Colin and the BDT rough assembly
It's been a pretty amazing few weeks for our buddy Marc Price, who headed out to Cannes to promote his fantastic £45 epic Colin and ended up everywhere from CNN to The Sun. He was also all over TV that weekend. It's a fantastic example of what can happen in this crazy world of tiny budgets and big ideas..
Back at Jinx, we had the pleasure of sitting and watching the rough assembly of Bordello Death Tales last week. It was a cool experience and a really unusual one; it's not often that a filmmaker gets to sit down and watch a movie that he's directed a third of, yet hasn't seen the rest. I love the flick to bits. It's got a real energy to it, and hopefully delivers more or less everything genre fans are looking for. I can't wait to see it with a festival audience.
2009-06-03T10:24:19.161+01:00
Hellbride Release Hits..
..and it's great. The DVD came through my door last week, and Midnight have done a terrific job on it. The movie has been remastered from the HD source and looks brighter and cleaner than any of the screeners. The extras are all good fun, including a commentary with myself and my esteemed DoP Al Ronald. It also hasn't been region locked, so it'll play in more or less any player that you put it into. This one's a must-buy, kids, so point your browser to;
THIS AMAZON LINK RIGHT HERE!!
..and pick up a copy now!
Elsewhere on the web, there's a new interview with me over at;
I LIKE HORROR MOVIES INTERVIEW
which is the first one I've done in a little while. Any other horror sites or blogs wanting to run interviews in support of Hellbride, get in touch and I'll be happy to help.
I've been trying to sort of the remastering of KillerKiller for a potential BluRay release.. It'll hopefully happen, but there just aren't enough hours in the day at the moment..
2009-05-12T10:28:17.194+01:00
Release Strategies
As I've blogged about previously, the industry is in a state of flux and release strategies are changing all the time. New business models are cropping up all over the place; I humbly direct your attention through to Indie Movies Online who are offering free, streamed flicks (including Jake West's wonderfully splattery Evil Aliens) whenever you want them. Other folks have been grabbing the digital bull by the horns, and offering flicks in varied digital formats as well as burn-on-demand DVD.. (invest a few quid in Rob Pratten's MindFlesh or Al Ronald's Jesus vs the Messiah to check out cutting edge indie distribution).
Soooo.. Where does that leave us?
Well, Hellbride's going the traditional route to DVD but will also be avaailable for download within the US at least.. (URL to follow next update). We've been looking at the possibilities of initially launching The Devil's Music in a download format, but.. but..
To be honest, it's kind of scary. There's a comfort zone with DVD. It's an established format and we kind of know what to expect from it. The idea of taking the leap of a download/burn-on-demand release for a movie like TDM is slightly daunting; it's a great flick and we don't want to compromise the release in any way. We won't need to make a decision for another few months regardless; we want to give the Hellbride release room to breathe before unleashing TDM on a home format. But the decision will have to be made. And how long are tangible formats actually going to stick around for?
2009-04-29T11:43:30.160+01:00
Hellbride Artwork
As the release date for Hellbride draws closer (May 5th, or May 12th depending on where you read it. I have no inside information either way), I thought you might dig a look at the artwork..
Don't forget you can preorder over at Amazon by following this funky link right here.
2009-03-10T19:00:41.045Z
Hellbride BTS
2009-01-16T18:50:00.081Z
He shoots, he scores..
The 'he' in question being the mighty Phil Sheldon, who has worked on the scores of all my movies since KillerKiller. This evening, I sat down with Phil and listened to his work thus far on Vice Day, (which, for those who haven't been paying attention, is my chapter of the forthcoming Bordello Death Tales).
It's a weird, dark art; the ability to accentuate, compliment and bring to life the images onscreen with sound palettes and music. Many times, I've gone on about how much I like scores that are a little counter-intuitive (the aforementioned KK score being my favourite example; instead of going for doom-laden bass, Phil opted for sparse acoustic guitar and completely changed the feel of the movie in a way that I absolutely loved). For Vice Day, Phil's opted for stabs of accentuation and some recurring motifs for the two main characters, along with the occasional wig-out for when onscreen action demands it. Watching the segment through with his rough work was a joy.. It brought a couple of moments that had felt a bit flat vividly back to life, and has filled me with a fire to raise my game on the final edit to wring every ounce of tension, sexiness and horror out of the final segment that I possibly can.
