INTERVIEW WITH ARTIST MIKE HRUBOVCAK

This month we bring you an in-depth interview with the amazing, ferocious and fierce Artist and Musician MIKE HRUBOVCAK.  Over a year ago I stumbled upon Mr. Hrubovcak website and it was like walking into a real art gallery of madness and horrors.  I tell you I have never in the history of being a horror/gore fan never seen such powerful, dimensional, graphic detailed art works.  His works damn rock gore madness...

EYEPUS: Can you please tell EYEPUS a little bit about yourself, where you from and how you started in this field?

MIKE HRUBOVCAK:  I've been doing art my whole life, really ever since I could pick up a pencil. I grew up in the suburbs outside Philadelphia, PA and attended art classes since I was 7years old or something. Even in school growing up I knew I was going to go into something art related. I just didn't have the attention span for anything else and was always getting kicked out of classes and causing trouble and never really cared about anything else besides art and music. I also found death metal when i was around 10 years old too, which really sparked my interest in album covers, and expressing my dark teenage angst through painting. It slowly evolved ever since.

EYEPUS: When did you first discovered your amazing talents?

MIKE HRUBOVCAK:  Well I never thought my art was amazing, it's just what I loved to do. It was very therapeutic.  Even today I'm a perfectionist and I'm usually never happy with anything I do, but i guess that's the only way to get better is to keep pushing yourself. I don't think I found my own personal style though until like around college. Every artist goes through a period of experimenting and emulating their favorite artists and then in the process you end up finding what works best for you and your own style starts to unfold.

EYEPUS: Could you tell us about some of your work?

MIKE HRUBOVCAK:  Most of my work is done for the Death Metal scene, Black Metal, Doom Metal, etc... Every once in a while i'll do a personal piece or a design for a movie DVD cover, logos, advertising and more commercial stuff but for the most part it's always album covers and T-shirt designs for bands which was my main love to begin with and I think always will be, even though i'd love to chance to work on more horror movie covers.

EYEPUS: Your art works are beyond the damnation of horror, amazingly and wonderfully graphic, What artist or artists inspired you?

MIKE HRUBOVCAK: Growing up I loved the album covers of the early 90's Death Metal CD's, Dan Seagrave, Wes Benscoter, Kristian Wåhlin, Andreas Marschall and people like that inspired me. I was also inspired though by surreal artists, and the music in general. I loved turning the lights out, zoning out to a particular song I liked, allowing whatever random visuals to form in my head, and then turn the lights on later and sketch out whatever my visions were from the music. I would then do a more refined sketch and then transfer it to my canvas to begin painting it. I was also huge into horror movies as a kid too, so watching a lot of zombie flicks also inspired me.

EYEPUS: Did you go to art school?

MIKE HRUBOVCAK:  For seven years I attended art classes, comic book classes, etc., apart from normal schooling all throughout high school. I then went to an art college for four years in Philadelphia at Hussian School of Art. At first i wanted to major in illustration, but later switched to graphic design. I now do both graphic design and illustration - graphic design more-so for the money and illustration for the real love of it.

EYEPUS: Who are your favorite horror filmmakers?

MIKE HRUBOVCAK:  I know horror fans always say the same thing, but of course growing up it was George Romero, Lucio Fulci, Tom Savini, Tobe Hooper and Peter Jackson for the more comical horror (ie, Bad Taste, Dead Alive, Meet The Feebles). Troma was always good for that too, like Redneck Zombies, etc.,.

EYEPUS: Did any of them inspired your artworks?

MIKE HRUBOVCAK:  If you look at the album cover i did for Mortician "Re-animated Dead Flesh" it's obvious that i was watching a whole lot of "Day of the Dead" at the time, with the obsessed scientist. Also for the album cover for the band "Mr. Death", they wanted that old school zombie feel, and I was watching Andrea Bianchi's "Burial Ground - The Nights of Terror" a lot with the zombie monks, so that was a definite influence on that cover.

EYEPUS: Any favorite all time gruesome, gory films?

MIKE HRUBOVCAK:  Off the top of head, hmmm, that's a hard one, of course the original Romero Dead Trilogy is at the very top, Dead Alive, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hellraiser, Return of the Living Dead, Re-Animator, Chopping Mall, Basket Case, Evil Dead, Event Horizon, The Prophecy, Cabin Fever, The Descent, Warlock, Mark of the Devil, Alucarda, the list goes on and on...

EYEPUS:  Various posters of your works were shown in the background for the horror film DREAMHOUSE (2011, Starring Naomi Watts and Daniel Craig), how did they approach you to show your works in the film? And how was that experience for you?

