Capsule review: ‘Blackout’ is an entertaining and often fairly bloody werewolf tale that’s quite different than many of your average werewolf films, exploring the psychological struggle of our lead as he tries to piece together the reality of his situation while trying to find a way to stop it before things grow further out of hand and those he cares about suffer the consequences. It’s a generally solid, entertaining and at times quite emotional werewolf film that changes things up from the standard formula in some intriguing ways.
DISC REVIEW
The Blu-ray release of ‘Blackout’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks wonderful as a whole and delivers a clean, sharp and richly detailed presentation from start to finish that never suffers from any notable troubles or faults along the way. Detail is impressive throughout with everything from character specifics and vehicles, city streets and trees, along with the forest and werewolf details looking spectacular, while colors are bright and clean and nicely balanced by capable black levels and shadowing that hold up splendidly throughout. Overall, this is a great high definition presentation that looks quite gorgeous at every turn and it should easily please fans of the film as well as first time viewers.
AUDIO:
The Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack offers a clean, crisp and at times nicely immersive audio presentation throughout. It takes advantage of all five available channels in order to send music, nature, action and vehicle effects, along with more whipping throughout the various speakers when appropriate, all while making certain that all dialogue and other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously with one another remain clean and fully audible. Overall, this is a solid 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that makes a great complement to the film and shouldn’t disappoint in the slightest.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
The Darky Sky Selects Limited Edition Blu-ray release of ‘Blackout’ features a nice collection of bonus content that fans of the film should enjoy. Included on the release is an ‘Audio Commentary with Writer/Director/Editor/Producer Larry Fessenden’, in addition to an in depth look at the making of the film in ‘Blackout: Behind the Scenes’ (running approximately 77 minutes in length), plus a look at clips from Fessenden’s monster-like outings in ‘Larry Fessenden’s Monsterverse’ (running approximately 6 minutes), a ‘Monster Mash Photoshoot Timelapse by Beck Underwood’ (4 minutes) and the ‘Blackout Audio Drama’ (26 minutes). Also included is the film’s ‘Teaser Trailer’ (2 minutes), ‘Theatrical Trailer’ (2 minutes) and a physical 12-page booklet with an introduction by Fangoria’s Phil Nobile Jr.
SIZE UP (2020, Dir. Rigo Garay, 15 mins, SONY A7S)
cinematography by James Siewert. featuring Jesse Schratz, Rigo Garay, Jose Useche, Sean Mana, Matt Liqouri, Tatiana Montes.
After the senseless murder of this older brother, an 11-year-old boy will discover what kind of a person he will grow to be.
watch the teaser below and join us in the CineZone to see the film
SIZE UP is the directorial debut from Rigo Garay, Glass Eye Pix Filmworker and actor in GEP’s CRUMB CATCHER, BLACKOUT and MISS MILLIE.
NOTES
I was rejected from all film schools. I didn’t even know what a C-stand was until finally stepping foot on a film set for a Glass Eye Pix flick (10 years ago this April). It finally came time to make my own short, and SIZE UP was my first rodeo in many regards. By this time, I had been at GEP for 4 years as Office Coordinator and on set as a PA, boom operator, swing, assistant editor, etc (GEP was my film school) and I made many friends along the way who rallied up and helped good ‘ol Rigo make his short. Chris Skotchdopole producing and editing, James Felix McKenney producing & ADing, Jesse LoCascio as AC, Ben Duff lit it, James Siewert shot the thing and a slew of interns including 2 new hires Matt Yturralde & Santiago Saba Salem as PAs and a fresh faced Luke LeCount who was hired during post. And of course, Fessenden producing and watching over everything.
The inspo for this movie came from stories about people mugged and killed for their Galaxy Foamposites. It’s terrifying to think that you could never see your loved one ever again because of a pair of ostentatious sneakers (ugly sneakers, if I’m being honest). I had pals trading war-stories about violence befalling them from the sneaker game. Stories like surviving a knife to the gut and robbed $400 cash from a Craigslist seller, or mugged out of your True Religion jeans, Burberry Tee and Jordans at gunpoint, walk home in your undies. It was all so surreal, I had to make it a movie.
