Red Shirt Pictures - The Laundry

INSIDE THE CASE: Hellbound: Hellraiser II

2008-08-08T23:10:00.000-07:00

The following is the full-length essay that accompanied the Anchor Bay Entertainment DVD re-release of HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II in 2000. This DVD remains in print, though it is due to be supplanted by a new 20th Anniversary DVD in late 2008, which features all new cast & crew interviews produced by Red Shirt Pictures. This essay will not be included in the 20th Anniversary DVD.

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It didn't take long for New World Pictures to decide.

Upon viewing the early footage from the London shoot of Clive Barker's 1987 directorial debut HELLRAISER, it became apparent to New World Pictures' executives that their investment was destined to continue into another picture. The material was strong. There were dozens of potential ideas lying in the hidden corners of Barker's universe that could support a second film. Long before the original HELLRAISER opened to strong theatrical business, the genesis for a sequel had already begun. As a result of these early discussions, HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II opened in theaters in late 1988, barely a year after its predecessor. Although many of the creative elements (both in front of & behind the cameras) returned for this second cinematic sojourn into Barker's hellish fantasy world, there would be a few crucial changes that would help HELLBOUND achieve a rarity in sequeldom: A film that both respects and elaborates on its source material, while creating its own successfully defined identity.

It was decided early on that the hellish Cenobites (led by the increasingly popular "Pinhead") would be the primary focus of the next film. With Pinhead's nail-encrusted face plastered all over posters and video covers around the world, it was only logical that this character become a more prominent element in any future HELLRAISER installments. Clive Barker was a affirmed proponent of exploring the Cenobites' twisted histories, and expanding into their world, However, Barker decided early on that he would not be returning to write or direct, but instead would serve as Executive Producer. Barker submitted his ideas and outlines to the production, while his longtime friend and fellow writer Peter Atkins shaped the concepts into a new script, which would shed light on the myriad labyrinths and demons of Hell itself.

Selecting a director for such a daunting task was a thankfully easy task. Tony Randel had been a longtime fixture at New World Pictures during both the newly reformed company and during Roger Corman's regime. After working as a special effects assistant, and in various other departments, he graduated to HELLRAISER as an unofficial editor during post-production. With early support from Clive Barker, New World placed in-house production manager Tony Randel at the reigns of HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II.

HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II is often a powerful and illuminating expansion of the HELLRAISER universe. Starting with a quick montage of the final moments of the first film, HELLBOUND quickly delves into Pinhead's origins as we see a WWII soldier toying with the dreaded Lament Configuration and suffering the consequences as he is transformed into the infamous Cenobite. The action then shifts to the Channard Mental Institution, in which our heroine Kirsty (Ashley Laurence) has been confined following the events of HELLRAISER. We meet Dr. Channard (Kenneth Cranham), the sinister operator of the hospital who is later revealed to be an obsessed collector of all things Hell, and inmate Tiffany (Imogen Boorman) a young mute girl who has a natural ability at solving complex puzzles. The addition of the Channard character provides HELLBOUND with a delicious opportunity to blur the line between pain and pleasure. Channard, who desperately wants passage into the dark beyond, allows one of his more self-destructive patients to slash himself repeatedly with a straight razor, which provides the necessary carnage to resurrect the slain Julia (Clare Higgins). It is a remarkably intense and unflinching sequence that helps give way to an even more bizarre and twisted romantic pairing between Julia and Channard. The film takes great delight in moving Julia into the role of "skinless seductor" previously held by her former paramour Frank. It's a clever and enjoyable twist that is one of the many novel conceits that this sequel brings to the forefront.

Along with Ashley Laurence and Clare Higgins' reprisals, Pinhead portrayer Doug Bradley is provided with several key opportunities to enrich his character. Near the end of the film, Bradley humanizes a former monster with a simple smile and creates a layer of almost Shakespearean tragedy to his grand messenger of pain. Behind the camera, several important HELLRAISER veterans returned as well. Director of Photography Robin Vidgeon, Editor Richard Marden, and Composer Chirstopher Young all provide invaluable continuity between the two films with a rich visual and aural tapestry that envelopes the viewer immediately. Also returning from the original were Bob Keen and Geoff Portass of Image Animation who were called on not only to provide the gruesome effects for the Cenobites' slaughter scenes but to literally show the creation of one, with Channard's grisly transformation sequence.

HELLBOUND: HELLRAISER II was released in 1988 by New World Pictures to solid business and provided an exemplary amount of elaboration upon Barker's themes while giving fans of the first HELLRAISER something fresh…an expansive new universe to explore, and new pains to be enjoyed!

Trivia Note: A picture of Pinhead and his fellow Cenobites dressed up in surgical scrubs appeared on the back of the box cover of the original video release. This sequence does not appear in any completed version of the film, and was removed by the director prior to release.

The Return: 2008

2008-08-07T20:17:00.000-07:00

So...I haven't been on here in a while have I?

Well I have certainly proven to be the most unreliable of bloggers, that is for sure. And I apologize for that.

To say that I have been busy this year is an understatement. Nearly a dozen projects and even more on the way. Usually this time of year I am getting ready to wrap things up for the year and take a breather to some extent, but not this year. The next few months promise to be as packed as all that has come before.

However I should never be too busy to update this site. At least with a few words now and then...that's not too much to ask.

I also had an idea. Over the years, I've written countless liner note essays for a variety of DVD releases, especially during the 5 years I spent with Anchor Bay Entertainment. Many of these DVDs are now out-of-print or are currently unavailable for various reasons. I think I'd to post some of my old essays on here to create a sort-of archive. Not that these are the Dead Sea Scrolls or anything, but I'm proud of a lot of them, and they might be fun to revisit. Plus many of them were edited down from their original length to fit the space of the various booklets, so I'd be able to unleash them in their fully extended glory!

Hmm...intriguing sentence. Let me know what you think. Talk to you soon!

MRF

CREEPSHOW Details and more!

2007-09-05T02:43:00.000-07:00

So it has been a reeedeekulosslee long time since my last blog update. Apparently nothing has happened to me in 2007 worth posting here, but of course that's about as far from the truth as it could possibly be.

It will take some time to really go into the madness of 2007 which has seen an enormous amount of work come my way and some significant releases that have been rewarding in numerous ways.

As I write this, I am but mere days away from attending the world premiere of DIARY OF THE DEAD which will bring to a close (of sorts) one of the most important and wonderful experiences of my life. For anyone attending the Midnight Madness screening this Saturday at the Toronto Film Festival...say hi if you see me.

