As we start our slasher filled weekend, we have a brand new inspiring horror tale from another independent horror filmmaker. Chris Moore, writer and director of PERVERSION, shares the films that molded him into the horror filmmaker he is today. Are you ready for a blast from the past because both of these films are sure to bring back memories for just about any horror fan.

“I was always really scared of horror movies as a kid. All I had to do was walk into a Party City around Halloween and look at the tall, cardboard standees of Freddy Krueger or walk into the horror section of a video store (remember those?) and take a look at a few of the boxes to have nightmares for weeks.

Perhaps the most influential horror films that I saw growing up would have to be House of Wax and Night of the Living Dead. I’m fairly certain that they were some of the first ones I saw. I can remember the whole thing as if it were yesterday. It was a Sunday morning and my Dad saw that House of Wax was playing on A&E. I don’t know why he brought me in the room and I don’t know why I stayed, but I did. I was transfixed.

House of Wax tells the story of a brilliant, disfigured wax sculptor (played by the always reliable Vincent Price) who begins murdering people and encasing their bodies in wax. Macabre stuff, right?

I was so proud of myself for making it through the whole movie. I think my Dad was proud of me, too. I started looking for horror movies in the weekly TV guide that came with the Sunday paper.

Later on, my Dad thought I could handle George Romero’s classic Night of the Living Dead. We rented it and I was doing okay until the part where the little girl murders her mother with the garden tool. Yikes! I ran out of the room screaming and refused to go back in until he turned it off. That day, I learned a very valuable lesson – just because a film is not rated, old, or in black and white doesn’t mean it can’t scare the hell out of you.

Despite that minor setback, my Dad and I would stay up late and watch just about anything USA, TNT, or TBS had to offer. I remember seeing Nightmare on Elm Street 2 & 5, Friday the 13th 7 & 8, The Fly (both versions), and all kinds of other gems.

Strangely enough, once I started watching horror films, all those terrifying nightmares that had plagued me for so long slowly but surely went away. Now, hopefully, it’s my turn to give little nuggets like myself some nightmares!”

Check out the two trailers before for Chris Moore’s Horror film PERVERSION:

We are back with a brand new filmmaker with a brand new inspiring horror tale. Today’s filmmaker is Cory J. Udler director of the upcoming IDS RISING which is set to have its world premiere this weekend at the Oshkosh Horror Film Festival. Taking a break from the usual horror film, Cory takes a look at the television show that inspired his wonderfully sick and twisted mind.

“Being 36 and having grown up during the now romanticized “VHS boom”, I was fortunate enough to be exposed to horror and exploitation films from every facet of the genre.

I grew up in Altoona, Wisconsin, a small town, back then maybe 5,000 people. It was right next to Eau Claire, a town of over 50,000 that had all of the benefits of a large city without losing the community feel. Now, remember, in the 80’s and early 90’s every single building with lights had VHS rentals. Gas stations, liquor stores, laundromats. And each one of them got their selection from different distributors.
Even the Kwik Trip a block from my house had VHS movies. Nightmare on Elm Street 3 and Return to Horror High were the two they had that I rented at least once a month.

In order to rent movies from the stores you needed a valid ID. I was 10. No valid ID. My mom had the store put me on file saying it was ok for me to rent movies. Remember, this was back in the days when kids would ride bikes with no helmets and car seats went in the garage when you turned 2. It was a little more dangerous, and obviously, more free and exciting.

In Eau Claire we had a virtual smorgasbord of video rental stores. Video Eye Video had all of the Faces of Death movies, Mondo Cane and a fantastic collection of Coliseum Home Video releases. These were the old WWF wrestling titles. Bloopers, Bleeps and Bodyslams was a personal favorite, featuring the wedding of Butcher Vachon which, if you have never seen, you need to YouTube right now. Video Vistas had Deranged, Rana Legend of Shadow Lake and more Full Moon/Wizard/Empire movies than you could stand. On Laserdisc. We didn’t have a Laserdisc, just the old VHS. Duke’s grocery store had Paul Naschy titles and the Jean Rollin classic (ahem…”classic”) Zombie Lake.

We had a Best Buy move into town and it was there I discovered the movies of HG Lewis and Ted V Mikels. Now, keep in mind, when you’re 10, 11, 12 years old you just love the sensational titles and the over the top cover artwork. 9 times out of 10, the movies never could deliver what the box art promised. But that was ok. It was all about the overall experience. Seeing that big box VHS, the anticipation and expectation of what you were about to encounter when that tape went into the player. I devoured The Corpse Grinders, The Wizard of Gore, The Astro Zombies, 2,000 Maniacs and any other blood-soaked title I could find. Back to my original point, you rented the movies but had little care for the men (and women) who actually dreamt up the movie. Those who made that twisted idea a reality. This is where my inspiration to make films came in.

