I knew James Lorinz--the actor best known to genre film fans as the wise ass doorman in STREET TRASH and as the star of Frank Henenlotter's FRANKENHOOKER--when he was a doorman in real life. Well, maybe "I knew him" is too strong a description--I avoided him; the guy was so brilliantly comedic that you never wanted to be in his sights. We worked for the same movie theatre chain and studied filmmaking with Roy Frumkes at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

The next time I saw him, he was on the humongous screen at the Ziegfeld Theatre for the premiere of STREET TRASH. He was only supposed to have one line in that film, but his improvisations with fellow thespian Tony Darrow so ... (more…)

I didn't interview James Felix McKenney for CHEAP SCARES! Low Budget Horror Filmmakers Share Their Secrets, but I would have if I'd had the room. Maybe if there's a sequel...

I did interview Larry Fessenden, who produced most of McKeneny's films--the creepy ghost story THE OFF SEASON; the grim retro sci-fi actioner AUTOMATONS; and the upcoming SATAN HATES YOU--through his Scareflix production company, and McKenney's name kept coming up. McKenney's genre films are very unusual for low budget films--because they're very good! If you don't check out his work it's your loss.

Now McKenney gives Fear Zone the dope on his darkly entertaining and thoughtful excursions into the worlds of horror ... (more…)

For the past year and a half, I've toiled on a book called CHEAP SCARES! Low Budget Horror Filmmakers Share Their Secrets , which McFarland & Company will publish this Fall/Winter. It's a big book. So big that I found myself cutting material that I really liked. Fortunately, I edit a horror entertainment website called Fear Zone. Here then is the first of several "deleted scenes" from the book. This is the incredible but true saga of how making what seemed like a simple short film nearly destroyed one man's life. . .

THE FILMMAKER INSIDE HIM: How Directing a Short Horror Film Almost Destroyed Brooks Cantrell, or, Location! Location! Location!

Brooks Cantrell got more than he ... (more…)