TrentHaaga.com

Ummm ... Okaaay ....

2012-01-18T16:53:00.000-08:00

I simply threw the DEADGIRL 2 script up on the site as a "thank you" to some of the followers of my work, figuring that maybe a handful of people would want to read it.

Today I paid money to upgrade my keepandshare account, quadrupling the amount of downloads allowed. And the script is only .24 megs in size ... but it looks like in the next 15 minutes or so, my new massive daily allowance is going to be up already. I'm shocked. Seriously.

Not only that, but the little blog that couldn't hit the interwebs like crazy today. To whit:

Bloody Disgusting

Shock Til You Drop

Fangoria

I09

Bleeding Cool

Under the Gunn

Dread Central

... I knew that the movie had fans but didn't really think that a little pile of writing that's been sitting on my shelf for over a year and a half would generate so much hubbub. Pretty amazing.

So thank you to everyone that was interested enough to come here, download, and take the time to read it!

By the time I finish typing this, it will have reached its maximum allotted downloads for the day. But there will be another 500 or so downloads ready again tomorrow.

In the meantime, here's the German DVD art for my directorial debut CHOP, which comes out in Deutschland on April 27th!

- T

DEADGIRL 2 - The Screenplay

2012-01-17T13:55:00.000-08:00

There was some hoopla about a year ago about the fact that DEADGIRL 2 was being talked about. I'm not going to get into all of the terrible particulars that killed the project, but needless to say the outcome wasn't pretty and I don't think that a sequel will ever get made. It certainly won't get made with my participation. And it's probably the best that it remain this way.

But I did write a script for it. I always saw the original DEADGIRL as a condemnation of misogyny as opposed to being misogynous - the boys were the monsters, not the "monster" of the title. But a lot of people didn't see it that way. My idea for the sequel was to try and tell a story from the point of view of a female outcast and what would happen if she found the DEADGIRL this time ... instead of using the DEADGIRL for the impetus of her sexual fantasies, what if she used the DEADGIRL for her revenge fantasies instead? I also wanted to put the story back into the "really small rural town" where the first one was supposed to take place (we shot the first movie in Los Angeles and while it looks a lot like "anytown," it didn't capture that economic desperation that I was hoping for ... desperation that would have added to the boys bizarre and angry choices). What I ended up writing could maybe be described as "Precious meets The Pit with a zombie attack dog."

Maybe this movie would have sucked. Maybe people would have loved it. Who knows? It wouldn't have hurt to at least try, but alas it wasn't to be.

... So as a special treat to my fans and blog readers and the fans of the first DEADGIRL, I've decided to let everyone who's interested take a look at the un-produced screenplay. My wife, among others, is like, "Why would you do something like that? What if the project comes back to life? Why don't you just change the title and see if you can make it anyway?" I dunno ... for me, the work has already been done and to have it just sit on a shelf collecting dust seems unfair to the story. I've basically moved on to other things. I would only make this story if it was DEADGIRL 2. It's the only way that it would make sense for me (although, to be fair, the story could easily be sold as something else - the DEADGIRL herself is the only returning character). And that's just not going to happen.

Enough pontificating. Here's the script. I hope that people dig on it. Remember that it's a first draft, so I'm sure it's got all kinds of bumps and warts, but it is what it is. Enjoy and leave me some comments, whydontcha?

DEADGIRL 2: The Screenplay

- T

Yes, More CHOP Reviews ...

2012-01-14T15:26:00.000-08:00

Amazingly Positive Review from DREAD CENTRAL

Oh, the Horror!

DVD Sleuth

Beyond Horrible

Pop Culture Beast

Horror 101

Media Mike's

... and while we're at it, a few AMERICAN MANIACS (AKA FETCH) reviews, too!:

My boys at COUCH CUTTER like it!

Planet Fury HATES it with a passion!

Whereas Wicked Channel LOVES it with a passion!

... I like passion.

More updates on the way!

- T

DEADGIRL ... In College.

2012-01-12T17:23:00.000-08:00

A few posts back I talked briefly about how you know your movie is a genuine cult hit when fan fiction starts to be written about your characters.

Another sign is when the film becomes part of the curriculum at universities.

DEADGIRL co-director Gadi Harel tipped me off to this site. I can't quite figure out where this university is located (it seems that they may be in the Philippines), but they have a Contemporary Horror Film class where DEADGIRL is part of the curriculum. Not only that, but the students are required to write essays about the film! In a truly modern twist, the papers are submitted by the students to a blog which we can all read. So interesting to hear what people think of the movie when they're concentrating on analyzing it as opposed to critisizing it - two totally different forms of essay writing.

Check it out:

DEADGIRL University Essays

A "Final Project Slideshow" Presentation on DEADGIRL

... Very interesting!

-T

More CHOP Reviews ...

2012-01-10T13:26:00.000-08:00

Headline says it all. I'm too busy today to write much else ...

Gruesome Hertzogg Podcast

Acid Pop Cult

Just Press Play

DVD Verdict

Bloodborn Magazine

Examiner.com

- T

2011 Best and Worst ... One Man's Opinion

2012-01-07T18:46:00.003-08:00

The last few years I've written a big post that sort of re-capped the previous year. But due to a lack of time this year and a general sense of New Year's malaise, I'll just say that 2011 was a good but busy year. A lot of my time and energy went to raising a new little guy through the first year of his life … and for any of you reading this who have a kid can understand, that's just about enough.

But it was actually a pretty interesting year for me professionally. I had a bunch of older titles that had been in the can come out, my directorial debut finished up a great festival run and came out on DVD, I got in the director's chair again this summer to do Falling Still's music video and had a great time making it, I wrote a script that came damn close to getting shot, and I got paid good money to write a movie for the SyFy Channel and another one for the Lifetime Network. All in all, 2011 was pretty good to me. I'm hoping that 2012 is even better … and something tells me that it will be.

Last year I wrote down some thoughts on what I thought were some of the Best and Worst movies of the year and it got a lot of response, so I'm gonna give it a shot again this year.

THE BEST
I'm not gonna bother with a list of ten or five films … and I'm not gonna number them down to my favorite. These are just some of the movies that I enjoyed this year. Without further ado:

LIMITLESS - I made a rule this year that I wouldn't go see anything that was a remake or a sequel in the theater (DVD is still fair game, but I refuse to pay a babysitter and outrageous ticket prices for some tired re-hashes). A couple of slips happened (Max wanted to see Sherlock Holmes 2 last week), but in general I was pretty good about sticking to this rule. That meant that I found myself going to see some movies simply because they weren't sequels or remakes. Limitless was one of these "no other choice" movies and it completely surprised me. Sure, it's kind of a mess and sometimes doesn't seem to know what it wants to be … but that's because the central conceit is so great that I can see the filmmakers not being able to decide what a person would do with unlimited mental powers. Regardless, I found the film to be far more entertaining than it had any right to be. It was outrageous and fast-paced and the overall theme seemed to be if you can get hooked on drugs and there's a never-ending supply, you will succeed beyond your wildest dreams, which is pretty anti-Hollywood. I was into the film in general, but once the hero laps blood off of the floor in order to get high, I was totally sold. Limitless is why Hollywood should make more modestly-budgeted, non-tentpole, non-franchise movies … I only wish that more like this came out every year.

HANNA - Another "no other choice" movie that surprised me. Granted, the story is really nothing that we haven't seen before, but the execution is what worked for me. This was truly a "director's movie." In any other hands, this movie could have completely sucked. But it had enough long takes and interesting European/North African locations to give it a nice foreign/arthouse vibe while still providing the requisite action and butt-kicking. Not one of my favorite movies ever, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless.

SUPER - Fellow Troma alumni James Gunn really knocked it out of the park with this bizarro little flick. I thought that it was WAY stronger than SLITHER. I feel that maybe having a much smaller budget freed James up creatively and he was able to go wherever he wanted. As anyone who has seen CHOP or DEADGIRL maybe knows, I'm a huge fan of movies that make you laugh one minute and puke the next - some might complain about the fact that SUPER makes massive tonal shifts on a dime, but it's what I loved most about the film. My only real complaint is that it was a "superhero spoof-y" kind of film at a time when that trope seems a bit played out. Ultimately, this move could have been about a guy who watches Charles Bronson flicks and decides to fight crime with a pipe wrench and it wouldn't have made the film less compelling. I almost feel that the "superhero" aspect of the movie might have hurt its prospects … but as far as I'm concerned, it was a highlight of 2011.

THE LAST CIRCUS - Alex de la Iglesia is one of my all-time favorite filmmakers ever, so every time he makes a movie it's gonna end up on my "Best of" list. Granted, THE LAST CIRCUS isn't one of his best movies, but de la Iglesia's worst movies are ten times better than anything that comes out of America. Another movie that ranges wildly between comedic, horrifying, romantic, tragic, and absurd all at a moment's notice. It's available on Netflix instant, so queue that shit up!

THE SKIN I LIVE IN - Alex de la Iglesia wouldn't have made any movies if it weren't for his artistic and national predecessor, Pedro Almodovar. Almodovar is one of the most interesting and consistent filmmakers of the last few decades and THE SKIN I LIVE IN is another bizarro classic. Difficult to pigeonhole (as most of his work is), psychosexual in nature, full of long flashbacks and a complete shift right in the middle of the story might be counted as marks against the film from someone else, but I absolutely adored this movie. Also one of the few truly "arthouse" movies that I was able to catch in the theater (I've got two young kids … going to the theater is a major accomplishment for me these days). I had one of those swelling in the chest/this is why I love movies moments that is becoming rarer and rarer for me. Even the non-stop, disgusting, phlegmy coughing from the patron right behind me wasn't enough to distract me from THE SKIN I LIVE IN … and that's a mean feat, cause that fucker sounded like they had a particularly virulent form of H1N1.

BURNING PALMS - This one went straight to video and I Netflixed it on a whim. It's kind of a CREEPSHOW-like anthology film but in the what the fuck? genre. I consider it to be a comedy, but some might be disturbed or disgusted by it. Jokey shorts about a bunch of miscreants living in Los Angeles … themes include incest, murder, rape … This movie got slammed by reviewers, but what the hell do they know? A total out of left field surprise for me. It's available on Netflix instant now.

THE PERFECT HOST - CHOP kept playing at festivals with this movie that I'd never heard of. It came out on DVD and I Netflix'ed it immediately. Look, I'm not gonna say that this is a great movie by any stretch of the imagination … but there's something interesting here and in a year of shit movies, that's enough for me to include it here. What was nice was that THE PERFECT HOST was a really simple, low-budget movie bolstered by a few good twists and a truly lunatic performance by FRASIER's David Hyde Pierce. I had a good time with this one, which is also available on Netflix instant.

RED, WHITE, & BLUE - I really liked Simon Rumley's THE LIVING AND THE DEAD and this one absolutely blew me away. It's one of those movies that I wish that I had made. What I like to call a "day-wrecker" - you'd better watch it at the end of the day because you'll spend the rest of the day wanting to blow your brains out. Anchored by three rock-solid performances and capped off by one of the most depressing murders I've seen. Watch it. Love it. Support it. There just aren't enough bold filmmakers like Rumley working today.

DRIVE - On a ton of people's best of lists for a reason. I've always been a fan of director Refn, so it came as no surprise to me that I loved DRIVE. Leave it to a European to make a movie that felt like a classic American film from 3 decades ago. Nuff said.

BREAKING BAD - It's not a movie, but it's the best goddamned television show I've ever watched. Can't wait for the final season …

THE WORST
This list is tougher for me and it's not because I saw so many great movies this year. It's because most movies are absolute garbage and I don't really want to write a novel here. I mean, why bother attacking totally unnecessary remakes and sequels like FRIGHT NIGHT or THE THING or TRANSFORMERS 3? If you're stupid enough to pay to see these things in the theater then you deserve the brain-fucking that lifeless shit like this gave you. Why talk shit about pointless junk like CHILLERAMA or CHROMESKULL? Once again, if you took the time to watch these things, you pretty much know that you're reverting back to a time when you were a mildly brain-dead 13 year old with no discernible taste. I can't waste time bashing on shit that was destined to be shit from the moment it was conceived. So this year, my WORST OF list is gonna be shorter than my BEST OF list. And the qualifying factor for me is if I had high hopes for a film. if I somehow got caught up in the hype or created expectations that were ultimately dashed by the final product. So here we go …

DRIVE ANGRY - For some reason that I can't explain, I kind of liked MY BLOODY VALENTINE 3D even though it's decidedly NOT a good movie. So when the creative team behind MBV3D announced DRIVE ANGRY with Nicolas "Insane-o" Cage and described it as a high-octane, old-school, unapologetic exploitation/action throwback, I was pretty much sold. Add that to the fact that it was "shot in 3D" and not post-converted by a filmmaker who obviously knows his way around 3D technology, I threw down my sixteen bucks or whatever it was and proceeded to a mostly empty theater. Where I promptly became bored. Then more bored. Then even more bored until the movie came to a blissful end. I don't even know what went wrong with this … pretty much everything. If you're going to claim to be insane and balls-out, you need to show me something that I haven't seen in a billion other cheaper movies. And you have to do it bigger and better than a person who had a fraction of your budget decades ago. I just found the whole thing to be limp and featureless. All of the horror fan sites seemed to love it and lambasted their "people" for not supporting the film in the theater. I was one of the few who did and regret it. I've almost thought about re-renting it on DVD to give it another shot, but am pretty certain that I still won't like it. I dunno … I have a feeling that a lot of you might disagree with me on this one, but it wasn't nearly the thrilling joyride that it was sold to me as. If I want exploitation, I'll head over to the New Beverly and watch a movie from 1975 that has more balls, attitude, and tits than DRIVE ANGRY.

SCREAM 4 - I don't care what anybody says - I absolutely love the first SCREAM. The other ones left me a bit cold, but I figured that after a decade and a half break, maybe the two original creators would come back and knock it out of the park again … after all, there's a whole new generation of movie-goers that were kids at the time of the first movie to lampoon and then slaughter. Instead we got stuck with the same old characters that should have died in part 2, a bunch of un-remarkable new teenagers, and a ton of useless dialog and exposition that lead nowhere. The worst part is that I knew it was gonna suck after the terrible "meta-reflexive" opening … and then had to sit through two more hours of tired horror movie cliches. Disappointment with a capital "T" … but, then again, how stupid was I thinking that it would be anything but?

HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 - I thought that the first one was hilarious and cheeky and entertaining as hell, even if it was kind of goofy and silly. When I heard the plot breakdown for Part 2, I thought that it was going to be a lambasting of horror fanatics and mouth-breathing movie dorks that would skewer the whole genre. Instead, it was a boring re-tread of a million other "fat mama's boy serial killer" movies that I've seen before. Sure, it was gruesome. But it just wasn't fun at all. To tell the truth, I was kind of bored by it. I had much higher expectations for Tom Six, but it appears that he may be a one-trick pony with nothing else to say beyond HC1. Not a terrible movie technically, but no reason for it to exist … like most sequels.

INSIDIOUS - Everybody kept raving about this, so a month after it came out Lynh and I made a special trip to the movies to find out what all the hoopla was about. I'm still trying to figure it out. It's not that I HATED this movie - it's really to slight to HATE outright. But I'm completely at a loss to figure out why everyone loved it so much. It felt like bunch of cheap jump scares followed by a low-budget music video from the 90's - the Othering or whatever the place was called looked like a cheap set obscured by a malfunctioning fog machine. And people in white face dressed like they're from the 1920's just aren't scary - even when you have them move with cheesy jump cuts. Like I said, I didn't despise the film, just didn't understand what everyone was going crazy about.

And there you have it. A few thoughts on movies from last year. Now let's hear some comments!

- T

Man ...

2012-01-05T17:17:00.000-08:00

... I still haven't finished my dang Best & Worst list. But I've been out of town with the family for a few days and just now got back to the works of the internet, etc. I'm gonna get to it, I swear ...

... But there's just too damned much news to not do a quick update beforehand. Here we go ...

AMERICAN MANIACS came out on VOD on some cable carriers on Sunday. Apparently MY cable carrier, Time Warner, doesn't have it. But if you've got ComCast or Insight, you can watch it right now!

Not too many reviews out there yet, but 28 Days Later Analysis just put one up:

28 DAYS LATER ANALYSIS Reviews AMERICAN MANIACS

CHOP seems to be doing pretty well so far - I've gotten some really kind words via email and Facebook about it and the reviews have been pretty favorable so far. Considering that the movie was made so inexpensively and in such a short amount of time, it's nice to see people giving it a fair shake and it's also nice to see that reviewers, even if they're only feeling so-so about the movie, still seem to think that it's unique and interesting. Here are a few new reviews:

Film Arcade Reviews CHOP

Hollywood Soap Box Reviews CHOP

FEARNet Reviews CHOP

Film Monthly Reviews CHOP

In other CHOP news, we're going to be playing at one final film festival in a few short weeks - CHOP will be screening twice at the 14th Annual San Francisco Indie Fest in February! I'll blast out an official blog post on this once the pages and dates go up, but this could be your last chance to see CHOP on the big screen!

Speaking of last chances at the theater, I've just been informed that DEADGIRL will be playing two midnight shows this weekend in New Orleans! My last blog posting was about how DEADGIRL had gained some cult status by having fan fiction made about it ... well being screened as a midnight movie alongside such cult classics as ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW and BLADE RUNNER further cements the film's cult status. Who knows, maybe it'll be doing midnight shows somewhere ten years from now. In the meantime, if you're in the Big Easy, here's your chance to see it again:

DEADGIRL Midnights in New Orleans

As Ah-Nuld says ... I'll be back!

-T

In the Meantime ...

2011-12-30T17:40:00.000-08:00

... I'm trying to put together my end of the year wrap-up and BEST & WORST list right now. Hopefully it'll be up in the next few days. In the meantime ...

... You know that you've made a bonafide cult classic when fans of the movie start to write gay-themed fan fiction about characters that you've created. I found these when I was just following links on Twitter and was surprised to find not one, but three "Rickie and JT from DEADGIRL" fan fiction scenarios!

Here they are. Be warned that they've got some graphic homosexual love-making in 'em ... although if you're visiting my site then this kind of thing shouldn't offend you at all ... It's all in good fun and full of love (both between the characters and from the writers of these stories):

"Apology Accepted"

"Bad Boys"

"The Stars"

Totally awesome. I love the fact that people are taking the characters that I created and running with them!

-T

A Quick Update ...

2011-12-29T15:47:00.000-08:00

... It's been a few days since the release of CHOP on DVD and VOD. It's also an incredibly slow week for the internet review sites and bloggers, so hopefully more reviews will go up next week. The ones that HAVE gone up have been overwhelmingly positive. Figured I'd share some:

Godsmack's Shannon Larkin Reviews CHOP

About.com Reviews CHOP

Critical Outcast Reviews CHOP

A Really Entertaining Review From OMGJeremy

... But not everyone loves the movie (and that's okay). In the interest of fairness, DVD Snapshot only found it to be "meh."

DVD Snapshot Reviews CHOP

When I started this blog there was really only one option for color and look. And that's the one I've been sticking with for the last several years. In keeping with my new "dedicated blogger" status, I've decided to mess with the look and functionality of the site. It'll probably change more once I take the time to really explore my options, so be prepared for that!

Coming soon: my year-end wrap-up and BEST & WORST list ...

-T

Today is the Day to Get CHOP-ped!

