Make-up FX Maestro Todd A. Britt brings another ghostly creation to life during the wee hours of the night.

Last night, Mutantville Productions wrapped principle photography on G.H.O.S.T. after a long fifteen hour shoot.  Kathy Sandvoss earned her final Scream Queen stripes and Super Diva status by battling her way through another challenging shoot.  Thanks to our good friend, couture designer, Luis Machicao for lending his tremendous talents in supervising the filming of his costume designs for the finale of the movie.  Lead actor Scott Thomas persevered another bloody and bruising shoot to bring our central ghost to life.  Clint Jones showed his horror heart by enduring several make-up sessions.  Dave Tunik gave his all in taking another bloody bite out of his role and a gelatin prop.  Jason Wheely gave a heartwrenching performance as a haunted young TV producer.  Jack Stecher pulled out all the stops to give a bravura performance as the crazy caretaker of the opera house.

Special thanks goes out to MVP’S own maestro of make-up FX – Todd A. Britt for bringing all of his Sith talents to bear in creating several macabre make-ups over the course of the fifteen hour marathon.  Additional thanks goes to Sylvia and Sierra for lending their talents to the make-up department by resurrecting our supernatural visitors once more.  Thanks again to Allan Whitley for toughing out another long night to lend a strong hand and keep our boomstick steady for another night.  Special thanks goes out MVP’S own Costume Diva, seamstress and assistant to Mr. Machicao, Angela Pritchett  who although unable to attend our final shoot due to schedule conflicts, put in many a long night on the set of G.H.O.S.T., lending her considerable costuming talents to help bring the production to life.  Thanks to John R. Sexton for putting on a layered performance as Grandfather last month.  Thank you to Kayli Tolleson and her mom Janna for lending their talent, energy and support to G.H.O.S.T. over the course of the shoot.  And last but not least a very special thanks goes to my mom, Momma Streebo, for being a beacon of strength and inspiration to me over the years and for dusting off her sewing machine to create Johnny Reb’s jacket in whole – mere days before the first shoot.  And to anyone that helped that I may have overlooked here, thank you for your help, we could not have done it without you all.  Thank you.

This project has been an amazing journey and I thank you all for sharing it with me.  Production may be complete – but post-production begins immediately as we will continue with editing, sound design and shooting final make-up FX shots of the movie.  Be sure to keep tuning in to Mutantville.com and Mutant TV for your up to the minute news on G.H.O.S.T., C for Chaos, and MVP.

~~Streebo

From Horror Hacker:  When I mention the trite phrase that horror movies are horribly sexist, I bet some female readers of this column shout an instant, fist-pumping “Preach on!” When I clarify that horror movies are horribly sexist against men, that’s when those same ladies decide that this preacher actually spews misogynistic lies. The prevailing belief is that horror flicks are sexist and that the targets are women. But if you do the basic math, the sexism is against men.Let’s look at this from a scientific perspective, and by “scientific” I mean in light of the theories of that early legend of science, Charles Darwin. Maybe you’ve heard of him? He’s the guy who coined that pesky phrase “survival of the fittest.” If only the fittest survive, and most horror movies feature a “final girl,” then what does that say about the genre’s stance on men? Or let’s go at this issue another way: Do you actually think horror movies portray females as weak? Tell that to Halloween’s Laurie Strode. Tell that to Scream’s Sidney Prescott.The winner of any fight is the one left standing — no one cares how you survive, as long as you do. If that survival comes wrapped in screaming, crying, pleading, more crying, running, a little more screaming, tripping, not being able to put the car keys in the lock and then finally sticking a knife in a bad guy? Yeah, you still won. So I don’t care how “weak” a final girl may look, if she’s the one who walks away, she’s the survivor and therefore the fittest.
Read the rest at the link below:

via AMC – Blogs – Horror Hacker – Scott Sigler – Dumb Dudes Die While Leading Ladies Live… Ah, the Sexism of Horror.

Halloween is a week from now, and there’s one very special way to celebrate it in Evans City, Pennsylvania this year, at Gary Streiner’s 2nd Annual Living Dead Festival. Recently, I interviewed Gary about his role in the production of NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Through Gary, I was able to interview another of the key people involved in the film: his brother, the producer and the actor who played Johnny, Russell Streiner.

Russ was an important part of the Latent Image, a commercial filmmaking company which he founded with George Romero. He’s since gone on to work on many films with another NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD collaborator, John Russo. Russ was gracious enough to take some time today and discuss the legacy of the zombie classic with me, for his fans at Icons of Fright.

Phil Fasso: How did you first get involved with George Romero?

