A Brief Interview with Screenwriter and Director John Oak Dalton

 A Brief Interview with Screenwriter and Director John Oak Dalton

Introduction by Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films
Films reviewed on this blog are linked to their titles
Images from the Internet

John Oak Dalton

Ohio-based John Oak Dalton has directed two films, both of which prove his worth in this field: The Girl in the Crawlspace (2018) and Scarecrow County (2019). But what Dalton is mostly known for is his screenplays, for films such as Alone in the Ghost House (2015), Jurassic Prey (2015), Amityville Island (2020), and recently Shark Encounters of the Third Kind (2020). It was for this latter film that he was interviewed by “The Schlock Pit,” who did not use all of Dalton’s quotes, which he recently published on his email blog, “I Was Bigfoot’s Shemp," on August 13, 2021 (Johnoakdalton.hotmail.com). With his permission, as a fan, I am printing what was left out of the blog interview below, written by John Oak Dalton. I have made minor editorial changes. – RG, 2021

* * *

I was as surprised as anyone when my new film, Scarecrow County, hung on for four straight weeks in the Amazon Hot New Releases in Horror. Thanks to everyone who picked up a copy or has seen it on some other platform.

And I was extremely flattered by this interview and review of a film I wrote, Shark Encounters of the Third Kind, by the British Website “TheSchlock Pit.” I am appreciative that the people there give thoughtful attention to the B-movie world, and are good writers to boot.

They used just a few snippets of an interview about the writing of Shark Encounters of the Third Kind, so I thought I'd share the whole of what I wrote back when they asked a few questions via email, probably more than they wanted to know.

* * *

(Director) Mark (Polonia) had asked me to write all the scripts for a three-movie deal with Wild Eye (Releasing) that all already came with titles and basic descriptions; the caveat being is that he needed all three in six weeks. I'm to the point in my career where if I write something for somebody, there has to be a reason; and I have always been interested in director Thomas Carr, who once shot six B-Westerns in 30 days, which I think not enough has been made of. So, I thought this might be a neat challenge.

I had never written this fast in my life; typically, I can write a full script in three weeks, if I'm pushing it. I think I worked on these an average of 10 days each. They were written at a fever pitch and honestly I didn't remember a lot of detail until I saw the final product, and even then wasn't sure what I thought up and what Mark added.

Rewind to when I wrote my first movie for Mark, Among Us (2004), and he had a three-picture deal afterwards and asked me to write all three in a year, and I wasn't sure I could write three movies in one year! In that case I rewrote two and then wrote a third from scratch.

The first was Psycho Clown, which was turned into Peter Rottentail (2004). I took John Polonia's handwritten script and rewrote it as I was typing it into a screenwriting program. Next I did a rewrite of Razorteeth (2005), then my original script was Demons on a Dead End Street, which remains one of my favorite scripts, but didn't get made.

Peter Rottentail has been rated one of the worst horror films of all time by “Nerdly,” and Fangoria did a whole podcast dedicated to it; as well as all the people who watch it on Easter every year. Razorteeth disappeared almost without notice; and frankly, which is worse? To me, at least, it's the latter.

So, for this new trilogy of scripts: Amityville Island (2020) was the easiest of the three for Wild Eye; I had written a movie for Mark a few years before called Doctor Zombie that had not been made, but I noticed had a lot of similar beats as the Amityville premise. It was heavily influenced by Mark's love for Zombi 2 (1979) and Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972), with my own interest in Lust for Freedom (1987) thrown in. So, I knocked that together quickly and it has been noted by reviewers that it has a little of everything, and all of it crazy, as I intended. I wrote another one whose title I will hold back as it hasn't come out yet, but it was full of time travel and dinosaurs and alternate timelines, and I had a blast with it. My favorite script of the three. I hope it streets yet this year.

Aliens vs Sharks (the original title of Shark Encounters of the Third Kind) was the hardest to get my mind around for some reason, so I saved this to write last. But once I got going, it started cooking, and again, I don't exactly remember writing it. In fact, I went back and read the outline before responding to this email. It came with a four-page outline with a lot of the beats, mostly the effects that were going to be made or on hand, and a little bit of story. I made the Jenni Russo character a therapist when she was a photographer in the original, because I wanted to include an alien abduction storyline; I think the other characters were pretty much as presented in the outline. I thought the treasure hunters were a neat touch in the original. I thought the movie was very ambitious, but especially the third act, which I thought was going to be too much to get on screen in a workable way, so I toned it down quite a bit. My ending, which featured a group of teens on the beach Frankie Avalon-style inadvertently re-starting the whole mess, was not used, and I think the whole part with Dave Fife was created so that Mark could work with Dave before he moved. I think I had somebody quoting a lot of Shakespeare, which was cut out, understandably enough. Otherwise, by and large, what I wrote is up there, for better or worse.

