sedan. After offering profuse apologies, we rushed onward.
At the spot, I discovered, once again, what a consummate professional and total trouper Chad is. Not only was the green screen we were going to film against ready to go, but he also had to help me make costume choices and style my recently cut hair into something I was (at least vaguely) happy with. He then allowed me to pound through the very florid, very fun dialogue a couple of times as a warm-up and then we set to filming. We worked through the material in a variety of tempos and Chad added a few, interesting visual flourishes. After checking to make sure the different takes all had sound, we then broke the set down and headed out for a much needed dinner celebration.
Now, would I have liked it much better, on the day itself, if everything had gone a bit more smoothly? Sure. But, as a writer type, I sure do love having a good story to tell and, with a year’s distance, I now can say I wouldn’t have had it any other way!
You can get a sneak peek at some of our efforts at:
Be sure to follow The Hollywood Warrioress, which recently had a highly successful preview showing in LA, at https://www.facebook.com/hollywoodwarrioress. More screening dates should be announced soon.
Broke after all that Christmas spending? Well, lucky for you that Get Scared TV offers free horror programming, all year long.
Recently uploaded programs include episodes of The Scream Kingdom (featuring interviews with indie scream queens Chainsaw Sally and Melantha Blackthorne), The Angry Brothers Ohama Shock O Rama and Bobby Gammonster’s Monster Night. Now, how can you refuse programming with titles like those?
Be sure to check them (and so much more) out at http://getscared.tv, pronto!
Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
…and there I was, without my hat! Anyhow, at the recent Days of the Dead Chicago 2014, I had the good fortune to chat with indie Texas horror-maker Abel Berry (Devotion, Kodie) about his latest gore stained, ninja sporting epic Blood Sombrero.
So, that time I skipped off to school wearing nothing but a blood specked garter belt? That was a bad kind of revealing. Fortunately for everyone else, the divine folks at Angry Mule Productions know all about good revelations and have recently unleashed some behind the scenes set pictures from their upcoming, extremely fun sounding epic Killer Piñata.
Looks like a blast, huh? And no blindfolds needed. Well, at least, not yet.
Be sure to keep up with all the mayhem that Killer Piñata has to offer at https://www.facebook.com/angrymule.
Until the next time – SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!
Looks like things will never be the same again, Toto! Dead Kansas’ writer-director-producer Aaron Carter (and his multi-talented crew) just won Best Zombie Film at the 2014 Fantastic Horror Film Fest in San Diego!
Featuring a strong heroine (a passionate Erin Miracle), Dead Kansas details what happens when a determined young woman traverses across the barren land of a once thriving state in order to save her father. Chased by a band of renegades determined to use her to jumpstart society and the hungry undead (known here as Rottens), Carter’s vision shows how far a little bit of attitude and a sure sense of familial love can take someone.
Naturally, some performances here are stronger than others, but genre veteran Irwin Keyes (as a kindly character known as the Giant) continues to prove that his versatility is pretty much endless.
Most significantly, Carter has made his feature available, for free, online.
You can keep up with further news on this shambling, rock n roll style epic at
As a (former) country boy, I’ve faced down rampaging pigs, bowel grinding horses and hordes of massacre minded llamas! (Don’t ask.) But nothing could prepare me for the hilarious horrors due to the overindulgence of a sinister party favor!
If you feel the same way, now is the time to rejoice! Resourceful Angry Mule Productions is plotting to bring a Troma style miracle into the world entitled Killer Piñata. Promising the silly terror antics of Uncle Lloyd at his best, this production is set to feature plenty of enjoyable set pieces and features a kick-ass female behind-the-scenes (Jennifer Kunkel) and a strong lesbian lead as the plot’s focal point, as well.
Intrigued? Then be sure to fill up on the falling scare-candy that is Killer Piñata at:
Money was raised (for AIDS charity Vital Bridges), chills were induced and laughter resounded throughout the theatre during Terror in the Aisles’ latest movie event Short Cuts. Taking place at the historic Davis Theatre in Chicago, Short Cuts featured the mini-masterpieces of over a dozen Midwestern filmmakers. Introducing the audience to works of humor, homage and serious horror, this one-of-a-kind event, ultimately, offered up a program that I was truly honored to serve as host of.
Introducing the directors!
With many of the artists on hand to celebrate, each abbreviated feature contained true points of interest. Industrious Tony Wash (Its My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To) even utilized the event to promote his anticipated upcoming compiliation World of Death, featuring many of the selections submitted to last fall’s ABC’s of Death competition. John Pata, coming off the high of his critically acclaimed feature Dead Weight, also, choose Short Cuts as the Chicago premiere site of his latest (poetically macabre) effort Pity.
Clark & Pata chatting
Personal favorites included Red Clark’s fun The Pool. Detailing the comeuppance of a bratty sibling, this charming throwback ends with some nifty camera work and a startling monster reveal. Lowcarbcomedy’s hysterical 4th Rule of Gremlins, meanwhile, offers up a very naughty take on what not to do with everybody’s favorite furry monsters. David Schmidt’s mock trailer for House on Nightmare Lane, also, hit the mark. Here, Schmidt combines the atmosphere of such classic flicks as The Haunting with the acting style of such drive-in favorites as Frankenstein’s Daughter. Overall, it’s like opening the (rusting) gates to a real winner!
A crazy rash of mosquito bites has me feeling itchy all over – and pretty sure something unworldly is attacking my body. I’ve tried to shrug it off, but the potent new trailer for Maude Michaud’s upcoming Dys- has me wondering if I might have reason to fear.
A story of what happens when an estranged couple enters lockdown to escape a mysterious virus, Dys- is getting a lot of important buzz and is now entering the festival circuit. With appearances by genre regulars like Lynn Lowry and Shannon Lark, this infectious thriller is sure to spread like wildfire!
Big Gay Horror Fan 