Piracy - Robbing the Lives of Underground Film Makers!!

Okay, so once again my views on pirating movies seems to have hit a raw nerve with some people!!  This came about after I realised that indie horror V/H/S (pictured above and below) was making it's way around oil rigs.  

I live in an area where a large percentage of people work off shore, so this is obviously gonna be one of the most noticeable areas where pirated movies are shared.  Another would be the forces, they're terrible for it too!!  Getting off track though, seeing that a film that was made within a community of my some of my closest friends was getting passed around for free, it obviously got me on my soapbox!!  

I think when it comes to piracy, be it pirated DVD's, or downloading/streaming movies for free, the majority of people don't give a second thought for the film makers, the people that gave their blood, sweat and tears to make the movie.  I mean, could you imagine, giving your all to something and then getting pretty much nothing back from it...it wouldn't feel that great would it?!!  Getting movies funded in this day and age isn't as easy as what most seem to think, even the big studio's, they're wary to fund films unless they know that it's gonna make them a fortune right from the get go!!  It frequently baffles me why certain big Hollywood studios will put a shit ton of money into a film like Green Lantern, or Battleship, or god forbid any Michael Bay movie (that's a whole different rant though, haha), yet they won't fund smaller independent movies that would take a teensy tiny fraction of the cost to make...and then go on to make millions.  A perfect example of this would be Saw, or Insidious.  James Wan and Leigh Whannell (pictured below), you are both geniuses!! :)  

Because the big studios are usually unwilling to fund smart, intelligent and original films, the film makers often have to largely fund the film themselves, or to have fans help to raise funds for them.  This is something that is largely evident in the horror industry. The big studios will fund utter wank like the Nightmare on Elm Street remake, or The Omen remake...actually, pretty much any remake...yet they won't fund anything original as they usually don't have the balls too!!  Many film makers are using sites such as KickStarter and IndieGoGo to fund their projects with the help of fans.  So fans are helping to fund these movies, yet "casual movie watchers", like the people who watch stuff just for the sake of it and couldn't give a fuck about the people who made the film, they're stealing from the true fans as well.  Yet they don't seem to get why this grinds my fucking gears!!!

When it came to looking for the moohlah to fund their follow up to their grindhouse self funded Dead Hooker in a Trunk, American Mary...Jen and Sylvia Soska's parents Agnes and Marius Soska mortgaged their freakin' house to help finance it!!  This money then made other financier's feel more comfortable about getting on board this darkly twisted and fucked up little beauty!!  How cool is that, I mean, how many parents would be willing to do that for their twisted little children? :)  This was obviously a very risky move, but it turned out to be a great one!!  Now Universal Films have acquired distribution rights for many international territories including the UK and Germany, and are looking to acquire world rights.  

Dead Hooker in a Trunk however was funded entirely by the two of them working their arses off in their day jobs, and then totally maxing out their credit cards.  Again, a move that worked to their advantage but could have completely backfired, as so many other film makers have found out.  The success of Dead Hooker in a Trunk was largely due to the support from the underground film industry, and especially the Women in Horror Month movement...which I am proud to call myself a part of. :)  This backed with support from Eli Roth and things started really started to move forward for Jen and Sylvia...but it took a whole lot of clever networking and support from horror film nerds for them to get to the point where Eli Roth asked if they had any more scripts...the point from where American Mary was conceived. :D

We live in a society where it's deemed okay to pirate films, but what people seem to forget, is that this is these people's livelihood's that are being messed with.  The whole thought that "all film makers are loaded and don't need the money anyway", that's a heap of crap!!  Some of them work day jobs and then film in their evenings and weekends.  They basically have no life, and then for people to just download or pirate these films without a second thought, I said it before, and I will say it again, they're just raping the fucking film makers up the arse...and they couldn't give a fuck about it!!  

My thoughts and opinions have caused a lot of controversy among people close to me, but I don't fucking care.  And my graphic depiction...sometimes one needs to be so graphic to get a point across.  Rape is taking something without any regard for the other person, it is an action where you couldn't care less about the other person's feelings, or life.  And I'm sorry, but that is exactly what pirating these underground films does.  You could ruin a film makers career, and even life, just because you have no regard for what they do, or them as an actual person.  