Music and sound is so vital. It's an area that I've been guilty of neglecting at times during shoots, leaving sound crew to work with twitchy equipment and insufficient set-up times, or simply hoping for the best under impossible conditions, (the KK shoot, with wildly varying dialogue volumes from different directions in an impossibly echoey environment, must have left our long-suffering sound man Magic weeping into his cans). Tonight was a vivid reminder as to how the audio is every bit as vital as the onscreen images, and I'm determined never to let the area go neglected again.
Can't wait to hear Phil's final version, and I'm itching to get back to the edit suite with a renewed enthusiasm for the project as a whole.
A great evening, all told.
2009-01-15T22:16:08.180Z
Running up to Christmas..
Having a fun last couple of weeks before Christmas, mixing festive preparations with post-production on BDT. I delivered the mid-cut of my story over to our composer Phil last week, which is always an exciting turning-point in post. I love seeing what he comes up with; sometimes he ends up heading in a fairly counter-intuitive direction. Innumerable lesser talents would have scored KillerKiller with doomy chords, but Phil opted for a fragile acoustic melody which utterly altered the vibe of the flick for the better. We've chatted a little about possible directions for the BDT chapter, but now it's really a case of waiting to see what he comes up with whilst I sit and tweak shots here and there and gently edge the mid cut towards being a fine cut.
I think the other guys are at around the same point as me with their own respective post-production schedules. Can't wait to see the three fine cuts assembled as a movie sometime early in 2009. Be weird sitting down to watch a flick that I've only been a third responsible for.
Had another great review for The Devil's Music over at HorrorNews.Net (click 'reviews' and we're in there).
Fairly well prepped for Christmas, I reckon. We've got a good number of family heading over this year, and we've been trying to work out how to actually fit everybody in. Festive vibes definitely kicking in. And on that note, I'll take the opportunity to wish you all a very merry Christmas. Although knowing me that'll probably mean that I'll end up doing another blog entry this week and then have to do it all over again.
Peace n love,
Pat
2008-12-18T10:39:12.974Z
Photos and Chainsaws
What you are looking at is the official image of the three directors from Bordello Death Tales. Handsome bunch, aren't we? (Left to Right: Al Ronald, myself, Jim Eaves). Weird to have 'official' photos, which seem to end up getting used over and over again for ages.
The black & white photo that's probably at the top of this blog, for example, (although may not be if you're reading a reskinned version within another site) is bloody ancient. It was actually a publicity photo from back when I was doing stand-up rather than directing horror movies. I was thinking of getting a new one but, frankly, who the hell do I think I am? I haven't stuck a photo onto my IMDB page either, and can't quite work out whether I should or not. On the 'not' side.. I'm a writer/director, so why the fuck should anybody actually care what I look like? On the 'should' side, most of the directors that I like best have carefully cultivated a public image, complete with wardrobe gimmics, and so I sort of feel like I can get away with it. Plus, let's be honest, I'm an attention junkie. If I wasn't an attention junkie I'd have never got involved in movies, let alone my prior stint in stand-up.
One of the reasons I've been thinking about photos.. The chainsaw from TrashHouse finally made its way back home to the Jinx office the other week. And it's almost impossible to resist the urge to pose with it. It's a hulking great thing, damn heavy and really looks like it means business. And I keep thinking, hey, maybe I can find an excuse to pose for a publicity photo with that sucker. I know it's pathetic and sad. But I make horror movies, for God's sake, so of course I want to pose with chainsaws. Maybe a chainsaw in one hand and a camera in the other. In an urban wasteland. Like I'm in Mad Max.
