A recent Underground Film Journal article titled “Web Series Or Movie: Which Should You Make?” inspired a lively and spirited discussion on Facebook between several independent filmmakers that explored their personal ideas on the future of digital distribution. The provocative back-and-forth has been reprinted below. (With all the filmmakers’ permission.)
The dialogue was particularly kicked off by Australian indie filmmaker Dominic Deacon (Only the Young Die Good, Burlesque) and also included filmmakers Nathan Wrann (Burning Inside, Hunting Season), Bob Moricz (Felony Flats, Bumps), Robin Franzi (Susan for Now), Michael Galinsky (Battle for Brooklyn, Horns and Halos) and Journal editor Mike Everleth.
(Filmmaker comments below have not been edited except for some extremely minor format/style changes and typos. Otherwise, these are their exact words.)
Dominic Deacon
“No filmmaker claims their feature-length film is only seven minutes and nobody is making 90 minute webisodes. But, why the hell not? Easy answer: Nobody...
The dialogue was particularly kicked off by Australian indie filmmaker Dominic Deacon (Only the Young Die Good, Burlesque) and also included filmmakers Nathan Wrann (Burning Inside, Hunting Season), Bob Moricz (Felony Flats, Bumps), Robin Franzi (Susan for Now), Michael Galinsky (Battle for Brooklyn, Horns and Halos) and Journal editor Mike Everleth.
(Filmmaker comments below have not been edited except for some extremely minor format/style changes and typos. Otherwise, these are their exact words.)
Dominic Deacon
“No filmmaker claims their feature-length film is only seven minutes and nobody is making 90 minute webisodes. But, why the hell not? Easy answer: Nobody...
- 1/28/2014
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Whether you know some folks on your shopping list who like contemplative dramas or violent revenge stories, there’s something for them below in this edition of the Underground Holiday Shopping Guide.
DramasMad World
Actor Cory Cataldo stepped behind the camera to direct his first feature film, a drama / black comedy hybrid that tackled the issue of bullying before the issue hit the mainstream. Now that Mad World is on DVD, the story of four high school outcasts on the shit end of the social climbing ladder seems even more relevant. Horrifying parental abuse, racism, drug use and other issues swirl together in this potent dramatic concoction.
Buy on Amazon!
Beneath Contempt
In a year stuffed with moody, emotional indie dramas, Benjamin Brewer‘s affecting Beneath Contempt has been, for the most part, unfairly overlooked. A young man is released from prison years after he killed his friends in a...
DramasMad World
Actor Cory Cataldo stepped behind the camera to direct his first feature film, a drama / black comedy hybrid that tackled the issue of bullying before the issue hit the mainstream. Now that Mad World is on DVD, the story of four high school outcasts on the shit end of the social climbing ladder seems even more relevant. Horrifying parental abuse, racism, drug use and other issues swirl together in this potent dramatic concoction.
Buy on Amazon!
Beneath Contempt
In a year stuffed with moody, emotional indie dramas, Benjamin Brewer‘s affecting Beneath Contempt has been, for the most part, unfairly overlooked. A young man is released from prison years after he killed his friends in a...
- 12/12/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
I presume this article is from a ways back, but I only stumbled upon it yesterday: Jonathan Rosenbaum reprinted his reflections on the Edinburgh Film Festival from 1976. It’s a very long, in-depth piece, but if you want the hot, underground film content, scroll down to Rosenbaum describing a screening of Tom Tom the Piper’s Son causing a near riot and a review of Yvonne Rainer’s Film About a Woman Who….The L.A. Times has a lengthy piece on the ambitious “Alternative Projections” screening series on the avant-garde that just launched in Los Angeles.Mike Plante presents his fourth Cinemad podcast, this time chatting with the elusive James Fotopoulos. (And I mean that in terms of his work, not in terms of getting him on the phone for a chat.)I don’t know much about the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (Empac), but donna k.
