2012: The Year in Review

 2012 was a great year for us-  we launched our website, became an LLC, met some great people and produced many exciting projects. With the Mayans wrong and 2013 arriving tomorrow, we thought it would be a good time to take a look back at 2012 and all of the experiences we're grateful for.

Our first shoot of 2012 was Fred Grant's Metroid fan trailer. The trailer is still in post-production- visual effects, especially on unpaid fan projects, take a tremendous amount of time- but it will finally make its long-awaited premiere in the new year. Until then, check out these screenshots from the near-final cut of the trailer:

2012 was probably most defined by our collaborations with The Collective Project, Inc. While we had previously adapted one of their plays into our 2011 short film Mario and Luigi, our trailers for their summer play The Red Herring were our first time working directly with many of the main Collective members, and they were easily some of our most fun shoots of the year.

The Collective also co-produced our John Carpenter and Italian zombie inspired 48 hour film Making the Cut, and without them we never would have been able to pull off the movie at the quality level we did, especially given the tight turnaround. While we didn't win any awards, we're all still tremendously proud of how the movie turned out. You can definitely look forward to seeing more MonsterBuster/Collective collaborations in 2013!

We created three mock commercials and a PSA for the Collective's "7 Months to Live" party back in May, and these were notable because they introduced us to three new MonsterBuster members. Kevin Hicks and Katelyn Brammer, both fellow Georgia State University alum like most of MonsterBuster, directed two of the Apocalypse Apparel commercials and have since gone on to do other projects for us (more on that later) and have become valuable members of the team. Tricia Gaulesky acted in Kevin's Deep Cut V-Neck commercial, and she now works behind-the-scenes as our chief creature creator. You'll be able to see her work in our upcoming feature Invasion of the Undead.

Scene from "Tilt", the pilot episode we co-produced for Horror Hotel.

Horror Hotel started out as our first web series, but it ultimately became its own separate entity. Still, we were honored to shoot the pilot episode "Tilt" back in August and we look forward to watching the series as it continues to grow. The producers have already gathered some exciting filmmaking talent like Supremacy Films to take part in the first season, so be sure to check out the official Horror Hotel website and 'like' their Facebook page for more info on this innovative new web series.

Finally, we shot two new short films in the last quarter of 2012. Katelyn Brammer's Harmony is something new for MonsterBuster- a purely dramatic film with no monsters or fantasy elements.  Okay, okay, so it does feature a mock video game based on Making the Cut and a significant appearance by a Haunt of Fear comic book, but it is nevertheless a huge departure from our previous works and we can't wait for you to see it. Kevin Hicks's Bath Salt Cannibal, on the other hand, is squarely a MonsterBuster film. A comedic tale of what happens when you try to mix your own drugs at home, Bath Salt Cannibal features eyeball eating, puppets, Dylan Schettina, phone sex, and the first appearance by our official mascot The Boogeyman since 2009's Jake and Julie Vs. The Boogeyman! It's going to be awesome, and we can't wait to see what Kevin follows it up with. We also acquired his previous short Friday Night Blood Ritual, and it will premiere along with Bath Salt Cannibal and Harmony on our YouTube channel in early 2013.

Making the Cut: The Video Game as it appears in Harmony

Dylan Schettina!

Speaking of our YouTube channel, we just uploaded our final video of 2012: Jay Holloway's Werebum! This is an entirely different Grindhouse-style cut than the version that premiered at the MonsterBuster Film Festival back in 2011. Jay has promised to write a blog discussing the real-life horrors of making this homage to the films of Frank Hennenlotter later this week.

What will 2013 bring for MonsterBuster? An Invasion of course! We're starting the year off with a bang as our Indiegogo campaign for Invasion of the Undead kicks off tomorrow. To say we're all excited about this is an understatement, and we hope you join us on this adventure... rest assured it will be an adventure!

Prepare for the Invasion!

As always, thank you for reading!

MonsterBuster Invades IndieGoGo

Edit: We've made a few changes to the plans outlined here since launching our campaign, most notably we're now running for 48 days (which changes our release schedule for the webisodes) and we added a new perk in the form of Desmond and Jake's business card.

