Teeconomist - showcasing innovative design

Teeconomist clothing.

You know, this Internet thingamajig can be a wonderful thing at times, the opportunities for information, entertainment, innovation and communication are there in an abundance of forms and waiting in what seems like an endless supply to satisfy an infinite range of tastes. Anyway, enough about my nocturnal online habits. 

There are also a myriad of more acceptable online endeavours too. For example, the world of the Indie genre movie and book publishing have been transformed away from the confines and often suffocating control that often stifled rather than encouraged artistic creativity. The online world now offers opportunities for people to finance, create and promote their works in a way that simply never existed 10 years ago. It doesn't necessary always make for good work, some of the self-published works and web movies produced that I've seen in the role of blogger extraordinaire haven't always been of the highest quality shall we say. In fact a good deal of it has been dire, but some of it has been good, very good.

In all honesty, whether the work and ideas are good or bad isn't what is important to me at all in the slightest. It's the intention behind the process that counts in my eyes. What really matters is whether the creative intention is an authentic one, no matter what the medium.

So when William Ayers contacted me with news of the recent launch of his innovative new t-shirt design website, it seemed like the chance for me to prattle on in my usual self indulgent way  talk about something different from the usual fare of movies and books in this blog. If truth be told, I don't usually include much of the promotion of pure economic endeavours. However Teeconomist is a little different, as hopefully you will see.

Teeconomist features designs by gifted and innovative artists, and includes everything from sci-fi and film references to pop culture-inspired motifs (hence, the initial reason as to what interested me about this project).

I must admit that when I heard about this company, my first thought was to wonder just who creates their designs? Were they really trying to promote the work of the talented? Well, it genuinely seems like that is so, because judging from a look on the company website and its Facebook page, there is a range of work from artists from all around the world together with details and links from Teeconomist to the their websites and social media networks enabling the artists to gain global exposure. A selection of previous designs can be seen at the end of this article.

I must admit that I genuinely find ideas like this from William Ayres whose intention is to build a community of like-minded creative people, exciting and appealing. It contains the original ethos of the Internet where ideas and thoughts could be discussed and pursued in an innovative and passionate way by collections of like-minded individuals freely expressing themselves. And if that can be done whilst making money, then what's not to like?

William Ayers says that he "...wanted to set up an affordable t-shirt company with awesome designs, but the idea I like most is that each purchase on the site financially supports the featured artist and helps promote the artists’ great work, all over the world". I agree and like that philosophy, I like that a lot.

Dragon Ball Z design by Worldcollider

Was only available on May 3rd

So what is the low down on this innovative company?

The new t-shirt design website was launched only recently on April 15^tth 2014. Each design will only be available for purchase for 24 hours (sometimes 48). T-shirts sell for as low as $10, (thats about £5.90 in proper British money) and long sleeve shirts and hoodies will also be available for purchase. For today's design go to the link here at   https://www.teeconomist.com

One of Teeconomist’s unique features is ‘OpportuniTee’ (from the economic term Opportunity Cost), which will normally run on weekends. OpportuniTee offers consumers an exciting experience: two t-shirt designs are available for purchase. Buy one design, and the price will increase for the next buyer, while the price of the other design will decrease. Both designs will start at the selling price of $10.

So if you have a moment - check out these marvellous people at Teeconomist. The links for how to contact them can be found at the bottom of this article - if nothing else, it means that every purchase on their site not only financially supports the group of fabulous artists but also helps promote their hard work!

While you're at it, have a quick look at small selection of some of the stunning previous designs that have appeared as a once only option from the company. For more information about the artists responsible, contact the team through the various links at the bottom of this page.

I have to admit to having more than a little love for the Alien and Hulk pics.(Yes, William. That WAS a hint) :-). 

VITRUVIAN HUNTERS

By Samiel

THE GREEN FURY

By Dr.Monekers

BLACKWATER

By Chemabola8

BURTON'S X MEN

By Djkopet

The team can be reached via a whole range of online methods:

Email: info@teeconomist.com

Twitter - +Teeconomist 

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/teeconomist/info

Website - https://www.teeconomist.com

An interview with actress, scream queen and burlesque performer, Kaylee Williams.

One of the genuine joys of this blogging malarkey has been the opportunity that it has given me to speak to a wide and varied selection of creative individuals. Along the way I've spoke to authors, filmmakers, actors and many other talented folks who have been taken in by my pestering and self delusion masquerading itself as any sort of influential blogging talent.

