Lower the Curtain Down on Memphis

 This post first appeared, in a slightly different form, in my e-newsletter I WAS BIGFOOT'S SHEMP.

My new film SMART HOUSE has hit streaming platforms; I will suggest catching it right here on Tubi, since you can see all three of my films there for free (including one in a Spanish dub).  And finally, my wife's colleague's teenaged kid likes one of my movies, even if it was made by an old person.  Won over one of my harshest critics.

I am thankful to director Joe Swanberg's microcinema in Chicago; "Late Shift at the Grindhouse" at Film Scene in Iowa City, Iowa; and the Englewood Theater in Englewood, Ohio for providing screenings of my movie before its street date.

I talked my wife into watching ALL THE HAUNTS BE OURS, a box set of folk horror, during October, and we had a lot of fun with it.  Start with the Eastern European ones that lean into the folk more than the horror to see some unique and offbeat films.

My reading is finally picking up again and if you like my newsletter you'll probably like THE MILITIA HOUSE by John Milas.  It's about a couple of soldiers at a base in Afghanistan who get bored and decide to visit a spooky abandoned house they can see just outside the wire, a bad idea.  It absolutely scared the fire out of me, and I don't get scared very easily.  I'm about halfway through SILVER NITRATE by Silvia Moreno-Garcia and I can tell it'll be recommended by me as well.  It's all about the occult and old Mexican horror movies so you know I'm going to be down for that.

The last time I sent a newsletter I had knuckled down and bought a Mac Mini tricked out with Final Cut to re-learn editing, but it's all still in the box.  The truth is I've been struggling with depression and have had to enter an outpatient program that involves medication, therapy, and coursework.  Having untreated depression has derailed a lot of my day job and b-movie night life, as well as everything else, so if you are reading this and in the same boat as me, I encourage you to seek help before you hit the guard rail and spin out like I did.

Hoping to re-enter the b-movie world again with new projects before long, but until then, thanks for reading.

Sixteen Going On Seventeen

 June's been a wild ride, and it's only half over.

Me and my SMART HOUSE producer Henrique Couto went to Chicago to screen the movie for the first time, in director Joe Swanberg's secret VHS store/screening venue.

Strange but true!  Swanberg (HANNAH TAKES THE STAIRS, DRINKING BUDDIES, DIGGING FOR FIRE) opened a video store in Chicago, made up of his own VHS collection, and firmly and defiantly lodged in 1998.  So no social media, no email, no cell phones allowed.  As well as being able to rent VHS tapes two at a time, every month Joe snail mails a flier to card-carrying members (their photos taken with what looks like an old license branch camera) with everything going on there.  

Henrique and I were directed to a pizza place down the street from the venue, where we were met by our Chicago film programming friend Jason.  After a good Chicago cracker crust pie he escorted us to the location, which really is a blank door in the side of an unassuming building.

The front room is pretty small, with a lot of VHS categorized on shelves, then you enter a larger room with even more tapes and areas for old magazines and current zines, old books on a table and vintage clothes on a rack, all for sale.

The back room is larger yet and the only nod to the modern world, with a nice projector and sound system, but the decor is somewhere between speakeasy and all the basements I hung out in in middle school.  Joe spins records and audience members BYOB until the movie starts.

We had about 25 people there, a receptive crowd, and I was extremely flattered when Joe asked me up to do a Q&A afterwards.  Unlike what you'd imagine Hollywood people to be, he was extremely gracious and generous with his time and attention.  I think more people wanted to hear Joe Swanberg ask questions than wanted to hear my answers, but it was an attentive group and then after Joe said people could hang out for a while.

Which probably half the people did, until about one in the morning, and I found out it was pretty much a gaggle of film students, other filmmakers, and film-adjacent people, a good group to listen to records with and talk about movies to.

A memorable night indeed, and left with an offer to come back for something else one day, a good reason to keep making movies.

Just a few weeks before Chicago, I got a surprise email from the people who have been getting a ton of buzz for WINNIE THE POOH: BLOOD AND HONEY, a horror movie made when this sharp-eyed British production company saw Pooh falling into the public domain.  Like all overnight sensations in the movie biz, they've been grinding for a number of years with all kinds of other franchises to see what sticks, like the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny, Medusa, Humpty Dumpty, and one called simply THE BAD NUN.

Now the bell tolls on BAD NUN 3, and they asked if I could write a script for them quickly--really, really quickly, faster than I ever have written, but of course I said yes because suddenly these folks are on a rocket, and it never hurts to be standing around when one takes off.

Friday was the first day of shooting, and it's been crazy watching it unfold five hours in the future in England,  just a few weeks from my keyboard.  Eager to see what happens with that.

On Wednesday Henrique Couto and I are heading back to another fantastic film venue, this time Film Scene in Iowa City.  This is a really, really nice theater with very articulate film fans, and it's a cool town to boot. 

Can't wait to fill you in on this, and the set of BAD NUN 3, very soon.

Suds and Soda

This post first appeared in my e-newsletter I WAS BIGFOOT'S SHEMP.

 Heading to Dayton Saturday to put the final touches on SMART HOUSE, which needs to be done because we already have a screening, and it's back at the great venue Film Scene in Iowa City, Iowa.  We will be at "Late Shift at the Grindhouse" Wednesday June 21 at 10 p.m., and me and hopefully producer Henrique Couto will be on hand to answer questions after.  This is always a great, literate film crowd and the people who run the screenings are top-notch.

We have another screening in the offing, and it is a genuine surprise I think, so as soon as it is locked in I will have the info right here first.