By Torey Haas

On January 1, 2013 we will officially launch our Indiegogo campaign for Invasion of the Undead, our first feature film (for more info check out my previous blog post here). To say I'm both extremely excited and nervous about the campaign is an understatement;  while we did shoot the Kickstarter video for our friends Pillage & Plunder last March, MonsterBuster has never launched a crowd-funding campaign of its own, and consequently we're giving it all we've got to help make this movie a reality. Here's what we have planned:

• Our main campaign video features interviews with me and our four main cast members (Greg Garrison, Dylan Schettina, Marie Barker and Nathan DeRussy) along with test FX footage of the movie's many creatures and recreations of a few pivotal moments from the story. Hey, MonsterBuster isn't going to do a video that's just talking heads...

• Each week of the campaign we will also release a 3-4 minute webisode that introduces one of Invasion's three central characters (Allison, Jake and Desmond) and provides some backstory to the events of the film. Some characters from past MonsterBuster movies make an appearance as well, so now is definitely the time to catch up on our YouTube Channel (shameless plug I know, but hey, I'm proud of all of our movies).

• We will premiere the official poster for Invasion during the campaign; I don't want to say too much about the design just yet but if you're a fan of '80s movies it's pretty much going to blow your mind.

• Finally, there will be several other shorter videos released sporadically throughout the campaign such as a blooper reel (you don't know how hard it is to do an Indiegogo interview until you actually sit down and try) and interviews with the actors for Invasion's supporting roles as we cast them (we're still very much in the midst of casting and other pre-production tasks).

While I think crowd-funding websites like Indiegogo and Kickstarter are great, I personally have mixed feelings about using one because I've never been one to ask for money. However, we definitely need funds to make a project as ambitious as Invasion, and while I'm not expecting (or even planning for) the entire budget to come from Indiegogo, we certainly need some help in this regard. Given my own mixed feelings about asking for money I'm trying to make as many perks as possible tangible items so that you're physically getting something for your money apart from my eternal gratitude; if you're willing to take a risk and donate money to a small independent horror film I want you to make sure you at least get something cool out of it. The following list and price brackets are tentative but they will give you an idea of what you'll receive if you decide to back Invasion:

$1 - Every dollar helps, and for even this small amount you will receive a mention in the 'Special Thanks' section of Invasion's credits. Yes, I realize that this contradicts what I just said about tangible perks but come on, you're getting your name on a feature film for only a dollar!

$25 - In addition to the above reward (all rewards are cumulative) a donation of twenty-five dollars will get you a copy of the film's poster and a signed glossy of the Invasion cast member of your choosing. I'm predicting Marie and Nathan will be the most popular because she's adorable and he's going to look awesome in full make-up and wardrobe; check out the concept art for his character below if you haven't seen it already:

$50 - Fifty dollars gets you a signed special edition DVD/Blu Ray combo pack of Invasion once it's complete. We have a lot in the works for the special edition- we've already begun shooting extensive behind-the-scenes footage for the planned hour-long making of documentary, and there's one bonus feature we're working on that to my knowledge has never been offered on a DVD or Blu Ray before. I won't say any more for fear of putting my foot in my mouth, but if we pull it off it will blow your mind more than the poster, particularly if you're into classic video games (which are a huge inspiration for Invasion, but that's another blog post).

$100 - This is the perk I'm most excited about. In addition to the above rewards a donation of one hundred dollars will get you a unique Invasion of the Undead lobby card to commemorate the individual scene in the movie that your donation helped make possible. Check out our prototype lobby card with images from the FX tests below:

The final design will most likely change, but each lobby card will nevertheless feature four screenshots (one large and three small) from a different scene in the film. I was inspired by NoFilmSchool's Ryan Koo and his Kickstarter campaign for Man-child for this perk- he offered the unique frame sequence that each backer helped fund as the perk for his different reward levels, and I just think that's an awesome idea because it really commemorates the difference each backer makes on a small indie film.  As to why I chose to create a lobby card, it just seemed like a perfect fit for a retro '80s inspired-horror film like Invasion. That and and lobby cards are just plain awesome- seriously, why don't theaters use them anymore?

