Halloween Eve with the "Godfather of Gore" himself: Herschell Gordon Lewis, and the 50th Anniversary of the film that started it all: Blood Feast!

A Halloween Evening with the “Godfather of Gore” himself HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS

And The 50^th Anniversary of the film that started it all… BLOOD FEAST

Directed by HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS/1963/67mins.

With William Kerwin, Mal Arnold, Connie Mason, Lyn Bolton

Screenplay by Allison Louise Downe

When: Oct. 31, 2013

9:00 PM – 10:45 PM

Location: Miami Beach Cinematheque at Historic City Hall

1130 Washington Ave

Miami Beach, Fl 33139

Once upon a time…fifty years ago, a man named Herschell Gordon Lewis and company set out to conquer the world with a new genre of over-the-top, never-seen-before, in-your-face, exploitive, and shocking cinema entertainment that would eventually be coined “gore”, or in this case, specifically, “Florida Gore”. It was time to take advantage of the growing Southern American Drive-In market with whatever they could get away with, since censorship under the long-in-effect Production Code was in demise. BLOOD FEAST, made quickly in the summer of 1963, was that experiment. How could they put together a film so outrageous and shocking that thousands of young impressionables would flock to pay them for doing it, all in good fun? With a little cash and not much time, they gathered a cast of acquaintances and the recent Playboy centerfold (Connie Mason) for good measure. And with that, history was made, with the first gore film that would go on with others in the varied Lewis cannon to influence The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Night of the Living Dead, Friday the 13th, and even higher-brow entertainments like The Wild Bunchand Reservoir Dogs. Inspired by the French Grand Guignol tradition (and the mighty dollar), grindhouse, gore, and "splatter" were born, in Miami Florida.

By the way, the plot of BLOOD FEAST, and there is a plot between the real “points of interest”, is actually quite clever, suspenseful, scary, and fun. “Fun” is the key word however, because it was never meant to take itself very seriously. (In a nutshell: A killer is on the loose in Miami. His day job is catering...specializing in exotic Egyptian feasts. An inept detective attempts to figure out his motives as his victims disappear.) But plot is secondary to why this film is so famous and why it caused mass hysteria, fainting in the back seats of cars, and several fatal heart attacks (just kidding). WARNING: “This film is so shocking that you may…” (or however that brilliant marketing scheme went). In any case, it is fifty years later and a lot has happened since then, so take a break from today’s horrors and come celebrate the 50^th Anniversary of a Florida classic, and the man who made it happen!

HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS

himself will introduce his Made-in-Miami Classic!

($12 or $11 students/seniors, and $10 MBC Members. Your ticket includes an official souvenir Blood Feast Barf Bag...just in case!)

(The event ends just in time to catch the best of

what will be happening on Lincoln Road! And you'll have a parking space!)

Click here for more information, and to get your tickets!

GORIEST COSTUME wins a PREMIERE MBC MEMBERSHIP!

PLUS…on display throughout October at MBC:

FLORIDA GORE...

A Mystery Horror Feature Film Launches Kickstarter Campaign During This Disturbing Halloween Month!

“Great film project! Have you heard of dead speaking through white noise? What about Facebook?” ~Lee Andrews, Crowd funding mentor, Santa Monica, CA

“The ambitious couple have embarked on a challenging project. I’m glad to be part of this project by pledging via Kickstarter and will become one of the Executive Producers of this film. Can’t wait to watch this film” ~Shamjee Ganth

“There aren’t many female Director of Photography in the film industry. Although I hold multiple roles in this project, I’m proud to say I am the Director of Photography for Disturbed” ~Yegavaani

“My art career started with music. After enduring many challenges and obstacles, I am proud to say I secured a publishing deal with Sony Music for my first album; and now in 2013 here I am a film maker” ~Nakkeeran

The Story Behind Disturbed’s Kickstarter Campaign

Disturbed is a mystery horror feature film being made by a married couple, Nakkeeran and Yegavaani, who have great passion for filmmaking and art. The couple have made many music videos and received overwhelming support and TV airplays worldwide. To fulfill their long-term passion in film making, they embarked on a short film project. Their short-film teaser trailer received great response and many demanded for a full-length feature film. This ultimately paved the way for them to take the giant leap into making a feature film titled ‘Disturbed’. 

