Above is another shot from my video for Boxcar Cadavers that premieres tonight at the Killer63. Come out to see how things fare for the poor fan who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Just tested out the DVD this-morning, and will check it out big screen this-afternoon (after Toy Story 3, before Phantom of the Opera). All seems well. I don't think putting on a festival that had everything run smoothly and be prepared weeks in advance would be the same. Need that 11th hour last minute hassle and stress to keep yah feeling alive. Anyhow, that's year 5 almost in the books, which is kind of a staggering thought. Hope to see y'all tonight at the Mayfair.

I don't want to play spoiler on my contribution to the Killer63 short horror film fest at the Mayfair, but the above image is from the Boxcar Cadavers video that I directed and it involves my talented friend Jennilee Murray being shoved in the trunk of a car. Be there Saturday night to see it and a dozen other diversely terrifying offerings.

It looks like we have everything together and assembled for the Killer63 screening on Saturday. So, y'know...a whole massive two days before the actual event. Not a lot of time to publicize the mini-fest, so just trying to get the word out via the magic of the internet while I can (don't know what people did before blogs and e-mail and Facebook and all this stuff).

The lucky number 13 shorts in the line-up will include (in not this exact order):

Never Bet the Devil Your Head - Kristian Larivier
Until the Fat Lady Sings - Rob Kantu
Bagra - Tom Jardine
Stop 21 - James Campbell
Seance - Robin Kasparik

Plus an 8mm zombie graveyard short from Petr Maur, two brand new shorts from Jeff Campbell, three works from Chris Chitaroni & Jimm Moir's Skywardkick Productions, and a pair of terror themed music videos from Canadian bands Hunter Valentine and Boxcar Cadavers (I directed the latter one). The work ranges in length from 5 to 18 minutes, and all combined comes in at about 100 / 105 minutes.

A couple of stills from Jeff Campbell's shorts "StalkHer" and "Dead End", both premiering this Saturday night (October 16th at 9pm) at the Mayfair Theatre.

Last week my film-making friends and I multitasked the shooting of a Boxcar Cadavers music video which will also serve as my entry into this years Killer63 festival. It involves rock and roll, kidnapping, and a nice girl locked in the trunk of a car. Even though it happened in the 11th hour, and well past my own set deadline, I'm very glad that we got to shoot the thing. It's a project that I've had on the brain for years, actually originally intended for another band that one of the Boxcar guys used to be in by the name of Crankenstein.

The shoot went well, and it's in the midst of being edited. Hopefully we'll have it all done by tomorrow...a whole three or so days before the actual festival screening. Such last minute stressy hectic deadline crunching feats are normal in such things. Every year I intend to get all this organized like a month in advance...never quite works out though. Maybe next year!

Only have time for a quick update, running off to the Mayfair soon to go check out the silent movie / live music night. Am equally excited for tomorrows screening of Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell, which has an amazing poster and tag-line. On top of that, it's got no less than two Star Wars legends: David Prowse (Darth Vader) as the Monster, and Peter Cushing (Grand Moff Tarkin) as Victor Frankenstein. And of course, it is also a very rare chance to see a Hammer horror classic up on the big screen.

Come check it out tomorrow (Sunday the 3rd) at Lost Marbles Geek Night at the Mayfair at 8:30.

There's at least a different version of Batman that pops up once a generation or so (sometimes things switch up even faster than that). Batman was the number 1 show that kids in 1966 rushed home after school to catch. For 120 episodes (over a very small period of time), and then one movie, Adam West and company's interpretation of Batman's world enthralled a generation.

Though it was not the original or the last live action version of Batman to make the leap to big screens, there were a number of serials in the 1940's and of course many incarnations to follow, most people for a very long time considered this Batman to be THE first and ONLY Batman. So much so that those not in the know to what Batman was like in the comic books before or after this era got kindah pissed off when Michael Keaton donned the cape and cowl for Tim Burton in the the more loyal to the source material film in 1989. Quite a few now grown up fans were pissed off quite and felt insulted that their childhood hero was being ruined.

Now, when I was a kid I hated this version of Batman. Loathed everything about the show. Because my Batman is Dark Night Returns, my Batman is Michael Keaton, my Batman is the genius animated series from Bruce Timm and Paul Dini.  My Batman wasn't bright colours, goofy dialogue, and shark repellent. And my Batman definitely didn't make use of on screen sound fx for fight scenes.

Then I saw the movie on VHS. And it was one of those laugh so hard you almost die moments (if you're not in the know...just wait for the shark scene). Although not my Batman, this Batman could still be greatly appreciated. The characters, the design, the style, the script...all weren't that far off in terms of a tribute to what was going on in comic books at the time. And the car! Man that's a cool car!