MIKE HRUBOVCAK:  I got an email from them out of the blue, I guess they found me from searching the web for death metal posters. I was excited not only to have a possible glimpse of my art in the background, but I thought it'd be good promotion for the bands as well. They said they had a scene with some death metal kids in an apartment who had band posters and stuff all around. I remembered seeing a scene in The Butterfly Effect that had poster art from Wes Benscoter for S.O.D. magazine at the time in the background, so it would have been cool to have seen something similar with my art. I had submitted a good amount of artwork to them, even logos for band's I've done (which i had to get permissions for) for them to spray paint on the walls, etc.,. Unfortunately though I've watched the flick, and was disappointed cause I didn't see anything haha.  I know how it is though, they shoot so much footage, but then once it's edited together, chopped up, etc. a lot of what was filmed is never seen. I had my fingers crossed for a quick two second glimpse panning by or something at least, but instead I think that scene must of been cut altogether, I don't know, oh well.  Maybe if I buy the dvd it'll be somewhere in the deleted scenes, but again that's probably wishful thinking. It was still an honor though even to have been asked.

EYEPUS:  Your work is very life like horror/gore dimensional, when i stare at it, it feels like if it was a scene from an italian giallo horror film, did you ever think of making a  horror film or a music video with the powerful images you have in your artworks?

MIKE HRUBOVCAK:  Thanks a lot for the compliment.  Thats a good idea to put my images into a film or video. A while back I got asked to participate in an animated rendition of Night of the Living Dead, called: "Night of the Living Dead - Re-animated". I really wanted to do this, and looking back now I really wish I would have, but unfortunately at the time i was swamped with work and was way to busy touring with my bands at the time. My one big problem in life is finding the time to do all the awesome things that come along. I don't have any pro editing or film programs so i wouldn't know the first thing about going about animating my art, besides tediously creating frame by frame images which would take me forever. I guess eventually it would be a fun thing to try, maybe one day once i get the time.

EYEPUS: What's the first artwork you ever sold and how was that experience?

MIKE HRUBOVCAK:  Hmm, that's hard to remember. When I was a kid I would just do art for bands that I liked for free to get my foot in the door. I think one of my first actual paid for covers was for Abominant on Wild Rags records back in the day. Actually I think I sold a pen and ink drawing at some gallery show when i was a kid or something, can barely remember. Once commissions starting coming in though it was great to see that maybe my art is something that could actually support me, which was a great feeling cause it's doing something that you love, and doing that and being able to get by with it is rare.

EYEPUS: How long does it take you to make a piece of your artwork?  Any particular techniques or styles you use?

MIKE HRUBOVCAK:  It all depends really on the concept or how detailed the idea is. I've had some covers that had deadlines, and i had to cram and get it done within one week. Other covers though and more often it takes me about a month. Lately, though since I've been so swamped with my music life, it's good to be given even more time then that, even though I normally get it done sooner then I expect but it's better to do it without having to rush ya know.

EYEPUS: Has anyone or art galleries tried to condemned (censored) your artworks?

MIKE HRUBOVCAK:  Haha, yeah. I mean I haven't really done too many gallery shows, but when dealing with printers, I've had a lot of printers refuse to do it. So then I'd have to go through the process of recommending some printers to the bands that would be cool with printing the really graphic stuff. Also the more commercial record labels have a lot of problems with their mainstream distributors not accepting anything too graphic, so I've had to tone down a lot of things because of that too. Someone once said they heard my art referred to as "the ultimate fuck you to the world" haha, and I thought that was great. 

EYEPUS: What are your current and future projects?

MIKE HRUBOVCAK:  Right now I'm working on another album cover for the band Sinister, involving demons and a more anti-religious theme overall. I just got done another cover for the band Guttural Secrete as well, which is pretty over the top. Soon i'll be starting on a personal piece though for an album that I'm making myself for my one band Azure Emote, which I really want to spend a lot of time on and make totally epic since the whole thing is really me, musically and artistically.

EYEPUS: Any piece of advice for aspiring artists?

MIKE HRUBOVCAK:  Just stick with doing what you love, if you love it enough you'll find a way to make it work in your life so you can do it all the time. Also i'd try other ways of thinking or looking at things, a lot of people's styles are all starting to look the same these days cause everyone's copying each other. Improvising and trying different things is the best way of finding your own.

TAKE A TOUR OF THE ARTWORK OF MIKE HRUBOVAK WEBSITE

    www.visualdarkness.com

TIM BURTON "DARK SHADOWS" TRAILER - IS IT A COMEDY?

TIM BURTON "DARK SHADOWS" - a comedy? WHAT? Barnabas Collins - a comic relief? Is this going to be like THE BRADY BUNCH MOVIE, the comedy film that came out in 1995. One thing I must say the costumes look amazing in the trailer - but again, I repeat myself - a comedy? I'm a bit disappointed. I'm still going to pay my ticket to see this film - I love TIM BURTON and his works. DARK SHADOWS, a comedy? What the hell...

PIERRE AYOTTE Short films "SATAN, JESUS & ELVIS" and "DATE WITH A CHICKEN"

Last I interviewed PIERRE AYOTTE was in August 2010.  I love his short, bizarre, film/video art experimentals MASSACRATOR 1 and 2.  He is a truly gifted, fun, amazing filmmaker.  Again he shocks me again as he delivers again a fun, bizarre short film pieces titled "SATAN, JESUS AND ELVIS" and the out of this world hilarious, sick short film DATE WITH A CHICKEN.  Check both of them out.   Pierre Ayotte film works will make John Waters gag.


Both short films get the EYEPUS rating of FOUR DEADLY STARS.  BOTH FILMS ROCK.


