Shockerfest

"The Bet" has been accepted into the Shockerfest International Film Festival. Great, great news. We're gonna try hard to get up there for it; it's October 6&7, with the week preceding filled with other cool events.

Review: "Utterly Engrossing"

Pulpmovies has posted their review of "The Bet." I gotta say I can't help but get excited over the positive reaction the film's been getting. And when someone actually gets the story and then raves, i get chills. What was so awesome about Pulpmovies' review was they said something that actually made me love what we set up in the film, the "desperation" as they put it.

But what really sets The Bet apart is the atmosphere of grimy desperation that pervades the entire film – not just for the woman, but also for the two men. These are people who really have reached the end of the line and have no way out, as is powerfully underlined with the film’s closing scene.

They got the entire point of the film, which is why the tagline is "You never win." Read the full review HERE.

Not looking good.

While the reviews have been downright glowing, the festivals seem to really not have taken a liking to "The Bet." So far, we're 1 for oh, about 10 now. We've submitted to mainstream, horror and underground fests around the country (and the world) and so far, the only fest that's accepted has been CineVegas, which seems to have been a pity acceptance as part of the local filmmakers category. I don't know if they don't "get it" or if they do and don't care. At least one fest, Sydney Underground, will provide a critique of the film (tho it will take a month or so). Curious why it's being equilaterally ignored. I'm not saying I think it's a monumentally important film, but I have to wonder why no one is accepting it. I can take the bad news with the good, tho the past week I tended to wallow in an odd depression, maybe more attributed to trying to write a new script, deal with the kids while the wife was away on a cruise, attempt to get a DVD made and ready for release, not mention... the day job.

So, despite the fact that Matt Wilkinson (producer of "The Bet") has said (hopefully jokingly) that the next film should be filthy with sex and gore and nudity (which I absolutely refuse to do), I'm still feeling a bit happy. Watched a thing on IFC where David Lynch said Eraserhead wasn't accepted into the first couple of festivals to which it was submitted (tho, look where it is now). And I have an absolute vigilant stance to not give in and make a dumb film for the sake of making some cash (as easy as it would be to through blood on tits and call it horror). We'll see how long I can hold out. Not that I'm against bloody tits, as long as it's part of the concept.

two things...

two things to lift me from the unnecessary grumpiness i've been in the past week:

1. for some weird reason i've had the song "i've just seen a face" by the beatles stuck in my head, well i know it's because it's featured in the theatrical trailer for across the universe - but why i've become obsessed with it, i'm not sure. BUT! i was singing it tonite and i'm going "falling, yes i am falling, and she keeps calling..." and my 6-year-old is singing with me and finishes with "me back again." so i ask how he knows the song (he's on this odd beatles kick lately) and he says, "we saw the preview at the theatre. twice." okay. so, my older son also saw the trailer twice, so i sing the same bit to hima nd ask what comes next and he says, "me?" when the little one says he forget to do his homework... um, yeah, you forgot?!?!

2. in high school there was this guy in my senior year creative class. he was cool. he wanted to make films. and i googled him every once in a while over the past couple years to no avail. tonite - why, i don't know - i checked for him on my space. BINGO! there he was. and he's writing screenplays. i hope he responds to the slightly psycho message i sent him. i don't know why, but knowing he was out there, that he was actually writing scripts, just made me so fucking happy.

so. tomorrow's friday. then the weekend. i'm not getting out of bed on saturday. maybe not even sunday. hell, i may never wake up. i'm just too exhausted.

Sneak Peek at the DVD Cover

Click for a larger view. Art needs some color tweaking and is subject to change. Comments appreciated. Features are not final.

Time to put it to bed.

Due to various circumstances, from time, money and energy constraints to just needing to be done with it, some of the proposed features on "The Bet" DVD won't be happening. That's not to say it won't be chock full of stuff, just some things won't happen. Here's a revised features list (items with an asterisk are still tentative and may fall away and of course, everything is subject to change).