Batman swings into Lost Marbles Geek Night this Sunday September 26th at 8PM. A rare chance to see the geek classic up on the big screen.

The cool factor level that the Mayfair continues to attain helped in getting it mentioned over in the UK on a film program on BBC Radio (check out about 5:45 into the show). Specifically, the topic of conversation involved the above and beyond skills of our projectionist. I can only hope that being talked about on a Ricky Gervais podcast cannot be far behind.

So, in the September Mayfair schedule amongst a few other places, there was the news that Killer63 has been pushed up a lil' bit due to the packed nature of the October schedule. Meaning, the deadline has been pushed up a lil' bit for submissions to Octiber 6th. Forgot to mention it here though I guess. Now if there's one thing I know about trying to put together one of these mini-festivals, it's that not very many people hit deadlines (writer of this blog included). But let's do our best here people!

Thanks to everyone who's contacted me about getting a film in, any more questions or comments over the next month or so, lemme know.

Of course The Crow is memorable as the haunting final performance of Brandon Lee. Who like his movie-star father before him, died in his prime with so much possibility laid out before him. Lined up as his big break-through role after a few B-grade action movies, many thought that Brandon was the next big thing. And if not for some very bad luck and a freak accident, he would likely have been.

The whole sad tale has an extra brooding and creepy tinge to it, thanks to the fact that the film is about a central character that comes back from the dead. And in a way, Brandon Lee came back from the dead amidst publicity and praise to perform his final role up on the silver screen.

On a lighter note, I will always remember The Crow as the first R rated movie I attended as an 18 year old. For which I so smartly forgot my ID, but luckily got into anyhow.

The Crow hits Lost Marbles Geek Night at the Mayfair - Sunday September 5th at 9pm

Tonight's the night for one of the biggest Geek Nights of all. Our partners in geek hipness, Lost Marbles, presents it's third annual Kid Robot / Munny designer vinyl art toy event (this year titled in the movie tie-in themed name: The Colour of Munny). Mayfair doors open at 8PM for the gallery portion of the event, where you'll be able to check out the toy embellishing and adapting talents of dozens of local artists. And, as if that's not reason enough to attend, there will be a live art showcase and a ton of prizes.

Following that, at 9:30 will be the Canadian premiere of the much buzzed about documentary, The Vinyl Frontier (fresh off of it's screening at Comic Con). A history of the vinyl toy trend featuring all the artistic luminaries who helped make it an underground cult phenomenon.

Anyone who says there's nothing to do in Ottawa isn't coming to the Mayfair.

Off to celebrate the release of the new line of Kid Robot's Dunny toys at Lost Marbles tonight. There will be similar events across North America (or even the whole world I guess), but the kewlest store of all is Lost Marbles of course.

A good lead in to the upcoming and much anticipated Colour of Munny event at the Mayfair. And best of all, both events will give you the chance to get free stuff. Everyone loves free stuff!

I know it's a pretty heady statement, and it's never good to get people's hopes up too high before seeing a movie, but I'm pretty sure that King of Kong might be my favorite documentary...like ever.

Who could've ever have imagined that the world of competitive video game playing could be more exciting than the average big budget Hollywood blockbuster? More specifically, a documentary about a competition revolving around a fairly simple early generation game where a King Kong knock-off tosses barrels at you (you being Mario in this case). And on top of that, the movie hits you with a more insane unbelievable story, and one of the best hero / villain match-up's you've ever seen.

Don't miss out on the special Lost Marbles Geek Night screening of King of Kong: Fistful of Quarters. You'll never look at a video game the same way again.

(Sunday August 15th at 9pm at the Mayfair)

A quick reminder of tonight's Lost Marbles Geek Night screening at the Mayfair. If you love Joss Whedon...and if you don't, well, I'm not sure yer allowed to go to the Mayfair if that fact about you comes out...be sure to check out this great lil' documentary about the rise, fall and rise again of Firefly / Serenity.

It'd be a much better documentary if we lived in a world in which the story ends with a whole bunch of giant successful awesome Serenity movies. Alas we live in a world where people would rather see Deuce Bigelow 2 and movies like Serenity don't make money. Sad sad times indeed.

Lost Marbles Geek Night at the Mayfair - Sunday August 8th - 9pm

As I sat in the Mayfair for Geek Night a couple days ago (our first of the Lost Marbles sponsored era), the movie started, and it came to mind the I dropped the ball and didn't do a blog entry for the film. Been busy and distracted, just slipped my mind. So, I neglected to plug our screening of Blood on the Flat Track (where I fell in love with an absolutely insane roller derby player by the name of Basket Casey), but I still have time to at least promote the upcoming double-bill roller derby bout. All the pertinent info can be found at the Rideau Valley Roller Girls website. Don't miss out, could be the last bout of 2010.

