The Mummy Returns!

By Torey Haas

MonsterBuster trading cards! I fully plan to make these if Invasion is successful.

This past weekend we finished the final pick-ups for Allison's Invasion of the Undead webisode (which premieres next week as part of our Indiegogo campaign), a small shoot involving The Mummy, an ominous figure that appears briefly in Invasion and plays a much more significant role in the sequel, Siege of the Cat Goblin.

Yes, you read that right- there is already a sequel written for Invasion of the Undead, the movie that we're currently still trying to make. In fact there are two sequels, with the fourth (and final) movie existing as an outline as well. I was a huge comic book and superhero fan growing up (Spiderman and Captain America are my two favorites for anyone who's wondering), and I always loved how Marvel and DC created a universe of characters who would interact and team-up with each other. As a teenager I found the same affinity for Kevin Smith and his View Askewinverse, and being a huge horror fan I of course geek out over Stephen King's Dark Tower series, which if you aren't familiar with features characters and story elements from many of his other novels and short stories. With these inspirations in mind one of my goals with MonsterBuster is to create a similarly-styled universe of characters, with the Desmond and Jake series (of which Invasion of the Undead is the first movie) being the equivalent of the Dark Tower, or the story in which all of the other MonsterBuster movies are intertwined.

Most of our current movies are already related in subtle ways. I always wonder if any viewers out there pick up on any of these connections, but here's a quick breakdown anyway:

Troll Picnic: If you don't blink you can see graffiti that reads "B.O.N.E.S." in the first shot of Robin in Tryvester's cave. This same acronym reappears in Jake and Julie vs. The Boogeyman! and First Date, and we finally learn what it means in Invasion of the Undead.

B.O.N.E.S. in Troll Picnic...

... Jake and Julie vs. The Boogeyman!...

... and First Date.

Jake and Julie vs. The Boogeyman!: Julie's shirt reads "Devil's Hill High Dragons," and Devil's Hill is the fictional town where Ricky and Robin live in Troll Picnic; in fact Jake and Julie takes place before the events of Troll Picnic since Jake mentions his (presumably same-aged at the time) friend Ricky Stokes when Julie first asks him about Caroline Thompson. Jake is also the same Jake from Invasion of the Undead; does this mean there will be a rematch somewhere down the road between Jake, Desmond, a grown-up Julie, Ricky and the Boogeyman? Hey, I told you there are three sequels planned...

The Devil's Hill High Dragons logo, designed by Brian Hardison.

First Date: Apart from the aforementioned B.O.N.E.S. reference, Gwen wears the same Devil's Hill High shirt as Julie. Gwen and Chris (and I suppose Charlie) also work at SaveMore Groceries, the same store Desmond and Jake slave away at in Invasion. As to why Desmond and Chris are portrayed by the same actor, well, it's explained rather humorously in Invasion.

Werebum: MonsterBuster's most troubled production doesn't feature any overt references; Mick Feathers' coworker (Keyla McClure) was originally intended to be Gwen from First Date, but it didn't really play out that well so we kind of just swept it under the rug. A now-homeless Mick Feathers will cameo in Invasion of the Undead, which will finally tie Werebum in to the rest of the MonsterBuster Universe.

Gwen? Er, not really...

Crowscare: The ubiquitous Devil's Hill High Dragons shirt returns, worn this time by May's doomed friend Christie. May herself will return in Allison's webisode next week, marking the first time a MonsterBuster character will appear in more than one movie beyond just a name drop.

That shirt looks familiar...

Crowscare's May (Rachel DeJulio) as she appears in Allison's webisode.

Mario and Luigi: Since it's radically different from the rest of our shorts, Mario and Luigi (and its upcoming sequel Super Mario and Luigi) is intended to be a movie that the rest of the MonsterBuster Universe watches; if you're were lucky enough to catch the Invasion of the Undead teaser at the MonsterBuster Film Festival back in November 2011 you may have seen the Mario and Luigi poster hanging on the wall behind Desmond in SaveMore's video department.

The Mario and Luigi poster graces the back wall of the Savemore video department.

Making the Cut: Our 48 hour film is, like Mario and Luigi, a movie that exists within the rest of the MonsterBuster Universe. It even has a video game based on it, as you'll soon see in Katelyn Brammer's Harmony and Allison's Invasion webisode.

Making the Cut: The Video Game in Katelyn Brammer's Harmony...

...and in Allison's webisode.

Bath Salt Cannibal: In addition to a reappearance by the Boogeyman, Kevin Hicks' upcoming short movie also features a can of SaveMore candied cherries in a significant (i.e. horribly gruesome) role.

Our only projects that aren't related to the rest of the MonsterBuster universe are our Red Herring trailers, our Halloween make-up series with xteeener, and our Apocalypse commercials and PSA; I'll probably toss them on a SaveMore television in Invasion just to keep everything connected.

The Mummy, circa 2004...

But what about the star of this blog entry, The Mummy? One of my first student films at Georgia Tech was a short horror movie titled Bride of the Mummy; being an early student film it's extremely bad (I love the beginning where we keep cutting across the 180º line), but I always rather liked the Mummy character we created and I've wanted to bring him back for a while. I finally got my chance this past weekend; one of the most exciting moments for me thus far on Invasion was to see a new and much-improved Mummy (courtesy of MonsterBuster creature creator Tricia Gaulesky and performed by the original actor, my longtime friend Eric Davis) finally return to menace the MonsterBuster Universe. He's way more badass this time, as you'll see (fingers crossed) in Invasion and especially its sequel Siege of the Cat Goblin. Check out Allison's webisode next week for your first introduction to this sinister character!

... and 2013.