Their initial plan was to approach producers to back their project. When this proved to be impossible they decided to take on the challenge themself with their own financial savings.

‘When you are passionate about something you have to go for it. It doesn’t matter even if you fail because later in life you don’t want to regret for not trying’, says Yegavaani, who came up with the initial story for Disturbed and currently juggles multiple roles including Director, DOP, Production Manager, PR Manager as well as Casting Director.

They funnel their income and savings of nearly £10,000 into this project and
maintained their day jobs, as it is the source of finance for this ever money hungry project. However, they were left in dilemma as the cost grew more than their initial budget, as they had to hire more technical experts, hire accommodation for crew/actors, rent shooting locations and additional equipment costs.

Fortunately, they came across a site called Kickstarter through a friend. They were amazed to find thousands of projects receiving overwhelming public support in order to showcase their creative talents. Many projects were successfully funded beyond the pledge goal. This gave them boost and motivation.

They created a site for their project in Kickstarter. Since they have already spent a lot of money in this project, they wanted to set a reasonable pledge goal as Kickstarter has ‘all-or-nothing policy’ i.e. the project will be funded only if they achieve their pledge goal. Hence, they set a pledge goal of £5000 to support their pre-production and production costs. However, the cost for post-production works, hiring film publicist, performing PR works to promote the film, seeking distributor, setting up film premiere, sending the film to film festivals etc., will cost a lot more. Thus the stretch goal for this campaign is £50,000.

'Everyone has passion for something but due to family, work and many other commitments, they may not be able to pursue their passion. However, the passion within them will lead them to support someone else’s passion. This way they as supporters will get an indirect personal satisfaction of fulfilling their passion through helping someone else’s dream’, says Yegavaani. The couple believes many passionate people will support their project by pledging. This way they will receive the rewards as well as become part of the film project via Kickstarter - http://kck.st/175CBOx.

The Team Behind Disturbed

All of their previous projects (music videos and short film) were made solely by the couple i.e. one-man and one-woman show. However, this is not possible for a feature film. Hence they hired crew and assistants to work with them in this project. They hired actors from UK, Romania and Portugal to suit the characters in the film. An international PR team from US, UK, Australia, Malaysia and India is working on this project. ‘We have meticulously planned our steps. We have formed an International Public Relations team with passionate members who will be able to explore the independent film market’, says Nakkeeran.

The Storyline of “Disturbed - are you sure you’re alone?

Disturbed is currently in pre-production stage and will be completed in 2014. It will be made in dual languages – in English ‘Disturbed’ and in Tamil ‘Kulappam’. The film is about Zach, a major car accident victim who returns home from hospital. He experiences super-natural and strange happenings during his first night back in his flat. Are these just his imagination or is there anything more sinister lurking in the darkness around him? 

The film, through clever storytelling and flashbacks, reveals the mystery behind Zach’s life from multiple angles and exposes the horror that is awaiting him. According to Nakkeeran, ‘The story is confusing yet intriguing and we want the audience to be able to think deeper and uncover the story themself as they watch it. It is not a straight forward horror film but something that will make you work your brain and give you the ultimate satisfaction of understanding the mystery as it unravels in the film”. 

The couple truly believes their film, ‘Disturbed’ has the quality to reach great heights and they are confident that this film will be a stepping-stone for them and everyone who is part of this project. To support this creative and passionate mystery horror feature film project and for more details about the project please visit the Kickstarter site http://kck.st/175CBOx or www.disturbedmovie.com.

DiSTurBeD is coming soon to disturb you!

