Bad Ronald Peephole Review: Deer Crossing

There are a lot of movies that can be just dismissed as eh, didn't float my boat.  Which doesn't necessarily mean they're bad, just that they weren't that great, either. You know... kinda okay.  But, sometimes, within that neutral category, there's the occasional film that, although it wasn't so great itself, gives a hint that whomever made the movie just may be onto something greater. This is where I would place Deer Crossing, or rather its director Christian Grillo.

Grillo's got a pretty twisted sensibility.  Wicked, actually.  Deer Crossing is full of subversive behavior and nefarious characters. There's an eloquent speaking backwoods killer, a tormented father/husband who neglects his selfish past, an eye-patch wearing creep, and a naked lady chained to a railroad tie. There's incest, sodomy, drugs and rape. And what's impressive is that Grillo shows great restraint, keeping Deer Crossing from delving too deeply into these exploitative cliches, separating his film from the pack of other low budget indie horror.

There are some terrific action sequences, as well.  Grillo has an eye for good action pacing, getting plenty of fast moving coverage to keep the action scenes alive and running. Some of these sequences easily could stand up to Hollywood standards.

The downside is the slower parts of the story.  I love one take dialogue scenes.  They're great moments for the audience to be a fly on the wall, watching some real moments between characters. But, like a good photograph that fills the picture with negative space or peripheral information, a one take filmed scene needs to engage the audience with equal information, or non-information.  Unfortunately, some of the dialogue scenes in Deer Crossing demonstrated a need to edit, to throw out the uncomfortable actor's pauses, as much as some of the superfluous dialogue.

It also suffered some from too much going on. Christopher Mann (The Wire) does well, but his troubled detective character ultimately takes away from what should be the focus of the film -- Michael Chancelor (Warren Hemaway), the father, whose self indulgent ways lead to crippling guilt, after the kidnapping of his son and wife.  Both Mann and Hamaway play characters who deal with terrible losses, but their stories split the emotional cache of the audience.  The story of a father of a kidnapped boy seems, to me, to create more impact.

Speaking of Christopher Mann, you have to appreciate the casting in Deer Crossing.  Besides Mann, they brought in other notable names, like Ghost Buster Ernie Hudson as a frustrated police captain. And the big casting coup is nailing down Pinhead himself, Douglas Bradley as, of all things, the small town Sheriff!  It's an unexpected choice, but it works despite the unlikeliness.  The casting of the backwoods killer worked well, too. The intellectually sounding killer is an old thriller staple, and an overripe one at most times.  But, with K.J. Linhein as the Santa bearded redneck with a baritone voice, the role of the backwoods killer became uniquely memorable. Another seeming bit of odd casting was the role of the highly regarded child specialist, called in to work with the kidnapped boy.  By standard ways, you'd expect a person of such importance, as to be helicoptered in, to be this eloquent Harvard influenced stuffed suit.  What we get is Olivia Brice (played by Carmela Hayslett), an auburn-haired, tough talking girl, who isn't there to play nice.  Like with Linhein sounding more intellectual than hillbilly, Hayslett keeps (what seems to be) her strong Philly accent, sounding more street than high society.  It works, because it shakes off what we were expecting.

Overall, I really dig Christian Grillo's vision, and willingness to go there, more than I wholly appreciated this film.  He made some good directional choices, but I would like to have seen the film streamlined, rattling off at about 90 minutes of face paced thrills.  Regardless, see this movie.  It's subversive and twisted.  And, more importantly, you need to watch Grillo.  He's got danger in his mind.  If'n he keeps it up, he might become something of a Ketchum or a Laymon of the genre movies.

BadRonald Peephole Review: Sunshine Girl Gets Real Creepy

Black Eyed Kids (aka BEKs) is an urban legend that's been going around for the past fifteen years, or so, with stories of encounters with children with pitch black eyes, no pupils or whites. As the legend goes, the encounters usually happen in a car, with the children asking the driver for a ride home. Other versions have the children knocking at doors, asking to be let in. All versions tell of a strange, overwhelming power that the BEKs seem to have, that weakens the willpower of the people who encounter them.

Sounds like the kinda kids you want to meet up with on a cold rainy night, right?

