The Haunting of Sunshine Girl: Book One

             Sunshine Girl's New Adventures - 

          Haunting Bookshelves Near You! 

  It was in the Summer of 2011, and I was tooling around YouTube. I was checking out trailers for upcoming scary movies, and searching through good creepy short films.  The sidebar recommendations were providing great undiscovered related titles, so I was flipping through its

suggestions, when I saw this very intriguing title: The Haunting of Sunshine Girl.  The title was just too cool not to click on.

Before I knew it, I'm deep into the playlist of stacks of 1-4 minute videos, detailing the adventures of a very engaging and charming teenage girl, named Sunshine, who is doing quirky little vlog entries about school and pop culture... AND who just so happens to be haunted by some weird ghostly beings. The curious part of it all was that these videos weren't full of wide eyes and bated breath and pounding pulse atmosphere. Oh, it would go there, with some real chilling moments.  But, instead of drowning in the horror movie tropes of contemporary genre movies, HAUNTING nestles itself in the real world, giving Sunshine an average teenage life, with average teenage problems -- and then there's the strange girl in the corner! Or the odd lady standing out in her yard! Or the bloody words on the wall!  The Haunting of Sunshine Girl was

I don't wanna look!

simply the freshest thing I had seen, in any medium, related to the horror genre, at that time.  And it still delivers after over four years on the interwebs.

In case you're not familiar, The Haunting of Sunshine Girl is a YouTube program created by Nick Hagen and Mercedes Rose, and stars Rose's daughter, Paige McKenzie. They debuted the show back in December, 2010, and it quickly amassed over a million viewers (and still rolling them in by the thousands a day!).  They followed up HAUNTING with spin-off shows, and added new shows to the line up (featuring zombies, Bigfoot, another haunted girl, and screen printers!), and made their own grassroots horror movie, Sunshine Girl and the Hunt for Black Eyed Kids. Paige has been busy, herself, with connections to Seventeen magazine, making appearances in other films, and shooting videos on the sets of director Guillermo Del Toro.  And now she's authored her first Haunted Sunshine novel -- The Haunting of Sunshine Girl: Book One.

Paige and her Mom have always been very cool, granting me interviews. I first spoke with them before their show had reached the one-year benchmark, and had several chats since. With the coming of Paige's first book, I'm thinking they might get too big for my little blog, though.  You see, the book is being released by Weinstein Books, a joint publishing venture between The Weinstein Brothers and The Perseus Book Group. In case that went over your head, that would be the Weinstein Brothers -- Bob and Harvey!  The Oscar winning movie moguls!!!  So yeah, I'm expecting a secretary the next time I try and

contact Paige and her Mom, who will politely reply "Sorry, they're in a meeting."

The book is out now.  Check out the book trailer they made, below! I suggest you get a copy and become acquainted with Sunshine and her world. I've got my Kindle version, and will check back with a review!  In the meantime, here is my chat with Paige "Sunshine" McKenzie...  (her responses are in bold)

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So… Wow, right?  A book! What has been the coolest thing about the whole book thing?

Well, I LOVE books and reading so just being part of the whole literary world has been a dream come true. I get to talk about story and hang out with authors and go to bookstores and just surround myself with all things BOOKS!  

When you and Nick and your Mom first ventured off into the Haunted Sunshine thing, did you expect it to blossom like this?  I know you all probably had great hopes and dreams of big things – but, Weinsteins!  Did that ever factor into your dreams?

I think we thought there would be more "steps". You know, make a film that went to a small film festival and then a little bit bigger film with a "name" in it and maybe after that have a film go to Sundance and get a sponsor for the Youtube. We have always had big dreams and chose to go a more non-traditional route to get Hollywood to pay attention. So it makes total sense that the most creative, think-outside-of-the-box film studio in Hollywood is the one to see the potential of Sunshine! 

Alright, you have  a dodgeball match – who do you pick for your team, Bob or Harvey?  