Please note; I think I'm safely into the realms of self-parody now. But when I look at the chainsaw I'm not too sure. The other odd thing, of course, is that I'm terrified of it. As an object. Even though it doesn't work any more, there's a part of me that feels like it's going to splutter into very real and dangerous life at any minute (hence the amusing 'trivia' that someone added to my aforementioned IMDB page) and start ripping up everything in the house. I'm not an outdoorsy kind of guy, and my only frame of reference for chainsaws is from my own and other people's horror movies. I don't associate them with gardening. I associate them with unpleasantness, so much so that it actually feels oddly transgressive to have one in the house.
Oh, and before I sign off, I was rather pleased last week to notice this blog quoted extensively over on The Melon-Farmers anti-censorship site. I've read that site for years, and is was strange to be reading it and suddenly realising that I was reading my own ramblings.
Rock on,
Pat
2008-11-20T16:52:21.211Z
The industry
Hmm.. How do I dance around this subject? Is this something I even want to address? At the end of the day, what is the purpose of this blog? Am I basically just here to plug stuff, and say that everything's great? Because sometimes it ain't that great.
Because, as far as independents are concerned, the industry is broken.
A quick look around the shelves of my local Blockbuster (which, as a chain, has its own problems), reveals that very nearly all the straight-to-DVD horror on their shelves is put out by Sony or Lionsgate (oh, those tiny independents). Two years ago, when TrashHouse hit those shelves, there were at least a dozen distribution companies regularly putting out indie horror and getting decent distribution for it. Nowadays, they all seem to have either gone out of business or, at very best, gone into a kind of suspended animation whilst hoping to weather the storm. Companies are folding left and right; some of them, like Tartan, make headlines. Countless others have just quietly stopped putting out product and expired.
There will be a new system. It's not all doom and gloom. But the new major distribution system, which I presume will be some kind of complete video-on-demand package which will enable folks to watch any movie from any period straight onto their telly for either a monthly subscription or a per-movie charge, isn't here yet. It might be years away, and God knows whether it'll be indie-friendly or a totally closed loop.
So we're in a kind of limbo at the moment. The day a movie hits the shelves in a single territory it also hits the torrents worldwide, which can be fatal for an indie with no simultaneous worldwide release. There seems to be no way of making money on smaller movies. Obviously, the BBFC have done their very best to turn the knife by tightening their restrictions on things like commentaries, (which now have to be rated as a whole new work, thus adding vast amounts of money to the BBFC costs) and Behind The Scenes materials. Thus when an indie flick does manage to get out onto DVD in the current climate, it can't even afford to have the full extras on the UK disc which might actually persuade people to buy it. And without economies of scale working in it's favour, it's gonna end up costing the consumer twice as much as a 2-disc set of a blockbuster. For a vanilla disc. And the consumer, understandably, will vote with their wallet.
I've seen awesome movies that would have been snapped up two years ago fail to find even basic distribution. There are, of course, other options to be explored. There's a terrific blog over at Zen Films about their decision to self-distribute the movie MINDFLESH which is a really interesting read.. Tragically, though, the BBFC requirements as they currently stand would make a UK version of the Amazon Unbox scheme mentioned in the article completely non-viable. Thus driving yet more of our independent film business out of the country.
The whole thing's a total bummer for those who make and those who enjoy watching independent cinema.
Dammit, I've depressed myself.
Back to endlessly plugging my stuff next time, I promise.
Rock on,
Pat
2008-11-13T10:50:32.250Z
Good Morning America
And thankyou.
Not one for going wildly off topic on this blog, but watching the US election last night was a pretty amazing experience. Pip & I finally turned in at about 7am, after a bottle of bubbly and a couple of cigars. Here's to a bright and fantastic future.
Oh, and just to keep this post on topic, there's a new interview with me over on indieflicks.co.uk..
2008-11-05T13:32:44.037Z
More Bordello..
More coverage over at Fangoria (where their new site seems to sometimes glitch in IE for some reason; try Firefox if you have problems) where they also have some exclusive stills, including the first glimpse of Al's Stitchgirl chapter, which isn't actually seen in the teaser trailer..
2008-12-01T11:22:26.693Z
Bordello Death Tales
So, you may have heard that BDT is Bordello Death Tales.
