PHOTOGRAPHER ELISABETH FARAONE - INTERVIEW

EYEPUS INTERVIEWS PHOTOGRAPHER ELISABETH FARAONE.  ELISABETH FARAONE is one photographer to watch for.  In a series of her works she embarks into the horror, the darkness and the macabre.  Here is an exclusive interview and don't forget to check out her webpage and her myspace page for the rest of her amazing photo works.

Can you tell me about yourself and your photography works?

Behind the camera, I'm a mixed drink of emotion, sarcasm, and honesty, with shot of childish innocents. I'm an art teacher, School of Visual Arts grad, wife, daughter and photographer. My photography is a culmination of horror, metaphors and a childhood I a childhood toy or two, and moody lighting.

How you got into photography?
When I was 9 I saw this back leather, dusty bag in my mother's closet.  When she wasn't home I opened it to see what was in there. I lifted out her Honeywell Pentax, and started to play with it. I think I liked the clicking sound of the shutter and the grinding sound of the manual film advance lever. I asked my mother what it does and how to use it. After she showed me that was that.

I just found out you went to School of Visual Arts through your myspace page, explain your experience at School of Visual Arts?
I had an in depth training on how to use lighting, and camera settings (without guessing). Technically, the school did wonders, creatively... you either had it or you didn't.



Who is your biggest inspirations for your horror and the macabre photography imagery?
Floria Sigismondi, Joel Peter Witkin, David Lynch, and Andres Serrano.

Your images are ferociously fierce and beautifully shot, especially "DOLLS", "POSSESSION" and "A HEART STORY", I love them all, what was your experience in making them and your inspiration for it?
For the series "Dolls" I adressed my fear of abandonment and lack of playtime as a child. I photographed dolls that represented my emotional trauma of being adopted, and having a mother that was diagnosed with an auto immune disease.

"Possession" is about life structure. People are brought up to believe in a God, fear evil, fear of sining, stay inside the lines and for What, to be chosen for stigmata? Its not so bad to have experiences that lead to growth. No, I'm not against Christianity or any other faith. I love religion, but I love life more.

"A Heart Story" is a play on words. The phrase... "broken heart" seemed kinda funny because a heart can't actually break on its own.  It's the creative mind that uses metaphors to describe the messes we get ourselves into. Give me a situation and a list of words that describe an emotion and that will be a platform for me to work off of.

EYEPUS wants to know what are your favorite horror films?
Halloween (Rob Zombie), Stigmata, Hellraiser, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Nosferatu, The Cell (just the visuals) Event Horizon and currently Martyrs.

And who are your favorite horror filmmakers?Takashi Miike, Clive Barker, Quentin Tarantino, Gore Verbinski, James Wan, Christophe Gans.

Which cameras do you use to do your photography?Nikkon D90 and Hasselblad.

How does the public react to your works?They hide they're children's eyes and ask, is that real blood? Gasps of "oh my god..." or "wow, that's deep."

Had you ever had to censored your works for any particular gallery shows, or anyone?
Of course, as an art teacher, I like to show my work and have my students show their's. Nudes, religious jabs, or reenacments of horrific situations can be quiet scary to a child, as well as some adults. I'm not out to have debates over my ethical stand point, religious beliefs or anything else... I just want people to look, think, like, and if possible, buy.

Any great advice for aspiring photographers?
Don't change your style or give yourself the overdosing guilt trip (us artists do when we think we've failed) cause you didn't make it into a "posh" Chelsea Gallery that shows artist's who make work like rows. of suburban houses. F*** them. Try other ways to get work known.

Are you working in any new works, any gallery shows in the future?
Hmm that gallery talk again.... my wallet says no, my head says... yeah as long as I can through some blood on the walls. I'm always working on something new and disturbing.

Click here on ELISABETH FARAONE to see the rest of her works.  Or visit her webpage  http://spyderwebb666.tripod.com/

SCREAM 4 - Another sequel in the making

Let me begin by telling all you readers HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING. And I'm sorry I havent been here in a while I been away in vacation in the tropics, when I got back from vacation I got very sick and it wasnt a good one... Anyways, sequels are ahead in the horizon with SCREAM 4 - the rumors Wes Craven might be back, Neve Campbell as Sydney Prescott, Courtney Cox and David Arquette are back.  Kevin Williamson is writing the script.  I'm I happy that they making a fourth installment? I'm okay about it, as long as they bring Wes Craven, and the original cast I'm sweet with it.  As I been reading in other horror websites that they are bringing a new generation of teens and they planning to kill off the old fogies like Neve, Cox and David.  Killing Sydney Prescott is such a stupid absurd idea.  The Scream storylines surround all about Sydney's character.  Production begins in April 2010.    

