Gregory Lamberson's Blog, page 16
May 15, 2013
glamberson @ 2013-05-15T12:55:00
There would be no Dry Bones if Michael O'Hear hadn't been bitten by the desire to make a feature. I wrote the screenplay for hire when I needed money, and melded a basic idea he had to combine a "monster under the bed" story with a succubus tale, which I stirred in a pot with some of my own concepts and fleshed out. Michael is the star of the film and is credited as co-director and co-producer. He appeared in Slime City Massacre and Snow Shark: Ancient Snow Beast and wanted a lead role, so I created one for him and he's doing his best work on this film - he'll be on screen for 75% of the finished work, and his most outrageous scenes are coming up. From my point of view, this film features my strongest direction, so I'm glad I took it on.
Speaking of producers, you can't make a movie - even a micro-budget one - without financial support. John Maclay, one of our executive producers, committed immediately. This will be our third film together. Marc J. Makowski has been a co-producer on every film I've written or directed dating back to Slime City. Debra Lamb jumped on board without even knowing me, brought into the fold by Melantha Blackthorne. Paul McGinnis and Daniel Arrisjid believed in the project. Tim O'Hearn and Tim Walton - Cro-Nan Productions - are co-producing. Chris Rados is investing his equipment and time. Tommy Sweeney, a longtime friend who starred in Undying Love and Naked Fear, is on the team. Nicholas John Morgan Anderson, who played a mercenary in SCM is helping. Michael Faust, returns from Snow Shark. Chris Wroblewski was an extra in SCM and stepped up to the plate. Atom Fellows, a face from my past (who contributed songs to Naked Fear). And then there are all of our IndieGoGo backers. Thanks to them all.
It's imperative to have a good production team on a project like this, and ours is doing excellent work: Sam Qualiana, cinematographer; Chris Rados, Kash Costner, Scotty Franklin, and Chris Santucci, lighting; Paul McGinnis, boom; Rod Durick, special make-up effects and production design; Arick Szymecki, special make-up effects and visual effects; Stacey Book, additional SFX; Shannon Kramp, costume designer. Note that both Sam and Kash received the "Filmmaker to Watch" award in the first edition of Buffalo Screams Horror Film Festival, Durick has won Best Western New York Special Make-Up Effects Artist and won the Best WNY Genre Film Award with McGinnis, who himself won our Local Hero, Best Original Screenplay, and Local Hero awards. I'm really happy with how the film looks.
McGiinis also plays a key role in the film, the "slob best friend" of our protagonist. Other supporting actors include John Renna, Kim Piazza, Kevin VanHentenryck from Basket Case, Kathy Murphy, Jessica Zwolak, Amelie McKendry, Tia Maurice, Tammy Reger (making her horror return after Slugs!), O'Hearn (hilarious!), Walton, Daniel Arrajid, and youngins Mark Goodfellow and Kaelin Lamberson. Still to come our Alex McBryde ("Pimp Bless" in SCM), Bob Bozek (SCM and Snow Shark), Matt Reese, Sweeney, Jason Tannis and Debbie Rochon, who will be playing three roies. I've reached into my regular stable, the Buffalo stable, and Michael has brought in some great talent from his theatre experiences. I firmly believe Dry Bones has the best acting of any local genre film since SCM, and at least as good as Battledogs (I won't throw Model Hunger in there, though - that one's going to set the bar for acting in any film shot in Buffalo regardless of genre).
Special thanks to MonsterMatt and Wroblewski for loaning us period toys, Phil Czubinsky for making repairs to my house so it would be ready for filming (you'll be needed again when the shoot is over, Phil...), Durick for loaning us his PVC dolly, which we've used extensively; Szymecki for loaning us his camera when Michael's suffered an injury; Franklin for loaning us lights and providing a location; the Medina Theatre for letting us film in their bar, Teddy Haynes for donating a lunch, David Goodfellow for shooting a second unit sequence and, with his wife Trudi, bringing Mark to another country to make a horror film. Finally, my wife Tamar - it isn't easy to turn your house upside down weekend after weekend and play host to cast and crew while watching a seven year old. It takes a village. She's worn the succubus gloves three times now, too. I won't thank my cats, who are thrilled to have so many people in the house but don't understand the concept of "quiet on the set."
After we wrap I'll discuss our post production team - editor, composer, musicians, V effects, etc. It takes a village.