Now, I have other updates coming in the next few weeks, but the main purpose of this posting is to help clarify some details about the upcoming CREEPSHOW 2 DISC SPECIAL EDITION DVD that is coming out this October from Universal in the United Kingdom.

Some information about the DVD has been released on various websites including the cover art (pictured to the right) and it would seem that this cover has not been widely hailed by the fans, which is understandable. It's not exactly the most attractive thing in the world, though I do kinda like the spareness of it all with the old familiar title treatment being used. And could they have more logos at the bottom? What's what that? Anyway...I've gotten off-point. Although, yes, this cover is what you will see on your local shelves, if you live in the U.K. that is, I must make one point very clear.

This is not exactly the cover for the DVD.

We have one of those situations where the outer slipsleeve case is actually quite different that the cover design adorning the DVD case itself. The DVD itself comes in the standard plastic DVD keepcase with its own unique cover design. This isn't going to be one of those situations where the slipcase and DVD insert have the exact same artwork, which is something I've always found bizarre and quite frankly an enormous waste of money. What's the point of having two covers if they are identical? Whatever.

So here's what you will see once the black slipcase has been removed from the package. Now I happen to love this cover, and hopefully you guys will too. Of all the releases I've worked on lately, this is one of the rare times where I have felt the DVD cover art was EXACTLY what I was hoping would be used. Kudos to Universal for deciding on the slipcase/slipsleeve approach...and also to hiring a designer friend of mine for the DVD slipsleeve cover. I think he knocked it out of the park. A little trivia note, this same designer friend also designed the cover for the recent Anchor Bay UK Special Edition of CREEPSHOW 2. They'll look good on the shelf next to each other don't you think?

Anyway on to the disc's contents which have also been a subject of discussion.

Here's what you need to know. This is a two-disc set that contains the following....

A Widescreen transfer of the film that is brand-new, having been downconverted from a new HD master that was completed last year.

An all-new 5.1 Surround Sound track in addition to the original stereo mix.

An audio commentary track with George Romero and Tom Savini, with myself as moderator.
We recorded it in George's living room and it was a very loose and entertaining affair. One funny thing...we tried to point out all the times that the "Father's Day" ashtray appears in the film, but we kept missing it. Provoked multiple discussions.

Just Desserts: The Making of Creepshow, which is a seven part 90 minute documentary that goes into virtually all aspects of the film's production and release. Included in the documentary are rare behind-the-scenes photos, footage, and a couple of bloopers for good measure. I am very anxious to hear what people think of this doc. It was a long journey to get this one done, but I feel it was worth it.

Deleted Scenes, of which there were around 12-15 minutes worth. Not the greatest quality, but they are broken down by episode and are pretty entertaining

Tom Savini's Behind-The Scenes Footage. Although I used a lot of it in the documentary, I also compiled almost a half-hours worth of his video footage into this highlight reel which is presented separately. It, like the deleted scenes, is broken down by episode.

Theatrical Trailer & Still Galleries

There you go...hopefully this is a set everyone will consider getting this October, and maybe one day we will see it on these shores. But in the end, at least somewhere there is a DVD of CREEPSHOW that finally treats the movie with some respect. I sincerely thank Universal UK for jumping on board with this project.

See you later kiddies...

MRF

AND SO THE ENGINES OF 2006 BEGIN TO WIND DOWN...

2006-12-02T06:10:00.000-08:00

Well once again my efforts at maintaining a regular blog presence have come to roadkill.

Sorry about that.

Basically since the 10/15 update, I've been busy as hell. Which is good, but it leaves me enjoying the current holiday season to a somewhat lesser degree than I normally do. Which is bad, since I tend not to enjoy the holidays anyway.

Well where have I been? In Toronto of course! I spent an incredible (and exhausting) four weeks up in the Great White North working on the set of George Romero's impending zombie film, DIARY OF THE DEAD. I don't normally subscribe the idea of "dream jobs", but how I can view that experience as anything else? It was hard work, but the cast & crew were fantastic folks, and the shoot ran extremely smooth with only a couple of the expected roadbumps encountered along the way.

I think the film is going to surprise people. It's as different from the other Living Dead films as you would expect. George has never made two films in the series that feel even remotely alike in terms of plot or tone, and DIARY will be no exception. It's a very experimental piece and based on the footage I've seen so far...I think we have a winner here.

Basically my job was to supervise all the videotaping of the behind-the-scenes action and conducting formal interviews for the eventual DVD release. I was blessed with a great cameraman, Graeme Potts, who gave it his all and provided me with over 20 plus hours of great footage from the shoot. Also working closely with executive producer John Harrison was a great experience as well. Those of you who read this blog, or know my history, know that my relationship with John has been a very rewarding one both personally and creatively since working on AFTEREFFECTS for him two years ago, and it was great to hang with him on the set and watch his interaction with George and the crew.

That interaction amongst the crew was one of the most rewarding aspects of being there. Everyone felt they were there to work with one of the best filmmakers alive, and the amount of respect everyone had for George was inspiring and very satisfying to see.

So over the next several months look for some short video segments to appear on the MySpace page for DIARY OF THE DEAD that will chronicle some of my time on the set. The first one (uncreatively titled "The First Week") is already up and in just over a week has logged over 11,000 views. That is both encouraging and a little scary. I enjoy doing on-camera work, but it can be a little scary putting yourself out there for the world to comment on. So far the feedback has been 99% positive, so it's looking good so far.

The next DIARY Diary will be up early next year. The film is just now entering post-production and the hunt for a North American distributor will begin soon enough. So there's plenty of time for more of my shennanigans in 2007. Hope you continue to enjoy them.

So what now? Well I have several projects in development at the moment and by Christmas I should have contracts in place, so I will be able to discuss them then. Until that time, have a happy holiday season, and look for another update from me before the year ends. That much I can promise!

And now for the next chapter...

2006-10-15T06:06:00.000-07:00

Hello all,

I am writing to you from the production offices of George A. Romero's DIARY OF THE DEAD up in beautiful Toronto, Ontario. Tomorrow brings the first day of shooting on the film, and I am here to document all the behind-the-scenes goings on that I can.

To say I'm happy to be here would be an understatement. If you read the previous blog entry, you can be assured that this was one of the two jobs I was waiting for news on back a few weeks ago. The other one? Well it has also come to pass, and more words on that one later!

