Storm Of The DEAD

Nothing says The Holidays like a good old fashioned survival horror!

Sometimes it's just the way a script and the finances for it seem to come together and it's that time of the year when I put on my FX hat and prepare to either "drool" a monster or blow something up.

Certainly, the film has been in preproduction for a month or two, you can find a snippet about it at IMDB- but we go into full production in another 21 hours from this writing.

I'll be in the field [literally as well as figuratively] for the next six days- even though this is a sporadic entry type of thing, most certainly there will be a long week gone before the next- by then [and after recouperating with a fifth of Jack...] I'll have pictures and stories to help tell the tale of making an independent low budget murder/horror film.

Stay tuned true believers- this one's definitely for the record books!

Russ

Gobbler's Revenge

Thanksgiving is one of those Norman Rockwell times of the year...

Cranberries, mashed potatoes, and of course the turkey or ham [or both...] what's not to love?

Unless you get gran-ma crashing out the kitchen door with a hockey mask and a chainsaw, ready to cut the old bird wide open- and we're referring to Grand-Pa in this instance.

It's been a noticable trend in pictures and television that Thanksgiving for what-ever reason seems to be the untouched holiday when it comes to massacres and alien take-overs. If there is something out there that celebrates violence as well as stuffing- I'm hard pressed to think of it...

Now- that's not to say you couldn't build your own macabre jello mold with plastic roaches or a bleeding bundt cake [hollowed out on the inside and a plastic bag loaded with runny red corn syrup] but to what end? One thing I've learned when it comes to the holidays is that it's better off leaving convention and Rockwellian imagery alone when it comes to your horror fantasies...

In this instance, let's just wish one another a Happy Thanksgiving and I'll comment on the upcoming film Storm of The Dead I'll be working on the first week of December!

Russ

Wanna See a Dead Body?

An immortal line uttered by Jerry O'Connell in what became a very respectable hit for 1986- Stand By Me.

Many times I get asked about how to build a dead body, or more often than not, how much it costs. Unfortunately, I often have answers that come back more as Zen meditative questions than answers:

"How dead does it have to be?"

"Natural causes, or murder?"

"What kind of murder?"

"Male or female?"

"Under water or land?"

"Eaten, beaten, or mauled?"

Honestly- it's not me being a smart alec or looking to pad the bill like an extra piece of foam rubber under a shirt!

Decomposition of any "post life" creature can be sectioned in time limits and variations of decay. Depending on what the Director's vision of the show's look is going to be, it'd be my job to come up with that look on the dearly departed.

Fact is, The Director's vision should have me somewhat worried at times- one questions what goes through a sane person's psychee to come up with visuals of our mortal coil- post mortem... The concept of sanity also seems to be reletive even more so when I'm told "I don't know what it should look like- that's your job- make me something dead..." Just that instruction alone will stretch the limits of your social calander...

More often than not, for home excursions into the undead, I strongly suggest you use make-up and living talent simply because of the cost.

If you've just got to have "chunkly skeletons", you can go the "Halloween" route and pick up reletively decent looking plastic skeletons- then with mold making latex [usually purchasable from ceramic stores] and a good ole' roll of tissue, add your chunks based off of those components- just realize that if your victim in the show stood 6 foot 2 inches- the skeleton is only going to reach about 5 foot- so consider having your characters find... ummm, "pieces" of their crime scene victim to get around such problems!

In order to serve you best, I'm trying to develop readership, so really the best way to get information to you is to answer questions- so...

"Wanna see a Dead Body?" Give me your questions from the comments button and I'll answer them geared toward your home budget and eye for, uh... "Detail".

Russ

Opening Monologue!

Here's a chance for me to showcase some of my work- perhaps a little shameless self promotion and a chance to feel like I'm helping contribute back to people interested in special effects for their home videos and family movies.

As a starter, many times I've had someone ask me, "What got you into this?"

The answer isn't cut and dried simple, and certainly there has to be that one litmus or catalyst that started the ball rolling...

Probably the first lasting twinges of inspiration came from watching Star Wars back when it was released in 1977. Learning that model making, gooey FX make-up and other sundry "coolness" could actually land you a paycheck seemed too good an avenue for my little creative mind to pass up back then.

I knew it was love when my grandmother [love you, Gran!] who was initially horrified by my Christmas request actually went out and bought me the Pressman Dick Smith Monster Make-up Kit. I still have the prosthetic molds to this very day that came with the set and the yellowed instruction book as well! I'm sure if I took the time and searched the family basement back home I'd find the box it all came in as well!

There'll be anecdotal stories to tell about my bourgeoning film talents [and incredibly naughty events] that led me to the film industry. Please note though that I'll be trying my best to give you helpful hints and proceedures for things to help liven up your family vidoes or to jump start your own career potential, but I'm not going to explain how to make pyro, I'm not going to explain how to rig firearms, I'm not going to show you how to do anything that would otherwise blow your head off or get you in trouble with the local Gendarms- the "really professional stuff" needs to stay that way.

I want this to be as reletively safe, fun and informative as I can make it.

If, as we make this journey together you find my advise and improvesario boring or incomplete, then perhaps on that day you'll have grown outside the bounds of what I'm willing to offer- at that point, you're most likely ready for "The Big Leagues"- and on that day we'll celebrate! Because at that point, I'll have given you wings to set out on your own; and what more could a person ask but to inspire someone else to bigger and greater horizons than he himself had laid eyes?

I hope I won't let any of you down. Something tells me I won't!