May 12, 2013
DRY BONES Days 11 and 12
Back to our regular “full” Saturday and Sunday schedule. This weekend was unusual for a few different reasons. First, we had a different cast: Kevin VanHentenryck, star of Frank Henenlotter’s Basket Case trilogy, came to Buffalo to play the brutish Bart; Kim Piazza played his abused wife Linda; Mark Goodfellow, son of my friends David and Trudi Goodfellow, played Andy, who grows up to be the main character, Drew (Michael O’Hear); and my daughter Kaelin portrayed Becky, Andy’s sister, who grows up to be Rebecca (Kathy Murphy). This “mini-cast within the cast” is not unlike what the one feaytured in the Slime City Massacre flashbacks.
Kevin and I are obviously from the same 80s era, and worked together briefly during his memorable cameo in Brain Damage. It was great to have him around, he’s friendly and easy going and really made Bart breathe…and bellow…and scream. People will cheer his confrontation with the succubus. Not only were we working with different actors, but two of them were kids, and Kim did a great job bonding with Kaelin and Mark as their “mother” (Bart isn’t so likeable…). Both kids fared well, and I’m a proud papa. Kim was something of a revelation; a theatre friend of Michael’s, and one of his casting choices, she really impressed me - I’m glad her character has two more significant scenes besides this prologue, because I know she’ll make an impact in the film.
Friday actually felt like the day before the first day of production (on any production), with countless last minute details to take care of, including shopping for props and art direction needs, and following up on communications, and more often than not, non-communications – a 13 hour prep day. I sat in Kaelin’s room with the script and figured out my coverage, wondering how I could make the prologue distinctive from the rest of the film (since the main bedroom still looks like a kid’s room 35 years later). It occurred to me to stick a lava lamp in the scene and use that as a primary light source. I wanted to do this in Naked Fear back in 1995 but it didn’t work out then. I posted on Facebook that morning that I needed a lava lamp, and by afternoon I had one (thank you, Scotty Lebracht!).
Saturday started with a flurry of activity as Shannon Kramp costume fitted our new thespians and made alterations where necessary. It was strange shooting an entire day without Michael as Drew on; he’s on screen for 75% of the film, and on days when we shoot other people he usually still winds up with one bit, as on Sunday. With the exception of that scene, everything we filmed over the weekend was either part of the film’s prologue, set in 1979 (as evidenced by Mark perusing my copy of FANGORIA #1); a flashback to 1979; or a spin on those 1979 scenes.
None of our usual gaffers - Chris Rados, Scotty Franklin, Kash Costner – were available, so Chris Santucci, my DP on Slime City Massacre, did me a solid and came in for a day, and it was great working with him again. The lava lamp lighting scheme looked really cool. Throughout the film, the succubus pulls people under Andy/Drew’s bed to dispose of them. For Amelie McKendry’s and Paul McGinnis’s scenes, two of us squeezed between the wall and the bed and pulled on their wrists/ankles. For Kevin, we used a tow line, which worked great – he flew under that bed and liked it.
I’m happy to report that Arick Szymecki’s silicone succubus gloves were finally ready and looked great. Tamar has doubled for the succubus (which will be one of Debbie Rochon’s three parts in the film) since shooting began, and she finally got to wear the real deal. These gloves were worth the wait. I wanted to show more of the succubus’s arms than just the hands, so Rod Durick summoned a stocking which he and Arick pulled over the end of the glove and Tamar’s arm and stippled it, which worked well.
We shot at least eight pages’ worth of the screenplay and I was pleased with everything we got. Mark’s father is a photo journalist for FANGO, so we also got some really nice stills. It was nice having the family Goodfellow around for the weekend, and David is shooting a faux “YouTube” clip for the film next weekend with actor Jason Tannis, who appeared in Blood for Irina, directed by Chris Alexander (and which David produced), and a short film which we screened at Buffalo Screams its first year.