In amongst that ever growing list of genuinely creative individuals, there have also a couple of very famous names, one of which just happened to be long time scream queen loves of my life. Someone once told me you should never meet your heroes, well the meeting may only have been virtual, but nevertheless, Adrienne Barbeau was loveliness personified. If you don't believe me, you can read about her loveliness herself BY CLICKING THIS LINK RIGHT HERE

This particular article is in some way the polar opposite of that interview, because while this may indeed an interview with a scream queen, it is in this case one who is is just in the early stages of her career. I say 'early stages' because she may well be a fledgling when it comes to time spent in the business, but certainly isn't a fledgling in terms of work output. 

Kaylee Williams is a native of Chicago, Illinois.  Since first falling into acting, she has become an established scream queen in the horror genre.

Kaylee was nominated for Best Actress in a Short for her lead role in The Many Monsters of Sarah Roth at the 2010 Oklahoma Horror Film Fest and won for Best Actress in an Anthology or Collection by NerdRemix's Best of 2012 Awards for her role in the segment "Anti-Bodies" in the horror anthology Psycho Street.

Her most recent release is The Lashman (2014), a masterful contemporary slasher movie that I had the pleasure and privilege to recieve a sneak preview of just a couple of weeks ago, a review of which appeared RIGHT HERE. 

For these of you that haven't read the review of The Lashman, or simply cannot be bothered to click on the link, Kaylee plays Jan, who is part of five school friends heading off on a weekend excursion into the hills for a weekend of fishing, swimming and campfire tales near their cabin retreat. For the group, it's the chance for one final celebration before they have to go their separate ways to college and whatever different paths their lives will take them.  Of course, there is a crate or two of beer to help the weekend along. And Mustard, lots of Mustard.

Kaylee (front right), before the screaming begins...

Soon after arrival at their secluded (of course) cabin, the friends are sharing a scary campfire tale about a local urban-myth. He is simply referred to as 'The Lashman' - a man from many years past who was treated pretty badly by the local populace and now whose spirit magically wanders the hills seeking violent and bloody revenge on those that wronged him....or even those who haven't wronged him, he isn't particular. However, little do they realise that a harmless campfire tale of revenge and murder is going to become very real for them and turn into their own worst bloody nightmares!

It's a tremendous slasher film that confounds many of the boring and tedious cliches that have worn down the genre over the years that had regarded apparently 'mundane' things such as character detail hardly being anywhere near the top of their requirements list. In The Lashman, the characters are given time to breathe and develop before the carnage begins - and Kaylee's role in particular caught my eye (and many others eyes , it has to be said). 

It's a performance that is ballsy, sexy and full of wit - the scene where she turns the tables on her jerk of a boyfriend and chastises him is particularly funny. ........ and my god can she scream  - the requisite qualities of a horror scream queen are there in mucho abundance.

Kaylee then fell into my cunning ploy of befriending her on Facebook and then foolishly kindly agreed to give me a short interview. so it transpired that a few weeks ago I compiled my list of my usually cutting edge and insightful questions and sent them to the lovely lady. Unfortunately for me, due to her being as busy as busy could be she was unable to respond straight away.  Despite my pestering, she was niceness personified, even when I asked her recently if she still had the questions, she was apologising profusely for the delay. 

So earlier in the week I was delighted to hear from Kaylee after she had found a window in her schedule to answer my questions - so here it is......

K) "Hey there! Here you go! So sorry for the delay! Thank you for your patience!  :-)"

Me) Hey no worries :-)
Firstly, Kaylee. Thanks for taking time out of your schedule to talk to me - I'll try not to bore you too much! As professional I felt it important to fully, er, research, your Facebook photo's before this interview. So why does Facebook hate boobs?

K) "Ha, I don’t know, you would have to ask Facebook about its personal feelings about boobs. But even if FB were totally pro-boobs, I still wouldn’t be giving away anything for free, LOL."

Me) Hey, congratulations on being nominated for best supporting actress at the 2014 Indie Horror Film Festival for your role in Ron Fitzgerald's "Dark Realm" Project!! You can now lie about how it's being nominated that matters & not winning 

K) "Well I actually did win and I’m SUPER excited about that! It was a huge honor to be named Best Supporting Actress. I think I actually squeeled quite girlishly with excitement when my name was called, haha."

Me) I know that give done working other genres, but you're mostly associated with indie horror. Was working in this genre by design or just a case of where the work happens to be?

K) "Honestly, it’s just where the work has happened to be. Don’t get me wrong, I love doing horror films and I plan to keep doing them, but I’m definitely also open to branching out and doing other genres."

Me) The indie horror scene seems to be incredibly healthy at the moment on both sides of the pond. Why do you think this is the case?

K) "I think that it’s just such a popular genre that there’s always going to be new and interesting indie horror films being developed/released all over the world."

Me) I recently interviewed Cameron Macasland who directed you in the soon to be released The Lashman. What are your memories of filming that project?