Russ Streiner: I started off wanting to be an actor, which I pursued through high school. And after high school, I went to the Pittsburgh Playhouse School of the Theatre, and graduated from their two-year acting program. While I was there, I was working in stage shows at night, and at one of those, I was cast with another fellow. His name was Rudy Ricci, and we shared a dressing room. Rudy had been attending classes at Carnegie Mellon University (back then it was called Carnegie Tech). He was taking art classes there, and he met George Romero in an art class. George was transplanted, from the Bronx to Pittsburgh, to go to Carnegie Tech’s School of Painting and Design. Rudy brought George over to one of our shows one night, and that’s how I first got to meet him. Then, within maybe six or eight months, George called me and asked me if I would be willing to be an actor in a movie that he was putting together, called EXPOSTULATIONS. And I told him I would. I showed up for my very first day of production, and really became intrigued with the whole film production part of the business, which I knew nothing about. I stuck with EXPOSTULATIONS as an actor, and then also helped out on the crew. That’s how George and I first met. And we went on to set up a business and worked together for about 10 years.

PF: How did your experience in commercials and industrial films help you to put together a feature film?

RS: Any time you get a chance to practice your craft, whether it’s in short form like TV commercials or longer form like industrials, all of that goes to help you refine your craft. And that’s certainly how our whole group got helped out, all of which led up to 1967, when we did the actual filming of NOTLD.

Read the rest of this interview with a piece of Night of the Living Dead history click the link below.

via Icons of Fright News and Updates: An Interview with Russ Streiner.

From Fear.net: Making a horror movie can be a surreal experience. You spend long hours performing terrifying atrocities in front of the camera. Then the director yells “Cut!” and suddenly you’re headed over to the snack table to have a cup of coffee with the person you just disemboweled.

But sometimes, the line between making a realistic horror film and finding yourself knee-deep inside one gets a little too blurry and bloody for comfort. Here are ten of our favorite examples:

PEEPING TOM (1960). Here’s the good news: you get to star in your own movie. Here’s the bad news: the director likes to film his stars as he kills them, so he can capture their true expressions of fear. Talk about method acting. But hey, a gig’s a gig

via FEARnet’s Top 10 Horror Movies Inside Horror Movies – FEARNet.

From Fear.net:  Some say that clowns get a bad rap. Theory being that a few bad apples have used the guise of the otherwise trustworthy buffoon for their own maniacal missions, trading in red noses and balloon animals for killer candy and deadly ice cream.

So what do you think? Are they misunderstood friends to children and favorites of circus-lovers everywhere or rainbow-clothed jesters of Satan? Check out our list of the most evil clowns around and you be the judge. But beware when they knock you dead, they really knock you dead.

Violator – Spawn

Short on height, but big on girth, this demon-turned clown wants nothing more than to enlist some souls into Satan’s army.

via FEARnet’s Top 10 Creepy Clowns – FEARNet.

From ShockTillYouDrop.com:

How is this entry going to pick up the pieces five, frankly, left behind?

Patrick Melton: This is our third one out. With fourth and fifth film we were getting our footing on what the fans want. What makes a really good Saw movie, so I think with our third, we have a good grasp on that. It comes down to the “A” story. Not necessarily what John’s doing, or what Hoffman’s doing or what Amanda’s doing. It’s that “A” story that’s going to pull everyone together, the emotional hook. So there’s this new character and he’s going to bring us through to the end. With six, we put effort into it with Kevin to get a really good “A” story. It’s Peter Outerbridge, as William, and he has a connection with John and you’ll understand that early. You’ll understand the journey he has to take. When a trap starts, there’s a much more emotional connection and you’ll be rooting for this guy a bit more than you have rooted for anyone in the past.

Marcus Dustan: In terms of horror movies, Saw has been a nice introduction for four filmmakers so far. James Wan has hit it out of the park. Darren Bousman who is, right now, on Mother’s Day. Then, David Hackl is coming back and introducing a new format to these stories. Kevin Greutert, who has been a storyteller since day one, and he has crafted a tremendous visual story to go along with whatever we could have pounded out on the page. He’s a caring storyteller and he wants every audience member to feel the hit.

Melton: What he does well is, through the script process, he pays attention to the minutiae. That pays off. Especially in horror movies, there are the little things that get you. There are a bunch of little moments that set up the bigger moments.

Dunstan: It’s very emotional, too. For example the traditional Saw score didn’t quite fit this ending. It had to go in a new direction. If you were watching the endings of the previous entries, they have that Charlie Clouser score and on this, when we saw the first testing screening, Kevin was temporarily using other scores like [Requiem for a Dream]. It was building to a bigger moment emotionally. Clouser has busted his ass on this score and it’s aiming for the stands.

Read the rest of the interview at the link below.

via EXCL: Saw VI’s Marcus Dunstan & Patrick Melton- ShockTillYouDrop.com.

I ran out of ways to describe the talent and enthusiasm we have for this project and find myself resorting to simply telling you that we are doing some of our best work ever. The cast and crew continue to impress with their dedication and professionalism. Please enjoy your rest for the day. We have one more major scene to shoot next week, then we break for Halloween in order to prep for the major finale at the first of November. I continue to feel blessed and honored to work with you all. You inspire me to keep pressing hard working day in and day out to make G.H.O.S.T. the best short horror film of the year. Thank you all.

~~Streebo