It's funny now, but I can see the seeds of my own later movie, The Girl in the Crawlspace, in this script, including the therapist and the character obsessed with Westerns. I always try to hang my stories on things I was interested in, and one in this case is a lawman who is basically on his last day on the job and isn't going to be a lawman any more, and what that means. Honestly, I had also buried a family cat in my back pasture and thought it might be a good set piece for a movie, and that's in there, too. Just all the flotsam and jetsam you pick up through life, interest in culture, interest in other people. Whether people see it or not, I try to put in elements that might resonate with someone besides aliens shooting rayguns or whatever. I think Jennie Russo and Titus Himmelberger are both enjoyable in this. I thought Titus gave his lines an especially eccentric read and it turned out like I hoped. Jeff Kirkendall is good as always. I try to write for the people I know Mark is going to use, but sometimes he changes it up or introduces somebody new, so it's always a nice surprise.

I think when you have a movie titled Aliens vs Sharks, you are either in or out when you hear the title, and the rest doesn't matter. You are going in it to have a good time. So, for this kind of movie, or all three of these movies, I like to try to make them funny, with a lot of nods to horror fandom, lots of energy and outlandish situations and characters. I'm not sure every viewer is in on the joke, but that's what I hope. I think the biggest thing to note is that I have never been involved with a movie that comes from cynicism; these kinds of movies are made by people that love the genre for people that love the genre. Horror fans, by and large, are the most loyal and devoted, and will follow you where you want to go, whether you have the money to make the trip or not.

 

Review: Ten Minutes to Midnight

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Ten Minutes to Midnight
Directed by Erik Bloomquist
Mainframe Pictures; Jingai Films; Danse Macabre; MVD Visual
72 minutes, 2021
www.facebook.com/TenMinutesToMidnight
www.jingaifilms.com
www.MVDVisual.com

While zombie and body horror films are flooding the market right now, it’s nice to see another vampire flick pop up. And what better location than in West Central Connecticut, about 30 miles west of Hartford? Connecticut has some of the richest people in the Tri-State Area, so blood-sucking comes natural to the vicinity. Well, once again, and early on, I digress…

Caroline Williams

In the late night, just in time for her Midnight shift at a local radio station – and during a hurricane – retiring disc jockey Amy Marlowe (Caroline Williams, who has a history of horror films such as Rob Zombie’s Halloween II in 2009, 1986’s The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II where she also played a DJ, and at least three films I have reviewed on this blog, Hanukkah, Verotika, and Abolition) has been bitten on the neck by a bat on her way to the studio. Oops! Perhaps another good name for this could have been Undead Air, I suppose.  

Her super-scuzzy boss, Robert (William Youmans) who was once her lover when she first started at that station thirty years before, has a new DJ and potential lover in Sienna (Nicole Kang, who is now Mary Hamilton on the series “Batwoman), who is to “shadow” the seasoned music spinner. Amy is not impressed, especially when Sienna chimes, “I grew up listening to you!” An aging Amy is a core feature of the storyline.

Also in the building is Amy’s multiple-pierced engineer, Aaron (Adam Weppler) and security, Ernie (Nicholas Tucci, d. 2020), who seems to be the comic relief – and rabies takes a week or more for symptoms to express themselves, not a couple of hours – but let us move on.

Nicholas Tucci and Nicole Kang

Being the last show before “retirement” from the studio to be replaced by the new, young thing (I mean that as an expression, not a comment on Sienna as a woman), what does an aging DJ have to lose as her anger explodes on-air, especially when transforming into a biter (man, I love the wide mouth chestnut that, if I remember correctly, started with Fright Night (1985).

As the vamp fever makes its way through Amy’s body, the story gets more interesting as she starts to hallucinate, along with doing something incredibly gross for the viewer (i.e., me). That’s a good thing, of course, to keep the – er – flow going. As time goes on, what is real and what is in Amy’s head becomes more and more questionable, which leads to a super interesting third act that I did not see coming, and is phenomenally imaginative.

This film is a fine mixture of ‘80s style and modern sensibilities, with a focus on the beginning and the end of careers in the arts. Some of it is quite accurate, but then again, some of it obviously is not (unless you believe in vampires, of course).