$500 -  At this reward level you will receive a prop from Invasion, specifically one of the articulated stop-motion "Sons of Z'athax" creature heads designed by Brian Hardison and sculpted by Tricia Gaulesky. If you've seen First Date you know that we created Freaky Dad by compositing a stop motion head onto the body of of an actor, and that's exactly how we plan to create the Sons of Z'athax in Invasion. We're still putting the finishing touches on the first puppet head for the main Indiegogo video, but you can see a photo of the work-in-progress along with the concept art below:

Belle, our first Son of Z'athax, desperately needs some teeth...

On the chance that we get more backers than we have puppet heads (which is certainly possible since we only plan to make 3-4 of these things) I will personally cast and paint an exact reproduction from the same molds used in the movie; if a year from now I'm losing sleep casting multiple creature heads to send to our amazing backers I will quite frankly consider myself very blessed.

$1000 - Our final reward level will get you all of the above plus an executive producer credit on Invasion,  an invitation to our exclusive cast and crew premiere in Atlanta, Georgia, and the option to have your likeness immortalized in a family portrait hanging in Allison's mansion in the film. This portrait will be featured in a close-up shot establishing the mansion near the beginning of the film, and I'll work with you directly to get the images I need to make this happen. 

I tried to approach our rewards from the point of view of a fan- i.e. what are the things I would like to receive if I supported a film- and I hope you agree with me. If you have a cool idea for a perk or any other suggestions feel free to drop me a line at torey@monsterbustentertainment.com- like I said earlier this is our first Indiegogo campaign and I certainly appreciate the advice! If Invasion has captured your interest like I hope it has, please consider following us on Facebook since we will be posting more information and screenshots from our different Indiegogo videos regularly throughout December in anticipation of our campaign launch on January 1st.

As always, thank you for reading!

Invasion of the Undead! Starring Desmond and Jake, Paranormal Exterminators

by Torey Haas

When I was nine years old my parents took me to see Jurassic Park; to say the movie changed my life was a complete understatement. Sure, I loved dinosaurs just as much as the next kid, but there was something else about the movie that completely captured my imagination and I couldn't quite put my finger on. Later that week my mom bought me the Topps Official 'Making of Jurassic Park' magazine at the local Ingles; the magazine contained dozens of detailed pictures of Stan Winston's fabulous animatronic dinosaur creations, and upon seeing these images I realized what it was about Jurassic Park that had me so completely enthralled: the people who made the movie were literally living their imaginations. I saw myself standing next to an animatronic creature on a busy film set, and from that point on I knew I wanted to spend my life making movies.

While I always had an interest in monster and horror movies, fostered in large part by my equally genre-obsessed mom and grandpa (or "Poppy" as he will forever be credited in the 'Special Thanks' credits of my films), my interest skyrocketed to a whole new level after seeing Jurassic Park. Every week I would scour the TV Guide to check when all the horror and sci-fi movies were playing and set the VCR to record them (to this day I still sorely miss TNT's MonsterVision). I grabbed every book I could find on filmmaking (my fourth grade biography book report was on Roger Corman) and I read Fangoria religiously every month. When I was in fifth grade my dad made me a bootleg copy of Army of Darkness and I literally watched it every day when I got home from school- no joke, and I'm pretty sure I still have the entire movie memorized. As I grew older my interest only became more serious, and in 2009 I received my Master's Degree in Film Production from Georgia State University. Since then I've been working in the Georgia film industry as an editor and compositor, and I've been incredibly privileged to have some amazing experiences. I've worked on numerous commercials that have aired nationally on Cartoon Network and The Weather Channel, I regularly work with (and are friends with) the producer and director of a horror film I greatly admire (Dance of the Dead), and last year I edited An Elf's Story, a holiday special seen by millions(!) of people on CBS. I'm still blown away to think that something I played a significant role in creating has been seen by that many people.

