My First Film Blog

The Canon 7D

Fri, 4 Feb 2011 14:05:06 +0000

If you had asked about shooting on the Canon 7D a week ago, I would of told you that it was over compressed, the imagine quality wasn’t that great and don’t bother. But yet people kept going on about it. How good it was! How affordable! I didn’t believe them. I had seen the some shorts on YouTube and I wasn’t impressed. You ask me now and it is a completely different tune. Having now used one, I was surprised, no shocked, how good the imagines were and I was just using the available light.

I was asked as a favour, by the actress Elizabeth Knight, to shoot a scene for her showreel. It’s taken from a script that is sitting on the shelf. The plan was to shot in a gym on a Sunday morning. I would be directing / camera operating with Liz acting opposite Benjamin Green and Frederick Roche sound recording. Originally I had planned to shoot it on my Sony Z1, but through Ben we were able to borrow a 7D for the day.

Now the Z1 is a work-a-day camera. What I mean is that it is great for documentaries and news reports, but for films, not so great. To get a film look on Blood + Roses we had to use the Redrock M3 35 Lens Adaptor. We got great results from it, but the negative side was that it flips the image upside-down. So for the whole shoot I had to watch the image the wrong way round. Though the results were worth it. I have also used a RED ONE camera, which I just adored. It looks like a film camera and it shoots footage at 4K, which is bigger than HD. But yet people kept raving about them. I didn’t believe them. I didn’t believe that such a small camera could produce those kind of results. I was like the cinematographer bear in this video below:

The Big Review Of The Year

Sun, 2 Jan 2011 10:30:20 +0000

So 2010 is now finished, I wanted to look back at the highlights of my year. Blood + Roses was released. I went up in front of a thousand people at the Empire Leicester Square with Clive Ashenden, Paul Davis, Brendan Lonergan and Rob Wickings (Habeas Corpus boys) and show them a trailer for my next feature. I got to see a lot of films and meet a lot of great people including a couple of my heroes, or be in the room with them. Let’s kick things off with my top ten films of the year.

TOP TEN FILMS

Merry Christmas!

Fri, 24 Dec 2010 14:16:30 +0000

I want to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a very Merry Christmas and to give you a Christmas present. Click on the link below to download and read the shooting script of Blood + Roses, written by Ben Woodiwiss. This is the script I took down to Cornwall to shoot, so the prologue is missing, but there are scenes that got exorcised from the film. Enjoy the script and look out for my review of the year appearing on the site before New Year’s Day. Until then, have a Merry Christmas.

Blood+Roses-5th.pdf

Cornwall Film Festival

Mon, 8 Nov 2010 16:58:38 +0000

It was great to be able to attend the 9th Cornwall Film Festival at the Phoenix. What a way to celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the shoot, then to have the film screen in the county it was shot in. The festival took real good care of me. I had my train ticket and hotel room paid for, and I also got a goodie bag as well.

I was met at the train station by Jaeson Finn and Shauna Osbourne-Dowle. They were my guides and companions during my stay at Falmouth. They showed me round the town and took me out for a drink after the film.

I got treated to a screening of Another Year, the new Mike Leigh film. I don’t know if I was tired from my early start that morning or it was the cozy surroundings of Screen 1, but I fell asleep during the film. Though I am not a big Mike Leigh fan. Though I was able to attend Andy Hargreave’s enjoyable VFX presentation about Mark Gattis’ adaption of HG Well’s First Men In The Moon. And I got to see elephants in 3D in the documentary Distant Thunder, which was the best use of 3D I have seen in ages.

The screening of Blood + Roses went well. We had a lot of people turn up for a 10pm screening. Simon Brodie, the owner of Merryfield Manor (the location) turned up to see the film on the big screen. Jaeson moderated the Q&A. He stepped in when the original moderator couldn’t do it. It was really enjoyable to be up there in front of the screen with a friend.

The Q&A was filmed and they must of got a lot of footage, as it went on for a long time. I remember saying several times that it’s late, but the questions kept on coming. I talked about the film, the script, shooting in Cornwall, especially the bar scene and I talked about Habeas Corpus.

