After almost a year of false starts and stumbling blocks we will finally restart shooting our first short film "The Vengeful One" This movie was alot of fun to write because it's my first short film I enjoy the challenge of having to get the beginning, middle and end into as few pages as possible. it's a bigger challenge then writing a feature length film in many ways. We have had many casting issues which were the main reason for the delays in the shooting of this movie our cast is as follows .. I can't wait to get this project under way because I've spent so much time and effort into it. hours of watching audition videos and trying to make the right casting selections. I'll tell you one thing, I've learned alot over the last few months with all the issues this project as had. I know issues happen on every movie but this one seems to be the most problem filled project of my short career. I made it through all these issues and problems by remembering one of my favorite movie quotes.....
" It ain't about how hard you hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep movin' forward" - Rocky Balboa After we get this movie shot it's on to Sins of Man : Tribulation to wrap up the Sins of Man trilogy.. Ther is no quit in this guy we have movies on the release schedule for years to come we have a SyFy film that I can't wait to start making because I love SyFy movies like Planet of the Apes, Star Wars, and Star Trek. After that we have an action/ hero movie which I'm training my ass off to play the lead role. Stay tuned Big things coming from Top Guy Productions and Wicked Carnival Productions !!!! Stay Humble, Stay Hungry My Friends : ) By : Jamie Santamore This film is widely thought of as the WORST film in the franchises history and in many ways it might be. But I say after watching it a dozen times I understand what director Adam Marcus was doing with the beloved Jason Voorhees character. After SEVEN movies that take place around Camp Crystal Lake and the surrounding area we ALL wanted something different for Part VIII, right ? So The took Jason out of Camp Blood and put him in New York (Vancouver) and that movie while it has it's weird parts (the ending) was different and really as a whole a solid movie. now with JGTH we wanted something fresh and different I mean whille it was the NINTH film in the series and supposedly the "Final Friday" we wanted Jason to go out with a Band and he did! Adam Marcus blew Jason to hell in the opening of JGTH much to the dismay of hardcore Jason fans. what followed was a weird film about Jason's heart being moved from body to body so he could track down his half sister to get back to his original body. What follows is an incredibly shot film, with cool Special FX, great makeup, a solid cast and a movie that really IS NOT the worst in the franchise unless you are super picky. Note : I know most of you are like "They misspelled Voorhees on the mailbox at the Voorhees house!" Did you ever stop to think that it was an Easter egg for fans to find and done on purpose? I feel most ans are only hating this movie because it's the "cool thing to do" well as many long time readers can tell I'm not the "follow the crowd" kinda guy therefore I enjoy JGTH for what it is, a sharp right turn in the mythology of Jason Voorhees that gives us some much needed depth to the character that I feel was missing for the entire series. The cast really works well together in a complex story that while it was weird to see the heart movie from body to bodyI think it was an interesting plot device. Lets talk about Crayton Duke shall we.... This character to me is this films version of Rob from "The Final Chapter". no one else sees this they simply complain about who this character is, why is he now popping up in the NINTH film, where has he been for the duration of the series? blah blah blah. Crayton Duke obviously has an ax to grind with Jason and now that he knows how to stop him for good he has come to Crystal Lake to take him out once and for all. I like this character and thought they could have dome more with him, the scene with him and Steve in jail was chilling and really showed alot about each character and what they were willing to go through to save Jessica and her baby. Adam Marcus had this to say about Crayton Duke in a December 2017 Interview ... "A teenage Creighton was out on Crystal Lake with his girlfriend. Jason capsized their small boat and pulled the girl down into the lake. Creighton tried to save her but could not. She was never seen again. Creighton vowed revenge and from that moment on he spent his life in the study and pursuit of Jason. He became a bounty hunter just to fund his work in taking down his nemesis." If you've read this far into the blog THANK YOU for hearing me out. With that said I'm not calling this film perfect by any stretch of the imagination because there is no such thing as a perfect film in my opinion. All I'm saying is that this film isn't as bad as most fans would have you believe. it's out there for sure but it's a solid film and I think Adam Marcus is a brilliant film maker with a string of solid films to his credit. Adam Marcus said in a November 2017 interview : “[Pamela Voorhees] makes a deal with the devil by reading from the Necronomicon to bring back her son. This is why Jason isn’t Jason. He’s Jason plus The Evil Dead, and now I can believe that he can go