It's about that time on a Wednesday...

Wow, now that's what I call an October! For Horror Works, I was basically double and triple stacking my weekend days with various events (mostly haunted houses). Then, during the week, I would hustle to catch up on writing my coverage and, usually, post additional photos from each event in respective photo albums on the Horror Works Facebook page.

In the course of my adventures, I have been meeting some really talented and cool people -- some of whom I may be collaborating with in the not-so-distant future. In any event, now that I've gotten past Halloween, my event coverage will be significantly lessened; this means that I'll have more time to dedicate to other projects. Mind, I'll still be updating the Horror Works calendar of horror-related events for LA horror fans and keeping tabs on the horror community -- as well as finally getting the Reviews section of the site going and doing a few profiles on various horror artists in the Los Angeles area; however, it's about time I got back to some of that good old film work, especially since I've had a new feature screenplay in the almost completed stage since September. Additionally, I've got another story that's been pouring out of my mind in the form of images and themes, and it's calling for my attention to give it a solid form.

For my final announcements, I've gotten a couple more horror magazine writing assignments, and, just because I'm a swell guy, I also wrote a short piece on Hammer horror films for Zombie Hamster (the website of my buddy and fellow horror scholar Colin McCracken). Oh yeah, I believe Fangoria issue #328 just came out. In it, I interview comic archivist and publisher Russ Cochran regarding the historic and artistic importance of the classic EC horror comics (Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror and The Haunt of Fear) which are just now continuing publication in the beautiful Archive volumes, courtesy of Dark Horse.

All right, I think that's all I've got for you right now. Peace be with y'all!

On the eve of one Friday...

Hey there, gang! Let's start with a little Outtake Reel news, shall we? Last night I did a live online interview for Indie Horror TV. It was a fun experience, I got to plug my projects, give people advice on how to chase their filmmaking dreams and talk about movies that inspire me. Also, the film is now available for HD downloads and VOD in the UK through The Horror Show TV. If you go there now, a banner with part of the OR poster is the first thing you'll see.

I submitted my article on EC Comics to Fangoria magazine, and editor-in-chief Chris Alexander said he loved it. It's a pretty intoxicating experience to get that kind of feedback from the editor of a magazine you cherished when you were a kid. And the topic is really close to home, too. Creepshow was one of the first movies that scared me badly enough to land me at the foot of my parents' bed. Creepshow, of course, was inspired by / was an ode to EC Comics, which my dad then proceeded to teach me about (Tales from the Crypt, The Vault of Horror, The Haunt of Fear, etc.). Later, the cable series presented adaptations from the comics, but the comics still have some of the best storytelling in them. So, when I discovered that Dark Horse Comics was going to collaborate with Russ Cochran to continue producing Mr. Cochran's exquisite EC Archives series, I was thrilled! So, I pitched the idea to Chris, and he loved it to. "And," as Paul Harvey used to say, "now you know the rest of the story."

In other news, I have been continuing work on Horror Works, the website dedicated to the Horror Community of Los Angeles. Last weekend, I read an ad in the OC Weekly for a club event called Fetish Apocalypse. The description of the event mentioned costumes of horror and sci-fi themes. Thus, I figured it was fair game for coverage for my site. I called them up and was put on their guest list. The resulting experience was synthesized into the article photos and video show I posted here. Mind, don't click there if you're at work or if you are troubled by images of an S&M crowd. Regardless, I tried to keep the presentation as tasteful and as artfully crafted as possible given the subject matter.

I guess that's about it for Dervish Pictures for right now. I bid you peace and good will until the next report...