- 10/16/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Publishing companies Dalton Gang Press and Bad Lit Press are proud to announce the co-release of Hunting Season: The Original Screenplay, the original shooting script written by Nathan Wrann that was produced as the hit indie horror movie in 2007. Both the screenplay and the feature-length film are available on Amazon.
The published screenplay includes the full shooting script, plus several additional scenes that didn’t make it into the finished film, including an alternate opening, and production notes by Wrann who directed the movie based on his own screenplay.
Hunting Season: The Original Screenplay follows a group of teenage friends who head out into the woods for a weekend of drinking and partying, but run afoul of a pair of vicious, sadistic hunters who attack the kids in an onslaught of raw, brutal violence.
Dalton Gang Press has previously published several successful novels, such as young adult paranormal...
The published screenplay includes the full shooting script, plus several additional scenes that didn’t make it into the finished film, including an alternate opening, and production notes by Wrann who directed the movie based on his own screenplay.
Hunting Season: The Original Screenplay follows a group of teenage friends who head out into the woods for a weekend of drinking and partying, but run afoul of a pair of vicious, sadistic hunters who attack the kids in an onslaught of raw, brutal violence.
Dalton Gang Press has previously published several successful novels, such as young adult paranormal...
- 9/29/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Dorsky’s done it again! Just like last week — but even more so! — this week’s Absolute Must Read is Nathaniel Dorsky’s remembrance of living the avant-garde film life in NYC in the late ’60s. Adventures include hanging out with Stan Brakhage and Naomi Levine, going to the deli with Slavko Vorkapich, projecting films with Jerome Hiller and many other impossibly cool things. The New York Times published an official obit for Robert Breer, which has several pieces of personal bio info not otherwise found online. Also, Yoel Miranda has a very personal remembrance of Breer. So, what’s it like to intern at a major independent film festival? Rooftop Films intern Sheila Maria Lobo lets us know. By the way: Donna k. lets us know that film festivals, in general, are fabulous. South Australia has banned A Serbian Film. Man, that country is so uptight. Speaking of which,...
- 8/21/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Happy almost Independence Day! Hope everybody is having a great holiday weekend. This first link should put you in the mood. Or not.
This is a little different than my typical Must Reads, but I thoroughly enjoyed Jack Sargeant reprinting his history and analysis of the ’80s “death film” genre, most famously epitomized by the film Faces of Death. I’ve never seen any of these films — nor do I want to — but Jack’s conclusion is fabulous.Filmmaker Waylon Bacon has written a fantastic overview of the Berkeley film scene for CineSource Magazine.Fangoria interviews director Rona Mark on the eve of her awesome Strange Girls finally getting a DVD release. Finally!GorePress.com has a really nice interview with Paul Campion about his first feature film, The Devil’s Rock.IndieWIRE interviews Mike Plante about his new Cinemad distribution venture, who, strangely enough, isn’t in it for the money.
This is a little different than my typical Must Reads, but I thoroughly enjoyed Jack Sargeant reprinting his history and analysis of the ’80s “death film” genre, most famously epitomized by the film Faces of Death. I’ve never seen any of these films — nor do I want to — but Jack’s conclusion is fabulous.Filmmaker Waylon Bacon has written a fantastic overview of the Berkeley film scene for CineSource Magazine.Fangoria interviews director Rona Mark on the eve of her awesome Strange Girls finally getting a DVD release. Finally!GorePress.com has a really nice interview with Paul Campion about his first feature film, The Devil’s Rock.IndieWIRE interviews Mike Plante about his new Cinemad distribution venture, who, strangely enough, isn’t in it for the money.
- 7/3/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
This week’s Absolute Must Read is Robert Koehler’s mind-blowing essay on film criticism and film advocacy. Structured around the offerings of the Los Angeles Film Festival, Koehler really hits on the core problem about film writing on the web. Here’s the key part of the article: “This is ideology, all right: The Ideology of advertisers, the force that most fundamentally drives ‘their’ criticism. It informs movie websites and blogs as much as the papers, by the way, as more and more websites are propelled forward by the hits metric that advertisers gauge in order to determine whether or not they want to invest in a given site.” (For the record: “A criticism of advocacy” is a good description of Bad Lit. And I run tons of ads!)A great “must read” contender is this funny Pittsburgh City Paper article about the FBI releasing — then retracting — their report...