2011-12-27T12:57:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is, the day that every filmmaker dreams about, huh? CHOP is available all over North America today and that means that it's probably already available for illegal download, as well. But I'm hoping that those of you who know me and visit the site will if not buy it, then at least rent it on iTunes or order it on VOD today ... CHOP is an example of truly independent filmmaking and no one will be "sticking it to The Man" by downloading it off of Bittorrent ... It's readily available on iTunes, Amazon, Target, WalMart, and other retailer's websites and conveniently on VOD if you're so inclined:

It was a little over two years ago that I called "that's a wrap" on CHOP and a lot has happened since then, but I just wanted to take a moment to thank EVERYONE that was involved in the film ... screenwriter Adam Minarovich (without whom there would be no movie), Executive Producer Pan Dongming (there would SERIOUSLY be no movie without his generous input and trust in me), Producers Jeff Hamilton and Chad Ferrin and the rest of the crew, my awesome cast - in particular Timothy Muskatell and Billy Bakshi, who were there every day. Also all of the festivals that played the film (too many to mention individually), and of course Bloody Disgusting Selects/Salient Media/The Collective for picking up the film.

I'm hoping that some reviews start to go up this week ... I'm quite curious to see how actual paying customers respond to the film. But in the meantime, I'm gonna throw up a few significant links right here along with a few behind-the-scenes shots ...

RYAN'S REVIEWS is a site that's been super-supportive of the movie and did three interviews for the release:

Ryan's Reviews Interviews Lead Actor Billy Bakshi

Ryan's Reviews Interviews Producer Jeff Hamilton

Ryan's Reviews Interviews Director Trent Haaga

Like I said, I hope to put up some links to some reviews this week (and I also plan on another festival announcement, if you can believe that!), but in the meantime, here's a new and (almost ridiculously) positive review that went up this week:

IGOR'S LAB Reviews CHOP

Well I guess that's it for now, but I'll be back several times in the next week ... Gotta do my end of the year "Best and Worst of" list and I'm planning to do a pretty ridiculous giveaway very soon. But you'll have to come back here to find out what it is!

Oh, and go purchase a copy of CHOP, whydontcha?

-T

Big Holiday Update ...

2011-12-26T12:46:00.000-08:00

The holidays kicked my ass this year. The last month of the year is insane for most and mine was no different, especially considering my birthday is the 22nd and now Bronson is old enough to participate ... It was a crazy but successful end of 2011, which wasn't a bad year all around. I'm gonna do a quick catch-up update here but will be back a could more times before 2012 - of course I've got to update tomorrow, the release date for my directorial debut and then there's the end-of-the-year wrap-up post, so come back before New Years!

As I said, it was my 40th birthday on the 22nd. Lynh threw an awesome surprise party here at the house last weekend. I'm kind of a baby-face and it frustrates me to no end that I can't grow a manly beard, so Lynh and my good buddy Jeff "The Beard" Sisson collaborated to have my friend and special FX maestro Jim Ojala apply a big-ass ZZ Top beard for my party. Check it out:

Here's Jim getting ready to apply the beard:

My lovely wife and organizer of the whole she-bang:

Billy Bakshi, star of CHOP:

Author and director extraordinaire John Skipp and Allison McGillicuddy:

ISLE OF DOGS and KILLJOY 2 director Tammy Sutton with Tim Polecat:

And me pre-beard with my main man, David Chirchirillo:

Good times were had by all and it was great to see all of my friends, old and new, who came to usher me into what is considered middle age ... So thanks to everybody who showed up.

The day after my birthday, I began my descent into a mid-life crisis by getting a tattoo, something that I haven't done in 20 years. I figured why not make it count and totally made myself unavailable to work in the corporate world by doing my hands ... What the hell, right? I mean, I am halfway through my projected lifespan. And I'm playing this artist/creator thing to the bloody end. Check out my gangster/nerd ink work:

That's it for personal updates. I'm thinking about resurrecting my Facebook page but only to use it as a portal to this blog ... gonna see if I can figure out how to make the page live, but disable commenting, etc., so that I can simply throw up links to new blogs ...

I'll be back tomorrow for a big CHOP RELEASE update.

- T

More CHOP Stuff ...

2011-12-12T15:35:00.000-08:00

Just a quick one today.

You can download an exclusive .mp3 of the CHOP END THEME SONG from distributors BLOODY DISGUSTING SELECTS right now:

Free CHOP Music Download

It's a techo-y little ditty composed and performed by my man Justin Hersh. Enjoy!

I don't even have a Facebook page, so I'm not totally sure what Get Glue is, really. But they're doing a promotion to win one of those DVD/Poster combo packs right here:

Get Glue CHOP Promotion

Yeah. That's it for the moment. More to come!

- T

A Very CHOP-py Holiday Season

2011-12-09T17:01:00.000-08:00

Bloody Disgusting is coming up with new and fun ways to promote the December 27th release of CHOP. In addition to the contest (two posts back), they've just released a series of pretty damned funny holiday greeting Ecards:

There are a bunch of other designs, as well. Be sure to spread the gruesome holiday cheer and help promote my little directorial debut while you're at it!

BLOODY DISGUSTING'S CHOP HOLIDAY GREETING ECARDS

I just got home from shooting a small scene in my good friend Caleb (Die You Zombie Bastards, Frankie in Blunderland) Emerson's newest feature film. Caleb is a hell of a guy and I'm happy to finally have landed a role in one of his movies!

I'll leave it up to Caleb to release info about said film when he's ready for it, but in the meantime here are a few phone shots from high in the Angeles Forest mountains!

Back for more updates soon!

- T

A Mutually Beneficial Christmas?

2011-12-06T11:39:00.000-08:00

Wow, I'm a blogging fool these days ... just like I promised.

Anyway, it's the holiday season and things always get a bit tight during this month what with all of the kids and nephews and nieces, etc. Not only that, but I always go through a "spring cleaning" phase at the end of the year ... so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and put up some stuff on eBay just in time for Christmas. Maybe you're not in the market for out of print paperback books and comics, but I am selling some incredibly rare and one-of-a-kind Troma stuff that's been sitting around for decades. Maybe you're a Troma fan. More than likely you've got a big Troma fan on your Christmas list. If that's the case, you should follow the link and check out some of the cool and unique items (that I've listed at incredibly generous prices). You get a unique and one-of-a-kind gift and I get money to buy nice things for my family ... everybody wins! Check it out:

Trent's Christmas eBay sale

I was watching some videos on YouTube yesterday and found this cool little 18 minute behind-the-scenes video about the making of HELL ASYLUM (which I wrote, acted in, and Produced back in 2001). It's pretty neat and shows the trials and tribulations of making a fast and cheap movie ... Tim Muskatell from CHOP is featured in it and, man, do the two of us look young and thin here! Check it out, it's pretty interesting:

More updates later in the week maybe ...

- T

CHOP Contest!

2011-12-05T16:10:00.000-08:00

Hey, all!

Here's a phone shot of the package that I got on Saturday:

Got a box with some CHOP DVDs from Bloody Disgusting and some sweet CHOP mini-posters. I signed a bunch of them and just sent them back to B-D as prizes in their CHOP CONTEST!

Wanna help promote the film and maybe win a signed DVD, movie poster, and a chance at a $100 gift card? All you gotta do it run over to the CHOP page and enter to win:

CHOP Contest Page

In the meantime, the AMERICAN MANIACS news finally got picked up by a couple of sources:

Bloody Disgusting's AMERICAN MANIACS Story

Dread Central's AMERICAN MANIACS Story

And the trailer is finally available for me to embed here on the site, so I'm gonna do it:

More cool updates coming soon, I promise!

- T

3 Releases This Month!!

2011-12-02T11:00:00.000-08:00

I know that I try to keep working as much as I possibly can, but it's a rare occurrence when THREE movies that I'm involved in come out in the same month ... So here's a quick re-cap (in order of release date):

JESSICKA RABID hits DVD on December 13th from Troma. But if you can't possibly wait that long, it's currently available for rent on youtube:

RENT JESSICKA RABID on YouTube

CHOP - My directorial debut hits DVD and VOD from the fine folks at Bloody Disgusting Selects on December 27th. It'll be available on Amazon and Netflix and everywhere else that still sells DVDs. For obvious reasons, I hope that everyone goes out and buys or orders the movie during their holiday breaks!

American Maniacs - I know that I just announced this movie less than a week ago, but it's coming out exclusively on VOD on January 1st, 2012! I made a mistake in the last posting when I said that Automatic Entertainment was the distributor - apparently they're only the sales agents behind the film and the actual distributor is PHASE 4 FILMS, who recently released Kevin Smith's RED STATE.

PHASE 4 FILMS' American Maniacs info page

Wow ... that's a lot of new product for a 30-day period.

Another update in just a few days ... have a great weekend!

- T

Holi-daze ...

2011-11-28T12:58:00.001-08:00

I planned on updating this blog once a week and it looks like it's been eight days since the last update. Nice. I'm already off schedule!

I blame the Thanksgiving holidays. Which were nice. Family time and food. But you didn't come here to read about how much turkey I ate, so ...

... I'm doing this blog update for the first time on my new computer! I've been using the good old reliable 12" PowerBook G4 for the last eight years. It was a warhorse that served me well through many a screenplay, but I've been thinking about getting a new laptop for months and really needed to buy one before the end of the year so that I can write it off since I had a good earning year. I'm always hesitant to spend money on myself, but it's a work expense, right? So I took advantage of Apple's (admittedly weak) Black Friday discount and bought a 13" MacBook Pro ... and HOLY CRAP, it's like night and day! My computer keyboard lights up! The screen is so clear (and bigger - that one inch difference is massive in my eyes)! I can FaceTime and Skype with this built-in camera! And the speed ... good Lord, the speed ...

Not a TON of project news to report at the moment, but I've always got something up my sleeve ...

I wrote a screenplay many years ago that was shot in Lawrence, Kansas at the beginning of 2010 by director C.M. Downs and Dripping Dead Films. It stars Ashlynn Yennie, whom you may know of as the ass-end of THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE. It was called FETCH. Now it's called AMERICAN MANIACS. And it got picked up for distribution from Automatic Entertainment. That's about all that I know at the moment (no release date has been set as far as I can tell, but I'm assuming early 2012). But there's a new poster and trailer for it and they're both pretty cool as far as I'm concerned. Dig on em:

AMERICAN MANIACS TRAILER

RIght now, I've got no less than three projects that I wrote in various stages of prep - the SyFy movie (I just saw some amazing creature designs for the film, but unfortunately can't share them with you ... still, I was pretty excited to see them), the Lifetime movie, and another one that I can't report on just yet. So that means I should have a lot to share in the coming months. But right now I've got to get some research done for this bio-movie that I signed on to write.

I promise to keep updating and I've got some pretty interesting things going up here shortly. I'll see you again in less than seven days ...

- T

What's Going On?

2011-11-20T13:20:00.000-08:00

I'm sure that some of this stuff was pointed out on my old Facebook page. But it's a new, bloggier era, so it's time to do a re-cap of what the heck's been going on in my world work-wise ... Get your reading glasses out!

CHOP - My directorial debut comes out on DVD and VOD in a little over a month (December 27th, to be exact) from the fine folks at Bloody Disgusting Selects. It was exactly two years ago to the day that we were running around Los Angeles shooting this little project, so the turnaround from shoot to release is actually pretty impressive. Especially since we premiered the film less than a year after shooting it. Now that the festival run has ended (and, wow, did we play some spectacular festivals in some amazing countries - 16 festivals in all and I wanna thank each and every one of them), it's time to prepare for the North American DVD release. So ...

Here's the official DVD artwork:

Bloody Disgusting cut a new trailer for the release, which looks like this:

And it's available for pre-order on Amazon.com, so go ahead and add it to your Christmas lists now!

But what of non-North American release, Trent?

Well, we sold the film to I-On New Media in Germany and Variety ran a story about us getting picked up by WTF Films for international sales, so hopefully we'll have some more news about international release very soon.

What's important to me right now is that I direct another movie in 2012 ... there are things happening in this arena already. I've got the script that I want to shoot and have a few pieces of talent attached, and I just got some of the investment commitment that I need, so you'll be hearing more about my next film in the coming months if all goes well ...

Where the Dead Go To Die - I did character voice work for a really bizarre and twisted animated film called Where the Dead Go to Die, directed by Jimmy ScreamerKlaus. It's going to be coming out in February on DVD and Blu-Ray from Unearthed Films and it's one strange and disturbing project that I'm tickled pink to be involved in. But don't just take my word for it. Check out this creepy trailer:

JESSICKA RABID - My old compatriots at Troma are finally releasing this film that I shot in Tucson back in 2007. I'm fond of this gritty little throwback-style film (though, admittedly, it won't be to everyone's taste), so it's nice to see that it's finally getting out there. Troma releases it on December 13th. Here's the box art:

And a few links:

Pre-Order Jessicka Rabid on Amazon.com

Zombies Don't Run Reviews Jessicka Rabid

Cinema Head Cheese Reviews Jessicka Rabid

KILLJOY'S REVENGE - Redbox picked up Killjoy 3 and re-titled it Killjoy's Revenge. Apparently there are like a billion copies of it out there and the movie's doing really well ... does this mean that there will be a Killjoy 4? Only time will tell. In the meantime, here's the (slightly) new box art:

Okay, that just about catches us up with movies that are coming out soon ... but that's nowhere NEAR all of the news to report. Because I'm always out there, pounding the pavement, trying to get more projects off the ground.

So what ELSE have I been up to?

A few weekends ago I had the pleasure of acting in the new short film directed by John Skipp and Andrew Kasch (and written by Cody Goodfellow) entitled STAY AT HOME DAD. I had a great time doing this and got to work with some awesome people. Andrew directed the Nightmare on Elm Street documentary Never Sleep Again and John Skipp ... well, I've been reading his novels since high school and he's one of the progenitors of the whole Splatterpunk movement, so needless to say I was thrilled to work with him. Not only that, but the guy who played my Dad in the short was none other than the amazing character actor Ricky Grove (you may know him best as "Henry the Red" in Army of Darkness).

I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product. Here's a shot of Skipp and myself on set:

Primarily these days, though, I've been making my living as a screenwriter. I know that I've kind of dropped some hints and things in the previous months, but as a special thanks to the few of you who have followed me from Facebook, I'm gonna let go of some info that hasn't been released anywhere ...

I wrote a SyFy Channel original movie this year. I haven't been able to say anything about it, but I went to the American FIlm Market last week and happened to see a giant sales board with the title, director, and even a small synopsis on it ... so I'm gonna assume that it's cool to post this photo:

I wrote the one called HEEBIE JEEBIES. From what I understand, it's going to start shooting in February. That's all I can tell you for now, but I'll post more info here as it becomes available!

But wait. There's more exclusive Trent Haaga Blog news that's never been on Facebook. HEEBIE JEEBIES wasn't my only television movie script this year. I also recently wrote a film for ... get ready for it ... the Lifetime Network.

Yeah, that's right. I know that it sounds kind of crazy that the guy who wrote The Toxic Avenger 4 and DEADGIRL is now writing for Lifetime ... but you know what? I really love the material (it's quite twisted stuff based on a true crime story) and Lifetime is awesome to work with - they're smart and really cool and they pay well ... but that is seriously all I can say about this project at the moment. As usual, more will come when I'm allowed to talk about it ...

... And I just signed up to write yet another really interesting script based on another true story ... these "based on true story" scripts (Poor Things, the Lifetime movie, this one) really seem to be the direction that I've been moving in as a screenwriter and I couldn't be happier ...

There are even MORE projects to report about in the near future, but I'm waiting for the okay to talk about some of them ... others I'm just saving for a slow news week ... regardless, I plan on updating this blog at LEAST once a week, more when there are things to announce. It's gonna be good times over here in my tiny corner of the internet!

My god, that's a lot of stuff ... Do you know how many tweets I'd have to write to put out this much information?

And that's why blogging is the new future of the internet (again) as far as I'm concerned.

Thanks for reading. Leave me some comments, whydontcha?

- T

Why???

2011-11-18T15:00:00.000-08:00

Why haven't I updated this damned blog in MONTHS? It's not like I don't have things to chat about ...

I got a message from a friend on Facebook not too long ago asking this question. And now, a week later, I'm just getting around to answering it ... It's because of Facebook. It's just too easy to pop on there and shit out a small thought and then leave again. So that's what I've been doing. And it's kind of stupid, really. I'm not a huge fan of Facebook. And don't get me started on Twitter. Facebook is a useful tool, but I feel that it's totally feeding into the 21st century "short attention span theater" mindset ... not only that, but it's kind of like some weird popularity contest or something: How many friends do YOU have? And Twitter? Twitter is like standing in a crowded room full of people and yelling non-sequiturs at the top of your lungs in the hopes that someone else will hear them.

But I, like everyone else on the planet have a Facebook page and a Twitter account (to be fair, my Twitter account is mostly ignored - it just happens to mirror updates on the CHOP - The Movie Facebook page). I think that it's time to change that.

I started this blog back in the day, long before the social networking thing really took off. To me, it was a way to remain personable with friends and family and the occasional fan that happened to come by. It took some time and effort to write something worth reading and it took some level of effort for you to come and check it out - I mean, damn, having to type trenthaaga.com into the nav bar and then having to read a statement over 140 characters long ... when was this? The 20th Century?

I dunno, call me an old fogey. Call me old fashioned. Perhaps you could call me revolutionary. But I'm ready to return to the days of yore.

That's right. I'm gonna de-activate my Facebook account.

This isn't something that I'm doing in response to anything in particular. It's something I've been contemplating for some time. I understand that Facebook is a good marketing tool to some extent ... but instead of shouting out the release of CHOP on DVD to 2,500 people (only of which a fraction will go out and buy or rent it), why not laser-target the people that really, genuinely WILL buy it? The very same people that will type my URL into their nav bars and stop for a second to read a blog entry and then maybe even leave a comment for me here (or, better yet, contact me at my actual trenthaaga@gmail.com email addy)?

What I'm saying here, I guess, is that if you're coming here and reading this, then you're the kind of friend that I really want ... the kind that took the time and trouble to find out what I'm really up to, not the kind who peripherally find out because you're scrolling through your news feed.

I'm just a dude trying to make a living working in the film industry. I'm not trying to be famous. Just happy, successful, working and visited by a smaller group of people that want to interact old school style with me. I'll make the extra effort to write about my thoughts and accomplishments here if you make the extra effort to come and visit me, okay?

That said, I'm finished for the time being. But look for a "what's been going on in Haagaland" update in the coming days.

I sincerely mean it when I say thanks for visiting my blog.

- T

Slasher Baby!

2011-08-16T12:04:00.000-07:00

Here's a short starring my son Bronson and my buddy David Chirchirillo. Bronson made this when he was zero years old and was actually a pretty good actor and easier to work with than some "professional" "grown up" actors that I've worked with in the past.

Enjoy!

- T

Retro CHOP ....

2011-08-15T11:57:00.000-07:00

My main man, Jeffrey Sisson, is all about making these kick-ass retro-style DVD covers these days. Not only is Jeff an actor in CHOP, he's an awesome artist, lead singer of the Bigfoot-themed death metal band TROGLODYTE, one of my best buddies in the world, and the godfather of my son Bronson! We loves us some Jeff Sisson out here in Haagaland. Check it:

Speaking of CHOP, we're having our Mexican Premiere at the Macabro Film Festival on August 27th!

Which means the film is coming closer to home, but no U.S. or Los Angeles screenings to speak of ...

That's it for now. I've got some more interesting news on a completed project's release, but have to wait until I get the okay to talk about it. Any day now, I think, as I've seen the poster and trailer already ... Keep coming back for more news and stuff.

- T

CHOP Australian Premiere!