So what does all of this have to do with MonsterBuster and this blog post? Well, everything. With the experience I've garnered over the past three years I established MonsterBuster Entertainment with the greatest people I've ever met and now I feel the time is finally right to take a leap, pursue my childhood dream, and make a feature film. If you've been reading this blog, checked out our website, and/or went to the MonsterBuster Film Festival last Fall (where the teaser trailer premiered) then you already know that the first MonsterBuster feature film will be Invasion of the Undead! starring Desmond and Jake, Paranormal Exterminators.

Invasion of the Undead is an eighties-style horror comedy (think Big Trouble in Little China meets The Evil Dead) that follows beautiful recent college grad Allison as she inherits a large mansion from a cousin she never knew she had. Her good fortune quickly turns sour when she discovers the mansion has something of a monster infestation, and she reluctantly enlists the aid of Desmond and Jake, two self-proclaimed 'paranormal exterminators', to take care of the problem. Unfortunately Desmond and Jake, who both work at a local grocery store for their day jobs, are not the most competent bunch and when a terrifying extra-dimensional evil from the mansion's past reveals itself the situation spirals completely out of control. Desmond, Jake and Allison soon find themselves fighting not only for their own lives but for the fate of the entire world as well.

We're currently in pre-production on Invasion and have been since early this past summer. Principal photography is slated to begin in January 2013 (edit: we've pushed back into Spring 2013 in the hopes that my preorder for the Black Magic Cinema Camera will be fulfilled by then) provided we raise the necessary funds (we will launch an Indiegogo campaign for a portion of the film's budget on January 1st, but that's a separate blog entry in of itself). Make no mistake though- even though Invasion is a feature film, it will nevertheless exemplify micro-budget independent filmmaking at its finest just like all of MonsterBuster's previous shorts. I won't reveal the estimated budget here (I'll save that for the Indiegogo campaign), but it's well under the cost of a new car. All of the film's major leads have been cast, and I couldn't be more thrilled with who will be appearing in the movie:

 Greg Garrison/"Desmond"- I first worked with Greg on my short film First Date back in 2009. I remember thinking he was a great actor and that I wanted him to someday audition for Desmond, but it wasn't until I saw him perform on stage in The Collective Project Inc.'s The Theory of Everything in 2010 that I knew he was Desmond. He showed such an incredible range and subtlety (the latter especially surprising considering it was theatre) that I realized he could completely pull off Desmond, a cocky, obnoxiously handsome, retro video game-playing jerk who turns out to be a pretty decent guy and who ultimately becomes a hero by the film's end. The funny thing is that Greg pretty much possesses all of these qualities himself; he's currently replaying the original Final Fantasy on a Nintendo emulator on his laptop, which is as Desmond-like of a behavior as anything I could have scripted. In addition to his work as an actor Greg is also one of the best writers I know; he wrote the Collective's sickeningly clever stage play The Red Herring and has several more plays in the works. I consider his endorsement of the Invasion script to be one of the best compliments I've ever received as a writer.

Dylan Schettina/"Jake"- Desmond's shorter other half and the Egon to his Venkman will be played by Dylan Schettina. I've worked with Dylan on two short films now (Mario and Luigi and Making the Cut) and hopefully I won't offend anyone when I say that he is easily my favorite actor to work with. He is just the most pleasant, energetic, respectful and funny person to have on set and he really makes the long hours go by quickly.

Greg and Dylan as Desmond and Jake for a test shoot

I started casting for Jake after I had already cast Greg, and thus I needed an actor who had chemistry with Greg since Desmond and Jake are longtime best friends. Well, Dylan and Greg are actually best friends in real life who have never once acted together before, and when I paired them up for Dylan's audition their chemistry was palpable; they completely played off each other with some improvised banter and just had an overall compelling dynamic. Plus they look great together; when I first saw them standing side by side in costume for our FX and lighting test shoot I couldn't help but smile.

