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News 07 November 2007 - I always said that I wouldn't post another news item on HRP unless something reasonably groundbreaking popped up, and, well, this week there's two items of HRP news worth mentioning.First, two weeks ago we actually surpassed one of the studio HELLRAISER films in the rankings on IMDB's MOVIEmeter for the first time ever. (Those with IMDB Pro can access the actual stats at http://pro.imdb.com/title/tt0805545/graph-data. For October 28th, HRP was 2,921 (our highest ever) and HELLRAISER: INFERNO was 3,020. (For November 4th, HRP was 3,836, and HR:INFERNO was 3,913.) Good times. Also, Clive Barker had some nice things to say about HELLRAISER: PROPHECY (shown below), and he even gave me some advice for future fan film projects. This video is from 01 Nov 2007 at a booksigning in NYC for his novel "Mister B. Gone." HRD: WINTER'S LAMENT is almost done casting, and the HRP DVD has had almost 6,000 downloads on Vuze, with almost 30,000 views on YouTube. (And I've even seen an older, less-complete version of the film being bootlegged at a horror convention in New Jersey.) Good times!
30 April 2007 - Wow, this is almost the end. Everything with HELLRAISER: PROPHECY is just about wrapped up. After about 2 years of work, the end is pretty much here. So, unless there's any groundbreaking news about HRP in the future, this is probably going to be the last news entry. So, in the end, we had screenings in 15 states and England. We've had over 13,000 views of HRP on YouTube since it was posted there six months ago. The pre-ordered DVDs were sent out on Saturday; the closest one is headed to Staten Island, NY, and the farthest one is headed to Ireland, so that was pretty exciting. The DVD files were placed online this morning on eMule and Azureus/Vuze. (More info: click on the DVD menu link.) It's been about eight hours since the DVD finished uploading to Vuze, and I've just started spreading the word around, but we've already got 37 people queued up to download the DVD, and the number is going up every hour! It's exciting to know that people who watched the movie on YouTube actually like it enough to want to download the whole damn DVD... (Either that, or they want to bootleg it. :D ) I actually read a posting on a horror movie forum, where someone posted, "But for what it's worth the film was entertaining enough for me to buy it at a horror convention I recently went to" which was interesting because it was posted several weeks ago, before the DVDs went out... I always said that I'd know that I'd made it when I saw my film being bootlegged at a con. Unfortunately, i haven't seen it yet at the ones that I normally go to, so we'll see... It's a dubious honor, but hey, what can you do? All that's left to do is to send out the cast and crew DVDs, which should be done either this weekend or, more likely, next weekend... and then that's really it. So, a few final thoughts. 1) Again, I can't thank enough the cast and crew for volunteering their time to try their hand at something new to us all and for helping me realize this project. Also, innumerable thanks to the Hellraiser professionals who graciously agreed to be interviewed for DEMONS TO OTHERS, especially to Pete Atkins for his advice and encouragement, and Gary Tunnicliffe for inspiring and indulging a fan's dream. From the bottom of heart, my thanks to you all. 2) To all the people who've enthusiastically supported the film, as well as those who have pointedly supplied constructive criticism, my many thanks to you. I hope that you've enjoyed what this film has to offer. As this is still an active hobby, I do indeed hope to put the advice and recommendations to good use in the near future. 3) To those people took issue with HRP and continue to occasionally snipe derogatory comments on YouTube, I encourage you to use this film as a platform to go forth and to make better films than we've done. I invite you to channel your negativity into a constructive effort to make a film; then we all benefit. Nothing would make me happier than to know that our little film inspired (or, in this case, disgusted) other fans to make bigger and better Hellraiser fan films. So, the follow-up to HRP, a prequel, tentatively entitled, HELLRAISER: DEADER - THE DEAD OF WINTER is scripted and is next to come, along with Peter Atkins' SONGS OF METAL AND FLESH, adapted by Jose Leitao. (The HELLRAISER: WARM RED project has been abandoned.) Production on both fan films is slated to begin in Summer, 2008. Keep an eye out at http://www.kuifilms.com/ for more news. And once again, thanks for watching and making this project a truly extraordinary experience for me.