2011-08-10T11:34:00.001-07:00

CHOP continues its global domination (we can't seem to get a screening in our home country to save our lives ... Boston screening has been the only U.S screening so far)!

That's right, folks from Sydney, Australia - you'll be able to see CHOP on Friday, September 9th!

You can check out the festival's CHOP page by clicking HERE.

That's it for the moment. My music video has been up for three days and we've only got 1,300 views ... spread the word and help me get the video seen so that the band'll hire me for another one!

- T

Falling Still Video!

2011-08-08T15:44:00.000-07:00

... Here it is, my first music video! We shot it in one day out in the desert during the last week of June ... good times and I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. Enjoy!

- T

3 Months Since the Last Update?

2011-07-18T15:24:00.001-07:00

Are you serious? What the HELL is wrong with me?

As I said in the last post, it's been a pretty busy time for me. Lots of projects came up. Some of them died on the vine only to be replaced by new ones ... that's what happens in the movie biz, I guess. Plus - and I know I blog about this enough but feel that I must reiterate - I'm always hesitant to hop on here and blog about every damn thing that happens ... I try to keep working and sometimes I succeed ... and that's about it.

But for the sake of completeness, let's see what's been going on:

Wow. Where to start?

CHOP has been hitting festivals like crazy over the past few months. After Edinburgh, we played Albuquerque, Montreal's Fantasia, Fantaspoa and Riofan in Brazil, and Grossman in Slovenia. There are reviews bad and good floating all over the internet in all kinds of languages but I'm not going to bother linking to them here ... I usually put that stuff up on my Facebook Page ... all I can say is that it's really cool to have my directorial debut get some attention andI promise that the next one will be even better!

It was really cool for CHOP to get its very own Rick Tremble's Motion PIcture Purgatory review from the Fantasia screenings, so I've got to put it up here:

Pretty cool ...

Also in the last few months, PSYCHO HOLOCAUST came out on DVD from Shock-O-Rama, JESSICKA RABID finally gets a legitimate release from Troma next week, and the Blu-Ray edition of DEADGIRL comes out on August 30th ... I will more than likely be doing something very special here on the blog once that date gets closer ... but you'll have to check back here to find out what it is!

In the screenwriting world, my SyFy Channel movie is finished, has a director attached, and will be going before cameras sometime in the next two months. I'll talk more about that when it gets closer and I'm allowed to. Also turned in the first draft of another script for a cable channel that you'll be surprised that I'm working for ... but once again, can't talk too much about it at the moment.

Not all good news, however, as a script that I wrote and was going to produce fell through at the 11th hour thanks to sketchy financing ... but the script is still written and maybe I can find some place for it somewhere down the line ...

I finally got back behind the director's chair and directed a music video for the LA band FALLING STILL a little less than a month ago. We're almost done with it and I'm pretty damned happy with the results. We went big, ambitious, and post-apocalyptic. Here's a shot from the set - I'm hiding behind the band in the cowboy hat (it was hot as hell out there in the desert).

The track is called I Am the Dr. and you can listen to it on the band's Facebook Page. Hopefully the video will be up there soon, too!

That's it for the moment. I'll try to get more "blog-gy" in the future, but I know that I've said it before ...

-T

Update Time ...

2011-04-26T16:05:00.001-07:00

... Even though I'm entering one of the most busy periods of my life. And I ain't complaining. Every year I always say that "this year is gonna be my year." This time it might just end up being true.

That said, I've been hitting deadlines and shooting and prepping like crazy. A lot of it I'm not "allowed" to talk about yet, so keep an eye out here ... In the meantime, here's stuff I can talk about:

Did a little shoot for an upcoming feature that I co-wrote and am Producing. Can't tell you much about it, can't even say the title. But I can tell you that it's being directed by DEADGIRL's Gadi Harel. Should be able to talk more about this in the very near future, as we're going into pre-production next week. Until then, here are a couple of teaser iPhone shots from last week's shoot:

BONNIE AND CLYDE VS. DRACULA comes out on DVD today ... although I couldn't even tell you where to physically buy a DVD these days! Here's a Fangoria,com interview with me regarding said release:

Fangoria.com Interview

Just turned in a quick pass on my SyFy Channel movie ... another one that I should be able to talk about in more detail in the coming weeks and months (maybe even a set visit if they don't go all the way to Romania to film it).

Working on my Top Secret Cable Channel screenplay now and they've attached a really kick-ass director to another script that I wrote (that I've never even mentioned on this site until now). I'm hitting the script again based on the director's notes and can't wait to start talking about this cool project.

CHOP continues to tour the world. We just finished our four screenings at Amsterdam's Imagine Film Festival and came out of it with a respectable audience score in the Audience Award Poll. You can check out our placement and overall score right HERE.

Next week, we're playing at Edinburgh, Scotland's DEAD BY DAWN Film Festival!

All of the screening info can be read at Dead By Dawn's Official Website ...

A couple of CHOP reviews have gone up, as well:

Ryan's Reviews Loves CHOP

eFilm Critic's positive review from the BUFF screening

I've just signed a deal for distribution in Germany and will hopefully be making a really exciting North American distribution announcement very soon, so stay tuned.

Oh man, I've got to get back to work! Lots of updates in the coming weeks!

-T

36 Hours in Boston ...

2011-03-30T15:55:00.000-07:00

Hopped on a plane Friday morning, got to Boston at about 6pm, and was back on a plane at 7am Sunday morning. It was a whirlwind trip to Beantown for the North American Premiere of CHOP ... and I couldn't have picked a cooler festival to do so.

I want to thank everyone who worked for BUFF and everyone who attended the screening - I had a great time and stayed out later than I have in years meeting awesome people and hanging out with old friends. Tom Devlin, who did FX for CHOP, was there, as was my old Troma compadre and "blink and you'll miss it" CHOP actor Caleb Emerson (who was showing his film FRANKIE IN BLUNDERLAND there). I got to see Lucky McKee's new film THE WOMAN, LUSTER, and my own movie for the first time projected large and with an audience, attended an after-hours house party that was still rocking when I stumbled out at 4am, and got to hear some sweet Kaiju Karaoke. All in all it was a great time, even if I was freezing because I'm a bonafide Southern California boy now.

As usual, I took a camera and then neglected to take a bunch of pictures. So here are just a few ...

Caleb Emerson and I at the Kaiju Karaoke party:

The boys from Whore Church and I at same party (photo from Whore Church and Alison Zombieface:

Only have one poster and here it is:

As if the festival wasn't awesome enough, I got word on Sunday night that CHOP had won the "Director's Choice Feature" award! I can't wait to get one of these in the mail so that I can put it on my desk:

HOT DANG! I love BUFF!

I've been incredibly busy since coming back - got hired to do a screenplay for a major cable network and just got out of a meeting with a director that we're attaching to another script that I wrote in December ... both of these projects (and more) are happening very soon, so I should be able to talk about them in the near future ...

... In the meantime, I picked up the new issue of Fangoria magazine (#302, INSIDIOUS on the cover) because inside is a fold-out poster of BONNIE AND CLYDE VS. DRACULA! Man ... My bedroom wall used to be plastered with Fangoria pull-outs when I was a kid. If you had told the 16 year old Trent that he'd be the subject of a Fango poster one day ... well, let's just say that I wouldn't have believed you. Pretty spiffy ... Of course, there's a poster of Argento's DEEP RED on the other side, which means that my face will mostly be against the wall of the young horror fan's bedroom, but it's still damned cool to be in Fango every time it happens ...

Did a couple of short interviews this week. Here they are:

SUVUDU Interview

The Screenwriter 7 Interview

That's it for the moment ... all about getting the film to Amsterdam's Imagine Film Festival now ...

***NEW UPDATE***
As soon as I posted this blog entry, I discovered the first review from the BUFF screenings. Here it is:

BRUTAL AS HELL's CHOP Review

-T

Yeah ...

2011-03-23T15:16:00.000-07:00

... It seems that every day I'm seeing something on the internet about one of my projects. Guess that's to be expected when so many of them are coming hot on the heels of one another. At this point, I'm finding it easier to just copy a link and then throw it up on my Facebook page than to try and compile stuff for this blog ... But for those of you that actually DO come by this site, I'll try to quickly compile some of the latest stuff from the last few weeks. As usual, I'm gonna have to break it down by title just to keep it straight:

DEADGIRL
From what I can tell in the "Twitterverse," DEADGIRL's TV premiere on Chiller must have done pretty well. Once again, people are discovering the movie, telling their friends, and spreading the word. Chiller continues to replay the movie and, by gum, it appears that we've created a bonafide cult classic with this little film that "no one would ever make."

And a day after the TV premiere, The Hollywood Reporter ran a story from SXSW about DEADGIRL 2:

Hollywood Reporter: Is DEADGIRL 2 Alive?

Once HWR put that out there, every genre site picked up on the story and then the plot crunch (which was wrong to begin with) started to change due to sloppy "reporting" and the whole thing is rather silly.

Anyone who reads this blog knows that I wrote the DEADGIRL 2 script almost a year ago (HERE's the post). And although I did write the script in response to some of the accusations of misogyny in the first, it's NOT about girls finding a dead boy ...

... Regardless, if there ever is a DEADGIRL 2, I won't end up being involved in it (although I suspect that some elements that I introduced may end up getting stolen - if that happens, things will end up getting messy and full of lawyers and I don't look forward to that) ... I don't want to go into detail here, but there's been a creative schism in the DEADGIRL partnership and only one of us has the rights to the words DEADGIRL 2 ... and since I'm only the writer and the guy who dreamt up the whole thing to begin with, you KNOW that person isn't me. Personally, at this point, I'd like to see DEADGIRL 2 NEVER happen ... I'd prefer to keep the first one the classic it is and move on with my career.

But I can tell you that if I hear that a DEADGIRL 2 is going into production, you'll be able to come to this blog and download my original un-produced script here for FREE, just like I did with the first one. For now, however, it's going to stay buried (just like the title character should be) ...

CHOP
I'm going to be running out to Boston this weekend for the North American Premiere, so I'll have a real update with pictures and shit that won't be on Facebook, so come back for that one!

In the meantime, I'm closing in on a really cool North American Distribution deal and it was just announced that we're playing 4 times (!) at the 27th Annual Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival!

Imagine Film Fest's CHOP Page

Man, I'd love to be at one of these screenings, but if the festival doesn't offer to bring me out, I'm certainly not going to spend my own money - I've got a wife and kids, man! Do I look like I'm made out of money or sumptin'?? :)

Another positive review for CHOP went up this week, too:

28 days Later Analysis Reviews CHOP

And even though I talk about a bunch of other films, here's a good a place as any to put a link up for my Geek Tyrant interview:

GEEK TYRANT interviews Trent Haaga

FETCH

It's finished and it's interesting and there's just not a lot of news out there about this film that I wrote ... hopefully it'll secure some distribution soon! In the meantime, here's a really nice review to whet your appetite:

CONDUIT REVIEWS FETCH

PSYCHO HOLOCAUST
It's hitting DVD in June from PopCinema. Here's the box art:

Here's an article on Fangoria.com about the film and release:

FANGORIA PSYCHO HOLOCAUST STORY

... Okay, that's all I've got for now. 2011 is shaping up to be an interesting year ... I sometimes forget that I also have FOUR scripts that have been optioned or bought and are supposed to shoot this year (one of them being my "still can't tell you the title or anything" movie for SyFy) ...

... And I just had a really great meeting about a potential new screenwriting gig for another MAJOR cable station ... but, as usual, I can't say anything more about it. Drats.

Thanks for checking in and I'll be back next week with a report from the Boston Underground Film Festival!

-T

Exclusive Chiller TV Videoblog

2011-03-09T12:46:00.000-08:00

Wish I could figure out how to actually imbed the video on the site here, but this is the best I can do:

Trent Haaga on Deadgirl-Exclusive Chiller Videoblog: "Trent Haaga, writer and creator of the first Chiller NEXT film "Deadgirl" talks about how he came up with the story concept."

Trying to get some work done and gearing up for CHOP's North American Premiere at BUFF. In the meantime, here's their nice write-up (and screening dates/times):

BUFF's CHOP Page

-T

DEADGIRL ... The Screenplay!

2011-03-07T17:13:00.000-08:00

A few posts back, I said that one of the bonus attributes of the DEADGIRL Blu-Ray (coming August 2011) would be a .PDF of the first draft screenplay ...

... Well it appears that due to the limitations and difficulties of the .PDF format, they've decided not to do this.

Since that plan went out the window and in honor of DEADGIRL's TV Premiere ... and because I get asked how different the film was than the screenplay all the time, and ... well, just for the hell of it, really ... You can click on the link below and download your very own copy of DEADGIRL, which was written in the Winter of 1999/2000. Hope you enjoy it!

Download DEADGIRL - The First Draft

-T

A Few Things ...

2011-03-02T14:19:00.000-08:00

... I'm just gonna get right to it:

News regarding the release of BONNIE & CLYDE VS DRACULA: An article on Fangoria.com states that it's playing theatrically in all sorts of strange cities before the DVD release on April 26th. Distributor INDICAN PICTURES has cut a new trailer, which is right here:

28 Days Later Analysis reviews B&CvsD

DEADGIRL is having its TV Premiere on CHILLER TV Friday, March 11th. This is pretty cool, as CHILLER is the sister station of the SyFy Channel (who I just wrote a script for) and I've been asked to do a little something by the channel to help promote the film. You'll be able to see that on their website in just a little bit, so stay tunes here for more on that. In the meantime, a few DEADGIRL/Chiller promo bits:

Also check out the new CHILLER TV SPOT FOR DEADGIRL

The BOSTON UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL screening of CHOP is in a few weeks. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be there for it, so check back for updates on exactly when and where the screening will be and a full report once I return (if I go) ...

CHOP has also been accepted into a really cool European film festival that takes place in April, but I guess I'm not allowed to let the cat out of the bag on that one just yet ... Again, stay tuned as the announcement is imminent.

FETCH ... I wrote you so lovingly ... and you star Ashlynn Yennie of THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE ... but WHERE ARE YOU?

Someone got to see it and really likes it, apparently (and to even be mentioned in the same article as Gaspar Noe THRILLS me):

The Conduit Speaks FETCH Article

Wow. These are only the projects that I'm allowed to speak about for now. But there are always a ridiculous number of irons in the fire ... my next directorial effort, I've got no less than FOUR scripts that have been bought or optioned that could go into production this year, a few potential screenwriting gigs, some more festival potential on CHOP, and even the odd acting gig on the horizon ... At this point, there are almost more projects going on that I CAN'T talk about than ones that I CAN talk about ...

Come back real soon for more updates ... I should have more news in a matter of days ...

- T

CHOP Updates

2011-02-10T10:42:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update while Bronson is taking a nap! Some CHOP stuff to report ...

... In preparation for the BUFF screening, I've been working on a poster with DEADGIRL co-director (and bad-ass graphic artist) Gadi Harel. And here it is:

Also, the first couple of reviews of the movie have gone live and they're both pretty darn good:

Bloody Disgusting's CHOP Review

Couchcutter.com's CHOP Review

It's not too late to donate to BUFF and get some tickets, t-shirts, and more. Here's the CHOP announcement on their Kickstarter page:

BUFF Screening Info.

I'm hoping to have more CHOP news imminently, but I'm gonna sign off for now since I've got about ten more minutes before Bronson takes the day back!

I just saw this post a minute ago, but in the this should be a bad thing, but to me it's great category, DEADGIRL made it to the top of Dread Central's Horror's Most Inappropriate Sex Scenes list ... Just in time for Valentine's Day!

-T

CHOP North American Premiere!

2011-02-02T12:24:00.000-08:00

That's right - sometime during the last week of March, an audience in Boston will be the first people in the U.S. to see CHOP. We've been announced as an official selection at the Thirteenth Annual Boston Underground Film Festival!

I've had a few movies that I've either written or acted in play at BUFF and I hear nothing but great things about the festival, so it's really exciting to have them play my directorial debut. I don't know all of the details yet - i.e. date, time, location, etc. - but will update the blog accordingly as I get more info. In the meantime, you can read about CHOP and some of the other selections at the BUFF Kickstarter page (where you can give a donation in exchange for discounted passes and tickets and other goodies):

Boston Underground Film Festival Kickstarter Page

I don't think that I know anyone in Boston and I've never been there, but maybe some of my Providence/SPLATTER DISCO/FEEDING THE MASSES folks will take the 45 minute trip to Boston to check it out ...

... Regardless, I just wanna say congratulations and thanks to everyone who worked with me on CHOP!

Got some interesting DEADGIRL news recently. Apparently the CHILLER CHANNEL is going to be showing DEADGIRL in the month of March ... don't know much about the Chiller Channel, so I'm not sure if they air movies un-cut or not ... I'd be interested to see how they get around the material if they do edit for TV ... the movie would be like 45 minutes long ...

Also, Dark Sky will be releasing DEADGIRL on Blu-Ray in August. Not only will you get to see the movie in full HD glory, but they're working on additional supplemental materials ... one of which will be a .PDF of the original first draft screenplay of DEADGIRL (I just emailed it off yesterday) ... Now folks will be able to read the truly disgusting, super-violent, and nasty script in its totally original form ... Don't know if that's a good thing or not, but I'm pretty excited to have it on there.

Was going to supplement this entry with another Trent Opinion Piece, but I just turned in a massive re-tooling of my SyFy Channel script yesterday and I'm gonna take it easy on the writing today ... but I'm trying to keep this blog updated a bit more these days, so maybe that Op-Ed will show up sooner than later (along with more festival and work updates, naturally).

Later!

-T

Whew ...

2011-01-21T16:14:00.000-08:00

... Just turned in my second script in less than 2 months. Not that I'm bragging ... I've got a buddy that writes a new script like every two weeks. I've got a LONG way to go to catch up with you, Sean Keller (mumbles under breath, "you hard-working and diligent bastard, you ...")

Before I start working on a spec in between re-writing and notes, however, I figured I'd do a blog update really quick-like ...

There's gonna be a U.S. festival debut for CHOP very shortly, but the announcement isn't official, so you'll have to come back here in a few weeks to find out about that.

Thanks to Facebook, I found this picture of the box art for BONNIE & CLYDE VS. DRACULA. Enjoy!

The stories attached to this movie keep mentioning a THEATRICAL(!) release next month followed by DVD in April ... don't know exactly what this means, but it should be interesting.

Nothing else that I'm allowed to talk about, I guess. So instead of a short entry, I'll talk about my birthday present this year: the biggest-selling item Amazon has ever put out ... the Kindle.

Gotta admit, I wasn't sold on the Kindle. There's something about holding a book, right? Something about displaying your library so that visitors can gauge what kind of a person you are. I know that I'm always attracted to people's bookshelves when I visit their places ... now what am I gonna do? Hey, how you doing? Bring me your Kindle. I wanna know what kind of person I'm dealing with.

Look, I'm no old fogey. At least I'd like to think that I'm not. Netflix made it possible for me to get videos without leaving the house. Same with MP3 technology. I used to spend huge amounts of time at record and video stores ... Now I can't remember the last time I stepped into either. But I'm okay with that. It's the twenty-first century, right?

But ... book stores? Now with this Kindle I'll never have to step into a bookstore again? What the hell am I going to do? I'm not a big clothes shopper. I buy a new pair of shoes once a year. But I'd drop anything to go and browse at a bookstore. Seems that with this final piece of technology, I could easily sit in one chair in my office forever, never having to leave. There's something about all of these advances that makes me lament the loss of the social aspect of shopping.

Then I started to browse with the little gray chunk of plastic.