I also did an interview with a camera crew following the festival and part of it appears in this video below. I don’t know if the full interview or the Q&A is going to released. I have to wait and see, but you can enjoy a small part of it in the video below.

So I would like to thank Donna Anton, the organiser of the Cornwall Film Festival, for having the film and myself. I was only there for a day, but I enjoyed myself a lot. It was a shame I couldn’t of stayed longer.

John Carpenter (3rd Day Of Spooky Empire/Freak Show)

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 14:37:10 +0100

I was able to get a full 8 hours sleep, which is rare for me. I didn’t roll out of bed until 11. I guess my body is getting more in sync with the time zone. I was looking forward today, as John Carpenter was going to collect his Lifetime Achievement Award. I was going to be in room with him. I was hoping that, I might even meet him. But that was this evening. First I had to meet the guys at Perkins. I had a quick bath, got dressed and made my way out.

I arrived at Perkins first. Jason and Matt were the next to arrive. I put my name down, this time, for the table. While we were waiting, a couple of red necks started talking to us. They asked us if we came for that there horror convention across the way. We said we did. They loved horror and started to go on about it. We all politely nodded our heads and said very little to encourage them. Like you would do when a drunk comes up to you in the street. You say very little and hope they go away. They did leave when their table was called.

My name was called out soon afterwards and we were lead to same exact booth we sat in Saturday. Our waitress was in her sixties and according to her badge had been working for the company for 25 years. Though her age didn’t get in the way of serving people. She was really good. The only help she needed was when she served our food.

We held off ordering for as long as we could, as we waited for Gabriel. But he was late again. We waited for 15 mins before ordering. This time I knew what I wanted. Though the waitress was a little surprised when I didn't want egg. I guess they don't get many picky eaters. Though I thought the butter was cream. It looked like cream. It had the same texture. But as soon as I dipped my knife into it, I knew that it wasn't butter.

Gabriel turned up just as we finished. Gabriel had gotten word that Stephen Shea, the director of Doomsday County, should attend the award ceremony. It was at this moment I knew I hadn't won anything. I wasn’t asked to attend. I wasn’t expecting to win best film or director, but I thought that Marysia Kay would have a very good chance at winning best actress. I do think that her performance is excellent in the film. Even when the awards were being handed out, a small part of me had hoped that the film would win something. The rest of me was proven right.

We left Gabriel to have his breakfast and visited the claw machine at the front of the restaurant. There was all different kinds of balls in there. American Footballs, Basketballs, Footballs; all with different insignias on them. Matt was a dab hand at this, scooping an American Football on his second go. Both Jason and me came close, but each of our balls fall out of the claw.

while we headed to the Seven Eleven. I had to go there to use the cash machine. Over here a cash machine has a small keypad, a few buttons and a monitor. The cash machine here was like a home computer. It had a qwerty keyboard and a big monitor. There were so many options. I could do my home banking, apply for a loan, pay my bills all from this one machine, but I couldn’t find the option to withdraw money. It actually took me several attempts to withdraw some money. I'm not sure if all cash machines are like this in America, but I prefer our little holes in the wall.

After that we returned to the Convention Centre. When we arrived there was a large queue for the Main Hall. Waiting in the queue was Paul and Shannon. I stopped to talk to them briefly. I asked about the queue and they told me that this was the queue for the Nightmare On Elm Street Q&A with Robert Englund, Heather Langenkamp and John Saxon. I had missed the John Carpenter Q&A, as it was that morning. Tell the truth, I didn’t have a copy of the timetable, so I didn’t even know it was happening. Shame. But I still had that evening to look forward to.

I saw John Saxon in the signing room later. I forget how old the man is. He has been acting in films since the fifties. I forget that he was in Enter The Dragon. Jason had an old action of John Saxon's character. How cool would it of been if he had got it signed. Though he will always be Sador from Battle Beyond The Stars. Of course you couldn't near him, as there was a long queue to meet him, and rightly so.

