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.

Enough Shilly-Shallying!

Make no mistake, I've wanted to make movies all my life, and have been having a go since i was a kid (I'm 33 now!?). I don't know why I'm trying to persuade you. Thing is: they cost lots of money, and you have to persuade people to believe in your vision and to actually turn up to the shoots at ungodly hours of the morning. When your vision invariably involves time portals, mutating humanoid blood-beasts, decapitation, full-frontal nudity and helicopters, then (especially in this bloody credit crunch) it becomes quite a hard-sell!

But what else am I gonna do? Discard my dreams and go and work in an office; couple of pints with Tony and Baz on a Friday night down the Cobblers, then IKEA with an identikit wife on a Saturday morning, followed by some light suicide on a Sunday in the garage with a pipe attached from the exhaust to the the drivers seat? NO!!! I'm gonna write epic tales of pan-dimensional Detectives, Malevolent Pleasure Droids, Machine-Gun toting Fuck-Sluts, and Intestine-Gouging Demons!!! Screw reality. From now on, screw it in the ear! I'm gonna be true to my warped vision and see where it takes me........

If you're still here: I promise this whole blog won't be quite so exciteable. But it WILL feature Werewolf Gangs, Future Cops, Alternative Universes, treatises on my favourite Cult Movies, and ruminations on the postmodern iconography of Miami Vice (the TV show)......If that's your bag, then let's party. If not, then fuck off out of it!........