The Number(ing) Of The Beast

2012 has been a year of setting unreasonable goals and, somehow—by hook and by crook—meeting them.

Eleven days into ’012, director Darren Lynn Bousman and I began principal photography on our sophomore film collaboration, The Devil’s Carnival. Three months later, The Devil’s Carnival was completed and we embarked on two consecutive, concert-like film tours, blazing a trail across sixty cities between April and August. On tour, we shared our musical movie with North American audiences at a series of one-night-only event screenings. In September, we stumbled off our devilish tour van and began creating content and striking retail and digital distribution deals for an October Blu-ray and DVD release. And, before the year is wrapped, we plan to be in pre-production on a second episode of The Devil’s Carnival, revving up to make 2013 another year of unreasonable—yet somehow achieved—goals (note: amidst all of the devilish deeds above, I also managed to produce the seventh issue of my twelve-part comic book series, The Molting, which is available now at www.TheMoltingComic.com).

Unlike Darren’s and my foremost film collaboration, Repo! The Genetic Opera, The Devil’s Carnival was produced—and is now being distributed—completely independently. This indie model means a lot of work for us, the filmmakers, but it also means a lot of creative freedom… including making and sharing our content at the accelerated pace listed above.

With The Devil’s Carnival, we didn’t need to contend with the drawn-out approval processes that would be customary with a studio film. If The Devil’s Carnival needed to be passed through the traditional movie mill, we’d most likely still be waiting for an official release date to be announced, hoping that the project would reach audiences before enthusiasm waned.

Waiting aside, there’s a certain freedom in handing off the management of a project, relinquishing control of the hows and whens of distribution. With Repo!, for example, Darren and I never had to worry about how DVDs of the film would be assembled, where and when they’d be shipped, or how inventory would be accounted for. It simply happened. Lionsgate had a system and team in place to make Repo!‘s cinema cogs spin. The Devil’s Carnival, however, is a very different story…

Throughout the year, Darren, producer Sean E Demott, a fist full of friends and colleagues, and myself, have had our fingers in every aspect of The Devil’s Carnival‘s production and distribution pie. In the past two months, for example, we’ve learned more than we’d ever cared to know about DVDs and Blu-rays…. and we’re using this knowledge to assemble the coolest presentations possible, including two unique collector’s sets available October 23rd!

The Devil’s Carnival‘s top-shelf, fancy-schmancy “Ringmaster Edition” is a Blu-ray and DVD box set. The menu includes almost two hours of exclusive behind-the-scenes documentaries, including “The Devil Made Me Do It: The Making-of The Devil’s Carnival”, “A Devil of a Time: The Devil’s Carnival Road Tour”, and “The Devil’s In The Details: The Special Makeup and Prosthetic Effects of The Devil’s Carnival”. The discs also contain creator, cast, and “Repo! Reunion” audio commentary tracks, a collectable booklet of T.D.C. song lyrics, and more. There are only 6,660 of these gems manufatured (we should know because we hand-numbered them during an all-night silver Sharpee session earlier this week!). The Ringmaster Edition is available for pre-order now at www.TheDevilsCarnival.com… so get yours while supplies last!

The “Sinner Edition” DVD & Expanded Soundtrack Set will be available only at Hot Topic retail stores on October 23rd. The “Sinner” stars T.D.C.‘s music team, with a music audio commentary track and featurette, “The Devil’s Interval: The Music of The Devil’s Carnival”. The Sinner Edition also includes an eighteen-song expanded soundtrack with never-before-released music.

On October 23rd, The Devil’s Carnival will also be available on digital download… so mark your calendars because “a wicked wonderland of beauty and seductive fun” (Horror.com) will be available this Tuesday for home viewing! And, for all of you Sinners from across the sea, those sad souls who weren’t able to attend our North American Tours, the Ringmaster Edition Blu-rays and DVDs are multi-regional, so pre-order your set today ’cause we’re a-shipping Internationally as well as domestically!

Starting Friday, we will begin mailing Ringmaster Sets all over the world. As mentioned earlier, The Devil’s Carnival is an independent effort so Darren and I will personally be fulfilling many of your orders, along with the help of our dedicated carnie team, Laura Bousman, Benjamin Michael Marsh, Courtney Ortega, Spooky Dan Walker, and Kimmie Yan. We’ll be working tirelessly to get your orders into your mailboxes as close to October 23rd as (sub)humanly possible.

Due to varying customs procedures, International orders may take longer to arrive than domestic ones—please allow a week to ten business days—but rest assured that we take every order seriously. If your Ringmaster Set is not sitting in your box by 8:00 AM on Tuesday morning, however, we ask that you not punish your mailman, your mailman’s children, your mailman’s pets, or us. Bombarding us with emails and phone calls regarding the status of your order will only slow down our delivery process. We’re a small crew, not a company, working to tackle a lot of orders, so we appreciate your patience and understanding in this regard… but rest assured that your orders will be dealt with, and that it will be worth any wait that you may experience!

There are a few Ringmaster Sets left, so, if you haven’t already, be sure to pre-order yours before we run out. For everyone else, Sinner Edition Sets will be available at Hot Topic stores, and digital downloads will be available from iTunes, this Tuesday, October 23rd!