HOUSE OF THE DEVIL

Sweet, good girl Samantha (Jocelin Donahue) is an independent college student seeking a job. She is eager to get a job to pay off a rent deposit to an apartment she is interested in. She finds a babysitting job ad in her college campus. She calls the number and gets the job right away (sounds to good to be true). Her friend Megan (Greta Gerwig) tells her that it sounds too weird. Megan drives Samantha over to the house (an old Victorian mansion) that is located next to a cemetery. The girls are received by Mr. Ullman (a spooky Tom Noonan). Mr. Ullman explains to Samantha that is not really a babysitting job but to watch over an elderly woman. At first Samantha feels puzzled, then after some money talk hustling with Mr. Ullman, he agrees in giving her four hundred dollars.

Samantha explains to Megan about the situation, Megan runs out upset. Drives back home. On the way home by the cemetery she meets her sad demise by a killer Victor Ullman (A.J. Bowen)... For forty minutes we are following Samantha around the house, she orders pizza, she snoops around, dances around with her little cassette walkman, watches television. Her pizza arrives, she takes a bite and the slice has been poisoned. The action begins, the black Lunar Eclipse is above the clouds, the cloaked satanic cult leaders Mr. Ullman, Mrs. Ullman (Mary Woronov) and Victor Ullman come out of hiding and they are chasing Samantha, as she is weak, and the devil (One Scary son of a bitch) wants to drink her virginal blood. But Samantha battles it out with weakness and all…

HOUSE OF THE DEVIL is like an early 80’s television horror movie of the week but with a blood bath. House of the Devil is a simple horror which starts at a slow pace, then BANG - many horror films in the seventies and eighties always had the slow suspenseful pace.

Ti West did a great job throwing us into a time machine and taking us to the eighties, EVERYTHING IN THIS FILM IS 1980 - COSTUMES, ART DIRECTION, HAIR STYLES, the satanic storyline, the film credits, and the whole atmosphere. This is ten times better than the tired wanna-be PARANORMAL ACTIVITY and GRACE.

THREE STARS - GOOD OLE 80’s RETRO HORROR CREEPY FUN

Starring Jocelin Donahue, Greta Gerwig, John Speredakos, Mary Woronov, Dee Wallace Stone, Danielle Noe, Aj Bowen, Tom Noonan.
Written, Directed and Edited by Ti West
Running Time 93 Minutes Rated R

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO FRIENDS, FAMILIES AND TO ALL EYEPUS READERS, MAY YOU ALL HAVE A WONDERFUL, CRAZY COOL, SAFE HALLOWEEN - EYEPUS

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

Yesterday I went to see the horror hit of the fall PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, I wanted to see all the hype, all the scariness that people are hollering about. The film was number #1 and made over the weekend $67 million and SAW 6 came in number #2. I paid the early matinee price $8.75 (the early matinee special) at my local AMC movie theater. I sat in the middle of the auditorium, a few people in the audience. So, what do I have to say about PARANORMAL ACTIVITY? Is all right, whatever…

The doom twenty-something year old couple Katie (Katie Featherston) and Micah (Micah Sloat) (The actors used their real first names to give it that non-fiction true story) are living in a nice two floor home. They hear noises, footsteps, ghostly sounds and all the bumps that go off at night.  Micah buys a nice prosumer camera to videotape all the paranormal bumps in the night.  Katie invites a psychic (Mark Fredrichs) to their house, she tells him that since she was eight years old, she feels something has been following her and she always heard things that go bump in the night.  The psychic feels there is something in the house, but Micah doesn’t believe in the Psychic, he thinks he is a fruit.

 
For three weeks Micah places his prosumer camera in the middle of their bedroom for surveillance to capture any happenings.  In the middle of the night the camera captures the door closing, noises, a shadow, Katie in a state of somnambulism staring at her sleeping boyfriend for two hours.  Micah shows all the captured dailies to Katie to prove there is something really wrong in the house. Katie starts to get a little weird, Micah is trying to help her with video camera in hand to capture everything she is going through… In the middle of the night, a spirit comes in, pulls the sheet off Katie, and drags her out of the room as she screams glory mercy. Micah runs after her to help her.  Katie is freaking out, but they continue to stay at the house, in which I don’t understand why this couple stayed at this house, when you hear things that go bump in the night, get up and get the fuck out.