I've had the Kindle for exactly one month and have burned my way through 8 novels. Not unusual for me ... except for the fact that a huge number of them aren't even available in print editions!

Not only that, but at least 4 of the novels were set up directly by the author. That means that almost 100% of my money went to the right place: the author's pocket.

What the heck, right? I know that there are a lot of reactionaries to this new way of buying and reading novels. But maybe this is a new era where the author can take control of their work and profit from it more directly. I'd like to think that the advent of devices like the Kindle may usher in a new wave of independence for writers. Of course, like movies and digital technology, the market will surely be flooded with product that should never be published, electronically or otherwise. But I prefer to see the cup as half full ... In celebration of my Kindle gift, here's a quick breakdown/review of the books that I read in the last month:

LUCIFER'S LOTTERY by Edward Lee - I've been reading Lee since the beginning. Sure, his new stuff isn't quite as transgressive as some of his earlier work, but he's still a great author whose writing ability is underrated. This one is the latest in his MEPHISTOPOLIS series, which I'm not the hugest fan of (even though I've read em all). But guess what? You can't buy this book in its physical form anywhere! One point for Kindle.

GRAVEROBBERS WANTED (NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY)/SINGLE WHITE PSYCHOPATH SEEKS SAME/CASKET FOR SALE (ONLY USED ONCE)/BENJAMIN'S PARASITE by Jeff Strand - That's not one long title. It's four books written by a guy named Jeff Strand. I recently read his novels DWELLER and PRESSURE (both really great books), but was able to Kindle these four lesser-available titles and tore my way through them. Strand really has a way of combining humor with grotesque plots and he's kind of my new kick ... I tend to discover an author and then tear my way through their bibliography at lightening speed. Don't know much about this guy, as I've just discovered him, but every single book of his that I've read is worth recommending. If anyone reading this knows Jeff, tell him I said "thanks" for the entertainment ... I hardly ever do this, but here's a link to Jeff's site. Buy his books - he deserves your money:

Jeff Strand's Blog

SPORE by John Skipp and Cody Goodfellow - John Skipp is the man. His work with Craig Spector informed my youth. I've had the opportunity to meet him on several occasions and he's a great guy. Unfortunately, I can't really say I loved the book. Skipp's rock and roll staccato and attitude are evident here, but the story itself was kind of a massive, apocalyptic zombie book. Granted, the zombies are caused by a hive-minded sentient fungus, which is new ... but I gotta tell the truth and say that I'm just burned out on zombie apocalypse stuff (see my missive about THE WALKING DEAD in the last post). Nevertheless, I will always buy anything Mr. Skipp pens. Added bonus: once again, only available in its electronic form!

THE WENCH IS DEAD by Fredric Brown - HIS NAME WAS DEATH and THE SCREAMING MIMI are classics of noir. Brown was super-prolific and wrote extensively in the sci-fi and crime genres in the 1950s. A lot of this old, long-out-of-print pulp crime stuff is coming up on Kindle. This one's kind of short and as such disappointing (I read the whole thing in one sitting), but Brown is well worth reading and I don't even want to think about what I'd have to pay for an old paperback of this that would probably fall apart in my hands once I opened it.

FATAL ERROR by F. Paul Wilson - The fourteenth (and apparently penultimate) book in the REPAIRMAN JACK series. Just finished reading this today. These books are great summer reads - fast and relatively light. They're kind of a guilty pleasure for me. I love the character of Repairman Jack and recommend them, but I find that as the books get further into the series there's less of Jack doing "repairs" (my favorite parts of the books) and more about a massive world-ending apocalypse that Jack is a pawn in. Whatever you do, don't read this book before the others - it probably won't make a lick of sense to you. This book isn't rare or difficult to find, but thanks to Kindle, it cost me less than half the price of the hardcover.

Tonight I start Robert Devereaux's SLAUGHTERHOUSE HIGH, then on to Bryan Smith's THE DARK ONES (only available electronically) and then onto a re-read of Richard Laymon's FUNLAND ... then I have to either hit the bookstores or let my fingers do the browsing ...

Okay, enough. I've got to go pick up Max and (ironically enough after this post) take him to his school's book fair ... I will not only try to write more scripts this year, I also vow to come here and blog more frequently. So come on back every once in a while and leave me a comment if you so desire ...

-T

Goodbye 2010 ...

2010-12-30T12:56:00.000-08:00

2010 will go down as a banner year for me. Not because I made a huge movie and a ton of money (because I didn't), but for the sheer amount of personal and professional craziness that shook things up.

I spent the first few months of 2010 concentrating on finishing up post-production on CHOP. Editing, sound design, musical score, color correction, etc. Once my directorial debut was done, I promptly stood there looking at it and saying, "now what?"

And that's where it still stands. We did have our world premiere at the Grimm Up North film festival in Manchester, England, but this has been the ONLY public screening of the film to date. As I write this, I'm in negotiations with a European country for the film's sale and am in the process of handing it over to some sales reps who can help me get it out there this year.

As I was finishing CHOP, we started the insane two month remodel on our home. I spent 8 weeks living in a place with, at various times, no walls, no water, no shower, no electricity, no kitchen ... it was crazy. Like living in a construction site. But what with the house market in Southern California being so insane, this was a better option than trying to sell it and buy another house. And now it's so nice that we aren't even contemplating moving any time soon, if ever.

While the house was being demolished and re-built, I cranked out a script for DEADGIRL 2. The thought was that the first film did so well that getting a greenlight for a sequel would be a sure thing. And I was pretty happy with the script that I wrote ... it was kind of a "flipside" take on the first, with a woman finding the Deadgirl this time and how she uses it to fulfill her helpless violent fantasies. Thing is, I'm married to the directors of the first film on this project, one of whom really loved the script and totally "got it." The other one .,. not so much. And unfortunately, the "franchise," is reliant on all three of us moving forward ... Sadly, this project will more than likely sit on my shelf forever - a waste of my time and resources. Disappointing.

Spent the next month or so getting household affairs back in order and watching Lynh get more and more pregnant. The baby was due in August, so I took an acting gig in Cleveland during the last week of june on a film called THE SQUAD. Of course Lynh went into the hospital the second day I was there and I barely made it back in time for the birth of my second son. Bronson Vinh Haaga ... who came to kick life into high gear on June 29th ...

There was a "baby adjustment" period for another month or two ... familial nesting and whatnot.

The last few months of the year were absolute craziness. Sicknesses and surgeries, I acted in a student thesis film, spoke at a film festival at the LA Film School, took a quick trip to Vegas, had out-of-town guests more than once, took a quick jaunt out to Kansas City for the premiere of FETCH, and even directed a promotional trailer for a series of films under the banner NAME REDACTED AT REQUEST OF MY PARTNER. After the trailer did well at Mipcom in France, we made a poster and did some pitching at the AFM ... and just a few weeks ago, I turned in the completed screenplay for NAME REDACTED AT REQUEST OF MY PARTNER ... Lots more on that in the coming months ...

So now it's post-Christmas and things are winding down. Only one more day in 2010 and I'm spending it making this blog and working on the script for my SyFy Channel movie ...

... And since it seems to be the thing to do, I'm going to make a few "end of the year" lists!

My Five Favorite Films of 2010

Okay, it's not for lack of trying because I watch like a billion movies a year, but there's NO WAY I could make a Top Ten ... I'm always looking for movies that rocked my world, that made a huge impact on me. But these movies are in such short supply that the bottom five would be more like "movies that didn't make me depressed or angry about the state of filmmaking" rather than "my favorites" (some of those films would be things like THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE or BLACK SWAN - movies I liked okay, but didn't love). So here you go:

5) THE KILLER INSIDE ME - Almost gave this slot to TRUE GRIT, but this one deserves the looks that TG will already have ... dark and violent and un-flinching and loyally adapted from one of my favorite Jim Thompson novels. Dreamy and sadistic and with some good performances from actors that normally would repel me from seeing a film. Check it out. Don't believe the negative hype.

4) MOTHER - Korean director Joon-ho Bong's follow-up to THE HOST is compelling, surprising, tragic, darkly humorous, and just plain "out there." I liked THE HOST okay, but this one was more up my alley. Very little fanfare for this movie because of its small and quiet nature, but totally worth checking out ...

3) A SERBIAN FILM - Wow. Just ... wow. Right when I think I've seen it all before and can't seem to find anything out there that will affect me, along comes this kick in the face. Not only is it transgressive beyond anything I've ever seen before, it's actually an incredibly well-crafted film on top of it all - great cinematography and acting and soundtrack all in a brain-blistering package of sadism and outright hopelessness. I'll NEVER forget watching this movie (and will more than likely never watch it again) ... a true sign of a great film. Wins the "Trent Haaga Wishes He Had Made This Movie" Award, but it's so fucking twisted that I can only in good conscience give it third place.

2) EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP - Banksy is a genius. This film (his film? still up for debate) is everything you'd expect from the trickster street artist and more. A documentary about the world of street art, obsessive personalities, commercialism, consumption, and irony ... all in an incredibly entertaining package. I've watched the movie 3 times already - something I almost never do - just because I keep introducing it to anyone who will sit down and watch it with me. Some people seem to think the entire film is a put-on by master prankster Banksy ... if it is, that makes the project even more impressive.

1) ENTER THE VOID - Thank you, Gaspar Noe!! It was worth the 8 year wait after your last masterpiece, IRREVERSIBLE. ENTER THE VOID is more like an experience than a film and is one of the most technically amazing things I've ever seen. Words can't even describe how much I loved this movie. Just watch it. Your life will never be the same. I'm not seeing this on ANYONE'S Top Ten lists and I don't know why. This was my favorite film of 2010, hands down.

My Five Least Favorite Films of 2010

This list, on the other hand, could have been fifty or sixty titles long. Most movies suck ass and are made by assholes that really seem to think that audiences are un-sophisticated dolts. Here are five of the biggest offenders:

5) 2001 MANIACS: FIELD OF SCREAMS - I hated the first one, but it's a work of genius compared to this thing. My wife always compares this to any bad movie that we watch: "Sure, this is bad, Trent, but it's not nearly as bad as that 2001 Maniacs movie" is a sentence that I've heard many times this year. I'm as sympathetic as anyone to the no budget, no time issues with indie films. But this thing just fucking sucked.

4) A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET REMAKE - Wow. I know that Platinum Dunes is all like, "Hey, mouth-breathing shithead moviegoer, give me some money because you're all idiots." I get it. But, DAMN, this was limp and lifeless. I wasn't expecting anything from it and tried to watch an illegal download of the movie that someone gave to me ... but I could only make it through like 45 minutes before I decided that cable TV would be more thrilling. Lazy, sloppy, and dripping with disdain for the audience more than any other cash-in I've ever seen.

3) ALL COMEDIES - Please, can't someone make a comedy that's actually FUNNY? I'm talking to you, THE OTHER GUYS, DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS, SHE'S OUT OF YOUR LEAGUE, DUE DATE, DATE NIGHT, GET HIM TO THE GREEK, COP OUT, HOT TUB TIME MACHINE, KILLERS, etc. When I go to see a comedy, I just want to laugh and have a good time. I really do not care if the main characters find out something about themselves and make a change for the better. I just don't care. Yet, like an abused girlfriend, I keep returning to you because I just want to laugh ... is that too much to ask?

JACKASS 3D, you get a pass on that one. Thank you.

2) THE WALKING DEAD - Okay, not a movie, but I must put it here anyway. Even genius actor and CHOP screenwriter Adam Minarovich couldn't save this series for me. It's like a zombie TV show made for people who have never seen a zombie movie. A crappy, talky soap opera with shit writing and zero sense of danger. I'll admit that I only watched two episodes and scanned the other ones for Adam. Otherwise, this show sucks. And it's like the highest-rated cable show EVER or something stupid like that. AMC has the brilliant BREAKING BAD and this show beats it in the ratings? Maybe all of the Producers in the world are right. Maybe people are ignorant cattle and un-discerning consumers. I will NOT return for the second season - I couldn't even make it through the first!

1) HATCHET 2 - Support un-rated horror or you're a Communist ... not if all un-rated horror is a sloppy piece of shit like this. I was at the sold-out World Premiere at the Egyptian in Hollywood and walked out after twenty minutes. Don't worry, I eventually watched a bootleg of it just so that I could make an informed decision ... I did, and it was painful. I get it, you're homaging your favorite genre ... but why does it have to look like it was written and shot by a brain-damaged 15 year old? One need look no further to Christopher Smith's SEVERANCE to see a witty and well-done homage to slasher movies that doesn't treat the audience like a bunch of slobbering fools that will come in droves at the word "gore" (they didn't, BTW). I don't even want to get into the whole thing where the filmmaker is the star and the movie itself is secondary. Read the reviews. Every one of them talks about what a nice guy Adam Green is. Great. I have no doubt that he is ... but I'd rather watch a good movie from an asshole than a shitty movie from a nice guy.

Wow. What vitriol. I fully expect some comments, as I've broken the "Trent only talks about his work" rule in this blog.

Damn, here's hoping 2011 is more insane and beautiful than 2010 ... for all of us.

Happy New Year, everybody ...

- T

Almost the End of the Year ...

2010-12-23T13:31:00.000-08:00

... I've been thinking of making a "Best and Worst of 2010" but need a bit more time to get my thoughts in order ... in the meantime, I guess it's time to throw up a quick update ...

... Although you wouldn't know it from my Facebook Page (or this blog), I've been pretty busy these days. Just turned in a script for a movie that I co-wrote and am Producing in VERY early 2011. Unfortunately, that's about all I wanna say about the project for now ... If all goes well, you'll be seeing some behind-the-scenes pics in February or March. For now, it's in the director's hands ...

Just as well, because I'm trying to meet another deadline for yet another script. At this point, I can tell you that I'm writing a SyFy Channel original movie. If all goes well, it'll shoot and air in 2011 sometime. Wish that I could say more about it, but that's it for now. It's pretty exciting for me because the SyFy Saturday night original films get seen by a LOT of people and it's a chance for me to write something that doesn't necessarily have the horribly cynical, sexually charged, and disturbing edge that I'm kind of known for ... I consider it a welcome challenge (and an even more welcome paycheck).

I do have some status updates on a few other projects:

KILLJOY 3 is out there in the world and ready to be viewed. Not only is it on DVD, but I saw that my local cable carrier - Time Warner - has it available on VOD. I assume that means that it's available on demand in other parts of the country as well. So far, people seem to dig on it:

McBastard's Mausoleum

Wildside Cinema

Big Daddy Horror Review

Terror Hook

Yahoo User Review

Killjoy 3 even made it onto a "Top 5 of 2010" list!

BONNIE AND CLYDE VS. DRACULA is coming soon, as well. Fangoria.com ran a story about the film's release (finally!) and got the exclusive on the DVD box art. Check it out:

B&CvsD Fangoria Story

Speaking of movies that are finally coming to light, JESSICKA RABID will be coming out from my good friends at Troma in 2011 and the long-lost PSYCHO HOLOCAUST is also going to become available in early 2011 ...

... While I still wait patiently for word of FETCH's distribution, it was voted as the #4 TOP TEN of 2010 from the Conduit Cast Podcast ... Here's the show - he talks (lovingly) about the movie right around the 22:00 mark:

As for CHOP, I've just been so damned busy making scripts and movies that I haven't been able to put all of my energy into promoting the film ... rest assured, I've got a few irons in the fire in regards to distribution, but haven't really hit the festival trail or anything since my official Slamdance rejection a few weeks ago ...

There are a few more neat potential projects that could happen in early 2011, but I'm not gonna jinx anything by talking about them ...

That's it for now. Back to screenwriting ... Have a Merry Christmas, everybody!

-T

November Already?

2010-11-22T12:54:00.000-08:00

As predicted, October was absolutely insane over here at the Haaga household. But we managed to make it through all of the travel and visitors and surgeries and World Premieres intact.

And now it's almost Thanksgiving. Man, time flies.

This is just gonna be another quick update because, well, I pay for this damned URL, so I might as well update every now and again.

KILLJOY 3 hits DVD on December 14th. Apparently the KILLJOY box sets (with all 3 movies) are available now. Haven't really seen any reviews up, but DIABOLICAL RADIO did a review on their friday night show. Here's a link:

DIABOLICAL RADIO Full Moon Review Special

Speaking of internet radio and podcasts, there's an interesting interview with FETCH director Christopher Downs on a podcast called The Conduit Cast. Pretty good interview that really throws the light on how these indie movies get made. Interesting and worth a listen:

I sold another script that will hopefully be shot in the beginning of 2011 ... but here's an interview I did recently that kind of re-caps what's been going on with me:

Mycho Magazine Interview

That's all I've got for now. Gotta get off this blog and get to work. Thanks for visiting even though I hardly ever update!

-T

October ... Officially Busy.

2010-10-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

As if having two kids now isn't enough, October is gonna be a heck of an insane month at Casa de Haaga.

We're talking Halloween, two sets of out-of-town visitors, the FALLOUT: VEGAS party in Vegas, surgery, CHOP's World Premiere, speaking at a panel at the LA Film School, an acting gig, and more ... in addition to all of my other "in development" stuff ..

This'll be quick, because Bronson should be waking up from his nap soon!

This weekend I'm acting in a short film called LOST CHILD ... look for behind the scenes photos and stuff later in the month.

Then Jeff Sisson comes into town for a few days so that we can go to the REPULSION/BRUJERIA show at the House of Blues.

Then Lynh and I head to Vegas for the FALLOUT: VEGAS launch party.

Then my parents come into town for a week.

Then I'm getting neutered.

Then I'm going to be a part of a panel called New Hope for Horror at the Carnival of Darkness Film Festival at the Los Angeles FIlm School on October 28th. Should be a pretty cool event. Here's the info:

Then CHOP will be having its world premiere at Manchester's GRIMM UP NORTH festival:

We're screening at midnight on October 30th ... which technically means we premiere on Halloween, the favorite holiday at the Haaga house. Here's a link to the information page for the screening where you can buy tickets and whatnot:

GRIMM UP NORTH's CHOP's Information Page

Then of course, it's Halloween ...

This month is going to be insane. And I'm still leaving out a few developments that I'm not at liberty to discuss ... yet.

I'll be updating a few times in the next 30 days, so come on back!

- T

Killjoy 3 Trailer ...

2010-09-17T09:46:00.000-07:00

... The headline pretty much says it all ...

- T

** Sunday update: It appears that the movie will be out on DVD on December 14th ... And I found some box art, too!

- T

Kansas City ...

2010-09-11T15:43:00.000-07:00

... Just got back from a few days in Kansas City, where I attended the cast/crew World Premiere of FETCH!

Got there on Sunday to hang out for a bit with my man Jeff Sisson. Went to see Machete with him on Sunday night. On Monday, I was incredibly happy to finally get to see TROGLODYTE (the world's premiere Bigfoot-themed death metal band) in concert. They were awesome, as I knew they would be.

Tuesday night was the FETCH premiere. It was at AMC's flagship theater in downtown KC and I was told that it was the largest movie screen in Kansas City. The screening was sold out and the crowd seemed to dig it. I'm really happy with the way the movie came out, but don't want to talk about it too much ... gotta leave the surprises. Hopefully I'll be making some cool announcements about the movie's festival and distribution trail in the next few months. I wanna thank all of the cast and crew for bringing my words to life and special thanks to director CM Downs (pictured below with me) and producer Ted Loscalzo. Hopefully I'll be hanging with you guys in LA soon!

Should be making some FETCH and CHOP announcements very soon, so keep checking back! Also, for those of you who couldn't watch it on Bloody Disgusting, the CHOP teaser trailer is now up on youtube:

Lynh went back to work on Thursday so it's Mr. Mom to baby Bronson these days. Hopefully he's gonna be a good boy and allow me to keep working ...

