Indie Horror Documentary Gets Blood on the Reel
David Gelmini
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Without sounding like we’re showing off (okay, maybe just a bit), Dread Central is one of the best places on the web when it comes to indie horror. So naturally, we’re thrilled to be able to give some coverage to Blood on the Reel, an indie documentary about (would you believe it?) indie horror filmmakers. This sounds like our kind of shit!
It comes from director Johnny Daggers, who took to the film’s Facebook page to give a lengthy explanation of why he made it, which you can read below.
From the Press Release:
Blood on the Reel is a documentary which focuses on indie horror filmmakers from around the world and the perils we’re put through to bring you our films. Here is the back story about me and why this film is so near and dear to my heart.
I started my career in 2010 with my first short film, Samhain: Night Feast. I filmed Samhain as a fan of horror and not as a director or production company. It was made for me and my friends. The film was never meant to go further than that. Unbeknownst to me, Tim Gross (Bastards of Horror) added the film to the Bastards of Horror Short Film Fest lineup. This was brought to my attention by my cousin Mario. I contacted Tim, who gave me 2 passes to come to the show.
I did not have much expectations for my film. I knew that it would be competing against established filmmakers and was just happy to see my film on the screen. To my surprise, not only did Samhain fair well but it one crowd favorite. Afterwards I was asked to come up and do a Q&A. Although I had already started work on my next film, Caustic Zombies, I still was not planning on starting a production company until that night. After the success of Samhain I decided that if I could make a film with no training, just heart, and to have people like it, I should start an actual company.
With that said, I was going in to the filming of Caustic on a high note. Full of energy and ready to take the world by storm. During the filming Tim Gross visited the set and even helped with some grip work. He later posted a review about his experience, stating that the crew ran like a finely oiled machine. I began receiving requests for interviews from all over the world. BloodSprayer.com even wrote the following about me: “The rich history of horror originating from Pittsburgh includes George Romero, Bill “Chilly Billy” Cardille, and Tom Savini. Director Johnny Daggers of DaggerVision Films can add his name to this list. Fiercely independent and outspoken, Daggers is making a name for himself in the world of low-budget filmmaking.”
The highs of the acclaimed success were to quickly come to an end. Internal relations among the crew began to plague what was once a tight-knit family. Finally the cancerous inner turmoil took its toll in the cutting room floor.
My first mistake was not overseeing all the entire editing process. I trusted the editor to see my vision through. Just days prior to our premiere at the Hollywood Theater (Dormont, PA), the editor contacted me, stating that the film was not yet complete. As it turns out, he had been wanting to leave the project for some time but never brought this to my attention. As a result, he half-heartedly edited the film. My then partner in crime, Brian Cottington, came to the rescue to do what he could to the film in a short period of time. Despite receiving an improper file format from the editor, Brian did the best he could to edit the film and give it a more polished look.
The premiere was a success in the sense that it was a sold out viewing. We brought out the lavish red carpet that cast members would walk down as they drove up in one of the military vehicles used in the film. It was quite an extravagant affair.
During the showing I cringed in my seat. The film was not how I intended it to be, and you could feel the tension in the air between the initial editor’s crew and mine. The crowd seemed to have mixed reviews on the film. Tim Gross congratulated me but also gave his honest critique that the film felt rushed and said that the film was a perfect example of how editing could ruin a good film. As much as I hated to hear this, I knew that Tim was right. The editing was rough and been done differently had I been there throughout the editing process.
After the premiere I sat on the film for months, contemplating my next move for the film. The cast and crew worked too hard for the film to not be released. This dilemma haunted me. I decided to release the crudely edited film as an “Official Bootleg” release and stated that the director’s cut would be released in the future.
Two problems impeded the director’s cut, the first being that the editor still had the original tapes. At this point there was so much bad blood between the editor and I that acquiring the original tapes seemed impossible. Through a mutual friend we were able to draw up a legal binding contract to retrieve the tapes. The editor agreed and requested that the trailers he created would be pulled from the DaggerVision website, YouTube, and any other promotional website. In return, he would relinquish the tapes. The second issue was that once we received the tapes, we were unable to capture the footage. This brings us to some three years later where the tapes sit in my closet with the director’s cut still unreleased.
