Hello all you independent film enthusiasts!

This will be the last BIG Smash or Trash update for a while because I am MAKING A MOVIE! That’s right, I have been in the business 30 years and to celebrate I’m going into production on a movie for the first time in DECADES! Madhouse Manor! Smash or Trash will be reporting on is as it happens – so keep looking at this space! Now what has been happening?

Jim Wood – a huge Don Dohler fan – is having his own documentary done on his career as a front man for a band. A big part of this doc includes him meeting his indie film hero – Don Dohler! They are so close to meeting their kickstarter effort. So help independent filmmaker Paul Devlin make his goal! Check it out here!

Also, did you know that the incredible movie ROULETTE – by filmmaker Erik Kristopher Myers – is coming out on Blu-ray  on October 22 and on DVD on November 19th? Well it is peeps! This is the movie that rocked the independent film world. Make sure you pick it up HERE.

I am extending the contest date on the Rise and Fall… in Love DVD/poster contest. Why? Because the BIG WORLD PREMIERE is coming for this movie! Lee Doll’s independent musical “Rise and Fall… in Love” premieres on Sunday October 13, 2013 at 3:00 pm at the Carroll Arts Center in Westminster, Maryland. Tickets are selling quicker than anticipated so please tell your friends, family, and Significant Others to purchase their tickets soon HERE – be there! And the drawing for the free DVD and poster will be done THAT DAY!!!

ALSO! Lee Doll Film Productions and JBH Video present: “READY FOR ACTION” Now in Pre-Production! 

Other cast members include: Alexandra Hewett • Sam Lukowski • Alfred Guy • Kim Hoang • Wayne Shipley • Karl Hopf • Brendan Biondi • Avery Guy • Julius Bennett, Jr. • Gene Vincentt – We are still searching for a 10 year old girl for one day of filming. Contact Kate@leedoll.com for more info.

Filmmaker Joe Sherlock is on the mend from his car accident and had this to tell us: I am just about finished with my latest, DRIFTER. Some music and sound work and a few visual FX and it’ll be done. Here is the latest TRAILER and the Facebook page with lots of pics is HERE.

I got an email from a gentleman named Nathan Seim. He is an engineer at ATOMIC FEATHER. This team makes lightweight rigs and dollies for independent filmmakers. I think they are fantastic! They have a kickstarter going on for some of the newer equipment they are developing. Only ten days left on that kickstarter so give them a look – really talented team!

I really am dismayed that the MALICE webseries is having trouble raising money for the 3rd season of MALICE starring Brittany Martz. I mean, filmmaker Philip Cooke has put together a really professional horror show the features great acting, creepy gothic atmosphere, hot women, tentacle horror, and the walking zombie dead. What’s not to like? Unfortunately the production needs some more funding before it can get started, and as of this writing, there is less than a week to do it! So please, follow the Kickstarter link, watch some of the past episodes (very good!) and give what you can to the campaign. I know their cast and crew will appreciate it! http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/530407494/malice-metamorphosis

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Filmmaker Joe Sherlock was our main winner (I never said filmmakers that have been interviewed here couldn’t enter the contests). That means Joe gets the Steven King book (courtesy of filmmaker Kevin Kangas) as well as two DVDs. Congrats to Joe!

So we are done with one giveaway and it’s time for another! What we have is Lee Doll’s RISE AND FALL… IN LOVE. This movie is probably one of the ONLY independently made musicals ever done. Part love story, part Monkees episode, and comes complete with thugs and space aliens. It stars Louanna Lee and the members of the band CLEAR FOR TAKEOFF. So for the month of September, the giveaway courtesy of filmmaker Lee Doll is one copy of the DVD (loaded with extras) and a RISE AND FALL poster. Just send your name and address into rembrandt36@earthlink.net and I will put you in for the drawing!

Also, there will be a World premiere of this musical :

“Rise and Fall…in Love” on Sunday October 13, 2013 at 3:00 pm at the Carroll Arts Center in Westminster, Maryland. Tickets are selling quicker than anticipated so please tell your friends, family, and Significant Others to purchase their tickets soon here:

http://carrollcountyartscouncil.ticketleap.com/rise-and-fallin-love/

Midnight Marquee Filmmakers Gary and Sue Svehla have been very busy on their independently done space opera Stellar Quasar and the Scrolls of Dadelia. Here is an email I got from Sue: “Thanks for asking about the movie. I’m about 3/4 of the way through editing and about 1/2 done with spfx. Mitch (Klein) is doing the ships, but I’m working on the rest… Also, our 4 hour documentary Midnight Madness is being retitled and released to big box stores and other retailers by Reality Entertainment, probably in October. Also being released is The Ed Wood Awards from Monster Rally, 1999, a documentary on Robert Wise and finally the Christopher Lee talk from Monster Rally, 1999. The complete over 1 and a half hour talk is being released.