I did however went over and said hello to G Tom Mac. The guy was so happy to see me. We chatted for a bit, amidst the fans who wanted his signature or take photos. He was very gracious with everybody. All the guests there were. Except for Scary Busey. I thought he would be a cool guy. I enjoyed his performances in the films like Lethal Weapon, Under Siege and Drop Zone. But at the convention he was just scary. I said hello Jay LaRose for the final time. I was hoping to see him after the show finished, but he didn't make to Gatorville.

Matt decided to take his ball back to his room. We would meet him outside the vendors room, while Jason and me went round it for last time. Jason had his eye on A Nightmare On Elm Street 3D poster and decided to buy it. He also found a Luigi doll and decided to buy it. For myself, I had a look at the blu rays on sale there. Though I didn't buy anything as I didn't know which ones were region free. They had The Exorcist blu ray for sale and I found out later it was region free. I wish I had bought it.

Jason wanted to take his goodies back to his room, so I accompanied him back there. When we arrived, Jason's keycard wouldn't work. Jason tried asking one of the cleaners to let him in. She wouldn't do it, but she called her supervisor for us. The supervisor came along and she wouldn't let us in. She called security to let us in. A security guard came along and he wouldn't let us in. He had just come along to make sure Jason was the person he was saying he was. Once it was confirmed, he contacted maintenance to come and fix the door.

All the time we were waiting there, we worried that we wouldn't get back in time to get out seats for John Carpenter receiving his lifetime achievement award. The maintenance man came along and fixed the door. The problem was that the batteries in the lock had run out and needed replacing. He also had to run some tests to make sure it was all working. Once he was finished, Jason was able to drop his items off in his room. There was a ball on one of the beds. Matt had been there. I guess he was lucky and missed the keycard reader breaking down.

Matt was waiting for us outside the vendors room. He was there chatting to the girl he meet last night. We told him about having to wait for the door to be fixed. We then went to the tangerine room to get our seats.

Gabriel was waiting for us when we entered the room. He was sitting at the back. We joined him. Robert entered the room and Jason went over to him. While we were waiting for Jason's door to be fixed, he received a text. It was about an article that appeared on Dread Central. It stated that John Carpenter had an heart attack at the convention and had to be rushed to hospital. We hadn't heard anything like that. It would of been the talk of the convention. Not a word. We told Robert about this. His face dropped. He hadn't heard anything, but he had to double-check.

We saw Robert dash out the door. 5 minutes later he returned with the news that everything is fine. Though Robert then informed us that John Carpenter had to catch the last flight out to L.A., so he was going to accept his award first and then he would have to rush out to a waiting car, which he had it’s motor running, to whisk John off to the airport. My plans of hanging out with John Carpenter, or at least talking to him, went up in smoke. I was very disappointed. But still I planned to get as close to him as possible, so when we returned to our seats we moved to the front.

Before John Carpenter was to receive his award, there were three short films to watch. The first one was Sadness, which is about a Brazilian father who kidnaps two little girls and make them sing happy birthday to his dead daughter. I found it a very depressing film.

Then after that one was a zombie film called Alice Jacobs Is Dead starring Adrienne Barbeau, who was once married to John Carpenter. Was this done on purpose by Robert? Imagine it was. Anyway she was very good in it as a wife of a famous professor, who has developed a drug to fight off the zombie disease. It’s not a cure, it just holds off the disease. The professor is trying to develop a better anecdote, so to save Adrienne’s life. She has been bitten, and he hiding her from the rest of the world. She is a prisoner in their home, on a routine of a drugs that stop her turning. Though she is becoming to immune to them and it is only a matter of time before she turn. Adrienne was very good in it. She gave a very touching performance. Shame about the actor playing the professor as he wasn't very good. Though apart from that I would highly recommend this film.

Finally, the last film was a short called Grave Reality, which were really two segments from an anthology film (yes, another one). The three stories shown were quick and joined together by comic book panels. Actually the screen would turn in to comic book panels in mid action, turning it into a living comic book. Interesting effect, over used in my own opinion, but interesting. I thought the car crash scenes in it were well done.