Sunday was an easy day because we got so much done on Saturday. On Sundays we have a 9:00 am set call instead of 8:00 am as we do on Saturdays. I wanted to get everyone out by 3:00 pm to enjoy Mother’s Day. Chris Rados was our gaffer, fresh off wrapping The Romans, and we finally got to use his slider for the camera! We shot a small portion of the climax, in which Michael is as bloody as Bruce Campbell in The Evil Dead, with excellent make-up by Arick. Somehow I got movie blood drops on the crotch of my shorts…
We also shot a monologue Kim delivers to Mark, and another bit with Kim comprising a small portion of what I believe will be the best sequence in the film…and wrapped around 1:15. Picture wraps for Kevin, Kim, and Mark (Kaelin wrapped on Saturday). My friend Ted Haynes swung by and donated an excellent lunch to the production, which should also keep my family eating for several days. Rod, Kash and Renna all swung by. A great weekend, I have to say – very productive (we shot 10% of the film in a day and a half) and laid back, the way I like it. It’s a little hard to believe we’re two thirds finished with this production: we have one more “regular” weekend, then a five day stretch with Debbie Rochon, and then we’re done. Special props to our tight little crew, among them Paul McGinnis and Sam Qualiana.
May 8, 2013
FREE for One Week: PERSONAL DEMONS
Amazon:
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Barnes and Noble:
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May 7, 2013
Remembering Ray Haurryhausen
Like so many of you, I stayed up late to see the movies that Harryhausen and Charles Schneer made together: The Valley of Gwangi, 20 Million Miles to Earth, The Mysterious Island and It Came from Beneath the Sea among them. No matter how pedestrian the films seemed when the monsters were off screen, the moment they took the stage the magic started. I'm not overusing the word "magic" here - there was something exhilarating about every frame Harryhausen put his hands on. I was fortunate to catch The Golden Voyage of Sinbad during its theatrical release at the perfect age. Harryhausen was my first cinema hero; for a time, after I dreamed of being a cop and an astronaut, I wanted to be a stop motion animator, Harryhausen was the first man who made me want to be a filmmaker (George Pal was my second cinema hero), Then Star Wars came out, and a new era began. But weren't Phil Tippet's stop motion creatures a fun acknowledgement of the work that had preceded motion control cameras? Likewise, the Taun-tauns in The Empire Strikes Back.
Concurrent with Star Wars' release, I got my first copy of Cinefantastique, featuring Harryhausen on the cover with models from Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. That magazine was a revelation to me: a serious critical examination of fantastic cinema, and Harryhausen was its poster child. I came away from that in depth interview with insight into the man, who seemed remarkably free of ego and almost embarrassed by the attention given him. I was first in line when Eye of the Tiger reached my town, and despite an overall cheapness to it, and some bad acting even by Sinbad standards, I loved it; the Prince Baboon and Harryhausen's Troglodyte are two of my favorite creations of his. Still, it seemed like Harryhausen's era had passed. Then he surprised everyone with Clash of the Titans, produced on his biggest budget, and his most successful film at the box office. I've never liked the film; Bubo the owl was too much for me, and the matte lined of Perseus on Pegasus against the sky were pretty bad. but Calibos was cool and Medusa was the crowning achievement of Harryhausen's career.
Harryhausen announced his retirement, but always seemed active and interested in the new special effects technologies that evolved. As an adult working at a stock footage agency, I was ecstatic to discover our library included outtakes of Harryhausen's work from It Came from Beneath the Sea and Earth vs. the Flying Saucers. A few years ago, I was happy to post my appreciation for all the thrills and inspiration he gave me when his Facebook launched, and I was excited to show my daughter his films. Just last week she asked if we could watch the Cyclops again...
What a fantastic career. A true cinema legend has passed.
May 5, 2013
DRY BONES Day 10
Today was the tenth day of production for Dry Bones, which I wrote and am co-producing and co-directing with Michael O'Hear, who stars. We didn't shoot last weekend or yesterday because of convention appearances, so it felt good to get back into the groove. We began by shooting a police interrogation scene with Michael and John Renna. I've written many such scenes in my novels, but haven't directed one before, and as a diehard fan of Homicide: Life on the Streets, I looked forward to it. This scene runs over four pages in my screenplay.
Because we're a guerrilla production, meaning we have no location insurance, it was impossible for us to get an actual interrogation room, like we did on Battledogs. Scotty Franklin, one of our gaffers, came through for us: he has an office at the Pierce-Arrow Arts Center, which is being developed as a film production facility. Scott's space has an office for him to conduct business within a larger space where he stores lighting equipment. I wish we'd taken stills, but we've gotten bad at that. The smaller office actually has a window in one wall, so we were able to dolly past it, looking inside, The walls were industrial cinder block, with a radiator and a water pipe, painted black with red trim - totally convincing as a police room, and yet oddly stylish. He cleared out the room for the day so we could move in a table and two chairs.