SATAN, JESUS AND ELVIS, 2 minutes - FOUR DEADLY STARS
DATE WITH A CHICKEN, 5 minutes - FOUR DEADLY STARS


Date With a Chicken from Pierre Ayotte on Vimeo.

DON'T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK (1973) - TV FILM REVIEW

DONT BE AFRAID OF THE DARK (1973) - Starring Kim Darby and John Hutton.

I remembered when I was 10 years old this little dark, spooky as hell made for tv film played constantly in different channels, sometimes at 4pm or at midnight.  I never got to see the film in its completion.  Being a horror fan all my life, maybe being a kid i was afraid of those evil dwarf like little shady creatures lurking in the dark.

After the release of its remake starring Katie Holmes and produced by the legendary Guillermo Del Toro i decided to rent the original and watch the whole 74 minutes of it.  I tell you the film left me in awe.

Sally snoops around the room in the basement, there is a covered hole in the wall.  Sally decides to unscrew the hole in the wall, opening this hole letting the wicked, shady creatures out. The creature lurk around at night and they are sensitive to light.  They whisper and giggle in a very devilish, demonic way calling her name:  "SALLY..."  The creatures drug her, and drag Miss Kim Darby down to their own little world chute.  From there we don't know her where abouts - for all you know they either tortured and rape her - the director leaves it to your imagination.


If you haven't check this little 74 minute TV horror film from the 70's check it out.  You can rent this from your local library...

"THE DEAD HOUR" SECOND SEASON Announcement

The legendary web series "THE DEAD HOUR" Second Second now in production.  It will be premiering soon.  Amazing webseries.  If you haven't checked out the first season then you don't know what horror really is...  


"The Dead Hour" is an indie horror anthology series filmed in Omaha, Nebraska. The show centers around a mysterious and sexy radio DJ who brings her audience dark and twisted tales each night. The first season launched last fall and webisodes can be seen exclusively at www.thedeadhour.com. Season 2 is currently in production and will feature nine new episodes that will premiere this October also exclusively on the site.

More news, updates and behind the scenes features can be found on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/magnumpictures.

Daniel Iske

Director/Executive Producer

The Dead Hour

www.thedeadhour.com

FINAL DESTINATION 5 - REVIEW

FINAL DESTINATION 5 in 3D  Starring Tony Todd, Emma Bell, Nicholas D'Agosto

A young man named Sam (Nicholas D'Agosto) has a premonition that he and his co-workers will die in  a suspension collapsing bridge on their way to a trip - in the premonition Sam sees the most disturbed, horrific deaths ready to happen.  Sam wakes up from his premonition and alerts the bus driver about the collapsing bridge ahead.  Before you know it, Sam and eight of his co-workers escape the invisible death.

The film turns into a slice, dice, splatter, chop, ooze, grisly, blood and gore fiasco of fun and death.  And the gimmick here is 3D where you get to enjoy all the grisly deaths right in your face.  Sam and his co-workers start to run away from death in the most satirical way.  Tony Todd makes a special appearance delivering his deathly one liners.  The film goes more in-depth into each of the characters unlike the last three Final Destination films in which you don't care about the characters, you are just dying to see how they going to die - but in this installment we are more installed into the characters lives.  Final Destination 5 most classic sequence is the collapsing suspension bridge - a must see.

By the end of the film we really don't care who survives or not, we are just having a good ole time watching a blood and gore ride in 3D.  We all know there is going to be a part 6 around the corner.  The Final Destination franchise is twenty times better than the SAW and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY franchise.

THREE STARS - A Hellish Joy Ride of blood and gore...

TICKED OFF TRANNIES WITH KNIVES - Review

Is been three months since I wrote a review or did an interview here at eyepus.  Sorry folks for being a ghost for three months.  My sincere apologies.  This month I will begin with a dvd film review of TICKED-OFF TRANNIES WITH KNIVES.

TICKED-OFF TRANNIES WITH KNIVES  Starring Krystal Summers, Kelexis Davenport, William Belli, Jenna Skyy, Tom Zembrod, Erica Andrews.  Written and Directed by Israel Luna.

What started as good ole campy dialogue between transgendered girls (looking a bit like drag queens) in a dressing room ready to perform at a cabaret show and thirty minutes of thrilling, edge on your seat little scary action turns into dumb camp, trashy, stupidity spoof, tired mess.

The storyline: In short summary - Two transgirls (I hate using the word trannies) take a ride out of town to meet some guys for some little action.  The guys turn out to be transphobic, bully-killer motherfuckers, especially the leader named Boner (Tom Zembrod, giving some fine chilling performance).  The girls get trapped inside some warehouse in the middle of nowhere, where they get served brutally by the guys.  The survivors of the brutal attack start to seek vengeance in a smart, but yet stupid way.

Some fine performances from the cast and good direction.  Great costumes and wardrobe designs.  The storyline was a perfect concept "Transgirls VS Transphobic Men Revenge", but Mr. Luna decided to make it into a spoof.  If this film was not a spoof and more of a serious film, it could've been an instant cult classic along with Lloyd Kaufman "Mother's Day", "Ms. 45" and "I Spit On Your Grave".