Marie Barker/"Allison"- Allison was by far the most difficult role to cast because a lot of really great actresses came and read for the part. My gut instinct was definitely Marie however; she had previously appeared in our 48 Hour Film Making the Cut and will soon be seen in "Tilt" (the pilot episode that we co-produced for the upcoming web series Horror Hotel) and heard in Fred Grant's Metroid fan trailer. Invasion is more or less told from Allison's point-of-view and she's the main identification point since the audience follows her on the path of discovery. What drew me to Marie's performance in her audition was how natural her reactions felt, especially in contrast to Desmond and Jake, who as characters are more seasoned and thus almost nonchalant about the supernatural occurrences. In her scenes with Greg and Dylan I really sided with her rendition of Allison, which was critical because being essentially the 'straight woman' of Invasion Allison runs the danger of being overshadowed by Desmond and Jake. Marie also has more than enough spunk to keep up with Greg and Dylan's banter, which is equally important for Allison.

Nathan DeRussy/"Guy Smiley"- Nathan starred in Troll Picnic, one of the first films I made in grad school. I remember I lost several points on my production notebook for the class because Nathan never gave me a headshot; fast forward five years later and he still doesn't have a headshot. Whatever Nathan, I'll just use this badass pic from our FX/Lighting test shoot instead. Anyway, Nathan has become something of MonsterBuster's go-to creature performer due to his enthusiasm, body type, and general willingness to do anything; he's like a low-budget version of Doug Jones. His character is Invasion's primary antagonist, a sword-wielding undead sorcerer who turns his victims into "Sons of Z'athax," monstrous slime-covered creatures. While his character doesn't officially have a name, he has become affectionately referred to as "Guy Smiley" due to his creepy permanent smile and a throwaway crack muttered by Desmond upon their first meeting in their script.

Invasion's antagonist. Artwork © Brian Hardison.

The "Sons of Z'athax". Artwork © Brian Hardison

I've thought a lot about how I want to present Invasion in this blog and I've decided that the best approach is just to be honest. I feel that what we're trying to do with Invasion- i.e. create a super ambitious, effects- and creature-laden feature film on a budget that wouldn't even pay for the catering on a typical straight-to-DVD movie- is interesting enough that I really don't need to sugarcoat it in any way. I plan to update this blog regularly from here onward with more news, both good and bad, as the project develops, and while I could certainly say a lot more about Invasion at the moment I'll instead close with this: I mentioned earlier that I used to watch Army of Darkness every day, and I've always loved movies like Army and Big Trouble in Little China (and lesser known cult films like Waxwork II: Lost in Time and House II: The Second Story) that are filled with memorable characters and creatures and are just fun and infinitely re-watchable. This is my chief goal with Invasion of the Undead: I want to make a movie that you will watch again and again and that some horror-obsessed ten-year-old will watch every day when he or she gets home from school. Your world won't change after seeing Invasion of the Undead but you will sure as hell have a good time. That is my promise, and I hope you stick around to see me make good on it.

Thank you for reading, and Happy Halloween!

Katelyn Brammer's Harmony

by Katelyn Brammer

When you hear of a featured MonsterBuster Entertainment short titled Harmony, you might think, that doesn't seem right. In fact, Harmony was far from the usual MonsterBuster short. I directed Harmony for my Master's thesis project at GSU this past September. I called on my friends at MonsterBuster because I knew that although this story was quite different from our usual work, they would help bring my script to life with great production value.

Harmony is a story of Sara, a young woman who is not where she wants to be in her life. Stuck in a mediocre job with a deadbeat boyfriend, Sara has lost touch with herself. After her boyfriend stupidly pawns her guitar, something Sara disconnected from long ago, she embarks on a quest to find her once cherished possession. The role of Sara was played by Jessika Cutts, an extremely talented and tireless Atlanta based actress. Jessika had a strict call time each night of production to get to her other commitment at the 7 Stages production of Dracula the Rock Opera where she played three other roles. Jessika's acting skills fit so perfectly into my perception of Sara's character and she did an amazing job despite car trouble, a wicked cold, and a 6 p.m. call time at 7 Stages. 