from a little boy that lives in a lake, to a full grown man in a couple of months, to Zombie Jason, to never being able to kill this guy. That, to me, is way more interesting as a mashup, and Raimi loved it! It’s not like I could tell New Line my plan to include The Evil Dead, because they don’t own The Evil Dead. So it had to be an Easter egg, and I did focus on it…there’s a whole scene that includes the book, and I hoped people would get it and could figure out that’s what I’m up to. So yes, in my opinion, Jason Voorhees is a Deadite. He’s one of The Evil Dead.” This in it's self explains alot about the movie and the franchise and if you take this information for what it is and rewatch the movie I think you'll have a better understanding of the movie and in turn the franchise as a whole. In closing I would like to say that making movies is hard work and alot of things can change behind the scenes that ultimately change the finished film. In every movie there are scenes that are shot, not used in the final cut and thus plot holes are created. As an indie film maker I know this all to well and I get slammed with questions that either fans don't know the answer to because they missed something in the movie or because I left a plot hole. It happens to everyone in their career. Give JGTH another chance with the information I've given you in this blog I think you might just enjoy the movie after all. Stay Humble, Stay Hungry My Friends :) By : Jamie Santamore I'm a fan of slasher that is no secret to anyone, look at my filmography or the list of my favorite films it's full of slasher movies. I was thinking about my favorites Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, Ghostface and Chucky. They all have a signature weapon and a couple of them have used whatever is available at the time. When I was first working on Sins of Man (before I wrote it into a trilogy) I had written several idea for the killer and his backstory and then I started to think about too many things that would just clog up the story. I decided that I would give the killer a simple signature weapon but would leave it open for them to use anything that was within reach in the event I wanted to be extra creative with a kill. I want to take a few minutes and talk about the classic slashers villains and their weapons. This is something that Chris and I had a disagreement with in the beginning of our partnership. He's not a "horror guy" and he'll be the first to tell you that see I'm very much a horror guy and know how these things work. so lets talk about the classic Slasher kings and then alittle about the modern Slasher kings. JASON VOORHEES : The master of using whatever he can get his hands on to kill a horny teenager has used everything from an ice pic, a tent stake, a machete, hell Jason has killed someone with a freakin' party horn!! I love the spear gun in Part 3 as well as the liquid nitrogen in Jason X that was some cool shit! Jason can kill you with any weapon he finds or simply with his bare hands if he so chooses. Jason is a the master of dispatching horny drunk teenagers and it's no surprise he has the highest body count in slasher movie history with a massive 158 kills. FREDDY KRUEGER : This guy basically scared you to death in your dreams and people will say that he only killed with his finger knives and for the most part that is true however he did kill Kristen by burning her to death so not all of Freddy's victims fell at his blades. He also killed Taryn with needles in ANOES 3 : Dream Warriors. Sadly Freddy ranks third in the body count department (43) which surprises me you can do alot in the "Dream World" in terms of creative ways to kill people. MICHAEL MYERS : I love good ol' Michael he's a classic kitchen knife killer and there is nothing wrong with that but Michael has a knack to kill using some pretty messed up weapons, he stabbed that tramp Kelly Meeker by running a shotgun through her chest pinning her to the wall like a Goddamned picture ! Michael has used pitch forks, knives, and hand rakes. (my personal favorite) Michael ranks in at a solid #2 on the body count list (111) for good reason he's very creative lol. GHOSTFACE : This guy or girl (depending on the movie) was a force to be dealt with for sure. I mean yes alot of the kills were with the trusty hunting knife but Ghost face used brute strength to toss Cici Cooper off the balcony at the Sorority house. and he also used the Garage door to dispatch Tatum (I don't care that it's not possible because it was a shocking kill in the movie) Ghostface ranks seventh in the kill count. which given that there are only four movies in the series it's a healthy body count. CHUCKY : this little doll sure packs a punch doesn't he? I mean defending yourself should be as simple as kicking the little bastard across the room like your kicking a game winning field goal, right? Chucky is another slasher who used everything from a knife to a yoyo to kill people he took advantage of his size in many ways and entertained fans for many years. Chucky ranks in at #7 on the body count list with 32 kills. not bad for a pint sized killer. You'll notice I haven't written about some of the other slasher villains like Leprechaun ranked 4th on the body count (42 kills) Pinhead ranked 5th on the body count list (41 Kills) fan favorite Leatherface who is a shocking 8th on the body count list (24 kills) .