Oooohhh, tough one! Dodgeball is scary stuff! So I guess I have to say Bob! He IS the one that loves the scary stuff after all! 

You’ve had a lot of cool experiences in the past couple years, with the book, the magazine, the Del Toro House of Horrors set shoot, acting roles outside of Sunshine...  What has been the big highlight of all your adventures, so far?

You are right this has been an amazing adventure so far...if I had to choose one, I have to pick the book and the collaboration with Weinstein. I mean, it's Weinstein! And all the book people are so nice and chill and so very genuine. I feel like I have made life-long friends and that is an amazing bonus. 

Can you tell us a bit about the novel?  Is it stories from your YouTube show, or new adventures?

Book one is basically the 1st playlist or so of the channel. Think of it as Sunshine's "origin story"! Fans of the YouTube will recognize some of their favorite moments from the videos and find "Easter eggs" that they will love. Some changes had to be made, and additions were necessary but the basic idea is the same. But if you have never heard of The Haunting of Sunshine Girl YouTube, no worries. The books are a complete adventure all on their own! 

 
Will there be more Sunshine books? 

At least 2, maybe more! ;) 

How cool is it to have book buds like RL Stine and Wes Craven?  Those were great endorsements.

Any good review makes me happy but when it is an iconic expert of creepy, the feeling is amazing!

Welcome to Sunshine's world

With the Weinstein connection, is there any talk of turning these Sunshine books into a movie series? 

Most people don't even realize that Weinstein has a book division, movies is the logical next step. But who knows, TV might be an option too! 

What’s new on the YouTube scene?  You, along with Mom and Nick, have been madly producing a variety of shows to run along with Haunting of Sunshine Girl on your network. Are there any new things on the YouTube horizon that we can look forward to?

I have been madly creating content to go up while on my book tour! There will be plenty of scary and creeptastic stuff plus some fun other videos from other Tubers. Plus, I'll be posting all kinds of behind the scenes book tour stuff which will be fun! 

We have talked before about how important it was to have Sunshine be a positive role model for girls. Now that your reach has expanded out from just the YouTube show, what are your hopes for further spreading the message of girl power and a positive media image for females?

I think for many girls there are plenty of "cool girl" role models...the Jenners and Taylor Swift and even JLaw seem so perfect and stunning. I mean, Jennifer Lawrence can make tripping look effortless. Sunshine, however, is very accessible and real. Her flaws (real or imagined) are on full display for all to see. She has zits and out of control hair and is scared and brave and confused and positive. And she is your friend.  

The landscape of home entertainment is evolving and growing. How do you see the future of the Internet and streaming television changing?  And where will Sunshine fit in!  (Whoa! -- this is the 60 Minutes interview all of a sudden now!!!)

The changing landscape is one of my favorite things about this time in the entertainment world. Technology has made storytelling faster, easier and far more accessible than ever before. And I only see that growing. For creative thinkers, the sky really is the limit. We are right now brainstorming how to incorporate platforms like Meerkat and Snapchat into how we tell a story. And I love that! 

One last question -- Sunshine has been a part of your life for going on five years. How has Sunshine effected your life, your world?  How has Sunshine changed? (Now I'm Barbara Walters!)

My life is so much different than I think it would have been had I not started the youtube. College would have been the next logical step. Instead I have discovered all these different hats I like to wear: actor, producer, author, creator, Tuber... who knows what is next? 

Throughout the series, and also the book, Sunshine's kind of grown into herself. In the book especially, she find more people to help and guide her in her journey of discovery. She realizes her potential and her destiny. 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

The book is out now, folks, on all your bookstore shelves and on your mobile devices.  If you're a fan, drop a line and let me know what you think about the book!

Bad Ronald sez Congratulations to My Name is A

At long last, some recognition and further praise for a really really amazing film My Name Is A by Anonymous. Director Shane Ryan placed Third overall, and snagged the award for Best Art House Feature at this years Pollygrind Underground Film Festival.  Now, maybe you guys will get to see the film, rather than just hear me blather on about it.