- 6/26/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Just as the Internet has opened up new avenues for filmmakers to get their movies distributed and seen online, writers also now have the opportunity to upload their manuscripts and have them beamed directly onto computer hard drives and into mobile devices.
Indie filmmakers who script their movies prior to shooting can now take advantage of both Internet booms: After releasing a film on DVD or just online, filmmakers can also publish their screenplays for Kindle and Nook e-book readers, as well as for various print-on-demand services. Ambitious, writerly filmmakers can also publish their production diaries and include behind-the-scenes photographs.
Screenplays aren’t normally thought of as publishable entities unless they’ve been written by high-profile writers like William Goldman or the Coen brothers. But with cheap electronic publishing options today, who’s to say that there isn’t a market for curious indie film fans willing to buy a...
Indie filmmakers who script their movies prior to shooting can now take advantage of both Internet booms: After releasing a film on DVD or just online, filmmakers can also publish their screenplays for Kindle and Nook e-book readers, as well as for various print-on-demand services. Ambitious, writerly filmmakers can also publish their production diaries and include behind-the-scenes photographs.
Screenplays aren’t normally thought of as publishable entities unless they’ve been written by high-profile writers like William Goldman or the Coen brothers. But with cheap electronic publishing options today, who’s to say that there isn’t a market for curious indie film fans willing to buy a...
- 6/21/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
This week’s Must Read: While I’m not familiar with the films of Winnipeg director Winston Moxam, he sadly passed away very young back in April. Cineflyer has a round-up of articles and reviews about Moxam’s last feature film, Billy, which just opened in the filmmaker’s hometown. Plus, Randall King of the Winnipeg Free Press gave the film a glowing review.Battle for Brooklyn opened in NYC this week, so the New York Times published a semi-positive review by Neil Genzlinger. On the one hand Neil had some good things to say and the paper made the film a Critics Pick for the week, but way too brief reviews of very powerful movies like this always make me sad.Australia’s Beat magazine profiled Richard Wolstencroft about his latest venture, the just ended genre film festival Bloodfest Fantastique.Filmmaker Nathan Wrann has started a new Tumblr blog...
- 6/19/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Genre indie filmmaker Nathan Wrann has written and released his first original novel, Dark Matter Heart. The book is being released through Wrann’s Dalton Gang Press, an offshoot of his film production company. You can purchase Dark Matter Heart in a variety of formats, including Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook and more. (Full list of formats below.)
Dark Matter Heart is a Young Adult Paranormal Thriller and is the first in a planned series of novels starring the character Cor Griffin, a teenage bloodsucker. The official description reads:
A new town. A new school. A new beginning. Seventeen year-old Cordell Griffin and his mother move from Los Angeles to the Pacific Northwest to deal with his “allergies,” and start a healthier new life. Cor has one goal: To blend in and be invisible. Unfortunately for him, no matter how far he goes, he can’t run away from his secrets.
Dark Matter Heart is a Young Adult Paranormal Thriller and is the first in a planned series of novels starring the character Cor Griffin, a teenage bloodsucker. The official description reads:
A new town. A new school. A new beginning. Seventeen year-old Cordell Griffin and his mother move from Los Angeles to the Pacific Northwest to deal with his “allergies,” and start a healthier new life. Cor has one goal: To blend in and be invisible. Unfortunately for him, no matter how far he goes, he can’t run away from his secrets.
- 6/8/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
The camera takes a long, slow pan up the body of an unconscious man lying in a hospital bed. At last, he awakens. The doctors don’t know who he is and he can’t say. Mute. Amnesiac. And with the help of a caring nurse, John Doe will begin a difficult — and violent — journey to uncover his painful past.
That’s the brief lowdown on Nathan Wrann‘s surprising indie thriller Burning Inside, embedded above. The film is a completely different take on the traditional revenge movie genre, kind of like Death Wish crossed with Eraserhead.
