1 - 800 - Suicide

Here are a couple new photos being used to promote my newest film 1 - 800 - Suicide.

The poster should be done soon! I am very excited about that.

Funding has started for this film. I am looking to make this a 60's film noir so to do that I will need some very expansive set dressings. If you would like to help out on the film in any way please contact me at Jevendovey@yahoo.com

For more information about 1 - 800 - Suicide please check out my myspace www.myspace.com/jeven_productions

The Ruins

This was a strange film. It was a horror film about plants killing people. Very different and something that has rarely been done.

It was a decent film. The dialog is pretty bad and the set up is pretty absurd. However, once you get past the first few minutes it gets better. The ending sucked. I was disappointed that it ends so suddenly. It didn't really wrap up the film like I hoped.

Overall I would say its worth watching. Entertaining and a decent horror film.

The Road - Best book I have read in a long time!

I just finished "The Road" by Cormac McMarthy today. I could not put the book down. I have been reading it straight for the past few days. It's a crazy tale about a post-apocalyptic world. There is no food, no plants, no animals, just people and the remains of what once was a vibrant planet. The story follows two people, a son and his father. The two are never named making this a window into the life these people live. Rather then being hung up on the characters and particular dellima, you are able to get a complete understanding of the pain and sorrow this world brings. There are some very disturbing parts which made me cringe and look away.

This book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction and the 2006 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction.

If you have some spare time on your hands defiantly pick up this book. You will not be disappointed.

Cormac McCarthy is the author of "No Country for Old Men" which as many of you know is the latest film from the Coen Brothers.

Grotesque and Arabesque

Here is a link for Edgar Allen Poes published collection of his works, "Grotesque and Arabesque." This was first published in 1840.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Tales_of_the_Grotesque_and_Arabesque

Imitation by Edgar Allen Poe

I really like this poem. It is amazing how many ideas Edgar can catch in his words. He was real master of thought and expression.

If you have never had a chance to read any of Poe's work I would recommend you take some time and read some. His piece "The Fall of the House of Usher" is one of my favorite. Another classic that many people know of is "The Pit and the Pendulum." These poems are very dark. Any good horror filmmaker should be accustom with his work. Even though it isn't film, I believe that filmmakers need to study all forms of visual representation even if it is creating your own picture from your minds eye.

Imitation - Edgar Allen Poe

A dark unfathomed tide
Of interminable pride -
A mystery, and a dream,
Should my early life seem;
I say that dream was fraught
With a wild and waking thought
Of beings that have been,
Which my spirit hath not seen,
Had I let them pass me by,
With a dreaming eye!
Let none of earth inherit
That vision of my spirit;
Those thoughts I would control,
As a spell upon his soul:
For that bright hope at last
And that light time have past,
And my worldly rest hath gone
With a sigh as it passed on:
I care not though it perish
With a thought I then did cherish.

Interesting Article about Heath Ledger and many other actors

BY JANE FURSE
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Monday, July 21st 2008, 4:00 AM

Heath Ledger, whose performance as as the Joker in the summer blockbuster "The Dark Knight" earned rave reviews, died months before the film hit theaters. He is hardly the first movie star to die before release of a final film.

Here's a list of others:

AALIYAH: The R&B star died in a 2001 Bahamas plane crash before the release of vampire flick "Queen of the Damned."

JAMES DEAN: "Rebel Without a Cause" was released one month after Dean, 24, was killed in a 1955 car accident.

CLARK GABLE: Gable died of a heart attack at 59 before the 1960 release of the film "The Misfits."

RIVER PHOENIX: Died of drug-related heart failure four months before his film, "Silent Tongue," came out.

JEAN HARLOW: Harlow was just 26 when she died of kidney disease just a month before release of her 1937 film "Saratoga."

MARILYN MONROE: The sexy star died in 1962 from a drug overdose while still filming "Something's Got to Give," which was later redone as "Move Over, Darling."

SPENCER TRACY: The 67-year-old screen star died of a heart attack after completing "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner."

BRANDON LEE: The son of martial arts film star Bruce Lee died in a mishap on the set of "The Crow" just eight days before filming was to be completed.

BRUCE LEE: The marshal arts star died at 32 from a cerebral edema, one month before the release of his last film, "Enter the Dragon."

NATALIE WOOD: The "West Side Story" starlet drowned in 1981 just before the completion of the science-fiction thriller "Brainstorm."

JOHN CANDY: "Saturday Night Live" comedian dropped dead in 1994 while on location filming "Wagon's East."

TUPAC SHAKUR: The rapper, 25, was killed in a 1996 drive-by shooting after completing two films, "Gridlock'd" and "Gang Related," both of which were released the following year.

PHIL HARTMAN: SNL star was shot and killed by his wife, Brynn Hartman, in a 1998 murder-suicide two months before the release of his film "Small Soldiers."