Keep your eyes and ears open.  I expect to hear some news about distribution and play dates around the nation's theaters.

Congratulations Shane!

BadRonald Reviews: Zombie Girl: The Movie (2009)

I Was a 12 Year-Old Zombie Filmmaker!

Wow!  What a surprise this was.  Not only is this documentary -- about a twelve year old filmmaker who makes her very own feature length film -- good, but the actual film that the 12 year-old "Zombie Girl" made (Pathogen a zombie epic -- included on the DVD), is really quite fantastic.

You may have heard the name Emily Hagin lately.  She's the 18 year-old who just recently signed a distribution deal with MPI for her film My Sucky Teen Romance -- which had just premiered at the SXSW Festival.  This is remarkable, seeing that Hagin may very well be the first teenager to get a film released on the major market, but even more remarkable is that MSTR is Hagin's third feature length film.  She's a veteran filmmaker, and she hasn't even hit college! 

Emily first hit the national pop culture scene as the subject of Zombie Girl: The Movie, a 2009 documentary that chronicled Emily's first foray into feature length filmmaking, from the first day of shooting, to the premiere screening of her completed movie at the Alamo Drafthouse.  While so many star-crossed preteens dream of being the next Miley or Taylor or Mrs. Beiber, Emily Hagin finds her influences and inspiration somewhere outside the standard pop realm. She got the movie bug when she was very young, making her own short movies by the age of ten. 

Then, in 2003, inspiration struck at Harry Knowles Butt-Numb-a-Thon 5.  Emily and her mom, Megan (her constant movie-going companion), attended the annual 24 hour movie marathon, with great anticipation for the Q&A with Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson. But, it wasn't the iconic director's pearls of wisdom that kick-started Emily to make her big leap into the features.  Instead, the brainstorming sprang from some good ol' fashioned brain-eating.  One of the other flicks at the marathon was the Aussie comic zombie flick Undead, and it was there and then when Emily came up with her story idea. So, by the following year, she had a completed script, and at age twelve, she began shooting her first feature length film Pathogen.

Having been a part of the motion picture and video industry for numerous years, I've grown fond of the documentaries featuring filmmakers, especially the offbeat kind that feature the non-Hollywood folk or even the next door neighbor, like American Movie, Monster Road, Burden of Dreams...  I enjoy them because the featured filmmaker is someone who is fulfilling their own passion, and struggles to achieve their dreams or their vision.  Emily Hagin is certainly full of passion.  She lives and breathes cinema, and through most of her life, has endeavored to become the filmmaker she has dreamt of being.

You could easily argue that the young filmmakers of today have it fairly easy, with affordable video cameras, highly accessible editing software, and loads of inspiration.  But, the big roadblock here is -- vision.  There are piles of homemade backyard masterpieces, written/directed/edited by every Tom, Dakota and Hunter, made in a fevered pitch of Red Bull fueled hysteria.  And, believe it or not, they're mostly heaping loads of crap, copying, mimicking, or plain ripping-off the same movies, over and over.  I don't mean to say that these home movie mavericks aren't sincere in their passion.  They are!  They clearly love the movies so much, they wanna make every cult classic over again... with their own camera.

Focus focus focus

However, once you see Hagin in action, though fairly meek and mild, you see her passion, and her vision.  For a kid of twelve, she demonstrates an incredible amount of discipline in her work, visiting the sets of professional filmmakers, to study the process, and then, awkwardly maybe, applying them to her film.  She's like a real life Big -- a grown-up caught in a kid's body.  She converses with adults with ease, while struggling to connect to the rest of the kids her age.  Thank goodness for the adults in her life -- especially her Mom -- who guided her, and influenced her to explore and grow creatively.

Bloody Momma

Like I said, Hagin's actual film Pathogen is a fairly fantastic film.  Compared to so many other backyard films, it outshines them with competent direction and finely crafted characters and dialogue.  No, it's not the best of the year quality, but for the first time out, it's very well done.

