Macabre...ish Cults, Classics & Horrors

Since Gene Dolders was here last, he’s been expanding the promotion of his last feature his 70s/80s inspired Giallo, The Blade Cuts Deeper and working on documentaries, with director Brandon Spivey. Three documentaries in fact: one about a photographer (John Baliton) who documents people on the fringes of society, one about a prog rock band, Gong’s member (Didier Malherbe) and finally a documentary about devastating teen Ketamine abuse in Liverpool.

But wait, there’s more, he is also a producer on a stop motion sci fi fantasy horror film, 10 years in the making called Manifesto, directed by Steve Young. The incredible amount of work it’s taken to complete. If you like nostalgic 80s stop motion fantasy horror (Black Crystal x Flash Gordon), you might enjoy this one. There are tons of behind the scenes footage and interviews with director and crew on IG (@manifesto_movie).

Also in the works is Gene’s found footage feature called Forever Home. As a huge fan of found footage horror, Gene was excited to make his first one and so with a true story he heard from his friend and co-writer on The Blade Cuts Deeper, Alex (A J Ballard) and so they went to work writing Forever Home.

Gene talks about writing the script and how the story developed over time. He talks the difference between filming Forever Home and The Blade Cuts Deeper.

We also talk a lot about our love of found footage movies. Such as Man Bites Dog, The Poughkeepsie Tapes, The Devil’s Pass, Grave Encounters and so many more. We also talk about how found footage has modernized with Spree, Open Windows and V/H/S.

It’s always a pleasure chatting with Gene!

Find Gene Dolders:
https://bgdigital.org
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm8969674/
https://m.youtube.com/@bgdigitalcic8194?ra=m
Instagram: @gdolders
Instagram: @manifesto_movie

And find me:
Kimberly at http://www.macabreish.com and IG and Tiktok @macabre_ish. https://linktr.ee/macabre_ish

Y’all know Hannah Fierman, she played a succubus named Lily in V/H/S (Amateur Night) and SiRen. And she has been acting since she was a child, her first role was a comedy called Krooks but after that, it has been mostly horror films.
But her directorial debut was a music video for The Lucid. Hannah met David Ellefson, from Megadeth, at a convention and he has another band called The Lucid. They asked Hannah to direct their music video for their song, Hair on The Lucid’s debut album.
While she has been directing plays forever, her first foray into directing film was an anthology called Dead by Midnight: Y2Kill on the segment called Hellevangelist (co-written by Josh Wilcox). Following that, she directed a feature called The Events Surrounding a Peeping Tom. This film was offered to her after writer Brian James Fitzpatrick emailed her with a part written with Hannah in mind and years of stalls, hiccups and the pandemic, it finally happened after the project was funded and co-producers Felissa Rose, Ryan James etc. asked her to direct and she accepted. Terror Trips happened in the interim. As of right now, The Events Surrounding a Peeping Tom is still on its festival run.
Currently, Hannah is a producer and actor on a creature feature called Bunker Heights, like CHUD meets Lethal Weapon, directed by Drew Fortier and starring some of your horror favs like James L. Edwards, Paul T. Taylor, Chaney Morrow and L.C. Holt plus a lot of musicians from David Ellefson to Vinnie Dombroski (Sponge, Crud) to Violent J (Insane Clown Posse).
Hannah shares some words of wisdom for aspiring actors, and she explains why she’s passed on parts. Did y’all know there’s a new horror subgenre known as incel horror, there is and we talked about that too.
Hannah was also on Creepshow and she shares how it was working with Greg Nicotero, D’Arcy Camden and Justin Long et al. Finally, we talk movies and how cool would it be if Hannah Fierman returned to V/H/S as a director! Support indie horror and keep an eye out for Bunker Heights and The Events Surrounding a Peeping Tom!

Find Hannah here: www.hannahfierman.com

And find us:

Carlos Ibarra on IG @jekyl6669 and
https://www.fillintheblanksproductions.ca/

Christopher Thompson on IG @theauthor__

Kimberly at http://www.macabreish.com and IG and Tiktok @macabre_ish. https://linktr.ee/macabre_ish

Steve Merlo, director of fan film The Sawyer Massacre, prequel to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, returns with another homage to iconic horror films from the past, this time with his full feature Unseen.

Steve talks about his film inspirations and what it took to make Unseen. He enjoys storytelling and the twists that come with psychological horror filmmaking. The differences in directing Unseen vs The Sawyer Massacre and which was harder to make,

If you like 70s and 80s horror movies keep an eye out for Unseen, directed by Steve Merlot.