It's been an interesting couple of weeks. Getting ready to spend a month up here was pretty stressful but now I'm settling in. And after six long months since I began work on it, THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2: GRUESOME EDITION hit stores on October 10th. I sincerely hope you all have been enjoying it. It's nice to have my work out there for all to see...finally.

Coupled with the critical success of "Flesh Wounds" from the first CHAIN SAW disc from MPI that was just released, I feel pretty good right about now. Things are looking up.

I'll be posting some blog updates while I am up here working on DIARY, and look for some video clips of my time on the set to be posted on MySpace in the near future. I would give more details on that, but I have to keep quiet for now.

The zombies are about to invade Canada, and I'm glad to be right in the middle of it all.

MRF

So It Begins...

2006-09-23T16:58:00.000-07:00

As I write this, it is about 7 A.M here in New York City. I'm lodged comfortably at the Hotel Pennsylvania. I'm in town for the Fangoria's Weekend of Horrors over at the Crowne Plaza in Seacacus, NJ. I'll be joining EFFECTS producer John Harrison for a Q&A on the film's DVD release with some promotion of my doc, AFTER EFFECTS thrown in.

In about two hours, I will be meeting John for the first time, face to face. After two years of phone conversations and e-mails, this is going to be a welcome meeting indeed. His support of my efforts .. EFFECTS was a primary factor in my decision to devote my time to Red Shirt Pictures full time, and it's going to be nice to finally spend some time with the man.

Anyway, if you are in town on Saturday, please drop by the show. We're scheduled to on around 2 PM I think , although I don't have a schedule in front of me. Should be a good time, and we will have new posters for EFFECTS available, which marks the first time I've ever designed a poster for a movie. That was an interesting experience. Graphic design is not my forte per se but this one turned out pretty good.

In October, you can see me at no less than four events. On September 30th, I'll be attending the Cinema Wasteland con in Strongsville, Ohio for three days. Then the following weekend, I'll be attending the Rock & Shock festival and convention in Worcester, MA. Never been to Massachusetts...should be interesting. And then...on October 14th, I'll be at The Warhol Museum screening of EFFECTS in Pittsburgh which will hopefully bring out many members of the film's cast & crew including the aforementioned Mr. Harrison. Then finally on Halloween Weekend, I'll be making the trip back to the NYC area for the Chiller Theatre show....which is the ideal show to wrap up the October convention schedule. Yikes...I'm gonna be wiped out...I can feel it now.

Well the first reviews of the EFFECTS DVD have been coming in...and the news is good. DVD Maniacs and Mondo Digital have given the film good notices and have responded very positively to AFTER EFFECTS which makes me feel very nice to be sure. I'm hoping that people get a kick out of it...it was certainly a blast to work on...in more ways than one.

Anyway, I think that is enough for now. I've got some other chores to accomplish before heading out of here this morning. Keep posting responses to this blog....let me know you are out there. I am lonely and desperate for love, and I'll do anything to get it.

Hey at least I'm honest!

How Things Evolve?

2006-09-17T04:03:00.000-07:00

It's shortly after 3 A.M as I write this. I am in a very nice and comfortable room at the GreenTree Marriott in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania attending a small horror convention called Genghis Con. It is run by a couple of good friends, and although it has been a small show in terms of attendance, it has been large in enjoyment and good will amongst friends.

I know I haven't posted on here for some time now. Things get missed. Things get overlooked. It has been a year for things missed and overlooked.

Some of what I am about to write may not be terribly appropriate for this website's blog. A lot of what I am going through now is hardly professional, though some of it is. Perhaps it is all related somehow, I don't know.

I sit here a few days away from discovering if two significant job opportunities are going to either go my way or disappear into the ether. And if the unthinkable should happen, I will have a difficult series of choices to make regarding my immediate future, both personally and professionally. I have every reason to believe that one or the other...possibly both of these potential career steps will happen, but over the last two years I have learned to take nothing for granted.

It's funny. I don't think I was ever meant to have or could have ever believed in a career outside of filmmaking. It has been engrained in me since I was 8 years old. Until that time, I remember movies as a fun pasttime. Something to do for fun on a weekend afternoon. But then my father got the bright idea to drag me to a Saturday morning screening of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK in the early summer of 1981, and things changed. I didn't want to see it. The poster hanging in the lobby of the now-defunct La Mirada Mall Theatres in my old hometown of La Mirada, California did little to peak my interest. Instead of spaceships and laser blasts, I saw a sandy looking world full of old costumes and historical blather of little interest to a young kid weaned on flashy explosions and space battles.

Two hours later, it would be me trying to drag my dad back into the theatre for another showing, and over the course of the next year (back when movies stuck around for more than a couple of weeks) I saw RAIDERS nine additional times in that theatre, and once at the local drive-in. It was the first film that flipped the filmmaking switch in my brain. Along with the wonderful ride it provided, I began to notice the artistry of film...the lighting, the music, the editing...everything.

Of course that was many years ago. Twenty five of them in fact. And since that time, I have been lucky enough to find films and especially filmmakers who have taught me the value of such seemingly forgotten art forms such as character development, plot coherence, and artistic integrity.

My first filmmaking exploits began in high school where I and several of my friends from the drama department there engaged in the creation of short video projects that were quite the epics in their own way. Some clips of these mini-masterpieces appear on the Red Shirt Pictures website under the Projects section. Wonderful titles such as RETURN OF THE LIVING DOUGHBOYS and THE BREAKFAST CLUB GOES TO HELL. Subtle they were not, and equally unencumbered by budgetary excess, but they were mine. Not to imply that I did them alone, but they were mine. And I remain as proud of those efforts as with anything I've ever done.

When I would show those projects to my family, they would invariably enjoy them to varying degrees. My interest in horror films didn't exactly thrill my mother, but she never did anything to dissuade me from pursuing that passion. My dad's reactions were more to my immediate liking in that he would notice the very things that I was most proud of. A slick edit here, or a carefully composed shot there. Although tales of doughboys being splattered on the pavement or high school students being offed gruesomely one by one were most likely not his cup of tea anymore than my mother's he could see that this wasn't a simple pasttime with me. He would quiz me on how I achieved certain effects or even offer gentle advice and/or criticisms to help me along.