In either case, these are among the 32 DVDs that will need to go to cast and crew... I figure that I can have the cast and crew DVDs distributed by the end of April. Therefore, we'll be offering DVDs to the public via several methods on May 01... Check out the DVD link above for details... 06 March 2007 - Sometimes the best-laid plans... So, as we know, the DVD is authored, the artwork is printed, and the discs are labelled... kind of. This past weekend was Horrorfind Weekend 7, down in Baltimore. I had been rushing to get the DVD authored, duplicated, labelled and packaged to get copies to Doug Bradley, Ashley Laurence and Simon Bamford at this Hellraiser Reunion. So, after a late-night run to Staples and some fun with a paper-trimmer, I was pretty pleased to have three sharp-looking DVDs in cases with artwork to present to the three thespians as thanks for appearing in DEMONS TO OTHERS (which premiered at Horrorfind.) So, I brought the discs down to Baltimore, gave them to Mr. Bradley, Mr. Bamford and Ms. Laurence, with thanks. Last night, as I was submitting DEMONS TO OTHERS to IMDB, I popped in the DVD to check the credits, and I found that the disc didn't work... So, I switched to another copy of the disc, which also didn't work. After a bit of thinking, I peeled off the DVD labels that I had printed out, and lo and behold, all three discs worked perfectly. So, there are a few lessons here. 1) Do NOT label DVDs with paper labels, as they may throw off the weight and balance of the DVD as it spins, causing read failures. Switch to the plastic-film style DVD labels. 2) Testing the DVDs that you'll give to your heroes is all well and good, but test them AFTER you label them, not just BEFORE you label them. In essence, I gave three well-packaged coasters to three actors that I look up to, and I feel pretty foolish. Good times. Quick notes: We couldn't use the artwork provided graciously by Kim Fox, for a number of reasons, but otherwise the artwork is good to go. For those who are patiently waiting for a DVD, the DVD will be distributed for free online (through file-sharing) and through SASEs this May. As an alternative, for those who would prefer to have a free copy with artwork and case mailed to them in thanks for donating to our website, a donation button will be put up in coming weeks... 15 February 2007 - Good news, all around... It only took me a few days to recreate the DVD menu structure from scratch, mainly because all of the files were already there this time, and it was simply a question of directing the links... So, the DVD is authored, and being tested out this week. Tonight, a graphic artist named Kim Fox and I will be working on designing the DVD cover art. Hopefully, that will be done tonight, putting us on track for an early April release of the DVD on the Internet. Additionally, artist Anthony Rockey, behind the oft-sought Grimoire of the Gash has resurfaced, and will be making more Grimoires for sale to the public. I'll be providing him with a few advance copies of the DVD so that he can include them with his sold copies of the Grimoire. (Clarification: I am not receiving any proceeds from this sale, rather this is my way of thanking him for his contribution to the film.) As always, many thanks go out to him. More information on that when I find out more. We're reviewed in this month's web issue of MicroFilmmaker Magazine, where we earned a 7.3 out of 10. Many thanks to the staff of MFM, who have provided one of the most constructive critiques we've yet received! The review is online at http://www.microfilmmaker.com/critiques/Issue17/Hellrsr1.html 01 February 2007 - "General Error." That's the error message that Adobe Encore gave me when I clicked "Build DVD" after 3 months of authoring. Fantastic. I'm reconstructing the DVD architecture from square one. (All the assets are there, but the DVD needs to be re-authored step by step.) It may turn out that I'm trying to cram too many features onto the disc, so I'm going to retract my list of features... Right now, the audio and subtitle tracks will still be included, but there's question as to which and how many of the special features will remain included. (Edit: The features are listed below.) Will keep everyone posted. 29 January 2007 - The DVD is days away from completion (but won't be released until April or May.) Full list of features:
So, the DVD is just about done, but still won't be available until after DEMONS TO OTHERS screens publically. Right now, DTO may have a screening at this year's I-Con convention at the end of March, but I'll know more next week...
04 January 2007 -
DVD Authoring is definitely chugging along...
So, the HRP side of things is just about complete, putting us very much on track for a Spring DVD release, as long as DEMONS TO OTHERS is completed and released on schedule as well.
