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BRUTAL
MASSACRE: AN EXTRA'S TALE
For Long Island horror fans, a huge highlight of 2004 was the release of Stevan Mena’s MALEVOLENCE. The film is a true independent, with much of the film shot on Long Island. The throwback film has received raves and criticism from the horror community, but nobody could deny that Mena was one to watch for. Now Mena is back with his second feature, BRUTAL MASSACRE, a tongue in cheek look at a B movie filmmaker attempting a comeback with some pretty horrific results. The film stars David Naughton (AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON), Brian O’Halloran (CLERKS, CLERKS II), Ellen Sandweiss (EVIL DEAD, SATAN’S PLAYGROUND), Ken Foree (DAWN OF THE DEAD, THE DEVIL’S REJECTS), Gunnar Hansen (TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE), and Mena veteran Samantha Dark. Part of the film sets place at a fictional Fangoria WEEKEND OF HORRORS convention, where Tony Timpone plays himself. On the final day of production, this past Saturday, April 28th, Mena stuck with his Long Island roots to film a scene outside the Hyatt Hotel in Hauppauge, New York. I went to location with Horror Bob, and immediately met Mena and assistant director Timothy J. Bristoll. I would say the total amount of extras was around 20-25. Rob G. from ICONS OF FRIGHT and the upcoming PSYCHO LEGACY documentary was also on hand, and we were all given the specifics of the scene. Executive producer and co-star Vincent Butta plays Bert, a documentary filmmaker doing a film on Harry Penderecki (Naughton), and is filming an intro outside the hotel where the Weekend of Horrors convention is taking place. After his intro, Bert pulls a fan aside and asks him his thoughts on Penderecki. It turns out the fan is Harry’s number one fan and is overjoyed at the thought of meeting Penderecki. Credited as Overweight Fan, Tyler Dolph was on set wearing a fictional shirt of one of Harry’s films titled GARBAGE MAN, which looks to be about a monster garbage truck that eats humans. (Fun!) The scene was set up in two pivotal shots. The first involved Bert giving his intro as fans made their way into the hotel. Before the set up, Stevan chose Horror Bob and myself to play the overweight fan’s friends, and were grouped up with him for the first scene. Mena’s direction for all fans was to be enthusiastic, and I think out of excitement from everyone being there, it was hard to fake it. Tyler, Bob, and I created this routine of male bonding, with chest slappings and side gallops galore. After Stevan was satisfied with the shots, the second part of the shoot was next, where Tyler was to be interviewed by Vincent. The overweight fan says that he is the president of Harry’s fan club and creator of a website. He points to his two friends helping out, and in the films, the two friends are Bob and I. It was a lot of fun as we were given the makeup treatment and given close up reaction shots. I believe we are going to be given screen credit for the film, so now I have my first on screen role in a horror film. It doesn’t get any better than that. Brian O’Halloran of CLERKS fame showed up on set to show his support for Mena, and to check out production. After a brief conversation when our scenes were done, Bob and I had to get pictures with him. We thanked O’Halloran and Mena for a fun day and headed out. Before the day, I received word from Mena that shooting would commence from 11am to 2pm. We were done at 1:30pm. I found Stevan to be a very efficient filmmaker in knowing what he wants. His treatment of the extras, cast, and crew was top notch professional and I am looking forward to BRUTAL MASSACRE once it is completed. For more information on BRUTAL MASSACRE, check out the film’s official Myspace page at http://www.myspace.com/brutalmassacremovie
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