Was it necessary for this film shot in video to have that grindhouse look? The grindhouse effect style for this film: splices, derailed sounds, bad in purposely jump cuts, etc., - TIRED.  There was no need for it.  Low-budget Filmmakers nowadays are using the whole grindhouse gimmick effect to cover up their film flubs, bad lighting, bad cinematography mistakes.  If the film had more splatter and gore fiasco it could've been delivered as a homage to the video nasties of the 80's but not the grindhouse look.

Filmmaker Israel Luna aint no John Waters, Tarantino, or Rodriguez.  But I must say Mr. Luna delivered a great concept for what could've been a great serious film, but he took his concept into a shady film spoof mock and made court jesters of the transgender girls for the heterosexual community across the nation, who still believe in their own little minds that the transgender community is a freak show.  Israel Luna redo this film again with a real serious tone.

ONE STAR FOR THIS MISERABLE, TRANSGENDERPHOBIC FILM.

IN-DEPTH INTERVIEW WITH FILMMAKER M. ASLI DUKAN

I Want to give a million thanks to Filmmaker M. ASLI DUKAN for taking the time out of her busy schedule to do this interview for us.  Asli Dukan is a Director, Producer and Editor,, she has shot and directed some wonderful and amazing short sci-fi films such as ORISHAS, 73, M.O.M.M., the upcoming 2012 documentary INVISIBLE UNIVERSE - a documentary on the history of blackness in sci-fi and horror books and films. And busy in pre-production on her horror, eerie anthology film SKIN FOLK.

EYEPUS: CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELF? 

ASLI DUKAN: My name is M. Asli Dukan. I am a producer, director and editor currently residing in New York City where I have lived since 1998. I am originally from Newark, New Jersey but have lived in most of the cities in the northeast parts of New Jersey (part of the tri-state area) - Newark, Irvington, East Orange, Jersey City, etc. My family is actually from New York, so its like I came home really. 

EYEPUS: HOW DID YOUR PASSION FOR HORROR/SCI-FI FILMS GOT STARTED?

ASLI DUKAN: In hindsight, I believe my passion was evident to me and my family by the time I was seven years old. My aunt was taking my cousin and me to see a movie in New York City and she gave me the choice of film. Amongst the movies to pick from were, Superman II (Richard Lester, 1980) and The Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner, 1980). I chose TESB because I hadn't seen Star Wars yet (or at least I don't think I did - I have to ask my mother) and I was really pschyed at that young age to get into the whole space fantasy thing. It seemed to me very chaotic and very heroic at the same time with the creatures and the space ships and the light sabers and the mystical FORCE… I really wanted to be a part of the world the characters were living in, even at seven years old, I wanted to be a part of that whole fantastical experience. Then, a few years later I saw Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) on VHS tape and I knew I was right about my preferences. I dreamed about Alien every night probably for the next ten years, up into college before I officially started making films in a film program with film cameras. Alien for me was the epitome of everything that I loved - a ship in deep space, merciless combatants with their own philosophy on life, an unassuming hero forced into the role, a woman as the hero, a bomb, an escape, using your brain and brawn to get out of a jam…

EYEPUS: DID YOU GO TO FILM SCHOOL OR WAS IT SELF TAUGHT FILMMAKING?

ASLI DUKAN: Yes, I went to two film schools actually. Undergrad and grad school. I guess you can say I kind of had my heart set on what I wanted to do. I began undergrad in Jersey on 16 mm film cameras like the Bolex H-16, CP-16, Arri S and BL, the Eclair NPR, the Aaton LTR and later the Arris SRII. I learned to edit on film on Steenbeck flatbeds and mixed down my film audio on Multi-Track Magnetics mixers, the whole complicated bit. There was also a video class or two to take at the time, one was a requirement, but we were still in the age of film is greater than video - real filmmakers don't shoot on video, so I took the one required class and went back to shooting and editing on film. By the time I got to grad school, though, there was no film editing on flatbeds, only Avid on desktops so I my philosophy changed and eventually expanded to shooting on video, all as a matter of fact. However, I must add even with two film degrees, there was quite a bit of self-learning because my education came during the transition from analog to digital technologies. I have spent many a night reading about digital formats, resolutions, compression rates, color spaces, bit rates, etc…

EYEPUS:  WHICH HORROR/GORE FILMS INSPIRED YOU TO MAKE FILMS?