You see my father was an exceptional producer/editor/director in his own right. When I lived in California, his job entailed the creation of creative slideshow and multimedia presentations that he would use for various and important board meetings and sales presentations all around the west coast and sometimes further than that. I can remember many nights hearing him out in the garage of our house, studiously putting together the scripts and the timings and most importantly the music. Sometimes he wanted to be alone...other times he'd let me watch or even help out to whatever small degree I could. And I would notice so many things...how he would find music cues and lyrics that matched the story or stories he was trying to tell or how would he would link photo after photo together into a narrative that had not existed in anywhere but his mind. He was a thoughtful and quite frankly brilliant master of this art form. One that hardly anyone remembers these days. I can recall him proudly showing slideshows based around my adventures on local soccer teams and various other functions, and I would delight at how he told his stories.

I still delight in them...even if my memories have faded somewhat.

Several years after high school, I found my dreams of filmmaking derailed by a couple of ambitious projects that either foundered in development or crashed in post-production. I spent most of my twenties wasting time in bullshit jobs, seemingly lost and completely despondent over getting back to filmmaking. I didn't even pick up a camera during that time.

Of course I always intended to get back to it. But I didn't, at least not then. And my dad never mentioned my filmmaking days to me during this time. I thought maybe it was because he was disappointed that I had apparently lost interest, but now I think it was something else entirely. I think he saw that I wanted it still, but that I couldn't find my way back to it yet and he didn't want to put any pressure on me to come back to it any faster. He simply gambled that I would rediscover it on my own terms and in my own time. He was right, and in a way tragically so.

My father was a king. A huge man both in size and appetites, who at times I felt enormously close to and sometimes worlds apart both emotionally and intellectually. He was the smartest man I ever knew...or will ever know. He suffered from many of the same demons that I currently find myself plagued by today, even now in this early morning state.

He was a big man. Overweight to a large degree. And like any good son, I followed into the family business so to speak. My weight ballooned even past his level many years ago and has now arrived at a most unpleasant state...one that has me worried for both my health and my happiness.

My father's weight, as well as his decades long smoking habit eventually caught up to him in a variety of ways, including a car accident that he had trouble recovering from and a heart attack that resulted in a multiple bypass operation. Slowly but surely, the fire within my father that I had both admired and feared at points over the years began to flicker and die. Although he remained a vital presence in my life for the years following his heart surgery, he never seemed the same to me.

And what made it harder in a way was that I had finally started to come around career-wise. I had moved away from the family in Charlotte, North Carolina (where we had moved to in 1985 from California due a job transfer for my dad) up to Detroit, Michigan to take a job with then-fledgling home video company, Anchor Bay Entertainment. My efforts in creating a sort-of fan website for the company, who at that time did not have an official internet presence, had led me to an exciting opportunity to work my way back into the film business...and in a creatively exciting way.

So from July 2000 on, I found myself in Detroit. I still live there today, though an impending relocation is in the offing. After nearly 5 years with Anchor Bay, I found myself re-engergized creatively and wanting to get back into filmmaking finally after so many years. The time away from it had seen a unique and vital series of changes in not only the technology used to create films and video projects, but the outlets for them as well. Now this new fangled format called DVD was requiring more and more companies to produce video interviews and documentaries for their titles, and a new industry was seemingly born overnight. Being a massive film fanatic and an aspiring filmmaker, I saw this as my immediate calling. The perfect opportunity to re-launch myself.

I took it upon myself to film my first all-new video short in over a decade in early 2004. It was a short 15 minute interview piece with cult actress Linnea Quigley about her experiences making the film, NIGHT OF THE DEMONS back in the late 1980s. It was rough and full of mistakes, but thanks to several friends helping me out...the same ones currently running this show I am attending this weekend...it got done, and I edited the piece and presented it to Anchor Bay. They were surprised to say the least, especially since this was not exactly in my job description.

The piece ended up on the official DVD release of NIGHT OF THE DEMONS, but the unfortunate reality was that my job was never going to evolve into the production side of things. They already had talented folks handling the interview duties, and my services would have been superfluous. This was no one's fault really, just a reality of the business. In April of 2005 Anchor Bay and I parted ways amicably and I devoted my career full time to the pursuit of producing, editing and directing documentaries for other companies.

My father never got to see that happen. On the day after Thanksgiving in 2004, he sat down that morning at his computer...something he did every single day and began to putter about the internet. At some point shortly thereafter, he suffered a massive heart attack that apparently came about so sudden, he had no time to even react. He passed away quickly, most likely before his body even found the floor.

Knowing the slow decline I had witnessed in my dad over the years, I had been preparing myself for the possibility that would not last as long as he should have. When I heard the solemn voicemail message from my brother later that evening telling me to call home and nothing more, I knew right away. My father was gone, and that was all there was to it.

Parents are not supposed to outlast their children, and I've come to grips with the fact that at one point or another I was going to to have to deal with my dad taking off for pastures unknown. We had no unresolved issues between us, and his death, though sudden, was apparently a painless one all things considered and one that, quite frankly, he would have wanted for himself and for us too. No wasting away in hospital beds. No slow irreversible decline. In a way, I will always be grateful for his the way he left us. No time for him to regret. No chance for him to fear what was about to happen.

Of course it has left me with a enormous sense of regret, albeit a selfish one. My father never got to see me re-embrace filmmaking to the extent that I did. Oh, he saw the Linnea Quigley piece, and he knew I was beginning to re-awaken inside creatively, but he never saw me start my own business or see the creation of my first truly substantial longform documentary, AFTEREFFECTS in early 2005. He never saw me hustle my ass all over hell and creation for work which led to my recent success with the TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE documentary, FLESH WOUNDS or achieve the victory of producing my first DVD project from soup to nuts with MGM's impending TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 DVD.

He never saw me on the big-screen as a zombie extra in George Romero's LAND OF THE DEAD, though he did live long enough to hear about my experiences on the set a few weeks before he passed away. These of course, are all selfish laments. My father feels none of these regrets now...wherever he is, and would undoubtedly not want me to feel them myself now. But dammit, I would give anything in the world to see him watch me work today. I wonder if this is how he felt in that garage, with those slides so many years ago. Could he possibly have known how much he inspired me?

I don't know. Maybe he did. Maybe he always knew, and we just never had to speak about it.

Two years have brought me to places I never imagined. In September of 2004, I was living in an apartment, working for Anchor Bay, had one small scale video project to my name, had never been on a movie set, and had two living parents. Now I have a house, work for myself, have created over a half dozen succesful documentaries and featurettes, and only one parent left to me.