I'm now looking forward to seeing Hagin's latest My Sucky Teen Romance -- her satire on the vampire craze, lead off by the Twilight series.  I hope it bites!

BadRonald Interview: The Woman Producer - Andrew van den Houten

Yesterday, I posted my interview with Pollyanna McIntosh, and today -- keeping with the The Woman build up -- I'm posting my interview with the film's producer Andrew van den Houten.  I've spoken to Andrew before, after he released Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door.  I was highly impressed with his views of producing and filmmaking.  I admired that he was able to bring such a controversial story to the screen, with a great sense of responsibility and honesty.  I'm glad to see that he's continued to tread down the path of bold filmmaking by releasing more thought-provoking films, such as The Woman.

BadRonald:    I remember you saying that you were in South America (is that correct?) reading a Ketchum book... what a weird experience that must've been.  Have you topped that on?

Andrew van den Houten:    I honestly haven't topped that experience...being sick with food poisoning reading THE GIRL NEXT DOOR for the first time will hopefully never be repeated!

 

BR:    You've produced, mostly.  But you've also directed.  What inspires you to take the lead as director?  And on the flipside, what makes you hand over the reigns to another director? 

 

AVDH    Stories that inspire me to (want to) direct and take the lead tend to connect with me in a more personal way.  Not to say I don't produce projects I'm not personally enthusiastic about, but there is just a deeper connection to those projects I end up directing.  Usually, I connect to creative material too based on where I am at in my life.  After The Girl Next Door, I wanted to direct something down and dirty with plenty of gore.  Offspring, based on Ketchum's novel, was the perfect '70's throwback to explore the themes I was trying to play with.  Also, it was great because Jack could have his first adaptation brought to the screen.

As a producer I always ask myself who will be the best director for any given project.  I have to be willing to put ego aside and make the best decision for the film.  The only way I've grown as a director is by working with more talented directors than myself.  I soak up what they teach me and use those techniques I like and leave the rest behind. 

BR:    After the relative success of The Girl Next Door, Jack Ketchum stories were sought after.  And in three years time THE LOST, OFFSPRING and RED were adapted for screen, with either you or Lucky McKee involved.  How did it happen, then, that the three of you all came together on The Woman?

 

AVDH    Lucky was introduced to me through Jack.  He asked if I wanted to do THE PASSENGER, which at the time I passed on.  A couple years later, as a fan of Lucky, I figured he'd be the perfect writer and director to work with myself and Jack to do the continuation of Offspring story, hence The Woman saga began!

 

BR:    There was a big brouhaha at Sundance over The Woman, with the infamous home video of the irate gentleman accusing the film of being negative towards women.  Can you talk about that incident, and have you heard nay more from that particular man?

 

AVDH:    First let me say, it seems that incident has made this film somewhat infamous.  No, Sundance Guy hasn't reached out to us ever since, however, I should thank him for all the publicity he has given the film.

In short, when the guy got up to protest Lucky and the film, everyone was a bit off guard.  Nobody saw it coming and it was especially strange because a woman had just past out in the back of the theatre at the end of the film.  This guy honestly was being very insensitive towards her and blatantly rude to Lucky and everyone who showed up to see the film.  He should have raised his hand and waited to be called on to express his feeling towards The Woman. 

As far as we all were concerned this guy could have been another dangerous lunatic, especially given the timing.  The GabrielleGifford's incident had just happened a few weeks before, so everyone was on high alert.   In the end, I guess you call it Karma...He hated the film and chose the wrong time to comment on the movie, and now people actually want to see if more because of his public outburst caught on video, now on youtube.

 

BR:    Has there been any other harsh words from viewers?  How is the film being received?

 

AVDH:    Actually, the film has been received incredibly well by critics and audiences alike.  We have won numerous awards at very prestigious festivals, including FrightFest in London.  Distributors have flocked to the film as well and we have closed many solid deals all over the world.  The film's controversy continues to stir people and get them to the theatre.  People seem to be intrigued by what they hear from critics and online in blogs and ultimately want to make their own judgements about our film. 