ASLI DUKAN: As I mentioned Alien was the epitome of great filmmaking to me from an early age. There are other films that have inspired me though, Halloween (John Carpenter, 1978), The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980), Dawn of the Dead (1978), The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973), Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977) - as I look at this list I am making from off the top of my head, it's evident they are all from a certain period in film history, essentially the 1970's. There is something that just feels cinematic about the films that came out of this period for me - the storytelling, the performances by the actors, even the grain and the contrast of the film stock makes sense to me. Of course it could also be that I was of a very influential age when I saw these films too. Who knows. Also I just noticed I don't really discriminate between the types of themes within the genre - I like zombie films, possession films, witchcraft films, psycho-slasher films, etc. There is another film that really inspired me when I was young, a vampire film called Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn, 1973). It's a genre film that attempts and in my opinion succeeds at postulating an alternative origin for vampirism, in this case via a fictional African culture called Myrthia. The film's director also attempted to direct a film that just didn't delve into addiction as a matter of blood lust, but also the addictions that affect humans on a daily basis, addictions to certain social classes and material possessions, addictions to religious beliefs, addictions to sex, etc. It is really a beautiful film, unfortunately battered and bruised by various producers and distributors over the years - after a standing ovation at it's debut at the Cannes Film Festival on France - it fell into obscurity. Fortunately, a "director's cut" came out in 2007 and it is purportedly the closest to the director's vision that has been seen thus far, but even in its most wrecked state - one can still get a sense of originality and poeticism from it. On another note, the lead characters are played by Marlene Clark (Putney Swope, 1969; Beware! The Blob, 1972; The Beast Must Die, 1974) and Duane Jones (Night of the Living Dead, 1968; Beat Street, 1984; Vampires, 1986). The film really is legendary.

Dario Argento is another filmmaker I admire, because of his commitment to the mythology and art of horror. His Three Mothers trilogy, Suspiria, 1977; Inferno, 1980 and his later Mother of Tears, 2007, was a great example of an artists research into history, religion, the occult and other arts over a thirty year period to get to a point where he could tell a sort of thematically unified storyline about three Witch Sisters, and although each film was different from each other, I really did appreciate that intellectual approach to the films. Argento's influence on the Giallo genre (crime mysteries with a mixture of horror and psychological twists) is legendary. Indeed he, along with Mario Bava and Umberto Lenzi were some of the earliest practitioners in the sub-genre. His influence was masterly felt in his first feature, The Bird With The Crystal Plumage, 1970 which had a great twist at the end. Lastly, Argento's use of color and music is highly effective and really helps to overpower the audience, especially in places where his films are weaker, like in the scripts and the acting. 

I also appreciate filmmakers like Richard Stanley (Hardware, 1990 and Dust Devil, 1992) whose resume is not extensive but whose vision is original and Guillermo Del Toro (The Devil's Backbone, 2001 and Pan's Labyrinth, 2006) who is the current master of fantastical, horrific worlds. And how can I leave without saying a few words about producer, Val Lewton, who during the 1940's produced some of the most influential and iconic horror films of all time for RKO. Cat People, 1942, I Walked With A Zombie, 1943 and Bedlam, 1946 are shining examples of how to set up stories, characters and locales to tell effective stories of psychological terror on low budgets. 

EYEPUS: WHAT WAS YOUR LAST HORROR/GORE FILM YOU SAW?

ASLI DUKAN: INSIDIOUS by James Wan, 2010. It kind felt like Paranormal Activity 2, but all in all I liked it, especially its switching paces three times. The last part was my favorite because it was like watching Poltergeist but from Carol-Ann's point of view. 

EYEPUS: ANY FAVORITE HORROR AND SCI-FI WRITERS YOU ADMIRED?

ASLI DUKAN: Current list. It could change tomorrow. Octavia E. Butler (Wildseed, Mind of My Mind, Clay's Ark, Fledgling), Nalo Hopkinson (Brown Girl in the Ring, Skin Folk anthology), Kim Stanley Robinson (The Mars Trilogy), Anne Rice (The Vampire novels - mostly when I was younger) and Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash).

EYEPUS: CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PRODUCTION COMPANY MIZANMEDIA?

ASLI DUKAN: I founded Mizan Media Productions (MMP) in 2000 with three other people to specifically make speculative fiction films (horror, fantasy, science fiction). Along the way the staff has been reduced to me and a bunch of freelancers and we also produce music videos, promos, documentaries and performances for artists, bands and organizations.

EYEPUS: YOU RECENTLY SHOT A SHORT FILM TITLED M.O.M.M. CAN YOU TELL ME ABOUT THIS FILM?


ASLI DUKAN: M.O.M.M. is a short SF film influenced and based on the the first scene from the book Mind of My Mind by Octavia E. Butler. Initiated as an homage to the late writer - who died in 2006, it's kind of a re-telling of the scene from the point of view of a character who was very minor to the story but very important to the plot of the book.

EYEPUS: WHAT WAS THE BUDGET FOR M.O.M.M.?

ASLI DUKAN: The actual money I had to put up for the film was probably one thousand dollars, because I have a lot of resources like equipment and favors I could pull in from crew and actors to get it done. 

EYEPUS: WHICH CAMERAS DID YOU USED FOR M.O.M.M.?

ASLI DUKAN: We used the Panasonic HV-200 with the Letus 35mm adapter. 

EYEPUS: HOW MANY DAYS DID IT TAKE TO MAKE M.O.M.M.?

ASLI DUKAN: We shot a total of two days. One for the original shoot and a second day for re-shoots and pick ups. 

EYEPUS:  ANY HARDSHIPS IN THE MAKING OF M.O.M.M.?