From his last visit:

A Prequel to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Sawyer Massacre

With Musician and Filmmaker, Steve Merlo who decided to create a fan film prequel to the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Being a fan of just the original, he wanted to see more story in that vein and with the feel of that time period.

After years of working on the screenplay and finally working on the film, it will be complete this summer, August 2022.

He explains to us the rules of making a fan film. Find out the struggle and pitfalls of making a movie today that is set in the 1960s and why he felt cursed during filming.

This prequel is set 8 years before the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre, so if you are a fan then you might like this one.

Support indie horror!

Find Steve’s youtube here:

https://m.youtube.com/@SteveMerlo?ra=m

And find us:

Carlos Ibarra on IG @jekyl6669 and
https://www.fillintheblanksproductions.ca/

Christopher Thompson on IG @theauthor__

Kimberly at http://www.macabreish.com and IG and Tiktok @macabre_ish. https://linktr.ee/macabre_ish

Lowell Dean started making movies as a kid and so getting an education in film was a natural progression, he went into the film program at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan after returning from Calgary. He was so serious about filmmaking, he’d make three feature films before he went to film school. And the first film he was proud to actually let anyone watch was a zombie film called Doomed. It was the first film that wasn’t just done with friends with no money, he funded it and it had a screening.

Lowell went from making $500 short films to his first publicly released feature, 13 Eerie, which cost millions to make. The story of how he got to direct 13 Eerie is a great story because he started on the crew as the Assistant Director but things happened and he got a bout of good luck. After being tossed in the deep end of his first feature, it was tough but he learned a lot. Thankfully. Because just one year after 13 Eerie was complete, he started writing Wolf Cop.

It did make him question if he even wanted to make films though. And so Lowell and some industry friends made a concept trailer for Wolf Cop. The plan was to raise what money they could and make it, in a year. As luck would have it, Lowell entered the Canadian Cinecoup Film Competition and won! This was in 2013 and part of the prize was the film would be released in major movie theaters, the next year.

Lowell talks about the potential of a Wolf Cop franchise and how hard it was to make a sequel.

We talk about his film Dark Match, Die Alone and what he’s up to at the moment. Plus the heartbreak and loneliness of writing, the highs of directing films he cares about and the grind of the time in between movies. He tells us what the dream project would be, here’s a hint, it’s a sci fi trilogy. And finally, Lowell gives fledgling filmmakers advice at the end.

All of Lowell Dean’s films are streaming now, go watch them! And for all the media collectors most of his films have a physical release. Support indie film, Fam!

Find everything Macabre…ish related at https://macabreish.com

Find Lowell Dean:

https://www.instagram.com/lolofilm?igsh=NTl6dmVrdWJwYWl2

Twitter: https://x.com/lolofilm

And find us:

Carlos Ibarra on IG https://www.instagram.com/jekyl6669 and
https://www.fillintheblanksproductions.ca/

Christopher Thompson on IG https://www.instagram.com/theauthor__

Kimberly at http://www.macabreish.com and IG https://www.instagram.com/macabre_ish?utm_source=qr and Tiktok @macabre_ish.
https://linktr.ee/macabre_ish

Youtube playlist:

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNblhfc6MVBMUe65EA-lWSzG_joW27ZSf

Joe Miale wanted to make movies since he was a kid and since it was important for him to learn and understand the process of filmmaking, he went to film school in NYU. He worked for 15 years in editing and making celebrity PSAs (You may remember them!) featuring Rhianna, The Jonas Brothers, Martin Sheen, just to name a few. Then he got a break when a production company was interested in one of his sci fi action concepts, and that was how Revolt came to be. And Joe had some of the best minds in the business to help with the creation of his aliens, including Cole Wertz and if you've seen Star Wars, Dune, Transformers or any other popular sci fi film from the last 20 years, you've seen and like his work. Even Revolt's soundtrack was designed and created by a veteran, Bear McCreary and you have to hear how the soundtrack was created for this film,
Joe not only wrote and directed Revolt, his film's distributor, Vertical Entertainment, let him design the poster! There is more on the horizon, sci fi and horror (follow him on IG for updates) and if you are a fledgling filmmaker or just a fan of film follow him for his really outstanding takes and breakdowns of his scene inspirations, script writing etc.
Check out Revolt, it is streaming and on physical media. Support indie films and all the great people who make them!

joemiale.com
And look for him on IG @joemiale
And find us:

Kimberly at http://www.macabreish.com and IG and Tiktok @macabre_ish. https://linktr.ee/macabre_ish

Carlos Ibarra on IG @jekyl6669 and
https://www.fillintheblanksproductions.ca/

Christopher Thompson on IG @theauthor__

Youtube playlist:

https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNblhfc6MVBMUe65EA-lWSzG_joW27ZSf