A caught on tape encounter with a BEK is at the open of Sunshine Girl and the Hunt for Black Eyed Kids. The viral video, featuring two young lovers in a parked car, appears to be a self-made sex video which goes horribly wrong. The young man (holding the camera) coaxes his date to take off her top, which she does, reluctantly. Nothing scary there. Until, at her window appears a young boy. It's late, and he's begging for a ride to his mom's house. He seems harmless, until they see his eyes, dark and creepy. As the couple tries to leave, the boy becomes frighteningly enraged, and starts pounding on the car.

Cut to Sunshine Girl, who sits in her room, addressing the camera, vlog style, explaining how someone sent her the video, and how the BEK legend is her absolute favorite, and how she's making a movie about them, and... Well, as Sunshine herself says, "Before I get ahead of myself..."

Sunshine Girl is the teenage YouTube sensation, who's been vlogging about her strange encounters with ghostly things around her home in suburban Washington. It's not as dark and sinister as it sounds, though some of her adventures have gotten pretty dark and sinister. Just as interesting as the paranormal encounters is her encounters with her Mom and her pop culture fanaticism. She's part Veronica Mars and part Scooby gang, wrapped up in a Ghost Hunter world.

And now she's jumping from the computer screen to the big screen, going on the hunt for these BEKs. But, first she has to get Mom's permission. As is typical in her webseries, Sunshine has to match wits with her Mom (played by Mercedes Rose). Like a teenager asking for the car for the night, Sunshine (who "reveals" her real name as Frances Jones) is surprised that her mom puts the kibosh on her plans to go meet the admittedly creepy guy who has been feeding her info on BEKs. It's these conversations that Sunshine has with her Mom and her friends that really make her program so unique.

Where most other paranomalists cable shows have bickering and forced drama between the cast members, Sunshine Girl feels more like an episode of Gilmore Girls or Seinfeld, weaving dialogue around and away from the subject matter, and then back again. This bit of flavoring is due greatly to Sunshine and Mom being an actual Mother/Daughter act.  But, also mostly due to Sunshine creator, and BEK director Nick Hagen.

We've already encountered the "caught on tape" successes of Paranormal Activity, [REC], Cloverfield and the like. But Hagen's BEK isn't your typical a caught on tape movie.  Really, it's a hey kids, let's make a movie movie. His Sunshine webseries works because of the air of naturalism he'd created, that emulates the gazillion teen vlogs out there, where kids just spill their existence out in front of a camera. Short two/three minute episodes, where the cast members ad libbed the dialogue worked with great success, giving every appearance that it's an average everyday teen YouTube rambling.  To translate to the big screen, however, Hagen sets aside the Flipcam style shooting for a more polished Hi-Def look.  Cleverly, he does this by having Sunshine hire a professional camera crew to film her exploits. This little plot point allows the BEK movie to separate from the rest of the found footage pack.


The major draw of the Sunshine world is, of course, Sunshine herself.  Not only does the camera like her, but she has that undeniable "it" factor.  Her charms and talent have attracted nearly 22 thousand subscribers, and over 10 million views on her YouTube channel.  And as much credit as she deserves for the successes of the webseries, equel credit has to go to Hagen for his credible talent behind the camera. His real genius is making Sunshine's world appear to be so unusually normal. Never going going overboard, and keeping it all "real" (real enough to have scores of fans debating -- and fighting and cursing -- over whether Sunshine is a phoney or scam artist).

And now, with Sunshine expanding into the bigger, feature length motion picture world, Hagen has pulled off another major feat, in keeping Sunshine's world still just as grounded and real. He does this, as I mentioned earlier, by creating a let's make a movie scenario. Sunshine is still playing "herself." only this time as the subject of her own documentary. She moves about her same, familiar world, dealing with her Mom, and her Scooby gang sidekick Nolan, only this time, when she starts meddling in places she shouldn't. Hagen steps up the intensity, taking Sunshine's viewers into more frightening territories, and makes it all work, again, by not going overboard. Like the best of the creepers from the 70s era, the pace begins slowly -- enthusiastic, but unhurried -- keeping the audience in a happy place. He keeps the action placed in typically not-so-scary places, like a busy block in Downtown Portland, or a suburban neighborhood.  By the time Sunshine, Nolan, and their Shaggy new sidekick Andrew meet the creepy man with the inside knowledge of the BEKs, the usual Sunshiney world becomes unsettled. But not nearly as unsettling once they actually encounter the BEKs.