- T

CHOP Teaser Trailer ...

2010-08-23T10:13:00.001-07:00

... The teaser for CHOP has been exclusively released by Bloody Disgusting today ... let's see if this embed works:

- T

www.chopthemovie.com

2010-08-12T13:41:00.000-07:00

... Been working on the teaser trailer for CHOP this week and learning to master Final Cut Pro while I'm at it. Shouldn't be too long before we release it. I know many of you saw the "friends and family" trailer thingy that I put up a few months ago, but it's gone now and it wasn't really indicative of what the real trailer should be ...

... In the meantime, I've been posting all sorts of other goodies on youtube and at www.chopthemovie.com (a re-direct to the Facebook page for now). So ...

Join the Facebook Page at www.chopthemovie.com

And here are a few videos:

- T

CHOP is Completed!

2010-08-05T16:30:00.000-07:00

After a bunch of work and long hours and tons of technical headaches, I watched the DVD output of CHOP last night with Lynh. And she seems to like it, which is a great sign because she doesn't candy-coat shit.

In celebration, here's a youtube video with the closing credits song - Written and performed by Justin Hersh, Executive Produced by CHOP Producer (and all-around go-to dude) Jeff Hamilton ...

If you haven't already done it, CHOP has a page on Facebook that you can join and where I'll be adding all sorts of new content to in the next few weeks, so ...

Add CHOP as a Facebook Friend

More soon ...

-T

CHOP Soundtrack Samples

2010-07-23T12:31:00.001-07:00

... Along with a ton of behind-the-scenes photos. Enjoy while I continue to finish the movie ...

-T

Still Working ...

2010-07-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

... Oh, man, I'm so close to the end of this CHOP train, it's killing me! Color correction was finished last week and now it's just a matter of putting some finishing touches on sound and mix, typing up the credits crawl, and out-putting it so that I can burn discs.

Of course, the hard part begins now - promoting and selling the movie. To that end, I built the CHOP Facebook page and opened a CHOP twitter account to keep everybody updated. Join up and keep yourself posted!

CHOP Facebook Page

We're CHOPLLC on Twitter!

Everybody is at the San Diego Comic Con this weekend. I used to dig heading down there until about 4 years ago when getting parking and tickets became absurd. Now I'm content to stay here and work on my movie.

Max went on vacation with my parents for 2 weeks and Lynh is on maternity leave, so I'm trying to take advantage of the break.

Just found this artwork from the Comic Con, so it looks like I've got something else coming out sometime in the near future ...

Back soon with more updates!

BONUS UPDATE:

As soon as I updated the site, I got an email from Gadi Harel (co-director of DEADGIRL) giving me a head's up on a bit of cool news. Seems he and Marcel have partnered up with a company called CRYPTIC COTTON and they're releasing an Official DEADGIRL t-shirt! Check out the shot and order yours at the CRYPTIC COTTON WEBSITE:

Pretty cool. Gonna have to order one for myself!

- T

Bronson!!

2010-07-07T12:13:00.000-07:00

It's been a damn long time since I updated this blog. Wonder if anyone's still coming to read it? Wouldn't blame em if they didn't. I know that I should hop on here all the time to promote projects and throw down some info and, hell, toot my horn a little bit. I think that my reticence to do so stems from a kind of "Facebook Celebrity" burnout. You know how people hop onto Facebook to tell you that they just passed page 50 on a script that they're writing or talking about a movie that they just signed up for that isn't even CLOSE to getting made, or (my personal favorite) talking about all of the "meetings meetings meetings" they're taking in "Hollywood." Leaves a bad taste in my mouth and my theory is that if you've got time to talk about all of this stuff online, maybe you're not as busy as you say you are ...

Well, I'm busy. And that's why I don't blog that much.

But now it's time for an update.

The big news is that Lynh went into labor 5 weeks early and Bronson Vinh Haaga was born a week ago. I've been scrambling to take care of home and baby business all week while also putting the finishing touches on CHOP (I'm at the sound designer's working on final mix as I blog!). Bronson was 5.5 pounds and 18 inches long. He's finally home with Mom, eating and sleeping a lot. Here he is:

I was actually in Cleveland acting in a film called THE SQUAD with Texas Chainsaw Massacre's Ed Neal when Lynh went into the hospital. A few stressful days of shooting while I prayed that she'd keep the baby in her, then an emergency trip back for the birth (managed to get all of my scenes in the can before I left, though!).

Turned in another draft of a script that I did a while back. Hopefully it'll go out and get some actors attached now. A director has already signed on.

Also just landed a deal to write another script for a cable TV channel that I'm sure you're familiar with, but I can't really announce anything about it just yet. Rest assured, I'll tell all when I can.

CHOP is getting there. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Color correction begins next week and it's the second-to-last step in completing the film.

Been hearing more news about FETCH. It's well on it's way to completion and I'm hearing good things about it. Got an email from the composer of THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE telling me how excited he was to do the score for FETCH ... news to me, but pretty damned cool. The World Premiere is on September 6th in Kansas City, where the film was shot. Who knows? Maybe I'll fly out there to take a look ...

Like I said, though, I've been trying to stay busy. Wrote another script in the midst of all this baby and movie madness:

... Wonder if anyone wants to see it get made, though? Trying to push this through is my next job after finishing CHOP and writing my mystery script ...

Okay, that's about it for now. I'll try to update more regularly, as I've got all of these projects in the pipeline and hopefully will be talking about them more in the near future ...

- T

Long Time ...

2010-05-20T14:01:00.001-07:00

... Looks like it's been over a month since I hopped on the blog. Don't really have an excuse other than the usual "busy" one. Lots of people tell me that I need to get on this blog and Facebook more to promote myself and my works, but I'd actually rather just DO work than talk about work that I just did or am about to do ...

So, yeah, I've been a little busy. Lemme break down what's been going on with the projects:

CHOP - I'm in the musical score stage of the film. This basically means that once score is done, the film gets mixed, color-corrected, and the credits need to be added. Then it's finished. So I'm a few steps away from trying to sell it and get it into some festivals. In the meantime, I'll be building a Facebook page for it and a website and will cut an official trailer, so keep an eye out for CHOP developments to start getting announced very soon ...

SUTURES - I just got an email this morning that says Sutures is coming out on DVD July 20th ... Looks like Blockbuster and Netflix will both be carrying the movie. And here's what the box looks like:

EASTER BUNNY, KILL! KILL! - Still on schedule to come out on June 1st on DVD. Put it on your Netflix queue. The movie has been getting some new interest and reviews based on this release. Horror Movies and Stuff gave it a 3 out of 4 and you can read that review HERE.

Here's a pretty funny and enthusiastic review of EBKK from youtube:

SOMEONE'S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR - Due to hit DVD next Tuesday, go go and pick it up! Here's a snazzy shot of me that plays a role in the film. Lynh says that I look like someone in one of those Dorothea Lange dustbowl photos from the 30s:

FETCH - It's in post-production and I'm not sure where they're at with that. But they did release some groovy poster art this week:

I also hear a rumor that KILLJOY 3 is coming to DVD in the first week of July. Will keep you updated on that one.

Also, JESSICKA RABID has come out in a limited edition DVD. All of the ordering instructions can be found HERE

But it's not all about finished movies these days. There are a few other projects coming up ...

Looks like I'll be running over to Akron, Ohio to act in a film called THE SQUAD in June. More on that as the date approaches.

And, like I said, I've been busy. I've written two scripts in the last few months, but unfortunately can't really talk about them too much. One was a work for hire for a company and the other one ... well, I don't want to jinx it. I'm going to stop talking about it right now.

I'm also in different stages of negotiations on two screenwriting projects that would be amazing to land. Needless to say, both of them would be some of the biggest projects I've ever worked on. Hate to be all coy about it, but it's no use talking about them further until some contracts get signed. Rest assured, I'll announce this stuff when and if I can ...

In the personal arena, the house re-model is finally finished and boy, am I relieved. It's kind of discombobulating to have strangers in your house tearing it to pieces for weeks on end. I'm finally starting to feel a bit more peaceful now. I'm alone in my nice, quiet house even as I write this .... aaaaaah.

The little baby boy inside of my wife's tummy gets bigger by the day. He's supposed to come out of there in mid-August ...

That's it for now. Thanks for visiting!

-T

FETCH Trailer Live

2010-04-13T08:31:00.001-07:00

Busy these days, so I'm not gonna write a big blog. But I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that the FETCH trailer went live yesterday on Dread Central. Check it out, looks pretty cool ....

Fetch -Trailer
Uploaded by dreadcentral. - Check out other Film & TV videos.

-T

More Stuff ...

2010-03-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

My house is being torn apart all day every day. It's been over a week and I'm REALLY looking forward to getting my shower and sink back, lemmetellya.

In the meantime, continuing sound design for CHOP and all is progressing well ...

A few more release announcements to make since the last post ... man, this is the year that it all comes out in the wash, I guess. Some of these titles that I've been announcing have been done for quite some time.

First up, my main man Chad Ferrin's latest feature SOMEONE'S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR, comes out on DVD May 25th from Breaking Glass Pictures. I've got a small but fun role in it as a cop who has terrible things done to him (come to think of it, every time I'm in one of Chad's movies, he makes sure that something terrible happens to me).

As if that's not enough Chad Ferrin/Trent Haaga for you, EASTER BUNNY, KILL! KILL! is finally seeing the light of day a mere week later, also courtesy of Breaking Glass!

That's right, for all of you who didn't download the movie for $3.99 years ago, you can have your very own DVD on June 1st!

I'm not gonna lie to you, it's somewhat anticlimactic to wait four years for this movie to come out ... I'm happy about it, but it's anticlimactic, like I said. Hopefully it finds an audience.

Both movies are available for pre-order or hold on Amazon and Netflix, so queue that shit up!

Fangoria.com ran a story this morning interviewing KILLJOY 3 director John Lechago. A nice piece and a few exclusive photos as well. Check it out:

Fangoria.com's KILLJOY 3 story

That's it for today!

-T

Update Time ...

2010-03-19T14:41:00.000-07:00

... It's been a while since I've hit the blog. Not really a ton of new and exciting things to report, professionally. But there are updates ... always updates ...

CHOP is now in the sound design stage. Matt and I have been recording ADR and doing hard FX while doing a lot of discussion about the more artistic elements of sound design and score that we're going to incorporate. Once sound design and score are done, it's down to sound mixing and color correction, a few tiny digital enhancements, and it'll be ready to be put out there. I think that the whole thing should be finished by end of May at the latest. As for when YOU'll be able to see it ... well, that's anybody's guess.

FETCH officially wrapped production in Kansas last week. I've seen some raw footage and it looks very interesting. Another one that I can't tell you when you'll be seeing, but it was a script that I thought that NOONE would ever make, so kudos to Director Christopher Downs and the rest of the cast and crew on a successful shoot! You can probably get updates at the official Dripping Dead Films Website.

There's also a story about the wrap and some more photos at Dread Central:

Dread Central: New Stills from Fetch; Principal Photography Wraps

Okay, there's been a ton of Facebook and Blog drama surrounding the film JESSICKA RABID. I shot this thing YEARS ago and apparently there's been all sorts of drama in getting it released. Aside and apart from all of this silly drama, the movie is actually kind of interesting and strange and is maybe worth a look if you're into films that are a bit more experimental. The pleasing result of all of this rigamarole is the fact that you can finally watch the film in its entirety online. For free.

I wonder how long it'll end up staying there ... I think I smell more drama in the air. But in the meantime, you can watch the movie right now by clicking RIGHT HERE.

Finally in movie news, another thought-to-be-lost Trent Haaga film, LEGEND OF THE SANDSQUATCH, hits DVD on March 23rd. You can order it on Amazon or go ahead and throw it on your Netflix queue ...

All right, enough of that boring movie news. Now on to the real meat of life ...

We're doing MASSIVE renovations to our home. And I mean MASSIVE. I've got no sinks or shower or much of anything left in our little Los Angeles 2 bed, 1 bath. When Lynh and I bought the place 8 years ago, we thought that it was a cute starter home that would get us into the real estate game. Then in a matter of a few short years, the real estate market went insane and then plummeted horribly. Rather than invest in a new home and maybe losing our asses, it seemed smarter to invest a lot less money in pimping the hell out of our place. New bathroom, new kitchen, new decks, new wiring, new plumbing, new appliances, and - most significantly - central heat and AC! Right now, though, the place is a wreck. it's like camping out in a construction site. And it'll continue to be this way for the next few months, at least ... hope it'll all be worth it in the long run.

Why renovate now, you ask? Well, for those of you who don't read my wife's Facebook page, the Haaga Family is expanding by a member in August. That's right. Another kid. And, yep, it's another little boy, at that ... "The Haaga Brothers." I like the sound of that. Stay tuned for more news on my greatest production of 2010 ...

Speaking of new additions, I also gained a new nephew last week, too! So here's my first official "hello" to my new nephew Charlie Joe ("CJ") Crafton! See you in a few weeks, little dude! Good to have you in the family!

Okay, that's it for the time being. As usual, life is topsy-turvy and it's gonna get even topsy-turvy-er ...

-T

Not Much to Speak Of ...

2010-02-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

... But I'll do this little update for the handful of followers of the site.

Well, I had my plane ticket and my Chinese visa all lined up and I was set to fly to Hong Kong in less than a week when I was informed that the movie has once again been delayed, this time indefinitely. That kind of screws up my plans for the next few weeks, but it's really the Law of the Land when you're talking about independent filmmaking.

That means that I'm basically finishing CHOP and this re-write ... and then I've got nothing on the horizon. Anybody out there need somebody to work on their movie?

FETCH ramps up its final shooting session next week and DREAD CENTRAL ran a story and a few new photos about it:

Dread Central's FETCH Update

And in What the Hell is This? news, I somehow stumbled across this crazy video on youtube. It looks like some university students in Singapore were taking a video production class or something and decided to REMAKE a scene from my movie FEEDING THE MASSES as an assignment:

Wow. It's just weird to think that stuff like this goes on. Whenever I find myself asking, "Why do I do this stuff? It's not like anyone's watching my damned movies anyway," (and I think that A LOT, especially these days) ... well, I can always remember that Polytechnic University students in Singapore need scenes to re-make.

Crazy.

-T

Wuzzah? More Nominations?

2010-02-08T15:02:00.000-08:00

Wow. Got an email a few days ago pointing me to another awards site that DEADGIRL is nominated for!

DEADGIRL is up for Best Screenplay (that would be me), Best Film, Best Actor, Best zombie, Best Actress, and Best Director(s) in MAIL ORDER ZOMBIE's 2009 Dead Letter Awards.

Here's the link. You know what to vote for. Unfortunately, they're asking for your email in order to cast the vote, so I totally get it if you don't!

Vote for DEADGIRL

Not a lot to report at the moment. FETCH is ramping up for a few days of re-shoots on March 1st. I've had the pleasure of taking a look at a few scenes and it looks incredible.

CHOP is moving right along. Planning on locking the picture in a few weeks and then we're on to sound design and musical score.

I'm going back to China in 3 weeks to play the lead in a feature film. It's called CONVERGENCE and that's just about all I can tell you about that project right now.

Also doing a re-write on a script that I did based on a director's notes. Hopefully this re-write will be the trick that'll push the film into production.

I was Googling some of my movie titles to find out what's been going on with them ... yeah, that's right, I have to Google my own films to find out their status. Anyway, came up with a few interesting tidbits:

According to Amazon.com, LEGEND OF THE SANDSQUATCH is actually coming out on DVD in March. That one's been in the can for years now.

And speaking of movies that have been done for years, my long-lost giant killer scorpion movie DEADLY STINGERS has apparently been playing on a cabled channel called ZONE TV in the UK ... crazy, cause it's' still not available on DVD anywhere in the world ...

And while there's no release date for my last China film, KILLJOY 3, I did find some photos from the film online ... they look like straight up screen captures from the RED RAW files. I grabbed a few of em just to give you a taste:

Yeah, that's about it for the time being.

-T

Awards Season ...

2010-02-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

It's awards season, something that usually means very little to me. It's not like I've ever been involved in a film that's thought about at all ... heck, even The Razzies seem to be all about the Hollywood films.

But ... DEADGIRL has been nominated in three categories for The Annual Splatcademy Awards: Best Actor (Shiloh Fernandez), Best Picture, and Trent Haaga for Best Screenplay Original or Adapted.

I don't normally do this shameless self-promoting and plugging, but this may be the only time I'll ever be up for one of these dang things and the good news is that the winner is decided by online vote. That said, why don't you follow the below link and help me get a Splatcademy Award? My family would be so proud ...

Vote for DEADGIRL (and me) at the SPLATCADEMY AWARDS

Thanks!

-T

CHOP Teaser Trailer!

2010-01-19T17:19:00.001-08:00

Okay, here it is. The first look at CHOP. This is the first thing that I've made on Final Cut Pro. Not too shabby. Thanks for your patience and I hope that you enjoy!

-T

2009 Re-Cap

2010-01-14T15:04:00.000-08:00

Well here it is two weeks into 2010, so I figured I'd do my little 09 re-cap piece before it got too late.

2009. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, as some crotchety old novelist once wrote ...

For many people, 2009 was a year of economic struggle. Luckily, I've got an extremely talented, hard-working (and long-suffering) wife who has always been gainfully employed all these years as I continue to dog-paddle along, barely keeping my head above water. Nevertheless, even though I didn't have to worry about food on the table thanks to Lynh, it was damned bleak for me for the first seven months of the year. I spent a lot of time trying to get meetings and writing pitches that went nowhere and starting but never finishing several spec script ideas. Meh. I'm not gonna lie to you, it was damn depressing.

Eventually, though, after pounding the pavement, things began to look up in August. Not too far up, but up at least. I landed my first paid gig of the year in Las Vegas, where I worked in 114 degree weather doing production on the Beyonce concert film. Just last week, I walked by TWO store windows here in LA that were showing the very film in question, so I guess that means that it's out in stores now. I gotta confess, it was dog-work. Hot and sweaty dog-work. But I was so thankful to be getting a check that it wasn't bad at all. I should also confess that I know nothing about Beyonce and could really care less, but she did put on a pretty damn good show and I can see why she's such an international superstar. She really does have that je ne sais quoi that the French talk about.

Things seemed to really take off after that point. My next order of business after the Beyonce gig, was to hop on a plane and fly to Slovenia (former Yugoslavia) as a guest of the Grossman Film Festival. I've really shied away from international film festivals after the disastrous Spain trip to the Sitges Film Festival in 2003. Well Grossman flipped that. The people of Slovenia were great, Deadgirl was very well received, and I was well taken care of. Not only that, but I got to hang out with, and befriend, one of my cinematic heroes, Jorg Buttgereit. Maybe international travel to film festivals ain't so bad after all.

I came home from Slovenia and less than two weeks later I was on a plane for my first excursion to China. I got back under the makeup and shot KILLJOY 3 in a studio in Guangzhou, China. I hear that it's supposed to come out in the first quarter of 2010, but have yet to see a single frame of footage. The cast and crew were awesome and it was really great to get a trip to China not only on someone else's dime, but to get paid to do it, as well.

The greatest outcome of my China trip, however, was hooking up with a friend there who took me to Beijing for a few days. I got to visit the Forbidden City and The Great Wall among other things and my friend Pan agreed to Executive Produce my directorial debut!