The project went public over the weekend, with a teaser trailer, teaser poster and everything. You can check them over at our good friends at HorrorTalk. It's a really exciting project and it's great to see the way that it's coming together; three very different stories all kind of bound up together as one movie. I think Jim, Al and I have come up with something really interesting, and I can't wait to see the film all together.
In other news..
The Devil's Music won Best Independent Feature at the Festival of Fantastic Films in Manchester over the weekend. We're chuffed to bits.. Our first UK screening and we end up with a great award like that. Thanks to everyone involved!
2008-10-21T09:52:45.651+01:00
Hellbride signs
Hellbride has signed with those lovely folks over at Maxim Media/Brain Damage Films and should be hitting the US DVD shelves at the beginning of 2009, unless I miss my guess.
I've been insanely busy all week sorting out both the HB deal (completing a delivery list is always fun) and also dealing with post-production on the secret project, which I'm going to call BDT but can't quite tell you why yet. BDT was shooting last week, and is now wrapped apart from a couple of cutaways. I'm very excited about it; it's a very different project than I'm used to, but horror fans should certainly find it something to get excited about. It also gave me the chance to work with a few wonderful old friends again..
More soon. Sssshhhhh.
2008-10-15T18:04:34.169+01:00
Secret projects again..
See, I'm spending a fair bit of my time at the moment working on a secret project. Again. Last time around, this was The Devil's Music. This time around, it's not. It's.. Ah, no, can't tell you yet. But soon. Very soon.
We had a Jinx Gathering last week, when 40-odd folks from Jinx's ten year history (that's not ten years of moviemaking, but ten years of doing stuff with the brand identity of 'Jinx'. Years before TrashHouse, I was above a pub in Essex compereing the Jinx Comedy Club). It was bloody brilliant to see folks we hadn't seen in years and share a pint or two with them, and I hope we get to do it again before long. It's always good to touch base. I set out with the clear objective of alternating pints of lager with pints of shandy, and succeeded except for the 'pints of shandy' bit. Despite that, I managed to avoid getting utterly bladdered (although I realise these things are relative) and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.
On a non-Jinx front, the weekend before the gathering we went to see The Faint playing in a tiny little venue called Cargo. I'd like to take this opportunity to say that The Faint are one of the best live bands I've ever seen, and to encourage everyone to run off and check their MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/thefaint and check out new single The Geeks Were Right. That's my plug for the day..
Oh, and we've got a final contract for Hellbride sitting on the office table, which we expect to be signing in the next day or so. I'll keep you posted.
Rock on,
Pat
2008-09-11T11:14:49.508+01:00
A review from Kim Newman
I've been a fan of Kim Newman's writing for a long time.. His book Nightmare Movies was one of the first overviews of the horror genre that I ever purchased, and I read it cover to cover more times than I can imagine.
A couple of years back, Kim Newman reviewed my first movie TrashHouse in this straight-to-DVD column for Empire. It was a brief but positive review, and felt like a real milestone.
Yesterday, we had a lengthy review, from Kim Newman himself, turn up for The Devil's Music. It's a really positive review, and scheduled to run in Empire as soon as we've got a UK release date. I obviously can't reproduce the whole review here, but he's kindly allowed us to run a quote from it over on the main site's page for The Devil's Music. It's over here.
2008-08-13T11:35:00.200+01:00
Argentina...
Found out that KillerKiller was released in Argentina last month too. Had no idea whatsoever. The title has been changed to the rather funky if slightly unoriginal...
Can't work out how to use the Argentinian order sites yet (they don't seem to have an Amazon) so haven't successfully ordered it to add to my 'international copies of my movies' collection yet. Anyone feels like pointing me in the right direction I'd be extremely grateful.
I've also been working on a project that hasn't been announced properly, so I'm never sure how much I'm meant to say about it. I'm sure I'll just blurt it out myself before too long; I've never been too good with secrets. Except The Devil's Music, which I was very proud of myself for how long I kept it to myself.
Oh, and there are apparently more midnight screenings of KillerKiller in certain UCI cinemas in Germany this coming weekend, so keep an eye out if you're in the country.
