About This Site Archive

Today Smash or Trash Independent Filmmaking celebrates it 10th Anniversary. Wow! What a fun roller coaster ride it has been! So many reviews and interviews of fantastic people in the indie film business. So many opportunities to be part of the independent film scene on both coasts! So many blessed experiences.

There are so many people to thank, that I really, really can’t name them here, cause I KNOW I will miss someone very important. I do want to thank my partners in crime Leanna Chamish and Mitch Klein, whom have helped me from the very beginning. Frank Lama for being an incredible producer and co host on the Smash or Trash television program. Les Bradley for his editing know how and friendship. I am very much in debt to these people. And for everyone else that has contributed to the website, you have my gratitude.

March has some great things in store for fans of indie films. I take an in-depth look into Damien Leone’s ALL HALLOW’S EVE and TERRIFIER. Plus I have some incredible interviews with two of the stars of TERRIFIER – David Howard Thornton and Jenna Kanell. Both are incredibly talented and super fun to talk to.

Also, I take a look at Joe Sherlock’s slasher THE BLOOD CREEK WOODSMAN. Joe has been a friend for years and it is great to see just how far he has come as a filmmaker.

Smash or Trash takes a look at Brad Twigg’s KILLER CAMPOUT as well. With tongue firmly in cheek, it’s a backwoods slasher romp with plenty of blood and some fun cameos from genre legends John Russo, Herschell Gorden Lewis and George Stover.

We also catch up with Lisa Mikitarian and how her LA screening of the indie comedy SPENT went.

And last but not least – with the weather getting nice again we go into overdrive with the upcoming filming of MY movie – MADHOUSE MANOR.

I am very proud that over the years on this site, we have branched out beyond the confines of just reviewing indie horror and sci fi. We have pushed that envelope and have covered indie dramas, rom coms, comedies, musicals and even westerns!

Here’s to another 10 years!

Robert Long

Smash or Trash Independent Filmmaking

Robert Longindependent filmmaker and creator of Smash or Trash Independent Filmmaking was recently interviewed on the Kate Show – an East Coast talk show (as well as being a Lee Doll Production).

Kate talks to Rob about his career and such highlights as working in Hollywood, Bubba Ho Tep, The Fixer, The Adventures of Louanna Lee, and the films of Don Dohler. It’s a fun recap of a creative person’s body of work.

Wow, it’s been a while since I have done a serious update – but it is up now! I have a new post production article up on what the next possible step is before going to distribution or self distribution; going to a video post house to get a limited number of copies professionally made. Therefore the spotlight falls on a Mid Atlantic firm known as VIDEO LABS. This company has had a LOT of interaction with independent filmmakers. The link for that article is HERE.

 

Movie Reviewer Judy Furlow Grannas has a new review up for a GOOD movie – ABSENTIA. By all accounts this sounds like a movie everyone is going to want to check out! The link to the review can be found HERE.

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Robert Long II with DEAD HUNT poster

Wow! Going into the fourth year of Smash or Trash. What can be said? Well, I’m incredibly lucky for being involved with such a great bunch of people worldwide. Leanna Chamish and I set out to do a book many years ago, but saw that the web was the way to go to keep things current. Mitch Klein came on board as an incredible supporter, and now we have Judith Furlow and Les Bradley on the team as well. My friend producer Frank Lama  has moved to Toronto Canada, but we still consider him an honorary member around these parts.

Robert Long II Mitch Klein

Independent filmmaking is a lot like life; incredibly passionate, difficult, and insane. Why do we do it? Because it is a drug in our system. Because we are both smart and very stupid at the same time. Because we have something inside of us that won’t quit, no matter how much we crave sanity.  For better or for worse, we are wed to the camera.

Team Smash or Trash

I’m not going to get into a big speech here. I would just like to say that there is room for improvement at the site. Little by little we are getting there. We hope to also do another Smash or Trash episode, and maybe get a podcast going. I want to sincerely thank everyone behind the scenes for their incredible love and support of the site. It would be nothing without you. I want to thank the viewers for increasing in number and for the positive feedback they give us. A very special thank you to the After Movie Diner podcast for all their support from the great city of New York.

George Stover in Desperate Living and Galaxy Invader

And a very big shout out to legendary actor George Stover because he is awesome and we all love him to pieces here at Smash or Trash. May you rock on for many more years in the movies George!

So keep coming back. I hope to get a lot more cool interviews, reviews, and how to’s up on the site soon.

Thank you.

Robert Long II

Smash or Trash Independent FIlmmaking Creator

Dexter Bobble Head toy

It’s giveaway time again! Hollywood producer Edward L. Plumb of Irena Belle Films has donated a Dexter Bobble-Head, based on the lead character of the popular television series.  The rules for entering are simple: Send us an email with your name and address and it will be printed out and put into the big giveaway jar for the drawing. The actual drawing will take place on February 13th for this item. And yes, just like the last giveaway I will have to charge the minimum for shipping this item: $3.00 for US, and $7.00 for anywhere else in the world. This will be through my paypal account. It’s unfortunate that I cannot do the postage but times are really lean right now. Make sure you check out our great sponsor’s movies by clicking on the banner below!

Irena Belle Productions

Are you on Facebook? Well, Smash or Trash WILL be getting a page up there soon. In the meantime, Four-Fingered Films LLC wants to hear from you! They have their general information page HERE, Their movie Roulette HERE, and their other production The Devil’s Playthings HERE. Check them out and give them a holler!