I didn't write sections in this blog about them because I don't pay too much attention to their franchises for any number of reasons. as you see I did my research to include them in the honorable mention section here but their brand of horror never really appealed to me. I think there is something to be said about each killer and their weapon selection as over the years and through their respective franchise these weapons have become a part of their character and one of the many reasons we began loving them and still love them after all these years and the countless times we have watched the movies. In conclusion I would like to say that during my writing process I often have grand ideas about making the "Next great slasher franchise" and at the same time I often ask myself this question.. "How many times can you reinvent the wheel?" It all been done in the slasher genre and in every other genre for that matter and smart film makers know this and will still try to make things seem fresh and interesting with the tools we have at our disposal..... Stay Humble, Stay Hungry My Friends :) I've made no secret that I love slasher movies and I've watched them all many many times. What are the elements that make it your favorite ?? Is it the number of times you watch them? Is it the body count? Is it the number of autographs you have from the stars of the series ? I have stated for so long that John Carpenter's Halloween is my favorite movie of all time in any genre of film but I ask you this does that mean Halloween is my favorite franchise ??? By : Jamie Santamore In all honesty I LOVE all of the classic Slasher franchises to some exctent, I like some more then others (Halloween, Friday The 13th, ANOES and Scream) as we all do and I have ones that I've only watched a couple of times .
(Texas Chainsaw Massacre) These movies all have HUGE fan bases and thats what I love about the horror genre we are the most passionate group of fans and that is a great thing. I've been thinking about what is truly my FAVORITE slasher series and because Halloween is my favorite movie of all time people assume that Halloween is my favorite series and I guess it used to be but after thinking about it I only watch Halloween & Halloween II a couple times a year and rarely watch the others unless my wife wants to watch them. My wife is a fan of ANOES and we watch that series a couple times a year. It was while I was watching Friday The 13th that I realized that it's my favorite series for any number of reasons. There really isn't a horrible entry in the series (I understand JGTH is a rough watch but it has it's good points) The continuity in the series is probably the most solid continuity in all of the 80's slasher franchises. People will site Part V : A New Beginning as a black eye on the series and I disagree because opposite of popular belief A New Beginning was a success at the box office costing 2.2 million dollars to make and grossed 21.9 million that's a successful movie. I actually enjoy A New Beginning for many reasons I like that fact that they didn't make the mistake of making a movie with out Jason. (They had an fake Jason) but "Jason" was a part of the story. I likwe they way the explained the fake Jason because it worked so well. My favorite movie in the series is of course the original and then Part 2 but after that some of my favorites would surprise many fans. I have done a blog in the past where I rank the films in the series and looking back on it now having seen each of the movies in the series several more times I understand that doing a ranking blog or video is subject to many factors and can change year to year, from month to month well hell from Day to day even..... I'm alot older and wiser then I was years ago. I look at movies alot differently then I did back then. I really enjoy the fact that they tried a couple of times to take Jason out of Crystal Lake, Jason Takes Manhattan and Jason X are really good installments in the series and I enjoyed them both because they were something new and different and they changed the setting for Jason to do his thing. Jason Goes To Hell was a good movie in that they tried (alittle too hard) to explain the Voorhees Mythology and on one hand I tip my hat to Adam Marcus for having the balls to do that but on the other I dislike the body switching part of the story. This movie, the story and the unknown Voorhees relations were interesting to me but confusing at the same time. I think adding Elias Voorhees (Jason's father) to the story at this point would've been interesting. I like the fact that Adam Marcus recently talked about the character of Crayon Duke and his backstory which once you know who