RH @ Night/Horror

Last Updated on July 26, 2021

THE RED HOURS @ A NIGHT OF HORROR

Been wanting to go to Australia for a long time. LONG TIME! And when the
Oz genre Festival
A NIGHT OF HORROR asked for my short film
THE RED HOURS
to
play there, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to go already. The fact that
good bud and actor Deke Richards, who stars in THE RED HOURS had family in
Australia also helped my decision. We’d have a free place to crash at. So even
though timing wasn’t really ideal (I had just come back from Spain – was
playing work catch up & the Montreal Canadians Hockey team were fighting for a
Playoff spot…. yeah I’m that guy…); I said f*ck it, you only live once and
got my ass on a plane.

Man am I happy that I did. Australia is a beautiful place.
So far I’ve seen downtown Sydney, the country (Blue Mountains baby) and am now
in Nelson Bay. Am loving it! As for my two days with the A NIGHT OF HORROR Festival,
well, they were a blast to say the
least. The people behind the Festival were an awesome bunch. Friendly, down to
earth and as booze loving as I am. I couldn’t have been surrounded by cooler
people. Now, one thing that I noticed here in Oz is that unlike North America where
horror is mainstream or Spain where it’s worshipped, the mass population has
little love for the genre. It’s a bastard child begging for a whooping here
which made what the NIGHT OF HORROR FESTIVAL does even more important. Although still a young Festival (3 years so
far); the peeps behind this event are driven by passion and a pure love for
scary and I
couldn’t help but find it incredibly endearing. Keep at it guys and dolls, the
only way horror will one day get FULL RESPECT in Oz.

Deke and I meeting Festival director and cool ass mofo Dr.
Dean Bertram in front of the Dendy theatre.

THE RED HOURS screening itself went down on April 2nd at the DENDY
THEATRE in Newtown Sydney and it went very well. Being that the sound hadn’t
been mixed on the movie (my last step in terms of this never ending 8 minutes
project), I had a sound test done before the screening. It sounded acceptable.
So after that, still incredibly jet lagged and driven by the beer running
through our veins, Deke Richards and I introduced the film to the audience and
then it rolled on. The flick looked slick on the big screen. First time I had
seen the final cut in a theatre (The Sitges screening was a black and white rough cut). The
crowd was enthusiastic, laughed at the right parts and if I go by the reaction
as the end credits rolled, they were entertained by the film. Always nice
to get that vibe; I don’t feel accomplished often in life, because I’m too busy
striving for more to stop and think, but this time I did.

Presenting RED HOURS with beers in hand! Hey, its
Australia man!

People came up to me and Deke after the screening to share
their thoughts as to the flick. One dude actually called it an “Action Horror Lynch” flick and that
saying stuck with me off the bat – cause its so damn right. Through talking to
peeps, I also figured out quickly that they all had a different interpretation
of the chain events, being that it’s so ambiguous. And that’s okay. The film was always meant to
be a semi mindf*ck. A stream of hazed consciousness, made physical through
horror scenarios. With that said, I always felt that it was MORE obvious than
how people perceived it… I guess I was wrong…all good… I’m wrong often. When
asked what my true intent was I always answered: “It is what it means to you”.
Yup I stole that saying from David Lynch…sue me : ) So
that night, we all went drinking and had a gnarly time. I met so many cool folks
and made new friends, always a perk of the Festival circuit.

Two tired dudes, hanging with Fest Coordinator and
cool cat
of the year in my
book Bryant Johnston.

The following night was the CLOSING CEREMONY i.e. the
giving of speeches and Awards.. Deke and I attended. We actually almost didn’t
make it being that we were so damn EXHAUSTED from the night before. But hey,
lets sleep when were dead I thought, I couldn’t miss it, so off we went. Thank
Zeus that we did cause to my surprise THE RED HOURS wound up winning
the INDIE SPIRIT AWARD. I didn’t see that one coming…like… AT ALL! You
should’ve seen my face when they called out my name as the winner. If that face
had a name, it would be: DUH??? I hit the stage, took to the mike
and winged a “thank you” speech. A cool little Nosferatu look-alike statuette was given to
me and yes once again, I felt accomplished. WOW! F*cking cool.

With cutie Festival Director Lisa Mitchell and my groovy award…

After the ceremony, we once again all went to party like it
was 1969. Had yet another kick butt night that ended at like 7AM in the morning or
something. GOOD TIMES! In closing, I’d like to thank
the people behind the Festival for showing Deke and I such a good time and for
putting out a kick ass horror Fest. LISA MITCHELL, DEAN BERTRAM, SHANE K, BRYANT JOHNSON
and their army…
thank you! You own! And thanks to everybody that kicked it with us and made for
wonderful
company. Drinks wouldn’t have tasted as good without yall around. I also wanna prop
everybody that worked on THE RED HOURS in front and behind the camera.
That little Award was not just for me but for all of you. So congrats to YOU TOO!
So that’s it, am done. You can find some random pics and related URLS below.
Time for me to clean my system up and enjoy Aussie nature : )

RANDOM PICS

Posing for one of the Fest Sponsors! I don’t
drink…wine baby…wine…

Hanging with filmmaker John Michael Elfers (Finale).

With Dean and most drunk non-boozer I have ever met
Fest Programmer Shane K!

Chilling with actress Shailla Quadra and Blondie (ie I don’t remember
her name).

With my boy PABLO!!!!!!!!!!!! Make your film bro! You
the man!

Actress Justine Keim and I striking a pose.

Messing around with Lisa, Shailla and badass actor and real cool dude Dritan Arbana.
Dee Allamani!

On the road again…

SEE ALL OF THE A NIGHT OF HORROR WINNERS HERE

VISIT THE A NIGHT OF HORROR WEBSITE HERE

VISIT THE A NIGHT OF HORROR FACEBOOK HERE

VISIT THE ONE NIGHT OF HORROR MYSPACE HERE