K) "What first comes to mind is that it was HOT! We shot in Kentucky in the middle of summer and it was over 100 degrees every day. But it’s easy to forget the heat when you’re having fun. It was such a great cast and crew and we all had a blast working together to create a really awesome film. I’ve gotten to see it and I think it turned out great! It just had its premiere on April 19th. I’m really excited about this one. So far people really seem to be digging it."

Me) So does working in 'mainstream' films interest you?

K) "Absolutely, if given the opportunity I would love to work in mainstream films!"

Me) Apart from your many film roles you are also a performer for the fabulously named, Gorilla Tango Burlesque - Provocative Parody For The Discerning Nerd - Tell us about this, it sounds simply amazing!

And a Billion Princess Leia fantasies are rekindled.

K)  "We do nerd-themed burlesque shows and it’s tons of fun! Some of the things we have parodied include Star Wars, Super Mario Bros, Batman, Indiana Jones, and Star Trek. I currently play Princess Leia in “The Empire Brings Sexy Back: A Star Wars Burlesque Sequel,” Princess Leia/Han Solo in “A Nude Hope: A Star Wars Burlesque,” and various characters in “Temple of Boobs: An Indiana Jones Burlesque.” I also got to play Luigi in “Boobs and Goombas: A Super Mario Burlesque,” which closed last year. I’ve been performing with Gorilla Tango Burlesque nearly every weekend since October of 2012 and I plan to continue performing with them for as long as they will have me!"

Me) I'd like to say many thanks for you giving your time & hope that the questions weren't too tedious.

K) "Thank YOU for the interview!!  ☺"

So there you have it, not only is she talented, funny, gorgeous and it seems a genuinely nice person, but to be honest she had me at “Boobs and Goombas: A Super Mario Burlesque”, which believe me is something I would have given my right arm to have seen, if only for the fabulous title of the piece itself - genius.

Kaylee Williams can be reached by her Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ActressKayleeWilliams?fref=ts

The most wonderfully named Gorilla Tango Burlesque - Provocative Parody For The Discerning Nerd 's Facebook page can be enjoyed  HERE

The Lashman movie Facebook page link can be found HERE

Beyond the Grave (Porto dos Mortos) 2011

Production Company: Lockheart Filmes Ltda. 

Title: Beyond the Grave

Original Title: Porto dos Mortos

Spanish Title: Más Allá de la Tumba

Year: 2011

Country: Brazil

Certificate: UR (Unrated)

Language: Portuguese with English/Spanish/French subtitles

Genre: Supernatural “road movie”

Budget: US$ 150.000,00 (one hundred fifty thousand American dollars) 

Running Time: 89 minutes

Aspect Ratio: 1.78 : 1

Shooting Format: HD/Color

Final copy: HDCam SR 

It's not often that one receives an email from Brazil, in fact I could safely say that it's a distinct first for me. I have had quite a few in the past from a variety of African countries who have kindly advised me on a number of occasions that I have come into substantial amounts of money, apparentley all I have to do is send them my bank account details and the transaction will be swift and easy. As yet the funds haven't shown, but I'm sure that's just a minor banking glitch....

Anyhoo, about the email from Brazil. The message was from Isidoro B. Guggiana, who is the publicist and executive producer for Lockheart films, a Brazilian film company. Isidoro suggested that I might be interested in giving my opinion on a feature film that I must confess I hadn't heard of before now -  Beyond the Grave, or to give it it's original Portuguese title, Porto dos Mortos. See? Not only does this blog provide witty, intelligent and informative scribblings on Sci-fi, fantasy and horror (No, it really does!) - it also provides lessons in developing your multi-lingual skills. Who says that I don't provide a variety of important cultural services?

Isidoro also referred to the movie as "  a very unusual art-house horror", the first-time feature by Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro, who is a director, writer and producer of short and feature films. Sadly, it is quite clear that Davi hadn't worked with anybody noteworthy during his career before Beyond the Grave, just some guys including David Lynch, Phillip Glass and Wim Wenders, whoever the heck those people are.......

Of course I was interested. In fact I was well and truly hooked, together with the requisite line and sinker even before watching the film - It was the chance to see something different and unusual from a part of the world whose horror production quite frankly is something of a blind spot for me. Besides which, I quite enjoyed writing names such as Isidoro B. Guggiana and Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro.....

So what about the non-spoiling plot? Well, in a nutshell....

" In a devastated post-apocalyptic world where the rules of reality are transformed by magic and madness, a vengeful police officer searches for a possessed serial killer. He finds in his way groups of survivors. Some violent, some struggling to get by in this new place full of mystical dangers where humanity seems on the brink of extinction. Shooter and Nina, a couple of teenagers are the first living souls to cross paths with the Officer on his quest for the Dark Rider, a mystical man who has cost the lives of several people. The younglings have lost loved ones to the killer and they seek revenge. Advised by the Officer to let go of it, they insist on being a part of the quest. "

For a quick taste of the film, have a look at the youtube trailer below....