Roulette poster

The anniversary of the site is just around the corner and we are closing in on 8,000 hits! Not bad for having been up just short of two years. I’ve tried to keep this as a non-profit site but may have to go to using banner ads to keep it up and running, if you like the site and want to donate a dollar or two to keep it going strong, please press the Paypal donation button on the left – it will be appreciated! Thanks for all your support.

Hazy Daze™ 1985 to 1986

The About This Site section has been filled in more detail, and you can check that out by  clicking HERE. Coming up in February I have an article on affordable green-screening coming up, as well as some new interviews. Stay tuned…

As Darkness Sets In 1984

I’m currently talking to filmmaker Erik Kristopher Myers of Four-Fingered Films, LLC recently about  cutting a retro 80s trailer for my cult slasher movie AS DARKNESS SETS IN. It is a typical whodunit slasher from that era that starred Tami S. Marshall, Anthony Chilla, Ann Ehlers, David Bretag, Kelly Clark, Tim Reed, Michael Gerischer, and Cliff McFerren. It was seen by 1,000s of people at various conventions, and I have hopes of eventually releasing it on DVD.

Well folks, nobody is going to be interested in hearing this, but real life has been keeping me too busy to do much updating. Trust me, I feel bad about that and hope to rectify that in July. Of course the economy still sucks so I have been taking every freelance job and paying gig I can find. THAT’S what has kept me out of the loop. Some of these gigs are related to the industry, so I will be writing about those experiences in a few articles.

Rob on music set

I worked on a recent music video for producer Lee Doll. Les Bradley was the director of photography on the shoot. I have seen a rough cut and it looks great!

The bodycount continues

Click on the image above and it will take you to a thread I have up about whodunit slasher films. I post regularly over at The Bodycount Continues. I go over everything old and new and big budget to low budget, and am updating it as I have time (which hasn’t been much lately). If you have done a whodunit slasher, you just may find a review of it there.

Freaky Farley

The guys over at Shock Marathons sent me in two of their latest movies to review which I hope to get to as soon as possible. Check out their fun site ahead of time by clicking on the image of Freaky Farley above!

Leanna Chamish

I talked with contributor Mitch Klein this evening, and it looks like the site will be getting a lot more traffic in the near future. With the aid of updating the software and a few plug-ins, the site is going to get a MUCH wider audience AND that means more publicity and information for the indie films posted here. Most excellent news Mitch! If you haven’t done so, you owe it to yourself to check out his awesome independent film site TALES FROM THE CELLAR. To do so click on the link below:

 Tales From The Cellar

 

Blood, Boobs, and Beast

BLOOD BOOBS & BEAST, the documentary on independent filmmaker Don Dohler (1946 to 2006) is now available. Besides fascinating interviews with Dohler, director Joe Ripple, and veteran actor George Stover there are several celebrity interviews with such people as Tom Savini (Friday the 13th), Tom Sullivan (Evil Dead), Lloyd Kaufman (Troma Films) and J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias) on how Don Dohler inspired their lives and careers and their insights into what made this man tick. It is an incredible account of the life of a man that shot movies in his backyard that got shown all over the world. This is a two-disc set that is loaded with extras, including Dohler’s 1982 sci-fi/horror masterpiece NIGHTBEAST. Click on the image above to order yours today!

 

 

 

Happy Birthday to Filmmaker Donald F. Glüt!

A happy birthday to independent filmmaker Donald F. Glüt! This man inspired many people with his “underground films” (including director John Carpenter) and has several movies, books, and soundtracks available. Click on his photo above to go to his website to see what new productions he has been busy on!

Robert’s head shot

ROB, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO THE UPDATES? Oh boy. Well, the start of the year I am getting ready to do some serious updates. Unfortunately good intentions don’t count for much – actions do. What happened is January 19th some jackass on the seventh floor of my apartment building stupidly cut my phone line while having their cable installed. It took a month for Verizon and my building to track down where it happened and to get it fixed and up and running again. During that time I also got the flu that had been going around so I was out of it as far as getting anything done.

So I thank all of you for your patience. What is coming up is an article on affordable convincing green screen effects, and I will be adding more to the article on practical Poor Man’s Process. As to interviews I will be getting special effects artist Tom Sullivan’s (Evil Dead trilogy), filmmaker Jon Clark, filmmaker John Bowker, filmmaker Joe Sherlock, and actor Daniel Ross’ up (Dan, if you are reading this please send me the CD of your photos). I have many more interviews to go up and hope to be adding content over the next several weeks so keep checking back frequently.

Last week I got asked to help out with some art for an upcoming movie called NUDIST CAMP ZOMBIE MASSACRE. It is a horror comedy and details about it can be found HERE. Lastly, I have updated the page about myself. No, this is not a brag book. It occurred to me that some people might ask me, “Why the hell should I take indie movie advice from you?” This hopefully answers that question. It is by no means detailed or finished but I do have up some of the projects I have worked on. It will be an on-going update that will get filled in over time. Why not just post it on the IMDB? Because my page there sucks. There are so many Robert Long’s in the movie business that most of my entries get put to the wrong Robert Long or not at all. This helps rectify that problem and will hopefully show folks I do know a bit about what I am talking about! That page can be found HERE.