Although the film has a thoroughly modern approach to technique and storytelling, the black and white cinematography give it a classic noirish nudge as does the movie’s non-traditional pacing. While the revenge movie genre over the years has traditionally ramped up in gore, stunts and fast editing, Wrann has gone in the opposite direction with exceptionally long,...
That’s the brief lowdown on Nathan Wrann‘s surprising indie thriller Burning Inside, embedded above. The film is a completely different take on the traditional revenge movie genre, kind of like Death Wish crossed with Eraserhead.
Although the film has a thoroughly modern approach to technique and storytelling, the black and white cinematography give it a classic noirish nudge as does the movie’s non-traditional pacing. While the revenge movie genre over the years has traditionally ramped up in gore, stunts and fast editing, Wrann has gone in the opposite direction with exceptionally long,...
- 3/28/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Is there something major going on in film tonight? Who knows? So, enjoy these links about movies that don’t get all the attention!
The big news this week is that the last lab in the UK has just stopped printing 16mm film. That’s right: It is now impossible to get your 16mm film printed in England! Thanks, Deluxe! Filmmaker Tacita Dean writes an impassioned, personal article about this devastating blow to the film world for the Guardian.(By the way, the image above was taken by documentary filmmaker Lynne Sachs and is of Craig Baldwin’s 16mm film archive.)At Africa Is a Country, Sean Jacobs interviews South African filmmaker Dylan Valley about the documentary The Uprising of Hangberg, which Valley co-directed with Bad Lit fave Aryan Kaganof. The film documents the South African police crackdown of a small village full of “alleged” squatters. Heavy emphasis on “alleged.
The big news this week is that the last lab in the UK has just stopped printing 16mm film. That’s right: It is now impossible to get your 16mm film printed in England! Thanks, Deluxe! Filmmaker Tacita Dean writes an impassioned, personal article about this devastating blow to the film world for the Guardian.(By the way, the image above was taken by documentary filmmaker Lynne Sachs and is of Craig Baldwin’s 16mm film archive.)At Africa Is a Country, Sean Jacobs interviews South African filmmaker Dylan Valley about the documentary The Uprising of Hangberg, which Valley co-directed with Bad Lit fave Aryan Kaganof. The film documents the South African police crackdown of a small village full of “alleged” squatters. Heavy emphasis on “alleged.
- 2/27/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Every couple of months — Heck, every couple of days! — it seems like another nail is driven into the DVD’s plastic slip covered coffin, from major rental store chains going bankrupt to the cutting back of little red envelopes being mailed out. Someday it’s going to get to the point where you won’t even be able to get discs popping out of a little kiosk at the supermarket anymore.
We’re slowly being conditioned to think about movies as a disposable medium. Not as in you’re going to be throwing discs into the trash, but your memory of what you just watched is going to be disposed right out of your brain as the next movie streams right in.
But, if you’re a good cinephile you know that films are art and should be treated as such. (Well, make that they have the capacity to be art.
We’re slowly being conditioned to think about movies as a disposable medium. Not as in you’re going to be throwing discs into the trash, but your memory of what you just watched is going to be disposed right out of your brain as the next movie streams right in.
But, if you’re a good cinephile you know that films are art and should be treated as such. (Well, make that they have the capacity to be art.
- 1/19/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Before we get to the list this week, a special note: I got a very nice email this week from Jackie Keen, the wife of legendary British underground filmmaker Jeff Keen. I’ve written about Jeff a few times on Bad Lit, particularly about his troublesome situation. If you’re not familiar with Jeff’s incredible body of work, read that link and do yourself a favor and check out his official website.
This week’s Must Read is Craig Baldwin’s history and understanding of why San Francisco is such a mecca for found-footage filmmakers such as himself. The article, on the Moving Image Source website, is reprinted from the recent book Radical Light. Speaking of Radical Light, Reed Johnson of the L.A. Times previews the Los Angeles screening tour that’s accompanying the book. Also to celebrate Radical Light, Chuck Stephens of Blip Magazine reviews several films...