There was a short break and then it was award time. Robert got on stage to explain the John Carpenter situation to the audience. They would be a 4min compilation of his work and then they would give John Carpenter his lifetime achievement award. A door at the front of the room opened and the man himself walked in. Everybody stood up and applauded. John Carpenter gave us a wave and sat down. He sat in the other row of seats. Damn if we had just picked different seats, we would of been sitting next to John Carpenter. Who knew? We would kick our selves later in the bar.

The lights went down and the compilation began. There were clips from Halloween, The Thing, Big Trouble In Little China (both Jason and me cheered when Jack came on the screen jabbing away into his C.B. Radio), Prince Of Darkness and In The Mouth Of Madness. The lights came back on and John Carpenter got up to receive his lifetime achievement award. There was another standing ovation as he accepted his award. He uttered these words "Thank you for this award, but now I must go!" He posed with Robert for some photos and then he was gone. It was great to be in the room with him. In some ways I was disappointed not to talk to him, but in the end it didn't. I am such a fan that this moment I will remember for the rest of my life.

After that, the rest of the awards were handed out. Doomsday County won best Makeup. A bemused Stephen Shea picked it the award for the makeup team. Beyond The Abyss won best film. Best actress went to Tiffany Shepis for She Wolf Rising and best Orlando film went to Parasitic.

Once the awards were handed out, that was it. Freak Show and Spooky Empire was over. Gabriel, Jason, Matt and me walked back through the convention centre toward the Gatorville bar. All the crowds were gone and everything was being packed away. I imagine that by the next day you wouldn't know that Spooky Empire had been there.

We arrived at the bar to find that it was very quiet. Jake Busey was there with a few friends, but everybody else had gone home. We sat there drinking and talking about the show. We were later joined by the rest of the Freak Show party. Unknown to us they had all gone to UNOs to celebrate.
Scary Busey turned up just after everybody else. As a table we all shouted at him to join us. There was no reaction. Nothing. Chanting his name didn't help. It was like we weren't even there.

We stayed drinking there until chucking out time. Gabriel had to go home. We waved him off. Then we decided to go to UNOs, as they had a late bar. As we were getting ready to go, Robert introduced me to Katarina Leigh Waters. It was at this point I got accused of not being from England.

Now this is the second time I have been accused of this. The first time was in Cannes at Le Petite Majestic. A snotty nosed woman, from Chelsea, could not believe that I was English. That I had to be Australian. My attempts to persuade her that I wasn’t cam to no avail. At least this time I was able to convince Katatina that I am English.

We made our way to UNOS and I sat down next to Katarina. She is a WWE wrestler called Katie Lea Burchil (the onscreen sister of Paul Burchill). She was born in Germany and raised in England, and then came over to the states to wrestle. She has been in other leagues, but is currently wrestling in WWE.

As we were ordering our food, Ken Winkler and Eric Rucker, Kiss The Abyss guys, turned up with 3 black girls. I assumed that the they had picked them up on the way here, but it turned out they were hookers. Ginger, the head one, did all the talking. She said she was a model, but then wouldn't have her photo taken. Said it was against her contract. She wanted to know where we all were from. Unknown to me, Ginger kept rubbing Eric’s leg. After a while they left. Obviously there wasn't any business for them here.

After they were gone, we were all told about them being hookers and how about Ken and Eric met them. They were hanging around on the sidewalk outside the Wyndham, looking for business. They approached Ken and Eric, and then followed them into the bar. They were worried that the pimp would turn up and demand money for spending time with the girls, but one never turned up. Though I did joke afterwards that I love the service in UNOs. Beer, food and hookers!

We stayed until closing time. We all walked back to the Wyndham together. Then we said goodnight to Robert, Katarina, Eric and Ken. I walked back with Jason and Matt towards the pool. Then we said our goodbyes. I promised to come back next year. The next day I boarded a plane to Dallas and then had to wait for 8 hours for a connecting flight to London. I got back in the middle of the day on Tuesday, tired and but happy. I had really good time in Orlando. I had made a lot of friends, that I wanted to see again.

