I still don’t see why it’s so difficult to turn two of the coolest superheroes into a full fledged action franchise to this day. If anyone is more deserving of a movie franchise it’s The Green Hornet and his assistant/sidekick Kato, who, with the right director, can be turned into a blockbuster franchise that could easily be put in the same consideration as Batman.
Tag Archives: fan film
Friday the 13th: Mother's Day (2007)
I’ve seen plenty of fan films in my time. Comic book fan films, Star Wars fan films, and yes even fan films from other movies. Usually they’re made by utterly ambitious fan boys, with a sleek production quality, and yet only really range a running time of 10-45 minutes, with the work done before the bag gets old. “Friday the 13th: Mother’s Day” is probably one of the most ambitious fan films I’ve ever seen—the jury is still out. Not only does it pay homage to my favorite horror franchise of the genre, but it’s based on a teen novel, and runs for about ninety minutes. Suffice it to say, I was shocked when I took a glimpse at the running time for this movie. Ninety minutes? Were they kidding us? No, they were not.
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.
Dead@17 (2007)
Based on the comic book by Josh Howard, Mark Steensland’s adaptation of “Dead@17” is a great short that really registered, even if I’ve never read the comic before. I know, it’s a shocker considering I try to grab every horror comic out there, but “Dead@17” is a series I’ve heard about in passing, but never actively sought it out. And thanks to Steensland, that’s all about to change. Steensland depicts a rather interesting world on film, with a short that signals the start of something much bigger afoot.
Batman's Gonna Get Shot in the Face (2006)
Co-director Longstreth once told me that Batman is pretty preposterous because he just doesn’t see how a man in a suit can scare criminals and provide protection. Because while his suit protects him from bullets, if a criminal wanted to shoot him in the face, he’d be down for the count within an instant. Longstreth just isn’t that fond of Batman, and neither am I, and one of his newest films pretty much sums up what he feels about the character. “Batman’s Gonna Get Shot in the Face” is a spoofing of the character Batman, a brutally overrated superhero. Now, Longstreth and Jacob Drake are big fans of the comics as I am, and the character of Batman is thrashed back and forth in one of the funniest online cartoons I’ve ever seen.
Nintendo: Oldschool Revolution (2006)
Sick of those films that have humongous battles, wars with mythological creatures, a leader of a mass army giving his legion of soldiers a large dramatic pep talk on the battlefield, fantasy stories about revenge, and wizards, all battling to fight an evil legion of soldiers whom want to take over the world? Well, stop. And watch at least one more. But this gigantic film’s hero is not a hobbit, or a knight of the round table, this hero is a–plumber. Seriously. Take your stigma for these films and put it on hold, and watch Larry Longstreth’s new hilarious short film that really puts a new meaning to the game wars.
A Joker’s Card (2004)
“A Joker’s Card” is possibly one of the more ambitious DC fan films I’ve come across in years. As a comic geek, I’ve admittedly seen very little fan films, but this one was surprisingly good. I wasn’t expecting much in terms of quality, but director Wu takes what he has and turns it in to a very colorful off-beat fan film that spoofs Batman’s rogues gallery. Imagine the villains and heroes off-spring attempting to create their own crimes and chaos. Dick Grayson’s son Nick has a bondage fetish, the Joker’s and Mr. Freeze’s sons are working together to kill Gotham’s off-spring of heroes to inflict their own crimes but are met with obstacles when Wonder Woman’s daughter decides to save the day. I was just laughing my ass from beginning to end because while it is a fan film, its intention is to charmingly spoof the Batman lore and it pulls it off well.