SPOILER ALERT: Katie in another state of somnambulism, stands by Micah's side of the bed, stares at him for a while, she leaves the room slowly, she goes downstairs, we hear some creepy hard footsteps, a little while later, we hear Katie scream at the top of her lungs, suddenly waking up Micah.  Micah jumps out of bed and runs downstairs. They both start to scream. Then a sudden pause.  Micah gets thrown across the room, knocking down the video camera.  We see Katie in the middle of the room, blood all over her shirt.  Katie walks up to the dead Micah on the floor.  She kneels besides him, smells him and she looks at the camera (at us the audience). Her face turns into a quick ghostly demon. The End.  That’s it. Credits of the couple’s whereabouts, then the end.

 Katie and Micah deliver a fine tune performance, especially Katie Featherston. Filmmaker Oren Peli did a cute job with the whole scare tactics, lets see if his next film live up to the hype, like the Blair Witch Project Filmmakers they were famous for a year and so, then they disappeared making crap, and where are they now?

I really didn’t care much for PARANORMAL ACTIVITY - the whole video camera point of view scariness and jolts is so overrated, is been done in hundreds of horror films - THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, .REC, QUARANTINE (.REC remake), DIARY OF THE DEAD, THE POUGHKEEPSIE TAPES, OPEN WATER and the list could go on. I do admit Paranormal Activity is ten times better than The Blair Witch Project with more suspense, more scares and spooky wild noises. But this type of film has been done already, in different million ways, with the same storylines, demon possession taking over the wife and killing her husband, or vice versa, is been done over and over and over again. Did I care for the film? Nope. What is all the hype about? TWO STARS from EYEPUS. Wait till it comes out on DVD (with its alternative endings) rent it, or buy it when it comes to the five dollar bins at Walmart.

TWO STARS - NOT A CLASSIC

DEADGIRL

Necrophilia bumbling teen assholes Rickie (Shiloh Fernandez) and J.T. (Noah Segan) talking crass and homophobic epithets (they look like muffins themselves) go to an isolated mental hospital to drink some cheap brewskies and chill out. Out of boredom they crash the place, and stumble on a supposedly pretty girl, tight up to a gurney, which at first seems dead then hopeless and alive, J.T. starts to touch her breast rather than go get help for the poor girl. Rickie wants to call for help to save the girl. J.T. a manipulative thug slaps Rickie. Rickie thinks this all wrong. J.T. starts to rape her (a dirty zombie girl sweaty and with wounds filled with pus). The deadgirl becomes his sex slave zombie girl. The asylum isolated basement becomes a stench of dead sex odors. And then the party begins when the deadgirl is really a chomping zombie. J.T. gets one of his friends named Wheeler to join the action. Taking turns exploiting, raping, touching, and hitting the undead girl. They all keep it secret about their romps with zombie girl, but word leaks out that they have a chic tied up, free for all boys to plunge her. Once word spreads around about deadgirl pussy giveaway, all hell breaks loose, blood and gore splatters starting with zombie girl biting a jock’s cock off. This cheap, tired film is one of the stupidest films I have ever seen, I really don’t know what the screenwriter and filmmaker had in mind for this is senseless piece of shit… I DON’T HAVE ANY FURTHER COMMENTS. If you want to see a film about necrophilia in all its glory, see the German classic, sick horrors NEKROMANTIK (1987) and NEKROMANTIK 2 both directed by German filmmaker Jorg Buttreit.

 

DEADGIRL unnecessary stupid - shady lines:

“We have to get her to a hospital before she bleeds to death."

“Two red blooded American studs passing on pussy."

“I got my own sweet pussy waiting for me tonight.”

“Get in line fag.” (The homophobic tag lines)

DEADGIRL gets ZERO STARS from EYEPUS.

I DONT WRITE REVIEWS FOR "SAW"

I HATE THE WHOLE "SAW" Series.  Why? Its so redundant, so tired - how many ways are they going to find to torture a person?  I dont care if the film makes 100 million at the box office, SAW will never be reviewed here.   I will never interview a SAW filmmaker here at EYEPUS.  I'm over the SAW series.  I saw part one and then part two and that was it for me.  Tired acting, stupidity, whatever...  A horror classic film like TRICK R' TREAT didnt get justice in a movie theatre, but a bullshit film like SAW 6 gets screen time. The world of film is so fucked up.  ASIAN HORROR CINEMA is better than the SAW series but it ends up on DVD.  But SAW gets screen time.  I believe SAW gets its stolen torture ideas from ASIAN HORROR CINEMA.