As always, thank you for reading. Hopefully this blog wasn't too self-indulgent, and if it captured your interest please check out our Indiegogo campaign for Invasion. If you're friends with me on Facebook or a fan of MonsterBuster you may be sick of hearing how thankful I am for your support, but I really can't thank everyone enough. We can't continue building the MonsterBuster Universe without your help!

The Horrifying True Story Behind Jay Holloway's Werebum

Our 2011 short film Werebum is now available to watch on our YouTube channel:

Werebum was a grueling experience behind the camera- the production literally spanned nine months from the first weekend of shooting until the last, and the cast, crew and script were all in constant flux as the months wore on. Here's two different perspectives on Werebum, from its director Jay Holloway and cinematographer Torey Haas:

Jay Holloway:

"Werebum is no doubt one of the weirdest films I’ve worked on. With no script and a film crew that ultimately consisted of myself, DP Torey Haas and star/special effects creator Ricky Hess, it taught me a lot about filmmaking and that I could bring a group of people, whom I now call my good friends, together to make a fun movie!

From left to right: Nathan DeRussy, Torey Haas, Jay Holloway, Steven Fichtel and Ricky Hess

Werebum, or Curse of DA Werebum as it became affectionately known behind the scenes, is an homage to one of my favorite directors Frank Henenlotter. It follows rising executive Mick Feathers (Ricky Hess) after he gets bitten by a deformed man-creature in an abandoned parking lot and slowly transforms into a bum-like monster.

Ricky Hess applies the Werebum make-up to Robert Thompson.

Werebum was shot on weekends over the span of nine months, which at the time I thought would not interfere with any of the crew members' personal lives. However, it didn’t work out that way. At the time I was single and thus had a lot of free time to devote my weekends to making a movie. Torey, on the other hand, became annoyed with the film’s staggering production commitment and the effect it had on his personal life. At times I would call him up and say “Hey T-Man, do you want to bring your date to the set this weekend and shoot some scenes for Werebum?" I could almost hear the pain in his voice over not wanting to drive down to Georgia State University and spend his weekend shooting but as a true friend he always made the sacrifice to help me finish the movie.

Ricky and Jay goofing off

Working with Ricky Hess was a blast! He showed great dedication in helping out with the production and he was always cracking jokes to keep us from loosing our minds. He would drive a hour and a half from Calhoun to Atlanta to help out, and I couldn’t have asked for a better actor and friend.

Keyla McClure (First Date) was the only actress brave enough to set foot on the Werebum set.

At times a few other friends would drop by to get a laugh at the production of the film like Brandon Jolley (who got trapped in the elevator while filming a scene with Frank Fuller and my brother Corey Holloway), Matt Wong, Eddie Mattison, Keyla McClure, Rickey Boynton, Hsiang-Ming Wen, Brian Hardison, Nick Lauinger and Steven Fitchel.

Rickey Boynton can't believe what he's gotten himself into. Most of his scenes were later cut because at Jay's own admittance "they don't make any sense."

I remember feeding everyone nothing but Pizza Mia (the poor man’s pizza, as Torey and Ricky would call them) and Big K grape soda for lunch because it was all that I could afford. I switched the menu a couple of times, with the most memorable experience being when Nathan DeRussy, my friend and one of Werebum's lead actors, tried ordering Domino’s pizza only to end up accidently calling a sex chat line. Afterwards he was bombarded with trashy text messages and advertisements, and he had to call his service provider to get his number blocked to stop them.

The end result of a Pizza Mia and Big K diet. Ugh. 

We shot in various areas of Georgia State University, from urine-covered bathrooms to dark alleys and other parts of the campus that we had to sneak into. To keep ourselves entertained we would pull pranks on the set, like drinking a whole bottle of Sprite, filling it back up with salt water and then putting it back into the refrigerator for my co-workers at my job to drink.  

In the end I was overall satisfied with the way the film turned out and I got a chance to make a fun movie with my friends!"

Torey Haas:

"Werebum is a really weird movie. It's been recut multiple times by now, and there's whole scenes and subplots on the cutting room floor. The very first cut of Werebum was something like 40 minutes long (I thankfully never saw it), and the version we screened at the MonsterBuster Film Festival was 20 minutes. We got it down to 16 minutes for the encore screening at GSU, and this current Grindhouse-style cut on YouTube (which I think is the best version) is about 13 minutes long. When I watch it now it's very apparent to me that there was never a complete script during production, and I remember getting really frustrated with Jay while we were shooting because he was incredibly disorganized. 

Still, I look back on the experience very fondly. Werebum was one of two movies (the other was First Date) that really solidified MonsterBuster Entertainment as a team, and Jay has grown leaps and bounds as a director since then; comparing Werebum to his follow-up film Crowscare (both as a movie and as a production experience) is like comparing night and day. I also learned a lot as a cinematographer shooting Werebum; while I don't want to pursue cinematography as a career (I'll leave that up to Nick) I never would have been able to shoot Crowscare, Tilt or Katelyn Brammer's Harmony at the level I did without the experience I earned on Werebum.  I'm excited to return to cinematography later this month for Jay's next project Werehooker, a sort-of sequel to Werebum. Yes, you read that right.

All in all, without Werebum there never would have been Crowscare, Mario and Luigi, The Red Herring trailers or Making the Cut, and we certainly wouldn't be in pre-production on Invasion of the Undead. For this reason at the very least I'm proud of Werebum and it's place in MonsterBuster history. Oh, and looking back that salt water prank was pretty awful; I hope no one really drank that."

Rickey Boynton, Jay Holloway, Torey Haas and Eddie Mattison bond as shooting draws to a close.

Were all of the hardships worth it? Watch Werebum and decide for yourself!