I should mention that my mother, who after being married to my father for decades and never having a life alone for any point in her existence has proven to be a vital source of inspiration for me in many ways. In the weeks following my father's death, I feared she would simply shrivel up and wither away in the family house, slowly losing herself amongst a sea of memories of times past. She had few close friends, and little or no activities that didn't relate to my father or the house, and after my dad was gone, I honestly believed she would not be able to recover. It wasn't because I didn't think she was strong or smart, but that she wouldn't be able to see any light at the end of a very long tunnel.

Two years have proven that fear wonderfully incorrect. Although the absence of my dad in her life is still a pain she deals with, my mother has shown a resolve and determination to continue her life that makes me smile every time I think about it. She has a new cadre of friends, a healthy series of outside interests and is now doing for herself things she never thought she'd be able to do. My father would be proud of her, and I believe that whatever existence he now occupies is made just that much easier because of my mother's spirit and determination since that fateful day in November 2004.

It's really something to see the changes in her reality and in mine.

And my reality is about to change once again.

The potential events of this week will determine the short term future of my life and business. And I'll take the results, whatever they may be. In the interim, I've made a crucial decision to address some health issues that I have been ignoring for too long. I'm surprisingly healthy, even at the weight I am at right now, but that won't last forever. In fact it won't last much longer at all. I guess I've finally decided that if I am going to achieve my goals with my career and my particular passions, it's time to face the hard choices and fight a few uphill battles. I have a feeling that I may actually surprise myself.

And if the unthinkable were to happen, and I were suddenly hit by a crosstown bus, or run over and trampled to death by a errant ox cart, or even simply failed to wake up one morning, I think it would be alright. At least in the sense that I will have left this Earth making a positive effort to treat myself better. Cause fuck it, I deserve that much. I have finally come to grips with the fact that I actually like myself. I'm pretty funny, reasonably smart, and I have a good creative mind..in my humble opinion. I don't beat people up and I don't kill pets for sport...so hey, I may be worth some positivity these days!

And for now anyway, I'm leaving my regrets and my sad wishes off to the side of the road. I can afford them no further attention. My dad left my life before he should have, and I will always miss him. But I will not mourn him, and I will not mourn the time I cannot have with him now. What I learned from him and the passion I saw in his creative life is what will continue to inform and drive my work for the rest of my life, and in the end, that is his undying gift to me.

I look forward to tomorrow. What will happen next?

Sincerely,

Michael Robert Felsher

"Saw" What?

2006-06-26T02:19:00.000-07:00

Well I know what you must be thinking. A new blog post only mere days since the last one? Where's the months-long dead zone between posts?

Hopefully a thing of the past.

Fortunately I've got several projects worth of stories and experiences to unspool on these pages, and that should keep me going well into Autumn.

Then I'll just have to start making stuff up.

Anyway, aside from my lackadasial attitude on blog posting, there were other factors that contributed to my six month long absence here.

One such factor was the fact that I had to keep mum on the details and particulars of some of the projects I was working on. This made it very difficult to post updates, since I couldn't spill the beans on much of anything.

Now here it is, almost July, and I can finally spill some beans. Not all of the beans, but enough for a side serving anyway. Not a large side serving, more like a KFC size. And it's more like the smaller size, not the larger ones fit for 3 or 4 people. Y'know the ones that come in the styrofoam containers with the little red stripes on them?

What the hell was I talking about? Oh right...

Anyway, for all the details on these projects, I'll have to wait until August and September roll around, and then full disclosure will commence. But here's what I can tell ya...

Late last year I was hired by Dark Sky Films/MPI Media to create a longform documentary to accompany their upcoming DVD re-release of Tobe Hooper's THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. This new Ultimate Edition 2 Disc Set features a brand-new Hi-Definition transfer of the film, an all-new 5.1 Surround Sound Mix and a bevy of exciting extra features including filmmaker David Gregory's acclaimed making-of documentary, THE SHOCKING TRUTH.

For more details on the specs and details on this release, go to the press release on Dark Sky Films' website by clicking here.

As for my documentary, which I entitled FLESH WOUNDS, I am not at liberty to disclose any deep details on it at this point. All I will say is that it was a cross-country effort involving trips to Texas, Maine, Ohio, and California and features a variety of people associated with the film.

My goal was to avoid covering the same ground as David Gregory's superb and rather definitive look at the making of the film. And I think it turned out great. Look for more details as September 26th grows closer.

Now the other big super-secret project that I worked on this year..well let's just say it didn't stray too far from what I was working on with Dark Sky.

On my way down to Austin, Texas back in early February where I was to begin production on FLESH WOUNDS, I received a call from a production manager at MGM who informed me that they were interested in hiring me to produce special features for an upcoming DVD re-release of. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2.

Needless to say that trip to Austin became a lot more chaotic than I had originally anticipated. Again I can't divulge any details at this point, but CHAINSAW 2's new DVD will be the one fans have been waiting for with all-new interviews, commentaries, and more to be announced officially soon. CHAINSAW 2 has been one of my favorite films for years, and it was a real honor and pleasure to work with the members of the cast & crew on this project. But alas..again more on that later...

So as you can imagine, I am officially CHAINSAW'd out. Not that I didn't have other projects to work on during this time including yet another project involving a film directed by Tobe Hooper.

But that's for next time. Until then...buzz buzz buzz buzz whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Flyboys, Road Trips, and Monkeys

2005-10-06T19:35:00.000-07:00

It's about 3 hours or so before I hit the road for Worcester, MA to attend the Rock & Shock Horror Show which should be quite a time. We're screening EFFECTS at the show, and star Joe Pilato will be in attendance to introduce it. Not to mention, Pittsburgh legend, George Romero will be there too. Good times lie ahead methinks.

Three conventions in three weeks. The Fangoria show in NJ went great. Met John Harrison and spent some great time hanging out with him and talking. Also bumped into filmmaker Mick Garris (THE STAND) twice on two separate days on the same stretch of 42nd st near Times Square. I'm sure he thinks I'm a stalker now, but what can you do.

Last weekend was the Cinema Wasteland show, my personal favorite show to attend. This year brought back the cast & crew of DAWN OF THE DEAD and it was one of the best Cinema Wastelands I've been to yet. Spent most of my time at the Synapse Films table and helping out the lovely Gaylen Ross (Fran from DOTD) with her table.