Considering we're using an unusual camera/audio setup - a T2i HD still camera combined with an audio mixer taped to our boom pole - we've had remarkably few technical problems on this shoot - until today. We lost 60 - 90- minutes due to various technical issues which turned out to be errors on our part (we got rusty during our time off!), and maybe an hour to a lighting setup which proved challenging. But once we got up and running we rocked - Michael and John were spot on and I got all of the coverage I wanted. For a rare treat, we had lunch in the outdoor portion of a bar across the street. I never knew a meatloaf sandwich could be so good.
After packing up, most of us returned to my house. As I explained once before in this blog, when you travel from one location to another on a movie it's called a company movie. At my house, we devoted our remaining time to shooting scenes and portions of scenes which we were unable to get when I scheduled them. First up we shot the last scene of the movie, which takes place in my front yard and driveway. The scene was staged as a single shot involving a dolly move, double framing, and a pan. It took six takes, but we got it. When I originally scheduled this scene, the weather was cold, gray and windy - we could have shot it, but it wouldn't have read as the happy ending we wanted. Today the sun was out and trees were in bloom, and the symbolism worked great.
The next scene was also set outside. We have a montage sequence early in the film in which Michael's character maintains "his" house and yard. An earlier draft of the script called for him to mow part of my lawn, but when we shot most of this sequence, my backyard was a swamp so we skipped it. I decided to get it today because I thought the yellow dandelions would look great, and I wanted to establish my backyard for a later scene with darker overtones. I framed a shot, but Sam Qualiana offered to improve it by getting down on the grass while Michael mowed straight to the camera - a "money shot."
Inside, we shot a scene in which Michael carries a can of red paint past Paul McGinnis, who is painting a living room wall. A simple bit of action taking 2/8 of a script page. I staged a dolly shot in which Michael exits a hall with a can of red paint, and Sam dollied across the room, revealing Paul as Michael passed him; then Paul turns in the direction Michael just exited and delivers a line. It was a nice shot. I went all of SLIME CITY without a single dolly move, and Sam wasn't able to use his only dolly shot on SNOW SHARK: ANCIENT SNOW BEAST because the second camera operator screwed up the camera settings; this was our fourth dolly shot today, and we have many in the film.
Our final shot of the day - "the martini" - was an insert for Paul's character's death scene. We shot the bulk of the scene already, but our "succubus hands" weren't ready. Today - for the second time - Tamar wore the monster gloves, doubling for Debbie Rochon. The shots went off without a hitch and we wrapped for the day. We're just past halfway through shoot days, and just under halfway through the script. Next weekend, we have an entirely different cast for two days, when we shoot the prologue for the film: Kevin VanHentenryck from the Basket Case films; Kim Piazza, who will be playing Kevin's wife; Mark Goodfellow, who will be playing his son; and Kaelin Lamberson, making her screen debut as his daughter.
May 1, 2013
Free PERSONAL DEMONS
PERSONAL DEMONS won the IPPY Gold Medal for Horror and the Anubis Award for Horror. Other books in the series published so far are DESPERATE SOULS, COSMIC FORCES (nominated for a Bram Stoker Award) and TORTURED SPIRITS. All four books published thus far are available in print, e-book, and audible.com audio editions. The fifth book in the series, STORM DEMON, will be published this October, and the sixth will be published in 2015. Start the series where it began, with this horror noir origin tale. Here's the Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Personal-Demons...
April 21, 2013
DRY BONES Day 9
We started with three scenes in my kitchen, and wrapped that location. One shot was supposed to have a camera set up inside my refrigerator when Michael opens the door and looks inside ( a shot I wanted in the original Slime City but never got). We didn't have a monitor to frame the shot, so Sam suggested we remove the shelves in the frige so he could climb inside it, which worked beautifully. Sam shot much of Snow Shark: Ancient Snow Beast himself, but I really think he's come into his own as a cinematographer on this project; he's been detail oriented and has made some good suggestions.
We "finished" in the kitchen with a bit where Michael pops the cork on a bottle of champagne, and I directed Michael to play the sexual symbolism for all it was worth. Up until now, he's basically been the exasperated straight man to Paul and John Renna, who are both funny in the film. Michael has some really funny stuff coming up, but this was his first time being the center of the comedy, which I believe he enjoyed. I was pleased to wrap on the kitchen because its a hassle moving all of the equipment ("staging") from one to another, then back again when we switch rooms. Now the kitchen will always be available.
