J BUCKNER SHOWS GREAT POTENTIAL WITH DEBUT SHORT: I AM ALIVE

This past weekend, I was one of the privileged individuals able to witness the world premiere of J Buckner's short film I AM ALIVE based on the short story "I, Zombie" by AE Stueve.  Over the last month or so, there has been a decent amount of promotion for this film and I was nervous that watching the film would drive me to eat my words.  I'm glad to say that this isn't the case at all, whatsoever.  While I AM ALIVE is in no way a perfect short, the promise that J Buckner and his crew showcases with their debut (legitimate) film is something that cannot be ignored. 

Now, I use the term "legitimate" lightly because I am a firm believer that there is a sense of legitimacy in everything that is created.  However, the filmmaking experiences that J Buckner have on his resume before I AM ALIVE tiptoe between the lines of "hilariously slapstick" and "a bunch of weird kids with a flip cam".  The desire to create a film stemmed from a series of webshorts and fake trailers created by J Buckner, his wife, his friends, and his band Galactic Moustache.  The filmmaking bug had bitten and Buck was hooked.  I AM ALIVE is the first genuine project from this group of people under the name Studio On Mars.

The story of the short film surrounds a Post-Zombie Apocalypse society where the nation has begun to rebuild and restore a sense of normalcy.  Somehow a calming cure has been discovered and zombies are able to regain many of their human like attributes.  Deemed a burden by society, the re-living undead must find a way to gain solace knowing the rest of society views them on the same level as a pitbull or a homosexual in North Carolina.  It reminding me a bit of S.G. Browne’s BREATHERS, but that wasn’t a bad thing in the slightest.  As far as the screeplay is concerned, I found the dialogue and pacing to be very well contrived.  After reading the short story, it is clear that J Buckner has a grasp for finding humor in situations that may not be up front with comedy.  He makes very interesting choices integrating outside characters as well as which parts of character development from the short story to include.  The dialogue was very realistic, true to the heart of the source material, and flowed nicely.  There were no lines or moments that felt "off" or dull.

Throughout the film, there are little bits of "confessional" shots very reminiscent of The Office.  I rather enjoyed the decision to have the characters break the fourth wall, however, it would have been more beneficial if each character remained in the same position during their confessionals.  There were two characters who were shot from different angles each time they had a confessional and it distracted from the effect.  The same would be said about the camera distance from each character.  The same two were shot far closer than the rest of the group and it always forced my eyes to adjust, taking me out of the moment or the expected pattern my brain was craving.  There are also interview shots taken from "people on the street" and there is an over-abundance of background noise in these shots.  As much as I'd like to criticize the filmmakers for this, it would be incredibly cruel to do so.  It's a debut film, and they're not shooting with James Cameron's equipment.  It's low-budget, I'll cut them some slack.

The casting pool was clearly limited, but 90% of the characters were well cast.  My only gripe is that the woman chosen to play a doctor would never in ten thousand years be viewed believably as a doctor.  The shame is that the actress playing the doctor is incredibly fun to watch, but would have been better suited in a different role.  It wasn't a matter of bad acting, it was just a poor casting decision.  Otherwise, all of the actors brought a different flavor to each of their characters, and they were all very unique, yet unified.  It was a joy to watch these different personalities mesh cohesively during their sessions and remain particular when viewed alone.  What impressed me most was Jen Poland's portrayal of the character "Rachel" a valley girl.  While Jen didn't exactly look the part of a valley girl, her character voice was absolutely PERFECT. It's all too often that an actress gets carried away with a valley girl voice, but Rachel really grasped the perfect balance.  J Buckner also starred in the short and was the most natural on screen.  If he chooses against filmmaking, he's quite a solid actor.

One of my major qualms with the short has absolutely nothing to do with the short itself, but rather the environment in which it was presented to me.  The short film premiered after a series of the webisodes and fake trailers that brought the Studio On Mars to what it has become today.  While I completely understand wanting to show off the roots before getting to the tree, the earlier work is in a completely different world than I AM ALIVE.   I am alive is a much more traditional comedy while the earlier works are of an entirely different flavor.  Imagine sitting through a Troma movie marathon and then jumping into Shaun of the Dead.  While both are considered comedies, they speak an entirely different language.  The second time I viewed I AM ALIVE, I had already seen the earlier trailers and I enjoyed myself far more than I did with the first viewing.  I didn't have to suffer through a transition period of switching gears of different genres of films.