he is and why he wants to end Jason once and for all the character makes 100% more sense. I have to say that as an autograph collector Friday The 13th is my part of collection with 33 signatures and counting (I have one wall in my office dedicated to my F13 collection) That's not a factor as to why Friday The 13th is my favorite series, I feel that Friday The 13th cast and crew are simply more accessible to their fan base and that's amazing to me. When I got into film making I made the choice to always be accessible to fans via social media and when I'm out in public and as I release more films I get more people asking for autographs and to talk about my movies which I love doing. I think alot of the cast from the Friday series understand that these movies have a HUGE worldwide following and they are a part of it and the respect the series for making them famous. I hope they bring Jason Back for another film (The 13th in the series) make it a masterpiece and then end the series on a high note but if another film comes out and it's a HUGE success then it will force the studio to make more films and honestly as long as they are good films I'm happy to watch them over and over again. With all that said my favorite franchise may change again in the future but I don't think it will as I watch Friday The 13th more then any other franchise because I'm very much into the story telling and the characters in the series. STAY HUMBLE, STAY HUNGRY MY FRIENDS :) ki.. ki.. ki.. mi.. mi.. mi.. By : Jamie Santamore I know not everyone that reads this blog follows my social media accounts but I'm a member of several horror groups on Facebook and they are a great tool to meet new fans and interact with the global fan base of Horror which is my main goal in joining these groups.
We talk about the movies we all love, the ones we thought could've been better and the ones we will never watch again and all of that is great, I rarely engage in disagreements with fellow fans because I believe everyone has their opinions and they are entitled to them like I am to mine. For example I happen to LOVE Rob Zombie's Halloween movies most people don't feel that way and that's okay with me. I was reading through posts on one one of the groups yesterday and they had one of those things where the color of your shirt and your favorite horror movie is the title of your horror movie and I usually comment on these ones because the answers are funny 99.9% of the time. I looked at my shirt and thought about my favorite horror movie and I didn't comment my answer because it inspired me with the Title of a future project. I became inspired by this post on Facebook and am now working on this project . Normally I would've just answer the question and posted my results in the comments section but I didn't want to give it away.. Inspiration can come from anywhere and it usually comes when you least expect it to, I have been inspired walking down the street not even thinking about writing or Horror, I've had an idea while sitting with my wife at Dunkin Donuts, I've had an idea while sitting in the doctor's office. This idea that hit me yesterday was weird because I hadn't thought of anything like it before. I'm now mulling over the details of the idea, working on story, characters, setting and outlining the details. 'm thinking of taking the title and applying it to a script I've already started thinking THIS title is a better one then the current title on the project... I have started carrying a notebook and pen with me everywhere I go now because I never know when my crazy brain is going to get a spark haha. Never think any idea is too silly to work, if you have an idea and it's a little "out there" work on it and if you come to a point where it simply doesn't work anymore put it away until you figure out a way to make it work. You will be surprised where you find inspiration for Titles, Characters Names, the places your story takes place I mean the possibilities are really limitless..... STAY HUMBLE, STAY HUNGRY MY FRIENDS :) This blog is a reply to several emails form friends / fans all over the world asking if I have or will ever run out of ideas. I find this question both interesting and annoying at the same time. As always I hope you enjoy the read and I hope this gives you a little peak behind the curtain into my mind . By : Jamie Santamore This is a question I get from many people on a regular basis and like I said in the beginning of this blog I find it both interesting and annoying at the same time. It's interesting to me because everyone runs out of ideas once in a while granted it doesn't happen to me as much as it does other people because my mind rarely shuts off.