Tim O'Hearn, who is one of the co-producers on the film (along with his Cro-nan Productions partner Tim Walton), came by for an unscripted bit in a larger scene. I believe his appearance in this scene will elicit strong laughs, and he went for the gold. That's a wrap on Tim, who acted with Michael and Amelie Mckendry in an earlier scene.
Into the living room we went. We shot bits of Michale cleaning my house which will become part of a montage, and added a funny bit with him battling an off screen fly. These bits allowed us to see different parts of my house; I was getting sick of seeing the same walls (in the script, Michael's character removes photos and posters from the walls because he's cleaning the house to sell it;the idea - which may be working too well - was to have the house become drab except when he's in his childhood bedroom, where the colors really pop; I'm glad I painted hills, a tree and sky before Kaelin was born...
Next we did a scene on the dolly in which Michael reacts to the reappearance of the "Dry Bones" graffiti. The dolly shot I had wasn't working until Sam made an alteration, and the scene ended up looking really nice. That was a wrap on the graffiti, which Rod Durick designed so they could go onto the wall and come off, so we wouldn't have to keep re-painting my wall.
Finally we did two scenes which were additions to a scene we shot previously, with Michael panicking after seeing the graffiti for the first time. The first involved a dolly, and Chris Rados, who did a great job on lighting, acted as Sam's AC. The second was a handheld shot.
We had a celebrity visitor to our set: Craig Sheffer, who recently starred in Battledogs. which I worked on with Sam, Paul, Kash Costner , Scott Franklin and John Renna. Craig was really interested in the equipment our small crew was using, and in Rod's graffiti and the husks he and Arick Szymecki created.
I wanted to keep the day down to six hours, so we didn't make our day, and we're still not quite halfway finished with principal photography. Special thanks to Paul McGinnis for not complaining because we didn't get to his shots, and for running some errands that weren't planned. I was pleased with everything we got.
April 16, 2013
CARNAGE ROAD Giveaway & Reviews
http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...
Here are some reviews for the book, beginning with a starred review from Library Journal:
http://reviews.libraryjournal.com/201...
"Boone and Walker, the last survivors of the Floating Dragons motorcycle gang, set out on a cross-country odyssey through the zombie apocalypse. Their trek begins in Buffalo, NY, and heads west through Indiana, where they catch a movie in an abandoned movie theater crawling with zombies that are also watching Death Machine starring Bruce Willis; Kansas, site of their imprisonment by racist right-wing extremists; Hollywood, home of undead celebrities haunting their stars on the Walk of Fame; and concluding in Texas for a last stand at the Alamo. Along the way, they drive fast, take out ghouls, and encounter both the best and the worst remainders of the human race. VERDICT Lamberson’s (Personal Demons) latest is both bleak and beautiful, a brain-splattering zombie thriller that is at its core a paean to the power of friendship, even in a dead world. This novella may be brief, but it has real bite, along with taut zombie action, scathing social commentary, and a suitably nihilistic ending. Zombie fans are in for one easy ride through the apocalypse. [Print Is Dead is Creeping Hemlock's zombie-themed imprint.‚ Ed.]"
Dreadful Tales:
http://dreadfultales.com/2012/01/08/c...
The Occult Detective:
http://authorbobfreeman.wordpress.com...
The Horror Fiction Review:
http://thehorrorfictionreview.blogspo...
April 14, 2013
DRY BONES Days 7 and 8
For Day 7 of Dry Bones, I scheduled two thirds of the scenes set in a bar frequented by Drew (Michael O’Hear); the final third will be shot when Debbie Rochon arrives in May. Bar scenes can be tough to shoot because you need to find a bar that’s closed in the day, and in this economy most stay open. You shouldn't shoot in bars when they're open, even if they're slow, because the noise is too great. It takes an hour to load in and an hour to pack up and load out of any "away" location, plus you need an hour for lunch, so that’s three hours’ worth of down time going in. We had a couple of decent options, but neither panned out, so at the last minute I asked “Mick O’Donald” if he could arrange for us to shoot in the bar at the Medina Theatre, where we screened Slime City Massacre and Snow Shark: Ancient Snow Beast a few months ago, and he and the theaters owner, Joe Cardone, came through for us. Picture a movie theater balcony overlooking a bar which faces a dance floor and a movie theater screen. The challenge was to make the space look smaller, and we got some great angles looking down on the bar and one with the camera far enough back on the dance floor so we could see the entire bar.