Some have been asking about DVD availability options, and again, we are
definitely looking at three concurrent methods: I'll be adding a "DVD" link to the menu above in the next month or so...
Once that's done, I'll work on the menus for the DVD and then we'll see where that takes us... The goal is still early spring, 2007, for the completed DVD. Two small items of note: 1) Rogue Cinema has posted a review of HRP as part of their review of films from this year's inaugural "It Came From Lake Michigan" Film Festival. The review was very fair, and we thank Brian Morton for bringing this to our attention. 2) The Winter, 2006 (#6) issue of Fan Films Quarterly is now available at http://www.lulu.com/content/544389 and features a four-page interview where I discuss the film a bit. More information is available at http://www.fanfilmsquarterly.com/ 22 November 2006 - The HRP Prop and Costume auction is going on now through December 1 on eBay... http://search.ebay.com/hellraiser-prophecy-prop 21 November 2006 - It's been almost a month since HRP went on Youtube, and we've had over 1000 views. The feedback I've received so far has been pretty polarized, as with all things on the Internet. People either really enjoyed it or scathingly hated it. Really, though, I'm glad to know that there are definitely people who HAVE enjoyed the fan film for what it is: a fan-told story that was a labor of love. So far, I think the highest and most memorable praise I have so far received was from England, where "Delta Matt" submitted to IMDB, "I certainly doubt that both the director and camera crew have had no experience filming whatsoever; at the very least someone must have made some amateur stuff on their mum and dad's video camera." If our end product was able to give the impression that we had attempted something prior to this, on ANY scale, that's a pretty good sign. (And to clarify: the only things I've ever filmed prior to this were family vacations. Most of my imagination was channeled into website design in high school, and music prior to that. But thank you!) In either case, I've begun preparing the DVD Master for HRP, but don't hold your breath! DEMONS TO OTHERS isn't done yet, though it's getting there. For the DVD mastering, I've ruled out TMPGEnc DVD Author (for its lack of subtitle functions) and DVDLab (lack the time to learn the program. Adobe Encore has been a real treat to learn, and looks like it's suited to the task. I'm going to ask a friend to help me with menu design... Subtitles are being laid out, as is the menu structure. Anyhow, the prop/costume auction will go on eBay tomorrow night and end probably December 1st. Right now, on the auction block, will be:
Bound's costume, bodice only. I'm not putting the puzzle box up, because it has future use, and the same goes for the Grimoire of the Gash. If anybody's interested, go for it. If not, thanks for looking. :) Please also check out the December 1st issue of Fan Films Quarterly to see the story on HRP... 30 October 2006 - Well, it's a few hours early, but... WE'RE live! Please see the film (divided into two parts) at YouTube.com.
Part 1 is at :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hZE_cZ1QiY Whether or not you like what you see, we ask that you give us a quick vote on YouTube, and, if the feeling possesses you, give us a quick vote on IMDB as well, at http://www.imdb.com/rg/title-tease/rating-vote/title/tt0805545/ratings. This isn't the end, for HELLRAISER: PROPHECY. We're still scheduled to be reviewed in an upcoming issue of Fan Films Quarterly, as well as MicroFilmmaker Magazine (special thanks to fellow director David Lindabury of SKANKOBITE, who forged the path to MFM.) Also, the DVD is still in the works, and post-production is continuing on the short documentary chronicling the Making of HELLRAISER: PROPHECY, entitled DEMONS TO OTHERS (2007). More info on those projects in coming weeks... On a side note, our IMDB rank jumped this week to 3,144. (We're usually around 7000.) I credit this jump not in any way due to our release but rather to the FAR more exCITing news about Clive Barker penning a remake of HELLRAISER. (The original Hellraiser is in the top 200 this week!) 25 October 2006 - The HRP Premiere on YouTube is on schedule. The film is complete enough to even make ME happy. The DVD release teaser is complete and now I'm just finishing up the DEMONS TO OTHERS teaser. Also, I'll be having a small auction on eBay of some of the props and costumes used in the film, probably around Thanksgiving. Scheduled for auction so far, are...
