S.O.T.B.

Alright, here’s another trailer.

Big news, people: AICN and the Alamo have arranged a special screening of Ratatouille hosted by Patton Oswalt this coming Monday. If you’ve read this blog in the past, you know I’ve been kissing Patton’s funny ass for years. Last night, at Hostel II, Tim announced that the second film on the bill Monday will be one of Mr. Oswalt’s new favorites, The Foot Fist Way. Screw the family fun stuff…Jody Hill, Danny McBride, and company have been making wonderful films ever since back in the day. You’ll hear about how awesome it is after the fact … and then feel like poop. Be there, people! I’m not asking nicely. I’m telling you…BE THERE! Support young talented filmmakers! Especially the ones that inspired me back in film school. Don’t believe me, check out some scenes here.

But before I can even get excited about seeing Fist/Foot, Jamaa Fanaka will be in town, live and in person, to present two of his classics: Welcome Home Brother Charles, and PENITENTIARY! Lars puts it best: “Director Jamaa Fanaka specializes in the smuggler’s approach to socially relevant film-making. He’ll sneak some serious shit past you like a jailhouse shiv while you’re looking the other way. ” Once again, I’m not asking you nicely to be there. I wish the Alamo turned 10 every month.

Check back soon to see Eli Roth getting his ass spanked with a cookie sheet. It really is something else and it needs to be shared with the world.

Four movies in one day is too much. It started at the Paramount with Spellbound. If you’ve never seen the film, you’ve got to watch the picnic scene with Ingrid and Gregory. “Which do you perfer…Ham or Liverwurst?” Howard Hawks was next. The Big Sleep. Wish my car was working so I could install a secret gun compartment. You know, in case me and some dames get into some trouble, see?

It rained in Austin tonight, so I was able to test the strength of my Porta Brace. Camera was dry as a bone. But, since my big toe bone is still f@#k3d from the Live Oak guy dropping a mini keg on it, it took 15 mintues to walk back to the Alamo where I just caught the tail of of Tab Hunter talking about how great it was to work with John Waters on Polyester. I’d never seen Polyester and god damn it is funny.

Then after the laughter stopped, it began again. Some of the good Ladies down at Sinsations put on a bondage show. In the end, they lit cookie sheets on fire and spanked Eli Roth’s ass numb before the sneak of Hostel II. I can’t review it without quoting my own review of Hellraiser III: Hell On Earth published some years ago in the Screaming Eagle. If you don’t have nothing nice to say, don’t say it at all. So I’ll say that in his Q&A Mr. Roth came off as a nice guy who just wants to make fun movies for the audience. They may not be the best movies ever, but he…much like the audience, and girls…just wants to have fun. Any guy that’ll show a preview of New York Minute and have his ass whipped and spanked in front of the audience is okay with me.

I’m still having problems uploading new movies, so in the meantime, here’s an old post from late February that has been hiding in the “drafts” folder on WordPress.

If you’re at the video store wondering what to watch, I saw a whole mess of wonderful films last week. Anchor Bay (Say Yes to MI!) … I love you. I saw Revenge Of The Cheerleaders at a way late-nite screening thanks to QT, but I have to say the original Cheerleaders is one of my new favorites. Watched that on a triple feature with Little Darlings and Hardcore. If you haven’t revisited the work of Paul Schrader (Say Yes to Michigan!) you should really do yourself a favor and watch both Blue Collar and Hardcore. Blue Collar has a wonderful cast and an On Time Richard Pryor. Hardcore finds George C. Scott trying not to chew the scenery and his restraint is wonderful. Plus you get to see him dressed up as a Porn Director.

If you’ve got some energy left over, check out the recently re-released Vigilante with Robert Forester and Fred “Who made up all that bullshit about black people not being able to swim?” Williamson.

Oh yes! Anchor Bay I love you! Visiting Hours with Shatner. Visiting Hours is the most suspenseful film I have seen in a long time. It’s over-lit and it’s still scary. Remember Michael Ironside from Total Recall? This guy was nuts even back in the day. Don’t ask, just rent and love. Mostly love. Visiting Hours gets my highest marks, thanks Shivers.

If you listen closely, you can hear a sample from Visiting Hours in The Basement Of The Alamo trailer. The doctor who “delivered” me was named Michael, so it seemed appropriate to add the sample of “telephone call for Dr. Michael” to the end of the trailer. It really gave the Josh K. CatSand scene an air of realism.

Today is January 29th. Two years ago today 301 held their first ever Film Forum at Temple Ball. The weather was nasty, cold and sleet, but still we packed the house. Drew shot some footage from that night, but I can’t seem to find it. I went through all of my old tapes last night, but my search proved fruitless. I did, however, find some other funny stuff.

One of my favorite parts of film production is watching the dailies. Sitting back with Cameron, Alec, Seib, Mac, Drew, and talking trash or falling in love with the footage…I miss my North Carolina people. I’ve sworn up one side and down the other that I’d never do anything again with Rainy Storm. After watching some of the raw footage, I assembled this.

Thanks to all of you who have given me love and support over the years.

I hate to say it, but my first experience with the great Orson Welles was through a documentary called The Man Who Saw Tomorrow. It scared the S-H-I-Toot out of me at an early age…Thanks HBO. So, I’m writing a script and the first act goes down like this…

Only 73 days left until The Number 23 is collectively forgotten by 99.9% of the human population. It’s like I, and the good people of New Hampshire, always say “Live Free or Die…Die Hard.” It’s gonna be a long hot summer.

The first ever Room 3106 Director flavor of the week comes to you via a strange trip through the movie game. It started with Riley hooking me on De Palma. From Mr. D. to Dennis Franz. Dennis Franz to Psycho II. I rented Cassavetes’ Gloria the same night I rented Psycho II (directed by Richard Franklin, who also loves Hitchcock…Road Games is must see). Cassavetes takes me to actor John Marley. Marley worked on The Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, and the Alfred Hitchcock Hour, to name very few of his credits. He is also the star of a movie that is directed by my flavor of the week Bob Clark.

You may remember Bob from such films as Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things, A Christmas Story, Porky’s (or as the French Canadians call it, Chez Porky), Black Christmas; and John Marley from Dead of Night. If you’re going to rent or buy the DVD, the good people at Blue Underground peddle it under the title Deathdream.

I don’t want to plot spoil, but lets just say you’ll never hear the expression “I’ll be a brown-belt by the time I’m 15″ the same way again. EVER. And if that doesn’t get you interested, Deathdream has a young Tom Savini on board supplying some dope make-up effects. There’s a conversation with Savini on the DVD that plays as a nice aside to the kick-butt documentary Scream Greats. Tom mentions that he was a combat photographer in the Vietnam Conflict. I had no idea. He’s seen some shit. That must be why his special effects have always slugged me in the gut ever since I was a kid.

My uncle Paul introduced my brother and me to the top loading VCR and the Video Store between games of Pitfall. With Paul’s help, the first videos we rented…ever…were A Christmas Story, Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, and Dawn of the Dead. Uncle Paul also introduced us to slow motion. He slowed down all the tasty bits in Dawn of the Dead. The zombie head explosion, zombie head-slicing via freak helicopter accident, and Tom Savini swinging from the 2nd story of the mall from a line of plastic $ale flags to hit a zombie in the head with a sledge hammer.

The first time I saw $tar War$ I knew I loved movies. The first time I saw Tom Savini’s make-up, I knew I wanted to make movies. And I’ve seen A Christmas Story at least a 100 times since my dad took us to see it on December 26th, 1983.