I guess you could say I was a little spoiled as a kid. We had cable. It was a massive slide switching cable box with tangled masses of wires hooked up to our living room television set. For the life of me, I cannot remember the channel. I want to say it was Discovery or The Learning Channel. Anyway, I was 11 years old and one day found myself watching a program called “The Incredibly Strange Film Show” hosted by Jonathan Ross. The show was basically a one hour documentary on bizarre filmmakers and their movies. John Waters, Doris Wishman, Ed Wood, HG Lewis, Ted V Mikels, El Santo, Sam Raimi, and the list goes on.

Remember, I had been watching Ted V Mikels and HG Lewis and Ed Wood movies for years before discovering the show. But it was the episode with Ted V Mikels that really struck a chord with me. The show started in the desert, with an accordion playing “Roll Out The Barrel” over Ross’s introduction. The camera pans to reveal a stocky, well built older man with perfect graying hair, a handlebar mustache and a massive boar’s tusk around his neck. This was Ted V Mikels, and yes, it was him playing the accordion. Throughout the show Ted was featured with a ventriloquist dummy, in his home which was stocked with “Castle Ladies” (worth a Google, kids) and in front of the camera talking about his unwavering love of making movies.

HG Lewis is unashamed in letting people know he made movies for money. Bottom line. Ted V Mikels, in this profile, stood out to me as a man who just loved to tell stories and make movies. One legendary story centers around his film “The Doll Squad”, and how the incredible Tura Satana brought Aaron Spelling to the premiere of the film. A few years later a carbon copy of Ted’s movie premiered on tv. It was called “Charlie’s Angels”. In this profile Ted was asked why he never sued. His response? “I can come up with new ideas all day.”

It was then and there that I knew one day I would make a “weird movie”. For one reason and one reason only. Because that’s what I wanted to do. I have made 4 feature films in 4 years. Each of them taking me over a year from inception to completion. My last movie, “Mediatrix”, was 17 months. And we shot the film in 5 days. Not one film I have ever done has made me any money. I’m lucky in the fact that I do make enough to pay for the printing of the DVDs and that I have barely enough to make the next movie. But I am living that dream. That dream of making that “weird movie”. I’ve made 4 and I’m optimistic that I’ll get to make numbers 5, 6, 7 and 8. And I owe it all to Ted V Mikels and The Incredibly Strange Film Show. It was that program that showed me these movies were made by real people, with real passion, who do this for one reason and one reason only. Because they have to. It’s an obsession. A burning desire to make films and tell stories.

As a side note, many years ago I was surfing around on the web and I did a search on Ted V Mikels. To my surprise, not only did he have a website, but he was still making movies. I sent an e mail to the contact address on the website, not thinking I would ever hear a response. Not only did I hear a response, but that e mail would turn into a wonderful friendship and working relationship with Ted. I have written 2 films for Ted and am working on a 3rd. If you would have told a 12 year old me that I would have written an Astro Zombies movie for Ted V Mikels, I would have called you insane. But that’s exactly what happened.

Some people want to be rich from making films. Some want respect. Some want fame. I just want people to look at my career the same way they look at Ted’s. I want people to look at me and say, “that guy did things his way”, just the way Ted V Mikels did. A boy can dream….”

Check out the trailer for Cory’s latest film, IDS RISING:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxdF6WqRJpU

Slasher Studios is back with a brand new Inspiring Scares tale from another independent filmmaker. Today’s filmmaker is Anthony T Tran, director of the upcoming “Obliquity: Imagery of the Unknown”, as he shares the horror franchise (as well as a few other great horror movies) that molded him into the filmmaker he is today.

“Being introduced to horror at a later age (I saw my first one at the age of 12 as I snuck onto the Starz channel and watched the remake of “Psycho”) there are tons of horror films that I could say intrigue and influence me. There isn’t just one, but I will make mention of the different movies that may have influenced my set-ups and intricacy in our upcoming feature “Obliquity: Imagery of the Unknown”, which is looking to release in the near future.

After watching “Psycho” (remake), I told my junior high friend about it and she recommended me to watch an inventive new thriller called “Final Destination”. I went to the movie rental store with my mom and saw it on the shelf. The cover looked slick with a skull in the foreground, lightning striking, and the main characters looking at you like “you wanna know what’s going on? Rent me.” And so I did and that became an instant favorite of mine. What I enjoyed most about the movie was that it was unpredictable, you didn’t know if they were going to die or how they were going to die, the police were blaming the protagonist while the movie was shot very dark and stylistic. The fact that you are meant to follow a path is also something that may intrigue one to enjoy the series and relate it to every day life, not just in its main theme, which is death.

