Ending 2010 with a flurry of Creative Activity!

I'm guilty of being an inconsistent Blogger. So I've decided to just BLOG without thinking too much about it from now on. I did have the feeling that people might absorb my soul and my ideas (such as they are) if I spoke of them too much. But I figure you have to give to receive, so I shall proceed to be a little more forthcoming in the bloggosphere...I'm also aware that most bloggers only have about 4 regular readers, so not much is truly at stake!

So 2010 has been nonstop-exhausting from start to finish. I now live and work in Qatar (I've been there since July 2009) for Doha Film Institute, which is the best job I've ever had. I work in the Education Team, teaching new, aspiring filmmakers to shoot their first films. This year our students shot 20 x 1-Minute Films and 9 x 10-Minute Films; also 4 x Music Videos. Watching this group of young filmmakers flourish has been a truly joyful experience..

Here's my favourite Music Video of the year, which I instructed on alongside the wonderful Filmmaker Jackie Salloum. It was directed by 16-year old Bayan Dadah, and won the Music Video Competition judged by Nitin Sawnhey:

In addition to to a massively busy year teaching, and taking part in the Doha Tribeca Film Festival, I also shot a new Short Film, "TOPAZ DUO: COSMIC PHOENIX", which we just wrapped, and is a departure from my previous Shorts, being a Sci-Fi Musical, all spoken in Arabic.

I actually have to run off and do some stuff, but i feel good that i've got back in the blog saddle again....I'll be back....

(We're editing my submission for the David Lynch Music Video Competition today, so I'm a bit pre-occupied, but I'll post the finished video tomorrow on here)......Bye for Now!!! :))

i'm back in the bloggosphere......

I abandoned my blog about a year ago, as i fled the UK in july 2009, on a mission to escape the recession and explore the world. I was forced to abandon the majestic awesomeness of James Moran's bespoke script DEMON RAMPAGE, which he wrote for me to direct (one day James, i shall return to that mutha!)....

So now i live in Qatar, working for the Doha Film Institute, teaching aspiring filmmakers how to write/shoot/direct/edit. I LOVE the job, and may never return to the world i knew.....

Above is a sneak peak from a test shoot for my next Film "LIMINAL", which I may or may not blog about shortly!.....I love this story, but feel incredibly protective about it, so might keep it under wraps, and just release little gems from time to time....no-one really cares anyway! But I have vowed to myself to make the film truly original and surprising. What's the point in doing anything else?....

Gotta run, but i'll be back!

SALVATORE RELEASINGS

This is my Production Company's New Logo by the way!........... I have a feeling you're gonna see some even more BUGNUTS INSANE films from us in the very near future.........

Meeting Dario Argento!..........

Soooooooo: I met one of my heroes on Friday. Can you really call a man you routinely enacts the barbaric slaughter of innocent victims A HERO? Well, if it's on screen then YES YOU CAN! Just don't talk to your mum about it...

Dario was in London with soundtrack supremo Claudio Simonetti to receive Lifetime Achievement Awards from The Cine-Excess Festival, run by Brunel University. Naturally I was in attendance, and the lectures and films were all fascinating.

But for me, the opportunity to hand over a specially-prepared DVD of my own Giallo Films to the Maestro of the Genre, was almost overwhelmingly over-exciting, to the point of almost passing out afterwards!?

[For the uninitiated (actually, I don't think anyone reads this blog anyway!) the Giallo is a uniquely Italian subgenre of the Thriller, which fetishises brutal, psychosexual violence and magnificent cinematic style and excess; the genre emerged from Italy's fascination with Pulp novels in the '50s and '60s (and a healthy dose of Catholic repression I'll wager), which was eventually brought to the screen by Mario Bava in such early Gialli as THE GIRL WHO KNEW TOO MUCH and BLOOD AND BLACK LACE. Although there were many eminent Giallo Directors (such as Umberto Lenzi, Sergio Martino and Aldo Lado) Dario Argento was the true inheritor of Mario Bava's bloody crown, and elevated the Genre to it's highest peaks with films such as DEEP RED and SUSPIRIA.]

Anyway, I digress! After his fascinating Q+A session, I hovered with intent inthe lobby. Dario mingled freely with the adoring crowds (Goths, Geeks and Academics), but I waited for my moment. With me, also hovered one of my most trusted collaborators Giles Edwards, who directed the awesome Giallo Short THE INCURSION (which I shot for him, and you can now see it here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhU7AvZDk7k

I pulled aside one of Dario's Italian friends, and asked him to put a good word in for me. He did, and SECONDS LATER: Dario was examining the specially-made DVD that I had made for him. He was totally friendly, grinning and enthusiastic. He slapped me on the back and said "OK Neon Killer! Good! I watch!!".....

Needless to say I was over-excited, as I tend to be pretty over-excited a lot of hte time anyway.........

DEMON RAMPAGE!!!

OK so i finally finished fiddling about with NEON KILLER, and decided to post it on youtube, even though I still wanna enter it into a few festivals...

