Yes children, you too can be like James Farr if you try hard enough. Farr, who is currently hitting it bigger and bigger with his creation Xombie, is inspiration to all the fan boys out there who want their own cult figure beloved by horror fans, and all it takes is hard work, a creative idea, and talent. The comic book mini series “Xombie # 3” is the result of Farr’s creation, now a simultaneous success as an online cartoon, and a mini series for currently hip comic publisher Devil’s Due Publishing.
Bad Reputation (2005)
Jim Hemphill’s immaculately directed “Bad Reputation” is half “Carrie” and half “I Spit on Your Grave,” it’s a teen thriller that I can finally get behind, and one that never swims in the kiddy pool. This is a hardcore revenge film, and I enjoyed it from the very beginning. It’s also one of the few rape revenge flicks that have come around in years, with an utterly compelling series of events that leads to unthinkable carnage, after an utterly disturbing rape sequence renders a young insecure girl a merciless monster. Hemphill definitely has his ducks in a row with a film that really brings the best of the revenge genre to the screen, without ever watering the atmosphere down to appeal to a younger audience.
Director Larry Longstreth is full of "Bullcrank"
I always say, if you want to know what filmmaking is like, ask an actual fucking filmmaker. Any filmmaker will do. But probably the best tool is a filmmaker recounting what their experience has been like. Whether through the hilarious “Dirty Condoms, Anxiety Attacks, Road Trips, and Reality Shows: Filmmaking 101.” or basically stalking a random filmmaker, you can learn a lot from the indie filmmakers. Larry Longstreth is one in a group of sheer madmen that lurk over at Bullcrank.com. Bullcrank is the comedy group that creates critically acclaimed and rather popular short comedies that range from animated homages to the video game age, to a musical about zombies.
Longstreth and co. have been featured on many websites including Ifilm, their films have ranked high in popularity in both sites, and currently Longstreth recently entered in “The Lot” contest. We here at Cinema Crazed, love the group at Bullcrank after watching “Zombies in my Neighborhood” over a year ago, but we’re only one of many folks that follow the exploits of the Bullcrank crew and their productions. Their website has something for every comedy lover, and you’ll find at least one thing that you’ll be laughing about for days.
Longstreth along with his equally talented brother Aaron, both pop culture and comic book junkies, have managed to build much clout in the independent circuit, and so far they’re making immense progress building a cult following. We decided after a few years of jabbering with the hilarious, odd, and frank head Bullcranker Larry Longstreth, that we’d sit down and get him to spill his beans about his productions, and life. We know that after sampling a few of the short films, and reading this interview, a few new Bullcrankers will be born.
The Transformers: The Movie (1986)
“You, who knows not of mercy, now plead for it?” – Optimus Prime
This is the real Transformers movie, the one that helped the craze, a clever toy campaign that evolved into an excellent film, and an average series from Marvel Comics. To many, the film is only good on a kitschy level, but the film still manages to pack a punch as one of the few variations of the mythos that’s pretty violent in its ways. Characters die, robots destroy one another, and there’s a pretty complex plot to it. This film was introduced to me as a child way back before DVD’s ever entered the scene, and it’s still a film that’s rather entertaining and filled with thrills in spite of the animated format. “The Transformers” is not just all about nostalgia.
Sheena #1
All I know about “Sheena” is that she’s very much like a female Tarzan, except she had a few movies, a really bad television series in the end of the nineties, bears a supernatural twist to her, and–oh yeah–she’s really hot. From the beginning, we’re being set up for another evil industrialist tale, and that’s the gist of “Sheena.” Issue one chronicles the return of Sheena in the midst of a major destruction of the Val Verde jungle at the hands of Cardwell Industries. Shifting from past and present, we follow the rise and fall of Harrison Cardwell, a young man who fled to Val Verde to escape the government of the US and built a crooked empire, inevitably losing everything he cherished.
Mime (2005)
I guess you could say that this is based on a true story, but then it’s so absurd I truly had a hard time believing. So, I’ll take Balinski’s word for it, in the end. Based on a true story, a young man who poses as a mime goes walking in the park one night, and proceeds to mime killing a passerby. He’s then chased, beaten and put on trial for murder. I can imagine the original proceedings (if there were any) didn’t really go this way, but “Mime” seems as more a lampooning of the proceedings with a clown as one of the jurors, and our lawyers insisting that the victim not speak since he’s technically dead.
Foxxy Madonna vs the Black Death (2007)
Why did I even long for a Grind House revival, when it was happening right under my nose? You may be surprised to hear this, but I can be a bit slow witted at times. Right now, there are about a hundred young directors creating movies, all of whom are just clamoring to re-invent the Grind House and exploitation genre, and they just don’t get enough of the credit that they deserve for accomplishing what Hollywood has tried so desperately to do. The proof in the pudding is this utterly fantastic production short from Cinephreak Pictures that aces every feeling and novelty you get from a Grind House film, with a touch of Blaxploitation for good measure.