Showtime (2nd Day Of Spooky Empire/Freak Show)

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 14:41:09 +0100

I woke up at 9. I tried going back to sleep, but my body wouldn’t have it. I guess I was still on London time. I decided to get up and try the pool. I was surprised to find the pool was warm. Usually outdoor pools are freezing, but not this one. I did a couple of laps around the pool and then lay down on a lounger for a bit to dry off, before returning to my room.

When I got back, I quickly got changed and gathered my things for today. I was correct in tmy assumption that I wouldn’t be back until late that night. I headed out and made my way to Perkins. But first I had to stop off at Freak Show, so I could leave 2 DVD copies of the film with Robert. I planned to give them away as prizes during my Q&A.

As I walked along trying to think of 2 questions that weren’t easy, but weren’t too hard, I bumped into Tim Anderson. He asked me what time the screening was again. I told him 12 o'clock. He said he would be there. Then I went back to thinking about my 2 questions.

When I arrived at the Freak Show desk, Robert’s assistants were starting to put up the names of the films on a board (like those ones you see at cinemas) with their starting times. I got there just in time to see them putting Blood + Roses on, though they couldn't find a plus sign, so it was Blood & Roses on the board. I didn't mind.

Robert was bobbing around, doing several things at once, trying to get ready for the day’s lot of screenings. I was able to stop him and tell him about the 2 DVDs I was going to give away at the Q&A. I asked if he had somewhere he could put them while I went to breakfast. He very kindly did and put them away in the Tangerine Room. Then I asked, “Where’s Perkins?”

Perkins was directly across the road from the Convention Centre. How I missed the enormous sigh outside the building, I don’t know. It was right next to the countdown crossing. I had to do the quick quick slow walk again. I made it across without incident.

I walked into Perkins dead on 11. Waiting in line was Jason and Matt, but no Gabriel. He would turn up just as we were finishing our breakfast. Perkins must be a popular place, as there were quite a few people waiting in line. What they do there is you go up to assistant at door and tell them the size of your party and your name. When a table is ready, they call out your name. They do it over here, but they don’t take your name. You get pointed at and they say your table is ready. We didn’t have to wait long until Matt's name got called out and we were lead over to a booth.

Looking at the menu, everything comes with eggs. I don’t like egg. I was trying to find one dish that didn't have eggs with it. I found one, just as the waitress took our order. I didn't like it much. I liked the look of Matt's breakfast more. Matt had ordered pancakes with bacon, potatoes and egg. I would remember it for tomorrow's trip to Perkins. Though I would ask not to have egg with it.

We chatted about films and about Canada, while we ate. Gabriel turned up just as we were finishing. We waited while Gabriel ordered his food. I have to say that the service in the restaurants I visited there was really good. I never had to wait long for food. The waiters were never surely. It was refreshing. I know that people over here would say it’s because they work for tips, they have to be that way, but I never felt it was that. They never tried too hard. I got the impression that they genuinely liked serving you. When they say “have a nice day” they meant it. It never sound forced, like it does over here.

We had to leave Gabriel to finish his food, as it was nearly 12pm. It would look bad on me to turn to my own screening. Gabriel would join us in there, once he was finished. We paid our bill and headed over to the Convention Centre, crossing the road quick, quick, slow and then in via the main reception. We made our way to the Tangerine room. We took our seats by the back of the room, just by Tim Anderson, and Robert introduced the film.

The lights went down and the programme started. There was a short film, funnily enough from Canada. It was called ‘Nelly Et Lio’ or as the english subtitle said, 'Thelma & Louise'. (It’s in French) Its about these two strange girls who encounter a madman at a radio station. Why they are there, you never find out. But then I wasn't bothered in the least as the characters were really entertaining. They really made me laugh with their strange antics. They reminded me of the characters Sam & Max, from the computer game. One is less weirder than the other. I had seen this short at FrightFest, so I was very happy for it to be showing with my film.