Due to the headaches of Caustic, I decided that I was taking a break from filmmaking. After a year-long hiatus I decided that it was time to get back to work. I was tired of dealing with a large cast and crew. I wanted something simpler and more manageable. Having always been a fan of stop motion films I decided that I wanted to make a stop-motion horror film. I was heavily influenced by filmmakers such as the Quay Brothers and Robert Morgan. By creating a stop-motion film, I could control my environment as well as put my artistic hands to work by building sets and dolls, thus creating my own fantasy world.
At this time I was living in a large, open flat apartment. I had the room to build the sets in my flat. This also meant that I could work on the sets at my leisure. This came in quite handy during nights of insomnia. I worked nights and day on the set building enchanted forests, mausoleums, and cemeteries. The project was really starting to take shape.
One potential problem that I could foresee was making the dolls look as though they were speaking naturally. The dolls could be constructed beautifully but would also ruin the film if the dialogue seemed unnatural. Being a fan of silent films, I decided that I would not have the dolls speak, but that the film would be narrated. Now posed the question of who would narrate the film.
Brian Cottington and I were hosting out own weekly horror talk radio show on Spookshow.Tv We had an upcoming and in person interview with Doug Bradley (aka Pinhead). Doug had just the right voice that I was looking for. The day of the interview Brian and I headed out to the bar to meet Doug and his girlfriend. We met up at the Smiling Moose, which is located in Pittsburgh, PA. With script in hand, off we went.
The interview went amazing. We sat and chatted over drinks for over an hour. After the show was over, we sat, drinking and chatting some more. When the time was right, I boldly asked Doug if he would be interested in reading the script and doing the narration. Doug politely agreed and took the script. After handing the script to Doug I excused myself from the table to buy another round of drinks at the bar. Once I got downstairs and to the bar area, I realized that I had left my wallet upstairs at the table. I ran back up the stairs only to find Doug leafing through the script. I expected Doug to take the script home for further reading and not leaf through it in our company. I was so nervous I wanted to hide under the floor boards.
After a few more hours of conversation and drinking, we decided to call it a night. Doug said that he would get back to me in a few weeks if he was interested in the script. A few weeks passed, and we received word that Doug liked the script and agreed to narrate the film. Finally things were looking up.
We began to heavily promote the film online and announced that Doug would be a part of the project. We launched a successful Kickstarter fund that allowed me to bring in a crew of talented artists to build more sets. Doug even joined us briefly at the DaggerVision booth at the Horror Realm convention. This was it. This was the film that made me rediscover why I loved doing what I do. This too was short-lived and would soon come to an end.
Underestimating the cost of set designs, we quickly ran out of the funding that we acquired via Kickstarter. The film came to a grinding halt. This time it would be lack of funding that would kill a project. This became very frustrating to me to the point that I announced that I may never make another film again. I feel into a deep depression. How could such a once promising career in fimmaking turn for the worst?
I needed to recollect myself and once again took another year hiatus. During my time off from DaggerVision I had the opportunity to be an extra on two episodes of the A&E TV series “Those Who Kill.” While working on the show, I realized that I enjoyed working for others without the hassle and headaches of running my own production company. It was refreshing to show up, do my work, and go home.
The idea of simply working for others sat comfortably well with me for a few months. That was until I started thinking that next year marks the five-year anniversary of Samhain: Night Feast. I began thinking about the film and how I wanted to do something special for the occasion. I started thinking about how we nearly got arrested and fined for disturbing the peace by filming thoughout the night and into the early hours of the morning and without a permit. Then I started thinking about how we almost got shot while filming Caustic Zombies without permission and on government property at a nearby power plant. These were topics that I could talk about and use as extra footage for the anniversary edition.
I loved the notion of sharing what I had been through to bring the fans my films. I then started thinking about some of the other filmmaker friends of mine who had encountered similar problems with their films. It then dawned on me that no one has ever made a documentary premised on what indie filmmakers go through to get their art shown. At times may of us have put our lives and livelihood on the line, not to mention our freedom so that we can bring to you our vision, our heart and soul. I decided that this is a documentary that I need to make. That I was perhaps put here to create. And even if I never make another film again, this documentary would be something that I can always be proud of. With that said, what started out to be an extra DVD feature for the anniversary edition of Samhain: Night Feast soon took on a life of its own. The life that you know it is Blood on the Reel: The Guts Behind Indie Filmmaking.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvCEM0D2x_0]
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