I'm sure I'll get round to doing a proper detailed blog again soon. But I'm sure you love these little updates in the meantime!
2008-08-05T12:41:20.698+01:00
German Cinema Release
KillerKiller somewhat unexpectedly hit German cinemas for midnight showing across the country at selected UCI theatres last weekend, which we were delighted about.
Oh, and the second part of the Micro Budget guide on Zone Horror is over here.
2008-08-04T10:08:46.475+01:00
Lost Tales of Erika Spawn part 3
2008-07-19T00:31:29.664+01:00
Lost Tales of Erika Spawn part 2
2008-07-08T16:45:11.344+01:00
Lost Tales of Erika Spawn
2008-07-03T20:22:38.717+01:00
Too Far Back..
Can't really regale you with many more tales from Cannes after all, since it's all a bit of a jumble without my notes to go from. Some of the memories are very pleasant (meeting up for the first time in years with our very own Lucy Sweet, Amber Moelter), some slightly less so (slogging around the Marche du Film for the umpteenth time) but I'm buggered if I can get them into any sort of coherent order so I'd probably best abandon the effort. It was a hell of an experience, though, and I'm sure I'll end up back there before too long.
Since returning, I've been hammering away on various projects. Some personal ones (my brother Colin got married the other week, and I cut them together a wedding video) some freelance ones (filming stand-ups and music videos.. Drop me a line if you're interested in my services for this sort of thing) and some company ones (sorting through our various distribution options for Hellbride and The Devil's Music.. There are certainly decisions to be made in the next couple of weeks). Also went to Glastonbury last weekend, which is kind of traditional for me (I think that was my 13th one).
I'm in the office all alone this week, since Pip's out on a shoot at Elstree. Well, I say alone. There are still the cats, who pop in and bother me whenever I'm doing something important that really doesn't benefit from loud mewing. Phone interview? George decides that it's time for a spot of loud mewing. Contract stuff? Buffy decides to howl like she's had vital parts of her reproductive system removed. Which, of course, she has. But that was ages ago, and she can't still be upset about it.
Oh, and the Zone Horror website are running my four-part guide to making micro-budget movies. The first chunk is over here.
2008-07-02T11:57:17.940+01:00
Cannes and back again..
Hi folks; sorry for the delay in posting about our Cannes adventures. I'm sure you've all been burning up with anticipation.
We drove to Cannes rather than flying; a jaunt across on the ferry, then a straight drive down to Lyon accompanied by various George Carlin albums. We crashed out in Lyon overnight, and then made the last leg of the journey into Cannes to arrive on Saturday 17th. Soon after arriving at our campsite (yes, we stayed at a campsite. Because we are indie filmmakers and thus poor. We were not the only folks emerging from tents in tuxedos, I can tell you..), we got a text from our friends Jim & Laura (who have just completed an absolutely cracking flick called BANE, which I demand that you check out as soon as you get the opportunity), suggesting that we meet them over by the accreditation booth. After duly picking up our passes we headed off to meet them; we stopped for some grub and a few beers and then headed off towards a beach party thrown in association with South African filmmakers. It was a lovely party that had obviously been carefully planned, but the torrential rain that evening kind of ruined the beach vibe a bit. I got cheerfully smashed on the free booze and chatted to filmmakers from all around the globe. We somehow made it back to the campsite at around 2am, (meeting a very chatty German editor en route, who helped us get the right bus stop!)
On Sunday, we met up with a UK screenwriter called Neth Knowles and went for a recce around the Marche as the bullshit levels in the air at the UK pavilion were hurting our ears. Made the decision to spend the day getting a feel for the place rather than approaching distribs/sales agents. At least sleeping in a tent had minimised my hangover.. We wandered into a buyers' screening of Reeker 2, (despite not actually being buyers), and I can happily report that its far, far better than the original. In the evening, we attended a little function at the Canadian Pavilion before heading out to meet the guys who made The Zombie Diaries, who were out drinking with our old buddy James Fisher from Hellbride. We all ended up at the Petit Majestic (merely a bar, but the main hangout for an awful lot of UK industry folks) where we met the team behind forthcoming Britflick Hotel Caledonia, who were extremely nice guys to chat to. The film sounds like it's going to be storming, too.