Gabriel joined us in the middle of the 'Nelly ET Lio'. Once it had been finished, the next thing to appear was the trailer for Habeas Corpus. I had asked Robert if it was possible to show the trailer and he said yes. I’m on a mission to spread the word about my next film. What I love is that the audience's reaction in the U.S. was exactly the same as in the UK. They laughed in the same place. They jumped in the same place. And they went urghhh in the same place. Loved the reactions we got. (Check out the comments on YouTube to see for yourself)

Then the film started. Now I’m not comfortable watching my films with an audience. I can’t relax. Also I keep seeing changes I would like to make. What worked, what didn’t worked. So I can’t enjoy the film. But this time I decided to stay. As it was the first time it was being shown to a US audience, I wanted to see what their reaction would be like. Though the thing I wasn't prepared for was people walking in and out of the performance. People would casually walk in, take a seat and watch for a while and then leave. The strangest sight I saw, and you definitely wouldn't see this in the UK, was a mother bringing her 6 year old son in to watch the film. I was shocked. I thought they had walked in by mistake, but they stayed. They eventually did get up and leave, but it wasn't the violence that made them leave, it was the naughty language.

Now one of the people who left was Tim Anderson. 5 minutes into the film he got up and left. I found out later, at the Doomsday County screening, that he had to go and chair a panel on low budget filmmaking. It was a last minute thing. He wanted to see the film, but duty called. Luckily enough for Tim, I had brought a spare screening copy. I had brought it along just in case there was a problem with the copy FreakShow had. It was currently sitting in my room. I promised to give it to him that night.

There was a majority of people who stayed for the whole film or who came back. So that was good. Once the end credits came up, the lights came on and I joined Robert at the front of the room for the Q&A.

Now I have done a few intros and Q&As about the film, so I was nervous about this. I actually enjoy talking to an audience about the film. Which is funny to me, as a kid, I hated to going to the front of the class to give a talk. It’s different when it’s a subject that you are passionate about. This Q&A went very well. I got asked a lot of questions about the budget, where did I shoot it. I spoke about casting the actors, about the idea for the story. Told some anecdotes about some of the things that happened while filming. I also spoke about my next film, Habeas Corpus and about each story that make up the anthology.

I got a great compliment from a gentleman in the audience. He compared the film to a Hammer Horror and he felt that the acting was like that from a silent film. I was so happy to hear that. I said to the man that he was spot on, and that had been my style since my first short film, Fire Power. It was a film with no dialogue, just sound and music. I believe that actions speak louder than words. I was happy that came through.

All there was left to do was to give away the 2 copies of the film. I decided not to go with questions, but as people had been coming and going through the screening, they wouldn't get the answers. I know myself. I wouldn’t ask the easy questions. Instead I asked who wanted a copy. Most the hands shot up. First ones to come up to the front could get it. Matt got there first and a lady.

Once they got their copies, that was it. The screening was over. I got a big round of applause and then I joined Matt, Jason and Gabriel. Jason had kindly taken pictures of me during the Q&A with my camera, though they were dark. Even with the lights on, the room was wasn’t very bright. Something I would have to keep in mind for tomorrow.

We all went to the back of the room, where the guy in charge of projection was sitting behind a desk of equipment. He really wanted a copy of the film, so I let him have the screening copy. I also signed it for him. Matt asked if I could also sign his copy. So I signed that too.

After that we paid a visit to the signing room, especially the one with Danielle Harris in. Matt wanted to meet her and get his photo taken with her. Over breakfast all that he talked about. But when it came time to meet her, he couldn't do it. Nerves. Though Matt did draw up the courage to talk to her, the next time we were there. Thanks to Gabriel who was talking to her, Matt got his photo.

Having met Danielle before at FrightFest in August, I decided to go over and say hello. She was very pleasant. She didn't recognised me, but I reminded her about FrightFest. She still didn’t know who I was. Oh well! She meets a lot of people. But she was very pleasant and we chatted about Hatchet 2 being pulled from the cinema, as that was the news at the time.

