Heaven Help Me, I'm In Love
(Release date: 9/27/05)
©2005 Mark Baranowski
Color, 98 minutes
NOT RATED (contains strong language and nudity)
(Click image to buy DVD @ Amazon.com,
OR, BUY / RENT it from Amazon Unbox!)
CAST (in order of appearance):
Stu – TOM McCAFFERY
Butch – MARK BARANOWSKI
Angie – RYLI MORGAN
Donald - MICHAEL HICKS
Karen - MINNA HICKS
Shannon – RACHELLE WILLIAMS
Deborah – LYNN LOWRY
Lily – BRINKE STEVENS
Guy – NIC PESANTE
Tina – HEATHER TOON
Candace - ENGLAND SIMPSON
Darryl – TODD BROWN
Ken – JIMMY MOORE
Melissa - CONNEY LEMKE
Butch and Angie are in love, but their relationship isn't progressing quickly enough for Angie. When Butch foolishly attempts to deceive her on account of a friend, whom she already dislikes, she decides to call it quits and dumps him. Meanwhile, screenwriter Donald – another of Butch's friends – is having his own problems in dealing with writer's block and a wife who's tired of being ignored. Struggling desperately to write the All-American comedy, Donald soon finds inspiration in Butch...
A devious ex-girlfriend, a pushy drug dealer, a blind date gone awry and a nagging mother (Lynn Lowry) turns Butch's weekend – and spirits – from bad to downright pathetic. As Angie tends to her ailing mother (Brinke Stevens) and begins to accept life without him, Butch races to make amends in an effort to win back her heart before it's too late.
"Very cool!! [Mark's] really funny!"
-- Rachael Robbins ,
Newark, NJ
"Clever writing anchors the script...
also features a decent soundtrack by the multi-talented Mark Baranowski."
-- Unnoticed Films (click to read entire review)
York, PA
Heaven Help Me, I'm In Love trailer:
LYNN LOWRY interview:
The Powerful Play
(Release date: 8/13/04)
©2004 Mark Baranowski
B&W/Color, 88 minutes
Unrated (contains some material for mature viewers)
(Click image to buy
DVD @ Amazon.com)
The Powerful Play begins with a collection of seven music videos which accompany the jazzy-funky instrumentals off Mark Baranowski's 2002 CD, "The FLESH & BLOOD Show" (performed under his MARQUIS pseudonym):
CAN I HAVE A KISS?
BORN TO DIE
VICTIMS
MONEY
THE PAIN HELPS
LIVE TO CREATE
THE POWERFUL PLAY (2003 reprise)
The videos feature an assortment of his closest friends and family (such as Ryli Morgan, Tracy Ellis, Brinke Stevens and Rachelle Williams), and present Mark's own visions of love, life, lust, death, and the afterlife.
"Living and Re-living The Powerful Play" is a short film that includes an in-depth interview with Mark himself, along with home video segments and behind-the-scenes footage.
Sin By Murder
(Release date: 2/6/04)
©2004 Vista Street Entertainment
Color, 88 minutes
Unrated (for mature viewers)
(Click image to buy
DVD @ Amazon.com)
CAST:
Michael Barnes – TIM ROSS
Michelle Barnes – RACHELLE WILLIAMS
Sharon Sloan – JYLLYAN DIXON
Jack Burns – MARK BARANOWSKI
Amy Cobb – RYLI MORGAN
Arthur Wills – STEPHEN ELLIOTT
Lee Sloan – MICHAEL HICKS
Jennifer Daly – JENNIFER CALHOUN
Female Detective – LAUREN BROWER
featuring music by THIRD EYE/Ollie Olsen and FALSE PROFITS COALITION
On the night of their tenth anniversary, corporate lawyer Michael Barnes's wife is brutally murdered. Labeled the prime suspect by Detectives Jack Burns and Amy Cobb, Barnes must try to clear his name before it's too late...
Along the way, Barnes's closest friends begin to show their true colors, and with no one left to trust, he finds himself with nothing to lose as he's faced with the toughest decision of his life.
