“You are a funny guy, Dad, why don’t you write comedies?”

My 17 year old posed this question to me the other night.  Hostel 2 was on when I walked in his room.
I had never seen it, but was able  to tell him not only what would happen, but get 80% of the dialog correct.

Every since I had taught my son about the 3 act structure of most films, he has been looking at them differently.

But back to the question:  I write horror because thats what’s on my mind right now.
I have plenty of plots for comedies, most of them based on true events.  And they will get made one day.

But starting out in filmmaking, I think horror is the way I want to go.
Sure, there is a huge competition in the market, and its very hard to break in.
But making movies in general is hard, and I have never been afraid of taking the hard road to get to where I want to be.

A quick FX test shot for the HorrorHouse Project.

I fired up Maya and rendered out a quick shot of the tentacles,
to see how well they would integrate with the test footage I shot of the bedroom.

The animals are Lewaines…really

Things are moving quickly, and I hope to have the trailer online this weekend (the first weekend in May).
The script is written, and about half the shots have at least a basic storyboard done.
I will post more of that workflow here this week.

Just one of our favorite sleeping, world destroying bad boy, this time sitting on the journal.

Good times!

So I have been doing alot of writing lately, and I am kinda surprised at how well the book  Tarot for Writers has helped me break some terrible writers block.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that the cards are supernatural or have “powers”.
Yeah, funny, the guy who writes horror and has studied Occult phenomena for over 2 decades doesn’t believe in magic.
But I do like writing about the imagery of the cards and the supernatural.

And it is a very good system for me so far.  I have studied alot of the “Hero’s Journey” and I find the cards fit the archetypes of the HJ very well.
I am able to generate plots, character background, mood and tons of other things using Tarot Cards.

If you find yourself stuck with a nasty case of writers block, I say put your cards on the table and get this book.

Cthulhu!  Come on down…

Ok, so the HorrorHouse Project (thats the project name, not the movie name!) is based on the Cthulhu mythos.
With what I have to work with, my film is going to be psychological horror than say, some zombie/vampire/alien/whatever gore flick is popular at the moment.

I have read most of Lovecrafts work, and while his prose can be hard to deal with, he knows how to set atmosphere.  And that is what I am wanting to see in my movie.

The prop here is the Idol of Cthulhu.  It started out this morning as a 1lb block of Super Sculpey that I have been lugging around for 4 years.  FINALLY, I make something with it.

This guy causes all sorts of fun in the short film.

So I spent Sunday making some props for the HorrorHouse Project.

I decided I wanted to try to make this short using things I already had in the house, to not spend any money on this.

I had came up with a plot, so I had a good idea of the key props I would need.  While I didnt have them exactly on hand, I did have the material to make them.

First up is a time worn journal from a 78 year old Antartic expedition.

This is just an old softcover journal I had gotten a few months back. I textured the cover using a paper towel, lots of white glue and acrylic paints I had on hand. A little bit of an ink wash to shade it, then some light dry brushing to bring out some texture and detail.

The sticker on front is from Propnomicon, a great resource for Lovecraftian horror props.

So I have been doing alot of stuff lately, from shooting video to more graphic design and web work.
Throw in a little Warcraft now and again, and I have been staying pretty busy.

But I felt like I was in a rut.
That I haven’t done anything new in a good while.  And I haven’t done much work on my pet film projects.
Just  felt like I had to get everyone around me pumped and on board about shooting a horror film.
I guess it’s easy for me to see, cause I have it all in my head.

So I wrote a script for a feature length horror flick that I think would be pretty good.  But while the story was simple, and I could do all the fx on my pc, the costuming would be very intensive and I don’t have access to any sewing skills right now, so I shelved that for the time being.

I then had another idea for a WW2 horror film, and that screenplay is being written now.  I think it will be a great story.
But I still want to make something, a horror short.
It will give me practice in the total workflow, from shooting to editing to fx to mastering the final cut.

I wanted to challenge myself, to push my boundaries and shake off my funk I have been feeling,
so I thought ok, lets do it, lets shoot the horror short.
But lets make it more challenging (as if writing and directing a short film isn’t challenging enough!).

So I decided I would film the movie in the house, using only people in the house, with props made from things already here.
And make it a good scary movie, not a cheesy one.

I know, its a big challenge, but I will finish it.
and I will blog all the details here.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, The Horror House Project.

Have alot of updates to post. Stay tuned…