To Pledge: http://kck.st/175CBOx

Website: www.DisturbedMovie.com

Facebook: DisturbedMovie
Twitter: @Disturbed_Movie

Gnash

“It grabbed me from the beginning and kept me reading as much as I could during the day. Looked forward to getting home from work so I could start in again. Loved the characters and all of their stories, plenty of nasty, bloody parts throughout.”

“Would recommend to anyone that loves zombies or horror of any kind.”

“Gnash is a must read for not only zombie enthusiast everywhere but for fans of suspense & paranormal as well. Gnash resonates far beyond a zombie retelling and into the realm of successes, failures and having the strength to get up & keep going even when by all accounts hope is all but lost.”

“"Gnash" is simply one of the best zombie novels I've ever read! It reads as kind of a mashup of Stephen King, Tom Clancy, and just a dash of Dan Brown, which is quite impressive for a first-time self-published horror-genre author.”

“I really, really loved this book! I couldn't put it down, and I can't recommend it highly enough! Get it now!

So what’s this highly recommended book about…

An ancient fundamentalist organization has chosen to lash out against its enemies by conducting several attacks simultaneously across the globe. One of the assaults unleashes a deadly virus within the Pentagon. When the virus mutates beyond anything the terrorists expected, the nation's capital is plunged into a violent zombie outbreak that threatens to infect everyone in the region. A desperate attempt to stop the potential global epidemic backfires as the infected survive a brutal pre-emptive strike and continue to wreak havoc on the human population when they reemerge from the bowels of the ruined city.

Meanwhile, Grayson Donnelly, a former Army officer who is stranded in the Midwest during the outbreak, is forced to fight for his life and for the survival of his adopted community while his fiancé, Emory, is trapped in the Washington, D.C. quarantine zone. She struggles to come to terms with her own survival while living in a government-operated refugee camp just outside of the city. In a nation that is nearing anarchy as the terrorists' heinous scheme takes on a life of its own, the two of them must learn to adapt and do whatever is necessary in order to survive.

Get your copy today at:

Amazon

About author Brian Parker

“I'm an Active Duty Army soldier and I wrote GNASH over the course of about 2 1/2 years during a deployment to Iraq and after work at the Pentagon. I decided to not write about a full-blown zombie apocalypse in this book and instead used large-scale, but still localized, outbreaks. The book has a very military flavor to it and I also went with a lot less gore than the genre typically has. We all know that little kids become zombies and that people die excrutiating deaths, but I didn't want to write in-depth descriptions of that stuff for this book.”

You can find out more about this book, and Brian on Facebook!

Sunday Scares: "White Rabbit"

"The rabbits out of the hat."

Written, Directed & Edited by M. G. Mowder, Jr.

You can find more of his short films on YouTube, and follow him on Twitter!

Independent Chicago film project "Still" launches Kickstarter for microbudget feature

WHERE: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/rabbitroom/still-a-unique-psychological-thriller-feature-film

WHEN: Now through 26 November 2013

VIMEO TRAILER: https://vimeo.com/77194088

WEB SITE: http://www.facebook.com/StilltheMotionPicture

Quick information:

Chicago independent filmmaker Jason Coffman has launched a Kickstarter to help complete his debut feature film project currently in production, a psychological thriller/horror film entitled "Still." Heavily influenced by 1970s female-centric genre films such as George Romero's "Season of the Witch" and Robert Altman's "Images," "Still" is being pitched as "'La Jetée' meets 'Let's Scare Jessica to Death.'" Funds raised will go toward completion of the film and 2014 film festival submission fees. Incentives for donors include early streaming access to the completed film, a limited-edition hand-painted 2x-CDr set of music by Chicago artist Cinchel, a limited VHS edition of Coffman's previous short film "TAPE," and much more.

"Still" is the story of Alice, young woman living in Chicago who survives an attack during an attempted robbery at her new job, but finds when she wakes afterward that she has an extremely rare neurological disorder: akinetopsia, or "motion blindness." This disorder is caused by damage to the physical part of the brain that processes the perception of motion. While Alice tries to deal with her new perception and get on with her life, she finds herself plagued by strange dreams and possibly followed by a mysterious figure. Starring Heidi Foland, Stephanie Leigh Rose, Nikki Pierce, Amanda Hiese and Aaron Christensen, "Still" is currently in production and slated for release in Spring of 2014.