The flick is beautifully shot by Thomson Nguyen, with a lot of primary light coloring (red and blue, especially) to depict mood and process. There is no question the acting is actually quite fine considering the pedigree of the cast, and that’s always a bonus. But let it be known, this is solidly Williams’ film.

What is also nice is that the major cast is relatively small at about five, and the space is very tight and almost claustrophobic (the lighting helps with that). The station reminds me of the one with Wolfman Jack in American Graffiti (1975), with the relatively remote location and small area to cover.

There is a fine mix of SFX and CGI, with neither of them being overly dominant. The blood flows well without being excessive, as this is more story based (hence the occasionally longer than necessary dialogues in a couple of spots). However, the sporadic moments of violence come quite unexpectedly, so there are nice jump scares in that direction. And as I said before, there are a few skeevy scenes that may make one wince or turn away.

 

As for the specials on this Blu-ray, there are an abundant amount, starting with the full audio commentary with the director, the co-writer Carson Bloomquist, and the star, Caroline Williams, the latter of whom has some nice insights to the meaning of the film and especially her character, Amy. Nicely, they never talk over each other, and they tell the story of the filming, with ideas behind some of the action and anecdotes (such as William’s role was first offered to Barbara Crampton, who suggested Williams for the role). This is an ideal commentary, with everything that keeps it interesting.

Zoom interviews at the online Grimmfest 2020 Festival (29 minutes), with the cast and crew, is a bit crowded, but still fun and informative for those who are interested about the film on a deeper level, but with lots of good stories and humor. “CT Style Live,” Connecticut’s feel-good program, has a light “Go Connecticut” interview with the director and Williams (5 minutes) before the official release of the film. The world premiere introduction welcoming and request for reviews on IMB by the director is shown for The Popcorn Frights Film Festival (1 minute), from Southeast United States. Others include two Ten to Midnight trailers (teaser and regular), plus additional MVD coming attractions.

There was a glitch on my disc, so I could not watch the following Behind the Scenes featurettes: “Take One,” “ “Immortality,” “Love Stories,” “Memory Play,” and finally footage from the TMTM at Grimmoire Academy Halloween Carnival.

The film itself is a solid entry into the vampire genre, and the reliance on story more than gore – even with the gross-out moments – makes this worth the watch.

Horror Shorts Reviews for August 2021

Horror Shorts Reviews for August 2021

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Filmmakers, please note: It is important that you list your films on IMDB. Usually, I do not review films (unless requested) that appear on sites like Alter and Screamfest, because they have a known platform, which is great, while I would rather focus on films with no affiliations.

Caw
Directed by Ricky Glore
www.RickyGlore.com
4:45 minutes, 2021
A pregnant woman in yellow (Stephonika W. Kaye) is being chased by a slasher in a yellow slicker through a forest deep. Why? Well, perhaps its ritualistic, but as is common in the shorter horror shorts, it is a scene out of context, but damn it works fine. The make-up effects look really great, and even in that short time, with no dialogue, the viewer can feel empathy for the woman (perhaps it’s the soon-to-be-or-not-to-be child?). Glore does well to keep the tension going for the scene, and his editing is also top-notch. Not bad for a stand-up comic/filmmaker. 
Full film HERE 

 

The Dark Dawn (aka Il Male)
Directed by Alessandro Spada
Fiatlvx Films
22:41 minutes, 2019
The viewer can tell pretty much from the start that this is a bit different, and that it is going to be interesting. In a secluded area, a Priest (Marco Foresti) walks through a snowy road and woods to an isolated farm house. The camera employs a lens that makes the image not completely sharp, and the colors muted. When one sees a modern genre film from Italy and it has a lone priest carrying what looks like a medical bag, it’s pretty obvious what the theme is going to be, in this case the exorcism of a young woman with a sordid past named Janet (Janet Fischietto), with glazed eyes and chained to a bed. But the events that follow are not expected, with a stunningly done twist ending that comes out of freakin’ nowhere to explain what has happened before. Of course, I won’t give it away. The film was shot nearly 10 years ago, but was released in 2019, and is getting a wider showing now. The cinematography by Flavio Toffoli is excellent, and I cannot recommend this highly enough. It is in Italian with some of the easiest captions I have seen. So worth watching, but do so right to the end of the story.
Full film HERE 

 