Beyond the Grave (Porto dos Mortos)

Quite frankly, Beyond the Grave is difficult to categorise, which for those who like to have their selective horror-niches complete with the requisite tried and tested step by step formula, that fact alone will quite simply annoy the heck of of them. This is a deliciously enjoyable film which has any number of influences that the director is paying homage to; it is part science fiction, part supernatural, part road movie, part Spaghetti western, part Zombie apocalypse, part horror, part art-house and part Avant-Garde. While we're at it we could certainly find in the movie more specific influences such as Mad Max, Stephen King's Dark Tower series and at at least two specific Sergio Leone productions. These ingredients, under the writing and directing skills of Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro, result in the most exquisite and innovative examples of recent cinema that it has been my privilege to see. 

I will warn you now though. If you are an 'all-action, everything is explained and nicely wrapped up at the end ' sort of viewer - then this film may not be for you. I don't usually read any reviews of a film before writing my own, for obvious reasons, but in this case I thought I would have a quick look. There are numerous positive references to the film, but I wanted to look at a couple of the negatives, because I knew that there would be some that would spectacularly miss the point of what I believe the director was trying to achieve - and boy was I correct. 

Yes, this movie is slow paced on occasion with periods of screen time where nothing appears to be happening, but when I read one particular review bemoaning the fact the "the movie has no sense of humour whatsoever", well I had to chuckle. The same review then went on to make reference to the 'mish-mash' of genres and the director not being able to make his mind up within which particular genre the movie should take place. Deerie me.

It's rather obvious that the director's intention from the start was to was to create an idiosyncratic world, full of vacant areas inhabited by desperate characters who are hanging onto to the very fabric of existence by their fingernails. There is an underlying sadness to both the characters and the post-Apocalyptic landscape that permeates throughout. Yes, anonymous and foolish reviewer, I can see how the humour would well and truly fit into this particular movie. It's a genuine potential Monty Python riot of jocularity.

In regard to the 'miss-mash of genre' comment - Well by chance I had read a review for another film earlier this week where the spoiler strewn piece also found fault with the fact that, in his eyes, the slasher movie in question failed to live up to the recognised procedure of what should happen within a typical film of it's type. He/She evening stating at one point "Everyone knows that a slasher movie should open with a really cool kill......." Give me strength. 

I personally loved (as do many others) that Beyond the Grave was an explicit attempt from the filmmaker to clearly challenge our notions of genre, providing a vision of filming that doesn't want to be contained by the shackles of pigeonholing which some horror fans seem to desire. Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro takes chances with his audiences expectations, and we should applaud that. 

An example of how Davi challenges our expectations of the horror element is how the undead are presented and treated here. I've mentioned before how the current fashion for Zombies one day will drift away, but not just yet it seems as the flagship darling of the Zombie loving brigade (of which I count myself as one) will no doubt say as we kneel at the alter of The Walking Dead TV series. However, Zombies are in real danger of becoming cliched and cinematic carnboard cut-outs, particularly on film - they growl, they shuffle and they chase (in their shuffling kind of way) in an effort to violently eat people - and that's about it.

But in this movie, the zombies have been provided with a sprinkle of 3 dimensional originality. We are asked not only to empathise with their plight but to sympathise too as we watch them interact with each other. We observe them feeding each other for example - ok, they are feeding each other the flesh of the living, but it's still touching! In addition to that we have the officer's ex-partner, now one of the undead and also blind, who is viewed as a figure of tragedy, not a 1 dimensional example of uncontrolled violence. Yes, they are also chilling and violent, but there is a texture to their representation that is truly refreshing to see.

Mention should be made too the the film's cinematography, which is simply lovely. The Director of Photography, Melissandro Bittencourt perfectly captures the landscape and desolation of a world that has drifted over the edge. It certainly helps that the city of Porto Alegre is an incredibly visual city, and I must admit to knowing little about the place. We are treated to a tapestry of different vistas each providing a distinctive post-apocalyptic texture, where we constantly observe the ongoing victory of the natural world over the dying urban world of concrete and steel.