This week’s Must Read is Craig Baldwin’s history and understanding of why San Francisco is such a mecca for found-footage filmmakers such as himself. The article, on the Moving Image Source website, is reprinted from the recent book Radical Light. Speaking of Radical Light, Reed Johnson of the L.A. Times previews the Los Angeles screening tour that’s accompanying the book. Also to celebrate Radical Light, Chuck Stephens of Blip Magazine reviews several films...
- 1/16/2011
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Jan. 5
8:00 p.m.
Somerville Theatre
55 Davis Square
Somerville, Ma 02144
Hosted by: All Things Horror
The website All Things Horror — which you should go check out because it’s pretty cool — hosts a monthly screening series on the first Wednesday of every month. And they’re kicking off their 2011 season with Nathan Wrann‘s chilling revenge thriller Burning Inside. Tickets can be bought through the All Things Horror website.
While the film is available for viewing on DVD courtesy of Channel Midnight releasing, if you’re in the Boston area it’ll be well worth it to trek out to watch it on the big screen and to participate in a post-screening Q&A with Wrann. Also, I believe there might be some short films screening before the main feature, but I can’t guarantee that.
Burning Inside is a surreal, minimalist thriller shot mostly in B&W about a...
8:00 p.m.
Somerville Theatre
55 Davis Square
Somerville, Ma 02144
Hosted by: All Things Horror
The website All Things Horror — which you should go check out because it’s pretty cool — hosts a monthly screening series on the first Wednesday of every month. And they’re kicking off their 2011 season with Nathan Wrann‘s chilling revenge thriller Burning Inside. Tickets can be bought through the All Things Horror website.
While the film is available for viewing on DVD courtesy of Channel Midnight releasing, if you’re in the Boston area it’ll be well worth it to trek out to watch it on the big screen and to participate in a post-screening Q&A with Wrann. Also, I believe there might be some short films screening before the main feature, but I can’t guarantee that.
Burning Inside is a surreal, minimalist thriller shot mostly in B&W about a...
- 12/29/2010
- by screenings
- Underground Film Journal
“Ho Ho … What the hell is this?”
If that’s the type of reaction you want to get out of somebody — or everybody! — on your Christmas list, then pick something out of this collection of bizarro movies, gross-out flicks and mind-bending reads.
The New Underground Classics
Altamont Now, dir. Joshua von Brown
Chosen as Bad Lit’s 2008 Movie of the Year, this balls-out, punk-rockin’ apocalypse comes firing at you like a nuclear missile. (Seriously, it was filmed in an actual missile silo.) Part social commentary, part fame whore busting, part punk rock musical — and all freakin’ hilarious! (Review)
Every Other Day Is Halloween, dir. C.W. Prather
Screw Santa. Who you’ll really want to see on Christmas is Count Gore De Vol, Washington D.C.’s beloved TV horror host who for years thrilled late night viewers with scares and laughs before taking his act online for the whole world to enjoy.
If that’s the type of reaction you want to get out of somebody — or everybody! — on your Christmas list, then pick something out of this collection of bizarro movies, gross-out flicks and mind-bending reads.
The New Underground Classics
Altamont Now, dir. Joshua von Brown
Chosen as Bad Lit’s 2008 Movie of the Year, this balls-out, punk-rockin’ apocalypse comes firing at you like a nuclear missile. (Seriously, it was filmed in an actual missile silo.) Part social commentary, part fame whore busting, part punk rock musical — and all freakin’ hilarious! (Review)
Every Other Day Is Halloween, dir. C.W. Prather
Screw Santa. Who you’ll really want to see on Christmas is Count Gore De Vol, Washington D.C.’s beloved TV horror host who for years thrilled late night viewers with scares and laughs before taking his act online for the whole world to enjoy.
- 12/6/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Musician William Beckett strikes a distraught pose in an exclusive photo from the upcoming adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic tale The Fall of the House of Usher. The film will be the acting debut for the frontman of the popular rock group The Academy Is… He’ll be starring as the film’s Narrator. (A larger version of the above photo can be seen below.)