CHRIS FARLEY: The pudgy SNL funnyman died of a drug overdose in 1997, just a month before the release of his 1997 film "Beverly Hills Ninja".

GARY COOPER: Screen legend died of cancer in 1961, just a month before the release of his British mystery film "The Naked Edge."

The Shinning

I just watched "The Shinning" for the first time and was blown away. The film has such a creepy vibe to it. Defiantly a classic Kubrick film. His style is odd and draws on certain emotions that only a few directors have been able to achieve.

"Here's Jonny" I would really like to read the book and see what was left out of the film. There a few things that I questioned after watching the film. I'm sure the book goes into more detail story wise. However the acting in this film was awesome. Kept true to Stephen King's style of writing and gave off that creepy vibe most of his books give off.

The most memorable scene from the film for me was the final chase in the maze. It was shot so well and you never knew what was around the corner. Great ending to the film. Also, of course, when Jack bust through the door saying here's Jonny.


If your looking for a good creepy horror film I would recommend "The Shinning." I am a big fan of Kubricks style and love watching his films. I read an artical about how Kubrick exploits the Grotesque. Not just in visual but ideas as well. He is characterized as pushing the limits when it comes to film making. If you haven't had a chance to see any of his films I would say watch a few.

Here is a complete filmography of all the films he has directed. My personal favorites are "The Shinning," "Full Metal Jacket," and "Clockwork Orange"

1. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
   ... aka EWS (USA: promotional abbreviation)
   
   
2. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
   ... aka Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (USA: poster title)
3. The Shining (1980)
   ... aka Stanley Kubrick's 'The Shining'
   
   
4. Barry Lyndon (1975)
5. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
   ... aka Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (USA: poster title)
   
   
6. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
7. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
   ... aka Dr. Strangelove
8. Lolita (1962)
9. Spartacus (1960)
   ... aka Spartacus: Rebel Against Rome (USA: poster title)
   
   
10. Paths of Glory (1957)
11. The Killing (1956)
12. Killer's Kiss (1955)
13. The Seafarers (1953)
14. Fear and Desire (1953)
15. Day of the Fight (1951)
16. Flying Padre (1951)

An interesting article I just read says that there were multiple manuscripts written by Kubrick found after his death. These scripts might actually be filmed.

"According to a report in The Sunday Times, UK, the manuscripts were found after Kubrick's death, in one of many trunks at his home. His son-in-law Philip Hobbs, who worked with him for over a decade, maintains that two manuscripts were almost full scripts -- an anti-war film called The Down Slope, and the other called God Fearing Man, about a priest who became a bank robber.

The most exciting discovery is that of an 80-page script for a mystery-thriller titled Lunatic at Large, about an escaped axe-murderer. The wheels have already begun to turn and, apparently, Colin Farrell has been offered the lead role. Lunatic at Large may be directed by Christopher Palmer, one of Britain's leading advertisement directors."

He was a Quiet Man - Review

This film blew me away. Such a weird premise and the story took me all over the place.

Synopsis: Cubicle worker Bob (Christian Slater) is a resentful outsider who's started carrying a gun in case he gets up the courage to use it on some of his co-workers. But when one of those co-workers starts shooting, Bob guns him down and becomes an inadvertent hero. Bob's newfound popularity makes him uncomfortable, even as he grows closer to Vanessa (Elisha Cuthbert), who was badly wounded in the shooting. William H. Macy co-stars in this quirky drama.

This is a must see for its bizarre quality and odd style. When a goldfish is talking to Bob, telling him to feed him, you know something strange is going on in the mans head.

Scenes from Lady Cadaverly

I might be putting some scenes up from the film I have been working on as Cinematographer, Lady Cadaverly. I emailed the director and asked him if he would like to have any of the scenes to be put on Youtube.

All the footage we have so far is really good. I am very happy with the way it turned out.

Keep checking back for when the scenes will go up.

Carrie Reviewed

Today I watched Carrie for the first time. I thought it was a really good film. Probably one of the better Stephen King adaptations.

Sissy Spacek played a really good Carrie. Her acting was believable and wrapped me into the story. From the first scene in the shower to the final scene at the prom I was completely engulfed.

There were some cool things about the way this film was shot. Many of the long takes were very interesting, my favorite being when they are on the dance floor and the camera is constantly spinning round the couple. Also the experimenting with focus was cool. Having characters in both the front and back in focus but having everything in the middle out. It gave the scenes a very different look. Story wise it put you right in the mindset of whats going on. It was a visual reference for emotions that otherwise cant be seen.

I would recommend this film to anyone who likes Stephen King and horror films. Its not packed full of gore or jumpy scary stuff however if there was I think that would have just ruined the film. The slow build up made this film so much more intense. The final scene at prom is pretty shocking and the horror really shines through.

