Nightmare Sound Lab is dedicated to all things Horror and SciFi in music, art, movies, comics, and culture. At Nightmare Sound Laboratory there is a monster in every room and a robot doorman to guide the way.
Mad science is the only science studied here, and outlandish sonic experiments are the rule, not the exception.
I am happy to present a new feature here at Nightmare Sound Laboratory! In case you haven't guessed it by now, I sort of have a thing for Horror movies, as well as Sci-Fi,Cult, Asian Cinema and, well, just movies in general. As such I have a collection of over a thousand films, including many obscure titles. From "so bad it's good" to "so good it's terrifying" and everything in-between, I'd like to present some of my favorite picks in this feature I call "Nightmare Theater". I won't be doing reviews here 'per se', but I will present some recommendations and sufficient description to solve your movie night dilemmas. The hottest picks from my private collection, rated on a scale of 1 to 5 skulls.
Today's picks are from my Asian Cinema collection. Here are a couple of my all time favorites and definitely amongst some of the wildest films out there!
Hellevator
"Hellevator" or ("The Bottled Fools") the 2004 Japanese film written and directed by Hiroki Yamaguchi is definitely NOT for the kiddies:) It is gruesome, freakish, post-Apocalyptic cyber-punk in an elevator. This film makes M. Night Shamylan pee his bed while David Lynch laughs about it. It's weird, it's tense, and it's everything I love in a film. "A Clockwork Orange" get's stood on it's head, crammed through "1984" and dropped in to a brave New Tokyo most of which occurs while a group of strangers are trapped on an elevator with dangerous prisoners. Bored with "regular" old movies? THIS IS A MUST SEE FILM! Five Skulls!
Save the Green Planet
"Save the Green Planet" (2003) is a Korean film from the mind writer/director Joon Hwang-Jang. This Dark Comedy lives up to both characteristics to the highest degree. Again, this film is NOT for children, nonetheless it can be both heartwarming AND horrifying in the same moment. Byeong-gu (Ha-kyun Shin) suspects his boss is an Alien. With the help of his adorable hapless, naive but loyal girlfriend Kang Man-shik (Yun-shik Baek) they go to extreme measures to save the world from invasion! Madcap creepy fun! 5 Skulls!
Volcano High
Another splendid Korean film by Director Tae-gyun Kim, "Volcano High" (2001) is a fun high flying fantasy FX film about violence between rivals at WanSanGo (Volcano High). This is silly comic book fun with plenty of martial arts madness, schoolgirls who kick ass and enough mystic Kung Fu to sooth the Taoist in me. Think Battle Royal but WAY cooler! Exciting cinematography and experimental tones give this a super comic book feel! The film centers around Kyeong-su (Hyuk Jang) a transfer student known for disciplinary troubles, who must unite the students to face a greater enemy than rival gangs. The DVD comes with an English version dubbed by famous rappers (Snoop Dog, Method Man, & others); DO NOT WATCH THE ENGLISH VERSION! It ruins the movie, and whether you like those artists or not, the dubbing is sub par and the entire flow and vibe of the film is lost. There is also something about the nature of the Korean language that is so critical to the actors' performances. Definitely watch the Korean version with English subtitles. You won't regret it! You guessed it: 5 Skulls!
These are three of my all time favorites so we got 15 Skulls up on the trophy wall!
Nothing like watching a good film with some great fiends!
That's all for now, till next time at Nightmare Theater,
It's Springtime! Vampire Mob has started shooting Season Two because of all of you and that is exciting. But they could still use some more funds to ensure the completion of the new season! I am still offering the bonus music reward for all financial backers of Vampire Mob, a dowloadable 70 minute CD DJ mix of original music created by TAO X Productions studio, from cinematic horror music to electronica fit for danceclub vampires. They also have the AWESOME Vampire Mob logo and "we are all famous to a few people" T-shirts available to help support the cause!
The new season has added even more cast members you are sure to enjoy. So check out the new trailer for Season Two and whether you are new to the "VMob" or a previous supporter, please think about donating to keep making this excellent Web TV possible!
Go to their site to find out more and check out the great swag you can get for becoming a supporting producer! Read the original article below and head on over to WWW.VAMPIREMOB.COM
Q: What did the Fonz say when he met Vampire Mob? A: "Heeyyyyy!