Shot on location in St. Augustine, FL and Charlotte, NC
"One of those films that gets under your skin long after you have watched it.... A perfect example of what an erotic thriller should be."
--Douglas A. Waltz, Blogcritics.org (click to read entire review)
Sin By Murder trailer:
Expendable
(Release date: 8/14/03)
©2003 Mark Baranowski
Color, 56/49 minutes
Unrated (for mature viewers only)
(Click images to buy DVDs @ Amazon.com,
OR, download from Amazon Unbox !)
David (Mark Baranowski) is a newly sold-out drug dealer who decides to pay his ex-wife Nicole (Ryli Morgan) a surprise visit before leaving town with his new girlfriend (Brinke Stevens)... only to discover that Nicole isn't the same person he knew when he left her, a year earlier. She now has a girlfriend of her own (Rachelle Williams), and David soon realizes that some things are better left in the past...
"[Mark's] best film to date. It's got everything: boy loses girl, boy gets girl, girl gets girl. How can you not love lesbian vampires? Great shower scenes. In the words of a horny Aussie, "Great bloody nipples, Mate!" Dream sequence with Brinke was a nice touch..."
--Don Donovan,
Buffalo, NY
"Yet another example of micro budget film making done correctly... Ryli Morgan’s performance as Nicole is incredible to watch."
--Douglas A. Waltz, CultCuts Magazine /Divine Exploitation
Portage, MI
"Hot gals all around, man!"
--Joe Sherlock, DR. SQUID Magazine/F & C Productions
Corvallis, OR
"Fans of indie movies where the hard work is evident on the screen will not be disappointed..."
--Mike Watt, FILM THREAT
"Very David Lynch-esque erotic bloodbath... The lesbian vampire scenes (basting each other in blood) could very well be a fetish-building complex!!!! Two fangs in for Expendable..."
-- Tracy Crockett , UNSPEAKABLE Magazine
Gainesville, TX
"Keep it up, Mark!"
-- Bill “Choptop†Moseley ,
Los Angeles, CA
"Very Cool!"
-- Linnea Quigley ,
Pompano Beach, FL
Expendable trailer:
Runaway Terror
(Release date: 6/14/02)
©2002 Mark Baranowski
Color, 60 minutes
Unrated (for mature viewers)
(Click image to buy
DVD @ Amazon.com)
CAST:
Vanessa/Lydia Slowik - RYLI MORGAN
Jill Sullivan - MELANIE MURDOCK
Adam Hill - JAMI HARRELSON
Detective Luke Brennan - MARK BARANOWSKI
Adam's Girl - MICHELLE MARTIN
Tanya Abrams - VICTORIA BRIGMAN
Tim Abrams - JASON HARRELSON
Keri Miller - PHYLLIS BARNETTE
featuring music by DUBOK
A shady producer begins losing his actresses to a knife-wielding, masked killer. A detective teams up with the twin sister of the first victim to search for the culprit, as both the list of suspects and the body count grows...
"Absolutely AWESOME! From the opening shower scene, it keeps you guessing. What a great mix of a murder/suspense film!"
--Amy Kelly,
Charlotte, NC
"There are certain things a slasher flick must do. We need the traditional creepy music and a masked or at least hidden killer, and we need blood. There must be blood. Not buckets of it, although that's acceptable. And we need naked girls. Preferably pretty naked girls. Hooray for Mark Baranowski! He gets it all right..."
--Douglas Waltz, CULTCUTS Magazine
Seattle, WA
"Takes the slasher formula and works with it in the right way. I've seen tons of big budget slasher flicks that are far worse than this..."
--Jonathon Berry, HORROR-DOMAIN.com
Langley, B.C. CANADA
"It wasn't bad at all! The mask looked like movies from the 60's, kinda cool. It seemed kinda retro to me... Retro and me get along fine."
-- Contessa Oblivian ,
Flint, MI
Runaway Terror trailer:
Despair
(Release date: 10/7/01)
©2001 Mark Baranowski
Color, 35/25 minutes
Unrated (for mature viewers)
(Click image to buy
DVD @ Amazon.com)
Mark Baranowski's solemn and haunting directorial debut, Despair is the first release from Mark's own ON MARK PRODUCTIONS. Starring only model-actress Ryli Morgan and Mark himself, the film contains very little dialogue. However, its dark and stunning visuals more than make up for it!