Skotchdopole and I would talk through the script a lot. He suggested that I should play the villain “Lito”, who’s such a specific character, an amalgamation of riff-raffs & yahoos I’ve encountered growing up in Long Island. L.I. is a weird place, you can commit a B&E with a Juggalo and a Central American war criminal, then go to Sunday mass with your mother the next morning. I know this type of guy too well, I had no choice but to play him. A suburban, sociopathic, bully: The Long Island Kingpin.
The flick is littered with directorial mistakes, and I wear that as a badge of honor. This was my first assignment, my tryout. And like everyone’s first, there are hiccups that I take ownership of and I’m grateful that my collaborators (who are some of the most talented folks I know) allowed me to be stubborn, allowed me to LEARN. With all that being said, the one thing I knew I got right was the HEART of SIZE UP, hopefully it touches yours.
Join Glass Eye Pix in counting down the days to our favorite night of the season: HALLOWEEN! What better way than with our classic Shocktober Nights calendar. Behind each of the 31 die-cut passages lurks a monstrous and ghoulish delight, brought to life by illustrator Brahm Revel.
Warning: As it turns out, this product may be unsuitable for children!
Only $10.00 USD per calendar plus $3.00 for shipping. Order by September 26 for delivery by October 1st!
And keep those wallets open folks; we’ve got lots more goodies on offer this Super Spooky Season
The name Ti West has become synonymous with indie horror. He first drew serious attention with his 2009 hit House of the Devil, and the recent success of the X trilogy has firmly established his dominance in the genre. However, many fans may have missed the 2016 release of a Western called In a Valley of Violence, a Blumhouse production starring Ethan Hawke and John Travolta. Its quiet reception does not reflect its quality — In a Valley of Violence is an exciting piece of Americana that can delight established fans, and attract new ones.
The horrormeister’s first Western emerged amid a smattering of TV gigs including episodes of Scream and The Exorcist. No one on the outside would have guessed that between 2013’s found footage feature The Sacrament and the 2022 arrival of X, West would delve into a neglected genre with the help of Hollywood stars. In a Valley of Violence is a lean, mean cross between John Wick and High Plains Drifter that is as funny as it is brutaland well worth a watch for West devotees.
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In a Valley of Violence tells a grim tale about remorseful thugs, disgraced soldiers, and ordinary folks doing what they must to survive.However, Ti West’s crackling dialog and his charming cast soften its edges with lots of comedic charm. Taissa Farmiga and Karen Gillan have terrific chemistry as a pair of bickering sisters and genre stalwart Larry Fessenden gives good death as usual. The standout, however, is second-stringer Tommy Nohilly as Tubby, who stops in the middle of an apocalyptic gun battle to deliver a righteous speech about being fat-shamed by the rest of his gang. This genre-bending Western really has a little something for everyone.
If you’ve ever worked in the service industry as a waitor, you might have found your self in a situation like this:
Pardon me, sorry to interrupt. I know you’re in the middle of dinner, but I noticed quite a bit of crumbs accumulating on your table. I hate that I have to keep interrupting to take care of all of these crumbs for you. I only just wish there was some sort of apparatus that could make it so I don’t have to interrupt you anymore…
What if there was an answer? Well, look no further than Chris Skotchdopole’s absurdist thriller, Crumb Catcher.
Eloquently described as a mash-up of Scorsese’s After Hours and Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Skotchdopole’s Crumb Catcher uses genre filmmaking to hold a microscope over the pitfalls of toxic relationships via the hook of a bulky invention known as, you guessed it, the Crumb Catcher. After all, what better way to analyze a failing relationship than an over-eager sociopath injecting himself into a newly weds’ drama?
Crumb Catcher premiered last year at Fantastic Fest, and we were happy to chat with Skotchdopole about all things casting, film distribution, and, of course, Crumb Catchers. Please, please do enjoy our chat with him below.