After spending a day and a night in Hong Kong - which was awesome, by the way - I headed back to Los Angeles and went right into pre-production on CHOP. We shot the film in 12 days in November, wrapping right before Thanksgiving. It was a great experience and I had an amazing cast and crew. I've spent the last few months since the shoot in post-production. And it's there that I remain now. I'm working on the first teaser trailer this week (yeah, I'm learning Final Cut Pro as I do this) and hoping that I can debut it right here next week sometime.

DEADGIRL came out on DVD in September to great critical and financial success. We even got a very small theatrical run in 12 cities, which was amazing and unexpected for everyone involved. After a year-long festival run, DEADGIRL's legs continued to stretch. We became available on Netflix instant view the day it came out and we had been rated over 60,000 times in the first month of release. I can safely say that it is the most successful film that I've even been involved in to date. I keep waiting for Dark Sky or someone to demand a sequel because I've got a heck of a concept ... and I've got what's called "first right of refusal," which means I have to get first crack if a sequel is warranted. Anybody else out there curious about a DEADGIRL 2?

The film made it on to an amazing number of 2009 Top Ten lists, but I'll refer you to the Deadgirl Blog if you wanna read all about that.

Alas, there are still a whole grip of projects out there, in the can, finished, that are in limbo right now. It's time for my annual "whatever happened to?" breakdown:

SUTURES - Watched a screening of this movie months ago, so it's finished. Beyond that, I have no idea what's gonna happen with this one.

KILLJOY 3 - Like I said, I hear that there will be a DVD sometime in 2010.

JESSICKA RABID - One day I hear there are DVDs, one day I hear nothing. I have a feeling that some sort of self-distribution is going to happen. It could be tomorrow or it could be in 2011, who knows?

BONNIE AND CLYDE VS. DRACULA - Over two years since this was shot, but no idea if it'll ever be available on DVD.

SOMEONE'S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR - Chad just signed a deal. I think that it comes out on DVD in May, but you didn't hear it from me.

PSYCHO HOLOCAUST - Hello? Anybody out there? I don't hear anything but chirping crickets.

KILLER BIKER CHICKS - I found out that this came out on DVD yesterday. I've yet to see it and barely remember making it. Looks like it's only available on Amazon.com, too. Here's the new trailer, if you're interested:

So now it's on to 2010. In know that I declare that every year is gonna be "my year." I mean it this time. Already, I've got a ton of projects on the horizon ... CHOP being the only one that I can talk about freely right now. I've got to finish that one and try to get another film off the ground. I've got an acting gig locked in for the first two weeks of March, but more on that later.

Oh, man, and they're shooting FETCH right now in Kansas City!! Dread Central just ran another story about it and included a bunch of photos, so here you go:

Dread Central FETCH Story

FETCH Photo Gallery

And there's gonna be even more huge news in the summer.

So thanks for checking the site, watching my stuff, and in general just supporting me. I'll try to be more diligent about the site and will probably have to since I'll soon have a lot more to write about very soon ...

Happy New Year, everybody.

-T

End of the Year ...

2009-12-29T09:10:00.000-08:00

... But I'll probably wait to do my end of the year re-cap once the holidays are over and I've got a few minutes. In the meantime, just a few quick updates.

CHOP's rough cut is finished. Now Jahad and I are throwing in some sound effects and temp music tracks ... just general tightening and mucking about. Right now it runs 1 hour 40 minutes. I'd like to shave maybe five or ten minutes off of it, but it's going to be ready to be viewed by "friends of the program" in a few days ...

Dread Central ran a story yesterday about FETCH which includes some behind-the-scenes location scouting clips. Looks like the shoot starts on January 9th. That's right around the corner!

Dread Central's FETCH story

There have been a ton of updates to the DEADGIRL Blog lately ... looks like we made it onto a pretty impressive amount of 2009 TOP TEN lists! Check it out:

DEADGIRL Blog

Okay, that's all for the moment. Like I said, I'll do a big, fat 2009 re-cap next week with lots of new pictures and whatnot. I might also be announcing a few new projects, too, if you can believe that. Stay tuned and have a safe and Happy New Year!

-T

CHOP SET VISIT ...

2009-12-12T12:37:00.001-08:00

Bloody-Disgusting.com just posted a really lengthy article about CHOP after a set visit during production. Wow. Makes ME excited to see the movie!

Special thanks to BD journalist Chris Eggertsen for his kind words about the production. Here's the article:

BLOODY-DISGUSTING'S CHOP SET VISIT

Putting together the first assembly and we're already about 50 minutes in. Hoping to have a rough cut by the end of next week. In the meantime, here are some more exclusive behind-the-scenes shots:

-T

First CHOP Photos Online ...

2009-12-04T09:29:00.000-08:00

Deep in the quagmire of post-production right now, but Bloody-Disgusting just ran some photos from the set of CHOP. They sent a journalist over for a set visit on our second-to-last day of shooting, so there should be another story up soon. In the meantime, you can check out the photos here:

CHOP on Bloody-Disgusting.com

The brief story with the photos states that I am in the movie as well, but that's incorrect. I really wanted to concentrate on Producing and Directing and I've already had the opportunity to act in many, many films, so I decided to forgo acting in the film ... not even a cameo.

More later ...

-T

So What's Next?

2009-11-25T14:03:00.000-08:00

That's always the first question I get whenever I complete a project. I've still got a TON of post-production work on CHOP and that's gonna take up most of my time ... But you know me, always got a few irons in the fire. The first announcement about my next project went up today on Dread Central and it answers the burning question, What do Trent Haaga and bizarro cult film THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE (pictured below) have in common?

Click the link below to find out:

Dread Central Announces My Latest Project

Have a great Turkey Day!

-T

... That's a wrap!

2009-11-25T09:43:00.000-08:00

CHOP wrapped principal photography on Monday afternoon. Now I'm taking a little holiday weekend break and then it's all post-production all the time ...

I'm tired and ended up getting sick as soon as we wrapped. So more on CHOP later, but in the meantime here are a few shots from the set:

More to come!

-T

It's True ...

2009-11-09T10:31:00.000-08:00

... After all these years of making movies, I'm finally directing my first film. You can read all that I want to say about the project right here:

Slashfilm Story

I know that it's been a while since I've blogged, but it's been kinda crazy over here since I'm Producing and Directing this thing. I promise that once I get the sucker in the can that I'll post all sorts of photos and info about the shoot and get back on this blog ... for whoever is still reading this thing.

We start shooting in two days and wrap right before Thanksgiving, so come back during your holiday break for all the news!

-T

Eyegore Awards

2009-10-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

I keep meaning to update with more from the recent China adventure, but I've been pretty busy this past week. Took the family to the Red Bull Soapbox races in downtown LA last weekend and then the next day got free tickets and backstage passes to see the Insane Clown Posse in Anaheim ... then a week of work of pre-production on yet another super secret project.

Then just a few days ago, I was sent a press release that Noah Segan was going to be presented with the 2009 Eyegore Award (apparently their tenth year) for "Best Villain" for his portrayal of "J.T." in DEADGIRL.

The Eyegores were at Universal Studios last night. It was quite the star-studded event. They only gave out 4 other awards. One to Rob Zombie, one to Tobin Bell, one to the best short film from their annual contest, and a lifetime achievement award to 6-time Academy Award winner Rick Baker. It was really amazing to think that our little film was amongst all of those big-budget films and filmmakers.

Even more interesting to note that in a year of masked serial murderers and psychopathic maniacs and supernatural killers that the year's best villain was ... just a regular high school kid. Think about that one for a second and it's enough to blow your mind.

So I hopped in my car with Chad Ferrin and we went to the ceremony. Best of all was the fact that it was opening night for Universal's famous Halloween Horror Nights and all of the Eyegore guests got free park entrance and front of the line passes for all of the mazes. Chad and I got to experience the whole Universal Horror Nights thing in true style.

So ... awesome night. Special congrats and thanks to my main man, Noah Segan, for turning this little sociopath I created into 2009's Best Villain! Here's some more shots ...

The man of the hour and I. If you look closely, you can see the show MC Corey Feldman in the background. There I was, standing just a few feet from two men who've acted in movies that I wrote (though Feldman may not remember, he was in CITIZEN TOXIE):

With DEADGIRL directors Gadi Harel and Marcel Sarmiento:

One of the roaming performers at Halloween Horror Nights:

Chad in the SAW maze. Note the look of abject terror on his face. It's because it smelled like someone in the line ahead of us had shit their drawers in horror:

So ... great night. Cool award. More on China maybe later, but like I said, I'm in the middle of yet another project, so we'll see ...

-T

Random Signs in China

2009-09-27T16:49:00.001-07:00

I'll be updating with more China stuff later in the week. For now, some random shots from the trip ...

DEADGIRL

2009-09-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

Well, it's truly the end of a long trip for DEADGIRL (at least for me, anyway). After writing the script nearly a decade ago, years of collecting dust on the shelf, then production two years ago followed by an amazing year of festival play, DEADGIRL is finally available on DVD in the States.

Naturally, there have been tons of new reviews written about it and naturally people seem to love or hate it. I don't really feel like linking to all of the new reviews - fundamentally, everything that's going to be said about the film has been said already ... over and over. But if you wanna read all about the reaction to the DVD release, I'd recommend heading over to the Official Deadgirl Blog:

DEADGIRL BLOG

DARK SKY has done a pretty good job of getting the movie out there. I bought a copy at Best Buy and have heard that it's available for rent at Hollywood Video. Not only that, but the DVD has deleted scenes (including one that I REALLY wish they had just left in), a making-of, and an audio commentary track. Not only that, but the sleeve artwork is reversible. One side is the "green girl" art and the other one is like our festival poster:

For those of you who just want to watch the movie NOW, however, we're available for Instant View on Netflix, where the film has been rated over 17,000 times and reviewed almost 300 times ... all in a little over a week!

Definitely my biggest hit so far, I think.

Dave Navarro (guitarist for a little band called Jane's Addiction, maybe you've heard of them) has a radio show on Indie 103.1 and talked extensively about how disturbing he thought the movie was and had the Deadgirl herself, Jenny Spain, on for an interview the other day. It was funny to hear how much my little movie creeped out a gothic rock and roller.

So ... there's no excuse not to check DEADGIRL out now. I hope that you dig it. Thanks to everyone for the support during the film's long trek to being released.

In other film news, SUTURES has been selected to be part of the competition at this year's SHRIEKFEST here in Los Angeles. The movie will be having its World Premiere Sunday, October 4th.

SUTURES World Premiere at Shriekfest 2009

Oh, and they finally put the trailer up on youtube, so here it is:

I'll post with more of the China diaries in a few days. Thanks for visiting.

-T

KILLJOY 3

2009-09-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

Okay, I've had a day to recuperate from the 14 hour time difference. Figured I'd take a little time every day this week to give a bit more details about the different aspects of the China trip. So ...

... The real reason for me going to China in the first place was to shoot KILLJOY 3. Seven years ago I was Producing and starring in Killjoy 2 in the outskirts of Los Angeles. If you had told me then that I was going to end up in China under the makeup for a part 3, I would have laughed. But you never know what's gonna happen.

We shot in a relatively new and small studio in Guangzhou, China, which is about two hours outside of Hong Kong. The studio has three sound stages where all of the locations were built. The place was completely self-contained, with its own kitchen, showers, editing suites, camera rooms, and makeup rooms. This was the third English-language production shot here and the second one with Full Moon (they shot a Puppetmaster sequel there last month). In typical Full Moon fashion, the entire shoot was nine days long. I worked as Killjoy for 5 of them.

The film was directed by John Lechago, an immensely talented guy who really had a vision and worked hard to bely the picture's relatively low budget. John's background is in visual arts, so the movie has a striking visual element to it that the other installments didn't have. I got to work with Tom Devlin yet again. He's always a great person to work with and his creature makeup in this one is really something. In addition to Killjoy, there were three other demons to make in addition to all of the other makeup effects. I even had a stunt double for the first time (see pic below)!

It was hot and humid and I was in full makeup with the contacts and the teeth and under the hot lights, but it wasn't too bad overall. Movie-making ain't easy and it's even harder under conditions of time duress, but I think that everybody really kicked some ass and we got something interesting in the can at the end of the week. I guess we'll all find out when it hits DVD sometime very early in 2010.

Here's another behind-the-scenes video from youtube:

More tomorrow!

-T

MADE IN CHINA ...

2009-09-21T15:13:00.001-07:00

Okay. I just got back from 12 days in China last night. I'm kind of jet-lagged and trying to catch up with all of my correspondences and laundry and that kind of thing. I'll give the brief run-down and then do a few more updates later on in the week (cause I took a TON of photos and don't feel like re-sizing and stuff at the moment).

On Wednesday, September 15th I hopped on a plane at 2:00am with a few of the other actors. Fifteen hours later we landed in Hong Kong. Took a taxi to the Hong Kong train station and caught a train to Guangzhou, China, which is about two hours away.

I shot the movie for the next six days at a studio in Guangzhou. Long hours and it was hot and muggy, but we got the film in the can. All of the actors, the special FX guy (my main man, Tom Devlin), the DP, and the director were the only English-speaking members of the crew. The Chinese crew was incredibly hard-working and accomodating and we were able to get the film in the can in a mere 9 days!

The day after I wrapped I flew to Beijing where I took some meetings, ate lots of amazing food (I can finally scratch Jellyfish Heads off of my food I've never eaten list), and took in some incredible culture including The Forbidden City, The Great Wall, and the Tomb of the Third Emperor of the Ming Dynasty.

Here are some shots from the Forbidden City:

And the Great Wall, which was an amazing feat of engineering in addition to being an aerobic workout to climb:

Finally, I had a quick 2 days/1 night in Hong Kong where there was a big celebration to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China:

Returned last night to the very successful DVD release of DEADGIRL, which has already been rated 11,000 times on Netflix in less than a week. More on the DEADGIRL phenom later ...

So, it's been a heck of a month. First Slovenia and then China. And China was really incredible. Not to mention the fact that I put another movie in the can!

Oh yeah, and what was the movie? The "top secret project" that I've been alluding to?

That's right ... KILLJOY 3.

As I said, I'm kind of busy and jet-lagged right now, but I'll probably be updating every day this week with more photos and details and news ...

Oh, and here's a video I just found on youtube. Behind the scenes from the China set of KILLJOY 3:

Craziness. Come back for more tomorrow!

- T

Not Much ...

2009-09-08T09:55:00.000-07:00

... to blog about at the moment. But I start shooting my "top secret project" that I alluded to in the last post tonight. I'll be shooting for the next 11 days, so no updates until after September 20th. But rest assured, there'll be a ton of photos and news and whatnot upon completion of the project, so come back then.

In the meantime, an official trailer went up for SUTURES. If you look really close I actually make it in there a couple of times. Unfortunately, it's only on the imdb and they won't let me imbed, so follow the link below:

SUTURES Trailer

DEADGIRL played one last festival in Lisbon this week before the DVD release. Here's a shot of directors Gadi and Marcel with Stewart Gordon and John Landis right after the screening:

And, finally, DEADGIRL will be released on DVD September 15th. Please go to Best Buy (or wherever DVDs are still sold that isn't WalMart, cause they're not stocking it) and pick up a copy!

Okay, that's it for now. As I said, BIG update coming in about two weeks ...

-T

A Quick One ...

2009-08-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

... Just for the sake of keeping up on the blog.

Went and did a makeup test for a potential upcoming project last night at Tom Devlin's 1313FX shop. Wish that I could post more pictures or talk about it, but not until maybe later in the month ... in theory, the film will be in the can by then. Here's the only shot I can share with you for now, since it's just me in the contacts:

I know, I know ... ooh, mysterious projects ... I'll post up here wit hmore details as soon as I'm allowed ... I've got another couple of irons in the fire, script-wise, but am also keeping the details close to the chest for now.

In the meantime, DEADGIRL hits DVD in both R Rated and Un-Rated editions from Dark Sky Films on September 15th, so please go out and nab yourself a copy! Here are a few more recent reviews of said film:

Zombie Cupcake

Necrotic Cinema

Liar's Society

Exploitation Nation

I'll be back soon with more news ...

-T

Random Shots From Slovenia

2009-08-19T15:05:00.000-07:00

Some more pictures from last week's Slovenia trip ...

-T

Home Again ...

2009-08-17T11:48:00.000-07:00

Traveled for about 18 hours yesterday and got back to Los Angeles last night.

Wow. Slovenia was amazing. Everyone there was incredibly nice and accommodating and the country is beautiful. I want to thank all of the organizers of the 2009 Grossmann Film Festival for everything.

Okay. Here's a bit of a re-cap of the last few days ...

... Usually when I go to Europe (not often, but it does happen), I like to go to the grocery stores to look at all of the unfamiliar packaging and products. Here's a cereal that uses a clam as a mascot. Don't know about you, but clams don't make me think of milky and chocolate-y goodness:

The whole town of Ljutomer is in a festive mood during the week of the Grossmann. Lots of people who maybe have no interest at all in horror movies gather in the main square. Here's one of them:

Finn Atkins from EDEN LAKE at the museum in the theater:

The festival hosted Slovenia's first ever Zombie Walk and hundreds of zombies showed up to take over the city center. There was a zombie rockabilly band in the back of a wagon who played as they were pulled through the streets. After that, a Slovenian zombie horror-core rapper played. It was a zombie parade that ended at the location of the Grossmann's closing ceremony. Here are some shots from the zombie walk:

The closing ceremony took place in the town cinema. Ruggero Deodato and Jorg Buttgereit got special lifetime achievement awards. DEADGIRL lost the main competition to EDEN LAKE, so no statue for us.

All in all an amazing time. Gotta make another movie so that I can go back next year!

Speaking of which, time for me to stop blogging and start looking for another job. I've got a ton of shots from Slovenia, so I'll probably just throw up a random bunch of them later in the week ...

-T

Yesterday in Slovenia ...

2009-08-14T01:26:00.000-07:00

Another great day festival-ing (is that a word?) in Slovenia.

Went into the city early yesterday to take some photos in the daylight and eat and check out the second screening of DEADGIRL in the local cinema. There's a little art gallery thing attached to the theater:

The screening went well and it started to rain, so I headed off to talk with the Mondo Macabro guys and eat dinner. Then there was a Q&A with Jorg Buttgereit before the international premiere of his new filmed stage play, CAPTAIN BERLIN VS. HITLER:

After that, it was the premiere of CORPUS CRISPY, a killer demon priests movie made right here in Ljutomer and starring a bunch of the guys involved in the Grossmann Festival. Everybody in town showed up and then it started to rain really hard, so they moved the screening into the big tent. I watched the film with Jorg and his wife:

And also with Finn Atkins (star of EDEN LAKE) and her boyfriend Adam - both totally cool folks:

But the night doesn't end after the last movie here. There are concerts every night. SO after Corpus Crispy, we all went to the local club to see Slovenian death metal outfit, SEPTIC SCUM:

Yeah. Just woke up to eat some breakfast and update the site. Now for a quick hour long nap before the new day begins here.

-T

Greetings From Slovenia

2009-08-13T03:55:00.001-07:00

I'm sitting here in my hotel room in beautiful Ljutomer, Slovenia. DEADGIRL is playing at the 5th Annual Grossmann Film Festival here and brought me out to be a guest. I flew from LAX to Frankfurt to Graz, Austria. From there I was driven across the Slovenian border just in time to bring the movie to the first DEADGIRL screening, which was a huge public screening the the town's central square:

The festival is great and the people here are awesome. They're doing Jorg Buttgereit and Ruggero Deodato retrospectives here and both directors are in attendance. There are parties and guest activities every day in addition to all of the great screenings. I'm heading down into the city center in a few hours to get interviewed by Slovenian television and for the second DEADGIRL screening in the town's cinema.