Connecticut-based filmmaker Nathan Wrann is helming the adaptation, which is currently in pre-production through his company Dalton Gang Productions for a 2011 release. Promotional images and video were shot earlier this month by photographer J. Sibley Law in order to start developing the film’s visual feel. Some of these photos, which are signed by both Beckett and Wrann, are available for purchase on the film’s website.
After directing two contemporary-set films — the horror movie Hunting Season and the deconstructed revenge thriller Burning...
Connecticut-based filmmaker Nathan Wrann is helming the adaptation, which is currently in pre-production through his company Dalton Gang Productions for a 2011 release. Promotional images and video were shot earlier this month by photographer J. Sibley Law in order to start developing the film’s visual feel. Some of these photos, which are signed by both Beckett and Wrann, are available for purchase on the film’s website.
After directing two contemporary-set films — the horror movie Hunting Season and the deconstructed revenge thriller Burning...
- 9/22/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Well, this is an exciting week for links! I’ve stumbled upon or have been directed to several new sources from which to pull from. Is the underground film blogging boom not far away? This is one of the longer links posts I’ve done.
First up isn’t exactly an underground film site per se. It’s Catherine Grant’s phenomenal Film Studies for Free who puts up encyclopedia-sized links posts that make my weekly compilations seem sad and pathetic by comparison. Semi-underground related, Grant recently posted up 12 videos from a David Lynch symposium that took place back in ’09 at the Tate Modern. Add this site to your RSS reader. I did. Making Light of It has recommended a resurrected blog that I’ve never seen before: Watermelon Rinds by Ekrem Serdar. In his most recent post, Serdar tries to gather some thoughts and ideas on Robert Breer and Keewatin Dewdney.
First up isn’t exactly an underground film site per se. It’s Catherine Grant’s phenomenal Film Studies for Free who puts up encyclopedia-sized links posts that make my weekly compilations seem sad and pathetic by comparison. Semi-underground related, Grant recently posted up 12 videos from a David Lynch symposium that took place back in ’09 at the Tate Modern. Add this site to your RSS reader. I did. Making Light of It has recommended a resurrected blog that I’ve never seen before: Watermelon Rinds by Ekrem Serdar. In his most recent post, Serdar tries to gather some thoughts and ideas on Robert Breer and Keewatin Dewdney.
- 8/15/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
This week’s Must Read is an excellent profile of one of Bad Lit’s favorite fimmakers Usama Alshaibi, written by Ed M. Koziarski for the Chicago Reader. The article really captures Alshaibi’s growth as a film artist and his unique background that eventually led him to make the still-in-production documentary American Arab. Plus, a radio interview with Alshaibi for Wjjg. Second Must Read is Electric Sheep’s long, engaging interview with Peter Whitehead, who returns to film with Terrorism Considered as One of the Fine Arts. Plus, the Sheep analyzes the new non-political U.S. war film genre. At long last, the great experimental media journal Incite! returns with its always insightful “back & forth” interview series. This time Penny Lane has tea and a very long and insightful chat with political animator Jacqueline Goss. Well, this is still relevant today and in the U.S.: Landscape Suicide...
- 8/8/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Bob Moricz beats me to it and does a post on anti-underground film conditioning. Don’t resist the resistance! Plus, Bob reports on a what sounds like a fun event to be held in Portland, Or: The Video Gong Show. Cut & Paste has an interview with Rachel Bernsousa of the Revelation Perth International Film Festival. So, how’s the fest going this year? Great! Also, Cut & Paste has several reviews of films at Revelation. Can’t get to Washington, D.C. to see Phil Solomon’s film retrospective and American Falls installation? Genevieve Yue tells us what we’re missing on Moving Image Source. File this one under unique screening locations: It’s London’s new Portobello Pop Up Cinema microplex located under a freeway . (Via APEngine.) Frank’s Wild Lunch reviews the long-lost but recently unearthed The Sorrows of Dolores by Charles Ludlam, which just screened at Outfest. Making...