ASLI DUKAN: There's always some hardships. I could have originally used two days for shooting, then maybe I wouldn't have had to come back for missed shots, for example and would have a more consistent look throughout. We shot the re-shoots/pick ups maybe 3 months after the original shoot in the same interior location, but by this time the sunlight and its color were different, so there was alot of color correction that had to be done to match the looks in the film. Also post-production took longer than I expected because of technical problems for people who were working with me on VFX and sound design. But these kind of delays are always the case in making low budget, independent films, and you really have to prepare for them, have back up plans, and back up plans for your back ups and forge ahead and get it done.  

EYEPUS:  YOU ARE ABOUT TO MAKE A BIG INDIE HORROR FILM ANTHOLOGY TITLED SKIN FOLK, WHERE DID THE IDEA FOR THIS HORROR ANTHOLOGY CAME FROM?

ASLI DUKAN: Skin Folk is based on three different short stories from an anthology horror book by Nalo Hopkinson. I really love her work, especially this collection of mostly, short sci-fi and horror stories based on Afro-Caribbean mythology. I picked three stories - one about soucouyants (vampires), another on gangers (ghosts) and another on zombies. I've re-written the stories to take place in a post-Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans. I liked the stories because I thought they would be familiar to popular horror audiences but were different enough to bring some originality to the table. 

EYEPUS:  WHEN DO YOU THINK PRODUCTION WILL BEGIN FOR SKIN FOLK?

ASLI DUKAN: I am planning on beginning production at the end of 2011, but it is totally dependent on raising the budget for the film. 

EYEPUS: ANY STRUGGLES SO FAR IN THE FUNDRAISING AND PRE-PRODUCTION OF SKIN FOLK?

ASLI DUKAN: I've decided to try the crowd-sourcing approach to get initial monies to get into pre-production. It has been hit or miss so far. It's like we (me and another director) are new filmmakers on the feature length film block trying to grow an audience and raise money from them at the same time. And there are hundreds of other projects doing the same thing. So I am constantly on the look out for press to promote our project to more and more people and to convince them that our project is exciting and new and fresh and worth investing into. Fundraising is whole other world, whether for filmmakers or for other types of businesses. For me, it is very hard to wear so many hats at the beginning (creative producer/fundraising producer), so I have also been on the look out for other producers to bring on-board with this project. I have found some help in the form of a consulting producer, but what really need is a full time, Producer, with a capital P. 

EYEPUS: ARE YOU PRODUCING SKIN FOLK BY YOURSELF?

ASLI DUKAN: So far, yes, but hopefully not for long.

EYEPUS: IS SKIN FOLK GOING TO BE A BLOOD AND GORE FEST?

ASLI DUKAN: Skin Folk will have some blood and guts but actually has more psychological horror in it. For example, one of the stories is a zombie story and actually a throwback to the original zombie movies like White Zombie, 1932 and the aforementioned, I Walked With a Zombie, 1943, but with a twist, because we experience the zombiism from the zombie's point of view. 

EYEPUS:  WHAT IS YOUR TAKE ON HORROR REMAKES/DO YOU BELIEVE GREAT HORROR/SCI-FI FILMS SHOULD BE REDONE?

ASLI DUKAN:  I am categorically against re-makes because some of the my favorite films have been re-made and are the worst pieces waste ever produced by human beings. (Psycho 1998; Godzilla, 1998; Planet of the Apes, 2001; Body Snatchers, 1993; Invasion, 2007; The Omega Man, 1971; and I Am Legend, 2007).

EYEPUS: AFTER SKIN FOLK - ANY OTHER PROJECTS IN THE HORIZON?

ASLI DUKAN: I have many ideas and several scripts waiting for more attention - a vampire film, a futuristic dystopian drama/actioner, an urban ghost story, an urban zombie story, an animated alien space opera, etc. 

EYEPUS:  ANY INSPIRING WORDS YOU WOULD LIKE TO SHARE WITH OTHER ASPIRING FILMMAKERS OUT THERE WHO ARE WORKING IN MICROSCOPIC BUDGETS?

ASLI DUKAN: Study the craft and business of filmmaking; read the biographies/autobiographies of other filmmakers (and other artists), read fiction - alot of it, watch alot of movies (all genres), seek out other art forms (painting, sculpture, dance, opera, theatre, costume, make up, etc.), listen to different types of music, talk to different people and most importantly, daydream, plan and never be afraid to ask for help (but be ready to give up something in return that you can live with) and still get the film done.  

PLEASE VISIT M. ASLI DUKAN WEBSITES

 WWW.MASLIDUKAN.COM and WWW.SKINFOLKMOVIE.COM 

Invisible Universe trailer, 2011 from mizanmedia on Vimeo.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY FROM EYEPUS

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY FROM EYEPUS

THE SWEET HAND OF THE WHITE ROSE - SHORT FILM REVIEW

The Sweet Hand of the White Rose begins with looooong credits, looooong takes of a lounge, its patrons and finally we are introduce to Mark (Carlos Bahos). Mark is having some issues with his girlfriend (Leocricia Saban).  Mark is on the road, his cell phone rings, he picks it up, and suddenly he skids off the road - ends up SLAMMED... Seconds before, a young, innocent little girl (Natasha Machuca) leaves the park, on her bike, with a sweet smile, she rides her bike up the road... From here on the film begins with some religious, heavenly, inter-faith sweet but eerie story... Is Mark dead? 