Sara's boyfriend Will was played by Joel Coady. After finishing my first rough cut of the film I'm so pleased with Joel's performance. He showed enough carelessness towards Sara to frustrate you but just enough redemption to make you understand why Sara stays with him. The pawn shop clerk was played by Theresa Ihrig-Gause. It's funny to watch Theresa play such a careless retail worker because in reality she is such a sweet and smiley person. Lastly, the role of Jack, who purchased Sara's guitar from the pawn shop, is played by Robert Thomason. Not only did Robert fit the role perfectly, he spent a lot of time practicing the piano song written for the film; it really looks like he's playing the song you hear, and that's partly because he is! Such dedication was much appreciated and really sells the character of Jack: an awkward, sweet, talented musician.

My DP was Torey Haas, who needs no introduction. He was such a help to me with this project. When I was tired and didn't even know what I wanted to do anymore, he helped me figure it out. When everyone was getting distracted and talking about "man-babies" and other inappropriate topics (i.e. Jay, my mom), Torey stayed focused and helped me finish on time. Not to mention it looks great. 

Now you may think I'm unappreciative of the distractions that went on during the production. That may have been the case during production, but looking back on it, I have to thank everyone for keeping it light-hearted. The never ending suggestions to somehow make Harmony into a horror film were priceless. My favorite idea was to have Sara drive away at the end and accidentally hit Jack, who was blindly wandering around. I have to admit, it would be funny.

I want to give a big thanks to everyone involved with helping me direct this project: Kevin Hicks, Jay Holloway, Ricky Hess, Quyen Tran, Neil Gordon, Sidarth Kantmneni, Greg Garrison, Pat and David Hicks, my parents Martha and Ken Brammer, and that creepy guy that worked at the music shop who doesn't want to be mentioned.  

Bath Salt Cannibal

 

by Kevin Hicks

My first official MonsterBuster release (and my Master's thesis project at Georgia State University) will be Bath Salt Cannibal. This dark comedy horror short follows Joey as he tries to make his own homebrew after watching a news show detailing its recipe. He drinks it and transforms into his own Mr. Hyde of sorts- he starts to hallucinate all sorts of funny things until the pizza delivery lady shows up at his door and blood is spilt.

Joey is played by actor Jerry Irwin. Jerry was a perfect fit for my character not only because he did an excellent job acting but also because he worked as a grip and helped with the lights from time to time. Joey's best friend is played by Dylan Schettina, one of the main players in the upcoming MonsterBuster feature Invasion of the Undead. The wonderful Emily Diamond was cast as Donna- this part required her to act as three different characters: a trashy pizza lady, a princess, and a witch. Jeffrey Zwartjes, the lead actor in my previous short Friday Night Blood Ritual, also makes a cameo in the form of a Punch and Judy puppet. Jeffrey built the puppet from scratch and it looks absolutely amazing.

Make-up on all of these actors was created by Ricky Hess- he enjoyed giving Jerry a beard because it made him an honorary member of the Wolf Pack. Quyen Tran was once again the resident sound ninja and had to fight off dogs, refrigerators, and cell phones.

Sidarth Kantmneni served as my Director of Photography and did an amazing job. His ideas and framing were always better than I could've asked for and his intuition was rarely challenged. Sid was also able to see several opportunities for motivated camera movement that I never would have thought of. He also brought along some green- and red-colored KinoFlo bulbs that we used throughout the film, most notably in a transformation scene styled after the famous one in Rouben Mamoulian's version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

I'd like to thank everyone involved in the project- Jessica Hershatter, Michael Corrigan, Pat & David Hicks, Carla Garbett, Chris Creasy, Neil Gordon, John Holbrook, Zach Junquera, James Johnson, Jay Holloway, Jason Vigdor, Torey Haas, Tricia Gaulesky, BlackBoxATL and anyone who was called on to help grip. My biggest thanks goes out to my Assistant Director Katelyn Brammer; even though production was a blast it was also stressful at times and I could not have done it without her help. Now I've just got to start editing...