THANK YOU! Indie Film & TV Supporters
..................................................... ORIGINAL ARTICLE - Halloween 10/31/10
This Halloween I wanted to share a GREAT web series with a dedicated cast and crew working hard to bring you a quality show well worth your time. What happens when you put writer/director Joe Wilson behind the reigns of a labor of love Vampire Comedy featuring TOP NOTCH actors and quality writing?
Vampire Mob happens!
If you haven't seen it yet, you are missing out!
The premise is stunningly simple and a great vehicle for this talented cast and crew! "Vampire Mob" revolves around the life (afterlife?) of John Colella's character, the Mobster turned Vampire, Don Grigioni...and his Family!
"He’s a hitman and a vampire, and he just found out his mother-in-law is moving in for eternity."
The series, produced by Joe Wilson & John Colella, has completed its six episode run of Season One which has featured cast members from “The Simpsons,” “Boardwalk Empire” and “Criminal Minds,” and includes John Colella, Reamy Hall, Marcia Wallace, Kirsten Vangness, Chris Mulkey, Elizabeth Beckwith, Andrea Cansler, Jim Roof and Cris DAnnunzio. Members of the VMob cast have also appeared in: The Bob Newhart Show, Twin Peaks, Friday Night Lights, CSI: NY, The West Wing, General Hospital, Bowfinger and others. Season One, I came to discover, was the entirely self-financed labor of love of Joe Wilson. Now its time for Season Two! Vampire Mob could use any help they can get financing Season Two and they would love it if their Fans themselves could directly effect the outcome by pitching in what they can! They are offering many delicious rewards for contributing to the creation of this high caliber, new media monster madness. You can contribute directly at the Vampire Mob site!
To give the VMob a hand, I have donated to help make Season Two, AND I am offering a FREE music download of wonderfully horrific Halloween appropriate music I had just put together for a Flyway Film Festival Special Backer Event - A screening of Gary King's "The Death of the Dead".
Some of this music will never be released anywhere else except for these downloads available only to the Flyway Film Fest Kickstarter backers, and now YOU, VMob supporters who donate to the Vampire Mob Season Two campaign! I even provided some sassy CD art and a track list for this Halloween DJ Mix of original music from TAO X Productions !
A little or a lot, give what you've got, if you like quality entertainment...and Vampire Mobsters,
Help keep this show Undead!!!
Contribute to Season Two and get a Vampire Mob Backer Reward that consists of a 70 minute mix of some BADASS cinematic horror and dark electronic club thumping vibes by 'your's truly' Composer T. Reed of TAO X Productions created right here in my Nightmare Sound Laboratory!
Go DONATE at the Vampire Mob Website and get your access code for this FREE DOWNLOAD. Click on the CD image below to get to download site and enter your code to access your reward!
And please, spread the word...before the sun comes up!
The Story of my Race to the “Mortuary” with Horror Director - Tobe Hooper
First let me clear a couple things up –
This was not a metaphorical race to the grave, nor an actual footrace to the gates of the cemetery.
This was a race to finish a film.
But before I go on…a second point:
Tobe Hooper is NOT the Devil! (I just thought that was a snazzy title;)
But he might as well have been, to the people who wanted his horror masterpiece banned, often based on the name alone! “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” will go down as one of the most groundbreaking films in the Horror genre. The greatest irony is that, for a film with such a gruesome reputation, there was very little gore (at least by today’s standards) and precious little stage blood used, and yet it still resonates as terrifying to this day!
No small part of this was probably due to the unique score created by Tobe Hooper himself, using unconventional instruments to create the discomforting sound that was so important to creating that horrific environment. But as we know - as directors become more “in demand”, having the time to score as well as direct becomes a much less viable option (yes, even if you are John Carpenter;) So this was a rare point in his career where passion and skill had the perfect environment to converge!
Oh and synchronicity…did I mention synchronicity? (I’ll come back to that – so pay attention!) But let's just start with the fact that Tobe Hooper's "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" was inspired by Wisconsin's (and perhaps one of the World's) most notorious serial killers, (and human taxidermists) Ed Gein!
