Unleashed At Last!!!!

Finally getting to the end of the production road.  We actually have screened the film twice now, once at the amazing PollyGrind Film Festival in Las Vegas, NV and also at the Boulevard Drive In Theater in Kansas City, KS.  I was blown away by the reception at both events, and Dyanne Thorne and I both won awards in Vegas!!!!  She won for her amazing acting talent and I won for my directing / producing!!!  It was unreal!  There are still a couple of small visual effects shots that we are waiting on from a company that executive producer Bryan David has working… he gave them an OCT 1st deadline, so I truly have no idea what is taking so long, but after that, the film will be 100% complete.  Of course, this film can survive just fine without them, but they will enhance one or two spots that are already awesome.

Chad Freeman, yours truly, Dyanne Thorne, Antwoine Steele, Howard Maurer

I really have to say that Chad Freeman, the man who created PollyGrind, held an amazing event.  We were really pleased how all the film creators in attendance really treated each other with so much respect and gave each other true support!!!  It was a dream come true!

Speaking of a dream coming true…. this film, as you know, allowed me to work with many actors and actresses I absolutely love… starting with Dyanne Thorne and Howard Maurer.  Dyanne is such an icon of the film world, and very loved by everyone.  And the dream of working with her is now a reality for me, but also, she and Howard have become like family to me.  An Aunt and Uncle I never knew I had…. we shared so much on this film, and we have truly become family.  I love them dearly…. and I respect them so much.  Antwoine Steele, who plays the male lead in the film, Jacob Hunt was there and it truly was a shining moment for him.  It did me so much good to watch his face light up.  Antwoine has worked hard over the years to end up where he is now – we have been brothers for 18 years… making numerous films together… but this one was special.  For him as well as for me.  And he delivered.  Every member of this cast and crew delivered.  And it shows.  SO much passion and heart and soul went into this film… it truly has a life of it’s own.

And seeing it with an audience is the best…. I truly wanted this film to have meaning, to have a solid story and some cool twists and turns.  This film was not made for the MTV generation of 2 second edits and shaky camera crap.  This film was made in honor of the classics that I love.  The Italian Horror of the 70s and 80s… the films of Lucio Fulci, Dario Argento, Joe D’Amato, Mario and Lamberto Bava, Luigi Cozzi, Umberto Lenzi, Ruggero Deodato… and so many more.  The music reflects this fact with Fabio Frizzi being involved, creating an amazing musical soundscape for the film.  This is not for people with a short attention span… it requires an audience to meet these characters, become invested in them, and take this journey WITH them.  Chad said it best when he described the film as “Super Ambitious” with many twists and turns – it begins as one type of genre film and ends up being 4 at once.  And that is one of the strengths – the film has real characters.  Not just cardboard targets for a slasher.  It has a storyline that is refreshing, original and complex…. if you want flashy, shakycam fluff with no lasting value… better move along.  One other comment that really makes me feel great is that the more times you see it, the more little things you learn… the more you see and the more the details emerge.  Plus, there are a ton of genre “in-jokes” in the film that you may not catch the first time… but you’ll start seeing them as you watch it again.

The music again, continues to amaze me…. so many people have come to me after the screenings and raved about the music from Fabio Frizzi, with assistance from our favorite Japanese Horror composer Toshiyuki Hiraoka.  They have truly created masterworks here… some of the best of their careers thus far.  Our soundtrack will be released in November via BEAT Records in Rome.  It will be all over Europe and Asia, and soon in America, but you can still buy it as an import and I’ll post that info when I get it.

A civilization is as great as its dreams, and its dreams are dreamt by artists.  Keep your heart open to dreams. For as long as there’s a dream, there is hope, and as long as there is hope, there is joy in living.  Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.  Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall at last unveil.  My dreams have come true, for the most part, on this film…. along with dreams comes the danger of nightmares, and I have had a few of those creep in as well… but I fought to push through the shadows and the dark times… and now the dream is a reality that I am able to share with everyone on earth.

Until next time….

Todd Sheets

Director / writer / producer / editor – and tired bastard.

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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

First Weekend of Shooting

Just finished our first weekend of shooting before we take a break for the Christmas holidays. Things went even better than I thought, we had an amazing time and the cast proved to be just as incredible as I expected them to be!

The main Cast of House of Forbidden Secrets

We had several key dialogue scenes to do and some minor stunts and action sequences. Things went very smooth. Highlights were the Seance scene where Iris, playing the role of Dorothy Fremont, was actually so scared at Nicole’s amazing performance that she tried to run away! Great job everyone! Cannot wait to be back on the set with all of you on January 4th, in the new year of 2013!  The new dolly we made from scratch worked great as did our steadicam system created by Assistant Director Wayne Whisenant.  Footage came out stellar!