You can see it here, but for some reason it's all squashed and lower res, so i would recommend skipping over to:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=KeolD_NxLeU

Select the 'high quality' version and enjoy!....



So now that Chapter is well and truly closed, I'm pushing forwards with DEMON RAMPAGE, a rip-roaring, gore-drenched Action-Horror-Comedy. It is currently being written by James Moran (of DOCTOR WHO, SEVERANCE, TORCHWOOD, SPOOKS, PRIMEVAL fame) and is gonna rock harder and fiercer than anything I've ever even dreamt of making in my life!



So I'm gathering a team of super-cool collaborators, and the minute we get James' script, we'll get moving. We've already laid the foundations of the production, but with Mr Moran's killer script in hand, nothing will stop us!!!!..........

Stay tuned, and enjoy NEON KILLER!.......

Paris, Reykjavik, Tenerife

2008 has been a brilliant year, maybe the best ever. So much stuff has happened. Some Great, some Bad, some Confusing....But I've learnt a million lessons, and come out the other side a wiser, less petulant person! It's a pity I can't talk about some of the stuff, for legal reasons (I WAS involved in a major Movie, but am NOT allowed to talk about it!?!.....maybe another time.....)


While I'm busy plotting my next incursion into Horror-Comedy, I've been working as a Documentary/News Cameraman. I've done it for almost 10 years now and enjoy the hectic pace and international travel. This year I've been to: Vancouver, Rome, Paris, Iceland (twice), Tenerife, Vienna, Switzerland, Madrid, Barcelona, and all up and down the UK.

I've shot all kinds of Documentaries this year, in between directing Gore sequences for "NEON KILLER", and shooting Giles Edwards' "THE INCURSION" and Sophie Cowles "SMILE" (both savage Horror shorts). Most recently I've shot Documentaries on The Middle East and the Financial Crisis. The more you learn about where the World Economy could be heading, the more freaked out you get; so I have decided to retreat back into the hazy world of B-Movies, Partying and Net-Geekery for the remainder of the year!

So I've been chin-wagging with Axelle Carolyn (journalist, actress, gore hound; pictured Above) of late. She's a really lovely person, and played a small but meaningful role in my last Short Film "NEON KILLER" (I electrocuted her and exploded her head off, which was nice). She's gonna play a much bigger role in my next Short, which we will try and get into Frightfest 2009....


I gotta namecheck the Horror legend Norman J. Warren on here....He's been one of the coolest guys I've met this year. Massively supportive and great fun! making "HORRORSHOW" with him was a blast!...Gonna go see him talk at the NFT on Friday 12th December...

I was also recently interviewed by the groovy fashion journalist Anna Battista for Dazed and Confused, about my undying love for the Italian Comic Book character DIABOLIK. You can find the whole interview here.....

http://www.dazeddigital.com/ArtsAndCulture/
article/1454/1/Happy_Birthday_Diabolik

If you love DIABOLIK as much as me (perfectly impossible of course!) then come and join my Diabolik Appreciation Society!! Just root round facebook, and you'll find us! We have 110 dedicated members....


I think me and Anna are going to collaborate on a fashion project in 2009, but it's very early days....If you're into deeply analytical, fashion/cultural critique, you can check out some of her articles here:

http://www.dazeddigital.com/userprofile/
Default.aspx?username=annab

So that's 2008 almost finished with! I wouldn't even begin to philosophise on here, even though NO-ONE is reading. BUT: A combination of Buddhism, Taoism, The Secret (yes: it really bloody works), and a dash of Christianity, has taught me so much this year.....Hey: you gotta take wisdom where you find it!...




Lastly, I gotta shout out MASSIVE LOVE AND RESPECT to Ben Falk, Giorgia Scatturo, David Hall, Sophie Cowles, Giles Edwards, Ben Steiner, Norman J. Warren, The whole Frightfest gang, my family, Dan Lewis, Guy Mainwaring, and the Holy Ghost of Biscuit the Pug, who still watches over me, and occasionally still pisses on the carpet!.......

BRING ON 2009!!!!!

"NEON KILLER" - My New Short Film, Coming Soon To A Computer Near You!.....

Fresh from FRIGHTFEST '08 and SAN SEBASTIAN HORROR AND FANTASY FESTIVAL '08.....I'll be uploading this to youtube in the next couple of weeks....

"NEON KILLER" follows two burnt out, grizzled Detectives, Balmoral and McClagen, as they track down the forementioned maniac; a highly inventive psychopath who has been on a savage killing spree for the last 15 years.

Whereas my previous short-film "SLASH HIVE" was a tribute to the heady excesses of italian Horror films from the 1970s (the Giallo genre), "NEON KILLER" is shot in the style of Michael Mann's early '80s work ("THIEF", "MIAMI VICE", "MANHUNTER"), crossed with the grim brutality and moustaches of 1970s Italian Police Thrillers (such as "LIVE LIKE A COP, DIE LIKE A MAN" and "VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS" ). Very Special visual effects by Alex Chandon, Michael J McCarthy, and Paul Ewen.