FRIGHT RAGS NEW T-SHIRT DESIGNS

FRIGHT-RAGS has four new t-shirt designs, my favorite and fiercest are these two t-shirt designs:  PENNYWISE THE CLOWN and PUPPETMASTER.   The other two are nice too, but these two are my favorites.  Early in July of this year I wrote a small blog about FRIGHT-RAGS - I love their shirts, original stuff (check it out below).  If you like these shirts go to their website WWW.FRIGHT-RAGS.COM check out their bloody, great shirts.

DRAG ME TO HELL

DRAG ME TO HELL Starring Allison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver

Written and Directed By Sam Raimi Running Time 99 minutes, Rated PG-13

Christine Brown (played beautifully by Allison Lohman) has a good job and a good boyfriend named Clay (Justin Long). Christine works as a bank loan officer, and she is after an assistant manager position at work. One day an old, haggard, gypsy woman named Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) with one bad eye and a nasty hand with long, thick dirty nails asks Christine for a bank loan extension because she doesn’t want to get evicted out of her home. Christine refuses her bank loan extension, Mrs. Ganush gets down on her knees begging Christine for the extension, everybody at the bank starts gawking at Mrs. Ganush. Mrs. Ganush stares around her, as the people are gawking at her, she looks up at Christine and says: “You Shame Me”. Later in the evening Mrs. Ganush waits for Christine in a parking garage. Christine unaware, gets into her car with Mrs. Ganush on the back seat. Mrs. Ganush, a demonic, tough little old cookie tries to strangle Christine, both start battling it out, kicks, scratch, pulling hair, strangling, spitting. Christine kicks the old hag out of the car. The old hag rips a button off Christine’s jacket. Mrs. Ganush with button in hand and a few witchery words (a spell) all heathen hell breaks loose for Christine. Christine and her boyfriend Clay are walking by a psychic advisor, Christine decides to go in to get consulted. The psychic advises Christine that the dark spirit LAMIA is after her. Christine is after Mrs, Ganush to find a way to give her the loan, so the curse could be stopped, but Mrs. Ganush is dead. Christine goes through hell and back trying to get this curse to be stopped.

The film is full of goo, spit, slime, vomit, mucus, some blood (the unrated version), fluids, flies, eyeballs, dirty dentures, demon possessions, talking goat, flying objects, jumps, scares, spooks and slapstick humor. Director Sam Raimi take us back to his old roots of his Evil Dead films (EVIL DEAD, EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN, ARMY OF DARKNESS). Some scenes remind me of EVIL DEAD 2. Christine is the female Ash (the Bruce Campbell roles on the EVIL DEAD films) where she fights down and takes it like if she was a man. The film was written by Sam Raimi and Ivan Raimi, both are brothers and they wrote a spectacular creepy, fun little hay ride. The cinematography was very well shot, especially the scene in the cemetery, with Christine and the dead Mrs. Ganush - a very spooky atmosphere. The cast delivered outstanding performances especially Christine (Allison Lohman) and Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) battle sequences. Sam Raimi delivered a great little horror fun ride, I wish he could continue making more horror films, back to his old roots of EVIL DEAD fame.  DRAG ME TO HELL is now on DVD, rent it, buy it.

FOUR STARS.  Excellent piece of work.

POLTERGEIST - REMAKE

More remakes and more sequels and again more remakes (I say it again) since no one can come up with originality, but there are millions of filmmakers with original stories, Hollywood just havent scout fully or giving them a chance.  Well, POLTERGEIST is yet another remake in the horizons, the film is schedule to be release sometime in 2011.  According to IMDB the film will be directed by Vadim Perelman (THE HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG).  I wonder who is going to play the sweet little Carol Anne and they better bring back that wicked stuffed toy clown.  I hope is a great remake, but again, why remake a classic?

MOTHER'S DAY

When I was a kid I begged my dad to take me to see MOTHER’S DAY at the old Cosmo Movie Theatre in 116 Street - Manhattan, NYC. MOTHER’S DAY was playing as a double bill with another horror film titled NIGHTMARE. Cosmo no longer exist, now is a clothing department store. I remember seeing MOTHER’S DAY and my dad sitting next to me staring at the screen gagging at the violent images. MOTHER’S DAY was directed by Charles Kaufman (brother of Lloyd Kaufman - Troma Films), Three college Friends reunite for a reunion, they head to the woods, where they encounter two insane, sick depraved sons and their saucy, wicked, funny, kooky, bitchin mother played shockingly and amazing by Beatrice Pons. The three college girls get violently dragged inside a rickety, broke down home in the middle of the woods. The girls get beat, abused, chase, one of them gets violently raped, slaughtered. Two of the college girls escape the mad house and they go out into the woods where they decide to seek bloody vengeance against this fucked up family. And in the most excruciating, sick way the two girls kill them one by one in graphic details. This little classic horror gem is one of the best female vindictive horror films I ever seen on the screen, aside from I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE.