I then got into an argument where the prices of cinema tickets came into it, yet, most of these underground films don't make it to the cinema....and why...because people fucking pirate them and then the film company doesn't see the point, I mean, where's the money to be made!?!!  A point that was made very clear when desperate to see Adam Green's Frozen, I had to go to Edinburgh to the Cameo Cinema, the only cinema in the whole of freakin' Scotland that was showing it!!!  (Pictured below - Me showing my support from indie horror at the Cameo Cinema in Edinburgers)

At the end of the day, I know I'm never going to win this argument with everyone, but if people could at least think about what they're doing, and if they enjoy these the films at least then buy them on DVD/Blu-Ray, or watch them through LoveFilm or Netflix.  Just let the film makers know that you appreciate their work and support them in their journey to bring more great films to you.  All films suffer as a result of piracy, but it's the smaller budget independent films that suffer the worst, and that's just not cool!!  So don't be a dick and contribute to destroying a world of decent fucking movies!!  

And this was never aimed at any one person, it was aimed at society in general.  The End.  

Monster Pictures, A.K.A. Universal Pictures, Officially Have Distribution Rights for Jen and Sylvia Soska's American Mary...WOOT!!

So it is with great pleasure that I can finally unzip my mouth and announce to y'all that American Mary, the second feature from my twinnie Canadian sista's has been bought by the one and only, Universal freakin' Pictures!!!  This is such unbelievably downright fucking rad~core news, for both Jen and Sylvia, the team behind American Mary...and for horror fans the world over!!  At the moment they have distribution rights for a number of international territories including the UK and Germany, and are currently battling it out to aquire world rights too!!  :D  The fact that such a big distribution company have picked up an indie darling of a film, that is beyond downright fucked up, is a huge step forward for the independent horror movie industry.  It's proof that the big guys are sitting up and paying attention.  That they appreciate a downright good movie, and have perhaps decided that the time has come to support films that aren't just manufactured churned out garbage!!  Because let's face it, American Mary most certainly is NOT that!!

American Mary is the story of medical student, Mary Mason as she becomes increasingly broke and disenchanted with the surgical world she once admired.  The allure of easy money sends Mary into the world of underground surgeries, which ends up leaving more marks on her than her so called 'freakish' clientele.

American Mary is a wonderful look into the world of body modification, a world that is often frowned upon by mainstream society, and wrongly at that.  We live in such a judgemental society that these individuals who get enveloped in this world, they can be some of the sweetest and most loving people you could ever meet.  It's the so-called "normal" people, the professionals, the conventionally attractive people, these are the people that can be the real arseholes of society!!  With American Mary, Jen and Sylvia have really brought a sense of humanity to these so-called "scary and weird" people and have brought to light some of the horrors behind "normality".

With a downright wicked script, a superb cast and an amazing team behind the film, this really is testament to girl power at its strongest!!  They have taken on the sausage~fest world of horror and raped it up the ass with a great big fucking dildo...in the best of ways of course, haha!!  Just check out the first trailer for the film, I mean...HERRRROOOOOO!!!!! ;)

And speaking of the cast, one of the most amazing things to have come out of this is the absolutely gore~geous and fucking amazing Tristan Risk.  Tristan was originally brought in to work on dance routines and it was after meeting her that Jen and Sylvia realised that she WAS Beatress!!  She embodies the character of Beatress Johnson so much, it's totally freaky that the girls actually wrote this part without even knowing her.  It's a match made in freak~tarded heaven!! :)

After such a positive screening at the Cannes Film Festival, Universal have obviously seen the brilliance that lies before them.  People in England can also witness this genius on Monday 27th August at the 13th Annual Frightfest Film Festival in London where both Jen and Sylvia, along with stars Katherine Isabelle and John Emmet Tracy will be in attendance.  

For a nerd~gasm of a look at the look at the full cast then check out my post I did before which you can read here.  To follow all the latest Mary updates and going on's then please be sure to LIKE the American Mary page on Facebook!

A Sad Day in Hollywood Today - R.I.P. Tony Scott

Today is indeed a sad day not only in Hollywood, but for movie lovers around the globe.  The apparent suicide of Tony Scott has left people the world over in shock and disbelief!  It is yet another shocking wake up call that depression is very real, and it is not selective with who it chooses to engulf.  