Video Labs – my day time job in Rockville, MD – recently helped release on DVD a Time/Life documentary that was done way back in 1971. It was shown on television and deals with a gent by the name of Bob Waligunda. He flew his balloon named AMERICA from San Francisco to New York city. It is a really awesome documentary, and yours truly was honored with getting to design the DVD art. If this topic would be something your are interested in, you can pick up a copy HERE.

Lastly, I will be putting up a page about MADHOUSE MANOR, the horror movie I will be working on soon. There has been a lot of buzz about this movie and I can’t believe my good fortune – I have makeup people, stunt performers – and even one of the actors from the original MY BLOODY VALENTINE contacted me about it. Now that’s cool! But I am not going to place the cart before the horse; there is preproduction to do and funds to be raised. I will be making detailed updates to the MADHOUSE MANOR page, and I will be doing it often. Want to be an investor, want to try out for a part, want to be part of the crew? All information is coming soon. Stay tuned.

So, Mitch Klein and myself had a really good Crawler special effects work day these last couple of Saturdays. He was working on overcoming some hurdles on the creature itself (which he did) and I was finalizing some 36 visual effects shots I did for the film. It has been a couple of great weekends and the old enthusiasm was back. Problem solving and laughing was the rule of the day. There isn’t much I can say about when it will be done, but I can say that we are hard at work. Teamwork,  enthusiasm and keeping each other inspired is what keeps people going. Plus, I know both Mitch and I are thankful for the support that we have been getting from folks on facebook lately. So, I hope we have have something in the near future to show (the creature is looking incredible – my illustration above doesn’t do it justice). Well below are some stills from the visual effects I’ve done for the film. I wish I could post more, but then we would be getting into spoiler territory. All hail the Don Dohler/Joe Ripple film!

Phillip J Cook – who gave us the critically acclaimed web series MALICE is looking to get Season 2 of the show into production. For those of you that have seen season one will remember that teenager Alice (Brittany Martz) had to fight the forces of the undead to save her family. Well Alice is ready to take on the forces of evil again and kick major ass. Cook has a Kickstarter campaign going on to raise the funds needed to get this season going! It has some great perks so give generously!  Let’s make this happen!!!

Creative genius Matt Farley is on to his 4th or 5th professional motion picture endeavor called LOCAL LEGENDS. The movie traces the weird trip that it is trying to do independent horror movies and getting your product out there for the public to see. It is quirky, it’s fun and is done in the style of a Woody Allen black and white movie. I love it. The link HERE is the commentary track hosted by Matt Farley and podcaster Jon Cross (who appears in the movie). Both the movie with and wothout the commentary is available to view on Youtube and I STRONGLY urge all of you to check out this fun, insightful film.

Filmmaker Erik Kristopher Myers contacted me to tell me that his award-winning thriller ROULETTE will be coming out this November 19th. There will be a media event to go with this AND there will be word on Myer’s horror/comedy THE DEVIL’S PLAYTHINGS. Stay tuned for more information!

Our friend filmmaker Joe Sherlock was in a serious car accident recently. We here hope he is okay, and that all involve get a speedy recovery. Joe is also known as Dr. Squid and has been making movies for over a decade in the Oregon area. His latest is a slasher called the BLOOD CREEK WOODSMAN. We hope to hear more from Joe soon.

Lastly, my own script has been finished and registered I have been working on this story for years and can’t wait to get started on the production! More information coming very soon!

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It’s giveaway time again!!! We have a couple of DVDs – Skeleton Key 3 by John Johnson Don’t Let the Riverbeast Get You (by Matt Farley and donated by Jon Cross) and a Stephen King book Dark Tower – The GunSlinger Born (donated by filmmaker Kevin Kangas). So if you are interested in getting one of these, send me your name and address to rembrandt36@earthlink.net. I’ll be doing a drawing for them at the end of August.