Now the remake is in production, with Charlie Kaufman as the writer, and Rebecca De Mornay (The Hand that Rocks the Cradle) playing the wicked, insane mother. “SAW” Director Darren Lynn Bousman take us to a new setting from the woods (original MOTHER’S DAY setting) to a homestead. According to IMDB - the psycho boys and their psycho mother (De Mornay) return to their old home to torture the new occupants and their guests… Cast: Rebecca De Mornay, Jaime King, Shawn Ashmore, Briana Evigan, Alexa Vega, Matt O’Leary and Deborah Ann Woll.

Visit the MOTHER’S DAY Remake website: www.mothersdaythemovie.com

MONITOR A Film By David V G Davies Teaser Trailer

Filmmaker David V G Davies (Animal Soup) upcoming horror opus MONITOR teaser trailer is up in his website www.FILMMA.com and here at EYEPUS. Check it out below...

Monitor Teaser Fin Mpeg2video - For more funny movies, click here

WES CRAVEN LATEST MOVIE 25/8

WES CRAVEN is in post production of his latest horror flick 25/8.  Everyday he twitters on Twitter the latest with his new film piece.  Wes Craven always direct great movies even the drama MUSIC OF THE HEART who earned Meryl Streep an Oscar nod.  I hope 25/8 is rated R and he is not forced to deliver a PG-13 film like Red Eye and Cursed.   The premise of 25/8 according to IMDB - A serial killer returns to his hometown to stalk seven children who share the same birthday as the date he was allegedly put to rest. I hope is a good tale and a bloody one too. 

TRICK 'R TREAT

The long awaited horror film TRICK 'R TREAT is finally in our video stores, a film that was supposedly be in movie theaters back in 2007, and was push away by Warner Brothers for their own shady reasons.  Sadly, this film should've been in movie theaters because this is one of the best original horror films in recent years, and the best horror anthology since CREEPSHOW.  We see junk tired fare on the big screen such as the redundant SAW series (in which I will never review here at EYEPUS) and stupid remakes such as MY BLOODY VALENTINE get big screen time, but an original horror to be cult classic TRICK 'R TREAT couldn't be on the big screen, I'd really don't get it.

TRICK 'R TREAT takes us to four intertwining stories full of fun, shockful of jolts, pranks, wickedness, little monsters, poisonous cheap candies, evil little masked children, spookiness, carved pumpkins, costume extravaganza and halloween madness. In one Halloween night a little sweet creepy monster (with a burlap mask) is in the prowl, a school principal is wicked as hell as a serial killer, zombie bus children take vengeance, saucy/deadly femmes, wicked pre-teens pull an almost deadly halloween prank.  And all hell breaks loose in this Halloween tribute anthology.  The acting by the amazing cast (Leslie Bibb, Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Dylan Baker) delivers. Michael Dougherty’s direction of Trick 'R Treat is exhilarating and a damn real halloween treat just in time for Halloween, too bad it can't be enjoy in the big screen. 

TRICK 'R TREAT Starring Anna Paquin Brian Cox Dylan Baker Brian Cox Written and Directed By Michael Dougherty Rated R Running Time 82 minutes

A CLASSIC - FOUR STARS.

ZOMBIELAND

ZOMBIELAND Starring Woody Harrelson Jesse Eisenberg Abigail Breslin

Emma Stone  Directed By Ruben Fleischer Rated R running time 85 minutes

An unknown "something" has taken over earth, making the dead come back to life, turning the planet into zombies.  A nerdy, young survivor named Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) with shotgun in hand, is on his way to visit his parents in Columbus, Ohio, in the middle of the highway he meets another survivor - Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson), a sadistic, funny, crazy cool looney, who loves to sadistically kill zombies in brutal ways.  Tallahasse's mission is to find his holy grail - a "TWINKIE".  On their way across the state, they stop at a supermarket, Tallahasse wants his Twinkie.  After battling three obese zombies, Tallahassee and Columbus meet crafty sisters Wichita (Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin).