                                         

Filmmaker David Melide (The Puzzle) short film The Sweet Hand of the White Rose is an interesting short film just for its amazing cinematography. The story begins and it goes nowhere.  The distracting voice overs were annoying as hell, it took me away from the little bit of suspense I was feeling for the film.  When Mark's voice over begins while he is driving – I’m here sitting down watching this thinking is this a 'black comedy'. The cinematography full of great shots, but too many long scene takes dragged the film a bit. For example the film begins with a singer singing, camera is focus on her for a good minute or two, later after two minutes is when the camera POV on Mark.  This is not a feature film where we can have all those long takes (Legendary filmmaker Michael Haneke could get away with this) but not in short films - short films is about lets get to point and the story - no need for long credits (this is not a Michael Bay production with long credits) and no long takes. 

                                       

THE SWEET HAND OF THE WHITE ROSE gets TWO STARS out of FOUR STARS.

ASLI DUKAN FILMMAKER - FUNDRASING FOR UPCOMING HORROR FILM

SKIN FOLK: The skin hides the horrors inside us all…

In the tradition of anthology horror films like Twilight Zone: The Movie, Creepshow, Tales from the Darkside and Tales from the Hood come three tales that will have you crawling in your own skin!

"Years after Hurricane Katrina brought death and destruction to New Orleans, a similar but angrier storm, unleashes a “revengeful spirit”, a woman abused and discarded to the bottom of the sea eons earlier. She emerges from the murky waters of the Gulf Coast, soaking in a ruined dress and veil of seaweed. Her eyes are dark and cavernous. Her mouth shaped in the form of an eternal soundless scream. She passes through the streets of New Orleans, unseen by most, to bring us three cautionary tales of those who tread the waters of the wicked. These are their stories…"

Each story in the Skin Folk anthology will be directed by a different director and will tell three tales - the first of wanton pride, the second of stifled love and the last of obsessive greed.

I am reaching out to let you know about our new film, Skin Folk. Currently, in development, it is a feature length, anthology horror film based on the stories of the award winning writer, Nalo Hopkinson. We are fundraising through our fiscal sponsor, Fractured Atlas and the crowdsourcing website, IndieGoGo to raise development funds to move into pre-production and eventually production. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to our project by clicking the link below! You can receive limited edition Skin Folk posters, tee-shirts and DVDs in exchange for your donation! If you can not make a financial donation, please help us spread the word about this project by forwarding this email!

From the producer, M. Asli Dukan:
"You may ask yourself why I am interested in telling stories through the genres of "Speculative Fiction/SF"? My answer? Because the genres of SF (fantasy, horror, science fiction, etc.) gives the creator an opportunity to tell fantastic/larger than life stories about real issues. For example, horror films often speak to the fear of human mortality/death, the fear of the unknown via the revealing of hidden pasts and identities. In the case of Skin Folk, we are exploring the idea of hiding who you really are behind who you pose to be. It is not out to have the highest body count or the most gore, but to touch you at the core of your psychological foundation and you will find that it has, like in some of the best horror films, a morality tale clinging to each story."

For more information or to become a supporter of our project, please click the links below:

Skin Folk teaser trailer

IndieGoGo/Fractured Atlas fundraising page
Skin Folk blog

M. Asli Dukan blog

                          M. Asli Dukan, Producer/Writer/Director
                                 SKIN FOLK - the feature film

SCREAM 4 - REVIEW

 STARRING NEVE CAMPBELL COURTNEY COX DAVID ARQUETTE EMMA ROBERTS RORY CAULKIN, HAYDEN PANETTIERE

KILLER FEMMES ON THE LOOSE ANYONE? The film within the film beginning of SCREAM 4 - give us a bit of a hint who is the new serial killer Ghostface at Woodsboro hood.  I also mentioned or should I say predicted on February 4 here at Eyepus who was one of the serial killers (spoiler alert ahead) none other than Rory Caulkin.  The other killer I wont tell you who it is...

Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is back at her old hometown Woodsboro to promote her self-help book Out of the Darkness.  And before you know it bodies start piling up nearby and she is a suspect.  And everybody else is a suspect.  Sydney stays over at her Aunt Kate (Mary McDonald) and Cousin Jill (Emma Roberts).  Everybody gets turned out by the serial killer Ghostface.  No one is safe.  The cat and mouse chase begins trying to figure out who is behind the Ghostface costume.  Dewey (David Arquette) now as the new Sheriff in town and Gale Wethers (Courtney Cox) now both married are in hand to capture the new face behind the Ghostface costume.  The film becomes a turn of twists and turns, bloody as hell, new creative stabbing ways, dark neighborhoods, cops getting stabbed in the head on the sidewalk, teens gutted, and a fast Ghostface always on the go.  