The film depicts a married couple's final hours, before each commits suicide. Christopher no longer wishes to live a life in which his artistic talents continue to go unrecognized and unappreciated...Yvette has no desire to live without him, and her depression drives her to both insanity and self-destruction. Mark also provides the film's soundtrack, which is a perfect match to its dark premise.
DISTRIBUTION NOTE:
On 5/28/02, the original version of Despair was released on
Seduction Cinema 's "Roxanna" DVD.
ABOUT MARK BARANOWSKI / ON MARK PRODUCTIONS:
Those familiar with Mark Baranowski tend to call him a "Jack Of All Trades," or an "all-purpose artiste," and with good reason. He's been a sketch artist and musician for over fifteen years, an author-screenwriter for nearly seven, and since September 2001, he's produced, directed and starred in seven independent films...
The first, a short entitled Despair, was completed in exactly two weeks, during September '01. It depicts a married couple's final hours, before each commits suicide. Starring Mark's wife, former actress-model-singer Ryli Morgan , and Mark himself, its dark subject matter was inspired partly by the tragedy of September 11th. The second, Runaway Terror, began production at the start of May 2002, and made its video premiere just over a month later. This one focuses on a shady producer who begins losing his actresses to a knife-wielding, masked killer. Mark states, "It's my impatience that makes me so efficient... I can't wait to finish one project, so I can jump right into another."
Born on April 28, 1974 in Buffalo, New York, Mark spent most of his young life with his extremely supportive grandparents. At the same time, he was a rather introverted child; shy, quiet. Realizing at a young age just how cruel this world can be, he found refuge in the form of entertainment--books, movies and music. Fictional characters became his closest friends. This alternate reality presented no threat of embarrassment, disappointment, or rejection... Here, he could truly be "himself."
Rather than hindering him in his later years, this solitude was the fuel for his own creations; he began to write stories and songs, while also dabbling in art. By the late 1980's, Mark began recording his songs in his small home studio. In 1997, he and a close friend started their own record label, Nickel City Records. It wasn't until then that Mark began releasing his own music. At the same time, he sketched charcoal portraits as a hobby. Pursuing this talent as a career wouldn't occur to him for another three years, after self-publishing two books; a horror novella entitled TARTARUS, Book 1: Lot's Phantasms, and a collection of more lyrical poetry, called Words Seeking Music.
In late 1999, Mark wrote his first screenplay. He managed to acquire the services of a manager in Hollywood, who began pitching this and numerous consecutive scripts. After two years and no sales, it was time for Mark to take the advice of actor Bruce Campbell--to stop looking to others in trying to fulfill his dreams... thus, he created ON MARK PRODUCTIONS, and started making his own films. Despair has since seen a major DVD release(as one of the bonus materials on Seduction Cinema's Roxanna), while a re-edited-for-DVD version of Runaway Terror was introduced in May 2003. This disc (now out of print) also featured Ryli Morgan: Audition, a striptease video which Mark produced, scored and edited himself. Both films are included on a new DVD, The RYLI MORGAN Collection, along with Despair and the couple's 2003 indie hit, Expendable.
Mark and Ryli currently reside in Charlotte, North Carolina. Since the birth of their son, Eryk, in December '06, music & writing children's literature have become Mark's main pursuits.
CONVENTION PHOTOS (click each to view):
FRIGHTVISION - April '02
TWISTED NIGHTMARE WEEKEND - September '03
FRIGHTVISION - April '04
ConCAROLINAS - June '04
TWISTED NIGHTMARE WEEKEND - September '04
ConCAROLINAS - June '05
HEAVEN HELP ME, I'm In Love premiere - October '05
GENGHIS CON - November '05
GENGHIS CON 2 - September '06
MARK BARANOWSKI Interview w/ Douglas Waltz, for DIVINE EXPLOITATION magazine (3/06)