When a sequel came out, I was mostly happy, even though it was shot more comical and in daylight, but it added a refreshing twist to it. The sequels after have failed tremendously to live up to the originality of the earlier entries, even with 5 having a mediocre build-up. I find it highly disappointing for them to ruin such a unique franchise and make it only about gore while lacking a good story. In the seventh grade, I began to write an entire fan-fiction being inspired by the set-up, the story, and the possibility of changing your own fate. One day, I would like to make my own Final Destination that would tie in all the loose ends or at least get close to it as possible. This series also inspired me to write my first full script, which I hope to create when I can get investors and funding.

Other movies that inspire me include “Cube 2: Hypercube” for its inventive idea of being trapped in a mathematical structure that can alter space and time; the “Scream” series, 1 and 2 being the ones that stand out the most for their suspense, scenery, and guess-the-killer endings, and a couple of the “Nightmare on Elm Street” movies, mostly 1, 3, and 4. “Mindhunters”, “Flatliners”, “Memento” and “The Jacket” are also enjoyable to me.

With “Obliquity: Imagery of the Unknown” being inspired loosely by some of those ideas, you will find that college students staying awake for a grade and suppressing their emotions while in the ultimate test of their own truths is going to be an interesting and enjoyable watch. You will find this movie to be unique in its own sense due to collaborations with various artists in Greater Cincinnati, original music from people including New York, Louisiana, and of course, Ohio. Many different types of people that are involved have all contributed and joined forces to help each other get their work out there from various backgrounds – the way an indie/low budget/no budget filmmaker should be in order to find satisfaction in the art form.”

“One must collab. You cannot do everything yourself.”

-Anthony T Tran; Trippy Tran Films, LLC

Check out more information on Anthony Tran’s Films:
http://youtube.com/trippytranfilms

October is finally here horror fans! It’s time for Halloween, horror movies, and pumpkin flavored everything. Are you ready for it? We are at Slasher Studios are more than ready with a brand new segment we call Inspiring Scares. Every day for the entire month of October we will be featuring a horror filmmaker and the film that inspired them to become a horror filmmaker. Today we have Scott Schirmer, the award winning director of the hit horror film FOUND, taking a look at the classic THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. Here is what he had to say about the film…

“Since I first saw it back in college, my absolute favorite horror film in the whole wide universe has been the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre. I love this movie so much I want to have its babies, so I’m pretty much incapable of reviewing it in any self-respecting manner. So for this iconic, bright and shining piece of brilliance, please permit me to lapse into fan boy mode.

Oh, Texas Chain Saw Massacre, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

I love that you’re an unrelenting free fall into madness. I love that your first half is mysterious and suspenseful, and that your second half is hysterically macabre. I love how your 16mm film stock lends a raw, documentary feel. I love your locations, from the graveyard and the old gas station to the farmhouse from hell. I love Edwin Neal, Jim Siedow, and Gunnar Hansen as your bizarre, murderous family. I love the stamina and commitment of Marilyn Burns, who screams for at least thirty whole minutes. I love your elegant dolly shots, especially the one that slides under the swing in the front yard. I love that your sound design functions as music score. I love that when something ghastly is about to happen, we hear swine squealing. I love that your closeups that are so extreme I can see the veins in people’s eyes. I love the dead armadillo on the road. I love the thick nest of daddy longlegs. I love the bone sculptures. I love how William Vail goes into spasms after he’s hit in the head. I love how Teri McMinn tries to pull herself off the meathook. I love how distraught Leatherface gets when kids keep invading his home. I love that he keeps a chicken in a small cage. I love that he wears a woman’s face when he cooks the meals. I love the wicked glee Jim Siedow exudes as he beats Marilyn with the broomstick. I love Grandpa, especially when he writhes like a baby sucking blood from Marilyn’s finger. I love that the more she screams, the more she gets mocked and laughed at. I love her escape. I love that after all is said and bloody done, she’s laughing hysterically in the back of that truck, while Leatherface dances with his chainsaw in the middle of the open road.

But what I love most of all about you, you sexy, nasty thing… is that no matter how many times I see you, you leave me breathless and inspired.”

Check out the trailer to Scott Schirmer’s film FOUND, winner of the BEST FEATURE award at Elvira’s Horror Hunt: