Screenings! Festivals! Theaters! House of Forbidden Secrets keeps growing!

It has been ages since I have written… been so busy working on other projects and touring around with House of Forbidden Secrets!!! First up is the amazing event at the Tampa Pitcher Show…. no, that’s not a typo…. Wayne and Cindy Valenti opened this theater and were one of the first to have the drinks, dinner and a movie theme much like Alamo Drafthouse. Tampa Picture Show already was beginning the digital upgrade process, with the understanding that the equipment will have to be returned if they didn’t have the money to pay it off. So we decided to do a fundraiser in Tampa, FL to help them!!!! The night was a major success!  I was quite surprised to find so many fans in attendance, having me sign older DVD releases, old magazine articles and new HOUSE flyers and posters.  The highlight was being reunited with my childhood friend Jason Fetters who I had not seen in 20 years, and meeting Joel D Wynkoop!  Joel is an actor who I have admired since the first time I watched Tim Ritter’s classic Truth Or Dare:  A Critical Madness.  And the fact that both of them loved the film so much truly makes this heart proud!  The night went incredible and we raised some funds for the theater – helping them was my goal…. supporting indie theaters that show Horror films is incredibly important.

Got back to the Midwest for a special screening of House of Forbidden Secrets with my older film “Violent New Breed” at the Screenland Theater.  Again, a great time was had by all.  It was  a partial reunion as well when The Stodden family, Shane Hatfield, Luke Alvarez and Jenni Geigel attended.  Pat, Becky and the Stodden family were cast regulars through the early “classic” years of films and seeing them again was just amazing!  I have missed them.  Big Dave and Big J, both former Descension members were also there, along with some cast and crew members who missed out on the sold out screening at Alamo Drafthouse.  The night was a huge success, and Violent New Breed still has the power to shock people.  We had a few members of the audience leave and tell the theater owner how offended they were, but they loved HOUSE.  Guess I’m a bit mellower these days!  The best part was seeing how much fun everyone had when Rudy Ray Moore in his only true Horror film was on screen… he truly does shine in Violent New Breed.

Next weekend, House of Forbidden Secrets goes international for the South African premiere!  Part of the popular “X-FEST,” the event is sure to be a success, with special thanks going to the Film Festival organizer Paul Blom for giving us support and believing in the film!  Wish I could be there in person, but that one is a bit too far for me right now.

 

April 26th, 2014 is the date for another great screening of House OF Forbidden Secrets as we invade Pittsburgh, PA!  Again, it is a fundraiser for the incredible Hollywood Theater.  The theater is also an indie, trying to secure digital projection, but keeping the old 35mm stuff as well!  They recently showed An American Werewolf In London, The Thing and many other Horror classics.  It is my firm opinion that anything I can do to help keep these theaters open and alive… I am there 100% – and this theater is a PERFECT fit for the film…. many people who frequent the theater are part of Horror Realm, and other area Horror clubs – after all it is in the Land of the Undead – the Zombie Capital of America… Pittsburgh.

 

Reviews of the film so far are all positive, people are absolutely LOVING the film.  Old fans of my work are being blown away and put into shock… it is not what they expect at all… like Brandon Bennett said “I just wanted to say how proud I am of Todd, the cast, and crew. Can not wait for you all to see it. It’s everything you love about Todd’s old films, with the maturity and knowledge he’s learned over the years.”  Brandon was one of the people who started the online Todd Sheets Fan Club while I was in the Hospital around the time of my heart surgery… His word means a lot to me… If he loves it, that says a lot!  I’ll post some reviews soon, and I’ll also do better in keeping things updated, I promise… I’ll also be sure to let everyone know when new screenings are announced and let you know how each event goes.  Thank you so much as well for your support and love of indie Horror!

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To all of our friends worldwide who support HOUSE OF FORBIDDEN SECRETS

A huge Thank You to all of our friends out there who have been working to promote and support this film. It is very appreciated, and it is very important these days…. word of mouth and positive energy mean everything! It really is a great feeling when so many people pull together with so much love and passion and create such an amazing film. We could not do this without you. And you are very important to us. The purpose of life is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to make some difference that you have lived and to touch people in a positive way. As I said, it is my humble hope that in some way, our film can touch a person, can help a person forget about a crappy day – if someone has had a bad day, a major blowout, a fight with a family member, a teacher, a boyfriend or girlfriend – maybe they put on our film and forgot about stress and trouble and problems for a couple of hours and had some fun – that is my goal.

Never underestimate the difference YOU can make in the lives of others. When you step forward, reach out and help, it makes a world of difference. And all of you who are helping us promote the facebook page and the website and the trailers and everything, it really is growing out there – it really is starting to become an event! Keep up the good work – we need you now more than ever – now is when we release this masterpiece on the world and we need all of you to become our “Street Team” and get the word out, bring more people to the blog, the websites, etc.

There is nothing more awesome than someone who goes out of their way to make life awesome for others. I am truly honored by every person who has taken the time to read these blogs and spread the word about the film – Thank you! “If you care about what you do and work hard at it, there isn’t anything you can’t do if you want to.”
― Jim Henson

Anyone who can help us, please do so! If you would like some graphics or links to videos – we’d be honored! To be even more involved, Simply fill out this form to get more info or to sign up to help us do “STREET TEAM” promotions. You’ll be among the first to see the film, you’ll be included in drawings for autographed prizes from the film and we’ll even list you on our official website! You’ll also be given an official “STREET TEAM” graphic for your own website or Facebook page!

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When people come together – dreams can become reality!

I really loved this video and what it stands for – people came together and made this to show that the power of unity and in working together for a common, positive goal CAN mean something!  I find it very inspiring and I hope it can help inspire you as well.  It makes me work that much harder to finish our little project – and lets hope it helps you with your as well.

 

My Favorite Scenes

Hello all, I am Amanda, Assistant Producer on this crazy film. So far the experience has been more than great. In the few weeks we have been filming we have created a small family. We have grown to know each and it is really amazing. I hope all productions are like this one.

My favorite scene so far is the Dorothy Fremont parking lot scene. It was a bit of a trick on our parts. Poor Dorothy! I took her back to a room behind closed doors to work on her lines with her. In reality, we did not talk about her lines, she already knew then, we instead talked about life. Growing up and what it was like. We had a great conversation, like always. We must have sat int here for about an hour while the crew got the scene together. It was a bitter cold night and that always makes things a bit slow. Lighting a car is probably not the easiest thing, so add that with the frigid conditions! We heard a knock on the door, it was time. We were stopped halfway to set by director extraordinaire, Todd Sheets. He explained to her, “You’re going to get in and turn on the vehicle, then reach for your phone… bla bla bla… (I will not bore you with the whole thing!) Then reach for the radio and turn it on” So Dorothy had the scene down, her lines perfect, she was ready to rock n roll! Filming began.. first take..  The grips, gaffers, and assistants all watched on. Dorothy executed her lines perfectly. Suddenly without any notice, the ghost from behind the seat attacked poor little Dorothy.  She screamed in horror and kicked that poor guys butt! We totally scared her.  See, the thing is, he wasn’t supposed to pop out for at least 2 more minutes and she didn’t even know how the ghost looked!  We did not let her see him.  Her face, her actions, her words, they were so… outrageous!  The poor woman didn’t know what to do with herself!  She even got out of the vehicle and then got back in still cursing everyone on set! That by far was my favorite scene. I laughed so hard I was crying. We will need to make it up to her sometime soon for being such a good sport.

I hope everyone who watches the film will enjoy that scare as much as I did. Thank you all so far for the support and have a great rest of the day!

Haunting the halls of Shadowview Manor – week 2

Second weekend of shooting is done and it was even better than the first. We have done some pretty amazing stuff so far. 17 scenes have been completed!!! Much of the very hard dialogue was during these scenes, and the cast pulled it off without a hitch!!! The dedication of the cast and crew truly made this task easier. Thanks to everyone for pulling together and becoming a family so quickly! We are creating something really special and it just keeps getting better every time we shoot as people learn more about each other.

One thing we did for sure on weekend 2 was we truly worked overtime on the atmosphere. The lighting, use of fog and shadows was impressive. We also have truly mastered not only the use of our steadicam, but our dollies. Wayne and I built another dolly this week in between shooting days and it truly is an awesome way to do shots. It will also be great when we move filming to the BEAST haunted house here in Kansas City next weekend. We can be setting up a dolly shot on another set WHILE using our first dolly for shooting. Sure does make things move faster when you get everyone on the same page and have enough gear to make it work.

The footage looks even better than before and I can;t wait to start editing the whole movie. I edited scene 3 together last week, just to see how it flows, and it sure seems to work almost perfectly. This one will really blow some people away. I promise.

Until next time, keep it bloody!

Todd Sheets
Director