In any event, the art, hunger, dedication (and suffering) which usually only comes from that kind of an independent film making experience, came through in the film in an artful, earnest and terrifying way. The New York Museum of Modern Art agrees apparently, and has a copy of the film amongst their permanent collection.
But you didn’t come here to listen to me wax poetic on the virtues of “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” (even though I gladly could, and would) you came for a race! Ah, but first, Synchronicity! (Told you there’d be a quiz!)
Long after the original TCM struck terror in the hearts of British censorship boards (and others), long after “Poltergeist”, Tobe made a movie adapted from a short story Stephan King called “The Mangler”. The film featured Nightmare on Elm Street’s Robert Englund and Ted Levine as well as, yes, you guessed it, a demon possessed laundry mangling machine.
And here is where strange synchronicities (and your’s truly) come into the story.
Flash forward about 9 more years! (2004) I fly to San Francisco to meet with the Director of a film called Mortuary to sign contracts and have a look at the roughs on an actual telecine machine. In fact, the entire film was being edited on the very machine that was used to edit Terry Zwigoff’s Robert Crumb documentary, {“Crumb” 1994} or so I was told. It was entirely believable.
Just an aside: Terry Zwigoff (by the way) is also a Wisconsin Native and a musician/filmmaker. I hadn’t even considered that coincidence (and that his name is also Terry) until writing this article now!
10 years later the machine he used to cut “Crumb” wheezed and cranked like it had a devil in it, the kind of thing that could only happen to a machine after having born witness to the surreal expression of countless filmmaker’s projects! As Director Sean Hazelaar showed me reel one, we carried forward with the conversation we started on the phone before I arrived at his studio. He had mentioned one particular scene involving a mortician’s furnace in which all the set sound was destroyed by a bad hum generated by nearby machines. I would be expected to really make something sweet here, because it was a very important SFX scene.
When he asked me about this, I hadn’t seen the film yet. It just so happens that I have an extensive background in horror and a huge collection of horror/scifi and Asian films (on good ol’ hard copy DVD;)
I thought about the furnace scene and off the top of my head I said something to the effect that I could hear music/sound there sort of similar to that in the scenes of the evil machine in Tobe Hooper’s “The Mangler”. The Director’s jaw dropped. He informed me that the guy they hired to do that special FX scene was someone who had worked on “The Mangler”.
That in itself was wild! But there’s more…
As my team had taken the reigns of much of the post production, music and sound and were well into getting the color corrections, score and sound design under way, we discovered that Tobe Hooper, by some utterly ‘Bizzaro World’ coincidence, was in production on a movie also called “Mortuary”!
Van Hazelaar Productions “Mortuary” was nearer completion at the time, but Hooper’s “Mortuary” had a larger budget and the capacity to roll a little faster. From here the race was on!
Tobe Hooper's "Mortuary" Trailer 2005
Now we all know it didn’t really matter, as two movies can have the same title in many cases (There was already a Howard Avedis film called “Mortuary” done in the eighties.)
Howard Avedis' "Mortuary" Trailer 1983
~
In the end we had to differentiate the name for foreign and US sales anyhow, so the name of Van Hazelaar’s “Mortuary” became “Final Remains” (which, I am proud to say, was one of my suggestions). It really wouldn’t matter at all, but factually, the statistically unlikely event had occurred. Two movies called “Mortuary” would both appear on IMDB as having been released in 2005. It was just a matter of whose film would get finished first! In truth, Tobe Hooper was probably entirely oblivious to our 85,000 dollar picture, as he was likely quite busy directing, but somewhere an assistant whose job it was to pay attention to just those sort of things must certainly have noticed the site. It would have been hard to miss our use of the Mortuary Movie domain at the time (Now located at VanHazelaar Productions website).
Clip from Mortuary aka final Remains
In the end I believe we technically finished our film first, but with the clout and machinations already in place for Tobe Hooper’s film to enter a marketing and distribution stream, it would obviously be Hooper’s “Mortuary” that would make it to market first. VanHazelaar’s “Mortuary” aka “Final Remains” did however get distribution a little later, in 2006, and is currently available as a rental from: Blockbusterand for sale via Amazon.