This is the fun part about Sunshine Girl and the Hunt for Black Eyed Kids -- it plays fun and bright, but then watch out -- you're in for some real frights!  There are some genuinely chilling moments in this film.  Hagen pulls off a terrific caught-on-tape chiller.  And Sunshine proves that she's ready for bigger adventures.

No doubt, after seeing Sunshine Girl and the Hunt for Black Eyed Kids, there will be that moment when you see some seemingly normal kid walking about in the dark, and you're gonna just be waiting for them to look up, so you can see their eyes.  But, by then, it's too late.

Go to the BEK site, and get the movie for just a few bucks.  Seriously!  Do it now!!!

Bad Ronald sez What the French Toast!

Don't know if you've seen CouchCutter's “F*ck You” – An Open Letter To The Horror Community -- but it's worth a read.  Even though the article (written by David Anthony) is flawed and spins around on itself, it's worth the time for the fact that it's opened the discussion on supporting independent horror.

With a title like that, I read on with great anticipation.  What I found in this FU message reminded me of a failed tape mix I once made.  Several years ago, a couple friends of mine were swapping some good ol' Country & Western mixes, and I culled together 90 minutes of Honky Tonk'n classics and Bluegrass ditties and hillbilly hi-jinx.  For the cassette sleeve I designed a cover that bore the image of Johnny Cash righteously stabbing his middle finger up to the camera.  I just liked the image.  I'm a huge Cash fan, so it caught my eye.  Only problem was, one of my tape-mix friends called bullshit on me. Rightfully so, I had to admit.  You see, I didn't have any songs, really, that were outright angry or nasty.  Sure, there were some pissy drunks, musing abut their wandering ways and wanton women and broken tractors.  My latest garage sale stash of LPs were mostly the classic cowboy stuff, and there weren't no anger in 'em.  My clever design turned out to be fairly unclever and failed to deliver a kick-ass mix appropriate to the angry Cash title design.  My bad.

I had the same bullshit response to Anthony's rant as my friend had to my cassette cover.

A fuck you you shall get

Basically, what the article said was the "horror community" needs to start supporting indie horror movies.  That if "we" make films like the remakes of Evil Dead and Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween big successes, then why can't "we" make smaller films like Father's Day successful.  He blames the "horror community" for the fact that the filmmakers of small genre films like Dear God No! or Father's Day can't whip out films as easily as their Hollywood big wig counterparts. "There’s not enough money there for investors to get involved," writes Anthony. "And we are where the money comes from. We, as an audience, as a horror community are the *root* of the problem."  Not so much a "fuck you" as it is a tongue-lashing from dad.

He adds that "we" are responsible for the well being of the independent filmmaker, and that "we" should assure them a career, and that have failed them: "People have bills, cars, kids, mortgages, and all this other shit in-between that costs money. And as much as you appreciate their films, your appreciation is not paying their bills."  I guess "we've" been spanked.

I don't know, I was expecting something a lot more scathing and angry from a piece titled "F*ck You...". Something that would get my head nodding and fists a-clenching, like I was listening to a good vitriolic jam slam by The Who or Suicidal Tendencies or some shit like that.

My first major problem with the CouchCutter rant is the flagrant use of "we," as if the "horror community" is really such a unified or even defined thing. It's not so much the idea that all people who happen to share an interest are grouped together in a general category that bugs me.  Rather, it's the assumption that because they share a similar interest that they -- we -- all then are suppose to share the same opinions, or drives, or perceptions or bias.  Yes, we all like horror.  But none of us like all horror.  I prefer the smaller independent horror films from America. I really like foreign horror, from Great Britain, Argentina, France, Hong Kong -- even Canada (Soska Sisters, eh!).  However, I can't tell you the last time I went to a theater to see a horror film from a major studio.  But, that's me.  Some others -- Anthony includes himself in this bunch -- don't really dig the inde horror flicks.  "We" are never gonna agree on everything.  Some really dig big splashy horror, while others go the low key chills path.  Hey, agreeing on everything hasn't worked for the Democrats nor Republicans -- why would we assume it would work for horror fans?

