Enter the Dark - Updates

First off if you are in the Boston area this Wednesday, Dec. 1, it's YOUR LUCKY DAY!
Thanks to Mike Snoonian and Chris Hallock over at All Things Horror, Enter the Dark will be playing with El Monstro Del Mar! (which recently took home the award for Best Feature at the Dark Carnival Film Fest), and two other nasty little horror short gems, The Living Want Me Dead, and Get Off My Porch.
  



ALL THINGS HORROR PRESENTS
Wednesday, December 1

The Somerville Theater

55 Davis Square, Somerville MA 02143

8 pm/$5

El Monstro Del Mar! is an insanely cool exploitation monster flick from down under that has been generating some massive buzz for it's generous Russ Meyer meets Roger Corman vibe.  How can you pass that up?

Speaking of awards...

I'm super excited that my little snack 'o' dread, Enter the Dark took home the award for Best Short at the Dark Carnival Film Festival!  Wow - as a filmmaker, you don't do it for the awards, but it feels really great when you do get some recognition that all your hard work is actually having an effect on folks.  I really wish I could have attended - it looked like everyone there had a blast.

Also, I just found out that Enter the Dark was nominated in three categories by the Maverick Movie Awards:

- Best Director
- Best Sound Design/Editing
- Best Special Effects

(Drumroll please...) 

And we won for Best Sound Design/Editing!  This is really cool for me because I do think that sound is enormously important in telling a story (especially a horror story) through the language of cinema.  Although oftentimes overlooked, sound hits the audience in an immediate and subconscious way.  For an indie film director, good sound design is the most cost-effective way to creating an authentic and deeply resonant experience.  Try to imagine Eraserhead without that jarring, industrial nightmare soundtrack.

The ironic thing about winning this award is that Enter the Dark has many instances of little or no sound.  Just as composition in art is all about positive and negative space, so is sound.  What many forget is that silence is sometimes the most effective way to heighten tension - and horror movies are all about tension.


We've also been getting some great write-ups by fellow horror bloggers and websites:


The Independent Critic: Enter the Dark is an effective, psychologically thrilling chiller ... involving, slick and suspenseful.

The Man-Cave: Miro provided me with something that I crave as a horror fan. A legitimate scare.

I Like Horror Movies: Fans of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY will be happy to discover this spooky short!

All Things Horror: ...effectively creepy with an atmosphere that kept me looking over my shoulder constantly.

Cinema Crazed: …a nail biting bonanza of moments that will definitely keep audiences watching in anticipation the entire time…

Zombies DON'T Run: …a short movie that's shot very well, creepy as all hell, and has a twist that may just catch you off guard…

 
For all you aspiring filmmakers out there, just be aware that none of this comes without work.  Since I completed post-production on this movie, I have easily spent 20 hours a week making all this happen.  From burning DVDs, contacting possible reviewers, submitting to festivals, mailing out DVDs, creating postcards, updating the website, Facebook and Twitter - all this is a non-stop marketing blitz.  And I've really only done a small amount.  If this were a feature film I really would want a professional publicist and marketing team, with the end result hopefully that ever-elusive distribution deal.


But for now I'll keep humming along - probably until next summer when I will have completed a full festival circuit.  Then I'll start on the next project - probably another short that may hopefully help to sell a feature idea.


If I'm lucky...