I do need to talk briefly about the soundtrack of this film, it is quite simple a joy. I mentioned earlier that there is a distinct Sergio Leone influence throughout; 'the man with no name' being an obvious one, as too is the fabulous opening scene where the officer confronts some of the Dark Rider's bad guys. Another Spaghetti western-esque influence is undounbtably this film's soundtrack because throughout it we are treated to a an atmospheric delight of musical accompaniment that adds the perfect feel of suspense to proceedings. The song at the end is haunting and beautiful and has genuinely stayed with me long since viewing, in fact I'm listening to it right now as I write this piece of reviewing excellence. The singer's name is Lia Cameira.  The song is written by Felipe Longhi and performed by him and Bruno Fritzen, Felipe Lermen and Gabriel Fritzen. It is truly sublime.

For a couple of samples of the stunning Soundtrack( which includes the song), visit https://soundcloud.com/portodosmortos 

Beyond the Grave is delight of a Brazilian movie that caught me well and truly by surprise. Davi de Oliveira Pinheiro has directed a poetic, dreamlike vision of a place where the lives of the characters that inhabit it are the final gasp of human existence. The landscape is beautiful, the acting is good particularly from Rafael Tombini and Alvaro Rosacosta, and the claustrophobic scenes of horror and violence are perfectly wrapped in a suitably haunting and evocative musical soundtrack. It has thought, integrity and belief behind its conception. Yes, the film is a veritable melting-pot of genres and themes, and it all works. It isn't a genre film, it is multi genre, and that is indeed a good thing. I sincerely hope that there is more to come from these filmmakers.

You're still not sure if you should take my word for it alone? Well don't, because the movie has not only been nominated for a wealth of cinematic awards, it has won quite a few of them along the way - fourteen international awards to be precise. The most recent of which was winning Best Horror Feature Film at the Winter film awards in Nova Lorque in March of this year and also Best Film at the Movie Days/The Dark Zone convention, Germany. 

Beyond the Grave is now available on VOD via Netflix Instant for U.S. and Latin America.

The Official Facebook page for the movie can be found at  http://www.facebook.com/portodosmortosoficial 

The IMDB site for Beyond the Grave is at  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1075642/

All I have to say to finish this piece is simply to warn you.........

 BEWARE OF THE WALKING DUDE

An early review of The Lashman (2014)

A little while ago I put together a double interview with the directors of two new Indie horrors - Sacrement. The Movie & The Lashman. Both interviewees were equally ebullient and informative about their respective projects in regard to just how special the end results were going to be for prospective audiences. Well naturally they would say that wouldn't they? After all, no little time and effort goes into writing, directing and producing an indie horror (I imagine) so I would expect such proud proclamations, albeit subjective ones, about the merits of their work.

So when Director/Producer/writer and screenplay writer (and probably a dozen other jobs) of The Lashman, Cameron McCasland, sent me a super-duper secret link to the finally completed film (It's taken four long, often turbulent years) you can safely say that I was about as excited as excited could be. Not only would I be able to be one of the honoured few to see a movie far earlier than most, It would also provide me with the chance to test Cameron's bold challenge to me in his previous interview that I would come out of the end of it saying " I don't really dig slasher films, but I love Lashman". 

Well, we shall see Cameron, me old chum. We shall see.

THE PLOT

The summation of the plot will be rather brief, due to my oft-repeated dislike for reviewers who insist on giving away the nuances of plot - even when they think they are being clever.  If you haven't read my rants before about those spoiler spreading fools then you're one of the lucky ones.

The Lashman begins with five school friends heading off on a weekend excursion into the hills for a weekend of fishing, swimming and campfire tales near their cabin retreat. For the group, it's the chance for one final celebration before they have to go their separate ways to college and whatever different paths their lives will take them.  Of course, there is a crate or two of beer to help the weekend along. And Mustard, lots of Mustard.

Soon after arrival at their secluded (of course) cabin, the friends are sharing a scary campfire tale about a local urban-myth. He is simply referred to as 'The Lashman - a man from many years past who was treated pretty badly by the local populace and now whose spirit magically wanders the hills seeking violent and bloody revenge on those that wronged him....or even those who haven't wronged him. He isn't particular.

However, little do they realise that a harmless campfire tale of revenge and murder is going to become very real for them and turn into their own worst bloody nightmares!

THE VERDICT - Well there are a lot of positives........

Now I know what you're thinking : a group of horny and drunk teenagers, probably consisting of the likeable and the jerk ..... a secluded cabin in the woods....... campfire tales....... urban legends ......... slashing and blood soaked revenge........ It all sounds like a very familiar plot device that's been done a thousand times. It is exactly that, however The Lashman has one (well actually it has a few, but more of them in a moment) important factor in it's favour, which is that this movie is very, very good.

McCasland has made it clear from day one that he was never never intending to reinvent the wheel in making this type of movie. In fact, it was the polar opposite. What he set out to do from the outset was to take many of the familiar themes from the slasher movie's heyday, which was essentially the the late 1970's and early 1980's, produce a 21st century homage, and with it manufacture a modern variation to a genre that has suffered greatly since the period of that hey day. In this he succeeds completely. 