You mean, there's more?

My other major disagreement is that the "horror community" is to blame for the failures, or lack of successes, of indie horror films.  First of all, the definition of success, in Anthony's article, is not clearly defined. The remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street is labeled a success because it tripled its $35 million budget, but Human Centipede is a failure because, even though it had lots of press, it made (by his numbers) only less than $3 million.  Comparatively, Nightmare is the one percenter, while HC is on welfare. I'm not sure of Anthony's idea of what makes a successful indie horror movie, but seeing that HC made that $3 mil (I'm thinking it's likely made much more on VOD alone, but I haven't been able to scare up those numbers) then it's doubled its less than $1.5 million budget AND generated a (terrible) sequel.  Seems the horror community did good by it, and made it a success.

The mistake would be to compare apples and nectarines (again, I'm not positive what Anthony's stand is, so I'm generalizing).  Hollywood movies can make $100 million, but still be considered a loser, if'n it don't match their $150 million budget.  However, an indie can make $5 million and be crazy successful, because the budget was much much lower.  With that said, any horror movie that generates a box office of $10s of millions -- that movie moves beyond the support of the "horror community" and got loads of help from the mainstream audience.  Rob Zombie's Halloween remake doubled its $15 million budget on the opening weekend, and then took in another $50 million overall.  It would be nice to think that there were that many horror fans.  But truth be told, the majority of those ticket buyers were the general public.  Teens, most likely, who like thrills and action, whether they be in a comic chase, and spy roughhouse, or horror.  Sure, lots of horror fans were filling those seats, as well.  But I'd never go as far as to say that the "horror community" made that film a success.  I WOULD go as far as to say that the "horror community" made the original Halloween the continued, cult success that it is now.

The successful indie horror movie is not going to appear as the success stories we're all used to seeing: Saw, Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project. These flicks are phenomenons, the extraordinary... at least today they are. There was a time when independently produced films were distributed by major studios on a regular basis.  That's how we got Halloween, Friday the 13th and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (and countless other indie horror gems).  These movies literally toured the Country, generating word of mouth, and building anticipation over months. Today's model of distribution is much different, with the majors relying heavily on open weekend box office.  They want instant results, so they're not going to snatch up many indie horror flicks, unless they're uniqueness can assure them a big weekend take.  Gauging the success of an indie produced and distributed horror flick by the Hollywood distribution model standard only sets us up for disappointment.  Why compare the two?  If a small budget film recoups its budget, and makes enough to pay the cast and crew properly, then it's a success.  Period.  There, we've put food on the table.

The last major problem I have with CouchCutter's FU is that a lot of blame goes on the filmmakers themselves.  If they want to make this their living, then, just like any other job they've ever held, performance matters.  Make a good film, that people want to see, and then make sure they see it.  Work!  The notion that the "community" just ought to support the filmmakers, because we're a "community" is bogus.  I'll do my share by seeking out and watching the movies I like or want, and avoiding the ones I don't think are worth my time.  But, I am in no way obligated to ensure that the indie horror filmmakers have shoes on their feet.  That's their bag.

Cripes! Will this lecture ever end?

Luckily, today filmmakers have new avenues to follow.  There's the festival route, which helps build that great word of mouth for films like Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Woman, V/H/S, The Innkeepers.  There's also Netflix and RedBox, and the likes, and Video on Demand.  There's Amazon, YouTube, Vimeo.  The market is now open, and ready for business!  Self distribution has become so much easier than back in the day, when the actual film had to be carted around city to city (anyone who complains about how hard it is to have to Twitter/FaceBook/Pintrest/blog/Flickr about their movie should read up on pioneers like William Castle or Roger Corman and the likes, to see how it's really done).  It takes work!  Even established celebs have to pound the cyberpavement -- look to Kevin Smith or Louis CK.  With every celeb who has a go of it, there are a thousand worthy non-celebs who're busting their asses too, trying to get their work seen.  Last year I checked off My Name is A by Anonymous as the Best Movie You Haven't Seen Yet of 2011.  Amazing film!  You still haven't seen it in 2012, though.  Luckily, due to director Shane Ryan's hard work, you'll get to see it soon on DVD and possibly VOD.  Also, check out what Nick Hagen is doing to get the movie he's made of his successful YouTube hit The Haunting of Sunshine Girl.  The webseries has logged over 10 million views, and has over twenty thousand subscribers, but do you think he could just waltz into a distributors office and secure a deal?  Not so fast!  He's doing it the ol' fashioned way, by busting his knuckles and banging on laptop screens across the world, creating good buzz.  Will it work for him and Sunshine?  We'll see soon, when the film is self distributed online and on DVD on December 21.  