I find the question annoying because I hear it often and I always answer it the same way, I say "Everyone runs out of ideas at some point, the trick is to start thinking in a different way or more so look at the project from a different angle and see where that takes you in the creative process.... Many people seem to confuse running out of ideas with writer's block ad the are NOT the same thing at all. I get writer's block way more then I run out of ideas. I've written a few times about the ways I beat writer's block but just to review shall we ? Beating writer's block : 1. Watch a movie in the genre I'm currently writing This gives me fresh ideas and ways to work through the block the quickest. 2. Go for a walk. When I'm walking my mind is free to wonder more so then when I'm in my office trying to write. I have come up with some of my best stuff while walking. 3. Have a snack. This will gives me time out of the office or from bend the computer and allows me space to have "outside the box" ideas. These are three ways I battle writer's block and they work for me most of the time. i was cooking my lunch today and listening to music and an idea popped into my head I ran into my office and grabbed a sticky note and jotted down the idea and it will either be the stat of a new screenplay or I'll work it into a project somewhere. That's another tip I give out often if you an idea write it down no matter how small or out there it is it could be something special that you don't have all the pieces to yet. I recently started keeping a notebook just for random thoughts and ideas I have and I have come up with some good ones in there. I had an idea for a short film based on a road sign that i pass everyday on my daily walk and I would think EVERY time I walked past it until one day the idea hit me and before I got home that day I had the characters, back story, the surprise twist and the ending figured out. Inspiration can come from anywhere you just have too see it. I wrote on Facebook today that for the first time in a very long time I don't have any pressing projects I'm working on and that I was going to take this time to refine the scripts for a few future projects . I have a few ideas kicking around the office but I'm not sure if I want to focus on writing new projects or focus on the scripts I've already got written and get them ready to shoot.... I think this is what they call #WriterProblems Haha, Have a great weekend everyone :) STAY HUMBLE, STAY HUNGRY MY FRIENDS :) By : Jamie Santamore I have been taking a beating from the fans lately about missed released dates, false updates on the progress of my projects and just alot of generalized hate from people who have no clue what goes on in my daily life and I've been quiet about it for a long time but I've decided to issue a statement on this blog because it's my blog and I'll talk about whatever the hell I want to on here so here it goes ....
We have missed the Halloween 2016 release date for Sins of Man II : Vengeance by over a year that is a fact, I will not dispute that however what I will dispute is what the majority of you fail to understand. When a movie has issues in the post production stage that ultimately causes a delay in the release of the movie, that is unavoidable. Even major Hollywood studios have issues that cause delays take next years Halloween they were supposed to go into production this fall for a Halloween 2018 release, they postponed production until January 2018 and may miss the Halloween release date. I look at it this way and I've said this before, hundreds of times in fact.. It's Quality over Quantity.. sure we could have hit that Halloween 2016 release date for Sins of Man II : Vengeance but it would not be the quality film that you expect but we would've hit the release date... We have hit roadblock after roadblock after roadblock with our latest project "The Vengeful One" with casting issues, scheduling conflicts, locations issues you name it we've had issues with it. I've been in a deep dark place recently with the way things have been going and have almost quit a few times because I can't seem to catch a break. I have talked about my fear of failure on this blog before when minor things happen I can get past them quickly and move on. It's when your lead actress quits in thew middle of production and you start to feel like your project is cursed that my fear rages and makes me want to quit and go back to life before I decided to jump into the deep end of indie film making. I was looking at the tentative release schedule the other day when I was feeling down about things and I see that we have "plans" for movies (both shorts and features) to come out over the next SEVEN years. I started thinking about the whole quality verses quantity thing and there are TWO projects on the schedule that I feel have the potential to be big hits and I'm thinking after we finish the Sins of Man trilogy next year I want to do right into one of the bigger projects and take my time to get the movie right and make it the best movie it can be and not worry about hitting a "release date" . See I never issued a public release date for "The Vengeful One" so I could focus on shooting the movie to the bets of my ability again I wanted to focus on Quality and make the script (I feel the best I've written to date) into the best movie I could. I guess the point of this blog to this point is to