Growing up, Tony Scott was always one of my favourite film makers.  When I think how much I used to watch Top Gun with my friends Sarah and Joanne, we always used to quote it to one an other, Joanne and I nicknaming each other Mav and Ice, lol.  I remember us constantly rewinding the video at our favourite parts and playing it in slow motion, frequently blasting out the soundtrack and being in love with Val Kilmer and Tom Cruise. :)  I swear my friend Sarah joined the R.A.F. so she could nab herself her own Maverick...which she did!  She is now married to her pilot with a little boy and triplet girls. :)

He cemented my love of Patricia Arquette with True Romance, one of the truly greatest films of all time, and still to this day my favourite Tarantino script!  With True Romance, he had one of the most epic casts physically possible in a movie.  He made me love Brad Pitt all the more, furthered my total obsession with Val Kilmer and made my young self appreciate a god damn great cast in a wonderfully brilliant and fucked up movie.  

His brilliance with working with a large scale cast in a great action movie was furthered with the totally underrated Crimson Tide, a movie that I can watch again and again.  He realised how great Viggo Mortensen was prior to LoTR...a point that brother Ridley clearly appreciated when he cast Viggo as Master Chief Urgayle in G.I. Jane just two years later.  A film in which Ridley also nabbed unused submarine footage from Crimson Tide.  

With The Hunger, I still to this day determine it to be one of the greatest vampire flicks of all time.  And a film that Blade clearly stole the opening nightclub sequence from.  It was a wonderful start from this British director that led to a truly illustrious career. 

As a producer he had his hand in some of the best and quirkiest films Hollywood has ever produced, from Clay Pigeons (a personal favourite!!) to the The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which also starred my beloved Jeremy Renner alongside Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck.  As a producer he had a shit load of films in the pipeline, for years to come.  It's a shame to know that his brilliance will no longer touch these films.  

And whilst it is sad to know that the world has lost one of its great entertainers, it is all the sadder for the wife and two kids, brother Ridley and the rest of the family and friends he has left behind.  

R.I.P. Tony Scott, and thank you for all the wonderful memories you have left me with, and the films that I can cherish forever!  You will forever remain a legend. 

Mulder and Scully in 2012...an X Phile's Dream Come True??

Okay so today I came home to the most single greatest relationship gossip of all time...and I know some juicy gossip, haha.  Of course that rumour is that FINALLY, the two greatest loves of my life, my beloved Mulder and Scully, a.k.a. David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson are freakin' dating!!!  EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

Now of course this is more than likely just gossip, I mean it did come from site Celeb Dirty Laundry, but you know what...let me fucking relish in this moment and believe man!!  I mean I want to fucking believe soooo badly!!!  It's been almost two decades of my life that these two have encompassed and I have always wanted nothing more than to know that they are together in real life!!  I mean let's face it, they played a great married couple in Arcadia, heehee.  Come to bed Scully, bwahahahaha. :D

They clearly love each other to bits, I have witnessed how much they adore each other first hand.  I remember when they were at the premier of The X Files - I Want to Believe movie (the one where I started crying on the red carpet when I turned round to see Chris Carter behind me, lol!!), when we got into the screen there was a live feed of everyone arriving downstairs and the cutest and most squee inducing moment came when David, whilst hugging a heavily pregnant Gillian, slapped her bum!!  I have never heard such loud squeee's from a room full of geeks in my life!!  You know for a fact that everyone in the room was thinking the same thing..."I want that baby to be Mulder's!!", haha.  Well that and "It's hotter than fucking hell right now, how is a heavily pregnant Gillian looking THAT good!?!"  Haha.  When they introduced the film together with Chris and Frank, they were such a great foursome.  Like the four greatest and most creative people on the planet, all adoring and loving each other together!!  Geeks Unite!! :D

Anyhoo, all we need to do is look at the episode Milagro...and these screen caps I took from this Tumblr page - 

Truth mother fucker!! :)

So yay, if this is true, I will be the happiest geek in the world...if it's not...I can still believe!!  Here's hoping that if it is true though, we are all that closer to a third movie!! I WANT a new movie!  Like so badly!  In fact, I swear here and now, if I win the lottery this weekend, I will so badly give those two beautiful and wonderful men, Chris Carter and Frank Spotnitz as much money as I can so that they can make me a new movie!!  Heehee.