The First Snow
Directed by Kyle Bastin
Bastin Films; Media Pit; Pigasus Pictures
11:58 minutes, 2021
A winter’s day, in a deep and dark Greenwood, Indiana acreage. A cold front is a-comin’ (below freezing!! This made me laugh since it gets to -40F pre-windchill where I am, but I digress…) and with it the first snow of the season. Meanwhile, high schooler Jacy (Leah Evelynn Hummel) and her young brother Eli (Jacob Bawi) are getting ready for school, but the pipes are frozen, grandpa (Dennis Crosswhite, who played an uncredited student in Rock ‘n’ Roll High School) has gone missing. The film is a musing on climate change with an angry Mother Earth (Judy Littlefield) ready to kick some student ass. The film is a bit opaque in bits, and the background music drowns some of the dialogue (at least on my system), but the storyline is strong, and the ending is actually very pleasing. It’s not preachy in any kind of way, but still gets its message of damage and love across quite well. It made me think of a song by the band Sparks (HERE). 
Trailer HERE 

 

The Flamboyant Rites of Gay Dracula
Directed by Richard Griffin
Nova Films Productions; Scorpio Releasing
9:08 minutes, 2021
This mock trailer, shot in wide screen, is introduced by Orson Wells (Terry Shea), much as with the old Masterpiece Theater fronted by Alistair Cooke. It seems Dracula (Robert Kersey) is being kicked out by his father, Dracula Sr. (Bruce Church) for being gay. He takes an appropriate Peter Pan bus to find his new life, including changing his name to Homosexuala and hosting the (literal) Fondu Party of the Damned. His nemesis? Well, there is two: of course, there is Anita Bryant (Victoria Paradis) who else, as the Van Helsing, and a rivalry for a suiter’s hand – er – nick by Gay Blacula (Cardryell Truss). Gay Dracula made his premiere previously in Griffin’s 2020 short, “Gay as the Sun.” In fact, Graham Stokes returns from his role in that film as Billy, Gay Dracula’s love focus. The humor here is kind of broad (pun not intended) but effective. The accents come in and out, and are occasionally oddly German (Dracula was Romanian), but that’s all part of the fun for me. Paradis comes close to stealing the show, but this is a laugh fest from beginning to end. It’s one of those things, like Monty Python, that may seem silly, but you can see the smarts written between the lines by Griffin and Robyn Guilford.
Full film HERE 

 

Racyst
Directed by Ricky Glore
www.RickyGlore.com
7:19 minutes, 2019.
When is someone white enough? An “agitated man” (Brian Roesel) can’t seem to cope with what he considers “Other.” People of color and those with accents turn him into a Ken (as opposed to a Karen), but something is suddenly physically wrong with him as his fear manifests into an event Cronenberg may envision in The Brood (1979). The effects work well with a touch of humor to it all, but at the same time reflective of modern technology culture where the Internet is full of Karen and Ken videos. This moral tale hits deep into white rage, pointing a mirror at it, which makes it watchable on many levels. The SFX team on this is currently working on Glore’s upcoming feature film, All Your Friends Are Dead, currently in Kickstarter mode at the above e-address.
Full film HERE 

 

The Serpent Writhes in a Glass Coffin
Directed by Richard Griffin
Nova Films Productions; Scorpio Releasing
6:28 minutes, 2021
Director Richard Griffin has a history of creating fake trailers, such as the excellent “They Stole the Pope’s Blood!” (2014), so it should come as no surprise that he would do one on one of his favorite genres, the Italian Cinema giallos. Many of these had odd names like Bird With a Crystal Plumage (1978) or The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail (1970). For this filmette, Louis (Neil Redfield) is a gay serial killer warped by electroshock therapy (a comment on conversion therapy?) who murders his lovers, with the police hot on his trail. Lots of giallo motifs run through the trailer, such as photographer and model, coppers in trench coats, cartoonish blood and violence, extreme close-ups of shadowed-laden faces, and clumsy, overly dramatic dialogue (“Inside his damaged brain was a nightmare carnival where the price of admission was death,” or “I got the mayor making more noise than a dozen king crabs fucking in an oil drum”). There is even a nod to Blazing Saddles (1974) or High Anxiety (1977) concerning a Republican politician. This is a strongly amusing film that you don’t need to know the genre to enjoy it, but if you have seen a few, your smile will probably be that much wider.
Full film HERE 

Review: Feed the Gods

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Feed the Gods
Directed by Braden Croft
Random Bench; BMC Pictures; Compound B; MVD Marquee Collection
84 minutes, 2014 / 2021
www.facebook.com/FeedTheGodsFilm
www.randombench.com/films/
www.MVDVisual.com

Films that use the idea to feed local “gods” is not a new concept; just off the top of my head there is Jug Face (2013; reviewed HERE) and two others I won’t name because it is the plot twist of the end. One could even include the original King Kong (1933) as Faye Wray is chained to be sacrificed to the big ape. Actually, this Canadian film is closer to Kong than the others.