- 7/18/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
First, my apologies. I’m starting out with a completely self-serving internal link: I created an Underground Film Resource Center page with links to all the different resources I have for underground filmmakers and fans alike on Bad Lit: Film festivals, films, filmmakers, theaters, distributors, websites, the timeline, and more. I have a few ideas of more resources to launch in the future, too. Distributor Channel Midnight has announced that Nathan Wrann’s Burning Inside is now available as an app for the iPhone, iPad and iTouch. I’m not posting this link so much as to promote this particular film — although I highly recommend it — but because I don’t see announcements like this very much. How much underground content is available on iTunes? When I look: Nothing. Well, now there’s this. I want to read more announcements like this in the future. The Rome News-Tribune has an...
- 7/11/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
Burning Inside, written and directed by Nathan Wrann, willfully and consistently undermines all the conventions of the traditional revenge thriller. There are none of the usual, vicariously-enjoyed, redemptive emotional high and low points associated with the genre. Instead, the film is a minimal, slow descent into much darker territory than would be typically expected from this type of material.
When a revenge thriller wants to go deeper into its darker side, it generally starts by upping the its violence quotient. For example, the Death Wish movies give Charles Bronson a larger, meaner toolbox to dispatch his victims in more gruesome and grisly ways with each installment.
However, Wrann goes in the completely opposite direction, taking a sparse, near structuralist approach. Thus, when the eventual revenge sequences play out, Burning Inside completely robs the audience of the usual gleeful, cathartic release these scenes are supposed to provide. As such, the film...
When a revenge thriller wants to go deeper into its darker side, it generally starts by upping the its violence quotient. For example, the Death Wish movies give Charles Bronson a larger, meaner toolbox to dispatch his victims in more gruesome and grisly ways with each installment.
However, Wrann goes in the completely opposite direction, taking a sparse, near structuralist approach. Thus, when the eventual revenge sequences play out, Burning Inside completely robs the audience of the usual gleeful, cathartic release these scenes are supposed to provide. As such, the film...
- 7/6/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
We recently reported on film distributor Channel Midnight's first DVD release, the violent and visually striking horror film Burning Inside, and now comes the news that it's being made available as an app in the iTunes Store.
From the Press Release:
Channel Midnight Releasing continues its mission to distribute unique, uncompromising genre films by using new technology to bring filmmaker Nathan Wrann's Burning Inside to the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad via an app developed by Stonehenge Productions containing the Burning Inside feature film and a number of links and special features.
"We were excited to work with Channel Midnight to develop the Burning Inside app," said Mark Smillie, founder of Stonehenge Productions. "The app offers access to a new distribution channel and allows fans to engage their friends through social media and share their experiences and comments on the film. We believe this will ultimately help spread the...
From the Press Release:
Channel Midnight Releasing continues its mission to distribute unique, uncompromising genre films by using new technology to bring filmmaker Nathan Wrann's Burning Inside to the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad via an app developed by Stonehenge Productions containing the Burning Inside feature film and a number of links and special features.
"We were excited to work with Channel Midnight to develop the Burning Inside app," said Mark Smillie, founder of Stonehenge Productions. "The app offers access to a new distribution channel and allows fans to engage their friends through social media and share their experiences and comments on the film. We believe this will ultimately help spread the...
- 6/16/2010
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
Film distributor Channel Midnight has announced its first DVD release, the violent and visually striking horror film Burning Inside.
Synopsis:
Burning Inside is an intense, surreal, and violent exploration of the entangled nature of revenge and memory from Nathan Wrann, Dalton Gang Productions, and Elmar Berger's Manic Entertainment. The film is the second feature by Hunting Season writer and director Nathan Wrann and stars Michael Wrann and Kristina Powis.
John Doe awakens from a coma to find that he has no memory of his life, who he was, or how he became comatose. He embarks on a life of normalcy, taking a wife, starting a family, mowing the lawn. This ‘Norman Rockwell’ world is soon torn from him, however, as he becomes driven to get revenge. Revenge for a life he does not remember. Revenge for pain lost to amnesia. Revenge for what he believes to be true. John...