In the first scene, Drew meets up with his best friend Tom (Paul McGinnis); in the second, he meets a love interest, Rachel (Amelie Mckendry); and in the third, he has conversations with Tom and his date Cindy/Mindy (Jessica Zwolak) and with Rachel and her most recent pickup Mickey (Tim O’Hearn). In all three scenes, he interacts with the bartender, Gary. At the last minute we cast Daniel Arrasjid, whom my family recently saw as Long John Silver in a stage production of Treasure Island, in which which Paul appeared. The fun thing about this day was that all of the scenes were comedic in nature, so the focus was really on the acting. For the last scene, the master shot followed Michael into the bar, past Paul and Jessica, over to Amelie and Tim, then back over to Paul and Jessica with Daniel crossing the frame. The bar was a 40 minute drive from my house, but everything went pretty smoothly inside and the actors were spot on. We’re shooting so much of the film in my house that it’s always nice to get away.
For Day 8, we started at a location in Niagara Falls affiliated with Michael’s job. The two scenes we shot featured Tammy Reger (from SLUGS!) as Dr. Lawless, Drew’s psychiatrist, in her office. Each scene covers one half of the dialogue in telephone conversations between Drew and his shrink. These are easy to do, and we burned through them, but again we had to load in and load out, then drive back to my house; this is called a company move.
At my house we shot a number of exterior scenes. In the first, Michael covered his half of the dialogue for one of the telephone conversations while sitting in his car. After he hangs up his cell phone, Carl the cop (John Renna) surprises him and they have a conversation. All of the shots in this scene played nicely. Then we had another scene of Drew talking on the phone while driving; for this one, Sam Qualiana sat beside Michael while Michael drove around the block saying his lines; another nice looking shot. Next we shot montage shots of Drew cleaning up: carrying garbage outside and opening the garage door to reveal another huge mess. I actually had to throw some junk in there because I’m one of the few people in Buffalo who actually parks in his garage.
Finally we did some pickup shots of Rachel’s murder scene. We shot the bulk of the coverage previously, but needed to get two shots of succubus/monster hands grabbing her. For these shots Tamar wore gloves fabricated by Rod Durick and Stacey Book, based on Arick Szymecki’s sculpts for some silicone gloves which Debbie Rochon will wear. These were Amelie’s last shots in the shoot, and when we were done I called it an early day rather than look for other pickups we need to get of Michael; everyone left by 4 pm, an hour ahead of schedule. It was a fairly easy weekend, but a rewarding one. We made our days and came out a little bit ahead of schedule.
A few words about our crew: Sam Qualiana wants to act, but may find himself in demand as a DP after this film is released. We’re fortunate enough to have three talented people working as gaffers and grips: Kash Costner, Scotty Franklin and Chris Rados. Scotty and Chris have provided us with much needed equipment. All three guys know what they’re doing. Sometimes we have all three on set, sometimes two, and sometimes only one; there are other films being shot in the area, so they’re schedules are based on availability. We’re recording audio into a mixer which goes directly into the T2i we’re shooting on, so we don’t have a mixer per se. Paul McGinnis usually booms when he isn’t acting, and when he is one of the guys takes over (I boomed for a day as well). Our costume designer Shannon Kramp, and our effects people (Rod Durick, Arick Szymecki, and Stacey Book) primarily work off set and make appearances when needed.
So far the shoot has been a pleasure, and we're almost halfway done.
April 9, 2013
Of Mice and BATTLEDOGS
I'm currently co-directing Dry Bones, which I also wrote, with Michael O'Hear. It's the twelfth feature film I've worked on, excluding publicity assignments. When I write or direct a film, it's impossible to judge the finished project except by my own expectations. In the case of a film like Battledogs, in which I was brought on board after the screenplay was written, and other people made all of the creative decisions, it's a lot easier to evaluate the finished project. It's still impossible to be totally objective, because this film was a lot of hard work, and watching it in the theater I could remember what emotions I was experiencing during almost every shot.