The prologue, of which I will not give too many details, is effective in a number of ways. First, it sets up the story of the two main characters, brothers William and Kris. Second, it is creepy and tense as hell at the border of the town of Tendale (population 60, filmed near Vancouver, British Columbia), and third, it can be seen as a social commentary about the heartlessness of the coyotes who work the southern border of the United States thanks to antiquated and cruel immigration laws. But I’m a proud liberal, so please excuse the politicizing. Anyhoo, if the rest of the film is of this caliber, it’s going to be interesting.

Emily Tennant, Tyler Johnston, Shaun Roberts

In the modern-day body of the main story, we meet the brothers as grown-ups: William (Shaun Roberts, who played Albert Wesker in the later Resident Evil franchise and was a semi-regular in the last season of the Canadian “Heartland” show) is a brutish, fly-by-night guy who wears sleeveless tees to show off his hulk and smokes pot, while Kris (Tyler Johnston, Samadriel on “Supernatural) is super uptight and looks like he just stepped out of High School Musical (2006). After finding some family artifacts, the sibs decide to head on back to Tendale (though the stress level is up to Elevendale…sorry) with Kris’s girlfriend in tow, Brit (Emily Tennant, who was the voice of 2017’s “Polly Pocket”). The bros are at odds (you know they will bond by the end, as all road movie companions do, no matter what the genre), with Brit in the middle as mediator. A bit formulaic, but one that tends to work.

On the way to search for their parents, William says prophetically, “Let the hunt begin.” Of course, at some point who is the hunter and who will be the – er – huntee? It’s telegraphed pretty early on (and hell, even on the front of the box), that there is a Bigfoot/Sasquatch problem and the town is living in fear.

Britt Irvin

For a place as isolated as Tendale, it seems to be hopping in the brothers’ perspective. They stay at a B&B run by Emma (Britt Irvin, Stargirl on “Smallville” and the voice of Sunny Flare on “My Little Pony”), which has a couple of extra guests from down undah beside our heroes. It’s not hard to figure out why they are there. Anyway, the film likes to telegraph itself, so while the tension remains (especially between Will and Kris), it remains not hard to figure out what is going to happen next in many cases, and who are the good and bad people.

While the film lulls for a while as we are fed necessary expository information, but somewhere about the half way point, it begins to pick up steam once our three stalwart explorers start to camp out to search for Bigfoot, since they aren’t having much luck with the parents.

Aleks Paunovic

With some really nice yet somehow sympathetic bad guys like the massive Pete (Aleks Paunovic; Julius in the recent “Van Helsing” series), and a couple of good double crosses in various directions, the story goes from predictable to… not. Sure, all the telegraphed things come to fruition, but surprises arise in around that, and there are even a few decent jump scares.

There isn’t a whole lot of blood, not to mention gore, but the story gives us a pretty decent body count, whether it is by the gods or in a Straw Dogs (1971) kind of scenario. The acting is well done, though I really wanted to smack the two brothers on a number of occasions due to some ridiculous and constant bickering for the first two acts, but that is more on the characters than the players.

The extras start with a full-length commentary by director/writer Braden Craft and associate producer and SFX/props builder Travis Shewchuk. Honestly, the commentary for this is kind of a wash-out. After about 20 minutes, I started to skip around a bit. There are large blank gaps, and when they do discuss the film, it is on mostly a superficial level, though the third act is the most interesting. If you listen to it, fine, but you really will not miss much if you do not. There is also a Behind the Scenes featurette (13 min). Again, it is with Craft and Shewchuk, but this is a bit more pertinent. One of the things they discuss that I found thought-provoking is that the original concept was as a found footage, and I am grateful they did it in narrative form instead; there is nothing I find more annoying than running through the woods at night by the light of a hand-held camera.

There is also the theatrical trailer, two other MVD coming attractions for relatively mainstream fare (with the likes of Zoë Bell and Jeff Goldblum), captioning, and a reversable cover.

The film helps show off the beauty of British Columbia. I have been there a few times, and it really is stunning (and recommended). Meanwhile, stick around for at least part way through the credits for more story information, and if there is a sequel, I will happily watch it.

