Updates and Thoughts

Maleina Malinskii, star of CHTHONIC

Now that we're three weeks into the New Year and the Hell's Bells premier has come and gone, I find myself in a down week on production of CHTHONIC due to this flu epidemic. I gave everyone the week off, actually about ten days, to reduce bugs flying around. I did manage to shoot a bit of a scene last night, essentially my shots and lines of that scene. What the hell, I may as well, I had little else satisfying to do.

Presently, I'm waiting to hear word from the first festival to which I've submitted HB. I don't want to say which one in the event we get rejected. I'm not expecting to compete, I just want a screening slot. It'll be quite a boost should the film get a nod there. Of course, I'll be submitting to other festivals and scheduling other screenings. Also, HB is being processed for download rental viewing at Amazon and should be available within a couple of weeks or so. Hopefully they won't over-price it. A buck would suit me just fine. I need to get the film screened more. I have been slowly getting the actor interviews shot for the DVD. It's the final element of the DVD so, as soon as it's done, I can start marketing that. Naturally I'll announce that here, as well as any screenings at festivals and such.

Shawny Kenney just cast in CHTHONIC

CHTHONIC is started. The holidays slowed us down, then this flu season thing. That has given me time to flesh out more details and really decide exactly what sort of film it is. I've been pushing it as a horror film, but I question that now. Don't get me wrong, it's certainly a horror film in that it has something otherworldly doing scary and deadly things. However, the story has subtext and I think I should be pushing the theme of that as much as the horror angle. I don't want audiences to think they're in for the usual torture porn or latest 'found footage' offering. CHTHONIC is heavily influenced by Hammer and David Lynch. And the transgender alchemy aspect is as important as the genre stuff. It's not a multiplex movie, that's for certain. Anyway, we got off to a slow start so I'm sure once we're rolling again, I'll be energized by what's developing as we go. But I am going to start marketing the film as something other than merely a horror movie because the LGBT audience will find something of interest here, too.

Redstar Films is in post-production on a film which I share a story credit with my old friend and sometime writing partner Mike Williamson. The title of the film is Damnation and it was adapted by director Paul Kimball. I'm very anxious to see it. Damnation was shot on Nova Scotia. It's a thriller with supernatural flavor. I'll do a post on that as soon as it's released.

Well, that's all for now...