tell all the people sending me negative e-mails (dozens a day) to quote Packers quarterback Aaron Rogers I have one word for you relax that's R-E-L-A-X Sins of Man II : Vengeance is coming out Chris is working his fingers to the bone to make it something special. The Vengeful One is almost finished shooting. Now I want to address something that has been sent to me many times and that is the suggestion that I work on more then one movie at at time so my company always has something in the works or coming out. This is something I already do to a point, I'm ALWAYS writing something or working on promotional art for projects. Chris and I have decided that we will only have one project in production at a time because we are both very hands on with them and we simply can't be in two places at once. Makes sense right ?? I understand that major Hollywood studios have dozens of projects underway at a time and that's great for them, I'm a one man crew here in my small office in a small town in Maine. I run 5 facebook pages, 5 twitter accounts, 5 e-mail accounts, and 2 websites all by myself as well as run the day to day operations of Wicked Carnival Productions / Top Guy Productions on a shoestring budget (next to nothing) While I love being small town (small time) famous and love when someone asks for a picture or an autograph because it keeps me humble there are just as many (if not more) people out there who want to try to bring people like me down and I will not allow that to happen. I'm glad you're a fan and I understand you have a voice and as much as I encourage you to use it please remember that I'm human, I make mistakes, things don't always go according to plan (rarely actually) and delays are going to happen. You can always send me an e-mail I'm very fan friendly, I enjoy interacting with fans from all over the world and I'm, very active on facebook horror groups. If you send me a message I will answer you most likely that day but honestly it's to the point where I don't read negative messages anymore because I choose to look at the positives. Stay Humble, Stay Hungry My Friends :) By : Jamie Santamore "The Vengeful One" has been the most difficult production to complete in my short career. We have had to replace the lead actress four times. We have had scheduling conflicts with many of our cast members, we have had a hard time casting the role of the leads older sister we have had to move shooting dates around many times. we have set up shot lists so one cast member could shoot all her scenes in a single day which blew up in our face.. Lessons learned as they say.
I was so excited to get back on set today to wrap production when I got an e-mail last night from the actress who was to play the leads big sister saying that she couldn't do the role this email came in at 7pm so I had no time to try to scramble to get another actress so I made the decision to cancel this weekends shoot, recast the role and regroup. My entire cast has worked so hard to make this movie they have traveled great distances to come to Bridgton, Maine to shoot this movie and to them I can't say THANK YOU enough. It's frustrating for them and for me. All of them are working for IMDB credit and taking time out of their busy lives to trek up here to shoot a small indie short film. I'm sitting here writing this blog when I should be working to finish "The Vengeful One" this weekend. It's things like this that make me question the direction things are going in Top Guy Productions and thus with Wicked Carnival Productions. We will get back to work on "The Vengeful One" in December and wrap shooting then we will focus on getting it through Post production and released on a digital platform (not sure which one yet) as well as on DVD. "Things like this happen on every project" I have heard this from a few of the most experienced cast members involved with "The Vengeful One" and I know they are right but it seems like these types of things only happen to me. Do things like this happen on EVERY project ?? Is casting an issue for every indie film maker ? When I was casting Sins of Man : Rise of Mortis I literally cast anyone who answered the ad on Craigslist and that worked for me, I didn't hold auditions I just cast people. When Sins of Man II : Vengeance came around Chris and I held auditions. For "The Vengeful One" I held both in person auditions as well as video auditions and I got some amazing actors / actresses to be in this movie. I enjoy the asting process because you get to meet so many amazing people who have the same passion as you do for the art form of film making / acting. As I'm writing this blog I'm starting to feel more at ease and starting to feel that while "The Vengeful One" is delayed and thus the release date has to be pushed back will be wrapped in December and we will be sending it to festivals for consideration in the spring. We will also start casting for the final film in the Sins of Man trilogy in spring. Big things are on the horizon for us just wait and see Wicked Carnival Productions / Top Guy Productions is on the rise and we aren't stopping any time soon Stay tuned for more updates :) Stay Humble, Stay Hungry My Friends :) |
AuthorHere is where I will post my thoughts on upcoming projects, ask you fans questions and just talk about about all things horror and Wicked Carnival Productions . Past Blogs
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