Look, I agree with Anthony on the idea that independent horror should be supported more (I'll ditto that credo for indie movies in general). Why not?  Most every Hollywood trend we've had comes straight from an indie movie: Blue Velvet, Apocalypse Now, Blair Witch Project, Star Wars, Pulp Fiction, Saw, Clerks, Paranormal Activity...  Films like these, made outside the major studio world, actually drove the major studios to rethink their model... and then proceed to embarrass themselves with countless copycat clunkers. I agree heartily that we support indie horror, because I love indie horror.  I love the rough amateurishness of backyard cinema, the testing of limits with caught on tape thrills, the quietness of a limited budget.  It all makes for good experimentation.  This is where the real success lies, in the experiments, the finding of new techniques.  The clever mind will figure out ways to reach beyond the limitations, and that's when the breakthroughs happen.  Only in indie filmmaking do you find such successes.

So, yes!  Support indie filmmaking -- especially indie horror.This is the one thing I can agree with CouchCutter on.  If there is such thing as a "horror community" then get off your asses and start taking horror seriously. 

Yay! It's over!!

And as far as the "Fuck You" to the "community" -- hell, I think they deserve it.  But not in ways CouchCutter described.  Cripes, there's loads more things to dump on them for. How about fans who personally attack filmmakers whom they don't like, as if it's their right to disregard them as a human, just because you didn't like their casting choices.  How about for slamming other fans of other movies you don't like?  So what, they like vampires that sparkle!  You like movies with no solid storyline -- big whoop!  How about those twerps who laughed their way through a Linda Blair head spin, during the re-release, but now copycat the stairway spider crawl on their own Windows Moviemaker masterpiece?  How about bully blogging?  How about lame ass petitions?  How's about we all just watch a horror movie that we like and shut our faces and eat some popcorn?

Wait... that wasn't nice.

And one last thing, let's differentiate between indie horror and amateur horror. Independent filmmakers like Ti West, or Adam Wingard, or Tom Six -- and even more low budget directors like James Bickert or the Soska Twins -- these guys are clearly serious about their craft.  You may not like all their stuff, but they're working hard to create and distribute. Then there's a load of others who bang out a movie that pretty much emulates every other movie that they like, and call themselves indie filmmakers.  Their stuff is poorly shot, badly written and self gratifying. These are the filmmakers who ruin it for the others.  They ruin it by abusing the term indie, to push their self absorbed rip-offs on the fans, and they make it harder for working filmmakers to get respect for their work.  Fuck you to them...

Support indie filmmaking.

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 Teaser: Sunshine Girl Movie Trailer!!!

One of the great YouTube success stories is set to burst off your laptop screen and onto theater screens and TV screens across the country.  Sunshine Girl is someone I've spoken about many times, with her self-recorded quirkiness and Scooby Gang ghost hunting antics (which can been viewed on her YouTube channel The Haunting of Sunshine Girl).  Her mini adventures run the gamut of fresh and silly teen girl vlogging, to some real jump-from-your-computer-chair frights.  There's ghosts and demons and paranormal mayhem.  But mostly, there's Sunshine herself.

I got word from Sunshine that she's gotten herself into a bit of a paranormal pickle.  She's been out investigating the phenomenon known as Black Eyed Kids (otherwise known as BEKs), and trying to hunt some down.  Only problem is... she found some.  Yikes!!!

The up side is, she's sharing her BEK adventures with the world in a new feature film Sunshine Girl and the Hunt for Black Eyed Kids.  Sunshine dropped this trailer off to me with a message, warning that people need to see this now!

"Bad Ronald rocks for sharing the trailer to my new movie, Sunshine Girl and the Hunt for BEKs. I can't wait to share it with everyone and be on the look out for some exclusive pics from my movie coming to Bad Ronald blog very soon!"

The BEK movie will be released 12-21-12 on DVD and VOD. Check the Sunshine Movie website for updates and make sure to jump on the newsletter.

Peephole Review: ATM is Out of Order

Sometimes you just wanna sit down for some mindless fun, and have some easy thrills and chills. And sometimes what you get is some mindless writing and directing. ATM is not a complete dud.  It had some moments (none of which I can particularly recall, at this moment), but everything gets unraveled by a ridiculously convoluted wrap-up ending.

To the strains of Silent Night, an unidentified man peruses some blueprints and satellite Google maps, warming his toes with an electric space heater, as he plots out diagrams and angles.  The pre-credit action concludes with the man pulling on a black winter parka with a fuzzy snorkel hood. Cut to young upwardly mobile dude making his way to slag the phones at a big city financial firm.  As he trudges through the crowded streets, shots of crime scene tape and body bags zip past.  The tension is surely intended.

The young man finds himself in a pickle when he has to report to a client that he's wasted their investment away to nothing.  What's worse is that the co-worker he's been hopelessly pining over is leaving the firm.  His last chance to make any kind of contact with her is at the office Christmas party.  Naturally, his goofball buddy goads him on, reminding him of what a loser he is.  He finally manages enough backbone to offer the girl a ride home, only to be cackblocked by his goofball buddy.  Next thing he knows, he's at an ATM, getting cash out to pay for the third wheel's late night munchie attack.

Unwittingly, the trio of office workers have fallen into the icy web of the killer in a snorkel hood, locking themselves inside the ATM kiosk after seeing the ominous figure outside the doors. For the next hour is a cat-and-mouse game, as the hooded killer terrorizes the trio, preventing them from escaping, and brutally and mercilessly smashing anyone who tries to help.

The gimmick of people under attack (by wildlife or maniacs) in an isolated space has become a common in horror (Open Water, Frozen, Inside...), and really, the success depends upon how the filmmaker builds the tension. Director David Brooks and writer Chris Sparling do a fine job keeping the obstacles coming, and keeping them relatively believable (if not predictable).  But the unraveling all comes in the last moments of the film.

There's nothing worse than a horror/thriller movie where everything simply falls into place, just so, so that the end twist will work perfectly.  All the obstacles dropped in the way of the trio, like I said, worked within the context of the action. All the meticulous planning we saw at the open of the movie had paid off, and the killer worked all the physical angles to successfully trapped his prey. Cool!  Not only did the killer blueprint his attack, but he also relied on some common human fear, to manipulate his victims to do things they probably never would have done in their normal everyday lives.  Wow! A cunning and crafty killer at work -- how fun! This would have been a fine enough story, had the filmmakers left it at that.  But, they had to go add their clever twist.  A twist that fails the entire film.

 (enter spoiler alert here) 

The cunning and smart hunter not only manipulated the physical elements of his "game," AND has manipulated the actions of the prey... but the twist also finds the killer manipulating pure coincidence to target all blame for the violence surrounding the entire event fully onto the young finance worker.  This twist worked very well in Wolf Creek, frustrating the audiences who watched helplessly as the sole survivor of the Outback killer's torturous mayhem gets arrested and charged with the murders. It's a twist that works because of the tenuous relationships, the isolated setting, and the physical evidence and assumptions determined by the police.  Sparling and Brooks weren't confident enough to leave it up to that.  Too bad.  Instead, they convolute the young man's actions to coincide with the intervals of the timed recordings of the ATM security camera.  So, what they are asking us to believe is that the killer not only manipulates the friends, turning them on each other with fear, but that the camera miraculously only rolls when the guy 1.) accidentally shoves the girl to the floor. 2.) He grapples with his buddy, and then 3.)Grabs at the knife put into the chest of his friend, by the killer.  Not only that, the camera rolls on NOTHING but the violent actions of the young man. To the police, this is all the visual evidence they need to pin the crimes on the young man.  He's violent, he shoves his friends around, and he has the knife in his hand.  Case closed.  What a genius the killer is, that he can control fate, on top of all things.  But, could the killer have manipulated the ATM camera, you ask?  If he had, they didn't show it.  And that would've exonerated the young man, once they cops discovered that.