One very positive note...my documentary work for BASKET CASE 2 has officially begun. One great thing about attending these conventions is the chance to interview folks who just might figure into a project you are planning. This time, DAWN OF THE DEAD cast member David Emge was my subject, as he also played a small role in BASKET CASE 2 as Half Moon one of a group of freaks that figure prominently in the movie.

I had brought my camera and gear with me in the event that David said yes, and thankfully he agreed to sit down for me on Sunday morning in my hotel room.

I've now had the opportunity to shoot several interviews in the comfort of various hotel rooms, and I can tell you that while there are some advantages to having the ease and accessibility to the room for prepartion sakes, there are truly some limitations which make it a challenge every time.

The primary issue with any hotel room when it comes to shooting an on-camera interview is...room. There never seems to be enough square footage to set everything up properly, and if you are hoping for a depth of field in your shot...forget it.

Unless you are lucky enough to book a suite with enough room to move furniture around, you gotta make do with whatcha got. And at the Holiday Inn Select in Strongsville, Ohio, I didn't have much to work with. Basically a 7x10 living space next to the bed in front of the window. That's it. I cleared out the little chair and endtable, and set about my task.

I had this conceit a while back while thinking of BASKET CASE 2, that every interview I do for it should have a big wicker basket somewhere in the background. If you've seen the movies you know what the basket is all about...deformed twin brother and all that. So fortunately at the nearby Target, a large wicker basket was available and $80 later it was all mine.

Then a trip to JoAnn Fabrics...a store which I try to avoid usually. With all the fabric bolts thrown about in haphazard fashion, the place tends to remind of a Morrocan street market and I can never get in and out of there in any reasonable amount of time.

Sure enough, with the welcome help of my friend Don May from Synapse, we scored some nice black fabric and a cool swatch of cloth with a reflective red pattern in it that I hoped would catch the light just right.

Now this was all on Saturday...and I set aside two hours to take care of it. Of course I didn't have any clamps, rods, poles, C-Stands, or any kind of metal apparatus to hang the fabric with. I'm still a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants organization here and I haven't quite got all the mechanical hoo-hahs I'd like at this point.

So to take care of business, I had the old standy...black duct tape. Soon enough I had a tapestry of black and red hanging about the back of the hotel room with a wicker basket placed just right off to the side. I even added a little green light to the inside of the basket to give it a little goofy feel.

Somehow this whole setup managed to stay up and together for the next 12 hours, and when David arrived Sunday morning, I managed to get him in and out in about 40 minutes. We even talked about his bit role in the sexy soft-core flick THE BOOBY HATCH which was made by the Pittsburgh Mafia...ergo John Russo, Russ Streiner, and Rudy Ricci. I'll probably end up doing a little piece for Synapse's upcoming DVD release of that film as well. Amazing how things work out sometimes.

David was a real pleasure, and I can't thank him enough for what ended up being (in my opinion) my best looking interview to date. You tell me...

Oh well. I gotta run, but look for more BASKET CASE 2 updates in the near future. As it turns out that wicker basket is perfect for hauling around all my video crap. So if you see a guy carrying an abnormally large dark brown wicker basket around for no apparent reason...it might be me.

Talk to you when I get back...if I get back...this month is gonna kill me!

Oh, and there are no monkeys to speak about...I just threw that in the blog title for shits and giggles...I'm weird like that.

Rock 'n' Roll Nightmares

2005-08-14T16:02:00.000-07:00

Well the next project has begun...a little sooner than I expected, but rarely do things go as planned these days.

Synapse Films will be bringing the metal/rock/horror opus ROCK N' ROLL NIGHTMARE to DVD in 2006. A new hi-def transfer has already been completed, and there will be extra features on the disc, including commentary with star/writer/rock legend Jon Mikl Thor and director John Fasano, as well as....well therein lies a tale.

In discussions for possible bonus materials for this release, the idea of shooting a new interview with Jon Mikl Thor came up, as he was due to pass through the Detroit area on a leg of his current tour. Thor was eager enough to do the interview and also threw out the idea of shooting some of the live performance itself for a possible new music video of the song "We Live To Rock" from the movie.

Well, after some communications back and forth (not easy when you are a man on a cross-country tour), Thor agreed to do the interview at the I-Rock Bar & Nightclub in Detroit last night, Saturday, August 13th. His show wasn't until late in the evening, but we decided to hook up around 7 PM at the club during setup and before any crowd activity began.

Now ideally, what I really needed was about 45 minutes before the scheduled meeting time to scope out the prime shooting location in the club, set up the camera, lights, etc. With an atmosphere like a nightclub, there would be plenty of possible options as far as backgrounds for the interview, but with the noise of sound checks, gear boxes being unloaded, and the general bar mayhem, it would make things challenging in other ways. My hope was to arrive around 6 P.M. and be ready to go upon Thor's arrival.

That was my hope. Along for the ride on this journey was Synapse co-owner Jerry Chandler, who tried to warn me on the way down to the club that these bar owners rarely get there before they have to, and tend not to be the most accomodating folks on the face of the Earth. I tried to remain optimistic, but as we arrived at the I-Rock around 6:05, there was no one around. The place was barren. And it wasn't exactly the safest neighborhood I've ever been in either. Jerry and I ended up driving around for about an hour, killing time until we just settled on waiting it out in the empty parking lot of the club, praying someone would eventually show up.

Sure enough, it wouldn't be until 7:30 when we would gain access to the place, and by then the band crews were already unloading their gear and in short the place was active as all hell. Thor and Co. arrived shortly before we entered the bar, and for the next 15 minutes, it was panic time for me.

My hope had been to set up the interview using the bare stage as a backdrop, but that was squashed immediately as the side door near the stage was wide open and the unloading of equipment was just too calamitous. I eventually settled on a smaller corner back near the bar (which wasn't open yet) which allowed for a little more privacy, and the blue 'n' red neon lights adorning the bar itself made for a nice colorful arrangement that wouldn't distract too much from Mr. Thor.

Of course, time was rapidly running out to do the interview. Soon the band would be doing soundchecks and the drums and guitars would be thumping loudly and tuning up. We had about 45 minutes to get this done, and that would include my set up time!

Somehow I got the camera positioned, a floodlight readied and the mic hooked up as Jon Mikl Thor positioned himself on a bar stool for his interview. Jerry Chandler had the task of asking the prepared questions I had typed out and I would just ride the camera for the duration.