Synopsis:
Burning Inside is an intense, surreal, and violent exploration of the entangled nature of revenge and memory from Nathan Wrann, Dalton Gang Productions, and Elmar Berger's Manic Entertainment. The film is the second feature by Hunting Season writer and director Nathan Wrann and stars Michael Wrann and Kristina Powis.
John Doe awakens from a coma to find that he has no memory of his life, who he was, or how he became comatose. He embarks on a life of normalcy, taking a wife, starting a family, mowing the lawn. This ‘Norman Rockwell’ world is soon torn from him, however, as he becomes driven to get revenge. Revenge for a life he does not remember. Revenge for pain lost to amnesia. Revenge for what he believes to be true. John...
- 5/19/2010
- by The Woman In Black
- DreadCentral.com
Burning Inside, the second feature film by West Haven, Ct filmmaker Nathan Wrann, will be making its world premiere at the Connecticut Film Festival on May 8. The film is a tense thriller about a man who wakes up from a coma to begin a new life only to be plagued by vague, violent memories of his past. Or, are they just evil hallucinations? Either way, “John Doe” is out for revenge.
Following this film festival screening, Burning Inside will be released on DVD on May 11 by the brand new distributor Channel Midnight Releasing, which was created by filmmaker James Felix McKenney and producers Lisa Wisely and Chase Tyler. (And, yes, the title of the film comes from the song by Ministry.)
The Connecticut Film Festival runs May 4-9 in Danbury, Ct and features a mix of movies and music. While the festival will be screening a combination of short films and features,...
Following this film festival screening, Burning Inside will be released on DVD on May 11 by the brand new distributor Channel Midnight Releasing, which was created by filmmaker James Felix McKenney and producers Lisa Wisely and Chase Tyler. (And, yes, the title of the film comes from the song by Ministry.)
The Connecticut Film Festival runs May 4-9 in Danbury, Ct and features a mix of movies and music. While the festival will be screening a combination of short films and features,...
- 4/28/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
For those who don’t know, in addition to Bad Lit, since 1999 I’ve made a living creating content for a number of other media websites. Some of them were run by big media corporations, some were small start-ups and one is a non-profit. Although each website had different creative goals, they — as well as Bad Lit — all share one common über-goal:
Get More Pageviews!!
The reason why is obvious: More pageviews means more revenue. Yes, I am concerned with such things with Bad Lit even though the site focuses on non-commercial and artistic cinema. When I fire up the ol’ computer every morning, pageviews are the third thing I check on. (First is email, second is ad revenue.)
However, generating revenue isn’t the only reason I’m so obsessed with Bad Lit’s pageviews. I am genuinely concerned and devoted to bringing underground film to a larger audience.
Get More Pageviews!!
The reason why is obvious: More pageviews means more revenue. Yes, I am concerned with such things with Bad Lit even though the site focuses on non-commercial and artistic cinema. When I fire up the ol’ computer every morning, pageviews are the third thing I check on. (First is email, second is ad revenue.)
However, generating revenue isn’t the only reason I’m so obsessed with Bad Lit’s pageviews. I am genuinely concerned and devoted to bringing underground film to a larger audience.
- 4/2/2010
- by Mike Everleth
- Underground Film Journal
. Connecticut based independent film production company Dalton Gang Productions in conjunction with Washington-based distributor Indieflix inc, is releasing their debut feature Hunting Season on Tuesday, September 29th 2009. The brutal slasher-survivalist thriller is currently enjoying successful Video On Demand distribution across the U.S, Canada and Puerto Rico through an agreement with Gravitas Ventures arranged by The Bosko Group. Hunting Season is the feature debut from director Nathan Wrann and Dalton Gang Productions. Husband and wife producing team, Nathan Wrann and Kimberly Dalton set out to create the horror movie they.d like to see . literate and coherent in plot, and brutal and unrelenting in tension. Six friends go camping deep in the woods for "the best...
- 9/27/2009
- shocktillyoudrop.com
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