In its original incarnation , the slasher movie began almost as thing of horror beauty; Halloween, Friday the 13th, Maniac et al were original and fresh - They were Elvis Presley in 1958, before life in the Army sucked any vestige of originality out of him. 

However it wasn't long before the slasher sub-genre entered it's Elvis in Las Vegas period when it became overblown and in danger of choking on its own bloated cliches of ever more ridiculous methods of murder, plot gimmicks and witty one-liners from killers and ever-ludicrous sequels that had long since stopped being scary. As Cameron accurately said in his interview "...at a certain point they really kind of stopped being scary, and no really cared about the characters (the campers) as much as they cared about the guy in the mask." I couldn't agree more. Quite simply, slasher movies stopped scaring the living crap out of us.

This is the movie's first success, because in The Lashman, we are given time to get to know the characters, because time is spent during the first part of the film to provide an element of texture and dimension to the personalities of the group. We may not like them all, but we feel as if we have got to know them a little, flaws and all. And this is what makes their fate all the more chilling during the  final third of the film where proceedings take a major turn for the worst in a series of chillingly effective gruesome encounters.

The fact that the characters are given to chance to move away from the 2 dimensional parody of later slashers is helped by a strong acting ensemble in this movie  - the main players are excellent, especially in the violent and blood-soaked confrontations. 

Billy (David Vaughan) is the leader, a likable jock, but troubled in how he should proceed in his relationship with Stacy (Stacey Dixon). Stacy herself contradicts the standard slasher image as a cliched dumb blonde by showing maturity in how she cares for her socially inept brother, Bobby (Shawn C. Phillips). Even the requisite jerk of any slasher-to- be group, in this case Daniel (Jeremy Jones), whilst being suitably obnoxious in his general behaviour towards the others, still has a modicum of likableness. One scene where he is being chastised by the sensational Kaylee Williams as his girlfriend, Jan is particularly funny. 

It also helps that the two women, Stacey Dixon and Kaylee Williams are drop-dead deliciously gorgeous - if you would pardon the pun.

Intermixed between some simply exceptional opening and closing credits the film for the most part looks crisp and easy on the eye with some lovely camerawork and cinematography. The movie sounds wonderful too with a fabulous soundtrack composed by Thomas Berdinski who has perfectly captured the essence of what a good horror soundtrack should sound like. 

I'd like a copy of this please, Thomas....

The daddy of all indie horror, Halloween, showed how integral the soundtrack can be in adding another element, indeed almost another character, to the effect of a movie, yet for some reason many contemporary slasher movies have ignored this. I may well be asking Thomas for a copy of the soundtrack, I think it's that good.

A couple of negatives........

Whilst The Lashman may be very good - it's not perfect. The quality of acting of the main ensemble cast isn't quite matched by the quality of some of the supporting actors, which on occasion tends to be a little uneven. It wouldn't be fair of me to highlight any one in particular, suffice to say that one or two of the supporting  performances are less than convincing. 

There are a few issues I have with the unevenness with the sound quality occasionally during film with  occasional 'jolts and fades' taking place, particularly during the transition between a few of the scenes. Though it does have to be said that the sound quality during the raw intensity of the violent scenes are faultless.

These minor quibbles detract only slightly from ones enjoyment of what is a remarkable debut feature from Cameron McCasland. He and the rest of the team have managed to take a well known formula, used that knowledge to their advantage and make something that feels like a throwback to the classic era of the slasher before all the sequels and trips into space made them simply a pale parody of themselves. 

The Lashman is set for a world premiere Saturday April 19th 2014 at the 13th Annual Full Moon Horror Film Festival In Nashville.  Members of the cast and crew will be on hand for a Q&A following the screening. 

Cameron McCasland is currently booking dates on the festival circuit for the movie, and setting out for a touring roadshow. For more information on the premiere screening please visit http://www.fullmooninc.net/

You can find the Lashman on facebook at facebook.com/lashmanmovie or on twitter @LashmanFilm

All that it leaves me to say about this marvellous movie is......“Stay out of the woods! Lashman getchya!”

The Gemini Artifice - A Science Fiction web series.

THE GEMINI ARTIFICE

I don't like offending people, I really don't. I'm a nice guy (I hope), I have friends (both real & virtual), family (mostly real) and many acquaintances, most of whom seem not to want to cause me any real hurt. However, I do seem to have a habit of occasionally upsetting some of the people who inhabit Internetland both within and outside the sci-fi & horror genres. 