It must be said first that Thor was wonderful. A truly nice and warm gentleman with a gregarious spirit and a real pleasure to be around. For our entire time at the club, he made Jerry and myself feel like a part of the band, and I have to say it was a real treat. I've never been much for rock shows or concerts but this was a terrific experience overall.

The interview went very well. Thor had fun playing to the camera and going back down memory lane with the movie and his career. There were a few interruptions with some of the sound checks and whatnot but nothing catastrophic. My only wish for the interview is that I had had more time to tinker with the lighting. With the few minutes I had, it was either do it fast or not at all. In the end though, the footage looked very nice. I use a Panasonic DVX-100A and shot the interview in 24p so it adds a nice warm feeling to the whole shebangabang. Even with the hasty lighting, the deep shadows and intimate surroundings I think complemented Thor well. Here's a snapshot from the footage to give you an idea of what to expect in the finished piece.

Around 8 P.M. the interview was over and Jerry and I ducked out for some pizza at Pasquale's Restaurant which was about a half-hour drive from the bar. If you've ever had pizza there you'll know why we would go that distance for the meal. Thor was due back on stage around 11 PM, and "We Live To Rock" would be the third song in his set. I wasn't at all sure how I was gonna pull this off.

I've never done anything like a music video before, or even taped a musical performance. In order to get enough coverage, you really need a multi-camera shoot. One for the stage, one to shoot the band from the crowd, and then another to capture crowd reaction and everything else that might be needed. Or the other option is for the band to perform the song more than once, so a single-camera shoot can take each of those perspectives one at a time.

Of course, I have one camera and one chance to get the song. Now Thor and his bandmates were more than accomodating and told me I had free acccess to the stage during the show and that I could do whatever I needed to get the best angles.

Jerry and I arrived back at the I-Rock around 11 p.m. and we hung out with the band backstage in the green room. Or actually it was more like a gray room with no ventilation and an odor that verified the club's multi-year history with sweaty rock and rap performers. Truly it was the smell of music...and glorious it was in a way.

Around midnight, Thor was on. I decided to go out and tape the first two songs from various angles, which would allow me to get more comfortable with the stage as well as pick up bits and pieces that could be used as cutaways for the video. This was a largely successful idea, and I have a feeling I should have enough to cut something together with. Then "We Live To Rock" was upon me, and before I knew it the song was over and I had managed to capture it from the stage and with the crowd and back again on the stage. By and large I got some pretty good coverage, and I was thrilled with the lighting and the general atmosphere that got captured while I was onstage. This camera is terrific in odd lighting situations, and it got the all the vibrant stage lights and smoke with a great deal of clarity. Here's one moment from the song that turned out pretty nice I think...

After the show, Jerry and I exchanged goodbyes with Thor and the band as well as the refreshingly non-difficult manager of the I-Rock club who was very genial and helpful during our time there. Thor, as I write this, is getting ready to perform in Madison, Wisconsin before heading south on his grand tour of America. I certainly wish him and his band the best, and if you have a chance to see him, I cannot recommend it enough. Check out his tour schedule at www.ThorCentral.com

So, now I have the footage and in the next few weeks I will start putting stuff together. Although taping the interview and performances was a rushed process, the editing will not be as the DVD isn't due until next year.

In the meantime, I've got some other projects looming, including one I'm really looking forward to...but this blog entry has gone on long enough so I'll save that for next time.

Thanks for reading, and rock on!

"Nailed" Shut!

2005-08-02T20:22:00.000-07:00

Well it's done. NAILED has wrapped...at last.

After the grueling multi-interview fest that was AFTEREFFECTS, I figured NAILED, with its single interview format, would be a nice little job with little or no real roadblocks or problems.

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

Believe me, when you are a producer or editor, you gain an immediate sympathy for anyone who ventures into this profession and can somehow manage to not only keep their sanity but actually turn out decent work. The time pressures, the technical demands, and most importantly the creative decisionmaking can be overbearing to a large degree most of the time.

With NAILED, I was in an awkward situation. The interview in question was with writer/director Terry Lofton. It was originally filmed for the director's own limited edition DVD of NAIL GUN MASSACRE which was released late last year before Synapse acquired the rights to do an official special edition release which is due in October.

The footage was shot by Loyd Cryer of Dallas, Texas and was filmed on location in Seagoville, Texas in the general store where a couple of the film's scenes were shot. The footage was then edited into a 25 minute piece which appears on the aforementioned LE DVD from Lofton.

This is the same footage that was sent to me to create my own featurette, since the distributors wanted something new to promote this upcoming remastered DVD with. Understandable, but a little problematic. Was I to take the existing featurette (which wasn't bad at all, to be honest) and just remaster and tinker with it a little bit, or should I start from scratch? As good as the interview was, there were many questions I would have asked that weren't, and I felt that I might not have what I needed to do the piece.

It was this debate that held me up on this project for a while. Briefly I seriously entertained travelling down to Texas to re-film Terry Lofton therefore avoiding this issue altogether, but personal and budgetary restrictions put a kibosh on that plan.

So in the end, I decided to simply re-trace the steps of the original featurette and essentially remaster the whole thing from scratch. All the film clips used in the first featurette were off an older master, so I would be able to use the new HD 16x9 master to replace those old clips with brand spankin' new ones. Speaking of 16x9, I decided to reformat all the interview clips for the widescreen format, since the film was going to be presented that way for the first time.

This is a tricky proposition since anytime you blow-up or otherwise mess with exisiting 4x3 video and try to adapt it to new anamorphic 16x9 dimensions, you run the risk of creating a seriously softened or grainier image along with the potential for reduced definition and an overall lackluster presentation. Fortunately the interview footage survived the transition very well with just a hint of softness on the edges.

What also helped is that the interview originally had very intense and colorful lighting which for reasons unknown to me, was leeched out of the featurette on the LE DVD. Although at times the hues on the footage were a bit much, I ended up keeping the rich colors at the original intensity which helped brighten up the proceedings immensely.

Here's a comparison to help illustrate what I am talking about.

Fortunately for the purposes of the 16x9 conversion, the interview had been largely framed in the camera with a great deal of headroom or space at the bottom of the frame which allowed me to repurpose all the shots in widescreen without sacrificing any compositional integrity. Ooh that's a pompous phrase isn't it?....Compositional integrity...man I'm high-falutin aints I?

