Thank You All!

Jay, Tricia and I with Lloyd Kaufman, president of Troma and one of our biggest inspirations.

by Torey Haas

This past weekend MonsterBuster went to DragonCon. We didn't go to promote anything (although Sean Patton, Invasion's costume designer and the owner of SMP Designs, did showcase a rough cut of our teaser trailer) but rather just to have fun, and it occurred to me that one thing that may not be apparent from reading this blog or looking over our Facebook page is that all of us are close friends in 'real' life. Sure, we are a legit company (I have the LLC paperwork to prove it) but we are first and foremost a group of friends who all just happen to love filmmaking, and during those few weekends when we aren't shooting you can still find us together playing video games, going out to eat or just generally hanging out.

At last year's Atlanta Zombie Apocalypse!

During production on Invasion there were many times when I'd look around at the crew and smile at the faces gathered there. I'd see Eric, one of my oldest and best friends dating all the way back to high school, fumble to get a lens for Nick, my current DP and a former undergraduate student at GSU who would talk to me for hours on end about cameras and visual effects during my shifts working at the video equipment check-out lab. I've only known Katelyn, our AD, a relatively short while, but we became almost immediate friends following our introduction through our key grip (and her boyfriend) Kevin, who I have fond memories of slacking off with in German class back when we both went to Georgia Tech. Whenever Nathan would stroll by in full make-up I'd have to remind myself that this was the guy who once threw himself into a tree for my short film Troll Picnic, and that amazing make-up rendering him unrecognizable was of course created by our creature creator Tricia, who like Katelyn I've only known for a short while but with whom I had an immediate connection with (she's pretty much my bff). Quyen, our sound guy, has been a staple on MonsterBuster sets since Crowscare back in 2011, and of course I can't forget Jay, aka Da J-Man, who is a close contender with Tricia for the title of bff despite his tendency to sleep on film sets, much to the annoyance of our production manager Lori.  Marie, Invasion's lovely leading lady, would often crack jokes with Dylan, who's tied with Nathan for being the most upbeat and agreeable person I know (I haven't asked him to throw himself into a tree yet, but I'm certain he'd do it). Most of the time while thinking about how great all of these people are I would often be distracted by Greg with some annoying actor question... Greg of course plays Desmond, and since First Date he's been the Bruce Campbell to my Sam Raimi; he threw himself into a bookcase, shoved his head through drywall, and performed other crazy and unsafe stunts all for the sake of making a movie, and he suffered only one minor concussion throughout all of it.

All of these people are not only my crew but also the best friends I've ever had, and that's not including some of the more behind-the-scenes MonsterBuster people like Hsiang-Ming, Fred and John, or the people who couldn't be a large part of Invasion because of other projects like Keyla and Ricky. There are also many other people, who, while not necessarily part of MonsterBuster, have still been extremely supportive of us and with whom I hope to continue working with in larger roles in the future- Bonnie, Emma, Gary, Jeremy, Brandon, Melissa, Eddie M., Eddie R.,Tony R., Tony H., Rachel, Sara Beth, Matt B., Ariel, John R. Will, Christine, Caitlin, Josh, Corey, Sean P., Sean H., Elizabeth, Matt W., Matt M., Breanna, Nick A., Alan and Sue-Ellen all come to mind, but if I didn't mention your name please don't be offended! It's certainly not intentional. The point of me writing all of this is that I am just extremely thankful for this opportunity; I've gone from being a wide-eyed ten-year-old watching Ray Harryhausen movies on Monstervision to running an independent production company alongside the greatest people I've ever known, and I couldn't possibly feel more blessed.

Our premiere is still a long ways off, but what I am honestly most excited about for that night is just to stand alongside all of my best friends on stage and to introduce the movie that we all made together. I don't know if Invasion will be successful (in the financial sense, at least), but I do know that we are all working as hard as possible to make the best movie we can, and I hope that it is just the first of many feature-length movies we will make together. Eric, Nick, Katelyn, Kevin, Nathan, Tricia, Quyen, Jay, Lori, Marie, Dylan, Greg, Hsiang, Fred, John and the rest- I love all of you guys!

Troll Picnic! Circa 2007.

This picture, taken after we wrapped First Date, always makes me smile because it's the only time I've ever been lifted up by a group. Note: the Castlevania tattoo on my arm is not real.

The final day of shooting Werebum in 2010. (Or is that 2011?)

The original Invasion teaser trailer shoot from January 2011.

Jay Holloway's Crowscare, the most horrifying killer scarecrow movie ever made.

Man, we're a bunch of nerds.

Jay Holloway's Werehooker, our last short film before Invasion.

Oh, and that Invasion teaser trailer I mentioned earlier will debut soon, I promise! I'm making a resolution to not announce specific release dates until they are 100% locked down (if you read over this blog you'll see that we frequently change release dates, and that's something I definitely want to avoid doing in the future) but it is virtually complete barring a few minor sound and FX changes.

As always, thank you for reading!