In the end, most people find The Woman to be much different than what they expect.  In many regards the film is feminist in what it says, which is incredibly rare for the genre.  People have found all kinds of representations in the movie, political and otherwise.  No matter how many times I've seen The Woman, it's still really exciting just to listen and watch how an audience responds from inside a dark theatre!

BR:    How did you become interested in making horror movies?

 

AVDH:    I've always been interested in just making films.  As a fan of horror, when William M. Miller sent me a horror script that later became developed into Headspace, I thought it would be a fun movie to make...that's how it all started.  One horror script led to more, however, since then I have also made a comedy, family movie and a drama.  I find all kinds of stories interesting but I will always have a passion for horror.

 

BR:    What or who are your influences?  Have you watched any of the so-called French Extremism horror?  Your films aren't as gory, or as overtly violent as these films, but they certainly share the same penchant for strong character development.  

 

AVDH:    I have many influences, including Roman Polanski, Martin Scorcese, and David Cronenberg.  I appreciate the way true filmmakers bring story, acting, set-design, lighting and photography all into one being.  Also, great filmmakers don't need to over emphasize what they are doing but use slight of hand.  Many times the most subtle sound or camera movement is more effective than the largest explosion Hollywood can produce.

As far as French Extremism goes, I haven't really looked to their films as an influence as much as I have Asian Extremism.  Filmmakers like Takashi Miike and Chan-wook Park have made stronger and more lasting impressions on me.

 

BR:    Now that you and Lucky and Jack are all hanging out in the cob-webbed, dank recesses of the darkness -- what's next for you guys?

 

AVDH:    Honestly, I see more to follow with The Woman storyline, especially since Jack and Lucky have left it in such a great place to continue.  I also very much would like to explore further to see what Lucky's next "dream project" might be.  Ever since May I've felt Lucky has not done something quite as personal.  That movie is special and he's got a really unique viewpoint on life that is shared through May.  I would love to see if inside the depths of his soul there's another masterpiece like that.  I would sign up in a heart beat to produce...After the creative freedom he had on The Woman, I would be confident in saying he might be down too.

Andian Garcia Bogliano Will Not Die Alone!!

Great News for Our Friend Adrian Garcia Bogliano!!

Hey, is that Bolgliano film finally coming out on DVD?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SYNAPSE FILMS Rewards Fantastic Fest Favorite ADRIAN GARCIA BOGLIANO with Triple-Crown Feature Film Pickup

ROMULUS, MI - September 28, 2011 - Synapse Films has snared rights to three terrifying feature films by celebrated Fantastic Fest and SXSW filmmaker Adrián García Bogliano, the Argentine director of festivl favorite COLD SWEAT and the upcoming PENUMBRA, grabbed by IFC Midnight on the eve of the film's Fantastic Fest world premiere.

In ROOMS FOR TOURISTS a busload of girls fall prey to a town of terror... what connects the victims? The young filmmaker of WATCH'EM DIE takes a job that leads to horror. Four young girls stop to help a woman in the street and it leads to rape horror and death in the breath-stopping I WILL NOT DIE ALONE.

"I am a huge fan of Adrian's films and have seen every single one. I feel that he may be the most talented new filmmaker I have come across," enthuses Synapse head Jerry Chandler. "He is a master of making the most of miniscule budgets and his attention to detail is unmatched. I was hooked when I first saw ROOMS FOR TOURISTS---the atmospheric dread is palpable early on. I WILL NOT DIE ALONE is somewhat similar to I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE, only it's a great movie! And WATCH'EM DIE is much more fun to watch than Hostel or its myriad imitations."

Synapse Films exec Jerry Chandler negotiated the deal with the filmmaker.

Synapse Films has recently released brand-new remastered Blu-ray releases of James Glickenhaus' THE EXTERMINATOR, William Lustig's MANIAC COP, and Frank Henenlotter's FRANKENHOOKER, with Tarantino-producer Lawrence Bender's INTRUDER out this December.