We then paid a visit to the dealer's room, where we went over to the Troma Stand. Sarah Okun was there from last night and she asked me how the screening went. I said it went really well. I asked where Madeline was, as she had wanted to come and see it. She told me that she was wrecked from all the drinking she did the night before.

While I was there, I bought a DVD. It was the only thing I did buy at Spooky Empire. It was a documentary about Troma at Cannes. Why I ended up buying it came from me talking about how Troma's presence is missing at Cannes.

When I first started in the industry, I always wanted to go to Cannes. There were 2 documentaries about Cannes at the time, Movie Virgins and Waiting For Harvey. They both featured Troma going up and down the Crossiette. They were dressed as the Toxic Avenger and Sgt. Kabukiman with scantly clad women. They were a sight to see. So when I finally went to Cannes last year, I was so disappointed not to see them there. So I mentioned this, Sarah brought up this DVD. $20. Last copy. I wasn't interested. $10. How about a drink later. Yes. Sold! I walked away with a bargain and a promise to see Sarah later.

After that we decided to go for a drink, so it was back to Gatorville. While we were sitting at a table, Gabriel dropped his card wallet. It had his business cards in them. The waiter very kindly picked it up. When Gabriel sat back down, I tapped the wallet up and down on the table in front of him. Jason and Matt laughed as Gabriel didn't notice what I had in my hand. I kept asking him if he had twigged yet. He wasn't familiar with the saying. It seemed to confuse him more. Then the penny dropped and he realised what I had in my hand. I gave him back his wallet and then had to explain what twigged meant. Cotton on is what I should of said.

We sat at the bar for a while and then decided to go for some food. Matt knew of a Mexican restaurant in the area. We never made it. After a long walk around the resort and then a walk down the main drag, we opted to go to UNOs instead. It was a bar and grill that reminded me of TGI Fridays.

When I said that the waiters weren't surely, there is always an exception to the rule and we found him. We were seated at the booth at the back. The waiter came along and asked us for our order. I asked him if he could take a photo of us. He said, "do I look like a photographer?" I was a little taken back by this. We were all. Then he made out it was a joke and took our photo. Then when it came to the bill he tried to stiff us with an extra beer on our bill. Gabriel noticed this error and he got the waiter to redo the bill. The guy did not look happy. Actually, I don’t think he ever looked happy.

In UNOs, there was no getting away from Spooky Empire. The waiters there were wearing Spooking Empire T-shirts. There was one young waitress, in one of these T-shirts, that Matt was scoping out. Though he didn't know whether to go over and talk to her or not. Gabriel came up with a plan. Invite her to the Doomsday County screening over at Freak Show that evening.

Right I need to back track a bit to talk about Doomsday County. Doomsday County is an anthology film about three different incidents that take place in the same county. The first story is about a zombie outbreak in a film school. The second is about 2 cops trying to find the source of the zombies and the third is about a special agent who takes on aliens, who are providing the zombie virus. The film was a lot of fun and they did a lot for a cheap production. I thought the characters were really good. I especially liked the 2 cops. But more about that later.

Gabriel appears in the third story as a lab technician and was helping promote the film at Spooky Empire. He had whole load of postcards, with the time of the screening at Freak Show printed on it, out to festival goers. He handed one of these postcards to Matt. The plan was to invite the waitress to the screening and Matt went over to that waitress and asked her to the screening. She said yes! Her shift finished soon and she agreed to meet Matt at the screening. We were all proud of him. Shame the waitress didn't turn up.

On the way back to Freak Show, we popped into a liquor store to buy some beers. Here in England you can buy beer or wine in any supermarket, superstore or off license. I was surprised its not the same in America. We bought a pack of twelve beers to drink at the pool party that night. The boys had bought there own beer to the party last night and nothing was said by the bar staff. It was cheaper to buy our drinks at the liquor store, then from the bar. They weren't going to stop us, so what the hell. Try taking your own beer into a pub over here. You would be out the door on your ass.