The film begins with Donna Voorhees (played by Ariana Richards, formerly the little girl in Jurassic Park) exiting an aircraft. She walks through JFK airport (in reality Niagara Falls airport) and experiences superhuman hearing while feeling sick. She goes into a bathroom stall, where we see a bite wound on her arm, and transforms into a four legged werewolf that goes on a rampage. Every person she bites is instantly transformed into another werewolf, and panic ensues, with cops, Homeland Security, and a SWAT team battling the canines. General Monning (Dennis Haysbert, who will always be President Palmer to me) dispatches Colonel Falcons (Wes Studi) and a special forces team to stop the attack, The cavalry arrives by helicopter and gasses the werewolves, who revert to (mostly) naked human beings. End of teaser.
This entire sequence rocked, even with some shady CGI. The producer, Chris Olen Ray, and director, Alex Yellen, shot the film in Buffalo so they could use the Niagara Falls airport, which is tiny. We had to deal with a lot of FAA regulations, but Yellen did his best work here, capturing a real big budget quality. It's a fast paced action sequence that delivers the goods, and it's the best part of the film.
The "infected" humans are transferred to Ward's Island in New York City, which is hastily transformed into an internment camp. The script called for a "tent city," ala the refugee camp in Scarface, but we ended up shooting inside the Central Terminal (the tower is seen several times in my film Slime City Massacre because we shot in the ruined buildings surrounding the terminal). Joel Resnikoff, the production designer, did a great job with a limited budget. Most of the film takes place at this location, and while Yellen did good work there (and look at all those extras milling about under my command!), I grew a little tired of seeing the place and was relieved when our heroes (Craig Sheffer, Kate Vernon and Ariana) bolted. The film is about what happens when the werewolves break loose from Ward's Island and cause havoc in Manhattan. Yellen did a good job finding Buffalo locations which matched the Manhattan establishing shots. There was only one shot in the entire film during which I thought, "Hmm, those buildings look a little low for Manhattan, and there sure is a lot of sky visible."
The screenplay was written by Shane Van Dyke, Dick Van Dyke's grandson, who also wrote Chernobyl Diaries. I give it high marks. The script has a solid structure, and while there were no classic lines of dialogue, there were no groaners either. It's important to note that Chris Ray produced this film (through his own company) for The Asylum, aka The Global Asylum, which is notorious for releasing ripoffs of big studio releases ahead of those releases. Battledogs isn't a ripoff of anything, and it's played straight. Equally of note is that the film premiered on SyFy: those SyFy "originals" are horrible. While this is an unabashed high concept B movie, it's far better than what people have come to expect from those companies. The CGI is exactly what you would expect, ranging from acceptable to terrible. The helicopters look like they flew out of a video game, but once you accept that as the film's motif, the cheesy flavor of the effects adds to the fun. The scene where a werewolf causes a chopper to crash into 30 Rock echoes both King Kong and Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and was a real crowd pleaser at the premiere. Bill Duke, "as the president," brought a real gravitas to his scenes. In one clever scene, Sheffer's character Brian Hoffman visits the airport and observes a holographic security tape which projects full size recreations of the airport patrons around him.
I have only three beefs with the entire film: the first is the naming or Ariana's character as Donna Voorhees, which is just dumb. When Ernie Hudson's character Max is killed, it's unclear how he died. What we shot was Max getting shot; what was broadcast made me think DonnaWolf had killed him (Hudson's death also left the film without its most likeable character). The boat chase that ensues when our heroes escape from Ward's Island was lame in the script and is even more lame in the finished film: there's some racing, some yelling, some shooting... and then the pursuing villains just kind of veer off, allowing our heroes to escape, as if they got tired of bullying the good guys (it reminds me of the ending of THX 1138, when the robot cops stop chasing Robert Duval because they've exceeded their budget). It serves no purpose except to provide some meaningless action. A stronger payoff would have helped, but we only had one day to shoot what amounted to one minute of screen time.
Chris (and his production manager, Alison Goser) did a first rate job producing this film on a tight budget, and Yellen did a solid job as director. Of the twelve films I've worked on, it's only the third I would classify as an actual B movie, the others being Frank Henenlotter's Brain Damage and Phil Gallo's crime drama West New York, starring a bunch of The Sopranos. The rest have been what I call C and D movies, mostly because of their non-existent budgets (I would be thrilled if anyone considered Slime City Massacre a B movie). I definitely enjoyed the finished work and am proud of my association with it; congratulations to everyone involved!