 

Review: Baphomet

Text © Richard Gary / Indie Horror Films, 2021
Images from the Internet

Baphomet
Directed by Matthan Harris
Incisive Pictures; Cyfuno Ventures; Cleopatra Entertainment; MVD Visual
72 minutes, 2021
www.facebook.com/baphometmovie
www.cleopatra-entertainment.com
www.MVDVisual.com

To be clear, “Baphomet is a deity that the Knights Templar were accused of worshiping, and that was incorporated into occult and mystical traditions. The name Baphomet appeared in trial transcripts for the Inquisition of the Knights Templar starting in 1307” (thank you Wikipedia).

Now that is out of the way, just from the name it is not hard to guess that this will have something to do with witchcraft, covens, and the like. Well, you would be right. And who doesn’t love a bloodthirsty cult film, eh wot?

Usually, the cult is introduced either at the very beginning or the very end to this genre’s releases, and here it is right off the bat with the first scene, so I am not really giving anything away. The coven is led by Henrik Brandr (the infamous Giovanni Lombardo Radice, who was in giallo classics by the likes of Fulci, Soavi and Deodato, and one of the main stars of Lenzi’s 1981 Cannibal Ferox; recently he’s been in the likes of the 2006 remake of The Omen, and the underrated 2009 House of Flesh Mannequins), and right from the start you know they are not only up to no good, but prone towards the sacrifice/slaughter of others.

Colin Ward and Rebecca Weaver

As the story starts, Henrik’s son, the creepy Aksel (Stephen Brodie), asks to buy the land from well-to-do (from the looks of the house) Jacob (Colin Ward), who seems to overreact in anger to the request. Sure, Aksel is a bit pushy, but Jacob seems hellbent (pun intended) to be pissed off. Naturally, this will not end well by the conclusion; it is easy to tell even from this scene five minutes in. To paraphrase the words of that great philosopher Edward Norton, this brings “a pox on them and all their ancestors.”

This affects Jacob’s family dearly, including Jacob’s wife, Elena (Ivy Opdyke), their pregnant daughter, Rebecca (Rebecca Weaver) and her husband, Mark (director Matthan Harris). If he will not give up the land, expect to be knocked off one by one, often through Henrik’s spells or by a mysterious, brutish figure dressed in black (massive Nick Principe; I have been a fan since 2014’s Collar). 

Charlotte Bjornbek

With all the mayhem of the first act, the real focus of the film comes into effects with the introduction of "white" witch Marybeth (solid acting by Charlotte Bjornbek), as it settles into the final battle of good versus evil, or as I like to call it, playtime.

The violence throughout the story is plentiful, the blood and gore are gruesome and the SFX is incredibly well done. Same with the costuming and make-up. There is a nice, high body count, some of it coming quick, others lingering in close-up.

Dani Filth

There is a fun Skype cameo by Dani Filth, vocalist and lyricist of the metal band Cradle of Filth, among others, as an expert on the Occult (which Filth is in real life, as well). The role is not taxing, and he does well with it. It is odd to see him without beard or make-up, but that does not take away from the role.

There are a couple of holes here and there, but the storyline is fluid and I am happy to say that there were times I was grateful that it dodged some cliches, such as using certain good-person-who-ends-up-being-evil motifs (I could think of at least two they avoided). Most of the acting is decent, and it is well shot with good editing and lighting.

Giovanni Lombardo Radice

Basically, there is no wild steps taken out of the narrative flow, though some surprises, and it truly is a case of you getting exactly what you would expect for this genre. It’s like comfort food in that it is cozy yet enjoyable.

There are lots of extras included, such as a Dani Filth backstage interview (9 min.), which is actually before a concert in Dallas rather than during the filming. It covers a wide range of topics, including the filming, getting tattooed, and his band, Cradle of Filth, which is a fun watch. This is followed by a music video by TANK, featuring 5-octive range Filth, called “Shellshock.” If you are a fan of Filth, you know the style. However, I would recommend seeing it after watching the film, because the only visuals are from Baphomet, and it shows too much of the action and can ruin the story with spoilers.

The Deleted and Extended Scenes (13 min) were rightfully excised, but are entertaining to watch, as is true with the Outtakes (7 min), which could also be called the Blooper Reel. If you like that kind of thing, you will not be disappointed. There is some Behind the Scenes pictures, character art and storyboards by the talented artist Jason Millet, the teaser trailer, and a nice selection of Cleopatra Entertainment film trailers.

To me, though, the takeaway lesson of the whole megillah, genre film or real life, is never, ever go paddle boarding by yourself.