Ljutomer is famous for its wineries. The hotel I'm staying in is owned by one of the largest wineries in the area, the Dvorec Jerusalem. The hotel is next to an ancient church and is surrounded by hilly vineyards on all sides:

Last night I watched Buttgereit's DER TODESKONIG in the town cinema and then went to the town square where they played this insane Turkish CONAN ripoff from the seventies called TARKAN VS. THE VIKINGS.

Okay, now that I've got this whole international internet thing figured out (and I finally seem to be over my jetlag and body/time confusion), I'll try to update and take a lot more pictures of the town and the people ... so check back tomorrow for more Slovenian happenings ...

-T

SLICES

2009-08-09T17:08:00.000-07:00

Did a pretty successful DVD signing at Burbank's own DARK DELICACIES bookstore last night. It's now out from Brain Damage films, so throw it on the Netflix queue.

Good times. Just finished my ADR session for Creep Creepersin's ERECTION and I'm hopping on a plane for Slovenia tomorrow. Hopefully I'll have some internet over there and I'll be updating from Eastern Europe later in the week ...

In the meantime, more DEADGIRL reviews:

Horrormovies.ca

Movies and Metal Maketh the Man

Wildside Cinema

-T

Interesting Review and Interview

2009-08-07T10:23:00.000-07:00

I had the opportunity to sit down for an interview with a really cool podcast called Toward A New Cinema last week. Urbane and interesting and, dare I say intellectual? Yes, I think so. The entire episode is dedicated to DEADGIRL and I think that there are some good points made. As usual, I try to be as entertaining as I can in the interview ... emphasis on the word "try." Check it out and thanks to Dallas for the interview!

A full hour of DEADGIRL discussion on TOWARD A NEW CINEMA

Got a signing for the release of SLICES on Saturday, ADR for ERECTION on Sunday, and I'm flying to Slovenia on Monday, so updates a'plenty are coming!

-T

I've been OUT!

2009-08-05T11:26:00.000-07:00

Which is why I haven't updated in a bit. Just spent the last week and a half working on a Beyonce concert DVD. Did a week of prep here in Los Angeles then went to Las Vegas where we shot Beyonce's 4 night stand at the Encore theater at the Wynn Hotel. Long days and high temperatures.

Yeah, that's the life of a glamorous Hollywood screenwriter ... on Friday night I'm doing a Q&A at the theater showing my movie and on Monday I'm loading trucks up with equipment for Beyonce ...

... And in just a few hours I'm heading to the studio to be a foley artist for the new Insane Clown Posse feature film, BIG MONEY RUSTLAS. That's right: writer, actor, Producer ... foley artist.

But enough about that. More DEADGIRL reviews went up this week:

Shock Til You Drop

Fatally Yours

Horror Society

Dread Central (Again)

I'm certain that more have popped up, but haven't had the time to try and hunt em all down and to be quite frank, I really feel like I'm starting to read the same basic 3 or 4 reviews over and over again!

DEADGIRL's DVD release is a month away and the final cover art and whatnot can be found online ... and it's going to be released in two editions: a bare-bones R-rated disc and the unrated director's cut with audio commentary and a bunch of other stuff.

Right now Blockbuster and Amazon and Netflix are deciding how many copies to order, so if you happen to have an account on Blockbuster or Netflix, please add DEADGIRL to your queue. If you've already seen it, please write some comments on Amazon. It'd be a great help to me, thanks ...

Really cool news on the print media side, though. We're BIZARRE MAGAZINE's DVD of the Month in their new issue, so check it out:

DEADGIRL is also featured in the new issue of Fangoria Magazine. It's a 4 page Fango Seal of Approval article that has tons of photos and interviews with the directors and Jenny Spain, the Deadgirl herself. It's pretty damn cool to have a feature article in a magazine I've been reading since I was about twelve years old. So run out to the newsstands and check it out:

Okay ... what else? I got interviewed for a cool podcast but it's not up yet. I'll link when it goes live.

Looks like it's ICP foley time for me, so I've gotta cut this short. More updates are coming ... because I'm traveling to Slovenia on Monday.

Yeah, that's right. Slovenia. Come back next week for the wheres/whys/whats.

-T

Big Weekend ...

2009-07-26T12:58:00.000-07:00

Wow. Just wow. DEADGIRL was unleashed theatrically this weekend and apparently we did gangbusters. I hear that BOTH NYC and Dallas nights were SOLD OUT and at least one of the Austin shows was sold out as well. We came really close to selling out both nights in Chicago and the Los Angeles screening (which I attended) had a line around the block ... there were a few empty seats, but the NuArt was like 90% full. Amazing experience all around and the success of the theatrical run may mean that we get re-booked or land some new cities next month ... Regardless, I wanna thank everyone who came to see the movie and supported truly independent cinema.

Okay, so many reviews came out that I can't keep track of them! Naturally a lot of the mainstream reviewers from major papers and stuff just didn't dig it ... I get it. You just got out of a screening of THE UGLY TRUTH and then they ask you to review DEADGIRL. Of course it's gonna rankle you. This reviewer thing is really funny. Do they ask the Miley Cyrus fan to review the new Slayer album since they're both music?

Okay. I'm just gonna start linking in these things and you judge em for yourself. Otherwise this update'll take me all day ...

Trust Movies

Buzzine

Staten Island Live

FilmCritic.com

Paste Magazine's Interview With Gadi and Marcel

Houston News Magazine Interview With Me!

Giant Magazine

We Are Movie Geeks

Spectrum Culture

Chicago City and Press

FANGORIA.COM!!!

Chicago Reader

The Village Voice

Destroy the Brain Podcast

Maitland McDonough's FlickChick Blog

Wow. I'm sure that there's more, but to be quite honest I'm tired of linking up stuff right now. I'm sure I'll find and post more later in the week.

But there's one review of distinction that I'm gonna post up because, well, it's from the point of view of the real target audience. I'm tired of all of the reviewers out there being elderly cineastes and shit. It's about time we get a Siskel & Ebert for the young set:

Great stuff, guys!

All right, enough for today. I'll be back soon with more ...

-T

We've Disgusted Myra Breckinridge!

2009-07-21T17:55:00.000-07:00

Here we are, just a few days away from DEADGIRL's theatrical run, and the reviews are pouring in now.

The Huffington Post has a really interesting and thoughtful podcast interview with Gadi and Marcel ... seems they really liked the movie:

DEADGIRL on Dan Person's Mighty Movie Podcast

Here's another one from a horror website:

Horrormovies.ca's 2nd positive review

And, hey, some folks really, really hate the movie. In the interest of fairness:

Some Dude Who Calls It "The Worst Movie Ever"

Seriously, you're a movie reviewer and you call it "The Worst Movie Ever?" I know that imdb message board trollers use that all the time, but a "legitimate" movie reviewer?

But here's the CROWN JEWEL of this update, a SCATHING review from the New York Observer (entitled "Don't Say I Didn't Warn You About Deadgirl") by Myra Breckinridge his/herself ... the one and only REX REED! Follow this GREAT quote for the full review:

Written by a weirdo named Trent Haaga for no other purpose than to outrage, Deadgirl is part S&M porno, part supernatural chiller, and worthy only if you’re interested in how far movies can go before the police arrive.

Love it!!

I'm in Indiana right now visiting with family, but am back to do more updating later in the week ...

Oh! And Dark Sky Films has just put up a new site for the film with all of the screening info, a photo gallery, and the "red band" trailer. Check it out:

www.deadgirlthefilm.com

-T

Some More Press and Stuff ...

2009-07-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

Updates, updates, updates ... and lots more to come in the next few weeks.

Picked up the latest issue of GOREZONE, the United Kingdom's answer to Fangoria, and was pleasantly surprised to find a 4 Star full-page review inside:

The magazine's out now and I've seen it at Barnes and Noble, etc. Not too hard to find a copy.

And here's the official information about DEADGIRL's theatrical run. It's got all of the cities and theaters in one easy-to-read graphic ... I got this off of another website, but what's interesting is the line at the bottom that says we're also going to playing Denver in August. Awesome. Here's the graphic:

And here's the result of that head-casting I did last week. Kinda creepy. Now I know what I'd look like if I was bald and gray and sleeping ... or dead.

Still not able to talk about what the head cast is for ... but there are a couple of things on the horizon in August and September that are gonna give me a LOT of airline miles ... I'll elucidate when I can ...

-T

Even MORE Deadgirl Reviews ...

2009-07-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

They keep coming in as our theatrical run nears (July 24th and 25th in 9 cities!) ...

Critic's Notebook

About.com

Salt Lake City Horror Examiner

Speaking of our upcoming theatrical run, Bloody Disgusting is re-running all of the theater information (including special guests):

DEADGIRL's Theatrical Release Info

Lots more news to come in the next week, so check back often!

-T

What's This?

2009-07-10T11:06:00.000-07:00

A blog headline without the word DEADGIRL in it?

And what's up with these images of me having my head lifecast by 1313FX maestro Tom Devlin yesterday afternoon?

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill my blog. Let's just say that there will be some interesting updates coming in September. In the meantime, I've always wondered what my head would look like if it was hollow and I was looking up at it from inside of my neck. Now I know:

Lest you think that this whole update is only about secret projects, I've got a few more tidbits of news ...

Chad Ferrin's SOMEONE'S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR has been chosen as one of the films in this year's prestigious TORONTO AFTER DARK Film Festival. Here's the announcement page with all the info you need to know:

SKATD in Toronto

Congrats to Chad and the cast and crew ... which would include me, as I've got a little role and a bloody death in the film ...

You know I couldn't do an update and not mention DEADGIRL news ... especially this close to the theatrical release. A couple more reviews, one of which has a keeper of a quote ...

Cinema Suicide's Review

24 Frames Per Second's Review, in which they say:

"Two things soon become clear, Noah Segan has hit the rusting, bent out of shape nail on the head with his exhilarating performance and Trent Haaga probably isn’t the kind of guy you would want over for dinner."

Hilarious. Historically, however, it's the ones that you WOULD have over for dinner that you should worry about.

Back with more updates soon. Going to the ILSA double feature at the New Beverly tonight!

-T

More Deadgirl Reviews ...

2009-07-07T09:46:00.001-07:00

... Including a podcast review. Check it:

Arrow in the Head

Pop Culture Reviews

Giraffe vs. Unicorn

The Plot Hole

Destroy the Brain Podcast

-T

New DEADGIRL Trailer

2009-07-03T09:05:00.000-07:00

Okay, it's a holiday weekend and I'm at home with Max, so this is gonna have to be another quick update. Bloody-Disgusting.com "leaked" Dark Sky Films' Red Band Trailer for DEADGIRL a few days ago. Here's a look:

This, in conjunction with the theatrical release info, has kept the movie in the public's conscience. I've got to say that I'm truly astounded at how the film has taken on a life of its own. Reviews (most of them overwhelmingly positive) continue to pour in from the online horror community. Here are a few new ones:

Horror Yearbook's Review

HorrorMovies.ca's Review

Shoot For The Head's Review

But what really tells me that DEADGIRL is doing something special is the fact that even non-horror people and sites seem to be talking about it. Check out these two stories from two very reputable (and dare I say intellectual?) sites, SALON.COM and io9.com ... then read all of the comments. Lots of debate, lots of thought, lots of passion ... This is the kind of thing that clues me in to the fact that we've done something beyond, "Whoa, man, this movie is COOOOOL."

SALON.COM - Zombie Rape?

io9.com - Who Needs a Real Girlfriend ..?

Pretty interesting stuff. We seem to have people talking!

Another barometer for how popular the movie is becoming is to do a Twitter search for DEADGIRL. Lynh showed me this one, as I'm not hip to the Twitter phenomenon. I was amazed at how many Twitters there are about it. Unfortunately, Twitter doesn't seem to want to let me link straight to a search result page, so if you're curious, you'll have to go to twitter.com and type DEADGIRL in the search box. Interesting reactions all around.

Okay, that's it for today. Have a great holiday weekend and I'm sure I'll be back with another update before you know it.

-T

Max Haaga ... Film Reviewer

2009-06-30T10:16:00.000-07:00

Wow, I've been an updating fool these days. It's almost like this thing is turning into a real blog.

Just a small and quick update today, but a special one ... because my son, Max Haaga, became an official online journalist today. Max was asked to contribute a review of TRANSFORMERS 2: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN for my good friend Adam Jahnke's excellent movie critique site, Jahnke's Electric Theatre (sponsored by The Digital Bits). Check it out:

MAX HAAGA'S FIRST PUBLISHED MOVIE REVIEW

Wow. And I didn't get my first web review published until I was well into my twenties. That's nepotism, I guess ... But I think that Max's observations were astute and concise for a 7 year old.

Speaking of reviews, DEADGIRL opinions keep coming in and overall they're pretty positive. Here are a few:

BRUTAL AS HELL's DEADGIRL Review

eSplatter's DEADGIRL Review

That's all for today. I'll post more news when I get it ...

-T

SLICES!

2009-06-29T11:40:00.000-07:00

Got the DVD artwork and release date for a movie that I'm in ... a little anthology picture called SLICES. Looks like it'll be out on August 4th. For those of you in the Los Angeles area, there's going to be a SLICES release party/signing at DARK DELICACIES on August 8th, which I'll be at (schedule permitting).

Here's a gander at the DVD cover:

DEADGIRL's theatrical release is a scant few weeks away and it continues to be a love/hate type of movie.

VAULT OF HORROR just put up an interesting review of the movie. They seem to really like it. But someone who visits their site really, really dislikes it. You can read the review and the subsequent comment exchange right here:

VAULT OF HORROR'S DEADGIRL REVIEW

I find the entire debate fascinating. And it's interesting that no one seems to want to ask the writer about his intentions with the movie ... but I also am happy to let the film speak for itself instead of the filmmakers. Nevertheless, it always amuses me that some folks seem to immediately refer to "torture" and "misogyny" in their criticisms of the movie. Torture, to me, denotes that the kids took pliers and a blowtorch to the Deadgirl ... which they don't. I'd argue that they're less violent toward her than Jigsaw is to his female victims ... but I think that what makes folks most uncomfortable is that there are no clearly defined "good" and "bad" people in the movie. Just like in life. Also, I tend to think of the film as generally hopeless and completely misanthropic as opposed to merely misogynist. It doesn't have nice things to say about humans in general, not just women.

But, as I said, it's best to leave that stuff up to the viewer - this will probably be the last time I even bother to explain myself. Let the film speak for itself and the viewer will have to decide what they're going to walk away from the experience with.

At least it's not some forgettable movie about teens on the way to a concert whose van breaks down and then they all get picked off by a psychotic hillbilly with a bag on his head ...

-T

DEADGIRL U.S. DVD Artwork?

2009-06-27T20:32:00.000-07:00

Got a tip from a Facebook friend that Deadgirl's U.S. DVD is available for pre-order. So I went to go and check out the site - DVD Empire - and, lo and behold, it looks like they've got the box art.

From what I understand, this art isn't completely finalized, but it will definitely be similar to this:

Don't know about you, but I dig it. Kind of creepy without giving too much away and without screaming "low budget horror movie" (which I don't really consider us to be anyway).

So go ahead and pre-order DEADGIRL from DVD Empire, why don't ya? Here's their really excellent synopsis for the movie:

It has been called "audacious" (Hollywood Reporter), "unsettlingly sexual" (IndieWire) and "pretty much f***ing brilliant" (Ain't It Cool News). Thought to be too controversial to release, it would go on to shock festival audiences, outrage religious groups, and blow away midnight movie crowds from coast to coast. It remains one of the most daringly original and disturbing films of our time.

Shiloh Fernandez (Red), Noah Segan (Brick), Michael Bowen (Kill Bill) and Candice Accola (Juno) star in this story of two high school misfits who cut school to explore the remains of an abandoned hospital. The gruesome discovery they make will test the very limits of their sanity and tear apart their young lives forever: A woman stripped naked and chained to a table. She's abandoned, beautiful and dead...or is she? From the producer of Hellraiser and Heathers comes this depraved, poignant and genre-busing new indie classic about intimacy, morality and the horror of growing up. You may scream in terror, gasp with disgust, or debate it for days, but one thing is for certain: You will never forget Deadgirl.

Wow. Makes me wanna see it!

-T

DEADGIRL in New Fangoria

2009-06-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update here. Got the new Fangoria magazine this week (issue #285) and there's a full page article about DEADGIRL star Noah Segan. We're also mentioned in Tony Timpone's editorial and in the Terror Teletype. Most exciting is the fact that there will be a full feature on the film itself in the upcoming issue (September). Here's the cover and a look at the Segan article:

Pretty cool. I've been a Fango reader since I was just a Junior High horror fanatic, so it's really cool to see my movie there.

More updates to come as the theatrical release nears ...

-T

Deadgirl Theatrical List and One Sheet ...

2009-06-23T10:17:00.000-07:00

Looks like that theatrical screening information I posted and then removed is now officially okay to talk about ... Because I just read about it on Bloody-Disgusting.com. They also put up the "official" one-sheet for the movie which basically looks like the original one but with quotes and the Dark Sky Films logo in the lower left hand corner. Here it is:

And here's a link to DEADGIRL'S THEATRICAL INFORMATION

DEADGIRL also came out on DVD in Germany last week, so the bit torrent-ing is going nuts on the movie. We are currently ranked #60 on the imdb's MovieMeter ... which nestles us right in between Slumdog Millionaire and Iron Man 2(!) ...

And - finally! - a piece of non-Deadgirl news!

Fangoria.com ran an article announcing the imminent DVD release of JESSICKA RABID, which you can read right HERE.

Looks like my good friends at Plan 10 Pictures will be releasing the DVD sometime soon ... which would make it the 4th movie I've done that Plan 10 has put out, right next to EASTER BUNNY, KILL! KILL!, THE TREK, and ERECTION. Crazy. Here's a sneak peek at the DVD cover art:

That's it for the time being. Trying to keep myself busy with some projects that I can't and won't discuss for now ...

-T

DEADGIRL Still Going Theatrical ...

2009-06-18T15:23:00.000-07:00

... Despite the fact that I had to take the info down. Once again, I asked for permission to post information that was given to me and then told it was okay and then told to remove it a few days later. I assume that the good people involved in the theatrical release know what they're doing and have some sort of special announcement plan that doesn't include the writer's blog. Nevertheless, the movie will be playing theaters across the country in July. That includes Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Austin, Seattle, and now St. Louis. I'll provide all the details as soon as I'm allowed.

Interest in the movie seems to be higher than we anticipated, which is great. We're one of the top twenty illegally downloaded movies in the world right now and on the IMDB our popularity rank is nestled somewhere in between TITANIC and the television series THE OFFICE. Pretty amazing for such a little movie with no real stars in it, etc.

Folks seem to love it or hate it, as evidenced by the activity on DEADGIRL's IMDB Message Board.

I hear that we're supposed to have some sort of write-up or article in the upcoming issue of Fangoria magazine, but no one involved in the film seems to have been interviewed or even knows if this is true or not. I also hear that we're the "DVD of the Month" in an upcoming issue of BIZARRE MAGAZINE, which is one of my wife Lynh's favorite periodicals, so I'm probably most excited about that coverage. I'll certainly update if either of these happen ...

And a few more reviews come trickling in:

The Horror Review

PopCultureMadness.com

HorrorNews.net

Not too shabby so far. And to think, it all started with me wanting to shoot something fast and cheap at the locations from Toxie 4 ...

Expect more updates soon ...

-T

UK DVD Reviews Coming In ...