The sisters mission is to make it to a Los Angeles amusement park (rumor has it that is zombie free).  The four journey to Los Angeles in a Hummer, weapons aboard to find the zombie free amusement park (film title ZOMBIELAND).  Columbus starts having feelings for Wichita and she feels the same way for him.  On the way to the amusement park, they want to rest, where they head to Beverly Hills with a star map in hand, to find a pretty home to lay low.  Unknowingly, they enter the home of Bill Murray (a cameo performance), where he is dressed like a zombie, Tallahassee is a big fan of Bill Murray, and he is in shock, that he is standing next to his idol.  Something shady happens in Bill Murray's home (I DONT WANT TO SPOIL IT) and is hilarious and kooky.

Though funny, the climatic ending is an edge of your seat ride, hairpuller, with an ultimate battle between the survivors and the zombies at ZOMBIELAND...  A great cast - Woody Harrelson and Jesse Eisenberg are funny as hell.  An amazing hilarious script by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. First time director Ruben Fleischer takes us to a fun, action packed, uproarious, apocalyptical zombie on earth hell ride. Watching Zombieland is like playing a zombie video game (Left for the Dead, Fallout 3, Resident Evil series) on the big screen...  What Dawn of the Dead did for malls, Zombieland does for Amusement Parks.   The film had a budget of $23 million, and it looked like a 100 million dollar budget.  The film was Number One in America making $25 million dollars. 

  ZOMBIELAND is a classic  -  FOUR STARS

Filmmaker DAVID V G DAVIES UPCOMING "MONITOR"

DAVID V G DAVIES who brought us the nasty, gory, shady ANIMAL SOUP, now comes his next horror opus MONITOR.  MONITOR is in pre-production,  set in a rehabilitation clinic where the staff have developed their own sinister ways to relieve stress.  The film already sounds like is going to be a scary little ride.  I'll keep everybody posted on DAVID V G DAVIES new horror opus, and you can visit his website  www.FILMMA.com for information on all his works and upcoming works.   

"THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON" Posters

THE POSTERS OF "THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON" OPENING 11.20.09. I GOT A FEELING THIS ONE IS GOING TO BE BETTER THAN "TWILIGHT" Sam - thanks for the ads

LEGENDARY ROGER CORMAN will get a HONORARY OSCAR 2010.

Legendary Director and producer ROGER CORMAN, who gave us such funky terror fares, The Terror (1963), Little Shop of Horrors (1960), The Raven (1963), The Masque of Red Death (1964) and many more will be getting a honorary Oscar from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science at the 82nd Academy Awards. This man deserve the Oscar and is about time. Roger Corman also launched the careers of Jack Nicholson, Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, James Cameron. George A. Romero also deserves an honorary oscar.

"HALLOWEEN 3" in 3-D for August 2010

THEY ARE NOT LETTING "HALLOWEEN" Die.  More remakes and more sequels,   HALLOWEEN 3 in 3-D, due out August 2010.  Rob Zombie did his justice with his HALLOWEEN 1 AND 2 REMAKES, why can't they just let the franchise - Michael Myers go to sleep.  Is all about money, making more miserable sequels and remakes for our hurting eyes.   HALLOWEEN 3 in 3-D, tired.  Michael Myers died in Rob Zombie's  Halloween 2, leaving the sister cuckoo, smiling and staring at the camera via an asylum.  Is the sister the new Michael Myers? or are they going to resurrect Michael Myers again? What the... Fuck! And Rob Zombie is not helming HALLOWEEN 3, he is remaking THE BLOB.  ANOTHER "HALLOWEEN"... TIRED...

THE FINAL DESTINATION 3-D - REVIEW

THE FINAL DESTINATION 3-D Starring Bobby Campo and Shantel VanSanten

Directed By David R. Ellis  Rated R for gory, horrifying effects.  Running Time: 82 minutes

All hell breaks loose when Nick (Bobby Campo) has a scary premonition - himself, girlfriend Lori (Shantel VanSanten), two friends (Nick Zano and Haley Webb) and many others die in a ghastly racing car speedway stadium accident. Nick wakes up from the premonition to find himself and friends abruptly escaping "the about to happen" disastrous event.  Nick struggles to find ways to stop death from coming after him and his friends, but death seeks after them in gory details. 