Believe it or not, the fifth year of Killer63 is upon us. Ottawa's annual independent horror collective will return to the Mayfair on October 23rd. Deadline for submissions is October 12th. So get out there and start making horror shorts!

If anyone has any questions about the event, please feel free to contact me at: batturtle@gmail.com

Ghost World came out nine years ago!? Son of a bitch the passage of time from when a movie first came out is making me feel old lately! Did you realize that the first X-Men movie was the years ago!? A decade! Man.

Anyhow, the film Ghost World is based on the comic Ghost World, which was written and drawn by underground comics mastermind Daniel Clowes. Go buy a Daniel Clowes book, or go check one out at the library, they are all good across the board pretty much. The film was directed by Terry Zwigoff, fresh off of his universally acclaimed (and also comic book themed) documentary Crumb. Well, not exactly fresh off...it was seven years between projects.

Ghost World tells the fairly simple tale of a pair of high-school grad social outcasts living in a weird surreal suburban world. A strange lil place filled with strange lil characters going about their strange lil lives. Featuring a very young Thora Birch & Scarlett Johansson (well before her cat-suit, kick-ass Black Widow turn), and in a indie film cred one-two punch, the film features not only Illeana Douglas, but also none other than Steve Buscemi.

DC Comics, back in the 80's ran with a slogan which emphasized that DC Comics aren't just for kids anymore. Which kind of backfired, 'cause now no kids read comics at all. But that's a different rant. Ghost World (both book and film) is one of my go to examples for folks naive to the fact that comic books aren't just dudes in spandex hitting each other. Don't get me wrong, I love a good super hero comic as much as the next geek. Though still in this day and age of pop culture, folks still seem shocked that stuff like Road to Perdition or History of Violence or From Hell or 30 Days of Night do indeed come from comic book inspiration.



Ghost World is a prime example of a great comic book translated at it's best into an equally entertaining movie. Catch it at the Mayfair on July 25th at 9PM for Sunday Night Geek Night, as presented by Lost Marbles.

I lived in Vancouver when 'Quick and the Dead' came out. My mind escapes me on the name of the theatre where I saw it, but it was this great Mayfair type place that was right beside a bowling alley and showed Ed Wood movies, Planet of the Apes, animation fests and all kinds of cool stuff. I'm pretty sure they used it recently in an episode of Fringe (with the fake alternate universe movie titles on the marquee) but I might be wrong about that.

Anyhow, onto the topic at hand. Some people seem to dismiss this movie 'cause it stars Sharon Stone. Yes, I can't really admit to being a fan of hers either. If only for willingly appearing in movies the likes of 'Catwoman' and 'Basic Instinct 2' one should be heavily reprimanded.

Here is what she should be defended for though...especially for her actions in the year 1995 (or at least for her two films released in 1995). Her other movie that year was 'Casino', which of course was directed my Martin Scorsese. And Scorsese is a genius and can do no wrong and is the most respected filmmaker of our time if not all time. So if he wants to put that lady from 'Sliver' in his movie, clearly she's got some kindah talent hidden underneath there somewhere. She even got herself an Oscar nomination out of it.

The other movie she had released that year was the one for the blog topic at hand, 'The Quick and the Dead'. It's like a Clint Eastwood 'Man With No Name' type story, except change the man to a woman. In this case, that woman being Sharon Stone. She got a producer credit on the film, and used her Hollywood power of the time to throw her weight around on two interesting points of cinema history. One, she fought to give an unknown (to North America) actor by the name of Russell Crowe a lead part. Check out his imdb resume post and pre Quick & the Dead and see how that effected his career. Two: She also fought for a director named Sam Raimi who had just come off of a big flop of a movie that some geeks are a little bit familiar with by the title of 'Army of Darkness'.

So just for one night, put your Sharon Stone hatred aside, and come out to see a real kick ass western at the Mayfair.

Quick and the Dead, presented by Invisible Cinema – Sunday Night Geek Night – July 11th – 9:30pm

Happy Roller Derby Movie Night eve! Join the Rideau Valley Roller Girls for the highly anticipated special Sunday Night Geek Night screening of Kansas City Bomber (Sunday July 4th at 9PM at the Mayfair). What better way to celebrate the 4th of July than to cheer on Raquel Welch and a team of roller derby girls from Kansas?

Oops...here I went and found a kewl Alpha Flight picture on the old inter-web to make use of for a Canada Day best wishes greeting...then I forgot to make use of it. So a slightly belated 'Yay Canada!' to one and all.

I had to work last night tearing down one of the Canada Day stages downtown. You ever want a harrowing challenge for yourself? Head north on a street while tens of thousands of folks are heading downstream against you. Madness.