2009-06-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

... Here are some of the ones I've found so far ...

EYE FOR FILM's Review

My Reviewer

SexGoreMutants Review

-T

If You Live in the UK ...

2009-06-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

... You can purchase the DEADGIRL DVD (available from Metrodome Entertainment) TODAY!

BUY THE REGION 2 DVD HERE

Looks like some reviews are starting to come in from that release, as well. So far they've been pretty positive overall, but give it a few days and I'm sure that the "hated it" reviews will come ... because that's the kind of movie we made. Here are a few links for now:

Den of Geek's Review

Total Sci-Fi's Review

-T

What's New?

2009-06-01T11:28:00.000-07:00

Not much, but a few new links and whatnot. Wish that I had some new projects to report, but alas ... I've been in talks about a few projects, but nothing that I feel I can report on at this stage of development. But there's always DEADGIRL news ...

We had a couple of successful screenings at the Seattle International Film Festival this weekend and, as usual, some love it and some hate it. It's interesting that even the negative reviews seem to have things to say about the movie besides "it sucked" or "it was boring" or "stupid." As long as people are debating it, I feel that we've succeeded at what we were trying to do. We knew from the get-go that the movie we were making wasn't a blockbuster that was meant for everybody. Here are a few links from the Seattle screenings:

Seattle Met Blogs Review

A SIFF Blog

Review from a site called Alliterates

A site called Rain City Guide

There may be more reviews out there by now, but I don't feel like searching for em right now ...

A site called THREE IMAGINARY GIRLS also did a really extensive interview with the directors (who were in attendance) that you can read HERE.

If you're in the UK, you'll be able to buy or rent DEADGIRL in a week (June 8th).

Despite it's lack of rating, DEADGIRL is going to be getting a DVD release in Germany on June 18th. You can see the German distributor's DEADGIRL page right HERE.

Okay, that's it for the time being. Maybe I'll be back later in the week for a little op-ed piece that I've been thinking about ...

-T

BANNED in Germany!!

2009-05-12T14:57:00.000-07:00

What a headline. Lots of DEADGIRL news out there, so it's time for another quick update.

Even though I wrote the dang thing, I still get most of my DEADGIRL news from the web. And a few stories have come out ...

We're having our FINAL festival screenings at the Seattle International Film Festival in a few weeks. The film's screening three times as part of their Midnight Adrenaline selection. Follow the link for more info:

SIFF's DEADGIRL Page

As I announced in the last posting, DEADGIRL comes out on DVD in the United Kingdom on June 8, 2009. Wanna see the British box art?

DEADGIRL UK Release information

The German DVD release date for DEADGIRL hasn't been made public yet ... but we failed to secure an FSK18 rating over there, which is kind of like getting an NC-17 over here. This means that retailers won't be able to put the movie out in most retail and rental outlets. Not only that, but the distributor can't really advertise the movie anywhere, either. Interestingly, the German ratings board said that there was nothing we could cut out of the movie to make it have a lower rating ... basically, the "overall tone" was too disturbing ... Wow. All from the country that made the term "Sheisse Porn" a household word (well, in my household, anyway).

But who cares about that, anyway? Most of you who visit the site are friends of mine and relatives and 99% live here in the US. That said, we got some news, too.

First up, this news article on Fangoria.com broke the news (to me and everyone else) that the US DVD release date (from Dark Sky Films) is September 15th, 2009. But don't just take my word for it:

FANGORIA.COM Article About DEADGIRL DVD Release

Then a day later, Bloody-Disgusting.com put out a story about DEADGIRL's limited theatrical release in July. I hear that New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago are definitely in the mix and that there will probably be a handful of other cities as well. I'll post more about this as the date nears, but here's a link to the article:

DEADGIRL's Theatrical Release Story

Also, the UK distributor put up the new trailer on YouTube. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, here it is:

In non-DEADGIRL news, Chad Ferrin's SOMEONE'S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR is having its US Premiere at San Francisco's ANOTHER HOLE IN THE HEAD Festival in the first week of June. And it's playing at the very same theater that DEADGIRL played in a few months back at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival!

SOMEONE'S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR US Premiere Information

That's all I've got for now. There are several new things that I'm trying to make happen but - as usual - nothing that I can announce right now. Maybe next time ...

-T

STUFF ...

2009-04-23T14:33:00.001-07:00

Okay, a quick update but I'm gonna try and cram as much info into it as possible.

DEADGIRL
Our Portland screening is canceled. As far as I can tell, this had to do with technical issues in the theater that the festival is playing at. So much for advancements in digital shooting. Sorry, Portland :(

But for those of you living in London, we're having a special screening at Brunal University as part of their annual Cine-Excess Film Conference. Here's the screening info:

May 1st, 2pm, Odeon Covent Garden, London

The screening is sort of a pre-release event for the UK DVD of Deadgirl, which is coming out on June 8, 2009 from Metrodome Entertainment.

Dark Sky's U.S. DVD release of Deadgirl is scheduled for sometime later in 2009, so be patient or order a Region 2 disc from England in June!

We're nearing the end of our festival tour soon (although there are a few more yet to be announced) in anticipation of the DVD.

In the meantime, we played three times at Amsterdam's IMAGINE FILM FESTIVAL along with the World Premiere of Chad Ferrin's ...

SOMEONE'S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR
Apparently the premiere went well. Here's a shot of my main man Silvester from the band FONDLECORPSE - an awesome band and a great supporter (notice his original EBKK disc in hand) - with Tim Muskatell at said Premiere:

And here's a Youtube video of Tim after the screening where they also mention Deadgirl:

Fangoria.com ran a piece about the movie with some new stills and the POSTER ART, which you can check out HERE.

Speaking of Chad Ferrin, here's a title I haven't mentioned in a while:

EASTER BUNNY, KILL! KILL!
For those of you who couldn't download the film for four bucks (and now you can't do it since cruxy.com went out of business), our friends Tom Devlin and Lola Wallace have started an indie DVD distribution company called PLAN 10 and they're selling ACTUAL DVDs of EBKK! Check out the website and buy yourself a copy of their film THE TREK (which I'm also in) while you're picking up EBKK.

PLAN 10 PICTURES

But wait! There's MORE EBKK product out there! You love our poster art, right? How'd you like a t-shirt with said design on it? Our good friends at Gasslight Entertainment have got em! Get em while they're hot!

Order your Easter Bunny, KILL! KILL! t-shirt (women's t-shirts, too!)

Just when you think that this update is done ... it ain't. Did a brief interview for a site called Dr. Pogo's Slaughter, Shock, and Screams which you can read right HERE.

Yeah. I guess they're done with that Jane Jensen video that I was in. Here's a screen cap from the video. That's me in the background, being all romantic ... now that's acting!

You can check out the director's website (he also directed the TROMATIZED! documentary) and watch the video in its entirety right HERE.

Or you could just watch it right here:

Is that it? Yes, I think it is. I'm trying to land this really cool writing gig. The sad thing is, even if I DO land it I probably won't be able to talk about it here. But I'll let you know if it does, indeed, happen.

-T

Busy Week ...

2009-04-10T16:11:00.000-07:00

... It's been a heck of a week. It was Spring Break this week, so my Mom came in and picked up Max and took him to Indiana for the week. Lynh and I took advantage of the opportunity to go snowboarding at Big Bear Mountain for the weekend because today is our tenth wedding anniversary (!). Did that, came back to LA, got interviewed for the Bordello of Blood PodCast, attended the Premiere of SUTURES at the Fine Art Theater, and yesterday I flew to St. Louis and back to pick up Max. Now we've gotta do the Easter thing with Lynh's family this weekend ...

Everything goes back on schedule on Monday, though.

In the meantime, a few minor tidbits of news.

DEADGIRL screened in Boston, Florida, and Hong Kong. There are just a few more festivals on deck and then we're taking it off the table to prepare for the upcoming DVD release. So the upcoming festival screenings in the next two months may be the last time it plays for a while ...

We're playing the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival on April 15th, Amsterdam and then Portland (see last posting for info) ... I think that there's one more festival (that we aren't announcing yet) after that. Then you'll be putting it on your Netflix queue, right?

Right?

A couple of reviews have gone up based on the Boston screening. Here they are:

eFilmCritic's FIVE STAR Review of DEADGIRL

They Might Be Critics' Review of DEADGIRL

Lastly, there's a signing for Tom Devlin and Lola Wallace's THE TREK at Dark Delicacies tomorrow at 2:00pm. I'm gonna pop in, say hi, and try to pick up a copy for myself since I've yet to see the thing!

Okay, that's all for now. Gotta get ready to take my Lady out for dinner!

-T

What I Did Last Week ...

2009-03-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

It's like What I Did on My Summer Vacation but shorter and less exciting.

Went to check out the Jack Hill double feature at the famous New Beverly on Tuesday. Saw SPIDERBABY and THE BIG BIRD CAGE. Both excellent movies.

On Wednesday, I acted in a music video for Jane Jensen & The Born Again Floozies. Good times. Got to hang out in a mint condition 1963 Corvair. Unfortunately all I had is my iPhone for photo ops, but here's a little behind the scenes shot:

Believe it or not, this was the first time that I had ever met Jane - both a Hoosier (like me) and a Troma alumni (she played Juliet in TROMEO & JULIET). It was kind of like finally getting to meet a second cousin that you've heard about at a million family reunions ... But in this case it's the gnarled and twisted branches of the Troma Family Tree. I'll post a link to the video when it's done and up on the internet somewhere.

On Thursday night I recorded some "radio personality" dialog for Creep Creepersin's latest film, simply entitled HE.

It's been quite some time since I've actually done anything but write, so it was an action-packed week for me.

DEADGIRL continues to rock the festival circuit. We played the Rome Independent Film Festival and The Hong Kong International Film Festival last week. This week it's the Florida Film Festival in Orlando.

Next up, we'll be having our Portland Premiere at the Deep Red Film Fest the weekend of April 24-25 alongside such films as Frank Henenlotter's BAD BIOLOGY and BLACK DEVIL DOLL. Check out the Deep Red Film Fest Site for more information.

I've got TWO movies playing at the 25th Amsterdam Fantastic Film Festival. DEADGIRL and the World Premiere of Chad's latest film, SOMEONE'S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR. Check out the festival's film pages for DEADGIRL and SKATD.

And check out this bad-ass trailer for SOMEONE'S KNOCKING AT THE DOOR before youtube pulls it down. I'm in there, but you've got to have a heck of a set of eagle eyes to catch me:

Okay, that's it for the time being. Maybe something else exciting will happen and I'll have a reason to post again soon. In the meantime, back to working on this new script ...

-T

Two Posts in a Week???

2009-03-18T10:45:00.002-07:00

I really should get on this blog more often. I always give lip service to getting serious about the updates and then let the work lag. It just so happens that there are a few more nuggets of news:

DEADGIRL is having its Asia Premiere at the HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL in a few weeks. Three screenings are scheduled and the third one is already SOLD OUT! I know that there's no one reading this site who's planning on attending, I just thought that this was cool news ... You can see all about it at the HKIFF website's Deadgirl Page.

We're also screening at the Boston Underground Film Festival this weekend - two shows. There are a couple more European screenings coming up that I'll be able to announce soon.

I also had a really nice interview with Theron Neel at Fatally-Yours.com, which you can read right HERE.

I just found out on Fangoria.com that Tom Devlin and Lola Wallace's THE TREK is hitting DVD on April 10th. Hey, I'm in that movie! You can read all about the release right HERE.

Yep, that's about it for the time being. I might actually be shooting something next week, so check back for photos from that project.

On a completely non-movie related note, anybody who knows me knows that I'm a book-devouring fiend. I've been cranking my way through the oeuvre of Lawrence Block, Grand Master of mystery and crime fiction. It's always exciting when I find someone new to read and even more so when their output is so prolific. The guy's written like 80 novels or something insane like that. It should take me at least a few months to find and devour his complete works - I just finished reading his 900 page short story collection, ENOUGH ROPE. So if you're looking for something new to read, check out Block - 100% "Trent approved."

Lawrence Block Website

- T

Anybody Still Here?

2009-03-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

Geez, it's been like a month since I updated the blog. How lame.

Not a whole heck of a lot to talk about these days, once again. Been writing, trying to get stuff read, trying to land a gig. I couldn't take the facial hair any more and cut it off ... hoping that it doesn't end up being a case of Samson-itis.

Last week was Lynh's birthday, tomorrow is Max's 7th birthday, and next month is my ten year wedding anniversary, so this is always a busy time for me personally. But, as I said, not a lot to report on professionally at the moment.

A script that I wrote last year is seeking a director right now. Hopefully someone will attach themselves to the project and then I'll finally be able to talk about it. I'm trying hard to land another job with the same company writing a sequel to a big-budget film that came out last year ... but that's all I can say about it right now.

I just turned in a "guest writer" chapter to my boys Adam Minarovich and Kevin Woods' upcoming book entitled HOW NOT TO MAKE A MOVIE. Something I know a lot about. I'll keep you posted as that project nears its release date.

DEADGIRL continues to screen all over the world, dividing audiences wildly everywhere it goes. If you head over to the DEADGIRL BLOG, you can see that we made AMC's "Top Ten Best Horror Movies of 2008" list ... and also the top slot on someone else's "Top Ten Worst Movies of 2008" list. I love it all, good and bad.

There's also a really great interview with one of DEADGIRL's directors, Gadi Harel, on Twitch Film, which you can (and should) read HERE.

DEADGIRL is currently playing all over Germany as part of the Fantasy Film Festival. It's next stop is this weekend in Stuttgart. It's also been announced that we'll be playing two midnight shows at Orlando's Florida Film Festival in April. All the info for those screenings can be found HERE.

There are quite a few more festival screenings coming up, but I can't announce them until they're official. Heck, it'll give me an excuse to update the blog!

Not making any movies these days means not having any interesting new photos. Thank God for Facebook, though. Brad Harper, sound recorder for SUBURBAN NIGHTMARE and LIVING & DYING sent me an old-school shot from the set of SN, which I'll share right here in lieu of anything new. Enjoy. I'll be back when there's something to report ... who knows when that'll be ...

-T

Where Have I Been?

2009-02-13T15:41:00.000-08:00

I've been right here, writing. Since that's the case, I don't have a whole lot to talk about. Went in and pitched my take on a sequel to a Hollywood movie that came out last year whose name I can't mention. Finished another script and did a re-write on it. It's been some time since I've actually shot anything, so nothing to report there.

I can report that my facial hair is getting to be insane. I stopped shaving the 'stache and goatee in December, telling Lynh that I refused to shave or get a haircut until I landed a gig or sold a script. Now my fu-manchu creeps into the corners of my mouth when I eat and I wake up at night with mustache hair poking up in my nostrils. And Lynh - one of the originators of the "no shaving" plan - doesn't like to kiss me.

Jeez, I hope I sell something soon!

In the meantime, here's the news:

While there's no DVD release date, you can buy the trippy and psychedelic soundtrack to JESSICKA RABID right HERE. Wanna hear some samples before you buy? Check out the JESSICKA RABID SOUNDTRACK MYSPACE PAGE right HERE.

DEADGIRL continues to rack up serious festival screenings. In addition to the Glasgow and San Francisco screenings next week, a few more festivals and dates have been added:

We're playing at Germany's FANTASY FILMFEST, a traveling genre festival that has runs in Berlin, Frankfort, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Nurenberg, Munich, and Cologne. All of the screenings are in March and everything you need to know can be read (in German) at the FANTASY FILMFEST WEBSITE. Das ist ganz gut!

For you Americans, we're also playing the BOSTON UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL in March. No dates or times yet, but they're going up soon at the OFFICIAL BUFF WEBSITE.

And for those Americans who are in Hawaii, we're screening Sunday, March 8th at the Honolulu International Film Festival. All the info can be found HERE.

I guess that's it for now. I'll leave you with this cover image from the Italian DVD release of Chad Ferrin's THE GHOULS (which I'd never seen until this week). I'm always bummed out when I have big roles in movies but never make it into the key art. Finally, I've made it. Too bad they used a really goofy behind-the-scenes pic ...

Yeah. Hopefully some news to talk about soon ...

-T

More DEADGIRL Screenings ...

2009-01-23T14:29:00.000-08:00

I wish that I could write about the stuff that I've been working on ... reading this site these days makes me feel like a bum or something, what with the dearth of reportable work ... Wish I could talk about the couple of writing projects that I've been pitching around lately, wish that I could tell you about the script that I wrote for a company that I can't mention that's currently in the hands of a really cool director whose name I won't say ... wish that I could talk about a few potential acting gigs that may or may not be coming up (one of them would include some international travel, which would be a first for me) ... but I can't.

Wish in one hand, shit in the other, as the old saying goes.

What I can tell you is that I went and recorded an audio commentary track for DEADGIRL's eventual DVD release and while there, got to chat with the directors who clued me in to some upcoming festival screenings ... only three of which I can mention.

First up, we're the closing night film at the 2009 San Francisco Independent Film Festival in February. Three screenings - two on the 19th of February, one on the 22nd. You can get more info, buy tickets, or read their really great write-up of the film by clicking HERE.

We're also screening at FRIGHT FEST UK in Glasgow on February 20th ... they call it, "an emotionally shattering and provocative shocker." High praise, indeed. More info about the festival and the screening can be found HERE.

We're also screening in France for the first time at the Festival of Gérardmer. We're screening I think five times and are a part of the Official Competition. Pretty cool. More info about the festival can be read (in French) right HERE.

We've got a couple more big festival screenings coming up. I'll announce as soon as it's okay to do so!

All this text these days and no new pictures ... here's a shot from Toronto with Jovanka Vuckovic, editor of the incredible horror culture magazine RUE MORGUE to tide you over until I do something worth taking a picture of ...

-T

Happy Belated New Year ...

2009-01-12T14:08:00.001-08:00

Ooops. Looks like it's been a while since I've updated the blog. You know how it goes - holidays and then the family and I took a week-long trip to Indiana to visit my folks and before you know it, it's January 12th already.

And, to be quite frank, there's not a heck of a lot to report right now.

I've got a couple of potential projects in the works, but nothing that I can talk about at the moment. I've got some meetings this week, so maybe one of them will give me a nugget or two of info to share. Stay tuned for that.

Just been working on a spec script (the last one I wrote way back in October got rejected and is currently - possibly forever - collecting dust). Looking to have it finished in the next few weeks.

Sometime next week I'm going to record my audio commentary track for the DEADGIRL DVD. No, I don't know when it's going to be available, but I can safely say that it'll be sometime in 2009.

Golly. You'd think that I'd have more to talk about after almost a month's absence.

I'm feeling that "take charge and kick some ass" thing that comes at the beginning of a new year, which means that I'll probably be popping up here and updating with more frequency ... regardless of whether I've got something interesting to talk about.

Yeah.

-T

Cool News

2008-12-17T09:02:00.000-08:00

Okay, this morning I checked out the usual industry news and now the cat's out of the bag ... DEADGIRL Producer/Director team Gadi Harel and Marcel Sarmiento have landed a studio pic - the re-make of the Danish thriller MURK - for Gold Circle Films. Congrats, guys!

Hey, and I got name-checked in the Hollywood Reporter article, which you can read HERE.

I guess the most interesting aspect of the article for me was the fact that it casually mentions that DEADGIRL will be getting its U.S. debut from ...

DARK SKY FILMS

... Sometime in 2009. I believe that this will include a limited theatrical release followed by DVD. Interesting news all around. It's been a while since I've posted any new photos on the site. Here's a screen capture from SUTURES:

Okay. I'm trying to land a studio gig, too. Gotta run ...

-T