Expanded information:

Chicago independent filmmaker Jason Coffman has launched a Kickstarter to help complete his feature film project currently in production, a "psychological thriller" entitled "Still." Heavily influenced by 1970s female-centric genre films such as George Romero's "Season of the Witch" and Robert Altman's "Images," "Still" is being pitched as "'La Jetée' meets 'Let's Scare Jessica to Death.'" Funds raised will go toward completion of the film and covering 2014 film festival submissions; incentives for donors include early streaming access to the completed film, a limited-edition hand-painted 2x-CDr set of music by Chicago artist Cinchel, a limited VHS edition of Coffman's previous short film "TAPE," and much more.

"Still" is the story of Alice, young woman living in Chicago who survives an attack during an attempted robbery at her new job, but finds when she wakes afterward that she has an extremely rare neurological disorder: akinetopsia, or "motion blindness." This disorder is caused by damage to the physical part of the brain that processes the perception of motion. While Alice tries to deal with her new perception and get on with her life, she finds herself plagued by strange dreams and possibly followed by a mysterious figure. Starring Heidi Foland, Stephanie Leigh Rose, Nikki Pierce, Amanda Hiese and Aaron Christensen, "Still" is currently in production and slated for release in Spring of 2014.

Writer/director Jason Coffman has been shooting in Chicago locations both to ground the story in reality and to share some of his favorite places in the city. Shooting for the film has taken place at the historic Patio Theater and nearby Regulus Coffee Company, and a shoot at the Half Acre Tap Room is scheduled for November. The film is being made on an extremely small budget thanks to the volunteer efforts of local film professionals donating their time and equipment to help bring the film to life. The cast is a mix of professional actors and non-professionals; Coffman wrote parts specifically tailored to each cast member.

Film synopsis:

Alice (Heidi Foland) is a young woman living in Chicago with her cousin Craig (Jason Coffman) and his girlfriend Hannah (Amanda Hiese). Alice is excited to find a new job where she can put her artistic skills to use, but after a late evening she and her co-worker Carol (Stephanie Leigh Rose) are attacked in an apparent robbery. Alice wakes up days later to find that she now has an extremely rare neurological disorder called akinetopsia (or "motion blindness"). While Alice tries to deal with her new perception and get on with her life, she finds herself plagued by strange dreams and possibly followed by a mysterious figure. What do these nightmares mean? Will she remember what really happened in the office the night of the attack? Who is following her, and why?

Heavily influenced by female-centric 1970s genre films such as George Romero's "Season of the Witch" and Robert Altman's "Images," "Still" is a unique psychological thriller that employs a simple but effective mechanic reminiscent of Chris Marker's "La Jetée" for presenting Alice's motion blindness. The soundtrack for "Still" features Chicago-based artists Cinchel and Vapor Lanes/Karaoke, as well as Via Vegrandis (courtesy Flannelgraph Records) and Northism (based out of the UK), with a score by Andrew Horton (Poplar Halls). The film is being shot on both digital video and analog film in a mix of color and black & white photography, and uses low-tech techniques to obtain unusual visual textures and effects.

Dark Jam

"On May 12, 2013, four musicians got together to jam -- they had never previously played together as a group. The first piece to come out of that jam session was the aptly titled 'Dark Jam'. One of the musicians, my brother Chris Gallagher, asked me to add some video to the 12 minute jam. While it seemed like a daunting task, it sounded like a fun challenge. I used 65 different movies and 276 clips from those films."

Musicians:

Shawn Carr (Guitar)

Chris Gallagher (Bass)

Jim Williams (Guitar)

"Z" (Drums)

For a little fun try to name as many movies as you can in video. If you click “about” on the YouTube video, they have all the movies listed there.

Enjoy….

The video is courtesy of @Sentern on Twitter!