Thanks for reading,

Kevin

P.S.- I still have to film a lot of the content for the TV shows that appear in Bath Salt Cannibal. I will be releasing some really nice promo material from these so bookmark this blog and check back regularly.

P.P.S.- Friday Night Blood Ritual will also be out soon on the MonsterBuster Entertainment website and YouTube Channel.

Upcoming MonsterBuster Screenings!

We just found out that Jay Holloway's Crowscare has been accepted into Atlanta's Buried Alive Film Festival! The movie will screen on Saturday, November 10th at 5:30 pm as part of the fest's "Rotten Peaches: Local Horror Shorts" block. We're very excited by this opportunity since it's our first time at an exclusively horror film festival and it marks another chance for us to screen at our favorite theater the Plaza, which has previously shown our Werebum trailer, Apocalypse PSA and Making the Cut. Crowscare's director Jay Holloway and its DP Torey Haas will both be in attendance for the screening- come on out and say hi!

First Date will also be featured at this month's Get Connected on Thursday, October 25th (we haven't received a screening time yet but the event runs from 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm).  We screened both Mario and Luigi and Crowscare at Get Connected last March and had a blast! This month's event is looking to be even better since it's Halloween-themed, which as you know is totally right up our alley. First Date's director Torey Haas and its star Greg Garrison will both be in attendance along with most of the MonsterBuster crew.

We're still hard at work on preproduction for our first feature film Invasion of the Undead (it's the reason there hasn't been a blog or Facebook update these past few months) and an official announcement regarding the movie is coming soon! Please bear with us because it will definitely be worth the wait- we have a lot planned for this movie!

Dylan Schettina in Bath Salt Cannibal

We also just completed principal photography on two shorts: Katelyn Brammer's Harmony (our first drama) and Kevin Hicks's Bath Salt Cannibal (the title pretty much says it all). Look for blog entries on both of these movies very soon.

Finally, the upcoming web series Horror Hotel is no longer an exclusive MonsterBuster production; we're co-producing a few of the first season's episodes (such as Tilt) and will still be involved in different capacities but the series as a whole is now its own entity.

As always, thank you for reading!

Horror Hotel: "Tilt" wraps!

Our blog may have been quiet these past three weeks, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy!

Our pilot episode "Tilt" wrapped two weeks ago and once again Matthew M. Wong Photography was on hand to snap some awesome photos that you can check out above and below. Editing for "Tilt" is currently underway; we'll keep you posted on its release date! This fall is looking to be an extremely exciting (and busy!) time for us- in addition to producing more Horror Hotel episodes and a few other short film projects, we're heavily at work on preproduction for Invasion of the Undead, our upcoming feature film. We held our first production meeting this Saturday and this movie is totally going to rock. Stay tuned to this blog for more updates, and as always thank you for reading!

AD Debbie Hess stays cheerful while trying to keep the director and DP on schedule.

Mirror shots are always cool...

Assistant Camera Katelyn Brammer stands in while the crew adjusts the lights. 

Saul (Ronny Mathew) tries to sway Skinny (Marie Barker) to his side. 

Great shot showcasing the LED lights of Skinny's damaged android make-up.

Director and Special Effects Make-Up Artist Ricky Hess applies the finishing touches. 

No MonsterBuster production is complete without that old school Creepshow lighting.

DP Torey Haas and Grip Kevin Hicks count magic beans. Or something.

Skinny in "Terminator" mode- gotta dig those red contacts.

The cast runs through lines. 

Our two Nazis (Nathan DeRussy and Tanner Gould) make their big entrance. 

MonsterBuster creature actor Nathan DeRussy (Crowscare) in a rare moment where we can see at least some of his face.

Ricky gives notes to Johnny Harvill.

Recording wild sound

We put our entire MonsterBuster production budget into Tilt.

This should totally be Marie's new head shot, don't you think?

Johnny takes a break while the crew adjusts lights.

MonsterBuster-in-training Eric Davis forgets to turn the slate right-side up. It's okay though- he was nervous.

Katelyn grabs a shot with our fig rig.