Editor’s Note: the following quotes from Chris Skotchdopole are edited for length and clarity.
Inspiration for ‘Crumb Catcher’
Crumb Catcher Courtesy of Doppelganger Releasing
“It started with a couple and the idea that this guy, the groom Shane (Rigo Garay), was getting photographed at his wedding and he didn’t want to be there. That was the first instinct. I liked the idea of someone that didn’t want to be at his own party. And then John (John Speredakos) came along—I had his voice figured out pretty quickly, because he is an antagonist that fit with Shane organically.
Shane is sort of constantly retreating, and then John is always on the go. He’s in your face about all the great stuff he has. I really was hoping that personality would create a dangerous atmosphere, and the blackmail plot ensued. His voice dictated that, okay, this guy wants something, and then it turned into the Crumb Catcher. It started with his tenacity and how bold he is, and that felt fitting.
I really love movies like After Hours and Red Rock West where the believability keeps getting stretched further and further into a dream a little bit. It starts believable and then [something crazy] happens.
When I really figured it out the whole thing was with John and his counterpart, Rose (Lorraine Farris)—a married couple as a parallel to a man not wanting to be at his own wedding. As soon as I figured out Rose it really started to feel like this fun house mirror of the two couples. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf was another movie that I was thinking about a lot—how we show two different couples at opposing ends of life.
I feel like Crumb Catcher is a blend of an After Hours and a Virginia Woolf in a way.
A lot of times I’m setting up these relationships and it almost feels like a little bit of a chemistry set where you have these two personalities, figuring what do they have to say to each other. And then it’s really the job of following the threads to figure out what I’m trying to say about relationships.
I think that Crumb Catcher is really about how relationships are kind of abusive in nature, and our younger couple is heading down the road of being, in my opinion, is heading down the road of being bad or toxic, and then you have this other one that is clearly toxic.
I remember talking to the actors about that, and directing that to Ella (Rae Peck), who played Leah in the movie, that I don’t think that Shane has ever yelled at you before. Whenever they would get into a fight, he would just sort of go out and get drunk and come back at four o’clock in the morning. That’s how he dealt with things. And then this night is forcing him to explode in some way.”
The Ebbs and Flows of Indie Casting
“The guy who plays Shane is a Rigo Garay, who’s a really good friend of mine and fellow filmmaker, and he’s acted for me before. There was a lot of struggle to get the movie made—as all these things are, these dreams that we have. But I remember it was during the pandemic, and I just felt like I was in this corner. Out of frustration I just wanted to make Crumb Catcher with my friends. So I started building it with a very can-do attitude with my friend. And then John was someone that I almost wrote it for from the beginning.
It felt organic and almost meant to be that I came back to John, who is also a friend and a collaborator of Larry Fessenden, one of our producers. I had those two. And then we found Ella through our casting agent, Bonnie Timmerman. She was on a list and I just thought she was amazing.
And then for Rose was, someone else was cast for her part. We did all our rehearsals with somebody else, and then a week before the shoot that actresses’ mother was put in hospice so she couldn’t do the film. I was just looking through headshots, and Lorraine was exactly what I thought she should look like. So I took a leap of faith and was like, “we’re going with her.” And she was amazing. She’s such a gentle person as a human being, but the character is so… “these boots are made for walking” type of a woman, and really tough. It’s interesting that she’s such a soft and gentle person. She almost had to put on this aggressive suit. That was the most difficult part for her, getting into it and creating this facade of anger.”
Secret Origins of the Titular Crumb Catcher
Crumb Catcher Courtesy of Doppelganger Releasing
“It was a long journey, but the idea for John being a waiter happened because … I hate when in movies [when] they’re these nice people and then something bad happens to them, and then they fight to get out of it, and then they’re nice people in the end. I really love when characters are their own worst enemies—the things that they have to work out in their personalities are the things that put them in the situation that we’re seeing, and almost enjoying the torture of the character going through something because they deserve it. I didn’t want John to be a person that was just after money.