I have to give props to Cryer and his cameraman for the interview. The various questions were all good and they seemed to get a lot out of Terry Lofton, who comes off as a very genial and good-natured guy. Hopefully they'll like the new featurette. I ended up dramatically altering the structure and the editing of the piece as I went along, so it doesn't bear much resemblance to what came before. Some bits I left out, and I added back in about 3 minutes of footage that went unused before. I ended up shooting a cool title sequence in my basement for it, which involved eight boxes of nails...but I'll let you find out more about that when the DVD hits this Fall.

Ironically after all was said and done, NAILED is almost exactly the same length as the previous featurette, but contains about 4 minutes more of Terry Lofton's interview than the other one? Just goes to show you how inexact a science editing can be sometimes. Personal styles and preferences can radically change the content at any given stage. In a way, I wish the old featurette could be included so people could see two different shots at the same material, but I think NAILED will satisfy. I'm happy with it.

I also put together an expanded section of outtakes that runs longer than the previous DVDs selection. Since the outtakes' original audio tracks are long gone, I ended up cutting together some unused comments from Terry's interview into sort of a makeshift commentary for the outtakes. Turned out pretty good actually.

Well NAIL GUN MASSACRE has now officially left my radar....on to other stuff. I'm getting ready to start posting clips of the various Red Shirt projects on the website. In case you haven't noticed yet, the Our Projects and About Us sections of the site are finally finished.

There is a major new documentary project on the horizon, but I can't talk about it yet. Hopefully for the next update.

Thanks for reading, and I appreciate that you keep coming by to read this crap!

The after-effects of "After-Effects"

2005-05-12T19:06:00.000-07:00

After several months of planning, organization, and several weeks of intense work, the documentary, AFTEREFFECTS has been completed and screened for the producers of the film, EFFECTS, which is obviously the subject of my documentary.

I have never had a project this size before, nothing even close. With 11 interviews totaling nearly 5 hours along with movie clips, photos, etc, this was beyond anything I had ever approached before. It was maddening, challenging, frustrating, and at times I felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall that I could find a way to scale. But then if I just took a break and came back to it, I would discover that the wall had a door in it the whole time that I just wasn't ready to see yet.

The final hours of editing on this one were among the most insane of my life. I had had little or no sleep for the last 4 or 5 days of this week. I would nap, edit, eat, edit, edit, edit, eat, nap, not nap, edit...etc. But at last on Tuesday morning...the final pieces came together and what I had hoped would be enough for a 35-40 minute documentary ended up being enough for an entire hour. I could have made it longer with little effort, but this is the running time that works the best.

In a state that I can only describe as sheer exhaustion, I managed to dub off a few copies on VHS and overnighted them to the producing/directing/editing team of EFFECTS comprised of John Harrison, Dusty Nelson, and Pasquale Buba. Most of my conversations concerning this documentary were with John, who had beyond helpful in my efforts to complete this documentary. I have had one conversation with Dusty Nelson, which was extremely pleasant, and up until yesterday I had never spoken with Pat Buba.

Yesterday brought some of the happiest news I can remember in a long while. Pat, and his wife Zilla, loved the doc, and I was treated to a wonderful conversation with Pat where he and I basically talked shop for a while. He treated me as a filmmaker, and not some wannabe halfwit who was flying by the seat of his pants on a project he wasn't exactly prepared for at times. I can only say that he was a class act in every sense and that his kind words about my work made my head swell to a rather obscene degree...but oh well... :)

Today, John Harrison told me that he, Dusty and Pat had watched the doc at Pat's house last night together, and that everyone was now in the "loved it" camp. Then just an hour ago, Pat's wife Zilla Clinton called me to offer her kind words and thanks, which was extremely kind of her. The people who came up from those glory days of filmmaking in Pittsburgh back in the late 60s to early 1980s are just about the classiest bunch of folks you could ever hope to meet. To say I'm proud to have done this story right is understating the matter. My only goal in this was to give the best representation possible of the time and place that EFFECTS was made, and I think I did OK. As long as those three gentleman are happy with it, then I'm happy.

I don't know what fortune has in store for me yet, but I can't help but feel blessed that John, Dusty and Pat, as well as my good friend Don May Jr. at Synapse Films took a chance on me with this film, and I'm glad I didn't let them down.

Now...onto the next project, which I should have more details on next week.

whew...whattttttttttta week!

Michael Felsher
mfelsher@redshirtpictures.com

And so the Shirt grew a size...

2005-05-04T01:47:00.000-07:00

Hello to all out there in whateverland...

Red Shirt Pictures has taken the next big step in its evolution. Up until now it was a clever name to make me feel a little more important and a way to give myself a business identity of some sort.

Well now it is my business full time. What exactly does that entail? Well, at this point I can't say entirely but look for a full website update in the next week that will update all my crap and also give you a full look into what Red Shirt Pictures will be doing for the forseeable future.

But first, AFTER EFFECTS is due for completion. See the previous blog post for some info on this project. I have to have it done this week and I think I finally licked a crucial editing issue that had been plaguing me for the past two weeks. I'll elaborate on that more once I get the final cut off to the producers for review. It's a fascinating process, and I'm always learning more every day.

Just got back from assisting on a video interview with director George Romero in Toronto for the upcoming DVD release of two early films from his career, SEASON OF THE WITCH and THERE'S ALWAYS VANILLA. George is in the maelstrom right now with his new film LAND OF THE DEAD due to open in several weeks. Reshoots, editing, scoring, prepping for a Cannes Film Festival preview...hell I'm getting tired just writing all that. The fact that he took time out of his schedule, which has had him literally operating 24/7 for weeks now, is a testament to his dedication and overall coolness. The DVD is due to be released in October.

As I mentioned before, Red Shirt Pictures is now my full-time operation. I have been, for the last five years, a proud employee of Anchor Bay Entertainment, one of the leading independent DVD distributors out there for cult, horror and theatrical flicks. A few weeks ago, an opportunity to take the step to be on my own came up and I had to give it a shot. I'm 31 and I figured if I am gonna fall flat on my face, might as well do it now. I'm still working on projects for Anchor Bay as well as discussing opportunities with other companies as well, which is actually kind of exciting. None of this would have been possible without the support and experience I've received from everyone at Anchor Bay...so keep buying the DVDs, even if its the 345th version of EVIL DEAD. ...it'll be worth it anyway!

Well that's enough for now...gotta busy day tomorrow. I will check in later in the week (for the two of you who are reading this blog...if that many.)

Take care!

Michael Felsher
mfelsher@redshirtpictures.com