Monday rolled around, and it became apparent that it was time to hit the Marche proper. We'd got a list of companies that we were hoping to approach, and we made our way around all three floors of stands selling product from all over the world. The key word, of course, being selling.. Not all of them had the slightest interest in acquiring new stuff. We got some good reactions regardless; mainly from companies who were extremely tired of people coming up and pitching ideas or presales, and were relieved to see a finished film for once. I'll keep the companies that we had the most productive meetings with to myself, if you don't mind; never a good idea to discuss 'might happen' deals in public. There were certainly a couple of companies that impressed us a lot, though, and I hope we get the chance to deal with them in the future.
Cleverly, my notes regarding exactly what we did on a day-to-day basis run out at that point. I'll see if I can break down the rest and fill you in with the rest of our adventures on my next post!
2008-06-03T17:43:56.743+01:00
KillerKiller International Releases
Another new interview up at Cinescare, which should hopefully satisy your need to hear me go on about The Devil's Music for a while.
Been checking out the details of some of the international releases for KillerKiller. The Russian version is already out. The title has been translated to (roughly) Prison of those Doomed, and the slightly insane cover art doesn't have an awful lot to do with the movie but I kind of dig it regardless..
I'm dying to hear the Russian dub, I truly am. My copy should be turning up in the next few days, so I'll keep you posted. The German release, however, has gone for the slightly more traditional approach..
I've no idea how the DVDs will shape up otherwise (whether either of them are the widescreen version rather than the 4:3 crop, whether either of them have any good extras), but I shall keep you posted nonetheless.
As far as pre-production goes, I'm officially juggling three projects (BrainBath, House on the Witchpit and Strippers vs Werewolves). That should be enough to keep me occupied but isn't, however, the whole story.. There's another project that I can't really discuss yet because other directors are involved and its not my place to blurt things out before official announcements. And there's also the fact that I keep getting these crazy ideas for a Hellbride 2 which I can't seem to shift. Considering that Hellbride hasn't actually been released yet other than festival screenings, I should probably wait until the DVD is actually out before making any decisions about sequels.
I love sequels. Just because I haven't shot one so far does not mean that I might not do so in the future...
2008-05-09T10:25:18.763+01:00
Reviews and brochures
A big box of our Cannes brochures turned up from the printers last week. We're trying to get a Flash version online, but we're having a few technical hitches. Hopefully I'll be able to give you a link next entry.
We've been getting lots of great coverage and reviews... Check out the coverage at;
Cinescare Review
SexGoreMutants Review
SexGoreMutants Interview
Horrorview Review
Horror Asylum Review
Fatally Yours Review
Best Horror Movies Review
The MJ Simpson Review that I already posted
I've heard tell that there should be reviews going up fairly shortly on both Fangoria.com and Horrortalk.com as well. I should perhaps mention that some of the above reviews are a bit spoilerish, so if you want to check out the flick 'clean' you might want to click with care...
2008-04-28T11:53:59.555+01:00
Getting ready for Cannes
We've never been to the Cannes Festival before. We've had folks out there representing our movies, sure, but during the actual festival I've always been hunched over an edit suite or a word-processing package in our office.
This year, however, we're finally going. Our accreditation came through the other week and we've got our accomodation sorted, so all that remains is an endless list of things not to forget. We've been sorting out our publicity materials first and foremost, as I imagine we're in a fairly unique position as far as small UK companies go in terms of quantity of projects (four complete, three in development or preproduction) so we need to make sure that we're representing ourselves in the best way. We've been putting together a brochure that has a similar layout to the main Jinx Media website, but we'll need to get it to the printers fairly soon which seems a shame whilst we've still got great quotes for The Devil's Music coming in all the time.
It's a really weird time at Jinx Media; like whatever happens next is going to be different somehow. Bigger, quite possibly, but certainly different from what's gone before... Hey, without change life would get pretty boring.
2008-03-26T10:56:00.741Z