• Commentary with Director Michael Dunn
• Commentary with Stars Lou Diamond, Courtney Stavros and Walt Turner
• Commentary with Co-Writers Michael Dunn and Chris Smith
• Commentary with Producer Matt Wilkinson and Production Manager Drew Marvick
• Commentary with Director of Photography Kurt Rauf
• Commentary with Sound Designer John McClain and Composer Rachel Bellinsky
  
• Interviews with Cast and Crew*
  
• Theatrical Trailer and Television Spot
• Teaser for Detox
• "Foreplay," a short film by Michael Dunn*
• "And now, on to our top story" - Uninterrupted Channel 4 newscast with optional commentary by Mat Planet and Shannon Sarver
• Featurette showing how the look was achieved in post-production*
• Featurette on lighting HD for a film look with Kurt Rauf*
  
• "The Bloody Glitch" - Scenes from a corrupted file export which created an unusual effect
  
• Storyboards, Posters and Stills Gallery
• Collectible Postcards*
  
• Alternate and Extended Endings with storyboards presented by the writers*
• Original Soundtrack*
  
• Original Script and Short Story*
  
• 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen Presentation Enhanced for 16x9 TVs
• Stereo Mix
• 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround*
• English Subtitles (Other languages TBD)

I guess that seems like quite a bit and I didn't even mention my and Chris' personal favorite "Interactive Menus!" Keep an eye out, and hopefully we'll hit the 11-20 release date (two days before my birthday! now you know what to get me.)

Review from Gorehounds Unite!

I'm starting to get worried. The backlash is going to happen at some point and I'm scared for when it actually happens. Gorehounds Unite! just posted their review of "The Bet" with 4.5 of 5 severed heads (gotta love the fun ratings!).

I started to expect the staple of todays horror which is the torture film to start at any moment! To my surprise and delight it never did but instead I got to watch a film that felt very much like a really good David Lynch film. I watched this film 4 times in a row and I can say its one of those films where you never really know whats going on but by the end you think you have all the answers. Only upon repeated viewings do you start to realize that maybe you really didn't figure it out.

Of course, my personal favourite bit of the review is this: "Michael Dunn (will be) mentioned in the same breath as Cronenberg and Lynch. He's that talented and this movie really is that good!

They did, however, not particularly like the Channel 4 newscast: "I know this was to show that were not in our reality here but I just found it to be more funny than anything.....It felt as though they added this in to specifically say this is a dreamlike realm or a different reality when really with the excellent set design and camera work this is already apparent to the viewer." But that was really the only negative thing they had to say.

Can I get a "w00t!" Read the full review HERE.

"The Bet" is now Internationally-Acclaimed

Thanks to the UK-based website Horror-Asylum which posted the review by Phil Davies Brown, "The Bet" is now officially internationally-acclaimed. He gave the film 3 of 5 stars (which doesn't sound fantastic, but here's a snippet from the review:

Viewers need to pay attention and think in order to fully understand, or at least attempt to interpret what’s happening to The Girl.

He also called it "Visually Impressive" (I think I need to add that to the DVD sleeve!) and said it was a film "open to interpretation and one which reveals its secrets upon more than one viewing." Exactly the point. Nice when people get it. Read the full review HERE.

DVD Progress

Still working out what special features are going to be on "The Bet" DVD - since a 19-minute short could stand to have some added value if we sell it for $10 - and working on the actual DVD design: the menus, transitions, etc. Hoping to have some commentaries from cast and crew and working on a piece that will show in detail how the look of the film was achieved in post. That should be pretty cool - if I can get it done. Kurt's also interested in doing some schematics to show the lighting setups. And trying to organise getting cast and crew together to film interviews aside from the commentary to put together a short documentary about the making of the film - obviously after the fact since we didn't really shoot much behind the scenes stuff during production. Could turn out nicely, but lord the work involved. Also trying to get some translations (I learned this morning how to do subtitles) which would be neat.

Right now this is where we're at (tentatively):

• Commentary by Director Michael Dunn
• Commentary by Lou Diamond and Courtney Stavros (Walt Turner unconfirmed)
  
• Commentary by Co-Writers Michael Dunn and Chris Smith on the story
• Commentary by Director of Photography Kurt Rauf on the look
• Commentary by Sound Designer John McClain on sound design
• Stereo and 5.1 Dolby Surround mixes
• Interviews with Cast and Crew on all facets of the production
  
• Uninterrupted Channel 4 News broadcasts (with optional commentary by Mat Planet and Shannon Sarver)
• Step-by-Step examination of how the look was created in post-production
• Storyboards
• Stills and Marketing Materials
  
• Discussion about the Alternate Endings, with Storyboards
• Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

We'll see how it all pans out.