Wanting to see "Rowdy" Roddy Piper in another movie like John Carpenter's 1988 classic THEY LIVE, director Vivieno Caldinelli, writer Matt Watts, executive producers Todd Brown and Andrew Rosen, and producers Lori Fischburg and Ryan Reaney took it upon themselves to make it happen. Earlier this year, with the aid of Indiegogo contributors, they were able to make a short film entitled PORTAL TO HELL!!!, starring Piper as a character named Jack,
a simple man with simple needs. Mostly he just needs to be left alone to read his book. It’s a good book and he likes it, or at least he would if the tenants of the building he manages weren’t so damn needy themselves. And it’s not just blown fuses and clogged toilets here … no, when the building power goes out the culprit is a pair of tenants opening a portal to hell in the basement. Does this count as building maintenance? Is battling the supernatural part of Jack’s job description? Maybe not, but if Jack can’t close the portal the entire building and – let’s face it – the whole world is screwed.
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What this is all comes down to is three words that should sell anybody on the project: "Piper vs. Cthulhu".
Sadly, Piper passed away before his fans could get a chance to see PORTAL TO HELL!!!, but the 11 minute short has been completed and will soon be making its way into the world, set to make its premiere at next month's Toronto International Film Festival.
Add to the concept and Piper's involvement the facts that the short has special effects by Astron-6's Steve Kostanski and a synth score by Voyag3r, and PORTAL TO HELL!!! sounds like it will be a really fun time. It's a shame that Piper isn't around to enjoy it with his fans, and a shame that we won't be getting the hoped-for feature version, but it's great that we'll have this short as a way to see the man off.
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