HALLOWEEN 2015: A Scene from Total Scream

This years Exclusive Halloween clip comes in memory of the legendary man of horror, Wes Craven.  We spent the last half of the 1990's into the 2000's shooting a Scream fan film that we never completed.  Wes Craven took my interest in horror to the next level and then beyond.

Our movie was a hybrid of original content combined with re-imagined versions of scenes from the entire Scream Trilogy.  Sidney was in our movie but in a more limited role.  Randy was the main character and his story line followed a similar path to Sidney's in the original series.  In our movie, Stab 3 had shot a year prior in the town that all our characters live in (with some of them participating in the movie), and after its release a killer begins to pick off the actors from the movie.  We thought up this story line before Scream 3 came out, originally it was mainly to incorporate some of the death scenes (as scenes from the Stab 3 movie) that we had already shot that no longer fit the overall story.  I thought it would be safe to skip Stab 2, and jump to Stab 3 but Scream 3 ended up doing something very similar.  Several elements of our un-shot scripted ending also ended up being very similar to some of the scenes in Scream 4.  If I can track the script down I'll post some of it someday.  In the following scenes Randy (Brandon Zimmerman) is home alone, impatiently awaiting his "STAB 3 Cast Exclusive" care package... PLAY!

PURSUIT OF A VISION: PART II Lost Scene Recovered!

A year after we completed the Phoolish Philms produced short, Pursuit of a Vision we came up with several ideas for a sequel/prequel.  The general concept of it was to explain some of the questions that the original had brought up and to add even more questions to the mythology of the character.  So Brandon, Jordan, and I went out and shot a scene for it on a ridiculously hot summers day back in 2004.  Our initial plan was to shoot several scenes but the heat was too unbearable and not very inspiring.

After this we never returned to the project, most likely because so many other projects were happening at the same time along with college and my work at CDSC Video Productions.  It would have been the same year that The Only Way was in production, three weddings I was producing independently, Return to Glory: Metamora Football 2004, numerous weddings and other event projects at work, Work Day, and SURF.  It was a very busy time in my life and unfortunately this movie was never completed and the footage for it was indefinitely lost.

That is, until 10 years later when I just happened to be watching an old tape of interviews I shot for The Only Way Documentary.  Low and behold out of nowhere I see my brother Brandon's screaming face wearing purple plaid in front of my smoking old red pick-up truck.  I cannot explain how excited I was to finally find this footage after it had been missing for so long.  Unfortunately we only shot a single scene for the sequel but it is surely a worthy opening.  I, of course, couldn't leave it alone and had to cut it!  Check it out HERE!

Happy Halloween 2011!

The following clip is from our incomplete fan film totalSCREAM that we were shooting back in the late 90's.  The scene features my brother Brandon and my friend Cody Mischler.  To watch this Basement Exclusive Halloween 2011 clip click HERE, and to watch the full trailer for  totalSCREAM click HERE!

Happy Halloween 2011!

total SCREAM Trailer!

In preparation of Scream 4, I have gone into the archives and dug up some material from our incomplete Scream Fan Film, total SCREAM.  This project was in the works beginning sometime in 1997 until the middle of 2000 (basically my 7th grade, 8th grade, and Freshman Year).  At first, it was a remake of the original film which we were calling Scream: The Kids Version.  But then as the Hollywood sequels were released we wanted to do more than just remake the first.  We wanted to add elements of the sequels into our movie as well.  Re-imaginings were still called remakes back in those days but what we were doing, by today's definition, was a re-imagining.  We were mixing scenes from the entire trilogy and taking artistic license by adding original scenes, characters, and new death sequences of our own as well.  Some of the material is downright gruesome, especially for our age, we were some sick, sick kids.  It was an insanely inspired and ambitious undertaking in honor of a series that we were absolutely obsessed with.  Sadly, like our Kid Rangers flick, we shot an insane amount of material for it but we never actually shot an ending/killer reveal.  As you may know, a movie in the Scream franchise definitely doesn't work without an ending.  So aside from us watching the footage tapes every once in awhile, the material has been hidden from the world for the last 10 years ...Until now...

WATCH TRAILER!

Incompletes Vol. 2: Kid Rangers

So this entry comes from a project that we were working on for the latter part of the 90's, Kid Rangers: The Movie. It begins with a morphing sequence that, judging by the light changes, seems to have been shot on 6-7 different days. I imagine that scheduling 6 different people to be at a shoot would be almost impossible when your 10 years old. We then move into a morphed fight sequence that shows off our fully constructed costumes that were creatively built using everyday household items; such as felt, spray paint, old clothes, and more. This fight sequence was constructed from 10 different tapes, from at least 20 different days of shooting, with 4 different cameras, and shot over the course of 5 years. If coming across this footage has proven anything to me, its proven that when we were committed to a project, we weren't messing around! We didn't even have a script, just an obsession for the Power Rangers, and the drive to make a movie. This clip features Brandon Zimmerman, Me, Cody Mischler, Heath Adams, Maggie Whittington, Dustin Call, Tyler Pfanz, Brad Luke, and Aaron Klinkradt. I tried to put it together in the most classic sense of the TV show that I could. I always dreamed as a little kid that I would find a way to cut this movie together someday. We never really shot a third act, so I doubt I could ever complete a full cut of the movie. For now, I'm excited that I had the time to bring the footage together to at least edit this sequence. We shot a lot more for this movie throughout the years, so in time, more material could find its way onto the net. Watch this scene HERE!

Enjoy!

The Incompletes: Scream Fan Film Clip

Back in the late 90's/early 2000's we were making a Scream Fan film, among many others. We shot several scenes for it. While I was back in Illinois this past December I came across a bunch of the material on VHS and Hi8. A lot of it is actually pretty decent considering I was only between 13-15 during the entirety of production and the rest of the crew was the same age or younger. We never shot an ending, so I don't have enough material to finish a full cut of the film.

So I have compiled a scene here featuring Hilary Honold as Sidney, Caitlin Solomon as Victoria, and Cody Mischler as the stunt man in the costume. The crew this night was Me and my little brother Brandon. This version of the scene was cut around 2000, so it's before I started cutting on a computer. I've now taken that original edit and done some color correction, added a few sound effects, and added Marco Beltrami's score from the original films' soundtrack. I plan to cut more scenes from it as well if my schedule permits. Enjoy!

Watch the Scene "Victoria" from Total SCREAM HERE!