"Mortuary" aka "Final Remains" Trailer
In the end, it didn’t matter who won in this race with the Devil. The only thing that mattered, is that for a brief time in 2005 we got to run that race right alongside horror film legend, Tobe Hooper, tiptoeing on the edge of synchronicity with one degree of separation between us and a Master of Horror! Rod Serling could have had a field day introducing this story. It certainly added zest to the project before we got to the truly terrifying (and far less glamorous) part of filmmaking – the hard work;)
Speaking of work I suppose I need to finish mastering the
Mortuary aka Final Remains - Soundtrack/Score CD
that has been sitting on my drive for 5 years now!
Halloween is almost at hand and the Flyway Film Festival located in Pepin & Stockholm Wisconsin has already begun! Big ups to my fellow Wisconsinites on their successful Kickstarter campaign which helped fund this years awesome films and events including the Special Kickstarter Backer Screening/Party for Gary King's "Death of the Dead" Friday October 22nd at 10:00 PM at the Lake Pepin Art & Design CenterDirector Gary King will be in attendance!
I like to help and encourage other Wisconsin film and music makers to step up to the craft however and whenever possible. Unfortunately, I am booked in the studio for the next month and will not be able to attend this years event! I did however do my part by pitching in to the Flyway Film Festival Kickstarter Campaign AND I have been asked to provide a CD of music for the DOTD After Party. And this I have done, (and if snail mail cooperates it will be arriving before Friday Night's Event!;)
In fact, I thought I would volunteer to add a bonus to the rewards offered by the Flyway Film Fest! For anyone who was a Kickstarter Backer for this years festival, I am going to offer a FREE DOWNLOAD!
Are YOU one of the 65 backers of The Flyway Film Festival Kickstarter Campaign? Would you like to receive a FREE DOWNLOAD of the 'Death of the Dead Party -TAO X MIX'?
All you have to do is comment on this article (in the comments section below) including the phrase: "I supported the Flyway Film Festival on Kickstarter".
OFFICIAL INSTRUCTIONS UPDATE - As posted on Flyway Film Festival Kickstarter Backer site: TAO X Productions is offering a Halloween Bonus Reward for anyone who supported the Flyway Film Festival Kickstarter Campaign:
I gotta make you work for it a little bit, so leave a comment that includes the phrase "I supported the Flyway Film Festival on Kickstarter" under this Blog Post: http://nightmaresoundlab.blogspot.com/2010/10/death-of-dead-at-flyway-filmfest-2010.html
And send me an email to taoxproductions@gmail.com or follow & tweet me @TAOXproductions letting me know, so I can email or DM you a link & code to retrieve a FREE download of the DJ mix I created for The Flyway Film Festival "Death of the Dead" Special Kickstarter Backer Screening After Party!
Scary good music all from my studio for the scary holiday:)
I would also love it if anyone would choose to follow my Nightmare Sound Lab Blog!
Feel free if you like, but I won't make you do that to get your reward.
Thanks,
T. Reed - Composer/Producer
TAOX {The Art of X} Productions http://www.taoxproductions.com http://nightmaresoundlab.blogspot.com
P.S. If you are already a blog follower but did not support the Flyway Film Fest campaign and want a copy, please comment on this article with some damn fine fancy talkin' on what you do to help and uplift the state of independent artists, musicians, filmmakers and the craft in general. I can be persuaded to give out a few more codes for a free download:)
Thanks for all of you who are dedicated to the craft and culture!
T. Reed - TAO X Productions - Nightmare Sound Laboratory
About a year ago, rumors of a robot uprising known as "The Rise of the Retrobots" began to surface.
A lowly Repair Droid , apparently annoyed by frequent queries about his knowledge of this supposed 'robot uprising' tries to answer the question once and for all!
Perhaps only other producers will be able to relate to this dark secret of the business, but many of us suffer from MMPD (Musical Multiple Personality Disorder).
It starts off innocently through study of music and music appreciation, but like a gateway drug, leads artists to want to actually create music in genres outside their natural areas of expertise, to explore, collaborate, innovate, and finally bend and twist genre on it's head...And then, it's too late; you are hooked.