So, all in all, I can't recommend ATM.  The twist is nothing but a setup, and the plot and action never rise to the occasion.   You're better off getting your money out somewhere else -- this ATM is out of order.

Malice: The Webseries Returns!

Rolling out from my grave to bring you a special Halloween alert.  Forget Sandy, or the Elections (I know, they're both awful frightening!), Malice: The Web Series is the big happening on Halloween.  Season Two premieres with a fantastic episode that expands the series in both technical and narrative ways.  If you haven't been watching, go give it a great big try.

To whet your appetite, here's an interview with Malice creator Philip Cook...

Can you give me a little background on you, and also a bit about the film community where you live and work?

Well … I’ve been knocking round a while.  In the 80s I worked on the first MTV Ids. 

And animated rock videos for the Alan Parsons Project “Don’t Answer Me” as an animation cinematographer.

I had always wanted to make features so when the animation company I worked for moved to New York I stayed behind in Washington D.C. to direct my first feature the sci-fi film OUTERWORLDwhich debuted on the SyFy Channel the year they launched.

After that I directed another sci-fi thriller called INVADER which was broadcast on HBO, Showtime and Cinemax.  And then after that I made a direct to video feature DESPISER.  These were all micro-budget independent productions.  But they all got finished, made their money back and got distributed worldwide.

How did the concept of Malice begin?

Well I still wanted to produce stories yet it is so difficult to raise money for production.  In the 80s it was possible to make a no-star-name independent genre film and get it in a movie theater.  That day has passed.

In the 90s it was possible to make a no-star-name genre picture and get it on TV and cable.  That day has passed.

In 2000 it was possible to make a no-star-name genre picture and sell videos to 35,000 Blockbuster and 27,000 Hollywood video stores.  Well those stores are all gone now.

What was left?  The web.  Produce a web series and distribute it your self via YouTube or other means?  How does it work?  How do you monetize your efforts?  Interesting possibilities.  So I started researching web series and found most of them awful.  But then I found THE GUILD, which I loved.  You could see some rough production value in the early episodes but the writing and characters were brilliant.  I thought I could do this and bring some of my production and visual effects experience to bear.

I needed a containable story.  A hook.  A compelling character.  It had to be tightly paced and character driven.  It had to have visual effects.  So I thought … hmm … well I live in this interesting house.  What if it was haunted?  It wasn’t hard for me to hear the voices of Alice and Abbey come from anecdotes of my daily life with my two daughters.  I like swords.  Dad has swords.  We also have a bunny named Plot.  You get the idea.  But we have no Ghost Boy in our house.  I made him up.  But the eyeball in the garbage disposal?  That’s real.  Hmm.  Not really.

Your cast is terrific, but Brittany Martz seems like a one in a million find.  I understand you discovered her in a not so typical way.

It was truly serendipity.  I spent months writing the scripts and getting them as tight as I could.  But I dragged my feet on producing the show.  I knew it was going to completely consume my life for a year.  And there was no point in going through all this effort if I couldn’t find brilliant actors.  It would live or die by its cast.  MALICE is a self-finance show so casting directors and the SAG (Screen Actors Guild) was out.  Being typical me I said I’ll find my own cast.  So I put out an ad on Craigslist, looking for young teen girls to be in a horror show.  Sounds creepy right?  But I crafted the ad very carefully -- listed my credits, links to my website and past productions.  The most remarkably talented young people started showing up for the casting call.  But when Brittany read the voice-over for me in her audition I was sold.  She had a lovely old-world-wise melancholy coming from such a young woman.  It’s funny because she wasn’t at all how I envisioned how Alice would look.  But she was simply amazing.  Now I can’t even see my original Alice -- it’s Brittany now.

How has it been working with Brittany, and the rest of the cast?

Brittany is wonderful.  Motivated, enthusiastic, committed, always thinking how the shot or scene is plugging into the story arc.  She really gets the process – wise like a veteran in that regard.  Frankly our whole cast was the most amenable group of people I have ever worked with.  I can honestly say we all had blast shooting MALICE.  We collectively all lived at my house for a month and made a horror show.  What could possibly be more fun then that?