The film repeats itself using the same objects (cars, cranes, fire) from the last two predecessors (Final Destination 2 and 3), but with new inventive gory detailed deaths, some very explicit a la LUCIO FULCI.  The opening and ending credits is visually stunning.  The acting was cute, a little flat, but cute, the whole film was in some ways repetitive going from A to B and back to A.  The film didnt show human emotions (Final Destination Screenwriters take note) - people are dying left and right in tragic ways, blood and gore in front of you, and the characters dont yelp, cry or scream, or even run, they stand there like metallic robots and the next day they about their business like nothing tragic ever happened.  WHERE ARE THE EMOTIONS?, just flat out script characters.  Come on lets put emotions in horror film characters.

THE FINAL DESTINATION was a cute, little fun 3-D joyride with the whole gore effects in your face gimmick, better than that piece of shit remake that came out early this year MY BLOODY VALENTINE, and better than the past two predecessors (FINAL DESTINATION 2 and 3).  But again, why do we need another installment, and this one ends for yet another sequel.  TWO STARS OUT OF FOUR.

JENNIFER'S BODY OPENS THIS FRIDAY

David V G Davies and James A Kirkby - Filmmakers Interview

I havent seen or review the nasty, ferocious horror film from the UK ANIMAL SOUP because is not yet available in the USA for purchase, but I got a chance to interview the two exceptional ANIMAL SOUP Filmmakers David V G Davies and James A Kirkby. A while back I picked up an issue of RUE-MORGUE, as I was scanning through the pages I saw a write up on ANIMAL SOUP, a very inspiring write up about the making of this film - from the hardships to the bloody make-up effects featuring real butcher shop animal innards. After reading this write up I was very inspired to make a horror feature in the future (which hopefully I will) and to talk to these wonderful guys, and all it took was one email asking them if I can interview them for EYEPUS, which I was so afraid they were going to turn me down, pleasantly and politely these sweet gentlemen gave us a wonderful interview…

Can you guys introduce yourself to us at EYEPUS, and tell us who is who in in your company FILMMA, and how you guys became film partners?

FilmMA produced Animal Soup with myself, David V G Davies, as Director of Photography and Editor and James A Kirkby as Writer, Director and cast. Lee O'Neill, a FilmMA regular, also aided in the production as Assistant Editor and Camera as well as taking on a cast position. We joined forces due to a lack of help from the industry and a joint interest in guerrilla film making.

What made you guys built FILMMA and what is FILMMA all about?

I set up FilmMA after having no luck getting into the film industry as here in the UK it seems to be a case of who you know rather than what you know. Even with my experience people would say 'who the hell are you' so I realised I was anonymous in the eyes of the industry, so Film Makers Anonymous was set up as a platform for like minded aspiring filmmakers to join forces and gain a cast and crew in order to get their films made.

How you guys got into the horror genre?

With the current boom in horror cinema we were both fed up with the constant remakes being churned out and so we both began writing horror scripts unbeknown of each others work but it was James who completed a script and approached me for help first. We were lucky enough to meet some Horror celebrities at film festivals and the project instantly gained interest via the social networking sites, myspace and facebook.

Which horror films inspired you guys to get into horror films?

James and I have always been fans of horror, James is a fan of the early exploitation films while I lean more towards foreign film and the slasher films of the 80s.

Who is your all time favorite horror filmmakers?

David V G Davies: Im a huge fan of writer directors David Cronenberg and John Carpenter and love the more recent work of Takashi Miike and Eli Roth.

James A Kirkby: Jim Van Bebber and Tobe Hooper

Can you tell us about your horror, controversial ANIMAL SOUP?

James A Kirkby: Animal soup was born out of a passion to shock people with horrible visions while counteracting them with the lovely landscape around where I grew up.

How many days did it took to make ANIMAL SOUP?

James A Kirkby: The actual shoot was 6 weeks but due to all the problems we had, those 6 weeks were spread over almost 2 years starting in the September of 2006 and ending in the May of 2008.

Was it hard to edit ANIMAL SOUP?

David V G Davies: I love to edit and was thrilled to tackle my biggest project to date. Having 45 hours of footage and needing to chop it down to 90 minutes seemed to happen very quickly. Where i struggled was getting color correction and seemless cuts due to the difference in time of year in which we filmed, i also encountered further continuity problems. After screening the film and getting feedback, a second edit was underway which with Lee's help became a stronger film.

Any hardships in the process of making your horror opus - ANIMAL SOUP?