Who knows, maybe nobody will want them, but what the Hell, I'll put them and a few other items up for bid anyway... They're just collecting dust over here... In other news, The Horror Podcast has reviewed us in their first episode of the season. Check it out at http://www.allaboutmedia.co.uk/horror/hps02ep01_121006.mp3 10 October 2006 - Alright, the HRP Premiere on YouTube is only a few weeks away. It's scheduled to be released on YouTube on Halloween, and I may try to get it up on iFilm or AtomFilms as well... Three new teaser trailers are on their way. The YouTube premiere teaser, announcing the Halloween internet premiere is currently available here and on YouTube. A teaser regarding special features available on the free-distribution DVD in 2007, as well the Making-of Documentary DEMONS TO OTHERS (2007) will be placed at the tail end of HELLRAISER: PROPHECY on YouTube this Halloween. Keep watching after the end credits finish rolling to see these trailers. Apparently we played at AlbaCon, in Albany, NY, last weekend. We're supposedly playing at the Nashville October Comic and Horror Festival in Tennessee later this month, though that's unconfirmed. I DO have email confirmation that we've made it into the "It Came From Lake Michigan Film Festival" in Wisconsin and "Fargo Fantastic Film Festival" in North Dakota later this month. So, keep checking back for more info on the YouTube release, the progress on DEMONS TO OTHERS (2007) and the 2007 DVD release... 26 September 2006 - Lots of good news right now... So, we had our British premiere this past weekend, so we've now gone international. Okay, so the DVD version of the film is done, which has some more uniform rotoscoping, and a WORKING puzzle box, thanks to a loan from Jose Leitao in Portugal. Also, many thanks to Keli Kunson (uncredited) who stood in for Lori for the reshoots... What this means is that the film is pretty much ready for online viewing. Within the next month, HRP will be available online through YouTube and/or IFilm. The bad news is that the DVD itself is being delayed until the completion and screenings of DEMONS TO OTHERS (which now has a rudimentary site, for those who haven't seen. It's at http://www.kuifilms.com/demons/) So, the film itself will be available by Halloween ((I'm just waiting to complete two more trailers to attach to the end of the film) but the DVD won't be available until 2007. When that's done, we'll start pre-production on THE WARM RED. 09 August 2006 - So, I've stopped submitting HRP to conventions and film festivals for the rest of the year. I'm very pleased with the number of screenings we've had so far, and acceptance/rejections from a few more are still waiting to come in. In short, screening news will slow to a trickle, but I will say that there is a possibility of one or two screenings in England by the end of the year. Most news will now also be on the news thread on our Message Board on the Internet Movie Database, at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805545/board/nest/45853407 DVD release update - May be delayed, but I'm still aiming for November. Reality and graduate school have both exerted themselves strongly, and so things are far behind where I'd ideally like them to be.
HRP DVD version progress:
DEMONS TO OTHERS progress: In other news, a Polish magazine recently conducted an interview with me via email, although whether that will lead anywhere is uncertain. Also, another magazine has expressed interest in a story as well. Will follow through on that shortly.
And while everyone waits, here are a few images from the rough cut of DEMONS TO
OTHERS. You may recognize a few faces... 09 June 2006 - Filming for the DEMONS TO OTHERS documentary is no more on schedule than it was a month ago. I've had a lot of personal issues to deal with lately, so it hasn't been at the forefront of my priorities. On the other hand, it was announced yesterday that HRP won 3rd Place Short Film at the HauntCon Horror Film Festival. More information is available at http://www.hauntcon.com/ Also, our IMDB page is up and running at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0805545/ The credits aren't completely up yet (I'm still even listed as writer, and I was only listed as Director as of yesterday.) There are a few errors as well (wrong Darren Burgess, wrong Jose Leitao, etc., the title is described as "Made-for-video"), but we're working on it... 10 May 2006 - Well, it's been just over a month since the last news posting, and we're now have confirmed screenings in 7 different states, with tentative and/or unconfirmed screenings in Ohio and Tennessee... For the DVD, Jeremy and I recorded a commentary track up in Ithaca, NY this past Saturday... So, that's one commentary track down... Filming for DEMONS TO OTHERS is, well, way behind schedule. The good news is that HRP is a finalist in the 2006 HauntCon Amateur Horror Film Festival, in the Short Film category... We'll find out in a few weeks which of the top three prizes we won... 13 Apr 2006 - Looks like the second screening will be in Denver, CO, the week of 21 April, at StarFest. More info on that as it appears. There are quite a few other submissions out there, but we won't hear back from most of them for a while... A few of them should take. I'm headed to Ithaca, NY to record a commentary track and film interviews with Jeremy Yost for the Making-of featurette at the beginning of May... Will be doing the same (hopefully) with Lori, Monica and Allison soon. Links, Reviews and Upcoming Screenings sections are now up...
