So we shot this over the last couple of weekends and released it today for Halloween. Never tried my hand at a slasher before, let alone a fan film. We're pretty psyched about how this turned out. Especially being shot with a two person crew and some actors who've never really worked on set before. Here it is if anyone wants to give it a look. Feel free to leave some feedback. Hope everyone had a safe Halloween.

James

That was really cool, James! Loved the slow pans, nice lighting and cool kill scene w/ the eye, there. Very enjoyable!

-- Michael

Very nice, James!

Aha, she deserved what she got. Nice surprise I didn't see coming.
Not sure about the blood spurt angle but I liked it overall, nonetheless.

Amazing how creepy a guy in the right mask can be.
Loved the little atmospheric touches and finer details. In the distance in the end scene the trick or treaters walking past - great atmosphere and beautifully filmed. You just get better and better.

P.S. A nice cast of family and friends. And, good on ya, Mom!  :D

Well I'll admit I haven't seen many Halloween based fan flicks but this is one of the better ones. Methinks it pays a nice homage while being its own flick. Some cool visuals and oh... that original score always gets me.  ANYHOO - great Job J. W. We enjoyed it.:)-A

Great work James... very nicely shot!

Amazeballs, Jay!!!

I especially loved the beginning. It looked pro and felt pro with the great editing. The camera work was stellar throughout. The story was good too, but I think a part of that was actually the pro-ness of the DP, editor, and directing.

Awesome work during these surreal times!!!  8)

Thanks everyone! And thanks to Don for putting this on the homepage. That was very nice.

We've gotten rather positive responses over this, aside from a few fanboys telling me the mask I chose sucks. Which I don't care about. The MM that scared me growing up didn't have a mask that looked like it was dragged behind a semi for 30 years.

Thanks for the compliments on my camera work. I got a drone recently which helped up my production values, but I try not to use it too much. The gimbal and dolly shots are shaky and I was going to run a stabilizer over them in post, but after watching the 1978 original and seeing how jerky all their camera work was I just left it alone.

As for the story, I don't really get into slashers any more. The only ones I like have inventive kills and some comedy in between. So the whole eyeball thing was meant to be slightly unique, but I love that fact that she dies due to her poor health and he doesn't get to finish her off. My mom's carpet thanks me.

The whole idea of this is poking a bit of fun at the Halloween franchise. A guy who only gets to kill once a year doesn't want anyone stealing his thunder?

And both the guy who played Michael and the lady who he kills have never been on set before. They both did great. One of the trick-or-treaters played Dinah in one of my other horror shorts, but her friend had never been on camera either. So it was all a crapshoot paid for in pizza. We just had fun with it and it worked out okay.

Thanks for checking it out everyone.

James

Damn, I wasn't prepared for that level of gore. That was awesome. To be honest, I don't know much about the Halloween franchise other than I loved the original, obviously. But this still worked great for me as a fun little short. A very nice kill and a cool ending to tie it all together.

Nice job!

Thanks, Mark. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

James

Really well done and impressive, Cleveland!

But, I do have to agree, that the mask could have been better - just too much goofy hair.

Keep up the great work!

Glad you liked it, Jeff. The hair on the mask got wind blown when we shot outside. It was a windy October night. Then we moved inside for the interior shots and just never thought to comb it back. It was my bad but I was focused on so much other crap I didn’t even care. Things you miss when you shoot with little to no crew. Thanks for checking it out.

James.