As expected, the makeup design from Zach Shildwachter was fantastic.  It was unified yet diverse and believably showed a progression of the different stages of infection.  One of the characters was to look "cured" and yet still very undead and the results looked like a more naturalized Pavi from Repo! The Genetic Opera.  I also found the costume design to be well thought (whether it was intentional or not is beside the point).  All of the zombies wore shades of brown, black, and gray giving them a sense of stability in contrast to the "normal people" who were shown wearing patterns, bright colors, or graphic t-shirts.  The lighting was also well done for all of the interior shots, but a bit harsh in some of the outdoor shots.  It almost felt as if the film was living in two different worlds, which for this story, actually sort of works.

Ultimately, I would really like to see what J Buckner and the kids from Studio on Mars could do with a bigger budget, a larger casting pool, and better equipment.  The creativity and passion is evident within the final product (can I also go on about how strong of an editor Buckner is?) and I am excited to see what else is to come of them.

THE HORROR HOTEL: SPECIAL FX CHECKING IN FROM GD EFFECTS & ZACH SHILDWACHTER

As a born and raised Midwesterner, I'm often looked down upon by my comrades on the east and west coasts for living in a cultural wasteland.  Here's the deal, though.  The Midwest isn't nearly as lame as once thought.  Thanks to Horror Society, Chicago hosts some of the most incredible events throughout the year, and it would appear that Ohio is slowly but surely growing some major chops.  I know, the state whose nick-namesake comes from a TREE has some rad stuff going down.  I was under the impression that the only thing horror related Ohio had going for it was Cinema Wasteland and an over abundance of serial killers, but I recently was proven wrong and am going to exploit my ignorance to support some incredible artists out of the Midwest.  May 19th I was busy emceeing a beauty pageant, and the horror fanatics of the Buckeye state were headed to The Horror Hotel: a convention with guests, lectures, scream queen/special fx/film/film scoring competitions, and indie film screenings.  Now, I was obviously unable to attend, but I was so impressed with the two winners of the Haunted Rooms competition (judged by Alan Tuskes) that I had to get in touch with both of them to find out more about them.  I present to you, GD Effects & DotW friend and favorite, Zach Shildwachter.  First prize? A paid gig doing the special effects for the upcoming indie film Lady Dragon.

Horror Hotel favorites and well known Ohio FX company, GD Effects is composed of Daniel Blain Click and Greg Lanning.  The duo have been doing special effects for local productions since March 8th of 2011 with their first effect, an eye gouge for the film Chill. Since that first eye-gouge effect, their second movie was Night of the Cannibals, followed by Kandie Land.  The three films are all currently in post production, but the boys of GD Effects aren't solely stuck on films.

Last September they grouped up with Dan Mizicko of Stuck In Ohio and shot a commercial for the Y-town Zombie Crawl. The duo have worked on The Vampire Biker's Ball, Zombie crawls, festivals, proms, and even some of the more iconic FX for a local production of Evil Dead: The Musical with Greg nabbing the coveted role of Ash.  Following the show, they competed at the Horror Hotel along with their extended crew of Jim Danko and Tony Sperry whom they met on the set of "NOTC", Dan's girlfriend Diane Smolak, and also Dan Carroll who Jim and Tony brought on. Chris Brady who gave them a studio to work out of, some of the materials, lights, and a fog machine. It all paid off because the boys won the contest along with Zach Shildwachter.

The room generated for the competition resembled an Altar of the Church of Satan complete with a demonic priest looking somewhat inspired by a cross between a horned toad and the classic red demons of storybooks.  Adding to the mix was a half-faced nun and a blue demon with large horns and a demon guard with oozing wounds.  

The next project for GD Effects will be a web series called "Zombiemom", and work on their partner Jim Danko's movie Hatchet Man Road. You can view more of their work on their Official Facebook Page.

The next artist is no stranger to Day of the Woman and I hope you're not sick of my praises for his work. A child of the 80's, Zach Shildwachter was raised in the glory and evil of the fight between VHS and Betamax.  After seeing the future come and go with laser discs and contemplating making the switch of his collection of films no one has ever heard of over to blu-ray, he realized that he is unequivocally, a whore for the silver screen.  Willing to trade, barter, borrow, and steal in order to fulfill the itch that only B-Movies can scratch, Zach is a true product of his environment.  Blood, gore, unnecessary violence, gratuitous nudity, and general depravity have all aided into warping his fragile little mind into what it is today...and it shows in his work.

Creating a cross between something that looks like the love child of David Lynch, David Bowie, and David Cronenberg, Zach's piece was something that the judges at The Horror Hotel weren't exactly sure how to classify.  What Zach lacks in professional props and expensive products, he more than makes up in with his passions.  Largely self taught, he is an artist acting as a disciple of trial and error, working predominately with materials cheaply at his disposal.  His room was themed as "biomechanical body horror" an attempt at revisiting the late 80s/early 90s VHS horror as a look within itself.  An exploitation of all his visits at those Mom & Pop video stores that refused to rent him the blood soaked box covers that would stare back at him from his youth, his goal was to be flashy, trashy, and make the viewer feel sleezy.  His work is an aim to remind the audience of a time when entertainment was dangerous, risque, and filled with undesirable elements.  If you're asking me, I believe that in this effort, Zach Shildwachter was incredibly successful.

