And speaking of the Schoharie Scary Horror Film Festival, I just gotta say these guys have a totally cool attitude. They're entirely supportive of the do-it-yourself independent horror filmmaker. And I mean, really, aren't there's enough Sundances and Toronto International Film Festivals to keep the stars occupied? So rather than just trying to be a pale shadow wannabe, the organizers of The Schoharie Scary Horror Films Festival in up-state New York are sticking to the roots of truly independent horror. Filmmakers aren't even charged a submission fee to have their freaked out masterpieces considered for this fest. That is an anomaly, let me tell you, in a sea of a thousand festivals with questionable motives (filmmakers can spend hundreds if not thousands submitting to unknown festivals, and truthfully the filmmaker is probably getting fleeced, since many festivals just use the submission fees to pay their salaries without having any intention of programming even a fraction of the films submitted to them).
Anyhow, like I said, Schoharie is taking a different approach. And it sounds like it's gonna be weird and folksy and fun and hopefully fuckin' scary too. If you're in or around the Catskills, check out their second festival in October '08.
So, the reviews for Bed Bugs are in...at least a few of them anyhow...
BED BUGS NAMED BEST HORROR SHORT OF 2006 BY DREAD CENTRAL..S DEBI MOORE! How cool is that? Check out the mention on Moore..s Best List for 06 over at Dread Central .
[Bed Bugs] manages to pack more skeeviness in its brief 17-minute runtime than any movie I've seen in years...For it to look and sound as good as it does is a testament to Carley's talent and true indie spirit...An unconditional thumbs up! (Debi Moore, Dread Central)
Read the full review from horror film critic Debi Moore at DREAD CENTRAL !
Extremely droll with some unexpected twists. Very effective work on a limited budget. The dream sequences...were hauntingly atmospheric on the basis of clever edits and sound effects alone. (Purukivel, Fantastic Fest)
...[a] delightfully understated performance by lead actress Tracey Beltrano. (Mocha Jean Herrup, for the Film Festival Channel)
After a successful tour of the festivals, you can now catch BED BUGS online, courtesy of Dread Central's broadband channel . Dread Central was so enthusiastic in their support of this unusual little movie that I was only more than happy to see them add it to their broadband line-up.
FESTIVALS:
Bed Bugs spent several months in 2006 touring the world, including screenings at:
Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival
(October 5-8, 2006), listed among the "Top Horror Fests in the Country" in the January 2006 issue of Rue Morgue Magazine .
Fantastic Fest
(September 21-28, 2006) this event in Austin Texas is one of North America's premiere horror and sci-fi festivals, with all screenings held at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema , named "best theatre in the country" by Entertainment Weekly! Cool.
Horror Fest UK
(November 16, 2006)
In the meantime, Sean Carley, the writer-director of Bed Bugs is currently developing several feature length projects including an aboriginal supernatural thriller with independent filmmaker Richard Story as well as a feature-length horror project, written and to be directed by Sean Carley using the new Red Camera in mid-2008. All of this while Sean Carley finishes the pilot episode for a new Disney animated series, co-produced by France and Canada.
THE WRITER-DIRECTOR TALKS ABOUT MAKING BED BUGS:
This short film was completed for a modest five-hundred dollar budget (you'd be surprised how much of that was food). I kept costs low by shooting with my own Panasonic DVX100A (a digital video camera that shoots at a lovely 24 frames per second). Friends and family filled the acting roles, and I edited and mixed the entire thing on my laptop. Jen Haworth aka Odori contributed some amazing music (check out Odori's mysapce page ).
I am a screenwriter who had never directed a film before making Bed Bugs. I had to learn most of it from top to bottom, and I took it on with a vengeance, finding a thrill in creation that I had never experienced before (and often an equal amount of frustration). Similarly, I taught myself editing AS I WAS EDITING this film. I was determined to tackle all creative aspects of the film myself, but I didn't know the first thing about how a non-linear editing program worked. Or how to do effects. Or sound. Or music. Or color correction. I just bought a few books and started hammering away at the computer until I got it to do something I liked.
Anyway, I like to think this film is a testament to the power of the digital revolution, because while you can't always get the same visual impact on miniDV as you can on 35mm, sometimes you can get darn close. I have a number of produced television credits as a writer (Degrassi the Next Generation, Stargate Atlantis, among others), but it was a thrill to be able to shoot my own words and ideas myself, regardless of format or budget, something most writers are traditionally excluded from in the film industry. And so, I'm officially a child of the revolution!
A special thanks to producer Ian Ross who knows a set like the back of his hand. And producer Lewis Lehman who was so willing to get his hands bloody right along with me.
Cast & Crew of BED BUGS
Tracey Beltrano -- Julie
Caroline Mangosing -- Dahlia
Tim Vant -- Tim
Written, Directed & Edited by Sean Carley
Music by Odori (aka Jen Haworth)
Bug by Josh Boychuk
Sets by Jay Worsell
Produced by Sean Carley, Lewis Lehman and Ian Ross
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