For instance, only in the last couple of months I've upset people within the Star Wars, Star Trek and Lord of The Rings communities. Now I love Star Wars et al, of that there should be no doubt. I was there back in 1977 for the opening day of the film that became a cultural phenomenon, I've seen every Star Trek episode of every series to the point where I could (and often do) quote dialogue along to certain scenes from the original series and The Hobbit + LOTR books single-handedly changed my life when I was only just past being a twinkle in Gandalf's eye. 

All I did was mention on certain forums (yes I have no life, but I'm happy so I don't care) that I thought that The Phantom Menace was actually rather good, that I much preferred Star Trek TNG to the original series and asked whether it really mattered that certain literary characters in Tolkien's books did or didnt make it into the cinematic versions by Peter Jackson. Well, lets just say that apart from unleashing the Kraken, some of the responses that I received were, how shall I put it, rather energetic in regard to my knowledge and opinions and where and in what particular orifice I should place them.......most of which would bring more than a tear to this bloggers eyes. As for assertions regarding a correlation between my intelligence and a rather unseemly relationship between me and my mother - well those suggestions would make you blush.

So when Pat Lavigne, contacted me with news of a web-based science fiction series that he was involved in producing called The Gemini Artifice, the only part of the project that made me stop to consider the proposal for a moment was the small issue of the project's inspiration. It was another of those areas that seem to attract rather high levels of passion - namely online gaming. 

Eve Online - It looks bloody brilliant.

Now I know many people who play games online and many of them are very nice, I've even been known to dabble myself in the odd arena or two, but dabbling has been my limit. It's not that I have any aversion or contempt for online gaming, it simply has never been my particular bag, man. 

The fact is that some of the people who inhabit these virtual communities scare me, because man, do they take that stuff seriously?!..... and god help any poor sucker (or noob) who may not fully understand the rules or etiquette of a particular game. The abuse I've witnessed towards those who may not be as skilfully blessed or merely learning the game has to be seen to believed. I have absolutely no problem with passion for ones genre - For example I personally believe that The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is the finest example of horror movie making in the history of cinema and will never be surpassed. Many will disagree with me, they'll be wrong mind you, but it's their right to be wrong.

I would like to emphasise that I have not played Eve Online, so I may well doing the patrons (all half a million of them) a disservice, so profuse apologies if i am.....But, to all to the rest of you Pseudo Jedi's, Trekkers and gamers - stop being so precious about it all. We all love this stuff, it's just that some of us are a bit rubbish at the online game malarkey and some us don't think it's the end of the world if Tom Bombardil never appeared in in the movie version of LOTR.

So regardless I carried on reading Pat's synopsis of the project and watched the teaser trailer that has been produced - and do you know what? I think it's going to be great.

The Gemini Artifice is based on the MMORPG Eve Online (www.eveonline.com). For this who may not know, MMORPG stands for Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game combines two gaming genres; role-playing video games and massively multiplayer online games. Taking the form of web browser-based games, a huge number of people interact with with one another within a self contained virtual world, with perhaps the most well known being World of Warcraft. 

Eve Online is another virtual entity which sees on average 500,000 souls interacting, er, online, which in this case is a richly textured and highly complex interconnection of star systems in which users can travel the cosmos, buying equipment and working with, or fighting against other users. Since 2003 it has grown into an online science fiction phenomenon, so much so that January of this year witnessed the largest ever online space battle with over 4000 gamers taking part in a battle that led to the destruction of approximately 100 spaceships. The truly mind boggling fact is that the financial coast to users  - the in-game currency that is used in the game meant that the damage amounted to a staggering $300,000 in real world money. 

I think that it's safe to say that these gamers take their gaming very, very seriously. And why not?

You've something on your chin....no....lower....

Set 23,000 years into the future The Gemini Artifice follows the crew of the ship "The Gemini" in a universe full of greed, murder, deceit, intrigue, and the occasional hero. Follow the crew as they lie, cheat, steal, and fight to obtain their slice of the New Eden Dream....massive piles of Interstellar Kredits (ISK).

When an employee of the enormous Sukuuvestaa Corporation goes rogue, her masters enlist the mercenary crew of the Gemini to get her under control. Snatch, grab; putting her in the bag and bringing her home would put the Gemini on the road to riches. They soon find though that in New Eden, there's no such thing as easy money.

The Gemini Artifice is filmed in Tacoma, Washington by cast and crew from the Northwest and is produced by Loyalty Entertainment Productions, a Tacoma based film company.

I would recommend that you take a little look at the teaser trailer (below) which the team have produced. I would also recommend that there is more than enough here to suggest that a full-blown series would be well-worth watching. I certainly will be looking out for it and hopefully reviewing the episodes as they come online.