For a Fourth Installment SCREAM 4 delivered a cute, scary fun ride.  But honestly, no more sequels for this franchise. Enough is enough. How many times are we going to see Sydney Prescott get shot, stabbed, sliced, beat, gouged, dragged, served, chopped and still live through all the madness? Enough. She is not ASH from the EVIL DEAD series...  Rumors has it there maybe another installment in the works - Hell No!.  Maybe in the next SCREAM installment Sydney Prescott is all TERMINATOR Type, all pumped, diesel, leather jacket with chainsaw and shotgun in hand ready to get the next Ghostface.

I must say this was a good comeback for the legendary Wes Craven after his last horrible, tacky, trash film MY SOUL TO TAKE.  Craven really mastermind a wonderful and colorful direction with this installment.  Kevin Williamson delivered some good sequences and liners in the script... The film made close to 19 million over the weekend at the box office - the lowest from all the SCREAM films.  Lets just pray no more SCREAM installments.  Let this legendary franchise go to sleep in classic mode.  No more remakes and no more sequels.   

I give SCREAM 4 - THREE STARS - a good little fun ride. 

Filmmaker M Azli Dukan Upcoming Horror Film SKIN FOLK Teaser Trailer

This is the teaser trailer upcoming horror film SKIN FOLK from filmmaker M Azli Dukan - a feature length anthology horror film based on the work of award winning writer, Nalo Hopkinson.

INTERVIEW WITH FILMMAKER DANIEL ISKE

EYEPUS is proud to interview Filmmaker DANIEL ISKE the creator of the classic, spine tingling horror webseries THE DEAD HOUR and THE WRETCHED.  I just saw the last webisode CANNIBAL GIRLS from the webseries THE DEAD HOUR and it just left me jaw opened with great storyline, cinematography, great acting, and just overall greatness - THE DEAD HOUR is a classic must see.  I will be reviewing THE DEAD HOUR in the next blog.  So lets begin our talk with filmmaker Daniel Iske.

VISIT THE DEAD HOUR WEBSITE  WWW.THEDEADHOUR.COM

EYEPUS: CAN YOU TELL US A SMALL BIO ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR WORKS?

DANIEL ISKE:  I started making low budget indie films right out of high school and have racked up a handful of feature films over the last twelve years.

EYEPUS: HOW DID YOU GOT INTO FILMMAKING?

DANIEL ISKE:  I was just kind of drawn to it. My grandfather had a clunky VHS camera back in the late 80s and ended up giving it to me when I was able to handle it. I grew up in the country so there wasn't much to do, so my brother and I just started making little films for fun. Usually just goofy stuff, or action films.

EYEPUS:  DID YOU ATTENDED FILM SCHOOL?

DANIEL ISKE:  Yes. I earned a degree in Film from the University of Nebraska. I was one of the first students to go through their program. We were editing in storage closets back then and fighting over little equipment they had. Now the program is booming and they have received a bunch of grants and have all sorts of fun toys. I'm jealous.

EYEPUS: HOW DID YOUR PRODUCTION COMPANY MAGNUM PICTURES EVOLVED?

DANIEL ISKE:  When I graduated college in 2004, I took out a loan and bought a camera and some equipment and started to freelance video production. I started to get more clients and started my own business in Omaha doing corporate video, fundraising videos for charities, weddings and local commercials. Once I was able to pay the bills, I could turn my attention to my creative work. But I wanted to keep that separate so I created Magnum Motion Pictures.

EYEPUS:  WILL YOU EVER TURN ANY OF THE DEAD HOUR WEB EPISODES INTO A FEATURE LENGTH FILM?

DANIEL ISKE:  Yes, actually. And soon. In addition to filming a second season this year. We will be filming our first The Dead Hour movie. We're keeping the details under wraps for now, but we'll be looking at doing a festival run in 2012.

EYEPUS: WHAT WAS YOUR ROUGH ESTIMATE BUDGET FOR MAKING THE DEAD HOUR WEBSERIES?

 DANIEL ISKE:  Not much. Almost all our budget went to food and props. We use a small van load of equipment from my business and that's about it.

EYEPUS:  YOUR ALL TIME FAVORITE HORROR FILMS OF ALL TIME?

 DANIEL ISKE:  May, The Thing, Scream, Evil Dead, Dawn of The Dead (either version), Cabin Fever, Zombieland, The Exorcist, Jaws, The Ring, Rear Window, Homicidal, Near Dark.

EYEPUS: WHICH HORROR FILMMAKERS INSPIRED YOU?

 DANIEL ISKE:  Alfred Hitchcock, William Castle, Sam Raimi, Lucky McKee, Darren Arnofosky

EYEPUS:  DO YOU HAVE ANY UPCOMING PROJECTS IN THE WORKS?

DANIEL ISKE:  Just The Dead Hour - Season 2 and the feature film should take up another year at least.

EYEPUS:  ANY ADVICE FOR UPCOMING INDIE/MICROBUDGET HORROR FILMMAKERS TRYING TO STRUGGLE TO MAKE A FILM?

DANIEL ISKE:  Network. Meet people who can make your job easier. Find someone who has a cool location to film at. Meet a musician who could do audio or music for you. Visit the local theater scene and find some interested actors. Basically surround yourself with as talented people as you can find.

VISIT THE DEAD HOUR WEBSITE  WWW.THEDEADHOUR.COM