You start to notice it when you hear a track in a genre you never liked and suddenly have a wave of immense appreciation for the songwriting and production, or worse yet, you can re-imagine the song in an entirely different genre/arrangement. These musical "hallucinations" can have far reaching effects, including a sometimes excessive build up of interesting, but unrelated tracks in one's music catalog.
For producers who come from the performing/recording artist/band world it can be even more traumatic.
An artist with a band or specific solo project already has identity issues, often using one or more obfuscated identities to represent their 'creative selves' versus their 'business selves', and their 'everyday selves'.
For those afflicted with MMPD, the compulsion to analyze music and engage in unsavory acts like: research, study, practice, collaboration, experimentation and ultimately becoming involved with 'foreign' genres, becomes irresistible, pulling countless producers down a long hard road of musical addiction.
For the performer turned producer, coming down from a 'one genre' focus and having to enter a beginners mind in unfamiliar territories can be a challenging transition, but the lure of "mind expanding" musical experiences often proves too compelling for an artist just leaving the exciting world of long hours, late nights and too much cigarette smoke.
Side effects of MMPD can be a heavy level of appreciation for cultural diversity and an open mind.
Often times artists with an established following can suffer the stigma of being accused of lack of focus or betrayal of genre/fanbase. Without a community of other producers willing to come out and openly discuss this 'seamier' side of the business, an individual producer can feel isolated and lock themselves in their studios for hours if not days at a time.
If any of these symptoms or conditions sound familiar to you, you may be afflicted. You may be a producer.
Until now, it had been thought that the only cure for this affliction was a steady job doing only one kind of music (or in extreme cases, no music at all!) for the rest of their life...For some, that cure is worse than the disease.
I am happy to be able to reveal to you today, that the real cure is much simpler, free, and readily available!
The secret? Having a good sense of humor, a healthy dose of ambition and perseverance, and finding a supportive place where you can openly declare:
" I am (insert your name here) and I'm a Producer";)
I ran across this stop motion animation test featuring none other than the Big 'G' himself, with models and animation by Stu Venom. I asked permission to use his work as the basis for an exercise for one of my intern/students in the art of music for film.
This clip features models of Super Godzilla vs HyperGezora in battle.
You can find more about Stu's stop motion animation project at:
Well the idea was to arbitrarily post Halloween as a deadline for this project...The reality is that some film project and festival deadlines and priorities stepped in the way. Not so out of the ordinary in this crazy biz;) That said, I want to make this a spectacular project with lots of fun cool merchandise and an incredible collection of fine monster music so, I am going to take the time I need to make sure this is worth the wait! I promise it will be MONSTROUS!!! I will post a new release date when I've had more time to give this project the focused attention it deserves and I'm sure a financing and distribution chain is in place. More on this soon...
Kaijusonic Team - Nightmare Sound/TAO X Productions
Nightmare Sound Lab and TAO X Productions will be back shortly with more music , film, art and all around fun Monster Creep stuff! Recuperating from a frantic sleepless week of Dialog, Music, Foley and Sound FX recording, editing and mixing for a short film called “Four Cups of Joe”, destined for the film festival circuit! Be back after a day of sleep or so;) Best, T.Reed - TAO X Productions ~ Nightmare Sound Lab
Recently, on a professional Industry group, someone posted the question, "Whatever happened to all the pioneering record labels?" I thought I would try and give some perspective on that topic here.
There is one problem that has always been a problem in this industry..but even more so today:
Investment and operating capital, or just plain simply: MONEY! For years I have been trying to set the framework for just such a pioneering label. I did some A&R consulting for a label in the past and got to see first hand the pretty ugly financial truth to operating a label. From that vantage it's quite easy to see why there aren't a million pioneering labels out there. Problem #1: Distributors don't pay fast enough, or at all. Shelf space is finite, subject of fierce competition, and being downsized and out-dated more each day. And returns can crush a label owner and come unexpectedly at any time from a distributor.
Now, during this technological 'weeding out' phase where all these new "models" for distribution and marketing (iTunes, etc.) are competing for dominance in the market, we are in an odd flux where no one is quite sure what the rules are, and, as usual, the established "powers that be" are fighting desperately to regain control of and/or co-opt the innovations that were created specifically to circumvent their system in the first place.