Once we had bought our beer, we went back to the bar. Had a drink. Then we visited the signing room, so Matt could get his photo with Danielle, and then it was time for the Doomsday County Screening at Freak Show. We wandered over there and took our seats at the back of the screen. There was a lot of people there. The screening room was packed. Doomsday County was made locally, so a lot of the cast and crew, friends, and family attended. The Q&A session was good. The director Steven Shea was there with Ashli Szymanski and 2 of the actors.

After the screening finished we all met outside Tangerine Room. Tim Anderson was there, as he appears in the first segment as one of the students in the initial zombie outbreak. (I kept misquoting his line) Stephen Shea was there with his heavily pregnant wife, Melanie (they just had a boy called Victor) we were chatting in the hallway. If you didn't know, Stephen directed and Tim produced the short film '2:22', which was shown at FrightFest this year. Not to give much away, but it was a good film. It looked slick for a small budget.

Then it was back to the pool party. We were on our way out of the Conference Centre when we bumped into Sarah. She looked dead on her feet. She was absolutely knackered. There was no way she could make it for our drink. She must of been so shattered that she didn’t turn up at the Troma stand the next day.

We finally made it to the pool party. The party had already started when we arrived. But we were still able to find a table. We broke out the beers and started drinking. The waiter this time came over. She didn't ask not to drink our beers, but to pour them into plastic cups. They had two broken bottles by the pool and just wanted to prevent people breaking more. I could understand that. So we did what she asked.

Heather Langenkamp was mingling with the fans at the party. Tim wanted to have his photo taken with her. He finally got his chance when she came near our table. She was very happy to have her photo taken with Tim. Actually, she was very happy to have her photo taken with all of us. She would say, "come on have your photo taken with me." Such a lovely lady.

The stage this time was being set up for G Tom Mac, who was going to do a live acoustic set of songs from The Lost Boys soundtrack. I remember seeing Paul rocking out at the front of the stage to Cry Little Sister. That boy can rock. The set didn't last long as they were having problems with feedback from the speakers. They tried moving their instruments back away from them, but it didn't help.

After it was finished, I joined Paul and Shauna by the stage. Paul introduced me to G Tom Mac. I was surprised to meet another Brit and so was he. He was very happy to meet me. He had to pack his equipment away, but he would be round tomorrow in the signing room.

After that I decided to go back to my room to get the DVD of Blood + Roses for Tim Anderson. I rushed past a couple who were very drunk and very pissed off with each other. They were starting to draw a crowd with their angry shouts. A lot of pushing as well. The local police were coming over to break it up as I walked on by. They have police there as there has been a couple of incidents at the pool parties of previous years.

I got to my room, grabbed the disc and rushed back to the party. The angry couple had been moved by the time I came back. I looked around for Tim and couldn't find him. I asked around, but no one had seem him. I got back to the table and found out from Jason that I had just missed him. Damn. Tim wasn't coming back for the final day. In the end I sent him a copy of the film via the post.

After that I ended up hanging out with Paul and Shauna with their LA friends. We were standing next to Machete, I mean Danny Trejgo. He was constantly surrounded by women. I also chatted to Daniel Farrands again. We spoke about how the studios are quite willing to get fans to make documentaries about their films. Quite willing as they don’t pay a penny for them. J. LaRose was there again and we chatted.

Trouble nearly flared up again. There was a disagreement between a guy and some swimmers in the pool which ended with a deck chair being thrown into the pool. For the life of me I couldn't tell you what it was about.

After that the party came to an end. Everybody started heading off to their rooms. I agreed with Jason, Matt and Gabriel that we would meet up again at Perkins. This time at 12pm. I was hoping to get some sleep this time. As I headed back to my room, I bumped into Robert. Second time in a row. I always see him at the end of the night. Jason and Matt turned up. They thought I was going to my room. I was, but I couldn't stop and say hello to Robert.

We spoke briefly and then this time I really went to my room. It had been a long day. A good day. A great day. Again as my head hit the pillow, I went straight to sleep.