Current timeline: Oh, and I've finally updated the credits and added a (limited) number of Cenobite pix to the Gallery page! 27 Mar 2006 - Well, the film premiered on Friday! Although I was out of state, one of my production assistants was on hand at the premiere, and reported a crowd of about 35 people. She says that the audience response was very favorable, and I could hear in the gleeful tone of her voice that she was being very candid, so I'm thrilled by this. This is certainly not the end; far from it. HRP has been submitted to a few other film festivals and conventions, so we'll see if any of them are interested. Most are in the fall, so it may be a while before we hear either way.
I've recently added a Links section to the site, which contains links to other Hellraiser Fan films, horror sites, conventions and film festivals. It's under construction, but it's progressing... I'll be adding a Reviews section to the site over the next week or two with reviews of the film... Also, here's a picture of my favorite band, Bering Strait, holding up a screener of HRP. (They each have one.) After all, most of the characters are named after them... :) 14 Mar 2006 - The film is complete! A screener was handed over to the I-CON film track today. (They were starting to get nervous. This was the last film to be handed in.) But, coming it at a runtime of 22 minutes (28, if you include the gag reel), HELLRAISER: PROPHECY will premiere on Friday, March 24, 2006 at 10:00PM at I-CON XXV in Stony Brook, NY. It will be shown again on Sunday, March 26, 2006 at 11:30AM. For more convention information, go to http://www.iconsf.org/ We did it! 07 Mar 2006 - If you haven't already seen it on the front page of the site, Aaron Foss has completed the official one-sheet for this film... As for the film itself:
Act 6A: Complete 28 Feb 2006 - Trust me, it's really getting there...
Act 6B: Only thing left is sound effects Still working almost every day... Will be done by 17 March if it kills me...
07 Feb 2006 -
HELLRAISER: PROPHECY
has been screened by the Track leaders of the Film
Track for this year's I-CON convention, and has been accepted. This will be the
film's public premiere, and will take place the weekend of
March 24, 2006, in Stony Brook, NY. More information on the premiere will
be available over the next month. In the meantime, you may visit the
convention's website at http://www.iconsf.org/ 26 Oct 2005 - The teaser is now available through file-sharing networks eMule and Bit Torrent. Let's hope the word gets out. So far, there have been over 850 views of the teaser from this website. Corrected a reference on the "Story" page.
23 Oct 2005
- Act 5 is complete. Essentially, Acts
1 through 5 are now contiguous, meaning that the movie is over half done, and
the only act really left to do is the last (and most difficult) act. Right now,
I'm dividing it into several parts: 18 Oct 2005 - Gave Clive Barker a copy of the teaser at his signing at Border's books in Manhatten. He was very supportive!
04 Oct 2005 - This site is now up at
http://www.hellraiserprophecy.com/
02 Oct 2005 - Well, I've just bought www.hellraiserprophecy.com but I don't think I'm going to spend an additional $44 on hosting, when I've already got two other sites... Anyhow, this site is now up, and a little light on content, but that's to be expected for only half a morning's work. Teaser #1 is now up and online... You can find it on the homepage. Editing will now recommence, now that my thesis committee meeting is over. Here's how the project stands right now:
Act 1 - complete Will keep people posted... They can also find the latest news and discussion at the Hellbound Web forum here: http://www.cenobite.com/forum/showthread.php3?s=&threadid=7160
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12
March 2007 - Alright, here's your first look at 23 copies of the DVDs...
The only things I'm waiting for are Avery DVD labels... They were sent out on
Saturday, so I should get them early in the week...
HRP Menu Structure:
Also, the DVD version of the film is under construction. I still have to film a
few interviews to put together the Making-of... (More info on that later on.)
And some of the scenes will be improved for the DVD (more info on that as well
later.)