A sincere thank you to Les Bradley and Leanna Chamish of this great photo of me with Count Gore De Vol at the PHANTASM showing at the AFI Silver Theater. I was able to chat with John Dimes and movie reviewer Judy Furlow. Good times – good times.

 Edward L Plumb’s new short film DEAD RECKONING will be at Mann’s Chinese Theater Saturday night – August 17th, at the MIDNIGHT MADNESS show. Midnight showing at Mann’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Blvd. Stars Marlene McCohen, Tim Thomerson, Robert Woods and Richard Hatch.

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See that dashing guy up above? That’s Frank Lama. Incredibly talented actor and moviemaker, and a great human being as well. We here want to wish him a fantastic birthday today. Frank, wish you well and wish you were still making movies with us here in the Baltimore area.

What, two posts in the same week? Well I have a moment to actually do some updating – so there is that. First up is Count Gore De Vol doing a big screen presentation of the movie PHANTASM at the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring. Details are below!

Also the BlueCat Screenplay Competition is back in full swing. If you are an aspiring screenwriter, you will want to check this out!

2014 BlueCat Screenplay Competition Call for Screenplays

In the spirit of our commitment to the development of screenwriters worldwide, the BlueCat Screenplay Competition holds a longstanding tradition of giving written notes to every screenplay submitted. Each Feature screenplay entered receives two analyses, while each Short screenplay receives one.

All Screenplays submitted by August 1st will receive their feedback by September 1st. ($60 features, $40 shorts)

All screenplays entered by August 1st, 2013 will be automatically entered in our Movie Title Contest. Three winners will be determined by the votes of current 2014 BlueCat entrants and awarded $250 each.

Best Feature Screenplay $15,000 Grand Prize; Four Finalists $2500

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The Timewarp Films’ sci-fi movie CRAWLER is once again picking up steam – which is fantastic! Here in his own words from a facebook posting is Special FX guru Mitch Klein’s take on the status of the movie: A bit of (good) Crawler news: Late last year I had completed a lot of work, only to have a major setback that left me doing a lot of rework with little success. Last week, thanks to some suggestions from my friend Robert Long, I was able to recover from the original setback and move forward with all that work I had completed. It feels great to be on track again. Thanks, Rob!

Guest reviewer Hugh Robertson gives a very positive review for the 2011 Italian giallo BLOODLINE ! You can check ou the review HERE.

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It has been over three years, but the next episode of SMASH OR TRASH INDEPENDENT FILMMAKING is being edited together. The special guest  is filmmaker Kevin Kangas, and we could not be happier to have him on the show. We talk in depth about his films. Not too much will be cut from the interview (it’s that good) so it will be a long show altogether. Plus we will cover George Stover getting his lifetime achievement  award, Frank Lama will interview Jared Noe about the Red One camera, and we cover the gala premiere of the GARDEN OF HEDON. Here care of youtube is the first four minutes of the program. The viewer can get a feel for the type of production values we are reaching for this time out.

James Cawley is a world-reknowned TOS Star Trek fan. He took that love and for the LAST 10 YEARS, he has been doing these tremendous Star Trek films by fans for fans called STAR TREK NEW VOYAGES. Tremendous stories with fantastic production values. Many of these films have even had stars from the original series make appearances on these shows. Jim, we here at Smash or Trash salute you and your cast and crew for 10 years of entertainment. Keep them coming!

Late June – early July Birthday wishes go out to a few great people in the indie film industry. Those include Les Bradley, Mitch Klein, and George Stover. A very happy birthday to these gentlemen and may they have many more.

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Actor George Stover sent me the sad news that actor Richard Nelson had passed away in the Fall of 2012. Nelson was in a couple of Don Dohler‘s films and is known for his part as Gary Kender in the movie FIEND. We at Smash or Trash send condolences to his family and friends.

Animal actress Elvira Long died on June 6th, 2013. Why are we posting this? Because she was my cat of 17 years and beloved by family and friends. She had a role in a movie called THE BONEYARD COLLECTION where she shared a scene with Tippi Hedren. Movie by Edward L. Plumb – check it out sometime. The film also has the likes of Kevin McCarthy, Cassandra Peterson, Robert Loggia, Barbara Steele, Brinke Stevens and many others, so my Elvira was in good company. Sleep well princess, you are missed.

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