James A Kirkby: We were inundated with problems from early on in the production. The first problem we had was our two lead cast members Mike and John left the production after only 5 days shooting, they let us keep the footage but we had the problem of where the film goes from here, we only had the climax and no lead up, so we re-wrote the script introducing 2 new characters Mia and Teri we were afraid the film would look odd having this change but hoped the writing would save us. Then Terri left before all the narrative structure was filmed so again we only had climaxes. Lee stepped in as a new character and Dave body doubled for Teri in the hope to save the film.

David V G Davies: What we were left with was an 83 minute film that dragged at the beginning due to lack of narrative. After screening the film, having some reviews and selling a few pre-release copies I decided a new edit was needed, I cut the film down to 67 minutes and found we had a winner.

What was the estimate budget for ANIMAL SOUP?

From experience I had discovered that people are very reluctant to fund a first feature made by unknowns that would most likely get banned due to its graphic nature so we decided to fund the film ourselves, James fronted the money during production while I took hold of the costs of post and publicizing. At the end of the project the entire cost of the film was less than £3,000.

Which cameras were used for the film?

I used a Sony VX1000e it is a little old now but is a great pleasure to use.

Was it hard getting music clearances and music artists for your film?

We were very lucky with music as we both scored some ourselves but we were inundated with offers from bands wanting to let us use their music free of charge, some great bands helped.

Can you tell me why ANIMAL SOUP is not been distributed n the UK/and who is distributing the film?

In the UK our censorship system is constantly under scrutiny, we wanted the film to be seen in its entirety, we made it that way for a reason and thats what we want the viewer to see. We are both very much against censorship and therefore scour to find the definitive versions of our favorite films. Animal Soup was made to shock and some of the scenes were described as too graphic for an 18 certificate (R) we are in the process of resubmitting for an R18 the only problem with that is we would only be allowed to sell the film in licensed sex shops and immediately reduce our audience.

Any sequels for ANIMAL SOUP?

Both James and I would love to go back to the world of Animal Soup and already have a script for a sequel and a prequel, we have also thought about making 6 shorts to continue the saga.

Can you tell me a short premise of your upcoming opus THE MONITOR?

While James and I were coming up with ideas for Animal Soup: Cold Harbour (a prequel) I loved the idea of setting a horror in a hospital, Lee and I then set to work on Monitor. Monitor is set in a rehabilitation institute where the staff have created their own sinister ways of coping with stress (more info on monitor will appear on FilmMA.com).

Aside from THE MONITOR, any other future film projects?

Animal Soup 2 and Animal Soup Cold Harbour are still on the cards as is a possible companion piece to monitor. Two films set around the 2012 olympics have been written and are awaiting funding in the meantime FilmMA is also helping with the production of Celebrity Shitlist a black comedy horror.

What advice can you give to indie/struggling horror filmmakers trying to make their first film?

Ten Top Tips for Making An Independent Horror (UK GOREZONE MAG) By David V G Davies:

1. If you don't ask you don't get?

I emailed Lloyd Kaufman and when he was in London at a convention he agreed to appear in our film. There are some people out there who do support independent filmmaking so don't be afraid to spend time surfing the internet.

2. Dont try to be too elaborate.

Often the simplest idea works just as well and remember write something you can actually film.

3. Recruit people with the same passion for the project as yourself.

It's no good having people who aren't interested. On Animal Soup our two lead actresses" enthusiasm encouraged us and made the production a more enjoyable experience.

4. It doesnt have to cost a fortune.

Other than providing to your cast and crew keep costs down by 'making do'. Make a few sacrifices but keep receipts, if the film makes a profit, recoup your costs first.

5. Be prepared to multi-task,

You do not need a huge crew, Animal Soup is being made with a crew of two, each of us doing up to 19 different roles each.

6. You can never have enough gore.

Although the human body has on average 7 pints of blood, use more it looks great.

7. Lighting

You can achieve so much with lighting, to invoke a sick feeling in the audience use green light bulbs, you can hide the edges on special effects with shadows. However, always remember to set up your camera each time you change the lighting.

8. Exploit your family and friends,

Use their houses, their garages, get friends to carry equipment, if possible get them to be cast and crew. If someone has a talent write it into the script.

9. Self Promotion

Until I set up a web page and a profile no one knew about our film, now we have been in touch with people that are highly respected within horror, we have gained a fan base and have even film festivals approach us.

10. It is possible

Most home computers have a basic editing package installed and if you have a camera, all you need is a cast, a location and a script. Get it made and get it out there.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON FILMMAKERS DAVID V G DAVIES and JAMES A. KIRKBY Filmworks contact them at:

www.FILMMA.COM and www.myspace.com/animalsoupfilm