"The Eye" Review

I finished watching "The Eye" about ten minutes ago and I have to say that is one of the worse films I have seen in a while. It just went from bad to worse. I dont know how someone could call that a horror film.

First off this film is just like any other cookie cutter horror film. The same basic structure that ends up not scaring anyone. First the director shows something scary, then we are introduced to the main character. We figure out the problem and meet the love interest. Then our main character will do some research figure out what the problem is and go solve the mystery. Thus ending happily and better off then when started. Its disgusting. Where is the originality.

The Eye starts out alright. We see some creepy stuff in the hospital and throughout her apartment. I even jumped one or two times. But once Jessica Alba decides to figure out whats going on I lost all sense of what happened. In about ten minutes we went from random creepy shit to Jessica being left in a creepy house in Mexico which at one time had the eye donor living in it. (How do you get an eye donor from Mexico?) Then after everything was figured out they left and saved many lives from a deadly explosion. Hmmm where did the story go?

The direction was pretty good. There were some cool sequences when running through the hallway and hospital. I was very happy to not see low dutch angles like in so many other horror films. There was a good mix of dolly steadi and still shots keeping you on the edge of your seat through these parts. However when we got to Mexico I noticed a few hand held shots that were very out of place. This film was not a hand held type of film. I saw a more fluid cinematic aesthetic throughout the first half and to change that up towards the end made no sense. Also there were a few shots that were goofed quite a bit. I noticed the corners of the lens in almost all of the fisheye shots. Either the DP needed to zoom in to loose that during filming or the editor needed to crop them out. Overall the look of the film was cool. It's too bad the filmmakers weren't working on a decent script otherwise this might have turned out pretty good.

My recommendation is to not even consider this film. Even if you do start you will notice a credit right at the beginning saying "Based on a Chinese film 'the eye'" instantly telling you its going to be bad. Its just another knockoff of Asian cinema. When are American horror filmmakers going to create something original rather than just make copies.

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If you have any suggestions of horror films that would be worth my time, please let me know.

Stephen King's "The Regulators"

I just finished reading Stephen King's "The Regulators" This book was originally published under Kings surname Richard Bachman. I thought it was a fun read. This story goes along with another book called "Desperation" which is a prequel to this book however King wrote that one after and used his real name instead of Mr. Bachman.

Overall the story was decent. My only issue was that there were so many characters and I had a hard time remembering who was who. The story follows one street on any normal day. A group of vans drive up the street as everyone stands outside doing day to day things. All of the sudden the vans start shooting anyone in range. From there we learn about TAK the evil creature which posses SETH creating a world from his imagination. Creepy story and lots of action throughout the whole book.

Personally I enjoyed the story about Audrey and Seths struggle to rid his body of Tak. The letters and journal entries gave you enough information to let you know what was going on, telling the story on a whole different level. My favorite was the letter to "whoever" about how Tak fussed himself within Seth.

Great read and I would recommend this book. The next Stephen King story I am going to be reading is Duma Key and then head back to Desperation and the whole story of Tak again.

2 New Movie Reviews

I just watched "Before the Devil Knows Your Dead" and "Hancock"



Hancock - I must say I am very dissapointed in how new blockbuster hits are going down drain and completely forgetting about story. I cant believe someone gave this film the green light. The only thing that is keeping viewers interested is the fact that there are so many speical effects. I think that is the worse way to keep a film interesting. Any script needs to have athe solid story before any production can be started. At one point the girl in the film becomes evil and fights Hancock. It came out of no where. She had dark eyeliner heals black cloths the works, looking like a Hollywood villan. However that only lasted maybe 10 minutes of the film. Then she was good again and everything wraps up nicely. Everyone I was with said that was such a waste of money. I can't believe people are giving this film a 5 star. The story jumps all over the place and starts bringing in gods and angels. I believe people are amazed by the special effects and forgetting what really holds a film together. A true disappointment. This film had so much potential to be a good action blockbuster summer hit.


Before the Devil Knows Your Dead - THIS FILM IS A MUST SEE! I have not seen a film this good in a long time. I was really not expecting to see this kind of film. The power behind the story drew you in and slowly chipped away at you. It reminds me of Requiem for a Dream, in the way that all the characters slowly spiral downward into pain fear and evil. The writers for this film had a killer script. Don't go into this film expecting any big special effects or crazy action scenes because thats not what it is about. There was no need for anything of the sort. The actors played their parts very well and the ending is very depressing. Unlike Hancock this film does not have a happy ending that will make everyone go "awww" at the end of the movie. It ends like a Coen brothers film where things are left unresolved and leaves you to question what happens next. I was so happy they didnt wrap this film with a nice little bow because there are too many films that throw in a happy ending just to make audiences come away with a good feeling. Overall I would say this is the best film I have seen in a while and one you should rent.