Well if zombies or robots weren’t the harbingers of the apocalypse then it seems only natural that we’d be invaded by pissed off Christmas trees tired of being decorated, pushed around, and inevitably shredded. Jason Eisener, the director of the faux movie trailer “Hobo with a Shotgun,” returns giving us more of a reason to like what he’s doing and what he’s intending to do with the independent film scene. Not only does the man’s style get sleeker and more stylish with every output, but he also knows how to push all the right buttons with clever fare like “Hobo” down to ridiculous material called “Treevenge.”
Tag Archives: Indie Film
Gothkill (2009) (DVD)
So far I’ve enjoyed the output Wild Eye Releasing has dropped on movie lovers laps. “Blitzkrieg” was a fun and salivating homage to Naziploitation from the grindhouse era and now we have “Gothkill,” another neo-grindhouse bonanza that recalls the satanic thrillers of the seventies with its tongue firmly planted in cheek. At a merciful hour and nine minutes long, Connelly’s satanic horror comedy seems to be here only to present us with the finest and most unique satanic and gothic performance artists of all time from fire breathers, to magicians and fortune tellers, all of whom are included in the film for lip service in a story that is not only much too convoluted to understand at times, but seems too long even at the length of an average television special.
Breaking Out of the Asylum: Interview with Director Leigh Scott
Whether or not you actually agree with Leigh Scott’s methods of filmmaking and business, whether or not you like Asylum, whether or not you’ve ever bothered to see a film from Asylum, you can’t argue that Leigh Scott is definitely ambitious and has an eye for detail. Though films like “Transmorphers” and “Pirates of Treasure Island” were considered busts and universally mocked, there’s a definite knack for detail and cinematography there that you can’t deny.
Leigh Scott went to work for Asylum pictures a long time ago becoming their most prominent director, a man who guaranteed to get their movies out there in time with a solid cast, and since then he’s branched out to make films on his terms and try to emulate the directors he’s come to admire as a film buff. The Milwaukee born filmmaker is still at it, and now has the chance to hit the scene in a big way with a revisiting of the L. Frank Baum tale “The Wizard of Oz” which is a modern take with a twist called “The Witches of Oz” about an adult Dorothy now being called on to save her own reality when the Wicked Witch of the West decides to conquer Earth.
Often a controversial filmmaker spawning many articles and questions of his practices, Scott has shown no signs of slowing down any time soon and continues to power on with this much talked about production expected to have a limited release soon. Though Leigh and I have a rather interesting, volatile, infamous (any other adjectives you can think of) history together, I thought it would be a good chance to interview Scott and see what he’s been up to and why he decided to twist the tale of “Wizard of Oz” for the modern age.
Metal Man (2008)
The very fact that the producers and creators behind “Metal Man” made this film boggles my mind and leaves me stumped. Why they didn’t seek out the folks behind this “Iron Man” rip off is a missed opportunity to inform these companies to vie for original productions and not knock offs. I will give this to them, the people behind “Metal Man” are not the Asylum film studios. This messy amateur production relies on a metal suited hero named Metal Man whose color scheme is a red and yellowed armor that enables super abilities whenever he’s fighting crime.
The Greatest Fan Film of All Time (2008)
Jacob Drake is probably one of my favorite independent animators, because while the character models tend to be crude at times, there’s a certain dynamic charm they obtain to where the art slowly evolves in to outstanding models of figures and men that only add to the silliness and inherent great sense of humor engrained in the movie that is “The Greatest Fan Film of All Time.” For a sequel and a fan film the folks now working outside the defunct Bullcrank studios, “The Greatest Fan Film” makes good in its word of being a funny but epic finisher for a small group of independent filmmakers now seeking their own niche in entertainment.
One-Day Seminar (2007)
I’m sorry but I just have to have respect for a man who creates a vision like “One-Day Seminar” and performs a trick where the crew pays homage to the show in the process. For a nineteen minute comedy short, director Binder kept me in near stitches by scenarios that were turned catastrophic thanks to stubbornness by main character Tommy Murray and the intense rudeness received by him when he decides to host a seminar.
Zombie Girl: The Movie
As a kid I remember wanting to make movies; I found out how utterly horrible it was to get a film off the ground let alone make a movie, and “Zombie Girl” is that movie about the ultimate movie geek making a zombie movie. The zombies in this movie don’t run. It’s gory. It’s indie. And the director is twelve! “Zombie Girl” profiles not just Emily Hagins, the preteen filmmaker looking to create her own zombie movie, but it explores the budding interest of filmmaking with the convenience of the film technology in the tech era and what access its created for people like Hagins.