The Gemini Artifice Teaser (based on Eve Online by CCP Games)

The intention for the team is to see a full season produced so all involved are relying on the teaser trailer and articles like this to increase the word of virtual mouth, so that interest and enthusiasm for the project cannot be ignored.

I suppose that the people who may need the most convincing as to the quality of the project will be the Eve Online gamers - after all this is their baby and will quite rightly be rather protective of their online world. I've already seen some discussion forums where a few gamers have been debating the authenticity of terminology and logistics within the teaser trailer - so it goes without saying that the producers of The Gemini Artifice will need to make sure they both listen to constructive advice and argue their side of things when it comes to the dramatic adaptation. I also hope that the gamers are willing to allow a degree of flexibility that any venture like this has to employ. 

So what about the people who are going to be appearing in the web series - I mean, are they actually any good? Well below is a taster of four actors featuring in the production. These profiles are just 4 of the many that the team will be doing as a 'slow release' every week. I will try and make sure that I update the blog as soon as these releases are made - You can also check out the Gemini Artifice page at https://www.facebook.com/thegeminiartifice?fref=ts to see the release of more content. 

Monika Holm

Monika is an actor, dancer, singer, and stage combatant who loves to dream big. Monika started her love of the Performing Arts in Oakland, CA where she was born. She currently lives in Seattle, WA because of her love for rain. Monika has her BFA in Theater from Cornish College of the Arts. She has appeared in independent short films such as the Seattle Film Institute sci fi film, Chasing Wind and a feature film modern adaptation of Sense and Sensibility. She had a blast playing this Benny and can't wait to dive deeper into The Gemini Artifice. For more info about Monika go to www.monikaholm.com.

Monika will be playing Benny Caron. Benidette “Benny” Caron was a model Sukuuvestaa employee on a secluded space station. Diligent, quiet, and actually a bit nervous when she won a chance of a lifetime vacation away from the boredom of being a station maintenance tech. Benny Caron would never step out of line; would she?

Emily Fortuna 

Emily acts in film, on the stage, and silly on request. Her credits include playing Lucy Steele in the feature film Sense and Sensibility and Jenny Sunshine in Truth Like the Sun at Book-It Repertory Theatre. When not acting, she can be found programming computers, crafting, reading or gaming. She's a huge fan of scifi, fantasy, and the rich lore surrounding Eve Online.

Emily plays Lin Tetch; proof that even Hell has its angels. As bad as the crew of the Gemini has it sometimes, Lin always has a smile and some wit. She and Jordan are great friends, and as much as Davidson doesn’t want to admit it, Lin is pretty handy in negotiating those contracts for work. She gives the Gemini its soul.

Will Gilmore

Will was born and raised in Elk Grove, California. He moved to Seattle to pursue is acting/film career in 2009. Since then, Will has produced, written, and acted in a short webseries as well as numerous short films, including his current World War 2 narrative "Hinterhalt." Recently, Will was cast on Loyalty Production's series' "Legendary" and "The Gemini Artifice" and couldn't be more excited to be a part of the webseries!

Will plays Jordan Kint. Jordan lost his brother. Jordan doesn’t know why it happened, or even really what death means, but Derial just isn’t there anymore. Now Davidson Shin has Derial’s ship, the Gemini, and Jordan doesn’t always know if Davidson likes him. But the Gemini’s computer likes him; all computers like Jordan, and he likes all computers. That’s why they do anything he tells them to. Anything.

Angela DiMarco 

Angela is now a Facebook friend of mine, but please don't let that put you off her. 

She has been working in film and on stage in Los Angeles and Seattle for the past 20 years. In 2014 she is starring in the films The Device, Reliance, and The Rectory. She started Mighty Tripod Prods with her husband, creating an artistic platform in the Northwest.

Angela plays Miri Janus. Ms. Janus used to do a lot of dirty work for Sukuuvestaa. This earned her a special assignment, a special trust. She guards a Quantum Drive with information so sensitive even she doesn’t know what it is. It doesn’t matter. She does what SuVee says, and if they want the q-drive safeguarded, it will be done: By any means necessary.

Neither Emily, Will or Monika are Facebook friends of mine as yet. However, nobody can hide forever......

So there you have it. The people behind this project need our help to promote this project. So 'click' again on the youtube link for the teaser at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tSVSVQ7eg4&feature=youtu.be. 

In addition to that share this blog and its Facebook page - the fact that you'll be promoting not only The Gemini Artifice but also my blog is purely coincidental.......

You want to join the Fray - well you can......... 

The Gemini Article team have a Tumblr now. There is some excellent background material on the characters here. I would suggest that you have a looksee, you just might find something special - the link is  RIGHT HERE

Find them on Twitter @GeminiArtifice!

Find them on Facebook! 

Find them at Loyalty Entertainment Productions webpage!