A new Belgian website must not understand the U.S. film world too well, because they actually asked me to contribute to a series called "The Five Hidden Movie Gems of..."  It was flattering to be asked, and I thought you might want to read what I sent before the Belgians.  These are The Five Hidden Movie Gems of John Oak Dalton.
 

DEAD MOUNTAINEER'S HOTEL. I am curiously partial to Soviet-era science fiction but find many haven't seen Estonian director Grigori Kromanov's genre-bender, based on the book by the Strugatsky Brothers.

TATTOOED LIFE. I'm a huge fan of Japanese auteur Seijun Suzuki and although this isn't my favorite, it's one I've felt like I would like to remake, and is a good entry point for viewers new to his style.

THE RED CIRCLE. Again a huge fan of French director Jean-Pierre Melville and also sorely wish I could remake this one day. Fantastic noir.

ALPHAVILLE. The perfect film for my sensibilities, an insouciant genre movie through a New Wave filter with unapologetic DIY sensibilities, directed by Jean-Luc Godard to boot.

RED COCKROACHES. Cuban filmmaker Miguel Coyula's entirely original philosophical science-fiction film is a masterpiece of DIY filmmaking, looking like a 20 million dollar film but made for $2K, with ideas enough for a hundred movies.

My biggest regret in leaving the television and video world behind for marketing is that I have lost track of my editing sensibilities.  I feel like I was a pretty good editor back in the day, and in fact that was my entry point into the industry--assistant editing on Ivan Roger's priest-turned-hitman movie FORGIVE ME FATHER, editing all the action scenes such that I didn't see any scenes with anyone alive until I went to the premiere.

So I knuckled down and bought a Mac Mini installed with Final Cut X a few weeks ago.  I'm hoping it's like riding a bike, but I have to get it out of the box first and set it up.  I have a little low-level anxiety about it because my last true job in the video business was 2005, but I guess I can get on YouTube like everybody else and figure out how to do it again.  And I hope I still have a little magic left.  Tips from Final Cut X editors welcome.

Thanks for reading and I will have updates on SMART HOUSE again soon.

Like Dylan in the Movies

 

Slowly chugging through post on SMART HOUSE for a end-of-March deadline.  Got a picture lock in and sent to the composer, with the color timing, sound mix, and some effects to put in.  Really happy with this one.

Some sweet merch from SMART HOUSE, print run of two, came out from Ashlee Britt, who did script supervision on the film and also designed the Mothman tee shirt you see in the movie.  It memorializes the image she drew on the slate, and one of her favorite lines.  I got one and co-writer Richard Pierce got the other.

I just use a whiteboard for a slate.  I don't need to use a fancy clapboard with my name written on it, and the DP, and whoever else.  We know who worked on it.  It seems like people like to have clapboards with their names written on it so maybe this is sacrilege.

Production on my new grandbaby wrapped up a few weeks ago as well.  Her name is Amelia Rose and she is keeping everyone pretty busy.  She cries whenever her Boompa looks at her so she may end up being pretty smart.  Her great-grandma worked in the costume department on this project, as seen here.

Just got back from England, where I went on a field study with my wife and a group of students to learn more about Jane Austen.  I read PERSUASION to prepare, which is about a dried-up spinster of 27 who tries to find love again.  It actually would make a pretty good contemporary Lifetime movie.  It would be fun to do a modern adaptation.  I'm going to read NORTHANGER ABBEY next, which apparently is more of a Gothic and might also have trappings to do a b-movie version, you never know.  I'd like to go more highbrow, at some point.

Best of all my week-long search to find my favorite comic 2000 A.D. ended at the airport, with a good story from Judge Dredd in it.

I've got another recommendation for those who follow this e-newsletter, and it's THE SORCERER OF PYONGYANG by Marcel Theroux.  It's about a kid in North Korea who finds a D&D Dungeon Master's Guide a delegation from the West accidentally leaves behind, and everything that happens to him as a result of it.  Someday I'd like to write a D&D adventure based on what's going on in the novel.

As far as my own writing, I'd like to pitch a new movie to shoot in the spring after we wrap SMART HOUSE for well and for good.  I've got two things cooking and maybe will pitch both and see what happens.

Thanks for sticking around; a lot coming down the pike soon.

Welcome to 2023

This post first appeared in my e-newsletter I WAS BIGFOOT'S SHEMP.

 I hope all of my readers enjoyed their holidays.  My holiday filmmaking season ended strong, landing legendary b-movie actress Brinke Stevens to voice the sinister A.I. "Cassandra" in my new movie SMART HOUSE.  Probably the first thing I ever saw her in was this, and she has worked steadily in the decades since.  I was extremely flattered that first she read the script, and second that she liked it and wanted to participate.  It should add a lot of value to the film.

And you can catch an exclusive secret teaser trailer featuring Brinke and lead Iabou Windimere right here.

I didn't quite make my goal of reading 50 books in 2022, what with my beloved dog dying, a health scare, my son's wedding, shooting this movie, and a new granddaughter (I think in that order), but a handful I did read that I can recommend to anybody include THE EMPLOYEES by Olga Ravn, SLEEPWALK by Dan Chaon, THE HEAP by Sean Adams, and PATRICIA WANTS TO CUDDLE by Samantha Allen.

I'm almost done reading something right now I think will be on my 2023 list for sure, and it's AN HONEST LIVING by Dwyer Murphy.  So that gives you a top five to choose from.

My resolutions for 2023 are pretty much my usual ones; take care of my health, help shepherd my kids and grandkids through the world, be creative.  Hoping you all can meet your goals for 2023 as well.  Take care.