The effects look pretty sweet, and the stories are great.  How tough is it to work all this magic into such a tight budget (and small crew)?

Well.  It’s hard.  MALICE’s crew was basically me as the Director/Director of Photography/Lighting Person and Art Director.  I had a wonderful committed young makeup artist Courtney Westphal who basically was my right hand on the set and I ended up crediting her as an Associate Producer.  And I had Max Heaton who just graduated from school was my Sound Recordist.  And of course my daughter Alexandra was Production Manager keeping us all straight on logistics.  That was it.  The whole gang.  Quite a few days it was just Brittany and I running around grabbing pickup shots or insert scenes – an army of one and the star!

What I find great about some of these webseries I've come across is the potential for them to go bigger.  You've now moved  beyond YouTube, right?

 

We’re on a couple of hosting sites right now.  YouTube, Blip.TV and most recently Koldcast.TV -- which has been remarkable.  They’re very selective of what they host on their site and they actively drive crazy amounts views.  So that’s very exciting expanding our audience.

MALICE has tons of potential.  I simply love the dynamic of Alice, this diminutive young woman being thrown into these way-over-her-head situations that she has to resolve.  And it’s not because she a superhero or has superpower.  She just cares and does the best she can.  Some of it comes down to a mere survival struggle but the other part is finding a profound inner strength when you need it.  But in the end, Alice is just a kid trying to grow up.

Right now, you have a Kickstarter campaign, to raise funds to continue.  How tough is it to find support, being outside of the usual big production areas of NYC or LA.

It’s very hard.  We have started with nothing but a hundred pages of script and lots of committed young talented people that I never even know barely a year ago.  Yet we are managing to build a community around this show. MALICE is taking on a life of its own.  Fans all around the world are discovering the show and that is very exciting.  But I feel we are merely a hundred feet up the slope of Everest right now.  And it’s a five-mile hike to the summit.  But we’ll get there.  And it will be epic!

And how challenging has it been to build a fan base?

We’d love to go to Comic Con.  But it takes money and our production runs on two sticks and a Band-Aid.  Did I mention micro-budget?  Perhaps some day.  I know if I could get Abbey (Rebekkah Johnson) and Alice (Brittany Martz) in the lobby of Comic Con wearing Battle-BunnyT-shirts and black bunny hats passing out flyers that geeks would flock to them.  Guerilla marketing with a bunny twist!

Besides all the cool weaponry and kick ass qualities of Alice, you and Brittany have developed her to be quite a positive role model for young girls.  Not only does she handle the firepower like a boss, she uses her wit and brains to get through the messes.  Was this your original concept of your heroine?  Did Brittany help mold her with you?

All of what Alice is was carefully crafted in the script.  We really didn’t deviate barely a single word from what was written.  But what Brittany did was make you believe that Alice was real, sincere, threatened, vulnerable and brave.  She sold it.  It’s quite remarkable watching her say my lines and making me hear them as if for the first time.  That is a gift and she gave to MALICE for all of you to see.

As far as Alice as a role model?  I think that’s cool.  In my view isn’t that why we want to hear and watch these stories?  To get some closure?  Take a journey?  Resolve something epic that we rarely witness in our regular lives?  Alice is a noble and tragic heroine making tough choices.  Her life is not going to be easy.

What do you have in store for Malice: The Webseries in its upcoming new season?  And secrets you can share?

In the interim we produced a special “MALICE in Space” episode that is completely out of context of the main story but features the same characters – Dad and Alice.  It was a pretty wild and intense promotion for a Space: 1999 convention coming up in L.A. in September.

Consider it another of Alice’s “wild flights of fantasy.”

After that we continue our story with Episode-Seven, which really ups the ante concerning MALICE.  We see Alice and Abbey’s house party.  And as you can imagine it’s going to be a total disaster.  What ever is going on in that house starts to show up in a big way.  And then from there … it’s a roller coaster straight down the rabbit hole!

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So, what are you waiting for?  Go check out Philip Cook's amazing webseries, and watch Brittany Martz kick some monster ass in Malice: The Webseries.

Click here to watch the new season on KoldCast!