Those familiar with Day of the Woman know that Zach has a remarkable grasp for creating grotesquely beautiful works of art using just simple man-made prosthetic and make-up, but it was enlightening to see what else he had up his sleeve.  Inspired largely by Akira, The Beyond, John Carpenter's The Thing, and Tokyo Shock, Cronenberg, and Frank Henenlotter, Shildwachter created a room that was less "haunted house" and more "unsettling".  It reminded me much of what the play (turned film) BUG would have been like if Tracy Letts had taken acid and sat through some J-Horror before writing it.  His actors for the weekend were folks behind the up and coming short film I AM ALIVE, and even melted the director Justin Buckner into the overstuffed chair.  Although it's hard to see in the photos, one of Zach's main selling points was his aptitude for lighting and mechanical creations.  As bummed as I am to have missed the show, I'm still mighty impressed with what he created.  As always, you can view more of his work at Awkward Creations.

I AM ALIVE: WORLD PREMIERE JULY 15TH IN CLEVELAND, OHIO

A little over a month ago I spoke briefly about an up and coming zombie short film from Justin Buckner titled I AM ALIVE.  It seemed to have sparked some interest from some of you readers and luckily for you, I've got the inside scoop on how you can find a way to see it!

Tickets will be available for $6 each and can be purchased on www.beachlandballroom.com or else tickets are available for purchase from the cast and crew. I've already got my ticket scored away and this event looks promising and more than worth the six dollar entrance fee.  All of the proceeds from the event will go towards entry fees to submit I AM ALIVE to the film festival circuit.  If that doesn't win you over, all of the cast and crew will be at the screening to party it up with the attendees; meaning yes, you can party with the zombies.

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!

Along with the premiere screening of I AM ALIVE they will be showing a couple of other short skits from these fine folks that have been filmed over the last year. The director's band, Galactic Moustache, (that's a hell of a name) and their production group Studio on Mars have been creating music videos and web based skits and will screen some of the most popular shorts.

DON'T TOUCH THAT MOUSE, THERE'S EVEN MORE!

Following the screening there will be live music performances by 

Presque Vu and Galactic Moustache.

 For those counting at home, that means you get a handful of short films, awesome web skits, music videos, two live band performances, and the opportunity to support indie film making. I'm surely going to be there with bells on and so should you. 

For more information click the links below

More info on the film- www.facebook.com/iamalivemovie.com

More info on the venue- www.beachlandballroom.com

Galactic Moustache- www.galacticmoustache.com

Presque Vu- http://presquevumusic.com/

I AM ALIVE: A SHORT FILM BY JUSTIN BUCKNER

As many of you know, I'm a total bleeding heart for indie filmmakers, short films, and zombies.  I've seen my fair share of zombie shorts in my day and a reoccurring theme that has been plaguing the genre is the lack of one thing. Originality.  Horror movie monsters tend to stick to very specific rules and utter failure tends to follow those that stray off the course. (I'm looking at you Twatlight), but every once in a while, someone throws a spin interesting enough to force the audience to practice an old theatre technique of "suspension of disbelief" and they completely go with it.  Zombie films have fallen into a trap of following the same storyline with the same character archetypes and the same end results.  The strange thing is that directors still like to live in this fantasy world where humans don’t already know to aim for the head, or think the bite is "just a bite".  However I've been lucky enough to hear about Ohio bred director, Justin Buckner in association with Studio On Mars productions and their promise of a new zom-com short film based on the short story “I, Zombie” by AE Stueve. Starring Joe Brown, Justin Buckner, Larena Crohe, Jaden DeVogel, Jake Greener, James Lovern, Gina Nemecek, Jen Poland, the film surrounds a Post-Zombie Apocalypse society where the nation has begun to rebuild and restore a sense of normalcy.  I found the premise to remind me a bit of S.G. Browne’s BREATHERS, and that isn’t a bad thing in the slightest.  We also need to point out that the absolutely smashing makeup job (and some camera work) was done by The Blood Sprayer’s very own Zach Shildwachter, but he’s too damn modest to ever accept the praise.  The film released its trailer yesterday and all I gotta say, is that I can’t wait to see the thing in its entirety. It’s incredibly inspiring to see someone put a new spin on a monster we all love so much, hopefully more filmmakers will take notice.

Be sure to keep updated on the film with pics, screenings, and other goodies via the

I Am Alive FaceBook Page.