Right now most people with the entrepreneurial spirit, experience, and technical capacity to run a label are busy throwing down in their craft and maintaining financial solvency. IMHO a couple of things need to coincide to create the circumstances that can foster a successful "Pioneer" or alternative label:
1. Money: But that's not enough on its own... you could give someone 100K to get operating and when that money ran out and they were waiting to get paid by distributors, the repo men would already be coming gut the label's office.
2. Research and Experimentation: New distribution methods and their roles in the emerging evolution of this industry need to be studied and paid attention to. A new label pioneer will have to be clear on how they are going to divide their energy between divergent markets and distribution methods.
3. Cooperation: A community of Artists and Labels being innovative and proactive in marketing (viral and otherwise). Artists have got to get over the notion that getting signed to a label means having everything done for you, and Labels need to be in tune with the Art, Artists, the audience, the markets and the money side simultaneously, if a label is to be more than a part-time expensive, time consuming hobby with every bit as many liabilities as a major label (a lawsuit for copyright infringement looks exactly the same when it arrives on your desk as when it arrives at Sony...only difference is the average indie label doesn't have an army of attorneys onretainer. To really make a splash that gets sufficient marketing attention (even for a niche market) it requires co-mutual and creative partnerships and activity that moves that agenda forward with grace and purpose.
4. A Market (with enough disposable income to be customers):
However odd or eclectic one's "niche" might be, a label has to find their market and get them to the door with cash in hand.
5. Luck: Yup, good ol fashioned luck…to be in the right place at the right time, to meet the right people, to sign the right Artists, to hit a market trend just before the ride is about to begin with a quiver full of just the right arrows to hit that mark.
So while this laundry list of the complications and obstacles to running a successful label seems daunting, there are some, myself included, who are working to stir the air enough to start creating the conditions for that perfect storm…In this economic environment however, the process becomes even more lengthy and challenging, no matter what clever angle you come up with. The prize will go to those who have the time, passion, skill, money, and perseverance to weather the economical and technological storm that is creating our current condition, and to be lucky enough to create or choose a business model that works.
Here’s wishing the best of luck to all those taking the time to make the effort!
Well, no, not really, But I just discovered that Unstoppable Pacific is offering up a way cool poster for a Horror film I scored back in 2002
"Blood Reaper"This Movie got some incredibly cool DVD box art devoted to it for the American, Canadian, U.K., S. African, and Japanese releases... and now this beautiful full size 40"x27" high quality 4-color process poster designed by New York Graphic Artist Brenda Trevethan.The artwork, in fact far surpasses the film, which featured Scream Queen, Brinke Stevens in a brief appearance.
This movie succeeds at being exactly what it is, and does so unapologetically, so despite it being a typical STV teenage slasher flick, for me it had a level of humor and charm others might not necessarily see. I suppose that scoring this film, for weeks, and hearing the director's instruction in the background of the rough audio added to the humor that I alone would be in the unique position of engraining into my experience. I mean there's something hilarious about watching an actor looking at a dripping substance hitting the ground, and hearing the director in the background whispering
" You look up...and sure enough... it's blood!"
You can see a trailer for Blood Reaper here: It was the first feature horror film I scored and I had fun doing it. I hope and believe that my music served it well. My favorite aspect of the film was probably the most understated, the scenes with a homeless woman who lived in a tent, played by Emalie Ortega. They had a very 'David Lynchian' vibe which I attempted to accentuate with the sound/music.
I wish all the best to the cast and crew of "Blood Reaper" and the Producers at U.P. and hope they continue to put out creepy films. Their latest short film looks pretty cool! See Unstoppable Pacific's Trailer for "Eternus" Here:
I am happy to present a new feature here at Nightmare Sound Laboratory! In case you haven't guessed it by now, I sort of have a thing for Horror movies, as well as Sci-Fi, Cult, Asian Cinema and, well, just movies in general. As such I have a collection of over a thousand films, including many obscure titles. From "so bad it's good" to "so good it's terrifying" and everything in-between, I'd like to present some of my favorite picks in this feature I call "Nightmare Theater". I won't be doing reviews here 'per se', but I will present some recommendations and sufficient description to solve your movie night dilemmas. The hottest picks from my private collection, rated on a scale of 1 to 5 skulls.