I liked that he had this dream.
My wife runs restaurants in New York, and so I was just talking to her. What would a waiter want, what kind of thing would he dream of? I was thinking of an invention. I just wanted there to be a presentation. She mentioned [the idea of] a Crumb Catcher. I didn’t really know what that was. I started thinking that maybe the Crumb Catcher has a relationship with John’s personality, like when you’re at a table at a restaurant and the waiter comes and interrupts you. I felt that this guy might have those insecurities that he talks too much, that he’s like, “oh, I’ll invent a thing that deals with my personality.” So he creates this obtuse product to course correct his personality.
I thought that felt very honest, even though it’s absurd. You know what I mean? If he was pitching, I don’t know, a pillow, like a great pillow, it wouldn’t be his perfect glove.
I was at this restaurant ages ago, this Thai food restaurant—I haven’t remembered this in so long. [The waiter had] this little box, and he put it on the table. There were three buttons, and when you want your check you press this button, when you want more beverages, press this button, when you want food or whatever, you press this. It’s interesting.
Damn, I haven’t thought about this in so long.”
The Future of Film Distribution is Punk
Crumb Catcher Courtesy of Doppelganger Releasing
“I pushed to do a theatrical release, wait a month, and then do VOD. That was great.
In my mind, I was thinking about when I was a kid and Independence Day came out, and this idea of anticipation for this movie then with lines around the block. If you didn’t get into that theater, you would go to another theater and get in. It felt like it was the summer of Independence Day. And then it wasn’t until winter right when DVD players were coming out, and I remember you would buy a DVD player and Independence Day. They would come [packaged together]. It was this whole thing, and it really was a part of my life, this movie.
Something that we’re dealing with now is, a movie comes out, you give it attention for five days and then you forget about it, and it goes into the abyss. I think we got a pretty decent audience for the theatrical release, I guess the model now is to do theatrical and VOD at the same time and get all your spiking moments right here. I want the movie to live in people’s minds a little bit longer so that it can have a longer life.
I don’t know. I’m very new to the whole marketing thing, but I do feel that, I think that when you’re making a movie and when you’re doing anything, it’s very important to not take people’s advice who have been in the industry for a long time. I think people become jaded. “This is what it is. This is what a movie this size should do. These are the pants that fit you.”
I don’t agree.
Orson Welles always said there’s something about just being new to something. You look at it fresh in a way that someone who’s been around for a while can’t see. It’s not to not listen to those people. It’s listen and then do your own thing.”
THE LUSH is a monthly performance series that celebrates the pleasure of telling and hearing great stories in an intimate, public forum. Hosted by novelist Amy Sohn and filmmaker Joe Maggio, THE LUSH showcases established writers and performers who are refining works-in-progress in front of a live audience, but also welcomes new storytellers from a diverse range of backgrounds. Although no limitations are placed on style or content, THE LUSH has emerged out of the stand-up comedy space and stories that lean towards the humorous or absurd are encouraged. The format is as follows. Guests arrive, get settled and procure a quality cocktail, followed by stories and a musical interlude. Drinks and lively conversation close out each evening. In a world where human interactions are ever more virtual and our art and entertainment (film, TV, books, music, and periodicals) are increasingly determined by AI and its attending algorithms, THE LUSH is a return to the analog joys and authenticity of direct, live, human engagement.
FREE ADMISSION • CASH BAR Marlow & Sons. 81 Broadway in Williamsburg
Joe Maggio is a longtime GEP collaborator as director of BITTER FEAST, THE LAST RITES OF JOE MAE and BLISS, and numerous TALES; Eleanor Hutchins is the star of MARGARITA HAPPY HOUR, STAKE LAND Origins webisode et al… Amy Sohn goes back to the GEP performance days with Chatroom.*
Glass Eye Pix is the fierce independent NYC-based production outfit headed by award-winning art-horror auteur Larry Fessenden with the mission of supporting individual voices in the arts. Read more...
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